ep173-scott-morgan

Ep173: How to Reinvent Yourself at Any Age (And Become Badass) | with Scott Morgan

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As creative professionals, we constantly have to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant (and frankly just to survive the insanity of our industry). The pressure to come up with new ideas and be daring is stressful at best, and debilitating at worst. Many of us are under the illusion that this pressure we place on ourselves gives us our edge – that it helps us continue to perform our best. But instead this pressure leads to limiting beliefs, imposter syndrome, and procrastination. And if it persists over long periods of time…even total burnout.

What if there was a better approach to reinventing yourself, your work, and even your health & body image so you could fully tap into your limitless creativity?

How different would it feel to be able to say ‘yes’ to the things that scared you and ‘no’ to the things that were comfortable and easy, rather than feeling stuck in a job you no longer enjoy? Or sliding into bad habits that are sapping your energy (like that sleeve of oreos that tasted soooooo good) and killing your motivation (just one more episode, then I’ll be productive!!!!), you could actually rise to the challenge with a ‘can-do’ attitude and a believe that your dreams are possible?

My guest today, Scott Morgan, is a PGA Golf Professional turned Online Fitness Trainer, husband, father of 2, a plant based athlete and creator of The Sweatville Club. He also happens to be 58 years old. And only in the last few years has he made this transition to online fitness trainer, plant based athlete, and entrepreneur during the period of life when most people would have considered it “too late” to learn something new and follow a passion that seemed risky or even foolish. Scott’s story will inspire you to take a risk, jump out of your comfort zone and discover what it’s like to live life with a “can-do” attitude.

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Here’s What You’ll Learn:

  • The role Scott played in my Ninja training in Tony Horton’s backyard.
  • KEY TAKEAWAY: It’s never too late to learn something new.
  • Scott’s story of P90X and the changes it brought to his life.
  • The many positive side effects that come from taking control of your health and fitness.
  • How Scott made the jump from doing P90X to training with Tony Horton in person each week.
  • How Scott dealt with limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome.
  • KEY TAKEAWAY: The people you look up to are humans just like you.
  • The challenges Scott faced when starting his own business.
  • What you should say yes to and what you should say no and how to tell the difference.
  • How switching to a plant based diet affected Scott’s fitness ability.
  • The changes Scott noticed in his mental acuity after going plant based.
  • Scott’s advice to his younger self who quit on week one of P90X.
  • Why you should always take the scary path.
  • How to join the Sweatville Club and contact Scott.


Useful Resources Mentioned:

The Big Picture: 11 Laws That Will Change Your Life: Horton, Tony

Ep122: ‘Superfood Hunter’ Darin Olien On How To Be Healthy, Fit, and Eternally Awesome

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Ep161: Managing Limiting Beliefs, Imposter Syndrome, and all the “Chatter” In Our Heads | with Ethan Kross

Ep98: P90X Creator Tony Horton on Covid-19, Staying Healthy During Quarantine, Boosting Immunity, & More

Ep120: It’s Never Too Late to Get Stronger (and Become a Ninja) | with Ginny MacColl, ANW

Ep121: Breaking Down Impossible Obstacles to Make (Almost) Anything Achievable | with Jessie Graff, ANW

Ep06: Defining Your Purpose and Living Large | with Tony Horton

Ep68: How to Go From Couch to the (Spartan) Course | with Rose Wetzel, ANW

Ep60: Getting 1% Better Every Single Day | with Westley Silvestri, ANW

Episode Transcript

Zack Arnold 0:01

My name is Zack Arnold. I'm a Hollywood television editor and producer, a coach and mentor, a father of two, an American Ninja Warrior, and the creator of Optimize Yourself. And I am here to help creative professionals design a career and a life that you absolutely love without having to sacrifice your health, your relationships, or most importantly, your sanity in the process. Let's dive right in and start designing the optimized version of you. Hello, and welcome to episode 173 of the Optimize Yourself Podcast. It means the world to me that with all the podcast choices that are out there you have chosen to spend your valuable time and energy today with me. I promise the you're not going to regret it after listening to today's show.

As creative professionals, we constantly have to reinvent ourselves to stay relevant. And frankly, just to survive the insanity of our industry, the pressure to come up with new ideas and be daring Well, it's stressful at best, and honestly, it can be debilitating at worst. Many of us are under the illusion that this pressure that we place on ourselves gives us our edge, and that it helps us to continue to perform our best. However, this pressure often can lead to limiting beliefs, imposter syndrome and procrastination. And if it persists over long enough periods of time, it can even lead to total burnout. But what if there was a better approach to reinventing yourself, your work, and even your health & your body image so you could fully tap into your limitless creativity? How different would it be to be able to say yes to things that scared you? And no to the things that were comfortable and that were easy, rather than constantly feeling stuck in a job or a life that you no longer enjoy? Or maybe it's about sliding into bad habits that are sapping your energy, you know, like that sleeve of Oreos that tasted so good. And oh my god, can I relate and killing your motivation every single night? Because you need to watch just one more episode and then of course you're going to be productive. But then what if you could actually rise to the challenge with a can do attitude and believe your dreams are possible? Well, my guest today Scott Morgan is a PGA Golf Professional turned online fitness trainer. He's a husband, he's a father of two. He is a plant based athlete and he is the creator of the Sweatville Club. He also happens to be 58 years old, and in only the last few years has he made this transition to online fitness trainer and entrepreneur, plant based athletes and all the other things that he's doing during the period of life when most people would have considered it quote unquote, too late to learn something new or follow a passion that seemed risky, or even foolish. Scott's story will inspire you to take a risk, jump out of your comfort zone and discover what it is like to live life with a can do attitude. And if you check any of his photos, you're also gonna see it is possible to be completely and totally ripped at 58 The guy is a monster. Alright, without further ado, here's my conversation with PGA golf pro online fitness trainer and all around badass Scottie Morgan, whom I not only consider one of my workout buddies, but also a friend. To access the show notes for this episode with all the bonus links and resources discussed today as well as to subscribe, leave a review and more simply visit optimizerself.me/episode173.

I'm here today with Scott Morgan who is a PGA Golf Professional turned online fitness trainer. He's a husband, he's a father of two he is a plant based athlete and the creator of the Sweatville Club and as much as you're going to hate that, I'm going to say it also the inventor of monads. And everybody's like what in the world is he talking about? already? I'm making the guy cringe before he even says hello. But Scott, it is a pleasure to finally have you here to have this conversation on the record.

Scott Morgan 3:52

Oh Zack, that's such a thrill. Such a thrill to be here with you and to have our little little open conversation to talk to your audience that I see just continues to grow and grow. And I just I just love the opportunity to share some nuggets that might help help your audience. So yeah, right on Zack. Thanks for having me.

Zack Arnold 4:11

Well, it's it's an awesome, immense pleasure to have you here and people are gonna know why I feel that way very shortly. But first I want to address a giant elephant in the room. What in the world am I doing talking to a PGA Golf Professional on my podcast? I got to say, not a whole lot of golf professionals on this show. I talk a lot about Hollywood in the industry and networking and creativity and finding an agent and improving your skill set. And all of a sudden, I'm talking to a golf pro. What could that possibly have to do with me being a better editor writer, creative professional, right. So I'm going to I'm going to tell a little story and then maybe you can give your version of the story. Anybody that listens to the podcast regularly knows that about give or take four years ago, I woke up one morning and I had the audaciously stupid idea of becoming an American Ninja Warrior. through one path to another that led me to Tony Horton's backyard creator of the p90x Mega fitness phenomenon. And I believe it was either my second or third Sunday, all of a sudden, there's just this really super happy, super smiley friendly guy. And I was showing up at that house like, oh my god, what am I doing here, I'm gonna get my ass kicked. This is terrifying. And then this guy named Scottie Morgan just comes up shakes my hand super friendly. And the rest is history, much of which we're going to talk about. But I gotta say, and I've told you this before, I want to just set the record straight for anybody, this listening just to make it very clear, where we stand on the Sunday workouts. You my friend are my ninja spirit animal. And we're going to talk about what that means more. But before before we dive into all the ninja stuff. The reason you're here is this idea that we've talked a little bit offline before the call, and also extensively during our many, many crazy ninja Sunday workouts. This idea that age really means very, very little. And that you can really invent yourself at any point in your life. And you are proof positive of that. Now, my understanding is and I could be wrong from looking at Instagram and Facebook and whatnot. Are we recording on your 50th birthday? Or was that yesterday?

Scott Morgan 6:16

Oh, thank you. That was yesterday. Yesterday was uploaded version 5.8?

Zack Arnold 6:22

Yes, I saw that. Yeah, that was awesome. And if people saw what you are physically capable of, just at any age number one, astounding what you're physically capable of, uh, technically, quote, unquote, your age is just It's unfathomable. And we're going to talk about how you created version 5.8 over the course of the last 15 years. But I guess to get started, just introduce yourself to this audience that probably isn't familiar with you and how you got to where you are now?

Scott Morgan 6:49

Yeah, I love it. Love it. Thanks, Zack. Yeah, yesterday was uploaded version 5.8. Which I think your audience can probably relate exactly what I mean by uploading a new a new program. But yeah, so background is, you know, a golf pro for 25 years. And married for 25 years. And, you know, my fitness was just it was, it was never nothing was ever serious about it. You know, I did some running, I did some, some marathons. So I had a Sladek background through high school in college, but I felt like I wasn't athletic. But then, fast forward, you know, and then after watching myself through marathons, and doing these 20 week programs, and after finishing one marathon and seeing a picture of myself the finish line. I'm like, how does that how that does not look like the division of fitness. To me, when I saw my you know, those pictures, they take you to the finish line. And then, you know, then I stumbled on p90x in our good friend, Tony Horton, and we'll talk more about about those workouts. But you know, that was that that was the game changer for me. I mean, I did it for a week, you know, the true stories, I did it for a week, I was in so much pain after the first week that I put it down, and then it went back on the shelf in the garage. And then months or so later, I pulled it back out and committed to it. And that's when that's when life. That's when life changed for me. You know, and as a golf pro, physically as a golf pro that, you know, the industry doesn't really take it as seriously as they should for for golfers. And that was, that was a big thing for me to learn some of the things I learned in p90x and p90x too, and I instituted a lot of those things are integrated, I should say, integrate a lot of those things into my teaching with my students. So when I know when I when I focused on that I finished the program, I lose 40 pounds. People are asking me like, What are you okay? Are you sick? It's totally the first question. You look, you look really skinny. Great. I did crazy p90x program and I'm eating better and drinking more water. And then I became sort of a walking billboard of you know, especially in golf, and in a facility I used to run as the head Pro and GM. Were people were just constantly asked me what, what have I done? What have I done? And that's when I just started leaning more into the fitness world. You know, that was 4047 when I decided as we'll talk about age, right, and where we are in a chapters of our life, you know, up to 47 I was athletic again running, but true, true solid fitness and how it helped me wasn't till I was 47. So I pulled that pulled that program out and and committed to it. So you know, and then from there, I can go all kinds of different directions were there but that's where, you know, I'll touch on you I wanted to physically make a change. Biggest of what I saw in the mirror, right and I knew that my back was in a lot of pain and I've just struggled But little did I know that this simple? Well, sir, you know, 90 days three months, this, I say simple it was It wasn't simple but this short amount of time. Little did I know that not only did I become physically stronger at 47, but mentally, like we all have our jobs, we all have our lives in finance and in our, in our employees, our co workers, our family, our neighbors, little did I know how much that was gonna affect my the mental side of my brain to deal with things that were difficult in my life that I wasn't prepared for, I sure loves losing 40 pounds and how it looked in the mirror. But little did I know how it was gonna help me on that mental road. So that's that's kind of how we've come to here. You know, we're now in this in this fitness world, and the golf is actually taking a slight backseat to, to my main focus.

Zack Arnold 10:55

Well, I definitely want to go a lot deeper into all the stuff that you're into now. But I want to go back in the past a little bit first and hit a couple of points that I think are really important to see you at the end of 90 days of p90x and for somebody to watch the weight drop off, you now have said you've gotten you know, these these curves, these chiseled lines, there's no question how you did it, right? Oh, well, you just popped in the DVD for 90 days. And you did what the you know, the fitness clown told you to do. By the way. I'm not calling him a fitness clown. Tony calls himself America's fitness guys, or anybody's happy. So that's an inside joke. But the what I am always way more interested in is why? Because you did exactly the same that I did. Except you did it at a much, much older age. I was early 30s. It took me four tries before I actually stuck with p90x the first three massive failures. Huge fall starts maybe a week I think once I got through two weeks, and I was just like, No way, right? And I used to what's a four letter word to us on Sundays. I can't, I can't do this, right. This is for me or I don't belong here. Right? And then something switched to me. And there is a much deeper why and things change. So when you said I put it on the shelf after a week I was sore. I was you know, in pain. And then all of a sudden I popped it and I did 90 days, what was the difference? What was the turning point that went from? This is too hard? Versus I'm just going to figure it out? I'm going to make it happen.

Scott Morgan 12:17

Yeah, that's a that's a great question. And it's one in the different interviews I've done in the calls I've done. I'm gonna I wear my emotions on my sleeve. And honestly, it was my as my family it was my kids. Like when I when I saw my it, my kids were growing up and getting older, it became what I want it to be for my family, you know, to be that solid pillar of the foundation of our family. And to make fitness and nutrition and mindfulness be a big part of that. And I was watching watching Tony became my mentors where a TV screen, you know, where he said, you know, he would say terms like I currently struggle with, you know, my first pull up attempts was a one and a half. And it's all I could do those first couple of weeks. And then the slowly did I forgot the rest and did my best. And did my person forgot the rest? Funny I forgot that term goes written on my only written on my shirt only read 1000 times. But But back to your point. I really I really felt like it was I was at an age at 47. And it was a it was how do I want to? You know, I felt like as a golf pro, you know, around 50 Could that be considered making the turn in golf making the turn means you finished nine holes. And now you're making a turn to finish the back nine right? Golf is at home, front nine, back nine. And that was the point where I just felt like I think I'm at I think I'm done with the first nine holes a life. Now how do I want to treat the next the next nine holes in my life when as I make this turn? And you know, as you and I often show our families are so important to us. And then it was you know, what, what do I want to represent for them? And what do I want to show them to Inspire, Inspire them? I can't motivate I often say that I can't I can't motivate anybody. I might inspire somebody. But motivation is just such an internal button that we all have to motivate ourselves. So you know, to your point, I really think it was my family in New York. My my family here not only my core family of My Bride and my two kids, my extended family here in LA. I wanted to be that beacon for them. And then little did I know that that

Yes, see, I tell you when you were going through these questions, they sometimes get a little emotional but my beacon got brighter. And then somebody started seeing my beacon of light like oh, and they started connecting with me, which we'll get into with what's happening now but um So without getting too emotional, it's it was family it came down to family and what I what I wanted to be for them?

Zack Arnold 15:05

Well, just to pour a little bit of salt into the wound, we're gonna dig even deeper because, you know, we were here to challenge each other. And there's no question that my journey is very similar where for me, it was all about how do I want to show up for my family and you had the same? I don't know if I'd say revelation, but just kind of a wake up call, like, Wait, if I'm, if I'm heading towards the back nine, who do I want to be for the back nine to my family? What I want to know, is what was happening in your life such that you realized, I'm not showing up the way that I want to. And I'll give you my own example real quickly. For me, I was I don't know, maybe 3132. My son was a toddler. And I remember just sitting cross legged on the floor playing with blocks or something. And I was in so much pain, and I was so tired, and I stood up and I couldn't stand up straight. And I'm like, I feel like I'm seven years old. I can't keep up with my kid now. Just wait until he's 510 15. Like, I want to outlast my kids. Right. I want to wear them out. And now we go to like a trampoline park or Dojo boom or something an hour and a half later, Dad, we're ready to go. And I'm like, what? I'm just getting started or like Dad, we're so tired. Like I said accomplished. For me. It started on the floor not being able to play with my son. What was it for you where you realize I'm not showing up being the person I know that I can be

Scott Morgan 16:22

do that is that is really freaky that I never heard that from you. I've never heard that. And all the days we've worked out. I've never heard that from you. But wow, like right now I'm realizing that as we dive deeper into this, and we take continue pulling layers off of this. You know, before before p90x When I was trying to run trying to form some level of fitness. I had a very similar thing where I was I was holding my son holding holding him up and I could only hold him for a minute before my back was like, I can't This is nuts. I can't hold my son for more than a minute without my back, back going out. So I had some early similarities in that early on. And that's when you know prior to p90x That was when we're starting to run a little bit and trying to trying to to do and nothing ever really stuck until p90x happened. But you know, that was that was a big one for me of holding my kids up and not being able to do it for for longer than a minute because I was structurally I was too in too much pain. So that was definitely an you know a hammer to the forehead. If you will of waking me waking me up and wanted to be better.

Zack Arnold 17:42

What anybody that knows you now that watches you do fitness and all the stuff you're doing on Sundays, they can just go to Instagram and watch any video. But just the mere picture of you only being able to do one and a half pull ups and not hold your son. astounding to me because I've never seen the before version of Scotty Yeah, right showed up. And I've seen the after version and then the after version, you know, plus, like I've seen the supersized after version, but I've never seen that before. And I remember watching a video I think Tony put it on his social media at one point was like a couple years ago. And maybe you would post it and he shared it to I don't remember, but it was the pegboard before and after. Where you were doing the pegboard to beam to rope which anybody watching it. They're like this is just stupid. It is it is actually very stupid and dangerous. And we're just dumb for doing it every week. But you couldn't even get up to the beam. And I didn't even recognize who you were. But the amazing thing about it was I saw myself in your before. And now that I see your after. What that immediately did for me is it eliminated and negated every single one of my excuses. Hmm, because I came to that workout. First of all saying well, I'm really too old for this ninja stuff. And I'm not strong enough and I don't belong here. And I'm going to try my best and you know, forget the rest and all that good stuff. But realistically, like the I don't see this happening, and when you if you're going to idolize somebody like Tony Horton, it's really hard to say, Yeah, I could be Tony someday because the guy is just larger than life. And he spent his entire life getting to where he is now in building this empire. And you know, just kind of building the machine in his body. So it's really hard to say that with a lot of hard work and effort in eliminating excuses and doubts and overcoming fears. I could be Tony Horton, but then you came along. I'm like, I could totally, totally be at this level of I applied myself because you are exactly where I was when I started. And to me that provides both the inspiration and the motivation. Because I had I had to confront in my mind this excuse of, well, I'm too old or I can't do it. I'm like, Nope, that's just me totally fully. And here's my proof, right?

Scott Morgan 19:47

Yeah, I love it. Yeah, when I when I created that video, I did it. That was one year apart. Right? That was my before video was my day one. And the guy that just happened to be there. Yo decided to record it. And so I'm so grateful that he did he did because it really showed me the path. And yeah, and I'll tell you is like, sometimes I don't, I don't realize how visually, when someone sees what I can do now, at the age that I'm at, Tony and I talk about it, oftentimes often, like, you know, we worked out this morning, he's 63, I just turned 58. And we often talk about not often, but we're often so you know, there's, there's not many people our age that are doing the stuff that, that we're doing. Yeah, in a way to, to maybe give ourselves a little bit credit to be, you know, proud and I, it's taken me a couple of years to, to, to raise, oddly enough to raise just the volume of my proud level, if that makes any sense to everybody. But there's a that's a lot for me, because I there was times where I didn't have a lot of confidence. And now you know, I just the confidence meter, I've just broken it, or I get just as a, that's a whole nother category or Avenue, we can go on this as a confidence of what it does. When you really take control of your own fitness and nutrition and mindfulness and all kinds of things.

Zack Arnold 21:20

Well, this idea of confidence, and you know, going both with fitness, but as far as career and family and everything else, I kind of go back to what you said a little while ago, about this idea of how losing 40 pounds, it wasn't just a matter of I lost the weight, and I looked better, but there were so many other positive side effects that came from it. And there's a really simple exercise that I've seen a few people do in the past, I've done it myself, I know that you've certainly done it. But if you wear a 40 pound weight vest, I'm not talking about run 20 miles or do a Murph in it. Just wear a 40 pound weight vest for a couple of hours. You're flippin exhausted, you can't think straight and all you're focused on is how uncomfortable I am. Now imagine that you're wearing that 40 pound weight vest 24/7 How much harder? Does that make your life not just physically not just how you look in the mirror, how you show up as a dad, how you show up to your job, what it feels like sitting in a car for two hours a day. Like, just that alone has such profound effects on your life. But you just become comfortable you settle in it, and it's just well, this is who I am. And you almost don't notice it.

Scott Morgan 22:27

Yeah, that 40 pounds. Like I didn't know I had that to lose. Right? I committed to the program. Every workout checking the box showing up. You know, for many people, they have to be a number that they want to lose off off the scale. And I didn't I didn't have a number. But by the end of it 39.5 pounds gone. I didn't realize I had that to lose. You know, I thought I had if you asked me in America, I should probably lose about 20 pounds or so. Little did I know that actually 40 came off my friend. But you're right. Oftentimes I'll look at my 40 pound dumbbell was just grabbing 240 This morning doing our bicep curls. I looked at that 40 You know, carrying it from the from the rack over to the bench and realizing Wow, wow, like I was carrying this weight on my body for several, several years. Yeah, it's a powerful moment for whether it's 40. Or you know, from the folks I help help where they've lost, you know, 15 pounds or 10 pounds, I tell them the same exact thing that you just said, Go Go grab a 15 pound dumbbell or a 10 pound dumbbell. And you know, when someone grabs a 10 pound dumbbell, that's, that's just a negative significant feeling of weight. And when they recognize that like, yeah, you're right, this, it's 10 pounds that I was carrying on my on my frame, it's no longer there.

Zack Arnold 23:47

So where I want to go next is from the point of you've done p90x, you had this digital mentor, which I think there are millions of people that will say they feel like Tony is their fitness mentor. Right? So for anybody that's listening right now, that's not into fitness or health or anything else that is more into the creative side of things, I can promise this is equally applicable. But if you have somebody that you followed for years, you've really gotten into their work, and they've had a profound change. You're like, I'm so glad I did p90x, here are my pictures of my progress. It's a whole other thing to go from that point to all of a sudden being the star of his workout programs. So what was this switch for you in your head and the change in your life where I win from? He's my digital mentor, and I'm so glad I changed my life to I need to literally be in his life.

Scott Morgan 24:37

Yes. I love sharing this this story of how that evolves. I mean, one, obviously I live in Los Angeles and he lives in Los Angeles. You know, I lived in New York. I, I probably wouldn't be on this on this podcast with you. But that whole story, you know, so I'm a p90x graduate. Had my success story. He's my mentor. tore through a TV screen. You know, I got involved with Beachbody the company that he that he basically helped launch off the ground I got involved with them. Ensure in the back of my mind was like, I want to meet him one day I want to meet him one day. So I would go to this massive 1000 person event. And I'd haven't signed signup book in fact, I have one of my one of the books I know we're visual but I'm at the big picture and I'd love to share give a shout out on that book for at the end of our of our talk here but and then so the story goes where then p90x certification launched. And when I saw that, I was like, Of course I have to get certified I have to get certified in the program that changed my life forever. So I I got in with the very first class at Beachbody corporate here in Santa Monica got certified med Tony picture up picture ops, nowhere near the level of friendship that we have now that we'll continue to dive deeper into as we go here. And then that ended and then you know, you've gotten to know Zack now one of the directors of the Tony works with with the power four program. It was a half a year later, I get this email from Zack and says, Hey, Scott, I'm Zack. I'm Tony Horton's YouTube creator director for all his YouTube footage that we filmed with Beachbody. We did a Google search. And we searched p90x and PGA Golf Pro, and your name popped up. How'd you like to do a collaboration video with Tony Horton? Right? So I often joke that I literally passed out and that the paramedics had to wake me up and call my wife over and I'm like, Jen, look at this email. This email sounds like that. This guy Zack wants me to do a collaboration video so and so the jump pole, but we so we Yes, absolutely. So he and I recorded a really fun, golf specific warm up video for his YouTube channel. And then yes, there we're filming together now we get to know each other a little bit more. So now he knows me as though the p90x certified guy PGA golf pro here in LA. And then fast forward again. Now, I'm somewhat shy still, right. I'm, I'm still that way. I'm still or shy of being more bold. That's a whole nother conversation. But you know, fast forward, he and I, we have this connection with veterans. As a golf pro. I work heavily with a nonprofit that helps veterans learn a game of golf, to help veterans keep their mind on something else, which needs to be done for them and what they struggle with. And Tony is a big supporter of veterans. So he and I separately on two different connections were asked to come and do a charity event at the Veterans facility golf course here in West LA. So we go we show up. Hey, yeah, PJ GoPro Scott. Yeah. And then we basically hang out that whole day. And I say, Hey, I see you have a yoga and ski retreat in Jackson Hole over here with your buddy Teddy. I want to come to that one day and say, Yeah, you got to come you got to come. And I'll talk a little about that. But during that day, he just said, he said Here, take my assistants email, and connect with me and maybe the workouts down the beach. At the time, it was a beach beach workouts that some of you might be familiar with are the YouTube videos of Tony's workouts was down at the beach on Sundays in Santa Monica. And the the quiet. It took me a year. It took me a year to send that email to hit at the time is Shawn. I was his assistant. And I said Shauna, hey, it's Scott is the PGA Golf Pro, and Tony remembers me, but what does it cost to join them for one of those Sunday workouts down the beach.

And that took me a year to send that email out and not five minutes later, Zack, I get a response back from Shauna. And she said, Tony is no longer doing the beach workouts down the beach. Just be here at the house this Sunday at 10 o'clock. And then again, I pass out paramedics wake me up and I realize that you're not going to believe it. But Tony had just invited me to his house and my bride just reminded me that it was Mother's Day. It was Mother's Day, on that Sunday, to be invited to the house. And that's that was my first time going to the house of what you and I now know as a Sunday funday workouts and you know, several ski and yoga retreats in Jackson Hole. And now we've just oddly still pinch myself of the friendship that's now formed over these years. Which, you know, I reverse engineer back to doing a 90 day program, we just goofy guy on a TV that made me laugh, and sometimes I mute them. And and now it's here's where we are. Yeah, again, I worked out with him this morning with a couple other dudes and, and so that's kind of the short, not so much fast story of, of how it evolved to where I am today.

Zack Arnold 30:28

I love it. And there's a very specific part that I want to dig into deeper because I have a feeling that you went through a lot of the same things that I did and still go through to this day. And also anybody listening again, it doesn't have to have anything to do with fitness. But if there's somebody that you really admire from afar, whether it's, you know, a creative professional, like an editor, a director, whoever it is, and you're thinking the following, and I'm sure you thought the same thing. Who am I to think that I can connect with this person? And I'm guessing there was a little bit of that, which is what led to a year before you could send an email, like who do I think I am?

Scott Morgan 31:04

Yep. No question. No question. Yeah. It took a year. But you're right. I mean, you know, what's the old saying that? If, if we never ask, then the answer is always no. Right? So I mean, it literally I mean, when I hit send, when I hit that button to send that email, I was freaking out how this is gonna be not so I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't do this. And I finally pulled the trigger and sent that sent that out. And you're right. You're right. I mean, yeah. Is the answer always going to be yes, every time. It's not going to be but. But to be bold, and to send those emails out that might be uncomfortable to a person that you don't think might have a positive response that that can make a huge, huge difference in the short didn't in my world?

Zack Arnold 31:55

Well, I've actually heard the story about when you got that email from Tony, because I think I had the same team of paramedics because they told me the story. As they were reviving me, they're like, wait, you also just got an email from Tony about going to work out that so weird. Last year, we revived the guy that had the same problem. Same exact experience, the logistics were a little bit different, but ultimately got the email from Shauna that said, come to the house this Sunday show up and my hands were literally shaking, I'm like, there's just no way. Like, there's no way this is actually happening. And part of it was the fear of am I going to be able to go and can I do the push ups and the pull ups and i The funny thing is, I went to think it was gonna be like a p90x workout, like an hour, 70 minutes not knowing that it's like four to five hours. So I had no expectation, right? But really, the fear came down to who do I think I am working out with Tony Horton. And to be totally brutally honest, that thoughts still creeps into my head every Saturday afternoon when you and I get the group email that says who's in tomorrow? Like, do I really belong here? Like, after three and a half years, people have seen the videos, they know that I hold my own. I'm certainly never the best one there. I hold my own. But still my my voice inside says, Whom I think I should show up at this workout on Sunday.

Scott Morgan 33:10

Yeah, dude, I feel the same exact thing. We're so parallel, like, I think. And I feel because I feel the same way. I mean, besides the gratitude that I feel for being able to walk into that, that is his home and do that. But yeah, I mean, and if, if if you and I I mean, people might be listening right now thinking like, who in Earth is is Tony Horton guy like people might not be have any clue but to try and put it in a context of the listeners in their world, in the editing world and the high level profession that you are. There's people there's probably a Tony Horton in their life, right, that they could send that message to and I bet some of them I know you've done such an incredible job. Well, you do. I bet there might be somebody listening. Who would, who might be intimidated to send an email to Zach to you about about reaching out to you because they're starting out and so that message is that person listening right now that send that email to Tony Horton or aka Tony or in in their world. I just thought about the listeners listening right now Zack, but you know, you and I are just we're so like, blown away by Tony Horton and that we got this response and we get to do this every week. That how could a listener who could care less who Tony Horton is right and not have him on a pedestal on a on how he changed our life? How it could help them?

Zack Arnold 34:35

Yeah, ultimately, for me, it's realizing that whoever it is that you're putting on this giant pedestal, they're not putting themselves on the pedestal, some of them we are we are talking about Hollywood, so some of them might be but you probably don't want to connect to them anyways, but the the real ones, the authentic ones. They have all their own hangups and their own issues. And you know, you know, Tony well and I know Tony well the guy's incredibly human. He's very human. Right and you really is just another person. And if you can just find a way to provide them a little bit of value, and some authentic, genuine friendship, and you don't put them on a pedestal, but you just see them as another person, you can connect, as soon as you stop taking them or stop putting them on the pedestal and you take them off. That's where the relationship can develop. And that's where like you said, this has nothing to do with Tony Horton, Mr. Fitness. It's who's my version, who is that digital mentor, the person I see from afar that if I got to know them, in any capacity could totally change my life. Like you said, you got to put yourself out there and start the conversation.

Scott Morgan 35:33

That's right. That's right. Really good. Really good. And here we are. Here we are. I mean, I go two to three days a week, as much as I can. And Sundays, I mean, we can, we could talk for two more hours about just how Sun is mean to you and I. But yeah, yeah, what a big would a big change in my life. And again, back to some 90 Day Program, decided to do some push ups and pull ups.

Zack Arnold 36:02

And speaking of changes in life, you've also gone through a pretty transformational change recently, which is that after being PGA golf pro for 97 years straight, now, all of a sudden, for through circumstances that were not your own, you realize that maybe this isn't something that I'm going to continue going forwards. And now you've reinvented yourself again, and again, doing it at your age, like aren't isn't a kind of retirement age, and she's getting ready to you know, be the guy on the golf cart. This is playing golf and traveling and but no, like you decided I got to start my own little mini revolution.

Scott Morgan 36:36

That's right. Yeah. And you're right, it's almost to the day Today's the 14th. But it's almost to the day that that I launched the the sweat toe club, I mean, you know, it all stemmed from being a cast member being one of Tony's cast members in multiple programs now and in double time with Beachbody next level. And now finishing up the power four that you and I both helped film this last month. But yeah, and you know, so my job, my PGA general manager job ended in February of this year. And that was a you know, that was a big turning point for me to decide. But I just the feedback I kept getting about the, the inspiration that apparently that I am to people, I was doing some live workouts on Facebook, when the when the pandemic hit in March of 2020. And every Friday, I would just go live and people would hop on and, and more people hop on and more people hop on and then it transitioned to I said, I got tired of tuning in live on Facebook, because Facebook Live as you all know, it's you just watch yourself, you watch yourself and people comment. And eventually I said, You know what, I can't tell if you guys are just sitting on your couch, you know, just watching me work out. We got to switches over to zoom. So don't transition to zoom. And now I do the Zoom workouts live but going back to Yeah, it's a it's a to me to be 57 years of age and now 58 To decide to lean in to this passion that I now have for fitness. It's scary. It's definitely scary, right? It's my it's my own thing, right? Like I don't, I don't just show up and punch a clock and collect my paycheck. Like if I want to make stuff happen. I got to make it happen on my own. And it's been a it's been an interesting challenge to me. But I would, I would definitely put my ability to do it. Again, routes back to my fitness and my fitness that I've created over these last 10 years. That not only have made me physically stronger though, but all mentally there's no question that I'm mentally stronger if I didn't have that. There's no way I'd be leaning in to try and start an an online club with people all around the world from Netherlands Australia and here in the US of people who just absolutely love working out together on a on a zoom call. I had no idea that it has some legs, the wheels that it that it does. But yeah, scary at the same time. So so excited to meet new people every month that are that are hopping in Georgia.

Zack Arnold 39:24

And that's going to bring you back to almost exactly the same question where we started almost in the beginning, which is why like, at your age you've just you've kind of been handed the the golden ticket of you know, you no excuses. You did nothing wrong, but the PGA golf thing just kind of ended because of circumstances that had nothing to do with you. I don't know your exact financial circumstances, but I'm guessing you're not going to be destitute if you don't get a paycheck in a week. So why not just settle and why decide I'm going to do one of the scariest things on the planet, which is start my own business.

Scott Morgan 39:57

Yes. You know what, it really comes down to this feedback I was getting, I get, you know, one of my golf job ended could I have just, you know, through the resume out there and just, you know, I could have found another golf job and just sat back and be that employee and not have control of my own life, that's a nother part of this narrative that I'm creating is that I, I really felt deep down inside that I wanted to do my own thing. I didn't, I didn't want to be, I didn't want to have a boss anymore. I wanted to make the calls I wanted to be in now. We I literally can do this job that I'm doing now from anywhere in the world. You know, I ran it was I was on the ship to New York. Yeah, and, yeah, unfortunate. You know, my, my bride works full time, she got a great gig with an insurance company. So that's a big factor here. Like if we if we didn't have that, I probably wouldn't be in a position to be able to launch this from the ground up. dollar dollar one, which leads to Alright, 10 people joined. All right. And then I started uh, you know, when I started this almost a month ago, I basically started with founding members, I wanted to get a group of founding members, these people who again, I've, I've gotten to meet through Tony and the power nation, group, they were there a big part of the people who follow me. And I feedback I was getting from them was was saying, I got to try this, I got to do this. But I, I do not want to become 85 years old. And the story you hear about somebody in your senior and senior home, where they often say, I regret I regret not doing this. I regret not doing that. And that is not going to be me. I do not want to get to those days where I can do the things that I do now. And, and have that answer. So, again, I think it's the feedback I get from these folks that do the workouts with me. And that really inspires me, which then motivates me to do these live workouts four days a week.

Zack Arnold 42:05

Well, that reminds me of a post that you put up it might have been today yesterday. I don't remember one. But one of the posts you put up on Instagram, which is a very recurring incident for all of us on Sundays, is one where you rip our hands open. And you had said this thing stings like a mother, but it doesn't sting as much. Is there. The regret of not trying?

Scott Morgan 42:24

Oh, yes. That those were kind of the I don't know how that came out of my brain. I guess I am not that smart. But it gets rolled out. Like that kind of sounds like it sounds cool. Yeah, that that little that thing is you guys can see it on the screen, but Oh, yeah.

Zack Arnold 42:43

That's my weekly run that

Scott Morgan 42:44

I have. Yeah, for the folks listening. We're showing off our flappers as we call it. Uh huh. But and it stinks things like a mother. But yeah, thanks, dude. I mean, that's exactly how that felt. tying into the tails of what you just said like I don't want to that day kind of like a wonder if I would have tried harder and that ninja course or even showed up? Right and that's not going to be that's not going to be me. Yeah, I'm

Zack Arnold 43:12

right there with you to where you know, every Saturday we get the email and you stare at the phone like I don't know. Yeah, should I should I? I already cleared it with the Wi Fi already. No, I've got the time. I have no excuses. There's got to be a reason I can get out of it. Fine, you send the email. Right but never once have I gotten on my car Sunday afternoon and said you know what? I regret having gone today. I wish I wish that I hadn't right. There's so much fear and apprehension but even with for flappers blood, whatever it is, I've never said you know what? I shouldn't have gone today.

Scott Morgan 43:47

Yeah, I mean, it's a boy what is it? What a message there is to that? And that that message is about saying? Yes. Right? Mean? I often hear you know, Tony say you know, what is the you know, saying no to something what are the first two letters of the word nothing is no. So when you say no What do you get? You get nothing I think you can hear his voice say that. And they've often credited just my being of someone who really likes saying yes, you know, the yoga trip the yoga and ski roadtrip in Jackson Hole that he and Teddy put on every year. You know, that's something I say yes to every year, saying yes. When these emails show up, saying yes to different things that come up, that I know are gonna challenge me in life. There's a there's a deep message in that too of saying yes more often, to things that are that are potentially could be uncomfortable or definitely or uncomfortable.

Zack Arnold 44:52

Yeah, and I think that's the key because it's so funny that the message I share on the show so often is you need to learn how to use the word no because you're saying yes to all the wrong things that are not scary. Yeah. And what you're saying is you need to say yes to the things that are scary. Yes. Yes. Right. Because so many people like I mean, I had built an entire business around people that are miserable and stuck in their lives because they've been saying yes to all the wrong things for decades. So yes, is a great, very powerful word in the right context, but can be very detrimental in the wrong context. And you've learned how to say yes to the scary stuff, where your brain and your heart are like, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're like, fuck it. I'm gonna do it. Yeah, right. Right. Figure it out. Right? Yep.

Scott Morgan 45:37

Exactly. Right. And yeah, no flipside of that for No, for me, is now oddly, very oddly, I mean, little did I know this, the version of me that, that I've created myself this machine, if you will, I've got people reaching out to me with talking about products, and apparently on a micro, micro, micro micro influencer on on social media, where they're reaching out to me and talking about their product. And now, I literally have a box over on the kitchen of a new company that I'm really excited about, because they're all about plant based. They're all about which I become four and a half years ago being plant based and super proud of it. And I was researching this company. And they reached out to me out of out of out of the blue. And they said, Hey, we just been watching your messages that you've been sharing on social media. And we'd love it if you would consider being an empowered ambassador for our plant based message. So that's pretty cool. But my point being is that some of them I've said no to, I can't say yes to all those in a little bit of different contexts, obviously, in terms of something really scary. But these were just No, because some of them just didn't line up with me. And they didn't want to fill my plate and have too many spinning plates as we sometimes do. Like being in a circus, right? I just always think of that the guy in the circus just spinning those 20 plates and having to run to every plate to make sure that don't they don't fall that that that was me at one time where I would just simply try and spin too many plates at one time.

Zack Arnold 47:20

Yeah, I've definitely been known to both spin plates and juggle flaming chainsaws simultaneously. Doesn't work out well for anyone which I spent years trying to figure out how to how to better balance all of those things. But talking about this plant based thing is what I would call in the industry, the perfect segue, because it's exactly where I do next is really helping people understand. And what I don't want to do is get into the dogma and religion of nutrition because as you know very well, you start talking about food and people get very offended, very dogmatic and they all they have their ideas about this is right, this is wrong. You're crazy. I'm crazy. It needs to be all meat, all plants, like it's just it's a vortex of a black hole of a Pandora's box. I have no interest in going down. But I want you to talk about your experiences making the transition of plant based why and the results that you've gotten

Scott Morgan 48:11

love it. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. Boy polarizing, polarizing conversation. It can it can go or topic rather. You know, it's so I'm working out with Tony one morning, four and a half years ago. In fact, it was on a Tuesday on the same day that we're recording this. And he and Darren Olean. Darlene is another book to shout out super life super life book by Darren I've actually had

Zack Arnold 48:38

him on the podcast, by the way. So I will make sure to link to our interview in the show notes talking all about that shameless plug in Now back to you.

Scott Morgan 48:44

Love it. Love it. So we're sitting there. And and Tony just simply said, Hey, what do you what do you say we do a 14 day challenge, a nutritional challenge. And right away. I didn't even know what it involved. But I knew at the time I was I had my fitness pretty much I was showing up. I was doing the pull ups doing the push ups. But nutritionally there was no game plan. There was no no rhyme or reason to what I was doing. So I wanted, I like being challenged. So I was ready for a nutritional challenge. I knew I needed it. So he said, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna watch a documentary. And then we're gonna eliminate beef, pork, chicken, seafood and dairy. We're gonna eliminate those five things for 14 days. That's it. I said I can do that. I can do that. And then so I let him ride in for 14 days. So pretty, pretty good after 14 days in a day 15 I just decided to keep keep going with it. And then what? What changed for me was when I got a personal best on the pegboard, which as the listeners might be listening might be you and I might be the only ones that know what a an actual pegboard is, but pegboard is, you know physical fitness equipment, which as you can imagine, two pegs, you got two pegs in both both hands, and there's holes in a big board and you climb that thing about week four is when the only thing I changed was eliminate those five things from my diet. And on week four, I finally had a personal bests physically on that on that pegboard. And when that moment came, I don't even know if if you were there that day. But when that moment came, and I was able to do multiple more trips around that board, which I wasn't able to do 30 days earlier. That's when everybody was like, What are you doing? What are you doing differently? What are you doing differently? What are you doing at home, I say, You know what, I'm not doing anything physically differently. But I've changed my nutrition. And this is what I've done. So when I had that experience, because as as, as you can attest, the acrosome is can sometimes be a fog of testosterone that we have to go through, really,

Zack Arnold 50:58

we have to go the waft of testosterone, yes.

Scott Morgan 51:03

To try and beat the next guy. And we all want that we all we all are, well, I shouldn't say all of us. But some of us want those, those challenges to try and beat the next guy, or gal or whatever it is. And when I felt that improvement, I'm like, I'm gonna keep going with this thing. As I say, like, I'm getting stronger, and I've lost a couple pounds, I wasn't looking to lose any weight. I was just looking to challenge myself nutritionally. You know, and that was four and a half, almost four and a half years ago.

Zack Arnold 51:36

But I don't understand how do you get your protein? How many times have you been asked that question?

Scott Morgan 51:44

Yes, yes, it is. It is asked every single time. And now my my token response now is that, are you familiar with Pinterest. So I send the Pinterest and I tell them to go to search bar, and just typing just type in plant proteins. And lo and behold, a B 372,000 images on Pinterest of where I get my protein from and I didn't know y'all. Again, my my challenge at first was just to eliminate five things from my diet. I knew protein was important. But little did I know how much protein was in plants. And then you know that I went down the proverbial rabbit hole, and I wanted to research it more. And I'm, I'm big on being a student. That's another great message. I would hope that this people listening is it to for it to be a forever student, whatever direction you want to go just to be a student to learn about our ourselves. But that's what I did. I went down that road, I started learning more about what Darren Elaine's message and rich role and Brandon brasier, the list goes on and on of different people that were that were, you know, air quotes plant based. And then as I watched what they were doing, my gosh, they're doing stuff that's, that's 10 times harder than what I'm physically trying to do. And they're surviving on plants. So that was sort of a confirmation for me. If I wanted to continue this, can I still get my protein intake? And now it's been super easy to, to hit those numbers. But you're right, that's the first question that is asked whenever whenever I share with somebody that I'm plant based, or vegan, or whatever you want to call it.

Zack Arnold 53:45

So then I would guess maybe it's not the next question. But I would guess the one of the most common question is, yeah, but what do you do when you really want a steak? Or you want some cheese? Like, how do you deal with that? Because I'm sure you just want that stuff all the time. And you you have to use willpower? To not to not, you know, to say no, and to just stay plan based?

Scott Morgan 54:06

Yeah. So the group that I've started when I when I started my 14 Day playbook group, right? I have a 14 day playbook. And when they when they select that, I put them into a private group. And I tell them, I say I say this isn't it's not mandatory to be plant based. I said if, if I've been able to affect where your 100% scale went from 50% plants and 50% animal products, if I'm able to make that 6040 or 7030, then my that I feel that my message has been successful to goose I just, you know, become the poster child for plants being able to survive on plants. So my point being is I tell them that hey, if that's your thing, and you want to grab a steak or you want to have cheese and go ahead and go ahead do that. So yeah, I get it. And that was me right I grew up on on all the animal products. You know, I was a was you know bacon bacon was a standard thing in my in my diet three days

Zack Arnold 55:16

it's a food group isn't it? Isn't bacon an actual one of the four groups?

Scott Morgan 55:21

Like I mentioned, I was the general manager at our at our golf course. So, as a GM, you're in charge of every department, what department is that? That's the kitchen. So I got to go into kitchen. And it became a joke before I went plant based, obviously is, uh, you know, the guys would see me coming to do the daily bacon quality, check. quality control check. And yeah, I was checking the bacon. She also there's days there where I was literally having bacon, five to six days a week. But yeah, now I don't want I don't miss it. I know that's a big thing with some of the people in my group is that they feel like they're gonna miss it. But when I get them to try that 14 days, you know, they, they, they're okay to be without it. And then maybe they just they have it less. They just simply have it less because they feel better after the 14 days. So I tell them Well, that's that. I'm no doctor. I don't play one on TV. But I kind of think that the saturated fat it's in that might be part of why you feel a little better and not not sluggish. Yeah, we can go all different paths here. But we

Zack Arnold 56:34

certainly could. And I don't want to again, go down the, as you said the rabbit hole talking about, you know, all the areas where people get in dispute this factor that fact like for me, it's all about personal stories and personal results. And because I know that there's going to be a large portion of people listening to this, that it's not about how do I get six pack abs? Or how do I get in Tony Horton's backyard, but the currency in my industry is creativity. The longer you could maintain creativity and sharpness and problem solving, the more value you have. So talk to me specifically about the changes you saw in your mental acuity when you decided to switch to a plant based diet.

Scott Morgan 57:13

Yeah, that was phase two of what of me really taking a inventory of what was going on where like I had that physical experience of being able to have personal best physically in this in the stuff that we do. But then it made me pause and it made me pause and do an inventory of okay, that hadn't physically now let's let's do, let's really take an inventory of my mental mental clarity and focus at the job I was doing as the General Manager and having the responsibilities ahead. And that's where I really felt like the sharpness, you know, at work my energy level was at a heightened heightened level, which just kept pushing me back to by just making this simple change. I was sharper, there was no question that we're sharper, I was sharper in talking to customers, I was sharper and dealing with my own personal clients of my students, right. So I'm a golf professional I was I was I'm a teacher as well. So I recognized that on a on a very simple focus. You know, when you're teaching somebody a physical movement, while you've got to be focused, you can't be just sluggish and you know, dozing off, if you will, or being nearly falling asleep, sharp, sharp, and I was I was I would literally be in a lesson, Zack, where my lessons are about 40 minutes, most of my lessons were 40 minutes. And before that I can I can literally feel like I was checking my clock after like seven minutes, like hoping for it to end like go back and sit at my desk. But then with this new experience I was having. I mean, it's kind of free. It was kind of freaky when I think about it, because as that 15 minutes, 20 minutes into the lesson, I literally felt like I was a better teacher, that I was more in tune with exactly what that student was doing. And then the lesson would be over. And, and I would literally, again, pause and take a little self inventory and like wow, I was so in tune with that student and helping them improve their golf game. Which has not become a big part now this whole fitness world and help help me with their fitness and their nutrition and their well being is why I've made this pivot in life. But to feel and experienced that, again, I reverse engineered or just reverse time, like why is that? Why is that? And I kept pointing back to my nutrition and the things that I was putting in my piehole I think we're serving on a cellular level. We're serving me personally better and that that continue to To motivate me to continue staying, plant based, so that was a, that was a, those were big moments for me on that, especially with students, again, and family and employees and clients and customers. And just every everything I was dealing with, with the budgets in the fiscal reports I had to do and the, you know, because I had a fiduciary responsibility to the city that own that, that golf course and that facility. So there were a number that was a numbers game. And I had to be sharp in those numbers. And I was an even my bosses, they recognize it too. And the reports that was creating and being able to pick up on things from month to month on our p&l reports, I was better I was a, I was a better human being not only a better employee, which they loved, but I was a better human being on how I lived my life. When my eyes were open. I want

Zack Arnold 1:00:58

to make sure that everybody listening today, if they're interested in going down this path, they want to try out sweat fill, they want to try out the 14 Day Challenge and ask what if I were to eliminate these things from my diet? I want them to be able to find all that information. We're going to get there very, very soon. And I want to be conscious of your time. But I have one more question. And what we're going to do is we're going to jump into a time machine. And we're going to travel back in time to the day. You quit p90x on week one. You did it for a week, you were super sore, you were tired, you could barely hold your son your back hurt. What advice you're going to give yourself knowing what you know now.

Scott Morgan 1:01:35

Right? So the so the time machine of when I first did p90x And then I quit it. Yeah.

Zack Arnold 1:01:41

So today, so like week, it's day seven, week one, you're like, Nope, this is not for me. What advice do you give yourself on that day when you said I quit? I can't do this.

Scott Morgan 1:01:53

Oh, yeah, that's great. Because it was, you know, because when I did quit it on the I quit biggest I literally, I mean, I, I needed help from the toilet bowl, I mean, speaking about how your legs feel after the plyometrics day, and I literally couldn't, couldn't stand up, I couldn't walk couldn't was couldn't put my arm over my head. So that was one reason. But now if I can go and talk to that person, I would I would tell him to still show up. To make it a non negotiable. This I often shares that it's non negotiable. I put on my calendar, it's non negotiable that I'm going to show up, I'm gonna do my best or forget to rest, like it's on the back of my T shirt, and Tony's famous line. But if I if I went back to that of not, it would be, dude, I know you're in pain. I know you're struggling. I know it's super sore. But you have day eight, you've just finished day seven, check off the box on day eight. It's okay, if you can't do three pull ups yet. Okay, if you can't do more than 15 Push ups, you're going to do your 14, you're going to fast forward through Tony and the guys knocking out 40 Push ups or 20 Pull Ups. And fast forward through those. And then just move it to the next workout and check off day eight. And then in your calendar day nine is non negotiable. Boy, I wish I would have heard this.

Zack Arnold 1:03:31

Well, there's somebody, somebody right now, whatever their version of I've done seven days and I'm I quit. I can't do it. Somebody needs to hear that advice, right? Because I think to myself, right? If I can't, I made the decision. this very spot. I remember it was I don't remember the exact day. But it was during the holiday season of 2017. I had one of the worst years of my life I call 2017. My last year, I had burnout, I was having horrible experiences with work. I literally and I've talked about this before, but it's still hard to talk about. My mental health was so bad that I was in the fetal position in bed, saying to myself, my family would be better off without me. And at the end of that year, I sat in this room with my wife during the holiday season and said, I have a crazy idea. And she's like, Yeah, what is it because I tell her that all the time. All my ideas are crazy. She's like, Yeah, okay, what's, what's this one? And I said, I think I want to be on American Ninja Warrior. And she looked at me she's like, Okay, I was like, That's it. She's like, Yeah, I can totally see that. If I were to go back to that moment, I can't even imagine if I chosen not to do that the last four years. Oh my god has it been difficult and challenging and scary and terrifying. And there's been pain and sort of like, I don't remember what it feels like to not be sore for years of waking up every day being sore, but I can't imagine having it any other way and having decided not to do it because I was scared. And there are a lot of people at that precipice and whatever it is their career, their family, their relationships. their fitness, their health, they're on that precipice. They have to choose one path or the other man choose the scary one.

Scott Morgan 1:05:06

Wow. Yeah, what a great, what a great share right there that that's a nugget. That is a nugget. And I appreciate you asking that question because no one has ever asked me that question when I talk about quitting after week one. And then not plugging in person pushing play for I think was six, seven, maybe eight months later. And no one's asked me that question before and I said, What a great, what a great question. ASAC Thanks for Thanks for asking that make well, you bet

Zack Arnold 1:05:34

and time machine. And thank you so much for being here and so willingly and honestly sharing your story. Now comes the big question. How do people join sweat Ville and get your 14 day pack? And how do they become superhuman? Like you?

Scott Morgan 1:05:48

Oh, I appreciate that. Appreciate that, too. So my son Jake, I gotta give him a shout out because he's the one who's helped me. I don't know how to create a website. How do you create a website? So we he helped me create a website but my website is pretty simple. Scotty Mo. My nickname has become Scotty mo over the last couple of years. But Scotty mo dot XYZ, apparently XYZ is one of the new dot coms. Right? So Scotty Mo,

Zack Arnold 1:06:14

it's very trendy. Oh, good. Oh, wow,

Scott Morgan 1:06:16

look at that. I'm 58. And I'm trendy. Go figure, go figure. But Scotty mo dot XYZ is basically where I'm housing, everything that I do, whether it was be someone who's interested to see what the sweat sale club, sweat fill is a name that just popped that in my cranium. A year ago, we call it sweat pill. And now there's a there's a basically a membership where people, they pay $27 a month to be a member, they currently get four workouts a week that are live on Zoom, they don't have to have their camera on, they don't have their audio on if they don't feel comfortable with that. And now I've gotten to the point where I'm actually recording some of them, where they're going to be housed in a library where they can watch recordings of them. And then, you know, on my on this Scotty mo dot XYZ is the, you know, my first product was a 14 day plant based playbook. That's an 82 page document. Which when people sign up to become a member, they get that document. It's normally a $27. playbook. But they get that and I also created a fitness planner. So a 25 page fitness planner, for people that like to pen and pen and paper, which is like me, I like to I like to see my pen, my penmanship, my handwriting, write stuff down in my journal in my paper, so yeah, so Scott haemodynamic was he is basically where they would see everything that I do, this new company that I'm dialing in with that I'm pretty excited about. Yeah, so now I'm becoming an ambassador, gotta give a shout out to power life and Tony origin, nutritional line and power life. I'm an ambassador for them as well. I'm still involved with Beachbody. So all my sided Beijing is going to show people everything that I'm currently trying to lean into, and take ownership of it. And, and it's all on me, it's all on my shoulders. I don't have bosses to that I have to answer to, if I'm going to make it. If I'm gonna fail, excuse me, and if I make it's gonna, it's gonna be bigger than me and the support team that I surround myself with and you my friend, or one of those support people that I surround myself with?

Zack Arnold 1:08:29

Well, I appreciate that. And I highly encourage anybody that wants to be in a supportive environment to make some of these changes where it's not some bootcamp instructor making you feel bad about yourself and yelling at you. It's a really supportive environment, very accessible right in your living room via zoom, great resources to get started, whether or not you want to go plant based just decreased by 5%. Whatever it is, I can't imagine anybody more encouraging or positive to work with and you my friend. So on that note, I can't thank you enough for carving out the time today to chat with me and inspiring my audience.

Scott Morgan 1:09:01

much appreciation my man, thank you everybody appreciate you listening.

Zack Arnold 1:09:09

Thank you for listening to Episode 173 of the Optimize Yourself Podcast to access the show notes for this episode with all the bonus links and resources that we discussed today as well as to subscribe, leave a review and more simply visit optimizeyourself.me/episode173 Once again, thank you so much for investing your time and energy with me here today. Stay safe, healthy and sane and most importantly be well

Transcribed by https://otter.ai


Guest Bio:

scott-morgan-bio

Scott Morgan

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Scott Morgan is a PGA Golf Professional turned Online Fitness Trainer, husband, father of 2, a plant based athlete and creator of The Sweatville Club. He made the transition to online fitness trainer, plant based athlete, and entrepreneur only in the last few years. He enjoys writing about his passions, what interests him, sharing videos, what interests other people, what drives their souls and connecting on a deeper level.

Show Credits:

This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.

The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).

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Note: I believe in 100% transparency, so please note that I receive a small commission if you purchase products from some of the links on this page (at no additional cost to you). Your support is what helps keep this program alive. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Zack Arnold (ACE) is an award-winning Hollywood film editor & producer (Cobra Kai, Empire, Burn Notice, Unsolved, Glee), a documentary director, father of 2, an American Ninja Warrior, and the creator of Optimize Yourself. He believes we all deserve to love what we do for a living...but not at the expense of our health, our relationships, or our sanity. He provides the education, motivation, and inspiration to help ambitious creative professionals DO better and BE better. “Doing” better means learning how to more effectively manage your time and creative energy so you can produce higher quality work in less time. “Being” better means doing all of the above while still prioritizing the most important people and passions in your life…all without burning out in the process. Click to download Zack’s “Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Creativity (And Avoiding Burnout).”