Dane (0s):
And at the time, Brian, when I started this journey like that, before picture I had just gotten my body fat done. It was slightly over 30% body fat. I was completely inflamed. I had only noticed because my hands were breaking out on rashes, almost like hives around my joints. My joints were super ache. It felt like I was 60 years old. And you can get from 30% to 15% just by being health conscious, like still eating your granolas and your things. But when I went to like 15% and I wanted to continue, there were some other compromises that led me to more information and more compromises, meaning.
Brian (30s):
This week I interviewed the founder of dad bod sculptors Dane Palino. After hitting rock bottom In his forties, he transformed his health losing over 30% body fat. Now he dedicates his life to helping men over 35 overcome aging challenges, balance family, and work, and achieve peak physical condition. We discussed How Dane reclaimed his health and confidence, why high achievers can't ignore their wellbeing, breaking through mental bearers to achieve ultimate fitness, How to balance family and fitness, and his one tip to get your body back to what it once was. Really enjoyed my interview with Dane. I know you will too. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the show. All right, Welcome to the Get Lean, Eat Clean podcast.
Brian (1m 11s):
My name is Brian Gryn, and I'm Dane Palino on Welcome to the show.
Dane (1m 15s):
Thank you so much. Excited to be here.
Brian (1m 18s):
Yeah, love the title of your, your business dad. Bods sculptors.com.
Dane (1m 23s):
Thank you.
Brian (1m 23s):
And I know we were talking a little bit off here, but when did you start this business and what sort of urged you to get into this, you know, health and wellness with for dads? Yeah,
Dane (1m 34s):
So I officially launched Dbo Sculptors July of 2023, so about a year and a half ago. And what inspired me to get into it was my own story, my own pain, my own agony that I was living in every single day of my dad of two young boys At the time my, my oldest son was three, my other son was six months old, they're now nine and six. So this was back when I was 42. I'm now 46. But I was married, I was successful in, in scaling a business and it had taken me 10 years to build two successful agencies in the technology space. And so I should have been waking up happy and enthused because 10 years of work was finally producing the fruit that, that I was looking for.
Dane (2m 18s):
But I wasn't, I was waking up just angry and grumpy and with negative talk, self-talk, just looking at the world with lemon in my mouth, so, so to speak. And so that was showing up in my marriage the way that I spoke to my wife and the way that I got aggravated and agitated with my kids. And then, you know, going to work was just kind of going to work and checking the box and doing what I knew how to do from, you know, daily execution. So I had these habits and systems that, that didn't take a lot of thought. It was just kind of execution of it. But long, long and short of it was Brian. I woke up one day and just realized I wasn't happy and I wasn't getting out of bed with enthusiasm. I was just kind of going through the process.
Dane (2m 58s):
And at 42 years old I realized, wow, this is gonna be a long life if I continue on this path. And the the sad part was I was training every day in group group theory or Orange Theory fitness classes. And I was fasting, so eating somewhat health conscious for 16 hours a day. And one day I took a picture and I saw what I looked like in a transformation contest, the before picture. And honestly, I did not have any idea that I looked that way, as I like to say, I, I reflected my body reflected more like an eggplant than, than a Greek aesthetic God. So I realized, well, maybe this is where my insecurity is coming from.
Dane (3m 40s):
Maybe this is where a lot of my negative self talk is coming from. So I went on this journey of personal development. I used training and nutrition to change my mindset and to change my habits, which eventually led to a body that I was proud of. And more importantly, I was proud of the man who was showing up every day in all areas of his life. And so by doing that, I had helped hundreds of men along the way. I'd realized like, hey, this might be my next mission in life. And so I started my third business, which was dad bot sculptors.
Brian (4m 10s):
Awesome. Thanks for sharing that. And so you, you know, you transformed, I see your before and after picture on your Instagram page and it looks like you had like a decent base to start from, obviously not what you wanted it to look like, but what, what type of changes did you make to go from, you know, where you were and how you sort of got into shape as you are Now?
Dane (4m 33s):
I just paid attention to the details and I picked one style for both training and for nutrition at the time, like the last five years, how I'd gotten that body was, I was always training. Like I went through a period of like body weights, calisthenics group training, P 90 X at home workouts, sometimes the gym, sometimes not the gym. Just lots of different things to say, Hey, I checked the box today. And then in terms of eating, like I was eating somewhat health conscious, you know, yogurts and granolas and, and bars and protein shakes. But then I also would enjoy the hamburger and the fries and and things like that. But I thought it was in moderation. But slowly as I realized my metabolism changed And what I was able to do in my twenties was no longer effective for me in my thirties and forties.
Dane (5m 19s):
And so I decided, okay, I'm gonna go to identifying some information that I can actually use to change my body composition. Because I did have some muscle foundation from all the years of doing something. Like I wasn't dormant for all those years. That's where a lot of my anger and frustration came from. 'cause I'm like, dude, I'm doing the work. Why do I look like this? And I figured if I'm gonna put in the time I wanna, I wanna at least look the part and look in the part man, I was gonna be a more confident individual who's gonna believe in himself more. And the people around me would believe in me more. So it trickled down. And so I just went on this, this really kind of this process of self-development where every night, because my other business was successful, my wife was kind of putting the kids to bed every night.
Dane (6m 1s):
She had this nighttime routine for two to three hours. So I just started getting in information and really figuring out like what's the optimal way to train for a man over 35? Like what was happening in my body that I, that wasn't happening in his twenties. And I realized I was decreasing in muscle mass. My metabolism was slowing down. I didn't have as time and energy to commit to these programs that I once did it in, in my younger life, running wasn't necessarily strategic. Like I used to just run to get weighed off. So all this information just made me like, okay, I'm gonna pick one style. For me, it was perjury style training with progressive overload. And the reason I picked that is because I had tried so many other programs and I knew at 42, like, if I'm gonna do this again, I'm going to pick one thing that I can really go deep in that I won't be bored with in three months, six months, one year.
Dane (6m 49s):
And I realized progressive overload was what bodybuilders were using for decades. And it was just some compound movements that you can keep going deeper and progressing in. So I liked that there was always gonna be this challenge for me inside that style of training. And oh by the way, it also allowed you to sculpt your body, right? So if I wanted to change my body composition, I knew I needed to put on muscle mass. So that was gonna give the, the greatest chance to do that. And then as I got into that style of training, it led me to the style of eating, which is macro based eating, which I realized at the time I had done fasting, I had done keto, I had done paleo, I had done bulletproof. I was drinking, you know, butter on my coffee all morning and then eating shit at night and just tried all these different things and they just weren't working for me.
Dane (7m 30s):
They were good protocols to use at times, but for a daily busy guy, that wasn't sustainable for me. And so I went into the, the information around macro based eating and lean proteins, you know, optimal carbs and and healthy fats. And then just kind of picked a few of those and started tracking my, my things. I ate, like I used MyFitnessPal for three years, almost every single meal, tracking everything, every detail to figure out what was gonna work for me And what wasn't, how my body responded. And essentially what I looked for there was like three things. One, how well does it, it digest? Two is my body absorbing these nutrients so I'm getting the fuel that I need to sustain myself throughout my busy day. And then four, was it eliminating properly, right?
Dane (8m 12s):
Was I getting bloated? Was I being gassy? Like those are things that were gonna impact how I felt and showed up the next day. So when I dialed in the macro based eating and found my optimal sources of, of energy, what the training things just started really happening for me pretty quickly.
Brian (8m 27s):
Yeah, I mean those are all good points. I think especially as we age, I mean I'm 44, like I always say, a priority should be building muscle or at least maintaining what you have Yeah. To the best of your ability and hypertrophy training. And when you talk about hypertrophy training, just so people understand, are you talking more like, obviously that's building muscle, but like more around rep ranges and you sort of, you know, made those adjustments as far as like staying within a range?
Dane (8m 56s):
Yeah. I tried to stay within 10 to 12 and I tried to, within that 10 to 12 initially I would kind of gauge my, the weight that I was using to say, okay, I should be starting to feel it around six, where the next four I've really gotta work for. And then at that 10 mark I could probably get another two, but I'd need a spotter that I knew, okay, that's a good weight. And then I progressed from there, you know, two and a half pounds to five pounds.
Brian (9m 19s):
It's a good point. I mean, I, I, for a while I did not go to the gym, but now I'm sort of back in the gym and, and I, I run fault of this myself sometimes is like, most people are not training to failure or Yeah. Even coming close to that, right? That's right. Like Now I think they're saying like, to failure, you don't even need the train of failure. You could probably get to about, like you said, two to three even maybe four reps close to failure Yeah. On, on your sets. And, and that's sort of a good sweet spot to be at.
Dane (9m 47s):
Yeah. And then I learned other techniques, you know, like as I got into time under tension, like, okay, I only had 25 pound dumbbells to start so I could, I could probably get the 10 to 12 really easy, but what happens if I, I had a tempo, you know, 1, 2, 3, hold two really focused on, okay, when you stretch the muscles, when the muscle grows. So you started learning these different techniques within that style of training that even if you went to a hotel and they only had 25 pound dumbbells, like you could still have a really effective workout by using time under tension, half reps, quarter reps, really going higher volume. And you know, so there were different techniques that I started to deploy that were really making sure that regardless of the weight, 'cause I, my whole premise was avoid injury at all costs because I was at this place where I knew if this, this attempt failed, it was the only excuse I needed to never go at this thing again.
Dane (10m 37s):
Right. It was like, and so I tried CrossFit a couple times 'cause I liked the camaraderie, I liked the energy of going in a room with other men 'cause I was doing this thing alone. But I went in there and it was like, I saw a couple of these moves and the kipping and the, the barbell snatches. And I'm like, yeah, this is like literally one move away from being sidelined for a very long time. Yeah. And with an injury and I'm already cranky being healthy, I was like, that's all I need is being a sling for six months and my family's gonna be suffering with my miserable attitude. So I went into bodybuilding with, I can control this process, I can control the weight, right, I can control, I can mitigate my risk and I can, I can progress. And so that was kinda like a, yeah, let's just stick to this.
Dane (11m 19s):
Yeah. And so that's, that's what I did.
Brian (11m 21s):
That makes sense. I mean, yeah, like you said, CrossFit obviously has become popular in the sense that there's this community around it, which I think is great. I think I always tell people if you go work out with someone or find someone to hold you accountable, that's really important. But yeah,
Dane (11m 34s):
For sure.
Brian (11m 35s):
But avoiding injuries even more, right?
Dane (11m 36s):
Especially as you age, man, it's like, yeah, you we're just one excuse away from 'em just throwing in the carts.
Brian (11m 42s):
No doubt about it. That's why I stopped playing basketball a while back.
Dane (11m 46s):
Yeah, same. You don't find me on a court anymore. I love playing basketball, but I'll shoot a hoop and I won't be going five on five.
Brian (11m 51s):
Yeah, yeah, no, I get that. And, and then the, the macro based eating, I mean, you know, nowadays there's 80 million ways to eat and people, and is there a right or wrong? I mean, maybe to some degree I think a lot of, a lot of like the paleos and even now you're seeing, you know, obviously like you see carnivores, I think the, the one thing that they have in common is the fact that they're eating whole foods and they're avoiding like just ultra processed foods.
Dane (12m 15s):
A hundred percent.
Brian (12m 16s):
But
Dane (12m 16s):
I do, I love, I love all those, I believe, I believe that those work. But for me, running a business, right? 'cause I was running a headhunting firm and I just wanted to find something that worked with my busy schedule that allowed me to be a, a decent human being when I was around my family and to be present. And so the third component was, okay, if I'm gonna put this time and effort into it, the hour that I have a day I wanna look the part. Right. And that was a big piece for me. And I noticed when I ate carbohydrates, I started the people that looked the part ate carbs. Like there was a guy named Steve Cook who was a major influencer and watched a lot of his videos. 'cause he had a physique that I, I had idolized. I was like, he had the, the muscle, like it was clear this dude works out, right? Like he puts the time into the gym.
Dane (12m 58s):
And when I looked at a lot of the paleo and carnivore people, I realized that they could, yes, they could be slim and lean and cut and have some lines, but they didn't have that muscle fullness. Like, I wanted to be a strong man for my boys, right? I wanted them a kind of superhero dad. And so for me, I didn't feel that the paleo or the, the, the keto or you know, pulling out carbs did that. Although it was whole foods and digestion was on point. Ab Absorbtion was there, right? Elimination was there. It didn't gimme the muscle fullness and roundness to build the muscle that I wanted. And that was a piece for me. And then two, that the, I noticed that when I ate that style, I craved a lot more at night. 'cause my body was deficient in some nutrients.
Dane (13m 39s):
So when I set up this macro based meal plan every four hours I was gonna have a meal. It was like these micro goals that I had. And every meal had carbs, proteins to fat. So I, I didn't have any ups and downs in my energy. I was stable throughout the day, which really helped stabilize my mood for some reason. I had noticed there were points of the day where I started to become really cranky and agitated. And that's when I would go for, you know, a sugary thing or a beer or a vice just to kind of curb that. And when, when I started to have these micro goals of balanced meals every four hours for me, 'cause I could, I worked from home so I could have this four or five meals. I was more stable. I looked forward to it. I felt a sense of accomplishment every time I, I nailed a meal.
Dane (14m 22s):
And then slowly like waking up and seeing that scale change every day and taking those pictures, it was like, yeah, it's working. And when guys start to realize that their effort is producing fruit, we put so much more energy and interest behind it, right? We slowly go be, we become more and more interested in the information and the why. And when you get that competency, you get that confidence and that those two things are really dangerous for a man to have because then he becomes unstoppable in, in to some degree.
Brian (14m 49s):
Yeah. I, I, I mean, I agree. I think, think I've been through a lot similar things that you've talked about. Like I did fasting for a while, I've cut out macro nutrients. But like, I think a balanced approach is a great way to go about it. You know, carbohydrates do play a role and you're seeing that with a lot of other health influencers in the, in the space who have gone and added in fruit and honey for, you know, many different reasons. Could be hormonal health, you know, thyroid activity. Yeah. And I've definitely added in, like I noticed you talk a lot about rice. I mean, you know, white rice was the old school approach back, you know, with bodybuilders. But there was a reason they were doing it easy to digest Yes.
Brian (15m 32s):
Easy on the system and just a, a, a quality carbohydrate where you don't have to deal with, you know, like low toxic, you know, like lectins and things like that that could interfere with digestion and things like that. That's right.
Dane (15m 44s):
Yeah. It, it keeps, it keeps the inflammation at bay. Right. And at the time, Brian, when I started this journey like that before picture I had just gotten my body fat done. It was slightly over 30% body fat. I was completely inflamed. I had only noticed because my hands were breaking out in rashes, almost like hives around my joints. My joints were super ache. I felt like I was 60 years old. I wasn't sleeping very well. My digestion was completely wrecked. I was taking anti-acid pills every day. And those stopped working and I was taking shots of baking soda three times a day. Like everything was just havoc in my system. And then I saw the picture and I was like, something's gotta change. Like what I'm doing clearly is not working. And so I slowly started to pull things out and you can get from 30% to 15% just by being health conscious, like still eating your granolas and your things.
Dane (16m 31s):
But when I went to like 15% and I wanted to continue, there were some other compromises that led me to more information and, and more compromises, meaning a little bit more disciplined, a little bit more a elimination of certain things like dairy and cheese and gluten. I started to kind of in seed oils. And then you pull that out, bam, now you're at 10 to 12%, you're like, didn't change much. Just pulled a few things out And now I'm less bloated. Right? I've got less brain fog. And so you can still keep those things in your diet, just depends on your goals. But I try, when guys come in, I try to get them on this process of my program. Like, we're gonna pull out the gluten, we're gonna pull out the dairy, we're gonna pull out the seed oils and we're gonna keep it all whole foods, single ingredient items.
Dane (17m 13s):
We're gonna identify optimal proteins, carbs and fats that work for you, but also foods that you like. And then once we find that sweet spot, we're just gonna accelerate. And then, you know, and then they find foods that they love that they're enjoying, plus they're getting the results they want. So they stay more committed to that process.
Brian (17m 30s):
Yeah, I love that. And so your, your process fairly similar to mine, you know, nutrition, fitness accountability. Is there something, any, anything around like stress management? 'cause obviously stress itself could wreak havoc no matter what you're doing. Yeah, yeah. And if you're not sleeping well as well.
Dane (17m 49s):
Yeah, it's for sure. It's a big thing. I always tell guys, listen, I can put together Chris Ted's a nutrition plan. I can give you his training plan, I can give you his cardio, his supplementation plan. But if you can't control your cortisol level, we're, we're good at, we're good is done. Like nothing's going to change for you. So we've gotta be able to manage that piece of it. And so all of us, I'm an athlete with whoop and whoop, we have a, my guys all get a whoop when they come on board. And it's really great 'cause we've got our own team inside there. We keep each other competitive to the daily strain. And we have some banter in there, which is fun. But it also allows me to see that data. How hard are they pushing? How well is their body recovering? What type of sleep are they getting? And of that sleep, is it quality sleep? Can we get the recovery we need to push the body?
Dane (18m 30s):
And then, oh, every day, every week we look at those pictures like how is the body responding based on the compliance that we've got in place? And so I give them morning protocols to start their immunity and, and digestion in the morning. And then I give them all an evening protocol to help them unwind so that their body and mind shuts down sooner from the world and really starts focusing on, okay, I'm a priority first thing in the morning again. And so those things allow these guys to really get high quality sleep, we recover properly, we push hard, and then we manage every single week based on that data to calibrate. So it's, it's really this, this personal touch, which I love 'cause it's, it's essentially who, who I needed in my journey the most is what I've created.
Dane (19m 12s):
And I I'm the offering to my students for that.
Brian (19m 14s):
Yeah, I mean, you know, morning and night protocols or rituals or routines. I'm a big fan of what, what does that look like just for you and for, and that you try to implement with your clients as far as evening rituals and then morning?
Dane (19m 27s):
Yeah, so it does start the night before, like when I decided I was gonna be an early riser because at the time when I was, one of the habits that I noticed was I was drinking alcohol and eating sugar at night. So I realized that's setting up for a very poor day the next morning. This is why I'm sleeping later, this is why I'm waking up groggy. This is why I'm cloudy, this is why I'm agitated. So I started to pull those things out and then when I pulled those things out, I also had to make sure that I was under whining properly. So the protocols that I give my guys is we, we pick a detox tea, like an herbal tea that they're gonna have an hour after their last meal. Kind of sets the pace that, okay, I'm taking care of me some self-care. We're gonna put some magnesium, some zinc, some vitamin D, some K 12 in there, right post that meal. And that lets them know, okay, I've got a, I've got a tea I need to make that's gonna be waiting for me in an hour.
Dane (20m 11s):
I've got some vitamins there. So it's this kind of reprogram of the mind, like I'm taking care of self. And then we shut down all vices, we shut down the tv, we shut down the phone, and slowly but surely that body unwinds and goes to bed earlier. And then what happens is a byproduct of that, they're gonna wake up earlier. And when you wake up earlier, now you're up before everyone else. You've got, again, what some time for self care, some time to not play, play, play life from your heels, but on your toes. So what do we do in that time? Well, we're gonna take care of self again. We're gonna make sure that we're setting up our digestion properly. So I give 'em a morning protocol drink, and that morning protocol drink is help, gonna help them with lowering the pH in their body so that we're set up by reducing inflammation.
Dane (20m 53s):
Two, it's gonna help with digestion. Three, it's gonna help with immunity, and four, it's gonna help with gut health. And five is gonna help with hydration. So we do that first thing in the morning again, what happening, we're rewiring that brain like, Hey, I'm taking care of myself. Usually we're, you know, a week before the program, they're drinking four or five or bottle of wine at night and waking up groggy. None of these protocols are in place, but now they're consciously setting themselves up the night before. And so then that leads into, okay, now our next marker is kind of that, that first meal. So I set up these little markers every day to where I teach them the body you're in right now didn't happen overnight. Right? We're not gonna fix it in a week. We're not gonna fix it in 30 days, but we are gonna have the mindset that you need today.
Dane (21m 37s):
And that comes from our daily habits. We can control the controllable and as long as I give you the habits of your future self, you'll eventually get there in the, in the physical form.
Brian (21m 47s):
Yeah, that's great. Yeah. I mean, are you working with one-on-one or is this more in groups atmosphere?
Dane (21m 53s):
It's both. Every, it's one, it's all one-on-one. But we do, we, we all come together as a group once a week. So yeah, everybody's one-on-one. So everybody gets personalization across training, nutrition, supplementation and cardio. And then they have access to me on a daily basis for their own personal needs. And then every single Friday, all my guys check in. So we have that weekly calibration, but every single Friday afternoon, we all do a group call, which is really the best call of the week. You know, it's like you don't realize how many men are alone. And we do this, this thing life a lot harder sometimes than we need to. And even when we go on this journey to get healthier, like there's kind of three blocks of, of support that they get or don't get.
Dane (22m 33s):
Like either there's the wife that's like, honey, you need to do this. Whatever you need to do, I'm gonna make sure you're set up for success 'cause I want you to have this. Right. Maybe it's from they, they're a little bit more concerned about that individual's health or their attitude. Then there's the wife that's kinda like, eh, you've told me you're gonna do things like this like a million times. Like this is another one of these things that you're gonna spend time on. It's gonna be by the wayside in a month. So they don't really believe that the man is gonna execute. So it's like, why are you really doing all this? Right? And then there's the one who, who has a spouse who's not really where she wants to be in life. So she's gonna sabotage this whole process. She's gonna challenge the supplement, she's gonna challenge the food, she's gonna challenge the routine.
Dane (23m 14s):
She's gonna get agitated that he's not there to eat the meals or go on the drink, have the drink, or go out to eat multiple times a week. And she's gonna make it a little bit more difficult for that individual. And so my job is to make sure that they stay the course because although it may look selfish, it is the most selfless thing you can do. Putting yourself in a better position to support the ones that you love requires some level of selfishness. Originally, like I always say, the most important vitamin you're gonna take right now is vitamin N, which is vitamin no. You've gotta become okay with saying no right now. It's not forever, but it's right now you've gotta prioritize this and this new process and system to create that 2.0 version of yourself, who they will all benefit from.
Dane (23m 59s):
But there's a process we gotta go through.
Brian (24m 1s):
Yeah, no, it's great that you bring that up because I mean, obviously having a supportive family is a, is a help. Yeah. Can make things go a lot smoother, but sometimes that's not always the case.
Dane (24m 13s):
No, no. I've had wives throw out their husband's supplements, like, like literally throw them all out, like sit there and eat a bag of chips, like in their face, like teasing 'em. It's like, you know, you so I've gotta make the man aware, like, hey, we're not gonna divide here, but we're, we've, we also, we've gotta control the controllable and we've gotta take responsibility for who you're gonna become. You can't let some other outside influence, regardless, your spouse, your family, you are the most important thing. And the hardest thing that you should work on every single day is yourself over your relationships, your job, your parenting. You need to become your biggest project. When you do that, the world becomes your oyster. And some people don't always see it because you don't look it, but eventually when you look it, they will see it.
Dane (24m 58s):
So you have to see it before they can.
Brian (24m 59s):
Yeah. And also the, you know, like you mentioned, like the mindset change because I think a lot of males run into this obstacle that they've always focused on others or that they focused on their business, like you mentioned. Yeah, yeah. Making money and like the, the priority for the, for their own self-care has just gone to the wayside. That's
Dane (25m 18s):
It. Yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. That was my issue, man. It was like, I had grinded so long in my business to build two businesses. Like the first one took me seven years to build into a seven figure agency. And I always like to say, God gave me enough rope not to hang myself, right? Where you just keep, you know, you're, you're failing forward, you fail, But it looks like this, right? Like every day is up and down, but over the time it's like this. And one day you're, oh, hey, the second one took me less than three years. So I was able to learn from that, parlay it and get seven, seven figures. But the trade off was when I got there, that nighttime, I had this reward system, which was, I earned this, I earned this piece of cake, I earned this fried chicken, I earned this beer, I earned a little bit of weed here and there, right?
Dane (25m 59s):
'cause I worked so hard and I set up the wrong reward system. 'cause that was all I knew from society, right? Hey, you, you earned this. And this was like by poisoning myself, this is the reward, right? Like by putting a neurotoxin in with sugar and alcohol and setting myself off for failure the next day, this is the reward that I worked all those years for. It was just backwards. Right? And I think a lot of people still have that reward system because you grind somewhere else and, and providing and protecting and planning and vacations and homes and cars and student loans and this tuition and all these things that when you finally get that nighttime moment, you sabotage yourself. You literally sabotage yourself.
Dane (26m 40s):
And so I teach men that, that we're gonna, we're gonna rewire your brain and realize that self-care is the most important care that you can have. And like one of the things, Brian, like I have so many men that they do this 90 day because they've got something coming up like a vacation or something. They wanna feel better on that vacation. And they will all send me pictures when they get there. Like, this is the first time I've been excited to check out the gym at, at the hotel place. Usually it's margarita time And now it's gym time at 6:00 AM Like they all, because they've rewired their brain, they now are addicted to the process taking care of themselves and getting that endorphins and serotonin release that it's like they, they realize that the poisons no longer serve them at one point in their life, But it doesn't serve them anymore.
Brian (27m 21s):
Yeah, great point. I mean, like getting to the point where it just becomes a part of your life. It's like going to the bathroom, you know? That's right. And, and, But it can take time to get to that, to get to that point. I mean, 'cause like you said, you didn't get there overnight to where you are And you know, those, that was decades of, you know, whatever it was of stress, self-sabotage and overeating or, you know, eating the wrong foods. And so to change those habits and to get to the point where it just becomes second nature, you know, that takes time. Yeah,
Dane (27m 52s):
A hundred percent. And that's one of the things some guys, when they come in the first 30 days, like, oh, I know it's gonna happen, but when, when, when, right? And I always say, that's the wrong mindset. Here's why you are looking to validate yourself based on a result, right? And you're, you're asking when's it gonna happen? But in the same breath, you're asking, can I have a cheat meal every week? Well, which one do you want? Do you want the cheat meal of comfort or do you want the new body? Right? Because you can't have both, right? If you want it to come faster, then you have to stay the course. So by validating yourself on a result, which means I'll be happy when I lose 20 pounds, right? Then you're completely unhappy throughout the whole process of losing the 20 pounds.
Dane (28m 32s):
And as soon as you lose the 20 pounds, what happens? That same system that tried to sabotage you, enjoying the process, sabotages the result because now it says, oh, I deserve to go out for a burger and a beer. Now I lost 20 pounds. And within two weeks you've gained back 15 of the 20 pounds because you set up the wrong reward system. But a man who validates himself on his daily habits, the master plan just needs to get mastered and enjoys that process to where every day he creates happiness. He's not waiting for happiness, that man cannot be stopped because when it's good, he's the same man. When it's bad, he's the same man. He's still shows up every single day regardless of the storms that are going around or the celebration and victories that are happening.
Dane (29m 16s):
And he still shows up because he relies and validates himself on a daily execution of his habits so that man can't be stopped. So there's always a turning point. Some guys, it takes about 30 days, some guys really picking up sooner. Some guys really, the first 90 days, you just kind of keep teaching them how to rewire that brain. But once it sets in, those guys become unstoppable. They literally become unstoppable because they've adapted it as there isn't an end point here. This is a new lifestyle, right? Yeah. And every day I get the chance to get up and create that happiness. So what ends up happening is they go from dreading getting up and going and putting on their pants and running their daily process to, I can't wait to get up tomorrow because every day I get to do it over again.
Dane (29m 58s):
And each milestone throughout the day helps lift me up and feel and believe that I'm a bigger, stronger, better man. Yeah. And then all those other people start recognizing you. Like one of the things, when you start changing physically, what happens? Hey Brian, are you okay? What are you doing? What are you eating? Why are you eating most of 'em? Well always ask, Hey, are you sick? Because you start getting healthy, they start asking you if you're sick. Yeah. Right, right. But that starts to make them feel like people are recognizing me. And when people recognize you, they're curious. And when they're curious, you have the ability to influence them with the information that you are now empowered with. And there's nothing more impactful if we're gonna, if we're gonna move this thing one man at a time.
Dane (30m 38s):
It only comes from the ripple effect. And the ripple effect only happens by you doing your part and getting outta your own way. When you get outta your own way, you now allow another man to be curious about your lifestyle. And when he is curious about your lifestyle, you now have the ability to influence him with the right information of what's worked for you. And that will plant a seed that he can't un un plant. And he will now be curious about. Maybe I could do that. Right?
Brian (31m 2s):
Yeah, yeah. No, great point. I'm also curious, I like to ask this question, what's one thing you've changed your mind on in the past, let's say 10 years? Oh,
Dane (31m 10s):
So many things. Yeah. Like I used to, I used to have this like the, that you needed an escape. That you deserved an escape. And I, I, I really went hard on creating a life that I never needed to escape. So I no longer drink alcohol. I no longer smoke weed. I no longer engage in pornography. Like all these vices that were just so detrimental to my mental I that I realized like, those, those are self-sabotaging behaviors. I'm gonna create a life that I'm so proud of that I never need an escape from. And so everything that I do is based in that premise of right. Do I, is this something that serves me right?
Dane (31m 52s):
My, my best self and something I'm proud of? And so, like, my wife and I always have this thing of transparency, like, you know, we tell each other everything. And, and I'm proud to live a life that way. Like, you know, yeah. Where there are, there, there is nothing hidden, like nothing worse than like, you know, like guys that, like I have guys that are, you know, maybe later in a marriage and they're texting inappropriately with a woman. It's like, do you know what stress comes from? Like having to where worry about where your phone is all the time and God forbid somebody gets access to your phone, you know, or, or engaging in pornography. Like, did I leave a window open? Did I clear the cookies? Like all the mental shit that you gotta go through, you know, to hide those things.
Dane (32m 33s):
When you put that stuff aside and you just become a man that you're proud of it, it really just becomes such a peaceful way of living. So that was one of the biggest things was getting rid of those vices and really just creating a life that I was proud
Brian (32m 44s):
Of. Yeah. Well said. Yeah. I mean, yeah, unfortunately, you know, you see that stuff in, in other relationships and it's, it's sad. It's like, yeah,
Dane (32m 55s):
Yeah. I, I would've friends send me things at the beginning of my relationship, like when I started and I was just like, I was stressed out. Like, did I delete the picture? You know? And I'm like, I just finally said like, Hey, don't send those things to me. I don't want them anywhere in my, in my vortex. Like I don't, if my wife, I opened my wife's phone one day and there were pictures of some half naked dude, like, that would just crush me. Like, so I'm not interested in getting those things, you know, and just really setting boundaries with, with people that were my friends, because I knew my habits were changing and the way that I wanted my relationship outcome to be was gonna be different than their relationship outcome. So it started by being very protective on what I led into my world. And then once I had my world protected, it started with not sabotaging it, you know, and going and, and finding those things on my own.
Brian (33m 41s):
Yeah. And then also too, I think it's important, and this is sort of piggybacking off, which you just said was like creating an environment that is gonna be supportive and also like putting yourself around other people who are like-minded and Yeah. You know, trying like, you, like I like what you do where you do individual coaching, but you also come together as a group because I think it, it really is powerful when not only you're doing it with a coach, but then you also have other individuals that are also working towards the same goals.
Dane (34m 11s):
Yeah. That's one of the things that a lot of guys get. It's like, like everybody comes to the thing for a different reason, right? Like some, like the accountability, some just love the comradery. Like, we come on this call and we're all in a school community, so we can chat in there and every week I'll do a highlight of a client success, you know, and the way that the other members support that member, like one of my guys wrote to me this morning, he said, thank you for highlighting me last week. Like, it really raised my vibration the entire week knowing that all these other men had lifted me up. And sometimes guys come on and they're just like, man, I had a really tough week. Like, I, I didn't execute the way I needed to execute. I had alcohol when I didn't want to have alcohol. Right? That led to me not doing my training the next day. And other guys are like, Hey, you know, guys that are six months into the program control, hey, we've been there.
Dane (34m 53s):
It's about having grace. Pick yourself up next week. We got this call again. Right? Be in a better position mentally and you'll be, you know, you'll feel better. And it's like, thank you. You know, they need that because if they give that to somebody in their circle, they're gonna be like, dude, don't worry about it. It's just the beer. Right? Because their standards are so much lower than the standards that these men are trying to set in their life. So if you look at my website, you'll see there's two things that we do, which is one of 'em is we help you create a your 2.0 version. And we do that by teaching how to raise the standard in your own life. And you need to be the standard for everybody in your circle. And when you do that, you're gonna be the one that everybody comes to when, when they need somebody the most. And that's just the man that I wanted to be, you know, I wanted to be the person that somebody was in jail and they needed, they had one phone call, four o'clock, they knew who was answering that phone.
Brian (35m 42s):
Yeah, yeah. I love that. Yeah, no, that's, that's so true. I mean, leading by example too. You talk about having kids and things like that. I I was just talking to someone about that is like, you know, you want your kids to sort of live to a certain standard, while the best way to do that is sort of to be it yourself. Yeah. Right. To be at that standard.
Dane (36m 0s):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know about you, but like, I've always been a man of standards, right? I just happened to lose the standards in my own, my health and my, my wellness. But I was like a hard grinder of business. Everything I did, I did, you know, 100%. But this was an area where, because I did it 100% in my business that I, I then found the off switch with food and with alcohol. And so that impacted when I started to have kids, and one was three and six, and I started to say, well, these kids get older. He's six and he's three. Like, I'm gonna have standards for them. I'm gonna want them to push themselves. I'm gonna want them to embrace being comfortable, being uncomfortable, right? And I was like, well, shit, I mean, they look at me, they're gonna be like, well, what, what, what's going on here?
Dane (36m 45s):
You know, you don't look like you're pushing yourself, you know? And so I, I kept scaling it out, like, I look like this when, when my son's three at 30% body fat, like in three years, if I continue this journey, I'm what, 35, 40% body fat. Now I just get, things get harder for me to do, it gets harder for me to cut this weight off. I become less motivated. I got less energy. Like what kind of man am I gonna be able to be for them setting the standards? So that was a big catalyst when I saw that future version of myself. And I was like, no, this is not acceptable. This is not acceptable. Like, my wife's gonna pretend she's attracted to me in this body. Like, this isn't what I promised. This isn't the superhero dad that I envisioned, I want it to be, you know, and I can't ask my kids to go be exceptional in things that they want just because I, you know, I'm the man of the house and I, I make the money.
Dane (37m 31s):
Like I need to set the standard both in, you know, physically, financially, spiritually, emotionally, and in my relationship. And so I, I just decided like it wasn't this or that, like it was a big thing of like, it's this or that. It's like, no, no, it's this and that, right? Like, you, you can have both. And when I did man all this time that I felt like I didn't have slowly, you wouldn't be amazed on how much more productive I was in my business once I got this area of my life dialed in, which gave me enough time to start another business, which was this business, which gave me enough time to figure out what Instagram was like. When I started my business, I was only on LinkedIn and I started Dabo sculptors. I figured, well, this has to be an Instagram business.
Dane (38m 13s):
I didn't even know how to spell Instagram. I didn't know what a post a reel or story was like. I had no idea. I'm like, I'm supposed to now take, I didn't take selfies of myself in like three or four years. I'm like, Now I gotta take pictures of myself to like show people that I know what I'm doing or that I know what I did and share my story was like totally uncomfortable. But because I went through this process of validating myself and my health and fitness on my daily execution habits, I just applied that to another area of business and said, I'm not gonna focus on the followers or the likes or the call. I'm just gonna do the habits. And these are the habits that influencers are doing to put out good content. And now I'm gonna figure out what that is for me. And again, you know, over time I grew that account. And so now that was another testament of just taking a system that, you know, works and you can start to now apply it and find other ways.
Dane (38m 60s):
So I tell guys like, you earn a job right now, but once you get to this, get outta your own way and create this next best version of yourself, you'll be amazed at what other things get attracted to you. You know, new big, so many guys on my team have sold mo sold biggest deal they've ever sold in a mo a long shot on this deal, started a new business that's excelled, found their dream partner, got a raise. Like, all these things start to happen because you've raised your vibration as a human being and attracted that level of quality of, of things into your life. When you're feeling shitty about yourself and not optimal, you're only gonna attract more things that make you feel more shitty and less optimal. Yeah,
Brian (39m 38s):
No, all great points. I mean, one of the things I was just thinking about was, you know, the, the daily habits turn into weekly habits, turn the monthly habits, and then by the time, you know, it, like things will start happening. But if you get so caught up in the results initially that they can sort of throw you off track. So like you said,
Dane (39m 56s):
Yeah. You stop wanting to do habits.
Brian (39m 57s):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but I love it. I, I love that you have the system set up and similar to, to what I do, so hopefully we can reach as many dads as possible. And what would you say, this is a another common question I like to ask. If you were gonna give one tip to someone who's just starting out, maybe they wanted to, you know, similar to like to yourself wanting to get their body back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. What one tip would you give them?
Dane (40m 23s):
I would say pick a program that you want to follow, whether it's, if you're at home, pick a 15 minute body weight workout, right? And set yourself up the night before to wake up earlier than everyone else in your house. So whatever time you're waking up now, go back an hour and say, tomorrow I'm gonna wake up an hour earlier and I'm gonna make sure that I drink 16 ounces of water to start my day, and then have a little bit of caffeine and do this body workout for a week, two weeks, three weeks. Just show up for yourself for 15, 20 minutes. And you'll find out, because you're doing that over a week or two weeks, like you said, you're gonna now start going, well, if I'm getting up, maybe I should start watching what I'm eating. And if I'm watching what I'm eating, maybe I stop putting some things in that are making it detrimental to me going to bed on time.
Dane (41m 8s):
Right? And you're gonna start to string these habits
Brian (41m 11s):
Together like a snowball, snowball effect. Yeah.
Dane (41m 13s):
Yeah. You'd be amazed, man. Like, when you start just showing up for yourself for some reason, because we're guys, like, we, it's very common for men. I realize like you, you're providing, you're protecting, you're, you're being selfless to do everything for everyone else, but when you make that time for yourself, you become such a happier person because you're like finally able to look yourself in the mirror and say like, I'm doing what I said I wanted to do, but I've never done it. And you know, so there's like one guy, his name's Chris, he's on my program. He's got beautiful family, a wife, he, you know, works two jobs, okay. He puts his kids through competitive sports, which are very expensive that he never gets to go and enjoy and see because he has to work two jobs to pay for them.
Dane (41m 57s):
Okay? Right. And, and his wife's a a stay at home mom, and he's working from six in the morning to nine o'clock at night, like a full-time job. And then he goes and runs the, the a golf course where he is walking and cleaning up the golf course from like six to nine o'clock. And it just felt shitty energy was there. And he is like, there's no room for me to find money for myself. Like, and, and we just found a way for it to work for him. Okay. And he has lost almost 40 pounds. Wow. In, in a hundred days. It's come completely different person has energy throughout the roof and still found a way to put his kids through the competitive things, but found a way now that he can see those events. And it's like you have to stop telling yourself the story that you've been telling yourself that's keeping you where you are.
Brian (42m 41s):
Yeah. I love that. Love that. Well, Dane, this was great. I feel like we could talk for hours
Dane (42m 46s):
For sure. Man, you got great question.
Brian (42m 48s):
Well, dad bot sculptors, best place for people to find you.
Dane (42m 52s):
Yeah, it's gonna be dbo sculptors.com if you want, you can go on there. I've, I've wrote a free ebook which talks about these five daily habits. A really great place for, it's very simple, but super effective to, to get yourself started. It'll help you give you some direction on how to get started on your own journey. And on there, if you have the urge, you'll see we've done over a hundred transformations for guys, all ages, all sizes, mainly Men, over 35, all the way up to 70 years old. You'll see their stories, and if you're inspired, there's a link on there, we can book a call with me. And on that call, I always like to kind of talk to people about, Hey, where are you? Where do you want to be? What's your schedule look like? What are some of those obstacles? And if we can, we try to design a blueprint that works for them.
Brian (43m 32s):
Excellent. Well, we'll definitely put Links in the show notes and yeah, I love what you're doing, Dane, so I appreciate you coming on and sharing all this knowledge and, you know, just helping affect as many men as possible. So thanks so much.
Dane (43m 45s):
Yeah, man. Brian, thank you so much for having me, number one and number two, you keep fighting the good fight too, man. I love the work that you're doing, so let's appreciate your lives. Appreciate it,
Brian (43m 53s):
Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there, and you've chosen to listen to mine, and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes at Brian grin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.
