June 2, 2025 • 41 mins
In this inspiring episode of Covering Your Health with Evelyn Erives, presented by IEHP, Evelyn sits down with Dr. Andrew Mock, the dynamic Medical Director of the Loma Linda University Center for Health Promotion. Not only is Dr. Mock a leader in preventive medicine and lifestyle health education, but he’s also a competitive strongman and owner of a powerlifting gym in Redlands, CA.
Dr. Mock shares his unique journey of discovering his passion for medicine and how his commitment to health extends beyond the clinic and into the gym. Learn how he balances the demands of being a physician with training to become one of California’s strongest athletes. He also offers practical advice for anyone looking to start a fitness journey—no matter your age or current fitness level.
Whether you're a health enthusiast or just beginning to think about your wellness goals, this episode is packed with motivation, expert insights, and actionable tips to help you build strength in both body and mind.
For more information on this show's topic visit IEHP.org or (800) 440-IEHP.
Learn more about Dr. Mock at lluh.org. For more on his Strongman journey follow him on Instagram @dr_mock and to learn more about his gym visit HotBarbell.com
Reach out to Evelyn via Instagram @evelynerives or email her at EvelynErives@iHeartMedia.com
Dr. Mock shares his unique journey of discovering his passion for medicine and how his commitment to health extends beyond the clinic and into the gym. Learn how he balances the demands of being a physician with training to become one of California’s strongest athletes. He also offers practical advice for anyone looking to start a fitness journey—no matter your age or current fitness level.
Whether you're a health enthusiast or just beginning to think about your wellness goals, this episode is packed with motivation, expert insights, and actionable tips to help you build strength in both body and mind.
For more information on this show's topic visit IEHP.org or (800) 440-IEHP.
Learn more about Dr. Mock at lluh.org. For more on his Strongman journey follow him on Instagram @dr_mock and to learn more about his gym visit HotBarbell.com
Reach out to Evelyn via Instagram @evelynerives or email her at EvelynErives@iHeartMedia.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Covering Your
Health with Evelyn Erivez, presented by iehp Oh. I can't
believe this is our last episode before our summer hiatus.
Summertime fun right around the corner, but we wanted to
turn up the heat on the podcast too by bringing in,
really bringing the conversation back to our air conditioned studios
(00:21):
here at iHeartRadio. And also welcome doctor Andrew Mock. You
are gonna love this guy. He's an area physician at
Lomolinda University who not only saves lives in his nine
to five, he also owns a successful strong man. Oh,
he owns a successful strong man and powerlifting. I have
to make sure I add that in there because that's
(00:41):
very important a gym here in Redlands. He's also a
four time California strong Man. So cool, right, We're so
grateful Doctor Mak has taken time out of his busy
schedule to speak to us. But before we welcome him
to the mic, let me give you a little background
on doctor. He's a board certified family preventative and lifestyle
(01:04):
medicine physician and is the current medical director for low
Molinda University Center for health promotion, preventative medicine and population
Health Clerkship director and director of Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum.
He's a teacher as well. He's also on the board
of the Medical Fitness Association, the chair of the Fitness
(01:27):
and Medicine Interest Group for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine,
and has trained state, national, and world champion athletes. Doctor
Mock is also an advocate for education, which is why
we're so excited to bring him on board for the
Covering Your Health episodes, and hopefully we're going to have
him back because I think after this conversation you're going
(01:48):
to want to see more of him as well. He's
going to share a little bit about his story, how
he found his passion in practicing medicine and how he
trains to become one of the States' strongest both in
the medical field and in the gym.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Welcome to Covering Your Health, a wellness podcast dedicated to
covering all areas of living a healthy and happy lifestyle,
from healthy hearts to understanding health plans and everything in between.
Each episode will provide you with a better understanding of
managing your health, preventative care, and staying on the right
path for your family's wellness journey. The Covering Your Health
(02:25):
podcast is presented by i EhP. Now your host, Evelina Revez.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Welcome, doctor Andrew Mank.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
How are you doing great? Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Oh so excited to have you here. And I know
IEHP was very eager to get you on the podcast.
So let's start. I always begin by talking about the guest.
I want to know about you. We know your amazing
accolades and all the crazy, amazing things that you have
done in your career. But tell me, like, where did
that start? Did you always know you were going to
get into medicine from a young age. Did you think
(02:58):
you were going to be a strong man at ten?
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
No.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I really like the saying I'm not here despite it all,
I'm here because of it all.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh I like that.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So I grew up in a small town in southwest Georgia,
rural Georgia, Albany, Georgia. That's where I spent most of
my adult life prior to medicine. In high school, I
actually was very sick as a kid, so I had
about four stomach surgeries. Oh my missed a lot of
school and had some health challenges. I actually ended up
dropping out of high school in tenth grade. And yeah,
(03:35):
so it was the combination of the health then you know,
not really knowing what was going on, and for a
long time, it took me many years to figure out
how important like the nutrition and exercise pieces were for
that to really take care of myself. And you know,
people will say like, you know, how did you find medicine?
(03:56):
And I think medicine actually found me, and it found
me through the gym. So my friend's mom, her name
is Leah. She's in Albany, Georgia. She was one of
the head trainers at the local gym, and he's like, hey, man,
let's go to the gym, And then started going with
my friend Miles, and then never stopped. Wow, and I
(04:18):
just you know, even like the little muscle diagrams on
the machines, I was like, oh, this is so cool.
Let me learn how I'm using this muscle. And so
I started doing my own research on the internet, learning
about the different muscles and I'm like, wow, I really
like this type of information. I'm like, well, how is
my nutrition going to be helping me? And then I
learned how to improve my own health as well as
(04:39):
performance through my nutrition. And I'm like, this is such
cool information. And we're all nerds and medicine in our
own way and I'm just a nerd about exercise. But
you know the fun part of it is I really
like sharing that information. So I'm like, how do I
share that information more? And so the root word for
doctor in Latin is which means to teach, so that
(05:03):
sharing information education that is what led me to medicine.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
And how did you so before? Now I'm stopping you,
but so you dropped out of high school? Like so
did you go back to finish you know, a year later?
Like how did that work for you?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
So I have my GD, so I got my GED.
And the thing that don't they don't tell you when
you don't finish high school is all of those college
prep classes that you take in high school, they are
actually requirements for when you get to college. So if
you haven't had them, you still need to take them.
So for my first yeah, my first, my first I
think it was three or four semesters of college were
(05:41):
actually just taking all of those classes that I didn't do,
So it took me longer you know, I graduated college
for undergrad It took me about seven years to complete that.
And part of that two yeah, was my my dad's
health during the time as well, so a big part
of my journey there as well. So a little bit
(06:02):
about his story. So he's a Vietnam veteran and from
his PTSD with that, alcohol and smoking were the ways
that he treated what was not being treated.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
His coping mechanism.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yes, and so in twenty twelve he was diagnosed with
esophageal cancer. And his cancer diagnosis was the first time
that I really thought about the role that nutrition, exercise,
and lifestyle in general played in health. I had already
improved my health quite a lot with nutrition and exercise,
(06:36):
so I had a lot of this information, but I'm like, well,
how do I apply it to my dad's situation. And
so he had his PET scan in January of that year,
and right, we just gave him the special sugar right
to make all this cancer light up on the CT scan.
So that's how we tell how well we have it controlled.
And so we see always cancer light up from this
(06:58):
sugar molecule. And because he had trouble swallowing, he had
a peg tube to help get his nutrition to keep
him from losing more weight. But then I'm pouring this
brown liquid with a lot of added sugar through the
peg tube.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And it probably felt weird to you. It doesn't make
it yeah sense.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So I'm like, well, what can we do? Thankfully, I
have this lifelong relationship with blending a lot of my
food because with what I do in strong Man, we
have to eat quite a lot. So I knew a
lot that you could blend foods. And then I found
this whole kind of resource of blenderized foods, and so
that gave us a very powerful tool for him to
(07:37):
get real whole foods. The dietician was like, how did
you even come up with this? I'm like, it's just
basic nutrition. So we just used the whole foods. We
cooked him in a croc pot, blending them up very fine.
The best part about that is he missed eating so
he could taste all this food. Oh yeah, so it
didn't change the outcome. He passed away eight months later
(07:59):
in twenty twelve, But that really did, you know, set
this point in my mind that the lifestyle pieces are
the most important part of taking care of chronic health condition.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Absolutely and you gave him that joy too, even in
through that process of like trying to figure out what's
going on? How do I help him in my own way?
You gave him a piece of joy back even though
he had only so much more time with you. Wow,
that's fascinating. Okay, that's so cool to know about your
background because it makes a lot of sense for your
(08:33):
your path right, your path forward, and now your path
into teaching her A huge advocate for education, and part
of that work is educating your patient on really how
to adapt a new workout plan, which I always think
is so funny because whenever you start a new diet
or you start a new workout plan, they're always like,
consult your physician first. And I never do well anyone
(08:56):
like I know, but you know you always think that
like I did, I did? I tell me doctor that
I started working out again. Why is it so important
to have that as a resource as well, your doctor? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Absolutely so. I mean we are part of a team,
right and the patient is the captain of that team,
and we are along on that journey to partner with
the patient to help, in a selfless manner, prioritize their health.
Whatever that looks like for the person that's sitting right
in front of us. Yeah, And so that's the reality
(09:28):
is we have to meet people where they are and
that looks different for everyone. So you have to know
someone to do that. And specifically on the well, should
I even talk to my doctor before beginning an exercise program?
So we have guidelines for this from the American College
of Sports Medicine. The reality is most people, they are
(09:51):
very low risk for starting an exercise regiment, so they
don't have to talk to their doctor so long as
certain things are true. Now, if you've had a heart
attack or a stroke, like you have heart disease, if
you have metabolic disease specifically diabetes, or if you have
kidney disease, those are the three people, the three groups
of people that we recommend talking to your doctor before
(10:13):
beginning that exercise plan. Or if you have symptoms of
any of those things, then we recommend talking. And then
after we have that conversation, you know, it could be
some reassurance. But for most people, it is very low
risk to start an exercise regiment and then gradually increase it.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
So let's talk about that gradual increase. Why is it
so important for someone to start slow rather than I'm
jumping in across fit.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yes, absolutely, I mean all day.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
So we'll have three words progress as tolerated and that's
straight from the recommendations themselves. So and we can break
that down and what that actually means, because the most
likely time for you to have something pop up is
when you're changing the dose. And the reason I say
a dose because we write exercise prescriptions every single day.
(11:04):
Oh and this is a very important prescription. Yeah. So
what that means is if you are starting a new
plan m hm, as you are getting better at doing
the exercise, you can gradually do more, whether that's the
time you're exercising, how hard you're exercising, or in my case,
the amount of weight that you're lifting. And there's some
(11:25):
very simple tools that we can teach people to know, like, hey,
is this a good dose for me? And am I
tolerating this exercise right?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And like when is it time for me to take
that next step into maybe a longer workout or more
weight involved in that? Oh that's fascinating. So for somebody
that's looking to kick off a new healthcare routine, what
type of advice do you start with?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, I would say, start with what you know you
can currently do, so walking it could be walking.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
So you know, for the eighty year old woman that
I saw in my clinic today where we talked about
strength training and blending those foods to help her get
her weight back up after she's lost some I said,
how far did you walk to get into the office
And she's like, oh, on the other side of the building.
It was kind of a far walk. She used the
far parking lot. And I was like, well, we know
that you can already do that much. So how often
(12:19):
throughout the week are you walking at least that far?
And we talked about the number of days and where
she's at currently, and then we came up with the
plan for how she can gradually increase that dose of
the exercise.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, that's smart. And again, meeting people where they are,
meeting people where they are. Why is it so important
to partner again with your primary care provider? And we
talked a little about that already, but can you give
us another couple key points as to why that's got
to be the starting point?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah? Absolutely, And so this is for all of us
in the US, this is our entry point into the
healthcare system. I said, the patient's really the quarterback, but
the medical team side of things, the primary care doctor
is the quarterback coordinating all of those things. So this
is a person that you could realistically see multiple times
(13:10):
per year for the rest of your life and get
to know you best. So they're often the person that's
going to have the most information about you as a
person to be able to guide you on that individual journey.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And I think that's probably a good side for a
little sidebar on that is that's why it's so important
to have a good primary care physician, right. I think
a lot of people depending on your insurance and things
and how things change. You know, you change doctors and
it's so tough to keep your favorite doctor if your
insurance changes. But it is so vitally important to make
(13:45):
sure you make a connection with that primary care physician
that actually cares about you. And we've been talking about
this a lot on the podcast Advocate for Yourself, right.
And second, if you don't feel that connection with your PCV.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Maybe maybe they're not the person for You're not the
one for you, And that's absolutely okay, yeah, right, So
even like with the gym, you know, I talk about
all the time people are like, oh, I'm so sorry,
like I need to cancel my membership, I'm moving, and
I'm like, I stop being the best place for you
to come, And that's okay. My job is to make
sure that if it's possible for me to be the
(14:20):
best place, or if i'm it's possible for me to
be the best member of your medical team, then I
will be here.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
But if something changes and I'm no longer able to
be that best member, I should actually tell you that
that's the case. Yeah. So I oftentimes when I'm meet
meeting patients for the first time, I'll let them know.
Right if you don't feel like this is a good relationship,
I'm happy to refer you to somebody who might be
a better fit for you based off our conversations and
(14:47):
how things are going.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah. And I think one of those things that could
be a struggle for a lot of people is that consistency. Right,
maybe you picked a gym that's a little too far
for you, so it's not going to be as easy
to to access, you know, every day when people are
struggling with that consistency. What are what's some of advice
that you give them.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, so if it's a hard task, when your motivation
is very high, you will be able to do a
hard task. But let's say life comes up, right, you
have life, man, you have multiple school age kids. Right,
so like if it's sports season or anything like that, Right,
it becomes harder to do what you were doing before
just because life changes. So what can you do even
(15:30):
if it's not exactly what you want to do, that
will still be beneficial. And so I love the saying
do not let perfect be the enemy of good. And
so that's sometimes we will get in the way of ourselves. Right,
they're saying, oh, well, I can't go to the gym
for thirty minutes or an hour today, so I'm just
not going to do anything. But do you have any
(15:51):
idea what the minimum amount of exercise we need to
do in order to start getting any benefit?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Anything?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Anything?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Seconds? Wow, thirty forty seconds, feeling like you're exercising standing
up and down from the chair.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Doing school chest couple jumping jacks.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Taking a three minute walk. Yeah, if you do ten
squats or sorry, squats for about thirty to forty seconds,
or taking that three minute walk every forty five minutes
throughout the day, you actually reduce your risk of getting diabetes.
That's not going to the gym. That blows my mind, right,
that's just breaking up the inactivity throughout the day. Uh,
(16:30):
that's doable, that's absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, So let's feel like you're telling me what I
need to do.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Well, so I know that this is for all of us, right,
So this is for myself.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Right, No, I'm taking this to heart.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Tears most of us at this point are are We
have a watch in your hand that tells us it
buzzes when it goes off. Right, Hey it's time to
stand up. Hey, it's time to move.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We have a love hate relationship.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
How often do you ignore that?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Every once in a while when I'm like super busy
and I cannot get up because I'm like, no, I
gotta finish this.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
So, whether it's my patients, my students, the residents that
I'm teaching, we come up with rules for that prompt
to say, when are you allowed to ignore that? Right?
If it's been a while since you've cuddled with your
kid on the couch, right and they're in that good spot,
that is a perfect time to ignore that. Stand up. Yeah,
if it's just throughout the day. Hey, maybe it's very
(17:17):
easy to go do that. The one that I take
to heart for myself. If I'm in the room with
a patient, that's probably the most important time for me
to stand up and listen to that because I want
to demonstrate the behavior that can help all of this. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, absolutely, Oh so smart. I know, I my watch
will go off and be like it's time to stand up,
and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Okay, now everybody's gonna have guilt about or guilt that. Yeah,
but you know you can tell your your phone or
your other smart device set a timer for thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, let's talk about let's talk about your powerlifting because
this is so cool. This is a really I mean,
you don't meet a lot of doctors who are super
into powerlifting. Okay, I've talked to countless doctors. How did
this become a passion for you?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, so I mentioned about the gym, and actually it
all started out, you know with bodybuilding, right, that's Arnold Swarzenegger.
I want to look big and symmetrical as possible with
very low body fat, very much in appearance, not so
much a health side of things. Yeah, and then I
found the strength side of things, right, and that I
(18:28):
am not as strong as a lot of the guys
that I compete against with static strength meaning just standing
still in that raw strength. But I'm very good at
picking things up and moving with them and being fast.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
So I just.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Really enjoy exercise. I think that's like my ultimate genetic
gift is I get a lot of positive feelings from
exercising very hard, and I know that is something that's
helped me consistently. Yeah, but no, I you know, I
grew up watching them on TV right, Like, so if
you if you've seen strong Man on TV, right, it's
the guys that pick up the rocks, that pull the trucks.
(19:08):
Usually it comes on on like July fourth or Christmas
time as the air World's Strongest Man, And I was like, wow,
I am never going to be as big and strong
as those guys. I have the height actually, But then
I learned that there are weight classes, So oh, my
weight classes two hundred and thirty one pounds or more
recently now two hundred pounds, so I don't have to
(19:29):
compete with the guys that are six foot eight, three
hundred and fifty pounds with abs. Yeah, that would be
rightly challenging orgaransend the Mountain on the Game of Thrones.
So but I see them at competitions. Yeah that's cool. Ye.
So but yeah, I mean, I just I really love exercise.
It being challenging to me is very important. I always
(19:51):
make the statement that I can make the gym harder
than anything life has to throw at me. So good luck,
that's a great sult. Yeah, me and the gym got
it taken care of. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Oh, that's a really good That's a really cool way
to look at it, because if you think about it
like that, like I can conquer this and it's harder.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
It's scientifically true. Right. So the people that are in
the top quarter of strength, the top twenty five percent,
they are less likely to die for any reason by
twenty five percent compared to that lower groups.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, that that's motivation.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
So lifting weights quite literally makes you harder to kill.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
In the movies, too, correct, I heard it?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, definitely. I mean we all grew up seeing Arnold
and uh Rambo on TV, and I think a lot
of us started very hard to kill. It's near impossible
to kill Rambo on TV. He's got the hero effect.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
He really does what is he one of your idols.
Tell me about some of your idols.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean so, I think a lot of
us in the fitness industry absolutely grew up seeing those guys.
And I remember, you know, when I was it's very
hard to eat the amount of food that we have
to eat, yeah, to gain this amount of weight. And
I remember watching pumping iron during my meals, like for motivation,
(21:11):
and Arnold's on there, and you're just like, someday, someday
for most of us, probably only a very few people
in the world are couldn't even be close to that. Yeah.
But then yeah, on the bodybuilding side of things, so
Ronnie Coleman, he's another famous bodybuilder, eight time Mister Olympia,
so he was a big influence. But then just a
(21:32):
lot of the guys and strongman Brian Shaw, He's probably
one of the most influential. But then it shifted into
kind of like the health educator side of things that
really became the idols. So now people that I would
consider friends, so Jordan Weigenbaum and Austin BARROCKI they have
a company called Barbell Medicine. Okay, they're some of the
(21:53):
best educators in the world. In this area when it
comes to just general health promotion, but apecially on the
exercise side of things. Oh wow, So yeah, if people
are not familiar with them, highly recommend them as a
resource for excellent health information. Yeah, because we both know that.
That's the challenge is where do I get good information from?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I think, especially within the world of you know, Internet chat,
GPT and yes, and you know social media, and there's
so much out there. It's almost like there's too much
out there, right, so it's hard to decipher what comes overwhelming,
what's right? Yeah, what's what should I be paying attention to?
I think I follow Oh gosh, at least fifty different
(22:37):
you know nutritionists and I and they they're great, but
they're all giving different types of advice.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Probably do one scroll on the reels and this one
will say, hey, this is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this
is the worst thing.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Stay away from eggs. Oh eggs are your power breakfast.
It's like, oh my gosh, okay, what.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Do I do?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So obviously, becoming a strong man takes a lot of dedication.
I have one question first, that's the softer side of
the question. How does your daughter feel about that she's
nine years old?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah, I don't know if she knows how strong.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, I mean you've never like flipped her up and like,
you know, through the air.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
All the time, all the time, right, you know. But
when it comes to kids, they watch and she comes
to competitions with me, But she also comes to the
gym with me. So we own the gym so we
can do that.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Oh yeah, And I don't own little like things she
wants to and.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I don't have to tell her.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
She just wants to do.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
So she knows that when I come into the gym,
I'm gonna stock, restock the drinks, you know, make sure
there's toilet paper, all those things, clean up a little bit,
and then I'll go do my own exercise. Right. And
eventually she says, oh can I stock the drinks? Oh
can I make sure that you know there's toilet paper
in the bathroom? And then I'm squatting and she says,
can I try that? Absolutely? Her favorite things to do
(23:59):
is we have the pileo boxes, the jump boxes, so
she loves to jump between them. So we'll come in,
we'll set those up and it should be fun. Right.
We talk about this long term athletic development model, that's
the model we use for adolescent athletes, and the first
stage of that is the fundamentals, which start with three
(24:21):
letters fun. So find something that they want to do
that they enjoy doing.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
No, that's so smart. Were you always active like as
a youth?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Definitely? I'm the guy that just did every single sport.
I used to make the comment that I'm the jack
of all trades, right, because I could pick the any
sport up pretty fast. And it's probably because I did
a broad range of sports that I developed those skills
and can learn pretty quickly. But then I realized, well,
(24:53):
that general athleticism works very well so long as you
can be at least strong enough to compete with the
big guys if you move well. That that you.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Said you were, you said you were fast, So that
probably is super helpful with all of that. Right, So
what does a daily routine look like for you?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, there's some flexibility in that now too, because I
go back and forth whether or not I'm going to
the gym in the morning or in the evening time
based off life because life changes. So in residency, you.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Mean, so when you can't go in the morning, you
still go in the nights. Yes, Yes, that's a foreign
concept to.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Me, my friend, Yeah, thankfully.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Right.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So the big thing is I realize that that's not
always easy. Yeah, a lot of people, childcare is such
a huge part, especially with women. This is a burden
that shifted on that group of people harshly. So, especially
when we think about trying to get women into strength training,
we have to have solutions for childcare. And I'm sure
(25:54):
we could do a whole other talk.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Oh, we get that's a whole other topic, and we'll
do that probably at some point.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
But you know, for me, right, it's such an important
part of my life, and I see a lot of
things get a lot more challenging when I don't have
my best friend. Yeah in there. So, whether it's giving
up a little bit of sleep in the morning and
going early, or just making sure I protect that time
in the evening, it's something that I have to do
(26:19):
in order to be the happiest, healthiest version of myself.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah, I love that. What about goal setting? I bring
that up because last year I set a goal. So
I used to do a lot of running, well, walking,
walk running. How about that. It wasn't full speed running.
I was never fast or anything, but my husband and
I we would do a lot of like the Run
Disney events, and we would just that was like our
(26:44):
feel good you know. We would get up early and
like try to go and all of that. Well, we
got off of it for a bit. I had a
back injury and it just kind of went away. So
last year I said, I'm going to set a goal.
I'm going to do what I used to do. But
it was so hard for me. And I did half
marathon and the ten k weekend. So I did both
(27:05):
in the weekend and I used to be able to
knock that out. I used to be able to. We
would do it and I would be tired, but we
would do it, and this time it was so hard
for me. So for someone who is getting back into
a regimen, like what kind of goals should they be
setting for themselves?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yeah? Absolutely. So you had Aaron on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I did. Yeah, I did the one right before this, and.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
One of her big take home points was around purpose. Yes, right,
So what what's your why? Why do you want to
do this? Is that why? Because I really enjoy doing
the Disney Run with my family. That's a great goal. Yeah,
And then a lot of things will fall into place
when you understand that. Why for some of my patients
(27:49):
is when I go to my niece's house, she has
this very low couch and I'm so embarrassed when I
need help getting up. Oh yeah, And so it comes
back to the primary care doctor and understanding the patience
why and that will help you so much. And from
there as far as actual goals, we talk about something
(28:11):
in medicine or lifestyle what we call the cumulative exposure model,
where anything that you do, its benefit or risk is
a function of how intense is it and how long
have you been doing it. So it comes to even
a small dose can add up over time. So I
(28:33):
like the concept called no zero days. Okay, we went
we said the minimum amount of exercise. We don't know
what it is.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
It could be seconds, right, or it could be minutes,
so it could be whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah, So this goes for all of us. How many
days in our lives do we know that we didn't
do anything to help us with that physical activity. So
this may sound very silly, but I have tough days
just like everybody. Yeah, right, If I get home and
I pull in to my driveway and I know that
I'm not going to be able to go to the gym.
It's even just a quick walk around the block even before.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I go, you walk inside the house. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
And then if I haven't done been able to do
some of my strength training, my prompt is when I'm
brushing my teeth at nighttime, right before I get in
the shower, if I haven't done some of my rehab
exercises for my knee injury, I will put my foot
up on the tub and I'll do my Bulgarian split squats, right,
and it might be five or ten reps. Yeah, but
guess what it was not zero zero?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I like that. That's an easy concept.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yeah, right back to that, do not let perfect be
the enemy.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Good, And then doing even the small steps consistently over
time will add up.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah. No, absolutely, because I am determined to get back
out there again and be finished stronger than I did
the last time. And I keep thinking, I'm like, awesome,
what did I do last year that was different? And
I think it was like I had zero days.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
So you just actually highlighted one of the most powerful
tools that we use in a motivational interviewing conversation with someone.
Tell me about a time when you were more successful
than what you were doing then, and then you see
the wheels immediately start turning. So ask yourself, like, hey,
I was doing this better before. What did that look like?
(30:15):
Paint that picture for yourself and say, what are the
steps that I need to take, even if they're small ones, Yeah,
to get back toward.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
What I was doing before, And I knew it right away,
like after I It's so funny because after I was finished,
and I had been training for like six months, but
I didn't train the same way I used to train.
And I remember, like I used to get up every
Saturday morning. I couldn't do used to do a morning show,
so I couldn't get up before my morning show necessarily
every morning because it was dark. It was so dark
(30:46):
outside and it was like, you know, two in the morning.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
The morning people are a different breed. That is fine.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't know how they did it. I did do
that for like nine months a few years ago, and
I was like, don't get me wrong, it was because
somebody was pushing my booty to do it. You know,
I had a personal trainer who's showing up at my
house and I felt like I can't.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
So you had someone to help you with that accountability.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I really didn't. I know me now I need accountability.
I need someone to tell me to hold me accountable.
And that is what I learned over the last year
because the year, the years prior I was training with
the team, I was doing it for team and training
for the Leukemuan and Foma society, and we I felt
bad when I wasn't showing up for them and saying, hey,
(31:32):
I didn't do it. I'm behind now. So I needed
that and I think that's where I'm at now. So
I got to find who's gonna help me hold me
accountable so I have no zero days.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah that's great. And so you know, it's very interesting
about your Leukemian and Foma society work, right, and you
talked about exercise and doing it for them.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
I promise you the second that you become somebody's exercise accountability,
it becomes way easier to do that going back to
those tough Yeah right, I promise you. Every day is said, man,
I don't have it in me to go to the
gym every single time somebody has come up to me. Wow,
thank you so much for your talk. It was very
motivating and I'm like, well, I'm not doing this for
(32:13):
just myself. Yeah, my why is not just about the
person sitting in my chair. It's my daughter, it's my community, right,
it's all of my patients. So the most important thing
that I can do to take care of my patient's
health is to make sure that I take care.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Of my own. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh so much good information. Okay,
we got to talk a little bit more about you.
What is the biggest lesson you've learned from your first
win to now you're fourth? So you won in what
twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen, and then what twenty
twenty three, twenty twenty four, so what and then just
this show and then this year you want so cool?
(32:51):
So what have you learned in that time?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah? So I yeah, I mean every single contest is
a learning moment.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Is it harder? Do you feel like since twenty nineteen,
like two? Now it's hard it's more challenging for you.
Or do you feel like you're more fit now for it?
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Oh? Definitely more fit now for it? And I think right,
it's it's a learning process like everything. So there are
steps that you're taking. When you're first geting out, you're nervous,
like you have all these things that you're thinking about,
but then they become automatic. Yeah, but that doesn't mean
the learning stops. Like every competition is a learning opportunity.
So with myself and then also the athletes that I train, Yeah,
(33:30):
we have that check in that debrief after the competition,
say all right, well, how do you feel like that went?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:36):
And you know, depending on the type of mental framework
they're in, they'll tell me the good parts are the
bad parts. And I'm like, well, what do you feel
like we could have done better?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Right, And that goes for any behavior.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And these are people that aren't doctors, right, that are
doing this. Many of them probably aren't not fair.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
And this is what I do with my athletes, but
it's actually the same thing that I do with my
my students as well as my patients. Right, So what
could we have done better? And then what are you
thinking about as far as our opportunities for the future.
Where do you feel like we should focus on? So
I'm again putting that ball back in their court to
make the decisions. So I do that process with myself
and say, hey, where could I have done better in
this prep? And then also what's realistic? So always learned
(34:15):
a learning opportunity.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
So through the years that.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
We're twenty two years into this exercise journey, as far
as doing it for both performance and health, yeah, so
a whole lot of time.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
No, that's cool though, I mean it's really it's you
found your passion for it. I mean, I think passion
is yeah, is the key, Like when you know your passion.
My passion is radio. I love learning about people. I love,
you know. I always feel like I'm I am very curious. Yeah,
And I feel like now I get to do a
little bit of that. And I always felt like I
(34:50):
may do that one day, and then this presented itself
and I'm like obsessed now, right, Like I like, I
want to know everything about everybody, which is probably the
reason my I always feel like that first question that
I always ask is because I want to be able
to tell my kids, like everyone starts somewhere, right, and
so for me, I started somewhere with my radio journey
(35:11):
very very young. Not everybody does start very very young.
Some people drop out of high school. I mean, that's
an amazing story because it shows your perseverance and you're
a doctor and a strong man. I mean, like that's
really inspirational. So I love knowing that backstory, Like no
one just becomes a doctor, Like there is a whole
(35:34):
story book behind why they went into medicine, or why
they went into lifting, or why they went into whatever
they are in. So so so cool. So we're talking
a lot about mental health on the podcast. Many of
our episodes are about it. How are you balancing that
right now? Your own mental health, with your family, with
your practice before we wrap it up, because I feel
like I'm taking up all your time because I have
so many questions for you.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Oh yeah, I always happy to answer them. So I
told you before that everything would apart if it weren't
for exercise. Yeah, and we know that exercise is one
of the most powerful or just physical activity is one
of the most powerful mental health tools that we can use.
So just to put some numbers on that for people,
(36:15):
if there are eight people in a room with depression,
it takes us treating all eight of them with a
medication for one person to get better. And that's really
not that bad in terms of types of interventions we
do in medicine. A number needed to treat is what
we call it of eight people for one person to
get better is pretty good for exercise.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
It feels like it isn't, but I understand because in
the scheme of things. But I know, yeah, I see
what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
For exercise, two people, oh my gosh, two people that
start an exercise regiment if they have depression, one of
those people will get better. It doesn't mean don't use medications.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, yeah, it means.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
We have tools in the toolbox, and this is a
very powerful tool. Any guesses on what the most effective
form of exercise is improving.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Mood, I'm going to say walking.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
So I would say the practical answer is whichever one
you'll do. The data answer dancing, Okay, why.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
I dance a lot?
Speaker 3 (37:18):
If you're if you're feeling down, what's your favorite song?
What's your favorite song today?
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Oh gosh, anything by the weekend? Yeah, I'm obsessed.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yeah, I love like my pump up song, my mental
let me feel make sure I'm in the right mindset.
Mackelmore is glorious.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Oh it's a great song.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
So just the positivity says, modulate your own happiness, listen
to your positive song. And I had so many patients
tell me that they really struggled with enjoying exercise, and
then I asked them what their favorite song was. Yeah,
and when's the last time they danced. So if you're
worried about dancing and doing it in front of a group,
I would encourage you to do it with your kids.
(37:57):
If you're busy mom, right, you're trying to find time, Hey,
set that timer for three minutes and you guys, just
dance your heart out.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
We used to do that in our Okay, so I
have it. I have a sign in my kitchen. I'm
going off on tangents like crazy, but I have a
sign in my kitchen that says this kitchen is made
for dancing.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So we we even installed lights in my kitchen. It's
a small kitchen. But some days we're like, you can't
go in the kitchen unless you're gonna dance. And we'll
go music and then I'm like, if you want to
go get yeah, if you want to get something out
of there, you better go. You gotta dance all the
way to do it and then dance all the way back.
That's awesome, But it's become our dance floor is our kitchen.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, And now that they're getting older, it's super funny
to watch them because they'll still do it like you know,
they get into it, or they'll film you know, tiktoks
and all that, they'll film them in my kitchen.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
I was gonna say, how many times have you found
them practicing so they can have better danceing? Yes?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Well, man, my youngest is a competitive dancer, so she
has definitely inspired a lot of her dancing. You know,
she's way better at it than all of us combined.
But it is exciting, and dancing is so smart.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
I mean, like, of course, so very simple tool. Right
if you're struggling with exercise, listen to your favorite song. Yeah,
it'll become so much easier.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Oh no, and I'm I'm Our family's obsessed with music,
so I can imagine lots of people feel that way
about music. Okay, before I let you go, tell me
what do you think? I feel like there's so much
information that you've given and so many great things. What
are the three key takeaways that you hope people will
just just take this with you if you could do
(39:31):
nothing else these three things.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah, So when it comes to exercise, doing it consistently,
both cardiovascular exercise like you're walking, as well as the
resistance training yes, both of those have unique benefits. We
should try to do both consistently. If you are able
to do those consistently, you will be less likely to
die for any reason or be harder to kill anything.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I love that. I'm going to literally tell people that
I'm harder to kill now.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
So, yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I work out.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
And then the second one was do not let that
perfect be the enemy of good. So doing something, even
if it is a small dose, consistently over time adds
up and when life allows it, and when you have
the space to do it, yes, doing more will provide
additional benefit. Yeah, but the third one is going to
(40:25):
be it should be something that you enjoy. Yeah, right,
because doing something you enjoy means that you're much more
likely to do it. And as your body does the
beautiful thing, which is adapting to the stress that you
show it with exercise and you get stronger, you get
to do more of the thing that you enjoy. So
make sure it's something that you enjoy.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Oh that's wonderful, doctor MANK, thank you so much. How
can people find you? How can they know about your gym?
Tell us all the things?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Yeah, absolutely, I just want to say thank you for
all the public health education that you do with your podcast.
So for clinical pieces, I'm at Lomolinda University in the
Center for Health Promotion. I'm our medical director of our
primary care and our lifestyle Nice Medicine Services. And then
for the gym, I own Hot Barbelle Hot Barbell Club
(41:16):
in Redlands, California.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
We are a powerlifting and strong man Jim. So if
you like picking things up putting them back down, sometimes
in a different location than where you pick them up,
check us out and then on Instagram or LinkedIn you
can find me. My Instagram is dr Underscore mock m
ock just like you're making fun.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Of me and none of us would. He is hard to.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Kill Massive Teddy Bear as well.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Yeah no, you.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Obviously are so sweet. We appreciate you being on the show.
Thank you so much. Absolute Hopefully we can get you
back on again anytime
Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Covering Your
Health with Evelyn Erivez, presented by iehp Oh. I can't
believe this is our last episode before our summer hiatus.
Summertime fun right around the corner, but we wanted to
turn up the heat on the podcast too by bringing in,
really bringing the conversation back to our air conditioned studios
(00:21):
here at iHeartRadio. And also welcome doctor Andrew Mock. You
are gonna love this guy. He's an area physician at
Lomolinda University who not only saves lives in his nine
to five, he also owns a successful strong man. Oh,
he owns a successful strong man and powerlifting. I have
to make sure I add that in there because that's
(00:41):
very important a gym here in Redlands. He's also a
four time California strong Man. So cool, right, We're so
grateful Doctor Mak has taken time out of his busy
schedule to speak to us. But before we welcome him
to the mic, let me give you a little background
on doctor. He's a board certified family preventative and lifestyle
(01:04):
medicine physician and is the current medical director for low
Molinda University Center for health promotion, preventative medicine and population
Health Clerkship director and director of Lifestyle Medicine Residency Curriculum.
He's a teacher as well. He's also on the board
of the Medical Fitness Association, the chair of the Fitness
(01:27):
and Medicine Interest Group for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine,
and has trained state, national, and world champion athletes. Doctor
Mock is also an advocate for education, which is why
we're so excited to bring him on board for the
Covering Your Health episodes, and hopefully we're going to have
him back because I think after this conversation you're going
(01:48):
to want to see more of him as well. He's
going to share a little bit about his story, how
he found his passion in practicing medicine and how he
trains to become one of the States' strongest both in
the medical field and in the gym.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Welcome to Covering Your Health, a wellness podcast dedicated to
covering all areas of living a healthy and happy lifestyle,
from healthy hearts to understanding health plans and everything in between.
Each episode will provide you with a better understanding of
managing your health, preventative care, and staying on the right
path for your family's wellness journey. The Covering Your Health
(02:25):
podcast is presented by i EhP. Now your host, Evelina Revez.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
Welcome, doctor Andrew Mank.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
How are you doing great? Thank you so much for
having me.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Oh so excited to have you here. And I know
IEHP was very eager to get you on the podcast.
So let's start. I always begin by talking about the guest.
I want to know about you. We know your amazing
accolades and all the crazy, amazing things that you have
done in your career. But tell me, like, where did
that start? Did you always know you were going to
get into medicine from a young age. Did you think
(02:58):
you were going to be a strong man at ten?
Tell me about that.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
No.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I really like the saying I'm not here despite it all,
I'm here because of it all.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Oh I like that.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So I grew up in a small town in southwest Georgia,
rural Georgia, Albany, Georgia. That's where I spent most of
my adult life prior to medicine. In high school, I
actually was very sick as a kid, so I had
about four stomach surgeries. Oh my missed a lot of
school and had some health challenges. I actually ended up
dropping out of high school in tenth grade. And yeah,
(03:35):
so it was the combination of the health then you know,
not really knowing what was going on, and for a
long time, it took me many years to figure out
how important like the nutrition and exercise pieces were for
that to really take care of myself. And you know,
people will say like, you know, how did you find medicine?
(03:56):
And I think medicine actually found me, and it found
me through the gym. So my friend's mom, her name
is Leah. She's in Albany, Georgia. She was one of
the head trainers at the local gym, and he's like, hey, man,
let's go to the gym, And then started going with
my friend Miles, and then never stopped. Wow, and I
(04:18):
just you know, even like the little muscle diagrams on
the machines, I was like, oh, this is so cool.
Let me learn how I'm using this muscle. And so
I started doing my own research on the internet, learning
about the different muscles and I'm like, wow, I really
like this type of information. I'm like, well, how is
my nutrition going to be helping me? And then I
learned how to improve my own health as well as
(04:39):
performance through my nutrition. And I'm like, this is such
cool information. And we're all nerds and medicine in our
own way and I'm just a nerd about exercise. But
you know the fun part of it is I really
like sharing that information. So I'm like, how do I
share that information more? And so the root word for
doctor in Latin is which means to teach, so that
(05:03):
sharing information education that is what led me to medicine.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
And how did you so before? Now I'm stopping you,
but so you dropped out of high school? Like so
did you go back to finish you know, a year later?
Like how did that work for you?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
So I have my GD, so I got my GED.
And the thing that don't they don't tell you when
you don't finish high school is all of those college
prep classes that you take in high school, they are
actually requirements for when you get to college. So if
you haven't had them, you still need to take them.
So for my first yeah, my first, my first I
think it was three or four semesters of college were
(05:41):
actually just taking all of those classes that I didn't do,
So it took me longer you know, I graduated college
for undergrad It took me about seven years to complete that.
And part of that two yeah, was my my dad's
health during the time as well, so a big part
of my journey there as well. So a little bit
(06:02):
about his story. So he's a Vietnam veteran and from
his PTSD with that, alcohol and smoking were the ways
that he treated what was not being treated.
Speaker 1 (06:12):
His coping mechanism.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yes, and so in twenty twelve he was diagnosed with
esophageal cancer. And his cancer diagnosis was the first time
that I really thought about the role that nutrition, exercise,
and lifestyle in general played in health. I had already
improved my health quite a lot with nutrition and exercise,
(06:36):
so I had a lot of this information, but I'm like, well,
how do I apply it to my dad's situation. And
so he had his PET scan in January of that year,
and right, we just gave him the special sugar right
to make all this cancer light up on the CT scan.
So that's how we tell how well we have it controlled.
And so we see always cancer light up from this
(06:58):
sugar molecule. And because he had trouble swallowing, he had
a peg tube to help get his nutrition to keep
him from losing more weight. But then I'm pouring this
brown liquid with a lot of added sugar through the
peg tube.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
And it probably felt weird to you. It doesn't make
it yeah sense.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So I'm like, well, what can we do? Thankfully, I
have this lifelong relationship with blending a lot of my
food because with what I do in strong Man, we
have to eat quite a lot. So I knew a
lot that you could blend foods. And then I found
this whole kind of resource of blenderized foods, and so
that gave us a very powerful tool for him to
(07:37):
get real whole foods. The dietician was like, how did
you even come up with this? I'm like, it's just
basic nutrition. So we just used the whole foods. We
cooked him in a croc pot, blending them up very fine.
The best part about that is he missed eating so
he could taste all this food. Oh yeah, so it
didn't change the outcome. He passed away eight months later
(07:59):
in twenty twelve, But that really did, you know, set
this point in my mind that the lifestyle pieces are
the most important part of taking care of chronic health condition.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Absolutely and you gave him that joy too, even in
through that process of like trying to figure out what's
going on? How do I help him in my own way?
You gave him a piece of joy back even though
he had only so much more time with you. Wow,
that's fascinating. Okay, that's so cool to know about your
background because it makes a lot of sense for your
(08:33):
your path right, your path forward, and now your path
into teaching her A huge advocate for education, and part
of that work is educating your patient on really how
to adapt a new workout plan, which I always think
is so funny because whenever you start a new diet
or you start a new workout plan, they're always like,
consult your physician first. And I never do well anyone
(08:56):
like I know, but you know you always think that
like I did, I did? I tell me doctor that
I started working out again. Why is it so important
to have that as a resource as well, your doctor? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:08):
Absolutely so. I mean we are part of a team,
right and the patient is the captain of that team,
and we are along on that journey to partner with
the patient to help, in a selfless manner, prioritize their health.
Whatever that looks like for the person that's sitting right
in front of us. Yeah, And so that's the reality
(09:28):
is we have to meet people where they are and
that looks different for everyone. So you have to know
someone to do that. And specifically on the well, should
I even talk to my doctor before beginning an exercise program?
So we have guidelines for this from the American College
of Sports Medicine. The reality is most people, they are
(09:51):
very low risk for starting an exercise regiment, so they
don't have to talk to their doctor so long as
certain things are true. Now, if you've had a heart
attack or a stroke, like you have heart disease, if
you have metabolic disease specifically diabetes, or if you have
kidney disease, those are the three people, the three groups
of people that we recommend talking to your doctor before
(10:13):
beginning that exercise plan. Or if you have symptoms of
any of those things, then we recommend talking. And then
after we have that conversation, you know, it could be
some reassurance. But for most people, it is very low
risk to start an exercise regiment and then gradually increase it.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
So let's talk about that gradual increase. Why is it
so important for someone to start slow rather than I'm
jumping in across fit.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yes, absolutely, I mean all day.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
So we'll have three words progress as tolerated and that's
straight from the recommendations themselves. So and we can break
that down and what that actually means, because the most
likely time for you to have something pop up is
when you're changing the dose. And the reason I say
a dose because we write exercise prescriptions every single day.
(11:04):
Oh and this is a very important prescription. Yeah. So
what that means is if you are starting a new
plan m hm, as you are getting better at doing
the exercise, you can gradually do more, whether that's the
time you're exercising, how hard you're exercising, or in my case,
the amount of weight that you're lifting. And there's some
(11:25):
very simple tools that we can teach people to know, like, hey,
is this a good dose for me? And am I
tolerating this exercise right?
Speaker 1 (11:33):
And like when is it time for me to take
that next step into maybe a longer workout or more
weight involved in that? Oh that's fascinating. So for somebody
that's looking to kick off a new healthcare routine, what
type of advice do you start with?
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, I would say, start with what you know you
can currently do, so walking it could be walking.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:56):
So you know, for the eighty year old woman that
I saw in my clinic today where we talked about
strength training and blending those foods to help her get
her weight back up after she's lost some I said,
how far did you walk to get into the office
And she's like, oh, on the other side of the building.
It was kind of a far walk. She used the
far parking lot. And I was like, well, we know
that you can already do that much. So how often
(12:19):
throughout the week are you walking at least that far?
And we talked about the number of days and where
she's at currently, and then we came up with the
plan for how she can gradually increase that dose of
the exercise.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Yeah, that's smart. And again, meeting people where they are,
meeting people where they are. Why is it so important
to partner again with your primary care provider? And we
talked a little about that already, but can you give
us another couple key points as to why that's got
to be the starting point?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
Yeah? Absolutely, And so this is for all of us
in the US, this is our entry point into the
healthcare system. I said, the patient's really the quarterback, but
the medical team side of things, the primary care doctor
is the quarterback coordinating all of those things. So this
is a person that you could realistically see multiple times
(13:10):
per year for the rest of your life and get
to know you best. So they're often the person that's
going to have the most information about you as a
person to be able to guide you on that individual journey.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
And I think that's probably a good side for a
little sidebar on that is that's why it's so important
to have a good primary care physician, right. I think
a lot of people depending on your insurance and things
and how things change. You know, you change doctors and
it's so tough to keep your favorite doctor if your
insurance changes. But it is so vitally important to make
(13:45):
sure you make a connection with that primary care physician
that actually cares about you. And we've been talking about
this a lot on the podcast Advocate for Yourself, right.
And second, if you don't feel that connection with your PCV.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Maybe maybe they're not the person for You're not the
one for you, And that's absolutely okay, yeah, right, So
even like with the gym, you know, I talk about
all the time people are like, oh, I'm so sorry,
like I need to cancel my membership, I'm moving, and
I'm like, I stop being the best place for you
to come, And that's okay. My job is to make
sure that if it's possible for me to be the
(14:20):
best place, or if i'm it's possible for me to
be the best member of your medical team, then I
will be here.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
But if something changes and I'm no longer able to
be that best member, I should actually tell you that
that's the case. Yeah. So I oftentimes when I'm meet
meeting patients for the first time, I'll let them know.
Right if you don't feel like this is a good relationship,
I'm happy to refer you to somebody who might be
a better fit for you based off our conversations and
(14:47):
how things are going.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah. And I think one of those things that could
be a struggle for a lot of people is that consistency. Right,
maybe you picked a gym that's a little too far
for you, so it's not going to be as easy
to to access, you know, every day when people are
struggling with that consistency. What are what's some of advice
that you give them.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah, so if it's a hard task, when your motivation
is very high, you will be able to do a
hard task. But let's say life comes up, right, you
have life, man, you have multiple school age kids. Right,
so like if it's sports season or anything like that, Right,
it becomes harder to do what you were doing before
just because life changes. So what can you do even
(15:30):
if it's not exactly what you want to do, that
will still be beneficial. And so I love the saying
do not let perfect be the enemy of good. And
so that's sometimes we will get in the way of ourselves. Right,
they're saying, oh, well, I can't go to the gym
for thirty minutes or an hour today, so I'm just
not going to do anything. But do you have any
(15:51):
idea what the minimum amount of exercise we need to
do in order to start getting any benefit?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
What is that?
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Anything?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Anything?
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Seconds? Wow, thirty forty seconds, feeling like you're exercising standing
up and down from the chair.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Doing school chest couple jumping jacks.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Taking a three minute walk. Yeah, if you do ten
squats or sorry, squats for about thirty to forty seconds,
or taking that three minute walk every forty five minutes
throughout the day, you actually reduce your risk of getting diabetes.
That's not going to the gym. That blows my mind, right,
that's just breaking up the inactivity throughout the day. Uh,
(16:30):
that's doable, that's absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, So let's feel like you're telling me what I
need to do.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Well, so I know that this is for all of us, right,
So this is for myself.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Right, No, I'm taking this to heart.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Tears most of us at this point are are We
have a watch in your hand that tells us it
buzzes when it goes off. Right, Hey it's time to
stand up. Hey, it's time to move.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We have a love hate relationship.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
How often do you ignore that?
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Every once in a while when I'm like super busy
and I cannot get up because I'm like, no, I
gotta finish this.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
So, whether it's my patients, my students, the residents that
I'm teaching, we come up with rules for that prompt
to say, when are you allowed to ignore that? Right?
If it's been a while since you've cuddled with your
kid on the couch, right and they're in that good spot,
that is a perfect time to ignore that. Stand up. Yeah,
if it's just throughout the day. Hey, maybe it's very
(17:17):
easy to go do that. The one that I take
to heart for myself. If I'm in the room with
a patient, that's probably the most important time for me
to stand up and listen to that because I want
to demonstrate the behavior that can help all of this. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, absolutely, Oh so smart. I know, I my watch
will go off and be like it's time to stand up,
and I'm like.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Okay, now everybody's gonna have guilt about or guilt that. Yeah,
but you know you can tell your your phone or
your other smart device set a timer for thirty seconds.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
Yeah, let's talk about let's talk about your powerlifting because
this is so cool. This is a really I mean,
you don't meet a lot of doctors who are super
into powerlifting. Okay, I've talked to countless doctors. How did
this become a passion for you?
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Yeah, so I mentioned about the gym, and actually it
all started out, you know with bodybuilding, right, that's Arnold Swarzenegger.
I want to look big and symmetrical as possible with
very low body fat, very much in appearance, not so
much a health side of things. Yeah, and then I
found the strength side of things, right, and that I
(18:28):
am not as strong as a lot of the guys
that I compete against with static strength meaning just standing
still in that raw strength. But I'm very good at
picking things up and moving with them and being fast.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
So I just.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Really enjoy exercise. I think that's like my ultimate genetic
gift is I get a lot of positive feelings from
exercising very hard, and I know that is something that's
helped me consistently. Yeah, but no, I you know, I
grew up watching them on TV right, Like, so if
you if you've seen strong Man on TV, right, it's
the guys that pick up the rocks, that pull the trucks.
(19:08):
Usually it comes on on like July fourth or Christmas
time as the air World's Strongest Man, And I was like, wow,
I am never going to be as big and strong
as those guys. I have the height actually, But then
I learned that there are weight classes, So oh, my
weight classes two hundred and thirty one pounds or more
recently now two hundred pounds, so I don't have to
(19:29):
compete with the guys that are six foot eight, three
hundred and fifty pounds with abs. Yeah, that would be
rightly challenging orgaransend the Mountain on the Game of Thrones.
So but I see them at competitions. Yeah that's cool. Ye.
So but yeah, I mean, I just I really love exercise.
It being challenging to me is very important. I always
(19:51):
make the statement that I can make the gym harder
than anything life has to throw at me. So good luck,
that's a great sult. Yeah, me and the gym got
it taken care of. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Oh, that's a really good That's a really cool way
to look at it, because if you think about it
like that, like I can conquer this and it's harder.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
It's scientifically true. Right. So the people that are in
the top quarter of strength, the top twenty five percent,
they are less likely to die for any reason by
twenty five percent compared to that lower groups.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Yeah, that that's motivation.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
So lifting weights quite literally makes you harder to kill.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
In the movies, too, correct, I heard it?
Speaker 3 (20:34):
Yeah, definitely. I mean we all grew up seeing Arnold
and uh Rambo on TV, and I think a lot
of us started very hard to kill. It's near impossible
to kill Rambo on TV. He's got the hero effect.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
He really does what is he one of your idols.
Tell me about some of your idols.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean so, I think a lot of
us in the fitness industry absolutely grew up seeing those guys.
And I remember, you know, when I was it's very
hard to eat the amount of food that we have
to eat, yeah, to gain this amount of weight. And
I remember watching pumping iron during my meals, like for motivation,
(21:11):
and Arnold's on there, and you're just like, someday, someday
for most of us, probably only a very few people
in the world are couldn't even be close to that. Yeah.
But then yeah, on the bodybuilding side of things, so
Ronnie Coleman, he's another famous bodybuilder, eight time Mister Olympia,
so he was a big influence. But then just a
(21:32):
lot of the guys and strongman Brian Shaw, He's probably
one of the most influential. But then it shifted into
kind of like the health educator side of things that
really became the idols. So now people that I would
consider friends, so Jordan Weigenbaum and Austin BARROCKI they have
a company called Barbell Medicine. Okay, they're some of the
(21:53):
best educators in the world. In this area when it
comes to just general health promotion, but apecially on the
exercise side of things. Oh wow, So yeah, if people
are not familiar with them, highly recommend them as a
resource for excellent health information. Yeah, because we both know that.
That's the challenge is where do I get good information from?
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I think, especially within the world of you know, Internet chat,
GPT and yes, and you know social media, and there's
so much out there. It's almost like there's too much
out there, right, so it's hard to decipher what comes overwhelming,
what's right? Yeah, what's what should I be paying attention to?
I think I follow Oh gosh, at least fifty different
(22:37):
you know nutritionists and I and they they're great, but
they're all giving different types of advice.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Probably do one scroll on the reels and this one
will say, hey, this is good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this
is the worst thing.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Stay away from eggs. Oh eggs are your power breakfast.
It's like, oh my gosh, okay, what.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Do I do?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So obviously, becoming a strong man takes a lot of dedication.
I have one question first, that's the softer side of
the question. How does your daughter feel about that she's
nine years old?
Speaker 3 (23:06):
Yeah, I don't know if she knows how strong.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
Yeah, I mean you've never like flipped her up and like,
you know, through the air.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
All the time, all the time, right, you know. But
when it comes to kids, they watch and she comes
to competitions with me, But she also comes to the
gym with me. So we own the gym so we
can do that.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Oh yeah, And I don't own little like things she
wants to and.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I don't have to tell her.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
She just wants to do.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
So she knows that when I come into the gym,
I'm gonna stock, restock the drinks, you know, make sure
there's toilet paper, all those things, clean up a little bit,
and then I'll go do my own exercise. Right. And
eventually she says, oh can I stock the drinks? Oh
can I make sure that you know there's toilet paper
in the bathroom? And then I'm squatting and she says,
can I try that? Absolutely? Her favorite things to do
(23:59):
is we have the pileo boxes, the jump boxes, so
she loves to jump between them. So we'll come in,
we'll set those up and it should be fun. Right.
We talk about this long term athletic development model, that's
the model we use for adolescent athletes, and the first
stage of that is the fundamentals, which start with three
(24:21):
letters fun. So find something that they want to do
that they enjoy doing.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
No, that's so smart. Were you always active like as
a youth?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Definitely? I'm the guy that just did every single sport.
I used to make the comment that I'm the jack
of all trades, right, because I could pick the any
sport up pretty fast. And it's probably because I did
a broad range of sports that I developed those skills
and can learn pretty quickly. But then I realized, well,
(24:53):
that general athleticism works very well so long as you
can be at least strong enough to compete with the
big guys if you move well. That that you.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Said you were, you said you were fast, So that
probably is super helpful with all of that. Right, So
what does a daily routine look like for you?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, there's some flexibility in that now too, because I
go back and forth whether or not I'm going to
the gym in the morning or in the evening time
based off life because life changes. So in residency, you.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
Mean, so when you can't go in the morning, you
still go in the nights. Yes, Yes, that's a foreign
concept to.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Me, my friend, Yeah, thankfully.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Right.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So the big thing is I realize that that's not
always easy. Yeah, a lot of people, childcare is such
a huge part, especially with women. This is a burden
that shifted on that group of people harshly. So, especially
when we think about trying to get women into strength training,
we have to have solutions for childcare. And I'm sure
(25:54):
we could do a whole other talk.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Oh, we get that's a whole other topic, and we'll
do that probably at some point.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
But you know, for me, right, it's such an important
part of my life, and I see a lot of
things get a lot more challenging when I don't have
my best friend. Yeah in there. So, whether it's giving
up a little bit of sleep in the morning and
going early, or just making sure I protect that time
in the evening, it's something that I have to do
(26:19):
in order to be the happiest, healthiest version of myself.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah, I love that. What about goal setting? I bring
that up because last year I set a goal. So
I used to do a lot of running, well, walking,
walk running. How about that. It wasn't full speed running.
I was never fast or anything, but my husband and
I we would do a lot of like the Run
Disney events, and we would just that was like our
(26:44):
feel good you know. We would get up early and
like try to go and all of that. Well, we
got off of it for a bit. I had a
back injury and it just kind of went away. So
last year I said, I'm going to set a goal.
I'm going to do what I used to do. But
it was so hard for me. And I did half
marathon and the ten k weekend. So I did both
(27:05):
in the weekend and I used to be able to
knock that out. I used to be able to. We
would do it and I would be tired, but we
would do it, and this time it was so hard
for me. So for someone who is getting back into
a regimen, like what kind of goals should they be
setting for themselves?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yeah? Absolutely. So you had Aaron on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I did. Yeah, I did the one right before this, and.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
One of her big take home points was around purpose. Yes, right,
So what what's your why? Why do you want to
do this? Is that why? Because I really enjoy doing
the Disney Run with my family. That's a great goal. Yeah,
And then a lot of things will fall into place
when you understand that. Why for some of my patients
(27:49):
is when I go to my niece's house, she has
this very low couch and I'm so embarrassed when I
need help getting up. Oh yeah, And so it comes
back to the primary care doctor and understanding the patience
why and that will help you so much. And from
there as far as actual goals, we talk about something
(28:11):
in medicine or lifestyle what we call the cumulative exposure model,
where anything that you do, its benefit or risk is
a function of how intense is it and how long
have you been doing it. So it comes to even
a small dose can add up over time. So I
(28:33):
like the concept called no zero days. Okay, we went
we said the minimum amount of exercise. We don't know
what it is.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
It could be seconds, right, or it could be minutes,
so it could be whatever.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Yeah, So this goes for all of us. How many
days in our lives do we know that we didn't
do anything to help us with that physical activity. So
this may sound very silly, but I have tough days
just like everybody. Yeah, right, If I get home and
I pull in to my driveway and I know that
I'm not going to be able to go to the gym.
It's even just a quick walk around the block even before.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I go, you walk inside the house. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
And then if I haven't done been able to do
some of my strength training, my prompt is when I'm
brushing my teeth at nighttime, right before I get in
the shower, if I haven't done some of my rehab
exercises for my knee injury, I will put my foot
up on the tub and I'll do my Bulgarian split squats, right,
and it might be five or ten reps. Yeah, but
guess what it was not zero zero?
Speaker 1 (29:30):
I like that. That's an easy concept.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
Yeah, right back to that, do not let perfect be
the enemy.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Good, And then doing even the small steps consistently over
time will add up.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah. No, absolutely, because I am determined to get back
out there again and be finished stronger than I did
the last time. And I keep thinking, I'm like, awesome,
what did I do last year that was different? And
I think it was like I had zero days.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
So you just actually highlighted one of the most powerful
tools that we use in a motivational interviewing conversation with someone.
Tell me about a time when you were more successful
than what you were doing then, and then you see
the wheels immediately start turning. So ask yourself, like, hey,
I was doing this better before. What did that look like?
(30:15):
Paint that picture for yourself and say, what are the
steps that I need to take, even if they're small ones, Yeah,
to get back toward.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
What I was doing before, And I knew it right away,
like after I It's so funny because after I was finished,
and I had been training for like six months, but
I didn't train the same way I used to train.
And I remember, like I used to get up every
Saturday morning. I couldn't do used to do a morning show,
so I couldn't get up before my morning show necessarily
every morning because it was dark. It was so dark
(30:46):
outside and it was like, you know, two in the morning.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
The morning people are a different breed. That is fine.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I don't know how they did it. I did do
that for like nine months a few years ago, and
I was like, don't get me wrong, it was because
somebody was pushing my booty to do it. You know,
I had a personal trainer who's showing up at my
house and I felt like I can't.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
So you had someone to help you with that accountability.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I really didn't. I know me now I need accountability.
I need someone to tell me to hold me accountable.
And that is what I learned over the last year
because the year, the years prior I was training with
the team, I was doing it for team and training
for the Leukemuan and Foma society, and we I felt
bad when I wasn't showing up for them and saying, hey,
(31:32):
I didn't do it. I'm behind now. So I needed
that and I think that's where I'm at now. So
I got to find who's gonna help me hold me
accountable so I have no zero days.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Yeah that's great. And so you know, it's very interesting
about your Leukemian and Foma society work, right, and you
talked about exercise and doing it for them.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:52):
I promise you the second that you become somebody's exercise accountability,
it becomes way easier to do that going back to
those tough Yeah right, I promise you. Every day is said, man,
I don't have it in me to go to the
gym every single time somebody has come up to me. Wow,
thank you so much for your talk. It was very
motivating and I'm like, well, I'm not doing this for
(32:13):
just myself. Yeah, my why is not just about the
person sitting in my chair. It's my daughter, it's my community, right,
it's all of my patients. So the most important thing
that I can do to take care of my patient's
health is to make sure that I take care.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Of my own. Absolutely. Absolutely. Oh so much good information. Okay,
we got to talk a little bit more about you.
What is the biggest lesson you've learned from your first
win to now you're fourth? So you won in what
twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen, and then what twenty
twenty three, twenty twenty four, so what and then just
this show and then this year you want so cool?
(32:51):
So what have you learned in that time?
Speaker 3 (32:53):
Yeah? So I yeah, I mean every single contest is
a learning moment.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Is it harder? Do you feel like since twenty nineteen,
like two? Now it's hard it's more challenging for you.
Or do you feel like you're more fit now for it?
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Oh? Definitely more fit now for it? And I think right,
it's it's a learning process like everything. So there are
steps that you're taking. When you're first geting out, you're nervous,
like you have all these things that you're thinking about,
but then they become automatic. Yeah, but that doesn't mean
the learning stops. Like every competition is a learning opportunity.
So with myself and then also the athletes that I train, Yeah,
(33:30):
we have that check in that debrief after the competition,
say all right, well, how do you feel like that went?
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:36):
And you know, depending on the type of mental framework
they're in, they'll tell me the good parts are the
bad parts. And I'm like, well, what do you feel
like we could have done better?
Speaker 1 (33:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Right, And that goes for any behavior.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
And these are people that aren't doctors, right, that are
doing this. Many of them probably aren't not fair.
Speaker 3 (33:51):
And this is what I do with my athletes, but
it's actually the same thing that I do with my
my students as well as my patients. Right, So what
could we have done better? And then what are you
thinking about as far as our opportunities for the future.
Where do you feel like we should focus on? So
I'm again putting that ball back in their court to
make the decisions. So I do that process with myself
and say, hey, where could I have done better in
this prep? And then also what's realistic? So always learned
(34:15):
a learning opportunity.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
So through the years that.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
We're twenty two years into this exercise journey, as far
as doing it for both performance and health, yeah, so
a whole lot of time.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
No, that's cool though, I mean it's really it's you
found your passion for it. I mean, I think passion
is yeah, is the key, Like when you know your passion.
My passion is radio. I love learning about people. I love,
you know. I always feel like I'm I am very curious. Yeah,
And I feel like now I get to do a
little bit of that. And I always felt like I
(34:50):
may do that one day, and then this presented itself
and I'm like obsessed now, right, Like I like, I
want to know everything about everybody, which is probably the
reason my I always feel like that first question that
I always ask is because I want to be able
to tell my kids, like everyone starts somewhere, right, and
so for me, I started somewhere with my radio journey
(35:11):
very very young. Not everybody does start very very young.
Some people drop out of high school. I mean, that's
an amazing story because it shows your perseverance and you're
a doctor and a strong man. I mean, like that's
really inspirational. So I love knowing that backstory, Like no
one just becomes a doctor, Like there is a whole
(35:34):
story book behind why they went into medicine, or why
they went into lifting, or why they went into whatever
they are in. So so so cool. So we're talking
a lot about mental health on the podcast. Many of
our episodes are about it. How are you balancing that
right now? Your own mental health, with your family, with
your practice before we wrap it up, because I feel
like I'm taking up all your time because I have
so many questions for you.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Oh yeah, I always happy to answer them. So I
told you before that everything would apart if it weren't
for exercise. Yeah, and we know that exercise is one
of the most powerful or just physical activity is one
of the most powerful mental health tools that we can use.
So just to put some numbers on that for people,
(36:15):
if there are eight people in a room with depression,
it takes us treating all eight of them with a
medication for one person to get better. And that's really
not that bad in terms of types of interventions we
do in medicine. A number needed to treat is what
we call it of eight people for one person to
get better is pretty good for exercise.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
It feels like it isn't, but I understand because in
the scheme of things. But I know, yeah, I see
what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (36:41):
For exercise, two people, oh my gosh, two people that
start an exercise regiment if they have depression, one of
those people will get better. It doesn't mean don't use medications.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Yeah, yeah, it means.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
We have tools in the toolbox, and this is a
very powerful tool. Any guesses on what the most effective
form of exercise is improving.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
Mood, I'm going to say walking.
Speaker 3 (37:05):
So I would say the practical answer is whichever one
you'll do. The data answer dancing, Okay, why.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
I dance a lot?
Speaker 3 (37:18):
If you're if you're feeling down, what's your favorite song?
What's your favorite song today?
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Oh gosh, anything by the weekend? Yeah, I'm obsessed.
Speaker 3 (37:28):
Yeah, I love like my pump up song, my mental
let me feel make sure I'm in the right mindset.
Mackelmore is glorious.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Oh it's a great song.
Speaker 3 (37:36):
So just the positivity says, modulate your own happiness, listen
to your positive song. And I had so many patients
tell me that they really struggled with enjoying exercise, and
then I asked them what their favorite song was. Yeah,
and when's the last time they danced. So if you're
worried about dancing and doing it in front of a group,
I would encourage you to do it with your kids.
(37:57):
If you're busy mom, right, you're trying to find time, Hey,
set that timer for three minutes and you guys, just
dance your heart out.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
We used to do that in our Okay, so I
have it. I have a sign in my kitchen. I'm
going off on tangents like crazy, but I have a
sign in my kitchen that says this kitchen is made
for dancing.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
So we we even installed lights in my kitchen. It's
a small kitchen. But some days we're like, you can't
go in the kitchen unless you're gonna dance. And we'll
go music and then I'm like, if you want to
go get yeah, if you want to get something out
of there, you better go. You gotta dance all the
way to do it and then dance all the way back.
That's awesome, But it's become our dance floor is our kitchen.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, And now that they're getting older, it's super funny
to watch them because they'll still do it like you know,
they get into it, or they'll film you know, tiktoks
and all that, they'll film them in my kitchen.
Speaker 3 (38:45):
I was gonna say, how many times have you found
them practicing so they can have better danceing? Yes?
Speaker 1 (38:49):
Well, man, my youngest is a competitive dancer, so she
has definitely inspired a lot of her dancing. You know,
she's way better at it than all of us combined.
But it is exciting, and dancing is so smart.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
I mean, like, of course, so very simple tool. Right
if you're struggling with exercise, listen to your favorite song. Yeah,
it'll become so much easier.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Oh no, and I'm I'm Our family's obsessed with music,
so I can imagine lots of people feel that way
about music. Okay, before I let you go, tell me
what do you think? I feel like there's so much
information that you've given and so many great things. What
are the three key takeaways that you hope people will
just just take this with you if you could do
(39:31):
nothing else these three things.
Speaker 3 (39:33):
Yeah, So when it comes to exercise, doing it consistently,
both cardiovascular exercise like you're walking, as well as the
resistance training yes, both of those have unique benefits. We
should try to do both consistently. If you are able
to do those consistently, you will be less likely to
die for any reason or be harder to kill anything.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
I love that. I'm going to literally tell people that
I'm harder to kill now.
Speaker 3 (39:59):
So, yeah, that's exactly right.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
I work out.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
And then the second one was do not let that
perfect be the enemy of good. So doing something, even
if it is a small dose, consistently over time adds
up and when life allows it, and when you have
the space to do it, yes, doing more will provide
additional benefit. Yeah, but the third one is going to
(40:25):
be it should be something that you enjoy. Yeah, right,
because doing something you enjoy means that you're much more
likely to do it. And as your body does the
beautiful thing, which is adapting to the stress that you
show it with exercise and you get stronger, you get
to do more of the thing that you enjoy. So
make sure it's something that you enjoy.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Oh that's wonderful, doctor MANK, thank you so much. How
can people find you? How can they know about your gym?
Tell us all the things?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
Yeah, absolutely, I just want to say thank you for
all the public health education that you do with your podcast.
So for clinical pieces, I'm at Lomolinda University in the
Center for Health Promotion. I'm our medical director of our
primary care and our lifestyle Nice Medicine Services. And then
for the gym, I own Hot Barbelle Hot Barbell Club
(41:16):
in Redlands, California.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (41:18):
We are a powerlifting and strong man Jim. So if
you like picking things up putting them back down, sometimes
in a different location than where you pick them up,
check us out and then on Instagram or LinkedIn you
can find me. My Instagram is dr Underscore mock m
ock just like you're making fun.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Of me and none of us would. He is hard to.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Kill Massive Teddy Bear as well.
Speaker 2 (41:44):
Yeah no, you.
Speaker 1 (41:45):
Obviously are so sweet. We appreciate you being on the show.
Thank you so much. Absolute Hopefully we can get you
back on again anytime
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