Peach Podcast
Two guys and an occasional guest breaking open topics on: Purpose, Energy, Attitude, Commitment and Health through shared experiences.
Peach Podcast
S2EP05 Redefining Recovery Unleashing the Power of Rest and Renewal
This episode emphasizes the vital role of rest and recovery in achieving fitness goals and maintaining overall health. Doug and Daryl discuss personal experiences with training and the psychological barriers to taking rest days, while also examining effective recovery methods such as cold plunging, red light therapy, and infrared saunas.
• Understanding the importance of rest for physical and mental health
• Sharing personal journeys through training and recovery
• Strategies for overcoming the stigma associated with rest days
• Benefits of incorporating cold plunging into your routine
• Insights into red light therapy and infrared sauna usage
• Encouragement to experiment with different wellness practices
Text us your thoughts or suggestions for guests you'd like to hear on upcoming episodes.
Hey, hey, hey, welcome to the Peach Podcast. Just a couple of dudes and an occasional guest breaking open topics from everyday life on purpose, energy, attitude, commitment and health. So if you're ready, listen in as we live, to learn from our losses, gain from our gratitude and laugh as we level up. Always remember, if you ever feel stuck, all you got to do is just your boys, doug and Daryl.
Speaker 2:We got another awesome week we are going to tap into wellness and recovery, wellness and recovery. But before we do that, before we do that, I just want to remind everyone last week's episode with Ricky LaRocca, the beast man from prison to podium. That show just took off. If you haven't listened to it, talk about leveling up your mindset to just a whole nother way of living. What did he say? He says oh, you got to cut that shit out. Man, eliminate weakness. So that quote lives with us forever and ever. Man, that's an awesome. Thank you, ricky. If you're listening. We appreciate you, brother.
Speaker 2:By the way, in his episode in the show notes. In the show notes, below the description, you're going to see a couple links. There's a link with him on YouTube when he's in the hospital and excruciating pain and he is giving autographs with a smile on his face. I don't know how in the hell he did that, but he did it. And there's also another one with about a 28-minute video. I believe it was on Netflix at one point but now it's moved over to YouTube. But it's a very well done, professionally done short film on Ricky's life. It even shows him when he tears, like in the competition that he's in and the muscles, tear off his bones, how he falls to the ground in excruciating pain. If you love watching that kind of stuff, I do. It was hard to see my boy suffer, but when you see it visually it just gives you a new appreciation for who he is and how he approaches life, his humility, how humble he is, how gracious he is and how giving he is. He's just a truly awesome man.
Speaker 2:My last reminder I want to do here is there is a text link, a text link also in the show notes. There is a text link, a text link also in the show notes. Man, we love when you guys text us any information what we're doing well, what we can improve on, or just say hello. Just say hello Also if you have any guests that you'd like us to consider, please, man, text us that information. We'll reach out and get ahold of them and see if what we can make have happened Coming up in the future. Man, we're gonna have Ralph from Healdsburg Running Club. He'll be in the first or second week of February. Man, he's done some incredible running and he's gonna be a great segment as we get prepared for our own Shamrock run a half marathon. There's also a 5K and a 10K the day before. So we're trying to provide stuff that's relevant to what we're doing, what people around us in our community and Team Peach and Peach Podcast Land are doing. So we got some great guests coming up ahead. We have some great topics with some wellness and recovery. But on that note, before we get moving forward, it was nice I was gone in Healdsburg for two, about two, two and a half weeks. It was nice. I was gone in Healdsburg for about two, two and a half weeks. It was nice.
Speaker 2:Getting back, I get into a text message thread with you and Eric and I said, hey, I got a 10 mile run scheduled for Saturday morning. If you want to join me, join me. And I know, eric man, there's something about Eric, that boy can just run 10 miles if he just wants to run, no matter if he's trained or not. But I've been watching your training, daryl, and I've seen you run maybe six miles, seven miles at most, and so I didn't expect you to respond and reply, to be quite honest with you. But lo and behold, saturday morning, there's Daryl texting 8.30, parking lot, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker 2:I'm like, okay, yeah, show up, man. Of course I say, hey, brother, man, I know you haven't, because you've been watching me and you've seen that I've run a multiple 10 mile runs, an 11 mile run, an eight mile run. So I've been doing some distances for a few weeks, several weeks actually, and I'm kind of comfortable with it. And I know the first time you do it it can kick your butt, especially if you're not built up to it yet. And so I was a little concerned or just curious about how you were going to respond and I gave you an out and said hey, man, if you want to get four in, turn around and do four back, get your eight in and then build up to 10 another time.
Speaker 2:It's all good. And you say, yeah, yeah, I'll just fill it out. I'll fill it out. But I got to tell you, brother, man, you freaking man, we found a comfortable pace for both of us. We stuck with it. You did the whole freaking 10 miles plus my two minute warmup and two minute cool down, so it was a little over 10 miles. How did you respond? How did you respond afterwards? How did your body feel? What was going on with Daryl Gannis?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was wonderful having you back. This episode is going to be great Rest and recovery. Can't wait to get some insight from you. I was real excited. I've done things a little different this time as far as training. Last year was really my first time ever even training to run, so it was very new. So I'm very, very new to this. This time is, doug, as you know, I've been really consistent. I run five to six days a week but, like you said, four miles here, five miles there. I did a did a couple of 10 Ks with six miles. So I was a little intimidated, you know. And then and then I was like well, let me, let me give it a shot. And I did and I felt really good. I'll tell you what. As much as we talk about Doug, we were outside early in the morning, it was cold, we were running together. So we're there on the bike trail and beautiful up and down the bike trail by Hagen Park in Sacramento Tons of people, tons of runners.
Speaker 3:Tons of runners, beautiful Sun was coming out on the river. We got to a point where we were about three miles and then, all of a sudden, I said hey, my, uh Doug, we only have a mile left to go before we turn around. And you said what? It was almost like we forgot we were running. It was so cool, Um, so definitely turning around, coming back, those last three miles were tough right?
Speaker 2:No, that was fine. Hold on, let me correct you. That was mile five when we turned around, not mile three we turned around Because you got to give credit where credit's due, Darrell. Come on now, don't be shortchanging me on the podcast, man, come on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, eric gave us the thing and it's pretty cool. You run along the river and all this stuff and you go out five miles, you turn around and you turn back. If you're Doug, where he actually runs five miles plus two minutes, that's a whole different discussion. Doug's got some issues with his garment in the training plan, so we did, we turned around and felt good, it's interesting getting past that six, seven miles, those last three miles, you feel it. You feel it, man, I'm telling you, you feel it. That's definitely stretching it. I said to you, doug, I said, hey, doug, what do you do the last mile? Do you take it easy, do you go hard? And you're like, well, I just not quite sure. I just I, sometimes I do either. And then all of a sudden I saw Doug started to pull away and Doug went for a full on sprint that last mile. Um so, uh. So we got back and I felt great and you and I both felt really good next day. I felt really good and I'm like, oh, I got this.
Speaker 3:And I woke up on Monday and went for a run and, doug, everything in my body hurt. My toes hurt, my feet hurt, you know, my back hurt. I just, I was like I was oh, and I was just grinding it out and it's really interesting, doug, you know, sometimes I think you know, running definitely is very humbling, it's not easy, it's very mental, uh, but it also kind of kicked your butt. You got to kind of deal with some of those pains and, um, you know, I came home and I was like you know, put my run in and I text, and I talked to Josephine, I said everything hurts. I took a shower and she said to me, daryl, you should rest for a day or two. And I was like those words when they come and hit me, doug man, you know, those just are that's like a slap in the face. I just hate resting and I think a lot of people struggle with that a bit. And it's not like I'm like some huge glutton for punishment. I just feel like when I'm on a path and I'm on a training and I'm on a regimen, I do really good when I have structure. So the idea of rest it uh, it frustrates me, doug. Um, you know, and I I read a little bit about it and I I've seen some different things and you do a much better job and we're.
Speaker 3:That's where the topic for today is rest and recovery and everything else. But one of the things I looked is why? Why do I hate rest? Why do I struggle with rest days? And if you look at it, you know rest is where you kind of like seize to work or movement. You got to relax, you got to refresh, you got to recover there, and for me that just sounds awful. Recovery is a little bit different. Recovery is kind of how do you return to a normal state of mind and strength? And I read this article and I thought it was good because I'm going to ask you some questions on it and then get into your perspective. Why do people struggle with rest days? And they had some suggestions. One of them is don't think about it as a rest day. And I think you do this, doug. I want to talk about this because you've got a really good structure. Think about it as part of your fitness routine, right, doug? Talk about that. You actually don't think I'm going to rest.
Speaker 2:You actually use it as, hey, this is part of my routine. Yeah, but, darrell, I got to tell you, man, before I get into where I'm at today, there was a season, not too long ago not a season but for most of my life where I get what you're saying. Man, like you, you, you see the, the wind streak happening on the apps. You know you don't want to miss a day and it's like, oh, and you know you still, and even the app says take a day off. You know, or or or, or you do active recovery, or something like that. And you're like, nah, forget that. You know I want to go and I'll tell you.
Speaker 2:The biggest and hardest lesson I found was when I trained a year and a half ago for my first marathon. I went in with a very strong mindset, a strong body, physically ready, prepared, and the coach got. I hired a coach, it was over Zoom and all that stuff. I was instructed to like, hey, on these rest days, you've got to really run slow, you've got to slow your. That's part of your active recovery. And I ignored all that, darrell, when I was out there, I was like because, when you're running or cycling or moving, whatever kind of movement, sport you're doing or anything really, and you're in and you feel your body kick into this flow state, man, the last thing you want to do is slow down. And so, man, I didn't slow down for my first marathon training and I hammered some stuff, man. I did some PRs on some of the shorter runs and it was exciting, but I didn't stop, I didn't rest, I didn't recover. And on my really slow running days, I didn't run slow, I ran at my race pace because I felt like I could, which taught me a valuable lesson Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I'm going to say that again Just because you can does not mean you should. As a matter of fact, you probably shouldn't if it's not on your plan. If you have a plan, stick to the damn plan.
Speaker 2:So after the marathon dang Daryl, it took me way too long to recover. I mean, I was literally almost bedridden for a freaking week. I probably needed a walker to move around. I was just beat up, man, I was beat up.
Speaker 2:So I did a lot of research, did a lot of reading, and one of the things that kept coming to the top of my feed and my mind was just recovery, both passive and active recovery and how important they are. And then I started talking to runners who are, you know, legitimate runners, man, who have done multiple marathons or 100 mile endurance runs, and they started speaking about recovery and recovery pace as part of the routine. This is what makes you stronger. If you don't do this, you're not going to get better. And for some reason, somehow, some way, the trigger flipped in my mind and I'm like, okay, yeah, this is just part of the process.
Speaker 2:And now I wasn't lacking in resting or recovering or anything like that. I was lacking in discipline, which I found. I was lacking in discipline in many, many areas of my life, and so when I decided to work on discipline as a foundational character for myself, one of the things I realized that when I got my Garmin running plan, I was like the running plan says to run at this pace, so I'm going to run at this pace, and most of the time, man, it's hard. It takes a lot of discipline to run at a much slower pace than you feel like you can run. But I'll tell you I was telling Josephine the other day I feel I'm throwing out, like when I throw out invitations to run with me. You know you guys sometimes will come back and comment like dude, I think you're training for a marathon. I'm like, no, I'm training for the half marathon. I know the mileage is high right now, but I've never felt stronger, like I can run these distances and at the end I don't feel beat up, I don't feel tore up. I take a day of rest afterwards and then when my slow recovery run day comes on Monday, I feel great. Man, it's amazing how well I feel.
Speaker 2:Now. Again, I'm not breaking any records on those slow running days, but when I do my speed work, which is once a week at this point, man, it's amazing how much faster I have gotten, using what feels like the same effort. Maybe I'm not using the same effort, but as far as my breathing and energy output, I feel like it, like the same effort. Maybe I'm not using the same effort, but as far as my breathing and energy output, I feel like it's the same effort when I first started, but for some reason, man, I am moving at a much faster pace. So now my belief system is starting to change, is starting to believe that, hey, these active rest days and these passive rest days are critical and very much tied to the overall outcome of this whole process.
Speaker 2:And you know me, daryl, man, I'm all about at this season of my life, just all about marrying the process, falling in love with the process and trusting the process. And I gotta tell you, this last training season that I'm currently in right now, getting ready for this half marathon, has me, man believing on a whole nother level how important it is to really just rest, to allow rest and recover to be part of your exercise routine. Right, and that's, that's, that's the. The switch has flipped, man, it's just switched. And that's where I'm at today and that's why I'm there today, because I've I've beat myself up far too long, far too often, and so now I'm ready to slow down, be disciplined, because that's the, that's the character I'm working on, is discipline. So I'm going to follow the plan.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's great, Great perspective, doug. So I'm going to hit these. There were seven different items that they talked about to think differently. We'll put these in the some of the there and you hit on many of them. Shift your perspective. Make it part of your routine. Make rest days intentional, very intentional. You already hit it. Forget the fitness tracker, right, that stupid day streak days goals.
Speaker 3:The fourth one you're going to spend some time on add active recovery, and I'm going to ask you the question in a little bit. There's a difference between passive and active, which is really good. So active recovery, if it's strength training, light weights, yoga, swimming, walking, foam rollers, how could you be productive in other ways? The other one I liked, which was rethink your training strategy. Just going harder, running yourself into the ground, will not help, right, and you mentioned that, right.
Speaker 3:And then the other thing which I really like, that they put trust yourself. Some people put my hand up. You think am I falling off the wagon? Oh, I skipped a day. Am I going to skip a second day? Right, it's not trust yourself. So nice, seven different ways to think through, maybe, how to overcome that and everything else. So I thought those were really good and I feel like that sometimes, and we all feel like that, hey, you're not seeing the gains you expect and what do you do? Just go harder. That generally. Maybe sometimes that can help. But you kind of know, doug, if you're being not holding up to your potential, but probably going harder is probably you're running yourself in the ground. That's a very bad strategy. So I like those, doug, and I think you hit on quite a few of those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and you know, on that note there, daryl, I think one of the biggest things we do, especially if you're part of a group, or close friendship, like we have with Team Peach, peach, um, and, and the community we're building, you know, we, I think, uh, human beings crave connection, man, and so if I see daryl out there, you know rucking after a 12 mile run the next day, which you will see people you know, um, you know I'm like, ah, man, I want to. You know, it's not so much that I should be doing, it's's like, you know, I think there's this deep, deep, deep internal psychological thing, like I want to be, I want to rock too. So we can talk about it, you know. And so the reason I bring that up is because I think far too many of us get into I don't want to call it comparative reality, but if he's doing it or she's doing it, then I should do it too.
Speaker 2:Instead of staying in your own lane, man, when you're doing this kind of stuff whether it's cycling, swimming, walking, running, any kind of a sport man you have to stay in your lane and stay in tune with your body. Darrell, when we were out running, that's one of the things you said and I was so glad to hear you say it, man is that you're getting into the season where you're starting to tune into your body. Now, tune into your body, but it's hard when you're on an app or in a group setting and you see other people doing stuff and you want to be a part of it. Man, it's hard to stay in your own lane. Do you struggle with that, daryl, or like what goes on with you, man?
Speaker 3:Big time. I think Eric is really really good at that too. You know he says it out there. Hey, I got FOMO, have a great run Right and everything else there and listening to your body and everything else. I think we all struggle with it. I think there's a fine line between motivated and keeping up and all of a sudden going too hard. And so I think maybe I hate to say Doug maybe in our, our younger age we're getting wiser, or older age.
Speaker 2:Our older age. No, you're right, it's our younger age.
Speaker 3:Our younger age. Well, I can't wait to hear about what you're doing, Doug, as far as what you did up at Joe's gym and everything else. So we talk a lot about rest, but this is more about recovery and wellness. So first of all, I'm going to turn it over to you. Can't wait to hear about it. Why don't you outline what you did for the two weeks up there, and then we'll jump into some specific topics?
Speaker 2:Okay, but before I get into the outline, we're about to share some information that is accessible to anybody and everyone online, especially now, because they're becoming the rave and we're going to be talking about cold plunging, infrared sauna and red light therapy specifically on this episode. But I just want to let everyone know that you know Daryl and I are doing this. We love. We're passionate about our overall health. We're passionate about longevity. We're always looking for things to improve our current health that will lead us into long-term, wonderful, awesome health. We are doing this for entertainment purposes and from our own experience, and we are not being your physicians. We're not telling you what to do and what you should do. If you are going to try any of these things that we are talking about, we absolutely encourage it, but remember, consult with your physician, your healthcare professional, before starting any of these modalities that we are talking about. Just want to throw that out there. We're not professionals by any stretch of the imagination, but we are passionate, we do do a lot of research and we do try to provide the latest information out there on some of these things. Now, getting back to your original question, like what went on over down in Healdsburg World Gym.
Speaker 2:Joe's had a gym down in Healdsburg for gosh several years now and he's built it, man. It was just a shell of a building. It actually was a gym, I don't know 50 years ago or something like that. It has this attachment of being a gym or something about fitness for many, many years. And then so when Joe came in, the owner who sold him the building was excited that he was going to be putting a gym in there. It's a cool building. It's really high ceilings, it's just a cool location lots of room, lots of room. And so Joe went in and did what Joe does with gyms, man. He creates first-class places. But Joe's getting wiser nowadays and Joe is the kind of guy who would be hit the iron and he still, to this day, talks about loading your body, loading your body, loading your body.
Speaker 2:And he wasn't really into, you know, a while back into the modalities of just cold plunging and infrared sauna and red light therapy. But I got to tell you, man, he has taken a very deep dive into those areas in these recent years and he has done a lot of. He's been researching them for quite a while now, and the reason he didn't just throw in any of these modalities from the get-go is because Joe's a very methodical and thoughtful person. He knows that there's in the fitness industry. He knows there's a lot of what do you call those like flash in the pan kind of things. You know quick ins and outs, and so he wanted to be thoughtful and methodical about what he was doing with his members and for himself. And so he wanted to be thoughtful and methodical about what he was doing with his members and for himself.
Speaker 2:And so after a few years of just watching and researching and witnessing the effects of these things, he decided he was going to go full on in and put a wellness room in his gym. So in his wellness room he has a cold plunge, he has an infrared sauna and his particular infrared sauna also has red light therapy in it. So that's a double bonus right there. But he also has a room specifically for red light therapy. He's also got another room with compression boots for your legs and gravity chairs or anti-gravity chairs I don't know exactly what they're called. I didn't get to see those, unfortunately they arrived after I had left, but they're there now. He was telling me they're pretty cool.
Speaker 2:And then he has another room for possibly massage or something like that. So it's in this one section, part of the gym, behind the desk. It's not even connected to the weight room. I mean you can get to the weight room through if you come back out the same door and you're right there. But it's really a wellness environment. The lighting is different, it's got some cool soft music going on. It's just a different vibe than walking into the gym. And Joe asked me to come on down because he knows that I've been using and following these modalities for several years and that I've been benefiting from them. And he asked me to come down and see if I could help him just launch this wellness center. Be someone to kind of help his staff and the members understand what these modalities bring to you on a deeper level, which I was very grateful to do and had a lot of fun doing. So that's why I was down there, daryl, just kind of helping him get that launched.
Speaker 3:So a couple of questions. First of all, what was the membership's view of the wellness? Was it like something wow is something new, wow, were they excited about it? Did they have questions? You know, cause that's a pretty good community there of you know different people lifting weights and other things. How was the reaction from the, from the members?
Speaker 2:Man.
Speaker 2:The reaction just blew him away. It blew all of us away. It was like holy Well, what he did, what he wanted and he's a smart businessman he wanted to give everyone an opportunity to sample or try out these things. So he gave like a week and a half I think it was actually almost two weeks of just come and try it out, no extra charge, because it is going to be an additional charge into their membership. And it's also kind of almost run like a second business where people from the outside can come in and just join, that they don't have to join the gym, but if you're a member you will get a discounted rate for that particular room or that area.
Speaker 2:What was interesting because the type of gym he has is it serves a multitude of people, people from the elderly to the teenagers and everybody in between. It serves high-end athletes. I mean there's literally professional baseball players and professional athletes that come and use this facility because it really is that badass. You've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. But it also has a lot of things that are designed for people who just want better mobility, better strength you know, better strength and you don't have to be beast mode or anything like that. He's got a few classes going on like kickboxing. What else does he have? He's got a booty camp, um, all kinds of stuff. It's. It's a really fun place to be.
Speaker 2:But I would say, in my opinion, my opinion, the typical member that goes in is going in beast mode. Right, they're like let's go, let's go, but everyone's super nice, it's not like beast mode hey, stay out of my way, kind of thing. Everyone, he has built such an awesome community there. There's a lot of respect. People rack their weights, they do all that stuff. But you can tell the mentality. There is people who go into that gym. They're going in to go to work, they're punching in, they're punching out and that's it. There's no frills, no fluff, let's go.
Speaker 2:And so when they heard about, I think, the cold, because the cold plunge has been around for a while, I think a lot of people said, hey, I want to try the cold plunge, I want to try the cold plunge. That's the, I think. In my opinion, that was the thing that first attracted them when they got into the cold plunge. You walk by the infrared sauna and you see it there too, and they start asking questions. And then, of course, it was part of my job and the staff's job to expose them to everything. We take them upstairs, show them the infrared I mean I'm sorry, the red light sauna room as well, and so they got to see all these things, and so a lot of questions came, and so it was really cool.
Speaker 2:Many people started with the cold plunge, but several of them several of them ended up becoming big fans of infrared sauna and the red light therapy as well. So I think it was a huge. It was a very successful event to get it kicked off and going. And then we had we closed it off with a wellness fair. We brought in a physical therapist, the running club, the trainers were there, a chiropractor, some hormone therapy people. It was a really cool experience.
Speaker 3:That's great. So let's jump into a couple of things. First of all, let's hit cold plunge right. It's been the rage for the last several years, probably even longer. You see a lot of YouTube videos Joe Rogan, other people. I love those people that put the things on IG. They go out and they take a big hammer and knock the ice and break it up and jump it in the morning.
Speaker 3:Talk about the benefits of cold plunging and also one of the questions we get asked a lot is when should you do a cold plunge? Is it before, is it after? What's there? So talk a little bit about cold plunging, the benefits and your experience.
Speaker 2:Yeah, great, great, great question, Daryl. And I tell you, man, I never got hit with more questions about should I do this before I work out or after I work out, than when I was down there. And I really never dove that deeply into it myself, I just cold plunged. Whenever I cold plunged, I always thought it was a great thing to do first thing in the morning when you get out of bed. Yeah, I'm a little sick that way, but it's all good.
Speaker 2:But so the general benefits of cold plunging is it improves circulation, it boosts your immune system, it relieves muscle pain and soreness and reduces stress and anxiety and it burns calories. Man, it burns calories and the best way to. If you're going to do a cold plunge, regardless of before or after, you always want to let your body warm up naturally. You don't want to rush into a sauna, you don't want to rush into a hot water shower or anything like that. You want to let your body, man, just start burning those calories and heat up naturally and you'll get warm. You'll be cold for a little bit, but, man, I'll tell you what, beyond cold, you are going to be alive. You are just Daryl, you know what I'm talking about. You've done multiple cold plunges and you just have this feeling of being massively awake, massively awake, better than any cup of coffee I've ever experienced. Man, it's just crazy.
Speaker 2:But for the effects of, for the topic of when should I do it, when should I do it, I found out that if you are weightlifting trying to build muscle, it's actually better to not cold plunge after you do your weightlifting session. And if you're going to, if you absolutely have to, if you can wait at least 30, if not 60 minutes, because it interferes with your protein synthesis. Cold water therapy can potentially interfere with muscle protein synthesis, which is essential for muscle growth and repair after a heavy weightlifting session. It also reduced muscle function, can reduce muscle function and power, which may not be ideal for after heavy weightlifting session. And then also cardiovascular stress. You know, if you've got a weak heart or anything like that, as always, man, check with your doctor or whatever, and make sure your heart can handle that, because your heart is definitely going to jump up a few beats. You know what I'm saying, right, big D?
Speaker 3:I do, I do, I remember, I've done it. I've done a handful of them. I've done three or four, what I've considered to be probably pretty intense. First of all, doug, how cold is a cold plunge? How cold is a cold plunge at Joe's?
Speaker 2:gym. So at Joe's gym he was starting it off, starting every one off at 45 degrees. His cold plunge can go down to, I believe, 37 degrees and that's when you, I and Eric actually tested it before he opened up the wellness center. We tested it at 37 degrees for three minutes and we died and we got it done, but it was crazy. But 45 felt pretty much the same if you hadn't, because I hadn't done a cold plunge for a little while before I got down there, and so when you're first entering, 45 feels like 37. That's probably because it wasn't 37. But it's recommended.
Speaker 2:Actually, daryl, it's recommended that if you are a first-time cold plunger, that you start off around 51 degrees. Also, there's some information out there in the world that says that women should probably not go below 51 degrees for whatever reasons. I didn't take a deep dive into that. Again, I'm not a scientist and I'm not a doctor, so I'm not going to go deep into that, but women definitely check out what information cold plunging for women. Look that up. I'm sure you can get a lot of information on that.
Speaker 2:But everyone should start out around 51 degrees. There's a lot of people out there, both men and women, who are just, they love the mental toughness thing of the whole thing. And, man, I'll tell you, one of the biggest benefits you can get from cold plunging is mental toughness and mental discipline. And so there's going to be people like us, daryl, who are going to say, 37, okay, let's fucking go and we jump in and we freeze our ass off for three minutes and we come out and we have an outer body experience and we're hooked. So certainly, again, it's recommended to start at 51 degrees, but you can start wherever you're starting. At Joe's gym, I believe he has at 45. He is. I believe he is talking about, if he hasn't already done this getting a second cold plunge and setting one up at 51 and another one at maybe at 42 or 40 degrees, or maybe keep it at 45 so that there's two different temperatures.
Speaker 3:My experience when we did it, we all three did it at about three minutes roughly and we did it at 37 degrees Two things that jumped out at me when I went in and went underwater. In there, the first thing that jumped out at me is I went in and went underwater and there the first thing that jumped out at me is you've got to be able to control your heartbeat in your mind, Cause the first thing when you get in there in your breath, you want to get up and get out. Right, I mean your, your body is literally telling you I can't breathe, my heart I need to get out. And you need to get to that calming period.
Speaker 3:Yes, and then the other thing that was interesting for me was I wasn't cold. Wow, it just kind of hurt. I was like I it wasn't that shaking, feeling your body, just kind of hurt. Um, but the thing, the number one thing I felt was I just didn't have any joint inflammation and my joints and everything else just felt so good. And the one time we did it at Joe's, I did feel that boost of energy after it was like having the best three cups of coffee in my life and I didn't touch coffee. Right, that was the one time I did feel that energy kind of rush after, but it's a very interesting perspective and I definitely think it's something that I'd like to do more often. But I think there's some huge benefits of it and the way you described it is really good.
Speaker 3:So, cold plunge we hear a lot about. Let me finish up with cold plunge real quick.
Speaker 2:Because I don't want people to think don't cold plunge after you work out. There are benefits to cold plunging after you work out as well. So for myself, I definitely load my weights and I try to maintain muscle. I'm not necessarily trying to become a bodybuilder and really shred my muscles and build like that. I want to maintain and build muscle density.
Speaker 2:So for someone like myself who's in there kind of pumping out the reps, trying to keep muscle strength and endurance, it's great to cold plunge after a workout because it reduces muscle soreness and it reduces inflammation, it improves your recovery time and it also, man, like you said, it just improves your mental clarity after. So after you, can you imagine having an awesome workout and then cold plunging and having those effects like reduced inflammation, mental clarity, circulation, less muscle soreness, like your day is just you just set yourself up to be on fire all day? So I wanted to just throw that in real quick before we left cold plunging, because it really you got to find out what your goals are, what's specific to your needs and the big picture, daryl, is man training and elevating your life never goes as planned or in our time structure. So it's so important that whatever you do, just do it. Just do it, man. It's too insignificant at this time and there's not enough research to prove one way or another. Is better Just freaking. Do it, man, if it's before or after or whatever.
Speaker 3:Just get it done and get in the habit of it. Yeah, I'm excited. Eric just got a cold plunge. He has it set up in his garage and it's kind of humorous because it's like, instead of oh hey, I'll get a six pack of beer, I'll come over and we'll hang out, he's like bring a bag of ice, we'll do a cold plunge, right? So all you gotta do is to bring two bags of ice, we throw it in there, we do a little workout. It's fun, it's really good. Hey, I've never done, but I've read a little bit. But I'm real curious I think the audience will be too about red light therapy, red light sauna, kind of something new. But talk to us about that, you know. Talk about you doing it yourself and also some of the benefits of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. So, before I get into red light therapy, one of the main things it does is it helps with ATP production, and ATP is another it's just an abbreviation for adenosine triphosphate production, which is the process by which cells generate energy for various bodily functions. Atp is often referred to as the energy currency of the body. It is a molecule that stores energy in the form of phosphate bonds. When these bonds are broken down, energy is released and can be used by the body to perform various functions, such as muscle contraction and relaxation, nerve impulses and transmission, protein synthesis and degradation, and membrane transport and cellular processes. So it's important that I explain that, because when I get into red light therapy, it's going to talk about ATP. What's great again, do we do it before or after a workout? Here's a general description Can be beneficial for athletes and fitness enthusiasts, but the timing depends on your goals and your preferences. All right, so here's a quick breakdown. If you do it before an intense workout, you can possibly experience improved muscle activation. Red light therapy increases that muscle activation, which may enhance your athletic performance. So kind of you know, again, this energy is being awakened, so it's gonna enhance your performance while you're out there. Pre-workout Increased energy and endurance. Can increase ATP production, which may delay fatigue and improve endurance. It also reduced oxidative stress and inflammation, which may help protect and improve endurance. It also reduced oxidative stress and inflammation, which may help protect against muscle damage. If you do it after an intense workout, enhanced recovery. Red light therapy can reduce muscle soreness, inflammation and oxidative stress, promoting faster recovery. It also improves muscle repair. Can increase collagen synthesis. That was a big one, man. You see a lot of women promoting the red light therapy masks on Instagram or Facebook or something like that. Because, man, the studies are out that, again, this isn't going to happen in one session or even 10 sessions, but over a committed plan that you follow over a long period of time, you can increase your collagen production up to 33%, or something like that, over time. And why is that? So? What does collagen do? Right, that's what gives your skin that plumpness, reduces fine lines and wrinkles, reduces cellulite in your body and all that stuff. So it's important to you know, if you want to just have that healthy glow, red light therapy is a great, great thing to do. Also, muscle repair, muscle fatigue. It can help improve the muscle functions, making it easier to recover from intense exercise. Again, it really you really need to get dialed in on. You know what your goals are, how it's going to work, but again, at the end of the day, just do it, I'll give you.
Speaker 2:I want to give you and, daryl, I'm not I'm not here saying this is what happened or that I'm going to give all the credit, in this story that I'm about to share, to Red Light Therapy, but I'm going to tell you what man I. I was getting ready for a I think it's 10 or 11 mile run and I was working sharing a wellness center all day. It was eight o'clock at night. We closed it down and I said you know what, before I go home and go to bed, I'm going to go jump in the red light therapy session myself. I hadn't tried it or anything like that, and I jumped in. I think I did a 20 minute session.
Speaker 2:And what's cool about Joe's gym? He has these two towers that are about 5'9", 5'10" or something like that tall, so you literally can do your entire body in one session. Most red light therapy stands are maybe about three feet tall and you can only do your front and then you got to do your back and then your sides, all this other stuff. So with these towers and he's got a whole private room for this you can completely disrobe, stand between these two towers and you're getting your whole body done in one session. So I got it knocked out. It's just, you know, it's the least invasive of all the modalities he has, and so you really don't feel a lot of things. There's some heat from the light, but you're not breaking out of sweat or nothing like that, and so you kind of feel a little warm.
Speaker 2:And so after the session I got dressed and I went home and, daryl, I don't know if it was the red light therapy or what, but I slept like a baby and I woke up. I didn't have, man, if you know me, you know I have joint pain, back pain, all kinds. I'm like I'm a pain in the ass, darrell. That's what it is really when it comes down to it. I got all this pain going on and I did not wake up with any pain that morning. And, man, I'm going out for this long run, and it was probably one of the first times in a long, long time when I'm like man. I can't wait to go on this run. Usually when I'm getting ready for a long run. I'm like, oh shit, I can't wait to get this over with. Do I really want to go? How can I postpone it? I got all the you know trying to get out of it thoughts usually coming up. But I felt amazing that morning and went out and did my run on the run. Again, no knee pain, no. And Darrell, again, I'm not here to testify saying that was the magic cure and all that other stuff, but, man, I felt amazing the next morning. And here's another witness to all the modalities, all the modalities, and again we'll talk about the infrared sauna.
Speaker 2:Last, but let me just get to this story real quick. While I was up there and as you know, which you shared on a couple of podcast episodes ago, I was involved in a pretty bad bicycle accident. I was coming down a hill doing about 30 or 40. I slammed onto the pavement, hit my head, got knocked out, messed up my shoulder, my ribs. I am still feeling some of the effects of that crash. But I'll tell you what, daryl.
Speaker 2:I got out of the ER and went back to Joe's house and hung out and it was so painful getting out. I could barely get myself out of bed, I couldn't get my shirt on, barely all these other things and I said you know what? I wonder if I cold plunge, if that's going to reduce inflammation. So I went down there, man, and I freaking cold plunged. I did red light therapy, I did infrared sauna. I put those things in on a much more just like routine part of my plan while I was recovering Daryl, my accident was Saturday, this was a few weeks ago and I literally went for a five mile run on Wednesday and I felt really awesome.
Speaker 2:Now, while I was down there, I continued those modalities and I continued to apply them to my health.
Speaker 2:While I was down there, I continued those modalities and I continued to apply them to my health and while I was down there using those things every one of them, man I barely experienced any pain.
Speaker 2:There's a little twinge in my shoulder and whatnot, but I haven't been down there for gosh over almost two weeks now and I got to tell you, man, I'm starting to feel some of those residuals like, oh, there's the pain I was probably supposed to feel in the first week and some of those things are starting to creep up and I'm thinking, damn, it's really amazing what happens when you put those awesome modalities in your life when you're experiencing pain, what you can do and how fast you can, you know, get your circulation going and get recovery going. And so it's like when we interviewed Dave DV, the fixer, you know, muscle is medicine. I mean, movement is medicine, right, right. So same thing with this recovery stuff, man. It is this wellness man. It just it's a beautiful thing and it really helps your body restore, heal and just get back to the basics much quicker. So I'm a big believer in that.
Speaker 3:Wow, that's a. That's really great Good story there. Talk to me about the last one, because I you know the sauna, because I'm a big sauna person, but I haven't heard about red light sauna, so talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this is not necessarily red light there, red light sauna. So talk about that. Yeah, so this is not necessarily red light sauna. Joe's sauna it's called an infrared sauna. Infrared, okay, infrared sauna. His particular infrared sauna happens to have a red light therapy bar in it as well. Okay, so it's a cool sauna because you can get a semi-session of red light therapy on your face and your torso while you're getting infrared sauna. What's cool about infrared sauna? Just to keep it real simple, because sauna's good man.
Speaker 2:Sauna opens up your blood vessels, allowing circulation to go, and all that stuff. So it detoxifies your body, right. It improves cardiovascular health, it relieves pain and inflammation, it boosts mood and mental clarity, it increases your metabolic rate, burns fat. It does all these things. But what's different? Because I've been in plenty of saunas. I've also been in your sauna, daryl, and I love your sauna. It's freaking awesome.
Speaker 2:But the crazy thing about an infrared sauna is you get in there, right, I think it went up to like 175 degrees. It's a dry sauna, so you're sitting in there and even when you open the door, the temperature drops a little bit, maybe down to 150, 145. So you're sitting in there and you're like, well, this is no big. I don't really feel anything Like. It's kind of warm, but that's about it. But dude, what the infrared does, it it? But dude, what the infrared does. It's like a microwave man. It's going on an internal level and it's heating you in a very, very deep state, man, in your bones, in your muscles, and just preparing you for massive recovery, relaxation and some deep therapy, especially into your muscles, man, and within 10 minutes, all of a sudden, you got beads of sweat just pouring out of you Like whoa, where in the hell did this come from? And you don't ever feel like overheated or too hot or anything like that, but you definitely feel a good workout and a good sweat and you just feel loose and you know, and I'm sure it gives you pretty much the same kind of benefits as a sauna. You just feel loose and you know, and I'm sure it gives you pretty much the same kind of benefits as a sauna. You just feel loose and ready to go.
Speaker 2:One of the things you want to watch out for in a regular sauna or an infrared sauna is dehydration. It's too easy, man, especially if you just worked out and you're going in for some recovery, because, believe it or not, infrared sauna will actually help reduce inflammation after a workout. So it's a great thing to do afterwards and it's also will help you warm up your body and your joints before a workout again. So you really got to find out what you're using. You can use it for both. In this case, you can do like a 10-minute session to get your body warmed up before a workout and getting you prepared, and then you can come back in at the end of a workout and maybe do a 15 to 20-minute session and sweat it out a little bit, detoxify your body, improve in circulation, enhance flexibility and range of motion and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:But dehydration is a big one you want to watch out for, because a lot of times we don't feel that, we don't realize that, and so make sure when you're working out, before you get to the gym, if you're going to go straight to the infrared sauna, man, do yourself a huge favor and drink plenty of water. I would say at least 16 ounces, man, because you're about to sweat that all out. And if you're working out, again 16 ounces. And then, if you're going to go into the sauna, drink another 16 ounces. Then afterwards drink some more water, man, because you won't believe how much water you've lost. So stay hydrated and stay on top of that. It's real important. But again, when I did a research on all these modalities, they all pretty much provide almost the same benefits, just in a different way, and they approach your muscles and your cells from a slightly different angle in each way. So I believe not just picking one over the other. I believe using all three of them in a way that is conducive or works for your lifestyle.
Speaker 2:It can be hard. If you don't have time, maybe just go with one for right now, but, man, go for one for right now for sure. If you don't have access to a gym or anything like that, a lot of people start with cold showers. They'll take their warm shower first and then they'll end with the three minutes just sitting in the cold. That's better than doing nothing at all, but after a while you're going to be craving a cold plunge. If you ever get a chance to do a cold plunge, get into it. If you get a chance to do an infrared sauna, get into it. The infrared sauna was really cool for couples. It's a big one. He had one that could hold three people and it also had you could put your Bluetooth Wi-Fi speakers on there and all that stuff so you can pipe in your own music. But yeah, a lot of couples were coming in and having date nights in the infrared sauna. Man, it was really cool to see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's in a place where it's in. It's in a place where there's a little bit of a, where staff can walk by and this and that. So no hanky panky or none of that stuff goes on there, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, um, this is a really good, uh great topic, especially in our first uh, uh kind of three months on foundation. Talking about rest, which I think some people struggle with, uh recovery, and I love the ideas of especially active recovery, some of the things in the wellness, so a lot of really really good stuff there. Um, so we're kind of at that point and Doug, uh tag over to you. Quote card uh as we wrap up uh, this episode, it's all you.
Speaker 2:All right, daryl. So here we go into our quote card segment. Daryl man, I've got like 10 quotes that every time I see them I'm like, oh, this is perfect for Daryl, oh, this is perfect for Daryl. So out of the 10, I found three and I'm looking at them right now going damn it, which one do I give them? Today? I'm going to give you this one. It's the first one I wrote down. Just because it's taking time doesn't mean it's not working. Just because it's taking time doesn't mean it's not working. Let that resonate, daryl, and then tell me what comes to your mind and to your heart when you hear that quote.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that's a big part of I don't know, growing up, getting wiser they talk about. You can go to the gym, you could do a lot of things. You could do that for a day, a week, a month. You might not see anything, but the end of the day you're building something for the future and I think a lot of the things. It's the complete opposite of that instant gratification that we're at. Um, there's that time and I'll tell you what I think I told you last year when I was training for the half marathon. It was three days before the run was the first time I went out and ran where I didn't hate it Right. The other 50 runs I had were doing something I just couldn't tell Right. And so I think just really that slow build, even though you don't see it, you know it's making a difference. The other thing, doug, and I'll throw this out to you a couple of times, other people sometimes notice the change before you do right?
Speaker 2:Yes, you feel like, hey.
Speaker 3:I'm doing this, whatever it is. You may be more organized, or you're trying something different at work, or you're trying a different attitude, or you're doing something different. Oftentimes, other people see the benefits before you do, so I just think that it's that consistency. Stay with it and you will see the benefits. So that's how it hits me, and I do like the idea that sometimes you don't see it, other people do, but you'll see it over time.
Speaker 2:Right, right, right. And again that comes back to just trusting the process. Great answer, dara. I love that you went a little deep there. I love that you went a little deep there. I love it, I love it. Well, that's all we have for today. My friends in Peach Podcast land, thank you for tuning in. We appreciate you, we appreciate your support, your love. Remember you can text in. There's a little text link in the show notes, just below the episode there, where you can text in your comments what we're doing well, where we can improve, or if you have someone you think we should interview that fits purpose, energy, attitude, commitment or health, we'd love to get them on here or at least consider them, reach out and see if it's a good fit. But for now we're just gonna sign off like we always do, say God bless and peace out, peace out, we're out, we're out.