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TRANSCRIPT:

Brad (00:00:00):
Welcome to the B.rad podcast, where we explore ways to pursue peak performance with passion throughout life without taking ourselves too seriously. I’m Brad Kearns, New York Times bestselling author, former number three, world ranked professional triathlete and Guinness World Record Masters athlete. I connect with experts in diet, fitness, and personal growth, and deliver short breather shows where you get simple actionable tips to improve your life right away. Let’s explore beyond the hype hacks, shortcuts, and sciencey. Talk to laugh, have fun and appreciate the journey. It’s time to B.rad.

Brad (00:00:38):
I did a 30 second effort on the Airdyne or a 20 second effort, and then your breathing kind of gets behind after you’re done and you’re like, yeah, so the Airdyne is legit and you’re getting a massive,

Brad (00:00:51):
Okay, here we go with another Q and A show. Please email, podcast@bradventures.com so we can field your wonderful questions. And today we have a mix of emails and then YouTube video comments that we are keeping track of. And these are kind of fun ’cause almost all of ’em are really short. I don’t know what’s up. You’re, you’re watching videos, you’re too lazy to write. Maybe you’re lying down in bed or something. But some of these short quips are interesting to address. And then about half of ’em I deleted because they weren’t full thoughts or questions. So if you’re gonna comment on my YouTube videos, bring your A game and write something thoughtful. And if it’s a question, we will answer it on the show. So I’ll do my best to have fun with some more lengthy email submissions, as well as some brief YouTube great questions that will lead to insights that will benefit everyone. So we’re gonna start off dating back many months.

Brad (00:01:53):
Thank you so much for waiting. Jim writes in and says, I followed Dr. Maffetone’s advice regarding endurance training and have enjoyed listening to your podcast recently, Rhonda Patrick and others have promoted high intensity interval training, citing beneficial evidence from studies to my understanding, they suggest that if you don’t have much time to train, slowing down to establish your aerobic base is not necessary. Can you address this topic? Frst of all, that might be your interpretation, and it might not be spot on from what the expert’s trying to convey. But I do share a strong objection with many of today’s thought leaders sharing insights on physical fitness and athletic training without really a background or experience in that realm as either participants or coaches or followers of the athletic scene. And what I’m referring to is where people are spouting the results of scientific studies to tout things like VO2 max training or high intensity interval training as a great catalyst for longevity.

Brad (00:03:02):
And usually when we hear about VO2max training in particular, they are mentioning workout protocols like doing four times, four minutes, uh, of, of maximum effort, uh, with, uh, four minute rest in between. So it’s four times four by four. And that will get you these tremendous fitness benefits. And you’ll get to check that tidy little box that you are also a, you’re doing VO2 max workouts. And then there’s all this touting of zone two cardiovascular exercise. And I greatly appreciate it’s rise to popularity because as we know, zone two is comfortably paced cardio, where you are going up to your fat max heart rate as the limit to zone two. And fat max heart rate represents the maximum amount of fat calories burned per minute. And when you exceed fat max heart rate, you of cour burn more calories as you go faster and elevate your heart rate, but you burn fewer fat calories in return for a big spike in glucose burning, so exceeding fat max and drifting into zone three.

Brad (00:04:11):
And of course, zone four and zone five, which represent, um, pretty high intensity like anaerobic threshold work at zone four and zone five would be sprinting. These are really highly stressful workouts where you wanna be very organized and focused and perhaps performing a set of intervals doing it occasionally and monitoring your efforts so that you don’t exhaust yourself. So the recommendation, excuse me, to engage in steady state cardio in zone two is worthwhile, but it’s not some magical zone where again, you’re checking this box and you’re, you know, making a little tidy scorecard. And I think what’s happened in my opinion is we’re not giving enough love or attention to zone one cardiovascular exercise, which is really comfortable for most people. This would be walking rather than jogging or very easily pedaling of the stationary or the outdoor bicycle, rather than going at a pace where you can barely talk and you see Peter Attia on video saying, I’m talking about zone two and I’m almost outta breath, but not quite.

Brad (00:05:28):
And so this is a great zone to train at. That’s wonderful advice because most people that are devoted fitness enthusiasts are exceeding that fat max heart rate and causing a high risk of breakdown, burnout, illness, and injury when they routinely exercise at a slightly too significantly too stressful of a pace. However, in this fascination with zone two, we mustn’t forget about the benefits of zone one. And as we detail tremendously in the book, Born to Walk, the evaluation of Eluid Kipchoge’s training program. He’s the greatest marathon runner of all time. The man who ran a 01:59 marathon, two time Olympic gold medalist, a legendary Kenyan runner, uh, first on the track and then into the marathon world. He shared his training log with all the world to evaluate, and the coaches and the exercise physiologists have had a field day breaking down the type of training that he does and the intensity levels.

Brad (00:06:23):
And it’s been determined that he performs 82 to 84% of his weekly mileage in zone one at a very, very comfortable pace. Well, below his capacity, he calls it 50% capacity. That’s not technically, it’s, it’s not 50% of the maximum heart rate or anything like that, but it’s his, uh, description of very comfortably paced running. And so when you think about 50% capacity, for almost all runners, that’s a brisk walk or a medium walk rather than a jog. pegging your heart rate at the zone two limit if you’re devoted or if you’re a cavalier, even exceeding zone two. So he does 82 to 84% of his mileage at a very comfortable pace. And I believe it was o only around 9% at zone two, and then 7% going up into zones three and four. But he rarely exceeds, um, 80% maximum heart rate, even when he is going hard being that he’s a marathon runner in training for a two hour event.

Brad (00:07:27):
So if you wanna honor the strategies proven by the greatest endurance athletes on the planet, they do the vast majority of their training in zone one, not zone two. Go on to YouTube or Google zone two, and you’ll find 117,000 articles. But what about zone one training? I’m gonna have to do it now and, and see what’s out there. So this is a strong plug for going well below the zone two maximum limit of Fat max heart rate and just enjoying nature and exercise and breathing and getting a workout with very, very minimal strain. This is the formula that has worked for the greatest endurance athletes in every sport for the last 60 years starting back in the 1960s with Arthur Lydiard training his runners in New Zealand, and they did high mileage and comfortably pace mileage and sand dune training to get stronger and stronger.

Brad (00:08:24):
And then they came down on the track. Peter Snell, the most notable example, where he shattered the world record in the 800 meters with a time of 01:44 in 1960 in the Rome Olympic Games. And that time would’ve made the Olympic final at every successive Olympic games going all the way up to 2024, where the guys are going, finally, going way faster now with the spikes. But the breakthrough that he achieved based on his aerobic foundation is something that kind of gets lost in the, the shuffle when we have fitness promoters telling you that you should go out and do this extremely exhausting and stressful VO2 max workout once a week or whatever. And high intensity interval training delivers phenomenal fitness benefits in a short time. And that zone two is the time when you take it easy. I’m gonna try to shuffle the deck there and say that these very strenuous VO2 max workouts are usually too stressful for a casual recreational enthusiast to adhere to.

Brad (00:09:24):
And if you are going to push yourself hard, you wanna make these workouts very short in duration and always supported by a foundation of extensive low level aerobic activity, emphasizing zone one, not zone two. Now, the, when Jim says, to my understanding that if you don’t have time to train, you don’t have to build your base, that’s absolutely patently wrong, false, and extremely destructive message to convey. So hopefully, Jim, you interpreted things a little bit off, but if someone actually said anything remotely close to that, uh, I’m gonna be very concerned and disturbed. And Rhonda Patrick, I’m talking to you. So if Jim’s writing this somehow he misinterpreted your message, or you gave him this direct impression that going slow is unnecessary, this is a formula for breakdown, burnout, illness, and injury. Because this, these cardiovascular training sessions at a higher intensity or medium to high intensity, as many people do commonly and spend a lot of training time at elevated heart rates where they’re very stressed or mild to very stressed, can’t really carry on a conversation, they’re breathing too hard.

Brad (00:10:43):
This is an indication that they’ve shifted over into anaerobic metabolism rather than predominantly aerobic metabolism. And it’s very stressful to the body and should only be done occasionally with the foundation of a aerobic base underneath. We also, uh, understand that when you’re trying to get competent at going faster, so if you want to throw down some VO2 max workouts in the interest of increasing your VO2 max, you need that aerobic foundation because the aerobic and the anaerobic muscle fibers are intertwined. So the aerobic system fuels and, uh, nurtures the performance of the anaerobic system and helps remove waste products and all that great stuff when your body’s working well. And if you are poorly conditioned aerobically, you have what Dr. Phil Maffetone calls aerobic deficiency or, and or anaerobic excess, you will be sort of a crash and burn type performer where maybe, so maybe you can even run a 5K at a fast pace.

Brad (00:11:45):
But overall, your conditioning deficiency, uh, will show up in a pattern of recurring injuries and exhaustion and burnout. So there’s an, an essential requirement to develop an aerobic base no matter what kind of athlete you are, even if you’re a power athlete, like a power lifter or a team sport athlete or a tennis player. Your workouts and the ability to perform for a sustained practice session is dependent upon a healthy, robust aerobic base. My former podcast guest, Chris Hinshaw, who’s noted for training a lot of CrossFit champions realized overall when he started in CrossFit, I believe 15 years ago or so, he realized that these extremely talented and powerful athletes nevertheless showed a widespread deficiency in aerobic conditioning, such that they couldn’t make it through a longer duration workout without becoming exhausted and thereby compromised their performance potential in a competition such as the CrossFit games, because they didn’t have the endurance base underneath all the impressive output of power where they’re doing putting on a weighted vest and running a mile six minutes, or doing a handstand, pushups, with the weighted vest on, and all these things that require a lot of power for a relatively shorter duration.

Brad (00:13:12):
So he started training his athletes with that aerobic foundation, supporting when they go into the gym and do the rope climbs and the box jumps and all that hard stuff. So every athlete needs an outstanding aerobic conditioning base. Also interesting from exercise physiology research, this is gonna blow your mind. The relative contribution of the energy systems over efforts of different durations is quite surprising. So, uh, I’m just gonna take you through really quickly the different energy systems. From zero to seven seconds, we use the pure ATP creatine phosphate system, is what it’s known as. And this is the energy stored inside the cell. So the human is capable of maximum explosive energy for only up to around seven seconds. Then the cellular energy is depleted and you have to start recruiting. The next pathway is called the lactic acid pathway, ATP lactate pathway.

Brad (00:14:17):
And that is for efforts from seven to around 30 seconds. So if you’re going all out for 30 seconds, like an Olympic sprinter, going in the 200 meters for 20 seconds or what have you, uh, you’re gonna transition from the pure ATP into the lactate pathway. And then from 30 seconds up to a couple minutes, you’re going to be relying on the anaerobic glucose metabolism. And then any all out effort lasting longer than a couple minutes is going to become predominantly aerobic, where you’re burning a mixture of glucose and fat, the longer you go, the greater percentage of fat. The point here of taking you through these energy systems is to realize that an all out effort of as short as a minute, 15 seconds. So let’s say a master’s athlete competing in the 400 meters or an elite athlete competing in 600 meters, a one minute 15 second effort is 50/50 for the aerobic to the anaerobic system.

Brad (00:15:16):
Most even even people with fitness knowledge, uh, would probably estimate that a one minute 15 sprint is mostly anaerobic, but in fact it’s 50/50. And then when you get a six-minute all-out effort, so let’s say a recreational runner trying to run a mile for time, a mile run is 79% aerobic system, which means you’re developing in that zone one or zone two training zone to get competent at running a mile run. It’s not an anaerobic effort, it’s a predominantly aerobic effort. Then we take it up to like a five kilometer race is somewhere around 98% aerobic system. That’s why you see the world’s great endurance runners who run the mile or the 1500 meters and 3 26 like Jakob Ingebrigsten up to 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters. They are long distance athlete running a lot of weekly mileage, predominantly at a slow pace in order to perform for even races as short as three and a half minutes.

Brad (00:16:19):
Michael Phelps, the great Olympic swimmer with 28 gold medals. He trained for five hours a day for a couple decades to, to bag all those medals. His races lasted from 51 seconds to or 47 seconds, 48 seconds, up to like four minutes, I believe was his longest. So he’s training for a maximum four minute event. A lot of events are around a minute, and he’s training five hours a day at a comfortable aerobic pace to build that massive, massive aerobic base. Whereby when he injects a little anaerobic performance when he’s going fast, such as in a one minute 15 event, which is 50/50, he has that base and he has that aerobic system to nurture the performance of the anaerobic system. So that’s a long-winded way of saying that the aerobic foundation is the essence of athletic competency in any kind of competition.

Brad (00:17:10):
Even a power lifter, right? Like my man, Mark Bell and his giant muscles competing in and, and dead lifting a thousand pounds. You’re gonna be practicing in the gym for an hour, hour and a half, two hours. The bodybuilder workouts are known to be super long where they’re doing mega sets and going back and doing more and more. So in order to perform and sustain energy throughout a two-hour session in the gym, this is an aerobic event where even when you’re sitting on the bench scrolling through your text messages during a high intensity strength training session, your heart rate is still elevated. It’s probably double resting heart rate, even when you’re sitting on the bench for two or three or four minutes. And then you’re going and hoisting weight and doing a set that takes perhaps a minute where of course that’s an anaerobic effort, and then you’re resting again.

Brad (00:17:58):
But all told from the time you leave your car and in the parking lot and walk into the gym, you are kicking your aerobic system into action to nurture those brief, explosive anaerobic efforts. Same with a basketball player who’s in the starting five. And so they’re, they’re doing the warmups before the game. They’re getting pumped up, their aerobic system is working, their heart rate’s elevated, not terribly elevated, but you know, you’re in the warmup line. You go do a layup, you get back in the warmup line, your heart’s beating certainly over a hundred beats a minute, and then the game starts, and then there’s a foul. So there’s a minute break and your heart rate gets a little break, and then it goes up, and then it goes down, and then it goes up. But it’s an aerobic, an overall aerobic experience interspersed with anaerobic activity.

Brad (00:18:41):
Same with watching Lionel Messi play a soccer game. Had the great privilege with my son to watch him in person in LA It was a once in a lifetime bucket list adventure. But you watch him walking quite a bit on the soccer field. He’s just walking around watching the action. He is not involved in the defense much ’cause he’s, you know, driving the scoring attack. But then, at the right time, with his tremendous knowledge, he’ll take off on a dead sprint and get the ball and perform his artistry and slam in a goal or an assist. And then, uh, interspersed with that amazing explosive performance is a lot of walking over the course of the 90 minute game. Alright, enough on that, huh? You got that point? Yes. The aerobic system is essential, and you train that at comfortable heart rates.

Brad (00:19:27):
Luke writes in, he says, Brad, I’ve been sprinting two to four times a month for about six months. I’ve already incorporating more rest than I thought I ever would, but, this would put me at an eight to 10 minute rest between sprints. When I’m doing three to four sprints. How often do you think I should be sprinting? And I want to be carefully incorporating this to avoid injury? So, it sounds like he’s taking quite extensive recovery in between the sprints, and the better you get at it, the more serious, um, you’re gonna need longer recovery periods in between true sprinting. My guest Lion Martinez on the show, the world record holder in the Masters 45 and over a hundred meters running a sensational 10.79 at the age of 45, he was the one who quoted that recommendation of resting one minute for every 10 meters sprinted. So even a simple 60 meter sprint, which is one of my favorite workouts, doing a set of three times, three times 60 meters nine total sprints of 60 meters.

Brad (00:20:27):
I’m not quite taking six minute rest between those. I don’t think I’m as strong and explosive, as powerful as, as lion is and as longer rest periods, but I hope to get there someday. But you need to take a lot of rest in order to deliver a truly explosive effort. And I think a lot of athletes get mixed up or confused about the difference between a true sprint session and a high intensity interval training session where you are training the body to perform on short rest periods and buffer lactic acid that’s still in the bloodstream when it’s time for your next effort. And by doing so, you improve your anaerobic threshold because lactic acid buffering is a key factor in boosting anaerobic threshold performance. But sprinting is sprinting, and that’s why I mentioned that first energy system. The ATP creatine phosphate system can only perform for around seven seconds of all out.

Brad (00:21:23):
And then you’re not truly sprinting if you go longer than that. As I recommend sprints between 10 and 20 seconds. I’m giving sort of the balance between a truly explosive all-out sprint and the beneficial training effects of sprinting for 10 seconds or 15 seconds, or 17 seconds or 20 seconds, especially low or no impact. So if you’re sprinting on a stationary bike, 20 seconds is appropriate because you’re gonna be ramping up your pedaling for a couple seconds. There’s no impact, so it’s easier to recover from. But when you’re out there sprinting on flat ground I favor sprinting only for around 10 seconds to truly develop that speed. And then taking those luxurious rest intervals, the term coined by Dr. Craig Marker, former podcast guest and also emphasized by Lion Martinez, that, you know, every 10 meters, you take a minute rest.

Brad (00:22:18):
That’s very luxurious. But Luke also asked how often do you think I should be sprinting? And if he wants to bring this in carefully and avoid injury, um, you know, once a week for a high intensity, high impact sprinting session is plenty. And as I commonly referenced, my template, four to eight sprints of 10 to 20 seconds is a great workout template for almost everyone except people who have specific athletic goals, performance goals like I do for 400 meters master’s competition. So my workouts are gonna look differently than that, but that is a great starting point for just about every athlete to get competent sprinting without risking a workout that’s too strenuous. If you’re inclined to wanna sprint more than once a week, you can add those low impact or no impact options. Uh, like on the stationary bicycle and my former podcast guest and Olympic heptathlete, Chari Hawkins describes how two times a week she jumps on the stationary bike, saving her legs from further impact trauma ’cause she has to practice for long jump and javelin throw and high jump and hurdles.

Brad (00:23:26):
But she’s getting that cardiovascular system ramped up with a challenging sprint workout without having to worry about the effect on the musculoskeletal system. So if you wanna sprint more, mix and match the high impact sprinting, uh, with low or no impact sprinting.

Brad (00:23:43):
Here comes another one from Zanado, a comment on YouTube video. I’m 54, had a bad accident about 25 years ago, so I have metal in my body, haven’t been able to run in all that time. That’s, this has caused me to battle weight gain. I discovered the other day that I can sprint all out for 15 seconds on the Airdyne bike, cranking both legs and arms. Will I get similar benefits doing this as I would with running? I really am most concerned about, brain health and getting the brain derived neurotropic factor that is released when you do high intensity exercise.

Brad (00:24:19):
And the answer is, of course, you’re gonna get wonderful benefits from working that Airdyne. And I would say that is one of the hardest things, if not the hardest exercise activity I’ve ever experienced, because you are cranking both your legs and your arms. You know, that bike I’m referring to, it’s called the Airdyne because it has a big flywheel that generates a lot of noise and, you know, pushing the air as the resistance, the flywheel is like a fan. And the harder you pedal, uh, the more the louder the fan gets and the harder the resistance gets. Uh, but you also have these handles that move in concert with the pedals so that you can crank with both of your arms and improve your pedaling power and improve your wattage output. So typically these airdyne bikes, I think that’s a brand name but I think everyone uses that term to, to describe them.

Brad (00:25:11):
They’ll have a wattage meter on there, and you can generate a massive amount of watts, much more so than pedaling a bicycle where you’re only using your legs. However, because you are asking your major muscle groups of the upper body and lower body to perform at the same time, this effort is absolutely brutal. I remember doing these at my physical therapy, PT Revolution in Lake Tahoe at 6,200 feet elevation, and not realizing how difficult it was and getting a little behind myself with that, uh, high altitude effort. And I was sucking air so bad, I almost panicked. I was like going over to the door and putting my mouth right on this open keyhole from this metal door to get outside cold air because I was so panicked in the indoor room. ’cause I, you know, I did a 30 second effort on the airdyne or a 20 second effort, and then your breathing kind of gets behind after you’re done and you’re like, yeah, so the Airdyne is legit and you’re getting a massive arm and leg all out sprint effort.

Brad (00:26:12):
So take a lot of rest in between those. And of course, since your body has those, those challenges with running, forget about it and just get really competent on the Airdyne. You’ll enjoy that rain derived neurotropic factor. Uh, the Harvard, Dr. Rady says this is, quote, miracle grow for the brain. And so the research is compelling that when you engage in high intensity, a athletic training, you get a renewal regenerating effect for the brain neurons and even build new circuitry and new neuronal function thanks to the stimulus of exercise. So, mind and body work together, sprinting is good for the body and for the brain.

Brad (00:26:54):
Here comes a note from Michael. From what I’m seeing in research, a hundred yards, sprints are pretty long. The 40 is quite common. And even sprints of 10 to 30 yards are known to be helpful and agreed. Agreed. I heard that resting should be one to two minutes per 10 meters. Now, I know one minute per 10 meters is extremely lengthy in most people’s perspective, unless they’re elite performing athletes. And so I don’t think you need to worry about taking more than one minute per 10 meters. In other words, if you’re sprinting 40 meters, you’re gonna take a four minute break between ensuing efforts. That is a true explosive sprint workout. Michael continues. I know that we don’t wanna feel exhausted when we’re done with sprints. That’s what’s so great about taking the extensive rest periods as well as doing just a handful of sprints. If you’re out there and getting coached or doing a group workout, uh, where you’re doing 20 sprints, quote unquote of whatever duration, 10 seconds or 30 seconds or whatever.

Brad (00:28:03):
That’s too many to the extent that it’s not really a sprint. Your body can’t generate maximum power output over and over and over again up to 20. So, look, do it right when you wanna sprint, you keep it between 10 and 20 seconds. And yes, indeed, as the rest of his question asks, you know, is it okay to go that short where you’re even sprinting for 10 meters or 20 meters or 30 meters? And this only takes, you know, a few seconds, but it delivers fantastic overall fitness benefits. And there’s even great research cited by Ben Greenfield on one of his shows dedicated to testosterone that sprints as short as six seconds, generate a significant spike in testosterone and human growth hormone. So the stimulus of those brief duration sprints, where, when I mentioned six seconds, that means you’re relying exclusively upon ATP creatine, phosphate cellular energy.

Brad (00:29:06):
That is a wonderful fitness stimulus. A lot of research I love the article that Charles Pollan wrote about sprinting years ago. My friend Cynthia and former podcast guests and masters track and field coach, a mentor of Charles talks about him a lot in her show. He says that sprinting delivers a return on investment and fitness adaptations that are vastly superior to workouts lasting six or 10 times as long. So you can go hike for an hour, and that’s a wonderful fitness and health boosting activity. But if you do a 10 minute sprint properly, you’re gonna have more fitness benefits and more adaptations from that stimulus than things that are much longer.

Brad (00:29:49):
So now we go on to Donna from Kona. Hey, I know another Donna from Kona that’s interesting. She says, Brad, eat breakfast or don’t eat breakfast, which is it. And right now you’re putting me, you’re pinning me to the corner here. Guess what I’m gonna say? I’m gonna say eat breakfast. So we’ve had a lot of talk and fascination with the health practices of fasting, or it’s often called intermittent fasting. I hate that ’cause it’s an oxymoron. I mean, fasting is fasting, right? You’re either eating or you’re fasting. So what’s intermittent fasting? I just call it fasting now. So if you’re familiar with the term intermittent fasting, I hearby command you to change it to just fasting. So we’ve heard about fasting time restricted feeding, um, practices like that, that deliver vaunted health benefits and very highly, uh, validated. When your body’s in a fasted state, it works with maximum efficiency. So cell repair, anti-inflammatory processes, antioxidant boosts, all those things kick into gear from fasting. But as detailed really nicely by Jay Feldman on his four shows on the B.rad Podcast, fasting is a, fast fasting prompts, stress mechanisms in the body.

Brad (00:31:11):
So it is, it should be acknowledged as a stressor. And the benefits that it prompts, like the antioxidant cell repair, autophagy, anti-inflammatory, all those processes are prompted by the stress of fasting. Now we have to get out our scoreboard and keep track of all the stressors that we experience in general everyday modern life, and take care not to overload the stress side of the scale by adding fasting to an already hectic high stress life, particularly when you’re trying to perform and recover from challenging workouts. So I have changed my tune over the years to where I used to kind of routinely fast or not eat much food in the morning hours and then, uh, start my, uh, meal and, you know, really nutritional focus, uh, at midday. And now I go out of my way to start every day with a giant B.rad Protein Superfuel smoothie, where I have the wonderful product that we have had such a great response to.

Brad (00:32:18):
So if you’re interested in getting the very best protein on the planet, please visit us on Amazon, or you can visit us at bradnutrition.com and order direct. We have some perks like buy three get one free, but the B.rad whey protein Super Fuel with creatine boost is the best product on the market and the cleanest product on the market. And I say that with great confidence and appreciation for all the people involved that help us bring this to market. So, u a protein smoothie, really, really important first thing in the morning as widely touted as one of the world’s leading protein experts, Dr. Don Lehman explains, we need protein first thing in the morning because we’re waking up from an overnight fast. So we’re in a potentially catabolic state when we wake up and start putting energy demands on the body. So a great time to ingest protein to make sure you don’t go into excessively catabolic state, with at the extreme breaking down lean muscle mass into glucose for energy.

Brad (00:33:15):
If you haven’t eaten enough and you need more energy, get that protein going first thing in the morning. And another great time to take protein is the last hours of the day preparing for bed, because you want to set your body up for cellular repair and rebuilding and rejuvenation overnight by putting those amino acids in the protein to work, repairing muscle, repairing organs and all that stuff. So, I’m gonna say straight up, go ahead and eat breakfast as a healthy, active, energetic human. And the rationale for fasting, I believe is still very strong if you are a person suffering from the global norm of energy toxicity. And that is burning too few calories and consuming too many. So if you make an effort to restrict something in some way, it could be restricting the time that you’re exposed to food and meals, or it could be restricting a macronutrient like the ketogenic diet where you’re restricting carbohydrates or a low fat diet where you’re, you know, going out of your way to eat lower fat foods.

Brad (00:34:20):
These are going to potentially deliver benefits because it’s getting away from that unfettered access to indulgent foods that characterizes modern life and comes to our great health detriment. Overeating is a real problem for the human. However, if you’re trying to lead a healthy, active, energetic, athletic lifestyle and perform and recover from workouts, that’s where breakfast becomes an essential, and very beneficial part of your daily regimen and helps reduce the overall stress impact of your busy day as well as your workout performance and recovery. Donna goes on to say my breakfast that I eat is four, three eggs, four pieces of bacon, and making sure I get enough protein in. And then, I go a few hours, uh, have a workout, eat my last meal in the early evening. So that’s a great pattern that seems to work for her.

Brad (00:35:17):
When you mention three eggs and four pieces of bacon, I would probably, uh, vote to mix that up a little and perhaps have five eggs and one piece of bacon. ’cause most bacon comes from mass production pork. And we know from expert research that the today’s, uh, chicken and today’s pig live in pretty dismal conditions where there’s a lot of animal cruelty as well as impact or adverse impact on the environment. They have bad diets. They deliver an end product that has a inferior fatty acid profile to an animal race and a healthy manner. So you’re not finding a lot of heritage breed pork or pasture raised chicken out there in the main marketplace. And when you look at the strips of bacon, at the store, you’re seeing a lot of fat and not much lean tissue there.

Brad (00:36:09):
So bacon would not be one of the nutritious meats that you really need to emphasize in your diet. Of course, it tastes really well. But basically what you’re getting, uh, is some saturated fat an inferior, ratio of the omega six, uh, a high higher ratio of the omega six in that the polyon saturated omega six, which are known to be, um, health destructive or not favorable compared to the saturated fat, which has health benefits and no health objections and monounsaturated fat like you get from coconut, avocado, olive oil. Those are the ones to emphasize that have nutritional benefits. And we really don’t need a lot of polyunsaturated omega six fat from the pig these days. Now, if you love bacon, go to a farmer’s market and source a really sustainably raised animal that produces a superior end product.

Brad (00:37:06):
Or when we’re talking about meat and the fatty acid profile and the health and nutritional benefits emphasizing red meat from the cow and also other ruminant red meat animals, um, uh, lamb buffalo bison, that kind of that kind of thing, that’s gonna be the highest score for, uh, health and also sustainability and environmental impact. So chicken and pork, very, very low score in comparison to cattle, from the cow and the other red meat animals. And that’s kind of flipping the script from what you hear a lot of people flippantly say, oh yeah, I’m trying to eat healthier. So I cut out red meat and I only eat chicken and fish or chicken and pork, whatever, that is kind of like backwards. And so those who cut out the inferior meat choices like chicken and pork, and a lot of the fish are objectionable these days too because of polluted waters and over farming. The cow is most protected from the adverse effects of factory farming and feedlot diet because the cow can still produce a healthy end product even when it has that feed in the diet in the last parts of life.

Brad (00:38:24):
And interestingly, did you know that cows live 80% of their life grass-fed grazing on the open range and only, uh, the last 20% of their life are coming into the feed a lot, and they really fatten them up with feed, which, uh, a lot of times has the objectionable agents and fatty acid profile in there, but the cow handles that better than the chicken or the pig. So even a conventionally raised cow had a pretty darn good life outside for most of the time. And then at the end, we gave them some food to fatten up and maximize profit. And of course, if you can find the truly 100% grass fed cattle, then you’re eating at the very highest quality and the most sustainable and best sourced red meat. So red meat is number one, and chicken and pork are a distant second, especially when you consider if you have morality and, and concerns about your impact on the animal kingdom.

Brad (00:39:21):
Realize that to consume, uh, an entire cow. The the way that the, the average, um, red meat intake is for the average person, uh, would be at a pace of around eight years. So it’s gonna take you eight years to eat one cow, to sacrifice one animal, to sustain one human for eight years. When it comes to a chicken, we eat at a pace of one chicken every two weeks or every three weeks. So we’re sacrificing <laugh>, hundreds, thousands of chickens if we’re on that chicken game rather than the red meat game where much less impact if you’re sourcing that animal that’s kind of higher on the rankings. Okay, there’s my little piece about choice of meat answering Donna’s question, definitely eat breakfast.

Brad (00:40:12):
Okay. Here, more comments about the Airdyne. Wow, it’s Airdyne show. Can the Airdyne bike be a good substitute for sprinting since I pulled my hamstring, says Sophia?

Brad (00:40:21):
Absolutely, yes. And we ought be really careful integrating sprinting, especially in our adult life if it’s been years and decades since you’ve really been running around. And so I really recommend a careful progression starting with sprinting with no or low impact options. I’m talking about the rowing machine. I’m talking about the stationary bike, the Airdyne bike, swimming in a swimming pool. And then the transition would be to, uh, what we’ll call low impact, which could be sprinting up stadium stairs or up a staircase in a building, or up a steep hill. And so you’re getting the act of running, you’re getting some impact, but it’s not nearly as risky as sprinting on flat ground. And so after you’ve built up a good foundation of sprinting with easier activities, you can dabble and tiptoe over into running sprints on flat ground, which again, deliver the most benefits for bone density and fat reduction, the genetic stimulus of a sprint workout on flat ground.

Brad (00:41:23):
And that high impact sprinting sends a strong signal to reduce excess body fat because the penalty for carrying excess body fat while sprinting on flat ground is so severe. So your brain gets the signal and your metabolism adjusts accordingly to the activity that you’re performing. Not as much when you’re sitting your fat butt on a stationary bike and getting, athletic competency and cardiovascular conditioning, but there’s no stimulus for fat reduction because you don’t have to support your weight as you sprint all out for 10 or 20 seconds. So that’s why we wanna eventually set that goal and transition over to running sprints on flat ground. Now, you got your biking and rowing and, and your sprinting on the elliptical, and then you’ve gone over into the stadium stairs and running up steep hills and think you’re ready. So the first act for sprinting on flat ground would be to perform what are called wind sprints.

Brad (00:42:23):
And these are brief bursts of explosive effort where you accelerate up to nearly full speed and then you immediately decelerate. So it’s not like, kinda like revving the car engine where you take off from the line. You’re not going maximum effort, but you’re building, building, building up to a faster speed. And right when you feel like you’re hitting what’s near full speed, you gracefully decelerate. And so the whole thing, the whole wind sprint might take five to seven seconds, but that’s where you can, you can use this as a checkpoint and make sure that your lower back and your hip flexors and your calves feel okay and you feel powerful. And then if you do a few workouts where you’re just doing the sprinting technique drills and some wind sprints and package that and go home without doing what’s often called a main set where you’re counting like four times 80 meters is today’s workout, all you’re doing is the difficult drills and the wind sprints.

Brad (00:43:24):
You’ll be looking good and building up great competency to the point where you can throw in someday a main set like the workout I mentioned three times, three times 60 meters or whatever, uh, interests you. But yeah, the dyne bite can be a wonderful substitute where arguably you can perform more efforts and more frequent efforts because of the lack of impact trauma. And so, like the other person that wrote in that had the accident many years ago, and so they can’t really run anymore, they can become a fantastic airdyne sprinter and be good with that.

Brad (00:43:58):
Okay. Grandma Patriot writes in on YouTube, what a beautiful dog. I think she was looking at my dog, Ellie Mae, on one of the videos. And she says, I’m new to this idea of carnivore feeding for dogs. So, where do you think I can get legitimate info on starting out a puppy on this type of diet?

Brad (00:44:20):
I put in a lot of sardines into the dog’s food every day, and I mix it with other meat. Is that okay? It’s a great subject, and I’ve only come to appreciate this in recent years, that the dog is a carnivore. So <laugh> the descending from the wolf. This animal is intended to eat meat and meat only as its biological imperative. Humans, as we’ve often heard and argued about, were omnivares. So we are capable of eating both plants and animals. And the relative contribution and ratio of each depends on where we live, what time point in history and all that. But humans can survive on only plants. As we’ve seen from modern day plant-based eaters. Humans can survive on only meat, as we’ve seen from modern day carnivore eaters or research on the Inuit and, and people that had a little to no carbohydrate in the diet.

Brad (00:45:15):
So humans are very adaptable, and we can handle salads. We can handle kale smoothies, and we can handle big steaks and all that. But the dog should not be fed, processed, medium or high carbohydrate food. So if your dog is being fed kibble as its dietary centerpiece, it’s kind of like a human living on potato chips every day. So it’s completely 100% processed and it is species inappropriate. And that’s why we see on the planet, the only creatures that suffer from obesity and metabolic problems are humans, and they’re domesticated pets. So we fatten up our dogs with bad food just like we do ourselves, and it’s a tragic occasion for the dog who has no choice what they’re eating and could easily be transitioned to a more species appropriate food without feeling sad and depressed and deprived like a human might when trying to clean up diet.

Brad (00:46:18):
So, I recently purchased some test food kit from this website called We Feed Raw. I have no association with them, and they have really nice commentary on how to feed the dog and how to transition the dog over to a more meat-based diet. Unfortunately, my dog’s 13 years old and she’s very picky, so she has a hard time like switching over to a different food. And, I’ve been trying to find something that she likes, and then one day she’ll like it and the next day she won’t. So, I know it’s really tough to get the dog transitioned over to the optimal diet, but if you have a puppy, oh my gosh, what a great opportunity to give that dog this species appropriate carnivore diet. And oh, now that you heard this show, you’re gonna go report back to your vet and your vet’s gonna say, oh no, the dogs need the pea and rice formula that you can get from Science Diet.

Brad (00:47:11):
And so go buy this expensive kibble rather than the cheap kibble. A veterinarian is not a resource for nutrition, as might be someone who is deeply immersed into canine nutrition, especially, uh, with the, especially with the, um, paleo inspired theme where we’re trying to identify the evolution of the modern dog and what the species appropriate diet is. So be careful, just listening to a veterinarian who is trained to care for the animal when it has illness and disease, just as you are going to be careful taking dietary advice from a physician who has been trained in disease care and illness and treatment rather than nutrition. Dr. Casey Means doing a great job with her number one bestselling book, Good Energy. She’s a product of the traditional medical system, and she’s calling them out as not knowing anything about supporting health, wellness and disease prevention, because that’s not the training that we have for western medicine physicians.

Brad (00:48:13):
We want those people ready and waiting when we suffer from illness, disease, and setbacks, and we need to go get some foreign <laugh> growth cut out of our abdomen or what have you. That that’s great. But, uh, be careful, uh, where you take advice and where you get your information and, uh, do some research and perhaps learn more about what’s a species appropriate diet for a dog. I’ve talked to a lot of paleo-inspired dog eating experts, and they do say that throwing in some plant foods can be beneficial for regularity of elimination so the dog can get fed pumpkin if they’re having trouble. Sweet potatoes is also in that category. I’ve, uh, been told by, uh, Nell Stephenson, author of Paleoista, ground up eggshells will help the dog get a shiny coat. I’ve also heard about, uh, throwing in some blueberries and some Greek yogurt for digestion to help the modern dog, but the centerpiece of the dog diet should be raw or lightly cooked meat and do what you can to help your dog transition and enjoy a new food. I haven’t thought about starving my dog for three days. When she turns her nose away and walks away from the bowl I present her, I usually go back and give her a little bit of her expensive kibble or things that she’s been accustomed to eating. But it would be a great goal to transition your dog to a more meat-based diet.

Brad (00:49:42):
Okay, I told you there was some, some quick hits on YouTube, so here we go. Regina says, can sprinting work for people with exercise intolerance where they crash after walking? I don’t know. What do you think, listeners? I would say absolutely not. So when you’re talking about performing high intensity exercise, you wanna feel healthy in general, everyday life. And I really appreciate you asking this question, Regina, even though it’s simple and short, and you might, people might scoff and saying, of course not. It is really important to address this. So when you are contemplating a challenging workout, you want to feel alert, energetic, motivated, excited about doing that, and, and feeling fine at rest in order to put your body through the challenge of a difficult workout. And if that’s not happening for whatever reason, you are going to delay or postpone that workout until you feel great and chomping at the bit when you’re at rest.

Brad (00:50:49):
Makes sense. Pretty simple, but definitely worth reflecting upon and emphasizing. So when you write in that you crash after walking, we’re talking about either an acute or a chronic illness that you want to get handled before you go thinking about anything stressful of a remotely stressful nature when it comes to exercise. And that also brings up an interesting point about walking, because walking is sort of the key to recovery and health, and it is so minimally stressful that it can be considered anabolic and instead of a catabolic, which is almost all other forms of exercise, so we walk when we’re trying to recover from surgery or child birth or bout with chronic illness. I mean, acute illness. So walking is always the foundation even when you’re not feeling great to try and, uh, improve energy and mood and everything else.

Brad (00:51:53):
So crashing after walking, we’re talking about a a huge problem. And that’s why, um, sometimes it’s tough to engage with a, a quick YouTube comment. I can’t comment anymore, but I’m very concerned about someone when they say they crash after walking, unless they’re doing Olympic race walking, where those guys are going at six minute mile and change for 30 kilometers or 50 kilometers, pretty amazing.

Brad (00:52:16):
Dee Bradford commented on my video where I was talking about hematocrit and thick vacuous blood being a red flag for adverse health, especially in aging males. Mike Mutzel has a great YouTube video about the dangers of a high hematocrit and the recommendation to go and give blood immediately, because thick sludgy blood is a sign of health dysfunction. Indeed, this is the same thing that elite endurance athletes do with doping is to increase their hematocrit, to increase their red blood cell carrying capacity and perform better climbing mountains in the Tour de France, or setting records in long distance running.

Brad (00:52:59):
But for the average citizen, getting that hematocrit up too high is something of extreme concern. And you wanna go and give blood, ’cause that’ll, uh, reduce, it’ll temporarily reduce your hematocrit, but your hematocrit will build back up over six week period. And, that’s when you gotta be concerned with what are the adverse lifestyle practices that are causing me to develop this thick s sludgy blood.

Brad (00:53:23):
Another comment on YouTube from Angela. Wait, did you say eating wild caught salmon? Please limit the fatty fish. They have omega threes that are very unstable outside and inside the body. Yes, indeed, omega threes are even worse than omega sixes. Many of us might shake our heads thinking that this comment is ridiculous. But Jay Feldman on the show is explaining in detail how, um, the omega threes and the Omega thi omega fixes omega sixes are less stable than, for example, a saturated fat, where all the hydrogen sites on the molecule are saturated.

Brad (00:54:06):
That’s why the term saturated is used to describe that type of fat versus the polyunsaturated fats, and the monounsaturated fats, which are by chemical definition, uh, less stable to heat, light and oxygen. So omega threes are indeed unstable, and that’s why when you go and buy Omega-3 pills, they’re typically in a black bottle or they come in the refrigerated section of the health food store, the really high quality products, you also have to take them relatively quickly or they can go rancid inside the bottle. And when they go extremely rancid, you can kind of smell the rancidity of the oil. So these are indeed unstable molecules, but there’s a tremendous amount of controversy, which I’m not gonna get into at all, about whether omega threes have tremendous wonderful health benefits or they’re potentially risky. Jay Feldman’s on the side where he doesn’t indeed doesn’t recommend consuming a lot of high Omega-3 fish, which we have been told over and over by many experts are the most healthful fish and the highest sources of omega threes deliver all these wonderful anti-inflammatory and longevity health benefits.

Brad (00:55:17):
Personally, listening to both sides and getting a little confused about it, like probably many of you, um, I don’t go outta my way to load up my diet with a ton of omega threes. And when it comes to animal products, I am emphasizing, strongly emphasizing grass fed red meat and de-emphasizing things like chicken, pork and even, the fish family in general. But if I’m going to eat fish, I will source a wild caught salmon, indeed a high Omega-3, fish, and I’ll eat those sparingly, I’d say perhaps less so than I have in, prior years. But I still feel like they have plenty of health benefits, and you certainly don’t want to take things to the extreme where you’re risking consuming too much fish and getting some of the impurities and the toxic metals that are contained, especially in the fish higher on the food chain.

Brad (00:56:15):
That’s why you hear about he fish to avoid, uh, sweeping recommendations to avoid the big fish like swordfish, marlin, shark and big tuna. Because being at the top of the food chain, they tend to accumulate a lot of adverse agents, mercury and so forth. Okay, so a controversial little comment there. And, we will see what the research holds and where things go with regard to consuming high Omega-3 foods, which are widely regarded as helpful.

Brad (00:56:47):
Here’s another YouTube comment, says, I’m so happy, uh, to be done with all the damaging diets. Thank you for highlighting, the point from Jay Feldman where he’s advocating for high nutrient density diet and, full cellular energy status at all times, as that is avoiding things like fasting and macronutrient restriction in favor of fueling the body appropriately for an active, energetic lifestyle. These restrictive diets never seem right to me, and if our ancestors had more food, they would’ve eaten it and probably live longer. That’s an interesting point, and that’s right. If our ancestors had unlimited food they definitely would not have engaged in intermittent fasting or anything of the sort. They would’ve been fully fueled and had that full cellular energy status. And in the cases where our ancestors really were struggling and dealing with these harsh winters of minimal calories and going into ketosis and huddling up and just trying to make it and survive until they could get their next meal, uh, definitely they, they arguably would’ve been better off getting a nice consistent source of food. Of course, we’re overdoing it now with our unfettered access to indulgent foods, I like to say. But it’s an interesting point about our ancestors.

Brad (00:58:10):
Now, one thing when we keep referring back to what ancestral life was like, and I don’t hear this discussed enough, so I’m really pressing this point and thinking about it more in recent years, is we don’t really know and we can’t make a sweeping statement of what ancestral life was like. Some of our ancestors probably had it really good, and they sat around in the sun on rocks, relaxing and then tending to their fish nets where they had abundant resources and abundant access to the high Omega-3 fish that helped fuel brain growth and help us evolve to become the smartest, uh, and, and top predators on the planet, right? So some of our ancestors probably just had the good life because they found great resources and hung out there, and then others had to deal with those harsh, dark, freezing cold winters.

Brad (00:59:05):
Lack of calories going into ketosis, surviving with these body mechanisms, getting fine tuned and allowing us to survive. But conditions might have been drastically different wherever they were on the globe and whatever timeframe.

Brad (00:59:18):
[00:59:18]Okay. <laugh> racing through some of these YouTube comments, one of the videos titled, unveiling Hidden Stress and Long Distance Running, and Ian writes in the whole point of working out is to cause stress spikes to your system. Okay, great comment. I agree. What I’m talking about is causing too many stress spikes to your system on a regular basis. So, back at you with a quick quip. How about that?

Brad (00:59:47):
Here’s another comment from Quill five on the show titled Relationship Wisdom from Dr. John Gray. And, Quill five says, you’re a hundred percent right. I’ve seen this thing happen in real time, even with myself. I notice I’m about to get angry, and if I just hold on and think about it and relax and take a second, then I’m able to respond instead of react. All right, thanks for watching the video and taking John Gray’s advice into real life application, taking that breather and responding instead of reacting.

Brad (01:00:22):
Here’s another one from Chad. I love your message, energy, podcast, outlook on life. I appreciate how you’ve taken care of yourself and accept aging gracefully, and not trying to bio hack the crap out of everything. All right, great comment. Indeed. I think it’s easy to get carried away with strategies that could be characterized as biohacking. You hear Mark Sisson talk about that term, and he, he has a discernible adverse reaction to even the term biohacking because he think it’s, it’s taken, uh, to the extreme these days, especially. I agree when it comes to like expensive protocols, regimens, things that you put in your body, supplements and people can easily feel intimidated, missing out outside of their budget and frustrated that they’re not keeping pace with guys like Brian Johnson, the bionic man that spends $2 million a year on his healthcare, or LeBron James for that matter, who is reported to spend a million dollars a year on his athletic training, health and peak performance.

Brad (01:01:26):
So there’s so much you can do on a very minimal budget or things that have no budget impact. And I really appreciate all of us who focus on the simple basic things rather than getting too far down into these rabbit holes where it really becomes kind of hobby rather than a true health regimen or health initiative. It’s just sort of dabbling in fun stuff and reporting back about it. And it’s, it definitely doesn’t have a necessary place in the life of the average active, uh, busy person that’s got a whole bunch of other stuff to attend to.

Brad (01:02:05):
Okay. Let’s do one more and then we’ll save the rest for another Q and A show, and hopefully you’ll contribute in the meanwhile emailing podcasts@bradventures.com. Here’s James commenting on over training during workouts. Brad, I agree that’s, it’s, uh, you know, it’s possible and I know I’ve overdone it. when I, when I take a, a walking warmup and then I start to jog and my heart rate jumps 20 to 30 beats, I realize that, you know, it’s a little too much. When I realized subjectively is when my motivation to get out there is kind of flagging, that’s when I realize I’m in an over-training pattern. I love running, hiking, biking, so when I don’t feel like it, it’s a good sign. I realize that I’m overstressed and need more rest. All right, great comment. Thanks a lot, James.

Brad (01:02:54):
And thanks all of you for listening, watching. Hope this stuff is valuable and I look forward to engaging further and seeing what you got. So bring your A game, send a nice comment. You can comment on the YouTube videos at the Brad Kearns channel or email directly podcast@bradventures.com.Thank you so much for listening to the B.rad Podcast. We appreciate all feedback and suggestions. Email, podcast@bradventures.com and visit brad kearns.com to download five free eBooks and learn some great long cuts to a longer life. How to optimize testosterone naturally, become a dark chocolate connoisseur and transition to a barefoot and minimalist shoe lifestyle.