Jeff Byers: Life After Football, Prioritizing Attitude and Effort, and Democratizing High Performance

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Jeff Byers
Life After Football, Prioritizing Attitude and Effort, and Democratizing High Performance

Jeff Byers is the co-founder and CEO of Momentous — a holistic wellness and nutrition company based in Park City, Utah.  Designed by the brightest minds in performance athletics, but available for the everyday wellness enthusiast, Momentous is the first and only supplement brand to build formulas directly with experts from each of the four Major American Sports Leagues, launching in 2018 with a line of products designed by performance directors and dietitians from the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB.

Before Momentous Jeff had an insane collegiate athletic career all while getting his undergraduate degree and MBA, and THEN went on to play in the NFL for four years. We get into it all and learn why one of Jeff’s goals is to democratize high performance.

For more info, check out the Momentous website and follow them on Instagram.

Experts, Injuries, and Athletes mentioned in the episode: 

06:20  Disclaimer: The Ready State is part of the Momentous family, but we don’t partner with any company or product we don’t use and love
06:55  Momentous works with legendary experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman and Dr. Stacy Sims to create their supplements
07:25  Jeff was a top rated football recruit in highschool and a professional football in the NFL
09:15  Jeff had Lisfranc requiring surgery and making him non-weight bearing for 12 weeks – so he started swimming and losing all of that extra football weight
11:27  Jeff grew up in Colorado and was one of the top football recruits in high school; Dwight Howard; Jeremy Bloom
12:15  Jeff went to USC and played football from 2004-2009, coached by Pete Carroll
12:45  Jeff blew his hip out on the last game of his freshman season at age 19 and had two hip surgeries – and was told not to expect to play football again
14:23  This injury was a massively defining moment in Jeff’s life and determining how he prioritized his life and who he surrounded himself with
15:00  Kelly wants to remind everyone that Jeff is a mutant with superhuman healing abilities and aerobic capacity
15:30  When a doctor told Jeff not to expect to play football, when football is was his life, it put things in perspective and he focused on two things he could control: attitude and effort
16:20  Jeff started taking school really seriously to get as much done as possible while under scholarship
16:50  Jeff missed his whole sophomore year of football and then blew out his back (requiring surgery) at the end of training camp prior to his junior year and ended up missing that whole year of football as well
17:20  Jeff focused on school, graduating undergrad in three years and entered his 4th year of athletic eligibility as a grad student in the MBA program
19:00  Jeff got an extra year of eligibility due his two years of hardship – so he went to school for six years, got his MBA completed and was a 2-time team captain with 5th and 6th years at USC
19:20  Jeff was drafted into the NFL in 2010 first for the Seattle Seahawks, then the Denver Broncos, and ultimately for the Carolina Panthers for 3 years – as a backup offensive lineman but started a handful of games
20:15  Jeff’s nickname was ‘gristle’ since he was always able to come back from serious injury; Chris Carlisle; John Meyer
22:40  Jordan Senn, a captain in Carolina, introduced Jeff to Becoming a Supple Leopard
24:33  After receiving his MBD Jeff made some non-negotiable agreements in order to play pro football – always be relevant outside of sports and always take more from football than it took from him
25:45  Jeff had a job in finance when he first retired and realized immediately that it wasn’t for him
28:20  Jeff’s wife, Bethany, played volleyball and USC and overseas
29:58  Jeff’s last NFL season was 2013 – and the last play ended in him being carted off the field
30:28  Jeff didn’t love working in finance because it was a very solitary job, playing in the margins
33:20  Gabby Reece says you retire twice, once from sport, and then again from your job after sport
33:38  Jeff knew there was life after football and felt it was part of his life, but not who he was
34:45  After getting out of finance, Jeff jumped into an early biotech in 2015 developing a transdermal drug delivery system
35:54  That biotech was the birthplace of Amp Human and PR Lotion
36:45  PR Lotion explained
39:15  The origin of Momentous
40:20  The vision of Momentous is to democratize high performance
41:53  We still have to optimize the base of the pyramid; Layne Norton
43:32  Momentous products are all third-party tested, and the whole sports nutrition line is NSF and Informed Sport certified
44:15  Being NSF content certified is so critical as ANYONE can start a supplement company and since it isn’t regulated, what’s on the label doesn’t have to be in the bottle, at all
47:30  Momentous has the ability to partner with experts like Dr. Andrew Huberman and Dr. Stacy Sims because they are doing clinical research and innovating
48:50  The only way to know what you are buying is looking for the NSF Certified logo – and athletes that get drug tested shouldn’t ever risk it
50:54  Kelly’s decided to prioritize connective tissue health over his cognitive health and with heretofore be referred to as “Supple Dummy”
53:18  Being a founder of an early stage business takes a lot of grit and resiliency
54:50  What’s next for Jeff – Annual trip with friends, Sleep Pack, Collagen Shots
61:19  Jeff’s socials

Full Transcript

Sponsors

This episode of The Ready State Podcast is brought to you by Momentous, a leading high performance lifestyle company making the best supplements and sports nutrition products for individuals looking to optimize all parts of their lives. Kelly and Juliet want to make sure to have all the building blocks on board to prevent those all too common middle-aged strains and tweaks. Which is why they are obsessed with the Momentous Collagen Shots. Yes, it’s collagen, but because it’s a little single-serve shot, their consistency game is leveled up. Keep them in your bag or your pockets and never get behind on Collagen again. To stuff your pockets, go to thereadystate.com/momentous and use code TRS for 20% OFF your first purchase.

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This episode of The Ready State Podcast is brought to you by Sleepme. Kelly used to wake up 1000 degrees. He’s literally a supernova. They’ve tried every iteration of fans and cooling devices, which didn’t work and also made Juliet miserable. But now with Sleepme, Juliet and Kelly each dial their side of the bed to the temperature they like and both can fall asleep and stay asleep all night. Head over to sleep.me/trs to learn more and save on the purchase of any new Cube, OOLER or Dock Pro Sleep System. There is an offer available exclusively for The Ready State Podcast listeners — and only for a limited time! So take advantage of our exclusive discount and you too can wake up refreshed, everyday!