Today I'm going to talk with the Happy Pair
Today I'm going to talk with the Happy Pair. Let's cue that intro! The big question is this. How do we use cycling as a tool to improve our health, our happiness and our long-chef? That is the question on this podcast will give you the answers. My name is Anthony Walsh and welcome to the Row Man Podcast. I kind of wish we had a press record like 60 seconds ago when the lads were fumbling around with the loyce trying to make themselves look handsome. Make us look like a big deal after me. Lads use our big deal, yes our big deal. Uh, let's I want to join. Let's see if there's a lamp in case you're wondering. And you can actually, the lads are selling this home setup. They have as well where they will come into your house and design your Zoom studio to the same level of professionalism. That's it. Let's, let's join you back to all those years ago. When the idea of a veg shop popped into your head, Talk us back to start a pre-ambulted up because you were very different people back then. Yeah, so you don't need to. Okay, cool. Like we grew up in a little bit of a time called Greystone. Some of you might be familiar. Some of you may not. And we grew up playing a lot of sport we're two identical twins. Busy lives, love sport, love, you know, as we became teenagers and kind of into the late teenagers, loved getting pissed, chasing women, went to an old boys school, load a rugby. That was kind of happening. Went to, weren't really sure what we were interested in beyond getting drunk and chasing women. So it was like, let's go to college. Great. What do we study? No idea. Business. Great. Do you want to open up media degrees in business and then then... And then, right at the end of the line, game was just going to be more women than college than there is in old boys school. I had the same experience myself as well. Yeah, and I think part of it, like we grew up in a family of four boys, all our family was always we went to all boys school, we played rugby, played a lot of men. So it was very macho. So excuse the one side it's slant on it all, but the plot does change. And when we were in college, we were kind of sold the idea of the American dream that money makes you happy and materialism is if you want true. And I think being highly competitive males, you know, that it's excelled in sports, obviously the new sport was business. We're going to be millionaires, Steve, we're going to be billionaires. This is it. And then at the end of college, we both didn't, we both felt like an emptiness or something. We didn't really believe it. And Steve says, right, Dave, I'm going away. You can't come with me. I'm going away traveling and I'm not coming back until I'm happy. Anyone off to Canada to go obvious, no board and structure amongst many of them. Well, I just went on a journey and didn't know where I was going to go and just wanted to take it day by day and explore the facets of life and look beyond my own social conditioning and see where I have some more meaning. What's the talk you become an investment partner at one point? Yeah, yeah, I remember when I finished college I was thinking, maybe I'd be an investment bank because I'd make a million before I'm 30 easier and then I can go if you want to be interested. Whereas it was on this journey kind of, you can retrospectively entitle the journey of self discovery. So when kind of experimenting like from tree planting to northern Canada where we where we get a helicopter to work with Christians to hitchhike and den around Nevada, going to Burning Man 20 years ago to stay in unpolly amorous communities, to meditations, et cetera, to whatever, just exploring the multi-fast sort of, I guess, ideas around life and to see where I fit and where I thought most happiest. And at the same time, I'd gone off to say, Africa to go be a golf pro. Yeah, you were a scratch golfer. Yes, we were really into golf as well. And then I'd played back for a few months and then realized, geez, it's really lonely. Like, there must be more again. So I've been like, Steve, I went to off on this quest, in a sense, to find more meaning. And then one day back in 2003, Steve Cousins says, I got this idea. Do I like start a health revolution?
Because we both gone from, as Dean said, meathead jocks, like hot…
Because we both gone from, as Dean said, meathead jocks, like hot blooded jocks that were all into drinking beer, eating burgers, dips, points, and really that classical jock. And then we came back, like, through that journey, we ended up becoming vegan and giving up alcohol, getting into yoga and meditation. And like, you know, we had a huge change in how we were our behaviors. And then Steve calls me up and he says, do you wanna like start this vegetable shop? And we left us these jocks that were doing modeling and we were quintessential, you know, yeah, quintessential kind of Donnie Brooke jocks come with Whitlow, like North Whitlow. And then we came back because these long hair tippy vegans that were 24 year olds that were starting a vegetable shop that had a ban and a smell to cabbage, and people thought we were selling drugs in the back, because we were such stinking. They're just so happy with our vegetables. Yeah, and it was such an ironic kind of thing because people from our small town thought, oh, the labs there, they're really going to race, as they went to college, and they're really good at sport. And then here we were, we came back and we started the vegetable shop, and it really didn't fit with the previous idea of what we should be looking at. We're just starting seeing yourself differently, because this is something that we talk about to athletes all the time. If you see it all the time, you're a lingo programming where people try and lose weight or they try and quit smoke and you probably have a friend who's tried to quit smoke and say, oh, I've tried to quit. But you know what they say, he wants a smoker, always a smoker, and his identity is still a smoker. So we work really hard with athletes to try and get them to see themselves as an athlete because you've got certain habits where in your and athletes. You don't sit around pounding Doritos and drinking beer all day. You're thinking about the next session. How did you make that shift from thinking about yourselves as the Gordon Gekko of Greystones to this sort of hippie free loving the journey from materialism to spirituality. I think it's something that's always there. It was just I guess we were too busy caught up in our the life that we were told and we told that we had to live. And it was only as identical twins as as we separate and put ourselves in different environments that it gave us the opportunity to question, and kind of understand, who do I want to be now that I'm not an identical twin, and I'm not like, it's like, maybe I'll be a hippie for a while and see if that's like, maybe I'll be like, as soon as into like vegetables. I bought a drum up one stage as I taught. Maybe I want to be one of those people that go around more than gem base, and then you realize, I'm not that person. And then whatever way, I think over time, your perspective, maybe I was just gonna say that most people's life has an inertia, that you are a certain person because of all the people around you see that see you as this person and they validate, oh yes, you are such and such a person and it's only when you get to go away for a couple of years or period of time and you can reflect on who you, who genuinely you feel like you are in this moment and then when you come back, you can actually re-friend and re-establish new relationships. And when we did come back, we obviously, all our old friends really didn't wanna be friends with us anymore because we used to go drink and go to the pub and go play rugby, whereas we came back and here we were, we wanted to swim in the sea and do yoga and talk about lentils. And they were really went in for a little way to find new friends completely. And that makes it easy in a sense that you're almost like starting again. Did you have a vision for this whole thing? I suppose for some of our American viewers or our former viewers, the 10 people in the world that don't actually know who you two lads are. The lads look like scruffy de-sheveled hippies, but I can't even keep track of what you wise are up to these days. There's cafes popping up all over the place, super-valuing misses us bringing home a happy pair of dinners, there's cookbooks, there's TV shows, there's Jamie Oliver collaborations. Did you have a vision starting out or is this like we need to figure out how to make a few quid to pay the rent selling vegetables?
How big was this vision and how we're out of fucking control is it now
Like how big was this vision and how we're out of fucking control is it now? I think you're never in control. But it's grown a lot from the end day to hit these with a dream where at times has been up as far as 200 people with us in number of cafes. We've maybe 50 products in a bit of payers and shops. We've written our fifth book is coming out this week. We've, what do we have? We've got six online courses with wonderful doctors, medical experts, we've had about 50,000 people through them. And there's loads of it we do. And we've been out of 16 years. So and we love it. So it doesn't feel like it's with the question was about to be a vision. I think now we get not the slightest. All we had was that the whole vision was, how can we, you know, we wanted to use businesses, a vehicle to make the world a happier, healthier place. That was really it. And the whole vision was we felt we had changed so much, like changing our diet and our lifestyle changed us so much that like genuinely we described it as we wanted to guess whatever was in us and share it with you know try to get it out of us you know that and we never had a vision and an vision it was more it just kind of unfolded you know but that's an interesting you're allowed to be super well because you can talk to somebody about you know the benefits of vegan lifestyle but you start going into all sort of I call it techno know, Babble about that where you start spamming them with, oh, you should meet me for these reasons. And it's like when did someone ever tell you a story and you're telling you the story and they tell it like five times, and then you still don't get it. And then at the end, they just go, I guess you had to be there. And I feel that like element of you had to be there, it's the change of state. And you've changed them from one state to the other. And I think you've done that super well, because you've made this into a lifestyle. And once you boy into this lifestyle, you go and you find veganism all on yourself. You lads aren't serving that up. You're serving up a lifestyle and then it leads me to find that solution. Was that accidental? Or you two just work geniuses? Jay, no, I'm a sliders. Maybe some people might be mistakenly think of some kind of strategic masterminds, but now we're two lovely idiots just fumbling along. And some things go right, loud things don't go right and but we're very committed to what we do so I think it's that sense of the compounding consistency of the daily habits daily Richard say add up like we've been out at 16 years now so it's quite a quite a boil. I think that's a great message for people watching especially in sport because we see I like to avoid as events and processes and everyone sees the events like ULAD's opening a cafe ULAD's launching a book launching a new course late late your appearance. And they think, oh, the lads have got real lucky. They don't see the process behind it. They don't see the 16 years. And you know, I wasn't there and you weren't on social media, but I can only imagine the trowling down to the American and Smithfield trying to boy vegetables in your cowboy tree with a van. Yeah, exactly. It's a red van. Yeah, we did that for years, you know, for 30 a.m. We did a lot of that. And, you know, people, and it's amazing, you like you'd meet people and they kind of seems to have cooked to you. I still hear your videos just hanging up a little bit. Oh sorry, yeah it has a but yeah it's amazing you meet people that didn't really know that you've been in business 16 years and they'll kind of they'll think jeez you've done so much in a couple of years and you're gonna go no it's been 16 years have gone this way and that way and this way and that way and here we are today and today it looks sunny and rosy but you know yesterday it wasn't at all. Talk to us about failures along the way. Failures, yeah, I think that, well, I think the idea of success, people almost have it as a destination. And failure, failure is just, it's the steps along the way to whatever this destination of success is, because it's just so inevitable as part of everything. Even coming up with a recipe that takes the X amount of efforts to get to what you're trying to get to.
Just think it's so part of everything
And I just think it's so part of everything. We've embraced it and haven't maybe when you start your own business, you realize you become an expert problem solver because there's just so many problems and so many failures on a daily basis that you're you become so used to failure, you're much more useful failure than success. I know the people mistakenly might think you're, geez, you're successful. And it's like, no, I'm just a bit of an expert with failure. And that's the reality of it. I'm really comfortable with failure. I don't get upset with failure because it happens day in and day out. And you know, that's like, I thought it was nice when this might be very cliche, but the whole idea that a failure is only a failure when you forget to reflect and learn from it. Because ultimately a failure is it's life's lesson to teach you just how to recalibrate. And with the recalibration, you have that learned experience and suddenly you make success. And success is only the bit there, the compounding of all these failures. And I always loved Thomas Edison's one I think it was that he took him, Xtempts to reach the light bulb and he said well I didn't see one of them as failures. I saw each one of them as a step in the journey to getting the light bulb and I think that perspective is very different, a bit like the person who cycles the Tour de France in the world record time. They didn't do it the first time it took them 20 years of consistent hard work to get to this result. And there's been, like as Michael Jordan's, you know, I think if you saw his documentary, which seems credible, and he talks about that, you know, people think that he made so many shots, but he says I miss way more times than I made, because just people, you know, seem to remember that thing. And YouTube boys were a leprechaun of Pop-led rugby, and you're still super at Lelek-Joshen from your social and on your crazy handstands. You're still well able to hand yourself. What sort of an edge has the vegan lifestyle given you? Or why are you such a strong proponent to it? I was actually vegan for a year. I raced pro cycling for years of vegan. Yeah, so are there many pro cyclists as vegans? There is quite a few, yeah, it's getting more and more popular. Yeah, well, I think from a sporting perspective, the holy grail of athletic performance has been able to recover quicker because then you can train more and keep training the muscles and conditioning the muscles and what's essential to that is having more oxygen in your bloodstream. And a plant-based diet is like it's so full of water like it's 80 to 90 percent water, water H2O, it's really high in oxygen. So it's really enhancing your capacity to recover which is obviously optimal for any kind of athletic performance. So from that perspective, it really is beneficial. And also it's like most people nine out of 10 people don't get enough fiber and the fiber you only get fruit and veg and 70% immune system comes from your your gush which which all your macromech cereal live on fiber because steamed ones to say something and no I was just gonna say like we've learned to long white like out that our main message isn't about kind of encouraging people to be vegan or vegetarian it's to get people to eat more whole foods. So it's like I could eat a vegan diet and eat dark chocolate french fries and add a vegan, yay! But in terms of my own personal health, the main thing is to eat whole foods. So the distinction between whole foods and refined foods, for those who don't know, whole foods being like unrefined foods that you find in nature. That's a whole food such as lentils, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, fruit vegetables, but refined food might be croissants, coffee, white breads, whatever, etc. So it's just to try to get the majority of the calories whole food because if you look at the Blue Zones where there are five areas in the planet. Both the Blue Zones talk about loads on this. Yeah, so 95% of their diet is whole food but they're not necessarily vegan or vegetarian. So I think it's to move beyond the titles in the sense of the duality of you're a vegan and you're not a vegan and I'm a holy vegan and you're just a stupid vegan. I think it's more about we're all trying to do our best. We're all going to die one day and I think research is pretty clear that the more health foods you can eat, the more beneficial it is to your health.
It's not an older nothing thing
But it's not an older nothing thing. Yeah, and that's good. I think it's nice to move away from that almost like a religious fundamentalism around vegan. I raced in the US for years of vegan, but I wasn't a vegan for any sort of moral or ethical objection. I was looking to minimize inflammation and trying to prove recovery. So if I went to a friend's barbecue, like I'd have a steak or I'd have a burger to a very odd time. But like you'd be abused like I taught you were a vegan. I was like whatever I want to be like you don't have to put me in a narrow little box so you know how to describe me and know how to interact with me. Yeah I think that's so true and that's I think people love you know we all love putting people in boxes and that's the thing in terms of diets that it's become quite religious so I think it's about as you very well said that it's just giving yourself the freedom to eat what you feel like. Obviously, as Dean said, the more whole foods you can eat, the better. Let's finish up on this one, because I know when I'm thinking YouTube lads, I don't really think of two lads who are vegan. I'm more think of as cliche, it is two humans who are very well connected to their surroundings, are very mindful of food, their putting in activity, connection to the land, and morning routine seem to be big in the happy prayer world. Talk to us about that morning routine and the importance you'll add to place on it. Yeah, so I guess we for years have had a very strong morning routine and part of it is swimming in the sea at sunrise, which sounds stupid. Like we never planned to be daily sea swimmers. Oh, actually I had Clara Walsh on the summit yesterday and she was asking after you guys. Oh, she's brilliant. She's in Egypt at the mountain today. Yeah. I don't know. I'm so... But yeah, for the last six years we've swam every morning at sunrise all year round and it sounds like a crazy thing to do but it's something so primal of getting into the sea, this embracing this cold sea at sunrise. We literally see the sunrise when it actually isn't a cloudy but it connects with the elements, with the seasons, with the air temperature. Like it's an incredible thing. Yeah, we do with a bunch of people so that's an incredible thing. And then obviously most mornings we will try and do yoga, we'll do ham stands, we'll go for a run, we'll meditate, we do, well, you know, we try all sorts of different things. But I think the bit that makes it most sustainable for us is the sense of community around it, that we become the combination of the people that we spend most time with. And I guess in modern day society, we're becoming more kind of needing connection more than ever because it's something that the digital A's, we kind of think it's the exact same, Whereas you can't beat the face-to-face connection, the ability to chat, to laugh, to share a problem. Just to, so as much as our morning routine is exercise, swimming, and training, and that's everything. It's all in a group, like with training, there might be five or 10 of us, depending on if Chrome is happening or not. But pre-coron, there was always a bunch of us with training in the morning, we'd meditate, and then you go to the beach, and it could be 10 to 50 or to 100 people, and you're interacting, you're meeting people, And by the time the day started at nine o'clock or eight o'clock, eight thirty, you know, you've had like a party near you, you've just had your full up, you've trained, you've swam the sea, you've had so much social interactions that any else that happens to the bonus. I go back to bed after. You feel like they're born, you know. And I think the richest part is the humans. I think you touched on the blue zones already, but that's another one of the commonalities in the blue zones. It's that social connection and sense of just connectedness among people. like you touched on the digital edge there like we've you know 15,000 or you lots I don't know there are a million followers but still some people are very lonely despite all those followers they have especially in COVID here. Yeah yeah I can see more important there and I guess this like I think it comes back to if people are feeling lonely I think the first thing is to start saying a lot here like you know I think the very first thing is acknowledging that the most basic need that we have as humans is our physiological need the most basic one is to connect with the humans.
That's the first thing. The second thing I would say to start saying…
So that's the first thing. The second thing I would say to start saying hello to your neighbor is because every relationship starts somewhere. No matter where you live, there's probably likely, you know, with 7 billion people on the planet, there's going to be someone living near you, start saying hello to people because every relationship starts somewhere. And I think it's really important to acknowledge that every single person in this world is an insecure little three-year-old who wants you to be loved. And we all have different strategies. Anthony's a great cyclist. He's got lovely curly hair. Where go with vegetables, except we have a different strategy to kind of get acceptance and to be a pre-scent. And I think it's really, it's great to remind ourselves of our own, you know, insecurities and that most people have just different strategies and it's to kind of, the more we can connect the more, at least in our experience, it provides more meat. The more how we can feel. Last, if we can channel your energy onto a bike, we could be onto something big. We really caught. We're going to go bike ride in real soon. I think you lots can be champions. Oh, I love it. I love it. And that's thanks for joining us before you head off. What's the best place for people to follow you? What's the new stuff you want to point people towards? Well, if you've got the internet, you should be able to find us if you just take in a happy pair. But actually, before you tell that, I typed in the Happy Pair earlier, researching the podcast, because, like, obviously, I know who you are, but I wanted to get a little bit of background. The first question that comes up on Google is, to happy pair of brothers. I was like, who's like, who's a boys man, we turned 41 this week. But yeah, we're we're the happy pair on instagram and on all social media and we've got a new book coming out today is the seven December we've been able to get the 10th which is called the Happy Health Plan which we're really excited about. It's got 90 delicious recipes and it's got the learnings from we've got 50,000 people put your own courses from all over the world and it's got the learnings and that with all the doctors and dietitians distilled into it. So it's an exciting project that we're thinking. Awesome. Can't wait to check it out. Lads, your legends, you bring a smile to people's face. Thank you. Cheers. Keeps cycling. Cheers. That's a lot of fun. Okay. Stop what you're doing. It's Anthony again. I want to talk to you for one second about the next step in the roadman journey. I'm laying down a challenge for you. It's called the 8 week challenge. So for 8 weeks I'm challenging you to be the very best version of yourself, whatever that is. For 8 weeks I want to take you under my wing and I want to personally build for you a customized training plan on our analytics platform. This plan is going to be laser focused on your goal and I'm going to navigate around your life, your work, your social commitments so don't worry about what your circumstances are right now. I remember after I took some time out of cycling and went off and taught out this Billy Big Businessman. I came back and I realized I wanted to get into cycling, but I knew after a bit, to try it in a loan, it actually wasn't making me any fitter. My needs is an entire system. It needs a 360 overhaul. So for the first time ever, I want to share with you this exact system I used to get back in shape. I'm talking stuff like I'm going to give you my morning routines, the cold therapy I used, the cookbooks and recipes I used, and even the motivational audios I listened to get back on track. So right now what I want you to do is pause this audio, go to www.roadmancycling.com forward slash eight week or check out the link in the bio, click that. So one more time at roadmancycling.com forward slash eight week. Chatty all soon.