Built to Lead, Not Break, Ep. 70

If your body is breaking down, your leadership is next. In this episode, we’re tackling the unspoken truth about leadership performance: it starts with physical health. Because no matter how sharp your mind is—if your body can’t carry the mission, everything suffers.

I’m joined by Dr. Brandon Parker, chiropractor, movement expert, and creator of The Revival Method. His approach goes beyond rehab—it’s about building a body that’s strong, mobile, pain-free, and capable of supporting a high-performance life. We dive into how strength training, hormone health, mobility, and self-discipline are essential to leading yourself—and others—at the highest level.

Whether you're a founder, executive, or simply feeling your edge slipping away, this episode gives you practical tools and mindset shifts to reclaim your health, energy, and leadership capacity.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to No Limits Leadership Podcast
02:21 Curriculum Challenges in Chiropractic Education
04:50 The Role of Chiropractors in Holistic Health
08:34 The Journey to Entrepreneurship
12:19 Defining The Revival Method
16:37 Health Protocols for Busy Professionals
20:16 The Impact of Hormones on Health
25:55 The Evolution of Health and Longevity
31:09 Building Strength and Resilience at Any Age
35:32 Self-Leadership and Confidence in Health
40:08 Morning Routines for Peak Performance
45:10 The Future of Mobility and Health
48:24 Legacy of the Revival Method

Check out The Revival Method on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@Dr.BrandonParker

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/dr.brandon.parker/

Transcript

Sean Patton (00:14)
Welcome to the No Limits Leadership Podcast. I am your host, Sean Patton, and I am so excited today to be joined by Dr. Brandon Parker. He's the creator of The Revival Method, also the host of The Revival Method podcast. And I was following Brandon on

on social and I just love how he, his approach and how he's sort of redefined how we approach movement, mobility, mental resilience and overall development. So I'm super excited for this is going to be an awesome conversation. Thanks for being here today.

Parker (00:43)
Hey, man. Thanks for having me. I usually say this because I'm just now taking the time and joining people on their other podcasts because it always feels like you're always the bridesmaid, never the bride type situation. if there's a certain time in this podcast where I accidentally put on my interviewer hat, you can just take back control. like, hey, dude, this is my show.

Sean Patton (01:01)
I will. Yeah. It's, it's, it's tough to play both roles and, and that's something, you know, that's I'm, I'm really working. mean, this is, we're recording. This is probably, I'm going to go on a limb and say I've released 62 episodes. I've recorded a few, maybe this is episode 70 ish. Let's call it. and I feel like I'm just now starting to hit a bit of a stride and get comfortable with the flow. how many episodes have you done on your podcast?

Parker (01:24)
So my personal podcast right now, think I might be, I mean, I might be a year in, so almost around 50, some of them got taken down just because of, I just didn't feel like they're too actionable. But actually in chiropractic school, I had another podcast where honestly it was kind of like a diary, where it was just kind of like I was talking about my struggles, I was talking about the curriculum where I really didn't like it too much or where I think it needed to be improved. it actually was like a really, a lot of,

Students felt heard through that podcast. So to answer your question directly I'm on around like 50 ish on my current podcast But I've been doing this kind of for years because I don't I feel great talking to a mic

Sean Patton (02:03)
Yeah, it sounds like that is kind of cathartic and you're right. think so many people need to feel heard. I'm really interested if you had to, I made me use a while ago, but think back, what were some of the highlights of in terms of the curriculum that you were being taught that you didn't feel as connected to or you sort of disagreed with?

Parker (02:21)
Yeah, yeah, so I always try to highlight this and it's not necessarily the school's fault. I think it's more so how we're being regulated. So as a chiropractor, even physical therapists have told me it's very the same in their curriculum as well where we get taught to pass the boards because schools get, they get graded on how well they can do that. And unfortunately the boards haven't been updated in a very long time. So.

we're forced to learn outdated information to pass the test, whereas we know deep down inside this isn't optimal care. So it's almost like you have to do like a side quest where you're learning how you would actually treat your patients. But then when you're sitting in front of the test, you go, well, technically I would do this. However, I'm gonna click this button because this is what's actually going to get me to pass. So some of the curriculum that I didn't necessarily agree with was an over-reliance on passive.

modalities, meaning like you come in to see me, I tell you to get on the table, I crack your back, maybe put you on some type of manual therapy protocol. And then I'll say, see in a couple days, that didn't jive well with me. That didn't build confidence amongst my patients. So my approach is when you come in, I tell you exactly what's going on. I tell you what would happen if you did nothing at all. I'll tell you what would happen if we start to work together. And usually with that type of educational process,

the patient feels informed and empowered to move forward or do their own thing. And usually if you move forward with me, it's I'm gonna create a program that not only rehabilitates the area, but you're gonna leave my practice or leave my protocol stronger, more mobile and more educated. So if this ever happens again in a different area of your body, you know exactly what to do because principles still remain the same.

Sean Patton (04:06)
And I do find, different, you know, there's a lot of different practitioners out there and all types of fields of, of healthcare and, and, you know, even physical fitness and every, all the different areas, nutrition, all there's, it's such a crazy field. when I've been a part of two, I've been a gym owner before and everything like that, but I found that great chiropractic chiropractors seem to be sort of.

on the leading edge of where we're at when it comes to what we know about sort of holistic health and mobility and strength, as opposed to maybe traditional sort of MD healthcare doctors. Why is that? Where do you find that's true? Maybe you tell me if I'm wrong.

Parker (04:45)
Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate you saying that.

Yeah,

I you know, it's it's interesting you said that it's I see it go both ways. And I think that there always has to be a middle ground where I do believe that some of the allopathic route of medical care has been a little bit. It's been too algorithmic, algorithmic where you come in with knee pain, you come in with some type of, let's just say health marker that's a little too high. The first approach is some type of medication versus like

Can we please like address the root of the problem? And I understand why we gravitated towards that in that type of healthcare model is because how are you going to change somebody's mind or behavior in a 15 minute appointment? It's impossible, right? So what do we do? We give them the quote unquote quick fix that's going to bring that health marker back into a normal reference range and then move on to the next patient. So it's not that most medical doctors or allopathic care

practitioners don't want to help. It's just how they've been taught and also the current model of health care that they're in to make it an issue. Whereas you also see it in certain chiropractors. They're also at fault too. Where like, hey, I'm in and out, I'm gonna crack your back and say nothing to you and see you next week. So it really does come down to, can the person, well, does the person care? Does the person put in the effort to read the latest research? But also to the number three is

have they set up their business in a way that allows them to sit with the client for let's say 30 to an hour, understand what's really going on in their life and actually go back and forth and create a plan that actually works. Because if I say, hey, you're working out five days a week and your schedule isn't congruent with that, you're not gonna do the protocol. Therefore, it's the most useless protocol to ever be made. So I think that you might see chiropractors

in that light because you've been exposed to great chiropractors that also care and also has set up their business model in a way that allows for that.

Sean Patton (06:51)
Yeah. And maybe it's that at least in the, private practice side, they have a little, maybe a little more wiggle room. Maybe it's the fact that a lot of the sort of standard healthcare doctors I've been a part of have been like part of the VA or, or major healthcare systems where they don't have that like freedom to create their business model and their, their provider model in the way they would personally want to. So, you know, maybe that goes into it too.

Parker (07:19)
Yeah, I was in so my final internship was actually in a VA hospital. And it really, really opened my eyes up to how chiropractic can be integrated into the medical model. However, it just I felt like it was integrated well. So when I was there, they expected me regardless of the age or the complaint of the patient to get somebody from the waiting room, which was probably like a five minute walk to the room, treat them.

and then do their note all within about a 15 minute span. So I have some veteran who had COPD, didn't walk well, pretty old. I had to basically guide them to the room, get them on the table, have a conversation with them. And basically it felt like the second he laid on the table, it's like, all right, well, time's up. I'll see you in a month because I have this massive book of people that I have to get to. it's just, I think that that type of system definitely needs.

improvement and I totally understand why you may feel that way. And it was a breath of, how would I say it's not a breath of fresh air. It was eye opening in a way that said, you know what, starting your own business is gonna be the hardest thing you've ever done. However, it's better than what you just went through with this last internship. So it of almost lit a fire, you know?

Sean Patton (08:34)
What? That's a fantastic segue. It's like you've done this before. So tell me about that journey. You decided to open up your own practice or go in as an entrepreneur and start your own business. What was that start like for you?

Parker (08:44)
You bleeped out there. I didn't hear the question. I'm sorry

Sean Patton (08:46)
Okay, no, what was, when you made the decision to go as an entrepreneur and start your own business, what was that early journey like for you?

Parker (08:55)
yeah, yeah, so here's the cool thing. Well, I would just say in hindsight, it's cool, right? It's you graduate, you feel the top of the world. So for example, like my ego was very inflated. I graduated as a valedictorian. I was like, I know everything about everything. I'm ready to set the world on fire. I'm going to treat every patient in the world. you have this, it's unrealistic expectations, right? And then you actually get into the throes of starting,

your healthcare business where people, they do get better, but it takes time and you need to be able to have certain skills that actually compliment your ability to treat patients. Because if you lack the ability to convey what you're trying to do with this client or trying to convey the journey that this client will go through, they won't trust you. They won't trust the process. So I was like,

Not only do I have to have all the protocols underneath my belt that actually is going to get you better, but now I have to actually refine my ability to describe it to you. So I was like, okay, I got to improve that. And then on top of that, you have everything else that comes with the business. You have rent, help you have basically cleaning up after yourself. I like to describe it as like, had like six different hats first starting off and

It was like the second you were done being a practitioner, it's like, cool, now you're a business owner and you have to do everything that keeps this business alive. And it's like the, what is it? The, the, the eight to five before the nine to five or whatever it may be. Like you're just basically switching gears here. And, I was lucky enough to start my business with such a passion to over deliver that I think it grew into something that I never thought would, it would be where I would, let's say you and I were talking, Sean, where

I was like, hey, we're do this protocol, dah, dah, dah. I would love for you to do these exercises. Well, you'd be like any normal person, like, well, I don't even know what these exercises are. Cool, do you have an Instagram? I'm gonna send you every exercise demonstration to you through your DMs. Like, okay, that's unique. Well, when you post things on Instagram, everyone sees it. So because I was specifically recording these exercises for my clients at the time, other people were kind of seeing it from afar and they started to follow.

And I didn't realize I was building a platform because at the time I was just being a servant leader, basically. I was just trying to be the best resource that I can to get these people better. And before you knew it, I just exploded on Instagram. And then it almost gave me like, how would I say it? It was almost like I was scared to say the wrong thing at first. Cause like, whoa, whoa, where did all of you people come from? Right? Like,

But that has shifted my business model pretty drastically because when you come to see me in person, it's kind of a finite one hour and then I'm like, hey, let's do these protocols at home. Whereas now on online, it naturally breeds autonomy where it's like, hey, you're in a different state, I'm in a different state. So this game plan that we come up with together, you have to do it. I can't do anything for you. I can't work on you. I can't do these things.

It really comes down to self-managing your pain and getting stronger and more mobile on your own. But of course, I'm here as a resource at any given time that we can talk. So it's been a large metamorphosis over the time and I still don't know necessarily what I'm doing, but it's been really fun, you know?

Sean Patton (12:19)
Well, learn by doing, right? You jumped right in. So how would you define the revival method?

Parker (12:27)
Yeah, yeah. So the revival method is something that I came up with by just looking over all of the past people that I've worked with and breaking it down to sheer principles. Because if you can get things down to the most basic level, you can apply it to almost any given circumstance. And that's kind of what I wanted, right? Because if you had this very specific protocol, well, what if it wasn't congruent with somebody? Well, then it's useless again. So

What is the most basic principles that we need to be doing in order to move and feel our best? And it starts with restoring our range of motion, okay? If we feel restricted in certain ranges of motion, will be compensating, we'll be moving around the areas we can't get into. And what most people don't realize is if we have a restriction, it's actually due to the fact that we are weak within a given range of motion. And our nervous system,

doesn't allow us to get into these ranges of motion because of the inherent risk that comes with it. So if our body only cares about one thing, hey, survival, don't get hurt, cool. Don't go in that one range of motion that I don't trust you in. And that's where we get that large amount of tension, resistance, stiffness, and we can get rid of that or at least improve it by simply making sure that we restore all the range of motion that you once lost. So like phase one of that protocol is where can you cannot move?

And what do we need to do to improve that? So if somebody was trying to get into a deep squat and they note, I noticed that their hips can't push out or externally rotate. That tells me that their squat is now turning into almost like a deadlift and they're just, they're exposing their lower back more than they don't necessarily need to be doing. So, so phase one, let's restore that hip rotation. So when you squat,

you're actually loading your hips and your quads much more than your lower back. And I don't wanna create this false narrative that your lower back is weak, but if we're using a muscle 24 seven, it makes sense that at a certain point it's gonna become under recovered, right? So having that ability to move properly, it will allow us to then go into phase two of the revival method, which is just intensification and movement mastery, where it's now that you can move well.

and you have full range of motion, we can maximize muscle mass and we can maximize strength. Those are the two things that are not only going to improve metabolic health, but also reduce our chances of injury in the future. And we know as we age, we're one injury away of catastrophic failure, if you will. If you're older and you have poor bone density, you break a hip, most people are done for. And I don't wanna make that, I don't wanna sound like catastrophic, but that's what the statistics show, right? So phase two is all about

How can we intensify the protocol that you're currently in to get you as strong and as mobile as possible, but still congruent with your busy schedule? So many people be like, I can't do this because of XYZ. Well, what if I made a 10 minute protocol for you? Think you can do it then? Yeah, but I can't get to the gym. What if it was all body weight? But if you can do it at your desk right now, it's like, well, I guess I don't have an excuse anymore. Awesome, let's start there. You know, so.

That's all about phase two. then phase three is where I feel like I really, really am passionate about. I just call it lifetime prime. That's where you and I sit down and I teach you everything. Everything in the simplistic framework where if this ever happens again, where you're injured or you just don't know where to start with your strength and mobility, you have every framework that you need to actually get back on track or to restore new range of motion that you just lost again because of an injury.

Because if I as a doctor am not teaching you how to self-manage, I'm not doing you a service, I'm doing you a disservice. Does that make sense?

Sean Patton (16:15)
Yeah, totally. And I love the way you've taken some that is, can be overwhelming and complex and simplified it down to those, you know, three, three phases as you know, big, you busy professionals and, leaders. What is like the top things they can, like we can do if we're leaders and we are busy and then we don't have a strong health protocol yet, but

We're starting to feel that age creep in and we're trying to avoid that decline. Where should we start? I mean, what's the first things we start to notice? What are the leading indicators before it becomes a major health impact?

Parker (16:52)
Yeah, I would say that one of the most common starting points are, I would say the most common symptoms that people have their, their, crap moment, like I need to start making a change now, or it's going to be a huge issue, is they start to one, feel unwarranted stiffness throughout their lower back and knees. And they're like, whoa, what's going on here? And that could be due to a number of reasons, but two of the most common that I've seen is a lower, I'm sorry, a higher

level of systemic inflammation. And that could be brought on by just poor lifestyle factors, right, where they maybe just haven't been active, or maybe they put on an excess of body fat, because we know for super busy, and we prioritize everything else other than our health, it's gonna be very easy for us to store body fat. But another thing that I hear almost all the time is they just they went to go do something, maybe it's like, I just want to see what's on the bottom shelf here. And now they're down there.

and like, I don't know how I'm to get back up. And that's embarrassing, right? Like, you're like looking for things to grab on to. And it's like, when did I get to this point, where I'm afraid to get on the floor and get back up. And you'll start to notice these things. Because as we age, especially after the age of 30, we have to do everything in our power to maintain our muscle mass, we're going to see a hormonal shift, especially in females, we talked about menopause, but also males, we start to lose testosterone. So

As we, I think it's three to 8 % of our body mass gets lost every decade and it accelerates after 60. So as we lose muscle mass, obviously our mobility is gonna go down because everything is systematically harder. Our body mass is going to be lessened so that means our metabolism is going to be slower. So less energy, also putting on more body fat. And then also once again, we know strength is the number one thing that prevents injury. So if we're.

systematically weaker, we're more injury prone. So you'll start to see aches and pains, you'll start to see more stiffness, and you'll start to see like, Whoa, this thing that I once did very easily is now something that scares the crap out of me and I need help. And the next natural question is, where do I start? Because everyone's like overwhelmed. It's just like, I don't even know where to start. I don't have the time. I don't have the energy. I don't have the information. Where do I start? And usually I just tell people it goes right back down to the basics.

Right. It is like foundational movements. Like it doesn't matter what you do in your day to day life. You're going to need to squat. You're going to need to pick things up off the ground. You're going to need to put things above your head and push away from you and pull towards you. Those are just foundational and you can pair those in a way that you could build a meaningful workout that's done in under 20 minutes. That's meaningful. Or you can downsize it to 10 minutes and still get the ball rolling.

Sean Patton (19:41)
When you said that body mass decreases three to 8 % a year, is that, that's if we do nothing. That's not what you're saying? That's like, we don't go through these protocols, if we don't do the work, that's our body's natural decreasing capability.

Parker (19:53)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. So every decade we lose about three to eight percent. And then if we are doing things such as resistance training, eating a proper amount of protein, we can either slow down that process or completely halt it depending on other factors.

Sean Patton (20:03)
every decade.

Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, I've, I feel, I don't know if it's heard or personally attacked, but my, my, I've had this, this, year, for the first time it's interesting to that leading that was leading indicators that stiff, painful low back, start to creep in and paired with my own, which I haven't talked about this podcast before my own hormonal journey, where

When I, for a variety of reasons, when I got back from Afghanistan in 2011, my hormones were, my testosterone was jacked up and I was only like 29. and to the point where I had a gynecomastia and I actually have, I was growing breast tissue as a healthy, you know, 29, 30 year old, had to get it cut out. And, I don't want to make like the VA military, a doctor sound that bad because one, the medics we had in special forces were awesome.

And I have had a couple of good experiences that VF had some bad ones too, but, but there was no talk at that point. I think they tested my testosterone, but they're like, it's, you know, told he was like 300, 400, like, it's low, but it's like normal, whatever. I'm like, well, if it's normal, why am I, am I going breast right now? It's a 30 year old man. and then I got out of the military, and years later I had a, a PA.

Parker (21:20)
Yeah. Yeah.

Sean Patton (21:27)
who was an Air Force PA who had worked with special operators before coming to the gym I owned. And he had a men's health clinic and I was talking to him. He's like, dude, come in and get checked. And I was at like 200 total T. And for those who don't know, at least, and you might know better than me, what I've been told is anything under like 350, maybe 400 penny or insurance, pretty much covers it. It almost becomes a medical necessity. And then,

You know, that mid five, 600 is like kind of, we're normal. We're like to see you or kind of the low level. but I was, you know, I think it was 185 or 200, like super low. And I could tell like, was, you know, energy drinks. was, you know, borrowing, as a busy entrepreneur and I was an MBA program. So just keep my energy up. was, you know, borrowing Adderall from people, just like being a healthy, even though I was working out all the time, just trying to keep energy and keep going. I just felt drained all the time.

and so I got on TRT and it completely changed my life. and I may, I may be close to being completely literal may have saved my life. and it was hugely transformational. And then my wife and I were struggling to get pregnant, last year. And so I had to come off it. And so I think it was the coinciding of when I got off TRT, had like mentally. I mean,

old things that I thought I had dealt with, came back up. Motivation was down. I was, I had no energy. My muscle mass went down. I started putting on weight and all of those things at the beginning of this year transpired. And then all of a to your point, my back just cinches up. And it was the first time I was like, my God, I feel like an old man and I have 41. and it's been a journey to try to come, try to come, come out of that.

but I do think a big part of it has been mobility and strength training. And then we got pregnant, we got a new baby boy coming in January. And as soon as I got back on TRT, was like, okay, I can get back to work now. So I love the fact you pointed out the low back and then the hormone issues. I'm like, man, you're speaking right to me right now, doc.

Parker (23:31)
Yeah, yeah. I'm so glad that you saw the benefits. It's something that is becoming less taboo, right? A lot of people were like, are you taking anabolic steroids? Like, no, I'm just replacing the normal production level of where my testosterone should be. And a lot of people don't understand that being at a suboptimal, I would just say underneath the reference range of where your testosterone should be is actually a larger health risk than you being, are you taking

testosterone and most people neglect that because we have that natural aging process where we are losing testosterone. Whereas I personally see it as it's our ability to extend our longevity when done properly. I don't want to make a blanket statement here because there's a lot of clinics out there that don't necessarily have a well-refined protocol because it depends on the person in front of you. You got to read your markers and all those things.

But when done properly, HRT can extend not only your longevity, but your quality of life. Like it's something that I think is thankfully becoming more and more welcomed. And I do believe that personally, I don't necessarily need TRT yet. But once I cross that threshold where I'm no longer in a range that's optimal, I will also be partaking in it because I

Really, I cherish the idea of moving and feeling my best.

Sean Patton (24:53)
I mean, it is such a, there's, there's some interesting conversations, think, culturally going around, hormones, hormone replacement therapy with a testosterone for men, different treatment for women, and, redefining, like you said, longevity. And, know, one of my favorite people out there on this topic is, Dr. Peter Atia. Do you like Peter? Yeah. And, know,

I forget the name of his book I've got on my shelf over here, but he's got a book basically on longevity and he talks about the three spans, right? Play span, health span and lifespan and how

you know, medical science basically has dramatically improved lifespan. and to a point, some health span, but health span and play span are so much more about what the individual does and what's available. And everything I've read is that we're at this interesting. And so I want to get your take on this, this interesting, inflection point where the variance in those markers are so different because

We have, you science, technology, knowledge, lifestyle. We have so much that if you are in the leading edge of that and you lean into it, the ability to extend to your point, not just how long you live your lifespan, but how long you live without debilitating chronic disease, as he defines health span, how long you have play span, you could do the activities you enjoy and have a quality of life increase is, you know, we're seeing people in their seventies and eighties.

do things that was more like a 40 or 50 year old decades ago. But then you of course have people that are not doing any of those things and are smoking and drinking and doing whatever else lifestyle wise. And so they're going the opposite way. it's like the variance is just increasing over time culturally. I'm just wondering if you're seeing that and what your take is.

Parker (26:47)
Yeah, so when it comes, it's actually really funny you say that, because like, I'll post something that will violate a lot of expectations. And I do it on purpose. And sometimes it's met with people that have been plagued by their own health and they have given up, right? So for example, I have plenty of clients who are above the age of 60. I have a seven year old who's practicing plyometrics right now.

And prior to me posting videos of me doing it, right? Like, hey, you can do this in a way that preserves muscle mass actually retains our fast switch muscle fibers, which is the main muscle fiber that we lose after like the age of 30 and the progression of it. And you'll see people saying, I can't do that because my knee, I can't do that because my lower back's like, you can't do that now because you haven't built foundational strength, mobility and resilience in that area.

that you have to understand that what I'm doing now is because I have the underpinnings of strength and mobility, right? And in general health. And when I hear these comments, and then I show them videos of like, this person's 40 years older than you, and they're doing this, and you can be guaranteed that if we got an x-ray MRI or any of those things, you would look at that and be like, that makes no sense. He's bone on bone knee.

He has degeneration of the spine. And what people need to understand is, yes, there are things that we're going to have on our body. The general wear and tear in the aging process is going to be present, but that doesn't dictate how well we move. It can influence it. But I have people that had herniated disc and they had no clue. I have people that have torn rotator cuffs, they have no clue. And they still are doing things that are very active like playing tennis.

golf, I'm in Florida. So that's kind of like a lot of golfers, a lot of tennis players. And I love to really bring that point forward. Because I've seen so many people come to me saying, I have this like disc herniation that I got like 15 years ago, without them knowing that most disc heal within the first year, right? So it's like, you've been you've been holding on to this diagnosis for a large portion of your life. And it's been holding you back. Whereas if we just found where your current

capabilities are, where you are currently at strength and mobility wise and built a bridge between that and where you want to be, it would make sense. So like, all right, you can't jump. You can't jump right now. It's really bad for your knees. Let's take it a step back. Can you like hop a little bit? No, let's take a step back. Can you lunge? No, all right, let's do a squat. You can't do a squat. Let's do a squat hold. Can't do a squat hold. You see what I'm saying? You just keep going backwards until you figure out where you currently are.

and you build this bridge. when you go, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go play tennis. And then you think back, do I have enough evidence that my body is prepared for that activity? Answer should be yes. And because of that, you're gonna be physically ready. But also the one thing that most people don't talk about is are you psychologically ready? Because a lot of pain signals can actually come from a potential warning sign created by our previous beliefs. If you think your spine is weak and fragile,

The next time you bend forward, you're going to be hypersensitized, hyper aware of that lower spine. And you'd be like, my God, what did I just feel? When normally you probably would have felt it and wouldn't have been a big deal. But because you're aware of it, it makes it much more meaningful and much more impactful. So I hope I'm answering your question, but I guess the main message that I wanted to say here is it age definitely plays a factor. Sure. We can't say it doesn't, but the

extent at which it does, I think is overplayed by the people that use it as an excuse. I think everybody should be strength training. I think everybody should be keeping their physical, their overall health as the priority, because it's their vehicle to do the things that they want to do. And the last thing that I wanted to point out here is like, our ability to do things like play tennis, play sports, or just be physically active is something that is so integral to life and

to health because we are social creatures. If we can't do the things that our friends are doing because our body is holding us back, that is a downward spiral. We're going to be so upset with ourselves and it really detaches us from our tribe, so to speak. So I hope that answers your question. Hopefully I didn't just go on a rant.

Sean Patton (31:10)
No, no, absolutely. the, I'll let that you brought up the tribal creature aspects. That's a huge part of what I, work with my clients on and what I talk about when it comes to, self leadership and fulfillment. And cause I really believe that the path to becoming a leader is the path to becoming the greatest version of yourself. And that starts with self leadership because if we, if we're not confident,

and don't have a protocol and aren't, you know, fulfilled in leading ourselves. Like how we're not going to step out with confidence and be able to lead others. And, and so much of that comes down to, you mentioned that health and self-discipline, if you're, I have this, this concept I'm working with some of my clients right now about, the, call it C4 leadership. So, you know, use like this dynamite powerful leadership, right? So as he's four C's,

that research shows us our traits that when people embody them or people perceive that others embody them, they're drawn to follow them, right? Which is like the definition of leadership. Like some people want to follow you, not have to follow you. And one of the C's is confidence. And so the next question is like, well, how do you develop confidence? And I think there's a few ways, but I think the underpinning of that is self-discipline because if you

can develop the self-discipline and you laid it out perfectly. Like just like you mentioned with the mobility issue, like bringing it back to the basics, like, well, you know, I'm not David Goggins. Like, well, none of us are and I don't want to be right. But I can still like, can you go to bed at a certain time? Right? Like things like that, like, can you wake up? But it's like these little habits because, you can build self-confidence and mental resilience in these little things and take the steps.

that then build up to the self-discipline to get to the gym, to do the work. And if you can do that 10 minutes and you can do the 20. And as soon as you say, then you look at that. And now you have the confidence to tackle any other hard thing in life. And now you're a leader of self and you're a leader of others and you can be a strong member of the tribe. Because to your point, we're tribal creatures and every study shows us that

Parker (33:13)
Yes.

Sean Patton (33:26)
the number one indicator of a sense of happiness, fulfillment, contentment is the quality of our close relationships. And so it's so interesting that we can tie. It's like if we drew this logic line, we could go back to your point, can you make yourself do a squat and progress? And if so, you're on the path to fulfillment. And maybe that's a strong.

Parker (33:33)
with us.

Sean Patton (33:49)
Maybe it's a strong statement, but I think we can draw the line there because of all the steps and the development mentally and physically it takes to get there.

Parker (33:55)
Yeah, yeah. The it also makes me think like when it comes to the whole idea of identity change and behavior change, right? It's, it's when we start to realize that our thoughts and beliefs and behaviors are going to shift our reality or shape our reality, I should say, we start to look at things a little bit more with what we started to think about things a little bit more closely. Right? Like so

Maybe in this, the listener here is like, yeah, okay, it's a body weight squat. How does that lead to leadership? But it's like, it's not necessarily about the body weight squat. It's about you setting the standard for yourself and holding yourself accountable where it's like, yeah, it's a body weight squat now, but then it's really a proxy for I am now prioritizing my health because I wanna be the best version of myself, therefore be the best leader. And I can see why some people say wake up and make your bed.

Right. At first I'm like, I don't make my bed. I'm a good leader. Like I almost felt attacked. Right. But it's more so you saying that you're going to do something. You show up for yourself and then you build that accountability or self-discipline or willpower, however you want to say it. And I think that when we start with something small and we stack it over time, we just have this ability to really lean on this confidence because we've been there.

We've done it. It's just like, I said I was going to do this and I did it for years. Therefore, I'm gonna do this. that's my word. And I don't think you get that conviction unless you start where you are and you do go through the steps so you have the unshakable expectation where it's like, no, I'm gonna show up for myself. Does that make sense?

Sean Patton (35:32)
No, absolutely. And when you have clients that do that and you get them, their mindset, they want to shift and they start working with you and all of those benefits we talked about, but along the path, where do people fall off and how do you get them back off?

Parker (35:44)
Great question.

Yeah, I honestly what I'll do is I'll actually reference a coaching call I had this morning. It was a check in with the CEO, believe it or not. And what they were telling me was they, the exercise program, the nutrition protocol that we have them on is perfect. And yet when things get crazy at this time of year, taxes and all that, and of course holidays make people crazy. She just says that she's her own worst enemy.

She self-sabotages. She goes into this mental spiral where she just thinks that she's not worth prioritizing. And we started to unpack that some more. I started to ask her, was just like, well, if you truly believe that, well, first I asked her, why do you truly believe that? And she really couldn't anchor anything. And I started to ask her, can we come up with things that's going to get us out of our own head emotionally and anchor us to the process?

for us, I mean, for listeners are this they probably know the acronym of KPI key performance indicator. We did that for her, for her, right? Like the moment she started to feel like she was spiraling, how can we bring her back to the present and actually look at things objectively? Because the second you start spiraling, it's not it's not logical anymore. It's all emotional. And if you're emotional, you start to think what's the point.

If I can't serve this one client or something went wrong in my business, everything is, fighting all this friction. What's the point? I'm going to eat the worst that I can eat because that's easier for me. I'm not going to exercise. I'm just going to vegetate on this couch. But as you and I both know, if we just avoid, the problem just gets bigger, right? So the whole idea for her in this coaching call was how do we anchor you to the process in a way that we can just nip that

how do we nip this spiraling in the bud? And what we came up with is one, she does journal. So I said, do you ever like actually read it? She goes, yeah, sometimes it's great. And I was like, do you bring it with you? Because most of the time when you're spiraling isn't when you're at home where the journal is, it's when you're at work. You need this thing that's going to anchor you back. And that's the one thing that we started with. also, and I don't want this to sound woo woo.

but we are also exploring meditation practices as well because one of the biggest things when we start to go into this self-sabotage cycle, we are no longer in the present. We are now in our head. So how do we get back to practicing? Hey, that's my thought and not me. Well, we have to separate the mind and the body and the present and the best way to do that is meditation. I hope it doesn't sound too woo-woo to you, but it definitely has been beneficial.

Sean Patton (38:22)
No, man, you are, you're preaching the choir. I I meditate daily. It's changed my experience. I recommend it to everyone. And I think it is the, you can take it a lot of different ways where they take it. I think a little bit meditation, Is when there's all types and there's also all, you could take it in more of a spiritual sense. You could also just take it completely secular performance sense, right? Like both those things can exist.

This guy, Dan Harris has a book called 10 % happier. It's just a complete, like, it's just like, if I can make, if I get 10 % happier, cause I meditate, like why wouldn't you do it? But to your point, that ability to that, I think some people think of that meditate before that it's about that, just nothingness and like completely present in your, you know, that's like, that's the point that's actually right. Not the practice. And, and again, all these different types, but the, base of all of them are

just it's the practice is recognizing when those thoughts happen and separating them. I mean, I, and you're referencing, I don't want to put words in your mouth. So if I'm misquoting, but you're referencing a really common practice called noting within meditation, right? Where you just have the thought and it's going to happen to you probably within two seconds because that's what our minds do. And it's just how fast can you be like, that's a thought name it. And to your point, as soon as you name it and look at it, it's like, it just disappears into the ether. Come back to whatever your

point of meditation is breathing light, mean, whatever it could be sound or emotion, right? You like, have this, I'm noticing I'm having this emotion. So just increasing the mindfulness and separating that you are not your thoughts. are, it's your point, a conscious creature having thoughts. So now you're, you know, I could, I could go way deeper on that. So much, I'm a huge proponent and I've, mentioned protocols. So, know, I, in this peak performance, I want to ask you about.

you know, peak performance and, mobility and the future, but even just like a morning routine, mentioned time being time bound. And I struggle with that because I got, know, as you get super into it, it's like all of a sudden you're like, well, that means in the morning, I gotta, I gotta get up at four. I gotta, I gotta run. I gotta get sunlight. I gotta do reflection. I gotta meditate. I gotta get my cold. I gotta get my hot. I gotta get my probably just like run this whole thing. So I guess if you know, 3 p.m. I'm going to start working today. Right. Cause you're like, then I'll be ready if I do all the things.

Parker (40:35)
you

Sean Patton (40:38)
and so I'm interested actually in your, your morning routine. I'll tell you mine real quick. What I've gotten it down to is, well, I guess I get up a workout. I eat a high protein breakfast, the same thing every morning. And then I have a, I have a 15 minute like power routine. and it's five minutes of, mindfulness meditation. Pretty much what we talked about before. I really focused on gratitude. Jen journal for five minutes.

and then I do visualization for five minutes where I've looked at my schedule for the day and I just picture it going perfectly. Like what's the, it's how it's going to be perfect for the whole day. Each step in the way. Cause I've, I've got a calendar and then done and it's 15 minutes. And I feel like I've crammed the best parts of, know, wherever else. it's like, as long I get activity, good nutrition, hydrate, and then do my 15 minutes. I feel like I can start my day and it may not be perfect. And I do try to get cold and heat sometimes and whatever else, but like.

If I get that done, I feel like I'm set up for success. What's your morning routine look?

Parker (41:37)
My morning routine is pretty caveman-like, pretty straightforward. Just because for me, with how my brain works, simple is always better. if I create this, so here's what I've noticed is if I create a to-do list or a routine, I will attack it. And I'm gonna knock this out. I realized that I was almost gamifying the morning routine versus actually getting the

performance enhancements for my morning routine. So kind of like my approach with rehabilitation is like, what are what are the principles here? And like, why am I meditating? And for me, I realized that I was meditating because my brain would go a million different ways before I even started it. So usually, in the morning, it I will actually strategically look at my schedule and be like, All right, I have two calls here. Do I feel okay to go through these two calls? If I feel great?

awesome. And then I'll go through with it. But I know for a fact, like, for example, before getting on to this podcast here, I get unbelievably excited. Then I start talking like I am on meth, like I'm super I'm talking a million days. So I know that if I have a 15 minute window, I need to sit with my thoughts and actually deep breathe, bring my heart rate down and actually collect my thoughts. So I'm not wasting people's time listening to me ramble. So morning routines typically for me is I'll wake up

Sean Patton (42:40)
You

Parker (42:56)
I'll eat my breakfast of some sort. Usually it's super quick. I'm a very simplistic guy, but then I go for my 30 minute walk. My 30 minute walk is completely unplugged. I used to be listening to audio books. I was like absorbing as much as I can, but I realized I was just feeding into my thinking, which was already pretty sporadic and going a million miles per minute. So to be okay with a very boring walk was a very awesome way to realize that I was like, I'm actually clear now.

Like I have clarity so I can sit down and have a conversation with the next coaching call. So I think almost to an extent, I'm meditating through walking just because I'm not really flooding my brain with the to-do list. But when it comes to my actual exercise routine, I usually put that around 12 o'clock only because my morning is when I am the most creative and in my work, I have to be creative. So if I know that

That's where I have the least amount of friction to put words on paper to record content. That's usually what I'll do. And then my afternoon is where I start to do all the stuff where I can just check out brains off, just get after it. So I guess it's a little bit different than most people's morning just because I am a quote unquote creative. Does that make sense?

Sean Patton (44:10)
No. And I, I love the way you, you pointed it out and it'll be, it's interesting because that sort of schedule you talked about, I see the same thing for myself, like an ideal world to be like, said, sunlight get out in a lot of ways. You, the way you mentioned would be kind of the ideal for me to work out around like right before lunch and then, and do all my creative, my writing, all that stuff in the morning and, do meetings or data work or something like that, in the afternoon. so it'll be interesting to see, especially with, with the

a baby on the way, how it changes. Cause honestly, right now for me, it's just my wife, she works from home, but she's, you know, basically has nine to five, and three of the five days a week we work out together. And so it's more about like us getting time together in the morning kind of trumps what's what I, what I want to, what I think may be optimal for me. think optimal for me is more time with her in the morning. So it'll be interesting to see how that, that shifts, but I love that. You know, as we wrap what?

emerging trends in health and mobility are excite you the most right

Parker (45:10)
That's a cool question. So I think what's becoming really cool is, so my background a little bit is I was a strength and conditioning coach before I became a chiropractor. And when I was in the private sector working with professional athletes, mobility had a different perspective or it had a different approach where it was kind of, how would I say? It was more gravitating towards like here's a lacrosse ball dig into this muscle.

where that doesn't necessarily solicit longterm adaptations. don't get me wrong, very beneficial. I've seen somebody have chronic low back pain manage it by just being able to trigger release certain areas in their body. And if I, can manage that with a $10 lacrosse ball, that's amazing. You know, let's save you some money. but what I've noticed is now mobility training is actually getting the proper explanation that it deserves.

So with mobility training, you should be approaching it just like your strength training. We know that if you want to build, let's just say a strong set of legs, your squats need to be challenging. You need to hit a point where you're near or at least I would say near failure, but some people are like, well, I don't want to go that hard. But to a point where you feel like, wow, that was hard. And we have to be doing that with our range of motion training as well. If our nervous system is governing whether or not we can access a certain range of motion,

you need to supply a big enough reason as to why you are strong and safe in that range of motion. So I'm starting to see that trend become a little bit more popularized because we know in the research, like, all right, if I were to have you do a squat, you know, ass to grass, butt to grass, right? You are going to have great range of motion through your legs, right? And that shows us that if strength training can build our flexibility and mobility,

That means we just got to take those principles and apply it to our restrictions. So I'm really excited to see that we're kind of gravitating away from this, hey, we're going to spend 15 to 30 minutes warming up for exercise. Whereas the exercise itself is what's actually creating the adaptation. So let's spend more time doing that. And it actually gives people a little bit more, I should say less friction to actually do the work because most people think I don't have an hour and a half to work out. You don't need an hour and a half to work out. You actually,

I call micro sessions, you can break up your day into five or like three, five minute sessions and you can still get meaningful strength and mobility in those routines. It's just look at your schedule, look at how we can break down the friction the best we can and just get after it because once again, we just have to go down that route of how do we build this bridge between where we are and where we want to be. And if it's micro sessions, cause your schedule is so hectic, so be it.

but we just have to figure out how to do that for you.

Sean Patton (48:02)
And, know, guess final question I'm really interested is like, what do you, what legacy do you hope the revival method leaves in terms of this health wellness and, development space?

Parker (48:14)
One more time, you bleeped out.

Sean Patton (48:16)
Sorry. What legacy do you hope the revival method has in this health mobility and overall wellness space?

Parker (48:24)
Yeah, I think the reason why I really came up with this is I saw so many people stuck because they're either overwhelmed by all the information out there. You have every influencer pointing people in different directions. They demonize food, they demonize exercise. And now you have these people wanting to change and they don't know where to start. So I once again, I went back down to the basics of, all right, what is necessary to move the needle and how do we simplify this? So there's literally no resistance.

around it. And I alluded to it, you and I had an exchange where like, sometimes it's not the exercise. Sometimes it's not the protocol. Sometimes it's your environment. Like, so how do we create an approach where when you wake up, yes, you have to exercise. Yes, you have to eat a certain way. How do we remove any type of feeling that man, this is hard. And that's what I hope people understand is like, small habits can grow into a lifestyle, because you're setting a standard for yourself.

And if you can remove all the resistance around exercise, eating right, and setting a proper mindset, then your chances of consistency goes through the roof because I can give you a subpar protocol that isn't that great, but if you stick to it long enough, you're going to get results versus if I gave you the perfect protocol that's not congruent with your current lifestyle, you're not gonna do it, you're not gonna get the results.

Once again, if anybody's listening to this, the number one question you should be asking yourself is, how can I stick to this the long term? If I can't do this for 10 years, how can I simplify it to make that happen?

Sean Patton (49:58)
I love it. Well, Hey Brandon, this is awesome. I appreciate you coming on. really enjoyed this conversation. I feel like we could, we could go for hours on this topic. and maybe we'll have to have you back cause I really enjoyed this and it's something I'm so passionate about because I'm, we are 100 % aligned that if you're trying to become a no limit leader and you're trying to make the world a better place and you're trying to lead others and lead yourself and maximize your experience of life.

It really does start with this foundation of health because that's the vehicle through everything else. So I appreciate the work you're doing. and, you know, we're going to put all the links that we can in the show notes, but what's the number one place if you're like, like what this guy, Dr. Brandon Parker is talking about. Where should they go first?

Parker (50:40)
I think the hub that I have right now is Instagram. It's just one of those things where if you go to my profile, you click on that little link, it takes you to anything that I do. As you referenced, I do have a podcast. I do have a newsletter. And the whole idea between those two is it allows me to actually elaborate on certain topics. Whereas in Instagram, I have five seconds to get your attention and there's a little bit of sensationalism behind that. And that's because I'm playing the game.

Whereas in the podcast, in the newsletter, it's a straight facts and it's straight protocol where it's like, hey, if you do this, you will move and feel your best. So if you all want to get the best bang for your buck, I would say newsletter and podcast.

Sean Patton (51:19)
Love it. Beautiful. Well, thanks so much for being here and thanks for the work you do, brother.

Parker (51:23)