May 2, 2024 • 57 mins
If you've ever felt guilty about sneaking that extra cookie, I've got a game-changing tip that'll let you savor your cravings without derailing your diet. This episode isn't just about what you eat, though; it's about when you eat it, especially when it comes to those post-workout moments. And while we're talking hydration, let's spill on Gatorade's new flavorless electrolyte water. Are sugar-free sports drinks just a fad, or do they hold the key to sustaining your fitness goals? You'll want to stay tuned for some practical tips that'll slide seamlessly into even the most jam-packed of days.
Transitioning from nutrition to the nitty-gritty of workout wisdom, I'm zoning in on Zone 2 cardio training, unraveling the mysteries behind heart rate zones and the '180 Rule'. Despite popular belief, cardio isn't just a fat-burning fiesta; it's the foundation of vascular health, oxygen delivery, and recovery. I'm here to guide you through the fog of fitness fallacies and provide you with strategies that work for real people with real schedules. So, whether you're a corporate warrior or a superhero parent, you're in the right place to boost your health journey with insights that are as empowering as they are enlightening.
As we wind down, we're not just stretching our bodies but also our minds, discussing how mobility work and brief meditative breathers can combat a sedentary lifestyle. Learn why throwing in a little playtime and strengthening personal connections can be the magic ingredient for mental well-being. So, lace-up your sneakers and prep your notepad, because we're about to embark on a ride through the landscape of lifelong fitness where your thoughts fortify your physical strength. Together, let's conquer the training hurdles you face with clear heads and strong hearts.
Producer: Thor Benander
Editor: Luke Morey
Intro Theme: Ajax Benander
Intro: Timothy Durant
For more, visit Simon at The Antagonist
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Mind Muscle Podcast.
Here's your host, simon DeVere,and welcome back to Mind Muscle
, the place where we study thehistory, science and philosophy
behind everything in health andfitness.
Today I'm Simon Devere andthere's nothing new, except all
(00:31):
that has been forgotten.
All right, guys, I'm comingback.
I had a short little layoff,unplanned.
I got a little busy.
Not bragging, I just, yeah, Igot a little bit busy and I
basically wasn't able to managemy workload over the last couple
of weeks and didn't get anepisode out in time to keep my
(00:53):
normal schedule up.
So, anyway, apologies for thatIf I left you hanging on a show
not going to make a habit ofthat.
Yeah, I'm back.
Admittedly, if I sound a littlenasally, might have worked
myself into a little bit of acold.
So, again, that's why I'm notreally bragging about getting
(01:13):
busy.
Had to get some shit done,probably work myself into a
little bit of a cold, but yeah,we worked through it and
hopefully I won't be coughing ontoday's episode too much.
I'll keep that under control,but yeah, so basically spent the
last week.
I had the chance to just talkwith a lot of different people
(01:37):
as a feature of what I was doingover the week.
So today's focus is, admittedly, going to be on a lot of the
conversations that I was havingin real life last week, but I do
believe that if one person hasa problem, someone else has the
same problem.
So in that spirit, we're goingto run down.
You know, today I want toactually look at a nutrition
(01:59):
timing hack.
It's going to allow you to havesome forbidden or less than
perfect foods be a part of yournutrition program.
No matter what your goal is,we're going to be able to work
that in.
We're going to talk a littlebit about Gatorade's new water.
They got a flavorlesselectrolyte water.
We'll talk about how lessspecifically on the new product,
(02:24):
but more about how to actuallyuse sports drinks in your
workout best.
I want to talk a little on howand why to program Zone 2 work
into your training program.
And last one I want to go onbecause I did have a relatively
busy week but let's talk aboutsome ways that you can improve
(02:46):
your fitness by doing nothing,in a sense.
Yeah, but we're going to rundown some behaviors that aren't
really going to take any moretime.
No matter how busy you get,you're going to find that
there's a number of things youcan kind of focus on to make
sure that you're still makingprogress, and then, when you get
to the other side and you'renot as busy, you'll be in great
(03:08):
shape and in a place to keepmaking progress.
But anyway, that is the lay ofthe land today.
I do, though, but before Iactually dive into the topics I
plan to discuss, I did.
I had about a week to kind ofsit and think I obviously wasn't
here sharing my thoughts, soit's a lot of thoughts I've had
(03:31):
in the last week that normallywould have come out.
The first thing I wanted to openon today, though, was I'm not
really sure how many episodes wehave done.
I know it's over 50.
I don't know if we're to 100yet, but no, I honestly just
wanted to kind of touch basewith myself in a sense.
Why am I here at all?
(03:53):
Why do I do a podcast and one?
If you're here listening?
That's part of the answer.
That's almost good enough forme right there, but, as we've
talked about many times, I'm nota huge fan of most of the
messaging that is coming out ofthe fitness space.
(04:15):
Yet I myself am a part of thefitness space, again, like a
driver complaining about traffica little bit.
But the main thing that Iactually think I can add to the
discourse and it's why I spendany time recording these is that
I really do see myself, in asense, as an anti guru, and
(04:40):
though I've also been a fan of alot of the most popular shows
over the years, I generally findthat there's a model where the
guru types, if you will and I'mnot more is the approach where
(05:03):
these voices are often pointingto products to try to motivate
you to work on the ideas thatyou want to work on.
I, instead, am going to pointalmost always to a timeless
principle that probably hasbetter results than whatever
products people are pointing toprobably has better results than
(05:25):
whatever products people arepointing to.
Similarly and I notice an arcwith how people create demand
for these products is first youcreate a problem, then you
create the solution.
So, again, I actually see myapproach as slightly different.
I'm really not in here creatingproblems for you guys.
(05:46):
I am merely telling you guysthe issues and problems people
bring my way and, rather thanpointing people towards new
products to address the problemsthat they're having, I am again
, going to, more often than notpoint you to timeless principles
that actually work.
(06:07):
In that my intent, I reallydon't want to be overtly
negative, not because that's notin my nature.
I've just noticed over theyears that people don't really
like negative critiques.
Even if you are beingcompletely valid in your
negative critique, an obviouscontention is going to be well
(06:27):
okay.
Well, what should I do?
So it is my intention to notonly expose bad ideas but
simultaneously give you toolsthat are actually going to work.
Again, like we have today, mostof what I share here they are
(06:47):
real conversations that I havewith real people.
So, again, I believe, if oneperson has a problem, that there
is someone else out there withthe same problem.
You know another thing that I'mjust a little bit uncomfortable
in in the format as right now,it really is just me ostensibly
(07:10):
monologuing Um, I, I do not wantto present myself and I've said
this again, uh many times, butI guess it's worth saying again
Um, I actually don't see myselfas the expert in these fields or
the end-all, be-all in any ofthis.
I just know that these ideasare being discussed because
(07:30):
people are discussing them withme and I see my point of view
that I share here on the podcastas one that somebody else could
use to begin to get acquaintedwith a discussion or an idea,
not as an end unto itself.
That being said, I'm aware thatI have strong opinions and I'm
(07:53):
not going to apologize forexpressing my opinions in strong
words.
That being said, my views are,admittedly, constantly changing.
I strive to have strongopinions loosely held meaning.
Given enough evidence, I willstop saying the thing I used to
(08:15):
say and I will just as stronglysay something different in the
future, but again, givenadequate evidence.
But no, I honestly think thatthis is again.
Why I appreciate you spendingyour time, giving me your
attention, is that it's not loston me that, in a lot of ways,
you have a front row seat to mylearning, and I just hope that
(08:40):
my engaging and learning canhelp other people in their
process of learning.
That's it.
I actually don't see myself asthe expert or the guru, but I do
really really think that theshows that we have made are
going to be a better place forpeople to start engaging the
(09:02):
ideas that we're talking abouthere.
So, anyway, that's it.
I had a lot of time to thinkabout what we're doing with the
show and I know I have spentsome time, kind of you know,
breaking down some gurus latelyand I just kind of wanted to
carve out what my real objectionwith their approach is.
(09:23):
It's not to attack theirpersonalities or their
followings, their fan bases.
Obviously, anybody who hasachieved a great following is
clearly doing a lot of thingsright.
I just don't always think,particularly in the fitness
space, that what they are doingright is conveying the
(09:45):
information that is going to bethe most efficacious for the
people listening to them.
So, anyway, that's where mycritiques on all these gurus are
really coming from, and it'snot that I'm in possession of
the truth and they're lacking.
I just think we fundamentallyapproach solving problems for
the people that we, uh, thattrust us, I guess, in in a
(10:07):
different way.
So just wanted to reiteratethat that is my commitment to
you, the audience.
I am never going to take yourattention and trust for granted,
and you know, part of that, Ithink, is being transparent
about who and what I am andwhere I'm coming from, and the
rest I'm fine to let speak foritself.
(10:30):
I think that's good.
But anyway, guys, the first onethat I want to talk about was so
I want to give you guys atiming hack, if you will so
quickly.
When I've discussed nutritionin the past, you know that I
like to break it down into thisidea of quality quantity ratios.
That's where I want to spend90% of the discussion and that's
(10:52):
where I point most people'sattention, even when they try to
get me to talk other aspects.
And you know the reason thatI've stated I think many times.
But why I focus on those thingsfirst is just this idea of
carrying the big rocks.
I don't really want to discussnutrient timing and advanced
topics with somebody who is noteating whole foods, doesn't know
(11:14):
how much food they are eatingor what their macronutrient
ratios are.
In that situation, the bigrocks are going to be
represented not with the timingprotocol but with the other
three things that they weren'tdoing.
But now you know, let's behonest, some people do get those
things all locked in and youstill want to push and go a
little farther.
(11:34):
So this is, you know firmly,what I consider a level four
nutrition discussion.
But I wanted to give you guysone of my favorite hacks that
can kind of allow you to getaway with eating some forbidden
or less than ideal foods.
One more confession Sometimes Ifeel like I have imposter
(11:57):
syndrome talking about nutritionas much as I do, because it
puts out this perception like Iam this paragon of perfection
when it comes to nutrition, andparticularly as I now have a
child at home, that idea justisn't true.
I already wasn't really that waybefore having a kid, but I've
(12:19):
really had to relax a lot ofthings about nutrition now that
I have a kid in the house.
A lot of foods that I wouldnever eat we now purchase
regularly, and my biggestdefense against eating foods
that I'm not supposed to eat isactually not buying them.
I'm actually not great at noteating food that is actually in
(12:44):
my house.
What I am an expert at is notbuying things that are
inconsistent with my goals.
That's the thing that I'mreally good at.
So, all that to say, there's alot of foods in my house now
that do not pass Simon's test ofacceptability, but admittedly,
(13:07):
I eat them every now and again.
So I wanted to share with youguys a hack that I use regularly
to kind of get away with eatingsome less than perfect food,
and for me, obviously, I can bemore descriptive of what I mean.
So the best time for you to eathigher glycemic carbohydrates,
(13:29):
which are, you know, oftentimesgoing to be those that maybe
contain added sugars or perhapsare processed, and the types of
foods that I do tell you veryoften to avoid or, at the very
least, not make the basis ofyour diet.
So one of those for me iscereal.
(13:49):
I really, really like cereal.
One of the issues for me withcereal, though, is I am
incapable of eating a servingsize of cereal, so sometimes
it's just easier for me to justget rid of it, particularly if
fat loss is a goal probably notworth me including, but when fat
(14:10):
loss is not my goal.
Oftentimes and I've been doingthis a lot lately but the best
time of day for your worst airquotes meal, because they're
great meals, they taste great,they're super fun, but the best
time to have that quote unquotebad meal is in that window after
(14:32):
your training.
So you know roughly 60 to 90minutes that this is not written
in stone, by the way, I used tothink it was and really focus
on post-workout nutrition downto the second, but there weren't
a lot of gains with being thatprecise with timing.
That being said, though, here'swhy you can get away with eating
(14:54):
some less than perfect foodafter your workouts.
Your insulin sensitivitypost-workout is entirely
different than, say, when you'regetting ready to go to bed.
So if you want to have a bigass bowl of cereal that time to
do it would be right after yourworkout and it would certainly
be better than pretty much anyother time in the day.
(15:17):
Doesn't have to be cereal, bythe way, that's just one of my
favorites so.
But in general, if I'm evergoing to have a meal that is
less than perfect, the time thatI'm going to do it is going to
be post-workout.
My body actually needs toreplenish the carbohydrates that
I just burned up in my workout.
(15:38):
My insulin sensitivity is goingto be improved, so I don't have
to worry about spikes ininsulin nearly as much.
And so slight little bit ofcaution that I want to give with
this, though, because inreality, whenever I co-sign
doing anything bad in quotes,people go over the top with it
(16:01):
and then use it to justifymaking bad choices that I didn't
co-sign.
So just some caution whenever Itell people that they can get
away with eating some less thanperfect food.
Again, remember we saidpost-workout that this is kind
of.
One prerequisite is that youdid a workout prior.
(16:22):
So don't stretch thosedefinitions and go for like a
five-minute walk and say thatSimon said it's cool to go have
some ice cream.
Now, that's not what we'retalking about.
But I do actually think that amuch larger problem, at least in
what I see maybe this isn't thenational problem, but people
(16:42):
who come and talk to me.
They tend to be actuallyconcerned with their health and
fitness and I think it's farmore likely they get into overly
restrictive patterns than onesthat actually allow them to
periodically have some normal orless than perfect or even
forbidden foods.
This is a great way for thosepeople, if you've gone through a
(17:04):
time of being overlyrestrictive, for you to kind of
get back to the real world in asense.
And you know one of my favoritebooks and I know I've
recommended it before, butMichael Pollan's In Defense of
Food I'll still recommend againand again, because I actually
think that eating real food hasactually gotten a little bit
(17:27):
controversial.
A lot of people think thatthese things are toxic and bad,
and yeah, so anyway, use thispoint to inject some sanity more
than anything else.
Don't use this to rationalizemaking a whole bunch of bad
choices and saying that Simonsaid it's cool.
No, if you're an overlyrestrictive type, bring some
(17:48):
sanity back into your life and,post-workout, let yourself have
some things that you've maybegiven up on.
You're going to find it's notgoing to be as bad as you're
probably thinking.
All right, so, coming down theline, I actually just learned
last week that Gatorade isrolling out a brand new water
(18:10):
just what the market needed.
There are not enough waterchoices.
I say that all the time.
Yeah, I just you know.
I walked down the aisle in thegrocery store and, yeah, we
could probably use like at least30 more different varieties of
water, but new variation is nosugar, just electrolytes.
(18:33):
So, honestly, this was actuallyjust brought up to me by
somebody and, admittedly, myfirst thought was who is this
product for?
Who is this product for, andwhat I mean by that, is that a
sugar-free sports drink, which,again, I'm not advocating for
(18:54):
sugar, but the only type ofperson who really should be
drinking a sports drink issomebody who's working out
pretty hard, and if you'reworking out pretty hard, then
the concern on sugar certainlywouldn't be the same.
So this, to me, did tie intothe first point that we made
today, but part of me thinksthis is a little bit the market
(19:16):
reflecting that sugar phobia hasgone a little bit too far.
And now again the second.
I say that people are going tothink I'm, you know, sponsored
by somebody who sells a sugaryproduct, shilling for the sugar
industry or, you know, allowingpeople to rationalize bad
(19:37):
choices.
That's not it.
I actually just think peoplehave swung way too far with the
whole sugar is toxic thing.
So many of the upfront I'm notactually that interested or
bothered by Gatorade water One.
I just think that this isreally going to keep confusing
people on what we actually needfor effective hydration in
(19:58):
workouts.
So, in a way, whether you getthe Gatorade water or not, I
don't really care.
Just its mere existence made methink that maybe we need to run
down when and why to use asports drink at all.
So screw the sugar-free aspectfor a second.
(20:21):
Let's just even talk about justthe classic old school Gatorade
with sugar and electrolytes.
At least when I was coming upthis is like in the 90s just to
date myself Michael Jordan wasthe most popular athlete,
probably person on the planetfor most of my childhood and he
drank lemon, lime, gatorade andthose commercials were awesome.
(20:43):
So every kid in my generation,growing up, just drank Gatorade,
thinking like it was just goingto make us better at sports.
And the truth was most of usweren't working hard enough to
actually need sports drinks.
We were young, so ourmetabolisms could handle it, but
again, I think growing up Iprobably consumed way too many
(21:08):
sports drinks.
Um, there was, you know,obviously, in the context of
sports is pretty much the onlytime that I've actually needed
sports drinks.
Even when I'm training hard,like you know, with weights and
in the weight room, if there'sno athletic component to my
training, if it's aesthetictraining, um, it's rare that I
(21:30):
really would ever need a sportsdrink to get through a workout,
just the way those workouts areprogrammed and designed, not not
a big need of mine.
Um, obviously, playingbasketball as I did as a kid and
as a young man, yeah, there'sgoing to be benefits within a
game to drinking some Gatorade,but again, in that context we
(21:55):
really wouldn't be concernedabout the sugar.
So even when I'm running itback at the times in my life
that I would have actuallyneeded or used a sports drink, I
don't know when a no sugarsports drink would have been
useful for me.
One place I can tell you itreally wouldn't have helped me
was in my triathlon, where I'mburning so much energy I have to
(22:18):
put calories back in while I'mmoving.
But no, anyway, just some hardand easy rules of thumb.
If you will, generally you'renot going to need a sports drink
unless you are doing hardtraining that lasts over an hour
Definitely sports whereperformance is important.
(22:39):
We're not going to worry aboutbeing low-cal at that time.
You're going to put caloriesback in and you're going to put
those right back into the game.
My friend, yeah, so go inlow-carb with sports, as popular
as it is, if you like winning.
I don't recommend that Someoneelse is going to come into that
(23:01):
competition carbo-loaded andkick your ass.
So it's just not time to becute or keto.
If you're competing inendurance events and I
personally know some people whocompete in endurance and like to
do it while in ketosis, or theydo it with low carb approaches
it's going to sound mean andblunt, but they don't win any
races.
So unless that's really big toyou to tell people after the
(23:24):
race that you finished and youwere in ketosis while finishing
in the I don't know the bottom60% Congrats, that's cool.
That's not what people showedup at the race for dude.
But anyway, basic, simple rulesof thumb with hydration, um,
(23:47):
another thing that I learned inathletic competition is one
hydrate before.
Um, they've really only beentwo contexts in my life where um
, that you know, or where thatreally became sorry, that became
like a big deal and I felt it.
But basically, if you'rethirsty in the middle of
(24:09):
competition, it's too late.
When I go to my boxing gym, I'mnot a professional boxer but
I'll get in and I'll spar.
And when you go to the cornerbetween rounds, the gym I'm in.
There are real professionalfighters and the trainers train
real professional fighters.
So even when you just haverandom dudes like me got a
minute in the corner before theyrun back in for another three
(24:31):
minutes of boxing, there'salways a guy squirting water in
my face and nobody asks me ifI'm thirsty and the reason is
that hydrate before you need it.
If I don't take that drink inthe one minute break and then I
go out there for the next roundand a minute in, I start to
fatigue, it's going to get awhole lot worse for me.
(24:52):
So anyway, when you go to yourcorner, you drink, no matter how
you feel.
You don't wait until you feelthirsty.
Other domain again I felt that,but I mentioned triathlon.
Don't wait until you're thirsty.
Don't wait until you're hungryto start pouring calories back
in.
If you wait that long, you'regoing to be behind the eight
(25:12):
ball.
You're going to bonk, andthat's charitable.
If you're an endurance race, ifyou're boxing, someone's going
to do more than bonk you.
So yeah, I just don't think thatif we're actually doing hard
sports competition, that asugar-free electrolyte beverage
would be of any use to anybody.
That being said, there's a fewcontexts where like again, if
(25:36):
you like the way it tastes oryou like the bottle, go get it.
That doesn't bother me.
Some good spots to use itthough.
Pre-exercise, that's a goodidea.
Go ahead and get yourelectrolyte balance up.
Like I said, hydrate before youneed it Always a great idea
During exercise, whether you gotthe sugar or not.
We're just talking theelectrolytes.
(25:58):
You probably aren't going toneed it, unless that workout is
going over an hour it's crazyhot out or you're training
really hard.
For the vast majority ofworkouts that people are doing,
just eating a good post-workoutmeal is going to be the best way
to get those electrolytes back.
You could totally do that witha banana and some nuts with salt
(26:19):
on it.
So you're certainly notrestricted, if you're not doing
challenging workouts or sports,to having to refuel with a drink
because you could go eatsomething.
I, you know, take the water inthe corner and I keep drinking
on my bike because I don't haveany other options to refuel.
Give me other options andprobably going to go eat some
(26:42):
real food, I hey, I like eating.
So that that's me.
Um, last spot that you'reactually going to find getting
some electrolytes down is a goodthing after a workout, and this
I would actually say, even ifit's not a super challenging
workout.
But, um, caveat that wementioned, it's going to be best
to do it with food.
So if you're not doing a crazytough workout, I don't know why
(27:04):
you wouldn't be just gettinginto a post-workout meal that
could take care of that for you.
But maybe you're busy, maybeyou're running to another spot.
Obviously throwing down someelectrolytes post-workout,
that's going to be great forimproving recovery, no problem
with that.
Again, I would just have a biastowards food if I wasn't still
working out or training when Ineeded the electrolytes.
(27:28):
But that's just me.
That's kind of what I thinkthat the best practices for
sports drinks are.
No opinion on the new Gatoradewater other than I'm so happy
that we have another option inhydration.
That's, it's really beenkilling me.
So yeah, next one I want totouch on with you guys.
(27:50):
This actually came from aclient of mine who was wanting
me to fire up a fitnessintervention for someone that he
knows and cares about, and heasked me hey, when you see that
person, make sure you get in theear about doing some cardio.
And the main concern beingdiscussed was weight loss.
(28:11):
So I actually had to flip itaround and have an intervention
with my client trying to have anintervention for his friend,
and I just reminded him thatthere are a lot of great reasons
to do some cardio.
I like the term zone two betterthese days, but losing fat isn't
(28:32):
really one of them.
I am fine recommending cardio,but typically not for that
reason.
Typically not for that reason.
We've touched on this a bunch,but cardio is still not the best
choice for fat loss.
It has many health benefits andit should be in a program for
(28:57):
health, but it is still not themost direct way to simply lose
fat.
That's still walking andanything that's going to occur
in the oxidative energy pathwayand you know, kind of by
definition, your zone two cardiois not going to be occurring in
(29:19):
that place.
So you know the real definitionof zone two cardio.
That's going to be at roughly60 to 70% of max heart rate.
There's obviously a lot ofvariance in that and so I've
already explained this in thepast.
This is not a perfect rule, butI like the 180 rule better 180
(29:42):
minus your age, minus 20.
That's your little zone.
I could do better than that,obviously, if I knew you and we,
you know, were able to go runsome tests, but without knowing
people.
That's a really really greatrule to work from and that's
going to be roughly roughly 60to 7% of your max heart rate.
(30:03):
But you know, again, notexactly the benefits of cardio.
So one, building an aerobicbase, really, really important.
That's going to increase yourthe ability of your body to
deliver oxygen to your muscles.
That's good, obviously.
(30:25):
That's going to increase yourendurance, that's going to
increase your performance in alot of things.
Um, zone two cardio is alsogoing to increase the number and
efficiency of mitochondria inyour muscle cells.
So my latest, uh,pseudoscientific thing I can't
prove, but I did catch myselfstarting to you know around two,
(30:47):
three in the afternoon and say,oh my God, I'm tired, I just
don't know what's going on.
And rather than accept that andjust say, oh well, that's
father time, this is whateverybody said your whole life,
you're finally there.
No, whenever I start soundinglike that and no, whenever I
start sounding like that, Iactually start doubting my
choices and my actions, and Ihad fallen back into that team.
(31:11):
No sweat, just keeping my bodyfat low, not doing any cardio,
added the zone two back andmagically I don't feel as tired
in the afternoon.
So I think there can be somebenefits to making sure that
your mitochondria arefunctioning well.
Let's not stretch that too far,though, so that I don't turn
myself into a guru accidentally.
(31:35):
Some other benefits, though,from your zone two.
It is similarly going tofacilitate recovery from other
sessions.
So, like when I have a toughweightlifting session, say on a
Monday, tuesday might be a greattime to just go out and do like
a nice recovery run.
And recovery runs you know, I'mnot going to be hitting sprints
over at the Santa Monica stairs.
(31:56):
That was actually doing today.
No, like that.
That is is a different, youknow, focus.
Today I was not trying to get arecovery run in.
I wanted to work on some speed,but maybe tomorrow that'd be a
good play to do is, instead ofgoing back for more sprints,
slow it down a little bit, bemindful of my heart rate.
(32:17):
Keep myself in that zone whereI can recover a little bit more
efficiently from the work I'mdoing.
That's a great use of your zoneto work, you know.
Again, it's going to just carryover to a lot of health benefits
, because zone two work is goingto reduce your, your heart rate
, just generally increasingvascular health and efficiency,
(32:37):
also going to improve insulinsensitivity, you know possibly
improve mental health.
You're going to get yourendorphin rush much healthier
way to get dopamine thanscrolling or looking at a screen
, which is everybody's favorite,but it's not that good for you.
So obviously, though, I did sayright at the beginning that
it's not the most direct way tolose fat.
(32:59):
That's still technically true.
Oxidation is the most directway to lose fat, but when we run
down all those benefits, thisis why you'll generally notice
that people who do regular zonetwo work tend to not have a lot
of extra fat.
There is going to be obviouslysome correlation with people who
do zone two and being athealthy body weights, but again,
(33:24):
not the most direct way to losefat.
It should be included in yourprogram for health reasons more
than anything else, and thenslight benefit, but I just don't
want to oversell it because itdoesn't always occur.
If that's the basis of your fatloss strategies, you could get
some fat loss.
That's certainly possible.
But there's also a lot of waysthat if you're focused on fat
(33:44):
loss, that's certainly possible.
But there's also a lot of waysthat if you're you know you
focused on your, your cardio,that that that might not connect
.
Um, but anyway, I willabsolutely be encouraging my guy
to get into some, uh, some zonetwo work.
But admittedly, fat loss is isnot going to be, the focus of
what we are talking about whenwe're saying why Favorite
(34:08):
strategies.
Before I move on, steady stateis still probably the best.
Throw on a heart rate monitorof some kind.
Get in your zone and movehowever fast you need to.
That can be a jog, that can bea walk, that can be a hike.
All of that is going to dependon your fitness level and where
your heart rate zone is, no shitcould also be a bike ride and
(34:29):
then, in a sense, you know,cross training works great too.
Sometimes, when I have zone twoin mind as my goal for the
session, I'll go in my backyard10 minutes on the rower watching
my heart rate.
Maybe I don't feel like beingon the rover anymore.
Hop on the assault bike.
Um, feel free to cross trainand move around.
If you're doing zone two, themain thing that you are going to
(34:50):
be adhering to is obviouslyheart rate.
So who gives a shit whatmodality you're on If your heart
rate is in the right zone,you're doing your zone to work
correctly.
Um, so, yeah, last week busyweek for me I did manage to get
my workouts in, had to, uh, kindof focus on some other things,
(35:13):
though, is that none of thesewere going to be any personal
best workouts, and and I guessthe last show that I did get to
sit and you know talk about herewas, uh, we were talking about
Bianchul Han burnout society,and so obviously he focuses a
lot on kind of reintroducingnegativity, and, in a sense,
(35:34):
these strategies are going to besomewhat in that vein
reintroducing negativity, but wecould also use other words that
I think are more available.
Addition by subtraction.
Less is more.
You know stuff like that.
But how can we get fit doingnothing?
I had to focus on this a lotlast week.
(35:54):
So number one eat better.
If you're eating well, yousimply don't need to train as
much, particularly to maintainyour physique.
Specifically what that lookedlike for me last week there was
lots of tasty food around theplaces I was at and I just made
(36:15):
it my mission to eat fruit.
Anytime I got hungry.
I would just go grab fruit.
Fruit tastes good to me, so Ididn't feel like I was denying
myself.
Grab fruit Fruit tastes good tome, so I didn't feel like I was
denying myself.
But that was a way that I wasactually able to navigate that
situation where just beingaround lots and lots of tasty
food having.
(36:35):
I don't want this to make itlike a pity party about how I
was working, but when you gotover 12 hours on your day and
you're surrounded by terriblefood, it tastes really good.
You need a strategy.
I knew that if I ate the foodthat, that certainly wasn't
going to sync up well with allmy sitting down and editing
videos, so I just simply focusedon eating better.
(36:58):
One that also helped me do thatwas actually by drinking water.
I love coffee and it's easy forme to just kind of caffeinate
all day long when I get reallybogged down in work like that.
I also do shift my focus,though, back to hydrating a
little bit by staying hydrated,not going to be as hungry, and
(37:21):
then, honestly, a lot of timeswhen you're doing you know no
disrespect to the work I wasdoing, but when you're doing
kind of tedious, you know longprojects, a lot of times just
boredom and other things creepin and you might try to get some
novelty in you today Other ways.
Drinking water can be a goodway to run down those cravings.
Stay hydrated.
(37:41):
You won't think you're ashungry as often as you will if
you're not hydrated.
Meditation Obviously it can seemindulgent because we're framing
this under.
You're busy.
A lot of my meditations.
To be honest, I don't need alot of time.
I actually just need to stopthe noise for a little bit, turn
(38:03):
things off, get back in touchwith what I am thinking, feeling
, doing a body scan, I'mhonestly talking like two to
five minutes of mindfulness work, just kind of peppered in
throughout the day, particularlywhen you maybe feel like you're
getting overwhelmed or bored,annoyed, want to do something
(38:26):
else, whatever.
Stop, take a break, meditate,get back.
That was a strategy that wasactually helping me grind and
get through it all.
Honestly, I had a lot of timefor planning and reflection.
So again, a lot of times I amthinking about what am I going
to do next week when I'm not asbusy, instead of putting that
(38:49):
pressure on myself to getsomething in today.
Maybe other people don't feelthis, but for me, if I go
through a day and I don't dowhat I said I was going to do or
what I wanted to do, I reallydon't feel great about myself.
Some people are really reallygood at self-talk.
I don't have one of those nicevoices in my head.
(39:13):
I only got the devil guy thatjust talks shit to me.
For me, it can really help to doplanning and reflection when I
am busy, because my innermonologue is not going to tell
me that I'm doing a good job,that this is appropriate or any
of that.
So, just to kind of shut thatdevil up, I need to have some
(39:34):
plans or some answers for nextweek, otherwise that guy is
absolutely going to eat me alivewhile I am being non-active or
just not living up to the thingsI say.
There's nothing that drives mecrazier than I say a lot of
stuff, and I realize that.
So if I don't get my ass inline and get my actions lined up
(39:56):
with those words, to me that isnearly akin to insanity.
Why am I saying what I am notdoing and then saying it again
and again and again?
So, as I admit, often I'm notperfect, but I really try to
hold myself to that, and whenI'm busy and I can't do the best
(40:18):
and what my mind wants me to do, I'm at least planning for my
next victories, when I'm notgoing to feel terrible.
But yeah, planning a reflectionwas something I was able to do
last week and what thatspecifically looked like.
Yeah, so I was already thinkingabout the next phase of my
(40:38):
workout, how I might be able tocarry some of the progress that
I've made into the next phase,and just coming up with those
ideas while I had the time andspace to think about it.
Mobility work this was a big one, because I was spending time at
a desk way more than I normallyhave.
Mobility breaks are great, forevery hour you put down in the
(41:03):
chair, you're gonna need to havesomething to unwind what you've
been doing there and again.
These don't have to be workouts.
I, I'm a weirdo and I call amovement snacks, but I just drop
down on the floor, have alittle snack, mobilize your hips
and then get back to work.
Doesn't take long.
(41:24):
And one other one that I'mactually going to finish this
little section on, too, though,was play, and silly one.
I know you're busy, but lifestill goes on, and I'm a father.
Sometimes my daughter wouldcome in, or I'm back in my
office working and I hear hercome home from school, come home
(41:45):
from school.
I don't keep working.
In that moment I hang it up fora second, I stop, I check in,
we have a little bit of fun, andmentally I don't have that much
time.
I don't need to tell her that.
I just go and get involved withmy kid, have some fun, get back
into work.
But those little play breaks,particularly for me to stop and
(42:09):
connect with my daughter, those,those are the ones that
actually really keep me going,cause it reminds me why I'm
doing all this shit anyway.
Um, so, yeah, if I was uh, youknow going 5am to midnight all
week and I didn't care aboutanybody or anything around me,
it would have felt pretty damnempty and pretty crappy.
(42:30):
So anyway, guys, just whateverI know this happens in
everybody's endeavors when youhit one of those periods where
you're just genuinely jammed up,really busy, keep in mind
there's a number of things thatyou can still do to keep the
ball moving forward while nottaking too much time away from
the obligations that you stillhave to meet.
(42:53):
Last one I didn't even tell youguys, we were going to do this,
but this, I think this is thething that has kind of grinded
my gears the most right now.
So we're just going to finishon a rant.
Finish on a rant.
But I don't know if you guyshave seen the TikTok trend
saying that Gen Z or Zoomers areaging fast, and so these people
(43:16):
are actually talking aboutphysical appearance.
And it's funny because, like,when I think about this, I don't
know if I actually even agreewith the fact that that's
happening.
I don't know if it's just me,but, like, if I go, look at a
picture of the 1970s and youshow me like 20 year olds in the
1970s, they just look old.
I don't know if it's just thesepia tones or the styles or
(43:39):
whatever, but but typically whenI go back and look at the past,
actually like like a 30 yearold from the 60s looks like a 60
year old today, today, and yeah, hey, if you're in your 60s,
there you go, there's yourcompliment for the day.
But no, I honestly mean it.
Go back and look at pictures ofpeople in the past.
I'm not sure how the trend onTikTok got started that 18 to
(44:04):
25-year-olds are aging fastertoday, when to me it looks like
the people in the early 20thcentury were aging way faster
than anyone today.
But there is one instance whereI am in a throw where, at least
to me, it does sound like someaging is going on, and actually
it's mostly in.
(44:24):
It's not physical, it's apsychological trait that I'm
noticing, and it is generallythese critiques of gen alpha,
the youngest generation on theplanet, that actually makes me
think that, uh, zoomers are, areperhaps aging a little bit fast
and, uh, most of this is meantin somewhat jest, but uh, it's
(44:47):
also very serious.
The first bit of inherent ironyI notice is that the popular
framing of Gen Alpha is iPadkids.
So I'd probably have words onthis, even if you were a baby
boomer, calling today's kidsiPad kids, but particularly if
(45:08):
you grew up with an iPad.
You know why I just settle onthat term.
Yeah, I just don't know why 20somethings would be knocking
children for using iPads.
That one doesn't make a lot ofsense to me.
But also, you know, I want tobe really honest.
I actually go onto the Gen ZReddit board where I see a lot
(45:31):
of this stuff and one of myfavorite uses of it is I
actually like to read thecomments to my daughter the same
way that I'll see.
You know comedians read likemean tweets at a celebrity
that's on their show.
Um, I actually like, for my ownentertainment, to read the mean
comments that people writeabout my daughter's generation
to her.
(45:52):
It's funny to me.
But also I actually think it'sgreat training for my daughter
to know that no matter what youdo in life, people are going to
criticize you.
I think exposing her to somebaseless and contextless insults
is kind of a way that I'mteaching her to not really care
what strangers think, quitefrankly.
(46:14):
But no, she had a great retortto one.
I can't remember what comment Iwas reading, but it had to do
with kids and their phones andthen she starts laughing and
interrupts me and she's like dad, kids don't have phones.
And then again I get it thatall of this is going to be
subjective to an extent, becauseI'm going to say what I'm going
to say and then you're going tothink of a kid with a phone.
(46:35):
But admittedly, I don't knowthat person.
That's somebody in your world,so maybe have a conversation
with them.
But yeah, I talk with a lot ofparents, I'm around the school a
lot and I don't actually knowany Gen Alpha kids with phones.
(47:06):
So anyway, I am aware, becauseI've literally found zero people
in real life who agree with meon this.
So this may be one of my mostunpopular opinions, of which I
certainly have many.
But yeah, it doesn't reallymatter how often this is
repeated or how many anecdotesof people at your dinner parties
or at a restaurant you were at.
(47:27):
To fill that description, Icould counter with anecdotes of
people your age doing parties,or at a restaurant you were at.
To fill that description, Icould counter with anecdotes of
people your age doing the exactsame thing.
Until none of us have any timeleft today.
So I get it.
Technology's out there andpeople are obnoxious when they
use it.
Not sure that that's just a kidthing though, in all fairness.
And then here's the difference,too that I see If a kid has a
(47:48):
phone, that's a parenting issue,not a childhood issue.
They can't actually go and getwireless plans on their own.
So, yeah, I just think thatthat's a little disingenuous.
I'm pretty sure adults andpeople with their own money and
autonomy have a lot more abilityto go get technological devices
(48:09):
.
Here's one that I will actuallyslightly defend.
So I'm at a park and there's amother that I'm talking with.
She's really, really concernedabout the weekend coming up
because she has to work.
She's a lawyer.
Her ex-husband is in Bali andhe clearly can't help, so she's
already worried about theweekend ahead because she's like
(48:29):
, oh my God, my kids are goingto be on the tablet too much and
this is so terrible and I'mawful.
And and she does she startsinternalizing all of the things
that everybody makes her feel asa mother for not putting in
that time when her kid is on theiPad.
And in spite of all theseconversations I've had with
people in real life about what ahorrible person she is
(49:07):
no-transcript, you clearly care.
You're here talking and you'reworried about this, and I just
want to tell you that it's goingto be okay, because if, well,
human beings, in my opinion,we're incredibly malleable.
Um, we're actually quite strong, and if we weren't, we wouldn't
(49:29):
be here.
So I don't think that thismother thought that her kids
having a bunch of time on theiPad was a great way to spend
the weekend.
I don't think it is either.
But again, if you're one ofthose people that I see dropping
into comment threads andcritiquing people like this
woman I spoke with slow down, Idon't know if you actually know
(49:51):
what you're talking about.
And I don't know if youactually know why people are
putting their kids on iPads.
Sure, some because they're lazy.
I know that, but you also knowa bunch of lazy people your age.
So let's not pretend likethat's going to be unique to any
generation cohort, anything.
Come off it.
(50:13):
And secondly, the real parentsthat I talk with.
Nobody thinks that puttingtheir kid on a screen is a good
idea.
People are trying to get theirwork done.
People have a lot of demands ontheir life.
That's kind of the theme oftoday's episode.
We're all busy, I get it, butthis is the real reason why
parents are actually puttingtheir kids on technology.
So this is just my piece.
If you're one of those peoplethat isn't raising a kid right
(50:35):
now, sitting back judging thesereally narrow, superficial
interactions that you have withpeople, sometimes pump the
brakes, I really don't thinkthat you know what you're
talking about and you're alsohaving absolutely no empathy for
people who, even though we'reall busy, they're busier than
you dog, they're working harderthan you man, and if you're
(51:00):
young, maybe you'll get thereone day.
If you're old, congrats, you'redone with it.
But everybody relax, people aretrying their best, and yeah, so
just particularly to this wholeidea that you know Gen Alpha I
even saw this at LA Timesthey're feral, they're
illiterate.
(51:22):
Yeah, actually here's the way Ireally want to frame this.
Actually here's the way Ireally want to frame this.
(51:45):
If you're saying allched intothose walls, because the stuff
you guys are saying is getting alittle bit repetitive,
admittedly, and there's evensome dialogues in pre-classical
Greece, you might be able tofind some better arguments on
kids these days actually fromsome of the classical literature
.
So for all you people who wantto spew a decadence narrative
(52:06):
about how awful kids are today,I would just again recommend
reading some stuff in the past.
You guys might strengthen yourarguments, even though they've
been said as long as forever.
All this stuff is just gettingstale and a bit repetitive.
You'll find some interestingideas in the past that you could
maybe interject just to makethe arguments a little fresher
every now and again.
And then you know also, youjust sound old.
(52:33):
You're literally saying one ofthe oldest things in history
People have said kids these daysin every time and again.
I honestly think that mostpeople are just speaking out of
a compulsion, because I think ifyou actually cared, you might
have some actions to point to,and without being too
(52:57):
sanctimonious, like just in thelast week that I said I was
really busy, I did a beachcleanup, I donated some time and
money to a food bank, I led acommunity workout with a bunch
of children in it and I actuallydidn't have time to go on to
any of your guys' favoriteplatforms and have any.
None of my critiques on theyouth today are out there
because it's other peoplewriting them.
(53:17):
The people writing them are, inmy opinion, people who aren't
really actually involved withchildren and you know, obviously
, in fairness, there's going tobe some people out there that
have things they want to say andthey actually have some
experience to fall back on.
That's great, but for the vastmajority of what I am seeing
(53:38):
online, here's my hope.
It's not a challenge.
I hope that after you get doneyou know crapping on kids today,
that you're not done for theday that you are actively
involved in your community or inthe lives of young people in
some way, because if you aren'tand now back to my Zoomers and
(53:58):
perhaps aging quickly you justsound old and yeah again, I just
hope that if you say thesethings are important and you're
worried about the young peopleof today, that you're actually
doing something to bring aboutthe future that you say you
value.
I'm not sure I see a lot of thatgoing on.
(54:20):
So you know, last I'll say ingenerations.
You know, I'm not even a fan ofthe proxy proxy, but I don't
know.
I think I came to it easierbecause I didn't really like
high school full disclosure,shocker.
So no, when millennial bashingbecame a thing 20 years ago, I
(54:49):
kind of hated most millennialsbecause I was in high school and
that was all I was around, soso it never really felt like
something I had to do, like todefend my generation um in in
any sense.
But so now I do find, now thatI'm seeing my daughter's
so-called generation beingattacked, and in my opinion,
they're like the only generationon the planet that isn't
botched and ruined yet.
My generation, millennials,zoomers, you guys under me,
(55:12):
boomers, gen X, all of us, we'reall ready.
Be honest, we've already madeour mistakes.
We've already been botched.
Stop lying, stop reinventingalternate versions of your
childhood For my millennials Iwas there.
You weren't that good.
For my boomers, I heard yourstories.
I heard the stuff we brag about.
(55:32):
You weren't that good.
Zoomers, I was your coach andmentor and your biggest fan.
Everybody cut the shit.
It wasn't great in your day andwe're all just trying to do a
little bit better.
So, anyway, guys, my main thingthere is if you want to complain
about the kids, make sure thatyou're actually doing something.
(55:55):
If you guys want to shit on ageneration, just keep shitting
on millennials.
I don't care, I'm already usedto it.
Avocado toast, we're so cringe,ick, whatever, it doesn't
bother me and, frankly, it seemseverybody hates us.
So, just in a sense of unity,keep shitting on millennials.
Just leave my daughter'sgeneration out of it as far as
(56:16):
I'm concerned, because thenyou're going to catch some smoke
you probably can't handle.
Anyway, I actually meant thatin jest or in good fun.
That's not a threat Just backoff on my daughter's generation,
huh.
Anyway, guys, I'm back inrhythm, feeling good.
Didn't have too many coughstoday, so anyway, let's get back
(56:36):
to it.
I am here, send me somecomments, let me know what the
problems you guys are engagingin your training, and I want to
answer them right here.
Anyway, remember, answer themright here.
Anyway, remember, mind andmuscle are inseparably
intertwined.
There are no gains withoutbrains.
(57:00):
Keep lifting and learning.
I'll do the same.
Welcome to the Mind Muscle Podcast.
Here's your host, simon DeVere,and welcome back to Mind Muscle
, the place where we study thehistory, science and philosophy
behind everything in health andfitness.
Today I'm Simon Devere andthere's nothing new, except all
(00:31):
that has been forgotten.
All right, guys, I'm comingback.
I had a short little layoff,unplanned.
I got a little busy.
Not bragging, I just, yeah, Igot a little bit busy and I
basically wasn't able to managemy workload over the last couple
of weeks and didn't get anepisode out in time to keep my
(00:53):
normal schedule up.
So, anyway, apologies for thatIf I left you hanging on a show
not going to make a habit ofthat.
Yeah, I'm back.
Admittedly, if I sound a littlenasally, might have worked
myself into a little bit of acold.
So, again, that's why I'm notreally bragging about getting
(01:13):
busy.
Had to get some shit done,probably work myself into a
little bit of a cold, but yeah,we worked through it and
hopefully I won't be coughing ontoday's episode too much.
I'll keep that under control,but yeah, so basically spent the
last week.
I had the chance to just talkwith a lot of different people
(01:37):
as a feature of what I was doingover the week.
So today's focus is, admittedly, going to be on a lot of the
conversations that I was havingin real life last week, but I do
believe that if one person hasa problem, someone else has the
same problem.
So in that spirit, we're goingto run down.
You know, today I want toactually look at a nutrition
(01:59):
timing hack.
It's going to allow you to havesome forbidden or less than
perfect foods be a part of yournutrition program.
No matter what your goal is,we're going to be able to work
that in.
We're going to talk a littlebit about Gatorade's new water.
They got a flavorlesselectrolyte water.
We'll talk about how lessspecifically on the new product,
(02:24):
but more about how to actuallyuse sports drinks in your
workout best.
I want to talk a little on howand why to program Zone 2 work
into your training program.
And last one I want to go onbecause I did have a relatively
busy week but let's talk aboutsome ways that you can improve
(02:46):
your fitness by doing nothing,in a sense.
Yeah, but we're going to rundown some behaviors that aren't
really going to take any moretime.
No matter how busy you get,you're going to find that
there's a number of things youcan kind of focus on to make
sure that you're still makingprogress, and then, when you get
to the other side and you'renot as busy, you'll be in great
(03:08):
shape and in a place to keepmaking progress.
But anyway, that is the lay ofthe land today.
I do, though, but before Iactually dive into the topics I
plan to discuss, I did.
I had about a week to kind ofsit and think I obviously wasn't
here sharing my thoughts, soit's a lot of thoughts I've had
(03:31):
in the last week that normallywould have come out.
The first thing I wanted to openon today, though, was I'm not
really sure how many episodes wehave done.
I know it's over 50.
I don't know if we're to 100yet, but no, I honestly just
wanted to kind of touch basewith myself in a sense.
Why am I here at all?
(03:53):
Why do I do a podcast and one?
If you're here listening?
That's part of the answer.
That's almost good enough forme right there, but, as we've
talked about many times, I'm nota huge fan of most of the
messaging that is coming out ofthe fitness space.
(04:15):
Yet I myself am a part of thefitness space, again, like a
driver complaining about traffica little bit.
But the main thing that Iactually think I can add to the
discourse and it's why I spendany time recording these is that
I really do see myself, in asense, as an anti guru, and
(04:40):
though I've also been a fan of alot of the most popular shows
over the years, I generally findthat there's a model where the
guru types, if you will and I'mnot more is the approach where
(05:03):
these voices are often pointingto products to try to motivate
you to work on the ideas thatyou want to work on.
I, instead, am going to pointalmost always to a timeless
principle that probably hasbetter results than whatever
products people are pointing toprobably has better results than
(05:25):
whatever products people arepointing to.
Similarly and I notice an arcwith how people create demand
for these products is first youcreate a problem, then you
create the solution.
So, again, I actually see myapproach as slightly different.
I'm really not in here creatingproblems for you guys.
(05:46):
I am merely telling you guysthe issues and problems people
bring my way and, rather thanpointing people towards new
products to address the problemsthat they're having, I am again
, going to, more often than notpoint you to timeless principles
that actually work.
(06:07):
In that my intent, I reallydon't want to be overtly
negative, not because that's notin my nature.
I've just noticed over theyears that people don't really
like negative critiques.
Even if you are beingcompletely valid in your
negative critique, an obviouscontention is going to be well
(06:27):
okay.
Well, what should I do?
So it is my intention to notonly expose bad ideas but
simultaneously give you toolsthat are actually going to work.
Again, like we have today, mostof what I share here they are
(06:47):
real conversations that I havewith real people.
So, again, I believe, if oneperson has a problem, that there
is someone else out there withthe same problem.
You know another thing that I'mjust a little bit uncomfortable
in in the format as right now,it really is just me ostensibly
(07:10):
monologuing Um, I, I do not wantto present myself and I've said
this again, uh many times, butI guess it's worth saying again
Um, I actually don't see myselfas the expert in these fields or
the end-all, be-all in any ofthis.
I just know that these ideasare being discussed because
(07:30):
people are discussing them withme and I see my point of view
that I share here on the podcastas one that somebody else could
use to begin to get acquaintedwith a discussion or an idea,
not as an end unto itself.
That being said, I'm aware thatI have strong opinions and I'm
(07:53):
not going to apologize forexpressing my opinions in strong
words.
That being said, my views are,admittedly, constantly changing.
I strive to have strongopinions loosely held meaning.
Given enough evidence, I willstop saying the thing I used to
(08:15):
say and I will just as stronglysay something different in the
future, but again, givenadequate evidence.
But no, I honestly think thatthis is again.
Why I appreciate you spendingyour time, giving me your
attention, is that it's not loston me that, in a lot of ways,
you have a front row seat to mylearning, and I just hope that
(08:40):
my engaging and learning canhelp other people in their
process of learning.
That's it.
I actually don't see myself asthe expert or the guru, but I do
really really think that theshows that we have made are
going to be a better place forpeople to start engaging the
(09:02):
ideas that we're talking abouthere.
So, anyway, that's it.
I had a lot of time to thinkabout what we're doing with the
show and I know I have spentsome time, kind of you know,
breaking down some gurus latelyand I just kind of wanted to
carve out what my real objectionwith their approach is.
(09:23):
It's not to attack theirpersonalities or their
followings, their fan bases.
Obviously, anybody who hasachieved a great following is
clearly doing a lot of thingsright.
I just don't always think,particularly in the fitness
space, that what they are doingright is conveying the
(09:45):
information that is going to bethe most efficacious for the
people listening to them.
So, anyway, that's where mycritiques on all these gurus are
really coming from, and it'snot that I'm in possession of
the truth and they're lacking.
I just think we fundamentallyapproach solving problems for
the people that we, uh, thattrust us, I guess, in in a
(10:07):
different way.
So just wanted to reiteratethat that is my commitment to
you, the audience.
I am never going to take yourattention and trust for granted,
and you know, part of that, Ithink, is being transparent
about who and what I am andwhere I'm coming from, and the
rest I'm fine to let speak foritself.
(10:30):
I think that's good.
But anyway, guys, the first onethat I want to talk about was so
I want to give you guys atiming hack, if you will so
quickly.
When I've discussed nutritionin the past, you know that I
like to break it down into thisidea of quality quantity ratios.
That's where I want to spend90% of the discussion and that's
(10:52):
where I point most people'sattention, even when they try to
get me to talk other aspects.
And you know the reason thatI've stated I think many times.
But why I focus on those thingsfirst is just this idea of
carrying the big rocks.
I don't really want to discussnutrient timing and advanced
topics with somebody who is noteating whole foods, doesn't know
(11:14):
how much food they are eatingor what their macronutrient
ratios are.
In that situation, the bigrocks are going to be
represented not with the timingprotocol but with the other
three things that they weren'tdoing.
But now you know, let's behonest, some people do get those
things all locked in and youstill want to push and go a
little farther.
(11:34):
So this is, you know firmly,what I consider a level four
nutrition discussion.
But I wanted to give you guysone of my favorite hacks that
can kind of allow you to getaway with eating some forbidden
or less than ideal foods.
One more confession Sometimes Ifeel like I have imposter
(11:57):
syndrome talking about nutritionas much as I do, because it
puts out this perception like Iam this paragon of perfection
when it comes to nutrition, andparticularly as I now have a
child at home, that idea justisn't true.
I already wasn't really that waybefore having a kid, but I've
(12:19):
really had to relax a lot ofthings about nutrition now that
I have a kid in the house.
A lot of foods that I wouldnever eat we now purchase
regularly, and my biggestdefense against eating foods
that I'm not supposed to eat isactually not buying them.
I'm actually not great at noteating food that is actually in
(12:44):
my house.
What I am an expert at is notbuying things that are
inconsistent with my goals.
That's the thing that I'mreally good at.
So, all that to say, there's alot of foods in my house now
that do not pass Simon's test ofacceptability, but admittedly,
(13:07):
I eat them every now and again.
So I wanted to share with youguys a hack that I use regularly
to kind of get away with eatingsome less than perfect food,
and for me, obviously, I can bemore descriptive of what I mean.
So the best time for you to eathigher glycemic carbohydrates,
(13:29):
which are, you know, oftentimesgoing to be those that maybe
contain added sugars or perhapsare processed, and the types of
foods that I do tell you veryoften to avoid or, at the very
least, not make the basis ofyour diet.
So one of those for me iscereal.
(13:49):
I really, really like cereal.
One of the issues for me withcereal, though, is I am
incapable of eating a servingsize of cereal, so sometimes
it's just easier for me to justget rid of it, particularly if
fat loss is a goal probably notworth me including, but when fat
(14:10):
loss is not my goal.
Oftentimes and I've been doingthis a lot lately but the best
time of day for your worst airquotes meal, because they're
great meals, they taste great,they're super fun, but the best
time to have that quote unquotebad meal is in that window after
(14:32):
your training.
So you know roughly 60 to 90minutes that this is not written
in stone, by the way, I used tothink it was and really focus
on post-workout nutrition downto the second, but there weren't
a lot of gains with being thatprecise with timing.
That being said, though, here'swhy you can get away with eating
(14:54):
some less than perfect foodafter your workouts.
Your insulin sensitivitypost-workout is entirely
different than, say, when you'regetting ready to go to bed.
So if you want to have a bigass bowl of cereal that time to
do it would be right after yourworkout and it would certainly
be better than pretty much anyother time in the day.
(15:17):
Doesn't have to be cereal, bythe way, that's just one of my
favorites so.
But in general, if I'm evergoing to have a meal that is
less than perfect, the time thatI'm going to do it is going to
be post-workout.
My body actually needs toreplenish the carbohydrates that
I just burned up in my workout.
(15:38):
My insulin sensitivity is goingto be improved, so I don't have
to worry about spikes ininsulin nearly as much.
And so slight little bit ofcaution that I want to give with
this, though, because inreality, whenever I co-sign
doing anything bad in quotes,people go over the top with it
(16:01):
and then use it to justifymaking bad choices that I didn't
co-sign.
So just some caution whenever Itell people that they can get
away with eating some less thanperfect food.
Again, remember we saidpost-workout that this is kind
of.
One prerequisite is that youdid a workout prior.
(16:22):
So don't stretch thosedefinitions and go for like a
five-minute walk and say thatSimon said it's cool to go have
some ice cream.
Now, that's not what we'retalking about.
But I do actually think that amuch larger problem, at least in
what I see maybe this isn't thenational problem, but people
(16:42):
who come and talk to me.
They tend to be actuallyconcerned with their health and
fitness and I think it's farmore likely they get into overly
restrictive patterns than onesthat actually allow them to
periodically have some normal orless than perfect or even
forbidden foods.
This is a great way for thosepeople, if you've gone through a
(17:04):
time of being overlyrestrictive, for you to kind of
get back to the real world in asense.
And you know one of my favoritebooks and I know I've
recommended it before, butMichael Pollan's In Defense of
Food I'll still recommend againand again, because I actually
think that eating real food hasactually gotten a little bit
(17:27):
controversial.
A lot of people think thatthese things are toxic and bad,
and yeah, so anyway, use thispoint to inject some sanity more
than anything else.
Don't use this to rationalizemaking a whole bunch of bad
choices and saying that Simonsaid it's cool.
No, if you're an overlyrestrictive type, bring some
(17:48):
sanity back into your life and,post-workout, let yourself have
some things that you've maybegiven up on.
You're going to find it's notgoing to be as bad as you're
probably thinking.
All right, so, coming down theline, I actually just learned
last week that Gatorade isrolling out a brand new water
(18:10):
just what the market needed.
There are not enough waterchoices.
I say that all the time.
Yeah, I just you know.
I walked down the aisle in thegrocery store and, yeah, we
could probably use like at least30 more different varieties of
water, but new variation is nosugar, just electrolytes.
(18:33):
So, honestly, this was actuallyjust brought up to me by
somebody and, admittedly, myfirst thought was who is this
product for?
Who is this product for, andwhat I mean by that, is that a
sugar-free sports drink, which,again, I'm not advocating for
(18:54):
sugar, but the only type ofperson who really should be
drinking a sports drink issomebody who's working out
pretty hard, and if you'reworking out pretty hard, then
the concern on sugar certainlywouldn't be the same.
So this, to me, did tie intothe first point that we made
today, but part of me thinksthis is a little bit the market
(19:16):
reflecting that sugar phobia hasgone a little bit too far.
And now again the second.
I say that people are going tothink I'm, you know, sponsored
by somebody who sells a sugaryproduct, shilling for the sugar
industry or, you know, allowingpeople to rationalize bad
(19:37):
choices.
That's not it.
I actually just think peoplehave swung way too far with the
whole sugar is toxic thing.
So many of the upfront I'm notactually that interested or
bothered by Gatorade water One.
I just think that this isreally going to keep confusing
people on what we actually needfor effective hydration in
(19:58):
workouts.
So, in a way, whether you getthe Gatorade water or not, I
don't really care.
Just its mere existence made methink that maybe we need to run
down when and why to use asports drink at all.
So screw the sugar-free aspectfor a second.
(20:21):
Let's just even talk about justthe classic old school Gatorade
with sugar and electrolytes.
At least when I was coming upthis is like in the 90s just to
date myself Michael Jordan wasthe most popular athlete,
probably person on the planetfor most of my childhood and he
drank lemon, lime, gatorade andthose commercials were awesome.
(20:43):
So every kid in my generation,growing up, just drank Gatorade,
thinking like it was just goingto make us better at sports.
And the truth was most of usweren't working hard enough to
actually need sports drinks.
We were young, so ourmetabolisms could handle it, but
again, I think growing up Iprobably consumed way too many
(21:08):
sports drinks.
Um, there was, you know,obviously, in the context of
sports is pretty much the onlytime that I've actually needed
sports drinks.
Even when I'm training hard,like you know, with weights and
in the weight room, if there'sno athletic component to my
training, if it's aesthetictraining, um, it's rare that I
(21:30):
really would ever need a sportsdrink to get through a workout,
just the way those workouts areprogrammed and designed, not not
a big need of mine.
Um, obviously, playingbasketball as I did as a kid and
as a young man, yeah, there'sgoing to be benefits within a
game to drinking some Gatorade,but again, in that context we
(21:55):
really wouldn't be concernedabout the sugar.
So even when I'm running itback at the times in my life
that I would have actuallyneeded or used a sports drink, I
don't know when a no sugarsports drink would have been
useful for me.
One place I can tell you itreally wouldn't have helped me
was in my triathlon, where I'mburning so much energy I have to
(22:18):
put calories back in while I'mmoving.
But no, anyway, just some hardand easy rules of thumb.
If you will, generally you'renot going to need a sports drink
unless you are doing hardtraining that lasts over an hour
Definitely sports whereperformance is important.
(22:39):
We're not going to worry aboutbeing low-cal at that time.
You're going to put caloriesback in and you're going to put
those right back into the game.
My friend, yeah, so go inlow-carb with sports, as popular
as it is, if you like winning.
I don't recommend that Someoneelse is going to come into that
(23:01):
competition carbo-loaded andkick your ass.
So it's just not time to becute or keto.
If you're competing inendurance events and I
personally know some people whocompete in endurance and like to
do it while in ketosis, or theydo it with low carb approaches
it's going to sound mean andblunt, but they don't win any
races.
So unless that's really big toyou to tell people after the
(23:24):
race that you finished and youwere in ketosis while finishing
in the I don't know the bottom60% Congrats, that's cool.
That's not what people showedup at the race for dude.
But anyway, basic, simple rulesof thumb with hydration, um,
(23:47):
another thing that I learned inathletic competition is one
hydrate before.
Um, they've really only beentwo contexts in my life where um
, that you know, or where thatreally became sorry, that became
like a big deal and I felt it.
But basically, if you'rethirsty in the middle of
(24:09):
competition, it's too late.
When I go to my boxing gym, I'mnot a professional boxer but
I'll get in and I'll spar.
And when you go to the cornerbetween rounds, the gym I'm in.
There are real professionalfighters and the trainers train
real professional fighters.
So even when you just haverandom dudes like me got a
minute in the corner before theyrun back in for another three
(24:31):
minutes of boxing, there'salways a guy squirting water in
my face and nobody asks me ifI'm thirsty and the reason is
that hydrate before you need it.
If I don't take that drink inthe one minute break and then I
go out there for the next roundand a minute in, I start to
fatigue, it's going to get awhole lot worse for me.
(24:52):
So anyway, when you go to yourcorner, you drink, no matter how
you feel.
You don't wait until you feelthirsty.
Other domain again I felt that,but I mentioned triathlon.
Don't wait until you're thirsty.
Don't wait until you're hungryto start pouring calories back
in.
If you wait that long, you'regoing to be behind the eight
(25:12):
ball.
You're going to bonk, andthat's charitable.
If you're an endurance race, ifyou're boxing, someone's going
to do more than bonk you.
So yeah, I just don't think thatif we're actually doing hard
sports competition, that asugar-free electrolyte beverage
would be of any use to anybody.
That being said, there's a fewcontexts where like again, if
(25:36):
you like the way it tastes oryou like the bottle, go get it.
That doesn't bother me.
Some good spots to use itthough.
Pre-exercise, that's a goodidea.
Go ahead and get yourelectrolyte balance up.
Like I said, hydrate before youneed it Always a great idea
During exercise, whether you gotthe sugar or not.
We're just talking theelectrolytes.
(25:58):
You probably aren't going toneed it, unless that workout is
going over an hour it's crazyhot out or you're training
really hard.
For the vast majority ofworkouts that people are doing,
just eating a good post-workoutmeal is going to be the best way
to get those electrolytes back.
You could totally do that witha banana and some nuts with salt
(26:19):
on it.
So you're certainly notrestricted, if you're not doing
challenging workouts or sports,to having to refuel with a drink
because you could go eatsomething.
I, you know, take the water inthe corner and I keep drinking
on my bike because I don't haveany other options to refuel.
Give me other options andprobably going to go eat some
(26:42):
real food, I hey, I like eating.
So that that's me.
Um, last spot that you'reactually going to find getting
some electrolytes down is a goodthing after a workout, and this
I would actually say, even ifit's not a super challenging
workout.
But, um, caveat that wementioned, it's going to be best
to do it with food.
So if you're not doing a crazytough workout, I don't know why
(27:04):
you wouldn't be just gettinginto a post-workout meal that
could take care of that for you.
But maybe you're busy, maybeyou're running to another spot.
Obviously throwing down someelectrolytes post-workout,
that's going to be great forimproving recovery, no problem
with that.
Again, I would just have a biastowards food if I wasn't still
working out or training when Ineeded the electrolytes.
(27:28):
But that's just me.
That's kind of what I thinkthat the best practices for
sports drinks are.
No opinion on the new Gatoradewater other than I'm so happy
that we have another option inhydration.
That's, it's really beenkilling me.
So yeah, next one I want totouch on with you guys.
(27:50):
This actually came from aclient of mine who was wanting
me to fire up a fitnessintervention for someone that he
knows and cares about, and heasked me hey, when you see that
person, make sure you get in theear about doing some cardio.
And the main concern beingdiscussed was weight loss.
(28:11):
So I actually had to flip itaround and have an intervention
with my client trying to have anintervention for his friend,
and I just reminded him thatthere are a lot of great reasons
to do some cardio.
I like the term zone two betterthese days, but losing fat isn't
(28:32):
really one of them.
I am fine recommending cardio,but typically not for that
reason.
Typically not for that reason.
We've touched on this a bunch,but cardio is still not the best
choice for fat loss.
It has many health benefits andit should be in a program for
(28:57):
health, but it is still not themost direct way to simply lose
fat.
That's still walking andanything that's going to occur
in the oxidative energy pathwayand you know, kind of by
definition, your zone two cardiois not going to be occurring in
(29:19):
that place.
So you know the real definitionof zone two cardio.
That's going to be at roughly60 to 70% of max heart rate.
There's obviously a lot ofvariance in that and so I've
already explained this in thepast.
This is not a perfect rule, butI like the 180 rule better 180
(29:42):
minus your age, minus 20.
That's your little zone.
I could do better than that,obviously, if I knew you and we,
you know, were able to go runsome tests, but without knowing
people.
That's a really really greatrule to work from and that's
going to be roughly roughly 60to 7% of your max heart rate.
(30:03):
But you know, again, notexactly the benefits of cardio.
So one, building an aerobicbase, really, really important.
That's going to increase yourthe ability of your body to
deliver oxygen to your muscles.
That's good, obviously.
(30:25):
That's going to increase yourendurance, that's going to
increase your performance in alot of things.
Um, zone two cardio is alsogoing to increase the number and
efficiency of mitochondria inyour muscle cells.
So my latest, uh,pseudoscientific thing I can't
prove, but I did catch myselfstarting to you know around two,
(30:47):
three in the afternoon and say,oh my God, I'm tired, I just
don't know what's going on.
And rather than accept that andjust say, oh well, that's
father time, this is whateverybody said your whole life,
you're finally there.
No, whenever I start soundinglike that and no, whenever I
start sounding like that, Iactually start doubting my
choices and my actions, and Ihad fallen back into that team.
(31:11):
No sweat, just keeping my bodyfat low, not doing any cardio,
added the zone two back andmagically I don't feel as tired
in the afternoon.
So I think there can be somebenefits to making sure that
your mitochondria arefunctioning well.
Let's not stretch that too far,though, so that I don't turn
myself into a guru accidentally.
(31:35):
Some other benefits, though,from your zone two.
It is similarly going tofacilitate recovery from other
sessions.
So, like when I have a toughweightlifting session, say on a
Monday, tuesday might be a greattime to just go out and do like
a nice recovery run.
And recovery runs you know, I'mnot going to be hitting sprints
over at the Santa Monica stairs.
(31:56):
That was actually doing today.
No, like that.
That is is a different, youknow, focus.
Today I was not trying to get arecovery run in.
I wanted to work on some speed,but maybe tomorrow that'd be a
good play to do is, instead ofgoing back for more sprints,
slow it down a little bit, bemindful of my heart rate.
(32:17):
Keep myself in that zone whereI can recover a little bit more
efficiently from the work I'mdoing.
That's a great use of your zoneto work, you know.
Again, it's going to just carryover to a lot of health benefits
, because zone two work is goingto reduce your, your heart rate
, just generally increasingvascular health and efficiency,
(32:37):
also going to improve insulinsensitivity, you know possibly
improve mental health.
You're going to get yourendorphin rush much healthier
way to get dopamine thanscrolling or looking at a screen
, which is everybody's favorite,but it's not that good for you.
So obviously, though, I did sayright at the beginning that
it's not the most direct way tolose fat.
(32:59):
That's still technically true.
Oxidation is the most directway to lose fat, but when we run
down all those benefits, thisis why you'll generally notice
that people who do regular zonetwo work tend to not have a lot
of extra fat.
There is going to be obviouslysome correlation with people who
do zone two and being athealthy body weights, but again,
(33:24):
not the most direct way to losefat.
It should be included in yourprogram for health reasons more
than anything else, and thenslight benefit, but I just don't
want to oversell it because itdoesn't always occur.
If that's the basis of your fatloss strategies, you could get
some fat loss.
That's certainly possible.
But there's also a lot of waysthat if you're focused on fat
(33:44):
loss, that's certainly possible.
But there's also a lot of waysthat if you're you know you
focused on your, your cardio,that that that might not connect
.
Um, but anyway, I willabsolutely be encouraging my guy
to get into some, uh, some zonetwo work.
But admittedly, fat loss is isnot going to be, the focus of
what we are talking about whenwe're saying why Favorite
(34:08):
strategies.
Before I move on, steady stateis still probably the best.
Throw on a heart rate monitorof some kind.
Get in your zone and movehowever fast you need to.
That can be a jog, that can bea walk, that can be a hike.
All of that is going to dependon your fitness level and where
your heart rate zone is, no shitcould also be a bike ride and
(34:29):
then, in a sense, you know,cross training works great too.
Sometimes, when I have zone twoin mind as my goal for the
session, I'll go in my backyard10 minutes on the rower watching
my heart rate.
Maybe I don't feel like beingon the rover anymore.
Hop on the assault bike.
Um, feel free to cross trainand move around.
If you're doing zone two, themain thing that you are going to
(34:50):
be adhering to is obviouslyheart rate.
So who gives a shit whatmodality you're on If your heart
rate is in the right zone,you're doing your zone to work
correctly.
Um, so, yeah, last week busyweek for me I did manage to get
my workouts in, had to, uh, kindof focus on some other things,
(35:13):
though, is that none of thesewere going to be any personal
best workouts, and and I guessthe last show that I did get to
sit and you know talk about herewas, uh, we were talking about
Bianchul Han burnout society,and so obviously he focuses a
lot on kind of reintroducingnegativity, and, in a sense,
(35:34):
these strategies are going to besomewhat in that vein
reintroducing negativity, but wecould also use other words that
I think are more available.
Addition by subtraction.
Less is more.
You know stuff like that.
But how can we get fit doingnothing?
I had to focus on this a lotlast week.
(35:54):
So number one eat better.
If you're eating well, yousimply don't need to train as
much, particularly to maintainyour physique.
Specifically what that lookedlike for me last week there was
lots of tasty food around theplaces I was at and I just made
(36:15):
it my mission to eat fruit.
Anytime I got hungry.
I would just go grab fruit.
Fruit tastes good to me, so Ididn't feel like I was denying
myself.
Grab fruit Fruit tastes good tome, so I didn't feel like I was
denying myself.
But that was a way that I wasactually able to navigate that
situation where just beingaround lots and lots of tasty
food having.
(36:35):
I don't want this to make itlike a pity party about how I
was working, but when you gotover 12 hours on your day and
you're surrounded by terriblefood, it tastes really good.
You need a strategy.
I knew that if I ate the foodthat, that certainly wasn't
going to sync up well with allmy sitting down and editing
videos, so I just simply focusedon eating better.
(36:58):
One that also helped me do thatwas actually by drinking water.
I love coffee and it's easy forme to just kind of caffeinate
all day long when I get reallybogged down in work like that.
I also do shift my focus,though, back to hydrating a
little bit by staying hydrated,not going to be as hungry, and
(37:21):
then, honestly, a lot of timeswhen you're doing you know no
disrespect to the work I wasdoing, but when you're doing
kind of tedious, you know longprojects, a lot of times just
boredom and other things creepin and you might try to get some
novelty in you today Other ways.
Drinking water can be a goodway to run down those cravings.
Stay hydrated.
(37:41):
You won't think you're ashungry as often as you will if
you're not hydrated.
Meditation Obviously it can seemindulgent because we're framing
this under.
You're busy.
A lot of my meditations.
To be honest, I don't need alot of time.
I actually just need to stopthe noise for a little bit, turn
(38:03):
things off, get back in touchwith what I am thinking, feeling
, doing a body scan, I'mhonestly talking like two to
five minutes of mindfulness work, just kind of peppered in
throughout the day, particularlywhen you maybe feel like you're
getting overwhelmed or bored,annoyed, want to do something
(38:26):
else, whatever.
Stop, take a break, meditate,get back.
That was a strategy that wasactually helping me grind and
get through it all.
Honestly, I had a lot of timefor planning and reflection.
So again, a lot of times I amthinking about what am I going
to do next week when I'm not asbusy, instead of putting that
(38:49):
pressure on myself to getsomething in today.
Maybe other people don't feelthis, but for me, if I go
through a day and I don't dowhat I said I was going to do or
what I wanted to do, I reallydon't feel great about myself.
Some people are really reallygood at self-talk.
I don't have one of those nicevoices in my head.
(39:13):
I only got the devil guy thatjust talks shit to me.
For me, it can really help to doplanning and reflection when I
am busy, because my innermonologue is not going to tell
me that I'm doing a good job,that this is appropriate or any
of that.
So, just to kind of shut thatdevil up, I need to have some
(39:34):
plans or some answers for nextweek, otherwise that guy is
absolutely going to eat me alivewhile I am being non-active or
just not living up to the thingsI say.
There's nothing that drives mecrazier than I say a lot of
stuff, and I realize that.
So if I don't get my ass inline and get my actions lined up
(39:56):
with those words, to me that isnearly akin to insanity.
Why am I saying what I am notdoing and then saying it again
and again and again?
So, as I admit, often I'm notperfect, but I really try to
hold myself to that, and whenI'm busy and I can't do the best
(40:18):
and what my mind wants me to do, I'm at least planning for my
next victories, when I'm notgoing to feel terrible.
But yeah, planning a reflectionwas something I was able to do
last week and what thatspecifically looked like.
Yeah, so I was already thinkingabout the next phase of my
(40:38):
workout, how I might be able tocarry some of the progress that
I've made into the next phase,and just coming up with those
ideas while I had the time andspace to think about it.
Mobility work this was a big one, because I was spending time at
a desk way more than I normallyhave.
Mobility breaks are great, forevery hour you put down in the
(41:03):
chair, you're gonna need to havesomething to unwind what you've
been doing there and again.
These don't have to be workouts.
I, I'm a weirdo and I call amovement snacks, but I just drop
down on the floor, have alittle snack, mobilize your hips
and then get back to work.
Doesn't take long.
(41:24):
And one other one that I'mactually going to finish this
little section on, too, though,was play, and silly one.
I know you're busy, but lifestill goes on, and I'm a father.
Sometimes my daughter wouldcome in, or I'm back in my
office working and I hear hercome home from school, come home
(41:45):
from school.
I don't keep working.
In that moment I hang it up fora second, I stop, I check in,
we have a little bit of fun, andmentally I don't have that much
time.
I don't need to tell her that.
I just go and get involved withmy kid, have some fun, get back
into work.
But those little play breaks,particularly for me to stop and
(42:09):
connect with my daughter, those,those are the ones that
actually really keep me going,cause it reminds me why I'm
doing all this shit anyway.
Um, so, yeah, if I was uh, youknow going 5am to midnight all
week and I didn't care aboutanybody or anything around me,
it would have felt pretty damnempty and pretty crappy.
(42:30):
So anyway, guys, just whateverI know this happens in
everybody's endeavors when youhit one of those periods where
you're just genuinely jammed up,really busy, keep in mind
there's a number of things thatyou can still do to keep the
ball moving forward while nottaking too much time away from
the obligations that you stillhave to meet.
(42:53):
Last one I didn't even tell youguys, we were going to do this,
but this, I think this is thething that has kind of grinded
my gears the most right now.
So we're just going to finishon a rant.
Finish on a rant.
But I don't know if you guyshave seen the TikTok trend
saying that Gen Z or Zoomers areaging fast, and so these people
(43:16):
are actually talking aboutphysical appearance.
And it's funny because, like,when I think about this, I don't
know if I actually even agreewith the fact that that's
happening.
I don't know if it's just me,but, like, if I go, look at a
picture of the 1970s and youshow me like 20 year olds in the
1970s, they just look old.
I don't know if it's just thesepia tones or the styles or
(43:39):
whatever, but but typically whenI go back and look at the past,
actually like like a 30 yearold from the 60s looks like a 60
year old today, today, and yeah, hey, if you're in your 60s,
there you go, there's yourcompliment for the day.
But no, I honestly mean it.
Go back and look at pictures ofpeople in the past.
I'm not sure how the trend onTikTok got started that 18 to
(44:04):
25-year-olds are aging fastertoday, when to me it looks like
the people in the early 20thcentury were aging way faster
than anyone today.
But there is one instance whereI am in a throw where, at least
to me, it does sound like someaging is going on, and actually
it's mostly in.
(44:24):
It's not physical, it's apsychological trait that I'm
noticing, and it is generallythese critiques of gen alpha,
the youngest generation on theplanet, that actually makes me
think that, uh, zoomers are, areperhaps aging a little bit fast
and, uh, most of this is meantin somewhat jest, but uh, it's
(44:47):
also very serious.
The first bit of inherent ironyI notice is that the popular
framing of Gen Alpha is iPadkids.
So I'd probably have words onthis, even if you were a baby
boomer, calling today's kidsiPad kids, but particularly if
(45:08):
you grew up with an iPad.
You know why I just settle onthat term.
Yeah, I just don't know why 20somethings would be knocking
children for using iPads.
That one doesn't make a lot ofsense to me.
But also, you know, I want tobe really honest.
I actually go onto the Gen ZReddit board where I see a lot
(45:31):
of this stuff and one of myfavorite uses of it is I
actually like to read thecomments to my daughter the same
way that I'll see.
You know comedians read likemean tweets at a celebrity
that's on their show.
Um, I actually like, for my ownentertainment, to read the mean
comments that people writeabout my daughter's generation
to her.
(45:52):
It's funny to me.
But also I actually think it'sgreat training for my daughter
to know that no matter what youdo in life, people are going to
criticize you.
I think exposing her to somebaseless and contextless insults
is kind of a way that I'mteaching her to not really care
what strangers think, quitefrankly.
(46:14):
But no, she had a great retortto one.
I can't remember what comment Iwas reading, but it had to do
with kids and their phones andthen she starts laughing and
interrupts me and she's like dad, kids don't have phones.
And then again I get it thatall of this is going to be
subjective to an extent, becauseI'm going to say what I'm going
to say and then you're going tothink of a kid with a phone.
(46:35):
But admittedly, I don't knowthat person.
That's somebody in your world,so maybe have a conversation
with them.
But yeah, I talk with a lot ofparents, I'm around the school a
lot and I don't actually knowany Gen Alpha kids with phones.
(47:06):
So anyway, I am aware, becauseI've literally found zero people
in real life who agree with meon this.
So this may be one of my mostunpopular opinions, of which I
certainly have many.
But yeah, it doesn't reallymatter how often this is
repeated or how many anecdotesof people at your dinner parties
or at a restaurant you were at.
(47:27):
To fill that description, Icould counter with anecdotes of
people your age doing parties,or at a restaurant you were at.
To fill that description, Icould counter with anecdotes of
people your age doing the exactsame thing.
Until none of us have any timeleft today.
So I get it.
Technology's out there andpeople are obnoxious when they
use it.
Not sure that that's just a kidthing though, in all fairness.
And then here's the difference,too that I see If a kid has a
(47:48):
phone, that's a parenting issue,not a childhood issue.
They can't actually go and getwireless plans on their own.
So, yeah, I just think thatthat's a little disingenuous.
I'm pretty sure adults andpeople with their own money and
autonomy have a lot more abilityto go get technological devices
(48:09):
.
Here's one that I will actuallyslightly defend.
So I'm at a park and there's amother that I'm talking with.
She's really, really concernedabout the weekend coming up
because she has to work.
She's a lawyer.
Her ex-husband is in Bali andhe clearly can't help, so she's
already worried about theweekend ahead because she's like
(48:29):
, oh my God, my kids are goingto be on the tablet too much and
this is so terrible and I'mawful.
And and she does she startsinternalizing all of the things
that everybody makes her feel asa mother for not putting in
that time when her kid is on theiPad.
And in spite of all theseconversations I've had with
people in real life about what ahorrible person she is
(49:07):
no-transcript, you clearly care.
You're here talking and you'reworried about this, and I just
want to tell you that it's goingto be okay, because if, well,
human beings, in my opinion,we're incredibly malleable.
Um, we're actually quite strong, and if we weren't, we wouldn't
(49:29):
be here.
So I don't think that thismother thought that her kids
having a bunch of time on theiPad was a great way to spend
the weekend.
I don't think it is either.
But again, if you're one ofthose people that I see dropping
into comment threads andcritiquing people like this
woman I spoke with slow down, Idon't know if you actually know
(49:51):
what you're talking about.
And I don't know if youactually know why people are
putting their kids on iPads.
Sure, some because they're lazy.
I know that, but you also knowa bunch of lazy people your age.
So let's not pretend likethat's going to be unique to any
generation cohort, anything.
Come off it.
(50:13):
And secondly, the real parentsthat I talk with.
Nobody thinks that puttingtheir kid on a screen is a good
idea.
People are trying to get theirwork done.
People have a lot of demands ontheir life.
That's kind of the theme oftoday's episode.
We're all busy, I get it, butthis is the real reason why
parents are actually puttingtheir kids on technology.
So this is just my piece.
If you're one of those peoplethat isn't raising a kid right
(50:35):
now, sitting back judging thesereally narrow, superficial
interactions that you have withpeople, sometimes pump the
brakes, I really don't thinkthat you know what you're
talking about and you're alsohaving absolutely no empathy for
people who, even though we'reall busy, they're busier than
you dog, they're working harderthan you man, and if you're
(51:00):
young, maybe you'll get thereone day.
If you're old, congrats, you'redone with it.
But everybody relax, people aretrying their best, and yeah, so
just particularly to this wholeidea that you know Gen Alpha I
even saw this at LA Timesthey're feral, they're
illiterate.
(51:22):
Yeah, actually here's the way Ireally want to frame this.
Actually here's the way Ireally want to frame this.
(51:45):
If you're saying allched intothose walls, because the stuff
you guys are saying is getting alittle bit repetitive,
admittedly, and there's evensome dialogues in pre-classical
Greece, you might be able tofind some better arguments on
kids these days actually fromsome of the classical literature
.
So for all you people who wantto spew a decadence narrative
(52:06):
about how awful kids are today,I would just again recommend
reading some stuff in the past.
You guys might strengthen yourarguments, even though they've
been said as long as forever.
All this stuff is just gettingstale and a bit repetitive.
You'll find some interestingideas in the past that you could
maybe interject just to makethe arguments a little fresher
every now and again.
And then you know also, youjust sound old.
(52:33):
You're literally saying one ofthe oldest things in history
People have said kids these daysin every time and again.
I honestly think that mostpeople are just speaking out of
a compulsion, because I think ifyou actually cared, you might
have some actions to point to,and without being too
(52:57):
sanctimonious, like just in thelast week that I said I was
really busy, I did a beachcleanup, I donated some time and
money to a food bank, I led acommunity workout with a bunch
of children in it and I actuallydidn't have time to go on to
any of your guys' favoriteplatforms and have any.
None of my critiques on theyouth today are out there
because it's other peoplewriting them.
(53:17):
The people writing them are, inmy opinion, people who aren't
really actually involved withchildren and you know, obviously
, in fairness, there's going tobe some people out there that
have things they want to say andthey actually have some
experience to fall back on.
That's great, but for the vastmajority of what I am seeing
(53:38):
online, here's my hope.
It's not a challenge.
I hope that after you get doneyou know crapping on kids today,
that you're not done for theday that you are actively
involved in your community or inthe lives of young people in
some way, because if you aren'tand now back to my Zoomers and
(53:58):
perhaps aging quickly you justsound old and yeah again, I just
hope that if you say thesethings are important and you're
worried about the young peopleof today, that you're actually
doing something to bring aboutthe future that you say you
value.
I'm not sure I see a lot of thatgoing on.
(54:20):
So you know, last I'll say ingenerations.
You know, I'm not even a fan ofthe proxy proxy, but I don't
know.
I think I came to it easierbecause I didn't really like
high school full disclosure,shocker.
So no, when millennial bashingbecame a thing 20 years ago, I
(54:49):
kind of hated most millennialsbecause I was in high school and
that was all I was around, soso it never really felt like
something I had to do, like todefend my generation um in in
any sense.
But so now I do find, now thatI'm seeing my daughter's
so-called generation beingattacked, and in my opinion,
they're like the only generationon the planet that isn't
botched and ruined yet.
My generation, millennials,zoomers, you guys under me,
(55:12):
boomers, gen X, all of us, we'reall ready.
Be honest, we've already madeour mistakes.
We've already been botched.
Stop lying, stop reinventingalternate versions of your
childhood For my millennials Iwas there.
You weren't that good.
For my boomers, I heard yourstories.
I heard the stuff we brag about.
(55:32):
You weren't that good.
Zoomers, I was your coach andmentor and your biggest fan.
Everybody cut the shit.
It wasn't great in your day andwe're all just trying to do a
little bit better.
So, anyway, guys, my main thingthere is if you want to complain
about the kids, make sure thatyou're actually doing something.
(55:55):
If you guys want to shit on ageneration, just keep shitting
on millennials.
I don't care, I'm already usedto it.
Avocado toast, we're so cringe,ick, whatever, it doesn't
bother me and, frankly, it seemseverybody hates us.
So, just in a sense of unity,keep shitting on millennials.
Just leave my daughter'sgeneration out of it as far as
(56:16):
I'm concerned, because thenyou're going to catch some smoke
you probably can't handle.
Anyway, I actually meant thatin jest or in good fun.
That's not a threat Just backoff on my daughter's generation,
huh.
Anyway, guys, I'm back inrhythm, feeling good.
Didn't have too many coughstoday, so anyway, let's get back
(56:36):
to it.
I am here, send me somecomments, let me know what the
problems you guys are engagingin your training, and I want to
answer them right here.
Anyway, remember, answer themright here.
Anyway, remember, mind andmuscle are inseparably
intertwined.
There are no gains withoutbrains.
(57:00):
Keep lifting and learning.
I'll do the same.
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