Maximized Fat Loss As We Age with Clark Bartram

Today on Listen Up, I've got my good friend Clark Bartram. I'm so excited to have him here because first of all, he's a real life superhero. He really is. He looks like a superhero. He is a superhero and I am honored to have him on my podcast today. In all seriousness, if you're watching the video, if you're seeing him on video, he is in just phenomenal shape for are you 57, 58? What's your age, Clark? You're going to show 58. 58 going on 32. For real. He is as long as I have known him has always been just sort of the epitome of health and he has got the personality that goes with it and the knowledge. And I thought I really want to have him on because I focus so much in my programs in my communities on fat loss for women in mid age women. I don't know a lot about men and what we would advise there. So I thought who better than to ask than you. So. So ladies, if you're listening, I think you're going to have some good takeaways but I also think you're going to like this for your husbands or your boyfriends or your brothers. But I think you'll also have some good takeaways. And guys, if you are on, you're going to want to take a lot of notes here. So thanks Clark for being here.

Well, first of all, I appreciate the beautiful introduction from a beautiful human who I respect, love and admire and look up to and what you're doing with women. Because the reality is people need role models. People need people to look to that have been there, have done that. And what I'm seeing you doing is truly, it's honestly what the world needs. We need call to action for people to really take control of their lives, whether they're male or female and really do the things necessary which aren't as hard as people make them out to be. And that's the commonality I think, Natalie Jill, between men and women is we have this tendency to overcomplicate things with regards to what the process should look like and how we can apply it to our life and have not just results but sustainable results. And I think that's what both you and I really strive for with the people that we work with.

Yeah, not a quick fix, not a just can we do this over the month, can we do this over the week? But can this actually be my life?

Yeah, I work with my men in phases. Once they make it through one phase, I'm like, now it's time to set the next goal, because it's never ending. It's a process. Even is the great things that you said about me and the example that I've been to men. I am constantly looking for areas in my life that might be lacking or slipping or that I can improve in. And my friend James DeMello said it best. And I want men to write this down. This is the first point I think, that you could walk away with, and women can apply this as well. You have to be a man of circumspection. And this, what it means is this. I'm on this stool, right? This is circumspection. Your head's on a swivel. If you're an athlete, you have to understand what's all around you. So one of the biggest issues that people have, male or female, is Clark, a guy today, he said, I'm headed on vacation, and then I have a work party after that. Should I start my program now? I didn't even let him finish the sentence. I'm like.

They want to wait and put it off.

Yeah, they want to put it off. And there's always a reason to put it off. So. So if you understand by being circumspective of your life and understanding what the pitfalls are in the areas that you may have fallen victim to in the past, then you're now aware and you're prepared for those things. So if it's an office party, if it's anything, there's no reason not to live your life, but living it in a way that is aware of the donuts that are going to be on the table at the office party, and the fact that you love donuts. And now you need to set up some sort of protection around that. Tell three or four friends, please, if I walk up to the donuts, just give me a sign like this. Like this is the sign that I have with my man. It's this, right?

Yeah.

So it's okay to do that. And I think the easiest place to do that is at home with your spouse, whether you're a wife that's trying to get better, and the husband might not be necessarily on board yet. And it goes the other way around. Set up protections in the home. It's like, just do this. Don't be mean to me. Don't talk down to me. Don't you put it in my face. Like I told you, you know, I've been telling you none of that. It needs to be respectful. And then that other person is going to get on board eventually. So, yeah, I know that's heading into.

A different category, but no, it's all. It's all important. It's all good. I have so many questions for you, but I'm going to start with this before I get into like specific things about men and aging because like with women, there's all these things that come up around women and aging and I want to check. I want to ask you the same things about men in a minute. But I want to back up a little bit to your story and a little bit to how this even happen. Like, how did you even get into this space where you always fit? Was this something you discovered at a young age? Like, tell me a little bit about your journey into health and fitness and the space here.

Yeah, so there's two parts to that answer. The first part is I was born to do this. Without a doubt. This is what I was created for. And when I come online and someone sees me say I'm the absolute best coach in this space, there is no one on planet Earth better than me. It's not a statement of arrogance or pride, a negative pride. It's one of pride of ownership of who I am and what I was created to do and what I know I possess and the love and respect I have for people to really help them be their ultimate best. Yeah, obviously as a business. Right. If I'm looking the way I'm looking and I'm trying to fill a gap in sales, what do we got to do? Find the need, fill the need, close the sale. So I think I found the need out there. 50 year old are in need of inspiration, information, motivation, all of these things that we take in pieces. So if I am that guy because I look the way I look at 58 or I have the energy that I have at 58 and I feel like I am not even 20, I literally feel like I am 22 years old, then I need to fill that need. I need to be that guy. I need to answer the call. And it is just like you, you've answered that call. I love the post you did the other day where you were talking about all the stuff that you've been through to really connect with people who might think that you are someone who has never experienced that before. So I know that this is my purpose in my calling and I'm really just answering it.

So when you were just taking back a little bit like when you were 20 years old or you were 18 or you were. You did you just love working out and Kind of figure it out then. Were you born? Like, did you have more genetic makeup of muscle? Like, I just want. I'm going to get a little scoop. Were you ever overweight? Were you not ever overweight? I'm just curious a little bit about the context there of how it makes sense that you were born to do this, but physically, what were you going through?

So genetically, I was predisposed to be looking the way I look today. But we have to add epigenetics into that. Of course, a whole different thing. But. So I'll tell you a story. When I was, you know, I grew up playing football, and I was a very active kid. And at the age of 14, I had knee pain so bad I could barely even stand up. It was so bad. So this is in the 1970s, when the science and the medical community wasn't as advanced as it is today, obviously. So I went to the doctor, and because I was predisposed to be a muscular guy, I always had abs. I'll tell you a story about my bicep, too. But the doctor gave me an option to atrophy my legs by putting me in two casts in a wheelchair for an entire summer. This was the remedy for the problem I had of my quadriceps being overdeveloped and for the growth platelets in my knees.

Wow.

So it was that or stop playing football. I couldn't imagine sitting in a wheelchair for the summer when all my buddies were out playing at the age of 14. So I, @ that time, stopped playing football, which broke my dad's heart and is something that, you know, I knew I could have excelled at. But that is my story of the fact that I had muscle on my body.

Yeah.

At an age where, you know, you could see that I was. I was skinny, but the abs were there, the shoulders were there, and we've seen little kids like that. Of course, that's why I was going to be jacked.

Yes, yes, yes, of course. Of course. Okay, so talk to me about aging, because even though you're in amazing shape and you feel as good as you did at 22 and all of those things, you're also human. So you've. You've gone down the journey of aging. What's changed for you with that and what's real and what's not real about aging in your mind, especially with men.

Perspective on where I'm at now, I just talked about this whole football thing and the fact that, you know, I love playing, and I still go off and play, and I, in my mind Feel like I can compete with these 22 year old kids. I mean, I can certainly catch a pass and throw a ball and all that sort of stuff, but there's no way I could suit up and get out there and, you know, knock heads with these guys and not, not be injured on some level. So I have to have perspective on where I'm at. But that doesn't mean I need to buy into this thought of aging. Like at 58, I shouldn't be out running, I shouldn't be out jumping fences and doing that sort of thing. And I certainly am human. You know, I fall victim to all of the things that anyone else would fall victim to. And I just really need to understand that this is part of my job, staying fit. And that's some of the relief that I give men when they come to me and they're trying to compare themselves to me. I'm like, look, I don't do computer programming. So I don't. You wouldn't expect me to come into your job and understand how to program a computer, but if you taught me long enough, I would eventually get better at it and one day I might be proficient.

Yeah, you're like the LeBron James of fitness. Like, you're, this is your top game. So when I get, I love that. I appreciate that you say that to people too, because it puts everything in perspective. Like, even if some people take a few things from what you teach, it's going to improve their life. But trying to be you is not necessarily realistic.

Oh, it's the worst thing in the world, right? Who would want to be anyway? I really want men to be maximized. That's the name of my program is Maximized Man Elite. And there's something to that, right? Not a perfect man, not a guy that doesn't make mistakes, but maximizing themselves. And that's why I talk about this circumspection and being. Having your head on a swivel and understanding that what I do is not always about fitness. Actually, it's probably the last thing that I talk about guys with. I just had a new guy come on board today and I said, you'll notice when we engage with each other on our zoom calls that I'll never tell you to get on treadmill for two hours and eat white fish and asparagus. But what I will talk about is all of the other things in life that have added stress, that have added burdens, that have added all of these things that have kept us from achieving the results that we want when we get on the treadmill and eat like fish, because that is certainly a part of it, but it is not all of it. So I don't talk about fitness first because to me, it is the last thing on the list of priorities as it relates to really changing how you exist on the planet.

What is the first thing?

Mindset.

I love that because I say the first thing is deciding is like making a decision that it's going to happen. And then. And then we focus on vision. So when you say mindset, tell me a little bit more about what that is in your words, how that. How you describe that.

So everyone who comes to me has already hired a million personal trainers. These are successful men just like you. It's not cheap to train with me. So they have money, they've been around, they've experienced everything. They've lost weight, they've gained weight, they've had muscle. They were college athletes, whatever. And by the time they get to me, they know about keto, they know about intermittent fasting, they know about all these diets, which most trainers, when you talk to them and you ask them, what's the number one thing most people are going to say? Nutrition. And that's complete hogwash.

I agree.

Absolute hogwash until your mind is set right 100%. My mind is set to eat the way Clark and Natalie Jill are telling me to eat. I am not going to eat those donuts in the office because I have set my mind to the fact that once and for all, because I am 58 years old, I am finally going to get results and keep it. So that is the key in every other aspect. Laying on the couch. It is treadmill time. You have worked hard, but, you know, that is part of the. My mind is set right because I could design the best program in the world. It means nothing. And you've designed them. I've designed them. You've called your client and you're like, what's up? Did you work out today? Well, no, stop. I don't even want to hear anymore. I don't need it because I've heard it all already. So it really, truly is ascending to a place where you're not accepting the norm. You're not allowing age to be a factor. You're not allowing the excuses that have held you back before hold you back anymore. So, I mean, we could go deep in on this, but I think that's.

I love it. I call it. So I say I kill fat. And fat stands for. You're like this, Clark. It stands for false assumed truths. So it's those beliefs that you can't. Those beliefs that we're too old, the beliefs that you're too injured, the beliefs, all these things. And with women. And I want to ask you this about men. With women, it's very real. It's very real that they have the hormone shifts. That part. That. That part's real. It's very real that metabolism can slow down with age. It's very real. They can start getting gaps of fat in areas. However, it doesn't mean the result has to be that. So those things are real, and that's why I say they're false. The things are real. And you might have to work harder, you might have to do things differently, but you have to decide first that you're not going to buy into those beliefs first, because the second you say, you know, it's my hormones, that's why, then you fall into this. You're right, it sucks. And then what do you do about it?

Well, it's like saying, you know, genetically I am fat and I will always be fat. You can't go back and change your parents. That's something that you just need to understand. Not beat yourself over, not quit over or any of that. And the facts that you said about women are true with men as well. Men's hormones shift. We go through andropause, but we don't talk about it. It's okay for a woman to discuss menopause because it's a normal part of the discussion, but when a man comes through and he looks at a Lifetime TV movie and he's crying on the couch like I have, it's because hormones are shifting.

Wow, you're right. They don't talk about that. It's not accepted as much about it.

It's not manly. You know, come on, let's. Let's be real. And that's where I get to with my men. And I have this ability to dig down deep and quickly and go, let's be honest.

Wow.

Let's talk about the things that nobody talks about, and then we'll get to the bottom of this and we will get you results.

Got it? Okay. So do you find, like. So for my women especially, and I'm assuming it's with men, too, that we do, if we don't really work it out, we have muscle loss with age. We have. And the less muscle you have, the less calories you're burning at rest, the less things that are changing, do you find. So men create the story or women create the story. They've Got to work extra hard. They've got to do go heavy. They got to go hard. What advice do you give those people?

Don't listen to anyone that tells you you have to do all of that.

Okay?

It's the worst device in the world. You don't have to go bust your butt so hard. So it's the question that you've had a million times and I've had consistency or intensity, which one is more important? You were talking the other day about how your legs were so sore you could barely get up the next day. And I'm thinking to myself, I've been there, but is that how we want our clients to feel?

Right.

Don't always do what we do, but do what we say. Because we're kind of experimenting with ourselves. We're pushing limits. We're at a different place. Yeah, we're better than. They're worse. We're just at a different place.

So let me explain, Clark. My eye, my legs were sore from walking around Disneyland. It was pretty pathetic because it was a lot of.

Wow.

It was very sad. It was very sad. Yeah, it was a sad moment. But it is.

But, you know, it's like a football player finishing a 10 game season in high school and then he goes to play basketball the next season and he saw from basketball practice when he just finished playing ten very violent games.

True.

Because we're doing something different from Disneyland. I remember when I walked up the Great Wall of China, over and down the other side. I couldn't move. I was so sore because one step was this big. One step was this big. One step was this deep, one step was that deep. And I'm like, I'm fit. I shouldn't be this sore. So a joke that I have regarding training too hard is I'll go into the gym and I'm done in like 20, 30 minutes. If I'm not talking or answering questions to somebody or doing extra cardio, I can be in and out in literally no time. And the front desk people will go, you're done already. Like, you're done already. Like, I didn't do anything. And I simply lift up my shirt. I look like I need any more.

You know, he has like a 24 pack. Just say, you can't if you're not watching a video. He has a 24 pack. It's not a six pack, not an eight pack. A 24 pack. Yeah. No, it's actually people would say to me, even in my, in my fittest days, they'd go, oh, you must just work out all day long, I could get a solid workout and in 20 minutes if I need to. If you're focusing on progression and intensity, 20 minutes. And for people questioning that, go hold a plank for five minutes, tell me how you feel because it doesn't take long. Go work on pull ups for five minutes, tell me how you feel. Like those. When you're doing progression and intensity, you don't need a lot of time.

I saw a funny TikTok post the other day, and I don't know if it's appropriate for the audience here or not, but it was a girl holding a plank for a minute that she collapsed at the end. Apology to all men a minute.

That's funny. That's good. Okay, talk to me about nutrition because obviously mindset's first. That is critical. But talk to me about nutrition and specifically I want to know, like, what's your main philosophy and has it changed over the years with trends? So, like, for instance, you came from the day of, like, the original fitness and bodybuilding of the chicken and the broccoli and all the things. Eat every few hours or your body's gonna eat its muscle. Like, do you still eat that way or do you have you taken on learning carnivore and paleo? I'm curious about your philosophy over the years on nutrition.

So let me. First of all. So you're right on path with my principles. These are my five principles. Mindset, meals, movement, community, and integrity. So we'll go over that. So you were right on the next one meals. So you're right. I did come through the day and age of bodybuilding where it was chicken and broccoli. I have journals from coaches that I had back then that show the basic, you know, an apple cheese stick or whatever rice cakes were.

I ate all that rice. Dang. Rice cakes.

It's so crazy. Rice cakes were huge. I actually had one the other day at Jason Ellis's. We did a photo shoot. He put peanut butter on. I'm like, oh, why does this taste.

So good from, like 30 years ago? Yeah.

So I. I tend to stay away from the fads, and I refer to a lot of these things as fads because it's not like they're new.

Let's take the carnivores, like, almost like Atkins. I mean, really minus the liver and the kidneys.

Right. So Atkins was designed, you know, or a version of the. Atkins was designed for the Cleveland Clinic for heart patients that needed to lose weight quickly because they were having heart surgery. It's almost like bariatric Right. They'll make you lose weight first. So they put you on an extreme diet. That's not sustainable for most people because you're going to have a heart attack if you don't have this surgery. So it's like, give this person no carbohydrates at all. So they drop weight quickly. Because we know that works. But the question is that sustainable? So I look at all of these new. I say new, but they're just newly marketed ways of eating that I tend to steer my people away from unless it's for a period of time only. And I know exactly why I'm putting them on that for a period of time. Or if I'm doing something, I'm like, don't necessarily follow what I do because maybe it's for a photo shoot. Maybe it's to manipulate my body real quick so my abs pop out more. Whatever. It's a different reason. So, no, I am very. What I teach my people is this. Here's your measuring tool. That's it.

I do the same thing. Carbs, fat. Yeah. Protein, carbs, fat, yeah. Same thing.

We have. God put it on us. It's right there at the end of your arm. Because a guy that just hired me, he's five. Five, you know, he's a little guy. And I'm like, you wouldn't eat as much as Michael Hearn would. Right. Because he's a big guy. So what? How do we do that? You're not carrying the scale with you everywhere you go. I hate measuring and weighing food.

Yeah.

I hate counting macros. I don't do any of that.

I just realized, do we do this ham thing from the old Bill Phillips stuff? Is that where we got that?

I just thought of that then. But Bill Phillips really put it on the map.

Maybe that's where I first started with that. That's funny. I didn't even realize where. I've been teaching it that way for years.

Yeah, it's a great way. Right? Because it just makes sense. So if you're out to dinner, remember claim jumpers were so big around here. And I used that comparison today, and I thought, do they even exist anymore? Is this guy. Know what we're talking about? But when you went to claim jumper.

The potato was literally this size of your head. Yeah.

So you take your fist and you go, this is how much?

I mean, a third.

The rest of that off. And that's your amount. Because for a scale, you're not going to bring one with you and measure it out. It just you have to be instinctive. You have to understand your body and know what is right for you. So eating till you're absolutely packed with food is not the way to go. Eat till you're satisfied and then stop.

So you've pretty much maintained your, like, lean proteins, carbs, and healthy amount of fats always. You've not played with the whole, like, I'm gonna eliminate all of a food group or anything like that. So I've.

I've done that to test it out because I. Anything I ask anyone to do, I have done it first.

Yes.

Period. And many of the times I've done it because I was trying to do something. One of the worst, one of the best lessons I've ever had was I was at a bodybuilding contest and I was competing, and I remember this kid named Terry and I thought, this guy's smashing me. He's smashing me. He looks so great in the morning. Then his coach had to manipulate his sodium, and he came into the show bloated because he did it wrong. And I ended up beating the guy when he should have beat me if he played around with his food, sodium being one. And I settled in. Then I said, I will never compete in a show. And I think this carried over to my real life. I will never compete in a show manipulating any nutrient to try and make me look that much better. Because the work that I put into this point isn't enough to make me the winner. Then any little teeny thing I do to adjust or manipulate isn't going to make that big of a deal for me.

Totally.

So that carried over into my real life, and that's how I live now.

So I find. And I'm curious if you agree with this or don't. Either way, I'm just curious. When I. Most of the women, when they come to me, they're so nitpicky on the exact details of things. And what I tell people is I want to get you to a general, healthy process first of eating natural, real, unprocessed foods and learning portions. Like, let's work on that first, because that other really specific detail stuff, that's like your last five pounds. That's like your last. Like, I want to get lean, I want my six pack to come out. I want to show veins. Like, that's. That's not general weight loss. And I think when someone has 50, 60 pounds to lose, like, you're hurting yourself by focusing on that. If we could just dial in using measurements, using the right natural, real, unprocessed foods, it's amazing the results you'll get just from that.

So I'm going to talk directly to your women. If you're training with Natalie Jill, please do yourself a favor and do not push her for information that you're not ready to receive yet, because what you just heard goes with men as well. I just had this conversation today as I was leaving the gym. One of my guys sent me his photo. And I'm like, he's looking great. First thing he needs is a little bit of a tan because I want to see with some shading what he looks like. Send me your photo. And then what I told him is now, now we were at a point where we're going to start fine tuning some things. Now you're ready with your mindset, with where your body is. Because 12 weeks ago, 24 weeks ago, you weren't ready for this information. But he was pushing me for it. So my best coaching thing is I got to hold people back.

Yes, I agree with that.

I'm not training you that hard. I'm not giving you this information. Otherwise you're going to fail and then I'm going to look bad. And I'm not looking bad for you or anyone else. So listen to what I'm telling you.

I like that. We're totally aligned with that. So, okay, so mindset, meals, movement. What's your philosophy on movement?

So if you move more today than you did yesterday, your human body will adapt and respond, period. But you have to move in different ways. That is what exercise is. I always use this analogy. I love my UPS driver. He is this tall, good looking guy. His name's Chris. I always put him on my stories. All the ladies love him. He's got a great personality. But when Chris comes up my driveway and he always parks at the end because I got a long driveway and he loves to walk up it to get his exercises. He's a jiu jitsu guy. I wrestled in high school, all that. But if Chris always carries a box on his right shoulder and he comes to me and says, clark, I want to get in better shape. And I said, well, you got to move more. Well, you don't understand. I carry boxes up and down driveways all day long. I know, but you put them on your right shoulder, your body has adapted to that and it knows on your right shoulder, here's how much we can change your program. Yeah, your body's gonna change. So movement is that simple. So again, if one of your ladies or one of my men come to me and go, well, this is all you have me doing. Yep.

Yeah.

Explanation why? I can tell you because you told me you haven't worked out in 10 years. I had a guy push me the other day, and I let him. He text me yesterday, Clark, I could barely get out of bed. My abs hurt so hard. I said, did you learn your lesson? I did it on purpose. And I had him do two sets of ab rollouts on his knees. Destroyed him.

Wow. Yeah. And that's the other thing I tell. I tell women, and you probably have these with men, too. Like, one of the two areas I really want women focusing on, especially women, is core and glutes. Because so many women are super underactive in their glutes. They start getting the flat. But what they'll describe it as, but they also start getting a lot of lower back pain and hip pain, and a lot of that is underactive glutes. So. And then same with your core. If your core is not strong, you're going to be unfunctional and feel at other areas. So a lot of times I watch, especially in the aging population, and we're in that aging population, people are talking about pain all the time. Like, pain, I can't work out. Pain, pain, pain. Well, they're stuck in this negative pain cycle where they could break through that if they focus on their core and their glutes first, they're going to start feeling strong again, and then they can take on everything else. So I'm wondering, in training and what you teach, do you have some fundamental things that you want men to focus on first and work on, or is it everything?

I. I agree with you, what you just said, because all human movement originates from the core. So if your core is not strong, not ripped right. Strong and capable of putting a squat bar on your back, you're never going to be able to hold that weight up if you don't have a strong core. Exactly. So when I'm coaching my guys, I always tell them, think of your core as stacks of bricks that are put together and holding you top. And, like, that's your foundation. So this is the visual that I try and give them. But with regards to specific exercise, what I do is I just take a look at what they're doing, and then I'll adjust accordingly. And what I really love doing with guys that come to me who've been inactive is giving them a full body circuit training workout twice a week to start. You know, work your whole body. And I shot a video in the gym of the machines that are lined up, which most people don't know why they're lined up the way they are. And they're lined up in a specific sequence if they know what they're doing. Because that's the way you should train your body in a circuit. So if I show them very specifically the rep range, how to do it, how to go through a circuit, you know, first two weeks you're doing, from two to four weeks you're doing two. From four to six weeks you're doing three. You might go around three times. Three times here, three times here. You might decrease your rest between sets. There's a million ways that you could use that circuit in a gym. And most people don't use it the way it was set up.

It's true. They don't at all. Yeah, that's really good. Okay, so you and I love, I love your line. If you move more today than you did. Yeah. Than you did yesterday, your body will progress. That's so I feel like everyone should put that on their wall or on their arm or wherever to remember that. Because a little bit more each day is going to make your body progress. So, okay, so what's your next step? You said mindset, meals, movement. And then what were the next two?

Community.

Community, integrity. Okay, let's talk about those. So talk about community.

Community is vital. I mean, if we look at Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, the church, na, aa, they all are community driven organizations where people are seeking a result whether they want to get spiritually stronger, whether they want to stay off drugs, whether they want to lose weight. It is all based around community and within those communities. Something that I have done, and it is what every coach needs to do, is we want our communities to grow. But a large community is no good. Like our United States was never meant to be as big as it is. It was meant to be in small communities. The church was never meant to be a gigantic mega church. It started in small home groups. So what I do is I break my guys out into what I refer to as huddles. I put 11 guys in a group and I put one guy as the quarterback and they hold each other accountable. So now my large group is becoming a small group. And then in that group, when the new guy comes in, after he's been around for a while, we break them out and he starts another group for the new guys to come into the group. And when I tell my guys, come to me one day, you are going to be a fitness coach, they're like, what? You see me? You kidding me? Trust Me, I have more that have come to me and said, I cannot believe that I'm actually helping and coaching men. Because coaching doesn't mean you need to know every bone in the human body and every muscle and every connected, you know, insertion point and all that. No, it means you need to love people and want to help them get a result.

I love that, too, because when you're teaching other people, you're learning, too. So it's just another huge benefit to them stepping into that role. It just makes them want to learn even more and be more committed and more accountable to it.

My guys are my coaches that I hire. So I'm now in a place where I need to hire coaches. And we have a guy that's been in my program for a couple of years. He was a high school and college wrestler. He. He was so shy on my first zoom call. Never forget it. Now he's on there, the first guy posting videos in the gym and. And he's ready to go. So I was talking today, we're hiring him. He's going to be a coach, he's going to make money, and he's going to be coaching men.

So great. So great. Okay. Talk about integrity. Or you said integrity is the last one.

Yes. So it used to be supplementation until I had all of my VIP coaching clients come to me and say, coach, can we switch this last one? Because supplementation is kind of like, not that big of a deal. So move that into nutrition, because it is a big deal, but not big enough to hold its own category. So I thought, okay, if I'm a man of circumspection, right? If I'm looking around my entire life trying to be a maximized man, what is it that really helps me do that? And it's being a man of integrity. So the. The guy that I was coaching today is very brand new. And I said, so what my guys do is they text me every single day in those five categories. They just send me a number on a scale of 1 to 10, that's all I get. I can show you all of them on my phone right here. So it's. They got to be at a 7 or above, and if they're below a 7, they get a YouTube video on, hey, whatever, you know, whatever coaching tip I give them. So the guy's like, well, how do I measure a 7? And I thought about this today as I was talking to him. So the integrity piece, you know, you look at your life, right? The things, I'm a great husband, I'm A great father. I'm great this, I'm great that. Don't start from the top down, start from the bottom. What do you really suck at? You know what I mean? What are you bad at? What are the areas in your life that you're struggling with? So you look at that and you measure from the bottom up, and then you give yourself a number based upon what you know you can do to improve in that area, to become a man of better integrity, which plays into all of that other stuff. It makes fitness easier, makes mindset easier, makes nutrition and meals easier, makes all of this stuff easier. If you're really living a life that is better than you might be revealing to the entire world.

Right. Makes sense. I love that integrity. So I'm also going to add integrity with that. I'm just going to say this. You might not even realize that this word's in there intentionally for this, but there's a lot of just fluff marketing out there. So there's a lot of people that teach fat loss, fitness, nutrition that they really don't have the background or the strength or they're not actually living it's. And they're just good marketers. They're just good marketers. And it's really surprisingly common. It's like, you know, it actually shocked me being in this field how few people are actually in integrity with living it and knowing it and walking through it. So it's another huge reason I relate to you and love what you teach and refer guys to you, because you really do walk that walk. And unfortunately, I think there's just a lot of people, especially in the days of social media, that they don't actually walk the walk. They don't actually have the knowledge. It's just a marketing thing.

The amount of, I don't want to say sleepless nights, but days that I've sat here and thought, what's the deal? Why? I've literally had some of these people that you know and I know reach out to me and ask me to get them in shape or ask me not to tell anybody what they look like or not reveal.

I've had them, too. I've had them, too. Yeah.

I've sat in Masterminds and looked around the room and heard the amount of money that people are making. I'm like, and here's the biggest problem that I couldn't understand. I remember one time a marketer came to me and he said, clark, you're too far ahead of your desired customer. There's too much of a gap between you and who you're trying to attract. And I thought I don't accept that. I don't accept that there can't be somebody out there that people can aspire to be like, look like, act like whatever, not become.

Yeah.

Have that as an example. Because what I do is I understand marketing to the point where you sell them what they want, then you give them what they need.

Totally.

That's what I do. But I'll never ever lie to anyone or do anything that isn't integrity based on. And that includes doing everything myself. One of my best reels that I've ever done is I said if I ask you to get on the treadmill for two hours, I've been on the treadmill for two hours. If I ask you to eat this way, I've eaten that way. If I ask you to do this, I've done that many, many, many times.

Yes. And the other side of integrity is I will tell the client listening or the person that's listening that wants to step into weight loss or getting healthier, being in their best shape. How are they out of integrity of themselves? Because a lot of people say they want to be a great parent, for example. And how great of a parent are you if you are not taking care of your health? I'm just going to put it out there because I mean my dad died at age 49 because he would have said he was a great parent but he did not put his health first. So how great of a parent dies at age 49? That's all. So just something to think about. I mean, obviously there's accidents and things that can be out of our control. He died of heart disease. So just I think being in integrity with yourself is a big part of programs too going, can I if I am going to be congruent where I'm going to be a top leader or great in my business, you've got to have gut, focus and energy if you're going to be a good parent. You've got to be healthy. All of those things I think fall into integrity.

I love what Dr. Phil says. He says the most influential person in your life is the same sex parent. So here's something I, it's, it's. Man, I get emotional when I think about this. So I go to the beach a lot with my son and my son's a great athlete, he's quarterback. And there's nothing that I love more that when he and I are out there on the beach that a young kid his age will walk up to me and go, oh my God, dude, what do you do? And as I'm listening to this young person asking me this question in the distance, I'm seeing my son looking, knowing that regardless of whether or not he says it to me, that he feels proud that it's his dad that those kids are talking.

Yes, yes, that's true. Yeah. No, that's amazing. I love that. It's so good. Do you ever think it's too late for guys to get in shape?

Never, ever, ever, never. Please don't buy into that. Guys, girls, anyone? It's never too late. Because here's the issue. This is the western culture that we live in. 50 is that age where everybody suddenly thinks for men specifically.

Yeah, women too.

The amount of times that I've heard this stupid ad, by the time you're 30, your testosterone drops 1% every year. Well, maybe that's true, but that's not the main reason. Yeah, so many other reasons that that becomes an issue. That's why I do my five principles. But then the number 50 is, well, if I'm 50, I shouldn't be out on the football field in the rain, jumping fences, throwing footballs in the trash cans with my shirt off in a camera going, who told, who said that? Yeah, who said exactly where I'm going? If that's what you're telling me, I shouldn't do. You know exactly where I'm going? Do that.

So good. So good. This is so helpful. Anything else that we should add? Like what's, what else? What other things do you want people to know about aging well and fat loss as we age, especially.

So I was again, one of my guys I was talking to and I said, the best thing that I can provide for you and the best thing that you can provide for anyone that you work is work with is belief. We don't believe that it's possible. That's really the truth. Even if you spend money on a program, if there's any smidgen that it's not going to work, then you don't believe enough that it will work. If you come into a program believing that it will work, it's going to work. Let me say this. I used to travel around with Jack o'. Lane. He and I had the same contract with a company called Fitness Age. And what we did was test. While Jack stood there and was. Jack and I would test people. Greatest fitness mentor in the world. So we would test people in the four universally accepted areas of fitness. Flexibility, sit and reach. Strength, push ups and sit ups. Body composition. And cardiovascular. So we would have them do these series of tests and then they would get their fitness age compared to their chronological age. The average American tested 15 years above the chronological age.

Wow.

So when I was talking to one of my clients the other day and giving that example, it hit me. I said, you know what do you believe? Like if you can't touch your toe right now, you are four inches fast. Do you believe that if we worked on touching your toes, just sitting there and reaching out towards them in 30 days you could improve this much and get that much closer? I believe that. Ok, check. Do you believe that if we test you doing push ups right now and you can only do five, do you believe that in 30 days, if we do push ups every day, sit and reach and touch our toes and that you can improve your pushup? Yeah, I think I can do a couple more check down the line. Check, check. So now you have agreed with me that you can improve your flexibility, you can improve your strength, you can improve your cardiovascular, and you can improve your body composition. What else is left on the list to looking and feeling better? Nothing. Nothing. So it is believing that it is possible in doing it long enough until it happens?

Yeah.

Is it that? Is it? There's nothing else, man.

So good. So good. Oh, wow. This is fascinating today. And I love, I love what you said, but I also love, I didn't even know because we never had this conversation for how aligned we are with a lot of this. And it's interesting that we both go in that same order. You know, mine's not all the steps, mine's decide, vision, action, but it really follows that same thing. It's like that mindset piece. What's your decision? What are you going to believe is possible for yourself? And then what, what's your vision? And then the actions, the nutrition and the workouts. And so we had a lot of similarities to it. So what I'm taking away is honestly, there's not that much difference between men and women with how we're aging. There's not that much difference. It's what we've bought into as a society. And just like you said, we're talking and commiserating about menopause and hormones. Men have those things too. They're just not talking, commiserating about it. They're just calling it the dad bottom. Moving on. Right. So. So I'm hearing a lot of the same things. So this is, this is pretty cool. So I think for women, for you listening, everything he said applies to you too. It pretty it's pretty good. And for those guys that have been listening to what you're doing, play this for them so they can hear exactly what they should be doing. Clark, if people want to work with you, I know you only work with men. Just so you know, he works with men. If you want to work with Clark, where do they go? How do they apply? How do they get in touch with you?

So it's maximized, man. Elite.com is the website. I believe it's maximizeman elite.com. they go in there and there's a little video that I explain who it is that I want to work with. Because the truth is, I'm not for everybody and everybody's not for me, and that's okay. I want people to find help. So if you watch that video and you're like, okay, I like this guy, or if you have some connection right now, I would encourage you to just take action doing that. And that's one of your principles right there. People, you talked about this the other day, and I was like, yep, yeah, taking action.

Yeah, taking action.

I, you know, people, it's like not just taking action, but taking immediate action. You have to do it right now. So it's maximize manually.com, or if that for whatever reason, I'm saying the wrong website, just email me@Clarklark Bartram.com and we'll get a form out to you that you fill out and I'll put you on the phone with one of my coaches. We have a long conversation because it needs to be more than just filling online and hitting purchase now.

And he's also on Instagram. What's your Instagram, Clark? So they can follow you there.

And Clark Bartram, just clar K B a R T R a M. Perfect. Yeah.

You can also message.

I'm having fun with that. And I can't wait to post video today.

He creates some great content. Little tidbits, little tips, little things that will apply for both you men and women. So follow him there, message him. If you've got a husband, a boyfriend, a brother, somebody that that could benefit, definitely turn them on to Clark's content. Thank you so much for being here. Today's was super helpful.

Oh, I appreciate it very much. And I'll come back anytime. As soon as I do my podcast, I gotta bring you on.

So I love it. I love it.