Episode 16 with Ryan Kirkpatrick (Former Master of Arms US NAVY)

1. Tell me a little about yourself and how long have you or served
on the front line for?   In What capacity? I'm currently a
personal trainer and going to school for a business degree. I was
in the U.S. Navy for four years working as a master at arms. My
duties included law enforcement, anti-terrorism, and force
protection.   2. What was the hardest time of your life? What
tools did you use to get through it?   One of the hardest
times of my life was probably transitioning back to civilian life.
I followed my ex-wife to the Washington D.C. area so I had no
network there, and no job lined up. My left knee was also jacked up
really bad, and the doctors hadn't figured out what was wrong with
it. It turns out my it band and muscles were so tight my patella
was grinding on my femur. To get through it, I just set objectives
to accomplish. Get a job, find a place to live, fix my knee, train
what I could without pain, etc. 3. What are your greatest
successes?   I would say being able to affect people are my
greatest successes positively. That's what's great about training
people for a living. If you drop 50 pounds off of a client then you
know they're able to go through daily life better because of you.
  4. Now that you have experienced life a little, what would
you tell your 20-year- old self?   Go ahead and join the
military and ship out asap.   5. Who is your greatest role
model and why?   Brian alshrue. I love the way he programs
workouts and uses them to translate to other areas of people's
lives. He is honestly a great dude, and I learned so much at his
gym Neversate.   6. Any particular stories that stand out from
your days serving behind the front line? How has fitness played a
role in it?   When I was stationed in Bahrain, I was a part of
the security reaction force, and we were reserved for worst case
scenarios. We maintained high levels of fitness and trained in a
lot of things most other people didn't. One of these things was
grappling because we got into a lot of fights. There was a 100
pound female on my shift, and I drew the short straw to roll with
her. I was trying to lock in an arm bar, and she was strong enough
from all of our training to not only pick me up and slam me but to
pick me up and slam me twice! I had about 60-70 pounds on her, and
she wrecked me.   7. What is your favourite failure that has
led to success?   I almost bombed out of my first powerlifting
meet. I did a good weight on my first attempt and jumped too much
weight and failed my second and third attempt. That was a trial by
fire on weight selection for contests.   8. What do you feel
most proud of?   Being a veteran and competitor.   10.
What do you want your tombstone to say?   I mak sikkar. I make
sure is my family motto.   11. How do you spend your free
time?   If I'm not training or doing school work, I tend to
research things about training. I also love Marvel movies and nerdy
stuff.   12. Who do you admire the most in life and why?
  No one person comes to mind. The types of people I admire
are the ones that pursue their passions and work to be the best at
what they do. 13. What are you most afraid of?   A permanent
injury that would prevent me from training or competing.   14.
What was your most embarrassing moment?   Probably forgetting
to set the alarm the night before 2nd class Indoc. Showing up an
hour late set me in deep poo.   15. If you could eliminate one
weakness or limitation in your life what would it be and why?
  Having unlimited funds would be nice. I would be able to
have all the equipment and food I could ever want or need. I would
still drive an older car, but you'd best believe I would have all
of the specialty bars.   16. What was your greatest failure
and how did you overcome it?   Failing out of college the
first time. I dropped out and joined the Navy.   17. What
motivates you to succeed?   I want to impact and influence
people positively. I have the drive to be a great trainer and coach
to be able to do that.