Living in and around Boulder, Colorado, there are a lot of super fit people. I see them out on the trails. I see them out on tracks. I see them climbing mountains.
And by and large, they rarely look like they're having a good time. Is that what it takes to be fit? We're going to find out more about that. On today's episode of the movement, the podcast for people who want to know the truth about what it takes to have a happy, healthy, strong body, starting feet first usually because those things at the end of your legs are in fact, your foundation.
But we also break down the propaganda, the mythology, sometimes the outright lies you've been told about what it takes to run, walk, hike, do, yoga, cross, whatever you like to do and do it enjoyably and efficiently and effectively. Did I say enjoyably? Of course I did. It's a trick question.
I always say that because if you're not having fun, you're not going to keep it up anyway. So, you know, we're going to talk about that more on today's podcast. I'm Stephen Sashan, co-founder and chief barefoot officer here at Zero Shoes. And we call it the movement movement because we and that includes you more about that in a second are creating a movement about natural movement, having your body do what it's made to do instead of getting in the way with things that are sold as benefits but aren't necessarily that.
So the way you help the movement is really simple. Just spread the word. So go over to www.jointhemovementmovement.com. You'll find all the places you can enjoy this podcast if you're not liking the one where you already found it.
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Ariana, do me a favor. Tell people who you are and what you're doing here and then let's have some fun. So here we go. Great introduction.
Yeah. My name is Ariana Hackman. I am the owner of the Lunafit universe. It encompasses many things.
A fitness center in Central Florida, meal prep company, a small health and fitness supplement company, and a fantastic mobile app that we are launching. So we're having some glitchy audio video things. So let's deal with that because it hasn't been too bad. Okay.
For a second or two, but it gets bad. We might have to restart things, but let's keep going. Okay. We can't.
So first things first, for those people who are watching, you have the most colorful background and most interesting background of anyone that I've ever talked to. So you got to just tell me what the hell is going on there. And if anyone is not watching, go check out the video because I, you know, maybe the glitch is because you're clearly talking to us from outer space. Yes.
I am all about outer space. You know, Lunafit is about the moon and our whole app is actually space themed. So we do the space thing at Lunafit. So when I asked for a podcast room that really would just be functional, this is what my marketing and creative team came up with.
And it's really super simple, super cheap. It's just a bunch of smoke and mirrors. It's literally some foam black panels on the back wall, two lights that we got off of Amazon and then a moon lamp. But it looks amazing.
And I love sitting in here. Yeah. You're really gonna sold the story and told people that you're on the space station or something else. So I'm going to pretend that's what you said and we'll just edit that because that's way more fun than a couple of spending a couple bucks on Amazon.
But I love it. I mean, I just have, you know, you grand where the shoe is behind me. Yes. I like the shoes.
They're very attractive. Well, thank you very much. So the topic du jour, like I brought up, it really does blow my mind. There's a comic used to do a joke that I love.
He said, I love driving my car behind runners at the speed I think they should be running. And because they never look happy. So why don't we give them some incentive? And this is the thing that I see off the whole ethos of no pain, no gain and that if you're going to get fit, it has to be difficult.
And this is what many people believe. And now granted, I won't confess the workouts that I do are exceptionally hard. They're like freakishly difficult. And but that makes me unbelievably happy because I'm an idiot.
And but I will put myself in the same boat. I lift heavy things and I love it. Well, I'm 63. So I'm lifting lighter things more and I'm lifting them until I can't lift them over and over and over.
And there's nothing more embarrassing than grabbing a five pound weight on the third set or something and going, yeah, I can't move that thing. So but it's just been incredibly incredibly satisfying. In fact, I mean, the guy that I work with says, you know, all the people that work with me are little nuts because the workouts are really hard. And I just want you to know that in the category, people who are willing to push as hard as humanly possible, you're the top of that list.
And so I feel pretty proud of that. But again, what is while during the thing, it's unbearably difficult. I love everything else about it. I love and we can get it out.
But so that's the topic du jour and up to you. Yeah. So no pain, no gain. I will say that I am a little bit of a meat head when it comes to stuff like that.
I do believe that workouts tend to be a little bit painful, but I very much like that you always put the enjoyable spin on it because I don't feel like people have to work out like that to be as healthy or as fit as they want to. Health and fitness shouldn't be hard. It should be fun. You can make some very simple habit changes that will literally revolutionize your health and fitness in life.
So, you know, I'm always very big on, yeah, your workouts might be a little painful and you would have to chase me with a car to get me to run. But it shouldn't be it shouldn't be hard and you should be able to enjoy aspects of it. So you maybe think of something and I lost that thought entirely. No pain, no gain making it hard.
Oh, you know, one of these people asked me all the time, they go, you know, how do you get motivated to fill in the blank? And my response to is if you have to do something to then get motivated to do some other thing, something is wrong. What's your take on the whole idea of motivation when it comes to fitness and exercise? Yeah, I don't think that people are honestly very good at being motivated or keeping motivation.
I think that motivation is something that's kind of like a flash in the pan. So like one day you're motivated, but the next day you're probably won't be. So I always like to move to the word discipline. And then I think discipline is based on goals.
So if you have a goal for yourself and you create a plan to get there, you really just have to be disciplined to carry it out. So, you know, I definitely do things in my fitness life that I enjoy. I do enjoy working out, but I also do other things like, you know, swimming and walking and things that are probably more enjoyable for me. But I have a discipline to go to the gym because I have a goal for myself that I have muscles so that I can eat more honestly.
More muscles, more calories you get to eat. And you know, in my life right now, there's an expectation that I, you know, lean a little bit more towards the fitness model looking side with the app coming out and there's an avatar of me in it and I'm very fit. So I have to fit the bill. But that's not most people's goal.
So if they can find the discipline just to move every day, you know, get some steps in, do a movement, an exercise that they truly enjoy, that's enough. Your body will respond really well to that. I'm going to have you come back to the sort of tips for getting started and doing the way this enjoyable, but I want to riff on what you said. So when I started this workout plan that I've been doing now for about a year and I've been an athlete since I was seven with, you know, a couple of breaks where I got massively depressed because I couldn't find the thing to do.
But I've been incredibly consistent and in part is because I'm accountable to someone. And frankly, someone who I'm paying a good amount of money for. And it's also when I adore, if I didn't like this guy, I wouldn't be able to put up with it at all. But my sister asked me, you know, she's, why are you doing this?
And I said, well, A, I want to see if I can put on more muscle before I know I can't, because at a certain point it just goes down. B, you know, I want to like what I see when I look in the mirror more often. And I do look in the mirror more often. And you know, it's getting pretty fun.
And then C, I, you know, like it when my wife goes, oh my, either what she sees or what she feels. And then I also will admit that I get a kick out of random people when I say I'm 63, they're like, sorry, what? So I don't want to tell you how much what percentage out of 100 each one of those is. Although I think the one I get the most enjoyment out of is when I'm getting dressed in the morning and go check that shout out.
I didn't have that a little while ago. Yeah, right. Progress. So yeah, the progress thing, I mean, that's another thing, even with discipline, actually, there's one other part that I want to, I'm curious what your thoughts are.
As a track athlete, you know, especially an old track athlete, there's no reason for doing this. I mean, it's, it's really hard. There's no bonus points. There's no prize money.
There's no sponsorship deals. And also those of us who do this were stupidly competitive and happily old enough to know that stupid to be this competitive, but also old enough to know that's just the way it is. But what I found is over my years competing, the only way for me to have that kind of discipline and it comes back to the accountability, I think, is to have a partner. And so what you're taking on working out alone versus working out in any other circumstance, so that the discipline is not just, I mean, I'm not a disciplined guy.
If you look around my office, look around any place where there's a horizontal surface, you will find more crap than there should be because discipline and organization is not my thing. So talk to me about that if you could. Yeah. I mean, I think you, I think like the thing that's great about what you said is that you know yourself and so you know that to create that discipline, to do the things you want to do, you need an accountability partner.
And it's funny, like our original fitness center slogan was fitness nutrition accountability, because most people aren't going to do health and fitness on their own. It's not something that unfortunately, anymore comes naturally. And so we have to create those, you know, accountability partners. Right now my accountability for myself is that I have expectations because of the business I'm in.
Now I didn't work in this business. Yeah. I think I would have to. I used to have a personal trainer.
I used to have a personal trainer. So I think it really is important to find, you know, a trainer or just someone in your life who has the same goals as you where you can be accountable to each other. Because if I ever get out of this industry, I will have to have that again, because I'm not sure any one is naturally disciplined all the time to do those things, unless they have a reason or a goal. Yeah.
No, things come up in life and discipline comes and goes. And to be clear, you know, one of the things I think it's a little more than having just having a partner, at least in my experience, because if it's not someone that I really love, then and want to hang out with, then it just becomes another form of sort of beating yourself over over the whatever with whatever. Yes. Yeah.
And you know, like I said at the beginning, it's like you're not having fun, do something different until you are. And the fun part might not be the workout. It might be hanging out efforts. Do you know, I should remember.
Yeah. You're not a runner. So you probably don't know this. And I'm not a distance runner.
So I only know it vicariously. Do you know about the hash house harriers? No, but I actually want to say we actually have in common, I used to be a track and field sprinter. Oh, sweet.
What was your event? Yeah. 50 50 is the shorter, the shorter the better. I actually heard your podcast and that you got back into it at 40 45.
I think you said and I'm 44 and I was like, man, maybe I want to start doing that again. I used to love it. Well, and I love that you said the 50s are events. So I'm a 60, well, 56 meter indoor, depending on the track, 100 meter outdoor, but I'm a much better 50 60 runner than 100 meter runner.
There's a handful of us. There's a guy that I raced against the nationals who world champion in the 50 or the 60 again, depending on the track, you know, does really well in 100, but has a shit 200 same as me. I mean, I'm just like wired for like that, you know, seven and a half to eight and a half seconds. And so a master track and field is a blast because, again, we're all about your crazy people.
And so I've literally not met anyone on the track where I don't adore because it just loopy is all crap. So I really do think I'm going to look into it. It just sounds fun and I am idiot competitive. Well, yeah.
And your neighborhood, there's a lot going on. So, you know, look at the master track or I can go to usatf.org and you'll find links to the master stuff. And all I can tell you what I will warn you in advance is that your brain will think you're younger than you are. Yeah, I think I experienced that every day already.
Yeah, there is that. I mean, it took me literally two years to realize that when my brain says, hey, let's just do one more. That's the time to go home. Yes.
Okay. I will definitely take that tip and remember it. It's a good one. So yeah, so the hash hash harriers, I'm trying to remember what their motto is.
It's something like, you know, drinkers with a running problem. And so what they do this crazy cross country race, it's like a nutty cross country race that ends up at someplace where they all have a beer. And so it's just a bunch of goofy people making running even goofier and then all hanging out and having a beer. It's I mean, if I like doing anything other than short, straight line in under 10 seconds, I'd be all over it.
Yeah. Yeah. But no, I really do think that's what it's all about. I think you do have to put an aspect of fun into it, you know, and a lot of people come into our fitness center or looking for a meal or whatever, because they do have some sort of a goal that is fun for them, a vacation, a wedding, a there's a big event.
And we're always talking something about that's great. We will get you to where you want to be for that event. But then after that event, what's your plan? Because this needs to be a lifestyle change, you know, you don't want to do this and then lose all the progress you made and go back to where you were before.
So how do we get you from getting ready for this event to this is my new life and this is what I'm going to do. And my life is an event in where I want to be healthy and fit in the best version of myself. And that doesn't mean a certain weight. And it doesn't mean, you know, you have to be a fitness model.
It's just being healthy internally and externally. Well, you know, you maybe just think of something that I never really fully took in until this moment. I think we undervalue the value of vanity. In other words, you know, one of the reasons that I do this, whether it's me looking at the mirror myself or wanting other people to look at it and go Una, there's nothing wrong with that.
I mean, I'm literally saying that out loud for the first time. I mean, I used to joke about it. I used to say from a sprinting training, I do nothing but things with posterior chain, glutes and hamstrings and calves. That's all I really care about.
But then I do some curls and, you know, some bench pressing for vanity. But I always kind of, you know, poo poo that like that was a bad thing that I'm kind of, you know, being that I'm sort of admitting something a little, I don't know what the word is. But you know what I'm currently going, I think vanity is a good goal. Yeah, that's actually, I never really thought about it.
But I agree. And I actually also joke about being vain because that is one of the reasons that I do some of what I do. Like, I am a little bit vain. I do want to look a certain way I have certain expectations myself.
So that's really interesting to say that. And I agree, I don't think it should be necessarily a bad thing. I think wanting to look your best is equal to wanting to feel your best. And I think that's different for everybody.
And that's the beautiful thing about different levels of health and fitness. And, you know, working to the level of fit that you want to be. So, you know, I eat in a way that not everybody has to eat because no one, you know, has to maintain a body fat percent that I'm maintaining. There's a whole range of healthy body fats and healthy looks.
And you just have to find where the level of effort matches up with the level of healthy that you're comfortable with. That's what I always tell people. I like that. I'm going to lean into this vanity thing a little bit more because that because what occurs to me is the balancing act with admitting that some of why you might be doing something is in some part smaller, large about vanity, you have to come to grips with the other side of that, which is you can't look at a picture of someone else and go, I want to look like that because you're going to look like how you do it.
And, you know, you're typically looking at genetic free, because you're looking at pictures of people that are in magazines or whatever else. But, you know, there's certain things that we're going to be that you're going to always have a body part that is your favorite and one that you hate no matter what. It ain't going to change. That's the way it is.
And in a way, that's part of the thing that I'm also kind of enjoying. Like, Oh, okay, here's what I know I can do. Here's what I know. I mean, I'm never going to get to look like a certain thing, but I'm going to look like, let's just say the better or best version of me that I can do at this time.
And, and I don't know why I mean, it's really for whatever reason I've gone down this road. But that's been really valuable for me in the last year in particular. It's like, here's what I can do. Here's what I can't do.
Here's what my change here is what probably won't change. And I mean, I'll give this one to people just so they know for I don't care how much you've been lifting over how much period of time, which means a certain age. And you can even see this in professional bodybuilders, look and see what stays and look at see what goes and I'll give you the hint the legs go. Just the way it is, unless you were juicing like crazy, and even for then I've seen some pro bodybuilders who were my agent older, still taking a shit ton of steroids and the legs go.
And so deal with it. Yeah, right. I mean, yeah, they look okay, but they're not going to look like the way they did when you were riding your bike 20 miles a day when you're in your choice. No, absolutely not.
Yeah, recovery is so different too. So no, I like that. I like that. Yeah, I mean, you, I think that it is great to want to be look like the best version of yourself.
I think that's a great goal for everybody. And also that it will look different as you get older. I shut a flashback and many people don't know that one of the things that Jack Lel Lane was famous for, many people don't remember Jack Lel Lane, massive fitness guru from the, in the 60s, well, probably from the 50s on. And when he was in his 90s, one of the things he did, he invented, he co-invented, I think the universal gym, one of the first like, you know, all in one workout piece of equipment, you can find it at every high school in the world, it seemed in the 70s and 80s.
And when he was like 92, they had a video of him on the universal bench pressing and he's like, you know, but getting in the reps. And if you look carefully, he was lifting 20 pounds. But you know, that's what he could do at 92. And I'm cool with that.
I mean, I was at the world master track and field championships in Finland like 15 years ago. And there was a guy there was 101. And he came out to do the field events, like on his walker came out, put the walker down the hand on the shot. He goes does the shot put the thing, but age, I think it weighs like two pounds.
And it goes like 10 feet and the crowd goes insane. Because everyone's thinking, I want to be that guy. Yeah. Yeah.
I don't care. There was two pounds. I want to be that guy. Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I think that's definitely a goal for me. You know, I think as I transitioned over the past about 10 years, Health and Fitness has looked different for me. My goals are a little bit different and aging well and keeping my mobility and, you know, being able to do things that others can't as, as we age as something that's become really a top of mind for me. And it's something that I talked to more and more people about of why they want to be healthy and fit because I almost think that it's one of the best reasons if you can look into your future, you don't want to be the person in the wheelchair, you don't want to be the person that's hunched over, you know, you want to be able to still play with the grandkids, be healthy and fit, you know, be mobile.
I just think it's something that's so important to really think about how you want to age. Well, I'm curious why you think people give up on that idea. And this is then going to lead into your tips for how to get the ball rolling because it does seem to me that there's certain people, I mean, I can see this with former high level athletes who now can do nothing. And I'm just perplexed by that.
So I mean, I can understand if you had a long competitive career and everything you're doing was about competing and you can't compete any longer, you don't want to compete any longer any longer, that could have a psychological impact. But even then, I mean, what's your take on why people tend to, you know, give up on that idea or whatever you want to frame it. And then let's talk about the ways that you've experienced and worked with people to get them going again. Yeah, I think it's a couple of things.
I feel like so it brings me to thinking about business and why business is most of the time closed because they don't they don't evolve. They don't move their goals. They don't keep up with their customers. They don't do the things to keep them going through the years.
And I almost think it's the same thing, especially with competitive athletes. I think that they aren't able to see a different goal besides winning. And so their whole life, some of those people, since they can remember has been about competing and winning. And I think it's really hard when they lose that ability for them to evolve and transition to the next goal and to see into the future.
And I think all of us have a little bit of problem sometimes looking into our future and imagining what that's going to look like or having that as a goal because it's not tangible. You know, people love tangible things they can touch, things they can feel close goals. But sometimes you really have to, you know, look to the next, what's next, you know, what's my next goal, what's my next evolution. Okay, I can't compete now to win, but you know, do I want to be able to do something else or even master stuff.
So just changing your expectations of what you're winning. So you might not be a pro anymore, but you know, for a football player, go out and play flag football. I love football, you know, any kind of football I can play, I think because like a time like you really just have to evolve. I think we have to evolve as we get older and have different expectations of ourselves.
And the shot put of that guy that's 100 is a perfect example of that. He's evolved. He's changed his expectations. He's changed his goals.
He still has a great time. He's still, you know, out to do things that he loves. And I think that's where the beauty of it comes in is being able to do that. But it's hard.
I think that's hard. Yeah, it's a hard thing to do. Well, I mean, the good thing with master's athletics is the goals do change for you. So to become an all American, you have to, in any of the track, you have to hit his or yeah, they get to a certain time.
And as you get older, the time gets longer. So goodness. Yes, but you know, it's like, oh, on the one hand, it's like, I'm not running that fast on the other hand, Lisa, hitting an all American time. That literally is my goal is just to keep hitting all American times.
If I can do that I'm thrilled, even if I'm getting progressively slower. So that's the way it is. So, okay, so let's go back to you for the win on your trips for people getting that ball rolling. I don't know why I'm using that metaphor over and over and over.
But there it is. It's okay. Yeah. So, you know, over the years, we work with tons of clients on health and fitness and nutrition.
And a lot of what we hear in the feedback we get of why people don't do it on their own or they start and stop or they try so many things is because it feels hard to them. So one of the things that I found really important is, okay, it doesn't have to be this hard. Let's make it simple for you. Let's make it so that it's something that you can move into slowly.
So we usually focus on five simple habit changes. Now simple doesn't mean easy. You do have to change. You do have to be willing to commit to doing certain things, but they are simple.
So one of them is just being active and moving. We usually do that by steps, especially for people that sit all day. So, you know, get your steps in, you know, seven to 10,000 a day, you're active or you found a fun way to work out. So you play tennis or you do something like that or you swim.
That's being active, but really making sure that activity spreads across the week. And it's not just two days a week as well because if I try to lose body fat, I honestly, I do go into the gym and I work out. But the amount of calories I burn in a lifting workout is not enough to really get me to where I want to be. So I have to not sit all day.
I have to get up and I have to move and I have to be committed to that six or seven days a week. And so that's always the first one is just move being active, committing to park further from the grocery store, take the stairs, just those little choices that you can make differently in your day that will help you to be more active and move. That park further away thing is something I think about all the time. But the efficiency you can meet just circles that fucking lot until I find a spot that's two doors you know, two spots away.
I think you and I have a lot of very strange similarities. Like no joke, because I preach that to people. I will say it to anyone who's looking to be more active, but I will not park far away. I park as close as I can get.
And I have usually one aisle at the stores that I like to park in. Yeah, no, I'm the exact same way. I thought about the only way that I think I can convince myself to park farther away is if I buy a car that's expensive enough that I don't want it to get dinged up and you know, I'll park it really far away because no one else will be around then I'll do it. But otherwise, if I, you know, if I have a car that it's not a big deal to get a ding take it out, I'm going to circle the cost code a lot for an hour if I have to.
I am right there with you. But that is not what I'm telling others to do because they need to get their steps in and I'm really trying to help them. And I find ways to be active that they're different than that. And I do take the stairs.
The second one is drinking water. Oh, see, that's great. Yeah. One reason I mean, look, I just to that tangent, one of the reasons we get a dog is that a we have great office dogs.
And then my wife started working for home more and she said, I got to get up and I missed the office dogs. So we ended up happily getting a delightful dog. And so that's, you know, a good hour and a half worth of walking for me every day, which is great. But anyway, that was a bit of a tangent that we got to do because you glitched for a second.
But now you're on the water, which I'm holding in my hand and we'll drink as soon as you start talking. I always have water with me, but it's really a very underrated tool for feeling better, looking better, losing weight. Being dehydrated can cause a lot of issues that people don't realize are happening. So we tell everybody to aim for half their body weight and ounces at the minimum.
But drinking water is really hard for some people. So making sure that they just always have water with them in whatever form they like to drink it in. Like, I love straw cups. I don't know why, but I do I drink more.
I just do better. So like, I usually will focus on that if I have the ability to. So that's tip number two. And that one, I think is pretty easy.
I will say when I started drinking water, I'm going to give away all my secrets for some reason. I used to hate water. And so I would actually start, I was like, I'm going to teach myself to drink water. So I started with half juice and half water.
And then over time, I took the amount of juice down. And now I love water. Like, it's the main thing I drink water and why my family, people in Jesus' days. So I think it's like, the only thing I drink.
I think doing something crazy, like having a baby. And so we got one of those, one of the cups that they have that was like 64 ounces and it's graduating as a straw. And so when you actually can see that, that's very different than trying to have X number of glasses, which is all over different things. Like when it's right in front, and maybe this is me.
If it's not right in front of me, it doesn't exist. So if I have a big thing, that's something that I am paying attention to. And I'll deal with it. If it's not there, then I don't know what the universe looks like.
Yeah, no, absolutely. I totally agree. The third one is sleep. It's another one that people really struggle with, but it makes such a huge difference, especially for women.
I'll say on the weight loss side, if you're not getting, if you're getting less than six hours of sleep, your hormones are affecting the amount of weight that you can lose. And it will hurt you in what you're trying to do for your goals. So we always say, six to eight hours, I know it's hard, but you can develop better sleep habits and it will change everything. It'll change the way you feel.
It'll change your performance at work and at play. So we really tell people, please try and get some sleep. The fourth one is working out. So I'm going to stick on sleep for a second.
No, yeah. Personally, that was a tricky one for me. I mean, I'm getting enough hours, percent if you want to think of it that way. But it's not really good quality sleep.
And I'm wrestling with that one just as an FYI. And I've been playing with it. I mean, I have a mild sleep apnea. So I've been trying a couple of different things to deal with that to see if that makes a difference.
My sleep hasn't really so far. So that one, I'm tossing that one out there. Now that we're going to solve this problem for everybody right now, but I mean, if you have any thoughts about it, that's great. I'm not trying to go for a free session.
But I think I'm not the only as one gets older, they can get a little trickier. And yeah, this one's a, this is, I think a tough one for people. And I don't think that there's good, I mean, the typical sleep hygiene advice, you know, turn off your screens before you go to bed, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think we've all done that.
And yeah, I didn't really do it. Yeah. Now I agree. I go to sleep with the TV on the sleep timer.
So again, like my, but I sleep great. I have very good quality sleep. The first thing I always tell people is to make sure they're drinking enough water. I'm not saying that's anyone's particular problem.
But a lot of times dehydration actually can cause poor sleep quality. One of the main minerals that people can be low on is magnesium and not that affects sleep quite a bit. So I'll always recommend magnesium. And then we actually have a product on our line, but on our supplement line, that's a, it's a fat burner sleep enhancer.
I've never taken it because I, I don't need it. But I've had multiple people that have used it that say that it's very, very effective and has helped them change their sleep and even better on their watches that they trap. But I think with sleep, it's, there's just so many things that could be the issue. I think you just have to try one thing at a time.
I always go for natural things first. So improving your sleep hygiene to see if it does make a difference, caffeine intake. So I personally won't drink any caffeine after two. And typically the only caffeine that I drink is first thing in the morning when I get up and I won't drink anymore in the day unless I'm really craving coffee.
But if it's after two, I literally won't do it because I know that it affects my sleep. Yeah, I think you're right. The caffeine thing I mean, sadly, I think we're leaning on that is that you didn't have to experiment and humans don't like experimenting. We like paid by numbers.
I know. But if I were to say first three things, I would say caffeine intake, try to sleep hygiene things and water intake. That's what I always start with people. And then this one's a little bit more, you know, mindfulness, but a lot of people just have trouble relaxing or letting go of the things in their heads.
So I'll always tell them to actually journal before they go to bed, like write down every single thing that's spinning through your head, you know, put it on paper and then set it aside. And that's actually made a big difference, especially for some of my female clients who tend to, you know, get stuck in their head, can't go to sleep, it wakes them up in the night. But sleep is a tough one. It really is, you know, our bodies are always working in one way or another.
Whether we want them to or not. That is a fact. Okay, do we have a number five? Four.
Wait, we have four first. So four is... I thought four was in the mind. What have I covered?
Yeah. Oh, no, that was just a bonus. Okay, great. That was a bonus.
Four is working out. So I do think it is important to lift weights two to three times a week. I think that for multiple reasons, including having muscle is what boost metabolism and metabolism is important to body function. I also think it's very important for bone density.
You need something that has some weight or some impact to it to prevent bone loss as you're aging. And it really does help with fat burning and weight loss when you're lifting weight. It's almost more important than cardio. I don't do a ton of cardio.
Active, yes. Force cardio, not really. I do think it's important for people to lift weights. And it doesn't have to be hour and a half long workouts lifting as heavy as you can, but just getting some sort of weight, whether it's a kettlebell or even a band or whatever it is, just having some resistance training a couple of times a week, I think is really important.
And there's another one, Selle, where you can have to experiment to find what works for you and it will change over time. And again, I'm lifting lighter weights more until I can't lift late weights rather than doing heavy squats, heavy dead lifting, which I used to do. And I used to love doing, because I'm five, five, one, 45. I used to love going to a gym where there's all these big muslin dudes who are deadlifting 400 and they'd finish and start to unwrap the weights.
No, no, you can leave those and then I'd bring it to more plates. And they're like, what the hell? So I miss those days, but oh, well, yeah, no, I can't do that anymore. Either.
Although I will say that my upper body strength is kind of freakish, definitely genetic, I'm sure, and just years and years of lifting. So I'm usually lifting more than the guys next to me in the gym when I'm doing arms and stuff. And I'm like, I was trying to turn away though. Like, I go bad.
I'm like, I'm gonna go over here. I don't I want you to keep working now. I want you to feel good about yourself. Yeah, I don't know if you are a single person or a not single person, but I'm sure you know, as if you are a single person, the worst thing you could do to get picked up in a gym is outlift the guys who might want to pick you up.
Luckily, I'm married. So I don't have to care. My husband and I actually run these businesses together. But at the same time, like, I just don't want to make people I don't want people to quit because of me.
Like, oh my gosh, that's girls lifting more than me. I can't do this anymore. You know, I just envision them feeling bad about themselves. And I'm like, don't you're doing amazing.
Just keep going. That's a riot. Okay, are we on number five? Number five.
So number five is all about nutrition. It's actually, I would argue my favorite topic in health fitness, something that I could go on and on and all those things that I can't stand. There's a reason that diet has to work die in it. So really, my simple tip for nutrition is to focus on protein.
I think protein is very, very important for all of the things we talked about. It's what keeps you full. So you don't, you know, have to eat all day or overeat. It's a founding building block in muscle, and it really does help a lot of your bodily even digestive function.
So we always tell people to aim for about one gram of protein per desired weight to pounds. So if you're looking to lose 50 pounds, whatever your desired weight is, you want to aim for about a gram of protein per desired body weight as a good goal. And that is high protein. And some people choose not to eat like that.
And I can fully support that as well. And you can work with it. But if you ask me what the ideal nutrition plan is for someone who's trying to maintain muscle or lose body fat or change their body composition, it's going to be high protein moderate carb and probably lower fats. Again, it doesn't work for everybody.
There are plenty of vegans and other people out there who've done miraculous things with their muscles and physical activity and all of that. But my opinion is high protein. And I do think it's one that is easier to do than some of the others. So it does keep it simple.
Yeah, I mean, that's one of those things where while drinking your protein is not necessarily ideal, it's something you can do. And I will confess, I bought something a couple weeks ago just to be able to get more protein in kind of semi supplemental form. I bought an injury creamy ice cream. And I will also confess, I haven't made any high protein ice creams yet, because I discovered raspberry sorbet, which holy crap, that's amazing.
And then I tested a couple of chocolate ice cream recipes and found one that is, luckily, I'm not a bingy kind of guy, but best ice cream I've ever had. So this weekend is my mission to do a couple of protein experiments. Yeah, stuff like that does make it, it makes it more fun. Right?
I mean, there are super, there's so many things out there now too, you know, on Instagram and other places Pinterest where you can find whatever craving you have, you can find a high protein recipe for it, you know, I'm going to promote something that I promoted before. And if you don't know about it, you're going to like to know about it, I'm going to hold it up and show you and then tell you tell me if you know about it and then I'll just wrap it up. I don't but I'm excited. I love new products.
Okay, so what I hold up is it's a protein bar called David, and I'm going to hold it up so you can see again. So 28 grams of protein in only 150 calories and zero grams of sugar. And they are, I like to say they're kind of the second best tasting bars I've had, because there's one that I used to get that was the macros weren't nearly as good and it tasted more candy bar like, but they have a couple flavors. They have a fudge brownie flavor and a peanut butter chocolate chip flavor that I could just eat all day every day.
And if you go to DavidProTine.com slash zero XERO, by the way, you get some special thing if you do that. But I mean, these things, I mean, the macros are just insane. And everyone who I've turned these on to all of my fitness friends are like, Oh my God, this is all we eat now. So yeah, you're right.
There are all these incredible things that are available to make that easier for you. And that's one I mean, I have, I definitely have one of those every day. Yeah, I'm definitely going to check it out. I'm always looking for I don't need a lot of protein bars because most of them are not great.
Actually, when we tell people when they come in, they'll be like, Oh, I have a protein bar, I'm like, you probably don't you probably have a car bar. You know, bless your heart. So like, let's not eat those and let's find other ways to get our protein. And because I can't trust any of them.
I'm like, if you're really serious about it, bring me the box. I'll look at it. But if you can't read most of the ingredients and the macros aren't there, that it's probably not the best thing for your body. And for people who are hip to Peter, Peter is the science advisor for this company.
So that's a big part of it. I mean, it's the check amount you'll see, I'll say, or yeah, just if you reach out to them, they might be nice and just send you something. So yes, the protein thing is very interesting. And it's definitely one that you've got to, again, experiment with the fine words for you, depending on what you eat.
I mean, I have a genetic thing where meat tastes like metal to me. I just taste kind of metallic like the iron from hemoglobin. And so I don't eat meat. So I have to find other ways of doing that are palatable.
And that's, you know, it's a thing. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And it's possible, you know, for people to get protein in from lots of different sources, it's just focused eating, basically. But I think it's easier than, I mean, now, again, it depends on your goal, right?
So like, you know, when I'm trying to lose body fat, like I'm on a cut right now, like I have to eat so specifically that I'm going to eat, I'm going to track everything. I track my protein, my carbs, my fats, then I'll get to a place where I'm tracking my sodium. And it's a different level, but most people don't need to do that. And I think when they see people doing that and they use that, it's really hard.
It's really hard to track everything you eat and to hit multiple different goals. And so I think really just keeping it simple, if you're eating enough protein and filling it in with, you know, other healthy fruits and vegetables and some, you know, simple carbs, you're going to be fine. You're going to be making progress just at that point. So I think it just makes it a lot simpler than some of the stuff that is out there.
And it's not a diet. It's how you should eat. Yeah. Yeah.
It's something that everyone else sees some article that's about, you know, the best way you should eat. And I read it and I go, that's so close what I'm already doing. It's just, you know, it's, I thought it was going to be something special, but it's really like a lot of fruit. It just comes naturally again.
All this stuff should be lifestyle stuff. But yeah, yeah, the goal should be the goal should be lifestyle change. And even if you only do one habit at a time, one change at a time, you're still making progress. And that's what it's about.
Well, and again, for me, out of sight out of mind, so I always have a bunch of fruit around both in the fridge and out of the fridge. So I've got my favorite apples. I have one right here. This is actually my second favorite.
This is a cosmic crisp apple, not honey crisp. Oh, yeah, we have those here. Oh, it's a good and then sugar bees is a variety that I love. So I've always got those.
I've always got some pineapple cut up in the fridge, some grapes in the fridge, a bunch of kiwis on the counter. So it's just, it makes it easier when I know I need something that's what I'm reaching for. Yeah. And it's not, you know, it's not just, well, because I like them.
But if they aren't there, then I'll do something. Yeah, and I explicitly never bring potato chips into the house because they will, they won't last for very long. Yeah, I think, you know, just like movement, I think eating can be enjoyable and you don't have to eliminate food groups and do all those things out there to be successful and, you know, have the body composition that you want. Yeah, you do have to not eat fast food every day.
And, you know, puts and healthy things in your body, but it doesn't have to be as hard as it sometimes is explained. No, one of our, one of our secrets and it was an inadvertent secret is my wife and I have become complete chocolate snobs. So we don't have a bar of chocolate in our house that costs less than $10 and we have enough chocolate to survive the apocalypse. And, but the, but they all last forever, because we'll have like one squares, like, you know, less than 10 grams.
And that's all you want. It's just too rich for anything else. So that's one of my favorites. And here I'll do a shout out for a company called Bar & Coco, B-A-R-A-N-D-C-C-O-C-A.
Yeah, dot com. Yeah. Yeah. These bean Denver, all mail order, all like, you know, single beam, single origin, unbelievably good stuff.
And they were the ones who we had been chocolate snobs before. We discovered them, but when we discovered them, it brought us an robbery to a level that is just elevated you. It is obnoxious to a point of we can't go to dinner parties. I mean, it's really bad.
So, I love it. Yeah, it's a good one. Anything else that we can think of on our theme of making fitness not something that looks like you're not having fun? You know, I think your message of it being enjoyable.
I think that people try to box themselves in and, you know, be out of the box, find movement, you enjoy, find food, you enjoy. And I think the other thing that people get stuck on that I talk about all the time is like, this isn't about perfection. This is about consistency. So, being consistent over time is so much more important than being really good for a week or a month.
You know, if you mess up, don't say, oh, now I have to start over and I'm going to wait a week. So, I've accused myself of that. Like, I'll miss on Monday workout. And I'll be like, oh, this week is shot.
I'll just wait until next Monday. Which of that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I said that to someone else. I'm like, if you forgot to brush your teeth in the morning, you wouldn't wait a week to brush on that night.
Yeah, I forgot to brush my teeth. So, I'm just pull them all out. Yeah, I'm done. I'm done.
I screwed up. So, I'm out of the game now. No, just get back on the horse, be consistent. If you have a cheat day or a cheat meal or a cheat week, it's okay, life is long.
Life is short, but life is long. And getting back to things you need to do and just consistency over time is really what matters. Yeah, that is the number one thing. And again, speaking from just recent personal experience, I mean, now that I've been doing this lifting that I've been doing, three times a week every week for the last year has seen more changes in my body.
In fact, I said to the trainer that I'm working with, I said, I don't have a frame of reference for what's changing. I mean, the way we're doing lifting, I don't see that I'm just lifting more weight every time, because that's not the kind of workout that is. But I just have no sense of it. You know, like, here's some of the changes that I've had in my measurements.
And he said, dude, if you were 25, that would be impressive. But I'm not, you know, patting myself in the back is like, the consistency has had more impact on me than everything else I've ever done. Yes, that's where the results are. The results are inconsistency.
And I think that crosses over way beyond helping fitness. I think that goes into relationships and business and really any goal you have, you know, can system is where we're going to come from. So, I like how we're going to end on consistency. Well, we've had inconsistent internet connection the entire time we've had this conversation.
So I hope that people have been able to tolerate the two second glitches that we have every five minutes. Well, Ariana, this has been a total dream and treat. If people want to get in touch with you and find out more about how, what you're doing and how you can be helpful for them, wherever they are, how would they do that? Yeah.
Yeah. So if they're interested in reading a little bit more, getting more information on the five simple tips, they can go to lunafitjourney.com. So l-u-n-a-f-i-t-j-o-u-r-n-e-y.com. If they just want to see what we do, learn more about us, or if they want to be a right now, a beta test for our app, which that would be a dream for me.
The more the better, we're looking for tons of feedback in the next few months, they can go to lunafitapp.com to find how they can download our app. And then everything we do is at lunafit.com. So a few ways that they can get in touch with us, and we do a little bit of everything. So we'd love to hear from people.
Thank you. Well, I would love the people to take advantage of that. And I'd love to hear what they experience when they do connect with you and do let me know because that will happen. So again, thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for everybody else. Thank you as well. Quick reminder, go to www.jointhemovementmovement.com to find out all the previous episodes, find out where you can find us on social media and other places to get the podcast if you want to get somewhere other than where you already did.
And also, if you have any requests, any suggestions, anybody you want to think I should talk to on the show, including anyone who you think might think that I have a case of cranial rethal reorientation syndrome, I'm happy to have those conversations. Hasn't happened yet. I'm really dying to have someone who wants to chat with me who thinks I'm completely full of it. And I'll be very entertaining.
And also, again, spread the word, give us thumbs up, give us a like on Facebook, and give us a, you know, hit the bell icon and subscribe on YouTube. Again, like I said, if you want to be part of the tribe, just subscribe. And if I didn't say it, yeah, send all those requests to move at jointhemovementmovementmovement.com. That's how I will hear them.
But most importantly, no matter what you're doing, go out, have fun, and live life feet first.