Andy Petranek Podcast

Robbie Ventura is a former American professional cyclist who rode most notably for United States Postal Service Cycling Team from 2001-2004. A pro for over 11 years, he got his start in bicycle racing near his home by developing his skill, strength, and speed while riding, racing and supporting teammates in velodrome racing (an oval, banked, indoor cycling track). A successful competitive athlete his entire life (he also played collegiate hockey), he found quickly after retiring from cycling that he had more to contribute to the world by way of coaching. He turned his sights toward the business he started in Chicago, Vision Quest Coaching, and never looked back. [Note: For the complete set of show notes, links, and contact info, head to https://www.wholelifechallenge.com/podcast] Thirteen years and thousands of clients later, he’s one of the go-to people in the world for developing athletic skills as a cyclist. Whether you’re working with him personally (all VQ clients start with a thorough 3-hour assessment

You may remember Jack Osbourne from the hit TV show The Osbournes. He’s the son of the heavy metal singer Ozzie Osbourne and is a regular member at CrossFit Los Angeles.   Jack has a thriving business producing travel and history shows alongside his dad (who’s a closet history buff). He’s also a husband and a father to two daughters.   But the reason I wanted to have him as a guest on the show was to talk about his experience with addiction and getting sober as a teenager, as well as his diagnosis with multiple sclerosis (MS).   Before the age of eighteen, Jack had become addicted to painkillers, recognized it, and then willingly went to rehab, kicking it without relapse — he’s now fourteen years sober and counting.   Not long after kicking painkillers, he got the sort of news that any human being who’s been to the doctor with strange symptoms dreads. He learned he has MS.   Jack didn’t tuck his tail under and run. Quite the opposite. He’s lives his life openly and honestly, sharing his trials and tribulation

You may have seen this week’s guest on a random Saturday afternoon while watching the Olympics or an extreme sports show with guys hucking themselves off of 100-foot cliffs on mountain bikes. Sal Masekela has been hosting shows like this for NBC and Red Bull for many years, and is currently the persona of the Red Bull Signature Series. But I know Sal through his participation with our fitness community at CrossFit Los Angeles, of which he was a member for over 5 years, and subsequently, his journey as a four-time veteran of the Whole Life Challenge.   Sal leads a pretty incredible life, traveling to all parts of the earth with some of the world’s greatest extreme athletes (surf, skate, snowboard, ski, dirt bike, mountain bike, etc.) in order to bring their exploits and amazing performances alive for the rest of us via TV. He also gets a chance to hang out with these guys outside of competition. During the podcast, he shares both stories and profound learnings from the likes of Laird Hamilton, Gabby Reece, and

What if I were to tell you that one of the 3 fittest women on the planet was (at the time she earned that title) 35 years old, a mother, wife, and school teacher who limits her training to 90 minutes per day? Would you believe me? If not, you’d be sorely mistaken. In 2013, Val Voboril took 3rd at the CrossFit Games. It was the second time she placed 3rd, it would be one of four times that she’s finished in the top 5, and at the time, she was 10 years older than most of her competitors. If you met Val on the street, you be taken by her bright eyes, incredible smile, sunny disposition, but not at all by her physical prowess - she appears normal as normal can be.Ordinarily, relating to an athlete like this is next to impossible. Their lives are simply too dissimilar to the ones that the rest of us lead. But not at all so for Val - she’s got her priorities and a life that is very much like yours and mine. First and foremost, she’s a mom and a wife, responsibilities she takes very seriously. And believe me, she kn

Teacher, speaker, and psychotherapist, Megan Devine, has been stirring up our culture’s ideas around grief and loss since 2009. That’s the year she started down the path of personal wisdom and expertise because in that year, on a beautiful sunny day, she witnessed the accidental drowning of her beloved partner Matt. At that moment, all of her professional experience as a therapist became meaningless.  What she found in processing her own grief, was that grief literature is loaded with well-intended advice that can actually worsen and extend someone’s pain. “We just don’t know how to handle loss in our culture.” Since then, Megan has dedicated herself to helping people find a new way to deal with loss that honors their experience without trying to “solve” grief. Much of her work involves processing through writing and journaling, our lifestyle practice in the Whole Life Challenge this week, which is why I originally invited her onto the podcast She's the author of the book, It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting

I’ve often wondered how a song becomes a song. The process seems mysterious and, frankly, impossible for a “normal” person like myself. What comes first — the title, tune, chords, or words? How do you put them together? How do you write the lyrics? And what about the structure? It’s all overwhelming to me and completely outside my comfort zone. And then I read Peter Himmelman’s book, Let Me Out: Unlock Your Creative Mind and Bring Your Ideas to Life. Peter is my guest this week on the podcast, and my intention in having him on was to talk about creativity, since he’s mastered it in his life and has written a book full of exercises to help others learn to foster it in theirs. The final exercise in Peter’s book is a simplified step-by-step guide for writing a song. According to the book, the process takes less than fifteen minutes. I’m going to let you in on a little secret now: I hardly ever do exercise like this in a book, but this time I felt compelled to give it a shot. Why? I’ve always had a secret desire

Dr. Steve Orma is a clinical psychologist and happiness expert specializing in the treatment of insomnia, anxiety, and stress. If you’ve ever had a hard time falling asleep, or getting back to sleep after waking up, you’ve had first-hand experience with the way anxiety (or your worry about things in the future) can sabotage your efforts. That is why I thought Dr. Orma would make a perfect guest for this week’s Whole Life Podcast on sleep and the establishment of a bedtime ritual. Dr. Orma has extensive clinical experience helping individuals of all backgrounds from PTSD war vets to students, moms, young professionals, entrepreneurs, and more. He personally suffered from (and overcame) insomnia, making him first-hand aware of how sleep can negatively impact your energy, health, and well-being. As a result of that experience, he wrote a book on the topic, “Stop Worrying and Go to Sleep: How to Put Insomnia to Bed for Good”.  He is also widely quoted in the national media for his mental health expertise includin

I asked Traver Boehm back as a guest on the podcast this week specifically to talk about the impact he’s felt from disconnecting from electronic media over the course of the past year. He’s had personal experience - taking multiple month-long breaks from any sort of online interaction as well as recurring short breaks over the course of his daily routine. This have been part of his Year To Live Project - something he started at the beginning of 2016 in an attempt to answer the question for himself, “What would you do if you knew you only had a year to live?” One of the things he took on was a month in the wilderness with only a knife and compass (and the clothes on his back). It was particularly gnarly. He describes it as 28-days of shivering, dealing with extreme hunger, cold, and sleep deprivation. Fascinating as well was how he had to deal with the “not-knowingness” of what would happen tomorrow - or, as he called it, breaking his addiction to future knowledge. Later in the year, he studied at the Esalen I

Coby Kozlowski is a modern-day meditation and consciousness guru (though she would never describe herself that way). Ever humble, she’s amassed a lifetime of experience through working with teachers in the yogic, meditative, and consciousness realms over the past 25 years. Now a teacher of teachers, she has appeared on the cover of Yoga Journal and Mantra Magazine, and was named as “one of the 7 yoga teachers who has changed the practice [of yoga]”. Known as a vibrant, well-spoken, relatable, and funny inspirational speaker, workshop leader, and storyteller, she has energy that draws you in and offers tangible nuggets of wisdom that leave you inspired and ready to jump start your life without punishing yourself along the way. I went into this conversation with a list of questions. As it turns out, I only needed one,  “What is meditation?”. Coby’s answer was so engaging, thorough, and thought-provoking, that it took up almost our entire time together. Her approach to meditation is so refreshingly different tha

“Beast-Mode” is a phrase to describe someone that athletically “gets after it” every time they get the ball in a practice or a game. Well, there’s no one I know that epitomizes that more than my son’s soccer coach, Sasha Andrews. She’s played world-class level soccer globally for over 15 years, and by the forces of luck and nature for me, my son, and the other kids she coaches, has settled here in Los Angeles. When you see a photograph of her on or off the field, you also immediately know why the phrase Beauty and the Beast couldn’t be more apropos. A member of the Canadian national soccer team for over thirteen years, Sasha has as much experience in world-class women's soccer — between national games, the World Cup, and the Olympics — as almost anyone else in the world. She’s been a defender her entire career and is nicknamed the “Gentle Giant.” Sasha was the middle child of seven, and her siblings were all brothers. She quickly learned to play hard just to keep up. It’s no wonder she eventually became a dom

Carolyn Freyer Jones is a professional life coach. She has supported hundreds if not thousands of men and women in learning how to use their own life’s challenges and obstacles for insight and growth. She has supported them in launching new businesses, strengthening relationships, transforming careers, growing themselves as leaders, and experiencing greater peace and joy. Her clients include corporate executives, business owners, authors, lawyers, television hosts, salespeople, and more. She is also the principle developer and lead faculty member for the University of Santa Monica’s Soul Centered Professional Coaching Program which has graduated hundreds of soul-centered professional life coaches since it’s inception (me being one!) So what does a spiritual life coach like Carolyn have to say about your (and her own) upset about President Trump? That’s just one of many other things we talk about like: What it means to live your life in a spiritual context The spiritual “tool” of compassionate self-forgivenes

Ryan Hurst is one of the co-founders (and head coach) of the online fitness program called GMB - Gold Medal Bodies. GMB.io is a physical training system that focuses primarily on teaching people how to know their own body and how to move it well, autonomously (appropriately for age and skill level). I mean really, what else is there? As I’ve gone through life, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges people face with their bodies caused by inactivity, lack of use, lack of awareness, and general weakness - so when I first learned about GMB, the philosophic principles upon which it’s based, and the fun I had in going through it’s basic elements training, I fell in love with it.   Ryan’s been developing this program (without really knowing it) for most of his life. As a competitive gymnast until the age of 17, he established a foundation of strength, flexibility, agility, balance, coordination and stamina that most people never know. Then, still a teenager, he found his way to Japan where he went to college and starte

Reminder: I'm starting every podcast episode from now on by addressing one topic or answering one question that you bring to my attention via our new WLC Podcast email address: podcast@wholelifechallenge.com. Send along anything you think would be of value for me to see or read, or any thought or question you’d like me to talk about or answer. While I can't guarantee that your question or topic will get addressed on the podcast,  I do promise to read what you send! ------------ Today’s guest is Miki Agrawal is an energetic, passionate bundle of entrepreneurial and creative energy.  She was named 2015 Social Entrepreneur of the Year at the World Technology Awards and her Company THINX was named Time Magazine’s “25 Best New Inventions of 2015″. Miki was also the recipient of the TriBeCa Film Festival’s “Disruptive Innovation Award” and was named one of the “Top 20 Millenials on a Mission” by Forbes Magazine. My connection to her came from the a simple advertisement in my Facebook feed for a product called Tushy

You may not recognize Jay Jacobs from his name, but many of you would recognize his face, body, and story. Jay and his daughter, Jennifer, contestants on season eleven of the NBC hit weight-loss reality show, The Biggest Loser.   Jay and his daughter were the Green Team and lost a combined total of 295 pounds on the show!  As he found out in his pre-contestant medical screening, Jay barely made it onto the show after being diagnosed with near fatal heart arrhythmia due to a severe case of sleep apnea. Over the course of the show, he became one of America’s favorite contestants. In fact, against all odds and competing against an Olympic Gold Medalist, Jay made it to the coveted Final Four as the only man left standing and after losing an amazing 181 pounds in just eight months. He’s a testament to the phrase “where there is a will, there’s a way.”   Unlike many of the other contestants, Jay has maintained his weight loss since the end of the show through a combination of commitment, consistent exercise, enteri

You may have heard of Thrive Market (think Whole Foods meets Costco), but you may not have heard of it’s co-founder and co-CEO, Nick Green.  Nick started Thrive as a wholesale buying club with a mission to make healthy living easy and affordable for every American family. It was a risky venture, since nothing like it had ever before been attempted. Using some unique and innovative strategies that we talk about during the podcast, it has completely revolutionized the non GMO and organic food landscape as it currently offers the 4,000 most popular natural and organic products in the world at 25-50% off retail, shipped anywhere in the U.S. for free. For every paid member on the site, the company also sponsors a free membership for a low-income family. Prior to co-founding Thrive, Nick was the founder and CEO of Ivy Insiders, an education company that made college test prep more affordable and helped over 20,000 students get into better colleges before being acquired by Revolution Prep in 2010. The story of the

Scott McGee is a dedicated father and husband, professional good guy/guardian, loyal friend, CrossFitter, and eternal optimist with an open mind and an unconquerable soul - that’s directly from his website. He’s a police officer, serving Santa Monica, CA as a detective, beat officer and a member of the SWAT team. He’s one of the three hosts of the popular CrossFit podcast - the WODCast Podcast. He’s also recently created a blog called The Sisu Way where he writes regularly. And he’s husband plus a father of two awesome boys. Scott’s physical presence is awesome. He’s imposing… driving a black SUV with tinted windows, wearing all black clothes, black sunglasses, bald… and at 6’4” and muscular, you’re immediately confronted by his presence. If you look no further, you might think you’re in for trouble just seeing him pull up. He’s definitely one person that you want on your team! But if you take the time to get to know more about this man’s man, you quickly see that his heart, spirit and commitment to serving

Dr. Andrew Hill is one of the top peak performance coaches in the country. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from UCLA's department of Psychology and continues to do research on attention and cognitive performance. Dr. Hill is the founder of Peak Brain Institute, host of the Head First Podcast with Dr. Hill, Lead Neuroscientist at truBrain, and lectures at UCLA, teaching courses in psychology, neuroscience, and gerontology. I went in to the Peak Brain Institute of Los Angeles to meet with Dr. Andrew Hill having literally no idea what I was getting myself into. I had agreed, in advance, to get what they call a Quantitative EEG “brain mapping” assessment, and then have Dr. Hill go over the results with me live on the podcast. Easy… and fun. I was about to learn about how awesome my brain function was… or so I thought. For the test, they put a web of electrodes over my skull and watched my brain waves for about 20 minutes, after which they made me go through a nauseatingly boring number sequencing test. T

When is the last time you heard someone talking about getting in shape and losing weight where in the next sentence they said they were going to start by addressing sleep? I’m in the health and fitness business… and I can tell you that I’ve NEVER heard someone say that. Why not? I can tell you… easy… It’s not sexy. It means less time to do other things. And in the type A, results oriented, success driven world we live in, many people look at sleep as a waste of time - something that is optional, even a sign of weakness. But that’s not what Dr. Kirk Parsley would say. Dr. Parsley is first and foremost a doctor. He’s been practicing medicine for over 12 years. Doc was also a U.S. Navy SEAL - and since earning his medical degree, has spent much of his time serving as the Undersea Medical Officer at Naval Special Warfare Group One. It’s safe to say given his credentials that Kirk knows what it takes to be fit, tough and to get the job done. But he is also a sleep expert. He’s been a member of the American Acade

Rafe Furst, graduate from Stanford in computer science, has seen his share of swings in the tech and business world, having been involved with startups since the mid 1990’s. He’s also an avid poker player, both in private games and public tournaments, once winning a World Series of Poker Championship. He’s raised millions for charitable causes over the years and is currently a pioneer in Quantitative Venture Capital, a nascent field based on the convergence of equity crowdfunding, complexity economics and securities law reform. I asked Rafe to be on the podcast because of an intriguing question he asked me during our first phone conversation. I was telling him about the 7 Habits of the Whole Life Challenge, and he posed a question, “What if there were an 8th Habit that you inadvertently built in without knowing it - the habit of good decision making?” I needed to know more... Inherent to the WLC as well as pretty much anything in your life is the necessity to make decisions. Some are easy, every day, almost

Imagine you’re a motivational speaker for a living (I know… it’s a stretch for me too), and you’re asked to give a talk to a bunch of college students about unhealthy addictions - one of which is over-eating.  Now imagine that you weigh over 450 lbs, have a 58 inch waist and wear size XXXXXL clothing.  See the problem? This was the exact scenario that my guest this week faced… that moment was his rock bottom.  It was also the point from which his life really began. Meet “Tinier” Tim Bauer. He is a fraction of the man he used to be, literally, having lost almost 250 lbs since that moment just a few years ago. Tim is on a crusade to change the world. To tell his story, with complete transparency, in an effort to inspire others take charge of their life through action. During the podcast, I asked Tim all sorts of questions, for example, what is it like to sit down in coach on an airplane weighing 450 lbs, knowing exactly what that would mean for others seated around him. Tim is completely honest, sharing both wh