HemoLife Podcast
Welcome to the HemoLife Podcast, where we explore how to live an elite life while managing a bleeding disorder or other rare conditions. Dive into educational, entertaining content with stories of high achievers, expert advice on mental health, nutrition, and exercise, and the latest relevant news to elevate your mind, body, and soul.
HemoLife Podcast
Strength Beyond Blood: The Ultimate Fitness Guide for Hemophiliacs Pt. 3
Hemophiliacs can build strength and protect their joints through targeted exercise strategies, proper nutrition, and supportive equipment like wrist wraps, back braces, and knee sleeves. Our fitness experts L.A. Aguayo, Dr. Joe Moleski, and Carlon McClerkin share personal experiences and practical advice to help everyone with bleeding disorders find their path to fitness.
• Protective accessories like wrist wraps, back braces and knee sleeves can significantly reduce bleed risks
• What's in the bag: essential gym gear including proper footwear, bandages, and joint supports
• The "one-ingredient diet" approach can reduce inflammation and improve joint health
• Tracking macros provides accountability and helps maintain nutritional balance
• Recovery strategies including epsom salt baths, swimming, and stretching
• Different dietary approaches that work for hemophiliacs - from bodybuilding "bro diets" to organic whole foods
• Understanding supplements and peptides - important considerations for hemophiliacs
• Mental resilience and faith as foundations for consistent fitness practice
If you're interested in learning more about fitness with hemophilia, reach out to us individually or let us know what topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes.
Thanks for tuning into the HemoLife Podcast. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with someone who needs a spark of hope or encouragement. Follow us on Instagram @HemoLife_Podcast and YouTube for updates, guest highlights, and behind-the-scenes content. New episodes drop regularly—your story matters, and this is just the beginning.
Welcome to the Hemolife podcast, your gateway to transformation and empowerment. Hosted by Elia Aguayo, we're diving deep into the world of rare disorders, unlocking the full spectrum of your potential. Each episode, join us as we connect with pioneers, wellness experts and true survivors. They're here to share powerful stories and invaluable insights, from mental resilience to physical health, community news to life-altering strategies. At Hemolife, we provide the tools you need to excel and inspire, prepare to elevate your life, learn, laugh and grow with us. Let's embark on this journey together and in three, two one action Cut from the top.
Speaker 4:All right guys, welcome back to the Hemo Life Podcast. We are back with the Ultimate Fitness Guide for Hemophiliacs, and we have Dr Joe Molesky and Carlin. We're going to be deep diving into accessories that you can use for joint protection, nutrition and supplementation, and I'll start with you, carlin. Are there any accessories that you've used throughout your career to help?
Speaker 3:prevent bleeds. This one is my favorite and it's the back brace when you're squatting the back belt and when I use that back brace it kind of helps me use more of my back than more pushing through everything else. Then I also like to use wrist wraps when I do my dumbbells. Sometimes, when I do dumbbells, my wrist tends to go this way and that hurts sometimes.
Speaker 4:We can easily get bleeds in the wrist too, so that's a super important one, I mean even like when I used to play golf.
Speaker 3:When I play golf sometimes and I don't take my factor before it, I'll get bleeds, like on the inner side of my hand. I get that too and I'm like dude, it's just me swinging a golf club, but the vibration from the club and the impact of the ground create that bleed in your hands. But when I go heavier I put on elbow braces and things of that nature. Then I put on knee sleeves, anything I go over and I go heavy on my heavy, heavy days.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, carlin is all geared up yeah I would love to hear it from a doctor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so for me, like I said in the previous podcast, I'm uh, I go light, low reps, bands, therabands, all that. So I do use a wrist reps and I noticed that, yes, it keeps your wrist from really jostling and possibly causing a joint bleed, but also it keeps your form. It keeps your form and that muscle-mind connection really targets in on the bicep or brachialis or tricep. Yeah, that's what I use. I'm more of just doing dumbbells and therabands, but that's just these wraps, these simple things that you can do, and even the back brace. This can prevent bleeds. And so, definitely, talking to your own personal physician about what your factor regimen is, what you're planning on doing, coordinating with your hematologist is all key, but having somebody that can give you advice on how to do this and protect your joints whether it's a licensed physical therapist, a personal trainer or Carlin you just need someone in your court, because going to a gym and just I'm going to do it on myself, I know everything You're going to get hurt.
Speaker 3:That's when a lot of people stop because you just keep getting hurt and hurt and hurt.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I like this little what's in the bag segment. Let's kind of like talk about what's in that bag, Colin, because I know what are the essentials we need, man, I think. So We've got the belt, I've got the belt as well. Okay, I do want to say the Versa grips are superior. But the? So okay, I do want to say the Versa grips are superior. It really takes out the pressure in the joints and it really helps you to hone in on the correct muscle. Like Joe was saying, it gives you better form as well. But basically it's wrist wraps and it has a little metal hook and so you can put that hook around.
Speaker 2:And what about what's in the bag? Do you guys use any like Icy Hot or do you like after know?
Speaker 3:what's in the bag? Do you guys use any like icy hot or do you like after workout, do you use any of that? So, like, like I said, when that first, when that first week goes into play, there's times to where I can't work out for weeks on end and I have to restart that whole process and, like I said, that first week is very challenging, week is very challenging. So when I have to go through that first week again, I like to do epson soft bath. I like to swim. Swim kind of stretches me out, pieces some of the the blood and loosens me out. Then also the other thing I like to do is stretch.
Speaker 4:Those three things will help me rebuild my yeah, my day, so I've never had icy hot in my bag or anything, but it's helpful. If I like actually pull the muscle, then that will help, but I do. I do keep bandages and like band-aids, other certain kinds of wraps, because you can cut yourself in the gym too, and as a hemophiliac, you cut even those external bleeds that could cost you your whole session. So, like have that prepared. Headphones, headphones you need headphones if you're gonna start the gym gym. A water bottle, a good water bottle. Sleeves yeah, the sleeves are easy to buy.
Speaker 2:So the sleeves for your knees, your elbows, I mean this gets down to even your shoes, the type of shoes my brother does a lot of working out. He's 25. His name's Jake and he's like man. You got to have the right shoes and I was like right shoes.
Speaker 4:That can be different for everyone, though, because I know for me my ankles are so bad that I people probably think I look weird. Sometimes I wear shorts, like gym shorts, but then I have like a boot style shoe because I need something that's going to go up past my ankle a little bit. Give me more support, you know. But maybe if your ankles aren't that bad and you know, then maybe a flatter pair of something like my leg days.
Speaker 2:They are like like, are they like fans or something like flat Some people do a barefoot, I don't know.
Speaker 3:On how heavy I go. Sometimes I will go barefooted. I do not suggest that to you all, but depending on how heavy I go and when I do go barefooted anytime I'm in the gym I like to stay very aware.
Speaker 2:If I do one wrong movement, something can go wrong and this is the education that you really probably, even on Google, you probably won't even find. You got to find somebody that's done it, that has the condition and these little simple things like wearing the right shoes hey, if you got ankle problems, get something that's more supportive, that goes above. These are little nuances but they're actually big deals because you could make that wrong turn, that wrong move. You're choosing the wrong way and you could make that wrong turn, that wrong move. You're choosing the wrong way and you could hurt, be hurting yourself. So I I really think what's in the bag is important.
Speaker 4:Do you have any experience with like the kinesio tape type stuff and is that, can that be beneficial for people?
Speaker 2:any extra support around the joint is key. The kinesio tape obviously you need to know the right way to tape, that's the hardest part, because I've seen we have a guy in the community.
Speaker 4:His name's Dr Zolinski and he's he's from Philadelphia, that area, but I mean he he owns Alliance chiropractic or something. I mean he's, he's blown up in his field and I know he's done a ton of talks and engagements with the community where he goes and he'll actually do the taping and it does feel really like cool, like it's like like you get like a new stability with your weaker joints. But I think the hardest part is actually knowing how to do it, knowing the techniques.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the technique, I mean you know, I think doing a segment maybe on that because anything that obviously we have the shoes that we talked about, we have the braces Is there a way we could integrate tape that maybe is a little bit more supportive but allows you to do certain movements safely?
Speaker 2:yes, so maybe getting with him and maybe doing like a five step uh, five joints to tape. You could do something like hey, five joints to tape and you could take yourself and then post that or give it to everybody. Hey, this is what I do. On days that I'm working with arms, I tape these. I really do think anything you can do to support the joint is key, especially especially when you're working out.
Speaker 4:I need to introduce you to him. He's a severe B, so I think you guys would connect. Yeah, that'd be pretty cool. That'd be awesome. All right, let's jump into nutrition and supplementation. I really love this one. Guys, we're going to finish off with this and then maybe we'll do some more in the future. Let us know where you still find yourself, looking for information. You can reach out to us individually or we'll make more episodes in the future.
Speaker 4:So jumping into nutrition I know for me personally grows, and understanding what macros were was a huge breakthrough in order to take back control over my life. Once you learn these things and you live by a certain standard, you set your goal, you hire a coach who helps you set your macro goal and you start being consistent with that on a daily basis. You're going to be able to tell a difference in how you feel, and that's super important. It goes beyond fitness, it goes beyond building muscle. It's just how you feel. Every day is going to change your mind, your clarity, your energy levels. So macros, essentially is all of your proteins, fats and carbohydrates, and in bodybuilding we manipulate these numbers all the time in order to reach a certain goal. I've been doing it for so many years. And what's crazy is when you get on it and then all of a sudden you get off of it you have some cheat days mixed in there you start to realize, dude, my joints feel worse, my mindset's terrible, and then all of a sudden it just starts to click.
Speaker 4:I think the issue for most people is they're stuck in that, that pattern already of bad eating, so they don't know what it feels like yet to to be feeling, feeling at an elite level and at the top of their game. Hiring coach would be the easiest way to understand it, but I also would recommend, just as like. A quick thing to do is to download a tracking app and input all of the foods that you're eating into the app. Go through the journaling process.
Speaker 4:It sucks, I hate it. I still hate it to this day to do it, but when I was competing I made myself do it and it was a liberating feeling because, say, you start to gain weight, all of a sudden you know what to do. It's there, the numbers are in front of your face and you learn. You start to learn how to manipulate. Say, you want to eat good and then all of a sudden you go to a gas station. Once you learn the proper way to track these macros and where you need to be, you can start making those proper substitutions that really make sense and will also help you stay on track.
Speaker 2:And if you don't measure it, it doesn't change, and this is unfortunately how humans act. If we don't measure it, it doesn't change, and this is unfortunately how humans act. If we don't measure it, it won't change. And so you need that, like entering the app tracking your steps, the steps app. I mean simple things like this you're measuring and then you're going to change, and so I think that's great yeah, yeah, you're totally right.
Speaker 4:And with ai now, dude, I think there's apps now where you literally just like I had to like, I had to like do a lot more data entry. That's what I'm saying. You can just I've seen stuff like I haven't utilized that, but take a picture and but yeah really, yeah, get with, like carlin, you know, set up, set.
Speaker 4:Have him set up what. How much protein you need. You know. I know from my experience when, when you're building muscle, it was always recommended about 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight that you have. I've always kind of lived off of that number and it seems to be sufficient. And whenever I'm trying to build muscle, stay lean. Protein also helps speed up your metabolism. It takes more energy for your body to break it down, so hitting that protein number is super essential. It's going to keep you more satiated as well. And then you just start manipulating the carbs and the fats a little bit, based upon and carbs and a good energy source. It's good for the brain. So it's take nutrition. When I think of nutrition, it's feeling, it's fuel.
Speaker 2:We need to start looking at more as fuel and not just, you know, pleasure, or maybe it's a mental thing I think for folks that, going back to, if you're a beginner and you're like, hey, I mean I'm eating out fast food restaurants five, six, seven times a week the simple thing that you can do and I I am I have a weight loss practice I just tell patients the one ingredient diet. So if it doesn't have I mean if it has five, six ingredients can't eat it. Eggs, meat, water, milk, these are one ingredient foods. Potato one ingredient, not potato fried, and that Potato one ingredient, not potato fried, and all sent. You'd just be surprised if you're like I'm just going to do the one ingredient diet.
Speaker 2:Like Dr Joe said, it limits things quickly. You're like, whoa, you start reading labels, you start doing things. It actually forces you to go cook, get in the kitchen. And I know that before the podcast, me and Carl and we were talking with your girlfriend about hey, in Houston, where's the best place to eat? And then you said, hey, we'd like to cook in the house here and that's what it's going to do. It's going to allow you to be accountable for your actions, because you got to go buy the food, you got to cook it. It's got to taste good, it's got to be nutritious.
Speaker 2:Just a quick fix Like I. A quick fix like I'm going to go down gas station, I'm going to go to this, eat this. Feel like crap. I mean that really, this is a whole. You're not only working out the outside, but you're transforming the inside. You're transforming the mind. I can tell you, when you're not paying attention to what you eat and you're filled with high processed foods and carbohydrates, you're going to feel sluggish and you're going to feel hungry the next two to three hours. When you're cooking nutritious foods that have one ingredient not processed, you're satiated longer, you feel better and it's just simple. Things, guys, simple. This is not rocket science.
Speaker 3:A lot of people say eating healthy is expensive. It's really not. Eating bad is more expensive than eating healthy. I don't like that. The reason I say that is because if you go to a fast food spot, you will spend $20 on one meal. Let's say you're going to a fast food spot three times in one day, that's $60. Right there. You can spend $60 for a meal at wherever your grocery store is, and that meal that you spent $60 on could last you possibly three days. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, four to five meals it could last you. And really taking the onus of hey, I'm getting healthier, I'm gonna go to the grocery store, I'm gonna buy grass-fed beef, cook it up, I'm gonna have that for three or four meals. I'm gonna have, uh, some vegetables in there, I'm gonna get an air fryer, yeah, and I'm to rock it. You will be surprised of what you can do. Tastes good, exactly it doesn't. It requires effort. This whole podcast is what we've been talking about. It does require you to show up, whether it's in the kitchen either at the gym showing up mindset. You got to show up. I mean, we could tell you everything, but you got to show up.
Speaker 4:Like we said earlier, it's going to take effort to succeed and effort to fail. Either way, there's going to be a pressure applied in your life. It's going to be because you can't take care of yourself, your body's failing, or you're going to put the effort in the other way, because you've got to put in the work ahead of time. So one way you're paying for this. Which side do you want to?
Speaker 2:pick. I'll bring up something really quick and then we'll get into supplements that we use and recommendations. But have and recommendations. But have you ever time that you regressed, whether maybe you got a bleed and you got tired, or you got like depressed and you're like? Oh yeah yeah, I'm gonna go back. I am gonna go back and like taco bell or whatever. Have you ever done that? Yeah, me too.
Speaker 3:I have done that too, like it's I've every time I get a bleed. It's always hard to get back on the horse, and I'm telling you guys this because I've been an athlete predominantly my whole life, and every time that I have a bleed it's not always quick, easy, let's go back to the gym. It's sometimes it's two weeks, three weeks to go back to the gym. Sometimes it can be a day to where I just flip and okay, let me get back into it. But there's times where I was like I get real small. But, with that being said, it's natural, because the reason why I say it's natural is because we have a bleeding disorder. We always are going to have that thought of what if? But you cannot let that what if? Take control over your whole life, because if that's the case, we wouldn't even want to drive yeah, yeah, because there's a risk that you could get.
Speaker 3:There's a risk that I can get in the car right now and something will happen. God willing that it won't. If we lived off of a what if? Factor or fear or a fear factor, it would be a very challenging life. And once I got rid of that, that's when I kind of realized, like okay, it's.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that goes back to our first you know segment as far as mindset goes is going back to your reason. Why, building the resilience, all these key mental things you guys are talking about, like that's what you got to fall back on, yeah, it's okay, like we're all gonna fail, and I always think about, I talk about, I talk about, yeah, I talk about kobe bryant and lebron james. They kobe bryant has he's known as what one of the best in the world ever right to ever play. Well, if you look at the statistics and you google, who has the most missed shots in the nba? Kobe bryant, lebron james like they're catching most missed shots. So they failed that many times. But are we sitting there thinking about how many times they failed? Are we talking about who's the goat, who's the greatest of all time exactly?
Speaker 2:so what? I totally agree. So what? My I'm gonna let's go, let's seriously, let's go all through meal prep and just not necessarily you're in your shred or it's just what you would normally want yeah so what I would do is I do my one ingredient diet.
Speaker 2:My protein source is beef. Whether you need to get a nice Traeger or a nice Weber grill or whatever, or even just cook on the stove, I like my food to taste good, so I eat a lot of beef. I use a company called Alder Springs. It's a company that it's organic, grass fed, grass finished beef, and essentially it's the highest quality beef. You don't need to use that. That's what I use. But you could simply go to your local grocery store and you guys, you could get a pound of hamburger and there's a lot of things you can do with hamburger. You can cook it as a burger, you can cook it as a meatball, you can put it as a meatloaf, you can cook it any ways of Sunday. There's a lot of shows on ways to make a hamburger taste good. I use hamburger and steak and different cuts of steak not filet mignons, but different cuts of steak that make it sustainable and cost effective.
Speaker 2:That's my primary go-to. I integrate chicken. I do that, but those are my protein sources and so I'll have that throughout the day. I'll have a lot of the root vegetables, so I'll have like purple potatoes. You can have sweet potatoes, just regular potatoes. You're not deep frying these guys, you're baking them. And then I do have a little bit of rice. I kind of stay away from the oatmeal and grains. And then everything's organic. My carbohydrate source is from fruits. So I'm not into bread, pastas. Like I said, rice is beans. I don't really go for that. I do do a little bit of rice with the chicken, but I kind of stay away from that and my carbohydrate source is all fruits. I can do fruit juice, anything, but it's all organic that I'm making. It's not like I'm buying it off the shelf. So that's that's what I do. How about you?
Speaker 4:Yeah. So mine would be a little bit different than yours, just completely different journey and different path, you know, and I would say that I would like to transition my life into more of a diet style like yours, because now I'm looking for long-term health benefits. For the past like 10 years in the midst of my bodybuilding career, I didn't have a good job, I wasn't making a lot of money. But how did I do that? How did I look like that? How did I get to that point? And it was a bro diet man. I'm telling you it's just bro science man and it's literally simple.
Speaker 4:It like and I kind of I'm trying to take myself away from that, but I'm a simple eater like it's, wake it up. You've got eggs, oatmeal, you know protein powder. Take the protein powder, put in the oatmeal, stir it up. You got some eggs, that's it. I don't even care about seasoning, like I didn't start getting a season season so recently. A little bit of salt is good because we do use sodium, but I'm telling you that's like I have to get away from, like I'm trying to transition to something a little bit more healthier.
Speaker 2:Real quick, this thing. I got a buddy. I'm in high school. Yeah, he's a bodybuilder. Now I go. Why are you putting mustard in eggs? Natural testosterone enhancer.
Speaker 4:I mean we learn these secrets, though what I'm going to tell you, like there are certain foods that if you just want to look a certain way, it'll get the job done, but it doesn't mean there's long-term benefits. One of my curses is artificial sugars. So I would put artificial sugar into my oatmeal because when you're a bodybuilder you're not eating as much and stuff and you want something sweet. It kind of helps you with your sweet tooth, and then I would buy a lot of keto breads and there's a lot of keto breads and there's, you know, there's a lot of keto wraps out there and huge wrap, you know, like a huge wrap and it's 15 grams of carbs or whatever you know, but it's like it's keto style and I don't I'm not saying those are the healthiest, yes, correct. You know mustards and stuff.
Speaker 4:I would go to Walmart, buy rotisserie chicken. That rotisserie chicken is going to last me two, you know, two, three days, whatever. Pull it out, put, put that on a wrap, put some lettuce on there. You know mustard, hot sauce, beef I did. I would buy beef. You know you can make beef very easily. It literally takes 10 minutes in a pan. Stir up some beef and then rice packets I'm too lazy to make to make my own rice rice packets. Throw it, throw it in the microwave. You get it at aldi. You know it's all these, all these is a game changer really for all that stuff. Yeah, um, joe's trader joe's is used to. Yeah, yeah, so, but that's that's kind of like my diet, like my girlfriend hates me because of that, because you know girls, they want something fancy. I'm like, just give me a piece of meat. You know a carb source. I'm good to go, you know. So work in progress for me.
Speaker 3:When I'm not we're speaking in just normal basis I go 80 20, so basically 80 20 is 80 of basically 80-20 is 80% of the time I'm eating healthy. 20% of the time I kind of eat what I want, but when I'm eating healthy it's mainly chicken rice, your normal chicken. It can be chicken thighs, chicken legs, whatever I, either me and my girlfriend, we will cook it on the grill or we'll cook it inside and we will have the chicken with rice or vegetables. Um, I like to keep my carbs in there. Due to the fact of how active I am throughout the day, I want to make sure I have the energy for the kids later, from four to eight.
Speaker 3:So I make sure that my breakfast it will be depending on my days it will be it will be like a oatmeal or a bagel, because my carbs are high in the morning because I'm going right into the gym. Then I will go. I will have a small protein in there, just a small little protein. It would be like some sausage or it will be sausages are turkey bacon, sausages are turkey bacon. Then for my lunch it would be chicken, ground beef or pasta. Me and my girlfriend we're very big pasta. We can have pasta like then for dinner. It would be chicken rice and ground beef. So I'm really chicken rice, ground beef steak that's.
Speaker 2:But it goes back to whatever your diet is going back to. You're preparing it, you're putting in the effort and what you're preparing is likely not highly processed food. It's got that one ingredient. It's got sausage egg like one, and so that is really taking down the burden of inflammation in your body because you're not consuming. It's surprising, but if you take a look at a piece of bread, it's got a ton of ingredients in it. I mean, versus taking what is rice Rice Like one ingredient, as I got older, I didn't really realize that different foods help us.
Speaker 3:Like help hemophiliacs Like you can have. You can fix a shape that will help your blood count a little bit more and you can fix these certain type of smoothies that will help you. So once I found that out it was kind of like, oh well, I've really been eating all these bad foods that are helping my bleed, but what would happen if I eat all these healthy foods that will less on the bleed side?
Speaker 2:And I think that's a great segue into the next conversation is you know, we're talking about diet and we're talking about making sure internally we're healthy. But what about hemophiliacs that are not working out, they're not eating healthy, they're putting on weight and it's putting a lot of stress on their joints and you're getting joint bleeds. So you said it earlier is you're going to suffer. Which way you go? I mean you put the effort in to look great and to be healthy and live long. There's effort you put there. You're putting an effort actually to do nothing because you're now going to have joint pain, joint bleeds. You're going to be we'll call it metabolically unfit. Your metabolism is going to be broken. So 90% of us living in the United States, all of us, have broken metabolisms. There's only about 6% to 10% of us that actually have okay metabolisms and it goes back down to just food Not necessarily working out.
Speaker 2:It had to start with food, the foundation working out. It had to start with food, the foundation, and so really having that wholesome diet that are focused on organic, not processed foods. One ingredient diet is where you need to start. And then, like, we talk about supplements. So supplements, you know we can talk about what you do. What you do, I would like to know, and then we can also talk about peptides. So let's get into it.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I really am excited about this last final segment of this series. I get a lot of messages, man, ever since I've been in the bodybuilding journey. I mean parents will reach out to me hey, you know, what can my son take? You know, I've always had to be really cautious because I don't have that background and I was very unsure. You know, I just like I don't know if it will help you or if it'll hurt you. I do it, but just because I do it, but just because I do it doesn't mean it's safe for everyone. So I'm excited to have your thoughts on this. But in St Louis alone, these TRT clinics are blowing up. All on TikTok social media. You're hearing nothing about all these peptides. There's just so much out there and I know there's people that are going to be listening to this, that want to know if they can do it, what precautions they might have to take if they do decide to go that route, some of the benefits if they choose some of these things and lead us off with some of that stuff, yeah.
Speaker 2:So basically I prefer to get all my nutrition just from my diet. Now, there is supplements out there that you can get at GNC supplement super stores. You can get them anywhere, okay, and that's something that you'll have to figure out. I'm not going to give any recommendations on supplements because there's a lot of different supplements. As far as like peptides, so I will say is is. I'm not recommending this, but I'm just going to give you some basic information about peptides.
Speaker 2:So peptides are a protein, all right. So when we think about, well, is that like a high blood pressure pill or like a diabetic thing, or is these are peptides which are protein, all right. And these proteins can be injected. They can be in a cream, they can be a pill or a strip, and so basically, what peptides are is they are, like I said, a protein, but they have a target inside your body that activate a receptor and it elicits change in the cell. So it causes the cell to do things All right. Testosterone is a hormone. So hormones, they can cause different reactions in the cell. They typically pass through the cell and work on the DNA, at the DNA level and they can cause different changes. So you mentioned TRT. So TRT, testosterone replacement therapy I currently don't do it at my clinic, but there's clinics out there that you can get it.
Speaker 2:And basically, if you have low testosterone levels, so you're feeling tired, you know you're, just you're not, you're feeling fatigued, you're not feeling quite right, you know you could have like testosterone issues. So you have to find out with your primary care doctor or your hematologist or whatever and figure out, hey, do I have testosterone issues? And you can get a simple blood panel and the blood panel will show, yes, your testosterone is really low, that's why you're having fatigue. And then you can get replacement. Now, the reason I'm bringing this up is because testosterone, it can be dangerous. So if you're like, hey, I'm just going to go online and go to any old site and start doing testosterone without a prescription super dangerous, because what it can do it actually can thicken your blood and cause heart attack, strokes. It can cause problems. So that's why you need to be in the right range, meaning low testosterone, followed by a licensed physician, and then they're monitoring your blood counts to make sure you're just not overdosing. Yeah, so testosterone is really a really a an area you have to be super careful and followed by a physician, as well as when you have testosterone in your body. That's too much. It actually lowers other hormones. So yeah, and it can increase other hormones, it can decrease other hormones, it can do things that can cause really a lot of havoc. Now that's testosterone.
Speaker 2:So then we have peptides. There's peptides like CJC, ipamorelin, tesamorelin, samorlin. We have a lot of the GLP-1, you know, semaglutide, trisepatide, larylglutide. We have a lot of different things that are being talked about in the media for weight loss, for muscle strength. So these peptides are just a laundry list of things that you can do to help with your body, your body, to function optimally if you're working out.
Speaker 2:Obviously, I said these are not things I recommend. I'm just giving you some basic information. But some peptides are like BPC-157. I mean, if you go on Google and you just type in BPC-157, it can help with recovery of muscle and joint tissue. You can look at different peptides like CJC, ipamorelin or tesamorelin. These can help with strength and strength training.
Speaker 2:There's different peptides that you can use to help. These, obviously, are prescribed by a licensed physician. I would not recommend going online and trying to do it yourself. There is companies where you can go on and you can just order yourself, it's delivered and it's at your own risk. I do not recommend that. I recommend, if you're interested in these peptides, you have to be followed by a doctor, licensed physician, sending a prescription and really knowing what these yes, what's going on? Because these are, we call them. We can call them supplements or additives, whatever you want to call it, but they can help with muscle strength growth. They can help with different things, but, as I said, these are just some things that are now being talked about. But they need to be done safely. You need to go by, you know, run it by your physician. I would even run it by your hematologist. Run it by your hematologist, run it by hey, this is what I'm thinking and they can decide yes or no or what's right for you. But it's interesting that we're in a time where there is some things that we can do to help and I'm not saying it's for everybody, but it's. It's an exciting time.
Speaker 2:I mean the weight loss medication that I prescribe. It is incredible. I mean they're finding these GLP-1s. It's a peptide and it's reducing your body weight. It's working your brain to reduce cravings. I mean we have so many folks that have done amazing things that have changed their body habitus. They went from 200 pounds down to 150 pounds in a short period, so 50 pound weight loss and that means a lot because you reduce strain on your joints and you can get going.
Speaker 2:So it might be one of those things like if you're starting out and you're like, hey, I need to lose 50 pounds and I'm not motivated to go to the gym, maybe starting on a peptide like the GOP1s If it's right for you, you have to lose 50 pounds and I'm not motivated to go to the gym, maybe starting on a peptide like these GOP ones If it's right for you. You have to talk to your doctor, then getting with a personal trainer and the right exercise regimen, and then in six months you're down 50 pounds. You got a new outlook on life and maybe you even get a new job. And the reason I bring that up is when you start focused on your health and you start focused it's focused on your whole dynamic of your life can change. Now you have this job promotion, you have this new opportunity, you have a new relationship, you have all these things.
Speaker 2:So it's a downstream effect. You start putting you number one, things start becoming better and you start realizing, no, I don't need to take that, I don't need to do that, I don't need to drink alcohol, I don't need to smoke cigarettes, I don't need to do this, I don't need to do that. And then you start really healing yourself from the inside out, the mindset, and then you start seeing all the other aspects of your life improve. So I always tell my patients that deal with weight. If you're down 60 pounds, you're going to feel more confident. What do you think you're going to do next?
Speaker 4:Get a better job start maybe taking something on that you previously wouldn't, and it's changing your life. Yeah, I love that man. That was inspiring. Thanks for talking about that man. I mean yeah, I mean the universe, it kind of all works together with energy, and I'm big on that stuff too and I mean once you like.
Speaker 1:Joe said, once you start filling your cup up.
Speaker 4:You know you're making yourself a priority. Others see you differently. Job opportunities come. I can tell you from personal experience. There's been times where I've been overweight, you know, because I would gorge and get fat for a minute and people perceive you different, treat you different. Your job interviews go differently. Your confidence level changes. It's all these pieces that just will automatically start coming together. Change your life, man. The world will start to meet you where you are at.
Speaker 2:I love that and mental health issues in the United States are at an all-time high and mental health issues in the United States are at an all-time high Anxiety. My thought is, if you're able to get down on your weight, get in the gym, start making yourself a priority. I feel like the anxiety and depression stuff would just wither away. It really would. But you have to start somewhere. You have to start today. If there's one supplement let's talk about. If there's anything that you absolutely would recommend, what would it be? Anything I'll tell you. Let's start with Carlin. Is there anything that you're like, hey, I take daily and I couldn't live without, or there could be nothing?
Speaker 3:Well. I'm going to say nothing. I don't religiously take any supplement. When I did, it was for a short period of time and it was during my swimming portion, and that supplement was creatine and I and if I recommend creatine to someone, it would be if you take this, you need to make sure you're drinking a lot of water, so I get this question a lot, so I just want you to answer real quick.
Speaker 4:Joe like creatine, pre-workout. Those are the. Those are the two big ones that parents are concerned about and I'm getting messages can my kid take these things? Pre-workout creatine those are the big ones that people are like can I I use pre-workout?
Speaker 3:I use those, but those are not like. I don't religiously take those. I haven't took creatine in a while, but the protein powder I might use here and there every once in a while. Pre-workout, I use that on like days where I'm like really can't get to the gym and that's when I'll use that. Yeah, but other than that, I hardly ever rely on these to like help me through my day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the creatine and all that I really don't want to make a recommendation on because you don't know where you're getting it from. I would say that's why I do a high beef diet, because you're getting all your creatine, you're getting all your essential amino acids from that, and a lot of these protein powders and stuff are filled with other stuff. There is a couple of good brands that are organic.
Speaker 1:They don't have really anything in it.
Speaker 2:I like the beef broth, I like certain and we could talk about it in another segment the actual brands, or we could actually have LA Post. The brands that I recommend.
Speaker 4:I'm actually sponsored by a protein brand and in my contract if I talk about any other brand, then I will no longer be sponsored. Oh God. Pmb Sports Nutrition.
Speaker 2:Oh, pmb Sports Nutrition, the other ones are irrelevant, yeah, so anyways, there's just different things you can do. There are organic snacks that you can do, but I like to get all my stuff from my diet and, like I said, if you're having issues from a doctor's mouth, so there's. You know, take it for what it is, but throughout my lifetime, you know.
Speaker 4:I've experimented with creatine and pre-workout is huge for me. I actually do love it. I mean, I can truly feel like when I have a certain pump product, you know, with the ingredients to kind of expand the blood blood vessels, you start to feel the your expanding and that's what you want. You want the blood to be into those muscle groups. So it truly is helpful for me. There's recovery stuff. You can do BCAs, you can do an intra-workout, you can do a post-workout for recovery, Testosterone. I've been on testosterone as well. I find a huge benefit in that. Right now, when I wake up, I have my multivitamin, I have my fatty, my fish oil, and then I've got some brain function supplements that I like as well. And then, you know, twice a week I do a testosterone injection. So I don't do creatine. But then pre-workout is a must for me. I love, I love the pre-workout and lots of water. It's really good supplement. That's where I'm at right now.
Speaker 2:I like salt in the morning, believe it or not, taking a little piece of the flaky molten sea salt. There's some really good sea salt that you can get and that gets you going, believe it or not, just try it. You can just take a little pinch of salt, drink some water, some lemon in it, and that just really gets you going in the morning, instead of having something like a thing from Starbucks there. Like something like a thing from Starbucks.
Speaker 4:There's so many secrets and stuff like that are more advanced, but you know what? I really hope that this is just an amazing guide for everyone to get started, get inspired and motivated to like start going after it. But then you know, you can always reach out to us. Maybe we'll do more stuff in the future, but I love that water one too, man Cause like start your day off with water before you do anything else. There's fasting techniques. There's so many different things that are out there.
Speaker 2:And I think, last but not least, is keeping your faith. Like I know, you mentioned the Bible, I'm a big believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, we have Easter tomorrow, so I think having a support group is really important, but keeping your faith, whatever religion you are, but keeping God number one and realizing that there's more to life than just you.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I have it tattooed on my arm right here. Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Just, you know, I'm not, I wasn't capable alone of being here on this table with these gentlemen. You know it wasn't through my power, my efforts. You know it was God who put me in the position, opened up the doors for me, and I have to remind myself of that every single day. The doors for me, and I have to remind myself of that every single day. And I'm so glad that you brought that up, though, because in this scenario, we should glorify him and thank us for putting us in this position to help other people. So there we go. All right, that's a wrap, let's do it, let's go, let's go. Thank you, sir, thank you, sir. Thank you Appreciate you, dr Joe.
Speaker 1:Appreciate you, sir. Thank you for tuning into the Hemo Life podcast. Today's episode hopefully inspired you and provided valuable insights to enhance your journey. Join us again to hear more incredible stories and expert advice from our community. Make sure to subscribe and stay connected with a group of extraordinary achievers and pioneers. The extraordinary achievers and pioneers, on behalf of LA Aguayo and the entire HEMO Life team keep pushing forward, strive for excellence and remember you are the architect of your own destiny. Until next time, stay strong, stay inspired and continue on your path to an elite life. Outro Music.