RIDEOUT: The Other Side of Hard

Ken Rideout
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Weekly

The Other Side of Hard, hosted by Ken Rideout — raw, gripping conversations with people who've pushed past the breaking point. Stories of resilience, redemption, and what's waiting on the other side.

  1. 1 day ago

    Olympic Gold, Dancing With the Stars and a Prescription to Stay Small | Shawn Johnson East

    Shawn Johnson was the all around world champion at 15 and an Olympic champion at 16. Gold on the balance beam in Beijing and three silvers, a nationwide tour, and a Dancing With the Stars trophy before she finished high school. She did all of it while trying to hide at school that she was a gymnast. She got there from a gym in West Des Moines where her coach, Liang Chow, took the team to Dairy Queen after practice and had one rule, no skiing. Her parents picked him because it saved gas money, then vetted him for being a good human rather than a good coach. When the national team doctor was Larry Nassar, Chow never let her be treated without him in the room. She calls herself one of the lucky ones. Then everything changed. On her 18th birthday she broke Chow’s one rule, tore her knee apart on the last run of the day at Beaver Creek, skied down the mountain and carried the Olympic torch in Vancouver before she saw a doctor. She came back for 2012 and the obsession that made her a champion had nowhere to go. Eating disorders. A doctor who prescribed Adderall to curb her appetite, which turned into almost every day for five years. Three full knee reconstructions. She retired weeks before the 2012 trials with her heart gone from the sport. This week I sat down with Shawn, a dear friend, to talk about going numb at the Olympics at 16, the five weeks she did not see her parents in Beijing, the armed guard outside her hotel room in Rio, why the US is built for beam and floor and not bars, the blind date with Andrew East that got her to Nashville, and the day she stood in an airport and decided she was done with Adderall for good. Three kids, a podcast with Andrew, a New York Times bestseller they wrote together, and she still flips around with the kids. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow Shawn: @shawnjohnson Her book with Andrew: The Courage to Commit Thanks to OMRE for supporting the show. Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Thank you to our sponsors OMRE: omre.co Code “RIDEOUT” Ken’s book now available here: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/ Chapters (00:00) Meet Shawn Johnson (00:26) Three Kids and Coming Out of the Clouds (01:42) Growing Up in West Des Moines (01:58) A Coach From China (02:57) The Team Doctor (04:00) Never Without Chow in the Room (06:08) In the ER Every Two Weeks (06:41) Her Parents Vetted Chow (08:11) Kids Sports Are Crazy (10:46) Like Winning More Than You Dislike Training (12:07) Sponsor Break OMRE (14:34) World Champion at 15 (15:34) Hooked on Day One (16:27) Nationals at Nine (18:18) Why She Quit (18:36) Gold on the Beam (20:49) How a Team Gets Built (22:41) Bars Think Gumby (25:22) Numb at the Olympics (27:20) Five Weeks Without Her Parents (28:30) An AK 47 Outside Her Door (28:47) Hiding It at School (30:46) The Tour and Dancing With the Stars (31:40) Throwing Up Backstage (33:18) Second to Melissa Rycroft (35:01) The One Rule Was No Skiing (35:14) Her 18th Birthday at Beaver Creek (36:21) Carrying the Torch on a Torn Knee (37:51) I Want to Come Back (39:03) Control (39:48) Eating Disorders (40:39) Adderall (41:34) Obsessiveness Is a Gift (44:24) Ken on Adderall (45:07) Prescribed to Curb Her Appetite (46:50) Standing in an Airport (47:23) Five Years (48:20) Her Heart Was Gone (49:56) You Will Never Beat the Schedule (51:03) A Moms Fear of Getting Hurt (53:14) Mommy Won All the Medals (55:58) A Blind Date Set Up by His Brother (57:22) Stanford and Vanderbilt (58:41) NIL Money (1:00:16) The Apprentice (1:01:32) Five Years in the NFL (1:04:24) Shawn Johnsons Husband (1:05:09) Andrew the Pilot (1:07:51) The Podcast (1:08:52) AG1 and Kat Cole (1:09:29) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. 6 days ago

    From College Dropout to CEO of AG1 | Kat Cole

    Kat Cole grew up in Jacksonville in a family where the men drank, the money was tight and almost nobody kept a job. When she was nine her mom left her father, worked multiple jobs and fed three girls on a $10 a week food budget for three years. Kat’s answer when her mom said they were leaving: what took you so long. She was selling jeans in a mall at 15 to help the family, started at Hooters as a hostess in high school, and by 20 the company had moved her into the corporate office to run training and openings around the world. Vice president at 26. At 32 Roark Capital handed her Cinnabon, 400 stores and $300 million in revenue, getting beaten up by the recession. She spent her first 60 days rolling cinnamon rolls, asked every employee the same three questions, launched a smaller roll, put the brand in grocery stores and tripled it to a billion dollars. COO of the parent company at 36, nine presidents and $3 billion in revenue reporting to her. Today she runs AG1. This week I sat down with Kat to talk about how she leads. The WTF email from a franchisee that cost her millions to make right, the two bosses who called her into an office at 21 and said we are worried about you, the unpopular calls that kept her brands alive through Covid, having her kids at 39 and 41, and the week in March 2020 when her seven month old was on a feeding tube while her franchisees screamed in her AirPods. We also get into AG1. The founder had no idea she was already a customer, why AG1 was air freighted from New Zealand, the millions in human clinical trials, and what is coming next. Where she came from is the whole point. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow Kat: @katcoleatl AG1: @drinkag1 Get my weekly letter, Nowhere to Hide, at thekenrideout.com Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Chapters (00:00) Meet Kat Cole (01:25) Growing Up in Jacksonville (03:21) Mom Said We Are Leaving (04:20) What Took You So Long (05:19) Ten Dollars a Week for Food (06:15) Admiring the Christmas Lights (08:01) Working at 15 (08:56) A Second Job in High School (12:15) We Ran the Place (14:28) Kens Weekly Letter, Nowhere to Hide (16:17) In the Corporate Office at 20 (18:28) We Are Worried About You (21:37) Seeking Control (23:07) Like a Light Switch (24:38) The Seed of a Nutrition Obsession (25:10) Sold to Private Equity (27:16) The Call About Cinnabon (28:58) 400 Stores and 300 Million (29:36) Telling Her Boss She Was Interviewing (30:32) Wait for Great (32:16) Inject Belief (32:44) The Same Three Questions (35:01) A Smaller Cinnamon Roll (35:48) A Billion Dollars in Revenue (36:40) The WTF Email (37:53) You Are a Liar (40:19) Killing a Million Dollar Deal (42:56) COO at 36 (43:28) Undercover Boss (44:48) Im Here to Learn (45:34) Single and Running the Company (46:14) I Knew I Would Be a Mother (49:43) Meeting the Love of Her Life (51:10) Engaged in Two Weeks (51:20) Married to an Ocean Rower (53:58) Recession to Covid (55:38) Not a Zero to One Person (57:23) Covid Wiped Out the Revenue (57:58) The Unpopular Calls That Saved Them (1:00:30) Married at Burning Man (1:01:24) Ocean and Arrow (1:02:58) Arrow Gets Sick (1:04:33) Franchisees in Her AirPods (1:05:38) Im Glad Its Me (1:07:47) Health Became the North Star (1:08:57) The Call From the AG1 Founder (1:09:45) Half Expired Powders in the Pantry (1:10:28) Bootstrapped to 160 Million (1:11:04) Air Freighted From New Zealand (1:13:29) Tim Ferriss and the Imitators (1:14:51) I Put It in the Book (1:16:35) Eight Million Lookalikes (1:17:59) Millions in Human Clinical Trials (1:19:16) Kens Insurance Policy (1:19:53) Four Teenagers on AG1 (1:23:05) Longevity Without the Obsession (1:24:34) AG1 Pro With Creatine (1:26:52) Consistency Matters (1:30:00) Habit Snacking (1:30:46) What Is Coming Next (1:32:03) AGZ and the Gummies (1:35:45) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  3. 21 Oct

    His Own Platoon Accused Him of Murder | Eddie Gallagher

    Eddie Gallagher was the number one platoon chief at SEAL Team 7, on his ninth deployment, pushing through the west side of Mosul against ISIS. A year after he got home, NCIS arrested him at a brain treatment clinic, raided his house and pulled his kids into the street at gunpoint. The charge was premeditated murder. The accusers were guys from his own platoon. He spent eight and a half months locked up before trial, in a brig where the guards were told to make him snap, with plea offers that started at 60 years. His wife Andrea ran the Free Eddie campaign while raising three kids. His brother Sean knocked on doors in DC until two congressmen listened. Then Trump tweeted. Then the prosecution got caught spying on his lawyers. Then a medic from his platoon, testifying with full immunity, said he was the one who killed the ISIS fighter. This week I sat down with Eddie, a Navy corpsman who became a Marine scout sniper and then a SEAL chief. We get into the 3 a.m. Navy commercial that got a high school burnout off the couch, a sniper school harder than BUD/S, Hell Week on three and a half hours of sleep, hazing in the teams, and the rules that kept SEALs 800 meters behind the fight in Mosul. We also get into the part that never makes the highlights. The torture room next to where his platoon slept. The 17-year-old ISIS fighter dropped on the hood of a truck. The group photo he calls wrong and says he paid for. The Red Bull, the $15 haircut and the sunglasses his accusers called theft. He retired as a chief in 2019 with everything he earned, started the Pipe Hitter Foundation with Andrea, and trains cops and civilians in Florida now. Whatever you think you know about this case, hear it from him. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow Eddie: @eddie_gallagher His book: eddiegallagherbook.com Thanks to OMRE for supporting the show. Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Thank you to our sponsors OMRE: omre.co Code “RIDEOUT” Ken’s book now available here: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/ Chapters (00:00) Meet Eddie Gallagher (02:37) Half the Country Hates You (04:47) Born in Paterson Raised Everywhere (07:33) A Rebellious Kid on Drugs (08:23) A Navy Commercial at 3 AM (11:35) A Corpsman at Sniper School (12:06) Sponsor Break OMRE (15:19) Tougher Than BUDS (16:51) One MRE for Five Days (18:41) Stalking Is a Bitch (21:19) Living on a Ship Sucks (26:23) Watching SEALs Come Over the Beach (31:14) Fast Eddie (34:30) Hell Week on 3.5 Hours of Sleep (38:14) Ken Quit the Ironman in Hawaii (42:25) You Aint Shit (43:15) Reconnecting With Andrea (44:35) Hazing in the Teams (47:32) Throw the First Punch (50:24) A Chair to the Back of the Head (53:13) The OIC Lost His Legs (1:00:41) Im Going to Die for Him (1:05:11) Dropped From Green Team (1:15:24) Taking Over Alpha Platoon (1:17:07) Fast and Loose With the Rules (1:21:45) Mosul (1:24:03) 800 Meters From the Front (1:26:33) An Iranian Backed Partner Force (1:29:01) The Carl Gustav (1:33:50) 600 Yards From ISIS (1:36:03) VBIED Palooza (1:37:53) The Worst of Humanity (1:41:14) On the Hood Like a Deer (1:42:31) The Torture Room Next Door (1:45:59) Bored Team Guys and a Body (1:46:37) I Paid My Dues for That (1:51:48) I Got Him With My Knife (1:53:54) You Called Me a Thief (1:59:06) Ill Fight Every One of You (2:01:11) NCIS Is the Biggest Joke on the Planet (2:02:55) Arrested in the XOs Office (2:04:55) Your Kids Are Outside in Their Underwear (2:12:43) Arrested at the Brain Treatment Center (2:18:50) A Kangaroo Court (2:21:02) Andrea Takes the Reins (2:22:26) Brother Sean Bangs on Doors in DC (2:26:29) Make Him Snap (2:29:34) God Put You in a Prison Cell (2:34:05) Prisoner Gallagher Get Up (2:42:34) Plead and Get 60 Years (2:42:50) Caught Spying (2:46:17) Bernie Kerik and Tim Parlatore (2:48:39) Home to Florida (2:54:12) Lets Get Our Story Straight (2:55:47) A SEAL Planted on the Jury (3:01:31) Trump Offered a Pardon (3:03:23) Full Immunity (3:06:10) I Forgive You (3:09:18) I Killed Him (3:12:16) The Old Man and the Little Girl (3:15:33) Eight Miles in a Weight Vest at 4 AM (3:16:55) Not Guilty (3:20:02) A Call From Trump (3:22:51) The President of the United States (3:25:27) Retired as a Chief (3:28:02) A Dividing Line in the Community (3:30:53) QR Codes to the Evidence (3:34:11) The Pipe Hitter Foundation (3:34:35) Training Cops and Civilians (3:37:42) Shoot Me Straight (3:40:52) A Quad Ripped Off the Knee (3:43:13) Choose Your Discomfort (3:43:32) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. 16 Oct

    Her First Mountain Was Everest. The Real Danger Wasn't the Climb. | Cesalina Gracie

    Cesalina Gracie had never climbed a mountain. She gave herself six and a half weeks to train, flew to Kathmandu and summited Everest on her first attempt, in the deadliest season in the mountain’s history. Three Sherpas were killed in the Khumbu Icefall while the route was still being set up. But the climb wasn’t the hardest part. Waiting at base camp for the summit window, the man running her expedition sat down next to her in her tent, put his hand on her thigh and whispered something she still refuses to repeat. She pushed his hand off and told him never to talk to her like that again. When the window opened he took the other groups up the mountain and left her at base camp. Then he canceled her Sherpa, ordered her down by radio from a hotel in Kathmandu, and assigned her a 20-year-old who had never climbed Everest. She prayed in her tent for a sign. A Sherpa with a speed record on the mountain walked in, heard her out and said, I’ll go with you. They were told not to call for rescue. They summited anyway. This week I sat down with Cesalina, a black belt from the family that created Brazilian jiu-jitsu and my daughter’s first coach. We get into a grandfather with 21 children, the Gracie Diet, a family where school is optional, moving to London alone at 17 with 1,000 pounds, four years off the mats and starting over at white belt, and why she built a jiu-jitsu program for women only. We also get into the part that never makes the highlights. Her first TV hosting job was the Rio Olympics, live in front of 70,000 people. Ten-hour training days in an altitude chamber, building Legos with frozen hands. The $250,000 VIP tents at base camp. The climber who turned around two hours from the summit and told her it wasn’t worth it. Her message to every girl and woman is simple. Never sacrifice your integrity to achieve your dreams. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow Cesalina: @cesagracie Her courses: cesalina.com Thanks to OMRE for supporting the show. Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Thank you to our sponsors OMRE: omre.co Code “RIDEOUT” Ken’s book now available here: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/ Chapters (00:00) Meet Cesalina Gracie (00:56) Speak Up the Moment It Feels Off (06:13) Ken's Daughter's First Coach (07:01) The Posture of a Champion (09:07) Alone in London at 17 (10:34) Confidence Comes From Within (12:17) Sponsor Break OMRE (14:46) 21 Children and the Gracie Diet (16:27) An Italian Dad With Four Degrees (18:44) A Black Belt Is a Degree (19:37) First Time on an Airplane (20:15) A Red Belt Dad and a Ballerina Mom (21:17) Women Stopped at Blue Belt (21:37) Kyra Gracie Fought to Fight (24:18) Why the Little Girls Are Dangerous (26:16) A Movement for Women Not Against Men (28:30) Job Interview on Monday (29:05) Waitress at the First Hard Rock Cafe (31:26) The Queen of Firsts (33:47) Four Years Off the Mats (34:52) A Broken Tailbone at a Tournament (36:45) Hiding the Gracie Name in London (38:45) Dads Screaming in the Stands (43:08) Watching Your Kid Lose (47:12) Don't Let Them Quit (48:31) The Science of Self-Sabotage (52:29) Two Brothers and a Rapper Sister (53:03) Twelve Schools With Her Brother (54:18) Tolerated Not Celebrated (55:27) Translating Kill the Lion (56:11) You Belong in Front of the Camera (56:53) Booking the Rio Olympics (1:00:27) Why Not You (1:01:47) Skydiving With the Expedition Leader (1:05:25) Scared of Heights (1:07:10) Six and a Half Weeks to Prepare (1:09:34) The Invisible Contract (1:10:28) The Deadliest Season in Everest History (1:12:09) What Everest Costs (1:13:41) Training for Everest Since Day One (1:14:16) Ten Hours in the Altitude Chamber (1:15:55) Legos With Frozen Hands (1:20:47) The Descent Is What Kills (1:24:00) The $250,000 VIP Tent (1:26:37) Fifty Days Without a Heater (1:31:29) Not Married No Kids Now or Never (1:35:06) Ladders in the Khumbu Icefall (1:37:47) Turned Around 300 Meters From the Top (1:40:59) A Two and a Half Hour Head Start (1:41:26) A 70 Mile an Hour Windstorm (1:43:05) Too Cold Too Dangerous Not Worth It (1:45:15) Her Sherpa Gets Canceled (1:48:47) Two Bodyguards at Base Camp (1:49:43) The Boundary That Started a War (1:51:20) A Hand on Her Thigh (1:53:08) Don't Ever Talk to Me Like This (1:54:05) Ordered Down From the Marriott (1:55:11) A 20 Year Old Who Never Climbed Everest (1:56:02) A Prayer and a Sign (1:58:03) I'll Go With You (1:59:48) Don't Call Us for Rescue (2:00:54) 23 Hours of Climbing (2:03:53) The Sherpa Who Saved Her Life (2:06:34) Fifty Days Without a Shower (2:08:22) Ken Left Ironman in an Ambulance (2:11:04) The Sting of Quitting (2:12:04) It's a Decision (2:17:11) Never Sacrifice Your Integrity (2:18:56) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  5. 14 Oct

    The Pastor Who Sold Crack and Shot Heroin | Lyle Phillips

    Lyle Phillips was shooting heroin in one arm and meth in the other at 18. He sold cocaine in his Kentucky high school, slept in a dog room at a crack house and lived in the backseat of a 1987 Caprice. He got shot at and he shot back. He ran himself off the road at 65 miles an hour and walked out of the wreck holding a bottle of Tanqueray. At 19 his best friend was shot dead in the street over a crack deal. At 21 his childhood friend got arrested on the way back to Lyle’s apartment with two kilos of cocaine and 250 pounds of weed, right after they counted $125,000 in cash on the kitchen table. That night, alone and not even high, Lyle watched someone walk past his second-floor window. He thought it was the SWAT team. Nobody was there. He says Jesus stepped into that room and told him he had six months before he was dead or in prison. The next day he called the parents he hadn’t spoken to in four years and moved home. This week I sat down with Pastor Lyle Phillips of Legacy Church in Nashville. Nick Bare connected us when I told him I was starting to explore faith, and Lyle showed up at my house with books and no sales pitch. We get into the Holiness Pentecostal church he grew up in, 17 days of withdrawal in solitary, rehab inside a mental hospital, and the counselor who told him to go meet his 11-year-old self. We also get into the part that never makes the highlights. Plagiarizing his first sermons at his dad’s church. Washing a pastor’s car for $100 a week in Texas. A year and a half in Mozambique. Five years in India, where his team paid off family debts to free more than 400 kids from slavery, and where he lost some of them anyway. He started Legacy Church in September 2016 with a free building and 12 people. Now about 1,200 show up every Sunday. We talk about what a church actually costs to run, who can fire a pastor, Joel Osteen and the prosperity gospel, and why I keep showing up to church feeling like a fraud. His message to me was simple. You don’t have to white-knuckle it. Just keep coming back. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow Lyle: @lylebphillips Legacy Church: legacynashville.org Thanks to OMRE for supporting the show. Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Thank you to our sponsors OMRE: omre.co Code “RIDEOUT” Ken’s book now available here: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/ Chapters (00:00) Meet Pastor Lyle Phillips (01:29) Population 400 in West Kentucky (03:59) Forced to Church Every Sunday (04:54) Holiness Pentecostal Standards (07:42) Altar Calls and Fake Tears (09:01) Abuse Inside the Church (12:45) Sponsor Break OMRE (15:15) A Prophet Walks the Aisles (17:07) Seeing Demons as a Child (18:19) Ken’s Ibogaine Trip in Mexico (23:03) First DUI at 16 (24:04) His Dad and Three Yardsticks (24:57) Bee Fights for Entertainment (27:15) Arrested for Attempted Murder (28:10) A Desert Eagle and a Crack House (29:18) Selling Cocaine in High School (30:28) EYBL Ball With Rajon Rondo (32:33) Carpet Fibers and Speedballs (33:25) A 70-Year-Old Shows Him the Needle (34:54) Running From the Cops on Ten Valiums (35:55) Jail or Rehab (37:20) 17 Days in Solitary (38:27) Rehab in a Mental Hospital (40:11) Meet the 11-Year-Old You (41:20) Only an Addict Gets This (44:02) Two Weeks of Pre-Med (46:51) Waiter Selling Coke to His Tables (48:24) Drive-Bys and Hot Buckshot (49:04) Best Friend Killed in the Street (50:19) Running Himself Off the Road (54:18) $125,000 on the Kitchen Table (57:45) Somebody Walked Past the Window (59:13) Six Months Until Dead or Prison (1:00:33) Calling Home After Four Years (1:02:26) Nine Months of Sermons With Dad (1:05:05) I’m Supposed to Preach (1:07:38) Plagiarizing His First Sermons (1:09:31) Preaching Where He Sold Crack (1:10:13) Ken Feels Like a Fraud at Church (1:13:36) $100 Every Friday in Texas (1:16:28) Moving to Mozambique (1:19:29) A Nonprofit for 13 Kids (1:21:30) Rescuing Kids in India (1:23:17) They Said They’d Have Him Killed (1:25:16) Buying a Child’s Freedom (1:27:30) The Kids He Lost (1:31:06) Nashville Because of the Airport (1:34:12) Meeting Allyson on Skype (1:36:24) Twelve People and a Free Building (1:38:34) What Launch Sunday Costs (1:41:08) Private Jets and Cults (1:43:59) Five Services Every Sunday (1:48:49) Joel Osteen and the Prosperity Gospel (1:51:03) Who Can Fire a Pastor (1:56:09) Nick Bare and Dr. Josh Axe (1:58:09) The Missing Spiritual Part (1:59:30) Better Than Any High (2:00:30) How to Become a Christian (2:02:08) Lukewarm and Jealous (2:03:50) Not Saved by Good Works (2:04:35) Follow Me and I Will Make You (2:07:40) The Gospel of John on His Nightstand (2:11:37) Wes Huff and the Prophecies (2:16:03) 1,200 People Every Sunday (2:19:43) What a Pastor Does All Week (2:21:53) To the Haters (2:23:38) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  6. 9 Oct

    Alabama National Champ. LabCorp Janitor. UFC Fighter at 30. | Eryk Anders

    Eryk Anders was the last guy picked. He mailed 125 copies of his own VHS highlight tape to every school he could find an address for and heard nothing back. Then a running back didn’t qualify two weeks before the season, Mike Shula called, and Eryk showed up in Tuscaloosa in Timberland boots claiming he weighed 215. The scale was broken. Thirty minutes later he had a full ride to Alabama. He barely played for two years. After a bowl game where he never saw the field he told his dad he was transferring. His dad told him to stay and get the degree. He died that night. Eryk stayed. Senior year he started for Nick Saban, and in the national championship game against Texas, the team he grew up wanting to play for, he led the defense with seven tackles and the blindside sack and forced fumble that sealed it with three minutes left. Then football was over. Cut by the Browns. Cut in Canada. Arena ball. Cleaning factories with a water lance, a janitor at LabCorp, a customer service line where strangers cussed him out all day. He started MMA at 24 with no combat background, and his wife wrote a $3,500 check to pay off his car so he could quit his job. Two years to the day later he signed with the UFC. This week I sat down with Eryk to get the whole story. The UFC calling when he weighed 238 with ten days to make 185, then knocking out Rafael Natal in the first round. Twenty UFC fights, the Machida decision, the soccer kick in Lincoln, getting judo-tossed by Hector Lombard, 15 pounds cut in 90 minutes and a house bought after every fight. He won his last fight in March at 38, retired in the cage and now runs Ya Boi Fitness Academy in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. He calls himself a C-plus athlete. He just outworked everybody. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow Eryk: @erykanders Ya Boi Fitness Academy, Vestavia Hills, Alabama Thanks to OMRE for supporting the show. Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Thank you to our sponsors OMRE: omre.co Code “RIDEOUT” Ken’s book now available here: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/ Chapters (00:00) Meet Eryk Anders (00:16) Born on an Air Force Base (00:45) Football Was a Religion in Texas (02:02) The Kid Who Wouldn’t Shower (04:12) A Nurse Who Retired a Colonel (06:01) A C-Plus Athlete Who Outworks Everyone (08:02) Friday Night Lights in Bulverde (09:10) 125 VHS Highlight Tapes (09:47) A Scholarship Out of Thin Air (10:33) Mike Shula Calls Hawaii (10:58) Timberlands and a Broken Scale (12:27) Sponsor Break OMRE (16:15) NIL Money and Back Pay (17:56) Don’t Give Them a Reason (18:58) The Dexter McCluster Story (22:16) Everything Turned to a Blur (23:06) Shula’s Oklahoma Drills (23:51) How Saban Changed Practice (27:48) Eating at 2 AM to Keep Weight (29:52) Mess Up at 100 Miles an Hour (32:20) Third-Down Pass Rusher (33:27) Benched in the Bowl Game (34:01) His Dad’s Last Advice (34:45) Texas in the Rose Bowl (36:18) The Sack That Sealed It (37:06) God Status in Tuscaloosa (38:36) Cut by the Browns (41:34) Canada and Arena Football (44:51) Booster Lunches and No Job (46:25) Cleaning Factories With a Water Lance (46:44) Janitor at LabCorp (47:03) Apache Helicopters for Sweden (48:20) Customer Service Hell (50:04) She Paid Off His Car (50:59) Two Years to the Day (51:38) The Amateur Grind (53:29) Wrestlers Make Champions (55:02) Cutting to 185 (56:21) His First Real Knockout (59:15) 238 Pounds and Ten Days Notice (1:00:46) 15 Pounds in 90 Minutes (1:03:46) The Fight Ready Fallout (1:06:34) Life on the Road (1:08:34) Philly Fight Culture (1:09:53) Ken Quit Cold Turkey (1:14:03) Judo-Tossed by Hector Lombard (1:16:44) The Divorce (1:19:29) His Son and His Stepson in Spain (1:20:59) 20 UFC Fights (1:21:43) $12,000 for His UFC Debut (1:22:20) The Soccer Kick Bonus (1:23:14) $260,000 for His Last Fight (1:23:45) Retiring on His Own Terms (1:24:25) What a Kids Gym Needs (1:26:42) Don’t Break Your Toys (1:27:12) Kids Who Can’t Do a Cartwheel (1:31:49) Take the Attributes Out (1:33:26) A House After Every Fight (1:34:27) Ya Boi Fitness Academy (1:35:22) Why Women Need Jiu-Jitsu (1:37:40) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. 7 Oct

    The Country Singer Nashville Wouldn't Sign | Jessie James Decker

    Jessie James Decker was born on a military base in Italy and lived in 14 places before she finished high school. At a sleepover in Newnan, Georgia, two senior girls she had never met pulled up with a bucket of slop they had been saving for weeks and dumped it over her head. Somebody made a page online called I Hate Jessica James. At nine she got on a stage in Baker, Louisiana in a denim vest and red high tops, yodeled a Patsy Montana song and beat every adult in the room. Right out of high school her mom and stepdad loaded a U-Haul and dropped her in Nashville to live with a song plugger. She had a record deal two months later. A gold single, a top 25 debut, opening for the Jonas Brothers. Then she tried to make a country record and nobody in Nashville would sign her. The deal fell apart. The boyfriend turned out to be a loser, her best friend moved out and her family was in Hawaii. No deal, no plan, swearing off men. Then a friend sent her a BlackBerry photo of a Broncos rookie in a white t-shirt with his arms folded. This week I sat down with my friend Jessie to get the whole story. The text from Eric Decker that read like a novel. The phone call on a curb outside a Mellow Mushroom. Four kids and four comebacks, five foot one with nine-pound babies, and the 40,000 women now training with her in the JJD Fit Club. The Kittenish store in Nashville she has run since 2019, just picked up by Macy's, Nordstrom and Dillard's. And The Secret Sauce, her fourth book, written with her mom and her sister, out this week. She never took the SATs, didn't have a drink on her 21st birthday, and cooks dinner every single night. I still don't know how she does all of it. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow Jessie: @jessiejamesdecker Her new book: The Secret Sauce, out now. Thanks to OMRE for supporting the show. Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Thank you to our sponsors OMRE: omre.co Code "RIDEOUT" Ken's book now available here: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/ Chapters (00:00) Meet Jessie James Decker (01:27) Ken's Daughter Loves Kittenish (02:22) Built Differently (04:03) Gratitude Is Her Superpower (05:33) Ken's Brother and the Way Out (06:20) Military Kid and 14 Moves (06:54) Always the New Kid (08:52) Bullied Like a Scene From Carrie (09:22) A Bucket of Slop at a Sleepover (09:52) The I Hate Jessica James Page (10:12) A Girls Girl Who Never Had It (11:43) Sponsor Break OMRE (14:04) No College and No SATs (14:49) Nine Years Old in Baker Louisiana (15:35) This Is My Job Now (16:02) A U-Haul to Nashville (16:23) Living With a Song Plugger (17:17) Ken Meets BeBe Winans (18:16) Vivi on the High Bar (18:56) Shawn Johnson as Mentor (20:08) Not Even a Drink at 21 (21:50) Signed at 19 and a Gold Record (22:42) A Little Doll Pulled Everywhere (23:15) Opening for the Jonas Brothers (24:06) The Label Wanted Platinum Blonde (24:36) Ken Couldn't Enjoy Sarasota (27:26) A Blessing and a Curse (28:17) Four Kids and the Weight Every Time (30:53) Short People Build Muscle Fast (31:47) She Cooks Every Single Day (32:09) Kids With Abs at Three (33:06) Rock Bottom in Nashville (33:46) Nashville Would Not Sign Her (35:07) No Deal and Swearing Off Men (36:29) The Hockey Player Setup (37:39) A BlackBerry Photo of Eric Decker (38:24) A Text Like a Novel (38:53) The Call on the Curb (39:52) Jambalaya and Stapleton at Exit In (40:25) Too Good to Be True (41:23) Ken Meets Eric at Onsite (41:49) Eric After the NFL (42:53) Like a Back Surgery You Need (44:27) The Brokeback Mountain Walk (45:08) Ken's Retreat in Mexico (46:12) Chainsaw in the Ice Storm (46:48) What Is the JJD Fit Club (48:04) Two Steps and 40,000 Women (48:39) Consistency Is a Superpower (49:13) No One Regrets a Hard Workout (50:20) The Genetics at 20 Are Gone (50:57) Kittenish at Macy's and Nordstrom (51:36) Finding a Partner for Kittenish (52:45) Know What You're Not Good At (53:47) The Secret Sauce (54:23) Food Is My Love Language (55:22) Meat Locker Cold (56:09) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  8. 2 Oct

    255 Pounds at 33. Eight Miles a Day at 64. | BeBe Winans

    BeBe Winans grew up a block from Smokey Robinson in Detroit, shoveling his snow for $25 when everyone else paid $2. Stevie Wonder's house was behind theirs. He was the seventh of ten Winans kids, and when his four older brothers got signed by Quincy Jones, BeBe drove the van. Right out of high school he and his sister CeCe auditioned for a Christian TV network in Charlotte. She got the job. He didn't. Their dad wouldn't let her go alone, so BeBe went as her chaperone, planning to work at a grocery store. Then Jim Bakker walked into a rehearsal and told the two of them to sing "Up Where We Belong" as a duet. That is how BeBe & CeCe Winans started. Capitol Records followed, then gold, then platinum, then six Grammys. Whitney Houston sang backup on their first tour and made their outfits herself while Clive Davis lost his mind. What almost nobody saw was the hotel mirror in California at 33. BeBe was 255 pounds and couldn't get through two minutes on a treadmill. His trainer told him it took 33 years to get there, so give yourself more than three days. He got to 180 and never went back. He is 64 now, and I see him running past my house in Brentwood in the rain and on the ice, every day but Sunday. That is how we met. This week I sat down with my neighbor to get the whole story. The fourth-grade poem that made him a writer. Michael Jordan at a Detroit baggage claim telling him to put his head down and listen. Stevie Wonder calling him an incredible writer from the side of the stage. Dolly Parton at the register of the country store down the road. And the tour with CeCe next April, their first in 25 years. One of the kindest people I know, and one hell of a storyteller. Hope you guys enjoy this one. Follow BeBe: @bebewinans Thanks to ROKA for supporting the show. Please take a minute to subscribe and leave a comment. It makes a huge difference. More about the show at theothersideofhard.com. Thank you to our sponsors Our Title Sponsor ROKA: www.roka.com/ Code "RIDEOUT" Ken's book now available here: https://www.theothersideofhard.com/ Chapters (00:00) Meet BeBe Winans (00:40) The Guy Who Runs Every Day (01:18) Jelly Roll Knows Him (02:21) Growing Up in Motown (02:41) Shoveling Smokey Robinson's Snow (03:58) Ten Kids and a Piano (05:16) The Winans and Quincy Jones (06:24) A Poem Called The Wind (07:28) A Catalog of 3000 Songs (08:36) Never Sing Your Own Demo (09:16) Sponsor Break ROKA (11:01) Meeting Whitney Houston (12:10) The Bodyguard Soundtrack (12:30) What the Music Means to People (13:10) Gladys Knight at the Ryman (15:17) Trading Names in a Blizzard (15:47) No Excuses in the Rain (16:10) Nothing Flexes Like Being in Shape (17:13) Rejected at the Charlotte Audition (18:15) Chaperoning CeCe at PTL (18:41) Jim Bakker Makes Them a Duet (19:54) Signing With Capitol Records (20:52) Gold Then Platinum (21:43) Keeping the Solo Rights (23:10) The Mirror in California (24:19) Two Minutes on a Treadmill (24:54) From 255 to 180 (25:45) A Banana in Every State (26:21) Not Donny and Marie (26:44) When One Winans Wins (27:39) Mom's 90th Birthday (28:52) Dad Hollering From the Front Row (29:12) Telling Mom She Can Retire (29:51) Ken Embarrasses His Daughter (31:33) Dad's Last Words (33:06) Sing for 12 Like It's 120,000 (35:37) Greek Theater and Carnegie Hall (36:04) Guards on a Train in Russia (38:44) First Tour With CeCe in 25 Years (39:21) Driving the Van for His Brothers (40:40) Whitney Houston Sang Backup (41:39) Whitney Runs the Tour Bus (44:46) The Lady Who Didn't Know Whitney (45:45) Stevie Wonder Sings Happy Birthday (47:05) Prince in the Next Seat (48:48) Michael Jordan at Baggage Claim (50:48) Dolly Parton at the Country Store (54:43) Ken's Mountain Lion (55:38) Cougars in Vancouver (57:16) Running With Rhinos in Kenya (57:35) Two Kids Who Don't Sing (58:55) Niece Deborah Joy on Greenleaf (59:20) Fifteen Cities in 2027 (01:00:28) Building the Show (01:02:25) Don't Get Addicted to the Applause (01:02:38) A Musical Bound for Broadway (01:03:17) The Business of a Tour (01:05:43) Pull Up Your Brave Pants (01:06:03) Private Shows and Oprah (01:07:24) Eight and a Half Miles Every Day (01:08:15) Lifting Right After the Run (01:09:43) See You in New York (01:10:06) Host Outro and Subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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2 Ratings

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The Other Side of Hard, hosted by Ken Rideout — raw, gripping conversations with people who've pushed past the breaking point. Stories of resilience, redemption, and what's waiting on the other side.

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