Welcome to a solo episode of the Rockman Podcast.
It's to celebrate the fact that we've hit 1000 subscribers
finally. I I know it's measly numbers
compared to the big people and the big dogs out there, but this
is quite a big milestone for me and Rockman and the podcast.
It's just proves that it is growing.
People aren't listening. I cannot believe it.
So hopefully we've got a few people that are actually going
to tune into this one as well. Believe it or not, even though
it's AQ and A with me, Terry, the founder of the Rockman
podcast, God knows if it's going to go all right or not or
whether you're actually going to get any value.
But I will try my best because believe it or not, Because
believe it or not, a few of you are actually listening and are
interested in the podcast and Rockman and what I've got to
say, dare I say it? So I've asked for a few
questions from listeners. I've got a nice list here.
So first and foremost, thank you for everyone that sent a
question in. I will try and answer it as best
I can and as honestly as I can, and hopefully this solo episode
will be actually something worth listening to.
Who knows, You guys will be the judge of that.
Don't forget this is obviously a Rockman podcast as well.
This is hosted by Rockman, which is the challenge driven training
protocol. So if you're finding your
training a bit boring at the moment, or if you're feeling
like you're falling off the wagon or you want to inject some
spice into your training, you can try out Rockman where we
sort of blend training and challenges together to keep you
motivated long term, Not just signing up for another training
plan that you download and then give up after 2 weeks.
By integrating challenges into your training, you not only push
yourself harder, dig deeper, go further, but you motivate
yourself long term and hopefully hitting those fitness goals.
So let's dive in straight away with the questions.
Dave Collins says you talk about discipline a lot.
Be honest. Where are you actually
undisciplined? I'm probably most undisciplined
on all areas of fitness and life to be honest.
But I know that I'm aware of that.
I'm pretty much, I like to think I'm sort of like a dopamine
addict or something. I think they all call it ADHD or
something. At the moment.
I'm definitely not ADHD, but I'm definitely a dopamine addict.
I'm always looking for that next hit of dopamine, wherever it is,
but that makes me weak. So whether it's to do with food
or watching Netflix or scrolling on my phone, I'm constantly
battling the the allure of those activities.
But how I combat that is through setting up my environment so
that I'm not. I make it harder for myself to
do the bad habits and I try to make it as easy as possible to
do the good. They usually involve setting up
my kit or getting my food prepped the day before, the next
day. Because if I don't have that,
that is when I'm sort of going to be leaning for the chocolate
bar, going up Greg's and buying the pasty, or not doing the
training session. I'm constantly looking for any
excuse not to do these things. So it's just about setting up my
environment and making it as, as I say, easy to do the good ones
and hard to do the bad ones. And I'm not perfect.
I'm always messing it up, but it does help.
But it's sort of understanding that I'm not perfect and
understanding that I'm undisciplined and just sort of
combating that version of Terry constantly to try and make me do
the tough stuff. But one of the biggest things as
well, which which is what we try to do with Rockman, is always
having that aim and that goal because that is what keeps you
accountable. That is what keeps you on the
straight and narrow. It gives you, you've got a
purpose in your day constantly that you've got to aim for and
you've got to take off. So by having things tangible
goals that I've got to hit, I know what I've got to hit.
It's not getting sort of lost in the business of the day.
I know what that aim of the day is for.
So hopefully that answers the question.
There's a lot more disciplined people out there than me.
Probably worth listening to, but that's how I do it anyway.
That's sort of like an Everyman. Next up, Mark Bennett.
I joined Rockman last year, smashed the first couple of
challenges, then work went mental and I drifted off.
Is Rockman actually designed for real life or only people who
already have their life together?
Rodman is probably designed for people who don't have their life
together. As I just discussed, it's easy
to fall off the wagon. It's so easy to fall off the
wagon, especially when you've got, say, a training program
that is your goal is to get fit or get stronger for the sake of
getting fit and being stronger. When there's no real aim or
motive that sort of inspires you, it is easy to drop off.
When you're not fulfilled, when you don't feel enjoyment, when
you don't see the progress, you're going to fall off the
wagon. But that's exactly what Rockman
is all about. It gives you that weekly target,
that weekly goal that you've got to hit, which you don't get with
other training programs. And by having that in your diary
with a deadline, with the urgency, it's going to give you
that kick up the ass to actually go out and do it.
But also, time is a massive thing for people.
We do a survey out every year and we ask our members what's
the biggest obstacles for you doing fitness and time is the
biggest 1. So you don't have to wait for a
far off event to come around. You don't have to travel up and
down the country to go and do these things.
You can do them in and around your everyday life, no matter
where you are, from the comfort of your own location.
So we make it easy. They've all been designed so you
can fit them in and around your pre commitments to training, to
life, to family, to work. You can just slot them in
whenever is convenient for you. So are they designed for people
with their lives together? Absolutely not.
It's designed for people that live in the real world and live
in the real, the chaos of the real world.
So Mark, if you dropped off, get back on them, get back on and
get those challenges back into your calendar and hopefully
you'll progress further and stick to it more long term.
Next question, if challenges are so powerful, why don't more
people stick to them once the novelty wears off?
Are people just wired to get bored once the medals achieved
effectively? Yeah, that is how we're wired.
It's all to do with our dopamine system.
We are creatures of aim. Our whole body and biology is
set up for the solving of problems essentially.
So when you solve a problem, when you achieve your aim, there
no longer is an aim or a goal to sort of drive us forward.
That is exactly how we're wired up.
This is exactly how the dopamine system works.
The dopamine system exists to motivate us.
It's a survival mechanism. It motivates us to solve a
problem in order to survive exactly that.
It's the reward system. Once you do hit a target, once
you do hit your aim, you are going to slide off.
You are going, you know, you need something set up to follow
that to keep the momentum going forward.
I've, I've done a podcast before about dopamine and how it works.
And there's this thing called the goal gradient effect.
And it's all about sort of how we get motivated when we have a
goal that increases in motivation as the urgency
increases, as you approach that date in which you have to
achieve something. Once you've achieved it, there
is a massive drop off at the at the end.
That is when you get the massive drop off in motivation and you
can't be asked doing anything else afterwards.
And the trick to combat that was to always have something lined
up next. What's your next one?
If you're always heading towards
a goal with nothing to back it up afterwards, you are going to
see those drop offs. So ideally, before you've even
hit the target that you're currently aiming for, you need
something lined up afterwards to keep that motivation fire
burning so you you actually progress on to the next one.
That's the whole reason why Rockman is set up around
challenges, goal setting, That is what it's all about.
If you want to keep that momentum, you've always got to
have a goal. So why don't more people stick
to them once the nopty wears off or they just get bored?
It's exactly that. You've achieved your goal so you
always have something lined up in order to pursue afterwards.
Gary Wilkinson, you said race days are overpriced and over
hyped, so a marathon is basically a waste of money for
most normal blokes. No, I think race day events are
awesome. They're the best thing you can
do. If you can something in real
life to go out there and actually smash a massive goal in
a big event with people around you, it feels wicked, right?
And it's probably that is the ideal if you're going to do
anything that is what you want to be aiming for.
There's sort of big spectacular events where you can actually
you can feel something because you're there.
However, they're just not perfect.
They are overpriced. I think I just paid £70 to do a
half marathon the other day. That's a lot of money.
That is a lot of money to be paying for the sort of one off
event that all you do is just run round and you get a little
medal at the end. I understand they have costs to
cover. You've got people doing it,
people running it, you've got staff insurance, maybe there's
Rd. closures, you've got first aiders.
There's, there's a lot of things to do, you know, the aid
stations. So I understand that there is a
price, there's always going to be a cost, but that you know,
unless you've got loads of bloody money, it's not, it's not
something that you can continually do week after week,
month after month. This is why Rockman exists.
Again, it's affordable, it's something that you can keep
going week after week all year round.
Are marathons a waste of time? No, Sign up to a marathon.
Absolutely. That is the preferred choice if
you can do it. But again, we've spoken about
people lack time, people lack money, they don't want to be
travelling all over the place. Rockman sort of fills that gap
in between these, the real in between your training and the
real life event that you can sign up for.
So I don't want to slag them off too much.
I just think that Rockman's more affordable and more practical
for sort of everyday life really.
And plus they only come round in bloody once in a blue moon
unless you have, unless you travel to somewhere local races
are sort of like they come around like once every six
months or something like that. You know, people want to push
themselves now. They need the motivation now, so
that is another reason why Rockman is better than that.
But if you can always do a live event, because they are, that is
the pinnacle, that is the best option.
But if you can't get on Rockman. Ben Hargreaves I've got two kids
under 5 and a full time job. I want to train properly, but I
also don't want to be that dad who disappears for two hours
every night. How do you actually balance it
without kidding yourself? That's an interesting question.
That is a good question because in order to do these massive
events like ultra marathons and stuff, or even marathons, you do
need to disappear for hours on end to get the running in.
At least, you know, if you're doing sort of 10 KS half
marathons, you're going to be out of the house for at least an
hour. If you're doing marathons, then
you could be going up to 2-3 hours if you're doing ultras.
I remember when I was doing my ultras, I was getting up.
I think I got up to like a 10 hour training run.
That's waking up, going out and coming and coming back and going
straight to bed. So how do you balance that?
Me, I tried to do it without affecting anyone.
I think that's the best option because it's like when you're
not in demand, when people aren't relying on you.
For me, that was my commutes to and from work or that was my
work hour because I'm already, I'm already away.
I'm already away from the family.
I can't be in demand. That is my time.
I can go out and do those things.
So it was the commutes, it was the lunch hours, it was getting
up early before anyone actually got up.
So you can get your training in, but not too early.
You know, I wasn't doing anything silly like the 4:00 AM
club. But if you can get up at six, do
a run from six till 7, then get home and then you can get the
kids ready and get ready for work, that's fine.
Evenings you could choose as well, maybe when the kids are in
bed. Not preferred.
I hate that. The last thing I want to do is
go for a run in the bloody evening.
All I want to do is sit down and watch a bed on Netflix.
But I that's what I would do. I would pick the times when
you're not in demand as much as you can, because then you're not
affecting anyone else and you're not going to get a ram off the
misses. That's how I bloody do it.
That's the only way to do it at my house.
Chris Turner, what's the biggest mistake you made building
Rockman that nearly killed it. Oh Jesus, Rodman's died, almost
died. Rodman's almost died many a
time. But the biggest mistake, I don't
know if it was a mistake, but at the start I was running digital
ads and I was being able to acquire new members for Rockman
for about 5 lbs in advertising costs, which was more, which is
really lent itself well for growth.
I was able to scale, but then that died off.
Ads got too expensive, interests changed, the, the conversion
rates changed, which which has happened sort of in markets
constantly. All of a sudden it was costing
me like 3540, five, 55 lbs to acquire a new customer.
And I wasn't getting that back from their income made from the
challenges. So it basically stalled.
It halted, it stopped right there, the growth.
And because I'd relied on ads for a number of years, I hadn't
built up the, the base of the following or the community.
It, it was all just people paying for a service and then
leaving and stuff like that. So when the ads no longer became
a viable option to get new people in, I was pretty stuck
because I have no following to fall back on.
I have no mailing list. I have, you know, as I said, no
subscribers, no followers. So that was the biggest mistake
because I effectively had to start again.
And what I've been trying to do recently over the last year at
least is build the following, build the subscriber base, get
people interested in what we're doing because then you're not
relying on ads. We have the following.
Then it just meant starting from scratch and having to sort of
put up with that period of basically not having an income,
relying on the existing memberships that we'd achieved
and trying to build new ones through organic reach, which we
didn't have. And that only comes from time.
And This is why we're doing things like the Rockman podcast.
We're providing value, we're providing information about
training. But hopefully if we a cure
enough goodwill, you will give me the 1015 seconds that I've
got to speak about Rockman and hopefully you'll sign up and get
interested and and all that. Liam O'Connor, you've done some
mad challenges. Which one actually made you
think I've bitten off more than I can chew here?
Pretty much every major challenge.
Every major challenge has made me think I've bitten off more
than I can bloody chew. One of the big ones, one of the
biggest, the first time I think it happened was the, what was
it? Operation Elevation is where we
had to ascend and descend the highest point in southern
Britain, Pennavan, 10 times in 24 hours.
And I think it's about halfway through that where I was at.
Oh my God, Because you've done 5 percents and you think, great,
I'm halfway 5 percents to go. But those are 5 percents equate
to about 10 hours, and that was one of the biggest ones.
But then also with the massive GPS cock and balls world record
that I did in 2024 in November, where I ran and drew the world's
biggest GPS drawing of a cock and balls on foot in a single
continuous effort. And the 1st 22 miles of that
challenge was all uphill. I hadn't prepared for that.
I wasn't aware of that, even with all my due diligence and
planning and prep. So when I got to the first
checkpoint in Hay on Wyatt, 22 miles in, I was honestly
thinking, what the fuck have I signed myself up to?
I still, I still have 50 miles left to go.
But in those moments it is, you know, quitting isn't an option.
You have to do them. You've signed up, you've got to
do it. And all I was battling is
discomfort. You know, I could, I still was
able to do it. It just felt like crap and shit
and you don't want to do it. And even those 50 miles we're
probably going to equate to, you know, another 151617 hours of
running. It's just one foot in front of
the other. I remember at that point I was
trying to just go as fast as I can.
I didn't even bother with filming or photos or anything
like that. I just wanted to get it over and
done with. So yeah, there's been a few
challenges where I've done that, but it's all you're battling is
discomfort. As long as you can put 1 foot
forward and you're physically able to do that, you can still
push through. And it's just that constant
battle in your head. You know, I must have wanted to
quit about 1000 times during those challenges and it's just
about ignoring that voice and just putting 1 foot in front of
the other and just grinding it out and knowing that time will
pass whether I give up or whether I continue to do it,
that time will still pass. So in 15 hours, where do I want
to be? Do I want to be back at home
having failed the challenge or do I want to cross that finish
line knowing that I've done it and time is going to pass
whether I give up or stick to it.
So you may as well stick to it. So in 15 hours time you are
raising your hand as that you've accomplished that massive
mission. Dan Mercer or at Mercer runs.
I've listened to loads of the podcast.
Thank you. Thank you.
Dan, be honest. Have you ever had a guest on and
thought this is complete nonsense, but you had to nod
along because the mics were rolling?
I don't think I've ever had someone that come on that's
speaking a load of nonsense. They, they usually give good
interviews, you know, the good stories, good advice.
Have I had people on where I've gone?
Oh, God, this is going to be a chore.
Yeah, yeah. Perhaps.
You know, I'm not in a privileged position where I can
sort of get big guests on big speakers.
We're still growing. We're only 1000 followers.
Hopefully as we grow, we can get better people on.
So my pool of selection is smaller.
I have to look at the smaller. When I say smaller, I mean sort
of like in following or, or status, I have to look at these
smaller people that I can get on because, you know, David Goggins
ain't going to come on when he's got 10 million followers.
And with that, sometimes you do get ones that maybe don't, they
have the knowledge, but maybe aren't as exciting to speak to,
which is fine. And I'm, I'm happy to interview
them. More than happy to interview
them, let's say. It's just it can be a bit of a
chore. I'm constantly thinking of the
person on the other end, you Dan, the listener.
I'm constantly thinking of those people and I'm thinking, are
they going to be enjoying this? Are they going to be taking, you
know, taking good information back?
And if they're not the most exciting speaker, maybe they're
a bit dry, maybe they're a bit monotone.
I do feel that we're making articulating the message harder
to absorb on your end. And I, I will endeavour to
always get people that are exciting, got good stories and
great practical advice. But sometimes it's not always
possible. And hey, some people might
resonate with it. I don't know.
It's, it's up to you at the moment.
It's only what I think are this is what I personally think and
that's what the question was, but it's up to you.
Some people might resonate that and they might prefer that
someone would like saw no frills not getting hyped up or excited
about. Things, someone a bit more
grounded, you might prefer that, but for me it's.
Yeah, there's been only one or two, but, you know, they're
still great guys. They still got great advice and
still I regret having them on. Absolutely not.
You know, every single person I've got on, I've always found
value in. So, Steve Parker, what training
method do you secretly think is nonsense?
But everyone's too polite to call out.
There's loads of, there's loads of bloody, there's loads of
fitness nonsense that I see online and the biggest ones,
maybe it's maybe not directly training, but it's the things
like breath work. I think that's a load of
nonsense. I think that's a lot of like
suggestibility, NLP, if you've ever heard of that, neuralistic
programming, sort of what like hypnotists do, where they
suggest to you what you're going to think, what you're going to
feel, and as long as you believe that you will experience that.
I think that would breath work a lot.
Yes, there are scientific benefits, yes, but I think they
make, they make it seem bigger than it is.
You know, you hear about these people having completely
breaking down sobbing or they or they have hallucinations and
they see things. I think that is all to do with
the suggestibility or what is suggested.
And I think it's a lot to do with the sort of, yeah, what's
been suggested to you, like being hypnotized.
I I generally believe that. I also think that ice baths
aren't a thing really. I think it the thing with ice
baths, as I always say, you get thrill from doing it,
absolutely, but you don't actually achieve much.
A lot like having a wank. So if you want, look, if you
want to get good at running, if you want to get good at
strength, if you want to get swimming, good at swimming, you
need to run, you need to lift and you need to swim.
You can't get better at those things by having an ice bath.
So people using them for performance and stuff like that,
you're just getting better at sitting in cold water and
freezing your nipples off, that is all.
But it's rammed down our throats are sort of like this.
You know, you're made to feel guilty if you're not doing these
things and quite often these things are just a waste of time.
Similar with sauna and stuff like that.
It does like this. Look, don't get me wrong, these
things do have their benefits. They do help, but not to the
extent which I think online fitness influences are sort of
ramming down your throat with. As long as you're sticking to
your training, that is how you get better with the performance.
But also zone 2 running. That is another pet peeve of
mine. Zone 2 running is wildly
overrated. You hear people saying oh you
can get faster by running slower and it's just complete load of
nonsense and I've done it myself.
I loved that when I first heard it I was like oh bro I'll just
run zone two more. This is great.
I don't actually have to exert myself in order to get faster.
But, and I think it that's why people like it, because it's
comforting to them to for them to know that they don't actually
have to push themselves hard. They can just run zone 2.
But all zone zone 2 does is improve your base fitness.
If you want to run fast, you need to run fast.
You need to be doing your sprints, you need to be doing
your intervals. That's where your concentration
would be. If your aim is to get faster at
the 5K10K half marathon, marathon, you need to be doing
your fast work as well, elevating that heart rate,
getting used to being in that high heart rate zone.
So then when it comes to the day you're going to be faster.
Zone 2 is there to build your base.
That's more of an endurance. There we are.
I've said it, put it to bed. Nathan Reece, what's harder,
doing a massive physical challenge or trying to grow a
podcast and brand from scratch with no budget?
Well, physically, obviously the physical challenge that's
usually harder trying to grow a brand with from scratch with no
budget. The benefit we've Rockman and
how I've been trying to grow that is that there's never been,
I've never needed money to do it.
So if it fails, I haven't lost anything.
You know, I, it's growing organically.
It's it's growing on its own pace there.
There's no loss to it, if that makes any sense.
You know, I haven't got stakeholders breathing down my
neck about why aren't we up to these number of users or members
and stuff like that. You know, why isn't our turnover
at the X amount? I haven't got that.
If it doesn't do well, nothing happens.
Nothing happens. I've still got my day job.
You guys won't see any any difference on your end.
Nothing happens. So growing from scratch with no
budget, it probably it alleviates that pressure.
So growing a fitness brand on a podcast is probably easier.
I'd say physical challenge. If you don't do the training,
then you're going to perform worse or or worse, not even do
the challenge. So I would say doing a challenge
is much harder than growing a brand from scratch.
However, if I did have stakeholders, if I did have
directors breathing down my neck, it'll probably be harder
this one, because it it's definitely got, it's harder to
gain traction on a brand as I've got to convince you guys to sign
up and do it for a challenge. I've only got to convince
myself. Rob Hastings, if Rockman
disappeared tomorrow, what would you build next?
And would it still involve men doing stupidly hard things for
no prize? One of my aims in life was
always to help people motivate, inspire them, gain resilience
and live better lives with sort of fortitude.
That is always be my aim. And so if Rockman ended tomorrow
and I have to do something else, it would always revolve around
that mission statement of what I'm trying to achieve.
I'm just trying to make people better.
I'm just trying to motivate them.
I believe in physical fitness and the power it has over
improving not just your physical fitness, but your mental health
and the overall quality of your life.
And as that is where I'd stick to, I'd always stick to that
mission statement no matter what I did.
In fact, everything I do currently is always, always
around that mission statement. If Rockman ended tomorrow, what
would I do? Again?
It would just revolve around that.
Maybe it'd be some needless supplement or some shake weight
or something like that. I don't know.
You know, those weights, like a wanky weight.
I'm joking, obviously, but it would it would it would provide
genuine value to you guys and it would be revolving around
inspiring you and motivating you to get out there, push your
limits and better yourself. Paul Davis I like the idea of
Rockman, but I can just go for a run on my own for free.
Why would paying for a challenge actually make me more likely to
do it? Paul we get that.
So we I've heard that more than once where people are like, what
should I pay for this? I can just do a run myself or
your challenges are on your homepage.
I'll why am I paying? I can just do the challenges
myself. Let me tell you something, Paul.
It's called the sunk cost effect.
We used to run the challenges for free back in the day.
You could get the challenges for free and you could upgrade paid
upgrades to go on the leaderboards, get your medals
and stuff like that. Little perks for the paid
membership, but the challenges were free.
Do you know how many people completed the free challenges,
Paul, through the couple of years that we ran it like that
0%, No one did the free ones and completed them all.
It is called the sunk cost effect.
When you put down some money, a small payment, you have skin in
the game. And if you're anything like me,
that's tight as a duck's ass. If you've paid for something,
you're going to get the value out of it.
If you pay the small fee to enter our challenges, you have
exponentially increased the chances of you actually sticking
to it and doing those challenges.
So Paul, yes, you can go for a run for free.
Yes, you can do the challenges for free, but will you?
That is the question. And we've always said we've got
a 30 day money back guarantee. If you sign up for Rockman, you
do all the bloody challenges and after 30 days you think that was
a complete waste of time, message me.
You can get a full refund no questions asked.
But that is why we do it is the sunk cost skin in the game.
You're now accountable to the investment that you've put in.
Matt Lawson, you've talked about being in a bad place years ago.
What was the actual turning point where you thought, right,
enough of this, I not need to sort myself out.
So for people that didn't know, it was 2013.
I was a heavy, heavy binge drinker and doing some naughties
on the weekend as well. It was just a weekend warrior
really. So from the, from the outside,
you may have thought that I was doing all right.
You know, I was, I wasn't drinking in the week really.
I was going to work. Maybe considered high performer,
I don't know, because I had a degree, I did a master's, I had
had a job, I had my own house or as a flat at the time.
So on the, from the outside, you might have thought, oh, he's
doing fine. But it was these weekends where
I was abusing myself through the binge drinking, the junk food,
the doing the naughties and all that stuff.
And it was a bit of a slow burner.
It got to the point where I, I, I wasn't happy with the person I
saw in the mirror. You know, I was overweight,
unfit, greasy. It really started to affect sort
of my physical and mental health.
But the point, the turning point, the demosine moment, I
suppose it was one night where I think it was like Valentine's
Day when everyone was out with their misses and, and I wasn't,
I was at home. I didn't have a missus, you
know, even my dealer had a missus and he was out so I
couldn't, couldn't get anything off him either.
And it was in that point where I was like, I need to sort this
bloody out. I need to absolutely sort this
out. And I've always said that
suffering is a great catalyst for change.
You need to suffer. Pain is one of the biggest
reasons to why we change. And when you've experienced
enough pain that is going to give you a kick up the arse.
And too many times people can sort of coast through life
without enough pain. They're in discomfort, but it's,
it's not painful enough that they end up sticking with it for
longer periods of time that they should have to.
Or, and for example, have you ever been in a job where you
hate it, but it's, you don't hate it enough to do anything
about it? And four or five years has
passed and you're still there. Or if you're in a relationship
and you, you don't really, it's, it's a pain in the ass
relationship, but it's not painful enough for you to leave.
And that's what happened to me. I just reached the point where
I'd had a fucking tits fall. I need to sort it out.
And it was a challenge that kicked me up the arse.
To do that, I knew I needed something massive, so big that
it was bigger than the allure of the drinking and the binge
drinking and the the smoking and the junk food that it would make
me stick to what I'd I'm trying to do and turn my life around.
And I think that was through a white collar boxing fight
because I knew there's no escape in that.
If you don't do the training, if you don't put the work in,
you're going to get found out because it's you versus whatever
guy in a ring with a spotlight. And that was the big kick up the
arse for me. And it worked.
And that is what I'm preaching now for Rockman and the podcast
and stuff. It's all about goal setting.
It's all about challenges. And that is going to give you
the driver to actually turn things around.
Thank you, Matt. Phil Armstrong, If you had to
scrap 80% of training and keep just one thing that gives you
the most of your results, what stays?
I'd say running, running. But even even if I had to ditch
80% of the training, I would even just ditch the type of
running. I would just do tempo runs.
That's it. If I had to keep one thing in
training, just running, that just it's the best for fitness.
Strengthen the legs. It's sort of like if I had to
keep keep one thing, it's that that's what I find.
It's not necessarily strength that you get the most benefits
from day-to-day. It's that endurance, it's that
fitness. So I just keep running.
Just keep running, just keep running.
Owen Clark, do you ever feel pressured to keep proving
yourself with bigger and bigger challenges, or could you just
train quietly and be happy with that?
Yes, there's always a pressure to go bigger and bigger and
bigger, but I'm old enough now, I'm long enough in the tooth to
realise that that's not necessarily the way.
You've got to pick a challenge that is suitable for you in the
circumstance, in the now, in the here and now.
There's no point in me doing a bigger challenge than I did five
years ago if I'm not in the same fitness.
It's got to be for sort of you and you now.
Could I just train quietly and be happy with that?
No, I've always got to prove myself, but I find it, it comes
around in sort of like waves. At around 2 years I'll do a big
challenge and I I can dine off that for about a year or just a
little bit more, but it will come around at around 2.
The two year mark is where I'll get that itch again now and it's
all about, it's about proving myself.
It's all for me really. It's self worth, self esteem,
proving that I've still got it, proving that I'm still useful,
capable. I can do these things.
It's important for me to do these challenges.
It's important for me and myself worth, self-confidence to do
these challenges. And I know that by not doing
those challenges, I'm going to be in a worse place.
So that's what I do. Craig Foster To be honest,
Terry, are you building a fitness brand or just creating
elaborate excuses to avoid normal midlife crisises like
buying a motorcycle or getting a sleeve tattoo?
No, by trade. By trade, Craig, I am a
marketer. That's what I do.
I love building brands and that's what I've always loved to
do. And I remember when I was
younger, I, it's, I've sort of realised, I realised that I
could create things, whether that was animations, websites,
designs that have an effect on other people's lives, but a
positive effect. And I love that, I really love
that. So I've always, I always wanted
to do something in marketing, but I also wanted to work on
brands that, you know, it weaves itself into other people's
lives. So when they're telling their
story, this is where I get the kick.
When they're telling their story, they can speak about the
positive effects from a brand that I have created.
That is one of the main drivers for me.
I absolutely love it. And so would I buy a motorcycle,
do a sleep tattoo? Maybe I'll do those things.
But for me, my passion lies in brand building, brand creation
and having positive effects on other people's lives.
Ryan Patel, you said you've never really taken money out of
Rockman, which I haven't. Noble or terrible business
skills? Yeah, I think it's a bit of
both. There's never been money to take
out of Rothman. That's the problem.
My wife says I'm not allowed another hobby that doesn't make
money. So I'm asking for both of us.
Ryan, why is your missus saying you're not allowed to have a
hobby that doesn't make money? I mean, what are your other
hobbies? Jesus, that's a bit of a weird
last from her to have that pressure to, to have control
over what you do as a hobby, but also that you're not allowed to
do it without making money. Look Ryan, just do you man.
Just do whatever you want. That's the whole point of a
hobby. It doesn't have to make you
money as long as you enjoy it. For me, with Rockman, 90% of it
is I enjoy it because it hasn't made bloody money for five
years. So good job, I bloody love it.
And that's where my passion is. If it gets to a point where it
actually makes me money, fantastic.
Because if it's making more and more money, then it means that
I'm helping more people. And that is the core of which
I'm trying, which I'm trying to achieve here and do honestly,
I'm not lying. This is not, this is not
marketing spiel. OK Adam Fetcher, I've been
listening since early on and it feels like the podcast has got
more direct over time. Have you been more opinionated
or just more comfortable saying what you actually think?
I am opinionated but I think I heard a piece of advice before.
It's like if you sit on the fence, if you try to it's.
And it is the same with products, services, marketing.
If you try to appeal to everyone you end up appealing to nobody.
So I'm quite happy in picking a side of the fence nowadays.
Have an opinion on something and a strong opinion because at
least I'll resonate with some people.
Then you're also going to get your haters.
That's part and parcel. But at least some people will
love me. But if I sat on the fence, then
neither side love you. You know what I mean?
So yes, I everyone's got opinions.
I'm, I'm not like this Switzerland that sits on the
fence of everything. I've got strong opinions and
I'll always try and stick to them.
Just be honest, be truthful to me.
And I know it's going to resonate with most people behind
that camera because most people by that behind that camera are
just like me. So that is why I suppose we're
being more direct now. Dean Webster at the at Dean
tries fitness. I'm mid 30, decent shape, but I
feel like a plateaued. At what point do you accept
you're just maintaining? And is that actually a bad
thing? Dean?
I mean, you're probably asking the wrong guy.
I've got I've got the physique of a melted candle.
I'm I'm not a fitness expert. I'm not a fitness professional.
I and this is precisely why I get those type of people on the
podcast because I can't give this advice because I can't even
preach what what I say either. But Dean, if you feel like
you've plateaued, I'd I'd sign up for a challenge, Sign up for
a challenge that's going to see you bust through.
Doesn't even have to be a Rockman one.
It could be like a big, big live event like an Iron Man or an
ultra marathon or something like that, Something big.
I think that's going to see you pushing through and getting
breaking through that plateau and seeing more gains.
Summer Brooks, you built Rockman alongside a job, family and
training. What's the one thing you've had
to sacrifice that people wouldn't realise?
Free time I guess is the biggest sacrifice from running a fitness
brand alongside everything else. Maybe what about to sacrifice?
I guess it's the way I run it is is through balance.
I if I really wanted to grow this as an accelerated rate, I
could stop hanging around with my kids, see the wife less and
spend train less and spend all my time building this brand.
That would see accelerated growth faster.
But I don't want to sacrifice those other pillars.
My kids are really important to me, my wife is really important
to me, My training is really important to me, Socialising is
really important to me. So I have a balance across all
those pillars. I make sure I'm spending time
with each and every section that I've just mentioned in order to
have that balanced lifestyle. You see a lot of people, the
grind culture, people online, they're talking about work life
balance is a myth. I'm sorry.
If you want sustainable and consistent growth over a long
period of time, your lifestyle needs to be sustainable in that
you're hitting those pillars. If you go all in on something
and those other pillars don't get the right amount of
attention, then those areas are going to suffer in your life.
You're going to end up falling off the wagon.
You're going to lose motivation. You're going to constantly be
veering off course. So the way I plan it is, yes,
growth is going to be slower. I've taken a knock to the ego
with that, admitting that, but I'm not sacrificing those other
pillars in my life. So have I had to sacrifice
anything that people wouldn't realise?
Not really. In that I'm fitting it in around
segments of time where I have the time to do it.
That's all. I mean, I've lost a lot of money
into Rockman. I think, you know, I've spent
about four figures of my own money in Rockman and obviously
I've never taken a penny out, so I haven't seen that.
But as I say, I love it. I absolutely love it.
And if I'm helping you guys then great.
So I'll keep doing it. J Riley I'm not sure I'm great
at asking questions as I don't think I'm great at spotting
trends and working out what mainstream people are interested
in. But selfishly, I'd like to ask,
who are the people you look up to and why?
I find a lot of my male role models have fallen very short of
the mark and it's left me questioning what I'm aiming for.
I don't tend to have like massive role models or people
that I hold on a pedestal and worship everything they say.
I liken it like, like in a band, right?
You don't like even your favorite band you don't like.
Every track of theirs on every single album, you just don't.
It's impossible. Some songs are going to be naff,
right? Some songs you go, I really hate
that one or that's absolute bollocks.
And I find that like with people online or people you look up to
is I like certain aspects of them themselves, their values
and what they've done. Don't like everything they've
done, but if you're looking for someone to look up to, I think
that it's better off looking at aspects of people that you
really love rather than the the whole person themselves or you
can love the whole person themselves.
It's up to you. But some key people I really
look up to is James Smiths, the the online personal trainer.
He's a great businessman. He seems to have, I love his
work ethic as well. He has a balance.
He has a work life balance. He lives on a beach in
Australia. He has plenty of family time,
plenty of time with his wife, his kids, and he does awesome
work. And he's really grounded in a
thinker. He's a grounded thinker.
What he says makes sense. I think that's one of the
reasons why he blew up so quickly.
In fact, he's my business mentor as well.
I'm signed up to. In fact, this is one of his
drinks. Chris Williamson is another guy.
He's a host of the podcast The Modern Modern Wisdom.
But it's mostly I love aspects of them.
Maybe if I got to know them more, there'll be aspects that I
don't like. I suppose that's what happens in
this culture now is afterwards when someone gets so big,
inevitably a bad story comes out about them and they maybe they
do fall short of the mark, but ultimately everyone's just a
human just like me and you, Jay. No one is God like.
So what I would choose to do is focus on values of people that
you admire and you you can pick and choose.
Then maybe you like the Rocks dedication to work and maybe you
like David Beckham's attention to family and maybe you like
James Smith's attention to fitness.
You can take those aspects and put them together and sort of
create this, this melting pot of values and things that you can
look up to rather than the actual individuals and
themselves. Hope that helps.
Oh, there's more from Jay.
There's more. There's more from Jay.
He's got a couple of questions. What's your view on growing up
and becoming a proper adult? Are you ready to put down the
beers and rave whistle and pick up the pipe and slippers Now
that's a midlife crisis question if I have a robot.
Yeah, maybe you you're having this this crisis yourself at the
moment. Are you not ready, Jay?
You're not ready to do this. I'm really happy.
I can't wait to pick up the pipe and slippers.
Honestly. I suppose you know, I've
definitely had my fair share of beers and rave whistles.
I don't tend to drink anymore. I try to avoid it at all costs.
The the cost of drinking now is just too much.
It's the seven day hangover. It's the what have it said to
people? What have I done at the pub?
How have I embarrassed myself? Especially with picture phones
now as well, people taking photos.
How much money have I spent falling off the training wagon?
Falling off the healthy eating wagon?
It it's a massive cost for what is for little return in my eyes.
Now I'm more than happy to pick up the pipe and slip slippers.
In fact, I cannot wait. I'm in bed by like half nine
most nights. You know, I'm sort of living
this old man lifestyle as it is. I've lived my wild days.
I've done them, they're done and dusted.
I had a great time. I am ready to put them aside
now. I'm, it's all about maybe sort
of achieving things now for me. So with my family, with my kids,
with the wife, but also these personal projects like Rockman,
I, I, that's where my sort of passions are now.
It's less about the wild times. I've done that.
I had a bloody good time. It's sort of personal
achievements and sort of personal growth and my kids and
my family that are sort of concentrating with them.
I guess if you haven't done those things, if you haven't got
the wild times out of your systems, then you're sort of
going to be still living for that.
But like as you grow older, man, there's so much more value in
relationships with people, your family, your friends, your, your
personal achievements. Rather than boozing up and see
how many pints you can sink and how many shots you can do and
how many times you can stop yourself being sick at the pub,
I guess. But I'm not perfect either, Jay,
You're talking about those rolling metals.
How many perfect? I'm far from it One more from
Jay there, he's asked me 3 questions Jay, you've asked me 3
questions. What would you or are you doing
to prepare your kids for the modern world now thought about
this loads. I've got two kids I've got 2
girls 1416, soon to be 7 and five.
They're very young, but I see I see this modern world.
I see it because I'm in it. I've got my phone and I scroll
and I know that they're going to be encountering all these same
issues when they're they're growing up for Luckily for me,
camera phones only came out when I was about probably in my 20s,
something like that. I think it was in university.
The when I was in university, the iPhone came out when I was
in about 2021 when I grew up, I had a my first phone was 16.
It was a brick phone. You could only store 10 numbers
on it and I think 10 texts literally space for your phone
to only how old 10 texts on your phone.
You had to delete them if you wanted more ones in.
But I thank the Lord I didn't have a picture phone because if
I could take photos when I was 16 with a camera and send them
to people, a lot of people would have seen a lot more of me and
my body than they probably would have wanted to.
But I understand that's what the kids and the generation now are
going to be growing into, this accessibility of phones, of
cameras where they can send people, where they can make
stupid mistakes. And because let's be honest,
we've all done it, and there's no different with the upcoming
generation. So what do I do with my kids?
And all you can do is instill good ethics and values within
them. That's all you can do.
Your role as a father, as a parent, is to make yourself
redundant. What I mean by that is there's
going to come a point where you're not there.
Hello. Talking to kids.
Thank you. Me.
You come to see me. Yeah.
Come here. Come here.
Come on. Come around.
Thank you, darling. I'll be in with you in a SEC.
I'll come in with you now. OK.
I'll come into the house. Alright.
I'll be 5 minutes. Alright.
See you, buddy. Sorry, what was I saying?
Just do the kids bubble there. Basically, you, you've got to
raise your kids so they can be independent adults and not
reliant on you. And the only thing you can do is
instill good ethics and values because if you instill those,
then you can be confident that they're going to be making the
right decisions when they're met with these wild scenarios and
situations that they're undoubtedly going to be in.
That is what I do. Jay, thank you for the
questions. Final question then.
Lewis Grant, you talk about purpose a lot.
What happens if someone just doesn't particularly feel driven
by anything? Do they need a big goal or can
they just live? Or can they just still live well
without 1? So what's it you talk about
purpose? What happens if someone doesn't
feel particularly driven by anything?
Do they need a big goal or can they still live well without
one? That's a tough question.
That's a tough question because if you don't feel particularly
driven by anything, are you then happy?
If you're fulfilled and happy with with by not being
particularly driven by anything, then do you need a big goal?
Maybe not. I do believe that everyone,
there is something out there that someone is going to be
passionate about. Even you, Lewis, there is going
to be something that you are deeply passionate about, right?
There must be something, whether it's watching films or
collecting Pokémon cards or painting Warhammer or collecting
knickers from washing lines, I don't know.
There's going to be something that you are deeply passionate
about. Absolutely.
And if you can set yourself a goal within that arena, then you
are going to feel driven by that purpose that you have now given
yourself. So I refuse to believe that
there's people just don't get driven by things of purpose.
I really don't or anything that people just don't get driven by
something. There's going to be something in
your life that you're deeply, you're going to find deep
purpose and passion and value from and it's just about
finding, finding out. Simply ask the question, what's
one thing a bloody love to do? If there was no limits on
anything? What is the one thing you bloody
love to do? Find it and then make a plan to
try and achieve it. Simple as that.
Can you live? Do you need a big goal or can
you still live well without one? They don't need to be big goals.
In fact, most big goals are broken down into little goals
anyway. It's all about the next step,
just the next little goal, the next achievable goal, the next
one. Before you know it, you, you can
progress quite far without having a big one.
You can just have multiple little ones.
And once, once you get to a stage and you look back and you
go, Jesus Christ, I've travelled quite far.
You could probably still live without goals, but would you be
fulfilled? Would it be a life well used?
Up to you, Lewis. Only I, only you can answer that
question and that's it. That's the questions.
Thank you so much for sending them all in.
I hope I answered them well. I hope you get some value from
it. Hope you found out about a bit
more about me and Rockman and the podcast and challenges.
Don't forget, if you want to get involved with Rockman, click the
link in the description below. Sign up challenges, weekly
challenges, training, build your fitness, build your strength,
get fit again, improve your well-being, improve your overall
quality of life. Just get involved.
Click the link and next week we'll be back onto normal
episodes with our guests again. Got some big hitters lined up so
you will not be disappointed and I will see you all soon.
Thanks for listening BJ. That was fantastic.
Awesome, Thank you very much for coming on.
Thank you. My pleasure.
Appreciate it. Awesome.
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