I created a veteran men’s health program years ago. Over a hundred veteran men coached and over a thousand pounds lost, I had an epiphany: I’m coaching like every other coach on the internet, just with military jargon on top.
This epiphany didn’t come quickly or without external pressure. I was on a beautiful journey to discover myself and on that journey…Ok, I’ll be honest, it was from copious amounts of magic mushrooms. I said it.
Lots of mush.
And goddamn did it work wonders for my coaching business, but on all aspects of my life. I’m not writing this to extol the awesomeness of magic mushrooms; I’ve already discussed this at length on my podcast. But this is a story about how it can open yourself up to a world of creativity that can benefit everyone around you.
In The Beginning
So there I was in 2021. Bangin’ away at my keyboard. Creating what I thought was god’s gift to the veteran world - The BE.A.S.T. Body Blueprint. A 90-day online coaching program that incorporated all I knew about coaching men to get leaner, stronger and harder to kill.
It had a 3-day workout split with lots of educational elements regarding sleep, nutrition and mobility work. This program did a lot of good. Over one hundred veteran men coached with an average of 20lbs lost and chronic pain reduced across the board. I was quite happy with myself until something shifted.
The Big Shift
I wasn’t happy running this program. I didn’t like doing the same coaching call every week. I didn’t like tracking macronutrients and fine-tuning strength programming. I felt like something was missing. I wasn’t doing anything more than what the other online coaches were doing, but with my combat experience sprinkled into the conversation. It didn’t feel like I was doing my best work.
I thought to myself: with a biochemistry degree and a master's degree in education over 300 podcast episodes and having some Taliban bullets fly over my head, I must be able to create something better.
That question was answered once I opened myself up to the terrifying possibility that I don’t know everything. As the Greeks had carved into the Oracle of Delphi, “Know Thyself”, I was just becoming aware of who I am and what I truly want to do with my life.
I know what you’re thinking…
…Yes, this was 100% due to some mushroom and breathwork trips.
But more than that,
I realized I’m not just a collection of cells working in beautiful harmony. That harmony is the essence of God.
Full mindblown experience. So there I am, contemplating the meaning of my life and the universe around me, and I have this profound religious experience that also brings me back to my Christianity. And then it all made sense. I’m not coaching veterans to become healthier and fitter. I’m a part of their spiritual journey.
Veterans are seeking spiritual guidance more than anything after war. We disguise it as physical change. The body is the doorway. It was never the destination.
Solving the Right Problem
I think about the veteran who is in tears when we talk about why he wants to lose weight and be healthy again. There’s always something so deep and painful that it’s screaming to get out but he just doesn’t know how. The frustration has been mounting for years since he took off the uniform.
Now he’s at an inflection point. He’s lost weight; he’s proven he’s able to feel a glimmer of hope that he’s able to feel like himself again. Not the pre-deployment guy, older than that. The guy that had a fire for the future and joyful moments at a whim. He’s now had a reprieve from his body fighting him long enough to feel it again.
That’s the guy that I want to go…"Shit, I like this feeling. I want more!”
I spent seven years coaching veterans to fix their bodies.
I was solving the wrong problem.
Not completely wrong — the biology matters, the science is real, and fixing the cell genuinely fixes the man. But the cell was never the whole story.
The whole story is what happens when a veteran who’s been running on empty for a decade — physically, spiritually, in every way that matters — finally gets the right system for the right problem.
He doesn’t just get his body back.
He gets himself back.
That’s what I’m building now. More next week.
Harden Up.
Dave