Pain will find our kids. The lessons we teach determine what it leaves behind.

In this episode, I talk about how parents and coaches shape a child’s relationship with pain—often without realizing it.

We explore the difference between pain and harm, discomfort and danger, and how guiding kids through struggle prepares them for real life, not just sport.

Grip strength was the first thing to go when I was in the hospital—and the last thing I expected to miss.

This episode isn’t about forearms or party tricks. It’s about what your hands tell you when life knocks you down. How grip strength reflects fatigue, health, and capability long before anything else shows it. And why rebuilding it became a quiet marker of recovery for me.

If you’ve ever been injured, forced to stop training, or felt something slipping that used to feel solid—this one’s for you.

Strong hands. Still holding on.

Grip strength is one of the first physical qualities to decline as men age—and one of the most overlooked.

In this episode of Through the Crucible, Coach breaks down:

• Why grip strength drops with age

• How weak grip limits strength training and daily life

• The connection between grip, joint health, balance, and injury risk

• Common mistakes older men make with grip work

• Simple, safe, and effective ways to train grip without wrecking your hands or elbows

This is a practical, no-nonsense episode for men who want to stay capable, keep training, and maintain independence as they get older.

No gimmicks. No philosophy. Just what works.

When you coach other people’s kids, you can go home and turn it off.
When you coach your own—you can’t.

This episode explores the uncomfortable truth about coaching your own child:
the standards that must stay the same, the relationship that can’t, and the line that too many coaches cross without realizing it.

Fatherhood didn’t make coaching easier—it made it more honest.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re being too hard, too soft, or just trying to be “fair,” this episode will challenge how you think about leadership, legacy, and what kids actually remember.

Your child isn’t listening to your values.
They’re watching your behavior.

This episode breaks down fatherhood as pressure, responsibility, and refinement — and why presence, consistency, and discipline matter more than motivation or speeches.

Fatherhood doesn’t ask who you want to be.
It reveals who you are.

What happens when training is taken away?

Injury, illness, and forced stillness don’t just remove movement — they remove identity. For many men, the gym is where structure, emotional control, and self-respect live. When that disappears, whatever was underneath gets exposed.

In this episode of Through the Crucible, I talk about identity collapse, performance-based self-worth, and the uncomfortable work of rebuilding who you are when you can’t perform your way forward.

This isn’t about rehabbing faster.
It’s about becoming someone who doesn’t fall apart when the weight is gone

Most people think strength is about pushing harder — lifting more, grinding longer, or staying tough when life gets heavy. But true strength isn’t just about surviving pressure... it’s about using that pressure to become something greater.

In this episode, Justin Burns breaks down how to train your mind like an antifragile system — one that grows stronger with every hit. Drawing from his own experiences in the ICU, the weight room, and the coaching field, Justin explores how chaos, setbacks, and even pain can be transformed into fuel for lasting growth.

You’ll learn how to condition your thoughts the same way you condition your body: with intention, repetition, and a willingness to embrace the stress that others avoid.

Key themes:

• Why most people get “stuck” in resilience instead of growth

• The connection between physical and psychological antifragility

• How to build a mind that adapts and thrives under stress

• Practical strategies to apply pressure without breaking

Most people try to avoid chaos — they want comfort, predictability, and control. But the truth is, control is an illusion.
The people who rise from the storm aren’t the ones who avoid it — they’re the ones who use it.

In this episode, Justin Burns breaks down what it really means to be antifragile — to grow stronger through stress, setbacks, and uncertainty. You’ll learn the difference between being fragile, resilient, and antifragile, and how to turn life’s volatility into a training ground for strength, leadership, and growth.

Whether you’re an athlete, a father, or someone rebuilding from your own crucible moment, this episode will show you how to turn pressure into power.

Key themes:

• The truth about chaos and growth

• How comfort secretly weakens us

• Why adversity is your greatest teacher

• How to start becoming antifragile today