22 Sides
22 Sides is a podcast that will let you get to know some fascinating people and keep up with many things that are happening in and around the Houston area.
22 Sides
Badass Giving Back: How a Jiu-Jitsu Pro Saves Kids' Hearts
Frost Murphy shares his journey from martial arts professional to humanitarian, illustrating how physical wellness can be integrated with meaningful service to create a balanced, purpose-driven life.
• Breaking a sweat daily benefits body, mind, and spirit - whether through structured exercise or everyday activities
• Quality fitness experiences should be accessible to everyone, regardless of age or physical limitations
• Walking backwards can strengthen back muscles and alleviate lower back pain
• Martial arts training can be modified for all ages, including those in their 80s
• Heart Gift organization provides lifesaving heart surgery to children with congenital defects
• Four T's of volunteering: Time, Talent, Treasure, and Ties - establishes clear boundaries for nonprofit involvement
• Greater Houston Community Foundation helps connect people with appropriate volunteer opportunities
• Smart recovery strategies include steam therapy, targeted exercises, and adjusting expectations
Check out Frost's podcast "Elite MMA Coaches Corner" - available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.
For more information on how to find Frost check out Elite MMA at:
https://elite-mma.com/frost-murphy/
We hope you will listen often.
For more information, visit our website 22sides.com
Well planned it worked out.
Robin:It worked out Planned.
Alexis:You're funny. Okay, I'm going to go to recording, just in case we want to start or something.
Frost:Okay, do you all wear headphones?
Robin:No, Do you like to?
Frost:Generally not, whatever you want, I'm good either way.
Robin:For me it's I analyze it too much.
Alexis:You be quiet and you talk. I need to check this out, mic check one, two to hello hello yeah say something, something hello, hello, hello interesting. I'm not getting much from you. Do you want me to louder? Closer, a little bit closer, but you don't have to stay there. Can I lower it just a tad?
Frost:is that okay? Yeah, oops, robin mack is the best. This was a paid political announcement.
Alexis:This was a paid political announcement.
Frost:This is a paid political announcement Robin, we became friends I think 2010, 11-ish, somewhere around there.
Robin:Yeah, around there, for sure.
Frost:Yeah, that was 15 years ago.
Alexis:Okay, well, I think we're pretty much balanced, right now, that's a pretty good amount of time 15 years man.
Frost:I interviewed my old high school track coach. Amount of time 15 years man. I interviewed my old high school track coach yesterday, 30 years ago. That gives me goosebumps, I found my journal from high school where we had to take notes after every practice. Yeah, it was really wild.
Robin:I think of my coach and I wonder if she's still with us. I wonder if she's still in Houston, I have no idea. But wow, she changed my life, so that's really cool. I can't wait to listen to that.
Alexis:Having never had a coach.
Robin:Never wanted one.
Alexis:I had this problem. Anything that I did that might've been called a sport. I ended up too good at it too quickly.
Robin:Yeah, that's a tough thing to have.
Alexis:I mean, you know, there are shooting coaches. I guess I had a couple of people that coached me in shooting, and then tennis had lots of different people.
Robin:She's really good. Uh, swing, is that right? Really good hit, really good serve.
Alexis:Basically everybody joked about my. I used to play tennis and used to be very good, and I, you know, for an amateur let's put it that way because I used to go up to nukes and do the tennis camp with the professionals and those sorts of things, which really improves your game. It's called don't get yourself killed, right, but I was at the point where I could hit 150 mile an hour, serve pretty much all day long. Wow, and people don't expect it because I was pudgy then too.
Robin:Wow.
Alexis:And they'd look, and they'd think no way, and then boom bang. And they'd be like wait a minute, that's impressive.
Robin:It's your favorite line. Underestimate me, That'll be fun.
Alexis:And then at one point in time, paid McEnroe to teach me how to hit an American twist serve, which almost nobody hits. American twists are sort of interesting because you hit it and it starts going this way or that way, whichever way you set it up to, and when it bounces it goes literally the other way, almost at a right angle. And even pros will be standing there with their racket hanging out the wrong side Wow, or ready for a backhand, and it goes behind them and usually they see it just as it bounces and they just shake their head and start laughing and walk back to the back. Wow, what's McEnroe like? Actually, really nice.
Frost:Contrary to as advertised.
Alexis:He's an actor, okay. I mean, I used to call tennis lines for various tennis tournaments and those were fun I think the most fun when I was with SMU. I was assistant president of SMU for a while. When I was there, other than the actual biggest final matches, I would be calling lines for something or other and I got to call a McEnroe-Nestasi match and Nestasi is crazy. At one point in time he comes up and it was a good call I made. But he comes up in my face and he's doing all this moving around. He says, ok, so the crowd loves me to make a big deal about it, so I'm going to act like I'm calling you all sorts of names and everything else and it was a good call. We both know that, but I'm not going to say that here or do anything. And it was like he was arguing and he was doing it perfectly, except those weren't the words. And I was just sitting there staring at him and you know, and it was like, yeah, it's an ax on his part.
Alexis:Well, it's nice to know where the ax stops and the real person starts and Mackler on the other side was laughing and saying come on, we're going to play, Are we going to play or not play? And it's like, yeah, I get it. This is what people come to see, so got it.
Robin:The drama. It's like hockey.
Alexis:They don't go for the game it's like hockey.
Robin:They don't go for the game.
Alexis:They go for the fights.
Frost:That's fair. Apparently, he wrote a book that was pretty good recently. I haven't read it either.
Robin:It's on my maybe to-do list one day. What else is on your maybe to-do list these days?
Frost:Man, you know, kids Eat a ton of time.
Robin:Could we get into the podcast please? We're already into it. No, we aren't.
Alexis:Okay, the podcast, please. We're already into it?
Robin:no, we aren't okay. We're gonna do introductions. See, we all right.
Alexis:The first half we did introductions. Halfway through or at the end it's like no, we need to do introductions.
Robin:All right, let's try the beginning this time. Okay, do you want to lead in sure?
Alexis:unless you want to do the introduction, go ahead. This is 22 sides. Thanks for joining us Today. I'm here with Robin and Frost Murphy. Yes, that was Frost Frost, like cold frost.
Frost:Like Frosty the Snowman.
Alexis:Uh-huh. Okay, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Robin:Like the breeze that blew by.
Frost:I love it. Yeah, so I'm my. You put the cool in cool, that's right. Put the chill into my opponents is what somebody said the other day. I am officially George Frost Murphy, the fourth.
Robin:Okay.
Frost:And my dad is Frosty, I'm Frost, and my son is Pecanio Frost, he's the fifth, okay, and so anyway, you know.
Alexis:I could. You're from Texas, aren't you?
Robin:I'm from Texas.
Frost:Only in Texas, I couldn't let the tradition die with me. We had to keep it going.
Robin:Yeah, I know You're like, I'm not the one I can't stop it, yeah right. Sorry, son, you're definitely a Frost.
Frost:Yeah, yeah.
Robin:That's great. Well, how old's your son?
Frost:nicknames for frost. Or you know my when, when there's uh, when my wife is uh speaking in a harsh tone, he's usually you know frost.
Robin:I'm like, okay, that's not me, that's got to be him, you know yeah, yeah, at least you hope yeah, yeah, I hope.
Frost:Uh, that's, that's uh, but uh, no, we. You know he. He's piceno frost, that was a sort of nickname, so sometimes she just walks around saying Pequeño get down here Get your shoes on.
Robin:We got to go. That's good, that's good, and you have more than one kid right.
Frost:Yes, my daughter is going into middle school next year. Those awkward middle school years.
Robin:And what's her name? Her name's Kate, okay, good, no, no, no, frostina.
Frost:Frost Kate the Great.
Alexis:Good, kate the Great, that's good.
Robin:There's a break in this, a little bit of break in the tradition, yep. So that's wonderful. Well, you fill your time up with lots of wonderful things. Beyond your family, that also includes your family. So we want to touch on some of those passions that you have, because I think we're in a perfect time where people are post pandemic, getting out there and saying like, maybe I want to do something new, maybe I want to find some new passions and and explore. But how do I get out there? What do I do? And some of that's fitness, some of that's volunteering, some of that's I just want to meet people and I don't know where to start and I don't want to go back to my go-tos. So when someone asks, you know where to start and I don't want to go back to my go-tos.
Frost:So when someone asks you what's it like going to a gym, what do you have to say? Well, I think just breaking a sweat every day helps body, mind, spirit, all of it. You could be mowing your yard, you could be doing some yoga, you could be running, you could just sit in a steam room. You can do whatever you want.
Alexis:But oh, wait a minute. I'm liking the steam room approach. That's good, that's good.
Frost:Have you seen the studies on those. I'm sure y'all have heard about them.
Robin:They're pretty good and you wouldn't believe it with how hot Houston can get. But people are investing in infrared memberships like sauna, rent memberships and that's. I didn't think people would pay for that I know, I know. Pay for the AC. Yes, pay for the other side right. But, like you said, there's a lot of good science behind it and people feel better.
Frost:I bought on Amazon I think it was like 150 or 200 bucks this like zip up tent thing, Okay, and it piped in steam Like it was like this boiling crock pot thing, like the one where your head sticks out.
Frost:Well, but yes, but I got the one where my head stayed in, okay, and I I put it up in my garage, nice, and especially on the days where I couldn't make it to the gym or what hour I was injured or bunged up or just couldn't kind of recovery day, sure, I'd sit in that thing in my garage and listen to a podcast.
Robin:Okay, right on.
Frost:And I loved it. I wore it out. I've got to get a new one now.
Robin:Okay, good to know. I recently went through a hand injury myself. You can daydream all you want about the kudosh of what is about getting into fitness, but if you hadn't done it before the injury, it's kind of hard to do it with one. So keeping the sanity while you're healing is is like a big deal that I'm sure you grapple with, because let's give a little bit of background about how much you actually give to athleticism. I'm sure you've had more than one injury and more than one victory at this point, yeah.
Frost:So, um, high school football and track college uh, texas tech did track for a year, got into a sport called Brazilian jujitsu that became popular, competed professionally in that, competed professionally in MMA, own and operate um a large, um, uh, mma school here in Houston where we coach a couple thousand athletes a year and um, so, yeah, I've seen a lot of injuries over the years and every time somebody gets injured, um, I always tell them like, hey, if someone like can't do anything, like their back's messed up, they just can't move.
Frost:I'm like, hey, just go sit in your shower until you get busy, Go sit in your bathtub until you get you know like, don't get dizzy and have a problem, but, but. But, if you're somebody who exercises on a regular basis, then all of a sudden, you can't like. Your sanity goes out the window.
Robin:Oh my gosh, it's horrible. And you know I'll cheerlead people into fitness all day long, like you bought the clothes, good for you, you want to go to the class? Awesome, you didn't make it. Still keep going, you know. But there's another side to that. When you know yourself into a certain level of ability and then you fall out of that, you slide out of that, you get injured out of that, like that can be really painful, not just physically but psychologically.
Frost:Yes.
Robin:So it's important to talk about those things too, because I think a lot of people it's a very lonely time sometimes, especially when you really want to still be back out there.
Frost:Yeah, the camaraderie of where you know your yoga class or your fitness class or whatever is is a real fun part of any type of fitness and that's what has people keep coming back, usually as a group of people that they like that they're training with. Uh, on the injury vein, my, my business partner and one of my best friends, high wind, was telling me you know what I mean, like it's your shoulder today, you're back tomorrow, like you know.
Robin:Yeah, it's funny because, like men, women call that menopause and the men are like it just roams. So, like you know, it doesn't matter, it's the age. And there's a comedian that says uh, you know, I hate to tell you this, but when you're 40, you go in and you want the doctor to fix what your aching pain is, and and he's like no, it's just that way now, yeah, take some Advil and move on, it's just that way now. Nothing to fix it. Nope, not.
Alexis:Welcome to this part of the chapter, and the worst part is that if you've been really active and you have to slow down because body just makes you slow down, yeah, sometimes that really sucks too.
Robin:Yeah, you've known a lot about that. So as a very accomplished scuba traveling company that you owned, you did a lot of physical fitness that people would not really think about as a physical fitness, but you know.
Alexis:What? 80 hours a week in the water? You took it outside the gym Really. Yeah, oh, that's nuts.
Robin:You put it in the big world gym you know, with fins Wow. And so you did world traveling.
Alexis:And traipsing through the jungles.
Robin:Traipsing through jungles. What part of the world was this?
Alexis:Usually the Yucatan, sometimes Caribbean islands, sometimes Pacific, any place that had warm water. I didn't do cold water Me, and cold is just not it. That's cool.
Robin:And so what was your company's name? Discover, scuba, that's cool, and so what was your company's name? Discover.
Alexis:Scuba. Yeah Well, discover Scuba and Scuba. I had a whole bunch of different names. It was pretty known, pretty active. We were pretty much the best training company in the world and everyone pretty much knew that we got sent people from all over the world.
Robin:And you didn't just sit back and let people earn for you. You went on the trips. You were there a lot In. You were there a lot. In fact, you got some of the most curmudgeon customers. Those are your favorite.
Alexis:Yeah, I always took the bad guys, if there's going to be a problem. Yeah, it was mine, because I was really good at handling problem people, shall we say.
Frost:Really yeah. What's the?
Alexis:secret. I need some tips. It's really simple, okay, basically, you calm them down and once they get calmed down, you can actually talk to them. Okay, but you also have to know what to expect, For instance, in the water I mean scuba diving you sort of need to go underwater, Otherwise it's not much fun. Okay, I mean, sitting on the surface in scuba gear is just not a lot of fun.
Frost:Yeah.
Alexis:Well, there are lots of people who are scared to death of water, yes, and going underwater, and we used to have people come in the stores all the time that would say I'm afraid of water, but I want to learn to scuba dive. And it's like wait, wait, we need to discuss this at some length. It's sort of like why, if you're afraid, of water are you wanting?
Alexis:to go someplace where you're going to be in the water entire time and under the water, yes, well, it just didn't look as scary, and I'm like it doesn't have to be scary, but some people think it is. And you know you? Basically, what you have to do for that is you have to get them to the point where they say they're scared. It's sort of like rock climbing. You can't fix the problems they're having as long as they're just toughing it out. They've got to say, ok, no, I'm scared. This is not it. It's easy to fix them. So you've got to find a way to put the ego aside and get real about it. Right, and the only way we ever found to do that was make them think they were about to die. We wouldn't do it, but they would. It wouldn't take them long to get there. You know, in three feet of water it's sort of like stand up.
Robin:Yeah, that's funny. And that whole bit.
Alexis:I mean the absolute worst and this is a little bit racist, but not a lot, and I have numbers to show it. The absolute worst are Hispanic police officers. Okay, A most of them didn't swim, Most of them are scared to death of water and they will never admit they're afraid of anything.
Frost:Oh, that's for the machismo, huh, yes.
Alexis:Cultural hold there and you know it would take sometimes two full nights of pool sessions before all of a sudden, they'd be like okay, I just can't do that. I'm scared to death. It's like okay. So let's try something a little bit different. And in about two or three minutes they're not scared anymore and everything's going well and they catch up. They're not scared anymore and everything's going well and they catch up. But it's sort of like you know you've got to get them past the bit of. I'm going to tough it out regardless, because that's not the idea. The idea is to be comfortable with what you're doing and have your skill sets to the point where it doesn't bother you.
Robin:Well, and I'm going to tough it out regardless doesn't really work. When you're on a swim and you're out in the nature, the ocean winds, it's really simple.
Alexis:Yeah, and you're out in the nature, the ocean winds, it's really simple yeah, yeah, it has a long time to beat you and it'll beat you if you don't let it. And it's the same thing about being injured. I mean, you can tough out an injury for a little while, but if it's a real injury, I know you have a lot longer to wait, yeah. And I found that out the hard way, yeah, several times, and I'm impatient. I mean I really think an Achilles tendon should heal in about oh, three hours right, I know right.
Alexis:Yeah, maybe five hours, yes, and it's like no, this two-year shit you told me is not going to happen. Yeah, it is yeah.
Robin:Yeah, well, and you also worked with people who had really advanced limitations in their abilities?
Alexis:Oh yeah, I mean, basically we would teach the same class to people that you know, basically we're missing an arm and a leg or something like that, because our standards were such that there were certain things we had to be able to accomplish, and so we would try to do that so that they could be independent with their scuba diving before we would go to a handicap. If it was something that just couldn't happen, then we'd go to handicap. If you're blind, you can't really scuba dive because you can't see your buddies.
Frost:Yeah, and there's really nothing to look at down there.
Robin:But if you have a sense of humor and you can find different ways, If you're blind, you're going to hear things that other people don't.
Alexis:You're going to hear all the fish sounds. You're going to hear the water rushing past the reefs and everything, and if you're in the water long enough, you actually get to where you're hearing. That anyway, that's cool. You're going to feel the pressure waves because the water you know. For instance, somebody or something's coming up behind you. You feel the pressure waves from them long before they get there. Wow that's cool and you have to be totally comfortable to do that.
Robin:Man. The one time I got in the middle of the pacific I did one of those swimming with the shark deals.
Frost:You know you're in the cage. I bet you did. And uh, drop me in. Let's see. I do a lot of offshore fishing so I'm like on the ocean a lot, but in the ocean I was like I am not supposed to be here I was like trying to look behind me the whole time.
Alexis:We used to run trips where we went looking for sharks, I'm definitely a land
Frost:man.
Alexis:And we didn't do shark cages, we would just go dive with them and it's really simple. Just don't act like food Right.
Frost:I just I was like, oh, I am. It was the most like I feel like I am a prey.
Alexis:Yeah, I feel like prey Well and if you act like food. You will be yeah.
Robin:I feel like that's a healthy sense of fear, though, and then sometimes, on the difficult level, you would get people that would break the rules around sharks right, because there's always some dude that wants to prove that he's like he's better than the shark, or something yeah, they want to grab a shark, yeah, they want to hit a shark, and it's like don't do that.
Alexis:yeah, and you know, usually afterwards the lecture is you know, you know, so if you go up and you sort of poke a shark in the side and he bites you, I'm just going to say, well, I hope he had a good lunch.
Frost:Right.
Robin:We'll try to rescue you, but and one of the things that I like that both of you have in common is that you work with pretty much all ages.
Frost:Right.
Robin:So what age do kids start out at your gym?
Frost:So the youngest ones we have in there are three, okay.
Robin:Wow, and that's that's pretty young.
Frost:So we uh those three-year-olds were usually doing one-on-one lessons, with trying to wrangle three-year-olds in a group classes.
Robin:Yeah.
Frost:Uh, but yeah. So we have, you know, the little guys, the medium sized guys, the teenagers, the adults, and then our oldest guys. We train her in their eighties.
Robin:So um, it's wonderful and you have a huge commitment in your gym to make sure that people don't get hurt no matter what age, no matter what ability level they're coming in with, and I really thank you for that, because I see some of these health modalities come out fitness, you know, platforms, if you will, and they're just sort of job security for surgeons. You know, like it's a really it's a really tough. It's a really tough thing. Like it's like well, how did you get out of that without getting hurt? You know, like they don't have that same commitment so what's the most important thing?
Alexis:to not get hurt in the tough you do.
Frost:Well, I think in general sports at the highest level are not healthy. So, like your top professional athletes, in the spirit of wellness, like, end up with an out of balance life. And so our approach is really we talk about seven different areas, right, so somebody's spiritual life, their family, their friends, their education, their mental health, their physical health, you know, financial health, all those things, and we really have just like that full encompassing approach and try to steer people. If they want to be a big time competitor, you know, like OK, but don't forget about these other areas of your life. And so I think just keeping the big picture of life in the frame is a good way to help people check, because in a in an intense situation like Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, mma or kickboxing, you know you can get that adrenaline kicks in that fight or flight kicks in and so trying to get people just to hey, just be cool, be calm, like we're all friends here.
Robin:We, you know, we all got to go to work tomorrow yeah, there's life on the mat and there's life off the mat.
Frost:Let's do both, you know's do both yeah, and really just keeping people safe is one of the reasons we've been successful. We made it palatable where somebody can come in and not go to work with a black eye or a bloody nose or something like that, and so, yeah, people helping people is part of our culture.
Robin:That's really good. I mean, when kids came into scuba, what did you do when, when their parents said well, you better get this kid to scuba because I paid for this trip and they didn't necessarily want to well, there were two different scenarios.
Alexis:Number one kids below eight years old should not learn to scuba dive because their lung tissue hasn't hardened and so they can embolize very easy with pressure changes and you know they can skin dive. But if you're doing compressed scuba you do get some pressure differentials in your lungs and it can rupture a lung, which is a really bad thing, and so we just flat wouldn't teach them. Now some of the agencies started teaching them when they were a little bit young for that and that whole bit, and we would get people that would come in and say, well, you know how much it costs, I don't care what it costs, because I really want my kid to learn scuba dive. And I would end up talking with the people most of the time if I was in that store and you know it would be like look, I'm trying to keep your kids safe.
Alexis:We can teach them a lot of skills with skin diving, but scuba diving is very dangerous for someone who that age and they're like well, they're very mature, they're this and this and this, and finally I just started saying did you drive over here? They're like yeah, like, could I have your car keys for a second? And I'd hand him the kit and I'm like, would you go to the store and get us something to eat? That's funny. And they'd be like, well, no, he can't drive, he can't do that. I'm like you said, he was very mature. So mature, yeah, and I mean because they weren't hearing the fact that they're not developed enough.
Robin:I don't want to kill your kid, yeah.
Alexis:And that whole bit. But the minute he put it like drive a car, it's like, oh my gosh, no. And then they would start talking more about so is this sort of like that? I'm like, yeah, because when you're scuba diving you dive with a buddy and your buddy is supposed to be the person who can take care of you if you get into trouble. And I'm sorry, an eight-year-old can't. That's fair, I mean it has nothing to do with anything good, bad or indifferent.
Alexis:They just physically can't do it and mentally can't do it, and you know. So it's like why put them in that situation when you can just sort of keep them safe and give them something fun to do otherwise? And so we used to do that. And then the other thing is that you know there's certain people who would buy classes for their entire family because they're going to go on a family vacation.
Frost:Sure, that makes sense.
Alexis:And usually it was a teenage female who didn't want to do it.
Frost:Wait, I'm getting ready to roll into those years, you think? That's going to happen to me too.
Alexis:And, and you know, normally it was the dad who's been the rule, the roost type dad, yeah.
Alexis:You know, it's like you'll do what I tell you or else, yeah, that doesn't go well, and you know, and it would. You know, you would see it in the first night's classroom stuff, and you know, because the dad is taking over, or sometimes the mom, but I've only once seen moms do it, but dads, they're like no, this is the way it's going to be. I paid for this class, you, this is the way it's going to be. I paid for this class, You're going to take the class. We're all going to go on this trip. I know you don't want to go, it doesn't really matter. You know the whole bit and if you're going to live with me, you're going to.
Alexis:And so what we would always do because it's supposedly a fun lifetime sport is I would always go to the pool and you know I'd usually have another instructor there that's teaching the class and I'd go to the pool. I'm like, okay, so everybody's underwater, they can't hear what you're saying. So come here and sit on the side with me. Do you really want to not do this? Because if you don't want to do this, I will tell your parents that you can't do it. Cool, take it completely out of your hands.
Alexis:I'll basically say you know, seems to be something weird sinus, wise, and I don't think taking it to a doctor is going to help or anything else, because this just happens sometimes. People just can't clear their sinuses and the neat thing is sinuses can suddenly decide to clear oh how funny. And I said, but it's really fun. And so you know happy to do that. Or if you'd like to try it, you know, then you know happy to sort of say let's go down to this end of the pool and I'll take you through the class sort of independently away from your crazy family away from the pressure.
Alexis:Actually, you'll learn a lot more, yeah, and so you'll be better than them. But that's a different story. And about half the time, and they'd be convinced, okay, but you know I can't swim underwater and he's going to just do this or that If I don't make the underwater swim, I'm like, oh, I can get to swim underwater quite easily. A little hypnosis goes the long way, you know, and it really does. I mean, anybody can swim the distance that you need to swim underwater.
Alexis:It's just that most people don't think they can, and so you know, and we would get that done. And then all of a sudden they start having fun and you know they're like I just don't want to be around them. I'm like we can work that we're really good at this. Or if they decided they just didn't want it, you know I'd get the parents to come up. I'm like, okay, look, we need to have a discussion because she's in pain every time she tries to do some of this stuff, which probably says that she has some sinus problems and it's probably not something. You can take her to the doctor and get fixed. And you know she just shouldn't do this. It's just going to make it worse, I'll lie like you wouldn't believe if it's for the good of somebody that's you know, growing up, or whatever.
Robin:If you just don't want to do it, there's no buy-in, yeah and it's just going to be bad and the whole bit Wow. Well, so what do you do when you have an asshole customer that no one wants to work with, and they insist?
Alexis:on being assholes. Oh, you want that one.
Robin:Yeah, you got to get the good, good tips, I mean I presume you have some retail stuff right?
Alexis:Oh sure, yeah, yeah. And that means I presume every now and then you have an unreasonable customer. We get a few every now and again. Yeah, you know, I mean, this whole bit of the customer is always right. No, sometimes you let them be right when they are. But we had, you know, a reasonable number of those and it would just rain. The staff for a week or two. Yeah, you know, they just grumble about it and everything. The staff for a week or two. They just grumble about it and everything. And so I had our computer system. People put in something called an AT key and any one of the staff could push the AT key on the customer and after three he would get a message explaining that we were adding a 10% asshole tax to his purchases.
Alexis:That's hysterical AT that's funny and it would explain it to him, because it just takes us a lot more time to deal with him than other people and we just don't want to charge the other people for the time we're spending with him. I mean, that's what the whole thing said, and so any future purchases would be a plus 10%, and if he gets another AT then it would be a plus 15, 30. It could go on up to 100%. And the way it worked was three different people had to hit the AT key on someone and if three people decided that they were being an asshole customer, we were like, yep, I'll buy that. And it was hilarious because it made the staff so happy to sit there. You could just see them and they're being berated and all sorts of stuff, and they just sort of reach over and go and then they'd be smiling and happy again and he didn't know what happened or anything else, but it's like, okay, that's one of three, wow.
Robin:But when they found out, they paid it.
Alexis:They found out they would, you know, a pay it. But then they would start discussing what they could do differently in the way they interact with us to get that taken off. And I'm like, okay, you know, what you really have to do is do it, and then I will ask the staff and if they decide it's okay to take it off, I will, because this is the staff's stuff, not mine.
Frost:Yes, I just made it available. I love that. I've got a good story about that. So we um a few years ago got a jar. If you imagine you ever seen those deals where, like guess how many jelly beans are in the?
Alexis:jar Right so.
Frost:I filled up a jar full of peanut M&Ms and was like how many? How many M&Ms are there? We all guessed you know 400. Okay cool, there's 400 M&Ms. Exact same jar with a 400 M&Ms Exact same jar with regular M&Ms, not the peanut M&Ms.
Alexis:How many are in this one? 600.
Frost:Okay. Well, what's the difference between the two? Well, there's no nuts in the smaller jar, nice, so like exactly, if you have 400 customers that are little nuts or you get 600 that are not nuts you can have more with the same number of people.
Alexis:You know what I mean. It's the same amount of work. It's the same amount of work, so I feel you on that.
Frost:We, we shift to that same direction. Most of our folks that are, um, you know, some people will come into a sports setting if you picture like the crazy baseball mom or dad that's like crazy competitive, super hyped yeah so when we get those people, we usually have a couple conversations like, hey, this is not that not that culture, this is not the culture.
Alexis:If you want that, there's a place down the street sure, and I'm authentically recommending like not not like kicking you out of here, but you're gonna be happier there and they want that and so like.
Frost:If you want to be all super competitive, I'll give you a name of a couple places but places. But if you're going to be here, you got to chill out and get with the program.
Robin:I love that. I love pointing people to where they'll just feel better. And people look at you insane when you do that. Like well, how could you turn away business? Or what do you mean? And like, no, I'm not everyone's match and everyone is not my customer. I'm a massage therapist. I touch people so I use my body to support their body. We're not always going to be a match. I have referrals for a reason, you know, and I am for, uh, quality over quantity any day, because you'll get those people that just really you work super well with. They fill you up. You're there for their life. Like you, you can meet their whole family and I have some clients that I've been seeing for 12 years now. So I mean that's a great relationship. But if you have a different type of scenario where it's just a not a match, no one's happy, like what are we doing here? You know? I mean you're taking a wellness modality and driving it to the ground Like nobody has time for that in this world.
Frost:Yeah, fair point.
Alexis:Yeah, especially when you're there for wellness yeah, I try to keep the decompressing things like uh, you know, ease and fun and feeling good yeah, because one of the big things is it's like they have to get what they need to get out of it, not what they necessarily want to get out of it yeah and you know, because a lot of times we've got people well, I want to go dive with sharks.
Alexis:It like, have you ever seen a shark close up? Yeah, and they're like no, and I'm like, okay, well, we can easily take you diving with sharks, but you may not like it. It may not be as exciting as you thought it was, because the key to diving with sharks is to be really calm. Yeah, you don't want to get excited. Yeah, you know, and you know, it's stuff like that that we spent a lot of time on. The other thing that we did, that was really different, and that is, if you're taking a class, an entry-level class, we would work with you until you were competent to go dive. Yeah, as long as you wanted to keep working. We had people that would come in that literally had done nothing but go to work, go home, eat a frozen dinner, lay on their couch, go to sleep on their couch, get up, take a shower, go to work.
Robin:For like 20 years yeah, it's easy to fall into any cycle you can create for yourself and you know people like that.
Alexis:It's going to take a while before they can swim for a while. You know I mean it. It's just going to take them a while.
Robin:Sure, it's waking up a lot of muscle fatigue and getting a whole different structure.
Alexis:Oh, and you know, and buoyancy is really important in the water and controlling it, and people like that tend to be like a ball. They roll around all over the place and it takes them a while to get to where they're coordinated and and you know, and it it's funny because they become very loyal, you know, once, once things start to work for them, they're like I had no idea I could feel like this and it's like, yeah, it's just called move something.
Robin:Yeah, and sometimes people get so bolt that they forget to stretch and and you know she'll go through the exercises of what you need to do, and when you have a tank on your back you have to turn around and have a release valve, so you're basically reaching under in like a wiping motion, if you will, and they're like, well, I can't really, I can't really reach, but you need to be able to reach back here.
Alexis:Yeah, well, you get people that this is their whole range of motion. Yeah, yeah yeah, and they're big, you, they're big their arm above their head and it's like so, you've done a lot of weightlifting, right. And they're like, yeah, I said you stretch Well, no, no, and they would actually knock themselves out in the water, really, because they tense up and, boom, they're out cold. And it's like, okay, another rescue time.
Robin:You could be really good at one thing and eliminate, like be really great at muscle building but eliminate stretching and, like you have to have balance.
Frost:Well, it's the sports at the highest level. Yeah, if you've got the most muscles ever.
Alexis:There's a deficiency somewhere. But see, professional athletes we always used to laugh at, because there is one thing scuba diving, one set of muscles that very few people use if they're professional athletes, and that is you have to actually put some pressure on the exhale. And you know, boxers actually practice that, but everybody else exhale just happens. Sure. Well, we get like pro football players that were active. They come in, take a class and by the end of the class they're like I got to go see the doc, something's wrong with me. I am so wiped out. It's like no, no, chill. Let me explain what happened. You're using a muscle you've never used and your body's not used to that. Wow. And you know the other thing is they sink like a rock because fat floats.
Robin:Right Everything else sinks.
Alexis:And you know, and it's like yeah, yeah, what, what? Like 3% fat, You're going to swim a lot, that's funny, but you know it's sort of like yeah you just have to be ready for all the different things, wow.
Robin:So if somebody were going to start out at your gym, what are some of the benefits they could get within like a month or two's commitment?
Frost:A month or two. It depends on what they sign up for and what their age is and all that stuff, right. But a month or two is sort of just like an intro, like do you think is this something you want to have as a practice for a decade? Right. And so I think that first month, you know the first two weeks, you're just trying to survive the warmups, you know, cause it's all sports, specific stuff that nobody's ever done, I mean especially adults come in and once or some adult did a bear crawl or a somersault or you know something like that.
Robin:They might not even touch their toes. Yeah, exactly.
Frost:So really, um, meeting people where they're at, getting them through the warmups, teaching them some techniques, you know. Um sort of the metric I use for my kids was like hey, my job as a dad is to teach you guys how to throw a ball, catch a ball, kick a ball, run fast and fight just a little bit. How to throw a ball, catch a ball, kick a ball, run fast and fight just a little bit, you know. And so I think about three years of training by the time they leave the nest. So it could be three months this summer, two months next summer, whatever. Um gives them the life skill that if they're ever in a sticky situation they'll be able to defend themselves, because it's it's. It's a semi perish, perishable skill, but like riding a bike, you can jump on a bike 20 years later and still know it. If you learn some form of self-defense um years later, if you trained it enough, it'll still mostly be there, which is pretty cool.
Robin:That's good to know. And you mentioned that your oldest student is 80 years old. What? What can you, uh, what's the window of opportunity when you're 80? A lot of people. I mean, there's a senior Olympics that we kind of ignore. For some reason, people can achieve things throughout their whole life, but I think there's a certain point when you don't do those things, you think, oh, I'm too old, I can't do this.
Frost:I really love the older clients or the handicapped clients or people that you have to really think outside the box with and create something that's going to work for them, like probably in scuba as well. And yeah, I mean, what if somebody has a cane? Well, they can't be bobbing and weaving, dodging punches. So you got to have a plan. Sure, and it could be just safety in numbers Don't do situational things or some weapons or just sort of layering their self-defense plan. But the reality is, even though Houston is a pretty big city with a decent amount of crime, um, you, most people live a lot of their life without getting into some sort of physical situation.
Robin:That's good to remind people. It's not a 911. Like everybody, this isn't.
Frost:We're not in a war zone.
Robin:No, it's a good amount of crime, but it doesn't hit everyone.
Frost:So mostly it's like hey, if you're 80 years old and you want to get out of the house and you want to come break a sweat and have some fun with some younger people, Cause it's really important the older we get, to befriend people 20 years younger than us to keep us young and um, and that's really the big benefit I see if those guys coming in and and uh, they have some fun, they break a sweat, they huff, they tell some old stories and and then they, you know, they feel good about themselves, they feel a little more confident, cause I imagine I haven't gotten older yet, but I know that, as that comes, I know, you think it's going to happen to me too.
Robin:Uh, hopefully, right.
Frost:But yeah, I mean, you know I can't run as fast as I used to, I can't, you know. So as those skills diminish a little bit, I think you do want to have some level of security. You know, um, if you ever, it's really great.
Robin:I appreciate you expanding on that Cause. I taught a silver sneakers class for years with the YMCA and for yoga and I use a lot of my massage skills to help them increase balance, to help them, uh, be able to just do a floor class and not be afraid of the floor, because sometimes when we're not getting close to the floor you get really afraid of it and as we age we lose balance. So it's almost predictable that if you are in your seventies or above that, you're either dealing with balance issues or have already fallen. So when a new student would come to class with balance issues or have already fallen. So when a new student would come to class, I would say have you fallen? And that's really confronting if you don't want to share with somebody. But I said, you know, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when, right. So sometimes we all lose our balance, but especially at that age where the signals may not be going to our feet as much, we may not even think about going to our feet as much, we may not even think about picking up our feet as much and we may not be able to clear the floor as much for our walking areas. Right, and if you can teach people how to increase their balance while standing and how to get up from the floor independently, after assessing if they're injured when they fall, they can keep their independence a lot longer. I mean, like that is very valuable and so that kept them coming to class.
Robin:And we would all redo like what I would call the beginner senior class, when they would show up, is how to feel confident in walking long before you get to the floor, use the chairs to stable yourself, to go down to the floor and then, once you get to the floor, we're all going to have a little bit of a different way. We all have different wear and tear on like how to get back up. So if they never came to another class, they would know that for themselves. And then I would have some people that were like, okay, I'm in, I'm coming back, I didn't care about yoga, but now I need these practical things. Or I would have some people say, you know, they go, they live their life and they come back six months cause it's available in their life, and they swing by and I say, yeah, I did fall and I got back up by myself.
Robin:It's a good thing, because I was in a Marshall's parking lot you know, or it was a good thing, cause I I forgot my cell phone, you know, or something. And I think I think those things are priceless. They're not, you know, ageless, but it does affect people more as we age. But the thing that I saw across the board, whether people were coming in fifties and up my oldest student was 92. And what I saw was is, they gained range of motion, they gained balance, they gained the ability to breathe better because they didn't know they weren't breathing completely. And to be able to be in that community consistently was something that nobody wanted to say that they wanted, but they definitely gained solidarity and accountability. And next thing, you know, they get different clothes, or they get the mat, or they're bringing a're bringing a friend, or they're like, okay, I still don't want to be here, but I'm still coming. You know, and you know I don't. In some of these gyms it's like, well, you go to yoga or you go to the dance class, and they're like I really just didn't want to go to the dance class, but I don't care about yoga you know, so
Robin:we would just laugh it off and talk and you know, and it would be able to help them stay in the car longer to travel, like very practical stuff, you know. And next thing, you know they'd get their you know their people around them to do it so they could travel with them. And they're like, okay, well, you know we don't have to stop as often for pee breaks. I'm like, no, still stop for pee breaks and stretch there. You know, like, make it real practical for everybody. Yes, you know I'll meet a lot of people and they're like I can really care two shits about yoga and I'm like, great, use the stretches to make what you love. You know last longer, because we all have to stretch at some point. Yes, so I just really appreciate what you do and, um, On that note, I almost fell last night.
Frost:Okay, so at one in the morning we have pet chickens okay, I heard the chicken squawking.
Robin:Okay, we have two chickens in the backyard.
Frost:They don't usually squawk at that, they don't squawk and we haven't had anything really messed with the chickens, except for some cats. Every now and again, anyway, I go. I look out there. One of them's in the yard looks like it's been mangled. I go out in the yard and I hear this rummaging in the bushes. I run back in, grab a flashlight and chase this raccoon off right, okay and so I'm like, I'm like, dang it. You know my adrenaline's pumping.
Alexis:I'm like damn it like the protector in me comes out somebody's messing with my love, our chickens, you know and so, anyway, I'm laying in bed and finally my wife, like, wakes up.
Frost:She's like what are you doing, you know? And I'm like they're messing with the coons, are messing with the chickens, you know. And and she's like what who's messing with our chicken? You know she's up and so like she's like, give me the play-by-play and I tell her the whole thing and then it's like 1, 32, I was like and I'm wired, she's wired, the chickens are wired you know, the chickens finally like get back on top of their coop because it's hot outside.
Frost:They don't like going in their coop anyway. So I'm like, don't worry, I don't think the coon's coming back tonight and he had like pulled out some of their eggs and eat some of their eggs and so like about two, I, she goes back, she goes, he's back, and so I run out there and I'm in my underwear, no shoes on, and I grab something and I go running out the door and there's not one raccoon, there's three of them. Now.
Alexis:He went and got his buddies Nice.
Frost:And he's like jackpot over here, guys. So anyway, I run outstair, shot side with a flashlight and throw something at the raccoon and like almost twist my ankle, almost wreck my knee, almost wreck my hip and I'm like okay, this is 45 like when I was 25 I could have.
Alexis:I could have, I could have, I probably would have caught him. Yeah, yeah and uh.
Frost:So anyway, my wife and I've been brainstorming uh ways to trap these raccoons and relocate them nice.
Robin:Somebody else. That nice. Everyone thinks it's gonna be robbers, but it's these raccoons. And relocate them to somebody else Nice.
Frost:Everyone thinks it's going to be robbers, but it's like raccoons.
Robin:They come in, they take you out. Yeah, and you know, my mom is, uh, you know, probably like 64 or something. She's had a major back surgery and she called me the other day and she went to go something to the equivalent of maybe stick her foot into the trash to stomp the trash down, right, yeah.
Robin:So she's got all the time in the world right now she's doing little to nothing. She pulls the weeds outside, but she picks up her leg, probably higher than she's used to, and all of a sudden she falls out. You know, and she biffed it. She's got some rug burns. She calls me and she's like I'm so upset and I was like okay, like are you calling me from the floor?
Alexis:Right, no, okay, that's a triage, this whole thing. First, victory number one right.
Robin:You know, it's just. I'm just well. My elbow hurts. I'm like okay, is anything broken? No, I just have rug burn. I'm like okay. So some generations would say that it like no blood. This doesn't count, like just saying like that was totally her generation.
Robin:She's like I hate you and she goes. I used to be able to like fall and get back up and and how many times have I just, like you know, scuff myself and kept going. And she was on a lot of sports. She grew up with the YMCA, with her brother and her sister. She, she coached teams and things and so like to feel that moment of like you know, dang, the wind got knocked out of me and I can't just get back up is like it's. It's humbling.
Alexis:It sucks.
Robin:Trust me the brain has to make sense of it. You know, she saw her a couple of days later but I was like you gotta keep going. You got to rub some dirt in it, like you know, or don't just clean yourself and move on, like you know. But we get, we all get there. But I think the thing is is to share that. Doing a little bit as you can, whatever your little bit is might be walking to the mailbox, might be belly dancing, might be, like you said, lawn mowing mowing the lawn, you know, whatever your activity is, that you can do consistently can counter a lot of that stiffness, can counter a lot of that just isolation where we don't do any movement, that we all kind of get into sometimes.
Frost:So just keep doing it. You helped me with something. You were probably had some sort of ailment, probably 10 years ago and you were like talking to me about my feet. You like, hey, your feet, you need to. Then you showed me a couple stretches, even last night. I was like doing one of the stretches. I was like robin showed me this like 10 years ago, you know.
Robin:So anyone can do this. I was shown by a physical therapist. But like, get your keys and whatever your keys are for your house, your car, like something, something that's like not super heavy or bulky and sit down at first, throw them on the floor and then, like little monkey toes, like grip them with your feet and then bring your foot up to your hand and get your keys. A lot of people can't do that movement at first. So if you can't grip it, keep gripping, keep gripping, keep gripping, keep gripping, keep gripping. That gets circulation in your toes, that gets mobility in your toes. If you can't make it to your hand, keep going. Don't injure yourself, but keep going.
Robin:That's the same movement that some people need to put on their shoes, and so if we've been flip-flopping it around in texas, we could do that all year. Actually, by the time someone gets to actually have to tie their shoes, they may not have reached down. We lose that function. Wow, you know, now there's a brand out there that's like no tie your shoes, just step into it. That's very practical for people, but you don't want to lose that motion.
Robin:So if you're on the floor with your keys and you're sitting in a couch and you take your ankle up to your hand, that's one movement. But in a couch and you take your ankle up to your hand, that's one movement. But that's a lot of range of motion from your toes to your knee to your hip. Now, if you can do that standing, I would recommend doing it standing while holding onto something stable first, because, again, that's a lot of muscles and balance and you don't just jump right into these things, because I get a lot of requests for people wanting me to teach them how to stand on one foot with yoga, okay, okay. What they're really asking me is is how can I stand and put on my underwear, my pants and my sock?
Frost:Oh, okay.
Robin:Okay. So they'll pick the pose that assimilates the thing that they're not able to do anymore as a person, for whatever reason, could be wear and tear, could be stiffness, and I'm like, okay, so if you're in a studio and you're warming up to a tree pose and you're bringing your foot up, your shin, your thigh, you're warming up. Even well, you know, practice practitioners who teach this four times a day are going to have different balance per class. Now, as a student, you don't see that You're kind of upset about hearing the truth. You got to go slow. So if you can use a wall or a chair that doesn't have wheels, then you have a stability partner and then you can start to condition that body memory, to standing up taller, to engaging all those muscles.
Robin:And next thing, you know you can put on your clothes. But I will tell everybody sit down and put on your clothes, because nothing is worth an injury. Yeah, you know like people think in their mind that if you could just walk and go through on the undies or on the jeans, like whatever, you're going to get there faster. Well, guess what, if you fall, you're not.
Alexis:That's fair.
Robin:So sit down, put them on you know, maybe two legs at a time and press yourself and then get up and go.
Alexis:When you're doing your gym stuff. If people have joint replacements and those sorts of things, what kind of things do you do to make sure that you take care of those?
Frost:That is, yeah, even really any type of surgery. I think the main thing is teaching people to be their own advocate and communicating what's going on with them. Where I've seen people get in trouble is they'll come in and won't tell somebody hey, my leg hurts, my arm hurts, my back hurts my neck hurts and the other guy they're wrestling with grabs them by the head and gets their neck flared up.
Frost:But right before they start wrestling say, hey, man, my neck's kind of bunged up, can we take it easy on my neck? Yeah, no problem, you know. And so I think the main thing is just communication. You know, if you do have an injury and you're doing any type of sporting event, let your coaches know, let your teammates know, training partners know, and then and then create a plan around it. And the cool thing about martial arts is it's so multifaceted. There's so much you can do. Um, there, even if you're missing an arm, you can still figure out a way to make something work for you. And we've had people come in. One guy had no legs.
Alexis:His nickname was legs I thought that was kind of funny.
Frost:Uh, yeah and uh, he had no legs and and I mean he would ride on a skateboard on his hands, cool jump to class run. He could jog like on the mat with everybody right and um. It was really cool to see him adapt and be able to defend himself.
Robin:Yeah, yeah. Well, what if someone's had like knee replacements?
Frost:You know the knee replacements, um, usually the guys that have had the knee. We see a lot of hip replacements. Uh, like a traditional martial art, like a karate or Taekwondo you've probably seen, like the Steven Seagal or Van Damme thing. You know where he's doing the splits and like that type of where they were forcing people down, like in the eighties and nineties causes some serious damage Right and almost anybody I know over the age of 50, that's been doing those types of martial arts has had a hip replacement, and so I've seen a lot of that.
Frost:Most of those guys like report like, oh my gosh, I feel so much better than I have for the last five years.
Robin:Cause I've really been in pain. Yeah, if you're bracing for a lot of pain, like see if you can find a professional and see if you actually have to be doing that- yeah, when I had both of my knees replaced.
Alexis:you know it, it wasn't fun having them replaced, don't get me wrong, but so much better afterwards.
Robin:The only.
Alexis:Thing that I had a problem with was that at least one of the two doctors I did different doctors basically didn't want me to get a range of motion more than 90 degrees, and I'm like that's not okay and said well, but at your age that's Really good. I'm like, no, it's not, forget the age shift, that's not enough range of motion, and so we sort of blew that part off.
Robin:I think that's really important to highlight, because any age physical therapy they're wonderful professionals but they're going to go for average range of motion based upon your age and if you are not an average person or you want to live above that average, if you want to be more flexible, you can advocate for yourself and think with them outside the box on how to get there. So one of the things that Alexis did was they looked at the ability levels per age group and she's like OK, I'm definitely not.
Alexis:I'm not a 20, something 25 was one of their levels.
Robin:I'm like no, that's not it, that's not it, but my age isn't it either, so let's go down and find one that works, so you all can be trained to that and that's important, because some of those, uh, average degrees that they're okay with, when you go home and you stop doing the physical therapy and maybe you don't get fit, maybe you're not doing much and you get more and more stiff. You lose the average that you had. So now you're not doing much and you get more and more stiff. You lose the average that you had. So now you're below average and you have to bust that up on your own.
Frost:Yeah.
Robin:And so when physical therapy is done, that's not when the workout's done, that's just when the insurance ran out.
Frost:Dude in the baby boomer generation like I got to call them out for a second. Sure, they are the worst at spending money on themselves.
Robin:Yes.
Frost:They're like like, if insurance ain't paying for it, I'm not doing it, you know, even with my parents as their agent.
Alexis:You know I'm like go get a massage. Does insurance cover? No, but what else?
Frost:and see, they can't see me raising my hand saying yeah, that's like that would be me, right, right, but like your body, is this vehicle that can take you to do the rest of your life?
Robin:no matter how many years you got left and it's the best thing you can invest in sure it and and there are endless benefits to massage when you connect with a practitioner and the right modality for yourself, and that is the same for physical therapy, that is the same for uh, a lot of health, uh assistance, and some of it can be cost prohibitive, but, you know, find, find practitioners that you can work with. Find places where you could pay for cash. Find some reasonable online support, because now a lot of that stuff is shared. And one of the things I remember with you when you were doing a lot of high kicks, your glutes get locked up back to the hips being really tight. You know, and we looked at that and it's like, okay, you know, I can loosen these muscles up, but you're going to go back and tighten them up. So what you need to do when you're not on the table or on the mat is walk backwards.
Frost:Yeah, I still do it.
Robin:You were going and spending a pretty good amount of money to do spinal decompression in Austin.
Alexis:Yeah.
Robin:And you reported back to me that you were like, hey, so since I do an awful lot of high kicks, I was not just walking backwards, I was stabilizing myself on a staircase, lifting my hip, going backwards on the staircase, opening up those hip muscles. And that leveled up to the point where you didn't have to go get those spinal decompressions anymore. It was, uh, you know, you could do it at any hour and it was for free. And so I continued to tell my clients, like start, you know, if you're having back pain, hip pain, you're getting tight, pick 10 steps where you're not going to trip, gently walk backwards. And then, if you have a staircase where you can, you know, stabilize yourself, gently walk backwards.
Robin:And what it does is it starts to make those back body muscles work a little bit, uh, harder, work a little bit more together. And we're such forward body movement people that we need to balance it out a little bit and that can bring a lot of lower back hip pain relief that people are looking for. And if you're somebody who's in a chair, most of the time it's kind of funny, because we can press those butt muscles so much. They're just like literally sat on. We don't use them, so you have muscle fatigue. So you need to actually like squeeze the butt muscles, lift up, go down, squeeze the butt muscles, lift up, go down and that engages.
Alexis:I'm sitting here doing exercise.
Robin:Yeah, that engages around the tailbone, so it wakes up those muscles, those nerves around there, and you'll a lot of people will report that they just have numbness, like perpetual numbness, like that's not okay. We have to use those muscles a little bit, but they may not be able to get up from their desk or they might physically not be able to get up because they have injuries. So squeeze the butt muscles, let them go. Squeeze the butt muscles, let them go. And right now a lot of people are advocating for people to squeeze all muscles biceps, forearms, back muscles squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, tense up and then let it go. Don't hold your breath, but squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, tense up and let it go. That's similar to lifting weights. Not everyone can just go right into lifting weights because they're so fatigued.
Alexis:Well, yeah, but lifting weights sounds like exercise. I try to avoid exercise.
Robin:Right, anything that looks like regular exercise. And I'll end with this like one last one, like I'll get people who come in and like, look, I've tried everything. I'm like that person who has to find the new thing to do.
Frost:Okay.
Robin:Because they get, you know they have to master the new thing to do and they get real bored real quick with anything. And I was like, so you tried it all. And they're like, yeah, I need that next thing. I was like you've done it all, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've been everything, done everything. I'm like, okay, did you try belly dancing? And they're like, what are you kidding me? And I'm like, okay, this is serious, this is very serious.
Alexis:So go to youtube, find a beginner's video, not advanced if it doesn't look if it looks like she's been doing it for a long time, don don't do this. Yeah, don't try to roll quarters up your abs the first time.
Robin:Do not go into this full force, you will hate yourself. You need a true beginner. You're just moving your stomach, abdominals, belly dancing, and I promise you it's a different level of owning your own body, owning your own movement, and it can fine tune some of those abdominal muscles and back muscles that you just haven't had access to when you're lifting weights, when you're doing your regular stuff.
Alexis:So, game on. I mean, do you find that you know you've done this for a good while that a lot of times when people are having problems, you just look at them and you know exactly what their problem is? It may not have anything to do with that, but you've seen it so many times.
Frost:Yeah, we could diagnose what's going on pretty quick. And then it's how can I communicate with this person in a way that will have them do what I know will help them?
Alexis:Yeah, and that's sometimes the problem.
Frost:Yeah, and that is usually the challenge. Like you mentioned, the backwards walking right. So have you seen the knees over toes guy at all? So one of the things I got from him, from what you gave me and combining with his thing, is walking backwards on a treadmill. So the treadmill's not on but you push up against the front bar and push the treadmill backwards, right.
Alexis:Okay so you're getting that walking backwards motion.
Frost:Stability's fine. I'm not worried about falling Nice, and it strengthens my quads a lot too which makes my knee tighter.
Frost:I've got a torn meniscus, so it tightens that up, so important for the knee attachments I'm avoiding that meniscus surgery and so anyway, and then back to the glutes, the strengthening the glutes, and so anybody with a bum back. I'm like, yeah, I think I'm going to do something and I'm like, I'm like, hey man, like I've, I've. I've suffered through like two herniated discs that I can now do jujitsu again in my mid forties at a high level, cause I've learned how to rehab that.
Frost:And I promise you, if you'll just do these three things it will help you and they're like kind of half-assed, try it and I'm like, okay, well, whenever you really want to get better, come back to me and we'll, we'll, we'll work on this stuff Exactly.
Robin:And and some of that is ego, because you know you shared with me, like when you first got started, you you felt like you had to get the deepest tissue. You know you had to. You had to go hard on the mat and then go hard in your wellness and and that is a common thing for people who put a lot of effort into their body, whether it's a fitness thing or whether it's a stress thing. So if you're that high level CEO and you are all about the grind and no, no, no, no, no, no no like you feel like your wellness has to be just as rough and tough and it's like, okay, but where's the rest?
Robin:Where's the recover? Where's the decompression? Right, right, and that's for people to find out in their own way. But I want to say a cool story about somebody who avoided meniscus surgery. She wanted to go skiing with her family and the doctor said you have to strengthen your quads and she said, okay. Well, she grew up in an occupational therapy. Her dad was one of the big, the first occupational therapists in texas, brothers, cousins, all of them. She says, well, I'm going to do wall sits.
Frost:Okay.
Robin:So she's putting her back on the wall and her thighs are parallel to the floor and she's wall sitting, Then that's not a kind easy thing to do. You're going to get like seconds, maybe a couple minutes, whatever, and the doctor said if you can get up to 10 minutes then you can ski, Because that's basically the position of skiing.
Robin:You got the little things and you're basically wall sitting on the skis. You're squatting right. So in order to wall sit and distract yourself mentally from the brutal intensity of her thighs and quads like firing, she just folded clothes, she just kept folding more clothes more clothes, more clothes, and she got up to 10 minutes and she could ski and she avoided that surgery maybe I'll do that.
Frost:If my wife and I get into an argument, be like hey why don't we? Wall sit until we get this squashed exactly. You know what I mean. You just get it done real quick.
Robin:Yeah, I saw a funny uh comic of how to make work meetings go faster plank while zooming plank while zooming.
Frost:Yeah, we'll get this wrapped up.
Robin:We're just gonna yeah, nobody needs to partner share, let's go. So I want to segue into your love for volunteering. Like what got you into volunteering?
Frost:man, I, um, I like work that's transformational, so like people coming in to want to transform their health and fitness and wellness and all that stuff is cool.
Frost:Um, and I, for me, I don't know if it was really about volunteering.
Frost:It was more about just like finding a solution to a problem, and sometimes that's in like a for-profit capacity, sometimes it's in a nonprofit capacity.
Frost:Um, the main thing that I've been doing for the last since right about time we met 2011-ish is an organization called Heart Gift that provides life-saving heart surgery to little kids that are born with congenital heart defects and so, on the big picture, there's about 1.3, 1.4 million kids born a year with a fixable congenital heart defect, and heart surgery has only been a thing here in the world for about the last 75 years or so, and the world has created enough hospitals and surgeons and nurses and doctors and everybody to take care of about 300,000 kids a year globally. So there's still not all those 1.3 need kids, but there's at least another three to 500,000 kids on the planet that don't get these, these heart surgical repairs, which, if they don't get the repair, it's a terminal Right. So, so, um, I've really been, I got started in the space. We were bringing kids here to the U? S for surgery. You know, like here at Houston, memorial, herman and Austin, san Antonio, some, some other big cities.
Robin:We have so many people that come to Texas to get their medical care. What got you into this particular sector?
Frost:So my wife's family was involved and when we met, um I they were telling me about it. I was like that sounds cool. So we sponsored a couple of kids. We had a fundraiser at the gym. Um, I did a pro fight and donated the purse to that. And um, then I got invited to go scrub in and watch open heart surgery on a little kid. Wow and uh, dude, it was like humanity at its finest seeing those. The care of like 15 people taking care of this one kid, between the perfusionist and the anesthesiologist and everybody in that space. It's a big deal it was.
Alexis:I was like man, this is.
Frost:I should have done better in school so I could be on this team, you know like, like it was wonderful, it was moving.
Robin:Yeah, it really was, and I was there.
Frost:The doctor was like hey, you want to go with me to tell the mom that their kid's going to make?
Alexis:it and I was like I'm not crying, You're crying.
Frost:And so we had that whole yeah Right. So after that I was hooked. I was like, okay, I want to get more involved, Got on the board, did a, did a bunch of other stuff and, um, if and the cool thing is the organization has grown a ton. There's about a dozen nonprofits in this space, but really what's next is, like I said, we were bringing kids here kind of one at a time and then we shifted and started doing kids abroad. When I first got started, we were doing 30, 40 kids a year. This year we're going to do 625. So that's pretty significant growth, but 625 compared to the half a million that still need help.
Robin:It's like you. Just I can see your eyes.
Frost:You're like I want to help everyone. Yeah, you're like the care bearer of heart giving now, yes, and what's really cool is there's so many awesome people in this space the doctors but they're all busy, they work a ton, and so it takes somebody that's entrepreneurial to come in and go, hey, let me help organize all this for you guys, and then y'all, y'all do it, and so that's been. Really. What I'm working on now is creating, using AI, to create almost like a, you know, linkedin for this space and have like a Facebook marketplace for anybody that needs equipment. On there, they can transfer equipment. If somebody needs funding for brick and mortar, we can help connect them to donors, and so, anyway, I'm trying to really create the others to others approach rather than us, and so, anyway, I'm trying to really create the others to others approach rather than us.
Robin:I think we can empower the whole world to communicate and help each other just with some software, which I think is sort of the next step in this space and I love how you're not taking it on just your shoulders, like some people get so mentally limited when they do that to themselves. You know they forget that we can outsource this, we can team build, we can, you know, extend. They forget that we can outsource this, we can team build, we can, you know, extend it, and we don't all have the best answers. So like it sounds like you're putting your ego aside to get to the bigger number and I think that's really important.
Frost:Yeah, yeah, that's it is the only way to solve the problem. Yeah, like we can't. Yeah, it's, it's massive, you know, uh, it's probably one of the top three killers of kids, you know, I mean, you've got, you know, dehydration, malaria, things like that, okay, but the thing that's frustrating and good about this space is it's fixable, like we don't need proof of concept.
Frost:Like kid comes in, gets quality care, kid lives. You know it's very cut and dry and like, like I said, everybody I've ever met in this space is super kind and wants to do more. Yeah and uh, it's really been really cool. It's probably the most the work we do at elite mma is really cool, like helping transform people through self-defense and fitness and all that. So I don't want to say it's, it's equal. It might be the heart gift thing, might be the most important thing I do on my time here on earth right, so it's heart heart gift gift, and if somebody wanted to find out more, is it just.
Frost:Yeah, they can go to heartgiftorg and learn about. There's some cool videos on there and that sort of thing nice yeah, there's all kinds of ways for folks to get involved, but um, but yeah, it is, which is really funny for me because, like I mentioned, I wasn't a very good student in school and so the first time I'm in one of these boardrooms with, like I mean, these serious bad-ass surgeons and like the top this jujitsu guy in here, you know, and uh so.
Robin:I wait a minute. Did you stick out, or do you just felt like, oh, I a hundred percent stuck out?
Frost:I mean, I put on the nice clothes you know, I wore the I wore the coat and tie to the meeting, but but you know, when they would use the big words, I was like, do what now?
Alexis:You know I got to go look that one up, but uh, mental note for later.
Frost:Yeah, and so really the first year I just shut up and listened to these. I mean, I was like late twenties, early thirties. Everybody else was 55, 65, tail end of their careers, Like, and I'm talking serious badass business professionals, Right. And so, um, I just listened for a year and then started raising my hand saying, hey, what if we try this way? What if we try that way? And then I bugged them enough, they put me in charge of some stuff, and then uh, and then yeah, and so it's been really fun and um, and I've gotten to meet so many cool people. I heard a good quote. A really good friend of mine says you know, you make a lot of friends in life, but you find your best friends in service of others, and so like, and I've really found that to be true, it gives me goosebumps, right.
Frost:Like and I've met so many cool people that are kindred spirits in that, um, I really enjoy.
Robin:You know, I've still got my high school buddies, my college buddies, my work buddies, but these other people you know, when the phone rings and they're calling, I'm making sure I grab it or call them back quick you know, yeah, you're so in the, you're so in the moment, right now, you're so lit up about it and and I love that that's what some missions can really do for people and I love that you highlight that you actually came in knowing that you could contribute something, but you also listened and you didn't take yourself out in a group of people that maybe you know could have been easy to say, oh, I don't belong here.
Robin:I don't have the qualifications or like, whatever, whatever. Like you accepted the invite and you kept showing up and then you met them where they were at and they obviously, you know, allowed you in to do something and now you're like super lit for it. So congratulations, because I think all those things can be mental blockers for people and then they just don't try, but they want to.
Alexis:Yeah, and an awful lot of people. When you're talking about, you know, being a member of a board or whatever, they don't think they fit in. Well, a reasonable board doesn't want people that fit in.
Frost:Sure, they want diversity.
Alexis:They want something that's different, because you know if you're on a board that I'm running or something, I don't need another me Exactly, in fact, that would be really bad. But you know, what I want is somebody that's different, but somebody that's not stupid, if you will, and I mean stupid in the. They're just trying to show how bright they are usually. Yes. You know someone that knows what they're doing and they're taking things seriously, but also with a sense of humor.
Frost:Yeah for sure.
Robin:Yeah, it's good and what would you say is sort of a nice balance in someone's board that would actually have it be efficient. You've been on some boards that were like you know, herding kittens, and then you've been on some some some boards that were like, you know, hurting kittens, and then you've been on some boards that really made some things happen so, and you've denied a lot of board invitations.
Frost:Oh yeah.
Robin:So what do you look for in a, in a, in a functional board?
Alexis:A board that basically trying to accomplish something. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of boards that sit there and someone sort of takes over the board and everybody just lets them do it and nothing gets accomplished.
Robin:Yeah.
Alexis:And then they berate the other board members for not doing their parts. Usually they don't because there's no way the leaders are taking them to it. So I think that's the big thing. It has to be people that want to get things accomplished.
Frost:Yeah, I think there's a life cycle too. So, like when I first got involved in Heart Gift, it was about 10 years old and the board meetings look like like hey, where do we want to have the gala this year? Does anybody know anybody that knows this person? You know, it was very like we were sort of solving the problems in the meeting and then over the years, as the organization got bigger, all that stuff got done at the committee level. So there was like a gala committee, a finance committee, a governance committee, a medical committee, and they would have these separate, you know zoom calls or meetings where the work would get done, and then come back to the meeting and say, okay, now Frost is up to report the missions committee.
Alexis:Okay.
Frost:This year we're going to Panama, we're going to El Salvador, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and so, um, you know, the as an organization gets more organized, those boards can be more fun to be on. And then you know, one of the things we went through at HeartGift was that that trans transformation from solving it all in the meeting to these committees at first felt very insufficient and like what it's taking forever. Now, if I want to get this trip approved for Bolivia, I got to run it. Now I got to run it through the finance committee, the mission committee, these five committees, and before I could just like have one phone call and it was done.
Robin:Problem solution.
Frost:Problem solution Exactly, and me being a small business entrepreneur, like I'm used to calling one or two people and let's roll, and so at first I was super frustrated with that and then, but now, having lived through it, I can really appreciate the you know, the procedures and the handbook that had to be written.
Alexis:And the biggest thing about it is the committees need to do their job too, because a lot of times, they get split off to the committee and what you find is that some committees appear to just be there to delay everything. Right, you know they don't do any work, they don't add any value or anything else, in which case you need to get rid of the committee 100%, and I think that's what a lot of people miss and that's what will kill a board off really fast, because people who want to do things and who are spending the time to be on a board and actually really do it, they don't really want to be just put off by something that's adding no value to what they're doing. Yes, now, if the committees are working well, then there's a lot of stuff you don't have to do that they're taking care of and you can let it go.
Frost:Yes, I got one more tip. Sure, there's an organization here in Houston called the Greater Houston Community Foundation. Okay, I was introduced to this about 10 years ago or so. For any of your Houston listeners, I, I, I described them as sort of like Houston's philanthropic headquarters, and so I actually took a course there that they trained me in. Like, what does it look like to be on a board? What is?
Robin:what does it look like?
Frost:to look at the financials of a nonprofit. Um what's going on in Houston. They have this understanding Houston thing. So you go on site visits. You go to the food shelters, the homeless shelters, the mental health clinic you know and so you run through.
Frost:it gives you options, you learn who the key players are like oh, if I'm interested in mental health, these are the five groups that I should go connect with. And so I think most big cities have community foundations. You know they're all sort of different sizes, shapes and colors, but, uh, getting plugged into your local community foundation, they usually have events you can go to a lunch and learn, type thing. That's great. That's been a super, super cool thing for me and they helped coach me up as being the young guy in the committee when I was raising my hand saying I think we should do this, they're like yeah, sonny, like wait, wait you got 10 more years before we listen to you.
Robin:Nobody called on you yeah, so Wait, you got 10 more years before we listen to you.
Frost:Nobody called on you. Yeah, so GHCF helped coach me up so that I can make a bigger difference for the areas that were important to me.
Robin:That's great. So if you want to make a difference and you don't know where to start and you're especially in Houston, check out what.
Frost:Greater Houston Community Foundation. Wonderful GHCF yeah.
Robin:Yes, I recently Googled, like how many nonprofits there are in Houston and I was very, very impressed with the list. And you're right, there are different sectors. So if you're, if you're somebody who likes to get competitive and want to do a workout while you're volunteering, there's something for you. And the food bank always ends up doing a lot of really good food packing and leaves people sore and makes it real fun.
Robin:So you can get a shift there and they need people like all year round, not just like on Thanksgiving. So so, and then some people may not know this or may have forgotten, but some jobs uh pay for hours for certain uh places that are non-profit, so they pay for you to volunteer.
Alexis:So there may be some double dipping in that if your job offers that yeah, most of the oil companies do, and then some of the other big companies it's kind of cool yeah, yeah, yeah, just a quick proviso. If you're getting ready to spend a bunch of time with a nonprofit, make sure that it's legit, totally.
Robin:How would one do that?
Alexis:Well, first thing is go to the IRS website and look them up. Okay, you know, look up nonprofits. If they say they're a 501c3, you should be able to find them with no problem. Able to find them with no problem. You can also, with the IRS site, find their 990s and look at their financial statements. If that's not there and people say, oh well, you know, it's just a paperwork, whatever, no, they aren't a nonprofit. If IRS doesn't say they are, it's simple and that may just be an oh shit type stuff, because it does happen, but at that point you need to take a step back and figure out what's going on, because you don't want to waste a whole lot of time and lend your name to something that's not going to be there. Then, after that, you know, find some people who have, you know, worked with them for more than a year that's a great idea.
Alexis:You know a lot of times these, the non-profits, show up. They, you know, do stuff and and a year later they're gone and you never know exactly what happened with what you donated or your time or anything else. I mean, one of the things that I found really interesting is I'm president of Transgender Foundation of America, which is a 501c3 nonprofit and all that type stuff, and I find it interesting because by IRS standards we're considered a large nonprofit, so we're considered in the same category as United Way and all those people.
Robin:We're tiny. What puts you in the same category with organizations that are that big?
Alexis:The amount of money you raise and the things you do and that sort of stuff. But there's so many nonprofits that raise less than $200 a year. Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's like more than 50% and you know, I think about that and I'm like, okay, $200 a year, something's wrong, yeah. And so just be careful that you know what you're getting into and if you know if you're going to be making a donation or something, you shouldn't be a huge percent of their entire expenditure for a year. Yeah, you ought to have help with that.
Robin:Yeah, that's true. There's different levels. You can go and give your time. You can go and try to get a position with them. You can go and just donate, and I always like people to know when they donate where their money is going to Is it going to just the staff, which may be fine, depending on the nonprofit.
Robin:You want to keep it open, or it may go to a particular program that the nonprofit offers and you might feel a little bit more connected to that. So if you're just getting into it like check around and and, um, and who knows, I mean that might be a new thing for people. This summer.
Alexis:The biggest problem is if somebody gets involved in a scam scam nonprofit that turns them off from doing anything the rest of their life, the chances of them ever doing anything else is really slim.
Frost:One of the things GHCF coached me up in. They call it the four T's so time, talent, treasure and ties. So you know, and I found that to be really effective. So there was a fit, a new fitness Houston fitness nonprofit that got started and they asked if I would jump in and help. I said, sure, you know this. Let's go through the list. So time this is how much time I have. Right, this is my talent, this is where I think I can help you. Uh, treasure, like this is what I think I could donate. And then ties these are the people I know in the community that I think you guys would like to know, and having that communication upfront with any organization really sets the ground rules. Like I really only fundraise for one organization, but I help Kickstart Kids, which is a nonprofit that Chuck Norris started to help middle school age kids do karate.
Robin:Right Nice.
Frost:So I help them more on the like industry specific stuff, on the martial arts stuff that makes sense. I help them more on the industry-specific stuff on the martial arts stuff that makes sense. And I fundraise for this other group and I don't feel guilty as a board member saying, hey, I'm not going to fundraise for you guys, but this is what I can help you with oh yeah, I think clarity coming in the door is super important.
Alexis:And I think that's the big thing too, because a lot of the nonprofits have multiple boards, and if they do, you need to figure out whether you're going to have any say in anything, because if you put your name on that board you're going to be seen publicly, but if you have no say, that's a little bit risky, yeah, yeah.
Robin:Yeah, wonderful. So just think about where you're getting into and maybe start with the word that you're suggesting to not get into anything sticky sticky, and just maybe volunteer your time to get to know them first. Like don't just jump head in, you know, um, and that way you have a lifelong of opportunity to be able to give maybe to multiple boards or maybe to multiple organizations. If you wanted to just learn new things, like I love people, uh, hearing about like they go and they volunteer with the zoo, like that's pretty cool, you know. I mean, there's just different things out there for people. So is there anything else that we should cover today while you're here?
Frost:Man, you guys, we covered the full gamut right From getting up off the floor to nonprofits.
Robin:We get in there wrestling chickens. Oh, we do all that much. Yeah.
Frost:Well, I just want to say thanks to you guys for the difference y'all make in the world and in your various communities and areas that y'all are interested in. It's been super fun being your friend all these years.
Robin:Robin, absolutely.
Frost:And I look forward to many more decades of transforming the world. Right that sounds good.
Robin:That sounds good. I mean, the more people are getting into making the world better, the better. I don't know. I'm just lit up for that. Like I was telling Alexis the other day, I'm constantly having to adjust to the fact that we're human, like I. There's a lot of cons that happen, but I want to highlight the pros. I want to highlight the wins. I want people to be inspired and for me, the reason why is because that keeps me going, you know, and kindness goes a long way. Being gentle with yourself goes a long way. So if that's what you're doing today, just thank you for keeping going. And if you want to like, share, subscribe to the podcast, awesome. If you just want to like, share and subscribe to any podcast that helps Frost, you have one that you started.
Frost:How can they find that? So we're on, I think, youtube, spotify and and Apple. It's called the elite MMA coaches corner, you know, like corner man Uh, and so that's fun. We interview a lot of uh we call it uh teachers, preachers and coaches, right, so people that have some wisdom and want to share it.
Robin:So I loved it. I highly recommend checking in with it because it's it's just good talk, you know, and, and if you can have that playing in the background or you can have it inspiring yourself, it's a click play situation.
Alexis:It's just right there and accessible for people, so don't sleep on that podcast and take care of yourself, and and I certainly enjoyed it. I'm not sure how long we went, but it was probably more than 10 minutes. I love it. Okay, thank you, thank you, thank you. We really appreciate having you. We'll probably invite you back for something else, cause we'll think of something.
Frost:We need some help. I'm in Anytime. I hang out with you guys is the win.
