What Does It Mean to Live a High-Performance Lifestyle?

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Transcript: What Does It Mean to Live a High-Performance Lifestyle?

Season 12, Episode 2  | January 13, 2026

Jamie Martin

Welcome back to Life Time Talks. I’m Jamie Martin and I’m here today with two of my colleagues. So excited to have them with us. have Jessie Syfko. She is the SVP of Digital Innovation and Strategy for Life Time. And Brian Mazza, he is the Vice President of Brand Performance and the founder of the High Performance Lifestyle Training, which recently was acquired by Life Time. So I’m really excited to talk with you both. Thanks for being here.

Jessie Syfko

Thank you.

Brian Mazza

Thank you.

Jamie Martin

OK, so let’s talk about what high performance lifestyle is and how the two of you are bringing that into the world of Life Time. Let’s start with you, Brian, as the founder. What’s the origin story?

Brian Mazza

So the origin story starts here. So I’m a New Yorker. We’re in our New York studio, which is super cool. But I come from the hospitality space, so I created a brand called the Ainsworth in New York, a really big staple here. And throughout that journey, I was figuring my life out, what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be. And I was always an athlete, but I felt like I lost that side of me. And was just living the New York life. So when I exited that business, I had to make a decision on what I wanted to do.

At that time I was starting to train really hard and get back into that mode. And at that point I was already, I stopped drinking, I was living a healthier life. So I felt like it was a great pivot for me to finally chase something with meaning and chase a feeling. So that’s when I created High Performance Lifestyle Training. It was a summit based in real life experiential business first. So we had our first one here in New York back in 2018 with David Goggins.

And that started off by just getting like-minded people together having some speakers come together ⁓ And just go through some really tough workouts and then it kind of morphed into a larger community it morphed into a venture side of the business More of a marketing angle so it became a whole 360 approach to just well-being and fitness and high performance and now we are brand incubation and acceleration product so

If there’s any brands out there that want to reach a different audience or a quicker audience, they would come to us and we would throw them into our summit, incubate and accelerate them. And then, you you guys recently acquired our business and now we are teaming up with you guys, reaching hopefully a larger audience in Life Time and just doing really cool things that we weren’t able to probably do because of how small we are and how large you guys are giving us that opportunity.

Jamie Martin

Yeah. And Jesse, you were really integral in bringing Brian and HPLT in. Why was that something that was so appealing from the Life Time side? What opportunity did you see there?

Jessie Syfko

Yeah, well obviously Brian, incredibly appealing. know, the charisma, the confidence, the skill set, the passion for serving people towards their optimal self I think was incredibly attractive. But I also think being nimble, I think when you’re a company as big as Life Time and trying to be trendy or innovating, it becomes more challenging. Just the scale of the brand in itself. And I think what Brian was doing is such a great job was building a brand in key markets with athletes and or leaders or founders for people that really wanted to go to the next level. And that’s something that as a big brand is really hard to do when you’re, you know, a hundred plus thousand square feet club and you’re accommodating larger scale volume of people. So in order to expand what Life Time was doing, which I really believe is we master the hours, right? We might have helped somebody master one hour or two hours with childcare or workout or going to the pool, but

Mastering days and transformations in a movement and wellbeing based community was such a cool extension as a way to put thought leaders and athletes and regular people that just want to feel good, have a great community, want to go to the next level, want to grow, want to learn, and then be able to capture that kind of content to hopefully inspire someone who may be not yet ready or doesn’t have enough self belief to take that jump.

And that was really what Brian and HPLT were doing. They were taking hours into days and then sprinkling it out into the world in moments. And I think that that storytelling was a really powerful way to take Life Time, to take Brian, and to create more opportunities for people to engage in really our healthy way of life in a new way.

Jamie Martin

I love that. Let’s talk a little bit about what high performance means to both of you because if somebody hears that phrase, might think that’s like they might rule it out right away. That’s not for me. But when you hear high performance, what what is the definition you give to that?

Brian Mazza

Well, I think everyone just being human is a high-performance machine, right? We’re really, being human is so cool. There’s so many elements to it. But not everyone knows how to tap into certain sides of themselves in order to progress in life, in order to achieve certain goals, or to live a happy life, or an optimal life. So when we created HPLT, I was like, can create something that allows people to sharpen their tool. So it can come to us.

Either they want to change their job, either they want to get out of relationship, or either they just want to do something that makes them happy, but they don’t know how to do that yet. So they would come to our summits and hear from all the different experts, train in uncomfortable environments, and leave the summit having a whole new perspective on who they are as an individual, sharpening what they want to do. So high performance to me has nothing to do with the way you look. It has everything to do with how you feel and how you attract certain things or what you’re attracted to or vice versa, right? So for me it’s just how do you live your most optimal life in all areas? And figuring that out sometimes takes a really long time. Sometimes it happens, doesn’t happen because of trauma that you had as a kid, but it’s really approaching all these different angles and learning all these different parts of the high performance pie that you might not know about. And we can give people basically a quick 72 hour crash course on all the things that we believe you need to do to live optimally. So high performance to me is who you surround yourself with, what you take in, what you listen to, what you watch, ⁓ how you train, how you eat, it’s all of that combining together and putting into one big melting pot and hopefully getting a really strong result for you to live your best life.

Jamie Martin

It’s really a lot of the pillars that we’re talking about every day, in putting them into action and how do we do that to kind of create transformation, right?

Jessie Syfko

And think that’s the point for me is I think there’s a million ways to be a performer and the art of change and transformation is ultimately after all of these years where I’ve gotten to is that I think the younger version of me would have been shorten timelines, sacrifice, work harder, laser focus. And now it’s about the opportunity to be more mindfully connected to my choices, every little choice that I make and or non-emotional to making a change.

And I think that when I’m my classes or my clients or my people at this stage, if we would build emotional intelligence around how we make choices in our life and be able to set rhythms around that from, like Brian said, the people, the little things we do to nourish ourselves, understanding that everything that comes in through our visual field or our auditory field is being processed in our body. So it is simple being connected to your presence, the way that you feel like Brian said, and ultimately that your path is one of one, that it’s not about anyone else’s definition of happiness or joy or peace or success. It’s about your ability to build the skills and the confidence to know that you get to define and choose whatever that means to you. And really no one gets an opinion of it. That to me is being a high performer — joyful happy confident and authentic in my own design and I don’t need any external validation in order to feel that way, right?

Jamie Martin

But getting there can be hard for people. And that’s why I think these summits are so powerful. And I’d love for you to walk us through. I know you start every summit with more of a physical challenge. And what is the intent of that when you bring people together, whether it’s a micro summit or more of a macro one, which we can define in a little bit. Why do we typically start with the physical?

Brian Mazza

Because, well, it’s not just the physical, it’s a very, very challenging, unorthodox version of anything these people probably have done. So we start with the Navy Seal activation, and it just really puts people in an uncomfortable situation where there’s no choice but to break the ice. So it allows them to be vulnerable. And everyone has an ego to some degree, and if you don’t allow the vulnerability to set, or allow it to set in, you’re never gonna grow. So that activation right there puts people in sand where a lot of people don’t like to really be in sand when I mean in sand like you’re fully covered in sand Okay, so you’ll get wet and then you’ll be in sand and all over you on your face your eyes your ears Whatever and then you’re in really cold water, but you’re doing it with a group that you don’t know So right away you go into like extreme fight-or-flight But as humans we know connection is the most important thing ever so you have no choice but to Rely on the person to the right or the left

Jessie Syfko

You’re in the sugar cookie.

Brian Mazza

And I think right then and there, the ice gets broken, you become one as the whole chain, right, like in the water. And then you’re just opened up the whole weekend for growth because you’ve surrendered. And I think a lot of people don’t surrender in life because of many, many different factors. This is like, it just forces you to surrender. It’d be like if you were sleeping and someone poured cold water on your face, you have no choice but to wake up and freak out, right? So we put you in this situation where it’s, you have no choice but to…

be part of this program for the weekend and you’re like, my god, everything just opened up for me because it’s forced you to do that in a way. I’m not saying I’m the smartest guy in the world, but this has worked time and time again and it’s really, really effective.

Jamie Martin

Well, and you’ve talked about the way the community that’s built within that and how they stay connected after those few hours or few days that they’re together, right? Like what that does for community.

Jessie Syfko

Well, it reminds me about being an athlete my whole life and first of all with the Navy SEAL activation, which I’ve now done a couple times this year alone and absolutely fell in love with, you can’t prepare. So you imagine where your true character and where your true emotional intelligence is built, it’s not in what you prepared for, it’s not in what you’re skilled at, it’s in that unknown moment where you meet a version of yourself that you have not seen before, right? And then you’re standing there with 30 or 40 other people in the same rawness. And so what I think is so amazing about that is that you’re all equal now.

There is no preparation. You’re all in that growth opportunity and then you get through it, but you’re all doing it together. Like I remember when we were, we did the New York, there was only a two women there and there was this part in the workout where they partnered you up. Well, I got partnered with a 210 pound man. One of the things we had to do is he scooped me up under my armpits and dragged me from the water, like to the other part of the beach. Well, he could do that.

On the flip side of it, I had to do it to him and I was like, I had to give it everything and then he’s trying to help me. But you just have this like team bond. You get through it together and it’s like you go from stranger to best friend, stranger to trust, stranger to partner that quick. And what I loved about it more than ever is in a world where we’re in our phones, we’re disconnected, we have all these opinions and things we don’t know anything about, we are missing the human connection, the element of do it together, come together, build something together, overcome something together, and go out and be a better version of yourself because of it. And I just, it’s invigorating. It’s it’s invigorating.

Brian Mazza

It’s scary, mean, I remember in Montauk you guys were all hanging out and I was basically drowning. no one came to save me and I was like —

Jamie Martin

Where’s my team?

Brian Mazza

And I’m talking about like the Life Time team not like the attendees because they’re all struggling. Yeah, I’m like

Jessie Syfko

I’m never gonna live this down. I’m never gonna live this down.

And he’s got some work to do on it.

Brian Mazza

It’s crazy.

Jamie Martin

So you have, okay, you have that really intense physical experience, but then you also go back and we’ll walk through kind of what a typical weekend is, but there’s also that kind of personal development side, the mind side of it that you get into. And know Jesse, that’s an area you’re really intentional about. Why is the balance of those two so important in an experience like this?

Jessie Syfko

I would say this and I’ll let Brian speak to it because it was his world to be created, but in my example is that you are the constant in your equation in every day of your life. You are the only constant. Variables are always changing, circumstances are changing, the weather is changing, and the only thing that is constant in life is change. So you have to build a relationship to yourself. think self-love, self-acceptance, grace, being able to move through your life, softening your edges instead of shutting down, instead of blocking people out, and instead of living in your past or in your future, to me is all about that personal development. So, mindfulness at the core, but also understanding that you are driving and magnifying and being response-able or reactionary to it all. And that’s a skill set, right? Like, it’s not easy for anybody. I think when you meet people that are really present and still very relatable and powerful, it’s because they are the people that have done the self work and they’ve overcome tremendous obstacles in every area of big T to little T trauma or just bad circumstances. But they’ve earned this, I don’t know, I always go back to Oprah and you think about her story, she’s just earned a presence and a connection to what really matters in life because she’s lived through things that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. So I don’t know if you’d speak differently about the personal development game.

Brian Mazza

Thought? Yeah, I mean for as an athlete, you know, I felt like I always lacked that mental side of getting to that next level, right? The physical part of it was always there, but just something was missing there. And I think when I created HPLT, I was able to, we had our very first breath work session in LA with Francesca, who’s now a staple of ours. And I saw a different side of myself and was able to look within more than just an athlete.

And then COVID happened and I really healed a lot of trauma on my own by just running without music and falling in love with solitude. And I think for me, it was a huge component saying, okay, if I’m able to run, I think I ran maybe 3000 miles over, you know, since COVID during that time without music. If I was able to heal a lot of my own issues this way, I needed to figure out another way to bring that into the group. And it didn’t have to be just through solitude.

It needed to be through breath work and now including MB360 and Jessie and her mindset in all of these things. It was a missing link personally for me. And that’s really what HPLT originally was. It was something that I was missing personally in my life that I needed to fulfill. And then it opened up to a broader picture for people. So once I was able to figure out that missing link for the group on something that I was able to solve for myself.

And then bringing Jesse back in, was like, wow, now we’ve really had this whole 360 approach to high performance. The pie is filled now. So it’s been great. And I think now people are seeing a different side of themselves more than just the physical and just the breath work with Francesca. Now we have Jesse, a whole other angle of it. So people are getting a really big crash course on high performance in such a short amount of time. And then you hear people that are quitting their jobs and traveling the world and doing things or meeting new people and setting up different groups from when they’re here and doing all these things together and that’s the point of it. It’s take what you learn here, build your own community and go get it. And all these people are really doing it.

Jamie Martin

So walk us through what let’s say a weekend like this would look like how does it start? What do you do? why is it? How is it intentionally programmed to do exactly what you’re saying help people see their potential with it and go out afterward and keep going

Brian Mazza

Yeah, so I wanted to create a weekend again based off like something I wanted to do and I was always like saying to myself I want to be in an environment that I can be near the water that I can go for cool runs I can work out with people and hear people speak so I said how can we put this together so we’re usually by a beach and the weekend would start off like I said a Navy SEAL workout then you’d come back and I always wanted to treat everyone like a professional athlete so I wanted people to have multiple sets of outfits different pairs of sneakers recovery shoes, just feel like you’re a pro. Because I think it’s a really cool feeling. So, selfishly I wanted to do that again. So, I want everyone to have a different outfit per workout, have the best food possible, so that’s all curated, and work with really cool brand. So, you’d come in, do the Navy SEAL workout, then after you’re on this incredible high, and you’re with each other and you’re talking about it, you’d come back, have some food, and then you’d go into more of mindful session or hear some other entrepreneurs speak or successful people speak, so you get a different angle from that.

Then you’d probably go into another workout again because you’ve been sitting for a bit listening to people and then that’s a whole nother experience, right? So you now have built the team, right? It’s like you made the team, now you’ve built it, now you’re together, then you’re into another workout and that’s usually like a Murph as well. So that’s another crazy naïve style workout. But you’re as tired as you are, you get through it you’re even more fired up because now you feel like you have the support with everybody.

So you do that and then you know it’s kind of rinse and repeat from there throughout the whole weekend where you have more speakers, more keynotes, more fireside chats, group dinners together. So you’re basically like at a preseason for three days, right? Where you’re doing everything together. Recovery sessions, sauna, ice baths, and that’s a whole other element of unlocking, you know, a certain high with everybody because when you go into the sauna that’s 200 degrees and everyone’s hanging out, it’s really, really fun. So the connections just keep building and building and making that chain like you’d be in the water during the Navy SEAL activation stronger and thicker and harder to break.

Jessie Syfko

And I think what’s amazing is you go from a Thursday at four all the way to like a Saturday night altogether the entire time. There’s no real breaks. There’s change in the cadence, but it crescendos, right? And it’s the whole well-being whale from peak physical intensity, from cardiovascular to strength to a Navy SEAL activation that nobody can prepare for, nobody knows what’s happening. The mental side of that, the fear factor, the no shoes, you know, like all of the elements come to play.

But then there’s all the other side, like the yin to the yang, breath work. We’ve done yoga, mobility. ⁓ We do mind-body training focused on mobility and building neuroplasticity and new ways of movement through MB360. And then the cool runs, we did one in New York City where we had Olympic gold medal coach teach sprinting. there’s… Brian was the, did you?

Brian Mazza

I won, won all those.

I almost tore every muscle in my body and tendon, but we did it.

Jamie Martin

You did it.

Jessie Syfko

But I think what’s so special is it’s the sequence, it’s the order, it’s condensing timelines. You know, when you do that kind of transformation work, you’re not worried about the dog going for a walk. You don’t get distracted. You get more present, more present, more present. You’re like, you’re breaking down barrier after barrier. And by the end, I mean, it’s almost, it’s like sad. It’s like going over to summer camp and you made all the best friends and you’re like, but what are we going to do? And then what’s so cool about it is everybody then wants to, they all do, they jump into communication, they all get linked together, and then they come back and do it again because it’s like, you only know if you were there. It’s like that secret, like you only know if you know. But we gotta do this again, when can we get back together again?

Brian Mazza

And everyone’s talking about the races they’re lined up that they’re doing or a certain accomplishment or the goals or the goals or Hey, I’m coming to town as anyone here and then they link up so it’s a fraternity and sorority instantly in the best possible way so and it’s unlocking from kind of their reality at some point during the summit right you get to just focus on being present. Well, we forget how to do that.

Jamie Martin

I was gonna say it’s just so immersive that you can’t help but be present in that, right? Because this is what you’re doing.

Brian Mazza

You want to meet everybody, you want to talk to everybody, you get access to all of these really important people in the world that are giving us the knowledge to be a high performer, that you don’t have to go to a summit of 1,500 people or a summit that’s 500, 600 people. This is 40 to 50 with an Olympian, with a Navy SEAL, with someone who built a billion dollar business. So you get access to all of these people where you really can talk to them. It’s not an autograph and whatever or you’re behind a sea of a thousand people.

Jessie Syfko

And you get to ask them in real time real questions. So whether it’s a doctor, an athlete, or a founder, or whatever their performance world would be, you get to ask them real tactical questions. Where did you start? What are you doing now? I think the thought leadership of these events is incredible too, because again, in the world of wellness, it’s so complex, and it’s super noisy, and it’s very contradictory. So what’s real? And I think that’s another big element with Life Time, is that we only deliver trusted expert truth.

And so providing more information and more education for people to make their choices in healthy way of life is why HPLT is a perfect fit. It creates exposure to things that maybe a person wouldn’t know to ask, wouldn’t know to search, and wouldn’t know how to seek. Like where do I find this stuff?

Jamie Martin

Right, they feel empowered, right, to take charge of that next step for themselves, right, with that information.

Brian Mazza

Like when we kicked it off here in New York at our first summit together we had Baram speak and probably all those people have never heard him in person who came and they were able to have access to him and ask him real-life questions and that’s big for people.

Jessie Syfko

Blown away.

Jamie Martin

That’s huge. Okay, so we have these weekends. We also have the micro version. So essentially like a day of experience where you’re kind of condensing that it’s not the same level of probably immersiveness, but you’re there for what, eight hours? What’s that look like?

Jessie Syfko

Well, we did the first one this summer in Montauk. what was so cool is we provided a bus from New York City. People could get in. It was like four in the morning, drive up to Montauk. And basically the show started at about 6.30 and went to three. So it was a full day. They still got all the experiences, but it was one day. So they got the Navy SEAL, they got running. ⁓ They got an MB360 workout. They’ve got speakers from an incredible content creator. Unbelievable food. Navy SEAL curated literally on the bus and breakfast and lunch and snacks.

They had unbelievable LTH hydration and creatine and Rally so that their bodies were recovered. I think that’s another piece that we haven’t mentioned yet, but when you eat amazing food, organic, whether you’re vegan or vegetarian or gluten-free, all of that is available. You don’t drink any alcohol, you go to bed early, you get up early, you’re hydrated all day long. The way in which your body can respond and change is incredible.

And so we walked out of that Montauk event and everybody was jacked about, and we did a 30 day goal. It was like, all right, now you feel like this. You feel invincible. You feel alive. You feel motivated, but you also feel confident in your ability. What’s the one thing that you are going to tackle in the next 30 days? And almost every, and we said, you have to email us, right? The detail of these goals, the energy, we were started already getting emails back around, this is what I’ve accomplished in that amount of time.

And so you just think about, know, motivation doesn’t last, but if you can be in a regular group of conversation in a community of people that are constantly talking like that, no judgment, no ego, just what do you want? How can I support you? Do I have any tricks or quips on how to help you based on my own experience? The sky’s the limit. People become literally the best versions of themselves, unstoppable by just being around other people that believe they’re possible even though they don’t even know you.

Brian Mazza

That’s really cool.

Jamie Martin

Okay, so who is this for because right now at the outset somebody might think that’s not for me, right?

Brian Mazza

I love this question because people get intimidated from what they see on social and you should be intimidated what you see on social right because we’re telling a story of all of these incredible people that we bring in and If you’re gonna be with a Navy SEAL you have to expect it’s gonna be a little scary, right? We’re not gonna bring in a Navy SEAL to tell like a bedtime story We’re gonna bring in a Navy SEAL to make it really uncomfortable for you on what they’ve gone through in buds or what they’ve gone through in battle and not that we’re gonna necessarily do that, but just get a taste of it.

So for me, want this, I always wanted it to be for someone who has a really sharp tool that wants to make it even sharper. And I wanted to have someone who has a tool that needs to be sharp and might be dull and needs to work together. So I wanted to always bring those two people together because I think those two people can learn valuable lessons from each other. So it’s for everybody. It’s for an 18 year old kid who’s in college and having a hard time.

Maybe for a 55 year old woman who wants to have some adventure and train with really awesome people So I will always wanted it to be for every single person I always said you have to be a little bit fit to do some of the stuff sure But if you have a positive attitude, there’s like we say that they say in the military no man left behind Everyone sticks together, and that’s the beauty. It’s not a competition. It’s a group of people just wanting to sharpen each other’s tools

Jessie Syfko

And there’s an option to not do it exactly the way it’s offered. We did a run when we were in Miami and some people walked or modified certain versions of it. The team is incredibly, I think this is the thing about high performers that if you ask me, a true high performer is also a true servant leader. Which means that they’re gonna reach out their hand. Where they’re strong and you’re weak, they’re gonna offer help. And I think that’s what surprises people. I also think,

That is what keeps people out of the circle. I don’t think it’s the circle, in most cases, in a lot of cases, that keeps the desired person that wants to jump in the circle out. It’s the person on the outside of the circle thinking the circle is not gonna welcome them in. I think when you get to the right table, there is an invitation. If you’re willing to step up to the line and learn and grow and be with them, the more the merrier. But.

You know, so I think it’s the desire and I think the willingness to be open-minded.

Brian Mazza

And I think it’s super cool because whoever thinks they’re like the highest of high performers Let me break it down for you. There’s someone who’s better. There’s someone who’s smarter There’s someone who’s fitter someone’s faster. He’s more successful, right? And I think that’s the beauty of it. They we set a tone right away when people get here I don’t know how we do it, but we just do it that people surrender that belief and they’re like we’re here to learn now There’s gonna be people that are obviously more fit in certain workouts and all that but that’s fine. They’ll do their own thing

And like she said, they’re a servant. They’ll most likely come around to help. And that’s the beauty of it. That’s why I wanted those types of people on the spectrum on the opposite sides to come together. Because at the end of the day, we are a community. And it might be really cool. This person here who might not be the fittest might be the richest person. They might have the best network. And this person here is trying to build a really big business. And this person might be inspired by this person. And they can come together. And we’ve seen a ton of people invest in each other’s businesses or hire people for vice versa reasons.

And I think that’s the beauty of it.

Jamie Martin

The connections you’re going to — What did we miss about HPLT? Is there anything you want to make sure people know or?

Brian Mazza

Well, I’m super excited that now we get to tap into Life Time and tap into everyone in Life Time because there’s so many great people in there that I know that we can make a positive difference in their life as well and just add another little, you know, sector to their offerings that you guys already have and just give people a different outlook on our approach to high performance.

Jessie Syfko

Yeah, and we’re gonna start adding like even shorter nano segments, four-hour segments, bringing the conversation, the thought leadership, and the personal development to life with workouts, with unique wellness experiences. So again, being able to go into clubs, meet members, invite guests in, to have an experience and a conversation. And I think that’s the biggest gap in the market is, you know, I’ve owned gyms, I’ve built gyms for 20 years.

It’s the community that sweats together that stays together. And then they don’t ever want to leave each other, but then they want more. So this is a really cool extension of, you have a class that you love to go to, you have a group, you have a community, you have a, you know, and now you can go to the next level together. And I think that’s what feels so human about it. So instead of me by myself having a goal, I’m going to do the thing, me and my community, me and my friends, me and my class of people that have fallen in love with each other and have all these stories and have been there through the years with each other can now have this really cool experience. And I think it’s like a passport. always think life should be filled with memories of things that you dared to do rather than empty pages of things that you didn’t. And I think this is one of those cool opportunities, especially with wellness being a hugely misunderstood and confusing world to simplify and personalize.

what’s possible and then allow people to make really good decisions for themselves because they had the ability to sit at the table.

Brian Mazza

Yeah, and I think you know for people who don’t really know what HPLT is you’re not only going to sharpen your mind sharpen your body But your network is going to become so awesome, and that’s the best part about it

Jamie Martin

I love it. Well, you guys, thank you both for being here. Thank you.

Jessie Syfko

Thank you so much for having me.