Why This Fighter Pilot Put a Power Rack in His Kids' Play Set
Your kids are 80 percent likely to become the adult you are right now. That line opens a conversation between Coach Brian and former Marine Corps fighter pilot Brad Leeman about hard choices, failure, and training where your children can watch. Brad's fix was to put a power rack inside a play set.
Brad Leeman flew fighter jets in the Marine Corps and left the service less than six months before this recording. He is a father of three and he rebuilt his training around that fact. Listen to Episode 85 for the full conversation.
The Two Lines That Started the Episode
Brian opened with two things Brad had said to him before they recorded.
The first one: your kids are 80 percent likely to become the adult you are now, not the adult you want them to be.
The second one: you set your child's inner monologue for life.
Brad's read on the first line was that a father cannot hand down a fix he has not made himself. "You have to make the change and then they will carry that change forward."
On the second, he described the soundtrack in a kid's head as a recording their parents made without noticing. "I think as parents, we don't often think that we're setting that recording, if you will, that inner monologue, but it is happening."
Did It or You Didn't
Brad described Marine Corps culture as binary. "It's black and white, you did it, or you didn't do it. There's no measure of your potential, nobody's coddling you or holding you."
He put himself on the wrong side of that early. He had potential and was not spending it. His words: "you got to turn it on, you got to leave it on."
Then he walked into his first fighter squadron and found out he knew nothing next to men who had been there three years or six years. He got better by finding the strongest guy in the room and studying what that man did.
Fitness Was Part of the Job
Brad rated his own fitness inside the squadron as middle of the road. Then he noticed a pattern. The best pilots were also the best physically.
His explanation is that pushing your body teaches you to carry mental load. "The physical makes the mental easier." Add nutrition on top of that and he says a man performs at 95 to 100 percent on a routine basis.
He also ran into the research later while building the play set company. High intensity effort helps build brain connections, which feeds learning and recall. He flagged his own limits on it: "I'm not the expert in this field, so don't try to take it as that."
Brian agreed and put it in coaching terms. Learning is recall speed. Train first and you get more out of what you read next.
The Checklist He Missed
Brian asked for a story where Brad felt like he was crashing and burning.
Brad picked one from his test pilot tour. The team was running something slightly nonstandard. His habit pattern broke and he missed a basic checklist step. He tried to take off and nearly ran off the side of the ship.
The lesson he drew was about what came after. "It's not the moment, but it's how you crawl back into the jet after those events."
He also gave the rule he learned as a young pilot: no fast hands in the cockpit. Adrenaline pushes a man to move before he has read the situation. Brad's sequence is look, listen, feel, then decide.
Brian has a coaching version of the same move. He calls it your happy place. When things spiral you pause, reset, and go find the answer from calmer ground.
Preparation and Opportunity
Brad's line on luck is that you want preparation and opportunity to cross. What you do not want is opportunity arriving when you are not ready.
Men tell him they would do anything to be a fighter pilot. His answer is a question: "well, did you?" He says nobody told him no and he put one foot in front of the other until he arrived.
Brian matched it with his own record. His exercise career started in 2002 and he has been at it 23 years. He and Brad prepped this episode for more than 90 minutes across a pre-interview and a tech failure that killed their first attempt the day before.
Why He Put a Power Rack in the Play Set
Brad's wife was pregnant with their daughter when he started working the problem. He wanted to be present at home. Marine Corps hours and presence at home do not pair well.
So he went looking for hours he could steal back. The gym was the obvious one. A home gym solved the commute and created a new problem. He would train by himself while his family was upstairs.
Then the idea landed. Put the power rack into the play set. The kids swing and climb while you lift. They watch the effort go in. You get pulled down to their level for a few minutes at a time, which he says is what an adult needs anyway.
His daughter sits in the swing looking completely checked out. Then she asks why he breathes like that during a lift. He tells her he is bracing his core. She says she likes the clouds.
Play Tag, Then Finish Your Set
Brian asked the question every serious lifter asks. Your kid interrupts your squats and wants five minutes of tag. Now what?
Brad's answer was blunt. For the 99 percent of us who are not headed to the Olympics, play the tag. Five minutes has no effect on your physical capability. The effect on your kid is much larger, and it gets you back in the yard more often.
Brian added the training version. A squat rest going from 60 seconds to five minutes because you were chasing a toddler does not cost you the session.
Small Workouts Beat the Supplement Aisle
Brad put numbers on it. At the upper end, a supplement moves performance 1 to 3 percent. Stacking small workouts over time moves 5 to 10 percent for the rest of us.
Brian named the four he does not argue with. Protein powder. Fish oil. Multivitamin. Creatine. Past those, he wants a man to know his calories and his protein before he buys anything else.
Brad's filter is one question: "Are you supplementing your workout?" With no workout underneath it, the powder has nothing to work on.
The Cold Is Not an Emergency
Brad will not say it is too cold to go outside in front of his kids. He puts on a coat and goes. His reasoning is that kids hear the excuse and keep it.
Brian took his kids sledding in zero to 10 degree weather for 30 to 45 minutes. Both men drew the same line. Safety limits are real. Discomfort is not one of them.
Brad's larger point is that most men build a box smaller than their actual capacity, then treat the walls as facts.
The Monkey Bar Test
Brad says the most common add-ons people pick are rope climbs and J-cups. This year the obstacle course and ninja pieces have been the popular ones with kids.
His free workout suggestion needs no attachment at all. Do a pull-up at every monkey bar and go back and forth as many times as you can. He calls monkey bars humbling and says failure arrives fast.
What To Do This Week
- Move one piece of training equipment to where your kids already are. Brian drilled a pipe into his own swing set for a pull-up bar and mounted a wall ball target 10 feet up.
- Let the interruptions happen. Chase the kid, then get back to the set.
- Take the hard choice once a day. Cold morning, go outside anyway.
- Know your calories and your protein before you buy a single supplement.
- Name a failure out loud in front of your kids, then say what you are doing next.
Working With Coach Brian
If you want a fast restart, get the free Lose 3 lbs in 3 Days plan at thecalltorise.com/lose3lbsin3days. It runs on protein-first meals, a daily water target, and more walking. No calorie cut and no extra sessions.
The Call To Rise is the 100-day version for men over 40. Training and food built for the body you have now, weekly time with other men doing the same work, and a guarantee: lose 20 or more pounds in the 100 days or Brian keeps working with you until you do. Apply at link.brianparana.com/widget/form/cZ4uGbFbRBmKPOMPxGja.
Listen to Episode 85 for the full conversation. Find Swing Sesh at swingsesh.com and on Instagram at @teamswingsesh.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Brad Leeman?
Brad Leeman is a former Marine Corps fighter pilot and test pilot who left the service less than six months before this episode. He now runs Swing Sesh, a company that builds play sets with strength equipment in them.
What is the 80 percent idea in Episode 85?
Brad shared a line that your kids are 80 percent likely to become the adult you are right now, not the adult you want them to be. It puts the change on the father first.
Should you stop a workout to play with your kids?
Brad says yes for the 99 percent of us who are not headed to the Olympics. Five minutes of tag has no effect on your physical capability. The effect on your kid is much larger.
Does exercise help you think better?
Brad found research on high intensity effort building brain connections while studying child development for his company. He states plainly that he is not an expert in that field. Brian agrees that a hard session before study time helps recall.
What supplements does Coach Brian say are worth taking?
He names protein powder, fish oil, multivitamin, and creatine. He wants a man to know his calories and his protein intake before he buys anything past those four.
How do you train at home with young kids around?
Put the equipment where the kids already play. Brad built a power rack into the play set. Brian drilled a pull-up bar into his swing set and mounted a wall ball target 10 feet up.
What does "no fast hands in the cockpit" mean?
It is a rule Brad learned young about controlling the adrenaline spike. Fast decisions under adrenaline rarely get you anywhere. His sequence is look, listen, feel, then decide.
What is the Call To Rise program?
The Call To Rise is a 100-day program for men over 40 built on strength training, a personal nutrition plan, and weekly accountability with other men. The guarantee is that you lose 20 or more pounds in the 100 days or Brian keeps working with you until you do.
