Making America healthy again

This podcast edition of Kenny Webster's Pursuit of Happiness features JD Shipley. ( @KennethRWebster )

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
That ganic government sucks. Pursuit of happiness radio is deluxe.
Liberty and freedom will make you smiles of a suit
of happen and us on your radio to al just
as cheeseburgers, libity fries at food.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Today is tax Day.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Tax Day is supposed to fall on April fifteenth, unless
it's a weekend, a holiday, or if you're Wesley Snipes
or Lauren Hill for that matter, April fifteenth. It's easy
to remember since it's also that the same day the
Colorado Rockies are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. BLUs their
hearts and paying taxes is about as Americans eating apple

(00:42):
pie or watching baseball or invading Greenland. And a famous
quote is that the only thing certain in life?

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Or what is it? Everybody? You know?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
This one death and taxes. But then I see Joe
Biden and it's like, well, okay, taxes. To find taxes
are certain, they should turn it on the radio.

Speaker 4 (01:00):
Kids.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
It's going to be a make America Healthy again afternoon.
My personal trainer, my coach jd stop by, great guy,
one of my favorite people in Houston, Texas. For those
that don't know, I get a little emotional When I
talk about my gym, it's not just a cool place
for me. It's a place that kind of saved my life.
It made me a stronger, better person.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
JD. Shipley will be here.

Speaker 3 (01:23):
He is stopping by, the owner and creator and one
of the authors from starting Strength Houston. Prior to becoming
a strength coach, he worked in oil and gas and
it's just a fascinating guy, really, exactly the kind of guy.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
You'd want to be friends with. We're going to talk
about making America healthy.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Again, but before we get to that, may we start
the conversation this afternoon with a frank look at assassination culture.
More than half of people in America. Sorry, my TV
just started making noise. That's so annoying.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Mute that mute that I'm trying to talk on the
radio over here.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
The hell?

Speaker 3 (01:55):
I have a TV in my studio that'll just turn
on for no reason, weird specific times. I don't know
why it does that. Is it haunted? Probably is? Anyway,
what were we talking about? Oh yeah, assassination culture. More
than half of Democrats in a recent poll said that sometimes,
you know, political violence is justified. Sometimes you just have
to murder Trump. That's what they say. Obviously, that's disgusting.

(02:19):
If you are one of those people that looks at
Luigi Mangione like he's a hero, and you, you know,
you find him to be a good person of moral standing,
you're You're a scumbag. You're a terrible person. Taylor Lorenz
is this nut job journalist who got fired from the
Washington Post for, among other things, lying to her editors,

(02:41):
and she recently sat down and did an interview with CNN.
I'm sure by now a lot of you have already
heard this SoundBite, so I'll just play a quick bit
of it.

Speaker 5 (02:48):
So you're gonna see women, especially that feel like, oh
my god, right like, here's this man who's the revolutionary,
who's famous, who's handsome, who's young, who's smart, He's a
person that seems as like this morally good man, which
is hard to find.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
So let's positive right there.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Sorry, there's a clip from someone else's show, A morally
good man, Luigi man murder is. Remember that the law
that they're all outraged about that the CEO of United
Healthcare was adhering to is called Obamacare. It's a law
that they created, they wanted it, they liked it, they
think it's great, and now they're celebrating violence against the

(03:27):
person for adhering to that, for following that law, for
profiting off that law. By the way, the United Healthcare
CEO overwhelmingly a Democrat. Most healthcare executives are Democrats nowadays.
Guess why?

Speaker 2 (03:39):
You know why?

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I don't have to explain it to you. So much
political violence going on in America right now. Riots, people
burning down TESLA stations and charging stations. Just a lot
of that in the news lately. It's hard to keep
up with it. Here's another one. A seventeen year old
Wisconsin teenager has been charged with killing his parents is
also accused of a plotting to assassinate Donald Trump. He

(04:02):
apparently this guy, Nikita Cassep of Wakshaw, Wisconsin, charged with
killing his mom, thirty five year old Tatiana Concept, and
his stepfather, fifty one year old Donald Mayer, and he's
accused of living with their corpses for two weeks. Officials
are saying he was also conspiring to kill the president.
He killed his parents to get the money to go

(04:22):
after them. He disclosed his plans in TikTok and telegram conversations.
Most of you get what TikTok is, and I assume.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
At least some of you know it.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Telegram is supposed to be a peer to peer ENCRYPTID
social media app. I've used it before. I guess it's
part of the dark web. When I'm on there, I
don't see people doing anything illegal or anything that severe.
But I guess that's a place where neo Nazis and
Islamic terroists go to have conversations with each other. This
guy wanted to kill his parents so he could get

(04:51):
the money and resources he needed to kill Trump.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yikes. Weirdly, that has become very common lately. There's another
story today about Josh Shapiro.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
The governor of Pennsylvania, who is Jewish, was celebrating Passover
last weekend and this guy scaled an iron security fence
in the middle of the night at the Pennsylvania Governor's
mansion and tried to light the place on fire. Have
you seen the photos? He did a lot of damage
to the place. I guess a lot of you have
seen that by now as well. So now let's get
caught up on the latest. The latest is this federal

(05:26):
authorities arrested a man for allegedly threatening to assassinate Director
of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and her husband. The Department
of Justice announced yesterday charges against aliak Bar Mohammed Ahmen,
twenty four of Lilburn, Georgia. Guys, I wonder what kind
of guy Alik Bar Mohammed Ahmn was, and I wonder
what motivated him to want to kill Tulci Gabbard.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
There's no way to know. Probably a mega guy, right,
probably not.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
He's accused of sending threatening text messages about Gabbard and
her husband between March twenty ninth and April first. Prepare
to die, he said, Tulsi, everyone you hold dear, That's
what the tech said. Another message said Gabbard was living
on borrowed time and warned that her home is a
legitimate target and will be hitted at time and place
of our choosing, according to federal prosecutors. In a text

(06:18):
sent to Williams, according to a complaint filed by the
federal prosecutor, Amid said, tell your wife to always be
on her best behavior and not to disobey mister Vladimir
Putin's orders. We are friendly bears Russian flag bear emoji,
but we can also be angry bears. The authorities found
threatening messages on his social media accounts. One image showed

(06:39):
a gun pointed at Tulsi. Law enforcement found a firearm
in his home. Another message read quote, you and your
family are going to die soon. I will personally do
the job if necessary. Alexa Henning is Gabbert's chief of staff,
she said in a social media post. She told CNN
Gabbard had credible active threats against her and her family,

(07:00):
and they went ahead and doxed her address anyway. Wow,
this comes after police arrested that Wisconsin teenager for murdering
his parents, and of course no other shortage of political
violence against Tesla charging stations and car dealerships around the country.
Here's my concern. Everyone knows this is wrong, everyone knows

(07:20):
it's bad. How bad do things have to get before
it stops? What needs to take place? When Republicans lose,
we rebuild, we regroup, we restrategize. When Democrats lose, they
go out and murder and attack and violently kill. They destroy,
They explode things, they blow things up. If only there

(07:41):
was some way to know which side of the political
aisle is more dangerous and toxic.

Speaker 6 (07:49):
Hello, My name is Pedro. My favorite things to do
as smuggle drugs, procreate like a rabbit, and listen to
Pursuit of Happiness radio with producer KINI Peace.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
All right, So Democrats say there's more unity in their
party than ever before. Until someone accidentally calls someone else
by the wrong pronouns. Then it is war. We must
rage against the pronouns. It's a war on pronouns. Very
touchy subject right now. A couple of reports today from
CBS that I want you guys to focus on. Here

(08:24):
Breitbart dot Com today reporting on how CBS somehow managed
to rustle up a so called expert eager to assure
the world that ancient child sacrifices were not quote unquote violent.
This is the oddest thing I have ever seen. This
is an actual report from CBS. I'm gonna read it
to you guys. An alter from the Tutin Kanon culture

(08:44):
at the prespanic heart of what Mexico was discovered in
the Takal National Park in Guatemala, the center of Mayan culture,
demonstrates the interaction between two societies. Okay, it doesn't sound
that bizarre to mean, it seems pretty normal. Let's continue
here no more. The enormous city state of Takau, whose
towering temples still stand in the jungle, battled.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
For where are we here? I lost my spot?

Speaker 3 (09:09):
Oh here we go, battled for centuries with the Kannul
dynasty for dominance of the Mayan world. The report adds,
Wait a second, I thought only white guys battled for
dominance with the precious natives created their own utopia. No,
apparently that was According to this, the Aztecs and the
Mayans of the Incas did not get along well before
the Europeans showed up. I don't know how many people
realize that. Anyway, This massive city existed between one hundred

(09:32):
BC and seven hundred and fifty eight D. The stuff
fascinates me. One of the archaeologists who discovered the city
said that Tutan khanan altar was used to commit get
ready for this human sacrifice. He adds that those sacrifices
were quote, and this is where it gets really scary,
especially for children. And he knows this because quote, the

(09:52):
remains of three children not older than four years old
were found on three sides of the altar. So the
ancient people who lived in these cities, these were superstitious
savages who sacrificed their own children to the gods. But
as you know, the only ancient culture were allowed and
required to judge harshly, as of course, American culture, of
Western culture, capitalist culture. Everything on planet Earth was harmonious

(10:14):
before these evil Western Europeans came along to colonize the conquer.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, Wait a second, Kenny,
isn't it a good thing that Western civilization and colonialism
put a stop to something as objectively evil as the
ritual sacrifice of children paganism death. That's violent, right, it
seems very violent. Okay, It turns out, as CBS has

(10:36):
explained to us, here not the case. Open your mind up, Christians.
You're just not understanding paganism. These sacrifices were not violent.
This is an actual excerpt from the article.

Speaker 4 (10:47):
Listen to this.

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Maria Belen Mendez, an archaeologist who is not involved at
the projects that the discovery confirms, quote that there has
been an interconnection between both cultures and what their relationships
with their gods and celestial body was like. We see
how the issue of sacrifice exists in both cultures. It
was a practice, it's not that they were violent. It
was their way of connecting with celestial bodies. She says,

(11:12):
what so if in service of quote connecting celestial connecting
with celestial bodies, the butchering of an inn is a
child is apparently not violent according to this. I disagree
with CBS's analysis of this. I wonder if they would
think the same about it any other culture doing the
same thing, Jews, Christians, Muslims. I don't know. It's good

(11:34):
to know it's different in this context. I'm not sure
why anyway. Come on, that doesn't make any sense, does it.
Let's say that through some horrible contrivance, we were given
an impossible choice by space aliens.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Can I get some space alien music here? Hang on?

Speaker 3 (11:51):
I feel like this conversation would be better with the
X files music behind me. I'm loading it right now.
My computer's a little slow. The thrill of live radio folks.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
Here, We got to it. There we go, there's that
X files music.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
Where was I?

Speaker 1 (12:03):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Yeah, space aliens.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
Let's pretend sacrifice a baby or the planet explodes and
kills everyone, including the baby. This is an ethical question, right,
It's a moral dilemma in that situation, Probably most people
would say sacrifice the baby, right, We wouldn't have a choice.
We're gonna kill that kid with the most honorable of intentions.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Right. But guess what, it's still violence. It's still violence.

Speaker 3 (12:28):
These lies become more and more ridiculous because the media
is forced to defend indefensible acts. They're doing it as
a means to hold on to some sick left wing value.
And I'll bet that the next baby in line to
be sacrificed didn't mind so much when the Spanish arrived.
Institute a little colonization in Christianity. Pretend you were the
next person that was about to get sacrificed by Mayans.

(12:51):
I'm sorry, astex right, Yeah, but didn't they hunt down
the Incas and the Mayans? Isn't that how it worked?
You received the movie?

Speaker 4 (12:58):
What was it?

Speaker 2 (12:59):
Apocalyptica? Was that the name of the film.

Speaker 3 (13:01):
Mel Gibson made this really interesting movie about how violent
it was on Earth in the western half of the world,
right before the Spanish Inquisition, right before the Spanish explorers
showed up.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
And we see this everywhere.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
If a Western man says he'd prefer that his wife
didn't work, he's a misogynist. But if he converts to
Islam and then forces his wife to quit a job
and wear a heavy burka. You're an islamophobe for criticizing that,
aren't you. No one wants to talk about the American
Indians owning slaves or wiping out other tribes and the
acts of genocide.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Just talk about the trail of tears.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
Right.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
One narrative is interesting, but all the history combined together
isn't good for leftism.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
No one wants to talk about that.

Speaker 3 (13:40):
No one wants to talk about how African slave trade
would not have been possible without Africans selling their own people,
or without the British government bringing them to the new colonies.
They just want to talk about Thomas Jefferson or how
we got Arlington Cemetery. And now we're being told the
Native child sacrifices were actually peaceful. And you know what's
really interesting. When I was that's right here, stop the

(14:01):
X files music as great as it is. When I
was in the middle of that rant, a bunch of
children walked into my studio with JD.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
What's up, buddy. They have no idea what's in store form.
We're about about to get some child sacrifice going on. JD.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
Shipley is here right now from Starting Strength Houston. Normally,
when I have someone sitting in that chair, almost always
when someone comes in here, I'm taller than the person,
I'm in better shape than them. You're the one exception
to this, and not surprisingly, you're the reason why I'm
in good shape.

Speaker 7 (14:29):
Right.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
I don't know, man, those arms are looking good.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Bro, you changed my life, you really did. I don't
just tell people that. A couple of years ago, two
and a half three years ago, this guy JD. Shipley
and I met each other and he basically said, you know,
I could transform you into a different person. And I
did not believe you. I thought it would have assumed surgery, drugs,
that sort of thing. I do take drugs now. I

(14:52):
take creatine and glutamine.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
There you go. I don't even know if it lose
the gateway. I don't know what that is either. I
don't get it. Ag. I don't know what gludamine does.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
But if I don't take it, I feel like I
will die immediately. Glucosamine, that's another good one. Yeah, did
you take you take supplements?

Speaker 4 (15:10):
Uh? Not really? Protein protein shakes? Oh yeah?

Speaker 3 (15:13):
Do you feel like the creatine doesn't taste good, so
I take it in a capsule form. And I found
out about that from someone at your gym, a guy nam,
a guy named Bob who.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Was a history teacher.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
And he's another guy who is kind of a very
unlikely person to get into the person he really is.
He's one of he's one of my favorite people, most
of my best friends right now.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
I met at your gym. And that's a longer, boring
story about that's that's that's the that's the good story,
to be honest with you.

Speaker 3 (15:39):
Well, it's like, right right when I went to your gym,
I was started getting into some uh you know, I've
talked about this on the air before. It is right
when my divorce basically started, which I was not thrilled
about as a Catholic and a Christian and I didn't
want that.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
But isn't it weird how god like I was never
planning to go to your gym.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
It's just a thing that sort of fell into my lap,
and it fell into my lap at the best possible time.

Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if you're gonna say, if you're
gonna say that was divine providence, I mean, thank you
that uh that's one of the greatest compliments I think
I can receive.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Do you believe in coincidences?

Speaker 7 (16:11):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (16:12):
I think? I think within context. Yes, I think within context. No,
I think, uh, you know what, depending on the context
that I think some some stuff happens for a reason.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
You're Christian, You're Christian, you Brew, you grew up Catholic,
but you're Christian. And I have a friend I don't.
I got to be careful how I tell this story
to you, because he hasn't announced yet, but I have
a friend who's about to run for a political position.
Cool And he didn't want to. It kind of fell
into his lap, kind of like me going to your gym.
It's just it's an opportunity that arose.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
It seemed.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
It wasn't what he was planning to do, but it
seems like the right time for it, given his resources,
his ability to do the job, and the fact that
other people are pressuring him.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
Into doing it.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Cool And I said to him, isn't it interesting that
that all fell into your lap during Holy Week as
a Christian? And he said, yeah, that's a weird coincidence.
He said, no, it's not. That's absolutely not a coin
that happened for a reason, my man. Do you think
that's a coincidence?

Speaker 4 (17:03):
No, I think I think God definitely puts people, puts
people where he wants them at the you know, whenever,
whenever he wants them for whatever his purpose is at
the at the time.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
Jad, you're more religious than you are political. I'm not
going to make you get political on the radio. That's
not what you do. You're a personal trainer and a
coach and a business owner. But it is kind of
interesting how right now the conservative faction of society has suddenly,
for the first time in years, become very concerned about
their health right because because obviously because of RFK Junior,

(17:36):
because of Obamacare, because of skepticismicism about the pandemic, and
that all collided together, and now we have this massive
movement in the Republican Party called Make America Healthy Again.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
And if you went back ten years.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Republicans were fighting really hard against attacks on sugary soda
pop and now that's not at all what they're concerned
about fighting against. Now they're concerned about getting chemicals out
of the drinking water.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
What an odd time to be alive, isn't it. Jad,
Shipley's here from starting Strength Houston. We are going to
make Houston healthy again. We're gonna moh ha ha. It's
sounds like a Jewish holiday stick around. We'll talk about it.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
Hey, it's me the Donald.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
You're listening to the Pursuit of Happiness Radio.

Speaker 6 (18:20):
Enjoy it while it last, because I'm having this whole
show shipped off to China.

Speaker 2 (18:26):
Bernie Sanders.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
You guys know Bernie Sanders, says, I guess everybody knows
Bernie Sanders. Why isn't this camera working?

Speaker 4 (18:33):
There?

Speaker 2 (18:33):
We go, oh, we're on.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
Hi there, Hi, We're live streaming on social media while
we're on the radio. Bernie Sanders made a surprise appearance
at Cachawa. Although his age, you know, at his age,
every appearance I think he probably is a surprise.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
JD.

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Shipley is in the room right now. Greetings to you,
Hi everybody. So those you're watching us streaming on social media,
obviously you know who I am.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
I'm Kenny Webs.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
You're on your favorite morning show host on the Gulf
Coast from the Walton and Johnson Radio Network. But every
afternoon I hosted this radio show, The Pursuit of Happiness,
and today we are here to celebrate making America healthy
again with JD Shipley of Starting Strength.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
Jim JD.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
You are probably like you, what do you bench like
a thousand pounds?

Speaker 2 (19:16):
You're a big dude. How did you get into fitness
and stuff like that?

Speaker 4 (19:23):
Fitness? Early on? You know, my wife and I knew
a fairly athletic and we would work out and we'd
go run and train for a marathon. We go, we
kind of hot from from one thing to the next.
And I've always been a fairly tall guy, but never
never never as strong as a guy I thought my
size should be. So one day I just said, you know,
screw it, I'm done with all the I'm done with

(19:43):
all the cardio on the running, and I'm gonna lift
heavy and and and you know, just see how strong
I can get you. And here we are.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
You are probably in the Houston, Texas area, like the
poster boy for bar bell training, I hope, so bar
bell training, not dumbbell training.

Speaker 4 (19:59):
Barbells.

Speaker 2 (20:00):
Barbells so much more important than dumbells.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Because you can live more, you can lift more, you
can lift heavier, and you get better benefit out of
the the time you spend lifting.

Speaker 3 (20:08):
I am one of many, many people whose life was
improved from signing up in the Starting Strength program.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
People look at fitness.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
People that aren't into fitness probably look at gyms like
they're all the same. They look at your gym, and
they look at Lifetime, and they look at Equinox and
they look at La Fitness and they couldn't be more different.
At the big corporate gyms, everybody hates each other. They're
all competing for equipment, they're all competing for time, They're
all annoyed by each other. They're mad at each other

(20:36):
in the parking lot, they're mad at each other in
the gym. Compare that to like the small local gym,
which is what you technically have. Even though Starting Strength
is a chain around the country, it's a small local gym.
Everybody it's Starting Strength for the most parties friends, they
hang out with each other. I'm in group chats on
Instagram for memes with people from the gym, sharing comedy

(20:57):
throughout the day, not like fitness and stuff like that,
but also it's just a lot of like minded individuals.
Starting Strength is the only place I've been recently where
I'm in a room with a moderate, a centrist, someone
on the far left, someone on the far right, a
libertarian and authoritarian.

Speaker 4 (21:13):
And they're all getting along.

Speaker 3 (21:14):
And they are all getting along having a very intelligent
conversation about hot button issues while we lift barbells.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
Just strong nerds. Why is that? Well, because so even so,
even even though you know, you know from from as
far as the political spectrum, people are different. I think
the people that are that are coming to the gym
are all looking for the same thing. Right. There is
that common goal of wanting to get wanting to get healthier,
and are doing it by getting stronger, right right.

Speaker 3 (21:43):
Okay, So this guy, Mark Rippetto created the program Starting Strength,
and he wrote the books. You're an author, he's an author.
A lot of you guys write about stuff that you do.
But he wrote these books that read like almost like
a Korean technical manual that was translated to English, and
it explains to you like how to lift weights. But

(22:04):
it's confusing, which is why people joined the program. It's
it's some of the best information I've ever been exposed
to in my life. I didn't get into weaightlifting till
I was forty, and now I wish I had done
it twenty years ago. Can you explain who Mark Rippetot
is and why his program so controversial?

Speaker 4 (22:19):
Yeah, well so yeah, so so. Mark Ribeteau is a
guy that lives in witchdal Falls. He owns the witchdeal
Falls Athletic Club. He's he's owned it since the early eighties.
And and he wrote the book Starting Strength. I think
the first edition came out and back in two thousand
and five. And you write it reads like a college
textbook with his own style of personal SaaS you know,

(22:43):
smattered throughout throughout the whole thing. So it is very technical,
but it's also very interesting read for that for that reason.
But he is so he's controversial one because he he
you know, the guy has no filter. He will he
will say what what what, what he believes and the
far you know, for the most for the most part,
you know, you know, the guy's right. Starting Strength is

(23:07):
is somewhat controversial because it cut the cuts to the bs. Yeah,
it cuts to the bs. It works, and it's hard,
and uh, you know, it just is what it is
and there's no there's no watering it down.

Speaker 3 (23:18):
Part of what's interesting about the gym is that, you guys,
it's not shortcuts. Yep, it's not about gimmicks. There's so much.
You see these videos on the Internet of people hanging
from a bungee cord, wearing springs on their feet while
they jump. They're not exercising, what are they even doing
and they look like they're gonna.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Hurt themselves entertaining themselves. It's entertainment rights. It's what you
would call masturbation.

Speaker 3 (23:43):
But the other thing that's interesting about starting strength is
that when you actually sit down and you do the work,
one of the first things that surprises me is it's
actually not that hard. It seems like it. I mean,
it's challenging, it's work, but it's not like it's not
like CrossFit or something where you're just dead at the
end of it. I usually feel great afterwards.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Why is that?

Speaker 4 (24:04):
Because it's not so it's not about high number of reps.
It's about it's about heavyweight. But even then, you know
we are we're often we're often self limited by our
by by what's by what's in our head and so
and so when you when you train heavy, you know
you add what over time, you get stronger over time, right,
and what you can do goes up. And so it's

(24:26):
not about how hot and sweaty you can get, or
how sore you are afterwards. All right, it's about a
it's about a slow, reasonable progression.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
You say that the gym is not about losing weight
or bulking up, It's not what it's about. It's about
building strength. I can only speak to my personal experience.
I joined your gym, I was about fifty pounds overweight, right,
I was two hundred and fifty pounds and I couldn't
lift anything. I'm embarrassed at what I could lift when
I started in starting strength.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Now I can. I got my weight down to two hundred.

Speaker 3 (24:54):
I lost fifty pounds stronger lifting weights at your gym
three days a week. And then I run, which isn't
part of the program, but I just enjoy running. And
now I can lift twice my way. When I rack pull,
I can do almost four hundred pounds. It seems to
me like a forty year old man. Now I'm forty two.
He's too old to start doing something like that. That's
not made my experience. That's what I would have thought,

(25:15):
That's what conventional wisdom would have made me believe. But
that's not actually how it is, is it.

Speaker 4 (25:19):
No? I mean, so you know, the the gym in
Cincinnati has a has a I think you would call
it a nonagenarian. She's in a murk where Mercedes I
think is her name, and she's in her nineties, up
her nineties. That her son, her son brought her in
her son, and her son's in her in his like
late sixties. And so this, you know, this lady lady
came in and now she's she's you know, she's been
able to dish the walker. You know, obviously the you know,

(25:42):
the lifts are modified, right, you know, she's you know,
she's progressed to now lifting pressing twenty five pounds overhead,
but she's made considerable considerable gains as a result of
as a result of strength training. Strength training is absolutely
for everybody.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah, you know, I started the program because I had
a ski injury. I've told this story in less than
a month. Is I had the ski injury for nine months.
I couldn't sleep on my left side. Skiing's great, but
it's easy to hurt yourself when you're flying down there,
especially as you get older. Exactly right, I joined the
gem in less than a month. The ski injury was gone.
To the it happens so quickly, I didn't even notice it. Tony,

(26:16):
one of my coaches there, asked, how's your shoulder? I
was like, what about? Why why are you asking me
about my shoulder? I'd forgotten, Oh my shoulder, I'd completely forgotten.
People are always shocked that Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her
the later years of her life was lifting weights. But
actually that's probably part of the reason why she lived
so long, isn't it? Absolutely so?

Speaker 4 (26:33):
I don't I don't know if if Barboll training is
gonna is going to extend someone in someone's life, but
to the extent that they that they do have life,
it's going to improve that the quality of it. You'd
be way more active and way more, way more capable.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Another thing I hear from women is they're worried about
taking the program because they're worried they're going to bulk up.
But that's not actually how it works, right, especially with women.
After a certain point, women aren't going to gain muscle mass,
are they that?

Speaker 2 (26:58):
No, that's not how it works at all, is it?

Speaker 4 (27:00):
No?

Speaker 1 (27:00):
No?

Speaker 4 (27:00):
That you know, women to you know, the surprise, surprise,
are genetically not not predisposed to getting a bunch of
a bunch of muscle mass. It's just that they're not
programmed to do it. Wait a second, but men are yeah?
Are you saying men and women are different? Heaven forbid
what sacrilege?

Speaker 7 (27:17):
J D.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
Shipley is here.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
I see a lot of people watching us on social
media right now. Make America healthy again, that is what
we're talking about. I'm here with my coach starting strength
gyms in Houston on Shepherd and also in Katie on
what is It on Mason? Hey, quick break. If you're
watching us on social media, don't go anywhere. We will
literally be back in two or three seconds. If you're
listening on the radio, short break, stick around.

Speaker 6 (27:41):
You are listening to the Pursuit of Happiness. Radio Pursuit
of happiness. We don't have that in Mexico.

Speaker 3 (27:52):
So Easter is coming up, and we're obviously we're all
very excited about that. It's that time of year when
I think Joe Biden blames Donald Trump for the crucifixion.
I think that's generally how that works. But for me,
Easter will be spent at the comedy show this weekend
Friday night. You know, I was just talking about this
on social media with people, but some people are connecting

(28:13):
with us on the radio right now, So we'll see
you Friday night in New Orleans. Tickets available at Jessesfunny
dot com, Watchchad dot com. You guys are gonna want
to check that out. It's weird to spend Easter at
a comedy club.

Speaker 4 (28:26):
JD. Shipley?

Speaker 3 (28:26):
Is that?

Speaker 4 (28:27):
Do you think God will forgive me?

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Is that?

Speaker 2 (28:28):
I'm a good Catholic? I think I think only if
the jokes are good. What if they're very dirty?

Speaker 4 (28:34):
Well, he does have a sense.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
Of humor too, so, Jad, you're not make America healthy again.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
Jad Shipley's here right now from starting Strength gyms in
Houston and Katie, Texas. Of course, you used to work
in oil and gas and you had a great job.
You're making a good living six figures a year, very
comfortable job, security benefits, retirement package, healthcare, all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
And you decided, you know what.

Speaker 4 (29:00):
Things up a little bit.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
I'm gonna start a gym, I'm gonna star, I'm gonna
what Why it's a crazy thing to do.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Why'd you do that?

Speaker 4 (29:07):
Yeah, we were talking about God earlier. That's that. That's
all a God story I had. Uh? Oh God, this
is twenty sixteen. I had just come back to my faith.
I had, uh, and I spent a bunch of time
in prayer, uh, asking you know, what do you want right,
because you know, do all you do to the glory
of God? Like that wasn't happening. And I was. I
was good at what I did, you know, I was.

(29:27):
I was fairly somewhat successful, but it wasn't getting everything
everything that I that I had, and so uh it,
you know, it wasn't God honoring. So I spent spent
spend a bunch of time asking, asking what what he
wanted of me? And you know, this time I was training,
I had gotten bigger. People are asking what I'm doing,
you know, So I'm I'm I'm talking about starting strength
with with with almost everybody that I know. And then

(29:49):
so you know, coaching some friends here and there, and
just kind of you know, dabbling in that. And I
quite literally heard. I was. I was driving home, I was,
you know, I didn't realize that I was lost in prayer,
but I was. I was kind of deep in thought
and uh, you know, I heard help people get stronger.
And I come from a very entrepreneurial background. Uh, I was,
I'm one of the few in my family that has

(30:11):
a fully funded for one K you know that that
sort of stuff and kind of you know, the oddball
out and and and so I always wanted to do
something on my own, but nothing. I never believed in
anything enough to take that risk until until until now,
which was you know, was perfectly clear. And and you
do you talk about coincidence or you know, providence. My
wife is very you know, you know, she's conservative as

(30:34):
far as as far as taking risks. I'm I'm the
one that will you know, jump off the edge of
a jump off the edge of a cliff and kind
of figure out how to how to fall and on
the way down. Sure, and she's she's the other way around.
So I came home and said, hey, uh so this
is what we're gonna do. I'm gonna quit my job
and uh we're you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna open
a gym and become a coach. And she goes, well,
let's do it. Let's go and and you know that
to me was just you know, continued reinforcement of like

(30:56):
of you know, this is this being part of God's plan.
And so you know, I'm still still winging it right,
But you know.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Would you have been able to do it without your
wife's support with that?

Speaker 7 (31:05):
Not?

Speaker 3 (31:05):
No, if she's if she said no, you wouldn't have
done it. Uh, we would have had further conversations. Really,
how about that?

Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yeah? You know right? You know I think I think
when one spouse serves the other, one does too. And
so you know, I think at this point, this is
what I was called for, and then she's She'll be
called to something else later on and we'll figure that out.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
Starting strength gyms around the country is uh, it's a
community of people, and it's not for those that aren't
part of this or aware of it. Mark Ripitel in
and of hisself is already a fascinating individual, but then
it's like a subculture behind a subculture. There aren't Starting
strength gyms everywhere, but there's a lot of them.

Speaker 4 (31:40):
I managed.

Speaker 3 (31:40):
I found one in Boston that's the most exotic starting
strength gym I've ever been to. And it's in the
basement of a building. Yeah, kind of like you're going
into cheers. I love when do you walk in there?
And speaking of cheers, everybody knows your name there at
Starting Strength in Houston, everybody knows each other. One of
my favorite guys is this guy named Gino. Gino's great.
He's funn he's a funny guy. He's a very smart,

(32:01):
intelligent person. He's obsessed with seed oils. He hates seed oils,
and nobody believed him at first, like a couple of
years back when he first started talking about this. Now
everyone hates seed oil. He would bring jars of beef
tallow into the gym and he would give him out
to people there.

Speaker 2 (32:17):
I can't cook food without it now. I don't know
what I'm gonna do without it. Animal that's delicious, man,
it's so much better. Yeah, last night I boiled pasta
with beef tallow. Yeah, it's it's so much better than
regular pasta. I put the beef tallow in there, you
take it out, there's like the meat oil on the
pasta noodle. Infinitely better.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (32:37):
Now I don't want to eat regular pasta anymore.

Speaker 4 (32:39):
I've gotta try that. I've got to try that. I've
got a I've got a jar of bacon drippings and
next to the you know, next to the next to
the stove, like bacon fat, bacon grease. Nice. I haven't
graduated to rendering rendering tallow yet.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Do you eat beef on Fridays during Lent? Or is
that not a thing?

Speaker 4 (32:56):
It's been a long time since I've given it, since
I've given up anything for lent. And it's not for
you know, it's it's not for any for any particular
reason other than than I just I just forget.

Speaker 3 (33:04):
Well, part of it is just you could do good
deeds for people. Yeah, and you have children, so you've
done your good deed. Because I got to think you're
like you're like Saint j D. Every day of the week.
You have how many kids do you have?

Speaker 1 (33:15):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Three girls? That's a lot of girls. Two girls, and
they're homeschooled. They they are there, they're in a hybrid program.

Speaker 4 (33:21):
Yeah, so they're they're primarily homeschool and they go to
school twice twice a week.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
I used to think that the homeschool kids when I
was growing up were weird. Now that's the other way around,
and now I think the public school kids are we Yeah.

Speaker 4 (33:33):
Yeah, now you know your kids go to your kid
goes to public school. Really, how do you how do
you handle the social interactions like are you you know,
don't they what aren't you afraid they're gonna turn out weird?

Speaker 1 (33:43):
Right?

Speaker 3 (33:44):
You don't have a you don't have a gender affirming
care closet in your in your house for the kids
to do cross dressing or anything.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Like we have we have we have a suck it
up and then uh, rub some dirt on it class.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
What do your kids think about that?

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Are they have you explain this the weird things they
encounter in the world.

Speaker 4 (34:01):
You know, I think that the older two are are
just now getting to the point where I think they're
you know, that they're they're able to understand it, or
they're you know, they're maybe maybe maybe I should, I
should have more intentional conversations with them, but.

Speaker 2 (34:15):
Well you don't have to if they're not ready yet.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
I will say this with the whole like third gender
pronouns and all that stuff. It feels like it's the
first time in society during my lifetime that there's been
a cultural trend where society moved to the left and
then said nah. And now it feels like vastly, overwhelmingly
most people, like eighty percent of Americans have decided I

(34:38):
don't want to live in a society where we do
that to kids anymore. Whereas two or three years ago,
I think people were afraid to speak out against it,
and now I don't think they are anymore.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
Yeah, I think it was. I think it was the
the afraid to speak out part. I think it's it's
gotten so so so out there that that you know,
it's it's it's gone too it's gone to too much, right,
too much?

Speaker 3 (34:59):
All right, So a big controversy right now, I don't
even know if it's controversy. People want school choice, people
want school vouchers. Yeah, it'll be great for the teachers.
It'll be great for the families. It'll be great for
the parents. It's going to be bad for the government.
It's gonna be bad for the teachers union. If they're
good teachers, it'll be great. There'll be more jobs out there.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
Well, it'll be bad for the government, which means it'll
be good for the citizens, which means it would be
good for the government in the in the long run.
That's right. I look at it. I look at it
as as as as free market competition. Right, everybody benefits
from some level of competition, which you know, I think
it had gotten Unions, I understand to a certain point,
I think, uh, you know, uh, you know, in the past,

(35:39):
you know, the teachers had to to uh to be
able to uh to to you know, you know, get
the benefits necessary for them. But now I think it's
just gotten out of hand, right, and you know, Heaven
for Heaven forbid. You know, the citizen is able to
decide to decide where it's where it's uh, you know,
it's tax money's going.

Speaker 3 (35:55):
Your gym is not a political place, but I do
notice that. And then when you go to the gym,
people have conversations. Sure, people with these opinions are certainly
welcome there. It's never I've never last opinions.

Speaker 4 (36:06):
We will not turn you know, nobody's turned away or
even you know, or even made to feel feel like
they're unless if if they're if their opinions are different.
I mean, we've got we've got, you know, certain sessions
at the gym where where it's it's majority of one
or the other, right, and that that is what it is.

Speaker 3 (36:19):
People getting getting a personal trainer is very expensive, right,
compared to what you guys charge.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yeah, it's not.

Speaker 3 (36:26):
What you guys do is not expensive compared to having
a personal trainer.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
I say, so I mean, you know, our most expensive
gym in the in the franchise industry, franchise organization right now,
I think is is is ends up being thirty eight
bucks a session, right for an hour and a half.
That's average that out. That's like Lord de Godady math
twenty five bucks an hour for a personal trainer. I
mean it is, you know, for one on one coaching.

(36:51):
And you know, I don't think you can get any better.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
Every day when we live stream this show. Well we
don't live stream every day, but I always try to
remember to update the title of the live stream of
the video on social media when people are watching us
talk on the radio.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
And I forgot to update it today.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
But yesterday's topic was is it more expensive to be
skinny or fat? And actually the research tends to indicate
it's actually more expensive to be fat. Not only a
you're paying more in food, but your healthcare costs go up.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Right.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
I have to think if you're trying to save money
and live longer, going to Starting Strengths GRIM is a
pretty frugal decision to make.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Yeah, I think so, I mean people people go out
and spend, you know, spend you know, double what you
know two or three times what uh you know what
a membership charges in and eating out and uh and
entertainment you know, and you know, instead of instead of
been investing long term in their health, right, get you
you know, get you a coach, get some uh, get
some help, uh strength training and uh you know, get more,

(37:47):
uh get stronger.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
As as a result, people are asking me questions in
the comments section.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
Since you're here right now, this is JD.

Speaker 4 (37:53):
Shiple.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
He's my UH and Q and A. He's my coach,
he's my trainer. Yeah, Raymi wants to know. He's curious
on your thoughts about pre workout, especially the high stem
ones for those that don't know what that means. Like
pre workouts like the powder you put in a drink,
it's got caffeine on it. It doesn't always have caffeine,
but a lot of them have caffeine. What are your
thoughts on that stuff?

Speaker 4 (38:13):
You know that the fitness industry is full of gimmicks.
I personally think the pre workout is one of them.
Some of them. It's great if you need if you
need a little extra boost, an extra kick, it's not
going to help you get more, you know, get an
extra report too or anything like that. If if it
helps wake you up and helps to build some motivations
so that you can get into the gym and get

(38:34):
the thing done, then hey, great, take it. But it's
not you know, it's not it's not going to it's
not going to make or break you or your ability
to train.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
I would agree with that, but I will say it
does help me when I'm running or lifting weights. It
just gives me a little more. The other thing is
if I take it and then I don't immediately go
work out, I feel like I'm gonna have a flipping
heart attack. So there's but I look, I take it,
and I take creatine and glued them in and all that.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
Other say I like drinking coffee, you know, for for
for pre workout, but at the same time it has
it for me. It has the same effect.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Bro, I love coffee. I can't I can't live without it.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
Let's see, Pam says, we grew up trusting the food industry.
If they said it was healthy, we believe them. Unfortunately,
that's just one piece of the puzzle. People's confidence in
these institutions have completely been destroyed.

Speaker 4 (39:18):
I think they should Yeah, I think I think she's
quite You should question the information that that you get.
I think you should. You should you should as a
default assume that the information that you're being given is
BS until until proven. Otherwise you should be naturally inquisitive.
And uh, you know, and and and and ask ask,
you know, not trust people.

Speaker 3 (39:37):
We've been told for years, don't eat eggs. Eggs are unhealthy,
Milk and butter, don't eat that stuff. It's unhealthy all
and and lifting waits that could hurt your back is
going to fall out, right, Yeah, all the people I've
met at your Jim love milk, butter, eggs, and every
one of them is incredibly healthy.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
I have to assume that stuff's all part of your diet.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
Absolutely, right, So that you know, the the more or
the more unprocessed of food is, the better you know,
the the better off it is. Right when when we
get if we're talking to members, you know there there
is some some nutrition guidance and and you know often
oftentimes it is it's how many eggs can you can
you get for breakfast? How many you know? How much?
How much you know? How much more can you increase

(40:19):
your your your meat content?

Speaker 7 (40:21):
Right?

Speaker 4 (40:21):
Would you start to start basic.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Another comment, I see that's kind of interesting. DTA on
Facebook has said, uh, you know, working out's great, Eating
healthy is great, less sugar, less salt.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
I actually feel like it's the process stuff that's the problem.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (40:35):
I don't have an issue with salt, but but too
much salt and not exercising is bad. Sugar is fine
if it's fruit, right, but like just eating raw sugar
like candy all the time.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
I mean, I'm a you know, I'm a I have
a sweet tooth. I am a sugar fiend. I don't
think I have ever met a candy barter that that
I did not like. And and so you you're not
gonna You're not gonna train your way out of a
out of a bad diet. But man lifting heavy and
does does help cover some sins as far as diagnoses.

(41:05):
Bro that's it.

Speaker 3 (41:06):
If you've had too much to eat today and you
go lift weights all day, probably you haven't done that
much damage to your body because you're burning the calories.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Hey, we got to get out of here, we got
to run.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
If people want to learn more about starting strength, if
they want an introduction in thirty.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
Three thirty minute session, come and you know, combine combine
and see us.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
A free thirty minute session in the Houston area where
the Katie, Texas area is a pretty big deal. I
could tell you I'm that one for hyperbole or sensationalism,
which is uncommon on the radio. Starting Strength Gym changed
my life. It might have saved my life. It is
easily the high point three times a week. It's my
favorite thing to go do on a bad day. It's
the best part of my day. There's never there's no

(41:44):
exception to that rule. The days when I don't want
to go to the gym and work out are the
best days at the gym. When I get there, I'm
so glad that I went. And I'll tell you, before
I was forty, I didn't go to gyms. I ran
worked out on my own. I hated being in a class.
I hated being in that group. Changed my life. How
do people contact you if they want to try it?

(42:05):
I would say, I would say, go to the go
to the website.

Speaker 4 (42:07):
You can look us up on on on Google, Starry
Strength Houston and Started strinth Katie. We respond to you know,
to phone calls and schedule schedule a session.

Speaker 3 (42:17):
My first button on there follow Starting Strength Gyms Houston
starting Strength Houston on Instagram is a great follow and Hey.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
I'm Kenny Webster.

Speaker 1 (42:25):
I love you all.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
Thank you so much for watching.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
Have an awesome afternoon.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
We'll see you back here bright and early tomorrow morning
for more of what you bought a radio for.

Speaker 7 (42:38):
You are listening to the pursuit of having this radio.
Tell the government to kiss yours when you listen to
this show.