November 27, 2024 • 29 mins
Have you ever wondered how to juggle a thriving career while nursing a stubborn knee injury? Shannon and Melissa share their stories of resilience and adaptation, offering a blueprint for those striving to maintain an active lifestyle amidst life's curveballs. Join us to hear how these two experts transition from high-stakes obstacle races to managing the challenges of a hectic work life while dealing with injuries. They explore how a gradual approach and the inclusion of alternative workouts like rucking can greatly enhance recovery. This episode serves as a strong reminder that finding a balance between activity and rest is crucial for long-term health.
Walking is often an overlooked champion in fitness, especially for those dealing with chronic discomfort. This episode explores how nature walks can effectively reduce anxiety and enhance overall well-being. Shannon shares his life-changing journey through stem cell therapy for chronic knee pain, discussing the doubts, obstacles, and ultimate triumph she faced. The dialogue emphasizes the importance of physical therapy in recovering from injuries.
The art of balancing intense workouts with restorative practices like yoga takes center stage as we discuss strategies to maintain fitness goals without compromising health. Melissa and Shannon discuss various tools, including CrossFit, Bikram yoga, and KT tape, for managing injuries and enhancing strength. They explore the importance of matching dietary habits to activity levels, highlighting the benefits of clean eating for overall health. As they wrap up, they anticipate a lively discussion about upcoming films, including the highly anticipated Gladiator movie, making this episode both informative and enjoyable.
Please visit our website https://www.techexecwellness.com to stay up to date and subscribe to our newsletter!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Tech Exec Wellness Podcast.
I'm Melissa, I'm Shannon.
We would like to have aconversation with you about
working out maybe some injuriesthat you're trying to overcome
and just some different waysthat we, personally, have been
able to kind of push throughWith that being said, shannon, I
(00:21):
know that you've had an injuryand you've had some issues going
on Would you like to share withthe listeners kind of what your
journey's been like?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think it's a good topic, youknow, I think for me it was, you
know, really trying to bereally, I'd say, active and then
combining that with maybe alittle bit too much going on at
work.
You know, and I think that wasreally my tipping point, which
was an interesting connectionfor me in the months that
followed my injury.
So I was doing obstacle courseracing, I was doing a Spartan in
(00:50):
, I think, Palmerton,Pennsylvania.
It was a really, reallydifficult course.
I'd been having some challengeswith my knee but I really put
it over the top on that skislope and it just kept getting
progressively worse for monthsand at the same time I had taken
a lot more responsibility atwork and quadrupled my workload
and I think it affected sleep,and then it just became like a
(01:11):
tailspin, which I think itreally speaks to the importance
of having good balance and beingaware that there's going to be
some ripple, some side effectsthere if you're not paying close
attention to what your bodyneeds.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
And I don't know about you,Shannon, but I feel I was a high
school college athlete andplayed soccer and rugby on the
side when I was in the military.
I don't know about you, but Istill have the mindset of a
20-something-year-old and I'lltry and go all out and I have
found that I succumb to injuryall the time.
I mean, do you ever think likethat, Like I can take a week off
(01:45):
, two weeks off, and I can justgo back at it?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, I mean there's that.
And then just not pushingyourself too hard.
I mean it was pretty easy whenI was more active at CrossFit
Box to try to keep up and Itried to intentionally tell
(02:10):
myself, because my mom keptreminding me that I was.
She kept telling me I was tooold for this.
You break 40, you have to bereally careful about now, you
know, just not overdoing it.
Maybe maybe not hitting threeto five workouts a week.
Maybe maybe you need to do fivedays spacing between the
workouts and slow down.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I know when we had Wendy Bounds on the show, I
thought that was incredible totalk about beginning your
Spartan training journey, youknow, at 50 after 50.
And I think from what I'veheard from some of our listeners
is that gave them a whole newmindset.
I think I'm going to take aslow approach to it so I can
compete next year with you andWendy, but I'm also going to
(02:39):
pace myself.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, I think pacing yourself is really good And's
not something that you need to.
You know, what do they say asfar as winning the race?
Right, like that old analogy,you know, I think you just need
to make sure that you just staythat youth mindset.
Well, let me ask you this whenyou have been injured.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
What type of alternative workouts are you
doing?
I'd like to hear and like toshare mine as well.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Actually I've really gotten into just the concept of
rucking as kind of a nicefallback.
And there's a lot of researchout there that one of the big
differentiators for the humanform is our ability to carry.
We were kind of made to carryheavy weight for long distances.
It's just a unique adaptation,if you will, on just the way
(03:32):
that we're structured and thebody seems to respond really
really well to this approach.
So putting on a weighted vestor a backpack on your back and
just walking, walking, for youknow, even short distances, but
a nice long rock with some hills, I think does, does a lot of
good.
And you know, for me like Ican't run anymore without my
(03:54):
knee just blowing right up fromsome of the injuries.
So being able to take it easyand still having some level of
exertion there's a lot.
You know Michael Easter's onethat's written a lot about this.
He's got a good sub stack andbig, big proponent of of rucking
.
You've got the go ruck movementout there that I think would be
a good look for for listeners.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Can you tell me how you got into rucking?
I know that you mentionedMichael Easter We've talked
about him before and love to gethim on the show, by the way but
could you maybe tell me, andeverybody listening, how do I
get into that?
What are the first steps I wantto take and, I guess, what are
some of the advantages of it?
When you take that vest off orthat heavy weight off, what does
it do for the body?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So I think, first of all, it's easy because just even
if you don't have equipment,most people have a backpack
laying around, right, so justput a backpack on Run into the
airport.
Throw in some weight into it,right, you could put rocks in it
, you could put some books in it.
I mean, start light and justkeep increasing it.
I had my kids.
(04:56):
I think I got into it actually,because my kids got a go-ruck
vest for me for Father's Dayseveral years ago.
A go-ruck vest for me forFather's Day several years ago,
and I don't know if that wasbefore or after.
I stumbled on Michael Easter'ssub stack about it.
But what does it do for you?
I think you know.
First of all, for sure it helpswith core strength and
(05:17):
stability, but it also just, Ithink, has a general therapeutic
effect, and I'm probably notthe best one to go into details
on it, but yeah, so I have aweighted vest and before I had a
sinus infection.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I don't get them as often as I used to, but I was
wearing a weighted vest to runon my treadmill and I was like,
man, this is really hard.
But I think you've inspired meover these next few days the
holidays here that I'm going toput that vest on, put a hoodie
on over it and maybe just gowalk around my neighborhood and
get back into the swing ofthings.
I think that's awesome and I'mgoing to get this episode out as
(05:58):
soon as possible.
So I want to give people anidea.
Maybe there's a Black Fridaysale somewhere or something.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah.
Yeah, there's a few companiesout there.
I'm drawing a blank on some ofthe others, but Michael Easter's
, sponsored by GoRuck, so that'sthe one that I've got on my
mind.
I think it is probably betterto walk than run, just for the
impact on the knees, you know,when you've got extra weight on
it.
Also, you know it helps you toreally appreciate the damage
that being overweight brings too, because you realize, wow, like
(06:29):
I've got this 30 pounds, I will.
If you're 30 pounds overweight,you're, you're putting that
pressure on your body every day,all the time, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I've mentioned this in other episodes, but there was
a time when I started at thefruit company and I was
traveling a lot and, kind oflike you were saying earlier,
your workload increases by thetime you you're at O'Hare
airport.
You think your flight's goingto take off on time.
You think you're going to getto Detroit at three o'clock,
which leaves you some time toget a workout in before you meet
(07:01):
with your customers when I wasgoing out to dinner with them.
But what I found is a lot oftimes the flights out of the
Midwest are delayed either toweather or traffic, and what
happens is is it delays yourwhole day.
Let's say I get back intoDetroit at like seven o'clock.
I run straight from the hotelto the dinner.
I'm sitting on the plane,sitting on the Hertz bus,
(07:22):
sitting in the rental car,sitting at dinner.
That's where a lot of my weightcame from.
And now I'm very mindful aboutwhat I'm eating, what I'm doing,
and I think with some of theguests, including yourself, I've
really learned to be mindfulabout what it is I'm doing and
making sure that I take time outfor myself.
When you wrap all those thingsin there, that's where the
weight gain comes in right whenyou just it's piling on and
(07:44):
you're.
What are you going to do atthat point?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, I think there's another element too of the
value of rucking and gettingoutside, because you know it's
interesting.
I just started some physicaltherapy on the knee after I got
stem cell therapy down and atCPI and that's been a pretty big
game changer.
The therapist had pointed outbecause I had just I kind of
(08:06):
bragging that I had gotten anunder the desk treadmill and
he's like you know, I'd reallyrather you just go outside and
get in nature and walk up there,just because there's so much
evidence that being in nature isvery healing in and of itself
brings down anxiety.
I'd say get moving but alsoincorporate getting into the
(08:27):
green outdoors.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I 100% believe that.
I know where I live.
We have so many trees aroundand I really like the trees.
I hate to admit this, but I'm abird watcher.
Now I'm not bringing outbinoculars or anything like that
, but I'm identifying birds.
Who would have thought thatsomebody that was into heavy
metal, edm, hard rock concertswould be?
Wow, look, it's a Cardinal,it's a Blue Jay, right?
(08:50):
Can we talk about your stemcell?
I'd really like to know why youdecided to get it and what was
the experience and how are youfeeling after.
Do you mind going through that?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, absolutely, because I mean to me it was a
game changer.
I really got inspired after wetalked to Wendy right, and I
think I said this on thatpodcast that she really
encouraged me and said you know,she had sent me this email and
she said you're going to do aSpartan again, we're going to do
it together.
And I was like kind of thecliche in her book right, like
you get an injury in your midforties and you just think, oh,
(09:21):
this is just what getting old isand I'm just going to have to
accept this.
And after we had left thatconversation I was like no, I'm
going to recommit here.
So I started doing some researchbecause the pain was pretty
chronic, like I couldn't do anyworkouts without just I wouldn't
be able to walk for dayswithout putting.
I could hardly put weight onthe knee.
So I thought it was pretty muchtoast, I'd gotten an MRI.
(09:42):
So I thought it was pretty muchtoast, I'd gotten an MRI.
A surgeon said well, I've seenworse knees, but really the only
thing I could do is a full kneereplacement.
It doesn't look that bad.
So I was kind of in this weirdspace where the only thing that
traditional medicine wasoffering was to me pretty
drastic.
But I was in a reallyintolerable spot.
I went and talked to an oldCrossFit coach.
I said, hey, I've been hearingabout stem cells and he was just
(10:10):
like, look, I've heard too manysuccess stories.
I think it works.
And so my mom had heard on theRogan podcast him mentioned CPI.
I reached out to them and theywere relatively local to me I
could drive to Tijuana,basically.
So I finally, you know, footedthe bill, went down.
You obviously have to pay forit out of pocket, but it was an
incredible experience.
I mean from the moment I gotthere, meeting people that were
(10:31):
there for their follow-ups, justraving about how it saved their
surgery.
There's a lot of athletes downthere and I will say for me
within almost immediately, liketwo days after the injection in
my knees, like the pain wasalmost completely gone.
It was.
It was literally shocking howfast.
(10:51):
Yeah, but it's a.
It's a.
It's a 90 day journey, uh,where you can't work out after.
You have to really treat itlike a surgery.
Let the stem cells get in thereand start doing their work and
building tissue.
Um, so I came out of the 90days.
They want you to start physicaltherapy and I would say one
thing in retrospect I don'tthink I'd given the credit that
(11:12):
physical therapy is really due.
I think my experiences with it,my limited experiences in my
early 20s, I chalked it up tobeing a waste of time.
But I found a guy here inFullerton California.
I've been working with him forabout six weeks.
I honestly almost wish I haddone that first, just because of
what a profound impact he had.
(11:34):
I'm still glad I did the stemcells because there's a huge
therapeutic benefit, holistic,systemic benefit as well, that
of the journey.
In a nutshell, I had kneesurgery.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I was running every day and the thing I would advise
anybody is you have toincorporate some sort of
strength training.
You have to have muscles aroundthose hands and quads to
support the knee.
I'm just out there runningaround and having a good time.
Well, I went to make a pivot tocatch the person carrying the
ball flag football and I endedup tearing my meniscus.
(12:09):
At first I'm like, oh, I justsprained it because I played
soccer and rugby all my life, soI didn't think it was a big
deal and the thing just swelledup like crazy.
I got into the emergency roommy friend had taken me there
after the game and they did ax-ray like oh yeah, you tore it,
they wrapped me up and backthen this was what 2009.
It was really hard to get into agood surgeon.
(12:32):
I don't know if you'veexperienced this, but there's a
long wait time.
It wasn't like you could getsomething done in like two weeks
.
I had a friend of mine who hadsome connections and I actually
had my surgery performed by theChicago Bears doctor, Mark Bowen
, and a lot of people I'vetalked to have had to have
multiple surgeries because thefirst one wasn't successful.
(12:52):
Dr Bowen did an excellent job,and I was literally in physical
therapy the following week andthat's where a lot of strength
training was incorporated, andI'll never take that for granted
.
I'm very, very mindful ofmaking sure that I'm lifting
weights because it's so easy forthose injuries to happen if
your muscle isn't tight enoughto connect to the bone.
(13:14):
Not that I'm a doctor oranything and I'm not giving any
advice, but that's been myexperience.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah, no, I think there's so much there.
That's actually what I wasdealing with was meniscus tears
as well, and I think theretrospective piece for me was
just messing around.
On YouTube found a good videofrom a doctor and what was very
insightful to me about meniscustears is something like 80% of
(13:40):
meniscus tears present nosymptoms.
They're completely asymptomatic, and so the value of physical
therapy, weight training,resistance training is a primary
approach before surgery I hadnever even thought of.
I thought that if you had atear you're doomed to pain,
which is not necessarily true,and there's a guy out there
(14:01):
called Knees Over Toe Guy and herecommends walking backwards,
which actually works.
I saw a significant painreduction just from walking
backwards.
Really, just do like a quarterof a mile, like two-tenths of a
mile, three times a week.
At first, when you do it, youfeel weird because it messes
(14:22):
with your balance and stuff.
After you do it for a week ortwo, your neurons rewire or
something and it feels just asnatural as walking forward.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
All right, I'm going to have to try that today.
Here's a question for you.
When you've been injured, I gotinto yoga and I started doing
some boxing at Title Boxing.
Did you check out alternativeexercises and workouts, cause I
know you mentioned CrossFitearlier.
Did you explore yoga?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
No, I, I used to do balance with both.
It just became so expensive.
But I used to do a CrossFit andBikram yoga.
I loved the hot yoga studio.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And I felt like that really helped me with core.
Yoga is pretty amazing for thatand you know if you're really
going to be doing a lot ofintense exercise.
I think balancing it with ayoga routine is probably one of
the best things you could do.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Speaking of Bikram, we used to go to the studio in
Chicago and one time my bestfriend and I went at lunchtime
and you know, and you get in theroom it's hotter than hell and
we're laying on the mat talkingand we're getting shh by all
these people because it's such asacred space and I'm like I'll
just talk to you afterwards.
I think I used to do 60 to 90minutes.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, it's a 90 minuteminute session.
I did their 30-day challengeand then I stopped.
Where you go every day, I saw ahuge, huge flexibility
improvement.
It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Well, you know what I have?
Natural Bikram yoga.
If I go outside my house whenit's 100 plus in the summer,
there you go.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You got to love this in the summer.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
There you go.
You got to love this.
Oh, I know, right.
Well, you know you and I'vetalked about this offline.
I think I'm going to take theplunge and do a Spartan next
year with you and Wendy.
Are you prepping for that now?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, I'm kind of still on the rebound from the
knees.
I'm probably going to starttraining after the first of the
year I was able to get back onthe tonal.
Tonal was my fallback when Istopped CrossFit just from the
knee pain and that thing'spretty amazing and I might start
supplementing CrossFitexercises again, workouts again,
(16:40):
like my old gym.
They opened up a new facilitynear me, so that's kind of my
plan I think we're shooting for,like October, right For the
race.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
It's somewhere in the Dallas area.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, yeah, so we got about nine months.
I'm still too nervous to startrunning on this knee, but I'm
hoping to start venturing out.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I know what I wanted to ask you.
I am.
I love rock tape or KT tape.
Do you ever use that stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, that stuff's pretty.
My chiropractor puts it onwhenever I go.
It's pretty amazing how justlike, just like slight
adjustments in positioning canmake such a huge difference, you
know.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Isn't that crazy, I know, I learned about it from my
chiro as well.
I was again when I wastraveling 75%.
It's like let me tape up yourshoulder, Let me tape up your
knee or whatever, but that stuffis like magic.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, yeah.
I can never seem to apply it onmy own, the way that he can
over at the office, though.
I bought it on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Get on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, get on YouTube, get on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
But that's actually one of the things that the
physical therapist had me do,which is similar to what the
tape does is he showed me totake the kneecap and literally
dig right into it and then pullit up as hard as I can and hold
it there for like 60 seconds anddoing that a few times a day.
That made a very big differencein the knee pain too, which I
(18:10):
think is a similar mechanism tothe K-tape.
Right, you're kind ofrearranging the positioning of
the kneecap or some of themuscles around the knee.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
You're probably at your desk, a lot like many of us
are, and KT tape is good.
When you start getting thatshoulder pain, your neck, it's
just remarkable.
Go on YouTube and whatever areayou want to tape.
There's this demo there, andusually it takes a person
applying it for you, because I'mnot successful either if I do
it myself.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
No, that's great advice.
Yeah, that stuff's amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
How are you looking ahead into the next nine months?
Do you have any?
What is your guidance onstaying consistent?
Are you going to map things outon your phone?
Are you going to put things onpaper like a calendar?
Are you going to have any sortof discipline for the first of
the year?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
You know they say that that's really the only way
you know, and I've actually justordered a bullet journal
journal pocket journal.
I've been using bullet journalfor like three or four years now
and they just came out with apocket version that you could do
like recording your workouts.
I think I might use that.
The other piece is the tonalsystem's kind of cool because
(19:20):
you can just say, hey, I want todo a program around this for
the next four weeks and you hita button and it maps it all out
for you, gives you your workouts, does all the tracking on how
much you've lifted.
So so my plan is to kind of usethat as well in conjunction
with trying to tighten up mydiet.
I definitely need to drop someweight.
It's when you've spent a yearwhere you can't really do
(19:42):
anything too intense.
It's hard to keep the weightdown, especially when your
body's used to eating at thelevel it could eat when you were
doing CrossFit five days a week.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh gosh, when I was doing CrossFit in Chicago,
afterwards get two chickenbreasts, pitas, rice.
I was eating a lot.
Then when I was rowing, I hateto admit this, but I'd go to
Steak and Shake after rowing andget a double or triple burger
and a shake.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Can't do that anymore , though I think that you can
cheat because you're working out, but you really can't.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And you know something else Since I've
cleaned up my diet, I do feel alot better.
So if I'm eating really clean,I can tell that I'm not as
fatigued.
Does that make any sense?
Have you found that out as well?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Absolutely yeah.
I think most of the energyissues come from the way you're
eating.
You got to get the right diet.
For me, I've noticed that Ijust can't eat carbs.
Carbs destroy my energy levels.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
They bloat me as well .
So one of the things we've beendoing around our house is we
make our own homemade chipotlebowls, which I think is really
good because we can control theportion size.
And when I look back, you know,on TikTok people are having
these eating challenges size.
And when I look back, you knowon TikTok people are having
these eating challenges and I'mthinking man, how did I, how did
I eat this big plate of riceand beans and meat and cheese
(21:00):
and guacamole and sour cream?
I don't know how I did it.
What do you like to eat?
Because I know over here we dochicken, we do vegetables, but
that's it.
We're not exciting at allvegetables.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
But that's it.
We're not exciting at all.
I am really into eggs.
I eat a lot of eggs for myprotein.
I started ordering MomentousWhey Protein.
I really try to shoot for that.
One gram of protein per poundof goal weight, trying to get to
about 180 grams of protein aday, which is actually really,
(21:33):
really hard to do.
So it's kind of a good goal tojust prioritize your eating
around hitting that protein goal.
There's a guy, dr Ted Naiman,really into this satiety per
calorie concept, which I thinkis brilliant, and the satiety
retired from protein trumpseverything else.
(21:53):
So if you can just say, hey,this is my protein goal every
day, um, I'm going to make surethat everything I do and eat is
focused around hitting that goal, and then you can maybe even
think about cheating after youhit the goal.
But at that point you know youprobably don't feel like eating
anymore point.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
You know you probably don't feel like eating anymore.
So that's kind of my approach.
I started over COVID.
I started with this proteincalled Upnourish and they're
kind of like a cachava becauseI'm like, oh, let me try that.
And then I was looking atalternatives.
It's a plant-based protein.
It has adaptogens and I feelreally energetic afterwards.
It's natural plant protein.
Up nourish we do the chocolateand that's been.
(22:36):
That's been really good.
And when you talk about likeeating a lot, I don't know if
you ever saw million dollar babywith Hillary Swank.
You should check it out.
I mean, she was.
She just molded her body intothe body of a fighter.
But she said that she got tiredof eating because of the
protein.
And I just thought of that.
When you were talking aboutprotein, she, she would have to
(22:57):
wake herself up to like eat.
And I'm like, nah, I'm notdoing that.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, it's really hard, you know.
I think um having someshortcuts to get there is
probably helpful.
But you know, for me it's likeum eating fruits, eating fruits
and vegetables.
You know, trying to do thatwith and also stay low sugar can
be hard on the on the fruitside, but you know it's probably
not that big of a deal in thegrand scheme of things.
(23:22):
I love grapes is a kind of ago-to for my sweets, and then
athletic greens.
I can't take that anymore.
It started causing me my skinwould just itch.
They change their formula, Iguess, fairly often, but doing
some type of a green, like agreen vibrance or athletic
greens or something like that,to kind of retire that need, I
(23:45):
think is a good approach as well.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Now, that's cool.
I think my treat these days aremacintosh apples because I like
that.
Yeah, yeah, I better, I betterscrounge them all up before they
go out of season.
Here let's talk about this.
How are you managing likestress and and burnout?
How are you taking a step backand saying, okay, you know, you
(24:12):
know what I got to do this, Igot to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
What am I doing Actually?
This year I really got morediligent about implementing a
meditation practice which Ithink really supports a lot of
that across the board.
I think I shared this with youthat what was that called?
Nsdr?
A Huberman NSDR you can do.
There's like a 20 minute onethat really helps with.
Just a Huberman NSDR.
There's a 20-minute one thatreally helps with if you didn't
(24:36):
get enough sleep.
But to fall asleep.
The first few times I did thatI literally fell asleep before I
was finished like a rock andslept all through the night.
I think to your point, when yougot a lot coming at you like
that, you really have to befocused on mindfulness and then
getting good quality sleep.
I try to prioritize that and Itrack it really well with the
(24:58):
Whoop band.
I just switched to the Whoopband in September.
Those are a couple of thingsI'm doing.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, I love meditation and the thing I love
about it is there's free contenton YouTube.
Meditation isn't always likesitting in a dark room.
You could meditate while you'rewalking.
But I get a lot of my ideas ifI just sit in silence and I,
reflecting back on this, Ialways had something in my ears,
I was always listening to musicor audio book, and I don't
(25:23):
think your brain has a chance torelax and provide you with
different concepts and differentthings, because I think now
when I sit in silence whetherthat's going for a walk I get
ideas.
I think you know what I shoulddo that, or I'll look at my day
and say, well, that's not reallythat bad.
You're making it a bigger dealthan it is.
But I do sleep at night withbinaural beats.
(25:45):
There's different frequenciesthat help different parts of the
body.
I'm into all that stuff now,shannon.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
No, I love the binaural beats.
I used to do that when I wasgoing to school and working,
because it's hard to shut offwork and you put on the
headphones, turn on the deepwork like binaural beats and
you're kind of in the zone.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
What's cool is there's all these different
frequencies for, like you said,studying, if you want to go to
sleep.
There's even one, and I wouldlove for you to try it.
I'd love to hear what yourthoughts are on this.
But there's one where, if youhave aches or pains in your body
, you can listen to that in yourears as you fall asleep, and a
lot of times I've woken up goingoh, I really feel good.
I don't know if it's a placeboeffect, but I do, from my
(26:26):
experience, recommend it becauseit works for me.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
You don't have to send me that Before we go any
movies, concerts, anythingcoming up here between now and
the first of the year.
I want to see that newGladiator film.
I hear it's good enough, but Iliked the first one.
That's kind of on my list.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Well, I was going to go see Taylor Swift one last
time in Canada, but I'm just notgoing to do it.
The logistics are not somethingI want to deal with.
It's next week in Vancouver.
I opted not to do that.
We are also looking at possiblyseeing Gladiator.
I'm going to take this time tojust decompress and do nothing.
Maybe I mean not saying I'm notdoing anything, but I don't
(27:09):
want to charge up my brain toomuch if that makes sense there's
a value to boredom.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I mean, we're just so not used to being bored anymore
and I think the mind is made tobe bored, and that's probably
one of the biggest issues withsocial media, to be honest with
you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I deleted my Facebook and with LinkedIn, I've taken
kind of a sabbatical Not that Ididn't want to post things, but
I wanted to take some time awayfrom it because I think there's
good and bad on social media.
There's the people that aredoing really well, which is
awesome, and then there's thepeople that are going through
the worst days of their life.
I don't want to get too intothe feelings of other people
(27:44):
right now because I'm reallymindful about social media.
I'm not on there as much as Iused to be, like a year ago, two
years ago.
I think that's smart.
Yeah, me too.
We've got some excitingepisodes coming up.
Shannon, glad to have youalongside me here as we record.
We really want to thank ourlisteners for all the wonderful
feedback.
(28:05):
We've seen a lot of downloadslately and we're looking forward
to next year.
Shannon, hopefully you'll besharing your Spartan race
journey with us.
I mean, maybe we can do a fewto get other people to want to
do it right.
Yeah, I really appreciate youhaving me on and being a part of
(28:27):
this or other things and talkwith other leaders and we could
get people going.
Hey, you know what?
It's not too late.
Wendy Bounds, as she saidthat's very inspirational to
have people on the show that cantalk about their experiences
and motivate other people.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Totally agree.
Two one Thanks everybody forlistening.
You can find us on all thestreaming platforms, including
Apple, Spotify and our heartradio.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Thank you and everybody have a great holiday.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Tech Exec Wellness Podcast.
I'm Melissa, I'm Shannon.
We would like to have aconversation with you about
working out maybe some injuriesthat you're trying to overcome
and just some different waysthat we, personally, have been
able to kind of push throughWith that being said, shannon, I
(00:21):
know that you've had an injuryand you've had some issues going
on Would you like to share withthe listeners kind of what your
journey's been like?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think it's a good topic, youknow, I think for me it was, you
know, really trying to bereally, I'd say, active and then
combining that with maybe alittle bit too much going on at
work.
You know, and I think that wasreally my tipping point, which
was an interesting connectionfor me in the months that
followed my injury.
So I was doing obstacle courseracing, I was doing a Spartan in
(00:50):
, I think, Palmerton,Pennsylvania.
It was a really, reallydifficult course.
I'd been having some challengeswith my knee but I really put
it over the top on that skislope and it just kept getting
progressively worse for monthsand at the same time I had taken
a lot more responsibility atwork and quadrupled my workload
and I think it affected sleep,and then it just became like a
(01:11):
tailspin, which I think itreally speaks to the importance
of having good balance and beingaware that there's going to be
some ripple, some side effectsthere if you're not paying close
attention to what your bodyneeds.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, I would agree with that.
And I don't know about you,Shannon, but I feel I was a high
school college athlete andplayed soccer and rugby on the
side when I was in the military.
I don't know about you, but Istill have the mindset of a
20-something-year-old and I'lltry and go all out and I have
found that I succumb to injuryall the time.
I mean, do you ever think likethat, Like I can take a week off
(01:45):
, two weeks off, and I can justgo back at it?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, I mean there's that.
And then just not pushingyourself too hard.
I mean it was pretty easy whenI was more active at CrossFit
Box to try to keep up and Itried to intentionally tell
(02:10):
myself, because my mom keptreminding me that I was.
She kept telling me I was tooold for this.
You break 40, you have to bereally careful about now, you
know, just not overdoing it.
Maybe maybe not hitting threeto five workouts a week.
Maybe maybe you need to do fivedays spacing between the
workouts and slow down.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I know when we had Wendy Bounds on the show, I
thought that was incredible totalk about beginning your
Spartan training journey, youknow, at 50 after 50.
And I think from what I'veheard from some of our listeners
is that gave them a whole newmindset.
I think I'm going to take aslow approach to it so I can
compete next year with you andWendy, but I'm also going to
(02:39):
pace myself.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, I think pacing yourself is really good And's
not something that you need to.
You know, what do they say asfar as winning the race?
Right, like that old analogy,you know, I think you just need
to make sure that you just staythat youth mindset.
Well, let me ask you this whenyou have been injured.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
What type of alternative workouts are you
doing?
I'd like to hear and like toshare mine as well.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Actually I've really gotten into just the concept of
rucking as kind of a nicefallback.
And there's a lot of researchout there that one of the big
differentiators for the humanform is our ability to carry.
We were kind of made to carryheavy weight for long distances.
It's just a unique adaptation,if you will, on just the way
(03:32):
that we're structured and thebody seems to respond really
really well to this approach.
So putting on a weighted vestor a backpack on your back and
just walking, walking, for youknow, even short distances, but
a nice long rock with some hills, I think does, does a lot of
good.
And you know, for me like Ican't run anymore without my
(03:54):
knee just blowing right up fromsome of the injuries.
So being able to take it easyand still having some level of
exertion there's a lot.
You know Michael Easter's onethat's written a lot about this.
He's got a good sub stack andbig, big proponent of of rucking
.
You've got the go ruck movementout there that I think would be
a good look for for listeners.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Can you tell me how you got into rucking?
I know that you mentionedMichael Easter We've talked
about him before and love to gethim on the show, by the way but
could you maybe tell me, andeverybody listening, how do I
get into that?
What are the first steps I wantto take and, I guess, what are
some of the advantages of it?
When you take that vest off orthat heavy weight off, what does
it do for the body?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So I think, first of all, it's easy because just even
if you don't have equipment,most people have a backpack
laying around, right, so justput a backpack on Run into the
airport.
Throw in some weight into it,right, you could put rocks in it
, you could put some books in it.
I mean, start light and justkeep increasing it.
I had my kids.
(04:56):
I think I got into it actually,because my kids got a go-ruck
vest for me for Father's Dayseveral years ago.
A go-ruck vest for me forFather's Day several years ago,
and I don't know if that wasbefore or after.
I stumbled on Michael Easter'ssub stack about it.
But what does it do for you?
I think you know.
First of all, for sure it helpswith core strength and
(05:17):
stability, but it also just, Ithink, has a general therapeutic
effect, and I'm probably notthe best one to go into details
on it, but yeah, so I have aweighted vest and before I had a
sinus infection.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
I don't get them as often as I used to, but I was
wearing a weighted vest to runon my treadmill and I was like,
man, this is really hard.
But I think you've inspired meover these next few days the
holidays here that I'm going toput that vest on, put a hoodie
on over it and maybe just gowalk around my neighborhood and
get back into the swing ofthings.
I think that's awesome and I'mgoing to get this episode out as
(05:58):
soon as possible.
So I want to give people anidea.
Maybe there's a Black Fridaysale somewhere or something.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Yeah.
Yeah, there's a few companiesout there.
I'm drawing a blank on some ofthe others, but Michael Easter's
, sponsored by GoRuck, so that'sthe one that I've got on my
mind.
I think it is probably betterto walk than run, just for the
impact on the knees, you know,when you've got extra weight on
it.
Also, you know it helps you toreally appreciate the damage
that being overweight brings too, because you realize, wow, like
(06:29):
I've got this 30 pounds, I will.
If you're 30 pounds overweight,you're, you're putting that
pressure on your body every day,all the time, you know.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
I've mentioned this in other episodes, but there was
a time when I started at thefruit company and I was
traveling a lot and, kind oflike you were saying earlier,
your workload increases by thetime you you're at O'Hare
airport.
You think your flight's goingto take off on time.
You think you're going to getto Detroit at three o'clock,
which leaves you some time toget a workout in before you meet
(07:01):
with your customers when I wasgoing out to dinner with them.
But what I found is a lot oftimes the flights out of the
Midwest are delayed either toweather or traffic, and what
happens is is it delays yourwhole day.
Let's say I get back intoDetroit at like seven o'clock.
I run straight from the hotelto the dinner.
I'm sitting on the plane,sitting on the Hertz bus,
(07:22):
sitting in the rental car,sitting at dinner.
That's where a lot of my weightcame from.
And now I'm very mindful aboutwhat I'm eating, what I'm doing,
and I think with some of theguests, including yourself, I've
really learned to be mindfulabout what it is I'm doing and
making sure that I take time outfor myself.
When you wrap all those thingsin there, that's where the
weight gain comes in right whenyou just it's piling on and
(07:44):
you're.
What are you going to do atthat point?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yeah, I think there's another element too of the
value of rucking and gettingoutside, because you know it's
interesting.
I just started some physicaltherapy on the knee after I got
stem cell therapy down and atCPI and that's been a pretty big
game changer.
The therapist had pointed outbecause I had just I kind of
(08:06):
bragging that I had gotten anunder the desk treadmill and
he's like you know, I'd reallyrather you just go outside and
get in nature and walk up there,just because there's so much
evidence that being in nature isvery healing in and of itself
brings down anxiety.
I'd say get moving but alsoincorporate getting into the
(08:27):
green outdoors.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I 100% believe that.
I know where I live.
We have so many trees aroundand I really like the trees.
I hate to admit this, but I'm abird watcher.
Now I'm not bringing outbinoculars or anything like that
, but I'm identifying birds.
Who would have thought thatsomebody that was into heavy
metal, edm, hard rock concertswould be?
Wow, look, it's a Cardinal,it's a Blue Jay, right?
(08:50):
Can we talk about your stemcell?
I'd really like to know why youdecided to get it and what was
the experience and how are youfeeling after.
Do you mind going through that?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, absolutely, because I mean to me it was a
game changer.
I really got inspired after wetalked to Wendy right, and I
think I said this on thatpodcast that she really
encouraged me and said you know,she had sent me this email and
she said you're going to do aSpartan again, we're going to do
it together.
And I was like kind of thecliche in her book right, like
you get an injury in your midforties and you just think, oh,
(09:21):
this is just what getting old isand I'm just going to have to
accept this.
And after we had left thatconversation I was like no, I'm
going to recommit here.
So I started doing some researchbecause the pain was pretty
chronic, like I couldn't do anyworkouts without just I wouldn't
be able to walk for dayswithout putting.
I could hardly put weight onthe knee.
So I thought it was pretty muchtoast, I'd gotten an MRI.
(09:42):
So I thought it was pretty muchtoast, I'd gotten an MRI.
A surgeon said well, I've seenworse knees, but really the only
thing I could do is a full kneereplacement.
It doesn't look that bad.
So I was kind of in this weirdspace where the only thing that
traditional medicine wasoffering was to me pretty
drastic.
But I was in a reallyintolerable spot.
I went and talked to an oldCrossFit coach.
I said, hey, I've been hearingabout stem cells and he was just
(10:10):
like, look, I've heard too manysuccess stories.
I think it works.
And so my mom had heard on theRogan podcast him mentioned CPI.
I reached out to them and theywere relatively local to me I
could drive to Tijuana,basically.
So I finally, you know, footedthe bill, went down.
You obviously have to pay forit out of pocket, but it was an
incredible experience.
I mean from the moment I gotthere, meeting people that were
(10:31):
there for their follow-ups, justraving about how it saved their
surgery.
There's a lot of athletes downthere and I will say for me
within almost immediately, liketwo days after the injection in
my knees, like the pain wasalmost completely gone.
It was.
It was literally shocking howfast.
(10:51):
Yeah, but it's a.
It's a.
It's a 90 day journey, uh,where you can't work out after.
You have to really treat itlike a surgery.
Let the stem cells get in thereand start doing their work and
building tissue.
Um, so I came out of the 90days.
They want you to start physicaltherapy and I would say one
thing in retrospect I don'tthink I'd given the credit that
(11:12):
physical therapy is really due.
I think my experiences with it,my limited experiences in my
early 20s, I chalked it up tobeing a waste of time.
But I found a guy here inFullerton California.
I've been working with him forabout six weeks.
I honestly almost wish I haddone that first, just because of
what a profound impact he had.
(11:34):
I'm still glad I did the stemcells because there's a huge
therapeutic benefit, holistic,systemic benefit as well, that
of the journey.
In a nutshell, I had kneesurgery.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
I was running every day and the thing I would advise
anybody is you have toincorporate some sort of
strength training.
You have to have muscles aroundthose hands and quads to
support the knee.
I'm just out there runningaround and having a good time.
Well, I went to make a pivot tocatch the person carrying the
ball flag football and I endedup tearing my meniscus.
(12:09):
At first I'm like, oh, I justsprained it because I played
soccer and rugby all my life, soI didn't think it was a big
deal and the thing just swelledup like crazy.
I got into the emergency roommy friend had taken me there
after the game and they did ax-ray like oh yeah, you tore it,
they wrapped me up and backthen this was what 2009.
It was really hard to get into agood surgeon.
(12:32):
I don't know if you'veexperienced this, but there's a
long wait time.
It wasn't like you could getsomething done in like two weeks
.
I had a friend of mine who hadsome connections and I actually
had my surgery performed by theChicago Bears doctor, Mark Bowen
, and a lot of people I'vetalked to have had to have
multiple surgeries because thefirst one wasn't successful.
(12:52):
Dr Bowen did an excellent job,and I was literally in physical
therapy the following week andthat's where a lot of strength
training was incorporated, andI'll never take that for granted
.
I'm very, very mindful ofmaking sure that I'm lifting
weights because it's so easy forthose injuries to happen if
your muscle isn't tight enoughto connect to the bone.
(13:14):
Not that I'm a doctor oranything and I'm not giving any
advice, but that's been myexperience.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah, no, I think there's so much there.
That's actually what I wasdealing with was meniscus tears
as well, and I think theretrospective piece for me was
just messing around.
On YouTube found a good videofrom a doctor and what was very
insightful to me about meniscustears is something like 80% of
(13:40):
meniscus tears present nosymptoms.
They're completely asymptomatic, and so the value of physical
therapy, weight training,resistance training is a primary
approach before surgery I hadnever even thought of.
I thought that if you had atear you're doomed to pain,
which is not necessarily true,and there's a guy out there
(14:01):
called Knees Over Toe Guy and herecommends walking backwards,
which actually works.
I saw a significant painreduction just from walking
backwards.
Really, just do like a quarterof a mile, like two-tenths of a
mile, three times a week.
At first, when you do it, youfeel weird because it messes
(14:22):
with your balance and stuff.
After you do it for a week ortwo, your neurons rewire or
something and it feels just asnatural as walking forward.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
All right, I'm going to have to try that today.
Here's a question for you.
When you've been injured, I gotinto yoga and I started doing
some boxing at Title Boxing.
Did you check out alternativeexercises and workouts, cause I
know you mentioned CrossFitearlier.
Did you explore yoga?
Speaker 2 (14:51):
No, I, I used to do balance with both.
It just became so expensive.
But I used to do a CrossFit andBikram yoga.
I loved the hot yoga studio.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
And I felt like that really helped me with core.
Yoga is pretty amazing for thatand you know if you're really
going to be doing a lot ofintense exercise.
I think balancing it with ayoga routine is probably one of
the best things you could do.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Speaking of Bikram, we used to go to the studio in
Chicago and one time my bestfriend and I went at lunchtime
and you know, and you get in theroom it's hotter than hell and
we're laying on the mat talkingand we're getting shh by all
these people because it's such asacred space and I'm like I'll
just talk to you afterwards.
I think I used to do 60 to 90minutes.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, it's a 90 minuteminute session.
I did their 30-day challengeand then I stopped.
Where you go every day, I saw ahuge, huge flexibility
improvement.
It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Well, you know what I have?
Natural Bikram yoga.
If I go outside my house whenit's 100 plus in the summer,
there you go.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You got to love this in the summer.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
There you go.
You got to love this.
Oh, I know, right.
Well, you know you and I'vetalked about this offline.
I think I'm going to take theplunge and do a Spartan next
year with you and Wendy.
Are you prepping for that now?
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Well, I'm kind of still on the rebound from the
knees.
I'm probably going to starttraining after the first of the
year I was able to get back onthe tonal.
Tonal was my fallback when Istopped CrossFit just from the
knee pain and that thing'spretty amazing and I might start
supplementing CrossFitexercises again, workouts again,
(16:40):
like my old gym.
They opened up a new facilitynear me, so that's kind of my
plan I think we're shooting for,like October, right For the
race.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
It's somewhere in the Dallas area.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, yeah, so we got about nine months.
I'm still too nervous to startrunning on this knee, but I'm
hoping to start venturing out.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
I know what I wanted to ask you.
I am.
I love rock tape or KT tape.
Do you ever use that stuff?
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, that stuff's pretty.
My chiropractor puts it onwhenever I go.
It's pretty amazing how justlike, just like slight
adjustments in positioning canmake such a huge difference, you
know.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Isn't that crazy, I know, I learned about it from my
chiro as well.
I was again when I wastraveling 75%.
It's like let me tape up yourshoulder, Let me tape up your
knee or whatever, but that stuffis like magic.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Yeah, yeah.
I can never seem to apply it onmy own, the way that he can
over at the office, though.
I bought it on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Get on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, get on YouTube, get on YouTube.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
But that's actually one of the things that the
physical therapist had me do,which is similar to what the
tape does is he showed me totake the kneecap and literally
dig right into it and then pullit up as hard as I can and hold
it there for like 60 seconds anddoing that a few times a day.
That made a very big differencein the knee pain too, which I
(18:10):
think is a similar mechanism tothe K-tape.
Right, you're kind ofrearranging the positioning of
the kneecap or some of themuscles around the knee.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
You're probably at your desk, a lot like many of us
are, and KT tape is good.
When you start getting thatshoulder pain, your neck, it's
just remarkable.
Go on YouTube and whatever areayou want to tape.
There's this demo there, andusually it takes a person
applying it for you, because I'mnot successful either if I do
it myself.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
No, that's great advice.
Yeah, that stuff's amazing.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
How are you looking ahead into the next nine months?
Do you have any?
What is your guidance onstaying consistent?
Are you going to map things outon your phone?
Are you going to put things onpaper like a calendar?
Are you going to have any sortof discipline for the first of
the year?
Speaker 2 (18:59):
You know they say that that's really the only way
you know, and I've actually justordered a bullet journal
journal pocket journal.
I've been using bullet journalfor like three or four years now
and they just came out with apocket version that you could do
like recording your workouts.
I think I might use that.
The other piece is the tonalsystem's kind of cool because
(19:20):
you can just say, hey, I want todo a program around this for
the next four weeks and you hita button and it maps it all out
for you, gives you your workouts, does all the tracking on how
much you've lifted.
So so my plan is to kind of usethat as well in conjunction
with trying to tighten up mydiet.
I definitely need to drop someweight.
It's when you've spent a yearwhere you can't really do
(19:42):
anything too intense.
It's hard to keep the weightdown, especially when your
body's used to eating at thelevel it could eat when you were
doing CrossFit five days a week.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Oh gosh, when I was doing CrossFit in Chicago,
afterwards get two chickenbreasts, pitas, rice.
I was eating a lot.
Then when I was rowing, I hateto admit this, but I'd go to
Steak and Shake after rowing andget a double or triple burger
and a shake.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
Can't do that anymore , though I think that you can
cheat because you're working out, but you really can't.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And you know something else Since I've
cleaned up my diet, I do feel alot better.
So if I'm eating really clean,I can tell that I'm not as
fatigued.
Does that make any sense?
Have you found that out as well?
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Absolutely yeah.
I think most of the energyissues come from the way you're
eating.
You got to get the right diet.
For me, I've noticed that Ijust can't eat carbs.
Carbs destroy my energy levels.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
They bloat me as well .
So one of the things we've beendoing around our house is we
make our own homemade chipotlebowls, which I think is really
good because we can control theportion size.
And when I look back, you know,on TikTok people are having
these eating challenges size.
And when I look back, you knowon TikTok people are having
these eating challenges and I'mthinking man, how did I, how did
I eat this big plate of riceand beans and meat and cheese
(21:00):
and guacamole and sour cream?
I don't know how I did it.
What do you like to eat?
Because I know over here we dochicken, we do vegetables, but
that's it.
We're not exciting at allvegetables.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
But that's it.
We're not exciting at all.
I am really into eggs.
I eat a lot of eggs for myprotein.
I started ordering MomentousWhey Protein.
I really try to shoot for that.
One gram of protein per poundof goal weight, trying to get to
about 180 grams of protein aday, which is actually really,
(21:33):
really hard to do.
So it's kind of a good goal tojust prioritize your eating
around hitting that protein goal.
There's a guy, dr Ted Naiman,really into this satiety per
calorie concept, which I thinkis brilliant, and the satiety
retired from protein trumpseverything else.
(21:53):
So if you can just say, hey,this is my protein goal every
day, um, I'm going to make surethat everything I do and eat is
focused around hitting that goal, and then you can maybe even
think about cheating after youhit the goal.
But at that point you know youprobably don't feel like eating
anymore point.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
You know you probably don't feel like eating anymore.
So that's kind of my approach.
I started over COVID.
I started with this proteincalled Upnourish and they're
kind of like a cachava becauseI'm like, oh, let me try that.
And then I was looking atalternatives.
It's a plant-based protein.
It has adaptogens and I feelreally energetic afterwards.
It's natural plant protein.
Up nourish we do the chocolateand that's been.
(22:36):
That's been really good.
And when you talk about likeeating a lot, I don't know if
you ever saw million dollar babywith Hillary Swank.
You should check it out.
I mean, she was.
She just molded her body intothe body of a fighter.
But she said that she got tiredof eating because of the
protein.
And I just thought of that.
When you were talking aboutprotein, she, she would have to
(22:57):
wake herself up to like eat.
And I'm like, nah, I'm notdoing that.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, it's really hard, you know.
I think um having someshortcuts to get there is
probably helpful.
But you know, for me it's likeum eating fruits, eating fruits
and vegetables.
You know, trying to do thatwith and also stay low sugar can
be hard on the on the fruitside, but you know it's probably
not that big of a deal in thegrand scheme of things.
(23:22):
I love grapes is a kind of ago-to for my sweets, and then
athletic greens.
I can't take that anymore.
It started causing me my skinwould just itch.
They change their formula, Iguess, fairly often, but doing
some type of a green, like agreen vibrance or athletic
greens or something like that,to kind of retire that need, I
(23:45):
think is a good approach as well.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Now, that's cool.
I think my treat these days aremacintosh apples because I like
that.
Yeah, yeah, I better, I betterscrounge them all up before they
go out of season.
Here let's talk about this.
How are you managing likestress and and burnout?
How are you taking a step backand saying, okay, you know, you
(24:12):
know what I got to do this, Igot to do that.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
What am I doing Actually?
This year I really got morediligent about implementing a
meditation practice which Ithink really supports a lot of
that across the board.
I think I shared this with youthat what was that called?
Nsdr?
A Huberman NSDR you can do.
There's like a 20 minute onethat really helps with.
Just a Huberman NSDR.
There's a 20-minute one thatreally helps with if you didn't
(24:36):
get enough sleep.
But to fall asleep.
The first few times I did thatI literally fell asleep before I
was finished like a rock andslept all through the night.
I think to your point, when yougot a lot coming at you like
that, you really have to befocused on mindfulness and then
getting good quality sleep.
I try to prioritize that and Itrack it really well with the
(24:58):
Whoop band.
I just switched to the Whoopband in September.
Those are a couple of thingsI'm doing.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, I love meditation and the thing I love
about it is there's free contenton YouTube.
Meditation isn't always likesitting in a dark room.
You could meditate while you'rewalking.
But I get a lot of my ideas ifI just sit in silence and I,
reflecting back on this, Ialways had something in my ears,
I was always listening to musicor audio book, and I don't
(25:23):
think your brain has a chance torelax and provide you with
different concepts and differentthings, because I think now
when I sit in silence whetherthat's going for a walk I get
ideas.
I think you know what I shoulddo that, or I'll look at my day
and say, well, that's not reallythat bad.
You're making it a bigger dealthan it is.
But I do sleep at night withbinaural beats.
(25:45):
There's different frequenciesthat help different parts of the
body.
I'm into all that stuff now,shannon.
Speaker 2 (25:55):
No, I love the binaural beats.
I used to do that when I wasgoing to school and working,
because it's hard to shut offwork and you put on the
headphones, turn on the deepwork like binaural beats and
you're kind of in the zone.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
What's cool is there's all these different
frequencies for, like you said,studying, if you want to go to
sleep.
There's even one, and I wouldlove for you to try it.
I'd love to hear what yourthoughts are on this.
But there's one where, if youhave aches or pains in your body
, you can listen to that in yourears as you fall asleep, and a
lot of times I've woken up goingoh, I really feel good.
I don't know if it's a placeboeffect, but I do, from my
(26:26):
experience, recommend it becauseit works for me.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
You don't have to send me that Before we go any
movies, concerts, anythingcoming up here between now and
the first of the year.
I want to see that newGladiator film.
I hear it's good enough, but Iliked the first one.
That's kind of on my list.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Well, I was going to go see Taylor Swift one last
time in Canada, but I'm just notgoing to do it.
The logistics are not somethingI want to deal with.
It's next week in Vancouver.
I opted not to do that.
We are also looking at possiblyseeing Gladiator.
I'm going to take this time tojust decompress and do nothing.
Maybe I mean not saying I'm notdoing anything, but I don't
(27:09):
want to charge up my brain toomuch if that makes sense there's
a value to boredom.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I mean, we're just so not used to being bored anymore
and I think the mind is made tobe bored, and that's probably
one of the biggest issues withsocial media, to be honest with
you.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I deleted my Facebook and with LinkedIn, I've taken
kind of a sabbatical Not that Ididn't want to post things, but
I wanted to take some time awayfrom it because I think there's
good and bad on social media.
There's the people that aredoing really well, which is
awesome, and then there's thepeople that are going through
the worst days of their life.
I don't want to get too intothe feelings of other people
(27:44):
right now because I'm reallymindful about social media.
I'm not on there as much as Iused to be, like a year ago, two
years ago.
I think that's smart.
Yeah, me too.
We've got some excitingepisodes coming up.
Shannon, glad to have youalongside me here as we record.
We really want to thank ourlisteners for all the wonderful
feedback.
(28:05):
We've seen a lot of downloadslately and we're looking forward
to next year.
Shannon, hopefully you'll besharing your Spartan race
journey with us.
I mean, maybe we can do a fewto get other people to want to
do it right.
Yeah, I really appreciate youhaving me on and being a part of
(28:27):
this or other things and talkwith other leaders and we could
get people going.
Hey, you know what?
It's not too late.
Wendy Bounds, as she saidthat's very inspirational to
have people on the show that cantalk about their experiences
and motivate other people.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Totally agree.
Two one Thanks everybody forlistening.
You can find us on all thestreaming platforms, including
Apple, Spotify and our heartradio.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Thank you and everybody have a great holiday.
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