(upbeat music) - What's happening? You've just pressed play on the Music City Mindset Podcast. - This is where we tap in the Nashville as most influential people and see why they love Nashville. - Let's get it started. - And welcome to the second episode of the Music City Mindset that is now in the MFM network. And let me tell you, there is some exciting shit coming down the pipeline now that we're a part of this network. But I'm even more excited that I don't have to do it alone. With me, as always, my co-host, Glenn Cliff, Icon, TSU legend, current owner of Training Corner, defensive back, coach at lip-skooning academy. - Lip-skooning, yeah, for sure. - Deon Giddens. - For sure, I appreciate the intro, man. You're kind. Every time. - You're very kind, I say that. - Get used to it. - You're very kind. - So last time, we talked a lot about the growth of Nashville and where Nashville was and kind of where it got to, especially in the food scene and things like that. And we definitely talked a little bit about what it was like coming up in that when it was different from what it is now. - Oh, Nashville. - Oh, Nashville. So let's talk a little bit more about where we are now that Nashville is here. - That's right. - As you started realizing that the city was starting to just boom, did you find yourself, like me, kind of getting excited and proud of your city and trying to match its growth and grow with it? - Man, I was ripping. I've been ripping, but I was ripping so hard. Like, so hard now. Like, I remember back in 2004 to now, just going back to my football days, I remember like, I was a junior in the book, they hauled in, which is kind of all over the place. And I was in New York at the time, so I would go to the locker room and just cut it on, you know, book part of the junior in any song and they knew, like, Nashville's in the building. You know, Nashville's in the building. So I'll be moving back then, man, to now. So yes, I'm very proud of, I find myself doing more stuff, but in an authentic way. - Yeah. - I mean, not like a tourist Nashville way, but just if you hear, you're repping. - I think it's been fun. - I think that you bring up an interesting point because if you were a part of Old Nashville and somebody from Old Nashville emerges into any kind of limelight, you're going to have support because we remember what it was like and we know what you came up out of. - Absolutely. - Jelly roll, for instance. - Man, love it, love to see it. - Biggest man on the planet in more ways than one, but it's hard not to support him 'cause I know what he, not just like the disparity of what it came from, but literally the city that he came from, and what it's doing now. So I definitely started realizing that part of my love for the city is some people are falling out of love with it because it's not the same city they grew up with. I have found that I want to like match that energy and if it's going to grow, I'm going to go with it, me and my city are united, and I'm trying to grow with it, that if the city's climate and economy is going up, I'm going up with it. - How has that affected like the business side of what you do now, your personal training, the type of clients, the opportunities that have come from that because you pushed with the growth of the city? - I mean, you know, once again, you gotta match it, right? So mindset wise, you have to go into it knowing that, hey, we did start here, but now we're going towards this more. So nationals become like a national place now. Also global at this point, honestly, like I've been out of the country and people, they love Nashville. So for me, the capitalization on it and just to capitalize on just even the football aspect first 'cause that's what I'm currently doing right now. The athletes, the growth, the way the personal training has gone now, more people, they love it. And people who come into Nashville, they're active. These are not people who just kind of, you know, come from different states to where it's kind of, you know, no training, no atmosphere, no physical activity's going on. People come from LA, they're coming from Denver, they're coming from all these places to where they're active. So light bulb go out for me. Hey, let's grab those people. Let's make sure they know Nashville can present some of those same qualities, maybe not the hiking and stuff, so much like Colorado or maybe not the beach run like LA, but we have a lot to offer for us a fitness industry goals, which, you know, we both a part of. So been in it for over what, 15 years now and you're in it, man. So I love to hear your side of the story and how you got going, man. And this is what you up to these days too, trying to capitalize on that new city mindset. - For me, well, I own a gym right now over in Northside. - There you go. - Right off Buck Cannon. - Okay. - Hey, if you're from there, you said Buck Cannon. - Buck Cannon. - If you're listening to this and you're not from here, it's Buchanan. That's where I'm located. (laughing) Difference of why people like you. - You're right. (laughing) But no, I definitely felt that trend, that my gym's called music city muscle. And the whole aspect of it was, I felt like you've been around, I'm guessing when you travel, you did a gym. - Have to. No matter where I am. - It was almost, I enjoyed it when I traveled, but there was this part of like, when I'd go and travel, I'd find this like, I mean, what on Instagram, I'd call it a gym of a gym. - Gym of a gym. - Yeah. - That like, you just find this diamond in a rough that's some old school side of a warehouse. And I would have the best workouts. And then I'd come back here and everything's all brand new and pretty and shiny. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - So I felt like we had this hole, this gap, where we don't have that old school iron, hardcore lifting gym when you come to Nashville. Everything's brand new, everything's shiny and everything like that. So I wanted to bring that, but the key was, I wanted to do it in a way that was approachable for beginners. One of the things that I think is very interesting, that I've seen a lot in the city, 'cause we have so many conventions and things like this, that like, when you have somebody that's the best of the best of real estate, finance, sports, everybody who is aspiring to be that will line up around the corner to get the chance to be in the same room as the people that do it better than them. But when you add a barbell to that, people get real insecure. - They do. - Why do you think they do so? - Honestly, I think it is, because if I'm meeting someone who's like, if I'm a real estate agent and I'm meeting a real estate agent that's like the best in the state, all we can do is talk. - Right. - There's not too many opportunities in other situations and other industries where you can be like on the same competition when you're lower, like, you know, a high school kid would love to meet an NFL player. - And we do it out of time. - But you're never gonna play the same game. - Right, you can train with them though, to your point. - Right, you can come in and get the same work outside the side. - But training is, we're actually putting weights on the bars. We're actually showing what our experiences are, our sessions, what we can do. So I think that there's an element of performance where fitness, unlike really any other industry that I can think of, has an element of all different experience levels can do the same thing at the same time. - Science on, might look different though. - Look different, and I think how it looks, people are too comparative in today's culture, to compare them with someone else, even if they've been lifting way longer. But with my gym, I wanted to bring that aspect where, yet, do we have some people there that are pulling over six, seven off the ground? We do. But I make sure I check their egos at the door, and just 'cause they can pick up more than anybody else, you know, they say they should. - Right, right. Respectfully. - Yeah. - But, but, but then I get to- - They're gonna find out where you are, man. - Yeah, exactly. But then that gives me the opportunity to work with the beginners, to empower them, to not be insecure because he's over there pulling that. - Let me ask you a question though. - Yeah. - When it comes to that, 'cause that's important, I feel like, so I know in my gym, like, you know, when I opened up in 2012 to 2019, I kind of had the same vibe, right? Old school feel, warehouse, a box, you know what I mean? Day door, it's sweat, it's hot, you know, no AC. We're just getting to it. We're good old stuff, to us, right? - Yeah, yeah. - But, for us beginners go like, what do you think the mindset for those people are when they come in? Like, what's the type of environment? Like, what are you kind of preaching, coaching those people coming in when they see people like, you know, your other clients, hey, they pulling six, seven off the ground? Here I am at 135, and I'm struggling. And we're in the same spot, I'm right next to this person, like, what do you kind of pump them up with as far as the head goes, like, all right. - Without sounding like I tear people down to pump 'em up, I definitely try to find a way that shows them physically why they're not at a point of doing this. And usually, if you're struggling with 135 off the ground on the deadlift, you're probably gonna also be dealing with like mobility issues. There's gonna be some fundamental things that you're not good at, exactly, right? So I try to make sure that we highlight that to show how much room for growth that there is. And I usually try to find something. Let's pick one thing out today, not worrying about the barbell, about what's on the barbell, but one thing about technique, and let's master that today, I like to bring up with, like, Olympic lifting. - Which is one of my favorites, by the way. - All right, well, I could use some work. But the reason I bring it up is if you actually look at actual Olympic lifting, not weightlifting, people train two, three times a day for four years to the opportunity to do that, well, six, but a few times each lift, that one day. And so helping people understand that they're not gonna master it today. They're not gonna master it in a year. Like, it is a process. And here's an example of people that train so long to try to do it once. And the other part of it is, I think it all seems to me, you know, everything just comes from the top. And I try to tell people early on, even in consultations, even though in my heart, I am the purest of a meathead could get. - At the end of the day for them, I might want them to get stronger and lift more weight. But as far as their presence within our community that we have, I don't really give a shit what they lift. And I think that by them hearing that, there's not the pressure. - Oh, yeah, yeah. - So I don't get, now obviously once people are there a long time and I know what they're capable of, that might be a little bit different. - A little bit different. - With the people that are new to the gym, I try to do a good job of not celebrating what they're doing but how they're doing it in the beginning. - Confidence. - Yeah, confidence in, and that's actually how I describe when people ask like, what's the pace of class? I call it barbell confidence. - There you go. - Because it doesn't matter if you're pulling six or you're pulling 135. Like, it's about getting more confident with what you're doing and how you're doing it. So when it comes down to form and technique, I try to highlight and celebrate that on the first day. And for me, coming from me, the owner that they know that isn't worried about the weight. So if I'm not worried about the weight, they shouldn't be worried about the weight. And that's kind of how we just get it started. I phrase it as an effort-based facility, that if you're over there pulling six, but it looks like it's flying off the ground and looks like you got another 100 pounds in you, but you don't really do that. Like, people are gonna be impressed, but like, you're not gonna like shut the gym down. - Right. - But there have been instances where not even 200 pounds have been on the bar and someone's sitting there struggling and shaking, trying to get it up. And the whole place stops to cheer them on. - Yeah. - It's not about the number, it's about the effort. - And then the environment too though, man. Like, for me, I always try to focus on this environment you creating a set for the gym. So it seems like that's the type of environment I would like to be in. I know like, specifically for beginners, they can appreciate it. Every goal, you know, everything is a different way, different step. And you know, you wanna cheer on every single accomplishment. - Yes. - You know what I mean? So I found it to be like one of the deal breakers, honestly, for people coming in that have no experience whatsoever, but they come in and say, hey, I saw the gym, I like Blake, I wanna come check it out. What do you tell those people? No experience whatsoever, straight off the couch. And they wanna be like you. - I mean, I tell one, well, no, I tell anybody you don't wanna be like me. (laughing) Don't hurt yourself. But no, I think from the get-go, I truly, once you enter into what is my community, I don't hold back, yeah, in the fitness world, I don't, I mean, it becomes family over there. I mean, like, if you join the gym, you're liable to meet the person that's gonna watch your dog or babysit. Like, you know, it's, they network within themselves. So, so well. But I don't hold back, like, my quirkiness and my experiences on the negative side of things when they express, 'cause I want to hear why people would be intimidated. - So you're relatable, you wanna be relatable. - Exactly, so I make people verbalize some of their fears. And then I try to meet their fears with something that in my life that makes it relatable, that beat me down, but then they still see me up here. And so I almost try to, like, bring myself down when I see that people have that kind of viewership of who I am. And it just try to make people feel comfortable. I've realized that the more I portray myself as the true, like, misfit of someone who's never really fit in in any one little circle, that if I can portray that to people, even if it's not a direct relationship of them understanding where I've been in football or drugs or whatever that might be, that there's something that, like, okay, well, I don't, I feel like I don't fit in here, but everyone else here didn't fit in here. Because when you come in, I mean-- - Now y'all fit, though. Everybody grab and say to each other, you know what I mean? - I mean, we've got everything. It's the most unique gym thing. I'm not just saying that 'cause I own it. It's the most unique gym community that I've ever been a part of. Within group fitness alone, you've got people, even this week was the first time they ever had a barbell on their back. And then you got a guy that comes in the morning and there was a Super Bowl champion. - I mean, but it's the beauty of it, to me, you know what I mean? - I've never been a, you know how, like, boutique fitness is in the city right now. Like everybody looks the same that's in the class. - Yeah. - Everybody has the same goals. So it really is this dynamic that we're all so different that we celebrate being different. - Which brings you together at the end of the day. - Yeah. - I think fitness is one of those things where no matter where you come from, background, no matter what it is, that thing brings us together. It's almost like music too, you know what I'm saying? I think music and fitness, they're really close. - So much closer to them, I think people realize. - Yeah, like bringing people together, the people to themselves, like, you can come into a gym and be who you are. Better worry about nothing else you've done. You know what I mean? No background or nothing. You come in, I'm with you, we lived in, and we going at it. And I've seen people kind of grow this in life just from the gym, you know what I mean? I think the gym is so important and fitness is so important. What you do, you're saving lives, man, you know what I mean? Some of these people come in and they have had the worst day, worst week or day in their world, going through divorce or loss of a love, whatever it may be. When they see you, they know it's go time. So, and shout out to you, big up to you, man, for this, you know, setting that boy and keeping that standard high, man. And just, you know, being approachable. You know, you look like a tough guy. You got tattooed to sleep and a big beer, you know what I mean? Yeah. - There's a big teddy bear in here though. - You gotta be sometime. - Yeah, yeah. It's exhausting being hard all the time. - I mean, not especially if it's fake. - Yeah. - You know what I mean? I thought, you know, I get it, but come on, man. - Yeah. - It's cool. - But I don't know, for me, it's the relatability, but like, I don't know, I really thought at this point in my career, especially with the way the city's going, attracting the type of athletes that are moving here. I'm sure you're seeing it at the high school level. - Oh, yeah. - People that are moving here just to be a part of sports here in the city. - Yeah, kids are moving out of state to come play sports now in Nashville. - Yeah. - It's a hotbed, you know, all the recruiters will tell you, like, we're gonna last five years. Nashville is a hot spot. I know with some of my showcases we do over at Lipscomb, man, we have, you know, 40, 50 recruiters come in. And that's just for a week, you know what I mean? Like, throughout the year, man, it gets up there. So it's a hot spot for sure. - I thought at this point, I would be working with elite athletes only. - Mm-hmm. - And-- - Was it the goal? Was it your goal? - Yeah, yeah. - It was. Especially when I found out that like, as close to the NFL as I got, and the reasons why I didn't get there, and what about me that allowed me to almost get there, I thought I would be really good at helping people that are maybe not the five star that the path is clear. But the people that kind of got to, like, chop some weed down-- - You gotta get up the moon. You gotta get up the moon and go get it. - That's where I really thought I was gonna have, like, a niche almost. But I was okay with paying my dues. And, you know, working with Gen Pop, working with just standard weight loss, the, you know, the more of the run-the-mill stuff and fitness, and then I started really, because of the location of my gym, it's so residential, that I started working with people that would never come into a strength gym. - But why is it? Do you think they ever tell you, like, "Why are they, like, just scared of it?" Or they say, "Wait a minute, you know what I mean?" - It's the realization, if we just talking about it, you know, I'm sure you met a bunch of those dudes that, like, pressed 1,000 back in high school, right? But, like, right here, right now. - What are we doing? - And I feel like the reality of people having to come to terms with where they are now, compared to who they used to be. - That's a good point. - I feel like it scares them. They're not scared of me and the other big dudes that are up there lifting. That's just, I'm something that you could point a finger at. - That's got an actual performing now, though. - Right. - And so I feel like once they get there, and if they allow themselves to compare to other people, then that's where it gets to a point where they have to, they have to make it real to themselves and accept where they are now. And so within that, I got the opportunity to work with non-athletes. What I thought was on my road to get back to athletes. And I'm sure you've got some that you made a huge difference with. - Oh, yeah. - Like some that's still rocking with you. - Yeah. - You're harkle, yeah. - But with what little I've done with athletes before, it's so transactional. Here's my money, you make me stronger. That's like, you gotta do the work. But like working with some of the people that I've been so blessed to just walk through the doors are people that I've made such a difference in them life, just teaching proper squat technique, like they'll remember me forever. - And they will. - They will, because it's so many other things that goes with it, you know what I mean? Like you're more than just a trainer when you're coming to a gym, like you're a psychologist. You're the big brother, you're the actual trainer for the day, you're the motivator for that day. I mean, there's so many hacks that you wear that we wear in the fitness industry, especially when you actually have people paying their heart or money to come to you. So it's a privilege and a blessing already as it is. But when you start transforming the people, and my thing is I train a ton of athletes, pro athletes, collegiate, high school, whatever, but it's still so gratifying to see, you know, general population people come in or people that work hard nine to five all the time are coming in like, hey, these are the goals. This is where I'm trying to go. And they surprise themselves because you show the belief in them with some of them never had. They never had somebody push them and tell them, hey, you doing this, but you know, we can do this much more. - It's one of the things I say all the time. And I say it to make it real. I grew up in a family where like, you talk things into existence. So if I say it, it's going to become real. And so I tell them all the time and I bring it up because I know it's the truth right now, but I want them to get to the point where I don't have to say this to them, but I tell them, like don't let me be the only one that believes in you. - That's big. - And so really working with that. So with you with working with a bunch of the athletes, was that always the goal? Like when you got done with the league, like you trained in athletes, was there ever a point that you thought about taking training to somewhere else where at the time athletes were going to before Nashville boomed? - Man, so when I started, my agency me the D one. So in college, I had to make a decision. I get old TSU for you, right? So I had a bunch of credits that didn't go to my major. So with that being said, I had to take a full slate my senior year. I'm laughing 'cause I was kind of in the same boat. - 18 hours, I had to take 18 hours of my senior year. So I'm trying to train for a pro day knowledge, good stuff. And the agent I signed with, he had seen all those players at Arizona the year before. So I knew they going into it, but that's when D one at first opened up, the old location. So with Will and Joe, shout out to those guys, man, they really showed me love and showed all those love. So we was part of the first class of the D one for combine training back in 2004. So it worked out to where I got to stay home, finished my degree. But in that process, I was like, man, it's nothing in Nashville like this, I feel like. It's also what your point back then, like, hey, YMCA type or, you know, boutique. So there's stuff that just didn't fit my building the way I liked to train. So once I did that, I got to open up something natural for this. But, you know, I was still playing ball doing my thing, but I was still training my buddies in the out season. So I was training market skins, man. She's out of the skill wing. That's my brother, man. So play ball at Tulane basketball though. So I was training more than this football player, so I was doing a little bit of everything. - He felt like that helped you athletically? - I know it did, because I played multiple sports as well. But training across the board, it helped me with all my stuff. But he started dunking in the out season, just one out season training. And then, you know, kept playing, coming back, training. And when I finally stopped, I'm like, you know what? People were trying to go to Atlanta to kind of start the fitness thing. But I'm like, I'm staying home. I'm staying right here. I'm gonna do what I've been doing. And I'm gonna, you know, find my way, find my group. - And was that because of just your love for Nashville? Were you starting to see some growth that you thought it could be done here? - Well, a little bit of both, you know what I mean? Like when I grew up, we didn't have the Titans in high school. I'll take that back. My last year, we had them. So it wasn't a big NFL field here. But once I started playing and came back, I'm like, yo, everybody's coming back to Nashville 'cause it's kind of at that mid-level for most people, right? It's not too busy, but you still can get some of that big city field. So when I saw that, I'm like, yo, I gotta stay. I have to because more and more people, more and more athletes of people, I wanted to kind of, you know, tap into that here. So while I leave and I can do it in my own backyard. With that, came out, you know what? This is seasonal now. So we train these football guys and these pro guys, no matter what sport they play, they're gone. Their season has to start at some point. You don't have those people anymore. So now how do you keep the bills for you? What are you doing? So now in general, pop comes in play. Now you get the general public. Now, now you really got something. So it kind of started with that. Then I kind of branched off into corporate training. So corporate training kind of was the main thing I did for a while. I would take days off and just go straight corporate. You know what I mean? One or two days a week, I might have 15, 20 clients and that's it. So I mean, I feel good, but it still just wasn't what I wanted. So that's when I ended up opening up the gym back in 2012. I actually made teary out when I was doing that process. You know what I mean? I'm talking more about that on the next episode with. He was a big influence. He don't even know what I tell him all the time. But he had no idea. But that guidance that pushed, he helped do that for me. So it's fun seeing, reaching back and having other training that was in my gym, seeing him be successful now. It's fun to see, man. So the fitness thing, man, it's more than just working out. You can really create a good community, good family. And it's something that I think everybody should get into at some point. Well, I feel like that's what's unique about fitness in this city is because you have so many people moving here because Nashville's growing so much that they're using fitness as a way to find their community, their family, their circles, their new friends. Which is, I think, is the good and the evil that comes with that. Because unfortunately, there's some great people that change lives and mold people with confidence and everything in that. But there are also some fucked up people that do fitness as well. And I personally feel like asking someone to do fitness with you is asking someone to be vulnerable with you. That's the hard part, though. Because no matter how you-- depends on what you're in it for, right? But most people that come in and actually pay in money for something, they need help. Yeah, they need help. And they're vulnerable, right? Yeah. And I think people are OK with being vulnerable, especially if they're in a new city, trying to find people, trying to find their tribe, so to speak. But that's coming in so heavily because everyone's so attracted to Nashville now, that you do have the people that are taking advantage of that vulnerability, which, I guess, is good for business over here when you are-- This is a business that is good. Yeah. Because then you've got people that mess it up for other people, but this is me off. But when you have the reputation of not taking advantage of people's vulnerability, I think it draws people to you as somewhere where they can go for a long time. It's all about you're true. You know what I mean? It's all about you're true. Yeah, absolutely. All right, we're going to take a quick break. Here's a word from our sponsors. And we are back. And if there's anything that I think everyone can agree on, it is talking about lifting and talking about nutrition, go hand in hand. Hand in hand. You can't talk about one without the other. If you know what you're doing, you can't. So that leads us to our new segment, Music City Munchies. There we go, Music City Munchies, baby. Yeah, so on the Music City Munchies for this week, I just got done with Burger Week 2024. How was it? It was-- Did you over eat? Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely over eight. It's put on by Nashville scene. It is Monday through Sunday, six days. So burgers all six days. And it-- oh, multiple. Each day. So you've got-- they've got an app. And you go in there. You can see the map of where to go. All the burgers isn't my favorite food, even though I get real excited about Burger Week. It's not so much I'm going to get excited about the burgers itself. It's that they're $7 burgers. And in this city of Nashville-- You can add what you want to those $7 burger. You got to get it how it comes. Wow, OK. But some of those are places that normally charge $14 burgers. That's my next point. With a burger with seven bucks, you can't be dead up. Yeah, exactly. There are some prizes and awards at the end because you can collect points by checking in places and stuff like that. But I got a group of guys from the gym. And we just go ham on some burgers. So what was your favorite burger or some of your favorites? I know you have more than one. I got two that are my favorite. They're just so different. Cletus burgers. Cletus burgers. Actually not too far from here over on the industrial side of Elm Hill Pike. Kind of a newer place to think they've been opening a little over a year. Incredible burger. It was one of those I had to make it my number one because by the time I got into the center of the burger, I was already envisioning what it was going to be like to bring the dogs. In my mind, I'm already a regular. Right. So shout out Cletus. Incredible burger. But I can't not talk about Burger Week without talking about the Oxtail burger from Make Shift. Have you been to Make Shift? Yes, I have been to Make Shift. Yeah, so they put together an Oxtail burger there. Wow, Oxtail burger. Yeah. And it was as simple as any of the burgers at Burger Week. It was literally buns, meat, cheese. And it was delicious. And I would not-- I mean, it's a cool spot. I wouldn't have thought I would have gotten what was like almost my number one burger there. From that spot. Yeah, I mean, you got that Z-Mart right beside it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [LAUGHTER] You get a little sketch sometimes. You get a little sketch over there. But great tequila bar. Yeah, yeah. I know the only two of them, so shout out. Yeah, yeah, I got to meet them when I was in there. Real cool dude. Yes, my god. So I'll definitely be back. I feel like, aside from how I actually taste, how I rated it, really had everything to do with-- am I coming back? So I mean, I think we hit like 17 burgers in six days. I'm going to say neck. That's a lot. You was on the back. You was using a toilet a lot, bro. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I lost a pound. [LAUGHTER] I'm not eating the burgers, though. Well, so I think here's my take on it. Is I was eating-- sometimes we would go to one place that was strategically next to another. So we hit two right back to back. So I think I was eating more at one time, a bigger meal, than I'm used to just eating-- Right. --little, like, throughout the day. So I don't think I ate the total calories that I normally eat. But the weekend before it started, I was about 2.54. And then at one point, my girlfriend was like, your blood work is terrible. You've gained so much wave, blah, blah. And I stepped on the scale, that's 2.53. It is. So-- There it is. It can be done. Did you get any burgers? Hey, Jack Brown's. I don't know if y'all heard about Jack Brown's or not. But it's a simple burger, right? It's simple. I think-- I want to say, like, wagyu meat, maybe. But old-school burger. Cheese, meat. You don't get any of the-- It comes like that, though. Yeah. Like the cheeseburger. Yeah. You don't get any of the weird cheese. Actually, you know what? They got one, but peanut butter on it there. What else I'm about to say? They have all kind of cheese on this burger. I cannot eat that. I'm simple, classic, no. They had a burger with peanut butter and jelly. And I'm like, who the hell eats peanut butter jelly on a burger? I love it. I mean, I almost threw up watching people eat this burger. But with that being said, Jack Brown's mine on one burger. So you just get the cheese burger? Basic, basic, yeah. Basic. Because I feel like that can align with macros if we're going to talk fitness at all. I mean, you can. But I'd rather have you know it. I mean, if you got bread, meat, cheese, I mean, that's a carb protein and a fat. Yeah, it is. I mean, now I would say that the burger places I keep in my place. A little less than tomato on there. We got some micros in there. And it's keeping us in business, too, right? Every time we have a burger, we'll be, hey, please go eat the burgers come see us once you're doing. You know what I mean? That's how they work. But Jack Brown's mine on one burger, Jack Brown. Yeah, we got one in Germantown, so it's not far from the germ, so we definitely hit that up there. My wife, every time TSU Hunt comes around and we out late, we hit Jack Brown's. It does have it. Late night food is hard. And Jack Brown's having that late night is definitely clutch, especially if you mean, there's so much stuff going on over there between sounds games, a lot more bars and stuff popping up over there. So it's definitely a clutch late night food right there. Burger Week, man, shout out to the Burger Week. Shout out Burger Week. There was some weird shit on there, too. What's the word Burger you saw? I needed it. Because to me, I think it can't get worse than peanut butter and jelly on the burger. Oh, no, that peanut butter on it's actually not even uncommon now. Now these are white people eating this peanut butter. Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. I didn't-- I didn't see one black burger. I didn't see one black burger. Didn't know all my burger week. [LAUGHTER] I've never seen a peanut butter. But what's the weirdest one, bro? The most unique one, instead of using buns, they use a rapus, a rapus. It's like a corn-- Does anybody know this? No, it's Mexican. I don't know. I don't even know what I'm saying it, right, to be honest with you. Second episode, yeah, I want to get canceled for saying some dumb shit. [LAUGHTER] No, but it's like a corn-- like a corn cake. A corn cake? All right, so it's smaller. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, that was the-- like the buns. OK. But man, like, people will try it a little too hard. Sometimes doing like some weird like peach chutney. Why would I want that on a burger though, you know what I'm saying? If it tastes good and you surprise me, cool. But like, I feel like some people tried too hard and missed. I'm sure people missed. Yeah. Like, a long, a long semester. Yeah, I mean-- So Jack Brown's smash is a smash patty. Yeah, smash, yeah. On the top grill, you know when you flip it, smash it, it's cool. But like, there were also some like traditional like-- Like thicker burgers? Yeah. Which is good if you got a good cook on it. But the amount of burger served out here that are overcooked-- Now obviously, you're not going to get pink on a smash patty. No. But-- but I think really aside from like-- I mean, like the-- actually, the Jack Brown burger for Burger Week had a crab salad on top of it with like some curry mustard. I personally liked it. But it was-- I don't want to say pungent. Pungent's like a real like negative connotation. Yeah. If there's a-- It was distinct. Very distinct flavoring that I personally liked with like the mustard and the crab. But I could definitely see how someone would hate that burger. Yeah, I would hate that burger. You would have hated that burger. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I could have understood it. Like, it was that like distinct, if you will. But yeah, I don't know. Some people tried some like real-- there was a difference in people that did like-- that do burgers all the time. That tried to do a special burger for Burger Week. And then people who don't do burgers that put something out there. But I actually had a lot of respect for the people that's like, hey, here's our regular-- you can get this all year round. Right. Like, this is our staple, and this is just-- this is so special to us. A lot of people had it on their story. Like, come get the one that actually helped us start our business. That's what I'm about to say. Like, if you go to five guys and get the burgers, like, you know, you get in a classic traditional burger, you know what I mean? So if you had the name One Spot, someone visiting out of town, Nashville, coming to get a burger, where do you go? Traditional. I'm going to give you traditional, and I'm going to give you something kind of off the wall. Traditional. I think-- well, the problem with Nashville is like, you know, what side of town and what people are doing. Typically, if they're visiting, they're going downtown. It's hard not to say Jack Brown's, because it's right there. If you're anywhere around-- I mean, from the vibe in the atmosphere, the beer garden that's out back, I still would have to give it to Cletus. Cletus. Cletus burger. You're going to make me go to Cletus and check them out? Yeah, definitely do it. They got a whole-- like, it's Smashpatties, like Jack Brown, so you'll like that. And they've got some simple stuff, and then it's got something for us riots that like to decorate our food. I would say I'm going to use that as a decorate, your decorative on the burgers. Yeah, a little out of my league, but it's all good. I'd say like a good burger. Yeah, that's cool. Oh, man. Man, I don't know if that was a success or a failure, but that was Music City Munchies. First segment. Keep that on the drawing board. Man, so what-- so with kind of going back to where you are now, but it's easy to project what Nashville is doing, what it was doing five years ago, so being able to project what it's going to be doing in five or more, when you've got stuff like the stadium, all the developments around the river and everything that's popping up, I think it's important to mention, even for the people that don't really like love sports or love the NFL, especially down here in the South when it's College Football's King, but bringing the Titans, just the Titans being here, changed the trajectory of your business by the type of people that was attracted to that, that it was bringing that to the city. Everything we're doing with the Titans and that squad that they're putting together right now. Well, they put a squad together, too, man. But there's a buzz saw down in Houston right now, but they-- it's hard not to say we're not going to get better. New stadium, really good roster. Are you preparing now now that you know that when the city grows, you can grow in that mindset of being connected to the city of like really where you're trying to go in like five years. And what you're planning now that you know what the city is capable of doing of like what you're trying to do, because you got into coaching, you're at Lipscomb Academy. Is this your first coaching job? It is, actually. Yeah, so the irony in it is I got to turn down all the coaching jobs. Like I've been offered like, you know, over the years, but I was like, nah, I don't think so. We kind of couldn't know what I'm doing already. I didn't want to kind of be tied down. I like being free. That's part of being an entrepreneur, right? I can kind of-- That is a season. No ceiling to what I'm doing. You know, cab, hey, you get fired. I still keep a job. It's all good. But Trent Duffer, he reached out when he was here at Lipscomb, man. So found it. How do you say no? You can't say no. He's hard, man. I like-- I love Trent, man. But he's a real, honest, straight up guy, man. So I met with Trent a couple of times. And I was on the fence at first. But after talking to Trent, man, he's like, listen. I know what you're doing. I already-- I'm supporting everything. You're doing for all the training goals. I know your background. But we got some great corners out here that could really use your help. Went out, and I saw it, made-- invited me out to something to go see him. And I'm like, you know what, I'm so first season, man. We were nationally ranked. I think we ended up number 10 in the nation. It's the highest ranking football program in Nashville, or Tennessee history. So we can always say we're the highest ranked team, or the best team in Tennessee. Talking to just rankings. No one-- As far as rankings, yeah. Just rankings. No one of the other-- Are y'all still too, eh? We moved up, yeah. Moved up to-- No, we're too, eh. But we moved up to a different class, right? So we're in the class now. We're in the academy, and it's worth-- It's a tough-- it's a tough. Matter of fact, the debates are-- So they put all the private schools? Yeah, try to put them together. So you can recruit now? You can, but in the right way. Right. You still have to have, like, showings, and people come to see the school. So I'm initially called recruiting, but you get to showcase what you have to offer. So it's a way that you go-- They're really just letting them do what they were doing back then, but just letting them do it now. Yeah, in a legal way now. Right, right. Back in the day, hey, you just pull up to a game like, hey, come play with me right now and drop everything when I-- it's rules, of course, to that. But what it has done, though, to your point, is it's become a national scene, a national place. And it's a hotbed for, like, young talent to the point of where we have kids literally leaving state, like college, like a transfer coming in and they're playing. Not just a Lipscomb, but anywhere across Nashville. You can see it happening. So that's really big for me, because you get a lot more kids. And, of course, how everything else goes, you know? One kid tells another kid, and you look up, you got 10 kids. Just off of one person, you're training, and you keep that going, and it makes everything grow. And then, you know, one man now, Lipscomb, it's a hotbed for NFLs and pros, like, coming to training. So we get a ton of Titan guys. They're in there all the time. Matter of fact, coming before I came over here, we had Rodman and McCreary, the cornerback. So he was over there working out with one of the guys, man. So J-Hole, Jeremy, man, all A-E, man. They keep a nice squad over there for training. And it's big, which clearly opens up the door for me. So that's how I capitalize, right? You know, stay here, you get some low-hanging fruit, but, you know, eventually you'll start getting and capitalizing on all the traffic coming in and out. So that's what I've been doing, man. It's been going good. - The high school football climate has changed, because back when you would have really good players, now we're having really good teams. - Yeah, one player won't do it. In this high school, climate. - But that's how it used to be. - It used to be like that. - You had that one player on the team that you knew, that player was going D1, if not league, but he probably wasn't taking no one else with him. - Right. - And then you started having really good teams now emerging in programs and coming up. How are y'all looking for this upcoming season? - I'm biased, man. So of course, you know, I'm a realist too. But we lost a lot, but we have a lot coming back. So new head coach, Jamie Graham is here, Nashville native as well. So shout out to Jamie, man. He was actually also a part of that team that Diford was on as well. So they went to UAB. So Trent took Jamie to UAB with him. So he did college for a year, then he came back, he's a head coach. So I'm excited about the upcoming season. - And this coaching tree is crazy. - I see how it is, man. Like what I'm seeing right now, just at the high school level from the tree, coaching tree is crazy. Every time I look up, I see guys, I know, you know, they're getting high school jobs in the city and in the Nashville native suits. So I think it's a big push for keeping Nashville natives in the head positions in the city for us, or athletics, y'all. And I think it's picking up, you know what I mean? 'Cause we're keeping a lot of the guys that are not leaving and going to the places. So it's exciting, man. But I think we're poised for a good year, you know, still got work to do, of course. But I think we'll be okay. We'll just, you know, take a game at a time. I think we'll be fine. We'll look up. We'll play good passion. 90 more. 90 more. Those were some good nights. I think they'd be good passion, like 50 in there. And I think the last time. Well, same with my school. Good passion, good passion, what it used to be. Well, as far as Gunkop goals, neither was my school now. But my brother, my good friend, great friend, my brother, C.J. Scott, he won Mr. Football, at Glen Cliff where I was there playing. We played on the same team. We lost him, well, he lost in the cleaning bowl even before they ever went undefeated in the regular season and lost first round of playoffs. But he's the head coach at Glen Cliff now. This is first year. And also Anthony Brown, also a good friend of mine. We grew up together. He's the head coach over Hillsborough, all natural and native. So once again, when I look across the landscape with high school football here in Nashville, I'm seeing a lot of, you know, former Nashville athletes and talent there are taking the rim at the head coaching position. So I'm excited to see that, man. But yeah, Nashville's growing me in high spot. It helps the fitness world, helps what I'm doing. And I'm on both sides of it. So I'm loving it. Yeah, I'm loving it. - You're in a good spot. - Yeah, I'm on both sides. - You're in a real good spot. - Try not to mess it up. You got to mess it up. You got to keep winning. - That makes me really hopeful because, especially with Trent, which I mean, everything I heard from a great coach, great dude, but it's the example of what Nashville is attracting and how quickly it went from-- - Super Bowl went in quarterback, right? - Right, to attracting something from out of town, you know, doing all of that. So to see the new era that it's coming in with natives taking over and kind of hopefully establishing that love of the city and love of the program. 'Cause I think it just really takes people buying in. - Like, the Hasselbeck, the Hasselbeck Pro's over at Innsworth now. - Yeah. - You know that? - Yeah. - So, I mean, those are two guys you seein' right on Sunday night NFL, what ESPN, I guess, winning night football, those guys are here in town there. I mean, so many people coming in Nashville, man, so-- - NBA, Innsworth, Herb Street versus Hasselbeck. - Yeah, there you go. I mean, big name people come in, the kids are here. I mean, it's the place where I feel like it's hard to turn down once you get those type of opportunity. So, man, shout out to Nashville, man. Let's keep pushin' this thing, man. - Shout out to Nashville. - Yeah, shout out to Nashville, man, my hometown. - Yup, Nashville forever. Dion, I appreciate you being here, takin' the time to do this, this is fun. As we keep doin' this, definitely will come out and catch some games and-- - Yeah. - Come support, man, a little hey, man. - Absolutely. - Hey, remember, if you liked this segment, if you like what we doin', make sure you click the link, subscribe, and keep watchin' this, man, and see you on the next episode. - For the love of Nashville, tune in to the next episode. (upbeat music) - Thanks for listening to the podcast. Be sure to tell your friends if you liked it, subscribe, share, and we'll catch you on the next one. - And remember to choose kindness, change the world. We're out. (upbeat music)
