Ben Pakulski Podcast – The Backstory from Dr. Miletic

February 1, 2021 2 Comments
Dr. Miletic Joins Ben Pakulski on 'The Muscle Intelligence Podcast'

It was such a pleasure to talk with my good friend Ben Pakulski as a guest on his hugely popular 'Muscle Intelligence' podcast. As you know, Ben was a world-class bodybuilder, who after retiring from competition, evolved into a master coach and an incredible human being.

I first met Ben over a decade ago, introduced by our mutual best friend, Andy O’Brien. Andy is, without a doubt, the greatest sports performance expert in the world. He also happened to be Ben’s first coach at the same university that we all attended together. Andy remembers the first day Ben walked into the weight room at Western University in London, Ontario, without having lifted before, and proceeded to pile several plates on the bar and squat them. Andy was blown away! Ironically, I trained in the same weight room when I attended Western University for years before moving onto the Canadian Olympic weightlifting team.

 

Topics covered include: Great Performance Begins With Your Mind.

So, Ben and I share many connections, but also immediate mutual respect and identification. Kind of like meeting an old friend for the first time. Like many male relationships, we had disappeared from each other‘s lives off and on, until once again, visiting with Andy in Toronto. At this time, Andy had become not only my close friend but also a mentor and coach to my son, Sam, who is in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. Sam’s connection with Ben was immediate as well.

I soon realized that we were connecting on much deeper emotional levels than just the mutual sharing of sports. Ben has an insatiable desire to learn, as exemplified in his podcast. Despite his prodigious achievements, there is a humility of spirit and a deep identification with searching for his own meaning in life. We realized that neither of us was bound by typical male stereotypes of masculinity and launched deeply into conversations involving love, connection, identifying our purpose and our souls, as well as finding our best life.

Contrary to the jock culture that we were brought up in, we both readily connected on the need to be happy, fulfilled, and contented and have peace within our own minds as a prerequisite to performance.

This is the backstory to our conversation on his podcast. I will always be grateful to Ben, my friend for life.

Please reach out with any questions or comments you have.