Real Talk with Rebel Fitness
Real Talk with Rebel Fitness is the unapologetic voice of Greenville, NC's Rebel Fitness community. A gym built on the belief that health and strength come from empowerment, not punishment. Born from a mission to challenge the toxic norms of diet and gym culture, this podcast is weekly dose of truth-telling, myth-busting, and mindset-shifting.
Real Talk with Rebel Fitness
101 Reasons To Workout (getting smaller not included)
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On this episode Carissa and Shemar break down the "wellness wheel" and how it relates to fitness and working out. No emphasis on vanity goals, or getting smaller - but how fitness can literally change your life in every wellness aspect of your life (ie: occupational, emotional, social, etc).
What's up, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of Real Talk with Rebel Fitness. I am here with Shamar. Bang, bang, bang. Here's it. Gorgeous Cinco de Mayo day outside today. I um was just telling them in here, I am not super locked into this, you guys, today, but we're gonna roll with it. We're gonna get locked in. It's gonna be fine. We're gonna start flowing. Um, but I am in a Cinco de Mayo kind of mood.
SPEAKER_02So Cinco de Mayo is one of those days it's easier to lock into your five to nine than your nine to five, right?
SPEAKER_00I'm thinking about a margarita. I'm thinking about the sunshine outside.
SPEAKER_02Already in that five to nine mind.
SPEAKER_01But yep, exactly. But it's fine. It's fine. We're gonna we're gonna get going. And then of course margaritas.
SPEAKER_00We're gonna earn. We're gonna earn that margarita today.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so we are going to chat today about the wellness wheel, essentially. So the topic of today's conversation is 101 reasons to work out. So something that we talk about a lot, like as a team at the gym with our members and coaching, is all the benefits of working out. We've even talked about on this podcast quite a bit. Um, the benefits of working out past the physical vanity stuff. And I think we've again we've talked about it a ton, but I think it bears repeating and now it bears its own freaking episode. Because I think it is just one of those things that for whatever reason, I think that's just still the battle that we always face as gym people, as gym owners. Um, is that people are coming in and they are only looking at fitness as a means to get to a physical body type.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's very one-track mind on a regular basis. 100%. I'm showing up because my partner, family, doctor said I need to lose weight, right? And that's Yep.
SPEAKER_01Or I want to look like such and such before the wedding, you know, before the wedding, or I've got to get back to my high school genes, or I've got to whatever, fill in the blank. But it's it the majority of the time, it comes back to some type of physical thing that we can see with our eyeballs that you want to change in your body type, the way it looks, whether that's shrinking, getting ripped, whatever the situation is. So we decided to make an entire podcast, and the title be 101 Reasons to Work Out that don't involve the physical. And we'll talk about the physical in this because again, we're gonna talk about all of the dimensions of wellness and everything that goes into it. But the physical part is not again, the vanity stuff. Yeah. It's not the way you look, uh, it's not the size jeans that you're wearing, it's not the, you know, the tank top, it's not the stringer, it's not whatever. It is um more of the in-depth physical stuff.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, and if you're lining up the other parts of your wellness wheel in general, the physical stuff should just begin to happen as a side effect. What we see on a regular basis is hyper focusing on the physical too much to where the other parts of the wellness wheel fall out of whack. And when that happens, the physical goals just get more and more unattainable. The more that your mental, emotional, physical health is lacking, the harder it is for your physical health to elevate. So once you line up the rest of the wellness wheel, it's just full circle. A wheel is a circle, y'all. It's gonna come back around.
SPEAKER_01Hot damn. Hot damn. How about little little uh geometry let's talk about it? For you visual learners.
SPEAKER_02A wheel is a circle.
SPEAKER_01And while we're talking about that, like let's talk about the circle. Okay, so you're listening to this and you can't see us. Envision a wheel. And if you've never heard of the wellness wheel before, this is something that I did a ton in my previous life when I was working deep in mental health. And so a lot of the stuff that we did was taught people about the wellness wheel and all the dimensions of it because the whole thing is like thinking about it as like a, you know, like a bike tire, right? And then you've got all the spokes that go from the tire to the in, you know, the the little cap on the inside. Yeah. And it's every one of those spokes is a different dimension of your wellness. And there's a lot of different types of wellness wheels. You can, I mean, there's some that have like 12 to 15 spokes on them. There was a main one that we always use that had the eight um biggest ones, I think. And so that's the one. Yes, exactly. That's the one we're gonna talk about. But those dimensions would be physical, emotional, social, occupational, spiritual, intellectual, financial, and environmental. Okay, so that should be eight. Um, so think about each one of those spokes being one of those dimensions of wellness in your life. So, like Shamar was saying, if one of those gets off, then it will, because it is a wheel that is needing balance, one of those spokes starts breaking down, one of those spokes starts coming apart, one of those spokes starts weakening, whatever it is, it's going to affect the spokes on the other part of the wheel because they all now have to take on more pressure and more load. And so we as human beings, we want to make sure that we are finding balance in those areas. Because again, we're big on like the seasons and talking about, you know, seasonal wellness and lives, our lives being, you know, seasonal in a lot of ways. So we would be idiots to sit here and try to think that our lives are gonna be perfect. Oh, so the goal is to keep the wheel running at a hundred percent, every spoke at a hundred percent for our entire lives, right? Like that's the lie that we're sold, is that that's what our goal should be. No, that's stupidity um and insanity. There's no possible way that's gonna happen. So the goal is to have every spoke as healthy as possible so that when one does start breaking down because it will happen, then some of the other ones can be picking up the slack and carry the load a little bit until that one comes back up again.
SPEAKER_02You just you kind of give yourself a little bit of gap to make the repair, right? You have a little buffer in between. If that spoke is gonna break right away and you're gonna break down on the side of the road, that's not helpful for anybody. But you don't have to break down fully, is the main point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. And that's what we want to keep from happening. And so it's, I think it's just the visual of that for our visual learners out there. Um, I think it's just really helpful for people to envision that that is essentially what we're trying to do. So you can ignore one spoke completely, which is I guarantee you we're gonna like have some people feeling convicted listening to this. You can ignore one spoke completely, like your financial wellness. And then that thing starts breaking down, and then it just becomes this thing that starts affecting all of the other parts of your wellness wheel. So, what we want to talk about today is, you know, obviously there's a ton of things that you can do when it comes to like your mental health and and all these things to, you know, keep your wellness wheel greased up and working as as much as possible. But we're gonna stay within our scope today and we're gonna talk about how amazing fitness is in this realm, how amazing working out is in this realm. Because there's not very many things that you can take and apply to every single spoke of the wellness wheel, and it affects every single spoke of the wellness wheel like fitness does and in a positive way. Um, obviously you could take it and make it into a negative thing in the wellness wheel. Um, but fitness as a blanket thing, you can apply it to every single one of these, and it has a positive outcome. And there again, there's just not many things that you can take and do that. So the power of it is so big. And again, that's why we want people to understand to stop looking at it just from the freaking physical part because fitness and working out and exercise and all the things, it is so unbelievably powerful to be able to go into all these different sections. Like, why would we just pigeonhole it into this one thing about, you know, getting my ass in a size six jeans? Like, that's just crazy. It's doing a huge disservice to it at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_02100%. And it's it's just realizing that everything lines up in a way that it doesn't have to be even, right? Because like you'll see a car driving down the road with one of those little replacement tires, right? But that that car is still moving, right? You just can't let the donut, right? Even if even if you've got half of your wheel going really well and you've got a donut somewhere, that's still gonna roll. You're still gonna make it to the repair shop to where then you can have a fully functional wheel again, right? You just can't let yourself fully break down. And the biggest thing with fitness is like you're saying, it's a trickle down, right? Whether it's the the discipline, the improvement in self-belief, the improvement in self-talk, the improvement in, well, it is hard, but I know if I set myself up for success, I can succeed. All of those things trickle down into your emotional health, your physical health, your spiritual, your financial. Because me personally, if if my finances are in shambles, guess what? My emotions are coming down when my emotions are low. It's harder to want to show up to the gym when I don't show up to the gym. My social life isn't well, because why why do I deserve to go out and do this and eat what I want to and drink and be merry when I just I'm not holding it together at home, right? So it's all about the maintenance, it's not about perfection, but it's about maintenance. That's how you keep a car rolling.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So, what we want to do is go through each of these little sections and just give you again, this probably sounds super simple, but there's somebody out there listening to this that needs this broken down super simple. And it it just sometimes, again, I think just brings clarity. So, as we're going through these sections, pointing out what may be obvious in some of the sections, but what may not be, also feel free as you're listening to this to like add the things to each section that you're like, oh, this is also what fitness does for me, or what it used to do for me if you're out of it, or what it potentially could do for you. So use your imagination on this.
SPEAKER_02Draw some lines, connect the dots where it makes sense for you.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So obviously, we'll start off with the physical beyond aesthetics, okay, you guys, is working out improves your energy, it reduces your disease risk, and it enhances longevity. Period. Go back and listen to almost any podcast that we have done where we talk about how freaking significant exercise is to your overall longevity and your quality of freaking life.
SPEAKER_02Like you can't look at somebody and tell their bone density. You can't look at somebody and tell their brain health, right? You can't look at somebody and tell their VO2 max, but that is only improved by putting in good physical effort. And then that's gonna trickle down to everything else. But it it does start a lot of the time with physical for some people because depression has a very hard time hitting a moving target. That's one of my favorite sayings is if you're out there moving, like even if you're on the couch and you're like, holy cow, there's no way, I have a very hard time being outside, walking in the sunshine, feeling the breeze, and feeling just as depressed as I did when I was sitting my ass down. Like depression has a very hard time catching you when you're moving.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I think, you know, on top of that too, like the mobility and you know, going into quality of life, mobility is getting a lot more attention now, as it should be. Because as we get older, I think again, as our as our world gets more, like our country especially, gets more sedentary. And everything is just made so easy for us now. Like every single thing that is a minor inconvenience has been adjusted so that it's like this doesn't have to be a minor inconvenience anymore. You don't like how you've got to sit low and then like get up out of the chair, no problem. We've got a chair that will raise up and will raise down so you don't ever have to use those muscles again, you know, type vibe. It's giving Wally, right? The movie. And so as we morph into that kind of um, you know, world and environment, we are needing more mobility because that's a huge quality of life thing. The older you get, I don't care. You're gonna be 20, you're gonna be in your teens, your 20s, your 30s, even, but you're gonna hit a stage where you're like, holy shit, I should have taken better care of my body, or I should be taking care of my body, because then you've got a lot of years left to live and be in a situation where you're not mobile, or you break a femur and then you're in assisted living home, or you know, you can't balance, so you can't do basic activity, activities of daily living. So the quality of life, the mobility, those things all go into the physical aspect. Um, and again, fitness helps with all of those things so that your overall physical health, there is there's nothing else in the physical thing, you know, that I think is more important than exercise, obviously. Absolutely. Um, the next one is emotional.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and exercise just straight up reduces stress, right? It releases endorphin, serotonin, dopamine, all the things that your brain requests from you to be happy, to get sleepy, to get hungry, to self-regulate. It is released through movement almost better than any other thing possible. And also when your emotional health is in check, that's gonna go right back into your physical health because when you're stressed out, your body doesn't respond as well to physical activity. If you're stressed out and you're tense, it's gonna feel worse to go into the gym. It's gonna feel like your movement is more restricted. There's science that implicitly says the more stress an athlete is under outside of the gym, the higher their likelihood of risk is for an injury inside the gym. So it's not even that being mentally unwell is just dangerous for your brain. Being mentally or emotionally unwell is dangerous for your back, your hips, your hamstrings. You can physically hurt yourself by being too emotionally unwell.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I literally we were literally just having this conversation the other day about, you know, I think a lot of people don't realize fatigue is a great way to get hurt, obviously. But stress is a huge, huge factor in that. And now they're even starting to, you know, we've been talking a lot about perimenopause and menopause in the gym lately because that's important to us and a lot of our clientele. But they're even starting to show, you know, some promising like moving down in areas and like doing some research that needs to be done on the higher your stress level is, the higher your cortisol level is, the higher, you know, the more dysregulated your nervous system is, the more likely your body is in fight or flight, right? And the more consistently your body is in fight or flight, the higher your cortisol is, the less likely your body is going to burn fat as an energy source. And so a lot of people struggle with that, especially women, especially as we get into, again, perimenopause and menopause. But that metabolic pathway essentially is just going to shut down because your body feels like it's stressed out biologically. It doesn't know the difference between famine, running from a freaking tyrannosaurus, rex, like whatever. It just knows it's stressed. And the way that it knows to keep you alive longer is to hold fat because fat is going to run your metabolics way longer than anything else. So your body is gonna be, you know, looking at what are my options for burning energy right now? And you're maxed out, stressed out, cortisol through the roof, fight or flight, you haven't slept, you're high on caffeine every single day, you're not eating enough, like whatever the situation is, your body's gonna be like, mm-mm, we're gonna burn, we're gonna pull some glycogen from these, you know, muscle reserves, and we're gonna burn uh muscle, and we're gonna leave the fat for later. And so just in case we need it. So stress levels coming down, you being able to exercise in a way that starts, you know, creating a response to you, um, like to your body, where you can bring cortisol levels down, regulate your nervous system, and all those things is also gonna help you with body recomposition at the end of the day. So I tell people it sounds really woo-woo, but like your visceral fat, she ain't moving until you feel safe.
SPEAKER_02She's like till you're moving.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and your body, and it's consistency over time. Like I tell people we're doing the in-body scans, the visceral fat is the hardest thing to move because it's the thing that has taken the most time to put on. Yeah. Um, but also your body is going to hold that fat as long as you are not, you know, in a good space. And again, it sounds really woo-woo, but the second people start like really paying attention to that and really regulating their nervous system, getting their parasympathetic system under control, doing some somatic stuff to bring that stress down, we start seeing some changes on visceral fat level, which is really cool.
SPEAKER_02A lot of it is as simple as like stress being down equals inflammation being down, and inflammation being down equals pain being down, and pain being down equals performance being up. Right. And then that's just that's a loop right there. Cause when performance is up, that improves everything else coming down. So it's just finding the way that you can do enough to just get back online to get that wheel back around to the front.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Um, okay, next one is social. So we're we happen to be really great at this, I will just say. Um, humble brag, but group workouts, gym communities obviously foster incredible connections. They reduce loneliness, they build support networks, they help with accountability, they help people continue to show up over time, especially if you have a habit of being a um starter and a quitter. Diet starts Monday, and then you quit and Homer Simpson into the bushes. Um, social health, we've said this a million times. I will say it a million more. Social health is the number one predictor of longevity at the end of the day and quality of life over time. And so um we take that really seriously. We actually train on those things at the gym. We consider ourselves an experienced brand because if we're running a space that people don't want to come into or they're sitting in their car, you know, it's like the joke all the time. People sit in their car in the parking lot and then they scroll their phones and then they just eventually leave and don't even go in the gym. If we're that kind of space, then what the hell are we doing? And so the social health thing, I think, um, is so, so important for gyms to hone into because we have a job to do um to create a space that people want to come into. And then people are able to do all these amazing things and keep their social health up um by joining a gym and having some. And then again, you create these skills and these this empowerment and this confidence in the gym, then you're more likely to go play pickleball, then you're more likely to go hiking with the crew, then you're more likely to meet on the greenway and go for a walk and all these things.
SPEAKER_02The one of the biggest things I've seen lately for a good friend of mine is like he's doing a lot with run club, right? And then that's just bringing all the first three right into it. Because you're being social by showing up to run club and meeting people and talking to people and socializing emotionally, you're not gonna be lonely, you're not just staying at home by yourself, you're doing something for yourself with others, which is just gonna emotionally bring you up, and then physically, you're there to move your body and to have a great time, and you're just ticking off all three at once. And like you're saying, if you can do run club, who says you don't meet somebody to then go play pickleball with, or you meet a guy to go shoot around a golf with, and then that's just all right back into it.
SPEAKER_01Yep, absolutely. We've got we've been playing pickleball. Um, like we're doing like a little community group, like every other Friday meeting up. And the first one we had, there was multiple ladies that did not want to come and they weren't sure about it, and they kind of like forced themselves to do it. And now they're the first ones that when we're talking about the next one, they're like, I'm there, I'm in, I can't wait. Um, and that is a big deal to me. Like at the end of the day, again, I know that that empowerment that they experienced from the gym first and foremost got them to be confident enough to even show up at pickleball in the first place. But then showing up at pickleball is gonna encourage them to show up somewhere else and then show up somewhere else and then show up somewhere else. And it's like truly, it is the trickle-down effect that's really incredible.
SPEAKER_02Showing up to pickleball and seeing how they can do more than they thought they could, or how much improvement they've made from pickleball session to pickleball session, if it's been two weeks or a month since they came out, then just reinforces that wow, I am doing the right things also in the gym because physically I'm having more fun and feeling less out of place doing these things that make me feel better emotionally and physically and all the things.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Absolutely. I happen to love social the most. If you know me, then that's my jam. Um, but that again is a really important one. And I think I'm gonna go out on a ledge to say this, but if I had to guess, that is a big issue for a lot of people in this day and age is the social aspect of wellness.
SPEAKER_02Only living through a loneliness epidemic, right? We'll move on.
SPEAKER_00I did not say male loneliness epidemic. Not that's why I'm gonna leave it. Everybody's lonely. We are gonna leave the self-inflicted epidemics alone. I kid, I kid. Okay. Occupational is the next one.
SPEAKER_01Um so fitness helps increase productivity, focus, resilience in your career. Um, this is when we talk to, when we go to talk to businesses about working with their staff, which is something that we love doing, and we are deep in the community doing that. That is the number one thing that we take to them is your staff is going to be so much happier. They are gonna be so much more productive, they're gonna have way less six days, sick days. This is one of those things that when you really invest, it pays dividends, it pays dividends a hundred percent, a hundred times over. And um, so with occupational, and again, I think too, you know, you and I talk about this a lot, is the empowerment that comes from it. Again, if you are feeling like a badass in the gym, that has no choice but to trickle down somewhere into other areas. And a lot of time it's going to be what you're doing, like for a job, um, working in your clubs, in your, you know, social groups and in anything else, but things that you might have more of like a job or a leadership role or whatever it is. Being a badass in the gym, showing up over time, increasing your confidence, your self-esteem, those types of things is a hundred percent going to be reflected in your job also.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And I think it it also just helps you improve in your coachability and also your just like self-analysis, right? Because the gym is constantly being, could I do a little more? I think I could do a little more today, right? I yeah, or hey, I need to scale it back today because I'm having a rough mental health day, right? The gym is both of those things. The gym is if I work too hard today, I might not show up for three days. So it's better to scale it back. And it's also, I've been doing this for a while. And if I want to move forward in life to make this progress that I want, to achieve that goal I say I want, I have to do a little more each day in this season when I feel up to it. And that's two good lessons to learn on the job and off the job. Yeah, and then there's a lot of stuff in the gym that you don't necessarily want to do all the time, right? Like, do I always feel like doing core at the end of a long workout? No. But what does core actually do for me? And is it worth the the trade-off, right? It's like I don't want to pay taxes. It's worth the trade-off and not sitting my ass in federal prison. So sometimes you got to do the stuff you don't want to do and realize how beneficial it is. It's just the way you go.
SPEAKER_01Once again, I'm gonna keep my mouth shut on that one, also. So, but yes, I 100% agree. I also think that um, you know, there's something to be said. Again, the health part of it is a big thing too. So, like less sick days and and those kind of things. But I think the other thing is too, if you have a stressful job and it's one of those things where you're in that job, like it's just your career. Like, for example, teaching right now in North Carolina is a little tough. Okay. There's a lot of stuff going on here, there's a lot of um, you know, budgets not getting passed and regulations that, you know, are kind of crazy, and um allocating money to billionaires instead of schools and teachers, you know, that kind of regular stuff is happening. And so that's a really high stress job. These teachers in some of these public schools, they have classrooms with 30 to 40 kids in them. Like, are we serious with this? So at the end of a day like that, these teachers they went to school for this. This is what they love, this is what they want to do. But there are seasons where it's really, really tough thing occupationally. So coming into the gym afterwards, and I'm gonna use boxing as an example, and going absolute ham on that bag, I think is also something that helps re-regulate the system. So it's like, okay, I'm having a really hard time dealing with the amount of stress that's in my job. So I can go to the gym after work or before work or whatever it is, get myself in a better headspace so that I can create more space, less stress, less cortisol, less fight or flight because you're balancing that out because you're in a season that just is gonna be stressful. That is what it is. Same thing with the relationships. You might be going through a season within a with a relationship, a family member, whatever, that's just gonna be hard. So you can't escape it. So figure out ways, you know, tools from your from your coping skills box that you can help bring the stress down, get a lot of that out, um, regulate your nervous system, get out of fight or flight, and then go back to fighting the good fight and doing whatever it is that you need to do. So I think there's a lot to be said for that also.
SPEAKER_02I always think about, you know, first responders and firefighters and people that are they're literally, they don't have a choice. They're putting their life or their well-being, their safety on the line for the passion of helping other people, right? So who's pouring back into them on the other side and saying, hey, I understand why you're angry, why you're upset, why you're depressed, you go through a lot at work, right? Because inevitably, if you're doing a work or a job that's about helping or saving or fixing, like you can't always do that, right? If you're a nonprofit leader, you can't help every family. If you're a firefighter, you can't save every cat, every child, every family that's stuck inside that burning house, right? So how do you decompress knowing you did your best, but you're still carrying something heavy after work? Yeah. So the gem is huge for that.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely imperative for sure. And again, I think if that can if that speaks to you, you're listening to this and you are somebody who's in a really stressful job. And again, that that can be anything. When you're an accountant and you're going through accounting season, that shit stressed. I was gonna say, yeah, you're not running into burning buildings, but it doesn't mean that your job isn't stressful. You know, I worked in mental health for decades and it was hard. I had to step out. It is a burnout field. If you are in the trenches doing that stuff day to day, the stuff that you see and the stuff that you experience, um, it will stay with you forever. It's very heavy, it's very hard. It's hard to compartmentalize that stuff. And a lot of times you get to the point where you just can't anymore. But exercise and fitness are is one of the top ways to help you move through that stuff. And this absolutely imperative to your mental health um in general. So if you're listening to this and you're not, you're in one of those fields, you're in a stressful um space in your occupational life, get to the gym or work out at home or whatever it takes. You've got to move your body. You got to move your ass for real. Um, the next one is spiritual. So this one's a little bit shorter. We won't get into like the nitty-gritty on this one because it's really different for everybody. But we're just looking at it more of like mindful movement, you know, yoga, meditation, somatic exercise, like what I was talking about before. Um, but bringing deeper meaning, purpose, or inner peace to your life and what you've got going on. Um, you know, depending on what side of the spectrum you are with spirituality, you're looking at, you know, again, taking care of the one body that you've been given that has been created, you know, perfectly. Um, and making sure that you are taking really good care of it and prioritizing yourself is really important. But I know a lot of people who have found a lot of strength in their spiritual process and their spiritual journey, um, their relationships in um that realm, the better, like the more you take care of yourself physically, it's just easier to connect those dots at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Cause when you're looking at it as a way of just becoming more in tune, more connected, and more appreciative of the body you've been giving, you can apply that kind of across the board, right? I'm just trying to be as appreciative as I can of this vessel I've been given by whatever force or power I believe gave it to me. And I'm absolutely that's all you really need to do, right? You just need to be as connected with yourself as possible to then go as deep as you can possibly go in whatever faith, belief, science situation that you're looking into.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%. 100%. Okay. Intellectual.
SPEAKER_02Ooh.
SPEAKER_01So exercise stimulates brain function, you guys, enhances creativity, supports learning, like does all the things. Again, it has a lot to do with all those, you know, different hormones that are being released. And um, you know, I have found lately that um like a side effect of perimenopause and menopause surprise is that if you've been a high functioning ADHDer your entire life, which is me, it kind of all comes crashing down on you in perimenopause and menopause stage. Cause and you're like, I feel like a different person, and that's just what's happening. Is the bandwidth is changing, things are adjusting, and you're like, oh, I can't actually be a high functioning person with this like I was before. So that's been really helpful for me is when I feel, because I feel like I'm a pretty smart human being on a daily basis. But if I get dysregulated by whatever it is, it's like all of a sudden, intellectually, I cannot function. I cannot, the brain fog is real. I cannot finish a sentence, I can't think of the words, I can't, I get like that um frozen, you know, deer in headlights. Yes, 100%. And so movement has always been a thing for me that just changes the game. If I'm at home struggling with that, then I go for a walk. If I'm at the gym struggling with that, sometimes I'll jump on the treadmill, sometimes I'll get in the infrared sonopod. Sometimes I'll walk out back for a second and just go out to that little field out back and walk around a little bit. Um, but that has been a huge thing for me to literally reset. It just changes the entire trajectory of everything that I'm dealing with at the moment.
SPEAKER_02That's very short term, and there's also the long-term benefits that it's showing, you know, improvements in working memory and, you know, lowered chances of dementia and Alzheimer's because you're protecting your brain, right? Your brain is going to feel safer and more capable in a body that is safe and capable. You'll see very, very quickly after people go through a physically a physical decline that a mental decline normally is not far after it. And that's because once you stop doing, your brain stops having to do. If your brain is no longer having to send signals to your legs to stand up, to your hands to, you know, pour your own glass or use your own utensils. What signals is your brain sending besides, um, I guess I'm not very needed anymore. You know, and that's absolutely what it kind of boils down to. The more that you move, the more essential and the more necessary you make your brain feel, the more it's gonna do for you and the longer it's gonna do for you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. And especially fighting, you know, toxins and things like that that we're dealing with in our everyday life too. You know, we talk a lot about um, you know, something as simple as having a glass of wine or two, ha going out and having a drink. It's those are things that are going to be essentially fighting against the longevity of your brain and um brain functioning. And so anything that can reduce that or help you come out on the other side of that is gonna be really imperative. And exercise, working out um anything that is movement based. Again, when we say exercise in this to you guys, it is anything that is movement based. That can be anything that you enjoy doing. It's hiking, it's bike riding, it's pickleballing, it's lifting. Obviously, lifting is like top of the charts for us because you've got to have the bone density, you've got to have the muscle mass in order to live a quality life, period. Um, but there's a lot of other movements that are really important and important for like joy and quality of life also. Um, the next one is financial. So long-term term health, you guys, saves costs over time. So again, the ROI on fitness for yourself. This isn't even talking to business owners anymore. Like your financial health is 100% going to thank you for exercising. There's some studies out there too that show, you know, connections between um just overall better financial decisions when you feel better about yourself physically. The less um, you know, online shopping you're gonna need to do, the less shitty food you're gonna be buying going through the drive-thru, the less um drinks you're gonna be buying at the bar, retail back to back to back. Yep. So those are things that again, it's just it's the little things that compound in a big way. And so um, again, the financial is a real spoke and is a real one that can be um helped by that for sure.
SPEAKER_02That's really all fitness is, right? Fitness is just showing up every single day, putting a penny, a dime, a quarter into the piggy bank, whatever you got on that day, right? It doesn't even matter if it's a penny, if it's a quarter. When you go back and check, you still put in every single day. Just like if you're saving, investing, it doesn't feel great every day to put in that small amount. How is this even gonna make a difference? But you go back in, you put a penny in that piggy bank for you know 10 years, that's still gonna compound to something, right? God forbid it's a dime, a quarter, a dollar. How hard you work dictates your outcome, but the consistency is gonna beat it every single time. If I put in a quarter every three months and you put in a dime every day, you're kicking my ass. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Hell yeah. Yeah. Well, and then when you need to take a withdrawal, yeah, it's gonna help so much. You know, this is something we used to talk about in mental health a lot too. It's a very similar analogy, but to kind of help, you know, like make it make sense is when you're in a relationship with somebody, any kind of relationship, it doesn't matter. You are depositing into that relationship every single time you interact in a quality way, you um make amends in a quality way, you make a memory together. Like all of those things are deposits. The withdrawals come when you're going through something tough. So it's like you've got to have like an argument or somebody says something they didn't mean. Um, and you know, you've got to take you that is like a withdrawal out of the account. You've got to make sure that there's enough deposits to cover that withdrawal. It's the same thing with health and fitness. I am dealing with that with, you know, my shoulder right now. If I didn't have the amount of deposits that I've had over time, I would be in a way worse place with this situation because my shoulder is absolutely trashed. But I have enough muscle memory, I have enough strength, I have enough, you know, things that I've been doing for years and years, years. Some of it helped cause this situation, obviously. But um, the strength training and mobility and stuff that I've been consistent with over my life has definitely helped me so that I am like, you know, my physical therapist was even like, damn, like you're doing way more than you probably should be able to. And I was like, well, I like to think that's because I've made a lot of deposits in this. So now when I'm having a withdrawal season, um, I'm not struggling as much. So same thing. God forbid, you break a leg, you break a bone, something changes, you get sick, you know, you come down with something that like you've got to take some time off. If you've made enough deposits in that area, um, you're gonna be able to, you know, kind of like ride that out a little bit better, at least have a better foundation that you can kind of stand on and pull yourself out on the other side.
SPEAKER_02Just like having savings, like you're saying.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. It's the exact same thing. Um, all right, environmental. So this one is like really thinking about how exercise changes how you function within an environment. So, like, think about your environment as um the places that you spend the most time. So that would be your home, who's around you in your home, your job, who's around you in your job, your social group, who's around you there, your church, your clubs, your friend groups, like whatever it is, your environments that you put yourself in, how fitness can affect those things in a very positive way, because you think about if you're in a really great number one gym or something like that, because that could be one of your environments too, how is fitness within that area feeding into you in a really positive way? How is being involved in fitness influencing, maybe changing the environments that you're hanging out with? So if you have a tendency to hang out in environments that add to the stress of your life, um, and that could be through the people that are in it. That could be through the things that you do with the people who are in it. Maybe it's eating a bunch of shitty food together when you're there, maybe it's drinking too much while you're there, maybe it's um having really negative social interactions with people while you're there, staying up too late, gaming for hours on end, like whatever the situation is. Um people who are more involved in fitness, like consistently, actively doing the things, are going to be less likely to be a part of environments that are bringing them down or harming them in some way.
SPEAKER_02I think it's just the more consistently you show up for yourself, the more you can tell how much the environment is affecting you. Right. Because if you're waking up at a similar time, going through a similar routine, your nutrition is normally at least up to a certain degree, you can, you then know, like, oh, I drank more this weekend, that's why I feel bad. Or I didn't sleep as well, that's why I feel bad. Or I hung out with this specific group of people that makes me feel this way about myself, and that's why I feel bad. Because I think the worst thing is just walking around and being like, I just feel bad. I just feel bad all the time. I just my I'm tired, my head hurts, this uh like, but yeah, if you're consistent, you can then pick it out and say, hey, I have not done anything differently. Yeah. What around me is making me feel worse, and how can I adjust? Oh, I drank six, you know, craft beers and feel like shit. The next time I go out because I still enjoy going out with my friends, I'll have two light beers, check in with myself and see how I'm feeling. Can I still enter this environment and not affect my own mental, physical, emotional health in a negative way?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And if, you know, to go one further on that example, if I make the decision the next time I go out to only have a beer because I know how shitty I felt and it threw me off for the entire week and I, you know, like spiraled or whatever the situation is, and I make that decision, then is the environment encouraging me to go off of that goal? So if I walk in and I say, this is all I'm doing, but then I leave again and I've had eight craft beers this time. What is it about that situation that is making me make poor decisions about it? And again, that's the environment. You can go home and have an environment that is so it just jacks with your nervous system the second you walk in the door. So you're gonna act different, you're gonna be different, you're gonna, you know, you're gonna shut down, you're gonna have stress going through the roof, you're gonna snap at your kids, you're gonna, whatever the situation is. That's an environmental situation. So what is going on there? So I think fitness is again a really beautiful thing. Is it gonna be like an end-all fix-all for, you know, any of these, especially the environment? Absolutely not. But I promise you it's gonna help with making some adjustments in those areas, you personally, or at least taking the stress, some extra stress out of some of those areas so that you can function better. Environmental is one of the hardest ones to change. Again, working in mental health for so many years, it was tough because we take kids out of an environment, we do all this amazing work, and then we put them right back in an environment. The environment didn't change. We're trying to change them, but you're working against, you know, like the avalanche that's coming down. You're working so hard to like hold it back. And so those are things, again, though, the more you exercise, the more you empower yourself, the more that you are making quality decisions and leaning into those things and working through things, I think it affects every one of these areas and it gives you the ability to kind of stand up to yourself, to other people, to certain environments and say, you know what? No, I want better for myself than this because I felt so great over here. Why would I go back to this situation?
SPEAKER_02A lot of it comes down to setting boundaries just in different ways, right? Emotionally, you're setting boundaries, physically, you're setting boundaries, financially, you're setting boundaries. Sometimes they're with yourself, sometimes they're with the environment, sometimes they're with the people around you. But a lot of life and a lot of fitness, why they intersect is it just comes down to setting boundaries that allow you to live the life that you want to live and to just be happy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Amen. And there's so little that we can control anymore for book's sake. Yeah. There's so little we can control. Which at the end of the day, it's not about controlling others, right? Like I, you know, that's like not the fruit of the spirit. It's about autonomy.
SPEAKER_02Okay, but it feels like that is also being ripped away.
SPEAKER_01It's really hard. So if you feel like you're losing control over things, fitness is one of those things that you can put some control back. And again, but we want you to do it in a really healthy way because the control situation can go, you know, left really fast when it comes to health and fitness and food and nutrition. But our goal with this podcast, again, is for you to kind of envision that wheel, envision like a self-assess right now. Where are you at in each of those areas as we kind of broke those down? If you're looking at them going, oh man, that like that's shit right now. Oh, like I haven't even opened my bank account because I'm too scared to even um look at that, or I haven't even, you know, socially gone out or wanted to, and that's getting worse, or whatever the situation is. We highly recommend the first place you look at, because you have control in this area, is adding fitness to your life and seeing where that changes. And again, the fitness can be. Anything. It is a spectrum of whatever the hell you want it to be. Go paddle boarding next weekend. Go kayaking. Go for a walk on the greenway, wherever you're at. Um, walk the block, take your dog, whatever the situation is, it can be so low-key, or go join a gym, throw some heavy weights around, empower yourself, learn, do something outside the box. We promise it'll make a huge, huge positive impact on your overall well-being. And damn it, you guys, in this economy, we need our well-being to be on point. I hope my mic got turned down, Tracy, because I just got really loud.
SPEAKER_02Pick your hard, pick your expensive. That's health, healthy food is expensive, and a gym membership can feel expensive. But with some of the bills I still get in the mail from surgeries and drugs that I've had to take in the past, it's not not nearly that expensive. No, 100%. That's your year of groceries. Not even.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh, preach. So we hope that was helpful for you guys. We're gonna wrap it up with that. Look at your overall wellness. It is so important. Again, in a world full of craziness that we are living in. Focus on what you can, what's right in front of you, what's gonna help you be where your feet are, enjoy every single second of every single day the most you possibly can, regardless of what the hell's going on around us. Um, we want you to be empowered. Listen to the rest of the episodes, give us any feedback, follow us, love us, message us, all the things. We love you guys. We appreciate you, and we will catch you on the next episode.
SPEAKER_02Later. Bye.