July 11, 2025 • 25 mins
In this episode, Elena Apalkova speaks with Frank Ring about his career transformation and the profound benefits of walking on mental and emotional well-being. Frank discusses his Walking for Health and Fitness initiative and his first book, highlighting how walking can aid in creative problem-solving and overcoming feelings of being stuck. They explore the health, fitness, and social advantages of walking, offering insights into developing walking habits and useful resources. The episode also includes practical tips for daily mindset shifts and shares success stories. Listeners are introduced to upcoming episodes, have their questions addressed, and learn about sponsors Thrive Market and BetterHelp.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Hello.
Hello.
Welcome to mindset two results.
Today, our guest is, Frank Ring.
He is author of five books and also founder of,working for health and fitness.
And we will speak today about how working canhelp your business.
(00:23):
Hi, Frank.
Hello, Elena.
How are you?
Great.
Great.
I'm very happy to see you today on our podcast.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, how youchanged your career from being runner to be so
passionate walker that you wrote five booksabout this and help people to find its positive
(00:46):
moments?
Well, it's a it was an interesting process, andit was a painful one in the sense that I I was
a runner.
And when I say runner, I I log my miles everyweek, got out on the roads, you know, since my
twenties, you know, and be I became a teacherat 35 years old.
I was a cross country coach teaching otherrunners, and I continued running.
(01:09):
And then in 02/2015, I started feeling backpain.
Now whenever I ran all those years I was arunner, I was always hurt.
There was always something going on.
Knee pain, lower back pain, but, shin pain.
I mean, just all all different times that wouldhave me stopping from running.
This time, it felt a little bit different.
(01:31):
Something else was going on.
And by the February, I I was in so much pain.
I actually was out of work.
I I had to take a leave of absence from workbecause it was so painful.
And, at that same time, my mom was dealing withshe was losing her battle to pancreatic cancer.
So it's a stressful time in my life, bothphysically and emotionally.
(01:51):
I got through the back pain with the help ofsome epidurals, and my mom had passed away.
So the stress of her dying was gone, but I wasdealing with the grief.
And in that fall, that'd be the February, Istarted walking just to get back in shape so
that I could start that my mindset was I'llstart running again.
(02:15):
So I'd go out.
This I live in North Northern New Jersey.
By the time I'd get home from school, eat alittle dinner, it would be evening, 07:00 at
night.
It's dark out.
I put on a reflective vest and a headlamp, andI'd walk.
And as I my body was feeling stronger, whichwas the whole point of it, what I found was
that my thinking became much clearer.
(02:38):
The the stress of the injury, of the grief wasI I was able to process it better, to think it
through.
I had time alone to actually think, which is itsounds like a crazy concept, but I had time to
think.
And and every day, I'd go out.
I looked so forward to that walk because itfelt good physically, but it felt great
(03:02):
emotionally and mentally where I said I'm neverrunning again.
After about two months of just walking, I said,alright.
I'm I'm strong enough.
I feel good.
My back feels good.
All the injuries I had in running were nolonger there.
I said, I'm not gonna injure myself again.
I'm gonna continue walking.
(03:22):
And that was such a great yeah.
I just felt so great doing that that I said,well, what can I do with this?
I mean, I'm I'm a teacher.
I'm a high school teacher.
I I need to teach other people about this.
And I had the idea of, well, you know, theInternet, you know, was obviously around
02/2017.
Let me build a website and just start postingarticles about walking, specifically in fitness
(03:49):
in general.
And that was the start of my website walkingfor health and fitness.
I had the idea of, well, what if I create awalking program?
You know, if I'm gonna create a business out ofthis, a program to sell.
And every expert I listened to online said,well, if you're gonna do that, you need to you
need to write a book to add to yourcredibility.
(04:12):
And I had never written anything before otherthan some college papers.
But, it was an interesting process of, hey.
Let me write this book and see what happens.
So the first book was called Walking for Healthand Fitness.
I kept everything the same, the website name,the YouTube channel name, the book name, and,
that was the start of it in 02/2017.
(04:35):
Yes.
Great.
Great that, you've turned your passion tobusiness.
Yes.
And it is really so great that, you did this.
You found how your patient can be withbusiness.
And that idea, you started generating, like, awebsite.
You took action to road to write the book, andthis is how this became a real thing.
(05:00):
And now I know that you got five books alreadyby today.
Yeah.
That was an interesting process.
Writing the book was nerve wracking because Ilike I said, I'd never written anything before.
And I I downloaded from the Internet a book, ap it was a PDF on how to write a book.
It's how to write a book in seven days.
(05:21):
And they had paid $29 for it.
I did I did pay $29 for it.
But it was really it was interesting.
It it gave me a it gave me a game plan.
It gave me an outline of of how to write this.
And then it said something really interestingin the book.
It said, be careful with this because itbecomes addicting to write to write.
(05:43):
And at the time, I was just getting through Ijust wanted to get through that first book.
But the truth is right after that first bookcame out, I was on such a role that I wrote an
another book came out of that based on mywalking experience and then what I do when I
walk, when I when I do my, fitness, my bodyweight exercises that you know, like I said, I
(06:03):
I you turn to walking to get to stay in shapeafter the back injury.
And then I sit and I was also injured at timeswith lifting weights, you know, all those
stupid stuff, you know, lifting wrong and notwarming up enough.
But when I was on the roads and I would stop atthe on the sidewalk and do push ups or squats
or, you know, hold up a plank position, I gotin great shape.
(06:25):
I've been the best shape that I had been in mylife, and I'm like, alright.
That's the second book.
Let me write about this.
So the the process of turning, you know, aninjury into a business was was appealing.
I I really like that.
And it shows that anything any idea you have,especially now with with obviously, the
(06:46):
Internet's been around forever.
It the the the barrier to entry is so low.
To to write a book and put it on Amazon reallydoesn't cost anything, you know, just your
time.
So expense wise, it's not a lot.
And what I found that had been teaching at thattime probably about seventeen years or so.
And, you know, I was getting a little stale inthe sense that, you know, teaching, it's the
(07:10):
same thing.
The schedule is the same year after year.
The kids are different, but the subject matteris the same.
And I kinda was getting a little bit like Ineeded another challenge.
And for anyone out there who feels they're in ajob where they're kinda stuck or stale, spend a
little time every evening just exploring, youknow, what would you do?
(07:31):
Like, what's the thing you would do if you hadall the time?
Because you might not have it all now, but in ain a year or two or five, you know, if if you
take no action, nothing happens.
But if you take action on an idea, you neverknow what could happen.
And that's what I kept going back to.
Like, you know, I'd I'd be tired after work, gofor my walk, come home.
It would be, like, seven, 08:00.
(07:54):
My son was in middle school, so he was busystudying, playing his video games.
So I had time.
I'm like, well, let me not waste this.
Let me just sit down.
And initially, it was hard to transition to sitat the desk and write.
But the thing I found about walking is thatthrough the, the phone, the notes app, I would
(08:14):
dictate my best ideas while I was walking.
So I was getting in shape.
I had some great creative ideas.
I'm much more creative when you're moving asopposed to sitting.
Stanford has done studies on that.
So that's where, you know, the the walking hasled to so many other things, but those things
came about because of the walking and what Ican do while I'm walking, which I couldn't do.
(08:38):
If I had an idea when I was running, which wasvery rare, I wasn't gonna stop my run and, you
know, talk into my phone to write that ideadown because, well, I didn't have to stop my
stopwatch, and I was having my best run today.
Why would I stop this?
So, what if if you're a business owner outthere or just any anyone looking for creative
ideas, just go out for a walk.
(08:59):
Don't even think about the thing, the problemyou have or the issue you have.
Just walk.
So many times I found that if I had somethingthat I needed to work out, I would put the idea
in my notes app, go out for the walk, and andand think about anything else but that.
I'd listen to a podcast, listen to anaudiobook, or just listen to my own the voices
(09:20):
in my own head.
But I found that as I got closer to my house onthe way back, that's when that idea suddenly
like, oh, how come I never it just popped up.
How come I never thought of that before?
And I'd write and usually, was a pretty goodsolution or the start of a solution to some
problem I was having.
So walking is like a magical it's a magicalexperience if you just open your mind to it.
(09:45):
Yes.
You can combine.
Yes.
You can combine movement.
There's blood circulation, which we knowaverage should be 20,000 steps to be done every
day just to keep your blood circulation no innorm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The 20 thou that's a lot, 20.
Wow.
(10:06):
But, you know, the the big thing, especiallyduring COVID, was, like, the getting in your
10,000 steps, and you don't you don't even needthat you don't need that much.
That's great to hit that.
I mean, I I the more the bet the more themerrier.
But what I preach a lot on my in my books andmy side is that you just really a ten to
(10:27):
fifteen minute walk could be worked into yourday.
You could do it before work.
Lunchtime, instead of sitting for that hourlunch, if you have an hour lunch, you know,
have a quick bite to eat and get out and get afifteen minute walk in before you know, leave
work and instead of jumping in your car rightaway, take a fifteen minute walk that you've
(10:47):
got forty five minutes right there, and you'veworked it into your day.
If you have a stressful job, that the stressrelief from walking will really help you enjoy
your job more.
It's a win it's a win all the way around.
And, again, it doesn't have to be one big blockof time.
Fifteen, fifteen, 15.
You know, when I was a runner, like, you run.
(11:08):
You have to change out of your, you know,shirt, and I wore a shirt and tie to school.
If I ran, I wasn't gonna run-in the shirt andtie.
I take it.
You you have to change.
But in the more I get to school in the morning,I can walk around my track.
I even do push ups with the shirt and tie on.
The only thing I change is my sneakers, walkingshoes.
And I get a great workout in before work, and Ihaven't had to change there's not that time to
(11:32):
change into clothes and that whole hassle whichtakes time if you're a busy person.
So, it's it's such an excellent, lifestyle anda way to stay active and fit.
Yes.
It and it is all about intention.
I set, my goal to walk every day 10,000 steps,and, I found out that when you set intention,
(11:57):
it is not difficult.
Like, when you just think about all 10,000steps, it says two months.
But when you set your intention, you justbecome aware of this, and the it it it just
happens.
It just happens because you can set time whenyou can walk that like, in the morning as you
settle it with daytime.
In the evening, you just see how many stepsleft for your goal be achieved today.
(12:21):
And you you just do that, and it is not sodifficult when we set that intention.
Yeah.
And we know that, we have to put ourselves aspriority, our health.
Because, of course, entrepreneurs, businessowners are so busy, and it sometimes it feels
like you don't have any time left.
(12:42):
But, again, if we don't prioritize our health,sitting long hours in the chair, not moving
becomes a habit, and this in time will not begood.
Right?
Then we will have to quit everything and justthink about our health to get it back.
So it is much better to prevent things tohappen, negative things, than to be in them and
(13:04):
then trying to get it back.
Absolutely.
I heard this great quote.
It's called self care is not excuse me.
Self care is not selfish.
You have to take care of yourself in order tothen be energized to take care of other people.
And a lot of times we fall into that trap of Imean, when I as a parent, when my son was
(13:25):
younger, it's that that sense of you have toalways do something for them, for someone else.
But if you don't take care of yourself, you'renot gonna be there for fully there for that
other person.
So setting that intention is so important.
You have your goal of of 10,000 steps.
A while back well, I'll tell you when.
02/2004, I set a goal of running I'll sayvirtual running from where I where I teach in
(13:50):
Palisades Park, New Jersey down to Florida.
It's about 1,300 miles.
And I'm a photo I teach Photoshop.
And I thought, well, let me track my miles on amap.
It's I put them in the logbook.
You know, I ran 25 miles this week.
So at 25 miles, I knew how far 25 miles was.
It was from where I lived to my where I worked.
But what's beyond that?
(14:11):
What's the next 25 and the next 25?
So I had this idea of virtual run PalisadesPark to Key West, Florida along Route 1 in down
the East Coast Of The United States, and I'dPhotoshop myself running in these different
locations as a way to goof on my students.
So it was a way to keep track of my miles and away to have fun in the classroom.
(14:35):
And it turned into the most, really amazingjourney because I made it to Key West.
There was a point I took time off when my sonwas very young.
And then when I got to Key West and finishedthe run, I'm like, well, this was great because
it gave me there were days where I didn't feellike running, but I'm like, oh, let me let me
go out and run four miles.
(14:56):
I'll add that to the tower to the total.
And having that goal is what got me out on theroad some days.
So once I got to Florida, I'm like, well, letme run along the bottom of The United States
and up the West Coast and across the top, andI'll complete the whole circumnavigation of The
United States, which I did.
(15:17):
It took sixteen years.
And, again, I I only tracked the miles that Ispecifically went out for a walk.
At the time, first, it was running.
After I hurt my back in sixteen, I stopped, youknow, running.
When I started walking, I picked this up again.
And it was funny because I would have thesemaps in my classroom, and one day my
(15:38):
superintendent of schools came in, and he firstthing he did is he looked at the he said, hey.
Where are you on the map?
So I'm like, wow.
This is resonating with someone.
My students would look at me.
I I'd goof on them, but, you know, I'd be like,hey.
That's me running.
How can you run?
You can't run to Florida.
I'm like, there's the picture.
That's me.
So I did the run.
I completed the run, and here's the sad thingabout it.
(16:01):
So I had a student, senior in my class in 2019in September, and Dominic said, hey, mister
Ringo.
Are you gonna finish this run by the time Igraduate in June?
And I figured if I did a 100 miles a month, I'dI'd finish it.
What happened in February was everything theworld closed down.
(16:23):
We stopped COVID happened, and it just, youknow, was a depressing time.
I'm working from home, from sitting at a deskin front of kids who weren't you know, were
there, not there, who knew.
And I was out walking, but it just wasn't thesame.
And I stopped keep I kept track of those days,but I never translated it to my maps.
(16:45):
And I didn't look at the maps again or try totrack the mileage until July of that year, late
July.
And it turned out I would have finished by thetime when they had and the kids graduated
around the June 20.
And my idea at that time was to have studentswalk with me from the George Washington Bridge,
(17:06):
which is about four miles from Palisades ParkHigh School to back to the high school.
I would have completed the circumnavigation.
And the reason I say the bridge because routeone runs over the George Washington Bridge and
comes through New Jersey through oh, sorry.
Through Palisades Park.
And that was the route I took to start thisgoing down to Florida.
(17:27):
So it all I had it all envisioned as thisbeautiful completing the circle, and COVID
ruined it for me.
But Thank
you, Craig.
Anyway, you I think you were such inspirationfor students, and I'm sure that they also
picked it up from there and started working.
And, yeah, you impacted their life in that way.
(17:51):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the the whole the whole idea was fun.
And, again, as you brought up, having a goal.
And, again, there were mornings or eveningswhere I didn't want, like, it's a little rainy
outside, but I'm like, no.
Let me get another five miles on on the on theon the books so I could finish this.
And but it was a great experience.
It was a lot of fun.
I've read about it on one of the posts on mywebsite and my virtual my big virtual walk run
(18:17):
across around The United States.
So that that was a that was a lot of fun.
And, again, those walks, you know, heading backto leaning back to how I felt, I I've I've, you
know, never felt better emotionally orphysically.
I've never been hurt walking.
Except one time, I stepped into a pile ofleaves, and I stepped on a branch and rolled my
ankle.
So I don't attribute that to walking.
(18:39):
That was more of a a mistake on my part to dothat.
But other than that, I've been healthy.
I've been happy, and, you know, it's what Ipreach.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for sharing.
I'm sure that, people who are watching, thisepisode and, hear this from you, they will,
(19:00):
think about this, yes, just to start walkingand take care of your health, get ideas, yes,
because you have to free up the space in yourmind.
And when you walk, you don't do much.
Right?
You don't have so many things to do.
So you have that ability to be with yourthoughts, to open a space for new ideas and
(19:22):
inspirations.
And, of course, it is very good for health.
Oh, absolutely.
Everything you just said and more so.
And it's also a great socially if you walk witha partner, if you walk with a group.
I I find it funny.
And people are friendly when you walk Becausewhen you run by people, I don't you're just
(19:47):
running.
You know, people don't wanna interrupt yourworkout.
But when you walk by people, everybody's wavingto each other.
Hey.
How are you?
How are doing today?
You get to know people that way.
Socially, I love to see when people walking.
I usually see in my neighborhood, women like,group of women walking usually two or three at
a time.
It was it's their social outlet.
So there's a lot that that can be done, withwalking.
(20:10):
And, ultimately, you're moving, you're burningcalories, and you're staying physically fit.
And it leads to a lot of other things.
If you if you if you're gonna take the time toexercise and and to walk, that and I know this
works for me.
It stops me from overeating just because, hey.
I I walked four miles today.
(20:31):
Why would I eat that extra, you know, thatextra helping today?
I don't need it.
It starts you to on the path of eatinghealthier foods, more nutritionally beneficial
foods, and it's just a nice cycle.
And getting out there in movement, you feelgood, so you don't wanna sabotage that by
eating poorly.
(20:51):
It's a nice start of of a of a a good healthcycle.
Yes.
Yes.
True.
One good habit creates another one because youbecome more conscious.
As you said, you already put efforts to burncalories, so you become conscious of already
you did that work, part of work, why you wouldspoil what you did before.
(21:12):
So this is, like, one comes to another one, andthis is how all your like, habits become,
healthy.
Yes.
And it just needs to start from something one,and everything else will be edit one by one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a it's a part what you just said, habits.
Because, what I found in in when I wasresearching, and talking to people about the
(21:36):
programs I have, it's that they they hadtrouble working out.
Whether it was walking or doing anything, theyknow something is good for them.
You know that walking or you know if you're aweightlifter, you know it's good for you.
But then there are those days where you stop,and, then one day turns into two days where you
didn't do it and three days and four days.
(21:57):
And it's important to to to tie it all togetherinto some kind of habit, to develop a habit.
You know, this this loop of you've got thisidea to walk.
Okay.
Tie it to something.
So, like I said, walking is so easy.
It's tie it I tied it to me.
I drove to work.
My commute was a little long.
(22:19):
It was I'm there.
Let me do fifteen minutes on the track beforeschool.
And the reward was I felt I felt greatafterwards.
I do some body weight exercises.
If you're at home after dinner, you know, dothe dishes, put the dishes in the dishwasher,
that's your cue to, hey.
Let me get out for fifteen minutes.
And that's all it all it takes is fifteenminutes.
(22:40):
It's funny.
Yesterday, I'm here in North Jersey, and, Iplan to get out for a walk.
I got held up in the office for a little bitlonger than I wanted to.
And by the time I get out there, I checked theweather app, and all of a sudden rain was
showing up in thirty minutes.
And I'm like, oh, you know, I wish I shouldhave been out a half hour ago.
So I came in, and my girlfriend said to me,what are doing?
(23:02):
I said, it's gonna rain.
I'm I'm gonna be stuck out in the road.
She said, just walk up the hill.
Just get something in.
And, like, she reminded me that's that's justthat's all I needed.
Because I had the idea I'm gonna go out forforty, forty five minutes.
And she said, no.
Just and I I did two hill loops.
I got back to the house right as it startedraining, so it's perfect.
So I got a good workout in.
(23:23):
It wasn't as long as I wanted, but I got it in.
So, you know, it it's tied to having that goal.
It's tied to having that habit, but sometimes Ineed to remind you too that it you only just
need, hey.
Fifteen minutes is a great is a great workout,a great walk.
Yes.
So yeah.
Because if you just think, oh, I I have to goone hour, maybe it will be difficult to
(23:45):
organize yourself every day for one hour.
But when you I just go for fifteen minutes, andthen you see you are there already for half an
hour.
Right?
Because when already in the process, you cantell again another fifteen minutes.
Yes?
So it is easy, like, to organize and getconsistent.
Yes.
If you just tell yourself, like, every dayfifteen minutes, I'm I will walk.
(24:08):
Yes.
And, of course, we will visit your websiteworking for health and fitness, yes, to learn
more about you and how you
To learn access.
Learn more about me.
My my books are on under the category of books.
They're the five books.
My latest book is Walking Works Blueprint.
And if you need to like, a start point whereyou're not sure where to start, this is the
(24:30):
book for you.
There are specific types of walks that do nottake long to do to start, but I get you on a
track at least in these fourteen days.
This is the fourteen day plan.
In fourteen days, you'll be much more, you'llbe in better shape in those fourteen days with
less stress, less strain, and and there's avariety of walks to do within that fourteen
(24:51):
days that I break down in the book.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Amazing.
Thank you so much, Frank.
Yes.
I am sure that, people who listen for thisepisode will learn so much and, become
conscious about this fifteen minutes to startwith, walking for clarity and fitness.
(25:12):
Absolutely.
Walking for health and fitness.
And, again, you just need just start withfifteen minutes.
That's great.
Alright.
Elena, thank you so much.
It was a pleasure speaking with you.
Yeah.
Thank you too for being amazing guest andsharing your passion with us.
So wish you all the best, and see you again infuture.
Alright.
Thank you.
Hello.
Hello.
Welcome to mindset two results.
Today, our guest is, Frank Ring.
He is author of five books and also founder of,working for health and fitness.
And we will speak today about how working canhelp your business.
(00:23):
Hi, Frank.
Hello, Elena.
How are you?
Great.
Great.
I'm very happy to see you today on our podcast.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, how youchanged your career from being runner to be so
passionate walker that you wrote five booksabout this and help people to find its positive
(00:46):
moments?
Well, it's a it was an interesting process, andit was a painful one in the sense that I I was
a runner.
And when I say runner, I I log my miles everyweek, got out on the roads, you know, since my
twenties, you know, and be I became a teacherat 35 years old.
I was a cross country coach teaching otherrunners, and I continued running.
(01:09):
And then in 02/2015, I started feeling backpain.
Now whenever I ran all those years I was arunner, I was always hurt.
There was always something going on.
Knee pain, lower back pain, but, shin pain.
I mean, just all all different times that wouldhave me stopping from running.
This time, it felt a little bit different.
(01:31):
Something else was going on.
And by the February, I I was in so much pain.
I actually was out of work.
I I had to take a leave of absence from workbecause it was so painful.
And, at that same time, my mom was dealing withshe was losing her battle to pancreatic cancer.
So it's a stressful time in my life, bothphysically and emotionally.
(01:51):
I got through the back pain with the help ofsome epidurals, and my mom had passed away.
So the stress of her dying was gone, but I wasdealing with the grief.
And in that fall, that'd be the February, Istarted walking just to get back in shape so
that I could start that my mindset was I'llstart running again.
(02:15):
So I'd go out.
This I live in North Northern New Jersey.
By the time I'd get home from school, eat alittle dinner, it would be evening, 07:00 at
night.
It's dark out.
I put on a reflective vest and a headlamp, andI'd walk.
And as I my body was feeling stronger, whichwas the whole point of it, what I found was
that my thinking became much clearer.
(02:38):
The the stress of the injury, of the grief wasI I was able to process it better, to think it
through.
I had time alone to actually think, which is itsounds like a crazy concept, but I had time to
think.
And and every day, I'd go out.
I looked so forward to that walk because itfelt good physically, but it felt great
(03:02):
emotionally and mentally where I said I'm neverrunning again.
After about two months of just walking, I said,alright.
I'm I'm strong enough.
I feel good.
My back feels good.
All the injuries I had in running were nolonger there.
I said, I'm not gonna injure myself again.
I'm gonna continue walking.
(03:22):
And that was such a great yeah.
I just felt so great doing that that I said,well, what can I do with this?
I mean, I'm I'm a teacher.
I'm a high school teacher.
I I need to teach other people about this.
And I had the idea of, well, you know, theInternet, you know, was obviously around
02/2017.
Let me build a website and just start postingarticles about walking, specifically in fitness
(03:49):
in general.
And that was the start of my website walkingfor health and fitness.
I had the idea of, well, what if I create awalking program?
You know, if I'm gonna create a business out ofthis, a program to sell.
And every expert I listened to online said,well, if you're gonna do that, you need to you
need to write a book to add to yourcredibility.
(04:12):
And I had never written anything before otherthan some college papers.
But, it was an interesting process of, hey.
Let me write this book and see what happens.
So the first book was called Walking for Healthand Fitness.
I kept everything the same, the website name,the YouTube channel name, the book name, and,
that was the start of it in 02/2017.
(04:35):
Yes.
Great.
Great that, you've turned your passion tobusiness.
Yes.
And it is really so great that, you did this.
You found how your patient can be withbusiness.
And that idea, you started generating, like, awebsite.
You took action to road to write the book, andthis is how this became a real thing.
(05:00):
And now I know that you got five books alreadyby today.
Yeah.
That was an interesting process.
Writing the book was nerve wracking because Ilike I said, I'd never written anything before.
And I I downloaded from the Internet a book, ap it was a PDF on how to write a book.
It's how to write a book in seven days.
(05:21):
And they had paid $29 for it.
I did I did pay $29 for it.
But it was really it was interesting.
It it gave me a it gave me a game plan.
It gave me an outline of of how to write this.
And then it said something really interestingin the book.
It said, be careful with this because itbecomes addicting to write to write.
(05:43):
And at the time, I was just getting through Ijust wanted to get through that first book.
But the truth is right after that first bookcame out, I was on such a role that I wrote an
another book came out of that based on mywalking experience and then what I do when I
walk, when I when I do my, fitness, my bodyweight exercises that you know, like I said, I
(06:03):
I you turn to walking to get to stay in shapeafter the back injury.
And then I sit and I was also injured at timeswith lifting weights, you know, all those
stupid stuff, you know, lifting wrong and notwarming up enough.
But when I was on the roads and I would stop atthe on the sidewalk and do push ups or squats
or, you know, hold up a plank position, I gotin great shape.
(06:25):
I've been the best shape that I had been in mylife, and I'm like, alright.
That's the second book.
Let me write about this.
So the the process of turning, you know, aninjury into a business was was appealing.
I I really like that.
And it shows that anything any idea you have,especially now with with obviously, the
(06:46):
Internet's been around forever.
It the the the barrier to entry is so low.
To to write a book and put it on Amazon reallydoesn't cost anything, you know, just your
time.
So expense wise, it's not a lot.
And what I found that had been teaching at thattime probably about seventeen years or so.
And, you know, I was getting a little stale inthe sense that, you know, teaching, it's the
(07:10):
same thing.
The schedule is the same year after year.
The kids are different, but the subject matteris the same.
And I kinda was getting a little bit like Ineeded another challenge.
And for anyone out there who feels they're in ajob where they're kinda stuck or stale, spend a
little time every evening just exploring, youknow, what would you do?
(07:31):
Like, what's the thing you would do if you hadall the time?
Because you might not have it all now, but in ain a year or two or five, you know, if if you
take no action, nothing happens.
But if you take action on an idea, you neverknow what could happen.
And that's what I kept going back to.
Like, you know, I'd I'd be tired after work, gofor my walk, come home.
It would be, like, seven, 08:00.
(07:54):
My son was in middle school, so he was busystudying, playing his video games.
So I had time.
I'm like, well, let me not waste this.
Let me just sit down.
And initially, it was hard to transition to sitat the desk and write.
But the thing I found about walking is thatthrough the, the phone, the notes app, I would
(08:14):
dictate my best ideas while I was walking.
So I was getting in shape.
I had some great creative ideas.
I'm much more creative when you're moving asopposed to sitting.
Stanford has done studies on that.
So that's where, you know, the the walking hasled to so many other things, but those things
came about because of the walking and what Ican do while I'm walking, which I couldn't do.
(08:38):
If I had an idea when I was running, which wasvery rare, I wasn't gonna stop my run and, you
know, talk into my phone to write that ideadown because, well, I didn't have to stop my
stopwatch, and I was having my best run today.
Why would I stop this?
So, what if if you're a business owner outthere or just any anyone looking for creative
ideas, just go out for a walk.
(08:59):
Don't even think about the thing, the problemyou have or the issue you have.
Just walk.
So many times I found that if I had somethingthat I needed to work out, I would put the idea
in my notes app, go out for the walk, and andand think about anything else but that.
I'd listen to a podcast, listen to anaudiobook, or just listen to my own the voices
(09:20):
in my own head.
But I found that as I got closer to my house onthe way back, that's when that idea suddenly
like, oh, how come I never it just popped up.
How come I never thought of that before?
And I'd write and usually, was a pretty goodsolution or the start of a solution to some
problem I was having.
So walking is like a magical it's a magicalexperience if you just open your mind to it.
(09:45):
Yes.
You can combine.
Yes.
You can combine movement.
There's blood circulation, which we knowaverage should be 20,000 steps to be done every
day just to keep your blood circulation no innorm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
The 20 thou that's a lot, 20.
Wow.
(10:06):
But, you know, the the big thing, especiallyduring COVID, was, like, the getting in your
10,000 steps, and you don't you don't even needthat you don't need that much.
That's great to hit that.
I mean, I I the more the bet the more themerrier.
But what I preach a lot on my in my books andmy side is that you just really a ten to
(10:27):
fifteen minute walk could be worked into yourday.
You could do it before work.
Lunchtime, instead of sitting for that hourlunch, if you have an hour lunch, you know,
have a quick bite to eat and get out and get afifteen minute walk in before you know, leave
work and instead of jumping in your car rightaway, take a fifteen minute walk that you've
(10:47):
got forty five minutes right there, and you'veworked it into your day.
If you have a stressful job, that the stressrelief from walking will really help you enjoy
your job more.
It's a win it's a win all the way around.
And, again, it doesn't have to be one big blockof time.
Fifteen, fifteen, 15.
You know, when I was a runner, like, you run.
(11:08):
You have to change out of your, you know,shirt, and I wore a shirt and tie to school.
If I ran, I wasn't gonna run-in the shirt andtie.
I take it.
You you have to change.
But in the more I get to school in the morning,I can walk around my track.
I even do push ups with the shirt and tie on.
The only thing I change is my sneakers, walkingshoes.
And I get a great workout in before work, and Ihaven't had to change there's not that time to
(11:32):
change into clothes and that whole hassle whichtakes time if you're a busy person.
So, it's it's such an excellent, lifestyle anda way to stay active and fit.
Yes.
It and it is all about intention.
I set, my goal to walk every day 10,000 steps,and, I found out that when you set intention,
(11:57):
it is not difficult.
Like, when you just think about all 10,000steps, it says two months.
But when you set your intention, you justbecome aware of this, and the it it it just
happens.
It just happens because you can set time whenyou can walk that like, in the morning as you
settle it with daytime.
In the evening, you just see how many stepsleft for your goal be achieved today.
(12:21):
And you you just do that, and it is not sodifficult when we set that intention.
Yeah.
And we know that, we have to put ourselves aspriority, our health.
Because, of course, entrepreneurs, businessowners are so busy, and it sometimes it feels
like you don't have any time left.
(12:42):
But, again, if we don't prioritize our health,sitting long hours in the chair, not moving
becomes a habit, and this in time will not begood.
Right?
Then we will have to quit everything and justthink about our health to get it back.
So it is much better to prevent things tohappen, negative things, than to be in them and
(13:04):
then trying to get it back.
Absolutely.
I heard this great quote.
It's called self care is not excuse me.
Self care is not selfish.
You have to take care of yourself in order tothen be energized to take care of other people.
And a lot of times we fall into that trap of Imean, when I as a parent, when my son was
(13:25):
younger, it's that that sense of you have toalways do something for them, for someone else.
But if you don't take care of yourself, you'renot gonna be there for fully there for that
other person.
So setting that intention is so important.
You have your goal of of 10,000 steps.
A while back well, I'll tell you when.
02/2004, I set a goal of running I'll sayvirtual running from where I where I teach in
(13:50):
Palisades Park, New Jersey down to Florida.
It's about 1,300 miles.
And I'm a photo I teach Photoshop.
And I thought, well, let me track my miles on amap.
It's I put them in the logbook.
You know, I ran 25 miles this week.
So at 25 miles, I knew how far 25 miles was.
It was from where I lived to my where I worked.
But what's beyond that?
(14:11):
What's the next 25 and the next 25?
So I had this idea of virtual run PalisadesPark to Key West, Florida along Route 1 in down
the East Coast Of The United States, and I'dPhotoshop myself running in these different
locations as a way to goof on my students.
So it was a way to keep track of my miles and away to have fun in the classroom.
(14:35):
And it turned into the most, really amazingjourney because I made it to Key West.
There was a point I took time off when my sonwas very young.
And then when I got to Key West and finishedthe run, I'm like, well, this was great because
it gave me there were days where I didn't feellike running, but I'm like, oh, let me let me
go out and run four miles.
(14:56):
I'll add that to the tower to the total.
And having that goal is what got me out on theroad some days.
So once I got to Florida, I'm like, well, letme run along the bottom of The United States
and up the West Coast and across the top, andI'll complete the whole circumnavigation of The
United States, which I did.
(15:17):
It took sixteen years.
And, again, I I only tracked the miles that Ispecifically went out for a walk.
At the time, first, it was running.
After I hurt my back in sixteen, I stopped, youknow, running.
When I started walking, I picked this up again.
And it was funny because I would have thesemaps in my classroom, and one day my
(15:38):
superintendent of schools came in, and he firstthing he did is he looked at the he said, hey.
Where are you on the map?
So I'm like, wow.
This is resonating with someone.
My students would look at me.
I I'd goof on them, but, you know, I'd be like,hey.
That's me running.
How can you run?
You can't run to Florida.
I'm like, there's the picture.
That's me.
So I did the run.
I completed the run, and here's the sad thingabout it.
(16:01):
So I had a student, senior in my class in 2019in September, and Dominic said, hey, mister
Ringo.
Are you gonna finish this run by the time Igraduate in June?
And I figured if I did a 100 miles a month, I'dI'd finish it.
What happened in February was everything theworld closed down.
(16:23):
We stopped COVID happened, and it just, youknow, was a depressing time.
I'm working from home, from sitting at a deskin front of kids who weren't you know, were
there, not there, who knew.
And I was out walking, but it just wasn't thesame.
And I stopped keep I kept track of those days,but I never translated it to my maps.
(16:45):
And I didn't look at the maps again or try totrack the mileage until July of that year, late
July.
And it turned out I would have finished by thetime when they had and the kids graduated
around the June 20.
And my idea at that time was to have studentswalk with me from the George Washington Bridge,
(17:06):
which is about four miles from Palisades ParkHigh School to back to the high school.
I would have completed the circumnavigation.
And the reason I say the bridge because routeone runs over the George Washington Bridge and
comes through New Jersey through oh, sorry.
Through Palisades Park.
And that was the route I took to start thisgoing down to Florida.
(17:27):
So it all I had it all envisioned as thisbeautiful completing the circle, and COVID
ruined it for me.
But Thank
you, Craig.
Anyway, you I think you were such inspirationfor students, and I'm sure that they also
picked it up from there and started working.
And, yeah, you impacted their life in that way.
(17:51):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the the whole the whole idea was fun.
And, again, as you brought up, having a goal.
And, again, there were mornings or eveningswhere I didn't want, like, it's a little rainy
outside, but I'm like, no.
Let me get another five miles on on the on theon the books so I could finish this.
And but it was a great experience.
It was a lot of fun.
I've read about it on one of the posts on mywebsite and my virtual my big virtual walk run
(18:17):
across around The United States.
So that that was a that was a lot of fun.
And, again, those walks, you know, heading backto leaning back to how I felt, I I've I've, you
know, never felt better emotionally orphysically.
I've never been hurt walking.
Except one time, I stepped into a pile ofleaves, and I stepped on a branch and rolled my
ankle.
So I don't attribute that to walking.
(18:39):
That was more of a a mistake on my part to dothat.
But other than that, I've been healthy.
I've been happy, and, you know, it's what Ipreach.
Yeah.
Thank you so much for sharing.
I'm sure that, people who are watching, thisepisode and, hear this from you, they will,
(19:00):
think about this, yes, just to start walkingand take care of your health, get ideas, yes,
because you have to free up the space in yourmind.
And when you walk, you don't do much.
Right?
You don't have so many things to do.
So you have that ability to be with yourthoughts, to open a space for new ideas and
(19:22):
inspirations.
And, of course, it is very good for health.
Oh, absolutely.
Everything you just said and more so.
And it's also a great socially if you walk witha partner, if you walk with a group.
I I find it funny.
And people are friendly when you walk Becausewhen you run by people, I don't you're just
(19:47):
running.
You know, people don't wanna interrupt yourworkout.
But when you walk by people, everybody's wavingto each other.
Hey.
How are you?
How are doing today?
You get to know people that way.
Socially, I love to see when people walking.
I usually see in my neighborhood, women like,group of women walking usually two or three at
a time.
It was it's their social outlet.
So there's a lot that that can be done, withwalking.
(20:10):
And, ultimately, you're moving, you're burningcalories, and you're staying physically fit.
And it leads to a lot of other things.
If you if you if you're gonna take the time toexercise and and to walk, that and I know this
works for me.
It stops me from overeating just because, hey.
I I walked four miles today.
(20:31):
Why would I eat that extra, you know, thatextra helping today?
I don't need it.
It starts you to on the path of eatinghealthier foods, more nutritionally beneficial
foods, and it's just a nice cycle.
And getting out there in movement, you feelgood, so you don't wanna sabotage that by
eating poorly.
(20:51):
It's a nice start of of a of a a good healthcycle.
Yes.
Yes.
True.
One good habit creates another one because youbecome more conscious.
As you said, you already put efforts to burncalories, so you become conscious of already
you did that work, part of work, why you wouldspoil what you did before.
(21:12):
So this is, like, one comes to another one, andthis is how all your like, habits become,
healthy.
Yes.
And it just needs to start from something one,and everything else will be edit one by one.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a it's a part what you just said, habits.
Because, what I found in in when I wasresearching, and talking to people about the
(21:36):
programs I have, it's that they they hadtrouble working out.
Whether it was walking or doing anything, theyknow something is good for them.
You know that walking or you know if you're aweightlifter, you know it's good for you.
But then there are those days where you stop,and, then one day turns into two days where you
didn't do it and three days and four days.
(21:57):
And it's important to to to tie it all togetherinto some kind of habit, to develop a habit.
You know, this this loop of you've got thisidea to walk.
Okay.
Tie it to something.
So, like I said, walking is so easy.
It's tie it I tied it to me.
I drove to work.
My commute was a little long.
(22:19):
It was I'm there.
Let me do fifteen minutes on the track beforeschool.
And the reward was I felt I felt greatafterwards.
I do some body weight exercises.
If you're at home after dinner, you know, dothe dishes, put the dishes in the dishwasher,
that's your cue to, hey.
Let me get out for fifteen minutes.
And that's all it all it takes is fifteenminutes.
(22:40):
It's funny.
Yesterday, I'm here in North Jersey, and, Iplan to get out for a walk.
I got held up in the office for a little bitlonger than I wanted to.
And by the time I get out there, I checked theweather app, and all of a sudden rain was
showing up in thirty minutes.
And I'm like, oh, you know, I wish I shouldhave been out a half hour ago.
So I came in, and my girlfriend said to me,what are doing?
(23:02):
I said, it's gonna rain.
I'm I'm gonna be stuck out in the road.
She said, just walk up the hill.
Just get something in.
And, like, she reminded me that's that's justthat's all I needed.
Because I had the idea I'm gonna go out forforty, forty five minutes.
And she said, no.
Just and I I did two hill loops.
I got back to the house right as it startedraining, so it's perfect.
So I got a good workout in.
(23:23):
It wasn't as long as I wanted, but I got it in.
So, you know, it it's tied to having that goal.
It's tied to having that habit, but sometimes Ineed to remind you too that it you only just
need, hey.
Fifteen minutes is a great is a great workout,a great walk.
Yes.
So yeah.
Because if you just think, oh, I I have to goone hour, maybe it will be difficult to
(23:45):
organize yourself every day for one hour.
But when you I just go for fifteen minutes, andthen you see you are there already for half an
hour.
Right?
Because when already in the process, you cantell again another fifteen minutes.
Yes?
So it is easy, like, to organize and getconsistent.
Yes.
If you just tell yourself, like, every dayfifteen minutes, I'm I will walk.
(24:08):
Yes.
And, of course, we will visit your websiteworking for health and fitness, yes, to learn
more about you and how you
To learn access.
Learn more about me.
My my books are on under the category of books.
They're the five books.
My latest book is Walking Works Blueprint.
And if you need to like, a start point whereyou're not sure where to start, this is the
(24:30):
book for you.
There are specific types of walks that do nottake long to do to start, but I get you on a
track at least in these fourteen days.
This is the fourteen day plan.
In fourteen days, you'll be much more, you'llbe in better shape in those fourteen days with
less stress, less strain, and and there's avariety of walks to do within that fourteen
(24:51):
days that I break down in the book.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Amazing.
Thank you so much, Frank.
Yes.
I am sure that, people who listen for thisepisode will learn so much and, become
conscious about this fifteen minutes to startwith, walking for clarity and fitness.
(25:12):
Absolutely.
Walking for health and fitness.
And, again, you just need just start withfifteen minutes.
That's great.
Alright.
Elena, thank you so much.
It was a pleasure speaking with you.
Yeah.
Thank you too for being amazing guest andsharing your passion with us.
So wish you all the best, and see you again infuture.
Alright.
Thank you.
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