The Secret to Deep Connections is Ritual and Intimacy

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you

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We like to say every day is a vacay. Welcome to the Vacay Podcast. Joined by Chris Hansen and Miyami, my friend and co-host, I'm Ryan Alford, your co-host on your wellness journey. There is no alternative when we're making alternative wellness the mainstream. And to that end, pumped to have today Dan Mierczewski. He's the founder of Fitness On The Go.

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and he's looking pretty swole there in my camera lens. He must be getting high on his own supply. What's up, Dan? How are you? Good, man, you look good. I love it. Thank you. Sometimes people are pushing something or they're selling something, they're doing something and it doesn't align with the mental picture, but dude, you look great. I've been pumped with the stuff Chris has been telling me about you and I'm ready to talk tea and fitness and sexual health

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Whatever the hell else you want to drop on us, we'd love it. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And yeah, I haven't had my workout today. It's on the West coast. So just getting up, but thanks so much. Yeah, man. That's cool. I know you're around the LA. We got all the corners. We've got LA, we got Miami, all the hotspots covered on the podcast today. Dan, let's just start down the, I don't know, entrepreneurial journey. I know you're a.

01:34
World traveler, Japan last week, India next week, possibly. But let's just give everybody a little bit of your background, Dan. Sure, so.

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I started off as a track athlete. So that was my main goal. From 13, I quit all the other sports and went into track and field. Made the national team, was the junior national champion for Canada in decathlon. And then continued on. Unfortunately at age 20, I had a pretty big injury. I did make two national teams for the junior Pan Ams and North American and Caribbean championships, but that ended fairly early.

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I was...

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a very fit guy. And so it was just a very simple and easy transition to move into personal training. But I knew that after a couple of months, I'm like, this is not going to be what I'm doing. But I loved being able to provide that for people. I quickly started building a company by 23. I had about 50 personal trainers that were working for me, but I had no clue how to build a business. I wasn't really making money. It just spinning my wheels.

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I met with the right people and learned about franchising, licensing, and at 28 I started the same business fitness on the go but with a new model.

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within two and a half years, built it up to about 200 trainers and 30, 32 franchise partners. And during that time I actually made money. So that was always a positive business. Yeah. It took us all at 10 years to be that overnight success. And that's what's interesting, right? It's like just that right shift. And then things go. And then at age 31, I decided to,

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to shift gears. I never really explored the world being a track athlete and being so focused and then being an entrepreneur and being so focused. I never lived life in a different fashion. So I wanted to go and travel and see what a different life would be like. And that was pretty much now throughout my entire 30s. I've really been able to explore other facets of life and

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So I did end up selling the business as a master franchise. So I still own it, but I have somebody that operates it and it's, it's still operating at a fine level. So I can't complain. Nice. When I hear fitness, it's a lot of lots of impact there, but I'm going to go right at it just for our audience to understand. When you hear fitness on the go, I guess I naturally think fitness brought to you or done wherever you are.

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Maybe talk about the concept of the business exactly. Yeah, definitely. It's in-home personal training. So that's trainers do go to people's homes. The primary, I can explain the problem that I had, the struggle was that the trainers, they're meeting with the clients and the company is not present, right? It's the trainer and the customer. If the customer is paying even $60 and we're paying the trainer 30.

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there's a pretty good gap between and soon enough when the customer, the trainer or vice versa.

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there's going to be a conversation. They're going to say, hey, why not? I pay you 45 bucks and you make a little bit more. I like you more than I like the company. This way they would arrange that side deal. I'm sure we've all potentially done that with a cleaner or any other type of service. And so that's where what I understood is I needed to flip the model and say, okay, if these trainers want to be entrepreneurial, cool, let's give them an opportunity to be. And so that's where

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All that I did is I brought the real estate business model to personal training. Realtors are their own business. They work with a franchise like Remax and they pay their 500, 600, whatever monthly do to hang their license. And then they operate their business and make whatever they make. That's exactly what I did. The trainers pay 400 a month and they get the full backend business for them, which would cost them.

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far more, along with all the bells and whistles of having a multi-million dollar system behind them, along with obviously our marketing arms, and then they're making what the customers are paying. So they get, did they charge, can they charge what they want? No, we set the fees. Okay. But still it's a one.

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The trainers are making on average at a gym, 20 grand a year working full-time, which I'm still appalled that people still do that. And our trainers, top trainers are making 85 grand a year. So it's a much better opportunity for them. Obviously they do need to be somewhat entrepreneurial and have that, that foresight or confidence, let's say in themselves, they put out $400 a month and then start going. But.

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Obviously those people get rewarded. Nice. That's cool. Is it still, is it primarily out of Canada or do you have trainers like everywhere? Yeah.

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No, it's primarily Canada, but right now actually my, the person that's operating it is going to start moving into the States. I find that the right now is actually the right time when people are, things are going to be a little bit dead, I think, in the economy. For the next little while, we'll see how long that lasts, but that's when people are looking for more opportunities. And when things aren't handed to them, then they're forced to figure things out on their own.

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That's cool, man. It's interesting. Did you, when in handing over like the master license, I think it sounds like you figured out like, what you do well, don't do well, or is it just like you didn't really wanna operate the business? Yeah, I'm far more excited with new. And I also, I understand that, yeah, my strength was definitely with ideas and execution and sales. The ongoing relationships with people, and that's probably what I needed.

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personally as well to learn. And that's the next thing that I'm doing, but that wasn't that strong. And I also knew that a female would do far better at that than a male. So that's where I was very fortunate that I've got an amazing female operator and she's doing exactly what she needs to do to run the business. That's great. What formalized for you, like maybe like some of your, what your fitness wellness routines, like.

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Where did that get grounded in? Was it curiosity and education or was there like some amount of nature versus nurture and you were always athletic, but I don't know what kind of formed your opinions and approaches to fitness.

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Yeah, I mean that I think I almost didn't have a choice. It was like at five old, it was like when I was four, my mom would be in the kitchen and I would do a full muscle up onto the counter and sit there with her and she looks at me like, wow, this kid's strong. And she's like, I think we gotta put you into gymnastics.

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And I go and do it and I loved it, right? Like I'm there doing a ton of chin ups and like, I pretty much had abs by the, by age six. And I was in gymnastics from five until 13, but I went into like competitive gymnastics and.

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And so that was always my life. Then, like I said, a little bit of sports, basketball, rugby, but then track and field prevailed. And so that kind of, I think, just set the tone of my life. But obviously, because I'm so interested in it, now I want to optimize my fitness as much as possible. But all of the things that have become mainstream now with like sauna and cold plunge and eating

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This is the stuff that we were taught as high performance athletes 20 years ago So I'm glad that now people are understanding the benefits of all this But yeah, this is something that I've just been exposed to at a young age. Yeah Coming up through an athlete that is true. It's funny. I think back to things we did I played basketball at a high level through college and there are things now that I think back to like your time when you're Pushing your body maybe more than the average person at a young age

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These things are now becoming more mainstay, like sitting in ice baths. Like it was just ice bath before, but now it's a cold plunge. Some marketers renamed it to sounded sexier. I don't know who would possibly do that, but I know Chris, you and Dan met and, you know, became acquaintances. So I'll let you tee up a few of the topics and things that you guys have talked about in the past. Yeah. So just.

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for the audience. We met here down here in Miami with another friend of ours in the wellness community and this can lead in Dan was so kind to share one of his new products he's working on and launching it. So we sat and sampled this absolutely phenomenal product. I can't wait to get my hands on somebody. And if you want to obviously now we've heard about your journey through fitness and in the business world, your entrepreneurial, what made you branch into now launching SAKRUL? And

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What's your driving force behind that? What are you looking to accomplish with that? What do people need to be excited about? Yeah, thank you. The, yeah, sacral is a, it's an extreme aphrodisiac. There's six active supplements in this chai. And four of them are from the Amazon. They're roots that a lot of ancient tribes are still drinking this daily. They think that it's for their virility and vitality. And...

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they're not wrong. Like the funny thing is that for whatever reason these supplements are have not really been exposed through my travels, through meeting a bunch of interesting people. I've always been interested in

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plants and how plants can affect our mood, how it can affect our body. It's pretty amazing. So the four, again, if I say them, most likely, uh, you guys haven't heard of them or any listeners, uh, haven't heard of them, but maybe one's called Clavohuasca, the other Chuchu Huasi, Mora Puyama and Katuyaba. And those are four primarily all roots. One is a bark. And then I added two other aphrodisiacs that are maybe a little bit better known.

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Lotus and Damiana. And then so the purpose of it.

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Obviously, it works and it's not something that is a one-time use and that type of concept. It's a daily supplement. It's going to make help with vasodilation, help with blood flow, helps with anti-anxiety and stress relief. And so that's why ultimately it really does work as an aphrodisiac, but there's many benefits that come from having that. I see that even just from vasodilation, it's going to increase the amount of oxygen in

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which is going to help repair your muscles better and get stronger and so on. But the cool thing of what I wanted to do was this is for men and women. So it's not just a product for men. And I think that the whole aphrodisiac, especially the blue pill, it's men do this in private. And it's a weird thing to me, where it's like you have this on your table and your partner.

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is also taking it, now you can share a nice cup of chai together and then move into your sexual practice. So the whole point of this is to bring a ritual to your intimacy and I find that when you do that it will really deepen your relationship with them. So not only do we have the chai but our members get access to rituals. So this way we can get

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that will lead to a deeper space. Wow. Yeah. Question. So I'm hearing a lot of like sexual health benefits and we talked a little bit pre-episode, I guess when I hear aphrodisiac, they're actually like the bark or the substances in there making you feel a certain way, like both mind and body or because I'm hearing a lot of like blood circulation, those kinds of things that are in that sexual health realm.

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versus I guess the trident for you eating oysters makes you tear up. But is it working in both directions there? Yeah, from oysters, it's just the amount of zinc and zinc can help testosterone and potentially oysters help with acid dilation. But ultimately the.

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From a mental standpoint, if you ask me, it's more, I think a lot of people will be in their head because they have some kind of stress around the sexual activity. They're thinking too much. So that's where VasoSci Anti-anxiety product will help with that, where we can just feel relaxed. In terms of the body, I think that yes, the body will, if it feels good, then everything else

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actually really will just and it's meant to relax your sacral region and your lower back. When you also relax your muscles that also will help with blood flow. Remember the first time like how this product was even inspired with my partner from last year.

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the first time that I took a fair amount of this clavahawaska, I felt like I was a tree growing through her and she felt like she was like roots, like going into the ground. So it, and there's no psychoactive properties and nor were we on any psychoactive drugs at the time. It's a, it's a very powerful and that's where what even one of the rituals is to be

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Yeah, I think that there is a combination of both, but it's not, yeah, if you study Afrodisiacs, it's not like it's something that just turns on and it's definitely not like an MDMA, let's say that you're going to, you know, feel something that's a lot more than what it is. You know, maybe you'll be 10% more sensitive because there's more blood flow in that region. Yeah, it's definitely not something like, like I said, like an MDMA or a different substance.

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Yeah, that's fascinating. The tree analogy was definitely a good one. I love it. Yeah, I had never to start to describe that way, but okay. Yeah, it's just this. It painted a very clear picture. It sounds like I got to send you some. Yeah. Yes. I think this is an amazing thing because right now I feel like sex is so

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desensitized, where it's all physical, where we've lost the emotional, the connection side of it. And that's what I love when you were telling me about this, because ultimately it's to help enhance people's connection with other people, instead of just chasing a physical sensation, it's going for something deeper, which is why I love that you guys have. So like not just the tea, but here's a guidebook, like Viagra works, right? But it's, there's nothing beyond that.

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There's no, you're not addressing probably what is more of a deeper root problem. Which like what you said, even performance anxiety. God, I remember being a 16 year old and you're like, you don't know shit about shit. And that was, that's a real concern at that age. But I think it ultimately, you're inspiring human connection on a deeper level, which is admirable. Yeah, no, I think that's, I'll,

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tell you the pain point. I remember when I was even 28 and being in a relationship for three years and after that kind of two, three year mark, you lose that infatuation thing. And unless you actually know how to move into different spaces and deeper spaces with your partner

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And it's the same thing. And that's where even I have friends that they keep on getting stuck at that two year, three year mark with relationships because that is right. Like there's evolutionary psychology kind of explains that we were programmed to love for about that time, right? One and a half to two and a half years. And that's where.

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I felt that something was wrong with me or wrong with her and I started to question the relationship and I had no clue. Truth be told, I probably never stared in her eyes for more than 30 seconds and especially not during sex.

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to open these other avenues to really understand a person from a deeper level, and I think clearly sex is the most intimate thing that you can do with anyone else, then...

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Now it opens up a door of extreme exploration that I think is never ending. And so that's where being able to educate people on these opportunities, hopefully it's going to not only deepen relationships, but make them last. Is it interesting, like having, like with your background, like developing a product like this.

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And then you seemingly like new experiences and like to be on the go. Self-proclaimed nomad, so to speak. What's the balance for you of finding like solace or. Home for good versus constant movement. I don't know. I guess it's an interesting complex.

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Yeah, I know right now I'm at that point. I think I'm getting tired of the travel. Like it's fun and now there's other reasons why I travel as opposed to just going somewhere and exploring. It definitely is now with a friend or because of friends. But yeah, I am setting up a home base in Costa Rica as of next year. So that's at least gonna be the majority of my time, which is gonna be three, four months in LA. But...

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I think that it's always to have that kind of, let's say just fun to just say, hey, let's hop over here for a week. That's never gonna die. But having completely no home, I think nine years has been the right number. I bet. I'm both jealous and it makes me anxious for you. I like, I guess that's how it is. Man, that sounds awesome. I'm jealous, but tired. Yeah, exactly.

20:52
No, it's exactly what I hear so much, right? Where people try to imagine that and it's too much. And again, I didn't expect it. It just happened and it just started rolling. And I grew up in Vancouver, my parents are in Vancouver, so I'd come there every three or four months. But I think that you're right. And that's why now I am looking at things.

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of what am I building more substantial and long-term? And again, it's essentially, we can say this is a product as a reminder for my entire life to grow my roots and deepen my connection in a community and build that way. Yeah, why Costa Rica? I love it.

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Every piece of fruit that you eat is the best fruit. Like the soil there is certainly different. The weather is great, especially as a Canadian. I really do not like the cold. It's great. And then the community that I found there, they actually are building an extreme biohacking center. It's going to be one of the best in the world. And when you get property there, you get access to it. I'm lucky enough that I'm staying in LA with a friend and he's got his.

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ice bath, which is actually a cold plunge, but don't tell anyone. And then the sauna and this vibration chair called shift wave that I absolutely love. Those things are just so nice to have it when I start my day with that. It just makes me happy and especially being able to go and jump in the ocean. So again, this is all lovely here. But yeah, Costa Rica, I'm

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I've got access to that along with many other amazing biohacking machinery. Dan, I'm glad you went there with the biohacking because I want to talk about, I know you're big on recipes and foods. I won't, I'm going to earmark that as well, but maybe for our audience, you're in shape, you're going to fit this company. Obviously coming, it was sacred and all those things, but maybe what are some of your go-to biohacking secrets that we can share with the audience, like anything new and exciting or stuff that you like to.

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test? Yeah, I think that the what's an interesting thing that in the last two years, because I'm reaching I'll be 40 next year. And two years ago, my my testosterone level was at 740. And that's decent. But in the last two years, I've changed that to

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1230 and 1230 is almost pushing too high. I'd say 1250 is the maximum that you want to be. Otherwise, it's going to be a little too much. And to make that change, first off, naturally,

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I'm not using any testosterone replacement therapy and no injections. And so really it's just through, through plants. And then I stopped alcohol. So a lot of people want to know what's my kind of testosterone stack. So I can definitely share that if that's of interest. Let's do it for sure. Yeah. So definitely there's one product and this, when women are, it seems like very scared of testosterone, but women need to have the,

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pretty much as high of testosterone as their body naturally can produce as well because testosterone is your sex hormone but it's also a hormone that...

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gives you inspiration, gives you the desire to do anything. So that I think it's a very important hormone to address with how people feel. Obviously it seems like there's a extreme epidemic in kids that are 20, even 30, that it's lower than ever before. So in the chai, there's something called Murapuyama. That helps, but anything it's proven that is kind of vasodilation and circulation will also promote increase.

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in testosterone so I can't say that it's just the chai but there's one product product in there that is for testosterone. The other ones I take zinc ashwagandha sapphic muesli sapphic muesli not many people know it's known as the indian viagra it's I would have put it in the chai but it just it tastes

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awful. Yeah, so it doesn't quite work. Tonkot Ali is another good one. And so those are kind of the main as my testosterone stack. And then I've had I've helped a lot of guys, especially when they've had under 500. Then I recommend that there's two others that are extremely powerful. I'm waiting. I don't need to yet. So once it starts dropping because of my age, then I'll start introducing these two.

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and Yo-Himby. I remember testing it out and like it just made me too much. I think everyone can judge where they're at, but those are all amazing products for testosterone. Oh, wow. And I think that's awesome. That is great. And I think I'll put the biggest thing is I think if you're a man, you need to get tested to know where you stand on these levels. I don't, I think a lot of guys think they know what they feel like.

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But we have all these amazing technology and testing and it's not, it's readily available now, but you got to get tested to know what your levels are. Right. Absolutely. Yeah.

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Even if you take those home tests, it's not bad, right? It'll be within 10, 15% and you don't need to spend a ton. I think you can buy a home test on Amazon for 150 bucks. I'm lucky because I'm Canadian. I just head up to Canada and do it for free. But on Amazon, I think it's 150 bucks for a home test. Yeah. This is such a relevant topic right now too. And you mentioned it where we've got a decline into testosterone levels in young men.

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greater, it's 50% less now than our parents from what I've read. And people don't take into account how much these hormones involve your day to day, whether it's your drive or even to find a wife, I would say. I think I know I've tried the Tangata Lee and I did notice a difference when I was taking it because I had my levels checked. I was low for my age.

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which I attribute to the food supply probably, environmental, whatever. Tell me this, with these supplements, because I know I talked to a lot of younger guys in their early 20s, and with TikTok, all these kids are getting exposed to TRT and Trenblen, all these hardcore brain altering compounds with these natural ones. Is there any...

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side effects for these younger listeners we have? Is there, or is it relatively safe? Cause I would say I would highly encourage people explore this before you go with a guy with a duffel bag in the gym. Yeah. Yeah. So a hundred percent. That's where even if someone is at 400, number one, quit alcohol, right? Like alcohol is just a pointless drug and it's just deteriorating so many other things. But the-

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a big thing is that your testosterone will drop right away. Number two is sleep. If you're not sleeping well, and especially if you're not sleeping before midnight, then it will just decrease immediately.

28:24
Yeah, these are all essentially adaptogens, right? They're working within your body to optimize the system. So it's not going to really do anything negative. There, your body, there is no real evidence whether or not if you stop it, that it's going to continue. So that's the only negative is that potentially it's no different than taking TRT that you're gonna be taking this supplement for life.

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on on your body than taking like an outside essentially chemical or synthetically created testosterone. The reality of taking a synthetically created testosterone, again there isn't anything too negative about it and it's an option. Again the exact same thing you will be on that that's for sure for a hundred percent of your of your life if you want to keep it up. And I also think that concept of

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testosterone for my age, that's got to go out the window. All right. Because it's, if you're 70 years old and your testosterone is at 400 and they say, well, that's good for your age. That means, right? Like, why wouldn't you want it to be at a thousand, which is what you'd feel like when you were 17.

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I'm going to make sure that I'm going to be there for my life because I know how good I feel and it's not again just my desire to have sex, it's my desire to just be alive right? And my desire to enjoy myself with whatever I'm doing and getting myself busy and I feel an extreme difference right? 740 to 1250 that's a jump and I didn't have the inspiration to

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to start a new venture when I was at 740. I just didn't. But now it's like this and I'm ready to keep going with many other things. Yeah, I think it's I don't mean to be a conspiracy theorist, but it seems as though the world wants men to be under 400. If I didn't know better, like the docile accepting non-aggressive.

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And I don't mean aggressive in a negative way, but driven and wanting more. And it's, I think that's there. There's something at hand there on some level, whether intentional and conspiracy driven or just, I don't know what it is, but it feels that way.

30:56
I don't I don't think you're wrong. There could be as simple as something in tap water that is doing that. So who knows? Yeah, I'm not smart enough to know if they're actually causing it to go low. But I don't think I don't know. I just think what's good for the government is for everyone to be accepting of anything and everything. Right. It doesn't mean it's what's good for you. We'll leave it there. Agreed.

31:26
Chris, you have any thoughts on that? I totally agree with you. Intentional or not, our test levels are dropping, and that's not a good thing. That's all I know. Yeah. But I think I'm glad we talked about this, because obviously we do talk predominantly on plant-based wellness, typically more with the THC, and the cannabis, and the plant medicines, like the ayahuasca. So I think this is a huge topic, though.

31:55
for I know all of these young guys I talked to, this stuff is starting to gain some traction, these natural plant-based testosterone boosters really. So I'm happy we touched on it with some of the plant-based stuff outside of the psychoactive realm, if you will. Dan, I know food's big to you. Talk to us about some of your favorite recipes.

32:22
Yeah, during that time I actually went to cooking school in Paris. Wow. Yeah, that was fun from I think when I was 30, 33 or so. And I love steak, but I've got I actually think I'm going to record a recipe today. My my famous coffee rub steak. So yeah, that that's delicious. But anything that's healthy, I just.

32:45
I've gravitated towards more, let's say the Asian side, just because again, like that's where I see like the blend of supplements and food, you should be eating with purpose. And so if you take a look at Ayurvedic and like Indian recipes,

33:06
they are the most purposeful. It's not just the... and I love French cuisine, right? More butter, more sauce, like it's wonderful, it tastes good. And great, you know, now we have some research saying that butter is wonderful for you, fantastic. I don't think...

33:22
baguettes are. Damn it. Yeah. Or putting extra cream on the cake. But that's where it's when you're adding turmeric and you're adding fenugreek and it's another substance that's can help with libido and testosterone. But it also is just it's fucking delicious. Right? You make an amazing curry. And then also maybe it is just for in my brain when I'm eating it. And I know

33:49
all of the positives that are coming from these spices and this food, then it just makes me very happy. So that's where most of the foods that I'll cook, and especially that I'll cook for my friends, Indian and Thai, I find are the most nourishing. I love Japanese food. I actually worked in a one-star Michelin in Tokyo for a little bit. That was a lot of my training. But then anything that's just... I love a steak.

34:19
and yeah, people can take a look at my Instagram. I've got some of my recipes. My morning breakfast, I've been having almost now for I think five, six years daily. And even when I'm traveling, I'll find a way to have it. It's just, now I've increased it to five eggs. I'm trying to bulk up a little bit, but two to five eggs, avocado, kimchi, some crushed nuts, turmeric, ground pepper, olive oil, and salt. And it's, it might sound

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a lot, but it's delicious. Mix it around and it's a great breakfast. Damn, I'm hungry. It's lunchtime here. Yeah, I think I'll have an omelet for lunch. Perfect. Omelet and some kimchi. Exactly. Dan, I feel like we could talk for hours, but you mentioned your Instagram. Let's tell everybody where they can keep up with everything you've got going on, Instagram, any web links, things like that.

35:16
Yes, right now definitely Instagram, Dan travels the website for sacral right now. There's not much up, but sacral chai.com. There is a little joint join the wait list if people are interested in, but otherwise I'm sure within about six weeks we'll have something ready to go there as well. Hey, I'm ready to order. I'm going to get on that wait list. Amazing. Chris has talked about it and I'm in. Ryan and his wife are going to have a new morning ritual. Yes. Morning lunch end.

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morning and night. We'll see how well it works. Yes, exactly. Really appreciate you coming on, Dan, and hope we can do it again soon. Thank you so much. That was a lot of fun. So we'll stay in touch, I'm sure. Hey, guys, you know where to find us, the VK podcast dot com. You'll find all the episodes from today, how like clips and all the links to your favorite podcast network for Chris Hansen. I'm Ryan Alford. We'll see you next time on the VK podcast.