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David Meltzer: Pro Sports Recovery & Fitness on the Road (Podcast)

Written by David Tao
Last updated on August 10th, 2023

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David Meltzer is the co-founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and he was formerly CEO of the sports agency that was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire. Today, he’s an international best-selling author and motivational speaker who consults with some of the world’s biggest pro sports leagues, teams, and athletes. David joins the BarBend Podcast to talk about which high-tech recovery techniques will become mainstream, what teams like the Los Angeles Lakers are doing on the cutting edge of strength performance, and how pro athletes handle aging and performance decline.

https://youtu.be/afYs6QV5EP4

In this episode of the BarBend Podcast, David Thomas Tao talks to David Meltzer about:

  • Managing an almost constant travel schedule (2:15)
  • The emphasis on health with age, and “the gradual accumulation of how fitness starts to deteriorate” (2:50)
  • What 99% of people forget about fitness (3:48)
  • The hierarchy of fitness/nutrition/recovery/sleep (5:50)
  • The “high-tech” fitness trends in the 90s that have become mainstream today (8:50)
  • The big business of testosterone therapy (12:00)
  • How pro sports leagues like the MLB and NBA have viewed strength training, and how that continues to evolve (14:15)
  • The next wave of recovery for elite pro athletes (16:26)
  • How pro athletes handle aging and performance decline (18:00)
  • Why pro sports teams compete on recover and the “recovery arms race” (21:00)
  • Strength and fitness’ ability on your business performance (23:39)

Relevant links and further reading:

Transcription

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

…throughout all the different sports. I think everybody is on that path. The margins used to be like, “Oh, yeah.” These guys, the Lakers, were doing this crazy stuff, but nobody else.

 

Now, the difference between the Prudential guys, Barkley guys, and the Lakers are very minimal. They’re just trying out different types of modalities, different types of coaches, different types of nutrition and science.

 

It’s really fun because the more they all explore…They’re all doing the same thing. We are not going to learn as much as the general public.

David TaoDavid Tao

Welcome to the “BarBend Podcast,” where we talk to smartest athletes, coaches and minds from around the world of strength. I’m your host, David Thomas Tao. This podcast is presented by barbend.com.

 

Today, I’m talking to David Meltzer. David is the co-founder of Sports 1 Marketing and formerly served as a CEO of the renowned Leigh Steinberg Sports and Entertainment Agency, which was the inspiration for the movie “Jerry Maguire.”

 

He’s a three-time international best-selling author, a Top-100 business coach, the executive producer of entrepreneurs number-one digital business show, “Elevator Pitch,” and host of the top entrepreneur podcast “The Playbook.”

 

David is on a mission to inspire one billion people — that’s right, with a “B,” to be happier — and a huge component of that is through fitness. In today’s episode, we talk about how David’s outlook on fitness has influenced his path to becoming one of the world’s most in-demand entrepreneurs, along with his fitness routine on the road.

 

We also chat about which professional athletes and pro leagues are on the cutting edge of sports performance and technology, especially when it comes to strength and conditioning.

 

Also, I want to take a second to say we’re incredibly thankful that you listen to this podcast. If you haven’t already, be sure to leave a rating and review of the BarBend Podcast in your app of choice. Now let’s get to it.

 

David, thanks so much for joining me today. As a guest on your podcast, I feel like I learn something every time I listen and I definitely learned something when I was a guest. I really appreciate that.

 

You just got back from a pretty significant spat of travel. Is that correct?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Yeah. Since January first almost every day, but I had family with me, etc., so it was a heck of a January and February.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

That takes the edge off a little bit. When we were last chatting, you talked a lot about your fitness routine and visiting gyms while on the road. Is that a big part of your travel agenda and how has it evolved over the years?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

It’s really evolved, number one, just the idea of fitness itself. I think depending on your age, you start getting clarity on how important your health is.

I was always somebody — and I’m sure people out there are going to listen and say, “Yeah, that’s me,” — I put my family first, and I’m sure everyone’s living going, “Yeah, of course, you did.” I have four kids. Then I put my activity I got paid for next, most people call that work but I’m blessed, it’s just activity I get paid for.

And then my health, and what I started realizing because I played sports in college and because I was extremely fit through my 20s that in my mind, I was always that fit through my 30s and in through my mid-40s, in my mind.

I did not see the gradual accumulation of how fitness was starting to deteriorate my life until, thank goodness, my wife told me when I made a recovery economically and asked her, “What can I get you, anything?” and she said, “You need to take care of yourself first because I know you’re going to take care of others if you take care of yourself.”

So, as a premise, the first switch is just putting your health first. I don’t think 99 percent of the people understand that. They think they’re doing themselves and their families justice by putting their family first or their work first.

Anyway, then I had to just say, “OK,” and I went through this period after I put my health first of this routine. I had a routine when I was at home. Normally, I don’t travel for two straight months like I did. To carry a routine with the right equipment, and the right food, and the right stretching, and the right balance, it didn’t fit when I was on the road and so I just skipped it.

Number one, making it a priority, then, two, making my routine at home the same as I could do on the road and taking the extra time to make sure that, because fitness was first, a minimum of an hour a day on my health, that I had the right equipment on the road, and the right food on the road.

I was bummed but I got a first class upgrade because of coronavirus.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I’m so sorry to hear about that.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

The super first upgrade, the full bed and I was like, because I was so prepared with my ziplock full of food.

David TaoDavid Tao

You were preparing for a more arduous journey…

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Exactly.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 …than sardine-canned in there with everyone else.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Yes. We left at five, I wanted to have a healthy dinner, and so I packed my ziplock. My wife was laughing at me and then here and now, I got poke and fillet.

 

But I think to that point, I think preparation and understanding. But the two key things in my evolution is staying fit, was putting it first, and having the right road routine that’s similar to the home routine. Food, stretching and working out.

David TaoDavid Tao

I think it’s really important and you say, when you talk about road routine, you’re not just talking about a gym workout. I get a lot of texts from friends or emails from friends who are like, “Hey, I’m going on a workshop. Can you give me some workouts I can do in my hotel room or at a hotel gym?

 

Sure, I can, but if you’re eating like crap and you’re sleeping like crap, and that’s so different than what you’re experiencing in your normal home environment, you’re not going to make that same level of progress. You’re going to lose fitness and you’re going to lose a sense of wellness even when you’re on the road.

 

I like how you view that holistically. For you, is there a part of that, call it sleep and recovery, food nutrition, exercise, and movement, is there a part of that equation that you find yourself often coming up most short in or most often?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 For sure, food.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Really?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 Yeah. For me, it’s really difficult, because in order to really do it, I would have to pack food most likely. My schedule is so active on the road. I have a sleep quote. Sleep is really not…That’s the easiest one for me. I sleep really well.

 

Next, fitness is easier to plan than food. You can sit at home and call a hotel or see a 24 Hour Fitness, or chart out where you’re going to run at the park, and you can see the weather. There are so many things you can see. I just find that the food side of it is so difficult to stay on, like you said, a real routine.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

It’s something that’s evolved over time. In my opinion, and you’ve been traveling for a lot longer than I have and you’re…

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 Much older. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 …much more seasoned on the road, let’s put it that way, than I am, I feel like even from my perspective over the past 10 years, healthy eating on the road has become more accessible. Part of that is due to the globalization of certain food brands, and also the mega food brands saying the consumers want something maybe a little bit healthier. How are you seeing that play out, especially internationally?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Absolutely. This building that we’re in here in Manhattan is living proof compared to even five years ago. There’s the Sweetgreens, and the Whole Foods, and the blah, blah, blah.

 

Even in this office space, I have healthy protein bars behind me and other things that would never have been available. Now, there’s apple and other stuff that are behind me that I just had to grab, when in the past, it was…One of the biggest misguided foods was trail mix in my generation.

David TaoDavid Tao

You mean candy?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Yeah.

I thought it was healthy. I travel a lot. Those airport bags, until I made that mistake one day and turned it over and said, “Wait, this whole bag is 750 grams.” It was calories, and it was terrible for me. I thought I was eating healthy.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Trail mix is just Peanut M&Ms with the peanuts and the M&Ms separated out.

That’s all it is. For some reason, we have that, if we can see the nut, we have the perception.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

The [inaudible 8:05] crazy in there, too.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Yeah, just for texture.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 It’s just like Cranapple. I used to think I was being healthy having a Cranapple on the plane or whatever that drink was. It had more sugar…It was ridiculous. I was killing myself thinking I was being healthy.

David TaoDavid Tao

One thing that I always find interesting, and a reason that I started BarBend, is I love seeing what lessons people in elite performance, the top-performing athletes, what they’re doing for fitness, nutrition, recovery, because we see gradually over the years and the decades that trickle down to the general population.

 

The people who are making big bucks setting world records, that high performance level, they are oftentimes trying these things out and then the things that stick will trickle down to the general population, will experience that as well.

 

You’ve worked closely with some of the world’s top-performing athletes for decades. You were the guy. You had everyone on speed dial when it came to top athletes across sports. What are some of the trends that you saw maybe call it the ’90s or early 2000s that the top performers were doing across the sports world, and now they’re something that anyone who is just worried about their wellness might be focusing on?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

It’s amazing. It’s simple as stretching. People did not stretch and balance, but even beyond that, the cryo side of things that are going on.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Cryotherapy?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Yeah, cryotherapy was early. Now it seems to be really mainstream. There are franchises of cryotherapy and ultra-therapies. Also the neural side of stuff. Very early on, maybe I was more exposed to it, because of the CT type of cancer that we had in our sports agencies from such an early day.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Oh, for like close [inaudible 9:40] treats.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

It literally led to the neural activity baseline testing, neural therapy. There’s all types of different devices and MLMs even now that I see in the mess that are available.

 

I think massage is a really big side. There’s an athlete, no one else will probably know who this is, but Danny Schayes played 18 years in the NBA. His father was one of the top 50 players — Dolph Schayes — of all times.

 

Danny played 18 years because he literally took a holistic approach to his fitness. He was massaged, he did yoga, all these different things that now, the top athletes were doing 25 to 30 years ago, now everybody is involved in doing that. To that matter, now you’ll see even more within the context of what these athletes are doing in the sensory cortex of their minds.

 

If you go to the EFC Performance Center…I’m blessed to be working on the Olympic Committee as I get up to Colorado as well. There’s some extraordinary things that these athletes, I see, that are exposed to today, that are probably because the accelerated curve, only two years from being mass type of applications that we can take advantage of.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

ou gave some really good examples there, the one that always comes to me for me is Steve Nash, later in his career became famous as the guy who made sleep journals popular in the NBA.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Now you’re hitting right up my alley.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Right and then, obviously, Tom Brady. There are literal books written about the stuff that he’s trying to extend to his impressive playing career. [inaudible 11:16] playing career no matter if you’re a Pats fan or not. Are there any other examples that stick out in your mind of specific athletes who have done focused on this thing and it’s added years to their career.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

I’ll use one on sleep, [inaudible 11:27] as a whole team. Meeta Singh, who’s my sleep coach and she’s a sleep coach in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. She coached the nationals, who for the first time, they’re the first World Series winning team to win all four row games, which sleep is always been a huge factor in performance in play-offs and World Series because it catches up to you. There’s so many games in different time zones, back and forth, it’s really interesting.

 

Look at the best athletes Kobe Bryant. His regimen and routine was ridiculous. His career, the things…You don’t even remember he went to Europe to heal.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

atelet-rich therapy, was that correct?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Yeah. He was doing stem, platelet-rich therapy. Stem is another area that I see giving into the masses. As the safety and their testing goes, you’ll see extraordinary applications. Also the use of testosterone, this might sound interesting, but it’s a huge business.

 

Not if you’re taking 4,000 milliliter, whatever it is of it, but as you’ll see the corporate executives who are middle-aged normally, and right now middle-aged men, are our corporate CEOs, just percentage wise. You’ll see testosterone therapy more and more and more if it’s not already hit the masses. It’s a multi-billion dollar business.

 

I see a lot of executives telling me to go get tested, try it out, it changed their whole life. The analogy they gave me that interested me because I’ve always had the sports side of it…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 That’s a dirty word. Exactly.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Don’t say steroids around me, [inaudible 13:12]. But Dave, if you’re deficient in vitamin D, won’t you take some?

David TaoDavid Tao

 

I am deficient in vitamin D, and last time I saw my Doctor he was like, “Hey, go get some vitamin D.”

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

You got to live in the sun I guess. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Yeah, that’s part of the issue with living in New York. I’m pale…

You’ve got a nice base tan on. We’re going to have to change the coloring of the video post.

I do want to talk a little bit about, just because this is the BarBend Podcast, we do focus on strength training, strength sports, strength mean a lot of different things.

It’s not just can you put a thousand pounds on your back and set a world record. Some people can, great, we think strength is for everyone.

Let’s talk about the approach and viewpoint of strength training or approach to strength training in some of the more mainstream, especially team sports. We’ve seen [inaudible 13:55] over the last few decades. For years and years and years, even when I was in high school, I heard, don’t squat all the way down, it’s bad for your knees.

We know better now, so how are lessons like that impacting the approach to strength training and someone in the NBA might have, the MBL might have. People have long seasons. They take a lot of abuse basically.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

You nailed it though is the education of positioning when you’re doing certain exercises. Simple changes, instead of parallel toes, toes out to protect the knees. When you’re talking about strength training, but strength training applies to every athlete, because there’s scientific proof now that, the stronger you are, the longer in the season you’ll last, the longer your career will be.

 

When the dollars are so big, there’s really a lot more focus placed upon that. I see the doctors, the trainers, the physical therapists, all looking at strength in a different way. We’re looking at full body strength. Also, one of the other areas that I think is interesting is specific strength.

 

There’s, through technology, these unbelievable strength measuring and practicing like the UFC Performance center, they have one that shows your torque, the strength for the moves that you need to do, specific to being a UFC star.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

That reminds me in “Rocky 4,” all the scenes of Ivan Drago, this is super nerding out, and they have the force play, they’re trying to figure out the PSI behind his punches, that was…

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

It’s nothing compared to UFC, what they have.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

That was science fiction, but it’s a reality for these fighters now.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

It’s probably rudimentary reality, these things that they have. They actually have a pad on the ground to show the nerves of your legs while you’re punching. Then showing you the PSI in the specific area and how positioning yourself differently…

David TaoDavid Tao

 I’m so terrified of, if I ever had the opportunity to actually use those, I’d be really afraid the readings would come out so low, that they’d be like, “We weren’t able to read that, insufficient data.” That’s my biggest fear.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

[inaudible 16:00] broke.

David TaoDavid Tao

Your career in sports, working with some of the top athletes, the top teams, the top leagues, it’s at that level. You work with the Olympic Committee and multiple leagues. We’ve seen athletes really push the boundaries of what was once thought possible as far as the length of their careers. Football, basketball, baseball, golf, we’re seeing that more and more these days.

 

What are some other components that these athletes are using, or strategies they’re using, approaches that teams and leagues are taking that you think is allowing that to happen.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

I think the nutrition side of strength is important. The stress on core, core is a big deal. If you look at why careers end, a lot of them end on a back or a neck essential damage.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

It’s not [inaudible 16:48].

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

No, not all. It’s interesting because my day-to-day business partner, Lauren Moon, played football till he was 44. He was a person that treated his body like a temple. No drugs, no alcohol — anything through that career. He stretched and he was very strong for a quarterback, and very specific in his training. A lot of that was strength and recovery, which I think go hand in hand as well.

David TaoDavid Tao

There’s a lot of….not to say research says off the top of my head, there’s a lot of research that suggests and anecdotal evidence that suggests that your body starts losing certain types of muscle fiber at 30, 31, 32, which has me really considering my day-to-day and gets me motivated to go back to the gym.

 

But, if athletes are playing well until their late 30s and early 40s, that’s certainly a consideration, because you’re seeing that decline way earlier than we might anticipate. We see something 33, that’s not old, but when it comes to a league performance, it can make a difference especially on recovery.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Yeah, it’s interesting because there’s speed and strength, right? I think those fibers, the speed fibers definitely leave you. I see that more and more, even over 40. There’s less elite athletes over 40. The most common thing that the great athletes that I know talk about is the speed. Whereas, the strength, they actually can get stronger.

 

It’s really interesting. You can go to the gym and see just in the general public how that’s working out with different age groups and how the biochemistry and the muscles work.

 

Once again, I think it’s important because these elite athletes are leading us into how to live longer. It’s one thing to play longer but it really can help you if you’re looking at somebody that can play until they’re 44 or 40, like Tom Brady, showing people, “Look. If you treat yourself correctly, I can actually play at the highest level until I’m 45 or maybe even 50,” like he wanted at one time.

 

I love that about Tom Brady. How at 40, he’s like, “I’m going to play for 50 for sure.” Notice how now he’s backed off of that those three…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

He’s down to 45-46 at this point.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Yeah. Exactly because it’s interesting because no matter how you explain it to people, there’s no way you could ever explain to someone what it’s like to have a child, what it’s like to be married, or what it’s like to get old. The reason is, I don’t think anybody believes you.

 

They have to experience it themselves. They go, “Oh, no. My marriage won’t be that way. Oh, no. I won’t be that kind of [inaudible 19:17]. My kids…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 I’m different.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

 I’ll never say that to my kid. “Because I told you.” I would have bet you over a million dollars, when I was in my 20s that when I had kids, I would never tell them, “Because I told you.”

David TaoDavid Tao

 

 [laughs] It became a go-to.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Yeah. It’s a go-to.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Who out there right now is really impressing you? You mentioned your sleep coach. Who’s impressing you? It could be an individual level, a team level, a league level, with their focus on longevity and holistic wellness for the athlete.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Sean McVay for the Rams. He is all over all these different alternative methodologies that deal with mind, body, and soul combined. He’s looking to all types of different coaches and inspirational stuff. Really leading the way.

 

Maybe he’s in my backyard and I see it. The Lakers have always been extraordinary on the physical side. They were the first to have chiropractic, yoga, holistic stuff and mental training…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Such an LA approach. Of course, they had to be the first.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Yeah. On the other side, the Yankees have always been, in baseball, leading the way and it may be just because they had the most money. I think it’s really interesting now, throughout all the different sports, I think everybody is on that path. The margins used to be like, “Oh yeah, the Lakers were doing this crazy stuff but nobody else.”

 

Now, the difference between the Prudential guys and the Barkley guys and the Lakers are very minimal. They’re just trying out different types of modalities, different type of coaches, different type of nutrition and science. It’s really fun because the more they all explore…If they’re all doing the same thing, we’re not going to learn as much as the general public.

 

But because they’re all so competitive, and the money’s so great that it motivates them. I know because I consult for a lot of the companies coming in…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

So you see the stakes, you see what’s on the table.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Exactly, and that’s the ROI that we’re pitching into the teams, going, “Look, if we just get this much more of a performance or we can heal somebody a week faster…”

 

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Oh my God, that’s hugely impactful.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Yeah, hugely impactful. I think that’s what’s really exciting to me is that it’s not just a few, it’s all, and it’s faster.

David TaoDavid Tao

 It’s a recovery arms race that eventually may benefit all of us.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

 [laughs] Right, which is really good.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

Normally, when companies just throw money at each other, the [inaudible 21:44] into “How does it benefit me, the consumer?” It’s not always super tangible, but in the sports world, we can see these technologies develop. Hopefully, over time, as they develop and as they become more common, they get cheaper, which makes it more accessible to you and me.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Aligned with what you do in the strength side of thing with BarBend, one of the things that I had to study up on the coronavirus, because I’m getting called in as an analyst for a lot of people to talk about how it will impact the marketing and attendance and all the monetary things that I know about.

 

The interesting thing that I’ve found out about strength so far through my research is the immune system is also strength. People that are strong have stronger immune systems. It’s really interesting. Talk about again, imagine this virus, and you have this strength program that then you say, “Look, your team’s less likely to go down.”

 

Because what’s it going to cost one of these teams if they get the virus?

David TaoDavid Tao

 

We’re already seeing the impacts in Italy. They’ve banned spectators in all professional sporting events. You don’t have a gate. The ticket sales are nonexistent now.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

But imagine if the team can’t play. Forget the spectators, nobody’s going to want to come. [laughs]

David TaoDavid Tao

 

hat’s halfway there, imagine if it’s all the way there. It’s a complete shutdown.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Yeah, exactly. One guy gets into the team’s locker rooms, that’s a very viral disease, it’s going to spread.

David TaoDavid Tao

One last topic I wanted you to touch on. This is something we talked about a little before the podcast is the relationship — it could be strength specific, it could be fitness specific — between that aspect of wellness and business performance, cognitive performance.

 

Look, most people listening to this podcast, they’re not professional athletes. What they do the other 23 hours of the day is going to be much more important for their income, more important to generally where they go in life than that hour or two they’re spending in the gym, even though it’s really important.

 

What impact does that have on your performance in the boardroom, in business, and just being a professional outside the gym?

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

ell, it’s efficiency, effectiveness, and statistical success. Quantitatively, I have looked and analyzed and still do because I want to improve upon this. My ability because of my fitness and my strength to go ahead and work the amount of productive hours — where I say, activity I get paid for — productive hours. How efficient I am with those hours. How statistically successful I am.

 

Most people can’t travel the way that I do. They can’t sleep the way that I do. They can’t move the way that I do. It goes all the way, stronger you are, the more balanced that you have.

 

When people talk about this virus killing people, go look up how much balance, how many people balance kills? Meaning, OK, older people are more exposed to this virus and there’s a certain percentage. Why so many people die from falling? It’s ridiculous.

 

Strength is, I’m telling you, it applies to so much. I didn’t realize it because I’m one of those guys that…I’m 52. At 42, I would’ve told you I was in great shape. I’m in better shape at 52 than I am at 42. It was in my mind, because I didn’t know like I am flexible. I am way stronger, endurance wise, way stronger. My immune system way stronger. All these different things.

 

You add them all up into your daily corporate activities as a leader, motivating people through my inspiration and energy, I light up a room because of my strength. What if I was tired? As I travel 200 days a year to this place, even these interviews. The brand builds because of the energy and strength.

 

It is the core, no pun intended, to what I do is making sure, which is why is my number one priority.

David TaoDavid Tao

Approaching a heavy barbell or approaching a heavy lift takes a lot of concentration. You have to summon a connection between body and mind. You have to be on. That level of being on reminds me of going into an interview.

 

Reminds me it’s the same feeling when I look at a heavy barbell, I’m trying to go for heavy back squat or heavy clean or heavy deadlift as I’m not about to speak to a group of people or an I’m about to interview an impressive person. Not that I would know anything about that today.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

Honestly, I think even more than that, when you apply it to life, it’s your perception of what you can do. Anyone that’s lifted heavy weights and strength, they’ve been there were like, “I can’t do one more wrap.” Then, they pump out three more. Where does that energy come from? It’s the same thing.

 

People, it’s that consistent, persistent pursuit of your potential. It’s exemplified in that strength training where, “Gosh, you come off a workout by doing that. Now you’re in a meeting?” It carries over. Everyone else is ready to quit. You’re like, “No, no, let’s do three more. We can get this…”

 

I don’t think there’s a better way through that type of training, just to see what you can do. The confidence in believing in yourself are so important. That absolutely everyone has their personal best. Everyone’s gone through a workout where they thought they were dead and they were able to do another rap or another…

 

Everyone’s done that. Even to the point where basically I’ve had these days, I’ve woken up and my mindset, “You know what? I’ll just take the day off.” Then, I remind myself, “No, consistency. You’re going to s going to go and lower the bar. We’re just going to go and do 30 minutes like cardio stretch and balance. That’ll be an hour. Don’t worry.”

 

Then, you go in and somehow after the first five minutes…

David TaoDavid Tao

 

You find the next gear.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Exactly. Then, how great do you feel? You’re like almost patting yourself on the back afterwards. That’s what we want to do through what you’re teaching and also promoting as well as what is a general priority. Just change the world that people start putting that first, that minimum of an hour a day on your behalf.

David TaoDavid Tao

 

David, thanks so much for joining us today. It’s always a pleasure to chat.

David MeltzerDavid Meltzer

 

Oh, my pleasure. Thank you so much.

About David Tao

BarBend's Co-Founder and CEO, David is a veteran of the health & fitness industry, with nearly a decade of experience building and running editorial teams in the space. He also serves as a color commentator for both National and International weightlifting competitions, many through USA Weightlifting.

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BarBend

BarBend is an independent website. The views expressed on this site may come from individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the view of BarBend or any other organization. BarBend is the Official Media Partner of USA Weightlifting.