Ep. 140: The Courage to Live - Fitness and Consistency

In this episode, Josh and Jenna talk through their different fitness journeys and what they’ve learned along the way. From building confidence and handling physical demands on the job to staying disciplined when motivation isn’t there, they share real experiences with what works and what doesn’t. The conversation covers the mental side of fitness, the challenges of staying consistent, and how small habits over time lead to meaningful change. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to the Courage to Lib Podcast. My name is Josh Pitsko and I'm a retired police captain with 24 years of experience out of Las Vegas. Currently I travel the country and I teach people about courage, leadership, and resilience. Joined today by my wife and co-host Jenna.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Remember to introduce you that time.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Yeah, good job. Feeling great.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

In my defense, when I do the shorter ones and it's just me, I don't have to introduce anybody.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

So it's like I have to remember which one I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

Yeah, that's very difficult when I'm not sitting here to remember which one you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

So in today's podcast, we're going to talk about fitness and you know why it helps and you know all that. But we did take part in an activity with the kids, which is kind of a sport. Would you consider bowling a sport?

SPEAKER_02 0:53

No. Ooh. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

More of an activity.

SPEAKER_02 0:57

Don't please don't come at me on that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

The bul the bowling, uh the bowling group. You're probably safe.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Um but no, I don't consider it a sport.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

More of an activity. I mean, if you can drink beer and do it at the same time, that probably not a sport.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

I don't know. They have cornhole, isn't that?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

On ESPN.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Yeah. Bowling, yeah, I guess so.

unknown 1:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

I I would agree. I agree with you. Bowling's not a sport.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Sorry, everyone.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

The three the three bowlers of our dozens of listeners. Um but anyway, we took kids bowling, and you want to tell them the the deal we made them?

SPEAKER_02 1:37

Well, yeah, because it's spring break and we were trying to figure out things to do, and they enjoy bowling for some reason, so which is like really expensive, by the way. Did not realize that it would cost us$100 to take three kids bowling. Yeah. That was pretty wild. Um, so, anyways, the deal was if if anybody got a hundred or above that we would take them for ice cream. And uh our son Max got a 99. His last bowl, he was at 98.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

And he was a little cocky at 98.

SPEAKER_02 2:14

He was cocky because he had he just had to get two pins down, and he out of all the pins, and there's 10, right? Yeah, 10 pins only hit one.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

That was his last yeah, it was almost a gutter ball, and I just nicked that one and he got 99.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

And he literally sat on the floor and like couldn't look defeated. Yeah, couldn't believe it. And then we took them for ice cream because I'm a liar.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

Yeah, well, we messed with them a little bit first. He's like, We got ice cream. No, ice cream's not for losers.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

We don't take losers to ice cream. We're gonna get hit up for being bad parents because we call their kids losers.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

Listen, if if you don't mess with your kids occasionally, um there's either something wrong with you or you're lying about that because that's one of the fun parts of having teenagers and tweens or whatever you want to call them is messing with them. Kate and I 90% of our relationship is messing with each other. Yeah. So uh, but no, that was fun. Yeah, but we did we did because we're not monsters. We got them ice cream. Suckers, and we even told them, okay, you guys can get a small, and they didn't. They got like the concretes or whatever. Yeah, I um shout out to Nielsen's ice cream in Las Vegas or Nielsen's frozen custard in Las Vegas, by the way. Yeah, not a sponsor, not a sponsor, but but also thanks for not having small offerings. Well, they did have a small, we just didn't allow the they just wanted the concretes, which but anyway, it's it I do I do love Nielsen's so so let's on that note talk about fitness. Custard, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:46

Um, but yeah, we want to so this podcast we're gonna talk about you know fitness and why it's important for first responders, but outside of that, just really much pretty much anybody and you know, maybe some of the benefits and you know our our journeys with it, and you know, kind of I just don't want it to be, I mean, you can get so much of this content on the internet, so we just kind of wanted to talk about why we think it's important um not inundate you with like medical facts or anything, but just from both of our we both have very different journeys with it. I'm still on one. So um why don't you talk about your fitness journey?

SPEAKER_00 4:33

We'll start with the our finish. Yeah, so I was a skinny kid. Like I was I was tiny, I'm 6'2 right now, 225, 230. Um, but I was like in high school, I was short. Like I didn't grow until like my senior year. Um when I hired on or when I went to the police academy, I weighed 158 pounds. Uh and I remember that because I had had part of my fitness journey, was I I had a professional boxing match. And I say professional, but it was like the tough man, which used to be on FX, and I fought in that and I weighed in at 157. Um, and there was only two weight classes. Guy I fought was like 200 pounds, was not safe. Yeah, but uh different times. But yeah, I was really, really skinny. I was boxing, and I the thing is, is I I always wanted to be big, right? You're when you're skinny, when you're growing up skinny. My brother was I was a runt to my family. My brother was six four, my dad was six four, like um, both of them were just like big, you know, not not fat or anything, just big. And I I I got more on my mom's side of the jeans as I was just always skinny. And so I always I always wanted to like you know get big, but I didn't know how. Like my dad was naturally big. I go to the gym with him, and I remember he was, you know, he's like, Okay, well, I need to how do I build my back? And he's like, Oh, yeah, military press. I'm like, that's shoulders, I think. He's like, and there was this was pre-internet, really, for that kind of stuff. Like, um, and he's like, No, that's your back. So he was just big and muscular and didn't really have to do a lot of genetics for it. And so I always wanted to be big and I never really knew how. And you know, so it just kind of progressed as I I got older. Um, you know, I was when I went to canine the first time, I was probably 165, just so skinny. I mean, you've seen pictures of me then. And I did this. Um, there's a book called Super Squats, and it's like a widowmaker's one set of 20 squats three days a week, and you're increased by like two and a half or five pounds of a day, uh a workout, and you have to drink without a whole a gallon of whole milk a day.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

I but you tell me this, and I can't think of anything worse because the show Jackass was on around this time and they were doing that on Jackass because a bunch of idiot boys in my high school were trying to recreate all the things, the stunts they'd do on Jackass. And I was there one time when they were all trying to drink a gallon of milk and then they're all puking.

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Yeah. Well, this wasn't at one time.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

I know, but that's what it makes me think of.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

And I put on weight and I had such a fast metabolism, I didn't gain a lot of fat doing it. But if I did it now, I would be a big boy. Um, but so I, you know, so I did that, and then when I promoted to sergeant, I got really like serious about it and pushed almost to like 200 pounds, and that was I was kind of stuck there. Um I I'd switch, I'd do like, okay, I'm doing like bodybuilding to get big, and then okay, now I'm doing powerlifting to get strong, and then go back. And I mean, I I I don't hate any part. I even had my my CrossFit phase for about a year and a half. It was when I was in canine as a sergeant, I get off work and I go to a CrossFit class at 5 a.m. And every time they had to do the partner carries, I just grab my dog out of the car and run with him. I mean, the ladies loved it.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

But um, but yeah, I had that phase, and then I then I got into jujitsu, and pretty much everything after that was kind of to support that. So just it was just you know, I now I'm you know mid-40s, and yeah, I'm I'm I'm probably the size I want to be. The thing is, is I used to always blame it. Oh, I'm a hard gainer or you know, I'm fast metabolism. No, I just didn't eat. I just didn't have an appetite, I didn't know how to eat. And the the most I ever gained was doing a gallon of milk, but that was forcing me to have protein and carbs and all that, just a whole lot of other stuff I didn't need.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

So why okay, so that's kind of your journey with fitness, right? So what do you think positively and negatively that journey has given you? And then let's talk about why you think that journey was important for your career in policing.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Yeah, I mean, the positives is uh I got I gained confidence when I got bigger, like you know, and not more fit. And I think so. There's a perception when you see somebody that's fit, like that they are um, you know, they're dedicated and they're have discipline and all of that. And that's sometimes that's true and sometimes that's not, but you know, there's a there's a confidence that comes with that fitness. Um, I always had very physical jobs, you know, canine and and you know, working a dog and doing all these things and even patrol that it helped to be stronger. And I also I always focused on cardio to a point, like I want to make sure I had that too. I didn't want to just you know build muscle, but I think the positives were were really the confidence and the strength and the physical abilities, and then especially paired with jujitsu, like you know, they always say, you know, technique beats strength and ju ju jitsu. But if you have technique and you're strong, that's that's you know, that's the sweet spot. So it helped with that. And then those two things played into again that confidence and you know, just my abilities is you know, when you're when you're in shape and also you train, like I didn't have to hurt people generally as a cop. Somebody wants to fight and they don't train, you know, and because not only like I said, I had the abilities, but I was also strong. And there's something about being bigger when you show up, people just don't want to fight, right? There's just that that part of it too.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Well, you also were able to run after people if you needed to. And I think that's one thing for me, especially with policing, is like if I'm at as a civilian and I'm attending an event or I'm you know in a bad part of town and I see police but police, they're I hate to say it, but their physical appearance does matter to me because if I see somebody that's overweight, I immediately go to, well, if I was robbed and like the guy snatched my purse and started running, could this guy go? No, probably not, probably not, you know, and or if I'm at an event, it just the knowing somebody is physically fit that is in charge of my safety is makes a difference to me as a civilian. And I know there are police departments that require yearly physical fitness tests. I wish all police departments would do that.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Absolutely. I do too. Yeah. And because I as a cop, I I'm in a in a fight, I always wanted to know my partner would or you know, whoever showed up, I'd be able to help me out. And so most of the time my partner was a dog and I knew he could help me out. But um, yeah, I mean, I I agree with that. I think there should be fitness standards and tests and yearly tests, and you know, like I think the military does that. I'm not so I uh definitely should be in policing. Um so yeah, I mean, the the benefits of that that definitely was one, the confidence, just the health benefits on top of it. Um and it does help your mental health. I I went through some phases where I leaned into it too much because I was avoiding, you know, the hard things that were happening in my life. But um overall, like it has it does help it helps with building resilience and and I can tell a difference with you if you haven't worked out in a bit, you're usually in I wouldn't say a bad mood, but you're just like not in a great mood.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

No, I I think it's for most people, maybe all, I don't know. Um, helps your it does help your mood.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

Yeah. Yeah, I've listened I've never got done with a workout and oh I'm sorry I did that. Went into plenty of workouts, I don't want to do this. But when I'm done, I'm like, okay, you know, I feel a little bit of pride accomplished, especially the ones that I don't want to do. Um as far as the negatives, like I mean You mentioned one. Yeah, using I was using it as an escape.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Um I would say I think a lot of people do. Yeah, oh, for sure as an escape, and I think too as like a punishment. And that goes for both men and women. I think it's used as a punishment for either emotional crap that you're not dealing with or um the way that you're eating. And you know, if you went too hard in the paint over the weekend, then you punish yourself with a really hard workout on Monday. Like I think that that is used on both sides of the aisle for punishment, which is not healthy.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:48

I so that was one negative for you.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

That was yeah, I did I used to do that all the time. Um or use it as an escape, or use it like I said to punish myself or whatever. But and then, you know, another one was for me. I uh I I I I'd still to the point, I'm 220 pounds. I'd be like, oh I look skinny. I think I think you know, they say, especially for men, that you know, once you start working out, uh it's a sm you're you're gonna feel smaller than you've ever been, or the smallest you're ever gonna be, or whatever it is. Like you just oh, I you know it just messes that body dysmorphia is real, right? And uh, or if I miss like a week, I'm like, oh, I feel soft, which that's not how that works. So I go a little bit. I mean, you don't have a pump and you get a little like, but it's not like you're losing muscle or gaining fat. Um, not a doctor, by the way. But I I think that you know that it does. It it it it almost becomes addicting to have those results and all of that. Um, but overall positive, like overall positive. And you know, I listen, everybody, there's this, you know, push you should be working out for yourself, and it's only for you and not what other people think. Okay, well, you know what? Well, though, when I'm out in public and somebody says you have nice arms, I I love that feeling. Like, I'm sorry, I'm uh but I don't know, this isn't a fitness podcast. I probably shouldn't say that, but I was like, Yes, that's that thank you. I worked really hard to do that.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Listen, uh, we all have a little the there's nothing wrong with being truthful about it.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Totally.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

It's not like I'm gonna be like, I am working out for myself. I'm not you are I am that's a big part of it. The confidence and the health benefits and strength, and that doesn't mean I don't like it when someone's like, oh yeah, you obviously obviously work out.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Yeah, for sure. Okay, so for maybe any of the police officers out there that have maybe let their fitness go, or anybody anybody out there that's let their fitness go and wants to get back on the journey, what advice would you give to them?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

So I'd give the same advice that I give on anything big or big changes you have to do. Let's start small, break it up into small steps, and be consistent. You know, it's what I say keep going, right? Uh talk about that in my book, is what we have a tendency to do in law enforcement is or in any kind of like tactical fitness is okay, I need to get in shape. I'm gonna Google Navy SEAL workout routine. And I'm like, oh, this is what the Navy SEALs do. It's probably it's not, it's somebody that like a trainer that watched a movie or maybe a navy SEAL that what he did, but it's always you know something wild and crazy. And then for two or three days or two or three weeks, you're going hard and then you can't keep up, right? So it's for me, it's it's starting small and like okay, where am I at right now, truly? So am I how much am I walking? How many steps are am I getting a day? Like, you think you have to go out there and jog miles and run miles to lose weight or to burn fat. Really, walking is just as good. You know, 110, 120, whatever, or 100, 120. And so, okay, how many steps are you getting a day a day? Okay, let's bump that up a couple thousand. And uh, you know, like I'll even say, like, okay, you can't drink calories. Like that, you know, let's not say that or if you want to have a cocktail in the weekend or whatever, but you're not drinking soda, milk, or anything like that. Um, and then find a find a weightlifting routine that works for you and just like be consistent and stick with it. And you know, don't try not to miss like that. Those people used to ask me, because there was this transformation for me between when I made sergeant and then when I was in K9 as a sergeant. Like, well, what what workout do you do? What is I was wondering? I just haven't missed a workout really in six years.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Like Yeah, there's it you were consistent. Yeah, you built habits instead of going hard in the paint and not establishing and building habits. And consistency allows you to you you can go have a cocktail, you can have the pizza, you can, you can have all of these things because 80% of the time you're consistent, right? It's not about like being okay, I have to eat healthy all the time, all the time, all the time. I can't eat pizza, I can't have a burger, I can't do these things because it's gonna mess me up. I can only have one cheat meal. Like when you build habits that are consistent, it allows more flexibility. Yep. Right?

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Yeah, and that's that's the secret. And, you know, it's finding a workout style that works for you and sticking with it. Like what what you enjoy. Um, you know, and like a tip that I do is if I'm really not feeling it, like I didn't sleep at all, but I still want to work out, I'll just do a workout that I enjoy. It's better than not working out. So like arm day or something like shoulders, something I like to do.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

Well, and keep in mind, this is coming from somebody who enjoys working out. So my journey is far different from what you just explained. You genuinely enjoy working out. Yes. Yeah. It's like something that you like to do. I don't. And I've been working out for a long time.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

And before I knew you.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Yeah, it's been a long time. I hate it every day. I hate it every time. There's never been one time where I'm like, I really love that workout. Never once. I hate it. I I don't maybe that's a me problem. I don't know. But I cannot, I have never gotten to a point where I'm just like, wow, I really enjoy working out. I hate it, I dread it. Don't never want to do it. I feel good after.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

I was just gonna ask, I'm like, that's a lot to unpack. How do you feel? How do you feel afterwards?

SPEAKER_02 19:55

I feel good after. But honestly, for me, yeah, it was I I had three kids, never worked out, never did anything, gained 75 pounds with each of them. I know I was I looked like a different human. Um, but then you know, I got divorced and knew that I needed to like get healthy for my kids. And I actually had a friend that like, because I was poor single mom that sponsored me to be able to have a personal trainer. And so I had a personal trainer for I don't know, I think I was with him for like four years, which was great. Uh and then COVID happened, and then I kind of, you know, he couldn't train anymore at the gym. So then I don't know about you, but well, I do know about you. Um speaking to people on the podcast, I think a lot of us had a rum springer during COVID. I mean, I think a lot of us thought that the world was going to end. So there was probab maybe a lot of alcohol for people, not a lot of working out, a lot of pan pan pan panic, pan pandemonium.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Pandemonium.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Yeah. A lot of that. And so I lost everything that I was doing. I mean, I just completely all of that was gone. And so um when I got together with you, I was not working out, not doing anything. And then you started cooking for me, and your cooking was like your dad's cooking. And so I put on some LBs and I was happy, but I put on put on some LBs.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

And my dad's cooking about half baked harvest. Oh, yeah, that too. That too.

SPEAKER_02 21:51

But I was it was, anyways, nutrition's for another day. But I got to a point where I just was like. Like, okay, this is completely not sustainable anymore. And I started looking into macros, and I found a a macro coach who again helped me with my nutrition, but she also helped me find um what the workout that I currently do. And this is a female-based. Um, her name is Ruth. If you look her up on Instagram, it's Ruth underscore the letter M power, like M Power, but without the E. And so she does what's called mesocycles. And so she there are six, either four or six weeks cycles, and it, and so it changes and it's weightlifting. And I had done weightlifting with my trainer. Um, but this is what I've stuck with. Um, I mean, the fact that I work out at home, I old me could never.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

No.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

So there is something to be said about finding something I wouldn't say that I love, but something that I will be consistent with. And so her programs, like I said, they're constantly changing. I've built more muscle in the last year and a half that I've done this program than I ever have in my whole life. Like even when I was with a personal trainer. So I, for me, my fitness journey has been a lot of mindset. It's been learning that I can be consistent, that I can be disciplined in doing things that I don't like to do. And there are, and it's not just for aesthetics, like, yes, that's important, but for me, it's for the ability to help you carry heavy furniture. You don't have to call a friend to do that.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Super handy. I love it. It's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

We moved a couch up our stairs that my brother was dropping off the couch. He Josh was at work at the time. My brother gets here, and I was like, Do you want to move that upstairs? He's like, Oh, let's just wait for Josh. And I was like, Okay. And then Josh got home, and me and Josh proceeded to move the couch up the stairs because my brother couldn't do it. He will kill me. Yeah, but I'm not saying which brother it is. So um he will kill me for telling that story. But I have the ability to help you move heavy stuff. I have the ability to help help the kids when you're not here move or lift heavy things. Um it, I do feel proud of myself when I'm done. I do feel proud of the changes that I've made in my body. But mostly I feel proud that I am being consistent and keeping promises to myself because that does give me the confidence. Old me could never, because I used to work out at a public gym. Old me could never, I always felt so intimidated. I would never try new machines, I would never do any of that. I would work out in the women's gym because I didn't feel like I belonged there. I didn't feel like I had that I knew what I was doing. Me now, I could walk into any gym, I could go to a machine that I don't know, and I could figure it out because I have the confidence of sticking with something, you know, knowing what I'm doing at this point, but I had to stick with it for long enough on my own to figure it out. And I I just that's the biggest thing that, and we're gonna talk about her in another episode, the whole episode on nutrition, but that's what my the number one thing that I've learned from my nutrition coaches in nutrition and fitness and life and anything. I mean, we try to teach our kids all the time building consistent habits, starting small and doing small things which lead into bigger things and bigger things. Now I walk over 8,000 steps a day, and it's just that is a habit I built that I don't even break on vacation because sometimes I do, but it's because it's part of who I am now. Yep, you know, and so if it if working out, if fitness, if getting healthy, if all of that feels overwhelming, then and it because it is, then start with small habits that turn into who you are. And like you said, that doesn't mean doing a navy seal workout. Maybe that means starting with steps. Maybe that means starting with an at-home work program, workout program. Maybe that means, you know, I don't I don't know. Just something smaller.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

I agree. It is it is down to that consistency. Also, how great is it having a home, Jim?

SPEAKER_02 27:03

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

The only bad thing is when you have to set up because we don't have a full like machines or anything like that. Well, I think um that wraps up our fitness episode. I think that wraps up our fitness episode. Um thank you for listening to the podcast. If you liked it, please leave a review, subscribe, send it to a friend, and thank you for spending time with us today.