JESSE: Yeah, it seems like it puts you in a pretty unique position, since you have that comprehension from 30,000 feet. Like, I guess, as somebody that-- I have people that work for me and do I’ll say, some of my more like repetitive or menial tasks. And then my job is more like, higher up trying to figure out all the structures, what kind of marketing needs to be done, and then getting people to execute. But the people that execute don't always understand all the cogs that are moving around. So yeah, it seems like you should be, like I said earlier, you've got a lot of skills and you're adding to them. So, it seems like you should be a pretty competitive fit in a valuable way, is the short version. Yeah. COREY: Yeah. And so for me too. So, I've been in a global role for five years, I've been on the marketing side for three years. Whereas this new role would, to me, it's something I could do. It would be a challenge but it's something that I could do, it's not completely out of left field completely something different. But it would be something new, it would be a challenge, and it would be a growth opportunity for me to better understand the execution side of the framework, and get more experience engaging with physicians. That then long term would make me a better marketer, better at setting strategies, etc. JESSE: So, thinking about growth, I mean, this is kind of what people like us do, we kind of have a need to grow. So, I kind of want to actually want to jump back a little bit. Like I do with all my guests, I try to stock Instagrams and find out a little bit about who's coming on the show, so we can talk about things. So, I kind of hear from you a little bit, how do you go from being over 200 pound quarterback to being a fairly competitive triathlete? Like what's the journey? COREY: Yeah, I mean, it was a long journey. It was probably a 10 year journey. So yeah, I mean, I guess what got me there? So yeah, in high school, I played football basketball on the cross, in the State of Vermont, and I was pretty good within the State. But I was very much into weightlifting and getting big and getting strong for those sports that I mean, it helped us if you lifted. There was a few of my friends that also lifted too, but there wasn't that many. And it was amazing how much you could differentiate yourself by just lifting weights and doing that little extra to get bigger and not really faster, but stronger. Maybe a little faster, but I would definitely say was probably a faster sprinter back then. But yeah, so like, that's how I ended up and then yeah, after a few years of hitting the weights hard, ended up 215 pounds. I'm 6”1 so I was pretty-- I mean, I'm kind of tall but I was big, much bigger than I am now. Right now I’m down to like 170 now. So, I guess 45 pounds less than my peak in high school. Yeah, I mean, it was once I went to college at University of Connecticut, part of the reason I went there is I had a chance to play division three football at a small liberal arts school and I could have majored in math or economics or something like that. But I was thinking long term and I didn't really see what the next step after that would be. So, for me, in high school, I made the decision to go to the University of Connecticut, focus on pharmacy, that would give me a good career path after school. Meanwhile, in school, I could play inter ?? 4:08>, I can go to the basketball and football games, and so still be a part of sport. So yeah, at UConn, I still lifted quite a bit. But then in the summer, I would go back to Vermont, and I would have an internship but I would usually start to cycle and run and swim a little bit because there was a local triathlon where I grew up. And yeah, so for a few summers would go back to Vermont, train a little bit for this triathlon. But I was still pretty big, I was still carrying a lot of weight. But it was something that kind of satisfied my competitive drive and gave me something to train for and something to try to better myself. And then, I mean, I was at UConn for seven years, so I went into UConn very much a ex-high school football player, and then came out more of a triathlete and kind of made that transition throughout college of rather than just doing it -, I joined the cycling team, I joined the-- we ended up getting a triathlon team, joined the triathlon team. So, slowly made that transition from 215 pound football player to 175 pound, triathlete. And then after school, yeah, focused a little more, I’m solely focused on triathlon, I would say in addition to working. So, didn't really play any sports and I guess any ball sports after college, more just focused on swimming, biking, and running. Yeah. JESSE: So, I'm kind of curious because I've seen guys I've grown up with, they were skinny and then they start hitting the weights, and they get real big. But I haven't seen a whole lot of the opposite direction. So, did you have a plan or like, a particular diet? Or how do you make that transition from having all that bulk, but you're not fat, it’s muscle? Like, how do you do that and then get lean again? How do you go the opposite direction? COREY: Yeah, I mean, for me, I was like, naturally skinny to begin with. So, it did take many years to kind of get down to where I am now. But really I started eating better started drinking less. I mean, college, it was very easy for me to hold on to that 215 pounds because yeah, I mean, I had access to the dining hall, unlimited food there. Did a good amount of drinking in college, so got a lot of calories that way. And then I was still weightlifting, too. So yeah, I mean, generally like I would weightlift throughout the school, the school year, and then in the summertime, I would try to run and cycle. So, I’d actually usually get pretty lean by the end of summer. Because I would stop weightlifting and I would do more endurance sports. And then yeah, when I went back to college for the fall semester, I would usually hit the weights again and eat and drink more and put that weight back on. But eventually just kind of stopped doing that cycle and ate better, drink less, stop going to the gym and just started doing endurance sports and yeah, over time, I've gotten leaner and leaner, and I guess lost a lot of that muscle mass that I once had. So yeah, I mean, it was a long, slow, cyclical 10 year process that eventually got me to where I am today. JESSE: Yeah, not like an amazing overnight transformation, like-- COREY: No, not at all. JESSE: Just some beer in between. But I appreciate your honesty. like I said, it's just you see, especially-- I want to call this Instagram age, like, you see all these transformations, like they went from fat and now they're like super buff, but with like, triathletes-- I mean, you've been nationals, I think you've been nationals, and you've been to all these very competitive races and real cut, very lean, but not like, you're not going to stick them on the front of the like, Men's Health magazine or something because it's just not the physique that is ideal, so to speak. So, it's always interesting how people can make that transformation. COREY: It's funny, you bring up the Men's Health magazine because I actually, I used to read that religiously in college. And I would pull out like, they had like inserts that you could pull out and it would give you like, an eight week or 12 week plan on getting buff or something. So, like that's like, that would prove that was I guess my like, my weightlifting coach, I would say. Every now and then I would pull out one of those. And yeah, that would provide me discipline to go to the gym and do these exercises. JESSE: Was it just you or did you have buddies that you went to-- COREY: I had a few buddies that would work out with. But more so in high school because we had-- there was a pretty close knit group of us that we were kind of the select few that would religiously like workout in addition to going to football or basketball practice. So, and there I kind of I remember, must have been like 15 or 16 and my dad got me this like weightlifting book. And it was like my Bible because it had like, I knew nothing about weightlifting. But this like provided like the basics on like, how to do a bench press, how to do squats, how to do all these different things that I've never done before. I went to a small High School so it's not like we had a weightlifting coach or anything like that. It was very much, you had to be driven enough to figure out how to do this yourself. And there was one coach that was, he got it and he definitely helped out too. But for the most part, it was just like a few of us. And I remember when I graduated high school, I mean, it's kind of cheesy, but I'd say I donated this weightlifting book to the school or to the gym. And really just left the book in the weight room for others to refer to and figure out how to do a bench press and how to do squats and things like that. JESSE: Was it just like the Men's Health thing or did you like-- Have you watched pumping iron, the documentary with Arnold Schwarzenegger and he's like heyday of bodybuilding? COREY: I haven't watched it yet, but it's piqued my interest. JESSE: Like even if you're not into bodybuilding, just like the mind games that like Arnold plays with like the other guy, Lou Ferrigno is in it. It's just kind of silly for that point. So, I'm just curious, like, it doesn't sound like you're interested in being like giant bodybuilder just like bigger functional, like, football player. COREY: Yeah. JESSE: Okay. I'm going to get a little diverting, I saw on the EMJ site that you had your time for the beer mile listed. Was that during college when you're like, training with all the beers or like-- I've never been huge into beer. So I've never did a beer while but I know. It's like a huge thing for runners. Like how, I mean, how do you even get involved in doing one? Or like, how does that conversation come up? COREY: Yeah, I mean, I guess it was kind of a-- So, for probably two, three years, it was kind of this like running joke between me and a few of my training buddies here in the greater Boston area. And we've always like talked about doing it. And this was like back when it was starting to get really popular. So, we always talked about doing it. And then like one random, I think it was like a weekday night or maybe it was a Friday, I don't even remember. But one of my buddy who we trained with, he lived right near, I think it was a high school track. And so one night, we decided that we were going to do a beer mile. And I think it was late in the season. So, I think it was like October, November. And yeah, so I mean, we were all in pretty good running shape. But it's not like we trained to chug beer so that was kind of the variable and I would actually say the slowest-- So, there was four of us that did it. And the slowest runner of the group actually one because he could chug beer the quickest. And I mean, I would say we all did pretty well. I think we all went stub eight, but it all just came down to who could chug the beer the quickest and then hold it down as you run a lap. JESSE: It’s one beer one lap, right? COREY: Yeah. One beer one lap. So, it ends up four beers, four laps - mile. But yeah, you can lose a lot of time if you struggle with it to chug down the beer. JESSE: I feel like just even if you gave me like four cans of water, I feel like I'm gonna struggle to get four cans of water down let alone a beer. Here's something I'm kind of curious about because I know different guys talked about like, I don't know if there's a standardization. I know there's like, the world record beer bottles like some five. It's ridiculous. But if there's like a standard, one beer one lap, or can you do four laps, and then four beers or four beers, and then four laps? Is there like, do you have to do one lap one beer or is it up to you however you want to complete it? COREY: Yeah, I don't know the-- I'm pretty sure there probably is a rule book out there at this point. Neither one of us like actually read it but we were pretty sure that consensus is you have you start by chugging a beer and then you do a lap. And then between every lap you do have to chug another beer. So, it does break it up like that. So, I think yeah, I think you do have to do one beer one lap for four laps. I don't think you can save, I don't think you can run a mile really, really fast and then chug four beers. That would be an interesting strategy. I wonder if that would actually work better or your mile time would be a lot quicker. But then-- JESSE: I’m not sure. Right. But then you’re like exhausted, you're winded and now you gotta chug four beers. COREY: Yeah, that was the hardest. The first beer was fine because you start the race with the first beer. So, you're not winded, you don't have anything in your stomach at that point. Like your legs are fine. But then every beer afterwards like you're huffing and puffing, and it's hard to hold you-- like to chug a beer you need to hold your breath. And that was like my challenge is I couldn't hold my breath long enough to continuously chug the second, third and fourth beers like I have to stop, take like a huge breath and then like continue chugging. Whereas the guy that ended up winning like he could do in one shot like he would down each beer in less than, probably less than a right around 10 seconds and he wouldn't have to take a breath in between chugs.
Smart Athlete Podcast Ep. 9 - Corey Robinson - EMBRACE CHANGE - Part 2 of 3
Yeah, it seems like it puts you in a pretty unique position, since you have that comprehension from 30,000 feet. Like, I guess, as somebody that-- I have people that work for me and do I’ll say, some of my more like repetitive or menial tasks.
