E21 Squaring the Curve: Al Lyman on Living Fully in Health and Longevity

Imagine defying the typical narrative of aging and instead, charting a course for a life brimming with energy and health deep into your centennial years. That's the vision Al Lehman, the Age Optimizer, brings to our conversation, as we unpack the profound concept of 'squaring the curve' where one lives at peak health right until the end. Reflecting on my grandmother's journey and the stark reality of aging without quality, we delve into Al's personal mission to ward off disease and maintain independence as he aims for a full life until 120. Our dialogue breaks down the crucial balance of quality versus quantity in years, reminding us all that the clock ticks not to count the days, but to make the days count.

Venturing into the choices that sculpt our health destiny, we confront the deceptively simple yet transformative act of picking our 'hard'. It's about embracing the small daily disciplines that sculpt a healthier tomorrow, rather than succumbing to the seductive ease of poor habits today. Amidst personal revelations about the piercing clarity that comes with family health crises, we celebrate the building blocks of a robust health routine and debunk the 'no pain, no gain' myth. Our discussion underscores the need for joy in the journey to wellness, proving that the path to longevity is paved with consistent, mindful actions.

Step outside with us to embrace the healing power of the natural world as the episode unfolds the undeniable connection between our environment and our well-being. From the science of the sea to the simple act of a lunchtime stroll, we explore how the great outdoors can be our ally in the quest for vitality. With Al's expert insights, we're reminded that every step towards a healthier life, no matter how small, is a step worth taking. Weaving through the narrative of my book's epilogue, we conclude with a heartwarming testament to the power of a personal 'why' in propelling us towards a future where health shines as our greatest wealth.

Guest Linkedin: Al Lyman
Guest website: https://pursuitathleticperformance.com/

Transcript

Nico Van de Venne: 0:03

Let me invite you to sit back, drop your jaw, tongue and shoulders, take a deep breath and, if you wish, close your eyes for a moment and feel the beat within. In a few seconds, you just jumped from head to heart and felt the beat within opening up to receive even more value and fulfillment out of your business and life. And today's episode. I'm your host, Nico Van de Venne, confidant to successful CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs striving to achieve everlasting fulfillment. Welcome to the Everlasting Podcast with our next guest, al Lehman.

Nico Van de Venne: 0:44

Welcome to the Everlasting Podcast with our next guest, al Lehman. The introduction of Al is pretty unique in all the introductions that I've done, because Al is currently 64, and since his mid-20s Al wanted to live disease, doctor and drug-free to give himself the best chance to die a healthy and a ripe old age of around 120. Now that's a target to reach. He's also called the Age Optimizer and Al coaches aging and aspiring adults to take back control of their health so they can live stronger in their second half. Motivational speaker and author of Age Well and Feel Great. Welcome to the show, al. How are you today?

Al Lyman: 1:31

Nico, I'm doing great and of course it's a pleasure to be with you. Thanks so much for having me all the way here from Florida right.

Nico Van de Venne: 1:40

Yeah, you're all the way there in Florida. You just told me summertime hit over there, so that's got to be very, very interesting. Very humid and hot probably, I would say those are two words to describe it.

Al Lyman: 1:56

I love the heat, though, so I'm good.

Nico Van de Venne: 1:59

I hit on 25 Celsius and that's. You know. Whatever comes up there, it goes higher. It's kind of uneasy and when it hits like 27, 28, I'm done. That's not my temperature. I like the, you know, the mid section. You're in the majority. Yeah, I think so. I think so. So 120. Let's talk about that. I find it so intriguing. Like I said earlier on, before the show I mentioned, I wanted to go for the 140, but you're going for the 120. Go ahead, tell us what's the driving force behind that age and how did you get there from your 20s?

Al Lyman: 2:39

You know, nico, it's an interesting question and I think, quite honestly, it isn't about 120 per se. It's more about what I, what I like to refer to and what others refer to as our health span rather than our lifespan, because I think any of your listeners would agree OK, 120 sounds great, but if I'm going to spend the last 30 years in pain or, you know, suffering, battling a chronic disease, then I don't want any part of it, you know. So it isn't about 120. It's about how long can we sustain good health.

Al Lyman: 3:16

And you know, in my mind at least, this dream, this vision that I had was, you know, the phrase I used at the time in my mid 20s was to square the curve. You know, I had this vision of of living my life, you know, sort of imagining your mind's eye horizontal line, and then one day, let's say at the age of 120, you know, that's a dream we go to sleep one night and we just don't wake up the next day after doing something fun. That day, right, and that day would be that vertical line. So we've got this squared curve and of course, this is juxtaposed against what we typically see now, at least here in the US, which is a slow, gradual decline of health right Sort of a stair step where with each succeeding year after, say, the age of 70, or even many folks my age, we start to see, you know, more aches and pains. I think chronic pain now is or pain I should say has become chronic for many folks and of course, battling diseases and taking increasing numbers of prescription drugs. So it's really about health span, which is the quality of the years, versus lifespan, which is the number of years, and this is the you know sort of, I'd say these two parallel worlds that some people you know think about or you know that are that struggle with.

Al Lyman: 4:48

Because I, like I said, I don't think anybody would would bargain for a life you know where they live to, let's say, 100. By convalescing, loneliness, chronic pain, side effects from pharmaceuticals and on and on. I mean that's the quality of life that nobody would bargain for, and every single person listening to this knows someone who's probably existing in that world. It could probably even be described as a living hell. So to me it's about the quality of the years. You know. Ultimately we have to accept that there's going to be something that will ultimately be the linchpin for ending our life. So in my mind, very realistically, the way I look at it is delaying the onset of these diseases, because I often joke with somebody hey, I'll you know, I'll gladly accept the cancer diagnosis if I am 120.

Al Lyman: 5:51

And I only have to suffer for a few days or a week with it. Right and I think that's the that's the key is delaying the onset of these diseases so that more of the years that we're here on earth are quality years where we can enjoy the things that make life worth living.

Nico Van de Venne: 6:12

That's a beautiful balance between, let's say, numbers and reality. I actually, when you mentioned 100 years, my grandmother, she passed away beginning of January this year, only a week away from 101. And if I look at her life in the last let's say, 15 years, she was, you know, she was absent, she was not mentally there anymore. I think last year when we had her birthday party for 100 years, I think they kind of cut down on the drugs so she was a little bit more lucid and that was a time that she talked to everybody again, as in my grandma, and after 100 years 101 minus one week so we did the funeral and then afterwards and I I've told this before but, um, my, my brother and me we were talking about her life and then suddenly he walked in with just a, you know, a cardboard box and that was filled with a couple of items from her, her life that was left behind in the home and it kind of smacked me right in the face, you know, realizing that all her life and I'm actually writing kind of a TED Talk-ish thing about her life how she struggled and was alone.

Nico Van de Venne: 7:39

And my grandfather was a bus driver, so he spent long times on the road, like most truckers these days do as well. So she struggled and ending her life in a cardboard box with these few items. It's like you realize that the time you spend in life is so much more precious on what you leave behind with the people or the feelings that you leave behind than the items are. And what you leave behind with the people or the feelings that you leave behind, then the items are. And my brother it was pretty funny because he found these old articles of my grandfather who was right before the Second World War. He was a very known cyclist here in Flanders and cycling is something that's very, very popular here. We have the Tour de France really close, close by to ronde van vlander, which is also paris, and so on.

Nico Van de Venne: 8:28

And um, he was uh, I don't know if you know the name eddie medics of course yeah arguably the greatest cyclist of all time yeah, the cannibal they call them, uh, sometimes, yeah, um, so we were also. My dad was also a heavy heavy fan. My grandma was even a heavy fan, and my grandfather was in, let's say, a decade before or two before Eddie Merckx was born, and at the time he was already known as a very heavy winner. You know, he almost won every competition he did and so on. And then the war came. He had to escape from nazis or whatever, and so she spent her life, um, seeing a husband leaving the house all the time and then coming back after so long and this and that, and then you see how much she did in that, in that world.

Nico Van de Venne: 9:22

She wasn't easy, lady, by the way. She was not always loved, she was harsh. I call her the colonel sometimes because she kind of commanded the whole street, but it does give you a perspective of, okay, she turned 100, and the last 15 years to 20 years she was not there. So did she turn 100 or did she turn 85? And her health she went in and out of hospitals and so on, and she loved doctors, so she loved medication and so, and then I wonder for myself, what's? What's this for me, and and and the people I'm surrounded with and so on. So I also kind of look out for not using too many chemicals. Let's put a general name on it, but it's sometimes difficult within our world to our society is built on these new systems. How do you tackle health without the aid of these items? I would say I'm trying to be a little bit soft on what I'm expressing here because there's so many, it's so diverse. You have homeopathy, you have antibiotics and whatever, but how do you see this story grow and people helping?

Al Lyman: 10:42

Well, it's a great question. I think it begins with making a conscious decision to take control, or I should say, take responsibility for your health. Right, because we want to offload the responsibility for a lot of things in our life to someone else, and the reality is or something else. It starts with taking responsibility and then, along with that, reinforcing a belief system that says we have some control over our health, over the outcome that we're looking for over the course of our life. I mean, most people don't want to take control or take responsibility Again. They'd rather you know, I mean, it's the doctor, it's the system, it's the whatever medical community, it's you know, our environment, whatever.

Al Lyman: 11:41

So I think it starts there and I think, obviously, that belief that we do have control and that our choices matter, I think those things. It takes a while to be able to build that belief system because you need to take a little bit of action. You need to reinforce you know, your action on a consistent basis and begin to see the changes that happen. You know it's, you know and I know let's be really honest when we look at centralized medicine and this is not just here in the US, but I think it's infiltrating around our globe there's a lot of money to be made with a lot of specialists, and there's a lot of money to be made with a lot of specialists and there's a lot of money to be made with treatment for diseases. There's very little money to be made in prevention of diseases. So I like to say that there's no money in good health. I mean, the health care system here makes very little money off of me. In fact, as I sit here, I've never taken a prescription drug, to be honest. So that makes me obviously an outlier. Is that because I've got great genes? Well, when my dad was my age, at 64, he'd been diagnosed with a glioblastoma and was dead 10 months later. And if you look at pictures of my dad when he was five years younger than I am right now, he looked like he was 75 or 80 or even 85. I've got a picture of my grandfather lying in a convalescent home bed at the age of 70, and he was dead at 71. At the age of 70, and he was dead at 71. But at 70, he looked like he was 90. So is it about our genes? Is it about our family history? We want to. You know, it's really easy to say, oh, you know, I'm probably going to have high blood pressure because my dad has it and my grandfather had it. So yeah. Now I like to say you know, genes may load the gun, but it's your lifestyle choices that pull the trigger, and that's the bottom line. But I think you know, as a species we're wired to take the easiest path. We're wired to look for the quick, easiest solution, and we live in a world where everybody's looking to make their buck, and so we're being sold technologies and things that make our life easier and we're pleasure seeking, we get on that dopamine rush and there you go. So all of these things we're talking about. I think to fight against those requires a conscious choice of decision.

Al Lyman: 14:30

And again, I always come back to the idea what if we could see our memories in advance? Imagine, you know, you talk about your grandmother and I can tell you I have an exact same story with my mom, same story with my mom. But what if we could, as we sit here right now, if we could actually literally see our memories, in other words see 10 years or 15 years into the future and the reality of our life at that moment? So imagine I'm 75 and I'm lying in a convalescent home bed and my grandson, Theo, who's six now, is 16. And he comes to see me and I can't really engage with him or talk with him, you know, and he feels a little guilty because he hasn't come to see me very often and he kind of wishes, you know Papa could be there, but he can't, you know, at his ball games. Or, you know, when he's in the high school. You know the high school play, or to meet his girlfriend, and so you know, now let's flip the script. It's 10 years from now, I'm 75, and we're out in the grass field and I'm chasing him and I catch it because I'm faster than he is and he's like Papa. That's amazing. Let's you know when are we going to go hiking? You know, let's go ride our bikes. I want you to meet my girlfriend. Hey, I can't wait to see you at the play. You know, I got this role and I'm so happy about it, Right? So here are two dramatically different memories, Right? But if we could see these in advance, would we make a different choice today? And I think that's the question I hope to have.

Al Lyman: 16:15

Every person I engage with asking them, you know, ask themselves what are you willing to do? Are you willing to do a little bit of hard today, over the short term, to make the long term a lot easier? Because that's kind of how it works. Easy has a cost, Right, You've got to choose your heart. Which heart do you want it to be? The heart which says I'm going to make five minutes for exercise, I'm going to decide not to eat that processed food, I'm going to decide not to take the drug my doctor wants to give me and instead make the lifestyle choice that I need to so I can avoid taking the drug? Or am I going to just, you know, accept the easy path now so that over the long term, things become much harder Because, you know, and I know, Nico, without good health man, everything else it just doesn't matter as much. And I think this is what drove me in my twenties and it's what's driven me every year since. You know, this idea that I mean I could have all the money in the world and I don't. I can, you know, whatever, right, I mean all these things, all of these things, these material possessions.

Al Lyman: 17:22

You described your grandmother, her life. Really, it came back to what was in a box. You know, we all know what this feels like. You know, my mom passed in early January as well, at 93. And I remembered all the things that she loved about her life. You know, and, of course, as the years, years went on, those things began to fade and they be. You know, they changed and they became, in some respects, like you, you know, like this one TV show that she would want to watch and it became so important for her to record that show and but none of it mattered in the last moments of her life, in the last weeks and months of her life, when she was suffering, you know, terribly. So, yeah, man, you know what we're talking about right now is the most important thing that every person needs to consider. But it's not easy. It's not easy.

Nico Van de Venne: 18:20

Yeah, that's, that's, that's very true. You know, recently I've never been a sports person, I've never exercised, you know, continuously. When I was 16, 17 years old, a little bit earlier, when I was 14, my dad started doing this side hustle which was delivering papers to houses, you know, adverts and stuff like that. So I walked a lot of miles, a lot of kilometers in in that time. You know, it was four years during my high school period, every wednesday, every thursday, we, you know, I jumped into the car. It was actually, it was a very fun experience because we opened up the back of the car. I was sitting in the back and I jumped out each time, like that, you know, had to deliver something, yeah, which is a unique experience for me and my dad, but it was hard work and that was my exercise. And then I started doing fitness as well power training and impress girls. You have to do it somehow.

Nico Van de Venne: 19:18

I was built, I was ripped these days I'm ripped a little bit lower Everything kind of bent of into one zone. A lot of people want a six-pack. I just got, you know, I got a. I don't drink that much, no, but it's, it's something that you know. The exercises and also all these things I've been. I've been working on my business for so many years and I've been sitting and I've done crazy hours and I never spent any time on doing any exercises which now I am absolutely feeling. You know, walking, standing for a long time, all of it hurts, but I have come to a point where I'm saying this is good pain, this is pain that I need to go through now so I can build my body again and get those muscles up. And especially you know, the whole pandemic story didn't help there. And today, each morning, what I do since, I think, a few more months now, I do these small exercises like wiggling my legs and raising my arms and stuff like that, just an exercise that I learned somebody who taught me a little bit of Tai Chi as a warm-up. And since I've been doing that, I get up in the morning and I get out of bed where, let's say, eight months ago, I was crawling out of bed, I could not get out of bed. I was crawling out of bed, I could not get out of bed. And it's these little things that compound to the effect of being a little bit more healthy streaming and so on.

Nico Van de Venne: 20:53

And what you're saying is about. You know the story about the pain and the struggle. It's a part of the game. You know, like I said earlier when we were talking, no pain, no gain, it's a classic. You know, like I said earlier when we were talking, there's no pain, no gain, it's a classic. You know it's a movie. I've never seen it but it's I know the gist of it.

Nico Van de Venne: 21:09

But what I've also learned in in these last couple of years, uh, pain is something and I'm not trying to sound say I say the message is already what's called pain.

Nico Van de Venne: 21:21

Pain is good, pain is, pain is, is is a good sign. But what I've learned is to enjoy the journey instead of the destination. And since I've been doing that, all these little things have become a part of my life, to improve each day just a little bit. You know, going for a walk just a little bit further, and we all know that we never touch our boundaries, we never go for the end. If we would, we would not only go for one mile, but we'd do 10 or even more just to get there if the need is there. And I do get the whole idea of it's easy if you go to a doctor and give you, you know, pain prescription my own, my own parents um, there's this, this um thing that that's, it's kind of a salve that you put on your back and then you know, it relaxes your muscles. I think they they have four or five of these tubes in their house spread around, so whenever they feel a little, you know, know, honey, come on, you know, and they're like that's 74.

Al Lyman: 22:30

Yeah.

Nico Van de Venne: 22:31

But it does not help in the long run. And I see my mom who's kind of slowing down even more and more because they're in a little apartment, they don't go out. They used to live in the seaside where she went for a cup of coffee, read her book, talked to people. These days, bed chair, bed, kitchen chair you don't move anymore and I think it's not only physical but it's also the whole mental thing that kind of follows next to it.

Al Lyman: 23:03

I think yeah, you know I think you've approached things, in my opinion, just the right way for yourself. You know I say in my book that. I mean, we know change is messy. Nico, right, most people don't want to change, and for good reason. It's hard to change, and for good reason it's hard, I say in my book you know, our change, the things that we embark on trying to do, should almost be so small that they're almost imperceptible as a change.

Al Lyman: 23:36

So, for example, if you're typically sedentary and you don't move very much, just making a decision to walk for two minutes straight or five minutes straight may not sound like very much to somebody who runs 25 miles a week. For that person who's typically sedentary, it could be a significant change. Key, of course, is that when it's so small, it's almost imperceptible. It's something that, if you can just back up and be consistent with, can become a part of your daily routine and something that you can do almost unconsciously. That's the path to making more long term changes that stick versus trying to do too much too soon. And you know you end up getting very sore or worse, injured because you're trying to do too much, or burnt out Right, and so that negative self-talk comes back at you because you know you tried this and then you got hurt and you know what an idiot and you know I'm not going to do that again. And you end up in this vicious cycle. So small changes, where you can begin to put, you know, tiny little actions, one on top of another, is exactly the way that you know we want to go about it. Now, the flip side is, when we do it that way, it takes a while to get the results we're really looking for. So we've got to take a long-term approach which speaks exactly to what you're talking about when you make it about the journey.

Al Lyman: 25:13

You know, one of the things that you know you just said, which is really true, is this idea that in the world today, in our sort of the culture of what I think of as our global community, certainly here in the US, is, we now live indoors. We're now spending the overwhelming majority of our time indoors. Like more than 95% of the overwhelming majority of people, 95% of their day is spent indoors, and very often that indoors is spent under artificial light, artificial blue light that can have a negative impact. We're a species that has evolved outdoors. To be outdoors, I mean as little as 150 years ago, the only light you'd get at night would be from a campfire or the moon. The only light you'd get at night would be from a campfire or the moon. Now we live in a world where very few people see the sun when it rises or are exposed to the full spectrum of light from the sun. And at the flip side, you know, at the opposite end, they're getting hammered with all kinds of this artificial light after the sun is set. So we've got a very disturbed circadian biology which has a dramatic impact on our health. All negative, by the way.

Al Lyman: 26:32

But to your point, man, when you just to say I'm going to get outdoors, I'm going to, you know, go out and see nature, experience nature. In my book I talk about how I love the beach here. Experience nature. In my book I talk about how I love the beach here, you know, and negative ions, this really positive thing which happens, which just makes me happier and I feel good when I'm feeling, you know, the waves, hearing the waves, feeling the water on my skin, all of these things that are about getting out in nature and, to your point, you know, making it about the journey and as a byproduct of that we're getting more of the full spectrum light from the sun, which is essential for our health, and we're getting less of that artificial light and we're getting more natural movement into our day. So it isn't about structured exercise and it isn't about pain. No pain, no gain. Man, that is not going to work for people long term. It just never does. I mean it's much more about embracing a little bit of discomfort.

Al Lyman: 27:33

You know one piece of advice that I'll typically give for someone who, I think, is struggling with this idea of making these small changes.

Al Lyman: 27:42

I just asked them and in a way, your introduction to the show, kind of it, made me think for a moment about this.

Al Lyman: 27:50

What I'll ask them to do is I say just just take 15 to 30 seconds, close your eyes and imagine how good you're going to feel after you're done, right Emotionally, like pat yourself on the back, I don't care how little anyone might think it is. If you can get in five minutes of exercise when you haven't before, right, when you can do one good quality pushup when you weren't before, even if it's against a wall, just think about, just take 30 seconds, close your eyes and imagine how good you're going to feel about yourself and how good physically that's going to feel and when you can do that and you latch on to that. Maybe that gives you just enough inertia, right Enough of you know, a sense like okay, I'm going to do this and then do do it, and then just back it up every day. And you know every day is it's a moving target, man, you know like it's easy to say it's automatic. It's never automatic.

Nico Van de Venne: 28:52

You know, every day.

Al Lyman: 28:53

It's just like brushing our teeth. You know, I ask somebody like listen, just because you brushed your teeth today, does that mean you don't have to do it for the rest of the week? No, everybody knows. If you want to keep all of these right, you got to, you got to. It's a, it's a daily struggle, but it's worth it.

Nico Van de Venne: 29:12

Yeah, it's, it's, it's absolutely, it's absolutely true. And what I, what I've loved to to realize, and I really loved to realize it is that all these little pebbles make a very big mountain at the end, and it's like you can describe imagining the mountain already being there and then knowing that I can, actually, I can get there, I can make that mountain. And one of the things that I sometimes find, uh, intriguing is how people strive for something, and, and what I found intriguing was that they strive for something and I could not understand why they were continuously, continuously striving for that, and and it's only been years, or two, three years since I realized that it's all those little things that add up to one big pile, and it's and that's why I also try to make clear to my listeners and to the people I meet and the people I work with is it is never about the end goal per se. You need the end goal as something to strive for, and you will never reach the end goal exactly as you thought it would be today, because it's going to change along the way. It's like you said every day is a new beginning of every story, a new story going on, and that story is changing.

Nico Van de Venne: 30:43

And it's the same thing with all these exercises, because one day you might have a little ache in the elbow and push-ups is not a possibility, but you can stand up and do these crunches instead, or go sit on a chair and stand up 20 times. It's also an exercise. There's always a way to find another thing to do. And even better maybe, and that's one of so recently I started walking again. Like I said, it's these little steps that give you so much good feelings. And now I've got this location where I'm at, and it's a big building, and I've made myself clear okay, I'm just going to walk around the building, that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to go far away into streets and so on.

Nico Van de Venne: 31:32

And since I've been doing that, you kind of feel that every day it's kind of an automatic, that's it. It's creating these habits every day and at some point you're just, you know, lunchtime, oh yeah, let's go outside. You don't even think about it anymore, you're not even thinking about the future. It's just getting yourself on the roll. And once you're on the roll, it kind of comes automatically. Of course, life happens, and when then you know you go on holiday for maybe two or three weeks. Maybe the habit goes away a little bit and you have to restart it, but it's always there and the image that you just said earlier about your grandson and then running after and catching him even at 16, being quicker at, let's say, your age. I always find it difficult to say that, but anyway, yeah, I've got no shot at being faster than he is at 16.

Al Lyman: 32:29

I can tell you that. But I like the idea of threatening him with the idea that Papa's going to catch you.

Al Lyman: 32:38

So we all have to have a why for whatever it is we do. In the epilogue to my book I asked the question what's your why? There's an absolutely beautiful German commercial Christmas commercial which I describe in the epilogue to the book. I don't know if you've ever seen it, but it starts off with this very old man waking up to an alarm and he's kind of, and he trudges off to his garage and drags a kettlebell out into the middle of the floor and he can't possibly pick it up, and so he struggles and very quickly we see the story evolve where he's becoming stronger and he's starting to be able to lift this kettlebell. And then neighbors are looking at him and they're wondering what's going on. And at one point one of the neighbors calls his daughter and says you better check on him, something.

Al Lyman: 33:36

I don't know. If you've seen this commercial, it's absolutely amazing, yeah. And of course, the one word that's spoken in this you know two minute commercial is where she says Papa, you know, like, what are you doing? Of course, at the end of the commercial we realized what it was all about is he arrives on Christmas morning with a gift for his granddaughter which turns out to be a star, and she's just glowing and she's so happy, and so he picks her up and he lifts her so that she can place the star at the top of the tree. Just absolutely beautiful story.

Al Lyman: 34:13

And everyone you know, tears down their eyes. To me, this encapsulates this idea what's your why, what's driving you? So you know, as an athlete, as someone you know myself has done marathons and Ironman, I mean you always had this goal, this data you know. In the future, you reverse, periodize against, you know what that goal is and you plan all the steps that need to happen for you to be able to get to race day. And I think life is much the same way. It's like you said, it is about the journey and it's about the process, and I love the process. But I understand that most people aren't like me. But I think more people can be like me, like explore your body, me. But I think more people can be like me. Like explore your body, learn about your body right, educate yourself, enlighten yourself. Man, this is your temple, right. Like this is the building you're living in, and so if the roof is leaking and the foundation is crumbling, you know you're not going to be very happy in that building. No, that's true.

Al Lyman: 35:15

Honor it, it and learn about it and explore it. And when we look at exercise, for me it's exploration. It's like every day I'm learning okay, what's changing right and how can I do something a little differently to be able to meet a challenge. Now, again, most people don't think the way that. I think I get that, but I think if more of us could think a little bit this way and go, you know, maybe I'm going to honor my body today Rather than, you know, worrying about whether the car needs to be washed or vacuumed and I'm a guy out there, you know I'm vacuuming the car, whatever, right, you know like no, this is your.

Al Lyman: 35:58

This is your temple. You know, this is what. This is the one thing that you will have forever and you're not getting any more. You know, despite the, you know the popularity of artificial joints and things like that, to me, an artificial joint will never be your actual joint, right, and we want to. We want to honor that and keep those, certainly for as long as we can. So, yeah, I mean it's about your why. What is your why for what you're doing or not doing?

Nico Van de Venne: 36:32

yeah. So how comes that? How does that come into play with the combination of the exercises and food and environment and all of that beautiful stuff? Because if you're not in the right environment, you won't eat the right food, you won't do the right exercises. You're in Florida, which is a known place for elderly people. That's what we know as Europeans from movies and so on.

Nico Van de Venne: 37:01

And you confirmed it to me earlier. So, looking at the environment you're in, I think you'll probably find a lot of peers there who lived a totally other lifestyle. How do you approach these people? By giving them new ideas. Your book is one way, but how do you do it now?

Al Lyman: 37:19

Well, I don't have any answers for that. It's a challenge, I'm not going to lie. I mean I think most people and maybe I shouldn't use the word most, because that's generalizing and I'm not sure, you know, I'm not sure and I'm in a position to generalize about that, but I would say a fairly large percentage of people would rather just block their ears and block their eyes and bury their head in the sand and hope for the best. That's the majority, you know. So how do I, how do I hope to help people see the possibilities? And I would say, you know, maybe I'm a glass half full kind of person, some of the time, I think advocating for it by living the way that I live, by doing the things that I do.

Al Lyman: 38:12

I'll tell you my neighbors here. I live in this little community, about two miles from the beach, about a hundred homes, and they see me out walking every night barefooted, you know, on the grass, on the gravel, on the gnarly asphalt. I need to be grounded, I mean, I don't want that the effect of shoes in those circumstances. So they see me out, you know, walking barefooted, and they're like man. You know what's wrong with that? Doesn't that hurt man? What's what, what's wrong with you, you know. And then the next morning they see me I'm running out, you know, running out the front entrance, and you know, and they're like man, the dude is running again, he's lost his mind, you know. I hope that you know. I hope that you know.

Al Lyman: 38:59

I guess I had the sign in my house that says be the change you want to see in the world. I hope that if I can live a certain way and advocate for a certain way of life, that some people might be influenced by that. And certainly the book is one way, but you know, to your point it is is. It is a challenge, because the reality is most people place way too much trust in their doctors and in the health care system and way too little trust in someone like me who has lived what I preach for my entire life, what I preach for my entire life. You know, I don't have a PhD and I'm not an MD, so I guess, therefore, I'm a guy that doesn't know anything about how to live, how to live a life the right way. Now that sounds a little, you know, a little cynical. Probably there is an element of cynicism there, because I think it is. It has been hard for me to get you know, to try to reach people.

Al Lyman: 40:00

You know, like I said, the overwhelming majority Listen we just went through this pandemic and I don't know how it was, where you are, you and I talked about a little bit about it before, but there's so many people around me that embrace this idea of isolating, embraced this idea of wearing the mask, and they looked at me like you know, like I was crazy because I was resisting it. And of course, you know, the whole idea of natural immunity was completely, you know, poo-pooed and naturally the vaccine became the thing and I would never go near that vaccine. I'm not anti-vaccine, of course, but I knew the thing hadn't been fully vetted and tested. I didn't trust that. You know, they said it was what it was and I wasn't about to take it.

Al Lyman: 40:49

I fully trust my own immune system and my ability to resist and I think what we've learned is that it was essentially a flu virus and that we were largely sold a bill of goods with respect to the vaccine. And now we're seeing these vaccine injuries at. You know, to take responsibility for my health no one's going to do it for me and I need to learn something. And as I learn, I can explore and maybe I can put the odds in my favor, because there are no guarantees. We know so much of it is a mystery. We're just trying to put the odds in our favor. That's what we really do, right?

Nico Van de Venne: 41:48

I can relate with a lot of things that you're saying. So currently I'm an executive coach and I have no higher university education, mba, whatever stuff like that. I did it the hard way. I went through the whole story, did the leadership, I had some trainings, I experienced hard times with teams that were crumbling. Currently, I'm actually in a project since two years that was pure chaos, which was, for me, paradise. I walk in, I love chaos, I make it structured, I make people work together again and all that beautiful stuff.

Nico Van de Venne: 42:39

And it's not easy doing these things because it's a lot of people management and I always look at humans as an organism as well. You know, there's always somewhere, there's somewhere a disease in an environment that causes why the other parts are not working as well. It's the same with the human body. Well, it's the same with the human body. And this is one of the things that I've also learned where taking that responsibility and saying, okay, there is one person here in this group who will stand, and whatever mistakes that are being made or or are going to be made, I will take the responsibility, but we will work together to find the solutions. And by doing these steps work together to find the solutions and by doing these steps you teach the others as well. You're living the example of taking decisions, of moving forward, of finding solutions and at the end of the story, right now, it is a team that works amazingly well. We even have a situation where somebody is not really somebody new came in, she's a bit, uh, unruly, a different character. You see, the team there's, there's so nicely glued together that even that doesn't budge them too much. You know they kind of complain, of course, because they don't like it and this and that, but it doesn't budge them and as a leader, you're still standing there and you're taking control of the body in that case. And then others are kind of in doubt what do we need to do? And so on. You take on, say this is what we're doing, these are the final decisions, it's this. Next step is this and this and this. If that doesn't work, we know what we need to do. Nobody likes that. Nobody likes the hard decisions. Nobody likes to put somebody in a position that they cannot get out of. But it's a part of life and it's the same thing with health and food and these decisions of a system that invokes a panic attack or scarcity or fear because of some kind of thing that's there. That's not even there, which is something normal. That just was there already. Just they blew it up. Why, I have no idea. There's probably some kind of agenda. I don't care about the agenda, but for me it's the same story.

Nico Van de Venne: 44:56

I started my business in February 2020. March was lockdown. I timed it really beautifully, but what I did was like usually people would kind of try to avoid this I don't look at news. I don't see news. So if this thing was going on in Italy and in China, whatever, I didn't know about it and just walked into our country and bam, lockdown. The first week I was kind of in a panic, but also I was trying to find solutions on getting out of this and that and that, especially starting to enjoy, because it was actually the first week that we started playing board games again with my family here at home. Because, you know, lockdown, I wanted to enjoy my time with my kids. So first thing we did was enjoy time with each other.

Nico Van de Venne: 45:48

And then all these stories came up, indeed, with vaccines and all that stuff, and I think the first week we did not have any effect, but the second week I was sick. I didn't feel okay. I had high temperature and this and that. So I had the flu, basic Period. I had the flu and people were like, oh, hospital, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, no, no, I'm staying home. I've got these remedies that are so old they're not even you know, of course, that are so old. They're not even you know. Good sleep, you know rest, look and listen to your body and it will heal. It's as simple as that. And then I think it was about a year later, something like that Again, I had the exact symptoms you know loss of taste, loss of scent, high temperature and so on.

Nico Van de Venne: 46:36

And I hadn't had the vaccine. I didn't want it. I didn't see the point. Because exactly the same idea it was not vetted, it was not tested. Why should I use it? And on the other side, I'm healthy. At that point I was 40 years old, I'm healthy, I can move whatever.

Nico Van de Venne: 46:54

And the strange thing that happened was a lot of people in my family started distancing. What did I do wrong? I'm allowed to decide what happens to my body. Why would I be punished for it? I wear the mask just for the safety of others and the impression of others. I didn't care if I needed to use it or not. This was my mindset and I did not want to hear the discussion of oh, you're not wearing a mask, I don't care, I just like, okay, put it on, just walk outside, go to a shop and undergo the world and don't be the difficult one.

Nico Van de Venne: 47:34

And in family it was like we had this moment where I think our kids yeah, this, these we have this tradition at new years where they read a letter to their grandparents wishing them well for the next year and so on. And I went to my, my, my father-in-law, and we had to stand outside, two meters away from them, and and our kids were standing there reading, you know, fully packed with all clothes and shawl and everything, and they were reading this, this letter, and it I burst into tears. I didn't show explicitly to my, my father-in-law, but I was like what in god's name are we doing that? What effect does this give to these two kids? They are showing a moment of love and there is something there that is unspoken, that's swiveling around. And then, years later now, there is a distance in the family. It's period, there is a distance in the family and it's still there and it needs to be healed at some point, and from my side, my door is always open. Everybody's welcome. I will not judge.

Nico Van de Venne: 48:40

I'm I'm also not an anti-vaxxer or anything like that. I don't care if somebody wants a needle in their arm. You know there's there's very good vaccinations, like polio and stuff like that. It just needs to be done, of course. Um, I have a. I had a mentor who had polio when he was a kid and and at some point he was completely blind and cataract and stuff like that. It's a part of life, these sicknesses, and it's just the effect that it had on people. And then I started reading years after that I think it was right.

Nico Van de Venne: 49:13

After the First World War, the kind of uh disease went around the world and it had had a different effect, of course, because people didn't know at the time, news was not that prevalent and of course there was just a war that had happened. Um it, this was scenario two. It was exact exactly the same thing as then and I'm like, if this thing comes around every 80, 80 years, what's going to be the next time? It's going to be not isolated, everybody's going to wear these silicone suits or something. No, our body is made to protect itself and mine sound cruel, but and with all goodness in my heart, but the people who do not have the resistance, there's basically something else that is wrong with that body or with their mindset or whatever, and if it has a very bad ending, it's a part of life and this disease is something that's out there, which is naturally, whatever speculation there is.

Nico Van de Venne: 50:16

But on the other side, it is taking care of that body again, which is the point where you win, and I also believe that when it comes down to body, that's one thing, but the same thing with being persistent in business, you know, pushing through, keeping going, showing other people what is possible. I hope to be an example of explaining to people or showing people how you can enjoy being a very highly active business person who is constantly working and working crazy hours, but I am enjoying every minute of it and I'm not working toward a goal that is high rise. I want to earn money. Yes, why Comfort? Why Because I love my family? Why Because I want to take care of myself in a way that these things are present, so on and so on. So I think living as an example is the best way to start with these things and it kind of rubs off anyway at some point.

Al Lyman: 51:27

Well, we can hope so. I mean, you know, the reality is, you know, in the end, I remember a very good friend of mine, who was very successful in business many years ago, said to me Al, you may think you know what is best for another person, but it's not up to you to decide, when they may see or realize themselves what ultimately is best for them. And so I think, at the end of the day, I know for me, I mean, I just have to go. You know, all I can do is what I can do, and the rest, you know it'll be. It'll be what it'll be. You know, certainly with respect, you know, looking back on the pandemic, like no amount of see, I told you, told you so is going to matter. It's not going to change anybody's mind. As it turns out, not only was the vaccine potentially harmful, but it didn't prevent transmission and it was never as good as natural immunity and masks don't work to stop an aerosol virus, of which there are millions around us at every moment in time.

Al Lyman: 52:39

And of course, the overwhelming majority of people that passed or struggled to this day are those folks that are described as having comorbidities. They're not healthy people to begin with, you know, I say in my book, nico, what most people think of as good health isn't. You know like I can walk. I can walk into my local grocery store and walk up to somebody and if they're not struggling with like a cold at that moment, or they don't have pain right at that moment, I can ask them you know, are you healthy right at that moment? I could ask them, you know, are you healthy? And they would go, yeah, I'm healthy. Why do you ask? But they might be on a high blood pressure medication. They might be taking a statin to lower their LDL cholesterol, right. They might be pre-diabetic and not even know it. Insulin resistant, right. They might be 20 to 30 pounds overweight. They might be completely out of breath walking up one flight of stairs.

Al Lyman: 53:40

Those people are not healthy. I mean, that's the harsh reality. So maybe that ill health hasn't manifested in symptoms which would be diagnosed as a disease, but they're not healthy. So their immune systems are compromised, their health is compromised and the first moment that they might be under attack from, you know, a viral infection of some kind or whatever it may be, they're going to be more likely to have more serious symptoms and ultimately have that cascade into an illness that becomes more serious and life-threatening. That's just the way that it works. The old adage what doesn't kill me will make me stronger is true. In my book I talk about hormesis, or hormetic stress, and this idea that the human body does respond to stressors, positive and negative, but there are positive stressors that make us more resilient. So that's important.

Nico Van de Venne: 54:45

Yeah, it's true. It's true, there's so many aspects on this. No, honestly, I think there would be a very big advantage if people would follow you, uh, with with the things that you're bringing out, because I've been, I've been looking at your, your linkedin posts and your videos, where which are very educational, very, very insightful and, um, some of them are are just so simple. You know, you explain things really simple and really direct and I think that's a very big advantage. So, where can people find you? Because you've explained a lot of things here, but I think it might be important for some of them to get the book. That's the first idea I would put out there, especially high-achieving executives who've been around for a while and they're going through their second you know the second that you say. You know the second lifespan, their second story, and taking care of the body is going to help them last longer as well in their roles. So where can people find you and and how can they reach out to you?

Al Lyman: 55:50

Well. Thank you, nico. Of course, my book age well and feel great. The proven path, the Proven Path to Solving the Aging Puzzle and Going the Distance is available on Amazon. It's also available at my website, theallimancom series of online courses and programs that are exercise oriented. That site is pursuitathleticperformancecom. Of course, as you mentioned, I can be reached on LinkedIn. The amount I'm posting there varies. Sometimes I'm pouring a lot of content in there and other times pouring a lot of content in there and other times less so, depending on, you know, life's challenges from one day to the next.

Al Lyman: 56:39

But I really enjoy the opportunity to work with those folks you know you described uh, someone who's you know looking at they're sort of my age. Uh, they're looking at retirement, they're looking at the second half of their life. They've worked their entire life. Perhaps they've accumulated a little bit of you know, some solid financial base and now they want to make sure that they can actually enjoy the years that follow after working their entire life.

Al Lyman: 57:09

I think those are probably the the folks that I would say I work with most often, because you know they want results, they want to be sure. Most often, because you know they want results, they want to be sure that they're on the right path. They want to know what their blood work means, they want to know how they should exercise and what they should do, and really they want someone in their corner encouraging them and encouraging them to encourage themselves and start to see those memories, man, because you know when we can do that, we can start to empower ourselves, to take control. By the way, you've inspired me right now because you just said something a moment ago about you know how, in business, we have to be persistent, right and just keep forging ahead. And there are plenty of days when I wake up and I'm like screw it, man, I'm done with this.

Al Lyman: 58:01

I'm so far in the red when it comes to my business. It's not even funny, right? And then other days I wake up and I have a conversation with someone like yourself and I go. You know, maybe I gotta keep going here absolutely, absolutely 100, even 200 from my side.

Nico Van de Venne: 58:23

The things you're doing, al, is amazing and I think the impact that you can make on so many different people, even even at a later age, because it's it's the start. The moment to start is now. Whatever, whoever, wherever you are, it is now and you can always get better. It's it's as long as you, you know, put in the effort and even if it's don't overthink it.

Al Lyman: 58:49

Start now. Absolutely don't overthink it do it absolutely. Whatever it is minute of this one processed food that you typically eat, get it out. Just that one choice, right. Just that one decision. Try to get to bed a little earlier, get in a little bit of routine, get out in the morning and see the sun Any of these tiny little changes, as you've alluded to many times through our conversation they're like pebbles that come into a mountain.

Al Lyman: 59:18

It's compound interest 100%, and they do add fundamentals that we can repeat over and over again and out of that, hopefully, we build a beautiful life, especially over the second half.

Nico Van de Venne: 59:41

Yeah, absolutely. I'm starting to look forward at the second half. I'm 45. If I hear you talking about that, 20 years.

Al Lyman: 59:50

when you get to be my age, you'll see I will. I get up. Like you know, I strength trained today and I'm like you know what. I'm planning on being around for a lot longer period of time. And you know, sadly, my dad was gone just a few months after. You know the age that I am right now and I just think about all that he has missed and you know that my kids and grandkids have missed and how they would love to be able to enjoy time with him now. It just wasn't meant to be, but it inspires me and motivates me, yeah.

Nico Van de Venne: 1:00:24

I think you're probably going to inspire a couple of people as well by saying those things. Absolutely Hope so. Thank you very much, al, for the time you spent with us and the inspiring subjects and ideas that you've brought forward. Thank you so much, you're very welcome, thank you Thank you and to our listeners, check out the new e-book just being launched on the website NicoVonDeVennercom or EverlastingPodcastcom, and remember to jump from head to heart and feel the beat within. Have a great one. Bye-bye, everybody, ciao.