I got a responsibility to be better I'm in takeover mode the doctors had said to me you over 50 this is how it's going to be nah my days of taking shortcuts is over I'm in the best shape that I've been in in 25 years I'm not going back hi welcome back to the ultimate human podcast I'm your host Gary Brea human biologist where we go down the road of everything anti-aging longevity biohacking and everything in between woo do we have a show for you today a very good friend of mine that really doesn't need any introduction he may be the most powerful voice in all of sports media best known as an executive producer on ESPN's first take an analyst on NBA Countdown ESPN and ABC's long ing NBA pregame show again one of the most powerful voices in all the sports media he is a New York Times bestselling author a book that I'm going to talk about in the podcast which is a mustre not for the sports fanatics alone but for people that are just looking to learn more about how life's Journeys shape you um he is also a podcaster he's somebody that I would like to call a personal friend he's deeply authentic he's real he's visceral he's known for his commentary and again a very personal friend of mine welcome to the show Stephen A Smith what's up my brother you are looking chiseled brother you came in and dud he came in in the cropped hoodie I was like oh we're about to break it down now um nine and a half months into our journey now yeah yeah I nine and a half months um I can't say enough about where I'm at right now I mean listen I don't say this often ain't too many people in this world to think but I I mean you are a friend and I love you for what you've done for me personally um thank you I never saw this coming um to be quite honest with you I I saw the interview that you did with Dana White and you know we go back to just rewind the audience and just reminding what happened you had given Dana White the head of the UFC about 10.4 years to live if I remember correctly right and I remember when I called Dana and I told him I wanted him to introduce me to you um because I knew what bad shape Dana was in because I've known Dana for a while and he was never shy about confiding in me in terms of what he was going through and so I wanted him to introduce me to you and I literally just came to you because I had two missions number one I wanted to get rid of these headaches and number two I wanted to lower my cholesterol D I remember you the day you walked into my condo in Miami yeah I was like this is a guy on a mission yeah because you were very specific about your goals and you were very specific about laying out what you wanted to get out of working together and you were like can you do this for me yeah let me know right now the interesting thing and and this is things that you didn't know for the first few months until you got to know me and we really got to cultivate our relationship again I was having headaches every day and I would have headaches every day when I woke up spanning practically my entire adult life spending over 30 years you just learned to deal with it and I just learned to deal with it we off work it off and as the day would progress it would subside a little bit or whatever but when you've got a lot of headaches and stuff like that your temperament is compromised um your focus is compromised you think about things along those lines so I just wanted those things to heal and then I knew that I had uh bad cholesterol my numbers were at 280 284 it had got to a point where it jumped to about 301 and I said it was just those things and the first thing you said is let's take your Bloods and I said only under one condition I do not want to know how long I have to live you I want to hear that you the polar opposite of I want to hear that let the Lord take me when he going to take me don't tell me don't tell me don't tell me you know exactly what he said and you told me you know you said you don't have you're not it's not it's not dehydration you're not not dehydration it's that you don't have enough sodium and I started taking the powder and with my water and I went three months without a headache I remember when you called me and you're like it work that fast I said I asked you I said that's fine then we were talking about cholesterol right you said well here's your problem you said your blood is swimming in Sugar MH and we got to address that and all of a sudden I went on that mission and PR diabetic at the vitamins it was the supplements I was pre-diabetic uh they say when your A1C levels are at 64 you're diabetic full-blown I was at 6'3 yes when I saw you and when I started following your plan next thing you know I start losing some weight I start feeling more energetic yeah and my belly was going down yeah I remember and and I have a picture that I look at and I'll show it to you I have a picture that I look at every morning maybe we throw up some uh pre and post so so people can see the journey cuz there's a lot of people listening to this without question that are identifying with what you're saying they're like um look my sugars are out of control you know I've got I've got headaches every day um and I've just learned to deal with them and I often talk about how you know people get to a certain age and they just chalk these things up to a consequence of Aging you know what I mean I'm supposed to have headaches I'm supposed to feel lethargic or have poor short-term recall I'm not supposed to be sleeping that well that's what I was when I came to you part of agent um because the doctors had said to me look man you over 50 look man this is how it's going to be this is how it's supposed to be and I would look at them and I'm like nah nah and and and you get to a point where you resign yourself self defect CU you try so many different things different supplements different exercises etc etc but everything works in combination with one another and so when I met with you and you talked to me about the regimen that I needed to get on this is the amazing part you can be the most brilliant doctor in the world if all you have to show for it are numbers no one's going to buy in right because we're visual creatures and we want to see the results otherwise we're just not going to be so it's nice to go to the doct that's why you sit here in in in a sleeveless well I'm just saying but it was like once I started seeing the results all of a sudden it was a lifestyle change right because now I'm in the gym six days a week now I'm lifting 5 days a week I'm calling my trainer to work out I'm available let's go I'm getting on video I'm doing Pilates I'm running I'm doing all of these things but it all started with seeing you and you telling me what my blood blood showed you and what I needed to do and when I and when I started following that regimen and I saw the progress it inspired me to do what I'm doing in every other facet and I sit here today I'm not even finished yet I've lost 30 lbs my cholesterol numbers have dropped by about a 100 um I remember I was looking now your choler perect my my insulin levels uh it went from like a 27 to two yep um 27 27 is is insulin resistant for for those people listening that don't don't know what those numbers means that means that you were insulin resistant you were continuing to secrete more insulin but not bringing the blood sugar down the blood sugar was high the 3month average of the blood sugar was high and the body was producing more and more insulin and this was just further slowing you down adding to the brain fog adding to the inability for you to see results when you work out which at the time you said was very frustrating you're like you know I'm putting in some effort right but at some point you go why bother yeah you do you get to that point especially when you have folks in in the medical profession that are telling you listen this is Father the time this is age etc etc and certain things can be that way and you may not be what you used to be but there's no excuse for being as bad as we may be sometimes and so you've got to find that balance and for me again if you go to a gym and you work out with a trainer you want to see muscles you want to see definition you want to see progress and far more often than not when you go to doctors what happens is is that it's not that they're always wrong or anything but they're telling you these are what your numbers show and if you show slight Improvement okay take this medication and it will continue to show those numbers well that's not living right that's not living that might remember what you said to me what what was the quote you you you said to me I remember I was out on my my uh I said I said there's a difference between I've said many things to you but one of the things I said to you is there's a difference between being alive and living yes that was my favorite quote I was out on the porch in uh in Colorado and you said you know there's just a difference between being alive and living that's right and I really can say that over the last nine and a half months the progress that I've made I'm in the best shape that I've been in in 25 years that's amazing and I've went from 208 lbs I'm at 177 now some people would say oh you skinny you skinny skinny but then my trainer said to me actually you're not right he said forget the scale look in the mirror yes and so all of a sudden I look in the mirror my arms got a little biger chest got a little bigger my shoulders got a little broader it's my stomach that went down precipitate I mean remember how happy you were it's it's I went from a size 36 pants to a 32 uh a suit that was a size 56 is now a 50 you know all of this other stuff I've had people looking at me ready to faint because they're like what the hell is happened you know and yeah you you never get tired of that but you know a lot of times when people say they want to lose weight what they really mean is I want to lose fat right and so one of the things that we tracked was we tracked your muscle mass to make sure that your muscle mass was going up while the weight was coming down and that's a great indication that you're not sarcopenic you're not age you know you're not you're not muscle wasting you're actually fat wasting which is why the body starts to shape itself so much and but to your credit you know you you were from one very intellectually curious if not the most intellectually curious patient I've ever had and I I have infinite um patience for that because you always want to know why am I taking this what is it going to do what are my expectations are there any side effects am I going to be have to rely on this long term and we kind of came to an agreement that we wouldn't do anything that would borrow from your future right we wouldn't do anything that would create a dependency or something that you would have to rely on and we wouldn't do anything where you would have to consistently increase this dosage over time like the endless choo choo train being on a pharmaceutical right and stayed within those guidelines but then you put in the work man so I want to talk about some of the transitions you made in your life like some of the dietary changes routine changes because you know highlighting your schedule right I mean there are very few people myself included that have the travel schedule that you do and also have the media schedule you do because you don't dictate that right right but you got to be committed I mean listen this is me I want to be the best at whatever I choose to do and in life you have to find different things to make yourself motivated when Michael Jordan was playing basketball he would conjure up these stories about his opponents to get inside his head so he would be motivated to go out there and just did he really and just take him out you know know stuff like you know this guy said this to that this to me or that to me and the guy never said it but Michael Jordan would put that in his head to take him out you know you have Kobe Bryant the dear friend of mine God Rest his soul U you know he was an assassin and he thought the same way and the doubters and the haters and stuff like that for me people realiz that you you don't always have to it's not about being an athlete or whatever whatever genre you're in whatever you do that you're passionate about chances are if you're successful at that there's an abundance of people who want to take what you've got unb they want to believe that they're better than you etc etc and what what excites you what motivates you well here's what does it for me what does it for me is that no matter how blessed and fortunate and how much God may have blessed me to achieve what I have achieved I know for a fact that in every single thing that I have done in my adult life no one has seen me at better than 50% I can promise you that no one I I have awakened every morning tired fatigued having to pull myself out of bed I've awakened every morning with headaches having to overcome obstacles just before I get my day started I have awakened every day foggy not focused stressed whatever it is whatever's going on in your life all of these things the better you feel healthwise The More emboldened You Feel The Tackle whatever challenges come your way and a matter of fact what happens is you embrace the challenges and you look forward to it because it's a test as to what you can withstand what you can overcome what you can endure and when you get to that point where you see yourself literally making progress on an everyday basis again it's the equivalent of going out and working out in the gym when you're working out with a trainer you're seeing things but the difference between you and most people that I've dealt with in my lifetime they could come to me and say okay you're eating a little a little bit better and as a result of that your cholesterol numbers are down and your sugar levels are seem manageable and things seem to be getting better but I never felt it and I certainly never saw it right and so for me the difference now is that I see it and feel it in everything that I do not just as it pertains to my health but as it pertains to my work as it pertains to my personal life how I deal with stressful situations and stuff like that it's like bring it on I'm ready to go and most exciting part about it all is that I haven't even gotten to where I intend to get yet right that's a big statement that the best people have seen you at is 50% because and I think a lot of people out there right now are learning to cope with what they have rather than get rid of that anchor I I always talk about the little tiny anchors off the stern of the boat right you can either you can either pull them up or you can add power to the motor and just deal with it you know just kind of push through it and as these things start to leave your life headaches wake a water retention brain fog poor sleep lack of focus and concentration poor waking energy as those things start to leave your life it's like man the tid's racing all the so if you felt a difference in not just your career but things like your relationships your energy level um your cognitive function like did you feel that other areas of your life have been really touched by this in a positive way oh yes oh yes I mean it's like first of all positive feelings I'm talking about physically physically healthwise just as is the case with emotions and spirit positive feelings are an addiction and what happens is when you feel that way your tolerance level for the negativity evaporates and by that I mean it doesn't have to be literal negativity if somebody's spirit is around you and they're defeatist they have a defe attitude I can't do this I can't do it well you're like yeah you can yes you can yeah where's your discipline where's your sacrifice I hate cold no one hates C more than me one of the funniest conversations that brought me to my knees oh my goodness I mean stepen Steve Harvey that's right you brought me to my getting in that cold plun oh my Lord you got listen I got in that cold plune and listen for for for your your VI God this was this was this was a Sunday night a month ago it was a Sunday night I remember and I called you and I said I just installed this cold plch it took me eight and a half months to do it but I said I said I just I just installed this cold punch I'm going to do it and I said man man I can't I can't I feel the cold just oozing out of the tub I can't get in there man I can't get in there and then I caught that damn Steve Harvey who's supposed to be my boy and and and he was doing it and he was like oh he lit you up he said he said my brother I got no help for you you don't suffer he said it's going to be the hardest thing you ever did in your life you going to suffer St and I was like you're supposed to be helping me he said I got even worse news for you it don't get no better the second time or the third time or the fifth time this is what he told me before I plunged in your first time before I plunged in the first time then you told me I'm on the phone with you I hang up with you I go with him I get with him I get back to you before I get in yeah and you said three minutes minimum six minutes max yes I said okay I gotten that bad boy for five and a half minutes I was proud yes you were proud of me and then I called Steve Harvey and he said that don't mean [ __ ] I said what are you talking about he said you said you had your hands on the rims and you that means you had your hands and your forearm out of the tub it don't count get all the way in there he said get all the way in he said I want you in up to your upper chest or your neck arms included and I said you got to be kidding man and and I had to get back in there the next night but ever since then every time I've been home I've done it man I've done it and again medically physically what it does to you is something for you to could articulate far better than me but what I can tell you it's done for me it's elevated my risk level from the standpoint wait a minute there's nothing I hate more than cold and I did it yeah what else can I do right that I thought I couldn't do yeah what else can I do that I swore up and down I would never do and do you think there's something to the fact that cuz every time you walk to the edge of that cold punch your body goes and your brain goes I do not want to get in here that's right and then you go but there's more benefit than risk and you force yourself to do it then when you get out you feel that reward that boost in in in emotion and mood do you think there's something to that that when you go through the rest of your day it just makes those little bombs that are being thrown at you the little negativity the hater on Instagram that comment on the podcast that this that well the haters on Instagram and Twitter and all that other stuff X rather and all this other stuff that's something for other people to lament it phases me not at all I could care less that's never phased me they can kick rocks I've never cared if somebody is right they're right if they're wrong wrong but I don't worry about negativity affecting me because I was raised professionally as a journalist so you know sinicism and skepticism to some degree vital inevitably comes your way when you're a pursuer of Truth these are the kind of things that come with my profession so it doesn't phase me but what does phase me is knowing that I wasn't measuring up to Snuff I'll tell you this you weren't measuring up to your own snuff what I mean by I cover professional sports these some of the greatest athletes in the world and I get to go on national TV every day and hold them accountable with my words and with my voice then I went home knowing that I was short changing myself it wasn't that I didn't have the forget the skill of course they have the skill they have skills you don't have they have skills on levels we don't have that's not the point but that desire that fire inside of your belly to maximize your potential whatever it may be will you doing that and the fact of the matter is I knew in my heart I wasn't with my own health I would I did it for the right reasons I was on my grind I was trying to be the best I was working all the time you know stealing sleep when I could and not prioritizing sleep not prioritizing rest not prioritizing working out but then you get to a point where you get older and older and I had coid and after I had coid I had to have two not one but two R and I couldn't work and all of a sudden I'm 28 lb skinny fat with this pot nasty belly ain't nothing worse than skinny fat in my estimation I mean you going to be fat be fat everywhere I mean to be to be to be skinny but to have a pot belly which again I'll show you the picture cuz I've never revealed these pictures you I mean for me I was like enough's enough right and so it's about my life I got two daughters I'm an uncle to 15 nieces and nephews I got four older sisters both of my parents are God God rested so I'm the patriarch of the family I'm on I'm I'm the big you know they say I'm the biggest dude in sports media I got millions of people watching me on TV I got billions of people watching me on digital I got a responsibility to be better to yourself to be better and to be my best self and and what I've learned is especially after hooking up with you and and working out with my trainers and doing all of this other stuff you know what I've learned Gary I'll never reach my best self because I'll never stop wow my days of taking shortcuts powerful and not taking care of my health is over I'm not going back whatever it takes I don't care what sacrifices I have to make I don't hear what I have to deprive myself of there is no wealth without Health amen there's no wealth without without health and so for me that's the number one priority yeah I might steal a cheeseburger here and there but now I eat a cheeseburger it's the exception in a month what I used to do in two days I might eat one or two cheeseburgers a month okay I used to eat bread with everything that I do now I'm going to the restaurant while I'm at home and I'm like no bread the sodas that I love drinking and stuff like that now it's water with lemon yeah you know and those little shifts they pay major dividends right I mean they so you know I I wish some people would realize that that 10we journey to get there to where you're on this path really on this path to where you're starting to see results that hook is set you're feeling better you're sleeping better you got more energy that 10we Journey as hellish as it might sound right when you get to where you are now it's easy for you to say I'm not going back had a bunch of people that have worked you know with me you know over the years I remember a dear friend of mine JJ Smith was the Green Smoothie King and she wanted me to drink these green smoothies it was pivotal because at that time I was drinking sodas all the time you know and I never wanted to drink a healthy green drink I remember my trainer Obie Oba dek he used to come out and get in the gym get in the gym get well I'd get in the gym two days and then he couldn't find me for two months you know stuff like that you know so so so we so where so where you personally come in is I looked at you you were in shape I looked at what you did for Dana I can't thank Dana enough I really can't I can't thank him enough big shout out to Dana whitean Chang my career listen this guy is I love him and and because he's always been straight with me and we've always had a very real and authentic relationship yeah he got with you he got himself healthy that's when I called him when I saw the interview that he did with you and he looked at me and he said your turn and I said what are you talking about my turn he said your turn what the hell am I sitting here looking like this for and you're not he said you should be looking better than me you should be in better shape I said look man I ain't got your money you a lot of people think it's so much money with everything I said with everything you're doing you got a sixpack I said and by the way you're your own boss I got bosses to answer I can't just work out when I want to and go to the gym and do all of this other stuff he said yes you can yes you can yes you can and he made a bet to me and the BET was he loses nothing it was all about me he said you do this I'll give you $20,000 to whatever cause you want me to give it to he said you don't do this he said not only do you not get nothing you get ridiculed by me for not stepping up and doing what you're supposed to wow that is the BET and I hesitated for a couple of months and then I called you and I called him and I said I am ready to accept your bet and I've been all in ever since and you know like I said it's just it's been a journey it's still a journey but to lose 33 PBS oh yeah to have my body fat go from 29.5 to what it is now right now I'm at 14.6% body F that is legit I'm not going to rest until I'm between 10 and 12% M and when I get there the mission is going to be to stay there Amen period yes whatever it takes and that's just where I'm at right now because I know that the benefits is good health great health and that it's going to make me better at everything else I choose to do because I took care of my number one priority which was my health yeah and you never get tired of people telling you how how good you look since you since you've changed I want to shift gears a little bit because you you talked a little bit about how you were shaped in the in in in the sports world but a lot of that shaping came from your Youth and um your books landed itself on the New York Times bestseller list and I think it's landed itself there because it's a very real very visceral Memoir um I found that you were extraordinarily uh vulnerable yeah in this book um because I think you know the ESPN Stephen A Smith is very authentic very opinionated um you know doesn't back down from a challenge but your your life wasn't always that way you you you talk in the book about the disparity between your mother and your father you know the the you know a father that you categorize as neglect and and a deeply loving mother that uh God rush her soul was a big impact on your life talk a little bit about that Journey well I think that first of all my book straight shooter was a a tribute and a dedication to my mother Above All Else she's the greatest woman that I've ever known um she's the reason I know there is a God and there are angels I got gooseb right now I don't know if you can see those but I got you know when you have a mother who my mother passed away when I was 49 years old I'm 5 I just turned 56 she passed away in June of 2017 my mother I can count on one hand how many times my mother told me she loved me in my lifetime there was never a day that I did not know she loved me and my mother was very very big on action don't talk don't tell me who you are and what you going to do show me she was very big on that and so when I think about the sacrifices that made the two jobs 16 hours a day 7 days a week one week's vacation you know we on welfare for a short while getting government cheese and bread and all of this other stuff if we were poor we're poor that wasn't it it's that my father would take his income and he'd give it to his other family and he would deprive us and my resentment for my father it was never because of things like infidelity and stuff like that he never put his hands on my mother thank God because we would have had to do something to him cuz I would have never had that tolerated that right but the personal issues that took place within their relationship was their business my sisters my four older sisters were incredibly resentful of my father for the womanizing um and you got four older sisters and you're you're the yeah I'm the baby of my brother died in a in a car accident in 1992 in Texas um you know he he passed away in a car accident he was in a van and with a bunch of people cuz he was a traveling salesperson and somebody cut in front of the driver he was asleep um and my the guy was driving but my brother was asleep in the backseat there were 15 people in the minivan oh my God and the guy swerved and it flipped over multiple times my brother was the only one who died because he was asleep so he was the only one who didn't have on a seat belt gotcha and so because of that that's why I like to drive myself most times most times you see me driving myself myself instead of being in a car service unless I have to because I'm comfortable driving myself because I trust myself more than I trust somebody behind the wheels but as it pertains to my father and and and and my mom the issue for me and my resentment emanated from the fact that I'm a man you have my mother doing your job provided you you can sit up there and you can have your relationships you could do what you want to do and my sisters could resent you for that hell I resent you for that but what really stood out in my mind was the fact that how are you a man and you have a woman working two jobs working 16 hours a day seven days a week to pay bills you're supposed to be paying and so for me I had adopted a long time ago long before I ever became a dad that I had adopted this saying if my children are hungry it's because I'm starving they will never I will never eat unless they eat I will never I will never have unless they have I will always make sure that they're okay before I'm okay because they are my responsibility so if it ever gets to a point where I'm squeezed well the first order of business is to make sure they're provided for then I take care of me that's how I am when it comes to being a dad because it was something that my father never was and so when I wrote the book it wasn't to disrespect him but it was to highlight how phenom know my mom was yeah and in order to do that you had to point out and articulate why and in the process of saying why you're inevitably talking about what wasn't and what didn't exist as it pertained to my dad have you ever thought about um rewiring that and maybe looking at that and saying well maybe had that scenario not been the way it was in my life I wouldn't have the conviction towards my own children because I think often times what happens is you know we our our children should become better versions of us right I mean the greatest blessing in my entire life is that my my kids right work for us full-time and they travel with us they're they've caught the bug they're a part of the Enterprise right I consciously worked to to make that happen because um I had a phenomenal Father Figure growing up but my my parents were gone I mean they they we lived on a on a farm they both worked in Washington DC they left at 5:30 in the morning they came home 7:00 night so they left before the Sun up and came before the sun down and I was an only child and I was alone a lot right um and I think that helped shape the way that I am as a father what I pour into my kids do you think that maybe there's some positivity that has that came from that cuz it shaped the way that you are I have no doubt that there's some positivity that comes from it but I'm sure you'll appreciate what I'm about to say as will your lovely wife and family right off camera when you when you love your parents as much as I loved my mother nothing matters more than their suffering my mother suffered so for me if there was anything that I had to deprive myself of even at this point in time in my life to make her life better yeah I would have done it so I know there's a benefit don't get me wrong and I can look at it that way now that she's gone but while she was here there were so many years of Joy she was deprived of because she had to do what he was supposed to do that it was hard for me to look at it that way if you sit there and and and you know you see me now surrounded by my team they'll tell you it's like one of the great one of the most excruciating things with all the success that's come my way mhm when I got my new contract from ESPN the contract that I presently had talk L about the struggles with ESPN I mean and I've had my struggles with to let me go in 2009 I came I was going for I was unemployed for a year you know I thought I was being black balled I came back and even when I came back to ESPN two years later um they restricted me to radio wouldn't even allow me on television I was going from television from May of 2009 to April of 2012 I was not allowed on television nobody would hire me for television and so I had to go through those things and I'm I'm here to tell you something right now to get to a point where in 2018 I signed this Mega deal MH I cried I cried yeah because even though it was lucrative I was sad as hell because my mother had just passed away a year ago I always wanted to buy a house in St Thomas m i I sent my mother on a cruise uh at least at least you know at least twice a year 26 cruises she went on you know buil them all to me every one of them was built to me you know and all this other stuff but I wanted to buy a house in St Thomas I wanted to I wanted to sit up there and I wanted to send her around the world one of the greatest moments in my life was in 2005 when I signed a contract for $1.3 million to do quite frankly which was a television show on ESPN 2 that was given to me by Mark Shapiro who's now the president of William Morris Endeavor but was the head was the boss of ESPN at the time and I left his office after signing that contract and I went to Queens New York and my mother was working in a pal a Police Athletic League as a part-time because she has retired as a nurse and she was working there doing Bingo and all of this other stuff just so she could save up money to go on a cruise a year and I went there to her and I went to the guys and said my mother's done work and it's over she'll never never work again oh my God and I pulled out of it it was the proudest moment of my life that must have but in 2018 that was the kind of money that was like you want a house in St Thomas what cruise you want to go on what you know what do you want you want you want to go to La wherever you go anybody that knows me knows my mother would not have had an expense everything would have been taken care of yes and I couldn't I she wasn't around when that happened yeah and it was like damn it you know but then she was like you could hear talking to me this is what you this is what you worked for mhm this is what you work for you know what to do but you had that moment when you you know you pulled her out of that Bing oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah no question and so um how did you you know in in your career with these struggles with the ESPN I mean what was it that made you come back and not get bitter and turn your back and and quit mom she reminded me of all all the time she had heard me on the phone complaining or acting up or speaking in my bosses about my bosses in an unfavorable fashion and bringing up race bringing up unfairness bringing up being pigeon hold bringing up all of these different things and she says here's what I do know she said I'm not saying that you're totally wrong but I know this if you were a boss you wouldn't want you working for you with that kind of attitude who wants that who wants that she said you suck it up and you find a way to persevere and work your way around it because guess what you ain't the only person in the world that's going through stuff the world is filled with people who've got excuses about why they're being held back and by the way those things will be valid but nobody is going to help come and help you just because you're crying about how you're being treated unfairly you have to show that you have the intestinal resolve to overcome right she said you got to find it within you and so for me mentally I've always been mentally strong I've always been mentally able to overcome ad adversity and adversarial situations what happened when I met you what happened when I committed myself to getting into Better Health it wasn't as hard for me yeah to overcome those doldrums right because all of a sudden I'm looking at other things that's happening I'm looking in the mirror and I no longer have this and I think it's I I really really think it's NE I'm trying to get my phone right so I can show this to you we throw that up here this is right here cuz I let me see oh my gosh that was me when I met you we got to throw this off that was me yeah and we need the after too that's right yeah and so that was me right here I can get up right now let's do it I got a lot of stuff to improve I'm not a finished product I'm not a finished product but this is me oh we got it oh he's taking it off now come on now this is me dude you look great Stephen A Smith this is me right ladies and gentlemen dude it's like I I remember when you walked into my apartment that day you look so much different now man I mean my face was fatter muscular I was 33 lbs heavier and I've always been slim but now I'm a little cut up and I'm going to get in even better shape um but it's pounds of muscles that I'm going to put on I'm committed to keeping the fat off I'm committed to better conditioning and it wasn't just about being in bad shape Co almost killed me I read about that I didn't know you during that time but it was everybody was talking about this I mean what got so bad well what happened is is that I had gone and I had gotten an endoscopy okay so an endoscopy for those that don't know you know they put this tube down you thought they very basically evaluating analyzing the stomach the esophagus down to the stomach cuz I talk for a living and so as a result you develop acid reflux a lot and stuff like that and I go and I get you know those biannual checkups or actually annual checkups and so this particular day I wasn't feeling well but I was scheduled for the endoscopy I went in there anyway and I came out that night I had a 102 degree temperature wow it was at 102.5 I was sweating bullets you would have thought that I had jumped into a pool with my clothes on really okay doctors came over they evaluated me they instantly diagnosed me with coid and so when I had coid um whatever medication they had had me on for the esophagus or whatever for the acid reflux right whatever antibiotic they gave me whatever I don't know what happened but it made things worse and the next thing you know I had double pneumonia oh my God and so when I had double pneumonia I go to the hospital uh for a couple of days they give me some fluid they send me home you just got to let it run its course it wouldn't go away my sister got Co from me my sister kman oh my God she was she had coid on a Friday she was fine by Tuesday I really went from December 16th into the new year it wouldn't go away so it's New Year's Eve what were you doing about being on the air no I was off I took off I took and the only day that I worked was Christmas Day Christmas Day I did it for my house and I did it from my house and everybody could see whoa he's not well because I refused because it was such a big day for NBA Countdown I didn't want to miss it and I said I'm in my house by myself what's the big deal I'll do it but once I finished I was so drained really and and and I man I was I was hallucinating so much man I thought I one day I thought I was a rap artist another rapping about Kyrie anothere another minute I thought I was a basketball player you know going up against LeBron another day I thought I was a singer you know I didn't I didn't know what the hell was going on Wow and I did all of this and I did all and it was just fluid loss and what have you and then New Year's Eve I'm in the emergency room at the hospital in New Jersey and one doctor said to me you just got to let it run its course another doctor says to me hold on she comes in there Dr Booth I'll never forget as long as I live Dr Booth black woman in the hospital she was fantastic she looked at me and she said this is not good and say said little white spot is an indication of pneumonia on your X-ray on the lungs my lungs it was it looked like it was cloudy it was looked like it was like just clouded with that the whole x-ray was white wow she looked at me and she said you're in some trouble she said we're going to try this antibiotic we're going to try this a steroid you should know in two to three hours whether three to four actually she said whether this is going to work or not she says if it doesn't work you have somebody we could call we may need to call your family she said that to you it was that bad and she said but we'll let's let's think positive and let's oh my God let seem positive after that I'm sitting there like I'm laying in there and I'm like I couldn't believe it cuz I'm like I don't smoke I'm a casual drink now how you feeling at the time you didn't feel like you were on Des doorstep you felt bad I was struggling to breathe I had no strength I had no strength I was struggling to breathe um I was coughing a lot the whole bit and she gave me the antibiotic and the steroid and the next thing you know I started feeling better within the next couple of hours wow about 4 hours later the ball dropped to bring in the year 2022 and the ball dropped I was in the hospital bed you were in the ER I was in the ER oh my God I was in the ER and so after I went through all of that um I just made up my mind from that point forward somehow someway I'm going to find a way to make sure that I prioritize my health in a way that I never have before and I would search and look for things online and stuff like that and then for some odd reason I ran across Dana interviewing you it was months later but that's when I found out because even after you got to remember after that the reason why I showed you that photo is because after that I still had two bad rotator cuffs and then ultimately I had to get those operated on oh my God and so I couldn't work out I couldn't I couldn't do anything and I made up my mind the second I got through all of this it's going to take months but the second I got through all this this come hella high water I was going to find a path and I found you thank you man that is yeah I that is an amazing story I did not know how close to the doorstep you were it was bad so for the listeners you know that that have seen this meteoric rise it's you know what's fascinating to me is um your career is probably on the best path it's ever been but you keep growing you you've added in the last year alone New York Times bestselling book which I want to emphasize because you've emphasized this before you wrote that book yourself yes I did you didn't hire a ghost writer and throw a couple of you know lines at them you wrote that book yourself so that that's that's Stephen A Smith real visceral just pouring your heart out into that it's one of the reasons why I recommend it's a mustre you started your own podcast yep your ESPN career is not act is is not by any stretch of the word stagnant so I mean you know we're number one yeah number one um and you remind people of that yes you have to unfortunately unfortunately because it's not even about toting your own horn it's about understanding the business the reality is is that the business doesn't really want to advertise the fact that you're number one because it elevates your value the more it elevates your value the more independent you become because other people notice that you're number one and they don't they want to keep you and what have you and it's not bad it's nothing malicious or anything on on the part of ESPN or any other network for that matter but the reality is is that you're out here competing and I'm not one to blow or toot my own horn until somebody tries to knock it down when you try to knock it down then I got to remind you you're not you're not getting away with that in the most hilarious fashion I might add the most hilarious fashion like the two interceptions that you got $1,000 for three actually it was three inter it's actually three it's actually three absolutely and I made hand I made Marcus Spears hand me the ,000 on the air on the air during Monday Night Football Monday night count he gave it to you on the air he gave it to me on the air I saw somebody recommending uh that that you make them go to the bank and get you quarters yeah yeah yeah I said no I don't want to carry around that much change but you know you can do you can give me the bills though gave me some 50s some hundreds 20s tens it was exactly a thousand it was a th it was a thousand he was a man of his word he was a man of his word he was going to happen that was a big prediction though man I think there were a lot of people going wow yeah but you know what listen you got to go for it you got to go for it and and a lot of times people scared to be wrong or whatever but you got to take a chance you got to take a chance with everything in life if you're going for it you got to go for it and that's what I'm doing in everything in life you are definitely going and so my whole point is new book new podcast ESPN career at the height of your career right now where is Stephen A Smith going what what is what does the next five years look like for Stephen A Smith I'm not going to lie I mean listen you added to health I'm in takeover mode you know some people say some people will say you know you're already there whatever man I'm just getting started I I I I'm in the best shape that I've been in in the last 25 years but there is something inside of me that keeps telling me you haven't scratch the surface you know I want to gain 5 to 10 pounds a mon muscle and reduce my body fat by about another 3 4% and watch how that impacts your I want I want to I want to solidify myself as number one but I also want to establish such a level of success that when you think about the alltime greats the Howard coel's the Bryant gumbles the Bob C esses of the world and others you can't help but think about me whether you like it or not with my podcast my podcast to me is not just a podcast it's a show I came out of my own pocket I've built my own studio in Jersey City New Jersey that's going to be opening up in a matter of weeks it's mine um I want to do late night one day if at all possible oh my God I want to show an ability to make people laugh and smile and not just be that Gung I want to bring light and a liveliness and a level of euphoria to people's lives not just with truth or my version of it not just with honest open um and transparent conversation but I want people to see me laughing I want people I want to make people laugh I want to make people smile I want to enjoy other people's success and I want to help you and others contribute to helping us all be becoming even more committed to our health it doesn't mean that we going to do doesn't mean that Stephen A is not going to eat a bowl of cereal from time to time it doesn't mean that I'm not going to eat a cheeseburger from time to time or anything like that but again what I you what I now do in two months I used to do in a day I used to eat four or five bowls of cereal a day breakfast lunch dinner I now buy a box of Honeycombs or Froot Loops or something like that and literally I have to throw it cuz I didn't even open the box cuz I forgot it's there because I'm just not doing those things anymore because I love the way that I'm feeling and I don't want to compromise my definition of being bloated is now because I ate before the interview right my definition before being bloed was literally having my belly protruding and I'm walking around and I'm carrying weight around and I just can't emphasize enough listen I this is not an infom M show this is not anything like that I'm telling people I'm not joking look at me on the air and go back I'm on TV every day look at me for months ago yeah look at me now now people they've gone from saying you got to lose your belly you got to lose some weight my brother to sitting there going like you might need to gain some weight you see what I'm saying because they don't see me with my shirt off they don't see that you know I'm I'm trying to build myself up but you got to get rid of the fat I don't want unhealthy I don't want that unhealthy feeling in my life I don't want unhealthy things in my life I don't want unhealthy people in my life I don't want any of that and to me you have to invest in yourself and to me I tell you this too want to be motivated really really want to be motivated and get yourself together as a human being go to the hospital just take a trip to the hospital oh spend a couple hours in there look around and see people who are sick and ask yourself do you want to be that person do you want to be that person that's you know some of these folks can't help it I'm not blaming I'm not casting any aspersions upon anybody some people just a stroke of luck God has blessed you in different ways than giving you great the greatest health and stuff like that we know this but for you to have a choice and to do absolutely nothing to get yourself together healthwise is egregious I'm mad now when I don't have time to work out yeah I'm mad when I don't have time I got to this meeting and that meeting and this appearance I'm like damn it ah I needed to get in the gym I'm literally calling my trainer and apologizing to him for appointments I have to miss because your last one couldn't find you for two months I'm like yeah the same guy couldn't thank God he came back to work for me and and then when you have somebody you know like one of the things you taught me everything's in the Bloods it is blood work it tells the story and so all of a sudden I'll go to some next health facility or whatever to get a vitamin drip well guess why I really really go there I really go there to use the machine that measures your body fat and measures your muscle and meas that's what I really go if they don't have it I don't even want where's the machine because I'm looking for the Nuggets data of the data that tells me it's like and I told you this I said Gary it's not what you pointed out it's that you pointed it out and I'm able to Target it and because I've been able to Target it and you've helped me Target it now all of this work that I'm doing I'm seeing the fruits yeah of my labor yes why would I want to change outside and inside outside and inside because just the inside especially in America people can say what they want they got to see it mhm you can come with perfect numbers yeah I feel great but if I don't see it you know it's not good enough it's not good enough but when you can see it it's different every single morning every single morning I get up I pray I thank the good Lord for giving me another day I ask him to give me a good day and the next thing I do is grab my phone and I look at that photo how I looked that I just showed you when I had coid and what I regress to wow and and then the next thing I do is get up and I look in the mirror and I turn sideways how's my stomach looking and if now if it's even you know how you I don't care who you are after you eat you going to bloat a little bit for a second even then I'm pissed off I'm pissed off like why is it showing I'm like I'm I'm fixated on it I'm not I'm not not going to rest so I can sit here I am not a finished product by any stretch of imagination but I'm telling people I don't want to be finished everything I'm going to try to up the anti I get to 10% I get to 10 12% body fat but I'm chiseled I'm still gonna call Gary yo Gary I want to do this Gary I want to do that I'm go to my doct f function I spoke to my man Gary this what I want to do is there a problem you know my train is is what I'm after you know it's like it does stop because I'm reaping the benefits and it's making me better because all of a sudden when I get stressed I might be married I might be mad in the moment but it doesn't stay with me as long because I got other stuff to do cuz I'm feeling too good to be stagnant I'm like What's Next what's next what's next you see what I'm saying and that's how I feel well this has been absolutely amazing been amazing I mean this journey that we've been on together I mean and I deeply appreciate our friendship I really do deeply value it and the friendship is real because you didn't listen I'm a client you did not have to do what you've done for me you didn't have to answer the phone every time I call I ain't had to call you that damn many times but I couldn't help you cuz I kept becoming more and more fascinated with what I was Lear he is calling you a lot what's going on here I I'm calling a lot but I wasn't even I was calling a lot because you're teaching me like like there's times that our conversations have ventured Beyond me and we're just talking about oh yeah this is what this does this is what that does and I'm going to other people and I'm literally saying them you know this going to activate the brown sugars in your blood you know this going to get a CH you understand and when you do that it's going to eat up it's going to speed up it's going to speed up your metabolism you got to get in there you got to suck it up come back come out see how you feel okay well what happened about cold protein you that's right you didn't drink you drink enough water you didn't drink enough water all right did you have enough sodium in your water what what did you do I saw you drinking that soda and they're looking at me like what the hell is going on well what's going on is I'm doing for them what Dana White did for me what you did for me what Steve Harvey is now doing for me cuz he's been on that mission for so long and the only reason I brought up his name is because he wanted me to bring up his name he wanted me to let everybody know look man he's not playing games and now he and I going back and forth inspiring each other because he got me beat and he's telling me he got me beat but I got him beat on the body fat but he's got he's about 10 years older than me so it's like it's okay but but but I'm I'm 56 I just turned 56 last Saturday and I'm at 14.6% that is incredible half of where you started half of where I started that is incredible and it doesn't stop from here and so it's gratitude to you it's gratitude to Dana it's gratitude to my colleagues because these are former professional athletes I'm sitting next to Shannon shop right I'm sitting next to Ryan Clark who owns a fitness center I'm sitting next to these guys got so much love for me that they were like you got to stop eating this Stephen you got to stop doing this you got to stop doing that and they've gone from that to saying man you look good what you been doing tell what the hell's going on how'd you get to this point and so you know I tell them multivitamins and supplements but exercise and monitoring my blood sugars diet paleo the keto these are things that you advised me to do you didn't just come to me and say hey 10x you said Stephen this is what you need to do here's how you need to do it here's why and you explained it and so you did what I clamor for executives to do in my business I say listen when you talking to Talent maybe just maybe you wouldn't have many many problems with some Talent if you educated them as to why you're making the requests you make right here's our business this is what we're doing this is what we need done here's why we need it done this is why we need it from you if you told us maybe we'd listen more but they don't a lot of times they don't take that time in often in most cases you did thank you and it's changed my life for the better and I'm I'm really appreciative I'm deeply appreciative too I wind down every podcast by asking the guest the same question there's no right or wrong answer to this question but what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human to be an ultimate human I think being supremely healthy is in terms of what you can control being a supremely healthy as you could possibly be um being somebody who oozes that see if you're one of those healthy individuals and you're vibrant inside and there's no one who reaps the benefits of it then you're being selfish you're keeping it from yourself you're not spreading the wealth tell me no matter what scripture you read no matter what your beliefs are or whatever the case may be tell me anything any Walk of Life that encourages you to be self uh to be selfish to be selfish in a fashion where you're the sole beneficiary of what whatever greatness resides inside of you right if you ooze it if you have that vibe that aura about you and you walk it not just talk it and you're you're a you're able to have a contagious effect that emanates and extends to such a degree that it affects the lives around you that's what it's all about because the more that you're that way the more people will gravitate to you and they'll look for the ingredients of success there's a whole bunch of people that want to be Gary Breer these days there's a whole bunch of people that want to be Steve Harvey and Dana White and Stephen A Smith and others well why because we're considered individuals who are successful at what we do well how do we get here right they're asking all the time and we have an obligation at least in some capacity to share that and to do it in ways that you and others have done it okay sure you have a business and sure you're going to thrive but the most important thing you've done is you didn't give it all to me you gave me a piece you said you out on your own yes and it was after you saw how committed I was yes you gave a little more and a little more and a little more you know and you said no I'm not going to give it I got to see it because why did that resonate with me one of my mentors is Bob Iger the CEO of Walt dis Disney mhm you can't walk up to him and take his time can't do it it will not happen he might throw a little nugget out there for you but he's watching are you gonna capitalize on this or you gonna waste my damn time my boss is Dave Roberts executive VP ESPN same exact way Jimmy patara the president of ESPN Steve Harvey Dana White Mark Shapiro Ari Emanuel people like that that I've known for many years and stuff like that Dr Michael Eric Dyson people like that Byron Allen with his greatness and stuff like that the list goes on and on successful people have very low tolerance level for laziness and people who are looking to cut corners and if you're looking to cut Corners the beauty of your position is that you are in the business of Health yes if somebody's willing to cut Corners with their own health mhm what are they going to do to help you be healthy right mentally emotionally spiritually psychologically physically what are they going to do they're going to cut Corners mhm no time for that no more zero I love that zero I'm on the grind that is to me the ultimate human somebody who is committed to being on the grind for the betterment of themselves and the lives they can potentially impact that was amazing man appreciate you so much man thank you for coming on the show today thank you I really appreciate as always guys that's just science