112. HPF - Direction & Physical Health

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Podcast. This is your host, Al, and we've got our energy coach, Ken with us again. Remember, every Tuesday we're doing our high performance father Platinum episodes. This episode is around direction, why you need it, why it's important, especially for fathers in such a stressful and chaotic world, why coaching is the answer to deliver that direction for you in your life and ultimately how you can use this, the pitfalls if you don't, how you can leverage it if you do, and how this can move you forward in the second half around the area of the physical side of your health and wellbeing. Ken, thanks for joining us again, mate.

It's great to be here, Al.

Yeah, feels like yesterday we did our first episode, but every Tuesday, mate, I'm loving that we're going to build a rhythm with this. It's really interesting, guys. Just chatting with Ken on a personal level, obviously I'm using all the resources that I've got inside of HPF to remain and to remain in a position where I'm showing, not telling and being a high performance father myself. Was talking with Ken about not just the nutrition, there's the chemical, there's emotional, there are three main elements, areas or pillars, and then there's pillars through those that Ken dives into in his area of expertise. Physical, chemical and emotional. Just talking about that, it's pretty incredible. Ken, just that 10 minute conversation you and me had before we started this episode, every, it really helps me understand and I've trained for 22 years now understand what the next linchpin is or what the next low hanging fruit is and just building that rhythm bit by bit. You know, I'm so busy, mate, with what we're doing, everyone's busy. But what we build together, what I'm doing individually, what I'm doing with my family, what I'm doing with my health, there's so many moving parts, which is why I love having you as my energy coach. So that I don't have to think at times I can just perform and then we can track the data, the feedback and go from there. But, but I'd love to start with obviously your thoughts. We're talking about coaching. Some people need it, but they don't actually want it. Maybe because they don't know they need it. But when we're talking about direction, where are you going and why? What does that mean to you as a coach? Giving these guys and giving clients, giving them direction, what does that actually mean?

Yeah, well, the important part about having a coach is to set up the journey for you and to make sure they can implement all the specific areas that you need to be working on when it comes to coaching. And so when you're engaging in a coach, you want to make sure that you choose the right coach that's specific for your energy, for your modalities that you want to work on, whether it be weight loss, whether it be emotional stuff, or whether it be physical. And what I've found along the way is that one of the most important things that I've dealt with with people as in the physical realm is their biomechanics. And so when we need to be working on all areas, we need to understand the breathing mechanics when it comes to the body, we need to understand the movement mechanics, we need to understand the physical side of things when it comes to strength and what's your ability and where do you start? With someone. So as a coach, they can do the analyzing or they can analyze every kind of aspect of the area when it comes into your movement patterns and see whether you're rigid, whether you've got any underlying issues, injuries, anything like that. And then. And so what I do with everyone is go through a biomechanical assessment. But not only am I looking the way they move or whether they've got an old injury or a current injury, I'm looking at how fluid their movement is. Not only that, I'm looking at kind of many. Or looking at many other things, as in the way they stand, the way they sit. And then I start to analyze how or what areas of main concern that I need to pick on and start to release, whether it be mobility, whether it need to be a little bit more breathing techniques because of their compromise within their breathing and their postures compromised also. So what I'm trying to hone in on is when you're choosing a coach, what are the specific areas that you want to work on? And the reason why I ask that is because generally, if you haven't chosen the right coach, it's all about asking the questions, whether you can help me or not, whether you can advance me into the next part of my life, or you can actually help me achieve something better than where I am or something better than what I have today. So, yeah, so they're the kind of things that you're looking for in a coach to kind of direct you in the right specific areas that you want to improve on.

Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. For me, being overweight, obese, which led to a lot of mental health challenges when I was really young, I cling onto the physical realm of life and how much that's helped me perform in life physically and mentally mate and hold so much value to it. And it's not the best. Those guys, you watching this or listening? It's not that we're a fitness program like this, that's not what this is about. But it's such a huge, it's one of our massive pillars of what we have in being high performance father in energy. So it does hold a high level of importance and it must, it needs to. Because of exactly what Ken said, then if you don't have the right coach in your corner, you don't have the right direction, which means mentally you can't be as invested as you need to be. But physically, and Ken has three areas, physical, chemical and emotional. Which is, which is amazing in how he applies. It's not just watching someone squat, but more importantly, if you don't have that direction, you don't know where you're going. But then when you are physically investing in yourself, like Ken said, if you don't have someone tracking your biomechanics in certain areas, sitting, standing, posturally old injuries, issues, limitations, a lot of time you're going to be pissing in the wind or there's going to be a lot of waste which can ultimately lead to frustration, a lack of commitment over time as well. I'm sure you'll agree, Ken. And then a disconnect like you don't actually have a coach that understands you and that's Nothing against the 20, 21 year old who might be able to teach a great squat. But as a middle aged father entering the second half, are you going to have someone like that who's really invested in your life? You're going to have someone who's like Ken, who's 50, in phenomenal shape, gets it, understands huge life experience in all areas and ultimately has an understanding of what's important for you in the second half in life that's going to move you forward, which is why I think it's, it's massively important. But I guess let's look at the flip side. If they don't like what's, you know what happens if you have someone who wouldn't have this in place, Ken, So we're looking at someone with your expertise who doesn't invest in your area of expertise and habit. Where does this leave them? Alone, Isolated. If they don't commit, if they don't listen or if they don't connect, like what's the pitfall if they didn't have this.

In all honesty, just comes down to failing. It really just comes down to fighting. Because how many times have we all had conversations with people and they've tried different diets, they've tried different trainers, tried different. Tried different things that are just been going on and on and on. As far as say that, they've come in and they've said, yes, I've tried working, doing some squat work, or I've got a lower back issue, and no, I don't want to use a kettlebell, or I don't want to use some kind of equipment, no, I don't want to go to the gym because I'm too embarrassed. All of these things play a role. And with what I do, I have these conversations on a weekly basis, on a daily basis with people saying, I've tried this diet, I've tried to do this type of exercise, yet it hurts me back. And really, I don't want to do that, or I don't want to do this. And they just had either a terrible coach or they just listened to someone else that's not really qualified for what they need. And so it's really important that when you go and you do your research, and that's why with what we've done here with hpf, it's about giving people direction, it's about having the qualifications, but also putting runs on the board. And like I was saying before, when you start doing a biomechanical assessment on someone and they have a sore shoulder, it may have been systematic as systemic from a left ankle injury and they've got a sore right shoulder. And so this doesn't just appear in doing some basic exercises. It's about looking the way how someone walks and how fluid their movement is. But, you know, at the end of the day, it may not be from an old injury. It may be just through poor posture, poor sitting, driving in their car for many hours, or one of these things that just been compounding and compounding, and all of a sudden they wake up the next morning, yet they didn't do anything physical the day before, and all of a sudden they've got an issue with their lower back or their shoulder. And this has just been that layering effect over days, over weeks, over months, and then they're trying to find what to blame it on. Is it because they did a training session five days ago, or is it because they slept incorrectly? No, that's not what it is in most cases. Or what's happened is it's just been one thing after another, and then the stress. And then again, what we talk about with the physical, chemical and emotional. It could be the emotional stuff that's just stressed them out like crazy about a shit night's sleep. And again, we can track that score on what's going on with all of that stuff. And then we can start to hone in all the different areas that you and I are tracking on HPF so that we can start to pinpoint what's going on and then we can deal with the problem, which will be the symptom, but then we can have a look at what. Where the root cause of that problem is. And that's why with all of the data that we're tracking, we're really looking at absolutely every aspect. So it's not just about looking at if they've rolled their ankle and then three months later they've got a problem with their right shoulder. So it is really, really important that they're not just thinking that just because I have a little bit of pain the next day or that evening when they're moving or when they're sitting on the lounge and they think it was because of something they did that day. This could have been something that's been reoccurring over weeks, months and even years for that matter.

Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it, mate? I think of that and it would be such a naked. A naked scary feeling if you didn't have. Like, there might be fathers out there who don't even train or exercise. All right, well, that's going to lead to a pretty deadly path pretty quickly as you enter your 50s and 60s, that's for sure. But ultimately, the fathers who are trying to get some direction, they're trying to get some structure in their life without having even the. The freedom of thought or the critical thinking to go, this is what I need to ask questions about, or this is what I need to explore. What they're left with is exactly what you said then, Ken. It's such a distorted view on the world or their circumstances where they're pigeonholing themselves saying, this one person said this, so that's the answer. Or I feel this, so it must be that. So I'm never going to do that again, when really it could be traced back to a completely different body part. And I've had that before, mate. You know, knee reco's shoulder, ricos and funnily enough, left shoulder, right knee. It's really weird how the slings and the anatomy trains work and I don't know to the degree that you do. But obviously you've educated and helped me with some of that stuff in the past, especially when I was competing. But it's just, it's incredible, mate, how often guys will think that just getting a sweat up, because that's primal and they get a release of endorphins or applying a chemical or emotional change for a temporary fix is the only answer. When ultimately physically they can be breaking down, but vice versa as well. You need to have all of them together. And I guess what's some of the great solutions? Like you said, we're tracking data. It's great that we have the ability to help these guys with our experience and direct them, but failure, I agree. That's absolutely what will happen if they don't organize their shit in the right way, in the right order. They have the right professionals in their corner who are investing in their life. What's the flip side, though? What are some of the results that you've seen that clients you've worked with in the past? And ultimately what we're seeing and what we've shared and what I've shared with you with our current gold guys, what we can expect with our platinums as well, when they do follow through on this and commit to it.

Well, the great thing is that people want to see change and they want to see it quite quickly. Like everyone wants results yesterday. And the thing is, you've got to start somewhere. And it's really about movement. It's really about making sure that we look at your breathing mechanics also. So even when you don't have time because your life is so busy and you're caught up with family commitments and business and everything else that's going on, you don't even have to move off the lounge. And I can show you how you can start to improve your life just by improving your breathing mechanics. And what people don't realize is that if you breathe correctly, then all of a sudden everything else starts to make change, from your immune system to if you've got like underlying asthma or respiratory issues and things like that. All of these things are affected just by literally through the conversation that we have with people. The way we stand, the way we walk, the way we move, the way we sleep and all of those things, that's our starting point is with everyone. And listen, I've been. Listen, I could go back maybe 10, 15 years when someone was telling me, hey, listen, Ken, what you need to do is get into doing a bit of yoga and stuff like that and, you know, like My background, I've been a strength person, like strength athlete. I've always been in the gym throwing weights around or being out running and pushing a heap of weight. And that's what really works for me and that's what I really enjoy. But what's best for me that I know, especially now as we start to get a little bit older. Not that I'm ever slowing down with what I do as far as exercise and everything else, but the breathing part of the mechanics for me and how it changes my life is just by spending three to five minutes before you go to sleep. And even when you wake up, that will change your whole life. You don't realize where we've evolved from literally thousands if not hundreds of years ago and how that can change. Like the next, the next evolution in elite sports is going to be all about breathing, mechanics and things like that. Like, I can give you a technique right now and it'll take me six minutes. And if I said to you right now, Al, what's the longest amount of time you could hold your breath for? Now, just for, as an example where, you know, you're either sitting down, so you know, you definitely don't want to be driving a car or operating any heavy machinery. But if I said to you right now, listen, I could double your breath hold within six minutes of practice work, that I can take you through some breathing techniques which will change your lung capacity, it'll exercise your diaphragm, it'll exercise your internal and external costals, and it'll start to fix your posture just by spending literally six minutes with you. Now as we talk, that's kind of where we start. It's not about getting outside, running a half marathon or having to run outside or pick the phone up and find a gym membership that's best going to suit you or because of the time that you don't have to go to the gym, this is where we can start literally just by implementing some simple breathing techniques. And then I can actually track and monitor and I can actually show you within the six minutes on how I can double your breath hold within that six minute time period. So there's a lot of stuff that we can do that doesn't require a lot of effort and literally it's free of charge. And they're the little and simple things that we can implement into someone's life and literally start changing it instantly.

That's incredible, isn't it? It really isn't. Can you guys watching or listening to this, can you start to see and understand and get a feel for not only what we're building in hpf, which we have tiers and layers of memberships, but the depth in which we're going. And a lot of the times it's simplicity, isn't it, Ken? It's the simple things and we dive deep into them, but it's actually having the understanding, the knowledge and then connecting that. You can't have that if you don't have anyone giving you the right direction and connecting the dots of who's A and who's B, where's point A to point B? Where do I want to go and why? What's the alternative if I don't? Which I spoke about, which, yeah, summed up in one word, is failure. And when we're looking at family, self and service, there are three areas that make your life you can't turn up for your family or for your work or your business and serve the world if you can't turn up for yourself. And hopefully, you guys, from listening to what Ken's sharing here, and obviously a lot of our other episodes, you can start to get a feel and see that health and wellbeing and having a holistic approach to your life isn't about singing Kumbaya, but it's also not about just getting someone to write a squat program or joining a 28 day dad bod challenge or drinking shakes, thinking that's the pathway to ultimate health. It's a fucking scam. It will never work. It's not connected to you. It's got nothing to do with you. It's an external or superficial byproduct of something that has perceivable results which actually don't give you what you want or you need. And the breathing stuff, you've gone through some of it with me, Ken, and I'm keen to try the 6 minute one, though we'll definitely try that at some stage because for me, I'd be lucky to be two minutes max. And I've started the one before nighttime sleep's improved dramatically. Thank you, sir. But it's awesome to see. And we will, in other episodes, dive into the chemical and emotional. But they are all connected. But gut, health and nutrition, other things we will touch on in another session. But you know, I guess, I guess on one area of the mental investment, one, how do you feel, Ken, being fit, strong and powerful at 50 years of age, everything you're doing and turning up for physically and what you've just shared, how does that actually make you feel? And how does that give you a perspective on life. And secondly, do you think that's something that would apply to these fathers as well once they implement these changes?

What's great about what I do is I almost want to leave a legacy for my children and for their children and their children, saying that I was at the frontier, making sure that I'm exploring every avenue, every piece of data that I can track down and implementing it myself. So that every day that I wake up, I feel absolutely incredible. Like, I get out of bed with a spring in my step. I'm excited to go to work again. It's not really work to me because I love what I do. And changing people's lives just through conversation, through participating, through applying all of the things that I'm doing. And people, when I talk to them, they look up to me. And I'll just give you a quick example now. Like, I was at soccer literally two days ago, and I'm standing beside and I'm playing in an over 35 soccer team. And I've never played soccer in my life because my background's afl. And I'm standing beside a gentleman because my son was playing in a grade above. He normally plays in under 11s and now he was filling in for under 12s. And I was standing beside a dad who literally, he hasn't played soccer, which he was an ex soccer player for 10 years ago. And he thought, hey, wow, listen, I'd love to play soccer. And I said, yeah, yeah, listen, I'm playing in an over 35 soccer. Soccer team. And there's, you know, every. All the dads there are having a great time and everything else. And he goes, oh, listen. He said, I'm a little bit older than you. And he's looking at me and he's standing beside me. And I said, oh, yeah, how old are you? He said, oh, listen, I'm nearly 45. He said, so I must be at least four or five years older than you. I said, funny you say that. I'll be 51 this year. And he said, God, shit. He said, what? What have you been doing? What have you been eating? What paddock have you been grazing on? And I said, listen, there's no secrets. This is just about living my life. It's really important I exercise. He said, jesus, what do you spend five hours in the gym six days a week, seven days a week? I said, no. I said, this is just part of my life. This is what I do. I love it, and I want to be here for my children. Hence why my son played this morning at under 11s. Now he's here playing under 12s. Or I want to leave that legacy for my children also. And, you know, like my daughter's 13th birthday on Sunday, she's out doing rock climbing courses and things like that with my wife and things like that. So this is what it's all about. It's about just enjoying every day of your life. It's not about, again, it's not about just waking up and thinking shit, you know, like, I've had a few drinks a night before, but waking up and just enjoying every day like, there's nothing worse than getting up and thinking myself, God, I've got pain in my life or I'm stressed about different things. This is about living your life to the maximum and not worrying about the shit, putting it all behind you, if there is any, and just living your life to the best of your ability.

Yeah, that's an amazing share, mate. And yeah, you like when you told me your age, you know, and obviously we catch up in person, like, fuck, mate, you look amazing, like fit for your age. There's people, there's people who are in their 30s who are starting to look like they're nearly 50. Ken, it can be a very quick slippery slope for life if you don't look after yourself and your health and I don't know, mate, like, it's got nothing to do with how much I can deadlift, but fuck, I'd feel so weak. I would feel so weak in life if I didn't look after myself, my physical health and have that attitude and that nature towards living and expressing life. Not just mentally, not just in the words I speak, not just in work, not just in family, but actually in myself. Like I said, jumping out of bed. And look, some days are greater than others. That's why we're here. It's why we track all of our data. It's why I track my sleep. It's why I'm working with you on a personal level too. And it's so fulfilling and rewarding, mate. And a lot of you guys out there listening or watching this, this is why you need a level of direction and structure in your life. Because otherwise you just accept the status quo or the common standards or the norm. Just because it's the normal or it's standard or it's average doesn't mean it's fucking okay. It's not like you can be so much more in your life. And that's not a blame or a judgment thing from our perspective, it's an opportunity. It's an optimism to go, an optimistic outlook to go, fuck, this is what you can have in your life. And it may not take that long to get there. If you have someone who's invested in your life, which you need if you want proper coaching direction, and someone who's showing, not telling, they've got the runs on the board and the history that show that, which obviously that's a pretty awesome share that you had there too, Ken. And this is a compound level, like in what you see. And what would you say, Ken? I mean, as we wrap this up, this has been a great little episode that we've had together, but what would you say are the compound benefits of someone who would have this approach with what you're talking about at such a specific level, in 12 weeks, then 12 months, and then say five years, when they keep turning up and applying the things that we're working with.

One of the things that because we're tracking so much data and we're also doing the blood work for people, we're doing the DEXA scans, what's important is that when we get up in the morning and whether we're brushing our teeth and we're standing in front of the mirror, some, a lot of people kind of don't like what they're looking at. And unfortunately, you've got to take the first step. And what I find is, unfortunately, also is that if we're looking at our hair's messed or whatever else, or we've got toothpaste on the side of our mouth or whatever it is, we can easily fix that. We can wipe it off or we can do our hair or whatever, the little things that kind of make the changes, but where the big changes are, and I've said this previously, and I'll repeat myself as many times as we need to, where the big changes are from the inside out. And that's when it comes to making sure that you've got the right direction in the food that you need to eat, in the emotional stuff that needs to change what goes on in your microbiome. So a thought process will change what's going on in your gut. It'll cause you all sorts of systemic problems. And so that's why with tracking, all of this data is so vital, because at the end of the day, people don't all of a sudden just wake up and lead an incredible life and eat incredible food and stay physically fit and say, shit, you've got cancer. That's bullshit. That is absolute crap. And I'll never ever sit here and Take that on the chin by anyone. This happens over many, many, many years. This is because of poor nutrition. You're stressed out of your brain because you're overworked and whatever else and you're not putting the right things in place. Now, how quick can we see change? I promise you now I can make change within six minutes from you breathing, I'll make change instantly. So if I can change your breath hold from, if you give me a breath hold now from literally 60 seconds and I can change that to two minutes within six minutes of very specific coaching and then that'll start to change your thought process and I can show you how to alleviate some of that pain in your lower back and literally a three minute stretch. I'm implementing change, that's how quick we can make change. Now I make one change and then you can see and you believe in what I do and then you respect what I do and I'll go into the deeper layer and the next one and the next one and then that's where the emotional stuff and then you've got to earn and we've each, both of us have got to earn each other's respect. And I'll explain every little bit in detail on how I can help you at every level. But you know what, you've got to trust in me and believe in what I'm doing and I promise you I'll show you change in such short amount of time that that will just snowball and snowball and you'll see the amazing results you can get. But don't bullshit to me and not implement these things that I'm showing you. I can give guarantees and I will make change. That's how confident I am. Because I have put it to every person that I've ever come in contact. You follow my program, you follow my rules, my methodology, and I will guarantee you change for the better, obviously, not for the worse, always for the better. And that's why I am so excited about what I do. And that's why it's not work to me. Because when I make those small changes, I can change your life instantly. But don't bullshit to me like I said and say that, yeah, I've done that to the extent that you've asked me to do it. And really I can't see change. I've worked with people at every level and that's why my experience has come from nutrition, it's come from massage, it's come from implementing so many different things throughout my life and my life experiences that I know we can get massive change in such a short amount of time. You give me one week, you give me four weeks, you give me 12 weeks and I'll change your whole life around. I promise you. I will change your whole life around for the better and I'll guarantee it. Absolutely.

Imagine 12 months under the high performance father wing and in our corner, in Ken's corner as well.

That's the whole reason why we do the blood work and that's the whole reason why we do the DEXA scan so that we can see these internal changes that you would never otherwise know. That's the whole idea of this. This is really to be able to implement one change and then have a look at it at a much, much deeper level that generally no one really gets to see. And this is very, very high level, I promise you. This is very high level. And very few people will tap into this area. Hence why we've got the high performance fathers. Absolutely.

I love when you start getting fired up, Ken. This is, you know, we just don't fuck around, mate. Like that's the thing. That's what we need you guys to understand. I don't care if you follow me for a week, you followed us for a week, or for three years, or, you know, following the journey on different platforms. We live an eggshell free life because none of us have time to waste, Ken. No one's got time to fuck around. I don't know if you, if you don't believe that, you need to get through that, through your head. If you're a middle aged father, assuming you live to be 82, you've got 200,000 hours left and you're dead. 200,000 hours and you're dead. That's assuming you live to be 82. And that doesn't even take into account a large portion of exactly what Ken lives and breathes and practices in what he preaches, which is quality. Now I love that saying, not the years in your life, the life in your years. Like it's something I just say to myself every day, mate, actually. So thank you for that ages ago, that very first podcast we did. But don't fuck around. Don't waste time. When you're finding and exploring, coaching in a direction, you need to be connected. Life is connection and if you don't have that, you are pissing in the wind. You're wasting time and effort, two of the most valuable resources you'll never get back. But a large portion of getting that on track and being connected to something is having an actual game plan, building that mutual respect and rapport like Ken discussed, and having a real pathway which comes down to direction. Not just physical. Yes, the chemical and emotional. We'll touch on those in other episodes to come, but absolutely understanding yourself, your body, why and what you need and also what's possible. But loved having you on today, Ken. I really love doing these sessions. Looking forward to next Tuesday already. But awesome having you on again, mate. And thank you for so many words of wisdom. I got a lot of value out of it as well.

Brilliant. Thanks, Al.

Awesome. Thanks guys. Hope you enjoy this. Tune in for another episode soon. Cheers.