Breathwork, Movement, and High Performance with Brian Larson

Brian Larson's journey from pharmaceutical industry professional to movement specialist, breathwork facilitator, and coach reveals powerful insights about transformation that extends far beyond physical appearance. The conversation opens with Brian's early realization that changing his body could lead to changing his mind, setting him on a path of continuous growth and service to others.

Diving deep into movement principles, Brian explains the critical difference between stretching and mobility—the latter being the game-changer for injury prevention and athletic performance. His candid assessment of CrossFit as both "the cure" for many health conditions and "a disease" for those who overtrain offers a balanced perspective rarely heard in fitness circles. The practical advice for newcomers to train three days weekly and properly scale workouts provides a sustainable approach to intense training.

Nutrition simplicity shines through as Brian emphasizes protein as the foundation (0.7-1g per pound of bodyweight) while advocating for gradual, sustainable changes rather than restrictive diets. "You cannot out-train a bad diet" serves as a powerful reminder that nutrition fundamentals trump exercise intensity for long-term results.

Perhaps most fascinating is the transformation of both host and guest from breathwork skeptics to passionate advocates. Brian expertly explains how controlled breathing creates hormetic stress that trains your nervous system to handle external stressors, improves sleep, enhances recovery, and even helps process trauma. This science-backed approach to breathwork strips away the "hippy dippy" stigma, positioning it as an essential tool for high performers.

The distinction between high achievers who sacrifice health and relationships versus high performers who excel across all domains captures the essence of the Do Hard Things philosophy. As Brian puts it: "I want so many people to step into this space and grow and accelerate their life forward."

Ready to transform your approach to fitness, stress management, and performance? Try the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy free for seven days at DoHardThingsNation.com and access mindset training, movement coaching, breathwork sessions, and

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:43

All right, welcome back to the Do Hard Things podcast. I'm your host, siegfried J Teagues, and today we've got a powerhouse episode lined up for you with guest Brian Larson. But before we dive in, do me a quick favor. If you're finding value in these conversations, make sure you smash that subscribe button. Share this podcast with someone who needs a little push just to keep doing hard things. And don't forget to check out the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. Go to dohardthingsnationcom. You'll find all great resources there. We've got apparel, we've got events. You can check out the academy. This is where we give you the tools, the training and the community to unlock your full potential. And let's get into today's conversation. So today I'm joined with my brother from another mother, brian Larson. He's one of our powerhouse coaches inside the Do Hard Things Nation Wellness Academy and he's also the brand new co-host of the podcast.

Speaker 1 1:33

I met Brian about five years ago through our women. I met Lacey. Lacey brought Lainey, who was her really, really good friend, and not knowing who I was, if I was a serial killer or not, obviously you know. Woman doing a smart thing, she brings Lainey and I started dating Lacey and not long after that, somehow Brian shows up to date Lainey. So we got Lainey and Lacey, we got Brian and Sig.

Speaker 1 1:59

And so immediately when I met Brian, I'm like, oh man, I love this dude. And we immediately just hit it off. We're talking about the topic of just helping people. I sensed his passion. We were talking about coaching and his vision for the future. And I know, brian you mentioned it like you just knew that we were going to work together at one point in time. And here we are. So a little background on Brian. Brian is a certified CrossFit coach, expert in movement and nutrition. He's a skilled breathwork facilitator and he's got years of experience training athletes and guiding people through transformation. He knows how to push you past plateaus and into peak performance and you know, brian just brings intensity, clarity, practical tools that will help you break limits, step fully into your potential. And today we get to hear a story, his philosophy, tools and, ultimately, what Brian's purpose is here. And so, brian, welcome.

Speaker 2 2:54

Thanks, man. Did I miss anything in your intro? No, it was pretty. It was better than I had done for myself.

Speaker 1 3:01

What I love about Brian like if you meet him, he has such a stature, like he is just, like he's just got the physique, he's chiseled and the flexibility that you have is incredible. Like so just you want to talk about a master of movement. He knows what he's talking about and what he is doing, and so I have tremendous admiration for your knowledge base. In addition to you've dragged me into this breathwork journey so I did, didn't I so all right.

Brian's Fitness Transformation Journey

Speaker 1 3:27

so I've got a bunch of questions here for you. Let's roll, let's dive in. Take me back. When was the first time that you realized movement and fitness weren't just about looking good, but about like transformation and just living a good life? It's funny.

Speaker 2 3:44

It probably 98, I think. So I had started working out in high school Cause I mean I was about that big around. I was same height, 130 pounds. I'm 185 now. So quite a bit of muscle mass difference and that was just about okay. I want to put some muscle on this frame, but I got married in 98. I got married, started in the pharma industry and bought a new house. How old were you then? I was hold on, that would have been 25.

Speaker 1 4:13

Okay.

Speaker 2 4:13

And up until that point I had been pretty fit all the way up until then. But I blew out a tendon in my elbow and started that pharma job, and we call it the pharma 15. You gain about 15 pounds in the first year if you would eat all the food you're taking to offices, and so I gained an unhealthy weight not like oh, oh yeah, it wasn't muscle mass.

Speaker 2 4:37

and so I got all the way up to 198 and for me that was a lot of weight and I lost some muscle mass and I've got really bad family history and so type two diabetes, heart disease, and I just one day was like this is I cannot keep going like this, and I started really cracking down on. I rehabbed the elbow, got back in the gym, then really went on a fitness journey or a nutrition journey. I didn't really know much about nutrition at that standpoint. I had done, you know, genetics. When you're young you can put on muscle mass and stay lean, but as you get a little older it's a little harder.

Speaker 2 5:17

And so I really learned about nutrition and somewhere in there I had this transformation of my body that was very profound and went okay, there's more to this. If I can change my physical structure, can I change my mental structure? And I stumbled upon this guy named John Benson and he had a I can't remember mind meals, muscle that was the name of his program and he taught me some stuff about the mental aspect of of training, which I carried over into personal development, and so those two pieces just clicked for me all the way back. Then those two pieces just clicked for me all the way back then.

Speaker 1 6:07

What did you have? So how were you influenced? Like, who showed you? Who was the person that maybe have showed you, like I don't know just how to, maybe the power of coaching and the power of, like you know, physical fitness and nutrition?

Speaker 2 6:22

Was there any? It's funny when you like. Last week, when you were talking about I don't know the cross country coach, I almost interrupted you and said reach out to them while you can. Mine like.

Speaker 2 6:33

The person who had an influence on me in that way, like seeing how a coach could impact a life, was my high school wrestling coach and I tried to find that man, dennis Boyer. He was Eureka Missouri. Man, dennis Boyer, he was Eureka Missouri. This guy, he just he was so good as a just coach but somehow he got inside your life without really even trying and just showed you a little bit of a different path and I stood back, I don't know, several years after graduating high school and college and going. Man, that guy just had a profound impact on me just by being there and speaking into the small things.

Speaker 2 7:13

I remember we were running sprints one day and there was an end marker on the mat. He's watching us go back and forth and he gets on us about that last step. Like you guys are quitting before that last step, and if you're going to quit on that last step, I mean it was pretty much like might as well not even run it, give it all you got the whole way or don't do it, and something about those little things just stuck with me and I'm like, oh, yeah, Okay, I can see that he was really good.

Speaker 1 7:45

It's amazing how an individual can have tremendous lifelong impact on you, someone that can push you, see your potential, push you beyond your limits, and it's remarkable. And to your point, I do need to. I need to find Mr Danner, michael Danner.

Speaker 2 8:02

Yeah, man, I just I don't even know if he's around. I've looked. I even called the high school at one point. They, I mean they had lost touch with him, but yeah, it was, he was. He was amazing, just absolutely amazing.

Speaker 1 8:15

Yeah, Wow. Well, when it comes to a something really hard in your life, like, describe a moment in your life where you had to do something really, really hard, something that may have broke you open and you might realize that you know what. This is what I'm supposed to do, this is what I'm supposed to teach.

Coaching Impact and Movement Philosophy

Speaker 2 8:34

Hmm, let's see the teach, Let me. Let me see if I can focus on the teach part for a second. I mean, really, it's been my own journey with injury and immobility that has made me realize I probably need to do more teaching of mobility and movement. So I had I mean, I don't, I don't know what year I started CrossFit, but I did it for a number of years and I, like a lot of people in CrossFit, just went at it too hard. I was not giving my body breaks and every it's almost like every joint would hurt, or one one started hurting and I'd rehab it or take some time off and another one would hurt.

Speaker 2 9:15

Well, what I learned was it essentially was my lack of range of motion and strength at all end ranges. So you get in a squat. If I'm down in the bottom of a squat, oh, my glutes weren't still engaged, so I was losing some squat. If I'm down in the bottom of a squat, oh, my glutes weren't still engaged, so I was losing some stability, which, once you start all those things happen, it like breaks everything down all along the way. And so I I just I had enough injury where I started trying to figure out what do I need to do differently. And so I just, man, I was almost done working out completely. I'm like I can't keep doing this, but I also can't keep getting out of bed every morning and hurting the way I do, and that sent me down the path of really learning about mobility, learning about adding that into weightlifting, trying to. You know, there's a difference between just stretching and mobility. They're very different.

Speaker 1 10:14

Yeah. And just really working on? How are they different? Can you describe the difference Well?

Speaker 2 10:19

yeah. So you know I could. I could stand up right here, I can touch my toes and that's just going to be a stretch. And if I squat down in the bottom of the squat I might be squat, you know, kind of stretching my muscles out. But can I then from a squat, can I, can I stay in that squat and walk forward?

Speaker 2 10:39

That's mobility, where just the squat itself is stretching. Can I move through all range of motions? Can my, can my arm come up here, as opposed to, oh, it gets stuck here. That's, that's my range of motion and I could stretch this out. But then to be able to take it and turn it and move it through this range of motion is the mobility of my shoulder joint. I could stretch it all day long but if I can't let it turn and open up, I lack the mobility of that joint and I I learned that it's that stuff. Those tissues working in those ways build a stronger foundation for lifting. I quit lifting for several months and just went all in on mobility, because I just hurt mobility, because I just hurt. I didn't lift a single weight and came back and PR one of my Olympic lifts without ever touching a weight because my mobility had improved my end range of motion strength. It's just, it's really good stuff.

Speaker 1 11:36

So when I think of CrossFit, I remember the first time that I'd heard about CrossFit and I was really interested in it. But then I always hear, oh my gosh, you're going to get hurt. And I and to full transparency, I have went to CrossFit and I have gotten hurt by pushing too hard. I love it, but it's the the little competitive edge when you do some of the AMRAP and things like that. What are some of the trends, the mistakes, the things that CrossFitters make that cause injury and what advice do you give them to mitigate more? There's lots.

Speaker 2 12:13

I love CrossFit as a motto that says CrossFit is the cure, and they're talking about people who maybe are overweight, have hypertension, type two, diabetes, because doing workouts in that fashion can reduce all of those markers Like inflammation goes down, like all these pieces that are really good for a body. But I've said that CrossFit is also a disease. It's a disease for those people and it draws a certain type of person, people who have competitive, like athletic backgrounds. They used to play sports or they're very driven in business. It very, it's like performance oriented people tend to flock to crossfit. Yeah, and it's a disease because they go in there and they bust it a hundred percent all out five to seven days a week.

Speaker 2 13:01

I think that's the biggest mistake I see especially the seasoned athletes in the gym make is that they're training four or five, six times a week at maximum intensity. Crossfit as a modality. It's supposed to train all of the energy systems, from short acting to long acting. But everything that I see people do, even if it's programmed on the board to be a six out of 10 for perceived work rate, people are in there huffing and puffing. Well, if it's a six out of 10, I should be able to do the workout, mouth closed, breathing through my nose, and so they just go all out.

Speaker 2 13:39

All out because they're chasing the scoreboard and where they rank among other athletes compared to what is the goal of this workout, so that one is definitely one in it. They go together, pushing too hard and not taking enough time off because we have to recover. If you push your body every day, it never recovers and there is some good adaptation that'll happen. But you reach a point where it can't recover anymore. And if you, on top of that, add getting a fight with your significant other or stress at work, now have mental neurologic load along with physical neurologic load and the brain doesn't know the difference and it just starts like everything goes haywire. So I think it's the shut the intensity and frequency down a little bit and just have some rest in there and be okay with that.

Speaker 1 14:31

So how many days a week should a CrossFitter, someone new, do CrossFit then?

Speaker 2 14:37

See, that's a hard one too because, depending on the way it's programmed, if you cherry pick certain days like there might be in a weightlifting cycle, pick certain days like there might be in a weightlifting cycle and let's say it's they're doing I don't know, some Olympic lift and maybe a squat or maybe a shoulder press on three different days, and if every week you just go to the squat day, so that's hard to say. I would, I would probably tell anybody when you're starting out to probably find three days a week and go in there and scale it. If it's, depending on where you are like. If you're a season like we have, you know we're in home of university, missouri, here, right, we get collegiate athletes, you know former collegiate athletes. They can come in and crush it five days a week because they're still 22 years old and their body recovers.

Speaker 2 15:26

But for the average person trying it out, I'd say three days a week, go in there and just scale it. Ask the coach this is where I'm at. How can I make this fit for where I'm at? And really don't push so hard. You want to be able to be in that place where you can't have a conversation, but not in that place where you're working so hard that your hands are on your knees and you can't hardly breathe. That comes later and that comes in shorter workouts, but initially it needs to be dialed back and we really, as the coaches, should be working with the athletes on that, but sometimes we just miss it. It's just you're busy with other people and you're not paying enough attention.

Speaker 1 16:11

I still do it to this day and I've been coaching it five or six years now. Yeah, I think where people get in trouble is you push it too hard, you start getting sloppy with the technique and then you're pushing a little bit too much weight and that's where you get in trouble.

Speaker 2 16:18

Yeah, part well part of the modality of CrossFit is you are supposed to be pushed to the point where the form breaks down so we can see where your form needs to improve. Yeah, the problem is some people it goes back to the movement thing don't have the right mobility and movement to even add weight to a barbell and they need to be back up and do air squats instead of back squats. So it can. It's a little bit of all the pieces together.

Speaker 1 16:43

Yeah, we get a lot of runners, ruckers, cyclists, triathletes that listen to this podcast and, as a running coach, I definitely try to promote strength training. And it's the same with, like many CrossFitters they love slinging the weights, they don't want to go do the cardio.

Speaker 2 17:02

They need to run more.

Speaker 1 17:03

Yeah.

Speaker 2 17:03

I'm guilty.

CrossFit: Benefits and Common Mistakes

Speaker 2 17:23

Yeah. So those that are runners, ruckers, triathlet, your VO two max, which is the amount of oxygen your body can carry, and if your body can carry more oxygen you can run farther, you run faster, and we have so many athletes who will come in. My favorite is when you have a high level wrestler or baseball player and they come in and they do CrossFit for three months and like, oh my goodness, I can't believe how this has impacted my sport. And so I think you know muscle building is more about, um, moving the weight and then eating the calories to support it. You don't want to take a long distance runner and add 15 pounds of muscle to them, cause it's a lot harder to move that extra 15 pounds of muscle.

Speaker 2 18:06

But if they take the mass they have and improve that strength and output and performance, cause CrossFit is about output of, of energy. It's like how much it's forced, is it? Force equals work, work equals force times distance, right? If I can put out more force and go a further distance, then I've created more work, and it's that same concept. So, coming in, you increase the strength of the muscles you have, then your leg drive is going to be stronger, your stride might have better strength, stability as you hit the ground with that stride could be better. So I think I think the mechanics could probably improve by stability and strength for someone that might be getting back on the saddle of working out.

Speaker 1 18:54

They might have some interest in crossfit, they might have some interest in running, doing all the above. Do you have a recommended like what? What would a week look like for them when it comes to working out?

Speaker 2 19:07

Yeah, I mean at first I'd say do all things Just move the body.

Speaker 2 19:12

Yeah, I mean I, you know, I got a buddy who says find a movement, find movements you love. Because if you don't find movements you love, you'll only do them until like, oh, whatever your goal is, oh, I want to lose 10 pounds. Once they lose, the 10 pounds goal hit, I'm done. But if you truly get in there and love it like people who have an athletic background, a competitive athletic background, tend to love crossfit and they will show up again and again and again and there's this big community aspect to it, that's really. I think, it's more about finding the movement you love and then move every day. I, even if I'm in a recovery day, I will still do mobility work and I will walk two plus miles. So that's where the 10, I think the 10,000 steps is an amazing thing. I would say 10,000 steps every day because it actually serves as a form of recovery based on your heart rate. If your heart rate is below, like I don't know, one 30, one 35, depending on age and all those factors, you're actually getting recovery.

Speaker 1 20:12

Yeah.

Speaker 2 20:12

And so I would say do the walk, lift three or four times a week, and then if you're a runner, I guess it depends like how many days a week are you running. If you're running four or five, I'd lift a couple and just find a 30 minute session. It doesn't have to be CrossFit, it can be any weightlifting program that just really works multiple muscle groups at one time.

Speaker 2 20:35

But I would say, do them all, because one of the best predictors there's two really good predictors of longevity, lung capacity and your ability to get up from the floor yeah, yeah and it's you know they always joke about some of the crossfit movies movements, but all the burpee is it is teaching yourself how to get from your chest up into your hands and standing straight up. It's all a burpee is floor to standing up, and so those two things are really good predictors of longevity. And can you live a life by yourself, or do you have to be admitted somewhere where they have to take care of you?

Speaker 1 21:15

I think you hit on something that I want to emphasize, because I can't overstate the importance of walking, as simple as it is.

Speaker 2 21:23

Yeah.

Speaker 1 21:24

When you do a workout you might burn maybe 500 calories. Well, if you're working out and a healthy weight loss is two pounds a week, well, it was like 3,500 calories per pound and well, you're going to have to burn up some calories, calorie deficit and burn up some calories. You're not losing the weight specifically from the workout. It's the movement throughout the day and the steps are what really really make a big difference in that. And for runners, can't underestimate the time on feet, underestimate the, the uh, the uh, the, the time on feet. So just walk like spending your breaks throughout the day. Walking or getting some movement in is so incredibly important and can't I mean it's it. It's so simple. People forget about it, but the 10,000 steps a day is a great rule of thumb.

Speaker 2 22:14

It is, it is, and it I mean it really takes, depending on your pace, 45 minutes at the longest maybe, yeah, yeah, or you break it up in several chunks during the day. It it just makes such a big difference and it really truly does help recovering. One of the one of the things I've started doing recently it kind of aligns with our breath work is you can actually I read the book the oxygen advantage and he talks about, instead of hyperventilation, hypoventilation, and so breathing slow and really light and then taking an exhale hold for five to 10 steps and you'll get a little bit of air hunger, and then you breathe in for a couple of recovery breaths, walk for another minute and do that, and that too, improves your body's ability to discharge and absorb like oxygen and CO2. It's really fascinating.

Speaker 1 23:05

Something I just recently learned I think it's probably through our breathwork sessions is that fat is burned. I guess maybe burned is the wrong. It's maybe the wrong it's depleted or leaves your body through liquid, so sweat, or most of it's, through the breath which I had no idea Most calorie discharge is through breathing.

Speaker 2 23:26

yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 23:26

I find that fascinating which makes sense, but it didn't, because I didn't even think about the breath. I know, I know.

Speaker 2 23:35

It's funny, it's central, it's so central it makes all the difference in the world because we can't live without the breath. But breathing and weight lifting is so important because if you don't get a good breath in and a good core brace and you stack 315 pounds on your back and squat, you can destroy your spine. But that proper bracing breath and knowing how to get the air in and compress it and hold it down, it's, it's so, it, it, it is the key is the key and from a running perspective it's the same thing your vo2 max and the amount of oxygen you can get in it.

Speaker 1 24:09

Just, you know, the more mitochondria you have, the more red blood cells, the more energy and oxygen that you can get to the body, the faster and the further that you can run. So I just overestimated and overlooked the power of the breath. And then doing these breath sessions and seeing what you can do with it, like it is absolutely incredible.

Speaker 2 24:28

Yeah, I mean you start working up the two and a half three minute breath holds. It's pretty fascinating what happens.

Speaker 1 24:34

So if you're in the do hard things wellness Academy, breath work is a critical function of what we demonstrate and show and facilitate there. So if you have any interest in that, come check us out, because we'll be hosting sessions in there. We host sessions there all the time, so awesome, all right, let's. Uh, you want to switch gears to nutrition, or do you? Whatever man any gears or on any gears before we switch gears. Is there anything else you'd like to speak into when it comes to movements?

Speaker 2 25:01

No, I just it, just move. I think that's the thing. Just move, just keep moving. Find something you love to do.

Speaker 1 25:10

But I'm always an advocate for weightlifting because if you you don't like to run, I get it.

Speaker 2 25:16

Well, I don't like to run, but that's not even it. You can't change your body composition by running. Yeah, whatever size you are, you can make smaller. But if you want broad shoulders and biceps and all the muscle groups or for women if they want you know this really nice figure eight shape, running isn't going to do it. You got to get in the gym and you have to build muscle and then, once you build muscle, more burns more calories than fat, so you actually become a calorie burning machine. And building muscle. It's not that complex. You put enough calories in, you move increasingly heavy loads, either the load or over more reps over time, and you build muscle. It just happens you get to a spot where you're done like I I don't know that I could put on any more muscle, but it it's not.

Speaker 1 26:07

It's not a complex science what advice do you have for women who are afraid that they're going to look and turn into a man? I hear that or forms of that. Like I don't want to look muscular, I don't like a man. They're scared of that.

Speaker 2 26:21

You've got to move some heavy loads over a long period of time. It's like the. I call them the crossfit girls, right? If you watch crossfit competition, they are some muscular women, but they are training multiple times a day with heavy loads. You could throw a woman in the gym for two years and have her do sets of six to 12 reps on whatever movement, and most likely she doesn't have testosterone levels high enough to build the kind of muscle they're afraid of becoming. I would say if that's your fear, go try and do it and you'll probably find you can't. It just takes a different level. It's, it's something you know. It's the same for guys, right? I mean there's, there's some monsters out there. They they're different beasts and they're different animals and they work out at a different level, at a different pace and with way more frequency than the average human being.

Nutrition Principles and Protein Fundamentals

Speaker 1 27:18

Yeah, yeah, All right, let's transition into nutrition. Do you have any like when your nutrition is dialed in? I mean, I see what you eat and how you eat, which is pretty admirable. What are some general guidelines that you have for your CrossFit athletes when it comes to like nutrition and staying kind of dialed in?

Speaker 2 27:40

Yeah, I mean I have a little different belief than what CrossFit would say. There. I would say number one lead with protein. You have to have adequate protein and if you get enough protein then you're not as hungry for the rest of the day. And it varies widely. A rule of thumb is anywhere from 0.7 to 1 grams of protein per pound of body weight, but it also varies on where you are. If you're a little overweight, from where you want to be, it might be 0.7 to 1 of your lean body mass or 0.7 to account for getting rid of the extra weight. Somewhere in that range is an ideal spot and that's hard to do and meal meal numbers can vary. I probably eat five or six times a day. That way I don't have to ingest more than 30 35 grams of protein in a sitting. But it to me is lead with protein and just occasionally choose healthier carbohydrates.

Speaker 2 28:42

White breads are probably not the best, breads in general are not the best source of carbs and choosing to not eat out as much can help reduce calories significantly. But just on a day-in, day-out basis. Get the protein in. Find more fruits, more vegetables and less starchy or breads and grains. Helps a lot of people there's. There's a component of it that's very specific to individuals. Like some people can cut out carbs and they will do amazing. They'll. They'll do an adkins or they'll do the. All the diets are escaping I. I just don't do a diet. I don't find you eat the right things in the right amounts and it works out. But getting away from some of the starchier, sugar-driving carbohydrates really helps. I can't go carbless. I just don't have the energy to work out.

Speaker 1 29:38

I go to work out and I feel like somebody shot me no-transcript in protein and grams or your target body weight, and that's hard to do without, like I'm. I'm right around 225 right now and you get 225 grams of protein. Like I have to supplement because it's just hard to eat that much meat or protein rich food and it's so satiating, like when I do eat it.

Speaker 2 30:29

So yeah, I'm not opposed to protein powders from that standpoint. I mean, I I've got one that I use post-workout that throws in a bunch of protein, a bunch bunch of carbs and then I'll eat a handful of nuts with it. But it's really hard to get that much protein. But even if you're, you know somebody who's only getting 60 grams a day and they need 150, if they even got to 120, then there's more. There's less room to put other food in your mouth if you're putting protein in your mouth, and that I think that's the thing I've learned more than anything else. My favorite line is you cannot out train a bad diet, doesn't matter how hard you work. It's calories in, calories out, and then it even gets to a point where it's the type of calories that go in. Yeah, but leading with protein is the. For me it's been the most important thing what do you in regards to, like counting?

Speaker 1 31:26

do you count macros? Do you? Do you not anymore?

Speaker 2 31:30

I would recommend anybody starting out to count macros. And so there's, there's a lot. You can go to youtube, you can go to google. You can find all the different ways to calculate what you need. It's. You know, I if, if anybody's really really trying to do this and they're really trying to get a handle, I would say find a supplement superstore or some type of local. We've got fit factory here in town. Go in there and get on their machine, and they've got a machine that will measure your body fat percentage. Now they're not perfect, but they give you a baseline and it shoots out your basal metabolic rate. So that tells you, okay, if I do nothing today but sit on the couch, I'm going to burn 1900 calories, and so I know to maintain where I'm at, it's 1900 calories. And so from there, do I want to gain weight, lose weight or maintain, and I go up or down based on that, and so calories are one of the most important factors. So figure out how many calories you need in a day, and then from there I like. So I don't do them anymore.

Speaker 2 32:34

When I started this whole journey, I counted calories and macros, but now I can pretty much tell you like a good rule of thumb.

Speaker 2 32:42

About a four ounce piece of meat is about the size of a deck of cards and it's going to be about 30 grams of protein. The size of your fist is about a serving of carbs for somebody. A little handful of nuts in the palm of your hand is the size of fat. So I just have gotten to where I. I don't even think about it, I just kind of know. But to track it, to understand what you're taking in, you'd be surprised if you write down every single thing you eat in a day, how many times you pass by the kitchen and grab like a couple potato chips, or if there's chocolate out. I mean it adds up and it can be three, four, four, 500 calories. And 500 calories a day, seven days, is a pound, yeah. So tracking them is important. The macros become important at some point, but I think tracking overall calories is probably the most important starting block and then figuring out what macro ratio do you need, and that's a whole different conversation.

Speaker 1 33:41

Yeah Well, I think that's a good point. If you focus on the protein, don't overcomplicate it, keep it simple. But when you start some level of tracking, you have to track until you get good enough. You got to do what's Pearson's law? What gets tracked, measured, and what gets tracked and measured improves. What gets tracked, measured and recorded or, I'm sorry, reported ie having a coach to submit it to improve significantly. So, I think. I think that's where some accountability comes in, and so if you're finding yourself struggling.

Speaker 1 34:15

You got to track it and then learn the tools. It's, yeah, people over complicate nutrition. It's not complicated, but it is. I mean, I will, I will say this, like your habits. And then we have big food. The cards are stacked against us a little bit. When you have the, the, the amount of, I mean you can have door dash, you drive through you have to leave your couch, man, it'll just come in your house and drop it in your lap.

Speaker 2 34:45

I know They'll almost feed it to you. It's going to be the next service. Yeah, to me I think it is overcomplicated. And then we're always looking for the newest diet and what's going to help lose weight the fastest or whatever. But I tend to think, if you eating well, for like you even know, man, I eat like crap. I'm going fast food three times a week and I'm eating hostess ding dongs or what I mean, I don't know whatever and you want to make a change, change one thing. Change get more protein and eat. Make sure you eat a breakfast that's more balanced and then don't worry about the rest for a couple of weeks. Let that adaptation sink in.

Speaker 2 35:28

Your body will shift and change and then dial it in more, like if you're trying to get to this. You know, let's say some guy wants to get to 12% body fat but he's sitting at 30, just adding protein in will probably cause him to drop a couple. If he then moves to lifting weights, he'll drop a couple percent more and then you just start dialing it back more and then it becomes lifestyle not oh, I'm depriving myself. I don't really drink hardly at all but if I'm in a scenario where I feel like a drink, I'm going to have it.

Speaker 2 35:59

But desserts I love desserts I don't buy them. If I buy them, I'm going to eat them. So I will buy small things of like dove dark chocolate and I'll eat one and call it good and it satisfies the craving. But that's not where I started. I started by eating a full dessert and go, oh, okay, well, let me dial it back. But that was after I made other changes to get there. It's like one if you go one stage at a time, it actually starts to alter your lifestyle. And you're not on a diet, like diets are short-term things. You don't want to be on a diet, you want to have a a a lifestyle of eating nutritiously.

Speaker 1 36:36

Yeah, what do you think is the so many people struggle with this? So if you had any bit of advice or how someone could really dial it in to make to break free from the yo-yoing of diet into a routine, what advice would you give?

Speaker 2 36:57

someone. I love the line why always conquers how in the battle for success. What's the why? Why do you want to do it to start with? And then, once you answer that question, ask yourself why again? And then ask why again Do that five to seven times and figure out why do you want to do it to start with? And then, once you answer that question, ask yourself why again? And then ask why again do that five to seven times and figure out why do you really want to do it. And then you're gonna get deeper. You gotta peel the layers back.

Speaker 2 37:16

Yeah, what's the real motivation behind it? For me it, like my family genetics are a disaster and if I kept going the path I was gonna go, I I probably wouldn't, I'd probably be gone already. But as I got into it, I start to realize how much better I feel when I'm leaner, when I'm more muscular, and so figuring out the why is to me the biggest thing. And then, beyond that, it's. I think it's. There was some other thought that just popped in and I lost it. It'll come back. So, yeah, I mean, the why is big, and then really, then just start moving towards it. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be every day. If you fall off the bandwagon, it's okay, like just get back on. But I also think don't find a fad diet. Find a way of eating that's sustainable for life.

Speaker 1 38:18

Yeah, you said something earlier, that kind of comes. As I have been training people in the space the. A lot of people are training to lose 10 pounds because they've got a class reunion or a wedding. They just want to get to a certain size. They achieve it and they just quit. Yep, I think when you take on the mindset of an athlete of some way, shape or form whether you're a runner, a CrossFit or a cyclist when you have that mindset, then you're in and you start getting around. It becomes your lifestyle. You're around those types of people. It's part of your daily routine. That's it's finding the movement you love and dabbling until you find it, whatever that is, whether that's pickleball, whether that, whatever it is, but making that part of your lifestyle yeah, yeah, and then I mean finding other people that share it.

Speaker 2 39:12

it's. It's funny because you mentioned jim rohn earlier, before we started, and I was like, yeah, one of my favorite jim rohn quotes is you're some of the five people you spend the most time with right. That's physically, economically, all those pieces, yeah, and so I think it is one of the amazing things about crossFit is there is a community of people. But if you go to any gym at the same time, like Lainey goes up to the country club and works out, well, it's the same people. When she's gone out of town and she shows up oh, where you been? Like there's almost, they almost hold each other accountable even in that space. So I did, I. I finally remembered the nutrition thing.

Speaker 2 39:46

Just to jump back to that, the one thing I would really encourage people to do eat a couple healthy meals that you know, like you Google.

Speaker 2 39:58

If you don't even know what, some people don't even know what healthy means right, good, lean protein, a good carb source, a good healthy fat, like avocado or almonds or cashews, some type of nut, whatever it is, and then notice how you feel afterwards.

Speaker 2 40:16

And then just start paying attention when you sit down to eat, notice what the food smells like, tastes like. Be conscious of your chewing, be conscious before you. When you eat, consciously, you slow down those hunger hormones that tell your body it's had enough food actually turn on quicker. You could scarf down a plate of food and then 20 minutes later you're like, whoa, I'm so full. But if you slow down, but if you pay attention to how you feel, I rarely eat fried foods anymore because when I do I feel awful, I just do not feel good. I feel them bring my energy level down, I feel lethargic and my body does not like them. And I pay attention to how I feel after I eat and that in itself, if you realize your food is making you not feel good, you change your eating habits yeah, you know.

Speaker 1 41:09

A great uh tool that comes to mind is the yuka app. Have you seen that? No, it's called y-u-k-a. It's got a little carrot logo, it's free and when you go you can scan barcodes and it'll give a score of like zero to a hundred. Oh, and it's it's red amber, and it'll tell you why it scores it that way, whether it's a chemical or it's a really powerful app. In fact, we had our kids are using it and looking at stuff now and it's a really, really great tool. Because you go to the grocery store, man, I tell you what from that app, like the things that are packaged, that look healthy, that are marketed as healthy, many of them are not.

Speaker 1 41:50

And there's other things that are unsuspecting. And it's crazy. You go to the spaghetti aisle spaghetti sauce there's like 20 different kinds and you start scanning them. They're all over the place on that, yeah yeah. So, yeah, there's something that's a useful tool that can help you make some better choices. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love fried stuff when it's in my mouth.

Speaker 2 42:12

But to your point, man I like the taste, but my body does not like it. Post eating it at all.

The Power of Breathwork

Speaker 1 42:21

Oh well, let's. Let's transition to to the breath work, because here is my take on breath work. I used to think it was hippy dippy. Yeah, me too. And people, you see people doing it on the TikTok. They're looking all weird, like in fact I was doing it out in the yard the other day and Lacey's daughter's like like what's he doing out there? He looks like he's, he's embarrassing us, he's. But man, just tell us how you got into breath work, what has it done for you and why have you decided to teach it and why is it part, a critical component now, of what we're doing?

Speaker 2 43:03

So it's. I'll start at the scientific level, because I love fitness and working out, because you're inducing hormesis, this positive stress that causes your body to respond and change, and I've always loved that. I've liked the idea of oh, if I move my muscles in this way, I can build them. If I add cardio, I can burn fat. So I can constantly stress my body in ways to change it. And breathwork does the same thing. It induces stress to the body, which then helps you learn how to deal. So your internal stress, and then in everyday situations, it helps you learn how to deal with external stress, and so I love that concept of inducing stress helps you manage stress.

Speaker 2 43:58

I got into breath work. Oh, I learned about this crazy dude, wim Hof, that lots of people have heard about and if you don't know him, they call him the Iceman. He has, I think, 40 world records for cold exposure. The dude climbed Mount Everest with just shorts on it just ridiculous things. And they called him Superman or something like that. And he said I can't remember the quote exactly I'm not Superman, you're just not living optimally, or something like that. Yeah, you're not living to your fullest potential. Yeah, that's it. And he, he went. It was all because of the, the breath work and doing breath work and cold exposure, those two things. And so I had done some of his stuff and I had no idea what was going on in my body. But I know it felt weird Like something was going on and but I liked it and I then found it would help reduce stress or cause me to sleep better. And then I stopped for a while. I don't know why I can't like those pieces don't fit together as to why. But then you actually got me back into breathwork. I did. You did because you Did, I stress you out. No, back into breathwork. I did. You did because you had stressed you out. No, you, you had done, you had done. You pick something up that like before we stumbled upon any of this stuff and I'm like, oh crap, I forgot about breathwork, so I started doing it again.

Speaker 2 45:24

And then you know, once you start doing it, you know you just tell your phone what you're doing and it'll start putting crap on your Instagram. Most of my Instagram feed is like weightlifting. It's like Chinese weightlifting team, it's Jim Rohn, it's like all these helpful things and suddenly I get and I love Danny Morrell and I can see Aubrey Marcus. I just like the content. Those guys put out A lot of relationship stuff, lot of plant-based medicine stuff and I'm scrolling through and I find this, this awakened breath people. I'm like huh, I don't know who they are, but I like what they're talking about. Yeah, which then led to this whole training, and it has.

Speaker 2 46:08

I'm trying to figure out how to articulate. I know what it's doing at a biologic level, but as we're doing this, I'm seeing my own energy shift, my own ability to be more resilient, to be more calm, to respond to situations better, to be more calm, to respond to situations better. And I had somebody tell me the other day I hadn't seen him for a while. They're like your energy is different. It's like you're vibrating in a different frequency which I would attribute to the breath work. It just opens you up, it drives blood flow through your body, it decreases inflammation, improves your immune response, decreases CO2, which increases blood alkalinity. Vo2 max is improved. With some of the breath holds, it's just so good.

Speaker 2 47:05

I can't knowing all of that. I know how it's made me feel and how, on a daily basis when I do it, how much more regulated my nervous system is. And we all walk around, dysregulated, our culture, the United States and other countries for that matter. We are not meant to see the pain of the world. And when we turn on our TV every night and we watch the world news and see what a disaster this place is, we feel that stress and that trauma. We're not meant to feel that stress and that trauma. We're not meant to feel that stress and that trauma. So I don't watch it. But when I'm feeling stress or trauma and I turn to breath work, it reduces that stress and you and I both know we've learned some techniques that actually can help people release stuck energy and release trauma. And it is just so knowing we have the ability to teach people tools to help them manage their everyday life and stress better. Why would I not want to share that with everybody I can?

Speaker 1 48:20

Yeah.

Speaker 2 48:21

So that's where I landed. I'm like this needs to be out there more. More people need to do this, and it's generally like you said, the hippie shit, like it tends to be in a different circle of people, not necessarily among high performers, not among, like I'm in, a pretty I mean, I've been in corporate jobs for 25 years. You don't. You don't hear people in corporate world talk about breathwork. It's more for you know the outside nature, people sort of thing. I'm like, oh no, that whole market needs this stuff Cause they have higher stress levels than most people. So I just want to get it out there, man.

Speaker 1 48:59

I mean for me personally. When you, when you said, when we partnered up and said we're going to work together, I was like, yeah, man, go do the breath work, I'm going to go study this other thing. And then, as I got more involved and I talked to the wake and breath folks, I'm like, okay, I need to learn this myself. And it has been absolutely a game changer, Not only in my athletic performance keeps me from reacting versus responding. Putting space when I'm feeling like this morning I had an incident where I was feeling just irritable about something. So I went out and did dynamic and gave me space, gave me clarity. I struggle with mindfulness by itself. My mate, my brain, is always going. I think it is a form of meditation. It slips you into it.

Speaker 1 49:47

It's a meditation green and it's a. It is a hack for regulating or deregulating your nervous system where you have full control over it.

Speaker 2 49:59

Yeah.

Speaker 1 50:00

Absolute game changer. And then the sonic neural. You know, helping people, guiding people through trauma, emotional expression, all of those things. So that's why it's a critical component. Plus what I love about it I'm always looking for challenges that are a little bit uncomfortable. Dynamics is a little bit uncomfortable. Wim Hof style breathing it's such a game changer.

Speaker 2 50:20

I don't think it's the breathing that's uncomfortable. It's the breath holds that are uncomfortable. It's the breath holds that can be.

Speaker 1 50:24

You're pushing yourself to the limit, but always looking for ways to. It's one of those things that are healthy. It's a hard thing to do, but you're better for it when you do it, and that's why it's part of what we're teaching in the Wellness Academy.

Speaker 2 50:36

Yeah, we should probably pull Ben on one of these at some point.

Speaker 1 50:40

Yeah, we absolutely will. Yeah, Definitely. All right, we're 15 minutes in. We've talked about a lot in a short amount of time, so we're going to kind of start getting to the exit of the door here. Let me ask you a few more questions. Why did you decide to join the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy and be a part of this journey?

Speaker 2 51:01

What are you hoping to achieve it's. We just are so aligned on so many things. The base for me is the mission of service and trying to put myself in a place where I can get alongside other people and encourage them, help them push past barriers, sticking points, be it physical, emotional, whatever it is, to just be in there, helping people achieve whatever that next level is. I love that you're. You say all the time there's a difference between a high achiever and a high performer. Helping people who don't they want to perform but want to leave behind achieve.

Speaker 1 51:45

Yeah.

Speaker 2 51:46

Cause that achieve comes with some baggage, Like I have to perform for other people. I have to prove myself as opposed to. I want to step into the fullness of whoever I'm meant to be or can be and man, to be able to have a platform where we can just put that out there and help people break plateaus. That's I'm all in man.

Speaker 1 52:08

Yeah, high performance is achieving above standard norms, not sacrificing health, relationships and and and happiness. Yeah, and there are plenty of high achievers where you might crush it in business, absolutely destroy it, but you leave a wake of disaster behind you with a divorce, or you're not connected to your kids, or you're struggling with your diet. You know all of those things are just. You reach the top, thinking it's going to provide happiness, and you're still not happy. That's the. That's not what we're trying to achieve. We want to be a high performer and and, yeah, man, I'm just honored that you're with us, brother.

Speaker 1 52:48

Your, your skills and ability, your skillset I mean. What I have envisioned is having a bench of coaches mindset, movements, the breath. Like we've said before, it's not on our bingo card, but it is a now a critical component to what we're teaching along with the other coaches. Man, I just you bring so much knowledge like your flexibility and your, your just mobility, background and just your physique and knowledge is is incredible and I hope people, people are going to get a chance to connect with you in the academy and and improve because of it. So, yeah, it's exciting. Yeah, man, All right, a couple of questions here. If you could only teach one movement or exercise to people for the rest of your career, what would it be and why?

Speaker 2 53:32

One movement or exercise. Assuming everybody could do it, it would probably be a snatch, which is an olympic lift. Yeah, because it. It combines a deadlift, somewhat of shoulder movement and a squat. All together it's the best. It's just full range of motion that works on strength, speed, power, mobility, it it is an all-encompassing lift. If you don't have the mobility to get in the bottom of the squat, you're not doing a full depth snatch If you don't have the shoulder mobility to get up here and get stacked in this position with that weight overhead, with solid lock, locked scapula and just all the pieces in place. But it's also it's my favorite to coach too because it's so technical that even and even the Olympic lifters.

Speaker 2 54:19

you know the Olympic Olympic lifters, the guys who are going for the gold medal. They have coaches their entire careers. It's, but it's so good, there's such good lifts, but they're really complex.

Speaker 1 54:29

That's a technical movement, even without lifting anything, Cause I've practiced it numerous times with just the PVC pipe and just yeah, pipe and just yeah.

Speaker 2 54:40

But once you get it, once you're able to add loads it, the benefits are just enormous, because it covers every, almost every aspect of what you would want for weightlifting yeah, awesome.

Speaker 1 54:49

If your younger self say 18 year old brian, could see you today, what would he think? How the hell did that happen?

Speaker 2 55:06

Yeah, I, I think it'd be a. I didn't see that coming, partially because I came to Columbia and went to MU with the thought I was going to go to vet school and I got three and a half years in and went. This school stuff sucks. I'm not doing this. And then you know, I've been in the pharmaceutical industry for 20 plus years and it's been a great career.

Speaker 2 55:28

But now, with this, this endeavor and the breath work coming in and knowing I'm transitioning out of that into something different, I had never seen that coming, yeah, but how exciting to be able to take all of the learnings through my entire life, be it emotional clarity in relationships, weightlifting, nutrition, and I'll be able to take it and give it to somebody else so that they can learn it faster without having to. You and I have talked about this. We've read so many books and compiled so many pieces of knowledge that it took us years and years and years, and what we have we can give to people in the. What took us years might only take them six months, yeah, and that's amazing to be able to offer that to other people for their own growth and for their own, you know, moving forward of life, just uh, and for their own, you know, moving forward of life, just yeah, I've never seen it coming.

Final Thoughts and Call to Action

Speaker 1 56:21

It's definitely rewarding, for sure. Yeah, one final question Fast forward 10 years from now. What impact do you hope your coaching and your work inside with the Do Our Things Wellness Academy and everything you're doing in the coaching space, what impact do you hope that you, you, you created?

Speaker 2 56:41

Immeasurable. Like I, I think I would like to look back and not even be able to comprehend how many people have come through that would then turn around and come back to us. Go it was. It was the best, best time and resources I ever spent on myself, which I've been able to say about some coaching I've hired for myself at points in my life. I want to have people be able to say the same things about us, and I don't want it to be small.

Speaker 2 57:15

I go back to the retreat, right, and I'll use my exact quote I don't know what it's going to be, but I want it to the retreat, right, and I'll use my exact quote I don't know what it's gonna be, but I want it to be fucking epic. Yes, and that's it. I just, you know, I, I always think we cast a vision for our lives, but it's within our own parameters of what big looks like. Like you're too, too afraid to make a big vision. I, I want this to be big. I want so many people to be able to step into this space and grow and accelerate their life forward. I don't know that. I can quite articulate it. I'm super excited about what we're building.

Speaker 1 58:03

There's a quote that you have mentioned numerous times. I forgot her name. You weren't meant to live in this world.

Speaker 2 58:11

Oh, Marianne Williamson.

Speaker 1 58:13

Yes.

Speaker 2 58:14

Yeah, yeah, you want me to find it and read it real quick. Yes, I can't quote it exactly.

Speaker 1 58:18

It's in the end of the book. I don't have it. I mean I wrote it in here but I don't have it verbatim. I was trying to find it real quick, but I've got it here in the tail end. Oh, by the way, the Life on Offense book is an Amazon bestseller now, so in the book. When you read this to me, I'm like this has to go in the book and I have referenced it.

Speaker 2 58:49

Yeah, go for it. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frighten, frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be? Brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

Speaker 2 59:10

We were all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light and this is my favorite line as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Yes, when we show up for who we are, for what we've been through, for the struggles we've worked through and we're transparent and authentic, we give people permission to be transparent and authentic and back, and so you can know them, you can know their struggles, you can offer wisdom and pieces to help them move forward and get unstuck. I think that thing of being in transition in life be it kids leaving the house, divorce, job we just sometimes get stuck. I want to help people get unstuck.

Speaker 1 1:00:06

Yes, it's good stuff and on that I think we're. I think it's a great way to wrap up this episode. Brian, you're going to hear more from Brian, co-host of the podcast, and he one of the coaches inside of the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. So if you'd like to learn more, go to DoHardThingsNationcom and just fired up for everything that we're going to build together with Do Hard Things Nation For everyone listening.

Speaker 1 1:00:30

If today's conversation inspired you, just make sure you smash that subscribe button, share this episode with someone who needs it and if you're ready to take your performance to the next level, check out the Do Hard Things Wellness Academy. This is going to be your hub for mindset movement community and you can try it out free for seven days. Seven days, you can try it out. We got a whole bench of coaches list of classes. Try a breathwork session. Go to the mindset call. Go to the movement call. Check us all out. We got a bunch of trainings in there. It's going to be epic and that's it. That's it for this episode. In the meantime, keep doing hard things and we will see you in the next episode.