Okay, here's the message for the day throw away your furniture. You heard me right your chairs your beds your couches your love sacks Whatever you've got you don't need them. We're gonna talk about that Maybe on today's episode of the movement movement the podcaster for people who want to know the truth about what it takes to have a happy healthy strong body starting typically feet first because you know those things are your foundation and here we break down the Propaganda the mythology and sometimes the flat-out lies You've been told about what it takes to run or walk or play or dance or do you'll go across or whatever it is You like to do for fun and to do that effectively and efficiently and enjoyably and especially enjoyably because you're not having a good time You're not gonna keep it up anyway, so find something you like and find something you want to do it with have a good time doing that I'm Stephen Sashan from zero shoes calm your host of the podcast we call it the movement movement because we and that includes you I'll tell you how in a second are creating a movement about natural movement letting your body do what bodies are made to do not getting the Way in interfering with modern technology. I'm not actually okay with technology Sometimes it doesn't actually do what people think and the way your part is really simple on the spread the word You like what we hear then just tell people about it go to our website www.join the movement movement calm You don't need to do anything to join there's no fee.
There's no secret handshake We don't have a song that we sing every morning But that's why you'll find all the previous episodes where you can subscribe to hear about upcoming episodes where you can find all the Places we have the podcast and all the places we're on social media where you can jump in and share and have some fun So speaking of having fun, why don't we get started with our guest who I'm not even introduced because I want her to do it Tell people who you are and what you do Hello there. My name is amira lamb and I live in New York City. I'm a group business instructor fitness expert I do all things fitness. I've been doing it since 1994 and 1995 as I graduated from high school.
I've been involved in all elements of this industry Well, oh actually well that conversation I appreciate you saying I graduated s-well in 95 I don't think I felt so old in months after hearing someone say something Well, it's not so bad. I graduated high school in 1980s That's not too bad But for some reason hearing 94 is like oh Jesus and now since I teased this I'm here by saying throw away your furniture You are clearly sitting on furniture. Would you like a comment on that? Yes, so typically I'm never in on furniture Whenever I'm at home, I'm always on the floor So I'm trying to like look like a civilized person by sitting on my furniture, but normally I'm never I'm never honest over So very uncomfortable.
So you're sitting when you're having food same thing when you're You know, I mean we have delightful furniture and not in frequently same thing sitting on the floor having dinner on the floor We have a great couch in front of our big TV half the time I get in front of the couch and sit on the floor I'm stretching or doing something and it's one of those things I don't know you but when I do it I keep thinking growing up this never happened This is not how my anyone in my family behave. They would have told me to get off the floor So what got you off furniture? Well, it got me off furniture. I actually growing up I spent a lot of time on the floor anyways unless I was seated at the table to eat or If I was maybe doing homework, but other than that I've always been really active So I would do tricks and flips or exercise or do handstands against the wall growing up So I was never really I don't remember sitting all that much and if I were to sit it would be on the floor for sure You know the only time I remember my dad being on the floor It was when he was trying to build something like you know put together a coffee table or a TV stand Which invariably he would lose the instructions and never get it done correctly But that's but that's my only memory of you know ever seeing an adult on the floor growing up Okay, so for adults.
Yes, I would see them on the furniture But me personally, I would be on floor. Well, and you said also do a handstands to get the wall Were you ever doing gymnasticsy things? Yeah, when I was younger I did gymnastics and dance So I was a former I am a former all-American gymnast And I love when someone says handstands because typically only gymnast will use the word handstand in a sense and only I'd never met anyone who wasn't a gymnast Who understands why it feels so good to get upside down. Oh, yeah, it feels incredible I still I do it still and I'm gonna be 47 there.
Yeah, no I do the same in fact I bought a set of parallets and been you know doing handstands on those and against the wall and like all of those things And I wish more people could I don't even know I haven't thought about doing something to help people get more comfortable Getting upside down that way because it really is just resets my whole brain. Mm-hmm. Yes I agree even doing simple things like down dogs from yoga even that just inverter feels good That one never quite did it for me. I'll admit.
I mean, it's not the same, but So you mentioned even bodybuilding this is a fascinating world I have a friend who lives down the street who's a former mr. America Which is a crazy thing to be able to say of yourself just because of the sound of that I talked to a guy yesterday Not in the bodybuilding world, but a very well-known former powerlifter But the bodybuilding game is like a whole other universe how and when did that happen for you? I started was the I started strength training or bodybuilding I started the graduate from high school and I started teaching group fitness So I started teaching in a gym and so I started strength training and I just continued strength training And I used to look up to the people who competed in fitness America I used to want to compete in fitness America pageant which is bodybuilding but softer So it's yeah, it's in that world. Well, it was it wasn't about getting huge.
No, it was never about getting huge It's about getting um defined more muscular, but not it wasn't about size is more about proportion and just there was a look to it So I always wanted to compete in fitness America and then I thought about competing in figure I never had the time also I come from like a really strict upbringing religious upbringing so So my parents would never they would not condone something like that pause right there What religious text explicitly says nobody building allowed? None except that when you're on stage, you're not wearing that much and it's a very and it can look it can look like a very Self-oriented practice which you know to an extent it is so it's just not something that my parents were pulled with So I waited till I was older, but it's also a very expensive sport So it took me a while to there's so much involved in competing so much until finally one year I had two friends who were gonna do a show one of them dropped out and then the other woman was like a mirror You should do this competition you should do it. Yeah, you have like I forget how many months maybe six months It had been training for years already, so I really just had to die down and get my stage presentation together So she connected me to her coach and I'm a my second friend. She ended up dropping out She didn't end up competing but I ended up doing the show and I went into the show totally open-minded It was for bikini for um in the NPC Federation.
So I went and totally open-minded. I was like whatever happened to happen I don't expect to win. I don't expect anything I just turned 35 so I competed in the open which is all ages and then also masters which is 35 and over So for my first show I placed second in open and then I placed first in masters So then I was like oh wait a second and like when something like that happens You're bit by a bug and then you just want to keep going. I wasn't planning on continuing I was just gonna do that one show to see how it went And then I just kept going so my second show every show I did really well I typically won masters and then placed at least in like the top four for open I was always very close to turning pro so then finally I did turn pro and then I did a couple shows As an IFBB bikini pro So I went as two questions and I found out about head off for that one One is I'm dying to hear what the difference was between competing not pro versus pro But the other thing the first thing you said is you know doing this is really expensive And that's not something most people would think of because like you go to the gym you lift weights you do whatever you need some food I mean we're so talking about the cost part and then talk to me about what happened after you went pro and what that what the difference was Okay, so for the cost Women are about five hundred dollars and up wait hold on hold on Five square inches of sequence material is 500 bucks up holy moly Start like that like when they first started with the bikini division It was I think someone even had like off the rapikinis that you can get at first door But now everything's custom blinged out and it's so expensive so for my first show I had really inexpensive suit.
I remember the cost for whatever reason It was like it was 75 dollars. I think and but it just wasn't right. I really needed a better suit But I've had suits issues my entire competing Whatever's called my entire timeline of competing suit malfunctions just the wrong suit Cause right there, please describe suit malfunctions I had one situation maybe two where the glue helps me like if there was no such thing as the Bikini bite I wouldn't have been able to get on a stage because it was literally the glue that was holding the bikini buttons up Because yeah because you lose for me. I end up losing so much weight during like the final week But even on the final day because you end up eliminating water So I don't take drugs, but I do take herbs to get rid of the extra body water So when I've done that I just shrink everything shrinks on competition day including even my feet my feet shrink I hope everything shrinks Oh my god.
I um, you know This is a conversation that I would adore having with a male bodybuilder as well because that's even crazier if that malfunctioned That would be insane in the brain. Oh, man. Okay, so So anyway, so 500 bucks plus Holy for some dental floss and a little bit of gauze and then um Well, I mean you're not taking if you're not on gear. You're not taking drugs.
That's a cost you're not incurring and that can be tremendous Any other things that people would never imagine that you know factor into doing this where you're running all the costs Tanning so some people go to a tanning bed before the actual spray tan, but this spray tan process that I'll try to run the class. I want to say $200 But then there's also the makeup like the whole hair makeup the um the jewelry that you wear like my earrings were Those can be like $50 and up for earrings for the stage and then bracelet same thing like $50 here and there lashes There's really so much. Oh, and then also what you wear backstage. You usually have to travel.
You usually have to stay in a hotel Oh, and then if you have a coach you have to pay your coach right and then you pay for the coach to be able to come back stage There's a fee for that. Then also if you're not pro you have to pay to enter the competition So to pay to enter the competition. I want to say that it's at least $100 per division is either 100 or $200 per division And now there's so many divisions. So now that people are doing it for years.
They're not just retiring There's open then there's masters 35 and over then there might be masters 40 and over 45 and over 55 And you got paid for every one of those holy that's crazy There's a ton of money. There's a ton of money involved. Wow. And so then when you turn pro what changes?
You don't have to pay to enter competitions and then you have the opportunity to win money If you're in like the top five And um, I know for some obviously that one I mean you don't need to be pro but I imagine it certainly helps if you're getting any sort of endorsement things or doing modeling or And you're like that. I imagine that just really opens up once you turn pro as well Or it could It's almost like a carrot that's dangled in front of people really It's great like i'm so happy and proud to be an iFBD pro However, it doesn't necessarily mean anything Only people in that world really know what it means right right and so um, that's really you know, it's funny It's very clear to me. There are a couple of I don't know much about on the women's side I know the guys side they're like a couple of guys who make extremely large amounts of money And there's a whole bunch of guys who are not and the gap is massive It occurs me i have to tell you the story you'll get a kick at it. I don't remember what inspired me I think maybe just one day up in the newspaper and saw an ad that said I was living in Boulder, Colorado at the time And it was the the Colorado wait what was the oh man Colorado and your bodybuilding and something something anyways big bodybuilding competition No, no Colorado and your bodybuilding competition.
So it was fitness. It was bodybuilding. It was like every category they had this is Let's call it 15 years ago. No, this would be cool.
And so I went and it was One of the most wonderful events that I've ever been to for a couple of reasons one of those fascinating so you mentioned getting spray tan You know you see people on stage where you see people offstage and it looks like they've just been hit with some some Dutch boy black paint and then they get on stage and it looks like they just have a bit of a tan So seeing the difference is really fascinating But the thing that was so amazing about it there were two parts One I've never been in an audience that was more supportive of the people on stage in my life Because there was people on that stage who clearly weren't ready to be on that stage and everybody else in that room has been that person before And I mean it was so unbelievably touching and wonderful and moving seeing that and also just boulder colorado sing a bunch of bodybuilders It was an unusual thing and so I like seeing communities. They're not normally representing Boulder That was fun, but I mean, I mean literally I was in the back where I like crying and how how supportive everybody was And then they had some iFBB pro uh male bodybuilder shoved a guest pose and one year I was there was a guy named Gunter Schleier and Camp Gunter in the off season weighed 325 pounds And he was posing on stage and he starts running out in the audience to pose in front of people and everyone is keeping their respectful distance Except for me I'm like running up getting as close to this guy as I can because it's like it looks like someone took a cow apart and put it back together underneath your skin I'd never seen a human being that big before and it was just blowing my mind It was totally totally fascinating whether you find it attractive or not independent like like anthropologically It's one of the most outrageous things you've ever seen it just doesn't seem real or possible And um, and so that was just terribly fairly fascinating. I went back for you know, years to watch that show because it was just again It was utterly utterly delightful So they're fun. Yeah, that's that's my story and I wasn't even part of it I was just you know like there's a third party observer and it was it was an even dreamy.
All right, so bodybuilding So when did you stop competing? I did not compete during a shutdown. So I think the show my last show was the year before the shutdown Got it. And so you know, this is funny.
This is gonna sound horrible I when we got in touch with you and vice versa about being on the show There were some things that you said there's like, oh, yeah, I definitely want to talk to you I have no memory of what any of those were and if I was smart I would have looked them up but I had I was in a hospital having some surgery for a week And then I came back and I came back and had covid for a week and my brain just turned on like this morning So I don't know how to say but I'll have to ask other than like if you have any memory of what was interesting to you about wanting to be here Otherwise, I have a fun question to ask after that. Okay, so wanting to be honest on this on this episode We actually met we met um, I don't know how many years ago, especially for the shutdown like my my time all messed up But we met we were at a mutual friends conference and we spoke all my God. Thank you It was a barefoot At the time I remember your company, but you only had sandals at the time And I also remember there was like it wasn't a competition necessarily but it was a high jump competition And your technique was so on point. That's what I remember First of all, I'm so I mean a if I were the kind of person who got embarrassed I'd be so embarrassed But mostly it's like right.
I was like I knew you like familiar and I couldn't place it in my brain And I'm also really bad out of context like if I meet somebody somewhere and then see them somewhere else It doesn't register like my joke about that as I meet somebody on the street. It's like got you look familiar. She was yeah, I'm your mother It's like oh, you live at home, right? That's you do the cookies that's you so I'm like horrible that way So yeah, that was that was a very entertaining event Emily spliggle Surgical but I trust who's very has been teaching my barefoot movement as well So what got you to go to that event and what did you and yeah, let's start there So I've known Emily forever.
Well since yeah for a very long time So I also I'm also one of her students So I take her courses and her certifications And she was holding this conference in Colorado I wanted to attend because I'm very much into bear for training. So I went I think I assisted also with something Um, you did but I don't remember what I remember helping I remember helping her put it together Like the day before I don't remember exactly but yes, I wanted to attend because this is my thing Like I love bear for training and minimalist footwear I've always been like about that since like since I was young but then I've been doing minimalist shoes since I want to say 2005 Is there any is there any? Overlap between that and what you were doing or discovering when you were either strengthening or training for bodybuilding Um, why didn't start training bodybuilding until much later, right? So I started training.
I did my first show when I was 35 I am going to be 47 this year. So you can do the math there. I started training. I started wearing middle with footwear training in 2005 So I don't know there's actual overlap.
It's just something that I was already doing it right Well, I asked that's interesting because I mean I asked in part because I talked to I've talked a couple powerlifters lately They've reached out who were saying oh once they switched to something minimalist They started setting personal best and my first one was someone who said I said a personal best in bench press And my initial reaction my kind of knee-jerk reaction was like, huh I'm not a member pro powerlifters. They say oh, yeah bench press starts with your feet And as almost everything else you would do and so I didn't know if there if that was something you were conscious of or it was just part of your life And so it never you never had the experience of making that change and going holy crap. Yeah, it was just part of my life But one thing it's not with it's not really bodybuilding but it's related to um teaching fitness classes. Yeah, occasionally I would um forget my shoes So what so I go to the gym.
I'll be like, oh no, I don't have my shoes. What will I do? So then I had to teach class barefoot and it felt so much better And I like dreamt about like a shoe that just would allow my feet to feel free while working out because I hated like having all my toes switched together So yeah, did you ever think to try and invite other people in the classic off their shoes? Yes, I have people have copied me How do they respond to that?
They love it. They love it It's something that I can imagine I mean like, you know, it's my favorite thing in a gym or I hear from someone who goes to a gym and they go Well, they said I can't I can't go barefoot and then I go ask them why they go well in case you drop something on your foot I go well, how is the fraction of a millimeter of nylon that's covering your toes and your shoes Gonna make a difference and I said try asking them that and then of course they have never swans That's what you do you walk in issues and then you just take them off when you're working out to someone notices Then you put them back on until they leave I mean, I know you know the only place I've ever gotten hassle about being in bare feet is Whole Foods and Boulder. Yeah You look really shopping there, but you don't know. Oh my god.
It's the best It's awesome. So my line is um, go to the produce section on a hot summer day when the when the misters turn on It's the closest thing to being a kid running through a sprinkler. It's the floors are they're totally smooth They're nice and cool. I go barefoot a lot of places I was in Costco a while ago and if I'm wearing shoes, I wear mismatched colors And so for some reason I was very shoes and the guy behind me in the pharmacy line says hey Your shoes don't match and the pharmacist without even looking up or missing a beat says he's wearing shoes So where are places that you have not ventured out barefoot and why not that you should but you know just for the fun Well, there's a difference between Colorado and New York City.
So I was in New York two weeks ago And yes, I did walk around in bare feet. Ha. Yeah, but I'm sure that people saw you Not you were not a new yorker I was I lived in New York for 10 years. No, they would they would know from a mile away because my clothes weren't all black But New York is one of those places where you know you can get away with almost anything and no one will really care But it's doable.
I've done it Go walk around the block once just try once half a block Anything I say I say all this because it's actually it's one of those things that's really interesting because if you try it and not suggesting you do There are a couple of interesting things that happen one you feel incredibly self-conscious And you kind of prepare yourself for people say things that almost never happens and the Then the other thing is you notice how weird it is that people notice from really far away Like it's very strange how it tuned we are to people's feet And if you're wearing some weird shoe or you're in bare feet people spot you from like 50 yards away It's really wild Yeah, and it's just a fascinating thing to watch what your you know mind does about who you think you are When you're walking around barefoot in someplace where people don't my favorites when kids come up with their parents or they'll say to their parents Hey, that means not wearing shoes and then you hear what the parents say and sometimes they're they're hip enough to say Well, why don't you ask them why and they'll ask me why? I'm wearing shoes. I said do you like wearing shoes and they go no I go Yeah, me either or I say have you ever been to the beach and they go no oh yes I said do you wear shoes at the beach? They say no I said why don't we just pretend we're the beach and they go oh And I've never seen a kid kick off the shoes and have his parents be okay But but it's just it's just a fascinating thing and conversely there's times lately where I put on shoes when I'm going out Because I'm just not in the mood for the conversation so but even that's kind of a fascinating thing anyway back to you for the wind So how have you taken anything that you've done with Emily?
Aside from whatever you may have discovered in your own life. What else are you doing with that with other human beings? I teach barefoot strength classes. So there's that I do a lot of like rolling so she has a neuro ball So I use it pretty tired body but specifically for the feet I use it for feet I also a lot of my clients use her products.
So she also has a mat which is fantastic for paper training Yeah, but that's that's really it. So when you're when you're doing a barefoot strength program for people who are watching slash listening What are some things that you do that maybe they could try? They could try incorporating short foot while doing squats or lunges. So that's where I do my own type of short foot actually Your secret safe with me All right, so it's more of just focusing on slaying the toes and then as you come up That's when you begin to grip with So like if you're this is gonna be one of those annoying things where I'm gonna ask you to teach people who are not here So walk through get the instructions to people if they're somewhere where they can try it.
They can try it Okay, you know, I'll have them do a wall sit they can practice working up feet while in a wall sit Um, so in a wall squat wall sit So if they're in a wall squat their back would be against the wall Their feet would be out and they're at that would be parallel to the floor And then from there they could just practice Slaying their toes lifting and slang the toes and then gripping and just feeling the body sensation So they might feel their pelvic floor lifts or their abdominals engage more That's one thing they could do something else they could do would be a split squat or a lunge And while lowering they would display the toes of their front foot and it's initiate coming up They would initiate from their feet. So it's almost like you're gripping or using your feet to lift yourself up As opposed to just driving through your heel. That's a really interesting thing the image that you gave me as I was doing that There's this concept that this guy a paddle sussling who brought kettlebells to America or maybe people aware of kettlebells He refers to it as irradiation like if you're gonna do a pull up gripping the bar as hard as you can because that sort of It's really I mean I think there's some mythology around this But it kind of signals from your hand down that hey something's about to happen And so it kind of pre-loads or pre-potentiates the motion so doing that with a lunge or squat of like Explain the toes on the way down then gripping to almost have that be the initiating thing to push you up That's a really interesting way to play with that. I really like that Yeah, it's like a way of grounding or rooting yourself to the floor too.
Yeah. Yeah, that's that's a good one So are you only teaching in around New York? I teach on zoom as well. Oh well Well, then we will come to that in the not too distant future on people can find out how to Participate with you did you start doing that just during pandemic or did that happen before?
Yeah, I did um, yeah during pandemic. That's when I started doing zoom How did that change your coaching teaching life discovering that you could start doing things online and not just with humans in real life? Well before the shutdown, um, I'd already started training people who were taking my classes Online so a lot of times people take classes. They work so hard in my classes But they weren't seeing the results mostly because of their nutrition So I created an online program for the people in my classes to incorporate nutrition so they could get the results that they wanted But I would also give them training programs to do in the weight room so they weren't just stuck in the group class setting So they saw awesome results So I already had that set up before the pandemic and then a report shut down and then I had um with the shutdown I just expanded it to zoom so it was a combination of The nutrition but not so much the weight training since all the gems were closed so it was back to group classes in a sense What do you find either one more or less satisfying than the other you mean zoom versus in person?
Yeah Ah, that's I like both What do you find what are the differences that make you know the kind of balance amount? Nothing beats the energy of a classroom. So there's that and then for zoom It's all it's like all my people that I've said it had been with me for years We've been together for years. So it's that's a community whereas now after shutdown Things are open up.
I'm actually working for other companies So it's like a new crop of people but I still love the in-person experience and that feeling so People are my people so where are you doing in person stuff? Um in person. I teach for lifetime mostly got it Their offices are right down the street. Oh really?
Well, they have two offices They have the ones in with like Minneapolis or somewhere in the upper Midwest and then there's an office here. Yeah, um and uh, so yeah, it's fun Egan's I'm I'm there's like a whole bunch of thoughts going through my head I can't find the one that I want to land on next this is who sounds sort of odd But I'm going back to the bodybuilding things for the climate Was there any transition effects for you when you decided to stop competing? No Actually this planning after my last show I was planning on competing one more time at least to redeem my belt because I didn't prepare for that show well So I kind of block it from memory and I really Like that show didn't happen. That was my worst show ever.
Um, the one before that was probably my best show ever So I really wanted to redeem myself, but then a shutdown happened and I don't know like I I still love to redeem myself at the same time competing is really hard because I want I want so many specific situations that like I want the the venue and the hotel to be under the same roof Um ideally I'd want it to be in Florida Ideally, I'd want it to be hosted by a specific promoter. So there's too many they're too many variables I don't know if things would all line up. Give me Also one more thing. I love preparing.
I love prep show days very difficult for me because You don't drink water and it's a long day. You have the tanning tanning is hard tanning is hard because You're in like a hotel room with a bunch of like little tent set up where you can stand and then everyone's naked And then they just do spray tanning and it's so cold then they're fans will hang on you and it's just you're freezing and I don't like being cold So the tanning experience turns me off Like it's the fans being cold and then once you get your layer of tanner on it's um when you say the hotel You have to bring your own sheets because you otherwise you just destroy like the furniture and the sheets and everything so Show like that the day before the show and show day are very Challenging and unenjoyable Yeah, I mean, this is a thing the kind of irony or I think there's a better word for it. I can't find it about about any of those things bodybuilding or finish anything between Is that it's all about being fit being healthy being the best you can be and on that day Those last couple days you are the exact opposite of that. Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely. You're emaciated you're dehydrated It's hard when you said you enjoyed the prep. I mean even the dieting. I love it.
Really What do you do is there anything specific about it that you find enjoyable or just like the putting yourself through it that you find that challenge pleasant? I like the regimen. I like the point it's fun for me Highly enjoyable. You know you got your whole day.
We literally every moment including everything you put in your mouth like planned out Yeah, because once all of that is planned out, it's like I can think about other things I have to think about training. I don't have to think about what I'm gonna be eating like that's set Oh my god. I love it. And when you're in diet mode, are you eating basically the same thing just day after day?
Yes, and you're and that doesn't you don't find your brain just wanting to explode because of the monotony of it No, love it. I think you know, this is there's a number of times where I've seen various people in fitness world talk about this ago Even the guys who are like, you know, the open bodybuilders who are taking Very interesting amounts of drugs who they say everyone thinks that it's just that if they took the drugs they could look like this Like no, no, no, no, no, you gotta be someone who can handle and enjoy the kind of things that you just described Which is a whole other universe for most people Yeah, it is true. It's different. Was and was that something that you knew about yourself or did you just discover that as you got into fitness and bodybuilding?
No, I've always been like that. How did it show up before you started applying it here? Like if I want to put myself on any type of regimen, I'll do it It's just Something that it makes sense. No, look, I say this with nothing but admiration because I'm the opposite Like I love I would love one of my you know, if I had a bajillion dollars fantasies Is I have someone who just does meal prep for me?
So I don't have to think about it at all because otherwise left my own devices. I I don't do Focus very well. I don't do routine very well and someone said to me like they talked me about it as a business person You know, you're an entrepreneur routine. It's like I'll wake up go to the bathroom Go to sleep at the end of the day everything in between completely up in the air and Yeah, it's I love the idea of having that kind of structure But it's not gonna happen of my own accord I would have to have someone you know, not beating me over the head with it But making it so that it's the easiest thing for me to do because I want to do it on my own I think like what I said before like I enjoyed because it frees up No, I I know someone I'll say this in a fun way I know someone who who is the spiritual leader of a cult.
We are not friends I just know who this person is I've been involved in private or semi-private conversations with this person who said Her favorite thing and that for some people might give them You know, at least narrow that down into a smaller number of humans that I could be talking about her favorite thing is when she's back at her ashram in India Because since she's the head of everything everyone takes care of everything for her and she says all I have to do is what they asked me to I don't have to do any thinking about any of those things during my day and I can think about all these other things because all of that's taken care of Boy now that I say it sounds pretty delightful. Yeah, that's I'm not there yet, but maybe someday I'll be able to actually try that out now So when you do that are you doing setting all that structure up for yourself and setting up all the doing all the meal prep and all that or do you have Anybody helping because if I again if I have to do all the setup for it if I have to plan for it, then it's not gonna happen Yeah, I set it up. I set up. So for my first coach She basically taught me how to set it up and then I just stuck with it.
Love it Even after like moving on from her This is one of those things where it would I would never I've never had this thought for me I never imagined really thinking about the difference between you and me in this case of what that's like and what it would take to Really go through the motions make it happen and then stick to it and now that it's in my brain It's like okay, definitely fascinating definitely have to try that at some point other thing One thing that is helpful is fear when it comes to prep how so because you're gonna be on stage in Like something is big right so and you're gonna be photographed. So you have that fear that element of fear in terms of preparation I didn't have enough fear on my last show I was a little bit too confident But I had substantial fear for all the other shows. Oh, that's brilliant. Well, and another thing, you know, so you weren't doing this with any medical assistants.
Let's call it for lack of a better term where the women were competing against were they on gear or are they natural? I have no clue income up conversation never It's you know, this guy that I know another bodybuilder who was a National champion way back went to this day He will not admit that he ever took anything where it is so screamingly obvious that he and all of the people who were competing in that era were Will not admit it. I mean like it's like Liberace never admitted he was gay this guy will never admit he injected anything into his body and Couldn't not be more obvious and I find that really interesting because lately especially on youtube A lot of bodybuilders coming out saying yeah, here's what I did and what's most fascinating about that is all these guys And this is not really surprising. They're all hyper responders Like a lot of these guys are taking less testosterone than your average 50 year old gym rat who's taking to try to just stay in shape and you know Pretend he's not getting older because they just are hyper hyper responsive and um and that's just shocking to people It's like oh, I took this little thing.
It's like here's exactly what I did And I'm a big fan of people telling the truth I don't know why it's one of those things and I wish this conversation was more open about what people are or aren't doing because if nothing else It makes it so it's harder for you to compare yourself to someone who you're nothing like and set unrealistic expectations Yeah, yeah, definitely I have this conversation with one of my friends who also competes in a different federation And what we look at people on instagram especially Who will say that they'll coach someone but it's like Like you should be you should be more honest about what it is that you're doing so look the way you look You know instead of marketing it as being natural when we know that it's not natural and even if it is natural That's another thing too. It's like you've got freaky genetics. So yeah, we're gonna earn gymnastics team in high school Who we didn't I don't think we I don't know if we ever confirmed this but he was just A beast the guy just got bigger every day. We should tease him It's like so what'd you do for your biceps today?
It's just Cheerios I mean he just kept getting bigger and he died relatively young and because of what he died from we suspect he had a genetic disease where he didn't produce Myostatin which for people don't know limits muscle growth if you're producing myostatin And if you don't produce it, basically you just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger with mild stimulation And that's what this guy did you know if he was around now he could pitch himself as you know I can make you look like me by doing my workout but no one could ever look like him because he has this genetic anomaly and But yeah, it's sort of like I said a paleo that one of the first paleo events and I said there's 10 of you quote experts none of you can agree on What paleo is and and then you're not accounting for you know genetic freakishness They said like what I said what you're suggesting everyone should eat the same thing But why would I I'm a complete genetic freak eat the same thing as you know some 105 pound Kenyan who runs marathons I think what do you think you're genetic freak? I said oh for men at that time for men over 45 on the third fastest Jew in the world Yeah, I believe it because I saw you in action with a high jump and you had the best format everybody And I had no idea how that happened because my parents were not athletic and then I found my mom's father I take it from my mom's side of family I found my mom's father's high school yearbook when they were moving out of house about to throw away And I found his picture and underneath it said gymnast and I said how can we ever told me he was a gymnast just like me? My mom literally said I had no idea no way never came up in conversation Yeah, so you know I mean and for me just for the second doing it combine that with the fact that my high junior high school And high school gym teacher was the like three-time world and five-time national tumbling champion and one of the greatest teachers of anything ever If I had been living literally across the street from where I grew up I would have never met him and so you know put that all together It's just all it's 99.9% luck and that missing point 1% is probably also luck So anyway, well mirror on this is a pleasure Seeing you again even though my memories of our first meeting are at best vague and if it makes you feel any better When I went to my 30th high school reunion this woman walks up to me and I look at her name tag And I'm thinking okay We were definitely good friends in high school and that's all I've got and I mean I just couldn't find a memory and then she says oh everyone came and stayed at your place in New York for a couple weeks And I'm thinking nope and I'm saying yep Memories just a weird thing and so anyway, there's that but most importantly if people want to get in touch with you for Any of the things that we talked about or more how would they do that? They can go to my website.
It is holistic hotty.com or they should follow me on Instagram. It's at a mirror lamb Spell that one for people A m I r a lamb like the animal la envy. Yeah, so please do take her up on that I'm so thrilled to hear the things you're doing. You know It's I do have this idea that over the next 10 years We're gonna see more and more people starting to get hip to the importance of natural movement starting feet first Obviously fyi there's a major major medical organization doing a study on elderly people and balance and it's gonna be using our shoes For what they're gonna wear and that study or at least for the people who are not in the control group And I know there's a lot going on that's gonna get more and more attention for the importance of foot strength for balance agility mobility and everything else We do so I'm looking forward to when you and many of us will be able to take advantage of that awareness It couldn't be more obvious except that it's not that obvious for some reason So but because it's one of those things that when you hear it you show yeah, that makes sense I can see that you know grow grow and then go exponential phenomenon And so and it's and it's people who are doing work like you're doing that help make that happen So thanks for being part of the tribe as we're yeah So everybody else thank you all for being here just a reminder again go to www.jointhemovementmovement.com for previous episodes to subscribe to find out about new episodes to find out all the places you can get the podcast if you're not getting somewhere you like right now and Find out where we are on social media and if you have any questions or feedback or ideas or people that you think should be on the show Grab me an email.
I'm at move mov at join the movement movement calm and until then go out have fun and live life feet first