The ONE Habit Every Man Needs w/ Zack Zeamer

How can men balance faith, fitness, and family as life gets busier?
What does biblical stewardship of the body look like for men at any stage of life?
How do accountability, community, and setting realistic goals impact a man's health and leadership?

This episode dives deep into men's fitness, faith, and practical discipline, exploring the real-life challenges and mindset shifts needed to thrive as leaders, fathers, and husbands. Listen as the conversation unpacks the unique journey of Zack Zeamer. A former D1 athlete, talking about the struggles and victories of balancing life, and how faith-based motivation fuels lasting change. Discover why creating habits early, building community, and having the right coaching and accountability can transform not just your health, but every area of your life—including your influence as a man in your family and community.

Checkout what Zack's up to:
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/zack_zeamaa/
zzCornerstone Coaching - https://zzcornerstone.com/
Email - zack@zzcornerstone.com

Whether you're a young guy striving for purpose, a dad trying to stay engaged, or someone ready to start over after setbacks, you'll find encouragement, real strategies, and a reminder that your legacy as a leader starts with your daily choices.

Ready to move the needle in your faith, fitness, family, and leadership? Subscribe, listen, and join the movement at Men of Iron—where one man changed means the world changes.

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#menshealth #leadershipdevelopment #christianmen #familyfirst #fitnessmotivation #accountability #menofiron

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Yeah, I think a lot of guys, young guys, maybe they're 17, 18 years old. They're like, you know, I'm healthy. I can eat what I want. I can feel great. The reality is, is as life gets crazier, as you get a family, as you get a full-time job, it just gets more and more and more difficult.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Welcome back to the Met of Iron Podcast. We're back with Zach Zemer. Um, this month, really, these next couple weeks, we're gonna be diving into fitness. And it's so cool to have you back on. Um, you were a wrestler growing up, um, and not at a low level. You're wrestling D1. Um, definitely something really cool to talk about. So just kind of tell us about that a little bit as we get into this fitness series and just talking about faith, fitness, all these different pieces.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Yeah, I grew up in the sport of wrestling. My entire family wrestled, my uncles, my dad, my grandpa. And so it's kind of ingrained in me from a young age. My dad never said you have to wrestle. I never felt like I had to, but at the same time, I was like, man, if you have a gift in it, go all in. And so I was a casual wrestler for a couple years, and then around my sophomore year of high school, people started saying, Hey, you're pretty good at this. Why don't you take this seriously and see where it goes? And with my personality, when someone says that and I'm passionate about something, I just go all in, man. And so around that sophomore year, maybe junior year, I made the decision that this is what I want my future to look like, at least for the next five, six years. And so I I just I went all in with it. And through that uh opportunity came my senior year to get recruited out to Oklahoma. From there, it was, you know, make the decision to go to a Big 12, very cutthroat, competitive type team. But also the excitement of taking that risk and going that far from home and living my own life and just focused on training. It excited me. So after my senior year that summer, about July of my senior year, I flew out and I started living in Oklahoma. Full-time training, you're talking 7 a.m. practice, chill for a little class, class, class, 2 p.m. practice, chill for a little class, go to bed. And so that was my life for about six years in college. So I went to Oklahoma for four years. At that point, I decided I wanted to transfer closer back to home and get my master's degree. So I made that decision. I went back to Lockhaven where I continued getting education, but also living that full-time wrestler lifestyle. And I think when people think of athletics at the college level, they think, oh, that's, you know, that's their job. They just have to train and compete. But there is so much more that goes into that. Any athlete that competed at that level will tell you it is a full-time job. If you're not practicing lifting weights, training, running, blah, blah, blah, you are focused on your nutrition. You have to get the right amount of sleep or you're gonna feel like crap in the morning. And so that was just my entire life for about six years. It was, it took over. It was people would talk to me, the conversations would always steer back to house wrestling because they knew how much it meant to me, but also it was just how where I spent my time. I was passionate about it. I studied, I picked the minds of the Olympic level athletes that we were training lit with, and it was an awesome experience, but I would not go back and do it again. It was tough.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

That's interesting that you say that. And I'm thinking back over your story. Like, I'm I'm a little bit of a homebody as well. Not maybe as much, but like what, like when you went to Oklahoma and you're making that move, what were some of the tough things during that season? Right. Because you're moving halfway, almost halfway across the country to Oklahoma. And I don't I've never heard any crazy, cool stories about Oklahoma. But you went to Oklahoma and you went there. Like, what was that season like over those four years? What'd you learn in those seasons of, you know, the f of wrestling, of school, of creating that balance, your faith? What did that look like when you were there? Because you're I remember when I left home, it was it was a crazy season for me. Like when I got out from underneath, I was like, I'm free. I can go do whatever I want. My parents aren't here anymore. And that led to a crazy couple years of my life. What was it like for you? And what did that like kind of shape you to who you are today?

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yeah, I grew up for 17 years. I lived in a small town, Manheim, here, and it, I didn't see too much of the world around me. Like you're you're in that small bubble. And then you go to a school like the University of Oklahoma, where there's, you know, 40,000 students and there's that nightlife. It's crazy, man. Like people are living in the world there, right? I think one of the craziest, most awesome things about wrestling is it kept me grounded. I couldn't make those poor decisions because I knew if I did, it would affect performance, it would affect reputation, it would affect all that kind of stuff. You know, when you're on a team, you're reporting to a coach and everything gets back to that coach, right? There, there's people out at night, they see things. And so wrestling kept me super grounded in my faith, interesting, interestingly enough. Now, I also think that faith took a little bit of a backseat because that wrestling grind was so all-encompassing. But just going from that small town, like, you know, a few hundred people are in your circle, to all of a sudden you are around people from every walk of life. They have so many different backgrounds. It was awesome. Honestly, it was awesome. I lived with four roommates. They were from all over the country and just getting to learn their culture and how they think, how they were raised. Uh it was an unreal experience.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying listening to this episode of the Men of Iron Podcast. I just want you to take a moment to think about what is your goal? Seriously, what is it? And think about each area of your life. Once you finish this episode, I want you to go down to the description actually, and I want you to click the link that says score your core five. That's where you'll rank your faith, your family, your friends, your fitness, and your finances and talk about honestly how you're doing in each area of your life. And at the bottom of that sheet, you're gonna come across where it says, all right, what's your goal to move the needle in any of these areas of your life? And you're gonna put it down and say, all right, this is how I'm doing. And then I want you to leave a comment about what your goal is so that way you can see, all right, these are the other guys that are setting a goal. And then we're gonna ask you two weeks after that to hold you accountable. This is how we change a culture one man at a time. Enjoy the rest of this episode.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

That's really cool. And when we think about like that faith piece that you were talking about, and we were talking about this a little bit earlier before we were hopping on the pod, but when we're thinking through like what believers look like, like, and we always look around the room and you we maybe sometimes put guys in a box, like, you know, this this guy is, this guy isn't, this guy gets on the mat, and we were talking about different levels. What if if you have faith and you step on the mat, it looks a lot different if you don't have it from the mental side, and you can dive into that those things and talk about them. But what does it look like when we talk about like the Christian walk or what they should look like? Like when we think of those pieces, how does that like mat? Does it matter what they look like? I think sometimes we can box people in. Um, Jesus didn't box people in. My boy took fisherman, right? Like that that's that those were his guys, right? He it's anybody. And I think sometimes we do that. So tell me about that of like maybe guys you bumped in at school, maybe now bumping into that maybe don't fit the box that we put people in a lot and how their lives matter just as much.

SPEAKER_03 7:14

Yeah, there is a stigma out there right now. People view Christian Christianity as negative. Some people do, some people view it as judgmental. And from what I've found, you know, moving that far from home, living in that world for years is Christians can come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and backgrounds. And so I I specifically remember my best friend I met out there, he's from Texas, he lived in Georgia for a while. Nothing about our backgrounds were the same. And just, you know, you see, you see the kind of guy like that step on the mat, they put that killer mindset on. You're like, oh, certainly they don't have like Jesus in them, right? And then you talk to them, he's like, Man, I got I got Jesus, right? They know how to flip that switch on and off in athletics, but that's also in everyday life. Like you see guys, they're yaded up, they're lifting heavy, they're, you know, whatever they look like, but at the end of the day, you talk to them and they have Jesus flowing through them. And they actually have an advantage because those kind of guys can go into any sort of room and talk to whoever is in their circle, and they relate to them way better than the person that never goes out, that just sits in their home, goes to church on Sunday, sits in their home. And so I think there's actually an awesome advantage to guys that don't fit the Christian typical mold. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_02 8:32

100%. I think that's a piece that like we think they have to be a certain way. I can relate to that so much. I'm doing these Bible studies in Berks and Schuylkill County with these groups of guys. I'm in a garage for one of them, which these guys are coming in head to toe in Greece, right? And they don't maybe not fit the mold of a Sunday morning Sunday school class, right? Or we're in the back of a Dunkin' Donuts with 15 to 20 guys talking about Jesus, right? They definitely don't. They're coming in with their car heart, worked all day. They don't fit the mold, right? And I I agree a hundred percent that there's vulnerability in that. And those guys can really talk about rubber meets the road. Um, I feel like sometimes we have these Sunday Day Christians that don't know what rubber meets the road. And even in athletics, like we think of these guys that have that advantage. They got a little something more, right? And they can flip that switch. At the end of the day, God didn't call us to be these weak, frail men. He wanted some dogs, right? Like that's what he wanted, right? And to be able to have that capability to do so is so important. That's why fitness is so important. You're telling me a story, and I want you to share the story of a guy that you have in your life right now that doesn't really fit the mold, but he's God's working on him.

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Yeah. So my best friend growing up, we've been really good friends for probably 18, 19 years now. He's my barber, he cuts my hair. I show up, you know, it's a typical barber shop, right? Dudes are just talking, they're talking shop, and you know, he's got tattoos head to toe, fingers, whatever. Like he's got tattoos head to toe, and I know his heart. I know what kind of dude he is. And so we have awesome spiritual conversations. And one day, you know, he was reaching out to me, he's talking to me, hey man, like I'm struggling with my fitness a little bit. And from the outside, I didn't pick up on that. Like he's not a crazy out of shape dude or anything like that, you know. But he he mentioned that to me and through that process, started coaching him on the fitness side. Hey, like your the food you're getting, the type of workouts you're doing. And it's just been an awesome way to see. I mean, I'm seeing him post stories on an Instagram about God for the first time in years that I've seen. And that's no doing of my own. It's just he's leaning into that fitness side, which is helping him build every other habit in his life. And for me, that's why I'm passionate about fitness. It's such an easy step in the door where you can show up and be the best version of yourself in all other areas of life.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

When I think about fitness and I think about, you know, the box and all these different things. I think God calls us to steward things and steward them well. And I think an area for guys that's always tough is fitness, right? They could be younger or they could be older, and maybe you can talk to both sides of that. But like younger guys, it's like, man, I just want to look good, you know, just want to have the physique or I want to look good on the beach. And then you get a little older, you get married, you start having kids, and maybe that goes to the back burner. I mean, I can tell speak for me, it did. I got I have a kid now, and it was like, man, when do I fit this thing in of hitting the gym or getting a workout or like eating like when my wife was pregnant, whatever she ate, I ate. And you know how bad that goes, right? She wants a cheeseburger, then I wanted a cheeseburger, and I'm not doing anything, right? So, like that's that started to become a habit for us. And then it was like probably about a year ago, we're like, what are we doing? You know, you step on the scale or you see that picture from the beach and you're like, that was me? That's what I look like, right? And that started our over the last almost year now of like, okay, we need to clean some things up. I can't be, I'm not perfect, right? Life is life. But what can you say from both spectrums of that of why we should steward our body well, uh whether we're young or whether we're old?

SPEAKER_03 12:05

Yeah, I think a lot of guys, young guys, maybe they're 17, 18 years old, they're like, you know, I'm healthy, I can eat what I want, I can feel great. The reality is, is as life gets crazier, as you get a family, as you get a full-time job, it just gets more and more and more difficult. So if you can create that habit from a young age, and it doesn't have to be crazy, man, you don't gotta go out and try and run in the marathon in a day. It's building that habit, hey, I'm gonna go to the gym three times this week. I'm not missing. When you can build that habit, all of a sudden that becomes your sanctuary where you're able to release all that stress. And then guess what? You show up better for the people around you. You come home instead of, you know, going right to scrolling your phone, like you show up with a good mental headspace because you had that outlet earlier in the day to like what, like you said, steward the gift God gave you. And when you pair that with eating the right foods and feeling good, having more energy, your family will absolutely notice, or your friends, or whoever's in your life that are important to you. That's really good.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

What's what's something that you could tell? Like, I I can think of this from my own life. I was an athlete, swam in college, you were a wrestler. Like, once you step out of that, and you're and I you even said it before, like, I don't even want to look at a mat anymore, right? Or or I don't, I don't even, I don't even want to look at a pool. Like, I do not want to look at the pool. I hate the smell of chlorine anymore. Like I just intuitely like start twitching a little bit about it. But I know that was a huge part of my life with my fitness. It kept me in shape, right? Wrestling keeps definitely kept you in shape. And now it's like I just want to step away from it. But we talk about how important, and you talked about how wrestling really was important for you. Why should guys like stick with something? Right. Because with some, like to your point of what you just said of like, I'm not asking you to go there and be a bodybuilder. I'm not asking you to be there seven days a week, only eating chicken and rice and you know, lifting 500 pounds. Like, that's not what I'm saying. What about a guy that maybe was an athlete and now he's like, I can't, I don't want to do any of that stuff that I did before, but I still understand I need to steward well. What would you say to him?

SPEAKER_03 14:04

I would say to the guys that were athletic at some point in their life, maybe it was even high school, maybe it was before that, and they they had that passion and now they're like, man, I don't even want to work out. Like I did my time kind of thing. I would encourage you to lean into the passion that you once had. It doesn't have to be that same outlet, but when you lean into a passion such as fitness, man, you start going to the gym and that gets that starts reviving in you. I mean, it's addicting. It's the best sort of addiction, right? Exercise. I was just talking to a guy yesterday. He was a collegiate athlete, played football at Penn State. And for a while, he was just like, in life, man, there has to be more, right? He was doing awesome in his job and stuff, but there has to be more. Started running ultra marathons, 100 miles, right? And I said to him, man, I could never imagine myself doing that. I put the time in. That's how I viewed it. I put the time in, like, I don't have to do that. He's like, that's the exact same thing I said at that age. So that really opened my eyes. Where if you really lean into the way you were designed to steward that gift correctly and you take it one step at a time, it creates a snowball effect. And you start, man, just stacking those wins every day, it builds an insane amount of confidence in you. And the people around you are going to notice.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

That's really good. There's something that I always think about when I think about fitness, and it's to having the right coach in your corner. Right. And sometimes as you get older, you look you miss that coach piece. I'm not on a team anymore. So why am I going to the gym? I'm not planning to jump back in the pool. I'm not planning to get back on the mat anytime soon to roll around. So it's like, what's so important about having maybe someone in your life, maybe a coach, maybe a fitness coach, maybe someone that's helping with nutrition, maybe to help you stay disciplined, to give you a roadmap. Because sometimes it's like, well, I'm not doing that anymore, so I don't need a coach. Now we sometimes we still need that coach to be able to help us, encourage us, push us to our goals of where we're trying to get. What would you say about having a guy in your life or a girl per se that maybe's training you in an area of to help that discipline in that area?

SPEAKER_03 16:03

Yeah. I going back to college, you know, when you wrestle, you're expected to make weight and two hours later, you're expected to compete at the highest level possible. And that leaves zero room for guessing. If you don't do everything right, you're going to be out on the mat uh trying not to basically die, right? You're hurting. And so that feeling when I was out on the mat sparked something in me. So I became insanely obsessed with health and nutrition. I'm studying, I'm researching, I'm listening to podcasts. And I always wondered, like, why did I do that? Was that all in vain? Because I never reached my college goals. Fast forward, circling back to that conversation with the barber, he mentioned, hey man, would you help coach me? I'll pay you. I was like, oh bro, I'll I'll coach you. You cut me for free, we'll work out a deal, right? But from that conversation, spark something. And I talked to my little brother, who's an entrepreneurial spirit like no other. Through that, we created a business that we run right now where we help coach people. And from what I've seen, that accountability piece, if you don't have that, you will fall off, right? If you don't have someone checking in on you every two weeks, every week, and saying, Are you hitting your goals this week? How's your eating? How's your working out? How's your mindfulness even? They're gonna fall off. And so I think that coach aspect, from what I've seen working with clients where they come in and they're about 40 pounds overweight and we start slow, but over time they build that momentum. And when they have to have be accountable, they nine times out of 10, they do follow through and it leads to awesome results.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

When you're thinking through those guys and you're setting those goals for different, I mean, all guys are different, right? You may be, you may be on this on a fitness journey or you're trying to figure it out. What are some like realistic goals you should be telling yourself? Or if you don't have a coach, you're trying to figure out because I think sometimes we can set this ambitious goal, man, I'm gonna lose 30 pounds this month and I'm gonna be ready for the beach. I'm trying, I got two weeks before June and I got to be ready to go, right? So, what are some like realistic things guys should be shooting for, to be honest with themselves? Because we always like to make smart goals. And one of those pieces in there, it has to be like attainable. Like we have to be able to get there, and then we'll get disappointed, man, I didn't lose that 30 pounds in two weeks for the beach. Like it's not realistic. So creating that pathway, what are some goals that like guys should be having their eyes on that you've seen over the years from whether it was at wrestling, that just goal setting and making things attainable for yourself as you in the fitness realm that you've been in?

SPEAKER_03 18:26

I would say start with your steps. Track your steps. Research shows eight to 10,000 a day is ideal. If you get more than that, great. But the reason walking and getting steps is so attainable for most people is it's constantly at your disposal. You don't have to be in a gym, you don't have to be on a bike, you just walk, right? And so I say I think around the cardio aspect, start start setting goals around that because it's easy to track, right? And I I think the other thing, there's a lot of push on cardio. But I think as men, even and women too, the strength aspect is so important for your longevity. It's so important for your body composition. It's just so important for living your best life, right? Whether it's picking up your kids or picking up a box to help move somebody, it's so important. So I think if you're just starting out, set the goal of getting eight to 10,000 steps a week or a day for a week and go to the gym three, three to four times. And you should have some structure around that. That would be my advice. Have some structure, maybe do some research or find a coach, but just set those small attainable goals at first. And when you start stacking those wins and you build that confidence, it's pretty addicting, like in the best way possible.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

When you think through goals, maybe we're talking, guys listening right now, thinking about his fitness, right? Maybe thinking about coaching. Think thinking about all of it, all the different pieces that go into it. And he missed the mark. He missed it. He's he's he started out strong. He watched some videos, you know, maybe YouTube got some, got a plan together, went out first week was strong, second week, and then slowly like I couldn't, I can't make the gym because of this meeting, or this comes up, kids' soccer game happened, so I couldn't go at night and get all my steps in. Like, what do you tell a guy that maybe missed recently or is missing continually and now is like in this spot of like, okay, I got to almost start from ground zero again.

SPEAKER_03 20:14

Yeah, one of the five Fs is fitness in Men of Iron for a reason. It's it's a reason because you need accountability around it. I have talked to so many people where they fall off, they miss the mark because they have no one holding them accountable. And so whether that's a gym partner that goes with you, whether that's hiring a coach, whether that's just a buddy who says, Hey, how's your fitness journey going? And you know you're gonna have to respond to them. I think that that's the best way to start. Have that accountability piece, have that coach in place before you begin that journey. Because the goal isn't to lose 30 pounds in two months and then put it back on in the next four. That's what a lot of people do, right? When you have that coach or the accountability partner in place, all of a sudden that that lasting change, maybe you lose weight a little slower, more sustainable, and then you're set for the rest of your life because you have those habits, discipline, and knowledge in place.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Man, that's good. And you you you touched on a little bit. We'd be talking about going to the gym, getting those steps in. What about the food side? I think even for myself, to be I'll get real transparent here. Like food for me, I can go to. It can be something I, it's a crutch for me. I love to eat. I love I'm a foodie. I will, I will hit something pops up on my Instagram or TikTok, like I gotta go check out that taco spot, that cheesesteak spot, right? I love food. But sometimes it can be to my detriment, right? And that's what I caught caught a little bit ago. I'll be like, wait a minute, like what am I doing? Like I'm eating all of this food, but I'm really not doing, I'm not exerting the energy to actually burn maybe that food. And then we think about food sometimes for people, it can actually sometimes be an idol to people. We can put that in front of us, like, or it's like always a reward or a little sweet treat. I love that. I love that saying, like, but those sweet treats every single night start stacking. Like, what would you say about food and how sometimes that is I always hear like that's the biggest part of fitness sometimes is what are you actually consuming? What are you putting

SPEAKER_03 22:00

In your body to fuel daily life, your workouts, all those different things. It's interesting. Going through the weight cutting process of wrestling, which is one of the main things of wrestling, right? You got to make your weight. It is extremely difficult. Most people probably never understand how tough it is to compete when you are dehydrated and you're lacking food. Through that, there are, I think probably about 90, 95% of any athletics where you have to weigh in, whether that's uh wrestling or combat sports, anything like that, there's some sort of like food, very unhealthy patterns. And so I went through that and what called an eating disorder, call it what you want, but I went through that journey, came out on the other side and viewed food healthily. And from there, I saw, okay, the fuel you put in your body will impact how you feel, but also how you think. And so America right now, I it's very unhealthy. America is one of the most unhealthy countries out there. And there's a reason for it, right? There's so much crap in our food. There's dyes, there's preservatives, there's this and that. So creating a plan around your food, having a nutrition coach, or even just doing your own research and finding out, hey, what helps? That's going to drive everything. You cannot outrun or outwork a bad diet, especially the older you get, right? Especially you getting into your 40s and 50s. I used to eat this when I was 20, I was fine. Your metabolism's slowing down. And so eating the right foods, getting your protein in every day, that's the biggest thing that people can start doing.

SPEAKER_02 23:29

When you think that through of one of the biggest things that have been a pitfall for me is not preparing, right? You get in that situation where it's like, man, I'm doing so good. I'm run, but now I'm running around. I'm in meetings, I'm out of meetings. And then it's like, man, I got to eat. And then, like, my options, like you said, America, I got to find something fast and I got to grab it, and I got to grab it and growl and get get to my next meeting. What would you say about guys preparing? I think preparation, even for wrestling, even for sports, or even for the fitness world, like there's a lot of preparation that some people don't think about. And then that's what catches them at the end of the day of like, oh, I didn't prepare. So now I got to grab fast food or I got to grab something from the gas station, which we know that place is wild. You talk about dyes, and like that's my only option is the speedway up the street. I gotta find something. So, what would you tell guys about making an actual plan and actually preparing properly?

SPEAKER_03 24:21

The old saying is if you fail to prepare, you're preparing to fail. And there's a reason for that cliche saying, because when I work with somebody and I'm helping them with their diet, we're gonna sit back and say, Hey, can you give two hours on a Sunday to prep your mood or your food for the uh week? If they can do that and they can have their protein sources readily on hand, all of a sudden they stop stopping at McDonald's every single day, right? That's their comfort food. But then they start seeing that meal prep makes them feel better. It gives them more confidence. Their mental clarity even is way higher. That builds that that stacks that habit, right? And so I think you need to prepare for the week because we live in a culture of fast food and things that taste good. And there's a reason you're hitting that 2 p.m. crash every day. You're you're not eating the right stuff or something's off with your morning routine, something like that. But I think you need to prepare and view it as just as you would your job, right? There, there's a certain level of preparation that needs to take place to be ready for that presentation or whatever. There's a certain level of preparation that needs to take place for you to be healthy, for you to eat right, because the options out there are not good.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Man, so we talked about stewardship. We talked about, you know, accountability. Stewardship, God tells us to be stewards of our body. Number two, we need the accountability, we need a coach maybe in our life or something to hold us accountable to what we're that's why it's a core five. He's mentioned it, which is huge. And then having a plan to go with it, making smart goals, making those things. And if we miss, like get back on the horse, dude. Like just start, let's go. Like we can, we're always gonna, we're never gonna be perfect. There's gonna be times when you're gonna have to eat that food, or there may be a time you didn't prepare right, right? And you're making that plan, and there's gonna be failure in that plan. There always is, but how can I get up and get going? And when we think of all those different people pieces of it, and we think about building a healthy physique or building correctly, what would you tell a guy that is looking at his life right now and he just needs encouragement? Right? A guy that's like he understands all the pieces. He's heard it a thousand times. You listen to any fitness podcast, they all talk very similar about the same stuff. But what's a word of encouragement? Because faith is so so huge at Men of Iron. That's what we're based on. Like, how can those two mix together? Why is it so important to stay healthy? And how can a guy take that and be encouraged by listening to this pod?

SPEAKER_03 26:47

There's always going to be excuses of why you can't start now. The number one thing I hear is I'm busy, I'm hurt, uh, I can't go to the gym. You can always control what you're eating. You can always control the fuel. And so, my encouragement to them, hey, control what you can control with what you eat. It doesn't have to be crazy, right? Create a plan, reach out to somebody to help you create a plan and then follow through. And so I think when you start doing that, building that confidence in the fitness or food area, it is so much better, so much easier to be grounded in your faith. Why? Well, you feel better. You're waking up in the morning earlier to get that God time in. The alternative is hey, you stay up late, snack in your stomach hurts, you sleep in an extra hour, you show up at work, you're groggy. Okay, well, let's flip the coin. You go to bed on time, you eat the right stuff that day, you hit your meal plan, you wake up, you do your workout, man. You're showing up so much better. So my encouragement to them would be just start. Take a little action, right? Reach out to somebody you trust, of a workout partner, someone that knows nutrition or anything like that, and just start.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

When I think through all of those pieces, I even think of my own life. Like I I want to be around for my kids, right? I have a son now, he's 18 months, he's getting big, right? He's talking and he's active, and I'm trying to keep up and he's getting quicker, right? And but I want to be around for that. And that's something that I always try to keep, and it's motivation for me. Like, I want to be that dad that's running down the football field. I want to be that dad that's in the yard playing. And and sometimes maybe we don't have kids, right? Maybe you're a younger guy, you don't have kids yet. But just thinking like, what are pieces that I think sometimes we lose sight of? We're just so busy with life. We got so much going on. We lose sight of certain things to keep ourselves motivated, to keep pre. Yes, we under we understand those three things we talked about. We understand it all, we understand all that. But what are you said the encouragement piece, but for us, like I want to be a dad that can get up on up and off the floor, play with my son, or be able to pick him up. He keeps getting heavier. My boy's 30 pounds. Like, that's like picking a 30-pound dumbbell, up and down, up and down, right? Like, what are some ways that guys can maybe define what's gonna motivate them? You think about in sports, like, oh, I got to win this match. We lose that when we get out of there, right? Oh, I'm doing all this stuff so I can swim the fastest that I can be. We lose that when we get out of sports. So, what are some motivational pieces that guys should look at and keep in their eyesight or their target that they're chasing that will help them stay motivated?

SPEAKER_03 29:21

Identify what you're passionate about, what fires you up. And from there, how is fitness, how is nutrition gonna help you fuel that pursuit? So I was just talking to a guy and he said, Man, I'm I'm super competitive, right? I was like, Yeah, me too. He said, I'm so competitive that one of my goals is to be the fittest, most in-shape dad in the circle of friends I have. And it's not coming from vain conceit or anything like that. It's that's what fires him up. He wants to be able to show up for his kids, say, Hey, buddy, did you do your workout today for your sport? Well, if they say no, well, look what I'm doing, right? And it's just leading by example. So if your family fires you up, man, show up in your nutrition and your fitness for them. If it's your job, show up with the way you when you show up at work, you're mentally clear, you feel good. And when you find, when you find something that fires you up, like fitness is just a byproduct of that.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Yeah. That's so good. I love that passion piece because it can be something different for everybody, right? Whether you're a hunter, right? I need to climb some mountains. I've seen some of these guys that go out to Colorado and almost die because they got to hike it up and down the up and down the Rockies, or whether it's just being able to go for a walk or whatever your passion is, like we and just be present for your family. I think that's like something that we always miss the mark on, like, I'm not competing anymore. So why do I need to keep shooting or pushing this hard or chasing after this thing like that? But I think we need to keep that in our in sight because that's what I'm that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. I want to be able to tackle my son. He ain't gonna take me in the basketball court, right? I'm competitive as well. Yeah, like I'm trying to stay fit so I can take him right in the paint. Ah, dunk on it. Like, that's what I want to be able to do. Like, and that's what I want in my life as well. So that's something that I think as guys, like we lose it a little bit, but we need to keep it in front of us why I'm doing what I'm doing. Last piece that I want you to give for us, and I think is super helpful for a guy that's out there, he's listening, understands it, has that motivation. You said just get after it. What is a piece of that that you want to leave with the audience, that encouragement, that take that risk, like just get after it, put that motivation in front of you, bringing all those thoughts together, all together. What do you think about that?

SPEAKER_03 31:30

For the guy that this has been in the back of their mind and they're saying I'm too busy or I have this and that. My encouragement to you today, like you said, take one risk today with it. Whether that's going on a walk, whether that's going, maybe the gym scares you for some reason. Maybe you're scared to work out, maybe you're scared to reach out to somebody to get help with your nutrition or fitness. Just take a risk. You have no idea what that one action step will do for you and your family and ultimately your legacy, right? You get to the end and you just live 10 years, 15 years longer because you decided at the age of 40 or 45 that I'm gonna get serious about this. And it has lasting impact and the people around you are gonna notice.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

I love it. Thanks so much for just coming on, talking about fitness, talking about your story a little bit. I think it's an area that we talk always core five, and it's an area that everyone gets a little squirmy in their chair when you start talking about fitness because they're like, man, he's kind of talking about me, or they look at themselves as we're talking about being stewards, and you're like, man, I I should be a couple pounds lighter, or I've lost my motivation, I've missed the mark. And people squirm, men squirm because you know it's very like we talk about all these other areas, and we don't see maybe a guy, but we're wearing our bodies all the time. So you can tell, okay, he's a little bit in shape, or man, he needs to get hopefully he gets back to the right, you can see it. We wear it on our sleeves, we wear fitness that way. So I think it's one of those areas that that's why guys squirm so much in it because it's a I can see what's going on in your life. And it's not something on the inside, it's the outside, whether it's fitness or walking or just clarity of mind, how you communicate. So just thanks so much for coming on and just talking about fitness today. I think it's an area that guys desperately need help in. Um, we just avoid it. We're good at avoiding stuff. So I just appreciate your time coming on. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us on the Men of Iron podcast. It was great to have Zach today. And Zach actually has a business where he helps coach guys hold them accountable, create that discipline in their life. And he's been around Men of Iron for over 20 years. And what's really cool about that is he may be able to help you in another area, not just fitness. It may be faith, it may be family. He may be able to pour into those areas well. So please reach out. We'll put his um info down in the description. And thanks again for joining us on the Men of Iron Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 33:40

Thanks for listening to the Men of Iron Podcast. Be sure to like, subscribe, and share. At Men of Iron, we exist to change a culture one man at a time, and we'd love to have you partner with us. So go to menoviron.org to see how you can get involved or donate at menoviron.org forward slash donate.