Need motivation and a shift in mindset? Listen to this! You can also watch the video of the interview here: https://youtu.be/nfwaEibsEvQ
With words of wisdom anyone can apply to their life, 2 time Olympia competitor, entrepreneur, and global bodybuilding coach Ryan Hinton discusses motivation, discipline, parenting, leading his bodybuilding team as a coach during a pandemic, and much more in this episode of the Bored and Curious Podcast.
Bored and Curious Website and Social Media: https://linktr.ee/boredandcuriouspodcast
Ryan Hinton Website: https://www.teamlegacypro.com/
Ryan Hinton IG: https://www.instagram.com/ryanhinton/
In the highly competitive and rapidly growing bodybuilding industry, Ryan Hinton has made a name for himself not only as an IFBB Pro and 2014 NPC Mr. USA, but also as the highly sought after head coach of Team Legacy. Having coached over 1,000 clients around the globe with many earning the oh-so-coveted pro card, Ryan gives us a closer look at what it takes to win as a competitor.
Ryan also tells us about the terrifying realities of parenthood, the importance of failure, purpose, and building a legacy.
Intro music artist credit: Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
Need motivation and a shift in mindset? Listen to this! You can also watch the video of the interview here: https://youtu.be/nfwaEibsEvQ
With words of wisdom anyone can apply to their life, 2 time Olympia competitor, entrepreneur, and global bodybuilding coach Ryan Hinton discusses motivation, discipline, parenting, leading his bodybuilding team as a coach during a pandemic, and much more in this episode of the Bored and Curious Podcast.
Bored and Curious Website and Social Media: https://linktr.ee/boredandcuriouspodcast
Ryan Hinton Website: https://www.teamlegacypro.com/
Ryan Hinton IG: https://www.instagram.com/ryanhinton/
In the highly competitive and rapidly growing bodybuilding industry, Ryan Hinton has made a name for himself not only as an IFBB Pro and 2014 NPC Mr. USA, but also as the highly sought after head coach of Team Legacy. Having coached over 1,000 clients around the globe with many earning the oh-so-coveted pro card, Ryan gives us a closer look at what it takes to win as a competitor.
Ryan also tells us about the terrifying realities of parenthood, the importance of failure, purpose, and building a legacy.
Intro music artist credit: Short Guitar Clip by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: http://audionautix.com/
You were Mr. USA, right in 2014, like it only took you a year?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. 12 months. Exactly. From my first competition.
Mary Katz (Host):Hello, everybody. Welcome to this episode of Bored and Curious. I'm your host, Mary Katz. My guest today is a two time Olympian, entrepreneur, bodybuilding coach, and 2014 Mr. USA. His name is Ryan Hinton and he has coached over a thousand clients in the bodybuilding industry. In this episode, he talks about what it takes to win as a competitor, the importance of mindset, motivation, and discipline, how the pandemic shook up the industry and much more. We'll also get to know Ryan a little better with some fun personal questions. But before we go any further, go ahead and subscribe to be notified when more episodes and clips are uploaded. Alrighty, let's get started. All right. So Ryan, welcome to Bored and Curious. We have been friends for, I don't want to do math, but roughly 15 years. And you're one of the more interesting people that I know. So I wanted to at least get your take on your career path and life and whatnot. And hopefully we'll be a little serious, but we'll keep it light. We'll keep it fun. And I guess we'll learn some stuff. It was crazy as I was writing these questions, I was like, how do I not know these things?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah.
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah. Yeah. So one thing that I've admired about you is that you kind of I say kind of, you've definitely forged your own path. A lot of people, they graduate college and then they go into, they go, they just go to work somewhere and you did that for a while, but then you decided to get into bodybuilding, which is I'm going to take it back just a step from that. And we'll get into that in just a minute, but I can't imagine that little bitty baby Ryan at four years old, wanted to be a bodybuilder. So what did you want to be when you were a little feller?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Career wise? I was typical just at some point in elementary school, I wanted to be an astronaut. And then. I quickly learned. And once I realized I didn't really care for school and astronauts go to have to go to school for all these years. I was like forget that. And then it was like yeah, I'm going to go to the NFL. So that won't be a problem. I just got to go to college to get there. So that was really my mindset at probably 12, 13. And personality wise I always knew I was different. And did things on my own terms always. So it didn't matter if I did the same things as people. I just, my approach was always different. And then when I got to college, it was, I went to college for track. I didn't go to college for school. I went to college just to get out and do something. And so no matter what I do or I'm going to do, it's going to be a little different than the norm and what's popular. Which, as you said going to, just getting your degree degree and working a job. I knew wasn't for me, even though I was still pursuing that just being lost at 18, 19, 20 years old. Not really knowing what I'm going to do anyway, because I didn't make it to the NFL. Didn't even play college football. And then just always been in athletics. I didn't get my first real gym membership until I was probably after college. So 24, 25, probably. And then, people just approach me in the gym all the time, asking me if I'm getting ready for a competition. Do you compete then? No, I just, I've always, you guys, like you said a little bitty Ryan in my head, I wasn't little back then. But I look at myself now, 20 pounds heavier and I'm like, man, I'm small. So yeah, that was just like my thought process throughout those years.
Mary Katz (Host):I remember like after college you're like, "I'm supposed to be at work, but I'm in Miami."
Ryan Hinton (Guest):100% the worst employee and I knew it then, and even more so now I couldn't... I'd be fired on the first first day or so. Going- They're bringing you through orientation and I'm just like, this is so stupid. I'm not doing that. Why? And then when I really broke it down to, you have your hourly pay or your salary, when you really break it down to what you're making and what is taking away from you... At one point, I was like, you know you're making a few bucks a day. You can't even live in the United States off of that, off of, I don't know, 60, 70, 80, 90 bucks a day. Yes, you can frugal, but not for the life I wanted to live. I'll say that. Yeah.
Mary Katz (Host):So when you say what it's taking away, do you mean just from like taxes and retirement stuff? Or did you mean just like from your, your literally like your life.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):My life! And I'm not even, I'm talking about what I'm taking home after taxes. That number that you actually get in your hand and you decide what you're going to do with it. Whether you're going to eat McDonald's or Ruth's Chris, whether you're going to get premium gas or unleaded, whether you go to Miami or the Motel Six around the corner. Yeah, but what it takes from your life and, I didn't get to decide who I worked with. I didn't get to decide- I guess technically I did, but not really. It was like, whatever job I can get, whoever hires me, I just have to deal with those people. So when you put a dollar amount on it, it's like, what is that worth to you? It wasn't worth it to me.
Mary Katz (Host):When I think about bodybuilders, I think of the giant guys that looked like, like rhinos on a stage, but you didn't go that route. Tell me what that is versus the bodybuilding that people have in mind.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. So I didn't either. And I started glancing at magazines probably in 2010, 2009. And in 2011, they came out with men's physique. And I had, cause I had never had any desire to want to be that big. big like the guys you're talking about. When this came out, I was like, what is this? They look like just somebody you'd see on the beach, has nice abs and they're not super huge; they're just in shape. And I already looked like just a little more crispy looking or sharp. When that, when I saw that came out that's when I started watching my brother did it that year in 2011, the first year I watched the show and I was like, I could never do this. I saw the diet he was eating and all this. And I was like, yeah, no way. Second year I went to the same competition. I'm looking like, "I look better than these guys right now. Like I could win this." Like it was a crazy mindset. I think I just started paying it more attention and started figuring things out with diet and stuff. And I was like, dude, I literally just had- It was Easter. It was, and I'm like, "I ate all that food and I still look better than these people." So then the third year was when I finally competed. And yeah, men's physique is just a more attainable.. I don't know. It looks like it's an athletic look, I'll say that.
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah. So that's interesting. You say it didn't even start until 2011 that's so it's approaching its 10th anniversary then.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Wow. Yeah.
Mary Katz (Host):But then, so your brother competed, you said that year, right? And then you competed that third round of that year wise. So that was, yeah. Do you know how crazy it is then that you were Mr. USA, right? In 2014, like it only took you a year.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. 12 months, exactly. From my first competition.
Mary Katz (Host):What?! So either you're a genetic marvel or you just got really dedicated or some mix thereof.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Definitely a mix. Because the training is, again, it's stuff I've always done. I didn't have to do anything very different. It's just, it was really, at that point, it was just my diet, and I got with a coach that at the time was, I just asked people who, what coach is turning people pro? Who is doing the thing that I need and align myself with him? And. Yeah, it was 12 months. And then genetically, I didn't, especially now that I look back, I didn't have the greatest genetics, but I did have a good foundation that I had been; just from being an athlete and running track and always lifting weights since I was 13 years old. So that helps.
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):More than the genetics I'll say.
Mary Katz (Host):So you wanted to compete because you thought, Oh, I, this is what I could do. I could win or. Was that the only reason? Or why did you start competing? Because from what I understand, it's not a cheap process.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Oh yeah. I spent every single penny I ever made those years, every single penny. But yeah I saw it as a business opportunity and I saw it as an industry that I could get in and on my own terms, there wasn't like, Oh, you have to go to school for all these years and get all these certifications that really doesn't define you as a good person to coach or train someone or whatever. You can start a business in anything that you want and be great. You don't have to go through an institution to do And so I saw all these people, doing really well, whether it be on social media, but just through fitness period. So I saw it as a platform that I can at least get started. And I didn't know what I was going to do. But I knew I needed to get into it, to find what I wanted to do.
Mary Katz (Host):So how did you make that switch from competing, and I guess some people try to rely on sponsorships depending on what kind of sponsorships are available, to coaching? What flipped the switch there?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):So when I, when I first got with my coach, and I remember our first conversation in person, I asked him cause he had been in the industry and I said, "How do you make money in this industry? What are the avenues?" And he told me, there's really only three ways. And the sponsorship deal, I look at it as you're still like a contracted employee. You might get 12 months and then, then I find out that money really isn't what people think it is. If you're getting 500 to 1,000 dollars a month, that's, unless you're top one or two in the world, in your category, most people weren't getting that as far as competitors. I know one particular individual that was top five in the world, top four and the following year I asked him, I'm like, "Are you sponsored?" He said, "I've never been sponsored. I've never nothing." I mean, he had never even gotten any offers. So once I realized that and I saw how much my coach was charging and I'm like doing the math. Whoa, people pay that? Okay. So from right then I knew before I even started that journey, I knew I wanted to be a coach, so I just studied coaches.
Mary Katz (Host):Okay. You're coaching. And I remember at one point you had, I think you had maybe 20, 30 athletes, and you felt like your schedule was just jammed. And then one of the next times we talked, you're like, "I got 80 now." And I'm like "You were jammed at 30!" How did you, what did you have to change to make your own process I guess more, more efficient to make it all work better for you so you could take on more?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):It was a smooth transition for me, for one, like when I had the 20 or 30 you were saying, I was still working. It was pretty much part time and I wasn't working that much, but it was like, I don't need to be here. And I was also, had already hit what I wanted to do or achieve what I wanted to achieve as a competitor at the time. So competing was also getting put on the back burner and coaching was every month replacing that passion more and more. And so probably the first thing- Two things happened first. I ended up getting fired because I just stopped going to work, so they fired me. And then a few months after that, I pretty much just slowly just stopped going to gym completely. And I even told my athletes. I'm like, "Guys, I don't want to compete anymore. I want to focus on y'all." And so it just took off and multiplied and that's why, when we talked when we were at 80, it was like, that's when it felt like, great. I wake up. I do this on my time, on my hours. And then I was okay with that for probably three years. I was around that.
Mary Katz (Host):Even at that, on your time, on your own time, on your own hours, I know that's also probably gotten a bit crazy just because you take on so much and you get it, you get so many people from different countries. I remember one time you said you had been awake...
you had worked from 7:00 AM to 2:00 AM or it was something crazy like that. And I'm like, what in the newborn baby schedule is going on?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah, two or three. Yeah, that was that was probably two years ago almost. When people in the Eastern hemisphere really started to hire me and yeah, I'd be, I was used to working like till about midnight. And then they started hiring me so midnight my time is about the time everybody's waking up over there on that side. I'll just keep going. Cause I'm like, if I don't get to them now it's going to be 8, like it's just perpetual. It would never stop. I did that because it was one of those things where I'm like, I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I'm just gonna do it. And I'm just gonna go. I'm just going to keep going until I figure out what I need, because that's just my personality. I'm not one that's going to like plan for in a few months, some people from overseas are going to start hiring me so I need to set this in place. I'm like, let me just take it on and figure it out. Now at this point, the next step after that is having coaches under you. So now I have three coaches, one international coach and two here in the States and that's been really good for me to handle the volume. So it's because I'm not necessarily always taking people on. I can pick and choose when I'm taking someone on, or I can just place them with one of my coaches who are highly capable of getting the same results as me.
Mary Katz (Host):In regards to getting results... That's a pretty good segue here. What's going to separate a good athlete from one that is like they're bound to win?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Ooh. Ooh some things people want to hear. Some people don't want to hear. So what's going to separate? It's a few things. It's not one thing. It cannot be one thing because a lot of people would just say genetics. I have some people with phenomenal genetics and have a shitty mindset and they can't do anything in bodybuilding. I have people with phenomenal mindsets and shitty genetics. It's still a hard process, but you combine the two and you have a dangerous individual. That's hard to come by, but those two things, the genetics, and just someone that has the mindset to do what's necessary to achieve a goal. That's- dangerous combination, but rare.
Mary Katz (Host):One thing that I've heard you talk about before is how your coaching approach is different than a lot of other coaches. A lot of coaches are just focusing on diet and exercise. Whereas you take a more holistic approach. I understand you have recommended that your athletes either read self-help books or go to therapy. Get your mind- because that's a huge component. So when you say mindset, how do you approach your athletes in that regard?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. That's everything. It's very easy and I even do it myself sometimes- It's very easy to look at somebody successful. You look at their social media or what they have right now. And our assumption is, wow. It was the easy path they did this. They did that. Everything went right. And all these great things happen to them, but not everybody broadcast their struggles, their daily struggles or monthly struggles, or, people don't always broadcast their divorces or the death of loved ones that you have to deal with. That can happen in the midst of something very strong that you're working on. And it's, you can call it self-loathing or pity, but. everybody handles struggle differently. And I think if you can understand other people and ways to get through that and around that and understand that these people went through equal to or worse things than you and still made it happen. It's just a really good reminder. Personal development books understanding why you tick, what makes you tick. Why you are the way that you are. Understanding like maybe if you're not motivated, why you're not motivated. What it is to address it. Because yes, you have diet, nutrition, training and all this. That's fantastic. But if you can't dial it all the way in... Like some people don't understand"I don't know why I'm not sleeping. I can't sleep good at night." Their stressful levels are so high."I don't know why I don't believe that I can achieve in bodybuilding." Like a lot of people don't believe it. And so if you don't believe that you can do something, why would you even work towards it? Why would you wake up and go to the gym and train hard and eat your meals? Why would you do that? If you really didn't believe it, you don't. And so that that level of beliefs comes from here. And I can't, I can give you the best diet, the best training, and it's all irrelevant if you can't apply it every day and consistently.
Mary Katz (Host):And touching on that, the mindset portion of things, along came COVID. And I remember when the, the news broke out about a pandemic coming and lockdowns and stuff. I remember you posted a I think it was an Instagram video or something. You took it as a, like an overall challenge for everybody because shutdowns were coming. There weren't gonna be any competitions. How did you approach your athletes, like beyond the video? Like how did you approach your athletes in regards to how they needed to handle that?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):That was a, that was a fantastic... That went right in line with what I just said is "Okay, you think other people are successful because they're in better situations than you and they don't have to deal with it." Guess what? Now we're all in this situation. All of us. All. We're all dealing with lock downs and having to workout at home. And so now we are, so now the cream's going to rise to the top. We're going to really see. Nobody's going to be able to make excuses now. So what, the biggest thing I did is started, we started doing Zoom calls. Cause, which I'd never done. Talking to the team on a weekly basis. Like making sure, "Hey, you guys are good.""Yeah, coach I'm here. I'm in this country. We're shutting down. I'm still working hard." And they're like, "Oh man, my teammates are out there. They're in a worse situation than I am. At least my gym's open, with like shortened hours. Theirs aren't open at all. Or, it's cold there, at least I get to do more cardio inside and I'm not running out in 20 degree weather." There's always somebody executing in a better situation. So I just brought them together as a group so they can see "Hey, we're all, we are in this together. We're going to bang this out. I'm like, you're part of the Team Legacy. I want you to be proud of it and show that you can get through all struggles. Like you have a stronger mindset than most people."
Mary Katz (Host):And that's actually a perfect segue here. You call your team Legacy. How did you settle on that name? What does it mean to you and what other names did you consider?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Or- originally, people just, I didn't even make this. Everybody just started team Hinton. One of my buddies had a shirt made. Mike Oliss was sponsoring me. He had a little business and he had these team Hinton shirts made and that was when I first started coaching. And... It always like, yeah. Team Hinton that's cool. Like I'm competing for me, but like everyone competes for a real reason. Like my athletes don't compete for me. They compete for themselves. And so my mom came up with the idea of Team Legacy because legacy is like a strong word for our family and, but that's us. And I also realized like, hey, everybody has their own legacy and everybody wants to do something for a reason. Everybody has a business idea. Everybody wants to do something for their family. So legacy is not about Ryan Hinton. It's about you or whatever you want to make it. And I realized that if you help people get what they want, you can have what you want. I'm fine. But. I see. Okay. What do you want to do outside of bodybuilding? Well I'm passionate about this that... because I just noticed that people that obsess over bodybuilding and go and get a trophy and get to a certain level and that's all you have. There's no substance, there's nothing behind it. You quit very easily. You're very emotional about it, which it's a subjective sport. So you don't know your outcome. You can't. It's not like you just can just decide I'm going to go, I'm going to, I'm going to place this place is I'm going to get third place this weekend. I'm going to get first place this weekend. You can hope, but there's seven other people that have to make that decision. So just controlling what you can control. The legacy thing is very powerful because people hold on to what's important to them.
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah, absolutely. And so going back to your mom came up with legacy. I know that a lot of parents think that their kids are just going to, they're going to graduate college. They're going to get a job and they'll move up the corporate ladder. And and then you go this entrepreneurial route. Like what, what did your parents think you were going to do out of college? And then you bring this on. And what were their thoughts? And what also, what values did they instill in you that kind of, that pushed you in this direction?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Nobody knew what I was going to do. And I think, I'm a ... I'm pretty stubborn. So if it doesn't work, I'm gonna try it again. I want it. It's going to work. And seeing like my dad started businesses that didn't, that weren't successful. And then learning I, something I did, I actually learned something in college that most businesses fail anyway, within the first year, definitely the first two years most failed. And I realized he just didn't fail enough. So I realized the power failing. So just go fail more and something's going to work. And so to me that, I think they knew that about me; that I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna pound that thing over with a hammer and it didn't work, no emotion about it onto the next.
Mary Katz (Host):Speaking of family and legacy, you have a little kiddo and he was born when you were competing. You were still a competitor then.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. Very active.
Mary Katz (Host):So how did having a kid impact how you wanted to compete or how you wanted to shift your focus to coaching? And how does having a kid impact how you want to move forward and the legacy that you want to leave or lead?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. For one, I'm really glad that it happened because it's- you can lead someone and teach someone a lot easier if it's something you've been through. And so having an infant, actually let's see, I competed, he was two weeks old. So I was in right at the end of my prep at the hospital, asking these people for food. Asking people to bring me some egg whites to the hospital, cause we were there, I think four or five days. And then I ended up turning pro six weeks after that. And a couple of shows I did probably did a local show, USA championships, and then three pro shows within the first 16 weeks of his life. So yeah, hearing that wake up throughout the night and yeah, like when I went through that, the days when he was one and I was training and him wanting me to pick him up and I'm just physically exhausted.
You know, it's 12:30 and he won't go to sleep at midnight. And he's sitting there laughing in your face, "Ha!" And I'm dying. This is not funny. I'm exhausted. Just being able to go through that and get through it; it helps me understand where my athletes are at mentally and emotionally. And and having him, seeing how it just fitness in general I've instilled that in him and he likes to exercise and do sports and how important it all ties in together. Makes me really proud to see that, like he wants to do this stuff, not because I did it, but not because I'm telling him to do it.
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. So it's just being able to see how he... You can mold them into something so positive,
Mary Katz (Host):yeah. And I remember you telling me a story where you wondered for a second, if you were even going to get to do those things. Because you guys get to the hospital and then it went off the rails a little bit.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah, very unbelievable moment. And supposedly his grandmother has the video. I still haven't watched it yet. I haven't seen it. I don't even know if she still has it, but she rec- She was recording. S he was in there recording it. They turned to me and was like, okay, dad this is one of those it's a smaller hospital. So this is something that you can do and let the father pull the baby out. And I'm like, whoa! Like I barely- I don't even want to hold a baby. I feel like I'm going to break it. You're telling me to pull him out by his head? Like what if I break his neck or something? They're having me pull him out and she said, pull him out and lay him. S o I pull him out and I don't know what I'm looking at. I don't realize that he's blue and gray. And that he's not crying. I don't realize any of this. I don't, I've never seen a birth before, so I pull him out and lay him on there. And I don't know what's going on then the nurse- like some nurse goes in and out the door. Still, no crying. I don't know. And then I realized something's wrong. Cause the nurses going in and out and then I see five nurses walk in. That's when I'm like, what's going on. It was just like silent. And I was just like standing there . I wasn't- That was never even a thought of something happening; him not making it. And I think it was a minute. Felt like an hour. I don't know. But I don't even know what they did. Like I just kinda just went blank. But at that moment it was like, man, I thought I was about to be living this life of like literally being a dad. And now I'm not. I just, I can't even, I really can't even just put in words what went through my mind at that moment. And that was definitely something I never want to feel again. That was. And then it was like that first reality. Which now I've felt a few times of like how scary it is to be a parent. What a scary moment. So wow. That can be taken from you at any moment. That was... ooh that was powerful. But he made it and he's healthy.
Mary Katz (Host):So it all turned out well, he's good. He's active.' Dada's traveling all over the globe. How's it been traveling- one traveling as a coach and then two taking your kid to some fun places?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):It's pretty cool. He's come to some competitions with me. They are all day most of them. So they're a little slow, so it's still a little boring to him. Like he'll be super engaged and he's excited for an hour. And then he's okay, can we go? Yeah, we got four more hours, but- but that's pretty cool for him to see what dad does. Like when I say I'm going to work, going to a competition. I'm getting on a plane. We're going somewhere. Or I'm going somewhere. He knows what I'm doing. And and he's okay with it because I always explained to him like, "Hey, sometimes we can just go somewhere fun because dad works for himself. Yeah, this is why it's important. This is why team legacy is important. And this is why it's okay that I have to leave sometimes and go to these places." But hey, we can go, we'll go for two or three weeks. Sometimes if he doesn't have school, we're gone. And I explained to him like,"This is why we can do this, because of the life we live." And I know, he's six now. He does... He listens. He hears it and understands it, but he can't appreciate it until later. And I'm okay with that because there's things I told him when he was two or three, he understood it and he's appreciating it now. So that's pretty cool to see, like he really is a sponge and listening, paying attention. The traveling thing, he's on his second passport. Cause he got, I think you have to get it every five years. So he got his first passport at one and we just got him a new one. We just renewed him another one. So that's been pretty, a pretty cool process to let him travel and experience things and see how other people live.
Mary Katz (Host):Awesome. And touching on that a bit more. In all the traveling you've done done, what would you say are the biggest differences that you've seen between the U.S. and other countries?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Two- two very significant things is the cost of living, obviously, but what's not as obvious is how conservative people are with money. And seeing that Americans live off of 99% of their income or 110 or 120% versus yeah, you'll go somewhere where the cost of living is low and they don't make nearly as much, but they live off of 50% of their income, 60% of their income. And I'm like, and so we travel these places. You're in an apartment or a hotel and I'm like, looking at how these people live. I'm like, yeah, let's see. There's a sink washer. There's bathrooms. It's clean water. There's a roof. It's a beautiful view. And it's 300 bucks for the month. You go in the United States and you're paying 300 bucks a night for a hotel with the same stuff. Maybe the material's a little different. And I'm, it's just, again, the mindset of the people. Those two, two really huge things.
Mary Katz (Host):Out of everywhere that you've been, this is very subjective so it's purely an opinion, which country has the best food?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Ooh, probably South Korea.
Mary Katz (Host):Really?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. So the cool thing about South Korea, and this is after I competed there and then we ate crazy like we always do after competition. Ate, eating all kind of, I couldn't even tell you what I ate. I'm eating everything; deep fried, whatever. Don't know what I'm eating. I'm still eating burgers and all this stuff, but just. And every day I'm looking at my body, because usually after competition, after about two days, you start softening up and bloating. I'm eating.. Shredded. Eating two days, three days... On the fourth day, I'm like, "I don't understand. I'm eating until I can't eat anymore and the next day I look phenomenal." Fly back to the United States. I landed in Las Vegas. I spent the night in Vegas. I had a burger for dinner. Woke up, huge difference.
Mary Katz (Host):Why?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):It's all the additives in our food, all the preservatives, whatever laws. It's just totally different. Those countries don't allow that stuff in their country. And I have a, you see that cyst on my wrist?
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen the cyst.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):It's this. And it's going to get bigger because I was out of the country. When I was in the States, it was about right, right there. When I left it practically went away. Nothing else changed. I was drinking beer every day. I was eating whatever I wanted. I was drinking beer all day every day actually. I was on vacation. I was. Disappeared. Nothing else in my diet changed. Nothing I was doing with my body was any different. I was eating whatever food I wanted; heavy fat, whatever, coffee, creamer, all that stuff, dairy. That- You can call it an assumption. I have no scientific studies. All I can tell you was my experience that every time I leave the country eating the same fun foods, body is totally different. And I look great. My friends are like, "You lost weight since the last time you were here." I'm like, "No I haven't." And then I go to put on a shirt and I'm like, "Whoa, like I've lost like seven pounds of just inflammation."
Mary Katz (Host):Alrighty. And which country would you say is the most, most beautiful, best scenery? Just gorgeous country.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Ooh, I'm going to say Colombia. It's a little bit of tropical. So Medellin, the city of Medellin, it's a beautiful city, beautiful views, but there's also, a lot of mountains and trees and water. The lakes up there really beautiful. And everything is pretty, pretty close in driving distance. You can go an hour any direction and there's a lot of stuff to do a lot of beautiful views. Great air. Yeah. I love it.
Mary Katz (Host):All right. And all the traveling you've done being in the industry for what- eight years now? Something like that.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.
Mary Katz (Host):What, if you could change one thing about , the the industry as a whole, whether it's physique, whether it's the the big guys or the, you get to change one thing about the industry. What is that?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):I would probably say the level of awareness. It's the wild West. So it's, there's not really any formal training. Like I can control what I can expose my athletes to, but as a whole, people have a lot of misconceptions about judging, about processes, about how to approach the industry as a whole. It's a lot of what you can, look at politics, right? Everyone has an assumption on politics and what they believe is true or not true, what it should be or what it is. And it's the same thing. Like it is what you make of it, but it's, unfortunately, most people don't understand that. And I think a lot of that has to do with mindset.
Mary Katz (Host):Okay, you've done a lot of a lot of interviews about coaching. You've done or even as a competitor, you talk to your clients a lot. If there's one, I'm calling this to going forward in the podcast. This is something I'm calling."Could you not...?" So if there's one thing you never get asked about again, what is it? So could you not...?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):From my athletes?
Mary Katz (Host):Sure.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):"Where are you?" Always anyone, all, "Where are you?" What does it matter? It's not important.
Mary Katz (Host):That's awesome.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Where am I? What does it matter? I can, I coach remotely! So it doesn't matter if I'm on the moon, right? It doesn't matter. So yeah, a lot of times when I do travel for vacation or whatever, I'm, even for some shows, I won't post where I'm at. Months later, three, four or five months later. I've had athletes message me "Hey coach. I know you're on vacation, but, or can we talk when you get back from vacation?" I'm like "Not on vacation, I just posted. I'm home. We can talk."
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah. Okay. So we're gonna switch gears a little bit here and I think I've got all my industry questions done. This, the rest of this it's just for fun. Just for fun. Let the people, whoever sees this, get to know Ryan a little bit. I know you're not huge on like TV and movies and all that stuff. You're more of an audio books guy, but are you watching anything? And if so, what you watching?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):I have rewatched New Girl seasons on repeat for about four years now. That's all I watch.
Mary Katz (Host):You treat New Girl like I treat Friends.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Exactly. It, honestly, it just puts me to sleep. I cut it on I'm out in four minutes. I don't even think. I really just turned it, it just turns my brain off.
Mary Katz (Host):Gotcha.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):And that's it. I don't watch any, if it's seven, eight, nine, I'm not watching some episodes or something.
Mary Katz (Host):So I would assume that's your favorite TV show.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah.
Mary Katz (Host):Okay. Favorite movie?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):It's going to be old because I haven't watched movies in so long. Really love 300, the original 300.
Mary Katz (Host):Okay. I have not seen that.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Gerard Butler.
Mary Katz (Host):Is that the one where he cries, it's something like-
Ryan Hinton (Guest):"This is Sparta!"
Mary Katz (Host):"Aren't you entertained?"
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Oh no. That's a different one. That was a good, that was a good one too. That was probably my favorite in high school. Yeah.
Mary Katz (Host):Favorite song?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Oh Lord. Right now I'd probably say "Universal soldier." I've had that one on repeat. Probably a Bad Bunny song too, yeah. Anything Bad Bunny that's pretty much all I listen to. Let's see what, let me pull up. What's the most recent I've been going crazy about "Booker T" by Bad Bunny I've had on repeat. Yeah.
Mary Katz (Host):And since you're an audio books guy I don't know if this is your favorite, but this is one that I know that you've recommended to your athletes. And and even to me and I have not done it yet, but anyway, The Time Traveler's Gift? Is that, what is that what that was?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah. And hey, I don't even, I don't even blame you because my friend had been telling me to read that for 2-3 years. When I finally did it, I was like, I can't believe I waited this long!
Mary Katz (Host):What is it about that book that just really sticks with you? Why is it so important?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):We all have that voice inside of us that speaks to us and you can call it whatever you want. Doesn't matter. But it's there and that book is just a reminder of no matter where you're at in your life, that you're here, you're supposed to do something. You're here for a reason and you need to act like it.. And a lot of people's problems is we get stuck in our day-to-day stuff where we forget our purpose or that we have a purpose, whether we found it or not. And it, sometimes it is easy to forget that. When distractions come about to work and walk in your purpose. And that book is it's just a powerful reminder of we need you like all of this whole world.
Mary Katz (Host):So give me like a brief synopsis of it. Like what happens in there?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Great guy going through life struggles. They're really tight on money; wants to take his life. He's going fast in a car and speeds off the road. And then he goes into, call it a dream, and he gets to see himself in the future and all that he accomplished and how many people he affected and who he was and all this stuff he owned. But. Obviously, if you're not here, if you're not working in your purpose, those things can't happen. But that was like the biggest takeaway. It's an intense book,
Mary Katz (Host):Sounds like a, "It's a Wonderful Life." Movie... the Christmas movie."It's a Wonderful Life." Okay. That's one for you to look up. All right. Cause it, it's similar. Who are your ultimate dinner guests ? Like the whole dead or alive thing- I'm not going to put a number on it, but you get to have dinner with these folks.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Am I married?
Mary Katz (Host):Are you married? I don't know.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Sofia Vergara!
Mary Katz (Host):Oh, gosh.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Of course, Gary Vaynerchuk Grant Cardone. Yeah, definitely one of those two, probably Gary I'd say Gary.
Mary Katz (Host):Okay. You don't have to choose just between those. I'm just asking. I wasn't going to put a number on it or make you pick just one.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah, for sure. Definitely. Yeah. I love that. He's into everything sports super down to earth.
Mary Katz (Host):Yeah, I get it. I he'd probably make my list too. Give me at least one item on your bucket list.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Of course it's going to be travel, but I've seen enough advertisements from Maldives, enough vacation videos. Yeah, definitely. Then- I've checked them out. Definitely. And then ya know it's not even. It's the travel time, I'm going- you need two weeks. You need two weeks for sure. Cause you lose, it's like a day and a half to get there, a day and a half. But yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of travel. It's definitely a lot of travel and definitely a place where I want to be completely unplugged. So yeah,
Mary Katz (Host):I've seen photos too. It looks gorgeous. Yeah. I want to see the northern lights, but you got to go to cold places for that. And I-
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah, we don't do cold.
Mary Katz (Host):What's the worst thing you did when you were a kid?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Oh man. The first thing that, when you said that the first thing that came to my mind- my brother messing with me and we were at, family extended family's house. He made me mad and he threw a rock at me. He like tossed a rock at me and I got mad and picked up a rock. And threw it as hard as I could at him. I was probably my son's age. I was probably five or six. So which means my brother was about 12. Of course I was nowhere near him; threw it nowhere near him and hit somebody's windshield. I was so mad. I just pick it up and throw it, not even looking. Yeah. I remember that very vividly.
Mary Katz (Host):And that's when you saw your NFL dreams, just fall apart.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah, I was Tony Romo on that thing.
Mary Katz (Host):I understand that reference!
Ryan Hinton (Guest):That's why I use the cowboy.
Mary Katz (Host):I don't, I'm not even into sports, but yeah, I understand that reference. All right. So was the most adventurous or the riskiest thing you've done?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Oh, gosh.
Mary Katz (Host):I feel like traveling alone has gotta be up there somewhere. Cause I'm not, no.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):For sure. No, for sure. That's, you're exactly right. First thing that comes to mind in 2017, summer 2017 thought I had my son that night or that I wasn't going to. Find out I wasn't gonna have him for four or five days. And I was like, whoa, I planned on having him. I'm like, I got nothing to do. So I pack a carry on bag. I Googled cities in Mexico or countries. I Googled countries first, narrowed it down in Mexico. This happened about 15 minutes. Found a city in Mexico. Never heard of it. Didn't know anyone there. Flew out. Did not have a hotel either. Landed from my layover in Houston. I booked my hotel when I bought it. boarded my next flight; just booked a random hotel. And I got there at nighttime, too. So I'm in the middle. I'm in the middle of Mexico. I've never heard of this place at night time. Stayed at the hotel. Hung out for the day. And then I took a four hour Uber through Mexico to Guadalajara. No plans. I just was booking as I went. No plans and just tickets. Stayed in Guadalajara for two days. I hung out with some guys I met in the hotel, had the time of my life. We hung out to eight o'clock in the morning and I'm still in contact with them too. And then that night drove or one of my friends drove me to the coast. So now I'm in, we're talking like four hours to Guadalajara. Another four hours to Puerto Vallarta. And that was probably got to Puerto Vallarta at 2:00 AM. Didn't have a hotel. Booked one there. Went to a club as soon as I got there. Yeah. Walked back to my, I don't remember walking back to my room. At that point I was a different person.
Mary Katz (Host):Mmm hmm.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yup.
Mary Katz (Host):And you're alive.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Terrible headache next morning. Yep. Yeah. Yep.
Mary Katz (Host):I got two more questions written down at least. When's the last time you cried and why?
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Now that's a tough one. Now you say cry. I'll shed some tears real quick. No, a dog with- a movie with a dog in it or something... that flood gates. And actually now that I think of I did see, I don't even couldn't even, maybe it was Balto. I watched it with my son earlier in 2020, sometime one night. Yup. Flood gates..
Mary Katz (Host):I've had Marley and Me on DVD for years now and I have not watched it.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yep. That'll do it.
Mary Katz (Host):Can't do it. All right. Give me one of your mottos for life.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Oh, man. Do it on your terms and take care of you. Something I had to just figure out. One of those like popular mantras, but like you can hear things, but until you experience it, it's harder to understand it. And so I heard people take care of yourself first and then I'm like, but I have this, and this. And then I realized it got so bad of me trying to put other people first that it had a negative effect. And I'm trying, but I'm not worth anything because I'm torn down in one way or another; physically I'm tired or stressed out. And so when I just started putting me first, like you, get you time, whenever it needs to be, or get your sleep, then you can be super effective and so much more valuable.
Mary Katz (Host):Literally why I started this this podcast is because I'm like, okay, the kids are in school or at least part time. And I've got a little free time now, a little more energy than when they were all tiny, they're all still tiny. But so I'm like I, there's only so much Netflix and YouTube I can watch. So I'm like what's going to be next. I'm not a nine to fiver I'm like, you, I'm not, I've already done that. And I have zero interest in going back to that. So it's what can I do that's going to be something for me? And so if I'm bored and curious, might as well start a podcast.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Yeah, for sure. Yeah. This is going to be great.
Mary Katz (Host):I'm very appreciative to have you here with me.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):Thanks for having me.
Mary Katz (Host):All right. We'll talk soon.
Ryan Hinton (Guest):All right. Bye!
Mary Katz (Host):Bye. Folks, thank you so much for checking out this episode of Bored and Curious. Make sure that you are subscribed and give us a follow over on social media. See you next time.