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Health & Fitness Redefined
Health and Fitness Redefined with Anthony Amen. Take a dive into the health world as we learn how to overcome adversity, depict fact vs fiction and see health & fitness in a whole new light.Fitness Is Medicine
Health & Fitness Redefined
Powerlifting Triumphs and the Road to Team USA
The episode highlights the importance of discipline over motivation in achieving personal success, drawing from the journey of a former Olympian. Through discussions on strength training, community, and the value of coaching, listeners are encouraged to take actionable steps towards improving their health and fitness, emphasizing that the lessons learned in sports can translate into all areas of life.
• The significance of showing up, even without motivation
• Finding strength in personal challenges and mentorship
• Key fundamental movements for everyday functionality
• The benefits of sauna usage for health and recovery
• Navigating fitness trends with personal preferences in mind
• The necessity of coaching and external guidance
Learn More at: www.Redefine-Fitness.com
Hello and welcome to how to Finish Redefined. I'm your host, anthony Amen, and today we have another great episode for all of you. I don't know if you all can tell watching the video, I have super bags under my eyes. I'm kind of just having a two-month-old, as all of you are very aware. But anyway, without further ado, let's welcome to the show, ben Ben, it's a pleasure to have you on today.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much for having me on. Mr Anthony and I also probably have bags under my eyes. It is bright and early, but we're excited to get started.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're doing this. That's all that matters, right.
Speaker 2:We're here.
Speaker 1:We showed up excuses.
Speaker 2:It's like you just show up, you do it like you work out. It doesn't have to be perfect. The discipline matters more than the motivation. I agree with that a hundred percent. I think that that is the key to success, right there, man and I for someone that knows about success.
Speaker 1:I do want to hop into your backstory because you are a former olympian, so that's freaking awesome. So why don't you tell us a little bit about your journey and how you got into that realm?
Speaker 2:of course. So it's me. We're gonna flash back very, very young and I started. I got the opportunity to start in the gym pretty early. Um, I had a couple really good mentors along the way, so the first one would be my father uh, kind of brought me into the gym and then I absolutely hated it and, and you know, he was like, just, you know, you got to do it like this, you know, like classic, like relationship, and I was like this is, I love being here, but I don't really like this.
Speaker 2:And so, as time went on, you know you get into, you know, middle school and high school, you start lifting weights with the team I was in football from Texas, it's, it's the thing you know and so started very early lifting weights and then it just became something I really enjoyed because of the challenge that was presented to me. So I was not the strongest kid. I was, in fact, probably one of the weaker kids, even though I started earlier in the gym. I just was a weaker kid and so I liked the idea that I was forced to adapt and so, little bits at a time, I continued to spend more and more time in the gym and finally I took my first powerlifting meet in I think it was my freshman year A coach kind of just threw me into it, kind of forced me to. Hey, we're going to do this this weekend and you're going. I don't know what this is, but sure it sounds like fun. Um, I, I more wanted to hang out with friends on a Saturday, wake up early. I love that environment, and so it's just something I, you know, kind of brought me to the sport. And then I was able to be successful enough in that sport where I, you know, very I don't know, my sophomore year. So I was, I started benching like 405 pounds and I started, you know, squatting some good weight and I ended up qualifying.
Speaker 2:I found somebody else outside of the high school system, uh, and I was educated by this gentleman named Preston Turner. I will always be thankful and grateful to Preston. He recommended I go ahead and look for, you know, usapl powerlifting, and that's that was the road to go to the IPF at the time, and so the International Powerlifting Federation is through the IOC, so the International Olympic Committee, so that was the way I was suggested to go, and then I, you know, qualified to go to Hungary and compete at my first, you know Team USA competition and it was an amazing experience. People that told me, you know you're never going to be successful. I had people travel and go watch me to compete on the stage, and I then represented the teams a couple more times at several different international meets. And here we are today preparing to come back. I retired in 2017. I went to Worlds, did really really well, got a couple of gold medals, and then now we're going to go ahead and start competing yet again.
Speaker 1:What's the next step for you?
Speaker 2:The next step is to go back and compete. Man, I haven't been on a real good program in a while. I've been relying on other people to help me with that programming. I think that, as a as a coach, I I like to show it for my clients and you know I you would understand like you, you get it, you want to, you want to be there, right? They've they've asked you for help and you want to show up for them. And I've had multiple um experiences where that wasn't necessarily what was provided and that was kind of unfortunate for me.
Speaker 2:Different sports I wanted to get into CrossFit, reached out to a couple different CrossFit athlete coaches and it just didn't happen and people just continued to kick the ball around and so I was like all right, well, I'm tired of waiting for somebody else to help me be successful. I got to take this into my own hands and I am a coach so I can go ahead and write a program. I'm pretty good at this thing, so I'm writing my own programs. And, dan, I did my first like week this last week, and I was like this is what I do for clients, like this is one both very challenging but at the same time, so relieving, you know, so relaxing, like you give someone hey, this is the roadmap. You just got to show up, do the roadmap and you'll be successful. Like, oh my God, like, the things that we do for our clients is like, I think, the coolest thing in the world.
Speaker 1:What do we say in the beginning?
Speaker 2:Discipline over motivation, right? So the program being laid out for you, it's less thinking work. So your cool downs are all programmed there for you. Just got to show up, do the thing and then you can go have a good meal and then do it all again in two days. You know like it feels so good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, something I've always pondered was the powerlifting realm. Like I that were, didn't, I'll go deadlift for fun, bench for fun, that's about it. And squat, squat's horrible. Never watched my squat.
Speaker 2:Squatting so hard, man. I mean, it wasn't until, like, I think, 2017 where I finally felt like, oh man, I feel like I'm getting the idea of how to squat. Like it takes so so long to get comfortable. Be consistent, I think you know that you have those three, those three fundamental movements, and you like okay, so we have the push, the hinge, the pull and the squat right, those are our four fundamental movements in life. I like to add rotation in there as another one that they don't really talk about as much, but you have you get to hit all of those with those three core fundamental movements, and so I think everybody should do those things because I think they're fun, they're valuable. You know you can have a lot. There's a lot of variation inside of them. It keeps you coming to the gym, constant goal setting, like there's a lot of value in having those three movements in your life, you know oh, I totally agree.
Speaker 1:I think every single human being and I'm even talking to my 85 90 year old client should be deadlifting. It's what you do every day, all day, picking things off the ground. You don't want to throw your back out because you don't have proper hinge technique exactly yeah, man, and what I have, one of my ladies, um, she's 60 years old.
Speaker 2:When we first started she was like, man, I, I want to stay on the on the machines. Can you teach how to use them? That'd be great. I was like, yeah, yeah, we'll start there. And then we, you know, we did a couple machines and I was like, okay, but there's a better way to do this. And she's like, wait what? I was like, yeah, yeah, we could go try these things. We started off with dumbbells and now she's deadlifting 185 pounds. She's looking good, she's added weight to her body. She's you know, all of her numbers are better. Like it's just the coolest thing to see.
Speaker 1:You are no more than me. What's the goal you should hit for telling someone hey, this is the average strength, so example is is how much weight should you be able to deadlift based upon your body weight? Same with bench, same with squat. What's a good median goal for the general public?
Speaker 2:I would say general public would be. I think that there's a rule behind it and then there's what it bent things, and so I think that the rule is two times your squat, and I think that if you can squat your body weight in pounds, then you are doing probably better than most people. So, um, the general rule is two times, I would say one, um, benching your body weight is another. Uh, that's supposed to be one times your body weight. Uh, I would probably agree, and it's a long road to get there. To be honest, with you Benching one, it's hard, it never goes up, it takes forever. So I would probably say I think the key is you have to do it more often.
Speaker 2:If you're benching two, three days a week like that, I think that does really well. If you make sure, like, one of those days is a technique day, One of those days is a technique day. One of those days is a is a heavy day. One of those days, um, maybe, is a is a variation, like a pause or a tempo or something like that. I feel like that's what I've seen to be the most successful for most of my clients. So about one times is the rule and I think um 75% to one time is pretty, probably pretty good. Uh, and then deadlift. They say two to two and a half times, which I would probably kind of stick with. Two, two and a half times Body weight is probably a pretty good number.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you had to break all three down, which would be the one you'd recommend people start with?
Speaker 2:Ooh, that's a good question there, sir. Ooh, that's a good question. If I had to recommend somebody start with something, I would probably man. I think deadlifting is probably the most encouraging and so I would probably say deadlift. But I think for the long-term benefit of having you know spinal loading, I would probably say you want to be able to be able to squat with a bar on your back. Pretty well, now, not everybody can and there's a lot of herniated discs that exist and a lot of surgeries, and so that's kind of my hesitation there. But I would say probably deadlift and then, if you can, a back squat. Those would be cool, good question.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree with you. My opinion would be deadlift right off the bat people just don't load their posterior chain.
Speaker 1:So that's for people listening, that's the back side of your body and we're very anterior, front forward individuals. So we're sitting at a computer, we're slouched forward where it's like our postures are just seized. Basically, at this point, when you look around, especially if you go to high school, every single person's like leaning forward. We carry things, we lean forward. So really making sure we work those muscles on the backside to bring everything upright and together, that would be my opinion, but it's such an opinionated question.
Speaker 2:You're not wrong. But hey, it's your show, so you can have your opinion all you want. Who gives a fuck? Exactly?
Speaker 1:That was the promise this year Unfiltered opinion. I don't give a shit if you agree with me, so love the 2025. Ben, I know you host your own show. You have over 100 episodes out. I was scrolling through a bunch of them and I recognized a lot of the guests you had on and I was like, oh, we've had them, them, them, them. So I want to get your opinion because, for those that have listened to my show for the last five years, it's what's the biggest takeaway After being a host and having 100 guests sitting in front of you listening, what's that one thing you keep going back to over and over again that resonates throughout all your guests.
Speaker 2:I think that there are a lot of similarities among people who either want to achieve, or have achieved, success, and that is it started off really well our podcast. It is being able to show up consistently and being able to have something that you can focus on, that you truly are passionate about, something you truly love, even if it's like a pivot off of the thing, like for me. You know, I just wanted to be with friends and then that led me into being in powerlifting, and then being in powerlifting led me to a undergraduate degree, research and a master's degree, but it all started off because I just wanted to hang out with my friends. So there's something that you are doing that you love, that you can pivot into something that is quote, unquote, unquote successful in however you deem that success. So being able to show up, being able to find that thing and being able to have the right people around you is a massive multiplier.
Speaker 2:If you have good people, you're able to do things that you never would have thought possible. People that either encourage you to do to go far or it's, you know, people that just can give you a little bit of support, or the people that tell you, hey, you can't do this. And then you're like you know what man? I'm going to go ahead and prove it to you, you know. But we need people in our lives and that could be a spouse. That can be, you know, that can be your personal trainer, that can be your, your banker, your, your whatever you like.
Speaker 1:We all need a team and, uh, I think having the team is is a multiplier. Those are probably three, three of my main takeaways. All right, so just uh, break it down. First thing, we said the beginning show amazing, just show up, get it done and doing things when you don't want to do them, and that really is the biggest difference for everybody. And then I think the biggest one is surrounding yourself with people, and it's something we've talked about on the show and one of my we just put like some crazy January 1st thing up, I think last year I put you can easily change your life, just surrounding yourself with different people. Stop making excuses, and I full-heartedly believe in that.
Speaker 1:But I want to take that a step further because it's something I learned it's not necessarily the five people you spend the most time with that are there, so like, not physically there, but it's the five people you spend the most time with that you can observe from outside sources. So a great example is if you're listening to someone else's podcast, right, you want to get healthier. You could spend more time with me by listening to my show. I don't have to be there, but it's now. I'm listening to Anthony talk about health and fitness way more than listening to anybody else. So having that extra component added onto it makes it so you don't have to be like I have to give up all my family, all my friends. It's hey, let me just introduce something else. Let me introduce, like for me, business podcasts like these people into my life that are more successful than I am, so I can level up to them.
Speaker 2:They're not here, but I'm taking it a step further if that makes sense to you it's, it's brain food, and you get to choose those five maybe resources that you're pulling that food from. And so if it is business people, it's fitness people, it's whatever you want to choose to grow in, you can find a podcast for it, you can find a book on it and you can consume that thing that ultimately will change who you are. So I think that there's a lot of value in that and the fact that we have this opportunity to be online and have access to somebody who's an expert in fitness like you, like come on, like what an opportunity. You know people that bring that. You're bringing other people on that have other expertise like you're giving people an opportunity to have good brain food, and that's highly valuable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then what was the third thing you mentioned? Food, and that's highly valuable. Yeah, and then what was the third thing you mentioned?
Speaker 2:So the second thing was it was being able to find good people around you, and then discipline. And there was another one and I forgot it.
Speaker 1:If you remember what it was, comment on the show below. Be like hey guys, this is what it was. We'll jump back to it later, Because we're both on the same page right now. We're like yeah I got it.
Speaker 2:That's the important part.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hell, yeah. So I I love that and what I'm taking a step further for just a summary of your guest right, I know you talk a lot about different things on your show. Your show is way more a broad spectrum than Ours is specific to health and fitness, but for all of those that have been in the health and fitness realm on your show, what's one of the biggest things you've learned that can help change someone's goal towards health? So is there a specific type of habit or a specific time to change in diet that you heard on your show? You're like, wow, that's amazing. We need to implement this now in our lives to get healthier.
Speaker 2:I really like the sauna. That's probably like and I think maybe I don't know if that's because it's my most recent episode, but it's like or one of my most recent episodes but having the sauna inside your house is such a, such an added value and I use it consistently. I was sick just last week and I got into the sauna and I I was sick for two days and I have a friend who got almost pretty much the same thing. He's still sick and it's been like a week and a half and so like, um, now we are different ages and different diets and different lifestyles, but, um, I think being able to have the sauna access is massively valuable. Able to have the sauna access is massively valuable.
Speaker 2:And even if you're not doing anything else, like if you're going to do 15 minutes, 20 minutes in sauna, there's a lot of research behind. You know the misfolding of proteins and how a heat shock protein works. I'm not going to bore you guys with what that science is, but there's a lot of value there and so I mean I'm going to do it for the rest of my life and I would probably encourage anybody and everybody to do it as well. We're definitely a little more broad on our podcast, but we're also trying to focus a little more on the fitness and health on our last several. So, like our last 15, probably the last 10 are going to be more health and fitness for sure.
Speaker 1:Hey, nothing wrong with it. Nothing wrong with it, man. You get 280 episodes into health and fitness. You start running out of topics. That's fair.
Speaker 2:That was my fear, to be honest with you, I was like I don't want to just beat a dead horse. I feel like fitness is almost, to some degree, you find what you like, and for you that might be deadlifting, for somebody else that might be rowing, and ultimately, as long as both of you keep on showing up, you're going to ultimately have the goal that you're looking for, which is to be healthier. Right, we just want to live longer, we want to be able to prevent injury, we want to be able to get up when we're 60 or 70 years old. Like it. You can choose any variation of health and fitness that you want. It's just being able to do it consistently.
Speaker 2:And then I think that people overcomplicate a lot of it. It's like do you really need to, you know, follow the keto diet versus the carnivore diet? No, like, follow whatever the fuck fits for you. Like what if I absolutely hate the carnivore diet, I do it for three months and then I'm back to what I was doing before. Like this yo-yo dieting isn't any better. And so like find a lifestyle that ultimately just fits for you and for some people that includes alcohol, for some people that doesn't include alcohol. Now there's, you know, there's general boundaries and rules that we should probably, but like, don't get beat up getting drunk every night, right, but like, keep it simple, stupid, like it's, it's. It's such a good phrase that I think that the fitness industry is just so overrun with like, well, eggs are bad for you, and then, two years later, eggs are good for you, and then cholesterol is bad, and it's just like god, like anything too much of anything sucks, like get over it, you know god, if eggs end up being bad for you, man, I'm screwed yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It's just it's just noise, man. It's social media, it's clicks, like it's just there's no way. Like half of the shit that I do is just like well, that was bad 10 years ago. It's like women weren't even a lot like, not even like the. The perspective of a lady, even lifting the gym, you know, 30, 40 years ago, was like taboo. Uh, versus it's like that. That's the thing it's like. Yeah, lifting weights also helps women, weird.
Speaker 1:I love watching we get a lot more women hopping into powerlifting. Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:It is so cool. I think it's really changed the game for women overall in in the space and I like it. For me, I feel like I see more women consistently showing up to the gym sometimes than dudes, like dudes are just like, oh, I'm just gonna bench all the time, versus the ladies like, uh, maybe she wants to squat more and do more booty workouts or whatever, but she's still benching. You know, like she's still squatting and deadlifting, uh, and it's. I think it's the, it's the coolest game change that's happened. If I feel like, if I look in the gym, a lot of times there's more women than there are men and I think it's like come on, bros, like let's get into the gym, you got to keep up.
Speaker 1:We did a we every January. We're like run through a synopsis of our clients and we're at a 70, 30 now. Men, women to men yeah, business, I was thinking it's going to be like 90 10, right? Personal training very tapu for men. Women are more likely to ask for help than a guy, is it's just true. Yeah, but you're seeing some men hop into it and do it, but they're still like that disconnect like I. I can just go to Planet Fitness or LA and show up and do my workout and they end up just benching twice and leaving or they just think that it's more okay for them to not work out Like you see a lot more.
Speaker 1:This is my favorite thing. I don't know if you're married, have kids, but my entire life because I've been in this realm for a long time my clients have said wait till you get married, you're going to see that it's all going to change and things are going to be different and you're not going to be able to look like that. Then I got married three years ago and then it was wait till you have a kid. You're not going to have time to do this. Yeah, I have a two-month-old. It's way harder, don't get me wrong, but I can still watch what I. I'm like it just damn right the excuses, guys. It's just it's getting old. Pop belly is not fun. No one likes it, it ain't good for you. So how do we speak to men directly to say hey, it's okay to ask for help. You're a freaking olympian and you will hire coaches to listen to you, right?
Speaker 2:hell, yeah, dude, I feel like getting coaching is like the best thing that you can ever do, like, and yes, sure, I'm like to some degree, yes, I'm a coach and so I believe it. Yes, but as an athlete, like having a different perspective to look at my squat and say, hey, actually I think maybe this variation would be better for you long-term. Like, oh shit, maybe I didn didn't, maybe I've never been exposed to that variation, maybe I have and I just haven't incorporated because I hate doing it, because I suck at it, and but like, somebody else is going to write it on the program, like, well, that that's what I'm paying for and that's that's kind of what I'm doing today. It is what it is, um, and so you, just you have a third party that's looking at you as as, like you're, they're not successful if you're not successful. And so like if I have a client and they're doing and they're lifting, like that's my fault and so like it's not in anybody's best interest to have you not lifting well and not being successful. And like having somebody in your team you not lifting well and not being successful. And like having somebody in your team in your corner every like. I don't know, like some people allow 24-hour texting, right, some people like depends on their, your coach or whatever. But like you have somebody who's constantly in your corner, like you can see weekly, get out of here, like where else do you get that in life?
Speaker 2:Like you don't get that and you go, you show up to work and you're just expected to work and you're not congratulated. It's just like you show up and you do your job and that's great, that's fine, whatever. But it's also at this, like you working on you, you like, if you know you're showing up to be better and you're improving and you're looking at new Google drives and like you still want that, like you know that that, that, like validation that man I'm like the work that I'm doing is being recognized. Like that, like validation that man I'm like the work that I'm doing is being recognized. Like your works that you're doing inside of the gym will be recognized by somebody else, and so or you know that. Okay, that's one mentality.
Speaker 2:The other mentality is just some accountability. Like man, I've been consistent for three months and then I always fall off. I'm consistent for three months and then I fall off. Well then, just hire a coach and then you're not given that opportunity to take a break. Like those breaks are calculated, they're specific to you Like. And then you can also like hey man, my coach, I am not feeling well today, or whatever. And then that person, if they're a good coach, they'll make those adjustments for your program and like either you are showing up and you're just doing 50% of what you were supposed to do, or you know you're you're just skipping a week cause you need to deload.
Speaker 2:Like you have somebody who's there as just your professional like advice individual for for health and fitness, and there's a better way to say that. But it is what it is. So like, uh, I can just I can't emphasize more like the best coaches in the world have coaches. You know. Like the the best athletes in the world have coaches. You know like it comes in the world, have coaches. You know like it comes. Like what do you do? Why do you think that you're any better than the person who's getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars to go play basketball, football or whatever? They have coaches. You think you're better Get out of here. Like, come on, come on.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you had a coach for each specific type of thing you were doing come on, I'm sure you had a coach for each specific type of thing you were doing 100. Like I've had business coaches, I've had, uh, health and fitness coaches, I've had power lifting coaches, I've had crossfit coaches. Like I need help. I don't know everything and I don't want to know everything. Like what a terrible life you're like. I want to know what I know and then be able to help. Like ask others for help to make my life better. Like it's the most bougie thing. And I think in the fucking world, like you can pay somebody else for their expertise. You pay a CPA, you pay an attorney. Go pay a coach. Like there's no difference, you know. Like good coaches are that well-educated?
Speaker 1:and like go get a good coach and you can learn from it. And right, that's the. I love this quote I heard on. I'm going to butcher it crazy, but whatever you'll get the point of it, the one thing people can't take away from you is what you learn. So you can start a business. You can start a health and fitness program and you can fail at it. You can go bankrupt, you can end up broke Like life just punches you in the face, but you learned something, so therefore you can get back there way quicker. Just spend the time and money to learn. I love that.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love it, but it's okay. But we get the idea Like there's so much, like you get to hold on to that one thing, like they can take away your house, they can take away your, your, you know your car, if you get repo, they can take you know all these other things. But you know they can't take away the things that are inside your head and like, if you really do good, do a good job reading and learning and using, like having mentors and having people around you that that are living maybe the life you want, maybe a piece of the life that you want, um, maybe they're super good at fitness but they're broke. Well, you know, maybe, maybe there's maybe another coach, uh or um, you can learn from that specific thing. Like I want to learn health and fitness from this person. Like you can, you can find that person and then, like you take that with you for the rest of your life how valuable you know You're not just paying for that moment.
Speaker 1:You're paying for the benefits for the rest of your life. Mic drop no, that's a great way to wrap it up. But anyway, ben, I do want to start wrapping this show up. So, first question I'm going to ask you and I want you to take this a step further this I usually ask summarize episode in one sentence.
Speaker 2:Summarize your podcast topic wise, like your takeaways from your podcast, in one or two sentences in regards to topics, my, these are my three and these are what I've been saying for a long time. So my podcast focuses on health, fitness and entrepreneurship. Everybody has a road to health and fitness, and I think that the tools and skills that are learned in the gym are transferable to every part of our lives. And so, yes, there's a wide range of individuals, but most of those people I've met through the gym, most of those people I've met through health and fitness, I competed for Team USA with them. I, you know, have done whatever, but everybody has a path through health and fitness, and the transferable skills that you'll get from there will make you an infinitely better human long term.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that, couldn't agree more. And the second question how can people find you get a hold of you learn?
Speaker 2:more. So my podcast name is Ben Thinking, just like it sounds. My first name is Ben. So Ben Thinking. And you guys can also find me on Instagram at Ben Navarro. If you're watching on video then it says it right there Navarro, n-e-v-a-r-r-o-s. And then, yeah, go listen to the podcast. And then IEHealthco. You guys already have probably a pretty good coach here with Anthony, but if you guys are ever just want to have a conversation, you guys can always reach out at IE health dot C.
Speaker 1:Oh, love it, Ben. Thank you for coming on. Thank you guys for listening this week's episode of health and fitness redefined. Don't forget to share this show. Subscribe. It's the only way we grow. Thank you guys, so much for listening. Don't forget fitness and medicine. Until next time We'll be right back Outro Music.
