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Where to find Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-reyes21

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[00:18] Fitness and Team Building

[01:19] The Importance of Fitness in Corporate Culture

[06:11] The Deadlift ETF and CEO Fitness

[09:10] Creating a Fitness Culture in Your Organization

[11:05] Dan & Nick's Final Thoughts

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Nick Reyes: [00:00:00] If you're not in the gym, you're actually part of the problem. You are now listening to the PushPress Podcast, helping gym owners succeed one episode at a time. 

Dan Uyemura: Today's episode is brought to you by Barebells, which was delicious. 

Nick Reyes: And Burt's Bees. All right. So Dan, last time we were here in San Francisco, you and I did something.

Nick Reyes: We normally, we normally always work out whenever we're together, but it's like one day, right? We go to the CrossFit games, we go on a run together, something like that. The last time we were here though, we actually got into the gym every single morning that we were here. And we've been working together for what, like eight, years?

Nick Reyes: And I don't think we've ever actually worked out every day for the entirety of a trip. And it got my head spinning, thinking back to the military days of like, high performing teams, embracing fitness, embracing the culture of fitness. So, I kind of want to noodle on that a little bit. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, sounds good. 

Nick Reyes: So, I don't think most [00:01:00] people actually think about fitness as being a key to team building.

Nick Reyes: Right? You do like the trust fall exercises, and, you'll, you'll do like problem solving, but you don't see a lot of companies going like, ‘Oh, let's go to a CrossFit gym. Let's go do a, let's go do Fran together. You know, let's go do Murph together.’ I'm curious, do you have any thoughts as to why this isn't a bigger part of our culture and what we do in like corporate America?

Dan Uyemura: I mean, I think you can break it down to like the 90-10 rule, like the 10% of the world who are super into fitness. Understand all of the good things that fitness brings not only from an individual standpoint, but from a team standpoint. But for the 90% of the people who don't live and breathe the day to day in the gym stuff, they don't understand it and like why would they right? You know, I think that's pretty much the microcosm of it.

Nick Reyes: Yeah, yeah, and so if you think through of like Well, what does a high performing team look like? How does fitness help them? [00:02:00] The first thing that comes to mind for me, correct me if I'm maybe, uh, if you feel differently about any of these, but to me, every high performing team embraces difficulty, uh, also like the boring and monotonous parts of the job or of the mission.

Nick Reyes: Uh, and they endure those things over a long period of time. Right. So I know we talk a lot about like, Infinite Games. Well, you need to be able to be in the seat, you know, working, working the problem for as long as it's going to take to get to the other edge of it and then find the next problem and then unpack it.

Nick Reyes: It's not a short term sprint… Now I can go and rest type of thing, right? 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, I mean, there's something to actually doing fitness and fitness is a spectrum of a concept, right? But let's just say in general, if you're actually pushing yourself to some degree in your fitness exercise, you're uncomfortable.

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. Right. And I think there's something about working alongside somebody or some buddies when we're all uncomfortable. Just removes a lot of the bullshit just strips it down 

Nick Reyes: Yeah [00:03:00] So it's like you can you see what that person is about, and I also think that makes it easier to have like a conversation with them that's maybe difficult, Maybe a little tougher because you kind of understand their metal like what they're made of whenever they're you know pumping on a bike and you're like damn!

Dan Uyemura: like I know he's, I know they're tired, But they're, they're doing that for me because I'm resting or whatever.

Dan Uyemura: And I think that's where, like, we haven't even talked about this part of it, but I think it's something about partner or team workouts really, yeah, really leans into that. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah. So it's not always just like going to the gym together and like you put on your headphones, I put on my headphones and when it's not being present 

Dan Uyemura: in each other's, you know, um, world, but yeah, there, there's something to, I mean, if we, if I, I wasn't in the military, so I probably shouldn't make military references, but what I imagine.

Dan Uyemura: If you're in a foxhole with somebody, it's like, you gotta know when you take your nap, like, the person you're in the foxhole with has got your six, you know what I mean? And there's something to, you know, in the civilian world, I would [00:04:00] imagine, there's not many things we can replicate really what a military background looks like, but fitness might be one, where it's like, when you're really at a very uncomfortable position and in a very uncomfortable place, like, someone's kind of taking care of you as best they can.

Nick Reyes: Yeah, 100%. So, if these are the things, if we know that they can help teams perform better, gel better, trust each other better, Uh, I guess it would only stand to reason that if you're a part of a team and you want that team to be a high performing team that can accomplish its mission unlike any other, if you're not in the gym, you're actually part of the problem.

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, I would agree with that. 

Nick Reyes: And being unfit, being unwell, the only thing that can come of it is that you're going to hold your team back. You're going to stop the team from being available to be part of the mission or from persevering through long hours, the boring pieces, the challenging pieces, you are going to be, uh, probably the biggest detractor [00:05:00] from its success.

Dan Uyemura: I mean, the bottom line is if you're not building a team, that's willing to go to — I mean, for the lack of a better term — battle. When, when it's time to go to battle, then, um, you know, you really haven't built, you can't build a team for, you can't be like a good, what is it, what is the saying, uh, a wartime, peacetime general, right?

Dan Uyemura: Like you've got to be able to build a team that can go to war too. 

Nick Reyes: And, and then there's the availability. We were, uh, before we started rolling, we were talking about, uh, Anthony Richardson for the Colts and he, NFL quarterback. Takes himself out of a play, you know, where they do like the, I need a breather —

Dan Uyemura: He ran really hard for 20 yards. I mean, I shouldn't talk shit. I'm not, you know, whatever.

Nick Reyes: I'm not a six foot five specimen that was run down a field… but also —

Dan Uyemura: He's the general man. 

Nick Reyes: He's got to be there. 

Dan Uyemura: He is the general of the team. Like you can't tap out after one hard sprint. 

Nick Reyes: Exactly. Exactly. So being available is important. 

Dan Uyemura: And what happened to him? What happened to him this week?

Nick Reyes: Benched, benched, benched. So you got to be available. And if. If the, if a team [00:06:00] relies on every single player to play a certain role and one of those is not available, you're kind of hosed. You're not gonna get the mission.

Dan Uyemura: Oh yeah. I mean the team rely, the team is as only as strong as the weakest link. Right? 

Nick Reyes: Exactly. Yeah. Exactly.

Dan Uyemura:Yep. Have you heard of this thing called the deadlift index? 

Nick Reyes: I have not. 

Dan Uyemura: Oh, dude. Lemme hold up. Lemme look this up real quick. 'cause this is, uh, I saw it, I saw it on, on one of the social media things and basically some guy out there created, uh, a fictional stock trading, stock tracking, um, basket of stocks for all of the CEOs that who actually work out. 

Nick Reyes: I'm intrigued. 

Dan Uyemura: And so, let me read this right here: ‘Have you heard about the deadlift ETF? The deadlift ETF is a fictional exchange traded fund ETF that invest in companies led by CEOs who are known for their physical fitness.

Dan Uyemura: Um, it goes on to say, so it's like Meta, uh, you've seen Zuckerberg's like a beast lately, Amazon, uh, Bezos beast lately. Anyway, so track some of these guys and um, the deadlift ETF has outperformed the S&P 500 by 140% over the last four years. 

Nick Reyes: [00:07:00] So invest ETF. In companies whose CEOs or leadership have a higher likelihood, or they, like, they gravitate towards fitness.

Dan Uyemura: Have put in the work for themselves to do fitness, right? 140 percent outperformance at S& P, so relatively S&P, which has had a gangbusters year anyway. 

Nick Reyes: Okay. 

Dan Uyemura: These companies have also outperformed as well. 

Nick Reyes: Can we, uh, look up like each and every stock? Like now I want to go and like invest my own money into this shit.

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, I know. 

Nick Reyes: It's like putting my money where my mouth is. So, 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, somebody on Twitter actually published this, like these are the companies and why, uh, you know, examples of, of, of the CEO and, and yeah, like supposedly. And so it says right here, actually here's a quote. So, Michael Johnson, PhD, says the deadlift ETF isn't just a novelty.

Dan Uyemura: It's grounded in real performance of companies that have been led by some of the most dedicated individuals in business. Oh, I guess that's not really a quote about fitness. 

Nick Reyes: But regardless, I think the point still stands, right? Like there is something to being available. There's something to doing hard shit.

Nick Reyes: There's something to, [00:08:00] uh, taking your health seriously, and yeah. 

Dan Uyemura: And, and so the author goes on to say like, um, basically it just boils down to discipline. Like if you're willing to, everyone's busy, everyone only has 24 hours a day, everyone needs to sleep, everyone has a family. But if you're willing to take that time for yourself and put it into your own fitness, it shows a level of discipline.

Dan Uyemura: That clearly pays off, at least in the performance of the companies that these guys lead. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. It's one of those things where, you know, quality people index on things they can't buy. 

Dan Uyemura: Hmm. I love that. 

Nick Reyes: You know, now granted, we're talking about CEOs of these big companies, they can buy anything they want, but you can see that they are indexing on not, not the toys.

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. And I do think that's the first world problem that these guys face. Cause they can buy everything they want. So there's people out there who can't. So it's like, you got an index on something you can't buy. But, but the point is. Even with all the money in the world, it's not another yacht or Lamborghini or whatever these guys are putting their time and energy into.

Dan Uyemura: It's like their own [00:09:00] selves and their families. 

Nick Reyes: Right. So, surround yourself with quality people, surround yourself with fit people. Anything else to add? 

Dan Uyemura: Um, I mean, I will say, we didn't touch on this, but, um, I've kind of issued a proclamation to you guys and to the board on PushPress. They're like, hell man, I want to literally have the world's fittest executive team.

Dan Uyemura: I want to have the world's fittest board. Is that possible? Like, will we, I don't know if Lance Armstrong's company out there has the same proclamation. They'll probably beat us maybe, but you know what I'm saying? Like if I'm not saying it, there's a culture around this. Like if I'm not saying this is my expectation.

Dan Uyemura: I expect to wake up in the morning and workout with you, right? 

Nick Reyes: Do you know how often I've heard those words in my head now, ever since you started saying them? 

Dan Uyemura: It's just simple, right? World's fittest board. Yeah, 

Nick Reyes: yeah. I've done burpees in my garage, like, on a Saturday morning, like, competitors aren't going to be more fit than us.

Dan Uyemura: Exactly. 

Nick Reyes: You know? But, so I think that goes to what you're saying, like, it has to be said, it has to be spoken, it has to become part of the culture, and when it becomes part of the culture of what [00:10:00] you and the entire leadership team do, it kind of permeates the organization. Next thing you know, uh, things that maybe look like big barriers or obstacles, they're not anymore.

Dan Uyemura: And we have it easy because we all come from the fitness background. But I think it's something like, it's our job as, you know, people who are helping gym owners as gym owners themselves. It's our job to get out in the world and make sure people understand that like, Hey, this, this actually transcends just your own personal health.

Dan Uyemura: It actually does have ramifications in how you work with your family, how negotiations happen across the table from business people. Like there's so much more to it. In fact, I ran across this, I don't, I'm not gonna be able to look, Google this in time, but there is something that says, like, generally speaking in negotiations, the person who shows up in better shape wins.

Nick Reyes: Oof. 

Dan Uyemura: Like that, that has been a psychologically proven thing that I've, I was reading a paper on it where it's like, if I show up and I'm negotiating with you and you're in better shape with me, you automatically have the upper hand in the negotiation from, from start. 

Nick Reyes: Gym owners, what Dan just said, share that through every freaking channel you've got.[00:11:00] 

Dan Uyemura: Something. 

Nick Reyes: Something like that. Alright, so, let's wrap this one up. For anyone that's listening. I think it's super important to, we're going to beat this drum again, make it a part of the culture. It has to be part of the culture that everyone in your organization does. Even the gym owners need to be part of the culture.

Nick Reyes: Don't just let the, the staff train within the classes. Host a workout, you know, at your gym or even at another gym. It doesn't matter, but bring the entire staff together and go train as a staff. 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah, I mean, you want to like really milk this, like go to the neighboring gym and tell them like, Hey, my team's going to be better than yours.

Dan Uyemura: Like, let's throw down once a month. 

Nick Reyes: Yeah, 

Dan Uyemura: Yeah. And then watch both teams get insanely fit. 

Nick Reyes: Go get coached together. Go hold each other accountable, you know, uh, make it a part of your culture, even if you're, even if you are already a fit group, right? 

Dan Uyemura: And guaranteed, these will already be fit groups, but it's like, if you have a coach's meeting once a month, why not work out after together?

Nick Reyes: Yes. You know, make it part of what you do. [00:12:00] Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Uh, so train with your team periodically. And then, I think a big one is celebrate it and set the example. You know, we, we post our pictures, you know, we give each other props, we hold each other accountable. 

Dan Uyemura: You know what I think, you know what I think one of the sickest things is?

Dan Uyemura: Uh, our engineering leader, Arjun. Yeah, yeah. I don't know his, his exercise history before he joined PushPress, but he joined right around the time when I was saying like, I want the world's fittest team. Yep. And every day he posts himself in the gym. 

Nick Reyes: Every single day. 

Dan Uyemura: Every day. 

Nick Reyes: And every day I make sure I put the little heart on it.

Nick Reyes: Exactly. So he knows I'm watching. 

Dan Uyemura: Exactly. 

Nick Reyes: Right? So, make it a part of the culture and then celebrate it. Like, hey, dude, you're there. After, uh, he was, he was just at a wedding, right? It's like long night back in the gym. I'm like, I can't love that enough, man. Yeah, exactly. All right guys 

Dan Uyemura: another episode in the books next time.

Dan Uyemura: Talk to you guys later.

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