Voice Guy [00:00:00]:
Sitting around with a bunch of guys like mid forty s, and he's like, I can't believe how old I feel. And a guy, he's like, oh yeah. And I'm sitting there, I'm like, wait a second, boys. I'm on the wrong side of 55. I'm younger than you. Hey, I'm the voice guy for the show. Just start. Born in 1970, I am a Gen Xer.
Voice Guy [00:00:23]:
And when you get to be our age, our bodies change, or at least mine has. So to have a show like this is awesome. This is just start. Just Start helping Gen X live the health and fitness lifestyle for fat loss, mobility, and muscular development. You'll hear the incredible story of Coach Neil D. Having gone through just about every body type, he's now a trainer with incredible certifications. So no matter what fitness stage you're at, you're about to get real and raw info on how to change your life. Welcome to just start now., Your host, Neil D.
Host [00:01:08]:
Your host, Neil D. You find yourself struggling with lack of time, joint pain, lack of motivation, and nutrition concerns? Well, if so, you're not alone. There are solutions available to you to overcome these challenges and improve your overall health and well being. Imagine having more time and flexibility to do the things you love without worrying about joint pain or risk of injury. Now picture yourself motivated and energized every day knowing that you're taking care of your body, giving it the proper nutrition and exercise that it needs. Today, we're going to look at the problems and we're going to weigh in on some of the solutions to start taking care of your health. Because it's not just about you. It's also about taking personal responsibility and becoming the best version of yourself.
Host [00:01:59]:
So the first thing we're going to tackle right now is lack of time. We're busy with work, family commitments, and we need flexible workout options and schedules that fit into and sometimes around existing commitments. Right. Quite amazing how much time we can actually recuperate with a few little tricks. Here we go. Now, if you're somebody who is regimented, you're going to like this one. Treat your workouts like any other important appointment and schedule them into your calendar. This is going to help you to prioritize your fitness routine and it's going to ensure that you stick to it.
Host [00:02:33]:
Why? Because it's scheduled. It's there. You have made time for it. You make time for important things. You were important. This is there. You do it next on our list of things that are going to save you time and help you create flexibility. Number two, not always easy, but oh, does it work so well waking up just a little bit earlier or simply getting up when you wake up? Now consider waking up, getting out of bed quickly so that you can fit in your workout before your day actually gets too busy.
Host [00:03:02]:
And I like this one a lot because if you start your day off by doing what might be the hardest stuff. Everything that you encounter, every meeting that you walk into, it's going to be easy. So you're going to come in with a feeling of confidence about you and you're going to make better decisions, right? Because you're getting the hard stuff done right away. And this is going to help you to prioritize your fitness routine and it's also going to help you to stick to it because it becomes part of your habits. You wake up, you do it. So just simply a great way to start your day and to energize your body. Number three, combine activities, incorporating fitness into your daily activities like taking a walk with your family after dinner, such a healthy thing. And the family involved.
Host [00:03:43]:
You can talk with your spouse, you get to talk with your kids, everybody gets to digest well. It's a very healthy thing to do. And you're working on your fitness. Are you in the gym pumping out iron? No, you're not. But walking is important. You're working on family fitness. It's a fun way to slide it in there and you're combining family time with fitness, right? Alternately, bike ride, whatever. Number four, and this is something that I'd done when I was going to I'm really like big home gym guy right now, okay? But when I was going around to different job sites and I was going around to a lot of different areas, when I would have a job that would go on for like, let's say a month or two, I would scout out the gyms in that area, and I would just simply go to a gym.
Host [00:04:26]:
And then I'd go, like anytime I could go for half hour, an hour or whatever, and I'd just go to a gym. Hit it. If you find a gym near your place of work, going on your lunch break before or after work, that's going to be a you thing. Maybe you're going to want to get there before work. Maybe you want to skip traffic, arrive at the gym, which is close to your work first thing, get your workout in, take a shower there, go to work, whatever the case may be. Or maybe you want to skip traffic on the way home, go to the gym after work or just do it on lunch. I mean, the options are endless, but joining a gym near your office or near your place of work or wherever you're going to be for a while, that can actually be pretty cool too. Especially if you move around a little bit, doing contracts here and there.
Host [00:05:04]:
You might have the opportunity to check out a couple of different gyms and it might be something interesting, right? Second to last, one of my personal favorites, home Gym for the Win. You want to make up time, you want flexibility in when it is that you can work out. Guys, a home gym is one of the best investments that you can possibly imagine. And you know what? It doesn't even take much. Literally, like a four foot by eight foot space. Four x eight space, enough for a bench, some adjustable dumbbells, or some resistance bands. You have everything. You don't even need a four x eight space for resistance bands.
Host [00:05:40]:
You have everything you need to have a great workout there. Okay, so home gym for the win, whatever. You see people who have loaded up two, three car garages. I literally use a little over half of a single car garage. I love it because I actually use it more consistently than any other gym I've ever been to. And last but not least, you want to make up time, you want flexibility in your routine, consider hiring a personal trainer. Why? Let's use the automobile for an analogy. When you get a brand new automobile out of the dealer, everything is clean, it works properly, everything is on point.
Host [00:06:16]:
Chances are the majority of us could do an oil change, could do a lot of different maintenance things on that car. Why? Because the information is out there and nothing's broken. It's just a question of swapping out some stuff and you're good. Now, of course, I'm slimplifying it. And I know some mechanics that are probably listening, saying, oh, my goodness, he doesn't know what he's talking about. But here's the thing. I think the mechanics here will agree. As soon as that car gets some mileage on it, as soon as all of a sudden you start getting bolts that are rusted, you start getting parts, which you don't expect to break off in your hands as you're doing your maintenance.
Host [00:06:51]:
All of a sudden, the level of complexity increases, and very quickly, the majority of people here, including myself, are going to be like, you know what? This was a bad idea. I don't feel like doing this anymore. And whereas I wanted to save myself $300, now I'm willing to pay $500 just to have my car put back together because I broke it without because I just didn't know. Same with your body, which is a great segue for motivation because sometimes we can demotivate ourselves. Hey, I just took apart my engine. I don't know how to put it back. I don't feel like it. I'm demotivated somebody come and help me.
Host [00:07:28]:
Number two of people's most common fitness concerns and reasons why they don't get into the fitness lifestyle, forget about taking care of their health and just feel super old when they're barely in their 40s. Come on, guys. Lack of motivation. Okay, here it is. I'm not going to point the finger because you know what? I was that guy. I understand. I was that guy. As a family guy, businessman, I understand how maintaining a healthy lifestyle, let alone building one, can be super challenging for anybody.
Host [00:08:00]:
I really understand how difficult it can be for other people who don't have that ingrained into them. But here are some options to help you overcome your low energy and motivation and help you improve your fitness and the quality of your life. First is to set achievable goals. You start with small achievable goals that fit into your lifestyle and then after scoring a few wins, gradually increase the degrees of difficulty as you progress. This gets you early wins, and it builds ambition for loftier goals. So if you're starting out at like 40% body fat and you're like, I want ABS this summer, okay, there is a lot of groundwork between point A and point B. And if that's your only goal, brother, it's going to be hard. It's going to be tough.
Host [00:08:49]:
Okay, so setting achievable goals and if you're demotivated, you know what the first achievable goal might be? It might actually be putting your running shoes near the door to take a walk after supper. Forget the ABS, we got to get you moving. Okay? Achievable goals, put your running shoes there. You might even look at them for a couple of days before you put them on your feet. And if that's where you are, but you achieve that goal, that's a win. That is a win. Okay, number two, find an accountability partner. It doesn't have to be a coach.
Host [00:09:20]:
It doesn't have to be your spouse. It could be a friend, somebody at work, having a friend join you in your workouts, your walks, whatever. Or simply check in with you can keep you accountable and make your exploits more enjoyable. If you have a community behind you who's rooting for you that you can check in and say, hey, I did this. And people are like, wow, awesome. Cool. That has so much value. Talking about wins is great, but you know what? Sometimes just talking about, oh, darn it, I should have done this or I failed there.
Host [00:09:49]:
But you know what? I'm going to do it this time. There's a lot of value there too. So start with achievable goals. Try to find an accountability partner. And number three, make strength your goal. Not just say, okay, first thing you're going to do is go hit the weights. No building up strength, okay? Building the strength that it takes for some people to walk around the block is actually on par with perhaps somebody else's goal of lifting 315. It takes a lot, and there's a lot of different types of strength.
Host [00:10:16]:
There's not just physical strength. There's also mental strength. To meet your goals, head on to tackle your goals. So make in anything you do. Ultimately, the goal is physical strength. Yes, but make strength your goal. And strengthening your resolve is a great goal. Resolve should be it's like a verb.
Host [00:10:33]:
It's an action word, right? Think of resolve. Doing you want, you do. Make strength in everything your goal. Okay, next, and this might sound counterintuitive, but prioritize rest and recovery, okay? You lack motivation. Let's prioritize rest and recovery. Rest and recovery does not mean sitting down in front of Netflix for like 3 hours before you go to bed burnt out. No, what it means is making sure that you're getting enough sleep and taking the time to recover after your workouts. So if you're really winded walking half a block to the post office, okay, that's cool.
Host [00:11:11]:
That's where you are. No judgment, brother. No judgment. Don't try to run before you can walk. Take the time to recover after your workouts. Sometimes our bodies are under such stress, if we just remove that layer of stress, all of a sudden, bang. The motivation comes back, right? So prioritizing rest and recovery, making sure you're getting enough sleep, taking time to recover after your workouts. This is going to help you prevent burnout injury, and it's going to help you help that return of motivation that used to be there and might not be there anymore.
Host [00:11:42]:
Okay? Number five. Make healthy nutrition choices. So eating a balanced nutritious diet will improve your energy levels and overall health, making it easier to maintain a more active lifestyle to develop, to get into, and maintain an active lifestyle, right? Take a look what you're eating. If you can substitute some processed foods, the amount of time it takes to go through some drive throughs versus walking into an ige and going to the fruit and vegetable counter and picking up something. And just like scoffing that can sometimes be pretty similar, I'm pretty sure that the quality is going to be higher for the most part. And you get to go into an air conditioned place. So there's nothing there, right? All right. Number three in our list of greatest concerns that Gen X has regarding fitness, the fitness lifestyle and resistance training is joint pain and the risk of injury.
Host [00:12:39]:
It's important to understand mitigating joint pain and the risk of injury is crucial when starting an exercise routine. And this is especially true for Gen X, right? No successful 50 year old business guy with a family life and very important job responsibilities is looking to take foolish health gambles by going full send into anything, let alone physical fitness. So improving your postural muscles and mobility to reduce the risk of injury is a great place to start. Plus you get the benefit of building up energy, improving the quality of your life. Here are some points to consider. Number one. Warm up before every workout. Here's what I do.
Host [00:13:22]:
My warm up consists of dynamic stretching, a little bit of cardio, some muscle specific warm up, bit of light resistance, especially when I'm doing something like a bigger movement, like a squat, a big compound movement. I want to make sure that I've activated the glute. My core is ready. And of course, you don't just jump your biggest weights right away. There's going to be a progression in your programming. Warming up before every workout. This is going to prepare your body and it is very injury prevention orientated. And on top of that, you're going to have a great workout, right? So now you're warmed up, you're ready to go.
Host [00:13:54]:
First, take a look at your posture. Do you have one shoulder that's higher than the other? Do you have one knee that's protruding in while the other one's straight? Is your head sort of protruding forward? Don't underestimate the importance of working on your posture, because if you begin to load a body which is not able to sustain a correct posture, you're running after your own demise. And you know those injuries that sort of like healed within a couple of weeks in your 20s, that doesn't happen anymore. Guys can take a little bit longer now, so we don't want to go there. So proper focus, want to start with getting ourselves into proper posture. And that night might not be cool looking or sexy, might not be under the bench with a couple of plates and everything, but trust me, you'll get there a lot faster. You'll get back to what that strength used to have, or you'll work on new strength a lot quicker if you focus on posture. And that brings me to when you're working on posture, some of the things that you can do are low impact exercises, right? So you want to avoid joint pain, you want to avoid risk of injury.
Host [00:14:55]:
You want to work on your posture. You're warming up properly, you're working on your posture. And you work with low impact exercises at first until you get yourself to a position where your posture is good. You actually have that mind muscle connection where you know what it is that's working and you're able to recruit muscles properly. There are a whole bunch of things you can do. You can even start off with bands, you can even start off with weights if you're going to do it properly. But the key here is low impact exercises, proper focus, working on your posture, and most importantly, gradual progression. So it's important to start with lighter resistance, with lighter lower impact exercises, and gradually increase in intensity.
Host [00:15:37]:
And this is for anything, even if you're working just to improve your posture. And let me tell you something, if you improve your posture, you are going to mitigate the risk of joint pain and the risk of injury so much it's not even funny. And you're also going to look at as if you lost weight. You're not going to be like, slumping down, bunching this gut altogether. You're actually going to look fitter just by working on your posture. So those are like great big wins. Not everybody, unfortunately, knows the way to really bring a Gen X body up to speed. So just be careful who you work with.
Host [00:16:10]:
But if you can find a good coach to work with, it really is going to be helpful. You really will progress in a way which is safe and healthy, and it's actually going to keep you going. And you're going to mitigate a lot of the joint pain and the risks of injury by doing so. Okay? Now, last but not least, in Generation X's, most common fitness concerns nutrition and diet. Okay, here's the thing, right? One person says, don't eat meat. The other one says, Eat meat. One says, oh, you don't eat carbs. The other one says, yeah, well, it's good to have some balanced carbs.
Host [00:16:40]:
And then somebody else is saying, if you don't eat your meat, you don't have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat? Okay, I digress. Nutrition walks hand in hand with getting into shape, getting the maximum return on your investment, okay? And I really see the difference between the results people get when they are serious about nutrition and the results that they don't get as a result of taking it a little bit, sort of like laxadaisically. Here are some of the benefits that come from taking your nutrition seriously. First, increased energy, right? So by consuming a diet that's rich in whole foods, fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, taking the right supplements, you increase your energy levels and feel more productive throughout the day. You feel more productive throughout the day. Point blank. Number two, you get better sleep.
Host [00:17:32]:
You can pay attention or you can say, you know what, I'm going to train my way to fitness and I'm going to eat whatever it is I want. I just ran for a half an hour. I just biked for half an hour so I can eat those six donuts. It's not going to work that way. You're going to feel it so much in your sleep pattern, which is going to be all screwed up. It's going to suck. Better nutrition actually brings you better sleep. A well balanced diet also is going to help you sleep better at night.
Host [00:17:55]:
It's going to help you regulate your blood sugar levels and reduce inflammation in your body. Good nutrition and diet helps improve mental clarity. So eating a diet that's rich in omega three fatty acids, vitamin B, twelve, and other antioxidants helps you to improve your cognitive function, memory and mood. And we talked about this before. Actually, we just did a podcast. Number two was a lot on this. You have a reduced risk of chronic diseases. So by consuming a diet that's low in saturated and trans fats and high in fiber, you can reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer.
Host [00:18:28]:
As far as I'm concerned, it's a complete no brainer. You don't even have to think of whether the value is there or not. It's just a question of how do I begin? The real question is not if this is good, not if I want to do this. The real question is how do I start? Okay, so here's a couple of options. I throw them out there like this. If you can pick them up, if you can run with them, you will be farther ahead. First of all, eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables each day. Every day.
Host [00:18:51]:
It's not all, yesterday I had a yellow apple. Today I'm going to have a I don't know. No. Every day you want to have colorful fruits and vegetables daily. Every day you want to choose lean protein sources like chicken, fish, lean red meats. You want this in your diet. You want these lean protein sources. Okay.
Speaker A [00:19:09]:
I use a lot of protein. I use a lot of supplemental protein. Why? Because I find it difficult in my day to consume for the protein needs that I have. I find it difficult to consume, like, four or five chicken breasts, two steaks, and like, a piece of fish. It's difficult for me. So what do I do? I have my meats and my protein sources, sometimes vegetable protein sources. But I also have my powdered supplemental protein. Why? Because it fits into my day, and I simply don't have all day to be cooking and eating.
Host [00:19:37]:
It just makes sense to me. Limit your intake of processed and sugary foods. Limit them. It's very simple. Limit your intake of processed sugary foods. Incorporate healthy fats. I talked about avocados in the last podcast. Love them.
Host [00:19:50]:
There's some nuts. Use olive oil in your diet, drink plenty of water, and limit your alcohol intake. I won't even get into the alcohol thing. I'm just leaving it like this right now. There but limiting your alcohol intake is a great idea on many levels. As far as healthy nutrition goes, nobody's expecting you to incorporate all of this at once. But if you can make small changes to your nutrition habits, you can make a big impact on your overall health and fitness. And if you want a deeper overlook of nutritional awareness, check out episode two.
Host [00:20:19]:
If you haven't done so already, there's a ton of information and a great low carb cookie recipe to boot. Check it out. So that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed and got something valuable from today's topic. Feel free to share the show, and if you want to add your thoughts, request a specific topic, or just check in. You can join the conversation on our Facebook page. You might even get mentioned in an upcoming episode so you can subscribe. Don't forget to check out the show notes for links to join a conversation I want you to have.
Host [00:20:49]:
If you don't, even small changes can make a big difference to your overall strength, health, and well being. Until next time. It's your time to just start applying what you've learned, training smarter, eating smarter, and getting more out of life. I'll catch you soon.
Voice Guy [00:21:30]:
You've been listening to. Just start early in life. Neil D went from a skinny to a muscular physique when trends and lifestyle choices led him down a path of fat gain. And lost motivation. His determination to end the madness became a transformative system and a passion for helping Gen X live the fitness lifestyle for fat loss, mobility and muscular development. We hope you liked the show. If you did like, rate and review. For more info and to reach out to Coach Neil Dee personally, find us on Facebook and Instagram. See you next time on just start.
