The JD Denham Podcast

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down with Brandon Hills, a former cop turned transformation coach, husband, and father, for one of the most honest conversations about infidelity, shame, and redemption this show has had. Two men from opposite sides of the tracks who ended up at the same table, and at the same cross.

Brandon opens up about seven years in law enforcement and five years in a prison before that, how a job built on being lied to every day slowly turned him bitter and judgmental, and why he walked away from it all to coach full time. Then he goes somewhere most men never will. He tells the story of confessing his infidelity to his wife after years of hiding it, the night in a gas station parking lot when he had already decided to leave, and the moment she told him she had heard God's voice tell her to give him another chance. He talks about what unconditional love did to a man who never believed he was worthy of it, and why that kind of forgiveness is not possible without God.

JD and Brandon get into the father wound and the cycles men inherit, why Brandon deleted social media for years and went to therapy, how his wife baptized him in a freezing lake in Montana five years after the worst chapter of their marriage, and why God keeps using the broken, tattooed, cussing men instead of the polished ones at the pulpit. They also talk about grieving a father who is still alive, and JD shares his own story of letting go of a resentment he thought he never would.

If you are in a dark season, or know a man who is, this one is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:07 – Welcome & Meeting Brandon Hills

01:48 – Who Brandon Is Today: Reborn

04:17 – From Prison Guard to Cop to Online Coach

15:09 – The Drug Task Force Spiral & an Emotional Affair

20:28 – Telling His Wife the Truth

23:24 – The Gas Station Conversation That Saved His Marriage

27:19 – Doing the Deep Work: Therapy & Quitting Social Media

32:10 – Why Forgiveness Takes God

37:13 – Baptism: From the Jiu-Jitsu Mat to a Montana Lake

41:50 – JD's Story: "God, If You're Real, Show Up"

51:08 – Why God Uses Men With a Past

53:01 – Brandon's Dad & JD's Resentment Story

1:02:13 – Transformation Coaching: Where to Find Brandon

1:04:23 – Start a Business From Where You Are & Outro

Follow Brandon Hills:

Instagram: @therealbrandonhills

Facebook: Brandon Hills

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this solo episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down the day before leaving for China and does something he has not done in full before: tells the whole story of how he got sober and the man who made it stick. For the new listeners who have only heard pieces, this is the one.

JD takes you back to January 18th, 2011, when he woke up different after four overdoses, years of stealing and lying, and a lifetime of being a taker. He calls his dad for the first time in a year, kicks heroin at his house, finds a low bottom sober living home in Costa Mesa on Craigslist, and walks in with a laundry basket of clean clothes as the only thing he owns. Then he tells the story of how he almost walked to a church instead of a meeting, turned around thirty feet from the house, and met his sponsor Darko.

Darko was hard, rigid, and never once offered a ride. JD skated from Costa Mesa to Newport every Saturday for step work and rode a two hour bus each way to sell golf clubs for four hours, and somewhere in that year of doing what he did not want to do, he found his worth. He tells the story of the judge who kept asking one question for five months, how his court cases were erased without paying a dollar, the fifth step that changed everything, and the final weeks he spent taking Darko to chemo before losing him.

This is what sobriety actually builds. Not a bank account. A man who says yes when someone asks for help and gives it back to the next person without expecting anything in return.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:07 – Welcome Back & Heading to China

02:31 – Why Addicts Can Change the World

04:56 – A Sponsor's Promise & My Heroin Past

09:44 – January 18, 2011: The Day I Called My Dad

12:07 – Kicking at Dad's & Finding a Low-Bottom Sober Living

16:54 – The Night I Met My Sponsor

19:19 – Skating to Step Work & "A Paycheck Is Just a Bonus"

24:02 – The Bus Ride That Taught Humility

29:31 – Facing Court: "Men of Integrity Handle Their Business"

34:21 – Homeless Court & Doing What You Don't Want to Do

39:40 – The Fifth Step: "I Forgive You"

45:21 – Losing My Sponsor to Cancer

51:52 – Success Is Helping Others

53:25 – Outro

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham brings back his favorite guest, his beautiful bride Alyssa, fresh off a week in Maui and one day before JD leaves for China. No agenda, no script, just two people who genuinely like each other talking about life, marriage, kids, health, and love languages.

Alyssa opens up about what her days actually look like right now as a wife and mom to a five year old and a two year old who between them have already left bruises on her shins and a lobby full of hotel guests speechless. She talks about her diet and workout routine, why hot yoga is her jam, why protein first is the non-negotiable she picked up from JD, and why class settings work so much better for her than a structured solo gym session.

JD and Alyssa get into what it actually looks like to be married to a man who is always building something, what happened the day she came to him just wanting more of his time and he almost got defensive until he caught himself, and why thoughtfulness in a marriage is the thing that keeps the small fires from becoming big ones. They also talk about love languages, what it means to show love versus how you receive it, and why two people who are genuinely different can still be so deeply compatible when the foundation is right.

This one is warm, honest, and real. Just like them.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:07 – Welcome Back & Maui Trip Recap

02:53 – Life as a Wife & Mom of Two Boys

05:31 – Diet, Workouts & Why Classes Work for Her

08:23 – AA's Lesson: Responsible for Your Second Thought

10:48 – Alyssa Interviews JD

13:13 – What They Got Right & What Needs Work

18:27 – Drive in Business vs. Being Present at Home

21:52 – Why They Started Counseling

24:29 – Bluntness, Words & Respect in Marriage

28:27 – A Purpose Not Yet Fulfilled & Men Standing Up

33:12 – Raising Boys & the Fear of Addiction

36:55 – Do Kids Strengthen a Marriage or Expose It?

41:14 – Trust, Success & Insecure Marriages

43:16 – Love Languages & Closing Thoughts

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down with Tomas De La Mora, retired federal agent, competitive bodybuilder, amputee, and owner of Live Alpha, the gym where JD trains every single day. This one has been a long time coming and it does not disappoint.

Tomas opens up about a thirty year career as a federal agent, what the job actually looked like behind the badge, and why he would tell his own son not to follow in his footsteps because the climate, the politics, and the respect have all changed in ways that make it unrecognizable from when he started. He talks about becoming a competitive bodybuilder as an amputee, running into Flex Wheeler at a gym in Vegas and becoming friends the way two men who understand each other always do, and what it means to build a gym culture so tight that people drive past every other gym in Orange County just to be in the room.

JD and Tomas dig into what real gym culture looks like versus what most gyms settle for, why iron therapy answers problems that nothing else can touch, and why the man who shows up to train at two thirty in the morning when he cannot sleep is exactly the kind of man you want training at your gym. They also talk about what is next for Live Alpha, the possibility of a second location, and Tomas building something his son can one day run while Tomas splits his time between California and Brazil.

Two men who love the iron and what it builds in you. That is the whole conversation.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:08 – Welcome Back & Meeting Tomas "Tank" De La Mora

01:19 – Why He Became a Federal Agent

03:04 – Working a Mexican Mafia Task Force

06:34 – Becoming a Federal Air Marshal After 9/11

15:36 – Society Getting Soft & Raising a Tough Son

24:44 – The Motorcycle Accident That Cost Him His Leg

27:54 – Saving His Own Life at the Scene

30:06 – The 911 Call & Staying Calm in the Ambulance

35:10 – Hospital: Depression, Sepsis & 11 Surgeries

39:37 – The Joke That Snapped Him Out of It

47:05 – Finding Purpose in the Gym

49:11 – The "Fat Boy" Wake-Up Call & Stepping on Stage

58:52 – Building the Culture at Live Alpha

1:03:06 – What's Next: Brazil, Family & Outro

Follow Tomas De La Mora:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livealpha.oc/

Gym: Live Alpha, Orange County CA

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down with Chef Gene, entrepreneur, restaurateur, and owner of Ai Pono Cafe and Exit Eight Bodega in Costa Mesa and Las Vegas, for a conversation that goes everywhere it needs to go and never slows down.

Chef Gene opens up about growing up in Hawaii when the Aloha spirit was everything, how the sense of family and community he was raised in became the foundation for every restaurant and every crew he has ever built, and why the people who were with him when he had nothing are the same people he is taking with him now that things are working. He talks about a serious gambling addiction that nearly took everything, and how he eventually learned to redirect that same risk taking energy into opening locations that most people would be too scared to touch.

JD and Chef Gene dig into what it means to build a real culture in a business versus faking one, why authenticity on social media is the only long term play, and why the only what-if that matters is the one where you never tried. They also talk about checking your circle before you take a leap, why the wolves in sheep's clothing always reveal themselves through small things, and why being comfortably uncomfortable is not just advice it is a way of operating.

Two men who paid their dues, built something real, and are just getting started. A Warrior Makers plate is already in the works.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro

00:08 – Welcome Back & Meeting Chef Gene

01:47 – Hawaii Culture & Speaking Your Mind

04:27 – Men in the Arena: Thick Skin Online

09:22 – Where the World Went Wrong: Men Losing Their Manhood

13:27 – Leadership in Marriage & Why Wives Feel Secure

22:45 – Moving From Hawaii to Vegas

27:41 – From Dishwasher to Line Cook

34:08 – Kitchen Life: House of Blues & Tao

42:04 – Fatherhood, Divorce & Getting It Together

55:53 – Leaving Vegas & the Meal Prep Years

58:07 – Opening I Pono & Surviving COVID

1:06:35 – Hawaii Street Food & the Viral Yelp Video

1:17:50 – Advice: Check Your Circle & Take the Leap

1:20:50 – What’s Next, the Warrior Plate & Outro

Follow Chef Gene:

Ai Pono Cafe: https://www.instagram.com/aiponocafe/

Exit 8 Bodega: https://www.instagram.com/exit8bodega/

Personal: https://www.instagram.com/thechefaipono/

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down with Dr. Kenny Clark, physician, podcaster, and old school sobriety man, for one of the most honest and spiritually rich conversations the show has had in a long time. Two men cut from the same cloth who found each other through a producer, a co-host, and a girlfriend connecting the dots the way God usually does.

Dr. Kenny opens up about losing his medical license at the height of a successful career, what it felt like to go from respected physician to the embarrassment of his family, and how the program gave him back something no degree ever could: freedom. Not just freedom from the pipe or the bottle but emotional freedom, freedom to be present, freedom to love people, and freedom to look in the mirror and actually like who he sees.

JD and Dr. Kenny dig into what old school sobriety actually looks like versus the sugar coated version the world keeps trying to sell, why the word addiction gets thrown around so loosely that it has started to lose its weight, and why helping one broken person with zero expectation of return is still the fastest path to everything else God has for you. Dr. Kenny also shares what he is doing now, working at a free homeless medical clinic in South Central LA and building outreach through podcasting, because there are people in Iran and everywhere else who need to hear the truth and this is how it reaches them.

Bold men. Long microphones. God doing the rest.

Chapters:

00:00 – Cold Open: Walking Into a Psych Hospital in a White Coat

00:57 – Intro

01:05 – Welcome Back & Meeting Dr. Kenny

02:52 – What He Loves Most About Sobriety: Freedom

05:21 – Who Is Dr. Kenny at 54?

09:13 – What Was Missing From His Earlier Recovery?

13:30 – From Engineering to Medical School & Addiction

18:59 – Rock Bottom, Treatment Centers & Relapse

23:17 – Why He Chose Pathology

25:15 – Nine Years Sober, Then One Xanax

32:22 – The Science of Addiction: Why It's Insanity

42:15 – Nineteen Treatment Centers & Real Recovery

46:40 – The Key to Liberation: Helping Others

51:48 – JD's Fifth Step Story & His Sponsor

57:49 – Where Dr. Kenny Is Now & Closing Thoughts

Follow Dr. Kenny Clark:

Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0NDHuliZhyL0kNNkPda5AG

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556847637005

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

Follow Me: 

My Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down with Dave Thomas, certified personal trainer and Warrior Makers fitness coach, for a conversation that is part origin story, part training philosophy, and part rallying cry for every man who has been coasting in the gym and calling it effort.

JD tells the full story of how Dave ended up across the table from him. Spotted at church, watched in the gym giving clients his full undivided attention when everyone else would have turned to talk, and then seen training alone drenched in sweat pushing himself like someone was watching. That is the kind of man JD builds around. When he got back from Prague and decided it was time to bring coaching back to Warrior Makers, Dave was already who he had in mind before he ever made the call.

Dave opens up about coming from a fitness team where he loved being part of something bigger without needing to be the face of it, why he never wanted the spotlight but always wanted to serve, and how that mentality made him exactly the right fit. They dig into why the coaching community they have built cannot be replicated by an algorithm or a chatbot, why camaraderie and brotherhood are the actual product, and why the man who goes up against the hardest competition in the room will always grow faster than the one who takes the easy route.

If you want to get in shape, find people who will not let you off the hook. That is the whole thing.

Chapters:

00:00 – Cold Open: Getting Back “Locked In”

00:26 – Intro

00:34 – Welcome Back & Listener Feedback on Guests

01:51 – How Dave Thomas Became a Warrior Makers Coach

06:23 – Why Most Online Coaching Falls Short

08:52 – The Top 3% vs. Everyone Else

14:21 – Showing Up When You Don’t Feel Like It

18:59 – “What Do You Want?”: Mark Moss’s Question

23:28 – Surrounding Yourself With People Who Push You

27:38 – How Macros Changed Dave’s Training

34:14 – Macros vs. Carnivore: The Best Diet Is the One You Stick To

41:09 – Strength Training vs. Cardio & Fasted Workouts

47:34 – Consistency & How to Get Locked In Again

52:28 – GLP-1s: A Tool, Not a Crutch

55:27 – Why Community Beats ChatGPT & Closing

Follow Dave Thomas:

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

Follow Me: 

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Coaching Website: https://www.warrior-makerscoaching.com/

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

In this solo episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham gets personal. Coming off a year of mystery symptoms, a house full of mold, a move orchestrated entirely by his wife while he was in South Carolina, and a business trip to China on the horizon, JD sits down and just talks. About life, about gratitude, and about the last day he ever shot heroin.

He tells the full story of January 18th, 2011. How far gone he was. How the drugs had convinced him he was going to die an addict. And what happened when God had a different plan. He walks through the early days of sobriety under his sponsor, showing up an hour and a half early every Tuesday to make coffee for a meeting, staying after to break it all down, doing four to five hours of service around a single meeting every week because that is what he was told to do and he was willing to do whatever it took.

Then he traces the line from that sober living home with a basket of clean clothes, to becoming branch manager of a mortgage company, to working for his mentor, to two podcasts, a peptide company, labs in Prague, and a business trip to China. Not to be boastful. To show anyone still beat to shit and strung out what is actually available on the other side.

God takes broken people, heals them, and sends them back into the fire to pull others out. That is the whole thing. That is sobriety.

Chapters: 

00:00 – Cold Open: The Cop & the $20 Bill

01:21 – Intro

01:29 – Welcome Back: Mold, Moving & a Year-Long Cough

06:05 – Maui Plans & the China Business Trip

08:23 – Prague, Janoshik & Where Sobriety Led

10:10 – The Last Day I Used Heroin

12:32 – Kicked Out & Stranded on a Freeway Off-Ramp

14:58 – The Donut Shop Cop & the $20

17:23 – God Showed Up: A Ride From a Punk Band

19:49 – A Lighter Spirit & Calling His Dad

22:02 – Entering Sober Living With Nothing

24:31 – Sponsor Lessons: Humility & Doing the Work

27:02 – Cultivating a New Man: Never Hit Snooze

31:18 – From Branch Manager to Two Podcasts

33:37 – Healed to Help: Going Back Into the Fire

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down with Fausto Castellanos, known as the Hope Dealer, a clinical counselor, content creator, motivational speaker, and evangelist who got sober at 25 and has been building something real ever since.

Fausto opens up about growing up in Orange County with a narcissistic father who made home feel like a place to fear and a hippie mom who gave money to strangers even when she had none. He was a sensitive kid who learned to communicate entirely in slang, sound effects, and street talk, and when he got sober he had to literally buy a book on how to have a conversation. What came out of that humbling starting point is a man who now speaks to UFC fighters, comedians, musicians, and broken people trying to find their way back, all with the same warmth and zero judgment.

JD and Fausto dig into what it means to create a truly safe space for people regardless of their beliefs, why the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous were ahead of their time in ways most Christians still miss, and why the higher power concept is not a compromise of faith but an act of radical grace. They also talk about the YouTube channel Fausto is building, a vlogging format that takes the viral party bus energy and points it toward sober livings, rehabs, and churches, making sobriety look like the adventure it actually is.

Two hope dealers. One conversation. God keeps putting the right people in the same room.

Chapters:

00:00 – Cold Open: Faking His Own Death

01:16 – Intro

01:24 – Welcome Back & Meeting Fausto Costelianos

03:25 – Who Is Fausto Today? Growing Up With a Hippie Mom

07:08 – Childhood Wounds & Seeking Male Validation

09:29 – Childhood Trauma & Carrying the Shame

13:18 – Trying to Fix It: Girlfriends & Reinvention

17:18 – Faking His Death & the Psych Ward

20:58 – First Drink, Ecstasy & Feeling Connected

24:43 – Meth, Gangs & Being Preyed On at 14

32:36 – Overdose, Toxic Love & a Ten-Day Meth Run

38:35 – Suicidal Rock Bottom & the Mindset Behind It

43:48 – Advice for Struggling Teens & Church vs. AA

51:37 – Turning Pain Into Purpose: Counselor & Speaker

1:04:36 – What's Next, Outro & Where to Find Fausto

Follow Fausto Castellanos:

Instagram/YouTube/Facebook/TikTok: @HopeDealerFausto

Host of: @journeytosolutionspodcast

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice

In this episode of The JD Denham Podcast, JD Denham sits down with Joe Stan, author, pastor, recovery advocate, and co-founder of Warpath Ministries, for one of the most spiritually rich conversations this show has had. Two men from completely different worlds who ended up in the exact same war.

Joe grew up on one of the oldest farms in North Carolina, raised in extremes by a father who made him feel unwanted and a mother who overcompensated with too much love. His first suicide attempt was at six years old. By nineteen he found drugs and went zero to one hundred on every substance he touched. His journey through addiction, trauma, imprisonment, and eventually full surrender to God became the foundation for Warpath Ministries, which started as addiction outreach and grew into something much bigger: getting to the root of whatever we use to escape.

Joe drops one of the most reframed ideas JD has heard on this show: addiction is not a disease and it is not just a choice. Addiction is idolatry. We are all created to worship something. The question is what. And when God finally gets his hands on the people who worshipped a substance with that kind of intensity, they become some of the most extraordinary worshippers of the Most High that the world has ever seen.

JD and Joe also dig into Ephesians 6, the invisible war that every man is fighting whether he knows it or not, why putting on the full armor of God every single day is not optional for men like them, and why the pocket of bliss you feel helping someone with zero expectation of return is better than any high either of them has ever chased.

Chapters:

00:00 – Cold Open: "If You Die, I Want to Bury You by My Window"

01:03 – Intro

01:11 – Welcome Back & Meeting Joe Stan

02:57 – Warpath Ministries: Finding the Real Enemy

04:54 – Putting on the Armor of God Daily

07:08 – Why Addicts Share the Same Wiring

10:54 – Who Is Joe Stan Today?

13:45 – The Father Wound That Started It All

19:04 – The Three Kinds of Forgiveness

21:28 – Finding a Sponsor & Learning Accountability

26:22 – JD's Sponsor: Integrity & Doing Hard Things

30:38 – Did JD's Dad Change Because of Him?

35:17 – Relapse, Fentanyl & a Near-Fatal Crash

47:17 – Finding a New Family in Sobriety

57:04 – Mentors, a Movement of Broken Men & Rededication

Follow Joe Stan:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joestan44

TikTok/Facebook: Joe Stan

Website: warpathministries.org

Books: The War Within Handbook and Letters from a Dead Man on Amazon

JD's Socials: https://hoo.be/jddenhamofficial

Join My Community: https://www.skool.com/peptideoftheweekcommunity/about

Intro Music: Pennywise – Let Us Hear Your Voice