(Breather) Part 2 of my five-year health and fitness reflections covers some great exercise breakthroughs that I’ve implemented recently, as well as some lifestyle and mindset strategies that I’m placing great importance on these days.

I was talking with my former podcast guest and lifelong super athlete Dave Kobrine – the king of morning routines (listen to this show about his 2.5-hour daily regimen featuring waking with the sun for some easy cardio, a cold plunge and hot sauna, plus long weight training sessions). At the age of 59, Dave has a PhenoAge of 47, and together, we came up with some of our most beneficial highlights and best practices for aging gracefully, so let’s get to it!

Exercise

Some great overall trends for me in the past five years have been:

• Backing off from workouts that are too tough and cause soreness/extended recovery time
• Doing micro workouts on more active days. I have seen over time just how much a little here, a little there, every day, really adds up in the long run.
• Rethinking Jogging and overall minimizing endurance exercise. I don’t know how your brothers or Dietch can keep doing it but it doesn’t seem healthy to run marathons in one’s 50s. Certain genetic profiles may be more adapted. e.g., Non-dunkers…
• Variable resistance training using an X3 bar and stretch Cordz for less soreness and less joint load. See my Day in the Life video to see how I work with both. 
• Doing my Morning Routine every single day for the past 4 years. Since I have low consistency in life overall, this has made a life-changing difference. I feel fitter and more resilient overall, and when my knee heals, I expect to perform superhuman feats/set records.
• Cold plunge! As you probably already know, doing a cold plunge is a staple in my morning routine, and if you are interested in setting up your own chest freezer to do cold water therapy at home, check out this video where I explain the steps behind my setup.
• Fighting the hyper-connectivity battle: I love the positives that come with technology, but I also can’t ignore the many downsides, so down time and spending time away from screens is something we all must prioritize by using discipline. What really works for me is, instead of simply relying on willpower all the time, I make an effort to orchestrate opportunities where I have to get away from the computer/phone. It helps so much when you find ways to be disconnected from your phone, like doing exercise, going in the sauna or jacuzzi, napping, or taking a meditation break. 

Sleep

So incredibly dialed in there for years dating back to triathlon days getting 12 hours a night. However, in the back of my mind I have that wimp question – am I accustomed to luxurious sleep habits and sort of addicted to junk food?

Mindset

It is so important that we work on formulating a strong and empowering mindset that allows us to best deal with the things we all face daily, like anxiety, uncertainty, setbacks….things that are certainly heightened and exacerbated right now. But I love what Dave Rossi says about the pursuit of happiness: Lasting happiness is more about removing things that make you unhappy, and then you are left with happiness. This is powerful. When faced with fear and anxiety, respond by redirecting your thoughts to your values and your vision. Dr. Ron Sinha also explained on the show that FOMO has actual health consequences, so remember that your mindset literally plays a role in the state of your health.

Another interesting manifesting concept is that that which you fixate on has a tendency to play out. Yes, good and bad. Remember what Luke Storey says: “Just doing the act is huge.” When Luke was on the podcast, he emphasized the importance of being grateful now and then going forward from that perspective, because you simply cannot manifest without having gratitude for what you already have. And Dan Millman, author of my favorite book and recent podcast guest says, “Be happy now, without reason, or you never will be.”

TIMESTAMPS:

The mindset for so long has been a struggle and suffer to become a champion or even just to become fit. We have a tendency to overdo it. [02:28]

Rest and recovery are most important. [05:14]

Micro workouts make a fantastic contribution to your fitness. [08:21]

You get a better workout from short explosive effort than you do from a steady-state. [10:02]

You get a fine cardio workout even with stop and start activities. [14:11]

The X3 bar promotes the concept of variable resistance training. [17:10]

A recap of this show talks about backing off from workouts, emphasizing micro workouts, re-thinking cardo, and variable resistance training. [23:04]

The cold plunge is still very much recommended for health benefits both physically and psychologically. [23:51]

It is very important to fight the battle against hyper-connectivity. Don’t let technology rule our lives. [26:07]

Keeping an eye on your mindset is empowering as we struggle with today’s quarantine and other anxiety-producing situations. Be clear on what it is that you want to make you happy. [30:02]

Try making a vision board. [31:58]

LINKS:

• Brad’s shopping Page
• Breaking Muscle.com
• 8 Weeks Out
• Dr. Phil Maffetone
• Brad’s Morning Routine
• Mark’s Daily Apple
• Dr. Art De Vany with Ferris
• Run for your Life, But Not Too Far
• Body by Science
• Jaquish X Bar
• Brad’s Cold Plunge
• Brad’s podcast with Dr. John Jaquish
• Day in the Life of Brad Kearns
• Dr. Joe Dispenza

QUOTES:

• “To pursue lasting happiness, remove things that make you unhappy.”
• “You have to dial things back a bit, and even the great experts in fitness are now pounding this drum so well – we’re really experiencing a transformation in mindset, which for so long, has been “struggle and suffer” to become a champion, or even just to become fit.”

LISTEN:

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B.rad Podcast

Brad (1m 33s): Hey listeners, let’s get into part two of five-year reflections and highlights on diet fitness, lifestyle strategies that have worked have been interesting. I hope you enjoyed part one where I talked about some of the concessions that I’ve made to chronological aging, some of the things that are different about the body and about the routine, and then all about the dietary strategies of myself. And also my main man, Dave Kobrine, who is out there living the dream and at age 59, checking in with a biological age of 47. So I told you about my dietary strategies and listening to the recent insights from Robb Wolf and Dr. Brad (2m 16s): Tommy wood about just going and looking for more nutrient dense food to consume in the name of recovering and peak performance and maintaining muscle mass and all those important things to do as you’re aging. So now let’s get right into the exercise category cause I have so many exciting innovations and things that have changed in the last five years that I’m really locked into now and experiencing great benefit. And I think first and foremost, what we should talk about is backing off from workouts that are too tough and cause extended recovery time, recurring muscle soreness and fatigue in the aftermath. So the problem is when you’re out there, whether it’s pickup basketball game and you’re holding the court with your team. Brad (3m 2s): And so you went for two hours instead of one or whatever it is that you love to do and you get pumped up and excited to do it, that could mean running in the group. And the heart watch is beeping. Cause you’re exceeding your aerobic heart rate. And you know, every Tuesday night, these guys like to hammer it on the trails and you like to stay with them and you feel great and you high-five at the end or in my case, I’m going to the empty track and field stadium, but I’m so psyched. I’m so pumped up. It feels like I’m walking into an Olympic stadium representing the great nation of I’m still trying to pick a nation so I can compete in the Olympics. So I’ll let you know, who’s who’s on board. There might be Guam. I think they allow citizenship pretty quickly and you can get on their Olympic team might be a St Croix, United States, Virgin islands. Brad (3m 47s): We’ll see, but anyway, representing my great nation of choice and going and competing in the Olympics. That’s what I feel like when I’m in the empty high school stadium, hopping the fence, throwing my high jump standards over the fence and setting them up. And I get so pumped up and so excited that I have a tendency to overdo it because I love lighting up that competitive intensity so much, but looking longterm, respecting, the age group category that I’m in and also the proper way to train. You have to dial things back a little bit and the great experts in fitness are now pounding this drum. So well, we’ve really experiencing, I think a transformation in the mindset, which for so long has been struggle and suffer to become a champion or even just to become fit. Brad (4m 33s): And now you have guys like Dr. Craig Marker and his wonderful article Hit versus Hurt that you can find on breaking muscle.com. Joel Jamieson at eight, that’s the number eight,, weeks out.com training the world’s leading MMA fighters with a kinder, gentler approach. Dr. Phil Maffetone former podcast guest has been speaking this way about the incredible importance of protecting your health as you pursue extreme fitness goals for decades, and people are finally listening that you don’t have to kill yourself to get fit. And so I’m trying really hard to honor that and be more consistent with sort of a baseline workout. That’s not very strenuous. Brad (5m 14s): And then when it’s time to go hard, just dial it back a little bit. So the peaks and valleys are tightening up a little bit where I’m not sitting on the couch for three days after doing an incredible, crazy workout, because we know that recovery is accelerated when you get up and move more. That’s just an extreme example, but you know what I’m getting at. And then with my morning routine, the next thing on the list, what I have is this platform from which to launch all of my formal workouts from a higher baseline fitness level, more resilient against breakdown, burnout, illness, and injury, because I put in the work every single day, that’s not terribly strenuous, but still pretty impressive and still making a great contribution to my fitness. Brad (5m 57s): One thing I’ve from doing this morning routine four years straight now without a single break. And that’s really something new and special to me because I’m not a consistency type of person. One thing I noticed is when I wake up first thing in the morning and take those first 10 steps off the bed to the bathroom or whatever, I no longer have that creaking and cracking and stiffness and bent over and hunched over and then easing into the day and maybe having in the old day I had to jump my foot into the jacuzzi before I could even put weight on my foot because my plantar fasciitis was so bad. So now I kind of wake up first thing in the morning with a bounce in my step. I also attribute dietary improvement, getting rid of those inflammatory foods like the industrial seed oils with great discipline to make me less inflamed and more bouncy, stretchy, flexible person. Brad (6m 46s): And then of course hitting the deck and commencing this elaborate 35 minute ritual every single day in conjunction with dialing back those extreme workouts a little bit. It makes for greater enjoyment and also steady progress and fitness rather than having these setbacks and feeling broken down and having to recover and getting too sore. I remember after my sprint workouts in the old days, when I didn’t take much rest between sprints, I felt fine because I had a great endurance base and I could do it. And I was tough and I was focused. So I do my all-out sprint and then I’d recover for 15, 20, maybe 25 seconds. And then I’d hit another one. Cause I was a bad-ass and I was ready to toe the line. Brad (7m 28s): And then I do my aide and I’d go home. And then at 3:00 PM that day, or maybe the next morning at 10:45 AM, I would feel like crap because the workout was so strenuous and I pushed my body too hard with a series of maximum effort, outputs, explosive outputs without enough rest in between. So taking those leisurely, those luxurious rest intervals, as Dr. Marker calls them, has made the workout more fun, a higher quality, right? My sprinting is better or whatever effort I’m doing. If it’s a sequence of high jumps. Each one is of extremely high quality because I’m taking more time to rest in between. And I don’t break the body down as much afterward. Brad (8m 8s): So backing off from the crazy stuff, doing the extreme, the high intensity workouts correctly, where you’re focused on explosive output rather than trying to be some endurance hero and perform a high intensity workout. So those have been a great, a great pair there. And I think the other incredible innovation that I’m happy to say I’m on the ground floor of, and really trying to promote is the concept of micro workouts. So changing our mindsets, our collective mindsets, that a workout has to be this super formal thing where you block off some time on your calendar and make this huge production that lasts a long time and get you pretty darn tired and sweaty and exhausted. Brad (8m 50s): And who knows if it’s vaulting a personal trainer or you have to get in the car and drive over to the club and get the room at the precise time and complete the workout. And it’s fun. It’s great. But there is a lot of attrition and fallout in the fitness industry. That’s the worst kept secret of the fitness industry that, you know, people get gung-ho for a while, unless they’re that distinct population of long time, hardcore CrossFit people or spinning people or gym people or endurance running people. There’s a lot of people that come and go because the approach is too difficult, too strenuous. So this idea now that it micro workout can make a fantastic contribution to your overall fitness level. Brad (9m 32s): It can also help address your objective to move more frequently in general everyday life. And it can also get you fit in sort of a quote under the radar manner where you’re not taxing yourself to where you need extensive recovery and have those risk factors that come from muscle soreness, fatigue burning out from a workout that’s too difficult that you only find out later. If you can just haul off a set of deep squats and your cubicle a few times a day, or put a pull-up bar in your closet. And every time you walk in there to get a paperclip or hang your belt on loop, haul off a set of pull-ups and start integrating these micro workouts into your daily lifestyle. You will have an explosion in fitness. Brad (10m 14s): You will become more healthy because you’re more active. You’ll turbocharge fat burning because every time you get up from a position of stillness, even for as little as 15 minutes, you start to become worse at burning fat and less glucose tolerant for even brief periods of stillness. So every time you get up, you start kickstarting fat burning again, and it’s a wonderful way to make it through the day. And it’s not a lot to ask. That’s the big thing, because the, the barrier to entry to a fitness lifestyle seems to be, I just read a study from ACE on the wonderful Carol-fit stationary bike workout that I promote with my advertisements and really love because the workout protocol is eight minutes and 40 seconds long. Brad (10m 57s): And you do this great sprint workout where you do a maximum, maximum effort sprint of just 20 seconds, two times in the workout. The rest of it’s warm up and cool down. And it has science backed a great improvement in your fitness level in a very short time. And you get more benefit from a short workout that has some explosive effort than you do from a steady state workout that lasts for much longer, especially if it’s slightly too strenuous. And then you get into that burnout mode. That’s so common for people. So micro workouts is a great way to protect against those risks of a chronic approach to fitness and just, you know, build up over time. And I put those examples up where if I have a, a hex bar loaded with 200 pounds of weight and it’s on the side yard on the way to the trashcan and my rule is every time I throw the garbage away out of the kitchen garbage, I do a single set at least maybe sometimes more, but a single set of deadlifts, maybe six or eight lifting. Brad (11m 56s): What for me is a paltry weight for most people that are listening. If you’re into strength training 200 pounds is not a big deal, but guess what if I lift that thing six or seven times, and I do that several times a week, 1400 pounds. Each time I do this mini set that doesn’t tax me. It doesn’t mess up my workout the next day. It’s just something to do. When I throw the garbage away. In a year’s time, I’ve lifted hundreds of thousands of pounds and put my muscles under that load that helps preserve bone density, improve muscle mass, improve muscle strength, all that stuff. So micro workouts, really a great breakthrough in the fitness scene. And I think the other thing for me personally, with my exercise routine is just rethinking this obligation to engage in steady state cardio as an objective. Brad (12m 45s): And I wrote a whole article, a two part article on Mark’s daily apple.com. I believe the title was “Don’t jog. It’s too dangerous.” And that was a quote from Dr. Art De Vany talking about how the body does not respond as well to steady state activity as it does from intermittent, you know, fractal, explosive efforts followed by rest. And that’s what the human is adapted for these brief bursts of maximum output, whether it’s putting your body under resistance load or sprinting. And then in terms of the steady state stuff, we’re better off doing fat burning workouts that are extremely comfortable and, you know, promoting of all kinds of health benefits. Brad (13m 27s): So the difference between let’s say walking down to the post office and walking home, or going for a nice hike on the weekend, or doing things that are not strenuous, not taxing, fantastic health benefits all the way around, no downside. But then when we see the people in the gyms whose faces are panting and turning red as they’re climbing the stairs or trying to finish through their Peloton workout at home with the instructor, urging them on to do yet another sprint up another hill, and these workouts turn to stressful rather than energizing and rejuvenating because the heart rate is exceeding that maximum aerobic heart rate, that key cutoff, which corresponds to one 80 minus your age in beats per minute. Brad (14m 12s): And when you also consider that, the reason for doing this steady state stuff is to get a cardiovascular workout. Now there’s some great science from the leaders that are suggesting that you’re going to get a cardio workout, doing all manner of exercise, even stop and start stuff. So if you’re out there playing basketball and the whistle blows and you’re pacing around, and then you get into it again, and then the whistle blows again, or you’re doing a strength training set where you’re moving through the stations at the gym and having a lot of downtime, guess what? Your heart rate is still vastly elevated from a resting rate for the entire duration of your strength training session or your basketball workout. And so you’re still getting a great cardiovascular training effect with the heart, more of a, a Richter scale graph rather than a flat line. Brad (15m 1s): And so when you vary the load and my video jogging 2.0, I think the title of the video I’m taking you through my basic morning outing with my dog, which I’ve had as a centerpiece of my life for decades, just heading out the door again, being smart and jogging at a very slow pace. So I’m not risking those, those dangers that I just mentioned, but I thought, you know, I got, I got to put in my time every day and be a healthy guy. And so I finally had an epiphany, I got sick of it in 2020 and realized that, you know, I’m, I’m enjoying these drills and these, this goal of high jumping and sprinting so much that I sprinkled into my jogging workout. Some drills that are kind of difficult. Brad (15m 44s): Technique, drills, jumping drills, form drills, whatever they are. And maybe I’m going to do a set of drills like high knees or, or hamstring kicks, or what have you that lasts for about 20 seconds, a little bit strenuous. And so I have to walk it off. And so I’ll walk for a minute. Maybe I’ll walk for two minutes. If I do a series of jumps up and down the tree stump along the way or the bench, and, you know, do a lot of walking interspersed with basic jogging, as usual, interspersed with these drills and skills and balancing flexibility mobility, maybe a series of lunge walks, things that are putting my muscles under load. And so I’m getting a much more varied, interesting and challenging workout. I’m still getting a fantastic cardiovascular training effect, but I’m not risking the downsides of this steady state cardio that are so prominent now. Brad (16m 32s): And you can see from a great leaders like Dr. James O’Keefe in his Ted talk called a “Run for your Life, But Not Too Far. And at a Slow Pace”. You can also search you too, for a very brief take on the subject from Dr. Doug McGuff, author of Body by Science. And I think the title is there’s no such thing as cardio. And what he’s talking about there is how once they heart and lungs and muscles start working hard from whatever kind of workout your cardio objectives are getting covered. And then you’re doing all this other cool stuff. So transitioning out of the jogging mindset and having more varied and challenging workouts. Brad (17m 14s): Another thing in the exercise category that I’ve become fascinated by recently is this X three bar and Dr. John Jaquish promoting the concept of variable resistance training. And boy, it makes so much sense. It does really seem like a fitness innovation where you’re experiencing the maximum resistance with your implement, with your strength training at the point where you are capable of maximum force production. So you’re capable of maximum force production when your arms are extended, let’s say, or when your legs are almost extended, for example, lifting a deadlift bar off the ground or doing a bench press. Brad (17m 56s): So the toughest part of the bench press is getting the dang bar off your chest, right? When your arms are bent and you have no leverage. And then the easiest part is going from, you know, the last six inches of the move. Same with the deadlift. The toughest part of a dead lift is lifting the dang bar, the first six inches off the ground. And the easiest part is getting it from your thighs to your waist right now, the problem with traditional weights is that your workout is constrained by the amount of weight you can lift at the point of least force production, right? I can’t go working with 300 pounds of bench press because I can only lift 135 off my chest, even though I possibly could work with 300 pounds for that final six inches. Brad (18m 42s): Same with a deadlift. I could probably pull 300 pounds from my thighs to my waist, but I have to get it off the ground. So there’s no way I’m going to go beyond 200 pounds or something. Now, if you’re stretching elastic bands or tubing, like there’s a lot of this stuff out there. A lot of workout protocols are working with these bands. I also like using stretch cords, C O R D Z stretch cords I’ve been using those for years originally came out for the swimmers to do dry land training, and you can do a whole bunch of upper body work using those things. But again, your point of maximum resistance with a stretchy band is when you’re stretching the band to the maximum, right? Brad (19m 23s): So it’s the easiest at the start of the move. And then it gets harder and harder and harder as you stretch the band further and further away from your body. So if you’re thinking of this X three bar and the concept of doing a deadlift with that, you’re starting from, let’s say the ground, not really, but you’re, you’re close to the ground and you’re stretching this band as you stand up and it gets harder and harder and harder. And the most difficult part is the last part going from your thighs to your waist. So it’s the exact opposite of a heavy weight where the point where you’re getting the best workout, the best muscle stimulation is also where you can put out the most force. Brad (20m 3s): And so the concept here is that in a short time, you can get a really, really challenging workout beyond what you could imagine lifting heavy weights because of this point of maximum force production, where you’re able to really work hard. And then when you perform to almost do fatigue through whatever, how many reps I can do with a deadlift or a bench press using the X three bar, then you continue the effort through a minimum or a reduced range of motion. And so you’re not stretching the band all the way to the end anymore because you’re too tired, but you’re doing sort of a halfway chest press or a halfway deadlift. And what happens here and this magical time of, you know, whatever it takes 15 or 20 or 30 more seconds of movement is that your muscles become totally fatigued. Brad (20m 53s): Like you’ve never seen before working with the weights because you’ve put the weight down by then, because if you were trying to do one more bench press after you do your set of eight, the thing’s going to collapse on your chest, right? So you can go to the point that no man’s land where you’ve never been before and get a phenomenal workout in a very short time. I’m big on Dr. Jaquish and the X three bar. He’s been a podcast guest. He makes a lot of sense. He’s got a lot of good research behind him. But again, you can use this concept even with something like the stretch cords where I’ll do my wood chopper abdominals, you can see that workout. I do on the day in the life of Brad Kearns video, but you just go, go, go pull that stretch cord all the way out. Brad (21m 34s): And then when you get tired, start doing some mini reps where you’re not pulling the cord all the way to maximum, but your muscles are just hanging on for dear life. And when you’re done with these short sessions, Oh my gosh, the progress that you can make in a short time is really awesome. And I like I’m all in favor of anything that reduces the time commitment required and increases the results. And the other cool thing about working with stretch material is that you don’t overload the joints when you’re putting the bar down on the ground and you don’t have that eccentric contraction that promotes muscle soreness. So again, you’re getting sore from a weight workout due to the eccentric phase, which is the returning of the bar to the ground, like lifting the dead lift and then lowering that bar down to the ground. Brad (22m 22s): That’s when you start to, you know, bust up those muscle fibers and cause those micro tears that result in soreness. And I’m really frustrated, even though I’ve been trying in my adult life in the last 15 years, at least to make a good commitment to weight training. Oh my gosh, the post-exercise soreness is so frustrating because it interferes with the, you know, main priority workouts that I have. Let’s say the sprinting and jumping, if I go to the weight room and I’m limping the next day, that ain’t good. Okay. So those are the, the highlights of my exercise progressions and latest, greatest stuff over the last five years and, and kind of dialing in what I feel is like the best routine I’ve ever had today. Brad (23m 4s): And just a quick recap, cause we talked about so much during exercise backing off from those workouts. They’re too tough and cause muscle soreness, recurring soreness and extended recovery time. Emphasizing the micro workouts where you’re getting fit under the radar. Rethinking the whole concept of steady state cardio and jogging and doing workouts that are more varied and challenging, but still delivering an awesome cardiovascular training effect. And then this concept of variable resistance training, check it out@xthreebar.com learn more. And I think you’re going to be interested. Okay. I almost also talked in this realm about doing my morning, flexibility, mobility, core strengthening, leg strengthening routine, and establishing that baseline of consistency and also that emphasis on injury prevention, especially in the older age groups. Brad (23m 51s): Okay. Other things that have come into the mix that have been really great is the cold plunge. And you probably saw the video. Hopefully you can go check it out. Brad Kearns, chest freezer, cold plunge. So I have my simple chest freezer setup, which is the greatest 24 seven home therapy, affordable home therapy access, where you can always jump into a freezing cold tub of water, get that instant hormonal burst and all the health benefits, the anti-inflammatory, the brain boosting cognitive function, blood circulation, immune boosting benefits. And also what I always try to emphasize is I feel like there’s some amazing psychological benefits where the act of jumping into freezing cold water, not going to say I love it inherently, that it’s just so wonderful to jump in the water. Brad (24m 42s): I much prefer 104 degrees jacuzzi, but being able to discipline myself to do this as a daily ritual or most every day, whenever I can, whenever I’m in town and some days I frankly skip it because I’m working out too much or too busy, and it is a form of hormetic stress. So if I’m doing an intense workout and I’m stacking up things like the morning routine, I’m going to pass on the cold plunge, but I do it very frequently. And now I have the wonderful opportunity to enjoy Lake Tahoe for the many months of the year where the water temperature is let’s say under 60 degrees Fahrenheit, where it really counts as a cold plunge or a therapeutic cold exposure experience. Of course you can spend as long as you need to in water, that’s warmer and still get a cold exposure. Brad (25m 27s): Just like when you go outside and do something in a manner where you’re underdressed and you can look on my Instagram account and I’m doing my morning routine out there in the cold weather, freezing cold with just shorts on no, no shirt. And I’m doing that on purpose because I want to get a little bit of therapeutic cold exposure. And also I warm up while I’m doing the morning routine really easily. So it’s not something that I’m suffering through. So this exposure to cold has been a great centerpiece, especially the psychological benefits and the resilience that it builds against all other forms of stress and distraction that we face in everyday life. And that’s a big one. Speaking of that, and that’s the other thing on the bulleted list year is trying harder and harder to fight the battle against hyper-connectivity. Brad (26m 17s): I love technology. I love how the world’s progressed and how we can transfer information and connect like no time than ever before. But there’s so many downsides to it. And I really have a heavy heart when I see the life that my kids are living in comparison to the things I did with my downtime and free time and how we have constant access to stream screens, constant access to entertainment. So I think we’re obligated today to exercise extreme discipline and still be the boss over technology, rather than letting it rule our lives. We still haven’t had the breakthrough of artificial intelligence being smarter than humans. So we can still take control here, people. Brad (26m 57s): We can still call the shots. We can still use our thumb to push and hold that power off button on the side of the phone and turn that puppy down. But I I’m right there with everyone else fighting this battle. It’s tough. It’s challenging. And I feel like what works for me is to orchestrate opportunities that you’re obligated to be away from the screen rather than just relying on willpower all the time. And you know, reminding yourself that you’re better not to check your text message while you’re having a conversation with a friend or a loved one. So if you can find ways to be disconnected from your phone, boy, that’s going to really help put into place the, the discipline and also the enjoyment and the, the refreshing break that you can get when you’re not with it. Brad (27m 46s): So when I’m jumping in the cold tub, that ain’t no phone in my hand and I can’t even listen to a podcast. As I related on my phone link show about cold exposure is when I’m in that chest freezer, I am totally focused on my breath cycles and completing my sequence of 20 deep diaphragmatic breaths before I get out. And I made the mistake, I believe on two different occasions where, Oh, I was listening to a cool podcast, whatever, and I kept the, the tape running while I jumped into the tub. And I immediately got called much more quickly than usual because I was not totally focused. I wasn’t in that meditative state that you can get in when you’re just counting and focusing on your breaths. Brad (28m 28s): So same with going in the sauna, a member, taking the phone in there maybe once and when your phone’s operating in 180, 190, I can get that puppy up to 210. Sometimes if I run a double cycle, the phone doesn’t like it too much. And you get a nice little warning message on the screen saying, Hey, I’m going to stop now. Please take me out of the sauna. So any workout as well, I do listen to podcasts while I’m out there doing aerobic exercise in the morning, but you know, sometimes I’ll take the opportunity to just leave the phone behind and enjoy nature. But I’m just copping to the truth there. That it’s also a good time to catch up and all that. Brad (29m 7s): But I think, you know, if you can put things into place like a nap time or a rest time in the afternoon, if you don’t like sleeping, a lot of people give me pushback on that. Like, Oh, I can’t sleep in the afternoon. I can never. I try it doesn’t work well, you can still take a quote unquote nap time where you go and rest and relax and look at the, the birds in the park, or just lie in a bed and close your eyes and maybe do a sequence of a meditation tape or an app that you can use like NuCalm to get yourself in that relaxed state, even if you’re not falling asleep. But time away from the phone orchestrating time away from the bone is a huge deal. You can make family rules. I know a lot of families are the recommendation is to put this big mixing bowl on the kitchen table and the teenagers are obligated to go toss their phone in there when the clock strikes 9:30 or 10:00 PM. Brad (30m 0s): What a wonderful idea. Okay. So finishing up the reflections and the different categories. I also think that there’s been a lot of progress talking about mindset and how important that is to formulate an empowering mindset to deal with all the things that we face, especially in stressful modern life. I mean, right now with the quarantine, a lot of anxiety on uncertainty, a lot of setbacks, a lot of real life things that people are dealing with. And I think any of us are capable at any time of going there in our minds and starting to obsess and worry and kind of reflect on things that could go wrong or things that have happened to us already. Brad (30m 47s): And we’re still reeling and second guessing and wishing things could be different. I love the comment from Dave Rossi on this topic, where he says that you’re obligated to in pursuit of happiness. It’s not a pursuit where you’re trying to go and make yourself happy by going on the road coaster or filling up a bunch of shopping bags at the shopping mall. It’s more, more about lasting happiness is more about removing the things that make you unhappy. And then when the smoke clears, you’re left with your state of natural and blissful happiness. It’s really powerful concept to think about, instead of going out there and, you know, getting your feelings hurt and pursuit of happiness, just okay. Brad (31m 27s): Rid of the stuff that makes you unhappy. And I think largely a lot of those things are located in our minds and our ability to ruminate Dr. Ron Sinha on his show, talked about how rumination and FOMO. So the disease condition of FOMO and rumination are actual diseases with physical manifestations and in his patients in California’s Silicon Valley, the most affluent working population, probably on the planet with average income, two and a half times the national average across America. So these people are living the dream, having these great jobs, making a lot of money consuming, supposedly things that make them happy, but they suffer from widespread health conditions, trace back to this fear of missing out mindset, possibly because of all the affluence and all the excess that they live amongst. Brad (32m 19s): So if you can kind of dial that back and, you know, train your mind to return to, you know, thoughts that are positive, uplifting away from the ruminations, the anxiety and depression that comes from worrying about the future or lamenting about the past. That’s when you can just of take the pressure off and realize that happiness is within your grasp at all times. Another way thing Dave says is whenever you experience fear and anxiety, redirect your thoughts to your values and your vision. And it’s a kind of a calming idea for me that, you know, we can always go look at that big picture. Brad (32m 60s): Well, the reason I’m doing this job that I’m really frustrated and afraid about now is because that’s my passion and that’s my calling. And then you can kind of recalibrate really quickly. I think also related to this, that’s interesting to me anyway, is this concept of manifesting and all that stuff that is easily misunderstood or scoffed at when we dramatize it to the person manifesting the Ferrari or the, the wonder, the wonder man with the, the, the slightly slight beard growth and the Ferrari and the private jet. And that’s what you’re going to manifest and bring into your life. And I think that’s kind of the bastardization of the concept of that, what you think about and that what you focus on and dream about tends to be where you end up. Brad (33m 53s): And I think we can all reflect on things that have happened in our life that we’ve thought about and envisioned and visualize before and really crystallized what we wanted and then it comes true and it’s wonderful, but it didn’t happen without that visualization beforehand. And I love listening to these guys that have the deep and proper take on the concept. My interview with Luke Storey was great. He gave a wonderful description near the end of that podcast, where he said, look, it’s not about, you know, calling in all these different things, these material manifestations of, of wealth and consumption to make you happy. He goes, it doesn’t work that way. What you have to do is operate from a starting point of gratitude for wherever you are now. Brad (34m 38s): And then from that position you launch into where does my future look like? Where am I headed? What works best for me, what’s going to be the highest expression of my talents. What truly makes me happy and satisfied. And what’s the most important things in life. Connecting with family, friends, loved ones, eating healthy foods, progressing with my career. And you’re allowed to kind of, you know, call in these, these specific ideas of you’re going to increase your income. You’re going to move to a house on the beach and you’re going to surf for a couple hours every day before you go back to your wonderful career, that’s representing the highest expression of your talents. Brad (35m 18s): Joe Dispenza mind expert with a huge following and does his great retreats and writes books. He talks about making this thing called a mind movie where you’re putting together imagery, ideas, quotes, and you turn it into a little video with a little video production software. A lot of people also do this exercise with something called vision board. You’re cutting out magazine clippings piecing together quotes and sayings and visions of a vacation areas or whatever it is that you’re that you want to put on there. Fitness goals, things like that. And you put this vision board up on the wall and you look at it every day. And that’s something that helps you reprogram your brain away from fear and anxiety into the, your hopes and dreams. Brad (36m 4s): And I’m, I’m starting to pay more and more attention to this. I really appreciate the message that these guys have to say that they’re worth listening to. I did make a mind movie after thinking about it for a year. Cause my daughter inspired me. She was doing a vision board project, and boy, what she came up with and you look at the, the work she put into it and all the different clippings that she found in different affirmations. She wrote on there. I looked down and I said, you know what, just doing this, just finishing this project is an incredible and huge achievement. You know, with that goes without saying, even if everything on the list doesn’t happen for you exactly. It just putting it together and, you know, showing yourself what a meaningful and, and rich and rewarding life is all about is a wonderful experience. Brad (36m 52s): So I did the digital version and it lasted like it was probably like a minute and 20 second video or something, but I, and you’re supposed to watch it every single day and like over and over. Right. But it kinda got to be too much for me. So I put it into a fast motion thing. And now it’s like a 15 second video, but of course I’m familiar with all the imagery that passes by me so quickly. And there’s the group hiking in Hawaii and there’s the next vision, then there’s the next one. But I already know it and I internalize it and I can watch it over and over. Cause it’s only 15 seconds of my day, great stuff. So I thought I would put in that plug for the, the mindset and the visions and the positive attitude and believing in yourself and all that great stuff that comes with it. And that’s our package of five years of reflections and highlights part two. Brad (37m 35s): Again, to summarize everything part, one talked about some of those chronological aging concessions and recalibrations of your goals and your approach. We talked about Dave Kobrine doing his great routine and his diet and his self quantification, proving things that are working, doing the, the weights and the sprints and the early morning jog and the cold plunge and the sauna, a great inspiration for all of us. And then I went through also my dietary changes and strategies that were covered in the first show. And then this show started with all those exercise points. They backing off from the overly stressful workouts, integrating the micro workouts, rethinking cardio, getting into this variable resistance training concept, doing that morning routine every single day, getting into cold plunging, fighting that battle against hyper-connectivity and doing the mindset and the manifesting. Brad (38m 26s): So there you go. Thanks for listening to everybody. What do you think? Send some feedback we love to hear from you podcast@bradventures.com. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great day too.

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