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How I See It w/ Don Saladino

How I See It w/ Don Saladino

Also: Avoiding Regret & the $145 Garage Gym Pulley System You Need

Greg Scheinman
August 18, 2024

This is Issue No. 3 of Midlife Male, a lifestyle digital magazine and podcast for midlife men. For additional midlife perspectives during the week, follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and Threads.

How I See It with Don Saladino

Don Saladino is a coach and fitness entrepreneur who has trained A-list actors, athletes and musicians for 25+ years. In addition to running his global online fitness business, Saladino has worked with actors like John Krasinski and recently trained Ryan Reynolds for his role in Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine.

MLM Founder Greg Scheinman took a trip to Saladino’s famous training barn in New York, got in a workout and sat down with Saladino to talk about money, midlife, muscles and more.

MLM: Almost everyone reading this will know your credentials in the fitness industry and the clientele you’ve trained. But we want to know. Why do you train? What are you trying to accomplish personally?

Don Saladino: When I train, I train to challenge myself and to feel good. It’s plain and simple. Is it important that my body looks a certain way? I’d be lying if I said it didn’t matter. Of course, it does. But that’s almost the aftermath of everything. I’m in love with the process. I’m in love with the grind. I’m in love with getting under the bar and feeling a little nervous. I’m in love with walking in and not feeling 100% but walking out and feeling 110%. These are things in my life that I can control.

MLM: You’re in your late 40s like many of our MLM readers. Do you believe that we can continue to improve and get stronger as we progress in middle age?

DS: There’s no reason why you can’t keep improving body composition and no reason why you can’t continue to get stronger. I don’t want to lose strength. There’s a level of equity I’ve developed with my strength and with my muscularity that I want to hold on to. I want to continue to work on mobility and practice the things I’m not good at.

…

On Creating Your Own Luck and How a 6AM Workout Led to a Dream MLM Interview

Don Saladino is a guy I've wanted to meet and train with for a while now. He’s a legend in the fitness industry, a husband and father, fellow Long Islander (I grew up there) and trainer to some of the quintessential midlife males like Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds.

He’s also in his late 40s and jacked, still playing hockey and maximizing midlife himself. A while back I saw that he was speaking at STRONG NY, an event put on by my friend Kenny Santucci, so I called Kenny and asked to attend. He was cool enough to hook me up with a VIP ticket and I booked my flight. I figured I’d get my five minutes or so with Don sometime during the event and if I was lucky, maybe get his contact information and look to develop a bit of a relationship, have him on the podcast and the rest would be history.

It ended up being way more than that. Here’s how it all unfolded…

Millions of stories are posted online every day and 99.9% are noise. We sifted through the nonsense to share standouts with actionable takeaways you can use to maximize your life in each of our 6Fs: Fitness. Family. Finance. Food. Fashion. Fun. Let’s go.

FAMILY

A Survey on How to Live a Life Without Regret

Sebastian Terry, a world renowned speaker, is one of my favorite people. He recently surveyed his massive audience and asked them these five questions:

Does regret impact your life?
What is your biggest regret?
Have you learned a valuable lesson from regret?
In five words or less, what would your life look like if you had no regret?
What advice would you give to a loved one to help them?

The results, which you can read here, are incredible - and incredibly useful for midlife males.

FITNESS

Why Everyone’s Asking Me About My Garage Gym Pulley System

I posted a video working out in my garage and I couldn’t believe the number of people who asked me about the pulley system I was using.

For those interested, here it is.

FINANCE

The Life Insurance that Rewards Healthy People

Did you know there is a life insurance policy that you can get through John Hancock that rewards you if you stay in shape and take care of yourself? And that you can use it to either get a free FitBit or an Apple Watch for as little as $25? I use it. Here’s more info.

FOOD

My 2 Favorite Chicken Sauces I Combine into One Super Sauce

If you’re like me and you eat a ton of chicken, you know it gets boring over time. But chicken is loaded with protein and low fat, which you know, so the way I keep it tasting great is to combine two of my favorite dipping sauces: Primal Kitchen Buffalo Sauce and Toby’s Jalapeno Ranch. Trust me on this.

FASHION

This Pair of Sunglasses is Your New Secret Weapon

RayBan Wayfarers are among the most classic and iconic pairs of sunglasses ever made. If you haven't checked them out lately, they’ve been modestly updated, polarized and are a modern original. Don’t mess them up by going with any of the funky colors, mirrored edition or anything other than black or tortoise. Keep ’em simple and keep ’em classic.

FUN

Enjoying Musician Allen Stone’s VIP Experience

My friend, musician and MLM podcast guest Billy Mann introduced me to an artist named Allen Stone with whom he co-wrote a track called “A Father’s Song.” It’s an exceptional song and close to my heart as a father and someone who lost their dad early in life.

Allen’s on tour and stopping in Houston, so when I was buying tickets for me and Kate to go, I noticed he was offering a VIP experience. These are the types of experiences I find fun: an opportunity to meet, connect, question and learn from a talented artist.

Here’s what we got: