I was in Hawaii for Max's camp ahead of UFC 329, and everybody's been asking me the same questions since fight night. So I'm giving my real take, the fight, the outcome, and what most people missed watching it live.

Then I'm pulling back the curtain on camp itself. What we actually fed him, why this cut was different, and the calls that most fighters and coaches still get wrong.

No filter. Just what I saw from the inside.

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I sat down with Tony Lena, retired Navy SEAL Command Master Chief and General Manager of Virginia High Performance, where he and I work together daily with active duty and retired Navy SEALs. I've learned more about leadership from this man in casual conversation than I have from most books, so I figured it was time to actually put it on record.

Tony spent 27 years in the teams, leading 500 personnel in garrison and commanding multi-branch task forces overseas. He never planned to stay that long. He just never found a reason to leave until he did.

In this episode Tony breaks down the leadership framework he built across three decades, why high performance organizations don't have accountability systems they have self-accountability, the difference between being a laser beam and a light bulb as a leader, and why the best lessons he learned came from the worst leaders he had. He talks about the transition out of the teams, the identity crisis that follows, and how he found purpose again doing what we do every day at VHP.

We also get into school safety and security, the SEAL teams' culture of attrition and what that does to a person over 27 years, veteran suicide, and what actually happens inside the huddle program at VHP where operators from Vietnam to present day sit in the same room and finally start talking.

Tony is the kind of guy that everyone in the teams knows and nobody outside of it has ever heard of. That's by design. But what he has to say is worth hearing.

✅ Fuel Your Performance – Protekt Products

Electrolytes that actually work. Liquid, clean, and built for warriors. Hydration, energy, and recovery—backed by science and performance.

👉 http://protekt.com/truth

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In this solo episode, I'm breaking down one of the most overlooked problems I see every single day working with NFL athletes, UFC fighters, and Navy SEALs. It's not a lack of willpower. It's not a lack of information. It's goal dysmorphia. You're chasing the wrong goal.

I call it the Goal Triangle. Three goals that every person is trying to navigate at the same time: performance, aesthetics, and health. The problem is they don't all play nice together, and the nutrition and lifestyle strategies required for each one directly conflict with the others. I've watched athletes tank their performance, blow out their bodies, and spin their wheels for years because nobody ever told them that you cannot aggressively pursue all three at once.

I walk through real examples from my own athlete case files, including an NFL player I had to talk out of losing weight two weeks before the Super Bowl, and how I took a 400-pound lineman through a full year of goal sequencing to get him to the best shape of his career by preseason. I also give you one of the most effective tools I use with every single client, one simple list that will tell you more about why you haven't hit your goal than any diet or supplement ever will.

If you've been on your fifth diet and still wondering what you're missing, this episode is for you.

✅ Fuel Your Performance – Protekt Products

Electrolytes that actually work. Liquid, clean, and built for warriors. Hydration, energy, and recovery—backed by science and performance.

👉 http://protekt.com/truth

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