The Jordan Syatt Podcast

The Best Show on Netflix, The Truth About Green Tea, Dissecting The Fitness Industry, and More...

In this episode of The Jordan Syatt Mini-Podcast, I shoot the breeze and have an in-depth conversation with my podcast producer, Tony, about a variety of topics including: - The best show on Netflix (arguably). - The truth about Green Tea. - How the health and fitness industry has changed since I started this podcast. -How I've become more comfortable with just being myself online. - My research paper on Nazi families that lived next to Auschwitz in WWII. - And my dream of surprising everyone by speaking perfect Japanese someday. - And much more... Do you have any questions you want us to discuss on the podcast? Give Tony a follow and shoot him a DM on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tone_reverie/ . I hope you enjoy this episode and, if you do, please leave a review on iTunes (huge thank you to everyone who has written one so far). Finally, if you've been thinking about joining The Inner Circle but haven't yet... we have hundreds of home and bodyweight workouts for you and you can get them all here: https://www.sfinnercircle.com/ .

Duration:: 46m
Broadcast on:: 07 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

(upbeat music) - A little crazy in the house. - Yeah, we're recording. - Oh, sick, let's go. - So what's crazy in the house specifically? - Curtis has a super bad diarrhea, but he's had for the last like 16 hours, and then my wife has a doctor's appointment. She's got to do the one today where they do a glucose test to make sure that she doesn't have gestational diabetes and stuff. So it's like a longer doctor's appointment today. So yeah, just a little bit crazy right now. So right now she's looking after old Abe and Curtis, who has diarrhea, and then she has sort of a long drive to the doctor. So then once I'm done with this, then I'll take over for a while today. (laughing) - Yeah, diarrhea, that's... - It's just sad, man, like he was up all night. I was up like getting up with him and taking him out. And it just sucks, you know? Like he's part of the family already. And it's just like, you don't like seeing him clearly uncomfortable, and we call the vet, and basically, you know, he's still energetic, and he's still drinking and eating, and he's not throwing up, and everything else is fine. It's just diarrhea, but you don't want... - So it's just a bug, and it's gonna... - Yeah, yeah, you just don't want any... You don't want people you love, or things you love, living beings you love to be sick, so it's just not. I feel like that's been my emotional... My emotional realm has expanded since I had my daughter, I think. Before, I would not want my dog to feel bad, but I feel more... I have more like, I don't even have a word for it, I just have more of an emotional range now, and I'm like, "Oh, poor thing." (laughs) And I would never like say something like that before, but it's just like, clearly he's uncomfortable, and it's sad. So, yeah, there should be... - You know how there's like a German word for like everything? Like there's like a German word for something super specific? I feel like there should be one of those for like dad empathy. - Yes, I agree. - Or like empathy that comes with being a father. - Dude, I completely agree with that. I completely, completely agree with that. I like that a lot. Oh my gosh, speaking of which, I don't think we did the word of the day, the last couple of podcasts. - Oh yeah, we haven't been doing that at all. - Dude, I've been wanting to do that. We've got to do word of the day. All right, you pick a word in Spanish right now, word of the day. - Okay, I was really excited about that. What did you just say? - Barrio. Barrio, okay, is that like where someone lives? - Yeah, like a neighborhood. - A neighborhood, okay, yeah, okay. Why did you think of that? Why was that first of the dome? - I don't know, just the mind works in mysterious ways. - Interesting. - Yeah, I decided in that split second, I was like, whatever word comes to mind is coming out. And that's just what happened. - I like that. The only reason, I don't know Spanish, the only reason I knew generally it's where someone lives is because I just finished watching Narcos. - Oh, nice. - Great show. - Bro. - Great show. Unbelievably great show. - Did you watch the both the Colombian seasons and the Mexican season? - I haven't watched the Mexican season yet. I was googling what to watch after Narcos and they were like, "Watch Narcos, Mexico." - Yeah, like watch more Narcos. - Yeah, is it good? Is the Mexican season good? - Is it okay? - All right, cool. Yeah, the Colombian dude. - And for you, someone who's interested in language and words and accents, one of the most fun things for me when I watch Spanish language content or listen to like music even is just like listening to the different dialects. And so like pay attention to the Spanish that you were listening to in Narcos and then pay attention to the Narcos, Mexico. And it's like, you will feel the difference. Like it will-- - That's very cool. Okay, does it change the experience at all or no? - I mean, for me, it definitely like situates it. - Okay. - I mean, like imagine like if you're watching UK produced show versus one in the South versus one in-- - Yeah, yeah. - Like it just adds flavor. It just-- - Interesting, yeah, I like that. Yeah, dude, the thing for me, or there are many things about it. But so Pablo Escobar, here's what I'll say. I'm not gonna give anything away. Franny doesn't watch it. Definitely watch it, it's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. Especially 'cause it's based on a true story, and based on a true man, Pablo Escobar and other true people within the story. But I think the piece of writing that I am the most proud of in my entire life was a research paper I did in college. I did a class, a number of classes, but one in particular on the Holocaust. I've studied it my whole life. If I was a fitness person, I'd probably be a teacher, specializing in the Holocaust. But I think my greatest piece of writing and research ever was on the SS guards, the soldiers who were like some of the worst soldiers ever committing the worst, most heinous crimes. And the research I did on them was not about the crimes they committed about what their lives were like at home. And you don't really see much about this. So I was going through, I was in the library, going through their journals, through their diaries, going through picture books of when they were on vacation. They even had little vacation houses and spots within the death camps where they would all hang out. I was going through testimonies from when they were at the Nuremberg trials. All this stuff to try and get a good picture of what their lives were like. And it should, like they were normal people. - Yeah. - And so the whole concept or feeling of the paper was evil doesn't have a look, evil looks just like you and me. And with Pablo Escobar, man, not only just him as an individual, but the way they were able to frame it in Nargos is like on one hand, you see him mercilessly kill countless innocent people. And then on the other hand, you see him with his family and people he cares about and you feel empathy for him. And the juxtaposition between him as a ruthless murderer who only cares about himself, but then also seeing him as a father and as a husband. And going back and forth between, I hate this man and I love this man and it's like, it was an unbelievable, well-represent, an unbelievably accurate and phenomenal representation of evil and showing that like, it doesn't look any different than you and me. It reminds me of the old, I think it's the Stulgianist can quote like, I don't know if I pronounced his name right, but the line dividing getting evil runs through the heart of every human being. - Man, that was a really extraordinary part of the entire show. - Two things, totally and picking up what you're putting down. Did you watch the Sopranos? - I never watched the Sopranos, I feel like I should. - Yeah, so in that same vein, and obviously this one's fictional versus a dramatization of a real person, but the same feeling occurred to me when I was watching it where it's like you get really invested in this family and like their day-to-day lives. And then also they're like, or Tony's like, you know, mob machinations. And it's really weird to like be rooting for a sociopath. (laughing) But you do, you know? It's like, oh, but he's our guy, you know? - Yeah. Did you see this play out in real life too? Like you see it put in real life in real time. Like it's very easy to overlook horrible things. That people do when you can relate on one small level or when you see a human side of it. It's like, oh, he's a dad. - Oh, he's a dad. - Yeah, oh, he has a dog. - Yeah, yeah, he has a dog has diarrhea. - It's crazy, it's really crazy. It's, yeah, so I'll have to watch the Sopranos as well. - So the other thing I was gonna say is your paper is a TV show now. I don't know what it's called, but there is a TV show that's just like about the day-to-day lives of an SS family, yeah. - Are you serious? - Unless I dreamt it, I'm pretty sure that's the thing now. - Yeah, I'd be shocked if you dreamt that. That would be a wild, like. - Yeah, I don't remember what it's called. I don't know what platform it's on. I'll try to find it for you, but if I find it, you know. - I've never researched something harder than that. Like there was, and I tried to find stuff on the internet, but there wasn't much on the internet at this time. It was what, 2012, 2013. There's, I found nothing on the internet. So like I had to like go in the library and go through diaries and journals and order them special. Like it was a really intense piece of work that I was, I think it's the most passionate I've been about any project in my life. - So maybe not right now, you've got a lot on your plate, but someday I think you should sit down and do like a Dan Carlin hardcore history, but like your thing and just get really invested in a project again and like figure out a topic that you're really into and just do like a history podcast. - I like that. - I think that would be really cool. - Okay, all right, we'll plan that out. I like that. - So, oh wait, dude, Hebrew word of the day. - Oh yeah, I'm sorry. - Dude, we gotta get on the word of the day, man. You need to get on this train with me. - All right, all right, I'm here. So last time that we did it, I think I said Malaphaphone for cucumber. And then for another one that Americans really like is the word for like cool. Oh, that's cool. And they say Sababa. - Sababa. - Sababa, ah, Sababa. It's like, oh, very cool. - That does sound cool. (laughing) - Yeah. - Nice. - That's it. All right, what do you got for today? - So, the other day, I think we were talking about your podcasting history, and I think you started doing podcasts around 2018. Does that sound right? - I think so, yeah. I think I started mine around 2018, yeah. - Cool. So I thought that that would be a good place to harken back to. And I wanted to ask you. - That's six years ago, dude. Holy shit. - I know, right. - Disney 18 should not be six years ago. (laughing) - But I'm super curious since you started this journey, what has changed in the fitness industry? And so, you know, I've got a lot of questions we can drill down on specific things, but let's just start there. What's the first thing that comes to mind when I said that? - There was something, the first thing that comes to mind is Fit T. This was like a big fad. Do you remember Fit T? - Yeah, vaguely, yeah. - Yeah. That's the first thing that comes to mind. And you know what's funny is, I don't know, once every few months, once every like 34, or five, six months, somewhere in that range, I'll just scroll really far down on my Instagram to see what I was talking about at certain times. And in that timeframe, Fit T was a very common thing I would post about, because that was the thing. You'd see it in like GNCs and in vitamin shops, you'd see it online, you'd see influencers promoting it. Fit T, Fit T, Fit T, Fit T. And so like, it's so funny, because I've said it so many times that the fitness industry is cyclical, and things always come and go, and there's always something new taking the place of the something that's out right now. So like right now, I'm seeing like all these colostrum supplements coming out, and how you need to be taking colostrum. And that's like the new Fit T, where it's like-- - What is colostrum? - It's this, it's this like, I'm pretty sure that they get it from cows, but I didn't know it colostrum was until my wife gave birth, but like, it's a very nutritious thing that you give to babies that comes from milk, and I think they're actually getting it from cows, which is just, it's ridiculous. But it's the new Fit T. Anyway-- - Got it, got it, got it. - Yeah, Fit T was a really big thing. And it's funny, 'cause if I posted about Fit T right now, I don't think anyone would call me people, no one would pay attention to it, but back then it was a huge thing. And yeah, so Fit T is, and that was literally just like a T that you were supposed to drink, and the advertising was like ramp up your metabolism and burn tons of fat, and it was just fucking T. - That was so just green T, like yeah. - Just T, it's, I don't even know if it was green T, which by the way, like green T, I think is very overrated, just from a health perspective. Just for whatever it's worth, like, it's great, but it's, let's look at this. Number one, let's be honest, green T tastes like urine. It's terrible. - No, it's my favorite. - It's terrible, green T sucks, dude. But also, let's talk about this. Do you put anything in the green T? - No. - You just drink green T. - So when I've been doing match, I've been doing lattes, but like just a regular, like a sencha or whatever, or a jasmine. - Yeah. - Yeah. - Okay, it is the least surprising thing to hear that you really enjoy green T. Like you are a green T guy, but let's think about this. - Wow. - The person who drinks a lot of green T probably lives a very healthy life in general, right? Like the person who's drinking green T on a regular basis, they've probably been told that green T is really good for them. And so, they're also someone who pays attention to their health, probably generally works out, focus on their sleep. Very rarely do you find someone who's drinking a lot of green T and also binge drinking alcohol and smoking a lot of cigarettes. And like, you know what I mean? - Yeah. - So a lot of the research on green T is not causeational research, it's correlational. And so, when I say it's overrated, I'm not saying it's bad for you, it's still phenomenal, but it's whether you drink green T or jasmine T or black T or if you wanna drink T, just drink T. For me, green T tastes absolutely horrible. And so, I'm like, I enjoy T, but I like mint T. Mint T is my, like that's what I love. So, yeah, and that was sort of a rant, but green T from a health perspective is overrated. It's like, it seems like it's the pinnacle. I was like, green T, green T, but it's like, if you don't like the taste, you could get many of the same benefits and other benefits from other types of T. But I can believe that you like green T. - You're like a, yeah, you're a green T guy. - You're a green T guy? - Yeah, green T's fantastic. - Yeah, green T guy from the barrio. (laughing) - Did your parents drink green T? - No, no, that's something I found out. - Did anyone around you start, or you just found going around? - I think I fell in love with it, like going to like Japanese restaurants and stuff. That makes sense, makes a lot of sense. - Yeah. - What's your favorite Japanese food? - I love Japanese food. - Yeah, I mean, to be honest, like just like a salmon sushi roll goes a long way. - Yeah, do you like the roll, or nigiri, or sashimi? - I like the roll, I like kind of the whole package. - Yeah, you're a roll guy. I mean, nigiri is great, like you can-- - Wow, you even said it, right, oh geez. Damn, dude, you said it right, that was-- - So fun, fun fact, no. - I have an aunt, an uncle in Tokyo, though, and I have been, and it's awesome. - You were just like, nigiri. - So one thing to know, actually, language-wise, is Spanish and Japanese pronunciations are very, very similar. - Really? - Yeah, I did not know that. - And since you can already pronounce Spanish very well, I think you would do well in Japan. And also, obviously there's kanji, which is like the script, but if you read Japanese in a Roman alphabet, it's very easy to just sound everything out. Like, it's not like French, where, or Portuguese, where it's like, I don't know how you pronounce that, string letters together, it's like how you see it, is how you say it. - Oh, very cool. - So from like a written in Roman alphabet, pronunciation perspective, it's a more accessible language. - That's very interesting. How did they end up in Tokyo? - They teach Spanish. So my aunt is Japanese and-- - Oh, wow. - And they both teach. So they-- - How did they meet? - And at some university in the US, I think in Albuquerque. - And then, you're out, I was like, I want to move back to Japan, and your uncle was like, let's go. - I think they go where work is good. You know, you want to find a good university that-- - So she does research and does papers and everything. So that's like a big focus of where she is. - That's super cool. And then, yeah. - Does your uncle speak Japanese now? - Yeah, yeah. - So he's like a white looking dude who speaks Japanese. - Yeah. - That's my dream. - Teach Spanish. - Oh my gosh, I want to do that. I want to shock the shit out of people speaking, whether it's Japanese, Chinese, like Mandarin, or Cantonese, like I want to-- - You want to relive karaoke night all over it? - Yes, dude, I want people to lose their mind. Like I want to, 'cause I love Japanese, but I love Korean food, I love Chinese, like authentic, not like the Americanized version of especially Chinese food. But like, I want to go in one of the restaurants, 'cause here's what I used to do when I lived in Boston, I would go to Chinatown, and they would have different menus for the white people, and the people who are not white, like whether Chinese, Japanese, whatever, they had different menus. And I even, I went with someone who was a friend of mine, who was just Chinese, and they gave him a different menu, and he started speaking Chinese, like this isn't on your menu. And I was like, I want that menu, like give me that, like I want to be accepted, I want to know what's on the menu, I want to have the traditional stuff. And I just want to go in and just order in their language and have them just absolutely lose it. - You could do that, you could do that. I believe in you. - Can you speak Japanese at all? Do you know any or no? - No, I know a few words, but. - All right, what's your Japanese word of the day? - Sumi Masen, which is like, like if you please, like, it's like a very polite thing to say, like if someone's passing you, you just be like, oh, Sumi Masen or like offer someone something. Yeah, but like it's pretty universal, just politeness, like interesting. You know, like on the airplane they'll be like, yeah, and if everyone could please take their seats, like in the Japanese, they say, Sumi Masen, something, something. - Oh, okay, okay. Dude, I like that. Have you been? - Yeah, yeah, I went once for my 30th birthday. - Did you love it? - Awesome, yeah. It was so cool. - Oh, I'm so jealous. I'm so jealous. That's like my top place on my list. - Yeah, it's like both extremely accessible and also you definitely, definitely feel like you're in a completely different place. Like, you know how sometimes when you're traveling, it's like, you know, everyone has a smartphone and like-- - Yeah, it looks exactly what it's saying. - You go to like a restaurant, a bar, it kind of feels just like the one in your neighborhood and-- - Yep, yep. - Yeah, there it's just like, nope, we do it different. - Yeah, do you feel like you're in a time warp, like where it's just like you go back in like thousands of years at all and I'm sure in some places? - No, not in Tokyo, at least. - Yeah, in on Tokyo, yeah, it's more like an alternate, an alternate reality. It's like, so it's like the density and population of New York City, but as soon as you get off the main street, it's like completely quiet. - Oh, interesting. - You don't hear nobody's bumping anything. Like, you don't hear loud talking, like everyone's very quiet on the Metro. - I've heard the vending machines have literally anything that you could imagine. - So, just for fun, my uncle was like here, let's, we're taking the train to go to this place and then we like stopped at a vending machine, and he like pops in a thing, gets two beers and we just like pop them open and drink. And he's like, yeah, people are probably judging us right now, but it's not illegal, so. (laughing) - You just get beer from the vending machine, dude, I've seen like, you could get like cake from a vending machine, like anything you could imagine, like you could get like corn from a vending machine, like anything you want is in the vending machine. - And you're on the go and you need some corn, where else are you gonna get it? (laughing) - It's so interesting, I love that. Yeah, Japan's definitely on top of my list, I want to go really bad. Okay, sumimasen. - All right. - Sumimasen. All right, so fit tee. - Fit tee, fit tee, so that's changed. What's something that's changed in terms of like actual exercise, is there like a trend of fat and a trend of exercise? - Or just like a general understanding? - So the main movement, again, and you'll see this if you go back on my Instagram, it was a big, big, big thing back then, but, and again, it's actually, it's very interesting, 'cause I'm starting to see a couple of these come back. Again, everything is cyclical in the fitness industry, it'll be big and then it'll take time off, then it'll be big again. So one thing that was very big back then was hating on, stepping on the scale, like using the scale as a form of measurement. There's a major movement against stepping on a scale and I fought against it super hard and then it died down probably from like 20. - It was around intuitive eating too, right? - Yes, exactly, very good call. That was another thing I spoke a lot about as well, but back then there was a big movement, never stepped on the scale. The scale is like it doesn't tell you your self-worth, which is like an absolute straw man, like it doesn't make any sense whatsoever, no one's saying it gives you your self-worth, but just because it's not telling your self-worth or anything doesn't mean it's not a viable source of information. It was so funny because this is how I would stump all of them. Like anytime someone was like, you should never step on the scale and some people they shouldn't, by the way, but some people like just to demonize it is a very bad route to go inherently. And so I would stump them all with this one, they'd be like, you should never step on the scale, it doesn't tell you your self-worth and I would always ask, be like, let me ask you this, do you check how much weight you're lifting in the gym? Like when you're lifting a weight, do you see how much weight you're lifting, you just randomly pick a weight up. And they're like, no, of course I track my weights and they'd be like, well, does your deadlift tell you about your self-worth? And they'd be like, no, like, so why are you checking the weight? It doesn't tell you about your self-worth and like, well, I need to know the weight in order to help so that I can progress, so I can know more about what's going on. I'm like, that's very interesting. So does how much you deadlift, it doesn't tell you about your self-worth, it doesn't tell you how much fat you have on your body, it doesn't tell you how much muscle you have on your body, it's just information about your general strength trend. I was like, if your strength goes down one week or for two weeks and you can't lift that much weight, are you a worse person for it? Is the weight bad? Should you just smash the weight and throw it away and never see it again? No, you're just using it as a general tool to generally gauge where your strength is going. The scale is the same thing. Now, we've attached a lot more emotion to the scale, but that's not the scale fault. And it's funny 'cause people are like, it's an inanimate object, you shouldn't let it control your emotions. And I'm like, that's exactly right. It's an inanimate object, it is a piece of plastic. And if your way of dealing with that piece of plastic is to smash it and to throw it out, that says a lot more about your emotional control than it does about the fucking scale, which is an inanimate object. So it's so funny, like anyone with a slight sense of common sense, look at someone who smashes a light or something when they get angry or throws their phone, oh man, they're out of control. But all of a sudden they smash their scale and they're like, this is empowering. It's like, really? It seems like you have a lack of emotional control in understanding what this is actually telling you. So, and again, weighing yourself is not essential. You don't need to do it. And for some people, it's better that they don't weigh themselves. My issue is demonizing it as a whole and also just understanding it's just a tool that you can use when you really understand what it's measuring and what it's telling you. So that one really fucked with people. - Yeah. - Trends aside, is there something that you think has improved about the fitness industry since 2018? - I think one thing that's improved a lot is there's been a bigger focus on cardio. 2018, I think there was still a very anti-cardio movement which was very dangerous. - And when you say cardio, you mean like steady state as a yes to like hit and stuff. - Yeah, 'cause hit was still pretty big then, but this idea of lower intensity, longer duration, even something as simple as walking, but even zone two stuff, there's been a much bigger push for it. 2018, 2017, 2016, there is a big like, cardio is gonna ruin your strength. You don't need to ever do cardio. My cardio is lifting weights faster, blah, blah, blah, horse shit. And I think we actually saw some really terrible repercussions with some people dying, some people having heart attacks, like, and not just like everyday people, but like fitness professionals who are having real, real, real issues. And I think people really were like, "Oh my gosh, like we need to do more cardio." So I think that's been a really wonderful thing. I think generally speaking, one of the greatest things I've seen about the fitness industry from when I first got into it in like the 2004, when I first started really getting into fitness to now is every year, it gets more and more and more accepting. So like there's always new level, I've never seen the industry get less accepting. I've only seen fitness become more accepting and more accessible to people. So I mean, all the way back to when I first started, there was like the no pain, no gain. If you're not sore, you're a pussy, that type of stuff. And like, that's gone, they're not gone, but it's like very, very much understood by a huge percentage of people that's not accurate and does more harm than good. I remember later on like, dude, there's a long period of time where taking videos of people in the gym and making fun of them was like funny and whatever. And now it's like, absolutely like you do that, you're gonna get fucking called out and you're like, you're gonna be a pariah. Dude, so happy that's changed 'cause it's now encouraging more people to go and to know that they're not gonna be made fun of or they have a much less likelihood of being made fun of. I've just seen year-over-year more and more acceptance and encouragement for anyone from any background, any size, whatever you are, encouraging to get in the gym. And I see that playing out in gyms too, like where people are walking up to people, encouraging them, it's been really great. So I think it's much more accepting and I think that's the major trend that I really enjoy where it's just like more accepting year-over-year. - Yeah, that's awesome. Do you think that there's something that's trending negatively? - Something that's trending negative, that's a very good question. Is there something that's getting worse about the fitness industry? You know, I really, and I might take this back later if I have time to think about it. I don't think there's anything that is continually getting worse and worse and worse in the industry. I just think that there's a, so here's the thing, I've been in the industry for a long time, about 20 years or so now, it's when I first started working out. And I've seen how cyclical it is, so it goes in circles over and over and over again. So I've seen it repeat itself, whereas if someone just jumped in within the last few years, they might, they haven't completed a full circle yet. So they might see something and think that it's trending down because they're on that downturn, but they don't, they only have like 25% of the view. They don't have the full 100%. So I don't see anything consistently year-over-year-over-year trending down. I do see recurrences and things like coming back into the fold, but looking at the industry as a whole, I don't see anything consistently getting worse. Even something like affiliate marketing and people selling nonsense, I see that actually getting better. It's getting more transparent. You look at people selling nonsense stuff. The thing, what's wonderful is, yeah, people still sell nonsense stuff, but you look in the comment sections of people selling nonsense stuff, there's a lot of people being like, this is bullshit, stop selling out, da, da, da, like that never happened. Even six, seven years ago, that didn't happen. So I generally think that things are getting better. They're trending for the better. And cyclically, things will come back and rear their ugly heads and things will go right. I think the most dangerous thing right now is carnivore. I think it is without question, the single most dangerous thing that we see in the fitness industry by far. The number of people that have messaged me and shown me that hey, that was on carnivore, like at least I heard what you said, but I didn't believe you. I did it anyway. Now my blood work is super bad. It's really, my blood is legitimately thick. And like, and there's their entire Instagram pages dedicated to people like showing how bad carnivore affected their health and like the irreversible damage that was done to their health as a result of it. I think that this will be written about in history books, a lot of what we're doing right now will be written in history books, but specifically and related to nutrition, the rise of the carnivore diet and how absolutely horrific it was. I'm very scared about it. And I'll tell you this, like I pray that it doesn't negatively affect people. I pray that people don't have early deaths and like I don't want anyone to get sick or have issues from it, but logically and just understanding the science of how this type of diet can really negatively impact someone, I'm very worried. And I think that is the most dangerous thing we see right now. - So looking kind of inwards a little more personally, what's something that you think you've gotten better at in terms of coaching or communicating about fitness? You know, that kind of thing since, since 2018. - Since 2018, I mean, I've gotten much better of just being myself, me personally. And I think one of the messages that I get relatively frequently is people, when they see me just being myself, it almost gives them permission to be themselves, which I really enjoy. It's a very, it's a terrible feeling to feel like you have to put on a mask and put on a face and you can't say what you truly believe. And I know, I really, I was, from a fitness perspective, I've always been, I haven't had a problem saying what I truly believe. But personally, and like, whether it's with current events or anything, it's been very difficult for me to, especially when I was younger, I was scared that I would lose everything and that it would, to say my true beliefs and say like be myself, being canceled, blah, blah, blah. Like that was like a very real concern, especially as my audience started to grow. And right around 2020 is when I like had this like waking up moment where I was just like, I can't do this anymore. It's causing me so much stress. I'd rather like lose everything and be at peace than it was just like, I needed to make a change. So I know for a fact in 2018, I was not being fully myself. And so now I think one of the things that has, because I look at things now from much more holistic perspective in terms of it's not just strength training, it's not just nutrition. Let's look at your health from your overall life. The community around you, basically your whole life, not just fitness. Where before it was, how can we get fitness to improve your life? Which I still vary, that's the majority of what I talk about. How can we incorporate fitness? How can we incorporate nutrition? How can we incorporate strength training and cardio mobility? That's the majority of what I talk about. But it's also now everything in your life. And how can we use everything in your life? Whether it's your community or reading or sleep or education or whatever it is to get you to be a healthier person. And so I think that the chronic stress that many people feel is way more damaging on their health than almost anything else. And I think one of the major causes of chronic stress is not being able to be themselves. This overwhelming sense of imposter syndrome, this overwhelming sense of having a mask on, this very heavy weight on their shoulders, on their chest pressing down, like they just can't be who they want to be. So I think for me, just being who I am, saying what I believe, even if they disagree with me, that's probably my favorite message. People like, listen, I don't agree with everything you say, but I absolutely respect that you say it. And that you say it with like every ounce of what you believe. And so for people, I think to see that happening real time might give them encouragement to do that themselves, which I think could be incredibly beneficial for their mental, physical, emotional health. - Yeah, interesting. I never thought of it from like the personal health perspective. That's really cool. Is there anything from back then that maybe you were an advocate of or you were giving advice or certain training methods that you no longer stand behind or that you've decided just aren't in your preferred tool set now for whatever reason? - There's nothing that I did then that I don't do now. There's no like training methodology or like, I still, you know, strength training, mobility, cardio, like it's still all the same stuff. I think it's definitely changed in terms of, so for example, and this isn't a change in terms of how I do it or what I believe. This is more, I think, just more accepting, more accommodating and also more realistic is, I forget what year I came up with it. It might have been 2021, but before it was like, hey, you've got four workouts in a week or three workouts in a week, like just get them all in a week. But I realized like there are a lot of times where you're not gonna be able to fit that in in a week. And I realized I could just elongate the week. The seven day week is a made up time frame. And so sometimes trying to fit three workouts. And they're like, if you have a three day week program and people are like, I've gotta get it in in seven days, it's like, well, what if you get it in in 10 days? Like you get three workouts in in 10 days 'cause then someone who's trying to follow a three day week plan, something happens, their schedule is crazy, they end up missing like day three over and over and over and over again. Well, what if you just made your week nine days or 10 days and now you get those three full workouts in in nine days as opposed to seven days? It's like, you still get the exact same benefits. Maybe your progress is somewhat slower. But who gives a shit? You're still making progress. You're still progressive of the overloading. You're still working out. I would rather you elongate your week and do it in nine or 10 days than just not do that one workout at all, which is what happens all the time. So I think that is one of the best tools I've added to my repertoire and coaching is just elongating the week, which has removed so much stress and help people actually finish programs. People do this in a circle all the time where, for example, I have a three day week option, four day week option, but there are a significant number of people who can only fit two days in. So they're like, well, can you make a two day week program? I was like, I'm not gonna make a two day week program. All you have to do is do the four day week, but just do the first two workouts the first week and the second two workouts the second week and the first two workouts the third week and the second two workouts the fourth week. So it takes them eight weeks to finish what would be a four week program. They're still making the same, they're still getting the same strength benefits. They're still getting the same health benefits. It's just gonna take a little bit longer to get that progressive overload, but who gives a shit if it takes a little longer? It's like, there's no rush, there's no end date. Yeah, if you're competing in a competition, sure you need to take it and really be more rigid with it, but life isn't a competition. This is just like, let's just make sure you're getting healthy and strength training regularly and doing cardio mobility. So I think that's probably one of the best things I've improved since then. That's great. And when you said earlier, like you think that the fitness industry is more accepting, I do wonder if it's better adapted to the everyday person now, because I feel like back then fitness advice came from power lifters or body builders or just like, and it was like, oh, if you're not, if you miss that day, if you push your workout from Thursday to Friday, you're not doing the program. Yeah, that was like, yeah, in like an elite powerlifting context, that's probably good advice. Yes. But for the everyday athlete, maybe not. Completely agree. Part of me wonders, I wonder why that happened, how that happened. One of the things I wonder is, 'cause the people who have loud voices in the industry, I would consider myself having a loud voice in the industry, but like a lot of us have been in the industry for a while. And also a lot of us are going through this life transition where we're getting a little bit older, we're getting married, having kids, not everyone, but a lot of them. And here's another good example. Meg Gallagher, I think is her last name, Meg Squats, super strong. She's been in the industry a very long time as well. She actually lives like 30, 45 minutes for me. Very smart. I really like Meg and everything she does. She was a powerlifter as well, when she first started. And now she has a kid and she is married. And I see, she's still very focused on strength. But I would imagine that like she's also become, just like I have, more accessible to the everyday person as we've become more of an everyday person. When the more we've realized like she doesn't powerlifts competitively anymore, she used to, but just like I used to. So part of me wonders if this progression has changed as we've changed and as we've become more everyday people, we've been like, well, we need to make this change for our life. And so maybe it was unfair of us to try and fit these people into this box. We were also young and we didn't know any better and we were doing the best we had with what we were told and what we studied in school and all of that. But I wonder if any, I'm not all of it. I'm sure there are many other factors as well. But that might be one of the reasons why, is as we've grown and as we've come into our own and become taken on more responsibilities and are more everyday people, of course, our teachings will reflect that. - Yeah, that's a really good point. I also wonder if the social media effect has something to do with this too, where it's like someone who's 18 and really wants to be, you know, an elite power lifter can probably follow a young, really successful power lifter that's like 26 or whatever, you know what I mean? And like that's their following. And so it's like, if I'm in my mid 30s and looking for a strength coach that isn't just gonna kick my ass all day, like, you know, I can find someone that gets what it's like to have, you know, responsibilities and yeah. - It is funny, like, I'm so grateful for all the clients that I had when I was really young because I couldn't imagine working with like a 22, 23 year old now. It's like, especially like, you know, assuming they're a young, single, just fucking super passionate, like, I don't know, I worked with people in their 40s, 50s, 60s and above it as at a very young age. And like, I think I was very blessed and I had some amazing mentors and I was never like, you gotta do this or you're like, never like that. But it takes a tremendous amount of trust, especially as someone who's in their 40s, 50s, 60s to work with someone who's like 22, 23. Like, that's really, and I'm so grateful for the people who put their trust in me because I don't think, that's not fair. I did do that with Garrett, my first stretching coach. He's a really young kid and he's a wonderful, wonderful coach. But yeah, it's difficult to put your trust in someone that young. I get it now and I remember when I was really young being like, I'm so good. Why don't they want like people like, I would wear like a, I get upset, like, don't not hire me because of my age. - Yeah, I know my-- - But now on the other side, I'm like, I actually get it now. I do understand. So I just-- - Well, 'cause we know what we didn't know. - Yeah. (laughs) Yeah, dude, it's true. It's very true. - 'Cause we were those young up starts. - Especially when I see, man, this is just so funny, but it's what, the thing that just really gets me is when I see these young kids, again, young 20s, with their like, hey, you gotta have a morning routine. You need to have a morning routine and they're like, first you wake up and you meditate for this long and then you get your journal. You're gonna journal for this long and then you're gonna like have your chai latte and I'm like, I wake up and my dog is shitting. He's got diarrhea. I've taken him out. My daughter's running around and ripping shit off the counter. My like, and it's just like, could you imagine like trying to have a morning routine? And now we've got a nothing. And like, my life is relatively easy compared to other people who they've got less help. They've got more kids. They've got more animals. Like, who knows? Like, my life is relatively easy on the easy scale. And it's just, that's the thing that gets me with the young kids with like, yeah, you have to have a morning routine. If you like, if you want it, you'll make time for the morning routine. I'm like, come live in my house just for a day. I wanna see you do this fucking morning routine. You won't even have to be downstairs. You're just being in your room and you'll hear all this shit. Good luck meditating when you hear. (laughing) It's just, it's funny. Like the morning routine stuff is hilarious. - Yeah, that is funny. And like, you know, when you can structure your entire day around what you wanna do individually for your goals, it's just different later, you know? - Dude, it is, it's very different. - So I think we're running out of time. - Yeah. - I wanna be cognizant of your time. Do you have any last thoughts? - Last thoughts. Yeah, I mean, I think this is a good conversation. I think it was great questions. If you want, we can pick up with more on the next episode if you'd like. I think it's a really fun, interesting conversation. I wanna say thank you to everyone for listening. Your support always means the world to us. Written reviews on iTunes, Spotify, anything they help tremendously. If you could leave a five-star written review, that would be amazing. Make sure you give Tony a follow. His Instagram is in the show notes. If you have any questions you want us to answer, please shoot him a DM. But again, your support means the absolute world to us. Thank you for growing with us, being a part of the journey. Listening to the podcast, sharing the podcast, like everything, it really helps a lot. So thank you, have a wonderful week. I will talk to you soon. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]