Same Genetics. First-Round Pick Brother. Zero Excuses. | Brennan & Jake Thieneman

Athlete Builder Podcast · Brennan & Jake Thieneman · All In Performance · Mindset · Football · Walk-On

EPISODE SUMMARY "Jake sat down in the Giants locker room after a decade of maxing out everything he had. Saquon Barkley sat across from him. He watched him run. And he knew — with total peace — that if he had another decade, he still couldn't touch that level."

Brennan and Jake Thieneman walked on at Purdue. Nobody handed them anything. They became starters, Big Ten honorees, and team captains. Their younger brother Dylan just got drafted in the first round by the Chicago Bears.

Same family. Same genetics. One of them is an NFL first-rounder. And their response to that? "We can't use the genetics excuse. He has the same parents we do."

Brennan and Jake now run All In Performance, an online coaching operation built around the same principles that got two walk-ons to the top of a Big Ten program. In this episode, Jim, Brennan, and Jake go deep on wasted potential, the walk-on mindset, how to mentally prepare for a physical game, what happens to your identity when football ends, the difference between saying "I'll try" and actually going all in — and why fitness, health, and wealth are infinite games you never stop playing.

Plus: Jake signs with the New York Giants as an undrafted free agent, sits across the locker room from Saquon Barkley, watches him run, and is completely at peace with where he is. That's what maxing out looks like.

KEY LESSONS 1. You can't use the genetics excuse when your brother proves it doesn't matter Dylan Thieneman was drafted in the first round by the Chicago Bears. Brennan and Jake walked on at Purdue. Same parents, same household, same genetics — and there's an order of magnitude between them athletically. Jake's point: "If Brennan and I had folded, there might be some negative feelings there. But that doesn't come from 'he got more.' It comes from 'I didn't do everything I could with what I was given.'" 2. Nothing is more disappointing than wasted potential Jake and Brennan weren't the most gifted players on their team — not even close. But they saw physically elite players who never touched the field. The gap between your current level and your ceiling is almost always wider than the gap between your ceiling and someone else's. Most people are nowhere near their potential and blaming the wrong thing for it. 3. "Try" is not a strategy Brennan calls out one of the most common performance killers: "I'm going to try to eat better. I'm going to try to get in full workouts this week." His challenge: what would you think of a coach who said "we're going to try to win tonight?" The word "try" is a built-in exit. Replace it with "I'm going to find a way." 4. Fitness, health, and wealth are infinite games Jake breaks down finite vs. infinite games: a football game has an end point, a winner, rules. Fitness doesn't. There's no moment where you've won and you're done. The goalpost always moves. Because it's an infinite game, the goal isn't to win — it's to keep playing. And if you're going to keep playing, you have to play it at a level you won't regret. 5. Maxing out means you can sit across from Saquon Barkley in peace After a decade of intentional training, Jake signs with the Giants as an undrafted free agent. He watches Saquon Barkley run and knows in his bones that if he had another decade, he still couldn't reach that level. And he was completely okay with it — because he'd done everything. That's what a clean conscience looks like when you've genuinely emptied the tank. 6. Mental preparation for a physical game starts Monday — not pregame Going into a Wisconsin-style run-heavy game, Brennan and Jake didn't just flip a switch on Saturday. Mental reps in bed the night before. Film study. Visualizing every play. And a physical week of practice — actually thudding, not just soft wrapping. You always play like you practice. A soft week makes a soft game. 7. Your identity has to survive the jersey coming off Brennan's counter-intuitive take: he was most confident in himself after football ended — not during. Because he knew he'd emptied the tank. He didn't attach his identity to "football player." He attached it to the type of person football made him. When the sport ended, that person remained. The next chapter starts from there. TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro — Brennan & Jake Thieneman, All In Performance, Purdue walk-ons 1:45 Favorite away venue — Brennan: Penn State Mid-play, you could feel the roar of 110,000 people 3:10 Favorite away venue — Jake: Nebraska 90,000 people going completely silent when Purdue scored 5:15 Iowa's pink visiting locker room — and why it backfired They wanted you to come out soft. You used it as fuel instead. 8:55 Wisconsin, Jonathan Taylor & Brennan's play of the game Taylor's third fumble of the night — on his senior night 11:45 How to mentally prepare for a physically brutal game It starts Monday, not Saturday 14:00 Backup QB destroys your game plan — and it happened three times 35:15 Walk-on to captain: the math on how rare that is 22% of 2% are starters. You were all-conference. Do the math. 37:10 Dylan gets drafted first round by the Chicago Bears — same genetics, zero excuses The most powerful moment in the episode 41:00 Nothing more disappointing than wasted potential Most gifted guys who never touched the field 42:20 Jake signs with the Giants — sits across from Saquon Barkley After a decade of maxing out, he watched Saquon run and was completely at peace 44:45 Jim's Hudson River swim — 15 months of prep, swim buoy falls off, pulled from the race Raised $700K for the military. Nobody died. He's at peace with it. 51:10 "Try" is not a strategy — find a way What would you think of a coach who said "we're gonna try to win tonight?" 53:25 Finite vs. infinite games — why fitness and health never have a finish line 55:00 Post-football identity — how do you stop putting on pads? Brennan was most confident after football ended, not during 1:01:00 Astronaut alcoholism, win the day & Jim's son Jack at Ball State 1:10:00 Steroids, peptides & the nitrous analogy You can't hit nitrous at the start of the race 1:13:20 Rapid fire: training music, favorite lifts, bucket list adventures 1:15:20 Movies, athletes, book recs & the Bible 1:19:40 Batman, Joker, Henry Ford quote — and the Purdue blacksmith statue Every swing of the hammer forges you closer to who you're becoming 1:25:25 Where to find Brennan, Jake & All In Performance + closing HASHTAGS #AthleteBuilder #AllInPerformance #ThienemanBrothers #WalkOn #PurdueFootball #ChicagoBears #DylanThieneman #WastedPotential #MaxYourPotential #MindsetMatters #WinTheDay #INCHES #FiniteVsInfinite #FootballMindset #BigTen #NFL #PerformanceCoaching #AthleteTransition #FindAWay #MentalToughness #SaquonBarkley #NewYorkGiants