Fight-or-Fl1ght

1994. A Rickson Gracie seminar. A medical device salesman walks in and gets humbled on the spot. Thirty years later, he is a 4th Degree Rigan Machado Black Belt who died on the mat, came back, and kept teaching.

Professor Larry Shealy is a coach, entrepreneur, and owner of Hendo BJJ in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He has taught Marines, police, SWAT, kids, and families. Same fundamentals. White belt to black belt.

In 2009, he collapsed during training. EMS brought him back. That day became his spiritual reset. Family. Adoption. A life reordered around one question. What can I do.

We talk leverage over size. Form versus function under pressure. Jiu-jitsu as a mirror of life. Dedication over motivation. Consistency over bursts. Breaking down ego in a room full of operators. And whether martial arts still matter in a world of drones and AI.

"Some days you're the hammer, some days you're the nail."

"It doesn't matter if we win. We just are not gonna lose."

"I want to play every note before I die."

Who are you. Who have you been. Who are you becoming.

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BTR™. Better. Verb, noun, adjective.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Opening

01:13 Who Larry is and what he fights for

04:17 The Rickson Gracie seminar

07:54 Humbled in the first roll

11:28 The Machado lineage

15:27 Collapse on the mat

17:43 A spiritual turning point

19:58 Family, adoption, and a reordered life

24:57 Form versus function

26:32 Jiu-jitsu as a mirror of life

30:14 Winning by not losing

32:17 Consistency versus bursts

35:12 Teaching military and law enforcement

40:41 Drones, AI, and tradition

42:55 Kids, families, and playing every note

45:43 Close

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🥋 CONNECT WITH PROFESSOR LARRY SHEALY

Hendo BJJ | Hendersonville, NC

Website: https://hendobjj.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hendobjj

Email: [email protected]

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Fight-or-Fl1ght. Self-funded. Sponsor-free. Long-form conversations with people who chose to stand and fight.

Watch and listen everywhere: linktr.ee/fightorfl1ght

Walk Worthy / Mj

Alaska crab boat. Combat controller. Combat rescue officer.35 years. 22 deployments. Nine years in combat.First there. Then the one who comes to get you.Col. Blake George, USAF (Ret.) enlisted in 1991 and was on the ground in Mogadishu on day one in 1992. At 34, a dozen deployments deep, he went back to pararescue school as a student and helped stand up the Air Force's Combat Rescue Officer career field. He commanded the 48th Rescue Squadron and closed his career as Director and Deputy, Air Force Special Warfare. Today he works the invisible battlefield at Xtremis.AI. The electromagnetic spectrum. What we emanate. What it says about us.This one goes deep.The Guardian Angel and the motto That Others May Live.Control | Influence | End State.What PJ families carry. The knock at the door.Helmand, 2013. The weight of bringing a teammate home.Compartmenting. Keeping your humanity. Walking into behavioral health at the Pentagon.

Judgment over obedience. Grace. Trust. Accountability."We do this on purpose. You are worth it."A promise made by strangers. Kept by strangers. Some call it rescue. I call it a covenant.Somebody carried you once. Find that person. Move toward them.Walk Worthy / MjCHAPTERS00:00 Welcome, Col. Blake George01:03 Who are you. Who have you been. Who are you becoming.07:50 Crab boat to Combat Control10:52 Somalia, 1992. First there.13:16 Combat control as a business operating system15:28 Control | Influence | End State17:35 Bosnia, Africa, and the first rescues19:27 Standing up the Combat Rescue Officer career field21:08 Operator to officer23:24 The Guardian Angel. That Others May Live.25:27 We over me29:08 What PJ families carry33:33 Helmand, 2013. The brotherhood and loss.38:45 Compartmenting and keeping your humanity41:04 Walking into behavioral health44:19 Training judgment over obedience45:53 Trust and honesty47:07 Three master's degrees51:19 The invisible battlefield. Xtremis.AI.54:37 Connect with Blake55:20 Rapid fire57:04 We do this on purpose58:27 The covenantCONNECT WITH COL. BLAKE GEORGELinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-georgeEmail: [email protected] Comfort Crisis, Michael EasterAtomic Habits, James ClearFIGHT-OR-FL1GHTSelf-funded. Sponsor-free. Long-form.https://linktr.ee/fightorfl1ght

The doctor whose work sparked the no seed oil movement. The Lakers hired her. Critics push back. You decide.

Dr. Cate Shanahan. Cornell-trained physician-scientist. Board-certified family physician since 1997. Author of Deep Nutrition and Dark Calories. Co-architect of the LA Lakers PRO Nutrition program with NBA legend Gary Vitti. One superpower. She makes nutrition make sense.

THE MISSION
Get seed oils out of the food supply. Put real food back on the plate. Fresh. Fermented. Meat on the bone. Organ meats. The way humans ate for thousands of years.

WHY IT MATTERS
Seed oils run through nearly everything. Fryers. Dressings. Snacks. Infant formula. Dr. Cate argues they sit at the root of metabolic damage, insulin resistance, and the food noise that keeps people eating. If she is right, the most important health decision you make happens three times a day.

WHY THE LAKERS
Athletes are assets. The body is the balance sheet. Every injury costs games. Every slow recovery costs minutes. The Lakers wanted an edge and brought in Dr. Cate. The results: leaner bodies, less visceral fat, better blood markers, faster recovery. Dwight Howard. Jeremy Lin. Kobe Bryant. Championship teams worldwide copied it.

WHY THE PUSHBACK
Major health institutions read the research and see these oils as heart-healthy. Many scientists point to ultra-processed food as the real culprit. Dr. Cate sees conflicts of interest and guidance built on flawed assumptions. The debate has moved from fringe forum to national policy.

WHY LISTEN
Everyone eats. Everyone decides. This is her thesis at full strength, from the doctor who tested it on the most scrutinized bodies in professional sports. Bring your skepticism. Test it at your own table.

Healthy debate. Honest questions. Better answers.

Eat. Heal. Perform. Better.

IN THIS EPISODE
The four pillars of a human diet. Fresh food. Fermented and sprouted food. Meat on the bone. Organ meats.
The hateful eight. Corn, canola, cottonseed, soy, sunflower, safflower, rice bran, grapeseed.
The big bad three. Seed oils, refined carbohydrates, refined protein powders.
Keto, paleo, carnivore, vegan. One framework that judges them all.
Heat, time, dehydration, and why processing method matters as much as ingredients.
Okinawa, France, Alaska, Hawaii. Traditional food cultures against the modern processed plate.
The American Heart Association, conflicts of interest, and the long history of saturated fat fear.
GLP-1s, food noise, and why a band aid is not a cure.

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Recording issues and the conversation resets
02:04 Dr. Cate Shanahan introduces herself
06:16 What food means beyond calories and nutrients
09:17 Nutrients versus nourishment
11:20 The four pillars of a human diet
13:38 The hateful eight seed oils
14:52 Why seed oils are a major metabolic problem
20:45 The big bad three and how diets compare
27:27 Why processing method matters as much as ingredients
32:12 Traditional diets versus processed food diets
33:33 Feeding the Lakers and applying Deep Nutrition
37:19 Body composition and performance changes
40:58 Blood markers, insulin resistance, and recovery
42:03 Why Dr. Cate says institutions suppress better guidance
48:39 Convenience, food culture, and losing the kitchen
52:18 GLP-1s, food noise, and appetite control
57:29 Where to find Dr. Cate
58:26 Closing thoughts and sign off

QUOTES
"Food is the answer."
"The hateful eight are the destroyers of health."
"A crutch isn't how you get over a broken leg."
Cate Shanahan, MD

FIND DR. CATE
https://drcate.com/
Books: Deep Nutrition and Dark Calories
Instagram: @drcateshanahan

ABOUT FIGHT-OR-FL1GHT
Long-form conversations with people who chose the harder right. Self-funded. Sponsor-free. Inform, not perform. Follow the show.

Not medical advice. Talk to your own physician before changing your diet or medications.

"Come for the logic. Stay for your health." / Dr. Cate Shanahan

Walk Worthy /

Eric Skalski. Retired U.S. Navy Captain. The Navy's 19th Bull Frog — the longest continuously serving active-duty SEAL, with nearly 41 years in uniform.

In this episode: what uninterrupted service actually means. How combat experience changed Eric's read on training doctrine, and what happened when real-world lessons didn't match what the training said. How after-action reports and honest feedback reshaped the way his team trained. What it costs to speak truth to power, and how he knew when a role no longer needed him in it. Why the reason behind a career matters more than the title or the outcome.

And what comes after the uniform — 28 for 28, Eric's self-funded endurance cycling campaign, 28 events on the road to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, raising support for USA Cycling Foundation athletes who have the ability but not the means.

Walk Worthy /

Fighter cockpit. Thunderbird three. West Wing. Then a tick bite took her legs. Took her voice. Nearly nine months of stillness.

Col. Nicole Malachowski (Ret.) built a career at the edge of human performance. First woman to fly combat in a modern fighter jet. First woman on a DoD jet demonstration team. White House Fellow. Adviser to two First Ladies. Commander of a $1.1B squadron. Then illness took the body that built it.

Resilience returns you to who you were. Resurgence makes you someone new. This hour lives inside that difference. Identity. Vulnerability. Yielding to overcome. A giant walks among us.

If you celebrate the human condition, this episode is for you.

Connect with Nicole: nicolemalachowski.com

Walk Worthy /

Fight-or-Fl1ght | Season 2, Episode 41 | Craig of Body By Craig, personal trainer and human performance coach, on preparing bodies for pageantry, athletics, and peak performance as a craft.

Four guests. Four creators. Four separate conversations. One question, asked in four different mediums.

Glenn McMahon (S2E38) builds brands. Steve Smith (S2E39) designs the sneakers in demand. George Esquivel (S2E40) hand-stitches leather into something that outlives a trend. Craig (S2E41) builds the body itself.

Some source fabric, leather, trims. Craig sources nutrition, recovery, physiology. Different raw material. Same discipline.

An OG of personal training and human performance, Craig has prepared bodies for pageantry, swimsuit photoshoots, and athletes competing at the highest level.

Peak human performance may have the broadest, most relatable TAM of all. It is you. We. Me. Who doesn't want to perform optimally? Set a new personal standard? Be better than yesterday. Miss America. A D1 scholarship. Different playing fields, co-joined by co-creation.

This is BTR™, applied knowledge. It is the maker's mark.

Self agency. Personal expression. Manifesting BTR™. If that's your jam, being better, feeling better, doing better, this month and yes, this episode nourishes.

Walk Worthy.

Fight-or-Fl1ght | Season 2, Episode 40 | George Esquivel, founder of the House of Esquivel, on childhood survival, faith, and building a bespoke luxury footwear brand from a garage.

Guns in the house. A father who was a career criminal. A mother who was conflicted. Always seeking better despite the oppression.

George Esquivel inherited a work ethic. Faith. Creativity. And the ability to FIGHT, for BTR™

Consider this resume: By fourteen he knew where the guns were kept. By nineteen he put his own father out. As a young adult, he owned his faith. And the notion that "hand made" meant more than the next hustle.

And along that journey, one garage and one mentor became an apprenticeship. A workshop towards self reliance, discernment, humility and capability. The House of Esquivel stands today as quiet luxury. The house has stitched shoes in Los Angeles for notables like Brad Pitt. LeBron James. The Rock. Janelle Monáe. Madonna. Laura Dern. George produces elegance. Art that simply fits.

This one is BTR™... Earned. & Honest.

We go deep. Father. Faith. Family. Mentor. Pain points. The Tutima watch collaboration that closed a circle thirty years wide. The lesson George learned from watching a man he loved become a man he refused to be.

"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free." — Michelangelo

EPISODE CHAPTERS

00:00 - Audio problems before restarting the interview (Source: Riverside FM Audio)

01:13 - Reintroducing George and the three part opening

01:50 - George defines himself as father, husband, friend, and maker

03:28 - Why the work matters more than the image

04:05 - The clients who mean the most to him

06:01 - How his wife kept him grounded

08:03 - George's father and the start of a difficult upbringing

10:13 - Realizing the bike was stolen and growing up around crime

11:12 - Violence, threats, and surviving life with his father

12:41 - Taking on responsibility as the eldest child

15:29 - His father's later years and what George learned from him

16:26 - Learning what not to become

17:54 - Faith, his mother's wisdom, and surviving motel life

20:20 - From punk concerts and vintage clothing to custom apparel

22:13 - Searching for shoes that fit before the internet

24:48 - Meeting a retired shoemaker who changed everything

27:20 - The garage shop that produced thousands of pairs

28:57 - Learning production by cleaning the garage and making shoes

30:24 - Fit samples, low return rates, and a process that still works

33:16 - The challenge of building a business with no formal training

35:02 - Why small batch manufacturing is full of hidden problems

38:38 - Wholesale changes after the pandemic and the shift to direct sales

41:51 - Corporate fitting events as a new growth lane

43:55 - A lifelong dream realized through a Tutima watch collaboration

48:11 - Designing the watch kit and turning a loss into a win

50:02 - Other collaborations that pushed his creativity

51:32 - How to commission shoes or inquire about collaborations

52:07 - Advice for aspiring artists entering business

Commission custom work: [email protected] | Instagram: @GeorgeEscavelle

Past and present notable clients: Brad Pitt, LeBron James, Madonna, Janelle Monáe, Laura Dern, Diane Kruger, Sean Lennon, Tyson Chandler, Waris Ahluwalia, and others

Walk Worthy.

Some products are iconic. They move audiences to want more.

Others are functionally forgettable. A transaction. A moment. Never a movement.

Some designers iterate. Refine what exists. Others duplicate, chasing short gains.

A select few imagine what might be. New expressions of symmetry, function, form. BTR™. Better in style, performance, value.

An even smaller few deliver, repeatedly, with the unexpected. Content that captures imagination and consumer enrollment. Regardless of brand. Regardless of season. Regardless of channel. They simply do.

Is that innate? Or cultivated? Right place, right time, right room? Or talent, latent in some, robust in others?

Steven Smith is that guy. Creator, curator, communicator. His product designs have proven themselves next level, again and again.

We dive deep. What is great design. What's broken about the rest. Is rebellion necessary? Is the fight for individuality a supreme act of rebellion? Is the freest way to face an unfree world absolute freedom, existence itself as defiance?

Steven's ideology rejects conformity. Questions inherited norms. Refuses to submit, in the design room and beyond.

If you celebrate humanness. If you relish collaboration. You already walk among us.

Join the episode. Join the cohort.

🎧 Fight-or-Fl1ght | linktr.ee/fightorfl1ght

Walk Worthy.

Music courtesy of Riverside's music library.

Donna Karan. Dolce & Gabbana. Giorgio Armani. St. John Knits, sold in 2013. Then interim leadership and advisory work across fashion, tech, hospitality, and luxury appliances. Thirty years. Build it. Sell it. Save it.

Glenn identifies industry vulgarities and celebrates the imagination that moves audiences to enroll, not those who survive on forgettable transactions. Decisive. Gentle in delivery. Firm in the follow-through.

Inside this episode: complacency as the industry's most uncomfortable truth. AG Jeans and the return to core. The pattern behind Nike, Lululemon, and Under Armour's repeated missteps. Why On, Hoka, New Balance, Kith, Aimé Leon Dore, and Buck Mason are winning through community over hype. Resale as real commerce. Runway economics, and why the math stopped working. AI as a tool, not a replacement for merchant judgment.

Notable quotes:
"There's no shame in asking for help."
"Keep it simple. It's denim, stupid."
"Patience."

If you celebrate humanness, and what happens in collaboration, you already walk among us. Join our cohort. Welcoming ALL.

Walk Worthy

Dr. Pamela Potts-Arnell serves as President/CEO of 22Zero, a peer-led trauma healing model built to resolve in two to four sessions, not months. Myles Jeffrey presses into whether that's possible, and whether it's responsible.

The conversation moves through guided imagery and memory reconsolidation, the research pipeline behind the model (one published study, three in peer review, a joint study underway with Healing Springs Ranch, new university work beginning in Alabama), and the difficulty of getting the VA to take a serious look despite the data. It closes on the name itself, twenty-two veterans lost a day, the work aimed at zero, and Dr. Arnell's trip to New York, traveling in cohort with the 2026 NYC SEAL Swim, a 3.5-mile open-water endurance event founded by former Navy SEAL Bill Brown, running August 15th from Liberty State Park through New York Harbor and the Hudson River, benefiting Beyond the Brotherhood.

"People aren't broken. They've experienced something that has been traumatic, and there's healing for that."