#120 | Francesca Emanuele |

Welcome back to Rizzology! In today's insightful episode, host Nick sits down with Francesca Emanuele, a seasoned fitness coach with a background in gymnastics, CrossFit, and bodybuilding, to dive into the complexities of modern life, fitness, and health.

From grocery shopping habits and navigating the perils of diet and nutrition to critiquing the U.S. healthcare system and shedding light on alternative health testing, Nick and Francesca cover it all. They'll also discuss the struggles of maintaining genuine friendships in a digital age, managing digital overload through innovative tech solutions, and the ever-pressing concerns of cost of living and family dynamics.

You'll hear about Francesca’s gut health protocols, her transition from gymnastics to bodybuilding, and the importance of educating female athletes about hormonal health. They also shed light on managing modern life's myriad responsibilities through practical coping strategies and share the real talk about parenting, relationships, and navigating the fitness industry with integrity.

Tune in for a heartfelt conversation filled with personal anecdotes, expert advice, and strategies for living a balanced, healthy, and fulfilling life. Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or simply navigating the demands of modern life, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways. Don't miss it!

00:00 Tired of gymnastics, chose own activities.
05:12 Aging affects memory, preserving only significant moments.
14:02 Struggling to connect with local women.
17:33 Overwhelmed; must release control and accept.
40:41 Discovered CrossFit through new gym acquaintance.
48:10 False advertising misleads women about athlete preparation.
01:00:49 Address underlying issues, low FODMAP diet.
01:02:48 GI issues were stress-related flare-ups.
01:27:42 Experiencing inflammation, focusing on growth and recomposition.

https://www.instagram.com/francescaemanuele_/

Transcript

0:00

All right, See, I'm sweating now. Now I'm, like, running around touching all the mics, the cameras. That's the only thing I don't like about this office. I hate that you can't control the AC in here. I would hate that, too. Oh, it's horrible. Especially, I mean, in the winter. I mean, I'm trying to get more in my adult clothing phase. Oh, okay. I'm trying to get more like, you know, we're wearing nice shirts, and I. Was gonna actually say to you, wow, you look great. I know. And I'm sweating now. I'm sweating now. You know I do, right? I'm sweating now. So normally I'd be in gym clothes and I'd be nice and cool and, you know, have a cutoff underneath. Yeah, totally. Now I'm sweating. Yeah. Welcome to the show. Thank you. It's been, like, long overdue. I think we Talked first at DiLorenzo's wedding. That's when I first said, you gotta come on the episode. Yes, correct. That is exactly. We were having a fitness debate. Yes. We were saying all these things at the table. We were talking. I forget what the actual debate was on. I think it was just, like, on coaches and the industry and whatnot, which we could dive into that. I'll let you steer that conversation. But we were talking about all that stuff, and I said, yo, you gotta come through, because obviously I only know you towards the bev side of things. But there's a lot more to the. There's so much more to me, Francesca story that a lot of people don't know. There's much more to me. So first and foremost, thank you for coming in. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's my pleasure. So besides an impressive physique that we all see now, let's be honest. You got the craziest legs. Thank you. It's insane. Thank you. Thank you. It's insane. It's insane. I appreciate it. I remember seeing you in the off season, and I was like, you look like you're part horse. I felt like I was part horse. Have you always been built like that? Have you always had that muscle density? 100%. Yeah. I grew up as a gymnast, so crawling around in diapers over the baby gates, that's where it literally all started. But gymnast into lifting, into CrossFit, into bodybuilding. So it's just build, build, build, build, build the entire time. What got you into the gymnast side of things? Just being young, just. My parents literally knew, like, oh, this one's gotta go. Like, as a baby, she's got to go into tumbling. And then I went into gymnastics as a kid, and then I was just good. So they just kept me going. And then I was competitive for, like, 10 years of my life. 12 years. Explain the competitive side to me. I don't understand the scoring. I don't understand, like, when I see them stick the landing or if they, like, have one foot come out, what is it? They just judge literally everything that you're doing. And honestly, because it was so long ago, I don't even know how they score anymore. I have no idea. And I don't know if that's, like, evolved into something else, at least now. Right. But it's definitely, like, you'll see, like, if you watch me with bodybuilding and the way that I pose and, like, the fingers and everything, it all comes from the foundation of gymnastics. What do they call that? That's the routine. Routine. Okay. Yes. Yes. You're doing great. See, I'm doing okay. You're doing. You're. I watched a little bit of the Paris. The Paris Olympics. Yeah. Yeah. But it just. What can you do with talent and being poised all at the same time? Right. And confidence and all of that. But it's a lot of. Do you miss it? No. No, I don't, but I guess you could say, because I kind of lived that out, like, that part of me out when I went into CrossFit. Because then there was, like, not that there was, like, the routine side of things with, you know, presenting yourself, but there was, like, the handstand walking and the muscle ups and just anything that was gymnastics related. So I kind of got to, like, get into that inner child again. Yeah. So it's just been, like, phases of my life where I've got to continue to, like, push back into gymnastics in some way, shape or form. So you do the gymnastics. Did you do that in college as well? I didn't. You didn't? No, actually. Why'd you drop off? Okay, so fun fact. When I was little, I think I was about 12 or 13 years old, I was going to gymnastics four times a week or something like that for, like, three hours at a day or at a time. And I got to a point where I was so done with it, I was just tired of it. I didn't. It wasn't fun for me anymore. I was missing, like, birthday parties and hangouts with my friends or play dates, whatever. And I wrote my mom a letter as a child, and I was like, is my body and I get to do what I want with it. And I was like, I'm done with. I was going to say CrossFit with gymnastics. And she was like, okay. But she also was just like, I'm not going to pay this money anymore for you because it's. It's expensive. Yeah. I mean, kids and sports in general is so insanely pricing, overly priced, but gymnastics is crazy with the amount of money that you're paying. Is it the tournament, like the competitions? Is it the monthly for the gym that you go to? All of it? Yes. What does a gymnastics gym cost? I don't know. Very curious. I don't know. All I know is that it was expensive. Yeah. Google. Yeah. I'm googling this Siri Siri shot. And you have to think too, because I'm 35. So what was it back in, you know, 20 years ago? Oh my God, that's. So to say that out loud is painful. Wow. It's crazy, right? Yes. I was just having this conversation about time passage with a buddy of mine and how, like, I don't even remember what I ate for breakfast sometimes. But you remember. You remember little blips of days or experiences throughout your life. You know, in my opinion, like, my mind, I thought for the longest time you had to remember every single thing that you did every single day, and you'd have this crystal clear image of everything, but it's not. And as you're getting older, not only is it fading in certain areas, but it's almost like when you were 20, you probably remembered up, you know, when you were like 10 or 12. When you're 30 now, because I'm 33. When you're 30 now, you can remember the beginnings of your 20s and a couple of things of your early. Of your mid to early teens. But it almost, like the blank, it starts to just keep receding backwards to like decade age, decade instead. Yeah, it's weird. It's pretty crazy. Unless, like something is triggered and you're like, oh my God. Wow, I remember that. Yeah. And you just wouldn't have ever taken your mind there. Yeah. It's crazy. But if you search Cherry Lane Gymnastics, because that's where I went. Is it on Long Island? Yeah. So you were born and raised on. Yes. Okay. Were you? I was. I was, yeah. Hempstead. Then I. West Hempstead. Then I moved to Dix Hills. Melville area. Yep. And from there I moved to Plainview. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I grew up and graduated in Garden City. I was all over the place. Cause my parents got divorced and then I went from this town to that town and that town. Same. Yeah. And then it was just like, keep her in the school district. Yeah. It's tough when you have to keep mixing and matching with new friends, new people. Ugh. Yeah. I don't know about, you know, I want to hear your opinion and experiences, but, like, from me moving from that pre elementary phase to then elementary school to then moving to the middle school again, it was three separate moves and it was horrible having to. And then you're trying to keep in touch with your old friends, but because they live in another town, you rely completely on your parents to, like, bring you places to hang out and whatnot. So it's just a. It's a lose, lose situation. So it's like, okay, I guess I'll just make friends with the people in my new town. And, you know, if you don't like them, you're kind of shot now. Yeah, I lucked out. I was in Garden City throughout the entire thing. Oh, okay. All of it. But it was. The location of where you lived was different. Yes. Like, one of my parents would stay in the school district area. I think it was up until, like, you had to be in 10th or 11th grade and then you could have moved outside of it, but be within a specific, like, perimeter of the town. So we weren't to. My dad moved to Rockville center because that was like, where you were allowed to still continue to go to Garden City. And then. Yeah, and then. Then he got the basically the hell out of Rockville center once I graduated because I was the baby. Rockville center is kind of cool now. Yeah, it's great. They built it up. They've done. I haven't been there. Yeah. I mean, you got a lot from. When I say they built it up, I mean, they do like a lot of new restaurants. They have a lot of the apartments around the area. They do make it an experience. And I like that about the certain towns. I like that with Babylon. I like that with Huntington. I like that with all these different. I can see how they would totally be able to do that with Rockville center too. Yeah. It's beautiful. And you have the trains to go right into the city. So it's nice for. It's nice and easy for commuting. Yeah. Price wise now, I think it's about. The same as, like, where I'm at in Huntington. I'm not glo. I'm not gloating about these prices, but I'm paying over 3,000 for a two bedroom. Yeah. Like, it's A lot of money you're looking at, though. It's a lot of money. And so, you know, then you have the people that go, oh, well, just buy a house. And it's like, I know. Hey, y'all seen the house prices, right? Yeah, the house price, mortgages, like taxes that you have to deal with on Long Island. It's insane. Also, the down payment that you have to do for in order to, like, have a decent mortgage. Oh, yeah, 10 to 20%. I mean, Mom. My mom's a mortgage broker, so it's like, I hear it all the. And it's insane. 10 to 20%. And then on top of that, now, God forbid, you know, let's say that's most of the money that you had saved up for the time being. Now, what happens when the AC unit goes or the refrigerator blows? Oh, it will. Because that house is not brand new. So those shits are going to go and have problems. And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, well, now I have to dip into either a credit card or something else because it happens right away. It's just. It's tough. Yeah. So it's like when I. When I look at 3000amonth to rent. When I look at 3000amonth to rent, I'm able to call my landlord if something blows and be like, yo, fix that shit. And also permission for entry because I'm not going to be home. So please go. Go ahead. Yeah, Go ahead. Yeah, please. I know. I totally hear you. I agree. Yeah. It's a constant debate because I have friends that are, like I said, mortgage brokers. My mom. Yeah. Realtors. My mom said do not buy. Right now she's like, don't do it. Yeah. Wait. Just see what happens. Yeah. And then one of the interesting things is I have friends in all other areas of the country and they keep telling me, move to Texas. Come. Move to here. Come here. I would think about it. Yeah. I would think about it. Yeah. Besides family and you know, some of my clients that I work with. Yes. I know. I don't really have, like, another, like a reason, like siblings. I don't. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Wow. Just me, one of five. Wow. Yeah. Tribe. Yeah. So that's crazy, but I hear you. Is your immediate family, though, over here? They are. Yeah. I have a small family. So my parents split up when I was. The abbreviated Nick Rizzo story is my parents split up when I was 2. My dad moved back with his parents for a little while in Franklin Square, and then he moved to Comac. And then he moved to Lynbrook. Okay. And then he moved to Freeport, so he's made quite. Quite the. Did both of your parents grow up on Long Island? They did. Franklin Square area. Both of them? Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. Did they know each other for forever? They didn't. No. Okay. They went to the same school, but they just. They didn't. Wow. They weren't, like, at all, like, in touch with each other in school. They met after, so. Yeah. So, like, my parents split up. Dad kind of shuffled around. My mom and I shuffled around. I've always been closer with my mom and her side of the family. My dad's side of the family is just not awesome people. They're just not nice. They're just not good humors. I'll leave it at that. But I always tried to see my dad and do things over the years, our relationship just wasn't what it could be as a father and son. So RZO is my mom's last name. So I use my mom's last name more so than Puya, which is my dad's last name. Okay. A lot of people don't know that. Are you legally? I have both. Legally in my name. Both. Which one's first? It's Nicholas Rizzo. Puia. So my mom's is first, technically. Yeah. Yeah. So I have the whole name in there. So sometimes with credit cards, like, Rizzo's on it, sometimes puia's on it. I'm always like, which name do you guys have? Like, I forget sometimes. Yeah. But, yeah, I've always used Rizzo. And that's gonna be like, a little. Little nugget for a lot of people. They don't. A lot of people. What's funny is a lot of my friends that were before college know me as puia. Yeah. So you'll get people that'll say, oh, Nick, puia. What's up? What's up? And they'll be like, who? Like, some of my other friends will be like, what? How do you spell that? P, U, Y, A. Okay, so it's. It's the same village or town in Italy. Puglia. P, U, G, G, L, I, A. So that's how they said it at Ellis island, because that's how it's pronounced. Puglia. And they just put P, U, Y, A, which is not how you originally pronounce it. Got it. So, yeah, I did kind of like the shuffle and all that stuff. And I've always been closer to my mom's family side of things. And we're small like, it's my mom, her sister, my cousin Diana, my cousin Michael. My aunt Angela is my mom's sister. And then, like, my grandfather, my grandmother. Yeah, my grandfather passed away right before COVID so it's grandma's lives in the same development as my mom. They're down the street from each other, so I see grandma all the time. I actually got to go set up grandma's Chromecast this weekend. We got adventures coming up. Love that. And the holidays are really just us. Like, it's just. It's just. It's kind of just always been tight knit, so it's tough to think about moving away in that aspect. I totally hear you. But then there's the other side of you that just says, is there something that's missing? Like, could you experience other things that would not only propel you further into what you're creating for yourself? Professionally, spiritually, emotionally, all that. All that. All the above. Could it bring a better quality of life? But that's kind of where I. Where this little debacle started, where it's like, I have all my friends that tell me, move here, move here, move here. Yeah. And it's just like, it used to be a much cheaper scenario. Yeah. But nowadays, cost of living is not that much different. I know. Like, people are like, come to Texas. And I'm like, well, Texas is also climbing up. Not that I would personally move to Texas, but that's like, an example. Yeah, I hear you. Yeah. Tennessee is a big one. Tennessee, I literally. I thought a lot about. For Tennessee is a big one. Yeah. The issue for me is just not so much the pro. The cost of. It's not really so much the cost of the houses and the rent and whatnot. Like, yeah, you'll take a little bit of a hit, you know, like a positive hit on the rent coming down a little bit. But it's like, all right, if everything else is the same and you're not getting paid as much for what you do as a professional in New York versus Tennessee, like, what's the difference? But to me, it's just 33. I don't know. I just. I'm not meshing with a lot of the girls in the area. I hear you. I just feel like there might be something somewhere else, and that's kind of what draws me in that way, because I can make money anywhere. I know I'm the same way. I can make money. Literally nothing is holding me back here except my family. That's literally my mom and my aunt is about to move but my mom really is. And my friends are the only people that are here. So in my eyes, I'm like, yeah, I would literally be starting fresh somewhere else. It's a weird feeling because we feel lonely here. And I've talked about this to my mom, even though I see my mom all the time. Especially when you're single and by yourself, you do feel lonely. It's like a weird lonely, though. Oh, I went through that in prep this year. Yeah. It's not a. I was like, oh, my God. Yeah, it's not a. It's not a. Like a. Oh, my God. I hate being. It's just kind of like, oh, yeah. And even when you have friends, as we're getting older, everyone's just doing life. Yeah. So either they have their significant others or they're so involved and wrapped up with work, or there's just so many things that happen that just make it harder for us to do what we used to be able to do so freely, which was get together and just chill. Yeah. And I also think these anxiety boxes make things worse, 100%. So I think that these things, by having a friend facetime you, or having a friend send a text message, they feel like they're keeping in touch. But it's not the same as, like, when we're actually in person hanging out. I know. And that's the thing. Like, I have that with, like, my select few friends here that we're just so close and we, like, really prioritize our friendships. So leaving. That is very difficult for me to even think about, but very social. I mean, you would be. You would be able to make friends anywhere you go. I am social. I'm super social. But I'm also just, like, at a point in my life where, like, the older I get, the smaller my circle gets, because I don't want bigger circle. I don't need it. I don't want it. I've push a lot of people out of my life because I've never been more at peace than I am now. And that's because of who I choose to surround myself with and who I'm, like, aligned with, you know? But I do feel you, the peaceful quiet. And I want to answer. I already know what you're going to ask. The peaceful quiet is dangerous, though. It's dangerous because you become so accustomed to that quiet. Oh, yes. That peace. That sometimes when you're single, like, I've been single for way too long, truthfully. And it's not because, I mean, my standards are pretty high, but it's, it really is, you know, and it's not like a flex or a brag. It's just when you're single for such a long period of time, not only you definitely get lonely, you definitely miss companionship because we're human beings and we crave that, we do need that and want that. But the longer that you go, the more you kind of just go bucket. I know, I'm okay. Yeah, I'm chilling. And it's, it really is a problem though because then the thought of inviting somebody into your life, you know, you're. Like, oh, I know. Like how much friction and like I barely have time to go to the gym in the morning, do jujitsu at night, work, take care of my needy little guy over there who's sleeping on the job as usual. Like, like I barely have enough like mental capacity and time to do all that. Then you kind of start going, oh. And it's almost those negative doubts that you have internally that you have to just say you have to drop your guard and just be like, let it happen. Because like you just have to let things be. I know. Oh, I know, I get it, I get it. But what were you going to ask? I know you were going to ask, what's the answer? Yes or no? Well, what are you going to ask? Do you want children? And sometimes people don't like to answer these things. Oh no, no, I'll answer. But it's also just like I support either decision. So I feel like I know your answer. I do want kids. Okay. But as I'm getting older and we talk about that being by yourself more. And more, you're okay if it doesn't. Happen, you start to look at like what are the trade offs. Yes. And I think there's, there are people that say they never wanted kids and they never wanted this, that, and then they have kids. That's one of the most fulfilling things that they say that they've ever had. But it's also one of the most stress induced, anxiety angry like because you're just dealing with these, these very selfish little creatures. That's really what it is. Yeah. You know, and I told you about Kenji with the epilepsy. That was a, that was like traumatic. Yeah, that was crazy. Two year old dog having seizures like that. And I just moved into my first apartment. That was fucking crazy a lot. Yeah, yeah, it was crazy. I told my mom one of my dreams last night. Ironically, I called her this morning, we were talking one of my dreams. It was like a nightmare. Was that I had an apartment in the city and an apartment out here for some reason. Already a nightmare. Already a nightmare. But Kenji was out at the apartment on the island and we were in the city and I was saying he needs his pills because he needs pills every 12 hours. I was like, he needs his pills in the next 30 minutes. And we're way further. And she was like, oh, no, I can make it there back in time. Like, no, you can't. We're over an hour away. He needs. It has to be within 12 hour windows. So a little bit of trauma there. There's a little bit of like, you start realizing, you're like, holy shit. I'm having nightmares about the dog missing his pills. So. Okay, that obviously hit me a little deeper than I anticipated. Yeah. But back to kids. I think the. One of the benefits of being a man is I can have kids whenever. Yeah. So I think that's a good thing because it gives me plenty of time to find somebody that I'm compatible with if that's the process and the journey that takes me on. Takes you? Yeah. I thought I wanted that white picket fence when I was younger. I really, I think we all were brainwashed into that. I didn't. Oh, really? Yeah. I never thought about it. Like, I never desired it. Like, I was like, yeah, I guess. But it took like, it takes specific people to be put in my life. Like, obviously not obviously, but I'm talking about a man for me to crave and desire that with them. And now I'm at a place where I am single and I'm like, oh, I do want this because I feel it when I'm alone. So now I'm like, oh, I totally want to be a mom. Totally. Okay, so you do want to be a mom. Absolutely. Okay. Absolutely. And if it happen, I mean, if it happens for me, I would love for that more than anything. You know, I hope that I am lucky enough to be able to have that one day. But if I don't know, however life unfolds for me, then cool. But I have also considered too, to be like, well, let's see where life takes me. Am I having a child with somebody or do I eventually get to a place of my life where I'm like, fuck it, I'm not waiting for somebody anymore. I am now going to proceed with doing this for myself, by myself, and take that next step for me. I'm Also, I would 100% consider that. I think it's tough for a woman to do that though, like by herself. Oh, My God. I can't imagine. I don't want to speak for women, but I do think that that would be a very, like. Although a. I'm all for empowering. I'm all for empowering women. I really am. Like, my mom's a single mom. I get it. Like, but she had a very hard time. Yeah. My mom too. Difficult. Yeah, definitely. It's. It's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. On two people doing it together. So for a single person to do that by themselves. But I do think about, like, what I have to offer to be able to, like, create a human. I want to create a human. Do you know how badass my child would be? Will be? Not would be. Will be. Come on. So I have. I have two other kids. I have two of my friends. I don't think they announced it yet, so I'm not gonna say names, but they got married. Congratulations. Anyway. Yeah, there you go. They got married a couple years ago, and I've stayed in touch with them, and I see them anytime they're in town, and they're just awesome. They're just good people. Yeah. And one of my buddies from, I mean, high school. Yeah. When I was 16, we were friends, so they didn't want kids originally. And then all of a sudden, she said, they decide that they want kids. So this summer, they were saying, no, no, no, we're trying now, and this and that, blah, blah. And they're making jokes about it like, can't keep his hands off me. Like, it's awesome. I'm like, yo, it's great. I love that. And then I was the first one that they called and they said, we're pregnant. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. So now I get, like, their little updates of them at the doctor with, like, my buddy. I gotta share this with somebody. My buddy labeled arms for me. I go, baby. He pointed to it. I go, yeah, I know which one the baby is. And the big ultrasound of one of the little nugget in the middle. I know that's the baby. I love that. I didn't think it was a Cheeto exactly. So it's just nice. I think that's sweet. I think at our primal basis, we all do yearn for that. But unfortunately, the paperwork and the legal obligation that has become marriage, I think that has gotten in the way of a lot of people being excited to find somebody because they're worried about one another ripping each other apart later in life. Well, that's. That's the thing too, right? Like, you see so many relationships start to drift because of kids kind of creating this wedge between the couple. And it happens with everybody because now it's not about you guys, it's about them. But it's about meeting in the middle and making sure you're still prioritizing yourself because that's also number one. And then prioritizing the marriage or the relationship. It's a lot. It's a lot, a lot. But you sign up for it. So it's like you do sign up for it. I mean, sometimes. Sometimes it's accidental. Sign up. Yeah. Sometimes the signup isn't intentional. This is true. You didn't dot the T's, or you didn't slash the T's, dot the I's. Yeah, this is true. Yeah. You know, my buddy and I were talking the other day and we were discussing life and just being tired during the day. And you sleep a whole night, but you still wake up tired the next. Morning, wake up to go right back to bed. Yeah. And we were talking about. And you know, it's not even like a depressive state or anything like that. It's just a monotonous type of a situation where it's like, oh, God. So I'll look at. I mean, fuck, it's Thursday again. Like, that's crazy. Insane. And then we're going to blink and it'll be Monday. And you're just 20, 25. Yeah. When the fuck. Yeah. Did that happen? Yeah. Crazy. So, you know, we were trying to remember a time when we didn't have these feelings. Yeah. And truthfully, it was when we were younger. And I came to the realization and I told him, I said, dude, life's different now. I was like, we have so much more on our shoulders. And when we were younger, we didn't realize what our parents were going through and why they were cranky some days and this and that. We didn't understand it. We just thought, oh, mom's in a bad mood. Oh, whatever. Like, oh, okay, whatever. Life's great. Yeah, life's great. Why are you so mad? Just all these different things. But now having physical activity needs every day. Intimacy and partner needs. If you're in a relationship, kids, pets, bills, work, all of it. All this stuff. Keeping up with social media for your business. All of these things that we have to do in a single day. And eat and eat and breathe. And drink your water. And drink your water. I know. And track all these things. Yeah. Our brains are just constantly going. Especially when you're living in somewhere like where we live. Yeah. New York is just go, go, go, 24, seven. Which two things I've implemented recently were like, on a rest day, because I work from home and I get that luxury of literally starting whenever I want. I start pretty much the second I wake up. Typically, if it's a rest day, because the first thing I do is train, if that's on the agenda for the day. But now, instead, if I can allow for this, I will not set my alarm and I will wake up naturally at like

6, 6: 26:44

30 anyway. If I'm lucky, I get to sleep in until 7, but that's very rare. And I slow down and I just make myself my coffee. I have my water and I chill and I force myself right now not to open up my computer. It's for. It's so tough. But, like, I've been implementing that now for a few weeks and it's been like, taking me down. I'm like, oh, okay. I think I'm chilling out a little bit. You feel less anxious? 100%. Yeah. I feel less anxious when I'm not. When I find. When I don't scroll through reels for a couple of days. Yes. I feel super at peace. Yep. So then another thing I did was I took all of my notifications off for Instagram. Well, any social media platform. I really only use Instagram, but I don't have any notifications pop up. Whereas, like, before, I would have, I don't know, something come up. I think, like, maybe messages only. Because all day, if that was going on for likes and shit like that, It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. And with the amount of reels that you send, you know, your friends and your family back and forth, because that's like a form of communication nowadays, which is crazy. Checking in. It's wild. Here's this funny thing. I was thinking of you. Oh, yeah? I was like, oh. You were like, okay, yeah, yeah, exactly. But I took that off and I was like, I'm off my phone so much more and it feels so good. It's the best thing I did for myself recently. So one of the things that I did a while ago, and I haven't used it as much, which I have to get back to, is I have a burner phone. So that is a couple of select, very close friends. I love that. And my mom and my immediate family, I love that. That's it. There is no social media on that phone. Just said this to somebody. I go, I need to invest into a Work phone or something. I made it an Android phone. It's fucking awesome. It's the Samsung Galaxy S20. Brilliant. I love that. And I feel like this is my sign. Yeah, this is your sign. Seriously. So truthfully, what I'll do is after I'm just like, I've had enough of this. I'll turn it off. Because the problem is, like, my iPad dings this. Even when this is off, everything dings. Yeah. So I'll turn this phone off. I'll make sure my laptop's off or it's in a deep focus mode where no notifications come through or whatnot. And I'll use that phone. And like I said, there's no social media on it. It's just I still feel like I'm connected to the Internet and I can go to websites and I can look things up or I can, you know, if I want to go on Reddit, like, that's the most social media I'll have on there. I had X on there for a little while, but then I just found I was scrolling on X. So I said, okay, take this off. Yeah. And I just want to be able to just tell my mom, like, hey, other phones off. I'm going to Jiu Jitsu. I have the other phone with me and I do that often. Yeah. I'll post that. I go to Jiu Jitsu and I'll turn the other. That phone off. Goodbye. Love that. But then I come back, I'll turn that phone on to see if there's any work messages and then just get blasted with just DMS messages, calls, and you're just like, oh, okay. I know. It's so overstimulating. It is. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot to just keep up in a digital world. I have envy. And I'm sure it's a grass is greener situation because there's always that thought. Sure. But I have envy of, like, middle of nowhere farmers. Yeah. It's a weird primal drive where you have that, fuck, you can make money without just being online all the time. Yeah. It must be so quiet. I know. It's crazy. Yeah. It must be so quiet to not hear, you know? Perfect example. Think about when we were younger and we had our first phones, how excited we were whenever we got a message. We had our personalized voicemails with a song or something. Oh, my God. Everybody had their own text tone. So you knew who messaged you. You were just amped now. Oh, God, this phone is on silent. Do not stare 24 7. I know. We're paying top dollar. Why are you getting through to me? Why do I see your notification? I know, I know. And then when I'm in bed and I forget to put it on or something, which is weird, I'll see, like, my light go off or I'll get like, the alert. And then I'm like, hey, Siri, put Do not disturb on. I get, like, pissed. Siri, shut them up. Shut them the hell up. It's so true. I show you. I mean, it's. Listen, I didn't want double iPhones. It's snappy and it's nice. This is nice. Take pictures or anything on this. Yeah, it's got like. Isn't the camera insane on this? Insane. Oh, yeah. Wait, this is a really nice phone. It's very nice. And then it's got the stylus at the bottom. Wait, hold on. It's got the stylus. Weird question. No, Samsung, send the check. What the hell? Podcast Francesca, 2pm See, look. How much do you pay for this burner phone? A little stylus. Wow. Yeah. What do you do with that? You can write things, circle things. Could wave it around and do witchcraft. So I bought this. I bought this unlocked so I could use it with any service, any carrier, anything. And the cool thing is I didn't want to put it on Verizon because I have Verizon for that phone. Okay. I wound up just doing Google Fi. So Google Fi uses T Mobile's network and it's actually really good. And it's just 50 bucks a month, no contract. Wow. You can cancel whenever. Unlimited data. Unlimited everything. Even when you international car wash. Yeah. Even when you international travel. Nice. So. Wow. I thought that was a good little investment. Truthfully, I like that. You know, it's sometimes I'm just like, oh, I haven't used the phone that much this month. And yeah, I'm like, oh, 50 bucks again, whatever. But yeah. Yeah, in the grand scheme of things, it's nice to be able to. You have the $50 to use. It's not like you're like punching pennies here. Yeah. Where I can understand somebody else was having, like, difficulty with that. But by the way, a hundred dollars for recreational classes for gymnastics a month. $100? I guess that's just for a drop in class. Okay. I was gonna say. I was like, there's no fucking way. 250 to $500 for competitive gymnastics a month. That's fair for the memberships. Yeah, exactly. You think it was like 500. I mean, at the time probably, it was probably like 250 or something. But that was essentially like 500 then, you know, I'm saying like the dollar. Point competitive classes could be 2 to 400 per month, depending on the athlete's level and training volume. Exactly. Yeah, that makes sense. I was waiting for that answer. Yeah, yeah. I had it the whole time. And I was like, we just started. Trailing off, getting back to that. All of a sudden we talked about kids and we were like, that was it. So now let me ask, let me get back to you. So transitioning from gymnastics, you didn't want to do that anymore. Did you stay active gym wise and then you fell in love with CrossFit or was it just. Yeah, I literally. Was it bodybuilding type gym or did you stay to more calisthenics because of the gymnastics? No, it was more bodybuilding. But like it was. I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. It was like, oh, these machines. Okay, let me read the machine. Okay, cool. I'll do 15 reps. Move on. Because like back then it was like everything was kind of in order and I would hit every single machine and do like a few sets on each machine and move on. I didn't know what I was doing. I was doing something. And that is what helped me develop into what I got into. So, yeah, that happened. And it's funny, fun fact. This was at New York Sports Club. That was my first gym membership and in Garden City. And I told my mom, I was like, I want to do this, I want to go there, I need a gym membership. And she's like, okay, then you pay for it. Because I've paid for everything that I wanted. Cell phone. I don't think I ever had a beeper, but my sister had a beeper. And I was like, I want the beeper. And then a cell phone came out. I was like, I want the cell phone. Sidekick. T Mobile Sidekick. No, I didn't have one either. Yeah, no, I didn't. Or boost or did you have the Nextels Chirchirp? Yeah, I didn't have a chirp. I didn't have one. I did have one of those. Oh my God. That Joe, that would beat this type of any day to be able to radio talk to somebody real quick. No, but now he'd be like, get away from me. Like, oh my God. How do you know this number? So funny. Extended car. The warranties for the extended cars, they'd be hitting you up 100%. Did you get your warranty? No. And you get this walkie talkie. I know, exactly. Promotions and everything. So went to New York Sports Club, and then that is where Jamal was working. J Money. Yeah. And my girlfriends and I were like, we had the biggest crush on Jamal. The last time I had seen him was literally when I was in high school. Did he have the Afro? No. He looked exactly the way he does right now. Oh, my God. So when I went to Bev's, I was on the stairs one day, and it just hit me. I was like, oh, my God. Because every time I would see him, I'd be like, he looks so familiar. Like, who is he? And then it hit me, and I was like, I got to tell him. I got to tell him, like, you were the man that I had the crush, like, the biggest crush on as a little girl. Oh, my God, it was so funny. And I told him that you gotta. Ask him for the. You gotta see the Afro pic. Oh, my God. The Afro pic was wild. That's hysterical. It was awesome. Yeah. I told him, and he was like, it's my birthday, too. I was like, well, happy birthday. Yeah. Yeah. I had a crush on you when I was in, like, ninth grade. There we go. That lasted all high school, but, yeah. So it went from training every day. And I was, like, very unhealthy. Like, I have to go before school. I have to go after school. I'm gonna not eat anything all day. Like, it was. You remember how we were brainwashed? Especially as women, little girls, you have to be skinny. Your collarbones have to pop out. God forbid your thighs fucking touch. Right. Like, I never wanted. I always wanted a thigh gap. To have the debate. Is that what that means? I don't know what the debate is. The whole thing was back then. I don't know if it's still a thing now because I don't live that world. But it was like, you needed to be skinny to the point where it was, like, pretty and sexy and feminine to have a gap between your thighs. Oh. So just to see through. Yeah. So that you didn't have the meat or the muscle touching. Oh. Which I don't. I mean, that's not happening. One time it happened to me since I was a little girl was when I was in prep last year. And I remember being like, I can wear shorts and my thighs aren't touching anymore. I was mortified because I was so tiny. But then this year, I was like, yeah, I've put on enough muscle where my legs are still touching. But, yeah, that was the Thing. And then from going to the gym, I started to like, obviously learn things. And then I became educated within it. And where were you getting your information back then? Bodybuilding.com. Oh, nation. Yes. Geez. Yeah. Huh. Anything? We had all those resources. I mean, this is what year now for you? Because you're only a couple years older than me. Two years, right? Yeah, I'm 33. 91. What? What, what, what? So I started when I was in ninth grade. Yeah. Okay. So whenever that was. And then. Cause I found John Meadows when I was. I found John and Elite FTS and all those guys. I found those periodicals, like what they were writing the articles and whatnot. It's gotta be like 2013. Yeah, it's like when I started diving into that world. Heavy. Yeah. Before then it was reading All Muscular Development. Yeah. It was sneaking out of school and going to gnc. Yeah. To buy. I worked at a vitamin shop. Oh, did you? Yeah, like in my early 20s. But yeah, muscle tech. I bought a ton of muscle tech. Oh my God. Anabolic Halo. They had that powder. I don't even know what the. It did. We bought it anyway. Jack 3D. Yes. The original formula. Yes. Oh my gosh. My brain or Oxy Elite, do you remember that fat burner? Yep. Yeah. How I'm alive. I don't know what I used to. Take every fat burner. I used to take Hydroxy cut. Yep. Yeah. Yep, There it is. Yeah. Dude, that was. I like the little bead. I like the little beads in it. Oh, the little beads. They had those with, I think axially too. They were. Unless they were just purple and white or something like that. Oh, they got boring. They only made them red now. No wonder your. No wonder your company's failing. Go back to the originals. Give us back the beads. Give us the beads. That's hysterical. Yeah. I used to sneak out with a buddy of mine, Albert. Shouts to Albert if you listen. We used to run to gnc, like between periods. We just buy shit. Did you used to drink the little red lines? No, never drank the red lines. I was chubby. I was. I was buying. I was buying fat burners and any product that I thought would help me build muscle. Yeah. And I was just popping them. Yeah. Didn't have any idea of like. I know having part. I was that having heart palpitations. Like we had no idea. Like I was that person too. Giving you the education to be like. Yeah, no, two is totally fine. Yeah, two is great. What, you're what, you're 17? Oh, yeah, sure. Your Heart's fine. Like, yeah, you're good. I'm mortified. Yeah. How dare I? Yeah, that's good. Did you guys get a commission? No, not with Vitamin Shop. Gnc. I think they were commission based. We were. I think we were hourly or something. Great benefits, though. Benefits got paid pretty good too. I don't really have complaints with them. I met some really cool people. Did you? Yeah. Not just pill junkies coming in, like. No, but what's crazy is that. So when I was doing. What was body bodybuilding like, training at the time, I was working at the Vitamin Shop in Manhasset on the hell. Is that called Northern Boulevard? Yes. And I don't think they're open anymore. The one by Greenville, it was right. Next to the Barnes and Nobles. That was down the road from the Americana. Yep. I used to work at the Apple store in the Americana. I used to work at Juicy Couture. Look at that. Yep, a little Juicy. I was out there. Weren't allowed to wear your velour suits, though, on staff. Oh, you weren't? No, that wasn't. It wasn't classy for the Americana, which makes sense. Yeah, it makes sense. I mean. Yeah. Had some. Some very interesting interactions at the Americana. Yeah, we probably all have. Right. But I met a woman who was opening up a CrossFit gym right down the road from Vitamin Shoppe. And she looked at me and she was like, do you CrossFit? Because I had the physique. And I was like, what the hell is CrossFit? No, tell me about it, though. And then I took one class at her gym that she just opened, or she was about to open, and she was like, come on by. My opening date is blah, blah, blah. And I went and I boom. I was sold. Like, I literally was about to actually start a prep, or not a prep, but, like, get into it with a coach that I had met. She was figure at the time, beautiful young chick, and wellness was not a thing. Would that have been your first prep ever at the time? Yeah. Yeah. I was like 22, 23 years old at the time. Probably 23, I think. Yeah, 23. And I was like obsessing. Literally. I would be at Vitamin Shop in the middle of my shift when it was slow, go onto bodybuilding.com and like, read all of, like the competitor stories. So, like, all the figure girls, all the bikini girls. And I was always told like, you're too big for bikini. You're too big, you're too big. So I was like, okay, fine. Like, I'll Think about a figure. But I didn't want to. Yeah. And then it was tough. It's. I have the shape for it. It's just like, I would have had to build into the shape for it or atrophy and then go down into bikini. And then I got introduced to CrossFit and I was like, wow, this is pretty fucking cool. And then I got to do bar muscle ups for, like, the first time again. I was like, wait, this is so fun. And then talking back about gymnastics, you know, like, I got to now realizing, like, that was my inner child coming out, which is why I, like, fell in love with it. And. Yeah, I mean, like, my first workout kicked my ass. It was like burpee box jump overs, a run come back. But before that, you lift. And I was like, I'm strong as fuck. I like this shit. And that's where the coach there started dating him. Of course I did. And what a reputation. Be like that sometimes. Yeah. No, for real. No, but he really, he was like, yo, you're good at this. Like, you have potential. And then he did help me and pushed me into that direction. So. Yeah, Shout out Joe. No, I wish him well, but yeah. And then that was like a decade of my life. Super competitive with a team. Did you do. I mean, I don't really know as far as your CrossFit competitive series. Did you go to the Games? I didn't go to the Games. We had. At the time when I was doing it, there were regionals, so I had really started it. I was. Do you. You know about the CrossFit Open? Yes. Like you know about that? Okay, so I know because the buttery bros, I'm friends with them. Okay. Yes. So with that, I did really well my first year. I didn't make it to regionals, but this was like a few months basically into it. And then like, the ring muscle ups you had to get, and had I maybe gotten like a few ring muscle ups, I probably would have weaseled my way in. I was not ready for that. Anyway. Bar Muslims are different. Very different story for, like, a gymnast, of course. But the next year I qualified for regionals individually, I think, or the year after that, I can't remember. And then I went to regionals two times as an individual and then as a team once. But this is like, throughout. Well, it was pretty much consecutive, but throughout a good chunk of time, and then did, like, local competitions a lot. So you would have been a high rocks person if you were still doing that stuff. I mean, I guess so. But like, look at me where I am now. You know what I mean? So it's like, now people are like, would you ever go back? And I'm like, absolutely fucking lutely not. I don't miss it at all. And why don't you miss it? I just. I had my fun with it. It was such a chapter of my life. And that chapter is over. And that's, like, the only way to explain it. There were parts of me that. So I told you before, once upon a time, I was married, and I'm obviously divorced now. And when I got engaged, I was like, I need to change my body. Like, I was so uncomfortable in my skin. And if you. This isn't a knock on CrossFit women or their physiques, but if you do CrossFit and you're pretty good at it, you look like a crossfitter. That's the same thing. If you're a wellness athlete, you look like a wellness athlete, bikini figure, whatever. Same thing applies across the board. And I was so uncomfortable in my skin. And I looked the part. I looked cool as fuck. Like, competing in CrossFit because I had the physique and everything, but outside of it, like, when I would want to go get dressed up, like, I would just be, like, covering up all the time. And I was like, I'm getting married. Like, you think that's most women that are in that sport that feel that way? Eventually, yes, 100%. A lot of people will stop because of it, but a lot of people will also stop because it's just. It takes such a toll on your body. And I am definitely to play my part. Like, I didn't get bodywork done. I couldn't afford body work. You know, like, now I can support myself and support my. My muscles and my joints to get me through these things. But at the time, like, I was just paying to, like, pay rent and survive at the time. And then also it was like a hopeless competitor that was like, I gotta go to the Games. But I also knew, like, there's just the way that people are like that today with bodybuilding and they give up everything. I wasn't like that, really. Like, I was like, okay, I love this, but this isn't my world. And also I kind of knew that I. I had to apply myself a lot more in order to get to that next level. Like, they're freaks. They are freaks of nature. And, like, they are just phenomenal, crazy, gifted athletes. And not to say I wasn't, because I absolutely was. And I was like, One of the greatest in the northeast for sure. But I needed to, I needed more guidance. Like I needed like a legit coach that was going to take me under his or her wings and push me, you know, I didn't really have that. I've dealt with coaches, but not like somebody to be on top of me 247 because again, you'd have to pay them. And I didn't have the finances at that time in my life to be able to afford that. Now it's a different story, you know, now I can pay $50 for a burner phone if I wanted to. Yeah, hell yeah. Got a roof over my head. Got a dog that goes to the vet all the time. I got the money to do it, but yeah, so I stemmed away from CrossFit for those reasons. And that chapter was over. And then I was like, I'm never going to compete again. Like, I'm done with that. And people once they saw me in like an LA Fitness, eventually they were like, do you compete in bodybuilding? And I was like, no, fuck no, absolutely not. I never want to do that. I love food. I don't like to restrict myself this, this and that. And then I got the itch. Yep. And then wellness came out and I had heard about it. I did my research and then found my coach, which I did a lot of research on him, and here I am. So as a woman going into the sport, what do you think is like one of the biggest issues that you see with coaches and guidance for female athletes? False advertisement. I think that a lot of women go into this not having enough education or the, it's, it's not just the education, it's the willingness to educate yourself because they'll look at a team or they'll look at somebody that's being promoted on their page or their platform, whatever they're using. And they're like, all these people are, they're kind of like pushing out crazy looking athletes and they look great. Right. But they don't know anything about how they're actually pushing them in their off seasons, in their preps. They don't know what kind of gear that they're taking. They don't educate them. They're not making sure their health is optimal in order to get them to those places in order to enter a prep. So there is like the lack of education there. And there's a lot of people that will just take you on, to take you on because they just want a. Quick little pinch of quick monthly, however much they're charging. Exactly that was my coach. Exactly. So it's like, there's that. And unfortunately, I think that women are very insecure today where they just want to look apart and they focus and they fixate on the end goal that they'll literally, they'll do anything. They don't think about the gear that they're about to put in their bodies. They don't do that. Young girls that are taking. It's insane. It's insane. And pretty substantial amounts. And it's so sad. And that's ridiculous to me because, like, did anybody ask you, like, hey, well, for the future, do you want babies? Like, what is that looking like for you? Let's be honest, a 22 year old chick is probably not thinking about that. A lot of the times they're not. Some of them are. Some of them are. Right. Like, I do have a lot of girls that are sitting around that age that those things are very important to them. And I also have to have those conversations and I'm like, hey, well, first of all, let me tell you about how this is gonna work. I'm not just gonna take you on board. And then all of a sudden, two months into this, okay, what show do you want to do? Doesn't work like that. I need to learn you, I need to build you. We need to build together. And then they understand, they trust me, gain that trust from me while also educating them through the process. And then eventually, like, we'll focus on that and get through that. But yeah, there's just, there's the lack of education because it's just all social media influenced, which is shitty. Yeah. Yeah. I remember when I was about to compete, I was so excited to look like the guys in the magazines and I didn't realize what it would take. Yeah. To look like that. Yeah. And when I realized it, I went, yeah, that's not for me. And so I did my shows, I bowed my head, I bid, I bid that, that industry a farewell. Yeah. But I was in it because of the photos and videos still. Yeah. So I've never left it, but I'm in it. But I'm not in it. Yeah. And I just, you know, once, once I decided I didn't want to bodybuild anymore because for a while there, pro card was the only thing I wanted in my life. Yeah. I only wanted to be a pro. Yeah. I was like so amped just for that thought. Yeah. That just like you said with why you'd never go back to CrossFit, because that chapter just closed. Yeah. That's how I feel about bodybuilding. For me. And you're at peace with that? I'm very at peace. Exactly. I have no interest in zero aesthetically training. Yeah. It's all performance based now for me. Yeah. And that's the thing that I think I get from. I don't get the. I don't do anything related to CrossFit, but I loved, loved my favorite part about it was the strength training. Oh. Like, I love that more than anything. Progressing. You lift heavy. Even still. Hell, you do. You lift heavy. Thank you. Because somebody at the gym today was trying to. I mean, he's teasing me like, you're not that strong. I'm like, you know, I'm strong as. I know about that. I've. I've taken videos of you while you're in prep. Thank you. And you're. I remember. What were you doing? You were doing the rdls and you were doing the hundreds, probably. Yeah. You're doing the hundreds. Rdls. Yeah. That's pretty good. Thank you. Very good. Thank you. Most dudes don't do that. No. Thank you. I will say too, I have a lot of. I mean, they're probably also kind of DMing me for whatever other reasons, probably. But they're like, yo, you actually motivate me. I'm like, I should be motivating you. I should. You should be lifting heavier. Okay, go, go ahead. But yeah, I mean, that's where I'm at. And this is a question that's constantly asked to me as of late. They're like, because I'm growing right now and I'm not even in a growth phase. I'm just growing because of the way I'm training and my work ethic. But a lot of people are like, well, what's your next, you know, step? Like, where are you going? What show are you doing next year? And I'm like, well, first I have to figure out. I have like a gut issue going on right now. So we have to take care of my health first. But then after that I'm like, if I want to compete again, which I do, because I'm a competitor at heart and I would love to, but I have to be very realistic. Like, I'm not willing to risk what other women in my division are or part of the sport. Right. Like, I can't just say my division, but I'm going to talk about my division because that's what I do. You have to use gear in order to be first call outs in order to go to the Olympia. You will not be able to. There's, like, two girls I know that are natural and they've made first call outs, or at least one of them did shout out Riley. But we can't use them as the. No, because. Yeah, like, I mean, you just can't. And I earned my pro card naturally. Anabolic free. But I did my pro debut using for my first time, and I was comfortable with it. I had the greatest. I saw you say it a couple times in posts and whatnot. You were very, you know, open, transparent. Because you should be. And especially with me being a coach now and. Well, I've always been a coach, but doing this with other athletes that are aspiring, you know, to compete as well. I have to be open with them. I have to talk about it. And I hope that makes somebody comfortable to come to me and ask me the questions that I've asked to others, because I did my homework and I researched, and I was asking all of the women in my life that I felt comfortable enough to talk to, like, hey, I'm really nervous. Talk to me about this. You know, and they were helping educate me outside of my coach, of course. I don't want to know what. Because I'm not here to pry. Yeah. And I'm just not the person to do that. I'm okay with it. Yeah. But still, I just. That's fine. I like to just keep things as whatever you're. Whatever the people that I have on want to talk about, I want them to talk about it. But I don't really. Like I said, I don't want to know what I want to know. How did you feel going from one end of the spectrum to then the other? Then it was difficult for me. It was. I felt like I was like, oh, my God. Like, the first time I ever did it because I did my growth phase enhanced 12 weeks, and then it was a longer growth phase, but then I used it enhanced for 12 weeks. It was still. I mean, it was still kind of difficult for me, even through prep, because, like, it wasn't an easy choice for me to make. I accepted it, and I was cool with it. But I don't know, there was just. I guess at a point, too, I just completely let it go because you have to. You can't, like, fixate on it, otherwise that stress is gonna go against you. But I did get to a place where I was like, all right, this is my decision. You have to be at peace with this. But I was on top of it. Like, I was like, is everything cool? Like, what's going on here. And everything was great. I had no bad experiences with my growth phase. We use something different. I just dealt with a lot of inflammation. A lot of inflammation? Yes. Oh, interesting. A lot of inflammation. Usually. Sometimes there are ways that you can counteract inflammation with other things. Women tend to. With. I'll just say with primo, women will tend to hold more water and look more inflamed with it. So that was definitely a side effect that I was getting, and it was making my joints uncomfortable. Plus, you actually film me with that growth in that growth phase. Yes. And you saw how I was training. Like, it only continued to excel. Like, my strength was just, like, excelling week by week by week. Because I do train like that, and I can train like that. But my joints were taking such a hit, and I was getting work done every single week from bodywork and a Cairo every single week of my growth phase. And I was still, like, crippled. But then in my prep, it was different, and I was comfortable. I was comfortable with it, but I was still like, I don't know how much more I would want to do with this. Yeah. So that's something where I'm like, I think I want to. I don't think he's going to listen, but, Mark, if you're listening, I was going to say, I think I would approach another growth phase or maybe too natural. And then I would consider running a cycle or something for, like, fullness and stuff like that in a prep. And then ideally, I would love to do New York Pro in 2026, because it's, like, in our backyard. Yeah. And that would give me, like, the whole year to, like, be human, just live my life. Because I don't want to do another year of, like, competing again, because entire year is just like, I'm about to do a gut protocol. That's already going to be a few months there where you have. Where are you getting the gut protocol from? Rise, R, Y, Z, E. Oh, they. Have a gut protocol. Yeah. So they will run. They'll check. This is a lab on Long Island. No, I, you know, great question. I don't know where, because I'm interested. In getting stuff like that done. I'm always trying to optimize. Oh, my God. They're amazing. They are amazing. I send all of my own athletes to them, and then we work, like, hybrid style. So they'll do, like, I just sent in my GI map and I'm waiting for my results. I'm, like, praying I'm gonna open up my phone after this and get it? Also not. Because then I'm gonna be like, oh, these are the things that are wrong with me. So what, they're gonna tell you what foods are inflaming you or causing problems? Or they're gonna all, like, show you the bacteria that's in your stomach right now. And what's inflaming it? Everything. Cool. And what'd you do for that stool sample? Stool sample? Oh, yeah, yeah. It is what it is. No, it was great. It was. I mean, it was interesting, but especially when this is the stuff that I'm learning myself because my coach mentors me. So, like, all of our mentorship calls, like, you learn and you learn and, like, it's crazy, but, like, you're looking through your stool and you're like, well, there are parasites in this shit. Like, what's going on? Over. I want to run a parasite cleanse. I'm very interested in that. I eat a lot of sushi, so I'm sure I got some bugs in my gut. It's wild. So they might either be present when the person goes or when you're doing, like, when you're killing off. Once you actually know your results. So once you start to, like, do a kill phase or something, then you'll. Actually going to give you a kill. Phase too, depending on what's going on. With me, you go through, like, a primer phase, and it essentially is, like, peeling off the inflammation, which Mark is my coach. Mark and I have been doing for the last few weeks. We went on to a low FODMAP diet because I have to. If I eat something that's high five FODMAP with foods. What does that mean? Essentially, like, things that are causing disruption with your gi. And how did you find those out? Which part? The foods. Finding out things that caused disruption in your GI constipation. Okay, so it's more so just trial and error of when you eat something, you feel the results. Yes. Like, dairy. Dairy rips me apart. I can't. I don't do dairy. Yeah, dairy rips me apart. Gluten, dairy. But I can eat. But it's funny because I get dairy from the grocery store, like cheeses and whatnot. I can eat. I can't eat. But if I get ice cream, like real ice cream with sugar, no issues. Isn't it crazy? So weird. I know. The body is just so wild on how it works. But you were saying gluten, gluten, dairy. Like, those have always been an issue for me regardless, like, from years. Not celiac but gluten does cause disruptions for me. But if I was to eat something as simple as, like, an apple, high fat map food, I would just like to stand. I. Fodmap. So there's a list of those foods. Oh, that's what I was saying. Okay, so there's a list of those foods. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Just called fodmap. Fod. Yeah, fodmap. Higher, low. But yeah. So you're trying to take a look at that. Look at that. Oh, you know what? I have heard of this before. I just. I don't think I've ever actually looked at it. Yeah. So what people will do, they're like, oh, well, you know, like, I have ibs or they're normalizing all these things out there for themselves, and they're like, oh, I'll just, like, hop on a low FODMAP diet. It's like, we're not meant to live off of a low FODMAP diet. That's not what the body is intended to do or how it's supposed to operate. So you need to heal whatever is going on internally in order to be able to tolerate high fodmap foods. Now, obviously, if somebody's like, celiac, that's just something that you have to work around and you can't really do anything about, but there's always some sort of solution here. Mangoes, huh? Yes. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, fructose. I get high fructose corn syrup, of course. Concentrated fruit sources large serves of fruit. That just means large servings of fruit. Maybe dried fruit, fruit juice, Honey. Yeah. Really? Yeah, I love honey. I know. Milk from cows, goats, or sheep. Custard, ice cream, yogurt. All cheeses, basically. Artichokes, asparagus, beetroots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts. Damn. It's like nothing left to eat. Cabbage, fennel. So the way that it makes you miserable is if you look at the high FODMAP foods. Yeah. The way it makes you feel better, if you look at the low FODMAP. Foods, they're right here. And, like, if you're with me and you're like, oh, okay, so these are the things I'm allowed to eat. Arrowroot, millet. Mm. I haven't got enough arrowroot in a while. Really should have been lacking the arrowroot. Yeah. So it's interesting. Meats aren't on this, though. I have, like, chicken. I have beef or turkey. Do you do better with red meat. Versus no turkey or no beef? Turkey, chicken, and then I have eggs, but that's. Those are my protein sources. Okay. What was the other thing? You know what's crazy to me is the fact that like the second. So I was having GI map issue. GI map. GI issues at the end of my prep. What now, looking back at it, I thought. Or we thought was like a stomach virus or food poisoning must have been just a flare up from what is now going on. And then it exacerbated because of so many other reasons, but, like, probably because of the stress that my body was under the circumstances of prep. Like, I was at the tail end. So we were like trying to exacerbate everything. Oh, my God. We were trying to do anything to just fucking get to the finish line. And then I didn't go to the bathroom for two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks. Yo. It was horrible. I would have freaked out. I was so. And that only. And I'm. No, please. Did you try. Oh, don't you worry. I'm about to relax and everything. Oh, let me tell you everything. So I. He was like, you just need to chill because the more that you stress about this, the more you're not going to go. Because stress will cause disruption and will cause. And you're eating inflammation. I mean, barely eating, but I was eating like 1200 calories. So the thing is, he was like, gotta go somewhere. Exactly, exactly. He was like, do you feel empty? And I was like, I mean, I'm so tiny right now. Like, I had no waist that it's like at the end of the day. No, because I wasn't going. But I would wake up and feel good. So it was like. It was weird. But then I was like, bro, it's been two weeks. Like, he's like, we got to get this the fuck out because this isn't good. And not for the sake of prep. For the sake of my health. Yeah, we got to do something about this. I started with Miralax. Nothing. Like two Miralaxes a day. Nothing. How many days for two or three days. This is after two weeks. So you're two weeks and two days in now. Mm. And then. Then we pushed in magnesium calm. At the end of the night, kind of started to get something going. Then I did magnesium with. There's like a senate out there. It's called Smooth move. Yeah. And I did one teabag and the calm. And it was like barely anything. Finally, the two bags and this, the calm, that was what was helping me go in the meantime, throughout this time period as well. I was doing a gi Drink. Am. Pm. So that helped, like, cause, like, less inflammation for my intestinal lining. But, yeah, we had to literally take everything. And then I was literally. I'm just going to say it as it is. Say it. Tmi, but, like, shitting my brains out. Oh, yeah. Every. Either, like, morning or night or, like, throughout the middle of day. But. But it was relief because, like, I was finally going, you're bound up. Oh, my God. Have you had a colonoscopy? No. Yeah, go get that done. Yeah, get that done. Yep, I had one. I had. I had rectal surgery. Oh, I know. That was our first conversation. Yes. Rectal surgery. Anal fissures. Anal fistula. Hate that name. Horrific name. It is a horrific name. Anything near your butt sounds worse. Please don't say that. I said to the doctor, like, it's a fistula. I said, I don't know what that is, but please don't say that. These are talks, though. In your 30s is like, you know, it's crazy that, like, this is so normal to talk about. But you know what? I think it's also normal because we're in the fitness industry. Ish. So it's like, you know, we talk about blood work and stool safety and all this stuff. It's also just being a fucking adult. Yeah. Like, okay. I know the people that are all bound up about talking about things like this. I know you chuckle when you fart by yourself. Yeah, exactly. Relax. Get over it. Yeah, I know you chuckle when you hear a fart. Please stop. Literally. Yeah. So it was. That was quite the interesting thing. And I've. And I. When I started Jiu Jitsu, and I was going so hard at Jiu Jitsu, like, I started having some spotting, and I was like, oh, is this thing coming back? And I went to the doctor, he's like, bro, you're, like, ripping into the scar tissue. I'm like, all right. Motherfuckers are trying to choke me out. I don't tell you, brother. Stitch it up and let's go. Like, let's get it going. So it's just. Yeah, it was quite the thing. And then, ironically, my cousin had it seven months, eight months after I had it, he got one. God. It's actually pretty common. And they don't talk about them. My aunt has them fistulas. Yeah. Yeah. They're horrible. Horrible, you know, in your heart. So I'm kind of glad it was down there. Yeah. I don't blame you. Yeah, I'd prefer that. That was. That was probably the most ideal fistula Location minus the name. We're never going to do that again. Yeah. I have to get back on to my eating schedule. It's been tough. It's been tough. It's just tough because, like, I'm so all over the place, and sometimes it's like, to get. I haven't hit my protein goal in a long time. I probably. I've probably eaten. I know. I know. How dare you? I know. I've probably had. I don't know, on. On average, maybe 100 to 125 grams a day. No, that's so little. If that. It's like, for a teenager. I know. If that. Yeah. It's crazy to me because protein is, like, the easiest thing for me to take down. Well, don't get me wrong. I can literally, if you tell me to eat, I don't care how much food it is, I'll be like, okay. I'll eat a ton of stuff. But for a while there, I thought. I thought I had hemochromatosis with the high iron levels that I was experiencing. Yeah. And then you have high iron. Yeah, I thought I had hemochromatosis. What's your background? Like. Like, ethnicity. Ethnicity Italian. Yeah. So you may want to go get. You may want to go get checked. Interesting. Yeah. So generally, women don't show for hemochromatosis because they bloodlet naturally every month. But women in menopause that don't lose any blood, they show hemochromatosis later on, where men show it earlier. They just call it bronze diabetes. Like, it's pretty crazy. Your body essentially just doesn't know what to do with excess iron, as opposed to a normal person. It just gets it out of the system. It'll actually start to store in your brain, heart, and liver. Jeez. Yeah, So I thought I had it, and I got the gene test because my iron levels were high for a while. Yeah, I got the gene test, and I don't have it. So I was like, oh, yeah, okay, cool. So I was avoiding red meat. I was trying not to eat anything like that. But then, you know, I. I don't know what to eat anymore. I think the further down the rabbit hole of what they're putting in our food, all the bad shit out there, you get in your own head. Yeah. You're just like, I walked through the grocery aisles, and I'm just like, all right, well, we're sticking to the outside again. Are you somebody that is good with being, like, repetitive and, like, monotonous? Yes and no. I was with bodybuilding and generally I eat the same things, but it's like, I'd also like to not eat the same thing every single day. Like, eat different things. Well, yeah, that totally. But at least if you have, like, your foundation of, like, I don't know, however many. Problem is, eggs are barely any protein. They're not that much protein, so they're barely any protein. So then we talk about, like, so supplement with a whey 50 grams away. Whatever. Okay. You get a little bit away. Yeah. Okay. But then it's like 8 ounces of ground beef. It's like 40 grams of protein. So you're just like, oh, okay. And then you're just trying to get it down. But when we're busy through the day, you're like, all right, I didn't get to eat. Do you know what's, like, the easiest meal that you could implement? Fuck me. You like cereal? I do, but I don't buy cereal anymore. Okay, but oats tear me up. Can't do oats anymore. What if you. If you were to buy a cereal? Which cereal? Like an easily digestible carbohydrate. I know everything that's in it now. Do like. I know. That's why I'm trying to think, like, more of the cleaner ones. I don't really know what it is. With three spoons or something like that. Three wishes, magic spoon or something. Magic spoon, right. There's Magic Spoon, then there's like another one. Three Wishes or some shit like that. I don't know. I have a lot of clients having cereal, whether it's like a rice track, something simple, or like a Lucky Charms, which I know that you're going to be like, no, not the Lucky Charms, the artificials. I can't take more red 50. But what they do with it is they'll have their protein shake, whether it's a scoop or two, and then they'll use it basically as their. As the milk. Yeah. So it's just like an easy way to take back. Like, I used to do the grams right there. I used to do the sludge. Yeah. Two scoops of whey in a bowl, Add a little bit of water, stir it up. A little bit of water, stir it up until it's like a paste. Put frozen blueberries in there on top of it. It's so good. I love that it is. But it's like it's the same shit over and over again. It's like, oh, God. Okay. And then, truth be told, it's like, I'm trying not to get like all that much whey constantly protein shakes in every single day. You're just like more and more filler food. Feels like instead of real food. Yeah, I'd rather just eat a ribeye. Yeah. I mean, make yourself a ribeye. I do. But you know, rib eyes are $20 a ribeye right now. I know. For good ones. Yeah. Look up the Rice Chex Nutritional. Oh, God, not those extra ingredients. I want to see it. I need to know. I just had this conversation four seconds with a girl on one of the dating apps. It was like three seconds. I put on one of the notes, like the little boxes. I said, together we could. And I said, be conspiracy theorists together. And she just goes, which one do you want to dive down? How? I was like, I'll let you pick the first one. And she just goes, how the government's poisoning us with the food. And I said, hot dog, let's go. So you want to have my babies? So I just. Yeah. So I just, I started, I put a couple facts out. She's like, I know, it's crazy. This and that. And then in usual online dating app fashion, her profile was gone. Sick, sick. So I'll have the starter conversation with somebody else again. Great. Can't wait to just continue wasting my time. Let's see. Rice chip. But it is true though. I mean, what the government is doing to us is discussing. We about to jump down this rabbit hole. Uh oh, I just, in my opinion, I just, I can't stand when I see foods that are the same as Europe or another nation. Oh yeah, look at our ingredients. Look at their ingredients. You're like, yo, bro, come on, man, it's horrible. I know. What are we doing? I don't understand. Why is it such a sin to like, try to just have the people be healthy? You know, it takes less of a load on the, on the popular. On the medical system. The problem is a for profit medical system where they make so much fucking money if people are sick versus healthy. I know, it's. That's the problem. It's horrible. And so when we have that type of a. An establishment that's constantly getting paid on all of these medical procedures and pills and diagnosis. That's why if you go to one doctor for your gut issues, you go to one doctor, they'll send you the four others. Well, you need this recommendation for this. That's this. You need this. The thing with something like Rise. Yes. We don't deal with fucking doctors. Sorry, sorry. But we're not. Function Health by Dr. Mark Hyman. As well. He's got a system where$500 annually. Dr. Mark Hyman, send the check. $500 annually. You can go get over 100 biomarker panels done from lab work that your doctors aren't checking. They don't even know what the fuck to check. They don't even know. They look at a chart and they go, yeah, within range. I know. My ferritin levels were 300 for a while. 300. And they went, well, I know you're within range. What? I know, brother. No, no, it's too high. It's really bad. Yeah, well, you don't check any other boxes like you're healthy. I know. Like, I don't feel healthy. I know. Well, that. Okay, so that was going back to what I was saying before was the fact that people will normalize. Like, all the. Like, oh, I haven't gone to the bathroom in two weeks. And then they'll do what I did and then be like, oh, I'm back on track. It's like, no, you've just destroyed your gut lining. Now what? Now what? Like, how do you do this? And then the situation of coming out of that entire chaotic time, I was not good. Like, I just felt everything that was wrong with me. I felt. And I told one of my friends, I was like, yo, my labs are gonna come back so bad. I just know it. Because every other time I've done labs, they were great. Pristine. They were great. And we wanted to make them obviously more optimal, so I would take additional supplements on top of whatever. But if you're looking at them, they're great. They were great. My body is very adaptive, and I work really well with that, thank God. But everybody normalizes. They all normalize that. I don't know how somebody could normalize the things that I've been feeling. How do you do that? Because you don't know better. Because you don't know what good feels like. That's the issue. Well, they just tell you, yeah, you know, it is what it is. Like, you know, live with it, essentially. I don't want to. My skin, my hair. And I'm like, well, you're losing your hair. Not normal. Yeah, you have skin issues. Not normal. Like, there is all these other situations that are going on that are underlying, that people don't actually realize there is an underlying issue. And a lot of it's up here. Oh, a ton of. It's amazing. It's all connected. Yep. Oh, the gut microbiome to the brain connection is insane. That's your gut Instinct, too. That's that feeling that you get in your gut. It actually is the link between neurological pathways. It's so crazy when you dive into the knowledge of what the body does. It's insane. It's the most fascinating thing ever. And that's the cool thing, though, I guess today, like, as much negativity and toxicity that there is on social media, there is also a lot of good and useful information, if you can find it. So that's the thing. Combing through everything and finding out the legitimate versus now, the AI video versus the fake and all this shit. Yes, exactly. It's wild. And I. And one of the problems, like even that you said is when. When you were talking about competitors as well, is not knowing for themselves. So it's like when they are presented something with, like, let's say, a woman that's losing her hair or she has skin issues, this and that. A lot of times they go to their gp, they tell them they're fine. It's. It's fine. It's just this, your levels are fine. This and that, and then they just don't know where else to go. That's the problem. Yeah. The problem is it's so widely known that if you went to your doctor and the doctor said, you're fine, you're fine, and you're just. Yeah, you're aging. It's just like. I don't know if that's actually what is going on. I don't think that's an actual thing. Exactly. I'm aging. I know. What is that? What. And this. Actually, it's a good point, because going back to the children, there was actually a couple. I don't know, they came up on my reels, but they were 48. The woman was 48, the guy was 52. And they were like, we have five kids, and we just had our last. Last kid three years ago or their last two kids three years ago. And I was like, that is exactly the thing. Like, they're both very healthy people who have clearly been prioritizing that throughout their entire relationship or their own personal lives. It's not that it's the norm to have kids at that age. I was gonna say, is she just an outlier? That's the only thing it could be. But it's also to show that these things are possible. Yeah, that's a huge factor. Um. Yeah, I mean, it's. It's wild. There's a whole other part to being able to, like, spin down that road. It's crazy. I think it's interesting about you wanting to educate your female competitors, especially because I. I'm. I'm an advocate for somebody guiding. Yes. Because I've talked to girls in the past that are going into preps and doing their thing, and I've just known girls that are doing it through the industry. Yeah. And a lot of them are Trish Trainwreck stories. Yeah. It's so sad. And it's sad. And when I. When I think about, you know, girls getting super, super lean, basically shutting down their hormones and then having no guidance on how to get back afterwards, you almost feel like a stranded island. Shipwreck island. Yeah. That. Okay. You did your show great. And then the coach just kind of drifts off into the sea by. That was my guy. Yeah. Drifted off. I mean, for me. And luckily I bounced back. But yeah, I mean, I feel like the toll is heavier on the female competitors than it is for the male competitors. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like, I had. Oh, not had. I have a female athlete who competed. She hadn't had a cycle in, like, 10 years. First of all, you should not ever. She had a cycle in 10 years before the competing. Because she competed last year. And I took her through her reverse. Insane. So. And not with me. I didn't coach her through that. I coached her through the reverse. That's when we started. But a lot of, like, the. No cycle was because of birth control, which is a whole other topic. But there was that. I'd like you to touch on that because I'm very against it. But after this. After this. Yeah. So there's that. And then on top of, I guess, stopping birth control, because I don't know the whole story amongst that 10 years. But then she eventually went into a prep. You shouldn't be going into a prep without ever having your cycle back. You need to have your cycle. You need to have your hormones running and also to progress efficiently in a prep, like, whatever. So now take her through her reverse and talking about her period and everything what happens. Reverse her. Got her going with me for a few months. We got her cycle back. You know, now she's shocked. Yeah, she was like. She messaged me on, like, a Saturday, and I don't talk to people on Saturdays or something like that. And I just, like, basically was, like, in tears because that was one of my first experiences of getting somebody to cycle back after a decade of. Not a decade. Like, that's insane. Crazy. It's insane. So that was a very rewarding feeling. And then now she's just. Oh, my God. She's an animal. She is progressing so amazing. And she'll be competing next year. Nice. Yeah, it's awesome. So it's cool. But that's part of it, you know? And then, like, people, you'll. You'll get somebody that's like, oh, well, my coach just told me in my off season not to get higher than this weight. And it's like, why? Why? You're not getting fat and you're blowing yourself out. Exactly. But, like, your body is gonna hold weight differently. Your muscle tissue is gonna be different. Like, your entire body is different after a show. And good ways are bad, you know, depending on how you treated your reverse edema. I had edema. Good times. Yeah. Yeah. Wasn't told. Yeah. My coach didn't tell me. He disappeared. Didn't tell me, hey, man, you might not want to eat all that shit after the show. Everything I did after the show. Yeah, I mean, I've done it. I prepped for 23 weeks, and I was in college. Yeah, that was. That was difficult. And off stage, I was eating. I was ripping Easter candy that I hadn't eaten. Peanut butter cups. We went out, got pizza. We went out. My whole family. Got two pies of pizza. I ate two pies of pizza. Yeah. Went home, ate some peanut butter straight out of the jar. Oh, yeah. No, you can't stop once that hunger signaling is on. Yeah. Yeah. You're horrible. Went to sleep, woke up the next morning, pancakes, eggs, everything. Went to brunch with my friend. Ate more fucking pancakes and eggs. Had sushi and a beer. Later in the. Wow, my knees are starting to hurt. It was like I was starting to feel a little weird. I was like, oh, that's it. Okay. Whatever. Sunday, I slowed down, but I kept eating a little bit. It was like I kept eating shitty foods. And then I was back. And then I drove back to college. And then Monday, I woke up and I looked in the mirror and I went, what the fuck just happened? No abs gone. I was shredded. I went, oh, yeah. And then love handles the next couple of days. And then the water didn't know where to go. And then it was, like, ringing around everywhere. And I was like, what? What is going on? Yeah, it's scary. Yeah. And I didn't really know. And then the dude at the time, Gino Sylvain, old school guy in the industry, he passed away, I think, a couple years ago. But he told me, he's like, we gotta get your water tables back to. Back to basics. He's like, you should not stop doing cardio. You gotta go do cardio. And I'm like, bro, I said, 23 weeks of cardio. I don't want to do any more fucking cardio. I had to get back on the StairMaster. I was doing cardio to work the water out and this and that. And I never fully got back to where I thought I was going to. I was a little. I was like, skinny fat. Yeah. And I was like, oh, God. And then a couple months went by and I just did a prep again because I was just like, well, I'm already in. Let me just go into further. And I did another prep to try to get lean again. And my mom, after the show, my mom goes, what do you want to eat? I went, burger, fries. Yeah, that's all I want. Yeah, that's all I'm going to eat. Yeah, that's it. We're back on tomorrow. Yeah. Like, I'm not dealing with that again. Yeah, it's slippery slope. Yeah. Birth control. Birth control. So I'm a. You know, when you're a young guy, you're just like, oh, birth control is awesome. I've always been. I've always been. I've always been like the scaredy cat guy. I've always scared of getting a girl pregnant. Yeah. So I was always like, even though she's on birth control, I still wore a condom. I was like, yeah, fuck it. I'm gonna make sure we're. That's the part and responsible thing to do. Yeah, that's good. So, yeah. So my friends would disagree, but I've always been in that camp, and a couple of those friends have kids now with people they didn't want to have kids with. So it's okay. I think I won anyway. Yeah. I've always. As I'm getting older and I'm looking at what it's doing to women. Yeah, it's scary. Yeah. And you're just, from my experience, looking outside in. You're just prescribing this to young girls. Young women who are not being educated that. Hi, I'm your doctor. You can trust me. Let me put you on a steroid. You okay with that? Same one that told me I felt good. Yeah. And that. Yes. You just live with it. Same fucking doctor. Let me not run your labs, but you can just take this. Oh, your cramps are really bad. Take birth control. Oh, you're bleeding really heavily. Take birth control. That's their go to. It's scary. It's sad, and it's scary that women aren't being educated for why right like, hey, let me tell you everything. I want you to read maybe this educational material PDF or whatever kind of pamphlet. Yeah, like something like give something, email them. Especially with technology that we have, let them educate themselves if they want to. And then, hey, make the choice, Sleep on it. Let's figure this out. Right? Like fucking give them a choice. But people are also told, especially young women who have might like gotten pregnant now, they might have to get an abortion or something. You, you should go on birth control just because it's safer. It's safer. It's just easier. You don't have to worry about anything. You don't have to have this happen again. Yeah, it's horrible. But even women too, who are in their 20s or whatever, like, they're being told, you know, because of. I spoke about this on my Instagram recently. Like, I used to have debilitating cramps. Like it was what we thought was genetic. I was like, it must be because, oh, my sister has it. I have it too. No, well, my mom never experienced that. Right. Like nobody else in my family experienced that. We were 100 having estrogen and progesterone issues. Oh, that. What is just an imbalance. It could be 100. That you're an estrogen dominant female and you have to figure that out and you need to get to the root of the problem. But they don't do these things, you know, it's really sad. And I listen, like, I support. I have a lot of women who are on birth control or who have an iud, but when they talk to me about what's going on with them, I'm like, I need you to understand this is likely related to your birth control. The iud, like, procedure sounds horrific. Horrific, horrific, horrific. And it's. I had a girl I was with for a little while and she talked to me about it. I was like, oh. And then to get it out. Horrific. Yeah. So there's that. And then you do have to understand, like, if you're seeing, you know, your labs come back, like, we might not be able to see what it's really like, what's going on because you have that synthetic hormone in you. I was going to ask what are some of the downsides that you're seeing on the other end for women? Something easily, like high cortisol. Cortisol, estrogen dominance. I would say those two are major. So it's just the matter of like, do you want to be on birth control? Like, can I maybe Legally, I can't say anything. I can't. I'm not a doctor. So I can't like be like, get the off of birth control. But if they're going to ask me about wanting. Yes. And then like, what do you think I should do? I'm going to. I can't tell you what to do. I'm never going to tell you what to do. I'll tell you what I would do and I'll talk about it as me because I never even went on the pill. I took the pill for one day when I was like 14 years old. 14, 14. That's horrible. And I was so lightheaded. And the doctor was like, it's probably just the com. Like the brand. Let's put you on another brand. And I was like, nope, I'm not doing it. Just there was. I got like an ick feeling from it. My sister was on it for I think, a little bit. But again, you know what's so sad is the fact that at that age it was like cigarettes, like it was kind of cool. Yeah. When you're younger. Oh yeah, I'm on birth control. Yeah. You felt mature and you felt like older. It was, it's headache, you know. Birth control. Yeah, man. So let me ask you this. So you're thinking of doing the New York Pro 2026? I'd love to. So what next year is, is a growth? Well, after the GI issues, you're going into a growth phase or you're going to. Are you actually going to give yourself some time to just enjoy? I mean, I almost feel like I'm in a growth phase right now. Like right now we're peeling back a little bit because I have a lot of inflammation going on, but I'm growing. I'm just a freak when it comes to growth. I luckily I am like that. I put on muscle tissue very easily, but I'd like to clean up a little bit. So maybe with like going through the gut protocol, it might be a great kind of like body recomposition period for me. I don't know. You don't know what's going to happen. You might have to gain weight through that process because your body needs to do that to come out the other end healthy. You're probably going to gain a little bit, lose a little bit. Could be a whole fluctuation of things. I don't know. I don't know until I start it. Yeah. But let's say I come out of this, I might want to kind of clean up because most importantly for me and my mental, I want to feel good and I like to look good, you know, so do that and then hopefully dive into a growth phase after that. But I'm also just like, I always treat whatever phase I'm in. Like a growth phase. Yeah. It's. How many calories am I eating is the difference. I train the exact way. The only thing is, when you are in a gut protocol, you should be training at a lower stimulus. So instead of being like, like, I'm at a 1 RIR right now. Instead of going, like, to failure on everything, I'd have to be put at like a 3 rir, which is kind of mentally nice because then it takes, like, a lot of, like, that mental toll off of you for a little bit. I wreck myself. Yeah. But I like doing it. I enjoy doing that. Yeah. That's how I was when I was training like that. I was training heavy and big compound movements all the time. I did squattober. Squattober was great. You did do that, I recall. Yeah. You saw me there. Yep. 365 for one felt good. I could have went 405, but I just was early. Nick was spotting me. Oh, I hear you. I said, I'm good on this. I'm happy. 365. And then I was doing Dead Sember because I wanted to do one more strength based for the month and then go back to doing the hiit workouts. But the hiit workouts, I want to compliment Jiu Jitsu. My problem was when I did jiu Jitsu, I did hiit workouts five to six days a week on top of Jiu Jitsu, rolling seven to eight days a week. Like, not a week, but seven to eight days straight. And then taking one rest day and then doing it again. Yeah, my CNS was fried. I mean, just from the rolling, just from like, everything and just the hiit workouts. Sprinted sprints and all that shit. So it was tough. So now I'm. I'm thinking of competing in April for Jiu Jitsu. Fun. Yeah, we'll see. I'm. I. Have you competed yet? No. Okay. So I'll be competing as a blue belt. Fun. So it's gonna be way harder than the white belt trials that I. Yeah, theoretically. Like, the way that it goes for those that don't know is you want to compete at the tail end of your belt. You want to compete right before you're gonna get promoted as a white belt because you're gonna be mostly better than all the white belts because you're about to be a blue belt. But now competing as a Blue belt. I'm going against a lot of guys that are about to be purple belts. Yeah. Or that. Guys that are sandbaggers, and they're just like five years, six years as a blue belt. And there really should have been, like, a brown belt already. Yeah. Yeah. So it's like. Okay, so you gotta take that. My biggest thing is, like, you're in my studio, Right. This is what I do for work. Yeah. This is not my job. This is just more of, like, a fun project on the side, but, like, the media side of things, shooting content, all that stuff, that's my job. Yeah. And it's just me, so it's like, I get very nervous about getting injured at a competition, and then I can't work. Yes. So that's my biggest gripe. It's not so much like I'm worried about getting my ass choked out in front of everybody. It is what it is. Like, my ass choked out all the time at class. Yeah. But now. So it's more. It's more in terms of like, oh, God. If. You know. Oh, no, I totally hear you. When I was in. This is so stupid. But, like, my physique is part of, like, my brand. Right. But when I was in prep, like, people were like, some of my friends. Let's go to, like, one of those. Like, what are they? Like, the bouncy places? And I was like, yo, I'll break a fucking knee right now. I will break an ankle. I can't risk that. I have my buddy Jay, who's a brown belt. Jay's the shit. Super nice guy. He blew both of his knees out. No, at the bouncy spot. No. Bouncy spot. What is it called? Bounce. Oh, it's called. I think it's called bounce or sky something. Something like that. Yeah. Sky jump or some shit. Both of his knees. Both. No. Blew both of them out. This is why. Not doing it. I know. I get nervous to have fun. Not doing it. No. It's a lot I'm not doing. I do enough risky shit. Like Walk the Wolf in town. He's risky enough. I get it. So I want to. I really do. Because I look around and, you know, I look at all the people doing high rocks and all this stuff, and you, you know, competing in body bodybuilding and all this stuff, and you just go, I like to put my. Put it out there. And just like, you know, you're doing all this training every single day, rolling and why not put it on a stage and try to do it? Because there's A lot of people around me, and it's no offense to these specific people, but there are a lot of people around me that I see compete, that get medals. And I go, I kind of womp on you in training, so, I mean, maybe I could do some damage at a competition or maybe I get my ass kicked and I just go against guys that are just that much better. But I'm in that mental phase. So anyway, so I was supposed to do Deadcember. I joined Bev for the month again. I just haven't gotten there. So I'm kind of just like in the middle. I did OG that hit place. I did it Wednesday morning. No. Yeah, yesterday morning. Did it Yesterday morning at 5am I went and I did their hit class died. I mean, 700 calories I burned. But I just. I was like, fuck, I need this again. I really do. That's good. I was like, damn, I need this again. Like, I've been the strength side. I'm cool. Like, I don't need them to do strength side with me. But Monday, Wednesday, Fridays are their full body conditioning days. I'm kind of just like, I gotta hit those maybe once or twice a week on top of regular Jiu Jitsu. And then there's my package. Cause Jiu Jitsu is like my focus now. I wanna get really nasty. Good. That and I wanna do the tactical. If you wanna do the tactical games with me. Oh, gosh. Tactical games in July. I'm thinking. Interesting. Yeah. That's like CrossFit. Nick, do you realize. I know. Now I'm thinking about it. That chapter is over. I know, but there's shooting involved. It's literally crossfit with guns. It's kind of cool. It's pretty cool. It's kind of cool. So I think I may try to do the one in New Hampshire. Okay, cool. So I'm kind of. I'm getting into the guns now too. So I'm kind of on the shooting side of things now too. And I'm trying not to get lead poisoning. So. There's always something. There's always fucking something. Yeah. I read an article yesterday. They're like, you guys not touch the bullets. You know. You know how much leads on the bullets. And everyone's just like, yeah, I got my blood work done. I'm just going, what? That's crazy. Even load the fucking gun. Yeah, you can't even touch the gun. You. I was like, fucking around with the. With the magazines. I had no idea. I was fucking around with the magazines, playing Xbox, touching them Touching my controller, eating food. I don't know. So I'm just like, oh, that's great. I've been ingesting. I've never known that. Just ingesting. How fun facts of the day. Yeah. Don't touch magazines and the guns. Like there are guys that they. Will you finish at the range, you're supposed to wash your face and your hands. You're supposed. Cops know this because my ex husband was a cop and I Probably not. They probably don't. Yeah, they probably have no idea. Yeah, you're supposed to wash your hands. Wash your. If you. When you're firing afterwards, wash your face with cold water and soap. Wash, get it off right. When you get home, strip down into the. Into the wash. They actually make this mind blowing. They actually make D lead. Like so. Yeah. D lead detergent. To get the lead off of your clothing. You're supposed to keep the bag that you go to the range with separate from all your other stuff. Because if it gets to your other stuff and you travel, they'll detect the gunpowder through TSA and then you'll get like strip search. I definitely didn't know this because. Yeah. Just based off of our laundry and stuff like that. Yeah, there's a lot of things with that. And then obviously when you touch and you load magazines, there's a lot of lead casing. There's a lot of lead on the outside of the brass casings. It's very interesting. My God, I'm learning a lot about it now. It's. It's very interesting. We're not safe anywhere. We're not safe anywhere. Yeah, it's not that killing us. It's fucking the cereals, the rice checks. Literally. Lucky charms. Lucky charms. Red 50. They're so good. They're so good. I just want the marshmallows. All I want. Love it. I don't want that cardboard eggs in there. No. I like the balance of it. No, no, no. Just marshmallows. Yeah. That's the fat side of me and. Not me right now though. Can't have it. I'll blow up. No fad. Low fad. Low fat. No fad. Low fat. No fad. Basically. God, my life. All I want is a pizza. What's the. And I'm gonna end off on you just had me thinking about pizza. What's. What's the current stack right now? Like, what are your go to? I'm always curious. Vitamins. What? What? Everything. What? Yeah, but if you could only have like, let's say five daily. Oh, that's easy. Multivitamin. What? Multivitamin. Do you take a specific one? I do and I swear by them. Talk to me. They are amazing. Morphogen nutrition. Morphogen. Morphogen nutrition. Yep. I do their multivitamin, their omega, which also has your D and your K. What other staples would I say for people? You say hydroxy cut. I'm. I'm leaving. I'm. I'm leaving my own studio. I'm leaving. In here by yourself? Why do I have three up? Didn't I just say two? Yeah. Oh, you said, you said morphogen. D and your K. I said D and K. Your omegas. I'm trying to. Wait, hold on. Let me grab my phone and go through like your. Your gut results are going to be on the phone. No, stop. I won't open that. Are they there? No, that's in my email. Oh my God. Am I blanking right now? So, okay, so here's the thing. You definitely want to like, see what the person needs, right? You want to get blood levels done and then see the deficiencies. Is what you're saying correct? Exactly. So like for me right now, everything I'm taking. You ready for this? We have an even time. Yeah, we do, we do. We have an AM and a PM drink which is for gi. Okay. And just to like help with. Is it a specific drink? Yes. So it's glutamine powder with aloe vera juice. Okay. Lemon juice. Great for this. For the gut. It's phenomenal. All of this is lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Is it. Is it aloe vera that you buy in like a bottle or you making it yourself? Cuz my mom was making it herself for a while. No, I buy it in the bottle. She was buying the leaves and cutting the leaves. That's a whole process. Yeah, it was enough time. So slimy. I was like, please, yeah, just buy it juiced up already. So that's AM pm Then I take my omega is my multi. I use creatine every day. I use test right now, testosterone by morphogen. Because my test levels are a little bit on the lower side. I use dim sum and dim is something that essentially helps with like detoxifying estrogen. Tuka Nac C, iodine, selenium, Chaseberry and then a thyroboost. So a lot of that is also because of my entire thyroid panel. But yeah, so there's that. And I think that. Yeah, that that's it. But that's it for right now. Yeah, once I get those results back A huge part of it. Because the cool thing is with Rise, you can go hybrid with, like also doing antibiotic if your results need it. And we're allow for it with natural supplements. There is so many, though. Yeah, you take so many. But it's also like you're killing off things that are internally going on with you, so you have to. So for me, it's like, I don't give a shit. I'll take whatever, a cereal bowl of pills if I have to in order to feel normal and better again. Plus also, like, reset your entire receptors. Yes, please. You know, if you get some type of parasite cleanse that you hear about, I definitely want to take one. I don't even think. I don't even know if it would essentially be a cleanse. I think evidently they deworm and do parasite cleanses in most other countries, except the United States is not prevalent. It's weird. Fucking weird. There's a lot of supplements out there that will just like, help flush all that. That's what I want. Yeah. If you. If you talk to your coach and he knows something, I'm very interested. Yeah. Because I definitely want. I feel like I should run. Years of sushi consumption. I definitely feel like I should. Sushi sounds so good right now. Yeah, we have good sushi in town. Where? Everywhere. Oh, like you're saying Long Island. I mean. No, in Huntington. Oh, that's what I thought you were talking about. Kashi is great. Oh, Kashi is over here. Yep. Kashi. Yeah. Kashi is fantastic. Have you been to Mikko? I have. Miko is one of my favorite. Miko is really good. Yep. So good. Miko is good. We also have toa. Okay. We have Toa in town. Okay. We have umami, which is a really good sushi spot, too. And then there's a good lunch special spot. Three rolls for like 18 bucks. 17 bucks? Yeah, with soup. And that one's over over there. I don't know the name. I forget the name of it. Yeah. I'm assuming you've been to Vauxhall. I have not had their burger. I heard their burger is great. Did you eat a salad? I didn't get anything. I sat there like a fucking weirdo. No, I'm good. I'll pass. I'll have some water. What you got? I'll have a water. I have cranberry juice. Not the cranberry juice. Yeah. Oh, my God, Nick, it's the best burger you're ever going to eat in your life. Really? That good? Yes. I'm A foodie. Just so you know. Have you had no good burger joint? Yes. Better than no good burger joint. 100%. Really? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Fucking literally, it's right here. All right, I gotta go. You have to go. All right. Can you have a burger? No. I was gonna say, let's go get a burger. Gluten and the cheese. That's true. It's gonna rip us apart. I will not be like, can I have a lettuce bread? Rather kill myself. Yeah. No, no, you're gonna eat the whole thing. If I'm going in, I'm going in. Oh. When people are like, I had a cheat meal and I had a lettuce burger, I'm like, your disappointment. I used to get all, you can eat sushi. I don't blame you. I get all, you can eat sushi. And I would. It was disgusting how much I would eat. Yeah. And then I was away at school at the time for the prep, and so nobody would talk to me until after I had my all, you can eat sushi. Because then I'd be friendly. I get it. Yeah. I was miserable tilapia six meals a day. Anyway, I appreciate you for coming down. Thank you so much for having me. I'd love to have you again. Yeah. Would love to come down. Talk about some amazing. I want to hear about the gut protocol. The gut protocol. Hopefully, I'll be out and I'll be like, peeled. Not want to be peeled, but I'll be in shape. You're always in shape. Listen, even in your off season, you look great. Yes. You know, you keep yourself to a standard and you have to. Yeah. I mean, you're a walking business card. Exactly. For real. I mean, you know, girls want to aspire to look like you. You're able to say, hey, this is how we do it. Like, yeah, imagine. I mean, listen, imagine if you looked horrible. No one's going to wear work. No. Yeah. No one's going to wear work with you. They'd be like, no, I'm good on that. No, no, no. All right. I'm good on that. But this is episode 120. Wow. If you want to let everybody know how they can follow you if they don't already get in touch with you. If they want coaching. Yeah, I would love to give. You know, I don't even remember if. Okay, so my Instagram, Because I don't even remember what it was. There is. Yeah. So Francesca Emmanuel, underscore and then link in my bio. I coach lifestyle and competitive athletes, also do posing for wellness and bikini. So there's that. But if you are experiencing any underlying health issues that you feel like need further discussion, talk, whatever it is, then I would love to have a console call with you and kind of get to the root of the problem. Reach out to me. Yeah. And local in Long Island. I am on Long island, so there's. People that listen everywhere on the show. Yeah. I was gonna say, like, I would. 90, 95% of my entire roster is outside of New York, you know, so online works just as good. Cool. Yeah. Well, on that note, please share, like, subscribe, do all the things that help grow the show so I can continue sitting down with amazing human beings like Francesca. On that note, I appreciate everybody for fucking with us, but for now, peace.