Practical Health Habits with Jim Braniff | Meaningful Revolution Podcast
In this hour‑long interview, host Shawn Buttner explores Jim Braniff’s lifelong journey with health, fitness, and nutrition, tracing the roots of his habits back to a childhood steeped in his mother’s Jazzercise sessions and early sports participation. Jim describes how his career as a firefighter sharpened his focus on functional movement and injury prevention, leading him to continuously experiment with diet and training. He outlines his evolution from basic protein‑centric eating in college, through Whole30 elimination, to detailed macro tracking with the Carbon app, and shares practical protein sources such as Greek yogurt, whey, roast beef, and sardines. The conversation emphasizes a mindset of open‑minded self‑experimentation, goal‑setting, consistent measurement, and the importance of adapting routines when injuries arise (e.g., a pectoralis major rupture). Jim also discusses how he motivates his family—modeling behavior, tailoring encouragement to each person, and using peer reinforcement—to adopt healthier habits. Throughout, he stresses three core principles: set a clear, finite goal; track progress consistently; and stay optimistic and adaptable, even when setbacks occur. The episode concludes with a concise call‑to‑action for listeners to pick a specific health goal and pursue it with consistency and curiosity.
Chapters
Was there a time in your life when you weren't paying attention to it, something changed, and then you're like, oh, I need to figure this out, or how was that process for you?
Well, first of all, thank you for saying those kind things about my health habits rubbing off on you. Hopefully I haven't led you astray. That is a great question. I think at least they're able to reattach your arms. So it was okay.
Yeah.
For me, from a. From a young age, my mom was always really into health and wellness. I have distinct memories of going with her to Jazzercise and sitting there or watching all of these. So I was born in 1983, so Jazzercise, like, was a thing when I was 8 years old. And I would go with. And I would be in this big gymnasium, and my mom would be up there with all these people, you know, music blasting. And here I was sitting there watching them. And then just kind of fitness was always kind of a part of her life. Not so much my dad, but I think that rubbed off at an early age. And then, you know, just playing sports as a kid impacted just I wanted to be physically outside and doing things. And then when we were in high school together, Sean, you were there doing things like track and swimming. I think that was an initial, kind of set that stage of I wanted to be athletic. By no means was I ever or currently am a great athlete, but I did just like to move. And I think the nutrition and then the wellness bit of it kind of came as I aged, and then as I became a firefighter, kind of seeing what do I need to do to do my job and do it well in a way that's not going to get me hurt. These all kind of were influences that made me really interested in how am I moving, how am I eating, what does that mean for my family? So those were all big impacts in developing that attention to health and wellness. I think that answers your question at least somewhat.
Yeah, no, no, totally. So I know having known you probably, what, since middle school, like, regularly. I think we knew each other in grade school through another mutual friend a little bit. But what I've just kind of noticed is, like, there was that time we're all really fit together as, like, a crew, you know, even a couple of our other friends. And then, you know, a couple of us did marathons. A couple of us kind of had health as the cornerstone. So I'm just curious, like, how do you. Is there anything that you're doing to kind of continue to learn because that's something I've also really admired about you is like, I feel like some of our friends kind of stopped that or had fits and starts and myself included, I'll say. But you've seen really consistent on it. Is that, is it just because it was ingrained in you at a young age or like, what are some of the things that you found that have been really helpful in your life, you know, at work or in your day to day?
Yeah, you know, I think that ignorance is bliss. And for me with the health stuff, what has been hard is I think people that know me, such as yourself, it seems like I'm always kind of waffling around or jumping on new bandwagons, but that's not what it's been to me. To me has been we know so, so little about health and human performance as, as a scientific community. And I think the bar is always moving and evolving and that's kind of the mindset I've always looked at things or the lens I've looked at things through. So, so kind of as time has passed and you know, maybe I'll, I'll read Deep Nutrition, which is a really good book we could probably write in the show notes, which then led me to, okay, well how. Here's about nutrition. How am I moving? Which led me to the ready state and mobility Watt at the time with Kelly Starrett's YouTube channel, which then has evolved into. Now he's like this great influencer which eventually led me to listening to the Huberman Lab, which then led me to listening to the Drive by Peter Attia. And I think all of these things, if you keep an open mind when it comes to the way we, we are humans and the way this knowledge and body of content has grown over the years and especially recently is really growing and just not be dogmatic has kind of been my, my mantra with this. If there is a new study out there, there's new information out there. I will hear that with an open mind. And I think I've gotten better as time has gone on it saying like, oh, maybe this is something I can implement in my life or try and espouse to my friends and family. But just kind of that mindset of it's okay to try new things and it's okay to self experiment has really driven me to say like, what's going to work for me? But that, I mean that, that has kind of been my mantra as I've moved through this.
Awesome. And I would never say you like waffled on any of this stuff, or we're like, on top of the fads. Like, I rely on you actually to, like, test things out. And like, I know that when you're like, hey, you should try, like, athletic greens, like, I've been doing it for a while, you've had some benefit. Like, there's some practical thing that you've already tested out. Like, it's very rarely, like, oh, I'm trying this new thing right now. I don't know if it works, but you should do it too. Like, it always has been. I felt really researched, except for that one elusive, vague time that we're not going to talk about have that reaction. But again, as you said, the arm did grow back so.
Well. I mean, it's like you just, you don't, you don't know what you don't know. And I like, I think back to, like back when we were in track and we were, Sean and I listeners were shot put and discus throwers. And so weightlifting and strength training was a big, a big part of our daily training. And we would, we would have maybe once a month we would max out on, say, bench press squat, you know, the big heavy lifts. And what would we do before maxing day, we would all go out to Brown's Chicken and just stuff ourselves silly. Like, we would get like, hush puppies and fried chicken and. And then we would go and lift the heaviest weight we could possibly lift. Like, it was so stupid. Like, I think, I think back to those. But I think we thought we were doing ourselves a service. We were like, fueling ourselves up. And so you kind of just learn along the way about your own body, but also about the health, health trends that are going on in popular media or whatever. And you see if it works for you. And sometimes it really doesn't. So if you're listening to don't eat a bunch of fried food before you max your bench press. Bad idea.
Okay, so how has your evolution on nutrition changed over time, Would you say, if you could like, kind of describe that journey?
Yeah, that's a great question. I think that initially when I really started to pay attention to what kind of food I was eating was in college. And I was, I was lifting weights pretty regularly, heavy weights. And then it was like suddenly, hey, this, maybe this matters as to what I'm eating. And that's when I started to focus on getting some higher quality proteins. And that, that kind of became the emphasis for a long time. I was like, am I getting enough protein? Am I drinking a protein shake after a meal which after that, you know, I feel like I probably just had a standard American diet for a number of years until maybe 10 years ago when I'd read about the whole 30. I'd gotten that book, kind of gone down that road and thought about, okay, like what, maybe, maybe the foods I'm eating aren't suited to me. Maybe I do need to do some sort of elimination thing where I eat really clean and then reintroduce some stuff and see how it makes me feel. And that was the first time I really felt the power of a change in diet. The first Whole30 I did, which if people are not familiar with the whole 30, it was a pretty popular, still is pretty popular. Essentially it's an elimination diet where you eat things that are very non inflammatory. So what you are eating are meats. You can eat meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and essentially that is it. So you're eliminating dairy, you are eliminating grains, legumes and sugar from your diet. And you do that for 30 days. And then the idea would be you would take each one of those food groups and introduce them back one at a time for say a week, say, okay, I did the whole 30, I did 30 days. I'm now clean, detoxed to a level and now I'm gonna, I'm gonna eat some cheese and see how it makes me feel. That was the first time I kind of felt the power of a diet where, you know, I lost, I know I lost fat and I felt great energy and I kind of realized like, well, this food thing, what we put in our bodies is important. And now as I've aged, you know, I'm knocking on 40s door here in less than a month, my, the new thing that I've really started to focus on is actually for a time tracking my macros. Being a food diary, I'm using an app called Carbon, which is a really, really great researcher guy, his name is Lane Norton, has created this app and he's, he's a Ph.D. and his, his whole thing is human metabolism and protein synthesis. And I don't want to say it wrong, so I, you know, check out what his actual title is of his doctoral paper. But knowing what I'm putting in and actually tracking that on a daily basis because it is really eye opening to what you're eating in a day when you don't think about it. I mean, you take a handful of this or a handful of that, you're not realizing that does all add up. So getting a good look at what my macros, my macronutrients are looking also at what the micronutrients that come along with that. It really is empowering, I think as a human, you're putting in you.
Absolutely. This is one of those things where, like, I'm like, oh, maybe I should do a form of this myself. Having done a lot of different things, you know, diet wise, when I was training for marathons and whatnot, like, that shifted some stuff. And I found that, like, eating not processed food, just eliminating, like packaged things had a really huge impact on how I felt and slept every day. Which is kind of crazy. After watching this documentary, I think it was on Netflix called no Impact Man. Which it's insane because the guy, like tries to live off the grid in New York City in an apartment building for a year without producing any trash. Right. That's. That was his challenge. And I'm like, I want to see how long I could do it. And I could do it for two weeks and still have like a small bag of trash. But it was a really weird thing when I lived in Arkansas, trained that. But.
Yeah.
So tracking macros. I actually bought a food scale. I've been weighing food like I had a parfait this morning and like, I know the amount of grams and stuff. So this is a personal question now that I have you on a camera now for the world, like, how are you meeting your protein macros, man? Like, I have a protein shake. I've been really focusing on trying to get protein. I think at my height, I was able to get like 80 grams short of what I needed to each day. Like, what are you doing to meet that?
Yeah, you know, I struggled with the protein at first as well. And what I, what I really started to do was I looked at, okay, so I'm, I'm £175 and I want to be eating about that in. In protein. What I did was I said, I know I'm going to have three meals in a day and I know I'm probably gonna have one snack post workout snack or something. So I said, all right, let's say it's 180 grams of protein. I just divided that by, by three. And then I took five or 10 from each meal and put that towards the snack. So I know at breakfast that I need to have, say, 50 grams of protein. I do 50 grams of protein for three meals. I'm at 150 grams of protein. I have my post workout snack. That's going to be 30 grams. I'm at 180. I think doing it. That way. And having a plan is really important. As far as the actual food that I'm eating, I really enjoy yogurt. So Greek yogurt is a pretty high protein item and being able to get that in full fat, 2% or no fat is very helpful. So that is, I would say, something a staple. For me, a high quality whey protein is another really good source of protein. It's easy to digest. To digest for me. I don't have any issues there. And then for what I've been using is I love Costco and they have some minimally processed like roast beef. That's a very easy one to you. Look at the ingredient list. And one thing I didn't mention when I was kind of running down my history with food and nutrition, you already kind of brought it up. The. The eating things that are not processed. I mean, that is a really big deal. If you were to come to my house, you would not find packaged anything. It's all. It's all things. It's whole fruits and vegetables and meats and dairy. Very little in the way of us, which is difficult because I have two kids, which we haven't even talked about yet, but I have two young boys, so that, you know, they want. It's. It's boy has marketing done a great job making kids want things that are processed. But in any event, so that that roast beef has been helpful. I also really like sardines, which I know might turn a lot of people off. I feel like there's a lot of confusion over what is a sardine versus an anchovy. People hear sardines and they think, oh, those are really salty. And that's what you put on your pizza. Anchovies are the really salty ones. So anchovies are like a punch of salt. Sardines while they are, there is some salt content in them. It's not like something that you would taste. I would liken the flavor almost to tuna. But I like sardines, which are very high in protein and they have a great omega 3, omega 6 balance. So those are some great sources of protein. But ultimately I think that the. The point of tracking your macros and the point of hitting those numbers the way you want them is you do have to think about it for a time. I'm not saying that this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. And I would imagine, Sean, it's the same for you. You don't want to weigh your food every single meal. No. But at least to get an idea of gosh I understand how much carbs is in this or I understand how many, how much protein is in that. I think that it really empowers us to kind of navigate nutrition in a way that is going to benefit our goals, you know. So I think that's another thing we haven't really mentioned is, you know, what is the goal of the food you are eating? Sometimes the goal is pleasure and then I don't think there should be weighing, you know, I think that you should be able to go to your favorite restaurant and get your favorite thing and not worry about it because you know what's food isn't just to me isn't just about fuel, it's also about culture, it's about spending time with friends. Um, so it's I think macro thing is good but it, if like most things, if it's taken too seriously or it becomes a dogma, it can be harmful to you too.
Absolutely. Yeah. The way that I approach it and I think this will lead into our next set of questions pretty well. But my thinking on anything nutrition or fitness or health wise, I'm always thinking like how can I what can I take from this that'll change my lifestyle going forward? And I think that's a really good belief on I think the whole 30 did that and eliminating a lot of like oh, it's like I know that beans really do mess up my digestion, right. I get gassy and it's noticeable, feel a little bit bloated. So like have to watch out for that stuff and I know that from this thing. So like I've incorporated my diet to not do that or like fried eggs every morning have been you know, pretty much a staple for since you know my experience with that.
But.
Yeah, I think waiting food they're like for me the reason why I jumped on the train or you know, last week actually as recording this episode it was more for just that awareness. Like what are my macros like? Like this first week I really try, I've been trying not to do any changes to my diet to baseline of like when I'm out in the world and eating things for pleasure or to fuel my body. What, what is that actually doing to my system? And then to thoughtfully then shift like okay and do exactly what you're talking about. Like if I want to lose weight or what that goal is like I can make the plan to make it happen. But because I don't think honestly that looking at it for this last week, it's too terrible. It's just there are certain Things where I'm like, oh, that's a lot of fat and almonds, you know, and you eat like three hands, handfuls, and you're like, okay, like, didn't mean to do all that stuff, you know?
Yeah, I cannot, I can. I will express how devastated I was when I realized how much fat was in a handful of macadamia nuts. It was devastating to me because those are one of my favorite snacks. And here I was thinking I'm doing this great healthy thing. And I think they are healthy, you know, in moderation. But you don't. If you're, Unless you, unless you know, you don't know. Yeah. And, and for me, I, I think it's. What was empowering for me was I've been intermittent fasting for a number of years. I've really enjoyed the way it feels. I was, I was doing an eight hour eating window and once I started tracking my macros, I realized that generally speaking, I was undernourished. I was not eating nearly enough calories or protein in a day, even though I thought I was, and I felt full. And then now, having done this, tracking this and actually trying to hit these macros intently, I'm eating more food than I was before, yet I have still gained more lean muscle mass than I previously had. So a year ago I had calculated my body fat and I was at 19 body fat. I just followed up with my doctor because it's been a year and I met 12 and a half percent body fat. I mean, that is a big jump. And I really think that has been in the last several months of using this app because I think that I'm actually nourishing myself the proper way.
Wow, that's awesome, man. Congrats.
I mean, that's not what. I wasn't even my intent. I wasn't trying to, I don't want to be a bodybuilder. I'm not trying to gain lean mass in the sense that I want it to be for my physique. I'm, I'm happy with my physique, but I think it's, it is beneficial to lose body fat, generally speaking, from a health standpoint. So I am happy about that outcome.
Yeah, right on. Well, that's an inspiration, my friend, and something I hope to replicate here in the coming months in my pursuit of doing all this tracking. So with that said, I do want to shift. I think I love these set of questions because it's kind of like, how do you think now about nutrition, about general fitness and health? Like, if you could summarize it in beliefs instead of like implementations. Like, you know, tracking your stuff is important, but we were kind of hinting on that that awareness is actually what you're going after. And so being aware of the nutrition and the micro and macronutrients going into your body is important to know. Could be like a belief. Do you have like a set of principles or a way of thinking about each of those different areas? Nutrition, like fitness, I mean, with just those two categories or anything else related to health that would be helpful for people to kind of consider.
Yeah, I think that one of the most important things when it comes to your wellness, you know, whether that is your athleticism or your health, your weight, is you need to have a goal. You know, you need to have something that you're striving for. And for me, that goal has somewhat been bolstered by my career because my job is physical. My job is something that, you know, I cannot underperform physically. So there's always been for me this overarching. I want to be able to physically do what I need to do to do my job. But it's also been, I also want to physically be able to, to, to do anything. I want my friend Sean to be like, hey, do you want to try surfing with me? And I can say yes, not because I know how to surf, but because I know that my body is at least trained to a level where I'm not going to get hurt trying it or I'm going to be resistant to getting hurt trying it. Pick any sport. You know, I'm not, I'm not good at any great any sport, but I would want to be able to try any sport. I want to be able to run around with my 6 and 4 year old and get tackled by them and, and get up off the ground easily without pain and creaking and, and all in, you know, some negative effect. So that's kind of my overarching goal, I would say, or behavior is this is why I'm doing this. You know, I want to be able to hike in, in Banff or go hike in Joshua Tree, which is my shirt. You can't see. It's pretty, it's pretty rad. But I want to do these things and I want to enjoy them. So that's kind of my overall, overall goal behavior wise. I think what's really important for anyone listening this is to actually track what's going on with you because that's a behavior that I think will really help you like it. That's something I've come to learn over these last several years of really into these like wellness podcasts, while they are really good and you can read, you know, Tim Ferriss's Four Hour Body, but until, until you apply that to yourself, it's all. They're speaking in generalities. They're talking about what worked, what showed up in a study that had a bunch of metadata or there's, or Tim Ferriss in particular is all about self experimentation, but that's what worked for him. Right. So I think that that principle does need to apply to your own, your own wellness because something that works for the masses might not work for you. You know, you might, you might be an outlier and there's nothing wrong with that. But unless you are actively tracking and being smart about what you're doing, you won't know. You know, if you scattershot everything, how do you know what's working and what's hurting? So I do think it's important to, to operate with intent, whatever that is, and actually record what's happening to you so you know what works and what doesn't work. I don't know if that helps answer the question or, I mean, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, have a goal and then take measurements. I think what's implied and I want to pull this out. It's also like you mentioned, don't be like scattershot about it. Like pick one thing you're going to change, stick with it for a month or two and then see what happens. And so it should be like a science experiment, right? It's if I measure my food for the next two months, which is what I'm currently doing, then I'll have a better idea of what I'm consuming and I'll make better choices with my food, is the hypothesis. And so this first week is just kind of getting that baseline and then going forward it's gonna be like, okay, like if I do the breakout of my protein and carbs and everything, right, And I'm continuing to do all my vitamins and all that kind of stuff, like, which that's not really changing. If I keep that consistent, then how does my body change? How do I feel? How am I sleeping differently? Like all these different outcomes that are important to me right now just for my performance because I'm a high performance coach and you have to kind of lead that. You know, I'm not changing everything. Right. It's going to be very systematic and you know, I'm going to try at least for two months and then re. Establish like okay, this is what worked, this is what didn't work. This is what I might need to change. And I think you're kind of hinting at that too. But did I pick up on that right? Or.
I think, I think you said that much more succinctly than I did. Yes, yes, absolutely. And, and the, the other thing I would, I would just kind of tag onto the back of that is consistency is also very important. I think that a lot of people and kind of. I've observed this, you know, in our, in our friends, Sean, in my, in my family members. It's. People often have a hard time sticking to a new behavior because they don't see the results that they want right away. Not understanding that the way you get those results is consistency over time. So, you know, when you, let's say you, you decide you're gonna, you're gonna start running, you know, if you just only do it for the first two weeks and you're sore all the time and you don't lose weight, you don't hit the goal you want and stop, you're never gonna get that goal. You don't know what running really does to you. You know, it's, it's the same kind of thing with this food tracking. If you track for a week, you know, is that really going to give you an idea like you have to do it for a little bit longer to. And I think that has to marry to the goal as well. You know what I mean? Like, if I'm, if I'm trying to put on muscle mass, I can't just lift weights for a week. I have to lift weights for half a year, six months to really see if I put on mass, you know, and I have to do it consistently to know if it really worked or didn't work. So that's, I would just pin that on the back of that as well.
Yeah, that's absolutely backed up with the high performance research and something that, that is kind of a bummer for a lot of people that I'll share. That kind of shows the power of consistency. You know, on average in the U.S. people will spend about an hour and a half, I believe on social media. And so that's every day. It's an hour and a half of doom scrolling or seeing your family and friends, which is, I hope everyone is getting a good experience out of it. But you know, there's, that's a whole other podcast with all the other research on that. But if you take that hour and a half. Ish. Right. I think it's like 87 minutes. Add that up, that's like 38 days out of the year. You're scrolling on Facebook in hours. Right. And that's a consistent habit that a lot of us don't think about. So, one, it's like, what's your intention with it? Because you got to be really intentful about it. If you're not measuring it, it's those little, like. That's like the three handfuls of almonds that turns out to be not super healthy for you, or the macadamia nuts. Like, this is another area of life where this consistency principle has a huge effect. Right. And we don't even half the time realize that we're doing it. So I think it's a really awesome and thoughtful call out. So just want to add on to that.
Word.
Okay. So if we have kind of some mindsets of, like, set a goal, track it, Be consistent with all the reading and listening and information that you have. Do you have any uncommon or.
Unique.
Beliefs about health and nutrition that you don't think is in the mainstream that you've just figured out for yourself? And it's okay if you don't, but.
I really like that question.
That means it's working.
Yeah. You know, this is. This. This sounds crazy, but I. If you were to see my. I think everyone should have a movement practice. So everyone should have a morning movement practice. You get up at some point, you should try and move your body. Maybe not in a novel way, but at least in. In a way that's going to prime you for the day. I don't know how off the wall that is, but for me, that involves somersaults and a handstand against the wall. It's. It's. It looks crazy, and I've caught a lot of back for it over the years at the firehouse. But however, I. I do think, like, just this idea that knowing that you want to move and that you can move is so empowering. And to me, that is. That's just something that's ingrained in me that. That at any time I could be in a prison cell in solitary confinement, I could still move, you know, probably. Hopefully. Yeah. So I think just. Just no matter what, on a day, find some intent way to have a purpose to move at some point, even if it's only a minute. I don't know. It's kind of. Kind of off the wall. I'm not supporting this with any sort of research or anything, but it works for me, and I really like it.
That's all we need. Yeah. To piggyback on that, too. Having done weightlifting for a while and running, it's so important in any sport or any type of physical activity to push your body in ways that it's not used to. And I'll explain, like, what that means to me is if you're constantly running forward, you need to be moving sideways and backwards because you're not working those muscles. And eventually that'll catch up and be like a repetitive injury. Right. If you're constantly just doing bench press, it behooves you to switch it up, switch up that movement, maybe work out the same muscle but in a slightly different way, because there's a lot of those little connector muscles and, like, a lot of your body that, you know, you don't realize is there until you move it. Like, in a way that, like, nobody's going around the world. And maybe this is something I should start doing is like, sideways, Right. You're not kind of like strafing as you go to the store on the sidewalk because you look like a lunatic. Right. But it's helpful to have that movement somewhere in your movement practice so you don't have hip and knee injuries. Say that's, again, not backed up by science, but go ahead.
But, you know, I think, though, it is, and I. I think that, you know, we're kind of broaching on the subject of exercise, but what a lot of people don't, I think, think about when they build an exercise program for themselves or they're following one or they're going to a class. The whole concept of exercise and how it improves our body is by putting. Pushing us to a new stressor. Right? We have to adapt. That's all exercise is. It's your body making adaptations. And to your point, if you're doing the same thing all the time without changing it, your body's already made all those adaptations and there's no longer going to be a gain from it. So I think that is something important to keep in mind that if you are a runner, swim every once in a while. You know, if you're a weightlifter and you do the same weight every week, you're never going to see improvement. You have to change the movement you have. There has to be a progressive overload. And that doesn't have to be weight. I mean, that could be, like you said, a different movement, or it could be more sets or more reps. It doesn't have to be, you know, going from £300 to £350. And I think that that kind of principle applies to a lot of things that we do in our life. If we're not making an adaptation, we kind of get stagnant.
Absolutely. Like, for, for me, probably like.
A.
Story I can share that's related to this is when I was doing marathon training having like really hated and resisted long distance running and then being so bored and so stressed, where I'm like, yeah, I should sign up for the marathon because our buddy James did it and like, if he could do it, I could do it.
I think.
I don't know. Let me. Again, it's that experiment. Like, I think I can do this. I got nine months to figure it out. I can't run like 15 minutes straight starting out. You know, this is going to be interesting, right? But the way that the Hal Higdon. Right. How to Train books.
Yep.
I always confuse him with Mel Bay, who's the like, guitar, like beginner guitar book instructor. Like, I always make that mistake. But anyway, so Mel Gibson. Oh yeah, Mel Gibson. I'm always confusing things with Mel Gibson. There's something wrong with my brain. That's hilarious. Well, in this how to Train book, it's push, push, have a rest week. And that philosophy of pushing your skill in public speaking, going hard for two weeks and then kind of backing off. And backing off doesn't mean like doing something super low. Like, you know, you're running in that, like starting out, you're doing three three mile runs during the week and your long runs a four mile, then it's a five mile and then it drops down to a three mile for your long run and then it's seven, eight drops down to a five mile, which for me, like, running five miles is my easy week after going seven miles is insane. But you feel the progress. You're like, oh, this isn't so bad. I remember when 5 miles really was too much and now, like, I'm doing more and like, this feels good. You know, that principle I have found is really trapped in learning any skill or building something. Like, you know, you can go hard, you can go lighter to recover, realize how much better you've gotten and keep pushing.
So, yeah. And you know, it's. What's interesting too about that is you kind of, we're kind of getting into this trained versus untrained. And for people that are ready to start exercising that have not exercised, they don't realize this great advantage that they sit in. Because coming to something untrained, those adaptations come fast and they are big gains. Whereas, you know, someone that's been exercising for their whole life. They've gotten to the point where their, their adaptations are small. Right. Because they've already trained. So it's, it's almost an incentive to all of us to try new things because you know that first time you shoot a basketball, you're going to be pretty bad at it. But I bet you start hitting the rim pretty quick, you know? Now, of course, if you want to be a professional, it's, it's. That's a lot of hours and practice and, and you know, those gains start to become so finite. But just to try something new, like you go from not knowing how to play chess to being able to play chess. Think about that leap in your brain to have made those things. So it's, it is an incentive to try new things and to realize you're going to get these adaptations, whether we're talking about exercise or a skill or, or an emotion or whatever it is. Yeah. And that's kind of a digression. I'm sorry.
No, I think it's right on. Because. What was I gonna say? As you go through that, the life lesson there, that's like, if you're not planning to change anything about your nutrition, like the idea that you can build resilience through trying new things, like, if you've tried enough, new enough. I think that's why a lot of people in sports at a professional level are really successful in other areas, because you've learned that, oh, if I just keep doing the reps, I keep pushing myself, I keep. I have that confidence that I can figure it out. And it might take. It might take me a week to get results, it might take me a year, but I know if I keep at it, it'll happen. That's. And you don't get caught up in the perfection of it, too. Like, it's going to be messy when you start. Like, I think that's a really valuable life skill to apply to anything, like you were saying. So, yeah, start new things. Believe in your ability to figure it out and get results, because it will happen if you keep at it.
So. Yeah.
So, okay, kind of shifting gears because I wanted to ask you this question. So, like I said, like, you've always been a very huge inspiration for me to try new things in my health and fitness. And usually, like I said, anytime we spend any extended period of time, I usually end up picking up one or two things that I'm like, oh, I think this will be good to experiment with. And you kind of alluded to this like you have, you know, a loving wife, you have two strong, growing boys. How do you think about motivating them to think about their nutrition or their movement? Because I know this could be a really tricky subject for anyone who's super passionate about any subject, trying to bring their family on board or their friends on board. And you know, you mentioned getting ridiculed a little bit at the firehouse for your, your somersault headstand thing, you know, but I'm also, I would guess there are a couple of guys that bought into it and are probably doing it with you, but maybe you can share a little bit about that.
Or not.
But I guess so. That's a long way to ask the question, like, how do you try to move people into action in a way that is positive and doesn't kind of shut them down? Or have you figured that out?
I guess I don't know if I fully figured it out. What I do think is important in all things, if you're trying to lead people is to just be a good example. Let, let your actions speak as opposed to your words. So it, it's, which is a struggle for me because I like to talk sometimes and people that I love and that I'm close to, I am, I, I want them to be healthy too. Like I want to. But I've come to realize if I, if I call you Sean up and I'm like, hey, you need to start taking athletic greens because it's good for you, you're probably not going to do it. I mean, like, who am I to tell you what to do? And so I think, I think that's just, I think that's key in life, for leading, for leadership in general is, is, you know, people want to see their leaders doing the hard things. And so for me, like the firehouse, like, yeah, you might mock me for what I'm doing because it's silly. But at the same time you also see that, you know, I'm able to get down there and myself behind the toilet to help get this person off the ground in a way that maybe you couldn't. So I do think that there is just some, that there's proof in the way I'm able to operate. I think with, with kids it's different because you're actively your teacher in a lot of ways. So for my boys, the four year olds may be a lost cause right now, but my Bodie, who's six, I mean, he actively talks about, is this healthy? He will ask me, is this healthy? Is there enough protein Is this too much sugar? So I know the things that I'm saying are rubbing off on him. So I don't think there's anything wrong with especially youth being overt in trying to teach them and explain to them why I'm doing these things as, as their, as their father. With my wife, Shannon, it's a little bit different because now we're getting into this dynamic of, of a romantic relationship and friendship and a parent ship. So it's, it's harder, it's harder to tread for me because this is about learning what's going to motivate her behavior change, which is different than what motivates my behavior change. And this is a interesting story is Sean, for those of you who is listening, he just, he just stayed with my family for a couple weeks. And Shannon had me recently, my wife had me recently devise a little workout routine for her to follow. Pretty open ended. You know, she could mix and match the days and kind of do what she wants when the right time is appropriate. And she's been really struggling with it and I've been struggling with motivating her. And she kind of sees me as this like, taskmaster of here I am asking her, well, did you do this today? Why not? You know, And I get on her case and here comes Sean. And Shannon decides she's gonna, she's gonna knock out one of these workouts. And Sean just cheerleads her. And she has brought that up to me, I think, no less than five times since you left, Sean. Wow. That day she felt so good about accomplishing what she did. If she could just do that every day, she would be so happy. So I do think, you know, there is a valuable lesson when you are trying to influence your loved ones is to really know what motivates them. And I've learned it is not Jim, your husband, the personal trainer, it's Jim, your friend who, who wants to cheerlead you on is what she really needs, you know. So I think that if you are trying to get people in your life to take on healthy habits, it really does. You do need to know them. You need to know what motivates them. So thank you, Sean, for teaching me something about a woman I've been with for 20 years that I somehow did not know.
Well, that kind of cheered me up a little bit. Like, I'm really happy that that had an impact. And yeah, I think there's also, I have this belief, especially when it comes to spouses, that when you're trying to help your spouse, you actually need one other person saying exactly the same thing that you're saying in order for it to kind of land. I think that's just a weird magic rule. I know I've been guilty of it in my relationship and I know my wife Ashley's also been, hey, you need to do this. You're like, well. And then she's like, hey, I'm gonna do this. I'm like, well, what changed? Like, I was talking to so and so at work and they said that. I'm like, I mean, it's one of those really funny things where it's like, but I told you. But like, sometimes you just need a little bit different way to approach it or. Because, yeah, I think in that particular dynamic, like, I know that you show care by trying to help people keep consistent, because I know that works for you. And I was just being like, hey, you did the thing. Like, I don't know. But I'm glad that that helped. I don't know.
What do you.
What do you think on? So I'm guessing have you been sharing Shannon a bit more now and that's been working a lot more.
Cool. I have. It has been helpful and it's. It's certainly my new tactic.
Yes.
Cool.
With that said, we're kind of getting at the end of the hour, so I was wondering, is there anything else health, fitness related or just general life related that you wanted to bring up or talk about?
It's good. That's a good question. I. Yeah, I mean, I. One thing that I think that something I've been wrestling with. We haven't talked about how I'm injured right now. I ruptured my pecorelis major muscle. So which is the muscle that your pack your chest and the muscle that connects the tendon that connects that muscle comes up around underneath your clavicle and attaches to your humerus. And I was doing bench press and it completely ruptured. So it was. I was in the middle of a press. It wasn't a weight that I was unfamiliar with or had not moved before. And it felt like a spring broke inside of my chest. And there was a whooshing sound and. And then there was just like a 10 out of 10 cramping pain in my. In my chest. But the point of me bringing this up is, is that I think that what has taught me is that it really is important to pay attention to recovery, but it's also really important to just take what cards you're given and use those to the best of your ability. So that happened. I'm not really able to exercise that right side of my, my body with my arm, but I've made sure I've hit 10,000 steps every single day since that happened. I have done a lot of like lower body workout with kettlebells. If you could see me off. Just to my left is a slack line in my backyard. I've been doing the slack line as much as I can and I almost feel fitter now than I did before I was injured. Which sounds crazy, but I do think it's important to just take everything in stride. There is always an option. We are really only limited by, in a lot of ways what we think we can do. So. Oh, I can't do bench press anymore for a time. That doesn't mean that I can't still exercise. So I think that whatever your limitation may be, realize there are just infinite ways to still achieve the things you want to achieve. And the other thing that this is, it's given me room and space because I haven't been able to go to work to start reading some stoics, to spend more time with my kids. There were all these benefits that came out of a, you know, a bad event for me. So I don't know if that really plugs into what we've been talking about, but it really has given me a moment to reflect and kind of think about that. That we're all getting bad news. Right? Life is gonna. It's a roller coaster. There's a yin and yang. And really our attitude really affects that yin and yang. And I hope that people listening to this can not that this was some earth shattering injury. I still can go back to work in a few months. I should recover from this. But it's still a moment to think and to say, hey, this, there's this obstacle now what can I do to get around it? Or how can I use this obstacle to better me in some way? And there is a way, if you will put your mind to it, there is a way.
Yeah, I think this is a great way to tie it up because it's one of my favorite personality traits that I think you have, Jim, and that's this optimism. I consider myself an optimist. And it's amazing how I think our close friend group growing up, I think shares that belief in a lot of different ways. And optimism isn't the hope that everything's gonna be good. It's the hope that things can change and you can adapt to them. That's how I kind of define it. And so I love that idea of like, okay, I can't do this. Well, what can I do where I think so many other people are like, ah, that I'm out of my routine. I'm out. Like, I can't do what I want to do. I guess I'm just sitting on the couch for the next three months, you know, and we all have that, I think that gremlin in the back of our head that's like, yes, you know, take your foot off the gas. But I also think that being aware that, oh, I can do other things and it still will be good for me. And actually, you might incorporate some new things into your routine that aren't even, you know, health related in this instance. You know, I think the. The daily stoic stuff is pretty cool and interesting, and we've had some good conversations come from it, which is amazing. But if there's one thing I would share about my good friend Jim that everyone should pick up is that optimism and that excitement for handling whatever life throws at you, even when it's a bummer thing, when you know you needed surgery to fix that injury. So just wanted to say that if there's one thing that you could communicate for people to try out or get engaged with in their health, what would you share on that?
Man, I think that I would share to pick a goal. I mean, pick a goal, whether that's to eat a little bit more healthy or decide to exercise more and make that goal finite. Like, I want to eat X amount of protein in a day and then just hit that goal for a time, or I want to walk 10 minutes after every meal to that goal. I think that that would. Will empower. Empower us all or, or whatever you're trying to achieve, just to just pick something achievable and try it, Try it for a while and see what happens.
Right on. Yeah, pick a goal, guys. You heard it from. From Mr. Jim Braniff. So with that said, guys, I am super excited to get this, this episode out. There's a lot of super good things. Jim, thank you so much for being on the Meaningful Revolution podcast.
You are most welcome, Sean. Thank you.
See you guys in the next episode. This is Sean Butner saying, live with more joy, more growth, and more impact in your communities. We'll see you guys soon. Take care.
