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From Prison Cell to Fitness Empire with Dylan Gemelli - E42
31 Plays2 months ago
What would you do if you were looking at spending more than a decade locked up, away from the world? Would you give up, or use it as an opportunity to turn things around?
In this episode, we hear from a remarkable man who shares the story of his transformation from being inside a prison cell to becoming a respected fitness influencer and health optimization expert. In prison, he found purpose through spiritual development and personal growth, eventually channeling his experience into a mission to enhance longevity and wellness for himself and others. He shares intimate details about his evolution into biohacking, his meticulously designed workout regimen that balances intense training with necessary recovery, and his journey from restrictive eating patterns to a more intuitive approach to nutrition. This story isn't just about physical transformation—it's a testament to reinvention, redemption, and the power of turning life's darkest moments into a platform for helping others thrive.
Dylan Gemelli is a dedicated health optimizer and influencer, known for his work in the fields of steroids, SARMs, and peptides. His journey took a significant turn after serving a two-year sentence of a 15-year prison term during which he strengthened his spiritual connection and rebuilt his life. Dylan's transformational story led him to a path of knowledge acquisition and self-development in health and wellness. He speaks on innovative platforms, including esteemed events like the Mr. Olympia, sharing insights into longevity, quality-of-life enhancement, and the intricate balance of mind and body health. His commitment to impacting others positively positions Dylan as a respected figure in the health optimization community.
“I think I was doing good, but that's certainly not what God put me here to do… coach steroids and SARMs and peptides, right?” - Dylan Gemelli
In this episode you will learn:
- Dylan's transformative journey from facing a 15-year prison sentence to becoming a lively health optimizer and influencer in the field of longevity and wellness.
- The significance of spirituality, close relationships, and finding purpose beyond oneself as pivotal elements in Dylan's personal growth and his approach to healthspan.
- How disciplined routines, encompassing morning walks and regimented fitness, play an essential role in Dylan's daily life and contribute to his physical and mental well-being.
- Insight into Dylan's nutritional evolution, highlighting the shift from restrictive eating habits to a more balanced diet rich in healthy fats, proteins, and essential nutrients.
- The importance of rest and recovery, including the benefits of taking rest days to avoid overtraining and its impact on long-term health and muscle growth.
- Dylan's practical advice for starting a health journey, emphasizing the foundational role of diet education and consistency as a springboard for broader lifestyle changes.
Resources
- Connect with Dylan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dylangemelli
- Find out about Dylan’s offerings and training programs: https://dylangemelli.com/
- Shop all the products Dylan mentions in this episode: https://alively.com/products/dylan-gemelli
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/
Recommended
Transcript
Facing a 15-Year Prison Sentence
00:00:00
Speaker
15 years at 28 years old I was faced with a 15-year prison test. I was out in two of the 15 when I was in there I spent that time i got way closer with God and all I did was figure out how am I gonna atone for everything I did wrong how am I gonna fix the embarrassment that I caused my parents because I was raised so well and and had so many expectations and just selfish and that's what selfish behavior will get you is what happened to me.
Introduction to the 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.
00:00:43
Speaker
Dylan, it is great to be here with you. i was actually with you in person, though we didn't get a chance to connect at the Euda Monia Summit. um But fortunately, we got connected by a mutual friend, Melanie Avalon, after. And here we are ah connecting again. I am so happy to be connecting with you live and to share your story with our listeners. But before we jump into that story and everything you do, how would you define yourself?
Mission of Health Optimization
00:01:10
Speaker
Well, I am a lively health optimizer. I just try to increase longevity of life and wellness within everybody. Yeah, that's that's amazing and inspirational. And it's what I love that you added there is that second part. It's not just about yourself, right? Like as this can be seen and be implemented as a really selfish act and pursuit.
00:01:34
Speaker
But your mission is really to unlock it for others.
Journey from Athlete to Modeling
00:01:38
Speaker
And I'd love to hear from you to the extent you're willing to share kind of your journey. Cause I mean, you are an athlete coming up, right. And you had your own journey into this. Can, can you talk about that?
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. i'll I'll, I'll get the details, but I'll still keep it as short as possible, but you you know that there's something to it. So, and this is a story as I've told many people that I am never ashamed to tell because it's a story of,
00:02:07
Speaker
of what life is. It's of perseverance. It's of great times. It's of some of the lowest of lowest and how you really handle it and what you become from it. And if you take a lesson from it. So I was a four sport athlete in high school. Not that that really matters because it's high school, but just to give you a background. And although football was my best sport, I took basketball to college because that was what I loved the most and was still able to play at a small division three school but i was injured multiple times i broke my back two different times and those you break a couple vertebraes a six foot one white guy and you lose a step chances are slim you're gonna do well you know i need every every little bit i can get i'm not super super tall you know athletic but not as athletic as others so
00:02:53
Speaker
That kind of took me to a different path. and I was kind of lost at that time. And my mom had encouraged modeling and acting. And it wasn't something I really wanted to do, but I was at a crossroad. So I went to IMTA competition in New York about, well, it's like 40, 50,000 people and ended placing fourth.
00:03:14
Speaker
And so immediately I got a contract and went to Milan to start fashion modeling.
Legal Troubles and Prison Experience
00:03:19
Speaker
The problem was, is I was a complete different person at that time. I was a major selfish jerk.
00:03:27
Speaker
I mean, I was all about Dylan, this money, this, what clothes can I get? What girls, what parties? And, you start getting into that lifestyle, especially with the modeling lifestyle where all we did all day was wake up, go to our agency, get a casting sheet, go do our auditions, go to the gym go party. And that's just what the life was.
00:03:49
Speaker
And very unfulfilling, by the way, but, you know, the stories sound great, but it's really not. So anyway, long story short, within that time, I can't keep up with the lifestyle. I mean, we're making potato chips for money at that time, unless you have a major, major campaign. Like, for instance, if somebody signed like an Armani campaign, they would get like 30, $40,000 on a contract. But the regular work,
00:04:12
Speaker
you know, it barely got you by. it It just, and by the time you're spending all your money partying and everything else, you're really not eating a lot and you're just not, half the time I was getting money sent from home, you know? And so anyway, by the time I got home, i started to sell drugs on top of partying and doing drugs.
00:04:31
Speaker
And I'm trying to keep up with this lifestyle to be able to travel, go to auditions, do all of this. And in my understanding, there's not too many humans that have ever sold drugs and didn't get in trouble unless they stopped right away.
00:04:43
Speaker
And so I was twenty 27 when I got in trouble and I got a 15 year prison sentence. And you can imagine I drained my parents' bank account so that they could pay for an attorney for me.
00:04:59
Speaker
And they got me a deal where I still got convicted of the crimes, but I was put on probation. And if you screw up, they can give you your original sentence. Well, I told you I was a jerk and I kept pushing it and pushing it and I screwed up three times. And then they said, you know what? You just don't get it.
00:05:14
Speaker
You just, you just don't get it. Goodbye. 15 years at 28 years old. I was faced with a 15 year prison. I'm 42 years old right now, mind you.
00:05:25
Speaker
And so Perfect behavior. i won't get into everything that happened in there because that's a whole other story. But, you know, on the 15 year sentence, I did two years.
00:05:36
Speaker
The laws here in Iowa are a lot different in terms of how they cut your time down and for good behavior, mandatory this, do this. So I was out in two of the
Post-Prison Transformation
00:05:45
Speaker
15 and then I was supposed to have five years of parole. My parents lived in in Hawaii, so I got sent to Hawaii.
00:05:51
Speaker
One year, perfect behavior, they let me go. So out of that 15, you know I really was blessed to only do three. Now, when when I was in there, I spent that time.
00:06:02
Speaker
I'm a spiritual guy and mind you, everybody's not, and that's fine. I got way closer with God and all I did was figure out how am I going atone for everything I did wrong? How am I going to fix the embarrassment that I caused my parents? Because I was raised so well and and had so many expectations and just selfish.
00:06:19
Speaker
And that's what selfish behavior will get you is what happened to me. So at 30 years old, 12 years ago, I was starting from scratch in my parents' basement with nothing.
00:06:30
Speaker
You know, some clothes, TV, crappy car that I bought when I got out, you know. and And met my wife when I was Maui, who was the polar opposite of me perfectly in line, never drank, never smoked, never, I mean, just a complete polar opposite, right? But exactly what I needed.
00:06:49
Speaker
And I had been praying and I said, look, I'm not in any rush. You know, I'm not trying to whatever, just but the right person bring her to me when you feel I'm ready. And I've been with her ever since.
00:06:59
Speaker
and And from that moment, everything changed. And I started my own creation of myself at that time. and that And that persona was doing basically what you would call being an influencer before there was such a thing as an influencer.
00:07:16
Speaker
So 2011, I start making videos on steroids, SARMs, and peptides. Nobody was talking about any of these. Now, My goal was to encourage people to not use steroids, but I had i had accumulated such a knowledge base while I was, you know, that first year when I got out, just sitting on the computer, reading, learning.
00:07:37
Speaker
And I was coaching athletes at that time already because of the bodybuilding forums and I put the information out. So I was trying to encourage people to not use them, but at the same time, teach them how to use them safely.
00:07:49
Speaker
SARMs and peptides, nobody had heard of. And I got tapped into that market. So I was about... In terms of peptides with practitioners, I was about seven, eight years ahead of the curve. And you know we can get into that too. But basically what I've done for the past 10 years is build myself up, get the bigger following and get a bigger platform.
00:08:11
Speaker
But finally coming to the realization that I kept telling myself, oh, you're doing good. You're saving people from hurting themselves and you're doing this. And and yeah, I think I was doing good, but it's certainly not what God put me here to was coach steroids and SARMs and peptides,
Biohacking and Health Routines
00:08:25
Speaker
right? So what I have done the past year, and I would say more so even the past few months, I got invited to speak at the Mr. Olympia with doctors and practitioners. And that was a culmination for me. And then I figured out, you know,
00:08:40
Speaker
you're on the right path, but you're not on the right path. And that's when I got on the biohacking path, which to me is basically in a simple word, if people are fearful of the word biohacking, it's just improving your quality of life.
00:08:53
Speaker
It's just finding yourself first and then being able to fix your health daily. and And biohacking is simply coming up with different methodologies and ways to stay healthy and to live longer and to be happier.
00:09:07
Speaker
And that's it. and And so i love that. And before we jump into that, because i think this is It's a really interesting place, at least for me to start in, you know, you came up as an athlete and then you talk about the selfishness, the selfishness through the modeling, through yeah being a kid, right? like As you're younger, like the world revolves around me. That's pretty normal thing that people go through.
00:09:29
Speaker
But the inflection point, the turning point, you just talked about biohacking is about your health and optimizing daily, but there's this bridge in between those two gaps that to me, I hear this purpose outside of yourself.
00:09:44
Speaker
ah And it was spiritually like getting closer to God while you're inside. It's with your close relationships with the, the, not just your parents, but then you're now a wife that you met you came out. And then with the impact you have on others from the work that you do.
00:10:03
Speaker
And understanding that Biohacking really is seen as that internal self-focused part, but for healthspan to live with vitality, you really need that purpose. You really need that calling outside of yourself.
00:10:19
Speaker
And it's something that you found in different ways at different times and at different levels, you know, the spiritual, the individual and the personal, and then the the broader purpose in a community level.
00:10:30
Speaker
And so I guess... My question to you is how now seeing how that's played in, do you work to to make that part of your daily habits or rituals or weekly habits or rituals, just seeing how much it's already done for you?
00:10:46
Speaker
I'm a very regimented person. I always have been. Doing time in prison will make you as regimented as you can possibly imagine because every day is the same and all you've gotten there is your routine.
00:10:57
Speaker
So ah mind you, I'm already very regimented. However, when you just like this morning, it's freezing cold outside, man, like it's so cold. But if I don't get up and go outside and walk like I do every day,
00:11:11
Speaker
I just i'm I'm already starting the day off bad. I'm just not feeling right. Now, mind you, when it starts to blizzard and snow, I'm probably going to get on my treadmill downstairs and open the window just so the sunlight comes in and maybe crack crack it open.
00:11:24
Speaker
But it's when you develop. OK, so you can develop any habit, right? You get into these bad habits, whether it's drinking, whether it's staying up too late. Who knows? Any bad habit you can think of.
00:11:36
Speaker
It's easy to get into that habit, but it's hard to break it. Same with the good habit. It may be a little bit harder to develop it, but when you when you break it, it's a mess. It's a mental mess.
00:11:47
Speaker
it It throws you off. It can throw your attitude off. You you don't feel right throughout the day. Heavy, sluggish, maybe irritable. So for me, it's simple to keep it because if I don't do it, I'm just not happy.
00:12:00
Speaker
I just don't feel right. Even when we're traveling now, we got a lot of traveling coming up and I'm sure you you know you travel a bit. i've already We've already been thinking about ways like, okay, let's I've got this set up.
00:12:10
Speaker
I've got this set up. This is how we're going to accommodate the situation. Look, if you want to do anything bad enough, you do it. You make a sacrifice. You get up a little bit earlier. You don't do one thing so that you can do another thing. Right. So I think that it's easier than people make it out to be, but you just have to feel it and want to do it.
Balancing Life and Health Priorities
00:12:31
Speaker
And then when you don't have it, you realize, oh, you know, I'm missing something. Yeah, for sure. At the habit level, and I guess specifically to that social connection. So whether it is your time for prayer or that connection with God or your time without external distractions with your family and loved ones or that time and effort to develop the broader community that you're serving and engaging with.
00:13:00
Speaker
How do you deliberately think about that or carve out time for that? right To your point of, hey, I don't have time for this. to say oh yeah You have the same 24 hours as Elon Musk. It's just you're saying, I prioritize these other things. I'm giving time higher than this thing that I'm not going to give time.
00:13:15
Speaker
and You seem like someone who is thoughtful about that time on the social connection, just given what it's done in your life on that journey you've been on. Yeah, definitely. And so, for instance, like if there's a day when we're traveling, I have a routine in the morning where I get up before I before I go walk. i'll I do my like my morning readings the daily. I'm Catholic. So we you know, we have the daily readings and then I have a book because normally you would sit here and read an hour every morning. But I just now that the business has gotten so crazy, I have to split things throughout the day, but I still do it.
00:13:49
Speaker
So I have a book, like for instance, this book here, it's like a one a day ah ah reading that is like a certain teaching every day. So I'm in that right now. Otherwise I just read excerpts out of the Bible. i And then I'll go for my walk.
00:14:04
Speaker
And then like my sauna time, that's extra prayer time where I'm missing that normal first hour during the day. But I've, ah I've, made I've accommodated it to where I can still do it depending on, like, for instance, when I'm in the car, instead of being on the phone or listening to music, I'll do some prayer time there that I may be missing.
00:14:20
Speaker
There's always little gaps in the day. so I hate it when people say, oh, I'm so busy. I can't do this. I can't do that. And it's like, You really could. You really could. It's just that's not your priority. You know, like you'd you'd rather do X, Y or Z as opposed to what you're missing out on the day. And it it just comes down to what's your priority, because if it's really important to you and it's a priority, you will figure it out somehow, some way. there's Listen, no human doesn't have gaps in their day where there's a little bit of time to do something.
00:14:47
Speaker
You know, and and we all know it because we do it to people. Oh, I'm so busy. I just can't today. I'm so booked up. But you really could if you wanted to. You may be too tired. You may want to do something else, but you really could if you're being honest.
00:14:59
Speaker
There are infinite things we can do. And there are only a small number that we really need to do and should do. And so back to that, there's more things we can do than than can fit in 24 hours.
00:15:12
Speaker
But the things we really need to and should do Most the time,
Fitness Routine and Importance of Rest Days
00:15:17
Speaker
can't. and And it's about saying yes to the things that we need and no to more the things that may get pushed in or we let default in and and being really deliberate and thoughtful about what we allow into our lives, what we give space in our mind, in our time, in our calendar too.
00:15:36
Speaker
So it sounds like for you, you started off you know getting outside, getting that morning sunlight and your body moving because you said, hey, I'm either going outside i on a walk or I'm on the treadmill. Coming up as an athlete and going through that, and then you have the prison routine, everything, and then being in the bodybuilding world, what does your kind of fitness and mobility and movement routine look like now?
00:16:00
Speaker
mean, kind of day to day, week to week, what what are you doing there? Just mind you, when I tell you this, I don't recommend this like for my clients or anybody because I'm intense. So on my workout days, I do a 20 minute walk outside. I have two non-workout days a week. So that walk will be 35 minutes.
00:16:16
Speaker
um But on my workout day, so I'll do that walk and then I'll come in like generally I'll have either a podcast that I'm doing or a rod that I'm on or I'm doing some video editing or I'm answering emails, whatever the case may be. I'll do that for a few hours. Then I go downstairs. I have all of my cardio equipment here.
00:16:33
Speaker
So I have a commercial treadmill and elliptical. Depending on the pain in my foot that day, I will always do 80 minutes downstairs. Now, sometimes it'll be like 60, 65 minutes, elliptical 15 running.
00:16:46
Speaker
If my foot's feeling good, I'll split it in half. um It just depends. I've beaten it up pretty bad. And then i will i'll try to hit my abs. Then i come upstairs and I shower and then I get in like my pre-gym meal, so to speak. And then after I do that, I'll go downstairs and walk about 10 minutes, 15 minutes. You're always supposed to move after you eat a meal. And then depending upon the time,
00:17:10
Speaker
I'll try to get some more work done. I'll have some calls fixed in there. So I give, cause I try to have some more kind of like fats before I go work out so that I'm burning those as fuel as opposed to just you doing a ton of carbs before workout. I find it works better for me.
00:17:24
Speaker
That's not what I always recommend for people, but you want to give those a good hour to digest at least. Mine digests seem, I've got it down to the T on how quickly, and that's more like ground beef for me. um I wouldn't recommend eating like heavy, heavy, heavy fats, but Anyway, then I will go to the gym, do about an hour and 15 minutes of lifting and then another 20 minutes on the stair climber of cardio.
00:17:48
Speaker
I'll come home. My sauna will be started and warming up for me. And then I'll come in. I'll take a bite of something post-workout. I normally have like a kiwi, maybe a little bit of rice and a couple egg whites, something light, but still protein and carbohydrate to replenish.
00:18:03
Speaker
because then I'll eat again a little bit later. i eat too late at night, mind you too, and I don't recommend that for people, but it's just kind of worked for me. And then I'll come back in. i so I try to spend some time with my wife, my cat, probably get back on the computer and do a few more things.
00:18:17
Speaker
And then I start to kind of wind it down. i lay down. I have a massage chair downstairs that I go sit in like 30 minutes. And then, you know, once again, I sit with my cat a little bit because she's kind of like glued to me. And then I tend to just kind of go to bed after that, man, and just wind it down.
00:18:32
Speaker
Yeah. So if I'm hearing you right on a workout day, we're looking at hundred, like three and a half hours. Pretty much. went in there Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
00:18:45
Speaker
And a non-workout day that's just the 35 minute walk. Pretty much. I'll do a sauna in there too when I can. And yeah I try to listen, man, the older you get, the more you got to realize you got to listen to your body and take those because I used to go six, seven days a week. But actually, that's detrimental. You're overtraining and you're getting to that point where it's just it's a hindrance as opposed to a help. And When you get older, I'm not old by any stretch, but in your 40s and you've beaten yourself up as long as I have, you learn to lift smarter, not heavier. And you learn to that if you don't take those rest days, you're you're not going to grow.
00:19:19
Speaker
you know I've gotten my best results really if I took three rest days, on if I'm being honest, but I can't mentally do it. I just can't. and do want to dig in on the rest because I mean, almost just selfishly, because I don't do rest days. I do seven days a week. But so I do. I want to learn from you on that before you do. So we talked about the the cardio could be walking outside, could be the treadmill, could be elliptical. You're moving on that at the gym, the stair climber.
00:19:43
Speaker
Do you have like favorite weights or exercises that you go with? um there? Is it kettlebells? Is it barbells, free weights? Like, what are you doing? So Dr. Mike Isretel is one one that I find extremely intelligent. I've been a personal trainer certified for 15, 20 years, but there's always somebody you can learn some things from. And I've kind of adopted more of his philosophies, which are more Eccentrical movements, it's not, you want heavy weights, but not too heavy. And you're more focused on the quality of the lift, the eccentric movement, trying to get 12, 13 reps in there till so close to failure. But I switch it up. So I do two potty parts per day.
00:20:23
Speaker
I will tell you this. And another thing I don't recommend is I don't train legs because of all the cardio I do. And my legs are massive, but I'm training them five days a week with all the walking, the running, the stair climbing. If you add it up and I was to train legs, I would completely overtrain them.
00:20:37
Speaker
Now, I do recommend for most of my clients a so ah separate leg day. So what I do is, so I change my my splits every six weeks. So you're not, you have to shock your body. You can't be doing the same body parts and the same exercises.
00:20:49
Speaker
So right now, my split is Mondays. I'm doing shoulders, traps, and back. On Tuesdays, I'm doing chest and biceps. Wednesdays, I'm doing back and tris.
00:21:02
Speaker
Thursdays, shoulders and traps. And then Fridays, we're going to chest, bison, tris. So I have that split ah through. And I tend to do about four exercises per body part.
00:21:15
Speaker
And then I try to get my sets in that 12 to 15 range. And I'm always cognizant of muscular endurance. So I'm not taking long breaks in between sets unless it's really heavy.
00:21:26
Speaker
So what kind of break are you taking? About 45 seconds to a minute tops. Yeah. You know, unless im I'm searching for a song or something and it goes little about a minute and a half, you know, but that's about what I do.
00:21:40
Speaker
If you're lifting really heavy, you're going to be more in that like two to three minute range, maybe even for like a heavy bench press or something, you know, to that extent. And everybody's goals are a little bit different. i'm I'm training for hypertrophy, so I'm trying to gain as much lean muscle as I can, but not trying to be like bulked out of my mind.
00:21:57
Speaker
I do tons of different movements. I'm constantly changing it. I'm looking for different. different ways to elongate my muscles and to to get the the deeper contractions in there to kind of give the optimal growth.
00:22:10
Speaker
Do you do any mobility specific work, soft tissue type work, or is it all really around the hypertrophy? Right now, I'm kind of focused on hypertrophy. Not that I haven't done that in the past, but I'm kind of in that stage right now where I'm You know, I'm trying to get as much lean muscle and especially closer now to the winter. But i I'm I listen, I I've had body image issues my whole life with you can imagine being in fitness modeling. model Yeah.
00:22:34
Speaker
So I'm always trying to stay as cut as I can while still adding as much size as I can. So there's a lot of tricks, you know, of diet and training that you got to do together. to And that's why all the cardio. Plus, I love cardio, you know.
00:22:47
Speaker
Yeah. Do you I mean, do you listen to is it music, podcasts, books like that's a lot of time, right? You're looking three, three and a half hours. Are you headphones on? and You're engaging with people around you. Like what is the that time spent doing other than you talked about?
00:23:02
Speaker
You'd have prayer in the sauna. Are you kind of multitasking, too, when you're working out? I do multiple. So I don't really watch a lot of TV ever, but I like sports like talk shows. So when I'm on the treadmill at home or the elliptical, I'm doing a lot of that. Or like right now I'm getting an integrative health practitioner certification. So I'm watching some of those videos at the same time. But generally that's my sports time because I don't get a lot otherwise except Sundays for football.
00:23:28
Speaker
And i'm ah my I'm a sports guy. Like I watch everything. Right. ah When we're at the gym, i do two things. So on Sundays, I will listen to Father Mike's homily, even though I've gone to mass on Saturday. I will take like, so that takes up normally 25, 30 minutes of my lifting time. Otherwise, generally, I'm just into music. I'm, I used to DJ and I'm like obsessed with music. So I'm.
00:23:52
Speaker
I have, I go in phases where I'm just doing rap and hip hop for like two months. And then I'm right back to like grunge, you know, nineties grunge alternative. Cause that's like my love.
00:24:03
Speaker
And I kind of fluctuate back and forth depending on my mood, you know? So yeah. Yeah. So right now two directions and we'll hit both, but I said, we'd come back to the recovery first. Cause I am interested on that. It's a thing.
00:24:17
Speaker
Peter Atiyah posted, ah recently about that he was traveling and I think his routine got thrown off because he doesn't do rest days, right? Like he goes and he was like, he had to take the few days off and then was just blown away by the gains. And he was like, I know this, right? I'm a scientist. I know this. And yet even knowing it, I can't have myself to it. And then me following this and reading it and knowing it,
00:24:42
Speaker
as I was having this conversation last night, my daughter was born almost nine years ago and I've had one day that I didn't work out since then. That was because a pit bull took me down and I ended up in the hospital. Like I was on my way to the pool that day and it's not every day lifting.
00:24:55
Speaker
Some days it's swimming, some days it's like there's a cardio and then the weight's in there. But, I'm struggling with this even today. Like, do I really need to get in or not? And then I'm hearing this from you. I'm like, yeah, maybe i should take a break. Like it's been a while. Hey dude, listen, I was the biggest seven day a week or do that. Like if I take a day off and especially when I was in prison, dude, that you never want to miss a day in there because like, what else are you going to do?
00:25:21
Speaker
And I got into that mode where I got out and I never list. have a mentor and I just wouldn't listen to him. And he just kept telling me. And then my wife and my, you know, my mom and my dad, and they're just like, dude, you know, and I know better. Just like, dude, Peter at how smart is he?
00:25:35
Speaker
Right. oh He knows, but he couldn't do it. Right. Right. When you do do it and then you realize and you see, because i would, so for me, and I don't know what it is with you. It may just be that you just feel like you're just not doing something that day. But for me, it would be like, oh my gosh, I'm going to gain weight. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. It's the same thing I was doing with my diet where I was like starving myself on non-workout days.
00:25:57
Speaker
And then I start testing. I'm like, dude, Not only are you like holding extra water when you're starving yourself and you're like the scales moving up, you feel horrible, you know? And then I, I i switched it and I started eating my weight actually dropped and I felt way better. And I wasn't holding on to any water weight, which is what you're going to do.
00:26:17
Speaker
And when you start over training, training seven days a week, go check your C-reactive protein for our blood market, your inflammation. Oh yeah. No, yeah. All my liver, all my liver markers are jacked up, like everything. Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:32
Speaker
And i so I literally read blood panels by the day is what people hire me to do is hormone optimization and blood panels. So I've been doing it like 10 years. So I see everything and I know immediately when someone's got issues, what they're doing and why.
00:26:46
Speaker
So when you're overtraining, you're going to see kidney values. You're going to see liver values. You're going to see inflammation like a ton. And you're like, you're, once you get into your forties and start doing that with that overtraining, what you're going to notice is you're going to be very susceptible to injury.
00:27:01
Speaker
Very. So you got to, and you also have to give your muscles time to grow because think about this. When you lift, for example, why don't you lift biceps three days in a row?
00:27:12
Speaker
Because you're constantly tearing down the same muscle fiber. It's never repairing. It's never growing. It's tear, tear, tear, tear. Now you got to tear to let it rebuild and grow. Sure. But that's why you wait 48 to 72 hours in between. That's why you don't train abs every day because abs are muscles. Like, you know what i mean?
00:27:30
Speaker
Yeah. And so on those non-lift days, I mean, you're still getting that 35-minute walk in. Do you do any extra stretching, anything? Or is it like, hey, that's my mobility for the day.
00:27:41
Speaker
Like, this is the amount of move in my body. Or do you do something else to get a little bit more movement? Like you said, after a meal, like you do some walking stuff. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I guess I kind of left out. it you Anytime you eat a meal, you want to go walk at least 10 minutes. And then i' some of the brightest experts have have brought that up. And me and my wife, actually, my wife brought it to my attention.
00:28:02
Speaker
And we started doing it and it makes a difference. It makes a big difference on how you digest your food, how well you feel after. yeah I'm not saying go run and do something crazy. Brisk walk, you know, and and get out and do it. Sometimes,
00:28:15
Speaker
She'll just stand there and walk in place if we're doing something and we're not you anywhere you could actually go. But yeah, on the non-workout days, I try to just, that's a time to get like some mental clarity to stretching is great. Now that would be a good thing to do, but you gotta, you're not just letting your body rest. You're letting your mind rest too. And I never wrapped my head around that because I was too young and I knew everything back then. so you know,
00:28:41
Speaker
When you understand and you start to get more in touch with your mind and understand that that plays such a big role in your everyday life and your health, you have to have that rest time for your mental side too.
00:28:54
Speaker
And it contributes to everything. ton I needed this so much today. Like this conversation is so timely just for me. Hopefully as others listen to this, they're feeling the same way. Yes. Think about this too.
00:29:06
Speaker
When you overtrain, this is secondary. You can have a raise in cortisol because you don't realize the extra amount of stress that you're putting on yourself mentally too. And you can mentally stress in a multitude of ways.
00:29:18
Speaker
Oh my gosh, I got to get this in today and you're rushed and it should be a day off. or you know Any kind of extra added stress can rise that cortisol, which can then in turn inhibit muscle gain. It it can do a lot of negative things to There's a lot of reasons to not overtrain.
00:29:33
Speaker
What about the sleep side of it? So you you got to it. That's kind of where we ended the day routine. But there's some people who say, hey, my day starts with my night. ah You know, and it's really that's when you're building the muscle. That's when you're building memories. And that's when you're learning. It's your brains flushing and cleaning your bodies, repairing and cleaning.
00:29:53
Speaker
How do you think about your sleep routine and and what that looks like for you? Unfortunately, my sleep routine is not good. It's not. And it's one thing we're but we're building a new house in Arizona. And as soon as, especially at that point, I have to make it a point to stop overbooking myself, getting to the gym too late, doing everything too late, putting so much pressure on myself because then my sleep's just not good.
00:30:16
Speaker
And that's what I oftentimes I'm it's best if you can go to sleep before midnight. You know, you'll always hear that and then you get better sleep. Then you're in a better circadian rhythm. My circadian rhythm is so messed up right now because of the traveling and then the the amount of stuff I've undertaken.
00:30:34
Speaker
if if I get six hours of sleep, I'm feeling very blessed and you should be getting seven to eight at least.
Optimizing Sleep Quality
00:30:40
Speaker
And it should be nice and consistent. When I sleep seven or eight hours, I almost feel hung over because it doesn't feel right.
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah. it's viacious like But you need that. I'm what I'm doing right now is not, it's the one area I'm really lacking in right now. And for those six that you're doing and getting,
00:31:01
Speaker
Do you do anything to increase the quality? Do you have any, like I do a sleep mask or the temperature or anything around the sleep itself to just try to optimize what you're getting? Yeah, I just got an Apollo Neuro in the mail. I got on the charger. I saw you had it on. It's on the charger right now. It just came yesterday. So I got to learn how to do that. And I'm hoping that's going to help me. I really am.
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah. so for for you and for anyone listening on this, I will say, because it'll tell you like, hey you got an extra 24 minutes sleep last night, whatever. So one is... I pay for, and I think I would suggest getting the smart vibes is like an extra hundred bucks a year, but it'll sense as you're waking up and give you the vibration on it.
00:31:39
Speaker
And then two, I didn't learn this until Melanie recently had the the founder on her podcast and heard him talk about it but at nighttime, actually wearing it on the ankle, it's a little less disruptive. And so that that's been a game changer for me. And I found my sleep has improved.
00:31:54
Speaker
There it is. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. i got Dr. David um coming on in like two weeks, I think on my podcast or something. So I'm going I just want to learn how to utilize this property. I'm definitely wearing it on my ankle, like throughout. Do you wear yours all day or do you take it off or how do you do yours?
00:32:10
Speaker
I wear it all day other than if I'm swimming or go to the gym. And then that's when I charge it because it the charger only really lasts for a day. And so I need to charge it every day. And so that's that's a good time. and It's pretty bulky. So it's not great to have at the gym. It's not waterproof. So I definitely have it when I swim and hop in the shower and stuff. So that's my charging time. And the rest of the time i typically am wearing it. Yeah.
00:32:31
Speaker
Yeah, I'm hoping that that's going to be the thing that helps me right now because I don't like to take like I don't like to take too many sleep supplements and sleep aids. And I just don't like to do that at all. I really don't. um There's some that are beneficial, but I want just natural sleep the best that I can get, it you know.
00:32:46
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, there, I think you're probably where the biggest thing is back to Matthew Walker, the quantity, quality, regularity and timing. Yeah. And so if you could just get, i think if if I was going to pick one on sleep, it's have a consistent bedtime and wake time.
00:33:03
Speaker
Yep. and because so many of us have social jet lag we have one for the week and a different one for the weekend or yeah and you're just constantly kind of shifting your schedule but your body is dealing with jet light constantly whereas if you could just have this consistent sleep and awake time with an exception every now and then like hey friends are in town we're gonna go do a lead dinner et cetera like yeah live life but most of time trying to keep it in that window i think Then your body, you talk about now when you get that seven or eight, you almost feel hungover because your body doesn't know what to do with it.
00:33:31
Speaker
Whereas if it knows, it's same similar similar eat times, right? Like when you, your body before you start eating, because it knows the time you normally are, it starts secreting the stomach acids. Like your body gets used to a clock.
00:33:47
Speaker
And if you're constantly shifting the clock, it has a hard time. Absolutely. And that's that's just one of those things. and And I used to be really good with it. My wife, when we lived in Washington, she had to go to work like super, super early in the morning. So I was on a good schedule. I was going to bed early. I was getting up early. And, you know, it it things have gotten crazy. But that's definitely something. And it'll be nice in Arizona because there's no daylight savings time. So when we move there, that that's something...
00:34:13
Speaker
Like, you know, we were at eudaimonia when the daylight savings hit too. And I was already in a different time zone than I lived. So that wasn't helpful either. So i don't think people realize how significant that is on your circadian rhythm and what it causes. And I wish that like lawmakers would actually do some understanding on why this is so unnecessary. But that's that's a different topic for another day.
00:34:36
Speaker
It comes up every year. Like here are the tens of billions of dollars it's costing our economy to have this thing. And every year we don't do anything. about it. i just don't get it, but there's a lot I don't get. Like I said, it's a totally different conversation. It a very different conversation. Yeah.
00:34:50
Speaker
It's like, wait, we we agree on 80% of things and yet we can't get those things on. I'm really confused. It's like, yeah why are we arguing about this 20% instead of at least getting this started on these we agree on? But that's ah that's politics for you.
00:35:04
Speaker
Yeah. ah Oh, man. So, yeah, the the sleep, I mean, it's certainly an aspirational one for you. You recognize and the importance and you have a new tool with the Apollo Neuro. Excited to see how that plays out.
00:35:18
Speaker
But otherwise, like you don't do the cooling bed or eye mask or earplugs or like other kind of tips and tricks for... No, I found a... couple of people that I've interviewed recently and I saw them posting about ah like a weighted mask and I'm looking at getting, but I'm making a Christmas list for my wife and I was actually going to put that on there to try and just see if it helped or, you know, it's worth a try. I mean, it's it's like, it's not a pill or anything. ill I'll try something like that.
00:35:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I would say the masks personally, they're wildly different. I found one that I absolutely swear by, you know, I tested 15 of them. And there's one that I just find amazing. And I have one my bag. I have multiple them all over the place because it works for me.
00:36:03
Speaker
Other people find that one way too hot and they like other ones better. So I wouldn't. and wouldn If you don't like that one, I wouldn't write off masks in general. i think they're absolutely incredible because it lets you just be in the dark and sleep as much as your body needs.
00:36:18
Speaker
I love that. You're going to have to send me that when we're done because i want to I want to know. I literally, I used to, I had an apartment one time and I'm not kidding you, I taped foil over the windows.
00:36:28
Speaker
And this was like when I was young, right? And I was partying a lot. So there would be days I'd wake up at like two o'clock and not know what time, like two in the afternoon. Yeah. And mind you, we were up late, but I wouldn't even know what the hell was going on. Like, seriously, it was so dark.
00:36:43
Speaker
That was the wake up call for me. So I, when I, my first year of law school, i lived in a room that didn't have good blinds and there was a streetlight right outside. just slept terribly for the first week or two. And then I aluminum foiled the window. yeah The first night I slept 13 hours. I was oh, wow, this is different. And so then I realized how light sensitive I was and started doing eye masks. And it was actually an event um with Andrew Huberman and a bunch of other people that gave us this particular mask. nice And I'd been searching for it for years and then finally found, like wait, this is the one. It was incredible.
00:37:15
Speaker
ah And yeah, so I'll send that to you after. And we can certainly put it in the show notes for others. Any sleep tips or little hacks, I will welcome them with open arms.
00:37:25
Speaker
Yeah. the The other one I will say, and kind of dirt cheap, not everybody likes them, but I heard it on a separate podcast and the person was like, yeah, use those. They were amazing. I don't know why I stopped. I'm going to go back to it, but just wax earplugs are like really cheap. They're four or five bucks for yeah three.
00:37:41
Speaker
um And you don't push them all the way in. It just kind of closes off the outside and you're just kind of creating the sensory deprivation chamber, right? You have your eye mask, you have your ear and you're just, Like you, heart your body just takes what it
Nutritional Journey and Overcoming Myths
00:37:53
Speaker
needs.
00:37:53
Speaker
I love it. Cool. and So now if it's okay, I would like to jump back to the nutrition. Cause you, you seem really dialed in on that. You're like kind more ground beef here. And then it's maybe a Kiwi and some rice and some egg whites like here.
00:38:06
Speaker
And so yeah, Is this a, I'm counting macros. Is it you're weighing food? You know, there are different people that do all the different modalities of it. How do you look at your nutrition, your fueling of your body in this life?
00:38:21
Speaker
So I have had like a ah breakthrough. i would say it's been about four weeks now. So I have been a certified nutritionist for 2011, so what, 13 years. But I started studying nutrition at 11 years old. I started to read food labels. I started to learn and understand them.
00:38:41
Speaker
I had, like I said, I've had like eating disorder, body dysmorphia most of my life since I was a kid. I was like an overweight kid, ah even though I was playing all these sports. And then all of a sudden in eighth grade, I went from 5'8 to 6'1, lost like 30 pounds and haven't been the same ever since, right? But there was that long period of time where I mean, i would, and ill I'll just say it, like I would stand in front of the mirror and cry, like, and think that there was no way out. Like, how am I ever going to fix this?
00:39:09
Speaker
You know, and God bless my mom because she did everything for me and and literally was like a perfect parent, but they, she fed me whatever the hell I wanted. So, I mean, every day after school, I got McDonald's or Burger King, like, you know what I mean? Just bad, bad, bad stuff, even though,
00:39:25
Speaker
at the time I think she just wanted to do what I wanted. Yeah. So I have developed this. Now I have gone through phases where I was obviously using steroids or, or performance enhancing drugs where I was like, I had eight abs, like getting away with abs.
00:39:42
Speaker
Yes. Yes. It was ridiculous. I'll show you pictures. Sometimes it'll blow your mind. Uh, but my eating's always been off. Okay. Like I've always had it in my head to be scared of fats, even though I know that's inaccurate, but I do this thing that I, I despise that mentality that, well, I'm just different.
00:40:03
Speaker
Well, I'm, you just don't know. Cause I'm, I told myself that for years, 30 years that I'm just different, you know, and you know what? I told you, I spoke at the Mr. Olympia and I got home and I got COVID and I was so upset, not because of the COVID because I had it three or four times, but because I felt like, oh my gosh, I had just done all of this. I had all this momentum. I was going to come home and start po doing this, this, this, and this.
00:40:30
Speaker
Why would I get sick right now? And you know what? Instead of pouting and moping, i did what I said that I had been praying for trust for like a year because i that was one of the things throughout my, when I really put God first like a year and a half ago, when I really took that step of changing everything, I just didn't have the trust. And when I say I didn't have the trust, not that it's belief and trust are different.
00:40:56
Speaker
Belief is one thing. Trust is that when something's going on, you have to trust that there's a reason, right? It's not a lack of belief. It's not a lack of faith. It's a lack of trust. And I just didn't have it. And I find, I don't know what happened. i There's no answer for certain things when God works.
00:41:13
Speaker
I prayed and that trust hit me and I said, you know what, Dylan, stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop this, stop that. There's gotta be a reason. And the reason was twofold. One, I took the time to read and figure out like that I belonged in the biohacking space, but two,
00:41:29
Speaker
I figured out my diet, final. and And how? I'm not entirely sure. It was through talking to different people I met. It was through listening. And I went in the kitchen one day, because mind you, my wife's been dealing with me eating 14 servings of vegetables and three, four egg whites and oats and nothing else every day for like 15 years, just starving myself.
00:41:50
Speaker
And not understanding why I'm irritable and can't focus in this. And I told her, I said, you know what? Cut me an avocado today. We're going to go get some ground beef. We're going to, I'm going to be having, instead of 1500 calories a day, we're bumping it to 25. I just went in there and told her this. And she's just looking at me like, what the hell happened to my husband?
00:42:08
Speaker
And i am not lying to you ever since I've done this. My clarity, my brain fog, my amount of being ripped to shreds, the way I feel, it's just on a whole nother level. Now you have to understand how your body's usually utilizing fat, carbs, and proteins. And you start, you know, instead of me taking the science and and turning it around that, oh, I'm different, I took the science and I said, okay, you're doing this much working out.
00:42:35
Speaker
Your body's ripping through the fat. I mean, it's because your carbs are just gone like this because I don't eat a lot of carbs anyway. So those are they're way out the window. So your body's going right to the fat.
00:42:47
Speaker
I do like what I'm drinking right here is is my coffee that I brew, but it's got SCT oil in it, not MCT oil, SCT, which is short chain triglyceride. MCT is medium chain.
00:42:58
Speaker
When you go with the short, this is just ripping through your body and it's but your metabolism is going boom boom, boom, boom, boom. It's putting out CLA. And then I'm doing that. And then I'm doing grass fed butter, grass fed beef stuff that I had in my head like, oh, man, if I eat this, I'm going to be fat again. And this and this and this my body's like thriving on it.
00:43:17
Speaker
thriving on it. And so right now I'm doing like a 40, 40, 20. So I'm doing like 40% protein, 40% fat, 20% carbon for me. Oh my gosh. It's killer. Now, when we were at eudaimonia, got hooked up to this, this machine. It was, I don't know how to say it. It's P N O E. And the guy is awesome. By the way, he'll be at a for M and I'm actually doing a podcast with him, but he's,
00:43:42
Speaker
What it did was it analyzed how much your body was burning through fats and carbs on this machine while I laid there for 15 minutes with this mascot. And I was like 73% fats and 20 some percent carbs.
00:43:54
Speaker
And then I was like, okay, let's roll, you know, and the fats have been demonized so long and it's just not accurate. And that's a lack of understanding cholesterol. It's a lack of understanding different types of fats, additives, you know, things that go into them and utilization of them.
00:44:11
Speaker
Well, part's lack of understanding. Part is it was a deliberate disinformation campaign. there There's a block, the big fat lie, right? Like this was all funded by the food industry ye to demonize one thing that they couldn't monetize as easily as some others. So right it's it's not our fault necessarily for growing up in a time where the entire system, I mean, my my father was a cardiologist.
Nutrition Education and Biohacking
00:44:36
Speaker
He was like, basically everything they taught me about nutrition in med school was wrong. And then you you say today, you go talk to people coming through med school. So you're in med school for four years.
00:44:48
Speaker
How much time do you think you spend on nutrition? Probably not much. But I mean, take a guess. Out of four years of education. If I was to break it down, I would say not even a quarter of a semester.
00:45:01
Speaker
Two hours. Two hours on nutrition. i mean Huge part of cardiology. Yeah. and And, but all, all doctors. And so this is a funny thing. Like a nutritionist, you think, oh, well, they're not a doctor and talk to the doctor. Like, no, that person knows way more about nutrition than I do. Like, yeah, I have an MD, but I didn't get an education on nutrition. I don't know anything about this. um They didn't teach me this.
00:45:21
Speaker
The nutritionist actually was taught about this. Go talk to those people. Cause they know way more than I could possibly know on this. Yeah. It's wild. Well, if you, I mean, when you go to a cardiologist, if you have any cardiovascular trouble, high cholesterol, blockage in your arteries, any of the sort, what are the first two things that they tell you to do? Diet and exercise.
00:45:43
Speaker
Or put you on a statin, but let's just leave that. If I can tell you a about it. Right, right. But it's it's diet and exercise. So how would you not be trained specifically in those two aspects if that's what you're telling people to do? So you're telling me, go do diet and exercise, but I can't tell you what to do. I can't tell you what to eat.
00:46:00
Speaker
I mean, that just doesn't even make sense. Yeah, I mean, it's it gets back to what Hippocrates or even Socrates is one of them. It's like food is medicine, right? Like it goes back that we knew this.
00:46:11
Speaker
And moving our body, right? Those two things, it just gets back to these very basic pillars of fuel your body with the right things, rest your body, move your body as much as it needs and keep that mobility. You live with vitality. You put these things in.
00:46:25
Speaker
I mean, you're very, very thoughtful, the 40-40-20. And understanding what what I also love about this, and hopefully people listening to this can appreciate this as well, is this isn't written in stone.
00:46:36
Speaker
no like no We're both coming at this as scientists and saying, hey, based on the information I have today, This is what the right answer is. But you know what? I'm going to keep researching. And as new information comes out, I'm going to try new things and see what's working, which I think is the entire premise of biohacking. It's not this one and done.
00:46:53
Speaker
It's this process of learning, iterating and improving. Yes, everything in life is trial and error. So I can give you a list just like I tell people when I coach them on steroid use.
00:47:04
Speaker
I can tell you that this should do this for you and it should do that, but I cannot tell you if you're estrogen prone. I cannot tell you if your body's going to metabolize this fast or slow. I don't know if your liver and kidney values are going to explode or it's not going to affect you. as much. I don't know. So it's all a test and we have to test it and figure it out from there. Same with diet.
00:47:23
Speaker
So when I was telling you they hooked me up to that machine, they also gave me a macro breakdown of what I was supposed to take a day to maintain my weight. And it said on workout days that I needed to be eating damn near 3,500 calories so and that I needed to be eating like 380 grams of carbs and grams of fat and like and some grams of protein. Now i aim i weigh one eighty five My goal is to get about 1.5 grams of protein per pound. I'm falling short of that right now. I'm i'm about 250 and i'm I'm slowly testing my fat. So right now I'm about 80. I'd like to get up to 100. Now the carbohydrates is where I'm seriously lacking on their scale, right? So all of my carbohydrates are come, I eat a ton of vegetables. Like I mean a ton and and it's coming from vegetables.
00:48:14
Speaker
oats and fruits and so i'm a strawberry blueberry blackberry raspberry is what i do and i mix those in my greek yogurt so what i do with greek yogurt you know like those 36 ounce containers of greek yogurt i get one of those every three to four days i put it in uh like a tupperware i take two scoops of protein powder which i design myself i custom design at true nutrition And then I cut some some fruit in there and i so I have a serving and a half every day.
00:48:43
Speaker
I grind all my almond butter fresh. I do, I basically, and and you want to make sure with almonds, that you that that they're like um shelled off because the shells can increase ah ah lectins and you want to avoid that.
00:48:59
Speaker
you know So there's so much that that that there's there that you got to learn that people will say, oh, that's crazy. But if you think about it, it all adds up. So if you keep doing all these little bad things, think about how many times you do it over and over.
00:49:13
Speaker
it adds up. Right. So if you, if you're eating like certain things and it says less than 2% blue dye, sucralose, whatever, but you got 10 things that you're doing every day of that,
00:49:24
Speaker
I mean, it adds up, man. It's it's too much. We did a test here and I told my wife, I said, you know what? Let's go through the counters. Let's take like my pre-workout, my, you know, all of this stuff and see what's in it. And I was like, man, we got to dump some of this stuff. Like there's blue and yellow dyes and all of this and less than 2% sucralose and all this. Like we got to get rid of this.
00:49:45
Speaker
That is one of the things I've been thinking about on the the protein powder side, right? Like if you think about protein goals and this for people listening is going to be really interesting episode to juxtapose against Dr. Michael Greggers, right? That's all plant-based, like very much get away from animal proteins and fats and lower, lower protein. just like very, very different approach. i But yeah,
00:50:05
Speaker
this trying to get the protein and then saying okay it's really hard especially eating mostly plants to get that level of protein in and so you start turning into powders but then you're looking powders and what's a lot the powders like well this isn't natural like is this truly better for my body than putting something that's real into my body that it knows how to process like i don't even know to pronounce a lot of these things that's not really the right way to go Right.
00:50:30
Speaker
So here's what I do. And i I'm just going to make a quick comment um on what you said about the animal and protein fats, because I certainly have a lot of vegan friends and I don't demonize anything at all.
00:50:41
Speaker
it's You can't get all of the essential aminos that you need from plant-based only that you can from animal fats. fats and meats and proteins, which it you know can be
Protein Sources and Custom Blends
00:50:51
Speaker
significant. But also, some people do feel quite well on vegan diets, but most people that I run into when they do it for a long time and they think they feel okay and then they realize they don't once they switch back to an animal-based or at least mix it in a little bit, Granted, everybody's different and you do, you listen, do you, but check your blood markers. And I think that you'll find between the two, you're going to have a lot less problematic issues, especially long-term if you're bringing in some animal, you know, proteins and real true proteins into the mix.
00:51:22
Speaker
But what you said with the powders, here's what I do to prevent all of this, like what you're talking. Well, one, my collagen peptides, I just get unflavored, right? So that's one aspect of protein powders that I use.
00:51:34
Speaker
But when I do whey isolates, so I go in there and I design my own and you can pick percents. Now, granted, it's expensive if you want the good stuff. So I'm getting like... 100% grass-fed, non-GMO whey. No glyphosate, no that nothing, right? And they're fed.
00:51:49
Speaker
And I'm mixing it up. So I do some egg white protein in that percent. I do grass-fed whey. I do multi-collagens. And then they have what's called their true flavors. And they're only used stevia as the sweetener, which is basically one of the best ones. Yeah, monk fruit or stevia. Yeah, and there's no natural, nothing. But you design your own.
00:52:10
Speaker
It's expensive, but it's worth it. Trust me. This is for me now, granted, everybody has a different budget on stuff, but when you think about where you are spending money, And you say, okay, well, sleep's foundational. And well, that bed's expensive.
00:52:25
Speaker
Well, once you amortize that across 365 nights, how much would you pay for one good night's sleep? Thank you. And when you think about the half-life of certain, like the glyphosates, the other thing you're talking about, how much would you pay to get another healthy year of your life?
00:52:40
Speaker
Not just an extra year, but a healthy year that you're going. And so just as you're thinking about something more expensive or too expensive, what that trade-off is and what you would be willing to sacrifice. Because a lot of time what you're saying is, I'm just like with your time, I'm just prioritizing this spend over this.
00:52:57
Speaker
And double check that that is really what you want to be doing.
Supplements and Health Optimization
00:53:01
Speaker
So besides the protein and and very thoughtfulness that you said through true food. True nutrition is where I go. you can You can custom design oatmeal and protein there. Okay, nice.
00:53:11
Speaker
So besides that, outside of the the whole foods that you're eating, do you supplement with anything? I mean, obviously it sounds like you've been experimental through your life and career, but where are you today and what you're taking and using?
00:53:24
Speaker
So creatine is is one that I highly, highly, highly recommend. I have everybody I can recommend that to. i i put out a lot of content on creatine, multitudes of benefits.
00:53:36
Speaker
Menopausal women, for example, it it can help with... their moods and their cognitive functioning. It helps with bone density, which you start to get more brittle bones, men and women, as you get older. But ah people that need to understand that the water weight that you get there is muscle cell volumization. It's shuttling water to your muscles. You're not going to bloat. You're not going to do that unless you're doing what that loading phase nonsense that you don't need to do and blast in 20 grams of of creatine the first two weeks, which you do not need to do at all. I can guarantee you don't need to do that.
00:54:10
Speaker
But that is one. Glutamine is another. Glutamine actually, ah beyond the recovery aspect of it it, it can help with any sort of gut issues, leaky gut problems. Glutamine is huge.
00:54:22
Speaker
And these are so, they I hate to say they're so cheap. they're they're They're cheap additives and there's nothing in them except... yeah yeah and they're proven, you know, these two things are absolutely proven. So for like supplement-wise, no, i'm on I'm on hormone replacement therapy, but I have been forever.
00:54:40
Speaker
And then, um you know, but that's, I don't blast cycles of steroids or anything like that. I just use the dose that I need for my health to keep my testosterone level where it's at, but that's that's a different thing. And then with peptides,
00:54:52
Speaker
You know, BPC-157 I always have on hand in a gel for injuries. You can inject that. um I'm actually going to start epitalon, which is a peptide for sleep, fixing your circadian rhythm.
00:55:04
Speaker
I'm getting ready to start that. But there's certain peptides I certainly will empty implement. Ipomorelin is one. but i'm not I don't run cycles or anything like that of the sort, but natural supplements, creatine, glutamine, absolutely key. Now, for me, because I have some plaque in my arteries that I found, and that was with a genetic condition, that LP little a score that I found,
00:55:31
Speaker
doing a calcium score because mind you why would somebody like myself have plaque in their arteries well if and that's why i study cardiology so much and work with some of the best cardiologists in the world and i've made it a point the past year and a half to learn as much as i can about the true facts on cholesterol and cardiology so vitamin while you need that if you take too much That's increasing calcium, which if you have a you know calcified arteries can be a major issue. So you only, you need to take the right amount.
00:56:01
Speaker
And then K1 and K2 are important because those help to, I hate when people say you can't reverse plaque, you can get plaque out of your arteries. Those will help get plaque out of your arteries. So I recommend those you know in your regimen.
00:56:14
Speaker
Vitamin C is important because it can gets rid of bacteria. Well, the bacteria that gets inside of you can build plaque in your arteries, you know, and cause a slew of other problems. But you also don't want to misuse these. You start taking too much, they're detrimental, right?
00:56:27
Speaker
So these are important ones. Magnesium is a huge important one. A lot of people talk about that. But I want to make a point to point out all your electrolytes. Magnesium gets all the love.
00:56:38
Speaker
Yeah. But I'm talking about potassium. I'm talking about sodium. I'm talking about chloride. You got to monitor these levels because if those throw off, you can have like heart palpitations. You can be drained. You can have a lot of problems if those are thrown off.
00:56:51
Speaker
So i I personally, because I sweat so much, I have an electrolyte mix on hand. It doesn't have sugar or any BS in it or anything like that. But that's something to think about because those get thrown off very easily, you know, and something simple like drinking enough water with your creatine, for example. But these are staples like that I have personally that I would do really recommend. Colostrum is another one um that that I recommend in in the ah arsenal.
Monitoring Health Data
00:57:20
Speaker
Yeah. And you've brought up a couple of times, like you're monitoring blood work, et cetera. What sort of tracking and monitoring do you have? Do you do you have any wearables that you're tracking...
00:57:32
Speaker
recovery rates, sleep, anything like that, plus the blood work and kind of what's your system on the frequency of blood tests? You know what? I used to wear an Apple watch and I don't want to scare people, but I think I wore it too tight and I started to like develop like wrist issues and I'm not comfortable with the sensors myself. i I don't, I could be completely wrong, but I have it in my head that that that's not the best thing.
00:57:54
Speaker
So that's why I'm kind of hoping the Apollo will be good for me on tracking. I'm very good with, you know, like, plugging in weight and and management in terms of like when I'm on the treadmill, the the elliptical and monitoring that way. And I have a, so the app that I use here, one of my close friends just gave it to me. I'll tell you what I use now for tracking. It's called Cal AI and it's like an Apple app.
00:58:18
Speaker
tracker and I can go and type all my fitness in that I've done for the day. You can go take a picture of your meal. Like if you put a plate of whatever down, it'll analyze it and try to tell you what's in it. Or you can just go.
00:58:29
Speaker
So some of the food labels weren't showing up. So I go up, walk up to my custom protein mix, take a picture of it, plugs it right in. it's It's sweet. Yeah. And I'm just doing that just, just to keep an eye on things and see how i'm metabolizing and if I'm hitting, you know, on certain days and,
00:58:45
Speaker
it's nice and handy, but in terms like I liked the Apple watch, but I also found it detrimental to me too, because my, I have so many notifications. Well, that's, that's why i do stuff with no screens. I was like, I don't need more interruptions in my life. I don't need more ways for people to get,
00:59:00
Speaker
get into my head in my day, right? I want to own my life in my day. So that for me, the, the no face on a whoop is a value add. It's a feature, not of a shortcoming. What is that that you use?
00:59:13
Speaker
This is a whoop. Oh, so you know that you have some that like the, orura or something that you go more of the ring side or a whoop or Garmin more on the wrist side. yeah, Uh, and I'm, I'm a fan of the first hundred customers they had.
00:59:26
Speaker
One was LeBron James and the other was Michael Phelps. Two of the first hundred customers. Yeah. So it's, it's used, you know, Cristiano Ronaldo, like all, all the top athletes. Do you like it? I'm a fan. Yeah. I'm a big fan.
00:59:38
Speaker
Yeah. I'm going to check that out too. This been so good. I think I am literally changing my approach based on this conversation today. i think it was really kind of the kick in the pants I needed, especially on that rest and recovery side um update to hear it from you.
00:59:54
Speaker
So I appreciate this. That makes my day, man. Yeah, I love it. Absolutely. I love this. i i Anytime I can... at least give out what I know. I don't know everything.
Starting a Health Journey
01:00:06
Speaker
I never claimed to, but I think that with the experience I've had, that it can be of value to people. And I love doing this. I absolutely do.
01:00:13
Speaker
It's clear it is a labor love. And I think we're all the beneficiaries of that. i will say for people listening, it can seem overwhelming, right? Like, oh, wait, there's this long list of things to take. And wow, this amount of time in the gym and this stuff along the nutrition for somebody who may be way earlier,
01:00:32
Speaker
in their health training, maybe maybe they're even older than us, but they haven't taken it seriously, but they're saying, Hey, now I want to, and to prevent them saying, it's just overwhelming. I'm not going to do anything. Where would be the place you suggest they start and say, Hey, you don't have to do everything today.
01:00:48
Speaker
Just start here and start getting some momentum. And then you can worry about the next thing. I always, always, always, always start with diet always and educating yourself. Look, You can't have a 10 cent diet and a million dollar workout program and get anywhere. You just can't.
01:01:04
Speaker
So learning about nutrition, you don't have to flood yourself and get confused, but just taking some time to try to read and understand some basic you know things with your food and then trying to get consistent with it.
01:01:17
Speaker
Discipline and consistency with your diet will then in turn lead you to discipline and consistency in all other aspects of your life because the diet is the hardest part to stay consistent with. So if you can wrap your head around that first,
01:01:30
Speaker
The working out part is very important, but I would say to to spend the majority of your focus learning diet first and then letting that lead you into getting a better workout ethic. I'm not saying just don't work out. I'm saying learn as much as you can on diet first, then start to learn as much as you can on training while you're still training and learning a little bit and ease yourself into it slowly.
01:01:52
Speaker
And then I'm a business and finance major, so I'm big on numbers. And so if you're saying, oh, I can't afford this, I can't afford that. But you probably can because there's certain things that you can cut out.
01:02:05
Speaker
There's always corners that you can cut, but you have to sit down and look at numbers. You can't just make assumptions because you'll be shocked. It's just like plugging in your calories into a into an app. You'd be shocked once you see it.
01:02:16
Speaker
You put this in your head, but until you see it on paper, you don't understand. Right. So start with your diet, learn it, implement it, and then move forward. But take it one step at a time. This is a marathon. It's not a sprint. It will not happen overnight. It doesn't for anybody. It doesn't for steroid users.
01:02:32
Speaker
It doesn't for people that have a lot of money. That's not how it works. You cannot cheat this.
Gratitude and Closing Remarks
01:02:38
Speaker
You can't. And I love that in that it's, you don't need a bunch of external molecules, right? Like it's just the baseline. Let's start at the basics, just the grocery store learning.
01:02:47
Speaker
And if you can go with a mindset of abundance rather than, hey here are all the things I'm not allowed versus, wow, I'm going to go explore some new healthy things to find what I like.
01:02:59
Speaker
And wow, my body feels so much better. I'm doing this with a friend right now. And she's like, I kind of hate it, but this tastes so good to me now. I crave this now. I feel so much better now. When I go to the things that I used to think are my comfort for food, I feel terrible the whole day. Like I don't want that stuff anymore. right And it's, it, it transforms your life. It transforms your mentality. It transforms how you show off with the people around you. So I am so grateful for the work you do. I'm grateful for you. I'm grateful to connect with you.
01:03:28
Speaker
And thank you for coming on the show. It's it's been an absolute pleasure. da Absolutely, man. I love talking to you. I love your attitude. I love your mentality. You're exactly the kind of person that we need to, because you'll reach people because you'll resonate with them with your delivery. So I appreciate it too. And I'm happy to anytime you you know you need me or or want me to to help in any way, another topic, you can always reach out let me know.
01:03:53
Speaker
Thank you so much. Thank you for joining us on today's episode of the Home of Healthspan podcast. And remember, you can always find the products, practices, and routines mentioned by today's guests, as well as many other Healthspan role models on Alively.com.
01:04:08
Speaker
Enjoy a lively day.