Mark Bell's Power Project - MBPP EP. 734 - A Guide to Healthy Self Expression for Men

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Starting point is 00:00:43 Again, VivoBarefoot.com, promo code POWERPROJECT, entire order again vivo barefoot.com promo code power project 20 off links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes who are you what do you think you're doing huh yeah is that scottish maybe i'm gonna get scottish i thought it was it's funny when you go to do an accent and you turn into something totally different like a sound like a vampire or something weird. You do this. And Seema, what happened to your shirt?

Starting point is 00:01:10 I raped my Scottish accent one out of ten. Is it good? Is it good, Andrew? I'm just trying to go... It's not... Because if not, it almost turns Jamaican. I ain't even going to try that shit.'m gonna embarrass myself it's hard but it rained man i know it rained what happened right before that though yeah we were going on a on a nice walk and andrew andrew was like wearing a sweatshirt responsible a little bit it was a

Starting point is 00:01:39 little bit nippy i was like that seems reasonable but mark mark was like nah dude take that off it's sunny you're gonna start sweating i like hockey jersey to him i pulled it right off him yeah and and threatened his life andrew's like you know what i trust you mark you've never led me astray you know you're now he knows different in the middle of the walk it fucking rains it didn't just rain it was windy and it never rains here there's like a drought every year oh my god the sun was out and the next thing you know we're at the furthest part of our walk we're like just before halfway so it's like if we turn around it would be almost as long but to finish it we're gonna have to walk a little bit further and then it came down nailed it booyah and zima did a fadeaway and went straight

Starting point is 00:02:27 into the trash can the dog that's so funny because like freaking simulation it's not raining right now it stopped it stopped raining as we started to approach after the run because we were running from the rain we had to run from the rain so i was just like you know what andrew chose not to wear a sweater let's just rain on them right now let's rain on all of them right now not only were we running we were screaming so it was like the rain

Starting point is 00:02:48 was going to kill us it was really bad but it was kind of fun oh and it was fantastic yeah when was the last time you guys ran in the rain shit

Starting point is 00:02:56 I mean I know Mark you've been doing it quite a bit cause well I've been running yeah rain or shine yeah it doesn't usually rain

Starting point is 00:03:01 like it's only rained a couple times so yeah but not like that. That was actually good. Yeah, it like hailed for a second there because it was hurting. I got hit by something.

Starting point is 00:03:12 Yeah. Pull up this amazing video of me and Jesse Burdick doing our mobility work on the pavement. And apologies for those on the audio side, but this will be fun to listen to. You have to watch this but in seem i want you to close your eyes because i'm going to pull it up and then all right don't keep them closed keep them closed keep them closed keep them closed wow that guy is handsome all right go ahead and open dude how old were you here? God. 18. Your cheek and your chin are like the same thing.

Starting point is 00:03:48 He's in ninth grade. It's like, there is no chin, actually. Why didn't you have a beard? He has the double chin. I know. The hat is being like pushed off my head, too. My head is so fat. The hat's like hanging on for dear life. Your mouth is so small.

Starting point is 00:04:06 Your mouth is so tiny compared to the rest of your face. Yeah, look at the size of those cheeks. What size shirts were you wearing back then? Well, that's got to be at least a three or four X. Yeah. Wow. That's great. But the information is still good.

Starting point is 00:04:20 You'll die when you see the shorts that I'm wearing. They're giant. Oh, yeah. Those and ones. Those are b-ball shorts. It's going to be wearing. They're giant. Oh, yeah. Those and ones. Those are b-ball shorts. It's going to be great. It's 11 years ago, by the way. But also, Jesse Burdick looks like he's 10, like for reals.

Starting point is 00:04:31 Action. Action. This is Leopard Series number two. We are at the Lumiere Theater. Or Lumiere. Very famous French cinematographers. They invented film, I guess. I don't. Very famous French cinema photographers. They invented film, I guess. I don't even know what's going on.

Starting point is 00:04:50 We're at another premiere of Bigger, Stronger, Faster. I don't know why. The movie's very old. But we are doing a mobility wad stretch again. I can barely see my eyes. Me and Jesse Burdick here are taking over the mobility wad once again. Jesse looks good, though. He looks so young.

Starting point is 00:05:04 Yeah. You look good, too, good too mark thank you you're welcome so what we're doing here we're in the streets of san francisco for the mobility one we're gonna do a quad pnf rear stretch for your quad so what we're gonna do is we're gonna have over here because he's tight through his quad i've been messing with this stuff for a long time. 11 years ago. Whoa. San Francisco is terrible. Oh, bro.

Starting point is 00:05:35 These shorts, though. Wow. Here's my kiss. Afterward. You're in San Francisco, so the rear. Whoa. He's getting very personal. He's getting up in there., so the rear. Whoa. Getting very personal. He's getting up in there. Feel the tightness.

Starting point is 00:05:49 Now what you're going to do is you're going to kick. Wow. Look at that mobility. It's unbelievable. Oh, yeah. We're going to pull it a little bit tighter. We're going to go one more time. What is wrong with us?

Starting point is 00:06:01 Kick. One, two, three, relax. This is like Titanic. Did you say that, Andrew? No. This reminds me of Titanic. The Titanic meme? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:06:10 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:06:27 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bam. Oh, man. Suppleleppardmobilitywad.com. Thank you. Okay. I have a question for you, Mark. At that point in time. Yes, I've always been handsome. That?

Starting point is 00:06:37 So, yeah, you've definitely always been handsome. Were you able to see your penis while looking down at that point in time? I was, but, you know, it got to be difficult after a while my stomach you know my stomach was never like even though i'm fat as hell like i think my stomach like uh circumference in the front was never like never never crazy i never had like a distended uh belly so yeah it made it more challenging though okay okay i had like look look you know i mean i had like not just like look down I had to, like, look, look. You know what I mean? I had to, like, not just, like, look down. I had to, like, kind of... Search around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There it is.

Starting point is 00:07:07 Yeah. There we go. All right. I kind of saw it, I think. Counts. Man. Yeah, when was... Let's see.

Starting point is 00:07:14 When was this posted? I hate that I can't see sometimes. You said 11 years ago, right? Mm-hmm. So, it was 2011? Yeah, 11 years ago. I just graduated high school. So, dang. 2010, one year into the I just graduated high school. So, dang.

Starting point is 00:07:25 2010, one year into the slingshot. Wow. Mm-hmm. Damn. Okay. One year of slingshot and a couple years of, you know, the greatest thing about that is that we felt the need to film that. That's the coolest part.

Starting point is 00:07:39 Yeah. And that was before YouTube was like pop and pop. Yeah. We were like, this is important to get to the world. How much, were you 330 there? Or was that like – were you still climbing up? I looked pretty maxed out right there. I don't know. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:07:51 I'm probably at least over 300 pounds. Definitely over 300 pounds. Yeah. 330 was like – I think I was like 330 for like a day or two. Okay. I think that was my heaviest, heaviest. Yeah. But I don't know what I weighed there, but it was definitely heavy.

Starting point is 00:08:09 Definitely rotund. It made throwing around big weights a lot easier i know that shit april 14th 2011 was when it was posted 414 wow wow you're definitely uh the calves were there hey at least i had something going on and the shins looked like they were kind of bloody so you're definitely dead lifting a fuck ton so yeah i could lift some stuff back then but yeah i couldn't really do much else other than like just kind of marshmallow my way around you know uh we had the other day um the other day matt was uh doing some squats baby fat yeah which is the greatest nickname of all time, I think. Baby Fat was popping out some squats and my brother's like, my God, your mobility's so good.

Starting point is 00:08:49 He's just doing these squats flawless and he's knocking out reps with 500 pounds. And of course, I gotta hate him. I gotta hate on him, right? Just because I'm jealous of the way that he's squatting and he's handling manhandling this weight. Does he still have a really good mustache? I think so. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:09:05 He built out a hell of a Yeah. Yeah, he built out a hell of a mustache. Yeah, he's got it all. But I said, well, of course he's flexible. So is a marshmallow when you roast it over a fire. And Matt just turned around

Starting point is 00:09:16 after his set and just gave me a fist bump. He's like, he goes, that was worth it. He's like, that was good. You know,

Starting point is 00:09:21 sometimes, you know, I was like biting my tongue, but I'm like, I was like, he needs to hear this. This is too funny. The crazy thing though is like, that was good. You know, sometimes, you know, I was like biting my tongue, but I'm like, I was like, he needs to hear this. This is too funny. The crazy thing though is like, yeah, he moves really well. He does.

Starting point is 00:09:31 He's heavier right now, but his mobility is there. Like his squat looks comfortable. He moves well. So whenever he decides to, you know, shift, he's still going to be moving really well. We got a couple of guys in the gym that squat really well. Our boy, John, he moves really well when he's squatting.'s fucking he has a tank those big oh yes i don't know how to say his last name yes i couldn't tell you me neither yeah anyway anyway you know what in watching some of these old videos that pop up here and there you know sometimes things pop up in your phone it's

Starting point is 00:10:02 like you know old pictures or whatever yep that pop up and uh there. You know, sometimes things pop up in your phone as like, you know, old pictures or whatever. Yep. That pop up. Sometimes you need to change that shit. Yeah. Sometimes you need to go through your camera and take some shit out. Just delete. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:10:13 But yeah. And delete it everywhere. Oh my God. Because it's never really, it's not really fully deleted, right? It's never, yeah. You got it. You need to go into your, into your deleted folder and then delete it there. And then you need to go on your laptop and make sure it's not there anymore either. Somebody can probably still find some of it somehow, right?

Starting point is 00:10:30 Yeah. But what I've noticed in some of these videos, like there was a video that popped up. There was a picture with me and Rich Piana. And then I was like, oh, I barely remember meeting him. I know that I met him more than once. So then I was like, let me find the video. So I found a video and I was like let me find the video so i found a video and i was like i got the worst i have and you guys are gonna laugh because you

Starting point is 00:10:51 guys are aware of this i have the worst poker face like i am not good at like hiding stuff like when somebody says something to me i'm not good at like reacting to it like sometimes like if somebody says something that normally would hit somebody like real emotionally, then I'm not bad with that stuff. But if it's something I don't want to do, I don't like hide it very well. So Rich Pion and I are talking and he's like, you should come out and meet me in Vegas or something. And I'm like, yeah. But like the face that I make is like really like, no, I was there. I filmed it.

Starting point is 00:11:23 So like I have all this stuff like bottled up that i just don't say a lot of times i'm kind of guarded with it but i'm like man my face says it all like so even if i think i'm hiding certain things from people i'm not doing a very good job of it yeah it was like that quiet like yeah yeah yeah your voice changes yeah your inflection all right well yeah all right well like do you want to schedule it yeah yeah we'll figure it out we'll figure it out like oh yeah let's do it yeah why does your voice change so much i do that shit all the time my voice goes up here yeah it's great or you say like probably yeah i'll probably see you tomorrow uh-huh there's no shot you are not seeing me tomorrow oh man see you tomorrow at 10 maybe hey see you guys tomorrow at 10 like yes that'll happen possibly oh why not just say no i don't know why not yeah i don't know you know

Starting point is 00:12:10 sometimes you don't want to like dash somebody's somebody's potential you know hand or anything but yeah but imagine if he's like hey come out to vegas and and meet up with me no no and no explanation you're just like okay like i'm good yeah yeah it's just because it it it gets rid of the conversation right now like it gets you out of it and then you can maybe make some shit up later or whatever but i think that's why because like yeah like if in sema you're like hey do you come over to dinner tonight at eight o'clock or something i'd be like you understand this but like if you didn't know this, that that's like really late for me. I'm like, yeah, maybe.

Starting point is 00:12:48 Because if I say like, no, you're going to be like, what, what do you mean? You know? So I think that just helps you avoid that awkward conversation of like, thanks for the invite, but I do not want to go to dinner tonight. You guys ever come completely live. Somebody asks you how something's going and it's not even going on anymore or that person's not even in your life anymore. Like, oh, how's it going with so-and-so?

Starting point is 00:13:09 And like, you're not even dating her anymore. And you're like, good. Just to get out of it. First of all, you're a little thrown off and you're like, I don't know how to answer that question. Like, we're not together anymore. And you don't want to go into that. It's a lot of explanations.

Starting point is 00:13:20 So I'm just going to be like, good. Okay, cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I've done yeah yeah then you're kind of like i think i just completely lied like not only is it not going good we're not even together anymore oh man no i don't think i've done that with the relationship stuff um i've done that sometimes with like business stuff where like i may have started something i don't do anymore something like yeah how's that going like it's good it's going great know, might as well avoid the conversation altogether by just saying it's going great.

Starting point is 00:13:47 But then if they dig, they're like, Oh, tell me about that. It's like, ah, well, sorry.

Starting point is 00:13:53 Yeah. Now you're really, yeah. Now you're really caught up in something. I didn't even know we were going to be talking about this shit, but you know what I really fucking suck with? Um, do you know those people who are like,

Starting point is 00:14:01 uh, in front of stores or when you go to malls and they're like kiosks and they try to call you over? Oh, man, I'm so bad. Like if somebody stops me and is like, hi, and I accidentally make eye contact, I can't act like I didn't hear him. If I make eye contact, then I'm just like, hi. Are you like trying to pretend you're interested in what they're trying to sell you on? Yeah. Oh, nope.

Starting point is 00:14:20 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm so bad at just being like, I got to go. What are you supposed to do in that situation? You go. You ignore. Like, you don't ignore, but you just, you know, you got to do the, you know. I wonder if you could just be like, hey, I'm going to give you 20 bucks. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:36 Hopefully it goes towards something cool, but I got to go. Yeah. Girl Scouts are the worst. Because when it's children, when it's children. Well, that's why's children that shit yeah you just gotta you just gotta buy a package i shouldn't even allow children to do that so they should you on the street corner it's like come on yeah leave me alone yeah my wife's the same way though like she will listen to i'm like nope like hey we're still just keep pushing just

Starting point is 00:14:59 keep pushing like because what all i do is just like oh sorry no thanks like i don't even know what they have to say yeah Yeah. I just, yeah. And usually that's, that works because I'm like trying to juggernaut things, you know, I'm just like not slowing down. Like I don't pause or nothing. Like, sorry. No, thanks. And just straight forward.

Starting point is 00:15:15 I've gotten a bit better at that over the years, but, uh, there's still a little, there's still a bit of that there where I'm just like, oh, I made eye contact. Well, let's, let's see what this is. And then when you're done with the whole thing, I'll say thank you and no, and then I'll keep on my way. But at least I wasted your time because I gave you practice. I realize how fucked up it is because they weren't going to get a yes. Yeah. But I put their hopes up because I stopped.

Starting point is 00:15:37 It's harsh. It's harsh. It's not easy. I think I bottled a lot of stuff up. I don't always say exactly what's on my mind. But I think it's important, though, sometimes, right? Like, you can't just, like, let everything fly all the time. You can't just, like, say exactly how you feel all the time, right?

Starting point is 00:15:54 Dog, no. I don't know. I mean, I don't think that's it. Personally, for me, I've never found that to be the best idea immediately, at least. I find it better to, if something's really going on, like, I find it better to, if I, if something's really going on, like I find it better to just think a little bit. And I know it can sometimes be frustrating if you're with somebody cause they want to know, but it's just like, let, let, let, let me let my mind go over this so I can figure out if this is stupid or not first. And then, and then we can,

Starting point is 00:16:19 we can come to it. You know, then normally you can communicate way better and you can say, Hey, I don't know what happened, but like for some reason i feel hurt or threatened and this is what happened and maybe i'm an idiot for that but i somehow am insulted by what happened you know and then you can kind of talk through it but when in the moment you just be like i'm mad yeah and you don't really have any way to communicate it and men a lot of times we just get like quiet and then like we just grumble and make noise and then we kind of walk away yeah yeah because if you let if you let frustration do the talking for you you're gonna you might say some shit but i mean you feel it and it still fits what's bothering you but you

Starting point is 00:17:01 might kind of go a little bit over the top and then like that's just not gonna to help anything yeah it's going to make it worse if what about what about it like a restaurant like is everything going okay here everything tastes good and like something's wrong like you ordered steak and you got chicken instead or something and it's like it just depends how wrong it is because like yeah you know like with my wife she has a gluten intolerance so like we can't like really like you can't risk that like like if i just want to go low carb and they bring the bun you know like on a hamburger or something it's like oh yeah everything go cool yeah no everything's great and i just take the bun off for her she wouldn't be able to do that so it's like in that case it's just like ah sorry yeah i asked you know for gluten-free or whatever it is you know, it's just like, ah, sorry. Yeah, I asked for gluten-free or whatever it is.

Starting point is 00:17:45 And it's like, oh, sorry, my bad. But yeah, I don't know. I mean, you don't want to fuck with people that prepare your food. But also you have to, like, I didn't want the chicken. Yeah. I think being overly nice can work really well. If you come from, like, if you say it in a way that can like be more on their side say hey i might have miscommunicated i i was i was trying to order like tri-tip and

Starting point is 00:18:11 i ended up with chicken but i might have said the wrong thing is there a way you can replace it or something a lot of times i'll be like oh my god and i'll just like leave the chicken there too that's how i've gotten to me so many times yeah yeah like just being overly nice sometimes works but sometimes in the heat of the moment it's not easy to like when you say something you sometimes say it and you're like that didn't sound good that sounded rude even though all you were pointing out is what you want but sometimes pointing out what you want can sound kind of rude dude i can't stand people who are like rude to people in service. I hate that myself.

Starting point is 00:18:48 Because like, okay, somebody got something wrong. Cool. You can let them know. But people, I've seen this so much. People who are like mean to people and like people that are waiting on them or people in grocery stores or whatever. It's just like, dog, you really have nothing better to do than just be mean to this individual who has to deal with so many fucking people. You know what I mean? Like, just be nice to them.

Starting point is 00:19:10 You know, maybe they're having a hard day, too. Be nice. You might be able to get two meals out of it. Well, and who knows what happened. I mean, maybe they literally just gave you a dish that was meant for a guy sitting in a similar seat just at a different table. Yeah. And they just mixed it up. I mean, it's going to happen.

Starting point is 00:19:26 And then so you get all pissed off. You know, hey, I've been waiting over an hour and this, I ordered something totally different. This is, this is not even wrong. This is not even right. The appetizers were cold and you're just like, man, this person is really just flaming the fuck out of this person. Like, I just don't think it's helpful. I do think that like if you really did have some sort of issue,

Starting point is 00:19:49 maybe when you're done, which I would never even do any of this, but like maybe when you're done, you communicate with somebody and say, hey, I own a business too. And I just want to let you know, you guys fucking suck. No. I just want to let you know like a couple things got misarranged and a couple people got some orders that weren't correct. And I just wanted to communicate that to you just so you kind of know.

Starting point is 00:20:11 Like, I don't know if it's, you know, who it's coming from or what happened. But it's my second time coming here. And last time, a couple things were off a little bit, too. I like this place. Things taste really good. So maybe you can not fuck up so bad. I don't know. Like I just don't – I don't even like getting into those conversations, but that would be really helpful.

Starting point is 00:20:32 Like if someone had a problem here and they said they got the wrong size slingshot or whatever it is, I would love to be able to solve that problem for somebody. I'd love to be able to solve that problem for somebody. But if they just say, if I ask how something's doing or they get an email back from us saying, hey, curious on how that last order went for you and you say it's good, but it wasn't good, then I don't know how to help. Yeah, but bottling things up though can, I mean, it seems, and I'm again going back to this John Sarno book, when you do keep things bottled up it can kind of manifest into something that you wouldn't expect like being able to shoot a load of cum across the room at a voracious speed

Starting point is 00:21:16 because that's what I'm thinking bottled up are you guys saying the same thing or is it just me being weird I thought about that immediately it's like it just hits the ceiling yeah does it is there ever like an end to the velocity if you keep it held in there like oh if it's bottled up it's coming out whether you want it to or not yeah like wet dreams no yeah yeah willingly or unwillingly it's coming out some way yeah but yeah uh yeah, back to what I was going to say.

Starting point is 00:21:46 It's like I'm pretty terrible at expressing myself, you know, being able to like really speak up about like what is like bothering me and stuff. So reading this book has kind of – it makes you go back and think like, oh, like maybe I'm not done working on this, whatever it may be. And it's like, shit, maybe – like I wish I wasn't so quiet. I wish I did speak up for myself a lot more when I was younger because then maybe, who knows, maybe I wouldn't have back pain because that's like one of the things that can happen with what's called TMS,

Starting point is 00:22:17 tension myositis syndrome, is it can manifest itself into like an issue on your posterior muscle. So you hear about tension headaches. And it's like, what the fuck is that? Oh, you're stressed at work and now you have a headache. Oh, he wants us to rub his butt now. Because it is traps, shoulders, back, low back, and glutes. Is where a lot of the tension.

Starting point is 00:22:40 We hear you, Andrew. Okay, wink. I lost my train of thought. But that's what it was. So when you first hear about this, you're just like, this is kind of stupid. Because I got dumped a couple years ago, now I have back pain or whatever it may be. But in the fitness industry, we always talk about the mind-muscle connection. When we're doing a certain movement, we actually focus on and you know michael

Starting point is 00:23:05 hearn has also said like oh i imagine the muscle fibers being broken down as i'm doing this movement yeah that all seems pretty legit right like we all kind of believe in that but then when it comes to this it does seem kind of like a little bit out there like to think like oh the reverse yeah yeah exactly right like there's some weird energy that's causing your, you know, chronic pain or whatever. But it's like, dude, like humans can heal ourselves pretty quickly on just about anything. But yet when something takes like 10 years or more, it's like, okay, dude, like what's really interesting is like when it comes to back pain, majority of back pain occurs between 30 and 60 years old. So if it's arthritis, if it's slipped discs, if it's things atrophying over time, you would think that that rate would go higher as you get older. But it doesn't because it's like almost impossible from like zero to 20s or whatever. almost impossible from like zero to twenties or whatever. And then 30 to 60, when you're the most responsible for like getting a better job,

Starting point is 00:24:08 being responsible for a family, trying to like be a man, trying to like really do shit. That's when it happens the most because after that it drops off significantly. And it's like, what changes? It's like, Oh,

Starting point is 00:24:19 you retire. You stop giving a fuck about things. You stop having responsibility. It felt like it found a purpose probably. Yes. And so it's like, okay, the mind is controlling a lot more than we think. Can I ask you something real quick? Do you know if it mentions anything?

Starting point is 00:24:34 Because like, I mean, this is just pure speculation, but you know, if a person's been living with a certain amount of discomfort, back pain or discomfort, would it be possible for in their you know elderly years to report it as like it's just normal it's not really pain you know what i mean it definitely can but even with um back mechanic wow his name's just slipped my mind student regal shit sorry dude um in his book he's just like oh if you have back pain, just know it's not going to be around forever because once you get into your 60s, it just kind of goes away. And it's just like, wow. It's very interesting. It is. But it's, I mean, they have done studies and statistics and all the shits that people want to point to when it comes to show proof.

Starting point is 00:25:21 And you can see the curve goes way down when it, once you hit that age, it's all really fascinating because here I am with back pain in my, you know, I've had it for a long time now since I was 20, but I don't know, man, I've tried a lot of things and you know,

Starting point is 00:25:39 this go to stuff is definitely helping. Like I've, I ran with you guys a little bit ago and i felt fine like i feel fine right now so it's obviously it's working yeah that's been great to see the times that we've like you know worked out with jason and a couple times you and i did like bodybuilding stuff you've been able to jump into those things without a lot of from what i've learned not a lot of uh like repercussions later on yeah no everything's been doing, but it would be interesting to like tap into the, cause like I've never talked to like a therapist or anything like that,

Starting point is 00:26:09 but something I definitely want to look into because like, you know, and see me, you were saying like you have your like group of friends, like where you guys are like just a bunch of dudes talking about relationships or whatever it may be. I don't have that. Yeah,

Starting point is 00:26:20 no, I, I mean, I have, I've got you guys, I have my wife, but like I don't have really anybody else that I'm going to, like, really open up to and, you know, be like whatever is bothering me or something like that. But it's just really fascinating reading this book.

Starting point is 00:26:35 It's unfortunate that he passed away in 2017 because I would like to talk to this guy. What was that book that you were saying that JL recommended to us? JL Holdworth? The Body Keeps Score. Yeah. There's that one. And then the one I'm reading is by John Sarno, just literally just called Healing Back Pain.

Starting point is 00:26:56 Yeah. And then JL talked a lot about that kind of stuff. How, I remember he picked out my cousin, like when he was talking about all this stuff and he's like, you know, why did your cousin Steven, you know, why is he, why is he standing in the corner? And Steven's like, yeah, I want to, well, I just, I didn't want to be in the way.

Starting point is 00:27:12 And he's like, you probably do that in other areas of your life. And he does, like he is a servant to his like children, to his wife, to his family. Like that's first and foremost. And let me be, let me get out of the way, you know, but then what happens, then you lose control of your health and you lose control of yourself a little bit because you're putting everybody else first, which is amazing. And that's admirable. And that's what a dad should do. Uh, but not to the detriment of like, you know, putting yourself on the back burner. So there's definitely a connection between, you know, how we feel physically and the way that we act mentally and the way that we act physically, the way that you walk into a room,

Starting point is 00:27:52 the way that you present yourself to other people. You know, I think having certain injuries or certain tightness is going to play into your psyche a ton on what it is you're going to do and how you're going to manage something. I mean, now, if we're talking about like something high level, like you're going to like fight somebody. Well, then all that stuff will be exposed very quickly if you're going against an opponent that really knows what they're doing and they're really proficient at what they're doing. We use that example when we were on the podcast with JL. We're talking about like jumping over a couch. How when SEMA like wouldn't even think twice, he wouldn't ask what he would probably just be like, that sounds like a cool challenge. And boom,

Starting point is 00:28:37 he'd pop over the couch. And I would kind of think about it quite a bit. And I would be like, man, I'm pretty concerned about how I'm going to land from that. I'm fairly confident. I think I can launch myself over and Andrew might not even participate, which I'm sure Andrew's plenty capable of because we've seen he's very athletic. But he might not even participate because you're like, I don't know what the cost of that is. I might fuck up my back. So it definitely controls the physical and mental. They work together immensely. I don't know so much about like, you know, holding something in a particular area. That's a really interesting thing.

Starting point is 00:29:04 But I'm definitely not against it. I'm open to that. That could be a huge possibility. I'm curious for you. Have you noticed, um, your, cause you're 44, right? Yep. 45. 45. Okay. Have you noticed any type of change in your demeanor, the way you go about things as you started running more and unlocking things in your body? Have you started acting differently anywhere else or not really? That's an interesting question. I don't really know. I think that I'm like happier, but I've been pretty happy as well. But I feel like, cause I can, uh, I guess this is a weird way to word it because I can cover more ground. I can see more of like, I can see more stuff in a shorter period of time like

Starting point is 00:29:46 have more experiences and i didn't even thought about any of this but i got more experiences and more pictures and more uh like surveillance of shit around me yeah faster so like i i go and run like the arboretum in davis quite a bit and i'm just like this is fucking amazing like there's animals out there there's people out there there's sunlight there's a body of water and yeah i i do feel like i i feel like i actually even like move a little differently run a little differently i feel like sometimes my i kind of uh normal go-to is to have my chest like neutral or down but i notice like when i I'm running lately, it's more up and I'm more like kind of looking at everything, looking up and looking around and being appreciative of what's around me. So I think I've noticed some of those changes, but I don't really know if I noticed other changes. talking about holding things in, right? When you think about an individual who maybe they're not as active, maybe they're really sedentary and everything is crouched in.

Starting point is 00:30:51 They go into a car, they go home, they don't do much physical activity, they don't maybe even work out that much. It kind of makes some sense if there's not a physical, something to push against resistance, that there's also going to be somewhat of a defensive outlook on things and being careful, which is a good thing. It's not bad to be careful, but you notice with a lot of people, some people who like take on CrossFit or they take on things that are

Starting point is 00:31:19 challenging and even martial arts to an extent, because now it's you versus an opponent or something like running where you you kind of have to open your body up and open yourself up it would allow the mind to be a little bit more offensive about things i noticed that with myself because as an individual i don't uh as far as it was funny we were talking about conflict earlier right i don't uh i'm fairly conflict averse unless it's conflict that needs to happen. So it doesn't mean like I won't avoid a conflict if it's necessary, but if it's unnecessary conflict, I'm just not about it. Like I just don't do, I don't do that. But I noticed a change in myself in terms of the way I go about, I guess, dealing with people after I

Starting point is 00:32:03 started doing jujitsu. It's like I noticed that I wasn't seeking conflict, but I was not, whereas I used to maybe be somewhat fearful of, and when I say conflict, I don't mean physical conflict with another person. I more so mean like conflicting ideas and going at it with somebody when it comes to a difference in opinion or a different idea or something I don't think is right. I found that I am much more, I, I, I'm, I'm not afraid about going or differing in conflict with somebody close to me or somebody I may disagree with nowadays versus earlier. Maybe it's just development when you're in your early twenties or whatever, but I think it's a big part of maturity. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm, I'm not as defensive on that. And as I used to be, I don't, I don't mind conflicting with somebody.

Starting point is 00:32:45 But I did notice that shift after doing some martial arts for a few years. So I think that there is a big link between what somebody is willing to try and do physically with the way that they act outside of that. I agree. And I think that sometimes we get into the habit of feeling like we have to defend so much stuff that we say, rather than being more on the offensive. When I hear someone talk and they start to say things that conflict with me, I start to think, I kind of almost am curious on under what circumstances I would agree with it, rather than sitting there thinking, I really disagree.

Starting point is 00:33:23 Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm besmirched. Besmirched. You know, like rather than kind of thinking of, sometimes I'll get moved a little bit because I'll be like, I don't, I don't agree with that. You know, but then I'll kind of think about it more and I'm like, yeah, I wonder what made this person start to adopt that belief. And something that I've adopted that I think is really helpful

Starting point is 00:33:45 is just putting a question mark after a statement. Instead of having that period behind it, use a question mark. My back hurts, question mark. Instead of saying, my back hurts, period. Now it's like, can we change the period to at least a comma so that we can yeah or dot dot dot or a question mark so like why does my back hurt um and then you can start to kind of think about like what are these things is there something in your history in SEMA with your mother or a role model in your life where they maybe taught you about problem solving? Like rather than – because your mother was – she wasn't tolerant of like negative talk. But did she kind of – like if you said something, did she somehow show you in some way that maybe everything is kind of like a problem situation?

Starting point is 00:34:44 Or was it like leading by example and being positive? No, no. She showed that. Number one, my mom was a civil engineer. So like when it came to solving problems, there was like, she was a very mathematical person that way. That's why she had me do math stuff ever since I was super young. But I never, yeah, because number one, her leading by example, number two, her exposing me to a lot of things really early on and then me seeing a lot of wins early. So, I mean, academically, she exposed me to a lot of stuff early on, which gave me wins, which gave me an understanding of, oh, if I just want to learn something, it's not going to be hard to learn. Sports, same deal. She exposed me to certain sports early.

Starting point is 00:35:24 think it's not going to be hard to learn sports same deal she exposed me to certain sports early um and because progression over time i was like oh the physical aspect of things i can get the hang of anything physically if i just do it and practice that's why like i i looked back at my childhood one day and i was i was actually talking to my girl about it i was like huh that's like i had soccer practice almost every day of the week and my weekends. I always had soccer games. I can't remember a weekend that I didn't have a soccer game that I was playing in or something. Right. That was a very odd childhood when I look at it and when I talk to other friends about their childhoods like I wasn't going to like my friends houses and doing stuff like that often, I was playing sports all the fucking time. And the piano and whatever else. Yeah. And the piano and whatever else. So like,

Starting point is 00:36:09 it was just this, she just exposed me to a lot of things, um, which just gave me this idea that, well, whatever I really want to do, I, I might as well just give it a shot.

Starting point is 00:36:18 Do you recall like not wanting to do those things or were you? Well, yeah. When she gave me the decision in the high school, she was like, okay, you know what? If you don't want to play the piano anymore if you don't want to play your instruments you don't have to i made the decision the dumb decision of like stopping when

Starting point is 00:36:33 i look back and then i'm like i should have kept it but she gave me that decision when i when i got into high school so that way you had a little bit more time maybe social with friends kind of thing yeah than just being stuck in soccer all the time. But soccer is year round anyway, right? Soccer is year round. That soccer was social enough. Like we traveled the U S we'd be at hotels together. We'd, my soccer teammates were like my main friends.

Starting point is 00:36:53 I had friends at school or whatever, but my team was like, those are my homies. You know what I mean? Even though we all went to different schools too. So, um, because of that,

Starting point is 00:37:02 it's like, that's why I think the athletic aspect of things has been so beneficial for me because I look back at things, you know, we were talking about holding things in. I'm definitely somebody who, you know, and especially I've talked about like my last relationship, I kept a lot of things to myself because I knew if I said certain things, there would be acts who blow up of conflict. You know, you're walking on eggshells. So what did I do? I just went to the gym. Like that's, that's been my thing. And I think that was beneficial for me because if I, if I didn't have that habit, my, I think that I would have just either held things into my body or I would have blown up,

Starting point is 00:37:41 right? But I had somewhere to let all the aggression go, which was the gym. And I mean, I never took it out on my jujitsu classmates, but after exercise, you always, or I personally know the feeling of just feeling tired and good and everything's okay, right? And if I didn't have that, I think mentally I would have been in a much different place, especially with how fucking horrible my last relationship was. Yeah. When somebody around me gets really angry, it actually kind of draws me in a lot more.

Starting point is 00:38:11 Like I'm not really, I mean, I might think if someone's pretty frustrated, I might think like, uh, is there opportunity for me to assist or help in this situation? And if there's really not, someone's just venting.

Starting point is 00:38:24 I just won't react to it hardly at all. Cause I'm like, I don't think that deserves any attention. You know, if someone's being kind of like a little bit irrational and then maybe if there's an opportunity, maybe later on I'll, I'll talk. But, uh, that stuff usually draws me in. And that's from the time I was a little kid. I remember my parents would argue like nothing crazy, but they'd get into disputes here and there. And I just remember like kind of closing my door to my room being like, I'd rather just kind of like close in rather than like, you know, I guess open up or rather like, let me, let me listen in on this conflict. I was like, no, no, no, I don't even want to,

Starting point is 00:39:00 I don't even want to hear it. So that's something I've done from the time I was young, like where you kind of bottle up this kind of negative thing that's going around you or even just close yourself off to it completely. Has that played out at all as an adult in a negative way? No, I think it's – well, at least not that I know of. I don't think it's been negative. I think it's been fairly positive. think it's been fairly positive um but do you think also like to add on to that play it out on a negative way but do you think also having physical activity has that changed the way you deal with do you think that you would have been you would have handled things differently if you never if you didn't have that because like i look at it i'm just like damn like yeah there were times

Starting point is 00:39:42 where i just like did hold something i was like it's not a good idea to talk about this. But I always had a way to let that energy out. And I think a lot of men, especially, we have a tendency of holding things in. But if you don't have an out, like you hear about dudes that get like, you know, like they find a way to let it out. And sometimes that is not the best way to let it out. They find a way to let it out. And sometimes that is not the best way to let it out. Well, I was telling our buddy, Graham Tuttle, you know, how like the second that he met me and the second that he met you, he like mentioned something weird about my shoes. And he like kind of dug in on you on something.

Starting point is 00:40:16 I don't remember what it was. But neither one of us cared at all. We gave it zero attention. You didn't even, I can't even remember what he said to you, but he said something to you where I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting. Like, not the first thing I'd say to Nsema, like with his size and the different things I know that he can do. I'm like, yeah, not the first place.

Starting point is 00:40:36 Not that you would do anything, but I was also like, that was not the first place I'd go with him. But he did the same thing to me, and I was just thinking, like, those are the two people he can do that to very easily because we don't fucking care. And it's because we're very confident, I think. I'm confident in the things that I've done.

Starting point is 00:40:53 I'm confident in the things that I'm doing. I feel really comfortable about it. So it would be really rare for someone to be able to say anything that's going to really for me to be like, what'd you say? Or to say, fuck you know or like or to say fuck you back or whatever yeah but i am thinking that partially i am thinking like fuck you motherfucker i actually i actually think that a lot about everybody like when i see when i see

Starting point is 00:41:17 like something new like it could be the knees over toes guy like it's a knee jerk fuck you yeah it's like a knee jerk reaction like fuck you who's this new guy who's this guy trying to show me this thing like i've been around a long time i know better just because i've been around long as if that means anything it doesn't actually really mean anything yeah um but that is kind of my first uh knee jerk reaction sometimes is like hold on let me get a better view of this let me me back up a little bit. Is this guy full of shit or is there some validity to this? And I'm like, ah, and it will kind of sometimes annoy me if it goes against my current beliefs, but the guy is partially right. I'm like, damn it, this guy's partially right. And then I start to like look into it more. And then I started being open to just, hey,

Starting point is 00:42:00 you know what? I think a lot of people are partially right. And a lot of that means that you're partially right and partially wrong too. And so it's like, I need to really try to just open up when it comes to those things. But in terms of like saying stuff to people right away, it's, I don't mind having fun with people and really fucking with people a lot. You guys see a lot of that. And I do that that usually just means i care about somebody normally like that's my kind of way of like palling around with you i guess um but yeah most of the time i won't really you know bedros koolian is a guy who's really like that guy will tell you shit flat out he looks like he's the guy who'll do that but he but again you got to be like in his circle

Starting point is 00:42:42 because otherwise he's not going to waste his time on trying to correct you or steer you at all. Anybody that hasn't really seen some of his stuff, I mean, you should look him up. He's got amazing information. But that guy will tell you like it is. Yeah. And then, Seema, when you were talking about not having an outlet, that could lead to somebody literally fighting or whatever. Yeah. an outlet to you know that could lead to somebody like literally like fighting or whatever yeah so that's kind of what to my understanding what tms does is basically like you have all this like

Starting point is 00:43:10 things bottled up you have anger you have anxiety you have all these things and some people do flip the fuck out and turns to rage so tms jumps in and it's like oh we got to give this fucker something else to focus on your back hurts so that way you're like oh shit like then all the things that mark was explaining about like oh shit i really got to think about what's going to happen if i try jumping over that couch i gotta think about what happens if i throw this chair through the window you know because then maybe someone's going to come after me so it flip flops everything and then it makes you it forces you to think about your your neck your shoulders your back or whatever posterior muscles and stuff that's going to be bugging you

Starting point is 00:43:50 because it doesn't your your body naturally will do will subconsciously do this to you so that we don't flip out and rage out so it's like oh okay well maybe i don't want to be known as a guy that like has a short temper maybe i can be somewhere in the middle. So it's just really, like I said, it's interesting, the shit that I'm learning. Yeah. And I mean, that's why I think it's, you know, for any parents that are listening or for any young people, it doesn't matter how old you are. If you haven't been exercising or doing something super physical,

Starting point is 00:44:22 you can always start to build a good connection with your body with physical activity. Because I'm reading this. I've actually just finished it. It's called Exercise by Daniel Lieberman. Really fucking good book. But there's this part where he was like talking about literally how individuals who have anxiety and depression, if they actually start exercising, it takes a little while. If they actually start exercising, it takes a little while, but that can literally be reversed through exercise because he was talking about how, for example, everyone that talks about exercise is always saying, oh, when you exercise, you always feel amazing afterwards. Just go hit the gym or go do some rowing.

Starting point is 00:45:05 You'll feel great afterwards, but it takes a while for those receptors, and we were just talking about this too, flip. You talk about how dopamine secretes after a bout of exercise, but people that exercise have more active dopamine receptors than people who don't. And it takes a while for those receptors to get turned on when individuals haven't been exercising for a while. Your body might be like, what's this? It might be new to it, right? Exactly. Meaning that you need to actually build a, you need to build a winning streak of exercising for a while for your body to be like, Oh,

Starting point is 00:45:30 this is nice. And it's, it's the same thing with serotonin. Serotonin is, it stops impulse control. It's like, get it from like a hug type thing, right?

Starting point is 00:45:40 You know, like SSRIs are supposed to help individuals who have low serotonin, apparently. Right. But with exercise, it also, people who exercise have more serotonin than people who don't. And it takes a while for that to build up. Same thing with all these feel good hormones that people talk about. So if you're not someone who exercises often, or you don't exercise and utilize physical activity as an outlet, let's say you don't even necessarily like it that much, it's going to take you a while for your body to get used to saying that, oh, this feels good.

Starting point is 00:46:12 So you have kind of an uphill, but if you can get through that, exercise can be something that allows you to deal with so many things because of how good it's going to make your body feel. It is something you need to do, even if you don't want to do it. Small victories can make you feel amazing. So like, I think that if even people just write stuff down, like, this is what I'm going to do today. And it doesn't necessarily have to be a lot more extra than what you already do. So for example, if you already walk a little bit, if you already have that

Starting point is 00:46:45 into your program, then you can write down like the two or three things that you wanted to get done today. But if you put a check mark next to that at the end of the day, that's going to release dopamine. That's going to make you feel better about yourself because you actually followed through on the thing that you said it is that you wanted to do in the first place. And sometimes it could be as simple as like getting a haircut. Like it could be easy. Like it doesn't have to, but getting a haircut's inconvenient. Like certain things are that there can be inconveniences and it's like, why not put those things down as a list? And if you're having a hard time with feeling good about yourself and feeling good about the things that you're

Starting point is 00:47:22 doing, if you can put an X or a check mark next to those things and feel good for them and you're already doing them, why not? Because I don't think we're paying attention. I don't think we're paying attention to how much we're getting done in a day. Getting your kid off to school on time, picking your kid up from volleyball practice or bringing your kids here, bringing your kids there, doing stuff for yourself, picking up something from the store for your mother. Like there's all these little things that we do. We don't give ourselves credit for any of them. And just every day is just like blazing past us a million miles an hour. And you don't feel like you have time for anything. You

Starting point is 00:47:58 barely have time to stop somebody and grab them by the damn shoulders and say, I love you. I really care about you. You know, it's like, how good does that feel? Andrew, your wife ever do that? I mean, yeah, we tell each other we love each other all the time, like several times a day. Every once in a while, my wife and I, I mean, we say we love each other.

Starting point is 00:48:18 We say this, we say that. Every once in a while, we'll stop each other dead in the tracks and like, no, no, I fucking love you. Like, I love you. You're, you know, most amazing thing. Kissy poo, kissy poo. Finger in the finger in the butt.

Starting point is 00:48:32 So cute. But like these things are they're super important. And it's like, how good does that make you feel? That's not that hard to do. I saw you do it with Kenny in the break room. He said, yeah, he said, I'm proud of you, dude. And you gave him a fist bump. And it's like, we're proud of Kenny because he's fucking jacked.

Starting point is 00:48:50 You guys would be proud of Kenny, too, if you saw him. Oh, my God. Boy, man, Kenny is, Kenny's got it, man. Yeah. They didn't kill Kenny. They didn't kill him. They can't. They tried to kill Kenny.

Starting point is 00:49:02 They cannot. When God was cooking Kenny in a pot, he was just like, let me give him a sprinkle of great genetics, big quads, small waist, big shoulders, beautiful face. Extra protein. Extra protein. Let me just stir this up. And boom. And he's never tired. Looks like a Piedmontese bull, doesn't he?

Starting point is 00:49:23 He does. He does. Looks like a Piedmontese bull. Kenny can do anything. He'd be 96-4 if he was never tired. Looks like a Piedmontese bull, doesn't he? He does. He does. Looks like a Piedmontese bull. Kenny can do anything. He'd be 96-4 if he was ground beef. Absolutely 96-4. And grass-fed, grass-finished. But he would be like just bricks of ground beef, though, because you're not going to chisel away at that thing.

Starting point is 00:49:39 No. What's Kenny's IG? You guys need to follow Kenny. I'm going to find it real quick i'm gonna find that shit guys go follow kenny because kenny kenny's about i don't know what's going on with his shoulders me neither man is that healthy this keeps getting wider kenny underscore williams underscore underscore he's gotta follow this dude yeah he does but right now that's his social yeah dog mark look at this shit let me see i can't pull up his back double buy he has a back double buy on his ig page in in a pair of shorts and he's just so

Starting point is 00:50:13 bulbous kenny looks incredible underscore williams underscore he's got good calves too yeah he has no missing links man oh. Are you talking about this one? Talking about that one. Guys, be like Kenny, okay? Be Jack like Kenny. What is that? What the fuck? What is that?

Starting point is 00:50:33 What are those delts, dude? Yo. Yeah. How old is he again? 20. 20 years old. So just give up? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:50:43 What did he deadlift that one day? Like 585 for like 12 reps or something like that right yeah he did a disgusting amount of reps see if it's on here man it's gross it's wild man like i always see like i'll i'll come to the gym to train at like some random time and lo and behold kenny's car is here like kenny is kenny has been putting in fucking work. You know what I mean? Been putting in fucking work. He loves it. He does.

Starting point is 00:51:13 But man, that's why I think it's so necessary. Yeah, it makes no sense. It makes no fucking sense. But it's just so necessary to find, it doesn't have to be just the gym. If you find that it's hard to be consistent with just the gym good find find multiple physical outlets that'll allow you to that'll allow you to do something like kenny was a baseball player previously baseball player and you'll still do things with that you know what i mean like you run you lift you you do a bunch of you do a bunch of things physically right i think that for like again i just keep repeating myself at this point, but with, with all the physical outlets I have, it is, it's just allowed me to be good up here because I'm

Starting point is 00:51:52 able to, I'm able to deal with that out there. So I'm calm. Right. And if I didn't have that, I would not be calm. I'd be a, I'd be a, I'd be a recluse, angry wretch. Yeah. I think, I think it makes you, uh, can make youretch. Yeah, I think it can make you uptight. It makes it a little easier to be upset by stuff. But when you're getting that energy out every day and then also just pushing yourself on something, it's hard to really describe or to put into words. And we talk about it constantly.

Starting point is 00:52:23 But when you push yourself past a certain limit and then you're able to do something that you weren't able to do before, it is amazing. And I think the main point of some of the stuff that I share and some of the stuff we share on this podcast is I don't really care that much to change you.

Starting point is 00:52:40 I don't really want to necessarily change you. What I want you to do is to gain access to the stuff that you were able to do when you were a kid. Because every human being has a right to those things. You used to be able to do them. Everyone used to be able to do them. Everyone used to be able to throw a ball. Everyone used to be able to swing a bat. Everyone used to be able to jump. Everyone used to be able to sprint. Everyone used to be able to do just about everything and i realize there's circumstances where we have uh people that were unfortunately born with things that don't allow them to do those things but in general we're all born with these amazing capacities that we built up from the time we were zero until we

Starting point is 00:53:20 were like 10 and then shit got weird because he got stuffed in the shoes and stuffed in the desks and didn't move for a long time. And maybe he didn't play sports and so on. And then things got unraveled from there. But we used to have it. How do we get it back? We get it back by doing stuff. You get it back by starting with a walk. You get it back by starting with pushups.

Starting point is 00:53:41 You get it back by doing some body weight squats. You get it back by hitting the gym, by being consistent, by managing your diet a little bit. Because if your diet is way out of whack, like if somebody never lifted, if they never lifted before, but they just also never overeaten in their life, or very rarely would overeat, and they manage their body weight, they can walk into a gym at 20 years old and probably still perform a couple pull-ups. But if you're walking into the gym the first time and you're 20 years old and you're 300 pounds, those pull-ups are taken away from you. Some of the access and some of the things that you would love to be able to do, they're taken away from you.

Starting point is 00:54:22 So now you have a steeper hill to climb. So somebody might think the way Andrew is feeding his child, they might think, oh man, that's too strict. That's too, no, it's the perfect thing to get him set up for the rest of his life so that he doesn't lose access to these things. We need to have access to these things. They are there for a reason. Our body is really vibrant. Our body can do really amazing things. The human body is made and designed to work vigorously, not just to work, but to work fucking hard and to work intensely. So a lot of us aren't digging ditches and moving shit around as much as we used to. So you have to find some other way of moving around intensely.

Starting point is 00:55:03 You know, a funny thing about vigorous exercise, and this is another thing that you got to think about, especially if you're just starting, let this be something that like motivates you that it's going to feel good over time. Endorphins specifically release after, usually for most people, 20 minutes of vigorous exercise. You know what I mean?

Starting point is 00:55:22 So like that means that if you're just getting into it or you don't have the ability right now to do things that like you know to to really push yeah because you haven't been give yourself the time because as you get if you as you do it more you wonder why why are these people that exercise so much so fucking crazy about it it's because it feels really fucking good when you're when you're into a good vigorous session. But if you don't have the capacity yet to do that, you're not even going to feel it yet. So it's like, that's something to look forward to, like a vigorous session of jujitsu or for you running like halfway through your one, you're probably like, Ooh, like it's hard to breathe a little bit,

Starting point is 00:55:58 but this feels good. Absolutely. You know, you just feel like you're flying. It's, it's, it's just have that be something that if you haven't been doing this or this hasn't been a part of your lifestyle, understand. And it sounds so fucking cliche. It will get better. It really will. That's why I've been digging the cold plunge. So I did it for, so this is now eight days in a row,

Starting point is 00:56:19 but I did it for my first week. And every time I took the cover off, I'm like, this is stupid. I shouldn't do this. It's pacing. Yeah, you try to breathe. And I'm like, no, now I'm getting too warmed up because then when I touch it, it's going to be even colder. Don't do that.

Starting point is 00:56:36 And every single time it's just like, dude, just fucking get in. Just get in. Just get in. Just get in. No, no, no. Just get in. Okay. I get in and then I plop right down as fast as I can,

Starting point is 00:56:53 dunk my head as fast as I can and it sucks it sucks okay it fucking sucks um does it feel awesome after a little bit yes and then when you get out and you're just you have the biggest win ever and it's like when it comes to is it's not vigorous but it is uh it's very difficult because it's like i'm comfortable i can go get under the you know the warm shower right now i don't need to do this really difficult thing but then you do it and it's just like fuck yeah like how many other people are going to be doing this not very many yeah you know and i know my temperature is not even as cold as the thing can get, but it's still cold as hell. And like, I, you know, I shiver the whole time. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:57:30 But dude, when I get out of that thing, like I am in the best mood ever. I think it's going to be so fun when Aurelia starts cold plunging with you. I know. You're going to have a Russian son. Yeah, I know. Right. So hardcore. A Russian son that can speak Spanish.

Starting point is 00:57:44 You know, it's interesting too because kids don't care that much about the water being cold obviously they might care about it being that cold but they don't care that much like uh my nephews when we go to bodega the water's fucking cold you guys all been there it is very very cold but they don't care they'll go in there and play for hours yeah so when i'm when i'm in there and he's like awake and like you know out and about stephanie will bring him and he'll like touch the water and he thinks it's fun like he'll splash it it's not like a oh that's cold you know obviously you know if we were to dunk him all the way in he would be very uncomfortable and we're not going to do that

Starting point is 00:58:19 but you're right like he doesn't care i remember jasmine when she was like you know five years old she jumped in the pacific ocean too i'm just like oh my god it's so cold in there and then now she's like like hey are you gonna jump in the water like you did when you're a kid you're like no you're crazy i'm like you did it right because right yeah you don't care but man getting out of that cold plunge and and you know i i posted on my ig and people were like you couldn't pay me to do that and i'm like go back a few months and I would have said the exact same thing. Like it is uncomfortable for me because somebody who's always cold and look like we started the show talking about how I wanted to take a sweater and the sun was out, but I was cold. So I'm like, I'm going to take the sweater.

Starting point is 00:58:58 And then, you know, what happened happened. We're not going to talk about it again but so i would definitely never be the person that would be willingly that would be willing to jump in an ice bath but here i am doing it every day and you know it's like every time i get out i'm just like oh my god this is amazing like i mean in that moment i'm excited to do to do it again in 24 hours i'm just pacing again just like here we go but it's like, I can't remember, somebody said it. It was on like a radio show that like they would do like the cold showers. Like every time you do it, it develops a toughness groove in your brain.

Starting point is 00:59:34 And I was like, oh, that sounds good. And so like when I get asked, like, why are you doing that? I'm like, I'm building resilience. Like I do a lot of easy shit. Like my job's fucking amazing. But like we talk, you know, I'm not like having to lay bricks and I'm not having to like you know do some really rigorous fucking job I'm like I have it really easy like this is something that's going to build some resilience you know and fucking make me a man here's something for people that haven't gotten

Starting point is 01:00:00 a cold plunge yet but you need to get one We'll tell you how to get one in a minute. But for people that don't have one yet, just in the morning, just walk outside and walk in the grass. It'll be a little cold out most likely first thing in the morning. Get some sunlight in your eyes. Be out there for three to five minutes. That's a really simple ask.

Starting point is 01:00:19 That's way easier than getting to a cold plunge. But the grass is going to feel cold. It might be a little cold out there. Don't worry about your neighbors. Walk out in your underwear. It's your property. It's your lawn. Be out there.

Starting point is 01:00:32 Let it all hang out, so to speak. No one's not seen a naked body. Yeah, no. I just should have seen a naked body. They're so behind. They're running late. You know, they're not going to be able to pay attention to what you got going on oh i will tell you after this i i'm gonna tell you keep keep keep i'll tell you anyway that's a simple thing that you can do and exposing yourself

Starting point is 01:00:58 to cold exposing yourself to heat these are all like little things that you can do to help kind of amplify and and uh to make yourself a little stronger on the inside. I know that the episode was mainly about like bottling things up, but everything kind of comes back to this idea of like being able to exercise and having a strong capacity. The stronger your capacity is, the harder it should be to move you one direction or another with your equanimity, which is just kind of having a, I guess I'd say, like a bandwidth for your temperament. Like it should be able to be moved up and down a little bit without you overreacting. Yeah, no, that's very well said because after I got out of,

Starting point is 01:01:37 and this is again, like there's obviously many physical benefits to jumping into a cold plunge. But the thing that put me over the edge after we had Ryan Dewey on was like talking about like all the mental side of things. So like, that's, that's my SSRI. That's my freaking, uh, yeah, that's my mushrooms. That's like all my happiness is inside this cold ass bucket, you know, or cold ass tub. But I got out of the cold plunge and I was like, fuck, like I'm shivering, right? I'm still cold and, you know, flexing everything, trying to get warm.

Starting point is 01:02:10 And then my phone rings and it is a very stressful phone call to take first thing in the morning. And so I'm like, fuck, like, all right, pick it up. And of course it wasn't like great news. So it's like, okay, work through it all. You know, we figured it all out and pick it up. And of course it wasn't like great news. So it's like, okay, work through it all. You know, we figured it all out and everything was fine. But that's when I was just like, wow, like that seemed like it was absolutely nothing. Cause I just got out of this really hard thing. And it's not as simple as that as being like, like, you know, like it's not as simple as like, that's really hard. That makes this seem really easy. It's just like, it's building that mental toughness because I have to do some shit that I don't want to really do. And I know I'm not really like selling, you know, a cold jets and the bubbles go. And I'm just like, here we go again.

Starting point is 01:03:07 And I do it. And then, like I said, while I'm in it, I'm just like, nobody can take this away from me. Like I fuck, I did this. I started off the day with the biggest win that I could ever imagine. And then I get out of it and I'm just like, I feel like a million bucks. Like it is one of the best feelings ever. And when it comes to bottling things up or whatever and like having that release that's kind of it for me like really early in the morning

Starting point is 01:03:31 and then now all of a sudden my like uh you know the bottle's empty but now the bottle got bigger because i can also now take some more shit you know i'm not gonna explode and it's not gonna turn into neck pain or something else i'm gonna mention something but how can people get it how can people save some money? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Sorry. So you guys can head over to thecoldplunge.com. I got to put links down in the description below.

Starting point is 01:03:51 But, yeah, check out. They have the regular one. They have the Pro. They got the XL Pro. I'm sorry with all the names and stuff. The XL is the bigger tub. Yeah. The Pro is the one that can get really hot like a jacuzzi.

Starting point is 01:04:02 Ah. Or it can get cold. Ours is the XL tub. So the XL tub can't reach like like a jacuzzi or it can get cold ours is the xl tub so the xl can't reach like 90 something degrees got it like the pro can and then there's the normal tub if you're over five foot ten you can get the normal one but the xl is just way more comfy i'm just saying so yeah and it i mean the temperature, it gets down to 39 degrees. Uh, I have looks great by the way. It looks awesome. All of their tubs out there look fucking dumb.

Starting point is 01:04:29 I'm putting them all on blast. It looks stupid. Yeah. This thing looks awesome. Figure it out. Yeah. No. Yeah.

Starting point is 01:04:34 You're right. It's like kind of like the centerpiece of my backyard now that my pool took shit. So, and Mark, yours is inside of your house. Like for some of you guys, you can actually put it.

Starting point is 01:04:43 It doesn't take out a lot of space. It's not the footprint is small footprint is small it's weird yeah it's pretty cool though yeah it's great no it's freaking phenomenal you're right mark it looks amazing it gets cold as hell and it's just um i am so grateful for it because like i never thought i would be doing this and i am reaping so many amazing benefits within the first week after i got out of it the first time it was amazing he said the same thing about anal remember that yes actually i all right fine i'll admit i did say that yeah gosh you guys just put me on blast every time it's okay so anyways when you guys head to the coldplunge.com at checkout enter promo code power project to save a shit ton of money

Starting point is 01:05:24 um it again i know i was like not doing a good job being like oh this sucks it's so cold but like i'm gonna do it tomorrow i'm gonna do it the next day and the next day and the next day because i can't be without these amazing benefits so uh make sure you guys check them out i'll link them down below in the description as well as the podcast show notes but you know adding on to what you're saying, Andrew, I think like the cold plunging, deliberate exercise at this moment in time, I know everybody has different lives, different levels of difficulty. But compared to 50 years ago, 100 years ago, like things are generally for most people much easier than they used to be. people much easier than they used to be. And you, it's, it's a good idea to kind of seek difficulty and seek things that are uncomfortable because, um, just like fasting, right? Fasting is something that helped us get used to hunger so that now hunger doesn't bother us. Like we're

Starting point is 01:06:19 not, I'm not emotionally triggered by being hungry. I don't get up my ass when I'm a little hungry. I just wait to eat. It's the same thing with stress. Literally going into a gold plunge in the morning is putting yourself under a deliberate stress. Going into the gym, I don't look at it as stress, but you are quite literally purposefully stressing out your body, not just so you can feel great afterwards, but your body will repair and it'll get stronger and be able to handle that stress in a better way. So by doing these things, you can't deny that all of these difficult things will allow you to handle the mental stresses of life in a much probably safer, much healthier fashion than would be if you weren't seeking out difficult physical things. I love it. It's a great point.

Starting point is 01:07:07 Let us know what you guys are doing that's a little stressful that you're doing to yourself. Because I think it's important that these are things that are like voluntary. You are kind of trying to force growth. And they seem simple to us, but I think that maybe people just haven't adopted them and don't understand fully like what they can do. Remember what Nseema said earlier is it can all take time. So you got to give it some time. You go on a walk. You go on a hike.

Starting point is 01:07:36 You might think it sucks. For a long time when I was walking, like my feet would bug me so much that it was like it sucked here and there, you know. But I was like, this is an activity that I want to do. I want to get into it more, like give it time. And it took time. Running took time. Everything you're going to do is going to take some time. Andrew, take us on out of here.

Starting point is 01:07:57 Before I take out of here, I want to mention something on taking time. I told you this earlier, Mark, but this morning I was like, okay, time to go on another run in these Vibrams because I bought some Vibrams, right? I ran for half a mile and my feet were like, fuck you, bro. And I was just like, God, this sucks. I just stopped, turned back and walked home. I wouldn't say it was a win. I'm happy that I got out there. But at the end of the day, I just was like, nah. And I walked home. So I know it's going to take me time to get used to this shit. But I'm looking forward to a year from now when like running in those Vibrams and just running for miles on end feels fucking good. But it's going to take time. So give it time.

Starting point is 01:08:36 All right. And just even walking like in Vivos and stuff and in the Vibrams, I think it's just another way to look at like an extra stressor. I'm training my feet, as funny as it might sound. Andrew, take us on out of here. I just got your pictures of your cold plunge inside the house. That looks so luxurious. Thank you everybody for checking out today's episode. Please drop us a comment down below and make sure you guys like today's video and subscribe if you guys are not subscribed already. We would sincerely appreciate that. Follow the podcast at MBPowerProject on Instagram, TikTok video and subscribe. If you guys are not subscribed already, we would sincerely appreciate that. And follow the podcast at MB Power Project on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.

Starting point is 01:09:08 My Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter is at IamAndrewZ. And Seema, where can people find you? I'm Seema Inyang on Instagram and YouTube. And it's me, Yin Yang on TikTok and Twitter. Be sure to go into the description box and join the Discord. Mark, we're going to be able to find you. I want to be built like Kenny. He looks great.

Starting point is 01:09:24 He's so symmetrical i gotta need a time machine go back 20 years he's handsome too he's too handsome it's like kenny kenny kenny has it all kenny has it all maybe he'll at least let me work out with him maybe probably but probably not yeah does he have messed up feet maybe nah dude actually he has good feet he was an athlete all his life any woman that manages to get kenny understand understand you gotta get through us he got a girlfriend my boy is living his life oh shit you hear that ladies you go go follow my boy Kenny I'm going to make the ultimate bank shot right here Let's go

Starting point is 01:10:10 Let's see if you can replicate it It's the fourth inning Now the fourth quarter Hold on, maybe I can change the camera Oh, you're trying to get the We'll put it on Yeah It's going to go right in there

Starting point is 01:10:20 It's going to be amazing Hold on, let me And Seema's doubting my skills already i can tell i'm not doubting i have full i have full faith and hope that you will do this warm up there we go all right are you ready mark curry oh there's a kind of a kind of a click in there hear that uh-uh don't don't start making excuses, bro. Alright, here we go. Ready? Oh! I was trying for the bank shot and it missed. Andrew, can you pass that to me? I want to bake this real quick

Starting point is 01:10:51 and show them how like... Somehow Chef and SEMA doesn't pass it over here. Let's see. He's going for the bank. Going for the rim job. I mean, the bank shot. Whoop! Oh! That was close. Damn. Alright, that's it. I mean, the bank shot. Boop. Oh! That was close. Damn. Alright, that's it.

Starting point is 01:11:08 I'm at Mark Smelly Bell. Strength is never weak. This week's is never strength. Catch you guys later. Bye!

Mark Bell's Power Project - MBPP EP. 734 - A Guide to Healthy Self Expression for Men

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