Starting Monday Podcast
Starting Monday Podcast
The Journey From January Goals to Sustainable Health Habits
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Ever found yourself at the crossroads of wanting to push your limits while still enjoying life's guilty pleasures? Join us, Barry and Matthew, as we shake off the podcasting rust and get candid about our fitness journeys and setting impactful New Year's goals. We're not just talking about the same old resolutions; we're digging into the real stuff, like how to balance indulgence with dedication.
We've all been there—struggling to get out of bed for that early morning spin class or grappling with the decision of whether to hit the gym or the pub. In this heart-to-heart, we chat about spinning, the changing face of fitness trends, and how crucial sleep and hydration are for your well-being. Plus, we reveal the dark side of over-exercising, sharing personal setbacks and the importance of rest, so you can navigate the fine line between commitment and excess without winding up with a tale of swollen testicles—yes, you heard that right!
As we rev up for an epic fitness retreat, we're dissecting the telltale signs of overtraining and the ways to keep your fitness flame burning bright without burning out. It's not just about the workouts; we're discussing everything from the sober-curious Dry January to why short-term dieting may not cut it for long-term gains. Get ready to laugh, learn, and maybe even wince a little with us, as we prepare you to tackle all the adventures 2024 has lined up.
Setting Goals for the New Year
Speaker 1Hey guys , how you doing ? Welcome back to another episode of the Start Monday podcast . It is January 2024 and we are here , myself and Mr Matthew . How you doing , I'm fantastic . How you doing , barry , I'm doing alright , I'm doing good . So it's nice to see you , it's good to be back .
Speaker 2This music is obnoxiously loud , isn't it ?
Speaker 1It is a little bit , I'll bring it down . We're a bit rusty , as always .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1Not quite sticking to our schedules but we hope you guys are sticking to your schedules and you are training well .
Speaker 2Let's just pretend we're like sticking to our schedule . This is what we meant . We meant to leave it for another month before we recorded , didn't we Barry ?
Speaker 1I think we did . Yeah , of course . I mean it's got to the stage where we weren't actually sure .
Speaker 2We've got to stop bringing it up that we didn't record it now we should .
Speaker 1So last time I'm going to mention it . But we didn't know how to start the record button . We didn't know if it was hit it once , twice or hold it down . Yes , we could be speaking to no one right now , and that's good it's a bit like when our members have a big layoff of the gym and they forget what the code is to get in the door . It's a bit like that . It's not a good place to be . It's not locked outside in the cold .
Speaker 2Yeah , barry , what's the ?
Speaker 1code . So how you getting on anyway , matthew , how's the start of the year been for you ? How's Christmas ? Tell us a little bit about where you're at .
Speaker 2How's the start of the year been ? The start of the year's been alright . Actually it's been busy . Obviously , we both work in gyms January , so it's been busy . Lot going on , especially at work , but training wise . Good , I get less hit pay in these days , is it good ? Brilliant , I did a 200 deadly for five , not a PB , but it's respectable . And then over Christmas and all that , I just enjoy myself two times , isn't it ?
Speaker 1That's what you've got to do so . Did you kick back a little bit at Christmas time , not train as much , or were you very consistent ?
Speaker 2No , I trained actually Because I live in town and obviously I had a bit more time off . I got a little two week pass at a gym and I trained there .
Speaker 1A little bit more nights out over December .
Speaker 2Yeah , a little bit more drinking , but not a lot , it's a little bit . Saw the guys a couple of times . Yeah , nice , nice , catch out of people , see people .
Speaker 1So when Christmas and New Year and all that's done out the way for you , is it just another week or just another day , or do you feel like it is the turn of a new page or whatever ?
Speaker 2Do you know how a lot of people are like that yeah , I know what you mean , but no , it's just another day , just wake up and do my usual stuff on a matter of routine , so nothing changes . I guess I maybe have a think in terms of fitness goals . Maybe that's probably a good question . So I'd probably sit and go oh , what would I like to achieve this year ? But I would say last year , because of my injuries and all that , I didn't really get anywhere near to achieving what I wanted to . So maybe I was a bit more relaxed with my fitness goals this year , but no , it's just another day , isn't it Another day ?
Speaker 1Oh , definitely , I try and just keep fairly consistent through December , not treat it like any other different month . But inevitably , once you take that time off work , the calories build up , the alcohol starts to increase .
Speaker 2That's when the training is good , though , isn't it ?
Speaker 1The training drops a little bit because you're not , it's got all those calories and stuff .
Speaker 2Great workouts , don't you ? I do actually find around Christmas I'll probably hit the most PBs , usually in my training , because I'd better sleep . More time off , more food , hit some PBs . How was your start of the year being ? You've been away . You were in London . Good Guys already had a holiday . It's month number one . He's already away .
Speaker 1I wasn't a holiday A couple of days away . I'm allowed that .
Speaker 2How many days away were you ?
Speaker 1Just two .
Speaker 2We only wait for two days , was that it ? Yeah , just the weekend in London , two fair flights were very cheaper , weren't they ?
Speaker 1They were quite reasonable . For once I thought All right how much British Airways as well .
Speaker 2Oh , heathrow , I can't remember . Honestly , I can't remember . It was about that , yeah , but that's decent , I think for . I'm going down next month guess how much for flights . I'm flying to Luton , obviously a lovely place 44 quid .
Speaker 1A bit more difficult to get in the town from there , though 44 quid .
Speaker 2No , you don't Get a bus to the train station . Jump on a train . That's a good price , that's well worth it .
Speaker 1Yeah , for me I always just sort of think , yeah , like you said there , what I want to achieve in 2024 . Because I do think setting some goals at the start of the year is quite useful , quite important .
Speaker 2But do you have ? Obviously we spoke before and you're doing your Hierarchs event , so do you have any other goals ? Yeah , I'll set myself a little mini-goals , you might go on what you got my mic's dropping , sorry guys , my mic's slowly falling .
Speaker 1It's falling off the edge of the thing .
Speaker 2Oh my God , fix it . I'm trying .
Speaker 1I'll waffle while you're fixing your mic . Okay , I'm going to try .
Speaker 2Wait , can you ? You know what , barry ? Go mute me for a second . You can waffle and I'll be muted , so you can .
Speaker 1You're muted , he's off . So as Matthew fixes his mic and tries not to break anything else that we are using in with our setup , I'll tell you about my 2024 goals . So , as you know , I did a Hierarchs last year , so big goal is to do another one this year , probably at the end of the year , a Hierarchs solo , and hopefully improve on that time , which I think is quite a good training goal , gives me good motivation to stay consistent throughout the year . But I've really been wanting to climb some Monroe's . I've only actually ever climbed one Monroe which is kind of like quite pathetic being a personal trainer from Arredine's shirt and I've only climbed one Monroe . So I've climbed Mount Keen , but the aim is to do at least four this year . So hopefully I'll bring you back in Matthew .
Speaker 2Yeah , fixed it , I fixed it , I fixed it .
Speaker 1Hopefully Matthew can come with me and we'll climb Monroe's together . What do you think ?
Speaker 2What .
Speaker 1Monroe , any Monroe .
Speaker 2So you climbed Mount .
Speaker 1Keen . I've only climbed one , so I'd like to climb a few more . I've climbed zero .
Speaker 2So you know what I'll climb Monroe . Yes , one up on you Climbing .
Speaker 1Monroe . I just think it's a good goal to set . I might do more than four , but going by , like we said , we're going to do four episodes in December . We did one , so I'll keep I'll keep .
Speaker 2Well , technically , we did two , didn't we ? Because we jumped on . Oh yeah , we did , you're a lovely friends podcast as well , don't we ?
Speaker 1Yeah , we should probably plug that . We were on the Journey Home podcast , which is on YouTube .
Speaker 2It is on YouTube .
Speaker 1The interviewed myself and Matthew .
Speaker 2How did you feel getting filmed ?
Speaker 1Fine , I quite liked it . I was fine with it .
Speaker 2You feel like they got your good side .
Speaker 1I had to put on a better jumper if I was thinking about it first before I got down .
Speaker 2Yes , same , I would have dressed more appropriately .
Speaker 1We were both wearing blue , so we kind of clashed .
Speaker 2I came just from work and I was pretty tired . I just chucked on whatever .
Speaker 1Anyway , another goal I've got this year . Actually , Matthew , I've noticed that my pull-ups have got pretty poor over the last few months . I don't know why , just maybe not being programming them in as much .
Speaker 2What would you categorize as poor ? Like that Poor , yeah , it's poor , it's not poor . You know that right .
Speaker 1Poor is like a poor milk . No , no , no . So I've actually , don't you ?
Speaker 2start , don't you start . I've had this conversation with a client . We checked it , we checked it . You poor something , you're poor something .
Speaker 1I'm sorry , Matthew , but we're not going to waste five minutes speaking nonsense . Guys , guys , guys , guys , guys . This is non-sense .
Speaker 2Look it up , research it it's poor , right Okay , continue .
Speaker 1We'll say a different word to poor right . We'll say pathetic , Okay .
Speaker 2Oh , you're saying like poor Okay , you're confusing me now . Yeah , okay , continue , yeah , poor Anyway .
Speaker 1As in someone's poor . I get what you're saying . It could be poor or poor . Yeah , I don't know Anyway is to do 20 unassisted body weight weight , arm pull ups . Like in a row In a row 20 . I could do it 20 is brutal . I'll be honest with you . I'm glad you think it's a good goal . Then If you did , 20 , I'd be impressed . I know , I know it's a tough goal Like full range .
Speaker 2I think the most I've done full range oh , maybe like 14 . That's when I was a lot lighter . Obviously can't do it now , what can you ? Do now ? I could probably do like . I think maybe like I could , I'd like to say I could push 10 , but probably like nine .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2I could do a set of eight , so I'm about eight , nine , just now . Of like overhand wide grip .
Speaker 1Yeah .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , probably eight or nine .
Speaker 1But I'm going to push it . I'm going to speak to you in December 2024 . And I'm going to show you a little video of me doing 20 .
Speaker 2There , you go Okay , all right , cool , no , I love that . Yeah , that's a good goal , that's a good goal .
Speaker 1Other than that , that's a bit really just be healthy .
Speaker 2Couple of minerals , couple of rocks . Build that consistency . Do high rocks ?
Speaker 1I kind of go through periods where my nutrition is really good and then it falls off a little bit . Really good Falls off a little bit , and I know that is probably like what most people are like , but I would really like to just get a little bit more consistency throughout the year with it . Do you know what ?
Speaker 2I mean yeah , yeah , yeah . What's your goal then in terms of do you have a body fat level ?
Speaker 1No , not necessarily More , just like wanting to be healthy and just wanting to look after yourself . Look after myself , make sure I'm eating good , healthy food , good sources of protein , good sources of carbohydrates , good sources of fats , limiting all the sort of junk that comes into our diet over the year , and I'm not saying that it's definitely unhealthy to like restrict things and I would never do that .
Speaker 2Cause , you know , I like a bag of crisps .
Speaker 1I like a pint of beer , but I would like to , you know , have a more nutrient diet , so to speak . Nutrient dense , nutrient dense diet , sorry .
Speaker 2But now I would probably say you look after yourself quite well and you probably have quite a good balance . As it is right , you still go out have a drink .
Speaker 1You're quite lean .
Speaker 2Yeah , thank you . Quite fit . Probably way better balance than me . It is probably pretty good . It is pretty good as it is .
Speaker 1That's just something that I like . I think probably a lot of us are working on as we're getting older . I mean , we're all trying to you know , better our lifestyle in some way . Yeah , so that we enjoy our lives for longer .
Speaker 2Right , valid . All I want to do is just be strong again .
Speaker 1You're just obsessed with lifting weights , are you ?
Speaker 2I like lifting weights . Yeah , yeah , but I've been so injured . I just want to get back to a level where I was like you know what good weights yeah , I'm not at that .
Speaker 1So your focus is going to be on , you know , staying injury free . Just what can you do differently in your training ?
Speaker 2I would say I've changed something already and my hips are a lot better .
Speaker 1Tell us about it .
Speaker 2I was . I don't want to bad mouth any classes , but I was teaching a class and , to be fair , the people at my gym come to my classes . No , this class bothers me , not like I don't mind doing it and I enjoy doing it .
Speaker 1Why did you go to it if it bothers you . It's a spin , spin you teach , spin , I did yeah . No , we don't teach it now , do you yeah ?
Speaker 2last year I did like four spin classes a week , lemme know , and I meant I do it because I cover or I help out , and you know what I mean . It's my job . It's my job and I will still cover and help out what I need to . But recently I haven't been teaching them and I haven't been required to , and my hip is so much better , like so much better . It's not like pain free yet , but it's getting every day , it's getting better . You know what I mean .
Speaker 1Crazy .
Speaker 2Crazy one thing in your training . If you just like change , it can make such a big difference . But yeah , spin .
Speaker 1And is there anything else that aggravates these little injuries you get , or is there anything you could do differently ?
Speaker 2I think I spoke about before , like I had a back injury when I was young and since then , and now when I get in my back , we're just going to spasm and that's it .
Speaker 1Is there anything in your training that you could be better at ?
Speaker 2Well , it's probably directly linked to going heavier , right ? So if I wanted to give up lifting heavy , would my hip and back be better ? Yes , do I want to do that ?
Speaker 1No , Well , sometimes you've got to have a happy medium somewhere .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , we all have our crutches .
Discussion on Fitness and Lifestyle Challenges
Speaker 1Yeah , talking about taking spin , I used to , obviously , years ago and years ago I used to take spin .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1I used to have to do the Monday morning six , six , 15 am Spin class every Monday , and that was back in the day when I used to really enjoy my Saturday nights . I'd be hanging all Sunday and I'd be , petrified about going in and doing that .
Speaker 2That time in the morning for like a spin . They just look at you . Well , nobody communicates until that spin class is finished . Yeah , no one speaks . Nobody speaks , everyone's just like looking at you and they're like guys , you ready ? And they're like , yeah , okay , let's go .
Speaker 1If anyone knows me , I'm not the best communicator . At six am in the morning and six am on a Monday morning . That's probably really bad . Yeah , yeah , yeah , it's probably like grunt at them , put the machine , put the music on , got on the bike and then transformed myself in the hour spin class and then by the time it's finished , everybody's happy as well .
Speaker 2Did you do an hour spin class ?
Speaker 1I can't remember what it was . It was probably 30 minutes then .
Speaker 2We do 30 these days . We used to do 45 , but COVID , we cut to 30 for like getting more classes .
Speaker 1We used to be more hardcore 15 years ago . Everyone's gone a bit soft and well , you know classes last 10 minutes .
Speaker 2Everyone's gone a little bit soft classes last 10 minutes .
Speaker 1To be fair .
Speaker 2it's true , Everything's quick and fast these days .
Speaker 1Did you ever take body pump ?
Speaker 2No , I've participated in body pump . I've never took it , but I am grit qualified in Les Mills , grit , grit , and we do barbell classes , but they're more like lifting than there are body pump , where it's quite fast and a lot of pulses and all that . We do barbell classes where we have they're doing exercises , but more properly , if that makes sense . So that's good .
Speaker 1We enjoy them . It's good to do all these classes and being instruct in different .
Speaker 2I love classes . I think they're great , like you do boot camps right , anything like that , like community based . There's a lot of banter , a lot of chat Love that .
Speaker 1I took part in today's boot camp . By the way , I'll with the members .
Speaker 2Did you do posting ?
Speaker 1Don't need to , don't need to show off all the time .
Speaker 2I like how you usually do me .
Speaker 1Don't need to show off all the time . Sometimes I'm working and people don't know about it .
Speaker 2You know To be fair . Actually , you know what I need to get better at posting these days on Instagram about actual stuff . I do . I've noticed that .
Speaker 1Yeah , because , if I look at you right , you're social media .
Speaker 2All I see you do is squat deadlift bench .
Speaker 1You know , you vary the angles from now again , which is really good .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah , I should film like whole workouts and then film my clients mornings and just so people have some more content they can expect or get motivated by but yeah , I think we're all a bit lazy . You know what says you Actually ? No wait , you're better these days . You're better than I am .
Speaker 1I'm thinking about it , I'm all right . Anyway , what's good ? What could be better with your lifestyle just now , Matthew ? For example ? For me , I could definitely be better with my weekends . I'd say that my weekends have sort of tailed off a little bit towards the end of last year and I haven't sort of really picked up on them . How do you mean ? Well , just like you know , bottles of wine , that sort of stuff .
Speaker 2Okay , like drinking alcohol , that sort of stuff , yeah , like .
Speaker 1I think it's good to have a chat and say like you know , where are we doing good , what could we do better ? I always have this conversation with my clients . You know , let's look at what we're doing really well . Just now You're hitting your three or four sessions a week . Brilliant , you've got you're building that great consistency and you're training . You know what's not going so well . Okay , your sleep has been a bit of an issue that sort of thing . How can we address that ? For me as well , sleep probably hasn't been that good .
Speaker 2I can relate to that right now . My sleep's not been too great .
Speaker 1I always find that if sleep's not good , it's like a domino effect . All other stuff round about it , it's just shot , you know .
Speaker 2Oh , yeah , 100% Like you train worse because you're tired . I feel like you eat more because you're tired , yes , and then if you I'm not sure , but if you have a bad workout I put you off a little bit and like , oh , can't be bothered .
Speaker 1So , it's demotivating as a whole and that kind of will be tied back to things like yeah , sleep so even like , just like addressing sleep is like so important and like that could be like the one thing that you change , that you make with yourself or with your client . That three or four weeks down the line you haven't changed anything else , but everything else is starting to be better .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , 100% , yeah , yeah .
Speaker 1They're starting to choose better foods . They're feeling more energy .
Speaker 2Feeling better , training better they're going outside more .
Speaker 1They're moving more .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So I always think sleep and maybe you're walking and your daily activity are so , hand in hand , it's kind of the boring stuff , isn't it ?
Speaker 2Like the things to go , oh , it's not that important Makes a big difference .
Speaker 1Exactly because if we were going to mention , like , what should people do in January to sort of get themselves going again , it is quite a boring chat but like you go on social media , you see everyone's telling you the same things . But it is literally things like drink more water , start the day with a pint of water , focus on your hydration , prioritize your sleep , get outside , get fresh air , get walking , get moving . And these are three really simple things . But if you nail them , your diet and your training will probably , you know come back in .
Speaker 2So what are you finding with your sleep then , right now ? What's bad about it ? What's the issue ?
Speaker 1Well , I wasn't sleeping . Are you staying up later ? Yeah , it's easy . Well , that's what I do is go on .
Speaker 2I do feel like over the winter period , because it's dark all the time , even when it's like 11 o'clock at night , you're sitting there going oh I , still dark . It was dark at five o'clock , it was dark at six in the morning , so , like you don't notice the difference , do you have that day like waking you up and then the night time comes , you go , oh , it's bedtime now , do you ? It's constantly dark , so I've been bad for like staying up , probably a bit too late .
Speaker 1No , I've been bad for watching things like things on Netflix and that Watching things . And then no , I didn't want to say series because I knew I can't say it .
Speaker 2What are you watching ?
Speaker 1Well , I was watching the Kin .
Speaker 2I'm actually interested because I didn't want to watch Kin Kin .
Speaker 1K-I-N , and then I've actually the second season I was watching as well . Okay , On a fire stick .
Speaker 2Did you watch that film Salt Burn that everyone's chatting about ?
Speaker 1So is it called .
Speaker 2Salt Burn .
Speaker 1No .
Speaker 2Have you seen it ? It's on Netflix . No , it's not on Netflix , it's on Amazon . It's very weird . Well , it's not very weird .
Speaker 1I was also watching Gangs of London as well .
Speaker 2Gangs of London .
Speaker 1So binging a little bit on these things , scrolling through social media , these are things that if I address quite quickly , I know that I'll start training better , choosing better foods and probably sleeping better .
Speaker 2I feel like I've been working quite late as well , working quite late dark days , just haven't been sleeping as well . Maybe it's like half 12 , one o'clock in the morning . I'm like , oh , I'm going to bed now . I'm like this is pretty irresponsible . I should have been sleeping like two hours ago .
Speaker 1So you've obviously seen loads of people come into your gym . Your gym's a lot busier . We're a lot busier as well , just not that we've picked up lots and lots of new members or anything like that , but it's more just been a lot of the members that maybe weren't as consistent .
Speaker 2Yeah , or coming up , coming up again .
Speaker 1They've started dialing down a little bit more and getting their sessions in that sort of thing , which is really really good . Have you had a lot of people come to you for nutritional advice or diet advice , or do you know people that are doing diets or this sort of stuff ? Or what do you think about dieting in general ?
Speaker 2There's been a bigger uptake in like , well , yeah , we're probably similar . We've had a lot . We're busier mainly because a lot of people are coming back or motivated again , being like , oh , it's started the year , getting back into it . Obviously , we've had an increase in members , but it's not probably our busiest January
Exploring Dry January and Diets
Speaker 2in terms of that . But have people been approaching me more ? Possibly ? Yeah , yeah , I would probably say so , but I'm trying to think because what do you think of when you're working like ?
Speaker 210 , 12 hours . It's all blended into one , isn't it ? People just asking you questions . You answer them . Try to think if I've been busier .
Speaker 1Are you not going to be doing dry January ? Or is it vegan , vegan-ury , whatever ?
Speaker 2Well , if I was meant to be doing dry January , I've failed already , haven't I Like ? No , I do like people do dry January . I actually saw sorry this is off topic a little bit , but I saw a clip today of a Liverpool fan who was in the pub and he's getting interviewed . Oh , what do you think about Jurgen Klopp's leaving ? And he was like I'm just so upset . I was doing dry January , but I just had to have a pipe , so he's quite as well . I do like people who do it , though . I think it's good change in habits , right . So if you're drinking a lot in December , then kind of cold turkey it , but I don't drink much as it is . I think you drink more than I do , don't you ? No , I don't Got my bottles of high at the weekend , eh .
Speaker 1It's never a bad thing for you to go through a period of not drinking . Let's put it that way . So you know on that front it's probably pretty good and I know people do it in . I was at October as well , sober October or something Is that a thing there as well ?
Speaker 2I don't know , I think it rhymes . Yeah , let's make it , why not ?
Speaker 1But it's also a lot of shit , is it Like ? I mean , like you know what's the point if you're just gonna get tanked up December and February ?
Speaker 2Yeah , then at least for one of the months here , all right , the other 11 , you might be crap , but at least one year , okay , yeah . But what did you achieve from doing that ? I think it's because December's so heavy that then January cold turkey it . By February people aren't going out as much , and then suddenly it's summer and you can start drinking again .
Speaker 1I would probably say it is a good thing .
Speaker 2As a whole . I would probably have to , I'd have to be devil's advocate here . I'd argue against you that I do actually quite like it . I feel like a bit of cold turkey is not a bad thing , even if it's just for a month .
Speaker 1It might break some habits . Like I said , it's never gonna be a bad thing , but If you're an alcoholic .
Speaker 2You're gonna go back on February .
Speaker 1It's just going through that . It's similar to that cycle of dieting . Stop diet , gain weight dieting . Lose a little bit weight . Stop diet , gain weight . Do you know what I mean ?
Speaker 2It's like .
Speaker 1What are you learning from it ? What are you teaching yourself ?
Speaker 2There is a mad stat with that . There's like 90% of people who diet will put that weight back on Exactly . That's crazy , isn't it ?
Speaker 1So I think , if you're doing like a dry January , trying like it's great that you're doing it .
Speaker 2Maybe things .
Speaker 1February . You're maybe doing it because you have an issue with alcohol or something like that , which .
Speaker 2We're not saying you do , but you might .
Speaker 1But take away something from it like how did it make me feel Like , what did I enjoy about it , how did it affect my performance in the gym , how did it affect my life in general , how did it affect my sleep , how did it affect my energy levels , my choices with food , that sort of stuff , my body composition , and take some positives from it and then try and continue that into , like the other months of the year . You don't have to go like you don't have to go like in the cold turkey or here .
Speaker 2So rather , it's just January or February , you go . How am I gonna maintain this sort of habit ? Maybe I'll drink once every two weeks . You know what I mean . You're gonna maintain it rather than yeah , it's going back to wagging .
Speaker 1Exactly , or maybe ask yourself like what are my reasons for drinking ? Is it because I feel a certain way ? Is it because I'm meeting up with friends that I haven't seen for a while and it's about having a good time , or you know what I mean ?
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1So it's like I sometimes think people I work with , that I try and coach , and things like that , you know they're drinking too much and stopping them from achieving the things that they really want to achieve . So , therefore , you need to sort of , you know , look at the reasons why you're doing X , y and Z .
Speaker 2People also don't realise how much it's impacting their life as well . Right , probably don't realise it's making an impact . I don't drink much at all . I had two gins two weeks ago . So my mum got me a bottle of gin for Christmas and I woke up and more and my head was killing me . I was like , wow , I do not drink much , but I'm a social drinker . I'll go out with my mates and like , have one or two , you know , but then I'll probably go to diet coke after that . I'm not one for binge drinking .
Speaker 1So after this , you fancy going to the pub Start the corner .
Speaker 2yeah , why not ? Why not ? I'll have a large diet coke .
Speaker 1Well , I'll talk about drinking , Maybe .
Speaker 2Thursday .
Speaker 1Yeah , but I'm trying to relate the dry January thing to like you know diets , Like you know , I always think as well , like if your diet is like excluding like a major food group , like carbohydrates or really low carbohydrates or fat or really low fat , or you're not eating a lot of like proper food , you're just having shakes and things like that . It's kind of for me , that's not something that I would entertain personally for myself or get a lot of my clients to entertain , because what they learn from that Do you know ?
Speaker 1what I mean yeah yeah , yeah , I tell you what they learn from it is they learn from it that when they do this cycle of extreme eating , they lose a lot of weight , but when they stop and they go back to like their normal eating , they gain a lot of weight . So they think that they can only lose weight if they do these extreme things .
Speaker 2They probably build like a hatred towards certain food groups . So you said if someone eliminates carbs and they lose weight , they go . All carbs are evil . Now .
Speaker 2And whenever they probably eat carbs , they feel bad . I shouldn't really be having that , it's bad . But yeah , you're right , people yo-yo quite a lot . It's probably like that bit between like the diet , so what you do , and then the bit afterwards where you try and reintroduce things . So you said , like , if you are going to drink , how are you going to reintroduce that ? If you did eliminate carbs , how are you going to reintroduce carbohydrates without you then just going back to where you were before and putting all the weight back on and rinse and repeating over and over again . As I said , I think it is like some like 90% I think it's overnight percent of people who lose weight through a diet will just put it back on . It's just brutal .
Speaker 1Exactly . It's a huge statistic . It's a scary stat , to be fair , and I think , like generally , diets don't work . I prefer to look at your nutrition and just generally and make general changes and adaptations week to week so that when you can look back , say six months down the line , you don't feel like you've been on a diet , but you can tell the difference between your nutrition now to what it was before . It looks different , it feels different , you've made results and it's more sustainable .
Speaker 2You get where I'm coming from , Matthew . How do you feel about like unhealthy exercise habits then People who possibly do too much exercise or over train or kind of run themselves into the ground ?
Speaker 1It's probably not as many people out there as we think that are probably in that category , but I think it's a pretty .
The Negative Effects of Over-Exercising
Speaker 1I think it's a good thing to speak about , because from the time that I've been in the industry , I've definitely witnessed quite a lot of people that have been in that sort of loop . Yeah , yeah , like what are you specifically ?
Speaker 2referring to . Yeah , so people going to , I kind of see it a lot , probably with more , more class goers .
Speaker 1Folger at home are sitting going , definitely not me .
Speaker 2Yeah , but like class goers you might see people You've been once in the last two weeks they come into .
Speaker 2they go to the gym like six , seven days a week and they feel like they've got to burn calories every day , they've got to work out every day and then , as we were saying , before they come home they're fatigued , they don't sleep well , and then they're just in the cycle of constantly being tired and constantly exercising and then not really achieving their goals . But if you're that tired , you're inherently probably pretty miserable at the same time . So I was saying in aspects of like taking time off , recovering and then going back into it . I've done it in the past , especially when I got like first into lifting . I was training like seven days a week and then you don't realize what you're doing . You're like , oh no , let's go in and do something light , and then Do you've you've been in this ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I've trained like six , seven days a week and it's been tired and you don't really achieve like , for example , my strength wasn't really going up as fast it probably should . I wasn't probably gaining as much muscle as I probably could if I was recovering properly and you're stuck in this loop , being going oh no , I need to train so then I can get stronger , and or I can get fair and you're just going round and round and round . And I want to bring it up because I feel like a lot of people out there take your rest days . If you're training like seven days a week , just calm down a little bit as well .
Speaker 1No , there's two things that annoy me the most is people that don't do anything , and that you know , complain about not getting the results and but they're extremely lazy , so like they're at one end of the scale and another , the people at the far end of the scale that are just constantly doing everything , and then also morning that they're not getting the results . But you know , it's just , it's that middle ground , exactly , you know . You know you do stay away from the extreme ends and try and get yourself into the sort of middle middle zone . I've definitely been in that situation once that I can think of , and that was when I was when I first started my my own business on myself . I was training for the New York marathon . I was still doing like a lot of like classes to earn extra money , like teaching body pumps , spin , that sort of stuff , doing personal training from from my own business , which is quite stressful anyway , playing football for a team and also just training my weight , Because I was like .
Speaker 1I know , because I was like I need to keep strong and I need to make building muscle and all this sort of stuff , and I actually got myself into a bit of a mess . I ended up getting these allergic reactions at the time . I didn't know the reasons behind it , I just thought probably my retrition wasn't too good at this time as well . I started to get like like a swollen , swollen lip or a swollen tongue or things like that . Yeah , and a couple of times it was quite scary because you know , if you wake up during middle of the night and your tongue's swollen , what are you panicking ?
Speaker 2Why , what happened ?
Speaker 1Why are you ?
Speaker 2getting this Exactly ?
Speaker 1I don't know if I'm training or I'm just swollen tongue . Well , it was just . I'm trying to get to it , I'm trying to explain it .
Speaker 1You know , I had no idea what was going on , I thought there was something not right with me . I thought I had an allergic reaction , some of eating or something like that . Initially that's what I thought . So I was in hospital first few times and I think it was an anti-histamine plus a steroid injection sorted it out and then you go back , you're back to normal within a few hours , whatever . But I kept happening over and over again . But the weird thing was it was like a different place in my body each time . It was initially just like my lip or my tongue , but that was quite scary , actually your tongue's swelling up , because it was like , if you don't address this quickly , it's going to keep getting bigger . You know .
Speaker 2Your whole body would just be a tongue .
Speaker 1It's going to be that big , so over the course of a period right , obviously , I started to see a doctor and things like that and get like blood tests and tests of everything I wouldn't say you're just doing too much bicep curls , I'm going to get to that . You just put down the dumbbells , I'm going to get to that , but there's a couple of funny bits before we get there .
Speaker 2So yeah , my eyelid was swollen , my chin- I've never seen someone with a swollen chin before .
Speaker 1Anywhere , there's like soft tissue to my feet . I actually went to the hospital once because I couldn't get my feet inside shoes .
Speaker 2There's one more . God , you're just like an old man . You've got this water retention everywhere .
Speaker 1I go one more . What else my testicles Honestly mate . It was a bad time , but anyway it turned out . I wasn't allergic to anything . They couldn't find anything wrong with me . They did a lot of blood tests and all this sort of stuff . Everything was really normal or healthy , but I was just like extremely stressed .
Speaker 2It was like a what was pure stress Possible ?
Speaker 1stress , over-exercise , over-exertion , like putting my body through too much things mentally and physically at that time . That's the explanation I got . Anyway , I was given some medication to take on a permanent basis which would sort this out . And then I took it for like maybe nine months or something and I was like I just feel different . You know in yourself you feel different , yeah , like I just stopped taking it and it never , ever came back , and that's probably like I don't know 50 , 50 years ago .
Speaker 2Well , you're meant to take the medication forever .
Speaker 1Well , go back and get more when it runs out , that sort of thing , and keep it going .
Speaker 2I'd probably like making an appointment or whatever , but so I was saying , guys , if you over exercise , you're going to be tired and you should look after yourself and take some days off . Bari exercise is so hard , it's testicle . It's like fucking massive . That's crazy . That's the worst thing I've heard Over exercising . It started like ballooning up in random areas .
Speaker 1And it never happened ever again , like it was just like almost I felt like I don't feel , like I felt different .
Speaker 2Is that your cue ? If it ever happens again , you're like , oh God , you need to take a few days off .
Speaker 1If anyone's listened to this and this has ever happened to you , then we should like create a focus group .
Speaker 2Let us know , Focus group make a Facebook group . We can chat about it , our experience .
Speaker 1No , but it's a bit weird , is it ?
Speaker 2Yeah , that's random man .
Speaker 1It is a bit random .
Speaker 2It's quite interesting Cut
Overtraining Signs and Fitness Retreats Discussion
Speaker 2.
Speaker 1Long story short . Sorry if that bore you to death there , but I think it was to do with doing too much Like so much , like you know , and yeah , you were asking about that , so I thought I would speak about it .
Speaker 2Yeah , valid .
Speaker 1Good story , but in general signs that you're doing too much . What could we say ? They were Fatigue , low energy .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah . And especially if you feel like you have an unhealthy habit , if you're feeling guilty about not exercising on a day . You have an unhealthy habit around that Like you shouldn't feel guilty for taking a day off .
Speaker 1Yeah , that's kind of almost a different conversation altogether , isn't it yeah ?
Speaker 2But I think it's a link , because if you're feeling guilty , people then go exercise . You know what I mean . It is a vicious cycle , trouble sleeping . Yeah , that's what I mean .
Speaker 1Like you won't sleep , right , and then Generally like if your performance is dropping , you know , or your results are reversed .
Speaker 2I remember when I was doing it and I was over training and it's like you go in and you're not hitting the numbers and you feel like , oh , it's because I haven't been training hard enough , rather than I'm not taking the time off . And again it's in that cycle of just going round and round and round .
Speaker 1Well , if your week's got no rest days or you're doing double sessions , you know , three or four times a week , you're probably doing too much .
Speaker 2Yeah , 100% . Do you have double sessions ?
Speaker 1Um ages ago when I was younger , when I read that it was it was good for hypertrophy , so yeah , but probably didn't back up with the right nutrition .
Speaker 2I wish I could say , people would just purely work on mine , If I had like more time . I could never do that .
Speaker 1Yeah , um , no , it's interesting to speak about and hopefully , hopefully , someone out there at least laughed at my balls swelling .
Speaker 2I think it's a good story . Do you want a random story that's actually linked to testicles ? I met a guy he's he's ace . He's such a lovely guy , he's my first ever client and we still keep up with each other and like now and again . But I bumped into him and say and we just say I was like oh hey , how are you getting on ? And he was like I've got swollen testicles .
Speaker 2Basically , he's like look , I like a couple of weeks off Um had a massive growth my testicle . I have to get it removed . I was like okay , thanks for sharing , thanks for that man . He's like no , put it live .
Speaker 1And you've just shared it with the 12 people that tune into this podcast 12 people . So what's uh , what's happening um this weekend for you , matthew ? Anything exciting ?
Speaker 2No , it's a good answer . Just end the podcast . Um , what do I ? I'm training tomorrow ? I train every Sunday . I like training Sunday . Well , I used to work on Sundays and then I would train after working , and now I've just kept up that I train on a Sunday , um , and then today we're . This is a Saturday right now , guys , and we are filming the podcast , and I've had a productive day . I've been doing not filming it , but film recording it , god . And then , uh , well , we felt to be fair , we filmed the last one , uh , with your lovely friend , um , and then , just a choice of day , I'm just going to chill out . Tonight I think you watch a film I don't train on a .
Speaker 2Sunday .
Speaker 1I very seldomly train on a Sunday .
Speaker 2Yeah , but you have a family , though it's very different , isn't ?
Speaker 1it , yeah , but I don't , I don't like training Sunday . Anyway , I don't think .
Speaker 2I just built habit . Yeah , I , I usually wouldn't train on a Sunday , but now I do , I'll train on a Saturday though I like a Saturday .
Speaker 1I think you know always played football on a Saturday . I always feel like you know exercising on Saturday is a good thing . Yeah , I get this , it's habitual though , isn't it ?
Speaker 2So it's like your habit is a Saturday morning training . I would never train on a Sunday otherwise , but now I just do , and it means I get the on a Friday . I don't have to train , which is quite nice . I get to just work and get stuff done . Quite productive at work now because I've got more time to do stuff , which is quite good .
Speaker 1Did you see that we're running on our fitness retreat ?
Speaker 2Have I seen where you're running your fitness retreat ?
Speaker 1Did you did ? Did you see my Instagram posts about running another fitness retreat ?
Speaker 2Yeah , you told me about it ages ago .
Speaker 1Yeah , I just wanted an excuse to speak of it .
Speaker 2I will say , without plugging it , I the the gym setup looks fantastic .
Speaker 1Looks good .
Speaker 2Cause I remember you went out there . You were telling me you were going out there and you sent me pictures and I kind of get this . What like racks underneath , isn't it ? And then it's got racks in , the like it's got a gym area on top and it's got racks under as well .
Speaker 1Yes , it's got . It's like two levels . And who got curious or who owns it , Like Well , it was a guy , a guy from Bristol actually .
Speaker 2Okay , yeah .
Speaker 1And him , and his him and his wife .
Speaker 2He must have stupid money .
Speaker 1He's worked super hard to like build this , this retreat location , which is beautiful .
Speaker 2Is it built for retreats , or is he built it in them ? Oh , let's do some retreats .
Speaker 1No , I think . I think he's built it with retreats in mind , but what does he work , as this is what they do , full time .
Speaker 2Oh , that's what they do for retreats and all that sort of stuff .
Speaker 1And , like you know um , obviously they can . You can sell Airbnb and stuff at their place .
Speaker 2Ah right , Okay , yeah , yeah , cause the gym setup's like brilliant , like guys I don't only have , like . It's like there's four or five racks underneath , isn't it ? If you're interested , guys , two or three in the main gym as well .
Speaker 1Just drop me an email personaltrainingatbarrystevencom or contact me on any of my social media channels . I'll give you all the details and you can come along . It's seven days .
Speaker 2It looks crap , it looks terrible .
Speaker 1Seven days , october , 11th October , the 18th 2024 . Portugal , 90 minutes from Porto . It's very rustic , it's in a farm environment , but very nice , really good accommodation , great training facilities , Swampool , Sauna , Jacuzzi right by the river , If you like .
Speaker 2Will you do day trips to Porto ?
Speaker 1No oh .
Speaker 2No .
Speaker 1It'll be like we'll be on site and we might go somewhere a little bit local , but no , but there'll be the . There's a good chance that you could finish your holiday in Porto .
Speaker 2Is it nice ?
Speaker 1I want a good Porto , yeah , porto is so nice , the city of Porto , beautiful . So for me I'll probably do the retreat for seven days and then I'll spend two or three days in Porto and then come home .
Speaker 2Where'd you fly from ?
Speaker 1Edinburgh .
Speaker 2Also . Yeah , yeah , I've seen some flights to Porto from there .
Speaker 1But would you ever go on a Finnish retreat , Matthew ? Would it be up your street ?
Speaker 2Would I ever go on a Finnish retreat ? That's a great question , really thinking about it . Is it my cup of tea ? Probably not , as in , if I was going to go to exercise , if I was going to go and do it , I was like , oh , I really want to do that . No , probably not . I like a city break . I like my holidays for holiday sake .
Speaker 1Okay , I get that .
Speaker 2I appreciate it , but I also sort of get them as a whole . I think it's a really good experience .
Speaker 1There is a lot of people out there that really they like those sort of holidays . They also like family holidays , but they enjoy going on a sort of different holiday experience .
Speaker 2Yeah , 100% . I'm at a stage in my life where it's like I'm single , I don't have a family , I can just go city breaks and all that . So that's for me right now . That's what holidaying is . But in 20 years time or 15 years time or 10 years , if I had a family and things like that and I am really into fitness would I want to go on one ? Yeah , probably be very different . Maybe I would . Yeah . So especially with spending time with you , Barry .
Speaker 1Exactly , you come along , so you just sort of let us know that you're single .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1He's moving away from me . What's the question ? He's giving me the chop the head off ?
Speaker 2What's the question ? What's the ?
Speaker 1question Do you use that online dating sites and stuff like that ?
Speaker 2I don't really know what they're called or how they work . I've got two apps .
Speaker 1You're on two . What are they ? Come on tell us . This might lead to something .
Speaker 2I'm on Tinder , I'm on a hinge , I'm on Tinder .
Speaker 1You're on Tinder and you're on hinge .
Speaker 2And I will say why do you call that hinge ? You know what Good question ? I don't know .
Speaker 1Weird .
Speaker 2Because it's it's you require a hinge to open a door . Look at that . That's quite good , wasn't it ? Maybe it is , but my thing is people always said to me my mates tell me like you need to put yourself out there and I will chat to nobody on these apps .
Speaker 1So you won't chat to people online ? No , would you chat to people in the pub ? Yes , you're more of a traditional guy I am a traditional guy .
Speaker 2I like meeting people and speaking to people and then getting to know them . I find that better . But would I speak to people on like dating apps ? No , why I just ? I don't know you .
Speaker 1Why ? You don't know me , it sounds general .
Speaker 2Whenever I've used it in the past , it's always such a general chat . I'm on it purely for an ego boost , barry , you go on and go . Oh , they like me . I'm not bad looking and I went . Ah , yep , can move on with my day now . Is there not one where my my best , the guy I was best man for at the wedding I went to in September ? He met his wife through Tinder .
Speaker 1Okay .
Speaker 2So it does work . It does work . He's she's still saved , as I think it's Tinder babe on his phone , which I brought up at the wedding . I said thank God you're keeping first names out of it to keep your options open .
Speaker 1So have you had dates on off off of this ? No , never .
Speaker 2No , no , no , no . Maybe not never , maybe one or two , but don't forget , I've had what I've probably had like one or two serious girlfriends in the last like 10 years , so I've been on dating apps for a while and I would not a day off of Tinder . I think one or two .
Speaker 1So dating app where the woman makes a first move , Bumble I think yeah , bumble . You match and the girls go and speak first you just Because you're not doing anything .
Speaker 2Barry , it's the guys . It's the worst chat . It's the worst chat . It's the worst Okay .
Speaker 1It's like oh , they're like they're like , how are you ?
Speaker 2And you go oh , I'm good , thanks , how are you ? Yeah , yeah , the busy day , yeah , pretty busy . Well , I was like , yeah , busy too . Yeah , you've been up the whole time Like such crap chat . Or they hit you with like a , with a , with a chat up line , and it's , you know what I got ? I had a funny one recently , so I'm going to go look it up quickly . I'm going to chat while I look , but then you've never really experienced any dating apps , have you Barry ? No , obviously , you're married , happily married , and yeah , they're a bit , they're a bit random .
Speaker 1Guys , I hope you've enjoyed this podcast . It has took a little bit of a side path into some different , different conversations , but it's it is what it is it is what it is .
Speaker 2I was trying to find this that some girl did fire me a chat up line recently and I actually was quite good . It was quite good , was it ? Yeah , I laughed . Okay , it's rare that anyone gets you to laugh that way , it's nice .
Speaker 1We'll talk about this chat up line next time . But we'll wrap up there , guys , because we try not to make these sessions too long . But it's been good to getting back into it . It's been good speaking to Matthew and it's been good to chat to you guys .
Speaker 2It's been terrible to chat to Barry .
Speaker 1I don't even know what we spoke about today , but hopefully there was some take home . We'll see you next time . Bye .