Chuck Shute Podcast

Tony Horton (P90X, Power Nation Fitness)

Tony Horton Season 4 Episode 367

Tony Horton is a personal trainer, author and former actor. He is best known as the creator of the P90X home exercise program. He has also trained a long list of celebrities including Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Sean Connery and Billy Idol.  He has a new fitness program coming out on September first called “Power Sync 60”. We discuss the new program, his path to P90X, working out with Tom Petty, overcoming Ramsey-Hunt Syndrome and more.

0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:50 - P90X Inspirational Stories
0:02:53 - Power Sync 60
0:05:23 - Power of 4
0:08:25 - Getting Sick From Stress
0:11:35 - Work Ethic  & Stress Management
0:17:45 - Looking Good Vs Feeling Good
0:20:10 - Exercise & Recovery Evolving
0:23:20 - People Inspired By Good Trainers
0:25:55 - Comedy Background Leads to Training
0:32:15 - Training Tom Petty
0:36:45 - Tom Petty Leads to Other Celebrities
0:41:25 - Moving to L.A. & Being a Mime
0:46:10 - Acting Days
0:48:00 - Tony Horton Kitchen & Failed Businesses
0:52:35 - Working Harder in the Face of Adversity
0:55:35 - Latest Exercise Programs & Trainers
0:59:25 - Go Campaign & World Central Kitchen
1:03:35 - Outro

Tony Horton website:
https://www.tonyhortonlife.com/

Power Nation Fitness website:
https://powernationfitness.org/

Go Campaign website:
https://gocampaign.org/

World Central Kitchen website:
https://wck.org/

Chuck Shute website:
https://www.chuckshute.com/

Support the show

Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!

Chuck Shute:

Alright guys, well this was a big one for me. Tony Horton, the creator and host of the p90x workout program is my guest today. This program sold over 11 million copies and change people's lives around the world, including my own. It was the first time I got serious about diet and fitness. And while I was doing it, I was in the best shape of my life. Tony has some updates to share about the new stuff he's been working on and he also share some insight and background of his own life. He drove across the country with dreams of going to LA but he ran out of gas in Boulder, Colorado, and he later did stand up comedy. He became a celebrity trainer for Tom Petty Bruce Springsteen and Sean Connery some great stories all this and more coming right up Rob, this is cool. This is really check this out. I

Tony Horton:

got the old school. No, look at this blood sweat

Chuck Shute:

in the meal guide all the stuff.

Tony Horton:

Oh, those were the days my friend.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, thanks. I just want to say thank you. I know this is about you. But real quick, my story was just that I was unemployed. Single and out of shape. I just started p90x, I lost 25 pounds, got a girlfriend and got a job. I'm still with the same girlfriend. So thank you.

Tony Horton:

Boom, interview over let me drop.

Chuck Shute:

Have you heard a lot of those kinds of stories like what's like one of the most jaw dropping? p90x story that you've heard?

Tony Horton:

Well, you know, there's I talked about him a lot. Jeremy Yoast lost 180 pounds, you know, he was obese, bigger than big. And he had a fuse right ankle from a high school football injury. And he just got bigger and bigger. And one of his best pals said, hey, you know, you, you're gonna be okay with somebody else walking your daughter down the aisle, because you're not gonna live. You know, I mean, and so he just said, He made two lists, he made the why and why not less on what did the do p90x winner, and the why list was just infinitely longer obviously. I mean, it would be for anybody. And, and he just lost 180 pounds. And he went on tour with me, you know, military tours with the with the Pentagon. And he went on QVC with me, and you know, his life completely opened up. And he's, you know, he's got more energy than 10 men now or is he could barely move his ass when he started. So you know, I mean, I mean, do they still I mean, p90x is ancient, really. Now. We have new programs, this is one of them. And I'm not with Beachbody, and one was a great run. But they didn't want to pay me anymore. So I said bye, bye. And yeah, you still get the royalty though, right? Still do, but they don't advertise any of my stuff anymore. You know, royalties, you know, not not a lot of money, but it's something that puts gas in the car. You know, that kind of thing. But yeah, so tell

Chuck Shute:

me about the new there's something new that's dropping in September, right.

Tony Horton:

Power sync 60. So Dr. Mindy pal, we started by the way, is this official? Yeah, this is this is? Yeah, good. Good. It's a great thing. There's no sound checks. Just you and me man going. I think I you know, life is filled with all kinds of Kismet and serendipity and whatnot. And one of the people that I ran into along the way was Dr. Mindy Pels. And she's wrote a book very, very popular book right now called fast like a girl, you know, a lot of her strategy and spin research and stuff is based on fasting, you know, and so, she has a penile, a three time p90x user, and she loved it. But what she did based on her, her knowledge of the hormonal fluctuations of a woman was that she changed the sequences in the in the route workouts based on her hormonal, you know, her menstrual cycle. And she had much better results in the average woman. Now, this is stuff I didn't know anything about. I always felt like hey, you know, gals, you got to work a little bit harder, a little bit longer, because, you know, men have all the testosterone and women don't as much. And so it worked if you did that, but women had to work a lot harder, you know, doing p90x to get the results they wanted. I mean, obviously, you know, everybody's different. There's people with athletic backgrounds, and have women that have higher testosterone levels and all types of things. You know, they got results quicker than others. But her research was amazing. So we met and we decided, you know, let's make a program for not only men and women, but really specifically focusing on women in their home world and their, their hormonal fluctuations. So we shattered already and and we're putting music to it now and we've had two test groups go through it. And we, we I spoke with this the Zoom call like this, with the second test group, they they were staggered, right. We want to see what the first one did and change certain things if we needed to. And just speaking with these women last night, it was just wild. One woman was 71 years old in tears, saying I've tried everything and my husband gives me so much crap Because I keep doing these things and they don't work hand in hand. Now my husband's like, what? What is this thing you're doing? So you know, we maybe we've hit a real p90x moment for women with power sinks. 60 We hope so, you know,

Chuck Shute:

our sink 60 and it comes out in September, September one. Okay. And then tell me about the other thing you guys have? What is it called power four. Because this this is interesting because it has not only the fitness supplementation and nutrition, but also a mindfulness component. Did I hear that?

Tony Horton:

Yeah, the mindfulness component was critical. And I never did a program with Beachbody that had that had mindfulness or meditation or breath, work, whatever you want to call it, different forms of mindfulness, meditation and breath work are similar, right, your breathing, focusing on you know, just your breath. And then a mindfulness thing is different to you know, this, you know, walking your dog is mindfulness. You know, in the in the garden is mindfulness crankin, zit Led Zeppelin to if that turns you on is mindfulness, just anything that takes your mind off the day to day, you know. And so, you know, when the pandemic struck, a lot of fans were sort of knocking on my door. Figuratively, and hey, man, what do you what do you got next? Because we're bored. I can't go to the gym. I mean, I've done p90x 45 times, what else do you got? And so we just started building workouts one at a time. You know, just to give people something to do, like, let's do a chest and back routine, let's do a cardio routine. Let's do martial arts routine, let's do a whole bunch of yoga routines, because that seemed to be apropos for what people needed during the pandemic. And then we just started filming them, you know, I mean, on phones, so we could, they could sit out and they better build a platform for it. You know, I mean, and then, you know, the early ones, we, you know, the sound sucked, the lighting wasn't great. And half the cast, we're wearing masks. So, fan, the fan base was like, yeah, thank you. And then the third of the fan base masks, what are you trying to suffocate? Oh, Jesus. And then we went to the typical, like, let me Hey, I'm a fan of yours, but I want to bust your balls for helping me, okay. You know, me. And then eventually, you know, we just people got vaccinated. And we did we needed to do to feel safe in a room with other people who have different philosophies. And then we just started shooting them, you know, one after another after another after another, and we didn't have a lot of people doing them. We had like, 2400 people maybe. And we thought it was going to be sort of a temporary thing. And then we get back to normal business. And, but it stayed popular. And we just, I said, Well, let's bring my buddy Michael. And I don't want to be in all of them. Let's have let's give somebody else a shot. And so my friend Michael Bradley got in there and Chelsea McKinney got in there. And Brian Pella Tucci and Scott Morgan and all these guys and gals that I knew that were, that were great that were skilled that had different kinds of ways of getting people fit, you know, because I couldn't, you know, I mean, I shot from the beginning to end we ended up using 24 of the workouts when you think about p90x, it only had 12. But I was in like 45 of them, you know, leading 45 of them. So we cut out a lot of them that were seem repetitive or weren't necessary. And I thought like I said, let's give other people a chance. So you know, it's obviously fitness is a big component, you know, a diet and in fitness are always huge. And then there was the mindfulness component and then the supplementation component because I, I got really sick in 2017 I met with a company that said, hey, look, you're you're suffering from sort of an accelerated form of something called sarcopenia, which is age related muscle loss. I had Ramsay hunt syndrome, which is sick shingles in your ear. Me and Justin Bieber. Yay. And

Chuck Shute:

that was great. I saw the ad on and that's I think I found you again, was it? I saw the ad you were in a wheelchair. I was like what the hell is going on? Then it turns out it sounds like it was mostly stress related because I was like you're not a guy that should get sick because you eat so healthy and you work out

Tony Horton:

well anybody can get sick from anything you know, I mean, let's stress is a bitch and I didn't realize I was under as much physical and emotional pressure mental and emotional and physical pressure as I was I was just trying to live my life and you know like anybody who's successful you know, they're always trying to keep on keeping on with the with the latest and the greatest and meeting with more people and trying new things and and you know 23 failed businesses later I decided that you know, I didn't really decide anything Ramsay hunt decided for me on on having a slowdown, you know, I mean, stop trying to conquer the world. And yeah, so I couldn't my vision was crap, my taste the smell was gone. My, my my what my taste, the smell, my sense of my sense of taste all those things. And my balance, which was the number one thing my balance was was completely gone. And so yeah, I had to do a lot of rehab, I lost 25 pounds, I had to go to the hospital I was in wasn't really an intensive care, but I was, you know, deathly deathly ill based on what I was going through. And so that's what that photo was from when I was, you know, coming out of getting on MRI and was in rough shape. So, you know, I had to start meditating, and I started doing breathwork and I read John John Kabat Zinn's book, full catastrophic living, which was a big deal for me, really helped me kind of slow down and take deeper breaths and not be so attached to the outcome and just kind of go with the flow and still worked hard still had good discipline with with life, but I just needed that, you know, my, the thing I'm Beachbody was not rehiring me based on what I thought I needed. And that was a blow and then Tom Petty passed away, who I'd known for 32 years, and I had friends that were at the Vegas shooting and all that was happening within a week, you know. And then, of course, I got this tingling in my ear, what's going on, and I had these open sores in my ear, man, I went, it just destroyed all these nerves that go into my brain that control, sight and smell and taste and balance warmer. And it took me it took a year to be normal ish. And I'll never be completely normal again. Anybody who gets this will has some form of damage to their nerves, as do I now. But you know, you keep on breathing. You keep on getting up. You keep on working hard. I got plyo tonight, which is the last thing on earth I want to do, but without it, I don't know. Why do

Chuck Shute:

you think your your work ethic is kind of is that like an innate thing? It seems like sounds like it's kind of a blessing and a curse because you're able to work so hard. And I heard the stories you're working all these different jobs and doing mining and acting and comedian and then it took you 20 years to build this thing. And then you just want to keep going like you. You can't like which is kind of like hard for you people like you to relax. Am I wrong?

Tony Horton:

Oh, no, you know, I'm a contradiction in terms, man. I mean, I I'm a lazy Son of God, man. I love effing off. Oh my god. Yeah, I have two gears. I have sixth gear and zero gear. You know, I mean, I do. I mean, in Jackson Hole I mean today for example, because I've been I've we were in we were in Italy, and France and an England, you know, in Paris in London and Rome and running around and getting on bike tours and you know, four and a half hour bike tour on the Appian Way. But you know, the next morning I slept in till 1030 You know, I mean it's not like it's a every morning at six o'clock I did that crap when I was young and I hated it then just training in a driving all over town training celebrities getting up at the crack of dawn and going till nine o'clock at night living on power bars. I mean, I was I was always in survival mode and I kind of still am. It's just the stakes are higher and there's more money involved and all that kind of thing, but I'm still in survival mode. Today. I slept till 930 Yeah, because I didn't have anything scheduled. And I went don't get me up you know, my wife got up early and fed the dogs and you know, we rotate back and forth on that. So that kind of works for me, you know, I mean, like when I'm on the go and I have a lot going on and I'm flying all over the place if I'm in North Dakota or or I'm in Japan or Korea wherever I am, you know, you turn up the volume but I'm really good at turning it off to when I don't have things scheduled. I'm really

Chuck Shute:

well then why is it survival mode? Because I mean, I haven't you you could retire right off just ever. I mean, I feel like if you just quit after p90x You've helped so many 11 million people but you know sold that and you've just helped so many people that would have been enough what makes you keep wanting to keep going mortgages,

Tony Horton:

mortgages mortgage Yeah, like this house that I'm in you know, I mean, people look at this house and think I'm a friggin billionaire. It's just that you know, like every if it wasn't for the Pete the Beachbody royalties of awesome for the power life royalties if it wasn't for the you know, the tonal royalties if it wasn't for you know, like all that stuff. I mean, I would be living hand to mouth and eaten mac and cheese plus we have another place in Jackson Hole you know, I just I just dug deep I like nice things you know, man if I'm going to work this hard and travel all over the place you know, I you know, I might have overextended myself to a certain degree but but I'm I'm not willing to downsize man I'm not willing to do it

Chuck Shute:

so it's gonna say so what I mean you if worse came to worse you could downsize you're not gonna be like good.

Tony Horton:

Oh my god, I could sell the place Jackson Hole and get a smaller place here and I'm done. I can do anything and go anywhere. But but you know, I just bought all new doors and windows in this house instead, you know, do my pool next I'm gonna

Chuck Shute:

Oh, so as part of it you you love the game you love to keep you want to keep stay.

Tony Horton:

Oh, man. I love I love the battle. You know what I mean? And but I'm not as free doubt are stressed out about it as I used to be, which is the reason why I got Ramsay hunt syndrome. You know, I have I have the pendulum swings in both directions. You know, the power of four is a perfect example of how I live my life, you know, it's like, Okay, I'm gonna work out almost every day, I'm gonna be really clear clean food, most of the time, I'm going to take my supplements like, like religion, you know, I mean, that's what I'm drinking, right right now. Because I know what's in there. And I know why it was made for me. And for the people who struggle like I do with certain things. And so you make sure you consume that twice a day. And then the mindfulness thing is, is a is a, I was told by a friend of mine, who's really, you know, has her own mindfulness practice here in Santa Monica, that I'm, I'm a crisis meditator. And I'm okay with that. I'm okay with being called that. I mean, that means it's, it's readily available at any time based on what's, what kind of energy is in the room, or what kind of energy that I'm creating or not creating. And so, you know, four by four breathing five by 512, by 12, whatever it is just, you know, body scan meditation, you know, and I could do it while I'm laying in bed. I did it this morning, when I got up before I got up. I did it in bed before I would help me go to sleep last night. You know, I don't I meditate less than I do. breath work more. Now, that seems to work for me, because there's no sort of spiritual connotations to it. It's just a science of, you know, taking certain breaths, oxygen and carbon dioxide out, you know, and I mean, a whole lot of breath hold work, too. I do a lot of that. You know, I mean, yeah, I do yoga, and I do it. Well, I'm do after like after plyo we do breath work. We'll do it tonight.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, so besides the the breathing and the exercise stuff, I mean, you also say things like, cranking Led Zeppelin or, you know, music going for a walk and just get, there's other things that you can do to take your mind off it. Right.

Tony Horton:

And for me, it's not living for others anymore. And I mean, you know, I was always, you know, like, typically in an interview, I would have had my hair done better, but I don't care anymore. It looks it is what it is. You put a hat on, man, you don't say? I'm no offense to you. I mean, I should make glammed up for you. work fine. I mean, it's the content. It's the delivery. It's the rhetoric, it's the book, it's not, you know, whether Tony combed his hair or not whether people want to watch this conversation, you and I are having, you know, been in this business for 35 years, I just turned 65 I don't you know, I don't know what 65 supposed to look or feel like, but I, but I feel amazing. And I you know, and I feel like I can take on anything? Because I've got that formula, you know, that power of four formula? I mean, yeah, well, yeah.

Chuck Shute:

Isn't that what it's more about? Now, you said that when you were younger, it was 80% what you look like, 20% how you feel? And now it's flipped. It's 80% about, you know, being feeling good and 20% what you look like

Tony Horton:

probably 9010 Really now. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. I mean, look, you know, I like I like it as a 65 year old, but my skin is crap. You know what I mean? And my, you know, I got wrinkles, and, you know, and whatever. But I mean, I can go through a ninja course, like, like, like a bunny rabbit, you know, I mean, and I could climb a 25 foot rope upside down, and do pull ups at the top. You know, I mean, there's things that I can physically do that are really fun to be able to do, I can ski as fast and as hard on steep and scary stuff as I ever have in my life. You know what I mean? I mean, I went mountain biking with my wife in Jackson Hole a couple days ago, and we, you know, 10 miles in 10 miles out, just crank it, you know, I mean, out of the seat and going up that hill, like it's Tour de France time, you know? And, and the reason why I do it is because hey, look, oh, we want to do a bike tour of Paris. Yeah. Instead of getting in a car getting on a bus with a bunch of people. And, you know, I mean, let's make it let's do the more interesting way. Let's let's get on top of it. You know, same thing, the Appian Way. Oh, here are the This is why these stones were not as because this is where Caesar was, you know, I mean, like we're on our bike. Same cars, as Caesar, come up with a flat or roll it back. That's amazing. So you're like you're really getting to see the planet. And you know, I mean, I've been to Japan twice. I've thrown up in F 17 F 15. C, I've thrown up in a Thunderbird. I've jumped out of a Chinook at 16,000 feet with the Golden Knights. You know, I mean, if I was out of shape and overweight, I wouldn't had any of those experiences. So you know, and I'm invited to these places because everybody around here no matter where I am, have done some version of p90x Or maybe the new program or tonal that I'm on now. I mean, I was. I was in Cedar City, Utah, just the other day coming back from Jackson Hole. I get out of my car. I mean literally out of the car with my wife in this eye surgeon pops out of his seat and tells me how much I helped his car. rear. On the tonal, I really, you know, it's like no, it's, it doesn't suck. It's pretty fun.

Chuck Shute:

That's awesome. And so talk about how Exercise Sciences evolved because you said a lot of the exercise stuff has not changed that much. But it's more the recovery stuff like the foam rollers and the ice baths and the supplements.

Tony Horton:

Yeah, I mean, you know, there's a fitness is always reinventing itself to some degree. But then again, when you look at it, you know, from 64,000 feet, it really hasn't changed much since jackal lane. You know, I mean, I mean, Jack Lane was doing this stuff called periodization training, I made it we made up a term for p90x called muscle confusion. You know what I mean? So the idea here, I think, and the reason why p90x works pretty well. And the reason why fitness is sort of the same now is, you know, you work on your weaknesses, you have these things that you enjoy, you do those things that are your favorites, and that's great. And then you also want to delve into some stuff that that is challenging. You know, I mean, if you're not a cardio person, and then maybe if you did it, you'd find some, you'd get some new gains. Or, if you hate yoga, I get that. I mean, I didn't like it at first either. I was just doing it because I wanted to meet girls, not because I wanted to do yoga, but then I discovered in the process of yoga is awesome. I mean, look how horrible I am at this thing. If I'm really struggling at this thing, then it's that in itself means I'm learning my my body's adapting this transformation is happening before my very eyes, you know. So that's why, you know, I mean, I'm going up to LAIRD HAMILTON and Gabby Reese's house, name dropping, and I got another pool with a bunch of weights, and I had my ass handed to me. And I'm like, this is valuable. You know what I mean? I mean, this is super valuable. And that's, I think, where, and here's the thing, this is just my experience and other people. Like if you look at p90x 12 workouts all very different 90 days, no one had really done that before. No one ever did martial arts and yoga and pilates and weightlifting and body weight and abrupt wrecks. No one had, everybody was doing their yoga program. Everybody was doing their Pilates program, everybody was singing on a bike. Everybody was bodybuilding. You know me, but they weren't doing all of it. Right? All of it means you get to avoid the boredom, injuries and plateaus that come from doing the same shit over and over and over again. Yeah, I mean, like, hello. It's not like, that's not anything that's not hard to figure out. But for me, I mean, you know, and that all stemmed from trading, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Idol, and Tom Petty and all these people that had a lot of, you know, eyes on them and looking at who's this Tony Horton guy, and, and my job was not to get fired. So I was, hey, let's try this. Let's get a heavy bag. Hey, let's try some yoga today, hey, let's get you a treadmill, a stationary bike versus a climber, and whatever, and just play you know, as opposed to just whatever what other people were doing. And that that was the that was where I was sort of, you know, early on when I was a trainer getting up at 530 in the morning and working all day driving around my 66 Mustang convertible, thinking I was the coolest guy in the world training all these celebrities even though I was still broke. Really technically, that's that was the groundwork for what became power 90 and p90x, p90x, p90x two. And nobody has really tried to duplicate any of it yet no one's done their version of that yet they're still just in their very myopic you know, their tunnel vision version of fitness. Like look at a peloton. What Why are they struggling? Because it's a bike. You know, I mean, like, there you can on your bike, you can have a screen with people doing other workouts. Okay. You know, I mean, but what, what it would ultimately inspires people I think, are really really good trainers that are that are interesting and fun to be with and inspire, motivate and educate you. That's it like a piece of equipment that requires a whole lot of self discipline that goes away after a while. You know what I mean? And the reason why there's gonna be like, 12 people at my house tonight, driving in traffic from all over the city, is because I make the world worse workouts in the world. Plyometrics quasi fun. Me. Most trainers don't make fitness fun. There are some do that like to dance, right? They're really the kind of the personalities you know, obviously we're doing dance. It's gotta be fun, but my man, I'm a nutbag. If somebody comes in the airport one time I don't know. I think I was in Denver and like, Hey, Tony, you're like the American you're like, America's I think what they say they said, America's fitness clown. I goes, Are you being kind right now? What do you say? And they go no, it's just you know, everybody else made it so dull and boring and serious before you you know what I mean? And it's still like, in that way fitness is still stuck. The reason why the obesity rate is still going up is that I don't have 1000 more people like me not to say I'm not patting myself on the back. Well, I tell you how, how better I am and everybody else has just said everybody else takes his things to stuff too serious. A they just their own. They're specialized in one kind of fitness, which is works for some people some of the time for you know for a short period of time. It just it just needs to be, you know, I was at Idea health, health and health and what it's called the idea health world fitness convention. And there's all these young entrepreneurs, I mean, with a standard big shots in there that, you know, they have big brands, like TRX, and others, and they're all coming up with their little fun toy. And I would say, Hey, this is cool. But what you, you know, what you need is a really good trainer that could take this toy of yours, and figure out 50 ways to use it, and then sell the program to people to use your toy. Oh, and by the way, you better come up with 15 other toys. You know what I mean? Like, you better keep developing and keep, you know, getting your molds for whatever it is, and, and then you'll be successful. But just to sell this, you know, this string with a weight on the end of a year, you're not going to be very popular.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. So is that how you stand out in a sea of fitness experts and fitness programs because there's so many different YouTube channels and tic TOCs. Like, is it just by having standing out with your personality? Because I agree, that is something that drew me to p90x, I was like, Oh, I like this guy. Like, he's, he's happy. He's like, entertaining. And yeah, it was like, it was inspiring, encouraging to watch you every single day for years and years and years.

Tony Horton:

You sick bastard. asticus Bastard. Yeah, I guess I don't know. I mean, look, I didn't even come out to California to be a trainer. I wanted to be an actor and a performer. And so I took the, you know, I did my pantomime on the pier and in Westwood, just so I can make a you know, $25 to live on Cheerios and yogurt for a couple of days, you know, I mean, like, just that was just, that's painstaking stuff, you know, but when you're hungry, you figure it out. Thank God, I had those street performing type skills. And then you take your acting classes, your you know, your scene, study classes. And then And then, you know, I was really big in improv. So I was with Second City, LA. So there, I was laying all the groundwork for the personality that I have now on camera for teaching fitness. And then two years of stand up, I mean, you know, huge room brutal, right? You're up there. It's, it's frickin now it's raw, like, you got to say a thing. And you're waiting for reaction. Either you get it or you don't. And then if you don't, you go home and you rewrite those jokes. And you go stand in line at Club Cafe lounge at seven o'clock, for a, you know, 1130 spot, you know, I mean, I keep just, most people aren't willing to put in that kind of that kind of effort. You know what I mean?

Chuck Shute:

No, that's an interesting talk about your stand up comedy days. Like, did you make friends with any comedians that ended up making it late?

Tony Horton:

Oh, no, I wasn't paying attention to anybody. I mean, everybody, we were, we were all losers, man, we were all just, you know, whether something made it and, and or not, I wouldn't even know. I had a little group of five of our six of us. And we would have these little skull sessions these little like brainstorming sessions. On, on, on, on on the jokes that we were going to do, because we knew that we had like a three minute spot or five minutes mark, and then we would always once in a while, we would shut down a like a little club from Monday night, because Monday nights was slow. And we would have like a little, um, like a little premier showcase, we used to call them and so the five of us would talk to the owner of the club, and then we would you know, we'd have the stage to ourselves. And we were we would invite all our friends and their friend, our friends, friends, so they were very sympathetic audiences, you know, and then we would film them, you know, I mean, we'd have a camera guy there. So we could have our three 510 minute spots so that we can end up at, you know, at the Laugh Factory or at the Improv, or, or the big one on Sunset Comedy Store, Comedy Store. And I auditioned for Mitzi, Gaynor, you know, like, there's no, you're very interesting. You know, but I think more comedy and less pantomime magic, just keep working. The clock doesn't come back in six months, you know what I mean? It's like, it's like, you're just so you would do it, all this stuff. Plus, I was, you know, training people and I was building furniture and I was waiting tables, and I was, you know, driving out to Vegas to be a human statue on a on a buffet table a bit, you know, there was all these crazy gigs, that I had all going at once, living hand to mouth. And that's, you know, there's a lot of people come out here and have those types of stories. A lot of them aren't successful in the end, you know, they're working their ass off, and then they go back to Iowa or Rhode Island, or like, where I was from? You I mean for me? Yeah. Well, go ahead.

Chuck Shute:

Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Just I was gonna go ahead. You know,

Tony Horton:

I just I had an agent who said you got to get in shape. Because budgie and you're kind of skinny at the same time. And that doesn't work if you want any, you know, and I was, I was prettier than because I was younger. And I had a modeling agent, so they wanted me to, you know, for bathing suit ads and things like that. So I started working out and at that time, I was working at 20 Century Fox. With this woman. Do William Phillips who and her husband, Michael Phillips did Close Encounters of the Third Kind taxi driver, and in the staying with Robert Redford and Paul Newman, and they had done those movies, and then she got a divorce from Michael and then she was still in a lot at Fox and, and a buddy of mine got a nice gig with Dolly Parton. And he said, Hey, I got this gig with this crazy woman, you want it? You don't have to wait tables anymore. And I said, Sure. And you know, I got fired every Friday night because I forgot to change a light bulb or something. And then they her partner Harland Goodman, who is used to be the music industry would call me and go, Dude, you're not fired. Come on, come on back. I did that for two years. But I mean, another, they let me go on my auditions. And that was it. I was not a trainer. I was just exercising, you know, after work. And then Harlan noticed my transformation between when he hired me and about eight months in and I and I said, Hey, I can get you back in shape and to you know, so he was my first client, I wasn't certified it know what I was doing. I was just going to world gym and you know, looking at Arnold and Lou Ferrigno, and going 75 sets of chests seems extreme, but okay. That's what they're in here for like three hours, holy crap, you know. And so I would just come I would try to custom mold that for for, for Harlan. And you know, then one of the things you learn as a comedian is you got to know your audience. And so that's sort of the case with anybody, like, you know what I mean? Like you have to read the room. And so Harlan is not going to do 75 sets a chest, but I got to come up with a sequence where he not only pays me for the job that I do for him, but also his training. And then somebody knows, Harland went back to Easton management because he Giulia couldn't make a movie to save their lives. At that point, I had three or four clients, you know, and I thought, all right, well, I'll still wait tables and I'll still train a couple of people and they'll still train Harlan. And then Harlan was walking down the hall of Easton management and Tom Petty was walking down the hall and he looked at Harlan, he said, Hey, Harlan, you You look fantastic. I'm going on tour and I'm fat. Nobody likes a fat rocker. So Harlan said call Tony ordinance so he did my roommate pick up the phone and my roommate didn't believe it was him. So he hung up on Tom Petty and and then Tom Petty called back negotiations to this sounds a lot like nobody gave me so I went that's how I

Chuck Shute:

training him like, what kind of music does he work out to? And like, what kind of conversations Did you guys have? Because I mean, you're with one of the most successful trainers ever. He's one of the most successful musicians. Well,

Tony Horton:

I wasn't. I was a nobody, man. At that point. I was Marlon and Tom Petty. That's the only two and a couple, a secretary and a lot of Fox and two doctors, I think are these two doctors that lived in Westwood that I trained that was it. But you know, he played a lot of eclectic, bluesy stuff. That was his thing he liked like he hit his own radio station. On XM, Sirius XM. I think it was called like Petty's locker or something. And, and this stuff that maybe, you know, your parents had heard that were like, bluesy and country ish. And, and, you know, he would play the birds and he would play you know, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and that kind of thing. You know, he was that was kind of his music that was similar to what he did. And the conversations were all about the early days when he was with Mudcrutch. And how he started and how he would walk around school and nobody, you know, he was a scrawny little kid, nobody used to look at him. And he and his buddies. This is maybe even pre Mudcrutch learned three songs, and they played a school dance, and they Knock the crap out of the school, school dance. And then following Monday, he was a hero. Like, nobody talked to him and like, Oh, my God, you're and then all the girls in school are like, what's your name again? And your weapon you played the school dance. And so he you know, he did it for girls. And his father was a roadie for Elvis. So we tell those stories of I would walk into Elvis trailer, you know, and there's Elvis and he was like, seven or something, you know what I mean? And, and his dad introduced him to Elvis, and he was a huge Beatles fan, too. He was, uh, it was Elvis, Beatles, Bob Dylan, boom, boom, boom, as he was coming up. And then I remember when I was I was training him. Then he went off on a tour, and he came back and he met George Harrison and Ringo Starr. And they came to one, I think, his Madison Square Garden gig and just how they when they came back, I mean, these were his idols. He had never met them yet. And he was already a big star. And they, you know, they knew about Tom Petty. So they went to see the show. And they went backstage and there's, he's meeting, you know, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. And he tells me that story. And he said that the following night, because I think he did a three night gig at Madison Square Garden. The following night, they came came backstage again, and it was his birthday. And they brought a birthday cake. And, and they sang, you know, the Beatles version of they say it's your birthday. I mean, can you imagine? It sounds like crazy. He was like a little kid talking about it, man. It was so cool to hear from him firsthand about that experience. And then of course, there were Traveling Wilburys kicked in and that that was it. I remember when his wife his then wife, Jane, his first wife, who I trained also was having a birthday and my girlfriend and I, I don't think I've told this story to anybody in a podcast, so you're getting some fresh material here. We went to we were invited to everything because I was I saw Tom, you know, I trained him for 32 years, I was kind of part of the family. You know, when I went on tour with him. The after the first time I trained him, he called my parents house, I was thrown out. I don't even know how the hell he got the number. Hey, Tony, as you know, I'm on tour but I'm getting fat again, Jean, and I need you so I went on the New York, New Jersey Long Island part of the tour. So I was at Madison Square Garden in the rafters with a laminate on and you know, having all the luxury of that. And so, you know, it was just it was a wild ride. And it was just a really wild ride to be with with him and do all that and, and train him during that time. It was it was really fun.

Chuck Shute:

Is it true that he did not like going out to dinner because he'd go out to dinner and people be like, Oh my God, it's Tom Petty and that would make him like really uncomfortable.

Tony Horton:

I don't know. I don't know. He told me crazy stories about when he and Bob Dylan would go to Denny's on Ventura Boulevard. Like, like and then talk the whole time was kind of crazy stuff. And that one night where we had that, that birthday party for Jane, George Harrison and like me like I hadn't met him yet. You know, I mean, and there I am sitting there with 20 people. It's like Tom's best friends. Me and my girlfriend at the time, Michelle. And then George Harrison and Ringo Starr sing the song. Me shall my bell dadada to Michelle while we're sitting there with 20 people around and we're both completely Kelly. Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

Are you are like p90x Tony.

Tony Horton:

What was it? No, no, I

Chuck Shute:

was still does that inspire you to go you know what? I'm hanging out with his rock stars. Like I'm in the club. I'm one of the best I'm gonna be one of the best trainers ever. Well, the thing

Tony Horton:

was, there were other trainers that were celebrity trainers that were like a lot of pet a lot of TV time. I had none of that. You know, I mean, it started with Tom and then Tom went on that tour. And he was he cut off the sleeves to his shirts. He was were invest without shirts. He was completely you know, ripped in stride and every like, whoa. So then, you know, when he got back from tour? Um, hello, might It's Billy Euler. So it did the water f did you do you know Tom Petty. Can you come to my house and do that to me? That's my horrible. Bailey's more like, wrought knife. If I have to do F bombs to do Billy, you could say, Mark I don't care. Yeah, but I don't have to worry about my fan base. All right. You know, um, you know, boy yell mates is fantastic. You can lie house I went to Billy's house and you know, I got Billy in shape. And then then it was Stephen Stills because they would say management company. I couldn't do much for Steve and he just wasn't into it. I mean, the Steven still stories you can I could do it two hours on that. It's this was I went on a ski trip with Steve mills. There. I mean, his wife didn't ski so it was you know, a coach, coach you want to go to you want to go to Vancouver ski black home Whistler with me. Sure. You know, I mean, and so I had, I had Billy Tom and Steven, and then Tom introduced me to Annie Lennox. So then I had Annie Lennox. And then I was training Patty scale Alpha Bruce's wife for the longest time because my my roommate was their driver. Right does the work. And then one day I show up at the house, you know, because and then the extent of my exchanges with Bruce where Tony is doing it. In the kitchen, he beat Cheerios say, Hey, John, and I go, Hey, Bruce, was it and then she comes out the street clothes one day? Um, hey, I'm so sorry. I forgot I have an appointment. But you know, Bruce wants to know if he can work out with you today. You know, I mean, I would already had you know, rockers, but it's, it's the boss, you know, I mean, yeah. And he comes out, it comes out. And I you know, other than hello and goodbye. We would walk to the gym was kind of through the woods it was they bought another house next door where they live. And they it was a four car garage, which was their gym. Now we're walking through the woods to go to the other gym. And he goes, Yeah, because I went saw the show the night before he was playing. The Great Western forum is what it was called then but which is now the Staples Center. But well, it's a different building. But so while he goes, Yeah, I got back from the show and, and I turned on the TV and Patti and I there and there you are, you're on the you're on the TV and I turned Patti, and I said, Hey, look, it's Tony, your trainer. Can I work with him tomorrow? So my buddy Tom, who's the driver goes the power television dude, Bruce sees on the tube and all of a sudden he wants to train with you. And they traveled a lot. Their main their main spot was New Jersey, obviously. So I would only see him when they were in town. And it was great. And it was just so when Bruce was in town my Monday Wednesday, Friday was Billy Idol First up in Hollywood. Then I go all the way to Malibu and train Tom. And they go back to Beverly Hills and train me I'm gonna be Tom and then Annie Lennox lived around the corner from Tom in Woodland Hills. And then then it was Stephen Stills then it was Bruce.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. Then there was Stevie Nicks next Bryce Dallas Howard. Sean Connery. Right wasn't the unknown Connery. I

Tony Horton:

got him ready for medicine man. And then Shirley MacLaine? Oh my god. That was, if I only had a phone then if I only this is all pre internet, really free phones. But, but yeah, Shirley MacLaine was one of the most interesting people ever, you know? Just, you know, because, you know, she was part of the Rat Pack, man. I mean, she was, you know, and of course, she obviously was able to leave her body and going out or space and stuff that, you know, like she says she did. And she had it. She had a, you know, she had a vocabulary like a sailor man. She was relentless on the language. It was, I mean, it was amazing, amazing and brilliant. I mean, the woman was just absolutely. You know, she was she knew who she was. She knew what she wanted. She was a go getter. I almost killed her on a ski machine, though. That was I think that's the reason why she stopped trading with me. I said, I don't think you're ready for it. Surely she'll don't let me try that thing. And you just wait. And then I made to catch him before head hit another piece of equipment. Like literally, I drove across the room and grabbed her before her head like slammed on the thing as she was shaken. You know, she was freaked out. Yeah, yeah. That's

Chuck Shute:

crazy. So part of that though, is that you were in the right place at the right time. Like you were in LA and Hollywood. Like you couldn't have done that if you were living in Nebraska or something.

Tony Horton:

No, not in Rhode Island. You know, I'm an 18 at after not graduating from the from the University of Rhode Island yet my mom, one of my best buddies from high school who just graduated from Syracuse said, Hey, what are you doing this summer? I don't know. I'm gonna go to Boston and wait tables. Oh, My life sucks. I haven't finished I didn't graduate all my friends graduated. So now I gotta, you know get through this summer. I don't want to live with my parents because that would be lame. So I'm going to try to find an apartment and he goes, I'm going to California man. I'm leaving in a week. Get the car. I'm like, Dude, I got I said, I got 400 bucks in the bank. That's why I've gotten up the way he goes. We'll figure it out. So we slept in the car. We slept at motel sixes. We ran out of money in Boulder out of money in Boulder. And my parents were freaked out like, Well, you got California, it's so far away. And that's when you made a phone call. It was like, Oh, right. It was landlines and you know it cost you had to do collect and your parents would get a bill for $40 to make a phone call from from LA to to Rhode Island. But I went anyway. And I got to Boulder and I packed my mind stuff. And I made $125 in a day. And Blau. Yeah. Because it's a big speed performance everywhere. I mean, I was all day doing a mime. And

Chuck Shute:

it's so weird to think of you being a mime. I just I thought well, first time I heard that. I thought I misheard it. I was like, no, that didn't hear that. Right? No, you really were a mime. It's crazy. I was

Tony Horton:

in mind I was it. Yeah. Because I had a speech issue. As a kid, I had a speech impediment called cluttering. Yeah. And cluttering is just the inability to be able to slow down and think about what you're saying. So that you can disseminate, articulate, and inform. And that was me myself. And I just, you know, and I got out of it by just reading books, listening to it on a tape recorder, or magazine or newspaper, just read the words on the page and slow the F down. And, and my vocabulary was pretty lame as a child. I did. I was part of the issue was I was always searching for the right word, I want to say the right thing, but I didn't have the right word. So I did the I did the word of the day thing with a calendar, you know, I would like you know, January 3, you know, protagonist, okay, I'll write that down. Or, you know, column basis, or didactic, okay, right. And I tried to, I tried to integrate those words into my daily life. And so when the word would be there, like, oh, okay, here's a chance to slow down and find that word and use the word. I mean, I was a mallet Prop A lot of the time. I wasn't probably saying the right thing. Mallet probably see what I did there. Chuck, I used a big word.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. And I'm sorry, you're gone. Yeah. So

Tony Horton:

so that was, that's why I was a mind because I wanted I needed money. And I wanted to, but I was too afraid to be able to do jokes or anything, right, or whatever kind of physical comedy that I was doing. I didn't want to speak. So mine was my way to, you know, when I was in college, I would do these these gigs. I would crank up and like Magical Mystery Tour music, or, you know, like Beatles, I was a big fan of Beatles and The Beatles were still you know, I was the 70s. So they were still really super popular. And I found some acid jazz music that was really trippy and felt like John Lou Ponte was a great Google him man. Great music you've never heard before. And I would crank it up and I would do all these bits. I did this X ray to Manassa tois on stage where it was me into invisible women doing whatever. You know, I mean, I'm on the call. I'm on my college campus. So everybody was you know, whatever was ripping off bras, I think Hanson fake bras, it was disgusting and awful. And now if I did, I'd be arrested. I'd be it'd be the Lenny Bruce of the woke world if I tried to do that anymore. But at the time, that was what I did. It was real. I'm not gonna deny it didn't happen. But it was, you know, it was the music was fun. And then the physicality of it was fun and, and that's what I would do out in Boulder, and I made that money and I got myself to Huntington Beach. And in Huntington Beach. We just started, you know, I did more mime and I painted houses and whatever handyman stuff, which I was good with my hands. I was, you know, I did a lot of carpentry as a kid. And so that's that was the early days, and then the exercise came in, you know, only because that's where the women were to they were in the gyms got, you know, trying to go into clubs at night and whatever. I mean, it was this, it was the 80s Man, you know, I mean, if you know anything about the 80s it was, it was it was fun in the 80s you know? Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

So then after you made it with the p90x and stuff, I mean, did you want to revisit that stuff? Because that was your dream to be an actor did you want to try to be and I heard you had something like five TV pilots? Were all those fitness things or were they other come to them? Or

Tony Horton:

some of them were some of them weren't? You know, I did some commercials. I did a bear commercial. I did a cheese commercial. I was in a I was in The Last Action Hero with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tiny little part. I played a cop called wash wash. Legger Walsh later, Walsh Legger. I was in the 13th Warrior Within 20 Min. Daris. I had two little scenes, you know, like three and a half hours in the chair were in prosthetics. And, you know, and I was still going to my, you know, I was I went to Darryl Hickman 's acting class for three years Debbie Reynolds dance studio every week driving him, you know, all the way to Burbank from the other side of town and, and traffic. I just, you know, I mean, I learned scenes from Raging Bull. And you know, you know, and whatever. And then I took a class of with Brian Reese on fountain and Hollywood. I was into it, man, I love the community. I made such great i lifelong friends because of those those days. Second City LA and it was brief because it shut down didn't survive, sadly. And then the comedy too, you know, these were just just great. I just I love comics. I love actors. I love spending, like most of the people that I work out with our actors in comics, you know, I mean, they just that's, that's my that's my group. You know, I mean, I just enjoy their company. I mean, I still I have accountants that are friends, do I have other friends, but I just love outrageous, silly, confident performer types. That's, and that's kind of who I am. I guess, too, you

Chuck Shute:

know? Absolutely. That's interesting. Tell me more. Because you always talk about this, like 23 businesses that failed. I thought this idea that you had for putting your meals into like, gas stations or seven elevens

Tony Horton:

Oh, my God, dude, we met with 711. And the CEO was all about it. And we were like, seven, there's like 5800 of them all around the world. Or 85,000. I don't know how many seven lemons. And we were in about 110, seven lemons. It was called th kitchen. Take that logo and put the word kitchen there. Okay. And oh my god, we were we were I was ready to buy my castle and I was ready to buy my alligator feed for the moat that they would live in. You know, I mean, because and then but the problem was at the seven because 711 is a is a Japanese owned company. But they also their headquarters for their US headquarters were in Texas, and the CEO was all about just let's get some healthy food. It's all rolling hotdogs and cigarettes and Red Bull on this freakin place. You know what I mean? And, and they unfortunately, there was another contingency at 711 that hated the idea. fought him tooth and nail and they ended up putting out in the end you know, with the whole project, from soup to nuts, we came up with the with the salads and the sandwiches, they were freaking awesome. And we I had my own little healthy beverages. It was just so cool. We did this big promotion where I went all over Southern California, and we had newspapers come in and, and, you know, TV, our TV crews would come in, you know, local news would come in and did this thing. And it was it was a brilliant idea. And it should have kept going. But you know, I mean, there were just too many people fighting it. Risk. What do you think? Should I figure it out? Spam risk, you know, you know, yeah, no, don't pick that one. He's not a good guy. Just hang up on spam. Right? So that's a

Chuck Shute:

great one. So what else have you learned from the businesses that failed? Like you feel like maybe you need to be in charge of some of this stuff. If you put it on somebody else then they crap out?

Tony Horton:

Yeah, yeah. Because you know, look, I had I Had I had my own watch failed, I had my own insults failed, had my own mouthguard failed had the five TV pilots fail had three home delivery food services failed on top of the one that was 711. You know, I mean, I couldn't even I added them up like a couple years ago when it was 23. But you'd have to keep and by the way, every time you do one of those deals, a lot of lawyers at their $575 an hour. flush that down at the toilet, you know, because I was the p90x guy, everybody and anybody knew who I was, no matter where I went, and they all want to have those meetings and create those products. But then again, my story is honestly not that different than a lot of other entrepreneurs. You know, I mean, right now, you know, power nation, stroke you know, pumping along I'm on total now, which is you know, total has had its ups and downs, just like peloton has had its ups and downs, but it's a viable, incredible piece of equipment, and they're doing everything I can. I'm the only trainer in LA left, all the other trainers in total are in New York City. They had they had cutbacks, but my stuff's really popular. So they keep me around, thank God, I mean, I love working for them that I have a total in my house, I'm on it every almost every day. It's an amazing piece of equipment. And I'm thrilled to be part of that. But now I have three and four jobs. I mean, I was just at idea, having all these meetings that had a meeting with the with the folks that created this thing called the endless rope, which is an absolutely incredible piece of equipment. But you know, it's just one piece of equipment. I mean, I you know, there's a lot it's, it's got a lot of versatility to it, maybe not as much as the terminal, but it's a really cool thing, and maybe I'll be working with them soon, too. So, you know, it's a grind and it's a struggle and, you know, a little breath work here and there allows me to be okay with the fact that, you know, this endless rogue thing might not work out some of the meetings that I had idea also might not work out, that's just the process. But I have my own supplement line called Power life that's blowing up. Right? I had that meeting, we made those products. It's still going yay, you know, I've been with total three years. I'm like the number one guy on the machine. It's just cool. That's why they keep me around. So that's good. There's two forms of income and then the project that Sean and I started is is is growing as opposed to a lot of them Beachbody dying peloton dying, other companies, they're dying, you know what I mean? They're not dying, but they're just, you know, it's not it's not going according to plan, we are presently in a phase of growth.

Unknown:

That's nice, which is

Tony Horton:

nice. Yeah, that is

Chuck Shute:

I heard you talking about how like there was a death in your family. And instead of how most people have something, the tragedy comes, they start eating crappy, and they drink more. And you started working out more. So it was like you had an opposite reaction to that you. tragedy came and you decide I'm going to work harder instead of less hard.

Tony Horton:

And by the way, that's that's not my nature. But I know the difference between common sense and stupidity. You know, I mean, I mean, maybe stupidity is the wrong word. But I was on Sanjay Gupta, his podcast and he said, you know, during the pandemic, they were they were hunks, chunks, monks and drunks. And I added a fifth cat or fifth category called plumps and it goes with people who think the whole thing's a scam. Got that T uncle who just died, you know, I mean, but the monks not leaving the house at war mosque in the house. Like they were just shutting it down, which, you know, they wanted to be safe. Maybe they had immune issues. And they thought that it's or they maybe they thought it was the plague, which, you know, for some people it was the drunks who just went right to the bottle, man they disliked they were just, you know, intoxicated for most of the pandemic. And then the chunks were the eight themselves. I mean, I have friends that I hadn't seen during the pandemic. And when I saw them, I was, Oh, my God, like, they were eight sizes bigger than they were and they'd never been big in their lives. I mean, I saw tons of that, where people just like, anesthetize themselves with food. And then and then the the one category that, that Sonjay said I was was hunks. The hunks, like all things going bad. Who do I got to be to be the best I can be? Like, how can I rise above all this insanity? And that's what I did. I just, that's why i That's why I did three live free workouts on on Instagram and Facebook every week for like, a year and a half. You know, Shawn, and I had our dance party on Fridays. Wow, you know, I did yoga every week. And then I did apply. I apply a workout every week for people just because that's, you know, and then from that spawned that, you know, by doing instead of just sitting on your ass and feeling sorry, eating and drinking, you and me and hunkering down. I mean, I hunkered down. I was kind of monk monk like to I. I was concerned. I mean, I don't know. I believe in science and stuff. And I knew people who had passed away so yeah, No, and they weren't necessarily old or auto immune deficient, they were just

Chuck Shute:

right. Well, and isn't that one of the best things that you could do? Because you can't control what goes on with a virus, but you can control your own health. So if you know your

Tony Horton:

own behavior now, you should. And by the way, there's the hard thing, and there's easy thing. The hard thing usually results in positive outcomes, the easy things does the opposite of that. It's like duh, I mean, I'm a lazy guy, and I pick this, you know, I mean, because common sense says, that's gonna get me through this thing. And as a result, there's a whole new program. That's that's emerged from it, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Amazing. Yeah, I'll put the website in the show notes. And then the, what's the what was called the power sink comes out in September our sink 60 our sink 60 Okay, and that's specifically more for women.

Tony Horton:

Well, it's for both men and women, there is a men's schedule, the workouts are hard and challenging and men are gonna love it. But then the women's women's have multiple calendars based on you know, pre menopausal pre menopausal, postmenopausal. You know, I mean, which is really sort of, you know, getting into the weeds, to give them the best chance to get the best results. And our to test groups have so far proven that, you know, Dr. Mindy was right. So there's that, then there's the power of four, which is the original, you know, supplementation, mindfulness, food and fitness. There's that. That's part of that, too. So it's power nation. fitness.com.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, and then is it so it's obviously not the DVDs anymore, so is it people

Tony Horton:

streaming, it's a streaming service, you know, you go to that link, and then you sign up the first week is, is free, you know, I mean, you just get in there and you look at anything you want. So that would that means you would you would sign in and you'd be in the trial phase, seven days or up, you know, goes away and and then you have to decide whether you want to do one of you know, September what you can wait for power 660 Or you can get in there and start doing the power of four, or you can do Michael Bradley's program or Chelsea McKinney's program, or Scott Morgan's program, or Steve HomeSense program, and I'm really loving that part of it. Like we shoot a lot of these at the house here I've got a pretty decent gym downstairs. And so I'm now you know, it's not Beachbody doing it. For me, it's me doing it for people that I if I weren't Beachbody, I would have hired them. And these are folks that are just people that I love that I trust that I know that are good. And giving them their shot, having them you know, maybe having the kind of success that I have, and, and the ones that keep digging down and, you know, spend time on social media and promote their stuff, they will rise to the top. And the good thing is that our you know, our subscription base is not very high right now, but it's growing. And so if they're busy, right, and it grows, and they'll be made making some decent bread, and that's it like you know, there's a lot of people with and they all have other kinds of jobs. You know, like my one guy Michael who's in Utah, he works at three or four different gyms, you know, driving all over town I go to wouldn't it be nice just to work here a couple of days a month and make that same kind of bread and then we can spend more time in the hiking with your kid.

Chuck Shute:

You said you think he's gonna be the next big thing.

Tony Horton:

Um, he could be if you wanted to want it. But he just wants to live in a year man and do animal slow in a year with his wife and kids. And he doesn't care about fame, or money or any of it. He doesn't want to. He came here to live here. It was working in a you know, I said come here to town be here for four months. This is before he was married, had a child in the pandemic hit and he had to go home and and deal with, you know, family stuff and whatnot. So, but he doesn't care about that. There's another friend of mine, Brian pellet Tucci and his, his program just launched was the last one on June 1. And I think he could be the next me because he wants it. He is. He's funny. He's an actor. He's a comic. You know, he's done comedy. He's fit as hell. He's ambitious as hell. He's, he's great on camera. So maybe, you know, that would be fun and fun to see him take off. And my friend Scott Morgan, too, is another one that could it's really working hard to get there. Yeah, so we'll be fun to be that guy goes.

Chuck Shute:

away my young, like a mentor. Isn't that kind of what you want to do? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's really cool. Go ahead. No, I was gonna say I always like to end with a charity. I think you work with a GO Campaign. Is that right?

Tony Horton:

I do. I go campaign.that.org

Chuck Shute:

I think it is or.com You'll have to google.org It's right here right in front of me.

Tony Horton:

Thank you very much. Yeah, you know, it all stemmed. If you did p90x, you know who Scotty Pfeiffer is Connie Pfeiffer in his famous scissors, Scotty Pfeiffer scissors. Yeah. He was a screenwriter and a lawyer and, you know, whatever doing his thing here in town. And then he went on a working vacation to Tanzania. And he met he met these young kids at the base of Kilimanjaro that were doing acrobatics and juggling and stuff and they were all orphans. And this guy David Who ran this orphanage called tuner hockey, pulled these kids off the street taught them how to perform. And anybody who climbs Kilimanjaro has to go right by tuner hockey. And Scott spent three weeks there. And he came back and said, I don't need to screen right anymore. I don't need it to be a lawyer. I need to. I didn't need to make this work better. Because David is he's great. And he's trying, but we got to help more kids in like, 30 kids, we got to help 1000s of kids. So I'm teen years later, Scott started his own version of tuna hockey called GO Campaign. And so far 185,000 Orphans pulled off the street and given a life. You know, we raise money for books in schools, and

Chuck Shute:

I think it says 195,000 Now,

Tony Horton:

is it 195 My dad is old. I got old dad.

Chuck Shute:

That's amazing, though. Wow. What I didn't realize that was the guy from that was in p90x Yes, yes. Yes. Yes.

Tony Horton:

And the other camp the other the other charity too is World central kitchen because I you know, I just donated a substantial part of my, my, my I just you know, because what's what's going on in Ukraine makes me completely insane. I just cannot believe that there's in this modern world. A jag off like Putin is getting away with what he's getting away with man, I just, I want to see him hung by the friggin ear lobes one day, and so I just will central kitchen. A huge chunk of my portfolio, like my wife, and I had financial advice was like, What are you doing? I go, man, goes around comes around. It's interesting, when that money went out, that the set that that same amount of money plus came in just through that another means? And that's what I'd say, I'm doing this seminar right now. I'm building the seminars. Actually, I think we, I go live on the 11th of August. And altruism. And civility is a huge part of my belief system. It's not like anybody would argue with those two things. I think a lot of times we get caught up in our little tribe and our little camp and we, you know, mean, we're, we're fighting the wrong fight with the wrong people. And we're holding on so tight to our stuff. You know what I mean? And it's like, do the opposite of those two things. And you wouldn't believe how your world opens up. You know, just just charity and giving and loving and patience and you know, these are that's why we're here I think not just, you know, oh, absolutely owning expensive shit is not right.

Chuck Shute:

Well, and you inspire so many people with your workouts and stuff. You've changed so many lives by doing the fitness stuff that's making the world better too. So

Tony Horton:

Well, I mean, partly partly why I'm who I am is all self self help, which is not I don't like that term personal development. But once you go through the personal development cycle, whatever it is, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, Gary Zhukov. Like once you get all the Guru's and you learn what they have to, you know, em, Scott Peck, I mean, all these a lot of these books are personal development books, you learn that, oh, it ain't about you. It's not about you anymore. You get your shit together. So that you can now begin to focus on not you anymore. You're done. Right now. It's like total strangers. It's just, you know, p90x exists, because I went up to a guy after reading a chapter in a book that said, God anyway, do something nice to somebody you don't like and I know that's stupid. I don't want to do that. But I want to do the chapter. And I did it. And the guy introduced me to Carl Daikeler, who was the CEO of P Knight of Beachbody.

Chuck Shute:

Well, there you go. Amazing advice. so inspirational. Thank you so much for doing this and feel free to come back anytime.

Tony Horton:

Feel free to invite me anytime and next time. I'll comb my hair.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, awesome. Thank you so much. All right, do later. Okay, bye. Tony Horton still can't believe he did my podcasts pretty wild. Make sure to check out his website links are in the show notes. Also, make sure to follow Tony on social media to keep up with everything he's doing. And while you're on there, you can follow our show we post little clips on Instagram and Tiktok and make sure you subscribe wherever you watch or listen, especially a YouTube channel. I appreciate all your support for our guests and the show. Have a great rest of your day and shoot for the moon.

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