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How Hollywood Stars Get In Shape with Don Saladino - E28
39 Plays9 months ago
Are you looking to transform your body? Do you want to get fitter, stronger and live a healthier lifestyle? Then who better to take advice from than Hollywood's go-to fitness guru? Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or just curious about how your favorite action stars get into jaw-dropping shape, this episode pulls back the curtain on the methods of one of the most trusted names in celebrity fitness transformation. You'll learn about the importance of muscle maintenance, the right diet, and why building healthy habits all round is key to not only looking, but also feeling your best.
Don Saladino is a fitness coach for the stars, with 26 years of experience under his belt. Cutting his teeth as a collegiate baseball player, Don's obsession with fitness quickly transformed him into the go-to guy for getting in shape, strong and living a healthier lifestyle. Over the years, he has transitioned into an entrepreneurial role within the fitness industry, creating and leading successful training programs. He has trained some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds, Captain America's Sebastian Stan and Gossip Girl's Blake Lively. Regularly featuring in publications such as Men's Health, and Muscle & Fitness, as well as doing live fitness demos on The Today Show, Good Morning America and E News, Don has become a household name to celebrities and more.
“I believe the best way to detox the body is not through starving it, it's through nutrition.” - Don Saladino
In this episode you will learn:
- How Don's personal journey from athlete to fitness entrepreneur began and evolved, including his motivations and early influences.
- The significance of developing muscle for longevity and overall health, and why it's essential to focus on muscle maintenance as we age.
- Don’s training and nutrition philosophy, including detailed insights into his daily routines, workout structure, and how he integrates recovery techniques.
- The importance of mindset and discipline in achieving long-term health goals, and how Don approaches goal setting and motivation.
- The role of social connection and community in overall well-being, as emphasized through Don’s experiences in creating supportive fitness environments.
- Practical strategies for beginners to get started on their health journey, focusing on incremental changes and building sustainable habits for lasting impact.
Resources
- Connect with Don on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donsaladino/
- Join Don’s programs and see what he has to offer: https://donsaladino.com/
- Shop all the products Don mentions in the episode: https://alively.com/products/don-saladino
This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:
https://www.zapods.com
Find the products, practices, and routines discussed on the Alively website:
https://alively.com/
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Transcript
Emotional Impact of Pandemic
00:00:00
Speaker
There's a pane of glass separating my mom and dad right now. They were emotional. It got me emotional. I get emotional even thinking about it right now. It's like to remove that connection, the ability to hug someone and feel their skin and and be in their presence. That was something we all lost for a period of time. And you know what? We didn't know when we were getting it back. So at that time, I launched something that allowed people who didn't have that connection to connect with others.
Introduction to Podcast and Guest
00:00:30
Speaker
This is the Home of Health spam podcast, where we profile health and wellness role models, sharing their stories and the tools, practices and routines they use to live a lively life.
00:00:44
Speaker
Don, it is great to see you again after eudaimonia. I have to say I was feeling really good about myself one morning before a workout with you, heading to the gym at 6.30 and then you were on your way out. I was like, man, there's this other level, like there's this whole other level before we jump into you
Don's Fitness Journey
00:01:02
Speaker
and everything you do. How would you describe yourself?
00:01:05
Speaker
I would describe myself. I am a lively first off coach. That's where, that's where my business, that's where my career started. I've been coaching 26 years now. Definitely become somewhat of an entrepreneur in the, in the business of fitness. So I never liked saying that cause it sounds like very like whatever, but um yeah, it's, it's the reality of it. Branding, marketing, all that stuff in fitness has been something I'd become passionate about, but I love helping companies out and I love helping out people.
00:01:32
Speaker
Yeah, and I think for anyone who hasn't gotten to do a workout with Don, that becomes immediately apparent, spending just a minute or two with you, and remembering the first workout.
00:01:44
Speaker
You were talking about your program, and a lady was like, yeah, I'm in it. And you're like, don't I respond to every message you send? It is about that impact, but which is inspiring. So what got you into that in the first place? I was a collegiate baseball player, um played at Sacred Heart University. I had a grade four years there. Started for three years. It was a small Division I program, but loved it. And obviously, like every other athlete has aspirations on playing beyond that.
00:02:10
Speaker
But while I was in college, I almost felt like I was majoring in business while playing baseball, but minoring in fitness, nutrition, training. When I didn't even really know this existed out there, I was training for sport, but I was also training because it made me feel a certain way. So I absolutely loved it and um became just somewhat obsessed over it. Like almost became known the guy as the guy at my university where like everyone was actually actually asking me the questions, not the strength in conditioning coaches. and um It was funny, even my collegiate coach who Nick and Gia Quinto, who I actually just saw this summer, um he won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins, a football player, but a baseball coach.
Career Choices Post-College
00:02:52
Speaker
And I remember him looking at me at one point and we had like a team workout and he's like, just don't.
00:02:58
Speaker
just do your own thing. Like the guys don't want to work out with you type of thing. Like we're, we're theyre doing their thing. You could just go do your own thing. And I laughed and I was like, okay, that's, that's great. Thinking back on it now, I'm kind of like, well, is that not good? You know, I was, so I was a captain. So was that not a good thing? but But what I, what I realized is that, you know, coach, just the guys were just scared to work out with me. And they just didn't want to, like, they knew if I was in there, I was going to push them at a certain level. And coaches just like, just do your own thing, which is, I think, a much different approach than most coaches would take. But listen, it worked for the team, and I had a great relationship with them. But when I graduated, um and I was thinking about where my career is going to go, I graduated with a degree in business. um I worked at a catering hall for 10 years of my life, so I really understood customer service. And I was obsessed with nutrition supplementation training.
00:03:47
Speaker
You know, I just had a simple conversation with my mom and she's like, aren't there these trainers out there? And I'm like, ah yeah, they don't make money. And she's like, yeah don't worry about the money. Just, you know, you're going to figure it out and you'll create something and you're going to be great at what it is you do. And you know, now 26 years, 26 years later, here we are.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'd love to step back into that because we're we're similar age. And I was division one swimmer. And at least where I was, and even some of the other programs I did, it was just swimming was just grinding, right? There wasn't much technique. there There wasn't much thought on the streak of training. It was just hours in the pool, getting the origin. And there wasn't thought like we didn't have nutritional coach. We didn't know anything about it. Right. So what was it that made you realize hey there may be more science or maybe better things on this fitness side
Fitness Misconceptions and Learning
00:04:36
Speaker
that i can unlock levels that aren't available if every day because every day i was finding out new things
00:04:42
Speaker
You know, and I think back, you know, to before I was became professional at this and I started working out when I was 16 and, you know, I'm just lifting weights. Then at that time, I remember I was, um, I was a pitcher in high school, but, you know, went off to be a hit, you know, played, uh, played outfield in college. And I remember I didn't want to do arms because I thought that was going to mess my elbow up, right? Like there's just you know misconceptions that you have. And I didn't know where I remember a buddy looking at me being like, come on, man, we got to get our protein. And and I was like, what's that? He's like, you know, and he explained it to me. I'm 16.
00:05:12
Speaker
like I'm like, oh great, where are we going to go get that? And he's like, let's go to the pizza joint. They had meatballs there. I'm like, great. So we went we got pasta and meatballs. And the next thing you know, you're at that time, you're like, well, egg whites, great source of protein. you know Eat your egg whites. And then it's like, well, the yolk's good. right it's your Your amino acid profile improves so much with the yolk and you good fats, et cetera. And it was just every day just became this life quest where I surrounded myself with a lot of people who knew a lot. I became the sponge where I just wanted to speak to people and train with people. If you were a healthy cook, I wanted to sit there and listen to and look at how you prepare things and how you meal prep. Like it just every day and to this day, I'm as excited now to learn and to speak to people as I've ever been. And, you know, I've got a lot of hours under my belt at this point.
00:06:04
Speaker
I got a lot of businesses that I'm a part of or I've started, and I think it's fun. But my training is as serious now as it's ever been. And I'm not saying it's more serious than I was when I was 25. No, it's as serious. It really is. like I approach sets like I did when I'm 25. There are things I do differently now with recovery, and there are things I'm thinking about differently with sleep.
00:06:25
Speaker
And if I feel like my body's not catching up, what do I
Balancing Life and Fitness
00:06:28
Speaker
do? Back then, when you're 25, you're just like, you'd be sore as shit walking around, like hobbling across Broadway. And you're like, oh my God, I'm dying. And the next day, you're like, oh, I feel great. you know If I train that hard, which I like to train hard, it's not you know one or two days. It's five or six days. and those And that you got to be careful about. So yeah, I think that's where I fell in love with this. This was a profession for me. I really felt like you can control so much.
00:06:53
Speaker
right Like the more you learn and the more attention you put to detail here, um the better position you're going to be in, right? Most most of the time. like you can You can go and prepare and hit the batting cage for 10 hours a day. You still strike out. It's still going to happen. But with what I'm doing now, I feel like, well, the more prepared I am with my nutrition and my training and my sleep, like good things are going to happen. Granted, you know, tragedies hit and and things happen. And know I've lost a bunch of people in my life. And when that happens, it's abrupt. And yeah, you got to you got to downshift and learn how to, you know, acclimate and you got to be malleable. But all in all, and like, that's one of the reasons why I was so passionate, became so passionate about this at ah at a young age. You talked about your training now is as intense as when you were 25
00:07:39
Speaker
But I imagine maybe the goals behind it could be different. What would you say your goals now are when it comes to your health? like What are your objectives? Well, ironically, the goal isn't to put on muscle at all costs, right?
00:07:54
Speaker
um I am not interested in being 240 pounds. I'm six foot one, I'm 215 pounds. you know My body fat's really low all year long, but um the goal is still muscle. like Let me be very clear about that. like How do I stay as lean as possible while I'm putting on muscle? and While I'm doing that, how is my energy high and how can I move?
00:08:13
Speaker
and how can I wake up and how can
Muscle Maintenance and Health
00:08:16
Speaker
I feel good? And how can I have high levels of energy? Like I had a hockey game at 7 a.m. this morning, right? I play, you know, outdoor hockey this time of year, three, four days a week, right? So, you know, and I'm lifting, I have like four primary lift days a week right now. I'll have two lower, I'll have two upper.
00:08:31
Speaker
I cut the volume down a bunch, but I'm still training hard and I'm still trying to get stronger right now. And I'm still, you know, I got to think about my meals, I prep, I um i measure macros. These are things that I've always done. um but the But the goal, I i always think muscle.
00:08:48
Speaker
is something that you know we should always be trying to achieve. If you're if you lose muscle, that's like you know getting rid of your 401k plan. right that's that's Muscle is something that is our ah that's our body armor. Muscle is our future. you know but Muscle is what's going to help protect us and prepare us and and help and allow our metabolism to you know potentially be efficient. and you know I think people um undervalue the importance of muscle they think a muscle is like a bodybuilder sitting here flexing and unable to move. I'm like, no, like muscles, the guy who's 215 pounds with single digit body fat that can run through a wall and it can get up and and and be strong and feel good. and and
00:09:30
Speaker
you know that's muscle the right way. Let's just put it that way. I mean, and for bodybuilders, I don't want to say it's the wrong way. Please don't get that twisted here. It's like, that's their job and that's what they're doing. But for me, um there's a functionality component to the way that I move and the way that I feel and the things that I want to do in life that, you know, I have to just, you know, treat my body a bit differently than most.
00:09:52
Speaker
I think you bring up a good point in that like the specific motion of pitching may not be universal and getting the perfect peak on your biceps, not universal, but the need for muscle.
00:10:06
Speaker
increases with age. And you know, one of the workouts we did was with Dr. Lyon, who's forever strong, like very much around how important this is, especially for older adults. And so it's it's not just an aesthetic thing, right? Like this is for why do we want to we're all getting, but we're all getting older. You know, we're all our bone density statistically might start declining, our muscle is going to start declining. Why do we want to give up on that?
00:10:31
Speaker
Why do we want to lose that? Like I was, like I got out of the DEXA scan right before Thanksgiving and you know, I saw that my numbers over a certain period of time, I put muscle on like I'm,
Tracking Progress with Technology
00:10:42
Speaker
that's great. And there are times in my training and my career where I've lost muscle because maybe nutritionally I'm eating great.
00:10:49
Speaker
But I'm not eating enough of what it is that I need. And maybe because of work and stress, I'm not recovering the way that I need. Or maybe my volume is too high. And I think it is, like, if you want to be that specific about it and you're that concerned, I think, you know, measuring specific things and giving yourself quantifiable numbers that you know now, ah now know how to adjust.
00:11:11
Speaker
For me, that's that's that's important. I've turned around and i've i've you know for four or five months. been Training's been great. Nutrition's been great. I've found out that I've lost some muscle. I'm like, well why? and I've spent my career looking at this. and but but But the average Joe out there, they're they're not going to know these things. They're they're not going to understand. and They're just like, Oh, no, I eat well, I eat my protein and I eat my vegetables. And, you know, I have my sweet potato. And, you know, I exercise and I do all these things. And that's awesome. And that works for many people. But for someone like me, getting that additional data is just helpful. And it's fun for me. It's what I enjoy doing. It's not what I'm telling everyone they should do. But this is, um, it's a way of me gamifying things. And it's, um, it keeps things fun. And it keeps me, you know, working towards a goal.
00:12:01
Speaker
and It's also difficult to know if you don't have a way of keeping score. You have no idea if you're on the right track, if what you're doing is effective or not. so You mentioned a DEXA scan. What else do you do that tracks? What one other things do you use? not i mean listen's've I've done every way of measuring body fat. I'm not even going to tell you that DEXA is the most accurate. I think everything is a bit flawed, to be honest. i but I've been able to manipulate in bodies. I still have skin
Personalized Fitness Approach
00:12:28
Speaker
calipers at my desk. I've done hydrostatic weighing. I've done bioelectrical impedance machines. I've tried it on. i've I've done it all. It's like my recommendation is if you're going to use one way of measuring. Use that one way of measuring. If someone's going to test, make sure you're going back to that same person to test.
00:12:44
Speaker
Use it as data to be able to make good decisions, but don't use it if you're going to obsess and lose sleep over it. you know like The example is I have a friend recently. I love Ora Ring. I've been a part of the company for a long time. And he um turned around. He's like, I want to get an Ora. I'm just like, OK. So he gets an Ora. And I'm like, how do you sleep, by the way? He's like, unbelievable.
00:13:06
Speaker
I was like, wow. He's like, no, I seriously unbelievable. Just before he put the aura on and I'm like, well, what's your sleep like? He goes, Don, my head hits the pillow at nine and I wake up at six. I don't even use the bathroom. And I'm like sitting there like salivating. Oh my God. How nice was that big? And then he puts an aura on his finger and he starts thinking about the numbers too much. And now he starts waking up.
00:13:28
Speaker
calls me up, he's like, what do I do? I'm like, gives you or to your partner. And like, you're like, it's just, you're the one person that I don't recommend it for. it Like, you don't like, and I love it. And I and i use it. And there's so much great data that I get from it. But like, not everything is for everyone. And I think it's very easy to sit here and listen to me and go, well, that's you know Don's a little hardcore about this. It's how I want to live. It's what I love. It's it's what do i it's what I enjoy doing. and um i like and Trust me, I have my late nights. My son and I were at UFC a few weeks ago. I didn't get home until 3 in the morning. I'm resilient.
00:14:01
Speaker
felt tired the next day, bounce back, got a good night's sleep. Monday night was back on track, right? I'm not talking about the occasional night, but you know, I like being in bed early and I like just getting up and getting my nutrition and getting some work done and training. Like there's a very monotonous tone to the way that I like to live daily and, um, but there's other exciting things in there. You know, there's travel and there's family and there's all this other stuff, but you know, I feel like when you're, when I'm home, I can prepare for those times.
00:14:30
Speaker
I mean, it's a freedom in discipline. If you're getting 80 to 90% of it locked in, I'm doing all the right stuff. You have the flexibility without really damaging your health. Exactly. Totally agree with you there. So your your training schedule now, it sounded like you have four wait days to everybody, two lower, and then you're playing hockey three or four times. So yeah, so I have two up right now. I have two up or I have two lower. I have an accessory day, which is really more like mobility, abs, hockey right now. This week it's Tuesday.
00:14:59
Speaker
It's only Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, but I got to look at my schedule weekly because if there's a day that gets cut back, sometimes it is an extra, an extra, but I'm really trying to keep it to three. But um I might throw a steady state day in there more for recovery, more like a zone two day, or if it gets cut down and I have the opportunity, maybe it's a rain day where we can't get out of the ice.
Training and Recovery Methods
00:15:18
Speaker
I might put in some really, I might do some steady state into some structured intervals because I find that like I can get into higher zones that I can't get into in hockey because, you know, hockey's A lot of stop go but it's also a lot of playing positions and and not always you know going all out i find that my interval work i can push a lot harder than hockey because it's not like every thirty seconds we're going again like who knows when we're going again depends on the play.
00:15:43
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think um ah week by week right now with the cardio component, that's kind of what has to adjust a bit according to my schedule and according to my energy. But the but the resistance training piece, yeah, it's it's been um um my body feels great.
00:16:00
Speaker
And on each of those, so the resistance training, is that mostly kettlebells, dumbbells? bar No, it's probably all the above. It is structured. You know, Monday right now is ah lower. It's more of a squat day. um Thursdays, ah more of a deadlift day. I've been doing a lot of deficit deadlifts lately.
00:16:17
Speaker
When you say deficit deadlift, like you're on a platform and yeah i' a small, one inch, one inch. Yeah. I started the last four weeks with like a snatch grip deadlift, which you got to get a lot lower. And then this week it's a deficit on a conventional and I'll progress out of that. So I've been working a lot on deadlift technique and uh, that's feeling really good. So, and then I'll go into some additional legs Thursday. So we got that Monday, uh, Monday's more of your squat leg day and Thursday's more of your deadlift leg day. Tuesday's more of my,
00:16:44
Speaker
you know um Tuesday and Friday are both upper body days, but I might be more dominant with, say, horizontal pressing on Tuesday and more vertical pressing on Thursday, on Friday, but still you know mixing in some you know horizontal pressing on Friday as well. So they just kind of flip-flop a bit and making sure that I'm not you know hammering the living crap out of volume. But you know when I hit my sets, I'll do my warm-up or my feelers or whatever it is. And and if it just has two sets for an exercise, you know it's getting down to business. and getting in and out of that session. But I start every session with probably 10 to 15 minutes of mobility. So just kind of getting that body to floss a bit. And today, I had to go from hockey to work to training. So again, making sure I get those meals in. And um I know after hockey, what really has been helping me a lot. And it's funny because there's so much conflicting information on it, coal plunging, right? well don't do it after lifting because it's going to blunt hypertrophy. I'm like, okay, yeah no problem. It almost reminds me of microwaves, right? Like, but I've been doing it. You know, some people are were like, no, I use it and for convenience and I have to use it. And other people are like, I don't use it. I don't use microwaves because I just don't need to. And I'm like, well, whether there is or there isn't, I'm still going to just keep my food up on a skillet.
00:17:58
Speaker
Cold plunging for me after hockey has been one of the best things I think I've incorporated into my hockey regimen for, you know, I've been playing since I'm seven years old. So I think, you know, over the last probably five to 10 years, my hips would always get sore, was always stretching, was always doing the things I need to do. But I've been doing it now right after hockey and i I pretty much like hours later don't even feel like I played in the morning. So that itself has been big for me. Would I do it after lifting? No.
00:18:24
Speaker
um Three minutes, probably targeted a few days a week, whatever, um but it works great for me. There's a trade-off there, right? Like maybe it's hurting on the hypertrophy, but that's not why you're playing hockey in the first place. And if it's helping on the recovery to get you back on the ice and perform better, like that's a trade-off. You're saying, hey, I'm going in eyes wide open. 100%. Let me explain something. I've been doing cold plunging, not for a year, not for five years. I've been cold plunging for over 25 years.
00:18:50
Speaker
I started cold plunging in the city, I think at the Russian bathhouse yeah back in like 1999. Like I've been religious and I lived downtown. I've been religiously doing it then. I've been on the cover of Muscle Fitness three times in the last four or five years. I've been on over a dozen covers. My hypertrophy is just fine. it yeah I've seen carbs. I'm okay. like ah But that's why I'm saying it's like you you get these sports scientists and they run in a specific direction and you got to weigh things. What's more important to you?
00:19:19
Speaker
If I had to get on stage, well, my body feels like shit all the time. Am I going to start prioritizing this a little bit if it more if it works for me, but it's taking away from hypertrophy. Where do you prioritize things?
Responsible Health Advice
00:19:31
Speaker
yeah That is that is the idea the question. So, you know, I feel like it's ah it's irresponsible for a lot of professionals to come in and start bashing things that can be good for people. I heard a um ah biohacker recently turn around and talk about how ice cream is better. um how How oatmeal is worse for you than ice cream.
00:19:49
Speaker
and I was like, that's just irresponsible. like whole grains are gonna be worse yeah it's just It's the stupidest thing. but Whoa, it's going to spike your blood sugar level more than ice cream. I'm like, listen, you are irresponsible. I lost respect for this individual. I thought it was absolutely a terrible message. I thought it was terrible information.
00:20:07
Speaker
and um you have someone, you know, living in the Midwest who suddenly is like, Whoa, my doctor says I need more fiber. And now I'm having a couple votes every morning. And that's giving me an additional 10 grams of fiber. You're gonna tell him to eat ice cream now. Like seriously, like, but that's how powerful people are on the internet. And this is what people are exposed to. Like, it's not that the it's not the average consumer's job to know what's right and what's wrong out there. They're going to see the guy with their shirt off and go, wow, what does this person do? but And I think, guys, if someone's an influencer or they're a coach and they're two different things, you still have a responsibility to you know understand that people are watching. And the information you're giving can really set someone off on a tailspin. It's funny, the longer I'm in this profession now,
00:21:00
Speaker
it gets more difficult for me to answer questions. When someone asks me a question now, it's never this direct answer of like, do this, like, I have to fire back like three or four questions before to them, before I can even, you know, maybe point them in the right direction. Yeah. What are your goals? What are you already doing? Like, you you need to understand the way the land free can If I can just go on the the zone two and the interval side, do you have a modality preference or is it running? Is it a salt bike? Is it rowing? like What is it? i I do. I think more for my steady state, um I'll either run.
00:21:36
Speaker
I'll do incline walks high, like 15 degrees. And I might throw that in if I'm like a bit tired and I want to get moving. like Last night was a perfect example. It was 4 o'clock, had a long day, felt a little crappy, felt like I needed a sweat. 15 degrees, 3.5 miles per hour, Hari got to like 133, 135.
00:21:57
Speaker
I took a call on with someone I'm doing business with. I was on with him for like 35 minutes and dripping sweat, got off, got a great night's sleep. But like for me in that moment running, it was like with me playing this morning, I was almost like, eh, you know, body didn't feel 100%. I feel like that helps speed my recovery up a little bit more um while still giving me the effects of training that I needed without, you know, maybe getting my lower back into extension or then going and playing hockey today. So like incline walks, running.
00:22:25
Speaker
um I like the stairs for steady state. Those are probably the three modalities I use for set steady state. Interval training, sprinting, Versa climber. I haven't been using as much, but I have one here. Airdyne bike, I think it's like the lowest, it requires the lowest skill level. like I think that's the safest piece of equipment.
00:22:49
Speaker
I'm very rarely getting someone sprinting for intervals because it's such a skill set and you have to have this level of resiliency. And, um, I think this training age when it comes to running, like it's all, I haven't ran in 10 years. Let's go do sprints. But like air bike, like you can just get someone on there and it's like, okay.
00:23:05
Speaker
15 seconds go. It's like easy and it's safe. So I'll still mix that in. But be my training partner. We have like this awesome Hill. That's probably a quarter mile from here. That's long. And we'll do a lot of times. We'll get out there in the summertime and we're literally doing intervals up and we're walking down. and It's like, it's, it's killer. So I think these switching up these modalities for me are fun. I love running so much because it is, as you know, a plyometric and it's a skill that I think a lot of us lose in time. And um if someone has the ability to run, I'm like, don't lose that skill. If someone's like, well, I can't run. My knees are terrible. um My doctor told me not to. There's so many other great ways to go out there and and i' get it done.
00:23:44
Speaker
And then you brought up a few times the nutrition side. Like I said, when I was in college, we had no coaching on nutrition. I would sit there. We ate absolute trash. My roommate in law school was also a Division I swimmer. And we're like, if we knew now when we were in our 30s, if we knew then what we know now on nutrition, we would have competed so differently. yeah what What was your journey on nutrition? Because when you're young, you can just eat anything, but it sounded like you were thoughtful on protein consumption. It was wild, man. I just started waking up and hearing what was good and bad and just did it.
00:24:20
Speaker
I just did it. Like, oh, this is better for you. Just get it. I remember at a really young age, my parents were like, you know, they were like, well, what do you want in your, I'm like, I'm just having this. I would go to a restaurant, Flaminion, dry, no butter, no oil. And I was like 20 years old, looking at the waiter being like, no, I'm allergic to these things. And they'd be like, holy shit. Like I knew to say that at 19, 20 years old, um spinach steamed.
00:24:47
Speaker
baked potato dry and they would be like laughing. No salt, no taste. That's terrible. I'm like, I'm allergic. I would just make stuff up so they would get panicked and not put it on. And I remember like one time my dad was kind of breaking my chops about it. Like, do you want me to like, he was making me practice some more and he's like, you want me to put cheese on your eggs or stuff like that? And I'm like, listen, man, I know this is hard for you. I'm like 19 years old saying this. I'm like, I know this is really hard for you to understand. I said, but I love this and I'm really good at it.
00:25:15
Speaker
And I'm going to get even better at this. And this is something that means a lot to me. So stop breaking my balls. He just looked at me and he was like, he was like, holy shit. And my dad said, said, never. Like, i I'll come over for dinner. And they're like, it's a Saturday night. They're like, you eating clean or dirty? And I'm like, dirty, let's go.
00:25:33
Speaker
Or whatever. They would never even second-guess me. But I think that's a conversation that people struggle to have with others. I think you know if you have someone listening to you and they're like, you know what? I just don't want to drink or I don't want to eat anything bad. And the people I'm around, they just want me to do it. like Why do they want me to do it? I'm like, well, because they feel bad.
00:25:57
Speaker
for the things that you're doing that they can't do, but I think it's a conversation that you have to have with them. And I think I'm like a very direct person. Like I'll just grab someone and be like, listen, man, you asked me three times if I want to drink. I'm a big boy. I don't want to drink. Right. Like, and they're just kind of like, holy shit. Like this was back in the day. Now, no one even asked me like, it's just, I'm out like,
00:26:18
Speaker
If I decide to have a beer, great. But if I'm at dinner with 10 people and everyone's boozing, I'm like, water, please, lemon. And they're like, no problem. No one even like acknowledges and looks at me, says anything. Because you got to start instilling these values and these habits. and You got to let people around you understand and know this is really important to me. And it is. Me waking up saturday morning Saturday morning, tomorrow morning, and feeling great, and going and training or playing hockey or doing the things I want to do.
00:26:44
Speaker
um That's really really important to me. Are there ever times during the year? I'm on vacation. I'm kicking back. I'm having a fun time every year I've been going over to Europe with some friends to do some snowboarding and for one week We're eating incredible food and we're drinking wine and the beer over there. Oh my god, it's amazing. And do I do it? Yeah, do I come back? I feel like shift for the three days sure. So have I ever regretted it? No, I don't regret it because I do everything else I need to do throughout the year so I can go let my hair down and have a good time.
00:27:11
Speaker
And that everything else you do throughout the year, I mean, what does the day to day, week to week kind of standard look like? You're you're kind of yeah like, do you do three meals a day? Are there snacks? Do you sell them? I eat about five times a day. I look at nutrition as like opportunity. It sounds kind of weird. Like, whoa, is it three days? Three times a day? Is it four times a day? Oh, my God, I hear some people eating eight times a day. I'm like, every time you eat, that's an opportunity for you to consume the nutrition.
00:27:40
Speaker
that your body needs, right? Nutrition is either macro or micro, right? And I know certain people, like I was listening to Paul Chek the other day, and he gets really in-depth. He goes into the soil, things I've i read that he brought to my attention 25 years ago, that was just like groundbreaking, right? Things that if I talk to with the everyday consumer, I'm going to discourage the shit out of them, and they're never going to, right? Exactly. like ah But I look at every meal as like an opportunity for me to get my numbers. What are my numbers? My protein? my fats, my carbs, my fiber, and then there's obviously my micronutrient numbers. like Where are my vitamins? Where are my minerals? and Where's my sodium at? like So, I like to make sure the food I'm consuming is powerful. And if I have to get 250 grams of protein a day,
00:28:27
Speaker
or two let's say 200 grams of protein a day, depending on what your weight is, and depending on how much protein you're consuming, well, that's five meals a day, 40 grams a meal. Or that's four meals a day at 50 grams a meal. It's just math. It's a math problem. It it is. It's a math problem. so And that's probably where I run into a little bit of a problem with people who ask me about intermittent fasting. I know the research. I know the benefits to it.
00:28:56
Speaker
Most people use intermittent fasting for several different reasons. um They're not doing it to rejuvenate or clean cells and and for anti-aging protocols. They're like using it as a rebound from a bad night out or a bad week out. I think Wahlberg was junking. I saw something recently of him like junking out for a week and now he's like, I'm fasting for 36 hours. And I'm like, well,
00:29:20
Speaker
It may not be the best thing for you to do. It might be what you like. It might be your kickstart. Are you going to die from it? No. But when people are fasting to rebound um from a bad week or a bad few days, I believe the best way to detox the body is not through starting it. It's through nutrition. When I say nutrition, I'm not i'm not meaning like just macro.
00:29:42
Speaker
Where are you? Are you consuming organic foods that are fibrous, that are nutrient dense, that are powerful? If you're fasting, your window of opportunity now diminishes. Or if I'm waking up at five in the morning and going to bed at nine, my window of opportunity is way bigger than someone who can only eat from one o'clock.
00:30:02
Speaker
you know, the for the next, whatever the next eight hours, right, or seven hours, whatever the fasting protocol is. So getting in all of that nutrition into that eight hour window is very hard to do. And you know what? Most people aren't able to do it. So if you can't do it, then you're in a deficit, not only from a macro standpoint, but from a micro standpoint.
00:30:24
Speaker
Again, this is my viewpoint. This is how I look at things. I'm not reading off of papers right now or saying that this sports side has said this, but if your fiber is low and your carbs are low and your fats are low and your proteins low, your body's really smart. It's not like a car where it's just going to run with the amount of gasoline it has in it till it runs out, till it back in, it goes again. The body starts recognizing that you're deficient in these nutrients and it starts making adjustments. And a lot of times those adjustments aren't good.
00:30:53
Speaker
I mean, what you're saying makes logical sense. The research I've seen says that intermittent fasting in and of itself the 16.8 or whatever, you're not kicking into autophagy in that amount of time. like The only real benefit is calorie restriction. and so If you don't need calorie restriction and you're just shutting down the time that you can, because nutrition is fuel. It is fuel. That's why we have it. It's not to avoid things. It's to put the right things in. and so If you're shutting that window closing, that that was a big thing. I did to intermittent fasting for years, but once I realized the importance of protein,
00:31:27
Speaker
but from you, from Dr. Lyon, like, oh, wait, no, I need a bigger window. I can't get that much in in this title window. I mean, I know the answer to this question because I've seen this hundreds of times, but have you ever seen someone change body composition when they increase calories?
00:31:44
Speaker
Yeah, of course. Of course. I mean, I think about this. I have a woman that comes to me who's consuming 1200 calories a day and she can't lose weight. And then we start reverse dieting them over the next few months, not over the next week. We take our time. Say their total daily energy expenditure, meaning the total amount of calories. I'm using a woman as ah as an example.
00:32:06
Speaker
could be a guy, it doesn't matter. Let's say Jane, her name is Jane Smith, and her total daily energy expenditure is 2000 calories a day. Probably pretty common. A lot of people out there need 2000 calories a day to use for energy. Let's say she's only using, well ah she's only consuming 1200 calories.
00:32:26
Speaker
but she's put on body fat and her energy level is diminishing. What I'll do now is I might take a super, super conservative approach and over the next eight weeks, raise it 100 calories a week, which is nothing. And in that period of time, we see that the energy level and current energy level increases, her sleep quality increases, her clothes start fitting her differently. Maybe she's not losing weight in the first week or so because she might be retaining a little bit more water, but in time, things start improving.
00:32:55
Speaker
and Then a year later, she's 20 or 30 pounds lighter. yeah ums any and Anyone who jumps on right now and be like, he's false, he's lying, I have the people to prove it. i've got In my community, I have thousands, probably at this point now tens of thousands of people that run through my challenges. and I have success stories that could turn to you, women. They're like, yeah, I lost 25 pounds over the last year and a half.
00:33:20
Speaker
What was your calories then? 1600. What is it now? 3200. 3200. Wow. Like I have women that are over 3000 calories that will walk around in a bathing suit with abs. So yes, most of the time, do you need to be in a deficit or do we put people in deficits to lose weight?
00:33:40
Speaker
Yeah. But what happens when you're in that deficit and you're already restricting and you've been doing this for years? like like There's only one way to go. It's not south with your calories. You got to start bringing them north and you got to trust the process. so you know again um I think these are good lessons. I think a lot of people who might listen might say, wow, that's interesting. I'm that person. Calories that are too low now throws off blood sugar levels. Now you're eating junk in the evening because you're you're starving and you're trying to play catch up. Now you're consuming a poor amount of calories. There's so many things that we can go in depth with, but um you know that's something that I've been just been a big believer in. I'd rather try and get someone's metabolism, get their body, get their outlook on life to just
00:34:22
Speaker
go up, not remove and get them into a deficit and just, well, I want to look like that guy on the cover. I'm like, all right, well, like I, you know, maybe it's just in that state for six to eight weeks. um You know, so I got a different outlook on this and than I think most.
00:34:37
Speaker
Yeah, and i mean I think it's a healthy one. the The more you can have that abundance mindset, not seafood as an enemy, but as fuel, like you you can lean into that. yeah then For you, i mean to get 240 grams, I think you were saying it was kind of your target approach. Actually, probably a little bit more. and and um so I'm probably more at like, two so no, I actually know what I'm at. I'm at 260 a day.
00:34:58
Speaker
you know But if you break it down, that's total protein. That's not all animal protein, right? So you know if I weigh 215, I'm probably getting in 225 grams of animal protein. So it's just above a gram per pound of body weight. um And the rest is protein through non-animal protein sources. So yeah, that's where I am. And and you also got to look at it. It's like if I'm burning a certain amount of calories,
00:35:20
Speaker
you know there's only three macronutrients. Like there's only three ways for me to drive up. Like I get to a point where like I have too much fat. I feel like I start getting fat. like um ah Like that's another thing. It's like you can eat too much of anything and you can get fat. Like it does it. Like if I, if I, if I fed you, you know, 50 pounds of chicken a day, like you're going to put on body fat, like it's just grilled chicken. It's going to happen and and fat, like fat are healthy. I'm like, yeah, fats are healthy. But to a certain point, carbohydrates,
00:35:48
Speaker
they're like They're not bad. like What carbs are you consuming? Are you consuming you know candy and ice cream and things that but might be like junky ice cream? not like Or are you consuming sweet potato and fibrous carbohydrates? like Carbs can be healthy, but at a certain point, like you start getting to a level of even fibrous carbs that you know if you're not utilizing that fuel, bad things are going to happen. Remember Michael Phelps when he was... Everyone's running, each 12,000 calories a day, I had someone turn to me once and say, wow, could you imagine if he actually ate clean calories? And I just looked at the person like, oh, yeah, he would never be able to do it. It's impossible. Like, you couldn't get that number of calories in the way as a former swimmer. And like, it was impossible. I think poptarts run into anything just to get the calories in. He had to eat General Chow's chicken.
00:36:33
Speaker
He had to eat burgers and fries. I order five guys one night. It's actually pretty awesome. I don't like cheese. I don't like mayo, so I'll order two double burgers. I'll put some ketchup and mustard on it. I'll order a small fries, because at five guys, the fries are like the whole bag. And maybe sometimes a chocolate shake, but not always. That right there is like 2,000 calories. I'm like, oh my god. 2,000 calories for me is like three meals.
00:36:59
Speaker
Like it's a lot of food. Like I couldn't, but it goes down so easy. So, you know, that's why most palatable it's so delicious. it's yeah the Do you have to supplement with protein or do you ever supplement? Are you able to get it off of foods? Yeah, I supplement. for I've done it where I don't consume protein powders. Lately, I have been just for convenience and it's just easy for me to kind of knock a shake down with other things. My carbs right now have to be really high. like I take 100 grams of cream of rice dry and just drop it into my protein shake.
00:37:34
Speaker
It's like a cool little trick because it actually blends nicely and I could just kind of pound that down. or Right there, I got 90 grams of carbs in with 40, whatever it is, 42, 45 grams of protein. and um I might add my fats where like I might just take an ounce of walnuts or um You know, maybe sometimes a tablespoon of olive oil, like super quick. That might be like an emergency meal for me. Or I do something I call mud bowls, which I might take, um you know, a cup of cooked steel cut oats, where i every night I make them in a slow cooker. So I put a cup of dry oats.
00:38:07
Speaker
um four cups of water, put the top on, set it for eight hours, and my training partner is over here every day. So like we normally have that as like either a pre-workout or, depending on if we're having something else, a post-workout meal, we'll mix you know a cup of cooked oats with a half a cup of blueberries.
00:38:24
Speaker
with a ah tablespoon of like grounded flax seeds with two scoops of, oh, I'm sorry, a scoop and a half of protein powder, a Greek yogurt, get some more probiotics in there. um There's just things that will, you know, it will mix it all into this mud bowl and you sit there and you eat. It's delicious. So like that for me is like a really convenient, it's like cheating. It's like a convenient meal to get in. And yeah um and then, you know, then there's the chicken and the salmon and the grass fed steak and the eggs and the the ground turkey and um you know, the other sources that I consume.
00:38:52
Speaker
and You talked about it's both the back row, which we've really been focused on, and the micro. and on those are you because i mean Even if you're going organic, soil quality has degraded over time.
00:39:04
Speaker
Is this something you're doing blood work on over time to see, hey, do I need a supplement here? Yeah, I'm always doing blood work. I'm doing blood work probably twice a year. I do it with my general practitioner just because I feel like it's kind of like your standard, have that done and then I go to Dr. Gabrielle Lyon who does my bloods and that's when I think we get a lot more granular and then she'll look at like testosterone levels and she'll look at like everything and be like, Oh no, like your gut health, or she'll do a stool sample on me. And we really kind of dive into it. And, you know, fortunately I've been in a really good place, but there are things that like, I think three, four years ago, my, my, my total testosterone was like six 30. And, um, she measured it last year and I was up and i six.
00:39:47
Speaker
680 and in last year she measured it and I went up to 930 and people, people are like, and I've never supplemented with any type of TRT or nothing ever. yeah She, she does. She can, I've given her permission to talk about it with anyone, but ah people are like, well, how'd you do those? The cold plunging is what the sun is. I'm like, honestly, I like, I used to commute to the city.
00:40:07
Speaker
You know, like, so there was, like, I lived in the city for 14 years and then for the next six years, I was commuting in and out of Manhattan. I was getting up at like four in the morning and I was commuting three hours a day and I owned a brick and mortar. I owned two brick and mortars in the city and we were up and down, you know, every month. I had one space for 15 years. The level of stress, I think just by being able to cut that back and diminish it and build this place. And now my commute is 60 feet.
00:40:35
Speaker
not even It's not even a pitcher's mound from here to my front porch. and um it's I think that 100%, it's a stress. right it's yeah You start cleaning up stress. that's extreme potentially if you say yeah it's and They're both tied in. right It's like, okay, well, the sleep got a lot better and then the stress diminished and oh my God, you improve your sleep and then you eliminate like 90% of your stress in your life. Like I got rid of a few toxic people um in my life. And could you imagine like those are three of the most stressful things that you can deal with besides sickness, you know, death in the family. Those are three of the most, I think intense things that if you could fix, oh my God. So like when people are like, he's on something, I'm like, no, I'm not on something. I just imagine.
00:41:17
Speaker
removing 15 hours of commuting a week. And two just in one location, it was a $2 million dollars a year overhead for just one location that I had for 15 years. Not including my other space, not including my digital company that we had, like all this other stuff. So you know you start really fine tuning your life a bit and um cleaning things up. I mean, good things happen.
00:41:37
Speaker
What's a virtual cycle rate so like that the lack of sleep it can reach record is all along with the stress which impacts your sleep which is lower your testosterone and then it just keeps going. yeah but um be a virtual If you go the other way it just starts taking out together and you increase by almost 50% which is.
00:41:53
Speaker
from a pretty high baseline. It was, but you know that's that's probably where I struggle a lot with um a lot of the hormone replacement therapy going on out there, because I know there's a place for this. And I and i and i really hope that these doctors are holding themselves to a very high standard and that they're it's not just a money play of, oh, my T, because you hear it from everyone now, right? You know what? Are you on TRT? You know what? My doctor said I was on the low end.
00:42:20
Speaker
And I'm sitting there like this, like, you're on the low end or you're in the tank, right? Yeah, I'm on the low end. I'm like, well, thinking in my head, i well, why are you on the low end? It's a why, right? Like that needs, it's, it's, if you keep seeing bodies floating down the river, go up the river. Don't just throw bodies out, right? Like go find out who's throwing the bodies out.
00:42:39
Speaker
It's such a great line. I'm stealing that line from you. That is a great line. but yeah it's It's the truth. it's like right man like You're drinking five nights a week and you're and you're getting three hours of sleep. like You think this is going to help? and What do we really know about the long-term ramifications of all this stuff? I actually recently ran into a couple. Actually, there was a woman I ran into. I want to say it was at Kenny Santucci's event.
00:43:02
Speaker
the Strong New York event, which, by the way, any fitness professional listening should check that out next year. It was a lot of fun, and probably my sixth year participating and speaking, and Kenny's just and he's an A-plus person. But um there was a woman sitting there, we were having a conversation, and the woman just turned around to me, and she was like, yeah, listen, I'm in remission. i I had cancer.
00:43:22
Speaker
I was like, Oh my God, I'm so sorry. How are you feeling? She goes, you know, I'm feeling good. I'm doing well. And she turned around to me and she goes, but I can 100% tell you it was from, you know, steroids and things I was putting in my body in the past. And I just turned around and I could, I didn't even say anything. But, you know, here she, and and she started voicing her opinion and she's like, you know, I have doctors that were overseeing this.
00:43:43
Speaker
or a friend of a doctor and they were telling me to take X, Y, and Z and you know I trusted them and I believed them. and you know Years later, my body you know took a toll on ah my body and they got them okay. but and when When you hear that, it's It's just a wake-up call, man. We don't know how you are going to respond to what it is this person's putting you on. it and And people just want these quick fixes. And you know I'm um um a slow adjustment type person. like I am i'm trying to tell my whole life with training, what's your goal? And I'm like,
00:44:19
Speaker
Since baseball is over, I never really had a goal. I haven't. My goal is just to be as fast and as muscular and as strong and as healthy as possible. That's my goal. Well, you have to have a goal. I'm like, really? Why do I have to have a goal? To stay motivated? like You're not going to meet too many people more disciplined than me.
00:44:38
Speaker
Like, I'm not going to tell you, you wake up every day and I'm like, I can't wait to get to the gym. The discipline though is next level and I'm going to find a way to get in there and get the work done. So why do I have to sit there and have a bench press goal or a squat goal? Why can't it just be to improve all these different categories and aspects of my life? and And the older I get now, the more I realize that that's okay, but sometimes people need a goal. And, but when they, the problem with that is that when they don't have the goal, then they're lost.
00:45:07
Speaker
This, I think, is incredibly important. I love to talk to you on this mindset on the goal for some people, they use it as the motivating factor. right And then for you, for me, like we actually love showing up at the gym. like We enjoy the process. And so if you have somebody who gets up, runs with their body, they talk, they do it every morning, and you have somebody who said, hey, I want to run my first marathon. I'm going to go train for it.
00:45:32
Speaker
The day after the marathon, who do you think is getting out of bed yeah to go run? It's a person who loves the process. And and so the goal could actually be detrimental to your long-term goal. Yeah, you had this short-term goal, but you're actually inhibiting your long-term goal, which is putting more years into your life, putting more life into each of those units. I totally agree with you. It's like, what's what's next? I will be honest though, when I had a cover to get ready for, and it was never, I never had more than five weeks.
00:46:00
Speaker
to get ready for a cover it was always like um was probably like but last guy on the list they were like we need someone for this cover called Right? And so I'm like, but I just, I knew how to like, I was always kind of ready. So when it was time to really get ready, I'm like, it's game time. And for me, I love that pressure. Like I just loved, you know, knowing that I had this amount of time. but And what I was doing was just tightening everything up that I would normally do. It's like, all right, well, maybe that occasional weekly or cheat meal every two weeks gone.
00:46:35
Speaker
right Macros dialed in. Fats come down a little bit. Carbs might come down just a hair. ah the Protein will kind of maintain. um With training now, does anything really change? No. you know I don't start running around in circuits like people would think you're doing because I'm natural. I have to keep the lifts heavy.
00:46:56
Speaker
Because if I don't, I feel like my body gets very flat. I feel like my muscles start deflating. So I know like a week out from a shoot, like I'm lifting over 500 pounds, I'm doing things that like most people are like, no, you shouldn't do that. No, I'm just my bad. I know what like if I'm sitting there just doing like pump work all the time, my body loses that fullness. So um there's things that I would recommend even my actors to do like the main goal for but me and my actors is strength.
00:47:25
Speaker
It's resiliency. It's, you know, when Ryan's shooting Deadpool, it is my number one goal with him is like, how strong is your body? I don't mean bench press, but you're, he's a lunatic. He does his own stunts. He's jumping through windows. He's doing all this crazy. So my number one goal is like energy and resiliency.
00:47:45
Speaker
The body composition part with him, I'm like, oh my God, the guy's a robot. He's a dream to work with. It's like, all right, you ready to go? Do we know what we have to do? He's like, yeah, and it's like, I'm checking him once in a while. I don't even need to because he just has this stuff and he goes. he's It's that easy with him. Other people might need some more hand holding. And that's fine. They're like, oh, are you sure I can't have a cheat meal? I'm like,
00:48:04
Speaker
You can't have one, right? you're right now Like what's your goal? Like you have five weeks to get ready. You don't have nine months to get ready. If you have nine months to get ready, 100%. I want you to keep your sanity. You have five weeks. You're gonna be on the cover of muscle and fitness. What's it to you? Is that slice of pizza really those two sizes of pizza really that important to you where you probably will be holding a little bit of water, but I should live a little bit.
00:48:26
Speaker
Sure, dude. You can't wait five weeks. You can't wait five weeks. like know Exactly. like what i love People used to say that to me. Don't you want to live a little? I'm like, I live a lot. I live a lot. like When I want to go eat and I want to go do something, guys, I do it.
00:48:41
Speaker
I do it. But otherwise, if I do it too much, I don't feel good. I get anxiety actually, right? My heart rate starts elevating. I don't feel right. I don't feel healthy. And um it affects my day. I am at my best when I am like,
00:48:58
Speaker
on that path of like, keep going, keep going, keep going. I mean, most people don't know what it's like to live with vitality, right? They define health as this absence of disease. I don't have cancer. I don't have diabetes. I'm healthy. That is different living in the 50th percentile than the 95th percentile. When you hop up out of bed, when people are like, oh my God, you can just get out of bed like that? Like, yeah, I'm excited for the day. I have the energy. I'm ready to go. It's a different way to live.
00:49:21
Speaker
You just reminded me of a story. I had a buddy of mine who, big drinker and big foodie, big guy. And he would probably like, you know, this is an issue there. He'd probably have about a bottle of wine a night and his wife would sit down and they would hit it. So that's nine bottles. He probably have about seven to nine bottles a week because the weekends they would get picked up. So I look up, how do you feel the morning? He's like fine. So he ended up backing off drinking.
00:49:49
Speaker
And I remember him, I met him at the gym on a Saturday morning and he woke up, he goes, I feel unbelievable. I go, why? He goes, I didn't drink last night. I didn't realize how shitty I was feeling. Even that one drink, like that's all he knew. And I was like, wow, that's interesting. Like you just got so, did it make sense? He just got so used to waking up and operating under these terms. And then suddenly he put himself into a new environment. and And that's, that's the magic of all this, right? I see this happen with everyone. They start veering away from the things that make them feel really bad.
00:50:21
Speaker
And they come in here and they're like, I feel great. I feel great. And then they, you're back. And they're like, I'm depressed. I feel terrible. I'm like, well, look at what you changed back to. I'm like, he said I turned to my, I turned to someone the other day and I said, it's going to get to a point with you where you're going to feel so awful and so shitty. Every time you go back to it, you're just going to quit. And he just looked at me and he goes, you're right. I'm feeling it already. Because every time I do it, it's just not worth it.
00:50:48
Speaker
My hope with people is not for them to quit the drinking and quit, you know, the food entirely. It's just to know when to turn it on and off. That's it. And to feel what's possible, right? Because once you feel it you can't unknow that yeah on the mindset side. So the way you describe it, it sounds very similar to kind of my approach. My my roommate from college was a national champion summer as well in that once you hear something,
00:51:12
Speaker
and you know it's the right thing, you do the thing. You're like, this is the right thing. I'm going to go do that. Now it sounds like you came out of the box like that. Like this, you were doing this kind of in 16. You're like, Oh, I need to go get Britain. Let's go get the meatballs. I got lucky. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's definitely like, I got lucky. I just, loved it I just loved it. I just loved it out of the gate. Yeah. I got lucky.
00:51:33
Speaker
but you're dealing with a lot of clients, right? You have Ryan, but then you have others that they have a much harder time with that. What are some mindset practices that you found helpful? It's a great question. I think the thing that's worked for everyone is taking that minimalistic approach, right? Like if I sit down, like if any person listening to this right now, and I said, listen, can we sit down and find this is your average person. Can we sit down and find six things?
00:52:02
Speaker
12 things, whatever it is, that if we changed in your life, it would really change the trajectory of your health. And suddenly someone's like.
00:52:13
Speaker
Yeah, let's go through it. You know what? I'm not that consistent with my water. I'm drinking up water. I don't get enough protein. I don't exercise enough. I don't get any steps in. My sleep's poor. I get no vegetables. Like, that's six. Yeah, I call these like NSVs, like non-scale victories, that any six of these, if you could start incorporating them in, like, good things are going to happen. So rather than me turning around to someone and being like, here, get on it now, all six, you know, I might say like, listen, man, like, let's,
00:52:42
Speaker
Let's be really consistent with the water this month. And let's just teach yourself to, what else? Honestly, right now, just go with the water. I just want the water like, and then they start drinking water and they become consistent. They're like, that's one thing that they have to focus on. And like a week or two in, they're like, I'm nailing the water. I actually enjoy this. I'm carrying around my Yeti, two of these a day and I'm done. Oh my God, I'm never going to change this. What's next?
00:53:04
Speaker
And I'm like, all right, you know what? Let's um buts start getting that step number up. And there's no specific order. I probably would go with water first because water is the only thing that I think is like a non-negotiable. Like, I love when people are like, dude, no non-negotiables. I'm like, water's a non-negotiable. Like, that um percent water he's like you have't to have it do not walk around dehydrated. Please, of course, there's a non-negotiable. Water's one of them. And next, like, OK, let's choose our steps. Well, is it 10,000 a day? Well, where are you at right now? I'm at 4,000.
00:53:31
Speaker
Well, 10,000 is probably going to be impossible. So let's do this. Walk 10 minutes after three meals that you're having and tell me where you're at. And they're suddenly like, oh my God, I'm at 6,000 a day. Like, great. Like, let's build up from there. And I spend the next month now building their steps up to where they feel like they have ownership over. And what I'm going to do is rather than throwing everything at someone,
00:53:51
Speaker
like this new year's resolution, I got to be perfect. I'm going to kind of give them little homework assignments over time. And then in six months, I'm going to correct six massive non-scale victories in their life that are going to change things, their trajectory with their health and wellness.
00:54:07
Speaker
I mean, what I love about it, there are two big things I think that you're doing there. ah One is the agency that they're identifying. They went and said, hey, here are the things that I can do. it Like, great, you created the menu, so you have agency ownership in this. And the other is that Don't let the perfect be the enemy of good. Lower the bar on the start. Because once you start building the momentum, you want to keep going. Whereas if you try all six and you fail, you're like, well, I can't do it. but Then you start creating a different story in your head. It's going to happen soon. We're at the time of year. What's today's date? Today's the sixth. So what about?
00:54:40
Speaker
You know, twenty six, twenty five, twenty six days, Jan one's going to hit and everyone's like, here we go. Let's dive into it. And what's that day? What is it? January 13th is like Quitters Day or something like that. Wasn't that early? I was going to say it's February. Did they only get out of January? No, I don't even think they get out of January. I might be wrong. I thought it was really soon. Let's say it's February. I don't care. But Quitters Day, so it's so soon after Jan one, it's just like it stopped trying to give up.
00:55:11
Speaker
you know, pizza and chocolate cake and junk food are things that you might enjoy. Let's just minimize it. Let's allow you to have some ah motivation becomes so much easier when you start showing someone progress.
00:55:27
Speaker
discipline, you know, ah just I always take discipline over motivation because I think discipline is like, all right, I'm not motivated today, but I'm going to do this. So I always take discipline over motivation. But I think when you start looking at yourself or you start looking at blood numbers or like your, um, your markers and you're going in yearly and your doctor's like, what are you doing? You've, your body composition is improved. Your weight loss has gotten better. It has improved. Like everything looks better.
00:55:55
Speaker
Oh my God, you look better. You look healthier. like that That starts becoming very motivating for each person. So I just think it's it's not hard, but I think most people out there are biting off way more than they can chew. And then when, not if, when they don't go and do what they say they want to do, then they're just like, oh I failed, and here we go again. It's just the same thing. Well, the story is I can't do it, right? Then it's just kind of the fixed mindset. I want to be respectful of your time, but if you have a minute, I really would love to get your thoughts on the social connection aspect, because you talked at the beginning about losing people in your life and the impact that can have. And the flip side, so much of what you do is about
00:56:41
Speaker
building community right and what the role of that is in your life and and how you incorporate it You know, it's interesting. I look at everything I've done in my career and it's, it was all about community, right? Like when I got my first job at a big box gym, why was that big box gym successful? They all have the same equipment. Like they're either going with life fitness, hammer strength, you know, Cybex, whatever it was at the time, it's like the same equipment, aesthetically, always, someone's always going to create something cooler looking or a new architect's going to come in and put a different design in there. Like what made these places special?
00:57:16
Speaker
was was the community they developed, right? So um I learned that at a really young age, back into my catering days, walking into a party and seeing that community come together. People come together who had good energy. That's why parties were fun. Like, does it help that the food's good? Alcohol is all the same, right? People were, at the time, back in my day, they were drinking absolute vodka and Smirnoff. There was no, you know, it's like, I'm dating myself now, but like, the alcohol was the same. So like, was it the alcohol? was No, it was the people.
00:57:45
Speaker
So that's what I would see with parties. People would come in and out of nowhere, where you'd be like, oh man, this place is going to go off soon. These people are like, they are ready to have a good time and you'd see it. And it was like, boom, that's what happened. And and and for me, I felt like community, I became such a community driven person. Now where I'm like a raw, raw coach, I'm not. I'm like, I might just get in your face and kind of whisper something to you and be like, listen, Mike.
00:58:07
Speaker
I know you came in here feeling like shit. I know what's going on, but I'm really proud of what you're doing right now and just let's keep it going. And they were just kind of look at me. It was those words. It wasn't like, come on, man, dig deep. It's like, this just wasn't my style. So, you know, I think that community aspect, even when I got to drive and I opened my club, Drive 495 back in 2005, we had, I mean, out of any gym I've ever been to, there was a reason why we had all these celebrities coming in, right? Because they felt safe.
00:58:33
Speaker
and they came in here to this spot and they felt like they were part of a community. They actually went in there and they weren't worried about someone asking for autographs or pulling out a phone. I would throw them out. i one person One woman once took a picture of Jim Parsons and I pulled her into the office of my manager and I said, listen, I understand what you're doing. You do that again.
00:58:52
Speaker
And I'm going to refund your deposit and you're out of here." And she was like, butt, butt, butt. I'm like, there's no buts. This is the rule. I apologize. I'm being harsh to you right now. But if you start doing it, everyone's going to do it. We can't do it. So you know that community piece and culture piece was massive to the point that when I was forced to close, funny story, I was forced to close March 16th of 2020. My 15 year lease.
00:59:21
Speaker
expired May 31st of 2020. Like, what are the chances? I don't know anyone. A 15-year lease. I paid the landlord three months. I was trying to renegotiate my lease. And at that point, I started my challenges. I relaunched my digital business. It ended up doing very well to the point where there was just a new focus for me in my life. But when I launched these challenges, I brought this community aspect of drive, right? This energy, these people.
00:59:52
Speaker
to a very scalable platform. I'm in 80 countries now. So bringing everyone to Facebook and doing these live calls where I would sometimes be on a call for three hours and 15 minutes talking to everyone. there There would be a thousand people on a Zoom call and I'd be answering questions and people would be laughing and I would be hosting deck of pain challenges, which was ah you know a challenge where I have my deck of cards here once a month. And I pull a number up, guys are up first, three three pushups. Ladies are up next.
01:00:21
Speaker
Hey that's the best stand that's eleven push ups and we would go through we run through that and i bring on different guests and developing that community peace at a time where people really needed it. They were stranded in their apartments in their homes they were scared shitless people are coming to their doors and they had their masks on their waving the family members i remember going to my parents house.
01:00:43
Speaker
yeah And through a window waving at them and everyone had tears in their eyes because I'm looking at my parents are in their 70s and you're like, this is terrible. Like there's a pane of glass separating my mom and dad right now. They were emotional. It got me emotional. I get emotional even thinking about it right now. yeah It's like to remove that connection, the ability to hug someone.
01:01:05
Speaker
and feel their skin and and be in their presence, that was something we all lost for a period of time. And you know what? We didn't know when we were getting it back. So, at that time, I launched something that allowed people who didn't have that connection to connect with others. And then, you know, launching my retreats, we're going into my fifth year, Don Con, um you know, we've had 100 people a week show up.
01:01:29
Speaker
and um you know, just to get people and to be in a pool with someone who is, you know, they're not a celebrity. I was sitting next to a woman last year. I'm like, what do you do for a living? She's like, I've been a manager at Stop and Shop for 25 years. I gotta save up all year for this. I love you. And I'm like, I love you too. Like, this is great. Like, yeah, you know how happy that made me to see how this is something really important for someone and how I'm able to help bring people together um and um you know a lot i just help. I'm not saying allow them to, but like just help in them living a better quality of life. And that's all it is that I'm trying to do at this point. Yeah, I mean, you're certainly in the depths of the pandemic. It was more extreme. But we know we're in a loneliness epidemic in general. yeah And so the unlock for most people, you're you're in this crowded room but never felt more alone.
01:02:23
Speaker
so to build that community we know if you find a sense of belonging in group exercise you have a twenty percent boost in your well-being right there is something magical but you were you were a a team athlete right you you played on the sports team there's something magical of going through that together and what you're doing with your challenges with your community really is a gift.
01:02:46
Speaker
No, thank
Evaluating Fitness Practices
01:02:47
Speaker
you. um But you see it now with group training. I'm never going to be one to bash anything like, oh, CrossFit sucks. Like, no, like you know what? I have friends of mine that ran really good CrossFit boxes and they would screen people. I'm like, guess what? You got good restaurants. You got bad restaurants. You got good trainers. You got bad trainers. You've got terrible CrossFit approaches and CrossFit boxes out there and you have really good ones. It's like anything else in life.
01:03:13
Speaker
um But it's it's fascinating to me how you can be running just like a terrible program where you just walk in and be like, what is this person doing? Like they just had ACL surgery and you're throwing a bar in their back and you're making them sprint on a treadmill and they're complaining about pain. Or, you know, you're in a yoga class saying, my knees hurt. The yoga instructor is going, that's just the, that's the pain and the bad energy leaving your knees like, no, this person just had ACL surgery. like white to I tore my meniscus and both knees in yoga class doing that. yeah so think let's like keep going keep going So it's like, all right, like, but why do we go? Why do is a lot of people go? Why do they go back? They go back for this feeling that they're receiving. I just, like anything else, when someone asks me, do you like restaurants?
01:03:59
Speaker
I'm like, what kind of question is that? I like good restaurants. like I like like high-quality food, and especially like a restaurant that's healthy, but I feel like I'm maybe not eating something healthy, and there's like they can back up. like This is certified organic, and we use this instead of this. It makes me feel good. but You know, it's like, you know, is yoga bad? Yoga's not bad. it's ah Yoga from bad, yoga instructors is bad. Is CrossFit bad? No, CrossFit's not bad. Like, look at the moves. What are they doing at CrossFit? They're doing Olympic lifting. They're doing aeronaut bike. They're running. They're throwing.
01:04:37
Speaker
They're doing battle ropes. Aren't any of these things really bad? maybe maybe ah Maybe a jerk going overhead for someone who just had shoulder surgery. Yeah, not a good decision. That's the problem that I have with things. So yeah, am I a bit of a purist? I really call that being a purist. I just call that smart training and saying, you know understand that whatever modality you do, whatever it is you do, ask yourself a question. Are you enjoying it? Is it working? And how does your body feel?
01:05:06
Speaker
Think about that. like like Are you enjoying it? Is it working? And how does your body feel? Oh my God, I love it. Great community. um Is your body improving? Body comes, been improving a bunch. How does your body feel? Like shit. My knees are killing me, my elbows are killing me, my shoulders killing me. I can't get out of bed in the morning. There's a problem.
01:05:27
Speaker
you know And if if any of those answers changed, like, you know what, I feel great and I'm looking great. Are you enjoying your training? I absolutely hate it. Every time I'm getting out of bed to go see this coach, I am miserable. What's the point of that?
01:05:44
Speaker
Just because you're not sustainable. right is it effective And is it sustainable? And that's what those three questions get to. Like, okay, if you do it, then are you going to fall off and for eight months do nothing? Like when people say, Hey, I i hate exercise. What do you mean? Well, I hate running. Like, no, no, no. You're saying you hate running, running, right? There's so many other ways to move your body. and what time is running and and Let's take it up. but Let's take it up a notch here. What type of running do you hate? Oh my God. My, my last coach is making me run 10 miles a clip. Well, have you tried sprinting?
01:06:12
Speaker
Have we worked on that? And the next, you know, they start working with Derek Hanson, world renowned sprint coach, and they're like, Oh my God, I love this. My body composition is changing. My body feels light and fast. And oh my God, those tight hamstrings I have are gone now. It's like, so yeah, um I totally agree with you.
01:06:28
Speaker
Yeah. Well, this has been
Building Healthy Habits
01:06:31
Speaker
phenomenal. i Hey, man, you're easy to talk to. You're you're easy to talk to. you've got a great This is fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you for having me on. ah yeah You're going to do great with this. you're You're very, very good questions, and I could have spoken to you for another hour. but Well, I appreciate it. Before we sign off, if you know we've covered a bunch of things. Obviously, this has been a multi-decade process for you.
01:06:53
Speaker
For someone listening to this, it might be intimidating. Back to when you were saying, hey, identify six, let's just start with one. yeah Where would you suggest someone start? Listen, like I said, that non-negotiable is hydration. So if you're not doing that, like you know as well as I do that, getting the right amount of water um is life changing in itself. And it's that basic. I would just like, um yeah, half your body weight and ounces, sure. Like it's, you know, if you're a little over, fine, big deal. Like, but I think hydration is that one non-negotiable after that movement.
01:07:25
Speaker
After that, maybe not completely eliminating the things that you love, but having some type of a compromise. If you ate a pizza pie 365 days a year last year,
01:07:39
Speaker
Maybe do it every other day. and just but That's what I'm trying to show them. like Let's just maybe do it every third day. like just like Over a year, were you able to improve things and move it in the right direction? I can assure you guys, like for anyone who's listening that's struggled, take a minimalistic approach, build some momentum, and tell yourself, when I have that day where I fall off or I go do what it wasn't. It's part of the plan, right? It's like, um um am I going to tell you 365 days last year? Was I dehydrated one day? Maybe I think there was one day where but I probably was a bit because I remember that day. I remember I i played ice hockey. It was like we called it a day of greatness. I played ice hockey. I worked out.
01:08:23
Speaker
I played golf. I had 18 holes. I got back here. I jumped into a sauna. I jumped into a plunge. I just didn't have enough. i um I remember I started getting a headache. I was like, oh my God, I'm actually dehydrated, right? And I just, I caught that quick. Things are going to happen and you get back on it. That's just one day in a year. But that's what I'm trying to say. Like don't look at it when you, when when you veer off track, use it as a learning curve, get back on.
01:08:47
Speaker
yeah That's a great way to to close.
Conclusion and Gratitude
01:08:50
Speaker
Thank you, not just for today, not just for the workouts, the eudaimonia, but for everything you also do and have done for decades. I appreciate it. Back at you, brother. Thank you. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Home with Health Span podcast. Remember, you can always find the products, practices, and routines mentioned by today's guests, as well as many other healthspan role models on thelively.com. Enjoy day.