June 30, 2025 • 40 mins
Could the solution to America's health crisis be simpler than we think? Jim Walter, cardiovascular exercise physiologist with 35 years of experience, believes so. In this eye-opening conversation, Jim challenges conventional wisdom about exercise by promoting a refreshingly accessible approach: just move more throughout your day.
The statistics are sobering—25% of Americans are completely sedentary, while 60% barely do more than basic daily activities. But rather than pushing the standard 150 minutes of weekly moderate-to-vigorous exercise that many find intimidating, Jim offers practical, bite-sized movement opportunities that anyone can incorporate without disrupting their schedule.
What makes Jim's approach so powerful is its simplicity. Take the stairs to a different floor for the bathroom. Stand while waiting for water to boil. Walk while talking on the phone. His "radius rule"—committing to walk rather than drive within certain distances—exemplifies how small changes compound over time. These aren't just theoretical benefits; research shows that simply replacing sitting with standing throughout the day significantly improves blood sugar and reduces body fat.
Beyond physical health, Jim addresses how movement enhances family dynamics and relationships. Evening walks with spouses create meaningful conversation time. Parents can move around sports fields during children's practices instead of sitting scrolling through phones. These practices not only model healthy behaviors for children but strengthen family bonds simultaneously.
As Jim eloquently rephrases JFK's famous words: "Ask not what your healthcare provider can do, ask what you can do for your health." Our bodies weren't designed for prolonged sitting—they were made to move. Start today by identifying one simple way to introduce more movement into your routine. Your future self will thank you.
Learn More at: www.Redefine-Fitness.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello and welcome.
To Help to Finish Redefined,I'm your host, anthony Amen, and
today we've got another greatepisode for all of you, for
those watching video.
New studio, trying to chill itout, still figuring out all the
technical audio sides of thisbecause it's all brand new to me
, but because of the listeners,for you guys, we decided to go a
little more formal with theshow.
(00:29):
It's been, like we said, overfive years, over 250 episodes.
That's a lot of amity and Ihope you all enjoyed last week's
episode where we did a re-introto who I am where, where the
redefined fitness came from.
And then some hard truths inthat.
But without further ado, wehave a great guest on for you
all today.
(00:49):
We have jim walter.
Jim, it's good to have you ontoday anthony, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Uh, first of all love the green background.
It looks great there.
So good choice on doing that,and it's a pleasure to be here
and I I look forward to talkingto you a little bit more about
what my mission is all about.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I love it, man.
I really can't wait.
So let's talk a little bitabout you, kind of how you got
started in the fitness world andwhat made you go from where you
were to wanting to be amotivational speaker and getting
people to move.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, thank you.
So I'm trained as acardiovascular exercise
physiologist and I spent thefirst 10 years of my career
running preventive andrehabilitative cardiology
programs.
I've spent the last 25 years inthe pharmaceutical industry,
but what I've missed is reallythe ability to work directly
(01:45):
with individuals.
I've always been a big advocateof the fact that our health is
our own responsibility and it'sreally incumbent upon us to take
care of it.
What drives me are really twofactors, one of which is my
father died very young.
He was 45 years old.
He died from his third heartattack at that time, and one of
(02:10):
the contributing factors therewere several, but one of the
contributing factors was that hedid not live a very active
lifestyle.
And the second thing thatfrustrates me as an exercise
physiologist is that in exercisewe've got arguably the most
potent form of medicine known tomankind.
If you look at all of our majorchronic health issues, one
(02:33):
thing that has an impact onalmost all of them is regular
physical activity.
But if you were to go to theCDC the Centers for Disease
Control website today, it tellsus that most Americans don't
exercise, 25% are completelysedentary, and then as much as
(02:55):
60% don't do a whole lot morethan activities of daily living.
So I am a big advocate ofexercise, but if people aren't
doing it, should we just leavethem alone?
So I don't think so, andperhaps what we need to do is
change our message to somethingthat everyone can do, and for me
(03:17):
, my message is trying topromote people to simply move
more.
Move more throughout your day,and when I do public speaking, I
give people a lot of ways thatthey can go through their day
and re-engineer their day inorder to introduce more movement
into their day.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, I mean you hit a very important point, which is
people don't even do the bareminimum.
And you see it more and more astime goes on and I've done a
lot of shows on this right.
We've talked a lot pretty indetail as far as what is the
bare minimum.
Why don't people do it?
What's, what's the psychologybehind of teaching someone just
(04:01):
the simplest things is like youmentioned pre-show walk down a
flight of stairs to go to thebathroom, just a little out of
your way, just to get a coupleextra steps in.
And I don't know what that rootcause is, but I have guesses
and it's kind of what we talkedabout last week.
With my own personal like, Ithink people always looking for
(04:23):
the easy way out, they alwaysthink that someone is going to
catch them and with that thatwould be modern medicine In our
day and age.
They say, oh, it doesn't matterif I get type 2 diabetes, I'm
going to take insulin and thenI'll be fine.
Or it doesn't matter if I havea heart attack, I go to the
hospital and they'll be able tofix me up and then whatever that
(04:45):
doctor tells me, then that'swhat I'm just going to go for
and it is what it is.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
Going back to the one point youmade, I think there's often two
root causes of why people don'tengage in exercise.
One of them is it's too hard,they're not motivated, they just
don't want to do it.
And the second one too hard,they're not motivated, they just
don't want to do it.
And the second one is time.
They say they don't have thetime to do it.
(05:12):
And so when I said earlier thatI try to introduce ways that
people can re-engineer theirdays, it's ways of just going
about their day, doing things alittle bit differently and
replacing inactivity withmobility in very simple ways
(05:33):
that don't take up time.
So, yeah, as I mentioned to youbefore, I never use a restroom
on the floor that I'm on andother, like a simple example
would be you know, everybody'sgot to go out their front door,
perhaps to get their newspaperin the morning or to get the
mail midday, and so instead ofgoing out your front door,
(05:57):
re-engineer it maybe go out yourside door or your back door, a
way that's going to take alittle bit more mobility to do
it.
And will that take extra timeout of your day?
Yes, it will Not significantamounts, but it doesn't change
your day, because I've beendoing this for years and I don't
go to bed later at nightbecause I go out the side door.
(06:21):
You just absorb that timeduring your day and so if we can
introduce ways that people canadd simple ways of moving
consistently throughout theirwhole day, that's what I'm
trying to promote.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, you mentioned two reasons, like one in
motivation, and motivation isgood for initial kickstart, but
I don't think it's motivationthat people need.
I think it's discipline thatpeople need.
Motivation gets you going.
Discipline keeps you going.
A good example of that is kindof what you're saying is simple
(06:56):
fixes like going to your backdoor, to your mailbox.
Initially it's the motivationof, yes, I want to do something,
but what if it rains?
What if it starts snowing?
What if it's a little too coldoutside?
What if you're more tired thatday?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
motivation's out the window that now needs to shift
to discipline.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I need to do this for myself working out, using the
gym, for an example.
You get motivated to show upand it's the discipline like I
work out, even when I don't wantto work out the day is that I'm
not motivated, I don't want tobe, I don't want to work out.
The day is that I'm notmotivated, I don't want to be
here, don't want to stay longerafter my shift to hit the gym,
but the discipline then kicks in.
No, I need to.
I need to do this for myself, Ineed to do this for my family,
(07:38):
I need to do this for mycommunity and even for myself.
I take it to the next step.
I need to do this for mycommunity and even for myself.
I take to the next step.
I need to do this for mycountry, because I'm working out
to show people that anything ispossible through fitness, and
fitness isn't truly medicine.
It's something I full-heartedlybelieve in.
But how do we create thediscipline side of it into
(08:01):
people, to teach them to do iteven when they're not motivated?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
of it and to people to teach them to do it even when
they're not motivated.
Yeah, and discipline is a rightword.
Another word that you can usefor that is his habit.
Making it a habit and that'sthe part about keeping things
simple and not making them timeconsuming is that it's easier to
build that into a habit, and Idon't even think about the
(08:27):
things now that I do anymore,because I've just built them in
and I continue to find new waysto continue to add more movement
.
That's part of what I try toteach people about.
I will give you suggestions.
That's part of what I try toteach people about.
I will give you suggestions.
I've given one.
I'll try to give morethroughout this conversation of
(08:49):
things that people can do.
But what I also want to do isencourage people to find their
own ways to move more, becausemy suggestions pertain to me and
my environment, which could bevery different than everybody
else's, and so I want them toput on their thinking caps and
(09:10):
to be creative and, using mineexample, say, well, I can't do
that, but maybe this is what Ican do.
And going back to theresponsibility part, I try to
build motivation into my talksand you know, I use things that
I've heard and one of the thingsI've done is taken the infamous
(09:33):
, the iconic words that ourpresident, john F Kennedy, used
during his inaugural address,and I've reconstructed them a
little bit because I love theway you said.
You know, do stuff and do forour nation.
And the way I've reconstructedthose words is to say ask not
what your healthcare providercan do, ask what you can do for
(09:54):
your health.
And that's a perfect example ofwhat you just said.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, I agree.
I think I want to talk about alittle fun thing that I do here
with clients that have all theirpackets and stuff, because I
think you're going to love this.
I talked about this way yearsand years ago back in the show,
but I think it's so cool.
In my personal life.
You mentioned having differenthabits and adding different
things.
To make you move a little more,I created my own little thing.
(10:23):
It's called a radius rule, sothe idea behind it is I have a
set radius from where I am of.
Let's say I'm going to therestaurant and then the shopping
center.
That's within my radius.
Let's say it's a 10th of a mileI have to walk.
It doesn't matter, I am notallowed to get in my car and
drive there.
If it's under a tenth of a mileI'm walking.
(10:45):
You can take this little radiusrule and you can slowly start
expanding it.
So you take the tenth of a mileto a quarter mile, a quarter
mile to half a mile.
Before you know it, you'readding so many more steps in
your day because you're justdisciplining yourself.
Like I cannot break this rule,I have to go do this extra walk.
I always want to add a caveatborrowing like going across the
(11:08):
crazy federal highway, you'regoing to die like.
There's always, of course,these extreme examples, but just
in general, if there's a coffeeshop within 20 minutes and I
want a cup of coffee, I'm notdriving, I'm walking.
Like that's I'm, I'm notallowed to get.
Yeah, I have to walk there.
In other words, I break my ownradius.
With who am I?
(11:28):
to preach this and not practiceit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Hey, listen, I love that, that's great.
I'm smiling because I thinkthat's great.
And then there's another sideof that.
That's sometimes frustratingfor me is in trying to always
pick these opportunities to movemore.
And I do a fair amount oftraveling and one of my biggest
pet peeves are the hotels wherethe the steps, the emergency
(11:56):
exit steps, only have doors thatsay only use this in the case
of an emergency, so you can'tuse the steps.
You might be on the second anemergency, so you can't use the
steps.
You might be on the secondfloor or the third floor easy to
use the steps, right, noproblem, but you can't because
of those things.
And that just really, reallyfrustrates me and would clearly
(12:18):
abolish your radius rule,because, hey, this is simple,
and then you run into thoseobstacles.
So, but yeah, thank you, I lovethat and, if you don't mind,
I'll probably promote that aswell, because it is a way that
you said yeah, you can makegradual changes, and that's what
(12:39):
my suggestions are all about.
Are these gradual changes?
Just look for a way to move.
So I'll add another one that Ijust came up with the other day.
So I went downstairs as I said,I work on the second floor and
it wasn't like today where it's101 degrees.
This was a few weeks ago whenit was still quite cool outside
(13:02):
and I was working here and itjust got a little bit of a chill
.
So I thought you know what, letme go down and I'll make a cup
of tea real quick.
And it was about late morning,close to midday, and I went down
and I took the water and I putit in the microwave and for me
it takes three minutes to heatit up.
Now what most people are goingto do is stand there and wait
(13:24):
for the water to heat up.
But I thought, applying my ownprinciples is what can I do
instead of standing here to move?
And I'm thinking mail.
It's time to get the mail.
I could go get the mail and Icame back in and there was still
a minute and a half left on thetimer, so I could have waited,
(13:48):
made my tea and gone upstairs.
But I decided no, let me walkand take my mail.
I left my wife's downstairs,took my mail upstairs, put it on
my desk and then came back downand then my tea was ready.
So again, just looking for anopportunity to introduce
(14:09):
movement, subtle, simplemovement where you otherwise
might be sedentary.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, I agree.
I always use the example ofnighttime activities.
A lot of people.
What do they do when they gethome from work?
They eat dinner, they turn TVon?
Bond with their family?
Jim, if you ever watched amovie or TV show, obviously it
happens to be a joke.
But do you do much talking withyour wife or significant other
when you're watching TV?
(14:35):
Do you get to bond with eachother?
Yeah, absolutely not.
So.
My wife and I, I mean, we'remore morning people, but when I
get home from work it's pass out.
So we do it in the morning, butmost people it's night for them
.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Go for a walk.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Take your wife out for a walk just casually, a
little slow pace.
Use that as bonding bondingexperience.
My wife and I go on walks everyday almost without fail, and we
go for about an hour and it'sour opportunity to like talk
about our days, uh get to knoweach other a little more I mean,
(15:12):
we've been together 11 yearsbut we still want to make sure
we continue that strongrelationship bond.
People talk about the divorceepidemic.
I think a big fix is just gofor walks with your wife.
So, therefore, you're bothbonding, right.
You're creating that specialrelationship you have with your
spouse.
You're both moving, so you'refeeling better, right, you're
(15:33):
adorbitant by eating more teabecause you're outside.
So now you're getting a littlehappier and you're boosting your
immune system.
You're hopefully, if you dothis over a long time, you're
compounding interest and helpingyourself lose weight.
Um, and then I'm going to throwa fifth little bonus one.
You get to have more sex, whichis also physical activity.
(15:53):
So you walk physical activity.
Get the bottom with your wife,your wife loves you more, and
you start having more sex withyour wife.
It's physical activity.
Get the bottom with your wife,your wife loves you more, and
you start having more sex withyour wife.
It's more physical activity andnow you have a closer
relationship with your wife.
So now you have like thatpositive feedback loop.
Yeah, with you and your spousebecause you just decided,
instead of watching a movie andgoing to bed, to go for a walk.
(16:15):
And another point which Itotally forgot to mention
watching the sunset or going fora walk, like at dawn time,
helps your body relax andincrease your melatonin increase
, so therefore helps you sleepbetter at night sleep better,
yeah not staring at your phonesand your the tv is going to
drain your sleep and we all knowthe issues of sleep.
(16:35):
It's going to spike the cortisol.
It's going to make you hungrierso you need more food the next
day.
You're going to drain yoursleep and we all know the issues
of sleep.
It's going to spike thecortisol.
It's going to make you hungrierso you can eat more food the
next day.
You're going to retain more.
You're not going to build muchmuscle mass.
So many negative side effectsto not getting enough sleep.
So there's so many wins justfor one little simple
opportunity, like you mentionedjust yeah and I had.
I had someone that I mentionedthis too and and they did it for
(16:58):
like a couple days and themotivation was great and then
just kicked it and it didn'tfollow through.
Besides having these people, Idon't know how to get through
the majority of people, thepeople that come here and walk
into the gym.
They've been made that mentallike I need help.
(17:19):
And those people that come tous that break that like I need
help, I can help and same withyou.
If they're booking you to be aspeaker and they're showing up,
they're already checked in theirbrains that they need help and
they're looking for someone tohelp them.
So you speaking to them or themwalking into my gym is going to
(17:39):
help them.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
But how do you address the 80, 85% of people
that haven't had that mentalclarity?
Like I need to get help.
Like how do you talk to thosepeople that don't want to hear
it?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
want to hear it.
Well, see, I'll go back to thewords that I used, that I
reconstructed from JFK's speechand you know this is hard and I
know it's a difficult thing toget across.
But to try to really impressupon people that it is your
responsibility to take care ofyour own health and what can,
and then we're both talkingabout ways that they can do that
.
And what I reinforce in thatmessage is to say let's take,
(18:25):
for example, somebody who hasdiabetes, just as an example.
And what I might do is I'll askthem I'll say so, you've got
diabetes.
Okay, this may be able to bemanaged, but I'll be.
Who's really responsible forhelping to manage or to take
care of your diabetes?
(18:46):
And most of the time you'll getthe answer well, it's my
physician, my primary carephysician or the endocrinologist
.
And I say, okay, that's good.
Yeah, and I said and then Iwould say and this would be the
way of trying to make the pointI would say and how many days of
(19:06):
the year do you have diabetes?
And they always look at me likeI'm nuts, right?
But obviously the answer isevery day.
So then I say, and I try to putthe two things together.
So then I'll say to them okay,so you have diabetes every day,
and how many days in the courseof the year do you see your
physician?
(19:26):
If they're well managed, itmight be two or three times
during the course of the year.
So I bring it back to them then.
So then, who is reallyresponsible for managing your
diabetes?
Who's responsible for managingyour diabetes?
Who's responsible for managingyour high blood pressure?
Who's responsible for managingyour high cholesterol?
It's you.
And so then, what can you do toget to the point you made,
(19:49):
besides taking pills that canhelp with that?
And then we say exercise oh,that's too much for me, I can't
do that.
You know, the CDC again tellsus that's 150 minutes of
moderate to vigorous physicalactivity.
I can't do that.
So that's when I'll come backto them.
But what can you move more?
Can you just move more and thenstart to give them examples of
(20:13):
something that they can do, tojust begin to add that gradual
movement?
And then my hope is, you dothat.
For some people it might be acouple of months, some people it
might be six months, somepeople it might take a whole
year, and maybe their confidenceincreases and I've seen this
happen, and then maybe, maybethey then would be willing to
(20:33):
come to your gym and really getinvolved and do the exercise
that we would want them to do.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, I mean, I get it if you get in front of them,
right, if you have theopportunity to have that
conversation with a person, kindof like if I had the
opportunity to sit down withsomeone at the time to hear them
listen to me talk.
But there's hundreds ofmillions of people in the US,
(21:03):
yeah, right, so how do you talkto everybody?
I mean, maybe the next questionis and for listeners, let's say
I'm a listener to this showwhat would you tell the
listeners to tell the people intheir lives, or is it even their
place to tell them?
Like the example I always use,let's say, your loved one smokes
(21:25):
, right, a pack of that and youknow it's killing them, right,
we all know that.
Do you let them smoke?
Or do you sit them down andhave that hard conversation like
, hey, can you stop smoking, Iwant you around?
Yeah, I feel like society orobesity has put this norm on it
(21:49):
to make it okay and people thinkit's okay to be morbidly beast
and you're not allowed to tellsomebody that they might need
help, because then you're goingto look down upon and then
they're going to sit there andridicule you and you're not
accepted and you're you don'tunderstand.
But all you're trying to do,like me and you, is save their
(22:12):
life.
Yeah, but they don't.
Society doesn't even let youhave that conversation.
So what can we do to combatthat?
Or what can we tell people thatare listening to the show, like
, is it even okay to have thatconversation with a loved one?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, I think it is.
I think it is.
So I'm going to answer thatquestion with a lesson that I
learned.
So in my younger years I was abasketball player.
I played basketball up andthrough college and then I
stopped and I got involved withhelping others through
basketball camps and clinics andstuff.
And when we would go to thesleepaway basketball camp, the
(22:52):
director, my mentor, an amazingindividual, he was a teacher and
he always taught us things andwe'd have 110 kids at camp and
stuff like that, and he'd sit usdown all the counselors before
the camp began and he says look,your job is to go out here and
help all of these kids, but inthe end, some are going to
(23:14):
listen and some are not.
And if you can walk away fromthis camp having had, I'll just
say, a significant impact onjust one kid, you've done your
job.
The more, the better, but theone kid.
So I agree, and my messageapplies to every single American
(23:35):
.
Right Exercise might not applyto every single American, but
mine does move more.
Look, I just took a stepbackwards and forward.
I just moved more and thendoing that more and more
consistently, and so for me it'sjust trying to simplify the
message to something thateverybody can do?
(23:57):
Will you reach everybody?
No, no, and that's frustrating,and I could see the way you
were emotional about that, andit's been that way for me too.
I've had people in my family Icome from a family of people who
were smokers Not all of them,but a lot of them and then also
(24:19):
people that weren't necessarilyphysically active and all I can
do is share the message and tryto simplify it as much as I can,
but I have to accept the factthat I might not touch everybody
.
I just hope to be able to touchmore, and since the message is
simple, then they can share thatwith others and then they can
(24:43):
touch more, and hopefully thatsix degrees of separation will
have an impact.
But yeah, unfortunately, asmuch as we'd like to, we can't
save the whole world.
But we can certainly try, we cantry, and that's what you're
doing, and that's what I'mtrying to do.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Can I go back?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
for a second.
I want to go back to your,because I want to share two more
examples of your walking withyour wife in the evening and
stuff like that.
So yes, that's great, that'sone way of doing it, but
sometimes when I'm giving thesetalks, I talk about the person
that comes home from work andthey had to take their kids to
their sporting events.
(25:24):
And then they get home afterthat and they're in a position
they're fortunate, they stillhave parents around and they
want to check in with theirparents.
Nobody is using a landlineanymore.
Everybody's got a cell phone.
So you know again, there'sanother way.
There's no reason, no reasonwhatsoever, for you to sit while
(25:46):
you're talking to your parentsand checking in.
Now, I'm not saying go out andexercise, but can you just
meander around your house.
If it's a nice evening, can yougo and walk around the block or
something like that.
And sometimes these are thingsjust people just don't think of,
and it's quite simple.
And then here's the frustratingone, because my kids were very
(26:07):
involved in sports.
I took them to their soccerpractice, their baseball, their
softball practice, and part ofthe group of people I'm trying
to reach are the ones that saylook, I work all day.
I come home, I make dinner, Ihelp the kids with their
homework, I take them to soccerpractice.
Come home, I've got a littlework to do.
When am I supposed to exerciseor even be more physically
(26:29):
active?
To the soccer field or thebaseball or softball field, drop
their child, let them out ofthe car, pull their lawn chair
out of the backseat and sit andwatch that practice.
There's 60 to 90 minutes whereyou can just get up and meander
(26:53):
around the field, but they don't, and I think sometimes the
reasons is we got to give thempermission, tell them get up,
walk around.
I used to do that all the time.
I wouldn't sit still at thepractices and sometimes I'd
throw my bicycle into the backof the SUV so I could do
something different.
But I think that's the part ofthe point that I'm trying to
(27:15):
make.
Anthony is, sometimes peoplejust don't see these
opportunities to move that areright there in front of them,
and so we need to tell them.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I mean you mentioned the phone thing.
I'm laughing.
I fast walk.
When I'm on the phone, like get15 000 steps in.
Sometimes I don't have a 45minute conversation because I'm
just like my add kicks in.
I'm up down, left, right.
Oh, my wife's like oh my god,stop running.
Yeah, that's just what it wasbuilt in to get myself up moving
(27:47):
, get my brain thinking working.
I feel sluggish.
Sitting like Like sitting doingthis right now is tough for me.
You notice I'm using a lot ofhand motions to kind of like
compensate for the sitting, butI'm used to just bouncing, so I
love that.
And then the sports practices.
I mean, yeah, you see parentsand it's this and it's scrolling
(28:10):
, and they want 20 minutes to goby and I try to get a dopamine
hit just by scrolling andscrolling and scrolling.
I want to take the phone andthrow it away out of their hands
and just be like you'd be waymore involved in this practice,
like if you're in a baseballpractice, for example, get up to
the cage, walk around, cheeryour kid on, cheer the other
kids on.
Let's go like walk out to theoutfield at the sideline and you
(28:33):
can watch and walk back, andit's a great way to be like
involved yeah, make sureeveryone's like they're moving,
etc.
Or if you bring your kids withyou because you have a bunch of
them, have the other kids kick aball around, throw a frisbee
around.
Like, get up and just do itwith them.
Like, hey guys, let's put thefrisbee around.
We're trying to kill time.
One parent's distracting theother kids doing that, the other
(28:55):
one's watching everyone'soutside it's.
You're still kind of all mostlytogether.
I just I'm a really bigcomponent of.
We lose family values alongwith making this obesity
epidemic worse.
I think both are really thesame bucket and I don't think
(29:17):
they're different.
I think they're exactly thesame.
Everything that comes withdepression and anxiety has been
linked to not moving.
So you have movement.
You fix anxiety and depression.
You have movement with yourdoing, with your family.
You build strong family bonds.
You start fixing kids as likeas they're programming, getting
(29:37):
older and teaching them values,different values of like.
No, we need to move.
We're not sitting in front ofthe screen today.
Your, your kid, imitates youlike I have a seven month old at
home.
He, home, he just watches me.
It's whatever dad-dad's doing.
He wants to know and wants todo If I'm eating something, he
wants that he doesn't care ifit's what it is and what it
(29:59):
tastes like, he just wants whatdad eats.
Yeah, you might think that, as aparent, oh, I'm only hurting
myself.
No, you're hurting your kidsLike.
Your kids are going to learnevery lesson from you.
There's a reason that parentsthat are overweight, their kids
are even more overweight, andthen your child with obesity,
your affected diabetes is morelikely to be a kid affected
(30:20):
diabetes and, what's worse, thekid, because now they're going
to have an even longer period oftime.
So, even if and this is yetagain discipline comes into play
, you don't want to do it foryourself because you feel like
you know, oh, I don't care aboutmyself and I know people feel
that it's fine.
Do it for your spouse andespecially, do it for your kids.
(30:45):
Yeah, teach your kids avaluable lesson how to live
longer lives.
The average lifespan of a humanbeing is going not like it was
for thousands of years.
We're going this way, yeah,because people aren't moving.
There's no movement insidepeople's life.
People aren't eating healthy,and it's this frustrating build
(31:10):
up inside of me because I justwant to fix it.
Yeah, and that's why it's likecontrolling.
Personally, I just want to fixit and, like you were saying,
there's so many little tinythings that people can do.
You don't have to work outseven days a week, two hours a
day to be healthy.
There's little little things.
(31:32):
I see so many people who gofrom, like, the place next to us
to three stores down and theydrive their car.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Pull into like 10 spots later drive the car to go
into the next place.
Yeah, You're teaching your kidsthe wrong values.
I just know how to fix it.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
I just know how to fix it and we go through the day
with blinders or barriers on.
And what I mean by that is solet's say, you know, I'm going
to suggest to someone, you know,use the steps instead of the
elevators.
And then this is a thing thatI've gotten feedback on.
(32:13):
They say well, jim, I work onthe 22nd floor.
Do you really expect me to take22 flights of stairs to my
office?
And this is where the blindersare on?
No, I don't expect you to take22 flights of stairs.
Can you take the elevator tothe 19th floor and then get off
(32:35):
and walk up three flights ofstairs?
Do that for a few weeks, thenget off on the 18th floor.
But that's part of what mymessage is all about is trying
to get people to see beyondthese barriers that are
self-imposed and look for a way,you know, to add more movement.
(32:57):
Again, here's another one I justdid the other day.
You know, my son was downstairsand I needed to tell him
something.
And I'm upstairs and he wasdownstairs.
What are most people going todo?
They're going to walk to thebanister, yell down.
Hey, son, can you take thetrash out?
Or whatever it is that youneeded to do.
You know what I did.
I went over, I walked down thesteps, I walked into the kitchen
(33:19):
, I told him what I needed totell him and then I walked back
upstairs.
It doesn't take a lot of timeand it doesn't take a lot of
physical effort, but again youused the important word there
effort.
But again you use the importantword there.
The cumulative benefits of doingall these things throughout
(33:41):
your day will make a difference.
I cite a study that shows.
That was from the Mayo ClinicProceedings, which is a very
reputable journal, and it saysthat simply replacing sitting
with standing, not once, butthroughout the day, replacing
sitting with standing resultedin small but statistically
(34:05):
significant differences infasting blood sugar and body fat
mass.
Just something that simple.
Fasting blood sugar and bodyfat mass just something that
simple.
So then you make that simplething and you add a little bit
more and those benefits become alittle bit more.
And so that's what I'm tryingto do, is simplify it for
everybody, make it easier.
(34:25):
As I told you before, do I wanteverybody to exercise,
absolutely, but if we can't getthere right from the start, at
least start by moving more yeah,uh, movement is key, man.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Start small, start gradual, build that.
Compound interest, exactlyright.
If you compound interest onepercent on a thousand bucks, in
like 30 years it's gonna beworth a hell of a lot more and
you're starting to benefit waylater in life.
But it's just a matter of doingit.
It's a matter of pushingyourself through.
And if you don't want to do it,and those days that you go do
(35:03):
the work that you just reallydon't feel like moving or
walking down the stairs, talk toyour family, are the most
important days and those arewhat truly define you as a human
being.
You're really set your ownpersonal standards and how you
view yourself and if we can sethigher standards for ourselves,
(35:24):
that other people will try tolive up to those standards and
try to be to better people.
Because we are humans.
Help work.
That's a community for eachother.
Of interesting point which a lotof people always use is you
become the average of the fivepeople that hang out the most
with and I know I said this alot it's.
People use that for financialstandpoints or whatever, but
(35:47):
even regardless of that, youwant to get in shape.
Just hang out with five peoplethat are in shape.
That's it.
You want to talk about a simple, easy thing spend more time
with five people that are inbetter shape.
You know why?
because all those people haveall those habits jim's talking
about right now already built inyeah, so you're going to start
(36:08):
doing it, second nature, becausethey're doing it because you
want to follow along, andthey're like, oh guys, let's go
get ice cream, let's go walk onthe block.
You're not going to be like youguys walk, I'm going to drive,
you're going to go walk withthem, right?
So even the simplest thing ofall is just starting out.
People are more in shape andthen if you want to help your
(36:34):
family and they hang out withyou the most, you become the one
that's more in shape and thenthey're going to start picking
up your habits because nowthey're.
Oh, you were going to go dothat.
And if I tell my wife, honey,let's go welcome to block, and
we'll go get a cup of coffee orwhatever, and she's like, say,
one of james, and then that'sbeautiful dates, go hang out
with each other.
She's going to follow me andwalk with me, right?
So either become that personfor your family or go hang out
(36:57):
with those people that alreadyhad those happen stills, and I
think that's the simplest fixyeah and anthony, you used you
used a word a few minutes agothat I want to come back to.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
you were talking about us, us as humans.
Right, and I want us to thinkabout and this is another
message that I would share withpeople, either in talking with
them in a group or onindividually is our human
biology, and I'll ask you a verysimple question Structurally,
what are we designed for?
Sitting or moving?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
It's moving.
It's moving from trees actually.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
It's moving right.
And in fact, do you know whatthe most common pain complaint
is for people in the UnitedStates?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Lower back.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Lower back problem.
You know why?
We are not designed to besitting.
We are not.
We're designed to be moving.
So we create lower backproblems because we sit, and if
we could just adapt this idea oftrying to replace sedentariness
with movement, we can have animpact on a lot of things, not
(38:11):
just the chronic healthconditions, but even the pain
issues that we're dealing withon a day-to-day basis.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Simple little fixes make all the difference in the
world.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
The really big talk point here, Jim, I'm going to
ask you the final two questions.
I ask everyone as we wrap thisup.
The first question is if youwere to summarize this episode
in one or two sentences, whatwould be your take-home message?
Speaker 2 (38:35):
My take-home message would be to look to create ways
to re-engineer your day, simpleways where you can replace not
moving with an opportunity tomove, and when you do that, you
will gain health benefits fromit.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I love that.
And then, jim, second questionhow can people find you get
ahold of you, learn more aboutyour speaking?
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Yeah, so you can go.
My website, Jim Walter Speaks.
So just as my name is spelledjimwalterspeakscom and then I
can be reached on email via jimat jimwalterspeakscom.
And then, if people still use aphone to call somebody, I can
(39:25):
be reached at area code609-273-3118.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Jim, thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you, guys, for listeningto this week's episode of Public
Opinions Redefined.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe show, share this with
someone that needs to hear thisand we'll see you next time at
Fitness and Medicine.
Thank you, outro Music.
Hello and welcome.
To Help to Finish Redefined,I'm your host, anthony Amen, and
today we've got another greatepisode for all of you, for
those watching video.
New studio, trying to chill itout, still figuring out all the
technical audio sides of thisbecause it's all brand new to me
, but because of the listeners,for you guys, we decided to go a
little more formal with theshow.
(00:29):
It's been, like we said, overfive years, over 250 episodes.
That's a lot of amity and Ihope you all enjoyed last week's
episode where we did a re-introto who I am where, where the
redefined fitness came from.
And then some hard truths inthat.
But without further ado, wehave a great guest on for you
all today.
(00:49):
We have jim walter.
Jim, it's good to have you ontoday anthony, thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Uh, first of all love the green background.
It looks great there.
So good choice on doing that,and it's a pleasure to be here
and I I look forward to talkingto you a little bit more about
what my mission is all about.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I love it, man.
I really can't wait.
So let's talk a little bitabout you, kind of how you got
started in the fitness world andwhat made you go from where you
were to wanting to be amotivational speaker and getting
people to move.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Yeah, thank you.
So I'm trained as acardiovascular exercise
physiologist and I spent thefirst 10 years of my career
running preventive andrehabilitative cardiology
programs.
I've spent the last 25 years inthe pharmaceutical industry,
but what I've missed is reallythe ability to work directly
(01:45):
with individuals.
I've always been a big advocateof the fact that our health is
our own responsibility and it'sreally incumbent upon us to take
care of it.
What drives me are really twofactors, one of which is my
father died very young.
He was 45 years old.
He died from his third heartattack at that time, and one of
(02:10):
the contributing factors therewere several, but one of the
contributing factors was that hedid not live a very active
lifestyle.
And the second thing thatfrustrates me as an exercise
physiologist is that in exercisewe've got arguably the most
potent form of medicine known tomankind.
If you look at all of our majorchronic health issues, one
(02:33):
thing that has an impact onalmost all of them is regular
physical activity.
But if you were to go to theCDC the Centers for Disease
Control website today, it tellsus that most Americans don't
exercise, 25% are completelysedentary, and then as much as
(02:55):
60% don't do a whole lot morethan activities of daily living.
So I am a big advocate ofexercise, but if people aren't
doing it, should we just leavethem alone?
So I don't think so, andperhaps what we need to do is
change our message to somethingthat everyone can do, and for me
(03:17):
, my message is trying topromote people to simply move
more.
Move more throughout your day,and when I do public speaking, I
give people a lot of ways thatthey can go through their day
and re-engineer their day inorder to introduce more movement
into their day.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, I mean you hit a very important point, which is
people don't even do the bareminimum.
And you see it more and more astime goes on and I've done a
lot of shows on this right.
We've talked a lot pretty indetail as far as what is the
bare minimum.
Why don't people do it?
What's, what's the psychologybehind of teaching someone just
(04:01):
the simplest things is like youmentioned pre-show walk down a
flight of stairs to go to thebathroom, just a little out of
your way, just to get a coupleextra steps in.
And I don't know what that rootcause is, but I have guesses
and it's kind of what we talkedabout last week.
With my own personal like, Ithink people always looking for
(04:23):
the easy way out, they alwaysthink that someone is going to
catch them and with that thatwould be modern medicine In our
day and age.
They say, oh, it doesn't matterif I get type 2 diabetes, I'm
going to take insulin and thenI'll be fine.
Or it doesn't matter if I havea heart attack, I go to the
hospital and they'll be able tofix me up and then whatever that
(04:45):
doctor tells me, then that'swhat I'm just going to go for
and it is what it is.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, yeah, you know.
Going back to the one point youmade, I think there's often two
root causes of why people don'tengage in exercise.
One of them is it's too hard,they're not motivated, they just
don't want to do it.
And the second one too hard,they're not motivated, they just
don't want to do it.
And the second one is time.
They say they don't have thetime to do it.
(05:12):
And so when I said earlier thatI try to introduce ways that
people can re-engineer theirdays, it's ways of just going
about their day, doing things alittle bit differently and
replacing inactivity withmobility in very simple ways
(05:33):
that don't take up time.
So, yeah, as I mentioned to youbefore, I never use a restroom
on the floor that I'm on andother, like a simple example
would be you know, everybody'sgot to go out their front door,
perhaps to get their newspaperin the morning or to get the
mail midday, and so instead ofgoing out your front door,
(05:57):
re-engineer it maybe go out yourside door or your back door, a
way that's going to take alittle bit more mobility to do
it.
And will that take extra timeout of your day?
Yes, it will Not significantamounts, but it doesn't change
your day, because I've beendoing this for years and I don't
go to bed later at nightbecause I go out the side door.
(06:21):
You just absorb that timeduring your day and so if we can
introduce ways that people canadd simple ways of moving
consistently throughout theirwhole day, that's what I'm
trying to promote.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, you mentioned two reasons, like one in
motivation, and motivation isgood for initial kickstart, but
I don't think it's motivationthat people need.
I think it's discipline thatpeople need.
Motivation gets you going.
Discipline keeps you going.
A good example of that is kindof what you're saying is simple
(06:56):
fixes like going to your backdoor, to your mailbox.
Initially it's the motivationof, yes, I want to do something,
but what if it rains?
What if it starts snowing?
What if it's a little too coldoutside?
What if you're more tired thatday?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
motivation's out the window that now needs to shift
to discipline.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
I need to do this for myself working out, using the
gym, for an example.
You get motivated to show upand it's the discipline like I
work out, even when I don't wantto work out the day is that I'm
not motivated, I don't want tobe, I don't want to work out.
The day is that I'm notmotivated, I don't want to be
here, don't want to stay longerafter my shift to hit the gym,
but the discipline then kicks in.
No, I need to.
I need to do this for myself, Ineed to do this for my family,
(07:38):
I need to do this for mycommunity and even for myself.
I take it to the next step.
I need to do this for mycommunity and even for myself.
I take to the next step.
I need to do this for mycountry, because I'm working out
to show people that anything ispossible through fitness, and
fitness isn't truly medicine.
It's something I full-heartedlybelieve in.
But how do we create thediscipline side of it into
(08:01):
people, to teach them to do iteven when they're not motivated?
Speaker 2 (08:05):
of it and to people to teach them to do it even when
they're not motivated.
Yeah, and discipline is a rightword.
Another word that you can usefor that is his habit.
Making it a habit and that'sthe part about keeping things
simple and not making them timeconsuming is that it's easier to
build that into a habit, and Idon't even think about the
(08:27):
things now that I do anymore,because I've just built them in
and I continue to find new waysto continue to add more movement
.
That's part of what I try toteach people about.
I will give you suggestions.
That's part of what I try toteach people about.
I will give you suggestions.
I've given one.
I'll try to give morethroughout this conversation of
(08:49):
things that people can do.
But what I also want to do isencourage people to find their
own ways to move more, becausemy suggestions pertain to me and
my environment, which could bevery different than everybody
else's, and so I want them toput on their thinking caps and
(09:10):
to be creative and, using mineexample, say, well, I can't do
that, but maybe this is what Ican do.
And going back to theresponsibility part, I try to
build motivation into my talksand you know, I use things that
I've heard and one of the thingsI've done is taken the infamous
(09:33):
, the iconic words that ourpresident, john F Kennedy, used
during his inaugural address,and I've reconstructed them a
little bit because I love theway you said.
You know, do stuff and do forour nation.
And the way I've reconstructedthose words is to say ask not
what your healthcare providercan do, ask what you can do for
(09:54):
your health.
And that's a perfect example ofwhat you just said.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, I agree.
I think I want to talk about alittle fun thing that I do here
with clients that have all theirpackets and stuff, because I
think you're going to love this.
I talked about this way yearsand years ago back in the show,
but I think it's so cool.
In my personal life.
You mentioned having differenthabits and adding different
things.
To make you move a little more,I created my own little thing.
(10:23):
It's called a radius rule, sothe idea behind it is I have a
set radius from where I am of.
Let's say I'm going to therestaurant and then the shopping
center.
That's within my radius.
Let's say it's a 10th of a mileI have to walk.
It doesn't matter, I am notallowed to get in my car and
drive there.
If it's under a tenth of a mileI'm walking.
(10:45):
You can take this little radiusrule and you can slowly start
expanding it.
So you take the tenth of a mileto a quarter mile, a quarter
mile to half a mile.
Before you know it, you'readding so many more steps in
your day because you're justdisciplining yourself.
Like I cannot break this rule,I have to go do this extra walk.
I always want to add a caveatborrowing like going across the
(11:08):
crazy federal highway, you'regoing to die like.
There's always, of course,these extreme examples, but just
in general, if there's a coffeeshop within 20 minutes and I
want a cup of coffee, I'm notdriving, I'm walking.
Like that's I'm, I'm notallowed to get.
Yeah, I have to walk there.
In other words, I break my ownradius.
With who am I?
(11:28):
to preach this and not practiceit, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Hey, listen, I love that, that's great.
I'm smiling because I thinkthat's great.
And then there's another sideof that.
That's sometimes frustratingfor me is in trying to always
pick these opportunities to movemore.
And I do a fair amount oftraveling and one of my biggest
pet peeves are the hotels wherethe the steps, the emergency
(11:56):
exit steps, only have doors thatsay only use this in the case
of an emergency, so you can'tuse the steps.
You might be on the second anemergency, so you can't use the
steps.
You might be on the secondfloor or the third floor easy to
use the steps, right, noproblem, but you can't because
of those things.
And that just really, reallyfrustrates me and would clearly
(12:18):
abolish your radius rule,because, hey, this is simple,
and then you run into thoseobstacles.
So, but yeah, thank you, I lovethat and, if you don't mind,
I'll probably promote that aswell, because it is a way that
you said yeah, you can makegradual changes, and that's what
(12:39):
my suggestions are all about.
Are these gradual changes?
Just look for a way to move.
So I'll add another one that Ijust came up with the other day.
So I went downstairs as I said,I work on the second floor and
it wasn't like today where it's101 degrees.
This was a few weeks ago whenit was still quite cool outside
(13:02):
and I was working here and itjust got a little bit of a chill
.
So I thought you know what, letme go down and I'll make a cup
of tea real quick.
And it was about late morning,close to midday, and I went down
and I took the water and I putit in the microwave and for me
it takes three minutes to heatit up.
Now what most people are goingto do is stand there and wait
(13:24):
for the water to heat up.
But I thought, applying my ownprinciples is what can I do
instead of standing here to move?
And I'm thinking mail.
It's time to get the mail.
I could go get the mail and Icame back in and there was still
a minute and a half left on thetimer, so I could have waited,
(13:48):
made my tea and gone upstairs.
But I decided no, let me walkand take my mail.
I left my wife's downstairs,took my mail upstairs, put it on
my desk and then came back downand then my tea was ready.
So again, just looking for anopportunity to introduce
(14:09):
movement, subtle, simplemovement where you otherwise
might be sedentary.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Yeah, I agree.
I always use the example ofnighttime activities.
A lot of people.
What do they do when they gethome from work?
They eat dinner, they turn TVon?
Bond with their family?
Jim, if you ever watched amovie or TV show, obviously it
happens to be a joke.
But do you do much talking withyour wife or significant other
when you're watching TV?
(14:35):
Do you get to bond with eachother?
Yeah, absolutely not.
So.
My wife and I, I mean, we'remore morning people, but when I
get home from work it's pass out.
So we do it in the morning, butmost people it's night for them
.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Go for a walk.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Take your wife out for a walk just casually, a
little slow pace.
Use that as bonding bondingexperience.
My wife and I go on walks everyday almost without fail, and we
go for about an hour and it'sour opportunity to like talk
about our days, uh get to knoweach other a little more I mean,
(15:12):
we've been together 11 yearsbut we still want to make sure
we continue that strongrelationship bond.
People talk about the divorceepidemic.
I think a big fix is just gofor walks with your wife.
So, therefore, you're bothbonding, right.
You're creating that specialrelationship you have with your
spouse.
You're both moving, so you'refeeling better, right, you're
(15:33):
adorbitant by eating more teabecause you're outside.
So now you're getting a littlehappier and you're boosting your
immune system.
You're hopefully, if you dothis over a long time, you're
compounding interest and helpingyourself lose weight.
Um, and then I'm going to throwa fifth little bonus one.
You get to have more sex, whichis also physical activity.
(15:53):
So you walk physical activity.
Get the bottom with your wife,your wife loves you more, and
you start having more sex withyour wife.
It's physical activity.
Get the bottom with your wife,your wife loves you more, and
you start having more sex withyour wife.
It's more physical activity andnow you have a closer
relationship with your wife.
So now you have like thatpositive feedback loop.
Yeah, with you and your spousebecause you just decided,
instead of watching a movie andgoing to bed, to go for a walk.
(16:15):
And another point which Itotally forgot to mention
watching the sunset or going fora walk, like at dawn time,
helps your body relax andincrease your melatonin increase
, so therefore helps you sleepbetter at night sleep better,
yeah not staring at your phonesand your the tv is going to
drain your sleep and we all knowthe issues of sleep.
(16:35):
It's going to spike the cortisol.
It's going to make you hungrierso you need more food the next
day.
You're going to drain yoursleep and we all know the issues
of sleep.
It's going to spike thecortisol.
It's going to make you hungrierso you can eat more food the
next day.
You're going to retain more.
You're not going to build muchmuscle mass.
So many negative side effectsto not getting enough sleep.
So there's so many wins justfor one little simple
opportunity, like you mentionedjust yeah and I had.
I had someone that I mentionedthis too and and they did it for
(16:58):
like a couple days and themotivation was great and then
just kicked it and it didn'tfollow through.
Besides having these people, Idon't know how to get through
the majority of people, thepeople that come here and walk
into the gym.
They've been made that mentallike I need help.
(17:19):
And those people that come tous that break that like I need
help, I can help and same withyou.
If they're booking you to be aspeaker and they're showing up,
they're already checked in theirbrains that they need help and
they're looking for someone tohelp them.
So you speaking to them or themwalking into my gym is going to
(17:39):
help them.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
But how do you address the 80, 85% of people
that haven't had that mentalclarity?
Like I need to get help.
Like how do you talk to thosepeople that don't want to hear
it?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
want to hear it.
Well, see, I'll go back to thewords that I used, that I
reconstructed from JFK's speechand you know this is hard and I
know it's a difficult thing toget across.
But to try to really impressupon people that it is your
responsibility to take care ofyour own health and what can,
and then we're both talkingabout ways that they can do that
.
And what I reinforce in thatmessage is to say let's take,
(18:25):
for example, somebody who hasdiabetes, just as an example.
And what I might do is I'll askthem I'll say so, you've got
diabetes.
Okay, this may be able to bemanaged, but I'll be.
Who's really responsible forhelping to manage or to take
care of your diabetes?
(18:46):
And most of the time you'll getthe answer well, it's my
physician, my primary carephysician or the endocrinologist
.
And I say, okay, that's good.
Yeah, and I said and then Iwould say and this would be the
way of trying to make the pointI would say and how many days of
(19:06):
the year do you have diabetes?
And they always look at me likeI'm nuts, right?
But obviously the answer isevery day.
So then I say, and I try to putthe two things together.
So then I'll say to them okay,so you have diabetes every day,
and how many days in the courseof the year do you see your
physician?
(19:26):
If they're well managed, itmight be two or three times
during the course of the year.
So I bring it back to them then.
So then, who is reallyresponsible for managing your
diabetes?
Who's responsible for managingyour diabetes?
Who's responsible for managingyour high blood pressure?
Who's responsible for managingyour high cholesterol?
It's you.
And so then, what can you do toget to the point you made,
(19:49):
besides taking pills that canhelp with that?
And then we say exercise oh,that's too much for me, I can't
do that.
You know, the CDC again tellsus that's 150 minutes of
moderate to vigorous physicalactivity.
I can't do that.
So that's when I'll come backto them.
But what can you move more?
Can you just move more and thenstart to give them examples of
(20:13):
something that they can do, tojust begin to add that gradual
movement?
And then my hope is, you dothat.
For some people it might be acouple of months, some people it
might be six months, somepeople it might take a whole
year, and maybe their confidenceincreases and I've seen this
happen, and then maybe, maybethey then would be willing to
(20:33):
come to your gym and really getinvolved and do the exercise
that we would want them to do.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Yeah, I mean, I get it if you get in front of them,
right, if you have theopportunity to have that
conversation with a person, kindof like if I had the
opportunity to sit down withsomeone at the time to hear them
listen to me talk.
But there's hundreds ofmillions of people in the US,
(21:03):
yeah, right, so how do you talkto everybody?
I mean, maybe the next questionis and for listeners, let's say
I'm a listener to this showwhat would you tell the
listeners to tell the people intheir lives, or is it even their
place to tell them?
Like the example I always use,let's say, your loved one smokes
(21:25):
, right, a pack of that and youknow it's killing them, right,
we all know that.
Do you let them smoke?
Or do you sit them down andhave that hard conversation like
, hey, can you stop smoking, Iwant you around?
Yeah, I feel like society orobesity has put this norm on it
(21:49):
to make it okay and people thinkit's okay to be morbidly beast
and you're not allowed to tellsomebody that they might need
help, because then you're goingto look down upon and then
they're going to sit there andridicule you and you're not
accepted and you're you don'tunderstand.
But all you're trying to do,like me and you, is save their
(22:12):
life.
Yeah, but they don't.
Society doesn't even let youhave that conversation.
So what can we do to combatthat?
Or what can we tell people thatare listening to the show, like
, is it even okay to have thatconversation with a loved one?
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Yeah, I think it is.
I think it is.
So I'm going to answer thatquestion with a lesson that I
learned.
So in my younger years I was abasketball player.
I played basketball up andthrough college and then I
stopped and I got involved withhelping others through
basketball camps and clinics andstuff.
And when we would go to thesleepaway basketball camp, the
(22:52):
director, my mentor, an amazingindividual, he was a teacher and
he always taught us things andwe'd have 110 kids at camp and
stuff like that, and he'd sit usdown all the counselors before
the camp began and he says look,your job is to go out here and
help all of these kids, but inthe end, some are going to
(23:14):
listen and some are not.
And if you can walk away fromthis camp having had, I'll just
say, a significant impact onjust one kid, you've done your
job.
The more, the better, but theone kid.
So I agree, and my messageapplies to every single American
(23:35):
.
Right Exercise might not applyto every single American, but
mine does move more.
Look, I just took a stepbackwards and forward.
I just moved more and thendoing that more and more
consistently, and so for me it'sjust trying to simplify the
message to something thateverybody can do?
(23:57):
Will you reach everybody?
No, no, and that's frustrating,and I could see the way you
were emotional about that, andit's been that way for me too.
I've had people in my family Icome from a family of people who
were smokers Not all of them,but a lot of them and then also
(24:19):
people that weren't necessarilyphysically active and all I can
do is share the message and tryto simplify it as much as I can,
but I have to accept the factthat I might not touch everybody
.
I just hope to be able to touchmore, and since the message is
simple, then they can share thatwith others and then they can
(24:43):
touch more, and hopefully thatsix degrees of separation will
have an impact.
But yeah, unfortunately, asmuch as we'd like to, we can't
save the whole world.
But we can certainly try, we cantry, and that's what you're
doing, and that's what I'mtrying to do.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Can I go back?
Speaker 2 (25:04):
for a second.
I want to go back to your,because I want to share two more
examples of your walking withyour wife in the evening and
stuff like that.
So yes, that's great, that'sone way of doing it, but
sometimes when I'm giving thesetalks, I talk about the person
that comes home from work andthey had to take their kids to
their sporting events.
(25:24):
And then they get home afterthat and they're in a position
they're fortunate, they stillhave parents around and they
want to check in with theirparents.
Nobody is using a landlineanymore.
Everybody's got a cell phone.
So you know again, there'sanother way.
There's no reason, no reasonwhatsoever, for you to sit while
(25:46):
you're talking to your parentsand checking in.
Now, I'm not saying go out andexercise, but can you just
meander around your house.
If it's a nice evening, can yougo and walk around the block or
something like that.
And sometimes these are thingsjust people just don't think of,
and it's quite simple.
And then here's the frustratingone, because my kids were very
(26:07):
involved in sports.
I took them to their soccerpractice, their baseball, their
softball practice, and part ofthe group of people I'm trying
to reach are the ones that saylook, I work all day.
I come home, I make dinner, Ihelp the kids with their
homework, I take them to soccerpractice.
Come home, I've got a littlework to do.
When am I supposed to exerciseor even be more physically
(26:29):
active?
To the soccer field or thebaseball or softball field, drop
their child, let them out ofthe car, pull their lawn chair
out of the backseat and sit andwatch that practice.
There's 60 to 90 minutes whereyou can just get up and meander
(26:53):
around the field, but they don't, and I think sometimes the
reasons is we got to give thempermission, tell them get up,
walk around.
I used to do that all the time.
I wouldn't sit still at thepractices and sometimes I'd
throw my bicycle into the backof the SUV so I could do
something different.
But I think that's the part ofthe point that I'm trying to
(27:15):
make.
Anthony is, sometimes peoplejust don't see these
opportunities to move that areright there in front of them,
and so we need to tell them.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
I mean you mentioned the phone thing.
I'm laughing.
I fast walk.
When I'm on the phone, like get15 000 steps in.
Sometimes I don't have a 45minute conversation because I'm
just like my add kicks in.
I'm up down, left, right.
Oh, my wife's like oh my god,stop running.
Yeah, that's just what it wasbuilt in to get myself up moving
(27:47):
, get my brain thinking working.
I feel sluggish.
Sitting like Like sitting doingthis right now is tough for me.
You notice I'm using a lot ofhand motions to kind of like
compensate for the sitting, butI'm used to just bouncing, so I
love that.
And then the sports practices.
I mean, yeah, you see parentsand it's this and it's scrolling
(28:10):
, and they want 20 minutes to goby and I try to get a dopamine
hit just by scrolling andscrolling and scrolling.
I want to take the phone andthrow it away out of their hands
and just be like you'd be waymore involved in this practice,
like if you're in a baseballpractice, for example, get up to
the cage, walk around, cheeryour kid on, cheer the other
kids on.
Let's go like walk out to theoutfield at the sideline and you
(28:33):
can watch and walk back, andit's a great way to be like
involved yeah, make sureeveryone's like they're moving,
etc.
Or if you bring your kids withyou because you have a bunch of
them, have the other kids kick aball around, throw a frisbee
around.
Like, get up and just do itwith them.
Like, hey guys, let's put thefrisbee around.
We're trying to kill time.
One parent's distracting theother kids doing that, the other
(28:55):
one's watching everyone'soutside it's.
You're still kind of all mostlytogether.
I just I'm a really bigcomponent of.
We lose family values alongwith making this obesity
epidemic worse.
I think both are really thesame bucket and I don't think
(29:17):
they're different.
I think they're exactly thesame.
Everything that comes withdepression and anxiety has been
linked to not moving.
So you have movement.
You fix anxiety and depression.
You have movement with yourdoing, with your family.
You build strong family bonds.
You start fixing kids as likeas they're programming, getting
(29:37):
older and teaching them values,different values of like.
No, we need to move.
We're not sitting in front ofthe screen today.
Your, your kid, imitates youlike I have a seven month old at
home.
He, home, he just watches me.
It's whatever dad-dad's doing.
He wants to know and wants todo If I'm eating something, he
wants that he doesn't care ifit's what it is and what it
(29:59):
tastes like, he just wants whatdad eats.
Yeah, you might think that, as aparent, oh, I'm only hurting
myself.
No, you're hurting your kidsLike.
Your kids are going to learnevery lesson from you.
There's a reason that parentsthat are overweight, their kids
are even more overweight, andthen your child with obesity,
your affected diabetes is morelikely to be a kid affected
(30:20):
diabetes and, what's worse, thekid, because now they're going
to have an even longer period oftime.
So, even if and this is yetagain discipline comes into play
, you don't want to do it foryourself because you feel like
you know, oh, I don't care aboutmyself and I know people feel
that it's fine.
Do it for your spouse andespecially, do it for your kids.
(30:45):
Yeah, teach your kids avaluable lesson how to live
longer lives.
The average lifespan of a humanbeing is going not like it was
for thousands of years.
We're going this way, yeah,because people aren't moving.
There's no movement insidepeople's life.
People aren't eating healthy,and it's this frustrating build
(31:10):
up inside of me because I justwant to fix it.
Yeah, and that's why it's likecontrolling.
Personally, I just want to fixit and, like you were saying,
there's so many little tinythings that people can do.
You don't have to work outseven days a week, two hours a
day to be healthy.
There's little little things.
(31:32):
I see so many people who gofrom, like, the place next to us
to three stores down and theydrive their car.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
Pull into like 10 spots later drive the car to go
into the next place.
Yeah, You're teaching your kidsthe wrong values.
I just know how to fix it.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
I just know how to fix it and we go through the day
with blinders or barriers on.
And what I mean by that is solet's say, you know, I'm going
to suggest to someone, you know,use the steps instead of the
elevators.
And then this is a thing thatI've gotten feedback on.
(32:13):
They say well, jim, I work onthe 22nd floor.
Do you really expect me to take22 flights of stairs to my
office?
And this is where the blindersare on?
No, I don't expect you to take22 flights of stairs.
Can you take the elevator tothe 19th floor and then get off
(32:35):
and walk up three flights ofstairs?
Do that for a few weeks, thenget off on the 18th floor.
But that's part of what mymessage is all about is trying
to get people to see beyondthese barriers that are
self-imposed and look for a way,you know, to add more movement.
(32:57):
Again, here's another one I justdid the other day.
You know, my son was downstairsand I needed to tell him
something.
And I'm upstairs and he wasdownstairs.
What are most people going todo?
They're going to walk to thebanister, yell down.
Hey, son, can you take thetrash out?
Or whatever it is that youneeded to do.
You know what I did.
I went over, I walked down thesteps, I walked into the kitchen
(33:19):
, I told him what I needed totell him and then I walked back
upstairs.
It doesn't take a lot of timeand it doesn't take a lot of
physical effort, but again youused the important word there
effort.
But again you use the importantword there.
The cumulative benefits of doingall these things throughout
(33:41):
your day will make a difference.
I cite a study that shows.
That was from the Mayo ClinicProceedings, which is a very
reputable journal, and it saysthat simply replacing sitting
with standing, not once, butthroughout the day, replacing
sitting with standing resultedin small but statistically
(34:05):
significant differences infasting blood sugar and body fat
mass.
Just something that simple.
Fasting blood sugar and bodyfat mass just something that
simple.
So then you make that simplething and you add a little bit
more and those benefits become alittle bit more.
And so that's what I'm tryingto do, is simplify it for
everybody, make it easier.
(34:25):
As I told you before, do I wanteverybody to exercise,
absolutely, but if we can't getthere right from the start, at
least start by moving more yeah,uh, movement is key, man.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Start small, start gradual, build that.
Compound interest, exactlyright.
If you compound interest onepercent on a thousand bucks, in
like 30 years it's gonna beworth a hell of a lot more and
you're starting to benefit waylater in life.
But it's just a matter of doingit.
It's a matter of pushingyourself through.
And if you don't want to do it,and those days that you go do
(35:03):
the work that you just reallydon't feel like moving or
walking down the stairs, talk toyour family, are the most
important days and those arewhat truly define you as a human
being.
You're really set your ownpersonal standards and how you
view yourself and if we can sethigher standards for ourselves,
(35:24):
that other people will try tolive up to those standards and
try to be to better people.
Because we are humans.
Help work.
That's a community for eachother.
Of interesting point which a lotof people always use is you
become the average of the fivepeople that hang out the most
with and I know I said this alot it's.
People use that for financialstandpoints or whatever, but
(35:47):
even regardless of that, youwant to get in shape.
Just hang out with five peoplethat are in shape.
That's it.
You want to talk about a simple, easy thing spend more time
with five people that are inbetter shape.
You know why?
because all those people haveall those habits jim's talking
about right now already built inyeah, so you're going to start
(36:08):
doing it, second nature, becausethey're doing it because you
want to follow along, andthey're like, oh guys, let's go
get ice cream, let's go walk onthe block.
You're not going to be like youguys walk, I'm going to drive,
you're going to go walk withthem, right?
So even the simplest thing ofall is just starting out.
People are more in shape andthen if you want to help your
(36:34):
family and they hang out withyou the most, you become the one
that's more in shape and thenthey're going to start picking
up your habits because nowthey're.
Oh, you were going to go dothat.
And if I tell my wife, honey,let's go welcome to block, and
we'll go get a cup of coffee orwhatever, and she's like, say,
one of james, and then that'sbeautiful dates, go hang out
with each other.
She's going to follow me andwalk with me, right?
So either become that personfor your family or go hang out
(36:57):
with those people that alreadyhad those happen stills, and I
think that's the simplest fixyeah and anthony, you used you
used a word a few minutes agothat I want to come back to.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
you were talking about us, us as humans.
Right, and I want us to thinkabout and this is another
message that I would share withpeople, either in talking with
them in a group or onindividually is our human
biology, and I'll ask you a verysimple question Structurally,
what are we designed for?
Sitting or moving?
Speaker 1 (37:28):
It's moving.
It's moving from trees actually.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
It's moving right.
And in fact, do you know whatthe most common pain complaint
is for people in the UnitedStates?
Speaker 1 (37:45):
Lower back.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Lower back problem.
You know why?
We are not designed to besitting.
We are not.
We're designed to be moving.
So we create lower backproblems because we sit, and if
we could just adapt this idea oftrying to replace sedentariness
with movement, we can have animpact on a lot of things, not
(38:11):
just the chronic healthconditions, but even the pain
issues that we're dealing withon a day-to-day basis.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Simple little fixes make all the difference in the
world.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:23):
The really big talk point here, Jim, I'm going to
ask you the final two questions.
I ask everyone as we wrap thisup.
The first question is if youwere to summarize this episode
in one or two sentences, whatwould be your take-home message?
Speaker 2 (38:35):
My take-home message would be to look to create ways
to re-engineer your day, simpleways where you can replace not
moving with an opportunity tomove, and when you do that, you
will gain health benefits fromit.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
I love that.
And then, jim, second questionhow can people find you get
ahold of you, learn more aboutyour speaking?
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Yeah, so you can go.
My website, Jim Walter Speaks.
So just as my name is spelledjimwalterspeakscom and then I
can be reached on email via jimat jimwalterspeakscom.
And then, if people still use aphone to call somebody, I can
(39:25):
be reached at area code609-273-3118.
Speaker 1 (39:33):
Jim, thank you so much for coming on.
Thank you, guys, for listeningto this week's episode of Public
Opinions Redefined.
Don't forget to subscribe tothe show, share this with
someone that needs to hear thisand we'll see you next time at
Fitness and Medicine.
Thank you, outro Music.
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