Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Weight of Manhood is hosted by Adam Smith and Ethan Ross. Two guys that met at church and realized they had a lot in common. They're both men who work hard for their families, they each served in the military, and most of all they love Jesus with all they have. This podcast is designed to be raw, up front about today's issues, funny, but most of all, unapologetically about Jesus - the true example of Biblical Manhood.
Adam Smith [00:00:06]:
Just in when you were praying. And it's okay. It's already gone. Well, but it'll come back to me.
Ethan Ross [00:00:15]:
So we need to introduce.
Ethan Ross [00:00:16]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:00:17]:
So.
Ethan Ross [00:00:19]:
Okay.
Adam Smith [00:00:20]:
I have to stop saying and so.
Ethan Ross [00:00:23]:
No.
Ethan Ross [00:00:24]:
Oh, you know, you know, you heard. You know, start saying that you heard.
Adam Smith [00:00:29]:
No, I'm saying.
Adam Smith [00:00:30]:
There you go.
Ethan Ross [00:00:32]:
Do you want to. Would you like to start the introduction?
Ethan Ross [00:00:34]:
Sure.
Adam Smith [00:00:35]:
I'm Adam.
Ethan Ross [00:00:36]:
I'm Ethan.
Adam Smith [00:00:37]:
And welcome to Weight of Manhood. We don't know what we're doing.
Adam Smith [00:00:43]:
Not.
Ethan Ross [00:00:44]:
Not even a clue.
Adam Smith [00:00:45]:
No, we just. We started out, we wanted to have our own gym. And we still do. Still do want to have our own gym.
Adam Smith [00:00:55]:
Yep.
Ethan Ross [00:00:56]:
More than just your garage gym here.
Ethan Ross [00:00:58]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:00:59]:
That you don't even let me work out at.
Adam Smith [00:01:02]:
I've offered it, but anyway, sometimes false.
Ethan Ross [00:01:07]:
Words fall on deaf ears.
Adam Smith [00:01:08]:
Dedication, Ethan. Oh, you got to be dedicated.
Ethan Ross [00:01:13]:
Oh, I. I don't bring enough to the table, is what you. Okay, that's fine. That's fine.
Adam Smith [00:01:17]:
So this is going to go. So we wanted to have our own gym.
Adam Smith [00:01:22]:
Yep.
Adam Smith [00:01:23]:
We. That kind of evolved into, you know, we wanted to do a Bible study.
Ethan Ross [00:01:30]:
Fitness, kind of related. Bible study.
Ethan Ross [00:01:33]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:01:36]:
And it just hit me one day I thought, huh, we should have a podcast. So I sent Ethan a text and I was like, hey, you ever thought about doing a podcast?
Ethan Ross [00:01:49]:
I said, yeah, I think I thought about it before.
Ethan Ross [00:01:53]:
So.
Ethan Ross [00:01:53]:
And then here we are.
Ethan Ross [00:01:54]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:01:54]:
That's all it took.
Ethan Ross [00:01:55]:
Yep.
Adam Smith [00:01:56]:
So we're both veterans.
Adam Smith [00:02:01]:
Yep. You're.
Ethan Ross [00:02:03]:
And.
Adam Smith [00:02:03]:
And now Air Force is considered US Military as well.
Ethan Ross [00:02:08]:
You are in the dod.
Ethan Ross [00:02:10]:
Okay. Huh.
Adam Smith [00:02:11]:
Was that Department of Defense?
Ethan Ross [00:02:15]:
Give me just once.
Ethan Ross [00:02:18]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:02:18]:
So.
Ethan Ross [00:02:19]:
And I'm army, which, I mean, when you think of military, that's obviously what you think.
Adam Smith [00:02:23]:
So.
Ethan Ross [00:02:25]:
Yeah, I'm an army vet. Go ahead.
Adam Smith [00:02:26]:
You can go ahead with your spiel Anyway.
Ethan Ross [00:02:28]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:02:28]:
So we're both veterans.
Adam Smith [00:02:30]:
Yep.
Adam Smith [00:02:31]:
We're husbands. We're dads. Were both previously divorced and we're. We're gym guys. So. And that's. That's. That's part of it.
Adam Smith [00:02:49]:
The. The. So let's go into the gym aspect. So Ethan is a personal trainer.
Ethan Ross [00:02:55]:
Yeah. I actually just started. I just quit my full time job to. To run my personal training business full time. It's a mobile business. So I do some gym work and then I also travel to houses and parks wherever my clients need me. But it's a. It's obviously a huge thing in both of our lives and we know that physical fitness is a huge key to the door of overall.
Ethan Ross [00:03:21]:
Well, Being so.
Adam Smith [00:03:24]:
Well, and so a little bit of my background growing up, one of my dad's best friends was a bodybuilder. So in high school I trained with, I trained with him. So we both have a lot of knowledge about the human body muscles, you know, and how it all works. And we, we see so many people that, you know, I, I see hard working guys in the gym that are not making any progress and because it's.
Ethan Ross [00:04:06]:
Not just effort, it has to be concerted, aimed effort.
Adam Smith [00:04:10]:
Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And, and a lot of guys just, they don't understand.
Ethan Ross [00:04:17]:
Yeah, not their fault.
Ethan Ross [00:04:18]:
No.
Adam Smith [00:04:21]:
So, you know, that's, that's, that's one aspect of it. But, but, and not to jump into this too early, but masculinity in this country has just, I mean, it's really plummeted. The, the, the rough and rugged guys that, you know, that we grew up seeing, I don't know, there are fewer and fewer of those guys.
Adam Smith [00:04:56]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:04:58]:
So, you know, the, especially in their 20s and 30s.
Ethan Ross [00:05:02]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:05:03]:
And it's, and I hate to call somebody weak. Sure. But I'm just gonna say it like it is. As a nation, we are weaker. We get, we're getting weaker and weaker all the time. And I think physically and mentally.
Ethan Ross [00:05:25]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:05:26]:
And I think the majority of it is because of, like I said, you know, masculinity has just plummeted.
Ethan Ross [00:05:36]:
Well, I think there's a lot of factors, masculinity plummeting and whether it's correlation or causation, the level of convenience we experience in life now and the level of comfort. Everybody's always trying to increase their comfort. And as you increase your comfort, you decrease your strengths, you decrease your toughness.
Adam Smith [00:05:52]:
So.
Ethan Ross [00:05:52]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:05:53]:
And so that makes me think about. So like I said, we don't know what we're doing. We're just.
Ethan Ross [00:06:04]:
There will be rabbit holes.
Ethan Ross [00:06:05]:
Yeah. Yes.
Ethan Ross [00:06:06]:
We could have called the podcast that probably. Welcome to the rabbit hole.
Ethan Ross [00:06:10]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:06:11]:
And then so with what you were just saying, it makes me think about some of the things that we've planned. So let me just say we've probably got a year's worth of topics to discuss that.
Ethan Ross [00:06:34]:
And we plan to release podcast weekly.
Ethan Ross [00:06:38]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:06:38]:
Probably Mondays.
Ethan Ross [00:06:42]:
Yeah. Yeah, I think.
Ethan Ross [00:06:43]:
Yeah, I think that's what we decided.
Ethan Ross [00:06:44]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:06:45]:
So now I don't have a clue where I was going with that.
Ethan Ross [00:06:49]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:06:49]:
Dude. So we are talking about, you know, the weakness. And there, there are places we're going to go, things that we're going to do. Take for instance, fasting. We, we. It's all good.
Ethan Ross [00:07:14]:
You got.
Adam Smith [00:07:15]:
I know.
Ethan Ross [00:07:15]:
I'm just. I'm. I think I'm more nervous about that than anything.
Ethan Ross [00:07:19]:
Really? Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:07:19]:
I like food.
Adam Smith [00:07:21]:
I do, too. I do, too.
Ethan Ross [00:07:23]:
And I get real hungry after, like, two hours of not eating.
Adam Smith [00:07:26]:
Well. And y' all all say this. We're guys that. I mean. Well, I don't want to speak for you, but that'll be. To take in the. The amount of calories I need. I have to make myself eat a lot of times.
Adam Smith [00:07:42]:
Yeah, but that's another key. You have to know what to eat. You have to know, you know, how much protein to take in, how much fat, how much carbs.
Ethan Ross [00:07:53]:
Well, that kind of leads into. Like we said, it's not anybody. Any man's fault that he's weak to a point. You got to take accountability for your own self, your own actions. But it's not their fault. They don't know about nutrition. They don't know about overall health. And we're not coming from a place of.
Ethan Ross [00:08:08]:
We have all the answers by any means.
Adam Smith [00:08:12]:
No, we.
Ethan Ross [00:08:13]:
We have been blessed with a great deal of struggle in both of our lives, and we have done our best to turn those into opportunities for growth.
Ethan Ross [00:08:21]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:08:22]:
And that's. That's all there is to it. We're not special. We're nothing and just struggled a lot.
Adam Smith [00:08:29]:
Struggle is a big topic where we're gonna. We're gonna address a lot of struggles.
Ethan Ross [00:08:34]:
A lot of struggles.
Adam Smith [00:08:35]:
Because. And y'. All. I'll just say, you know, I'm. I'm probably going to be all over the place, because if you couldn't tell already, there are. I know we were just on fasting, and now I'm thinking, okay, I need to go this way. I need to go that way. But so let's.
Adam Smith [00:08:53]:
Let's go back to fasting real quick.
Ethan Ross [00:08:55]:
My bad.
Adam Smith [00:08:56]:
So. No, it's all good.
Ethan Ross [00:08:58]:
Okay.
Adam Smith [00:08:58]:
We. So we've been talking about fasting for a while, and we've got a couple of guys from church.
Ethan Ross [00:09:08]:
We go to church together, by the way. That's how. That's.
Ethan Ross [00:09:10]:
Oh, yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:09:10]:
How we know each other.
Ethan Ross [00:09:11]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:09:12]:
That's how we met.
Ethan Ross [00:09:12]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:09:13]:
And I left that out, didn't I?
Ethan Ross [00:09:14]:
You didn't.
Ethan Ross [00:09:15]:
You didn't mention it. It's mentioned now.
Ethan Ross [00:09:16]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:09:17]:
So there are a couple of guys that we go to church with that. That Ryan and John Harris would like to do a fast with this as well. So not a plug for. Can I say about where I really got the idea for fasting?
Ethan Ross [00:09:38]:
Yeah. Okay.
Ethan Ross [00:09:39]:
That's fine.
Adam Smith [00:09:40]:
So Christian Chris Hemsworth.
Ethan Ross [00:09:45]:
He'd probably be pretty mad if you called him Kristen Hemsworth. Yeah, I'm just saying.
Adam Smith [00:09:51]:
Anyway, he's got a show that's on.
Ethan Ross [00:09:58]:
Disney plus or something.
Ethan Ross [00:09:59]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:10:00]:
And Limitless.
Ethan Ross [00:10:03]:
Thank you y'.
Adam Smith [00:10:04]:
All. It's rough getting old.
Adam Smith [00:10:06]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:10:07]:
So great show. I would definitely suggest watching it and.
Ethan Ross [00:10:14]:
It'S family appropriate for the. There's a few little PG moments, but I watched it with my kids.
Ethan Ross [00:10:20]:
My.
Ethan Ross [00:10:20]:
I have a 13 year old daughter and a 10 year old son and a 2 year old. But he didn't get much from it. But they, they loved it. They were super sad when it finished.
Adam Smith [00:10:27]:
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a great show. But fasting, I first got the thought of fasting. Well, I say that I have fasted.
Ethan Ross [00:10:40]:
Before.
Adam Smith [00:10:45]:
For, you know, situations and godly guidance. But so, but this, this show led me to do a four day fast.
Ethan Ross [00:11:04]:
How's that?
Adam Smith [00:11:06]:
Well, I'll just tell you I was, I kind of, I kind of felt like you going into it, but. So the first day is tough. The second day you're kind of getting used to it, but it's, it's, it's a mental thing. Third day, it gets, it gets a little bit easier by the fourth day. Well, so I could break my fast. My, when I did the four day, I could break my fast at 6 o' clock that night. And I planned it to where I planned it that way so we could go out to dinner that night to one of our favorite restaurants. And I got there, I ordered and it's funny, my niece asked me, she said, so what are you gonna have? I said, well, you know, my usual, you know, salmon and broccoli.
Adam Smith [00:12:19]:
Yeah, yeah, salmon and broccoli.
Ethan Ross [00:12:22]:
It is good.
Adam Smith [00:12:23]:
Chicken, broccoli, you know, whatever. And she was like, no, I would be doing some fast food.
Adam Smith [00:12:30]:
Oh.
Adam Smith [00:12:31]:
Anyway, so that's what I did. We went to a restaurant and I ordered salmon and broccoli and rice. Probably because I was, I was taking in a lot of carbs.
Ethan Ross [00:12:48]:
Yeah, but you're probably a little deficient at that moment too.
Ethan Ross [00:12:51]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:12:51]:
The food got there and you know, I continued to talk a while before I actually started to eat because at.
Ethan Ross [00:13:00]:
That point were conditioned to do it.
Adam Smith [00:13:02]:
Yeah, but something that he said in Limitless was, you know, other senses get heightened. And he's right. I don't know if it's you're delirious or what, but I don't know, something happened. I could feel a change, but. And I'll say This. By the end of it, I thought, h, I could have gone another day.
Adam Smith [00:13:38]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:13:39]:
So the next year I did. I did a five day the next year. And I'll say this. You don't realize how much time and effort goes into eating.
Adam Smith [00:13:58]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:14:00]:
You don't realize. I mean, if you're not eating, you have so much. So much more time on your hands.
Ethan Ross [00:14:09]:
Now.
Adam Smith [00:14:09]:
That's a good thing and a bad thing, you know, but, yeah, it was. It was an experience that I. I suggest everybody do. So.
Ethan Ross [00:14:24]:
As an example, we will be going through the. The fast.
Ethan Ross [00:14:28]:
Yes.
Ethan Ross [00:14:29]:
Together. It'll be my first one.
Ethan Ross [00:14:31]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:14:31]:
You're a seasoned veteran at fasting.
Ethan Ross [00:14:34]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:14:34]:
And so we're gonna share all of the ups and downs.
Ethan Ross [00:14:38]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:14:39]:
I guess we'll probably do some vlog style intercuts into that podcast episode, and we may run those as regular episodes. We may run those as specials, but we'll do stuff like that.
Ethan Ross [00:14:50]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:14:50]:
And the overall point is to. Well, we haven't even talked about the point of the podcast yet. We should probably talk about the point of the podcast and why we call it the weight of manhood.
Ethan Ross [00:14:59]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:15:00]:
Well, you know those rabbit holes.
Adam Smith [00:15:02]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:15:02]:
Rabbit hole podcast.
Ethan Ross [00:15:03]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:15:04]:
So for us, and correct me where I speak for you, and I'm wrong, the weight of manhood is a weight that all men should carry. It's a weight that I'd say all of any man obviously doesn't carry it perfectly, and most men don't carry enough, myself included, a lot of times. But it's. It's the weight that we should be carrying as husbands, as fathers, as just men in society. And we think we've learned some ways to spread the weight more evenly across our shoulders and then to help other men.
Adam Smith [00:15:49]:
Some guys just need to pick the weight up.
Adam Smith [00:15:51]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:15:52]:
And we're going to address things like that.
Adam Smith [00:15:55]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:15:56]:
And we'll say things that may hurt feelings. We're not trying to ever. We never want to. We're never coming into this to tear any man down. And we don't think we're better than any. Anybody.
Ethan Ross [00:16:08]:
No.
Adam Smith [00:16:08]:
No. And. And I'll say this. If we say something that offends you, don't watch. Turn it off.
Adam Smith [00:16:17]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:16:19]:
This is.
Ethan Ross [00:16:20]:
Or embrace it.
Ethan Ross [00:16:22]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:16:22]:
Embrace what hurts your feelings and look inwards, see why it hurts your feelings and change it. If you don't think it's. If you don't think we're right, then. Yeah, we don't. You don't have to watch.
Adam Smith [00:16:33]:
Yeah, that's right.
Ethan Ross [00:16:34]:
We're here to Help, though. We're not here to boast or be better. In fact, I think most of our stories will be how we fail.
Ethan Ross [00:16:41]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:16:43]:
And we fail a lot.
Adam Smith [00:16:44]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:16:45]:
Every day.
Adam Smith [00:16:47]:
But you learn more from failures than you do successes.
Adam Smith [00:16:54]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:16:55]:
Success teaches almost nothing.
Ethan Ross [00:16:56]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:16:59]:
And so I'm going so many different directions right now.
Ethan Ross [00:17:04]:
Okay.
Ethan Ross [00:17:05]:
Books.
Adam Smith [00:17:06]:
Reading. We both love to read.
Adam Smith [00:17:08]:
Yep.
Adam Smith [00:17:09]:
There. There are a lot of books that we're gonna.
Ethan Ross [00:17:11]:
And I've slacked off lately because my schedule's been so busy.
Adam Smith [00:17:15]:
Yeah, I have, too, a little bit. But it's no excuse. No, it's not. But we need to get back to the weight. But I do want to say this because we talked about offending people, and so this is not political. There's.
Ethan Ross [00:17:39]:
Intentionally.
Adam Smith [00:17:40]:
Correct.
Ethan Ross [00:17:41]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:17:41]:
We're not gonna say how we're affiliated, if we even are, because that's.
Ethan Ross [00:17:50]:
That.
Adam Smith [00:17:51]:
That's just not something we're going to discuss. We're not going to discuss. I mean, we'll discuss things that have gone on during the week.
Ethan Ross [00:17:59]:
Sure.
Adam Smith [00:17:59]:
Things like that. But.
Ethan Ross [00:18:00]:
But we're not trying to put our spin on it.
Ethan Ross [00:18:02]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:18:02]:
And current events, you know, I don't care, you know, who's dating who in the celebrity world, and.
Ethan Ross [00:18:14]:
Excuse me.
Adam Smith [00:18:15]:
You know.
Ethan Ross [00:18:16]:
Well, and even. Even current events that may seem to matter, I think. Not that this podcast transcends them, but the idea of the weight of manhood has no bearing on what the world is throwing at you.
Ethan Ross [00:18:29]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:18:29]:
The weight of manhood remains the same.
Ethan Ross [00:18:31]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:18:33]:
So. And it's not going to be.
Ethan Ross [00:18:38]:
At.
Adam Smith [00:18:39]:
Least to begin with. Well, nothing's going to be open for debate. We're not. We're not debating anything here. We're just presenting.
Ethan Ross [00:18:51]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:18:51]:
And giving our point of view. But.
Ethan Ross [00:18:56]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:18:57]:
You know, the worldly things that are going on, you know, we're. We're really not going to address now. You know, I mean, there's something going on, you know, as far as Mark Wahlberg that I feel like needs to. You know, everybody needs to know. You know, there are.
Adam Smith [00:19:22]:
No.
Ethan Ross [00:19:22]:
Go ahead.
Adam Smith [00:19:24]:
There are guys that I think.
Ethan Ross [00:19:28]:
Okay.
Adam Smith [00:19:30]:
You know, if we'd have gone to school together, we would have been friends.
Adam Smith [00:19:35]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:19:36]:
Him and Mark Wahlberg would have been besties.
Adam Smith [00:19:38]:
And I think Mark Wahlberg had some.
Ethan Ross [00:19:41]:
Troubles early on, though.
Ethan Ross [00:19:42]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:19:44]:
Did you? And you were like him early on.
Adam Smith [00:19:47]:
Well, kinda.
Ethan Ross [00:19:49]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:19:49]:
I mean, and that's another thing. Yes. I have done. I've done awful things.
Adam Smith [00:19:59]:
Oh, yeah, me too.
Ethan Ross [00:20:01]:
I won't share them all, I promise.
Adam Smith [00:20:04]:
Maybe some if and when. A lot of the people that I went to high school with, if they see this, they're going to be blown away. I mean, they're. They're not going to believe that.
Ethan Ross [00:20:20]:
You.
Adam Smith [00:20:20]:
Know, Adam Smith would have. I guess we're saying last names now anyway.
Ethan Ross [00:20:27]:
Good.
Adam Smith [00:20:28]:
Would have, you know, grown up to be this person.
Adam Smith [00:20:34]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:20:34]:
You know, I think even people that knew me, what, years, 20, 25 people that knew me five years ago would be surprised that I'm sitting here professing these things. And I really am nervous that I'm going to come off as a hypocrite. But again, I'm not coming at this as like I've got this figured out. Just listen to me. It's. Here's what I have stumbled into and run my face straight into the wall of. It's been a painful, painful ride for me to get to where I am, and it's still. I still will.
Ethan Ross [00:21:12]:
I still screw my life up every day. There's things I could do better every single day.
Ethan Ross [00:21:16]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:21:16]:
Well, and one of the reasons that we're doing this is because guys need to know they're not. They're not the only ones going through this. They're not alone in this struggle.
Ethan Ross [00:21:35]:
If.
Adam Smith [00:21:36]:
If you are. Well, I'll just say, okay, if you are a godly man, you carry a lot of weight. Your family, your wife, your kids, they should never have to worry. You know, are the lights going to be on? Is, you know, are we going to have heat? Are we going to have food? That should never. That should never be a worry of theirs. They should never be concerned about their safety, whether it be at home, out.
Ethan Ross [00:22:18]:
In public, not just as a godly man. As a man.
Adam Smith [00:22:23]:
As. Yes, as.
Ethan Ross [00:22:24]:
As any man.
Adam Smith [00:22:24]:
As a man.
Ethan Ross [00:22:25]:
We just are speaking from that. That point. Well, hopefully, I hope that. Do you. Do you do the narrator voice in your head where it's like, if somebody was narrating your life, how would they be describing what you're doing in that moment? No, it's valuable.
Ethan Ross [00:22:38]:
Okay.
Ethan Ross [00:22:38]:
Because sometimes you're not doing what you should be doing, even if it's just scrolling through your phone. What would the narrator be saying about your life? Not great.
Ethan Ross [00:22:45]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:22:45]:
Wasting time. Which we'll get into, I'm sure, in depth. But any. Any man needs to carry that weight.
Ethan Ross [00:22:54]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:22:55]:
And I've spent most of my life probably not carrying anywhere close to the weight I should.
Adam Smith [00:23:01]:
So, y', all, we're going to be. We're going to be making notes all through this. We're going to bring in a Whiteboard, you know, but there's so many things that. That we're going to want to put a pen in and come back to it at some point, but. And I have already forgotten what. What you were just saying, but I.
Ethan Ross [00:23:28]:
Kind of did, too. Any man needs to carry the weight. I've spent most of my life not carrying it.
Ethan Ross [00:23:32]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:23:34]:
And, you know.
Ethan Ross [00:23:37]:
Oh.
Adam Smith [00:23:37]:
I don't know what I was going to say. So those struggles that. Wait, your family's never supposed to see that. No, they are. They're. They're. They're not supposed to have to worry because. Because, you know, they shouldn't worry.
Adam Smith [00:24:08]:
You know, Dad's got this.
Adam Smith [00:24:09]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:24:10]:
You know, and. And, you know, you're. Something you have to think about is your family sees. Sees how you act. Your family sees if you're spending hours on your phone and not interacting with the family. You know, they see if you're playing video games and.
Ethan Ross [00:24:48]:
By yourself or online or whatever, but not. Not making it an intentional family.
Ethan Ross [00:24:54]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:24:54]:
Not. You and your kids are playing video games.
Ethan Ross [00:24:57]:
You're playing video games.
Ethan Ross [00:24:57]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:24:58]:
You're playing video games. And there's. I don't know. I struggle with this. I was going to say there's nothing wrong with video games.
Ethan Ross [00:25:08]:
No.
Ethan Ross [00:25:08]:
As a thing. There's nothing wrong with.
Ethan Ross [00:25:10]:
No. Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:25:11]:
But anything that. Anything that occupies your. Your time takes time away from your family.
Ethan Ross [00:25:24]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:25:25]:
And has to be put in some category.
Ethan Ross [00:25:28]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:25:28]:
Is it advancing your family's security, sense of togetherness, anything like that? Or is it not doing anything? If it's not doing anything, it's taken away from it.
Ethan Ross [00:25:36]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:25:38]:
So. And whether you have boys or girls, they're watching you all the time.
Ethan Ross [00:25:50]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:25:51]:
So our boys, as in mine and my wife's boys.
Ethan Ross [00:26:00]:
Yeah. We don't have any together.
Ethan Ross [00:26:02]:
No.
Ethan Ross [00:26:02]:
To be clear. And the divorce was not.
Ethan Ross [00:26:04]:
Yeah, yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:26:05]:
It's not us.
Adam Smith [00:26:06]:
The previous divorce, we were not days.
Ethan Ross [00:26:09]:
Women.
Ethan Ross [00:26:09]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:26:11]:
So using your wife's voice, go ahead. Sorry.
Adam Smith [00:26:20]:
They're. They're gentlemen, you know, they. Well, I mean, we're. We are proud of the men, the young men that they have become.
Adam Smith [00:26:36]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:26:37]:
And it's because they have grown up around men that they're good dads. They're good husbands, you know, they're good providers. And our girls, which. Our girls are extraordinary, you know, but, you know, they're. They're great wives. They're great mothers. But I feel like with most girls, they're going to look for somebody like their dad.
Adam Smith [00:27:30]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:27:30]:
So you better be on your A game.
Ethan Ross [00:27:32]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:27:32]:
I mean, you have to think about that all of the time.
Ethan Ross [00:27:35]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:27:36]:
Do you want your daughters being married to somebody that comes in every day? If they work.
Ethan Ross [00:27:47]:
If they work.
Ethan Ross [00:27:48]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:27:49]:
Plops down in a recliner, falls asleep in the recliner, you know. Well, she's taking care of kids and cooking and cleaning and doing your laundry and. Not that. Let me just say. Not that. Those are women things.
Adam Smith [00:28:10]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:28:10]:
Or menial tasks at all.
Adam Smith [00:28:12]:
Exactly. Because my wife has always said that when our boys marry, their wives are going to love her because, you know, they. I mean, they grew up doing their own laundry.
Adam Smith [00:28:32]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:28:33]:
Ironing, you know, doing chores, things around the house. Everybody had responsibilities.
Adam Smith [00:28:42]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:28:42]:
You know, and so I don't know. I don't know how they all are now. We've got one that is married, one of our sons. Both of our girls are married. One of our sons is married. We have a wedding coming up in.
Ethan Ross [00:29:02]:
Three weeks and it's going great.
Adam Smith [00:29:04]:
Right.
Ethan Ross [00:29:04]:
There's no bumps in the road.
Adam Smith [00:29:06]:
No. None what. Whatsoever. But I look forward to seeing how they. How they grow into manhood as husbands. Dads. We have our fourth grandbaby that is due any day now. And let me just say.
Adam Smith [00:29:36]:
Yes, I'm a grandfather.
Ethan Ross [00:29:39]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:29:40]:
Papa knows best. We have four amazing grandbabies, which, I mean, we have five kids, so we could, you know, potentially have our own, you know, our own ball team.
Adam Smith [00:29:50]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:29:51]:
So anyway. And I know I have taken us.
Ethan Ross [00:29:55]:
Well, actually, you said something I was going to circle back on and I'll share about my family and stuff like that, too, but you said that it's important who these boys grow up around, the other men in their life, not just their dads, because they'll go through points where they think their dad. Excuse me, is an idiot, and they don't want to listen to their dad.
Ethan Ross [00:30:13]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:30:13]:
But if you've got them surrounded by other strong, positive men. And of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is, I'm glad my kids know you. I'm glad that my kids know other men at our church. They have no shortage of good men in their lives. And it's not that you have to completely insulate them from negative influences, but you have to have the positive ones be so overwhelmingly positive that it's clear in their eyes who they need to emulate.
Adam Smith [00:30:45]:
Well. And they have to. I think they need to be exposed.
Ethan Ross [00:30:50]:
To what the bad looks like.
Ethan Ross [00:30:54]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:30:55]:
So they know.
Adam Smith [00:30:56]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:30:57]:
Well, you know, I don't think I.
Ethan Ross [00:31:01]:
Want to do that.
Ethan Ross [00:31:01]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:31:01]:
My dad or my uncle or, you Know, whatever. You know, he's not doing that. You know, he. He can resist those temptations.
Ethan Ross [00:31:13]:
Or on the flip side, any of you guys who have children in your lives that aren't your children, be that positive influence for them. If their dad is lacking, you be the guy.
Adam Smith [00:31:25]:
Don't.
Ethan Ross [00:31:26]:
I'm not saying take over as their dad. I'm saying you be that influence that they see. Okay. This is who I want to be like. And then their dad. Excuse me, May. See, well, crap, this dude's over here killing it and whatever your version of killing it is.
Ethan Ross [00:31:40]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:31:41]:
Just be a good person. Be the strong man those people need their lives.
Ethan Ross [00:31:46]:
Yep.
Adam Smith [00:31:46]:
That's right. Yeah, I. I totally agree. So we had said that about doing the fast. We are. We're gonna. We're gonna do other things like that. I've got a friend of mine, they have a wellness center that we are planning to go to that.
Adam Smith [00:32:17]:
I think it's going to be really cool.
Ethan Ross [00:32:19]:
I've.
Adam Smith [00:32:20]:
I haven't been there yet, but they have a hyperbaric chamber that they say is just phenomenal.
Ethan Ross [00:32:30]:
Well.
Ethan Ross [00:32:30]:
And by the time we get there, I'm gonna have read a lot about hyperbaric chambers, so I don't look like an idiot in front of the hyperbaric chamber experts.
Adam Smith [00:32:37]:
Exactly. And I'll let you do the talking because, you know, my mind is slipping. But they have a hyperbaric chamber. They have, you know, the cryogenic.
Ethan Ross [00:32:53]:
Yeah, yeah.
Adam Smith [00:32:54]:
Where you walk.
Ethan Ross [00:32:56]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:32:56]:
Crowd therapy and, you know, a lot of things like that that I can't wait for us to do.
Adam Smith [00:33:01]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:33:02]:
And I've never done any of that.
Adam Smith [00:33:04]:
Neither have I. Now, ice baths. I like an ice bath.
Adam Smith [00:33:10]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:33:10]:
That's going to be a struggle for me, too. I know that. That is like. It's the thing, and I need to be good at it. Went to my mom's house yesterday with the. The kids. Their pool was cold. I had a tough time, so that's going to be a struggle for me.
Ethan Ross [00:33:29]:
So we're getting them here. Right here in the garage gym. We're actually going to get some ice baths.
Adam Smith [00:33:33]:
Yeah, I. I have one.
Ethan Ross [00:33:35]:
Okay.
Ethan Ross [00:33:35]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:33:36]:
So we're going to try that on an episode.
Adam Smith [00:33:37]:
We certainly are.
Ethan Ross [00:33:38]:
And you'll get to outdo me that episode. And congratulations for that ahead of time.
Adam Smith [00:33:43]:
Oh, that will happen a lot. But so back to the Chris Hemsworth limitless.
Adam Smith [00:33:51]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:33:52]:
That's one of the things that. That. That he addresses. You know, the human body is not. It's not made to be at 68 degrees year round. Yeah, it's just. It's just not. You need those fluctuations and in temperatures, you know, you need to.
Ethan Ross [00:34:19]:
Well, experience extremes.
Ethan Ross [00:34:20]:
Yes.
Adam Smith [00:34:21]:
Yeah, exactly.
Ethan Ross [00:34:22]:
Well, like we said at the beginning, comfort is a killer.
Ethan Ross [00:34:26]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:34:29]:
Not to cut you off, but I was.
Ethan Ross [00:34:32]:
Won't be the last time.
Adam Smith [00:34:34]:
It's.
Ethan Ross [00:34:34]:
It's.
Adam Smith [00:34:35]:
It's been hot this summer.
Adam Smith [00:34:37]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:34:41]:
Pardon me.
Ethan Ross [00:34:44]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:34:44]:
It's a handkerchief.
Adam Smith [00:34:46]:
No, I'm good.
Ethan Ross [00:34:47]:
Okay.
Adam Smith [00:34:48]:
So, yeah, it's been hot this summer. And I was. I was somewhere having lunch one day, and they were. There was these two old guys talking, and they were talking about how hot it had been, and one of them. One of them was talking about his dad, and he said his dad didn't believe in air conditioning. He said air conditioning makes you weak and lazy. The guy said that his dad bought a new truck. He didn't have air conditioning in his home.
Adam Smith [00:35:27]:
Yeah, his dad got. Bought a new truck and told him at the dealership he didn't want air conditioning. And they were like, you know, it comes on it. And he was like, okay, I'll pay for it, but take it off. So he was a firm believer that air conditioning makes you weak.
Ethan Ross [00:35:48]:
I.
Ethan Ross [00:35:49]:
He's not wrong. Yeah, he's not wrong.
Adam Smith [00:35:52]:
It does so well. And, you know, when I was a kid, which my family farmed, but I. When I was a kid, I can remember, we were only allowed to turn the air conditioning on.
Ethan Ross [00:36:07]:
Oh, you had air condition.
Ethan Ross [00:36:09]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:36:09]:
Yeah, we did have.
Ethan Ross [00:36:10]:
I thought maybe it was before.
Ethan Ross [00:36:14]:
Really?
Ethan Ross [00:36:15]:
Sorry. You're only allowed.
Adam Smith [00:36:19]:
As I was saying. Yeah, yeah, we were only allowed to turn the air conditioning on. I mean, a couple of days out of the summer.
Adam Smith [00:36:27]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:36:27]:
In the hottest part of the summer. And it was during the day.
Adam Smith [00:36:31]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:36:32]:
And you turned it off at night. And we had fans, you know, window fans. And, you know, I think back now and, you know, it was just. It's part of life. I mean, you know, you think about, you know, you think of the way people grew up, you know, 50 years ago, a hundred years ago, and. Yeah, we. We have it really good.
Adam Smith [00:37:09]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:37:09]:
Because, you know, I mean, you think about, you know, we don't have to go to an outhouse in the middle of the night, you know, to use the bathroom or to do our business, whatever.
Adam Smith [00:37:21]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:37:22]:
Because it's not a bathroom. But, you know.
Ethan Ross [00:37:27]:
Well, there's a reason that all those boys that were born in the 20s could go fight in the 1940s. I mean, I. I won't compare it to today. You can make your own comparisons, but There's a reason that they could go out and fight, be considered the greatest generation, not want to be called heroes, just considered doing it their duty and protect freedom across the world.
Adam Smith [00:37:54]:
Yeah, that's right.
Ethan Ross [00:37:58]:
When they didn't want to, they didn't volunteer.
Ethan Ross [00:38:00]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:38:00]:
They were just told to.
Ethan Ross [00:38:01]:
Yep.
Ethan Ross [00:38:02]:
And.
Adam Smith [00:38:02]:
And they did it willingly.
Ethan Ross [00:38:05]:
Yeah, mostly.
Adam Smith [00:38:09]:
So I don't know this exact statistic. Okay, you may, but with that being said, the. The number of men or the percentage of men in this country that are ineligible for military service.
Ethan Ross [00:38:32]:
I don't know the number. It's got to be huge.
Adam Smith [00:38:37]:
We'll have to look it up.
Adam Smith [00:38:38]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:38:40]:
Meaning to make a note of that. Well, that'll get me off track. But anyway. Yeah, it's. It's unbelievable the percentage of. Of men in this country that are not eligible for military service, whether it be, you know, because they're overweight or they're this or they're that they've had, you know, these issues that, you know, been to prison. I mean, there are just so many things that.
Adam Smith [00:39:22]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:39:23]:
Makes them ineligible. But. And you know, I think a huge part of it is. And this is something that I feel like we will address is how we eat, or I know that we'll address how we eat in this country.
Adam Smith [00:39:41]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:39:45]:
It's not great. The spoiler alert.
Ethan Ross [00:39:48]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:39:48]:
It's pretty bad.
Adam Smith [00:39:49]:
Well, the convenience. Just like going back to what you were saying, we want it quick.
Adam Smith [00:40:00]:
Yep.
Ethan Ross [00:40:00]:
Want it easy.
Ethan Ross [00:40:01]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:40:02]:
Want it easy. And. Okay. Right now I'm doing, I guess, a version of Paleo.
Adam Smith [00:40:13]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:40:15]:
And it's difficult.
Adam Smith [00:40:16]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:40:17]:
It's not difficult eating, but it's difficult.
Ethan Ross [00:40:21]:
To find the foods to eat.
Adam Smith [00:40:22]:
Well, it's expensive and you have to go to the store a lot more often because, you know, I eat a lot of. Well, so with. With Paleo, I'm eating fruits. Fresh vegetables. Fresh fruits, fresh vegetables and meat. Protein.
Ethan Ross [00:40:49]:
That's it.
Adam Smith [00:40:50]:
And that's it.
Adam Smith [00:40:51]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:40:52]:
Nothing processed.
Adam Smith [00:40:54]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:40:54]:
Nothing on the. On the interior of the store.
Ethan Ross [00:40:57]:
Exactly.
Ethan Ross [00:40:58]:
The outskirts.
Ethan Ross [00:40:59]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:41:00]:
And yeah, it's difficult and it's. It's time consuming. But what's the saying? I'm trying to think of who said it now, but there's nothing that tastes better than feeling amazing.
Ethan Ross [00:41:23]:
I can't remember who said that either. That's true, though.
Ethan Ross [00:41:25]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:41:27]:
So anyway, I don't know.
Ethan Ross [00:41:29]:
And when you cheat on your diet, it never, never is what you think. It's never as good as you think it's going to be.
Ethan Ross [00:41:36]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:41:36]:
But the regret is always worse than you think. It'll be.
Adam Smith [00:41:39]:
Yep, that's right. But you know something that I was just talking about just the other day, we have. Well, I know a lot of people with gluten allergies. And, you know, if you go to Italy and eat the pasta.
Adam Smith [00:42:04]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:42:05]:
It doesn't affect the gluten allergies. Gluten allergies. And, you know, when I was a kid. And this is. Y'. All. This is nothing negative toward anyone. I'm just making a comment.
Adam Smith [00:42:20]:
When I was a kid, you didn't have peanut allergies.
Adam Smith [00:42:23]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:42:24]:
You didn't have gluten allergies. You didn't. You didn't have all the things that affect people today.
Ethan Ross [00:42:33]:
You know, I read a study the other day of Amish communities that had 0.4% occurrence of allergies.
Adam Smith [00:42:45]:
Really?
Adam Smith [00:42:46]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:42:47]:
And I can't remember what the national average was, but it was obviously well into the double digits. And the Amish community, I believe, again, I'm not. I don't remember exactly, but 0.4%. And the thing that they studied was the dust. The dust had a lot more bacterial content in the Amish households, and they even looked at a slightly more industrialized. And I can't remember the. The community. Slightly more industrialized community.
Ethan Ross [00:43:19]:
And the occurrence of allergies was, like, tripled because the bacterial content was less. And then when you compare it with an average American household, it looks like us sanitizing everything for the past however many decades has led to that.
Adam Smith [00:43:35]:
So.
Adam Smith [00:43:38]:
Interesting. Well, so how are we doing on time?
Ethan Ross [00:43:45]:
I don't. I think we're probably like, 45 minutes in, so.
Adam Smith [00:43:50]:
Really?
Adam Smith [00:43:51]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:43:52]:
And we have so much more to cover.
Adam Smith [00:43:53]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:43:54]:
Well, we will.
Ethan Ross [00:43:55]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:43:56]:
Try to put a bow on this one.
Ethan Ross [00:43:58]:
Yeah. Dang.
Adam Smith [00:44:01]:
There were so many things I wanted to say.
Ethan Ross [00:44:04]:
Well, write it down and we'll get back to it.
Ethan Ross [00:44:06]:
Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:44:06]:
Okay. Well, thank you all for joining us today.
Ethan Ross [00:44:10]:
Yeah, absolutely.
Adam Smith [00:44:11]:
And.
Ethan Ross [00:44:13]:
And it won't always be as scattered. We'll go down rabbit holes.
Ethan Ross [00:44:17]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:44:17]:
But we're going to. We're going to have come into these episodes with topics. This was just more of an introduction kind of what it's going to be like, who we are, and they'll be a little bit more focused. A little bit more focused in the future.
Ethan Ross [00:44:30]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:44:32]:
And in the future, we also hope to have listener engagement. So write ins or call ins. We don't know exactly what we want to do.
Adam Smith [00:44:40]:
Well. And. And we want to have guests when. I've guessed there are a lot of. There are a Lot of guys that we want to have on the show.
Ethan Ross [00:44:51]:
To share their experiences. Let us pick their brains.
Ethan Ross [00:44:54]:
Yep.
Adam Smith [00:44:54]:
And I got. I got to do this. You know, there are so many. So many guys that we talk to on a regular basis that we have told about this, and there are so many people that are looking forward to this podcast coming out, but.
Ethan Ross [00:45:19]:
Which is humbling.
Ethan Ross [00:45:20]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:45:21]:
But also we want to embrace that opportunity and help as many men as we can.
Adam Smith [00:45:24]:
Yeah, that's right. There was. And I'll make this. I'll make this brief, but I was. I had lunch with a good friend of mine the other day, John, and. Amazing guy, and. And he had some of the best stories that. That I want to get to, but, you know, I would like to have some.
Adam Smith [00:45:49]:
Someone like him. Come on. Zach. Zach and I have. Have talked and. About the struggles of manhood. Gage. I met a young man named Gage that.
Adam Smith [00:46:08]:
That is excited about this one you.
Ethan Ross [00:46:13]:
Met on the road you were telling me about, right?
Ethan Ross [00:46:14]:
Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Smith [00:46:15]:
And I mean, there are so many guys that are looking forward to this, and, you know, we were given something to say, and I hope it makes a big impact.
Ethan Ross [00:46:26]:
Well, and how many men do you come across that you can see are going through a struggle and you don't have the opportunity to help them? And that's why we're taking. We don't have a lot of time. To be honest. We're both pretty busy. Yeah, it's. It's a. It's a hassle to try to cut this time out and record these, but we feel like it's more than worth it.
Adam Smith [00:46:47]:
Oh, absolutely.
Ethan Ross [00:46:48]:
So that's all we want to do is help.
Ethan Ross [00:46:50]:
Yep.
Adam Smith [00:46:51]:
And.
Adam Smith [00:46:53]:
Yeah.
Ethan Ross [00:46:53]:
Yeah, help.
Ethan Ross [00:46:54]:
Help people bear the weight, pick it up, carry it, and share it with each other.
Adam Smith [00:46:59]:
That's right. So until the next episode. I don't know. How do. How do we close?
Ethan Ross [00:47:08]:
Let's look at the middle camera.
Ethan Ross [00:47:10]:
Okay. All right.
Ethan Ross [00:47:12]:
Well, that's Adam. I'm Ethan. Thanks for joining us for the Way to Manhood, and we'll see you next time.
Adam Smith [00:47:29]:
My friend.