Gilbert Rios returns to True Reviewz & Interviewz for the first time since 2022. Gilbert is the owner of Resilient Responder Coaching, host of the Fit for Duty Podcast, a Marine veteran, former Sheriff’s Deputy, SWAT operator, detective, recruit training officer and task force investigator. He is also the author of Breaking the Blue Wall and The Two Year Life- and most recently has discovered another passion through private cooking and meal prep for clients. In this nearly two-hour conversation, TJ and Gilbert explore what it means to be family while growing up in completely different worlds. While Gilbert was joining the Marines, TJ was getting into legal trouble. While Gilbert was making arrests, TJ was waking up in jail and meeting with probation officers. While Gilbert was competing in bodybuilding competitions, TJ was stopping on the way home from work for five cheeseburgers and a tub of fries... before going home for dinner. Years later, one seemingly random decision by Gilbert to reach out about a weight-loss competition through Resilient Responder Coaching would eventually change TJ’s life. It didn’t work the first time. But after getting another opportunity and finally committing to the process, TJ’s journey has resulted in nearly 200 pounds of weight loss over the last three years. Together, they discuss what that transformation actually looked like, the challenges of coaching someone through change, personal accountability, discipline, setbacks, and what happens when the person being coached has to eventually take ownership for themselves. But the conversation goes far beyond weight loss. Gilbert discusses nearly two decades of coaching, what drew him toward discipline and physical fitness at such a young age, and how that mindset followed him through the military, law enforcement, bodybuilding, business, writing and now cooking. They discuss his deeply personal first book, Breaking the Blue Wall, which explores his experiences in the first responder community and the mental-health stigmas that can exist within those professions—and the surprising transition into fiction with The Two Year Life, a psychological novel about a woman who remembers an entire life that nobody else remembers. The conversation also moves through their shared love of Interstellar, creativity, writing, podcasting, social media, artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, and the complicated moment when trying to turn something you love into a business begins disrupting the happiness that made you love it in the first place. At the heart of the episode is a shared desire to serve people. For Gilbert, that has taken many forms—from serving his country, to his community, to coaching clients, and now preparing meals for people who simply need a little support making their lives healthier and easier. They also explore the importance of creating for yourself, sharing your work with the world, and refusing to allow other people’s opinions, judgments or criticism to determine whether you continue doing something that brings meaning to your life. What began as a conversation about weight loss became something much bigger—a discussion about discipline, identity, service, creativity, reinvention, family and finding new ways to enjoy the life you’ve worked so hard to build. Breaking the Blue Wall and The Two Year Life are available on Amazon. Follow Gilbert on Instagram: The Resilient Responder Coach. Listen to the Fit for Duty Podcast and learn more about Resilient Responder Coaching.
