Healthy Simplified
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Healthy Simplified
Beyond the Game: Life Lessons with Coach Joe Hadachek
Welcome to the Healthy Simplified podcast, everyone. I'm Mark Bennett. with me today is the one, the only Mr. Joe Hadacheck, has become a very close personal friend of mine over the last five years. And I can't wait to do this interview for so many different reasons. you know, Joe is a very special person, but most importantly, most people refer to him as Coach and, you know, it would not be, appropriate unless, you know, coach had an appropriate intro, especially with a little clapping and all these people, you know, they're very excited about having him here, but, the most part, Joe, thank, thank you for being here. why you just tell everyone a little bit about your family? I mean, I know to you, that's probably the most important thing.
Track 1:Absolutely. Mark grew up on a farm, two brothers, live there my whole life. And, you know, working on the farm, there's no better lifestyle than, getting up every day, being your own boss and always doing physical tasks, doing hard work. So, learned that by nature, growing up there in my DNA as a farm boy through my mom and dad leading by example. And, they were faith filled parents. So I was very fortunate, givers back to their community in different ways. And so I was, I was lucky to be raised in the right environment and I knew I didn't want to farm. when I got married to my wife, Gloria, we've been happily married through the thin and the thick of things for 35 years, be 36 this upcoming summer and had three children, that were very proud of Trev. Tate and Tori, and all three of them are abroad. They're not in Iowa. and I'm happy that they sprouted their wings. Trev's 29, Tate's 27 and Tori's 23. Each doing their own thing that, they see they're calling at this point in their life. So we're proud of those guys and expecting, or we're going to planning our first, marriage this, a year from this month. So we're super excited. Cause I know Gloria would like to be a grandparent. So, been very fortunate there with Faith.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:you know, when we shared the story, I grew up on a ranch in West Texas. My grandfather loved to take me. Fishing and hunting, I think mainly because that gave him the reason because he's always say, Hey, we can go play first, but then we're going to work after, and he never believed in power tools. I could never understood that. he's like, Hey, you want to dig the field? Great. Here's a hoe. Go, go have a good time. it's, we got to get these things done. But what it taught me was a work ethic. and that's the one thing that I think is lost today is we have things so easy that sometimes we forget what it means to actually work. you know, my wife, gives me a hard time because she says, Mark, you could pay somebody to do that. And I'm like, yeah, but it's not the same. If I can do it myself, I'm going to do it. the work ethic that you, developed on the farm kind of led into your life's passion, your profession, which was coaching, I mean, how did we go from the farm to, you know I want to be a coach. No.
Track 1:in here, Mark, cause my first labor job where I got paid was by my dad on the back of a hay wagon pulling in bales directly off the baler. This little square ones that you don't ever see anymore. A nickel a bale. And, I was, I was so excited to make money and stack them bales. And, I think every kid should go back into time and have that experience with all that dust in your face, when it's flowing and it's itching and you just keep, keep sticking the bails. So, that work ethic, like you mentioned, the hand tools, all those experiences second to
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:I did square
Track 1:And I think that was,
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:in my life and I will never do that again. Ever.
Track 1:well, you can do the little round ones too. They're, they're easier to. We'd always have neighbors that would come over and say, Hey, do your boys want to, do you want to, you know, would they like to work for us? And I always took that up, you know, it was cash money, but there was one farmer, Mark, his bales were a little heavier. They were a little dewier than everybody else's. Nobody wanted to work for that guy. So, You know what? I grabbed a couple of buddies. We always did it for him. But again, you sometimes do what other people don't and other and to get where you want to be in life. But I was a first generation athlete. My dad worked on the farm. Our farm's been our family for 100 plus years. My brother is taking that farm over, which I'm very happy to say that it stays in our family lineage. But, you know, when I got involved in high school and junior high sports, we didn't have many youth sports back then. Now, as soon as you're born, there's youth sports, right? I think my first exposure was little league baseball, like in junior high. And, you know, that was our first exposure and I fell in love with the ball, you know, and just getting around. My friends and being able to participate and have a chance to compete, the competitive juices were flowing. So I think it was embedded in me at a very young age, but then through the process of high school, I think we've all had coaches that have had a big time impact, both positively and negatively on you. And, when a person makes a positive influence, it just forever is embedded into you. And that a football coach for me was, Bob Olson. And a great man, great man. We did not have a very good, reputation as a football team in high school, a winning record, all that stuff. We, we, we had a losing record, but he came in and within two years, we were five and four, and you would have thought we won the Superbowl. I mean, five and four. I mean, that was my best record. And he left next year, guess what? Oh, and nine. So if you don't think coaching matters, it does. it's not all about wins and losses. But it was that relationship that he had with me as a man. He pushed me, you know, it pushed me beyond what I thought I could do. And he pushed our team beyond what we thought we could do and started changing the culture of what we had going on. I hope that day comes. And, that's what happened. not the exact track you go down, but I was able to do that and, kind of roundabout way, got out of college and, went into being a graduate assistant coach, which for those of you that don't know that life, it's a very tough life. You don't want to be married being a graduate assistant coach. My salary was 400 a month. Which meant I was flat broke living off of Roman noodles and tuna fish and noodles and anything that was cheap, peanut butter, jelly sandwiches, but, got a free two year education, got my master's in exercise science. I want to be a strength coach to mark, which kind of got into supplementation. I can't even remember my brother and I in high school buying cheap protein and getting plastic pills and stuffing it in these clear gels and because it tastes so terrible. It was almost like, I don't know. I've never tasted wallpaper paste, but it had to taste like wallpaper paste. It was so terrible, but we were supplementing back then, man. Cause my uncle, he looked like a cut up dude. He looked like a bodybuilder and he had weights in his basement. So I had to weightlifting itch. The coaching itch and the graduate assistantship, opened the door to, to get a college experience for a guy that had literally no experience. it was just a baptism into the sport of coaching. I fell in love with it. And, I'll never forget my first job signing the contract. My dad goes, are you sure you want to do this? I'm like, yeah, 16, 500 with a master's my first job, 16, 005. And I mean, I was so excited and Dad's like, did you get a car or anything with that? I go, I never asked, you know, I don't know if I got benefits. I didn't care. I mean, I was on top of the world. Cause there were so many people in line for that job that I thought, you know, I'm just a small town farm boy from Iowa. I may or may not get it, but, the college coaching, it was, it was, it was just intense. I mean, you're working 70, 80 hours a week. It looks glorious on Saturdays. I'm telling you what, it's a tough, tough life for a family. And generally what you see in my profession and I love it dearly is you see a coach that's got his family planted and everything's going good. And then either somebody gets fired or somebody gets promoted and that's your head coach. And then he leaves and you may or may not go with him at the college level. And then you have to make a decision. You know, what am I going to do? am I going to get a chance to leave or do I have to find another job? And by the time you transplant and go to that next location, your family's still behind, and by the time they get to where you are and get all that done, sell the house, get the school, guess what? It happens again. And I, I just, I didn't want that, man. I didn't want that. But as a graduate assistant, I got to stay at Drake university. we, we basically started a program from scratch there, Mark. They, they dropped division one football. There's no players on campus. So I got to see how to build from a man named Nick Quartaro, who went to Kansas state with Bill Snyder and turn that thing around from the worst in the big eight to one of the best. And, so I learned a lot of things from Nick and then a man named Rob Ash took over there after Nick went to K state. So I was at Drake for 10 years. As a graduate assistant and offensive coordinator line coach, and then I want to be my own head coach, you know, I just felt like there's things I want to do my way at that point in my life. And with all that experience, I want to share it. So, I had the opportunity to interview at the University of Storm Lake, which is a division 3 non scholarship school and, It was an offer I got. I took it, my wife and I, Gloria, always supportive. You got to have a wife that's like glue, that supports you because I'm telling you, it's a rough life. You don't see your husband a whole lot, but we moved to Storm Lake, Iowa, a town of 9, 000. And, that program was averaging two wins a year. And, within four years, we had had back to back seven and three years with a great staff, good kids and, turn the town on fire. And they were loving Beaver football. But again, not seeing my kids, I'd get up there in bed. I get home, they're in bed. And, I'm just thinking there's gotta be some other way, some other way out there that, I could coach my kids and still make a living doing what I love. that got me into direct sales. And a year later, when I started in direct sales, I was able to triple my income and, basically resign and. Move home and start up a youth football league. So that's kind of where it started, you know, from the genesis of making 400 a month to a head college football coach, and then reevaluating the priorities of my life to spend more time with the people I love rather than more time with a game I loved. But I got to come home and start that youth football league.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:You know, it's interesting, Joe, you talked a lot about, the things you learned along the way. I've always found that sports, you know, my background, I played them my entire life. I coached baseball and I always said that, I wasn't teaching the kids baseball. I was using baseball as a vehicle to teach young boys how to become young men. there's a big life lesson in there. a leadership concept but you said something in there that I want you to expound upon a little bit because, it's near and dear to my personal heart. You said it's not about the wins and losses. It's, you know, there's something about that. You know, you had to seven and three teams. I mean, and you know, guess what? I mean, from winning nothing to seven and three is an amazing feat, but let's talk about that. It's not about the wins and losses because it's usually about the journey.
Track 1:It's so much is the relationships that you have with the people you go to work with. For me, it was a coaching staff. You got to have different personalities involved in relationships are the glue that holds you together during the tough times. I mean, when you go Oh, a nine or have a losing season, you kind of got to look in the mirror first as the head coach. What am I, what am I doing wrong? What can I do differently? Then you have to really have the one on one conversations, Mark, that are very difficult sometime with your staff and then your players. And I've seen people that do not have good relationships. With their players and their coaches, and I've seen those that do, and I could see by body language, which one was more receptive to the message and how they basically played for that individual. So if you can get somebody to play hard for you because they want to, and they buy into the bigger vision of where you're going, you've got a much better chance to get the wins and losses, That was when their dad died. You know, we've been through everything as a coach, you know, suicide, losing a parent, losing a brother or sister, flunking out of school, flucking a drug test, all these things. And we've always told these people, Mark, I will never quit on you. You will quit on yourself. Before I'll quit on you. That's I believe that you got to have that strong relationship. Cause when the stiff winds blow, Who's got
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:You know, what's interesting is, I've. played for a lot of different coaches. and there's the coaches that, you know what, I'm going to run through a wall for. There's those coaches would be like, do I have to go to practice today? and it always seems like the team is in line with the personality of the person that's in charge. and what I mean by that is, you know, I have this rule that ID life, you know, it's complained up praise down. In other words, there is none of this, you know, I always tell people, Hey, if you want to worry about fault, it's all my fault. A hundred percent, anything that goes wrong with a company, blame me. I'll take all the blame. Now we don't have to worry about blame. Let's, let's figure out solutions because it eliminates those things. But I learned those concepts as. playing in sports and in coaching sports and seeing the reactions that my players had. So I want you to expound on that a little bit, Joe, because you started to touch on something that I really think has value and the listeners would be very interested in, which is, you know, we all as coaches are going to have a bad day, something's going to go wrong. It's not going to be going our way. We're going to hit a tough time and we have this choice of, you know, what we're going to continue in spite of, or we're going to start complaining down.
Track 1:Well, I think whatever you do at the top duplicates mark. And if you complain down, guess what they'll complain down. And, I think the one thing about being a leader, you got to be up when you're up and you got to be up when you're down. I know that's hard, you know, put a game face on when you're having a bad day, maybe something didn't go right inside the four walls at home. But, if I carry that to practice or I carry that to the meeting room, they can smell it, you know, that players can smell stuff going on when you're not telling them the truth. So, you know, the leadership aspect Of being in a head position or an assistant position. I think you have to lead where you're at, wherever you're at, you can lead from. You don't have to be a head coach to be a leader. I think that's important and players can be leaders. And if you're not cut out to be a top tier leader, then be a great follower. You know, followers, not everybody's going to lead, but followers are also a key component of success because there's a way to get things done the right way. And so many little things, Mark, make a big difference out there. All the little things stack up from the way you warm up to the way your locker room looks, to the way you take the field, to the way you dress. All those little things add up and I think that's vitally, important, you know, when you're, when you're trying to, get everybody to buy in. Cause I've seen this. I always told my players it's going to take a year probably for you to really trust me. I get that. I want you to automatically trust me, but I understand it takes time, but the opposite is true too. Mark, you violate trust. Guess what, man? It's hard to get it back. I can't be up front in the room saying, guys, you don't do this. And then they see me walking down main street with something in my hand. You can't, you gotta lead by example, right? That's, that's a key cliche or word. Three words, very powerful. Don't lead by example. You're not going to have a very good outfit lead by example. You know what, if everybody's thinking that acting like that and reproducing that you got a shot.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:No, you're right on, there's a big concept that I want to kind of ask your opinion on because I'm a big believer in it. And we talk about it a lot inside the company, which is there's a difference between leadership by title and permissive leadership. In other words, when you have the title, it's one thing, but when your team wants to follow you because you've earned it, even before you have the title. There's a big difference. So let's talk about that concept a little bit, especially when it comes to coaching. I've told my players, Hey, you're not going to trust me for the first year. I expect you to because of the title that I have, but you know what? I'm not going to demand that what I'm going to do is I'm going to earn your trust.
Track 1:Well, again, it takes time. And I think, every chance you have. to be on display where there's some type of adversity that is very difficult to maneuver through. It tests you as a man. It tests you. My very first college win up at Buena Vista. The day after that win, I went into the AD's office and he said, Hey, I got some bad news. You're going to have to forfeit the game. I'm like, what? he goes, yeah, we forgot to, file paperwork on a fifth year senior. And, he played in that game and we will have to forfeit that game. So that's my first college, my first college head job, Mark, my first game. I go out to practice and, man, it was hard, but, the kids gave me a game ball and, I accepted it, thanked them. And I said, Hey guys, I got some bad news, but, we're going to build off of it for the rest of the season. We have to forfeit this game. And, you know what, the way I responded to it, the whole team responded to it. You know what? I can't remember the exact record. We had that 1st year. It wasn't winning, but we set the foundation in that 1st year But at the same time, those kids. Never forget it either. So
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:Now, you started to go into a story that I want to expound upon now, which is you went from college coach to then you came home and all of a sudden when you came home, you started the youth program, but you mentioned the high school program. And I know this has become near and dear to your heart. So let's get into that story a little bit. Cause I know that that was big for you.
Track 1:Yeah. those group of kids we started the youth program with, love football. They love football. And, man, I remember being out in my backyard playing with those guys and, they'd watch NFL games on Sunday. And then they got into high school and it was almost like, God opened the door. Their current high school coach took another job. I interviewed, got the job and those guys were in junior high one year or two years away from going to high school. And, our, our high school program had a few winning records, in a 20 some year history, but had never won a playoff game. and when I went to take over the program, I just counseled a few people, they said, you, you know, you might win a couple games. You'll never win a playoff game. You'll never go to the uni dome in the state tournament. And that motivated me and, we worked hard, but the kids bought into everything and, we were able to win a state championship and, it's just a very epic moment in the history of our program and our town. And, it's still, one of my favorite moments as a coach, just cause of the difference it made. And it wasn't that we want to stay championship. It was that process. We went through together, the process of the grind, the grit and the determination and the foundation that was laid. So other young kids wanted to get on that uniform. They wanted to wear those colors and, you emerged two towns. That were kind of against each other because we merged two towns to create this high school called the union. But I really feel that if there was some, biggest impact that that run had was the fact that we were able to get the towns to come together and celebrate together more so than the trophy. More so than the ring. It was the fact that we were able to merge these two towns and not be us against them. It's tough enough to win, but when you're merging towns in small town, Iowa, you're always doing this. It's going on as we speak because there's just not enough kids anymore, but it's amazing how a sport can unify things. To get to rally people from the communities to, to, to look at a cause bigger than the game, but the game became the crusade for that journey. And then, just to have a chance to go in that uni dome market and play in that game. I can't even tell you what it was like.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:You know, there's a lot of people out there. They're probably seeing the movie Friday Night Lights. They then made it a TV series. what I tell everyone is that 1989 year, 88 year, I'm sorry. I actually had the pleasure of playing both Carter and Odessa Permian, but my team wasn't good enough to make the movie. but I do know what both of those teams were like. And later on in life, I got a chance to coach, the, the kids of the people that were on that field is funny. It was reminiscing in those stories, but what, what's funny to me in, in telling you that is that you took kids, I mean, little kids, and it basically like a window opened, probably not the most talented. by no stretch. You know, one of my favorite, phrases of all time is, you know, hard work will be talent. When talent doesn't work hard. There's a lot of very talented people out there that are never, never achieve their, their potential, mainly'cause they're not willing to work hard. And that's kind of how we started this, is that work ethic isn't in everybody. You know, they're gonna quit you way before you quit them. But, you know, a along that line you said, Hey look, you have to be an example. Somewhere along the line, you know, through your sports science masters, you decide, you know what, I'm going to be the example, not only from a physical, from a mental, from a leadership standpoint, but I'm also going to take care of myself, and and I'm going to show people what it's like to actually take control of your own fitness. Let's talk about that. Let that journey of yours. You said it started at an early age, but As we get older, it becomes a little bit harder.
Track 1:That's, that's, that's such a key mark. Again, back to the farm, you know, you're lifting weights. My brother and I created a small weight room in my dad's basement and we, I can remember taking a big drill and drill it through one of the rafters. planks and putting like a pulley on there for lap pull downs and we welded in the shop a bench and, a curl machine. It is like, I mean, we just were making our own equipment because we were broke and, so we were lifted even then I'd lift after bailing. I remember going, I liked it. I just something about it, you know, and then you're sweating with your brother kind of cool. And I've never stopped lifting weights. There's something about it. I, it's like farming, you know, once it's in your blood, because if I went a whole week without lifting, I would feel like total withdrawal and, just like I'm failing. So there's something energetic for me personally. And part of it may be due to my DNA. I respond better to, to lifting heavy. And I was told by a, an older gentleman, once he goes, Joe, if you ever stopped lifting heavy. I'm just going to tell you, you'll never get it back. And I said, okay, all right. You know, but I also realized Mark, you know, my journey, you know, through high school, we had very limited weightlifting program. We lifted like two weeks before the season and then it evolved to, you know, college where I was in charge of the weightlifting program as a certified strength conditioning coach. And I enjoyed that part of it. You know, I love the path. I love the science of it. I love the mystery of it. I love seeing a freshman come in and a before and after photo to a senior. A freshman to a senior seeing that transformation due to the weight room. And, you know, I felt like I got to stay, I got to try and, you know, be the example. And, the only thing that got worse is, you know, food habits. As I got older, I probably ate more and I was getting a little chunky, you know, and, that wasn't good. That wasn't good. It's not good on the practice field. It's not good in general. So I always did the checkups and stuff with my doctor. But, you know, you know, cholesterol was kind of getting up there and, My dad died of, of, he had prostate cancer. So I have a concern about that. And so, you know, there's some health things that I've always lingering when I'm doing my checkups, but I always wanted to lift the weights all the way through it got involved in kettlebells, but that's really my true passion, one of my, sometimes the student teaches the teacher. You know, the coach teaches the student, but all of a sudden I had one of my former players, actually in the weight room with me, Brad Nelson. He started going, Hey, try these kettlebells out. I'm like, never heard of them. You know, I don't think that's going to be a big deal. He put me through a 20 minute workout, Mark. And I literally about puked in 20 minutes. I said, I'm in, I give, I go, I'm in. So I got certified first, kettlebell instructor in the state of Iowa that was certified. And, we actually used our kettlebell program for the state championship team because our weight room wasn't very big. We had to do what we had with what we had. And, I felt like, you know, the kettlebell was something I could take with me. It was portable. nobody knew if you were very strong based on looking at a kettlebell, they don't think two plates, one plate, three plates, they know kettlebell, no idea. It's in kilos. So, enjoyed that tremendously. And, still, still, you know, that's my favorite tool in the tool shed, but I still like the free weights. But Mark, I think you know this story because I told it to you, but man, my, my joints were starting to wear out too. And, I had double knee replacement, about a year and a half ago, just because I was in so much pain and arthritis. And I tried everything. I tried injections. I tried everything that's topical. And I just realized, you know, God only gave you one part and the used parts aren't quite as good as the originals. So I've become a little smarter, in my weightlifting protocol
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:So, you know, you're, an icon in the network marketing space and you started going that earlier. Let's just be real. you rose to the pinnacle, in your prior company and as things happen, life happened. something changed and all of a sudden it's like, Hey, all of this that I've built my entire life in literally 60 days was ripped out from underneath you, you and the tens of thousands of others and you had to rebuild. and as a result of that, we were the beneficiaries, you and I got to know each other. I will never forget the very first time we met. and it was literally like, as I was walking out, I was like, okay, well, this is never going to happen because. the rumors, there's no way that this is going to happen to a company that's been around for 25 years, but it then did. And, you know, it's interesting to me that, you know, that meeting, I think, at least I know it was for a mutual friend, we have, Benji Parr. You know, when I was meeting with Benji for the very first time, Benji was sitting there in that meeting with his arms crossed and had a scowl on his face. And I was for sure that there's, there's no way that I am ever going to have this man like me or trust me in any way. Benji and I were talking, I mean, literally it was like two years later and he goes, you know, you had me at hello. He, and I was like, Benji, I would have, I mean, I'm great at reading people, but I would have never guessed that a million years. And, and part of the reason why is because he and his family had struggled with this wonderful, you know, thing called MTHFR. And here I am trying to explain to people what this genetic polymorphism is and how it affects the body and how it can do all these nasty things to you and how it's misdiagnosed by doctors. And, you know, we've done a whole podcast series on it because we're really trying to get awareness out there. But what I really want to know is, is kind of when, when you got introduced to ID life and all of a sudden, you know, Like I said, you had the, the world on your shoulders with regard to where you were, you're learning a whole brand new product line and a whole brand new concept of, of supplementation. What's some of the things that you liked that you saw that when you, when you came to IULF?
Track 1:Well, first of all, Mark, I'm extremely grateful for that first run. It taught me a lot and I learned a lot from a, from a giant in the industry. And, the one thing he always said that the only thing that could ever stop us was ego, arrogance, and pride. And that's probably why the fall, but here's the key thing. I don't think things happen by chance. And I remember that meeting too, and, and Logan and Laura, and, it was epic because, you know, the door opened up that day. You know, and it was that meeting that was monumental, for me to come home and tell Gloria, this is it because, you know, crazy things happen when things fall apart, you know, in this industry. And some of it is just. It's mind boggling. That's a whole nother episode, but what attracted me to you guys was number one relationships still, you know, Todd, having a relationship, was a key. And then I think the biggest thing when you're talking about no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors, those types of things, I was hearing more and more in, in the audience, you know, the younger people, they were like, eh, I don't want to do that because you got sucralose in it. And I'm like, well, I've been taking it for 20 years, you know, like, but I know Mark. Physically puffiness. I mean, I remember the puffiness I felt and just seeing some pictures back then about that same time, you know, that was a big thing. I didn't know I was getting puffy because you see yourself every day in the mirror, but you know, part of the joint inflammation issue and, probably due to a lot of those things that weren't. So I think that presentation there in the part about individualized strip pack of vitamins, I couldn't believe my wife is half as much as weighs half as much as me is taking the same vitamin pack. It just, I'm like, you know, how does she take the same packet? That blew my mind. And I never really got an answer until I came to ID life with you. And you're like, well, you're not going to take the same strip pack. Nobody does. So I'm like, Whoa, that's cool. And then that DNA factor, you know, to get that personalized playbook, I would call it as a coach or a manual for your body, you know, the 40 plus pages, that is also something that was like, no one else has. So when you, those two things were big. You know, big, I'm a sports performance guy, Mark. That's, that's a key for me, but those two were probably the most instrumental in my mindset going, I can do this one more time. I got one more ride in this old cowboy
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:You know, when everyone came over, it was astounding in the first 60 to 75 days, a lot of people had lost a significant amount. I mean, talking eight to 10 pounds, just boom, felt better. The joints didn't hurt and all this. And they're like, Oh, these supplements are amazing. And I was like, guys, it's really not so much the supplements as much as what's not in the supplements anymore. And trying to basically say, Hey, We don't want the credit for this. Let me explain to you what's happening to you physiologically. and by removing the artificial sweeteners, by removing the thousand plus milligrams of caffeine that you're taking per day, because there was caffeine in the vitamins and there was caffeine in the energy and there was, I mean, there was caffeine everywhere and the adrenals were all blown out and the hormones were out of balance. and people started to feel better. what, what, be honest, what I was trying to do at that time is trying to give people transparency of, look, it's not what you think it is. I'm not going to take credit for this. This is really a lifestyle diet change. And that's kind of what ID life stands for is it's, it's, we have replacements. we don't have replacements, we have supplements, but we try to teach people diet and lifestyle choices. the whole idea behind the genetic test to get the foundation, to get your playbook is to get your lifestyle, right? It's not to guide you to a supplement. So let's talk about that. I mean, we are aging, but, when you got your genetic report and all of a sudden you're like, what was some of the aha moments? It was kind of like, Oh, I might have been doing this wrong for a long time. you have a master's degree in exercise physiology. You had coached a lot of kids. you ran the weight room for a lot of different kids and probably looking back, you're like, Oh wow, I had every single one of these kids doing the same thing, but now it's like, Oh, I would do this so differently now.
Track 1:Any straight coach is crazy. If he doesn't look at that model, it would save you gray hair and losing hair because there's nothing more frustrating in the weight room than the gentleman or lady coming up to you going, Hey, I'm doing exactly what you told me to do. And I have zero results or I'm getting worse and you're like, are you getting enough sleep? What are you eating? So I, you try to be a dietitian. You try to be a strength coach. You try to be a sleep analyst. And it just took the guesswork out of guesswork, out of each individual and gave me a place to go so I could. Save time, utilize time factor. So the biggest factor out of that whole bookmark as a farm boy was the ability not to go back and take second helpings right away because my brain did not connect to my head to say you're full. And when I'm winning that 20 minutes plus. I'm not, I might go back and get a little bit, but I'm not getting that full plate, that second full plate. So that, that was probably the biggest factor. And then my wife and I would argue, I was a strength coach. So I'm going to coach my wife in the weight room. And I'm saying, Gloria, you need to bike longer. You need to get on the elliptical longer.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:Oh, like hit, like hit
Track 1:not cross fitting. Yeah, yeah, yeah, high intensity, high intensity, yeah. hit exercises, and guess what? She started losing, inches. Maybe not the scale, but the inches were coming off. And when mom is happy, everybody's happy. That's what a typical guy would tell you, right? So, she found a light bulb there. And then the other part was interesting in the, fat accumulation, hers was more subcontinuously under the skin. And I could hide mine better because mine were in the muscle. So she's like, that's why you can eat as much as you do and you don't get so, so heavy. I'm like, Hey, genetics, man, thank my mom and dad. We ate better at home. We ate more at home. We made better decisions when we went out to eat, not always. I mean, sometimes we break the code, but just being wiser at some of the things that you're realizing the process oils and the different foods out there. And even a lettuce salad looks great on the menu. But it's all that other stuff you put on top of it, you know, and the type of, I never thought about anything grabbing some ranch right off the shelf of the grocery store and throw it in the shopping cart. So, we're becoming wiser shoppers in terms of the grocery store. And I attribute a lot of credit to Gloria. I mean, she does a great job and does the majority of the cooking and I'll do the grilling, but. we work together on that, and you keep improving the tool, where we can take that data and put it into that website now. And you don't have to be an expert because I just don't feel equipped to maybe sometimes read that data to somebody. Now we've got a tool, you know, to be able
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:funny. My, my, you, you mentioned CrossFit a couple of times. My son, when he was young and he said, Hey dad, I want to get into CrossFit. I was like, okay. I was like, I'm going to take you out to the ranch. He's like, what? I said, yeah, I'm going to take you out to the ranch. I'm going to let you work out there for a day. I said, I'm going to put you through all the things I went through as a kid. And he goes, this isn't CrossFit. I said, Oh, really? Now go to the CrossFit gym and see all the things CrossFit got stolen from the ranch and the farm. I mean, let's be real.
Track 1:Yeah, I, I agree.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:CrossFit was real.
Track 1:putting fence in, baling hay, moving rocks.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:you get it all done.
Track 1:Yeah,
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:So, you know, you were instrumental in pushing ID life into designing and developing a new fitness line. let's just be real, you were, and I asked you to be patient and thank God you were, not always readily patient, but you were patient. And the reason why I wanted you to be patient is because we wanted to make sure we got it right. and we wanted to make sure we took the time to get the contracts and relationships with the raw material providers and things like that. And we did launch that, almost a year ago now, it seems like, and, we are getting some pretty amazing results from folks. Let's talk about the, the evolution of the ID fitness line and what it's meant to you, what you've kind of seen and some of the stories that you've heard about it.
Track 1:Well, I wouldn't even be in this industry, Mark, if it wasn't for fitness products. recovery products are extremely important. pre workout products, extremely important. And, when this new product line, that you worked to bring out came out, I was jacked sideways, you know, off of one sample and, other people like Pete trainer, our only full time strength coach in Iowa high school, you know, he goes, I'll pay double for that if I can get it right now. So we had several people that only went off of one sample, but I tell you what, the big difference Mark, for me in the age factor was. Getting those extra reps with the work product, getting those extra reps in my set where normally I would struggle with, let's say you did a set of 10, do an eight, nine, and 10. I would have to really struggle. And I was, I was just powering through those with the same weight, you know, using the product line. And the other thing is I was so used to trying to get jacked up. Before the workout, you know, caffeinated up where I'm feeling, you know, that, you know, as I got older, I don't know if I need all that, you know, so there was this, you're talking decaf. I was freaking out when you said decaffeinated in that work product. I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's not even going to sell. Now we know it's selling pretty well right now, And then the recovery product, I know I was trying to beat you over the head with a hammer going, Mark, I got to have this product to help me sleep better. And you go, well, Joe, if you look at the ingredients on there, you actually have some of those ingredients in that recover product. And I'm like, Oh, double whammy. Not only can it help me recover my muscles, but it can get me better sleep. So we got a double whammy product and longevity is a big word. And then you brought out the, missile or the big surprise with the load. Because when you said there's ATP, HMB, and creatine, monohydrate, and a high level, you know, and that's some cheap, that being the only product on the market, I, that was the Christmas present of Christmas presents for anybody in the U. S. In the world that loves to work out. And I know our women are on fire with it, which is kind of a pleasant surprise. So yeah, the one, two, three punch Mark, our fit line, you know, put it up against anybody and you know what, we're not the cheapest on the market. We know that that was never a goal. You guys have never brought that out, but I tell you what, I'd rather have a quality workout.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:You know, the one thing I always tell people is when you're doing research and development, you have two ways that you can develop products. the first way is here's your budget. Design a product within the budget. It can't go above this. The other way is I want the best product available on the market today. If you do it the second way, which is the way we develop everything, you don't get to ask about price until it's done And then, so what's strange about ID life is when we send out samples to you and other people that help us develop these products along the line, as I always say, I'm the test dummy for everything. So if something goes wrong, it's going to happen to me first. So, you know, I always tell them, check the chemicals in my body from all these supplements that I'm designing first. But, the idea behind that is once we say, yes, this is what we want, this is what works. Then we're like, okay, how much does it cost? Because you can't have cost and best in the same conversation. And we don't want to be second to anybody. as I say, there may be something out there as good, but you're never going to find anything better. It just doesn't exist. And if you do by chance, let us know and we'll change. we'll get better. But, you know, in the line, it is crazy because one of the things you mentioned, which is absolutely true. We weren't just designing a fitness line. We were designing a longevity line. there was something in there that we noticed that people started dealing with, which was the loss of lean muscle. there's two main ingredients for longevity. One is the amount of lean muscle that you have on your body as you age. The second, which a lot of people aren't familiar with is actually grip strength. testing somebody's grip strength will actually tell you from a longevity standpoint, you know, what their expectations are in women are the ones that lose their grip strength faster than anyone else. so in designing this product, it was like, Hey, can we do something that at least. Carves off or help stave off the ill effects of what we call sarcopenia, the loss of lean muscle mass 1 percent per year, starting at age 30 for women, is there something we can provide them that that can help them with that? I mean, helps men to obviously, I mean, I'm lifting more now than I ever have before. At the end of the day, that was kind of the concept behind it. But what was interesting is you were telling me a story the other day that I kind of want you to replay on this one because I found it absolutely amusing, which was you have now been using the fitness line for a good bit of time, but you decided, Hey, you know what? I'm going to go work out and I'm not going to take anything. Let's talk.
Track 1:Not a good decision.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:your bloodstream. I mean, you've been going with it for a long time and all of a sudden, just one day, you're like, Hey, I don't have anything today, but I can still knock out this workout. Let's how did that work out for you?
Track 1:Well, got behind in my schedule and just still wanted to get a workout in and just was flying and I thought, you know, I'm just going to work out. Don't have time to take the work. And, I struggled so bad. I was like, I fell asleep. I couldn't finish my reps. I was getting, I almost quit. I mean, I was so frustrated, Mark. I felt like, it can't make that big a difference. Right. Yeah, it does. It does make that big a difference. That was the only day, since it's been revealed that I'd never worked out without taking the product prior to the workout, you know, sometimes it's not magical, it's five minutes before I work out. So I let it kind of get into me as I'm going other time. I, you know, half an hour to 20 minutes before. Zero, taking zero product. I got zero results in that workout. So I'd call it a waste day for working out is what I'd call it.
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:Yeah. Lactic acid was real that day. Well, Joe, you recently, were provided an opportunity to do something for a second time. and I know this is a passion project for you. You and I actually haven't had a conversation about it, but, I got to see your announcement. I know I've spoken to your wife about it and she's told me how excited you are. So it looks like you are now a head coach, but not just a head coach, a head football coach. Once again, so let's talk about that,
Track 1:Yes, sir. I've been at Union High School with a youth program, middle school program, high school program, 24 years and resources, time and effort. Love it. Always will bleed black and red. But, this last year I was an assistant for the high school program. And I just felt this internal renewal of my energy and, a neighboring school that it's only one more minute to drive to reached out and said, would you be interested? And I'm like. You know what? I'd be interested in taking a look and a long story short, we interviewed and it was just, I renewal my spirit, Mark. I mean, I felt like I got more gas in the tank to give and, out of 48 teams in the classification, their 48th. So we're at the bottom of the barrel, but I look at that as a great opportunity to start with the relationship with the kids. Again, that whole thing, you and I already talked about, you know, do we want to win games? Absolutely. I'm not going over there to lose, but I also understand that there's a process and football is like a giant ocean liner trying to turn around in the ocean. It's not a speedboat, you know, basketball, some of the other sports, you can have one or two great athletes and you can turn it around quickly. You know, it's an ocean liner that's going to slowly turn. And it's going to take time through the process to make that happen. And the end result can be winning, but relationships come before the win and culture, faith, and leadership. Those are three words we build our ID life business with will apply here too. We've got to get the culture changed. We've got to rip it apart with a Bowie knife and start over from scratch, from every little detail and understand that there are things that are necessary on the foundational level year one. And it's going to go back to give me, give me some trust. I'm going to have to earn it for a year. And let's put it together and the first thing mark was starting with the coaching staff and I've met some great people over there. In fact, every 1 of them, I'm retaining every 1 of them that were over there, adding some, influence from some of the guys that I've coached with before, or, you know, even my son is looking at, possibly joining me. So we're still working out the details on that. But I'm excited, Mark. It's like a renewal in my spirit. I got to tell you, I'm more excited on the phone and I'm, I'm pumped up. And, I'm really excited to
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:you know, and, and I want people to hear the passion that's in your voice. Cause sometimes things get lost, you know, and people don't appreciate, the, the internal, juice that basically gets you going. And for you, it is coaching young athletes, but you know, one of the things I tell people all the time is losing is contagious as much as winning is contagious. and you mentioned something that I think is probably going to be the biggest differentiation that you're going to bring to that school, which is culture. you know, I mean, everything rises and falls with culture leadership. I mean, it just, it just, it's part of what this is and you're bringing something that they didn't have before, which is hope you've been there. You've done that. You know what it takes. So guess what? Everyone is going to rise up. to the leader. That's just what happens. and I wish you only the greatest of luck. And I know you're going to be successful. I know it's a, it's, it's, it is a, it's a battleship. It's going to take a little while to turn around, maybe an aircraft carrier who knows it's just going to take a little while, but you know, If there was one thing that you would want everyone on this podcast to know about leadership, you know, you would be reminisce if you didn't give them that one nugget of things that, you know, do all of your years of coaching and learning and talking to Charlie before he passed and all the things he talked to you about, what's that one thing that you would want everyone to know about leadership?
Track 1:Well, you said the most important message, everything rises and falls with leadership. But if that's true, then what? How can I change myself? Right? how can I get better? It's through the people you associate, the books you read, the podcasts you listen to like this one. If you're listening to this point, you're on this podcast. Congratulations. Cause 90 percent of people haven't got to the end of the podcast. They hung up before you're getting the most important message of the whole day right here. So those that finish what they start have a better chance of succeeding in life. And as a person that questions your leadership, where are you? Hey, the greatest part about that, Mark, is we can raise that up. You know, you can work on leadership. It is something that can be taught, but it's caught by people that are showing the example out there. So look in the mirror, ask somebody else as close to you on a one to 10 scale, where are you at? And then if you have the desire, which is the key word, desire, everybody's disgusted with the world. Everybody's disgusted with the economy. A lot of people are disgusted with their genetics or their workout routine, but I'll take a person that has strong desire over a person that has strong disgust any day, we'll move the world on desire. If you desire to raise yourself as a leader, get around people that are like minded man, the stinking thinking people there. you got to cut the cord. You got to burn the ships and move forward because that's the only way we're going to change this country. And, for me, it's on the football field with young men, just like you said, in your baseball journey, Mark, you felt called to, change those young boys into young men. It's got to start there. we've got to get the men to rise up and, as a leader, you can work on it, Mark, you can invest in yourself, you can associate with others. And I encourage you to do that and start today, start
mark-bennett_1_03-12-2024_092700:Joe, on behalf of myself and on behalf of ID life, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to do this podcast. this is one of my personal favorites. you know, I, I really have enjoyed just having a conversation. But most importantly, I think. There's going to be some people that are going to get a lot of value out of your life lessons. And again, I wish you all of the greatest luck in your next endeavor. I think you're going to turn it a little bit faster than you think you will. but if anyone knows how to do it, you do, but, on behalf of myself and Idealife, thanks for being here. thanks for everyone for listening. until next time, this is Mark Bennett. I'll talk to you real soon.