Health & Wellness with Dr. Mark Manera

We lay out why drivers are losing sixteen years of life and how a driver‑first, free app from Project 61 turns small daily choices into lasting health gains. Dr. Mark Manera shares real stories, a framework any driver can use, and a path for fleets to help.

• why generic wellness misses trucking
• quick cab workouts that fit wait times
• habit‑based nutrition drivers can follow
• examples of small swaps that move the needle
• progress over perfection and mindset shifts
• loneliness on the road and community support
• safety, insurance and operational benefits
• Project 61’s nonprofit model and free access
• upcoming driver health curriculum with NextGen
• the five axles: fuel, move, mental drive, recharge, preventative maintenance
• events, walks and challenge ideas for mats

 Offshift is available for free in the Apple  App Store and Google Play. To find out more about Project 61 visit www.project-61.org. 

Transcript

Setting The Stakes: Age 61

SPEAKER_00 1:02

In week two of our training Tuesday series. Today we're tackling the big one. Why do truck drivers face a life expectancy of only 61 years? And more importantly, how do we change that? My guess is the man leading that charge. Dr. Mark Manera. He's the president and chief health officer of Project 61. As a doctor of physical therapy, he started his career by rehabbing drivers in clinics. Saw the massive gaps in the wellness programs, and he built options. This is the first health app that was made just for truckers. Now, through Project 61, it's all free. Quick workouts in your cab, smart eating while you're on the go, and the tools to help you beat the toll of the road. So, Dr. Mark, welcome to the show and thank you for joining us.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Yeah, Timmy, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited for it.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yay. So if you would, um, Mark, if you would tell the audience uh a little bit about how you got into trucker health.

Mark’s Path From PT To Trucking

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Yeah, well, my story into the trucking industry is pretty unique because uh five and a half years ago I had no clue what trucking was, and I knew no one in the trucking industry. I was in the healthcare world. Like you mentioned, I have a doctorate degree in physical therapy. So I was working in a physical therapy clinic. Uh I'm born and raised in St. Louis and uh here in St. Louis, and in walked in a bunch of truck drivers. And it was kind of the first time that I had ever gotten to know some drivers on a personal level. I mean, I was like rehabbing them, um, total knee replacements, uh, shoulder injuries, all these different things, and like working with them on a day-to-day basis. And it was really the first time I saw what 20, 30 years behind the wheel can do to someone's health. And it just threw me down this rabbit hole. And uh, I haven't looked back since. I went down an entrepreneurial journey and then uh ended up having off-shift my company be acquired by uh Project 61 uh in July of last year.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

Well, let's take it back a little bit. So you you were working as this physical therapist. What began the transition from that to you developing off shift?

Why Generic Wellness Fails Drivers

SPEAKER_01 3:14

Well, I'm an entrepreneur. Uh I I always am. Like I've been I've just had that bug in me. Um, and so for me, it was like one of those things of I was working as a physical therapist. It was like right early in my career, and I was, you know, honestly very mission-driven as a human in general. I want to like, I want to fight for something, right? And I was kind of in a search for what is this mission that I'm gonna dedicate my career to? And when those drivers came into the clinic, and there was one in particular who uh I worked with four times a week for like six months, helping him get back to he was an o uh, he was actually an owner op um after a knee replacement. And uh I just got to know the trucking lifestyle, got to know some of the struggles and unique barriers like he faced out on the road, and you know, the impact that his health uh he had diabetes, he he was not the the uh he had some obesity issues, and that had actually was the trickle down of why he had to have a total knee replacement in general, um, because you know he wasn't taking care of his body and uh kind of the accumulation of all these things, along with I'm a little bit of a research nerd. So I started digging into the statistics of of the health of drivers, and I'm you know, seeing the fact that truck drivers have the highest rates of obesity and diabetes among any other occupation. And I saw that, you know, from a mental health perspective, truck drivers are 6.2 times more likely to have you know depression than someone who works in an office. Um, and the trickle down of all of that is is really what you mentioned earlier in the podcast, which is um those statistics and the unique barrier that these drivers face cause you know drivers to have a life expectancy of 61 years old. And deep down in my heart, I just do not believe anyone's career should define their health. But when you have an occupation where you go and go and get your CDL and statistically have 16 years cut off the back end of your life, I don't know how much more clear that could be, that that's exactly what's happening is like trucking is impacting so many people's health. And for me, I knew that all of these health issues, all these lifestyle-based chronic diseases that we talked about, you know, even you know, the obesity, diabetes, heart disease, these types of things, they're all lifestyle-based and they're preventable, they're treatable, and they're reversible. And so what I was seeing when I was working and kind of jumped all into the trucking industry is I worked hand in hand with dozens of trucking companies, a bunch of insurance companies. And I just also spent hundreds of hours talking to drivers, getting to know them on a personal level. I was the crazy guy at the truck stops talking to drivers, doing ride-alongs, those types of things. I still think I'm the only physical therapist in the world that between patients, I was on the phone with drivers uh um when they're driving like all around North uh North America and just like asking them questions and trying to understand what they go through on a day-to-day basis and also what's going on, you know, upstairs in their head and their mind when they're you know, have all that windshield time and what they're thinking about and you know, the psychology uh that drivers go through as well. And through that process, what I recognized was that all of the health benefits that trucking companies have available to offer their drivers, you know, the employee benefits they're offering as a part of their health insurance and just like as a whole, they're all industry agnostic. And what that really means is that they are uh built for someone who works in a cubicle. And then trucking companies are kind of handcuffed to say, well, this is the only thing available that I can give my drivers, so I guess I'm gonna give it to them. But these programs, when drivers look at them, is they don't speak their language, they don't understand the culture of the industry, and they they don't fit the lifestyle drivers live. And at the end of the day, drivers just like don't resonate with them. And when someone doesn't resonate with something, they don't use it. And so I saw a really big opportunity to say, well, all of these programs out there are kind of built for a lawyer or someone who works in a cubicle, and then drivers are trying to you know cram that into their life. That's not really working. You look at the statistics, it's not no one's getting healthier. Um, what if we built a program specifically for drivers? And we, you know, we really tried to smack drivers in the face that we built this for them. And so uh that's what offshift was. And we were selling directly to trucking companies and uh coming in as a part of their employee benefit program and pairing drivers with a coach, and then through our app on their phone, helping drivers work out in the back of their truck or eat healthier at the truck stop or McDonald's attached to it, and really like meeting them where they're at, anywhere that they park, anywhere they drive out on the road. And then um through that process, Project 61, which is a not a nonprofit in the trucking industry, uh they Jeremy uh Raymer, who's the founder of that, him and I were working very closely together because they were bringing you know a lot of attention to the driver health problem as a whole. And uh he was actually, we were working together because offshift was the only solution that was really driver health specific. So any company that came to Project 61, Jeremy was like, Well, you should work with OffShift, you know, if they're like, we want to do something about this. And so we started looking at each other and we're like, hey, we're uh we're rowing the boat in the same direction, we're just in two different boats. Uh, what if we hopped in the same one? We could go further and faster together. And so that was really the spark of Project 61 acquiring my company. And then I came on and started working with Jeremy and took on a president and chief health officer role. And you know, the exciting part about it because of the mechanics of it being a nonprofit and us being able to financially support ourselves through people who donate and corporate partnerships who donate to our nonprofit, um, was that we were able to take what off shift was going and selling trucking companies and we now give it away completely for free. Um and freeze the right price, uh, it turns out. Uh and so it's yes, and so it's it's been going really well. And our goal is to get into 750 trucking companies by the end of this year.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Oh, that's a good goal, you know, and I want to say, going back to what you said about riding with a truck driver, so whenever there are issues in our industry, the first thing you're going to hear a truck driver say is a lot of people um are not making educated decisions because they've never been in the truck with a truck driver. And until you actually get in the truck and you see how it goes, it's really hard to have solutions for a truck driver. So the fact that you took that time out, that you talked to those drivers and you actually rode with them to see the challenges that they face on a daily basis speaks volumes.

Building A Driver‑First Health App

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Well, I appreciate that. And I uh I do not have all the answers. Uh, and I've kind of taken that approach, you know, and I've taken that approach, and uh, you know, some of the some of the smartest people I've ever met in my life uh are sitting behind a wheel and driving a truck. Uh, they they just like and they have so much perspective of obviously the culture and lifestyle of trucking, and then you know, they also have a lot of time to think about things and uh to to really process it. And so um I have really made it a focus on my end too throughout you know my whole time in trucking this last five and a half years has been like when I have a question or I'm trying to figure something out, let me text or let me call a handful of my driver friends and just like let them sit on it for a week or so and get their feedback. And that's where we have had, you know, our some of the biggest breakthroughs from a standpoint of, oh, I never even thought about doing it this way, was from a perspective. And you know, anytime you're brainstorming, it's kind of uh you're bouncing things off of it, and then you know, Tammy says one phrase and oh wait, no, this, and and it's kind of uh, yeah, you end up going down different rabbit holes.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

So Off Shift was acquired by Project 61. You guys merged. Um, a lot of people don't know who Project 61 is and why it's named Project 61. So would you like to educate?

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Yes, yeah. So Project 61's a 501c3 nonprofit uh in the trucking industry. And the significance of that 61 number is that's the average life expectancy of a truck driver, which is not okay. We have to do better as an industry. Um, and the whole mission of the nonprofit is to empower every level of the trucking industry to do something about that and really realize that everyone who you know relies on a truck to move, uh, and that's everyone in this country, and also from a job perspective, trucking companies, insurance companies, even vendors who support drivers, that 61 number should be all of our enemies. And we should be fighting back against that and saying uh, because it's impacting every single one of us from a risk perspective, from a quality of life perspective, from just an operational cost perspective as well. And so, you know, for us, it's like, how do we become the spearhead of this movement where we get everyone in the industry to say, like, enough is enough, everyone in this industry knows the health of drivers is not okay. Um, and it's time to stop sweeping it under the rug, and we got to do something about it.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

And since you uh a lot of your focus is on selling directly to the trucking companies and implementing your program uh from a carrier perspective, uh for carriers, it's in their interest to have healthier drivers as well. I mean, it's gonna save them on insurance rates, um, time off that drivers have, and happier, healthier drivers.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Completely agree, right? You know, like every single line of insurance uh is touched by, you know, the health of the person who's sitting behind the wheel. I think it's very obvious health insurance is um work comp, I think is also very clear that if you have an unhealthy driver, you know, the risk, especially of a musculoskeletal injury of them tearing something or or you know, hurting a joint is increased. But then even I don't think anyone would argue that a safer driver behind the wheel is a healthier driver, or you know, let me flip that around. A healthier driver behind the wheel is a safer driver, right? Um from an auto liability insurance perspective, and the the likelihood of having a crash or you know, incident behind the wheel and that turning into a really, really large lawsuit that costs trucking companies tens of millions of dollars a year, uh, sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. Um, it it makes sense to say, hey, let me help my drivers and give them these resources, uh, you know, give them as many resources I can so that you know they can show up to drive every shift at their highest physical and mental capacity. And you know, for us, the real win here is also it's free. So it's like there's not even a cost associated. Why wouldn't you as a company partner with us and offer this?

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Exactly, exactly. And for drivers, like you said earlier, standard fitness fails, right? So they don't fit into that cookie cutter program that most companies offer. Irregular schedules, gym access. I mean, yeah, you might have two, three gyms, 30 gyms in the city that the terminals are at, but drivers aren't at the terminals, you know, they're not at the office.

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Or truck parking, right? Like you can't park at a majority of these gyms. Um, and so I'm not, you know, for us, it's like I'm not like if a driver it fits into their schedule, they go to the gym, or you know, even they they cook in their truck and they eat a you know homemade truck meal every night. That's amazing. I'm all about it. I want to encourage more and more drivers to do that. But most drivers are not quote unquote gym people, right? Even if there was a gym at every single truck stop, they wouldn't feel comfortable in that. And that's okay. You don't have to have a gym to be more physically active, intentionally move more and be healthier. And so we want to show drivers how they can do that in the comfort of their truck, outside of their truck, or even you know, in their living room on home time.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Yeah. And having said that, after uh Michael Lombard was on my show last week uh and we discussed Project 61, I downloaded the app and I tested out the challenges um every day. Like in the beginning, there's a 15-minute workout, and like um today it says 16. So does that increase as you go?

SPEAKER_01 15:23

It changes day by day. Sometimes it's 12, sometimes it's somewhere in that like 10 to 15 minute range, is what we found is a sweet spot for drivers.

Project 61’s Mission And Model

SPEAKER_00 15:32

Okay. So, drivers, the app that he's talking about is called Off Shift. I'm an Apple user, so I imagine you have it on Android as well.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Yeah, it's Off Shift by Project 61. You can download it on any app store, it's completely free. You can sign up and join.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

I don't know if I can show this on mine, the logo on it. I don't know. Do you have the logo handy?

SPEAKER_01 15:53

So that's I don't have it, but it's it's a nice blue.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Uh it's a I don't know if you guys can see that logo there.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 16:03

Um, you know, yeah, yes, I will. Um, but some people are are driving when they're watching this.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

And there you go. Don't don't download it now.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Don't yeah, don't download it now. I will put it in the show notes, but it does not have the Project 61 logo, which when I went looking for it, I wanted to um put that out there because a lot of people are looking for it to say Project 61, but it is off shift.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Well, we're rebranding, that's part of 2026 plan. That was offshore. You know, we're we're six months into the acquisition and we're a pretty lean team, and so it uh you know it takes some time to to get all those things moving. And so definitely one of the things in 2026 is to rebrand the app to be Project 61.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Okay, great. So why don't we do this? Why don't we break down, if you don't mind, everything that the app has to offer um for people when they download it and kind of give them a gist of what they can expect?

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah, so we give you a daily workout. Um, those workouts, like I said, are somewhere between eight to 15 minutes, and oftentimes they're circuit-based of body weight and resistance band exercises. I found resistance bands like the only piece of equipment you need as a truck driver. It's like lightweight, easy to store, they're pretty cheap to buy, um, but you can get a lot done with your body weight as well. And then um on Thursdays and Sundays, we give you a nice little stretching routine that you can do right in your truck. And um there's an option for at home uh at in the truck, or we also are starting to do outside of the truck as well if you'd like to do that. Um, and then on the nutrition side of things, we take a habit-based approach. And so we give you a weekly nutrition habit that is on a to-do list, basically a task every day uh on the home screen. And then we gamify it through we have uh weekly challenges, uh solo challenges, where you know you can try to complete that habit four or five times this week and then complete the challenge. Um, and the habits are really focused on like one small step that or one small action that you should you can do anywhere out on the road. We don't hand anyone a meal plan and say, hey, flip your whole lifestyle upside down. And then what we do around that habit is we send educational messages on how to do that at the truck stop or or McDonald's attached to it, and really trying to meet drivers where they're at and showing them actionable education on how to complete that habit. Also on the nutrition side of things, we have restaurant guides, we have truck stop guides, we've got a bunch of other content through uh our Explore page on our app. And then we also have uh different group challenges. So uh at the end of the year, we just got done with a 61-day step challenge where everyone connects their wearable um or even just use their phone. And uh there was a leaderboard showing, hey, uh, you know, you can compete against each other uh and do it, uh, see who's getting the most steps to stay. We're also in the middle of uh a different challenge right now around New Year's, and uh we're gonna do a heart health one in February. And so really just focusing on how do we build the community and show drivers that, you know, you're not alone in this, there's other people doing this with you, and uh you can join in and really have not only you know a personalized industry-specific solution, but also have some community around it and uh you know, hopefully have your friends join and razz each other a little bit and keep each other uh engaged.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

I'm very competitive, so I like that. So just to give you guys an idea, um, for my solo challenge, mine is to drink a glass of water within one hour waking up. And it's called Sit What Happens, um, is the promo on here. And you click each day. Um, I missed a day this week because um coffee, coffee. I I I head straight to the coffee pot and I've really tried. to grab the water first, but um coffee calls my name. And then um it gives you points for completing it. Um and you get nice little kudos. Um also on the group challenge it tracks my steps. So it asked me to connect my Apple Watch uh and my health to the app when I set it up, which I did. And then um I'm actually in 95th place today, which is probably really bad because I haven't moved much today. But I will catch up by tonight. Because I don't like being that far behind.

Health, Safety, And Insurance Risk

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Don't be that far behind. It's all good though. It's all good. Yeah um and then while you're talking they it has a health section that has recommended screenings um that you can click complete but my favorite is I get these messages every day and I'm like who's messaging me and it's Ollie I like Ollie you like Ollie I like Ollie yes so Ollie is like their AI chat companion I I take it not um not AI um not AI it is um uh it's just our our our chat channel where they're created all of those video uh messages are created by our coaching team and so we want to just educate through and you know also have a little personality there to show hey uh you know this doesn't have to be super serious we can have a little bit of a personality and and crack some jokes and uh you know um yeah keep you engaged and educate you in the process.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Well Ollie obviously knows that I'm a coffee person because on Wednesday when I miss my water I actually got a message that said yesterday was a coffee only start and by halfway through the day I felt foggy and drained and I'm like oh Ollie you and me both I mean it couldn't fit more perfect.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

It was awesome.

Cab Workouts Without A Gym

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Okay so um you know the thing about it is it's small steps right so drivers don't feel overwhelmed um when they're starting out with your app these are all things that any fitness level can achieve yeah exactly I mean we have people who are um anywhere from 400 pounds to 120 pounds uh that starting point we have anyone from or I think our oldest person we've ever had is like in their late 70s like 77 years old joining in in in that program all the way into uh you know we've got some like 17 year olds because we work with the CDL program that's uh within a high school uh so like we have a wide wide spectrum every every size you know age all these different things um and you know for us it's it's really you know we want to meet each person where they're at and we want to make this very accessible and what I've found uh just in general uh you know coming from the physical therapy side of things but just also spending tons of tons of time with drivers and we've worked with thousands of drivers at this point helping to be healthier is like it's not often these like huge flip your whole lifestyle upside down health changes that make an impact. It's oftentimes one or two things that stick and you do consistently that then just change the way you feel change the number on the scale all these different things. Exactly there you go right and uh I'll tell you a story like my uh and and this is a great story around the the water situation is when I first got into trucking um one of the drivers in the clinic I said all right how do I you know how do I get more engaged? I want to like learn more and he was like go into trucking the Facebook groups and I was like okay uh I joined a bunch of those uh Wild West for someone who is uh who has never been in the trucking industry but it was awesome and I just started posting in there I was like hey this is what I'm trying to do I'm trying to help drivers be healthier like would anyone talk to me and I got on the phone with probably like 20 or 30 different drivers um just like talking and learning and one of the drivers I started working with uh was this guy named Ron and he was drinking two 12 packs of Pepsi a day while driving 24 sodas I don't even know how that's possible. I don't know how he drove anywhere. I would just be peeing all day like uh that was so much liquid but you also start thinking about how much how many calories and how many grams of sugar he was drinking that's a lot less sugar strictly from what he was drinking right and so we started working together and all I did was switch him from regular Pepsi to diet Pepsi and then eventually we moved to water and he didn't add any exercise he didn't change anything he was eating and all of a sudden his diabetes was under control and uh he was losing weight right and so that's awesome that's awesome that's a great example of like how many times do you have does a driver have a 64 ounce Mountain Dew in the pat in the in the cup holder and you know they don't even realize that you know the amount of sugar or calories that they're just like you know I don't want to say empty calories but really are empty calories that you're just drinking throughout the day and just like that one change would have such a huge impact on your health and how you feel and and it wouldn't be that like huge of a time suck because it takes just as much time to grab you know a zero calorie beverage as it does the the Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper or whatever you choose.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

The only thing I'm gonna say as a truck driver is the um the problem with pee. So when you drink Pepsi and I don't know what the difference is because you're still taking in as much fluid if it's a syrup or the sugar but you don't have to pee as much. And once you make that transition to water you know you do you do. And you know I've tried to do 75 hard and I I've tried I can't do a gallon water because I would be stopping every hour.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

I drink a ton of coffee throughout the day I'm just saying instead of instead of the instead of the sugary filled caffeine let's find some uh caffeine that has you know less sugar in it.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Um but I definitely transition I mean to go through that but I read somewhere that said an apple gives you as much caffeine as like a cup of coffee um in the morning not as much caffeine but it might have it might it might have the impact on like from an energy yeah the impact it might be as a cup of coffee does sorry not I don't know I don't know I'm pretty grousy in the morning I don't know if uh I would uh if someone handed me an apple I'd I don't know if I what four letter word I'd say to say hand me the coffee please I would not be I wouldn't say anything nice because I'm a two cup coffee minimum person in the morning before I even people and if you handed me an apple instead of a coffee it would not go yeah it's insane. But I did I did read that and but most of the drivers you know we want that quick fix or that sugar rush or or coffee or you know to keep them alert and um that it causes bad habits. So then it takes our body longer to adjust a healthier and we have to find alternative ways to help with our alertness healthier ways. But I can see that so developing that working with these truck drivers do you get a lot of excuses for why they're not do you have a lot of people that are able to implement it easily with their day or what kind of feedback are you getting from the actual drivers?

Inside The App: Workouts And Habits

SPEAKER_01 27:21

Yeah I mean the feedback we're getting from drivers is that this is the first time they've ever felt like something was actually built for their life out on the road right you know it's like yeah I know and and it's like the first time that they feel like hey I can do this in my truck I can do this in these small pockets of time I have throughout the day you know instead of pulling up to a customer's and now I'm just opening up TikTok and scrolling I'm gonna open up Offshift's app or Project 61's app and and do a five minute workout really quickly right and so it's like it's those types of things that like for me really get me excited. And then the other piece of it that uh you know it in general and and this is something that I've just recognized over the last you know five and a half years in the industry is that this whole process of getting healthier is is really a psychological process disguised as a physical health one. And there's so many drivers that um you know the the psychological aspect of trying to be healthier is is the biggest barrier that they face versus it's so hard. It is and I have so much so much empathy uh as much empathy as I possibly can uh in you know and and so really trying to put myself in their shoes and you know really just trying to help drivers realize that like focus on progress not perfection this whole game of being healthier is like you need to look at it from a larger time horizon. Don't try to like I think things like 75 hard can be great for some people but I also think it can be hard I think it can also be really uh potentially negative for other people because you get in this mindset of saying like it's all or nothing. Yeah or I I did it I failed and the process of getting healthier is hey you're gonna have slip ups but get back on it tomorrow. Okay I had a slip up let's get back on it tomorrow and when you're on like this 30 day health sprint going and it being stressed out and then having pizza on Friday night feels like a complete failure and like you just suck and like you are the worst and all your progress is gone. But if you look at it from a 30 year time horizon pizza on a Friday night's not that big of a deal if on Saturday morning you get back to it, right? Yep I'm gonna I'm gonna eat pizza I like pizza I I do I just don't eat pizza on every single meal right and so that's really like what I'm trying to help drivers understand is don't be your worst enemy and don't let one hiccup get in the way of the next 30 years of your life.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Right right and you know it's like um I whenever you go on a diet or restrictions or you start making changes your body craves what you gave up. And if you ignore that craving it just gets worse and you end up just binging. I've always fed my cravings uh a little bit you know I didn't like gorge on a whole pizza but I ate a pizza slice or if I needed bread or I needed chocolate you know I ate that piece of cake or I had those MMs and then went on with life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

Enjoy it. Yeah you don't have to you don't have to be perfect right and uh a lot of the times it's not the the one you know dessert at the end of the evening or you know at the end of the week that is the thing that impacts your health it's the mental um you know it's uh it's the mental positioning of oh I messed up screw it I'm just gonna go for it and then the next 48 hours is what's ever in front of you you're just throwing in your face and then it's like no that that was the impact. It wasn't the piece of chocolate cake or the pizza it was like the aftermath of just not caring and feeling like you've thrown it all away so I might as well just like go and yeah give up exactly.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

Yeah yeah and you know the isolation of the truck makes that worse you know especially for the people when I was on the road I was very happy I I was the kind of person that thrived on the road and me coming home has that the opposite effect. I'm dealing with that depression and stuff at home. But there's a lot of drivers that deal with the depression from being away from the families and you know and that puts them in a tougher spot. So is are there any plans for you to address that as well with the app moving forward?

Challenges, Guides, And Coaching

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah definitely um I think the community aspect's really important um and I don't know if you know this but like the US Surgeon General so like the the the top person around health for the United States a few years ago uh put out this whole thing about the epidemic of loneliness. And I I um I think when you look at trucking it's like a magnifying glass on that problem is because so many drivers feel like they're in their own world and they don't reach out for help. They don't they don't you know stay connected with friends and family as much as they should be and you know one of the researches that uh one of the data points that they found while researching was um loneliness has worse long-term health outcomes than uh smoking 15 cigarettes a day or even um obesity and uh not being physically active and so yes I did not know that that social piece of it is so important and the human connection and feeling a part of a community is so important. And so what I would really you know push for drivers to do is say hey I'm gonna make this a really big part of my 2026 to stay stay connected with you know make friends with other drivers so that you have people you can talk to who just get it right. I mean that's like a big part of it because you call home and you're like well the people at home don't really understand what I'm going through. Okay well go go find other drivers who want to talk and they will talk I know it just takes sometimes someone to take the leap and uh you know be the first person on the dance floor right uh and then everyone else follows and then you know also with your friends and family at home stay connected with them quick call even a text message like you know I always have people that come up in my mind and I'm like why did uh this you know person come up in my mind well follow that intuition and just send them a text and hey I was thinking about you or you know hey I remember this thing XYZ those things go so far and and they make a really big impact and I really push for drivers to to focus on that. Yeah so that's what's in store for them what about you what do you have so you said project 61 you guys are doing some rebranding what's on your agenda for 2026 so a few things so continue improving the app um the app experience is really important for us because we think of that as like the center of the community and we want to build more of a community aspect we have like the group challenges but we want to have a place where drivers can go talk where they can like compete against each other like where where they don't have to feel alone in this and and we're just at like just at the start of that it would be nice to see that interaction where you can kind of cheer each other on.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Yeah and um put out you know your your goals for the day or what you were able to accomplish your small little steps um and be able to have that pat on the back you know from people who are are working on the same goals you are because not everybody understands um at your level right so for you that 15 minute workout was a lot you know when somebody else is up doing an hour. So having that community that understands that finding that 15 minutes in your day and making that uh a priority was off my mic here was a moment that needed to be celebrated.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Yeah completely right you know I think uh if you've heard of an app called Strava I think they do an awesome job of like the social aspect of it and like just yeah make it making people know that they're not alone in this and I think that's really important. Um the second piece of it is uh we are working on something I'm not sure if you're familiar with the Next Generation and Trucking Association. Yes love Lindsay love our yeah Lindsay is awesome um and so we are partnering with them and we're building out uh the first driver health uh curriculum driver health uh curriculum so you think about like what truckers against trafficking has for helping drivers learn about um how to see human trafficking we are building that type of course and video series for driver's health and so that's important yes very important and so it's gonna be a certification that drivers can do during CDL school um we're gonna work with the learning management systems and put it in there so companies and drivers can use it during their safety training and really like the baseline knowledge of how to be healthier out on the road as a truck driver and uh really a driver specific approach to it. And so I'm actually going next week to to Fort Lauderdale to to film all of those. And so it's like a really it's going to be coming out hopefully Q1 Q2 of of 2026 and and I think it's gonna be a really big deal because you know it's just it has the opportunity to get out to millions of drivers and I think that's that's really powerful.

SPEAKER_00 36:27

Yeah I I think it's very important. So when I started the series um that's why I decided to do health and wellness first because people don't understand the effects that driving has when they go get their CDL and how important it is to start those habits from day one or bring those good habits with you to the industry. And when I had Michael on last week that was something that we address as well that it's easier to train new people before they get into the industry or while they're getting into it than it is to take a veteran driver and instill new habits. So I yeah I think that is wonderful that you are partnering with NextGen to do that. And I look forward to seeing it in ELDT programs.

Small Steps Beat All‑Or‑Nothing

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Yeah and and actually Michael is uh a part of it as well uh so he's yes I'm I'm I'm good friends with him he's awesome uh huge supporter of Project 61 huge supporter of helping drivers be healthier and so I'm I'm glad he was on the podcast too yeah he told me he's like Tammy you have got to have Mark on the show um I said absolutely and I said should we bring him on and he's like he'll need his own show so I I get yeah well health is important and you know uh that is I I it's the effect that it has on and I want to people to see people succeed and I want them to have a career uh and longevity with it and that requires you know coming into it with um stronger mental clarity and physical health um then we just got to get the the social isolation taken care of and I think uh it'll be a winner. Well we have something called the five axles of health uh we are actually launching this um this year as well and it's part of the video series but it's like our framework for how truck drivers should can be healthier out on the road um five axles semi truck has five axles we're trying to try to make it a little fun there and uh what those are is fuel so what you eat right move so being physically active being intentional about movement um uh mental drive so the mental aspects of like their mental health the community aspect all those things recharge which is like your sleep and recovery and then uh what we call preventative maintenance and that is going and proactively using the healthcare system right getting annual physicals getting blood work not just relying on your dot physical as a a check to say you're good but like going and actually getting healthcare done and you know doing doing that kind of stuff and then also being stop doing the obvious things that we know are not great for our health right if you smoke working on quitting smoking is like the number one thing you can do for your long-term health because of the outcomes same with if if like abusing alcohol if you you know alcohol can be a part of your life but it's it can't you can't rely on it right um you you yeah so those types of things are are really important and and from a holistic standpoint of like if drivers can find those areas of their life through the five axles and be like all right I'm gonna work on nutrition or fuel I'm gonna work on movement I'm gonna work on my sleep and recharge I'm gonna work on the mental drive the mental health connection piece of it and I'm gonna go preventative maintenance and do the obvious things that like have the highest impact of making sure I'm ahead of you know schedule instead of waiting to react uh and use the healthcare system and end up in the ER right um those are those Are really important to us.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

That is awesome. And you're rolling that out this year as well.

SPEAKER_01 40:06

Correct. Yeah. It's something that uh that is uh going to be a really big you know part of our framework going forward of how do we help drivers?

SPEAKER_00 40:15

Wow. Yeah, that that's a really good year you got coming up. A lot of great things in the in the works.

SPEAKER_01 40:22

Yes, there's a lot of moving parts, but uh it's it's been really exciting.

SPEAKER_00 40:26

So for is there anything else Project 61 has going on before I wrap this up that you would like to put out there?

SPEAKER_01 40:35

No, I I really appreciate you having me on and and would love anyone who's listening to to come take advantage of the free stuff that we have, join the community, join the movement of of changing you know the current trajectory of health in this trucking industry. And uh same, just really appreciate you having me on.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Oh no, no problem. Hey, are you gonna be at Matt's this year?

SPEAKER_01 40:54

I am.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Any big plans for Matt's?

SPEAKER_01 40:57

Let's do something. No, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

I don't have any huge You know, I told Michael I would like you guys to get together and create some kind of hashtag um challenge. I would love to see we're thinking about doing a step challenge. Okay, well, something that that that we can put out on social media, you know, for some recognition and and do some promos. I would love to see uh some kind of hashtag created um to do something, you know, maybe it's you know, after we get through the whole new year, new me thing and people are ready to actually get serious. You know, what do they say, two weeks, and then then it's the serious people. But no, I'd I'd love to see something happen, some kind of challenge, some kind of motivating thing with mats. I mean, hey, Michael's a runner. I mean, it'd be like the first 5k for a mats to to sponsor, but the semis do laps around. I mean, why can't we put up some kind of obstacle running fitness thing?

SPEAKER_01 41:56

Well, we do, we have been putting on morning walks at different conferences. Uh and it like gets we uh we had one um uh we had I think we did like five or six this past year and uh or this past fall, and we averaged like 30 to 40 people a morning at these conferences. So I think Matt's we could get a big group of people together and go for a walk and just like make health part of the conversation.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

I and I think it needs to be. I think it needs to be definitely well, Mark, it has been awesome having you on Dr. Mark Monera, everybody. I appreciate um so checking with Tammy podcast listeners, thank you so much. Again, that was Dr. Mark Monero with Project 61. I am gonna post the links um on the social medias and at the the end of this podcast for you. You can find Dr. Mark Monera on LinkedIn, um, on Facebook, uh Project61.org. I'll post all that information as well. And remember, the app is free. Using it is free. There are no in-app purchases. So you can take that app, you can download it, you can do those daily solo and group challenges, and then you can reach out to Michael Lombard and get some free coaching as well. And then there you go, you guys have it. Thanks again for listening to Trucking with Tammy and you guys keep rolling.