The Fourth Quarter Podcast
Living the last quarter of your life with intention around health, fitness, nutrition and joy! Learning from others and tuning in to hear live one on one coaching that educates, inspires and motivates you to move!
The Fourth Quarter Podcast
EP028: The August Reset; Stop Negotiating With Comfort
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Traffic that makes you want to scream, a calendar packed with obligations, a body that does not always cooperate, and a brain that keeps “negotiating with comfort” even when you know better. That is the real backdrop of healthy aging, and it is exactly what we talk about today as Doug and Ted go host-to-host and get honest about what it takes to reset in the fourth quarter of life.
We start with a deceptively simple mindset shift: “it can always be worse.” Then we put it to work with a story about gridlock outside San Francisco, where frustration becomes a chance to practice calm, breathing, and perspective. Doug shares a mental refresh from backpacking in Desolation Wilderness, including the benefit of a phone detox, the beauty of slowing down, and the reality of managing foot issues while still showing up for the life he is building.
From there we get practical with an August reset plan you can adapt to your own season: signing up for events to create momentum, monthly resolutions that keep you from drifting, and the fundamentals we keep hearing from experts and guests alike sleep, protein, hydration, movement, and strength. Ted lays out his targets (miles on the bike, push-ups, steps, intermittent fasting, and daily balance practice) while we emphasize realistic goals, accountability, and recalibration when life changes.
If you want a healthier routine without the all-or-nothing mindset, hit play, then subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.
Welcome And Real Talk
SPEAKER_01Wake up, wake up, and listen up. Welcome to the Fourth Quarter Podcast with your hosts, Doug Telmich and Ted and Mia. Tune in as we dive into living your best life in the fourth quarter of your life. Hear from health and lifestyle experts, inspirational stories, learn simple steps to keep you motivated or to help get you started. Finally, join us as we coach others live on air who want to begin a healthy lifestyle or just might be stuck and need a breakthrough. Remember, it's never too late to decide to be great. Momentum keeps you motivated, so take a deep breath, lean in, and let's go. Hey, welcome back to the fourth quarter podcast with Doug and Ted. Speaking of Doug and Ted, today's episode is going to be with Doug and Ted. So buckle up. But we have some, you know what I love about these kind of episodes, Ted? This is where you and I get to pull the veil back, you know, look behind the curtain and see what's really going on. As sometimes as host of a podcast, people might think we have it all together, all figured it out and everything like that. And they get to hear what's really going on.
It Can Always Be Worse
SPEAKER_01And so, but before we jump into that, Ted, before we jump into that, what was I gonna say? Nick, yes, Nick, last week's episode, Nick positive. Great listen. He's just got such a great perspective on life. You know, it can it can always be worse, right? That's the question. It can always be worse, or or the statement or the comment. And and he's right, you know, when you it seems like a simple sentence, but if you actually, I'm gonna challenge listeners, if you're listening to this, I want you to spend just one day, one day with that statement when you're feeling frustrated or you're struggling or you got a challenge in front of you, say it can always be worse, and see what that does mentally and emotionally and even physically to your state of being. You know, what how you move next and what you think of next, and uh and what happens.
Traffic As A Mindset Practice
SPEAKER_02You know, that that's really a great comment, and it goes back to just how you look at things, and just a great example is last week my daughter went to a Giants game. Uh it was a company company deal, and she called us because we were watching my granddaughter, and she called and said, I've been on the I I left the game, I've been on the road for almost an hour, haven't gotten to the bridge yet. And if anybody knows San Francisco, yeah, that's what two miles, maybe not even that. No, not even two miles. She said, My my GPS says, you know, I'm going to be, you know, another hour and 15 minutes before I I get home. And she goes, Man, this just driving me crazy. And I said, you know, that's you you can see it that way, or take the time and relax a little bit. You know, you're raising two young daughters, you've got a four-month-old. There's a lot going on. I said, take this time to just have it to yourself and just relax. And instead of seeing this as a negative, see it as a positive that you have this time that you don't have someone, you know, asking you for something. And so it's it's all a matter of how you take this in, and you know, you can make it a stressful time or you can make it a relaxing time. You could turn around, and I said, the baby's fine, every everybody's fine. Just take a breath and enjoy the quiet, put on some music, do whatever, and also at the same time appreciate the fact that you're not doing this on a daily basis, that you don't have to commute for your job.
SPEAKER_01There it is, right there.
SPEAKER_02You know, some people are, some people are, some people are, and I said they do this every day, and that's that's tough. So it's just all about how you look at things, and that's just so important. Your whole perspective on things, you can you can take it as a negative or see the positive in it, or like you said, it it can always be worse, right? So, you know, I just thought that was a great example, and you know, I think she appreciated that because I think they you get in that mindset where you're you're always looking at, oh man, I you know, I gotta do this, I gotta get here, I gotta get there. And instead, you're you're kind of stuck in traffic and you just take a breath and enjoy it. Yeah, just relax.
SPEAKER_01And that, you know, Ted, it's it's easy for us to sit sit up here with a couple of microphones and on a zoom and and and say that. But when you're stuck in the moment, man, I I get it. It's frustrating and it's man, it can drive you insane. But it, like you said, it it's a great place to practice. You know, these that's a skill to be able to zen out in the middle of traffic, that is a skill that you have to practice and practice and practice. And sometimes you get an hour and a half to get onto a bridge to practice, and you know, but that and you can use that to say, okay, how many times? And I could I could just see me, you know, going in and out of Zen to frustration, Zen to frustration, like, oh mate, let me find an alternate route. And I'm a city boy, you know, I grew up, I'm a native San Franciscan, so I know all the little shortcuts and on ramps that nobody else knows about. And so, but even those are getting crowded nowadays. But it's it's it's a tough, it's a tough gig, but great advice to give and a great perspective. A reframing is what it is, right? Like it's a reframe what where you're at, what you're doing. And so good call, brother. Good
Reset With Rides And Goals
SPEAKER_01call. So, what what's going on, Ted?
SPEAKER_02Well, that's it's funny. You just said reframe. This is gonna be the re uh episode. You know, we we talked about a buddy of mine called me or texted me a few weeks ago, guy that I ride bikes with a lot, and he just had his second knee replacement a couple months ago, three months ago. He's getting back on his bike, and he said, Why don't we do this ride in Cloverdale in October that we've done in the past? So it gave us something to look forward to, to train for, to get back on our bikes, because none of us had really been on our bikes, and so we we all signed up for it, and then a thing popped up on my Facebook feed that was a fundraiser challenge for cancer, right? And the challenge was to ride 300 miles in the month of August. Oh, wow. And I haven't ridden 300 miles in a year. Uh it's just been one of those things you go through different times that you know, I've been walking a lot, hiking some, but just having golfing a lot, which takes time. And you know, it's kind of one or the other unless you really plan it out. So I said, you know, that that's good. I'm gonna do this challenge and and get back on the bike, and so I'll be ready for October. And that just led me to start thinking about just a total reset, our first reward. Yeah. Uh you know, how are we gonna reset, refocus, refresh whatever whatever reword you want to use? And so, you know, I just thought about some things and what I've done in my health journey in in the past, just going back to last year, how after I did, you know, I focused on my birthday challenge, then afterwards kind of just slumped off a little bit, didn't you know that like that was the peak. And I didn't want to do that this year. So I figured this would be a good time to refocus. And you know, we all we all need that. Uh you know, I know you've been going through a lot. You've been very busy, you're going through a move, right? Uh you're also very involved with something you can you can talk a little bit about, but something going on at San Quentin, uh what a ministry that you're involved with. Cairo Switch Ministry, yeah, which has you coming down to the Bay Area quite a bit, which has you on the road and just is busy. And you know, sometimes we need not only a physical refresh, but a mental refresh. And I know this past weekend you you went out with some buddies, kind of refreshed mentally. So why don't you tell us a little bit about that? What you went through?
Backpacking Detox And Tough Lessons
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that that's right. We went uh backpacking for a couple nights up in Desolation Wilderness. For those of you who don't know where that's at, that's in the top in if you know where Lake Tahoe is, there's these beautiful freaking mountains all around Lake Tahoe, and that's Desolation Wilderness, and it's absolutely gorgeous. And you know what's interesting, Ted? I I started backpacking a few years ago, and I had never gone out into the backcountry like that before, and I had no idea how many lakes are up in these mountains. You know, you see these rivers running along Highway 50 that they never stop. It's like water for you know, for yeast since I was a kid. Water's been coming down those dang things. And I'm like, man, where does all this water come from? And and I now I know there are just an enormous amount of lakes out in Desolation Wilderness that are they're not small either. They're they're pretty good sized lakes. So we we hiked up to uh we had a five-mile trek from gosh, what's that lake next to uh Fallen Leaf Lake? Yeah. So we drive back to Fallen Leaf to the end of Fallen Leaf Lake Road or whatever that is, and there's a trailhead there, and then you put on your pack. Our packs were a little heavy because we like to cart in a few extra little beverages to enjoy, enjoy after the hike. So we had we each had about like a 45-pound pack, and we had a five-mile hike up, and it man, let me tell you, it was up, up, up, up. So you just take your time and hike up, and then we were fortunate enough to get a cool campsite right alongside this one lake called Lake Susie or Susie Lake. Beautiful scenery, decent-sized lake. The views were spectacular, and I'll post some of those pictures later on on social media. I've just been out of there's no cell service up there, so I didn't post anything. Plus, I just wanted to kind of detox from the phone and and all that stuff, anyways. But it was good, you know. Although it was a it was a great space sitting up there along next to the lake in the evening, watching the moon rise. It was just absolutely spectacular, seeing all the stars. You know, when you're out that far out in the wilderness, there's no ex external lights from the cities or or anything like that. So the sky is just amazing. It is just you feel like you're in the stars. And you know, the the reset was great mentally, just to kind of detox from technology, having great conversations with a couple buddies, and laugh, man, we laughed our butts off. And but I tell you, the the physical part was tough. You know, I I am I'm dealing with foot issues and they're they're progressing, they're getting better. You know, it's it's slowly but surely, and I gotta be certain to make sure that I'm not pushing things like that too often because I did feel you know that my feet were acting up again, and you know, I I felt like I was taking a few steps forward, but after this weekend, I felt like I'm might have taken a few steps back and just not re-injured but re-aggravated some an old injury I'm trying to get fixed up.
Ministry, Family Duties, And Recalibration
SPEAKER_01But so but I realized sitting up there in the mountains that you know I've got so much going on. You're right. I've got this prison ministry going on. It's called Kairos Prison Ministry. We go in and we bring the love of Jesus to people who otherwise might just have been cast aside and set aside for for, you know, some of them for terrible crimes and and and whatnot, you know. And again, I'm not here to convert anyone or impose my faith on anyone, but my belief is, you know, I want to be as close to, you know, to treat people like Jesus would as I can. And I fall short of that every day, but you know, I I show up and do things like this to kind of remind me and help me practice what that's like. And showing up into a prison to bring the love of Jesus and uh, you know, it there, man, that's a that's a mental challenge. You know, there's people in there who've committed violent crimes and people who aren't remorseful and and and all that other stuff. And you know, you go in and you got to prepare. And it's a it's a very emotional mental process just to prepare to go in and serve for three days. And so, like you said, this this summer has been packed with team meetings. I live about three hours away from Burlingame where most of the meetings are happening. And so, you know, when I go down for the weekend for a meeting, it's it's a weekend event for me. Plus, I plus I hang out uh halfway, well, a little more than halfway down is my two beautiful granddaughters, Ella and Emmy. And so, of course, I'm gonna stop by and hang out with them. And I love, I mean, gosh, that has been probably one of the biggest gifts of being of saying yes to this prison ministry, is I've spent a ton of time with those kids and it's been awesome. It's great. But as you know, Ted, hanging out with grandkids, man, you got to be on. The on-switch has to be on. There is that the grandkids don't know that there's an off switch, you know? Right. And I'm blessed. They're they're very, they're great, great little girls, and they they, you know, when you when I tell them papa's a little tired or whatever like that, which is rare, which is very rare. I'm usually running them, running circles around them, but you know, but they're good, they're kind to me. They they help me rest and all that stuff when I need it. And then, like you said, I've got the move going on. I'm moving, I've got a home in Folsom, plus I'm staying here with my dad in a town called Somerset, which is about 40, 45 minute drive. And so, you know, moving stuff to Folsom, not living there permanently yet, because I still want to honor my personal responsibility and duty and obligation to my dad. I mean, he's in a place in this life right now where, you know, he's he's pretty independent, but you know, he's at that age where he's he's forgetting stuff and needs reminders for stuff. And, you know, when he goes grocery shopping, I'm the one unloading the gross the groceries from the car, you know, because it I can see it's it's very, very effortful for him. And there are some things that when we pick up dog food, that that's my that's my job. Mowing the lawn around here and and you know, doing stuff. He he stays involved, and I help him stay involved because as we know, motion is lotion, as Han said, right? And movement, and movement is medicine. And so, you know, especially as we age, man, you got to keep on moving. And so, you know, we we I stay active with that, just you know, keeping him moving and and conversations and reading books with him and going to church with him and all that stuff. And but I need I think August is a great time. I'm glad you brought up this topic about resetting, refocusing, reframing, whatever it's gonna be. Because what I need to do is recalibrate. You know, I need to recalibrate, and I and I have to do all those other RE words so that I can recalibrate, so I can adjust and adapt because I feel like I'm still in the middle of it all. Right. There's so many I you walk into my room right now where I've moved stuff from a small studio cottage into a small bedroom now, and I got stuff in Folsom and stuff up here, and it's there's just it's like a time bomb went off. Yeah. And uh, you know, I'm trying to have a social life in between, not too much, and trying to honor my commitments to the ministry as well. And so it's hard to get things organized. But this week, after this interview, I'm gonna, you know, settle down and refocus, reframe, recalibrate, and and then adapt and adjust to what's in front of me. But uh, definitely need this season. I will say this, Ted. I will say this. Despite the busyness going on in my life and feeling like I, you know, I'm can't come up for air sometimes mentally and even emotionally, I have for so long now have a nutrition routine that it's been very consistent, that by the grace of God, and I thank God, is that I, you know, my physical health is is good enough that I can throw a 45-pound pack on at the spur of the moment and say we're going backpacking for three days. Right. And enjoy that, you know. So there, you know, to I'm not everything is is tough and and bad and all that stuff. So I do want to honor the my spirit a little bit and say, good job, Doug, for you know, just keeping that nutrition dialed in and and not that I eat or or you know perfectly every time, but you know, I would say 90, 95% of the time, it's all habit. And then you know I give myself five to ten percent of the time to just you know enjoy whatever I want to enjoy, and I do, and it's it's a great balance in life.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's it's so important, and and just having that weekend just to decompress and get away. And probably the best thing was not having self-service, just it was shutting it down and and being able to enjoy nature, and you know, and you you have to find that wherever it is. Some people aren't able to go away for three days mountain out in the mountains, but you you know, sometimes you just need to take that time, and whether it's sitting with your family and watching a movie on a Saturday night and just putting the phones away and just enjoying it or playing the game or going for a walk, whatever, whatever it is, you've got to find that time either with others or by yourself to just decompress and and let everything flow away from you and just just appreciate that time, even if it's being stuck in traffic, right? Like we said, you know, you just need to understand what those times are and and take advantage of them.
SPEAKER_01Right. It's another moment, uh, the whole traffic thing as well is just reminds me of a think a quote, either I or Nick said something, and I've said it a thousand times before, is is life happening to you or is it happening for you? So you could be in stuck in traffic saying, Is this happening to me or is it happening for me? And when you see see the for me, it's like you said, Hey, I don't have any kids barking at me, I don't have to be anywhere, my kids are in a safe place, it's all good. Let me throw in a podcast or let me throw on some meditation music and you know, let me daydream for a minute. My man, how how often do we not get to do that because we're so busy, right? Right, right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, it's just you just need those times in your life at any stage of your life. I mean, of course, times are a lot busier when you're working and raising kids and have a family and spouse, and you know, things are going a million different directions. You know, it's very important. But even now in our fourth quarter, there are still times when it gets hectic. You have different issues that that arise, you know, whether it's dealing with health issues with yourself or with family members or parent, whatever it may be. You just need to remember to take that time and slow down a little bit.
Sign Up To Create Momentum
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Hey Ted, I want to, you know, I think it's been a while. And and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's been a while since you actually signed up for an event, like you did for your do you're doing the ASTI. That's the one in Cloverdale, right? Right. Yeah. And so it I remember early on you used signing up for events as a way or or committing to a uh challenge as a way to just stay in shape. And that's part of one, one of the biggest reasons your birthday challenge is exists because it's an annual thing that it's on the you know front of mine or back of mine all year long. Like what's coming up? Am I ready for it? And and that's why you're always raising the stakes. And so you're signing, and and I love that philosophy or that mindset, that way of thinking is signing up. Man, if if you're listening to this and you're struggling and you have no idea how you're gonna get out of it or that you can even do it, man. I'm telling you, the one thing that is gonna help create a just to get that boulder moving with a little momentum is commit to something by signing. Sign up for if it, I don't care if it's a 5K, you know. That's that I remember my first 5k. That was a huge thing for me. It was huge, you know. I've run since then, I've run marathons and and half marathons and and uh and hike and walked with Ted for 20 freaking miles a couple years in a row. And you know, but I remember signing up for my first 5k and then and 10k. And you know, it's just I look back now, I'm like, wow, you know, there was a time when I was I wouldn't that I was fighting even signing up for something. But there's some there's something about it that internally it starts moving things in your mind and your body. So tell me about that, Ted. What do you got to show?
SPEAKER_02No, that it actually you're exactly. I mean, just when Jeff reached out and said, let's let's do the Ostie this year, I, you know, I didn't hesitate. I texted right back, said, I'm in. And you just have a mindset shift when you've got that on the calendar. And it it doesn't necessarily even have to be an event. Just having something on the calendar to look forward to mentally is just so important. You know, whether it's going away, going on a trip, going away for a weekend, whatever it may be. But in this case, signing up for an event just shifted everything. I mean, I probably would have looked at that challenge, the cancer challenge for August, the 300 miles, and just kind of blown that off. But instead, I said, Well, this I can use this as a springboard to get ready for the Aussie. You know, and it's it's great. It would be fun to get guys I ride with back together. We haven't ridden, everybody's kind of gone different directions in the last year, so it'll be fun to get get them back together and just hang out with them. But you know, we actually did this a couple of years ago. The four of us signed up for the tour to Palm Springs. Okay. And I love Palm Springs, but it's not not the prettiest ride I've ever done. Yeah. But it's in February. And I I told these guys, I said, let's sign up for this because this will force us to ride through the winter months, through the holidays, the the times where you normally just put the bike away. Yeah. And it'll keep us in shape so that come February, you know, we'll be in we'll be in decent shape and then we'll just keep keep going. You know, which one of your favorite sayings? Oh, I stay, I stay ready, so I ain't got to get ready. That's it. That's it. So, you know, I I think that's that's part of it rather than the up and down, just try and keep that steady, steady line or at least a good baseline.
SPEAKER_01Right.
Stop Negotiating With Comfort
SPEAKER_01No, I love that. I love that. So, Ted, tell me a little bit about uh we finished your birthday challenge a few weeks ago. It's been a few weeks by now, and you know what what's going on? How are you feeling physically and and you know, mentally? Like where are you at? Where's where's Ted at right now? You got this reset month coming. What's going on with you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I took a couple of weeks off, didn't do a single push-up after the chat. It's been a couple of weeks and wasn't quite sure how I was gonna feel, but you know, I started August 1st, and I said, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna commit to at least this month. And you know, just jumping back a little, we've been doing this podcast. I think we started sometime in January, and we've had a lot of guests on, and I've learned a lot. And one of them, Jerry Blight, if you remember having him on. Oh, yeah, Jerry. One of the things that that he mentioned was I think he called it because you have New Year's resolutions that are usually gone by first or second.
SPEAKER_01Seven days, seven days, seven or nine days.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and he had a unique idea, it was a a monthly resolution, yes, where that's right, every month you you set new goals for yourself, and I like that. I you know, and I I don't necessarily do that, I try and stay with things, but you drop off at times, and so I like that. And Ann Affinito, who was on, is a personal trainer, and I follow her online, and she does things with with her followers and their monthly challenges, right? And you know, I think she did push-ups one month, she's done squats, she's various things, and I like that, you know, every month just just resetting and doing something, it just you continues to build on things. So, you know, I got out there, I didn't know didn't know how I was going to react physically, you know, after taking a couple of weeks off, right? Uh got a little fluffy around the midsection, uh maybe some of my nutrition, and was I was ready, ready for it just to to reset and refocus. And I have, and you you know me, uh I had to spend two hours putting together my spreadsheet, it's all color-coded and uh all my stuff, and you know, I'm in here throughout the day just updating stuff, and it's just kind of fun, but it's it's what works for me, right? You know, and that that's the thing you have to find out is is what works for you as you know a person to keep your health and and what's gonna keep you motivated, right? And it's different for every person. You know, one of the things that that struck me, I saw a quote the other day, and this just kind of fit, and it said, You already know what to do, you're just negotiating with comfort. Oh, that's a good one. It it really is, and negotiating with comfort. Yeah, I mean, we all know what to do, we all know right how to lose weight, we all know how to get in shape, but we're just constantly negotiating with ourselves. You know, I'll start on Monday, I'll start, you know, next month, I'll start that. You know, it's it's always that how much discomfort do I want to put myself through? I I love that. So, you know, I figured it was time to stop negotiating and just just get back to it.
SPEAKER_01So are you you're you saying you've been negotiating with comfort? Is that what is that what I'm hearing? That Ted Ania was negotiating with comfort.
SPEAKER_02Oh, absolutely. I think everybody does, yeah. Uh you know, it's uh you know, it's negotiating with having that scoop of ice cream or right the cookie or getting out and getting on your bike, right? Whatever it is, you know, you're you're negotiating with comfort all the time, and it's just a matter of who's gonna win, I guess.
SPEAKER_01Right, which which wolf are you feeding?
SPEAKER_02Exactly.
SPEAKER_01The one that likes ice cream or the one that likes uh you know health and fitness.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you know, I did something yesterday which I very rarely do, and I was out, went out on a long walk, and I I put in I listened to one of our podcasts, I think our second podcast. Wow, just to just to see what we were saying and whether we were living what we were saying. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if I want to hear this, Ted.
SPEAKER_02No, it was just it was it was interesting, and I think we we've done a pretty good job, but it gave me a chance to kind of go back in hindsight and just say, you know, what have we learned?
The Simple Health Fundamentals]
SPEAKER_02You know, we've had some some really good guests on oh yeah, and they've been experts in different fields, but it's funny the themes have run through pretty consistently, right? Uh you know, how important sleep is one of the most important things, protein in our diets, yes, water. I mean, I I think and movement.
SPEAKER_01Movement.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I think those are probably the four that have gone through doesn't matter what they're doing, whether they're you know, someone in physical therapy like Hans, Ann Affinito, Jerry Blight. You know, we we've had Patty Moon was on the nutritionist, and you know, that same thing goes through all of them. Is you know, one of the things that that really struck me, and I was talking to somebody last week about it, was Ann mentioned that one of the issues she sees with well, she deals a lot with women, mainly with with women that are struggling with their weight, is that they tend to, if they put on a couple pounds, first thing they do is eat less. Right. And she said, you know, her focus is eating more, but eating the right things, eating the protein, right to support your body versus starving your body, exactly, you know, and so you know, I've kind of looked at all of these things. What what people are saying, I've really in August, in this reset, have really focused on getting to bed earlier, right?
SPEAKER_01That's that's a huge one.
SPEAKER_02It is that is huge. The thing that I'm having a the biggest problem with is I sleep the same amount of time every night. So if I go to bed half an hour earlier, I just get up a half an hour earlier. Oh I'm working, I'm trying to extend the time that I'm getting that letting my body readjust and get the get the rest that it needs. And so I'm doing a better job of getting to bed earlier, and now I just need to do a better job of staying in bed a little bit longer and getting a little bit more sleep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's tough. I mean, getting to bed earlier is a that's something you can do, but I don't know if you can how do you adjust waking up? I mean, if your body's gonna wake up at a certain time, you just know, you know, so I that that's a tough one. I you know, that if you can figure that out, let me know because I do the same thing. I'll I'll go to bed earlier, but then I'm up at 4 a.m. Like, okay, yeah, now what? Yeah, so yeah, I mean I get some extra reading and stuff in like that, but hey, I wanted to add one more thing that you said because you were talking about movement and protein, and I think we said, I don't know if you said muscle, but muscle is important. But mindset, I think mindset is is probably foundation to all those things you mentioned, you know. That that's the underlying thread of what all our guests have talked about. And it's not a lot of mechanics or components, you know, they're simple things. You know, eat your protein, movement is medicine, or motion is lotion, as Han says. What else did you say?
SPEAKER_02Protein, I said that muscle protein, movement, sleep, and leap. Yes, and staying hydrated, staying, yes, yes, especially with this heat wave that we're going through right now, it's just so important. Yeah, you know, and and we've kind of reached out to the people we're coaching, and they've done a really good job of getting consistent with their movement, right? You know, I've been real happy with what they've accomplished, and and you know, we challenge them to kind of reset and build on what they have been doing and push themselves a little bit, right? You know, it's it's easy to to start doing it and get comfortable. And one of the things that I noticed is that I just got in the habit of walking, which isn't a bad thing, right? But it it's really all I've been doing, a little hiking in there, but man, getting back on my bike, it's just such a different exercise, works different muscles, right? You know, and I've just noticed that my resting heart rate has already started dropping in the last week or so. It's great with all the apps you have on your phone now, how you can track different things, and yeah, it's it's interesting. So I think it's it's important to do that. One of the other things that I I put into my August reset because we've been talking
Balance Training And Starting Small
SPEAKER_02about it. Hans mentioned it when we when he was on, is balance. Yes, and oh my goodness, mine is so bad. What are you doing? I started what's that? What are you doing? What are you gonna do to in uh better your what I started doing is just I I saw a video online that is going to be down the roadways, you know, doing some things, but I I'm doing you know, the most basic thing is I'm standing on my right foot, lifting my left foot up and trying to stand there for 30 seconds. And okay, I've done it now three days. I think I've noticed a difference. Have you? And you said your balance was bad though, huh? When you started, oh my goodness. I mean, really, I yeah, I mean, I I couldn't do it. I I could not stand there for 30 seconds with just lifting one foot off the ground. Wow, I gotta try and I go back and forth, and you know, you're supposed to try and stay still, and I've done a better job in three days of staying still and you know, not not falling over, not swinging my arms crazy and my legs just to try and try and stay up. But yeah, uh, you know, I think I I set it up to where I was going to do that for I want to say for 30 seconds for a couple weeks, and then just try and push it up to 45 seconds for another week, and then try and get it to 60 seconds and see if I could do that. And once I'm able to do that, then I can add things onto it. And it's you know, it's it's kind of what we've been talking about on this podcast from day one is just start. Yes, you know, no matter what it is, it can be the smallest thing. Find something that you can do, and you know, whether it's walking down the street to a mailbox, and that's as far as you can walk, and then trying to walk to the next mailbox, and then the next one, and just what whatever it is, just keep trying to build on that. But you you've got to start somewhere, and you know, I feel here with my balance, I'm starting at zero and trying to trying to build from there, and it'll be interesting to see by the end of the month where where that stands if I continue to do it consistently every day. I mean, you think about it, and 30 seconds on each foot, you know, a little break in between 10 seconds, and it's so it's basically two minutes of my time, right? Is helping me improve my balance.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. And and what's going to be amazing, Ted, is you know, just in a week when we get back on here, you know, you have to report in on the the improvements every week because I want it, I want I think this is a great activity to see some real-time improvements really fast. And not that we're not that we're aiming for fast, but I think this particular movement will produce somewhat fast results. Like you're gonna be up to a minute before you know it. If you're doing it every day, like you say, and a couple sets, I it's it's gonna be amazing at what what you can accomplish. You know, like you said, starting small, find some even if you're someone who's sitting on the couch and the only time you get up to is to go to the bathroom. Well, then, you know, you can even start from there and get up at one commercial and then get up at two commercials, you know, just get up off the couch, just start somewhere. It it doesn't have to be some grandiose, like I said, sign up for something. Sometimes you're just signing up to stand up more, you know, just to get up off the couch and start moving.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, but it's got to start there's so many things, you know. You can start by, like you said, at a commercial stand-up, even if you have to use your arms to get up, yeah, with the goal to be able to stand up without using your arms. Yep, you know, and that's balance and that's leg strength and core strength will will build. But anybody, you know, there there are people with some physical ailments, and we we can appreciate that, but if you're able, do whatever you can, right? It it doesn't take much, just do something, right? And that that seems to be the the theme throughout all of the guests that we've had on here is just just move, just do something. Just move. And uh you you'll be amazed at not only are you feel feeling better physically, but you're feeling better mentally, and that's probably more important, especially in in the fourth quarter. Yeah, it's just being able to do something and just just having that on top of mind that I can get up and I'm I'm working towards something, right?
SPEAKER_01I love that where and that's and going back to the whole point of sign up for something or commit to a challenge, and don't commit, you know, solo commit with somebody, commit with the friend, man, because that that just increases the accountability, accountability, and the desire to really like, man, I can't, I can't, because we'll I have learned working with people that we will do more for others than we will for ourselves. So if you have a workout partner or a walking partner, whatever it is, there's gonna be so many days you don't want to do what you want to do, and then your little buddy is gonna say, Okay, I'm ready, it's 7 a.m.
SPEAKER_02and you're like, uh, and then but you go and you get it done, and you know, so make that that's you know, and what you just said, man, I that just hit for me is we we sometimes do more for others than we do for ourselves, and you know, we can get into that where you're taking care of someone, or right, you know, you just you you put yourself, you don't make yourself the priority, right? And and especially now at this time, you want to make yourself the priority because if you don't, you might not be around to help the other person, right? So it's critical that you know you have to be a little bit selfish at times, and yeah, you know, take care of yourself and take care of your health and and whatever you're doing. But yeah, that's a that's a pretty powerful statement. Yeah, uh, we do more or uh we will do more for others for ourselves. I've never really heard it put that way, but I like that.
SPEAKER_01Well, there you go.
August Commitments And Realistic Targets
SPEAKER_01There you go. So, Ted, real quick, let's just to help hold you accountable with our listeners so they can all coach you as well. Maybe they'll send in some text messages to encourage you or to hold you accountable or whatever. What just recap real quick, what what's your commitment for August? And then after you after you recap, then let's let's uh let's move into our music for this week.
SPEAKER_02All right, all right. Well, the 300 miles on the bike. Okay, that's that's the first one. Back to my push-ups. I think my push-up goals I set to do 4,000 push-ups in the month. For the month, okay. Yeah, good, and and I just want to say these are for me. This is where I am at my you know, my my place. You know, we have to do what's right for right ourselves, right?
SPEAKER_01So you've been building, you've been building on this for years, so uh yeah, I get it.
SPEAKER_02But you know, I'm I'm watching the nutrition. I I got back to intermittent fasting, okay, which helps, but I've really got to focus in doing that. So I'm eating you know, an eating window between 11 in the morning till seven o'clock at night. But in doing that, I've got to really focus even more so on getting enough protein into my diet. Okay. But but what that does for me personally is it it helps it keeps me from snacking, right? Keeps me from eating too late before I go to bed, and it keeps me from snacking at night. And so, you know, that's just something that works for me. I may, if I don't feel I'm getting enough protein, I may open that window a little bit and start eating a little bit earlier so I can have some eggs or something in the morning. Yeah, that gets me that extra protein. So you know, that one's playing with a little bit. You know, my steps are always a big thing, so I want to do 450,000 steps for the month. I think that comes out to like it's under 15,000 steps, but like 14,500 steps a day. Wow. So just trying to push myself a little bit, yeah. Um the balance things, you know, and some weights and planks and things that I normally do, but that I'd fallen off of. So it's it's just that chance, you know, and the one thing I I liked about this being in August is that I think we tend to by nature say, oh, you know, summer's coming, I gotta be in shape for summer, be outside. And right, so in the springtime, we're we're working out, we're trying to get in shape. And then, you know, now we're at the tail end of summer. Heading towards fall. And I thought, well, here's a good time to again refocus and reset and get ready to go into the fall and winter months in better shape and refocus. So you're not having to get in, you know, continue that cycle of, okay, well, I've fallen off in the wintertime. Now I got New Year's resolution. And just keep it going. Build on what you've built at this point through the through the year and add to it rather than you know having to start start that cycle and repeating that cycle that we've done for years. I've done I've done for a number of years.
SPEAKER_01I love that. I love you we can use August as a springboard towards January so that the goal would be to not have to have a New Year's resolution. Right?
SPEAKER_02Exactly. That's that's the resolution.
SPEAKER_01There you go. That's it.
SPEAKER_02It's just to keep going what you've been doing and what you built on. Because you know, I'm like everyone, I can't wait for football season, so I can sit and uh and watch football games, but you know, I've got to figure out okay, now this is taking some time out of my day. I've got to get my exercise in during football season, watching football. What am I gonna do? Am I doing push-ups during timeouts? Am I you know doing planks, whatever it is, you you've got to uh do that. Or am I just standing up, you know, during timeouts or commercials and getting up and down off my chair? I like that, you know, it's it's what you do. So just just some thoughts, some I I like the the RE word that I I like is refocus. I think that one is is really important. And and also one of the Bones mentioned to me one of the things that uh he mentioned when we said this was realistic, make it a realistic reset. I like that. You know, don't put things out there that you can't attain or that's that you're you may fail at. Put something out there that you're going to be able to accomplish that's going to build momentum to hey, maybe there will be a reach out there. Nothing wrong with with reaching, but you can't go from an A to Z. Right. You got to go through the whole alphabet to get there.
SPEAKER_01So I like that way. I like that. Realistic, realistic. And and for me, I'm I'm gonna stick with I need to recalibrate. You know, I think it's important that as we set these challenges or commit to events and we start preparing for things, it's important to assess and reassess yourself to see, okay, is this working? I mean, we might start, we might choose a program and say, you know, this really isn't working. You know, I find myself failing more often than, you know, pushing through. And and not not that there's anything bad with failing, it's all lessons. You know, it's it's important. It's we have to push, we have to set things in front of us that we're probably know we're gonna fail at because that's where our biggest lessons are. So don't be afraid of failing. But at the same time, it's so important to reassess is this working? What am I learning? What am I learning? What am I learning? And then move and then recalibrate and move forward. Yeah, I'm gonna stick with that one. That's what I'm gonna work on for this this month is just reassess what's what's been going on and how it's working, and then recalibrate from that and and reframe. I like reframe too. So all right, brother. Good stuff, good stuff. Let's what do you got for us in our song this week?
Slow Down And Dress Your Mind
SPEAKER_02Well, I think you know, we've kind of talked about it. Your your weekend away and how important it is just to take the time to reassess what we're doing and uh make sure, you know, we when uh when we were working, I know you're a little younger than me, but we we had so much going on, and sometimes busy isn't the best thing. Sometimes you just have to take time for yourself and take time to relax and just just take time. So I think that's that's the message we're trying to get through today. All right, I like it. I like it.
SPEAKER_00I used to run like the world was ending, always in a hurry, never moving slow. Now I take my time.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Isn't that good?
SPEAKER_02Oh, it jumped out to me as well.
SPEAKER_01Wow, I love that. A slow morning beats a fast empty climb. How many fast empty climbs have I done? Because you know me, I love hills and I love climbing. And but I look back and a lot of them are, you know, so what? I did it, and now what?
SPEAKER_02You know, it's and not that there's nothing to gain from from from that and and to build on, but still, man, you gotta sometimes even if you do that climb, you have to take the time to realize what you've done and appreciate it. And you know, I think that's kind of been the theme through this, is is taking the time to relax wherever it is, whether it's in a mountain looking at the stars or in your car stuck in traffic, coming back from a giants game. Yeah, you gotta take the time to appreciate the quiet.
SPEAKER_01Yes, there's there's so much, you know. If we slow down, if we can slow down, if we can force ourselves to slow down, you can find purpose even sitting in traffic, waiting to get on the Bay Bridge. There's some purpose in that moment. You know, there's something calling to you, there's there's a reason. Life is happening for you. And so, you know, finding purpose, making connecting meaning with that movement or non-movement if you're stuck in traffic, connecting meaning to that, it just changes, it reframes what's happening in that moment. And you get to choose, you get to choose what you get to dress your mind. Just like every day when we get up, Ted, and you go to the closet or your drawers, and you you're choosing what you want to wear because it makes you feel a certain way. We get we have a closet in our mind, and we get to that's filled with thoughts, and a lot of those thoughts are aren't even there from us, they're from experiences or from other people or from our childhood or stresses and worries and anxieties, and but those aren't ours, you know. We also have some good, kind, loving, compassionate thoughts, joyful thoughts, energetic and and you know, the thoughts of laughter. So choose your thoughts. Just dress your mind like you dress yourself every day. You get you get to choose that. And with that, Ted, we just knock it out and close it up, and I'm gonna do like I always do and say, God bless and peace
Closing And How To Reach Us
SPEAKER_01out. If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe, follow, share an episode. If you want to leave a comment, go to the show notes. There's a text link there. We will receive an anonymous text from you with any comments or suggestions. Thanks again for tuning in, and most importantly, keep on coming back.