January 30, 2021 • 40 mins
Daniela welcomes the Chairman of the Scientific Commission of the World Federation in Sports Medicine, Dr. Dusan Hamar to The Real DNA podcast. Daniela and Dr. Hamar talk about prevention and recovery for athletes, strength and physical fitness training for the elderly, and the DNA of quality of life through fitness. Also, Dr. Hamar shares his strong opinion on vaccination.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I feel like there's so many different ways we could
we could go with our conversation having Yeah, but you know,
it doesn't happen too often I have in front of
me someone with so much knowledge and experience. I've discussed
with Ivan Lubitch is just a couple of weeks ago.
(00:23):
Is that, Um, we were kind of expected to retire
at that age. I was thirty four, he was thirty
for as well, and it was judged as, oh wow,
they are so old and they're still playing. It's almost embarrassing.
But this is this is also changing. If you take
if you take the attitude of the society to elderly people,
(00:44):
you know, well, Dushan, thank you so much for your time,
really appreciate it. So here we are January, it is
um beginning of a new year. First of all, how
have you been? And how was two thousand twenty for you?
I mean not not so funny as for almost everybody
you know, this is entirely different situations. My wife was
(01:06):
laughing with me when I was complaining that I have
been not out of the country for quarter of three
quarter of years. What has not happened for thirty years now?
So that's that's the basically the fact. But on the
other hand, we stayed healthy and you know, all those restrictions,
we can survive them. But you know, it's not funny.
But you know, yeah, I was gonna ask you about
(01:28):
it because we are so similar traveling for in your
case thirty years, myself twenty years. It took a lot
of adjustment, right, not being able to go to the
airport sometimes. I don't know about you, but I had
a feeling I just wanted to go to the airport,
not even fly anywhere. A lot a lot of dreams
I had about this, you know, catching the plane and
not being able to come on time, and these kind
(01:49):
of dreams. But you know what, what can we do?
Let's hope. You know what, what's really, if I may say,
pissing me off, is this this antivacs in nation campaign,
because I mean, you read you read the statements, and
you read the you know, the articles written by people
having no idea about genetics, about what Arnie and the
(02:11):
DNA is, and and they write all the negative aspects
which are entirely not true, that they are stupid, discouraging people.
And that's what really I don't like. That's actually very
good point you make because, um, with the source of
informations we have these dast it's so easy to kind
of get lost in what's true and what's not. What
(02:33):
do you think it's a medicine for that against all
those information circling around us? You mean, it's medicine in
terms of public relations and advertisement, because you know those
people they usually they are very very persuasive. I mean
they're they're good presenter, you know, doing this kind of
you know, videos and and writing these kind of articles
(02:58):
and and really, as you say, I mean, there's no control.
Anybody can post anything, and a lot of a lot
of people, you know, they just accept it, you know,
and they do not listen to to scientific arguments. They
just go their line and sometimes it's you know, but
(03:19):
you have many areas like this. Now I have to
get some structure here because I feel like there's so
many different ways we could we could go with our
conversation having Yeah, but you know, it doesn't happen too often.
I have in front of me someone with so much
knowledge and experience. And that's why I appreciate your time
(03:39):
because the topics I want to talk to you. I
believe in the world there is hardly anyone that can
match UM. You know, everything you've studied, learned, and that
you have to share. So I'm going to go straight
to the point that UM interests me the most, and
that is what actually Andy Marry said a couple of
(04:00):
weeks ago on my podcast, you know, wanting to come
back stronger than ever physically at thirty four after the
surgery he has had. What's your opinion on that? I mean,
I think the good news is that it's it's possible.
It's perfectly possibly because the the age of thirty three,
it's it's not really something what would be like forbidding,
(04:21):
especially you know when when he has people around him
using the most recent knowledge of you know, sports and
coaching science, nutrition, exercise assessment, you know, rehabilitation, recovery. I mean,
he still can can perfectly you know, be physically on
(04:44):
the level, even on a high level than he used
to be. Uh, but you know there's a o the
other side of the coin, you know, because of his
medical history. I mean, we can discuss it maybe later.
That's something what should you probably also think about. We
touched open that before this chat, that stubbornness that we
(05:10):
all have as professional athletes. That helps us to get
the results we want, you know, trying to win no
matter what. Where is that borderline between you know, pushing
it as much as you can, but at the same
time being concerned about your health. You know, one day
when you retire and you go go away from the sport,
(05:30):
how do you find that balance knowing what's the right
thing to do? You know, this border varies very much
depends maybe a performance level, but also on the on
the age. You know, I used to be an earied
athlete as well, and I lived in this in this society,
and I remember, you know, the mentality of earied athletes,
(05:52):
you know, they they prime interest is the results, I
mean performance to be in limelights, and they do not
think much about the health and consequences. Sometimes they're they're
willing to risk a lot. I remember, you know, when
I was in seventies as an active athlete, I mean,
there was there was a discus throw for from you
(06:15):
as he was a world record holder at the time,
J Sylvester, and he made a kind of personal review
anonymous and among the questions he asked the participants was
one that, uh, I mean, if there's some substance allowed.
I mean, you're not supposed to be punished for that,
(06:36):
but there's a there's a risk of dying within five years. Uh,
and that substance would guarantee you to to win the Olympics.
I mean it was almost seventy people who responded yes,
I mean that describes the mentality of valid athlete. But
of course I think over the years, this is this
(06:59):
is engine. You know, once the people are getting older,
they think more about, you know, what comes after the career,
and then they consider also the risk. But you know,
the athletes that they prime, not not all of them,
of course, but majority would tend to, you know, to
(07:20):
neglect the possible risk health risks in order to to excel,
to be as I said in limelights, So what do
you do as a professional athlete? You have the stubbornness
of and willingness to do whatever it takes. How do
you take that out of your system? Do you? You know,
hire good psychologists? Is mental? Is it accepting you know,
(07:43):
or trying to see the other things in life? Having
write people around you? What's what's the way to get
out of that mental state? I mean depends on on
the individuals. I mean, people do everything. I mean in
your world. Do you see that sometimes the top tennis players,
I mean they change, they diet habits, they speak about it.
(08:05):
It becomes very popular, or they do that, or that
they hire psychologists and they refew psychologists. I mean it's
very it's very individual. You know. It's like somebody puts
a stress on good coach. And I know that you
like golf. We spent some time together on golf course,
(08:27):
and you know in golf it's it's very I would
say prominent. I mean, you need a perfect coach in
order to excel. There's a Barba Watson, very prominent golf players.
He is once I will need a coach, I will
stop playing. So they just you know, illustrates the contrast
in that. So people have different approaches. Uh, as I said,
(08:51):
it varies, you know, UM on your personal level, we
talk about you know, when is the right time for
an athlete to retire? UM in your professional uh sporting career.
When did you know there was the time? Okay, right,
I'm ready to move on to something else. You know,
(09:11):
this is again very individual. You know when you mentioned
me personally, I mean for me, the sport was just
something that has a companied me during my studies and
then you know, I spent one year as a as
a professional athlete in the military club and they did
was over. But you know, today's athlete, most of them
(09:32):
they live on that. I mean, they're professionals. So the
time to retire also depends on social issues, social factors.
You know, when they need to to live on, then
they need to you know, make money for the family
for whatever. I mean that also plays police role. But
you know, just from I would say biological point of view,
(09:52):
I mean the thirty forty years, it's it's still okay.
I mean, you have a lot of cases of athletes,
uh they they can compete even after fourteen many sports.
So it also depends on sports. You know, like in
some sports they pick you know, before thirty, but in
some sports they can perfectly do after after thirty years
(10:12):
of age well be very successful. So but I think
the probably most important thing is whether they like it
or not. You know, once they start to feel I mean,
this is this is boring. I mean, this is not
bringing me anymore in my life. That's probably the point
to think about. You probably not probably you surely have
(10:34):
your own experience. I mean you can remember, you know,
the time when when you were faced at this situation
to decide, okay, should I should I go on? Or
should I should I stop? So maybe I have to
interview what you know, the you know, the reason to quit,
to stop the spider. I mean you were still okay physically.
(10:57):
I was. Um, I think it's a very good point
in question. In my case, it was more about what
I've discussed with even Lubitch is just a couple of
weeks ago. Is that, Um, we were kind of expected
to retire at that age. I was thirty four. He
was thirty four as well, and it was judged as,
oh wow, they are so old and they're still playing.
(11:19):
It's almost embarrassing. But this is this is also changing.
It's early if you take if you take the attitude
of the society too elderly people. You know, I remember
when I was youngest, sixty years old person was was
really very old. I mean nowadays, I mean maybe ninety
ninety years old or even more so generally, as the
(11:41):
as the life expectancy is increasing, I think in the
same way also this sports life expectancy is increasing quite
quite naturally. Why is that because we you know, we
live healthy lives. So we know more we have not
only that, it's just a part of that. We know
(12:02):
you know more about you know, the medicine has progressed.
You know, a lot of problems, a lot of diseases
nowadays can be prevented, can be treated more efficiently. So
this is this is the factor which which really extends
this this span you know, for for active career in
the same way as as there is increased spent for
(12:25):
the for the longevity. So what do we know about recovery?
We didn't know twenty years ago because to me, one
of the reasons that forced me to stop was that,
you know, I could play two three very good matches.
After that, I just I did not. I did not
perform the way I wanted to because the recovery was
(12:45):
just not there. You know. The I think the more
important is the prevention. You know that nowadays, the the coaches,
the conditioning coaches, preparationist is much better, you know, we
and they can work in a way, you know, to
prepare the athlete to be to be better prepared, to
(13:07):
prevent injuries and so on. And then also during the recovery.
Nowadays we know that there are some approaches when the
recovery can be can be fostered by appropriate timing of
taking appropriate nutrition, maybe some some allowed supplements. So also
(13:28):
this and also nowadays we have some we have some
methods which allows us to monitor the recovery to some extent.
You know, we can we can measure some some metabolites,
we can measure some enzymes in the blood which reflects
the process of recovery. And also there are methods to
(13:50):
evaluate the the actual state of the sympathetic nervol system,
which also plays a role in the recovery. And in
that way, you know, we can those better the the
you know, the training load, and that's what also contribute
to this factor. The athletes can so to say a
(14:11):
little longer. And like you said, this doesn't go only
for professional athletes, but for life in general, for general
general population. So basically, when someone tells me they're sixty
and they say I'm too old to exercise, that's just
an excuse. That's that's a stupid argue. Thank you, thank you.
I'm so glad you're saying that. You know, that would
be a different, you know, area of to discuss, which
(14:35):
I like very much these days. I mean, like sports
and aging. This is this is the best preventive means
the elder people can do to you know, to enjoy
the the life in this what they say autumn of
the autumn of the life. Well, let's go deeper into that,
because it's one of the reasons, um, that I love
(14:58):
so much what you do, is that you, you know,
pushing the limits to what means being old so much
more away. And I want to hear it from you
to everyone listening that this maybe a little bit older. Um,
what are some of the I wouldn't say things we
make up in the mind, but some of the things
(15:20):
that you know, like you said, they're just stupid. That
there is no real reason why people, you know, beyond
seminy shouldn't be in their best shape. You know. One
of the most frequent fallacy about aging and exercise fallacy
was the word I was looking for, thank you. Is
(15:42):
the refusing of resistance training. You know. I remember when
I was at the medical school, they told us, iobic exercises. Fine,
you can walk, you can cycle, and so on, But
I mean when you are more than like forty, I mean,
don't touch the don't touch the u a lot or
you know, the weights, and nowadays we know this is
(16:03):
the crucial part of the exercise program for elderly because
as we are getting older, we are losing the strength,
sometimes to the point that people starts to be dependent
on on somebody else because they have so low strength
that they cannot take care of themselves. And in order
to avoid it, in order to make the life more comfortable,
(16:26):
if you train appropriate resistance and it can be done
in a very safe way. I mean, the elderly people
can enjoy the life. The quality of life is there's
no difference, you know, I mean there's extreme, big difference
between somebody who is just sitting and and and waiting
for the life to end, or somebody who can enjoy
(16:48):
the life until you know, very last day of his
of his life. So on the ratio between weights and
the endurance, say on a weekly basis, first of all,
how often you suggest for the elderly people to work out,
and how much of that should consistent? Uh, weights and
the aerobic stuff as well. You know, aerobic exercise we're
(17:11):
recommend to be done almost every day forty five minutes.
What is saying something like that? But okay, it can
be three times, four times five times. It depends, but
the resistance training is kind of specific. I mean they
shouldn't have been more than than twice twice a week
because old elderly people they need more time to recover,
(17:31):
and it doesn't bring much much more benefit if you
do it like three or four times, because as I said,
recovery is a bit slowed down in elderly people. And
that's why the two times a week is is the
best approach. And that is still okay with the risk
that we talked about earlier. Of air um, I love
(17:53):
that example. You said about the aeroplane that there is
a certain mileage in every plane, and I would say
the same goes to our body. Where is that acceptance
again not pushing it too much and accepting you know,
the age in a way a little bit, I guess.
I mean, you know that example of airplane. It's not
(18:14):
a question of my leach, it's more question of of
the mechanics cycle. You know, when the plane goes up,
there's over pressure inside and there's a there's a stress
on on the walls and this, you know, this is
a kind of cycle. Then the plane goes down and
the stress disappears. So these stress cycles are limited to
(18:37):
thirty tho you know, after thirty thou landings and taking
off the plane should be taken out because the risk
of failure of the of the material is very high.
So this relates more to professional athletes, not only to
professional athletes. But you know, the the activity with some
let's say hip hip replacement. When you when you use
(19:00):
some some external material in a body, then people should
consider that this is this is the factor that this
is Even if it's a kind of very special, very
special steeler, you know, titanium, it still has some kind
of mechanical limits in terms of cycles. And in this
(19:21):
case the cycles are impacts. So when you when you
do when you live a normal, normal life, daily life
activities or exercise in a moderate amount, it's it's still fine, man.
You can live with this, let's say prostesis for thirty
or four years. But if somebody, you know, after hip replacement,
(19:42):
for instance, is doing heavy exercises, doing too much, then
of course the life span of that merit material is shorter,
and then it's very likely that he would need revision surgery.
And and again you know it's connected with some kind
risk and complications. So this is this is the fact
(20:08):
about this this uh, you know, artificial material. You know,
it's it's interesting that uh, the the healthy human tissue,
like you know, bone, it's still the best material. We
haven't we haven't created better material yet in terms of durability.
(20:28):
It's it's really a kind of miracle of nature. So
it takes us back to that and the marry discussion
that we had earlier on. So basically, when there is
artificial part in our body, we have to respect more.
You know. I was I was impressed by by your
(20:49):
interview with with Andy Murray. I really enjoyed it. And
the first party was something what we discussed at the
beginning of this interview that he's probably still in the
mood to be, you know, early athlete, and he liked
to be back in limelights and to win and so on.
I don't know all the social aspects. I mean, I
(21:10):
suppose he probably would be socially well backed up, not
be pushed to do that. I don't know, but he
still wants, he still wants to excel. But you know,
on the other hand, probably he would have to think
about it. I'm sure that the the you know, the
people working with him on you know, the medical doctors,
(21:34):
I mean taking care of him. That there must be
somebody you know, giving him the I means, as we say,
put the clear one, you know, to tell him that
it's it's also some risk in well if he wants
to come back to compete at the highest level. But
(21:54):
you know he's still he still wants to to do it.
Now that's his decision. You know, in medicine, nothing is
black and white. He might be fine, but I mean,
as I mentioned, you know, these cycles he has, he
has received only the resurfacing. That's I would say, I
would say very mild modification of this hyper placement. Most
(22:19):
of the destruction were you know, left there and then.
But still you know, these materials they have some durability
and that can be not not very funny for him.
So I don't want, you know, to prophesied that as
some people say, he may end up in the wheelchair
and so on. I mean, I don't wish. I wishing
(22:41):
all the best and maybe it's not dead bad, but
you know, he probably would need reoperation, which in other cases,
if he just lived normal life, can be avoided. But
you know, we we don't know. It's you know, medicine,
it's usually you know, to play with arts. I mean
(23:02):
it's kind of there's no black and white answer. Yeah,
it's amazing to confer the worlds of the medicine and
the fact and what makes sense. And then you have
that uthlete mind where you just can't help yourself. If
there is zero point zero zero one percent that you
are capable of still you know, playing you you're going
to do everything, especially in someone's case like Andy with
(23:24):
his mind. You know, whenever he got told that it's impossible,
he he wants to prove everyone wrong wrong, And to
me it's so admirable. But at the same time, you've
got to respect the nature. I don't think it. I
mean he wants to prove everybody is wrong. I think
he must be. He must be aware of those risks.
And you know, if he if he will be without troubles,
(23:46):
as I said, it's still possible. Okay, that's that's not
the proof that this is not correct. He was just
the lucky one. I wish him he will be, you
know that case. But I mean, do you play with
with some some risks and you know this altitude too,
like performers and health, what we have discussed at the beginning,
(24:06):
you touch is just just recently. It's also interesting I
tell you my professional life and now I'm not speaking
about the athletes life, because I mean I switched from
like elite athletes the recreation athlete career and I'm active
for for you know, I don't know, sixties or whatever.
(24:27):
But my professional life is a sports physician. I tell you,
at the beginning of my career, my prime interest was,
I mean performance, you know too, you know, to use
all my knowledge and all the recent advances in or
to help the athletes to to excel, to you know,
(24:48):
to achieve better performance. And I tell you honestly, as
I'm getting older more and more, I'm you know, going
away of this concept to the fe loss of you know,
how to use exercise to make the life of people healthier,
and not that much performance in in in my you know,
(25:12):
prime as my prime goal. But on the other hand,
you know, when we speak about performance, it's still it's
still there because even in elderly people, we want to
improve the you know, sort of say performance capacity, but
not to the highest level. But if you improve the
(25:34):
physical fitness of elderly people and it gives him a
chance to to have a more comfortable life. That's a
very good point you make and something that interests me
personally that I struggled with when I retired because, like
you said, oh, our life as an athlete, it's focused
on that performance, and suddenly I don't have that goal.
(25:56):
So you go to the other extreme like well why
should I take care of myself physically? And I'm sure
retired athletes go through that emotion at some stage, like right,
I don't need my body anymore to perform, so what
the hell? When he is? He is the body you
know to live the healthy life for the you know,
the years, for the years to come. You know, I
(26:19):
tell you some something that people usually don't know, and
even my my colleagues do not, do not consider the
most important factor of mortality in uh, you know in
the middle and elderly population is a physical fitness. It's
(26:39):
not whether somebody is has as a higher weight, or
he is a higher cholesterol, or his hypertonic or whatever
he's but his level of physical fitness, he's VO two max.
We call it maximum oxygen uptick. It gives you actually
(27:01):
the capability to to work faster. You know, when somebody
walks the stair and he's catching the breath. It means
he has a lot of physical fitness. So there's a
good measure of physical fitness. And more than forty years
follow up study from from Cooper Institute for pho Aerobic
Research showed that how long we are going to live
(27:24):
it depends on the level of physical fitness. Again, it's statistics,
there's no guarantee. So and then it's paradox because when
the people in the middle age or elder people go
for medical checkups, what what the physician does. I mean
he measures the blood pressure, cholesterol, I mean he's taking
(27:46):
the body mass index, whether he's obese or not, and
and a lot of other factors. And why why they
are doing that. They want to do what we call
the risk of reduction therapy. He wants to reduce his
blood pressure because we know it's a risk factory. It's
it's shortening the life lifespan. But stronger is the physical fitness.
(28:08):
Nobody takes care, I mean nobody. Some people who knows
and have money to pay for that, they do it,
but routinely it's not done. So what do you say
the older we get you know, we have our career,
our relationship, and just from what I'm learning here, would
you say the physical fitness is one of the biggest
(28:30):
privileges we can have going forward in our lives to
the later stages. That's perfectly That can be excellent heritage
of your professional career. As you said, you suddenly stop
playing competitively and then you or somebody thinks about why
should I be physical? I don't need it. I mean
he needs it. He needs it first of all to
(28:53):
live longer and to live a life which has a
higher quality. Because you know, if you if somebody cannot
walk the stairs or he can, he cannot bring the
the shopping back, you know, the old way, you cannot
bring the shopping back from the grocery stored back home.
I mean, it's affecting equality of life. And if you
(29:15):
are able, you know, to be on a higher level
of aerobic fitness of strength and you can maintain it,
you know from your career throughout the rest of your life,
that gives you a chance to have a more comfortable,
more more healthy life, to enjoy the life more so.
(29:35):
It's a there's this famous saying of Abraham Lincoln that
it's not you know how long we live, I mean
not aiding the years to life and life to years.
I mean, it's it's the issue, you know, whether just
you know, to be in a in a senior nursery
home to you know, to wait for the for the
life to end. That's not very funny, but I mean
(29:57):
if you if you can still I mean, have a
lot of friends. They played gold, They played tennis at
the age of over eighty. Why, I mean that's also
my goal. Yeah. I remember I was buying for my grandmother,
who was my first tennis coach, as a gift for
her eighty birthday. We were getting her new skis, and
to me, it was like right, what more so she
(30:21):
gave me such an incredible example. It gives you also
a good, good hope that you have a good genes
and that you can just just follow, you know, the
example of his grandfather. I remember my grandfather was and
his main complaint was that he cannot cut the woods,
you know, himself. And then we had the shot of
(30:41):
sleeve of his he kind of standing, has to use
the tea. Right after that, Well, those are the right reasons.
Right to be in shape, be quite, would be quite
you know happy, But you know, you never know. That's
just kind of anecdote. Well, I'm really glad you you
brought the up because one of the things I really
(31:03):
got surprised and I didn't even know how to react first,
was when I retired. Obviously I had a little bit
of that glimpse of right, why should I be doing it?
But then luckily I understood right away, Okay, I want
to be healthy. I want to do this for myself.
And people would seem especially here in Slovakia, in the gym,
and they would be like, why are you working out?
(31:23):
I'm like, why not? You know, I didn't even know
how to answer that. Of course, then maybe they were
shocked because I think one of the things we might
do differently retiring from professional sports is that our workouts
are maybe on a little bit different level to to
to to to a normal workout. But still there was
(31:44):
no that, you know, twice a day tennis session as well,
so I felt like I was on holiday. You know what.
They forget about one one issue, and that's that's the joy.
I mean, you like it. I like it. I really
keep doing that. I mean that's for some people, this
is something not not busy to understand, but I mean
(32:05):
that's the idea of combination. If you like it, if
you if you enjoy it, and then you see, okay,
it's also good for health. I also know the cases.
Those are usually patients, you know, when they got the warning,
you know, then they got my accordian and function and
and then they are told, okay, I mean you have
to do that and that if you want to live longer,
(32:25):
or if you want to live that life which is
still ahead of you as a normal person, not not
as a disabled person. Then they do exercise, but a
lot of them they do not like it. They do it. Okay,
that's still better than to do nothing. But the ideal
is if you, if you like it, if you enjoy it. Yeah,
(32:46):
I don't know like it for me, I tell you honestly,
it would be the greatest punishment if I cannot If
I cannot exercise, I was just gonna ask you, like,
I don't know how it is for you, but well
it's obviously is the same if I cannot work out
to days, I go not. Yeah. So I think we
are very very lucky and blessed in that way. So
(33:06):
on personal level, what's your weekly routine as far as
fitness nutritions. How do you keep in shape? I you know,
I used to. I used to run for three years.
I mean it was a kind of paradise because I
was a shot put. Then I lost twenty kilos and
within one year after finishing my career, I ran marathon
(33:29):
in Cautis. You know, I received the calls from my
colleagues and from my colleagues that what what a shame
because you know, for shot put it to run two
laps just to warm up was already something. I remember.
I had colleagues then in order to avoid the warning up,
you know, running, they just too took the tea and aspirin. Okay,
(33:52):
So that's how much you have enjoyed running. It's a funny.
It's on a funny note. But yeah, you know. Then
then I then I run for thirty years. But as
I as I start to feel that, you know, my
joint that I have joined, so I decided it's probably better,
(34:12):
you know that, I I switched to cycling. So now
for more than ten years, you know, I'm cycling every
day to my office. It's more than an hour, one
hour twenty minutes both ways. Every day I go to
gym to three times a week, and uh, every time
I can, you know, I I go and enjoy golfing.
(34:36):
That's uh, that's basically my exercise routine. And concerning the nutrition,
you know, I used to be vegetarian for for many
many years recent years and not so strong. But actually
it's more like if it's not unavoidable, and then I
I it's something. It's not religion. It's just you know,
(34:59):
the approach, healthy way way of life. But it's not possession.
It's it's not like an obsession of position. It's not
obsession for me. I mean occasionally of Kelsey, you can,
you can, you can do a sin. It's always better
if there's somebody else to do it with, exactly, it
gives you a better feeling. Totally. Uh, I feel like
(35:22):
we could go on for hours. I've really enjoyed this chat.
So maybe at some point, if our listeners are interested,
you know, we might do a second part of ALA.
So it was it was really super interesting to to
listen to your ideas and opinions on things that just lastly,
(35:45):
I'm going to ask you, since we are in January
and normally it's all about resolutions, what do you think
about that or is it something we should it's better
to keep up during the year and not you know,
focus so much about what we're going to do in
January and then go away from it by by the
time February comes. And why is it sometimes hard to
(36:06):
keep that discipline that we set up goals and then
we kind of go away from it. I think you
better ask my wife, psychologies, my daughter, because I mean,
I think you know those statistics that people usually you know,
the gyms are full in January February. That's what I'm
asking the question. People you know, giving themselves, you know,
(36:28):
some kind of task and making decisions. I think it's
not and it's not like that. I mean, you have
to you have to change your way of life if
you know, somebody's thinking about that anytime, and and try
to keep on that. You know, it's not it's not
a campaign. You know. It's like sometimes you see the
people they all died for like two or three weeks,
(36:50):
and you know, then then they go to reward themselves,
you know, to to take some you know, sweets in
the shop or whatever, and then they have this yo effect.
Because of course, if you are on the strict diet,
then your metabolism slows down, and then once you go
back to normal normal you know, eating habits, then it
(37:11):
goes back very fast, even above the level. So that's
not a really good approach. So you know, the the
healthy way of life. It's not kind of campaign. I
don't like this, this kind of special cures. I don't know,
like cleaning, I don't know exactly English word for that.
You know, some people on special like detoxication. So that's funny.
(37:34):
I always ask you what are you getting rid of?
What kind of toxics? Can you specify? The usually not
able to tell. You know, this is also not a
good approach. We have to the modest all all your
life and then then then okay, occasionally you can as
I said, but it's not like now I'm the best
(37:55):
is some some people go for for this. They go
on the separation on a mountain cottage, cottage for like
three or four weeks and uh, hungry cool. I don't
know how should they call it? You know they are
they're kept on the very strict strict diet. So I'm laughing.
(38:18):
I mean, you have to pay a lot of money,
you know, to enjoy hungry. So that's what I but
you know, people it's funny, you know, because people sometimes
they feel that they do something wrong and they need
they need kind of punishment so that they buy again.
(38:40):
I don't know the English world. I mean in the past,
when somebody committed the scene, then he could buy something
what what what released? Did that scene? So something something
like that, you can you can see, you know these days,
and the punishment can be either this kind of or
(39:01):
they pay a lot of money for some stupid miracles,
you know, substance which is promising them, you know, to
lose the weight or to be healthy whatever, and more expensive,
more likely they buy because there's a kind of punishment
for them they feel and if something cheap that's not
(39:22):
that's not enough, something not right about it. Okay, it's
more like philosophical you know talks, not philosophical just you know,
but that's that's the way the people behave. I think
definitely that's going to be the sentence of my two
one on my mind that you just shared with us,
that it's not a campaign, that's a very strong one.
So Lucian, thank you so much for your time, and
(39:45):
I really genuinely hope that we get to have you
on our podcast very soon again, Daniel, it would be
my great pleasure and I hope even before we meet
at the golf course. Yes, definitely, so that's the plan
to enjoy it around. Thank you so much. Thank you.
I hope you have enjoyed today's episode and getting to
know my guests a bit better. If you feel like
(40:06):
you to subscribe to us so you don't miss any
of the action. Also let me know your comments or
suggestions on my social media channels, and have a lovely
rest of your day. By
I feel like there's so many different ways we could
we could go with our conversation having Yeah, but you know,
it doesn't happen too often I have in front of
me someone with so much knowledge and experience. I've discussed
with Ivan Lubitch is just a couple of weeks ago.
(00:23):
Is that, Um, we were kind of expected to retire
at that age. I was thirty four, he was thirty
for as well, and it was judged as, oh wow,
they are so old and they're still playing. It's almost embarrassing.
But this is this is also changing. If you take
if you take the attitude of the society to elderly people,
(00:44):
you know, well, Dushan, thank you so much for your time,
really appreciate it. So here we are January, it is
um beginning of a new year. First of all, how
have you been? And how was two thousand twenty for you?
I mean not not so funny as for almost everybody
you know, this is entirely different situations. My wife was
(01:06):
laughing with me when I was complaining that I have
been not out of the country for quarter of three
quarter of years. What has not happened for thirty years now?
So that's that's the basically the fact. But on the
other hand, we stayed healthy and you know, all those restrictions,
we can survive them. But you know, it's not funny.
But you know, yeah, I was gonna ask you about
(01:28):
it because we are so similar traveling for in your
case thirty years, myself twenty years. It took a lot
of adjustment, right, not being able to go to the
airport sometimes. I don't know about you, but I had
a feeling I just wanted to go to the airport,
not even fly anywhere. A lot a lot of dreams
I had about this, you know, catching the plane and
not being able to come on time, and these kind
(01:49):
of dreams. But you know what, what can we do?
Let's hope. You know what, what's really, if I may say,
pissing me off, is this this antivacs in nation campaign,
because I mean, you read you read the statements, and
you read the you know, the articles written by people
having no idea about genetics, about what Arnie and the
(02:11):
DNA is, and and they write all the negative aspects
which are entirely not true, that they are stupid, discouraging people.
And that's what really I don't like. That's actually very
good point you make because, um, with the source of
informations we have these dast it's so easy to kind
of get lost in what's true and what's not. What
(02:33):
do you think it's a medicine for that against all
those information circling around us? You mean, it's medicine in
terms of public relations and advertisement, because you know those
people they usually they are very very persuasive. I mean
they're they're good presenter, you know, doing this kind of
you know, videos and and writing these kind of articles
(02:58):
and and really, as you say, I mean, there's no control.
Anybody can post anything, and a lot of a lot
of people, you know, they just accept it, you know,
and they do not listen to to scientific arguments. They
just go their line and sometimes it's you know, but
(03:19):
you have many areas like this. Now I have to
get some structure here because I feel like there's so
many different ways we could we could go with our
conversation having Yeah, but you know, it doesn't happen too often.
I have in front of me someone with so much
knowledge and experience. And that's why I appreciate your time
(03:39):
because the topics I want to talk to you. I
believe in the world there is hardly anyone that can
match UM. You know, everything you've studied, learned, and that
you have to share. So I'm going to go straight
to the point that UM interests me the most, and
that is what actually Andy Marry said a couple of
(04:00):
weeks ago on my podcast, you know, wanting to come
back stronger than ever physically at thirty four after the
surgery he has had. What's your opinion on that? I mean,
I think the good news is that it's it's possible.
It's perfectly possibly because the the age of thirty three,
it's it's not really something what would be like forbidding,
(04:21):
especially you know when when he has people around him
using the most recent knowledge of you know, sports and
coaching science, nutrition, exercise assessment, you know, rehabilitation, recovery. I mean,
he still can can perfectly you know, be physically on
(04:44):
the level, even on a high level than he used
to be. Uh, but you know there's a o the
other side of the coin, you know, because of his
medical history. I mean, we can discuss it maybe later.
That's something what should you probably also think about. We
touched open that before this chat, that stubbornness that we
(05:10):
all have as professional athletes. That helps us to get
the results we want, you know, trying to win no
matter what. Where is that borderline between you know, pushing
it as much as you can, but at the same
time being concerned about your health. You know, one day
when you retire and you go go away from the sport,
(05:30):
how do you find that balance knowing what's the right
thing to do? You know, this border varies very much
depends maybe a performance level, but also on the on
the age. You know, I used to be an earied
athlete as well, and I lived in this in this society,
and I remember, you know, the mentality of earied athletes,
(05:52):
you know, they they prime interest is the results, I
mean performance to be in limelights, and they do not
think much about the health and consequences. Sometimes they're they're
willing to risk a lot. I remember, you know, when
I was in seventies as an active athlete, I mean,
there was there was a discus throw for from you
(06:15):
as he was a world record holder at the time,
J Sylvester, and he made a kind of personal review
anonymous and among the questions he asked the participants was
one that, uh, I mean, if there's some substance allowed.
I mean, you're not supposed to be punished for that,
(06:36):
but there's a there's a risk of dying within five years. Uh,
and that substance would guarantee you to to win the Olympics.
I mean it was almost seventy people who responded yes,
I mean that describes the mentality of valid athlete. But
of course I think over the years, this is this
(06:59):
is engine. You know, once the people are getting older,
they think more about, you know, what comes after the career,
and then they consider also the risk. But you know,
the athletes that they prime, not not all of them,
of course, but majority would tend to, you know, to
(07:20):
neglect the possible risk health risks in order to to excel,
to be as I said in limelights, So what do
you do as a professional athlete? You have the stubbornness
of and willingness to do whatever it takes. How do
you take that out of your system? Do you? You know,
hire good psychologists? Is mental? Is it accepting you know,
(07:43):
or trying to see the other things in life? Having
write people around you? What's what's the way to get
out of that mental state? I mean depends on on
the individuals. I mean, people do everything. I mean in
your world. Do you see that sometimes the top tennis players,
I mean they change, they diet habits, they speak about it.
(08:05):
It becomes very popular, or they do that, or that
they hire psychologists and they refew psychologists. I mean it's
very it's very individual. You know. It's like somebody puts
a stress on good coach. And I know that you
like golf. We spent some time together on golf course,
(08:27):
and you know in golf it's it's very I would
say prominent. I mean, you need a perfect coach in
order to excel. There's a Barba Watson, very prominent golf players.
He is once I will need a coach, I will
stop playing. So they just you know, illustrates the contrast
in that. So people have different approaches. Uh, as I said,
(08:51):
it varies, you know, UM on your personal level, we
talk about you know, when is the right time for
an athlete to retire? UM in your professional uh sporting career.
When did you know there was the time? Okay, right,
I'm ready to move on to something else. You know,
(09:11):
this is again very individual. You know when you mentioned
me personally, I mean for me, the sport was just
something that has a companied me during my studies and
then you know, I spent one year as a as
a professional athlete in the military club and they did
was over. But you know, today's athlete, most of them
(09:32):
they live on that. I mean, they're professionals. So the
time to retire also depends on social issues, social factors.
You know, when they need to to live on, then
they need to you know, make money for the family
for whatever. I mean that also plays police role. But
you know, just from I would say biological point of view,
(09:52):
I mean the thirty forty years, it's it's still okay.
I mean, you have a lot of cases of athletes,
uh they they can compete even after fourteen many sports.
So it also depends on sports. You know, like in
some sports they pick you know, before thirty, but in
some sports they can perfectly do after after thirty years
(10:12):
of age well be very successful. So but I think
the probably most important thing is whether they like it
or not. You know, once they start to feel I mean,
this is this is boring. I mean, this is not
bringing me anymore in my life. That's probably the point
to think about. You probably not probably you surely have
(10:34):
your own experience. I mean you can remember, you know,
the time when when you were faced at this situation
to decide, okay, should I should I go on? Or
should I should I stop? So maybe I have to
interview what you know, the you know, the reason to quit,
to stop the spider. I mean you were still okay physically.
(10:57):
I was. Um, I think it's a very good point
in question. In my case, it was more about what
I've discussed with even Lubitch is just a couple of
weeks ago. Is that, Um, we were kind of expected
to retire at that age. I was thirty four. He
was thirty four as well, and it was judged as,
oh wow, they are so old and they're still playing.
(11:19):
It's almost embarrassing. But this is this is also changing.
It's early if you take if you take the attitude
of the society too elderly people. You know, I remember
when I was youngest, sixty years old person was was
really very old. I mean nowadays, I mean maybe ninety
ninety years old or even more so generally, as the
(11:41):
as the life expectancy is increasing, I think in the
same way also this sports life expectancy is increasing quite
quite naturally. Why is that because we you know, we
live healthy lives. So we know more we have not
only that, it's just a part of that. We know
(12:02):
you know more about you know, the medicine has progressed.
You know, a lot of problems, a lot of diseases
nowadays can be prevented, can be treated more efficiently. So
this is this is the factor which which really extends
this this span you know, for for active career in
the same way as as there is increased spent for
(12:25):
the for the longevity. So what do we know about recovery?
We didn't know twenty years ago because to me, one
of the reasons that forced me to stop was that,
you know, I could play two three very good matches.
After that, I just I did not. I did not
perform the way I wanted to because the recovery was
(12:45):
just not there. You know. The I think the more
important is the prevention. You know that nowadays, the the coaches,
the conditioning coaches, preparationist is much better, you know, we
and they can work in a way, you know, to
prepare the athlete to be to be better prepared, to
(13:07):
prevent injuries and so on. And then also during the recovery.
Nowadays we know that there are some approaches when the
recovery can be can be fostered by appropriate timing of
taking appropriate nutrition, maybe some some allowed supplements. So also
(13:28):
this and also nowadays we have some we have some
methods which allows us to monitor the recovery to some extent.
You know, we can we can measure some some metabolites,
we can measure some enzymes in the blood which reflects
the process of recovery. And also there are methods to
(13:50):
evaluate the the actual state of the sympathetic nervol system,
which also plays a role in the recovery. And in
that way, you know, we can those better the the
you know, the training load, and that's what also contribute
to this factor. The athletes can so to say a
(14:11):
little longer. And like you said, this doesn't go only
for professional athletes, but for life in general, for general
general population. So basically, when someone tells me they're sixty
and they say I'm too old to exercise, that's just
an excuse. That's that's a stupid argue. Thank you, thank you.
I'm so glad you're saying that. You know, that would
be a different, you know, area of to discuss, which
(14:35):
I like very much these days. I mean, like sports
and aging. This is this is the best preventive means
the elder people can do to you know, to enjoy
the the life in this what they say autumn of
the autumn of the life. Well, let's go deeper into that,
because it's one of the reasons, um, that I love
(14:58):
so much what you do, is that you, you know,
pushing the limits to what means being old so much
more away. And I want to hear it from you
to everyone listening that this maybe a little bit older. Um,
what are some of the I wouldn't say things we
make up in the mind, but some of the things
(15:20):
that you know, like you said, they're just stupid. That
there is no real reason why people, you know, beyond
seminy shouldn't be in their best shape. You know. One
of the most frequent fallacy about aging and exercise fallacy
was the word I was looking for, thank you. Is
(15:42):
the refusing of resistance training. You know. I remember when
I was at the medical school, they told us, iobic exercises. Fine,
you can walk, you can cycle, and so on, But
I mean when you are more than like forty, I mean,
don't touch the don't touch the u a lot or
you know, the weights, and nowadays we know this is
(16:03):
the crucial part of the exercise program for elderly because
as we are getting older, we are losing the strength,
sometimes to the point that people starts to be dependent
on on somebody else because they have so low strength
that they cannot take care of themselves. And in order
to avoid it, in order to make the life more comfortable,
(16:26):
if you train appropriate resistance and it can be done
in a very safe way. I mean, the elderly people
can enjoy the life. The quality of life is there's
no difference, you know, I mean there's extreme, big difference
between somebody who is just sitting and and and waiting
for the life to end, or somebody who can enjoy
(16:48):
the life until you know, very last day of his
of his life. So on the ratio between weights and
the endurance, say on a weekly basis, first of all,
how often you suggest for the elderly people to work out,
and how much of that should consistent? Uh, weights and
the aerobic stuff as well. You know, aerobic exercise we're
(17:11):
recommend to be done almost every day forty five minutes.
What is saying something like that? But okay, it can
be three times, four times five times. It depends, but
the resistance training is kind of specific. I mean they
shouldn't have been more than than twice twice a week
because old elderly people they need more time to recover,
(17:31):
and it doesn't bring much much more benefit if you
do it like three or four times, because as I said,
recovery is a bit slowed down in elderly people. And
that's why the two times a week is is the
best approach. And that is still okay with the risk
that we talked about earlier. Of air um, I love
(17:53):
that example. You said about the aeroplane that there is
a certain mileage in every plane, and I would say
the same goes to our body. Where is that acceptance
again not pushing it too much and accepting you know,
the age in a way a little bit, I guess.
I mean, you know that example of airplane. It's not
(18:14):
a question of my leach, it's more question of of
the mechanics cycle. You know, when the plane goes up,
there's over pressure inside and there's a there's a stress
on on the walls and this, you know, this is
a kind of cycle. Then the plane goes down and
the stress disappears. So these stress cycles are limited to
(18:37):
thirty tho you know, after thirty thou landings and taking
off the plane should be taken out because the risk
of failure of the of the material is very high.
So this relates more to professional athletes, not only to
professional athletes. But you know, the the activity with some
let's say hip hip replacement. When you when you use
(19:00):
some some external material in a body, then people should
consider that this is this is the factor that this
is Even if it's a kind of very special, very
special steeler, you know, titanium, it still has some kind
of mechanical limits in terms of cycles. And in this
(19:21):
case the cycles are impacts. So when you when you
do when you live a normal, normal life, daily life
activities or exercise in a moderate amount, it's it's still fine, man.
You can live with this, let's say prostesis for thirty
or four years. But if somebody, you know, after hip replacement,
(19:42):
for instance, is doing heavy exercises, doing too much, then
of course the life span of that merit material is shorter,
and then it's very likely that he would need revision surgery.
And and again you know it's connected with some kind
risk and complications. So this is this is the fact
(20:08):
about this this uh, you know, artificial material. You know,
it's it's interesting that uh, the the healthy human tissue,
like you know, bone, it's still the best material. We
haven't we haven't created better material yet in terms of durability.
(20:28):
It's it's really a kind of miracle of nature. So
it takes us back to that and the marry discussion
that we had earlier on. So basically, when there is
artificial part in our body, we have to respect more.
You know. I was I was impressed by by your
(20:49):
interview with with Andy Murray. I really enjoyed it. And
the first party was something what we discussed at the
beginning of this interview that he's probably still in the
mood to be, you know, early athlete, and he liked
to be back in limelights and to win and so on.
I don't know all the social aspects. I mean, I
(21:10):
suppose he probably would be socially well backed up, not
be pushed to do that. I don't know, but he
still wants, he still wants to excel. But you know,
on the other hand, probably he would have to think
about it. I'm sure that the the you know, the
people working with him on you know, the medical doctors,
(21:34):
I mean taking care of him. That there must be
somebody you know, giving him the I means, as we say,
put the clear one, you know, to tell him that
it's it's also some risk in well if he wants
to come back to compete at the highest level. But
(21:54):
you know he's still he still wants to to do it.
Now that's his decision. You know, in medicine, nothing is
black and white. He might be fine, but I mean,
as I mentioned, you know, these cycles he has, he
has received only the resurfacing. That's I would say, I
would say very mild modification of this hyper placement. Most
(22:19):
of the destruction were you know, left there and then.
But still you know, these materials they have some durability
and that can be not not very funny for him.
So I don't want, you know, to prophesied that as
some people say, he may end up in the wheelchair
and so on. I mean, I don't wish. I wishing
(22:41):
all the best and maybe it's not dead bad, but
you know, he probably would need reoperation, which in other cases,
if he just lived normal life, can be avoided. But
you know, we we don't know. It's you know, medicine,
it's usually you know, to play with arts. I mean
(23:02):
it's kind of there's no black and white answer. Yeah,
it's amazing to confer the worlds of the medicine and
the fact and what makes sense. And then you have
that uthlete mind where you just can't help yourself. If
there is zero point zero zero one percent that you
are capable of still you know, playing you you're going
to do everything, especially in someone's case like Andy with
(23:24):
his mind. You know, whenever he got told that it's impossible,
he he wants to prove everyone wrong wrong, And to
me it's so admirable. But at the same time, you've
got to respect the nature. I don't think it. I
mean he wants to prove everybody is wrong. I think
he must be. He must be aware of those risks.
And you know, if he if he will be without troubles,
(23:46):
as I said, it's still possible. Okay, that's that's not
the proof that this is not correct. He was just
the lucky one. I wish him he will be, you
know that case. But I mean, do you play with
with some some risks and you know this altitude too,
like performers and health, what we have discussed at the beginning,
(24:06):
you touch is just just recently. It's also interesting I
tell you my professional life and now I'm not speaking
about the athletes life, because I mean I switched from
like elite athletes the recreation athlete career and I'm active
for for you know, I don't know, sixties or whatever.
(24:27):
But my professional life is a sports physician. I tell you,
at the beginning of my career, my prime interest was,
I mean performance, you know too, you know, to use
all my knowledge and all the recent advances in or
to help the athletes to to excel, to you know,
(24:48):
to achieve better performance. And I tell you honestly, as
I'm getting older more and more, I'm you know, going
away of this concept to the fe loss of you know,
how to use exercise to make the life of people healthier,
and not that much performance in in in my you know,
(25:12):
prime as my prime goal. But on the other hand,
you know, when we speak about performance, it's still it's
still there because even in elderly people, we want to
improve the you know, sort of say performance capacity, but
not to the highest level. But if you improve the
(25:34):
physical fitness of elderly people and it gives him a
chance to to have a more comfortable life. That's a
very good point you make and something that interests me
personally that I struggled with when I retired because, like
you said, oh, our life as an athlete, it's focused
on that performance, and suddenly I don't have that goal.
(25:56):
So you go to the other extreme like well why
should I take care of myself physically? And I'm sure
retired athletes go through that emotion at some stage, like right,
I don't need my body anymore to perform, so what
the hell? When he is? He is the body you
know to live the healthy life for the you know,
the years, for the years to come. You know, I
(26:19):
tell you some something that people usually don't know, and
even my my colleagues do not, do not consider the
most important factor of mortality in uh, you know in
the middle and elderly population is a physical fitness. It's
(26:39):
not whether somebody is has as a higher weight, or
he is a higher cholesterol, or his hypertonic or whatever
he's but his level of physical fitness, he's VO two max.
We call it maximum oxygen uptick. It gives you actually
(27:01):
the capability to to work faster. You know, when somebody
walks the stair and he's catching the breath. It means
he has a lot of physical fitness. So there's a
good measure of physical fitness. And more than forty years
follow up study from from Cooper Institute for pho Aerobic
Research showed that how long we are going to live
(27:24):
it depends on the level of physical fitness. Again, it's statistics,
there's no guarantee. So and then it's paradox because when
the people in the middle age or elder people go
for medical checkups, what what the physician does. I mean
he measures the blood pressure, cholesterol, I mean he's taking
(27:46):
the body mass index, whether he's obese or not, and
and a lot of other factors. And why why they
are doing that. They want to do what we call
the risk of reduction therapy. He wants to reduce his
blood pressure because we know it's a risk factory. It's
it's shortening the life lifespan. But stronger is the physical fitness.
(28:08):
Nobody takes care, I mean nobody. Some people who knows
and have money to pay for that, they do it,
but routinely it's not done. So what do you say
the older we get you know, we have our career,
our relationship, and just from what I'm learning here, would
you say the physical fitness is one of the biggest
(28:30):
privileges we can have going forward in our lives to
the later stages. That's perfectly That can be excellent heritage
of your professional career. As you said, you suddenly stop
playing competitively and then you or somebody thinks about why
should I be physical? I don't need it. I mean
he needs it. He needs it first of all to
(28:53):
live longer and to live a life which has a
higher quality. Because you know, if you if somebody cannot
walk the stairs or he can, he cannot bring the
the shopping back, you know, the old way, you cannot
bring the shopping back from the grocery stored back home.
I mean, it's affecting equality of life. And if you
(29:15):
are able, you know, to be on a higher level
of aerobic fitness of strength and you can maintain it,
you know from your career throughout the rest of your life,
that gives you a chance to have a more comfortable,
more more healthy life, to enjoy the life more so.
(29:35):
It's a there's this famous saying of Abraham Lincoln that
it's not you know how long we live, I mean
not aiding the years to life and life to years.
I mean, it's it's the issue, you know, whether just
you know, to be in a in a senior nursery
home to you know, to wait for the for the
life to end. That's not very funny, but I mean
(29:57):
if you if you can still I mean, have a
lot of friends. They played gold, They played tennis at
the age of over eighty. Why, I mean that's also
my goal. Yeah. I remember I was buying for my grandmother,
who was my first tennis coach, as a gift for
her eighty birthday. We were getting her new skis, and
to me, it was like right, what more so she
(30:21):
gave me such an incredible example. It gives you also
a good, good hope that you have a good genes
and that you can just just follow, you know, the
example of his grandfather. I remember my grandfather was and
his main complaint was that he cannot cut the woods,
you know, himself. And then we had the shot of
(30:41):
sleeve of his he kind of standing, has to use
the tea. Right after that, Well, those are the right reasons.
Right to be in shape, be quite, would be quite
you know happy, But you know, you never know. That's
just kind of anecdote. Well, I'm really glad you you
brought the up because one of the things I really
(31:03):
got surprised and I didn't even know how to react first,
was when I retired. Obviously I had a little bit
of that glimpse of right, why should I be doing it?
But then luckily I understood right away, Okay, I want
to be healthy. I want to do this for myself.
And people would seem especially here in Slovakia, in the gym,
and they would be like, why are you working out?
(31:23):
I'm like, why not? You know, I didn't even know
how to answer that. Of course, then maybe they were
shocked because I think one of the things we might
do differently retiring from professional sports is that our workouts
are maybe on a little bit different level to to
to to to a normal workout. But still there was
(31:44):
no that, you know, twice a day tennis session as well,
so I felt like I was on holiday. You know what.
They forget about one one issue, and that's that's the joy.
I mean, you like it. I like it. I really
keep doing that. I mean that's for some people, this
is something not not busy to understand, but I mean
(32:05):
that's the idea of combination. If you like it, if
you if you enjoy it, and then you see, okay,
it's also good for health. I also know the cases.
Those are usually patients, you know, when they got the warning,
you know, then they got my accordian and function and
and then they are told, okay, I mean you have
to do that and that if you want to live longer,
(32:25):
or if you want to live that life which is
still ahead of you as a normal person, not not
as a disabled person. Then they do exercise, but a
lot of them they do not like it. They do it. Okay,
that's still better than to do nothing. But the ideal
is if you, if you like it, if you enjoy it. Yeah,
(32:46):
I don't know like it for me, I tell you honestly,
it would be the greatest punishment if I cannot If
I cannot exercise, I was just gonna ask you, like,
I don't know how it is for you, but well
it's obviously is the same if I cannot work out
to days, I go not. Yeah. So I think we
are very very lucky and blessed in that way. So
(33:06):
on personal level, what's your weekly routine as far as
fitness nutritions. How do you keep in shape? I you know,
I used to. I used to run for three years.
I mean it was a kind of paradise because I
was a shot put. Then I lost twenty kilos and
within one year after finishing my career, I ran marathon
(33:29):
in Cautis. You know, I received the calls from my
colleagues and from my colleagues that what what a shame
because you know, for shot put it to run two
laps just to warm up was already something. I remember.
I had colleagues then in order to avoid the warning up,
you know, running, they just too took the tea and aspirin. Okay,
(33:52):
So that's how much you have enjoyed running. It's a funny.
It's on a funny note. But yeah, you know. Then
then I then I run for thirty years. But as
I as I start to feel that, you know, my
joint that I have joined, so I decided it's probably better,
(34:12):
you know that, I I switched to cycling. So now
for more than ten years, you know, I'm cycling every
day to my office. It's more than an hour, one
hour twenty minutes both ways. Every day I go to
gym to three times a week, and uh, every time
I can, you know, I I go and enjoy golfing.
(34:36):
That's uh, that's basically my exercise routine. And concerning the nutrition,
you know, I used to be vegetarian for for many
many years recent years and not so strong. But actually
it's more like if it's not unavoidable, and then I
I it's something. It's not religion. It's just you know,
(34:59):
the approach, healthy way way of life. But it's not possession.
It's it's not like an obsession of position. It's not
obsession for me. I mean occasionally of Kelsey, you can,
you can, you can do a sin. It's always better
if there's somebody else to do it with, exactly, it
gives you a better feeling. Totally. Uh, I feel like
(35:22):
we could go on for hours. I've really enjoyed this chat.
So maybe at some point, if our listeners are interested,
you know, we might do a second part of ALA.
So it was it was really super interesting to to
listen to your ideas and opinions on things that just lastly,
(35:45):
I'm going to ask you, since we are in January
and normally it's all about resolutions, what do you think
about that or is it something we should it's better
to keep up during the year and not you know,
focus so much about what we're going to do in
January and then go away from it by by the
time February comes. And why is it sometimes hard to
(36:06):
keep that discipline that we set up goals and then
we kind of go away from it. I think you
better ask my wife, psychologies, my daughter, because I mean,
I think you know those statistics that people usually you know,
the gyms are full in January February. That's what I'm
asking the question. People you know, giving themselves, you know,
(36:28):
some kind of task and making decisions. I think it's
not and it's not like that. I mean, you have
to you have to change your way of life if
you know, somebody's thinking about that anytime, and and try
to keep on that. You know, it's not it's not
a campaign. You know. It's like sometimes you see the
people they all died for like two or three weeks,
(36:50):
and you know, then then they go to reward themselves,
you know, to to take some you know, sweets in
the shop or whatever, and then they have this yo effect.
Because of course, if you are on the strict diet,
then your metabolism slows down, and then once you go
back to normal normal you know, eating habits, then it
(37:11):
goes back very fast, even above the level. So that's
not a really good approach. So you know, the the
healthy way of life. It's not kind of campaign. I
don't like this, this kind of special cures. I don't know,
like cleaning, I don't know exactly English word for that.
You know, some people on special like detoxication. So that's funny.
(37:34):
I always ask you what are you getting rid of?
What kind of toxics? Can you specify? The usually not
able to tell. You know, this is also not a
good approach. We have to the modest all all your
life and then then then okay, occasionally you can as
I said, but it's not like now I'm the best
(37:55):
is some some people go for for this. They go
on the separation on a mountain cottage, cottage for like
three or four weeks and uh, hungry cool. I don't
know how should they call it? You know they are
they're kept on the very strict strict diet. So I'm laughing.
(38:18):
I mean, you have to pay a lot of money,
you know, to enjoy hungry. So that's what I but
you know, people it's funny, you know, because people sometimes
they feel that they do something wrong and they need
they need kind of punishment so that they buy again.
(38:40):
I don't know the English world. I mean in the past,
when somebody committed the scene, then he could buy something
what what what released? Did that scene? So something something
like that, you can you can see, you know these days,
and the punishment can be either this kind of or
(39:01):
they pay a lot of money for some stupid miracles,
you know, substance which is promising them, you know, to
lose the weight or to be healthy whatever, and more expensive,
more likely they buy because there's a kind of punishment
for them they feel and if something cheap that's not
(39:22):
that's not enough, something not right about it. Okay, it's
more like philosophical you know talks, not philosophical just you know,
but that's that's the way the people behave. I think
definitely that's going to be the sentence of my two
one on my mind that you just shared with us,
that it's not a campaign, that's a very strong one.
So Lucian, thank you so much for your time, and
(39:45):
I really genuinely hope that we get to have you
on our podcast very soon again, Daniel, it would be
my great pleasure and I hope even before we meet
at the golf course. Yes, definitely, so that's the plan
to enjoy it around. Thank you so much. Thank you.
I hope you have enjoyed today's episode and getting to
know my guests a bit better. If you feel like
(40:06):
you to subscribe to us so you don't miss any
of the action. Also let me know your comments or
suggestions on my social media channels, and have a lovely
rest of your day. By
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