Alex opens up about his years-long battle with performance obsession, burnout, and a hidden addiction to Adderall. What began as a drive to "get the physique" spiraled into overtraining, under-recovering, and chasing a shredded look at the cost of his mental and physical health. A serious injury and a breaking point in his personal life forced him to confront what he was running from — and how much he’d been avoiding.

Alex shares how rebuilding his relationship with food, training, and himself has given him a new mission: to pursue sustainable progress, not perfection. But that doesn’t mean the struggle is over — he's standing at the edge of his next challenge: bulking. And with it comes old fears of bloating, body image, and letting go of his abs.

This is an honest conversation about identity, control, and learning to trust the process — even when it’s uncomfortable.

Ryan is stuck in a battle a lot of men never talk about: the fear that changing his body might change how he’s seen - by the world, by his family, and by himself.

He’s no longer chasing a six-pack for vanity. He’s chasing a bigger goal: becoming the kind of role model his daughters deserve.

But to do that, he has to wrestle down the old fears - of getting too lean, of looking "too small," of not being "enough."

This is a raw, vulnerable conversation about what it really takes to fight for growth when staying the same feels safer.

Ryan knows the man he wants to be. The question is: **can he stay in the discomfort long enough to become him?

It started with a moment of quiet shame: his girlfriend swooning over a Twilight actor’s abs while Sam sat next to her, skinny-fat and stuck. That moment sent him chasing change — first through generic magazine workouts, then into the hands of a “pro” coach who gave him abs, yes, but also exhaustion, rebound weight gain, and a deep sense of failure.

Sam rebuilt himself the hard way — through obsession, mentorship, and reps. He became the coach he once needed. But success brought its own trap: business mentors told him to prioritize profit over people. That wasn’t who he wanted to be.

In this episode, Sam shares what pulled him back to coaching for the right reasons, the personal loss that changed how he shows up for clients, and why empathy — not macros — is his real coaching superpower.