Like a Bigfoot

Imagine walking sunrise to sunset day after day for 2,650 miles through brutal winter weather. We're talking summiting gigantic frigid mountains, freezing cold river crossing, waist deep snow, without seeing other hikers for weeks at a time through intense wintry wilderness. Those are only a few of the obstacles Shawn Forry and his hiking partner Justin Lichter faced while successfully completing...

“We don’t lack the science, information, or technology to get healthy. We lack the art to know how to use those things properly.” This week’s Like a Bigfoot Podcast is with the author of the upcoming book “The Art of Health Hacking” TJ Anderson. TJ is an advocate for human optimization through continual learning, testing, and adapting your habits to chase your ideal physical, mental and emotional...

Since we last spoke to Brady Manriquez (episode 1), he has lost 15 more pounds, overcame set-backs in the form of an emergency surgery, began pumping iron, and discovered the great form of exploration known as trail running. All this in preparation for his very first race- a 14.5 miler in the absolute breath-taking Monument Valley smack dab in the middle of the Arizona/Utah desert. In this episode...

This week's guest is amazing, hard working, hilarious, loving and just so happens to be the most important person in my life, my beautiful wife, Lindsey Ward. (Brownie points for me!) As the clock ticked midnight on New Years' Eve, Linz and I started our month long journey to tackle the Whole30 challenge. The Whole30 challenge encourages you to eat only the absolute essentials- vegetables, fruits,...

If you are a parent...or an athlete....or a parent-athlete, you are going to love this one! Sara and Wes Turner are two of the most driven athletes in Virginia. On this podcast we like to highlight people rebelling against the status quo and I'm happy to say that this husband and wife team are epitomizing the Like a Bigfoot spirit! For the past few years Wes has been literally chasing his goal of...

I met this week's guest way back in 2008 during my first year of coaching 9th grade football for the Iowa City West Trojans. He instantly became one of my favorite players. He was coachable, tough, would play any position asked of him, worked harder than anyone else, and had the never say die attitude that brings a smile to a coach's face. Over the last nine years, George Kittle transformed himsel...

This week we are proud to have the opportunity to talk to one of the leading experts of Acroyoga. The most basic definition of this style of yoga is that it is a mixture of acrobatics and yoga. It is the rare “social” yoga in that the poses are generally accomplished with either one or more partners. This week’s guest has spent the last ten years learning and practicing under the watch of Acroyoga...

What kind of person can endure 50 ironman triathlons, in all 50 states, in 50 straight days? An Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and finished with a 26.2 mile run for a total of 140.6 miles. For most people completing one is a MAJOR life accomplishment. In the summer of 2015, "The Iron Cowboy" James Lawrence powered through 50 of them, for 50 straight days, wh...

How do you transform from a self-described "indoor kid" to a person who spends entire weekends hiking through the beautiful outdoors of the Pacific Northwest? What lessons would you learn by stepping into the fresh air to wander in nature? Why are weekend adventures in the natural world so important for your success during the weekdays? This week our podcast proudly welcomes Shaida Hossein. Shaida...

The mountain conquerer has returned!! A few months removed from finishing his 14ers Project where he summited the 100 tallest mountains in the contiguous United States, Calvin Johannsen returns to the podcast for an overdue celebration of this lofty accomplishment. In this episode we crack open some beers, open some presents, and have a great time as Calvin shares more adventures from the road, in...

"Keep On Keeping On" Straightforward life advice but also extremely powerful. Nothing can stop you if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other and barreling forward towards your goals. This week we proudly bring you the story of the non-profit organization Keep on Keeping whose intent is to "assist those living with physical disabilities and educating and empowering others to make a di...

"The Endless Winter". A year spent climbing mountains all over the world. In 1969 when asked if he would like to engage in this adventure, my uncle Joel Bown said "something really profound like 'sure, why not?'" Two years of planning later, armed with a tent, a future paradigm-shifting mountaineer Arlene Blum and an "around-the-world" plane ticket, he was off to climb the world. This meant climbi...

Last week we discussed futbol, this week we discuss football. More specifically, one man's love of the sport, how it has changed his life, and why he's passionate enough to choose college football coaching as a career. Our podcast covers a wide variety of topics this week, including how football shapes personality, creates powerful mindsets through adversity, teaches players to handle failure and...

7,000 miles. 8 countries. 4 friends. 1 dream. Document the importance of soccer through the lens of a variety of Latin America. This is American Futbol. A documentary film that was a journey of a lifetime for my friend, and all around great guy, Petar Madjarac. These filmmakers took a pause on life to chase a dream, an idea they had thought up years ago. With an extreme passion for soccer and a ye...

Imagine running 200 miles (....hold on, let me say that again, TWO HUNDRED MILES) gaining and losing 35,117 feet of elevation as you circumnavigate one of the most beautiful environments in North America, Lake Tahoe. Now imagine doing that in 90 hours with a total of 5 hours of sleep. Can you picture the crazy hallucinations, foot pain, and severe exhaustion you would be experiencing? How about tr...

What kind of mental toughness and physicality does it take to break a Guinness World Record? How about choosing one of the most dreaded exercises out there? What drives someone to set a seemingly unfeasible goal and then actually demolish it?? I met Cameron Dorn while climbing the Black Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina in the midst of what was advertised as "the world's hardest 50k". To gi...

What in the world would is it like to run 100 miles?? What about running for 24 hours nonstop? How about running these crazy events and WINNING? Today's guest is Hammer Nutrition athlete and all around ultramarathon badass, Natalie Larson. In 2015 she went on a spree of 100 milers, knocking off the distance NINE TIMES through various 100 milers and 24 hour endurance events. She accomplished this f...

This week's episode was absolutely fascinating to me. When I heard that my buddy Brandon Swett went to a 10 day silent meditation retreat, my first response was "He did WHAT??" Brandon had never come across to me as the kind of person who would participate in something so outside the box. Over the past two years he has completely challenged his old mindset and is studying meditation on his way to...

How to become Superhuman, the importance of pursuing new ideas, the mindset of a hard-worker, and, of course, surviving a multi-day Go Ruck challenge (the HCL) while profusely bleeding from your leg. AND SO MUCH MORE!! Ryan Esdohr, co-owner of Superhuman Lab , is a deep thinking student of fitness who is constantly exploring ways to broaden the way we think of performance. Through his company he e...

Nepal Treks, Ultramarathons, running miles and miles in the Sahara Desert, Iceland stage races, all on this week's episode! Hope that got your attention... Do you remember meeting your first adventurer? The first person who expanded your mind making you understand that the world is HUGE and filled with endless possibilities for adventure? For me that person was my cousin Susan Nowell. When I was i...

Have you ever day-dreamed about quitting your job, selling your stuff, minimizing your life and hitting the road in the pursuit of adventure? To most of us this will forever remain a day-dream, existing in the back of our minds with the rest of the "somedays". To Annie and Luke Perkins this has become their reality. Having set out on the road, they have embraced a nomadic lifestyle adventuring aro...

This week's episode is a great one if you are the person who has thinks to yourself “running a half marathon looks super cool, but I’ll never be a runner... so there’s no point of even signing up.” Matt Rackers is fresh off of finishing his very first half marathon and, while he may currently be limping around like a John Wayne, he’s feeling pretty dang good! Bucket list item=complete! In this epi...

Adventure up Buffalo Mountain in the early morning after the first snow. Overcoming adversity leads to an important reminder.

Aron Johnston is a husband, a father, and an artist. After high school he fell into a construction job. It was the safe choice- comfy, secure, and gave him a steady paycheck. But it wasn't his passion; it wasn't what he saw himself doing the rest of his life. So he stepped off that path. Left the safety of his job of 15 years and began to pursue his passion- art. Oh yeah...did I mention he had two...

Calvin Johannsen is in the middle of an epic quest to summit the 100 tallest mountains in the continental United States in....100 DAYS. It is called the "14ers Project." No doubt about it, he is on an ADVENTURE. One most people don't have the strength to endure. He has faced adversity, self doubt, gained incredible physical strength, solidified his adventure mindset, demonstrated super human endur...