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The Fit Perception
The Fit Perception
Who's The Real Athlete??
What truly defines success—being exceptional in one area or finding balance across multiple facets of life? This episode kicks off with a refreshing start as we reflect on the fleeting nature of public interest in events like the Olympics and the puzzling inclusion of sports such as breakdancing. Sprinter Gabby Thomas's revelation of running a mile only once a year sparks a deeper conversation about what it means to be an athlete and the societal overemphasis on sports and entertainment.
Transitioning into personal growth, we delve into the concept of holistic success, arguing that true fulfillment comes from balancing mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. Through personal anecdotes, we explore the dangers of singular obsession and the value of being well-rounded. We even dissect the unrealistic expectations set by fitness influencers, emphasizing the importance of not letting narrow definitions of success dictate our lives.
This episode also captures heartfelt moments, like taking my four-year-old son JJ for his first haircut, reflecting on children's growth and adaptability. We then discuss aging in waves, touching on how life stages bring significant physical and mental changes. Wrapping up, we engage in a spirited debate: who are the best athletes—CrossFit competitors or Olympic specialists? Highlighting the versatility of CrossFit athletes, we invite listeners to join the conversation and share their thoughts on this compelling topic. Don't miss this engaging and thought-provoking discussion!
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What's up, fam, what's good, what's good, what's good. Welcome back to another show, another episode of the Fit Perception Podcast. Your boy T is back in the studio and we're being pretty consistent. Not gonna lie, I've got my liquid death sparkling mango water, cause it's delicious, kind of addicted. All good Guys, this is really hard, not gonna. I'm not gonna lie to you, it's really really hard to do a consistent podcast. Number one because your boy has to come up with all this stuff by himself and you know that most of the time it's BS.
Speaker 1:The Olympics are done, they're gone, they're done and nobody cares. I got sent so many videos, memes, all the other stuff, of that poor girl from Australia, breakdancing hey, who thought it was a good idea to put breakdancing in the Olympics. It shouldn't be an Olympic sport. Go back to listen to all of my previous episodes on the Olympics and you'll understand that most things shouldn't be in the Olympics. Why? Because they're not really demanding of athleticism or to an Olympic level of athleticism, and it's fine, it's fine. We learned our lesson, hopefully, that those type of things should not be in the Olympics and it's all good. But figure it out and be better.
Speaker 1:But no, the Olympics are over, and it's so insane to me how fast people are or how fast humans move on from things. It blows my mind how incredibly much that we don't care about things once they're gone. And it can be horrific things, it can be terrible things, it can be amazing things and at the end of the day it doesn't matter. In two days it doesn't matter. That's why I think like I don't know. I feel like people need to, like, I think it's good that people move on, but I also think that it's not that good, because then we forget about the bad things that happen and then we're forced to repeat them over and over and over again, which is not good. We don't want to keep repeating the bad stuff. And we do repeat the bad stuff because we don't remember the bad stuff. And how fast we move on and pretend like things don't matter anymore or that they didn't happen. It's so insane to me and I don't want to get into politics. I won't get into the politics right now, but I think that it's. It's just so stupid. Oh, that like, okay.
Speaker 1:So back to the Olympics. Um, I was. I was, you know, just cause I didn't watch all of them, obviously because your boy's busy I don't have time for that, but I did catch like the highlights and the things that were big. We've talked about Noah Lyles, we've talked about Simone Biles, we've talked about the USA basketball team, which they won. But there was a girl who her name is Gabby Thomas and she's an Olympic gold medalist. She's won three gold medals in sprinting.
Speaker 1:And here's my problem with most athletes and this is going to be kind of a theme today. Here's my problem with most people in fitness, which is weird to say, because I'm in fitness, right, I'm in this industry and I think I'm in this industry. You know how people are like, oh, find your purpose in life. I think I'm in this industry to kind of break this industry, um, break the mold, if you will, or the norm, or the BS that happens in this industry, because there's a lot of BS. And this is like I don't want to downplay athletes, because athletes are incredible. Athletes are amazing. They push the human body, which I think is incredible.
Speaker 1:I think it's so fundamentally important to the human race to see how far we can take this human form, but at the end of the day, that's not really that important. It's really not that big of a deal to be an athlete. Now, it is important to be healthy, do not get me twisted. It is incredibly important to be healthy, but it is not that important to be an athlete, right Like? If you've listened a lot to this show, an athlete, right Like? If you've listened a lot to this show, you know that I genuinely think that entertainers and athletes are paid way too much money, way too much money and there's way too much of a focus on it. I think that you know we need to switch that to having more focus on thinking in a philosophical way and in a logical way and dealing with things of you know. Think more on realism and logic and common sense and open-mindedness. I think there needs to be more of a focus on that, rather than focusing on entertainment and sports. But that is another conversation that I've had multiple times on the show. So, um, here's the thing going back sorry, I'm all over the place. Going back to gabby thomas congratulations, girl, you've won three gold medals at the olympics, which is really effing hard to do. So shout out to you congratulations, yay. Big round of applause. She said something that pissed me off Another sip of liquid death. Hashtag sponsor me.
Speaker 1:She said that she never runs more than a mile at one time, more than once a year. She says once a year we will. Our coach will make us run a mile and that's the farthest that we're going to run at one time. We're sprinters. We don't do that. We just run a mile once a year, that's it. That's all we ever do. Other than that, we are just sprinting. Great, that's what you're supposed to do, right? You're a sprinter, that's what you get paid to do. That's why you're in the Olympics is because you are a spr athlete, right? You can't just be good at one thing, right, then? Then don't call yourself an athlete, call yourself a sprinter or call myself a, a, a swimmer or whatever, because you're not an athlete necessarily. You are good at one thing.
Speaker 1:She said that that when she does that mile run, it's I can't remember the words that she said exactly, but she's like it's a mental um, a mental game, because it's so hard for her to run a mile. Hey, shouldn't be that hard to run a mile. If you're an Olympian Like I'm sorry you call yourself a gold medal Olympian and you have to run one mile and it wipes you out mentally because it's so hard. I have people who are 200, 300 pounds that can run a mile. That's hard for them, not an Olympic gold medalist.
Speaker 1:If you're going to say you're an Olympian, you better be able to run a mile without even breaking a sweat, otherwise shut up. That's so dumb to me and maybe I'm out of pocket, I don't care. It's so silly and stupid that that you should be able to be an Olympian and you can't run a mile without getting exhausted, like no, no, no, no, we've gone so far from what an Olympian is. Anyway, I don't know why that pissed me off so much. I was like what you call that a mental exercise? You're an Olympian. A mile shouldn't be, shouldn't tax an Olympic athlete. I don't care who you are, shot put, wrestling. Everyone at the Olympics should be able to run a mile, no problem. Otherwise don't go to the Olympics. You don't deserve to be there, because then you're just a normal person.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I just it was so it caught me off guard. I was like, ooh girl, don't say that out loud, keep that to yourself, that that makes you look bad. I mean, I understand that you're trying to be the best at the Olymp, at a, at a, an Olympic level, at sprinting, but like Ooh, girl, come on. Yeah, she called it a mental gut check. It's like Ooh, oh, hey, be better. Though, be better, um, cause in five years, no one's going to care about you and you will be working as a janitor, um, which is fine. We love janitors, right, it's all good. It's all good, but to go from an Olympian, be better, um, what else is going on? Uh, so the Olympics are over, crossfit games are over.
Speaker 1:It was unbelievable to watch the CrossFit games and the Olympics at the same time, because you're watching two sides of the same coin, right? You're watching on one side of the coin, you have people who are incredibly good at one thing and this is going to lead into the devil's advocate later, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it here but you're watching someone compete at a level that's the best in our world, right, this is the best in our world, not, I don't know, maybe there's people on other planets or whatever, but the best in our world at what they do, and they're spending a ton of time and they're becoming, you know, um, obsessed with the smallest details of what they're doing, whether it's sprinting or swimming, or gymnastics, or wrestling, or or track and field or, um, you know, ping pong, or shooting or all of the other things that they do. They are obsessed and and isolating one thing and becoming unbelievably good at one thing. And then, on the other side of that coin, still on fitness and sports and athleticism you have people who are trying to be the best that they can be at everything, every possible facet of athleticism. They are trying to be the best at it in CrossFit, because that's what CrossFit is all about is not having any weak points, not having any area of your athletic ability that is lacking. And so, like you hear this sprinter, gabby Thomas, say oh, a mile is a mental gut check, because I'm so used to just sprinting as fast as I can for a hundred meters or 200 meters, but a mile is a mental gut check. And a CrossFit athlete says hold my beer, I'm going to do what you do. Plus, I'm going to be able to lift three to 400 pounds off of the ground. Um, you know, or I'm going to go also swim a mile and then I'm also going to do this workout on top of all that. So it's like you're watching two completely different aspects of fitness and athleticism, which I thought was really, really cool to go back and forth between the two and compare them. Um, so that was cool. Um, we'll get into the, the, the CrossFit, and the, the Olympics, as the devil's advocate today, but I was.
Speaker 1:I was sitting there thinking about that for my own perspective of, like, what do I value the most? Um, do I value being very, very, very good at one thing, or do I value being as good as I can be at a lot of different things? And I think, as far as like a health, um, mentally and physically, you need to be the best that you can at all of the different things, not just one. As far as like a longevity, being healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, the only way to do that for a really long time is to try to put effort into every area right, not just one. Cause, like, if you do, what you'll notice is when you start to obsess too much over one area, all of the other areas begin to lack, and I and it's not anything really that you control it's kind of just like a default consequence of what happens when you become, you know, um obsessed with one thing and becoming the best at one thing other areas of your life that you should be good at start to lack as well. And and I had this like epiphany was it today, yesterday, I don't remember when it was yesterday, I don't remember when it was, it doesn't matter, but I was watching.
Speaker 1:So so I I'm fascinated by people who become really good at one thing.
Speaker 1:Right, because that's not me. I'm. I'm not like that. I am interested in a crap load of things. I'm interested in everything. I am very curious. I want to know every like all all stuff. I just want to know stuff. Very curious, I want to know every like all all stuff. I just want to know stuff. And I don't really care about becoming an expert at anything. I just it doesn't, I don't care. So the so seeing people that do care about that fascinates me. I'm I'm kind of like floored by people that are like that. Um, so you know, I follow a lot of those people on on social media and I watch a lot of YouTube and I watch documentaries and I read books about people like that, like Kobe Bryant, like he's one of those people that was obsessed with becoming the best at basketball, obsessed. So I find it fascinating the mindset and the drive, and someone who is renowned as being an expert in the field of fitness and and they go, you know, on podcasts and they go on on on speaking tours and they're invited to become speakers and they're great, they're renowned as being a successful person, right, and this is just me showing my true colors of being a judgmental piece of garbage.
Speaker 1:I'm sitting there watching this this gentleman speak and he talks about how you know he, he's been putting so much time into this and he's really coming around and in his zone he's locked in and and people are taking advice from him and it's this motivational woohoo. And then he said, like, just as a part of a story, he was telling that his wife and him are divorced and his kids go back and forth between the homes. And he wasn't bringing it up as a point of focus, it was just it added to the story. It helped paint the picture of what the story was added to the story. It helped paint the picture of what the story was. And I obsessed over that. And and the reason I obsess over it is because immediately I lost respect for this man as far as considering him someone that I would listen to for advice.
Speaker 1:And you might say, whoa, that sounds really judgmental. Yeah, it was. And whether it's right or wrong isn't the point. What I'm saying is he was becoming so obsessed with one area of his life that that other areas, like family relationships, started to fail. And to me that is not successful. That doesn't say, oh, I'm a successful person. To me that says I'm a selfish, obsessive person which is neither here nor there. It's not good or bad. I'm not trying to say it's good or bad. What I'm saying is you can't like I can't. I have to be very careful with my words. I can't consider that success because you're only good at one thing, that's it. You're good at one thing, congratulations. But that, to me, is an overall success, if I see so.
Speaker 1:When I see people online and I bring this up a lot because online is just what we do now, that's just part of our lifestyle we see all these people online and I see people who, in the fitness industry, have very little sympathy for people not in the fitness industry who are trying to work out. You know you'll get on there and you'll see these people that are like, if you don't make time for the gym, you're just lazy. Everyone can make time for the gym. You know. Get up earlier, uh, get it done before work, or or you know, um, uh, make your food on Sunday so you don't have to to be tempted to go eat out and and if you're not willing to put the time in and like they're talking all this BS and I'm like dude, you're 22 years old, you don't have a wife, you don't have a child, you don't have a real nine to five career like most of the world.
Speaker 1:How dare you think that you can give advice to somebody when all you do is go to the gym? That doesn't make you successful. It doesn't make you anybody worth listening to. It means that you are a selfish person and you're good at one thing and you're probably not even that good at it. It's just something that you do a lot, so you're kind of okay. It just really solidified in my brain.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh my gosh, I just I don't need those kind of people in my sphere. I don't need to listen to them, I don't need to hear them, I don't need to take advice from them, because that's not what I'm trying to do. I want to be successful in my marriage. I want to be successful as a father. I want to be successful as a business person. I want to be successful as a father. I want to be successful as a business person. I want to be successful physically. I want to be athletic for as long as I can, you know. I want to be mentally strong. I want to, you know, be able to regulate my emotions correctly. I don't want to just make a million dollars or a billion dollars or whatever amount of money becoming good at one thing, because that's not real success At the end of your life. That's not what's going to make you proud of who you are. That's just going to make you kind of like, look back and be like okay, so I did one thing Cool and it's insane, for and I and I I don't mean this as a disrespect for people that are good at the craft, but it's crazy to me to to put out there like oh, you know, you have to be this way because I'm successful at what I do. You need to listen to me, yeah, but nobody is living your life, dude, like these.
Speaker 1:Again, I go back to these quote unquote fitness influencers on Instagram and social media and Facebook that are like oh, do I? And this sounds vain and facetious and I'm not trying to sound like that. I'm just trying to to paint a picture of what happens. They're like oh T, how do I get a body like yours? How do I, how do I, you know, get to looking at that level and having an athletic physique and stay shredded and I level with them. I'm like guys, I do it for a living.
Speaker 1:I literally am at the gym. I don't have any other excuse but to be in shape because it's my career, it's my job, it's what I literally do for a living. You don't do that. You run a business and you are a CEO and you go work here and you go work there and you're a realtor and you're this and that and a doctor and a lawyer. You don't need to be what I am, because it's not what you do for a living. You get up and go to work, I get up and go to the gym. There's a massive difference, a huge difference. And so I, I these, these people that are online that are like oh, there's no excuse not to go to the gym. Oh, there's no excuse not to go to the gym. Oh, there's no excuse not to make time to go to the gym. You can do it. And like all this other bullshit, like it's so ignorant and so arrogant to think that it's as easy for someone else as it is for you because you aren't getting up and having to go to work and make choices and run a family and run a company and then go to the gym.
Speaker 1:I guarantee that 90% we'll say 90, we'll be generous 90% of social media fitness influencers would be a fat piece of garbage, totally out of shape, not anywhere physically close to where they're at now. If they had a job that wasn't fitness guaranteed, 90% of them would not be in shape. I would love to back that up with someone. If they had to go to work and they had to have a job and they had to be in whatever other capacity other than fitness, I would love for them to keep that same energy of you could do it. You have no excuse guaranteed they would not. They would not be where they're at if they didn't have a job in fitness. It's just so stupid to to push that type of mindset on people when they're not in fitness, when they're not obsessed with the same things you're obsessed with and and kind of got on a tirade there. But the point is, don't look to these quote-unquote successful gurus unless you can see their entire life Like there's.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to think of people that I deem like truly successful, and there's only a handful of them. There's only a handful of them because the the older I get and the more life I see and the more experiences I have and the more people I interact with, my definition of success, or my view of success, changes more and more and it's really more about are you successful in your relationships? If you can make a relationship work, to me you're a successful person. Regardless of how much money you have in the bank, how much real estate you own, if you have companies or not, I don't care. If you can't make a relationship work, you're not a successful person, because it shows to me that number one you don't know how to interact with people. You don't know how to compromise, you don't know how to communicate, you don't know how to um keep your selfish actions in check. You don't know how to make sacrifices. You don't know how to really have empathy for another person. Because if you have all those things, relationships work. They're hard, hard, hard work. And anybody that has a successful relationship I deem successful, regardless of what else they have going on in their life, and I see way, way, way too many people who are deemed successful by societal standards and they don't even have a relationship to speak of.
Speaker 1:I'm like what? How are you calling yourself successful then? Like it's just. Maybe it's because I have more of a a long term mindset. I've had that since I was a child of of thinking, okay, down the road, though, when I'm 80 years old and I, I don't have my businesses anymore, I don't have my athletic ability anymore. Where's my success? Oh, I didn't have time to raise children. Oh, I didn't have time to build a relationship with a significant other. Like time to build a relationship with a significant other? Like, so now I'm lonely and and sad and I'm literally by myself on my deathbed. Like, I'm sorry, where is your success again? Like, anyway, not to like put a downer on it, but I was just like thoughts, you know, fam.
Speaker 1:Like just thinking about, like these, these gurus, and we spend so much time listening to other people instead of just thinking for yourself. Like, oh, so-and-so. Told me Tony Robbins, told me this is how to be successful. Like, okay, but what do you deem Like? Who gives a crap? What? What this guru or person thought you should hear as success, like no one cares. Think it out for yourself what do you personally believe will bring you happiness and success and what do you deem as a successful life? Because if you don't even know what you think a successful life is, of course you're going to constantly be searching for meaning and searching for what you think is success If you're not able to put other people's voices and thoughts and opinions to the side and think for yourself, like, for example. So this popped up on my feed the other day One of the first influencers, I guess that got me into fitness and, like, really helped me in the gym and I looked to them for advice and I looked to them as like a pattern to follow.
Speaker 1:And a person that I wanted to be like was Steve cook. Um, he, uh, grew up in Idaho, I believe. I don't remember, but I remember I stumbled on his his YouTube channel really really early on, like when he was young, first starting out. He was a very big name in the fitness industry. He was sponsored by Gymshark and he had his sponsorship of supplements that he used and he was very, very big. He competed in Olympia, very big name in the space of fitness. You know, he had his own bodybuildingcom workouts and very quote-unquote successful in the fitness industry. So I was like, oh, I want to be like that guy. You know, I thought he had an incredible physique and I was like that's goals right there. But he was basically just like a regular gym tool. You know a bro that would go to the gym. Everything was about the gym and protein shakes and pre-workout and and pumping iron and how much can you bench, and just basic gym bro tool stuff.
Speaker 1:And um, then later on, you know, as he starts to live life and he starts to have experiences and you know he goes through, you know breakups and he and he starts this company with his friend and he starts a gym and he starts an app and then he tries to start his own clothing line and separates himself from Jim shark and, you know, really starts to like be his own kind of person. Um, you know it was interesting to watch him, cause I've been watching him for what? 15 years now. Like you know, that's a long time to watch him. Cause I've been watching him for what? 15 years now. Like you know, that's a long time to watch somebody live their life literally via video. So you get to see pretty much every day what they're doing, um, and then recently he just kind of like, just kind of fizzled out a little bit.
Speaker 1:You know, wasn't making videos, wasn't really? Uh, putting out much content which, like, I'm down for, I totally support that, um. But then he recently came back and you know he's always been jacked like big boy, big thick dude, you know, when he started getting more into being athletic and running, running, running and you know I was like shout out, dude, get on that train. But then he just recently came back with a post about like how, you know, there's been family emergencies and he just barely had a baby with his wife and you know, so he hasn't really been able to to be online as much. And there's been family things he's dealing with and business things that he's dealing with, and and then he posted this video of him taking a shirt off and he looked like a normal person, um, you know, in shape, but but not at the level that he was at, like shredded and jacked, like he was way smaller. Um, you know, very little muscle definition. Um, obviously was not as big as he was before or as jacked, which is fine, but I was like, oh, oh, now you see what being a normal person is like.
Speaker 1:Where's that energy of just make it happen? You've got the time you can go. Just, you know, instead of watching Netflix, go to the gym and, like, that was the energy before. And now, oh, I have a wife that I have to take care of. I have a child that needs attention all of the time. I don't just get to have selfish time to go to the gym for three hours and make fitness videos. Yeah, you have life. Now, dude, you have life, real life.
Speaker 1:And now his energy is different. Now it's not. Oh, I've got to just just make the time for it. Now he's real. He's like I've got to be as consistent as I can. Not, I'm going every day. What's up, no excuses, it's. I'm putting this out there to stay accountable, but I'm not going to beat myself up because I have other things that are just as important, if not more so, than staying shredded.
Speaker 1:And I was like, oh, I'm back, dude, I'm a Steve Cook fan again. I'm back, baby Um, because now he gets it. Success isn't. Oh, I'm, I'm the most shredded dude in the world and I'm going to make billions of dollars and have the coolest trucks and all this other stuff. None of it matters anymore. None of that matters Now. It's I've got to be as healthy as possible to take care of my family. That's what's important. That's what success is now. And I'm going to hustle and I'm going to drive and I'm going to work really effing hard but to spend time with my family and to build the relationships and with my friends and all those things that are actually important and and breed success.
Speaker 1:Um, so I was just I was like that that was interesting to see and fascinating to watch to realize that, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm kind of right. I'm kind of right with what success is and that doesn't downplay anybody else who thinks that's not success. That's fine, it's totally fine. Everybody's allowed to have their own opinions, everybody's allowed to think that they're right. Great, cool. But I genuinely believe and think that that is correct, that success is in relationships, period. Um, but anyway, what else is happening? Um, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Yes, so there was a? Um, a study done, uh, and I don't remember which school or or group of people did this study, but there is a study done that made me feel really intensely about staying as fit as possible for as long as possible. Um, so it was talking about how human beings age and you know I'm I'm watching my son, who's four now, go through these, these um waves, I guess, yeah, we'll use waves because that's the word they used in the study of of understanding and growing Right when he's. He's going through this like whoosh, of learning language and then like learning emotion, and you know, big spurts of growth here and there, and obviously when we're young, those are more aggressive and more intense and bigger as far as like how they affect our being, and so it's interesting to watch that.
Speaker 1:But we went and got his first haircut on this last week, on Tuesday, which, if you've never seen my son, he has incredible hair. When we wash it, it's basically down to his butt, it's so long. We wash it, we brush it out, it's very curly, it's ringlets. He has gorgeous hair. It's it's anywhere. We go anywhere, anytime we go anywhere. That is the biggest thing that people thought oh my gosh his hair. Oh my gosh his hair. His hair is incredible. Oh my gosh, his hair is so beautiful. Yeah, dude, we know, we get it. We were around him all the time. He has great hair. Okay, am I jealous about it. Yes, it's fine. Have I moved on? No, I haven't, um, um, anyway.
Speaker 1:So he's four, has never had his haircut, so it's very, very, very long. It's also out of control. So my wife and I were like, okay, we got to get his haircut. We've got to trim it up, you know, we're not going to cut it like buzz cut. That's just insane. So we're like, okay, we'll take him to my buddy, lewis, um, who is a good friend of mine, uh, who cuts my hair occasionally. Um, so we're like we'll take him to Lewis's salon and and get his haircut. So we go down there and my wife is a wreck, an absolute wreck, like tears flowing, and I'm obviously like, oh, it's his first haircut, ah, like it's a moment. But I'm obviously like, oh, it's his first haircut, ah, like it's a moment. But I'm not that emotional about it.
Speaker 1:So I had no idea how JJ was going to be, because he doesn't like it, like when we even touch his hair. So I was like, oh, this is gonna be a nightmare. I'm gonna have to, like, hold him down and, nope, we get in there. I was like, okay, buddy, we're going to go wash your hair and then, and then Mr Lewis is going to cut it. Okay, okay, dad. So we, we go there and he's getting the full treatment.
Speaker 1:He sits in the chair and the lady washes his hair and conditions it and and he's just sitting there looking up at the sky or up the lights and and doesn't make a peep, just sitting there very calmly. I was like bro, where is this when you're home? Where is this guy? Anyway, so he gets his hair done and then we walk over and he gets in the chair and he gets to look in the cool mirror with the lights and Louis starts combing his hair out and trimming it up, and so I give him a show. He starts getting a little squirmy and uncomfortable. So I was him a show. He starts getting a little squirmy and uncomfortable. So I was like here, buddy, let's watch Trolls. It's his favorite movie. So he put Trolls on and he chills out and gets this beautiful haircut.
Speaker 1:And Louis and Tori, my wife is like okay, I'm just worried that his curls are going to disappear, and she starts crying. And Louis is like no, no, no, how old is he? And and my wife is like he's four. He's like oh yeah, he's good, at least until he's seven. And and at seven they hit a spurt, like their hair changes and they and the way it grows changes, and I had no idea. You know he's like if his hair is going to change, it's going to change around seven. You know where there's this massive change that happens, where they start to grow differently and they start to understand differently and their hair changes and their bodies start to change and and and I was like, oh my gosh, so another spurt at seven. And it's so interesting because all of these things start to happen. You know we can track human adaptability and growth in waves, growth in waves. And you know the.
Speaker 1:The consensus for a long time was um, we, you know we, we hit puberty and and massive hormonal changes happen and big, big changes happen in our bodies and mentally and emotionally and and uh, you know, and then it's, you know we, we've had this, this, this, this understanding that your brain is constantly developing and developing and developing puberty. Basically, until your adult years you're still growing. And then they say, once you're about 25 is when your brain kind of stops developing. You can still learn and you can still progress and you can still understand new things and continue to grow, but your brain's actual developmental phase is complete between like 25 to 28. Um and uh, so you know, that's kind of like where it stopped.
Speaker 1:Uh, as far as like growth and and waves, um, and this study that these scholars did was talking about how, you know, we age in waves too, not just develop in waves, we age. Our bodies and our minds age in waves and they can track it. And they were saying you know like from and it's different for males and females, and I don't care if you believe in genders or not, they're real. So, in whatever they said, that there's these massive age jumps where we're kind of like steady and consistent and pretty. You know the same, I guess, as far as aging, um, until we're about 44, where you know like we age quite significantly between the ages of of 10 and 18.
Speaker 1:That's a massive age, like huge changes in age, um, you know. And then we age again around 25 to 28, when our brain stops developing, and then it's just kind of like nothing. You know where. We're just kind of like living. We're just experiencing life, which sounds super mundane and boring and lame, but it's kind of real. We're just kind of going through the motions You've been around, you've had experiences and now you're just kind of like steadying out your life and, uh, so they, they said that the the next age wave happens around 44, where you know men need to go and get colonoscopies and they need to get their prostate checked and you know women need to get the mammograms and they need to.
Speaker 1:You know they start going through menopause and whatever the other menopause I don't know what it is, but it's usually around 44 where we make a massive leap in aging, in feeling our age. You know our age. You know and and I've talked to my parents about it and other other, um, people who are around that age and like, yeah, like, when I hit 30, I felt an age, I felt aged. You know I, it started to decline. I couldn't do the same things. You know, for my friends that drink, they're like, yeah, when I hit 30, man, it was rough drinking, the hangovers were rough and and my body felt older, um, and, and then again at around 44, 45, another age wave hits and we feel that, um, in how we sleep and how we remember things, and um, um, you know the, the smallest physical activity, our responses to it, uh, and, and you know just basic aging, and then again at age 60. So the the age waves get get smaller and smaller and smaller as we age, which sucks.
Speaker 1:And um, the whole reason I bring this up is because in the study they said that the healthier you are as far as like lifting heavy weights and staying as mobile as you can and keeping your VO2 max high, meaning like you are on point with your cardio and obviously like you're getting enough sleep and you're eating correctly they said all those factors, um, play a significant role in those age waves because they happen regardless of how healthy you are. They happen. Now, the intensity and the impact they have vary based on your, your health, but they happen to everyone around that age, around 44, 45,. Everyone is going to go through an age wave and, based on how you've been living up to that point will determine how aggressive that age wave is. And I was like, oh my gosh, wow, okay.
Speaker 1:So it just gave me so much more determination to going back to what we were talking about before, to not having a weak point of fitness. Not having any sort of weakness, meaning I'm going to make sure that I'm I stay strong by lifting heavy weights. I'm going to make sure that I stay mobile by stretching. I'm going to make sure that I stay, um, you know, physically fit with my cardio. I'm going to force myself to run and to do other cardiovascular things to make sure my cardio is on point. I'm going to try to make sure that I spend time, um, keeping my mentality strong and my emotional health strong and my mental game strong, um, you know, uh, making sure that I sleep enough and making sure that I keep my diet basically in check, um, without overdoing anything, without becoming obsessed about it, because when those age waves hit, which they will, I want them to be less aggressive and I want to age gracefully and I want to, you know, have more of a steady, smaller grade decline, rather than this steep drop-offs at 44, 45, and then again at 60, and then again at 68, and then again at 80. Like, I want those to be less and less aggressive and and less and less um steep, and just be a steady decline, a softer decline.
Speaker 1:So, that being said, make sure that you're well-balanced, I guess is the moral of the story. Just stay well-balanced and not obsessed with one thing Be good at that, lean into your talents and your abilities and your skills, but let's not get obsessed with just being good at one thing. That's so lame, it's so boring, it's such a waste of your life to just be good at one thing, like be better at more things. Anyway, enough of that. Let's get into possibly the most fun part of the show, Definitely the one that requires the most thinking on my part. This is the Devil's Advocate. All right, so, like I said, devil's Advocate today is kind of going back to what we've talked about in the past and I kind of skipped over it so we could talk about it here in the Devil's Advocate. And if it is your first time joining us, thank you for listening, thank you for joining in.
Speaker 1:The Devil's Advocate is the part of the show that is mentally challenging for me, because I am supposed to debate with myself, or if I have a co-host debate with them. Because I am supposed to debate with myself, or if I have a co-host debate with them, or argue, or whatever it turns into, about a topic, about an event, about a thought, about a philosophy, that I have to keep an open mind so that I can debate both sides equally. Um, and the goal is to do it so well that people listening genuinely don't know what side I'm on Um and that's the goal. It helps me stay um, open in my own thoughts and in my own opinions, and not married to my opinions Uh, cause I don't think that's healthy married to my opinions, because I don't think that's healthy. So the goal is to have an open mind and the devil's advocate today is more fun and less serious than some, but this is a debate that I actually have with a lot of people, and that is who should be considered the best athletes in the world Olympians or CrossFit Games athletes? And if you don't know what the difference is, I'll try to paint that picture before we get into the argument or the discussion.
Speaker 1:Everyone knows who Olympians are, right, that shouldn't be too much of a description or a who's that. Olympics you know the best athletes in the world, considered for specific sports that they're in, whether it's track and field, swimming, badminton, tennis, ping pong, basketball, whatever they're, they are the best in that sport Gymnastics Can't forget that Um and uh, they are considered the best in the world and that's all that they do, right? That is who they are, that is their whole identity. Is that sport? And then on the other side, on the other side of the coin, like we discussed earlier, you have CrossFit Games athletes who essentially and again it's hard because I don't consider it necessarily a sport, because it is just a workout that they are doing the Olympians play a game essentially, and workouts help them play that game. Crossfit athletes take the workout to the next level to become the game right, because Olympians, you know, will do the workouts sometimes of CrossFit athletes to train to become better at their sport, but the workout isn't their sport, it's to help them become better at their specific game.
Speaker 1:So my devil's advocate today is who is the better athlete, who should be considered the bigger athlete and the more important athlete and the more well-rounded? Well, not well-rounded, but who should be considered the better athlete? Olympians or CrossFit athletes? Crossfit games athletes, not just anybody who does crossfit I'm talking like the most elite level of crossfit um, and I'm gonna go with olympians um to start, because I I think they should be considered better athletes because they're not just doing the workout right, they're doing the workout, and then on top of that workout, they have to be incredibly good, not just hey, if I work on this, I'll be good at it. No, no, no, I have to have unreal focus and talent, like I can't just will myself to be an Olympian We've talked about this there has to be a certain level of skill and a certain level of talent involved, beyond just being able to work hard right In CrossFit.
Speaker 1:If you can work hard, if you have an unbelievable work ethic, chances are you can probably become really effing good at CrossFit. It's not the same with the Olympics. You can't just want and work hard enough to be an Olympian. Certain level of athletic ability already there and a certain level of talent and skill that separates you from everybody else. That separates you from just working hard. There isn't just working hard and then all of a sudden, over the course of time, I'm an Olympian. That's just not how that game works. You're either really good at sprinting or you're not. You know, either your body works that way or it doesn't.
Speaker 1:No amount of work will get you there, um, and that's why I think that that, though, the Olympians should be considered better athletes and more well-respected athletes, because they have things that other people don't. They have talents and skills and abilities that normal people and other people do not have. And not only do they have those things, they've put unbelievable amounts of time and money and effort and focus and study on the smallest, tiniest, little details to become the absolute best in the world at what they do, and not just good at a lot of different things. They are almost perfect at one thing and that's why I think they should be considered better athletes, and because there's so many of them I don't mean there's so many of them that can do it, I mean there's so many like sports in the Olympics, like you have your sprinters and you have your gymnasts and you have your shooters and you have your tennis players and you have your distance runners and you have your swimmers and your jumpers and your basketball players and you're like great. We have all of these different sports at the highest level. We found people out of the 8 billion people in the world. We found the best at these specific things. Let's watch them and celebrate them and push them, because most of the world can't. These people can and we should consider them the greatest athletes in the world. Um, and I think that's probably the majority of people. I think the majority of people really do consider them the greatest athletes in the world. Um, or the, or the greatest athletes period, uh, and, and I, I think those. That's the reason why is because they've spent so much time honing their talents and their ability and their skill, and and it's not just based off of effort it's more than working hard and it's more than just a workout Like CrossFit, at the end of day, is not a sport, it is a workout.
Speaker 1:That is what they are doing. They are performing and putting on a show of a workout. But let's not get it confused and pretend that it is a sport. It is not a sport. It is an exercise in fitness, for sure, but at the end of the day, it is just a workout, a workout, and anyone can do a workout, right? I guess? You could make the argument that anyone can sprint a hundred meters too. True, I guess, but can they sprint it in nine seconds or or eight seconds or whatever the fastest guy is? I don't know how fast it is. Unbelievable is what it is. No, they can't. That's why there's a massive difference. Can anybody go into a CrossFit gym and do CrossFit? Yes, it's literally built for that, so that anybody coming in can modify the workouts that they need to do to do the workout, to do CrossFit.
Speaker 1:The Olympics is not the same. It is not the same. It's it's they. They use the workout to help them better their sport. Crossfit just does the workout and then does another workout. There's no getting better at a specific thing, it's just a workout period, end of story. Um, so that's why I think that Olympics should be considered better athletes is because they are doing a workout to help them with a specific athletic ability. Um, and and and I I think that most people would agree with me that they are better athletes because of that. They're not just doing a workout, they're doing a workout to help them with an athletic ability. On the other side of that coin, though, you have the CrossFit Games athletes who are considered. I mean, if you win, you are considered the fittest man or the fittest woman in the world, and when you watch people like Tia Claire Toomey, who's the seven times fittest woman in the world, you go oh yeah, she is. No, olympian is going to beat her at anything. No, olympian is going to beat her at anything, whether it's strength, whether it's, you know.
Speaker 1:Going back to to what I was saying earlier in the in the show, athletic ability is not just one thing like that Gabby Thomas sprinter girl who gets wiped out by a mile run. How dare you consider yourself an elite athlete? You're good at one thing. Let's say you're an elite sprinter, not an elite athlete, okay, um. So to paint this picture, um, you know, you have, you have these Olympians who are sprinting ridiculously fast. You have you know. Let's take the, the 1600 meter, um, is it 1600? One, two, three, four, yeah, 1600 meter. Run a mile, um, and they are running ridiculously fast. You know, like four minutes. I want to say, um, let me look it up, because I want to say that the fastest mile at the Olympics, um, sorry, 2024 Olympics. I want to say it was like ridiculously fast. Um, anyway, I don't think, I don't think it was this year, um, but, uh, anyway, it's around four minutes. Sorry, off track, it's around four minutes. I don't think it was this year, but anyway, it's around four minutes. Sorry, off track, it's around four minutes, which is ridiculous at the Olympics. Okay, around four minutes. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say it's four minutes, okay, just that's it. Great, amazing, incredible that they ran four-minute mile. Um, great, amazing, incredible that they ran four minute mile.
Speaker 1:Uh, you go to the crossfit games and they also have a, an event. Okay, because they call them events, not not just workouts, they call them events and there is an event at the end of the day. They've already done two events that day. They've already done, um, a heavy lifting day where they were snatching and cleaning weight Ridiculous amounts, I might add. But at the end of that day they also had a mile sprint as fast as you can. And then they had to do other sprints. So the event was run a mile. You have 12 minutes to run the mile.
Speaker 1:On the 12-minute mark you're going to sprint. So you're on a football field, you're going to sprint 50 meters, 50 yards, pick up a hundred pounds and run it back, then sprint 75 yards, pick up another a hundred pounds, run it back and then sprint the final hundred yards, okay, um, so they're, they're, uh, sprinting a lot, okay, and they're sprinting a lot, okay, and they're sprinting half of that with 100 pounds on their back. So they're going 100 yards, 200 yards, 275, 350 yards, sprinting, okay, and half of that is with a hundred pounds, um, and that's after they run as fast as they can. A mile. Now the think maybe 50. So it's only 50 seconds longer than an Olympic athlete who has spent their entire life making sure that they can run that the fastest of all time, and this guy is less than a minute behind them, which I mean, in the grand scheme of things, is a lot, right, like I'm not trying to downplay that, it's a lot. 50 seconds is a lot of time. But he also hasn't spent his life, his entire waking hours, trying to get better at sprinting right. He ran it incredibly fast sub five minutes, which is wildly fast. But he also picked up 300 plus pounds off of the ground and caught it on his shoulders off of the ground and caught it on his shoulders and squatted it, and then he did it with 350 pounds, and that was earlier that day. He didn't just do the sprint right, he didn't just run the mile, he did that at the end of the day after he had to pick up hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pounds off of the ground. So who's a better athlete? I would say the guy who can throw hundreds of pounds around and then go sprint a sub five minute mile and then sprint another 350 yards with half of it with a hundred pounds on his back. 350 yards with half of it with a hundred pounds on his back. That's a better athlete. The other guy ran a mile and called it quits for the day. Congratulations, you can run a mile really fast. This guy can also run a mile very fast and he can probably carry your truck, who knows Like it's. It's just to me there's no argument.
Speaker 1:The CrossFit Games athletes are better athletes. They're way better athletes. There's nothing that they can't do. They can go run a marathon if, if required. Would they like it? No, but would they do it? Yes, they can swim miles. They can pick up really heavy weight, really heavy weight, and they can do it multiple times in the day. They don't just have one event. Okay, I'm going to shake it out, sprint 100 meters and call it a day. No, no, no, they're going to do that. And then they'm going to shake it out, sprint a hundred meters and call it a day. No, no, no, they're going to do that. And then they're going to do more. And then they're going to do more and then they're going to do more. It's just they, they, they don't have an off switch, they don't turn it on and off, it's always on.
Speaker 1:And so I think that the CrossFit Games athletes should be considered the best athletes. I think Olympians should be considered specialists, right, revered as incredible performers and incredible specialists in their sport. But to be considered the greatest athlete, you have to do more than just one thing. That's just crazy to me to be like, oh, I'm the greatest athlete, no, you're not. You're just not. You're really good at one thing Congratulations. You're a great sprinter, you're a great gymnast. But to be considered the greatest athlete, nah, fam, Nah, you got to be more, you have to be more. But that is your devil's advocate. Who should be considered better athletes? Crossfit Games competitors or Olympic performers? Olympic specialists? I'm going to call them from now on, anyway, silly one Doesn't really make a big difference in the grand scheme of things, but still fun to debate.
Speaker 1:So let me know what you think. If you think that it's more impressive to be an Olympian or if it's more impressive to be a CrossFit Games athlete. Hit me up on Instagram if you have ideas, text the show for ideas on the Devil's Advocate and what we should do, what we should discuss next. Also, let me know if you have someone that you would like to hear on the show that I could interview. I would love to Trying to set some up at the moment, because episode 100 is around the corner. Y'all. It's crazy. This is like episode 90, I think so 10 more, and we're at a hundo Unbelievable. Can't believe we're here. Um, but thank you for tuning in. That was your devil's advocate, and you know that.
Speaker 1:Before you go, I need to leave you with a final takeaway. Your final takeaway today is more of a mindset shift than it is anything else, um, more of a uh, a way of thinking than something to actually do as far as, like an action to take. Uh, if it's your first time listening, this is, like, probably the most important part. So, if you skip anything, skip to this. Uh, this is where, um, this is stuff to do that will genuinely make your life better. It will make you happier, it will make you healthier, it will make you more successful. Um, and the the final takeaway today. I wish I could take credit for. It is something that I do a lot and that I truly believe in, but it's not my own concept. I guess you could say so.
Speaker 1:I heard this quote and it really resonated with me and I realized it's how I live my life, and the quote is I'm paraphrasing, but it's it's saying that your happiness and your positivity is not as much a matter of of um your circumstance, as it is a matter of your focus, um, and that is very true for me, um, you know, I I really try to be positive and happy and, um, joyful as much as possible. Like in any situation that I'm in, I I seriously try to get the most happiness out of it that I can. And I'm not. I'm not a depressive or stressed or anxious person by nature. That's not how I've been my life. I've gone through depression and I've had moments of those things, but I am not a people would never describe me, I don't think, as a negative or a stressed or anxious person. It's just not kind of who I am. But that doesn't mean that I don't go through those things. I don't share them. I keep them very private to me and my wife. You know very, very close friends or confidants. You know very, very close friends or or confidants, um, but I mean I I go through stress and and rough patches, just like everyone else, but I don't think I go through as many as other people because I don't allow that to be my focus. I don't allow those intrusive thoughts to come in for very long.
Speaker 1:The circumstance is not dictating my emotional response necessarily, and it takes a lot of practice, it takes a lot of conscious effort, but if you can get in the mindset of I'm going to try to find as much joy and happiness out of any situation and any circumstance I'm in, you will start to find that you have more and more events and circumstances that make you happy, because that will be where your focus is. You won't be making choices that don't lead to happiness. You'll start to cut out the things in your life that don't genuinely make you happy. And I'm not talking satisfied, I'm not talking about satisfaction or or instant gratification. I'm talking like genuine happiness, like genuine happiness, and you will start to cut out those things that don't let you have those feelings. Um and and it's not that you will you will be having less stress or anxiety or whatever. You'll just be having more and more joyful times and happy times, because that is where your focus will be. You won't allow the other circumstances or the other focuses, rather, to come into your life because, regardless of the circumstance, your focus is I'm going to be happy, I'm going to find the things that make me happy. And so, if you will, if you will shift your mindset to how much joy can I have and how much happiness am I willing to search for. You will find said happiness. You will find more things that make you happy If you lean into the things that make you upset.
Speaker 1:You know you go on social media and you find political things that piss you off, or you find you know events that happen that really bring out the anger in you. Guess what? You're going to find more and more and more and more of those. That's why I don't put out more of those. That's why I don't put out my political views. That's why I don't put out the things that frustrate me very often.
Speaker 1:I slip up occasionally and I do those things, but I prefer to put out the things that make me happy and the things that make me joyful, because that's what I want in my life. Why would I try to focus on other things when that's not what I want in my life? I want to be happy, I want to feel peace, I want to feel joy. So I'm going to focus on finding more and more and more of that, and I don't think that's very common nowadays. Everybody says they want to be happy and then they do dumb things that don't genuinely lead to happiness. They do things that lead to, maybe, gratification and satisfaction in the moment, but not actual happiness, things that make them feel good over time. So if you will try to, rather than focus on the things that upset you and promote those things and find those things, focus on things that make you happy, you'll start to find more things that make you happy and you'll start to find more people that are making you happy and want your happiness, because that is what you are putting out, that you want. So, yes, your positivity and your gratitude and your happiness is not a matter of circumstance. It is a matter of focus. So, focus more on being happy.
Speaker 1:I love you guys. Thank you for tuning in. This was not meant to be this long. I was definitely not planning on running this long, but whatever it is what it is, thank you for tuning in. If you have ideas and thoughts, please message the show, message me, follow the show on social media, promote it, share it with people if you find it valuable, so we can get more and more people on and we can make this a bigger and bigger part of the world. I love you guys. I hope you know that. I hope you have an incredible day and that you understand that you are a beautiful person and that you are loved and appreciated. And this is the Fit Perception Podcast. I'm your boy T, and I am out, so Bye.