Hard Choices Now, Youthful Forever | The 6 Standards That Change Everything

Is it really possible to get stronger, healthier, and more independent as we age without living in the gym or going under the knife? In this episode, I sit down with world champion weightlifter, poet, and co-creator of The Happy Body program, Jerzy Gregorek, to challenge everything you think you know about aging.

Forget Botox and fillers today, we're talking about the real secret to "aging backwards" and reclaiming vitality at any age. Jerzy Gregorek shares the surprising science behind muscle, strength, and micro progression, revealing how you can transform your body and mindset, starting right where you are.

From the jaw-dropping story of an 83-year-old still deadlifting heavy weights, to a cancer survivor who rebuilt her bone density after chemo, this episode is packed with real-life proof that your next decade can be your best yet.

What You'll Learn:

1. Assessment Is Power: Why getting real about your strength, flexibility, posture, and daily movement is the first step to lasting change.
2. The Compound Interest of Health: How micro progression, tiny, measurable improvements, can make you dramatically stronger and more capable over time.
3. Why Strength Training is Non-Negotiable: Especially for women over 50, lifting weights beats cardio for muscle, metabolism, balance, and independence.
4. The "Easy Choices, Hard Life" Principle: How making hard choices now leads to lifelong vitality and why settling for comfort makes aging harder.
5. Mindset and Motivation: How to stop judging yourself, embrace long-term goals, and stay inspired, especially when progress is slow.

Call to Action

Learn more about The Happy Body, dive into the philosophy and real-life tactics inside The Happy Body book, or check out the latest coaching options by clicking the links below. 

📕 Resources: 

https://createthebestme.com/ep160

Learn more about Jerzy and Aniela’s program: https://thehappybody.com/

Join for a Single Day Free 30-minute Zoom Happy Body Workout Session Monday – Friday 9:00 AM PST https://jerzy-gregorek.mykajabi.com/offers/gafK9LZs

Join The Happy Body Monthly link: https://jerzy-gregorek.mykajabi.com/offers/wu6A6eFu  

“Prisoner No More” documentary https://vimeo.com/1107291303  

Related Episode:

🎧 Listen to this episode next! 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1949561/episodes/17980534 

#AgingBackwards #JerzyGregorek #TheHappyBody #Sarcopenia #FitnessMotivation #Longevity #HealthSpan #WeightliftingForSeniors #CreateTheBestMe

📨 Newsletter:

https://createthebestme.com/newsletter/

👀 Connect With Me:

Website: https://createthebestme.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/createthebestme

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carmenhecox/

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@carmenhecox
YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/@createthebestme

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-hecox

📽️ Video Request:

https://forms.office.com/r/LvLV1AsBfv

Transcript

0:00

I've got a quick question. When you hear aging backwards, do you picture Botox and fillers? Yeah, not today, because my guest is Jerzy Gregorek, 4-time world weightlifting champion, poet, and co-creator of the Happy Body program with his beautiful wife Aniela. And Jerzy is about to make a pretty bold

claim: 0:26

you can be longer at 55 than you were at 30 without living in the gym. And here's the part that made my jaw drop. You're going to hear about an 83-year-old who is still pulling serious weight and how a woman came back from chemo and rebuilt her body in a way most people call impossible. So what's the secret sauce? You go backward and you get worse and you die. You go forward, you get better and you die. It is the exact way he measures progress. The compound interest approach to strength, or the one mind shift that stops you from quitting when it feels slow. Let's get into it because by the end of this conversation, you might look at your next 5 years completely differently. Jerzy Gregorek, welcome to Create the Best Me. This is an honor, a privilege. I can't believe I'm talking to a legend. Carmen, thank you for having me. Best Me, I like it. It is. I think it kind of goes with you, with what you've been doing for many years. For my life. Yeah. Trying to become best of me, I guess. Hey, Jerzy, before we get into today's exciting conversation, could you please tell the listeners and viewers a little bit about who Jerzy is and what he does? Jerzy was born in Poland, and I was 19 when I became a fireman. I really loved to be a fireman. I love to go to rescue people. It was really Fantastic. The first time that I was in the fire engine, it was just this amazing feeling of being needed. It was amazing, like something that I started craving all my life. I like to be needed. And I like to go and help people, save people, rescue people, whatever it was. But I like the feeling. And it woke up in me something incredible. So I stayed a fireman for 5 years, and I loved it so much that I went to fire protection academy, engineering academy in Warsaw, and was there for 4 years. And it was '81, just before my graduation. Solidarity was at the peak, and the Soviets didn't like it. It was a way to use the fire department against demonstrators. And in a way, they tried to color our water in engines and spray on and solidarize the demonstrators and then identify them after. So we said no. The strike was 10 days. They landed helicopters and tanks and took us out. And I was underground Solidarity for almost 4 years. And when life was threatened, my life, then I escaped to Sweden, then went to Germany. And in Germany spent some time in CIA because there was some problems in Solidarity in Warsaw, too many arrests, and they tried to figure out what was happening. Came to US in '86, slept on floors, was homeless for a while, right? And then started working in Burbank in power sources as a personal trainer, '87. So, it was something that was just happening. And when Bob Heist, this president of American Weightlifting Association, told me, I said, well, I don't want to fix cars like other coaches. So I will go and try this personal training. And when I started working, I got $5 per hour, 5 hours per day, and Monday through Friday. And then I could have $15 off out of $25 if somebody signed a private session with me. So I started working and people were coming into the gym and I introduced them and, and wrote them program or whatever. And people really loved what I was doing. So very fast, my clientele grew. And after about 2, 3 months, I worked 16 hours a day, 80 hours a week, which is really amazing. So after that, I followed certain procedure like Olympic weightlifting procedure and then didn't really think about what people were telling me what they wanted. I followed the way that if they got stronger, quicker, if the posture got better, that eventually they got better too. And whatever they wanted, like they wanted to be more attractive or more energy, get rid of pains, whatever people want actually happened. So that really led to creation actually a program that would be utilized by other trainers or people that they actually could create such a thing. So I pursued the creation of the program in 2009, The Happy Body. The Happy Body was published. So after 2009, I thought, wow, people will have now the plan, the strategies. It's awesome. The world will be so much better. Well, it didn't happen that way because people really need some inspiration, motivation, changing of habits, and be inspired constantly almost, especially when they were not athletes and they don't have this strong idea of goals and to pursue the goals. So I started working on mental health and creating books that would help with that. I created Fatalist and the Master and the idea of negative and positive voices within and how to choose the positive voice. And then also poetry. I started writing poems to my clients when I saw that they really struggle to do something what is good, but they had problems to get it because they didn't like it. So they needed some inspiration, motivation, and poetry really works very well if it's written and applied to the certain person. So there is such a thing as the right words to the right person in the right time, but I don't know it and nobody knows it, but it works. Sometimes it works, sometimes no. There was my client who was really following the Happy Body for 2 years. And eventually I asked her, so what's going on that you follow the program 100%. How can you do that? And she said, are you telling me? I said, what did I tell you? And she said, 2 years will pass. And I said, that's it? She said, yeah, it worked on me. Every day I heard that 2 years will pass, and then I was working everything so these 2 years would be the right way. So you never know what works, right? And the last 15 years I spent on mental health, improvement of psychology. And about 4 years ago, my daughter went to college and I asked Daniela, what are we going to do now? We are empty nest and what's going on? It will get crazy. So we both entered the PhD program and Aniela pursued my bodybuilding and I pursued humanistic psychology and with creativity in focus. So that's where I am now. And I think for some of the people that do not know the history between you and Aniela, you both are champion weightlifters. Yes, the world champions for, you know, Aniela won 7 times in I won 4 times and we went also to Master Games in Melbourne and in Glasgow in Scotland. So yeah, very intense. So we found out when weightlifting was taking over because we were preparing for the championship, then our poetry was going worse. It's like the arts and the flatism, like kind of a, they don't go together, you know, but they go together, but one becomes so intense, it's on the expense of the other. It's very interesting. Yeah. And so the reason I invited you onto this show is because I would like to talk about aging backwards. And I'm not talking about Botox and I'm not talking about getting fillers or getting plastic surgery. I'm talking about really— and you are the master of it— aging backwards. All right, so aging backwards is, is interesting. It means like you can do something about that. You can see yourself first where you are. So it has to begin with assessments where you are. Say you are 50 years old and you suffered already sarcopenia I lost the muscle, lost flexibility. You have some pain and your posture is slouched. So you have some gravity is working on you. Don't look good. And so, okay, aging is already happening. You're getting worse. And now what to do? There are many factors that are important to reverse. And a 50-year-old can actually reverse a lot. It means that until 80, we have the time to actually improve. If you improve until 80 really well, then it will take another 20 years to actually get worse. So after, I think, 100 years, we should have a really good life. You should be able to ski and do any physical activity that we want. So how to do it? So we have to have a really strength training program. We have to get stronger. And in order to get stronger, you have to know we are getting stronger. Not only that, we want to get stronger and we exercise, but we have to exercise in a way that we know that we are getting stronger. So the other thing is flexibility. We have to measure flexibility. What is it? And know that we are getting better, that our flexibility is getting better. It's very important. Posture too. You have to measure the posture, stand against the wall, find out where we are, how far we are off the wall, and how our posture is on toes and forward. Measure that. And the other thing is that our body weight functions very well in certain weight. In certain weight is fantastic, is powerful. And when we analyze all the athletes, the athletes with certain body weight, when they are in peak, I mean height to the weight. So when you look at soccer players, right, what do we see? We see 6 foot, 180 pounds, 190 pounds man, right? And then when we look at, let's say, Phelps, He was 6'4" and he was 195 pounds. And another 6'4", Usain Bolt, 205 pounds. So we will look into all athletes and different athletes and set up all the ideal body weight numbers. So one of the ways to going backward is also going backward with, in a way, improve your body weight. Not only one way that lose weight, but also gain weight. A lot of my clients, male and female, that they are 30, 40 pounds underweight, very skinny. So I work with, you know, 6, 7 boy that was 150 pounds and was supposed to be 210 pounds, 220 pounds. So I did, by the way, this is important. And the other one is leanness. We need to be certain body fat. Because my experience was that I started coaching a lot of women from Beverly Hills that they were 100 pounds, they knew how to be 100 pounds, but they were obese as well. So obesity is body fat percentage. It is not that we are big. So when I look into that, that I also saw that these women, were weaker, they were uncoordinated, and they lose energy easily. And so the way to go backward with them definitely was to make them stronger and grow muscle. So there are many factors here that we put into the Happy Body textbook. To actually create that going backward, right? Aging backward, like you said. I like the idea actually, because that's what actually we do. And with the attitude, positive attitude and no expectations, but pursuing it. The pursuit is more important than actually achieving it. Because once we have expectations, then we can have anxieties and problem with judging ourselves and negativity created in our minds that can actually make things worse than better. Yeah. And I think another thing is that a lot of times, you know, like you were pointing out the 100-pound woman who was fat or obese, that's skinny fat because you might look at her and say, oh my goodness, I want to be thin like her, but she doesn't have the muscle that she's supposed to have. That matches that type of body structure. And if she had that body or had the muscles that she needed, she'd have more independence, you know, be able to— if somebody tried to attack her, she'd be able to fight off, fight somebody off. Yeah, of course, the strength should be enough, but it has to come from enough muscle. And not enough muscle. So what happens really, we notice that People, when they age, that lose the muscle, their body weight can be the same, but because they lose muscle, they absorb less sugar. They need less energy to sustain life. And that is one of the links in the diabetes. So the sugar, it's not that they eat more sugar. They eat the same sugar that was absorbed by the muscle at certain age. And now they eat the same, but they lost the muscle. They have more fat and the body has a problem to absorb all of it. And so it causes diabetes. Next thing you know, you're either on insulin or maybe you're lucky to take pills and then you can balance it. Yes, the muscle is important. You know, Slowly the research is catching up with how actually important the muscle is for our immunity, for fighting illnesses, diseases, whatever it is. Not only that the muscle is to look good or be nicely capable, but also to create the body that is robust. The immunity, I mean. Yeah. And another thing is, let's say you're bringing groceries into the house and then the dog runs in front of you. You got these groceries and all of a sudden you're kind of like trying to keep from falling and your hands are up here with these groceries. If you had enough, the proper muscle strength, you can actually keep yourself from falling or hurting yourself. Yeah, you can save. Yeah, you can save yourself. I sure did. Why it happens is that our reflexes delayed with aging. So we have delayed reflex. And then we trip, let's say. And if we are fast, we can save ourselves. But if we are not, the delay is already there, reflex. So we trip and then we fall. So it is important also to be quick, to do things in a fast way so our nervous system works. So why is everything slowing down? Because our brain is not challenged to be fast and should be challenged in the gym to be fast. That's why we have also the speed factor in the happy body. We have to do also quickly. So that's the nervous system and delayed reflexes and the falls that are there because our brain is shrinking. There was this professor MD who in, I think that was '65 or '30s, he did the research on aging people and found out that everything shrinks, that our brain shrinks as well. So he called it senile atrophy, an atrophy that comes with age. So, you know, our brain is the muscle, is something that needs to be also worked. And if we solve problems difficult to really solve, then our brain is working and we can go on like that. And we have a really good way of engaging with difficulties of life. Be active and there is no reason for retirement. I always tell people I will never retire. It's not that I don't have enough money to retire, but retirement is not a good thing. You can maybe kind of retire and do something else, but it's not completely retired that you have to be active. You have to really be challenged and find a solution for it. Because that's where really our brain works and meets the challenge. So, Jerzy, some people might turn around and say, well, I, I'm over 50 and I do work out. I run every day, or I am on the treadmill, or, you know, they're doing more of a cardio. Can you talk about why lifting weights is more beneficial for women that are in their 50s as opposed to cardio? Well, there are two things here. First, the cardio, which is endurance training really, and the strength training. So kind of aerobic versus anaerobic. And when we do anaerobic training, like track and field is all anaerobic. When you look at the stadium, track and field, you see people running fast, jumping, and throwing things, right? And it's amazing when you look at the pole vaulters. Wow, what a specimen is that. It's just amazing. And these people don't really do any endurance training. They are all fast-twitch muscle and the action is no longer that about 5 seconds, and then they rest for 3 minutes and do another run, let's say, or jump or throw discus or javelin, and then wait another 3 minutes. So it takes 5 seconds, 3 minutes. So if they actually do 1 hour of it, and that's, let's say, 20 sets, they're only in action for 1 minute. 60 seconds. 59 seconds is rest. And this kind of athletes, they grow the muscle, become faster, and they are specimen of power. So all the endurance athletes that they are really up there, then they're only long distance running, bicycling, long distance or long distance swimming, not short distance swimming, right? Because, you know, 50 meters swim is very fast. And like Phelps, you can see, he's a powerful machine. So when people are engaged in long distance, then they lose the muscle. They become inflexible. So they're actually aging the body faster than slower. So when you compare runners, let's say, from 100 meters, 100-meter runner is 10 seconds, but the marathon is 2 hours, a little bit more, 2 hours and a half, let's say, for average. But those runners, marathon runners, are very skinny. They are about 120 pounds. They're exhausted. Tired, usually in pain. And when you look at the sprinters, they are specimens. They are just beautiful machines, right? And how does it happen that these people grow the muscle working very little and the other people who work so hard, they break the body down? So there is one thing that When you work out, when your workout is longer and longer and longer, that actually is worse and worse and worse because there is more inflammation built in the body than when you do only 10 seconds and 5 seconds. All the games is really 5 seconds action. When you look at the volleyball players, beautiful athletes, right? And then there is a boom, boom, boom. And then rest, right? And then again, somebody serves, somebody picks up the ball, and so on. When you look at the games like football, action is no longer than 2-5 seconds usually. And then everything stops, prepares, and move on. Soccer, people think that soccer is endurance training. There's no endurance in that. The soccer player is somewhere there, gets the ball, action for 2, 3 seconds, throws the ball somewhere else, someone else is really doing very fast. So the quality of the body is something that needs to be coached and trained in a short distance, not the long distance. The other thing that you ask, is that quality improves over time. And that is the compound effect, like a compound interest. To understand that, let's think about somebody that has $5 and put $5 in the drawer every day, and after 40 years has about$70,000. But the other person doesn't put the $5 into the drawer, but invests that$5. And then there is a compound interest. And after 40 years, there's almost $1 million if it's about 10%. So people can do, can go to the gym and never get better. Train for 10 years and actually get worse after 10 years. Not better, worse. So in order to really have the effect of the improvement, this compound interest, we need to be in a coaching or training that improves. Our improvement is there, that we know the numbers, we know how to improve it. Follow the numbers and slowly with microprogression, add and add and add and add. So in our mind has to be some kind of a progression and not just experience of having a good time because we are exercising. So it has to be the mind of compound interest, mind strategies and plans for it. So let me make sure I understand you correctly. So what you're saying is that it's better to work out for a shorter period of time as long as it's very focused, it's measurable, and it's focused on what you want to achieve in the long run. Because I know I've read some of your stuff where you said, you know, don't expect to get results in, in 1 year, 2 years. Think about the 10-year, the 10-year mark. You know, someone over the age of 50 is going to microprogression, slowly sticking to it, that 10-year mark, that's when they're really going to see when they are going to, in essence, age backwards. Yes, definitely 5. You know, 5 years is enough to see huge progress. You know, if somebody is 50 years old and it's an average 50 years old, getting a little bit tired and getting fatter, lose the muscle, that person at 55 can be like that person was when the person was 30. And a funny thing is about people that say, oh, 5 years is too long. I say, yeah, it is. It is too long. You will be 55 anyway. So what is that thinking? Where does this thinking come from? You will be 55 whether you like it or not, unless you will not be 55 at all. So why not make that 55 really awesome? Why not? You will be spending— you are going to the gym, you're spending 1 hour in the gym, why not to make that 1 hour count and deliver this in 5 years, this amazing body system? Why not that way? Well, the Zen saying is like this. You go backward and you get worse and you die. You get forward, you get better and you die. And the punchline is, Why not to go forward? Exactly, exactly. And be independent, you know, not have to think about the big picture that, hey, if I don't do it like, like Jerzy says, then when I'm 60, 65, I might end up in an assisted living facility because I can't no longer live in my house. I can't go upstairs. Yeah, for me, loss of independence is probably the worst thing that could happen. It's really, when we think about dementia and people that lose their ability to walk, it's really hard. It's like, this is it. The easy choice is hard life. So whatever we can do to get better and sustain a good life. Why not to do that? Why to do some other things that actually they don't deliver that? It doesn't make sense. And somehow we are missing it. Somehow, in a way, we only think that day and we don't think about what will happen in 5 years. And 5 years is an awesome period of time. It's like I began my PhD 4 years ago and probably it would take me 5 years, 5 and a half. But, you know, it really doesn't matter because I live life. So, you know, I would read books anyway. So, you know, I do PhD. So it's like I'm living life with that or without. So does it really matter if I have PhD or not? Well, it really doesn't, but why not? So, and then when, because I live life. So when I'm there, does it really add to me something? Yes. It's a huge addition to my life, my way of thinking, and my way for organizing my life, looking at the happy body. People were asking always, 'Where is the research? Where is the research?' And I couldn't understand what they were asking for. I was just thinking, 'What kind of research? What do you want?' It's all the research, it's just all, you know, clear there. All the science is there. So now I understand. Now I understand also how important it is, qualitative research versus quantitative, and how to add it and how to create, how to find how to talk to people about something that is really hard to do, but they don't like it, and how to fall in love with it in a way. So how to do, how to do, or, you know, think about certain things a different way, but positive way. Exactly. So, Jerzy, you have worked with lots of people all over the world of different walks of life. And I know that some people might look at your earlier pictures and say, 'Oh, he can never understand me because he's always been fit.' I mean, my goodness, you know, he was in competitions, you know, you've traveled the world competing. Tell us about some people that you worked with, because most people, once they reach age of 50, maybe they've had a couple of surgeries, maybe they have a couple of fusions, replacements, and whatnot, or knee, shoulder replacements. Tell us about somebody that you worked with that was sort of in that situation and how you turned them around. Okay, I have Craig in LA. Craig was in Vietnam. Grenade exploded near him. They opened him up. The whole disc was crushed. So they pick up the pieces, remove the sanded vertebrae, and close him. After 4 years, he is in brace. He's in pain. And crippled. He barely walks. And he is at the time probably about 40, 45, around that. He's 83 today. And this is like'87. So he came to me and asked me for help. And I said, yeah, sure, we can start with a wooden stick and build up. And after I started with the stick, you know, like 1-pound bends with the stick and pressing the stick, and he was in pain constantly. And 5 years after, Craig is moving about 100 pounds. He does stiff leg deadlift with 100 pounds. And then before I moved to North, 2004, Craig was doing stiff leg deadlift with 315 pounds. Okay, so this is 21 years ago. And Craig, I gave him the plan to do the bench press and stiff leg deadlift for his back and keep doing it. And Craig kept going this. 10 years ago, he was 73. We went to LA. Videotape his training. He was still doing 315 pounds, 315 pounds, and stiff legs, that lift. And then 3 years ago, we went up there, he was 80 years old, and he was doing 275 pounds. And recently sent us text that he's 83 and he is doing 275 pounds. We're talking about somebody who lost that disc He was in pain. He was crippled and recovered to the place that is unbelievable to anybody. Right. So cross any possibilities. And today he's 83 and very powerful and still exercises 275 with broken back completely. Yeah, that's crazy. One of the stories, right? Yeah. Another one. If you got another one that's going to knock me out of my chair, let's have it. All right. A woman, uh, is a psychologist. She is in LA. She gets breast cancer and heavy chemo and heavy radiation. She is about, I think, 55 at that time. And she experiences extreme bone density loss, 47%. So she also found me somehow. You know, people found me by, through other people usually. So I went to her place in West Hollywood and, and began to work with her. And I did only like a 1-pound weight with her, and she was so tired that it took her 3 days to recover. From that. So every 3 days I could do very little with her. It was extremely weak and recovery was long. I was sleeping mostly. And after 2 years, that woman who was 95 pounds deadlift 200 pounds. When the scan comes in, the bone density completely recovered 100%. That's amazing. So in these 2 years, you have this progressive, microprogressive training. And we were laughing and we were happy. And the same time, this microprogressive, this compound interest was working. And ended up with deadlifting 200 pounds by a woman who was 57 and 95 pounds. And that's what it means, that that woman could go to the gym, work with 5 pounds or 3 pounds forever, and never really get so powerful, so strong, and recover her bone density. And of course, you gain a lot of power. With that too. Yeah, so, you know, so working out with you, not only did it change her mind, you know, shifted her mindset, but it also shifted the way her body responded. Because that chemo, I mean, really kills— not only does it kill the cancer, but it also kills a lot of the stuff that we do need, unfortunately. Well, it destroys everything in the body system. So, uh, to actually recover. And, you know, body is a magical entity that is possible of so much that we don't even— our regular people don't see it at all and don't experience at all. But the difference between the one that is really fantastic and the one is not with the same age, is huge. I mean, huge. I am a 71-year-old and my capability is a lot better than any 20-year-old can have today. So it's not only, you know, like, I mean, those who don't train, if they are really like athletes and trained, yeah, they would be better than I. But the regular people, no, they will not be better. I will be probably 80 or 85 than when I actually match that. So there is a huge difference. I have clients that come to me my age and they look like my grandfathers, like my fathers. When they find out that we are the same age, it's crazy. It's really not acceptable. And it's extremely inspirational too. Because, you know, I I was in Melbourne in 2002 and I saw Charlie Henderson. I was, you know, 45 years old. And then I saw this guy who was lifting more than his body weight up really above the head. And I was just thinking, insane, impossible. I thought, wow, if I could be 80 year-old and like that, I like that. And you're like, All the aging disappeared. All the fear of aging disappeared because I said, hey, 80-year-old like that, I want that. I like that. Because that's when your mind started to shift to age backwards. Yes, exactly. And he's not scared of aging. So when he came to banquet after, he came with his wife. Oh, awesome too. And they pick up champagne and they started walking like cats, you know, 80-year-olds. And they were, they walk like not from this planet. Wow. Say, oh my God, that's incredible. So we talked to them and spent hours with them and to learn how to be that way. And this really doesn't take much. We exercise, they exercise, others exercise, we all exercise, but some of us get a lot better. So why not really be wise and smart to do what actually makes us better over time? It's there. And what I like about your program or on your website is that, you know how sometimes someplace you'll buy all these different programs and they'll say, take 2 days off. But you say, do it every day. It's a lifestyle. You see why I look at that that way? Because lifestyle creates conditions and lifestyle has to solve the conditions. So it's not like to fix something. That lifestyle created some problem and lifestyle, you know, was for 5, 10 years to actually create the problem. Now we need another 5 years to reverse, to go backward and to heal the body, to restore the body system. But we need lifestyle. So Einstein, you know, said about insanity, he said, People keep doing the same thing and expect different results. So he said very clear that if you want different results, first you have to do different things. We have to start really thinking about how to change our lifestyle. So when we look back at our past, it's a new past, it's different past. So that's why with the happy body, you can build new past. So today you can look at yourself and you might not like what you see. But in 2 years, you look back at your past and say, oh, I like that one. I like that one. So there are tools. There is wisdom. There is smartness. There is logic. There is likability. There's a lot of things around how some people say, yeah, I got it. And they accept that. And how— and actually create this possibility for somebody to accept the hard choices, to accept the actually something that can deliver progression over time. It's actually amazing, you know. I— that's why I went to study psychology, because I was just thinking, wow, There is a way, but how to say it that way, how to discover the way, how to talk to people, I started being very interested in that. I was listening to, I can't remember what show it was, but where you talked about where, and this is the message I got, is where you embrace people. People that you've worked with who have said, I can't do that. And instead of being Jerzy the champion, you put yourself in their shoes and you see it from their perspective. And then you use your poetry, you know, find the language that resonates with them because now you are them and you are able to feed them love and encouragement and say, I feel you. I know where you're at. And you have a way of shifting them. Yeah, that's why I am there to facilitate the acceptance of the present moment. And then also to show that present moment is just only present moment. And there is a better moment in the future once the present moment is the right way executed. And it's actually a very interesting approach to facilitate. I love people and I go forward. So when people suffer with things, I do not analyze them. I go forward. If they are negative, then I go forward to the positive. What are the positive? How to create? How to turn a person into creation. How to write, or to write poems, or to design something, to build something. But take away the mind from being negative. I am not really interested why a person became negative. I'm not interested how a person got injured. I am interested how to heal it. How to make it better. All the focus is only on that. So when my clients hear that, they like it. So they like not to look into how it happened, but look into how to improve it, how to heal it. And it's very positive. And it's acceptable. How to make things better. It's acceptable. And it's Even sometimes this is hard, what needs to be done. But when people really hear why we need to do certain things, they can bear anyhow. But the why has to be somehow with transparency on the table. Exactly. Yeah, be with people honest. Is the most important. You know, like being honest. What is the situation? And be honest, not really to be mean, but be honest that there is a solution, there are plans, there are things, and okay, we have the situation, all right? Okay. So now how we can talk about the situation and how can we improve the situation? Exactly. Jerzy, do you still work with people one-on-one? Sure, yeah, I love it. It's like people come from all over the world to my place and they learn 3 days and in 3 days they go and we have Zooms. But I like one-on-one. It's a special thing. I always like one-on-one. In the classes, I like 10. When I taught classes, 10, I like that 10. The 10 is very intimate still. But when it's 20, 25, then it's really hard to control really the class. There's always somebody that doesn't like you and this and that. So, you know. It happens all the time. Yes, exactly. But when it's 10, it's easier. So where can people learn more about you? So the best way is just the webpage to start. And there is also Facebook, but webpage to start. There are books there, there are videos. I do now the daily appearance with coaching the happy body every day, 9 AM Pacific Standard Time. I really like to work with people. And I found myself in the gym 9 AM every day with people. So yeah, so people can do that. They can subscribe, they can drop in, and they can get the book. The first, probably get the book and read it because it's a philosophy how to live life with the tactics how to achieve that good life. The plans and everything is there with the standards. And after that, anybody can start independently or reach for a little bit of help. Whatever way a person has counts and matters and is possible. So, Jerzy, for the person watching or listening who has focused their whole time raising a family, raising kids, and they haven't raised the bars in a very long time, who are out of shape. Yeah. What is the advice that you would give that person right now to let them know that they can age backwards? The body is capable to be an amazing machine. It's beautiful. It is capable. And getting there doesn't have to be a chore. It can be enjoyable journey, pleasurable journey. With the microprogression engaged, Magic can happen. I coach a cerebral palsy boy that I started with 3-pound bar, wooden bar, and 5 years of training. And that boy pressed 170 pounds after 5 years. The boy that was completely dependent on parents, couldn't go to toilet on his own, couldn't dress himself, didn't know what 3 2 is. After 5 years, he passed the elementary school, high school online, and went to community college, and now he's waiting to go to San Jose State University. Okay, that can be done. It's about 5 years, but The parents have the child that is independent and they stop worrying about him. He came to me when he was 25 years old and now he is 33 and gained complete independence. So what can be done is huge and is awesome and it doesn't require really much. So we went to the gym twice a week, to the gym. They were coming from far, traveling 1 hour and a half, and we were laughing there and having a good time and read poetry and lifted. And after 5 years, delivered this amazing thing. So there is a documentary The title is The Prisoner No More. Yeah, I can send you the link about that. So you can watch. Really amazing. There is gold somewhere there. I guess it all depends on whether you want to make that hard choice. Yes, yes, it does. Because you're the only one that actually can manifest this, can create that. Right? Because nobody can do that to you. And nobody can claim it back from you. When you actually achieve it, it's yours. Nobody can take it away from you. This is also true. Jerzy, you are an amazing human being. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for coming on the show. I will include links in the show notes so that people can be blessed with you as much as I have. Thank you, Carmen. I appreciate your kindness. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. I love this conversation with Jerzy because he didn't just give me motivation. He gave a method. Here's what I'm taking with me. Start with assessment, strength, flexibility, posture, and even how your body moves day to day so that you're not guessing. Microprogression is the magic. Tiny measurable improvements that add up like compound interest. Strength training isn't optional as we age. It protects your independence, your metabolism, your balance, even your confidence. And the bigger mind shift Jerzy kept coming back to is hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life. And remember, the whole aging backwards isn't Botox. Jerzy provided it with real people and real numbers. The 83-year-old still training, the cancer survivor building bone density, and story after story that reminds us your body is capable of so much more than you've been told. If you want to learn more about Jerzy Gregorek, The Happy Body book by him and Aniela Gregorek, or connect with him, head on over to createthebestme.com/ep160 or click the links down below in the show notes. And if this episode encouraged you, do me a quick favor. Share it with a friend, make sure you subscribe, and don't miss what's coming up next. Come back next week for another amazing episode created just for you. Until then, keep dreaming big, take care of yourself, and remember, you are beautiful, strong, and capable of creating the best version of yourself. Thank you for watching. Catch you next week. Bye for now.