#112 - Parenting, Time Management, And Staying Fit Without Burning Out

Most people think becoming a parent means putting your health on the back burner. We think that’s backwards. When you’ve got kids watching you, your habits stop being “personal” and start becoming the culture of your home. We talk candidly about the early parenting grind, why you need some grace, and why you still need a plan to keep moving even when your energy is gone and your schedule is wrecked.

Then we go straight at the biggest modern time leak: screen time. If you “don’t have time” to train, we challenge you to look at your phone’s screen time breakdown and do the math. We share practical, realistic tactics to cut doom scrolling without pretending you can live like a monk, including app blockers, physical friction tools, and simple household rules that make it easier to be present with your kids. We also get into training during pregnancy and why context matters: your base fitness, smart scaling, and safe movement beat fear and outdated opinions.

From there, we unpack why people fall off once they hit a goal or miss it. Unrealistic timelines, shallow motivation, and identity-based goals can all wreck consistency. Our answer is a foundation-first approach built around healthspan, metabolic health, strength training, and VO2 max, with performance goals as short, motivating seasons. If you want better confidence and discipline, build capability you can’t buy, inherit, or fake.

If this hit a nerve, share it with a parent who needs it, subscribe for more, and leave a review. What’s the one habit you’re changing this week?

Follow us on Instagram here! https://www.instagram.com/doubleedgefitness/

Transcript

Cold Open And The Big Topics

SPEAKER_01 0:00

All right, fellow listeners with ears, we are back with our fourth podcast. We're keeping this thing going. We're committed to the process. Today's episode is going to be a little more, I shouldn't say off the cuff, but we're going to be speaking a lot from experience on these three topics that we're going to be going over today. And uh essentially kind of like freestyle flaws. There's not a lot of scientific data points today. Palestines, bro. Hale science. Today's more of just about just kind of talking, conversing, maybe stating some of our own opinions. Um yada yada yada. It's going to be a little more conversing today than it is just uh spewing some facts and data points at you. Anything to say? Um fuck this table. And there's why we put explicit on our episodes right there. We're getting a new table made.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

So if you're guys hear this, it's it sounds like something in the bedroom.

SPEAKER_01 1:05

That's weird. Considering two brothers doing this podcast. Uh anyway, there's your explicit right off the bat, the first couple minutes. Um okay, so some of the topics that we're gonna be talking about today is uh this one is uh one big topic, but parenting, time management, and prioritizing your health and fitness as a parent, how all those things work together. I'm gonna strike some nerves in there. Um our second topic we're gonna be going over is why people fall off once they hit a goal or fail a goal. So the example being you train for something like you just did a high ROX, um, where a lot of people, like you're obviously very different, but a lot of people will train for, let's say, that high rocks. And then they do the event and they're like, well, what now? And then their training kind of um falls in line with it, like they don't stay committed to something because they're not really training for something. And we can go deeper on that as well. I strike some nerves on that one. And then I got some MI. Um, the last topic we're gonna talk about is the um pursuits of performance leads to better health, confidence, and consistency. That um, if we start chasing performance goals and what we're truly capable of physically, some of our other goals, looking good, uh, some mental health, all those things kind of fall in line if we chase performance. So those are the three major topics we're gonna be talking about. But to circle back to our first one, first one's all about parenting,

The Grind And Joy Of Parenting

SPEAKER_01 2:40

which we can both speak from experience, particularly you. You got a few years on me as far as being dead.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Yeah, but you're in the grind of it right now.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

That's true. So, backstory as parents, I'll go first. I have a beautiful daughter that I adore more than anything in the world. Her name is Zuzu. Love Zuzu. She is the most feisty little ball of chaos ever, and I wouldn't change it for a second. But she just turned two back in December, and she definitely keeps my hands full. That is for dang sure. And I wouldn't have it any other way, but some days it does kick my ass.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

All I know is the cutest thing in the world is Claire Bear.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

Claire Bear. Just chasing Claire around. And she'll randomly throughout the day tell how much she loves each person of the family. She'll go from dad, mom, to Claire Bear to Jackson, Uncle Derek, and Cassie, grandma, grandpa, ya, pop, pop, everybody. It's very cute. Um, so that's my background. And we have one. We want to have another one, you know, God willing. Um, but go ahead and give us your background as a dad. How many kids? I'm a father of two. Yes, you are.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Well, all of those that listen to this, unless you are. I saw a listener that popped up in like Czechoslovakia or something on the deal. So it's awesome. Let's go. Let's go. Um, I got two kids, Claire and Jackson. Claire's 10. Jackson just turned eight. And yeah, I mean, it's been it's one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of your life. That's how I think of it. I always felt like I was kind of a the bad dad in the early years were just a grind. You love them, but it's a grind. And to pretend that it's not, I think's bullshit. It's like the sleepless nights, the not knowing what the hell's going on, whatever, whatever, whatever. Up until about you know, that last year of preschool kindergarten, that's when things like started really settling for me, fun. But yeah, two little monsters that I can't even imagine a moment or a day without been a lot of uh emotional stuff, just like Jackson turning eight, Claire's going into fifth grade this next year. It's like time flies by, time flies by. And one of the best pieces of advice I got as a new parent was um don't say I can't wait until because that moment will be here before you moment, before you know it. And I get that now, like you see it happening.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

So uh a quote I heard a while ago was you'll never know when the last time you hold your kids is. And I got I got some years before that happens, but it's something to think about all the time. Like I carry when I take my daughter to daycare, there are kids that are younger than her that are walking, and their parents will like walk them through the parking lot, hold their hand, and I I carry Z on my shoulder. One, I love it, but two, she wants to be independent, run around the parking lot on her own, which I won't let happen. But I'm like, I'm gonna carry you as long as possible. I was joking with someone the other day. I'm like, she's gonna be senior year of high school, and I'm gonna be like, first day of school, throw over my shoulder, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah, I mean, and looking at society, most parents probably aren't even capable of carrying their two-year-old to the classroom. So I mean, there's that.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Um, but I want to keep her as little as possible for as long as possible. She's starting to pronounce words that she couldn't pronounce before, and it like makes me sad. Like colors.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

I will say, bro, that I get that, but don't let it make you sad, but use it to live in the moment better.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Because you want to see your child grow. You want to see him thrive and develop and grow up. And that process is something you need to cherish versus constant state of like reminiscing and this and that. I mean, I'm guilty as hell of telling the kids like pump your brakes if you're not you're not growing up yet. It's still daddy to you. Okay. It's not father, dude.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

Yep. Like so I get it. Yeah, I'm in a I'm in an interesting dichotomy of wanting to capture everything since I take all the pictures

Photos, Videos, And Being Present

SPEAKER_01 7:00

and videos, just in general. But now I take even more with her. I'm in this interesting predicament dichotomy of I want to capture everything. So anything that she does that's remotely cool, I want to get pictures and videos of it because me and Kelsey will usually go back and reminisce over it some. Um, which is great because I captured a lot of those moments, but there are times where like I'm missing being in the moment because I'm trying to capture it. And so I've been working on being better about like being okay with the idea that I didn't get something on video um and just being present there. So I still get lots of pictures, but I'm able to kind of disconnect a little bit. So I've been working on it.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

On that same note, like taking pictures of the kids' sports, I'm watching the game through the camera lens. Yeah. So it's different, like it's different. Yeah. So I try to switch like every other game, I'm actively taking photos or like just being a parent present. See, kids love the photos though. I I think it's all good. Um, obviously, if you're recording every single thing in your kids' life and everything went immediately to Instagram, I'd call you douchebag, but you're recording for your own memories, and I think that's one of the coolest aspects when it comes to the phones nowadays that we can get into in this whole time management topic. But it's pretty rad to have that level of camera and video camera in your pocket to capture moments. Yep. Damn near any time. Because there's some going back through my phone, I don't take as nearly as much stuff as you do, and I delete a lot of stuff. It's like I don't need these 37 pictures that were taken 30 seconds apart to save forever. But anyways, keeping those memories, holding on to them, and then on my phone, I have one of the little widgets that pop up a memory. Oh, yeah, and it's just kind of cool to see those past photos and this and that. It's it's cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Um, all right. So

Fitness Is Part Of Showing Up

SPEAKER_01 8:54

with that said, being a new parent, as we were saying earlier, and being a parent in general, can be difficult, can be time consuming. Um, and there is a, I wouldn't even say balance, but a parallel between people who argue that trying to take an hour or two out of their day to do some fitness, something that's beneficial for them, takes away from their opportunity to show up for their kids. I know that's one side of the argument. And then there's the other side, which is obviously the one that we're biased towards, that if you're not prioritizing your health and fitness, you're actually not showing up for your kid in multiple ways if you ignore that very fundamental thing that should be happening as you as a leader, mom or dad, um, for your children. Um, so my first question is do you think there is a grace period for people who are, let's say, are new parents, like me a couple years ago. Do you think there's a timeline for someone to uh be okay with not doing, not prioritizing their health and just focusing on the family?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

It's a tough question to answer when you have to put yourself in so many different family situation shoes. Absolutely. You know, I've coached so many people, so many families over the year, people going from meeting at the gym, getting married, having kids, like seeing the whole family development process for multiple folks, um, and then living it myself. So I definitely think when, especially the first one, when that first child comes into your life, you need to have a little bit of grace with yourself because it's life-altering. You know, it was just you and your and your spouse, and maybe focusing on your job, and that was it. But the second this new creation comes in your life, it's mind-blowing. Like you watch the whole process, like, oh shit, heartbeat, you're pregnant. You watch this little child develop in the womb with the imagery and everything we have nowadays, it's absolutely ridiculous. Yeah, it's crazy. Nine months in, you have 50% of your DNA in your hands, and it's like, this is this is my child, yeah. And it's one of the most mind-blowing experiences of your life. So to pretend that level of creationism isn't going to have influence on your day-to-day life. I mean, I think it's ignorant. Now, I also think the moms that I've witnessed over the last for sure five years, four years, who have worked out consistently, as they can, obviously based on doctor, but there's plenty of research now. Carrying your training program through pregnancy is extremely valuable. And then a little time off, and then figure out a system and structure when you can to start doing something.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

I think it's good for your mental health, it's good, it's good for everything. And the sooner you can sort that out in your family's time dynamic, I just think you need to be okay with the bar being lower for a period of time. But I'd still think that you need to do something for multiple reasons. You need to move in some way productively for multiple reasons. Because if you don't start building that structure in sooner than later, three, four, five, ten years is gonna go by and you're gonna be like, what the fuck happened? And I've seen that too. Yeah. So those families who build some structure in, even if it's just on a smaller scale, two days a week, three days a week, you know, at the most, sorting that out as soon as you can after bringing that child into your into your life in some capacity. I mean, for instance, I own and work at a gym, right? So it's built into my day, it's a lot easier. And I still Claire's first three years of life at times struggle to get three workouts in a week. Claire was coming to the gym with me. Like we didn't have daycare when we first um had a child, one couldn't afford it. And we had just opened the Sal gym. Claire, she was at work with me all day. That changes shit. Not to mention, she didn't take a bottle. So twice a day I had to drive her to Cassie to feed. And to pretend that didn't completely, you know, change, not to mention not sleeping great. So you have no energy, no desire to work out. Like for me, owning a gym and being in a gym, it still became a huge struggle to get a few workouts in a week. So I get it. I do get it. But long-term success of your family, I do firmly believe that you need to figure it out.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

And I would say the scope of like there may not be a timeline, right? Like, give yourself like two, three months, whatever. It could be just very dependent on what your situation is. Get into it as soon as you can. You know, if you have no um exposure to like let's say you didn't do anything gym related before you got pregnant, and now both husband or wife, and now it's you're gonna find it very difficult to try and find that habit if you don't have that background, as opposed to like if you've exercised and then you take a break and jump back in. It's gonna be easier for that person. 100%. But I think the the timeline is just dependent on one, your situation, and and two, I think you probably have enough self-awareness to be able to pick when you go back. Some people might be a week, some people might be two weeks, some people might be a month. It does, I don't think it really matters. What I would say in that context, that doing something is better than nothing. So I think as like an yeah, as like a an athlete, like let's say our backgrounds, maybe with the the looking at it from a sense of I I need to jump back in and train hard CrossFit day one. No, it's coming back. I think that that could be yeah, going on a 30-minute walk. That could be doing a basic workout at home, or they could be doing coming in here and scaling it a ton, like whatever you're essentially, you're physically and mentally able to do in any capacity is that step that needs to be taken.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Yeah. I think, you know, obviously when a child is born, there's a lot more burden on the mother. Yep. Um, I mean, I'll say in general, even today, Gassy crushes it, our house wouldn't be a house without her. So, but in those big, you know, I can't even remember when you stop breastfeeding, bottle feeding. Do you remember? Zuzu still take a bottle?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

She's in a sippy cup. She loves six.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

So it's like a year, two, year and a half. Yeah. Well, I mean, in that one movie, it's like, oh, he's 72 months old.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Yeah. Well, she went longer than like the quote unquote guidelines, but she's an extremely picky eater and doesn't like to eat, and bottles were like a way for her to get in calories.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

Yeah. So what I'm getting at dependent. What I'm getting at is like there's definitely a heavier burden on the mom when pumping and breastfeeding and all that stuff at first. Like Claire wouldn't take a bottle, so Cassie had to wake up in the middle of the night and feed, and then we had to take her to feed. And so Yeah, I mean, not to mention postpartum depression for well, it's real. Your hormones are whacked. That's a real deal, and something that needs to be appreciated, both you know, from mom, but also dad needs to understand that shit is real. And it it could take years to reconcile. Yeah. Um, so being aware of that, being mindful of that, and respecting the situation, but getting the body moving in some capacity, I think is absolutely vital, no matter what it is. Like, I don't really care. I mean, there was years there where Cassidy do a little workout in the garage, you know, because getting to the gym, juggling the kids, getting to work and everything. So I get it. I do get it. And um, but it's gonna be extremely advantageous to start building that routine and structure. Because basically, in my mind, once your kid gets two or three years old, I don't give a shit anymore. You need to figure it the fuck out for your long-term health and for your family, and to be a leader in your family, that's kind of my grace period window.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

Um well, when they're super young, I can't think of the word right now. Um, their brains being very malleable and taking in the world around them, their environments. So you being able to be a leader in in any, like, there's not a gold standard to it, right? Like, you don't need me to come in and be a superhero, Olympic lifting master, CrossFit master. Like, you're you're showing them a positive in their life from a very young age that they want to model. That's exactly it.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

And one thing I heard kids can't associate you being on the computers hard work, right? A lot of our jobs or desk jobs, they can't associate you being at work all day as hard work. They it's just not gonna connect. Yep. But when you're sweating hard, pushing hard, lifting weights, like that's a really what do you want to say, um, animalistic way to recognize hard work. And no matter, like, that's why I always made a purpose for doing home workouts. Like, I still do them, but Jackson obviously and Claire comes to the gym and sees it now. But when they're younger, I never once told Jackson he needs to work out. Yeah, not once, he just witnessed me doing it, and then he wants to do that because well, it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

He sees the positives. It's not like you finish work out and be like, oh man, I feel so much worse than that. I wish I wouldn't have done that.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Like, there are no negatives from this only positives, household conversations, you know, the importance of health, the importance of fitness, importance of physical activity. And now, you know, from a little boy's perspective, I mean, he's into superheroes. We're watching 80s action flicks, Rocky. Like, it's like, I mean, he's totally makes me very emotional. He's like, Dad, that's you. And in my mind, like, I want to be my son and my daughter's superhero. I want to be the dad that any boy that wants to date my daughter is a little bit nervous around. Like, I want to be that physical appearance and physical capability as a father, I think carries a lot of um what do you want to say, unintended emotional confidence amongst your kids.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Now, does it mean you need to be an over like bodybuilder power like elite athlete? No, but I think having some physical capacity and capability to perform work, it it resonates with your child whether you like it or not.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Yeah, it's gonna have a profound impact on that. I mean, if you take two scenarios, scenario A, you have a parent, and like I'm not saying any of these things are bad. Like, I like to play, I haven't played in a while, but I like video games, they're fun. I had not played them because I've been prioritizing reading the Bible, doing work, um, business stuff, being a dad. Like, there's other priorities, but it doesn't change that. I enjoy to do those things. But if Zuzu's environment was me coming home every day after work and just seeing me barely engage with her and just like zone in on like playing video games or watching TV, then that's the the habits, not to mention the long-term ramifications of that screen time have an effect on them as they go through these developing years. But her, me modeling this behavior, if I do this over long periods of time in front of her, is only gonna have some negative ramificate ramifications.

Screen Time As The Hidden Thief

SPEAKER_00 21:20

It's screen time.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

Yeah. And I'd say that's gonna be a very well like we've already hit me and Kelsey have already had these um conversations of like when she'll get a phone and stuff like that. Just seeing the impact it has. I'm living it right now. Yeah, no, for sure. Um, just seeing the impact it has on us. Like we were before the podcaster just literally talking about your screen time. You can get notifications on your phone, and like for the average, I think is around five hours for the average American, like on their phone daily, which when you compound that over years, like there's a dude did like old formula on this, it's not hard, you do the math. It ends up being like 10. 10, 15 years of your life staring at your phone, which is crazy to think about. Like when you compounded all that over time, it is mind-blowing. So the idea of like, and it's so prevalent in society, especially Western culture, that if we we can't ignore that that's just gonna go away. It's not, it's probably only gonna get worse. So, what are the systems and things that we're going to do and lead in the household so that is not a constant, you know, like one thing we try and do, like um Z, when she wants to watch like TV, like we really try not to do any TV through the week, but maybe we'll watch a couple blue episodes on the weekend or something like that. And she's more interested in playtime, but if we're all tired, she wants to chill or whatever, and to watch a little bit of TV, like that's and it could be wrong, but that's kind of like what we we do with her. And you know, she gets some screen time, but I think that just goes to like family enjoyment. It's like if you're trying to eat healthy and you tell someone they can never have a pizza ever again, it's just not gonna work, right? Like there's elements of give and take, and I think that you're not going to get away from the screen. Like it's it's gonna be there, but how do you model? How do you lead? How do you how do you show up for them so that is not the the controlling aspect of their life with all the negative ramifications that can happen because you know say Emily, exercise, training, diet, eating healthy.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

This is a very much a part of my household culture in a massive way. Claire's going into middle school, she's asking about a phone. Half of her class already has their own phone. Sure. So there's a very good social dynamic thing, right? You don't want to be the kid that's left out for whatever reason. Like and Cassie and I are deep in this discussion. And I've been actually talking to some members who have kids around Claire's age. And what was your guy's approach? I called her cousin. What'd you do with it? You know, yeah. And um, there's no perfect answer. There really isn't. Like Cassie and I are talking. They're gonna grow up in more technology than we grew up in, and we grew up in more technology than our parents grew up in. I see the cycle continues, and I do see a peak in this where people are just like getting burnt out. Like there's more phones now that are being created as dumb phones that are just like black and white, simple to use. And I looked at them, I was like, damn, that's kind of cool. But there's so many good things about these phones now when the tool is used properly, that like the memories that's one of the biggest ones that comes for me personally. It's like having my phone in my pocket if we're out at the river fishing, like, oh bam, got a cool picture. Yeah, and that stuff really matters. But what I'm getting at is your kids follow your example. If you have if you're Lee living a shitty example, your kids are gonna pick up on that. You're gonna be the most influential person in their life, probably up until they're teen years. So, in this conversation with Claire about phones, she straight up called me out. And she's not wrong. She's like, Dad, well, you're on your phone. Like, you you use your phone when you're at home. And she can't delineate between if I'm responding to a member or if I'm but to be honest, you know, there's a solid 40 plus minutes of doom scrolling that takes place more days a week than I'm proud of.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

So I talk when Claire and I were talking, we're gonna go down this road of cell phone. It's gonna be a Cassie, she has zero issues with this. She's a superstar, she doesn't give a shit about her phone. Um, Jackson said if Claire gets a phone, he gets a new gun. Is that scary though that I literally think the gun is safer? I think most people probably wouldn't agree with me on that topic, but yeah, you define the context of it, like like he wants to go get a new gun if Claire gets a phone. Because but um I told Claire, I was like, you are 100% right. So I ordered the brick this weekend. So starting Wednesday when it gets here, when I get home, I have to brick my phone until the next morning. And um, that's the tool that's gonna be implemented to where we start setting a new standard in our house for technology because we are guilty of too much screen time.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

So I have I use an app, I I should use it more, but I do have an app and I have it as the quick access button or whatever the other thing's called on our iPhone. Uh it's called Opal. It's the same idea. So if you try and get into it, it like gives you all these prompts that you like can't like get in. And if you want to, you have to sit there and stare at the screen for like 30 seconds, and it like gives you like, are you sure you want to do this? Are you sure? Blah blah blah. So there's these barriers to entry to unlock your phone, and you can even give it like time frames like Instagram break, and you're only allowed like two minutes or something. Um, but I have looked at physical things, like there's another company, I don't remember name of them, but it's like a I think it might even call phone safe. So you put your phone in this like iPhone safe, but once you hit lock, it will not unlock no matter what you do for 24 hours. And there's like a part of that, I'm like, oh, that's extreme, which is like my personality, but at the same time, like, what if I actually needed access to my phone? I couldn't.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

There's emergency situations. We got an aging grandmother. We have you know a business that a handful of emergency contact type things have to come through. Uh, there has to be realistic deals around this, but um basically the brick is still an app. You scan the set the phone in it at active.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

But you do have a physical component that you tap on your phone, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

Yep, yeah. So um yeah, I gotta come up with uh being clear, gotta come up with my punishments if I break the rules.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yeah. I mean, there's really not any negatives to it. I mean, it's really just our own like volitions of like, I wanna, you know, I'm tired, I want to sit down, maybe I want to look at Instagram, watch a YouTube video or whatever. But are those really serving my, you know, not sound too philosophical, my greater purpose by doing those things?

SPEAKER_00 28:04

I think everybody has ways they wind down. Yeah, for sure. Just like a little mind-numbing moment, whether it be watching a TV show, reading a book, whatever. Everybody has these things, but it's the volume, right? Too much training is bad for you. Yeah, too much screen time. Like, there's definitely when it comes to this as a parent and prioritizing time management, being a new parent, like this is where you can find your time. Guaranteed.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

For sure. I mean, you just look at the screen time. Mine's skewed because I've talked to you about this before. Like when I'm driving, I'm not watching it, but like I'll pull up like some like podcast style, like long form videos in 2013.

SPEAKER_00 28:45

I can very easily pull open screen time and see what apps I'm fucking up on. Sure. And number one is Instagram. Yeah. Instagram number two is Amazon. What the hell was I shopping for? Jesus. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Mine would be probably YouTube just purely because of the time on it, but I'll like put my phone in the cup holder and must stay in, and I'm not looking at it, I'm just listening. So I know that can be skewed, but I also know deep down that I will randomly pull up Instagram, like pull out my phone, see a notification, end up on Instagram, and then 10 minutes later I'm like, what the fuck was I doing? Completely forget what I was doing. I like will sometimes even get on Instagram for the business page, go to do something, but it'll be logged into my personal account, and I'll see a video be like, oh, that's funny. That's interesting. Watch it, scroll the next one, scroll the next one. I'll be like, why'd I even get on here? And I won't even remember for like two hours. It was like, oh yeah, I needed to post that thing for the gym. Like, I mean, these companies spend billions of dollars to do this, but it is in our control to actually be able to control these things. And there is a, I can't think of the name, but there's um a uh this doctor was going over this thing on I think maybe the Diary CEO podcast or something. There's groups of people, and I don't remember what it's called, where they are rallying behind like the makings of like dumb phones and like more minimalist style lifestyles and all these things. Like people are willing to pay more to do, to have less, essentially, because of these constant interruptions. And I've looked at some of these dumb phones, it's a really cool concept. I'm like, oh, this is a great idea. But then I immediately go to being like camera photography guy, look at like, well, I can't take any pictures or anything with it. And I'm with my daughter. I don't want to, I don't want to get rid of that for the sake of this. Why don't I just have some more discipline and use something like a brick or an opal or just pull my head out of my ass?

SPEAKER_00 30:24

I mean, they're created to be addictive, and they are a tool. Instagram's a tool. I learn, I follow some really smart people on Instagram, and I do get value out of it. There's no question. I get value out of connecting with our community through Instagram. Sure. But it needs to be in its bucket. I was talking to our cousin this weekend, because I mean she does social media and stuff, that's her career. And her husband, he has a rule: no social media apps on the phone. If he needs to engage in social media, he has to open the web browser on his computer. Interesting and that alone is gonna cut down the time. Absolutely. So I was like, that's brilliant. I'm gonna delete social media off my phone and just use web browser if I it comes to that. Sure. But um that is like putting the tools in their place to get time back in your life. And screen time is one of the biggest places parents can attack. Everybody can attack.

SPEAKER_05 31:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

And well, good.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

I was saying we say screen time, like those of you who don't know, you can look in your phone, go through the search thing, like pull down on your phone and just type in screen time. And there's a uh an app essentially that's built into your phone to track. I'm not talking about literal screen time. I mean yes, but there is a screen time app and it will give you a breakdown of all the things that you look at. So, like for me it would be YouTube, Instagram. Apparently, you're Amazon and Instagram this week.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

But I was probably trying to find some towels.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

But not to interrupt that, but going back to if we just do a mathematical calculation of how many hours and you can even use AI now. Here's another technology. Let's say you're spending three hours a day. We used to know someone, well, we still know them and we love them, but I won't name call anybody, who is averaging like eight hours a day on Instagram, like, and they have a normal like life like we do, they're just every waking moment that wasn't doing their actual work there on Instagram. So if you take eight hours of Instagram use daily and just cut that down to, let's say, an hour for this person or whatever, which is still quite a bit if you think about it, and you extrapolate that over a few years, like how much time are you getting back that you can utilize and be productive and just happier? Because you can argue that all this scrolling is not necessarily making you happy. It's just you're just sucked in. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

So well, statistically, it's not making you happier. No, not at all. It's increasing depression, suicidal ideations, suicide. It's increasing anxiety. Like there hasn't been the negative health outcomes from screen time, basically social media, has outweighed the health and learning education knowledge benefits in a massive way.

SPEAKER_01 33:08

So I'll circle this back around to like our original topic of like phones being such the most prevalent just screen time, but particularly our phones because we're carrying around a supercomputer in our pockets all the time. You know, you'll forget your wallet before you forget your phone, kind of thing. Like that is my wallet's on my phone now. There you go. Um, that if you are if you're saying that you're not having time, all right, and you legitimately think like I don't have time to get into fitness, whether that means drive down to double edge or go to your gym or do something at home. And yes, I would agree you need that decompression time. But if is that decompression time, is it really hours of Instagram scrolling? If you do a breakdown on your phone, if you just cut back on, you know, you might not think that you're sucked in until you pull up your screen time stuff. If you cut back on the hours there, boom, let's say you're doing four hours a day and you just take an hour of that away and do some fitness, you know, walk 30 minutes. I've been saying this, you're getting in something.

SPEAKER_00 34:03

I went on a walk and I do scrolled. I was like, I'm double tasking right now. So true.

SPEAKER_01 34:08

And I would say, so to that point, it is, yes, you I guess you could do that and it's still better than nothing. But like you're obviously not to toot your horn here, but I would say you're more on the elite spectrum as far as physical fitness goes. So you have a huge base, but if we're talking to like just an everyday regular person, I would challenge you to just put it away for half an hour, build the habit of doing something physical without distractions. And if you feel like that can't happen, then yeah, I would say that's a good segue to kind of you doing something still, but just do it with intent.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

And framing it like

Honest Priorities And Hard Boundaries

SPEAKER_00 34:46

this. So you got whatever fucking hours on your social media.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

You can pull it up, you can have an honesty self. Sometimes people don't want to look in the mirror. Well, if you're struggling with where you're at in your health journey as a new parent, you need to have an honesty session with yourself. Here's the priorities because people get what they prioritize.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:08

If you want this, you figure it out. Like, and that goes for anything. The new car, you know, it goes back before I even had kids. Like you have those financial questions in your brain, like, can I afford this? Can I afford this? You figure it out. Yeah, you figure it out what actually matters. And there's a couple things for Cassie and I that truly matter in our our marriage and as a parent is healthy food.

SPEAKER_02 35:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Like we don't penny pinch, like we be mindful of our spending of food because it's expensive. But healthy food, like that is that's a zero, there's no room for error for us. We eat healthy, we buy healthy, and then you know, exercise. Obviously, as you know, me and Cassie very well, we're on two different spectrums when it comes to training. Yeah. Cassie trains for health, she works out for health, she does a regular group class, she goes on some runs. She is what I would put in the category of an everyday mom staying healthy, prioritizing her health. Yeah, and like mental health and getting out with the dogs. And she doesn't, she has zero interest or inclination to do be the trained like me. We don't work out together once in a while. But it's not like we're too training focused human beings in the house. And so I get a perspective of what an everyday person should strive to do. It really is what Cassie does. Like she prioritizes some kind of workout every single day.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

You know, whether it be group class, a morning run, whatever, a mixture of strength training and just living healthy.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

But it's never more than an hour. Ever. You know, she does group classes, are her longest workouts.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

And that's realistic. That's a realistic achievement, and that's realistic, high-quality health goals to be healthy.

SPEAKER_02 37:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

Then there's the other bucket of, you know, you want to maximize what you're physically capable of, which I kind of fall into that bucket, but it's also my job.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

So our personality.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

And like people say, I'd probably be a serial killer if I didn't train. Like it does, Cassie knows this. It keeps me and my brain healthy. And it's better for everybody around me if I work out. I feel better, my anxiety's down, I'm much happier, I you know, I sleep better. It's a very important aspect of my life in a very big way. But we understand that about each other. And it and it works for us. So, like when it comes to realistic expectations of a parent, my wife sets the perfect example of what you should strive to do.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

To be healthy.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Absolutely. Um again, back on the topic of being

Pregnancy Training And Common Sense

SPEAKER_01 38:06

a parent. I'll use I'll use someone here in the gym as an example. I'll use her first name. Shout out to Rachel, super stud. Um badass mom. Uh her son was actually born the exact same day as Zuzu, my daughter. Um, so they share a birthday day. I think they're born three hours apart. She's a class today, 9 a.m. Um, but she's pregnant with her second child, and she is, I believe, I think at this point, seven months pregnant, maybe even a little bit more. But she's a stud. She's been physically active for like her whole life. Like, I don't remember what her sport background was, but she's been physically quote, able, like for a long time. And so even in CrossFit, she's before she um got pregnant with her second, you know, she lifting big weights, like she's she's an athlete, she's a stud. Um, so the example I'm bringing up is my personal training clients this morning were watching her in class, and they were looking over at her and they're like, isn't that really bad that she's working out like that pregnant? And I said, Well, no, not absolutely not. That is not the case. And you and we you can expand on this more scientifically. But my point in the two-minute breakdown I gave to her, excuse me, was that's not something if someone came in to the gym for the first time ever and they were seven months pregnant, I would say, wow, I really admire your courage here. That's pretty badass. Uh, and they've never done anything before. What they're gonna do in the gym is going to be drastically different than what a girl, Rachel, here is doing. Rachel has been physically trained for a very long time, has a enormous base, and has zero issues doing what she's doing. Now, obviously, we're doing all the all the smart things, like there's no, there's nothing in here we're doing that's gonna jeopardize anything she does. There's still scales that we do in class, but the stuff that she can do, she still pushes and does well and is healthy, and her doctors are like, Yeah, well, this is great. You know, we manage all the things that need to be managed.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

But from an outsider looking in who may not have that base, especially from a generation of people that this was not common. Absolutely. It was almost frowned upon.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

They're gonna look at and be like, oh my God, she's endangering her child. And then that's just from an ignorant, an ignorant point of view that those people are not educated on, but that can create a lot of uh angst amongst women like Rachel, who are being not talked down on, might be the right word, from a community of people that don't believe that that is healthy, right? An extreme example, I don't remember the name of this runner, but it was like two years ago. She literally ran like a five-minute mile, like a week before she gave birth at nine months. And then three months after the fact, she did the same thing at some competition and beat her record by like 20 seconds and ran like a like a 404 or some shit. Like, but she's I would say an elite athlete. So her to do that one is is badass, but that's not what the everyday person is gonna do. No, nor should you.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Yeah, exactly. Um, I mean, you just throw Tia out there. Yeah, yes, won the CrossFit games, got pregnant, took a year off, won the CrossFit games, pregnant now. I beat her by I think one rep in 26.1. She's seven months pregnant. Yeah. Like she's elite drunk. So if you've never trained and you're bringing new life into the world, you should probably just talk to your doctor and start by walking. Maybe doing, and there's a lot of breath work and there's a lot of stuff. This is Chris's department. She knows the scope of what you can do in this time of your life, um, way better than any one of us can do. But I know for a fact, the women that have trained got pregnant, trained through pregnancy, phenomenal bounce back to life and structure. Like, phenomenal. I think all of the ones that are in the gym. Yeah. I can't think of somebody that's like got ran the hell over. Now I can think of fathers that have bitched out

Health As Leadership And Insurance

SPEAKER_00 42:08

over the years. Sure. Like, oh my god, I'm feeling I'm so tired. But their wives kicking ass. Shut the fuck up. Like, I'm gonna trigger some people on there, but some of the dudes out there need to toughen up a little bit. Yeah. W D R M B mindset. Well, it's just it's pathetic, is what it is. You know, I don't have time for this, I don't have energy, I don't give a shit. Figure it out. Because if you people say all this stuff, you see the memes all the time, like I'm willing to die for my kids, but are you willing to be healthy for your kids? Yeah, it's true. It's like, okay, you'll step in front of a truck, okay, chances of that ever happening are like near zero.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:47

But you filling yourself full of chronic disease, not being able to participate in your kids' sports, the amount of parents in my age group, when I go to kids' sports, I'm just thinking of the dads that have a gut pot belly, get winded, doing some practice with their kids, it's pathetic. And and I don't really have much tolerance for it. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 43:12

I think so. We'll we'll move on to our next subject here in a little bit, but I think to expand on that. I see stuff like that, and it gets very frustrating for me because I see like Disneyland, for example. I officiated a wedding at Disneyland, and I'm not saying this from a judgmental thing at all, but purely from an objective health standpoint. Like I remember sitting there and particularly watching, I would say a little girl not much older than my daughter, so maybe three, and was probably pushing like a hundred pounds already, like walking around, like has to lean back to walk because she's already that big at three. I'm like, this is like it's child abuse. Child abuse. And it's like, well, who are you to judge? I'm like, that's it's like almost that's endangering the the child.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

I'd judge the hell out of you.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

No, 100%. I'm given the that's advocated.

SPEAKER_00 44:08

If you ask me for help, I will give you everything I have to help you.

SPEAKER_01 44:11

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we have a few people in the gym like that right now that have or extreme lifestyles and are working their ass off to get there. But I think this like the parents, as you can imagine, they were very large. Like the kids are going to become a product of what they see. Right? It's the same, you can say that about a dog.

SPEAKER_00 44:31

Kids' health is a direct representation and 100% parents' fault.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Two dogs, you could raise one in a violent environment in the hood, probably gonna end up being a mean dog. Not all the time, but the chances are high. Take the same dog in a very loving, nurturing environment, probably gonna be a loving and nurturing family dog. Like you what your environment you're exposed to often leads to what you ultimately become. Not always, but it has a huge impact. It's like the five people you surround yourself with kind of thing. So again, going back to you prioritizing your health, your kids should be your biggest motivator.

SPEAKER_00 45:11

Not to mention like you prioritizing your health for your kids, but you're gonna be better for your family. You're gonna have more energy, you're gonna be more capable, you're gonna live longer, live longer better. Like everything for your family is better when you have your health.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Yep. Yeah. Your health matters, something something written down here. So your health matters more once you have kids, not less. Yep. You want to be able to show up for them forever. And then not just your kids. Well, let's let's bring the grandparents into this topic. You want, I know I want to be, you want to be, you know, God willing, we make it that long. Something crazy doesn't happen to us or whatever. Um, we want to be able to be there physically for our grandkids. Like some of my intros and topics that I've had people in here, their motivation to coming in as grandparents, they've never worked out before is they're like, I went on a family hike and I had to quit after like a quarter mile because I couldn't do it. And that was a wake up for them. They're like, I'm gonna miss out on my grandkids doing shit because I'm too weak and out of shape to do this. And those people recognize that and came in here. But if you get ahead of the a jump on it as being a new parent, or maybe you're you got teenagers, you're listening to this now, you get ahead of it, you kick ass forever. Like, I'm gonna use, we'll use Chuck Norris as an example here. Like, how many people we know in our own life, and we're going through this too, but get to older age, go through Alzheimer's dementia, whatever it is, and then just kind of like, you know, coast downhill and can't do shit for like 10, 15 years to the grave. Chuck Norris literally, and I'm not saying this as a joke because we know all the memes, Chuck Norris, but like two weeks ago was outside with his trainer, fucking beating the shit out of the bag, hell active, throwing kicks and punches, talking, like speaking the word, doing Bible verse, like he was kicking ass years old. And then and then died.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

And honestly, that's how I want it to be.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

That's how you want it to go. Like you want to be kicking ass like up to the moment, and if it's your time, it's your time. Like that's and it may sound like counterintuitive to think, you don't want to get to like 71 and then coast and can't do shit falling apart when you're gonna wait to your mid 80s and then die.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

You're kept alive by drugs, exactly pharmacology, but you're not thriving. And if you want to thrive into those years with your kids and grandkids, you have to prioritize strength training, cardiovascular training in your 30s, because every year, once you start hitting your 30s, it's not just about making gains, it's harder and harder to maintain. Like once you get in your mid-40s, 50s, you're gonna be working your ass off just to kind of maintain what you have built already. Like the volume of training I'll probably have to do at 50 to maintain any resemblance of anything I did in my late 40s is gonna be about the same, and I'm gonna stop making progress. That's the nature of aging, right? The progression curve really changes in your mid-40s, 50s. Doesn't mean, and that depends on what your training background is, what's your genetic potential, did you actually reach your genetic potential, how that curve all looks. But general rule of thumb, if you don't start doing some shit in your 30s, don't expect to be worth a shit when you get 70.

SPEAKER_01 48:31

Yeah. So I think this is one of the greatest investments you can hand off to your kids is this example of what a strong, capable, physically fit health and wellness thing you can hand off to them. Like, yeah, too. You you can pass away and they get your home, which is you know, great, your last will intestine or whatever, like they can get all the stuff. But if your child is suffering from all comorbidities because of their upbringing on your end, like none of that stuff really matters. Like, what is the point of having all you know the money if you have none of the health?

SPEAKER_00 49:11

Yeah, Steve Jobs dead, didn't have his health, all that money. That's a that's a constant psychological warfare that goes on. Everybody's out there busting their ass, getting, you know, fat and sassy, but trying to make a buck, and then your health goes to shit, and like lots of people trade all the money to have their health back.

SPEAKER_01 49:31

I was listening to an influencer a little while ago, I forgot who it was, it's actually somebody I like. Talk about that actually having a six-pack is more of a social status flex than being a millionaire.

SPEAKER_00 49:42

Yeah, it's easier to be a millionaire now. Yeah. Yeah. And to have visible abdominal muscles. So it's kind of funny to put it in that perspective. Yeah, I mean, you just look at the stats on middle-aged men being able to do a pull-up, run a mile under 10 minutes. It's pathetic, it's disgusting, and it's not that difficult to change because all you have to do really is work out three to five hours per week.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

And I would say, I mean, meaningful exercise. And now I'm agreeing with everything you're saying. We're obviously on the same page, but I guess to expand on it not sounding harsh, which it should because it's tough love. But two, it's heartbreaking because of the amount of kids and people that we see are withering away due to all these things like type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's, dementia, extremely overweight kids. Like these are all things. Okay, the Alzheimer's mention stuff. Like, there's some science to maybe mitigate that if you listen to our other podcasts. There are things you can do to make sure those things don't happen as f as severe.

SPEAKER_00 50:43

And it's not sauna, it's actually exercise and not and being more insulin sensitive.

SPEAKER_01 50:49

But these things are within your control. So when we see West, particularly Western society, and the amount of issues that surround this topic, it is it's it's sad to see because obviously we experience it ourselves, like what we're capable of from a performance aspect, but what we know we're capable of doing if an emergency time arrived. Like, for example, all right, last year there was a fire here in town, and I'm not a great runner, but I had built some capacity to run. And I remember it was a big fire on the hill, and it was near my daughter's daycare in South Reno where um she was going. And I wasn't truly like worried that this fire was gonna get there, but the they called us and they're like, You guys need to get here. All these businesses, everyone around us being evacuated. Like, you guys need to come get your kids. Me and Kelsey were like, fuck, gotta go get the kids. So me and Kelsey go there. And as we get closer, it is just chaos. Nobody can get through anywhere. Cops are shutting down roads that you'd normally get there to. Like, there everyone was panicking. And this is not stating from a judgment thing, but I remember a couple had to get over this road to get to their house because they thought like they were going to lose their pets, the house was gonna burn down. None of that stuff happened. Thankfully, it rained and they got the fire under control. But this couple, they were very, very out of shape visually looking at them. And they were truly terrified to get to their house and listening to them explain where their house was. It was like maybe a half a mile away. So they may not have been able to drive there, but they were truly fearful that like they probably could not get there physically in time. And I'm thinking in my head, I'm like, holy shit, all right, let's say I got to pull off the road right now. Daycare, it's about four and a half miles away where I'm at right now. I was fully confident and comfortable. I could get out of the car, kills could take the car, and I could run and go get her before anything happened. Like I was confident my ability to do that. Am I setting any records? No, but I knew I could get there continuously and get to my daughter in an emergency situation. And in moments like that, knowing that you have that base of fitness is a peace of mind that you can't put a monetary value on.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

I would argue, and my wife would probably attest to this, but that base of fitness as a man and a husband is a peace of mind for the family.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Absolutely. I'll even say, as a brother, I'll highlight our backpacking trip where I had one of my episodes where I was puking and feeling like I was gonna die, which we don't need to talk all about that. But I remember being in the mountains, we had no sales service. You're still super fit. I would say you were less fit then than you are now. But I was in such a place of struggle, like I was doing so bad that you were ready to throw me on your shoulder and run me down the mountain, which was like six miles away to get to service to save me if needed. And I knew knowing how fit you were and like your mental state, there was a comfort in me, even though I knew like I felt like I was literally dying, that you could physically do that for me. Like, and to have that knowing about yourself to be able to do that for someone or for yourself, is like I said, you can't no amount of money in the world can buy that for you. And that's why that six pack is so more illustrious than being a millionaire. No money can buy your physical abilities. Purely earned. And that's why the reason why in the gym we in a way prioritize performance because your performance leads to a lot of these capabilities and health things.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

So I mean, last little topic on that. You know the fucked up games I play in my head for workouts. Like if I don't finish this workout or get this last part of the workout in X amount of time, like my family's gonna die.

SPEAKER_01 54:35

So I've done the same thing with strength stuff. I've got a deadlift something or do a clean. I'm like, if I fail this, everyone I care about is gonna die in a crash. And then my their living depends on me being able to do this. And more often than not, I usually end up succeeding because of that mindset. And this may sound extreme, but this is well, partially I think is extreme. Yeah, I would say partially this is probably unhealthy. Our partially our upbringing, just who we are, but it's also a huge component of who we are and why we'll be able to do what we can do.

SPEAKER_00 55:09

I do some stupid shit sometimes. Like last week in that two rounds of 50 cal bike, 16 power or 14, whatever it was. I told I told Faye, I'm going as hard as I fucking can on this first 50 calories, and I'm gonna see if I can move the barbell. That's one of the fucked up games I was playing in my head. Can I max effort and still do something?

SPEAKER_01 55:27

And you do not need to be have an extreme mindset like this in order to be capable. No. Sometimes it's arguably unhealthy. It helps us in some ways, maybe it doesn't, but at the end of the day, you need to prioritize your health and fitness because God forbid something in an emergency happens and you are truly incapable of doing that. And there's videos all around the internet. One of my favorite examples of this is a very, very overweight mom, and I'm not trying to throw shades, sound like a dick, but a very overweight, incapable mom was on an incline of a hill, and her toddler was in a um in a stroller. She didn't have the brake on when she put the toddler in the stroller, the stroller started taking off downhill and heading towards traffic. And it took a while for that stroller to get up to a speed that is truly not able to catch up to. And in the video, the mom ran like six steps, fell, couldn't get up, was reaching up, yelling, and then two younger guys came out of nowhere and snatched the the stroller before it went into oncoming traffic. So thank God they were there. But that is that is a prime example of like if they weren't there, her lack of physical ability to do that would have killed her kid.

SPEAKER_03 56:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:42

So there's those extreme situations, and then there's just maintaining your metabolic health so you can you can work better, you can think better, you can sleep better, you can be all kinds of better for your family.

SPEAKER_01 56:52

And have a better longevity of life, but it's all better. Obviously, a very passionate first subject. Um, so let's move on into section two. All right.

Why People Quit After A Goal

SPEAKER_01 57:04

Uh, so this one why people fall off once they hit a goal or fail a goal. So, I mean, I've fallen prey to this a lot. Like you get to something or you fail something due to injury, or maybe your mental capacity wasn't there, or whatever. Everybody has. Everybody has. Well have. And you're like, or yeah, and you can't do the thing that you're truly passionate about training for, or maybe that goal, like this is a common one in the gym and just mindset with people. That goal is a little farther away than you think it is. And let's say it's a two-year goal and you're expecting to do it in like three, four months, and you get that time frame in and you're not even close to that, and people just quit.

SPEAKER_00 57:45

And that's weight loss. I'd say that's the biggest that like weight loss goals are one of the most discouraging goals for people to chase. Because there's always these unrealistic timelines.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

Yeah. And I'll say maybe to some people, just being a play nice guy here, to some people's credit, there's so much bullshit and lying in our industry with these shit fluencers, and just even back in the day of the fucking BoFlex and stuff like that, these you know, 30-minute routines twice a week that you do, and you're gonna end up hella shredded like that. Exactly. Like there was so much marketing pushed around and this nonsense that there's still very much an element of that that exists in people's mindset because that's what they grew up on, even though it's complete fucking bullshit.

SPEAKER_00 58:30

It's human nature to find the path of least resistance. So when you market the path of least resistance, it's gonna be the most attractive one. It's gonna be sexy.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

I mean and w we talked about a lot of benefits of like GLP ones, but for a lot of people, that is exactly what a GLP one is gonna do for them.

SPEAKER_03 58:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:46

Like they're gonna be able to get their quote results with minimal effort.

SPEAKER_00 58:51

I mean, like we said in that episode, when it comes to the GLP one speeding up, you know, weight loss goals, not done correctly, it's just gonna fuck you up. If you don't strength train, you don't eat right, you're not getting your calories and your protein in outside of some weight loss, which can be beneficial for your health. You're not really optimizing your overall health without taking a very strong approach at the entire picture, which includes nutrition, strength training, cardiovascular training, and using a GLP one, two, or three as a tool to facilitate this goal and improve your health outcomes. But I don't want to get on that tangent.

SPEAKER_01 59:38

That's a different podcast.

SPEAKER_00 59:39

That's just the two but goals. Why do people fall to shit? Is the topic.

SPEAKER_01 59:49

Yeah, essentially. So I mean we can talk about um a fall off in an extreme positive way. So what I'll say with that is let's look at Olympians, for example, depending on the the strenuous activity of their sport. So it's very entertaining to watch sometimes, but curling ain't it, right? The physical demands of curling. Yeah. Not to say what they do is actually not impressive. Some of the shit they do is actually hell impressive. High skill. But yes, but there's the like I'll use Olympic lifting, for example, as kind of like my jam, strength training stuff. So these Olympic lifters will, especially in like Eastern European countries and overseas and Middle East, shit like that, will train so hard for so long to get to this stage. Like just the the hours and the mental training to go into being an Olympian at the highest level on these stages, is such a daunting mental load. I mean, one physically, absolutely, but daunting mental load that once the Olympics are over, a lot of them usually have to go through some kind of counseling afterwards just to bring them back to a level of like homeostasis, like normalcy, or they'll take like a year off, depending on how strenuous that training was up to it. Like of not doing shit. Like one of my favorite weightlifters of all time, uh Ilya Ilian, he was from Kazakhstan. One of the biggest studs when it came to weightlifting, he said after he was done with the Olympics or a giant competition in World Championships, would just, and he's not even a basketball player. He's like, I would take a basketball or like soccer for like six months just to completely get away from Olympic lifting because of such the daunting weight of essentially carrying his country of being the best in the world. Like he needed to completely get away from it so when he came back, he could be that person again and train up to it. So there's that fall-off, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:39

Yeah, but you're talking about the point zero zero zero one.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:42

Absolutely, but that just um showing that there is a fall-off of like the best of the best, then you have a fall-off on which I will say not the worst of the worst, but that's not a kind way to say this. But you have people who will uh quote work hard for something, like New Year's resolution, right? Work hard for five weeks. If that, right? I think even the the average like resolution time that they've d studied and surveyed or whatever is like 13 days. It's like two weeks. Yeah, like that is the average amount of time someone spent on a resolution. So then you have that, right? That mindset of like, oh, I'm not getting what I wanted, even though it's a New Year's resolution. Your resolution was to get to that goal over 365 days, not 13. So you have that camp, right, that just falls off after X amount of time.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:32

And what I would say Which is the majority of the human absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:36

And anytime that I've done an intro in the past, getting it on-ramping a new person coming in and talk to them if they're like lost in their fitness journey, talking to them about having like substantial, like sustenance-based goal setting that actually keeps them showing up, you know. Like you're like, I want to lose 10 pounds and I just want to look good naked, impress some chicks or whatever, you know. Like, that's only gonna get you so far. You get it to a point where the workout's hard, you're eating healthy, you're eating, you know, you're eating your salad and uh chicken breast as opposed to the pizza and beer, and you're like, this fucking sucks. And then it's gonna fall apart because there's no sustenance behind that goal. If you set a goal with sustenance, this is gonna be different for everybody. Like for me, like I get my shoulder back, like I've set this goal of getting a 300-pound snatch. I haven't given up on it. I know the training I need to do to get back there. Will I ever get back there? I don't know. That is just one specific goal of that. That's not my overarching goal. My overarching goal is to be the healthiest, fittest version of myself for me and for my family. Like, that is that's the big picture one. But you can have a lot, in my opinion, and you can expand on this too, subset of like other goals, right? Like you are you have three things or four things. You just did the professional division high rocks, came up just shy of an hour. You're gonna train hella hard to do that. Like your identity in life isn't based around you being able to do this high rocks under an hour, but it's part of who you are. It's a good goal to train for. You're training to do six-man RTO, you're building up hella miles. 29 last week. You're doing a crazy ass uh obstacle run with our cousin in this summer. Like, you have these things that you're training for, and they are tangible things with some sustenance, like to keep it interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:26

But I would argue like part of who you are three things too that are outside of my normal comfort training.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

Absolutely, and I would say that's a part of like your makeup and DNA, who you are, that mental fuckery that we were talking about, those games that we play with ourselves. Like if you just train for general health and wellness to just be healthy for you, for most people, that might be all you need. But for you specifically and me, that's not enough. Like, we have to have those specifics to push. So, what I'm saying is if you don't, if you find yourself continuously falling off or not getting to a goal, I'll reevaluate what those goals are. Maybe those goals are too fucking easy. I've had this, like, this talk with people before, like trying to try not to interrupt too much, but to um pursue like a strength training goal. They're like, I my back squat's 115, I want to get to 125 pounds. I'm like, let's fucking raise that number up. Like that's that's some weak shit right there. We're gonna raise that bitch up to 200, and people look at me like, oh my god, are you serious? I'm like, yeah, I've seen these eyes have seen enough. I know what people can be capable of. So having someone like in your corner to guide you, yes, but I think some people set their goals like way too small.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:38

Yeah, I think most goals are bullshit. Expand. I want to throw that uh that clickbait out there. Ah, yeah. But what I mean by that is you have to understand it is always a continuously moving target.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:56

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:58

Life changes, kids come into Life circumstances change. Goals are continuously moving target, especially when it comes to health and fitness. Like my goals are they've they've changed oftentimes. I mean, my back injury goals have changed. Um currently, like, I would have never guessed me to do this much running volume. Goals have changed. There's a continuous moving target. So if it's like if I identify with this goal, and here's the two sides of it. I don't get the goal. Fuck it, it's done. I give up. Or you start realizing once you achieve the goal, it's like meh. It's not like you you hit this goal and it's this big light bulb moment of, oh my god, I've accomplished the world. I've heat I've done some pretty cool shit, and I get done with it, and it's it's like, okay, on to the next thing. We're back to training tomorrow. Yeah. And that can be very psychologically taxing to deal with. It's like I'm gonna train hard to get this goal to know that my personality is not gonna be one, I'm not gonna be very satisfied. Like, okay, cool, I did it.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:14

Um but not having a goal is also it allows you to be it allows you to accept mediocrity. The status quo. And when you know you're built different and you're built for more, that also becomes a hard thing to live with. And I know there's seasons of our life, there's seasons of maintenance. Up until the last couple years, you know, I mean Claire's health stuff, but even before that, so when Claire's maybe four or five, I mean, it was I was a little bit chunky. It was maintenance time. I was doing enough training to kind of stay healthy, if you will, whatever, whatever. Not every season of our life is gonna be chasing optimal performance and execution in all life schools.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:00

And not to sorry, uh interrupt on that. So, like you were saying back when Claire's little and you you saying you have a bit of chunk carrying around. From the everyday person looking at you and what you're able to accomplish in the gym, like most people would say that you are still healthy because of what you're able to do physically. And your markers and stuff, blood markers and all that may not have been so bad that, like, like a normal person would look at you and be like, Yeah, this dude is pretty fucking fit, healthy. But by your standard, knowing what you're capable of and how you're built, you know, you're built different, like knowing what you can do, you knew that was not a standard that you were living up to. You knew that you were holding yourself back.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:39

Hurt my back in CrossFit competition, like pretty significant disc injuries. So that was a right when Claire was born. Like, yeah, so that was terrible. Can't even bend over picking my kid in pain all the time. So that took me two, three years to reconcile, and even at that, it's something I still have to be very mindful of how I train, or else it it starts coming back. Um that shifted goals. Blood work, all that stuff. Like back in the day, I used to hide behind the fact I could do well in Medcons to pretend I was healthy.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:17

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:17

Blood pressure was creeping up, cholesterol was creeping up, you know. At that point, you know, I'd still drink alcohol. Like things were in the green on labs, but they weren't optimized.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:31

You know, and then whatever, whatever about Peter Tia and the state of that shit show, his book had a profound effect on my life. And it was all around the per This was before him being a scumbag. It is before him being in the Epstein Files. Yeah. But his book still had a profound effect, and I think a lot of his information was still is is still valuable. Um, but it gave me permission to treat health and fitness as an athlete.

Healthspan Goals Built On Strength

SPEAKER_00 1:10:04

Like if I'm not training for some big athletic endeavor, it gave me permission to train like an athlete for my health and fitness and to treat my body like an athlete for health and fitness, being the baseline goal.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:20

Because the stronger you are, the higher your VO2 max are the two largest levers you can pull to be that badass grandfather we were talking about earlier. To be that capable, healthy father, to live a life free of metabolic disease. Those are the two. Like being strong, being cardiovascularly fit. There's no other two levers that move the needle nearly as much. If you don't have those two things, but you eat fucking perfect, I'm going to outlive you.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:52

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:52

Like that's just what the stats say. So when it comes to goals and where I'm at in my own life, about three years ago, like that's where that light bulb went off. Like, okay, I just don't need to get three average workouts in a week and be fit. I want to push the needle on what I'm physically capable of without getting hurt and without getting burnt out.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:16

How fit can I get? Because the higher I push that, I'm once the decline starts, I'm gonna be declining from way the fuck up here.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:27

Whereas my peers at 45 years old at that point will be half of my fitness level and they're gonna start their decline from there.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

Yeah, with a great visual.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:35

So I'm gonna decline to here, they're gonna decline to here. How high can you take the peak? How high can you take the peak? And the conversation around that for me, Cassie and so forth, because I can get a little bit obsessive about stuff. It's getting there in a meaningful, full amount of daily time requirement training. I don't like training longer than an hour, hour and a half.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:57

I would think you in 90% of scenarios, you don't need to.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:00

No, but you think about max VO2 people, they're out there training three, four hours a day.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:04

Yeah, but they're training for something specific.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:06

Yeah, exactly. But I'm just saying that's one of the parts that I'm struggling with training for the sixth-person RTO is the increased weekend training time.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:17

But there's a finish line to it.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:18

But that's exactly it. I've told multiple people, I was like, once July gets here, my running volume is getting cut down by two-thirds.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:25

I'm gonna get that time back because I don't want fitness taking over every other aspect of my life.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:30

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:30

So it's finding quote unquote balance, if you will, but also pushing excellence. And that's one of the things. This whole training for high rocks and training for RTO, it really does circle me back around to why CrossFit methodology is the best. General physical preparedness, health, wellness methodology that still exists in the marketplace today. Nothing compares to it. For time efficiency of getting quality work in and a reasonable amount of time commitment, there's nothing that compares to it.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:05

And that's how we've been using the methodology for years. Yeah. Like we're double-edged fitness. When people ask how we do our training, it's CrossFit methodology. We do believe in we've experienced it. Like at its core, it is gonna help people perform from all walks of life, all shapes, sizes, ages, to perform at your best. Like I'll use myself. I have two examples here. Use myself as an example, and then one of my favorite videos of all time. Um, when I first started, I didn't even know what a squat was when we first started doing CrossFit. Legitimately, like I had heard of that leg press machine, was like the when I thought squat, like that's what I thought. Had no idea. So when we first got into CrossFit and people were doing back squatting and stuff, I'm like, oh, this is hella bad for your knees. Y'all, a bunch of idiots. You'll wear the bicep curls. Like this was the state of my ignorance, right? But then once I started buying into it and squatting, especially with my knee issues, and now my knees are probably the best they've ever been because my legs are so strong. But the first time I maxed back squat, um, like after probably months of training, the first time that I truly attempted to max, I got 155 pounds for back squat. And I'm now, well, maybe not now, but my PR as of a couple years ago is 500. So being able to take what I thought not even remotely possible, get to that point, is crazy. It's really awesome to see what I was capable of doing. And I still think there's some left in the tank. Now, on a longevity standpoint, one of my favorite videos of all time is there's a coach, an owner of a gym, dude's like in his like mid-60s, and he's recording his dad, who's like, I think he's 94. All right. He's doing sumo. Who gives a fuck? He sumo deadlifted 405 for a set of five at 94 years old. Old man looked pretty jacked, couldn't hear for shit. One of my favorite parts about the video is he's going through these reps. For him look good too. He looked strong. The son is in, like I said, in his late six. He's like, hell yeah, dad, get another one. That's badass. And he's like cheering him on. And he finishes his last rep and he's like, Hell yeah, dad, that was awesome. How do you feel? And dad's like, huh? How do you feel, dad? What'd you say? Never mind. He went, oh, okay. Um, but like, couldn't hear for shit. But was this physically capable? Like, how many 90-year-olds? I mean, this is such a small percentage, but he was able to do this in his 90s. Like that dude's kicking ass at like, who gives a fuck if he can't hear anything? Like a dude can deadlift 405 pounds is a 94-year-old man. Like, that shit's badass.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:33

There's not a single person in that part of their life that wishes they were less strong. Exactly. No, and that's what I get pissed off or a little sideways when women complain about, oh, I'm gonna get bulky. Like, no, you're not one. Yeah. Very few women actually get bulky from strength training, but you get stronger, and there's not a single 60, 70-year-old female out there that's like, oh, I wish I was less weak or less strong.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:59

Less strong. You know, my favorite thing that I tell people, tell women that, and it kind of strikes a nerve with them and it gets my point across, and they say, I just I don't want to get bulky. I'm like, you don't have to worry about that. You don't have good enough genetics or work ethic to get bulky. I've been blunt with people like that, and they look at me kind of sideways. I'm like, it's true. I'm like, I could train you hella hard every single day. You don't have the genetic makeup to what you deem is bulky in these pictures of women that you see, you're never gonna look like them. You don't have it. One, you don't have a mental fortitude, two, you're probably too old. Three, you don't have the the genetic makeup, so you're doing yourself a disservice by getting it. You're probably not gonna be on steroids. Yeah. Like, it's just, I think, a again, a bullshit thing that's been instilled in people.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:41

No, and it's I understand where it comes from, but this goes back to goal setting around physique-oriented goals. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for look looking good and training to look good. I think it's fine. I think, especially as we age, I don't want to be the spouse that lets my health and or physique go to shit. Yeah. Right? My wife's hot. Like, I want to stay good looking, you know, and take care of myself physically. Like, I think it matters.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:11

I uh might call me a shallow piece of shit, but like for my for the younger crowd, if you're listening, there's it was a popular meme. It's been used a bunch of different times. It like shows this like really attractive, it'd be like an actress in a movie or something, whatever the context. It would show this like really beautiful, like, female in like a lingerie getup, and she's like sitting on the bed, and it's like my wife spending hundreds of dollars on her makeup, hair, and lingerie to look like that, and then the next slide is over is for me to look like it's a picture of Peter Griffin and family guy standing in just bed. For me to look like this. Uh yeah, that's funny.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:53

Yeah, you don't want to be No, I don't want to be Peter Griffin. But I think, you know, I mean it's funny because like dudes, you get you get leaned out and look good, and most of the attention comes from your fellow bros.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:12

Right. And gran, I the only attention I want is from my wife. Yeah. And um, it's just hilarious because I think even the single guys out there who are fit and lean, it's like most of the attention I get is from my fellow bro friends.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:27

Like another influencer, cool guy actually follows, hella jacked, hella ripped. And his like joking video in the beginning, it's like him flexing in the mirror. He's a bodybuilder, he's a stud, but he's ripped like to the gills. And he's like, I started my bodybuilding uh transformation or journey to impress all the women. And then he showed like his comment section, like screenshots of his comment section, which is 99% dudes like, damn, dude, hell yeah, boss looking big dog. I want to be just like you. Just he said, All I do is get love from guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:59

Which, you know, admiration, yeah, you know, appreciation. You know how hard a work that is to achieve. Yeah, it's just it's funny. It's funny, it's funny. But I do think having the goal of we have it on our website, checkbox, look good naked. I think that's a valuable goal. But I will say this it's not going to be the goal that keeps you going when the shit gets hard. So, in my mind, my long-term health goal is health optimization, health span.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:29

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:30

So that means I need to appreciate recovery, but I also got to be consistent with all aspects of my training, day in, day out. Having that overarching goal has facilitated more progress in my overall health than any other goal I've ever had in my life outside of maybe my senior year of wrestling when I was really fighting to be a state champion. Sure. That was a very sports-specific goal, performance. Outside of that, my goals have kind of fluctuated. I've let things go up and down. But now, in the last three years, having this overarching health span goal and knowing how massively important the strength and conditioning levers are for your health span, it's like, yeah, I'm gonna get out and do this run. I'm gonna get my ass into the gym. I'm gonna lift the weights, I'm gonna do the things. And it's much more intentional for me than it's ever been in my life having that goal, which has also transformed my blood work, it's transformed my body, it's transformed everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:30

Yeah. I would say, as you, as you say that I'm big on analogies. I like to communicate with people with analogies, usually come up off the top of the dome. And as you were saying, all that analogy I just came up with, is that overarching goal. Like, if you think of it as like the foundation, like that is the foundation to your home. Like, without the foundation, a home is gonna fall apart. Yep. You need to have a strong foundation to have a home to sit on. So I would think is like your specific goal, like the high rocks thing and stuff like that, like those are rooms to your home. Like you don't want just an empty house, like a shell of a house with no rooms or anything in it, even if you have a strong foundation, you want to be able to add some value, some sustenance to that home, you know, extra rooms, which would be like your goals and stuff. Like another way to think of it is like seasons. It's okay, like even the Olympians, like that is it's a long season that's three to four years for them to be how much time they take off of like brutal work to be the absolute best in the world, but it's still a season and they can only do it for so long. So treating like having your foundation, like what is your foundation? And I would argue, and there's even been interviews done with these Olympians, they don't have a foundation. They have this physical prowess and ability to perform at the absolute peak, and they are idolized by millions of people of like the mech of like, oh my God, this is what a human is capable of. And for a lot of those people, I think it's the bigger, faster, stronger documentary years ago, where they interviewed some of these guys who actually didn't get gold, and they would be okay with getting gold and dying the next day, knowing that they fulfilled their mission in life. Like that is they didn't have foundation, like that's all that matters. And then you have people who are at the best, get the golds at the top, but then have nothing after and become some of the most depressed people ever because they all identity is gone. There was no foundation to getting to that point. And you have other athletes who like there's an Australian snowboarder, he ended up getting second in um in half by the Olympics. It's kind of heartbreaking because the dude is like three feet taller than everybody else. All the little Asian guys are like four and a half feet tall, and he's literally 6'4 from Australia, and this might be his last Olympics. And he he's got bronze, silver, and literally came up a half point shy of getting gold. And it's heartbreaking. It was sad to watch. And the dude has been you you can see his journey throughout the years, but I could argue when he's done, he's actually still gonna be fulfilled because he literally built a resort and bought snow machines and lifts for his local little town in Australia for kids to take up snowboarding. Like that's was his mission. He's like, this is this is for me, but at the end of the day, I want to be able to support kids who have the same or who have the same goals and vision than I do, and I want to be able to give back. And that is a much bigger foundation to him just being the best at snowboarding, because once that's gone, like there is no foundation. You're gonna fall through the cracks. So having, again, not too big there, but having your general health and wellness is your overarching goal and what it means to you showing up for your family, fighting disease, whatever it is, you need to have that foundation before you can add the room to the house.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:44

And I think for some people to buy into that foundation, you need to understand how important it is. The data, the statistics, because it's really easy, because we're not, you don't go out and have a bad meal, and that meal is killing you. There it's compounded interest in both directions. It's little microaggressions or microadditions to you each day. You're either adding to your health a little bit each day, or you're taking away from your health each day. And then by the time you're 40, 45, doctor's telling you to get your shit together, or the doctor's insanely impressed with how healthy you are. And it's hard to wrap your head around that being the base goal when no, this one burger and fries and beers aren't gonna kill me today. Doing that three to four days per week, it's gonna add up over five, ten years.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:41

No, it's not gonna be the end of my fitness if I don't work out today. It's not gonna be the end of my fitness if I don't work out this week. But if I stop working out for the next three to six months, it's gonna be pretty rough coming back. And especially the older we get, the comeback is much harder, much more difficult. So preventing injury, training smart, and recovering smart. If you really understand the data on how important it is for your long-term health, taking care of your metabolic health, physical health, it's easier to buy in to the single everyday disciplinary activities that you need to do to achieve that. Because in years of us training people, it's like, oh, I just want to be healthy and fit. It's such a broad thing, right? It's like, but when you think of healthy and fit, okay, I want to be the most healthy, the most fit that I'm capable of being at whatever age that I'm am for that period of time. I aim to be in the top 1% VO2 max and strength and performance. Society. Like if my metrics aren't putting me in the top 1%, I'm not happy at all. True. Because, like I said earlier, the fitter and stronger I am, my decline, I'm declining from way the hell up here above everybody else. Yeah. So that makes it easier to buy into that big goal to bring it back to the daily reps of discipline of saying no to this and yes to that. So I you brought up high rocks and stuff earlier. I think having those single events can facilitate a period of excellence or a period of purpose that spices it up a little bit, makes it fun. Um, and I'll say that from my own participation most recently. I texted you and I was like, it felt good to be back in the game.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:35

Like it felt good to be back in a competitive environment.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:38

And warming up to go out there and compete and get after it and to push my maximal capabilities. It felt good.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:49

But it's also not something I'm craving to do every weekend.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:52

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:53

And I think it's I think it's great to have those goals and to do those events and to get out there and explore what you're capable of.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:00

To kind of backtrack just a tiny bit of you saying like the small, repetitive, daily consistencies that ultimately form essentially who you are. Um, I follow a uh a theologian and slash historian on Instagram, maybe you've heard of him, uh Wesley Huff. And he actually shared something the other day in in context to um pastoral stuff, but actually as a parallel, like the example you use actually has exact parallels to what we're talking about here. And he says, you know, I don't remember 99% of the meals that I've eaten, but I know for a fact that I ate them because I am alive today. Yeah. So in his context, he's saying, I don't remember 99% of the sermons and stuff I've been to, but I know the effects that they've had on my life as a believer in Christianity and his apologetics, what he works on. Same thing applies here for us. We don't remember 99% of the workouts we do, but we know. That we have done them to get to this point.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:02

You know, I'm the most guilty of that. I don't even know what my one repaces are.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:06

But I think that was like a beautiful way of like an analogy of like, yeah, I I can point out, like, truly think of some meals that have stood out to me. Not things I like. Not like, oh yeah, I like steak. I love chicken wings. I mean, truly think of like an instance and a moment of a meal that I ate and actually remember it. Like there are very few, I could probably count on maybe one, maybe two hands of moments like that. Like, best steak house ever eaten at Madison in the cross at games in Wisconsin. That meal was unreal. Like I remember that meal. I don't remember all the other shit that's kept me alive, the sustenance, but I know that I did those things because I am here alive. Yep. Does it make sense? Yeah. I thought it was a great analogy for that. Um, you know, something written down here is you know, a goal should guide you, not define you.

SPEAKER_00 1:28:56

You know, you like I said, it's a constantly moving target. So if the goal defines you, you're gonna be well kicked in the nuts.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:04

Like yeah, it should be a season. Like we don't have summer all year long, we don't have winter all year long. Like it should be a season and you should treat it in a way. And if you don't get to that goal, evaluate why, or maybe it's not the right goal, you know, kind of going back to you saying why goals are bullshit, but they can be a good thing to work towards, but they shouldn't be your identity, they shouldn't be your foundation.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:28

I know it's hard to wrap your head around like the goal of just being better today than I was yesterday, right? That's some shit fluencers say I get where it comes from, it's a growth mindset approach to life, and uh, it does resonate with me. Yeah, but unless you have like this framed foundation, like I'm a leader in a fitness community, and I tell people like you guys inspire me, and I hope I inspire you back, but I want to be setting an example for you all. So when I go and work out, or if I'm gonna skip a workout, I have to justify that to my community. Yeah, like I need to be setting a standard. Like you guys inspire me to set a standard, but so does my house, so does my kids, and then I also put myself to a standard, and that's like comes back to you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with. I happen to be surrounded by every single person in my life on a daily basis, every single one of them is prioritizes their health and fitness. And when that is your interaction from work to the parents that my kids hang out with, like Tammy and JP, yeah, like these are people that crush health and fitness goals.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:59

Our fellow coaches here in the gym, like obviously you, my wife, and then you have our members who are kicking ass. And I'm supposed to be, you know, one of the leaders of them. That's who I'm surrounded by. And by the way by default, you have to try to go to shit when you're surrounded by those kind of people. And when you have mutual respect amongst all of each other, it's like they says some shit to me. Fuck, you're right. I can't do that. Yep. Fuck, you're right. I am being dumbass, not eating enough carbohydrates. You know, when you're surrounded by these people, it makes these goals just you know, easier and the daily reps of discipline, if you will, easier.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:51

Yeah. So I mean, to be biased here, but find your tribe, find your community. And I think in double edge, we built a pretty, pretty sick community. And I mean, I got nothing to add left to this topic, which kind of segues into our last one, if you're ready to move on.

Performance Goals Drive Consistency

SPEAKER_01 1:32:04

Oh, yeah. Um, is and this will have touch points on what we've already talked about, but the pursuit of performance leads to better health, confidence, and consistency. So this just kind of in a way summarizes what we've already talked about. That in another podcast that we've done, like, you know, if you are just searching for vanity, like just for the abs, or just I mean, that's that's your status, right? That shows your hard work. But if that's like the thing that you're working towards, like if there's vanity there or there's nothing of true like sustenance, it's gonna fall to shit. But if you're chasing a level of performance for you, that's relative to you, right? Like, I would argue, I mean, maybe through a long, a lot of training, I could get to maybe your well, let's just say, conditioning abilities and be able to run and do shit. Like, maybe. But I would have to put in a lot of work. Do I necessarily want to do that? No, but you don't necessarily want to get strong like I do, right? But there's zero desire to start with. We have our specifics to our overarching goal being health and fitness, right? But there are specifics that we train on. Um, but we are pushing ourselves to see where we can perform in the things that we are attracted to and may have inclinations towards. So, like, for example, um, if you're three feet tall and you have aspirations to make it to the NBA, like is it possible? I mean, I guess I'm gonna say no. I'm just gonna go ahead and say no on that one. You know, you'll have to never miss a shot ever from anywhere on the court from the from that fucking half court line, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:45

Yeah, unless they're throwing you.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:47

Yeah. Like, so my point with that extreme example is you should train towards the things that you enjoy and have like an a volition towards like it's it's the number one thing in fitness and health.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:03

Yeah. You're gonna like do the thing you enjoy doing because the thing you enjoy doing, you're gonna do consistently. And the thing you do consistently is going to have the most positive impact on your health long term.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:14

And there's actually a strength coach that I follow, he's got millions of followers, and he's like, I get asked all the time, what program is the most effective? Like, what should I do? He's like, honestly, do the one that you enjoy. That's the one you get the most results from. He said it could be a dog shit program, but if you enjoy doing it, it means you're gonna show up and you're gonna put in hard work, you're gonna get results.

unknown 1:34:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:34:34

And that's, I mean, really what it is. So do the thing that you enjoy. Yep. Um, and you might have to do some things you don't enjoy to do that thing better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:34:43

I mean, it comes down to like plugging weaknesses, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:34:46

Let's you probably don't enjoy eating certain healthy meals, or at one point you didn't, but you enjoy the fuel and performance that it facilitates to do the things that you enjoy. Like if you were doing an RTO but you were eating like shit all the time, you would perform like shit running as much as you're doing because you're fueling your body like shit. Well, you know, but you may not enjoy eating fermented vegetables. It's just an example.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:11

I was just gonna say you enjoy the outcomes a lot. Like, I'm not gonna pretend I'm not addicted to how my body feels these days. Sure. From two and a half years of near-perfect eating and optimizing our household health in every single way.

SPEAKER_03 1:35:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:26

Like that's been one of the easiest why it's like I still have a drink from time to time, but to say no to alcohol because I enjoy the way that I'm able to recover, the way that I'm able to feel the next day working out, my results from working out, and it's then it starts really compounding in a big way of positivity for me. Um, but I enjoy this whole process. I enjoy the process of what do you want to say, the gay, stupid ass word of biohacking.

SPEAKER_02 1:35:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35:56

I enjoy the process of figuring myself out. How do I perform better at this amount of carbohydrate intake? How am I recovering from this strength training?

SPEAKER_01 1:36:05

How am I like I would say in my definition of like healthy performance for the everyday person, which I would say that's something that we're passionate about here, like not just doing basic health and wellness shit. Like that stuff's important, but people like you can, I mean, we can argue how healthy you can get, but you can get healthy by eating healthy, lift some weights every once in a while and go jogging. Like you, by definition, could be healthy doing things.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:30

Somebody might wake up in my body and say, You're not healthy, bro. This shit hurts.

SPEAKER_01 1:36:34

But performance, I would say, based on who you are mentally and physically, being able to push the scope of the things you enjoy to a point that pull you out of your comfort zone that allow you to do some cool shit without neglecting the big picture. So, example, I'll expand on this. You running the RTO as a six-man team, that is pushing you out of your comfort zone. That's a lot of running.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:57

Me personally, it's it's the most uncomfort zone I've ever dove into.

SPEAKER_01 1:37:02

And you'll probably do really well. You'll probably run really fast for long periods of time. Yeah, you'll you'll do well. So, but that is pushing you out of your comfort zone for something and a scope of your interested in. And it's still keeping you healthy, where I would say it's detract. Hold on. Let me let me finish. Where it's detracting from your overall goal of health and fitness is now are you capable of running, you know, a 200-mile race? Like, do you have the physical capacity to do a marathon sub, whatever disgusting time frame is for really good people? Like you probably okay. Like if you just train for that, like you, Derek Welloch, probably have the ability to do that, but at the expense of neglecting every other facet and thing of life that you enjoy to accomplish that task. So your ability to perform at that level is probably there. Like your genetic potential is probably there to do that thing. Is that thing worth neglecting everything else? Probably not. But you've pushed yourself out of your comfort zone to do this six-man RTO where someone, I don't even want to do a fucking 36-man RTO. I'm trying to just drive. Yeah. So like there's there's components to it. Like for me, like I think I granted my shoulder can take it. I'm, you know, still recovering from that. I think I have the ability to snatch 300 pounds, lifetime, lifetime goal, 315. I might, if I had neglected everything else and just got bigger in strength training, that's all I did and trained like a true Olympic lifter for the next few years, I could probably get up to 315, 320 snatch. Like I could probably get to these numbers. I mean, I don't know that for sure, but my genetic potential and capacity to do that is there. It's within grasp.

SPEAKER_00 1:38:45

Yeah, but to even get an extreme goal like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:38:48

But to get to that goal, I would have to neglect everything else. So what I'm saying is you need to find the things that you are within grasp that are there. You can see them. They're on the horizon. You know they're there. You got to push yourself out of your comfort zone to do those things. And you know you can do it, but there is probably another view that can go farther, but to what expense at that point? You know, like you going from 12-man RTO to six-man, and then go from a six-man RTO to two-man RTO, like at that point, like it's probably nothing you're ever going to train for. Nope. Is this my this is my point.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:21

At this point of my life, it's I'm hitting my limits.

SPEAKER_01 1:39:24

And this is where we're prioritizing like your performance, your potential where you're at. You can do a six-man, you might be a little beat up, fucked up for a while after you do it. But I truly believe in knowing you that you could do this thing as a six-man deal. And that is that is highlighting your performance as Derek Wellock being able to complete this thing. And I don't have a doubt that you could take it even farther. But then now you're putting so many eggs into that basket, you're actually losing the picture and the foundation of that, you know, metaphorical house I talked about, that is actually important to you in the in the bigger picture.

SPEAKER_05 1:39:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:39:59

I mean, just to put some context around this being a performance goal leading me potentially to a healthier outcome. So I was on blood pressure meds. I'm no longer on blood pressure meds. Huge piece of that is the increased aerobic training. Huge piece of that is also removing stress from aspects of our business. But there's no question that the massive volume of aerobic capac aerobic work that I've been doing, preparing for started with high rocks, these have all been stepping stones of intention. So those high rocks get the running going to start leading into what I'm gonna need to do for the RTO to start to finish off with the beast Spartan that I'm doing with our cousin. So it's all stepping stones. Now, first mistake. It was my choice to do the six-person RTO. And then I filled the van with runners that are all better than me. So now the pressure. I don't like being necessarily, I want to be able to hold my own, keep up and not be the one that drags the team down, right? A healthy pressure. It's a healthy pressure. But I'm already experienced the time commitments, and it's not just going out and running for an hour and a half.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:16

That's not a lot right out of the day. But running that hour and a half, I'm drained. I have to get back, prioritize my food, prioritize my recovery. Like I'm getting back, getting in the hot tub, getting in the cold plunge, doing sauna work in the evenings. Like the amount of extra recovery I have to put in to recover from these training sessions is starting to detract my focus from other important aspects of my life, which is why I know I'll never train for anything further than a marathon. Sure. In the endurance world, because of the time, domain, and commitment required for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:41:55

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:56

It because it does start to detract. And that's like I told Faye this morning. This is why I love CrossFit because it's so effective in such a short amount of time. Like I can get a great workout that does give me the physique and health outcomes that I'm looking for in an hour a day. And I do that consistently, five to seven days per week. I'm in the top 1% of my goals. Now, seeing how much like it's benefited my heart adding this zone two work in, this volume, I'm gonna cut the volume in half, but I'm gonna keep doing it. There's been no question it's improved my overall health picture in a massive way.

SPEAKER_01 1:42:38

So, yeah, and you built up the capacity to get to that point. Like you could take your zone recovery work and throw that at me, and that is a daunting, brutal aerobic work, weeks worth of shit that I would you argue physically not able to do for the intents and purposes of what that is.

SPEAKER_00 1:42:57

Two years of base building that led to this moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:00

Well, you ran an eight miles on the trail the other day at a seven minute pace, right? Yeah. On the curve, yeah, and that was like zone three or some shit. Yeah. Okay. I can barely even do a seven-minute mile, zone five, zone six, baby. Like I'm just saying, but you've built the capacity to get to that point. Like you said, even before you started this running venture fuck six months ago, you couldn't do that. No, like you've built up this capacity, so when you retire from this event, you'll still have an element of that foundation that's been built.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:30

The the you level up and then maintaining a level becomes easier.

SPEAKER_01 1:43:35

Yeah, like it's you go, you take a step, but then when you when you you take a step forward, but when you deload from that goal, you really only take a half a step back. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:43:45

If you do it, if you do it right. So having performance-based goals, I think, moves the needle on the whole thing. But like I was telling Dennis this morning, I'm gonna do the cleaning jerks today. Like type two muscle fibers, the first things to go, you fast twitch.

SPEAKER_02 1:44:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:00

First things to go as you get older. You have to be intentional about training them. So doing the Olympic lifts, sprinting, jumping, these are very important aspects of your long-term health. And, you know, that went through my brain this morning when I looked at the programming. I'm like, I need to do I need and I need to do these lifts fast, not just muscle fuck the bars, right? Like ugly, like clean, explosive, fast cleaning jerks to keep this, some aspects of my type, you know, my fast twitch muscle fibers as I'm doing all this aerobic base, because even though I'm getting fitter in this capacity, I'm noticing maybe it's an age-related thing, but my strength stuff is not maintaining the way I would suspect it.

SPEAKER_03 1:44:51

True.

SPEAKER_00 1:44:52

You know, and watching the overarching goal of health, fitness, and health span, I'm not willing to get so aerobically fit that I can no longer deadlift two times my body weight. Being able to deadlift two times my body weight is a bare minimum standard for me.

SPEAKER_02 1:45:07

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:08

At any age of my life. Just like being able to row a sub seven-minute 2K is a bare minimum standard for me at damn near any age of my life. Maybe around 60 years old, we evaluate that shit, but there's some bare minimum standards, and one of them is not being able to go out and run 15 miles at a seven-minute mile pace because that's gonna neglect from these other standards that I have. So, performance goals, great. I think they're great drivers. I think you need to fully buy in and understand how much training the whole body strength cardiovascular matters. I think doing events like HyROX that's gonna force you to get a little stronger, work on your cardiovascular fitness are great things to sign up for to move the needle. Um, yeah, I think it's all good.

SPEAKER_01 1:46:04

And I think maybe just like flirting with the idea of like, yeah, maybe what what can I do? You know, weights are a great objective like measure. Like I've had older, particularly women, um, and guys. I mean, I'm just thinking of some women off top of my head that are in their late 50s, early 60s, and have gotten up to 225-pound deadlift as a female. And that is like that's unheard of. Like, even men at that age can't do that. No, I mean like being able to lift weights, just meaningful weight. Yeah. I mean, seeing what like and that ask for her to do that was not such a commitment of lengthy time and extreme goals. Exactly. It happened in a group environment over probably like a year or less to get to that point. Like, it just shows how quick your body can adapt to some of these stimuli and be able to do shit you never thought you could, and that's cool. As long as you're willing to put in the effort, like these cool, this cool shit can happen. And the byproducts of that, you know, better body composition, blood markers, all the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:09

Like, I think too, I forgot to bring this up. Like the byproducts, like you're saying when you start seeing the performances improve, yeah. Like maybe you get your first muscle up, maybe you snatch your body weight or some shit. You start seeing these, and then it's like, oh, that's cool. And then I've seen people really like, okay, I like that. How can I do that better? Yeah, well, now we need to start dialing in the nutrition, dialing in the hydration, dialing in the sleep, getting rid of the alcohol. Like all these things are gonna facilitate recovery now better. When that performance becomes fun, like you start seeing yourself getting good at it and enjoying that process, it's like, okay, how can I do this better? So, however, you want to get there, eventually at some point, all those aspects of health and fitness are going to matter. And the older you get, the more they matter collectively.

Confidence, Standards, And Tough Love

SPEAKER_00 1:48:10

Because once you hit about 30, you can't out train a shitty diet. Yeah, you l you can't do it without breaking down, falling apart into pieces.

SPEAKER_01 1:48:18

So, well, and again, because the topic raw and performance, your your confidence is earned. Your confidence comes from your capability. You know, like getting your driver's license the first time that you drive, you're probably not super confident because you haven't done it a lot, but the more you do it, the more confident and just muscle memory driving can become. The more capable you are doing that thing, the more you're exposed to that thing, the more capable you are becoming.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:46

And you've kept more promises to yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:48:49

Fitness and health is earned. It can't be given to you. You can't inherit it. I mean, sure, you can inherit some aspects of it, right? Because you can inherit a fucked up disease and some shit. But in general, every piece of health and fitness and work capacity is earned. Not a single person can give that to you. Nobody can take it away from you. So it's uh when you go to and you're gonna do business with somebody, you're meeting somebody, there's uh I believe there's studies that actually show that people are more inclined to respect and appreciate doing business with somebody who is fit and healthy. Like you already command a higher level of respect walking into a room of people being fit and healthy, because one, it's not something that's achieved in society. So you already know innately that that person has self discipline. They're able to be consistent, they're able to, you know, do the things they say they're gonna do, repeat them over and over and over, overcome setbacks. Overcome challenges. You don't get fit and healthy without overcoming injuries at some point. Yeah. Like the it demonstrates all these things about the character and who you are. And that's what true self-confidence comes from. It's that simple.

SPEAKER_01 1:50:19

Yeah. I mean, absolutely. So something written down here as a as a closing thought. Life changes, goals come and go, and season shifts, but health, discipline, and purpose still matter. The key is building a life that keeps you moving forward long after motivation fades. Yeah, because motivation's always gonna fade. So if you have your foundation, you strive for performance-based goals, you're gonna be able to perform in all aspects, you're gonna be the better parent, you're gonna be a better version of yourself, you're gonna be a better person for your community, you're just gonna be better in all aspects of your life. And like you just said, there's it can't be inherited, you can't buy it. You have to earn it yourself, and that is the ultimate status symbol. Oh, 100%. So I think that pretty much sucks on everything. You got any last things to add?

SPEAKER_00 1:51:18

No. I mean, I just last thing would be sometimes I sound harsh, critical. Um, been doing this for a very long time. We know what works and what doesn't work. I'm not gonna deal with people's excuses. I will call you out on them, but on the other side of that coin, I will do everything I can to help you if you're willing to help yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:51:41

And I will attest to that for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:51:43

Like I will every bit of knowledge, resource, I will find the answers. As a fitness coach, that's where I'm at in my career point. I don't tolerate excuses. I will let you know that what you're saying maybe is probably an excuse of why you can when it comes to time management, when it comes to finding healthy food, when it comes to getting workouts in, but I will help you overcome those obstacles in every way that I can. Yeah. You should be able to get those outcomes that you desire.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:12

To give you 100% if you're not willing to do the same.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:14

Yeah. And it's just life's short. We only have so much time. And I want to help people who want to help themselves. Yep. And I will weed through that pretty freaking quick. If you're not willing to help yourself, don't fucking bother me.

SPEAKER_02 1:52:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:52:29

But if you're willing to help yourself, I will give you everything that I have to get you to be the best version of what you're trying to get to possible. Yeah. I mean So all my harshness and criticism come from love.

SPEAKER_01 1:52:43

I'll finish this with an analogy, you know, um, since I'm big on those. Is even though this may not be the case, or maybe it is, there's a level of judgment. If you had two homeless people, you got one homeless dude on the corner drinking beers, doing heroin. I picked up a handful of needles around the South gym at one point. Like, this is the reality of it. You got two homeless guys. You got one guy that's an alcoholic, not doing anything for themselves, just asking for cash to buy the next fix. Then you have another homeless guy that's at the work convention, applying for jobs, like trying to put in the work to get a job. You're gonna respect that effort, or you should. Like, there's a I look at that guy and be like, fuck yeah, I want to do what I can to help him if I'm in a scenario to be able to help him. But you don't want to help, and there's a judgment there with the other person. Like, why the fuck would I give you money if you're just gonna go spend it on booze? You know, there's the same thing, like if there's a fat person in the gym working hard and you're making fun of them being fat, it's a fucking dick move. They're clearly there trying to get a few. They're working harder than anybody else. They're there trying to improve their life. Yeah, and they're doing the work. Uh and I'm not saying you need to be a dick to anybody at all by any means, but there's a difference between someone who's taking their circumstances and trying to do something about it rather than just, like you said, not just, and I don't deal with it well either, just fucking be bitchy and soft and not want to do anything about it. That shit drives me nuts.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:11

No, if I give you the tools, resources, education, support to get to the goal that you say you want, and then when I turn around and you're eating some shit food, whatever, you're skipping workouts, you don't fucking want it. I'm gonna tell you that to your face.

SPEAKER_01 1:54:31

I haven't got to the point. I respect the people that are super, like I'll just say, since it's the topic, like unhealthy. Like, I know some very large people, and they know they're large and they don't give a fuck. No, that's different. That's I don't I respect it. Like, yeah, I know this is making me a little fat, but I just don't fucking care.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:47

Well, well, we got brother seasons of life too. There are people in the gym who are different seasons of life. Like right now, I'm just trying to maintain.

SPEAKER_02 1:54:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:54:56

And I get that, and I'm here to support that. Then I have people that you know come up to you and it's like, oh my God, I you know, this crying about their in-body scan. And six months ago we sat down, went over everything to do, but you haven't implemented a damn thing. So now you have no, you have no reason you you can't complain. Yeah, you need to just shut the fuck up because you don't want it. You didn't none of the work you did and the behaviors I saw you do over the last six months in real time doesn't lend you to have a better in-body scan. So you can do those things, just don't complain about it. Just don't complain about it, especially to me. Because I get triggered. I get triggered. Yeah. But if you genuinely want to improve, I have these same triggers.

SPEAKER_01 1:55:40

I will help you. Honestly, in my realm of like strength training, people play me out. I'm not stronger. And then I have them do something, they're like, Oh, that's too hard.

SPEAKER_00 1:55:50

I did I had a person the other day come off, come up at me. It's like, huh, I'm just not doing well in class. I'm just not, I don't feel myself getting better. I was like, Well, I told you a month ago to get me your food intake. Typically, lack of performance improvements. And this person trains consistently. Very consistent, Jim. Very coachable too, when it comes to like add weight, do these things. You haven't got me your food intake. She's like, Well, I'm scared because I'm not eating it, I'm not eating very much because I'm scared to gain weight. It's like, well, don't expect fucking performance to go up if you're not willing to support the calorie requirements for that to happen. And I said that months ago. And then it's still dis you're still discouraged over the same topic. And we haven't done anything to do that. So either be happy and be okay with not performing better, but you're still performing well, you're still healthy.

unknown 1:56:44

Fuck.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:46

Especially when people have goals that they think they want. But then you lay it out and it's like, oh, maybe you don't really want these goals because this is what it's gonna take. I don't know. Like, I want to help people get their goals. I genuinely do. But to round this out, it's like don't lie to yourself about what you really want these goals. That's

Final Thoughts And Sign Off

SPEAKER_00 1:57:20

it. That's it. Don't lie to yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:23

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 1:57:25

It's me on my high horse right there.

SPEAKER_01 1:57:27

We can finish it there. Thanks for tuning in, you guys. We'll see you in the next one.