What Remains: An Okápe Podcast

About What Remains: An Okápe Podcast

What Remains is an Okápe podcast about everyday people who chose physical pursuit. And what they found when it stripped everything else away. Not the finish line. Not the medal. Not the number on the clock. Something quieter and more permanent than any of those. Hosts Nathan Baumeister and Matt Carlson sit down with people who pushed past the limits they once accepted and discovered something about themselves that couldn't have been learned any other way. They dig into the pursuits that broke them open, what remained, and how that showed up when life got hard in ways that had nothing to do with miles or reps or weight. The pursuit is external. The breakthrough is internal. What remains?

Publisher

Matt & Nathan

Category

education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Jun 2026

Latest episode

26 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

10 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 Oct 2026

   The Only Option is Forward - Ryan Hosegood

   Ryan Hosegood had never spent a night on a trail when he decided to complete one thru-hike in all seven continents. In June 2022, on the summit of Mount Whitney, he met a stranger with a strange name who was 780 miles into the Pacific Crest Trail. Forty-eight hours of research later, Ryan had made up his mind. A month after that, he had a plan. Ryan grew up in Winnipeg in a family where sports were close to a religion. His grandfather won four Grey Cups with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. His mother won national basketball titles as a player and as a coach. Ryan played university football until concussions ended his career after his third year. Office life never replaced what competition had given him, so he went looking for something harder. Since then he has walked the PCT from Mexico to Canada in 143 days, crossed New Zealand on the 3,050 km Te Araroa, and helped scout and reshape Europe’s new Wolf Trail with Jack Wolfskin. Next up are the Great Himalaya Trail in Nepal and a 1,100 km solo, unsupported ski from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole. If he makes it, he will be only the third Canadian to complete that route. In this episode Nathan and Matt start where Ryan’s drive started: his family’s athletic history, 6 a.m. team lifts, and the day he fell asleep mid-set on the bench press. Ryan explains why he chose a team workout he hated over a solo one at a better hour. They follow him from Southern California’s COVID-era day hikes to the Whitney summit that changed his direction, and to the Trans-Catalina Trail shakedown, Lord of the Rings costume included. On the PCT, Ryan explains how a 62-year-old Austin hiker named Nightbird gave him the trail name Bubbles. He tells stories about trail magic, a night spent sheltering in a campground washroom, and a “bear” that turned out to be the reflector on a sleeping hiker’s tent. He also describes the only night he thought about quitting: day one, in a heat wave, out of water and two miles off course. In New Zealand, a handstand attempt cost him two and a half weeks of recovery. That forced him to hike the South Island mostly alone to make a non-refundable flight. In Europe, slower and more experienced hikers taught him something he admits he has not fully learned yet: how to stop and enjoy where you are. The conversation closes with what comes next. Ryan plans a 420 km February crossing of a frozen Lake Winnipeg as a test run for Antarctica. He is also working to raise the $100,000 it costs just to fly there and back. About Ryan Hosegood Ryan Hosegood is a Canadian long-distance hiker from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and a former university football player. He is working on Seven on Seven, an attempt to complete a major thru-hike on every continent. He has finished the Pacific Crest Trail, Te Araroa, and Europe’s Wolf Trail. Follow Ryan: Instagram @ryanhosegood

2. 

   13 Sept 2026

   It's Not Like Losing a Lung - Neil Anderson

   Neil Anderson didn't set out to be a trainer. He was a farm kid who wanted to drive a truck, then drove a forklift, then blew out his knee at 25 and ended up in a physical therapy clinic that changed the direction of his life. Thirty-two years later he's trained thousands of people, from professional athletes and dancers to the woman in her mid-fifties who just wants to move better. Nathan and Matt both worked alongside Neil early in their careers, and this conversation covers the ground they've been chasing since: what happens when you find out your limits aren't where you thought they were. Neil lays out his framework for optimal health as eight distinct aspects, physical being only one of them, and makes the case that the physical is worth training precisely because it's the only one you can put your hands on. The lessons transfer. He also tells the story of the Tahiti flight, the blood clot that traveled to his lungs, the lobe that died and never came back, and the year he spent getting back on a bike to finish LoToJa. Plus the road rage moment that changed how he moves through the world, the client who ran a mile at 400 pounds and then hid behind a dumpster to cry, and the training protocol he's built for people over 45 because nobody else had. Key Takeaways Health is eightfold. Mental, emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual, financial, environmental, and physical. Chasing only the physical means chasing your tail. The physical is the conduit. It's the only aspect you can touch, so the lessons you learn there transfer fastest to the other seven. The best trainer gets out of your way. If it takes a trainer to get you through the door, the trainer has failed you. Decide you've already made it. Neil finished LoToJa because 50 miles out he decided the outcome was settled. The cramping and the vomiting became details. Don't get bogged down. Negative thoughts and feelings still show up. Neil just doesn't give them space, and he treats that as a practice, not a personality trait. Find your why, and don't let it be a number. The deeper the why, the more likely it holds. Less is more. Three to eight reps, three to five sets, three to five minute rests, and speed instead of weight.

3. 

   24 Aug 2026

   No One See the Reps - Sydney Waltz

   Sydney Waltz started gymnastics at four years old, competed through a D1 career at the University of Kentucky, and made the CrossFit Games on a team in 2025. In this episode, she walks Nathan and Matt through what it actually took to get there, and what came after. She talks about the gym the new gym that humbled her at ten years old, training alongside girls six years older, and the season it took to trust that the criticism was building her rather than breaking her. She tells the story of her release move failing on the very first event of Junior Olympic Nationals, the meltdown in the bathroom, and the three events that followed. She talks about graduating college at 21 and finding out that an entry level office job felt more like school than any classroom ever had, and the years that came after that felt like going in circles before anything clicked into place. Sydney also gets into what it means to compete without letting competition define her anymore. Why she chose team CrossFit over the individual chase. Why she started a second Instagram just to get comfortable in front of a camera again. And why the girl who cried in a college bathroom over one bad bar routine now spends her time coaching other gymnasts and their parents through the exact things she wishes someone had told her.

4. 

   10 Aug 2026

   No Pain, No Story - Heber Cannon

   Heber Cannon once ran eight miles into a marathon in Death Valley before the heat pulled him out of the race. Eighteen years later, he went back and finished it, on what turned out to be the hottest day ever recorded there. In this episode, the filmmaker behind CrossFit's biggest documentaries and the Buttery Bros YouTube channel talks about failure, obsession, and what it actually takes to keep showing up. Heber traces his path from a childhood spent bouncing between roller hockey, jujitsu, marathon running, and almost any other sport he could try to a career filming CrossFit's biggest names, and the moment in 2018 when he chose to not pursue his previous dream of filmmaking in Hollywood and build something of his own instead. Nathan, Matt, and he dig into the Death Valley marathon that has bookended his adult life: the failed attempt in his twenties, and the return trip 18 years later on the hottest day the location has ever recorded. The conversation moves through how his relationship with fitness changed as he got older, from chasing raw talent without effort to respecting the grind, and how a series of sport specific training blocks after turning 40 (strength, then Olympic lifts, then endurance) reshaped how he trains and why. He tells the stories of his last minute decisions to pace a marathon in the mountains for his cousin and another joining alongside James Lawrence as James completed his 100th consecutive ironman length triathlon. Heber also opens up about training his 9 year old son to run a full marathon before turning double digits, and what that process taught him about coaching a kid through the mental side of endurance, not just the physical. The episode closes on where he's headed next: the Leadville 100, a race that has sat unfinished in the back of his mind for years, and why the runner's high in a beautiful, remote place still beats anything he's felt on a gym floor. Guest bio Heber Cannon is a filmmaker and endurance athlete based in Salt Lake City. He spent over a decade producing content for CrossFit, including six feature length documentaries that topped iTunes' best seller list, before starting the Buttery Bros YouTube channel, where he travels the world training with elite athletes and documenting all of his and his friends' adventures. He has completed multiple Ironman triathlons, ultra distance runs, and self-supported endurance challenges, and is currently training for the Leadville 100.

5. 

   20 Jul 2026

   What We're Really Made Of - Joseph Cabrera

   Joseph Cabrera has fallen off a mountain, pulled a friend out of a swamp in the dark, and spent a year on an outpost eight thousand feet up in the Afghan mountains with one job: keep the bad guys at bay. He has also, by his own account, never quite figured out what to do with his hands when he's not the one holding the microphone hosting podcasts versus being a guest on one. In this episode, Joseph walks through the path from a South Texas kid with no mountains in sight to West Point, Ranger School, and years of combat leadership in some of the most physically demanding environments the military has to offer. He talks about the log-walk drill Ranger instructors run over and over, not to see if you can cross it, but to see if you can cross it calm. He talks about smelling like sulfur when a body starts eating its own muscle for fuel. And he tells the story of the moment the ground gave way beneath him on a mountain pass in Afghanistan, and the only two words he could think to say to the men around him. This is a conversation about what actually surfaces when everything else gets stripped away: not bravado, but humor. Not panic, but calm. Not who you perform as, but who you actually are when there's no energy left to perform. Joseph's answer to the show's closing question reframes the entire idea of pushing physical limits, not as a personal accomplishment, but as a way of becoming useful to the people around you. About Joseph Cabrera Joseph Cabrera is a West Point graduate, Army Ranger, and combat veteran who led an airborne reconnaissance unit on the Afghan-Pakistan border. He later founded Wyld Whisper, which places executives and adventurers into immersive, high-intensity environments from Alaska to Africa built around shared hardship and team performance. He is also a longtime podcast host.

6. 

   6 Jul 2026

   Pride, Pivots, and Perspective - Aaron Coleman

   Aaron Coleman has spent five decades chasing mountains, rivers, and the outer edge of what his body can do. In this episode, he sits down with Nathan Baumeister and Matt Carlson to trace how a childhood in Idaho and years of team sports built the foundation for a life defined by outdoor pursuit. Aaron walks through his first real test: summiting Mount Rainier in roughly 24 hours with a friend who packed a tarp instead of a tent. From there, the conversation turns to a backcountry ski trip in Alaska that nearly ended in tragedy, and the gut check that comes when six goal-driven friends have to choose between pride and survival. Aaron also opens up about his annual eight-day wilderness float trips in remote Alaska, including one night when a teammate's hypothermia turned a fishing trip into a real emergency. Aaron Coleman is a sales leader, coach, and lifelong outdoorsman based in Boise, ID. Over three decades he has summited countless mountains, run backcountry ski lines across Alaska and the Rockies, and completed more than 20 multi-day wilderness float trips through remote river systems draining into the Bering Sea. He has coached baseball, football, softball, and rugby, and has spent his career in sales leadership, work he credits directly to lessons learned in the mountains.

7. 

   29 Jun 2026

   Winning Is Really Rare - Roni Jones-Perry

   Roni Jones-Perry has been an athlete since she was three years old. Gymnastics first, then a pivot at 13 when the money ran out. Then volleyball, which took over her life by sophomore year of high school and hasn't let go since. She played at BYU, went to the Final Four her senior year, played four seasons overseas in Italy, Poland, and Brazil, and now plays professionally for a team in Salt Lake City. On paper, that is a clean arc. In conversation, it is anything but. In this episode, Roni talks about what gymnastics actually built in her, and why leaving it at 13 was the best thing that could have happened. She talks about arriving at BYU convinced that more physical work was always the answer, and slowly learning it wasn't. She talks about playing her best professional season alone in Poland for six months, performing at the highest level of her career, and feeling completely empty doing it. And she talks about the decision she made with her brother-in-law on a hot afternoon that changed how she thinks about why she does hard things at all. The line she kept coming back to, the one her college coach used to say that she rolled her eyes at and now quotes constantly: winning is really rare. It sounds like a consolation. It isn't. It's the whole point. In this episode: How gymnastics built a foundation she didn't know she had What it cost to leave at 13, and why she's grateful she did Arriving at BYU convinced that more physical work was always the answer The slow, uncomfortable process of learning to work smarter instead Going to the Final Four her senior year, and what she wishes she'd done differently The first season overseas: what professional volleyball actually is, and how it's nothing like college Playing her best statistical season alone in Poland, and why it felt like the worst year of her career What Brazil gave her that no other place had The conversation with her brother-in-law that changed her relationship with fear as motivation Coming home to Salt Lake City, and what it means to finally stop putting the rest of her life on hold

8. 

   22 Jun 2026

   You Can Quit If You Want - Amy Gawlik

   She finished a triathlon, shot a wedding that same evening, and once woke up in a Mexican ambulance at mile 111 with a broken collarbone, still convinced she could finish. Forty more miles into the dark and a breakdown at mile 60 of her first 100-miler: Amy Gawlik is not someone who does things halfway. In this episode, Nathan and Matt sit down with Amy, triathlete, ultrarunner, wedding photographer, single mom, and Okape's own photographer and brand collaborator, to talk about what physical pursuit has actually cost her, what it has given her, and what she hopes it leaves behind. Amy shares how a flyer in a bike shop led to her first sprint triathlon, how a six-year break from the sport ended with a return to Ironman racing, and how she went from her longest run ever being 38 miles to crossing the finish line of Rocky Raccoon 100 in Huntsville, Texas at the 25-hour mark. She talks about the specific moment at mile 60 when she told her mom she couldn't go on, what her mom said back, and why that exchange gave her everything she needed to finish. The conversation goes deep on the relationship between physical discipline and entrepreneurship, how training for extreme endurance events shaped how Amy built and runs her photography business, and what it felt like to watch her daughter Ava complete her first triathlon while standing on the other side of the finish line. This one hits different. In this episode: 01:25 Introduction and Amy's background in triathlon 02:28 From swimming in high school to her first sprint triathlon in 2007 09:54 How a bike shop flyer changed everything 12:29 The Cozumel Ironman: mile 111, a crash, and waking up in an ambulance 21:49 The six-year break and what brought her back 23:31 What triathlon taught her about building a business 30:57 Mile 60 of Rocky Raccoon 100: the breakdown, and the moment that saved the race 37:47 Why she signed up for a hundred miles in the first place 42:57 Hallucinations, raccoons, and a man in black at mile 94 46:11 What physical pursuit has given her that nothing else could 48:42 Ava's first triathlon, and planting the seed for their first Ironman together 50:45 What remains About Amy Gawlik Amy Gawlik is a wedding and portrait photographer based in Austin, Texas, with 16 years in the industry. She is also a competitive triathlete and ultrarunner who has completed multiple full Ironman races, podiumed at Galveston and Cabo San Lucas, and finished her first 100-mile trail race at Rocky Raccoon in February 2025. She is Okápe's photographer and visual brand collaborator. About Okape Okape is an achievement-gated performance apparel brand built on the belief that physical pursuit creates the conditions for self-reckoning and personal becoming. You don't buy Okápe first. You earn it. What Remains is hosted by Nathan Baumeister and Matt Carlson, co-founders of Okápe.

9. 

   15 Jun 2026

   The Day We Chose Discomfort

   There's a version of you waiting on the other side of the hardest thing you've ever done. Most people never find out who that is. This episode is for the ones willing to try. In the debut episode of What Remains, hosts Nathan Baumeister and Matt Carlson turn the mic on themselves, sharing the stories, setbacks, and personal reckonings that led them to build Okape. From elite youth soccer in Chicago and a volleyball club ranked 14th in the country, to competitive gymnastics, rock climbing, pole vaulting, and two decades in the startup trenches, this is a conversation about what physical pursuit teaches you about yourself, and how those lessons follow you into every hard thing that comes after. They go deep on the fear that makes you quit something you love, the discipline of doing hard things in small areas so you can do hard things in the big ones, the difference between chasing a result and becoming someone, and why the finish line was never really the point. This is the show's origin story. And it starts with two people asking the same question they'll ask every guest: after everything you've pushed past, what remains? In this episode: 00:00 - Intro: The edge of what you thought you could do 01:42 - What this show is and why we built it 02:31 - Matt's story: from club soccer in Chicago to building one of the top volleyball clubs in the country 07:11 - What remains when the sport ends 09:29 - Nathan's story: gymnastics, fear, pole vaulting, and learning to climb 15:10 - How do you know it was fear? 18:16 - The genesis of Okape: building a business around transformation 23:44 - Coal shoveling and glimpses: the truth about chasing a big idea 35:00 - Doing hard things to prove something to yourself 48:17 - The man in the arena, and why the attempt is the point 52:14 - The question: after everything you've pushed past, what remains? About the hosts: Nathan Baumeister is an entrepreneur, avid athlete, and co-founder of Okape. Matt Carlson is a lifelong competitor, youth sports coach, and co-founder of Okape, whose programs have transformed the lives of more than 10,000 athletes. Together, they believe that physical pursuit is one of the most powerful tools for self-discovery there is. Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode. And if this one stayed with you, share it with one person who needs to hear it. What Remains is a podcast by Okape, the achievement-gated performance apparel brand built for people who earn what they wear.

10. 

    3 Jun 2026

    Introduction of Matt & Nathan, Okape, and the six crazy physical pursuits we committed to doing this year

    Join Nathan and Matt, the co-hosts of What Remains, as they explore their ambitious journey of undertaking six extreme physical challenges in 2026, pushing their limits and uncovering internal breakthroughs. This episode introduces their motivations, the meaning behind Okape, and the exciting adventures they have planned, including mountain hikes, ultra marathons, and open water swims. Before the actual show launches, this gives you a bit of introduction to who Matt & Nathan are, and the reason behind starting What Remains and Okape.

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

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