Conquer Stories

What happens when you finally achieve the thing you worked years for... and realize the hardest part might come after?

Ris Ondaine wanted to compete in bodybuilding for six or seven years. In her first show, she placed first in her class, first in the open, second overall, and qualified for nationals. But once the competition was over, a completely different fight began.

In this episode of Conquer Stories, Ris sits down with Josh to talk honestly about the part of bodybuilding most people never see: what happens after the stage.

They get into the challenge of the post-show reverse, changes in her relationship with food and her body, body dysmorphia, hormonal recovery, social pressure, and what happens mentally when the deadline you spent months working toward suddenly disappears.

Ris also shares how intentionally she prepared for the competition itself. She built routines around her goal, used music to create confidence, visualized herself walking onto the stage, practiced until the unfamiliar became familiar, and learned to make difficult choices when something did not support what she was working toward.

That preparation paid off.

But the bigger lesson came afterward.

How do you treat yourself when the version of you built for one specific moment was never supposed to last forever?

Ris talks about learning to acknowledge difficult thoughts without automatically believing them, giving herself grace through the recovery process, and recognizing how much the experience changed her beyond her physique.

Mental growth. Physical growth. Personal growth.

And the realization that sometimes conquering is not simply reaching the goal.

Sometimes it is learning who you are on the other side of it.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Think about the thing you are fighting for right now.

Who are you becoming while you work toward it?
What happens when you finally get there?
Are you building habits that can support you after the finish line too?

The goal matters.

So does the person who has to live on the other side of it.

Follow Ris Ondaine:
@onlyfecoaching

Watch, listen and follow Conquer Stories:
conquerstories.conquerallthings.com

CREDITS

Hosted by Josh Yakes
Guest: Ris Ondaine
Produced by Mike Axe
Edited by Derek Kedell
Theme Song From Mike Axe

Dictate your own outcome. Conquer all things.

What if you’re not behind? What if you’re trying to make the wrong path work? Kyle Fasano joins Josh to talk about dropping out of college, feeling lost while everyone else seemed to be moving ahead, forcing careers that never felt right, and what changed when he finally gave the thing he actually loved a chance.

Kyle went to college because it felt like what he was supposed to do.

He did not know what he wanted. His grades kept dropping. Baseball disappeared. University became community college. Eventually, college ended altogether.

Then he tried real estate.

For years, Kyle kept hoping a career he did not enjoy would eventually click.

It never did.

The thing he kept coming back to was fitness.

He would leave the real estate office to train. People started asking him for help because they thought he was already a trainer. And eventually, Kyle stopped forcing the path he thought he should follow and gave the one he actually cared about a chance.

In this episode of Conquer Stories, Kyle talks about feeling behind while other people seemed to be hitting all the milestones, working jobs that did not fit, partying through some of the uncertainty, and learning that work ethic only gets you so far when you are moving in the wrong direction.

They also get into the pressure to have your life figured out early.

College.
Career.
Money.
Marriage.
A house.

All the things that can make you wonder what is wrong with you when everyone else seems to be moving forward.

Kyle did not have it figured out.

Neither did Josh.

And the years that felt like detours became part of what shaped both of them.

Today, Kyle is in Los Angeles, married, self-employed, and has built a career helping people through fitness.

His advice to the version of himself who felt lost is simple:

Find what you love. Cut out the noise. Go all in.

Not because it suddenly becomes easy.

Because there is a difference between working through something hard that matters to you and forcing yourself through a life you never wanted.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Take an honest look at where you are right now.

What am I doing because I want it?
What am I doing because I think I should?
What am I forcing because I keep hoping it will eventually feel right?
What keeps pulling me back because I actually care about it?

You do not need your entire life figured out today.

But you can stop pretending the wrong direction is working.

Share what you are conquering with us. Someone may need to hear something you have to say.

CHAPTERS
00:00 What Will You Leave in the Light?
00:27 Meet Kyle Fasano
02:07 What Does It Mean to Conquer?
02:44 Kyle’s College Dropout Story
03:58 When College Wasn’t Working
04:54 What Do You Do Without a Degree?
05:33 Trying to Make the Wrong Career Work
06:01 When Fitness Started Pulling Him In
06:39 Finding a Path You Actually Want
07:38 Watching Everyone Else Move Ahead
08:14 Work Ethic Without Direction
09:47 Going Backward Before Moving Forward
10:22 Finding Something You Actually Enjoy
11:04 Why Training Is About More Than Fitness
12:14 What Being Lost Looked Like
13:17 When the Gym Became the Escape
14:08 Waiting for the Wrong Career to Click
14:30 How We Cope When We Feel Lost
15:55 What Changed When Josh Found His Path
17:23 What Kyle Would Tell His Younger Self
17:35 Stop Doing What You Think You Should
18:32 What His Younger Self Would Say Now
19:12 The Detour Was Part of the Path
19:49 Why Your Story Can Help Someone Else
20:07 What Comes Next

WATCH, LISTEN & FOLLOW
Watch, listen and follow Conquer Stories
Follow Kyle Fasano @fasano_fitness

CREDITS
Hosted by Josh Yakes
Guest: Kyle Fasano (@fasano_fitness)
Produced by Mike Axe
Edited by Derek Kedell

Dictate your own outcome. Conquer all things.

At mile 71 of a 100-mile race, Katy Duncan stopped. Later, she knew she could have kept going. That moment stayed with her, and when she reached the same point in her next 100-miler, exhausted, hurting and heading into the dark, she made a different choice. She kept moving.

In this episode of Conquer Stories, Katy joins Josh Yakes to talk about how running helped her through a difficult time in her life and eventually took her from training for a half marathon to running 100 miles.

They talk about what happens when your body is telling you to stop, why huge goals become easier when you stop staring at the whole distance, and how the lowest points can teach you something you carry into the next attempt.

For Katy, sometimes 100 miles has to become the next aid station.

Then the next one.

And when the race gets dark, those miles still count. You may be moving slower. You may not feel strong. You may not feel like you are making enough progress.

You are still moving forward.

That applies to a lot more than running.

Quitting once does not erase the work you already did. A setback does not make everything before it meaningless. And the moment you wanted to stop does not have to decide what happens the next time you get there.

Sometimes the most important mile is the one after you wanted to quit.

YOUR NEXT STEP

Think about something in your life that feels overwhelming when you look at the whole thing.

Now stop looking at the whole thing.

What is your next marker?

The next conversation.
The next workout.
The next decision.
The next day.
The next step.

Get there first.

Then find the next one.

And if you have stopped before, ask yourself what that experience taught you that you can use this time.

Share what you are conquering with us. Someone may need to hear something you have to say.

CHAPTERS
00:00 What Will You Leave in the Light?
00:27 Meet Katy Duncan
01:58 What Are You Conquering?
02:25 Why Katy Started Running
03:47 From Half Marathon to 100 Miles
05:08 What Running 100 Miles Really Takes
05:44 Recreational Suffering
06:31 One More Step Forward
07:29 Expect the Unexpected
08:16 Preparing for 100 Miles
09:25 Make the Impossible Smaller
11:26 When Your Body Tells You to Stop
11:40 Quitting at Mile 71
12:25 Deciding Not to Quit Again
14:35 When the Race Goes Dark
15:18 The Dark Miles Still Count
15:47 Progress Does Not Have to Be Fast
16:34 Why a Setback Is Not the End
17:45 The Message Katy Left Herself
18:10 Another Reason to Stop
20:13 When an Ultramarathon Starts to Look Like Life
20:58 What Comes Next

WATCH, LISTEN & FOLLOW
Watch, listen and follow Conquer
Follow Katy Duncan @trainingstronger

CREDITS
Hosted by Joshua Yakes
Guest: Katy Duncan (@trainingstronger)
Produced by Mike Axe
Edited by Derek Kedell

Dictate your own outcome. Conquer all things.

What do you do when life forces you to slow down, accept help, and rebuild at a pace you did not choose? Jordan Shipp joins Josh Yakes to talk about repeated injuries, painful recoveries, losing independence, and what he learned when the only way forward was one step at a time.

Jordan has lived through more than one comeback.

A broken ankle in college. A major knee injury. Shoulder surgery. A reconnected bicep. Different injuries, different recoveries, and different lessons every time.

In this episode of Conquer Stories, Jordan opens up about what those setbacks taught him about pain, patience, asking for help, and learning not to rush the process.

He talks about going from being completely independent to needing his fiancée and friends to help with basic parts of everyday life, what it felt like to wake up after surgery in overwhelming pain, and why being the person who needs help can sometimes be much harder than being the person who gives it.

Jordan also reflects on the choices that led to some of his injuries, why he now tries to move through life with more intention, and how every recovery has forced him to become more patient with himself.

Because pain can take something from you.

It can also teach you something.

Sometimes it tells you to slow down. Sometimes it forces you to lean on people. Sometimes it shows you that the way you were moving before is not the way you need to move next.

You cannot rush the comeback. But you can decide who you become while you rebuild.

CHAPTERS
00:00 What Will You Leave in the Light?
00:27 Meet Jordan Shipp
01:21 The Moment Josh Never Forgot
02:59 What Are You Conquering?
03:26 When Injuries Keep Taking Things Away
04:31 What Pain Can Teach You
05:14 Losing Your Independence
05:53 Pain Has a Purpose
07:34 Every Recovery Is Different
08:01 Learning to Ask for Help
09:00 Giving Yourself Time to Heal
09:58 What Would You Tell Yourself Then?
10:30 Move With More Intention
11:51 What Would the Injured Version of You Say Now?
12:05 One of the Lowest Points
13:10 One Step at a Time
14:29 When You Still Have to Show Up
16:37 Share What You Are Conquering

YOUR NEXT STEP
Where in your life are you trying to rush something that needs time?

Maybe you are recovering. Maybe you are rebuilding. Maybe you are carrying something alone because asking for help feels harder than struggling through it.

Ask yourself:

What is this season teaching me?
What support do I need?
What is the next step I can take today?

You do not have to solve the whole thing at once.

Take the next step. Then take another tomorrow.

And if you are going through something right now, share your story. Someone may need to hear something you have to say.

WATCH, LISTEN & FOLLOW
Watch, listen and follow Conquer
Follow Jordan Shipp

CREDITS
Hosted by Joshua Yakes
Guest: Jordan Shipp
Produced by Mike Axe
Edited by Derek Kedell

Dictate your own outcome. Conquer all things.

How far would you go when your child needs you and you have no idea what comes next?

Jandy Tecson flew to the Philippines expecting to meet his newborn son, spend time with his family and eventually bring them home to the United States.

Then his son Dylan was born with a serious heart condition.

What followed was a fight Jandy could never have prepared for: doctors who could not initially give them answers, falling oxygen levels, hospital stays, procedures, overwhelming medical costs, immigration challenges and setback after setback as he tried to get his family where they needed to be.

In this episode of Conquer Stories, Jandy joins Josh Yakes to talk about what happens when fatherhood asks everything of you.

He opens up about leaving behind the life he had built, navigating his son’s medical care in the Philippines, fighting to bring his wife and children to the United States, finding the right surgeon for Dylan and learning to keep moving when there was no clear roadmap ahead.

But this is also a story about faith, community and the people who show up when the weight becomes too heavy to carry alone.

Jandy shares how his faith helped him move through fear, how years of pouring into other people came back to his family when they needed help most, and why asking for help is not weakness.

Today, Dylan is walking, growing and bringing joy to the people around him.

And Jandy came out of the fight understanding something about fatherhood that changed everything:

You will do anything for your kids.

You may not know how you are going to solve every problem in front of you. You may not be able to see where the road leads.

But you can take the next step.

CHAPTERS
00:00 What Will You Leave in the Light?
00:27 Meet Jandy Tecson
01:48 What Are You Conquering?
02:13 When Everything Changed for His Family
04:06 The Diagnosis No Parent Expects
04:29 When the Joy of a Newborn Becomes Fear
05:14 Faith Before the First Procedure
05:55 The Surgery Worked. The Fight Wasn’t Over.
07:32 A Mission to Bring His Family Home
09:04 One More Setback
09:24 The Surgery That Changed Everything
10:22 The Community That Helped Him Heal
12:47 What Fatherhood Demands of You
13:11 Letting Go of the Life He Built
14:36 Why Being Good to People Matters
15:40 Faith Conquers Fear
16:02 What Would You Tell Yourself in the Fight?
19:56 Why Jandy Finally Shared His Story
22:20 You Do Not Have to Conquer Alone
23:24 It Is Okay to Ask for Help
25:04 Someone Needs to Hear Your Story

YOUR NEXT STEP
What are you carrying right now that you have been trying to carry alone?

Think about the person, community or resource you could reach toward instead of trying to solve everything by yourself.

Ask for help. Accept the help. Then take the next step in front of you.

And if you have lived through something that could help another person feel less alone, share your story. Someone may need to hear something you have to say.

WATCH, LISTEN & FOLLOW
Watch, listen and follow Conquer

Follow Jandy Tecson

CREDITS
Hosted by Josh Yakes
Guest: Jandy Tecson
Produced by Mike Axe
Edited by Derek Kedell

Dictate your own outcome. Conquer all things.

What do you do when the life you built suddenly stops working the way it used to?

Maybe your body tells you to slow down. Maybe your career changes underneath you. Maybe the plan that worked for years does not work anymore.

For actor, director, producer and creator Ben Giroux, both happened at once.

In this episode of Conquer Stories, Ben joins Josh Yakes to talk about recovering from the most significant injury of his life while also navigating an entertainment industry that looks very different from the one he built his career in.

They talk about the things other people cannot see, learning when pushing harder is no longer the answer, building a life around what you can control, creating your own opportunities, and why sometimes the only way forward is to pivot.

Ben also opens up about work, relationships, the cost of always wanting to do more, learning to listen to his body, and why progress sometimes only becomes visible when you step back far enough to see how far you have actually come.

CHAPTERS
00:00 What Are You Conquering?
02:09 When Your Body Tells You to Slow Down
03:21 The Things People Cannot See
06:04 Rebuilding From the Basics
07:51 When You Realize Something Has to Change
08:50 When Your Career Changes Underneath You
11:09 What Are You Going to Do About It?
11:55 Learning to Pivot
13:23 Build Without Permission
15:21 The Cost of Always Doing More
18:42 What Did the Hard Part Teach You?
19:11 Listen When Your Body Says Stop
19:59 Learning to Adapt
22:22 Zoom Out and See Your Progress
25:39 What Josh and Ben Are Building Next

YOUR NEXT STEP
Where in your life are you being asked to adapt instead of forcing the old plan to keep working?

Name it. Then decide what you can control and take one step in that direction.

Share your story with us. Someone else may be fighting through the same thing and need to know they are not alone.

WATCH, LISTEN & FOLLOW
Watch, listen and follow Conquer

CREDITS
Hosted by Joshua Yakes
Guest: Ben Giroux
Produced by Mike Axe
Edited by Derek Kedell

Dictate your own outcome. Conquer all things.

Who are you when the life that defined you suddenly changes?

After a heart attack, triple bypass, career loss, and the end of a 23-year relationship, Antonio Lopez had to face a question harder than survival: Who am I now?

If you are trying to find yourself again after loss, heartbreak, a health crisis, career change, or another major shift you never planned for, this conversation is for you.

Antonio joins Josh Yakes for an honest conversation about identity, self-worth, asking for help, letting go, trusting yourself, forgiveness, and discovering who you are when the roles that once defined you no longer do.

For years, Antonio was the dependable one. The friend. The partner. The employee. The person other people needed him to be.

Even when things were not okay, his answer was simple: "I'm fine."

Until life forced him to stop.

Because finding yourself again does not mean going backward. It can mean learning to trust yourself, letting go of what no longer belongs in your life, forgiving yourself for what you did not know then, and believing there is still more ahead of you.

WHAT ARE YOU CONQUERING?

If Antonio's story feels familiar, tell us: What are you enduring, overcoming, or conquering right now?

No one fights alone.

WATCH + FOLLOW CONQUER ALL THINGS

YouTube:
youtube.com/@ConquerAllThings

Website:
conquerallthings.com

Instagram:
@conquerallthings

TikTok:
@conquerallthings

FOLLOW JOSH YAKES

Instagram:
@joshua.yakes

TikTok:
@conquerallthings

FOLLOW ANTONIO LOPEZ

Instagram:
@antoniolopez572

CHAPTERS

00:00 Before Everything Goes Dark
00:28 Meet Antonio Lopez
01:30 Naming the Fight: Identity
04:09 When the Life You Knew Is Gone
06:02 Heart Attack + Triple Bypass
09:30 When Purpose Becomes Identity
10:35 The "I'm Fine" Mask
15:07 Just Get Through the Day
18:47 Letting Go of What Defined You
24:24 What Antonio Wishes He Knew
26:17 Trust Yourself Before It Is Too Late
27:45 Learning to Forgive Yourself
30:15 What You Need to Hear
32:44 What It Means to Conquer

ABOUT CONQUER STORIES

Hosted by Conquer All Things founder Josh Yakes, Conquer Stories features honest one-on-one conversations with real people about the fights they have faced, the fights they are still facing, and what they are learning as they endure, overcome, and conquer.

Real people. Real fights. Real stories of what it means to keep moving forward.

CREDITS

Host: Josh Yakes
Guest: Antonio Lopez
Producer: Mike Axe
Editor: Derek Kedell
Theme Song: Mike Axe

SHARE YOUR STORY

Have a story about something you are enduring, overcoming, or conquering? We want to hear it.

conquerstories.conquerallthings.com/contact