The Hassle of Hair
The Hassle of Hair
Miguel Sanchez: From Instagram Fitness Videos to a Firefighter's Physique
Ever wonder what it takes to transform yourself physically and mentally? Prepare to be inspired as we sit down with our special guest, Miguel Sanchez, a devoted father and firefighter whose journey to becoming shredded started with Instagram fitness videos. With steely determination and willingness to put himself first, Miguel embarked on an incredible journey of personal transformation, which we explore in depth.
But becoming fit isn't just about physical changes. We delve into the power of facing fear head-on, a topic Miguel knows too well from his life-altering experience of facing a professional fighter. His insights on how positive action can conquer fear and redefine personal boundaries is a conversation you won't want to miss. We also dive into his experience with manhood, discussing the challenges and growth, as well as the cultural expectations and unhealthy habits that often hold men back.
Our conversation takes a poignant turn as we discuss Miguel's life as a firefighter and how his son's medical condition sparked a radical shift in his perspective on life. Balancing family, career and personal care is a struggle many of us face, and Miguel's experiences here offer valuable insights. Finally, we wrap up with an engaging and eye-opening discussion on personal transformation and self-care. So gear up, tune in and embark on this fascinating journey of resilience and transformation with us and Miguel Sanchez. It's time to be inspired.
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I have Miguel Sanchez with me. I met Miguel through interviewing Brad, rely and Fitness, west Watson's kind of like group of guys that are under him. I went out to San Diego, I interviewed Brad, came back, my buddy told me about a guy that's really getting in shape and changing his life around. Then I find out who it is. Find out, it's Miguel Sanchez. I look at his Instagram. He's connected with Rely and Fitness and he's connected with the whole West Watson world and he's kind of doing the same thing and he's in my town, the town that I live in, which is insane to me that I drove all the way down to San Diego. I mean, I can't even say it Tascadero, yeah, tascadero. There's someone in Los Baños doing the similar things. So, miguel, thank you for being on. I guess the first question where, 10 years ago? Where were you mindset, physically and like, where were you 10 years ago from now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, 10 years ago actually that was a little crazy time for me. That's pretty much when my father passed away, so 47 years old he passed away. So at that time I was in a crazy spot. I was always in somewhat good shape. I could keep up because, as you kind of know a little bit, I worked for the fire department with Cal Fire, and I've always been able to keep up but physically I never really looked the part right. I can do that, do all the work that needed to get done. So at that time my fitness and this well-being was a little bit messed up 10 years ago because I said I was still trying to get a permanent job with Cal Fire, my pops, which was my world right, he was the guy that I always looked up to, that went to talk to, to get advice and stuff like that. Barely much talked to him every day and he pretty much was diabetic and through all that stuff dealing with that disease, basically he had a heart attack and he passed away. So I was always everywhere I was lost, trying to get a job, doing all this just kind of scattered.
Speaker 2:10 years ago I guess that's kind of 10 years ago I was pretty messed up, trying to figure out what do I do, how do I figure this out? And I've always learned from my mom and my dad right, they just a past history. They were 15 when they had me out there in San Jose. So I kind of got brought up in just making things happen, trying to figure it out and step forward and go just from them being so young and having a kid and trying to learn how to do this stuff when watching them. So just kind of pushed through that time and kind of stepped forward. I was married and basically worked on a family at that time my oldest was just a baby, so just kind of pushing forward. I had to go forward and push, push, push. So we're kind of through that whole experience. I'm kind of here now and kidding, that's good.
Speaker 1:Where did you, was there something that changed you in those 10 years to like? What was your mindset back then? Because you have a whole different mindset and I've seen pictures of you from what you were before, and now you're shredded. What was your mindset back then? Why do you think you weren't excelling physically like you are now?
Speaker 2:That's a good question. I think I just wasn't focused on the right stuff. All my energy was going to other things, like I said, the work, everything was. I guess I put myself. I wasn't in the priority really.
Speaker 2:And once I realized that to get forward I had to put myself first, and then, because it sounds weird, right, like, oh, I'm going to put myself first, but I have a whole family, I have a wife, I'm trying to get a job, and you got to put the job kind of first if you want this as a career, and so I was always pushing like that, going through all those things, and once I, like I said, I realized, man, put myself first, and from there a whole sweat, everything just redirected. Because I've always been a motivated person, pretty stubborn, strong-headed, however you want to say it, when I put my mind to it I go full force and there's nothing that's going to stop me From physically, mentally, anything. I'll just go for it and do it. So once I went in the right direction, it kind of started just clicking. Everything started falling in place and yeah, when did you meet?
Speaker 1:So you're, I guess I don't want to say you're under him or he's, I guess a mentor, a grow fitness.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yeah, how did that happen? Yeah, grow fitness. I've always been trying to work on myself, like physically, right, I'm like man, I'm there, mentally, I got it. I don't know what's missing, I don't know what's going on. And so I started watching. Instagram started blowing up and all that, and I'm watching all these people.
Speaker 2:Covid was going on and I don't know how the whole Instagram thing works, but you start watching one video and then you start hitting a lot of stuff that are the same. So it was fitness what I was looking at and I'm like man, how are these guys getting in shape? I don't understand. I have the strong mindset I can do this. I'm a fireman. I did all this stuff.
Speaker 2:All these things that happened in my life from you know, kind of talked about later, but medical things and you know my dad passed away and being like the oldest in my family and trying to lead and all this stuff, right and anyway.
Speaker 2:So I was going on there and watching people and I was watching the grow fitness for a while and I don't know, he just connected with me like that same, I guess, the Mexican culture, right.
Speaker 2:All the same foods we eat, like all these fatty foods, all these beans, all the delicious stuff, right, all the stuff that I like, yeah, right, so delicious me too. And so I was watching him and then his mind said he was kind of talking about pretty much what I was thinking already and I'm like there has to be some point to this. So I was watching him and finally I just got with enough courage and I started talking about Instagram, saying, hey man, how does this program work? What's going on? And from there I hired him to be my coach, which, until was to get my nutrition on point, which were macronutrients which I didn't know damage about it. You know, my brother is pretty good at that stuff and he always mentioned stuff back in the day and I was like, yeah, whatever, right, kind of did the thing. But once I got with Grow, he really tightened up my nutrition and still, as of now, he's still a coach, my coach, and kind of helping me fine tune nutrition.
Speaker 1:And when you were looking at him as like a service, was there any hesitation going into it? Because it's not a cheap service, especially because you're not technically, you're not really like meeting up with them. It's a new kind of service that people are so before social media, people were like one on one in front of each other. That's a service. Now it's like these coaches are doing the service online and helping you with your data, your macros, your numbers, right, Basically, was there a hesitation? What was the hesitation? Did you have to talk to your wife and all that stuff? What was it? What happened?
Speaker 2:Well, that's the biggest thing, right, and it comes down to the money it really does with all these things. That was the biggest thing, man, am I spending this amount of money and is it going to work, like I don't know? This dude Besides me talking to him a little bit on social media, a message, a message, right, and you got to kind of take a leap of faith to do that. But you got to study who you're watching at least. At least he has to have the results, right. And that's one of the things.
Speaker 2:I was watching him for almost I would say almost a year, just kind of watching him and paying attention. Where's his mindset and all that. And I have other people too, and he's the only one that I felt that was real direct and didn't sugarcoat things. And so I finally got a hold of him, talked about the money situation and, like all of us, hold on, we're married, hold on, I got to ask my wife, right, he has a good story. He's like, hey, it's you, you got to decide. What do you mean? Talk to your wife, right.
Speaker 2:But it's a hard decision because all the financial stuff that you're done with and everything, it's crazy. But it was one of the biggest decisions of my life right now to do Should I spend this money or not? But the biggest thing is that we all have the ability to move money around and change things right. It's just the mindset and I didn't really realize that when I was doing it, but now that I look back it is a mindset. We spend so much money on other crap. If you just focus on what you want, you can make things happen. And it might take a little while.
Speaker 2:It's not going to be easy, by no means right. Everyone thinks, oh yeah, this is going to happen. Or hey, that guy, he just has the money. No, it's a struggle every day for everyone in certain situations. But yeah, that was the biggest thing was money. And then from there after that, it really is a mindset and the consistency of it and I guess you start realizing how strong are you. Everyone thinks they're the baddest dudes around in their head and, oh yeah, I could do this and that. But the stuff like this puts you to test Can you be consistent with these bills every day? And then it's almost like you're changing everything, but you're still hanging on the same people and doing the same things and you're not trying to just desert everyone, right, but that's the hardest thing for me was how do I adjust this but still not change too much stuff, right, that was the kind of thing.
Speaker 1:What was the hardest thing like? Trying to get that routine and being consistent. What was your hardest task?
Speaker 2:I guess like anything being consistent, like I said, but then I was probably drinking alcohol a little bit too much, to be honest. Yeah, like go to work, come home, let's have a gathering and you end up drinking a whole bunch of beers and things like that. So that was kind of tough in the first. I never had an addictive personality though, so it wasn't too bad. But I can see why some of the people that do have addictive personalities with whatever it is, how that can be hard, because it's just a habit, right, it's just a habit. So once you start changing those little things like that, then it becomes easier. But I think that was probably the hard thing of I don't need that, it was just something I was doing to be social.
Speaker 2:And then so like things like that, the drinking, and just even like sweets, I have a problem with that. So like cupcakes, bandouche stuff like that, like I love that stuff. It was so hard to say no to those and I didn't realize how many times I would snack on that stuff. So I would say those two things right, there were really hard for me just to cut. And the drink is not too much, no more. I kind of kicked out but bread and stuff like that sweet bread. Oh man, I have a hard time still. I had to keep it away from me at the house and all that, but I would say that was kind of difficult. And then just the whole change of tracking food, like realizing how much you were eating, which is crazy. Crazy to think how much I was eating before People don't even know until you start marking down your food. So that was a big thing. But I think that was a benefit for me was when I started doing that and going whoa, that's why. So yeah, that's.
Speaker 1:You talking about alcohol. Yeah, makes me think of something that I've been thinking about and that's kind of like the question like what, what is a man? Right, what's a man? What's? Because I grew up in cheese mo, you know, like with Chicanos, with with like met Metzkin background and Going to parties and stuff. You see your uncles, you see your cousins, you drinking beer.
Speaker 2:Like I can't like none of them in shape, you know I mean, but like I have a nine to five, I'm Providing for my family and all this stuff and, and, like you said, it's a, it's a habit, being social, going out like like you're moving your mind, even if you're, you're thinking ahead, like always, kind of like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Just from watching you, I'm like dude, he's like Planning stuff like no matter what, like you're doing this, but it's like I don't know. I'm watching you, listening to you on your podcast yeah, you have like it. There's something over here still like so it's kind of cool because I notice it and I'm like dude, that's how you got to be right, like, and I think, especially for my life, where it's at is, is there's so many things going on like from medical stuff to career-wise, to try to do this thing Making sure that my wife's good, make sure the kids are good and I'm like that's almost like how we have to be as as a Just meant that and that's, I guess, the topic right now that that you're talking about. Like how do you be a man?
Speaker 1:That's it like yeah, well, it's, it's. I think a lot of people are scared because of the unknown I the reason why I'm like comfortable in it I wouldn't say I'm comfortable and I'm just used to it is with fighting, like it's Standing across the ring from another man that you have no idea who he is and like you're. You're basically like in front of a bunch of people, like it really, like it humbles the shit out of you and it that fear you learn how to deal with it. Yeah, like the outcome it doesn't even matter.
Speaker 1:You just going out there and like answering the bell, like that's huge, like like this is about you and I want to make it about you, but I, before we move on, I so I fought a guy his name is Daniel Compton and I talked to him about him before I interviewed him right, professional fighter. And I Decided, if I mean, I decided to go to Iowa to go fight him and it was a tournament, muay Thai tournament and Huge, dude, crazy fight. Because he's a professional fighter, I'm barely like, I'm not even. I'm probably like Not like half of what his experience, right, and so I'm standing across the ring from him.
Speaker 1:I actually see him before the the fight, I see him the day before the fight and I'm like in my mind, I'm like, oh, he's huge, he's a professional fighter. I'm scared of all this fear and Got my ass whoops. The end of short, like the end of the story, got my ass whooped. But Because I answered the bell, because I followed through with it, because I I faced him, it has changed me in a whole different way. Like it's, it's made me realize like, oh, like the Outcoming doesn't, doesn't really matter, just go do it, like you know.
Speaker 2:I know you talked about me too, but I like to learn stuff from people. So, and that's one of the biggest thing, you think, do you think, if you can control that fear from before, that it would have been a different, like different?
Speaker 1:a little bit. There's a lot of things I came to play. Like where was my head? Yeah, like I wasn't training as hard, probably one of my like a big step up and and who I was fighting, and I decided to not train as hard. Like I was coaching, I had my family, like there's a bunch of shit that I could say that. That that excuses, but it was basically I just didn't show up that day, like I wasn't good enough. Yeah, that in the end and I doubt with that for a while. I doubt with like okay, like I wasn't good enough and all this stuff. But but then at the end of the day like I the outcome, like I told you, the outcome doesn't matter, it's just it's it's just getting out there and doing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I totally agree with that and I was telling you earlier, like are reading books and stuff, and when I'm reading the stuff, I'm learning that that fear you to get rid of it is to move, like, to do that action, meaning like Go try to complete something right, because what we do is we count those as wins in our in our head and that positivity is what we need, because it just our nature to be negative in our head, like, and I think the more you flood out those negative Thoughts with those positive actions that you're doing, you're making something happen. You, you get rid of them and I think you, from there, you really do excel in all, all aspects of your life. When you start, start doing that and you might not feel like it because you're so you're doing all this, you're doing that, you're running around like you, just man, I feel like I remember, but the people that are watching you are going. How is he doing? And I'm learning that it's just that consistency and being positive and push. And by no means everyone thinks it's all easy, it's not, everyone's struggling and I think we're too hard on ourselves sometimes and we push.
Speaker 2:I guess that fear of man, that guy's like this. You talked about the fight in your head. Man, he's big, but we don't know what he's thinking Like. Really, he's just another person like this. Same kind of thoughts, same negative thoughts, are in their head. It's battling inside their head.
Speaker 1:It's crazy. You say that because I interviewed him and I had all this fear fighting him and then he tells me like that I got underneath his skin because I messaged him that we're going to fight Like I didn't even, wasn't even like talking shit or anything. He's always angry for that fight. I was like, bro, I didn't do anything, I wasn't trying to make you angry.
Speaker 1:And it was just so crazy to sit and talk to it and what he was thinking. Right, it was just nuts. But we got cut off before that. The question was like why do you think and I guess most of people and it might be from due to trauma why do you think grown men have this view? And I don't know if it becomes what comes from my childhood or if a lot of people have this the view of what a man is is like a nine to five provide for your family, hang out with your friends and drink and be cheese mo and be tough and hardly anybody's in shape when you go to parties. And why do you think that is? And to you, what is a man?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's a lot of that, the Hispanic culture, really. I know there's other cultures that do it, but we've always been taught we got to be put our family first. So that's what it was. You went to a barbecue, you ate probably not the greatest foods, but the taste good, and then everyone just kind of drank and been social and all that. It's almost like an every weekend kind of a thing and you just fall into those routines and then we all think we're big and bad, we're all fat, buff, right, bigger guys, but we eat a lot.
Speaker 2:And we think we're the baddest dudes around. So you just stay like that. You're saying those routines. I think there's a lot of other cultures that try to push on that person to be better, right In general, make yourself strong. So these guys will go on and mingle, but they have discipline, which we didn't have a self discipline. You know, we're always trying to please other people.
Speaker 2:I think in our I guess I can't say every culture, but that's how I was with me and my Hispanic family. It was always hanging out and we had to be a certain way with the family. Like someone told you to drink a beer or eat this food, you did it Like there was no, like no, no, no, because it was disrespectful, right, but it really isn't. It isn't, and I think that's when we start switching right and that's the other part of it. Becoming a man, I think, is not getting stuck on certain levels, like that not being okay, like there has to be something that we push past and I think, as being a father and just getting older and learning about myself is we have to level up a little bit. It doesn't mean we're being disrespectful to people, it's just that we're making ourselves stronger and then teaching the other family how to do that? Why do we want to stay in some, like I say, poverty, but in a lower area, right, like of that? Why do we not want to be in shape, like, why do we want to just eat like garbage all the time we can make our food taste good and healthy still? And I think it's just kind of a. It's kind of a it's hard, but I think it's just something that you have to do is move past that and level up a little bit and teach the next generation to be better, like we can all get better, even financially, like physically.
Speaker 2:All that stuff is all, like I say, gateway right, like the nutrition and all that. It's a gateway to get better with yourself. And I didn't realize it, but it was. It was building other things, like leading different things. Cause we are strong, we're stubborn, like I said, and we're okay with like a routine like that, right, every weekend barbecue, every weekend drinking. We can turn that stuff and use it and go. I'm going to work out this day, every morning I'm going to get up and do this, I'm going to do that, and it just betters ourselves. It's just no one's ever really pushed it on us. No one taught us that way, and I think that's part of becoming a man. Is is teaching the next generation to do that. It's okay to hang out and do all that. You don't need to get wasted every night.
Speaker 2:Like that's how it was. Like you got a party down, I'm going to be the one to stay up all night, you know, and then I'm going to mess with that dude and try to get him all hammered and whatever.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Which I don't think. I think it's just we have to change our mindset a little bit.
Speaker 1:And when I, when I watch that Guerrero fitness, when I watched the like Brad Relying Fitness, all these guys are older, right, I don't, I haven't seen much like 20 year olds. You know, do you think that we have to just go through that in our early twenties to realize how like it's stupid to be doing all that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think some of it you have to go through like life experience. But I think the problem is is us being older. Like I say, older now, I don't, I don't consider myself old.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying you're old, I'm just saying yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, like I told you earlier, I always tell myself I'm 35 in my head, I'm staying that young, but I think it's no one's teaching the generation that it's okay to do these things Like it's all it's always. We always went in there and talked about that Barbecue, drinking, all that, and we got to start showing, I think, the younger generation a little bit to level up a bit. You can still do those things and have fun and all that, and they're not going to be perfect, but someone needs to coach them like in life really, and that goes back to that part of being a man. Right Doesn't necessarily need to be your kids that you're doing that with right. You can do that with the other your nephews or someone that's just younger and I think we don't do it enough because we're so busy with what we're trying to fix ourselves right and that was the grand scheme of me doing this and getting in shape was to teach my young, my youngsters, how to do this stuff.
Speaker 2:And they're not going to get it right now, but the more I show them, the more I do it. They're learning right now by watching me and hopefully by the time they get, you know, they're 20 and all that. They're not over there doing that. You know they could go to a party and they don't need to get wasted. They could, whatever you know, 21 or whatever drink a couple of beers here and there and still have self-control. And I think that's what we have to do is show these guys how to do it, and a lot of us don't learn it until we're older, and then we're just concentrating on ourselves. We're just going, hey, I got it. And if people are going, oh yeah, but they're still doing this stuff, we got to show them, teach them.
Speaker 1:So and what being you talking about that from learning from experience and what? What's a failure that? A huge failure that taught you so like a lot?
Speaker 2:Man, those are good questions. Because it's weird, because I kind of kicked out a lot of that, that like those major failures, like I was telling you earlier, like I try to bombard myself with positive stuff. So like even when it, even when, like all the stuff that happens, bad it stuff starts pushing, I push it out Like I don't remember it, like it's good, and I don't know if that's just me or not, I don't know if it's a good thing, but I try to fill it with positive things all the time. I don't know, I don't. It's weird how I think I guess I try not to focus on the failures, but I I went through hard stuff but I've always tried to like how did I learn, what knowledge did I get out of it? So I use that instead.
Speaker 1:So if that makes any sense, was there something specific that that you could think of, that that taught you to be where you are now?
Speaker 2:I think, in general, just grabbing, grabbing, um, I don't know if it was my dad, my mom, like I said, they were young when they had me, so I think that's a big part of me watching them grow up.
Speaker 2:I was watching them when I was little. I'm watching them grow up and learn things, so and it had to adapt, right. So it's trippy because to me it's almost normal, but I look at it, my, my son's 12 and like three more years here I'll have a kid, like I'm like whoa, like right, that's nuts. So, um, I think, just in general, growing up, watching my parents adapt, and like they were, they're struggling all the time but out of somewhere, I don't know how, they're just strong people, I guess, but they, they always came up above and they and they you don't, they didn't do all by themselves, by no means. You know. They had family and all this things like that helping out.
Speaker 2:But, um, that's what I took is watching them. How do you adapt like that? How did you make that happen? And you know, um, I think those are the big parts and just being aware, I've always kind of been aware and I don't know if it comes from that, it comes from me being the oldest and watching, always getting told watch out for your brother and sister do that. So I'm always paying attention and watching people. So I adapt Um, big things. Big things like um, um, you know the, the medical stuff for my son, you know those. Those things right there changed my aspect of thinking and life. Like man, look at what he's going through.
Speaker 1:So if we didn't get it on camera? But so if what, what is your son going through?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, um, at six months old my son started getting sick. We were trying to figure out like what is going on here. You know, um, vomiting green, green, um, vomiting green, basically, and we're like what's going on. So we took him to doctors. He ended up having a male rotation, meaning his intestines was twisted. So they did a emergency surgery and um thought we fixed the problem, right, cool, he was in there, you know, and it's a pretty evasive, they take out the whole intestines and do a whole procedure, right. Um, in there for about a week and a half and everything was going great and then he started throwing up the same same thing. So we're like what's going on here? They were like, oh, it must be another malvitation, so do another surgery, same kind of stuff. So we're in there for a while. Anyways, um Figure out that he has Like slow motility, basically meaning motility in his intestines. It doesn't move, like all of us, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the problem with that is, as the new trip, or the intestines, grabs all the nutrition for food. So what with his situation? It swells up. So it'll swell up meaning it'll shut. So nothing goes through. So he doesn't get nutrition, doesn't get nothing, passes. His stomach will just blow up.
Speaker 2:So we did some testing and this is all surgeries, all kinds of surgeries and all that and finally went to San Francisco, did some testing and found out that's what he had as a rare condition. I think I and I'm horrible with the name, my wife's, like he said, super mom, she knows all the names with it, but it's basically a pseudo obstruction. At that time when we did the testing it was like five kids in the world that's been Diagnosed with it. There's more people that more kids that probably had it but actually tested and checked. So we've been dealing with that Major surgeries. He's had Still trying to figure that out. My son's a little trooper. He's been through probably I would say, seven major surgeries. He's only nine now and now he has a brovac patches and he's hooked up to TPN and lipids Every night and some other medical stuff that he has to get done with.
Speaker 1:But then you change in your lifestyle and you change in your body, you physically. How much of that is for him?
Speaker 2:I think a lot, a lot of it. There's two things. Right is the kids is showing him that he's, he's strong, no matter what, and it is really about what we eat and what we take in to our body to to help us a little bit better. There's crazy disease that will take you out, no matter what. You can be the healthiest person in the world, right. But if we can help with the nutrition, the food, it'll get better. Like everything he has right now is Reversible. It's just trying to find that one key little thing like same thing with me that trying to find that one key Thing, that nutrition that I, finally someone helped me unlock it. So that's what we're working on with him. The second thing is um, am I gonna be around? You know my? I said my father passed away at 47, right, and I know he was diabetic and all that. And my dad was a worker. This didn't do anything, didn't go on vacation, he didn't do exercise, just straight work, right.
Speaker 1:We talked about early yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so he worked, work, work. He worked in San Jose, lived over here. He every day there and back to his traveled Was it's like 20 years back and forth. And so there's a part of me inside is going Shit is something that happened to me, I don't know. Well, let's fix something to make sure that I can do that. I don't know, maybe it will happen, right, but I'm gonna fight and make sure that I can do whatever I can to make sure that it doesn't happen. And I think those two things right there is to show the kids that they they can make a big change in their life, their, their mindset, and Also for me to be around man. I can't just work and be with Cal Farrer the whole this time and then retire and then pass away, right that's. I don't want to be that guy. You know that's still still young enough to go and do things.
Speaker 1:So yeah, you're, you're, you're resilient man, like just hearing a little bit of of your Childhood, about how your parents were young and then and then your son, and then, like your Cal fireman, like I Just hearing it. I just like just thinking, like man, why are people so resilient? Like why, how do they get like that? Because there's a lot of people you probably know some people that have been hit with Hard times and they just can't, they can't seem to find it and get above it. Yeah, what is it that's that's helping you?
Speaker 2:Truthfully, I think we talked about a little bit. I think it's that Mexican culture. We're stubborn, we really are, yeah, and I think that I think what happened is I just grabbed that stubbornness and and switched it to, to turn it into positive stuff, like, like, no matter what, nothing's gonna stop me with that, like I know all these things are gonna go on. I'm just gonna adapt and push forward to that thing and I think For me that I think that's what's happening. And I'm getting older now I'm starting to realize whoa, like why. But I'm stubborn like that. No, I will. I will do this. Like the workouts, I don't care what time it is or not, I'll do them. Oh, my food, I got to do that. Oh, I got to drive, go to work and then drive to the hospital and pick up my, my wife or my son, whatever it is. It's just, I can do it. I'm stubborn enough and we're strong enough, and I finally realized that Grabbing all those things that we learned that we thought are negative things right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Oh, that guy, he's a stubborn, you want to do whatever, but you, if you grab those things and take them as, as I guess, tools, it changed your life. Man, like, really, like I really is, and I think, and that competitor we're being, we're always competitive too. I think it's probably growing up and you know your cousins and all that you're always trying to be better, but I'd grab that too, like I got to be better, I can. If that person could do it, I can do it and I've always said it like that and it's kind of where I'm at, it's thinking like that.
Speaker 1:So Cal fire. How did you become a fireman and when did you like for you like fully a fireman? Yeah, when did you?
Speaker 2:become a fireman, um, so that's cool. Like I when I was, when I was younger I've kind of mentioned a little bit my one of my uncles worked for San Jose city, which I thought was cool, so cool, that hold a fire department, right thing. We used to go visit them a little bit and see it. I'm like, wow, that's kind of cool. And, and growing up I've always wanted to be in the mix. You know if that makes sense.
Speaker 2:You know I kind of wanted to see when those big crowds, I always wanted to see what, what, what is what's going on over there, and I Know it's just something that just intrigued me with that what they were doing. So I I became a seasonal in oh for with Cal fire I was a volunteer before that just to see how it was so and I started volunteering in San Luis Obispo County out there, more in Paso Robles, that's where I was going to the junior college. So I started kind of getting into it there. It's kind of a crazy story, but I actually got in an accident with my truck and my old 1970 that I've been working on.
Speaker 1:I bought that bad boy when I was 15.
Speaker 2:I didn't even see that. Yeah, but okay, that's my other baby, I bought that when I was 15. Anyways, driving out there I went off the road a little bit, popped the beat of the tire, couldn't control it, got in an accident. Met one of the fire captains there that went to the call. He told me when you get back on your feet, come talk to me. So it kind of reignited that whole thing. When I was younger, oh man, fireman, so I tied in with him and man, he put me in his wing and kind of showed me how to get in steps, how to do this. So became a PCF, which is a paid call firefighter, and just was able to run on calls. So you did your normal job, alarm would go off and you were able to go to calls in your own personal vehicle. You know, put on your gear and you go help out the paid staff. So did that until I started learning a little bit, taking classes. Things like that worked a little bit with the Tascardo City.
Speaker 2:As a seasonal, and seasonals are basically during the summertime, they work. Back in the day it was only like five months, six months. Now they're almost working nine months. But yeah, I did that. So that was kind of what we always want to work with Cal Fire and try to kind of do it, cause I thought it was cool to go out there and fight wildland fires right, they do everything, but that was a big thing to go out there and hike and you're out there doing it with all the major campaign fires.
Speaker 2:So took me a while, man, I had to do all this stuff and 2004 I got there 2008 I was able to do a good job and I got what they call a limited term engineer job. So I went to the academy for the state and learned how to pump and drive and all that and got that, came out and limited term meaning they can lay me out. It was like a seasonal, but I was a driver now and a company officer, worked all the way to there To 2014,. That's when I became a permanent engineer fire apparatus engineer. So that was 2014. Permanent. That was my career. Now I'm set. I don't have to get laid off anymore or anything. That was it. And then from there I kind of went up the ranks. I wanted to become a captain, tested for that, did all the stuff I need to do, became a captain two years later, 2016. And now I've been a fire captain since then, so got to go battle all these crazy fires that happened when it was Napa.
Speaker 1:So where are you, a captain, now?
Speaker 2:So currently, because of all the stuff that went up with my son and all that, I came back closer so I actually work in DOS Palo City now. That's through Merced County, which is contracted through Cal Fire, so I'm there now. I spent a lot of my career in they call it San Bernardino Monterey unit and that was all San Bernardino County and Monterey County is where I was at, so like Hollister or Romis and those areas, if you know where that section is.
Speaker 1:And did you have any memorable fires that?
Speaker 2:Oh man, yeah, basically when I became a captain in 2016, 2016,. Those next couple of years were wild fire seasons. From the one out in Monterey area, the sober honest fire, which was a big one, spent a long time out there, months out there on that fire. The Napa fires went out there to do those.
Speaker 1:And when you talk about these fires and you spend months out there, like for some reason, I can't wrap my head around it, like I think, like you just go in there one day, you grab the hose and you're just like, like just putting it out, like when you say months are you in one spot just fighting the fire, like what are you? Doing to fight a fire.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a little bit crazy. There's a whole bunch of different stuff, but there's some what they call the head of the fire. We can be on active parts of the fire because it's so big right, just say it's 10 acres for now, but those things were massive, but 10 acres. There's the head of the fire right when you're going to be battling like fighting fire the whole time. Right, we work 24 hour shifts though, so it's basically 24 hours on the whole shift and then you get 24 hour off and then you go back and it just continues all the way till you're kind of done, you get relief.
Speaker 2:You know, normally they try to do 21 days and then they switch the whole crew out. Or on those years it was so busy that you went two days at a hotel to rest and then you went back out there, which was crazy. So you'll do those basically. But you can be on the other side of the fire, which is like the hill, the back end, where you're just repairing damage from the fire, possibly just doing they call mop up and kind of just putting out.
Speaker 1:Is that a slower pace? Yeah, it's a little slower place.
Speaker 2:You're just kind of moving through where the fire already passed and putting out anything that's kind of smoldering and smoking through there. So when you're.
Speaker 1:I'm fascinated by this. When you're in the middle of it, like when you're putting out the fire, like how much of it is communication Is there like a routine, like you guys are. Because when I think of fighting, when I think of like when I used to corner fighters, like I think of kind of like having keywords, Like hey, if you want them, a certain combo, you call out a keyword, Like are you guys doing that when you guys are fighting the fire?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's kind of like that. Throughout your career you're always training to do certain things. It's kind of considered as woo-wee they call it wild-on interface, right, urban interface. There's a whole pamphlet that you're always training about and it's talking about all of these breakdowns and there's a lot of stuff in it but, like S-Fax and all, there's how to defend things, how to attack things on these fires. So what we go out is and normally are called strike teams, right, five Engines, battalion Chiefs. So this guy is a little bit more mobile and he's the Battalion Chiefs, is in like a pickup usually. So what he's doing is kind of scouting everything and then he's giving, like you said, almost like those combinations, like what do we want to do? Bump and run, anchor and hold things like that. So he's kind of delegating what we need to do and we're kind of doing those.
Speaker 1:Is he reading the fire while you guys are A?
Speaker 2:little bit, yeah. And then, like you said, communications we're listening, cause it's all broken down into divisions and things like that. So we have neighbors, we're listening to them. What's going on? Is the fire blowing on that side? Is it going to hit us pretty fast or is it going the other way? And we're kind of just adjusting and adapting the whole time, almost like it is almost like a fight, Like we're adapting all the time of what's moving in and out, kind of doing it's crazy.
Speaker 1:Is your adrenaline running the whole entire time?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, definitely Like those big fires. It's crazy, Like even Paris, right, the whole community burned down over there. That fire was crazy and it was like there's just some fires that you can't remember. It's like running sideways, which is crazy, Like it's just jumping, like not even jumping, it's just straight across, right, Like like how do we stop this?
Speaker 1:Are you? Sometimes fires are like they suck because people's lives are changing, but do you find adrenaline rush doing it Like can you see yourself having an office job, or were you meant for something like this?
Speaker 2:I think the training comes in. I think you got to be a little bit like meant for it, a little bit, because I think, and I would say the training, you can do the firefighting.
Speaker 1:Let me stop it real quick, I just need to go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think the firefighting aspect anyone can really do. It's what you see and how you're able to, I guess, mentally control that, because we see a lot of destruction and damage all the time. So I think that's the part you need that. A lot of people can't handle it Because we see a lot of stuff Like from fires people's homes getting burnt, like everything that they own is gone. So you got to be able to take that in and decipher it kind of so it doesn't mess you up.
Speaker 2:And then there's the other thing not just fires, right, we go to vehicle accidents and all this other stuff. So I think that's the part you got to be able to control that. But the firefighting part I think anyone could kind of do, because you do enough training all the time that it's almost automatic. And I've never been in sports like that, where you're fighting but you practice so much those combinations like you said. You say something, it's automatic. But again, the back end, when you're back you're like I guess that's the part that can make you a fighter or not is the part where you're thinking like after, like dang this and that and this, like I think those are the parts that make sense.
Speaker 1:I don't think anybody could fight a fire, like thinking about it. I'm thinking about like man you're, because you're doing something where people want to run from. Yeah, that's not normal. It's not a bad thing, it's not normal. We talked about fear, we talked about overcoming it and you're doing that throughout your whole entire career.
Speaker 1:Not many people do that for a career where they're most of the time, they're just like they're a manager or something. They're sitting in an office. There's not that much overcoming fear. You're leaving your house, you're leaving your family and saying, all right, love you guys. You get in your car and it's like all right, here we go, like this is the day. That takes a special kind of person. So I think, combined with the Guerrero fitness, combined with what you're doing, with the firefighting and having those things, it's like the right combination. So I think there's a specific type of person to excel at what you're doing with the Guerrero fitness and then now starting your own thing. I think there's a specific kind of person that it takes to be able to do this. I think you're one of them.
Speaker 2:Oh, I appreciate that I never really thought about it. I think I never thought about it really because it's just the training we do. Maybe after the incident you're like whoa, but yeah, I don't know. I guess I just always thought in my head that's how everyone is, it's just, are they capitalizing on it or not so I guess that's in my head. It's like.
Speaker 1:Okay, before we stop, you were talking about how you don't really talk about it. You didn't really think about it until now. That you don't talk to your wife about, like terminology, you don't bring your work home Is that? Was that planned or was that they just happened that way?
Speaker 2:I think a little bit was planned because I didn't want to bring the trauma stuff back to the house here. We have enough stuff going on here to bring more.
Speaker 2:My wife's a trooper man but she does a lot of stuff, from just taking care of herself, from the kids to the medical, to being a fireman's wife. People can't do one of those women a lot. They can't They'll crumble, by no means. She has a hard time sometimes, but I didn't want to bring more of that here. When I see something bad and all that, I never really brought it up. The only time I used to is if I had a couple drinks and all that. Then we'd start talking and we'd bring it up.
Speaker 2:I never really liked it, so I think I kind of pushed it away a little bit. It's a good thing or a bad thing, because sometimes when I'm gone, the kids are always wondering what I'm doing, but I don't bring enough home. Sometimes. I'm trying to balance it out a little bit and to let them know more. Hey, I'm not just out there doing whatever, I'm actually working. Come over, and that's why it's nice to come here. My family can come over to the station a little bit and actually see a little bit. Then, okay, you can go ahead back and whatever. I guess intentionally, and then I'm just trying to balance it a little bit. I still haven't figured it out all the way, but I'm working on it.
Speaker 1:That's cool, man. You have a beautiful family, thank you. I walk in it's home. There's houses. You walk in where it doesn't feel like home, you talking about how you guys are and what you guys deal with, and firefighting fire to your wife. For you guys to have this stability is awesome. Then, looking back at your life, looking back at where you are now, would you even think that you would be able to get here?
Speaker 2:No, it's not even it's crazy to think about it. Like I said, I might have not been anywhere. Parents 15 years old, like how am I here right now? Then it's just crazy. I think that my parents are really strong mindset. They were a great team, I think, growing up and all that. That's why it was a big hit when my dad passed away, messed up everyone, because that was a team. I think they just taught all of us kids how to just keep pushing, keep going, no matter what. I think now I'm like wow, it was that consistency. Like I said, I've always had these things. It's weird how it comes back, even the nutrition and all that, and I'm learning it. But I've always had these other skills, I think. Man, I really feel like a lot of people have them. They just haven't, I guess, nurtured it. A little bit, took it.
Speaker 1:Nurtured or they haven't put it in the right places, even for me. I know all of it. I went through fighting and then after fighting I kind of just stopped doing it. Maybe it's like, yeah, I'm free.
Speaker 2:I can do whatever I want, eat whatever I want.
Speaker 1:I have it and it just. But I am excelling in these other ventures. I think you were doing the same thing, you were excelling in all these other things, but then when it came to self-discipline with your physical, then it kind of gets pushed to the side. So I could see why it happens to people. I do my best, I work out every day, but it's those tamales. That is it. Yeah, man, I think about you talking about your dad and you talking about that he was 15. It might be a hard question, but is there something that you would tell your dad that you didn't really get to tell him?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff, because every day I could tell that I was talking to him. Every day, even the small little things I would just tell him. So I guess, how about this?
Speaker 1:You seeing him at 15 years old? What would you tell that 15-year-old? Do you think that he even saw this coming? It's crazy to think about, right? It's crazy to think about him being 15 and then him having a son that's having a great family, a firefighting he's probably 15, just having a kid and like I don't know what the fuck he's going to do. It's so crazy I guess it's not really a question. It's just an observation about your dad. That's pretty crazy man to raise a son like you, and it's cool.
Speaker 2:I think it's crazy in general, like both of them, my mom and dad. That's crazy. I can't even think I don't even know where I'd be really. And kind of go back to the first question. I think I would just tell him I'm doing it Before he passed and all that. I don't know if you heard me or not before he passed, but I told him I'm going to push, I'm going to get it done, and I think the goal was to just do better than what he did for respect, and I'm doing it. So it really gets that emotional like that, because you're going look, I'm pushing, and all the hard stuff they're going through. Like, fuck, dude, think about that 15, I'm not going through anything hard. He had a wife and then a kid and then my sister was two years after that. So they basically had three kids and they were under 20. They went through some hard stuff and he pushed through stuff, all of it. I'm just trying to do my best for him and my mom really to show that dude, they did it. It's kind of it's crazy.
Speaker 2:I think about all the stuff that they accomplished, from not doing that to living. We lived in little shacks. The bathroom was in the kitchen. I remember it was a little tiny room like this one-car garage and then living with people and all of us in one room. That's how we slept, that's how we lived, and just them pushing and pushing and able to buy a house out here because it's cheaper. And then my dad bought a business that he used to do with vacuuming.
Speaker 2:So all these little things, I'm like man. They killed it. I can do this. All this stuff that they did and all that. And I think and it always comes back to this, and I'm trying to push it towards people too is you can do it, man. There's so much battling on your head but you can do it. And it doesn't mean you're going to be a millionaire, but you can make little steps to improve a little bit and enjoy those. I think that's the problem. We're always looking so far ahead, like, oh, I want all the money in the world on that. Move a little bit and enjoy that. Move a little bit and enjoy that. And I think that's what I say is I'm doing it.
Speaker 1:Dad, I'm making it happen. Cool yeah. So where do people find you for coaching? I? Know, you want to push it more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I started to change all my Instagram and all that. Now it's covenantevolutionevolution with the K. Hit me up on there. You can DM me. I have little links in there that for consultations and things like that. And, man, if they're ready to make a little change, I'm here to help. Like I hope they understand.
Speaker 2:You know, I think it's something I want to do. It's not like I need to do it. I have a career and all that, but I really the joy that it brought me and then how it's changing things in my life. Like, look at it right now, I was able to meet you. You're a cool dude, right, like, and the same thing you're, like you're doing the same thing, you're improving, and we talked about a little bit Like you always have like some plans. That's the kind of people I want to be around.
Speaker 2:So there's all the people that are out there and they want to make a change with them personally, like physically, because, like I said, I think it's the gateway. Like, once you start taking care of yourself, like physically, mentally, stuff starts falling in place and then you start just your mindset changes and then then you start flooding all that negativity that we all deal with. We all deal with it, man, like. I hope everyone understands that. I think people think that these top guys don't have any problems. Everyone has problems, it's just how do you deal with it? So if they want, man, I come to IG. You know I have a TikTok for IG, the place to get me Covenant Evolution with the K and hit me up.
Speaker 1:We'll start from there. Shoot your message right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, shoot me a message and, like I said, I have little links on there. You can do a consultation form and then I'll get back to them. We can talk and see where they're at. I know people are going to get a little scared with spending some money and all that. But, man, it's your life. You make a big difference and change it. You know, see what you can do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome. Do you have any other people? No, man.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it, jesse, coming out. I think you got big things coming up and it's kind of cool to be able to come and talk to me. And I'm not like no one special, I'm just here trying to improve a little bit and I don't say thanks.
Speaker 1:You're genuine man. I think this world needs more genuine people, and I've been around, I've reached out and I've interviewed people that don't seem too genuine. I think it comes from not knowing yourself, and I think you've been through a lot of stuff where you've got to be genuine because you don't know anything else. I appreciate you doing this. Yeah, guys, go set up a consultation with Covenant Evolution.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for learning a lot.