Is Weight Lifting Better For Fat Loss? Ep: 879

Lifting weights is amazing for strength, for muscle, for bone density, for your metabolism. And it's what I believe should be the foundation of your health, because there are benefits from lifting weights that you can't get from running, from other cardio forms. That is just one pillar. If you were building a sports car with like a massive engine, but you never put on it like the tires or you never aligned the frame, It won't run smoothly or it won't last very long. That's how I think about lifting is like it is the heavy lifting. It is the engine that fuels everything, but there should be some ancillary things like cardio. What is going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Eric Roberts Fitness Podcast. Hope you're having a great day. We're back with the best episode of the week. We got co-host Sophie in the building sipping on her Stanley. I was gonna say what's up, Sophie, but you took a big swig of water. So what's up? What's up?

It's not a Stanley.

Oh, what is it?

It is a Hydro Peak.

OK.

We are spending-conscious queens here. I don't have money for that. Actually, that's a lie. I bought a Stanley. That's a lie.

Dude, I feel like there were so many ripoffs of Stanleys recently. Like, in the past couple years. Do you remember that one video that went super viral of the girl's fucking car burned down or something, but the Stanley was still alive?

I do remember that.

Do you remember this? I do remember that.

That was crazy. Yeah, I do remember that.

Shout out to them for that. They use that for good marketing, which they should. But yeah, that was crazy. How much water do you drink in a day?

I don't know. I try to do like 2 of those.

How much is it?

34 ounces, I think.

Okay, so 68. Not bad. No, not bad. That's not bad. Well, you only weigh like fucking 100 pounds, so.

I am. Whoa. That, that's, I, I weigh more than that. Hold on. I weigh more than that. First of all, um, did you see? Look, I'm wearing my Clubhouse shirt. I see that. Let's go.

I love that.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I have a lot of updates for you.

Let's hit it.

So remember how last week, um, I would— I told you how I had like, I ate a lot of bad food?

Yes. Yes.

Okay. So there's more to that. Okay. So literally a few days after that, so I went to the doctor to get like my MRI results and tell me why my legs started feeling numb. And I like really have nothing else to like attribute it than like all the shit that I eat. And I, I'm convinced that the food inflamated me, or inflamated me, is that a word? Like gave me inflammation.

Inflamed, inflamed, inflamed.

I'm convinced that's what it was, honestly.

Probably.

Like I've never felt pain down my leg. That was the first time I start— my leg was numb. And that's common for back pain. But like, it has to have been that. No?

I don't— I mean, I'm not gonna say it's not a possibility. It's definitely a possibility. Would I jump to that? I don't know. I— my first thing would have been like, I think your disc is getting compressed. And so it's probably pinching on a nerve. That's probably why.

It's compressed because it's inflamed. Because—

It could be. It could be. I don't know what else you did throughout the week, like how you slept, what your workouts were. So I'm not sure. But I mean, it's a real possibility. When did you feel this pain?

Like last Wednesday until Saturday. It's gone now. Thank God. I was like having a panic attack. So I'm like, great, now my fucking leg is— Yeah, dude.

But it's good now.

It's good. I'm back to normal. So everything is good.

Yeah. Well, you should— I would say you should, like, eat like shit again so you can see, but don't do that, obviously.

No, I won't.

I mean, it's a possibility, dude. I mean, yeah, I wouldn't say it's not a possibility. Would I say it's that? I don't know, but... possibility, yeah.

I don't know. Did you get your mattress thing yet?

Dude, yeah. That's what I was, like— I was literally doing that before the pod, before I was trying to figure out the whole fucking camcorder thing. Um, not a camcorder, whatever the fuck it's called. Um, but yeah, dude, like, so actually, let me pull it up. So, it took about a week To get here, and there's a whole app. Um, oh my God, I have to go refill it again. Okay, so yes, I got the thing today. It's Wednesday, so I ordered it. Didn't I order it last Wednesday? Yeah, I ordered it last Wednesday, so it took a week to get here, which like, not terrible, fine. Uh, got it today. There's 2 main parts. One part came Tuesday, one part came today. So I just spent the last like 30 minutes, uh, setting it up. You have to take all the stuff off of your bed. You have to— there's like this pod, like this hub, like, that goes next to your bed. So I'm gonna put that next to the bed, put the mattress cover on top of the mattress. There's like, at the top of the mattress, there's like this plug water thing. And so it's like, that has to be like set a certain way. So you put that into the hub. Um, so I got all that set up and apparently, so water goes into the pod because that's what then pushes into the mattress cover to make it like—

Oh.

You can make it cool, you can make it hot, you can make it cold, whatever you want to make it. So then you put the water in, and that water goes into the mattress. It's kind of crazy.

Huh.

But like, so you had to fill up this tank, put it in the hub, and then like 2 minutes later, the hub will take all of the water and put it into the mattress. So I had to go refill the water. I had to re-put it back in the hub, put it into the mattress. And I just looked at my phone, 'cause it has like the setup app or whatever. It's like, your tank is empty, refill it and put it back in. I'm like, oh my God, what is going on, bro?

I wonder if there's a way to plug the tank to a water source. That'd be lit, right?

That would be lit. Yeah, you should make that and sell it to— that'd be sick. Um, but yeah, so apparently I gotta go do that after this podcast. Um, I can't because I have a call, but yeah, so I gotta go fill that tank up again with water. And then I think after that, if I'm not mistaken, I think that's when it'll be done. The setup process will be done. But I do think I have to do that every single night. So every night I gotta put the tank with some water so it can keep the process going. We'll see. We'll see. I don't know that for a fact, but that's what I think.

You'll have to get used to putting that habit in your routine. It'll be fine.

Well, well, if it actually works, I won't care. Like, if it— like, if I'm telling you, man, I better tonight— I better have the best fucking sleep of my life. I'm telling you right now, there's a lot at stake here. There's a lot riding this. Yeah. And I was upstairs, I was using, using my phone or using my camera to vlog it all. So I'm gonna do a YouTube video. It'll all be on YouTube. I'm going through the whole process, so I'll update Every single night I'll update and give a little, uh, I think it has like your sleep score and stuff, of course. And so I'm sure it'll have that on there. So yeah, dude, we'll see. Apparently I think like after day 2, day 3, day 4, it's supposed to like learn your body. And so like automatically throughout the night it'll change up and so on and so forth. So we'll see. I got it today. So by next pod, yeah.

We'll know.

Yeah. Dude, if it works, I'm gonna do like a giveaway for somebody. If it works that good, I'm gonna give it to somebody. Give it to me, I want it. No, listen.

I will fight my case. I will explain why I need it. Last night— no, listen, hold on.

I'm listening.

Last night I was having nightmares, and then within my nightmares, I was having nightmares. Like, it was really weird. Does that make sense?

Yeah.

I was having bad sleep in my dreams.

Yeah, yeah.

So it was like double horrible sleep. That sucks.

Dude, that's fucked.

I was just like, I don't know what's going on with me. No, hold on, I have to vent real quick. So I've been waking up the past few nights. I don't know what's happening with me. I woke up super anxious and then thinking about stuff, and I don't know why things that aren't even important. And then I started just getting super anxious, and then it's like, okay, so now I'm anxious, so now I can't go back to sleep. That does not happen to me usually. I, you know, I wake up throughout the night and then I'm able to fall back asleep, so I don't know what's going on. So anyways, the nightmares are intense. So like last night I was going Damn.

What was— what has been— I can recall this. What is— what was— what was your worst nightmare ever? Do you remember that?

I don't know.

Probably— Like, ever, ever.

Oh, I would really have to think about that. I don't know that I— do you have one in mind?

Yeah, I do. I know the exact one.

Oh my god, it scarred you?

100%. No, this is— yeah, actually, Dude, I was probably like, I don't know, 7 or 8, I would imagine. And I was like trapped in this like pyramid maze thing. And this fucking giant spider was chasing me the entire time. This like massive tarantula. Like, I remember it was like fucking hairy. Like, I remember the exact dream. It's literally scarred me forever. The reason I hate spiders to this day. And anybody who knows me, like, I fucking hate spiders. And that's why I was like stuck in this Pyramid. I remember because it was like dark and like I saw the way out, but every time I tried to go there, there would be like the spider would stop me and I had to like go back inside. And there was yeah, it was terrible. I remember waking up and I'm like, "I will never fuck with a spider again in my life." We now have to Google what does it mean to have a dream with a spider chasing you? Arachnophobia. It's it's arachnophobia. That's the the fear of spiders.

Oh. So, like, do you legit actually have a fear of spiders? Like, how do you feel about spiders on a daily basis?

Um, yeah, I mean, I don't like 'em. Um, I mean, that's for sure. You know, I wouldn't say I'm deathly afraid, but there have been times— like, I remember this time in high school. I was a fucking senior in high school at this time, and so, like, 10 years ago. Um, so I woke up one morning, I went to take a shower, and I looked up, and as I was taking a shower, there was a spider on the ceiling. I like fucking jumped out of the shower. I was like fucking dripping wet. I got my towel. I'm like, hey, Dad, there's a spider in the shower. Like, you got to kill it. And he's like, don't be a bitch. And I'm like, nope, I'm not doing it. I'm like, you got to go take care of it. And I was like, yeah. So shout out Dad that day, took care of it. He just like let it out somewhere. I don't know. But I was like, dude. So there was a period of time where I just couldn't— like, I wouldn't do it.

Dude, if I could list like reasons why it sucks to live alone sometimes, like it's definitely having to kill bugs on my own. That's definitely right there on the top.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm so deathly scared of everything. Like, you don't get a lot of—

Yeah, you don't get a lot of them in that apartment complex though, I would imagine, would you?

No, but my old apartment started getting infested with roaches. That's why I left. And I remember there was— there was one day where there was a— there was a flying one, and I absolutely— there's nothing I hate more than roaches, first of all. So the day that it flew I knew it was like my time to leave that apartment. I was like, I can't even sleep because these roaches, like, absolutely not.

There are very few things in life, but like, that's one of them. If like, if my house ever had that, I would leave the house not to fucking take anything, and I would just move to an Airbnb and I'd be like, hey, I'm done with this. Like, whoever can take it, I don't care. Like, it's fine.

So it's roaches, right?

Yeah, dude, fuck that.

They're the worst. The freaking— and they— I don't know what the fact is that they've been like alive since like forever, that like nothing kills them. I'm like, we don't need them. I don't think they do anything for the ecosystem. I'm like, we're fucking done.

I know you're gonna get people, you're gonna get like the PETA people yelling at you like, oh, roaches actually, uh, I don't know what they do, but the people sometimes get mad.

I don't know. But anyways, um, yeah, I don't know, like back to nightmares. I don't know, like I feel like my darkest nightmares would be ones with like demons Or ones where my family dies, those really traumatize me. But dreams are crazy. Like, it's so crazy how it feels so real, you know?

Yeah, dude. Yeah, I, uh, when I was growing up too, I would have like— I remember this, I wouldn't be able to go to sleep because I'd be afraid of my parents dying. Like, I would like start like crying and like just wouldn't be able to go to sleep because I'm like, my parents are gonna die one day. And I was like 12 and I was like, I probably shouldn't be thinking about this. But yeah, it was crazy.

Yeah. RIP. I know.

I know.

That's crazy.

Yeah, it was.

Yeah. There you go. That was your anxiety for for young Eric.

Yeah.

Yeah. Oh man.

Yeah.

Okay. Before we get into it, your freaking video that you posted with the tinfoil on your head, like. You— that was so unhinged. I— I saw that. Well, I know it's old 'cause it's your old apartment, but I was just like, oh my God, Eric, what are you doing?

Bro, that was a good video. Grow the fuck up. I know. That was in, like, my— that was in, like, my heydays of making videos, man. Like, that— I had a run of making videos from, like, March of 2024 to probably, like, January of this, uh, like, yeah, like January of this year. I think that was like my best content I ever made, so...

Damn.

RIP to Content Now. But yeah, that was a fun time.

You're having fun now again, right?

Oh, my... You know, it's funny. I, uh, I've actually reworked my content, like, whole process a little bit, because what I think was really burning me out— we should probably get in the pod at some point, but fuck 'em. It's our podcast. I can do whatever I want. Um, I think what was really burning me out was Every day, I have to wake up, think of an idea, script the idea, film the video, and for a period of time, because that's what I was doing back then, and it was like, it was fine. But I just think with— we got so much other stuff going on now in the business, and there's so much, you know, other moving parts, and, you know, getting one-on-one coaching in the app, and all these sort of things. And so, that was really burning me out. So, what I've started to do was like yesterday, I wrote 4 scripts for videos, and I just filmed all 4 of those scripts today. So now I did that back to back, and I won't have to, like, uh, do any scripting until Sat— I'll script again Saturday. And then so I'll script on Saturday, film on Sunday, and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I'm good. So I think, I think that will help me a tad bit more. And quite frankly, I'm just not making videos about stuff I don't wanna make videos about. Like, I just, I can't talk about a calorie deficit at length anymore. Like, I just, I, I'm not doing it. And I, I have a pretty high, like, tolerance of pain and, like, uh, suffering. Like, I actually have a great relationship with suffering. 'Cause I feel like it just promotes a lot of results, uh, that I want long-term. But yeah, I just won't do it. That's why recently you've seen me do, like, either reposting stuff, or, like, I did a video about the hip thrust setup, or the bicep curls, or something like that, because I'm like, that's stuff I kinda— I don't mind talking about that. I kinda wanna do some more exercise stuff. So I'll do that, but yeah, I just won't—

Yeah.

I'm just not gonna do it, 'cause I'm gonna lose my mind.

So... As you should or shouldn't, I guess. It's your account, so do whatever you want. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, yes, but also, like, you know, it's— I was listening to Hormozi, Alex Hormozi, talk about this, and he was like, you know, you start off as a content creator and you're just, like, making videos because, like, it's fun and, like, you want to help people and you enjoy it. And he's like, but then you get a team and then you build a business. And now it's like, it's not just for fun anymore. It's because you, like, it's a major part of your business. And so now it's like, if you want to stop doing that, You have a business that you have to run. So like, you know, you kind of have to think about that. So yeah, but that's why if we get more people to listen to the fucking podcast, if these fuckers would share the show, Sophie, if they would share the show, I wouldn't have to like be so upset about making content. I love doing the podcast. It's my most favorite thing, easily by far most favorite thing.

So people like the video podcast.

Like they did like the video pod.

And they said they like this. I was like, okay.

Yeah, let's go. Let's go.

We'll keep doing that as of next week.

As of next week, yeah. I don't know if we'll make it happen today.

You could post this. You know, you don't always have to be like— you don't have to always be quality. Yeah, no, it's okay.

I might still post it.

Yeah, there you go.

I might still.

Yeah, let's start. Let's go ahead. Let's, let's get started. All right, so I will tell the people who we're talking about. So today we're gonna be talking about, is lifting weights enough for your health? And the reason why I wanted to talk about this is because I feel like in the past few years it's become like more trendy, right? That people are lifting weights, which I think it's great, but I feel like we've kind of gotten away or stepped away from like talking about other forms of exercise like cardio. Um, so yeah.

Mm-hmm.

That's what we are gonna be talking about today.

Yep. Yep. I'm excited. It's gonna be a good pod. Let's rip it.

All right. So let's start with, is lifting weights enough for overall health?

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, lifting weights is amazing for strength, for muscle, for bone density, for your metabolism. And it's what I believe should be the foundation of your health. I think that should be the number one thing we start to hone in on because There are benefits from lifting weights that you can't get from running, from other cardio forms, from everything else. There are ways that you can get the cardio benefits in other aspects, but there's not a way to replicate the way you would get the weightlifting benefits from a bone density, a strength, a muscle. Like, even for example, some people will ask me, Eric, if I do the stair stepper, will I grow my glutes? And I'm like, well, unless you're a complete beginner, no. And even if you are a complete beginner, like after a month or two, the the answer would be no. So there's not other ways you can replicate the benefits of strength training. So that's why I believe it should be the pillar and everybody should be focusing on it. Now, I don't think you need to be a bodybuilder. I don't think you need to, you know, go work out 5, 6, 7 days a week. I don't think you need to have these, you know, grandioso goals of like hitting big PRs and deadlifting and squatting. I think it's fun, and I think most people who get into it, they do enjoy that, at least at some point in their, uh, in their lifting career. But I don't think it has to be something where like, I'm gonna go set PRs to deadlift or squat or, you know, build a bunch of muscle. But you should be wanting— well, not you should be wanting to, you should be lifting weights whether you want to or not. So yes, it's the foundation, and I think the most important, but it's just— that is just one pillar. It's like, it's like the 2 analogies I came up with were like building the walls of a house but kind of like forgetting the roof and the foundation. Like there's only one part of the house, you can't like live in that house. Well, I guess you could, but it would be like not the full thing. Or if you were building a sports car with like a massive engine, like this 1,200 horsepower engine, it's great, but you never put on it like the tires or you never align the frame, it won't run smoothly or it won't last very long. You can't run at all without tires. Well, I guess the engine could run, but you get what I mean. The car in itself wouldn't run. So that's how I think about lifting is like it is the heavy lifting. It is the engine that fuels everything, but there should be some ancillary things like Cardio. And again, you know, recently in the past 2-ish months, I went from somebody who I started to really take my daily steps a lot more serious. I'd probably say, what are we in, 2025? I'd probably say like 2021, 2022, I started to take my daily steps more serious. But truthfully, before that, I was somebody who I would lift and I would go home. That was it. There was no walking, no cardio, no nothing. And that wasn't really healthy either. I remember being like 19, 20 years old before I moved out. You know, me and my friends would play basketball sometimes, and I would like go play basketball. And like, I was— yeah, I was lifting a lot and I was getting stronger and hitting all these PRs. And I'd play basketball and I'd be like, holy shit, I'm about to fucking die. Like, this is— this is not— this is not good. So I had no sort of cardio or endurance aspect. And as I started to work in some cardio, Even just via daily steps, I really did notice a difference in my stamina, in my endurance, and just my overall like energy levels, which we'll talk about a little bit later in the pod too. And then even recently in the past, I'd say 2 months, when I really have started to work in roughly about an hour of zone 2 cardio per week, and I'm doing one like higher intensity day of like a HIIT style workout per week, working in that extra cardio, I have seen a difference in my energy levels. I have seen a difference. And I'll probably do a podcast on this at some point, but I have seen a difference in my energy levels. I've seen a difference in my recovery. I've seen a difference in how hard I'm able to push myself in the gym. So yeah, I mean, it's, you know, especially I think cardio and lifting weights. I think those things are the 2 biggest pillars. You could throw in like mobility, but kind of like what we talked about last time, I think proper strength training is a form of mobility, especially if you're doing like proper warm-up sets and proper range of motion and so on and so forth. And I think also why in our coaching program, we don't just kind of give you like a workout, like, here, do your workouts. Like, we talk about daily steps. We talk about, hey, do you have some cardio goals? If you do, all right, cool. Here's how we can help you program for that. So we try to think from it from a holistic perspective.

So follow-up question, because like earlier you mentioned that weights is the only form that you can't replicate with anything else. I guess I don't know if this is like necessarily the same thing, But can someone technically just do Pilates? Like, is that enough for their muscle building? You don't think it is?

I— if you're asking me, no, because Pilates is more stabilizer muscles and core muscles. But it's not like— the benefits you would get from strength training would be from a bone density perspective, because you're lifting. You have that resistance training. You have, like, heavier weights you're lifting. And so you would get the bone density perspective. you would get the muscle building perspective. And some might argue, ah, well, even with Pilates you kind of like build some muscle. Again, maybe if you're a beginner, but you'll do— you could do anything if you're a beginner and build some muscle. After you get a month or 2 or 3, 3 months in— and then by the way, this happens a lot with like Orange Theory style workouts— after people get 2 or 3 months in, they kind of start to notice their body change and they plateau. And they're like, well, what the fuck? I'm burning 600 calories but I'm not, you know, seeing my body change. So you stopped building muscle. Like, your body got used to it and you stopped building muscle because you're not properly resistance training, progressively overloading, those sort of things. And so, no, I mean, I'm not— not to say that Pilates is bad, but I— no, I don't think it's enough for you to only do that. I think you should absolutely— if you're going to do Pilates, you still need to do at least 2 days a week of proper strength training, in my humble opinion, if not 3 to 4.

I will not be saying that to my friends because I will absolutely get hate for that.

You can just send this to the podcast.

What do you think are the potential downsides of only lifting and being sedentary for the rest of the day? I know you kind of already touched on that when you were younger and used to do that.

Yeah, there's a lot of stuff I kind of have for this. So I think number one, some of the potential drawbacks and risk would be increased risk of cardiovascular disease or like poor metabolic health, you know, not being able to, you know, things like insulin resistance and that sort of stuff. And that does come from just being overweight. in general. But that's, you know, a part of it. There was a study done that showed people who walked 10,000 steps versus people who only walked, I think it was 3,000 or 3,500 steps, the people who walked 10,000 steps decreased their risk of all-cause mortality by 52%, which is fucking massive. So yeah, I mean, just from that alone, that's a, that's a massive thing. Worse digestion. This is why, you know, usually after I have some sort of meal, At least 2 out of my 3 meals during the day, I try to go take a, you know, at least a 5 to 10 minute walk afterwards because it does help utilize the insulin, um, you know, push those nutrients to your muscles, you know, help with the recovery process. Um, and just overall, like, you know, not just having your food sit in your stomach and essentially do nothing, kind of starting that digestion process. So it can help with digestion, and if you don't do it, it's worse digestion. Uh, brain fog and fatigue— if you only lift weights and don't do any sort of steps, cardio, whatever, you know, just think about it. Like, okay, cool, you lift weights for an hour, hour and a half max, and you come home and just, what, sit in front of the computer the rest of the day? Which, by the way, I did that for a large portion of my life. And so, like, I get it, but I didn't have the best focus. I didn't have the best, you know, energy levels and that sort of stuff. So that's a potential drawback. Just getting, like, you know, even, like, your eyes. Like, what are you gonna do if you don't move your body? Like, you're just gonna stare at a fucking screen all day, which is what most people do. So that— and then that also kind of goes into, you know, depression and and mental health. Like, we're not meant to just fucking sit around all day. Like, we're meant to move and be active. And I understand with, you know, I work at a desk and I have a quote-unquote desk job, so I get it. And I'm not saying it's easy to find time to, you know, move your body and things of that nature, but it's why you have to make it a priority. So if you're just sitting all day, I think that, you know, bleeds into some— and there's also research to prove this— but bleeds into like mental health, you know, depression. Getting outside, getting sunlight, moving your body, getting your heart rate up a little bit can help with your mental health. So That, I think joint stiffness from just lack of movement, like especially if you're like lifting heavy and then doing nothing all day, it's like, where is the blood flow? Where's the joint lubrication? Where's the tendons, ligaments, connective tissue, all these sort of things? So I also think that's part of it. The phrase I thought of was like strong but sluggish. And it's like, cool, you're strong, but like I was, like I couldn't play basketball or like legit, there was a period of time This is bad to say, but, um, I was intentionally bulking, trying to get to 300 pounds. I was at like 280 at the time, and legit, like, I was at my parents' house and I would go up and down my stairs and I'd be like, bro, this is, this is kind of bad. So like, I know. And like, when people tell me like, hey, I get out of breath walking upstairs, I'm like, dude, I can't— like, I, I've been there. Like, I fucking get it. So, uh, so yeah, that's a problem. Um, I also think I think there's a big drawback, and I've mentioned this before in the pod, but I'm gonna dive a bit more specific. Zone 2 cardio and mitochondria. And for those of you who don't know, maybe if you didn't fucking listen in science, I didn't listen much in science, to be honest with you. So I'm not, I'm not talking shit about you. But I had to learn this for what I do. When you, when you do zone 2 cardio, that is the number one thing that helps your mitochondria, which Just think of that as like the energy of your cells. So if you have more mitochondria, if you have better output from your mitochondria, you have better energy production. So you feel less fatigued both in and out of the gym because your, your cells— and of course our bodies are made up of a billion gajillion cells— your cells have more output. They can have more energy to them. So that shows up in not just like your day-to-day energy because your body does become more efficient at using that mitochondria into usable energy. Um, but you also recover faster between like just everyday tasks, whether it's stairs, whether it's going for your 10 to 15 minute walks, whether it's playing with your kids, whether it's like mental stuff, like being able to mentally kind of like go back and forth and keep your focus a bit more. Um, so I think that's a, that's a big part of it. as well. And then again, when you're doing your workouts, this is one of the reasons why I started incorporating zone 2 sessions, you know, a couple times throughout the week, is because when you're doing your weightlifting workouts, you'll be able to both recover better in between sets because you have better mitochondria, and you'll also be able to push a little bit harder with your workouts. You guys know those like last couple of reps that, that are really, really tough in your workout? The more efficient mitochondria you have, the less like gassed out you'll feel during those hard sets and throughout the course of the entire workout because now you have more energy and more stamina. So you think about this and these little things do add up. So now those last couple of reps, those get a little bit easier so you can push yourself a bit more with heavier weight. You can squeak out like 1 or 2 or 3 more reps. That creates a big difference, not only for that set, but now you do it throughout the course of those 3 sets. And now let's say if you're doing 7, 5, 6 exercises per workout, if you were starting to get really gassed around exercise 3 or 4, now you're able to go the entire workout. And yeah, maybe you feel gassed after the workout, but it's not happening at exercise 3, it's happening at exercise 7 now. And that's something I'm personally noticing with my workouts as well, is I used to get like, you know, because I really do try to push myself, by like exercise 2 or 3, I was like, I was okay, but I could start to notice like, damn, I can notice my performance starting to drop off a tad bit. These reps and these sets are getting harder. But I have noticed towards the end of my workout that happens now versus like in the beginning of my workouts. And the way I kind of thought about this was, think of it, everybody knows like construction on these goddamn roads, right? But think about if you were upgrading from a one-lane highway To a 4-lane highway. Now you can move more energy, like more traffic, more energy through that without a bottleneck kind of like slowing you down. There's more people to go through without like causing traffic, so to speak. So that's how, again, I wanted to dive a little bit more in depth on that because I really do think that's something that's not talked about a ton, especially in the weightlifting world. And, you know, again, I was a— I was somebody who didn't really think much about this. And so, um, Yeah, I could keep going, but that's kind of the way I think about it.

I don't think I knew that like the cardio could positively impact weightlifting. Also, by the way, it's like thundering super loud.

I heard.

Did you hear that? Yeah.

Yeah.

That's when I turned around.

I'm like, whoa.

It's been raining every single day. It's awful. And, and thundering, like, so bad. Shadow of Florida. Um, anyways, but yeah, I had no idea that it was actually good for that. I don't think I ever learned that, but I feel like obviously I, I feel like I was also in the same boat when I started. But I mean, not to say I didn't do any cardio. Obviously my cardio was my steps, but I never thought about zone 2, and I still struggle to do zone 2 other than dancing. But I feel like for me it was because, and I'm sure this this is like, people like can relate to this, but I think my focus was what do I need to do to lose weight? But when we talk about these things, we're talking about what we need to do to be healthy, which should really be— that should be the main priority, right? Like it's not to lose weight, because I think if you're focusing on being healthy, the weight might come as well. But I just think like that's the focus that we should be, you know, thinking about. Like, is cardio like necessary? Like, is zone 2 necessary for weight loss?

Maybe not.

But like, we do need it for, for health reasons. So.

Yeah, no, I, I listen, I agree 100%. But I also think too, there's this component of like, I mean, just to be very frank, like most people who get started and they have 50 pounds to lose, 30 pounds to lose, 80 pounds to lose, they're like, dude, I just gotta like get— like their habits aren't advanced enough yet to be like, okay, cool, we gotta focus on zone 2 cardio now. Like, we will have a lot of our clients do that, but it's like after we kind of build the foundation, right? So like weightlifting, daily steps, calorie deficit, protein— these are like the foundational things. Once we can actually do that consistently, because most people struggle enough with that alone, but once we can do that and you don't struggle with that, cool. Let's speak. And also sometimes you have to get like the whole forest before the trees thing. It's like, okay, if you— yes, you should be focusing on health, but comma, if you get your body fat percentage down, if you build some lean muscle mass, if you're in a calorie deficit losing 20, 30, 40, 50 pounds, if you do these things first, inevitably your health is going to massively improve. So it's like, okay, cool, you build those consistent foundational blocks, and then it's like, all right, cool, you want to throw it— now you want to focus on on improving your mitochondria and zone 2 cardio, awesome. Let's go ahead and do that. But like, when you were 50 pounds overweight, getting 3,000 steps a day and not working out at all, I don't need you overly focusing on zone 2 cardio.

That's okay. That's a good point. Okay. You're right. And I think people will appreciate hearing that, right? Because it can be, for someone starting out, like it can be a lot to do all of these things. So I mean, I struggle and I feel I've been lifting for like how long? Like 3 years. So, I get it, but I have to tell you a funny story. So this used to happen all the time to me, but like maybe like last year, I remember like I have a friend that like she likes cycling classes, and she's like, "Oh my God!" Like Sophie, you should really really like sign up with me. And I told her like, "Girl, I can't last in a cycling class." She's like, "What do you mean? You like go to the gym?" And I'm like, "Yeah, but I can't." So I just like thinking because you're talking about like going up the stairs. I'm like, "Yes." It's so embarrassing though to be like, oh yeah, I can lift weights, but I can't, I can't last through a cardio class.

Yeah, no, well, and I think you, you bring up another good point too about, um, I know this is not exactly what you were saying, but kind of people, if let's say they, they were to try to do, oh, Eric said to do an hour of zone 2 cardio per week. And so it's like they get into, you know, the cardio and trying to get into zone 2 and or whatever And they're like, God, this is like pretty fucking hard. Like, this is, this is challenging, right? It just, you know, it kind of creates that like, well, shit, I'm— I kind of suck at this. And like, people already— they're already bad enough with that. They're like, I suck at this. Why would I do this? Why would I keep going? I feel bad. And so again, lifting weights, you can tweak that. Yes, it's hard to like maybe at first get the form and whatnot. But like, you don't have to lift super fucking heavy. Lift 5 pounds or 10 pounds or whatever it is like light for you, right?

Yeah.

So you do that to start, you get the form down, you feel comfortable, comfortable, you feel confident, you start to get stronger, you start to see like, oh, I can change this and I can get better at this and I can get stronger with this. And that is kind of where you go. And so yeah, I think it's also a point to where building these, like building weightlifting as your foundational routine, you can adapt it to you where you're currently at. So you don't need to do, you know, but you know, you know, burpees or push-ups from the floor. It's like, do wall push-ups. Like, you know what I mean? So like, you know, do those. By the way, speaking of burpees, everybody's gonna get on me for this. The last 2 weeks I've had to do burpees to broad jumps. Fucking Linda, it's making me do these goddamn HIIT workouts. That's what's in the workout. That's what's in the HIIT. Yeah, I crush them though.

Are you the— is every coach doing that?

No, it's just me. Although we might— well, me and Linda. We, but I think, I think this is a little, little sneak peek, but I think we're gonna do something like that for the retreat. So the coaches better get ready and you better get ready.

So, no, I'm gonna be recording you guys. Absolutely.

No, we have Danny. No, shout out Danny. We have Danny. Oh yeah, dude. No, it's fun.

Okay. What, how important is cardio for long-term health?

Yeah, very, very, very, very important. Again, I talked earlier about the 10K steps versus 3,000 steps. And I think some ways that I kind of think about this is number one, your resting heart rate. Essentially, what is your resting heart rate? How many times your heart beats per minute at rest? Usually, the lower resting heart rate, the more efficient heart you have. Think like a stronger pump that doesn't need to work as hard. So, Again, there's obviously extremes of this, but like generally a lower resting heart rate is linked to better cardiovascular health, longevity. I almost think too, and some people, I guess people could argue this, but I tend to think of it like if each beat is served as like an energy in the bank, it leaves you less fatigued. It reduces overall stress and strain on your heart. So it's like your body's engine lasts a little bit longer. We talked about the benefits of zone 2 cardio as well. You know, obviously we have the benefits of that there. Also, So, it can also increase, let's just like increase your heart muscle because people forget like your heart is a muscle. Side note, this is why sometimes when people take like steroids or HGH or those sort of things, it improves— That was a serious one. It builds your muscles, but it builds your heart muscle. And sometimes that's obviously not the best as well. So, just being mindful of that. But yeah, so it's like, you know, for the resting heart rate, improving that is like upgrading from a cheap fan that has like to spin all the time versus like a very like powerful fan that's kind of just like, you know, a good solid, like it moves and it doesn't have to work so hard anymore. So that's the resting heart rate, which is why it's beneficial for your health. The next one is VO2 max. And again, what is this? It's kind of like your maximum oxygen uptake. It's kind of like the ceiling of your aerobic fitness. And usually the higher the VO2 max, the better your body can deliver and use oxygen for energy. VO2 max, one would argue, is one of the strongest predictors of longevity. It means a higher VO2 max means you have more stamina, faster recovery in between your sets, you have better performance in and out of the gym. Yeah. So, and just like everyday, like everyday task, like it's just very much easier to do everyday task. So, that's kind of why the VO2 max is great. I think the zone 2's impact on your VO2 max is, again, it expands that aerobic base, it expands your aerobic fitness. And it trains your mitochondria to use oxygen more efficiently and it builds a bigger engine. Like if you think of your heart like an engine, it just kind of builds like a bigger engine, not just for cardio but for life and lifting and everything in between. So that's kind of number 2. And then number 3 is the heart rate variability, HRV. And essentially it's just a measure of like how well your autonomic nervous system Your stress and recovery kind of balance there is functioning. So a higher HRV usually means better recovery and more resilience to stress because we're all going to have stress, but you need to be able to recover from that stress. A low HRV means you're stuck in fight or flight, leading to like more fatigue, poor sleep, stalled progress, so on and so forth. And again, the higher HRV, your body can switch into recovery mode easily, like, and that's one of the reasons why I bought the fucking Eight Sleep because I'm hoping that helps me kind of increase my HRV, increase my recovery, improves workout performance, strength, muscle building, even aerobic capacity, mental focus, all those sort of things. And it's just when I used to do, for the OGs who listen to this podcast, I used to do a ton of podcasts talking about how important recovery is, and especially like the recoverability. So many people just focus on piling on more shit. It's, it's, it's almost like in business, some people— well, whatever. It's almost like in business, so many people focus on like getting more customers, getting more customers, getting more money. Whereas like, I have always been like, well, okay, we get customers, we get clients, whatever. But I'm like, we want to give them the best product. We want to give them the best service so they stay. Like that would be easier, right? Like when you get somebody, they stay for a very long period of time. That would make sense. So most people, the same way with like fitness, they just focus on doing more, doing more, doing more. And it's like, well, what about— are you recovering from the shit that you're doing? Because if you're not, it's not going to matter. You're just going to keep piling on more shit and you won't be able to recover. So that's again why HRV is so important and your ability, your body's ability to like bounce back in between sessions. Your body's ability to like lower your stress hormones, increase your parasympathetic nervous system, get out of that fight or flight. And I think of it like HRV is almost like having a really good thermostat in your house. It kind of like gets you back to where you need to be quicker. So if you increase it, decrease it, whatever, it gets you back there to your baseline, or, you know, obviously trying to be better than baseline. It gets you back there a lot quicker. So yeah, again, could keep going. But that's how important it is.

I think I am the person that's stuck in fight or flight. I think that's me.

I don't think, I don't think, I know it is.

Okay, also, I would argue that you are 100% the person that wants to do more all the time. So I think you're lying by that statement, but just saying.

No, I, that's why, that's why I bought a $3,800 fucking Eight Sleep. I'm like, God, please help me. Like, get rid of this.

Maybe you need to do less. Yes, Eric, like you're telling the listeners to do.

I can't, I can't, I can't do that, but I can improve the recovery. Well, it's like, okay, so all joking aside, no, like all joking aside, it's so the whole concept of recoverability, and I don't know why people don't talk about this more, but the whole concept of recoverability is you either have to decrease your stress or increase your recovery. Those are the only 2 options, right? Because there's 2 sides of And your recovery has to be higher than your stress if you want to over time make progress. There will be periods of times where you overreach, and this is kind of where, like, on the last week of a workout program— so any of our clients who work with us, by the way, if you're not a client of ours, what are you doing? What the fuck are you doing? I'm saying, what the fuck are you doing? Click the link in the show notes of the podcast to get in on this motherfucking cool shit we got going on.

Say Sophie referred you.

Yeah, say— what the fuck is that gonna do? Nonetheless, um, okay, um, but our clients, like, on the last week of a workout program, we push really hard. Okay, so that week you might have a higher stress than what you're able to recover from, but then what do we do the next week? We have a deload week. So then your recovery is way higher than what your stress would be. So then you recover and you're back. So then you push, you push, you push. So it's like, yeah, man, this is just so much more— like, I'm trying to think of how to word this nicely. I honestly get not offended because I'm not a fucking softie. I don't get fucking offended, but I get like irked, pissed off a little bit about people who— goddamn Florida. I get pissed off about people who are like, oh yeah, I'll just build my own workout program. I'm like, bro, like Like, do you know how much fucking goes into this? Do you know how much thought process? Do you know about recoverability, HRV, pushing your stress, dialing back your stress? Like, there is just so fucking much if you're actually a good coach. If you have no clue what the fuck you're doing, fine, I don't— you know, whatever, I don't give a shit. But we know what the fuck we're doing around here. We're the best coaching team in the world. Click the link in the show notes of the podcast if you want to get into our coaching. But, um, yeah, I know how I get off on that rant. But yeah, dude. Oh, fight or flight. So yeah, trying to, trying to increase recovery. That's why I got like, if I sleep better, I'm massive. Like, that is the number one way you can improve your recovery. You sleep a good fucking 8, 9 hours of like real deep sleep, REM sleep, like quality sleep, you could like, you know, fucking go conquer countries and whatever. Like, I don't know, you could do whatever the hell you wanted to. So So that's why I'm trying to improve it.

Yeah. Um, I'll go off topic a little bit, but like, no, for sure. I know for me, I'm definitely stuck in that all the time and I'm like convinced, I know like you're probably tired of hearing about my back, but I'm convinced like a part of it has to be like my central nervous system. But I was talking to my best friend the other day and she said, honestly, I think a lot of times you get overwhelmed because you try to add more to your plate all the time, but you don't take things away. For example, when I signed up for this gym, Um, it's super expensive, right? And it comes with yoga classes and it has a hot tub and it has sauna. So what happened after I signed up? I said, oh, well now I have to make time for the yoga classes and I have to make time for the, the, the sauna.

Yeah.

And I have to make time for all of these things. So then I get overwhelmed, but then it's like I continue to do that, add more things to my life. Um, yesterday I did cardio in the morning and then I went to the pool right after, uh, before I started work. And I was like, see, I should be doing this once a week. And there you go. I added another thing. So it just kind of made me think about when you said, oh, you want to add more and add more, that I'm like, that's literally me.

The pool is cardio, by the way. The pool is like, are you swimming or just like chilling? I was doing some laps.

No, I was doing some laps. Yeah, dude.

Yeah, that's like serious cardio.

I'm not a good swimmer, but I guess point being is I'm constantly overwhelmed. This is a topic for another day.

Speak with your therapist.

Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm excited for this question. If someone finds cardio boring or hard to stick with, what are some practical ways they can start incorporating it into their routine?

I mean, you're talking, you're, you're talking to the guy right now. I fucking, I like, I do cardio, but I find it incredibly fucking boring. So what I will try to do to make it less boring, it's not fun. Like, I'm just gonna— so, okay, my current routine is I'll do 1 day a week of HYROX workout. I'll talk about that in a second. And then I do, after my workout, I do 15 minutes of zone 2 cardio. I work out 4 times a week. Do the math, roughly about an hour of zone 2 cardio. I've been trying to work it up to 20 minutes. I haven't been very successful yet, but at least I'm trying. I want to put that out there.

Wait, 20 minutes per session?

Per session. Yeah, per session.

Okay, okay.

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, what do I try to do? I try to distract myself. I try to fucking— I try to listen to podcasts, but even then, like, just, I need to be doing something with my eyes and my hands. So, like, I will, like, answer emails, or I will do Q&As on Instagram, or I'll go into our Facebook group. So, like, I try to do something to make the time go by a lot quicker. Or like, I've never called somebody, but I guess I could like call somebody, like have a, you know, I don't really do that much.

Not in zone 2.

No, I mean, you would like hold a conversation, but it's not like you— there would have to be a little bit of like, so like, there'd be some of that. But I think you should do that. But, you know, finding something like pairing it with some sort of— pairing it either with some sort of entertainment. So like, if you like to watch something, like, that's something I've tried too, is like, I'll watch I don't know, I don't really watch much of anything. I'll watch like a video about a Lamborghini or something, like if I want to. Um, so I'll watch like that, or I will do like the stuff I just mentioned. And also, um, you know, doing it in like microdosaging instead of— so like for me, I like, at least this point in my life, I am not doing 30 minutes of steady-state zone 2 cardio. I would pull my fucking teeth out before I did that. So 15 to 20 minutes though, like that is is like the sweet spot where I still hate it, but I know I will do it and I can get it done. So maybe as opposed to doing it like, you know, again, doing 30 minutes or 60 minutes at a time. The next thing I wrote down was like gamify it. So like tracking your steps or tracking your HRV, tracking your heart rate, tracking your calories burned, tracking how, how long you went in your, in your rower, in your rower, or your mile time or something like that. By the way, again, I ran for the first time last Friday. I ran for the first time. And I mean, I, I, I've never actually ran. No, I'm not, I'm not even kidding. That was the first— aside from doing like sports. I don't know why you're laughing. I haven't ever ran. But aside from doing—

What do you mean you've never ran? You've—

Aside from doing sports. I mean, like, aside— no, I know, Sophie, I'm not kidding with you. I have not ran aside from sports. I've never like gone on a run or gone on the treadmill and ran. Like, never in my life have I been in a situation where I'm like, I'm I'm gonna run right now. I ran from the cops a couple of times. That's a different story. But that was because I had to. But yeah, so running. That was the first time I ever ran. And but it was like, okay, cool. I had to do a half mile. So like, cool. I was like, alright, cool. Half mile. I'm gonna get to the half mile. I want to get there in X amount of time, right? So you could try to gamify it. You could try to like set little mini goals for yourself. When I'm doing the HYROX workouts, Like if we have to do like a 250-meter sled pull, then— I'm sorry, like, well, that too, but I was thinking like a ski erg. If I have to do a 250-meter ski erg, I'm like in my head, okay, I just gotta get to 125. Like just get to 125 as fast as you can. And then once you get there, you can like, no matter how tired you are, no matter how much you hate it, you'll finish the rest of it and it'll be good. So it's like finding ways to maybe gamify it, I think can help. And then making it social. Like, truthfully, I like doing the HYROX workouts each week with Linda because like we're both— I mean, we're both fucking dying. Like, we can't— we're not talking to each other. It's like we can barely fucking breathe. But you know, it's fun to like be there with somebody kind of pushing each other and even like knowing like, okay, she's gonna do it. Like, so for example, this weekend she won't be here, so I'll do it like by myself, but she's still gonna do her workout. I'm gonna do my workout. Like, we know we're both kind of doing it. So, you know, making it social, getting into a group, joining our coaching coaching program, click the link in the show notes of the podcast. If you guys don't know where the show notes of the podcast is, it's just somewhere in the fucking show notes. And so find it and click the link. Um, but yeah, so all those things are, are practical ways where I think you can, uh, work it in. And again, I don't like it, but I do it. You don't need to love it. Stop thinking this. I have already gone on this fucking rant, so I won't do it again. But like, you don't have to like everything in your life, okay? Like, you don't have to. There are some things in life you're gonna do that you don't fucking like because you to. And it just is what it is. So suck it up, buttercup, and let's go.

I can't believe you ran. Like, how was it?

I mean, awful. I don't— I mean, I mean, it was fine, actually. I was like— I mean, it was fine. I, I was sweating. Like, so we did a half mile in the beginning, which is like, okay, like the very, very beginning. It's like, whatever, cool. Um, but then we did it at the end, and I was just fucking sweating profusely. Like, just like, as I'm doing the whole fucking running, I'm like, it's like going off into the side treadmill next to me.

I'm like, Sorry about that, but like oh and you ran in the tread on the treadmill.

Yeah.

Oh no no no no. I feel like if I ever ran, I would go outside. I think I can't.

We we were just we were doing the workout, so we had to do it in like we had to do it in the gym. So yeah.

Um, I think for me when I started and like I started doing cardio, like I just did steps and I probably wasn't always doing zone two or whatever, but that was still better than what I was doing before, right? Where I was probably more sedentary. Um, so I think that's That's one of the things that I liked about working with you is that you really encourage, encourage steps. And I really found like so much enjoyment in going on my walks. For me, especially when I used to live in my old apartment, I had so many like little ponds and stuff like that. So to me, walks are kind of like a way to find peace in my day. So I really enjoy it. And so I think kind of pairing it with something you enjoy, you know, I think you've mentioned before that you can do zone 2 walking if you just add a weighted vest or if you walk a little fast. So that's always an option. I will absolutely never jump on a treadmill again. I despise it. I can't stand it. So I have to do my cardio outside. Also going back to kind of, I guess, enjoying things. So obviously I started dancing last year and I don't know what zone that is, but I know for sure that's good for me as far as like my cardiovascular strength.

Health, strength.

So I would say health. Yeah, there you go. I would say like if you, you know, if you can find an activity that you like, whether that's running, like whether you want to go into dancing, if you want to join a run club, something like that, just to make it enjoyable for yourself. But also, you know how I mentioned that yesterday I went to the pool? It's because I haven't danced in 3 weeks because I'm taking a break for my back. And like it was the first time that I got on the bicycle for like, I don't know how long, maybe 2 years. And I was literally like, oh my God, this is so boring.

That was hard.

It was so boring to your point of what you're saying. But to your point though of doing things, I was going to say, I feel like doing cardio kind of builds up your resilience and your stamina with doing things that you don't want to do. So there comes a point where you just kind of have to do it even if you hate it. And so that's what I did yesterday. I'm not dancing, so therefore I got to do my cardio somehow. So I did it. I absolutely hated every minute of it, but it got done. And then I rewarded myself with the pool. So maybe if you have a pool, you can do that. Go to the pool after you do some cardio, you know? Yeah.

No, dude, I agree. Like, yeah, like I said, I don't like doing cardio. It's not fun. Like, yes, I'm doing it and I've been super consistent, but I don't like it. So yeah.

You would love salsa dancing.

No, I am way too white for that one.

We've talked about this. It doesn't matter that you're white.

You can still choke them. It does. It does. I have, I have videos. I did it in 2020 in Cabo. They had something on the resort. This lady tried to choke me.

Wait, did you really?

Yeah, I have videos of it.

No.

Yeah.

Show me. Show me the video.

I might still— I'm pretty sure I still have it. But I'm like, lady, I was like, lady, this is not gonna— this is not gonna work.

Okay, so at the retreat next year, I'm gonna show you.

No.

Actually, this just reminded me, someone, what's her name? Olivia messaged me and she was like, hey, you should get Eric to do a challenge where he does meditation classes or yoga classes. And I was like, he's not gonna do that. But just so you know, people are out here asking for it.

So listen, I'm doing cardio. That's like more than enough for me right now. I fucking don't even want to do that. Let me build up a little bit first, please and thank you.

the meditation, the body scan, and just see if you like it. No, dude, I know you would do it.

I know, I know, I know. I would, I would. But you know, you know what's crazy? This is a, this is a side topic here, but I, I didn't want to interrupt you, um, so I didn't say it. But now that you brought it up, I will, uh, I will say it. Like you said, like finding peace. Like just, this is just a random side note. In my day, I'm like, what the fuck do you mean peace? I, I almost feel like I said, I have like a, this relationship with suffering where I'm like, my entire day should be fucking chaos and just fucking— there should be no peace. Like, if there's peace, that means you're not making progress. And so I'm like, yeah, I don't know. I don't find peace a lot in my day. Um, maybe I should. Who knows?

I think you and I are really similar in that. Like, that's how I am. Like, I am constantly feeling like I need— but that's because I also— it's because I have ADHD. Um, I'm constantly feeling like I'm not doing enough. I'm like, I'm behind on everything. Like, I need to do more. And like, that's literally how I feel most of the time. And it's awful. But like, on my walks though, I do like those. So I won't bring my phone most of the times and I'll do Like a little meditation thing where I'll focus on like 5 things that I can see, 5 things that I can smell, just so I can be grounded. But yeah, I agree. Usually on my walks, if I'm not doing that, I'm just like, my thoughts are going. Wait, do you— okay, question. Do you think like that? Is your brain constantly thinking thoughts nonstop?

To be honest with you, I don't even know that I really think about I just, like, go do whatever. I just, like, go do stuff.

Um... I don't— but you have to know the answer to that. Like, are you constantly— are you always thinking?

Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like, so, for example, like, I would be— like, this morning, I was doing— I was trying to write an email, and then I was like, oh, fuck, I gotta do something with my YouTube channel. But I was like, no, you're not allowed to do that yet. You gotta stay here. So I went back to writing my email, and then I was like, oh, fuck, I gotta do this with my with people who are looking to sign up for one-on-one coaching, but I'm like, ugh, no. I have to pull myself back into just staying grounded. So, uh, yeah.

That happens to me all the time, too. But I don't stop. I just start doing the other thing. I'm like, shit, what was I doing?

Dude, by the way, side note, that's one of the worst ways to fuck your productivity, is trying to do all those things at once. They did a lot of research on this. Sticking to one task And like finishing that task, it's, it's like so much better for your productivity than trying to do like this and then that and then this and then that.

I'm gonna start that. Um, okay, I think I, I have— if we have time, I have fire rapid—

Rapid fire. But yes, let's go.

Hold on, let me redo that. If we have more time today, rapid fire.

Yes, rapid fire.

Yeah, why do I literally always mess that up? It's so embarrassing. Why are you rapping?

It's good.

Oh my gosh, I hate myself. No, it's good. Okay, okay, so today, um, I'm doing random childhood questions. Okay, so question number 1. I don't think I've ever asked you these questions though, so. Okay, but yeah, yeah, you're right, we did talk about it earlier today. Have you ever been into video games?

What, are you kidding me?

Have you? I don't— I've never— I feel like you don't— most— I feel like 99% of men play video games. Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you don't.

I don't anymore. I, I use— I used to win like tournaments.

But you would, right?

Oh dude, I was— yeah, I used to be very fucking good at these video games. Yeah. And like, what did you play? Yeah, I mean, I played, uh, Halo was my best game. And I played that. That's where I played tournaments and won money. Money, and then Call of Duty. Like those are my two things.

I used to play Call of Duty. I was really bad, but I used to play.

No shit. Girls are never really good. That somebody's gonna somebody's gonna piss be mad at me for that.

Oh, my sister was really good, so I would for real. Statement.

Mm-hmm.

She was really good, and I suck.

I'll I'll retract. I won't retract because I I guess I don't. I never knew. I don't. Well, no, because I don't. I never knew anybody who play. I never never really knew girls who played video games. I guess so. Like in my head, I'm just like I guess girls just don't play, so that's why they're not good. Because they don't play. But I know girls play video games. I have a client, shout out Nazanine. She lives in Germany. She's a really good video game player.

See, there you go. There's one example. You said—

totally.

There you go.

Totally.

Did you have braces as a kid?

Yes. You did? Yeah, I need them again. Honestly, I need them again.

Do you wear your retainers?

No. What are you— retainer? Fuck no.

Wait, sorry, what? Do you need braces again?

I should probably get Invisalign. Yeah, let me see your teeth.

Smile for me. Your teeth look fine.

Uh, there's a little bit of curve going on, but—

oh my gosh. Yeah, I— ever since I got my braces off, I have worn my retainers every single night. I've never skipped a single night. I've never skipped a single night because you know why? Because the thought of me skipping my, um, my— where are my retainers— gives me way too much anxiety because I will— I spend way too much money on my teeth and I'm like, absolutely the Fuck not.

I get it. I get it, dude. Yeah. That's crazy.

All right. Question number three. I did wonder that because I don't know. Some people have perfect teeth, so just you know.

That was not me.

Before you got into working out, what did you want to be when you grew up as a kid?

I didn't really know. I thought I actually thought something to do with like like cybersecurity. Like I found that kind of interesting. Where I was like, I, I don't like people who aren't good people. So I was like, maybe I can help like get rid of some of those people. So yeah.

I like that actually. I thought you were gonna say like firefighter, like— No, never.

A lot of kids say that.

No, that was not me. Did you believe in Santa Claus growing up?

By, by the way, I mean the firefighter, cop, like just like all, like all those like nurse, whatever it is, like those kind of professions, like EMT, like just the most important people in the entire world. Like, I just— yeah, it's just so much respect for those people. I have so many friends, um, so many like clients, so many friends who are cops and nurses and so on and so forth. And just like, yeah, my absolute utmost respect to those people.

Shout out Rich, because he's a cop. Yeah, shout out Rich. All right, last question. Wait, no, did you— didn't answer. Did you believe in Santa growing up?

You never asked the question. Yes. Um, yeah, I believed in Santa growing up.

You did? Yes. I like that.

Every— everybody does. No.

Well, were you 100% believer? Like, I was like a believer where I could— I was, I was for business. I really thought he was real and I would defend him with my friends.

I feel like I was that. Um, I don't, I don't, I don't know though, because as I'm thinking about it, I'm like, I was just like, I really want presents. And so like, even if there is a chance, I'm like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna risk it here. Um, so So I'll go along with it. Um, but I don't know that I would ever, like, defend, like, Santa. I mean, I don't know. I don't know if I can remember that far back.

OK, well, you weren't a real believer then.

No, obviously not, no.

How did you find out that he wasn't real?

I have an IQ above 7.

All right. OK.

No, okay. I don't remember honestly. I just, I don't know whether I have no clue. I just, I think I just, you just get older and you're like, okay, this is not like, this is not real.

My mom had the wrapping paper in her trunk and I was like, why do you have the wrapping paper? But it was about time. Like I needed to, I needed to.

You were like, this was last year?

I was one of the older children that still like, honestly, how embarrassing. It's like as a parent, I think you have to tell your child at some point, like you You cannot let them walk around like when, you know, no, there has to— I don't know what age it is, but you know, I feel like I was too old. But anyhow, yeah, topic for another day. Um, what is your favorite— last question— what is your favorite childhood memory?

Uh, you know, this is gonna sound bad. I don't— one isn't really like sticking out. Um, favorite childhood memory?

Probably haven't had enough time to think about it. It. You just gotta think about it.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know that one really sticks out.

Um, what made you really like— what was like super fun for you as a kid?

Um, I mean, I like the beach. I'm obviously like— I like the beach now. So like anytime we went to the beach, that was always— that was always super fun for me. So I'd probably say just beach vacations because, okay, I love the beach. So, okay.

Wait, that reminded me, back to the video game thing, were you playing as a Or when did you stop playing?

I stopped playing when I was like 17, 18.

Yeah, yeah. It's— I'm not gonna lie, it absolutely pisses me off that men just— every man likes to video— like play video games. I don't. Why?

Why?

I just don't get it. So many of them like it.

I can give you— I mean, I can give you reasons why.

It's such a waste of time.

Well, let's, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. Um, oh, no. Okay. So a couple, a couple of reasons. Number one, you get this, I think it's whether it's sense of accomplishment, or it's just like, like gamifying things. So like, if I'm in a video game, and I'm getting better, and I'm leveling up, it's almost like that's, that's what I want to do in life. That's what I want to do in business. I want to like level up, I want to get to the next level. It's the same for For me, it's the— I can't speak for everybody, but for me, it's the same exact concept. That's why video games for me were so fun, because I was like, I want to get to the next rank, I want to get to the next level, I want to beat the same level but do it quicker, or like, I want to beat it on hard mode instead of intermediate mode. So for me, I think it's really, really cool. And I think the same way too, um, with video games, it's kind of like you're, you're going through a journey. Like you're going through, like, you kind of start off and, you know, you work to get better and you have these challenges and you got to overcome them. You got to beat the thing. And so I also like the journey of those things. And so I think that's really why I liked video games as well, because there was always some sort of journey that you had to, uh, had to like run through.

So.

Sure.

Sounds great. Valid. That's valid.

Yeah. Anyway, I mean, I don't play anymore, but yeah, I've thought, I've thought about playing again. You know, I've thought about it honestly. Like, I've thought about like on a Saturday night—

Maybe you should. It could be like a way to release, release some stress, Eric.

Uh, I don't know, man. I, I said some things in those Xbox chats that if ever— if it ever got leaked, I would probably be canceled from the world for the rest of my life.

Well, you're not gonna— you're not gonna say your name is Eric Roberts. You're gonna have a fake name.

An alias. Yeah, an alias.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.

I don't know, I get very like— I get very Uh, not just— not like mad, but like I, I get very into it. So I would be like thinking about it like all day. Like, for example, the thing with this fucking camera. Like, that's like in the back of my head, I'm like, oh, I just need to fucking figure this goddamn thing out.

I'm the same way.

Yeah. So if I play video games and like I don't like do as good or whatever, like it just pisses me the fuck off.

It might not actually like release your stress, so maybe you should have—

It would in the moment. It would like not later on. Yeah, make it worse.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Cool. Well, that is it for the podcast. Cool.

All right, guys, as always, thank you for listening. Hope you enjoyed the podcast. If you're interested in coaching, click the link in the show notes of the podcast. And please, please, please, like I said earlier, leave a 5-star rating and review. It legit takes less than 30 seconds, you guys. It might take 2 minutes if you leave a written review. Those are very helpful. So if you do do that, it really does help the podcast and it does help the show. So thank you. Um, but you know, 30 seconds, leave a review. It really helps get the show out to more people and it would save me having to talk about a calorie deficit on Instagram. So if just do your boy a solid, it would really help me out.

Um, so, uh, do you— Quick question. Do you know how someone actually leaves a review on Spotify? Because I don't understand. Is the only option to leave a comment? It's just a 5-star. So you can't do like a written, you can't do a written?

No. Mm-mm.

Oh, okay.

Well, there you go. It's just a 5-star review. Yeah.

Okay. Yep. I always wonder. Sorry, continue.

No, you know, no, that's it. I don't know what I was saying.

I know, and I broke your rhythm. I'm sorry. You had your flow. My bad.

Thanks for listening to the podcast, guys. See you next week.