Rock Bottom Isn’t the Problem—Staying There Is- Terrance Ogden

Most people say they want change.

But very few are willing to do what change actually requires.

In this episode of the Crackin’ Backs Podcast, we sit down with Terrance Ogden, founder of Project G.R.I.T., whose life is a real-world example of what it means to go from rock bottom to purpose-driven living.

This isn’t just another comeback story.

Terrance went from homelessness, drug addiction, and jail… to completing 1,000+ mile rucks across Texas—and now leads others through physically and mentally demanding challenges designed to pull them out of stagnation and into action.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Why most people searching for motivation, discipline, and purpose stay stuck
• The real difference between surviving vs truly living
• What people misunderstand about personal transformation and change
• How doing hard things—like rucking, endurance challenges, and physical stress—can reveal deeper mental and emotional patterns
• What grit actually looks like when motivation is gone
• The internal battles that don’t disappear after success—and how to face them
• Why inspiration without action leads to the same life, year after year

Why This Episode Matters

We’re living in a time where:

• People are consuming more self-help content than ever
• Motivation is everywhere
• But real change is rare

This episode cuts through the noise.

It challenges the idea that change comes from:
- more information
- more inspiration
- more planning

And instead shows that transformation comes from:
- action under discomfort
- consistency without motivation
- doing hard things on purpose

About Terrance Ogden & Project G.R.I.T.

Terrance Ogden is the founder of Project G.R.I.T., a movement focused on helping individuals break out of destructive patterns through discipline, service, and physical challenge.

After experiencing homelessness, addiction, and incarceration, Terrance rebuilt his life by embracing hardship—using endurance events like long-distance rucking to develop mental toughness and clarity.

Today, through Project G.R.I.T., he leads others through:

• Endurance rucks and challenges
• Accountability-based transformation programs
• Community-driven growth through shared adversity

His mission is simple:
Help people take the first step out of their rut
Teach them how to keep going when it gets hard

If you feel stuck…
If you’re searching for change…
If you’re waiting for the “right moment”…

This episode will challenge you to stop waiting—and start moving.

We are two sports chiropractors, seeking knowledge from some of the best resources in the world of health. From our perspective, health is more than just “Crackin Backs” but a deep dive into physical, mental, and nutritional well-being philosophies.

 Join us as we talk to some of the greatest minds and discover some of the most incredible gems you can use to maintain a higher level of health. Crackin Backs Podcast

Transcript

Dr. Spencer Baron (00:01.711)
Welcome. Today's guest is someone whose story at first glance sounds like something you've heard before. A man who hit rock bottom, faced death, and somehow found his way back to life again. But what makes this conversation different is not just what he went through, it's what he discovered on the other side that most people never talk about, really. Because the truth is, a lot of people are searching for change right now on Google, YouTube, podcasts, like this.

but very few actually understand what it takes to go from surviving to truly living. So today isn't just about hearing a story, it's about understanding what separates the people who stay stuck from the ones who actually transform. Welcome to the show, Terrence Ogden.

Terrence Ogden (00:52.051)
Glad to be here. Thank you for having me.

Dr. Spencer Baron (00:52.225)
So very good, man, very good. Let me start here, but know, Terrence Ogden, who is that? For someone hearing your name for the first time, what's the story that brought you to this moment here?

Terrence Ogden (01:10.527)
So who is Terrence Ogden? I have to tell a little bit of my backstory. And 24 years ago, I was strung out on drugs, in and out of jails, homeless, and into a bunch of nefarious acts to do the things that I had to do to get the things that I needed. And what happened was I was pretty much at my ropes end.

And there's a whole story in how I got there. But basically a man saw me at the end of his ropes and reached his hand out to me and he asked me to come back. And that's something that I hadn't heard for a long time. Most people really didn't want me around. And it was something that changed me. And this man changed my life. He taught me a new way to live that I had.

I might have known pieces of it, but I didn't know what he was going to teach me. And my life has changed dramatically. And today I'm 24 years clean and sober and I attacked the hard things in life that most people, including myself, are afraid to do because through that I have found purpose and the ability to overcome what seems impossible.

Dr. Spencer Baron (02:38.297)
You know, people tend to hear about this death to life thing and think they know that, you know, well, like your story or a similar story. But what's, I don't know, what's part of that journey that you experienced that people completely misunderstand about you?

Terrence Ogden (02:52.309)
you

Terrence Ogden (02:56.019)
Part of the journey was that Kenny was the guy, he was my mentor. He made everything really simple for me. And one of the first things he said to me was, the only thing you have to change is everything. for me, man, this light is really bright on me. Let see if I can fix that.

Dr Terry (03:15.896)
It's like the light of heaven shining down on you.

Dr. Spencer Baron (03:21.877)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Terrence Ogden (03:24.597)
All right. That's a little better. So I had to take a lot of hard looks. And for transformation to happen, most of the time, for most people, we're afraid to look at the things we don't want to look at. We try to avoid the hard thing that is what's limiting us to becoming who we're meant to be.

Dr. Spencer Baron (03:28.215)
Much better.

Dr Terry (03:53.433)
You know, I want to interject on something. We were watching something last night on TV, actually, and I was talking about this little island where the crime rates really high and these bunch of boys just gather just to survive and they, and the crime rates really high because they're just living off the street and they don't know any better. And you mentioned that you're a homeless and in and out of jail. And a lot of people, whether that jail is metaphoric or reality, they just think that they're

What makes your story different and how did you go from homeless and what was this Kenny, what did he do to say that you were able to receive?

Terrence Ogden (04:39.102)
So I had had people try to help me in the past. And my upbringing, I did a lot of growing up on a cattle ranch down in South Texas. And my grandfather kind of stepped in as the patriarch. And he was a tough hombre, know. And he was really a take no crap kind of guy. And he taught me a lot of stuff. He taught me how to be a man, know. Be tough, don't ask questions.

you know, don't ask for help, get it done and that. And that's all great information to a certain point. The thing with Kenny, and it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do was to ask another man to help me out because that mentality that was instilled in me, and I think a lot of guys go through that. I know for myself, I felt that that was a weakness and I didn't want to show anybody in the world that I was weak.

When Kenny approached me, now Kenny has a backstory of his own. He was strung out and Kenny was a bank robber and he did some time in Leavenworth. He did 12 years in Leavenworth for bank robbery. The last three years of that time he was in prison, he got clean. And when he got out, he felt that...

for some reason that he was saved from that, you know, that internal jail that we have a tendency to put ourselves in. And he was shown a new way to live. And his whole mentality, one of the things that really stuck with me that he said was the meaning of life is to show another man his. And that resonated very strong with me.

And I've adopted that mentality into my life. But a lot of what Kenny taught me was there's all these things in life that we avoid and we try to run from. And usually those are the things that we need to address. So one of the big things with him was find, do those things. You don't have to light those things, go.

Terrence Ogden (06:41.842)
have that experience and find out what it is that you were trying to avoid from that and use it as a learning experience. Maybe it's something you're into after that and you continue to do it. Maybe it's not. Either way, it's a learning experience. And I knew Kenny.

was at one point in his life just as messed up as I was. And I saw that something was working in his life. And I really just thought, maybe if I, I I had nowhere else to go. Maybe if I just do what this guy does, maybe I could get what this guy has. And so that's where it started. It started out with me going over to his property and.

We would lift weights, we would box, we would throw some steaks on the grill, talk about life, and then go find other people to help. And that was the foundation that we...

Dr Terry (07:30.702)
you

You know, the libraries are filled with self-help books. The internet is filled with influencers giving you positive stuff, change your life, all that. And that sounds good. I always say talk is cheap actions are everything. What are some of the hard lessons that you had to learn that never seem to come up in your views or you never see on social media? What are some of those hard lessons that don't really make it past the first level that you like to share?

Terrence Ogden (08:02.42)
One of the big turning points in all of that was he took me through a process and before that happened, I really had no relationship with any type of a higher power and I didn't really care about God and I really didn't think God cared about me. And we went through this process and one of the big parts of that process was making amends for a lot of actions that I had done.

And he made everything really simple for me, you know. And what we did was we came up with a list of people. I had burned a lot of people in my addiction and done a lot of stuff that I was pretty ashamed of. And one of the things he had me do is write a list of all these people, places, whatever that I had done some harm to. And...

I had three lists. had one that was an easy list and then I had one that was, that's gonna be a little tougher. And then I had a list of like, I don't know how I could ever face that. And so we had a little index cards, how, you know, and there's, there's a process. It's not just go and say, Hey, I'm sorry, I did this thing. That's, that's not really what an amend is. It's, it's changing the action and changing

Adopting a lifestyle to where you aren't committing those things and in doing whatever it takes to make right those wrongs and So these I knocked out the easy one pretty quick and during that process I mean there was a lot of people I hadn't seen in five or six years that I had burned and During that process these people just started showing up

And I'm not talking about just here and there. There was like five or six a week. And my first reaction in those situations would always be to tuck tail and run. And I'm a coward when it comes to that stuff. I don't want to be accountable. I don't want to face that. And somehow in some way, I went and made those amends. And some of them went really smooth and some of them did not go smooth at all. But nonetheless, I didn't die. And here I am today.

Terrence Ogden (10:19.683)
I remember in reflection going over everything that had led to that point. And I just, how was I able to do this? How was I able to do that? And it got back to the point was how the hell have I been clean and sober as long as I have? And it had been about a year at that point. And I hadn't been a year clean and sober probably since, I mean, I'm not.

trying to be grandiose or anything, probably since nine years old, you know, because we started dabbling at an early age. And how was I able to stay clean and sober to this point? And then it was at that moment that I believed in something much bigger than myself. And at that time it was just a mustard seed. And I knew that something was out there making the...

those people show up. How was I able to survive some of these situations that could have gone horribly wrong and I wouldn't be here today? And that's when I started to believe in something bigger than myself. And that has changed my life more than anything ever. It's my faith in something bigger than me. And that is my guiding light.

Dr Terry (11:25.464)
You know, I think people think that a lot of people are stuck, you know, and for various reasons, whether it's addiction of any kind, but people get stuck and they want change and they want transformation. But they have to understand transformation and stuck is hard to get out to. It's hard work. And people think that they know what hard work is, but I don't think they really understand it. What do you say to people when they come back and go, but that's hard?

Terrence Ogden (11:57.694)
Well, the hard things in life is where we grow. you can keep avoiding it. I have a 16-year-old son, you know. And the things that we do in life that are mistakes, we can't change the past. Whatever happened in the past is what happened. And facing those things today and starting off and setting standards in your life to live by makes all the difference in the world.

Dr. Spencer Baron (12:01.334)
you

Terrence Ogden (12:25.719)
And whatever happened before was a learning experience. If I don't learn from that experience, it was a waste of time and I'm going to repeat that thing. And like you were alluding to, it's like as soon as stuff gets hard, people want to go the other way. And that's where real growth happens. You don't, you know, you don't grow from sitting on the couch. You grow from going in and immersing yourself in life and doing the things that you don't want to do.

the biggest outcomes and the biggest, you know, realizations about myself has always come in those situations. And so I've, current, I'm always pursuing the next hard thing, you know, and avoidance just, it just, it stiffens my growth.

Dr Terry (13:12.578)
Well, right on that, I mean, that's a perfect introduction to your project GRIT. And I just fucking love that name. I just think it's so cool. Can you talk us about what GRIT really means, what the acronym is, or where this came from and what you do? And you take hard to a new level. And there are so many kids and adults that are stuck, like you say, on the couch in front of the computer, not living their life.

How does your project grit break all those changes? Tell us about that.

Terrence Ogden (13:49.908)
Sure. So how Project Grit started is I used to do ultra marathons and I, of the, on my off days, I would do what's called rucking. And what rucking is, is walking with a weighted backpack. And I'm an eighth generation Texan and I always wanted to do something really hard for Texas Independence Day. And...

The story of this group of men called the Immortal 32 fell into my lap. I was in Gonzales, Texas with my son at the museum where the Come and Take It cannon is kept. And I see all this stuff about Immortal 32. And I love history. And the curator there, I was like, what's this Immortal 32? And the Immortal 32 were 32 men from the Gonzales Ranging Company. And they were basically.

the law of that area. later turned into the Texas Rangers. Travis was at the Alamo with 174 Texan soldiers and they were surrounded by 5,000 Mexican soldiers. He sent out a call for reinforcements. Two guys from the Gonzalez Ranging Company intercepted that letter, took it to their leader, George Kimball, and said, what do we do? And he said, there's no question. We gather as many men and we go to the Alamo.

And they went and they knew it was most likely a one-way ticket, but they went anyways for their brothers. So that story fell in my lap and I said, this is it. This is what I'm supposed to do. I'm going to do a 75 mile road march from Gonzales, Texas to the Alamo on Texas Independence Day. And the first year I did it, I called my buddy.

that I worked out with Keith Busby and I was like, I got this great idea. You want to go for a 75 mile ruck? His first response was, are you out of your mind? Followed shortly by when are we doing it? And that first year we went out and it was, we weren't prepared for it. We really didn't have any type of a game plan. We didn't know what to bring. We didn't know where we

Dr Terry (15:44.312)
You

Terrence Ogden (15:59.427)
supply but we just went for it and we did and during that rock that starts off down this beautiful country road the wildflowers are starting to bloom there's all this history along that route by nightfall you arrive in Seguin Texas and you're about 35 miles into it and you're pretty beat up and you realize I'm not even halfway through and that's when the seed of doubt starts to get into your head

At about mile 40, you hit I-10. And I-10 through Texas. Texas, we have what are called frontage roads, which is a side road that parallels the highway. And it was, we arrived at this store. was during COVID. We were planning on resupplying. We got to the store closed due to COVID. And we're out of water. We're out of food. And the last door is five miles back. What do we do? Do we turn back and we add 10 miles to this or we press on?

decided to press on at about mile 44. My buddy was was he was suffering and this this stretch of road. It gets real mental and you're beat up. It's cold. The roar semis are going by and you're just not feeling it and you're ready to get this thing over with. I have a somewhat of a competitive background and I kept looking back and my partner kept falling back.

And it was the middle of the night and I started getting frustrated. I started getting angry and my mind was telling me this guy is slowing me down. I know how to just hunker down and knock this thing out. He's making it take longer than it should. lot of selfishness started coming in and I was ready to leave him in the dark and I turned around. I saw his headlamp about a quarter mile behind me and I was like, he's a grown man. He can figure this out. I'm pressing on.

Something on the side of that road that night made me turn around and I walked back to him the whole way back to him I'm still cursing him frustrated and I got to him and he's sitting on the ground and I looked down at him and he looked up at me and said I'm done. can't go on.

Terrence Ogden (18:09.798)
And when I looked down on him, I saw myself. I saw the version of myself when I was defeated and ready to just give up on life. And I thought about Kenny and how Kenny reached that hand out to me. I don't remember the exact words that I said. They weren't my words as far as I'm concerned. But I leaned down to him, gave him some words of encouragement and said, hey, all you got to do is stand up and we can finish this deal together side by side. I won't ditch you.

He eventually gets up and we started walking. And we finished that 75 mile ruck for the first time that year. And at that moment that he stood up and we started walking together, that was the moment Project GRIT was formed.

And Project GRIT's not about going some extreme distance. It's not about doing something extremely hard. It's about one person helping another person out when they're in their lowest point and helping them get through that and get to the other side and obtain the goal that you've set out to achieve. And that's what we did.

Next year, I called him up and said, hey, we're doing it again. Or it's just a cool story we tell over a campfire. We did it again. And we just finished our seventh year of it. Year three, we introduced the public to come and do it. And we just completed our seventh run of it this year. And I've seen countless people's lives change from doing that. And that moment on the road, which now I call the soul crusher.

because it's a turning point in that event to where you're beat and pretty much depleted and something just somehow you get through it and you don't get through it on your own. And that's the whole thing that Kenny taught me is like it or not, we are tribe like people and we need each other. And in this current society that we live in, we're so connected that we're disconnected. And that, you know,

Terrence Ogden (20:05.754)
trying to overcome that and show people, let's get out and go out and be with nature, whatever, and side by side go and do something hard together that we couldn't complete on our own. And that's what Project GRIT's all about. I hold multiple events throughout the year and rucking events primarily. And that's what we do. We go out and I have a whole group of people that show up, people that have never met.

and meet out there on the trail, on the road. mean, people that come from extreme opposites in life that would have never met or never connected throughout doing something like that together. And lifelong friendships are formed, you know? And I think that's a connection that this world is missing. I'm all for comfort, and I'm all for technology, but there's this missing piece that I think that we're losing that we need to bring back.

Dr. Spencer Baron (20:58.414)
What a gift, a gift that you have been given and that you're sharing with others. I was almost afraid to start talking because I'm choking up over here with that story. Thank you for sharing. was an outstanding and inspirational storyline there. What a great thing. Anyway, let me...

I wanted to go back and ask you about forgiveness. You talked about the people that you've burned, that you went back and had your three level list of names. I have to say that it's not just you, but I think we all regret certain situations that we've been in that we've burned people. I have.

Maybe a little different than you have, maybe a lot different than you have, but how could you just give me another story about someone that you communicated with that you maybe asked forgiveness or shared your regret with because you're such a great storyteller. I would love to hear what was one of the more challenging situations.

Terrence Ogden (22:26.673)
So in my past life I was...

I was the guy that wasn't afraid to rob the store. wasn't afraid to steal the car. I wasn't afraid to break into the house. Whatever I had to do is what I would do. And there are some particular people that I had taken a bunch of stuff from. And the monetary, there was no way I could ever replace that.

Some of those people, they did not like me, they did not want anything to do with me. And there was some altercations that happened in some of those instances. And I took what I had coming to me. There were other people that the same table had turned and they were forgiving and they were like, hey.

They saw the life I was living. knew the life that I was living. they were like, whatever you're doing, just keep doing it because what you have is the opportunity to go help other people. And there's been countless people that.

You know, it's funny because there's you never know what you're going to say or what you're going to do. What you do could change someone's life. And there's there's been countless people that I mean, I'm an open book. You know, I'm not there was a time in my life where I was ashamed of my past, but I know it made me the man I am today. And I don't wear it as a badge of honor, but I'm not afraid to tell you what I've done.

Terrence Ogden (24:00.827)
But there's been countless people that have come to me just randomly and just like, hey, you did this one thing or you said this one thing. And it gave me a whole new outlook on things. when those situations, I call them Godwinks. And it's funny that they usually show up when I'm kind of in a low spot and these moments show up and I call it a Godwink, man, because it's like, okay, keep doing what you're doing. And I got you, you know, that, but.

people come and tell me, know, there's something I've done or said that gave them a different perspective on things. That's, that's, that feeds my soul. And, you know, I mean,

I don't want to go into too many details about some of the stuff, but it means, like I said, some of them went well and some of them did not go well. But nonetheless, you know, it's like I've adopted a mentality and a mindset and a standard for myself that I'm going to live up to this and I'm going to do everything I can be to be that. And I'm not perfect. We all fail. We're only human, you know, and I learned those when those falls do happen, those are learning experiences like I alluded to before. If I don't learn from that, I'm doomed to

Dr. Spencer Baron (25:10.722)
Hey, thanks for sharing that Terrence. Is there anything you still have a battle with? I'm sure you probably do, but if you do, what? How do you deal with those internal battles? What what what helps you win that fight?

Terrence Ogden (25:25.297)
You know the thing that helps me win that fight is My relationship with God first and first foremost, know, but I also I put myself around people that I inspired to be like and I really think that God speaks to me through other people in actions that I see and

You know, if you're the baddest dude in the room, you're in the wrong room. So I try to put myself around people that are going to push me and help me maintain those goals. Guys that are not afraid to say, hey, you're falling short here, dude, step it up. You know what mean? I have thick skin. There's not a whole lot that you could do or say to me that hasn't been done or said to me, you know?

Dr. Spencer Baron (25:51.47)
You

Terrence Ogden (26:11.696)
That's a core thing is to surround myself around people that I inspire to be like.

Dr. Spencer Baron (26:22.028)
Actually, that's something I talk with my kids about. If you want to know who you are, look at who your friends are, and you'll see. Terrence, people are online and they're always searching for some motivation or purpose, discipline, whatever it is. You've got your influencers all over the place. There's no short list of those. But based on what you've experienced in your life and...

What are they actually chasing and how is that possibly, how could that possibly be the wrong direction? know, especially with what's on online these days.

Terrence Ogden (27:03.662)
I think for myself, you know, I mean, I spent a lot of years chasing that motivation. And motivation is great up to a certain point. If you're not willing to turn that motivation into some type of a discipline, that you're always going to fall short. Motivation will disappear. And the discipline that you instill in your life, like I was saying, I set these standards for myself. And...

I think a lot of people are just trying to get out of the moment. And when I first got clean and sober, I just wanted out of the situation that I was in. I didn't really want to go and get clean and sober. really, I just wanted out of the situation that I was in. And that happened, you know, I got out of the situation that I was in and eventually, no discredit to my wife or my kids,

But I obtained the goals that I wanted, but I felt like this mediocrity had set in. And I think a lot of people feel that mediocrity. There's got to be more than this. And that's when I started really pursuing the hard things in life. mean, for me, in early sobriety and everything, the hard thing in life was to...

be a productive member of society and obtain these goals that I had set for myself. there was a point that something had to feed my soul. And I found for myself in helping other people is what gives me that opportunity. One of the big things that was instilled in me was that, and I had a hard time with this in the beginning, was it's almost selfish of me to not give away what

freely given to me. And I think through that if people, more people probably pursue that, what can I do for you versus what can you do for me? I think this world would be a lot better place.

Dr. Spencer Baron (29:01.294)
Thanks for that. You know, it's interesting with this. We always blame this recent generation for always blaming their parents for who they are today. Did you, do you blame anyone for what you were when you were younger?

Terrence Ogden (29:25.392)
I did for a long time and you know I mean I had some role models that weren't the best role models in my life and people that I looked up to and when that came to a crashing end I pretty much like I don't want anything to do with anybody over the age of 25 and that was at an early age and I thought most people that are older they're all full of crap they're gonna tell you what they want to hear and so I had a real bad distaste for that and

the

Terrence Ogden (29:59.877)
The big thing for me was that I had to go and really pursue what was on the other side of that. Like I alluded to earlier, it's all learning experiences. Blaming someone is not gonna get you anywhere. A lot of the stuff that Kenny taught me, he taught me how to look at things from a different angle. I had this angle, well, know.

You didn't grow up the way I did. didn't have the role models I had, you know. And what that gave me a lot of is all I could see the differences in people. And I started, you know, I looked at certain things as weaknesses. And then I remember there was an old lady.

I remember exactly what she said, but it was on the topic of fear. And you know, I'm six foot three, 200 pounds, covered in tattoos. I'm a fucking tough guy, you know? And this old lady was talking about fear. And I was like, holy shit, man. I got the exact same thing that lady has. And it gave me a, it showed me a way to look at things from a different angle, you know? And like, the people I used to blame, I see it more in a light like.

They were the teacher and I was a student. They were showing me what I don't want to be in life. And that's how I take on my relationship with my kids. I didn't have the best upbringing. I didn't have the worst, but it wasn't the best for sure. the examples I was shown, instead of being, I look at it as a gift almost. That now I know what not to do. And if I do the opposite of that,

maybe I'll get a different outcome. And I think so far I've done a pretty good job on my kids. They're pretty awesome kids. I'm pretty much an open book, especially once they hit the teen years. I started telling some of my past story to them. And I think that that's gone a long way. Of course, every father is like, I'm going to be the father I always wanted, not the one I had. blaming someone else, that's just a circus.

Terrence Ogden (32:13.583)
It was a situation of circumstances, you know, and it made me the person I am today, you know, and I wouldn't, in all honesty, I wouldn't go back and change anything, you know. I mean, there were some moments I wish that wouldn't have happened, but it got me where I am today, and I feel like I'm a pretty good person today, you know, so.

Blame is not going to get you very far. What's the saying? at someone you got three more points straight back at you. So you need to look at yourself and be introspective on that.

Dr Terry (32:48.268)
Hey, I want to interject for something. You've met people from all kinds, probably millionaires and people off Skid Row. You've been all around your life. In this point in your life right now, I want to hear what's your definition of success?

Dr. Spencer Baron (32:48.621)
Yeah.

Terrence Ogden (33:05.295)
My definition of success, know, it's, for me, it's surrounding myself with people that are like-minded in a lot of ways. You know, I mean, the monetary things, the material things, those come and go. You know, there'll be times of feast, and there'll be times of famine. And if you, in my mind, if you're successful, you're gonna have people there at both times. You know, it's not like they just want something from you. They want to be with you.

And I feel like I've been really successful in that. I've established and been part of a community of people that, some rock stars, you know, and it's all a gift, you know, and it's, success is, it's not a material financial thing, you know, because we live in this moment in this world that we could probably, I mean, I could just make a phone call and something shows up at my gate, you know, and, but it's,

Those things don't last, it's temporary. Success is having some lifelong friendships and building communities and having that foundation of people around me.

Dr. Spencer Baron (34:22.35)
Terrence, do you believe that you have a superpower?

Terrence Ogden (34:29.263)
of if

Dr Terry (34:29.368)
Yeah, he can ruck for 75 miles.

Terrence Ogden (34:36.751)
I think if anything, if I have any type of superpower, it's to know that whatever I'm going through and whatever pain or discomfort I'm going through, I know that this too shall pass and I can live that and...

not let those things stop me. I I don't know. I'm just a regular guy. That's, you know, that's I'm not built different than any one of us. You know, I'm just I'm just a regular guy that has been shown a path that that you can overcome just about just about anything that you could dream of. You know, you could do the thing that you didn't think you could do. You know, I mean, last October, I did a thousand mile rock across the entire state of Texas and

Dr. Spencer Baron (35:22.699)
shit.

Terrence Ogden (35:22.819)
That was truly the hardest thing I've ever done.

Dr Terry (35:23.352)
How much was your backpack on this rock? How much did it weigh?

Dr. Spencer Baron (35:28.578)
That's hard to hear.

Terrence Ogden (35:34.576)
40 pounds. So yeah, I I did. I started 17 miles south of Port Arthur where, excuse me, where Texas and Louisiana, the Gulf meet and I tried to cross the state to the top of Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas came off of Guadalupe Peak headed east through El Paso, across the New Mexico border to the top of Mount Cristo Ray where there's a statue of Christ and I.

finished there and it kind of depicts my story going from the bottom being elevated up and then giving it all to something bigger than myself.

Dr. Spencer Baron (36:13.58)
Okay. I'm curious, you know, I would love to go rucking, but I would have to listen to music or something along the way. What, what is going on in your head for all those miles?

Terrence Ogden (36:26.447)
You know, it, so I camped out by 90 % of the time, just found a place on the side where I slept in the dirt. And I held six community events along the way where people could come and do a 10K with me. And there was a whole lot of highs, there was a whole lot of lows.

You know, there was a lot of pain. There was a lot of discomfort. I definitely the person who started and the person who ended or two completely different people and.

It really boiled down to, like I alluded to earlier, was the discipline. And there wasn't a morning that I woke up and I was motivated. My goal was to average 25 miles a day. I ended up, I did it in 40 days. I averaged a little over 26 miles a day. It came out to 1,046 miles. And during that time, you know what I mean?

There wasn't, like I said, there wasn't a morning I was motivated to get up and move.

I said, you know, this is what we're doing and get up, get off your ass, quit film star for yourself. you know, I broke it down. made it. made it. It was it wasn't a thousand miles. It was 25 miles a day. And it wasn't 25 miles a day. I broke it into five mile increments. And it's like all I got to do is get five miles. I could do five miles. And then when I'd make my five miles, I'd take a break. OK, I got to do five more. So forth and so on. And.

Dr. Spencer Baron (37:39.565)
Yeah.

Terrence Ogden (37:59.117)
Like I was saying earlier, one of the things that I learned out there is how important community is and how important it is to have face-to-face conversations with people, share a coffee, share a meal, because those times were far and few between.

There was a lot of moments when I knew a community event was coming up that it was a bittersweet thing because I had to be somewhere had to be able to conversate with people. I had to be presentable and I'm beat to hell. Everything hurts from the neck down, you know, and I would anticipate those events and be excited to be able to share and have community. And but I knew at the end of every one of those, it would be an extreme high, but I knew at the end of

every one of those events, it would be an extreme low because you go from like feeling human again and having social interaction to walking right back into the hell that you just walked out of. And it was, it was, I leaned on God a lot, whole lot. And it definitely changed me as a person, gave me a new perspective on things.

Dr. Spencer Baron (39:10.818)
You know, it's funny because we all have our, Dr. Terry and I, we, I'm sure we have patients that they complain about not being more active and they can't get started in exercise or something, you know, and it just, have to laugh because I was just having this conversation with a patient yesterday about just get your ass up off the couch and walk around the block. And even that was like a challenge for them. here you are, here you are doing 26 miles a day of pure hell. Yeah.

Dr Terry (39:38.366)
walking across Texas. swear to if you said you did it in August I will just fall over right now.

Dr. Spencer Baron (39:41.272)
Wow.

Dr. Spencer Baron (39:45.134)
I

Yeah.

Terrence Ogden (39:47.723)
Yeah, I started in October and I expected October to be a little cooler than it was and for the probably the first 10 to 15 days it was still 100 degrees out. And East Texas is extremely humid so every section of that I kept thinking certain sections might be a little easier but each one had its own demon, each one had its own element to

Dr Terry (39:57.112)
Ugh.

Dr. Spencer Baron (40:00.013)
Yeah.

Terrence Ogden (40:10.418)
And you know, the whole reason I did that and it wasn't, it was kind of twofold. I wasn't sure if I could do it. I wasn't sure that I could complete it in the time frame that I gave myself. I gave myself 40 days. I started on October 2nd. I finished on Veterans Day, November 11th.

which October 2nd is significant. That was the first shots of the Texas Revolution and of course, Veterans Day is significant. And I wasn't sure I could complete it in that timeframe and somehow I did and.

But the whole premise of the thing was to show people, it's not about some idiot walking a thousand miles across Texas. It to show people that we're built for more than we think we're capable of. It's to show people that we're built for more that society says we're capable of. And I'm not expecting anybody to go out and do a thousand miles to prove that.

But whatever your heart is, if it's talking to a relative, if it's reading a book, whatever your level of heart is, is we should go and tackle those things. And like Kenny told me, find out what that's all about and your purpose can be revealed from doing those things.

Dr. Spencer Baron (41:27.257)
Let me ask you, is there, during those moments that are really heavy for you, not literally, I'm talking about, heavy backpack is one thing, but I'm talking about heavy emotionally, what is something that you might do to reset your emotion to bring you joy?

Terrence Ogden (41:50.392)
So great question. When, which there was a lot of low moments and there was a lot of physical pain, there was a lot of emotional pain, you know, the disconnect and I'm not really the crying type. I just am crying out there for sure. But I look at what I've been through in life and I look at where I am today.

And all these other hard events I've done, the emotional losses that I've experienced, that I know I got through those things somehow in some way. And I would just consider those, those are all pennies in my piggy bank. And when things got tough, I thought I would think back to other experiences that somehow I got through. Something got me through that. How did I get through that? And they would carry me, you know?

There was a lot of prayer out there. There was a lot of meditated out there. I also had, luckily we live in a world where I can make a phone call. And there were some times when I had to call somebody and be like, I don't know, man. I need a prayer right now. I need some words of encouragement. And Daniel was clutch for me on the emotional and.

Dr. Spencer Baron (42:56.398)
Hmm.

Terrence Ogden (43:08.684)
Spiritual side of things with all that, you know, and one of the big things everybody should have a running buddy Somebody that is your I can talk to about anything and especially as men That's a really hard. That's a really hard subject for us, know, and I Ask everybody to you should have a running buddy that did hey man. I'm I got this great idea dude That's a stupid idea. Don't do it or that's a great idea

or I'm having a really hard time with this thing. A lot of the times in all my experience has been that like a lot of times I know the answers. I just need someone on the other end and I usually can answer my own dilemma before the conversation's over and they might say some great words, they might not say a single word.

but usually getting that out of here and just putting it out into the world makes it real. And I'm not carrying that baggage. And a lot of that happened along that way. Sometimes it was just me talking to myself and sometimes it was me talking to a person, bless you. But I think that that is essential to getting through this life.

Dr Terry (44:08.087)
Wow.

Dr. Spencer Baron (44:19.465)
great advice especially in this day and age. Terry, you want that asking?

Dr Terry (44:25.08)
Yeah. All right. You got people that you're inspired, whether it's this podcast, other podcasts you've been on, people you've talked to in your events, somebody that may show up for an event and they're inspired, but they fail to act. And then you see them in like a year from now or talk to them and they're in the same boat they were in. What, how do you tweak the words and how do you help them when the words, the inspiration

Terrence Ogden (44:58.411)
Yeah, so I mean, we all do that. I do that. And what I tell people that show up, you just when you show up, you just did the first hardest part. Walking through that door is the hardest part. Facing whatever demon that is, that's the hardest part, you know. And one of the things someone told me was you can't look at the past and

sit there and dwell on it. know, if you, what they say, if you have one step foot in the past and you have one in the future, you're crapping on your day. And today is a gift. That's why they call it the present. And so I can't.

Dr. Spencer Baron (45:34.542)
You

Nice.

Terrence Ogden (45:40.288)
truly change the future. But I know some of the actions I had to do will dictate how my future goes. And my past is just my past. There's nothing in the world that I could do to change what happened. All I can focus, if I focus on what I do today, my outcome tomorrow will probably be better. And so that's what I just tell them, hey, yeah, you failed. So what? What are you doing now? You know, I mean, if you want success in the future,

Put your focus in today. What am I doing today to get 1 % better than I was yesterday? And it's small steps, it's like a thousand miles. I think I did the math, it was over two million steps. It's just putting one foot in front of the other and that's how you obtain whatever goal you have in life.

Dr. Spencer Baron (46:32.078)
That is some great advice.

Dr Terry (46:33.944)
I want to see your whoop band or your oar ring after that.

Dr. Spencer Baron (46:39.694)
I want to see the sneakers he wears or the hiking boots he wears.

Terrence Ogden (46:47.415)
So yeah, I did the entire event in one pair of shoes. And I did that purposefully.

Dr Terry (46:51.786)
No, I was just gonna ask you how many shoes you went through. You went through one pair?

Terrence Ogden (46:58.765)
I purposely did it in one pair of shoes and they're pretty beat up. They were a pair of ultra Olympus, great shoe. And I'd say at about mile 600, my left foot seized up, bad Achilles tendon overuse on the top. And I probably heel striped probably for the next 400 miles.

Dr Terry (47:05.537)
Yeah.

Terrence Ogden (47:18.413)
That shoe, the heel, I mean it's down low. And then on the other shoe, the forefoot's worn way down, because that's where I was putting all my power. there was tons, tons of thorns in West Texas that I didn't take into account. I probably spent 45 minutes a day pulling thorns out of my shoe. And that was a definite situation that I didn't plan on.

Dr Terry (47:45.625)
You know, before we go into our favorite section, I want to just give highlight to a mutual friend of ours. He was on our show. He's one of your best friends. You just talked about removing Thorne's foot and Daniel did one of your rucks with only one leg. Can you just, you know, I kind of want to hear, he was so humble on the show. just kind of goes, I wrote, it was kind of hard. But when the show was over, I thought about.

what it would be like, I like rucking, not your level by any means, but I like to go on rucks at least once a week. Can you just give us some inspiration what you learned from Daniel and kind of talk a little bit about him?

Terrence Ogden (48:29.196)
Yeah, when Daniel reached out to me and said he was interested in doing the 75 mile rock, I was like, wow, okay. I mean, because, you know, I think in my mind, it's, he said, what do you think? I was like, it doesn't matter what I think. It's like, what do you think?

do you think you could do it? you want, it's gonna, and I explained, it's gonna be a, you're gonna face a lot of demons out there, it's gonna be a world of hurt. And he said, I think I can do it. And I said, let's do it. If you're in, I'm in 100%. And I had never rocked with an amputee, so I really didn't know what to expect. And he had never gone over 15 miles as an amputee. And...

I saw that the Austin Marathon was coming up and it was two weeks before the event and I said, hey, here's an opportunity. Let's go do 26 miles together and they'll have the course mapped out the night before. We'll meet up at 2 a.m. and we'll rock the Austin Marathon. And so we did that. And on that time, you know, I learned a lot about how prosthetic leg works and what you have to do.

to keep a prosthetic leg on the body. And so we learned how to work together on that 26 miles and we knocked it out. He hammered it out like a champ. When we did that 75 miler, that year I had 36 people show up and we finished with 33. And his handle on Instagram is three quarter cowboy. And I joked around, was like, now we finished with 32 and three quarters.

Dr Terry (50:04.984)
You

Terrence Ogden (50:05.38)
But I told him, you know, I think that there was a lot of people out there that would have tapped out, but they're watching you, what you're going through, because whatever you're dealing with, you're looking at this guy that's doing this with one leg.

And not only that, like the way a prosthetic leg works is, I call it the bucket. There's another name for it that the stump goes into. And there's a sleeve that goes over the stump. And when you put it in that bucket, there's a little pressure relief valve so it creates a vacuum seal. But when you start sweating, that bond comes loose. he's, and it got really hot that year, he's walking along and his leg's constantly wanting to fall off.

He was having to shove his stump back in there and he was in a world of hurt, you know, and but he was was hammering it out like a straight up warrior, you know, and people watching that and I told him, dude, there's no way we would have finished with 33 had you not been there.

Because every person's out there, whatever I'm going through, he's going through 10 times more. And if he can do this, I can do this. And he's such an inspiration. His story is amazing and just an amazing person. One of the most humble guys, he won't sit there and try to pump himself up or anything. But that guy, like I said earlier, I feel honored and blessed to call him one of my best friends.

Dr. Spencer Baron (51:43.171)
His actions speak way louder than words could. And I even tell his story to some of my patients who need that moment of inspiration. He's an amazing guy. So now we're in our favorite section of the, near the end of the program and it's the rapid fire questions, Terrence. And if you're ready, there's five of them. They're requiring short answers. So are you ready for number one?

All right, here we go. Listen, man, when everything gets loud and responsibilities, pressure, expectations, all that, what's what's what's the one thing that brings you back to you?

Terrence Ogden (52:13.74)
Let's go.

Terrence Ogden (52:27.2)
The thing that brings me back to me would be my faith in my family and to lead by example.

Dr. Spencer Baron (52:34.906)
Question number two. What's inspiring you lately? It has nothing to do with your past or your story. What's inspiring you these days?

Terrence Ogden (52:46.004)
Seeing other people go and do the things that they're afraid to do and overcome unsurmountable odds and persevere through that and become a better person at the end of the day.

Dr. Spencer Baron (52:58.702)
You're definitely a servant. You love seeing other people succeed. That's great. Question number three, what's something in today's world or even in self-improvement space that just makes you kind of shake your head, blows you away?

Terrence Ogden (53:17.98)
A lot of the the bro influencers get all in your face and loud and try to separate themselves like they're built from something else and it's like you know we're all humans we all put our pants on the same way we put our shoes on the same way that we're all the same we are all different but we're also all the same.

Dr. Spencer Baron (53:26.51)
you

Dr. Spencer Baron (53:44.174)
question number four for a guy who does what you do is there one adventure or challenge that that is on your bucket list that you haven't done yet

Terrence Ogden (53:58.46)
Absolutely, there's always there's always another mountain to climb so when you get to one mountaintop There's another one down the road. So I have a whole list of different things that I will overcome and achieve one day

Dr Terry (54:10.936)
Yeah, but I want to hear what's one thing that's on your bucket list that you have either written down somewhere in the back of your mind, that you're like, someday I'm going to do that. That's pretty gnarly.

Terrence Ogden (54:23.643)
Man, I'd like to go down to Patagonia and do some tracks down there right now. I mean, I'm working on a deal with another guy to overcome a really cool adventure that I can't give any details right now, but it's going to be pretty epic and to be part of that is going to be a hell of an experience.

Dr. Spencer Baron (54:44.237)
that's so good.

Dr Terry (54:45.08)
Is there any adventure that doesn't involve rucking or trail racking that would be something cool that you've never done before that is on the bucket list?

Terrence Ogden (54:54.123)
Well, OK, I'm probably 90 % done with the book that I've been writing. And we did do a documentary on the Thousand Mile Ruck across Texas. And I've never done anything like that, which will be coming out later this year. So having the book done, I never knew I liked to write. I found that writing is kind of like painting a picture with words. And I didn't know that it would be a

It's inspirational for me to get that information out and on paper. So yeah, I never thought I'd write a book.

Dr. Spencer Baron (55:29.422)
You found another superpower. Very good. All right. Last question, Terrence. What is one thing that you want to leave your audience with that you've never been asked before or want to get out there?

Terrence Ogden (55:34.955)
Thank

Terrence Ogden (55:46.847)
Really my big message is that we're all able to overcome things that we can't overcome. My life story, I very easily could have just become another statistic and for some reason I'm still here today. And I found that through doing the hard thing, the thing that I wanted to avoid and reaching out to help another person. I...

wish everybody could adopt that mentality and that lifestyle because I think the world would be a much better place. you know, my whole thing is I want to leave this world better than the way I found it.

Dr. Spencer Baron (56:23.576)
Terrence, you're a great storyteller. I appreciate you sharing all your moments of inspiration and even desperation. Thank you so much for being on the show today.

Terrence Ogden (56:34.972)
Thank you for the opportunity.