Steve is one fascinating guy.  From where Steve in life started to where he is now is quite the story.  To sum up the episode, he goes from ski bum to a career in cryptocurrency.

After some unique schooling growing up, Steve found a passion for Vale, Colorado during spring break of his senior year of college.  He fell in love with it some much that he decided to start his post college life there... for 3 years!  Embracing the full ski bum lifestyle, Steve's biggest aspiration at the time was to make it on to the cover of a ski magazine.

Steve realized he didn't want to live his life out as a ski bum based off the lives of others around him.  He then moved back East.  We'll leave the explanation of his fascinating career path to him in the episode.  Steve currently resides in Sherborn with his wife and 3 kids!

Steve is a wonderful example of how compiling skills for decades can lead to great opportunity in the future.  He's truly taken everything he's learned through his professional journey to get to where he is now.

At the end of the episode, Steve gets into his relationship with fitness and why it's so important to him!

Thank you so much for coming on the show, Steve.  You were so much fun to interview, and you are an absolute wealth of knowledge!!  I think everyone who listens to this will learn something!

Cat is so much fun to be around.  If you haven't met her before, it takes her literally two seconds to become your best friend which you can tell through the podcast.

Growing up in Natick her whole life, Cat sheds some light on her thoughts on how the town of Natick has evolved from when she grew up to now.  Her response definitely surprised me, and I think it'll surprise you too.

After high school, Cat started working her butt off.  She found her way into the restaurant industry in which she stayed in for years and years!  She developed a ton of skills throughout her career in the industry that translated to her job she's currently at which is Delaware Life.

If you can't tell from the picture, Cat is all Italian all the time!  Towards the middle of the recording, Cat dives into a bit of her experiences when she's gone to visit Italy.

My favorite part of this episode is at the end when Cat is describing how her husband, Rich, proposed to her.  If you know Rich (another Firewaller), this story will be exactly what you expect from this class act!

At the end, Cat runs us through her fitness journey throughout her life and how she ultimately found CrossFit Firewall (actually not her first CrossFit experience).

Thank you Cat so much for coming on!  I know you were reluctant to do the interview, it was an absolutely awesome one :)

I get a little bit personal on this one, team.  In this episode, I go over how badly I ate over the weekend, what my thoughts were as I entered the weekend, and why I was so wrong to have thought the way I did and acted the way I did.

I hope you get something out of this one and don't just see it as 15 minutes of rambling non-sense.  Enjoy!

This was such an incredible interview with Luke Foley.

Before we get into it, be sure to check out the links at the end of this description to see where you can find Luke's outstanding restaurant.

If you don't already know who Luke is, hopefully you've eaten at his amazing restaurant because if you haven't, you're missing out big time!

Luke's passion for restauranteering began in a way different than you may think.  Growing up, he had a giant interest in music - more specifically DJing.  He started DJing at parties when he was just 14 years old.  He later went on to create parties where he would also promote and DJ.

Once he got to college, he continued his music side hustle.  He ended up making a lot of connections through the club scene.

Interestingly enough, there were a couple times in Luke's college career when he dabbled with the idea of becoming a finance guy on Wall Street.  In both situations Luke discusses, he immediately realized that life was not for him.

As Luke graduated college, his mentor and good friend Rez hired him to manage a night club he owned.  This started getting the wheels spinning for Luke's idea to open up Bourbon's.  In the interview, he describes how he went from being a manager at Rez's place to becoming the sole owner of Bourbon's Ktichen & Cocktail.

My favorite part about the interview was when Luke explained his relationship with his staff.  You can hear in his voice throughout the episode the passion he has about his restaurant and life in general.  When he started talking about his team though, the intensity of his passion got kicked up a few levels.

If you haven't already been to Luke's place, you HAVE to check it out.  It's extremely popular, but totally worth the wait.  Whether you're going out for a few drinks or looking to have a 5 star meal, Boubon's is the place to go.  Thank you so much for coming on the show my friend!  It was an absolute joy listening to the origins of your successful restaurant.

https://www.bourbonsframingham.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BourbonsFramingham/
https://www.instagram.com/bourbonsframingham/?hl=en

What an absolutely incredible woman. Today, we sat down and talked with Beth Hart Gerry who was just an absolute pleasure to talk with.  We hit on 3 main topics throughout this episode - her experiences with the Olympics, the CrossFit Games, and postpartum depression.

Growing up in Grafton, Beth was the youngest of 5 sisters.  She has a twin, Sabine, who is 2 minutes older than her (apparently significantly older enough to think that she could take care of Beth at a young age).  We didn't get a chance to dive into this on the podcast but Beth and her 4 sisters were recently selected to be on Family Feud!  Unfortunately, there was a last minute emergency with the game show host, so they won't be going on until hopefully next year.

Beth ultimately went to the Olympics on the American Bob Sled team.  She explains to us how she even got there.  If you think about it, who's training for bob sled at a young age?  That's right, no one!  Her story of how she went from being 3rd in the state for shot put to being an All-American in the hammer throw at UConn to becoming an Olympian in Bob Sled is fascinating and a must-listen!

Once Beth finished her Olympic career, she found CrossFit shortly after (which was quite taboo in her workplace at the time).  She started off just working out to get fit again and then realized she was really good at it!  One year, she came 2 spots shy of qualifying for the games as an individual!  She would later go on to WIN the CrossFit Games on team CrossFit New England.

Beth was also kind enough to open up to us about her experience with postpartum depression and the effects it took on her life and her body.  We can't thank her enough for her transparency and honesty throughout this portion of the episode.  She speaks with great passion and paints a vivid picture as to what she experienced.  She offers some advice on how to gradually overcome it as well as all the trial and error she had to go through.

Beth, we cannot begin to thank you enough for coming on!!  You were so so so much fun to sit down and speak with (so fun that this is our longest episode to date and we could have easily kept talking for another hour!)  You're an incredible woman, and we're so fortunate to have you as part of our community.

Hey team!

In this one, we break down why approaching many, if not all, aspects of life in an incremental manner is so important.  We discuss why we should be looking to get .1% everyday rather than 10% better every week.

The concept of this episode is laid out in a book called the "Compound Effect" by Darren Hardy.  His thesis is quite simple, but incredibly powerful!

We hope you enjoy this week's episode!

This is the most powerful episode we've recorded to date.

Bowman's story is incredibly inspiring.  He's a local boy that bleeds Framingham Flyer blue.  If you didn't know that already, then you are definitely in for a treat.

Bowman grew up with the same 24 kids from kindergarten through 8th grade in a Framingham Christian private school.  When he finally got to high school, he was 1 of 2 that switched over to a public school instead of continuing with private school.  Bowman fully recognized that high school is where some of his troubles began.

I honestly don't even know how to write up the rest of this episode in a summary format.  You 100% have to listen to this episode in full as we get deep in the middle of this one.

Like a lot of these interviews, you will gain an enormous amount of perspective compared to what you may have experienced listening to our show in the past.

One thing that really resonated with me while talking with Bowman was when he was talking about his friend who said to him in AA, "Never stare in the rear view mirror.  If you do, you're gonna crash."

This is one of our most impactful episodes to date, if not THE most!  It's remarkable to hear how Bowman grinded his way out of addiction and set himself up with a life of sobriety and giving back.  Although you may not be in the same rut as him, his story proves to be the sliver of hope that you can pick yourself up no matter how low you may feel.

Bow, we can't thank you enough for your transparency, honesty, and integrity.  You've owned up to everything you've done in your life which isn't easy for anyone to do.  You share some very personal parts of your life showing your vulnerability and self forgiveness.  Firewall fam, I hope you enjoyed listening to this one as much as we did recording it!  Thanks again Bowman!

This is a very special episode (just like all of the others ;) ) in a sense that this is the first interview we've done with somebody who is a non-Firewall member.

Andrew Fiola is a sports massage therapist who grinds day in and day out to remedy any injuries athletes may experience.  His story is amazing.  His pursuit and passion to simply help people feel better is second to none.

Growing up in western Massachusetts, he attended Wesleyan University on the Pre-Med track as, at the time, he thought he might want to be a doctor or surgeon.

His passion for chiropractics stemmed from a couple of shoulder injuries back in high school.  Eventually him and his wife (and sugar mama) moved to Texas to pursue chiropractor school at one of the best in the country at the time.  Through his perseverance and determination, he found an incredible mentor who he immediately attached to.  Andrew was so passionate about the pursuit of his craft that he would follow around his mentor everywhere, to every appointment, at anytime of day.

Throughout his experience with his internship (which later turned into a full-time job after school), he got to work with a plethora of professional athletes, some of who he mentions in the episode, as well as a former U.S. President!

Andrew took away a unique style of sports massage therapy and brought it back to his home state of Massachusetts.  His practice is very unique as he truly tries (and almost always succeeds) to heal the root issue of whatever might be bothering them.  His methodology involves soft tissue work as well as unorthodox "homework" that he gives his clients after every session. 

The main thing I personally love about Andrew's practice and what I think separates him from a lot of other chiropractors/massage therapists is he does NOT want you to keep coming back to him with the same issue.  On average, he'll meet with someone about 4-6 times, and they'll have learned what they needed to from him about how to further fix their injury with consistent effort without his assistance.  Andrew not only heals his clients, but he also educates them in each session about how to perform maintenance on the body once the issue has been resolved.

You can find Andrew at a number of places online:
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.fiolasportschiro.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fiola-Sports-Chiropractic-1398159453817331/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiolasportschiro/

He's currently located in the Bosse Sports Complex at 141 Boston Post Road in Sudbury, MA.  He will be opening up a second location in the next couple weeks in Framingham (about 20 minutes away from Firewall!).  The location will be on Route 9 East, right after the Route 126 bridge.

Thank you so much for coming on the show Andrew!!  We were honored to have you as the first non-Firewall member guest on the show, and you certainly didn't disappoint!  We'll definitely have to have you on again to discuss the three topics we brought up through the episode ;) 

This hour absolutely flew by!  We bounced to so many different topics through this episode.  It was amazing being able to sit down and talk with Mark to get to know him on a deeper level and just learn more about his background in general.

Growing up in Ireland, Mark knew from a pretty early age farming wasn't for him (how his family made a living).  He was, however, always fascinated with technology - a field he's still involved in today.

Mark's experience in Ireland was a treat to chat about.  It gives a lot of perspective as to how the school system is very different in Ireland than in the U.S.

Once he moved over to the States, Mark found he really enjoyed the American life style although not specifically in New York.  Later on, he found himself in Boston - a city he enjoyed much more (good choice Mark ;) ).  Mark also enlightens us on his nerve racking struggle to get his green card to permanently stay in America.

Mark also goes into the first time he met Katrine (his now wife) and the amount of effort (or stalking, depends on your point of view) he put in to get in contact with her after that first talk.  They maintained a lost distance relationship for nearly 2 years before moving in together!

Towards the end of the episode, Mark tells us how he got involved with running in his late twenties.  To date, he's run 8 marathons including 3 in a 8 month span!  After taking a bit of a hiatus from fitness, he started with us at Firewall at the end of March of this year (2019).

Mark, we can't thank you enough for hopping on the show with us.  We greatly appreciate your humor, openness, and passions that you shared with us.  Keep up the amazing work my friend!

Devin was so much fun to have on the show and jam out for about an hour!  

Although a die-hard Boston sports fan, Devin actually grew up in Suffield, Connecticut.  He claims there's nothing there besides "tobacco fields and cul-de-sacs".  A fun story he shares from growing up was how he actually took a class his senior year taught be his mother!

After high school, Devin ended up at Mass Maritime, but it didn't take long for him to realize the school and career path was not the right fit for him.  He left after his first semester taking away some valuable life long lessons.

He ended up transferring to Bentley where he switched his focus to business.

Right out of college, he got hired at one of the big four accounting firms - KPMG.  At the time, Devin was nervous about his job stability as this was at the time of the 2009 recession.  Luckily for him, the country was just coming out of it when he got the job.

After a few years there, he switched over to another big four accounting firm - Ernst and Young.

Devin felt like his career at EY had run its course in which he switched jobs to State Street where he got his first experience in the banking world.  With the shift in career came a lot more traveling to his schedule - his first experience traveling internationally to countries like London, Australia and Hong Kong.  His favorite place he traveled to was London due to its history, but Hong Kong was the ultimate test for him and his girlfriend (who is now his wife).

Devin ends up breaking down his perspective on life after his intense travel campaign and encountering a unique health experience related to significant stress.

You'll have to listen all the way through to find out how Devin met Jenn, and how Hong Kong brought them closer together!

Jenn and Devin bounced around area living from Medford (where they got their adorable Morkie, Sophie), to Salem (where Devin proposed to Jenn), to Holliston (where they're starting their married life).

At the end of the podcast, Devin fills us in on what gym chain he was going to before Firewall and why he was initially reluctant to give CrossFit a try!

Since Devin's been with us, he's lost 30lbs and has never felt better.  Dev, congratulations on all of your health success.  You are so much fun to have in the gym, and so welcoming to anyone new who comes through our doors.  Keep up the amazing work, my friend!