February 29, 2024 • 30 mins
Ever wondered how a five-year-old can set the stage for a lifetime of success? Discover the remarkable journey of John Bezera, a national champion wrestler and BMX racer turned personal trainer, actor, and entrepreneur. John’s narrative is not only a testament to the power of hard work but also a blueprint for turning sheer grit into glory. His personal stories of early entrepreneurial ventures, coupled with heartwarming lessons from his grandfather, demonstrate that success isn't exclusively for the naturally talented—it's available to anyone willing to put in the work.
This episode isn't only about looking back; it's about moving forward, especially as we hit our 40s and beyond. Learn how to kickstart your health and wellness journey with practical, incremental changes that lead to monumental gains. As John shares his insights on how to navigate the flood of fitness information and tailor it to our individual needs post-40, you'll find yourself equipped to build lasting habits one step at a time. Get ready to meet the man who can guide you through a transformative fitness journey and introduce you to the exciting world of social media monetization, with a special spotlight on his upcoming projects tailored for the over-40 crowd.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome back to the little metal
unfiltered podcast.
I'm your host, Charlie Shaw,and I'm delighted to have you
join us again for anothercaptivating episode.
Today, our special guest isJohn Bezera, and he has an
inspiring topic lined up tomotivate and uplift you.
Your ongoing engagement andcommitment to our show means the
(00:24):
world to us.
We really appreciate the timeyou spent with us each week and
we're thrilled to have you hereonce again.
Without further ado, let'sembark on a journey and
inspiration and discoverytogether, John, thanks for
coming on the show.
Thanks for coming on the show,yeah man my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Thank you for having me All right.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Hey folks, let me tell you about Mr Bezera.
He's a celebrity to the stars,best-selling author, regular
actor on the show Sons ofAnarchy, and he's been in the
personal training arena for over37 years.
That's a big accomplishment foryou, man.
(01:07):
You want to tell us more aboutyourself.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's a long time and, like we talked about before
, every time I say I've beendoing this 37 years, I date
myself a little bit, but yeah,my story is.
I mean, I guess it's maybeinspiring, but I've just been
very lucky to have great peoplearound me.
I started as a young man, atage five, being an entrepreneur,
(01:37):
and that was.
I wanted a bike.
I wanted this bike in this toystore and, being a five-year-old
, I was with my grandpa.
He was my role model mentor andwe went into this toy store and
I threw a temper tantrum.
I wanted that bike and I feltthat that's the quickest way to
get it.
But after my butt got healedfrom getting whipped so much on
(02:02):
the way home, he made aproposition to me.
He told me help me get the bike.
He'll pay me 25 cents a day, orwhatever it was back then, to
help him out in the afternoonafter kindergarten.
Then I realized at that rate itwas going to take me maybe till
my sophomore year in college toput the money together.
(02:24):
You were able to do that math,yeah, and I wanted it.
Now we're close to the same agebut I'll date us a little bit.
We didn't have the video gamesand things.
We had marbles.
That's how well they weremarbles.
They weren't rock, so I mean weweren't a complete stone age.
(02:46):
But I bought a bag of thesemarbles for $0.99, and there was
the big clear boulders, thebigger ones in there.
I figured everybody wantedthose at school.
So I went to school and tookthat $0.99 bag of marbles and
turned it into about $5 realquick.
That lasted about two days.
(03:06):
And then I got, you know, hauledinto the principal's office
because apparently they didn'tlike a free enterprise back then
.
And I come to find out mymother and I had the same
principal and she got in trouble18 years prior for selling
cookies.
So I guess theentrepreneurship's in the blood
(03:27):
runs in the family.
But that was my first.
I mean it's business in a sense.
But it also trickles down intothe success I had in sports.
And yeah, you know, and that wasone of those things where you
(03:48):
know my grandfather, he helpedme as much as he could.
But the rule he had was I'llsupport you in whatever you want
to do and we'll get you thebest coaches, the best schools,
but you have to work harder thaneverybody else.
And he was very adamant aboutthat and he said, right out of
(04:09):
the bat, he goes.
And my first was I startedwrestling at five and then I
started also a tight quando atfive and he said show up a half
hour early to practice, stay ahalf hour late.
And that was the rule, you know.
And the second, I showed nointerest, didn't want to go,
(04:29):
didn't feel good, I got pulled.
So the work ethic was just kindof instilled in there from my
grandpa.
So I owe him like all thecredit in the world.
But what that mentality turnedin.
And I got to tell you I was notthe biggest, strongest,
smartest, fastest kid.
(04:50):
I was average and probablyquite a bit below average, to be
honest.
And you hear some of the topathletes talk about you know, um
, being born with it be having agift for it, being a natural.
Uh, those aren't the peoplethat usually make it to the top.
(05:10):
It's usually the hardest workerin the room.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Well, I'm glad, I'm glad you brought that up.
Yeah, I said I'm glad that youbrought that up because, you
know, not everybody's going tobe the best, but they got to put
in the work to get thereAbsolutely and go ahead please.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We don't.
We don't, you know, I don'tthink, naturally, I don't think
it's something that we're bornwith, where we just want to work
Because it would have been alot easier just to kind of, you
know, sit around the house andeat Twinkies and and ding dongs
and watch cartoons.
Right, yeah, yes, sir.
(05:50):
Um, yeah, you're alsobodybuilder, right, yeah, I was.
So yeah, I.
You know it's kind of crazy.
You usually get stuck in asport and I, for some reason, I
just chose all the sports wherethere wasn't really an income,
(06:10):
you know, and that was wrestling.
I was fortunate enough to winthree national titles in
wrestling.
That was kind of the love, thesport that I love more than
anything and that got me college, degree and everything.
So I'm thankful for it.
But there's no, there's no prowrestling.
You know there's the one on TV,but that's not the wrestling
(06:30):
you know, like collegiatewrestling, yes, um, and then it
and uh, software.
A senior in high school startedracing BMX, you know bicycle,
motocross, and at 17, I uh won anational title in that.
And then, kind of college isdone.
I'm an adult, I want to dosomething physical and I ended
(06:55):
up doing just like a hard bodycontest with my roommate at the
time and he talked me into doinga bodybuilding show and the
rest is history.
I won the nationals andbodybuilding in 1996 turn pro,
and so, yeah, I won fivenational titles and three sports
as a uh under sized, uh, lessthan, you know, average human
(07:23):
being.
So anything's possible.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Anything's possible, and that's what I wanted to hear
.
Okay, Mm hmm, um.
So, with that being said, we Iwas telling you about my show
and uh, and we talked and yousaid that, uh, you can probably
give some, give some peopleadvice on how to take care of
(07:45):
themselves, diet, so for and um,our topic today is going to be
how you help men and women over40 get, get into and stay in
shape.
Could you tell us about your,your training, that you set up
training for folks?
Could you tell us a little bitabout that?
Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
So, and it's very, it's an important topic.
It's.
Fitness is one of those rarethings.
We'll call it a thing where youknow you're here in life.
In life, um, when you talkabout cells, you know what
motivates you, what's your why,um, why you do it.
But fitness, if you look at itfrom a consumer's perspective
(08:30):
someone looking to get in shapeit's a need and a and a want.
Okay, so we want to look better,we want to feel better, but we
need to, because to be, quitefrankly, over 40, it can be life
and death, and you know not toget dark or anything, but most
of the men that have heartattacks is in the range from 47
(08:53):
to 63.
That's just when there's themost inflammation internally.
That's when you really got tolook at your, your blood work.
You have to look at yourlifestyle and you've got to
realize, like you know, at thispoint, you know, whatever I did
the first 40 years, I have tocompensate the next 40.
Right, so you know not to belike morbid or anything, but we
(09:17):
just really mess ourselves upwhen we're younger, you know we
take too many risks.
Some of us may be partying toomuch, drinking, you know,
whatever it may be not gettingadequate amount of sleep, eating
really bad.
Um, even when you're doing, uh,athletic sports or weight
training, whatever it may be,there's a lot of high risk stuff
(09:37):
.
So when you get over 40, youstart feeling those things Right
.
Um, when I worked with somebodyand I've worked with, I've been
very fortunate, I've worked witha lot of movie stars, hall of
fame athletes Again, just I wasin the right place at the right
time, got the right connectionand I'm very blessed to have
(09:57):
done that.
But when you're dealing withthat clientele, you have to
perform, you know, as a trainer,a coach, to a higher level and
you know these are peopleactually getting paid because
they need to look a certain wayat a short period of time or
perform, perform a certain way.
Two of my clients this weekendare going to be playing in the
(10:20):
pickleball challenge, pickleballslam to I'm that's on the
magazine stephie graph there tomy client.
So there you know, 50 plus now,and the way we train now versus
when they train when they wereyounger, is completely different
.
So when I address somebody,whether they are in great shape
(10:41):
or not, I treat them as ifthere's issues, you know.
So we don't do any high riskweight training.
We make sure that diet sitsthere, lifestyle but also
looking at blood work, you know,and as a coach, seeing all this
data really helps me to put agood program together.
So the basic stuff, like a oneC, cholesterol, blood, you know
(11:06):
all that stuff.
But then even a step further,we start getting hormone
deficiencies at this age, ohyeah.
Having a yeah and it's a realthing, and it's a important
thing because not only does itaffect you age wise you start
aging quicker but cognitivelyit's a mental thing like it can
(11:26):
be very detrimental to yourmental health.
So so, having that data, youknow, having them do a hormone
panel, looking to see wheretheir numbers at, and then the
third component that I juststarted implementing a little
over a year ago and it's worked,it literally is take the
results on online coaching withmy clients to about an 87%
(11:49):
success rate and the average,the standard in the industry, is
a little over 24, and the onlything different I'm doing than a
lot of people right now is foodallergy tests.
So you may not know, you have afood allergy test and all of us
have anywhere between 10 and 30.
I mean, that's just kind of theballpark right when you're
(12:13):
eating something that's causinginflammation.
That's the number one thingthat we want to get under
control.
And our age, demographicinformation and the acidity in
the body is literally the rootcause of every known disease to
men.
So those three components helpme, as a coach, put a really,
(12:33):
really complete program programtogether.
And then the weight trainingparts actually the easier part,
you know you just you figure ifyou're getting weights in three
days a week, getting all themuscle groups in, getting a
little bit of cardio in between,less is actually more because
as you get over doing harder,more it actually puts your body
(12:55):
in a quarter, creates cortisol,the stress hormone, so it makes
your body literally start eatingmuscle in a sense.
When you go too hard we callthat catabolic your body becomes
catabolic and starts eating thelean tissue for energy.
So less is more.
But knowing all your data, yourblood work, getting your diet on
point and also addressing sleepand stress.
I mean, yes, you have to putit's like this right.
(13:17):
When we were kids I think theystill do right but we had jigsaw
puzzles right and you wouldn'tgo to buy a jigsaw puzzle, grab
a handful of pieces and throwthem away and try to complete
the puzzle.
You got to have all thosepieces together to have a 100%
(13:38):
effective program and that'swhat I pride myself on doing.
That sounds like excellent plan.
It's not like everything thatyou all the, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
All the Topics that you brought up.
We are.
We're able to just do that withseeing the doctor regularly
Request and request an allergytest.
Yes, for example, myself I domy blood work twice a year.
I just did it last week.
In the past I've, you know,I've had my A1C's run high.
(14:10):
They, the doctor, would call meright away.
Well, guess what?
I haven't even heard from himyet and I had my A1C's taking
care of him on one of the bloodtests on Monday.
So that gives me an idea.
That gives me an idea that allthe test on my I may, I might be
inside the numbers, yet I mightbe inside the numbers.
So yeah, I'm feeling good aboutmyself.
(14:31):
I also told you that I was, whenI retired, that my goal was to
See this year because theposition was correct and along
that line.
And when I retired I was sohappy that I was never, never
дюйтively offered me per-.
Residents apply for the majorfund at Stay around as long as I
can and be comfortable andhealthy.
So after I got back off mymonth long vacation, I
(14:53):
immediately signed up at theCrossFit gym.
We spoke a little bit on thatand I totally agree with what
you mentioned my trainers.
They don't want me to lift andheavy.
They want me to do the correctform and maybe a few more reps
than a person that's doing heavyweight.
(15:14):
So you're hitting it right onthe nail, right on the nail.
So how?
These are the things that if ayoung man came to you, let's say
someone half our age, maybe oursons or our daughters came to
you and said hey, how did youget to where you at and what
(15:36):
would you do to maintain that?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, right.
So we touched on this and thiswas something that just
literally came up about.
Maybe three weeks ago I was ata convention in Dallas, texas,
which was our mutual connectionthat's how we we lead together
and a young 19-year-old trainerwho's also becoming a physical
(16:00):
therapist and he asked me goes,you know, weight training aside,
what advice would you give your19-year-old self?
And I go, you know, that's agreat question, and I said I
want you to really think aboutthis.
So when I was 19 years old, Iwas in all these sports.
I was beating the literal crapout of my body.
I would treat my 19-year-oldself if I was my 56-year-old
(16:25):
self.
I would train as if I was older, I would eat as if I was older,
I would get the rest andrecuperation as if I was older.
Because I bet you, if youtreated yourself like you do
when you're older, when you'retrying to reverse everything, I
can't imagine what the lifeexpectancy would be.
It would be at least probablyeight to ten years longer than
(16:48):
the average life expectancy now.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So that would be my, that's my profound moment right,
treat yourself as if Well, whatadvice would you give a person
right now that's ready to makesome transformations about
themselves?
I know one, and that is go.
I'll see your doctor regularly.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Absolutely.
And good for you for doing yourblood work every, you know, six
months, because a lot ofdoctors just require it once a
year.
But you know, going back to thehormones, our hormones start
changing really rapidly after 40men, 47, women, 45,.
Obviously different thingshappen and we won't get into too
(17:31):
much detail because most of usthis age know those things.
But, yeah, get your blood workdone every six months because
it's going to change a lot morerapid than if we were 20.
And then the second thing is Ilike to start my clients and and
let's go back, let's talk abouta person that's just starting,
(17:53):
that's intimidated.
They don't know where to start.
Google's overwhelming.
You see all these onlinecoaches doing these crazy
workouts.
You know they're sellingtemplates and you can't buy a
template for yourself.
You need to know what's goingto work for you.
Eight billion, we're alldifferent.
(18:14):
So you know the average program, the average type diet, is not
going to work for you aseffectively as if it was
tailored.
But I really like this.
Give you an example, and thiswasn't my idea.
I heard this somewhere and Iwould love to give credit to
where I heard it, but I justcan't remember.
But start with micro habits.
(18:36):
So that may be.
If you're working a you knoweight to five job, you're tired.
You come home.
We as older people God, I hatesaying we as older people,
that's just so true.
Our demographic is, we're told,as you get older, you need to
(18:58):
rest more, you need to put lesswear and tear on your body.
Well, guess what?
When you more, when you startdoing less, your body starts
aging quicker.
The cells don't turn over asquick.
The blood flows not helpHappening.
You're not putting you know,didn't density on the bones and
(19:18):
resistance on the ligaments,tendons and muscles?
They started trophying, theystart shrinking.
So when you rest more, you agequicker.
So if you come home and watchthat, your favorite net and I've
been, I've done this, you know,and I find, yeah, you know, you
get in the rut and theneventually just like, okay, this
has to stop, but take that.
(19:39):
Take one hour of your Netflixand Not even an hour.
Let's take 30 minutes of yourNetflix.
Just get home, you know, eatdinner or whatever you're gonna
do, go walk, go out your frontdoor and walk for 30 minutes,
whether permitting, right.
But now that 30 minutes, you'recreating a new habit and Once
(20:00):
you've done somethingconsistently over and over now
it's just part of you and you'regonna feel better.
You're a cognitively gonna feelbetter, you're gonna sleep
better and all those things wementioned.
They're just gonna get better.
So I like to take the bad habitsin the latter part of the day,
replace it and then, afteryou've done that for three, four
(20:21):
weeks, then go, you know,counterclockwise, to something
in the middle of day that's abad habit, maybe a snack.
Replace a bad snack, chips orsomething with you know a piece
of low glycemic fruit or almonds.
But just take every micro habityou have and make it from bad
(20:41):
to good.
And you know, the old saying isit's actually like a rehab
thing, right, like when someonegoes to rehab 28 days to create
a habit right, 100% true.
Once you've done itconsistently for about a month,
it's not hard anymore.
It's really not hard.
So if you're starting out, youknow, obviously know your blood
(21:05):
work, but most importantly isjust start moving.
Movement is so important and ifyou really really, really want
to live a long and prosperousand happy life, just eat whole
foods.
Get away from processed stuffSome of the things you may not
think processed.
You got to look at the label,because I have people sending me
(21:27):
food Picks all the time and ifit's in a box or a, can I Say
hey, you may say what if?
What about this?
I go do me a favor.
Just before I answer that.
Just go look at the ingredientsand when there's five, ten,
fifteen, twenty ingredients thatyou've never heard of before,
most likely it's a kid.
So yeah.
(21:51):
They taste good and they'remeant to taste good.
Hey, you know, and you talkedabout going on Vacation for a
month.
I did that and we talked aboutthis.
I went to Italy last summer fora month and I was in Florence,
italy, you know, and I waseating pasta and steak every day
, a lot more calories than I eathere at home in the US, mm-hmm,
(22:12):
and I wasn't exercising as muchbut I didn't get inflamed.
So Something's going on.
You know what the foods wereeating here, not getting into
that too much, but I did go intoa grocery store because they
had some I think it was Cheerios.
It was Cheerios or Fruit loopswanted to, and I just looked at
(22:36):
the ingredients and all theingredients in that cereal were
all natural.
It was like wheat, cane, sugarand some other things, and
there's about six or seven totalingredients.
Came home and I had someCheerios in my pantry for my
granddaughter and there's like25 or 30 ingredients and I don't
(22:57):
even know what those are.
So you know, just knowing whatyou're putting in your body, I
promise you, if you're puttingchemicals, process foods in
there, you're adding wear andtear to your.
You know your engine and itwould be no different than
getting a new car and neverchanging the oil and, you know,
(23:19):
bogging it down and not changingyour air filter.
Kind of the same thing withwhole foods, and you know just
pure water.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Well, the one thing that I'm taking away from the
show is the inflammation.
Yes, I'm going to try to get aget myself scheduled to go in
and check my allergy account.
Yeah, I've done that.
I did that once before and Ican't recall what the panel said
.
However, there are some thingsthat I need to change, because
you know I get allergies, but Inever really looked at the
(23:49):
inflammation side of it, andthat was good, right.
That was a great education forme today.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, and I'll tell you what you don't.
If your doctor doesn't have thecapability of doing that or
resists you because you knowdoctors, they don't have a lot
of education on nutrition,that's not their fault, it's
just not, as I think there'smaybe three or four chapters in
medical school, so that's reallynot their forte, right?
(24:16):
So I've actually had somedoctors resist the food allergy
test unless there was somethinglike a rash breaking out or you
know something like that.
If you have an issue with thedoctor getting you that test,
you can just get order one onAmazon.
There's plenty of foodsensitivity tests on there.
They work great, but that's anoption, Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Well, is there anything else you think you want
to add to the show for thefolks?
No, I mean that's that's it,man.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I appreciate it.
But yeah, if you are over 40,you just kind of got to ask
yourself you know, how do I wantto live the next 40 years?
And it's up to you.
You know I mean it.
You know it's like when youwalk out of the door in the
morning, you can be happy or sad, and the only person's option
(25:05):
that is yours, and whichever youchoose to be, you can.
But you know, if you are livingin a healthy body, I promise
you.
You know, and 56, right, 56, 56.
And I got my body fat this yeardown to 7% and I lived there
and I feel, truly, I feel way,way better than I did when I was
(25:29):
a teenager, early 20s, becauseI don't have the age to the
pains.
I'm not beating myself up.
I'm checking all those boxesoff where you know, again
putting those pieces in thepuzzle.
Oh, you know, another thing Ijust started doing is I started
sleeping on a grounding sheet.
So you know, yeah, like youknow, groundings, like they
(25:50):
recommend, you walk on the earthwith bare feet, three feet,
three days a week, and itdischarges the electrical
current.
I mean, these arescientifically proven stuff.
20 years ago it kind of soundedlike voodoo.
But you know, all the newstudies are showing this.
This is a real thing.
I started sleeping on thisgrounding sheet maybe not even
three weeks ago, because one ofmy high profile clients swears
(26:13):
by it, and you know the JoeRogans and the Gary Brecca, they
all swear by it.
But what I noticed with that isis I had a little bit of
tightness in my hips, eventhough I've gone away, because
that's inflammation.
And you know, typically I'd getup, you know, two, three times
a night because I'm drinking agallon plus water a day, and now
I get up once.
(26:33):
So you know that's.
Another thing to look into islike a grounding sheet or a
grounding pad, you know, andthen you can take it to the
extremes ice baths and thingslike that.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
But that's a whole different episode.
I think Right, I'm getting intothe ice baths, that's yeah,
it's amazing, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And if you can't get into an ice bath, start with a
shower, your normal shower, andat the end of the shower
gradually turn the water downtill it's you know the hot's all
the way off, and that's a goodstepping stone to get into that
too.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Well, my friends up in Wisconsin, they can just go
down and jump in Lake Michigan.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
No, they can't Don't fuck.
Yeah, I know, and God blessthem, but I'm not jumping in
Lake Michigan.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Hey, where can we find you?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, so you can find me at John Bezara Fitness on
Instagram.
My new website's gettingtweaked a little bit, but it'll
be JohnBezaracom.
Last name is spelled B is inboy, e Z is in zebra, e-r-r-a
Social media same on Facebook,john Bezara.
(27:44):
And you know, if you like aconsultation, my consultations
are always free and you can justreach out to me on one of those
social platforms.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Excellent, excellent.
Well, John, I appreciate it andI hope that I can bring you
back on the show in a later date.
Absolutely I'd love to, Foranything that you got going on.
Do you have any new projectsgoing on, anything or film?
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I do.
So we just launched our podcast,the Three Jimigos, and like
amigos but it's GYM amigos andwe've done a few episodes and
we're going to get you on therewhen you come out to Vegas, for
sure, because your story blew mymind.
So for those of you listeningthat don't know his story, oh my
(28:29):
God, it makes my mind seem kindof trivially trivial.
But yeah, that's about it.
And then I will be launching inthe next 30 days like a
lifestyle website where peopleover 40 are a little intimidated
with social media.
But you know, if you're lookingfor another income and want to
(28:49):
easily make a little bit ofextra money on on social media,
we're going to put a wholecourse together where you can
use AI.
It's faceless, you don't haveto worry about filming yourself,
yeah, and you can make an easycouple grand more a month if you
want to second income.
So we're putting that togetherand I'm excited about that
because I do.
When people talk to me a lot oftimes, a lot of times it's
(29:12):
money struggles and right nowit's just really easy to make
money.
So we want to be able to bringthat to the people as well.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Well, you know what?
How about if I bring you backon the show after the, after
that launch and we're looking atthat.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Absolutely Love that.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
When did you say one more time about 30 days?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's about yeah, it's about 30 days out right now.
We're filming some stuff,putting some curriculum together
.
We're making it where there'san affiliate, so anybody that
joins the course will actuallyhave the opportunity to sell the
course and they'll make 100%profit from the V.
Yeah, so it's something thatI've never heard of before, so
(29:52):
I'm pretty excited about it.
And, yeah, literally you canstart making money, like in the
next day or two.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That's awesome.
Well, once again, I appreciateyou and taking the time out, and
I will know.
Hello and welcome back to the little metal
unfiltered podcast.
I'm your host, Charlie Shaw,and I'm delighted to have you
join us again for anothercaptivating episode.
Today, our special guest isJohn Bezera, and he has an
inspiring topic lined up tomotivate and uplift you.
Your ongoing engagement andcommitment to our show means the
(00:24):
world to us.
We really appreciate the timeyou spent with us each week and
we're thrilled to have you hereonce again.
Without further ado, let'sembark on a journey and
inspiration and discoverytogether, John, thanks for
coming on the show.
Thanks for coming on the show,yeah man my pleasure.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Thank you for having me All right.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Hey folks, let me tell you about Mr Bezera.
He's a celebrity to the stars,best-selling author, regular
actor on the show Sons ofAnarchy, and he's been in the
personal training arena for over37 years.
That's a big accomplishment foryou, man.
(01:07):
You want to tell us more aboutyourself.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That's a long time and, like we talked about before
, every time I say I've beendoing this 37 years, I date
myself a little bit, but yeah,my story is.
I mean, I guess it's maybeinspiring, but I've just been
very lucky to have great peoplearound me.
I started as a young man, atage five, being an entrepreneur,
(01:37):
and that was.
I wanted a bike.
I wanted this bike in this toystore and, being a five-year-old
, I was with my grandpa.
He was my role model mentor andwe went into this toy store and
I threw a temper tantrum.
I wanted that bike and I feltthat that's the quickest way to
get it.
But after my butt got healedfrom getting whipped so much on
(02:02):
the way home, he made aproposition to me.
He told me help me get the bike.
He'll pay me 25 cents a day, orwhatever it was back then, to
help him out in the afternoonafter kindergarten.
Then I realized at that rate itwas going to take me maybe till
my sophomore year in college toput the money together.
(02:24):
You were able to do that math,yeah, and I wanted it.
Now we're close to the same agebut I'll date us a little bit.
We didn't have the video gamesand things.
We had marbles.
That's how well they weremarbles.
They weren't rock, so I mean weweren't a complete stone age.
(02:46):
But I bought a bag of thesemarbles for $0.99, and there was
the big clear boulders, thebigger ones in there.
I figured everybody wantedthose at school.
So I went to school and tookthat $0.99 bag of marbles and
turned it into about $5 realquick.
That lasted about two days.
(03:06):
And then I got, you know, hauledinto the principal's office
because apparently they didn'tlike a free enterprise back then
.
And I come to find out mymother and I had the same
principal and she got in trouble18 years prior for selling
cookies.
So I guess theentrepreneurship's in the blood
(03:27):
runs in the family.
But that was my first.
I mean it's business in a sense.
But it also trickles down intothe success I had in sports.
And yeah, you know, and that wasone of those things where you
(03:48):
know my grandfather, he helpedme as much as he could.
But the rule he had was I'llsupport you in whatever you want
to do and we'll get you thebest coaches, the best schools,
but you have to work harder thaneverybody else.
And he was very adamant aboutthat and he said, right out of
(04:09):
the bat, he goes.
And my first was I startedwrestling at five and then I
started also a tight quando atfive and he said show up a half
hour early to practice, stay ahalf hour late.
And that was the rule, you know.
And the second, I showed nointerest, didn't want to go,
(04:29):
didn't feel good, I got pulled.
So the work ethic was just kindof instilled in there from my
grandpa.
So I owe him like all thecredit in the world.
But what that mentality turnedin.
And I got to tell you I was notthe biggest, strongest,
smartest, fastest kid.
(04:50):
I was average and probablyquite a bit below average, to be
honest.
And you hear some of the topathletes talk about you know, um
, being born with it be having agift for it, being a natural.
Uh, those aren't the peoplethat usually make it to the top.
(05:10):
It's usually the hardest workerin the room.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Well, I'm glad, I'm glad you brought that up.
Yeah, I said I'm glad that youbrought that up because, you
know, not everybody's going tobe the best, but they got to put
in the work to get thereAbsolutely and go ahead please.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We don't.
We don't, you know, I don'tthink, naturally, I don't think
it's something that we're bornwith, where we just want to work
Because it would have been alot easier just to kind of, you
know, sit around the house andeat Twinkies and and ding dongs
and watch cartoons.
Right, yeah, yes, sir.
(05:50):
Um, yeah, you're alsobodybuilder, right, yeah, I was.
So yeah, I.
You know it's kind of crazy.
You usually get stuck in asport and I, for some reason, I
just chose all the sports wherethere wasn't really an income,
(06:10):
you know, and that was wrestling.
I was fortunate enough to winthree national titles in
wrestling.
That was kind of the love, thesport that I love more than
anything and that got me college, degree and everything.
So I'm thankful for it.
But there's no, there's no prowrestling.
You know there's the one on TV,but that's not the wrestling
(06:30):
you know, like collegiatewrestling, yes, um, and then it
and uh, software.
A senior in high school startedracing BMX, you know bicycle,
motocross, and at 17, I uh won anational title in that.
And then, kind of college isdone.
I'm an adult, I want to dosomething physical and I ended
(06:55):
up doing just like a hard bodycontest with my roommate at the
time and he talked me into doinga bodybuilding show and the
rest is history.
I won the nationals andbodybuilding in 1996 turn pro,
and so, yeah, I won fivenational titles and three sports
as a uh under sized, uh, lessthan, you know, average human
(07:23):
being.
So anything's possible.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Anything's possible, and that's what I wanted to hear
.
Okay, Mm hmm, um.
So, with that being said, we Iwas telling you about my show
and uh, and we talked and yousaid that, uh, you can probably
give some, give some peopleadvice on how to take care of
(07:45):
themselves, diet, so for and um,our topic today is going to be
how you help men and women over40 get, get into and stay in
shape.
Could you tell us about your,your training, that you set up
training for folks?
Could you tell us a little bitabout that?
Yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
So, and it's very, it's an important topic.
It's.
Fitness is one of those rarethings.
We'll call it a thing where youknow you're here in life.
In life, um, when you talkabout cells, you know what
motivates you, what's your why,um, why you do it.
But fitness, if you look at itfrom a consumer's perspective
(08:30):
someone looking to get in shapeit's a need and a and a want.
Okay, so we want to look better,we want to feel better, but we
need to, because to be, quitefrankly, over 40, it can be life
and death, and you know not toget dark or anything, but most
of the men that have heartattacks is in the range from 47
(08:53):
to 63.
That's just when there's themost inflammation internally.
That's when you really got tolook at your, your blood work.
You have to look at yourlifestyle and you've got to
realize, like you know, at thispoint, you know, whatever I did
the first 40 years, I have tocompensate the next 40.
Right, so you know not to belike morbid or anything, but we
(09:17):
just really mess ourselves upwhen we're younger, you know we
take too many risks.
Some of us may be partying toomuch, drinking, you know,
whatever it may be not gettingadequate amount of sleep, eating
really bad.
Um, even when you're doing, uh,athletic sports or weight
training, whatever it may be,there's a lot of high risk stuff
(09:37):
.
So when you get over 40, youstart feeling those things Right
.
Um, when I worked with somebodyand I've worked with, I've been
very fortunate, I've worked witha lot of movie stars, hall of
fame athletes Again, just I wasin the right place at the right
time, got the right connectionand I'm very blessed to have
(09:57):
done that.
But when you're dealing withthat clientele, you have to
perform, you know, as a trainer,a coach, to a higher level and
you know these are peopleactually getting paid because
they need to look a certain wayat a short period of time or
perform, perform a certain way.
Two of my clients this weekendare going to be playing in the
(10:20):
pickleball challenge, pickleballslam to I'm that's on the
magazine stephie graph there tomy client.
So there you know, 50 plus now,and the way we train now versus
when they train when they wereyounger, is completely different
.
So when I address somebody,whether they are in great shape
(10:41):
or not, I treat them as ifthere's issues, you know.
So we don't do any high riskweight training.
We make sure that diet sitsthere, lifestyle but also
looking at blood work, you know,and as a coach, seeing all this
data really helps me to put agood program together.
So the basic stuff, like a oneC, cholesterol, blood, you know
(11:06):
all that stuff.
But then even a step further,we start getting hormone
deficiencies at this age, ohyeah.
Having a yeah and it's a realthing, and it's a important
thing because not only does itaffect you age wise you start
aging quicker but cognitivelyit's a mental thing like it can
(11:26):
be very detrimental to yourmental health.
So so, having that data, youknow, having them do a hormone
panel, looking to see wheretheir numbers at, and then the
third component that I juststarted implementing a little
over a year ago and it's worked,it literally is take the
results on online coaching withmy clients to about an 87%
(11:49):
success rate and the average,the standard in the industry, is
a little over 24, and the onlything different I'm doing than a
lot of people right now is foodallergy tests.
So you may not know, you have afood allergy test and all of us
have anywhere between 10 and 30.
I mean, that's just kind of theballpark right when you're
(12:13):
eating something that's causinginflammation.
That's the number one thingthat we want to get under
control.
And our age, demographicinformation and the acidity in
the body is literally the rootcause of every known disease to
men.
So those three components helpme, as a coach, put a really,
(12:33):
really complete program programtogether.
And then the weight trainingparts actually the easier part,
you know you just you figure ifyou're getting weights in three
days a week, getting all themuscle groups in, getting a
little bit of cardio in between,less is actually more because
as you get over doing harder,more it actually puts your body
(12:55):
in a quarter, creates cortisol,the stress hormone, so it makes
your body literally start eatingmuscle in a sense.
When you go too hard we callthat catabolic your body becomes
catabolic and starts eating thelean tissue for energy.
So less is more.
But knowing all your data, yourblood work, getting your diet on
point and also addressing sleepand stress.
I mean, yes, you have to putit's like this right.
(13:17):
When we were kids I think theystill do right but we had jigsaw
puzzles right and you wouldn'tgo to buy a jigsaw puzzle, grab
a handful of pieces and throwthem away and try to complete
the puzzle.
You got to have all thosepieces together to have a 100%
(13:38):
effective program and that'swhat I pride myself on doing.
That sounds like excellent plan.
It's not like everything thatyou all the, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
All the Topics that you brought up.
We are.
We're able to just do that withseeing the doctor regularly
Request and request an allergytest.
Yes, for example, myself I domy blood work twice a year.
I just did it last week.
In the past I've, you know,I've had my A1C's run high.
(14:10):
They, the doctor, would call meright away.
Well, guess what?
I haven't even heard from himyet and I had my A1C's taking
care of him on one of the bloodtests on Monday.
So that gives me an idea.
That gives me an idea that allthe test on my I may, I might be
inside the numbers, yet I mightbe inside the numbers.
So yeah, I'm feeling good aboutmyself.
(14:31):
I also told you that I was, whenI retired, that my goal was to
See this year because theposition was correct and along
that line.
And when I retired I was sohappy that I was never, never
дюйтively offered me per-.
Residents apply for the majorfund at Stay around as long as I
can and be comfortable andhealthy.
So after I got back off mymonth long vacation, I
(14:53):
immediately signed up at theCrossFit gym.
We spoke a little bit on thatand I totally agree with what
you mentioned my trainers.
They don't want me to lift andheavy.
They want me to do the correctform and maybe a few more reps
than a person that's doing heavyweight.
(15:14):
So you're hitting it right onthe nail, right on the nail.
So how?
These are the things that if ayoung man came to you, let's say
someone half our age, maybe oursons or our daughters came to
you and said hey, how did youget to where you at and what
(15:36):
would you do to maintain that?
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, right.
So we touched on this and thiswas something that just
literally came up about.
Maybe three weeks ago I was ata convention in Dallas, texas,
which was our mutual connectionthat's how we we lead together
and a young 19-year-old trainerwho's also becoming a physical
(16:00):
therapist and he asked me goes,you know, weight training aside,
what advice would you give your19-year-old self?
And I go, you know, that's agreat question, and I said I
want you to really think aboutthis.
So when I was 19 years old, Iwas in all these sports.
I was beating the literal crapout of my body.
I would treat my 19-year-oldself if I was my 56-year-old
(16:25):
self.
I would train as if I was older, I would eat as if I was older,
I would get the rest andrecuperation as if I was older.
Because I bet you, if youtreated yourself like you do
when you're older, when you'retrying to reverse everything, I
can't imagine what the lifeexpectancy would be.
It would be at least probablyeight to ten years longer than
(16:48):
the average life expectancy now.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So that would be my, that's my profound moment right,
treat yourself as if Well, whatadvice would you give a person
right now that's ready to makesome transformations about
themselves?
I know one, and that is go.
I'll see your doctor regularly.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Absolutely.
And good for you for doing yourblood work every, you know, six
months, because a lot ofdoctors just require it once a
year.
But you know, going back to thehormones, our hormones start
changing really rapidly after 40men, 47, women, 45,.
Obviously different thingshappen and we won't get into too
(17:31):
much detail because most of usthis age know those things.
But, yeah, get your blood workdone every six months because
it's going to change a lot morerapid than if we were 20.
And then the second thing is Ilike to start my clients and and
let's go back, let's talk abouta person that's just starting,
(17:53):
that's intimidated.
They don't know where to start.
Google's overwhelming.
You see all these onlinecoaches doing these crazy
workouts.
You know they're sellingtemplates and you can't buy a
template for yourself.
You need to know what's goingto work for you.
Eight billion, we're alldifferent.
(18:14):
So you know the average program, the average type diet, is not
going to work for you aseffectively as if it was
tailored.
But I really like this.
Give you an example, and thiswasn't my idea.
I heard this somewhere and Iwould love to give credit to
where I heard it, but I justcan't remember.
But start with micro habits.
(18:36):
So that may be.
If you're working a you knoweight to five job, you're tired.
You come home.
We as older people God, I hatesaying we as older people,
that's just so true.
Our demographic is, we're told,as you get older, you need to
(18:58):
rest more, you need to put lesswear and tear on your body.
Well, guess what?
When you more, when you startdoing less, your body starts
aging quicker.
The cells don't turn over asquick.
The blood flows not helpHappening.
You're not putting you know,didn't density on the bones and
(19:18):
resistance on the ligaments,tendons and muscles?
They started trophying, theystart shrinking.
So when you rest more, you agequicker.
So if you come home and watchthat, your favorite net and I've
been, I've done this, you know,and I find, yeah, you know, you
get in the rut and theneventually just like, okay, this
has to stop, but take that.
(19:39):
Take one hour of your Netflixand Not even an hour.
Let's take 30 minutes of yourNetflix.
Just get home, you know, eatdinner or whatever you're gonna
do, go walk, go out your frontdoor and walk for 30 minutes,
whether permitting, right.
But now that 30 minutes, you'recreating a new habit and Once
(20:00):
you've done somethingconsistently over and over now
it's just part of you and you'regonna feel better.
You're a cognitively gonna feelbetter, you're gonna sleep
better and all those things wementioned.
They're just gonna get better.
So I like to take the bad habitsin the latter part of the day,
replace it and then, afteryou've done that for three, four
(20:21):
weeks, then go, you know,counterclockwise, to something
in the middle of day that's abad habit, maybe a snack.
Replace a bad snack, chips orsomething with you know a piece
of low glycemic fruit or almonds.
But just take every micro habityou have and make it from bad
(20:41):
to good.
And you know, the old saying isit's actually like a rehab
thing, right, like when someonegoes to rehab 28 days to create
a habit right, 100% true.
Once you've done itconsistently for about a month,
it's not hard anymore.
It's really not hard.
So if you're starting out, youknow, obviously know your blood
(21:05):
work, but most importantly isjust start moving.
Movement is so important and ifyou really really, really want
to live a long and prosperousand happy life, just eat whole
foods.
Get away from processed stuffSome of the things you may not
think processed.
You got to look at the label,because I have people sending me
(21:27):
food Picks all the time and ifit's in a box or a, can I Say
hey, you may say what if?
What about this?
I go do me a favor.
Just before I answer that.
Just go look at the ingredientsand when there's five, ten,
fifteen, twenty ingredients thatyou've never heard of before,
most likely it's a kid.
So yeah.
(21:51):
They taste good and they'remeant to taste good.
Hey, you know, and you talkedabout going on Vacation for a
month.
I did that and we talked aboutthis.
I went to Italy last summer fora month and I was in Florence,
italy, you know, and I waseating pasta and steak every day
, a lot more calories than I eathere at home in the US, mm-hmm,
(22:12):
and I wasn't exercising as muchbut I didn't get inflamed.
So Something's going on.
You know what the foods wereeating here, not getting into
that too much, but I did go intoa grocery store because they
had some I think it was Cheerios.
It was Cheerios or Fruit loopswanted to, and I just looked at
(22:36):
the ingredients and all theingredients in that cereal were
all natural.
It was like wheat, cane, sugarand some other things, and
there's about six or seven totalingredients.
Came home and I had someCheerios in my pantry for my
granddaughter and there's like25 or 30 ingredients and I don't
(22:57):
even know what those are.
So you know, just knowing whatyou're putting in your body, I
promise you, if you're puttingchemicals, process foods in
there, you're adding wear andtear to your.
You know your engine and itwould be no different than
getting a new car and neverchanging the oil and, you know,
(23:19):
bogging it down and not changingyour air filter.
Kind of the same thing withwhole foods, and you know just
pure water.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Well, the one thing that I'm taking away from the
show is the inflammation.
Yes, I'm going to try to get aget myself scheduled to go in
and check my allergy account.
Yeah, I've done that.
I did that once before and Ican't recall what the panel said
.
However, there are some thingsthat I need to change, because
you know I get allergies, but Inever really looked at the
(23:49):
inflammation side of it, andthat was good, right.
That was a great education forme today.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, and I'll tell you what you don't.
If your doctor doesn't have thecapability of doing that or
resists you because you knowdoctors, they don't have a lot
of education on nutrition,that's not their fault, it's
just not, as I think there'smaybe three or four chapters in
medical school, so that's reallynot their forte, right?
(24:16):
So I've actually had somedoctors resist the food allergy
test unless there was somethinglike a rash breaking out or you
know something like that.
If you have an issue with thedoctor getting you that test,
you can just get order one onAmazon.
There's plenty of foodsensitivity tests on there.
They work great, but that's anoption, Okay.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Well, is there anything else you think you want
to add to the show for thefolks?
No, I mean that's that's it,man.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
I appreciate it.
But yeah, if you are over 40,you just kind of got to ask
yourself you know, how do I wantto live the next 40 years?
And it's up to you.
You know I mean it.
You know it's like when youwalk out of the door in the
morning, you can be happy or sad, and the only person's option
(25:05):
that is yours, and whichever youchoose to be, you can.
But you know, if you are livingin a healthy body, I promise
you.
You know, and 56, right, 56, 56.
And I got my body fat this yeardown to 7% and I lived there
and I feel, truly, I feel way,way better than I did when I was
(25:29):
a teenager, early 20s, becauseI don't have the age to the
pains.
I'm not beating myself up.
I'm checking all those boxesoff where you know, again
putting those pieces in thepuzzle.
Oh, you know, another thing Ijust started doing is I started
sleeping on a grounding sheet.
So you know, yeah, like youknow, groundings, like they
(25:50):
recommend, you walk on the earthwith bare feet, three feet,
three days a week, and itdischarges the electrical
current.
I mean, these arescientifically proven stuff.
20 years ago it kind of soundedlike voodoo.
But you know, all the newstudies are showing this.
This is a real thing.
I started sleeping on thisgrounding sheet maybe not even
three weeks ago, because one ofmy high profile clients swears
(26:13):
by it, and you know the JoeRogans and the Gary Brecca, they
all swear by it.
But what I noticed with that isis I had a little bit of
tightness in my hips, eventhough I've gone away, because
that's inflammation.
And you know, typically I'd getup, you know, two, three times
a night because I'm drinking agallon plus water a day, and now
I get up once.
(26:33):
So you know that's.
Another thing to look into islike a grounding sheet or a
grounding pad, you know, andthen you can take it to the
extremes ice baths and thingslike that.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
But that's a whole different episode.
I think Right, I'm getting intothe ice baths, that's yeah,
it's amazing, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And if you can't get into an ice bath, start with a
shower, your normal shower, andat the end of the shower
gradually turn the water downtill it's you know the hot's all
the way off, and that's a goodstepping stone to get into that
too.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
Well, my friends up in Wisconsin, they can just go
down and jump in Lake Michigan.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
No, they can't Don't fuck.
Yeah, I know, and God blessthem, but I'm not jumping in
Lake Michigan.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Hey, where can we find you?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Yeah, so you can find me at John Bezara Fitness on
Instagram.
My new website's gettingtweaked a little bit, but it'll
be JohnBezaracom.
Last name is spelled B is inboy, e Z is in zebra, e-r-r-a
Social media same on Facebook,john Bezara.
(27:44):
And you know, if you like aconsultation, my consultations
are always free and you can justreach out to me on one of those
social platforms.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
Excellent, excellent.
Well, John, I appreciate it andI hope that I can bring you
back on the show in a later date.
Absolutely I'd love to, Foranything that you got going on.
Do you have any new projectsgoing on, anything or film?
Speaker 2 (28:07):
I do.
So we just launched our podcast,the Three Jimigos, and like
amigos but it's GYM amigos andwe've done a few episodes and
we're going to get you on therewhen you come out to Vegas, for
sure, because your story blew mymind.
So for those of you listeningthat don't know his story, oh my
(28:29):
God, it makes my mind seem kindof trivially trivial.
But yeah, that's about it.
And then I will be launching inthe next 30 days like a
lifestyle website where peopleover 40 are a little intimidated
with social media.
But you know, if you're lookingfor another income and want to
(28:49):
easily make a little bit ofextra money on on social media,
we're going to put a wholecourse together where you can
use AI.
It's faceless, you don't haveto worry about filming yourself,
yeah, and you can make an easycouple grand more a month if you
want to second income.
So we're putting that togetherand I'm excited about that
because I do.
When people talk to me a lot oftimes, a lot of times it's
(29:12):
money struggles and right nowit's just really easy to make
money.
So we want to be able to bringthat to the people as well.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Well, you know what?
How about if I bring you backon the show after the, after
that launch and we're looking atthat.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Absolutely Love that.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
When did you say one more time about 30 days?
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's about yeah, it's about 30 days out right now.
We're filming some stuff,putting some curriculum together
.
We're making it where there'san affiliate, so anybody that
joins the course will actuallyhave the opportunity to sell the
course and they'll make 100%profit from the V.
Yeah, so it's something thatI've never heard of before, so
(29:52):
I'm pretty excited about it.
And, yeah, literally you canstart making money, like in the
next day or two.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
That's awesome.
Well, once again, I appreciateyou and taking the time out, and
I will know.
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