Episode 121. Grant reports from Newport, Rhode Island with a truck full of family heirlooms and a snapped serpentine belt. Jeff checks in from Air University, where the library fire alarm interrupted his midterm and his grandfather Emmett Gatewood may be hiding in the archives. Tres holds down Frisco, Texas and reviews Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.

The staff brief features an unpaid battalion, a lobster bake from the new S1, a space domain tasking, the Wednesday pizza buffet, and a chaplain check-in you have to hear to believe. Plus: the Good Idea Cutoff Line (GICOL), broken stair steppers and gym radar at the Naval War College, Clausewitz applied to lifting and fatherhood, the oldest ballpark in America, a Red Sox baserunning debate, and a full coaching segment on bench press pain management.

America 250 plate is at the machine shop — pre-buyers ship early. The .75 lb plates are back in stock. The Strength app enters beta next week.

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

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⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

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⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

07:31 - Staff Brief

28:09 - GICL

31:32 - Family Heirlooms

41:06 - Chevy Snaps A Belt

52:05 - Stairstepper Story

56:02 - Fire Alarm Madness

01:09:45 - The Odyssey Review

01:15:39 - Pain During The Bench Press

01:29:21 - Gulls Outing

01:36:16 - Sliding Into Bases Rule

01:39:57 - Big Announcements

01:46:15 - MRS. BROGGI PLEASE MAKE TRES A POUND CAKE

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Episode 120 of The Okay Podcast, powered by The Strength Co. Grant checks in live from Newport, Rhode Island, Jeff reports from the greater Montgomery, Alabama area, and Tres joins by phone from the road.

The boys open with the most unhinged Trash Battalion staff brief yet — eagles vs. beagles leadership wisdom, a brand-new Boston adjutant pitching a lobster bake to the Cajun Sergeant Major, a Strait of Hormuz update delivered from the road, and a Marine who fell into a dumpster (he's okay, he's accounted for).

Then it's into the topics: Grant breaks down why so many people in commercial gyms are running the "Lost Boys workout" — wandering machine to machine with no plan — and why you need a purpose every time you walk in. Grant and Jeff compare base gym setups (including actual "no deadlifting" signs), swap war stories from their first weeks back at military school, and debate whether AI reading your homework to you counts as studying.

Plus: dad talk on bubble machine economics, movies edited by Grant's mom, taking a 23-month-old to Fenway on $10 military tickets, and a Chow Radar review of the most disappointing famous lobster roll in Newport.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

05:25 - Staff Brief

30:21 - Having A Purpose In The Gym

37:02 - Air Force Gym

43:43 - O5 Workout Culture

46:53 - National Guard Marines?

52:14 - War Homework & AI

01:01:50 - Dad Talk & Bubbles

01:06:05 - Sox Game

01:14:52 - Lobster Rolls & Chow Radar

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Today on the show, the staff brief runs long: S1 explains the pay problem (the internet's been down, mostly), the Strait of Hormuz is functionally closed, the S3 wants you to be the trash, and all record jackets are now purple and yellow by order of the Cajun Sergeant Major. Dwight from Housing has a card for your wife.

Then: Jeff hands over November Battery after two years of command, Grant drives a '97 Chevy from Raleigh to Rhode Island (via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, unintentionally), the charcoal-vs-gas debate is settled forever, SEC Media Days kicks off, and Grant explains why 12 months of building your base of strength is the best investment you'll ever make.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

08:33 - Staff Brief

34:24 - New Jack White Album

37:18 - Moving Into A Furnished Place

42:26 - Gas Grill Debate

47:13 - SEC Media Day

55:00 - Congrats Jeff! Handing The Stick Off

01:04:40 - The Importance of Building A Base of Strength

01:12:15 - New Mexico

01:14:28 - Cajun Appreciation

01:16:28 - Sox Game

01:18:37 - Surviving The Chesapeake Bay Bridge

01:20:10 - Truck Talk

01:30:16 - Shoutout Massenomics For LHLE!

01:33:09 - Slides vs Charts

01:35:10 - Landing The Plane

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

The whole crew is back after last week's chaos. Grant is broadcasting live from a new location — Newport, Rhode Island — after moving cross-country with a pregnant wife, a two-year-old, and two cats. Somehow they all made it (barely — ask him about the sprint through O'Hare).

This week: the Trash Battalion staff brief returns in full PCS-season glory, the guys break down the surprisingly baffling experience of checking into military schools, Grant gives his first impressions of Newport (good food, expensive food), and there's a 4th of July recap on how the America 250 plates performed — half are already gone before Veterans Day.

Plus a World Cup wrap-up (Spain over France), the eternal debate over whether soccer counts when it's not about America, and a new battalion member joins the ranks: Major Delay, your local traffic guy.

Powered by The Strength Co.

Timestamps: 

00:00 - Intro

04:45 - Staff Brief

24:37 - Outlying Stations

27:40 - Talkin’ Trash With Mom

29:56 - War College

36:03 - Moving Across The Country

49:37 - World Cup Recap

56:05 - Saved Rounds

With Grant flying across the country mid-move, Tres and Jeff run their first-ever combo episode solo (with Jordy dropping in). What follows: a runaway bit about consolidating every sponsor into one all-in-one taxes/helmets/lifting shop, a genuinely useful garage gym conversation about the Echo Bike and shoulder-saving specialty bars, the ongoing evolution of "Chow Radar" into a Michelin-killing five-star institution, a sharp World Cup post-mortem after the US got bounced, and a wild real-life story about the actual broken washing machine from Breaking Bad.

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Timestamps: 

00:00 - Intro

05:55 - Staff Brief

20:09 - Lifting Update & Echo Bikes

25:55 - Benching Rehab & Specialty Bars

31:32 - July 4th

35:46 - Traveling With Kids

39:07 - War College

49:08 - Actors That Never Miss

59:57 - Chow Radar

01:10:45 - World Cup Hot Takes

01:28:29 - Targeting Rule

01:34:54 - Best Pillows

01:39:17 - New Mexico

01:43:35 - Sign Off

Grant's back from fly fishing in the desert wilderness, bruised up from circus dumbbells at the Strength Co. crew meet-up, and fresh off a sweaty PFT.

Tres is closing in on an echo bike deal (Facebook Marketplace, obviously). Jeff is back from leave and energized (according to his wife, who finally started listening). We do the fastest staff brief in show history — nine minutes flat — and nobody got hurt.

Also: Tres goes solo dad for 48 hours, takes three girls to Cracker Barrel, changes a diaper on the bathroom floor, and comes out the other side with a new appreciation for stay-at-home moms.

Plus Alan Jackson's final concert, Waylon Jennings on vinyl, the America 250 plate drops July 4th, and Tres is buying a helmet for the Gamecocks. College football season is coming.

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

01:45 - Staff Brief

12:50 - Tres Lifting Update

18:59 - PFT Anxiety

27:10 - Massenomics Cru Circus Dumbbell Lifting

36:12 - Moving Across Country

39:34 - 15lb Plate

44:31 - Fly Fishing Trip

01:03:32 - Solo Dadding

01:11:24 - Alan Jackson

01:15:14 - Saved Rounds

Jeff returns after nearly three weeks away at Marine Corps training in 29 Palms, bringing stories from the artillery battery, leadership lessons, and life in the desert.

The guys also revive the legendary Trash Battalion staff brief, catch up on Father's Day, debate California barbecue, discuss Chow Radar, fitness, lifting, and why good food might solve more problems than you'd expect.

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

00:00 - Intro

06:04 - Staff Brief

26:48 - Outlying Stations

32:42 - Jeff Returns From The Field

44:28 - Bad Lifting Straps

48:13 - Father’s Day

50:35 - Chow Radar & BBQ Talk

01:01:22 - Chow Rating System

01:10:18 - America 250 Plate

01:18:46 - Sports Talk

01:28:26 - Chow Sidebar

01:34:42 - Back To Sports

01:42:45 - Truck Talk & Fishing

01:47:20 - Sign Off

Grant and special guest Connor King recap their weekend trip to Wisconsin where Strength Co. plates are made. They talk about the foundry, supper clubs, and cheese curds, as well as some lifting and sports talk.

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro05:15 - Staff Brief

14:31 - Wisconsin Trip

36:01 - How Strength Co. Plates Are Made

42:52 - Supper Clubs

52:55 - The Foundry

01:03:07 - Knee Sleeves

01:10:50 - Big Week In Sports

Episode 113 is live! With Jeff still out in the field, Grant and Tres take over the controls for a classic freewheeling episode packed with staff brief shenanigans, college football talk, Bitcoin updates, Texas Tech headlines, lifting questions, creatine myths, training mistakes, upcoming Strength Co. projects, Wisconsin adventures, and plenty of the organized chaos that makes The Okay Podcast what it is. If you've ever wondered whether supplements matter, what gym mistakes are actually holding people back, this episode is for you.

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
08:52 - Staff Brief
18:19 - Outlying Stations
24:18 - Most Overrated Lift
31:19 - Creatine
41:08 - Dad Splits
44:12 - Wisconsin
49:20 - PCS
01:00:47 - College World Series
01:08:15 - Texas Tech Debate
01:16:38 - Sick Kids & Being A Dad
01:23:34 - New Trees
01:33:13 - Chili Cook Off Recap
01:39:04 - Ghost Tours

Podcast Hosts:

Grant Broggi: Marine Veteran, Owner of The Strength Co. and Starting Strength Coach.

Jeff Buege: Marine Veteran, Outdoorsman, Football Fan and Lifter

Tres Gottlich: Marine Veteran, Texan, Fisherman, Crazy College Football Fan and Lifter

Join the Slack and Use code OKAY:

⁠https://buy.stripe.com/dR6dT4aDcfuBdyw5ks⁠

Check out BW Tax: ⁠https://www.bwtaxllc.com⁠

BUY A FOOTBALL HELMET:

⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.thestrength.co/mrhelmet/?utm_source=The+Okay+Podcast&utm_medium=Podcast&utm_campaign=Okay_Pod⁠

Grant Broggi and Tres Gottlich are joined by Strength Co. member and University of Georgia alum Adam Yale for a wide-ranging conversation. Along the way they discuss SEC football culture, life in California versus the Deep South, starting strength training later in life, military humor, college baseball, church, entrepreneurship, and the surprising business potential of "hose cups." 

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

06:22 - Staff Brief

15:08 - Adam’s Lifting & Finding The Strength Co. 35:15 - Hose Cups

41:07 - Sandbags

44:40 - UGA

54:30 - Best Garden Hose?

01:01:18 - America 250 Plates

01:08:55 - Sports

01:20:32 - Tustin Chili Cook-Off

01:30:12 - OKAY ADAM! 

01:38:37 - Sign Off