Cut The Noise | Wellness Simplified
"Cut the Noise - Wellness Simplified" is a weekly podcast where fitness experts Ben and Lindsay Hack leverage their two decades of experience to empower women over 40 in building healthier lifestyles. Unlike typical health shows, this podcast cuts through industry hype, focusing on sustainable fitness, mindful eating habits, and positive mindset cultivation for holistic well-being. With their signature no-fads, no-shortcuts philosophy, Ben and Lindsay offer refreshingly real talk, actionable advice, and occasional hard truths – all served with a generous dose of humor. Tune in for straightforward, science-backed wellness guidance simplifying the path to genuine health and happiness.
Cut The Noise | Wellness Simplified
037. The Big Secret To Improving Your Health
What if there is a secret to finally cracking the code on your health?
In this episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on the one thing everyone seems to overlook. You’ll hear the truth behind what really works—and why most people miss it.
Join us as we cut through the noise of quick fixes and fad diets, sharing personal stories (like Ben’s injury saga) and plenty of laughs along the way. Plus, we’ve got exciting news about upcoming episodes and expert guests to keep you inspired.
Think you’re ready for the secret? Tune in to find out—it might just change the way you look at wellness forever.
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Welcome to episode 37. Cut the Noise.
Lindsay:Wellness Simplified with myself, ben and I'm Lindsay, and we are back for another week.
Ben:Another week you say that like it's a surprise. Should we quit just and see what happens? See if anybody notices. Do you think they?
Lindsay:will. No, we love doing these and it's interesting. Actually, ben and I have been talking about. You know the direction of the podcast and where we want to take it and what we want to do for 2025 and all of those things, and I love it.
Ben:I know you do as well.
Lindsay:The direction no, the podcast in general.
Ben:I told you before, I feel like it's therapy right, like it's therapy right. We can get a lot of this off our chest and certainly I think that I mean the feedback that we get is great. We love the feedback and it really is nice to know that, even if there's just one person getting something from this right Our listenership of one.
Lindsay:Anybody who knows Ben and I, whether in real life or coaching or listening to these podcasts. Authenticity is probably my most important value, and I know Ben is the same, and so if you ever do get to meet us and you're like, holy shit, you're the exact same on your podcast than you are in real life. That is because we strive to pull ourselves to you as exactly the way we are.
Ben:Do you think through the podcast it's conveyed how mean you are to me. I think think through the podcast it's conveyed how mean you are to me.
Lindsay:I think through the podcast it's conveyed how mean you are to me, oh really we had our very first connection call with our clients this past week and uh, last week I think it was and so ben and I got on with our clients and it's really about getting shit done, um, and at one point we're like, okay, let's stop bickering so that they can actually do some work and of course we do it in jest.
Ben:But do we though?
Lindsay:yes, we do, and you know it's just. It's fun because you get to see or hear. I guess our personalities come out, because this is truly who we are we're goofy, we're silly. I mean, if you heard the podcast where ben hurt himself, that's probably the most somber you've ever heard either one of us. We laugh a lot. Our clients know this and that's why I love this podcast.
Lindsay:I think I was tired, emotionally tired, emotionally tired, emotionally tired, and if you want to, hear Ben emotionally tired, which is kind of flat, which is very unlike Ben go back and listen to. I don't know, 35, maybe Episode 35.
Ben:Yeah, yeah, 34 was all you know. Here we go right, we're just talking about something just totally off the wall, but I had a client around me and say I listened to your podcast 34, 35 no no, I listened to 34 after I knew you'd got injured. So everything had context and it was one of those things. They were listening and like there was this enthusiasm and this excitement and this electricity in terms of this big thing, but they knew how it had come down. I'm like that would be super interesting to actually listen back.
Lindsay:I actually had a client who listened to 34, 34, 35, back to back, right. So if you get in and you and you you know binge listen, thank you for that. But so she had listened to 34 and it was very open and whatever and exciting.
Ben:And then right next to it it was like hi, it's ben and she said it was so crazy to see the difference I felt like that and actually, to be fair, I actually feel a little bit like that now and this isn't the nature of this episode at all, but you know it just shows you these things do hang on, even when you're tackling them. It's okay to accept that. I just, you know, I've said to lindsey a few times, I feel a little bit off.
Lindsay:Balance is the way, literally and figuratively literally, and that's not what we're talking about today. But it is a really good reminder to to remember, and to give yourself some grace, that when things do take you off kilter, it's, it's good. It doesn't just happen like that where you come back, no, and you come back to it.
Ben:And then you, you cut yourself out of it, you come back to it like waves in a boat.
Lindsay:Right now, I'm sitting in this boat and wait and waves come and ben's good and waves come and then bad and waves go, and you just and, and it's very normal are you saying I'm moody a little bit. You don't have, you don't have your running and and you go through these phases and again it's very normal okay, so I'm normal.
Ben:That's good to know. Yeah, so let's, let's get on to this. So what we wanted to do is we want to share a secret with you, because you know we love the secrets yeah, we have all these secrets.
Lindsay:We love the secrets.
Ben:Keep them, and keep them to ourselves totally right, because, exactly right, because it's like these secrets are so secret that you've never heard them before, never, never. Anyway, I wanted to uh kind of just position this big, big, big secret that you're gonna be like wow, I've never heard you mention that before and it's the secret to improving your health and fitness is that there is no secret.
Lindsay:Wow, anybody not expect that coming out. You know if you've listened to us or if you know us or you coach with us. One of the big things both ben and I say on a regular basis is that there is no. I say there's no magic pill. That's usually, that's usually my thing. There's no magic pill, there's no magic wand, there is no big secret. And everybody else who says that is lying I always laugh.
Ben:It's kind of like one of those situations where so I'm sat with you talking about coaching opportunities and it's like, okay, so it's going to be a shitload of hard work. You're going to really struggle. It's going to take a significant longer period of time than you want.
Lindsay:You're going to be moody.
Ben:You're going to be uncomfortable, right, you're going to be uncomfortable because you're having to do something that doesn't come natural to you. People are like yes, I want it, I want something that doesn't come natural to you. People are like, yes, I want it, I want it. Or the alternative is take this magic pill, yes, give me all of your money, yes, and everything will change. Yes. And then, 30 days later, when it's not changed and someone else offers another magic pill, you're like well, it was obviously a dud pill.
Lindsay:I'm going to try this next time yeah, and it's interesting a few weeks ago, ben posted on his facebook that basically said in like another life, he's going to create the quick fix, make a million dollars and just give people what they think they want and not worry about the consequences. And it's it's. It's so interesting because I was having this conversation with with a coach the other day and it's like if we just said that we were weight loss coaches, if we just said we have the quick fix, if we said in 12 weeks time you're going to lose a million pounds, we would be millionaires.
Ben:Totally.
Lindsay:But that's not who we are, that's not what we do and again, the authenticity of me is like bullshit and it's like wait a second, wait a second. Let's talk about the truth.
Ben:I mentioned in a previous episode about the idea of when we first start working with clients, they may come in and say I want to lose 30 pounds, that's their goal. And when they've been working with us for six months, 12 months, and they've achieved those goals, and we say to them OK, what do you get out of this journey? They never lead with I lost 30 pounds. They lead with all of the transformations that they weren't expecting. I'm more confident, I feel more energetic. I'm just more comfortable in my clothes.
Lindsay:Right, my clothes fit differently. I've had to buy new clothes.
Ben:I can do stuff without having to think about can I do the thing?
Lindsay:And if you're listening to this and you're like there's no way they forgot about the weight loss, we're not saying they forgot about it.
Lindsay:but here's the thing when you start seeing amazing results in other areas, that's not just the scale, whether it be measurements, pictures, confidence, feeling the scale doesn't pull as much as a big deal anymore, and you know again, we we did our program last, I guess this year, last year, whatever it was, um, and you know, when we started talking about celebrations and big wins, the weight loss was not number one. And you again, you might be sitting up here and that's not true. I can't believe it. I promise you it wasn't, and I think it even surprises some people when it's not the one thing that they think about.
Ben:But there's so many positives about getting to a place where you feel so good about yourself I would even go this far and this does happen, right Like any coach that turns around to you and says every single person, every single time, loses all of the weight that they plan to lose without fail.
Lindsay:We need a bullshit button. It's bullshit.
Ben:I can tell you a lot of occasions where, let's say, somebody came and they were looking to lose 50 pounds and let's say they lost 10 pounds. But the things that they feel as a result of committing to their health right, working out consistently, the benefits of mental health, starting to eat healthier, feeling better because they're starting to eat healthier and move their body better relationships their energy clarity. 10 pounds may not show as 50, but they're, you know, 30, 40 inches lost off their hips, off their arms, off their chest off their thighs.
Ben:Their clothes are fitting differently. They're moving around their environment differently. They're getting less winded. They're jumping up and down flights of stairs.
Lindsay:They're getting on the floor with their kids or their grandkids. These are All of a sudden.
Ben:This is the magic their kids or their grandkids. These are all of a sudden. This is the magic. Yeah, all of a sudden you get that sense of well. If you measured their journey by their first stated objective losing 50 pounds and you looked at where they are, it's like I failed. You ask them if they fail, yeah, and they will be like I am a different person and, ironically enough, continuing to live that they, the life that they've now built, that weight will ultimately just be eroded off all the time anyway.
Lindsay:I always say weight loss is the side effect of all the other great things that come from it. Where are we? I feel like we've moved away.
Ben:The secret? Have you shared the secret yet? Is there a boring?
Lindsay:basic. The secret is that there is no secret.
Ben:Guys, we kind of lulled you in under a false sense of lies here. I know that everybody is listening to this, waiting for this statement, and you're going to love it when you hear it. It is boring, it's not exciting, but it's the reality. To thinking you're going to do it overnight. I often say, with love every single time why did you expect to solve the weight problems and the lifestyle problems that you've had for 20 years In three months? In three months? Yeah, why did you expect that?
Lindsay:Because the influencers and the fitness and diet culture has told us that for years.
Ben:You need the journey. You need the journey. You need the journey. You need to learn the skills. You need to learn the habits, the routines. You need to just get better in the kitchen. I don't mean become a chef, I just mean the basics understanding what's good, what you want to avoid, when to eat certain things, what to prioritize, what portions look like. All of those things takes time.
Lindsay:What we always say and what our podcast is called is simplifying, because we get so in the nitty gritty and the complications and the macros and the this and the that and it's like, no, just simplify it, keep it even simpler.
Ben:maybe it's three secrets that we're talking about, but let's, let's share. It's one secret, it's three, it really doesn't matter. None of them are secrets. Basically, the first thing is you've heard us say it many times it's consistency over intensity. Yes, showing up consistently is far better than showing up occasionally with intensity. Right, have a ton of average workouts, guys. A ton of them, a ton of them that's the first one Progress over perfection.
Ben:I swear I'm going gonna have that tattooed over my forehead because people are like that is your progress over perfection, if you think about what that means is measure yourself where you were a week ago, not where you want to be in this world that doesn't fucking exist yeah, in the in the influencer's world of perfection it doesn't exist you know I, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pivot us a little bit.
Ben:Actually I'm gonna pivot. We have time. It's gonna take two seconds. I have a client that actually lives in new york and she's actually in the fashion industry and um she actually works in athletic wear and um, she runs photo shoots and all of these sorts of things. It's really interesting, I'm always asking questions. She runs photo shoots and all of these sorts of things. It's really interesting, I'm always asking questions and she's in the nature of her work, because she's in marketing actually ends up working with engaging and showing up to events where influencers are invited for obvious reasons, right To push it out on Instagram or whatever and she says, 100%, this is not BS, that the average influencer is miserable and depressed.
Lindsay:I was just going to say. I was talking to a coach the other day and she was telling me about her experience with modeling, so fitness modeling. She went into some competitions and you know what my first question was but were you happy? And she's like no, I was miserable.
Ben:That's the thing is these people, like they portray this image. It's the perfect example of social media. They portray this beautiful body, beautiful lifestyle. I'm not saying it's the case in all cases, but a lot of these people are not happy because what it takes to sustain perfection makes them as miserable as when you're doing nothing about your health and fitness anyway. Deviation back on. So, consistency over intensity, progress over perfection. Number three we're going to call this a few different things, but let's just start out with the fundamentals over fads. So that means the boring basics. Over the magic bullets, the silver pills. There's a Lindsayism the silver pills, the silver bullets, the magic pills, the.
Lindsay:The brand new diet you're hearing about the new piece of equipment that's promising you these amazing results. None of that is going to get you to where you need to go over the boring basics.
Ben:No not long term, not short term. It's just not going to do it because you need to build the habits underneath all of that that sustain it. So they're the secrets, guys. I'm sorry, I know you had your wallets out, I know you were willing to pay whatever it took, but the reality is it's consistency, progress and the fundamentals and again once you come to terms with that. Once you accept it and stop resisting that you're just. There's this secret that no one is sharing with you.
Lindsay:The people who think that it can't be this simple, it can't be this easy, quote unquote. The people that are thinking that somebody else must have you know something that I don't have, the sooner you can just understand that these three are really the secret because consistently over time, we've worked with hundreds of women who have maintained lost weight, become happier all the things we said at the beginning of the podcast because of these three things.
Ben:I have a client. Last story we got to wrap this one. We wanted to keep this one under 20 minutes. It's 14 and a bit. That's not bad, linz. I have a client that she is an accomplished musician and she plays a number of instruments incredibly well and I often say to her so how did you get good at these instruments? And she's like lots of practice. So I'm like consistency, right. And she's like tons of it, tons of it. I'm like and how did you know that you were improving? Well, she's like well, the more you show up practicing the instruments, you can see the progress. Right, you can see how you can't play a note and then you get more consistent with playing the note. I'm like okay, and like so what do you do? And she's like well, you just practice the basics.
Lindsay:I'm like okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm like okay, interesting, interesting, like that's good.
Ben:Sounds very familiar, but it's good and she's like okay.
Lindsay:So how can I lose this weight in 30 days uh, but, and and I mean, obviously that's unjust, but not because it's true anything that you're really good at or something that you're an expert in, you probably have followed these three things consistency, progression over perfection and fundamentals over fats. You've followed those in anything that you are good at, so why would it be any different for health and fitness?
Ben:Right, so cut the noise. Life simplified Right, because these are all basics, right, and that's the big thing is it's like, if we make it sound more mysterious than it is, it gives us control to be able to be like guys, like you need. You need us, you absolutely need us. You can't do it yourself, and the reality is we have a lot to bring to the equation, but a lot of this is created in a way that sounds so much more complex because it overwhelms you, it confuses you, it puts you on the back foot, and then you'll basically get so desperate that you're prepared to do anything it takes to try and solve the problem you have. That is desperate, that you're prepared to do anything it takes to try and solve the problem you have. That is the spell that's been cast on the fitness and wellness industry, and we are absolutely here to pull back the curtain and call bullshit on that now. I think that's a good place to wrap up, would you agree?
Lindsay:I would agree.
Ben:Okay, before you say anything else, I'm controlling this now.
Ben:Nothing gets said unless I give you permission okay I think it's worth just maybe talking a little bit in a snapshot about what we talked about today in terms of you said about evolving the podcast, which basically means we're going to keep doing the things that we are doing so four times a week. It's four times a week, four times a month. Lindsey and I are going to do these and deal with certain subjects, but we're actually going to introduce two additional episodes each month, probably in the new year, right?
Lindsay:Yeah, in 2025, we're going to look at introducing two new podcasts a month, so that would mean you get your regular four from the two of us. And then we're looking at bringing on some guests, bringing on some experts, talking to some clients and really diving into some of these real life stories.
Ben:Right. So rather than changing a format that everybody seems to be really happy with, we're going to complement it with two additional episodes.
Lindsay:So that one person out there listening to us, you get two more Exactly Right, Exactly no of course not. We love the feedback we've been getting. We love hearing from you guys. This is just something that we've been working on and, uh, come 2025, this is kind of what we're going to be dropping, but we'll be telling a little bit more about it as we get it all organized and figuring out all the details so, basically, what we've just done is we outsourced the discipline and the commitment to you guys, to you guys, to now hold us accountable for actually following through on what we said.
Lindsay:Yes, which to be fair. Ben and I do a lot. We outsource our own discipline Totally. Why would you not? Why would you not.
Ben:Why would you not put the responsibility on someone else? No, seriously, why would you not put the responsibility on someone else? I'm with you 100%. Anyways, wrapping up today, have yourself another fantastic week. We will see you again in the next episode and enjoy your day. Absolutely. Speak to you all soon. Bye.
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