Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - Strong Enough to Survive Toddlers With Andre Crews

00:00:00.000 hey y'all joe here and you are listening to under the influence now if you're a long-time

00:00:10.400 listener you know that i hate most fitness influencers i do i just can't stand them

00:00:15.700 something really gets me about 22 year olds telling me how to get perfect abs and slamming

00:00:20.740 150 grams of protein a day i don't need a 22 year old to tell me how to get her body because i'm

00:00:26.340 never going to have her body. I did have her body for years and I enjoyed it. But now I want some 1.00

00:00:30.460 actual parents to tell me the minimum amount I can work out and still pick up my kids. Yeah. And that 0.92

00:00:36.200 is what I get from Andre Cruz Instagram account. Andre is hilarious. I have to say I am not usually

00:00:42.780 served male influencers, not at all. But somehow Andre ended up in my feed with a video that he did

00:00:48.860 talking about how his toddler is a terrorist. And I was like, yeah, mine too. Mine freaking too.

00:00:57.300 Andre's a trainer who blew up on Instagram by talking about the intersection of working out

00:01:01.520 and being a parent. And his account is freaking hilarious. Today we're going to talk about six

00:01:07.460 packs and summer bodies, but we're also going to talk about bedtimes, toddlers who hold your

00:01:12.680 entire household hostage, and why motivation is a lie and discipline is the only habit that matters.

00:01:18.860 Andre has built a massive following by mixing fitness content with brutally honest dad content.

00:01:25.980 Because at the end of the day, nothing connects faster than admitting that your three-year-old is the worst.

00:01:31.700 This episode is for exhausted parents like me who still want to feel strong.

00:01:36.260 I want to feel strong. I want my workouts to stick. I want my clothes to fit.

00:01:39.780 But I do not care about getting a bikini body.

00:01:42.320 In fact, in this episode, we talk about how I am chasing not the bikini body, but the grandma body.

00:01:47.880 I am working out today for a body that is going to get me on the floor with my grandkids 25 years in the future.

00:01:55.400 And Andre has a lot of tips for how to get there, in addition to a lot of compassion for parents who are currently being held hostage by their children.

00:02:09.820 Hello, Andre.

00:02:11.300 Hi, how are you?

00:02:12.580 I'm great. I'm great.

00:02:13.820 It looks like we both just got back from a workout and we're glistening.

00:02:17.640 we're glistening we look so good we look so so good great you look great ready for our next

00:02:22.440 photo shoot yeah exactly exactly now i have to tell you i have to give you what might be the

00:02:27.760 biggest compliment that i've ever given on this show my sweet husband does does not use instagram

00:02:34.940 at all and yet he has an account he goes on sometimes to post about my books because he's

00:02:40.560 a good man but uh he you are now one of the only people that he follows because i showed him i

00:02:47.060 showed him your stuff and he's like this guy is so funny i'm like i know and maybe maybe he'll help

00:02:53.200 you get rid of your dad bod too let's go what's your husband's name um nick aster nick nick this

00:02:59.540 is your call out right now bro get rid of the dad bod let's go i'm my my call to action right now

00:03:04.420 especially for all of us who are here you know in in in the united states because we i have people

00:03:09.200 in my program all around the world and there are folks that are like hey summer's over for you guys

00:03:13.700 but summer is just getting started for us. And I'm like, hey, I'm trying to be summer ready

00:03:16.560 all year. But for my people who are on this hemisphere, my challenge is imagine if you

00:03:21.640 started working out right now and you stayed consistent three to five times a week between now

00:03:25.860 and Memorial Day 2026, you will be unrecognizable. So Nick, this is your call to action. Start

00:03:30.960 working out right now. It's a new month, new you. Don't wait until the new year. Let's freaking go.

00:03:35.600 Let's freaking go. Let's freaking go. Yeah. So I want to back up a little bit. I want to get to

00:03:40.540 the beginning of how did you get on social media how did you start doing this so long so i'll give

00:03:50.060 you like the the long version and the short version but the the short short version is my second job

00:03:55.160 as a trainer i was working at an equinox in manhattan and one of my clients her name was

00:04:00.460 megan and she was traveling to the united states getting her master's in marketing she's from the

00:04:05.340 uk and she said andre this is a new thing called instagram you have to start using it post your

00:04:09.840 workouts, use a bunch of hashtags. And I'm like, okay. So I literally started doing that. So I

00:04:14.040 lived in West New York, New Jersey at the time when I was commuting into the city. So I literally

00:04:17.500 have to get up at like 3.45 every morning to catch a bus, to catch a train, to get to work,

00:04:21.900 to coach people at five o'clock in the morning. And so I would take yesterday's workout that I did

00:04:26.340 and pile it into a little 15 second video back when Instagram had time limits. And so I literally

00:04:32.360 started doing that every day. And so started off with just having a couple hundred Facebook

00:04:37.420 friends and then kind of blossomed slowly and organically into what everything is today so i

00:04:42.860 just so anyone who's out there who doesn't have an account just like start posting and just like

00:04:47.040 don't stop so that's that's the short story that that's the short story and yeah you you started

00:04:52.520 doing it you're posting personal training content and motivational content talk to me a little bit

00:05:00.640 about like what became most appealing to your audience in the early days so in the early days

00:05:06.600 I was one of the first guys who was doing kind of what I like to call like workout music videos.

00:05:11.580 So I would have, and this was back in the day when Instagram would like, if you used anyone

00:05:16.680 else's music, they would like drop a smack down on you. So I tried the best that I could to use

00:05:20.940 like the free music that they had within iMovie, if you guys remember that old app and all these

00:05:25.760 other things. But I would always try to just make my 15 second videos tell a story of my entire

00:05:31.360 workout. And I would have the transition such that I'm doing, call it a front squat. And as

00:05:36.380 I'm standing up on my front squat, then the next movement would be me being going down on a 0.94

00:05:40.760 Bulgarian split squat. So I, whatever I did, I tried to just choreograph and make like these

00:05:45.020 little miniature movies that were interesting. And that told a story of whatever my workout was

00:05:49.340 from the day before. So that was originally kind of what got me, you know, big on, on,

00:05:54.900 on Instagram. And as I said, when I started, I just had a few, you know, a couple hundred

00:05:58.860 Instagram friends. And then I think within my first year of doing it, I got up to,

00:06:03.280 you know 2000 and then i got reposted by crossfit hq because i deadlifted 571 pounds or something

00:06:09.960 crazy like that and then that got me up to 10 000 and then it kind of snowballed from there so

00:06:13.720 originally it was just like me doing things that people hadn't really done at the time

00:06:18.380 and then covet happened and then like everyone became uh an instagram music video workout maker

00:06:24.760 literally everyone did i mean maybe i i might have even been an instagram music workout maker

00:06:31.460 at some point. But did COVID really grow your audience? No, no, it actually did the opposite

00:06:36.840 for my personal account. So I, at the time of COVID, so I was three years into owning my gym

00:06:46.840 150 Bay CrossFit in Jersey City. And so everything was going great. You know, we kind of naturally

00:06:51.720 grew. We never really paid any significant amount of money for advertising. Everything was word of

00:06:57.040 mouth and we just grew organically and we were at a point where we were you know 180 members

00:07:01.580 everything is going great and then April late March early April 2020 lights go off right like

00:07:08.800 we have to close our gym down and so I'm like oh what do I do to try to pivot so I go into an

00:07:15.560 online platform where I let all the members at my gym take home either a dumbbell or kettlebell

00:07:20.480 I create a community group chat where we could like text each other about whatever was going on

00:07:25.040 during the day. And then I had three different online offerings on an even day. So I would do

00:07:28.820 one in my garage at 630 in the morning on IGTV, if you remember that old chestnut. And then I had

00:07:35.000 another one that I would do at like eight o'clock, nine o'clock in the morning at the gym with one

00:07:40.140 of my trainers. And then another one that I would do at noontime that was a bodyweight workout. So

00:07:44.780 I had three different offerings on any given day, and then put them all on YouTube for people to

00:07:48.880 rewatch. So that's what kind of got me into the online space. But during COVID in particular,

00:07:53.720 my personal Instagram account like didn't do anything like it kind of just like stayed still

00:07:59.160 I think at the time I was at 24,000 followers and like literally it didn't budge for I think 0.89

00:08:06.860 I think for almost like two years the needle did not move at all because everyone their mama was

00:08:11.820 kind of doing the same thing and everyone was trying to get someone to join their online program

00:08:17.620 or join their whatever Zoom studio classes

00:08:20.780 that they were doing.

00:08:21.780 And so like I made no growth at all during COVID,

00:08:24.640 but I just like kind of kept plugging away.

00:08:25.980 And my main goal during that point

00:08:27.480 was just to kind of stay alive at my gym.

00:08:29.400 But fortunately, I got linked up

00:08:31.300 with the good folks at Ladder

00:08:32.840 and I wasn't making any money from them at the time,

00:08:35.280 but I saw the potential of what it could be.

00:08:38.020 So my focus was kind of split between,

00:08:40.080 you know, keeping my gym alive

00:08:41.400 and then growing this unknown entity on the Ladder app.

00:08:45.340 But no, my social media didn't do anything.

00:08:47.620 Well, then how did you get to where you're at now? You're at around 224, 25,000 followers. That's so big. What brought you those kinds of numbers?

00:09:02.020 Dad content. Dad content.

00:09:03.340 This is what I was about to ask you, because, I mean, obviously it is dad content that brought me to you because I get a lot of workout content, but I get very svelte young women telling me to essentially huff 150 pounds or 150 grams of protein a day.

00:09:24.540 um and and i'm like girl you come back to me after you have squeezed three babies out of your body

00:09:31.320 and you're chasing them around the house because you know what i looked like you

00:09:34.780 when i was 22 as well and you know what my diet was parliament lights and champagne yeah yeah

00:09:42.200 exactly so i don't want to hear it from them i don't i do not mind hearing it from you but

00:09:46.640 it's not it's definitely not the workout content that brought me to you no it was no you had this

00:09:52.400 wonderful video that i sent to so many of my friends that talked about how toddlers are and

00:09:59.100 i mean this is just the best description of them how toddlers are terrorists yeah they hold the

00:10:05.160 entire house hostage um but no what's what's funny is i am not as a normal human without a child

00:10:13.940 i am like cool he can do stuff but he's unrelatable it's unattainable i'm not really

00:10:20.780 interested like I'm I'm fine to watch him you know clean 350 pounds or deadlift you know 590

00:10:27.040 pounds like that's cool but I don't really care what he has to say that much because he's in a

00:10:32.540 league that I'm not even really close to it's kind of like when you watch you know LeBron James or

00:10:39.100 Steph Curry just like making it rain like and you go and play pickup basketball you're like okay

00:10:42.940 that's cool but like I don't necessarily I'm not going to take too much advice from these guys

00:10:47.080 because they're on a whole different plane. And then when I became a father and started showing

00:10:51.260 that, Hey, yeah, you can still be a badass and still lift heavy and still have ads if you do

00:10:57.160 the right thing as a father. And that's really what kind of transformed the game for me in terms

00:11:02.120 of getting more people engaged. And even now, you know, I get a lot of moms that are following my

00:11:06.600 account and I've, I've never just been a, Hey, lift heavy because it's the only way to do where

00:11:13.040 I only want to train men or I only want to train women. When I was in life training,

00:11:17.440 the majority of my clients in the real world were female. So I'm very used to working with,

00:11:21.720 you know, females. But because of how social media is, they kind of just silo you off into 1.00

00:11:27.860 whatever your thing happens to be. But the dad content has opened me up to a whole new world of

00:11:34.500 people who haven't necessarily, who would never really have even looked at me aside from like,

00:11:38.080 oh, wow, that guy's strong, but like cool. See you later, buddy. So that's really what opened

00:11:42.760 up the floodgates for me in terms of making me more relatable. And that's really what I'm

00:11:46.680 passionate about right now is I don't care about that, you know, 20 something year old kid who

00:11:51.960 wants to get his bench press up or run his mile a little bit faster or improve the long head of

00:11:59.040 his tricep. I don't care about any of those little things. But if I can make a positive impact on a

00:12:05.340 mom or a dad and help them build lean muscle that will help their daily life tasks easier as a mom

00:12:10.460 or dad. Like that is what gets me excited to get up every single day to make a positive impact on

00:12:14.880 their lives, because I know that it's going to not only affect them positively, but it's also

00:12:18.560 going to positively affect their children. And then because of that, it becomes a virtuous circle

00:12:23.340 where their kids will probably end up being better human beings because their parents had the

00:12:27.820 discipline to take care of themselves. And like you learn hard work and discipline and all of

00:12:32.420 these things that we do when we're exercising that you can pass on to your kids and create a better

00:12:36.680 generation of people so i guess uh i didn't realize this but i'm trying to make the world

00:12:41.700 a better place to fitness oh my gosh i'm so glad that we just like totally vocalized that right

00:12:46.420 here right now on the podcast i mean this is this is you know we just we make dreams come true we

00:12:50.780 solidify brands that's what we do here yeah exactly all right well i want to take a quick

00:12:54.820 break and then when we get back i just want to talk a little bit more about dad content and what

00:13:00.060 has been so appealing and and why you think it works so well cool okay we are back talk to me a

00:13:13.980 little bit about your family about your kids how old are they now so i only have one human child

00:13:19.460 my one human child yep yeah one human child my son jameson is three and a few months and he is

00:13:25.960 full on in three nature mode and then i have two golden retrievers holly is nine and jersey is five

00:13:32.740 well that's count as kids so yeah yeah well they don't they don't talk back as much no they don't

00:13:38.780 and they certainly don't hold the house hostage at you know one o'clock in the morning two o'clock

00:13:42.840 in the morning they're very they're very easy girls well you know three nature is a real thing

00:13:48.800 Like, I just I do not really believe in the terrible twos because all of mine twos were fine.

00:13:56.100 OK, yeah, like all of mine were just insane at three insane.

00:14:02.700 I mean, and you cannot actually, unlike terrorists, this is the big difference.

00:14:07.620 I think I feel like sometimes you can negotiate with terrorists.

00:14:10.960 Yeah. Not actually negotiate.

00:14:13.020 You can't negotiate with people who who have no idea what they actually want.

00:14:18.800 And that's generally the problem. So, for example, two nights ago. So this was a Sunday night into Labor Day Monday. I made a post about this yesterday. My son literally left his room on six separate occasions between midnight and four o'clock in the morning asking for random stuff.

00:14:36.820 want cuddle want yogurt scared i'm like what are you scared about bro what are you like there's

00:14:41.760 nothing to be scared about and sometimes i don't know his body might be growing but oftentimes

00:14:46.660 and there have been days when i i'll go into his room and okay okay you want a yogurt here he's

00:14:50.480 like no want it and he'll just start screaming and yelling so it is it's it's it's it's truly

00:14:56.520 like i don't know it's like you want that you ask for the yogurt you give them the yogurt and

00:15:01.780 they're like wrong yoga and so you don't want it don't want it no not mine not my yogurt yeah and

00:15:09.000 then when they and then when they very specifically want either of the parents like if i'm there and

00:15:14.080 mom's sleeping i'm like hey bro your mom's asleep you got me for the next however long it's like

00:15:18.220 and i'm like all right bro if this is going to be the journey we're on we're going to go down

00:15:22.660 into the basement where no one can hear us right still on the floor and have some quiet time but

00:15:28.340 something has gotten into their head where they're like no not you right now it's not you it's not

00:15:33.060 you and i it is the other one the other one and sometimes it's neither honestly like sometimes

00:15:39.360 she's just like no you leave my my husband comes in he's like she's like you leave too

00:15:43.560 okay okay okay okay you're gonna have the plays it's like shut up whatever you want but i i mean

00:15:51.360 i think your content is so good and so funny because it is just so relatable there's no 0.56

00:15:57.860 filter there's no bs you're just like this is freaking insane okay it's hard and it's insane

00:16:03.420 yeah and i and i think there needs to be more education for new parents and for expected

00:16:09.520 parents of just like what to expect you see those little you know carousels on instagram

00:16:13.460 from age one to two they're doing this two to three they're doing this but like no one says

00:16:17.880 three-year-olds are the worst humans in the world and why doesn't anyone say that mentally emotionally

00:16:24.460 physically you need to have a hundred spare yogurt pouches just ready because you're going to need

00:16:30.240 them to deal with their picky eating in their in their late night yeah but no i i had no idea like

00:16:36.160 i thought that when we got past two like okay we're we're onto something great here and then

00:16:41.560 it didn't get better and in fact it got worse progressive yeah no and i'm gonna i'm here to

00:16:47.520 tell you some real talk it is gonna keep getting worse i don't think they really get out of it

00:16:52.500 until about five yeah i i think i have come to understand that and i've i've come to accept that

00:16:59.560 i'm just not really gonna sleep until maybe i die no that's not true that's not true i mean we so we

00:17:06.800 actually sleep a lot we really do but i will tell you we my husband and i were just talking about

00:17:11.700 this we're like with the third baby we just we barely sleep trained we just put her in the crib

00:17:17.660 and walked away we're like bye but with the first one we've done an opera at bedtime since birth

00:17:23.400 and he's eight and he still expects that opera all of the time and so yeah i mean there's no

00:17:30.860 winning our bedtime still takes like two hours but we do sleep through the night oh i i i hate

00:17:36.500 bedtime so much like i hate bedtime i hate it it's the worst my son he's he's a very very picky eater

00:17:42.780 so i am lucky if i can get him to eat yogurt pouches and tostito chips on any given night

00:17:49.100 and so we start the feeding process pretty much as soon as he gets home from daycare like hey

00:17:53.100 buddy do you want a you want a hawaiian roll we call them moana buns uh do you want do you want

00:17:57.260 a moana bun oh that's good yeah like all these little things that we can do he wants some

00:18:01.340 dinosaur chicken nuggets and we just start putting food in front of him to try to get him to eat

00:18:04.940 something and he like slowly piecemeals or something here something there and like it is

00:18:10.700 i love my son but like bedtime it makes me not enjoy him very much no it's terrible it's a fight

00:18:19.040 it's a fight every night it's a fight every night well we also have we have two picky eaters my

00:18:23.500 middle is the best eater ever she will eat anything she also prides herself on it really 0.86

00:18:28.920 she's like i am the best eater in the family and i'm like you just love attention but whatever girl

00:18:32.980 but like yes my and the toddler eats nothing it's the same i'm like please just a yogurt pouch

00:18:39.780 please a noodle she's like wrong noodle i'm like what noodle you want she's like circle noodle

00:18:45.280 oh yeah yes we we so my guy we jameson we got him uh the the shell noodles a little while ago and

00:18:53.720 he liked those and we just happened to buy the bow tie kind he was not about that life

00:18:57.700 no why would you do that it's disgusting no one it one shell one shell one shell i know

00:19:03.840 taste the same tastes the same well actually the the best fit that got thrown last week was that 0.98

00:19:10.280 my husband cut the bagel and she was like no eat bagel whole bagel big bagel you you hate your

00:19:19.200 ballerina you give her broken bagel what i know i know but i do think that the combination of

00:19:29.460 parenting content with fitness it's just something that i actually do not see enough of

00:19:34.320 and i would like to see a lot more of because training your body and training your mind

00:19:40.440 while having kids is one impossible but two also so necessary like i need my body and my brain

00:19:48.460 to work in order to be a parent like half the time i don't even feel like i'm training for a 0.99

00:19:53.480 bathing suit or a summer body anymore i'm training just to like chase my damn kids and to like to do 0.98

00:20:00.360 this to continue to be a mom of three kids every day yeah and that's and that's and that's the most 0.98

00:20:05.360 important part about training yes the muscles and the you know flat stomach that's a nice side

00:20:10.800 effect of doing this but i'm in pretty good shape myself i'm pretty strong and i think about how i

00:20:17.400 struggle with my child. And I can only imagine, for example, a guy or a gal who doesn't work out

00:20:25.520 at all in trying to chase around a two to three-year-old ball of energy. If you can't run a 0.58

00:20:32.060 mile in six to eight minutes and not be tired, then you are F-U-C-K'd if you have a kid. Because

00:20:40.220 you just have to be able to just go nonstop. And you can't even really get away with just doing

00:20:45.640 you know bodybuilding you can't just go and like sit down on machines and do leg extensions or

00:20:49.660 bicep curls like you have to be able to physically move external load and your body and do things

00:20:55.740 back to back to back to back without getting tired because kids are a non-stop freaking workout so

00:21:02.620 everything that i do in my program and online is to help motivate challenge and inspire moms and

00:21:07.900 dads and you know potential moms and dads to just help build that base level of strength and fitness

00:21:12.380 so that they can keep up with their kids and not even keeping up with them now. I also think about

00:21:16.240 the long-term. I want to be able to bend down and play with my grandkids. If my son happens to have

00:21:21.480 kids in the future and we literally know the more lean muscle mass we put onto our bodies,

00:21:27.100 the stronger we make our hearts, the longer we live for our families. So it's not just,

00:21:32.600 hey, I'm doing this because I want to look good. Memorial Day next year and July 4th next year is

00:21:37.060 I want to keep on doing this and be able to keep up with my kid and then his kids in the future.

00:21:41.080 And another goal that I have is when he is a full-grown, I suspect he'll be a linebacker-sized man.

00:21:47.580 I still want to be able to pick him up when he goes into the league or whatever he decides to do with his life.

00:21:52.800 Yeah, that's what you want to do.

00:21:53.980 That is 100% what you want to do.

00:21:55.440 Of course, yeah, I say all the time, I'm like, yeah, I'm not here for the bikini body anymore.

00:21:59.440 I'm here for the grandma body.

00:22:01.300 Like, I want to be able in 20, 25 years to get down on the floor and pick up my grandkids.

00:22:09.180 Like, that is the goal here.

00:22:10.380 i fully feel like us you're a millennial right yes i'm an elder millennial i'm 80

00:22:15.260 what are you what are you what um 1980 so i'm the oldest okay so yeah so i'm i'm an 86 guy so

00:22:22.940 yeah i i feel like we are going to be the generation of grandparents i think they're

00:22:28.420 going to be more universally fit grandparents when by the time that us millennials are

00:22:33.260 you know in our 60s and 70s and beyond oh yeah 100 we are going to be well i was you know i saw

00:22:39.420 the best meme on instagram the other day that said um kids born between 76 and 86 stop calling

00:22:46.660 us like zillennials or millennials like can you just start calling us goonies and i'm like yes 0.67

00:22:52.420 because i think that goonies are gonna be just like the most ripped sexiest like most active

00:22:58.360 grandparents yeah because we did start changing what it means to be in your 40s and your 50s and

00:23:06.480 your late 30s even and if you look at the movie father of the bride and you look at steve martin

00:23:11.100 and diane keaton they're my age in that wow and they seem so old they seem so old yeah right

00:23:19.280 yeah it's crazy it's crazy but i mean i do think that we are this generation that is just paying

00:23:26.260 more attention to our health and i think we're like almost aging backwards in a way except when

00:23:30.720 our children you know take 19 years off of our life um in one evening yeah we're doing everything

00:23:37.060 we can to binge him and button while our kids are trying to accelerate the process but we're

00:23:40.880 working backwards we're trying we're doing we're doing our best we are totally totally doing our

00:23:46.260 best well when we first when we first got on this call you know you said how was your labor day and

00:23:52.320 i was like oh my gosh we actually did nothing and it was perfection yeah but i have to say i love

00:23:58.900 your content about vacation because traveling with children is not it's not a vacation

00:24:07.000 it's a it's not cute like tell me a little bit about those posts because you can say whatever 0.93

00:24:14.840 you want on my show my friend whatever the fuck i want cool all right yeah yeah but no that's 0.77

00:24:19.020 not cute we have thankfully we have not we've not flown with him i'm not that brave i'm terrified 0.91

00:24:26.140 to fly i think i'm gonna wait until he's like five but like i am terrified to go on that journey i've

00:24:31.060 heard so many horror stories of parents who go in with the best intentions of their toddler i'm like

00:24:35.460 just leave that mother at home okay let me let me tell you after like i'm also like a no judgment

00:24:42.480 parent i'm like you do what you have to do to like get through the day yeah i don't like to fly with 0.69

00:24:47.420 them until they can watch a tablet for two hours straight yeah and so like if they're like very

00:24:54.220 happy to watch a movie on a tablet i will get on a plane with them like as long as i can distract

00:24:58.480 them but while they're still in the mode of like i'm gonna get up i'm gonna get down i'm gonna kick

00:25:02.420 this i'm gonna throw this i'm gonna do anything if i can't distract them don't get on the plane

00:25:06.000 okay just don't do it yet no no you've you've literally brought a terrorist onto a plane and

00:25:10.680 then you actually have you have yeah the air marshals should escort them they should land

00:25:14.600 that plane they should land it yeah you know what it could be so gross they could have anything

00:25:19.660 actually no honestly they could have anything in their shoe my five-year-old today at breakfast

00:25:24.200 was like there's something sharp in my sock there's something is stabbing me in my sock

00:25:28.020 take her sock off and i'm like what i'm like it's a barrette it is a little bow

00:25:33.420 barrette and i'm like this is what was in your sock and she's like oh i put it there yesterday 1.00

00:25:38.380 and i'm like and they know too they know too they're such assholes they know such assholes 0.99

00:25:43.640 i know i know my my son did something the other day where he's like my my i hurt i hurt here i 0.99

00:25:50.280 hurt here and i'm like all right i look at it like there's nothing there what do you want me to do

00:25:53.960 want band-aid so i'm like okay so i put like a full-grown like adult-sized band-aid right here

00:26:00.740 and just let it he's okay thank you and like i before he went to bed i'm like do you want me to

00:26:05.560 take it off no no no the next day he wakes up he's like still here feel better they're insane

00:26:12.820 they love a band they love them but then he'll he'll like along the hurting stuff side

00:26:19.920 like bro it's it's your tag it's the tag on your shirt it's just the tag on your shirt

00:26:26.640 that's all it is you're fine i've ripped off probably 30 tags from his shorts and his shorts

00:26:32.640 over the course of the last couple years my wife hates it because i always damage the shirt a

00:26:38.280 little bit every time but there's every time and by the time he grows out of it it'll be fine

00:26:43.640 it'll be totally fine it'll be totally fine oh my gosh all right we are gonna we are gonna take

00:26:48.080 one more break. And then when we get back, I want to talk a little bit about motivation. I think

00:26:52.020 that is the hardest part for parents to keep motivation up, mostly because we're exhausted

00:26:57.700 because we're dealing with tiny terrorists. Whether life serves you an ace or an unexpected

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00:27:24.640 take the hits it's about being able to bounce back oikos pro feed your strength visit oikos.ca

00:27:31.460 for more details okay we are back i want to talk a little bit about motivation and your your videos

00:27:42.720 are so motivating. When I see them, I'm like, okay, I'm going to go lift some heavy. Let's go.

00:27:47.220 Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I mean, I'm not going to lift things like you lift, but I will lift

00:27:52.860 other things. So what are your tips, especially for your clients? You've been doing this for so

00:27:58.020 long on how to stay motivated when we are just exhausted and drained.

00:28:02.840 You're most with their kids around. Fuck motivation. Motivation is a fleeting emotion. 1.00

00:28:06.940 If you rely on an emotion to do anything in life, you will not be consistently successful.

00:28:13.340 So I've been a trainer since 2012.

00:28:15.740 I've been a father for three years and a few months.

00:28:18.820 I am often unmotivated, even though it is literally my job to motivate people and get

00:28:23.660 them to work out. 0.97

00:28:24.340 Like I'm, I'm fucking tired, man. 0.98

00:28:25.820 We're all tired here, but habit and discipline win championships and point blank. 0.97

00:28:31.700 Like that's what you have to do.

00:28:32.980 You can't make it a choice or I'm going to work out because I feel like this or because I want to get healthy for my family.

00:28:39.540 Yes, those can be in the back of your mind, but you have to make exercise and strength training a habit.

00:28:45.520 So the hack I tell everyone, which is just basic organization, is schedule three to five workouts on your recurring work calendar and treat them like they are part of your job.

00:28:57.420 You wouldn't skip a meeting with your boss or a sales call or a presentation or a team meeting because you're tired or hungover or don't feel like it.

00:29:05.580 If you treat your health and fitness the same way that you treat the thing that provides for your family and keeps income in your pocket and a roof over your head, you will never miss a day in your life.

00:29:16.320 And that's really, I think, something that everybody can do, whether you're a parent or not.

00:29:20.880 And then I talk a lot about the mental game physically inside of the workout.

00:29:26.360 like in my program on the ladder app, I provide voiceover. So you'll physically see a little,

00:29:30.560 you know, avatar of me doing movement. And then, you know, by the third round, you're like, oh,

00:29:34.200 man, fuck this guy. I hate coach Andre. And I'm like, yeah, I curse my own name sometimes when 1.00

00:29:38.020 I'm in the middle of the workout. But during those times, that's when I'm like, okay, you're already

00:29:41.780 here. You didn't come this far just to come this far. And keep in mind that we are doing this

00:29:45.580 because we literally know this 45 minutes of discomfort is going to help us live an extra

00:29:50.320 year or two for our kids and for our grandkids. And it's going to make us able to do our jobs

00:29:54.820 as moms and dads a little bit easier. So make starting a non-choice. And then when you're in

00:30:00.400 the middle of your workout and shit, it's the fan, that's when you can tap into your, okay, 0.99

00:30:03.720 I'm doing this for my three kids so I can keep up with them. So I can carry them and all their 0.99

00:30:07.360 stuff all around the town to Disney world and to the park and to the playground and all of this

00:30:11.260 stuff, but make it a non-choice and then tap into your why in the middle of the workout when you

00:30:16.340 need to. Yeah, that's great. That is great. I mean, I've recently in the past year, I've started

00:30:20.780 scheduling this a week in advance on my work calendar it's in the same place right and then

00:30:27.660 yeah when it's the same like weight when it's the same priority level i find that then you're gonna

00:30:33.640 you're gonna do it you're gonna get to it even when you feel crappy you just go you go and you

00:30:38.960 just get started and you always you always feel better after starting you're like squats again

00:30:44.860 but then as soon as you're done okay like i've i have you ever finished a workout and like i

00:30:51.500 shouldn't have done that no no never no never never never never never has anyone done a workout

00:30:57.140 i'm like oh that was stupid i should i wasted my time i should not have just done that starting 0.97

00:31:01.520 sucks starting is always going to suck especially if you're in a well of sleep deprivation but get 0.97

00:31:06.820 started and just do it even if you're doing body weight even if you're doing low weight even if 0.93

00:31:12.540 you're resting a little bit more than you need to in between your sets to show up to do the work

00:31:16.020 and then once you build that habit it'll become a virtuous cycle where you'll start to feel bad

00:31:20.260 if you don't work out yeah yeah exactly i mean i well i say the same thing about writing a lot

00:31:26.420 right like i get i get young and aspiring writers saying to me they're like how do you do it how do

00:31:31.100 you sit down on every every day and write and i'm like i just write i just it might be bad and 0.93

00:31:36.500 starting is the worst part of it but it's just like any other habit you just get in your butt 0.94

00:31:41.640 in the seat and you get it done. Do you watch a new girl? I haven't watched it in forever. I 0.99

00:31:47.420 watched it when it first came out. No, should I restart? Cause I watched it in years. Okay.

00:31:51.780 You would, I feel that you and your husband would thoroughly enjoy new girl. My, that's my wife's

00:31:57.860 comfort show. And we've probably, I think it's six or seven seasons. And I believe that we have

00:32:03.640 watched all of the seasons probably eight to 10 times. Oh my God. Stop. In, in some, in some

00:32:10.320 capacity yeah but it's it's a group of 30 somethings living in a loft style apartment

00:32:16.940 in la and none of them have it together but it is it is a very good adult coming of age story

00:32:24.200 and at the end of it they all end up you know like having kids and getting married and all that stuff

00:32:27.180 but it is it is a very very funny and good show the the main guy character his name is nick so

00:32:32.580 your husband will oh yeah appreciate that coming into this yeah all right i think i think that you

00:32:36.960 very much like that show nick is also a writer on the show that's one reason i brought it up and

00:32:41.700 he has lots and lots of problems with procrastination uh but he ends up getting his

00:32:46.080 life together and like one of the episodes they literally just like locked him in a room and made

00:32:50.680 him write stuff and then he ended up doing well but he they just had to like take him out of the 0.80

00:32:53.820 game say hey yeah stay in there and start writing stuff even if it's crap even if it's crap something

00:32:58.640 brilliant yeah you just get it done you just get it done yeah and the same with working out so my

00:33:04.260 last question for you is what has the reaction been to you combining parenting with fitness

00:33:11.420 content? Like, I mean, your, your following is huge at this point. Everyone in your comments

00:33:16.680 is always like, Oh my God, thank you so much. Like you just made me get up and get off my butt 0.98

00:33:20.120 today, which has to feel so good for you. But like, have you had any haters at all? What has

00:33:24.580 it been like? So it is, it is on average, overwhelmingly positive, overwhelmingly positive.

00:33:30.460 And I love that so much.

00:33:32.960 And thank you to everyone who is new to following along with the journey.

00:33:36.120 Like, I remember last summer, I think I just hit 100,000 followers.

00:33:41.740 And I was like, this is freaking crazy.

00:33:42.920 Like, how did this happen?

00:33:44.660 And I didn't think that the momentum would keep going.

00:33:47.680 But it's kind of just like, it's steamrolling and it's getting better.

00:33:49.820 So I am just overwhelmingly appreciative of everyone who is discovering me and following along with the journey.

00:33:56.320 In terms of the haters, it's not a lot, but there's usually one or two on any given post that are like, you know that you probably have seen it going around on Instagram where it's like, you're 80, you wake up and you don't hear the tiny footsteps running down the hall.

00:34:14.580 You're in your house all alone. 0.98

00:34:16.040 Like, motherfucker, I don't know any 80 year olds who want to be woken up in the middle of the night at one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock and deal with a literal baby terrorist. 0.99

00:34:24.660 so it's generally people who are on that and like you should never talk that way about your child 1.00

00:34:30.840 everything about parenting is wonderful and great and like you are full of shit you're full of shit 1.00

00:34:35.340 you are in denial i saw the post that you did the other day about like that woman who was like 1.00

00:34:42.600 well i deserve to be at home and not have any female friends i should be in the kitchen cooking 0.99

00:34:47.520 and you know taking care of my five kids and not have any other life like that is a brainwashed 0.99

00:34:53.040 warp mentality that is like straight up bullshit and you can love your kids and also there can be 1.00

00:35:00.540 a part of you that's like this motherfucker like they can be they can be the same they can be true 1.00

00:35:05.120 they can coexist together and you can have all the love and you can want nothing but the best 0.99

00:35:09.720 for your child but when they engage in behavior that is inconceivable in your mind and it just

00:35:17.980 does not make sense you have the right as a human being who's been on this planet for a number of 0.98

00:35:22.880 years to be like, this is kind of fucked up and I don't like this part of it. Right. Like we are 0.98

00:35:27.280 a hundred percent, a hundred. So that is, I get a lot of those comments too, because I mean,

00:35:32.320 I talk about my kids and how, look, I liked being a mom so much more than I thought I would,

00:35:40.120 to be honest. Like I love being a parent. I love my children. And there is stuff about this

00:35:46.140 that is bananas. Okay. It is absolutely bananas. And sometimes they are just straight up

00:35:52.660 the worst people on the planet and it was a pay to not like them on any given day and also still

00:35:59.480 love them and to say that out loud because when we pretend that parenthood is like all easy breezy

00:36:06.380 it's just a lie and the people that comment no it's not cute it's not cute the people that

00:36:11.320 comment and they're like you only get 18 summers with them and i'm like i don't think my kids are

00:36:15.180 ever gonna move out so that is also not true like i i said to my kid i'm like oh my gosh like look

00:36:20.560 we live like next to a bunch of colleges i'm like oh like when you go to college you live in the

00:36:24.380 dorm like this is where mommy lived in her dorm and my son's like why would i leave oh god and

00:36:31.200 i'm like i don't think you're gonna go out of this but okay fine whatever i guess i get 18 summers

00:36:36.500 but that's also the thing i want to say is i'm like you get 18 summers if your kids don't like

00:36:40.500 you like they're gonna come back with their kids if you're a cool parent they're gonna come and

00:36:45.880 Like I fully believe that we will be like tailgating and going to the bar with my son when he's of age to do those things.

00:36:53.740 So my son's name is Jameson and my wife is Sinead.

00:36:56.560 So she's Irish and we fully plan on taking him to Ireland and do like the whole Jameson Guinness tour when he's up. 0.98

00:37:02.420 But no, if you don't accept the shit and acknowledge it and head it face on and then just think it's all sunshine and roses and cute pictures on Instagram. 0.98

00:37:13.020 you're just you're just lying to yourself and you're like projecting some like I don't know 0.99

00:37:18.360 self-esteem issues that I feel like you have I feel like you have to those people have to put

00:37:22.460 on this perfect image of everything is great and pristine and perfect meanwhile like their house

00:37:27.780 is on fire in the background and like their husband doesn't love them like whatever it might

00:37:31.180 be right so I think anyone who does that is just like projecting their own and they feel bad that

00:37:37.020 they don't have the fortitude to say what they actually feel in their heart a hundred percent

00:37:44.540 absolutely yeah i mean the hater the haters online i just for me it is the same ones and

00:37:50.500 also the same frequency i get like one on every post uh but the majority of people i think and

00:37:56.540 the majority of people commenting on what you say about parenthood are like thank you thank you for

00:38:01.280 just being real and for saying what it is really like to parent a toddler because the insanity

00:38:06.660 is just so crazy and i think that for you being a man doing this online is is also really important

00:38:15.980 because i don't think that men have a lot of spaces in order to share how they feel about

00:38:21.200 parenting and i want there to be more of those in the world right yeah i think for guys it is

00:38:26.320 very hard because we have the two emotions right it's either quiet or mad right like on average

00:38:35.540 like if you're a man, you're either like quiet or you're angry. Like there's not a whole lot. And

00:38:41.360 we have so many more emotions that we, that are in here, but we don't really necessarily get to

00:38:46.140 express. And for me, it has truly been therapeutic to be able to talk about it in an online space

00:38:53.640 that the one toddlers of terrorist video that has, you know, like almost 4 million views at this

00:38:57.980 point, I had nothing on my mind that day aside from like, I was just crazy. Like I was, I was

00:39:04.480 so tired. I think my son had legitimately terrorized for like 14 days straight. And I was

00:39:11.220 at like a bubbling point. And my workouts, you know, deadlifting 500 pounds for reps wasn't

00:39:16.700 enough to like let all my frustration out. So I decided to like pick up my phone and just like

00:39:20.920 talk shit for 90 seconds while I was walking my dogs. And it turned into everything that it is 0.98

00:39:26.740 right now. And I think, you know, it is a wonderful place, the social media sphere that we're in to

00:39:32.620 physically talk about it. I think that all guys need to have a group of, you know, other dads

00:39:37.540 that they can just talk to about, even if it's just a text chain with your friends and, you know,

00:39:41.360 sharing memes back and forth. I have a couple of guy friends on Instagram that we do that with,

00:39:45.240 but we have to be able to share how we feel because if we don't, all of that stuff is just

00:39:52.640 going to eat us from the inside. And I find that if you don't let it out, then it's going to turn

00:39:57.840 into something negative. And it could be you snapping on your child. It could be you snapping

00:40:02.080 on your husband or your wife or someone at work so why not find a positive outlet and be something

00:40:08.320 that's going to maybe bring some joy to someone else and make them say hey man like hey we're 0.96

00:40:12.640 fucked up too cool let's high five about it and laugh at the fact that we all have the same 0.97

00:40:17.700 three-year-old child terrorizing us even though they might be a different color or size or gender 0.83

00:40:22.940 but like we all share the same universal love like these two to three-year-olds are some of

00:40:26.720 the meanest human beings on the planet and we're all just trying to do the best we can to help them

00:40:30.620 survive and become adults absolutely absolutely i mean i have to say i sometimes think that my

00:40:37.120 toddler is like the meanest drunk girl in my sorority right like i'm just like oh my gosh

00:40:44.560 it's like she's had like some beers and she's like where's my phone where's my phone where's 1.00

00:40:51.260 my keys oh my god you're the worst did you eat my french fries this is bullshit this is bullshit 1.00

00:40:59.240 it and i'm just like oh my god you're stacy from tried out um where's the cat where's the bitch 1.00

00:41:06.560 where's the bitch oh my god um i love this i love this conversation i think yes the the solution to 0.98

00:41:16.860 the male loneliness epidemic and the parent loneliness epidemic is just for us to be able 0.99

00:41:21.760 to bitch about our kids a little bit more often there's gotta be like just a few minutes of

00:41:26.920 commiserating and be like oh it sucks for you too okay i'm not the only one because i feel like we're 0.96

00:41:32.340 all so many of us feel like we're on this island of like it like there can't be this many million 0.99

00:41:38.320 little assholes but apparently there are there are there are this huge vacuum of assholes so many 0.99

00:41:43.340 so many so many assholes so many assholes but if we i feel like if we do our jobs effectively 1.00

00:41:49.780 as adults now and deal with these assholes now and like nip those assholes in the butt they 1.00

00:41:55.760 will not be assholes when they become adults. No, they will not. No, they will not. They will 1.00

00:41:58.880 be excellent, excellent adults. And we are going to be so psyched to go tailgating with them and

00:42:02.460 go drink Jameson with them in Ireland. I think, you know, you know, being a trainer, you know,

00:42:06.820 I interact with so many different styles of human beings. And especially, you know,

00:42:10.520 I started my career in 2012. When I was at LA Fitness, I did 30 minute sessions because that's

00:42:17.500 all they had. I made $9 per half hour session, which is freaking crazy. But I still love that

00:42:22.260 way more than any time I spent when I was in corporate banking. But just the volume of human

00:42:27.740 beings that I would interact with on a daily basis, I would train people from five in the morning

00:42:31.820 until noon, go home, take a nap, come back and do it again at night. And then when I opened up my

00:42:35.680 gym, I had like 200 members. So when you see that many types of people and you see all of the

00:42:43.480 emotions, all of the bargaining, all of the like, who doesn't get all the way down on their squat,

00:42:49.040 who skips reps, who doesn't count the reps correctly. Like there are all these little

00:42:52.700 things and I'm like, oh, your parent did this to you when you were a kid or your parent didn't do

00:42:57.100 this to you when you were a kid. Your parent never corrected you. Your parent let you be an asshole

00:43:00.360 and never checked you on it. Now you're a grown up asshole that shits all over the place. So I think 1.00

00:43:06.100 it is our responsibility as parents to provide a sense of realism and love and support, but also 0.99

00:43:12.400 be like, hey motherfucker, this is not okay behavior for you to continue doing. But we have 0.99

00:43:17.120 we have to check them so that they don't wreck themselves in when they grow up to be adults

00:43:21.000 exactly exactly i could i mean i just couldn't agree more i really couldn't andre will you tell

00:43:28.300 everyone where they can find you and your wonderful content and all all of your fitness content too

00:43:34.400 because it's just so good if you go on the instagrams instagram.com go to instagram my

00:43:39.620 My handle is Andre Cruz, all one word, A-N-D-R-E-C-R-E-W-S.

00:43:46.100 I am on TikTok.

00:43:47.300 My handle there is at Andre Cruz Control.

00:43:50.820 That's an old play on my fourth grade teacher, Mr. Frazier, called me Cruz Control.

00:43:55.200 And I'm also on YouTube.

00:43:56.880 I'm not as active on YouTube, but that's just Andre Cruz.

00:43:59.620 And if you want to train with me on the ladder app, you can get a free week of my program

00:44:03.500 just by clicking the link in my bio on my Instagram or my TikTok account.

00:44:08.060 And as of right now, I think we have 5,700 members around the world using my program.

00:44:14.640 So I have members all across the continent of the United States.

00:44:16.860 I have people in the UK, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand.

00:44:21.940 So wherever you are, I want to help you become the best and fittest version of yourself for

00:44:26.040 your family.

00:44:26.820 And once again, it's not just about building these beefy muscles.

00:44:30.040 It's about building strength and longevity so that we can keep up with our kids and then

00:44:33.320 eventually be able to keep up with their grandkids in the future.

00:44:38.060 Thank you.

00:45:08.060 Thank you.

Under the Influence (with Jo Piazza) - September 23, 2025

Strong Enough to Survive Toddlers With Andre Crews

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