The Chaser Report - One Step Forward, 3000 Steps Back

Episode Date: July 29, 2025

Dom has entered the podcast with some "monumentous" news that's sure to put a spring in your step. It turns out Charles' personal trainer is a total hack. Plus, our professional hosts have one of their famous During-The-Podcast meetings. ---Buy the Wankernomics book: https://wankernomics.com/bookListen AD FREE: https://thechaserreport.supercast.com/ VOTE OPTICS FOR A LOGIE: https://vote.tvweeklogies.com.au/Follow us on Instagram: @chaserwarSpam Dom's socials: @dom_knightSend Charles voicemails: @charlesfirthEmail us: [e-mail] CEO’s Super-yacht upgrade Fund: https://chaser.com.au/support/ Send complaints to: [e-mail] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gadigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to this very auspicious and celebratory edition of The Chaser Report with John and Charles. Yeah, Charles, sometimes this podcast is full of genuinely good news. And I think we don't give ourselves enough credit for that because I think we both see the perception of this podcast is that it's Derm and Gloom pretty much on a daily basis. We bring some horrifying story about, I know, the end of civilisation or something.

thing or whatever's happening in the US, whatever it might be. I feel like the tide is turning and people are starting to get the sense that genocide is wrong. Like, just, I know, not totally, but just like there is a sort of vague, creeping sense that maybe genocide, you know, on a general ledger is not as good as say it was last week. Have you been watching Dave Milner's socials? Oh, really? Is it?

He's got a lot to say about that. Oh, sure he does. Does it include the phrase, I was correct? Yeah, it does, actually. I watched a video, and he takes no credit for that. But, yeah, no, go to, if you want that, the shot, podcast is the place to be. He's got a lot to say. But, look, it's been interesting looking at the Australian government's position on this.

But I have something much more prosaic to discuss. Something much more, much simpler and reassuring. But also something monumental. This is very big news. Momentous. Momentous. And monumental. And encouraging.

Yeah. And I want to thank a wholeheartedly. Professor Melody Ding of the University of Sydney's School of Public Health because sometimes an academic study comes out that it's a life-changing moment and I think this is the one that we'll all remember

changed everything and I'll tell you why after the ads. Okay now Dom I assume if it's this big and momentous it's got to be something, is it related to cancer maybe? I suppose you could draw a long bow and say that it was, yeah? Or and like viruses or you know like mess? Mass deaths, yes. I think mass deaths is absolutely right. It's that big. It's very big. It's very big. So they've gone and looked at 57 studies, Charles. It's a meta-analysis.

Oh, yes. We love being meta on the podcast. They've spanned more than 10 countries here. And I, rather than looking at the actual report, have looked at the news.com.com that I use summary. So in a sense, I'm meta-analysis because this made all the news headlines. And the big news, I'm not going to tease it any further. You know that thing we've been hearing for years. We've all got to do 10,000 steps a day. Ah, yes. That was the amount. That's the amount you meant to do.

And everyone makes you feel guilty about not getting your 10,000 steps in. Like, I've got a PT. And so, like, oh, you've got to walk further. That's a personal trainer, by the way. Yeah. And 10,000 steps is apparently the magic number. Yeah. But Charles, you know why that number was picked up, I gather?

Because it's a round number. It's a 10,000 steps. It's like the 10,000 hours thing where when you do something for a very long time, you get better at it. A theory disproved by this podcast. But, no, so Melody Ding's gone and looked at this. And to what extent, you know, do these actual daily step counts impact the risk of, I don't know, dying from heart disease and cancer like you wanted. Oh, okay. Or the risk of developing cancer, type 2 diabetes, dementia and depression, 7,000.

Right. It's only 7,000. So, oh, so that is a huge relief. We just to save ourselves. 3,000 steps. We've said our listeners, 3,000 steps a day by bringing them this news. That's a million steps a year, isn't it? That's a minimum.

Something like that, yeah. Let's claim it as a billion. Yeah, across your lifetimes, if you live for a thousand years. Yeah, sure. News.com today, you reported it. Yeah, definitely a billion. So this leads to improvements in eight major health comes, including heart disease, dementia and depressive symptoms, but there's more. Oh, yeah.

But there's more. Professor Ding told Fox News, because this is going global. Yeah. Fox News, no less. that any increase in daily steps, even modest ones, like 4,000 steps is better than nothing. I love this. Isn't that great? So they keep underbidding themselves.

Do you think it's because, you know, there's these health professionals and they're looking, especially at Americans and going, they don't even walk 20 steps a day? Yeah. You know, and they've just gone, maybe we need a soft sell on this. Maybe actually just going, don't feel too bad about it. 500 is better than nothing. Yeah. And that's actually why they've just given up. up on the idea that Americans would ever walk 7,000 steps or 10,000 steps, and they've just

given up on it. But, Dom, you know how you said it improves depression? I think this result has plunged me into deep depression. Oh, really? And regret. Oh, why? I mean, for me, I normally walk between 7,000 and 10,000 steps a day. That's normally what I just do in every life, right?

Same, yes. And so, if Professor Ding is correct, I should be the picture of good health. And actually, now that I think more about that, yeah, actually, maybe it's more complicated. Maybe this is what, maybe this is... Maybe it's as good as it gets. Maybe that's... Charles is just gesturing it, my physique.

Your physique is what, what, what we're meant to be looking like. Maybe melody is hot for you, Dom. I'd very much doubt that. She's a professional. But I too walk about 10,000 steps a day. Right. Because I'm told to, and I'm good. Yeah.

But just think of all the steps that I've taken. that I needn't have taken. Oh my gosh. I have a huge regret. You've got stepgret. I've got stepgret. Oh my goodness. That's, um, you've been misadvised.

Can there where you can get back? Can I sue? I've got to sue somebody. You've got to sue somebody. I'm going to sue the medical provision. I mean, this is pretty, pretty... This is malpractice telling you you've got to walk 10. I'm going to sue my PT.

I'm going to sue... And you GP. And my GP, who said, you know, walk 10,000 steps. And did you ever have one of those step-trackers? I had a step tracker. Yeah, well, I had the Apple Watch. Well, the Apple Watch went away from that. It went on the actual energy you expend.

I mean, that does have steps. But for a while, I had one of those fitbits that counted. Yeah. The main metric was the steps that you had. Yeah. Waste of money, Charles. That's why it's dead. That's why good.

You know what we've got to do. We've got to, we've got to bankrupt people who sell step. Step counters. And this is the reassuring figures. So this is in the Lancet Public Hall. So that's a, you know, reputable article. Walking 7,000 steps a day reduces the risk of death by 47% almost the same as 10,000 steps.

I mean, that's fantastic. What do you think the control is for that, though? Who are the people who are 47? Are they working no steps? No steps. Yeah. We just be Americans. I imagine would be mainly people on death door in hospital about to die.

They would be basically the only people, and Americans, I suppose. Yeah. Oh, well, Charles does say, so Professor Ding does say this, though. If you're already very active and consistently hitting 10,000 steps plus, don't cut it back. You don't want to just keep up. over-delivering, I gather. What?

But that's from somebody who studied medicine. There's one of those classic over-a-chut. You know the sort of people. You don't want to be like Melody. And she's... She's in concoats with big step. Imagine... Imagine...

Imagine... Imagine dedicating your life to meta-analyses of things. I'm sorry, Melody. AI's going to take... Like, just feed those studies into chat GPT, and it'll provide you a meta-analysis without any fucking degree at all. Hang on. a sec. Hang on a sec. There's a lot.

Yeah, I'm just reading this. So this is reprinted from Fox News on news.com.com. How reassuring that they're just taking their stories from there. Do you think that maybe the misinformation cancels each other out? Yeah. And so it ends up being quite true. Yeah, it's probably quite true. So negative 1 versus times negative 1? Yeah. Second

last sentence in this article, Charles. Oh dear. The whole thing comes cascading down. Try to also incorporate strength training and mobility exercise into a weekly routine for more complete health benefits. So it's not enough. No, follow. So, the 7,000... So, okay, hang on, let me get this straight.

So, 7,000 steps is the limit. So it's written by more stuff. It's written by one of these people who just goes, well, of course, you go to the gym three times a week, don't you? And out on your marathon and train for your city to surf. All right, all right. I'm going to go to the gym. I'm going to go to the gym three times a week.

But you know what? No. Fucking driving there. The Chaser Report. Less news. More often. And Dom, your gym is just literally, like, down the stairs in your apartment block. That's true.

That's probably close enough. I think you would be arrested if you drove to that gym. You know what I'm not going to do? I'm not going to do treadmill. No. No, because it's steps. It's a waste. Yes.

So I should get buff on the weights instead. There you go. We should put up some more signs in our apartment block gym, warning people about doing too many steps. Because we've got, there's somebody in our apartment. block who likes putting up officious signs. Oh, God, have you been down there recently? Of course I haven't. Look at me.

It's just like, I'll go down tonight. No towel, no start. And it's like, this is like an apartment block gym. It's like a shitty gym. No towel, no start. No towel, no start. You know, like they're trying to be like city gym or any time fitness or something. That's why I've never worked out in the gym because I don't have a towel.

And you can't be bothered walking all the way back upstairs. Because it'd be too many steps. It would be a way. All right, all right, fine. All right. Look, it's time. I need to get in shape. I'm going to do the 7,000 steps.

And I'm going to, what, carry more, lift more. I'm going to carry you while you're overturing in the UK. Yeah. That's what I'm going to have to do. All right. So we've got about three more minutes left before we need to end this podcast. And I was just thinking, because we touched lightly on yesterday or the day before, the idea that we've got to deal with the fact that I'm going to Edinburgh.

You are. You've got the wonderful month ahead in August. Yes. And then also in October, right? Like, I'll be touring the UK in October as well. That's crazy. So I'm sort of out for about sort of seven or eight weeks. Oh, you want to have the meeting as part of the podcast? Yeah. And so what do we do? Like, I can do, you know, a podcast each day from the UK. But I feel like it'll be different times.

It's like I'll have to do it at the beginning of the day at like 8 a.m. and it'll be, what, 5pm here, will that, will that work? Or will, is part of our brilliant chemistry, the fact that we're both in the same On the same time zone? Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's. Like, I'll be wanting to, like, I'll be all happy and joyous at the beginning of the morning. You'll be sober.

And you, I'll be sober. Yeah. We've never done that before. This could be a new face for the podcast. Oh, my goodness. And it'll be all sharp-minded. Well, yeah, look, we, we'll have to see. Either we can, we can try.

Or we can get one of the old people back. Well, I'm thinking maybe we should do like a couple of week for you. Yeah, we can check in on my... Well, keep the weekend. Well, I think we should keep the weekend additions going because we're actually paying for those. Yeah, yeah. We'll do that. Do that.

Do the bond that people pay for. And then we'll just figure out whether it's a less frequency or we get someone else to come and do a few of them here or there or something like that. We'll figure it out. Arguably we should have this conversation, not on the podcast. But as you, I know you've got to leave in three minutes for your next meeting. Yes, yes. Well, I'm launching my book.

Today's the day my book comes out. Fantastic. Wankanomics. What are you doing? Oh, we did Channel 7 this morning, Larry Emda. Goodness me. Charles is wearing a suit, by the way. Yeah, yeah.

Should check that out. Go to The Morning Show. Yeah. On Channel 7, you'll be able to see a clip of me there. Do I want to do that? And done lots of ABC radio. I don't know. It's a triumph, the book.

Says who? Says Larry Emda? No, says me. All right. Well, the Wankonomics juggerna. It continues, apparently. And you can actually get signed copy of the book at wankanomics.com. It's just kidding.

You've got to get the plugs in before you go. That's fair enough. Are you walking to where you go next? Because don't. No, no, I've got to drive. No, I don't want to get my 10,000 steps up. No, absolutely. I mean, how many steps have already done to that?

Like, it'd be crazy. It's just horrible. Yeah, I'm going to, I might crawl home. Can you transfer you? Like, can my wife do 15,000, and I take 7,000 from her? She still has more than. That's pretty good. It's like, you know how you can do that with Qantas frequent flypoints and stuff? You can transfer, family transfer.

Because the kids, the kids walk everywhere. Like, they just, you know, like they think nothing of walking. Yeah, exactly. I think that's what I'm going to do a study on that melody. We're part of the Icon class network. Thank you for enduring our creative meeting. And we'll see you very soon. See, yeah.

My name is Ryan. This is my best friend, Tony. and we host the Tony and Ryan podcast, and despite being from Australia, people right across Canada listen every single day. Jared's in Alberta. How did you discover the podcast? Someone was just like, oh my God, you need to check out. These two from Australia, and I was hooked right away.

I was like, oh my God, I was pissing myself laughing in my truck, and like, it just got worse from there. Oh, but it's good. In a good way. It gets worse with how good it is, and that's just the beauty of friendship. Tony and Ryan, every day.