Defying the Fat Cop Stereotype: A Conversation with Fit Responder Ted Stern

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Coming up next on Two Cops, One Donut.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
I can speak from this firsthand.
I've struggled with depressionfrom early childhood.
As long as I can remember.
I mean I remember being ninethinking it'd probably be better
off if I was dead.
You know, I don't know,nine-year-olds think suicidal
thoughts and stuff, but when Iwas fat I was the most depressed
I've ever been.
I literally was thinking aboutit.
You know, like life sucks,everything sucks.

(00:24):
Why been?
Why?
Why even get in shape?
Cause I just hate everything,hate myself and and it's a
vicious cycle, right?
Because that mindset makes itmore difficult to to work on
your fitness.
And then, if you don't work onyour fitness, you're not
improving that and sometimes youjust have to act in faith.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Disclaimer welcome to Two Cops One Donut podcast.
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The podcast is intended forentertainment and informational
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We do not endorse any guest'sopinions or actions discussed
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Any content provided by guestsis of their own volition and

(01:03):
listeners are encouraged to formtheir own opinions.
Furthermore, some content isgraphic and has harsh language
Viewer discretion advised and isintended for mature audiences.
Two Cops One Donut and its hostdo not accept any liability for
statements.
All right, welcome back.

(01:33):
I'm your host, eric Levine, andthis is Two Cops One Donut
podcast.
With me today is Ted Stern, akaFit Responder.
You can find him on theInstagrams.
You can find him probably onjust about every social media, I
believe.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Pretty much.
Yeah, I'm doing really well.
Thanks for having me, Eric.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Hey, not a problem, brother.
We've we've talked, chatted alittle bit on the, on the grams,
and on LinkedIn, where I findthat that's LinkedIn and
Instagram are my two mainplatforms when it comes to just
connecting with people andtrying to find guests, and Ted
and I are very like mindset whenit comes to fitness in the

(02:15):
first responder world, and Iwanted to.
You know, it's one thing when Isay it, but it's a totally
different thing when you gotsomebody that specializes in it
and backing that up.
So that's why I wanted to haveyou on here, ted.
I'm excited, let's do it.
I know, first, for those thatjust listened to this, if you're
tuning in only on Apple orSpotify and you're listening,

(02:36):
you have to take the time to gofind him or at least watch some
of the clips that we put out onthis, because my man has a
glorious mustache and it itwould rival some firefighters
for sure yeah, well, now I gotthe beard, so let's see.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Let's see if I meant I might have to go back to the
stash, because it's sort of likemy calling card your signature
yeah, it's like the mcdonald's mlike people see, and they're
like, oh, you're that, you'rethat.
No, I'm not famous by any means, but I get a lot of people who
go you're that fitness guy on onsocial media right For for cops
, and it's because of thatridiculous mustache I think that
.
So I did my military trainingend of February into.

(03:13):
March.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Well, I had to shave my face and I do it for 24 days
straight, so I'm still kind ofpumping out some content and
people are like who is this,who's this little boy that you
hired?
So it kind of gives me.
You can see the grays comingthrough.
Wisdom, yeah, yeah, wisdom,wisdom, yeah, it definitely
makes me.
I don't get it.
I don't have any gray anywhereelse but my beard I mean, I got

(03:50):
grays coming in here too.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, same thing.
It just means we're, we havenice, uh, wise beards.
I like that wise yeah I'll gowith that too.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Yeah, excellent.
But sir, we we kind of have astandardized format of this show
.
I like people to get to knowyou and figure out where you're
from and kind of why you gotinto law enforcement to begin
with.
First responder role, I'mactually assuming a lot.
I don't know all of yourbackground either.
I don't know if you do EMS,fire and PD.

(04:20):
Some people do a combo of allthe stuff.
So I'm assuming a lot of thingshere, but it's cool for the
audience.
One.
It's going to give them alittle buy-in on you, I believe,
if your background is maybesomething that they can resonate
with.
And everybody that got into lawenforcement.
It's funny.
I tell this story often.
I know my listeners are goingto be like bro, you say this

(04:42):
every time you mention it.
But I do have a friend on mydepartment who literally became
a cop because his roommatebecame a wanted to go take the
civil service test, so he wentwith him to take.
It ends up being one of thebest cops I've ever worked with.
Shout out to whitton, so funnygreat, yeah, I'll tell my story.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
So, um, I come from southern california, uh, and I
was not interested in lawenforcement.
Really, I loved watching theshow Cops and I thought it
looked like a cool job, butnever thought about it until I
had a girlfriend in collegewhose dad worked corrections but
she always referred to him as acop.
So that kind of got me thinkinglike, would that be a cool

(05:20):
career?
I was on track to go to lawschool and then there was this
incident in this cool career.
I was on track to go to lawschool and then there was this
incident in this party town thatI was in.
It's called Isla Vista, whichis near Santa Barbara,
california, and it's likeparties all the time.
It's always wild stuffhappening on the streets.
So there was a big fight thatbroke out and it was like mayhem
there's.
These guys were fighting a hugecircle, there was a couch on

(05:42):
fire and all of a sudden, allthese cops show up and they just
handle it like badasses andthey were super calm and just,
just, just, you know, takingnames and telling people what to
do, and I was like man, that'sso cool how they come into this
scene of chaos, make everythingright very quickly and do it
with professionalism, goodexecution.

(06:02):
So that got me really thinkingabout like man, I think I could
do this.
Also the idea of going to lawschool, spending all of my saved
money going to school foranother three years.
I'm like, yeah, this doesn'tsound that great.
So I figured, you know, I'lltry the career.
If I hate it I'll do somethingelse.
It's a job right.
So you know, it's funny, thoughI didn't know this but my
grandpa, my mom's side, was asheriff's deputy and I had no

(06:25):
idea for a period of time he was.
So maybe it runs in thebloodline a little bit.
So anyways, became a cop andfor Ventura County Sheriff's in
Southern California Greatdepartment.
I worked a bunch of differentassignments, from custody to
patrol, to detectives, to theacademy.
You know different spots and Iloved it.

(06:48):
So I'll try to wrap up thestory with how I came to do Fit
Responder and retire from lawenforcement.
I snapped my ankle on the job.
We were warming up fordefensive tactics at the academy
and we were.
I was jump roping and I landedwrong and cool video, by the way
, I can post that up.
Yeah, it's on video snappingthe ankle and I was so sad and

(07:09):
depressed about it Went home,you know, and I was.
I was laying on the couch withmy foot elevated because it had
this gnarly swelling and I justhad this idea like man, I'm just
going to work on fit respondermore.
So, for those that don't know,that's my online fitness
coaching program for firstresponders.
I was once an out of shape firstresponder myself.
I was a fat cop with high bloodpressure and when I made a

(07:32):
great transformation, peoplenoticed.
So I started helping people,started coaching them.
I was a personal trainer mybackground so it was easy for me
.
And when I was sidelined on thecouch the injury I really
focused more effort on fitresponder and it was taken off.
I mean it's a great businessbecause when people get fit,
they people ask, hey, how didyou get fit?

(07:53):
So it's like, oh, people becomewalking billboards for your
business.
And it was taken off and Iloved it.
I was making much more moneythan I was as a cop.
I was having fun, I was helpingpeople.
I mean every client I dealtwith was happy, whereas when
you're a cop, you know a lot ofpeople you deal with don't like
you and you know a lot ofsituations you don't want to be
in.
So that's, that's how that cameto be.

(08:15):
I retired in 2021 because I justhad a decision to make, like am
I going to go back to work andjust kind of, you know, one leg
in, one leg out with fitresponder, or should I do this
full time?
And you know, I think there'ssometimes.
You have these moments in lifewhere there's a lot of things
that might make it a difficultdecision, but at the same time,
in your heart, like in your gut,you're like I have to do this.

(08:37):
And I just knew whether thatwas God or whether it was
whatever I just said, I got todo this full time and I also had
that same thought this doesn'twork out, I'll go back to being
a cop.
You know they'll, they'll takeme back.
I was in good terms.
I just promoted as well.
Um, so I quit, uh and uh.
I guess the rest is history.
I moved to Utah now because, um,some of my wife's family lives

(08:59):
out here and I'm like, wait, wedon't have to live in Southern
California anymore.
I mean, I saved so much moneyout here in Utah.
My goodness, it's just betterkind of a culture, so to speak,
than SoCal for the most part.
I do miss the weather in SoCal,but everything else is better
here.
I got four kids.

(09:20):
I have a beautiful wife who isalso a sheriff's deputy.
What else can I say, eric?
Did I miss anything?
Was that too long winded?

Speaker 1 (09:26):
No, this is like I said baby, this is all about you
.
So you did great.
Now I've got some backquestions though Law school what
the hell?
That's a weird jump it is.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
So I loved to debate.
I love the idea of arguing withsomeone and winning, and I
thought I would love that aspectabout being a lawyer, getting
in the courtroom, you know, kindof having that kind of a battle
.
But I realized a lot of the job.
I wouldn't like, you know, I,when I talked to lawyers they're
like, yeah, you know, it's alot of book work, a lot of

(10:00):
office work, it's a lot ofreading, it's a lot of prep.
I was like of office work, it'sa lot of reading, it's a lot of
prep.
I was like I don't know and Icouldn't really decide on what
type of law I wanted to do.
There is no way in hell I'd bea defense attorney, for obvious
reasons.
And yeah, so I you know at thetime, like I said, the idea of
not going back to school, saving.
I had like $50,000 saved up.

(10:21):
I'm like I could buy a houseright now instead of spending
this on law school and goinginto further debt.
So, yeah, it made sense for meat the time.

Speaker 1 (10:30):
Now, as your experience as a cop and that you
were looking at the law, doesit surprise you how little of
the law that we really know as apolice officer?

Speaker 2 (10:49):
as a police officer.
I was definitely surprisedgetting into the career because
I felt like the academy was notgood enough to get me trained up
to be a cop.
No offense to this trainingacademy in Ventura County
they're touted as one of thebest.
But that's what concerns me isthat's one of the best, but we
spent more time marching than wedid on case law, right, you
know?
Um.
So I don't know how things havechanged, but, by the way, I
went to the academy 15 years ago, so I I'm sure things are a

(11:12):
little different now.
But yeah, I mean, we don't, wedon't know enough, we don't know
, we're not trained enough.
New cops on the street are nottrained well enough in case law,
in fitness and martial arts andall the things we need to be
great at.
Uh, it honestly surprises mehow well cops tend to do for how
poorly they are trained or notpoorly, but like for how little

(11:34):
they're trained, right, I mean,the training they get is good,
but they just you go.
You know what?
When you're a surgeon, how longdo you go to school, right,
isn't it like eight years, Ithink?
Yep, um, and then when you're asurgeon, though, most of the
time you have time to think,time to plan other people you
could bounce ideas off of.
As a cop, you're supposed tomake split second life-changing
decisions.
What after a few months in anAcademy?

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
It blows my mind.
It's insane, uh it, I mind it'sinsane, uh it, I think.
Cops, if I could, if I couldrule the world, I would have
cops be one of a very highlypaid profession.
It would require way more workand and um education to to get
that spot.
So it would incentivize peoplewho would have otherwise become
doctors and lawyers, who want tomake 200 grand a year Great,

(12:21):
you can as a cop.
Um, that'd be my ideal world.
We'd have very smart, verycapable badasses comprising the
majority of law enforcement,because they'd be highly paid,
highly trained.
It wouldn't you know the oldidea of oh I'll just get my
diploma, my GED, and I'll becomea cop, like no, that wouldn't

(12:42):
exist in my world.
So yeah, but that's me and,being an idealist, it's never
going to happen.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, I, I'm with you and I I'm one of those that I
speak out quite a bit ofproblems that we have in
policing and how we can fix them.
Obviously, fitness is one andwe'll get to that.
But since you brought up lawschool, I thought that was a
good window and segue to talkabout just how surprising it is
that we are.
We're the jack of all, masterof none.

(13:09):
We touch on all of these things.
We touch on the constitution,we touch on you know state law.
You touch on local cityordinances and stuff like that,
but we really don't.
We focus on it enough to pass atest and then when you get out
there, if you work at adepartment that doesn't get a

(13:29):
lot of calls, you are at hugerisk because how are you going
to retain that If you don't useit?
You lose it Right, right.
And the laws and stuff that wehave to know in the case laws
that we have to keep up with,that, I hate to say it, a lot of
officers don't.
Um, I I try to make sure at allof my roll calls and now that

(13:51):
I'm a Sergeant that I'm tryingto mention case laws often as I
can think of it or that I findout about new case law.
So my guys, at least, aregetting that stuff because
you're right that you're outthere just trying to try to
survive, not getting civillysued, not violating somebody's
civil rights, making sure you'redoing everything right.

(14:12):
In the meantime, you learn howto be a cop like you're.
You're you're inself-preservation mode, but at
the same time you're learninghow to do the job and it's
insane to me that we don't paythese guys.
And then you want them to befitness buffs, then you want
them to be MMA fighters thatdon't hurt people and you give

(14:34):
them 40 hours of training forthe week or for the year I
apologize, for the year andyou're like all right, we got
our liability out of the way.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
It's nuts.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
And then hang them out to dry when they screw up
during a fight or whatever.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
It is nuts, it's insane to me and I look back on
it being, I think, 22 years oldwhen I got out of the academy
and, oh my gosh, I've done a lotof maturing since then.
I mean, a lot of lifeexperiences has been had and
I'll tell you a story my firstday on patrol without an FTO, so
I was solo.

(15:10):
I'm responding code three bymyself to someone being held
hostage at gunpoint, and Iremember driving on this is
insane, like I'm about to handlethis.
And yeah, there was a big caselaw question.
When the incident's unfolding,the person who answered the door
goes oh, that must have been myex calling he's crazy.

(15:30):
And we're like well, should wego in to check, can we?
She's refusing, right, youcan't come in here.
And we're like whoa.
So I'm sitting there with mybuddy and we're like do we have
the legal authority to say well,sorry, you're refusing, but we
have to enter.
Is this exigency?
Is it right?

(15:51):
So, yeah, that that's a reallife example of being new on the
job.
Going, man, are we doing theright thing?
You know, and I don't think Iwas trained well enough.
I'm not necessarily was trainedwell enough.
I'm not necessarily.
Of course I could have doneextra studying, let's say, and
gotten myself better prepared,but we shouldn't have, you know,

(16:11):
we shouldn't have that happen.
We shouldn't have thatuncertainty in a job, as you
said, that's held to such a highstandard, that's such a target
of scrutiny and criticism andpublic spotlight.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
It's.
It's insane how, how muchtraining we need and we don't
get.

Speaker 1 (16:33):
And then we haven't even gotten into the shift
differences.
So you for people listening, Iwant you to think about this.
We give you all this training.
Well, guess what time thattraining's put on?
8 am till 5 pm.
You work midnights.
You just got off shift.
The only time that thismandatory training for you to go
learn bullshit about.
You know, cultural diversity orwhatever it is that isn't going

(16:56):
to help you in the field.
If you don't have culturaldiversity by the time you're out
there, you're a lost cause.
Out there, you're, you're alost cause, uh, in my opinion.
So here we are.
You can only train 5 PM or 8 AMto 5 PM.
You know, now you're sleepdeprived.
You going in, how much are youretaining?
And then you go.

(17:17):
You know, let's hope that's onyour weekend.
Now you had to go in.
On your off day you had to go.
Do that.
Do you see where that cycleends up?
Going like we're torturingthese guys.
For you know what's the average?
Maybe 45 grand a year.
I I don't know how long wasyour academy, yeah, uh our

(17:37):
academy was six monthsokay, six months is a pretty
standard.
There's some out there that arefour months.
Shoot, I've heard of some thatare eight weeks because they're
military cops or whatever.
And I am a military cop.
I can tell you right now we arenot ready for civilian law
enforcement out there and I'm apart of probably one of the
better police career fields inthe military security forces for

(17:59):
the Air Force.
They're very law enforcementoriented, just like the Navy, um
army and Marines they're not asoriented they're.
They're what they would call,you know, riflemen first or, uh,
infantry first, um, not in theair force or quasi military, but
um, yeah.

(18:19):
So when we talk about the lengthof time, now the Academy that
I'm at or my department is Ithink it's eight months, which
is amazing, and we more thandouble the standard um regs of
what the state requires forhours, so that it's really good.
And going through that I sawlike, oh my god, okay, training,

(18:41):
super important.
Because even when I got outhere you said like having the
confidence in some of the things, um, I wouldn't have got that
in four months, I wouldn't havegot maybe in six months.
That's still condensing it.
And then the other part that wescrewed up and you and I
probably went through thegeneration where everything was
block style training.
Um, what we do, what we do now,not, it's progressive training.

(19:06):
And so for those listening,block style training is like all
right, this week we're goingover the constitution.
Boom, take a test.
Now, we're not touching theconstitution again.
Okay, now we're going to goover a penal code Boom, penal
code, get it done for the week.
Take a test Okay, cool, they'reprepping you for the state exam
so you can pass it, and that'sabout it.

(19:27):
And then, once you get throughthere, you know you do your
combatives training.
Your combatives training iseight weeks and then you're like
boom, we're done with that, wedon't touch it again.
That is shitty training.
I like, I like the like.
The process that my departmentdoes is it's eight months long,
but it is.
You do control tactics everysingle day.
You're doing, if we teach youday one, health and fitness,

(19:52):
health and wellness, I thinkthat's what we actually.
That's our first week.
We want you to learn health andwellness at the beginning,
because we're going to keepreaffirming it throughout the
entire eight months.
So that's when we, right at thebeginning, we talk about sleep
deprivation, what you know, notseeing the sun does to you what,
um, your cortisol levels willdo.

(20:12):
I mean, this is at a policeacademy.
You're learning fitness stuffthat is crucial to knowing what
to do to combat that so youdon't become, you know, an
energydrinking zombie onmidnights that gains 30 pounds
as soon as you get out there.
So it's important, if you'reout there and you know your

(20:33):
academy is still block style,you need to get away from that
and get into a progressive style.
I'll give you another example.
When we teach combatives, itstarts from standing up like
you're going to get in a fight.
We teach you how to make a fist, we teach you how to make the
stance, and then we get intothrowing punches and strikes,
and then this is the progressionof a fight.

(20:53):
Okay, they close the distance.
Now you're grabbing onto eachother.
Okay, what do you do from here?
Here's some takedowns you cando from standing All right, once
they go to the ground.
You know we're on the secondmonth and now we're on the
ground and we're teaching youguys how to handle yourself on
the ground.
Okay, we're on the ground andyou got a moment to separate.
Now you're back up on your feet.
What do we do?
Now?
We transition to our Batmanbelt.
Okay, let's get a taser, let'sget some distance weapons, let's

(21:15):
do all these things.
So progressive training thatstarts at the beginning and it
continues throughout the academy, because all that stuff that
you learned at the beginningmaking the fist and and going
and closing the distance andthen taking somebody down you're
going to be doing that and moreeach week.
It keeps progressing down thatline like it's a real fight.
So it's, it's amazing.

(21:37):
So for me, don't like the blocktraining stuff.
Guys, get that shit out of here.
But when you got cut loose, sir, how, first off, how long were
you a cop?
11 years, okay.
So you did 11 years.
What?
What was the size?
Roughly like the populationsize of your county, and then
what was the size of yourdepartment?

Speaker 2 (21:57):
I could look up those stats.
I honestly don't know.
I think there was like 900sworn deputies.
I know he served five citiesokay so you're bigger than
that's.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
that's bigger than the national average for uh
department for sure, um, sothat's quite uh.
What was did you do?
Patrol, or were you?
Hey, y'all, eric levine, twocops, one donut.
I'm out here currently on mymilitary time and I thought I'd
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(22:32):
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(22:52):
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This is for you guys.

(23:12):
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(23:37):
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(23:58):
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(24:20):
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(24:40):
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(25:02):
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Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, so I did a bunch of different assignments.
They start you in the jail withthe Ventura County Sheriff's
Office and then I went to patrol.
I worked in Thousand Oaks.
I worked overtime, though, atall of our different stations
and then did different things,like I was on the marijuana
eradication team where cartelswere growing you know grows out

(25:34):
there in the hills and causinghavoc in the environment, and so
we would clean those up.
And then, let's see, I was adetective.
I worked different types ofcases there, I got promoted and
I went back to the academy asone of the coordinators there
and helping with the trainingand stuff.
Um, I'm not sure if I'm missingany other assignments.

(25:57):
Okay, I recall, yeah, okay it'sinteresting.

Speaker 1 (26:01):
You bring up those, the cartels growing um stuff in
our country and I've seenspecials and some training
videos on that and if I don'twant to overstep because I this
is just from what I've seen,you've seen it personally but
when you're saying that they'remessing up the environment, they
were literally like revertingum the creeks and stuff like

(26:23):
that.
They were digging up land, theywere dropping um chemicals all
over uh in the middle of likenational wildlife and all that
stuff, correct.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, and sometimes when I mentioned that assignment
, I think people kind of rolltheir eyes because now marijuana
is looked at as prettyinnocuous, it's legal in a lot
of ways in a lot of states.
So people are like, really, youguys have this team to go out
and cut some plants down.
But you're right, the realbigger kind of problem, at least
in my mind, is not kids gettingstoned on pot, it was.

(26:55):
They were diverting entirestreams of water, that's,
feeding the different plants andanimals down the mountain.
They're diverting it all totheir grow and using different
pesticides, and they alsooftentimes had guards with guns
there.
So if you're a family going on ahike and wander the wrong
direction, uh, that could bedangerous.

(27:16):
So, yeah, I think it was aworthy cause.
We would try to surprise themand actually a couple of times
there would still be dudes thereand, you know, chase them down
and arrest them.
Um, a lot of time though, theywould hear the helicopter coming
and get out of there.
But uh, yeah, that was a funassignment.
They'd drop us in on ahelicopter.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
We see if we can catch them or, and if not, we're
just spending the day with amachete hacking down a lot of
weed okay, nice, um, yeah, thatwould be fun, that would be
interesting, because I you'reright, I did see some in the
training videos that we saw thatthey had armed people out in
the middle of.
You know, as a person thatserves in the military, knowing

(27:55):
that I've got cartel members inmy country doing that, you know
messing up my environment andstuff like that that pisses me
off so bad.
So, you're right, it isn't justabout the weed, it's about the
environment and stuff like that.
Right, because I want a coolplace to hike you know, yeah,
you don't want.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
You know the the wildlife getting messed with and
, yeah, the pollution from thepesticides.
Who knows right?

Speaker 1 (28:18):
yeah, it's, it's definitely a ripple effect.
It's when, when you talk about,it's not just the wheat, it's a
ripple effect.
People get killed, environmentgetting messed up, wildlife, you
know, dropping, and that goeson, for that's going to take a
long time to fix in that area.
So, yep, yep, all right, sir.
Now, in this, what was your?

(28:39):
You did a lot of differentassignments.
What was your specialty beforeyou jumped out, like, what was
your, your favorite thing out ofall of that and how did you get
into it?
Oh, that's a good question.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
You know, I mean personally, I would say my, my
specialty which wasn't exactlyan assignment there, was helping
my coworkers getting fit, andthat's kind of how Fit Responder
was born is.
A lot of people noticed mytransformation.
They saw I was doingbodybuilding shows eventually,
even with four kids and workingfull time.
So a lot of my partners arelike, man, I'm out of shape,

(29:14):
help me out, and so that's whatI loved and enjoyed and that's
kind of why I thought why don'tI just make this my career, like
you know, full-time.
As far as like official dutiesas a detective, I was pretty
good at writing paper.
I was quick, I could write areport super fast.
So they, they had me do a lotof search warrants, okay.
So I wrote lots of searchwarrants, um, and sometimes live

(29:37):
where they're like, ok, wetracked them, we're outside the
building, hurry up, get thatsearch warrant done so we can
get in there.
So, yeah, I would say this is.
It became my sort of officialspecialty as a detective.
Well, official, unofficial,because I just was quick and
good at it and wouldn't wouldn'tcomplain, and I know a lot of
people don't like writing paper.

Speaker 1 (29:57):
so gotcha, let's dive .
Let's dive into the, the birthof the, the first responder, not
not the business, but in policework.
So you, what were you noticingwhat?
Obviously, you noticedsomething about yourself.
You right, I gotta change mylifestyle, but but before that,
like as as that idea was comingto birth about yourself, what

(30:20):
were you noticing with thecareer field?

Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah, I mean, there was always, always that
stereotype of the fat cop, right, or just the fat first
responder in general, and Ialways thought, man, I would
never do that, I'm a fit guy, Iwould never become that, you
know.
And I I just honestly thoughtit was disgusting how often
you'd see people who are justgrotesquely overweight.
And, yeah, I ended up gettingout of shape myself, working

(30:47):
nights, working in custody.
About three years into thecareer I gained about 40 pounds
and I thought that, you know,I'm still, I'm getting strong,
I'm working out, I'm bulking,you know.
But I had a belly and I hadhigh blood pressure.
And, um, I got comments fromsome of my coworkers oh, ted,
you're getting a little thickman.

(31:08):
And then even inmates.
A couple of inmates called mefatty and that's when I knew I
was like, wait, I'm beingperceived, yeah, I'm like, dang
it, I'm being perceived as a fatguy.
Um, in fact, one guy was likewhat are you going to do about
it Fatty?
And I was like, ooh, that was agut check, right, like
literally and figuratively.
So, uh, you know, one time I gotmy blood pressure checked by a

(31:29):
nurse in the jail.
She's like oh, one, 60 over ahundred.
You should check that out.
And I was like, oh, that'scrazy.
I was 24 years old too, like Ishouldn't have been that out of
shape, um, and I went to thedoctor and I don't know what I
expected.
But he said, okay, here's yourprescription for high blood
pressure.
Like here's, here's your pill,like you know.
And I'm like that's it.

(31:50):
And he's like, yeah, like whatelse would you want me to do,
you know?
Like he was telling me how toget rid of this.
Yeah, doctors don't do that,they don't.
Yeah, he was like it's okay,it's your genetics, right.
You were telling me your mom,your mom's side of the family,
has high blood pressure.
It's genetic, right.
And I'll say this aboutgenetics yes, there are some
people who weigh 350 pounds andthey don't have high blood
pressure.

(32:10):
There are some people who arethin and they do.
However, we can all still workto improve that.
Just because you have a geneticdisposition doesn't mean that
you're doomed that way.
Maybe you have a geneticdisposition to be fat.
That doesn't mean you have tobe fat.
Maybe you just have to workharder or be a little bit more
cautious than others.
So, without going down thattangent, that's when I realized,

(32:31):
man, I got to do something.
So I took it upon myself.
I threw that prescription inthe trash can before I walked
out that door, legitimately,before I left his office.
I threw it in the trash becauseI'm getting healthy.
So I struggled.
You know, I had a fitness coachat the time who was more of a
bodybuilder and he was like,okay, I need you to eat every

(32:52):
two hours and it's chicken andbroccoli and seven almonds.
And you know he wasn'tunderstanding when I'd say
things which actually happened,like, hey, I was on a traffic
collision for like seven hoursand I missed two of those meals
and I can't work out today LikeI haven't even slept.
And he would, you know, oh, youmust not want this.
Bad enough to you, you're,you're, you're making excuses.
And that's actually how fitresponder the idea came to be

(33:14):
because I said what if there wasactually a coach that knew what
first responders go through,understood the stress, the hours
, the shift work, juggling thefamily life, all the things, and
tried to make a process thatsomeone could actually stick to
rather than just say, like mostfitness coaches do hey, this is
my process, take it or leave it.
If you don't take it, it mustmean you don't want it enough.

(33:37):
So that bad fitness coach I hadwas actually helpful because it
got me it got me into the rightframe of mind that you know
there needs to be somebody whospecializes this and and can
solve it from from theperspective of somebody who's
compassionate and understandingof uh first responders.
So, yeah, um, that's uh youknow, part of of the the

(33:57):
background of how fit respondergot started that's brilliant,
because one of the things thatwe lack in law enforcement is
options.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
You get too many people are like here's the
program we have, do it.
And you're like, bro, I've myshoulder got knocked out of the
socket like two years ago.
I can't use the shoulder to doa lot of this stuff.
Is there anything you can do tohelp me?
Well, I'm only trained in this,this is what I got.
You got to have options and yougot to have trainers that know

(34:29):
how to work around injury andwork around limitations, and
that's one of the things that me.
I'm big into jujitsu and beeninto combatives for a long time
and I learned as an instructor.
I can't.
I can't keep telling peoplewell, you just can't do this

(34:50):
move, you're too fat, you can'tdo this move, you're too short,
you can't do this move.
You know you're missing a hand.
Uh, I'm just making up that.
John Jacques Machado is a veryfamous black belt instructor.
He's literally got a birthdefect, one of his hands is a
stump and he's one of the bestjujitsu practitioners in the

(35:11):
world, actually developed no-gijujitsu.
Anyways, I get off my pedestalthere.
That is crucial and I, like I,can already see where your mind
was going on that You're likewell, here I am being told this
is the only way to do things,and you know that's not true.
Now you got to take what youknow about the career field and

(35:31):
adapt that to fitness programs.
So that's kind of fun.
That would be fun in my opinion.
Fitness programs so that's kindof fun.
That would be fun in my opinion.
But I'm a glutton for punishment.
But your understanding of shiftand how the job goes is going
to make a big difference foryour market and what you're

(35:51):
doing now.
So if you're listening to this,guys, think about that next
time you decide to get a fitnesscoach.
I would rather have somebodythat understands the job and
does the job, um, versussomebody that doesn't know what
we do.
So that's pretty cool.
So as you get this going, youdevelop the idea.
Now.
Now you got to put it into intowork.
So you started the bodybuildingthing and you said you

(36:13):
bodybuild for a little bit.
So did you stick with that guy?

Speaker 2 (36:17):
oh no, well, no, well , no, as soon as my bodybuilding
I, I, I.
Well, as soon as I reallystarted getting serious about
bodybuilding, I wasn't workingwith that guy anymore.
I won't drop his name justbecause I'm being mean, but, um,
you know, I've had a bunch ofdifferent fitness coaches
because I enjoy learning a newperspective.
It's nice to haveaccountability and, frankly,

(36:40):
every professional athlete inthe world has a coach.
So, you know, I never thought,well, I know everything.
I'm a personal trainer, I'vegotten myself fit, I've, you
know, I've learned a lot.
I don't need to learn anymore.
I still learn, even to this day, from other fitness coaches and
other perspectives.
Right, but, yeah, I got.
I got into bodybuilding becausemy wife has done a bodybuilding

(37:01):
show and she's done a few now.
So she got me interested inthat and she's like you could do
it.
You know you, you could do it.
And she taught me actually alot about fitness and was a huge
part of fit responder becauseshe had a different kind of
approach to nutrition.
That's a little unique, um.
So, yeah, uh, bodybuilding wasmore not like I wanted to be a
pro.
I had no aspirations of it.

(37:22):
Plus, as a cop, you're notreally allowed to use steroids,
which to be a good bodybuilder,you have to, unless you're doing
natural shows.
So you know I was on legaltestosterone.
You know doctor prescribed TRT,but we could talk about that if
you want.
But, uh, so bodybuilding wasmore just like a challenge, like

(37:42):
hey can't, what can I achieve?
Maybe I can get like peakcondition, take some photos, you
know, share them with mygrandkids one day and and it is
a cool challenge it's very hard,like when you are 5% body fat
and you are fricking hungry andyou have to go do an hour and a
half of cardio.
Like it is a great disciplinebuilder.
Um, I don't know if I want todo a show again, because it's

(38:05):
not, it's not healthy,particularly Uh, you know
there's no health reasons to getthat low, like that depleted in
body fat and um it it like themonth before the show, it's,
it's painful, like I don't sleepwell, I'm irritable, it's, it's
bad.
So I, but I did that and I thinkgoing through that while

(38:27):
working, while having the kids,all the challenges I've been
through is what attracts a lotof my clients, cause they're
like, okay, you get it, you're,you've been a first responder
and a busy dad and you've donethe things and you achieved a
pretty good level of fitnesswith all that going on.
So you know, give me some tips.
So that's yeah, I'm.
I'm still glad I did thebodybuilding.
My wife aspires to do moreshows.

(38:48):
I don't think I wanted it.
The juice is not worth thesqueeze.
Personal.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
It may help the business when they see like, oh
look, he did this.
I could see that, but I wouldsay nine out of 10 cops, that's
not their goal and they'll saythat They'll be like I don't
want to get as shredded as you.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
I'm like, don't worry , you won't do that on accident.
No, that's not going toaccidentally happen.
But I think they're trying tosay like, look, don't give me a
plan that's going to be thathard.
I think that's what they'rereally trying to say.
But yeah, don't worry, I meanto get in good shape, to get fit
.
Most of my clients are workingout, you know, three times a
week, 30 minutes, eating normalfood.

(39:27):
I mean to get to get in decentshape where you look good, you
feel good, you're healthy.
That's not that thatchallenging If you do it the
right way.
If you're doing it the wrongway, it can be very challenging.
So I hear lots of my clientssay, oh, I already know what to
do, I've done, I've doneeverything.
And then they proceed to tellme a bunch of silly things.
It is really a waste of timeand energy.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Yeah, and okay, I'll give you guys a personal example
.
I am, four years ago, shreddedhead.
I was built exactly how Iwanted to be built.
Life changed.
I you know promotions, workingdifferent shift.
I didn't have the time to putinto it like I did when I got
that way.
And here I am, 42.

(40:09):
And I was like you know what?
I want to get back to that.
So I had made a plan, I don'tknow a year and a half ago, and
I was that's.
I just followed the sameprescription I had given myself
when I did it the last time.
Well, guess what folks?
Um, at 42, that lifestyle nolonger works for me.

(40:30):
That worked.
Then I did the same exact stuffand I'm yes, I'm fit and I'm
healthy.
Don't get me wrong.
Go run three miles right now,no problem.
That's great, that is beinghealthy.
I'm a healthy person, but Idon't have the desired look I
would like, and that's justbecause of my age.
Things have slowed down andchanged, so I had to reach out

(40:50):
to a friend that is around thesame age and ask him for advice,
because he does kind of thesame thing that you do or you
did for the department.
He's a what we call a fitnessambassador.
So I reached out to my buddy,went to the academy and I goes
hey, dude, I'm, I don't knowwhat's going on.
I was like I just I don't haveit anymore.
It was like all my times I'veslowed down, you know, just

(41:14):
naturally.
Uh, I don't run as fast as Iused to.
The heart and the mind arestill there, but the body's just
like no, we, we don't have itanymore.
So I'm like all right, what doI do?
Cause I am struggle bus overhere and he's like well, let's
take a look at what you're doing.
And so he looked at that and,um, he broke it down.
And the thing that I like when,when office, I think what helps

(41:36):
officers a lot is the educationbehind it, when they understand
why they're doing what they'redoing and you can explain that
to them.
You've just sold a cop becausenow he gets it versus.
Here's your mission.
Go do that.
That's kind of how we're drivenas cops.
But when it comes to ourselves,I got to know why.

(41:56):
I got to know what's.
What's the logic and reasonbehind what I'm doing.
Is that something that FitResponder does?
Oh, 100 percent that's.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
And I always tell clients like, please ask all the
questions because this is aneducational thing.
And my most recent fitnesscoach for a bodybuilding show in
2022 was the opposite, when I'dsay hey, man, last time you
wanted me to get lower in bodyfat, you had me up my cardio.
This time you're telling me todecrease my food.
How do you decide between thetwo?

(42:24):
And he goes well, I'm not hereto educate you, I'm here to
coach you.
Dude is a dumb ass.
I mean, well, okay, not dumbass, he's just a jerk.
Okay, so he's a guy who's,who's trained a ton of
bodybuilders, so he's got a lotof credibility.
But you know no bedside manners, so to speak.
I mean, I've heard from manypeople they're like this guy is

(42:45):
such a crappy coach Cause he'snot a coach.
He'll just tell you hey, I'mhere to tell you what to do.
I'm not here to get have youeducated?
And I think he said somethingto the effect of go get an
education or take a class, ifthat's what you want.
I'm here to tell you what to do.
And anytime I'd ask him hey,why are we doing this, or why do
that, or what's the purposebehind that?
He would think he would take itpersonally like I'm doubting

(43:07):
him.
I train coaches.
I create or excuse me I trainpros.
I create pro bodybuilders.
Why are you questioning me,dude?
I'm sure it's good advice.
I just want to know the reasonwhy behind it, like I'm not
doubting you, man, we have thisconversation so many times.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
So, yeah, like, my favorite thing is when a client
asks hey, man, you know, youtold me to use this type of
bread as opposed to that one orthis.
This is why, yeah, I love that,because I'm like, clearly you
take an interest in this and youwant to improve yourself and
your knowledge.
Now it's my, my wonderfulprivilege to to give you that,

(43:47):
that knowledge, so that you cando this yourself and succeed
long-term and teach other people, yeah, you know.
So, yeah, that I mean it's.
What's great, though, is thebad coaches I've had have really
helped me learn what reallymakes a good coach you know what
I mean.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Yeah, and again, when I understand the why behind
what I'm doing, my buy-in is allthere, like you've got me and
for me, one of the things I wasscrewing up on for people in
their 40ies Now, um, I'm used torunning pretty hard, like I.
You know, if I go do threemiles, almost every time I run

(44:24):
three miles it's like I got todo better than I did the last
time.
I got to do better than I didthe last time I wasn't training
myself, I wasn't getting the,you know, zone two or three,
heart rate versus state.
You know, staying in that as asteady pace versus I was always
in like zone five.
And so, as you guys start tolearn these things and
understanding what the differentzones can do for your body and

(44:45):
all these different things, likethey all compliment each other
and well, if you're only stayingin one range, well you're only
going to get one type of result.
So I'm sure my heart's superhealthy and strong, but I've got

(45:05):
to slow.
I got to slow my roll and that'swhat we're doing right now is,
um, some, some uh, zone twotraining at the beginning and
end of my workouts and, um, youknow, a lot more lifting versus
um.
You know, I, um, was pretty biginto the kettlebells and stuff
like that all the time, so I wasalways keeping my heart rate
just jacked and wasn't helpingme, wasn't for my goals, we'll
put it that way Wasn't helpingme for my goals, which it used

(45:25):
to.
It used to be great, you knowcause I could eat whatever I
wanted and still get the resultsI wanted.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Yeah, and what you're reminding me of a lot of
misconceptions that people havearound fitness, like, maybe a
misconception is like it's not aworkout unless I'm my heart
rate's like you know, crazy andI'm sweating like crazy, right,
and maybe that was.
Maybe I don't know if it wasthat was your opinion at some
point or if that's just how youthought you're going to get.

Speaker 1 (45:49):
It was for a long time.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
Yeah, you thought that would get you the best
results, right.
And I hear stuff from clientsall the time like, well, I'm not
sore, so is it not working.
Or like I'm way sore, so Ishouldn't do that again.
And it's like not, well, no,let's talk about this.
So there's a.
I think, yeah, I think a lot ofus could learn a lot.
Like I'm still a student, Imean, I know a hell of a lot
about fitness, but there is somuch to learn.

(46:12):
And just because, as youmentioned earlier, just because
something worked for you in thepast doesn't mean you should
repeat it again, or that that'sthe optimal way to to get
results this time Right.
So, yeah, that's one of myfavorite things about coaching.
Um, I mean, my favorite thingfor sure is just when I when
gratitude, when people talkabout how it's changed their
life and how fitness has helpedthem be a safer cop, better

(46:34):
firefighter, better husband,better wife, better parent,
safer cop, better firefighter,better husband, better wife,
better parent.
That's my favorite thing.
But, yeah, pretty high up thereis also when people get that aha
moment.
They're like, oh, okay, so,yeah, so I shouldn't be running
as much as I am right now.
No, you shouldn't.
Right Like I've had overweightguys go, yeah, I mean I've been
running every day but my feetare killing me and I'm like

(46:55):
you're too heavy to be runninglong distance.
My man, let's not run at alluntil you lose that weight.
And they're like what, don'trun at all.
I'm like, yeah, no runningperiod until you are not 50
pounds overweight.
They're like, oh, really.
Like so, yeah, like I lovethose aha moments, cause I know
I'm like cool, they're going totake something big that's going
to help them for the rest oftheir life.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Now, yeah, yeah, I agree.
And with that I want to kind ofget into for cops listening out
there, cause there's going tobe a lot of cops that listen to
this.
Um, how and why do we start tofall apart?
Let's kind of go down that pathfirst as cops, so they can
start seeing the signs andsymptoms to get ahead of it,

(47:36):
because we all are susceptibleto it.
I myself had fallen victim toit, but I knew it.
I was like all right, if I getto this point, I'm going to step
it up, and I did, and I'mdisciplined enough for that.
But there's some people thatthey don't recognize it and then
they get further behind thanthey want.
Then they're too depressed toget started.

(47:58):
So I kind of want to go into,like, the signs and symptoms and
how you would suggest to getgoing.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It's like at what point are youreaching rock bottom, so to
speak, and decide okay, now it'stime to change.
And unfortunately that issubjective.
It's different for everyone,right?
I've had people who are just,maybe they've gained 10 pounds
and they're like I am disgustedwith myself.
This needs to end now.
I've also talked to people whoare 300 pounds on a fistful of

(48:28):
medications and they're like Istill got it, I'm not the worst
on my department, and you know.
And they're basicallydelusional and everything in
between, right, and you know,and they're basically delusional
and everything in between,right.
So, of course, I think lawenforcement in general could do
a better job at setting astandard, right, like hey, this
is the annual fitness test weall need to pass.
That could be one reminder ofoh man, I'm out of shape,

(48:51):
because I think a lot of peoplerefer to the past.
They think about the last timethey were in a fight or a foot
pursuit, or how they used to beable to perform, and they don't
know that they're way worse offnow.
So, as far as the factors thatlead to somebody getting out of
shape, as a first responder,there's many, right.
I mean, typically it's thehours, the shift work, the
stress.
Your hormones are certainly outof whack.

(49:13):
Your stress hormones, you know,juggling family life and the
culture amongst first responderstends to suck.
When it comes to fitness, it'slike all right, let's, yeah,
let's, let's do some some dipand let's go out to eat at this
crappy restaurant, get the freefast food and just slam caffeine
all day long.
It's not you know the bad.

(49:34):
Let's do a pizza party and adonut party.
I mean, in detectives we haddonuts a couple of times a week
up there, easily, I mean.
So there's a lot of factorsthat lead up to it.
So we all need to have some kindof a standard, and what I talk
about with my clients is I callthem floor goals and ceiling
goals.
So ceiling goals is when you'recrushing it.

(49:54):
You're like I'm I'm hittingeverything that I want to do,
I'm in the shape I want to be in, I'm operating on my highest
level.
Floor goals is like what do Iaccept as my minimum standard?
Okay, so we need to have floorgoals for both, I think, our

(50:15):
routine and ourselves as far as,like our physical abilities.
I mean you could have floorgoals and ceiling goals for your
finances, for anything else,but let's stick with fitness,
right?
So floor goals would be likelet's say this hey, no matter
what, I'm going to at least workout twice a week and no matter
what, I need to be able to run amile, no matter what, I need to
be able to do 10 pushups, right.
So I'd love to set these floorgoal kind of standards with

(50:37):
clients, because then it's like,hey, you're going to get thrown
off by all kinds of crapovertime, shifts and injuries
and whatever else but familyresponsibilities.
But we need to say to ourselvesI will never allow myself to
get below my floor goals andlet's keep them simple and
something that we know we canrealistically do.
You know, for some clients I'mlike is that going on a 10

(50:59):
minute walk every day?
Is that, I mean, at minimum,can we do that?
Yeah, okay, we can do that,great.
So I think when you set the barand you set some standards for
yourself, then we can actuallyhave sort of a test to say am I
falling behind here?
Am I falling behind too much?
You know and again, that'ssubjective for everyone, right?

(51:25):
For, like a top level athlete,their floor goals may look more
like a common person's ceilinggoals right.
Their basics of what they needto get done might be like an
extreme challenge to the commonfolks.
So we all need to take a lookat ourselves, both in our
personal and professional life,and say what is the standard I'm
okay with meeting, minimallyright.
As a first responder, I mean Ican suggest some floor goals.
Maybe that is being able to runa half a mile without getting

(51:49):
completely winded.
Maybe that's being able to do apull-up.
Maybe that's being able to do10 pushups.
Maybe that's being able to do10 push-ups.
Maybe that's being able to do,uh, 50 unbroken, uh, body weight
squats, just like air squats,right?
Um, that I mean.
I'm not saying that has to beyour, your floor goals, but that
could hopefully help.
Some of the listeners here think, yeah, what, what are sort of

(52:11):
the minimum standards I shouldbe able to do and go test it.
You think you're awesome, thatadrenaline's going to help you
rise to the occasion whenever.
Go to the gym and just doyourself a favor go get on a
treadmill, sprint for twominutes straight, do 20 pushups
and then go punch a bag for twominutes and see if you last.
I bet you 95% of firstresponders couldn't do that,

(52:34):
that test.
I just said go sprint for,let's say, one minute, do 20
push and go punch a bag withfury for two minutes.
I bet you most will gas out inthat four-minute stretch, let's
say.
But that might simulatesomething you're going to have
to do a fight, a foot pursuit, asaving your partners, rescuing

(52:56):
some kind of a victim fromsomething.
But yeah, hopefully that madesense with the floor goals and
ceiling goals and kind ofsetting that standard.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
I'm actually going to make aclip out of that.
So, thank you.
Now, as officers get going intheir career, especially new
officers, I think they're themost, one of the most,
susceptible to.
You know, midnight's has moreof the fun.

(53:26):
Let's just put that out there.
That's my impression anyway.
So when you're on Midnight'snow you're fighting nature.
You're really fighting the waythat we're built.
You're built to be in the sun,but as a guy that's been a cop,
you know 18 years, the majorityof that's been on midnights,
because I love it, I think it'sfun.

(53:47):
However, it wreaks havoc onyour life and you've got to know
how to combat that.
So I'll tell you what my ideawas, growing in policing, when I
first heard about kettlebellswhat a kettlebell was.
A lot of gyms doesn't have them.
Especially early in my career,I think Rogan kind of brought

(54:08):
them to the forefront and nowkettlebells are everywhere.
But learning about kettlebells,I was like, oh man, I can put
one of these in the car.
You know I can.
I can strap that bad boy downor throw it somewhere in the car
and then when I got downtime, Ican knock out 25 kettlebell
swings.
You know, um, or or you knowthere's a bunch of different

(54:31):
inverted lifts or whatever allthe different things you could
do with a kettlebell.
You could do with a kettlebelland I would pack my own food.
Those are the two big things.
That, for midnights, for me wasa game changer, because you
start looking at your options.
You got 7-Eleven.
You got, you know, a couple offast food places that would stay
open 24 hours.
Those are not good options.

(54:51):
And a lot of 7-Elevens.
For the longest time theydidn't even have healthy options
.
You got the pizzas that's beenrotating all day and maybe some
of those taquitos and a hot dog.
Like I don't want any of thatstuff.
So for you newer officers outthere, get.
My advice is get in the habitof packing your own lunch,

(55:13):
bringing something or, you know,just depends on where you work.
Where I work, there's a lot ofhealthy options.
We got a tom thumb right downthe so I can go grab a
rotisserie chicken every day ifI wanted to.
I love rotisserie chickens,it's.
It's a good, good meal to havea lot of good essential fats in
that bad boy.
I eat the skin too, so sue me.

Speaker 2 (55:31):
I like it too.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
So, um, yeah, that that's one of the things is
figuring out what to do.
And another thing that you'retalking about floor goals and
ceiling goals.
I had a game that I learned inthe military called tops and
bottoms, and no, it's not whatyou're thinking, you're just
perverts.
Top of the hour, you do 25push-ups.
Bottom of the hour, you do 25sit-ups.

(55:54):
You know you're always doingsomething assuming the schedule
works, that you can do itbecause you could be on a call
and your job is just sittingperimeter.
Well, I can knock out 25 airsquats while I'm sitting there
watching a perimeter.
It's not gonna hurt nothing.
So it's just using the timewhile you have it, always doing

(56:14):
little things that that add upin the long run.
So, um, but for you you're thepro, I'm not.
I'm.
I'm wanting to hear what you'vegot to say.
What advice are you givingthese guys that get stuck on
midnights, and can you kind ofgive them a little background
about exactly what not seeingthe sun does to them, if you've
got that training?

Speaker 2 (56:34):
yeah, no, absolutely.
I mean, I mean we're.
We have this circadian rhythmthat is meant for sleeping at
night and being awake during thedaytime.
I mean, it's very obvious.
I don't think I have to arguethat point.
But you know, there's also thelack of the vitamin D and the.

(56:54):
I think some of the advice thatyou gave is really good,
especially bringing your ownfood every day.
I brought my food every day towork for all 11 years, no matter
what my assignment was.
That's probably the biggestthing you can do, right, so you
can eliminate oh, I've hadnothing else to eat.
I had to go to Jack in the Box.

(57:14):
I had to go to 7-Eleven, likeno, you don't have to, and even
such, though there's decentoptions there, right.
Like you can get a protein bar,you can get some beef jerky,
you can drink water.
It doesn't have to be a monsterenergy drink, right.
So, yeah, there's some of thosetips.
I mean I was on nights for along time, like almost half of
my career.

(57:39):
I think we could also do a waybetter job with our sleep
routine, so optimizing the sleepyou get.
A lot of first responders arelike oh well, you know, my hours
suck and my shift sucks.
So therefore, my sleep's justgonna suck like sure, but let's,
let's do the best we can withit, right?
Do you have a good routine toget to sleep?
How's you know the sleephygiene, so to speak?
Do you have blackout curtains?
I, you know a lot of my clients.
I recommend you get earplugsand do white noise so it can

(58:01):
kind of eliminate some of thenoises that might wake you up.
Otherwise, and do the sameroutine stay off your screen,
screen time two hours before bed.
Um, do the same thing beforeyou go to bed each night.
Which kind of signals to yourcircadian rhythm.
Like, all's time we got tostart going to sleep, um, but,
uh, yeah, I mean night, nightshift.

(58:21):
I think it'd be nice if wecould, um, you know, give
officers a better opportunity toadjust to it.
So here's what's crazy, eric, Idon't know if you've heard
about in canada, most of theseguys are on these things where,
like you, do like two days ofdays, then like, yeah, nights
and two days a day, and they'realways rotating and it's so, and

(58:42):
none of them like it.
I've never, oh I never met onewho said, oh, this is a great
schedule.
Every single one's like this isawful.
So my other recommendation,then, is, like, try to stay on
one or the other.
If you can, try to stay on thesame um kind of sleep and wake
schedule, even on your days off,if possible.
It obviously easier said thandone when you have kids, family

(59:05):
and sporting events and blah,blah, blah, but that'd be
another tip I have, uh.
So yeah, it's just aboutoptimizing the sleep that you
can get, making it the highestquality, um, and you're right,
like on nights, like you, youknow, whatever your assignment
is, you can still stay active.
And one point you brought up isyou said little changes,

(59:26):
something about making lots ofsmall changes, and that really
is how to get fit.
You see, people are out ofshape and they're like all right
, I need to get in shape.
So they go crazy.
They do 75 hard keto workoutfor two hours and oh screw it,
I'll never be fit.
And I almost wonder, like, dopeople purposely make it hard so

(59:46):
that when they fail, they canjust go?
You know what?
See it?
I tried.
It's not meant for me when, inreality, like one of my my
clients, erica, she lost over120 pounds.
She was I was just talking toher yesterday.
She's like man, it was just alot of tiny changes, like I
didn't have to make any hugechange in my life.
It was just, you know, withevery, everything I can do, it's
like, how can I make this alittle bit better for my fitness

(01:00:09):
?
So, like you said, like ifyou're on on perimeter, do do 20
air squats, get the bloodflowing, do a foot patrol.
If you're on perimeter, do 20air squats, get the blood
flowing, do a foot patrol.
If you can, you know, bringsome resistance bands or
kettlebells, like you said, anddo a 10 minute little pump up
and this will encourage yourmetabolism.
Right, it'll even help you stayawake at night, which is
another benefit.
You don't have to slam so muchcaffeine, park further away from

(01:00:30):
things if you can, right, anddo just walk.
Take the stairs as opposed tothe elevator.
These are little things thatpeople don't think are going to
make a big difference.
You know they they would ratherdo the two hour brutal workout
to to say that's what they didfor their fitness instead of all
the little things.
But yeah, the the easiest andbiggest needle movers are just

(01:00:52):
doing the little, all the littlechanges, like you mentioned.

Speaker 1 (01:00:56):
Yeah, I think it's important also that we kind of
touched on but we haven't reallydived into this.
Your spouse if you are a copand your spouse, you have to
educate them as well, and itdoesn't always go well when
you're the one trying to educateyour spouse.
So for departments out there,one of the things that where

(01:01:18):
IMAT does, we actually have aspouse course where they come in
and we talk about all thethings that your new officer is
going to be going through, andpart of that is the education of
what is going to happen to thebody when they work these
midnight schedules, becausethey're all going to be rookies
and most of them are going toget cut loose on midnights, if

(01:01:39):
not all of them.
And here's what's going tohappen to them they're going to
get home, they are going to becrashing big time.
The cortisol levels are goingto be through the roof for them
because they're just not used tothat type of schedule and
they're not seeing the sun.
So when these cortisol levelsgo up, now you've got, you got a

(01:01:59):
slug, you're going to have aslug for a husband and you need
to understand why that isbecause, if not, it's going to
lead to arguments and you'regoing to be like well, why is
why?
Why is it?
When your friend calls fromwork, you're all of a sudden
right back to.
You know the, the fun, excitingguy.

(01:02:20):
Well, that hypervigilance crashthat happens from policing.
So that's another thing thatyou need to talk about.
He's at work, he's up herehypervigilant all day long.
He gets home, cortisol levelsspike, testosterone probably
dips and all of a sudden you gota slug that doesn't want to go
do anything, doesn't have themotivation to do stuff.

(01:02:41):
But the moment a friend calls,his body goes into work mode.
The hypervigilant spikes up.
That's why it's not you, it'swork, he's.
His body physically reacts likehe's back to work.
Work, his body physicallyreacts like he's back to work
and that is what is happening.
So we need to take more time toeducate not just our first
responder, but we got to alsoeducate the family, because it's

(01:03:03):
important that they understandas well and that they can help
out with that.
And this is why I tell my guysget your eight hours.
It will make the world ofdifference.
Get your eight hours.
Everything else from there willimprove.
But that has to be you and yourfamily's biggest priority,
because at the end of the day,if you get in a shooting or

(01:03:23):
anything crazy, the first thingthey're going to want to know.
One of the first things is howmuch sleep did you get?
Did you just come off of apart-time and then go work your
full-time job?
What did you do?
How you just come off of apart-time and then go work your
full-time job, what did you do?
How many hours did you put in?
How many hours of sleep did youget?
You only got four hours ofsleep.
Well, now you're going to startfacing some liability towards
what you did because you made apoor choice.

(01:03:44):
So this is why it's importantfor the family to know this
stuff and understand thecritical reasons why because it
could affect the whole family hecould make the wrong, wrong
decision to shoot.
He could make no decision andget shot because they're not
thinking clearly and it doesn'tjust go for patrol guys, this
goes for anybody that works at adesk.

(01:04:05):
It's even more important, in myopinion, because now you're got
a sediment lifestyle all thetime and you need to.
You need to have support fromsupervisors and you and that's
how you and I were talking aboutthat the other day I'm like I
got my guys working out like Idon't just walk the walk or talk
the talk and walk the walk.

(01:04:25):
So it's important to have thesupport from your staff members
as well, or your co-workers aswell, so I'll get off my soapbox
.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
Well and to your point, man, spouses ought to
look at their first responderspouse in terms of them taking
care of their health and fitnessas much, maybe even more, of a
priority, than a professionalathlete would Cause.
If a professional athlete fails, maybe they'll lose their job
on their team, but if a firstresponder fails, they may lose

(01:04:55):
their job or their life or causesomebody else's life to be lost
.
So I would argue that the focuson fitness and health is as
important for a first responderas it is for a professional
athlete.
So, as the spouse, you do needto give them space to work out,
to meal prep, to write whateverthey need to do.

(01:05:17):
And I'll give you a kind of afunny, maybe sad, example.
I remember talking to this dudeand he's like yeah, I want to
join the Fit Responder program.
I'm like awesome man, so we'retalking about the money.
And he's like okay, let me gotalk to my wife.
And he's like, man, she says no.
And I'm like, okay, let me gotalk to my wife.
And he's like man, she says no.
And I'm like, really, and hegoes well, can I talk to her too

(01:05:37):
?
He's like sure, man, he callsher over.
Hey, hon, you know, come overhere.
So I'm like, all right, so wego, we go talk, and she's on the
line with me as well, and I'mlike what would you rather spend
the money on?
She said, well, our fence in ourbackyard has been falling over.
We need to paint it.
It's been long overdue.
I said, cool.
So when you get your fencefixed and it looks all pretty
and you look out, but yourhusband died because he couldn't

(01:06:01):
, you know, hang in a fight,couldn't make it in a foot
pursuit, had a heart attack,whatever, you're going to feel
good about that.
And she literally burst intotears and he's like oh, she just
left the room.
Man, Guess what, though?
He signed up.
He signed up for the programand he got in great shape.
And he's like man, I'm glad youwere straight up with my wife

(01:06:21):
about that.
You're someone other than metelling her.
But yeah, I mean, fitness oughtto be one of our top priorities
.
I mean, of course, yes, it'salso great to know case law and
to know martial arts, and thoseare probably the two biggest
things other than fitness.

Speaker 1 (01:06:41):
But I mean, they all work together.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
They all exactly.
They're all synergistic, right?
If you're fit, you're going tobe better at martial arts and
you'll also have a clearer andsharper mind as well, right?
So all those things work welltogether.

(01:07:06):
But yeah, I mean, as a spouselike you, need to be supportive
of your first responder spousein terms of them taking care of
themselves, because it is acareer that they're happy and
they're doing well.
They took care of themselves, Imean, and if someone makes it
to retirement and didn't takecare of their health and fitness
, they're probably the lazy,sloppy, miserable dude we all
know, or gal.

(01:07:27):
So it's the ones who do takethat extra effort to take care
of themselves, especially interms of their health and
fitness, that are the happiest,live the longest and prosper the
most.
I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Yeah, my dad.
My dad did a 30 year career umretired and he's a nationally
ranked judo practitioner.
He's I mean, he's in hissixties and he's still competing
.
Uh, he does jujitsu tournamentsum, he's just, he's an animal
like he.
He's still whooped my ass likeit's like there's no challenging

(01:08:02):
my dad.
He'd still work me like this,that's so cool yeah so I mean it
sucks for me because it'salways going to be held over my
head that my dad just beat myass if he wanted to, but no,
he's.
That that's the key.
You know most cops, you knowthey first five years of
retirement.

(01:08:22):
If they get past that, that's agood thing.
Most don't make it.
Most a lot die in their firstyear and then most die in their
first five years of retirementif they had a full career.
So that's something to talkabout.
And building the habits as earlyas you can in your career is

(01:08:42):
going to give you that longevitywell past once you're done.
So those are things to consider.
And I'm glad you brought upmental acuity and stuff like
that, because that is anotherpoint that I was trying to make
about our people that sit atdesks detectives and you know
real-time crime center people Iwas telling you about that
earlier and things like that.
Your mental clarity makes you abetter cop.

(01:09:07):
So I get the mindset that a lotof cops will have is like, well
, I don't have to work out anddo as much stuff as I did
because I'm not wearing all thatgear anymore.
I don't have to be out on thestreets.
Well, if I tell you that you'dbe a better detective because
you'd be able to put piecestogether quicker, faster and

(01:09:27):
more accurately, because you'refit, versus having brain fog and
not thinking as clearly andmaybe you missed something
critical.
That could be simply becauseyou weren't staying fit.
Yeah, why not be the bestdetective you can be?
Why not do these things?
And it's only going to benefityou overall.

(01:09:48):
So when I tell people I'm likeone of the simplest things you
can do to get better at some ofthese brain jobs is just staying
fit, it's crazy how muchclearer and better and sharper
and faster you think when youare in good shape.

Speaker 2 (01:10:06):
It cannot be overstated, the number of my
clients who, within a few weeksof starting the program, they
say man, I feel better, I havemore energy, my mood has
improved, I can think moreclearly and quickly.
I mean, I've heard thiscountless times and I've seen it
myself too, because I think alot of times we think of our

(01:10:27):
brain and body as almostseparate things.
But they're part of the samemachine and if your machine is
sick and being overburdened, youcan't expect the brain to be
working optimally.
I mean, uh, your centralnervous system, literally is is
impacted by the extra fat you'recarrying on your body.
I mean, it's going to affectyour joints.

(01:10:47):
It's going to tell your body atthe end of the day, yo, we need
to take a break.
I mean, just like, if you'rerucking around with 40 pounds on
your back all day, at the endof the day, yo, we need to take
a break.
I mean, just like, if you'rerucking around with 40 pounds on
your back all day, at the endof the day your body might say,
hey, yo, we need to chill.
You know?
So with these, these guys whoare fat and out of shape,
they're walking around with allthis extra fat on all day and,
of course, you go home, you'reyou're exhausted, you're tired,

(01:11:08):
you don't want to think, youdon't want to do nothing.
I mean, cause, thinking doesburn calories and it takes
energy.
Um, I don't know if you knowthis, but, like they've talked
about chess tournaments andsometimes, when these guys play
for hours, it's the equivalentof working out for hours, as far
as, like the, the, the, theenergy burn.
So, um, yes, like you, whenyou're optimizing your body,

(01:11:29):
you're eating better, yournutrition and hydration is solid
, you're sleeping and you'reworking out.
Like that is the cheat code,that is the lowest hanging fruit
to excel in life in anycapacity.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
Yeah, I, and it creates.
This is what I want peopleunderstand too.
One of the biggest problems wehave in policing is suicide and
with that, the being out ofshape and not staying fit.
Depression is a real issue inpolicing.
Staying fit not having to takea pill, you know, for depression

(01:12:03):
like that's one of the firstways you can start combating
having signs and symptoms ofdepression is just getting in
shape and that will create aactual chemical change in the
body, which is one of the thingsyou need.
Now there are, there isclinical depression and stuff
like that.
So I'm not saying it's acure-all, but it can help, and
it can help in most people andcan help combat the suicidal

(01:12:26):
issues that we have Absolutely,and I can speak from this
firsthand.

Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
I've struggled with depression from early childhood.
As long as I can remember.
I mean, I remember being ninethinking it'd probably be better
off if I was dead.
You know, I don't know, nineyear olds think suicidal
thoughts and stuff.
But when I was fat I was themost depressed I've ever been.

(01:12:51):
Why?
Why even get in shape?
Because I just hate everything,hate myself.
And it's a vicious cycle, right?
Because that mindset makes itmore difficult to work on your
fitness.
And then, if you don't work onyour fitness, you're not
improving that and sometimes youjust have to act in faith.
It's just in, like.
You know, I've had clientswhere I'm like look, I know you

(01:13:14):
have no desire to do this, Iknow it doesn't feel like
there's even a reason to, but dome a favor, man, get some
sunshine, go for a 20 minutewalk today, put your phone away,
don't, don't look at it, don'tthink about anything.
Just go for a big walk, takesome deep breaths and, you know,
tell me how you feel afterwards.
And they're like dude, I feel alittle better.
Man, that was actually reallynice, you know.
So sometimes it takes acting infaith, like just doing this

(01:13:37):
stuff before you believe in itor want to, and you can see how
it starts pulling you out of it,out of that depression.
And I would say most people whoare depressed are not giving
themselves a fighting chance tosee if they could improve, if
not completely cure it, byimproving their lifestyle, by
eating right, getting hydrated,sleeping and working out.

(01:13:58):
Obviously there's other thingslike having a good network of
friends and talking, and likeI'm not saying that, as you said
, it's not necessarily a cureall for everybody and some
people may very well just needto be on medications and there
ain't nothing else you could doabout it.
Um, I'm glad I didn't get onany antidepressants at the time
and I'm glad I didn't get onthat high blood pressure pill,

(01:14:20):
because I think I could havepotentially taken the route that
a lot of people do.
Hey, I'm, I'm depressed, fatand um, and I have high blood
pressure.
Guess I'll take antidepressantmeds.
Guess I'll take blood pressuremeds, you know nowadays.
Guess I'll take GLP-1 to losethe weight, ozempic, right.
But like, as much as peopledon't want to hear this, it's

(01:14:41):
probably your fault.
Your lifestyle sucks and it'snot the career that's preventing
it.
Yes, it's making a challengefor you, but you can do it.
You just got to take the rightsteps, maybe network with the
right people and, like I said,sometimes you just got to act in
faith, Like all right, let'ssee how this goes right.
I'll give it a shot.
I'll try this out, and I've hadmany clients who sign up for my

(01:15:01):
program say that they go.
Yeah, what else do I got tolose man, I'm fat, depressed, I
hate life.
I guess I'll.
That's all I ask.
Give it a shot.
See what happens, let's.
Let's see what happens three,four weeks from now, see how
you're feeling then.
And what's beautiful then isthen you get belief because it's
like, no, I see it working, I'mfeeling better man, I feel good

(01:15:22):
, like I'm happier.
And then the momentum ball iscrazy.
It's like all right, like I'mexcited, I'm looking forward to
working out.
Never thought I'd say that.
I'm looking forward to mealprepping, never thought I'd want
to do that.
I hear this from clientsconstantly.
So, yeah, not to be long windedabout it, but you're right.
I mean depression, ptsd,anxiety, irritability.

(01:15:42):
These are things firstresponders feel like it's just
become part of them, but itdoesn't have to be that way.
Take care of yourself, andmaybe sometimes you just have to
act in faith and suspend yourbelief until you see how much
your life could change when youdo focus on your fitness and
health.

Speaker 1 (01:15:58):
Yeah, I, I think you kind of touched on.
You know when people areconsidering, you know the
working out and the difficultybehind that, and they're like I
don't want to get started.
And then you also have the, theignorance, and I hate I know
it's a controversial wordsPeople don't like hearing that

(01:16:22):
All I mean is just the lack ofknowledge.
You just don't have theeducation behind certain things,
one that's hard for people toadmit, you know.
You know, like, just like theself-accountability stuff, I
have had a lot of cops like, man, I eat good, I eat good.
And I'm like, what are youeating?
Like it's all meat and andcheese and all this stuff.
And I'm like, okay, fair, likethat sounds good.

(01:16:44):
I'm like, where are you gettingit?
Well, I go to, you know, thistaco stand man.
They get all the meats freshcut.
I'm like, oh, dude, you'reeating tacos.
I'm like, don't get me wrong, II'm with you, I love me some
tacos, but that they're cooking,you know, in lard and um, who
knows what else, and then you'reeating these tortillas.
I was like that's where a lotof your issues are coming, bro.

(01:17:04):
I'm like, how many of you haveloan?
There's small street tacos.
I'm like.
Well, every street taco has atleast two tortillas on them, so
you've got that and whateverspecial ingredients that they're
adding to that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
And then welcome to my life.
Right, like, oh, I did great, Ihad chicken and rice.
What do you mean?
Well, I went to panda express,I got the orange chicken, I got
the fried rice.
I'm like yo, there's differentversions of chicken and rice.
Man, yeah, yeah, I meannutrition man and, yeah, no one
likes being called ignorantbecause they think that that's
synonymous with stupid, but whatyou mean to say is that you
just not have, you are not awareof the proper way to approach

(01:17:42):
something.
We're all ignorant to manythings.
I am ignorant to a ton of stuff, but when it comes to our own
health and fitness, I wish ourschools did a better job
teaching us that kind of stuff,instead of the freaking
Pythagorean theorem and somecrap that I'll never use.

Speaker 1 (01:17:57):
Pythagorean Remember that yeah, Pythagorean Foil
method First outer, inside, last, that's the only math thing I
remember Right.
How many times have you usedthat in your life, Eric Never?

Speaker 2 (01:18:08):
Never.
I became a cop.
Were you taught anything abouttaxes, no, no Interest rates,
how to interview for a job, howto be fit and healthy?
I mean, good Lord, oureducation system is freaking
awful.

Speaker 1 (01:18:24):
Interactions with police.
I think that's a class thatshould be taught.
When you learn your driver'slicense.
That should be because that'sthe most likelihood of you
having an interaction with a copas a young person is a traffic
stop, so I think when you getyour license or you're going
through driver's education, theyshould have a policing portion
of that where you learn how tointeract with the cops.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
I agree that could be a one hour class.
It doesn't even have to be thatmuch.
It's like you're going to getpulled over in the law states
that you shall identify yourselfwith the drivers.
Right, Like normal stuff, Right.
And if a cop says to do X, Y, Z, comply.
If they're doing the wrongthing, battle it later in court
and sue and win a bunch of money.
Don't fight, Don't resist, Likeyou know, like you'd think this

(01:19:09):
.
Yeah, that would be greateducation.
But we can only wish, I guess.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:19:14):
We'll see It'll improve.
That's something I'm hoping twocapsulindona can bring out
there.
So got some things coming downthe line.
So, always about education.
That's pretty much themed.
What we've been talking aboutall day is the education side,
and nutrition is a huge, hugefailure when it comes to police
getting out of shape, as wethink we know.

(01:19:35):
Like you said, said I'm eatingchicken and fried, right like
you think you know.
But, man, you're just surprisedto see and then the portions
and you're like, well, what didyou eat?
Well, man, I had, you know, Imade an omelet and I threw some
meat on there and stuff.
I'm like, okay, what'd you puton there?
Um, I threw brisket on there.
How much brisket did you have?
I don't know?
Like 12 ounces.
I'm like, god damn dude.
Six eggs.
Man, I can eat a bunch of eggs.
Eggs are good for you.

(01:19:55):
I'm like, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:19:57):
Yeah, I can tell stories for days.
I mean, I had a guy who wasvery smart, um, and you know, he
, we, we couldn't figure out whyhe wasn't making good progress.
And I'm like, well, let's, I'mlike all right, let's, I'm going
to be a detective here, let'sgo into what are you eating,
dude, I know I gave you a mealplan, but let's go through it
meal by meal.
And it turns out he's like well, yeah, I was adding a bunch of

(01:20:17):
peanut butter and granola to myoatmeal for flavor, quote
unquote just for the flavor, bro, because I just wanted some
extra flavor.
Yeah, my man, but you're alsoadding 500 calories.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
And sugar.

Speaker 2 (01:20:31):
I have you at a 500 calorie deficit.
No-transcript right because youhad some, some tomatoes in your

(01:21:01):
meal.
Well, yeah, right because it'sa vegetable it's not even a
vegetable, right, right, yeah,that's like oh my god, those are
extreme examples, but I wouldsay pretty much every client
I've worked with had somethingthey were doing that they didn't
realize wasn't optimal.
Right, Because I mean, thinkabout as a cop man, probably 10
years into your career youlearned something new at some

(01:21:22):
point.

Speaker 1 (01:21:23):
All the time.

Speaker 2 (01:21:24):
You're like well, I didn't even know you could
approach that way, Didn't eventhink you could do it that way,
right?
So all of us, no matter who youare, need to be a student, open
to new information, to an opento another approach, like I'm a
fitness coach who has helpedthousands of people.
If somebody said, hey, I don'tlike the way you're doing your
diet, I think it's wrong.
Let me tell you, I'm not goingto immediately say you're an

(01:21:45):
idiot, blah, blah, blah, blah,blah.
I'm not going to hear you.
Now, I'm going to go.
What do you have to say?
Why?
Show me the research, tell mewhat you have and I'll look into
it.
Be open, because if your egoand pride is in such a position
that you won't even entertainthe idea of somebody else
teaching you something new, youneed to put that ego and pride

(01:22:06):
in check.

Speaker 1 (01:22:07):
Yeah, yeah, like they say, you can't fill a glass
that's already full.
If you're coming to me with afull cup, I'm sorry.
I I'm gonna let you know rightaway like you're fighting me on
everything that I'm trying totell you you're.
You're either open to this oryou're not.
If you're not open to it, comeback when you are, then we'll
have that discussion.
But right now you're not tryingto hear anything.
And I get it a lot with thepodcast stuff, because I'll put,

(01:22:28):
you know, a reel out and I'lltalk about something and I get
trolls and people all the timeno, it's wrong because of this,
because of that, because of this.
And I'll say, okay, well, letme try it.
I'll try to give my explanation.
That was a waste of time.
They didn't want it.
They didn't want to hearanything I had to say to begin
with.
So I'm just like oh, you're acup that's full.
Okay, fair enough, I'll move on.

(01:22:50):
You you're not in a position totake any of this information in
, so why waste your time?
Yeah, back off, and when you'reready to talk, like this is
what I have.

Speaker 2 (01:22:59):
But cops can relate to this.
How annoying is it when you geta cop who's not, doesn't have
much time on.
They're like I already knowwhat I'm doing.
They don't want to listen toyou, they have.
Or somebody who's atraditionalist like, well, this
is the way we've always done itand they're not willing to
entertain a better option.
How annoying is that.
Guys, it's all, it sucks.
We all know it sucks.

(01:23:19):
It's like.
Why do so many of us act likethat?
With fitness, I already knowwhat to do.
I already know how to hit acalorie deficit.
I already know how to count mymacros.
What are you going to teach me?

Speaker 1 (01:23:29):
yeah, come on, man, when you come in with, this is
how we've always done it or thisis why they're changing it.
You've already pissed me offand annoyed me.
Oh, I hate that.
Cops hate change.
A lot of people hate changingtheir job.
I'm the opposite.
I like it.
I look at it as a new challenge, a new way to test my brain.

(01:23:51):
But I do think mindset has a lotto do with what we're talking
about.
You have got to flip it in yourmind that you're ready and you
got to stick with that and thenhave a support system.
Hopefully you have a supportsystem.
That does help out a lot.
And having a good coach likeTed here, um, having somebody

(01:24:11):
get behind you and tell you whatto expect, having all the
expectations laid out in frontof you, is a good way to get
your mind behind what the goalsare.
And, like you said, baby stepsAll right, here's the big goal,
but let's focus on these littlegoals that we can accomplish
every single day and it helpsbuild these healthy habits.

(01:24:34):
And but I think having themindset, it's like a smoker
you're never gonna quit smokinguntil you've made up your mind.
Is that from?

Speaker 2 (01:24:42):
tony robbins, I don't know, because he gave this
example.
He's like when you talk tosomebody like I'm a smoker, you
know, I just always been asmoker and that's just.
That's just I got.

Speaker 1 (01:24:52):
I think I got it from my grandpa.
He smoked like three or fourpacks a day at the age of 50.
He goes, I'm done, I don'tthink, just quit cold turkey.
Camels yeah, I remember hiscigarette too, camels,
unfiltered, he was a, he wasgangster.
So yeah that, like 50 years old, he was like I'm done on his

(01:25:12):
birthday, just stopped.
I was like holy crap.
And he had his mind made up andhe was done.
And he, he was right, he quit,changed his life for the better.

Speaker 2 (01:25:22):
Yeah, one of my favorite client stories I talk
about Michelle.
She was very overweight twodays before Thanksgiving.
Said I'm done with this, I needto get fit.
And most people would be like,don't you want to wait till
after thanksgiving?
Like waited two more days, twomore days.
I want to wait right, Iprobably would too michelle,

(01:25:42):
you're dumb.

Speaker 1 (01:25:43):
You should have waited two days, right you?

Speaker 2 (01:25:47):
think we wait two days.

Speaker 1 (01:25:48):
I'll eat my one last absurd day of eating and then
I'll yeah, I'm glad you put itthat way day, because it would
have been a feast all day long.
I wouldn't have stopped.
Exactly, we'll start tomorrow.
I've got the calories for thisworkout.

Speaker 2 (01:26:01):
Yeah, right, well, you'll feel my workout for the
next day.
Her mindset, though, is like Iam so done with this.
I am no longer that personanymore.
I cannot be that person anymoreanymore.
I cannot be that person anymore, and that that really kind of
just like your grandpa, right?
Just like you know what.
No, like I don't have to bethat way anymore, I'm done.
It's.
It's who you identify yourselfas Like.

(01:26:24):
Yeah, if you're like I'm asmoker, that's just how I've
always been, I'll try to quit,we'll see what happens.
That's not likely somebody whowill be successful.
But if they were to say youknow, I've smoked for many years
, but I really can't stand thatabout myself, I don't have to be
a smoker, I don't need to be asmoker, I'm done being a smoker,
that person sounds much morelikely to be successful, right?
So, yeah, who do you identify?
As you know, even even ifyou've been fat your whole life,

(01:26:45):
stop saying stuff like I'm justthe fat guy, I'm thick and
that's how I've always been andthat's how my family is.
You're just basically sayingout loud like I'm never going to
change this.

Speaker 1 (01:26:57):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:26:59):
Think about how many examples of people have lived a
certain lifestyle for decadesand they change on a dime.
They're like no, I'm done, I'mputting my foot down, I'm no
longer that person anymore.
I don't need to be that personanymore.
So check yourself, check yourmindset.

Speaker 1 (01:27:13):
And this goes into policing training.
People know this that we'rebeing sized up every time we
handle a call, not necessarilyfrom a bad guy, could just be a
civil issue or something likethat that we're getting put in
the middle of or whatever.
But the perception andreception that you get when you
come in as that stereotypicalyou know chief Wiggum coming up

(01:27:38):
like you're if you're chiefWiggum mindset but come in fit
you have a better chance ofbeing taken serious and listened
to and all of that versus beingtested by the guy.
That's like I think I canoutrun this guy and get tested
that way.
I mean I want to eliminate asmany possibilities as people

(01:28:00):
making me do my job as possible,and an easy way to do that,
guys, is just by staying inshape.

Speaker 2 (01:28:08):
The countless examples of that.
I mean the number of timesbecause I was both the fat cop
and the really fit cop.
So I've seen both sides of that.
I've had inmates call me fatand people who disrespect me
because they size me up andthey're like yep, you're out of
shape, you're lame, and I've hadthe opposite.
I remember there was one dudewho my partners were dealing
with.
They wanted him to just getback in the back of the patrol

(01:28:28):
car.
He was already cuffed.
He just wouldn't.
He was standing there.
They didn't want to use forceon him.
They're like maybe, maybe youknow like they kept talking to
him, right, so I just showedbecause I'm like there's three
units on this, there's nothinggoing on, what's happening?
I show up.
And I walked up to the guy andhe I swear I'm not trying to
sound like I'm cool but helooked at me and he went oh, I
see, you guys brought the bigguns.
I'll get in the car, swear he.

(01:28:49):
And he got sat down and got inthe car and my partners laughed.
They're like we just need youto show up, man.
But they just this guy saw okay, this guy's fit, I got muscly
arms.
Yeah, he probably assumed theybrought me to go beat him up.
I have no idea, but they'rehe's like I'm not gonna mess
with you.
I've had people say when I'mlike yo, you better sit on that
curb and cross your feet.
They're like I wouldn't runfrom you, man, you'd kill me.

(01:29:11):
They just make thoseassumptions.
Yeah, the fit guy.
So I have potentially avoided anumber of fights for its
problems where, conversely, I Ihad a partner who was fat and
out of shape.
He got randomly attacked by aninmate and the inmate afterwards
said I picked him out ofeveryone because he just looked

(01:29:31):
like an easy target.
Yeah, the softest one.
I wanted to punch someone inthe face today and oh, fat guy
came in.
I could take this dude.
I mean, it's animal instincts,y'all.
I mean we are the apex predator.
Our ancestors were predators toanimals and other competing
humans alike, so it's builtwithin us to size up somebody

(01:29:53):
and go is this a fit personwho's disciplined, who is strong
, who could kick my butt, ordoes this look like a
domesticated fat cat who I cancrush?
Because they're just sloppy andlazy?
And I mean this.
The impressions are people aregoing to work off of.

Speaker 1 (01:30:10):
Yeah, I agree, and it's it, it's, it's been proven
that just in your example alone.
But you know people's, that'sone of the reasons troopers
don't get messed with nearly asmuch, because when you look at a
trooper, just about every statethey're six foot three jacked,
like it's just a common themeamongst troopers.
Now I think that standard'sstarting to slip, so I'm

(01:30:32):
throwing that, throwing a littleshade at them.
But you know, you got to be fitif you're going to be writing
tickets to people guys, you gotyou got to be fit for those
troopers.

Speaker 2 (01:30:42):
Uh, I get, I give troopers so much shit on here,
it's well I honestly, I neverasked this but I don't know how
I I need to ask somebody I I endup talking to about their
fitness, when somebody who'svery obviously overweight of
course they're going to getcomments throughout their career
suspects talking shit.
How do they deal with that foryears on end, like I mean, I

(01:31:08):
only had to hear it a few timesPlus get my blood pressure
checked to be like I've hadenough.
Like I'm like could you imaginedude, showing up to work and
regularly people you knowthey're looking at your belly,
you know, they're.
You know they're judging you.
You know, when you walk intothat scene, that you are the fat
cop.
How does that make you feel,like?
How do you live with it?
It seems to me and I honestly Ithink most of the time, it's a

(01:31:30):
form of delusion, because I willtalk to a lot of these guys and
they're like I'm not that bad,I'm still a hey, I'm actually
pretty strong.
You'd be surprised.
So they're.
They're just their ego control,um, and they don't.
They don't see themselves thatway, even though I mean, yo, the
scale is saying you weigh 260pounds, my man, yo.

Speaker 1 (01:31:49):
Yeah, and you're five foot five.

Speaker 2 (01:31:51):
So it's not.
It's not solid muscle Likethese guys.
I don't ever want to be 200pounds.
That's too skinny.
I'm like dude, I'm six foot two, 200.
And like, no one calls meskinny, they say like you're
like, so do you think you havemore muscle than me?
That, that, like that.
You're going to be a depleted,emaciated I.

(01:32:12):
It's just crazy.
Like so my dad grew up.
Uh, he was born in 1921.
He's dead now.
Yeah, he was in world war iiand he started out in the air
force as well.
So he, he, yeah, brother, he,uh, um used to say that in
college like the biggest guysand on the football team were

(01:32:34):
like in the low 200s, like 210,220.
You know those are the biggestones, yeah, right.
So now I got guys telling me Idon't want to cut to 220.
I'm going to look like a cancerpatient.
Are you out of your mind, bro?
Yeah, you got pro bodybuilderswho are 210 pounds.
What do you mean?
You're going to gonna be tooskinny.
Go lift some weights and loseall that fat.

(01:32:55):
Yeah, like, come on yep, Iagree.

Speaker 1 (01:33:00):
Um, yeah, the.
Uh, I was reading your signbehind you.
Uh, sorry, I I didn't realizethat the screen was mirrored.
Oh, um, on your side.
Um, I, I switched it for you.
Uh, that's all yeah not aproblem, but I'm trying to think
if there's anything else that Imissed that I wanted to hit.

(01:33:22):
I know I had one more thing inmind.
I usually keep notes as I goCause it will um trigger for me.
We were talking about umtraining, uh, being fit.
I'm working through.
I had a really good one.
I should have wrote it downTalking about cops not staying

(01:33:49):
in shape and the peer pressureand stuff from being out in the
field.
I'm going to stop my brain workand you know me being in shape.
I should be have a little bitmore mental clarity.
So it's not working for me.
but um is what it is so uh, ifit if it comes to me, we'll.
We'll talk about that, butlet's get on to um.
People listen to you nowthroughout this episode.
We're hour and a half in um.

(01:34:11):
Now they're like you know what?
I want to try this guy out.
How do I find them?
What can I expect?
What is that process like?

Speaker 2 (01:34:17):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, feel free to follow meon social media at fit responder
, like first responder, but fitresponder.
You can check out our websitefit respondercom.
There it is.
You're pulling it up on thescreen.
Yes, there's me, hello, and youcan read what we're doing.
Check out our reviews on Google.
Proud to say, we have over 360reviews.

(01:34:40):
Every single one is five stars.
You can click apply.
There's a should be severalapply buttons throughout that
page on the website and whatwill happen is you'll get an
opportunity to schedule a callwith me or another guy on my
team and we'll talk to you andsee if we think Fit Responder is
a good fit for you and kind ofgo over the options.
But it's a free call and nomatter what, it's a good thing

(01:35:04):
because everybody leaves thecall with more clarity.
They either go Fit Responderisn't right for me, but I have
some cool advice and I knowwhere to go from here or they
say you know fit responder isright for me, I'm ready to join.
So, yeah, check it out.
I have two Instagrams.
Uh, I have fit dot responderand I have fit responder.
So right there you're lookingat my backup page fit dot
responder.

Speaker 1 (01:35:24):
Oh, maybe that's why I thought I wasn't following you
.

Speaker 2 (01:35:27):
Yeah, so that's my backup.
I have one called just plainold fit responder.

Speaker 1 (01:35:38):
Um, which is yeah, there you go.
See, I was following you.
Ah, yeah, Funny story.

Speaker 2 (01:35:42):
The old profile, the inbox, got blocked, um, for a
year.
They said hey, you violated ourterms and services.
You cannot message anyone forone year.
I still don't know what I didwrong.
They just flat out Wow, yeah, Ihad 80,000 followers at the
time.
So I started a new Instagramand that's over a hundred

(01:36:03):
thousand followers.
But I think it's because I dida giveaway where I was giving
away cash and that's not allowed.
So if you have an Instagram,you cannot give away cash
because that is a way scammersscam people.
So even if you're doing itlegitimately, like I was doing a
cash giveaway hey, comment onthis, I'm going to give 500
bucks to somebody.
I mean, I legit was givingmoney to people, but they don't

(01:36:24):
want you to do that.
So don't ever do any cashgiveaways that you could.
It's against the terms.
I didn't know that, but thatcould be why I got blocked for a
year on that one.

Speaker 1 (01:36:33):
I didn't know that.
I mean, I don't have money togive out, so that's a plus for
me.
Okay, very cool.
So what do you got?
What's the future looking likefor you right now?
How are things going?

Speaker 2 (01:36:47):
So one thing I'd love to do with Fit Responder is to
make a department or agencyprogram something that's, you
know, cheap per individual.
But, like you know, coursework,giving people the right
education that's been difficultto even get somebody to even
listen to what that could looklike.
It's hard enough to getindividuals interested in

(01:37:09):
improving their fitness.
Getting admin to be interestedin helping their department is
doesn't seem to be much of aconcern at all, sadly, because
they won't even hear the firstsentence, right?
Hey, I'd love to help yourdepartment get fit.
Let's talk some time.
I sent out 1300 emails, got twopeople to reply and those two
people never ended up being aphone call.

(01:37:29):
Anyways, I'm blabbing on that,but I'd love to help agencies on
a larger scale.
Fit Responder is more of aone-on-one personal program.
Now I'd love for Fit Responderto be helping police especially,
but first responders in Americabe some of the fittest amongst
our groups of professions, asopposed to currently being some

(01:37:50):
of the most out of shape andobese.
That would be great.
Otherwise, I'm going to startcoaching other coaches on how to
make their business better,because I'm a good online
fitness coach.
I've made it very successful,so I'm going to also offer that
as well.
Other than that, just watch mykids grow up, try to be a good

(01:38:10):
dad, try to be a good husbandand make a good impact in the
corner of the world that I canhave an impact in, and try not
to stress about the stuff thatuh, the media and everything's
talking about that I have nocontrol over.
So those are my, those are myplans.

Speaker 1 (01:38:26):
Okay, Very cool.
Well, brother, I got nothingelse for you.
Um, I think everybody knows howto find you.
Know, I appreciate your timeand, um, when we get done with
this, just stick around.
I think everybody knows how tofind you now.
I appreciate your time and whenwe get done with this, just
stick around.
I'll chat with you afterwardsand let you know what to expect.

Speaker 2 (01:38:39):
Sounds good.
Thanks for having me, Eric, andthanks for listening everybody.

Speaker 1 (01:38:42):
Yep, not a problem, brother, appreciate having you.
So everybody out there again.
Two Cops, one Donut.
Go check us out.
Make sure you check out ourwebsite and you can find all the
cool places that we're at andsome of the swag we got and all
that good stuff.
Everybody else take it easy.

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