Changing Lives w/ Dustin Diefenderfer

This week on The Average Conservationist Podcast, Marcus catches up with returning guest Dustin Diefenderfer from MTNTOUGH. Dustin discusses the growth over the past year and half, what's led to it, and how more than just aspiring backcountry hunters are signing up and becoming MTNTOUGH Athletes. The guys discuss doing hard things and stepping out of your comfort zone, and how the new MTNTOUGH app has made it easier than ever to start your fitness journey right in your own home, with minimal equipment. Whether you're looking to take the next step in your training, or you're just getting started, MTNTOUGH has a program for you. Download the app today and get started!

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Ladies and gentlemen, a very happy Wednesday to all of you. Welcome back to another episode of the Average Conservationist Podcast, and I'm your host, Marcus Shing. All right, so today I've got a another episode that I was able to record a few weeks back out at the Western Hunt Expo. This time I got to catch up with Dustin Dender for from Mountain Tough Fitness.

And for those listening that heard the first episode that we did, gosh, probably over two years ago now at this point [00:02:00] Dustin, I believe they were maybe very early on in the process of developing the app that they have recent or that they have since come out with. But they have also, or during that, I think Dustin made reference that they had accumulated or their community of athletes had grown to around 10,000.

So we dive into that a little bit. Since then, in the past year and a half to two year time period that 10,000 has now doubled due large part to the native app that mountain Tough has in. Really what it does is it makes it easier than ever for people who want to just work out at home who want something that's a bit more convenient.

Excuse me. And what I mean by that is the convenience of being able to, if you have a home gym or you only have maybe a half hour or 40 minutes of time, you don't have time to drive to the gym and do your, proper workout and drive home if you only have, maybe a set amount of time having the ability.

To stream the app on a smart tv, on a [00:03:00] tablet, on an iPhone, whatever the case is is super cool. So we get to talk about that and really where things have transformed with Mountain Tough. And Dustin, really talks about the big emphasis and the big point being. They're just, they're changing lives.

And I think that is, at the end of the day I think probably the biggest thing that Dustin and the team there hang their hat on is just changing lives. Again for anyone that knows Dustin has had the opportunity to meet him personally. This was the first time that, that I had a chance to meet him in person and just.

You can see it in his face when he's talking about these things and when he, he gets these when himself and the rest of the team there get these messages of how Mountain Tough has changed their life for the better. It's a really cool thing. And watching Dustin interact prior to us recording watching him interact with some fellow mountain tougher it was super cool to see.

And the respect and admiration that was going both ways in that conversation was it was very cool to [00:04:00] see and it's very easy to see why Dustin and the team there have been so successful since launching Mountain Tough. It was just, it's just a great convers. Not a super long one.

We were in a bit of a time crunch, but dust or, but Dustin was very gracious with his time and we were able to sit down and do this. Episode 1 41 with Dustin Deepen der from Mountain Tough. Enjoy guys. All right, I'm here with the founder of Mountain Tough Fitness, Dustin Deepen der Dustin. How are you, man?

Doing good. Busy day down here. Yeah. Yeah. The expo is no joke, man. Like I had, I'd heard my buddies that I'm here with being like, it's crazy. It's so busy. And I've done some trade shows like back in Michigan and it's, like a third, the size and like a third. The people. Trying to just walk around here today.

It was insane. You couldn't, there was no room for anything. Yeah. The amount of traffic in this show is mind blowing here in Salt Lake. It's crazy. I didn't expect that much foot traffic in such a large convention center. It's oppressive. Yeah. And also like I [00:05:00] heard people saying that like last year, like it wasn't even as open.

Like I don't even know if this wing was open in it last year, like it was just the other hallway. Because, man, you can get lost in here real quick. Oh yeah. I think they said they added 200 new booths this year. Wow. So they had to open up a whole new wing to make that happen. Yeah. There's not much vacant space in here.

Yeah. As far as floor space for booths. I talked to some people who were gonna have a booth and weren't gonna have a booth, but then they were booked. Like they couldn't like the guys from Go Hunt. Yeah. Like they were going to, and then didn't, and then they didn't have any space for him.

Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah, it's a great show though. There's been a ton of cool people, ton of cool like booths and products and stuff like that. So it's been a lot of fun, man. Yeah, it's been awesome. How has it been for you? Have you guys done this show in the past or do you guys typically do shows like this?

This is our first time down here in Salt Lake, so for the last five or six years we've done Sheep Show. Okay. And that's been our primary big focus for trade shows for the year. And sheep shows down in Reno, sheep shows in [00:06:00] Reno. And it's great. And it's a more intimate show where outfitters are coming out of the woods to sell sheep hunts in North wear territories in Alaska.

And then a lot of guys are going there to buy those hunts. Yeah. And so it's a little different vibe Yeah. Than Western Hunt but what better place to introduce people to Mountain Tough. Yeah. Than sheep show. Those are grueling hunts. Yeah. Like you've gotta be prepared because Yeah. That's no joke.

Those types of hunts. Speaking of Mountain tough I mean you came on the podcast, I think you were shoot, probably one of the first 20 or 30 guests that we had on me. It's been probably two years since we had Yon. We've been in contact a little bit since then. But watching how Mountain Tough has grown from then until now, it's crazy.

Like it's wild. Yeah. Like I, I. When we first recorded, like it was growing, I think at the time maybe you said, worldwide there was like maybe 10,000 plus [00:07:00] mountain TERs. Where are you guys at now? So now we're at 20,000 athletes. So 20,000 people are using the app somewhere in the world on any given day across all the programming.

So that's insane. And the big thing that's wild about that is, It took us around five years to grow the community to 10,000 athletes. . And then in less than one year, we added an additional 10,000. So what took us five we did in one. And a lot of that is due to the launch of the native app.

Yeah. That's really what made the convenience factor go through the roof. And you and I, had a chance to talk here before we started recording, we both said like it was a game changer. Yeah. And. Mountaintop, which was built like in the gym, right? Like coming in there like sweat equity and all that, and like grinding with people, standing next to you.

But now that you can bring that into people's homes where it's more convenient for 'em, right? Like you can do, especially if you have some weights at home and [00:08:00] you want to get after it there, like just because of your schedule or whatever, like now you have access to all these incredible workouts.

The community is more than doubled in. , what kind of feedback have you been getting from a lot of those people? From maybe from overseas or, just parts of the country. Like man, like they're getting into mountain stuff and they live in Maine. Yeah. Or New Hampshire or something like, where you're not Ty typically thinking about, western big game hunting.

Yeah. It's been really interesting. There's a lot to unpack there, which is super cool. But one of the things that happened was with the Covid pandemic, Like 79% of people went and started training at home. Yeah. So they went home. They started building out garage gyms and home gyms and finding a way to do some sort of fitness at home.

Yeah. And then what happened was they realized that they really liked that. So they like the fact that they can work out anytime. Maybe their kids are hanging out and watching them work out, which is awesome. Yeah, [00:09:00] they don't have to find childcare. They don't have to drive into town, and then they don't have to.

Waste gas getting to a gym that might be far away. And then what statistically happened is 71% of the 79 decided that they're gonna stay home. Yeah. So after the pandemic left and things were somewhat back to normal, people said, I really like this. I'm just gonna stay home. Yeah. And so I think that happening in the world with.

Launch of the app was just a really perfect time situation that we didn't plan intentionally, but the timing worked out extremely well, where people were at home, they were used to it, and then we were able to deliver mountain tough programming to their living room or to their garage on their TV or phone.

It really changed what we were doing. So if we look at our data now, like our top, top. Three demographics of region [00:10:00] for customers coming in and training on the app, like Texas is like number two. Okay. And then you start getting into a lot of Midwest states before you hit Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado.

So out of those 20,000 athletes, a huge percentage of 'em. , Midwest and East Coast Americans are Texas that aspire to hunt out west someday. Yeah. That's what we all want. Yeah. And it might not be this year, it might be next year or the year after that. Yeah. But they're gonna start preparing for that now.

I think, I mean that it's funny to talk about like good things that came outta the pandemic. Because so many people got, I think complacent got lazy. Yeah. When you didn't have to go into. I think for some it probably bettered their situation, because now if you're working out from home let's say you, you decide to invest in a home gym, right?

And you, you start using a program like mountaintop that now you it's much easier. If you're gonna be staying at home, working, like your job shifted or whatever. Like now it's okay, [00:11:00] I can get into a routine, right? Like I can, if the kids are eating lunch, like I got 45 minutes, right?

Or I got an hour, like I got my set time. Whether maybe it's while they're eating breakfast or before they're even up in the. You can bang out a workout. Yeah. You can feel good about yourself and start today on the right foot. And because I find that oftentimes, like when I was going to the gym, like that was the hardest part.

Like getting in the car Yeah. And driving there. Once I got over that hump, it was like, okay, like I'm in it. But like just the act of, okay, I gotta get in the car. Yeah. I gotta go and like to bring that home. I think that changes the mindset like you talked about. And it just, it made it so much more.

For people like it, it got rid of an excuse. Yeah. Yeah. I think the pandemic also helped reinforce that people can have really great workouts with minimal gear. Yeah. So it broke some of those preconceived notions that to be a really highly functional fit athlete, you need to have really fancy gym equipment.

Yeah. And the pandemic helped break [00:12:00] that myth that you can do some phenomenal training. Some really simple home gym setups, like a, especially a kettlebell and a pull up bar, especially like functional type stuff like you just mentioned. Because as you get older, like you don't need to do all of these like Olympic lifts.

Like I, I know that they're great and everything, but Yeah, like you can do like these functional movements. Yeah. It's gonna build your core, build your, endurance and things like that. And like the return on investment for something like that. Like especially as you get older, even if you can only dedicate a half hour a day to it, Go swing a kettle, yeah. Do a hundred kettlebell swings, do some pullups, do some pushups, do some squats. It's amazing game changer. It is. Yeah, it is. Not only the launch of the app, the community doubling in size, you guys have also just dropped a bunch of new workouts. Yeah. I think I was talking to either Chris or Weston earlier, but like the onboarding so now you can have someone who's maybe.

A little bit apprehensive man, they watch, they see like the reels and stuff you guys are putting on Instagram. You guys got athletes [00:13:00] just getting after it, right? Like I'll watch, I'm like, damn, , these guy's like guys, gout doesn't matter. Like people are getting after it and it's it's super motivating.

It's awesome to see. I love it. But for someone who maybe is like just embarking on that journey, right? Yeah. I can't do that. Yeah, I'm gonna quit after a day. You guys come up with the onboarding Yeah. And stuff like that. So talk about that process. , what made you get into that mindset?

What made you come out with some of these, call it beginner workouts? Yeah, that's been really exciting. So we spent a lot of focus on that. This year. We added several programs, all tailored around the beginner, and a huge part of that for us is that like we want to transform as many lives as possible.

Yeah. And we want to help people. Physically, but also mentally, spiritually, emotionally, nutritionally. And we know that a huge part of that is just getting someone started, and everyone's starting at these different points in life. And everyone's, you can't just call [00:14:00] all people beginners because beginner means.

A different thing for so many different people. That's a good point. So like someone, someone who's working a really physical job and played high school football, their beginning level is different than someone who has never trained at all. And so we learned a lot about that this year and we started with.

The Foundations program. And the Foundations program was all about if you give us four weeks, we're gonna get you ready for any other program that Mountain Tough offers. And then we broke it out into, if you train at the gym or have a really robust home gym, we're gonna build a Foundations program for you.

That'll take you through the foundational principles so that you're ready for any other gym based mountain tough program. Yeah. And then we did it for the minimal gear folks as well. So if you're a minimal gear athlete and you have a basement or a garage or a room that can have,[00:15:00] one kettle bell, a step up box and a pull up bar, just very simple gear requirements.

Yeah. Then we built a foundation program for those folks so that they could. In their living room with a couple pieces of gear, go through the foundations program, learn our ethos and our philosophy, and be ready for the next level. And what we realized is those were two of the most successful programs we ever created.

Because most of the world is in some sort of foundational aspect on their fitness journey. Yeah. The really like elite and advanced athletes. Already have a plan and they already have a training regimen and it's getting someone to that level that is the masses of people. That is the biggest opportunity to transform a bunch of lives.

Yeah. And so we got through that and we learned just how successful foundations was in the foundation programs, whether it's gym [00:16:00] or minimal gear. And we got a little feedback that for some people they wanted it. It even simpler to that what should I do to not hurt myself to stay really? To just start the habit of getting off the couch.

Yeah. And so after the foundation programs were out for a couple months, we came back and revisited it and looked at all the community feedback and we're like, let's step back even another layer. And that's where this idea for the On-Ramp program came out we're like some people. , they need to learn a little bit about nutrition, alert a little bit about what the workouts are doing, and they need to be really basic.

So no gear, just body weight. Let's get the movement started. Yeah, and it doesn't need to be five days a week. It doesn't need to be more than a half an hour. And it's just a process so that someone gets some movement going in their body. Those [00:17:00] endorphins start releasing and they realize man, I can do this.

, and then they're ready for the foundation program and so on-Ramp spin. Hands down, like one of the most successful things we ever did, and a lot of that is because they're 20 minute workouts. You need no gear. They're fully coached. So in the app now, the Native Mountain Tough Plus app, it streams on iOS and Android, but it's also fully native on all the smart TV stores.

Yep. So Roku, fire Stick. Xbox tv. And so the on-ramp allows people to just turn it on and then it's fully coached, so they don't even have to think, they're just following on screen. And it's been a game changer for sure. Yeah. I think making things easier for people it sounds almost like counterproductive to getting up and working out.

That's sometimes what people need to get started, right? They [00:18:00] need to almost eliminate barriers to entry. Yeah. Because like you said, like being native to all these different, like streaming platforms, like I venture to guess that's over 90% of people have some type of smart TV or device, whether it's an iPad, whatever, accessible to 'em.

So now all you have to do is you literally have to turn the TV on. Yeah. You have to turn, you have to open the iPad, and there's no more excuses. . And I think that kind of goes into the mental toughness aspect that, we talked about that at length on our first episode and one of the things that when I look at Mountain Tough, like I think, just my opinion, like that's one of the biggest takeaways out of Mountain Tough.

Is the mental toughness that it creates. Because, let's be honest, Dustin, like society's gotten a little soft. Yeah. Yeah. Like we've. We've shied away from adversity. We're afraid to do hard things. Yeah. I've fallen into that trap before, but I, I, people don't know what their bodies are capable of.

Yeah. Or what's, what they're [00:19:00] capable of, mentally. , things like that. And stepping outside of your comfort zone. It's, it opens up this world of possibilities and I think that's, when I look at mountain tough, like that's one of the things I see as like the biggest takeaway for someone who's just getting into their fitness journey, fitness.

their journey to becoming just more healthy is at the end of a workout. They start something, they finish something that confidence is built and they're like, you know what? I didn't think I was gonna be able to do it. Yeah. I completed it. What's next? Yeah. That's a huge component of mental toughness is just doing hard things all the time.

Yeah. And everyone's degree of hard is different, but. doing something harder than you normally would've done today. That's when that mental toughness muscle starts building. Yeah. And that looks different for every person. So one of the big emphasis we ha had last year was that outside of like our normal mountain tough training, we wanted a, we wanted [00:20:00] to challenge our mountain tough community to do really difficult like a marathon or a 50 K or a hundred miler. And what we talked about a lot in those communications was. . For some people, a 10 K is the hardest thing they've ever done. Yeah. And they've never done one before, like the farthest thing they've ever ran or pushed as a 5k. So we want to challenge them to a 10 K because it's that breaking through that barrier that really releases all that mental toughness transformation.

But for someone who's ran a bunch of marathons, for them to get that same impact, they need to go do that 50 K. They need to do something that looks almost impossible, but almost impossible. Looks so much different for each person. Yeah. And it's amazing how those people respond to that too, right? If, I don't wanna take anything away from people who, who run marathons, but if and everyone's body's built different, right?

Like some people. Physiologically, like they're [00:21:00] built to be able to run, right? Yeah. Other people, maybe they can sprint really well, but like distance running, like it's just maybe they've never really committed to it, or their body just, they did, they're just not good at it. Yeah. And like anything it takes practice, but going that one step further, like I know two summers ago I was training to run a marathon.

I never run more than, I'd never run more than a 5k. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna set this goal. This is what I'm gonna. S like, did a bunch of research, got some good training programs, from a running standpoint, building up to it, all these things. Cause I've never been much of a distance runner, like Yeah.

Playing sports. It was always like sprint football, basketball things like that, that it's a lot of short bursts. And so I started training and then one day got on the treadmill to run, popped a hamstring? Yeah. Put me down for I don't know, six, seven weeks. And I was like, shoot, like I'm not gonna be ready.

So instead of just like folding, I'm like, all right, let's pivot. What can I still do? Yeah. So I signed up for a 10 miler. Yeah. Which was still more than I had run. Yeah. But I just this is [00:22:00] no bs. Like I, I took a lot of what I had learned from talking to you and like just seeing people like that mental toughness.

And I can't remember who even said it, but they're like, when you think you're ready to quit, like when you feel like you're done, like you're probably at 50%, 40%. Yeah. 40%. Yeah. So it's you're you got more in the tank, whether you know it or not. You trust me.

There's more in there. So I started like leaning on that in that mindset. And I made this decision to, to run this 10 miler, like probably three or four weeks. Yeah. Before coming off a hamstring injury. I'm like, you know what? It doesn't matter how quickly I do it. Like goal is I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna finish it.

Like mile seven. Like I feel my heels start to rub. Uhhuh , like pain's starting to come. I'm like, you know what? Like, all right, I'll walk for a. And then I'll just get going and I finished and I was like super proud of it. And both heels were like bloody and everything. And , there's these little kids that are like flying by me and stuff, and my wife's running the race and she finished, minutes ahead of me.

Yeah. But like I was just, I, it was a very fulfilling thing, right? Like when you set your mind to a goal and maybe that goal doesn't come to [00:23:00] fruition, but you pivot and you still accomplish something that you didn't think you were gonna be able to do, or you didn't know how that was gonna go. It changes people.

Yeah. Yeah. How much do you guys see that? Cuz the community that Mountain Tough has built is awesome. Like with the app and every time someone completes a workout, like if you're in that specific workout, like people are like, oh I finished it in this today. PRD in this or, whatever the case is.

It's just so positive. Yeah. What are some of like stories I guess, that kind of stick out to you where people have been like, I didn't think I could do it. Or I've lost 50 pounds, like on the workout or something like that. Do you get a lot. Oh yeah. Yeah. There's so much of that feedback coming in through the community.

We asked the community to send in some of those videos just a few months ago. So we're doing a, essentially a giveaway to the Mountain Tough Lab. If they submit a video, just an iPhone video of how Mountain Tough has transformed their life. Yeah. And then we're gonna randomly select a winner from that list.

And so we've been going through a ton of those [00:24:00] lately, and it's mind blowing, Brain tumor survivors. There's leukemia survivors's tough to try to say this one's better than that one. When they're all doing like these incredible things and changing their lives. Yeah. It's, we had a, we have not been able to pick yet cuz it's been so difficult.

Even in the shop the other day. We're like, I, it's maybe we just picked the top three because this is gonna be super hard. And then bringing the top three to the community, to the Bozeman lab. It's gonna be potentially really special also. Yeah. Cuz then they're coming out together. But the stories of life transformation are pretty mind blowing.

Yeah. And it's all about someone just taking an action to change the trajectory of their life. Yeah. And Mountain Tough provides that opportunity. So like they're on a course of action and then they sign up and they do. Hard things and then their life trajectory completely changes. Yeah. And it's that's the magic in physical fitness is you're just [00:25:00] manufacturing adversity.

Yep. And it's the adversity that's doing all the magic behind the scenes. And so mountain tough, we're dedicated to training the backcountry hunter, but we're also dedicated to transforming hundreds of thousands of lives. And we know. Someone will sign up for mountain. Thinking that they're doing it to get ready for a hunt.

. But what's really happening is their whole life's gonna be completely different. Yeah. If they stick with it for even a short amount of time. And it, the reason that's happening is because they're manufacturing some adversity in their life, which we really need right now. Cuz it, it's like the first time in history where we, you've ever really needed to do that.

A hundred years ago, adversity was every single day. Yeah. And as that adversity has all been pulled, through technology we have to manufacture it to, to stay super healthy. Physically, mentally, and spiritually. And I've gotta imagine, with the community [00:26:00] of athletes growing to, 20,000, and doubling in such a short amount of time after you guys built up to, 10,000 athletes that maybe not all 20,000 have aspirations of a western hunt of a backcountry hunt.

That. They see the community, they see the platform, and maybe it's for them it's like, Hey, this looks convenient in terms of I can access it at home. I already have a home gym, like I'm gonna run with this. Do you think that the takeaways from those people or their purpose for training.

While it maybe is different. Like maybe they just wanna get back in shape. Yeah, like not hunters or anything like that, they just want to get back in shape. Did you ever think when you guys set out, because obviously when you set out like it was to prepare people for these possibly once in a lifetime hunts or, to, prepare them for the trials that they're gonna face packing out a bowl or just trying to get to that next, that next ridge or the next glassing nav or whatever, to be prepared for that.

Did you ever think, or was it always the plan that, okay, we're gonna build this to a thing. Yes. It's in its inception was four [00:27:00] hunters, but we're just gonna change lives. Yeah. I, in the early days, we definitely did not see it coming as much. We, in the early days of mountain Tufts formation, like in 16, 17, 18, we were all in an all set on focusing a hundred percent on the dedicat.

back country hunter. Yeah. And then we started seeing some things happen organically where we saw the military pick up a lot of our training and they were looking at mountain tough and they're like, Hey, I need to do a job at high elevation and rugged train with heavy packs. , these guys are training people to do that.

Exactly. That's just the thing for you. Yeah. And so organically they picked it up and then the wildland firefighters saw the same thing. And so organically over time, people that believed in our ethos and our mission, but were not hunters, really started using mountain tough. [00:28:00] And then we realized wow, this is much bigger, the vision's much bigger than the original vision.

Yeah. And it's . It's kinda like driving down a road, like when you're six miles down a road, all of a sudden you start seeing things so much clearer than six miles back. Yeah. And so now when we look at the vision, it's, it is anyone that wants to train. at a high functional fitness level, whether they're a beginner or an elite, like it's the functional fitness that Mountain Tough is really specializing in.

And so we always say like our job's to make you really fit and perform at a high level. It's not to make you look really fit. Yeah. This actually has to perform. And so now in, in 2023 there's a ton of mountain bikers, there's a ton of back country skiers. There's a ton of ultra runners.

But then there's also a lot of people that. [00:29:00] that just love our mission and what we believe in. . And they want to train and they want to train different than anyone else. And they don't have any aspirations to backcountry hunt this year or next year, maybe three or four years from now.

But it's provi, it's meeting a need that was unmet. And that's a lot of it is related to the holistic approach. and the functionality of our fitness. Yeah. So you have a lot of, you have a lot of moms at home with kids that are doing mountain tough every single day. That's awesome. That's so cool.

That aren't planning on hunting. But yeah it's that holistic view and launching the app allowed us to add a lot of micro content. So in addition to the foundation and on-RAMP programs in 22, we added. We added like mental toughness curriculum. It's called the Mountain Mindset, and it's a 10 day mental toughness course that is zero [00:30:00] workouts.

There's not a single workout. It's all the science of. Mindset and purpose and pain and adversity so that people understand how to pivot their mindset before they even start the workouts or with conjunction of the workouts. Okay. So there's a lot of super helpful information in there. No, that's, I'll tell you what, I probably like most people who have, watched from afar have tried mountain tough, like my goal is to get out to the lab, one of these.

Yeah, but but I feel like I need to do a ton of work because if I'm gonna show up, like I'm not gonna show up and just, I know I'm gonna get my ass handed to me. That's a foregone conclusion, but I gotta save face. If I'm gonna show up there, if I'm gonna call you a month out or a couple months, I'll be like, Dustin, I'm gonna be in Bozeman.

Can I come by for a day and work out, with the crew? And you're like, yeah I gotta be ready. So that day's coming, it gives me something to work towards. You gotta come out. Yeah. We're moving into a brand new facility that we've spent the last two years working on. Are you guys just building it from the ground up or, yep.

So built from [00:31:00] the ground up. It's going to be one of the most premier research and develop one of the only research and development facilities in the world. For the mountain and military athlete. Oh, that's awesome. So we'll be running test athletes through there all day, studying what's working, what's not on the mountain.

And then it's a full content production studio. Okay. So that we can really ramp up the new programs, the Mount of Programs in the app. . So it, we're moving in there in three weeks. We'll be in there in March and it's okay. It's it's a beautiful facility right next door to Stone glaciers new building.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz they just built Yeah. A monstrosity out there. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. No that's great man. I I look forward to following along and seeing that, and then, like I said, getting out. Letting you put me through the paces. Yeah. And come out at, crying. But no I think for let me ask this.

For those listening that want to, that they're at that point in life where [00:32:00] they want to embark on their physical fitness. They want to take that, maybe they've been training for a long time. They want something new. They want to be challenged. Where can they find Mountain tough?

How can they get involved? How can they join the community? You bet. Yeah. And it is amazing now. Fast, easy, and convenient. That is with the app. So with the app works off a 14 day free trial. Okay? So just like many other apps you see out there in the app stores. Whether it's like Spotify or Netflix or Hulu or OnX ours is very similar in that it starts off a 14 day free trial.

So you can grab the app out of the iPhone ICE App store, Android or the smart TV app stores and just search Mountain Tough, download it, and then you'll start on a 14 day free trial. So the beauty of that is in 14 days, Can get all the way through the full on-RAMP program. So the ON-Ramp program's two [00:33:00] weeks so someone can get through the entire mountain Tough on-ramp before they even decide if they're continuing on Yeah.

On that 14 day free trial. So they can, that unlocks everything. They can look at every program. They can get that full 10 day mental toughness course done. Okay. On that free trial. So you got some different options on how you wanna approach, if it's, whether it is the mental toughness, whether it's, the onboarding, whatever.

It's like you can pick how you want to start that journey with that 14 day trial. Yep. Yeah. So all streaming platforms just grab it and start the trial. Just get started. Yeah. It's the easiest way to do it. Just get started. . Dustin, no, I appreciate the time, man. I know it's, Been a hectic day for you, but I'm glad that we caught each other and we could sit down and chat for a few minutes.

I think what you guys have built at Mountain Tough, what you continue to build. We talked about it's changing lives and I think that at the end of the day, for any of us, if we're changing lives, like we're doing something right. So kudos to you, to the entire team, and all the athletes out there know.

It's it's been a pleasure, man. I appreciate it. Likewise. Yeah. Appreciate you and all you're doing and [00:34:00] it's super exciting. It's. It's a lot of fun and it's cool to see at this expo, just the amount of passionate hunters that are out there. Yeah. And the way they support each other. And it's a good community.

It's gonna be a good community for a long time. Yeah. And I look forward to seeing the the new facility. So Dustin, man, enjoy the rest of the evening. Thank you. Yeah. All right, thank you again to Dustin for joining me today. I would also like to thank the partners of the podcast, stone Glacier Go Hunt, and of course, 2% for conservation.

And if you're interested in learning more about 2% for conservation, you can visit their website, fish and wildlife.org. And over there you're gonna see all the certified brands that have committed to conservation that you should support when you shop. I also encourage you guys to give 2% of follow on social media where it's gonna be only positive conservation driven content landing in your feeds there.

So again, if you'd like to learn more about 2% for conservation, you can look for them online, on social media or@fishandwildlife.org. Thanks for joining me this week, everyone. Hope you enjoyed the episode with Dustin. Stay tuned next [00:35:00] week. Got another great another great one coming for you. And also some some really cool stuff on the horizon that we are trying to get worked out as well.

Until next week, stay safe out there and remember that conservation starts with you.

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