The ConverSAYtion
The ConverSAYtion is simply a couple of middle aged men sharing company and conversation. Psych and K take their time sorting through so much to say about society, culture, relationships, education, finance, technology, health, and more. Inspired to find engaging ways to entertain and enrich the lives of their listeners is their primary pursuit. Join them as they invest themselves in providing value to their audience. Welcome to The ConverSAYtion.
The ConverSAYtion
From Resolutions to Reality: Embracing Fitness, Footwear, and Film
Ever wondered why your New Year's resolutions seem to fizzle out by February? We've got the answers you've been seeking, mixed with personal tales of triumph and transformation. Discover how my journey of self-publishing a mystery novel sheds light on the magic of self-education and how it can be the key to conquering fears and making lasting changes. The journey to better health isn't about one-time milestones but about creating habits that blend seamlessly into everyday life, much like training for a Spartan race. We'll share our humorous takes on dietary extremes and the value of meal prepping, along with nifty tech tips to keep your nutritional goals on track without losing your sanity.
Let's debunk some popular fitness myths together and learn why moderation beats extreme workouts any day. Forget the "no pain, no gain" mantra and join us in exploring the truth about spot reduction and the importance of listening to your body. Hear about my personal experiences with investing in the right footwear and how quality shoes transformed my running and daily activities. From professional insoles to the right daily kicks, making smart choices for your feet goes a long way in enhancing overall health and comfort.
The power of exercise extends beyond physical fitness, impacting mental health and confidence in profound ways. I share how a shorter commute and a consistent workout routine help me recharge and engage with my family. We also discuss the accessibility of fitness, with public parks offering a great starting point for anyone looking to kick-start their fitness journey with simple bodyweight exercises. As we wrap up, prepare for a lively chat about Spike Lee's cinematic genius and its surprising tie to fitness, leaving you inspired to tackle your personal goals with renewed vigor.
you don't gotta do it if you don't want to. You don't gotta do it if you don't want to. You don't gotta do it if you don't want to. It's just a suggestion. Yeah, I think that mine were competitive that time, yep welcome back to the conversation podcast.
Psych:As always, I am Psych joining here with me. Today is letter K. I'm going to continue our conversation on health and fitness. Health and fitness it's appropriate we're into the new year and people want to start a new them.
Letter K:Yeah, even though, even though you, you, you railed against that whole concept, we're literally doing this topic based on the notion that we chose it now, because people are choosing now to make their latest attempt at better health.
Psych:Yes, the only contention I made last time was there are more people on the. I think there are more people who don't than are.
Letter K:Oh, yeah, yeah, because you know, will the? Will the six month membership packages at my gym go up first of the year? Absolutely, is it going to. Am I going to be inundated with the entire population of the city, population of the city? No, no. And I would venture to say that as we continue to become a more sedentary and more lethargic and more like Wally human society, that fewer and fewer people are like hey, you know what I need to really do something with my life? Well, january is coming up. Hey, you know what I need to really do something with my life? Well, january is coming up. I think that number is declining along with our life expectancy.
Psych:Yes, yeah, and I know people make so many resolutions, new Year's resolutions, this time of year. They set new goals, they go out and try to do things, and the only New Year's resolution I ever kept was the commitment to never make any more New Year's resolutions, so that answers my next question.
Psych:I. The way my brain processes New Year's resolutions is if there's something about my life I want to change, if I want something to be different, I'll just do it now. I don't need to wait for a new year. I don't need to wait for the calendar to change, I'll just do it right now. But I know this particular time of year really speaks and draws in a fair amount of people that they buy into this whole thing. New year, new you.
Letter K:Renewal yes, new year, new you. Renewal yes, New year, new you. It's the cyclical nature of life. We always get another chance to go around the board and it starts here. I completely agree with you that you know what January 1st is only one day. You can choose at any time to start something, an endeavor, a change in your life. You can make that decision, but it can't be half-caught. I think that's what the problem that people have is. Like you know what? I woke up hungover. I'm done drinking. How many times have I said that? Not as many as you'd think, but it's that mentality, that something happens in your life, that prompts you to engage in a change. But there's no consistency. It never lasts. So I do agree that planning, pick a date, plan your, do better, be better, live better. But while you're planning, don't just plan the start date, plan the plan. Make a plan for the consistency, for the duration, the endeavor.
Letter K:I have a New Year's resolution. This year I made one. I made one for myself, and it is to self-publish and release my mystery novel that I wrote in 2016. I never got it published, never got an agent. I've worked it, I've workshopped it and I've worked it to the point to where it's as good as it's going to get. In fact, some of the stuff in the book is dated enough to where some of the technology references are a little outdated, but I've decided to not change them. It's going to release it as it is okay, but I'm doing that this year. I'm doing that. I've already started.
Letter K:Before I started the process I don't know I bought myself a self-help book on self-publication because that was the scariest part for me was I don't know what to do. So I'm learning. But I made myself a plan. I started. I have a plan, I have a goal and you know it's achievable. I have the damn book and I have the money. I could do it. I could do it right now If I wanted to. I just want to do it right, and so fear of doing things wrong, I think, is a big part of why people never do things. So education is paramount. Like me, I don't wanna go new places because I'm afraid of what. I don't know what to do. I didn't wanna self-publish my book and I always used to say I don't wanna do this because if people don't wanna pay to read my book it's not worth it. But now I'm changing my mentality and I'm learning that it was education. I didn't know what to do, I was afraid to do it.
Letter K:Health is the same way. We are raised. You know the way we eat, the way we live, all these things are trained. And then you're like hey, you need to work out more. Hey, you need to exercise. Hey, you need to eat better. Well, how no? So self-educating your ability to do better, I think, is a big thing that people miss out on. So they start well, I'm going to go to the gym January 1st. I'm going to go to the gym, I'm going to get on the treadmill, but you're not teaching yourself anything. You saw somebody running on a treadmill in a montage in a movie and you think that's what's going to happen. You don't realize that with a little bit of self-education you can actually come up with a plan to not just get on that treadmill but actually do better and actually succeed. I think that's a big part of what people are missing out.
Psych:I think that plan should also have built-in times to reevaluate the plan as well. You have to let it evolve. We're going to try this. We're going to really dive in. We're going to commit, we're going to let it go. We're going to give it. We're going to really dive in, we're going to commit, we're going to let it go, we're going to give it a fair opportunity to work and then, after we have done so, then okay, is this still working? And then adjust as necessary. It's just like driving.
Letter K:I did two, three years of workout videos, other people's routines that they'd come up with the Beachbody thing and stuff like that. And when I started trying to invent my own routines that worked best for me, I was constantly changing, stuff, evolving. I liked this, but not this. So I took this out and I inserted something else. So, doing all those workout videos, all the workout series stuff, that was me self-educating, not this. So I took this out and I inserted something else. Yeah, it takes. So, so doing all those workout videos, all those the workout series stuff, that was me self-educating. I was learning how to lift correctly, how to muscle engagement. I was learning different, different techniques for cardio, that kind of stuff. And then I took all that information and I created something that worked for me. Yeah, education, you know, self-education for for better health is huge. You know you, you had mentioned last time how you know all those um Lambo labs.
Psych:Oh, I looked them up, by the way, and there's, there's a few domains, quite a few domains available on Squarespace, if we so. So choose Lambo Lab laboratories, lambo labs live, I like, I like Lambo laboratories.
Letter K:Right, we'll get into that yes, so dumb ways to do it better. So we're gonna get sued and have nobody. No, no traffic, but so. But you were talking about. You know that was an. That was an example of people wanting to self-educate because they're going to pay to get the extra data. But it's, you know, because your doctor especially, if you like, go to like one of the modern doctors like Kaiser and stuff. You know they're on such a time crunch to get you in and out. What do you need antibiotics for you to go get that they don't have the time to spend with you to explain these things. So you need to take better health by the reins and pull it towards you.
Psych:So self-education, I think that's, that's paramount, that's key, and this became quite clear when I had learned, when I first learned about all of these other labs that are available and all the other tests that can be done and what they can show you and how they can benefit you. I emailed my doctor. I was like, hey, I, I would like to have this test please, and basically their first response was why do you want that right? And so then then I told them about that. They brought another doctor in on this on this email thread, and let me, let me ask them I'm not sure exactly what this is for, but we think it's gonna.
Psych:It's usually on this, on this email thread, and let me let me ask them I'm not sure exactly what this is for, but we think it's gonna. It's usually for this and this doesn't apply to you. I was like, no, no, yes, you're right, it is for that and yes, you probably don't think it applies to me, but if we test for it, then we'll we'll absolutely know. Is this something that is affecting me currently, or or is it? You dislike data. I like it's easy to follow, right, if you were at one and you spent 12 years at one and it never moved well, is that a good thing or a bad thing, and how do we get to two or how do we get to zero? That's all I want to know.
Letter K:Most people don't need to engage in that level of self-education. Most people can learn a little bit about how how better health works with the basic YouTube search. I work in education, yeah, okay. So what a lot of unhealthy people are teachers Just going to say that out loud.
Psych:Correct, correct. I realized this firsthand. One of the first, one of the first goals that came up both with chat, gppt and with bronc, is setting clear goals and I know in education we use the smart goals right, the specific, measurable, attainable yeah, we do smart goals now relevant, realistic and the time-bound stuff it's been around for for decades the smart goals.
Psych:It's just an easy acronym and all those things work right. If it's not specific or measurable, well, well then, can you achieve it? Is it going to? You know, is the goal realistic or relevant? If it's not realistic or relevant, then why are you even doing that at all? And then having that specific time that you're going to adhere to, I'm going to do this, whether that's, I'm going to start at this time and we're just going to go forever, or I'm going to start at this time, we're going to go 12 months and then we're going to reassess. Whatever it may be, maybe you're going to start this and it's going to end in three months, and then you're going to move on to something else.
Letter K:And goals don't need to be endpoint oriented. They don't need to be hey, you know what I want? To be a size six by June 3rd. They can be the journey. Set yourself. I'm going to exercise for 25 minutes a day, Monday through Friday, for three months. That's a realistic goal. It's clear, and then you can come up with your plan.
Psych:That's how I had to do it, and then it could be 30 minutes, and then you can come up with your plan. That's how I had to do it, and then it could be 30 minutes and then it could be. I think, with the example you just mentioned, somebody might get to that goal and, unless they already have another goal in mind, they might stop. Yeah, if they fail to create the next goal, the next step, they get to that size six, great, okay. Well, probably the next goal should be how to maintain being that size six and that's what that person wants to be. Or maybe they don't want that at all. Maybe they want to get to the size six because they have a high school reunion coming up and they want to show off their bodies to everybody that they used to know to make them jealous or what have you, and then after that they want to go back to pizza and burgers and beer. Yeah, I don't know, maybe that's, maybe that's their goal yeah, that's what they want.
Letter K:I think. I think that that kind of that kind of goal orientation is a double-edged sword, because you can. You can find that short-term drive to start yourself and to get thin and all that stuff, but that's not better health. So I think that I think that having goals that put a habit into your life to set, that sets a process, I think that's better than having an end point, so like it's a lifelong process. So so like for me, like I do the spartans thank you, I do the spartans. The spartans are not the goal. The exercise, the training to do the spartan is the goal. It's almost like the spartan and people who've done spartans or have done any kind of any kind of obstacle race are going to find this funny. It's almost like it's the reward.
Psych:It's the pinnacle. Yes, you put in all this work and now you?
Letter K:have this day of glory. I can achieve this because I set this clear and realistic goal of exercising every single day and I made it a habit. So, if I think about it like that, my goal was to create a habit of better health and I've done that. And it started with okay, I'm going to stop drinking, I'm going to exercise regularly and I'm going to run once a week for three months and then, traditionally, statistically, if you do something for for uh, I think what is it 10 to 10 to 14 weeks to form a habit, then the end, you know me, fitting into the size six dress was no longer a relevant achievement it had really hope you did not buy a size six dress.
Psych:Wait, is that the dress you were talking about at Macy's that you didn't want to buy? Is this a whole other cover? Yeah?
Letter K:this is a conversation that we'll have to have offline. No, no, no, I just realized that selecting a woman's dress size for my analogy may have been a little sexist, so but, but, uh, but I can blow past that point, because that was not the goal.
Psych:the goal was to create a habit of consistent uh, better health, and so then, once you have that habit, you get to put whatever you want into it. It's, it's. I would, I would liken that to eating, let's say, three meals a day. Okay, I'm going to eat at breakfast, I'm going to eat at lunch time, I'm going to eat at dinner time. Right, if you're in the habit of eating those three times a day, well, you don't have to eat the same thing every single day, every single meal, or you don't have to eat the same breakfast or the same lunches or the same dinners every single time.
Psych:You have the habit of eating, and then you can mix in whatever is good for you at that time, just like when you are working out. You have this time set aside to work out. You don't work out biceps nonstop, every single workout. You mix in whatever is going to be good for you. Or maybe it was a day to work legs, and you know what biceps non-stop. Every single workout. You mix in whatever is going to be good for you. Or maybe it was a day to work legs and you know what you. Your run the day prior didn't go as well as you would have thought, and you need to listen to your body and and sort things out. So you trade days right. So you, the habit is the healthy, the healthy routine that you have built actually exercising is the habit, not necessarily.
Letter K:Yeah, I, I think that's, that's okay. I would never. I would never run a day before leg day or the direct day after.
Psych:That's just asking for, for pain not like the one day I ran to your house and then we did legs, so and then, uh, then my wife picked me up afterwards, I did it and it was a bad idea, but it happened, so let's talk about that.
Letter K:I completely agree. So routine breeds efficiency and breeds continuance. So, having you know me, I'm pretty routine. I do coffee, exercise, breakfast, work, lunch. I'm very dry in that respect. But as far as eating goes, I think that eating is one of the hardest things to keep consistent with because of all the life variables you know.
Psych:telling yourself I'm only gonna eat three meals a day is probably one of the hardest things for people to do so how, or just like telling them you have to eat four or five times a day to get the result that your particular body needs yes, also yes, and you got those.
Letter K:You got the omad people who only eat one meal a day love those guys the nut jobs yeah, good videos though yeah, yeah, it's hilarious to me. In fact, I watched a thing. I watched a video of jay cutler. He was just reminiscing and he was talking about. What cracked him up and surprised him the most was the popularity of the videos of him just eating. He said people would just tune in by the millions to watch him eat for 45 minutes.
Psych:Yeah, I mean, if you have to consume 10 to 15 000 calories, it's, it's a on the surface is interesting.
Letter K:I couldn't watch you eat it's like an olympic event, I couldn't just sit there and watch me.
Letter K:That's kind of. Maybe it's just me, but so. So consistency in in eating is not as important, I think, as your dietary choices, because if you're not planning how to eat properly, then you find yourself at work at lunch and the the rest of your team is going to go get get cheeseburgers. You're well, I was going to go to the cafe and get a salad, but yeah, let's do that. I go back to planning. You got to plan your habits For me. I have a 12-quart crock pot and I make meals. I meal prep. I'm a big fan of meal prep, whether I'm doing chicken in the crock pot or I'm pre-making sandwiches. I have a Tupperware thing. I'll just stack sandwiches in there, pack and go, kind of deal. I'll just stack sandwiches in there, pack and go, kind of deal. That is how I maintain dietary consistency. And then I plan. I really only plan dinner in advance. I plan dinners, you know, like Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, and they're different every week.
Psych:You have your variety with dinner. Yes, so at the peak of my success, this is I was also using a bit of tech to gather some data for me, which was macro factor, which I absolutely recommend. Anybody who's hasn't heard of macro factor? It's. It's pretty much a competitor to oh what is it? My fitness pal, so direct competitor. You have to pay for it and if you're going to pay for it and use it, it's absolutely worth it because it will track your meals. It's a way to journal it's way to food log.
Letter K:To be more specific, these apps, there's more. I I have a few online, but I use macro. I use macro factor. I love macro factor. Psych suggested to me years ago.
Letter K:Um, what you do is you set a fitness goal it's's a weight-oriented goal and then you input every single thing you eat. Most of these apps have a barcode scanner where you can scan food items. You can build meals. I had things for my turkey lasagna and my enchilada chicken. I had all these things so I could just set it and go and you weigh everything out. I got myself a little scale and it takes a little bit of front end to build up your little catalog of items. But then it's just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom and you will learn so much about what you're doing wrong with your diet. By using a macro tracker, I learned that I was eating way more protein than I needed, like, way more. Like I wasn't losing weight because I was eating 200 grams of protein too much a day, along with everything else. Yes, yes, so sorry, sidetracked you, but yes, no, no, no. Macro tracking with everything else. Yes, yes, so sorry, sidetracked you, but yes, no, no, no.
Psych:Macro tracking I think now the current version, the algorithm and the ai is really improved. You can take photographs of yourself so you can have before and after photos and it will help to dial dial in with the direction that you're heading.
Psych:But you, it starts with goals. You put in your features, your current stats, and you tell it where you would like to be. And you tell it uh, what would you like to value most in your diet? Do you want to have a more balanced diet? Do you want to err on the side of protein? Do you like? What do you want? And it will spit you out your macros. You'll get. You'll get fat, protein and carbs and you can pretty much eat whatever you want within those, and it will tell you how close are you to achieving your goal for that particular day. Did you go over, did you not? And even if you eat out, which it happens, right, you, somebody invites you to lunch, or something happens on the weekend, or somebody's having a birthday party at a pizza place, and most of those places are already built into this, this app, so you can just go. Hey, I had two slices of pepperoni pizza at this establishment and it already has their nutritional facts in there.
Letter K:And makes it easy and even it even gets more specific. Like I would do stuff, like I had a six inch subway turkey sandwich on wheat with with no cheese, mustard, olives, tomatoes, lettuce, and like it would it's. I mean, they make it as easy as they can and while it seemed a little daunting at first, I had it figured out in like a week and I was just off and running and when I was doing my original hashtag road to 190 thing and I was what I was like, what 230 pounds I'd gained weight. I was, you know, maybe not quite that heavy, but I used that because I wanted to see and it took me all the way down to my goal and you can even set your rate. So, like I said, I said it it's. It's how fast do you want?
Letter K:to get there, traditionally understood that losing weight slower is healthier, it stays off better, it's more consistent, it's better for your body. Um, and I put it, I set it to like it was the lowest setting and it had me losing weight at a rate of 0.96 pounds a week and I went straight down. I was, I followed it to the letter. It was kind of fun to try and hit my macro goals every day like to the gram. Yes, uh, treat it like a game. I tried it like and you'll meet. If it's a game, it's a video game. I'm there. It's a, it's a video game.
Psych:Well, I totally felt like a video game and I really enjoyed it and before I was, before I started using that, I just had an excel spreadsheet and I and I was tracking everything manually, I was weighing things out to the gram on scales and I was, I was doing all the math and all the fractions and things based on how many, what portion of the serving I was having, and it was, oh, I started this, this was, this was right before New Year's. It was no, right after New Year's one year and, uh, not because of New Year's or because it was, it was, it was, it was, it was not.
Psych:It totally was. I started this before and then it kind of bled into it and then I was like there's got to be a better way to do this.
Psych:It was taking a family vacation to the snow and it was the one where I sent you the video of me doing the sit-ups and the push-ups, with your video playing on my laptop while I was holding it and I was like there's got to be an easier way, because I was devoting. If I could reclaim that time that I was spending to try to figure out if what I'm eating is actually good for me or not, or am I getting too much or not enough, then I can reallocate that time back into the rest of my life workouts, fitness, family make sure I'm putting enough into them so that they're not feeling neglected when I do go work out.
Letter K:For me, the big win was because I was trying to eat healthy. I really was, and I was doing that before. I was doing a pretty good job crock potting my chicken, steaming my broccoli, having my rice, all that shit.
Psych:A little bit of craft mac and cheese no not so little. Yes, it hits the macros. No, it's not healthy. No, you can't argue that.
Letter K:No, it's fine, it's not unhealthy. It hits the macros. That's all it does. However, what I learned was that my big win was learning how to get my dietary macros in the correct amounts, because that's what was screwing me up. I was eating well, my lab numbers were coming out good, I wasn't losing any weight. I wasn't losing any weight and I was eating a little too much and I was eating things in the wrong amounts, just the wrong ass amounts, so and so. That brings up. This is a nice segue. Tracking progress is. We did track progress, we did building a routine. What I want to jump to is the fallacy that you can eat whatever you want as long as you're exercising, and you will lose weight. If you're interested in just straight weight loss, that is 100% calorie deficit. There's no other factor.
Psych:If you burn 3,000 calories and you ate 2,000 calories, then you will. If you continue to do that, you will lose weight. But what weight are you losing? Are you losing fat? Are you losing muscle? Are you losing some of both?
Letter K:But you will lose the scale.
Psych:The number on the scale will drop.
Letter K:So when I was at my heaviest and I needed to change, and I changed my eating habits, I literally lived on teriyaki, chicken and rice for like a year. I lost quite a bit of weight. I didn't feel great, I didn't feel super healthy, I didn't feel fit, I didn't feel like I could go out there and do things, but I was definitely losing weight, and so that brings up the, the, the, the next point. So, yes, calorie deficit is a hundred percent of of weight loss. If you're exercising, you're increasing your calorie burn, and so that will accelerate that process, while also, at the same time, you know, maybe, maybe, doing a little bit healthier and it takes 3 500 calories to lose a pound of fat.
Psych:Hmm, you have to burn 3,500 calories to lose one pound of fat so so, calorie deficit 100%.
Letter K:But now, how does that, how does that turn into into finding joy in the process?
Psych:let's just jump right to that one well, yeah, we want to enjoy the process, but there's also a fair amount of things that can interfere with one's process and enjoyment and all the misinformation that's out there and available. I know, when you said you started your journey, you were just, you were like a sponge. Everything was coming to you from all directions, me included, right, and you're just taking it all in and trying to sort out what is and what isn't. Did you find some things that were untrue, as you, as you encountered all the information that you were accumulating at the time, or some myths? Did you identify some myths, as you were like, ah no, this doesn't work at all.
Letter K:I asked groth for some, but I wanted to ask you first so the biggest thing that I that I learned that I always thought that you know the more you work out, the more you exercise, the faster you lose weight, the healthier you're going to be. That is huge misnomer, I think that is. It's terrible to tell people that you know more is better. Yeah, more, yeah, that's so. I found that I actually can't consistently work out like if I tried to keep up with what you were doing working out two hours a day, that kind of stuff and doing full body and then cardio and all this stuff. I couldn't do it. I could not physically handle it, and I found that the reason why I stopped doing the workout videos is because I was doing things like I was doing lift four, which I love. It's great, it's a great program.
Letter K:There was a couple other ones that were heavy in the lifting and I was listening to what they were saying. You got to go bigger every time. If you're not raising, listening to weight, raising your weights every week, you're not, you're not succeeding that progressive overload yes, it's. It's such a bad idea to tell people hey, you've got to go bigger than last week, you've got to go harder than the week before. You know what? Just stay consistent. You literally only need 25 minutes a day of elevated heart rate for better health, so set that as a goal. That was. The biggest thing I learned was that I did not need to do as much as everyone was telling me. The internet, all these videos, and everyone was saying you've got to go harder, you've got to go faster, you've got to go bigger.
Psych:So let me rattle off a few of these. Okay, and there's 10 of them. I'll just read them all off. You can tell me what hits. We can talk about as many or as little as you would like. Spot reduction is possible Basically the notion that you can. I just want to lose weight right here. More sweat equals more fat burned. Women will get bulky from lifting weights. You can outrun a bad diet no pain, no gain. Carbs make you fat. You need to work out every day. Stretching before exercise prevents injury. Running is bad for your knees.
Letter K:Supplements can replace a healthy diet okay so, uh, you can spot, reduce fat, specific areas, areas, complete nonsense. If that were true, I would have found out.
Psych:What about those bands that go?
Letter K:do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do, I would have skipped everything, just for abs. Abs are a weird thing, you make them in the kitchen. Yeah, yes, I've seen that here too. Yes, your abs are there. They're always there, you're always there. But subcutaneous fat, especially as you get older, fat around the midsection, is the first place that it sets, because that's the easiest place for your body to store it. So, yes, if you lose enough body fat percentage, even if you never work out abs, they're going to show themselves.
Psych:You can also make your abs bigger. They're going to show themselves. You can also make your abs bigger. So if you lose more of that fat surrounding them and your abs are slightly bigger than they were, then yes, they're.
Letter K:They're more like yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah, but yes, I just want to lose the fat under my arms, like so. I remember when I was in groceries and I was sitting there, I was, was doing an approval, or I was, I was and you know what it was I was counting a register at the end of the night and the two gals that I was working with they were counting registers as well. We'd close the shop and they were complaining. They were, they had, both of them were doing you know, they were hitting the treadmill and they were both complaining about how, how, the first, the first fat on their body that was reducing was the breast size. They were. They're like how come I can't get rid of my, my, my gut, but my boobs are shrinking?
Psych:you can't spot, reduce fat. Your body eliminates it from where it's no longer needed first, and that's that's where that's where it goes. I know one one for me that, uh, no pain, no gain. So that was one of the reasons I I just went hard. Yeah, because because of this particular notion, and if I wasn't sore and I wasn't always sore, so I went hard and I wasn't sore. What did I do all that? For there goes. I just spent three hours. All right, tomorrow three and a half or tomorrow four, and we're just going to go. And then that, ultimately, would have led me to complete and utter. I would have broken myself, I would have completely made my body unusable if I continued down that road.
Letter K:I've found that as I get healthier, especially with the running and stuff because I always had trouble with my knees and I know that one of your mis of your misnomers is uh, is running hurts your knees? I'd like to. I'd like to hear what that, what that says. But when I found that when I got healthier, I even when I was lifting hard weights I was sore less, I recovered faster, um, and the the pain that I felt was the exertion during the physical workout, and then it kind of largely fades away. So, yeah, yeah, I think that one of the biggest things that our parents' generation did to harm us was the whole no pain, no gain fallacy.
Psych:So the running thing says running can be beneficial, beneficial for joint health if done correctly, with proper footwear and technique. Problems often arise from overuse, improper form or pre-existing conditions, not from running itself. It does not mean that running does not wear your knees and joints. Just like fine automobiles which you know I am fond of, with moving parts, they wear out over time and if they're improperly lubricated, yes, you will have things rubbing against each other.
Letter K:Yes, they will degrade over time and, like a fine automobile, I am starting to wear down at the hinge points. Uh, so, yes, I think that's I, I. So the part of that that I think is important to point out is that is that proper technique? So many people make it for him technique and so many people run wrong in fucking chuck taylor's.
Letter K:You know. You know if you're going to be running, if you're going to go jogging, if you're going to hit the treadmill, if you're going to use that activity as your cardio workout, you got to spend the money on the shoes. Yes, you know, I had decent shoes and they worked out pretty good Like they're a pair of New Balance or some such and they were okay. But, man, when I went out and got like legit, expensive shoes with the professional insoles that they put in for me at the place, and I went to the Fleet Feet and they did the whole 3D scan, the whole bit right, changed my whole life as far as running goes. Because, you know, I've always complained about how I can't run.
Letter K:But now I'm over here, you know 8, 10 kilometers at a time and I'm hitting it hard. And I already knew how to run. Yes, so I knew that wasn't causing me too much grief because I was a track star, but I did that so you wouldn't cut me off. But I did that so you wouldn't cut me off but learning how to run correctly and you can find videos that teach you how to actually run there's a difference between sprinting and running over distance, you can learn the difference. You can start to learn how to run correctly. You can train yourself to do that and then buy some fucking shoes.
Psych:As a side note to that, I think people far undervalue footwear in general, and if people would just change their footwear, their daily footwear, I know. For me I did the same thing you did Went to Fleet Feet, foot scan everything and I got some not only some running shoes, but some daily shoes, shoes to walk around in, and I got inserts for those shoes as well. That changed how my body felt. I felt better, my stride was felt better, my gait felt better, my knees, my lower back, it all everything felt much more. It was just it's hard to measure exactly what the feeling was like, but I didn't feel bad after a day on my feet of walking around.
Psych:And so if you can find ways to mitigate all of the other steps, that one, they are a part of your workout. If you're walking right, if you get the 10,000 steps, great. If you get the 15,000 steps, even better, or 20, even better than that. If that's just a part of your daily life, if that's your nine to five and you're walking, you're on your feet, and if you can mitigate how bad you feel after you traverse all of that, that's gonna help you continue that routine when you actually go to do something deliberate to work out just for you, footwear.
Letter K:Yeah, I completely agree that footwear is one of those things that people completely are oblivious to, especially in this country. We spend our money on a brand or on a look and not on the things that they we should be like the science of proper foot conditions. So, like Basie J, who who is not love him, inconsiderably older than I am, he has and you go into his home and he has the shoe rack just kind of like, kind of like you do, only his, his actually has the shoes on it. And and you go into his home and he has this shoe rack, just kind of like you do, his actually has the shoes on it and and he's got these two pair of New Balance that just look brand ass new and he never wears them. He always wears the Chucks or the Adidas, that kind of stuff.
Letter K:And I was like bro, you know you're complaining about your feet. I can't be without wearing these. It's like man, I put them on and I just can't do it. They just made me look like an old man, but they're better shoes and he'll admit that openly. And I was starting to have trouble with my right foot. The bones were starting to curl underneath, so, like my bottom two toes were starting to curl and they still pop a little bit, but they were sort of really it was starting to cause me a lot of pain. I could barely walk, and this was back before we started running. Regularly I went to the doctor and he's like you got to wear the right shoes, kid. What he said to me at the time was and I'll never forget it and I love my doctor for this he said hey, and I love my doctor for this. He said hey. Sometimes we want to wear shoes because we think it's cool, but we don't realize that we're getting older. We need to start thinking about wearing shoes that don't make us hurt.
Psych:And that goes back to listening to your body. You got to listen, you have to pay attention and you have to notice. And if you failed, I had a staff member in my classroom I still work with them and they were complaining about walking. Why are we doing so much walking? Uh, is something wrong with the distance that we're traveling? Well, no, but my feet hurt. Okay, why do your feet hurt? Well, they hurt because of this, and they they already identified the problem. Oh, okay, have you considered this, this and this? Oh, first two, go in and get a foot scan, buy proper footwear, get some inserts that help. Okay, yes, I've considered that. Have you done it? No, uh, why?
Psych:oh, that'd be too expensive yeah, I was like oh okay, so you'd rather live with the discomfort and the pain?
Letter K:yeah, yeah, how many, how many? How many cheeseburger meals do you have to not purchase to to fix?
Psych:your feet it's.
Letter K:it's insignificant in comparison to, like you said, you couldn't describe that feeling of wearing the correct shoes. I think that, yeah, I think it is the number one thing that people neglect. They're in proper tooth care, but that's a different animal.
Psych:Your feet are in contact with the ground. They're like tires for an automobile.
Letter K:For a fine automobile? Yes, so luxurious, I mean, can you get the cheap 100,000 mile tires for 40 bucks a tire? No, you cannot. Oh wait, never mind. Or do you want to get those performance shoes?
Psych:Yes, yes, yes, yes, we want the performance shoes. Yes, and you know what? Those? Whatever you buy, no, you cannot. For your body, it's, it's invaluable, because there's nothing that replaces your health. Once you no longer have your health, you really don't have very much and you will pay anything to regain your health.
Letter K:Here's an unpaid plug, since we're talking about shoes. So I always just wore whatever I got at JCPenney or Ross or whatever for groceries. I was on my feet nine, ten hours a day, hard, going hard, and my feet always bothered me. Everyone's feet always bothered me. I had the padded mats, the cashiers cause they're just standing there all day and not a lot of sit down that kind of stuff.
Letter K:And then I went to a, a seminar, a management seminar, and somebody had mentioned a company called Shoes for Cruise. They still exist. It's called Shoes for Crews. You can go to shoesforcrewscom and they have shoes that are reasonably priced, that are in any professional style, from looking like kicks to looking like some straight up professional tuxedo shoes, but the insoles and stuff and the shoe design are built for working on your feet, for standing feet, and the last four or five years that I worked in groceries I bought shoes for cruise shoes and it was like a change in my perspective on working. So, yes, yes, something, something like like getting the proper shoes and insoles and stuff can can be a little spendy, it can, but if you're over here spending money on goofy shit and complaining that you can't afford to do something that is so pivotal to your health and well-being. You're fucking up.
Psych:I think kind of the direction we're going now is and I'm all for it is this holistic approach to one's life. Fitness and health is arguably one of the biggest components to that. One of the biggest components to that. However, one's ability to start, maintain and become successful in that discipline will be hurt and hindered or helped, based on all the other areas that are surrounding this individual's life.
Letter K:Think about how more effective I was as an employee in this individual's life. Think about how more effective I was as an employee, as a floor employee in the supermarket, having the correct footwear and the ability to run around the store all day.
Psych:And if you're getting accolades or affirmation from management or upper management as a result, you feel better about yourself. And so when you come home after that day, if you're going to go work out like I just had the most amazing day ever and something as simple as the ability to provide your body what it needs in the moment, so that it doesn't feel anything that's going to hinder its ability to perform yeah, really, that's what it's about Enable your body to perform at its peak.
Letter K:Yeah, yeah, really. That's what it's about enable your body to perform at its peak. Yeah, and think about. Think about how much easier it is for you to decide that you're going to go and go hit the weights or go to the gym, or you've got a rack of weights in your in your garage, like I do, and you're going to go do that after a full eight, nine hour shift, you know. Think about how much more ready you're going to do if you are taking care of your well-being, of your body, of your, of your feet, of your, your, your digestive health, if you're doing those things mental health.
Psych:mental health is huge. Yeah, mental health is is huge, I found, for me working out because I would. Basically I would come home, and I know this is different for many people. So when I used to commute to the Bay Area, it was two to three hours of driving and part of my built-in decompression time was that time. So I would come home, I would think all of my thoughts through and then I'd be ready and prepared to engage with the family. I work closer to home now, so it's 30 minutes. Sometimes that's not enough for me. Sometimes I need about an hour. Okay, so I get home, throw everything down, I'm going to go work out. Okay, I go work out. And right before my last workouts I had dialed into about 40. I was, I was taking some of your suggestions to heart. I was like, okay, let me see if I can shorten this up a little bit. Maybe case right, maybe I'm doing too much.
Psych:Maybe there's a t-shirt phrase and I got it down to 45 minutes. So I'm 30 minutes home, throw everything down, change, get back out, get out there 45 minutes, I'm done. I shower, I feel absolutely great. I'm, I'm, I'm just at one with my thoughts. Sometimes I'm listening to podcasts, I'm learning, I'm bettering myself, I'm coming inside hey, I just heard this. I'm sparking conversations with people in the family and I'm better for it mentally because I took that time.
Letter K:Yeah. So for me, mental health attached directly to exercise is the way that I look to myself. Uh, I don't really get the. I don't really get the like, the endorphin rush. Too often of you know, you're working out and I feel great afterwards, sometimes, especially in the pool, like if I have a really good swim, if I feel like I really handle it. I'm walking to the car with a gate in my step, but for the most part it's it's looking in the mirror, being like, uh, that's right, you know, you know, treating, treating myself better is what's caused this and that's what makes me that's. That's a good mental health breaker. For me it's like I put in the time, I put in the effort, I put in the desire and I I had the passion to continue to do this long enough to where I feel good about it and it's physical, it shows, I can see it in myself. That's where it helps my mental health.
Psych:It breeds confidence.
Letter K:The confidence of achieving the goal, and it just takes the consistency to do it.
Psych:But it's not arrogance, it's not confidence that shouldn't exist. It's confidence that comes out of competence, because you put in the time, you put in the work, you learned it, you've done things well and that is what provides the results. It's not something that was you went out of thought and now you have it. Or you went through this program and they off. They promised you the world and they sold you something that you can't use anywhere else. But you think you have it right. No, you own it. You have ownership of your results and success because of the work that you put in. And the thing is the same opportunity is out there for everyone.
Letter K:You don't need to go to the gym, you don't need a, you don't need an expensive weight machine in your house, you don't need weights. So many people can go so far with just body weight, cardio, hit, that kind of stuff. Like I didn't buy a pair of dumbbells until I was, until I was two, three years into exercising. I was doing all of the cardio workout programs, like Shanti's hip hop abs, like T25, like you know, the jazzercise stuff. I was doing that and it gets into more intense things like, like you know, the hit with the, the crazy pushup burpee, you know, flip around, do-si-do, kind of shit. But you know I weigh 200 pounds. That's a lot of weight and you can use that weight to to engage.
Letter K:You don't need to go use the crap at the gym. Yeah, you don't need to spend a grand on a weight set of your dumbbells. You don't need equipment. All you need is this and this and I pointed at my head and I pointed at my heart for the people who are on Spotify. I thought you were pointing at Superman. All you need is a symbol.
Letter K:On my planet. It means hope.
Psych:So dumb I almost wore that shirt today that would have been great. You should have seen me put this on and been like yes, uh, yes, I think in the vein that you were talking public parks, body weight exercise, most public parks have a pull-up bar. I get on the jungle gyms, you get. There's so many things you could do. We run through the kids jungle gym during the spartan training we did.
Psych:or if you pause on this, if you pause on the swings, you're not doing it right, all right, you should get off the swings, all right. But pull-ups our great grandparents had it right. Pull-ups, push-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, sit-ups. All the ups, just do all the ups, yeah, all the ups, and then you'll get your base.
Letter K:If you're down, with the ups next episode. We should talk about different techniques, and I have a classic military technique that I'll tell you about. You just have to remind me.
Psych:A classic military technique that you don't think I'm aware of.
Letter K:Yeah, maybe.
Psych:I mean, we've probably talked about it already actually. All right, we'll see. The suspense is rising. Yeah, it's palpable.
Letter K:Yeah, so excited to learn this ancient secret of exercise.
Psych:Not the burpees. Huh, not the burpees, not the burpees, huh, not the burpees. I can burpees, all right. So I think we touched on quite a few things that are misnomers and also things that can keep people on the road to their success. I like to say I don't know if I heard it somewhere first, I probably did because it just but I am also a fan of alliteration. I like to schedule success, schedule it, just schedule success. Come up with a plan. You've done that with your lifestyle. You have it scheduled, it's planned out, it's mapped out. Somebody could take your plan and do it and probably be somewhat successful at it. They might have to adjust a thing or two based on their lifestyle, but because you have it written down and you can communicate that with somebody else, it could potentially help them.
Letter K:Find somebody who has done a thing that gives you a direction, gives you directions, try it, try it, just try it, and if it doesn't work out for you, try somebody else's thing. You're going to find something where you're like, okay, yeah, this works, this doesn't work, I'm going to do this, this and this. Once you have the education to make the decisions for yourself, you can make those little adjustments.
Psych:But most people don't know how to get started. The only caveat I would make is don't seek out one person after another who's trying to sell you something again and over and over again, make sure they're people you know and trust, that you genuinely can well reach out to and share stories and and figure out that they, what they're doing, is actually working, because they actually want to do it for them.
Letter K:Yeah but it's going to be hard too to find. If you have somebody you trust and who has a regimented workout routine that you can try to piggyback on great. If you don't, you've got to go to the internet and, yeah, they're going to try and sell you some fucking protein powder. Just suck it up.
Psych:It's fine, you're talking dry scooping protein powder.
Letter K:Is that what you're? Successful? Just just just just like. Just like the chick at the beginning of freaking nightmare on elm street 3 which is eating just just full of crystals. Just just never seen it. Of course you haven't. I don't even know why I make these references.
Psych:Somebody's like yeah, k knows what's going on one of our previous episodes you mentioned. Yeah, we've all seen jungle fever and I went with it, but I hadn't and I looked at it you'd like.
Letter K:It's a good film. It's a it's a spikely joint, but it's uh, it's a real spikely. What? Oh jesus christ, that's a great I'll mess it with you.
Psych:It's a great.
Letter K:It's a great film. It's a great film. He did a really good job of of making the film about this extremely difficult thing while convincing people it was about interracial love. Yeah, it's brilliant. It's great, really sorry.
Psych:Sorry, that's a good place to end as Spike Lee tries to sell you a workout routine, consider it you've seen him.
Letter K:He's mousy, he doesn't work out oh, he might. What a dick. Now he's gonna be in our. He's gonna be trolling our comments. Let it K fuck you man.
Psych:I. I wish for nothing else. Make us famous, just fuck. He's going to be in our comments. Let it K Fuck you, man. I wish for nothing else. Make us famous, just fuck around and find out, all right. Okay, so we started at the beginning and now we're in it. Some things that keep people going, some myths to dispel, I suppose. What do you do after you achieve your goals? What do you do after you succeed? Live your best life, and we will get to that next time Goals.
Letter K:Thank you.
