Argent Alpha Live II - Event Recap & Key Takeaways You Can Apply

March 22 - 24, 2024

Argent Alpha is a virtual community of Men over 50 striving to become Harder to Kill.

Virtual communications via Zoom meetings, phone calls, Slack exchanges and emails are great. We execute singularly and share our experiences and challenges in the channels above.

But you simply cannot replace interacting with other Men in real life. Pressing the flesh, getting to know one another, doing hard things side by side, breaking bread together, learning more about personal wins and challenges and simply spending time with each other.

A week ago, a dozen of us gathered in Phoenix, AZ and had an amazing 3 day experience together.

Below is a summary of the activities, what we experienced, and a few key takeaways from the event. My hope in sharing the experience is it spurs you to take action, maybe with a friend or two, and get out of your comfort zone. It’s where all the magic happens.

Day 1

Workout

While the “official” event would start the next day, we decided to kick-off the weekend with a challenging workout at Club SAR in Scottsdale, AZ. A partial squad of Men met at 7:00 a.m. and after a warm-up led by Brock Harling (Director of Training),  we split into groups of two and tackled this workout: 

𝗔𝗹𝗽𝗵𝗮 𝟱:𝟬𝟬 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁

Athletes rotate through four stations, spending 5 minutes at each to achieve as many repetitions as possible, followed by 2.5 minutes of rest/transition time. The workout concludes with a buy-out challenge.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟭: Hand Release Push-Ups (5 minutes)

Goal: Perform as many hand release push-ups as possible within 5 minutes.

Rest: 2.5 minutes before moving to the next station.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮: Step-Ups (5 minutes)

Setup: Use a 20" box.

Goal: Complete as many step-ups as possible in 5 minutes, alternating legs.

Rest: 2.5 minutes before advancing to the next station.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟯: Pull-Ups (5 minutes)

Goal: Achieve as many strict pull-ups as possible within the 5-minute window.

Rest: 2.5 minutes before proceeding to the next station.

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟰: Burpees (5 minutes)

Goal: Perform as many burpees as possible in 5 minutes, focusing on maintaining a consistent pace and proper form.

Rest: 2.5 minutes before the buy-out.

𝗕𝘂𝘆-𝗢𝘂𝘁: Wall Sit with Dumbbell Hold (2 minutes)

Setup: Each participant will hold a 20 lb dumbbell in each hand at their sides.

Challenge: Perform a wall sit for 2 minutes straight, maintaining a parallel thigh position to the ground while holding dumbbells at your side. If necessary, move weights from your side to your thighs and maintain wall sit. Further, if you need to drop the dumbbells, do so and maintain the wall sit.

This is done as a group to foster a sense of community and shared accomplishment (and suffering).

This is the type of workout that will produce different results based on if you do it solo or with a group. A group format will almost always produce a greater result. You simply dig deeper and ask more of yourself as you see others grinding through the workout. 

With soaked shirts and smiles on our faces, we shared our scores and congratulated each other on a job well done.

Dinner

Larry Pobuda, his wife Linda and son Ben (the BBQ master) hosted a fantastic dinner featuring Arizona raised grass fed beef and free range chicken. The delicious, high quality meat was purchased from my friend Nick Addante’s butcher shop Arcadia Meat Market. After dinner, Dan Zeman shared a few stories from his impressive career and handed out signed copies of his book “You’re Too Old To Die Young”.  More on Dan later.

Day 2

Man Morning Walk - At 7:15 a.m. we gathered at Ability360 (an amazing facility hosting our entire day’s activities) to officially kick off the day.

Inspired by coach, author and keynote speaker Antonio Neves, founder of Man Morning, we started the morning by splitting into 3 small groups and going for a one hour walk. The idea behind a “man morning walk” is to have a small group of men go on a walk or hike and cover one simple question:

“What are you celebrating and what are you navigating today?”

We spent one hour enjoying the walk, sharing wins and challenges, which primed us for the next event, intentionally designed to move us out of our comfort zones.

Underwater Confidence Course - I first met Michael Roviello a few years ago and was fascinated with his approach to wellness, biohacking, self exploration and testing limits. His background as a former U.S. Navy helicopter rescue swimmer would play a big role in the event he was leading us through: underwater confidence training.

Many of our members haven’t had swimming lessons since the Carter administration. Nonetheless, we all accepted the challenge and learned about:

• Professional Swim Training: Sharpen your swimming skills with expert advice.

• Advanced Breathing Techniques: Learn to optimize your breathing for better health and performance.

• Mental Resilience: Strengthen your mindset for life's challenges.

• Stress Management: Gain tools to transform stress into a positive force.

• Physical Fitness: Engage in exercises designed to increase strength and cardiovascular health.

Our guys showed up strong and embraced everything Michael threw at us including:

• Sliding off the pool deck holding a 75 lb medicine ball, descending 10 feet, and then walking across the bottom of the pool and back and then jumping from the bottom and getting the medicine ball onto the pool deck (with some help from our buddies)...all on one breath.

• Doing the Ammo carry, swimming underwater with a 15-25 lb dumbbell secured against your chest for a defined distance…all on one breath.

• Dropping your 75 lb medicine ball halfway through the underwater walk, coming up for air, then going back to the bottom, picking up your ball, and completing the walk (that was me; a number of the guys did this unbroken, so impressive).

• Treading water for 5 minutes then locking arms with a dozen other guys and treading water with only your legs until Michael told us to stop. Cramps be damned!

• A two team relay race with the objective of moving a series of weights ranging from 10 lbs to 75 lbs from one end of the pool to the other, all while underwater. There were no losers in the competition but the 2nd place team did have to do 50 push-ups while the 1st place team relaxed and observed from the hot tub.

Michael was  assisted by Troy Casey, a surprise guest who led us through breathwork to warm us up and then served as a safety swimmer to keep an eye on all of us while we were underwater. 

After a quick shower, we enjoyed a lunch - double protein wraps and salads, protein shakes, protein bars and grass fed beef sticks with some alkaline water to wash it down, all set up by my beautiful daughter Bronte who made sure the “trains ran on time” for this event (do not attempt a 3 day event without the help of someone trained in project management!).
My lovely wife Jackie arrived a bit later with a few gallons of coffee to help offset the fatigue from the morning as we got ready for our guest speakers.

Guest Speaker #1 - I’m not exaggerating when I say that 95% of Men over 50 have some type of mobility (range of motion) issue in their shoulders, hips, back, knees, ankles, you name it. Our first guest speakers, Gina Giuliano PT, DPT and Christopher Noel PT, DPT, owners of Raise The Bar Rehab, were going to help us all improve in this area.

We refer to Gina as “Doc Gigi” and I met her nearly 4 years ago when she helped unlock my bone on bone knee and get me back riding a bike and squatting. Doc Gigi and Chris took us through a series of hands on tests of mobility to identify opportunities for improvement as well as exercises to help us improve. 

Guest Speaker #2 - Next up was renowned exercise physiologist Dan Zeman. Dan worked very closely with three-time Tour De France winner Greg LeMond across the final years of his legendary cycling career and has worked with numerous pro sports franchises and athletes. Dan shared a number of stories about the gift of longevity that is being squandered today due to poor lifestyle choices.

Dan left us with his SHARP model to help us live optimally during the 2nd half:

Seasonal - you can’t train heavy and go hard year around. Greg LeMond cared about two races, the World Championships and the Tour De France. He trained to peak for those two races and spent the remainder of the year training at a lower level that helped him recover and prepare for his key races.

Health/Hygiene - be proactive about your health, do the screenings, don’t die from avoidable risks.

Active - stay active and moving doing exercise you love.

Rest/Recovery - tying back to Seasonality, pay attention to mental and physical recovery.

Purpose - while it’s the last letter in SHARP, it all starts here. Have a purpose and use the rest of SHARP to help you achieve it.

Guest Speaker #3 - Our last speaker of the day was Greg Glassman, founder of the Broken Science Initiative. Some of you might know Greg as the founder of Crossfit. Greg invented the sport of Crossfit which is arguably the most successful fitness concept on the planet with over 13,000 locations.
Greg is one of the brightest guys you’ll come across; he thinks and communicates in a logical and systematic way and knows his material inside and out.

Most of his talk was around the topics you can (and should) read about at BrokenScience.org. About halfway through his talk he paused and said “and you thought we were going to talk about pull-ups.” Yes, he also has a great sense of humor.

Dinner - Judge & Traci Bellamak graciously opened up their home and hosted our dinner. Nick Addante, owner of Arcadia Meat Market and co-owner of Arizona Grass Raised Beef served up a grass fed carne asada & slow roasted chuck roast taco bar with all the fixins.

We were joined by our wives and dates and for the second day in a row and ate like kings. We definitely earned it.

The guys then surprised me with a 9+ minute video compilation of how Argent Alpha had impacted their lives. I’ve never been a part of a group like this where we all keep leveling up, individually and collectively. I’m humbled and honored to be a part of this band of brothers.

Day 3

Piestewa Peak Climb - Sunday morning we all gathered and drove to Piestewa Peak to climb the mountain. Rain was in the forecast and we thought we could beat it so we started the climb. With the occasional sprinkle, someone commented “the top is optional, the descent is mandatory” and we kept our focus on our footing and rode our elevated heart rates to the top. The view was fantastic and the symbolism of climbing a mountain wasn’t lost on any of us. One of the reasons we are a community is to get out of the valleys in life and create new peaks. Today, we moved from figuratively doing it to literally doing it.

Wim Hof Breathing & Cold Plunging - Michael Roviello returned for day 2 to lead us in the last segment of our event. Michael is a certified Wim Hof instructor (level 2, overall rating 5 stars) and an experienced bio-hacker. We met at the Center for Divine Awakening and were greeted by Hari Jap.

If you have tried the Wim Hof method at home, you know the feeling of doing 3 rounds of his breathwork. Being guided through the method by a pro like Michael is a whole different experience. One of the most unique parts of the experience was after the last round of breathing we sat up, eyes closed, and Michael and Hari played drums and a gong while we clapped in unison. As Judge said “there was something tribal and human during and after that awesome breathing exercise.” The energy in the room and the alignment between all of us was something I’ll always remember.

We then ended the event with a cold plunge with a twist. Michael asked us to start and finish our 2:00 cold plunge by submerging our head in the ice water. The first dunk took me off guard and it took me around 20 seconds to compose myself. It’s hard to breathe through your nose when you are snorting water. But I settled into a rhythm with my co-plunger Clint Murray and we did our final dunk. Amazing.

Jordan Peterson - This was “off menu” and not part of the event but later that evening I attended a live Jordan Peterson event in downtown Phoenix with my family and a couple of Argent Alpha buddies. It was an excellent way to end an exhilarating and exhausting 3 day event.

Key Takeaways 

While we all did the same things, we each had a unique experience. Here are some of the key takeaways from the Men who attended that you can apply to your life TODAY:

Doing Hard Things Is It’s Own Reward - walking 10 feet underwater holding a 75 lb medicine ball requires overcoming fear and calming yourself. It also builds resilience. Doing something that 99.9% of people (regardless of age) won’t do has a way of making you feel like a badass. That feels good. Doing it with a group of like-minded Men with aligned goals is even better. Quote from Clint: “Funny how putting in the effort to do something rarely disappoints.”

Lifelong Learning = Longevity - the entire weekend was about learning. Learning how to stay calm under pressure, learning how to improve your body’s natural movement patterns, learning how to age well and live with purpose, learning to question, debate and challenge anything that doesn’t make sense, learning how to relax, recover and recharge, learning how to overcome fears, limiting beliefs and physical challenges, learning how to better communicate, listen and level up. All of this happened over 3 days. Lifelong learning is the key to longevity and becoming Harder To Kill.

A Band of Brothers is more than alliteration - being with a group of Men engaged in challenging activities with the intent of leveling up is one of the most important parts of making the 2nd half of life the best part of life. Find or create your band of brothers and get after it.

Sharpen The Saw - we all had weaknesses exposed and strengths highlighted. Being vulnerable with your band of brothers builds strengths and creates a path to improvement. We are working on improving not to be better when we are 90 (although that is a probable consequence). We are working on improving to be better TODAY. We all walked away excited about things to work on. By getting better, together, our results are amplified. 

If you want to see a 3 day event in under 1 minute, check out this sizzle reel:

Interested in making the 2nd half of life the best half of life?
Visit Argent Alpha to learn more.