[00:00:02] Hey everybody, welcome back to the Outcomes Rocket. Saul Marquez here with another episode of Founder Stories. Man, I'm just overwhelmed by all the amazing content, but in particular today, I'm excited to host Dr. Tracy Gapin on the podcast again. This is actually his second time with us. He is focused on men's health optimization and longevity.

[00:00:27] He's the founder and CEO of the Gapin Institute, and he's a pioneer in men's health and peak performance, combining his background as a board-certified urologist and advanced training in longevity medicine.

[00:00:41] His whole career has been dedicated to transforming the lives of high-performing individuals through cutting-edge advanced diagnostics, targeted lifestyle interventions, and personalized proactive health optimization programs. In short, he helps all of us live better for longer. And with that, I want to welcome Dr. Gapin to the podcast. Thanks so much for joining us, Tracy.

[00:01:06] Oh, absolutely. So glad to get to join you again.

[00:01:08] Hey, man. It's always a treat. It's been several years, I think probably like four years. You've been up to a lot. And so for folks that haven't had a chance to meet you yet, why don't we start off by telling them a little bit about you and in particular, why healthcare and why entrepreneurship, right? You started at the bedside, but now entrepreneurship. Tell us about that.

[00:01:30] Oh, yeah. Great, great start. So for those of you who don't know me, I'm a recovering urologist. I like to say I spent 25 years in the U.S.

[00:01:38] In traditional healthcare as a board-certified urologist, ran a very busy practice, surgical practice, doing robotic surgery, doing advanced prostate cancer detection and treatment, and everything in mental health.

[00:01:50] And about halfway through that 25-year career, I got very frustrated, disillusioned, lost, if you will, and frustrated with traditional healthcare.

[00:02:00] I had my own health issues, which is a real story that got me to really start diving deep into rabbit holes, looking for a solution for my own health issues and for the men I was working with.

[00:02:13] And I found, we were very eye-opening experience to find that our healthcare system is failing miserably.

[00:02:20] And we're failing, especially men, because we're very reactive. We're very passive. We're waiting until there's a problem before we do anything about it.

[00:02:28] And typically by then, it's often too late when we throw a statin or some other drug at it and think that's the answer.

[00:02:35] And so my passion and purpose has become to really focus on how can we transform the way we approach men's health?

[00:02:43] How can we really shift the emphasis on advanced detection, early detection, and personalized care, understanding that each of us is different and what each of us means is different.

[00:02:54] And I just say one size fails all.

[00:02:56] And how can we take a very targeted, individualized approach?

[00:03:00] And that's really where I've directed all my energy and attention.

[00:03:02] Hey, I love that, Tracy. One size fails all because we're all different and we all live different lifestyles.

[00:03:10] We have different preferences, different habits.

[00:03:13] And so a lot has changed since we last were together.

[00:03:17] Tell us more about the Gappen Institute.

[00:03:19] What's the focus today? Has it changed from four years ago?

[00:03:23] Talk to us more about that.

[00:03:25] Definitely pivoted. And I'll share a couple of stories that drive home why I'm so passionate about this.

[00:03:29] One of them is a guy named Bob Harper.

[00:03:32] And you may not know him.

[00:03:33] He is the lead fitness trainer on the TV show The Biggest Loser.

[00:03:38] And the world looks great, right?

[00:03:39] He looks healthy. He looks amazing.

[00:03:41] He has the opinion of good health and he teaches everyone how to lose weight and get in shape and be healthy.

[00:03:46] But when he was able to fit to Warren a few years ago, Bob Harper had a heart attack.

[00:03:51] It almost killed him.

[00:03:53] And I thought he was healthy, Bob was not healthy.

[00:03:57] My brother, Bob John, who was this amazing larger-than-life guy.

[00:04:02] Massive guy.

[00:04:03] Worked out of the gym every day.

[00:04:04] We're doing everything right.

[00:04:05] And so we thought until one morning, several years ago, there was a 49.

[00:04:10] My brother, Bob John, dropped dead.

[00:04:13] He thought it was Smithy.

[00:04:14] He clearly wasn't.

[00:04:16] And I've seen this time and time again in all the clients we're working with.

[00:04:21] How they think they're doing great.

[00:04:23] They think they'll start healthy.

[00:04:24] I don't need any help.

[00:04:26] They can give us some cool cutting-ups, peptides.

[00:04:28] They want to do some fun cryo, sauna, red light, puke.

[00:04:31] And that's kind of fun cutting-ups, longevity tools.

[00:04:33] But I don't need anything else.

[00:04:34] I'm fine.

[00:04:35] But then you take a deep dive and do the advanced diagnostic testing.

[00:04:38] You do the blood testing.

[00:04:39] You look at the microbiome.

[00:04:40] You look at blood sugar regulation.

[00:04:42] All these are complex markers of physiology of how our body's working.

[00:04:47] And you come to find out you're not healthy.

[00:04:49] You're not okay.

[00:04:50] And a lot of, I call them blind spots in your health, that are affecting the way you're showing up every day.

[00:04:56] They're affecting your physical health, your mental health, your energy.

[00:05:01] And I'm an entrepreneur right now, and most of the guys that work with are entrepreneurs.

[00:05:05] Make no mistake about it.

[00:05:06] There is a direct correlation between your physical health, your mental health, and your energy,

[00:05:11] and how much money you make, and how successful your business is.

[00:05:14] A direct correlation there that I think is really important to emphasize that

[00:05:18] your health is really your main priority and should be your main focus.

[00:05:22] I love that.

[00:05:23] Well said.

[00:05:24] And there's so much that on the surface could seem okay.

[00:05:27] But when you open up the hood, there's a lot of things that potentially aren't.

[00:05:34] So how do you know unless you don't open up the hood and you don't do the diagnostics,

[00:05:39] whether it be blood, whether it be imaging?

[00:05:42] And so talk to us a little bit about how your program works

[00:05:46] and how it's different than other things that are out there.

[00:05:51] Yeah.

[00:05:52] So I've developed what I call my peak launch system, which is really a four-step process

[00:05:56] for taking guys through this transformation when we look at health optimization.

[00:06:01] Starts with number one is the diagnostics.

[00:06:04] And with diagnostics, we do a massive blood lab panel.

[00:06:07] And a blood lab panel is unlike what you've had before.

[00:06:10] Your primary care doctor, they're doing labs that are relatively worthless, in my opinion.

[00:06:15] And we're looking at markers of blood sugar regulation called insulin sensitivity.

[00:06:19] We're working at advanced complex hormone markers.

[00:06:22] For example, where your doc is on a check and told it's testosterone.

[00:06:25] Free testosterone is the money.

[00:06:26] That's what you want to be looking at, not total.

[00:06:29] For thyroid, we're going to look at things like free T3 and free T4,

[00:06:32] what most doctors don't ever look at.

[00:06:34] Then we look at TSH, the signal molecule.

[00:06:37] We're looking at markers of inflammation, markers of gut health,

[00:06:40] and a lot of other complex blood markers that can help us understand what aliens need attention.

[00:06:47] Step 10 is a deep dive.

[00:06:48] And this is what whatever practice is doing is putting this together,

[00:06:51] the blood testing with complex functional testing,

[00:06:55] meaning looking at markers of gut health.

[00:06:58] Most doctors aren't tabloids in medical school,

[00:07:00] and the pundit isn't aware of this, but our gut controls everything.

[00:07:04] It's fascinating that the microbes that line and take over our gut control the immune system,

[00:07:12] controls hormones, metabolism, energy.

[00:07:15] Nearly everything is affected by our gut,

[00:07:17] and I find massive issues there every day that's causing problems like low energy

[00:07:22] and fatigue and brain fog and lack of mental clarity and loss of drive.

[00:07:26] Hey, doc, I can't burn those last 10 pounds around my belly no matter how hard I try.

[00:07:31] A lot of that's in the gut.

[00:07:32] We're looking at markers of stress, a stress hormone called cortisol.

[00:07:36] Most entrepreneurs don't want to admit that they're a race car running in the red.

[00:07:41] That affects cortisol, which affects everything downstream.

[00:07:44] And while most guys will not want to admit stress is affecting them,

[00:07:48] I have chances that can prove it is.

[00:07:50] And by doing that, we can understand through a deep dive what we do about how do we address that.

[00:07:56] We do complex imaging, working at cardiovascular health,

[00:07:59] our coronary calcine score clearly, which is an advanced vascular imaging of the heart.

[00:08:05] We do full body MRI.

[00:08:06] We do fitness tests.

[00:08:07] We do metabolic test.

[00:08:08] All of the advanced tests are going to find those blind spots.

[00:08:12] It's not until we've done that.

[00:08:13] We can then go to design, which is the third step,

[00:08:16] where we construct, if you will, a personalized blueprint.

[00:08:20] What the heck do I eat?

[00:08:22] What do I not eat?

[00:08:23] How much should I be eating?

[00:08:24] What type of workout program is that for me?

[00:08:27] What supplements should I be taking?

[00:08:29] How much of those supplements should I be taking?

[00:08:31] What hormones do I need?

[00:08:32] What peptides can I take that will augment what I'm trying to achieve, augment the results?

[00:08:39] And then you get right in stuff like all the cuttingness, longevity, things like Red Riot and Cryo and Sauna and PUMF and Hubbard Barracks.

[00:08:47] They're great technologies.

[00:08:49] Those are the icing on the cake once you've gotten the foundation down.

[00:08:52] And then data, the full step is data, where we're looking at variable tech data to actually understand if what we're doing is working or not.

[00:09:00] My own answer is the premise piece of it together, where we use blood sugar trackers called CDMs or continuous glucose monitors.

[00:09:07] We're tracking sleep.

[00:09:09] We're tracking body competition.

[00:09:10] We're tracking stress.

[00:09:12] Hey, Jason, even for non-diabetics, you got continuous glucose monitors on them?

[00:09:16] Absolutely.

[00:09:16] I remember you asked that.

[00:09:17] So everyone's in the past thought that there's more of a agenda for diabetes, but they're needing to understand how your body is responding to stress and food and the foods that you're eating.

[00:09:28] It's a middle thing.

[00:09:29] Some people realize.

[00:09:30] Some people realize that if eating sushi was great and healthy food, you'd pour a blood sugar monitor until you're trying to blood sugar to the rest for four hours.

[00:09:40] Guys are like, I can't do it.

[00:09:42] In fact, I can't do it.

[00:09:43] But when your blood sugar is massively airy for three or four hours at a time, you're never going to get where you want to be.

[00:09:50] And again, this is a blind spot that you'll never know until you're looking at your own personalized data.

[00:09:55] And the same difference in the world.

[00:09:57] So you're not guessing.

[00:09:58] You're testing.

[00:09:59] And you move that information.

[00:10:00] So that's where it's on.

[00:10:01] It's the diagnostics.

[00:10:02] It's the deep dive.

[00:10:03] It's the design and the data.

[00:10:04] Put it most together.

[00:10:06] And that's how it feels.

[00:10:08] I'm embarrassed and humbled when I look back at my geradony practice 20 years ago.

[00:10:13] I'm just getting testosterone and then guys are going to lack us.

[00:10:16] They're throwing that shit.

[00:10:17] And look, what?

[00:10:18] What should we do in there?

[00:10:20] Now we understand there's a lot more to it.

[00:10:22] It takes putting all those pieces together to go and get those results.

[00:10:26] That's great.

[00:10:26] No, I really appreciate the insight there.

[00:10:28] I always thought on the glucose monitor side, I always thought to myself, man, they got to make these more widely available beyond diabetes.

[00:10:38] And this is spot on, man.

[00:10:40] The data that you could get from those things is so valuable.

[00:10:45] So I'm glad to hear that they're being used more widely now.

[00:10:48] Okay.

[00:10:49] So love the program.

[00:10:51] It's a four-step program.

[00:10:53] How fast are guys seeing results?

[00:10:57] Typically within six to eight weeks of starting treatment, guys definitely notice a massive difference in energy and focus and drive.

[00:11:06] And what's the goal?

[00:11:07] The goal is different for every guy.

[00:11:08] For some guy, it's a race car driver.

[00:11:11] It's performance on the track.

[00:11:12] He's chasing world records.

[00:11:14] I have other guys who are running large businesses, training other entrepreneurs.

[00:11:18] I have wealth advisors who are managing billions of dollars of money.

[00:11:22] I have people in every field of business.

[00:11:25] For some guys, it's about I want to be able to be a better father at home.

[00:11:29] I want to be able to be present and engaged with my kids at the end of the day and not be wiped out and exhausted.

[00:11:33] For other guys, peak performance means I want to be able to take care of my wife at night in the bedroom.

[00:11:39] So when we talk about phrases people throw around like peak performance and optimization, it means something different for everyone.

[00:11:45] And I like to be clear on what is that goal?

[00:11:47] What's that North Star we're chasing?

[00:11:50] And then we use all the data points to help us get there.

[00:11:53] And so it starts with those baby steps in the beginning where you have more energy and drive and focus.

[00:11:58] And now you're more motivated to make some more changes.

[00:12:00] And it becomes incremental improvement over time.

[00:12:03] That's great.

[00:12:04] No, I really appreciate the layout there on timelines.

[00:12:07] And so as you built the business, how long have you been at it for now?

[00:12:11] The Gappin Institute.

[00:12:13] So we've been running about six, seven years now.

[00:12:15] Brick and Wallet opened about four years ago, Sarah.

[00:12:18] I was running once as a side business, if you will, in my urology practice about 18 years ago.

[00:12:24] And then a couple of weeks ago, I was like, I got to go.

[00:12:26] This is my passion, my heart.

[00:12:27] And I gradually just faded away from urology.

[00:12:31] That's awesome, man.

[00:12:31] Congrats on the jump.

[00:12:33] When you have something steady and like a physician gig or there's corporate executives out there.

[00:12:39] Hell, I was one of them, right?

[00:12:41] I left my cush exec job for my own business.

[00:12:44] When you take the jump, it's hard.

[00:12:46] And then when you build, it's hard.

[00:12:49] If you were to look at your building process, anything that stands out to you as one of the biggest challenges and how did you overcome it?

[00:12:58] And what did you learn from it?

[00:12:59] This is founder stories after all.

[00:13:01] Love this.

[00:13:02] I love it.

[00:13:02] Yeah.

[00:13:02] One of the challenges that we had early on was messaging.

[00:13:07] And I'm a doctor, a doctor about background.

[00:13:10] And now I've learned how important marketing is for the business.

[00:13:15] Anyone out there, any entrepreneur, marketing is critical.

[00:13:19] What I mean by that is you need to understand how to talk to your target avatar, your client thing you're trying to attract.

[00:13:25] And for me, I am my own avatar.

[00:13:28] Like most business owners, I target myself so I can understand what I'm looking for.

[00:13:32] But it's how do you effectively communicate that in a way to really drive change.

[00:13:38] Because there's a lot of neurons out there.

[00:13:40] There's a lot of human blood labs anywhere.

[00:13:42] You can get wearable tech anywhere.

[00:13:45] You can get a functional doctor to do some tests for you.

[00:13:47] You can get a genetic cycle.

[00:13:48] You can get an imaging set.

[00:13:49] You can throw all these into the piece and put them together and try to make it work.

[00:13:52] But for me, for my business to flourish like we have, it's telling the story of how rooting all that together, one plus one equals five.

[00:14:02] And so it's messaging.

[00:14:05] It's coming from a place of authenticity and loving and believing and owning in what you do.

[00:14:11] And it's who I am.

[00:14:12] Like it's ontologic.

[00:14:13] It's just it's part of me now.

[00:14:15] And that makes the storytelling so much easier.

[00:14:19] When people are out there just trying to sell shit, it doesn't work.

[00:14:22] People can see right through it.

[00:14:24] It's not real.

[00:14:25] It's not authentic.

[00:14:25] It's obvious they're just trying to make a buck.

[00:14:28] I like what I do because I get to change lives every day.

[00:14:30] I go to see the story.

[00:14:31] I get to hear the amazing testimonials.

[00:14:32] And that's what freaking drives me to do more, work better, and build a bigger team.

[00:14:37] That's awesome, Tracy.

[00:14:38] And yeah, I love what you said.

[00:14:39] The marketing piece is huge.

[00:14:41] And a lot of times, entrepreneurs and their teams, they have the right product.

[00:14:47] And so it's not product market fit.

[00:14:50] Many times, it's message market fit.

[00:14:52] And it's getting that value proposition clearly articulated and putting it out there.

[00:14:58] You definitely have.

[00:14:59] You're having success.

[00:15:00] So kudos to you there.

[00:15:02] And the message to everybody listening is you may not have to ditch your product.

[00:15:07] The point that Tracy, Dr. Gappin's telling us is check out your messaging because oftentimes,

[00:15:13] it's a couple tweaks in your messaging to really hit it home.

[00:15:17] Yeah.

[00:15:18] Yeah.

[00:15:18] I love that.

[00:15:19] That's such a great lesson, Tracy.

[00:15:20] That's such a great lesson.

[00:15:21] Thanks.

[00:15:22] I think back to about six years ago when I first started running the business and I was

[00:15:26] selling just the genetics alone.

[00:15:28] Get your genetics, your genetic edge blueprint genetics.

[00:15:30] Find out how that is affecting your health.

[00:15:33] It's a great, informative product.

[00:15:36] Valuable.

[00:15:37] And what I wasn't doing, it explained how to truly help you.

[00:15:43] What's the benefit to me?

[00:15:44] It's not just about fixing a number or knowing information.

[00:15:47] It's how does it actually affect my client and transform them.

[00:15:51] And that's the key part of the storytelling.

[00:15:52] That's awesome.

[00:15:53] That's awesome.

[00:15:54] Transformation is key.

[00:15:56] Really appreciate you sharing that.

[00:15:57] And look, I love having these conversations with passionate entrepreneurs that are changing

[00:16:03] lives in healthcare like you, Dr. Gappin.

[00:16:05] So I want to give you an opportunity to give our listeners one final closing thought and

[00:16:10] then let them know where they could reach out to you and just learn more.

[00:16:15] Yeah.

[00:16:16] So I really like to emphasize living with intention.

[00:16:20] If I can tell you what I espouse, what I believe in, what I really preach, it's living with intention.

[00:16:26] That means everything you do has to have purpose, has to have meaning.

[00:16:30] And what are you trying to achieve?

[00:16:32] And for me, it's all about, honestly, it's about being the best dad I can be.

[00:16:36] That's my big why.

[00:16:37] And everything I do is in alignment with that.

[00:16:39] How I run my business, how I structure my day, my supplement protocol, my workout program,

[00:16:44] my nutrition, everything I do is so that I can be the best husband, father, leader that

[00:16:48] I can be.

[00:16:49] And the principle is all about those two kids and how I can be the best dad I can be.

[00:16:53] So living with intention is where it really starts.

[00:16:55] And that's what Gappin Institute is founded on, honestly.

[00:16:58] So you can find me at gappininstitute.com.

[00:17:01] If you want to go to gappininstitute.com forward slash wash, I have a number of gifts for

[00:17:07] the listeners.

[00:17:08] I have a free copy of my best sending book, Mel 2.0, a digital copy.

[00:17:12] A copy of my TED Talk, a copy of my High Performance Health Handbook with 15 strategies and tactics

[00:17:18] to run longer and better.

[00:17:20] And I also have in there my Wills with Heptide Guide as well, a guide to the latest cutting

[00:17:24] niche peptides.

[00:17:25] And there's also a link if you want to reach out to my team, my discovery call with my team

[00:17:29] will be there for you as well.

[00:17:31] Gappininstitute.com forward slash launch.

[00:17:33] So much good stuff there, Tracy.

[00:17:35] Thank you for your generosity there.

[00:17:38] Folks, take advantage of this opportunity to engage with Tracy.

[00:17:42] Whether it's through the content that he offers or exploring some of his programs.

[00:17:47] And just to clarify, it doesn't matter where they're at, right?

[00:17:49] This thing is completely virtual.

[00:17:51] We work with people everywhere.

[00:17:53] That's right.

[00:17:53] Love it.

[00:17:54] So doesn't matter where you're at.

[00:17:56] Reach out if it sounds interesting.

[00:17:58] Now's the time if you're going to make a difference in your life and in your business.

[00:18:02] So Tracy, Dr. Gappin, really appreciate you jumping on.

[00:18:05] This has been a lot of fun.

[00:18:06] You got it.

[00:18:07] Thanks so much.

[00:18:08] Thanks.