From 30 Jail Bookings to Building a Nationwide Meal Prep Brand

He had a weight problem. I helped him push off 100 pounds in six months. And now he’s actually the director of that same rehab that we went through together. Welcome to the Know Your Ship podcast presented by E-Hub. I’m your host, Frank Dolce. 1% Fitness Kitchen. This is the founder right here, Robert Mulling. Utah native. Utah native. Is that correct? Is it Lehi? Did you grow up in Lehi? I grew up in Oram and then made my made my way up to Salt Lake and then came back down to Lehi cuz it’s just a great place to raise a family. Yeah, it is, isn’t it? How many kids do you have? Five. Five kids total?

Yes, man. You’re in it. How old are they? Um, from the age 20 all the way down to four. Holy cow. Are you done? Yes. Yes. I thought I was done. I thought I was done before the last one. Yeah. And then you weren’t. And I wasn’t. Yeah. I mean, I’m sitting here looking at you like you’re super fit and super well spoken and you you run this nice you have a couple businesses that you’re running and family man like it. You probably had no problems in your life growing up. You look like you just have it all. You look like you just have it all figured out. Yeah, that’s a it’s a great look,

but it was life was a struggle. Yeah. And but and I think that’s meaningful the the struggle if you if you could enlighten us about that and and maybe why it was it was meaningful and how that’s uh benefited you today and where you are today. Yeah. So growing up poverty um in a substance abuse home. Mhm. My is that is that both of your parents? No. So my biological father departed and was kind of around randomly. Mhm. Uh around the age of two. And so my mom and then stepfather are who raised me. And fast forward my mom passed away 2019. Um, and that was related to substance abuse. And so for me, I

went through the fire. Uh, I chose wrong friends. And the sad part is once you get put into that bubble or into that world, it’s hard to get out. Yeah. Um, the system is not created for uh rehabilitation. It’s created to keep people inside of the system to continue get paychecks. When you say uh people continue to get paychecks, are you talking about the industry that is Yes. [clears throat] They So they don’t It It sounds like there’s not a lot of motivation to get people out of the system. No, they it’s essentially a number. And if you look at statistics, it it’s full of a lot of failure and not a lot of success.

Mhm. Um through the treatment programs I went through, one of the first things they said to you is get a nice suit. Mhm. Cuz you’re going to go to a lot of funerals andor court dates and post treatment. Um and obviously I didn’t like there was multiple failures throughout the window of recovery. And by the time I was 21, I had over 22 friends pass away from substance abuse, one of which was my brother. Had all of these people participated in some sort of treatment? No. Like, no. That so back when back in the day, uh treatment wasn’t really an option. It was more, hey, we’re just going to go put you in a box.

you’re going to spend time there and when you get out you’re going to be good. Mhm. But that’s not how it worked. It would for me personally when I went in, [clears throat] excuse me, when I would when I went in, you want to belong, right? And that’s part of life is belonging to some sort of crowd. And so the box that I fit within was within troublemakers with people that use substance. And that was my identity for a long time. getting away from that. The thing that kind of that helped or kind of helped create the new life was my first time that I went to rehab. Mh. Um, and that’s kind of where

1% fitness was created was um helping others achieve health through food and through fitness. um one of my last days in incarceration. Um found God, found fitness. God didn’t really like I was unsure of my relationship with God. Mh. And so the fitness thing I knew how to do it. I did it well and I enjoyed doing it and it was a great release of energy and I’m a high energy guy like [clears throat] I’m always have to be busier doing something and so fitness was amazing for me. It was probably same I I it would be a fair statement to say it saved my life. How how helpful was the rehab situation? Like is

that So I’m just trying to understand how you find your way out of the situation you were in that started. How old were you when you kind of got involved in substance? 12 years old. Wow. And that was prevalent in the home like mom, stepdad, everybody kind of engaged. Yes. Stepdad was more cannabis and not heavy drugs and then mom was uh prescription medications. Oh, gotcha. So, was it what I want to get back to the rehab thing, but was it just a matter of all of that stuff was available to you? Like how did how did you get started with that? So it was kind it was my escape from my home life and

my older brother that’s the things that he was involved in was you know it starts with you know the gateway drug where it’s cannabis and then alcohol and then inevitably got deeper deeper deeper and then I discovered I liked uh pain pills and that consumed a a large amount of my life. M there’s this thought about I I mean I think there’s this thought about cannabis as being a very manageable drug. I haven’t experienced it. You have. So I want your perspective on the truthfulness of that statement. It’s an I I would like to say that it’s an internal thing, right? when you go back to humans, we just want to belong to something or

some group. Um have some sort of validation and that’s what I see. And that gave me confidence. It gave me power. It gave me friendships. Unfortunately, it came at a cost. And so, is it absolutely a gateway? Yes. Um that’s what I first dabbled in because it was the cool thing to do. Mhm. and it took me away from the environment at home. I didn’t have to think about it. So when did you or how did you determine or discover that you wanted there was something else out there for you? There was a different life out there. It took till about 28 and yeah being institutionalized over 10 years. How many times over 30 in

a 10-year period? um collectively overall from 16 to 28. Okay. 30 times. And when you say 30 times, you’re in different types, different institutions. You’re in jail, you’re in rehab. What What does that mean? Just uh just jails or we they call them bookings or how many times you were checked into that. And it was Utah County Jail. That’s pretty much where I spent my 18 to 28 the majority of my time. Um, I would get out and then I would reaffend cuz I would make friends inside of the institution. Sure. And then we’d go hang out after and cause trouble and then I’d end up right back. Gotcha. All substance abuse related. Okay. All

right. So in this period like you’re deep in it and what what was it what was the inflection point? When did you decide like I this is not this can’t be my life? So upon my last defense um two second degree felonies possession with intent to distribute. Uhhuh. Cuz when you’re in that world you have to figure out how to make money right and support your habit. and um my now 16-year-old daughter um the mother of that child was pregnant and I was facing two felonies and I there was a moment and this is definitely a God thing. Um there was a moment while I was incarcerated not knowing my final fate waiting for sentencing

where I was just like you know what this is not my life. I’m living somebody else’s life and a slave to a substance and I I committed at that point in time where I’m just like, “Okay, I’m done.” But was it the last time? No. It for a large window of time, almost 3 and 1/2 years. It was solid because I was very involved in different Alcoholics Anonymous uh programs that I found through the rehab center that I went through. Mhm. And so the the child and just I was done done living that life, done watching friends die, done you know destroying the life this you know the minimal life that I had. Yeah. And

uh in the midst of that you you decided you made the decision and is that when you you talked about it earlier fitness and God is that the same time period? Yes. Committed to those things and fitness was meaningful. Absolutely. When you’re when you’re in there and there’s really not a whole lot to do except read books and try to move your body. Yeah. Um, I discovered I’m like, I love this. This is fun. And then post, so I was incarcerated and then I went to rehab for almost 90 days. And then from there, I went into transitional housing for 18 months. Uhhuh. And that 18 months was amazing. Like, one would assume there’s a

really big It’s it was called the George House. Um, it was part of the Haven. That was a treatment center I went through and it was just full of all sober people and so it was a community and that’s kind of I I liked cooking cuz one of my first jobs was cooking and that’s one of my love languages. Cooking. Yeah. Gotcha. And and so when you say one of your first jobs like what how did that unfold as as a cook? Um so first first job was paper out boy right that one when papers existed. But then I work at Showny’s restaurant out in Provo and restaurants are not the best environment to work

in. Um especially when you have substance problems. Most I from my opinion a good amount of cooks or people in that industry use some sort of substance. Mhm. And so the within my home cuz I had departed and was living with my mother. Mhm. The um the way that I would help contribute and pay rent was getting out going out and getting a job. So cook at shownies. Yeah. I’m I have an aversion to grease because that shown was the breakfast uh buffet and I used to just cook piles and piles of bacon and it was so gross. Well, I mean I love bacon. I could see how piles and piles of bacon might be

overwhelming. So, how did you develop how did that Man, I have so many questions for you. How did you how did that develop into your love language cooking? So, as as a youth, poverty, having to go to the grocery store with food stamps, and this is back uh 10-speed bicycles, riding with my brother down to to Smith’s and my mom was passed out on a couch. Like, she was there, but not really there. And so myself and my brother um a lot of the medical issues came up from when she had my little sister and had a hysterctomy and a bunch of complications and my stepdad was gone at work. And so to feed the

home, I learned how to cook and discovered that I absolutely like at that point in time I didn’t I complained a lot about it and I didn’t know that it inevitably would be what I actually love doing. But even in my home currently, like I I cook. I like scream at my children to come upstairs and get food as quickly as they can, but they don’t listen because food’s the best food. Absolutely. And so it was pointed out to me. It’s like, hey, like I physically feel fulfilled when I’m giving somebody something to consume and nourish their body. And it’s weird that that’s kind of the lane that I ended up landing in for occupation.

Yeah. So, you’re cooking for the family. You’re cooking for siblings. You’re cooking for mom. And did your mom ever get out of that situation, that scenario? No, it took her multiple rehab visits. And then towards the end of her life, um, she had about 6 months sober, which was really cool. Um, typically when something like that gets a hold of you substance, especially opiates, it is terribly complicated and difficult to get away from it. I think the success rate is around one 1 to 2% of people actually stay sober. Unbelievable. Well, tell me about the I mean, so your mom went through rehab. You’ve been through rehab a few times. Tell me about tell me

about rehab and the the effectiveness of of being in those scenarios. The success rate’s low, but the people that succeed do fully, right? And me personally, I’ve had a couple I don’t want to say hiccups, but inability to express my emotions or feelings and went back to the substance in the past and each time it comes with a larger cost. When I was younger, it was, you know, it was me, myself, and I didn’t have to worry about anybody else. Mhm. Now that I have other humans and people that rely on me and look up to me and I also that’s kind of the the changing dynamic is being able to share with my children

a healthy version of myself and show them through life, right? of cuz my biggest thing is as a kid I want to prevent them from going through all the same heartache, troubles, all the stuff that I had to go through. Absolutely. And so that’s my motivating driver right now is like my kid, my 10-year-old’s in baseball, basketball, uh football, soccer, like every sport, wrestling, um he’s in it. Um because idle hands typically cause trouble. Mhm. And so my uh my wife Samantha is on the same page where it’s like, “Hey, let’s keep him busy, keep him busy, keep him busy.” And she’s like a saint. Um never had substance issues, just a really good human

being. And I’m lucky that that’s who I get to help guide me and also guide my kids. Well, I bet that’s a fascinating story, too. I don’t want to get off the rehab thing quite yet, but to end up with someone who’s never experienced substance, that’s a different world, right? I mean, it’s a completely different world. So, when you’re going through the rehab scenario, um, how much is it I mean, I like to I like to say sometimes it’s hard to save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. And so going through the rehab scenario, is that is that is that real? Like rehab doesn’t save you unless you make the decision 100%. But it’s

it’s a meaningful piece of your recovery. Yes. It’s I mean I would see lots of people come through and then in a matter of 90 days um I actually watched a person get released and then come back into rehab with a new charge. Wow. However, the the ones that succeeded. So, um Josh Craig, he was one of my first transformations. What does that mean? Uh transformations with the 1% with the food. Uhhuh. He kind of motivated me or pushed me to move it forward uh and pursue 1% as a business. So, Gotcha. He had substance abuse and his was meth and cocaine. He was also a patient or he was also in the same rehab

as I was. He got out, he had a weight problem. I helped him push off 100 lbs in 6 months and now he’s actually the director of that same rehab that we went through together. Wow. Okay. So, that let’s let’s start talking about that transition from this very difficult uh 28 years. And I’m not I’m not saying everything has been, you know, sunlight, sunshine since that point, but but you’re you’ve hit this inflection point and you want to create a new life or you’ve determined that you’re living the wrong life. The life you’re living is not the life you want to live. Okay? So, you have a passion for fitness. You have a passion for

cooking, for providing meals to others. That’s the basis of your company. Is that right? It is. And so tell me how you how this all came about. How did you devise this? And with the help of who who were you just talking to us about, Josh? Yeah. Yeah. Uh and and how did you get started? So, in the rehab, uh, transitional housing, Uhhuh. again, it was probably 60, I think 60ish men that lived in this complex. Mhm. It’s called the George House. And we’d go to meetings together. We’d go to back to the same rehab together cuz they also had meetings there. And I would just cook my own meals, right? So, I started, nowhere

would really hire me because of the felony convictions. Supersonic Car Wash actually gave me an opportunity. Um, I started working for them, best performing sales guy there, and started going through school cuz revoke uh I can’t uh revoke it’s a state program that pays for schooling. And so started focusing on uh fitness technician and nutrition over at Salt Lake Community College. Mhm. Um, [snorts] and I would come home and I would cook and like stray cats, all the other guys would come running down as soon as they would smell the food cooking. Yeah. And so I would just overproduce and make tons of food and inevitably Josh, which was one of the first transformation as

I was going through school, um, he saw me eating one eating one of the meals and he’s like, “Hey, help me out.” And I was like, “Sure enough, I absolutely can.” And so I started making me mills um out of the the out of that home and then moved out with a couple of roommates from that same treatment. Mhm. And as I’m going through school, I was actually in my barber’s chair um in a barber’s chair getting my haircut when one of my uh personal training clients came in and saw me eating one of my meals and he said, “Hey, cook that for me.” And my response was, “Yeah, I will if you buy my

food.” And so it started as like a side hustle from my home. And I operated out of there for about 6 months. Uhhuh. Um I’d have people coming over. We’d do Skinfold calipers. And in the beginning, it was not just the food. It was here’s a training program. I’m going to track your progress. So the the whole shebang. Yeah. And I had a ton of success with uh the gentleman’s name is Arthur. He had amazing success and so his whole office just jumped on meal plans. Really? And so and so and so you started Did you you but did you have an official business at that point or people were just like, “Hey, can you

cook us some can you cook us some meals?” Yeah, it was a side hustle in the beginning. And when that happened, when people were like, “Hey, cook us some meals.” Were you like, “Ah, this seems overwhelming.” Or were you just like, “This is exactly where I should be.” The beginning was overwhelming cuz I was, this is before Excel and AI, I manually wrote down each person’s name. Uhhuh. and then would have a checklist of if they still owed me money, what orders they got, and then I would keep separate their results and kind of their tracking and pictures. And the concept then of 1% fitness kitchen is uh you’re you’re not just doing meal, it’s

not just meal prep. I mean, meal prep is kind of the foundation of it, but it’s like lifestyle change, health for for individuals who are feeling like there’s a there’s a better there’s a better way. Is is that is that fair? Is that how you you would describe it? Because we like like there’s lots of meal prep. I mean, there’s lots of meal prep companies, but the only thing I ever hear about meal prep is how easy it is to make a meal, right? like, “Hey, pop it in the toaster.” And 15 minutes later, ding, you have this hot meal and it’s all fresh and it’s so good. But I don’t ever hear like this

meal is part of a lifestyle program and we’re going to help get you. We’re fitness is going to be a foundation of this. Yeah. So initially that’s how it started and not knowing and I went through school got multiple personal training certifications and as the food progressed I I discovered hey I need to get more educated with nutrition and that and so the fitness aspect or that side kind of took a backseat uh for about I’d say four to five years and then as you were getting the nutrition side dialed Yep. and then discovered, hey, we’re going to start running 8week challenges so we can take and implement both the fitness and the tracking and

then also the food. And so we started calibrating the food based on and that’s definitely not scalable, but we started calibrating the food based on what the person’s need was. Oh yeah. and scalability as you grow. There’s that interface where it’s like, hey, I’m face to face meeting with every single customer every single time. I know them by first name. I could look at them and I could tell them, you know, what their progress was. And as I grew, um, my hands-on ability kind of went to the side, but I loved the I love people and I loved the connection. And so trying to discover a way to have both worlds and have both succeed.

We implemented the 8week transformation challenge. So once a year um typically around January when everybody’s new year, new you we’ll do a challenge. Gotcha. And do you do challenges throughout the year or is it does it start typically in January? Gotcha. And in your exper Okay. So now you’ve you have all of the physical side like you’ve trained trained yourself, you’ve gone through you’ve taken courses, fitness certification stuff. Now you’re getting the nutritional side dialed in and it’s a great combination because anybody who’s ever said, “I want to get fit.” Uh I think nutrition is the hardest part. Nobody understands it. like nobody gets it especially for you know just guy off the street and

you hear so there’s so many different things that you can read look up and you know it’s you shouldn’t eat you know no bread no sugar no carbs only meat or it’s the other you know all plant-based or it’s like there’s all of there’s so much material like how do you it’s really hard to dial dial it in. The the easy thing or I would say easier thing is like I’m going to go to the gym. Like I can go to the gym. There’s a bunch of different workouts. This is the one I like. I think this one feels right. I can do that. I’m spend 45 minutes an hour in there. It feels good.

All the stuff. But then you get home and you’re like, I worked out really hard. I’m gonna have a cupcake. You know, like so dialing in, I think the nutritional part of it is is critical. If you were to say, if someone were to ask you like me, [snorts] um, is it is it is it physical activity or is it nutrition? Which is the most important for total fitness, overall fitness? What would you how would you answer that? I’d go I’d go 8020. 80% what you consume and 20% the output. I think that’s so true cuz you can’t you can’t uh out train a bad diet. But at the same time, there’s so much content

out there. Cabbage soup diet, keto, like Yeah. Carnivore, it’s endless. Caveman, all the and they all sound really cool. What was Body for Life? Do you remember that one? Body for Life was a thing for a while. I think it made a comeback, too. And Okay. So, what what did you learn? what what has been the basis? What’s the foundation of your nutritional program? Why does it work? So, I’m a numbers guy and if you can track it, you can change it. If you’re it’s uh deficit versus surplus. So, if you have a surplus, you’re going to gain. If you have a deficit, you’re going to lose. However, when you look at like your cabbage

soup diets or these massive starvation diets where you’re starving yourself, you have what’s called your baset metabolic rate. Yeah, that’s just what you burn existing. My thing is is I will never feed anybody underneath that basabolic rate. Where you create the lofts is in that deficit between total consumption and total output. Mhm. I find a nice place right in between there where they have enough to still gain muscle, but also they are in a big enough deficit from their total burn to lose fat. Mhm. The biggest thing that I protect is muscle mass. There’s so many different functions, whether it’s bone density, longevity. There’s a lot of studies that are done around the more muscle

mass you have, the higher quality of life you have and the longer you will live. Mhm. And so above and beyond everything like the goal is to maintain muscle. So how much because muscle weighs a lot more than fat. How much do you pay attention to weight? Not a lot. More of it. And I disregard BMI or body mass index. It offended by it because it categorizes me as obese. Me too. Yeah. It’s unfair. But maybe I am. Don’t tell me if I am. I’ll start to feel really bad about myself. But it’s true because the more muscle mass, the more weight and then on that dank BMI, it’s like what? You fit in that

obese category. Yeah. So, I fully disregard BMI and the main focus is what is your body fat percentage or how much muscle do you have? And different people depending on your frame or different body type, you’re going to carry muscle, you’re going to carry fat differently. When I was going through school, I remember like one of the first things that blew my mind is there was a super super skinny guy. His diet was Doritos and Mountain Dew. Yeah. Yeah. We all know that guy. Yeah. And I looked at him, I’m like, man, he’s going to have a low low body fat. And in school, they required us to pinch over a hundred people throughout that

semester. And prior to pinching them, you had to write a projection or what you thought their body fat percentage was going to be. So you were like, he’s like 10. No. And he was around the 45 range. Yeah. No. And soaking wet who’s maybe 160 lb. Yeah. Wow. And it blew my mind. I was like, “Okay, concept completely blown.” And so that is that what your uh is that what your program focuses on now? Is it and that you help educate people in that in that way? Uh well, I guess I I want to say replacing body fat with muscle concern about uh muscle uh what would you what would you call it? Density, muscle

retention, retention. Yeah. Or percentage. That’s the biggest indicator is what is the percentage. So the tools that I use in inbody scanner, they say you want to have a Dcurve. So, you want muscle and their formulas are a little bit different than here’s your pounds of fat, here’s your pounds of muscle, here’s your pounds of um weight, right? What you look for is you always want muscle to be leading in regards to amount or how much you have on your body. It a resting state. It a resting state. The more muscle muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn. Yeah. Right. Well, you know what? You brought some You brought some uh samples for

us. I did. Which I can’t wait. I took the meatloaf. But wait, but you know what? I love meatloaf, by the way. It’s like a It’s It’s like there’s some nostalgia associated like my mom used to make meatloaf. No, I don’t think people make meatloaf anymore. You don’t see it. Bad name, but it’s so it’s so good. That or goulash? I love goulash. One of my grandparents used to love goulash. That’s funny. Uh, so you brought us these meals and I took the I took the meatloaf. I’m super excited about that. Looks like it’s very easy to prepare. But here’s what I noticed in the meatloaf. And the reason I took it is because it

had this thing in it that I’m not supposed to eat apparently. But I think there’s mashed potatoes in there. There is I I can’t eat mashed potatoes. Like that’s not on the That’s not an allowable thing, is it? That’s a starch, right? That’s going to just convert into glycogen. Yeah. So if you don’t use it or if you don’t so that people that so when keto came around if you are not active the ketogenic diet will help you lose fat but you’ll also lose muscle. So calories in calories out whatever you burn. So I really pay no attention to like people think carbohydrates are bad. carbohydrates are the main force in growth or hypertrophy or

growth of muscle. You absolutely have to have that. So, as I’ve went through all the the many years of, you know, testing people and running them through different protocols, I don’t stick to one specific program. It’s adaptable based on the individual, their lifestyle. And if you want carbs, you should be able to have carbs. a diet where you’re restricting and limiting what you can eat. The quantity, limiting the quantity is fine, but the spice of life is having variety and being able to experience things. So often times I’ll recommend, hey, after you’ve consumed these carbs, if you’re going to be stationary and not move, um, probably don’t consume them. But if you actually have the

ability to go out and move and keep things moving, then it shouldn’t be an issue for you. Gotcha. Interesting. So, how do you uh how do you manufacture your menu so that you can respond or are responsive to the greatest number of people as possible? You’re not making individual meals for individuals. I mean you can’t you can’t run a a business like that but so so is there a specific uh program that you’ve created or that you use so that there is broad appeal in your meal plans for this for your fitness challenges. Yeah. So we do initially we started at 6 weeks we shifted it to 8 weeks but the same protocol that I

run on that 8week program I’ll offer free of cost to anybody that gets the food cuz I want to show that what they’re doing actually has results. And so it’s basically uh a calculation of calories in calories out total burn. And as long as you are inside of that window, so up top you’re going to have total output for the day or total burn. Mhm. And then you’re going to have total intake for the day, right? And if the goal is fat loss, muscle gain, you’re going to be somewhere right in between there. Now, I don’t hit it 100% of the time, but the beauty is I have a tool if the people are local.

And that’s kind of where when you get into large scale business, not being able to have access to them one-on-one. Yeah. um that hinders things, but we’ll share, hey, here’s the protocol. If you have resource or ability to get get to one of the machines, you can send me the data. We’ll review it and then track it. And then I say, “Hey, change um change one thing. Change the amount of uh macronutrients. Drop your protein from 45% to 40%. Bump your carbs up by 5%. see what the outcome from that is. And because not all bodies are alike, um the outcome from each one’s going to be different. And then it’s just how do I

adapt or how do I program or change based on whatever the result was. Yeah. So, and and you’re so if you’re if you’re taking someone like that and you’re saying, “Hey, you need to bump up your protein. You need to diminish this a little bit.” you have meals within that that fit in those scenarios. So, so you could say, “Hey, we need to bump up your protein a little bit. We’re going to diminish some of this other stuff.” You should these are a few meals that work in that segment. Yeah. So, wildly enough, we still have full customization. So, somebody can hop on the website, but that one’s not The downside is that one is

not scalable. Yeah. as a as a for Yeah. And so that still exists because we want to be able to offer that, but we also have bulks or allocart where somebody could come in and that was kind of our introduction of that program to mitigate the workload of the full customs. And so the fit side, which has tons of variety, 16 different menu items each week, eight rotating menus. So, tons of different options. Those are basically the foundation or the bones for the program that I recommend to somebody. So, let’s say for example, the medium portion on the fit plan, the meals range from 450 to 550 calories. Mhm. And what does that mean? Medium.

The medium just the medium portion. So, we got a high calorie, medium calorie, and then a GLP portion. Let’s say we do the medium portion. That’s 450 to 550. The person, their basil metabolic rate, let’s just say it’s 1,400. Mhm. Between the two meals, let’s say one meal is 550, the other’s 450. And they fluctuate. So that’s what 9 1,000 calories just from the meals. Now assume they do a protein shake, they do a snack, beef jerky, whatever. I have them track those things in a My Fitness Pal, a different tool. Mhm. and they kind of fine-tune and get to that caloric recommendation on their end. I just give them the foundation. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay.

So, let’s just walk through. If I if I go on to the website, is that the best way to do it? Just go online. Okay. So, I So, I hit the website which is what? 1%fit.com. Okay. With the number one with the number one. 1%fit.com. Okay. I go hit the website and I’m like, I need to get fit and I just want to lean I just want to lean out a little bit. Um, uh, what does that process look like? So, if you’re local, you can you would theoretically put in your order online and then when you come in to pick up, you have the ability to scan. We’ll put you on the scanner to

spend about 15 20 minutes. Commonly, it’s about 30 because I like talking. Um, but we’ll run through that, get the results, and then 2 to 3 weeks down the road when they come in to pick up their next order, they’ll come in and scan again. And then the KPIs and the metrics that I’m judging based on to see if they’re heading in the right direction, muscle mass, fat mass, body fat percentage, basabolic rate. Um, and if let’s say for example, their muscle’s going up, their fat’s going down, weight’s also going down because they’re losing more fat than the muscle they’re gaining. That’s a mega win. Like that’s that’s the gold standard. Um, on the other

end, say for example, somebody’s losing more than 3 lbs of fat per 10 lb of 3 lb of muscle per 10 lb of fat. Mhm. Then I kind of pump the brakes and say, “Okay, what do and this is contingent based on an individual. If they have a lot more to lose and they’re losing 3 lb of muscle per 10 lbs of fat, we’ll pump the brakes and we’ll make adjustments, but it’s not the end of the world. Now, if somebody only has 10 pounds of fat to lose and they’ve lost two pounds of muscle in that pursuit, then we pump the brakes at like one and a half and say, “Okay, we’re bumping your

protein up and we’ll make these adjustments.” And there’s so many things that you can adjust, whether it’s the time that you’re eating, fasting, the macronutritional macronutritional ratios. There are so many different things that you can change. And we have the luxury of saying, “Okay, we’ve tried this. That didn’t work. Tried this. This didn’t work.” The biggest thing that stumps me is when somebody has hormonal issues. Whether their testosterone is low, their cortisol is high, there’s something off their thyroid that I don’t have the ability to control through food manipulation. And that’s when I refer out to a partner. So if I see somebody that is stagnant and I can’t get them to move the needle

and we’ve tried everything, the next resource is okay. Is it something that’s medical? Gotcha. Are you suggesting are you making recommendation recommendations on supplementation? Some. But that’s part of the that could be part of the program. Yeah. As well. Yeah. And all I have some favorites and happily they’re both a lot of the favorites are Utah based brands. Um but yeah, I’ll say, “Hey,” and we have partner semi partnerships with a lot of these like unspoken partnerships where I’ll refer them um just because I the things that I use in my life, protein powders, um the different supplements, if I’ve like them and I try them and I’ve had a handful of companies approach me

and say, “Hey, sell my product.” I’m my response is, “Hey, this is going to my family, my friends, and my people.” Right? If even if if even if I’m going to make money on it, like you don’t compromise integrity to make a buck. Generally, is there a healthy percentage of fat a person should carry and how does that differ between men and women? That’s a So again, it’s body type, lifestyle will play a huge and then age. Yeah, age is another big part of that. Mhm. So for men, I believe like 12 to 18 is kind of the range. And then females naturally because they reproduce um they have a higher fat content. And so

let’s say 12 is on the low end. Like men when they get to six cuz females when you get way too low and hormonal issues and Yeah. mayhem. Yeah. Right. I don’t want that. One one more thing about the business. Um, are you scaling this? What are the what are the plans? What what does the future look like? You because you’ve been in this for a long time. I have. You’ve been in this for a long time. 14ish years. Almost almost 14 years. 14 years. Okay. So, tell me what you would like to see this become as you continue to I mean, you’re not looking at moving along. You’re just continuing to build this business.

Wait, what should what does the future look like? So, I I’ve spread myself into a handful of different things. Um, I had mentioned prior when we were talking that uh I started in my Sandy location 2013, bought it in 2016. And then moved out to another location so we could ship nationwide. Mhm. Um, I also have an incubation company. And so I look at it and I a food business incubation. And so I look at it and I’m like, okay, I enjoy doing both. Um, but I’ve for the most part um have been a one-man band in regards to like the executive team inside of 1% Fitness. Mhm. And that has stunted my growth. Um,

and some other things that I’ve gone through in business over the last handful of years that have prevented the growth and distracted me. And so for 1% fitness, like actively looking for strategic partnerships that can help get it to the next level a little bit quicker cuz I’m You’re stretched pretty thin. Stretch pretty thin. and then also massively impatient cuz I know the value and the impact that 1% fitness can have. Yeah. And I feel like I’m shortch changing or uh not doing all that I can to bring the product to the people. Yeah. Oh, that’s interesting. Tell me about the success rate. like um I mean I’m almost thinking about this like rehab. Like

there are people who say, “Yeah, I want to be fit. I want to be a little more lean. I’d like to drop some, you know, fat body fat percentage and I’m signing up.” And I’m just guessing that there are people who sign up and they jump in and they’ve decided this is my inflection point and 8 weeks later or 16 weeks later or whatever it is, lower body fat, higher muscle mass, better health. And then I’m guessing there are people who say the same thing like I’m jumping in. I want to be more fit. And then there’s a little the lack of commitment or follow or follow through. So I’m I’m guessing you deal with

both of those scenarios. It’s like I mean it feels kind of like rehab. It is. Well, so as I went through rehab, one of my counselors was also had weight issues. Uhhuh. And for me substance like food is a substance, right? The only downside is is drugs you don’t have to have to live. Food you have to have to live. People gather and celebrate around drugs. Some do. Some people celebrate and gather around food. And we’ll categorize alcohol in that same realm, right? Is drugs. Um, but in order to exist, you have to have food. And so you like I’ve seen, you know, folks come in with the greatest intention and three weeks later they

come back in and the scales up and they get, you know, crushed and they’re like, “Oh, I don’t want to do this anymore.” And go down that negative loop. And so comparably um as I went through treatment, one of the counselors was like he was talking to me about my substance and we connected food is almost being like a drug cuz it comforts it. It’s it uh excitement, right? Like there’s a lot of things that are built around food. And so it’s difficult when somebody comes in with a food issue to help them recover because it’s everywhere. And I mean, if you go to a family dinner, Thanksgiving, um, grandma, hey, eat this, eat this,

eat this. And you know, and if you say no, Yeah. she’s almost offended. Offensive. Yeah, for sure. You’re like, what? I don’t like cake, but just eat this cake. Try it. I made it just for you. Yeah. So yeah, I like to this it has a lot of similarities. Yeah. Can you tell us about your greatest success story? Oh man. Inside of business? Yeah. I would say just uh staying prevalent and existing through COVID and through all of the different trials that I’ve been through as a business owner, just still being existing as a company because part two is that uh the incubation kitchen that I was telling you about. Yeah. I’ve watched um a

lot of companies come in, food trucks, bakers, whatever, and the success rate within a food company is very, very, very low. Yeah. Yeah. Super low. So, we talked a little bit offline about the concept of grit. And I think there’s a recurring theme on this podcast about grit, especially for entrepreneurs, and just the ability to overcome obstacles and to manage complexity and difficult things. It seems like just too easy to say your life experience, you had to develop that. You had to develop that ability to overcome Yeah. Is that fair? Yeah. It’s I’d like to say it’s a strength, but at the same time a weakness because Yeah. I like the commitment and the lack

of allowing to let go of things that don’t serve you. Um it’s difficult, right? Because I’ve committed to it. I’ve got the grit. I’m going to do it. And even though it’s costing you something, whether it’s sanity, peace, serenity, it’s costing you something, but it’s often times so hard-headed where it’s like, hey, I don’t want to appear as a failure. So, I’m going to keep giving it even though giving into it even though that it is draining me. Yeah. So I think it’s a a a power like a a a superhuman power but also um a massive negative or something that’s you know it consumes you must find yourself in uh stressful situations anxious situation

I mean family running a business having this incubator um I know that outside of those things. You’ve had other conflict in your life that you’ve had to deal with. Are you ever concerned about um or how do you avoid a relapse, falling back into a a previous lifestyle? It’s a struggle. It is a it’s a daily battle. Um, a lot of it, like I would say the majority of it is focused around my kids and my family. Like that is the driving force. Um, cuz my family deserves better. Naturally, I have an addictive personality and so does my ch, you know, my kids do as well. And you can see it within screens or different

things um because we’re looking for that pleasure. And so my biggest driver is making sure that they don’t have to like I don’t ever want to see my kid in an institution. Mhm. That place sucks. And it like once you enter it, you’re like in eternally changed. Like it is hard to go inside of that environment and especially if you go into like like prisons. I haven’t been thankfully. M but when you go in there the lifestyle that you have to project in there like I’m a hard you know I’m I’m hard like don’t mess with me like you have to be stern and like almost a different person and when you come out like

you have to disconnect from that person and identify who you actually want to be. It sounds like you’ve just found a foundation like uh and that that just keeps you helps to keep you grounded. How important is that for you um in your personal life and in your your business life? It’s it’s [clears throat] far from perfect. It is a it’s a it’s a a daily work, right? It’s doing the things or the activities slash um functions that identify who you you know who I am who I want to be. Um habits that was the word I was looking for. Yeah. So do you have like what are what are your things? Do you have

a daily routine? Are is there are there habits that you rely on to keep you grounded, to keep you moving forward, to keep you focused on family and faith and your business? And I, you know, bare knuckle just doing like there’s a lot of places that I lack and places I know I could do better, but there’s periods of time where it’s just white knuckling it and just being like, “Okay, I’m not I’m not reading. I’m not praying. I’m not doing the activities and even when things get mega stressful, the gym, back to fitness. When those things start to fall away and I recognize that I’m starting to fall back into those habits, I have

to give myself a check. And luckily, I have uh the wife who’s the best at observing and making sure. And second I start to come out of line, she’s like, “What are you doing? What are you doing?” And naturally it’s then I become defensive where I’m like wait me no not me and so it’s I think it’s clear communication around that where it’s like hey who am I? What am I being and does this align with who I say I want to be? Yeah. Okay. So you you’ve brought up your wife. You brought up your wife again. You brought your wife up previously and two completely different backgrounds. Sounds like it. It sounds like two

completely different backgrounds. So, how did that whole thing come together? So, there was a program called Addict to Athlete um that’s out of Utah County and the whole concept like Alcoholics Anonymous is you identify as an alcoholic and you do things to prevent a relapse. Whereas addict to athlete, it is you no longer identify as an addict. you identify as an athlete and part of that is, you know, running activity and moving in community. The program, the gentleman’s name is Blue. Um, which really weird connections. In latter words, he’s like a brother to me in a really different way. My mom ended up dating his father who he was uh like had never spoke to.

Um, and he also lived in the same neighborhood as I did. later he moved into that neighborhood. Um, but their whole concept is erase and replace. You don’t have to identify as an addict for the rest of your life cuz as soon as you put a label on yourself, well then that’s what you are again. And that’s the things that you’re going to do, right? A can opener, a can opener is a can opener, as long as it’s called the can opener is only a can opener. But if you were in a like a place where you didn’t have something hard to use as a hammer and you needed to use a can opener as

a hammer, it would function as a hammer. Not a great hammer, but it would work, but a hammer nonetheless. What did you just say that it erase and replace? It’s so It’s super interesting. It’s super interesting concept. Uh this stoic philosopher, I’m going to mess it up. I want to say it was Epictitus but I can’t remember if that was true but said uh or maybe I don’t know it was one of the stoic philosophers said uh it’s not the event that’s the problem. It’s your perception of the event. It’s how you think about it that’s the problem. And so if you think about the event one way then it’s an issue. If you think

about the event as non-consequential then then it it’s not. It’s the way you perceive it. So it sounds very much like that kind of concept. And so you just determine like, nope, it’s not I’m not an a I’m not an addict. I’m an athlete. That’s how I’m going to perceive myself. That’s how I’m going to live my existence. That’s fascinating. Do you is there are there numbers like what is the success rate in something like that? I mean, it’s just it’s got to be phenomenal. Uh it’s definitely better than the you know, the other ones. I don’t know those numbers, but from observation watching the people inside of that program compared to other programs because

of the community and closeness like they support each other. They do a lot of activities together that are not just sitting in a room complaining about your addiction and drinking coffee and Mhm. because that that was kind of my disconnect from Alcoholics Anonymous, which the program is amazing. It it had a big contribution to saving my life. But we all evolve and inevitably I was just like, “Okay, I’m sitting in a room with a bunch of people complaining about our problems and there’s a lot of solution in there.” And when you’re looking at the problem, it gives you insight to what the solution is. But there was a point in time where I was just

like, “Okay, there’s got to be more than this.” Yeah. You needed a step. You need another step. Yep. So, okay. So, now this is still leading down the path to your wife. How did we get there? Oh, so Addex the Athlete um one of the other members in there uh was a childhood friend. Uh her name was Audrey. She was friends with Samantha. Uhhuh. And she set me up on a date randomly and we met first time and we both just like Julian Michaels, the old trainer. Yeah. Yeah. And we kind of Great. Yeah. She was And so that was kind of the the humorous part and we started dating and wait that was the

that was the connection. Yeah. Julian. Yeah. Julian Michaels. Uh but uh your wife wasn’t in that world like in in the So uh did you have to overcome any any obstacles in that scenario? I mean I’m sure there were a lot of questions. Yeah. there’s not a lot of understanding um cuz she hasn’t experienced it firsthand and so when relapses would occur she’d be like just don’t do it like it’s simple right and then I would you know spiral into these are the reasons and then excuses and um it’s been a blessing because yin and yang you have to have the the you know energies that support one another and [clears throat] her personality type

and my personality type go really well together and the places where and again parenting right parenting 101 um she’s the hammer right now she’s the hammer and I’m the I’m the good guy the nice guy and we both wear the hats really well gotcha well it’s uh it’s a great story and um and I’m really interested to start trying out the food and checking out the program and where else can people where else can people find you? Where can they learn more about what you’re doing and and how to get involved? The old Instagram with 1% fitness there. Uhhuh. Um then our website and then my favorite is just coming into the store um in

in uh Lehi. Yep. And if you are going to counsel somebody who said who’s thinking that you know, oh yeah, I want to be I want to be fit. I want to lose some body fat percentage. I want, you know, I want to gain some muscle mass. What would you what how would you counsel them? What would you tell them before starting a program? Um, find something that you enjoy doing. Find things that you enjoy eating because if it’s like a punishment Mhm. We don’t respond well with punishment, right? We just find ways to deviate from getting the punishment, right? Whether it’s manipulation, but commonly we don’t want to change the behavior. [snorts] So, finding

things that you enjoy through fitness, how you can gather your family and do it as a group. It’s like I frequently walk and we just got a new puppy. I’m a doodle dad. Golden doodle dad. Um, never thought I’d be one of those. Um, but I mean we get to drag her and this is also beneficial because then you also get the kids off the screen. But like and she doesn’t love walking in the cold. Um, the wife doesn’t, Samantha. And so we got a treadmill in the basement now and I try to gather together and go out and do the activities together. Yeah. Um cuz again, community. Um, a lot of people do the

CrossFit because there’s a massive CrossFit community. Yeah. So, finding things that you enjoy, that’s like the biggest portion of it. Cuz if you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to do it. That’s exactly right. Or you have to find joy in it somehow, whatever it is. Okay. This may be the most important question I asked you today. Are you ready? I’m ready. when you’re trying to to maybe drop a few pounds or or drop some I’m going to try and get away from the weight fascination because I think you’re exactly right. Okay, so if you’re trying to lose some body fat mass, how do you manage the hunger if you’re working in a deficit? Egg

whites are my G-code. Have you ever had a Ninja Creamy? No, but I just got the machine. Okay, I’ll share it when uh off offline. I’ll share with you a couple of my favorite recipes, but they are lifesavers. So, you get the you get the benefit of ice cream. This is what I need. Oh, it’s the best cuz you still get the pleasure of the, you know, the cold creamy ice cream, but it’s healthy. So, egg whites, mega cheat code. Mhm. And when I tell like every client that comes in, I say egg whites and they uh freeze up a little bit, but you can’t taste it. So, I’ll do like egg whites, Greek yogurt,

cottage cheese, protein protein powder, clean Simple Eats protein powder. It’s the best. Um they’re really good. Um [snorts] and they, by the way, uh Utah company. Absolutely. Uh and like they’re at my local Harmon’s grocery store. Yeah. Yeah. And so I’ll take those and then I’ll also put a little bit of Oreos, like maybe two to three Oreos in a full thing. Uhhuh. And then freeze it. And wildly enough, my daughter, my four-year-old, who hates anything healthy, like she will not eat she will not eat meat to save her life. I’ll pull out uh the Biscoff cookies or and use them as a spoon. So maybe you’re eating two cookies total. Uhhuh. But you’re You’re

using it as a spoon and then by the time it’s done it’s soggy and tasty like you dipped it. Yeah. Okay. So, is it Do you have that recipe somewhere? I mean, we’re going to drive a lot of traffic to here because I think there’s everyone who listens to this is going to be like Yeah. How do you how do you stay away from the hunger thing? Maybe you just have to have I mean, there there is something to be said for having a little bit of grit in that scenario, too. Like, you just have to have a little willpower. But willpower is hard. Willpower can be really hard and it depends on things like

whatever’s happening in the day. Maybe it’s a great day, everything’s going right and then willpower is pretty manageable. Like you’re like, I got this. But then you you know you have a bad meeting, your boss yells at you. Uh you you know you you get a flat tire, whatever it is, there’s some stressor into your life and willpower is like it’s gone. it’s out the window and then you’re reaching for not just a couple Oreos, you got the whole bag going with some ice cream and and all the stuff. So maybe just a little bit of grit is helpful there too. And I think for me like finding and back to substance if you can

find a way to cuz it’s there’s a small window of time where you have to make that decision and once you make that decision and you’ve got past it, it’s now easier, right? So yes, it’s that initial. It’s so true. It’s so true. The initial is like it hits you hard and then if you can get past that. That’s exactly right. It It is a lot easier to just manage that to find it. That’s great. In uh in rehab, they used to have us wear like rubber bands. Uhhuh. And so when that thought came up, you’d snap back to reality. Oh. And I like that it changes the thought and then it reminds you like

there’s a couple of tattoos I have on me that are specific reminders of things that I don’t want. And so when I see them or have that thought, I look and I say, “Okay, well that the the one you just said is fantastic. Snap back to reality.” I mean, sometimes you just need to that little jump knock yourself a little bit. Yeah. A little jump start. Oh, man. This has been so great. I I really appreciate you coming in. It’s fascinating stuff. It’s a great story. And sitting here with you the way you look today, I don’t think anyone nobody would know all of the trauma that you’ve had in your life. So, it’s a

it’s it’s a great motivational story. Congratulations for for achieving all you’ve done so far and I mean just great things for you in the future. Good luck. Best of luck. Thank you. Thanks, Robert Mulling. 1% fitness kitchen. It’s right there on his shirt. Do you have gear? Like, can people go and buy some gear and some stuff? We used to. Now I’m the main This is like the only shirt I own. Yeah, this is the only shirt I own. Gotcha. Okay, last question. Favorite exercise in the gym? Oh man. Weighted pull-up. Weighted pull-ups. You know what? Okay. I have such I I have a terrible relationship with pull-ups. I have a terrible relationship with pull-ups.

And you know, of all the most fit people I know, if I ask that question, that’s always the answer. You know what I need to do? Pull-ups. Yeah. I just need to change my perception, my perspective on pull-ups. I need to make it a thing I love, not a thing I despise. So, when I go in the gym and I see that’s on the list of things I have to do, I just have to be I can’t wait to get to pull-ups. Put a put a cookie at the top of the pull-up machine and each time you get up to the top, you get a nipple. I’m going to get that creamy recipe and I’m

That’s what I’m doing next. Robert, thank you. Thanks for coming. I hope you’ll come back and visit us sometime. We’ll we’ll check in on you. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. Take care. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Know Your Ship podcast presented by EHUB. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.