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739: The Story Behind NX Level – Brad Arnett

In this special episode, Kirk Behrendt brings in Brad Arnett, his friend of 30 years and owner of NX Level Sports Performance, to talk about his journey as a trainer, growing the best athletes, and building NX Level. He also shares his philosophy on success, working hard, and the mindset you need to be your best. To take your thinking to the next level, listen to Episode 739 of The Best Practices Show!

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Main Takeaways:

  • No matter what stage of life you're in, have your values and priorities in line.
  • Everyone works hard. But it’s how long you stay at it that leads to success.
  • Learn to consistently do the boring, monotonous, and mundane things.
  • Sometimes, the “greener grass” on the other side is just field turf.
  • Being proactive is always better than being reactive.
  • Define success for yourself.

Quotes:

“I think sometimes you think the grass is greener on the other side, and you get there, and it's actually field turf.” (19:59—20:03)

“I remember I'm home on a weekend. To this day, I can't remember what I was making. But I'm making something to eat for the kids. So, I make all this stuff up, and I put it on the table, and they're kind of picking at it. And I'm looking at them. In my mind, I'm going, ‘You little shits. Let's go. You’ve got to start eating here.’ They're just not doing it. So, I go in the other room, and I go to Stacey, ‘What's going on? Why aren't the kids eating? Did you feed them this morning?’ She goes, ‘Well, what did you make?’ I told her, and she goes, ‘Brad, they haven't eaten that in like eight months. They don't like it.’ I didn't even know what my kids liked to eat anymore. I'm going, ‘Man. This is . . .’ So, that's one thing I really impress on young kids when they come in and they intern. They've got these goals. They want to be a college strength coach — and that's great. There's nothing wrong with that. But I think they need to know the pros and the cons to everything. I always tell them, ‘Listen. When you go into this, you’ve got to have your priorities in line, and you’ve got to know what's important to you.” (20:31—21:22)

“Everybody works hard. But the problem is, is it for a day? Is it two days? Is it a week? Is it a month? The ones that stay with it and they make it a habit — the boring, monotonous, mundane things that nobody wants to do — the ones that do that are the ones that make it.” (52:01— 52:17)

“The problem is you've got so many people that are getting told, ‘Johnny's got talent,’ and he's 12. ‘I think he can do this. I think he can do that.’ And these parents are taking it hook, line, and sinker in that, ‘Okay. This kid is going to be a Division I baseball player. I can see this kid making it to the Majors.’ It's this concept that if you're basing your kid's athletic future on perceived ability when he was 12, you're walking down a really, really dark road of doom.” (59:35—1:00:09)

“Perceiving a future in athletics based off what a kid can do when he's 12 is the wrong way to look at it. These kids are getting more and more specialized at earlier ages. There are so many studies that are coming out that are talking about this where you take kids that specialize early versus you compare it to basically a sandlot kid. They like to do everything. It's not structured. Maybe they play on a team, but it's for fun, and they're good, and they're learning, but they're exposing themselves to all these different sports. And then, all of a sudden, they get older, and they get older, and now they're a sophomore and they're a junior in high school, and they pick what they really want to do. They're getting to the same level that these kids are that specialized early. But what's the biggest difference? Burnout.” (1:00:41—1:01:27)

“[Parents] truly do have their kids’ best interests at heart. But they don't realize that, after a while, they are creating more harm than they are good . . . There was this gentleman that was walking down a sidewalk, and he saw this moth. It was struggling to get out of this cocoon, this little slit in this cocoon, and it was fighting and fighting and struggling to get out. It was some kind of Asian moth. So, the guy grabs the cocoon, and he takes it home. He cuts the cocoon and helps the moth get out. This moth gets out, and tries to fly a little bit, and lands in the ground. In a very short time, it's dead. The moral of the story is that these moths, as it fights to get through that little slit, as it gets through the slit, it compresses all this fluid out of their body so that by the time they get through the cocoon, it's out of their body, their wings expand, they can move them, they can fly away, and they grow. The fact that he took the moth and made it easier for him, it actually killed him, versus just letting nature do what it's got to do and struggle and work to basically get to freedom, to get to what its goal is — and that's to fly away and live. And we have this concept that we want to grow our kids, and we don't want to raise them.” (1:06:17—1:07:47)

“Parents will get upset when a coach will tell a kid that, ‘You need to improve your attitude, and your body language stinks.’ The kid will get upset, ‘Well, how can you say that to me?’ And the parents are taken aback. ‘Coach, that's kind of overstepping your boundary.’ Well, is it really overstepping their boundary? Because there, again, you want all your kids on your team to be influencers and help each other. When a kid has got horrible body language, doesn't take coaching well, doesn't put a lot of interest into it, and everything they do is kind of lackadaisical — as a coach, it's really, really hard to deal with. You're wondering if you're getting through to the kid. Does the kid even want to be there? Is this really, truly what they want to do? At a point, a coach wants to have kids around them that want to make a difference, and they want to improve, and they want to work. But when you’ve got a kid that's got horrible body language and their attitudes thinks, it's hard.” (1:07:50—1:08:44)

“When I talk about parents that want to grow their kids versus raising them, at some point, kids have got to understand what those terms mean. And it's not just for athletics. At some point, your kid is going to have a job, and they're going to start a career. So, when you look at it, yeah, you've got to have a strong work ethic. I tell kids, ‘Listen. Talent may get you there. But what's going to keep you there is your character, your attitude, the way you carry yourself, your commitment level, and your ownership.” (1:08:53—1:09:27)

“My model for NX Level has always been that it's not about the income, it’s about the outcome.” (1:11:18—1:11:23)

“[Parents] think their biggest ROI is [for their kid] to be on a club team. At some point, we've got to understand that there's got to be some attention to developing the athlete — and that's not going in the weight room and trying to see how much weight you can lift. It comes back to what you and I talked about before. It's a concept of prehab. Let's start helping kids and parents — and everyone — understand that being proactive is always better than being reactive.” (1:13:56—1:14:19)

“People always say, ‘Oh, you've been so successful.’ And I say to them, ‘Well, what does that mean?’ Everyone's concept of being successful is so different, and everyone puts weights on different things.” (1:14:29—1:14:38)

“I love going to work every day. I really do. I enjoy what I do and the people that work with me. I don't say they work for me. They work with me because we're in it together, and we're all there for the same reason, and we want to make a difference in people's lives. That's been really, really fun to do.” (1:15:16—1:15:32)

Snippets:

0:00 Introduction.

1:42 Brad’s college life.

3:12 Life after college and starting his career.

16:17 Struggling with work-life balance.

18:09 Sometimes, the “green grass” is just field turf.

22:14 His career change and the start of NX Level.

39:08 His vision for NX Level.

43:13 Favorite stories from his time as a trainer.

53:34 Prehab, explained.

58:19 The problem of kids’ injuries in sports.

1:01:29 Multisport versus specializing.

1:04:50 The state of parenting in sports.

1:10:33 The future for Brad and NX Level.

1:13:38 Final thoughts.

Brad Arnett Bio:

Brad Arnett has been working professionally with athletes of all ages to meet their goals for more than 20 years. He was a four-year letter winner for the football team at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, two of which was as a starter. He earned All-Conference and All-American honors his senior season and was inducted into the UW-Whitewater Athletic Hall of Fame in the fall of 2013.

In late 1993, Brad began his career as a strength and conditioning coach for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. After completing his degree in corporate and community health in 1995 at Whitewater and his master's degree in kinesiology in 1996 at the University of Minnesota, Brad remained with the university and worked for six years as the director of the Olympic Sport Strength and Conditioning Program. In 2000, Brad joined the University of Arizona and served as the assistant athletic director of strength and conditioning, working specifically with the men's football and basketball teams, as well as overseeing all aspects regarding the training of Arizona's 17 other athletic programs. He opened NX Level Sports Performance in May of 2005 and has trained athletes from every professional organization. 
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