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085: The Fitness Mindset with Brian Keane

November 3, 2020/
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Anyone who has accomplished great things in the world of health and wellness has embraced the fitness mindset. An incredible example of this is our guest today, Brian Keane.
Brian is a teacher turned fitness entrepreneur and former professional fitness model who now competes in ultra endurance events.

In April 2018, he ran the famous Marathon Des Sables, which entails six self-sufficient back-to-back marathons through the Sahara Desert in Morocco. In February 2019, he ran 230km through the Arctic Circle in the northern most tip of Sweden. When not competing in such grueling adventures, Brian is an international speaker and best-selling author of a book called The Fitness Mindset.

On today’s Awesome Health show, Brian starts with his origin story. He grew up on a farm on the west coast of Ireland; his family members are all teachers or farmers and he thought he wanted to be the former. He spent five years studying to become a primary school teacher only to discover he didn’t enjoy the profession.

Within hours of his first teaching job he knew it wasn’t for him. But he stayed on teaching in London for a few months until the Christmas break when he went home and talked to his mom.
She asked him a pivotal question, one that he now shares with others on his podcast and his social media: What would you do for free?His answer was simple: he’d work in a gym, he’d work in fitness. And so began his journey into this field, a journey that has taken him from fitness entrepreneur and model to ultra-endurance athlete.

We delve deeper into his initial exposure to ultra-endurance events and how he pushed himself to overcome his own mental roadblocks to eventually compete in some of the most physically and mentally grueling races in the world, including finishing the last 86 km with a torn Achilles during his competition in the Arctic circle. You’ll also hear Brian’s missteps along the way, including the time he quit a race in Barcelona and what it taught him.

We finish today’s episode by talking about his favorite books, his greatest influence and how to train ourselves to do the hard things so we can reap the rewards. Join us to hear all of that and so much more on today’s Awesome Health Podcast with Brian Keane!

Episode Resources:

Read The Episode Transcript:

Wade Lightheart: Good morning, good afternoon and good evening. It's Wade T Lightheart from the Awesome Health Podcasts and yes, it's another episode brought to you by BiOptimizers and I am pumped. I'm excited. I'm ready to go run a marathon today. And the reason why I'm going to tell you that is, because we have none other than Brian Keane joining us today. And we just were on his podcast last week and I was like: man, I can't wait to have him on our podcast, because Brian is the bestselling author of the book "The Fitness Mindset", and currently travels the world as a professional speaker. He also hosts a number one podcast The Brian Keane Podcast. Now here's the thing, he's a former primary school teacher turned to fitness entrepreneur and after retiring from the world of professional fitness modeling in 2015, he now does ultra endurance events all around.

Wade Lightheart: What is ultra endurance? Well, let me give you some ideas. If you want to get inside the mindset and just smash, what you think is possible. This gentleman has ran the famous Marathon des Sables, which is, or some people say des Sables, depending on how you pronounce it, but bottom line, it entails six self-sufficient back to back marathons through the Sahara desert in Morocco. And if that's not enough, if it wasn't hot enough, he says: no, I can do this in cold weather, and he ran 230 kilometers through the Arctic Circle in the Northernmost tip of Sweden's. Of course he documents all these adventures. Don't believe me, go check out his social media channels, where you can see all this stuff. But the bottom line is he talks about a lot of things. He's into muscle hack, he's into biohacking and he talks about a system that he calls BKF 90 fat loss and muscle building program, which helps people improve sleep quality, energy levels through diet nutrition, and short duration high-intensity training sessions. So, of course his interest lies and we kind of connected on this human psychology, because let me tell you, you're going to run through the desert and run through the Arctic, you better have the right mindset. And that's what inspired him to write the book. So Brian, welcome to the show.

Brian Keane: Wade, what an introduction. My goodness. Like talk about bringing the energy, I'm all about this. Let's do it!

Wade Lightheart: Yeah, man. Listen, first off, you have an amazing story. So before we get into the absolute stuff that I'm fascinated with like, where is your mind going in these things, give us a little bit of background of your journey and how you decided that you were going to get, like, where did you get started? Where are you from? How's that going? And how did you get to the point it's like: yeah, man, I'm going to run an endurance marathon through the desert for six days?

Brian Keane: So I'll try and keep it somewhat short because my story kind of goes off in a lot of different directions into the point, where I pivoted into the world of endurance. So I grew up in the West of Ireland. So as country as country can be, I grew up on a farm. I put a lot of any muscle that I built, my arms, my shoulders were all down to logging stuff around on a farm as a kid and when I was 12 or 13, I started lifting weights and it was mainly for football at the time. So I played GF, which is the national sport in Ireland. It's like a combination between rugby, basketball and American football. I grew up playing that sport so I started lifting weights at 13. My 16th birthday was a gym membership. So I was always kind of into health and fitness, and wellness and everything along those lines. And then I kind of came out of it a little bit over the kind of my early 20s.

Wade Lightheart: So I became a primary school teacher. I went to college for four years, got my undergraduate, then did one year postgraduate in London to become a primary school teacher. And I worked as a primary school teacher for four years, Wade, and I did nothing up until about the age of 24-25. I didn't do anything in the world of health, nothing in the world of fitness. I had no social media, no podcast, nothing along those lines. But what happened, in terms of how I pivoted into fitness, was, I was studying for four years, did the fifth year for a postgraduate. I had been working to become a teacher for years, it's all I thought I wanted to do. I'm like from a family of teachers, you know, my dad is a farmer, but my mom and her side were all teachers. And I was an hour into my first day of teaching, landed my first job and I'm like: this isn't what I wanna do.

Brian Keane: I'm like this isn't what I want to do. I've spent the last five years studying. I've been working towards this goal and I'm like: this isn't what I want to do. And I remember sitting and having that moment and the analogy I normally use is - I felt like I was at the top of a ladder, but it was against the wrong wall. I was contemplating over the next couple of years. I stayed in my job, working in London as a teacher, but I came home that Christmas about four months, five months into my first teaching job and I remember asking my mom, I'm like: I absolutely hate what I'm doing. I hate my job. I really don't enjoy teaching. This isn't what I'm supposed do. And she asked me something that I've put to so many people since on my podcast, in books, across platforms.

Brian Keane: And she asked me a question. She goes: what would you do for free? And I thought about that. I'm like: I would do something in fitness. I was like: I would do something in a gym. I would do something like that for free. She goes: well, why don't you do that? And that was kind of the start of that journey. I went back to London that January after Christmas, was working my teaching job, but studying to become a personal trainer at nighttime. So I spent a year studying in part time, working full time and then got my personal training, search, certificates, strength conditioning and sports nutrition, and started working with clients in the evening. So for two years in London, I worked as a primary school teacher during the day and I worked as a personal trainer at nighttime. And then in 2014, I had decided that: okay, this is what I want to do.

Brian Keane: I was like: I absolutely love this world of health and fitness, and everything to do with that. So I decided I was going to move back home. I moved back in with my mom and dad. My sister gave me a crappy little Toyota Yaris, one of those cars, Wade, that you didn't know what it'll start every morning and I had to leave an hour early for work every morning in case my car wouldn't start and I'd have to get a lift to work. That was the start of 2014. And where my fitness journey kind of stared was, I was trying to get a personal training business off the ground in the West of Ireland, when nobody knew who I was. So I jumped onto social media. I'd heard about Instagram, I'd heard about Facebook. I jumped on these platforms.

Brian Keane: And one thing that was going to separate me, that other people weren't doing in my locality at the time, was I decided I'm going to do a bodybuilding show. I want to do a fitness modeling show. So I know this is your background. This is your bread and butter. I didn't get as lean as you, but I did do okay. I've seen your photos and they're crazy but I did a fitness modeling show. So in 2014, I went into the world of fitness modeling and did really well in that. I came fourth in my first show and that opened a lot of doors. I had loads of photographers and loads of magazines and things come on to me. So for two years, all I effectively did was work as a personal trainer during the day, did fitness modeling, shoots all around the world, very similar to what I do now with the speaking, I would travel around for photo shoots and I would do competitions.

Brian Keane: And then in 2015, my daughter was born. So I was prepping for the worlds in Las Vegas at the time, the WBFF world, it's a fitness modeling competition. And my daughter was born a couple of months before that and I remember thinking one of the things you said when you were on the podcast that connected deeply with me was, you know, you talked about the rebound on the back of a show and how you went from Mr. Universe to Mr. Marshmallowman. And I remember what was happening to me was, I was kind of rebounding up and down off the back of shores and I wasn't feeling very good. I struggle, personality type as we'd probably get into later, with balance. It's something that I'd have to constantly work on. I can go all in on things.

Brian Keane: But I remember thinking when I was prepping for the worlds, you know, my daughter was a couple of months old and I'm like: I can't keep doing this. I was like: I can't have a young kid at home and be traveling around the world and doing these shows. It's just too much. So in 2015, I did my last show. I came eight in the world in Las Vegas. So I hit my goal. The goal was to hopefully try and crack the top 10. And I'm like: okay, I'm done. And then there was nothing until 2017. 2017 I went to what was a Tony Robbins' Business Mastery in Amsterdam. It was a big, massive expo. Oh, it was life changing, but I met a guy over there. His name was Tom, who I've since became a very good friend with.

Brian Keane: And he was telling me about this race in the desert. He was like: Oh, I've done that. I've done this race in the desert where it's six back to back marathons. I was like: hold on, hold on. What? I'm like: it's back to back marathons. He was like: yeah, yeah, it's called Marathon des Sables. And he's telling me these stories about in Marathon des Sables, it's all self sufficient. So you have to have all your food on your back. You carry everything with you. It's literally rock up to the Sahara and you've got six days. You on six back to back marathons, and you hope that everything stays intact and nothing breaks and you get through. So he was telling me these stories and he goes: Oh yeah, you need to have a venom pump within arms reach at all times, because of, you know, in case a snake bites you.

Brian Keane: And I was like: Oh my God, that is fascinating. I remember I missed the entire next speaker after he was telling me about this race, cause' I was on Google searching Marathon des Sables. And then a weird thing happened, Wade, I left that seminar, that conference I stayed connected with Tom. That was in April-May of 2017. I remember thinking that that Marathon des Sables would be really cool to do. And then what happened was something that happens to a lot of people is that voice came in and said: you are not a runner. You can't do that. I remember having this really awkward moment with myself, because I was on social media. I was telling people: push yourself out of your comfort zone, you know, make sure you do things that make you more self disciplined.

Brian Keane: And then I'm like: Oh, here you are. Push is coming to show up and you're doing the complete opposite. That was my moment. I'm like: okay, I have to just sign up for this thing. So at this point I had never ran a marathon. I had never run. My background was in strength and conditioning. I played GF, I played sports and then I went into bodybuilding. So I was quite a big guy, you know, I'm still quite a big guy. I'm five foot eight, built like a hobbish. Like I'm not really built to run marathons. So I signed up for that race and I remember, Wade, I'll never forget this day till the day I die, it was on August, 2017. I was like: okay, I'm going to start running. I did my normal push workout. I did chest-shoulders-triceps.

Brian Keane: And then I went onto the treadmill. I'm like: okay, I'm going to do a run. I did two kilometers on the treadmill. I nearly got sick. I remember thinking: Oh my God, this was August, 2017, Marathon des Sables was April, 2018. So it was several months away. And I remember sitting in the dressing room thinking: Oh my God, you have to run six back to back marathons, you feel sick after two kilometers. And I was really disheartened. I was really downtrodden. And then I got that little bit of a pep, you know, that picked me up. I'm like: okay, let's chunk this down. Let's break this down. And I'm like: there's no point worrying about running six back to back marathons if I can't run one. That's my focus. I'll put a focus on running a marathon. So I signed up to the Dubai Marathon in 2018 which been four months before marathon Marathon des Sables.

Brian Keane: And I said: okay, I'm going to put all my energy, all my effort towards running a single marathon, pyramid of prioritization. So I did that, landed out to Dubai, did it in a hoodie, and I did it in a backpack just to kind of make it a little bit harder and I can do that quite comfortably. And then I rocked up to the Sahara in April, got through it, you know, we can break it down and choke it down more and got through it. When I left the Sahara, because it was so difficult at that point in time, before the Arctic, because the Arctic was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but up until that point, the Sahara was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. I left the Sahara, Wade, and I was like: Okay, where are the other limitations in my life? I never dreamed in a million years, I'd be able to do this. And I came back and I felt so much stronger. Like my relationships were better, my anxiety levels were better, my business was thriving, because you just had a complete mindset shift. Like it felt like a part of you died in the Sahara and a stronger part came back. Like, you know, that the Universe shows. Like you do these things that really pushed you to your limits and you're a different person when you come out the other side. That's how I felt. And then I was kind of hooked after that. And in 2019, ran to the Arctic. Again, what happened in the Arctic and we can get into this as well, but just to give a little bit of a backstory and a little bit of a seed or an anchor, is I tore my Achilles 86 kilometers from the end in the Arctic.

Brian Keane: So I ran the last 86 kilometers on a torn Achilles. So I couldn't walk for three months when I came home. That was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life still to this day. Now when things like COVID and the world's all over the place, I'm like: no, it's still better than tearing your Achilles in the Arctic. You know, you've a lovely kind of comparison point there. And then most recently in February I ran a hundred mile ultra marathon. That was the longest single day ultra ran, just, you know, running as fast as you can point A to point B. And now I spend my time doing podcasts, creating content online, staying on top of my fitness. I'm training for multiple things at the minute, but everything keeps getting canceled. That's the kind of long, I was going to say the short version, but it's the long version of the world of fitness, just a little bit of a synopsis of what got me there.

Wade Lightheart: That's fantastic. There's a couple of really great points I want to illustrate before we dive into. And you know, one of the things I think that Tony Robbins talks about, and I think he says: if you want better life ask better questions. And I think that in today's world, a lot of people maybe are, and this is the opportunity of the COVID situation, if there was ever a time for people to reinvent themselves, this is it. Because so much of the world is upside down. It's safe. It's totally safe. Hey, you know what? I decided my job's done. Everybody's like: I get it, COVID happened. Nothing's the same. So the greatest opportunity that people have right now is the opportunity to reinvent yourself. But I love the fact that your mom asked, what would you do for free?

Wade Lightheart: And Matt and I talked about this, cause' we try to find superstars. And when we hire in our company it's like, we want, we always ask the questions: What would you be doing on a Saturday night? Like, are you reading? What are you researching? What are you talking about? What are you interested? Where is that going? And if a person is just sucked into entertainment, then the chances of them having a meaningful life is very low. But there's another thing that you kind of, when you start it off, what I think is another really important is even though you weren't happy with what you were doing, you started a side hustle, right? You started to dive into it and you're doing a side hustle. And then, you know, as I see you transferring, there's a side hustle component. I think a lot of people, when they're starting out, aren't willing to recognize is that: Hey, if you want to make a break from your current career, what you're currently doing, you're going to have to put in some extra times. Before we get into the, the running stuff, what was the drive like?

Wade Lightheart: How did you unpack that to kind of, you know, make that break and also having to suffer the social construct? You had to move back home, you had to drive a crappy car, you moved away from a career that you'd worked hard for and of course, I'm sure there were people like: what are you doing and all that sort of stuff. Can you unpack what drove you through, I would say the long, cold nights in that transfer, that shift?

Brian Keane: Well, it's a funny one. It's a great question, Wade, and I'm going to expand into the nitty gritty of it. Like the thing that kept me going for those two years now, it's funny, it's very similar to contest prep. I think, you know this definitely and some people listening, that you look back on things and go: how did I do that? But at the time you want something so bad, you're so focused on it, you're willing to do anything to make it work. And the thing that kept me going in the evenings, on the long cold evenings, cause' I remember, I went broke three times, Wade, trying to get my business off the ground initially. Like the last time when I made it a success, I had to take clients in the park in London, cause' I couldn't afford my gym rent like that.

Brian Keane: There was low points during that. Cause' I tried to leave a teaching job, I made three attempts at it. And it wasn't until the third attempt that I made a success of it, when I moved back in 2014. I tried to do it twice in London. I went completely flat broke once, there was one point and I'll never forget, like it's my anchor and contrast point, anytime I'm ever stressed or worried about money, like I'm very fortunate to make a very good living doing what I do. But I remember in 2013, the second attempt I gone… I was broke.

Brian Keane: I paid my rent to live in my place in London and I paid my gym rent, but I had no money. It got to the point that I had to go down on the back of my couch in London to get money for the bus, so I could get to the bank, so I could take out a loan, so could pay the rent for the following month. And that was a super, super low point. But I remember even during that and I went back to teaching doing the day job. Every time I got paid to work with somebody one-to-one in the park, I'm like: I can't believe I get paid for this. Like that's how that felt. That's when I knew and when I was doing it. Now, it took me two years. Like I'm not going to say it was an overnight, you know, made the job.

Brian Keane: It took me two years to get from the point that I had the courage to. To be honest, most of it was down to, I was worried what people would say. And I did get a lot of negative comments. Family members, friends, they were like: you're an idiot, what are you doing? Studying all these years. You know, sum cost fallacy, leaving a job that pays well. Well, in Ireland pays well, UK, not so much, long holidays. Like, what are you doing to do this fitness thing? And I was like, by the time I got home, I knew that I could live on very little. So even the fact that I had no money and I loved what I was doing. I did the thought experiment. I'm like: would I rather get paid a hundred thousand a year as a teacher or would I rather get paid 20,000 Euro a year as a personal trainer?

Brian Keane: And I was like: well, I'd rather get paid 20,000 a year as a personal trainer. Ironically, you know, you can earn significantly more as a trainer and you can't as a teacher, but that thought experiment helped me. When I was grinding through, that feeling of: I can't believe I get paid for this, never went away and it never went away. Even when I was at my most successful one-to-one PT, before I transitioned online, I still get those moments. I'm like: I can't believe I get paid for this. I'm speaking, doing different talks, like, cause' I ended up, I love what I do, but that comes down to having a contrast. Like I don't want to sound like super positive, you know, go go go, positive all the time. The reason I'm positive about the things I do when I love what I do is, because there was a time when I wasn't. Like I hated my job.

Brian Keane: Questioning, like what's the point? You know, why am I here? Feeling hollow, feeling not fulfilled. The only difference now is I have a contrast point and that's why I'm like, well, I remember what it was like to feel that way. And now when you don't have that, you're like, all things are amazing. So over the space of a couple of years, I made that transition out. To be honest, once you're able to disconnect from the opinions of other people, you'd be shocked at how far you can get in whatever it is you want to do.

Wade Lightheart: So true. I think a lot of people in today's world are I would say they've become soft in that the world has become so convenient and easy that we've lost the confidence that's built from doing things that are very difficult and a lot of people will rationalize their choices and project them onto as opinions of what people should do. But there's a third piece to this. And every person that I've ever met that has been wildly successful, famous, you know, all these things that you see on the front side or the social medias of, have gone through this extremely dark period where they get to a point where they're just like: never again, like that's the low point. For me, I remember tree planting in Northern Ontario my car blowing up and getting hypothermia, and being eaten by bugs every day.

Wade Lightheart: And this is horrible moment. It was a very difficult thing that I did when I was 18 years old, 18, turning 19 years old. And once I got through that, and it was miserable, was just absolute the worst thing ever. But I remember coming out of that and I was like: okay, that's the worst it's going to be. You know what I mean? And then there were areas in my life and business such as yourself where hey, you know, it was really tough and things were really bad, you know, but I always had this frame of reference, well, I got through that and I could go through this. And I think in today's world that people need to do things that are very difficult and then also find their passion, because we have to live this life. Why live for a life of comfortable misery for 30, 40, 50 years as an adult or uncomfortable joy? Which leads me to my next question.

Wade Lightheart: What is the kind of discomfort that you experience and you can kind of contrast running a marathon, six marathons in a row in the blazing heat of the Moroccan desert, in the Sahara desert, versus running 230 kilometers and 86 did you say kilometers with the torn achilles? How did you do that? Like what's going on in your head, in the desert? And then I want you to kind of contrast that with the thing, because I think there's something you're tapping into here that's beyond the physicality. Tell me what that is.

Brian Keane: That's the thing, people generally will ask questions like: how can you do six back-to-back marathons or how can you run 230 kilometers through the Arctic? Or how do you run a hundred miles without stopping and going straight through? And the truth is, particularly with the marathons is a good example. I'm like: your body's broken after one. All the other five is all mental. Like your body is absolutely broken after that first 26.2 miles so everything after that, normally it comes down to your mindset, it comes down to your head.

Wade Lightheart: When you say broken, what do you mean? So what's going on with you physically?

Brian Keane: As in broken, like you're so physically sore, like anyone that's ever ran a marathon will tell you how sore they are the next day. Like for the next week. For some people it's multiple weeks. And your body is just sore, it's stiff. Like the last thing you want to go and do was run another marathon. But that's, I think, the growth comes from, because it's so mental and yet you can do all the physical training, and I'm not gonna lie, I trained hard for those events. Like anything I sign up to, I put in the work. I get up in the morning, I grinded out. I put in the work, but there's only so much you can do, because you're tapping into something mental after that. Like the Sahara… When I got so much from the Sahara, it was very different from Arctic.

Brian Keane: When I came out the Sahara, I felt like all the limitations I had just been dissipated. I felt like I was living in a different world. That's how I felt when I came out of the Sahara. I didn't get that in the Arctic. In the Arctic, I had a very different association with pain. When I left the Arctic and even for the months after it, I had a completely different relationship with pain. I remember coming back from the Arctic thinking I can handle any pain that comes my way. Like when I tore my Achilles, and I remember talking to, because the way the Arctic works and I'll double back between the two races, I'll go Sahara and the Arctic.

Brian Keane: So in the Arctic, the way it works is that they have help with the local and indigenous Sami tribes. So there were local reindeer tribe. So they set up teepees and they'll heat water, cause' obviously the water in the Arctic freezes. So you need somebody there. They'll make a hole in the ice and they'll boil the water, and then they'll give you water when you come by. It's really, really cool. But I remember there was a doctor in one of the teepees and she was a UK doctor, she was an English doctor there with the other people that were running through. And she was like: look, your Achilles could rupture. I remember thinking at the time: if ruptures it ruptures, fine. If a goal it's gone, like it's silly, because when I say it in hindsight, looking back, it sounds stupid, but you're in this zone, you're in this place.

Brian Keane: And that's not to say push through pain, push through barriers. In any other condition: training session, normal marathon, I would have tapped out. I'd be like: all right. Achilles is torn. You know, take one step back for two steps forward. But you're in a completely different mindset when you're in the Arctic, you're in that fight or flight zone. The thing with the Arctic, you're in such a state of high anxiety nearly all the time, because the problem with the Arctic compared to the Sahara and the reason it was so much more difficult was, in the Sahara if you got tired, you could take a break. Like you could. You could slow it out, you could walk, you could sit on a stone, you could take a break. You can't do that in the Arctic. In the Arctic you have to keep moving to keep your core temperature high.

Brian Keane: So if your core temperature drops, you're at risk of hypothermia, you know? And if it drops you at risk of frostbite, but if your core temperature goes too high, you start sweating, you're at risk of hyperthermia. So you're in this kind of Goldilocks, trying to stay in this Goldilocks zone the whole time. So you're never off. You're just in this space of survival. Whereas the Sahara as hard as it was at the time, you could take a break. You know, if you were really struggling after 10 miles, you could take a breather, you could take a break, whereas you couldn't do that in the Arctic. So in terms of the mental benefit that I got from both, and you get from both, and this is relative. This isn't to say, run to the Sahara, run to the Arctic.

Brian Keane: Like, Wade, you got something similar with the bodybuilding shows. Like it's very, very similar. It's discipline, it's conditioning yourself to do something you know you need to do whether you feel like it or not. And that's what your training would represent, and that's what the event would represent. And that's relative. That's a 5K for somebody else. That's a 10 K for somebody else. That's a marathon for somebody else. That's a, you know, physique show for somebody else. It's so relative, but in terms of what you need to build and what I got from it… When I did the Sahara, on the third night. So the way the Sahara works, as I mentioned, it's selfsufficient, so everything's on your back. You literally have to take full control. If you lose your food or anything…

Wade Lightheart: How much weight would you be carrying with you?

Brian Keane: So mine… Cause' I went out there and considering now I was coming from a bodybuilding background and I was all about, I did my list of things. What could stop me, you know? I love the Charlie Munger quote 'tell me where I'm going to die and I just won't go there.' So I was like: right, what could stop me finishing this race? And one of the things for me was fuel. If I run out of food, I can't feel my body. Cause I'm one of the bigger guys, like 85 kilos, I don't look like a marathon runner by any stretch and I looked even less like one when I was in the Sahara. So I needed to fuel my body. I still had all my body building muscle when I was out there.

Brian Keane: So I had my food. So my bag, most people's bags was about seven, eight kilos, mine was 13 and a half. I could carry that. One of the advantages of being a bigger guy with muscle was I can carry 13 and a half kilos on my back, no bother. That's not a problem for me. Whereas somebody that's 60 kilos, it's a problem for those people. You know, there's pros and cons to being a bigger guy and having that. I'm very good with muscle glycogen, replenishing glycogen. I understand the nutrition. When I used to compete in bodybuilding, I was all about carb cycling. So I had a really good understanding of carbohydrate and how that affected the body, you know, depletion. When I was feeling depleted, exactly what I felt like mentally when I was depleted. So as soon as that happened in the Sahara…

Wade Lightheart: Right, you're able to self monitor to keep your biochemistry on line. And I think a lot of people who've gone through bodybuilding competitions have a huge advantage in self observation about those things. You see the visual effects and you're so on the edge. So that's very interesting that there was a carry over in the endurance. That's fascinating.

Brian Keane: Yeah. Well, the thing is, it's so funny, because one of the reasons that I'm so good with the sports nutrition now, obviously sports nutrition is my background as well, but there's nothing like self experimentation, nothing like it. So when I got into the world of ultra endurance, I got very… When I switched into fat adoption. So I do keto in and out. Cause' I know you're talking about Matt and Matt into keto. I will I'll drop in and out of keto based on my training. If I'm really high intensity endurance week I'll go very keto for that. I'll drop my protein right down, ramp up my fats, drop my carbs right back, just because that really helps me if I've got like 150 miles a week that I'm trying to run.

Brian Keane: So I'll drop in and out of that. And the way I was able to adjust so quickly to, was because of the experimentation with bodybuilding, because you know what it's like to feel low carb, you know what it's like. You know, your brain feels at first and then your body feels second. So even in the Sahara, I could self monitor and I could bring up my carbs based on rise. You know, you're clearly depleting glycogen, need to top it up. But also I experimented with keto, being a bit more fat adapted. So having that metabolic flexibility really helped me in those multi-endurance events. It still helps me, because my body can run off fat and my body can run off carbs. That gives me a huge advantage. I never, in all my years of running on Jordan's events, a triathlon, all these things, I've never hit the wall, in the sense that people are like, they're bonked, where they're like: Oh, I bonked. I'm gone.

Brian Keane: That's never happened to me, because my body's very metabolically flexible, intentionally, because I adapt my nutrition to make sure that it's fitting my training week. So when I got to the Sahara, I had those advantages, but what happened in the third night, on the Sahara… So you have your everything on your back, you're sleeping and kind of tense, six men to attend. And you're rough, it's it basically. You've got your sleeping bag and you're effectively just sleeping outside in the sand and you're getting ready to run at the Sahara the next day. But what happened on the third day, the third night, I'll never forget this even till the day I die, was there was a sand storm. I live in the West of Ireland, it's all green, like picture leprechauns dancing through a Greenfield, like that's it, I'm as country as can be.

Brian Keane: So a sand storm came. I had never experienced it I'd heard of it in movies, but they're like: sand storms are common. Which basically is like I want to say it's like just a storm, but it's just sand. You can't see in front of you. So blacks out and blinds everything. So sandstorm came at nighttime, we were sleeping and they're powerful. And I remember thinking: right, I need to lie on my bag, cause' if my food and equipment gets blown away, my race is over. I'm done. This is gone. And so what happened was everybody was beside us. It was five men, six men, and ten men and me. And there was this scream there's like: everyone get into the bag. So what you have to do is like… If you've ever seen seen Kenny from South Park where he's like, holds up and he's like pulling everything closed.

Brian Keane: You have to do that with your sleeping bag, so that no sand can get in, cause' the tents get blown away. But we all had our tents covered. It was freezing nighttime. Like if you think about the heat during the day, it's equivalently cold at nighttime and it's freezing in the Sahara at nighttime. And the sandstorm came so we were all locked in the bags. And then I hear this scream. I hear this like deathly scream from beside me. And it's just the guy beside me. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to swear, you can bleep it out. He's like: my fucking hand, my fucking hand. I was like: Oh God, what's happening, and I looked out through the bag. It was the guy right beside me, Johnny was his name. The pole that was holding down the tent had sliced through his hand.

Brian Keane: So the storm had taken the pole, sliced through it and went right through his hand. Now, luckily it didn't go straight through, but it sliced straight through, so there was blood everywhere. And I was like: Oh my God, are you okay? Are you okay? He was like: look, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. We all bury down and I remember thinking. Wade, - my God, if that hits me in the head, I'm dead. If one of those poles hits me in the head, I am dead. There's no coming back from that. I'm like, it's gone through Johnny's hand. That goes through anyone's head, they're dead. And I remember thinking: Oh my God, just please get through this. And the first night when we finished, the Sahara, after the six back-to-back marathons, they put you into a hotel before they fly you home.

Brian Keane: I remember being in the room with my man, Simon, the guy around with, and I remember thinking: Oh my God, I'm so grateful for four walls and a roof. And that stayed with me since. Like that was 2018, right? Small little things. And that comes from putting yourself into a very uncomfortable situation. Now it's an extreme example, but all of those. Like it's the same of bodybuilding. How grateful are you for morning bowl of porridge after a bodybuilding show? Cause you can have it. You don't want a piece of ice cream after dinner. Like it's those small things, but you only get them when you put yourself into a state of discomfort. You only get it when you push that. And when I see, and I think I might have fell into this bracket, maybe it's a mirror back on me and why it affects me so much is when I see people giving out about stupid things, things that aren't important, like inconveniences, not separating real problems from perceived problems.

Brian Keane: And maybe it's a mirror back on me on how I was and that's probably why it affects me so much, but I'm like: they're not problems. It just putting yourself into a state of discomfort, whatever that looks like for you, gives you that reference point and you're not going to get it otherwise, but you don't have to run to the Sahara to get that. You don't have to run to the Arctic to get that. You don't have to do a bodybuilding show to get that. You can get that by getting up an hour earlier. You can get that by fasting until lunchtime, because you're a slave to your hunger. You can get that through multiple different things and I think it's important that people question that, as you said earlier, Tony Robbins, the power of questions, like what can I do today that's potentially going to make my life better, that's uncomfortable as I go do that?

Wade Lightheart: Beautifully said and very, very powerful. Those moments and the human spirit, and our capacity to handle discomfort is far greater than many of us even consider. I want to switch gears and compare and contrast this, you're running in the Arctic. First off, what made you decide to go to the Arctic? Second thing, how did your Achilles rupture and then what did you do to get through that?

Brian Keane: Thankfully, no, I didn't rupture, my Achilles torn. Thank God. Cause' if it had ruptured, there have been nothing you can do. You'd have to have been helicoptered out. On a tear, it's not advised you keep moving, but you can. So there's a slight difference on that. But in terms of signing up first it's a funny story. It's a very straightforward story, but what actually led me to the success in the Arctic was again, as you know, Wade, massive failure, that was something that I just didn't have my head right, didn't have my mindset right. The short answer is I done the Sahara, I done the heat. The next logical thing was I will do the cold now. That was actually the thing that just led me into the Arctic.

Brian Keane: So very straightforward, simple answer. Like even before COVID I was supposed to run in the Himalayas, I was supposed to run an ultra marathon, a hundred miler to Everest base camp. Altitude was that's what I was training for. So I was like heat, cold, altitude. I'll still hopefully do that next year, provided everything goes ahead with Covid. But the Arctic was… I had a little bit of a stumbling block in the lead up to the Arctic. I signed up for a training race in Barcelona in November of 2018. I did the Sahara six back-to-back Marathon des Sables in April, 2018 and the Arctic was in February, 2019. In between I not only had I got a lot of confidence, I built a lot of confidence. Some of it was false confidence, I get it now, because I came back thinking I was invincible from the Sahara.
Brian Keane: I signed up to this ultra marathon in Barcelona, you know, pride coming before the fall. I signed up to this 76 kilometer, ultra marathon, in Barcelona, completely the wrong mindset. I'm like: I ran six back to back marathons, in Sahara, I can run 76 kilometers in Barcelona, that's fine. So I didn't really train first. I didn't have the right headspace first. I didn't know anything about the course. I landed out to Barcelona thinking I was running a road race for 76 kilometers. It wasn't. It was a trail race, but the start of the trail race was running up Mount Tibidabo. So you're running up and I had none of the equipment, none of the gear, nothing right first. And 50 kilometers into that race, 40 kilometers into that race, between that 40 and 50 checkpoints, I got lost and went the wrong way.

Brian Keane: And it had been raining, it was pouring in Barcelona that whole month, that's the wettest autumn they had on record or wettest winter they've had on record and I was soaked. I went the wrong way, 40 to 50 kilometer checkpoint. I'm like: I'm out of here. This is crap. I'm not enjoying this. This is rubbish. Crap race, crap course. I don't have anything right first. I'm like: I'm out. I'm done. So tapped out, went home, got showered in the hotel, got fed. Then I was laying on my bed and I went: fuck. Why did you? You're just tapped out and quit that race. And I was sitting there and that's something that hit me after. I'm like: regardless of how uncomfortable you feel, how difficult this thing is, you're doing right now…

Brian Keane: There'll be a time when you're sitting on the couch, watching TV with food and you have a decision to make in the middle of that. There's going to be a time when you do feel comfortable, and that haunted me. For a week and a half, nobody could talk to me. I'm like: Oh my God, if I go to the Arctic with this mindset, I'm going to die. I'm literally going to one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. If I go there with this mindset that I had in Barcelona I'm going to die. I remember having that shift and that's what happened when I got to the Arctic. I got out there, I was tunnel vision. I trained, I had my mindset right, and then my Achilles went I was thinking of Barcelona.

Brian Keane: I'm like: this is the thing I've spent the last eight, nine months training for. You felt horrible for quitting a race that was only a training race. If you quit the Arctic now after all this time, energy and effort, you're going to feel 10 times worse. There's gonna be a time when you were at home with the heat turned on, with a marriage band in your hand, watching football, watching Arsenal play Man United, and you're going to be sitting there and you have a choice now - do you keep going and push through and see what the limit is? Or do you just tap out and go and just quit and say: I'm not doing this? And that's what happened in the Arctic. I got out there and I'm like: unless I had to leave in a helicopter or an ambulance, I'm finishing this.

Wade Lightheart: You know? Like it got to the point, I remember when my Achilles went first, I ran it with Simon who did the Sahara with me and then we did the Arctic together. He's a detective in Dublin and great guy, but we, when my Achilles went first, what happens in the the Arctic? What happens in the Arctics, if you're not moving quickly enough, everything freezes over. So when my Achilles went first before I could kind of power through, before I took any painkillers or anything like that, my Achilles went and I was going so slow my eyelids froze over. You have so much water in your eyes, something that I would never even have thought about, my eyelids froze over, so I wasn't able to blink. I got landed up at the tent, like the TP with the Sami tribe and my eyes were all bloodshot, cause' I hadn't blinked in whatever it was two or three kilometers, because eye lids is just completely froze over, cause' I wasn't moving fast enough.

Brian Keane: That was a point like that was the only point, cause I remember Simon turned to me when we finished and he was like: I thought you were gone. That's when I thought there's no chance. You can't move. You can barely walk. Your eyes are bloodshot. You can't blink. Your eyelids are frozen. He was like: I thought you were gone there. But again, it's like everything, you just power through. Like at some stage you're not going to be in the Arctic. At some stage you're going to be at home and it's going to be comfortable. What you do when times get difficult? I think asking that question to answer, that's the thing that fueled me to get through and I'm delighted I did. I couldn't walk for three months when I got home. I had to rehab it out, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I don't regret that decision. Like I think it was one of the best things I have done, because I left that with a completely (…) association with pain. I'm like my body's way more (…) everybody has that inside them, it's just how to tap into it and what method you use to tap into it is that the difference between people.

Wade Lightheart: It's so beautiful, very inspirational. Thank you for going into the mindset and the challenges and then how you push through that, cause' I'm sure there's somebody listening right now that's going through some ungodly challenge in their life and they're looking for inspiration and that's it. I want to switch gears in ask you the lessons that you've learned from all of this kind of point and that's translated, obviously you're an incredible speaker and you're very magnanimous in your energy and I can see why you're so successful in that.

Wade Lightheart: How do you take those lessons and translate it into a stage career where you're performing and inspiring and doing these types of things and how did that happen? Like what inspired you in that? And what is the ultimate message that you're sharing with people at these events that you do?
Brian Keane: So I kind of fell into speaking, if I'm being honest, it was never really a conscious thing that I said, Wade, I want to be a speaker. That was never the goal. Like I run an online business, I have programs, I have courses, I have the books, loads of different things and the speaking was something I kind of fell into, where I would keep getting requests by different companies, different businesses. They'd hear my story or the podcast, they would hear, because I've documented everything on the podcast. I think one 51 is my episode on Marathon des Sables, talking through the entire experience and it was the week after. So it's super fresh. And the same with the Arctic. Like I did a podcast, I think it's 2019 running through the Arctic, 230 kilometers through the Arctic is the title.
Brian Keane: And this happened in a recent event before COVID. So my last speaking event, the one that I ran myself was in December or January, before the lockdown, but two or three months before the lockdown. And I had a girl come up to me at the seminar and she was kind of teary before she came up. So at the end of my seminars, typically the ones I run myself, I just stay behind and meet and talk to anyone. I love it. It's the best thing. Oh man, like it is the best thing ever, connect them with like minded, people like that. But a girl came up to me, Wade, and she had tears in her eyes and she was like: I've just battled back from cancer. And I was like: Whoa.

Brian Keane: She was like: your podcast from the Arctic… You said something on that podcast that I just kept listening to on repeat. And I said on a podcast: pain is temporary, it will eventually go away. That's what I was repeating to myself in the Arctic. And she came up, she goes: I just kept re-listening to your podcast. I was struggling so much with my chemo. I just kept thinking, this will pass, this will pass, this will pass. I was using those words. And I'm like, I was welling up. There was a crowd of people behind her and I had to take a second after she went. And I remember I was like: that inspires me more than anything I ever do. When you think about that and that makes me so grateful for the medium of podcasting and different things.
Brian Keane: But I remember thinking: Oh my God, what you've done is so much more inspiring than anything I've ever done. You'd battled through. You wired your mindset to push through and get out the other side and now you're here in a seminar and you're sharing that. I'm like: that's incredible. That alone, when things like that happen, you're like: Oh my God, I can't believe I get to do what I get to do. But just in the speaking side, like even now when I'm thinking of it, geez, it's one of those things, one of those experiences that I'm like, Oh my goodness. But the speaking side, it was businesses reaching out to me and corporates reaching out to me. They would hear the podcast, like the Arctic, they would hear podcasts like the Sahara.

Brian Keane: And they're like: look, can you just come in and talk to us about mindset or talk to us about health and wellness, or fitness, or whatever it is. It's normally the mindset side, the motivational side. And to be honest, like my speaking, the only reason I'm able to speak well is, because I was a teacher for years. That's what did as a teacher. You're in front of a class, you know, 30 kids and you're breaking down complicated ideas into its simplest form. That's like all I do now. I'm just doing it with health, fitness and mindset. When you're speaking, you're doing the same thing. So I used to be terribly stage frightened, I used to have terrible stage fright, like public speaking, you know, the old adage, the number one fear of the world is public speaking.

Brian Keane: Number two was debt. Number three, dying, public speaking like that's how I was, cause' I was terrified of it earlier in my life. And then as I became a teacher, it forces you to speak in front of people. You're speaking in front of other teachers, either explaining what you're doing for lesson plans, or you're speaking in front of kids and you just get better at that. So then when I got brought in to do corporate talks and do different speaking, it was kind of natural, like I do very little prep on any speaking that I do. You seen as that right before we went on air, the same when you were on mine. I'm like, cool, let's just rock with this, ask me anything, you know? And it's the same with speaking.

Brian Keane: I just kind of go up, I try to feed up of the room, on what's going to land, what's going to connect, and sometimes you're just telling some stories and that's the thing that brings in the people, cause' people connect with those stories, that's why I tell them. Because everyone has a version of something difficult that's going on in their lives. Everybody has a version of pain is temporary it will go away, just keep on pushing through. It might be a relationship. It might be a job. It might be the covid condition. It might be, you know, physical, or mental, or health, or wellness, or whatever it is, but everyone have a version of that, so people are connected with this. Again, I will not say I have been successful with it, like that is super subjective term. But in terms of the opportunities that I've got, in terms of speaking, you know, I've spoke in front of Google Headquarters, I've done SAP, I've done loads of different corporates events that are massive. Ones I've never would've dreamed of doing years ago, but to be honest as I said, I felt into it, Wade.

Wade Lightheart: I think there's a really interesting bridge here, because many of the people who are listening to this are… Maybe they have a dream that they want to go for in life. Maybe they're in the fitness industry themselves and they're looking something. Or they're trying to build a business. And I find it fascinating that these ginormous companies, who influence the world, are bringing in someone to explain to their staff members of how to have the mindset to endure through difficult things. Because building a business, oftentimes you have to endure difficult things, your own stories like that, I can relate to that, every business person I've ever met or talked to, talked about having that vision and being able to push through the difficult times and other things. What do you think these executives are trying to communicate to their staff members and that bridging gap? Like what do you think it is, that brings you into that thing? Why do they want you to talk to the people on those items?

Brian Keane: I think it's a combination of two things. The first thing that I started to notice was a trend, when I was getting approached by corporations to come and do mindset talks, and that was that everybody goes through difficult times, but when it's you, that's going through that difficult time, you think you're in a bubble, you think you're the only one. And that was a common trend that I found with people, particularly with say, Google SAP, these big, whether they're working to deadlines, they're doing crazy hard tasks and they're working on hours and they can get into a bubble that life is so difficult, they're so tunnel vision what they're doing, they don't see that there's loads of other struggles out there and that others are struggling. So what I found was, as I shared some of my personal struggles, it automatically would snap them out of this.

Brian Keane: They go: Oh, hold on. We're all in this. We all have struggles. We all find things difficult. It's not just me in this bubble. And that was one thing that I noticed, that was a trend that kept coming back. The second thing that I noticed, particularly with the bigger corporations was, for the lack of a better way of putting this, as you said earlier, people struggle to push themselves into something that's really uncomfortable, or they struggle to exercise that self discipline muscle. They kind of just, what I call, living life on autopilot. They're just kind of going through and just on autopilot, they're not really thinking about things. And sometimes when somebody comes in and starts throwing information in your face about, you know, you will be better and your life will be better if you do difficult things. Whether that's getting up an hour earlier, when you know you want to stay in bed or whether that's getting to the gym, when you know you're tired and you've had a 12 hour day, but your life will be significantly better if you go for that run or you get in for that workout.

Brian Keane: And it shifts that mindset into, cause' in those corporations and I can only speak from my experience, but in those corporations, a lot of the people working, not all, cause' I would be generalizing, but a large portion, one of the reasons I get brought in, is they see things like getting up earlier, working out difficult and it's not going to enhance their life. Like that's difficult, I'm not going to do that. As opposed to this thing is difficult, it's going to make me mentally stronger, it's going to make my entire life easier. And I think it's pointing that out to people, cause' it's quite obvious when you say it, you're like, you know, successful people do what they have to do, whether they feel like it or not and you're doing things that move your life forward in a positive way.
Brian Keane: You're not letting emotions dictate that. I think all I'm doing a lot of the time is just pointing that out to people. And I think that's why it's connected. It doesn't always, you're not going to connect with everybody. But the feedback I've got has always been mostly positive for that reason. You're pointing things out to people, kind of known themselves and it's practical. Like get up an hour earlier, go to the gym. I'm like, there are two things you can do. Most people can do if you're not doing right now and your life quality would probably be enhanced because of it. And sometimes all you need is that pointed out to you.

Wade Lightheart: Beautifully said. Let's talk a little bit about your website, what you're currently offering and some of your fitness programs and I know people from all around the world are looking to hire you and stuff. So can you share about what you do as a coach and what's the type of person that hires you and what that process is for what you're carrying on in your career right now?

Brian Keane: I love what I do, Wade. That line my mom asked me 'what would you do for free' is still the philosophy I have when it comes to business. Like every program I designed, any course I create, any books that I do, it's all off 'Would you do this for free?' And that's why the program, that's why I love what I do so much. So I've got like different programs that come across different things. Some things are good fit for some people. I'm a big believer, the square pegs fit in square holes and square pegs don't fit in round holes. I think I'm an amazing fit for some people, but that equally makes me a terrible fit for others. There's somebody out there. You're bringing with this with the supplements. If you're looking for high quality supplements, you know, a good probiotic and digestive enzymes, yeah, BiOptimizers, you're going to get what you pay for with that.

Brian Keane: Whereas if you're like: I just want the cheapest thing. Well, then that's not who you're going to serve. So, you know, the square peg in the square hole and my programs working with people like I work with people on body competition, mostly. That's my bread and butter, weight loss, fat loss, that's what I love doing. You know, even though I do all these ultra endurance events, I don't train people for that. I send them to other coaches. I'm not the best fit for that. I do it myself, because of the personal growth and the mental toughness that it gives me, but it's not my area, it's not my circle of competence for one, but it's not also my area of passion either. So I serve people within that body composition. My mindset side is, like my courses and books are all mindset based.

Brian Keane: So everything I've talked about, the building self discipline, you know, taking responsibility and owning things and not letting your own biggest enemy live between your two ears, having the courage to not worry what everybody thinks so that you can go after the things that you want getting a ladder up against the right wall and making sure that you're climbing that ladder consistently and enjoying the process, like all those things, they're down to books down to courses. And again, that connects really well with some people and other people it doesn't. Like if you're someone that loves the secret and wants to just sit at home, law of attraction and hope it all comes… I'm not your fish. I'm definitely not your fish. Like I'm going to say: yeah, law of attraction and think positively in the universe will conspire to give you everything you want, but you have to put in the fucking work as well.

Brian Keane: You need to get off your ass and do it. That's my belief system and that's my approach to things. So again, it makes it a great fit for some people and a terrible fit for others. But again, I'll continue to do everything that I do - the courses, programs, books are all based on how can I serve. You know, one of my mentors used to always tell me… I used to deal and handle really bad with anxiety. So like my 800 pound gorilla in my room was anxiety that like constant stage, cause' you're constantly go, go, go, go, go. Which is great and you get a lot of like outward success as a result of that, cause' you're quite a high achiever, but that's normally fueled by a lot of anxiety.

Wade Lightheart: What I used to always think was outward success, was fueled by inner turmoil. That's what it was running on. That was the gasoline it was running on. And one of my mentors used to always tell me that you'll find yourself when you lose yourself in the service of others. So I try and live my life by that and that's what I do on my social media platforms, where I try and do my podcasts. You know, when you're coming on, providing a lot of value on gut health and digestion, like serving the people that are following me, serving my audience and keeping the focus and just rinsing and repeating that. As long as I would keep doing what I'm doing free, I have nothing I would change in anything I do in my business.

Wade Lightheart: Beautiful said. A couple of quick questions I'm going to ask, just kind of wrap the stuff. What's your favorite diet food?

Brian Keane: Diet food?

Wade Lightheart: Yeah.

Brian Keane: Broccoli. I love broccoli.
Wade Lightheart: Favorite cheap food or your guilty pleasure?

Brian Keane: Oh, chocolate. I'm a chocolate and ice cream guy. I lost the savory tooth completely. And I get all the sweet tooth.

Wade Lightheart: Any brands in particular?

Brian Keane: I used to be all about the Ben and Jerry's. I was all about Ben and Jerry's, but now I'm on kind of a Green and Black's phase. My God, they're good.
Wade Lightheart: Right. Most influential book?

Brian Keane: Ooh, that's a great one. I'm a big reader. Like I'm a big reader.

Wade Lightheart: I see all the books in the background, so I wanted to ask.

Brian Keane: It's a handful. I've got probably, you know, 400 or 500 books in my library. I'm a big, big reader.

Wade Lightheart: You can use a few if you want.

Brian Keane: Probably the one, there's been a couple that have a huge influence on my life. One was Viktor Frankl's 'Man's Search for Meaning'.

Wade Lightheart: Great book.

Brian Keane: Fantastic book. That's one of the only books that I generally don't have to ask context to recommend it to people. Generally, when people say: what books do you recommend? I'm like: well, tell me where you need help with. It's like what training program should I do? I'm like: are you trying to run a marathon? Or you're trying to do a bodybuilding show? Cause' the training program is going to be different. Like the book recommendations are similar, but 'Man's Search for Meaning' is the one that when I read that, I remember thinking: Oh my God, you have nothing to complain about. You can't give out about life. So that was one that had a huge positive impact on me.

Brian Keane: And another one, which is a funny one, but I'll say it, because it was the one that gave me that mindset shift that I needed, and changed the entire trajectory of my life. And that was Robert Kiyosaki's ' Rich Dad Poor Dad'.

Wade Lightheart: Another great book.

Brian Keane: A great book. I remember I was working. I'll never forget where I was at. I was working in London. I had been two years working as a personal trainer at nighttime. I was getting the bus to and from work. And I remember I listened to that whole book, the audio book on Audible on the commute. And that was September, October of 2013. And I left my job that December. That book gave me so much. I'm like:Oh my God. This is what I need to do. It's weird, because it was a mindset shift and that books about real estate and finance, but it was the one that… I was like a dynamite or a piece of TNT and that book was that light or fluids, the thing that set it off for me. And so they're probably the two that have had the most impact on me for sure.

Wade Lightheart: Great. Most influential person in your life, either in the present or in the past, like it could be a figure person, public speaker, family member, anything?

Brian Keane: Oh my mom, by a country mile. Yeah, there's my mom, then there's everybody else. Biggest influence on me, was the reason I made the jump. Was the reason I had the courage to make the jump in the first place. Was the one that told me to follow the thing I was passionate about. The easiest answer. Easiest question I'll ever answer.

Wade Lightheart: Great stuff. Last question. How would you like to see your life, let's say you got the last day of the life and you're looking backwards, how would you like to be remembered in life?

Brian Keane: As someone that had the courage to go after the things that they were passionate about.

Wade Lightheart: Beautifully said. This is a great interview. I love it. You've got so much energy and passion, I just feel like I could go on forever. Can you share with our listeners of where they can find you, where they can connect with you, find out more, follow your podcast? I think everybody needs to listen to these raw and real running in the desert and running in the Arctic when you're in the struggle. I mean, there's an essence in an energy that you cannot manufacture in an interview when you're doing that. So can you give us all the handles of where to reach and where to find you?

Brian Keane: Yeah. Firstly, Wade, thanks so much for having me on, like again loved our conversations, first round on my podcast, this around here. I feel so fired up after it, so thank you. But yeah, for people that want to check out my stuff, the podcast, for sure, like that's my bread and butter. The thing I absolutely, outside of the speaking, when I'm running my events, the podcast is my favorite thing that I do. As I said, that's where we got to connect originally and I love the conversations I have on there. So The Brian Keane Podcast and then I'm briankeanefitness across everything else. I'm on all the social media platforms, briankeanefitness.com is the website too.

Wade Lightheart: What a tremendous interview. You are a force of nature and very inspiring, and thank you so much for sharing and really unveiling the deep aspects of psychology and how you can push through the challenging points and inspire others. You're an amazing person and amazing man. I'm grateful for you to take the time. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. And for all our listeners, make sure you check out Brian Keane stuff. I think it's really great to dive into this. If you're going through struggles, Brian's your man. You want to connect and really feel what it's like to be in the middle of the darkness and push through it and come out the other side and, you know, as you can hear in here, his energy, he's earned that effulgent kind of nature and energy and so you can do it too. For everyone else I want to say thank you for joining us for another Awesome Health Podcast by BiOptimizers. We'll see you very soon on a very next export. Thank you.
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