Coach's Corner With Justin and Ethan
Welcome to "Coach's Corner with Justin and Ethan," where your health and fitness journey gets a simplified makeover! Join Justin and Ethan, two seasoned coaches with a combined 30 years of experience, as they navigate the labyrinth of health and fitness, unraveling myths from facts to guide you towards success.
In each episode, we dive headfirst into the vast world of well-being, shedding light on weight loss, dissecting diet fads, exploring diverse workout styles, and fine-tuning the often overlooked aspect of mindset. Our mission is to demystify the complexities surrounding health, making your journey not only effective but enjoyable.
Get ready for a lively and informative conversation that feels like a chat with your favorite fitness buddies. Justin and Ethan draw upon their extensive experience, sharing real-life stories from working with thousands of clients. No stone is left unturned as they break down what really works and what's just another fitness fad.
Whether you're a fitness enthusiast or a beginner taking the first steps toward a healthier lifestyle, "Coache's Corner" is your go-to source for practical insights, debunking myths, and embracing the joy of the journey. Tune in for a fun and engaging exploration of the truth behind health and fitness, and let Justin and Ethan be your trusted guides to a healthier, happier you!
Coach's Corner With Justin and Ethan
Transform Your Life with Simple, Consistent Habits
Ever wonder how tearing phone books and bending nails could transform your life? Join us as we kick off with Ethan's enthralling journey from a high school wrestler to an Old Time Strongman enthusiast. Witness his unwavering dedication to mastering extraordinary feats of strength and discover how these seemingly impossible tasks shaped his philosophy that with hard work and determination, nothing is unattainable. Ethan's story isn't just about physical strength; it's a testament to the transformative power of fitness and the immense satisfaction that comes with achieving your goals.
In our next segment, we delve into the psychological impact of fitness training, featuring one of our clients who battled feelings of failure. Learn how viewing exercise as a form of play and personal growth, rather than a rigid regimen, can bring joy and empowerment. We reflect on personal experiences with body image and societal expectations, emphasizing a holistic approach to well-being that merges mental and physical health. This chapter is a heartfelt discussion that underscores how fitness can enhance self-assurance and provide a sense of purpose.
Lastly, we explore the journey of a young man who threw himself into the world of fitness at 16, going from maxing out his first credit card for a personal training certification to working as a personal trainer in California. This chapter highlights the importance of balance and momentum in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Hear about the significance of integrating small, consistent habits into daily routines and how they can lead to substantial long-term improvements. From meal prepping to habit stacking, we share practical tips and personal anecdotes designed to inspire you to take that first step towards a healthier, more fulfilling life.
okay, welcome to episode 28 of coach's corner with justin ethan. I am coach justin and I am coach ethan, and today we have a special episode. Ethan is going to share his secret to getting massive arms guns for days, guns for days. Uh, in addition to that, we're just going to share his secret to getting massive arms Guns for days, guns for days. In addition to that, we're just going to talk about our personal journey with fitness and why we chose fitness and what fitness means to us as coaches and how it's helped our lives and what we've seen the impact we've seen it have in our clients' lives as well. So just sort of more of like a personal journey episode of just like why we did this and you know how it's helped us in our own lives.
Speaker 2:Why it's been of value right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Because it has.
Speaker 2:I guess, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I don't know why don't we start with you, ethan? So, like, what motivated you? Like what was that first moment, that spark where you like had like a holy shnikes kind of moment and you're like, and all of a sudden you just discovered or realized, like that you wanted to be in fitness.
Speaker 2:Oh geez. Well, I mean I think professionally it took a while. But you know I first started doing anything physical because all my friends were on the wrestling team and you know you want to be cool and so I joined my high school wrestling team and it was fun, I definitely enjoyed it, but it was much more of a social dynamic that kind of got me started doing like dips and pull-ups in my local park and that kind of thing and hanging out with a buddy that we would go and do that with and that was definitely enjoyable. So there's like a social component. But it was one of the points I wanted to make about fitness. But it was actually the discovery of Old Time Strongman. That was really the kind of first moment where I had blinders on towards like the human body and being strong and being fit, where I was just like, oh my God, that's so cool, I want that. I got to learn it, I got to figure it out.
Speaker 2:Actually our logo, that's right.
Speaker 1:So this was our gym logo. Uh, if you're just listening, basically Ethan's wearing our old tank top from when we owned the gym. That's right, and our logo was Andrew Saxon Arthur.
Speaker 2:Andrew Saxon.
Speaker 1:That's saxon arthur.
Speaker 2:Andrew saxon, that's right, yeah, andrew saxon, who was like old time strong man from like turn of the century, yep, um, doing like a two-hand anyhow a two-hand anyhow, yeah, which is an old move where you could you lift one weight in one arm overhead and then you'd pick a weight up from the floor and put that weight overhead anyhow and see exactly it was kind of like two hand anyhow. So interesting tie in there, yeah. But so you know it was kind of like two hand anyhow, so interesting tie in there, yeah.
Speaker 2:But so you know, it was one of those moments where they basically were performing these feats of strength and they were just so mind boggling to me, and so it was kind of things you might have heard of, like ripping a phone book in half and then even more, a little more specific but still relatable, as like ripping a deck of cards, but the one that really got me was they would.
Speaker 2:They would bend what's called a 60 penny nail, which is six inches long, by a quarter inch thick Right, and just the thought of that happening was like it was one of those moments where, like that was impossible in my mind, like that's just not something a human can do. And then learning that it could be done was kind of like this moment of like wait what Really? And so I set out on a journey to do it. And it was interesting because it was all about your lower arm or like grip strength, because, like the idea is, the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And so I went down this crazy obsession and rabbit hole into like training my grip and my hands, because you know you could have the strongest like shoulders in the world, but if you can't apply the force through your wrists and hands into the object, whether that be the phone book or the deck of cards, it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 2:So I went down this crazy rabbit hole, became completely obsessed with training my hands, and the coolest part was that I succeeded in all those things. I fundamentally was able to just like tear phone books in half with like multiple techniques I could quarter them. I was able to just like tear phone books in half with like multiple techniques I could quarter them. I was able to quarter a deck of cards at one point. Yeah, like it was serious. I was like I was all in on this grip training. Don't let me get his hands on you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and fundamentally, I was able to bend the 60 penny nails and, yes, you would like wrap it in leather to like protect your flesh from ripping. But fundamentally this was just purely done with your body and there was several different techniques and it was that moment where, like almost, you know you're young, you are, I guess I was probably like 18, 17, 18, maybe into 19. And this like idea like almost nothing is impossible. You just like it's not out of reach. This concept, this feat, that was just so mind bending.
Speaker 1:And how long did it take you to realize that that was a lie well once I realized that the. The nails were actually made of tinfoil you know, your mom put a fake tinfoil nails in your bag.
Speaker 2:I mean, look, it took a lot of work, a lot of training, like I said, like the blinders were on, but it was definitely that moment of like nothing is impossible, like I even actually bent a nail and sent it to my girlfriend at the time with a little tag that said nothing is impossible, like all inspirational Cause, like you know, she was at a different school than I was, and so it was like it was in that kind of like doe eyed moment of life where you like you have youth and you know it's something that I think fitness does.
Speaker 2:It was when our last episode we were kind of talking about our headlines and that was one of the motivators was that, like it kind of gives you this sense of accomplishment and I think when you kind of embark on a fitness journey, you can kind of realize that you can acquire skill sets, levels of fitness, appearances, self-esteem and internal emotions that you that didn't exist before. And the sense of accomplishment and achievement that can come from any type of fitness journey, whether it's learning how to play a sport or just getting stronger in the gym, is a really, really empowering one. And so I think that for me was it? It was just like so much fun. It was like fun to discover like that I could do that. You know, the training was hard but it was just so much fun. It was fun to discover that I could do that. The training was hard but it was fun training. I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2:It was almost like a form of play and that's kind of started. And it's really interesting because actually today I was training a client and we're doing some single arm overhead press. He's pressing the 30 for a set of eight and I'm like, go ahead, try the 35. He gets it for five reps, and try the 35. He gets it for like five reps. And he kind of has this mentality battle that he kind of like has to fight all the time with, with the training that, like he failed.
Speaker 2:You know that he, he was embarrassed and that he couldn't do it and therefore he let himself down. He let me down and he was a failure and that that moment was like shameful, versus it just kind of being like let me see what I can do right, instead of just picking up the 35 and trying it out and being like let me see what I got, oh cool, I did four or five reps. You know. It's like oh, I didn't do the eight like I was prescribed. I was a failure. And so we had this whole conversation about looking at exercise as like a form of play where it's not necessarily outcome-based but you're just there to participate and that sometimes, when you go to lift a weight or try something new, you're just kind of seeing if you could do it and the outcome isn't necessarily the point of it. The point of it is the process.
Speaker 2:And I was like have you ever lifted 35 pounds over your head for multiple reps?
Speaker 1:He's like no.
Speaker 2:I'm like well, there you go.
Speaker 1:You just carved it. You're mad because you couldn't get eight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly new experience for yourself and it's just how you choose to look at that moment, right? So it's that kind of same thing of like. I think fitness and physical activity, learning a sport, all these different things have this potential to like, look at it as joyous, like it could be fun, totally. You know, it can be a form of play and the sense of achievement and accomplishment and self-apparent empowerment that can come with it is really powerful you learn yourself.
Speaker 1:And if you can't, if you're fortunate enough to like tie in a hobby that you enjoy with getting fit, then yeah it. It doesn't feel like fitness, it just feels like play, it feels like it's you're just in the moment. But man, I mean, it just makes me. It just reminds me of just the conversation I've had with people who are on the other side of the fence and they're out of shape, they're not doing anything, they're typically lost in some way.
Speaker 1:I mean the correlation between fitness and sense of purpose is so abundantly clear, right when, like I might get some flack for this one, but like one thing I've been realizing in my adulthood now is that you can judge a book by its cover. Oftentimes things are exactly how they appear, right, and humans are amazing at covering it up and putting their facade on and and having their representative kind of like facades before them. But back there, we're all insecure about something we all have body dysmorphia to a degree. We all you know, given different dynamics and relationships, feel insecure. However, the the level that the level of security and a level of just like self-sharedness that you can create through fitness yeah, is so under appreciated, under realized when people haven't done it yet.
Speaker 1:Now, when we're on the other side of it, we can look back, especially because we work with people and we can compare and contrast. We go, man, I know what the other side looks like for you. Trust me, like if we got you down 40 pounds and like toned you up and like you know, you would be a different person inside and out. You'd look different. You'd look different, you'd present yourself differently, you'd carry yourself differently, 100% yeah, you'd approach social interactions differently. But when you're on the other side of it, you're kind of looking down this dark, scary tunnel and there's no light at the end of it. You're like I don't know man, and you're just riddled with. I went through the same thing and it just always makes you realize, like you don't know how much better your life can be if you get your fitness figured out.
Speaker 2:It affects everything. It really does, yeah. So what about you? What started you? Just in general, not even in terms of a professional career.
Speaker 1:I was born eight feet tall.
Speaker 2:Born A1 out the womb.
Speaker 1:No, I mean I've always been so tall and lanky and I still am. I mean, like I've put on 50 fucking pounds and I still well, if I'm high school, yeah, you know like since, so crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean like. I mean at some point 70 if I'm, depending on how much I am if I get up to like 215. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but uh, I mean it. Just, it just always has been this thing for me, where I didn't grow up fat and a lot of kids grew up fat and that was their motivation and that's valid. You know, those, those kind of stories are huge. I grew up just like everyone kind of making jokes about like, oh you're so lanky, ha ha ha, oh, you're such, a, such a beanpole.
Speaker 1:Right though, beanpole and yes and like they're saying it, you know they're saying it in the mean way yeah, but also like it's just more socially acceptable and being like oh, you're so fat yeah, it's just more socially acceptable to make that physical judgment on somebody, right? You don't think it's gonna hurt anybody, because generally speaking speaking, people think that being thin is desirable.
Speaker 1:So, people are like oh, lanky or beanpole is like a derogatory way of saying you're thin, but I'm still saying you're thin, so you can't get mad at me about it, right, right.
Speaker 2:It's like a workaround. I can make fun of you as much as I want.
Speaker 1:And you know like I went. Like I remember eighth grade I was pretty short and then all of a sudden by, like first year of high school I was like 6'1", 6'2", but I didn't realize I had grown that much yet. Like it all happened like over the course of like a summer. It's crazy that the summer, and so like I come back and like everyone's just like whoa scholar and I didn't realize I was like over six feet tall at that point.
Speaker 1:Everyone else is like 5'8", like five, eight, five, nine. You didn't notice, you were looking down on everybody.
Speaker 2:That's why my posture.
Speaker 1:I'm constantly concerned.
Speaker 1:My palm because I I just grew up like in this, like rounded shoulder, because you know I was right here with everybody and then all of a sudden the next school year, I'm like five or six inches taller than everybody and so, like I just naturally started slumping over and rounding my shoulders to connect yeah and um, and uh't realize anyway. So a gym teacher had called me out and he was like Scholar, grab the hoop. Oh, wow, and the gym. And I'm like no way, I can't do that. And he's like try it. So I just fucking jumped up and I like hung on the basketball hoop, which is everybody.
Speaker 1:That was the oh, like can you touch the rim? Um, and so that was kind of the first spark of like oh, there might be like some athleticism in me. You know, I just never had played, I didn't know there is like athleticism in me. Yeah, and then I remember the real moment, though that was like for me, the pinnacle of the reason why we have this podcast, reason why we've opened gyms, reason why I have my business online, the only reason why I do what I do is I can probably boil it down to this one moment and it was in 10th grade we had the presidential fitness test or whatever. Do you remember that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yes, it was like a hundred, like so many sit-ups, push-ups and a little sprint.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, a little run. So it was I. I ran the mile in 17 minutes. Couldn't do it, just couldn't fucking do it, and, like a lot of the guys that I kind of knew were on the soccer team and they're on a sports team and so that they were no problem, they ran it like six crushes a mile.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they didn't run all day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah I had never ran a mile in my life, yeah, and so it took me 17 minutes and I felt like I was gonna vomit. And then we come in and there's this line of guys and you can imagine like how terrifying this is for a 16 year old. Oh yeah, I'm eight deep in a line and there's a pull-up bar. We're all waiting for our turn to do as many pull-ups as we can for this fucking test and every everyone. It was like something out of a high school movie where, like every guy in front of me was like knocking out like 12, 15 fucking pull-ups.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's like, oh god I was like waiting for my lanky ass to get his turn and finally, like Scholar, you're up and the gym teacher could not have been more like square jaw military guy. Yeah, yeah yeah. Scholar, you're up, right yeah, with a fucking clipboard in his hand. You know, oh yeah, and I get up there and the entire men's gym class is watching me All going. Let's go.
Speaker 2:Woo, let's go, woo, let's go. Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's some camaraderie happening, because all the guys before me had just done like 10, 15 straight yeah, yeah, yeah. Couldn't do one Just dangled. Legs kicking dangling. And it was just the most mortifying experience of my young life. So at that moment I, like I literally went and got like a men's fitness magazine, as soon as you got out of school. Yes, I literally went right to like rite aid and like paid five dollars and I got this magazine.
Speaker 1:I am not living this life. And then, um and then went to like some sporting goods store and got like one of those like chintzy little benches with like the one inch, like the spin right, I was gonna say the spin clips. Those are such a pain, yeah such a pain in the ass, and so I'm like so they're like my men's health magazine, like what is a deadlift? What is that? Even I'm like trying to like piece it together.
Speaker 2:Like the pictures, I'm like okay right, it's just like the before and after.
Speaker 1:You're just like what's exactly happening here three photos that progress you through the movement you're like huh, it was all like learning a different language. Then I just chipped away at. It was on these online. This is probably 2001 so the internet. It was like online it was forums.
Speaker 2:It was forums.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was to say the grip training that I was into is all forum so I was like in these different forms of like guys looking to put on muscle and they're like you gotta eat. You gotta eat so much food. I'm just like eat, Because I was kind of like wait, I thought you had to like eat less to get fit you know, I had no idea.
Speaker 2:Get the tub of ice cream out right, just like whole milk, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I just that was kind of where it all started and then just like linked up with some 18 and then I'd have a couple buddies that would like meet me. They'd each meet me like once a week and they were like, you know, they just couldn't hang. But I remember for three years I got no results from I started lifting at 16 to 19 no change nothing same same kudos to you for sticking with it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I was getting stronger. I was gonna say, were you getting stronger? Like all of a sudden.
Speaker 1:Like you know, my time I was back squatting 65 pounds. I couldn't even walk down the stairs after the workout.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're like trying to do your knees buckling out right.
Speaker 1:You know, and all of a sudden I'm like back squatting like 135, you know at 16. Yeah. So you know, definitely like huge strength gains but just no muscle. And then I moved toia when I was eight, well before I moved to california when I was 18 years old. So at this point I had been basically obsessed with fitness from 16 to 18. Going to the gym. I got a gym membership.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I was lifting local ymca push pull legs three days a week, yep um, devouring all this content. And then, when I was 18, um, I got a visa credit card for, with a 500 limit on. I applied for a visa credit card. They gave it to me with a 500 limit on it, so the very first thing I did is I maxed it out. It was exactly 500 to buy an issa personal training certification.
Speaker 1:So, at 18 years old, maxed out my first credit card. Wasn't the last time I did that. Yeah, right, bought a personal training certification by 19. I was certified, moved to california but was still kind of gangly and and scrawny and I was just not there yet, still growing beans, still, yeah, and um, I got incredibly serious. I actually bought, I actually hired a fitness coach like a, specifically on the internet, at 19. So, basically, what. I do now.
Speaker 1:I was buying these guys, these programs at 19. And it was a few hundred bucks, something crazy. But you're in like a chat group with a bunch of other young guys and then, like the one main sort of guru guy, he sends like this workbook I still have it right there, it's called Gaining Mass he sends you a workbook and like a tracker and like this little spreadsheet where you just like your height and your weight and then you move it over and it tells you how many calories to eat. Yeah and so, and it was 4600 calories for me at that age, man, I was 19, 6 foot 3 and 150 pounds. Wow. So it was like, okay, you want to, you want to put on size, 4500 calories. And so at that point I was just like all right, yeah, I got 19. I'm like I literally have nothing else to do. So for six months I ate 4500 calories and I put on 50 pounds, so great and I you know everything went from, like you know, 135 pound deadlift to like a 300-pound deadlift.
Speaker 1:You know a fucking 125-pound bench to like 225 for reps. You know it was like crazy, just that many calories at that age in your life. And then, you know, that's when it really took off for me. It was just like okay, I feel like I've earned it. You know, like I feel like I came, I saw, I conquered, and then moved to LA to start working with people one-on-one, and the rest is history, man. But that was sort of the origin story of it all, of just really just being insecure, realizing how weak I was relative to other guys in my gym class who I thought we were all kind of the same. Yeah, you kind of look at them and everybody has parallels right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I was like oh, I could kick your ass, ass.
Speaker 1:And then you realize oh, this dude destroy me. I'm so out of shape, holy fuck right, I can't live like that. Yep, so that's. That's how it all began for me, and honestly, it's been so. I'll be 40 years old in october this. I was 18, so it's been like almost 22 years of working as a fitness pro of some degree, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's crazy, but I will say.
Speaker 1:I will say this I was serious about it, but not as informed as I wanted to be.
Speaker 1:And then you, coming to work at Continuum, made me realize I needed to level up my game, because you just knew so much more about muscle and training and nutrition and I was just like, oh fuck, I thought I knew, kind of like you know, it was like the next iteration of my yeah, journey right here's another guy who I thought we were equals and I'm like, I'm like now he's, he's, he knows way more than me about just you know corrective exercises like strength, like nutrition, so I was like fuck that so then, like I went another deep dive in my you know mid-20s of just like I am, I am mastering this stuff right, and then yeah, and so I. I do owe a debt of gratitude to you for motivating me to level up my game yep, yeah, oh, so awesome, it's so cool.
Speaker 2:You know the the little ricochets and pings. You know, yeah, and here we are, yeah, and here we are. Post-strength RX.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and yeah, you know, it's like one of those things where it's like you could feel intimidated and get an ego and get defensive and like protect yourself, or you'd be like you know what. Yeah, this dude knows more than me and I'm just going to learn, right, just going to learn, you know right, cause there's a, there's a way forward, right, yeah, yeah, let it be an opportunity to like improve and um, but yeah and so, yeah, so those are that's sort of our story and the beginning, how we've come to be.
Speaker 2:It's so funny. I think I'm just having all these memories of my grip training. I'd be sitting there in college with like chalky hands and like a four by four with an eye bolt in it and like weights hanging. I got like sledgehammers and levering. It's just so funny. People did kind of wonder what was going on.
Speaker 1:For sure then I'd shake their hand and they would know, yeah, it's so cool because it's so.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, the journey too, because it's. It's so funny to watch the think back on the layers of what you knew and what you didn't know. Because I was very much into like bodyweight training, calisthenics, kind of classic weight training. But I remember in school an Olympic lifting coach came and I kind of like I guess I had seen it on the Olympics but I kind of was still like over my head of the details of the sport. Like now I can teach up to a degree of specificity but I can teach it. You know, I'm not an Olympic lifting coach in the finest of detail, but I feel pretty confident. Get somebody up to proficiency, yeah, 100%, 100%. But it was just so far. I was like what is going on here and it's just so funny because I remember him being like you know, watch, somebody's going to bust their chin, somebody's going to bust their chin, and now I was that guy fucking busted and busted my chin doing a clean.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:It's just so funny to think back to that moment I'm like wow, that moment before I knew anything about Olympic lifting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, all those little milestone moments that exist in your own mind that no one else even knows about. Like there was that moment when I did my first back squat workout and we're in the gym at the high school and it was with a guy who trained a lot, you know. Know he was in like the strength conditioning class or the weightlifting class they used to offer it. One of those things that the biggest regret, I think, for me was like being too insecure in high school even though I was going to the gym already and like following like some basic ass program out of a magazine or whatever. Yeah, like I like at my high school there was a strength weightlifting class.
Speaker 2:You could have taken instead of gym. Yeah, I was in weightlifting instead of gym. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And like I could have just done that at 16 and like had like the weightlifting coach, like working with me and progressing and telling me, hey, go eat some more protein. Like it wouldn't hurt you to get a protein. I could have just skipped the line. Instead, I was like too insecure to do it and I went the roundabout way. You know it, like had to do it on my own instead of just getting the help. And that's the big takeaway.
Speaker 1:It's like now, as a coach, you know to kind of bring this full circle, to like now working with people. It's like man, just don't save the time. Like honestly, like a good coach, can you, can skip the line by five years? Yeah, you really can, because it's like otherwise just gonna. You already have a full-time job, you probably have a family, you have, you have other things going on to like expect yourself, to like acquire this information, distill it down, piece it together, program yourself correctly with nutrition and training and then the accountability to stay consistent. It's like you're, you're, you're underestimating how this is a profession, not to say you can't get there but you can just get there so faster by spending a few months.
Speaker 2:It's the most efficient road. It's the most efficient road.
Speaker 2:It's so funny like we all took gym weightlifting class to get out of regular gym because regular gym, they'd like make you play sports and it was you know, and like it was just, you don't always want to deal with that and we also went to school in the ghetto and so, like all the other people you were playing sports with, because gym class, like we were in the like quote, smart people tracks, you know, quote, whatever this is all a bunch of bullshit, but in gym class it was the whole everybody mixed, and so you'd be like playing basketball with these like ghetto motherfuckers and like they would just like. You know, like they were not, they would, they would. I remember playing basketballs one time and like every time, every opportunity they had, they would just like check me to the floor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I'm just like some, like dorky white dude, I mean like you know you're like everybody's just like hanging around and like yeah, you do some stuff but it's not like this regimented thing it's kind of interesting like more of like a social hour, like maybe like who can like hold a chin up the longest and like whatever, just go play around the gym. Yeah, pretty much yeah, so it's just so funny see with us.
Speaker 1:My high school was different because my high school was like it was like a very serious sports school basketball and football and it had like real competitive, like state level teams. I don't know if does high school have divisions like like a college like d1.
Speaker 1:I don't know, but there was whatever like the ranking for high school was. It was like up there I was not one of those guys for the record, and so the so because it was, there's so many athletes like real, like collegiate level, they're all gonna go to like u of m or michigan state to play like real ball. They all were in the weightlifting class because they didn't want to be out there playing lacrosse with a bunch of dorks like me, right and like you know, like like from home x, they wanted so they, they all were taking the weightlifting class because they were like, well, that's just when we lift weights?
Speaker 1:um, because that was like, because the a lot of the coaches for the sports team taught the weightlifting class and so it's like their way of getting their weight training in and then they would go and and do their their practice.
Speaker 2:So I'm like, well, I'm not going in there with all these guys you know I was like way too insecure for that another way around the room. So well, yeah, they're all like taking it serious 16 years old like a goatee and fucking 18 inch arms and I'm like, oh shit man.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'm not gonna go with weights with these guys you kidding me? Um, and so I took, took gym, just played, like you know, scrimmage, basketball and whatever. But you know, hindsight is 2020. I really wish I would have been in there. Who knows, uh, where we would be now, but uh, but anyways, but yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think the thing for me is like listen, nobody's fucking perfect. There's a, there's a spectrum of like complete, sterile perfection. You know, everything in your life is regimented to a gram and it's effective, you'll get results, but it's not sustainable. Even if you are able to be consistent, you're not very much fun, most likely, yeah, on the other end of that spectrum is complete chaos and entropy and, just like you like, it's just a hot mess. There's no structure, no routine, right, and that's no. You might be the life of the party, but you're a disaster, right, and you know you are deep down. Yeah, the answer is in the middle. It is maybe preferring slightly towards the more regimented side.
Speaker 1:But my hope with this episode is to, like, whatever we're, justin and Ethan Coach's Corner.
Speaker 1:We are coaches and we can absolutely like.
Speaker 1:We've each achieved high levels of fitness at certain points of our life, but it's undulating.
Speaker 1:It's not like you're always at peak shape, right, and you know, you go through phases where maybe you find yourself eating out more, drinking more alcohol or not sleeping well, and your body keeps score. And you can see, you're like I gotta kind of get my shit back together, and even as coaches we go through that. And so I think the lesson is not like you're either in or you're out, and it's a binary or you're fit or you're not, or you're like in this world you're not, but it's like okay, well, what's the first step? And like you know, being okay with not necessarily like achieving like insane levels of fitness, but like settling in that like. But the fact that you do lift weights and the fact that you are at some sort of conditioning with your cardio and that, like there's a physical preparedness baseline you have, that is to me the, the, what we're talking about, just feeling better, carrying yourself better, and often the consequence of that long term is you lose a lot of weight, you get stronger.
Speaker 2:But you know, yeah, it's just looking at it as a process. Orientation, not destination, is really it, because it goes back to the lifestyle and it should. A wise choice would just to be include some form of physical exercise and activity in your life. You know, just to understand that weaving that thread into the tapestry of it all is just going to improve everything.
Speaker 2:So much like you owe it to yourself, you owe it to your spouse, your partner, your kids yeah you know, and so just no matter what it is, it's just getting something in there and just understanding that you are weaving the tapestry with that thread in it and it's, it's going to be in there. It's not in there for a little. It's just part of the construction of how you live your life, in a way. Yep, definitely.
Speaker 1:And that routine and discipline translates to other things in your life too. Absolutely, if you can hold yourself accountable that, okay, I am training, I'm lifting weights, putting heavy weights in my hands for 30 minutes three days a week. You do that. After six months, yeah, you look a lot better. You're gonna. You're gonna probably look like somebody who lifts weights for 30 minutes three times a week, right, yeah, but really it's a microcosm that then translates to other things in your life. Okay, well, now maybe I can, you know, be the guy of the girl that goes and grocery shops and starts cooking my own food, and not every every day off I go and get my food for the week. Okay, great. One more little habit. And now I'm going to make sure that every morning, before I work, start work, I'm going to get outside for a little walk and obviously you start habit stacking.
Speaker 1:You know, but you can't, but every stack needs to have that first one yeah, it's like the foundation of a house or something, yeah, and sometimes it's low, like that lower barrier of entry of just giving yourself permission to just do a 10 or 15 minute workout or 30 minute workout, and that can be like the base and then all of a sudden, a year later, you're like fucking hitting calorie targets and you know your way around the local gym, you feel you're getting compliments and it's like all from that one little zero to one decision yeah so yeah big takeaway, there is just yeah, you know, I mean
Speaker 1:well, I forgot well, I think that's probably good. Yeah, what do you think?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean there's more I could talk about, but we got more episodes to come.
Speaker 1:That's the truth. Stay tuned for part 5 of our own personal journey. 100%, but I think that wraps it up for today, guys. That was episode 28. Almost in the 30s wow, 28. So.