Play the LONG game (& have Abs at 60) W/Greg Damian

Greg’s Website

www.absat60.com

Greg’s IG

https://www.instagram.com/gregdamianabsat60/

Gregory’s muddled start with a lifelong health pursuit.  A near DUI was enough for him to stop drinking.  Shortly thereafter, he channeled the energy into exercise.

Greg’s insights on training with a coach.  “Stay on my toes”.

Greg’s big change @ 60 years old.  He quit his job, sold his belongings and moved to Hawaii.  He worked in a kitchen

The DOLR Approach:

Dream Big 

Own Your Health 

Live Well 

Recharge Often 

Greg Recommends getting a full panel blood test prior to your physical and bringing it with you.

Greg prefers to not have

His dad died of diabetes in the past year.  He began wearing a continuous glucose monitor and was surprised by some foods that spiked his blood sugar.

Greg is trying to limit himself to < 10 grams of ‘added’ sugar per day and < 100 grams of carbs.

Greg is generally a high protein person, but recommends that everyone try to learn what works for them.

Try to eat foods that are closest to their natural form

Greg’s Training Week:  9 sessions in 6 days.

After being diagnosed with low bone density, greg started focusing on strength training.  Usually 3 days a week.

He also does 2 swims, 2 rides and 2 runs a week.

“Exercise is the most potent medicine we have” - Peter Attia

“No 90 year old ever said ‘I have too much muscle’”- Peter Attia

For the Book cover photos, Greg got to 7% bodyfat.  He ate 1500 calories per day.  

“Abs at 60 are a bit of vanity, but it also shows people what’s possible”

“Play the long game”.  You may not get the perfect performance at a race because you have a few extra lbs of muscle, but you will be stronger in the long term and more energy resilient.

The issue with calories and lifespan.  Nutshell:  Lots of calories will most likely shorten your life.

Instagram

https://sproutspout.com/

Transcript

   📍 

hi, it's Daniel Lucas. Welcome to chasing energy. This is episode 41 with Greg. Damien. He is the author of the book. Abs at 60, which has not been released yet, but he does have an Instagram page and a webpage. That are live and you can follow some. I've I've actually followed some of his Instagram posts and he has some nice training content on there. 

The website and the Instagram are right there in the show notes. Uh, the website, just to read it out is a, B S a D 66 0. Uh, so abs@sixty.com and then Greg Damian's abs at 60 is his Instagram. 

Here's a quick nutshell of what we covered today. And just to be clear, he says this at the end of the interview, the, the whole thing about having an abs at 60, it's a little bit of vanity, but it's more to show that at 60, you can still have possibilities for taking care of yourself. So he has an acronym called the dollar approach, D O L R, which is dream big own your health live will and recharge often. 

We talk about his history with, you know, everything from bodybuilding to triathlon. And then some of the hiatuses that he took recently, which, which he gave me a preliminary copy of his book that he talks about, you know, some of these trips that he kind of tried out recently, uh, going to some exotic places. 

He recommends getting a full ban panel blood test, as often as you can. And try to eat foods that are closest to their natural form. That is something that he got from some of the paleo stuff. And we, we sort of compare that to some of the vegetarian diets as well, but that's kind of one of the common themes. 

We talk about a typical training week for Greg. A little bit about his diet. And in the end, uh, One of the themes here is to play the long game. So it's, it's good to, you know, get ready for these photos or you want to do really good at triathlon. But playing the long game means don't sacrifice too much of your health in order to, you know, 

Shave a minute off your triathlon time or something like that. Be be aware of the consequences. There's all times we need to peak, but. There that means said be smart. This is your life. Your one body. So with that being said, um, I do have to ask you to please subscribe to the podcast. If you have not really left a review already, I would love it. If you did a website is chasing.energy. 

It's very easy to remember. It's easy to go to. It has all the podcast and the newsletter on there. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoy this. Interview with Gregory. He's a really cool guy. And, uh, I think he's kind of showing how we're defining aging with, uh, the right amount of training and the proper diet.  

  📍  📍 Damien, thank you for being on chasing energy today.

Daniel, it's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me.

Yeah. So Abs at 60, you're gonna teach us what it takes to have abs at 60. You walk the walk if you will.

the pic, the pictures, prove it. got a few catchy acronyms for us today. Uh, and, uh, don't know if they're trademarked yet or not, so

we'll see But um Some good. you've had a lifelong commitment and pursuit of health and, uh, like, like me, you're a fan of Peter Ria

in the oc oc,

That's right.

Arian. Am I saying that right?

Arian 

actually calls it the centenarian something. Um, yeah.

I've heard him say the centenarian, but you reference in your book the Octa 

I've created my own goals for when I 

okay Yeah. Goals for when you turn Yeah. And he's known for saying things like, lift a 30 pound kettlebell

the significance is that you can lift your grandchildren,

essentially is what he's talking about Yeah. 

right? 

Yeah 

want to be fully functional. Yeah.

Gregory, start us out with where did, where did you first realize that you had an obsession with health? Where did you first find, find that you were over overly committed compared to the average person to.

It happened after I graduated from college and in, I, I'm, I'm not a big guide, and in high school I was even smaller. I was a 120 pound kid. And, and I, I was sort of, I liked to play sports, but I certainly wasn't, um, physical enough to play high school sports. . Um, so for me, my, my brain was kind of, you know, helpful in terms of getting a degree and getting a job.

I got down, I was, um, my first job, uh, outta school was down in, um, west Palm Beach, Florida, and started down there. And I was really fortunate because one of my coworkers, a colleague, he was a, a marathon runner, and he encouraged me to go run with. . Um, and I, the first run that I went and out and did with him with without ever having like run was a three mile run in John Prince Park in Lakeworth, Florida.

And he's like, wow, that's, that's pretty cool. Not many people can just go out, you know, and obviously my twenties can go out and do that. Well, that was coinciding with his drinking. And, and you know, it might might sound kind of obvious, but it's all of a sudden this, this drinking problem was becoming real because I could feel.

You know, the effects of alcohol in me. And there's, you know, there's this event that happened I mentioned in the book where one day after work I'm, I'm, um, having some drinks and I'm driving home on I 95 and I was, I don't know what was going on. I was just feeling really aggressive in, in, in the traffic and weaving in and out and all this sort of stuff.

And this voice in my head says, So I did, I, I just, just that moment I went straight down to 55 miles per hour with the speed limit. I look over to my right and the state trooper is staring right at me, and I was really fortunate. Uh, I wasn't pulled over. I'm sure I would've been over the legal limit and, I made a, a decision right then and there that I wasn't gonna go.

I, I was gonna stop. I mean, I'd seen what it had done to my father. so in a way we could say I cross addicted over into exercise. 

Yeah 

I, I, you know, I, I started, um, cycling. My friend, he had a friend that was a cyclist and so I started riding down there on, on the coast and, and that led into, uh, to swimming.

and, and it really became, I became very, Um, possessive of it. I, I, I, because to me it was my way to separate myself from the alcohol, right? And so anyone that, that tried to get in and, and interfere with that, I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. Right? So it was a, it was a powerful, um, motivator, uh, for me early on.

And then I had some success, right? I started racing. know, and as a runner, I was, I was decent. Um, I wasn't, I wasn't elite by any means, but you know, I, I was at my peak, I was able to run 37 minute, 10 k, something like that. I did a bunch of half Ironmans and in 2004 I actually won a a half Ironman race.

I was fortunate because all the really fast guys were somewhere else that day.  , right? 

Those are some fast times. Gregory?

Well, thank you. I mean, 

Mm-hmm 

I, and I, started, um, doing triathlon races in my late twenties and that, and I, and I didn't do it every year. I didn't train triathlon. I would pick a year and say, okay, I wanna do, uh, a few races.

And I would, I would go and do those. And in my mid thirties, I think I did an Olympic distance race. Well, I, I know it was, it was two hours and 18 minutes was my, uh, my watermark time and. When I turned 50, I decided I wanted to see if I could beat that time, I got really serious, right? I hired a coach, which I, which I had never done, and, and I had been doing some weightlifting, so, and I stopped that, which had his own implications.

Um, and I, and I did like seven or eight races and I went all over. I, I was living in Colorado at the time, but I raced in, um, Florida and in, I did the national race in Vermont and in Iowa, and I just, I, I just got really into it. And I did, I beat my time twice, um, as, as a 50 year old. And I ended up getting, uh, a ranking, the top 8%.

What was your, what was your biggest insight, uh, from training with a coach versus

oh 

before before you trained with a coach?

You know, um, I, I, I have to sh you know, I share the story. My, my coach actually was killed in a car acc in a bike accident couple of years after I worked with him. you know, the, the last time. Well, the last really memorable event that I had with Steve was he was also a master's athlete. He was in the same age group as me, and he had been a professional cyclist over in Europe.

He was, you know, in his twenties. He was a, he was a professional racer and, but he was such a good guy. . Um, and, and he, we were in the water together starting this race in Boulder he said, Greg, stay on my toes. Stay on my toes. Cuz you could draft, if you could do it right, you could actually draft. And so I, I just, every time think about, um, doing, you know, performing or, or doing something good for someone else, I think of Steve and I say, you know, I say to myself, stay on, stay on my toes.

Oh, that's

nice 

You know, he, he brought a discipline that I didn't have, um, to, uh, to my racing. He did bike fits, we did everything. He, he, he worked on every aspect of the sport. We did 

Yeah 

um, swim drills, um, we did running, you know, he had me do running drills. I, uh, we were using a, a software app. This was even 10 years ago.

And, and I met with him once or twice a month in person the phone a few times. . Um, and, I just found that the coaching, and I've, I've had a lot of other coaches as well, weightlifting coaches too. will push me in ways that I would never, never think of to push myself, right. And, and they can motivate and encourage me to do things.

And so I think coaching for everyone is really important. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. you for sharing

you're 

So with, with this sort of lifelong obsession with health, um, you've, you've had a lot of different changes in your professional life as well where you've changed and Mo most recently, or at least, uh, my understanding because it was around when you turned 60, uh, you moved to Hawaii for, for a while and, uh, did a lot of the, you know, what we think of as. this sort of, uh, escape where you're surrounded by beauty. You mentioned swimming with the

the Galapagos. Um, tell us what your biggest epiphanies were as far as being at 60, which is a very sort of, um, cathartic age existential in, in that sense where you reflect. What were some of your biggest takeaways when you went there?

Experienced that and then came back to the states?

You know, I left, I, I was in a job where I didn't feel very much appreciated, and I'd been married and got divorced, so I was single. I didn't have any dependent 

Mm-hmm 

I, this is certainly not my line, but I'd heard it and, and I. I asked myself the question, if not me, who, and, and, and if not now when, and the 

Yeah 

go do something like that, right?

Mm-hmm 

of had that sort of a, a notion of, of, you know, um, going off and doing that. So I did, I, I literally basically gave away most of my stuff except, you know, I sold my car. Um, and I had found out about this, uh, little village on the big island of Hawaii called Kalani. And um, and I went there as kind of a volunteer.

Um, you still had, I still ended up having to pay. I, I worked 30 hours a week in the kitchen. 

Mm-hmm 

of the, uh, the yoga, yoga retreat. And for that I got basically, um, a shared room and, and food and, and, and to be a part of the community, I could take advantage of all of the activities. We were about a, a mile or maybe a mile and a half walk down to the beach.

Um, and. . And there was also, I, when I got there, I didn't have a bike. I went, uh, I rented a car and I drove to Hilo, which was like an hour away. And I bought a a hundred dollars bicycle from Walmart, just a little mountain bike. Right? And, and I could ride that around cause I didn't really care about how fast I went.

I just wanted to be able to, uh, to ride. So, I was there working in the kitchen, what I, and I could have stayed. I mean, there was no, you know, there was no real time limit. I didn't have to be back in the States. I didn't have to leave that place. Um, although it did close because of the kill away of Volcano, it, it actually ended up closing them, um, a few months later.

you know, so I did, I went to, you know, when my roommate actually had been in Ecuador and he said, oh, you gotta go to Ecuador. There's this place that I was at. It was really.  and I actually didn't like that place. They, I thought they were really mean to the volunteers, um, treated, you know, and I, of course, I'm, I'm there with a bunch of 20 year olds that were doing the, you know, I'm out of college, and it's like, okay, whatever.

And they, and I just thought they treated us like, Dirt , and it was supposed to be the spiritual place. And I'm like, you guys 

right 

not living up living it. So I, I only stayed there a month and I, and I went down to the, and that was up in the mountains in Ecuador and I went down, like, like you mentioned, I, I went to the Galapagos, which was, you know, obviously amazing.

So I went from one island experience to another island, island 

Mm-hmm 

And, uh, but you know, to, to answer your question, realized that I. Need challenge. I, I, you know, that sort of just wandering around without a purpose Right. 

Yeah 

With without some or objective wasn't for me. 

Yeah 

And, and, and in a way I'm really fortunate, man, fortunate in a lot of ways in that way.

I'm fortunate, I realized retirement without something to do is really a bad thing. It's not a good.  

Couldn't more Couldn't agree 

more 

and, so my sug my, my thinking now and, and the, the suggestions that I have for people is, don't retire. Transition. 

Yeah 

Transition. It, it, and I get it that some people have stressful jobs and things about their, maybe their profession that they don't appreciate.

I get it. But transition to something that you do like 

There you go There you go I like that Uh you know because there are so many of us that are trapped in a role and uh we get we we get caught up in the countdown 

right We start looking at that I mean I used to frustrate me Uh I hope I'm not throwing anybody under the bus but uh when the people will get those retirement clocks and put 'em on their desk 

Yeah. 

it'll be like I have a thousand days of work or 

something like that And I would think you know more often than not it was not because they looked forward to coming into the office in the morning It was much more of how long do I have to endure this And even just sort of uh it affirmed the idea that this is sort of like a a torture which in uh the very first treadmill invented was a torture device back in ancient times So you can certainly use your perspective 

know 

on that. Yeah Yeah 

It was 

that, you know, I 

but 

car company that in, in, a, in a plant, it can almost have the opposite effect where the, the work is so overwhelming that people don't have anything else. And, and my, my boss, after I left the plant, he called me a year later and he said, Hey, I thought you'd want to know that Tom, who was his boss, the assistant plant manager who was 

Yeah 

nice to me that Tom had passed away, he'd retired, and I, I don't know the details.

I don't know what was going on, but I, I kind of get the sense that that's all he had, and when that was gone, that was it.

Right So you're you're tying into something that um I'm I'm a little bit passionate about You know we um I I I'll pick on the younger generation a bit We sort of fetishize this idea of well I'm gonna Not have to work and be able to travel the world and not have any responsibilities But if you look at historically people like Victor Frankel 

Marcus Aurelius their passion for life is directly relayed to what is your purpose what type of and your purpose is usually tied to the size of the adversity that you're 

Mm-hmm. , 

right 

indeed.

when when there is I I I'm sure you'll agree there's nothing wrong in and of itself with saying I'm not going to work at this place anymore But to say that I'm not gonna add value to others' lives I think it's kind of a you're putting meals in your coffin 

when you do that And and uh I think it's a really fun thing to do for me I j I had a uh my longest vacation in my life this year which was like two and a half weeks with my son in Italy and by a day There was there was a a long stretch of like 10 days where we did nothing And um by day six I was like I'm gonna go crazy 

Um so I when I came back I was like it turns out that there are a lot of things about my life I'm very blessed to have these problems People without problems are 

There's a right amount of stress. Too little is 

Yeah 

good, 

Yeah It's actually it's actually the the the name board is 

Tress EU Stress Yeah And there's distress and tress and finding that right amount of stress for you and the right type of stress not just the amount but the Right?

That that for me if I know I have to do something in the morning I am so quick to get out of like I'm like I gotta get that done today 

So let's a little bit about do dollar 

uh the Dream Big own Your Health to me a a little bit how um uh you you came up with that I I I just flashed back a little bit about stay on your toes because some of these mantras stay on my 

because some of these mantras they stick with you over 

tell me a little bit about Dollar 

dollar is the, way I just compacted my experiences. And the, the first, the D stands dream big and it's really all about the mental game, the 

Mm-hmm 

fir and there's, there's a couple of chapters there, but the very first chapter is really about her beliefs because my beliefs held me back for a long time, like 30 or 40 years long.

And doesn't, it doesn't have to be that way, right? so understand what your 

When did you when did you come to that epiphany Gregory that's your beliefs for holding 

you back 

you know, the, the, there was a really aha moment for me, and that was, you know, I, I, I, I didn't have a lot of self-esteem. I basically got married to the first woman that I was, um, in, in a relationship with in my thirties, right?

And 

Mm 

when I got, and I, there was just, again, that voice came to me and said, Hey, there's some, something and more for you.  to do, you're gonna have to learn and you're gonna have to learn it from outside of this relationship. And so 

Yeah 

over that right for a while. And I finally got the courage to suggest a divorce.

And she must have had some growing to do as well because she said, yeah, okay, . Um, but while I was moving my things out, I came across some pictures of myself from, now I'm in my fifties at that point, from 30 years earlier in my twenties.  and I'm, it's just not one, it's two, three, you know, hard copy pictures and I'm like, I, I, you know, I wasn't a bad looking guy.

And yeah, I wasn't a big guy, but I, there was nothing wrong with me. only thing that was wrong with me was my thinking, and I had to have 

Right 

those pictures flashed in front of me that in that context to go, oh, oh, 

Yeah 

So that was, that was a, you know, a, a turning point. I will say that in my twenties and thirties, I had a belief, right?

I had a belief that my day would come someday, right? Maybe it wasn't that day. Um, and, you know, I'd probably need to take care of myself. And so that accompanied the, the fiscal fitness side of, of 

Okay 

right? But yeah,

All right So tell us a little about Own Your Health the Owen Dollar 

so, um, make a really strong statement that.  owning your health, your health is your responsibility. There's, it's nobody else's responsibility, right? It's, it's not your doctor, it's not your insurance company, it's not the government. It's not your, 

Mm-hmm 

spouse or your children or your grandchildren or your parents or whatever.

It's your responsibility. That's the first step. It's, you know, the Jocko Willick, extreme ownership, 

Yeah that's right Extreme ownership 

attitude. And, and, and, here's the thing. , there's people out there that wanna help us, So we dream big first. That's the first step. And then owning your health means having relationships with your team, your medical team, you know, and we've got primary, hopefully we have primary care physician and dentists and, 

Mm-hmm 

doctors.

And so, You know, they can help us if we tell them what it is that we're looking to do. Right? 

right 

and not be shackled by insurance rules and regulations. Right. So, I'm an advocate of, I mean, in, in my case, I choose a high deductible HSA plan, and 

Mm-hmm 

I try to pump as much money as I can the hsa, so , 

a year 

right?

that's the limit right?

3,600 Mm-hmm Mm-hmm 

you know why? Because it gives me the control and the flexibility 

That's right 

with, with, um, how I see fit and not how someone else sees fit. And by the way, I I, I'll also mention one other thing and own your health. You can order your own lab work. You can order blood tests online.

and 

that and I, you know, I really encourage this for people. Um, and, and don't just get the basic cbc, you know, the $30 test tells you a little bit. I, you know, if you, you're gonna take this seriously. I, I spent a few hundred dollars to get a, a male panel that does the hormones and several other, 

Mm-hmm 

uh, markers and I bring that with me to my conversation with my doctor, right?

So 

Yeah 

talk 

You 

come 

and there. 

Well it shows that you mean business and that Yeah it shows that you mean business You've done your due diligence and I'm sure they appreciate that Um and it also sends the signal that you're not here to just sort of check the boxes in your physical You're here to optimize not just sort get through 

And, and I also have a, a , will tell you where I'm come from. I have a spreadsheet of my key metrics from over 20 years. I can go back and point to blood work that I did 20 years ago, right? 

think that's amazing I think that's amazing It's nice to see how yeah life you'll be you're it's much easier to tie your lifestyle changes two historical I mean if somebody for example went vegetarian for a year or 

just seeing the impact that it had on their blood 

and whatnot 

Mm-hmm. . 

me a little bit about LiveWell the L End dollar 

So there's, there's a bunch of things that are included here, including of course, and exercise, right? Those are, um, part of living well and. There's several others though, and, and I talk about, okay, it's great to have a vision, but it's also really important to be present and happy.

Right. I I, I don't know if I'm gonna be here tomorrow. I really don't. Right. I mean, it's, it's great to, to plan and to think about it. And as you know, in my, um, in my professional life, I'm a certified project manager, so I, my, my thinking had always been, is gonna be the better day, right? 

we need to be present, we need to have 

Yeah 

with people, we need to be conscious of the stress that's going on in our lives.

We just talked about that. And then I, I threw in a couple of, of, of don'ts. Right, right. And, and obviously cigarette smoke. And I, you can imagine from my prior, prior conversation, I talk about, um, alcohol. Right. And I, and I, 

All right 

my, suggestion with alcohol is if you're not drinking, Don. don't start. If you're drinking too much, get some help.

If you can handle one or two drinks a day or a week and it's not bo bothering you, well, there's probably something else you can work on simple enough, right?

Okay So does that tie tie into recharge often It sounds like cuz you're talking about being present and sort of choosing your vices is when you go into recharge often Tell me a little bit about what that means to you 

Well, The, the more I've learned about sleep, 

important I've understood it to be.

uh I'm we're on the same page and I noticed you're Matthew Walker 

the very beginning of your book 

it's 

the foundation 

it's not the pill, it's not a pillar of health, it's the 

Yeah 

right. That 

that's right 

are, are, are resting on. So,

So a comment a comment that I tell my guest on occasion when we talk about sleep is I have I have never seen someone experience um or I should say I rarely see anyone experience joy if they haven't slept well for two days 

Yeah, indeed. 

All right so I cut you off Gregory what you 

gonna say 

I was gonna say, I mean, I've, I, I'm wearing a, a ring to, to 

the aura Yeah, 

exactly. Nor 

Mm-hmm 

Exactly Um, and. know, I was just fascinated by it, right? It's like the bed, you know, seven to eight hours is, is really the target of actual sleep, right? And there's a quality of sleep that we can get into that.

and I wasn't getting enough sleep. 

and, and so I made, I made changes. I made changes to consciously, but Bob's gonna, and okay, so in terms of, of, uh, if I know I'm gonna get up at 5:00 AM to go work, I, I've gotta be in bed eight hours to get seven hours of sleep. 

That's right 

Do the math. I gotta go to bed at nine eight at 9:00 PM Right.

I'm, I'm , 

Yeah 

not necessarily the life of the party, you know 

No and and listen Uh as someone who was a very serious athlete like yourself for many years when you choose one of these goals whether it be a or Ironman you should pretty much know?

the 

especially if you have children which is has got a this time for this commitment and it has to come from somewhere Uh generally if uh someone asks me about doing a big and they they have a family I say start by talking to spouse and making sure they're on board with it Cuz they can cause a lot a lot of problems if they don't understand that But like you said Gregory when you circle a goal and you say I'm going to commit to this I I generally tell people okay under that goal start listing the things that you're gonna give up in order to get there And that could mean oh I Watching the late night with my with my wife and staying up late and you know we on Thursdays we do this this and this There's there's things where you have to understand that if you're committed to a goal that involves doing things like 

I would suggest is, another way of thinking about it is you, you have to prioritize. . 

Oh yeah 

Right. You know, and the diet thing. People that look at it like, oh, I have to give up. That's like, there's, there's almost a magnetism to that. It's like, oh, I gotta get back to that. Right? Because I'm giving it up. When I think about, I'm simply re-prioritizing and being more efficient and productive with my day.

I get up, I've got 

Right 

do, and I can take care of them and work in 

Right with diet I think you have a better point with diet which is would you're going to change the composition of your calories in a lot of cases to something That's more fiber and nutrient rich You're gonna swap that out with a food When I'm when you're talking about something that requires a lot of time time is very finite and 

you have to say okay I have to commit two hour runs every Saturday 

uh and two hour cycling sessions That's where I go But if you're gonna stay with this cuz when do most people quit training for a marathon After their first 15 mile run 

When they get home and they're exhausted and they realize how much time it's gonna take their life This this is a lot more than I counted on 

Hmm.

all good points man You're very experienced a very wise tell me a little bit about your current diet and what what that looks like from a macro perspective I'm not I'm not necessarily I mean you can you're welcome to share if you're on a part

Protocol

but from a macro perspective what do you find to be the the optimal uh percentage of say calories and cars that gives you the ideal amount of energy to for for Gregory to pursue ABS at 

has been an interesting experience this year, and my, my father passed away from diabetes about, um, three years ago. 

I'm sorry Greg 

yeah, thank you. And, and that, that's a whole nother story. Um, also thanks to Peter Atia, um, earlier this year, I, I wore a continuous glucose monitor for. 

Mm-hmm Yep 

And I was, I was fascinated, shocked, and stunned at 

Mm-hmm 

of the CGM because one example, um, beef jerky.

Beef jerky. I thought, ah, this is safe food. It's not gonna spike my glucose. Boom. Spike the glucose. Look at the package. 

Mm-hmm 

loaded with sugar. 

That's right Especially the ones that are I I I hate this thing Especially the ones that are teriyaki The teriyaki ones are loaded in in but go ahead 

exactly. So the other thing that's been going on with me and, and I mentioned the, the blood work that I've done, I've been tracking my a1c. And the A1C is a, a 90 day average of blood glucose and it's been tracking up. And I, and I, and I actually trend it up into the pre-diabetes. , um, range, and I'm not on the high end of the pre-diabetes range, but I'm, you can imagine I'm taking this pretty seriously.

So so those two things combined. Um, I've basically taken all of the sugar out of my diet. Um, I'm trying to do like five to 10 grams a day, which is really hard to do if you're gonna do a, a yogurt. a yogurt's another food that's just loaded with sugar typically. So to answer your 

Now when when you say five to 10 grams of sugar do you mean added or just sugar in 

I'm, 

because I mean 

carbs right? 

right? Because you know you're talking about an apple or even with yogurt you have lactose That's naturally a corn even if you get the sugar free one 

Yeah. So I'm, I'm, I'm, trying to do maybe a hundred grams of carbs right now, except when I'm racing. So 

Mm-hmm 

of zone two work because of that diet. 

right 

is quite different and, they all, my team, my medical team actually, uh, put me on Metformin in the, over the last few months and metformin's an interesting drug and, and it, it, um, definitely has helped manage my blood glucose, but it also has affected my performance.

I can't go out and ride as hard. . Um, . 

I I I have heard those the side effects metformin on 

that Yeah. 

And, we're gonna do another test in another month and we're gonna find out whether I'm actually insulin resistant or insulin sufficient. Cuz there's a, there's actually a fairly significant difference. Um, so anyway, right now I am doing, and. Yeah, I had the privilege of hearing Lauren Cordain, who wrote the original Paleo diet speak about 20 years ago.

He was from Colorado State University and he was speaking in Denver where I was living. I'm like, I wanna go hear this guy. So I've always had a notion towards. , and I think everyone tends to agree with this statement, which is the, the, more natural, the more the, the food that nature gives us in, in its most pure form is gonna be the best for us.

Right. Um, you know, sugar is bad, fried foods are bad. natural is good. I tend to eat meat. Um, I, I tend to eat, uh, I love salmon. Um, you know, and I'm, and I'm having, and I'm, and I don't,  protein is an option. Um, you, you know, I'm, I'm trying to do at least 120 grams of protein a day, which means I need to be doing 40 grams per meal because I don't want to really exceed a 40 gram dose, if you will,  in a meal because 

Yeah 

it's not really advantageous to 

Yeah 

that.

Right.

I I think the the most underrated benefit to what you're talking about when you start to to come up with a protein goal

is

just how easy it is not to be tempted junk foods When you've 

eaten a sustained amount of protein you're just your satiety is so high Uh if I have some eggs uh uh I I make sourdough But if I have a slice of sourdough with eggs and smoked salmon I'm full for and I and that's even with working 

it is so hard to eat 

a lot of calories when you're eating a lot of protein 

The worst thing in life is actually having to have to eat. And the bodybuilders and I, and I did some of this where I was trying to do five and six meals a day. 

Yeah I know 

I know 

it's, it's the most awful thing in life.

I know And uh listen Um for all the years I've been lifting um that was always my line I drew in the sandwich was when food becomes a chore that you're just eating all these eggs in order to heat this calorie quota That was where I always drew the line It was like I just don't care enough to do this 

Yeah, I, I, I've had the same issue. I did want to go back though and mention that in the, you know, when I was in my twenties and I started running, I picked up the Nathan Kin Diet for runners. , 

Mm-hmm 

and, and that's an 80, 80 10, 10. It's 80% carbs. And, and I even remember telling my brother, fat is the enemy. And, 

Yeah 

especially with my metabolism, that is just not true.

Um, 

Mm-hmm 

I'm, I tend not to be dogmatic about it. Um, everyone is different and everyone's phase of life is d. 

Yeah 

And I think you should experiment with your medical team and, and with some knowledge like what is your, your blood glucose doing, right? 

Yeah The the

I I completely agree I I think the one thing that sort of holds the diets that have stuck around at least the last 20 years Is what you alluded to earlier which is their uh resilience to processed foods which is which is why which is why I probably won't be admired much by uh weight Watchers uh because when they send you frozen meals I'm like it's processed food with a certain number of calories 

but anyways uh things like the paleo the the vegetarian and and I've I've I've known some higher carb athletes were successful but they even told me my carbs are only vegetables and 

uh fruits type thing So I I kind of looked at that and said you know it's probably sustainable as far as um the what we were talking about the when it's a chore eat my logic in my head speaking of like Peter Tia and the Blue Zone 

and things like that Uh when I see someone uh like chu Chugging the calories to put on the the 10 pounds of muscles and and they're constantly eating Um there is as I know of there is no such thing as someone who eats an an enormous amount of calories and has a long lifespan There is no blue zone that involves an enormous amount of calories 

Um And in there's in fact 

the opposite 

I don't even Right that if you look at the average I I believe it's linebackers the average linebacker's lifespan is something like 52 

because they just they're eating those calories 

and uh it's not uncommon for them to eat a pound of cookie dough when they're on the line just to basically keep that weight on so that they can be enormously large people My my issue with it

the long-term

consequences of 

So when you talked about your diet here you were saying about 120 grams of protein Anything else you wanna share about your diet 

Mm. It's, you know, it's a bit of, I, it's a challenge. I'll just acknowledge, right. It's a challenge to, uh, to eat healthy and clean, um, without the carbs. Uh, , I, you know, my, my girlfriend and I are often eating separate meals, , right? Because she doesn't necessarily want to eat, she wants to, to, to eat breads and things that I'm, that I'm not eating.

Mm-hmm yeah 

it helps to have some, some family support, right? Through this. and, 

Mm-hmm 

reminder, I say, Hey, look, you know, I'm, I understand that I'm, I'm doing, I'm not doing this in a normal way.  and 

Yeah 

really learning from my, the experience of my, my family and my father in particular. And, uh, I don't want that same outcome for me.

And so please forgive me,

Yeah It's challenging It's like you said about going to bed early too Uh a lot of times uh it's been proven you know not to have food within three 

of bed is ideal and you're not exactly popular when you're like 

well I really like to have dinner by six so that can be getting ready for bed I'm that's not popular Um so as as with everything there's a balance act 

So the last question I 

Yeah.

The last question I want to hit you with today Gregory is tell me what a general week of your training schedule is looking like I know you 

you did a triathlon like this week but 

what a a general in terms you don't have to get into super 

like to know from lifting and cardio what's kind of the breakdown 

exactly. So, I, after I was diagnosed with low bone density, , um, I became committed to, to weightlifting, and right now my, my routine is three days a week of, of weightlifting. So an hour each session. And, and 

yeah 

I, did, uh, push, push pull, 

you know, so I'm gonna do two upper body workouts a week and one lower body workout a week.

And, and that's, so that's three hours. And since I'm triathlon training, it's kind of a nice setup. I, I, what my goal is, and I don't always make this. My goal is, is two swims, two bikes, and two runs in a week. 

That's a busy week That's a busy week. Gregory 

It is, because, you know, I and I take a day off, so I'm doing, what is that, nine sessions in six days.

So on, on the weekends, I'm typically doing, um, a couple of hours and, and on on one night of the week as well. I need to be two hours, you know, in into it. So it's a pretty healthy commitment. But as Peter Rut, Exercise is the most potent medicine we have. 

That's 

Right. 

And you know, he, he also said no 90 year old ever said, you probably heard him say this, right?

That I have too much muscle , 

uh I don't know any this is the thing I've never heard anyone say I have too much muscle I always my metaphor um was I tell people getting accidental mu muscle is like getting accidental money It's like someone just 

you or you just stumble into cash It generally takes a lot of work a lot of discipline and I mean there are people who are bigger for sure 

And,

I have too much muscle Is is I think it's generally rare thing especially if we're talking about lean mass 

And whenever, we hear women say, I don't want to be bulky, I'm like, yeah, that's, Just ge Generally if, if that does happen, that's a gift. , right? 

Yeah 

Yeah Um yeah And exercising I mean I think you can there's there's kind of this delineation in the last few years of you know you can lift regularly and you're not going to get necessarily very big unless you're consuming enough 

that that you're sort of feeding that type of thing There are plenty of people who are powerful uh who are strong but they don't eat that many calories They're just doing it for the strength for 

the bone density type 

and training and just to keep a little bit muscle 

So I had some pictures taken a few months ago. You the picture of, on the cover of my book, and I think it's worth mentioning what I had to do to do that. I got down to probably about 7% body fat 

Mm-hmm 

normally carry a lot of body fat. I mean, eight to 10 would be normal for me. So when I said, okay, I want to get those pictures taken, I, I mean, I'm looking like, all right, I wanna lose three or four pounds of, of body fat, right?

So I. I was probably consuming 1500 calories ish day. Um, and on my long bike ride, I'd do a two hour bike ride without any, basically any carbs. Right? So this was true zone two kind of work. This was probably the hardest. Diet that I had to do. I mean, I, I, I was on stage in my earlier fifties, um, and our metabolism just changes our, our motivation changes, right?

So it wasn't easy. Um, and I, I honestly, know, most, the, most of the people that are around me, unless I take off my shirt, they don't know right? Unless I tell 'em what's going on. 

right 

this, this whole abs thing, I would have to kind of put in the category of a bit of vanity, right? This is 

Mm-hmm 

to get some attention.

I, I do it to, to show people what is possible, not that I really expect them to want to do it.

Yeah But I think what part of what adds value for you Gregory is that it adds to your confidence your self-confidence your image of yourself Uh I look I For for me personally I don't hold other people to my standards but I do not like having extra weight on me 

part of why I've never been successful with the whole oh you just put on a bunch of bulk weight and then you shred down Like I don't want to do 

So um I I see that it is yeah there is in in fact it's the same thing in racing right.

there's there's a healthy amount of ego of I wanna win this to win this And then there's the other part of you which is intrinsic motivation And extrinsic motivation You combine those two things 

Well, and one of the things that I've done, it's different than now, compared to 10 years ago when I did those races, I wasn't lifting. Um, and, and if I took those three hours of weightlifting and took 'em out and put them on the bike, I would be a faster triathlete. , 

that's 

right 

it's a conscious decision at this stage 

Mm-hmm 

where I'm Okay.

I'm willing to be a minute or two slower in the race 

Yeah 

in order to play the long game. Right, 

Yeah 

I've got some goals for when I, when I turn 80, and at this point, I'm not gonna win the race anyway. Let's, let's play the long game. Let's, let's be smart 

Yeah 

this.

I like it That's a good note for us to end on Gregory Let's play the long game together 

Okay.

All right so tell us uh where can people find you and learn more about you Gregory 

Uh, well my, my website is uh, www abs@sixtysixty.com 

All right 

also on, uh, Instagram at Greg Damien 60. So we'll just use those two. 

Okay All right Well wonderful I appreciate you sharing your time and your message today We're all looking forward to the book 

Well, thanks so much. Thanks for having me on. 

Do you have a do you have a release date in mind or 

um, I'm looking at around the 1st of March is, is what I'm, uh, hoping 

Okay 

Yeah.

wonderful Hey it helps to say those goals out doesn't it 

there's a little bit of extra commitment 

Yeah a little bit Those 

the edits right now. 

All right Gregory Well thank you so much man 

Hey, it's been a pleasure. Thanks for having me on.