Welcome to another episode! Today, we’re joined by our guest, Jono Blodgett, not only a performance and breath coach but also my trainer. Jono is on a mission to help individuals conquer their fears and achieve their goals, emphasizing emotional support and motivation.
Jono, a three-time Age Group World Champion in Spartan obstacle course racing, draws inspiration from his background in outdoor activities and Hawaii’s vibrant landscapes. He combines physical training, breath practice, and a growth mindset to help clients overcome obstacles and achieve their full potential.
In this episode, Jono shares his journey to becoming a world Spartan Champion, discusses the importance of a growth mindset and hard work, and emphasizes the critical role of health and wellness in career success. Whether you’re into fitness, personal growth, or simply seeking inspiration, tune in for practical insights and motivation that could reshape your perspective on achieving your goals. Don’t miss this episode; it’s your key to unlocking your full potential with Jono Blodgett as your guide!
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Full Transcript:
Bronson Hill: Hey guys, welcome to the Mailbox Money Show. I’m super excited. This is Bronson Hill.
I’m excited for this interview because this is my personal obstacle course race trainer. You might say like, why in the world would you ever do an obstacle course race? Well, there’s a huge mindset piece in this.
There’s a huge growth aspect into this. And a lot of you don’t know this five, six years ago. I actually lost 30 pounds and I’ve kept it off. It’s by having personal goals and areas of fitness and other areas as well.
And so I found that as you have growth in one area as you have a breakthrough in one area. You can bring that to another area. So for me, if you’re someone who’s facing a major obstacle in your life. Whether it’s in your physical fitness or it could be at work or it could be at home. In a relationship, all this stuff transfers over because a lot of times the stuff that I’m doing now. I really felt it was impossible before I did it. And that’s kind of how it really works.
I’m going to bring in my trainer for you. Jono Blodgett, I’m super excited for this interview. I hope you enjoy it.
He’s awesome.
All right, welcome to the Mailbox Money Show. I’ve got an awesome guest here.
I’ve got my trainer. For some of I do spartan races or obstacle horse races. And it’s really helped me to level up my life. In a way that you see something that feels impossible. Or I could never be that guy running those races, doing that up mountains in the wild. All these crazy things.
But my good friend now, Jono Blodgett is here. He is a three-time world Spartan champion for the age group division. And I’ve just learned so much from him about how to have an unstoppable mindset. That whether you are an obstacle racer or not, or you just want to be a softball in life. He’s got some incredible things to share.
He’s also got an awesome course out there, where he talks about having a mindset. Where you can just overcome anything.
So, John, welcome. How are you doing today, brother?
Jono Blodgett: I’m doing fantastic. Thanks so much for having me on, Bronson. Appreciate it.
Always good to see you.
Bronson Hill: It’s always good to see you, man. It’s been fun spending time with you.
And there’s things that I’ve learned from you, man, just about, I don’t know. Just so many things about racing and life and breathing. I mean, I’m doing like running down the street while holding my breath. Hoping I help pass out and all these things to try to grow my abilities. But why don’t you give our listeners that are unfamiliar with you.
I know a lot of people, you probably knew a lot of folks listening. But tell us a little bit of your background. And I know we also share our backgrounds or medical device sales. So, it’s kind of one way we connect it as well as that we both have that background. Just give us a little bit of your background, both in career as well as the obstacle course racing.
Jono Blodgett: Yeah. I grew up in Hawaii. Always out on the mountains, trail running, and being in the ocean and things like that. I mean, so I love the outdoors aspect, which Hawaii definitely promotes.
That was kind of pushed me into actually marine biology was where I originally started my education. And venturing into that kind of career. And hit a few roadblocks in there that we can kind of discuss. Then you have this opportunity game about for medical device sales. I’d already been doing personal training and it started my own business.
So I had the anatomy background. I mean, as you know, with sales, you do need to constantly push and try and improve. And get new customers and clients, so it was kind of very similar to the aspect of the health-wise too. Just always trying to improve and better yourself. So that’s why I really took to the medical device sales world as well.
And it’s all about relationships and things. And so it, yeah, just kinda came naturally to me.
Bronson Hill: That’s awesome. Yeah. I know I look back on my days in medical sales. A lot of people don’t maybe realize I was 10 years in medical device sales. And I learned a lot of great skills.
I think that’s something super valuable to come up with challenges and go into places where they’re selling products. And you’re going to try to sell them stuff, right? Or they’re selling services and you’re trying to sell them stuff, but it can feel a little awkward sometimes. You’re like sneaking around the hospital or doctor’s office and it can feel kind of weird. But talk to us a little bit about kind of that, where you particularly with the physical training. You went from like, okay, this is, feels comfortable because obviously you’re hanging out in the ocean. You’re a marine biologist, you maybe go on hikes and you go for a run.
What was the point where you decided to just like, I’m going to become an opposite course race guy. And I’m just going to commit to this and give it a hundred percent.
Jono Blodgett: Yeah. I mean, it kind of came about all at the same time. That I was getting into the personal training and just doing a lot of research. And learning about all the nutrition aspects and how to train the body to perform better. Be more efficient and kind of one thing led to another. You start to experiment with a different tactic like, okay, let’s try this with my nutrition.
And then you start to feel a little better. You like get some wins and, and start to feel that success, that progress starts to be made. And they’re like, okay, well I’ve dialed that in a little bit.
So now let’s try and work on some different mechanics or something along those lines. And, you start to build, make, start to see some wins on that. Then it just kind of snowballs one thing into another.
And then once you start to feel that little bit of progress. You’re like, okay, well, this is my new baseline of where I’m at. Right. So you remember what you used to be.
And then you kind of start to want to kind of continue to build upon that and grow. So, yeah, it’s all about just kind of continuing the progress as much as possible.
Bronson Hill: I love that. You know, that really is, as a growth mindset, right. And it reminds me, my dad, he teaches physical education and he’s worked with a lot of athletes.
He would say that there’s this thing called a performance plateau, right? Where people are working really hard and they’re not seeing any improvement. Because they’re still learning and they’re growing and whatever. And all of a sudden they take a bump up to go to the next level. How have you felt kind of your transfer over from physical training. And having success in that area has transferred over into your career and your personal life.
Have you seen some carryovers from like, I’ve done hard things over here. And it’s helped me in these other areas of my life.
Jono Blodgett: A hundred percent. I mean, you’re kind of going back to what you’re saying, like hitting that plateau and that growth mindset. I mean, I remember my previous job, like as doing marine biology. I’ve worked my way up to the program leader for the entire state of Hawaii. And I was just kind of going through day by day doing my job. But I didn’t have that growth mindset at that point.
I was just kind of enjoying life. And I remember we lost our contract and so we got laid off. I was just thinking, okay, they’re gonna, they’ll rehire me. No problem.
And they ended up hiring the guy that was below me. That really kind of woke me up as far as like, okay, you can’t. You have to be able to continuing to have that growth mindset on like ways you can continue to improve. And that really kind of kick-started me saying like, okay. You can’t just go through life living that Groundhog Day over and over and just go through the motions.
You need to continuing to kind of look at yourself and say, okay where am I successful? Yeah. What got me to be that at that point and you know what areas do I need to improve upon?
And it’s the same thing with the physical side is you start with obstacle racing. It brings out all your little weaknesses here and there. So just start to kind of like, okay, what could I have done a little bit better for that event. And how can I improve on it and take on that growth mindset? Instead of just saying like, Oh, I’m never going to be as good as that guy kind of thing. And just give up and not try and be, get yourself to be better.
Like, okay.
Yeah. Look at that aspect and say like, okay, well, he’s training this way or what do I need to do? And so all that just then carries over into how you’re doing. You’re living your everyday life and your careers and pushing yourself to be better in all aspects of life.
Yeah.
Bronson Hill: There’s a saying that, “how you do one thing is how you do everything”. And I’ve come and counted kind of sloppy and you kind of just, show up late to everything. That’s kind of how you’re going to show up in your life and your relationships at work. Your personal, and your fitness. But when you do the hard things, I think you recommended this book, Jono, I’ll call, Dopamine Nation.
It’s basically saying we’re so entertained and we try to seek all these feel good emotions. And we’re on Snapchat and Facebook. At least all the time to where we don’t do any hard things. And so the whole thing of going and doing a 10-mile run or going and doing a cold plunge. Like I know you cold plunge as well as I do. And it’s like, when you do the hard thing first, everything else is easy. That’s why people are like, why do you go cold plunge?
Why do you cold plunge almost every day? I was like, well, I do it because that’s likely the hardest thing I’m going to do. Every day, each day. And then everything else is easier after that, right?
And so, I want you to talk about that. I want you to also talk about your course cause you talk about this in the course that you created. About doing the hard thing and overcoming fear, and even how breath like leads into that.
I mean, you can talk about some of that.
Jono Blodgett: Yeah. I mean, it’s exactly like what you said. I mean, when you’re going into say talking to a surgeon. Or something, or having a difficult conversation with your boss. If you’re needing to put on a big presentation in front of a bunch of people. Public speaking is people fear that more than anything, right?
So yeah, exactly. But if you are doing kind of consistently hard things on a regular basis. Then you’re, I talk about this in my course. Your baseline of what’s difficult gets moved up a little bit each time. And so if you’ve started off doing a cold shower, and that’s pretty intense for you. Then slowly start to build that up.
But then once you get used to the cold shower, you can then move up to something more difficult. An ice bath, but it’s the same concept in success and career. Like going to talk to that difficult surgeon. And if you understand how to control the body and the mind in one difficult situation. It will carry over into other, other situations as well. Cause like, okay, I did a five-minute ice bath.
Like I can go and talk to a person, no problem. It’s just a different kind of fear, but then it, it all, it all carries over.
Bronson Hill: That’s so true. No, it really is true. And I think, one thing we do, one thing I’m really passionate about is not just having more money.
Obviously this show is the Mailbox Money Show about creating more wealth. But it’s also about creating a better quality of life. And that’s one thing I learned in the medical field. There’s a lot of people that we’re on the operating table at 50 or 60, kind of been rough shavings.
They had diabetes, they were overweight, they had other health issues that were preventable. That they could have made different choices. So the idea of having a growth mindset, I mean, there was somebody. I think it was brought off all that Emerson, I think said the first wealth is health and stuff. You don’t have your help.
I mean, you could live another 20 years or 25 years. And have those be higher quality of life and a better mobility. How awesome is that? And of course, the impact you get to have on your friends and family. In the world, it’s really great.
What’s one or two things that you think most people should know? I mean, this is a very general question, go any way you want with it. But whether one or two things you think people should know about health. Maybe things that they should consider start doing or stop doing.
Jono Blodgett: I think definitely start doing is in our society, we’re all about grind, grind, grind. Doing it as much as you can. Like that’s how you become successful. I mean, and that is to a certain extent. But one thing I’ve learned as far as training and health is you can wear yourself out.
You can wear your body out a lot. Right. And then if you get to a certain point, your body’s going to crash.
You’re going to get burned out and same thing in a career. If you’re grinding all the time and never giving yourself that little bit of downtime or recovery. And like going out and fishing or playing golf and getting that downtime. Then you will eventually burn it out. So, I mean, with health and recovery, people nowadays their sleep is so deprived. They’re just eating terrible food and stress. And so if you’re not sleeping right, you’re not eating right.
You’re just overworked and overstressed, that’s going to then affect your performance in as far as your health wise. And then also as far as your career, you’re not going to show up to work the next day. Feeling like a rock star and want to go out and maybe have that difficult conversation. Or try and do something a little bit more risky. Cause your willpower is going to be at the floor level, right? If you’re like, Oh, you know, I’m tired today.
I’m not feeling it. I’ll try and do it tomorrow. And then you do the same thing.
You’re not sleeping, and tomorrow comes. And then before you know it, it’s been five years and you’re still stuck in the same place you were. So yeah, that’s one big aspect.
Bronson Hill: Yeah. Well, I have more, one more too. I want to share one thing on that.
So there was a study that came out and we think we’re totally unbiased. We can make great choices all the time. But like, even something as simple as us being hungry. Like, they actually did the study and they found these Israeli judges. They had these parole judges that went around and it was, when it was right before. Like it was first thing in the day, there was like maybe a 30% chance. 40% chance somebody would be able to be paroled or right before a lunch. Like 11:55, 11:30, where there was almost a 0% chance.
So it’s going to be. I think it’s like thousands and dozens and the same thing happened in the afternoon before break. But it was just like, well, we get so like, if we’re tired, if we’re hungry. If we can get to a place where we don’t realize we’re not making good choice as we should. But that’s where us investing in sleep, us investing in our health. And that’s like you said, where willpower comes from is us being rested. And even fitness is like, like I tell my daughter that she’s age.
She’s like, Oh, I went to soccer practice. I’m so tired. I’m so tired.
Well, if you run more, you’ll be tired, but you’re actually going to develop more stamina. Right? So it’s like short run, maybe a little more tired, but long run, you’re going to feel great.
Jono Blodgett: You know, people don’t think it’s counterintuitive, but you work out and you get more energy. You’re going to create more endorphins and then you’re more inspired to go out. And do other things that are difficult, but you want to be successful at. So it’s all related.
And that was one of the biggest aspects. When I learned when I got back at that marine biology, I was still partying a bunch and not taking care of my health. And then as I started to change my ways, I was like, okay, well, I’m feeling a lot better.
I want to be successful in, in this aspect of my life. So what do I need to do to make that happen? And so you just start to look at it a little bit differently.
And, and there’s one of the other modules in the course I talk about, like kind of effort times skill is what equals success, right? So a lot of people have a lot of skill, whether it be an athlete or anything like that, or maybe somebody’s just better at talking. But if, if they’re not putting in the effort to go along with it, the skill is only going to go so far in order to be successful, right?
I mean, you can have somebody who’s a successful basketball player, but then if they’re just still going home and watching TV or something, but then you look at Kobe, who he was, he was to have the skill and then he put in tons of extra hours at the gym. And that’s what really catapulted him from just being a good player to being an amazing player. Right.
And so same kinds of things with your health, with your success in business, it’s how much effort you put in will actually carry it over a lot more to if you get that successful or not.
Bronson Hill: So I got to brag on you a little bit, Jono. We got to a race together in the spring at Big Bear, California, which is elevation of seven, 8,000 feet. And you get out there, of course I saw you for the first like quarter mile and then you’re gone, but you were there and you finished like way ahead of me. But I mean, you’re super dis I think was asking you, Hey, do you ever have any alcohol? You’re like, no, I don’t there.
I mean, you just only, I mean, I get the sense of you’re like, you only get good stuff. You’re, you’re out there training almost every day and it shows you’re just so consistent with it. How do you stay?
And I think I asked you this one time. I think it was that race. It was like a few weeks out.
I was like, man, how do you stay motivated on this? I think you do a lot of races, which keeps you motivated and stuff, but how do you keep yourself like fired up? Do you have a morning routine or do you like live yourself in the mirror and say, you’re awesome.
You’re going to do it. Like, what are you going to do to keep yourself fired up?
Jono Blodgett: You know, I mean, I’m going to all admit I’m human just like everybody else. There’s still those days where you get up and you’re like, man, I’m not feeling it today. But like you said, it is all about consistency.
And so it’s just kind of taking on the mindset of like, okay, maybe I’m not feeling that I’m going to go out and do a 10 mile run, but I am going to just still get up and do something that will help improve, improve my mindset, improve my body. Or if you’re, as far as career wise, like what’s still something I can, I can get out and do to make me like 1% growth better. Right.
You know, it may not be, you would, you did that big workout or you went and talked to and got that big client. But if you made one little step towards that, then you can build upon that next on next day. Right.
So it’s just constantly staying consistent. And, a lot of times if I’m not feeling like I’m going for a big run, I’ll just get up and at least go sit in the sauna or do some mobility work or even just go in for a walk or it’s just still staying consistent as much as possible. And that’s what over time you’ll see that bigger growth.
Bronson Hill: Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of people I want to do, share, I think you’re bringing a lot of great things into life, but I just, I don’t know if I really did a great job in the beginning of explaining kind of what it feels like for my partner obstacle course racing.
I mean, this is where, you’re running between, usually between six and 13 miles or more. And you’re facing, you’re climbing things. You’re carrying 70 pounds up a hill.
You’re running a whole time while running. And trying to like, it’s, it’s a really intense thing. And the one thing that appealed to me about it is it’s not just a running race where you end up being rail thin and you’re like this super, like these marathon runners that are super thin.
You actually have to have some strength because you got to be able to flip a tire. To be able to carry something really heavy. You got to be able to do all this.
It builds kind of that stuff around you. But, and when it comes to, I think of obstacle course racing, and we do face obstacles, not only in racing, but also in life. But what’s a big obstacle you face personally and that you’ve had to overcome.
And it can be in any area of life. I just think it’d be cool for you if you had anything you wanted to share. And I’m going to put you on the spot with that.
But I just think if there’s anything that you’ve had to work through, it could be helpful for people.
Jono Blodgett: It is just the mindset of getting over losses and being, we’re all going to have those defeats. Where you just get run down and you want to give up. But it’s kind of using that more as like a step into a learning process. Kind of going back to that.
When that other guy, the guy below me actually took my job and got hired. I mean, I definitely, I could have kind of just given up and thrown it in and just said, Oh, well, I’m just going to go and do some job that doesn’t bring me any satisfaction or is worthwhile. But it’s kind of get picking yourself up out of that hole and, and learning like, okay, this is, yeah, a little negative spot in my life, but how do I, what do I need to do to get better and improve?
And so I think that’s definitely a lot of the downfall. I mean, mental health is kind of, a lot of people’s minds nowadays and it’s the stress and it’s affecting people a lot more. So when people do hit those losses, I think it’s, it’s a lot more, it takes a lot more for people to get themselves out of that hole.
But it’s just kind of learning, like that’s where the health comes back into it because you know, if you’re in a difficult situation with your career or family going for a run or doing a little workout, getting outside can really help boost your, your, your mental health and your kick up those endorphins and dopamine and, and help you kind of pick yourself up and be like, all right, let’s, that was a shitty situation, but I’m, I’m going to get out of it and go, you know, make myself better.
Bronson Hill: Yeah, absolutely. No, it is. It’s amazing how success in one area of life can transfer over those.
And even if nothing’s going away, you can always get out and go for a run or at least do something active. Hopefully, as long as you’re mobile to be able to try to, try to be active, what’s one, do you have a, like a book recommendation or resource that you recommend for folks that are just interested in a minute, we’ll talk about your course, but just anything else that you’re like, I read this book recently, or here’s this thing I came across that I just found it super helpful when it comes to mindset.
Jono Blodgett: I think any autobiography books is what I’m, I’m a big, big proponent of, cause you can, you can see and hear from these people that are very successful. I mean, kind of look at, you know, R.O. Schwarzenegger or Gog and David Goggins or Ronda Rousey MMA fighter, female fighter, she’s got her autobiography, which is one of my favorites. But you, you, a lot of times we only see these people when they’re at their peak and they’re very successful, but you, when you read these autobiographies, you see that like these people went through a lot of hardships and they went through a lot of, a lot of low points in their life and, and how you can pick yourself up.
And a lot of that it’s, it relates to everybody. We’re all going to be at that low spot, like I said, but you can see like, okay, these people were able to do it. And so those are the books that I recommend a lot.
I mean, yeah, Ronda Rousey’s book is a good one. David Goggins is both of his books are good.
Bronson Hill: Yeah.
Jono Blodgett: So I try to kind of stick to those guys.
Bronson Hill: Yeah. I listened to Ronda Rousey’s and then I think when I wasn’t motivated six months ago, you’re like, listen to David Goggins. And that guy’s like, maybe he’s not familiar with David Goggins as a guy who was a former Navy SEAL and just like, oh, my legs were falling apart and blood was, ran another hundred miles.
And I mean, it’s just crazy. Like some of it feels a little masochistic. It’s like, if he can do that, surely I can get out and run a few miles and do what I’m going to do.
Right.
Jono Blodgett: Like it’s very encouraging and he’s definitely an extreme next level, but it just, one of the things he says is, we’re all just operating at 40%, and it is true. People will think, I mean, there’s no way I could go out and do a Spartan race, but hey, I see these people all the time that are overweight. You know, they might be an amputee and only have one leg.
And maybe they walk the entire course, but hey, they still did it. Right. So all these, it’s, it’s learning by doing those hard things and pushing your limits, you, you then think like, okay, I am capable of doing a whole lot more than I’m, I’m giving myself credit for.
Bronson Hill: Absolutely. Well, Jono, I appreciate you for obviously being my coach and helping me to just push my limits and get better.
I actually placed, it wasn’t a Spartan race, it was a Savage race, but to get top three in the 40 and over. So I’m hoping to have more podium finishes, and then just really.
Jono Blodgett: Yeah, it’s been a great honor, like kind of seeing your progress as well and just seeing how far that you’ve been able to grow and push yourself and just, yeah, love, love seeing it.
Bronson Hill: Keep it going. Thanks, man. This is a good coach.
He’s always be encouraging when you’re doing stuff that’s right. And so it’s good to have positive voices in your life. Well, Jono, I appreciate you being with us today.
Talk about your course and talk about how people can follow what you’re doing.
Jono Blodgett: Yeah. Malcolm Mackay fitness. I know for those people that aren’t in Hawaii, I’m sure you’ll probably put it in the, in the show.
No, it’s very difficult to spell. But, yeah, she’s got the nice masterclass program where he talks all, I talk all about breathing and the mindset and how to build more mental strength in athletic and your personal life and overcoming fears and anxieties. And I mean, like I said, we all have different fears and anxieties, but it’s all kind of how you look at it and how you kind of base your life around that.
But I mean, breathing, why I threw that in there is just cause we all, we’re all breathing, right? But it’s, you can use your breathing for different aspects and people don’t think about that, like going into an athletic endeavor or going into a big time meeting where your heart rate might be racing a little bit. Like you have a little bit of anxiety.
You can actually use your breathing to help calm yourself down and bring yourself into a more kind of focused and alert state. Um, but then like sleep, lots of times people are, aren’t breathing right. But while they’re sleeping and then that then carries over to, all right, I’m waking up the next day tired because I didn’t sleep well.
And then it’s just one big cycle over and over, right? Going back to you’re not going to perform as well at your job and at your career. So yeah, definitely check me out at that website or you can find me on Instagram at John O’Bladgett.
And yeah, definitely thanks for having me on. Always good to talk to you.
Bronson Hill: Hey, thanks so much, Jono. I appreciate you, brother. All right.
Well, I’m a huge Jono Blodgett fan. I hope you enjoyed this interview. It was awesome.
I love how mindset really is everything. And I love what Jono said about autobiographies, right? When someone who was successful says, this is how I did it, or this is what I did, or these are the challenges that I overcame.
I think there’s something that’s huge about being someone who overcomes, right? There’s even a spiritual principle there. I mean, the idea of being someone who overcomes adversity, overcomes challenges.
And I’ve had lots of adversity and challenges that I’ve overcome. And I’m sure you have as well. But any way you can find that you can do it in different areas of life.
And just as that’s saying on the interview we talked about, how you do one thing is how you do everything, right? If you’re, if you show up late and you’re sloppy and you keep your room messy, you don’t make your bed, your things or whatever, that’s probably kind of generally how you’re going to approach things at work. That’s how you’re going to approach things in relationships.
It’s going to be kind of a sloppy, half-hazard, just not real intentional type of thing. But if you’re intentional and you’re focused and you have goals and you kind of fall through and you actually take time to plan, that’s going to show up in every area of your life. So I encourage you to, if you haven’t, it doesn’t have to be a cold plunge.
I love cold plunging. I’ll probably get a cold plunge late this afternoon. But whatever the hard thing is, do the hard thing.
Eat the frog first, right? Do the hard thing and everything else gets easier, right? If you do the hard thing first.
But anyway, really love this interview. If you like to go ahead and share it around, reach out to Jono. He’s awesome.
He’s a great trainer. And again, we do this virtually. So I train with him.
He gives me kind of a training schedule. And it’s been super successful for me. So super grateful, but hopefully this will translate for you in greater breakthroughs and your mindset as well as in your life.
So thanks for taking the time to educate yourself. We’ll look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Mailbox Money Show.
Thanks for joining us and be sure to tune in next time for more Mailbox Money!
