• 0:00
• What's up warriors? Dr. B here. Hope you guys are having a fantastic day I want to welcome you to another episode of the warrior 3 podcast. I got a special guest back on the show For the second time graham holmberg a good buddy of mine One of the fittest individuals of all time and I personally one of the fittest dads I know Super excited to share some awesome stuff with you today Make sure you guys hit that subscribe button go to warrior3project.com
• 0:21
• Check out what we're doing with men. Enjoy the episode. All right, Graham, welcome back on the show. It's been a year or so since we've had you on. But man, I just want to thank you. I know your life is like mine.
• 0:50
• It's not like we've just got all the time in the world. And you've got six children, six kids, you run a company. Just a busy guy, and so I really appreciate you taking time out of your day. You got a class to teach here in a little bit. You're just sneaking it in,
• 1:04
• but I really appreciate you being on the show. Awesome, this is exciting. Every time I get a text message from you about, hey, we're gonna get together and do something. It's never small. It's not like, hey, let's just hang out and just kind of connect.
• 1:20
• It's like, we're going to do something at like 5 a.m. in the freezing cold in my barn, and we're going to preach the word, or we're going to come do a podcast type of shot. So, yeah, I'm going to try to bring my A game. And yeah, I taught a couple of classes early this morning. We got a little tundra out there so we closed it down yesterday but it was good to get, like, it's New Year, people are
• 1:44
• excited so it's good to get back into a little bit of a routine and this is kind of a nice little dead pocket of the day so hopefully this is something that can be a little bit more routine for us but yeah. Yeah. Tuesdays are kind of a little bit easier day for me so this is a nice, this is a nice little plug so enjoy hanging with you. Love it man. Well, personally, I mean, just a personal note, we do need to probably get together and just do something that's not
• 2:07
• so like focused on like leading men. I mean, I love that. I know I can count on at any point in time, be like, Hey, can you come and preach and lead a workout? Because men need it. But at the same time, we also just need to get together and sling some arrows and shoot something and that sounds fun and just, just hang out. But, um, Hey, I think that you're doing a great job. For somebody who is trying to run a company well, trying to be a strong husband, I've
• 2:41
• got four boys, we live on a farm, you live on a farm, we're doing a lot of similar things. And so I've got some really good questions that I just want to kind of break down. And you know, the first thing that I just want to kind of run into is that I feel like the this this concept of what it means to be a strong man. It's being manipulated quite a bit, you know, like strong today. It was not what it was, you know, you know, 15 years ago.
• 3:07
• I mean, even five years ago, I mean, strong is different. And every time, you know, I get a chance to see your boys or shake their hand. You know, even Savannah, right? You're just doing a good job. When a storm comes in or Holt, man, they shake my hand, there's some grit to it. It's not like they don't look me in the eye.
• 3:30
• It's not like they can't make eye contact. You're raising a strong man to you You know what is that? before that I think that the world is saying well You know you're strong if you got big muscles if you had a Rolex if you have a nice car if your wife's got fake boobs kind of a thing like it's kind of like this this this thing of like
• 3:52
• You see online you're you know there's a lot of people out there right now that are influencing men that Yeah, man that You know jacked and tan big muscles super nice watches, but like you know behind the scenes I mean, you know I don't know necessarily if that's what we would consider strong especially from a biblical standpoint So you know let's just dive into that rabbit hole for a little bit. Yeah Yeah, I mean
• 4:18
• Something that caught me right as you said 15 years ago, so just turning 40, 15 years ago, 25, like I'm just a couple years out of college on the pursuit of trying to win the CrossFit Games. And so, to me, 15 years ago, I think a flinch, kind of seems like a long time ago, but then I'm like, no, actually,
• 4:42
• I feel like we almost need to push back a couple generations ago. Let's go to our grandfathers and that generation and what that looked like. I just had a conversation with a guy this morning about like I think as you you kind of portrayed men find
• 4:57
• strength being and it's not a bad thing a career God has called for us to be great stewards over our work. Jesus regularly talked so many parables about how you were stewarding over as a manager. Are you an honest manager, are you a dishonest manager, are you faithful and little, are you faithful. So it's important to take pride in and be a strong leader in your job and workplace. But no doubt with the influencer world that we have right now, with the, like you said,
• 5:32
• the jacked and tan, it's different. And we are really a generation that was first kind of walking into that. And, you know, Instagram was not a thing. YouTube was just really just kind of hitting the surface for us. So for us to kind of navigate that a little bit and see it is interesting on how we can kind of blend, you know, a pastor had told him once, how we use our channels should be used if they are something that is worthy of praise.
• 6:15
• If God has blessed you with a talent and a skill in something that is inspiring and motivational and can be encouraging, we're called to be salt and light. So I think there's good value in that. But I think for sure the everyday guy right now or even the next generation of guys coming up, they're having some trouble navigating what's real and what's fake. Yeah. What's real success? What's fake success? So if you're a 20-year-old guy right now who's just getting into college, graduating from
• 6:45
• college and you're spending a lot of time on social media influencers, like you've got a pretty, a very different perspective of what our grandfathers, you know, our grandfathers were tan because they were bailing hay all day, but their hands were like leather, you know, and now it's like manicured hands and you know what I mean? So it's a tough world if you're a 20 year old guy trying to figure out life and what is success to me? I mean, I even asked my son the other day, you know, hey, Beckett, what do you want to,
• 7:15
• you know, what are you thinking? Like, what's got, you know, I want to have a YouTube channel, you know, I was like, okay, I mean, that's not a bad thing. You know, daddy's got a YouTube channel. I mean, you're listening on YouTube right now. It's not bad, but it's like, nowadays kids are, are like going right to that.
• 7:27
• It's like, I'm going to go right to YouTube or I'm going to go right. So I want to be a gamer or, you know, whatever. I'm not all. And like I said God can can use that right my pastor said something Once that that really hit me he goes you know I get really annoyed when
• 7:45
• people don't show up to church on Sunday because of baseball and And whatever and I kind of I kind of challenged him a little bit. I was like I thank God Tim Tebow played on Sundays You know I mean like so I mean you can you can you can do something and it not necessarily fit the mold, but at the same time use it to glorify God. I mean, if Tim Tebow didn't play football, I mean, he would still be an influence,
• 8:11
• I can guarantee you that, but the 316 on his blackout, like, nobody will ever forget that. So you can play football or you can wrestle on Sundays during church, but like, what are you doing and how are you using that
• 8:27
• you know my boys like wrestling season's coming up and I I hate that they have wrestling tournaments at noon on Sundays it's like right in the middle of church so we gotta get up early 9am we gotta go to church we gotta run to the wrestling and I'm the wrestling coach for you know first through third grade forty boys right so
• 8:41
• I'm not gonna let them down but someone said what's church day? I said absolutely it's a church day but man whenever people see my boys praying before match or whatever that's almost even more powerful. And like to go into the world and to be that light. So, but if you don't have good leadership and you don't have good people leading you and influencing you and you're 18, 20 years old,
• 9:06
• and all you're doing is looking on Facebook and social media and looking at, you know, what I'm like, you know, name drop people. But it's like, you can get really caught up into that. You know well Hey, how much money are you making here? And I'm not successful if I don't have this car or whatever but You know a strong man. I would just say you know for me as a servant Yeah, you know and I'll just be honest with you like I'm not trying to toot your horn or anything But I'm in a similar season. You're in a very similar season. It's like sometimes you wake up, and it's like dude like
• 9:34
• You know I need a vacation from my vacation. You know it's like all I'm doing is serving, serving, serving. I'm tired. Kids are sick. It's like getting up in the middle of the night. A strong man to me is a servant man. It's a man who's chosen to die.
• 9:49
• Meaning that when I choose to die, I choose to live in that way. So transitioning into that, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think the idea of our culture wants to create this image that we can set up things that create passive income. We can set up things that serve us, and I think that's part of that challenge of switching our mindset to become servant-minded
• 10:22
• because at the end of the day, it's not challenging to take care of number one. You look in the mirror, take care of number one, I got to do my checklist. But being a strong man is being willing to strategically set up my day so when I know Savannah's got a tough challenging spot that I'm walking into, right, like I don't have to be conflicted with my business or conflicted with something going on with my phone or because again, this is a very challenging component to, I think, everybody, man or woman.
• 10:56
• But yeah, having strength is being able to sort of have boundaries for us as well. And so to me, I think as we pose that question, it starts with a servant mindset. Jesus obviously called for us to be, to take up our cross, right? To die as gain. So there's this obvious element that we should have that. But then just leadership.
• 11:22
• You know, I love the John Eldredge idea of like just being a man's man of how we lead our home, how we are challenging and prayerful for our wives, for our children. You know, how we maintain our schedule for our home. Because a lot of it, because as the dads, we've primarily have taken over
• 11:42
• our businesses or we're pretty driven at our workplace, but then we get home and it's time to put my feet up and kind of kick back. But again, the call for being servant mindset, the call for being strong and leadership there is key. So, right back at you, encouragement to you that you're coaching and leading your boys' teams.
• 12:02
• And I wanted to hit on that church thing. I think it was Tony Gonzalez. I'm thinking he was a tight end, I want to say. For Chiefs. Yeah, but I think he was even maybe with the Chargers for a moment. I'm not sure.
• 12:16
• I know he was an analyst too. Yeah, but there was a clip I saw of him talking about what does that look like for travel sports nowadays and select teams and how we are taking our sons and our daughters and we're saying, you know what, Sunday is for travel. And this is essentially this idol that we are chasing and serving. Now again, Hebrews 10.25 says, do not neglect the regular gathering as has become the pattern
• 12:42
• and the habit for some of you. So wrestling season is a season. It's not like you're every Sunday, you're avoiding church and you're actually saying, hey, we're intentionally going to try to get up earlier and get there and be involved earlier. But you know, there was also this other thing.
• 12:56
• I know growing up for me, at least, a lot of everything I was involved with didn't happen on Sundays, it was Saturdays. I think looking back, there was probably some baseball tournaments and stuff, but church is a gathering of the body.
• 13:09
• There's great fellowship there. There's great worship of the Lord there, there's great teaching of the Word there, or should be, but church shouldn't be just a 60-minute Sunday thing or a 90-minute Sunday thing or two hour longer church meets. Your fellowship and your worship of the Lord should be at the core of your home. It's not a just a Sunday type thing. So yeah, it's a challenge for you right now and your boys in this season, but I think the pushback is,
• 13:40
• what does the fruit look like? Are your sons, as you said, they feel encouraged and they're primed and ready to pray with the boys as they, because, hey, this is the Lord's day. And so, yeah, we're wrestling. We're going to get a chance to glorify God in how we take the mat, but we're also going to glorify God before we take the mat. So, encouragement there. And I think that's just a tip of the hat, like strong leadership is present there. So, good for you. I've talked about this a lot and I think it all comes back to this, is like why are you doing what you're doing? You
• 14:14
• know, the why, you know, without a why you don't have a way, really. I mean, you know, why are you choosing to, you know, let your kids do this or whatever? I mean, you know, why is it important as a man for us to be healthy and fit? Is it because we like big muscles? I mean, I don't think big muscles are bad. I mean, you know, I think there's some confidence there.
• 14:34
• You go to the beach with your family, take your shirt off, it's like, hey, you know, my wife is proud of the way that I, you know what I mean? Like versus the guy who's 100 pounds overweight who doesn't want to take his shirt off at the pool, is depressed. I think there's a balance there. But why are we doing it?
• 14:48
• You know, we're doing it to glorify God. We're doing it because our bodies are temple of the Holy Spirit. And there'll be consequences for those who desecrate the temple. And so same thing with the, you know,
• 14:57
• the wrestling stuff or sports or whatever it may be. I think we get caught up in just this, what needs to be this way. And like I said, we're not just saying, hey, there is no church. And I'll be honest with you.
• 15:08
• Sometimes my kids are like, daddy, why do we have to go to church? I was like, what? We don't have to go to church, you know. I mean, we get to go to church, you know. We get to go to church, we get to go be around other people,
• 15:20
• other believers, other people that are gonna push us to become better. You know, it's an opportunity for us as apprentices of Jesus to learn and to study and to be pushed by other believers. But then when we come home,
• 15:35
• that's when we have to put all that stuff that we learned on Sunday into practice. But that's, you know, and selfishly, that's kind of why I like wrestling too, because it's just like, man, it's, I think life is kind of like a bunch of wrestling matches,
• 15:48
• just intermittently. You know, you get a bloody nose, you get, you know, I mean, there's no way there to create you. It's biblical, Jacob wrestled with God, so. Yeah, it's good stuff, it's good stuff. So, I'd say a strong man is a servant man,
• 16:00
• and then, you know, a servant is somebody who leads his family well at home all aspects and you know just just a real life stuff I mean I know you and I are in similar seasons we got young kids it's like you know getting up in the morning and getting a workout in and doing that and sometimes it's not always going to go the way we want it to go you know like I can set me know it's it's beginning of January right we all got habits or things that we want to try to
• 16:24
• change and you know my wife and I we just got back from a trip and and you know my kids aren't feeling the greatest and my wife's not feeling the greatest and I get up at 5 this morning I go get a workout in and it's like boom text message hey can you come grab Mac and I'm like getting ready to start my workout and selfishly a lot of me says well I got to get this done but as a servant and somebody who loves your wife as Christ loved the church,
• 16:51
• I have to say, I'll go put that kid in a bouncer next to me while I swing a kettlebell. You know what I mean? Like sometimes you just gotta get through it. Like sometimes you just gotta put your nose down, it's not gonna be perfect.
• 17:02
• Like being a dad and being a husband and doing the things that we're doing, like it's really hard work. But it's very glorifying work, but it's not always gonna go the way you want it to go. And as a one on the Enneagram, I'm a perfectionist.
• 17:16
• Like I want everything to go exactly the way I want it to. And that's where the Lord just smacks me in the face. And he's like, listen, dude, like you're not in control. You know, so, you know, one, a strong man is a servant man. I also think a strong man is somebody who's, who has chosen to die.
• 17:32
• I said, I wake up every single morning, as John Piper says, I hit my knees and I say, take me. You know, I'm willing to die today because it's not about me, it's not about what I want, it's not about what I think I should have. And when you do that, man, what opens up a lot of possibilities, especially from a performance standpoint, it's like, I died today, I'm good with Jesus, so whatever happens today happens. It takes a lot of pressure off.
• 18:01
• So anyway, good stuff. Let's transition a little bit of physical health. Obviously I would consider you somebody who's just really been for decades, kind of leading by example, and even the owner of 11th Element CrossFit and Hilliard.
• 18:17
• So if you guys are listening and you guys are in the Columbus area, make sure you guys go to 11th Element and check out Graham and the gym there and swing in and get a workout in with them. But I want to talk about physical health and I've had a lot of guys on, pastors, talking
• 18:34
• about how physical health affects our health emotionally, affects us spiritually, affects a lot of things. I don't think it's an area where a lot of guys love to talk about it. You and I are very passionate about it. really what we have, I guess, not a platform, I don't like that word, but just, you know,
• 18:54
• something that you and I have specialized in to grow and provide for our family, right? I mean, physical health and just health in general. And God has blessed us with the ability to be physically healthy and to be a leader. But men are struggling, you know, and not just men,
• 19:10
• I mean, everybody's struggling, but I would say as a servant, as a leader, it's really, really important for us to be the example for our kids. And men, unfortunately, are not. We are, the average male over 50, I just read some research the other day, is on five plus medications.
• 19:31
• So, 50 years old, you're on five plus medications, cholesterol, blood pressure, and then the side effects of those medications and the number one side effect of cholesterol medications erectile dysfunction, which is You know the pharmaceutical company that came up with Lipitor. They also came up with Viagra. Did you know that that's convenient, right? So so it's just it's a crap show most men 18 to 20 have a hard time really even not nowadays Right this generation of kids that are want to go into fire, police, or you know, army, navy, whatever.
• 20:05
• They're having a hard time completing PT requirements, so what do we do? We don't make men stronger, we just change the requirements. I personally know firsthand that like my diet, my sleep, my physical health, if they're not on par, like my servant mindset, my just overall ability to want to go and do big things to provide for my family and glorify God go down? Do you see a correlation there?
• 20:33
• Absolutely. There's no doubt when we are doing hard stuff, when we are intentionally, physically challenging our bodies to get better and improve, there's a sense of worth that God has designed for us. There's hormones, there's testosterone released when we do challenging difficult things. Savannah just told me the other day, I don't know if she caught it on a podcast or where she caught it, she said, you know that one of the best things for increasing testosterone? I'm like,
• 21:03
• what? Chopping wood. I'm like, I don't even need you to explain. I get it. There's something about swinging an axe, bending over, picking it up, stacking it again, that it's just, you feel this accomplishment, there's this explosiveness, there's this power, there's this component of work being compiled and stacked up. And again, just what I mentioned earlier, a few generations ago, this is common for men to do.
• 21:30
• We're talking about hunting. It was very common that we had to go hunt and gather and be able to provide, sitting in a tree stand, sitting out in the woods, like tracking a deer, like providing, killing, getting your hands in there. It's not easy stuff. There is something that's that chemically happens when we do challenging stuff. Yeah, so CrossFit is the method for me. It has always been difficult. I've been doing it for 16 years and it's always difficult and I always find ways to just tweak it just a little bit more to make it more challenging
• 22:05
• And that's always encouragement to people when they come in the gym like guys Yeah, here's what I have on the board, but if there's something in there that you can Crank up a little bit do it like don't just assume like just because this is the way it's wrote Yeah Some days I write it really difficult and it's tough for you to be able to kind of check that box that you did it The way I wrote but other days I leave some leeway to kind of give people some liberty to try to find ways to challenge yourself more.
• 22:31
• A good friend, both of ours, Erin and John, like she's always saying like we need to like intentionally for our sons like go find challenging hard things to do. To get our hands dirty, to get uncomfortable, to be able to do something and step back and feel like an immediate endorphin release and a sense of accomplishment. So, yeah, I mean, I think there's great value in doing the gym stuff, but I think teaching that and getting our boys involved in it is really, really key. So I love that you got your boys out there in the barn with you and everything that you
• 23:09
• guys are doing there at your house. It's really good. Well, they just do exactly what we do. I think that's really interesting. If you're a dad out there and you're just like, man, my kid just wants to play video games all day,
• 23:23
• I can guarantee you that dad plays video games all day or does something in that manner. It's like, hey, I think that's just, it's such a simple concept. Just your kids want to model what you do, you know? So the kids getting up and, you know,
• 23:40
• and meeting us in the barn, like they, that's just what I do, you know? Like I was, you know, we got wood burning fireplace and I love having 40 acres and trees fall down because it's an opportunity for me to go do stuff. And Sam's like, you know, gosh, like being a dude
• 23:57
• is pretty cool, you know? Because it's like, you mow the grass and like, is there anything stressful about mowing the grass? Right? I mean, it's like, is there anything stressful about chopping down a tree, cutting it up and using it?
• 24:07
• I mean, it's an amazing thing, right? But she gives me a hard time. She's like, you know, I have to feed the children, wipe the butts, and you get to like be outside in nature. But, you know, the kids just love that stuff. You know, I mean, they, you know, my relaxation is hunting and fishing.
• 24:21
• And so what do my kids want to do? They want to hunt and fish. And every once in a while, my kids will play video games and things like that, but at the same time, it's like we have to model, you know, and be the example for what we want our kids to be.
• 24:35
• And, you know, I would, you know, I've got, you know, some acquaintances of ours that like, you know, their kids don't even want to pick up a worm, you know, like they don't even want to get dirty. They don't even want to,
• 24:48
• their Jordans don't want to get dirty. Can't get your Jordans dirty nowadays. It's like, it's kind of an interesting place to be, and especially with, you know, the world we're living in today, and you talk about chopping wood,
• 24:59
• and you talk about getting outside, and things like that, like, I love those activities from a physical standpoint, but more so from an emotional standpoint. A lot of the activities that I have, or we do as a family, not all of them, they can accomplish.
• 25:13
• And I think that's important because just the other day, Ezekiel was like, hey, can I chop that wood? And I was like, you can try. And he swung the heavy ax for probably 15 minutes trying to split a thing of wood. And finally he gave up and he realized that,
• 25:27
• hey, I'm just not strong enough to break the wood, which I knew he wasn't. But the point is that you have to let your kids fail every once in a while. Because we live in a world where all I have to do is just beat a video game and I win.
• 25:45
• But the video game doesn't punch back. You know, and it's hunting, right? I tell my boys, like, it's called hunting, not killing. I mean, Savannah probably asked you the same thing. Hey, Graham, where's the deer at? You've been hunting four times this year,
• 25:57
• where's the deer? Honey, it doesn't work like that. Like, this is a game of failure, and then responding to failure, and becoming stronger because of that. So, I just think that that's important
• 26:09
• to be able to set those things up, and to our kids' life. And in CrossFit, you talked about, well, sometimes, hey, I'm gonna write a workout that maybe you won't be able to accomplish, because as a type A, D driver dad,
• 26:21
• I need to be humbled every once in a while. I need to do a workout that I cannot finish in 30 minutes. Sure. Even though I think I'm gonna be able to, there's no way I can do it. And I need to humble myself and realize that,
• 26:33
• hey, I'm not God. Yeah. And I'm human. And guess what? I failed today. What are you gonna do about it?
• 26:39
• Yeah. So I think there's value in that type of methodology and the CrossFit, the constantly varied, I mean, that's life. I mean, you go in and, you know, five sets of this, three sets of this, I mean, there's power in functional bodybuilding
• 26:53
• and getting strong there, but I love the constantly varied and how that relates to how life is. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah, and I think there's a neat work ethic
• 27:07
• that at least what I've found just shows up in the CrossFit gym. There's this time of year, right, January, there's a lot of gyms that are promoting stuff and trying to hook in real people in. And we're doing this, we still have those same elements
• 27:27
• of like how do we capitalize on, people are motivated right now, how can we dig in? And so incorporating nutrition challenges, incorporating physical challenges. But I just love the fact that when people walk into the CrossFit gym, they look around and they kill themselves.
• 27:44
• They really go for it. And you've spent plenty of time in random, call them globo gyms, and there's just a lot of sitting around, headphones, you're just kind of doing some curls and some bench and just kind of getting through. And honestly, the guy or the girl who's actually really getting after it and ripping it, you're like, geez, like, why don't you just calm down, making everybody feel bad about this.
• 28:07
• And that's just not the environment, that's not what we condone or the community that we're building. It's like, we're gonna come in, like look down the line, we're all gonna die in this workout today, and it's gonna be good because of it. So I love that and I think it's good for people. And then they take that and they apply it. Hopefully they do. That's the encouragement that we speak about a lot is hopefully you guys apply the 60 minutes
• 28:32
• in here to how you attack your work, how you attack your relationships. And really what we encourage right now is how you attack your nutrition because man, if you're crushing it in the gym but your nutrition is kind of like all over the place, you're paddling a boat with one oar. Like you're not going to get it done. It's a big topic, you know.
• 28:51
• We talk a lot about nutrition, you know. You and Savannah have always been really big into that, you know, from as long as I have known you guys. You guys, you know, just talking with, I drive by your house, you guys got a garden out there, you got chickens, like, there's a reason why it is
• 29:06
• that you don't buy eggs from Walmart, you know what I mean? You know, an egg just isn't an egg anymore. You know, a piece of meat isn't just a piece of meat anymore. And coming from two individuals like ourselves, that this kind of drives people nuts, but like we could probably eat whatever it is
• 29:23
• that we wanted to eat and still look pretty good. I mean, I'm just kind of a freak like that. Like I could eat a piece of chocolate cake every day and I probably still have abs. It's just really weird. But that's not a good thing.
• 29:37
• Like that's not an excuse for you to put that type of stuff in your body. I kind of use the analogy as that God created us to be like a Lamborghini. High performance, high output. We weren't designed to be like the old, what were the Woody wagons? Whenever someone went by, you'd punch your brother in the shoulder.
• 29:58
• Big old station wagons. Yeah, there you go. Griswolds. No offense to it, I mean those were sweet cars back in the day, but like God, you know, designed us to be able to do big things. You know, we're beautifully and wonderfully created in His image and He's pretty big.
• 30:14
• You don't put diesel fuel in a Lamborghini and expect it to perform at a high level, but I would also say if you're 18 to 20 years old and you're a young guy out there and you're in the gym and you're kind of crushing yourself in the gym, but you're swinging by Cain's Chicken and Chick-fil-A, that will catch up to you eventually. You know, it will catch up.
• 30:33
• And this is the person's like, well, why are my joints hurt? Like, why am I not getting good sleep? Why do I have headaches? You know, why is my skin a mess? Why do I got acne all over my body?
• 30:42
• Like, big muscles, but yet the internal workings of that car, the pistons, the fuel, all that kind of stuff, like it does play a huge thing. So, going into some nutrition, nutrition for busy dads, right? I mean, you're a busy guy,
• 30:58
• what is a typical kind of, do you do a lot of that? Like, do you do a lot of meal prep? Like, is that something that, you know, Savannah kind of just has it all ready for you? I mean, what does that look like in your home?
• 31:09
• Meal prep's good. I mean, I'm a big advocate of meal prep, but there's also something of good value when you have to sit there and prepare your meal right there in front of you. Especially with young kids in a family. Yeah, like it's fresh, it's good. Yeah, so we have a meal prep company that we work with through our gym.
• 31:29
• Just a good Christian guy, good family. Who is it? Matt Keeney. Matt Keeney, what's the company? Keeney's Kitchen. Keeney's Kitchen, pretty easy.
• 31:41
• Keeney's Kitchen, yeah, good guy down in Southern Ohio. So they deliver, they can set up delivery to your house. We have the gym as a delivery drop-off location. So I just met him about a year ago and it really helped me a ton because I'm pretty slammed all morning
• 31:58
• and then by the time I get home, Savannah's been crushing it all day, just feeding the kids, homeschooling, and then I get home and I'm kind of like, man, I'm hungry. And it's just like there's some scrap leftovers and I got to prepare some food. So it's been helpful for me to already have. Prepare food or get knocked out.
• 32:16
• Yeah. It's nice to have a nice good lunch. It's just, I mean, he's got some great steaks. He's got some great salmon burger. I mean, awesome menu. So anyways, it's an easy heat up and it's ready to go. But like for dinner, yeah, I mean usually it's a pretty good family quest together. The
• 32:34
• kids are preparing the table, some of the kids are chopping green beans, some people are doing the broccoli, whatever. My son Storm's really been getting into like watching me prepare venison, watching me prepare steaks. Like, dad, how do you do this? How do we season the chicken? How do we do this stuff? So I think our family dinner picture is really good. I love just, I'm not against the meal prep for dinner,
• 32:56
• but I love that whole family bonding and gathering time. What's the tribe, right? So hey, we just had a big kill and we've got all these different things that we've gotta prepare. And you gotta be a part of the,
• 33:07
• if you wanna be a part of the tribe, then what is your responsibility gonna be here? If you wanna eat, what's that look like? We don't do enough of that. You know, and then kids go off to college and it's like, hey mom, like I don't know what to do,
• 33:19
• or dad, what do I do? You know, I just had a good friend of mine, Scott Shaw, he runs the lead strong portion of Warrior 3, and his son goes to Cedarville. And this is a kid that's just pretty dialed in. You know, he's a warrior, but he gets down to Cedarville
• 33:35
• and he's like, you know, they have Chick-fil-A on campus and it's kind of a big thing down there, you know. And he goes, there's nothing good for me to eat. Like, he goes, I've basically lived at the salad bar my, the last two years. And, you know, anytime he comes home,
• 33:50
• he just stacks up on venison and stuff or whatever, brings it back and then in his dorm room and trying to get other people to cook it, he's almost looked at like he's like a three-headed monster. You know what I mean? Like, we're living in a culture where it's like,
• 34:02
• I don't know how to do the things that you're teaching your kids to do. Like I can just press the Instacart or I can press the delivery button and I get Cain's chicken to my door. Door dash.
• 34:15
• So, I mean, that's powerful. I mean, just that lesson alone is huge. Another thing, it's helpful, like fasting, just intermittent fasting. Yeah, it's good. You know, obviously, Jesus calls for us to fast, and some of that for sure, there's a
• 34:31
• deeper spiritual context of why we should be fasting for those specific reasons. But I think just in general, it's an easy, not easy, it's a simple, yeah, it's cheap, but from the time you wrap up eating in the evening, you know, six o'clock, seven o'clock, eight o'clock, depending on what your day and routine looks like. Essentially to push that off 14 hours, 16 hours, 18 hours until the next day. So here I am, I've had coffee this morning. I don't know if I would call it a true intermittent fast because with our coffee, I've been sitting in it for years, bulletproof it. So grass-fed butter in there,
• 35:08
• coconut oil, collagen. So there's some calories, so you're digesting. So it's not a it's not straight black coffee. I'm Would totally enjoy a straight black coffee, but I like I like getting those fats In combination with with the caffeine to help wake me up. It's 4 in the morning. I got a drive across town so You know I want to do that, but then you know really I'll go into training here in a couple hours And you know I'm not probably fully into ketosis yet But there is there's an element of stomach grumbling a little bit.
• 35:40
• I'm like, all right, I'm going to still train through it, and I'm going to coach a little bit more, and then I'll have a good lunch at that point in time. Again, having a meal prepped, because I know it's a tough spot. It would be easy to probably just grab the meal bar, you know, or like you said, swing by something, quick fast food on the way home.
• 35:58
• But it's been a while for me for fast food that I've kind of pushed that off. I mean fast forward, I mean maybe Chipotle every once in a while. Sure. I mean I don't know if I, I guess it is fast food, but it's, you know, I don't consider Chipotle fast food. No, I agree.
• 36:13
• Eat Greek or whatever that's called, maybe it's kind of like the Chipotle. Like my kids don't even know what McDonald's is. That's what we go to the bathroom on vacation. It's like, hey dad, there's the Arch, can we go to the bathroom? I mean. It's a really fancy bathroom.
• 36:26
• I know, yeah. So anyway, that's cool. So I want to just break down a little bit of that. So bulletproof coffee in the morning, obviously you've got your good fats, your medium chain triglycerides, and really helps to kind of just sustain energy without having that crash. You get some good fats and some proteins. You coach, you're not chewing food, and then you're going to work out at lunch.
• 36:48
• Yeah. And so you're working out fasted. So I was actually reading some research that working out fasted. Now this is men. Like I can't I've seen some different things with women when it comes intermittent fasting because of hormone stuff and just a lot of weird stuff. But from a man. They're maybe trying to get pregnant or maybe they are carrying. Yeah. You mean you got a baby. There's lots of. Yeah. You got it. You know, if you're breastfeeding and stuff like that. I mean, but this is this is for men. Right. So nobody's breastfeeding, hopefully, on the show.
• 37:14
• 2025. 2025, it is a different world. But yeah, so you're intermittent fasting, you come in fast, and I've read some research that going in to some type of a metabolic high-intensity interval training kind of a thing,
• 37:28
• fasted, 10,000% increase in natural growth hormone and testosterone, working out fasted, right? And so you work out, then you refuel your body, coach a little bit more. So really you're eating two big meals a day, right? And so about how many calories per meal would you say?
• 37:52
• Yeah, I think my lunch meal is between 700 to a thousand calories. I'll take a protein shake immediately after training and then the actual right now I have a buffalo chicken wrap. Yeah. And so yeah I mean it's not what I probably would prefer but actually I in terms of like if I could actually perfect case in there if I like a kitchen you know I probably would I like just a hot meal
• 38:20
• especially like protein but it's really it's a really tasty good option that I don't have to have to microwave something which I'm not a fan of anyways. Yeah. I don't really have to do it. So again, I'm eliminating an excuse to just, well, I'm just gonna choose an easier option. Like, no, this is a good, healthy, awesome option. In terms of, you know, like yesterday, I was, we didn't have the early morning stuff, so didn't fast in that morning, but I would have four to five eggs, have if we have some bacon, you know bacon can sometimes be a
• 38:54
• little timely, it's gonna make a mess so I was kind of hustling out the door so I didn't go bacon but I just went eggs and an oatmeal and coffee and again a nice good good solid breakfast. Have my good solid lunch. We have at any time cashews, walnuts, pecans, just kind of my easy access to grab throughout the house. So that's usually something just easy kind of snack on and then you know dinner again is going to be good solid protein option, sweet potatoes, rice, broccoli, green beans, carrots.
• 39:27
• So I mean it's pretty basic every time. Good little rotation right now with some venison. We do salmon once or twice a week but chicken is probably our go-to because our kids like chicken the most. But my kids definitely enjoy the steaks. They're like, you making deer, guys? This the buck?
• 39:46
• It's always good whenever they know what they're eating. Like my seven-year-old Zeke, he shot a deer this year in October. Yes, we were in the ground blind and did he smoke this thing at like 22 yards and he was just like on top of the world. Blood trail everywhere.
• 40:03
• I was like, hey, wait a second, we're going to go get your brothers. I'm going to go get this thing. So I'm loading up his bow, and then he's going through the woods, and I hear this yell, dad, I found him. And then a few weeks later, he's like, dad, is this the deer that I shot? He goes, that's cool.
• 40:21
• So there is something powerful about that. Yeah. Macros. So, you know, I don't hear a lot of, you know, we weigh our food, we count things. Like I have kind of been like heels, like just really pushing against weighing and portioning out my food.
• 40:41
• Now, I'm not saying that, you know, if you're a dude out there and you're really struggling with portion control, like I think portion control is important. Yeah. You know, I think you can have, you know, two bowls of oatmeal, probably a little bit too much oatmeal, right? I mean, but you know what I'm saying? Like, I mean, even though oatmeal is good, you know, even though, and
• 40:59
• now I don't know if you could eat too much steak. I think, you know, you could probably eat as much steak as you want and you're probably going to get full pretty quickly. But I guess the point is here is that macros are a big thing. Like I've, I've had patients that I'm like, listen, I'm just, I'm just not going to put you on a macronutrient thing. I do not believe that God designed us to get up, weigh our food, and eat.
• 41:18
• We should be able to eat a balanced, kind of well-proportioned meal. Now, take aside maybe people with autoimmune and some really, really big gut issues that maybe can't have some of these things, but I'm against weighing food in my home
• 41:36
• and portioning it out and being like, hey Zeke, you can only have this many carrots. You know what I mean? Are you kind of similar? Yeah, I am similar. I think the funny thing, like with CrossFit,
• 41:48
• they talk about the zone diet a lot and with one of the key components of CrossFit is observable, measurable, repeatable. And so I do think to kind of bring back in connection with, like you said, I can kind of eat what I want. But that person who's like,
• 42:07
• hey, I'm intentionally wanting to put on more muscle mass. Like, we probably need to be a little bit more strategic to make sure that we are hitting that macro count in your protein intake. So, does it necessarily need to be weighed? Maybe not, but it's probably gonna be good,
• 42:22
• a good practice for a week to get an idea of like, how many ounces of chicken that is, how many ounces of steak that is, what's the caloric exchange for that. Okay, so maybe for a time, yeah, to have some measurement to get a gauge of a portion, portion control for some people who maybe are trying to lose weight. But I'm with you on the protein intake. When there's a significant difference when we feed our kids protein
• 42:45
• and how they respond and how long it is before they're like, hey, I'm hungry. It's so frustrating when we've, I've been a little bit lazy potentially in how we've prepared the food. Maybe there's not a good healthy protein option.
• 43:00
• Or we've maybe just been a little lax in not letting them eat that protein option and they eat the other stuff. It is like 15, 20 minutes later, I'm hungry, what's to eat? Like, we just ate, you just ate.
• 43:11
• You know my kids, my kids are- Remember that plate that's cold? Go eat it. Yeah. Like, I'm sorry. My kids argue with me between the difference
• 43:17
• between a snack and a treat. Dad, it's not a treat, I just want a snack. It's like, it's eight o'clock at night. So what is it? Can you break that down for us? So a snack is like an apple or a jerky stick.
• 43:28
• Like we got venison sticks, you know? And so, like, go get a snack. Like, that's a healthy snack. A treat is not something that we have all the time. Zivia pop, right? Some healthy, enjoy life chocolate chip cookies,
• 43:42
• or we'll make some stuff, right? And Fridays, we try and do a movie night, family night kind of a thing, and we'll make some homemade pizza. Sourdough pizza. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 43:52
• You guys doing sourdough stuff? Not really, I can't. Let Savannah and Sam get together on that. For sure. Sourdough, it's such a game changer. It's delicious.
• 44:01
• Savannah's been on this whole wheat kick lately is amazing. She did like whole wheat Again, it's not a healthy option whole wheat cinnamon rolls the kids crushed them Yeah, and I'm like these are there's like this different like deep Party flavor like yeah for sure if you look at like these white big fluffy Awesome cinnamon rolls, and you kind of look at these whole wheat ones that are just not quite as like Awesome and attractive like yeah, it's easy to go that route, but like, there was something, and she's like,
• 44:29
• it's biblical, you know, they're talking about Jesus talking about walking through the wheat fields and, and so, yeah, she's got this wheat grinder and we've been doing like fresh milled, like whole wheat, and it is a game changer. Oh yeah. It is so good. This whole wheat pizza, I told her, I said, we got it Friday.
• 44:44
• This is the best pizza, like, that I've had in a long time. The best pizza you've ever made. She's awesome cook and the pizza she's made before great, but it was the best one. The kids just devoured it. It was so good. Yeah, no, I mean I'm totally all about that stuff, especially like when I, because we personally in my family, we don't do a whole lot of wheat or dairy. My kids have had some
• 45:03
• belly issues and so they have some sensitivity to it, but like sprouted grains and like, you know, Ezekiel and different things like that, like making it from scratch, super great stuff. The only issue I find with this stuff like that is like, you know, you make this sourdough Cinnamon roll and like they always expect it. It's like yeah, you know what I mean? It's almost like hey just you know, throw you a little bit of that over there and it's like well When we gonna get that again, right? I'm gonna get that again. I was like listen
• 45:26
• This is not something that we get off every day Sunday. It right sure Well, can we have special Sunday every Sunday here? And then you know, so no totally get it. It's good stuff Anything else you want to hit on for nutrition, then I want to kind of transition into just like some fitness stuff, like for dads, busy dads, like obviously,
• 45:44
• you know, to get into a community, I always love to say fitness should be like, it should be a battleship community, not a cruise ship. You use the example of CrossFit versus kind of like the Globo Gym, I feel like it's like cruise ship, you know,
• 45:58
• versus the battleship, right? I go into the battleship, I'm here to get stuff done, I'm gonna sharpen the guy next to me. You're about ready to puke, I'm gonna help lift you up. Everybody else has got their headphones on in the Globo gym, it's like, hey, I'm here for myself, dude.
• 46:10
• Like, look at my biceps, look at this. And, you know, every once in a while, like, I don't think it's bad to do that, but at the same time, it's like, the, you know, getting out of a line and in a circle. And kind of that concept.
• 46:23
• So, but anything about nutrition for busy dads that you want to hit on? We talked about intermittent fasting, 18, 16 to 8 hour window. I think the big thing that I picked up there is no complex, big massive processed foods and sugars. Try to, food by God versus food by man. Lots of good protein.
• 46:43
• I would say good healthy fats and really no complex processed sugars and different things like that. I mean, and would you say that maybe some of the carbohydrates like, you know, the oatmeal and the different things like that, maybe trying to like stick to them earlier in the day, so if you're gonna go like breakfast or your first meal when you break fast, you know, whatever that is, you know, little things like that. Yeah, I mean, the break, you know, the break,
• 47:08
• the breaking fast should definitely have a good fat content to it as well, for sure. Yeah, I mean, and I think speaking on nutrition, I think the one thing, you know, we already hinted at it, protein should be something that we're trying to seek intentionally, but also like fats.
• 47:24
• Just, we talked about, hey, here, men are, testosterone levels are down, and just motivation's down, and I just, I don't have the drive to go work out. It's like, well, maybe you're not eating enough fats. Maybe we're not getting enough energy from fats that's helping boost your testosterone levels. So a buddy this morning, he's like, yeah, I heard it and he's like, I'm chugging
• 47:49
• olive oil. Yeah, you know, just eating macadamia nuts and like I said, having cashews, having walnuts, having that resource of fats around, incorporating avocados in your diet, making sure we're cooking with olive oil, adding coconut oil and butter into your coffee, or just making sure that we are getting that good dosage of fats,
• 48:10
• because it's good for our mindset. Like we know a nursing child is getting such a high fat content, which is awesome for brain development. So I think it's something that we don't necessarily do culturally well, is add good, healthy fats.
• 48:24
• Well, fats have been demonized by the medical community. Hey, fat's going to make you fat, which is all by, you know, purpose. You know, it was all just a big marketing scam to get people on medications and hate fat causes heart disease. Fat causes cancer. Fat's going to cause your cholesterol to go up.
• 48:41
• Yeah, I don't think this is the rabbit hole. We should go down on this particular podcast. Maybe we'll have, you know, Savannah and Sam on and we can all come together and do it. But, um, you know, cholesterol is the precursor for every single hormone in your body. Growth hormone, testosterone, cholesterol is 70% of cholesterol is produced by your liver. 30% of cholesterol is in
• 49:01
• your diet. Right? So why would God put something in your body that was bad? And you know the reason why cholesterol goes up? It's not because you know of fat. It's because your body will actually say, hey, you have injury, you have inflammation in your arterial walls because of too much sugar, too much stress, too much toxic ingredients
• 49:23
• in your cooking oils and things like that. So there's injury in your body, so I'm gonna elevate cholesterol to send it to that particular area to heal it. That's why your cholesterol goes up. And so eating things like good, healthy fats
• 49:36
• and butter and grass-fed butter and coconut oil and nuts and seeds. And, you know, I mean, like eating some of the fat, you know, I mean, venison doesn't have a lot of fat on it, but I mean, there's, you know, that's a good thing to have. Like we, our brains are 70% fat. And so if you starve the body of fat, not only do you get fatter, but your dementia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, memory, I mean, kids, right?
• 49:57
• Just, just, let's just do a study, we'll take our kids, the Holmbergs and the Shriners, and for 30 days we will wake up and all of our kids will get farmed fresh eggs, a piece of fruit, and a piece of venison, and then all the other kids will eat Fruity Pebbles,
• 50:14
• and we'll see who's more productive. Nobody will want to do that study, because they know the answer. Let's put it out there, man. So it's good, it's good. So fitness, right?
• 50:23
• So I think we over complicate it Especially for men busy stuff. You know I'm busy. I've got You know I don't have time right three pieces of equipment right that if I say well first off I would just say if you have the ability to get into a community or a culture with guys like Graham and Just the ability to be in a group of individuals pushing each other.
• 50:51
• As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. I think the CrossFit community and the culture that it's being built is beautiful for that. Right? Now, I'm one of those individuals that I love that too, but I can also do 100 burpees in my basement and puke. I don't need anybody there to push me.
• 51:09
• But I think for a lot of guys, it's like I crave that 16-year-old high school weight room again, like blasting Metallica, getting after it. That's why a lot of dudes just love that environment. But three pieces of equipment. Like I'm like, I got, hey, it's Christmas, my birthday's coming up, my wife is like,
• 51:27
• hey, honey, I wanna get you some fitness equipment. What are the three things that you would say every dude needs to have in their home? Man, well, you didn't prepare me for this question. I did. But I would say, dude, there is so much good data about a rowing machine.
• 51:39
• Oh yeah. Like that's going to be a little pricier one looking at, you know, you might find a good use one for five, 600 bucks, but expect seven, 800, you know, a thousand bucks. Like that's, that's a, that's a big buy, but it is just, it's like no other man. It it's low impact on your joints, essentially no impact on your joints. Um, Hey, you get to sit down while you do it.
• 52:04
• Yeah, you can watch TV. But it's grip, it's arms, it's upper back, it's breathing, it's legs, it's quads, it's hamstrings. Like, it's a great, great tool. Running is obviously awesome, but you don't need any equipment for that.
• 52:16
• So running shoes, I'm not gonna count that as one. I'm gonna go sandbag. We were actually just texting about this. A heavier sandbag, because our body releases testosterone, our body enjoys, again, we're talking men, when you have to pick up specifically heavy deadlifts.
• 52:34
• So when you have to pick something heavy up off the floor, it's primal to us, but also squatting heavy. So if you get yourself a 100, 150 pound sandbag, there's tons of options out there, but typically 100, 150 is kind of the sweet spot range. Decent size log.
• 52:48
• Yeah, exactly. 75 to 100 pounds. But it's nice, it's nice and controlled. You can practice deadlifts with it, you can explosive lift with it, you can shoulder it and squat, you can carry it. So that would be probably equipment piece number two, much cheaper, right? The third one, this one's kind of
• 53:06
• a tricky because if I set a barbell, well then you kind of count. But I would probably go with a... this is another expensive one. Don't tell your wife you're... It's in my garage. A glute ham developer. Oh, GHD. It is bulky, it's big, it's probably gonna it's it's gonna be a buy once cry once. If you can spend some time on there developing your hip flexors doing you know prone position, abdominal exercises, GHD sit-ups, but spend a lot of time, or I said prone, but yeah upright supinated position, but
• 53:47
• yeah spend some time face down, getting your glutes, hamstrings, spinal erector stronger. There's no doubt men are weak in their back and their glutes and their hamstrings because they spend a lot of time in chairs, but they've also trained mirror muscles for so long. Very anterior dominant. Chest, pecs, biceps. It's not going to, you know, the GHC is not going to do anything for your biceps, but it will do stuff for your butt. Yeah. Have a strong glute, have
• 54:14
• strong hamstrings, have strong spinal rectors, and then watch how your capacity at just being strong in general improves. How many people complain, oh my back sore, my back, I mean this is your line of work. So you get it. All posterior chain. Yeah.
• 54:30
• I call it old man butt. So yeah, those are, I mean you think about picking up a sandbag, it's a lot of posterior work. You think about rowing, it's a lot of seated hamstring posterior work. And then I throw a glute ham developer in there.
• 54:41
• So I don't know, I didn't overly think it, but those would be like three. I wanted you to go from just from the top. I wanted you to, what would you do? I put kettlebell. I put kettlebell.
• 54:51
• Kettlebell's good. You know, kettlebell, it's simple. It's easy to store. You know, I don't have a lot of space for it, and I can throw it. I can take it on vacation with me.
• 55:00
• Sure. You know, if I'm gonna drive, what we go to, you know, up to Lake Michigan, up to the sand dunes, and like my kids just run to the top of the sand dune for hours, we swing kettlebells.
• 55:08
• Like anything I can take with me on vacation. A set of rings, or like a TRX. Yeah. You know, just it's easy. You know, I mean, I can I mean, we're down by the creek and, you know, hey, the kid was up all night and I've had the baby.
• 55:23
• I miss my 5 a.m. workout. But I got the kids that, you know, I can take a kettlebell and a set of rings and I can throw the rings over a tree and, you know, do some rows. I can put my feet in it and I can do some Romanian split squats. You know, I can do all kinds of stuff like that. And then I put like a sandbag or medicine ball kind of a thing.
• 55:41
• All can be traveled with, I guess I could put the GHT in the back of my truck, but that'd be pretty difficult. Every vacation I would go on, we would always, my family would play on this vacation and it was always before the CrossFit games. And I would always take a kettlebell, I'd take a set of rings, and I would typically take like an ab mat or something so I could do like, and I'd go down under the carport underneath the house
• 56:05
• on the beach and I'd set the rings up off the deck and I'd have to climb down into the sand dune area and I would do muscle ups and pull ups and ring rows and dips. The kids would love to go down there and play on them. So you got boys, any kids that come into our gym,
• 56:20
• they flock to the rings. Rings. Yeah, and I think the reason why I tilted towards those machines, and I'm thinking, we're talking testosterone stuff. So things that immediately are testosterone boosters. Explosive, high intensity interval type training.
• 56:37
• So the rower is good for that. Heavy lifting, the sandbag's good for that. Yeah, the GHD I think is kind of one of those, it's probably a little bit of a quirky one. But it's funny, I always tell people at the gym, I'm like, guys, we got a huge plethora of kettlebells.
• 56:51
• It's like, get a kettlebell for your garage, get a kettlebell for your basement. When you go on vacation, kettlebell's pretty clutch. So I love your items as well. I would say the good thing about a rower and a sandbag, like, it's like almost, it's zero to a hundred. Like, you can immediately be uncomfortable with like, instead of rings, it's going to
• 57:12
• be a little bit more particular. You may have to set them up. You kind of have to move through. So if you're like, if you want like no holds bar, like don't have to overthink it and you just want to be able to step right into your garage
• 57:24
• and immediately get intensity. Grip it and rip it. Yeah, like a rower and a heavy sandbag. Like it's not gonna take long before you're gonna feel punished. Like a 10 minute EMOM of like sandbags
• 57:33
• over the shoulder with row. Five reps on one minute and then like row on the next minute for a whole minute straight. And it's amazing how many guys are like, it only takes 10 minutes? And I'm like, dude, you ain't working out hard enough.
• 57:46
• And I'm not saying being an hour in the gym is bad. I mean, CrossFit class is that, but you got warmups, you've got technique, you've got some strength, and you've got like an AMRAP built into that. But really when it comes down to it, I mean, you can get a lot of work done in 20 minutes.
• 58:01
• You know, so last thing, and then we'll kind of wrap up here. Talked a little bit about this. Did I tell you about the TRT? Is it cheating or is it, you know? Yeah, you sent that and I. Just smart, you know, I kind of want to just hit on it
• 58:13
• real quick, because I feel like a lot of guys that I see, you know, online, well first off, there's a lot of dads online that are juicing with their shirts off. That are like, hey, you know, do my program and do this. And I'm like, dude, you are completely juiced up. And I'm a little upset about it.
• 58:33
• I look at the liver king and some of these guys and just like my wife is like, oh my gosh, that's not. But at the same time, it's like as a dude, competitive, a lot of guys are going in and getting testosterone replacement therapy. It's a big thing right now.
• 58:47
• I know guys that don't even need testosterone replacement therapy that are going in and you know doing some of that kind of stuff. My take on it is this, I talked to my wife about a little bit, she goes it's absolute junk. You know, she goes the question always goes back to why, right? So why is my testosterone going down as a man? Yeah. Number one, I'm probably not getting great sleep, I'm not doing the things that you said that you should be doing. Testosterone building
• 59:12
• lifts, I'm probably spending way too much time on my phone on the leg press in between texting my girlfriend, I'm probably eating not enough good healthy fats and organ and animal meats. And so naturally, if I'm doing those things, as I get older, my testosterone is going to go down.
• 59:30
• Now I think that science says that as you get older, your testosterone is going to go down a little bit. But I know, here's the thing, I know individuals that are in their 60s that their testosterone is like that of a 20 year old man. So, that's my take on it.
• 59:46
• I think it's just kind of cheating, personally. I think it's just, you know, a lot of guys, a lot of chiropractors, you know, I know, a lot of doctors are making a lot of money on it. It's like it's a quick and easy way to do it. Instead of sitting down with the individual
• 60:00
• and saying, let's take a look at your life, let's take an inventory of are you doing all the things necessary to enter work and to fix the engine of your of your Lamborghini or do you just want to just inject it with you know Lightning McQueen super fuel? Right. You know. No you nailed it and I'm with you. I consider it cheating. You know one of the things that I was challenged with when I was competing.
• 60:26
• Every year there's people getting caught with drug tests and you know it was happening, you know it was happening more and more. I think we watched an Icarus documentary about just how regular it was happening. And I don't, I'm not sitting here saying
• 60:40
• all these guys that had success or anybody who podiumed in CrossFit or won the games or had six, seven, 10 years of CrossFit, it was taking stuff. I was very competitive. I won the games and I was clean. So I'm like, there's guys that are genetically way more advantageously set up than I ever
• 61:04
• was. Their body type's better. Their natural mobility was better. I'm not saying like I was the hardest working guy out there. I mean, everybody that was competing at a high level was working their tails off. So I think it was a matter of you know good alignment of events and I was healthy that year and and had a really good healthy run for a while, but
• 61:24
• Yeah, I think it was a challenging thought was like do I should I take some stuff? Yeah, is that is that gonna be smart for me to keep sponsors? Can I stay relevant? Is other guys doing it like it was out there, you know it was happening. Like I said, I don't have anybody who I'm like, oh for sure this guy was, other than the obvious people who were getting caught.
• 61:45
• But there's a going around saying in the steroid and cheating world of like, the guys who are getting caught are just, you know, basically failing the IQ test type of thing. Like they're just, they're doing it dumb. Yeah.
• 61:58
• So I just, I never liked it. So I had guys in college trying to get me to take like HGH during football season. I just was not interested. I'm like, I want to have success and I want to do it because, you know, I want to, I want to know that anything that I did successfully was because I worked my tail off and, um, and that's it.
• 62:13
• Like I didn't want to second guess did like, was it because I took something or because I cheated? So yeah, there's a lot of guys out there doing it. Um, you said it's obvious the TRT is super popular right now. I'm kind of anti-TRT, but I'd encourage, just like we spoke on, let's focus on what's going on in our gut, what are we eating, what's our sleeping habits, what are our training
• 62:39
• habits, and let's see if we can't increase the testosterone just naturally. But that's hard. You've got to work hard. It is. thing is that you know you're taking a guy who's gonna take HTH or you know testosterone replacement therapy and a guy who you know eats venison and wild
• 62:57
• game and gets good sleep and lifts sandbags and does it naturally you're probably not gonna have as big of muscles you know that's just the reality of the thing but here's the deal when you sacrifice your health to perform you're gonna have health consequences for that yeah but you're always gonna perform better if you focus on your health. Like that's what I tell people all the time.
• 63:16
• If you focus on your health, if you get good sleep, you exercise, you do the right thing, yeah, you know what, maybe you don't have the hamburger veins coming out of your quads. Like some of these guys that I see online that are like health experts,
• 63:31
• and I'm like, dude, that ain't natural. You may not have that, but I can lay my head down at night and know that like, hey, there's a question I always ask myself too. What's going to happen when my boys come to me one day and be like, hey dad, how come my muscles don't look like yours? You know?
• 63:47
• Hey son, let me tell you, here's the secret. Here's the sauce, you just work really hard. I think about those things. Are the things that I'm doing, am I going to be able to explain that to my sons in a good, you know, biblical way. So, anyway, well, hey man, I appreciate you being on the podcast. I mean, just, it's always a blessing.
• 64:10
• I'm sure this isn't the last one. You're, man, just, like I said, I don't say this often, but you're just one of the more balanced guys that I know. And I know the word balance gets thrown around as like, well, I don't like that, but I don't know, man. Like I love that you love the Lord. You're a great husband.
• 64:30
• You're just a great dad. You're fit. You know, you just turned 40 this year. And you know, you don't, we go, I turned 41 this year and it's like, I'm proud to go back to my high school reunions.
• 64:42
• You know? I mean, you're just, you're just, you're just, you know, your business is doing well. You're impacting people. And I just appreciate you being on the podcast and helping lead men. So anything you want to tell the guys before you head out?
• 64:57
• No, I mean I think just it all comes down to application. You know at this point the secret's out there. The message is pretty straightforward. It's not like we don't know what we need to do. So it just comes down to implementing disciplines and start with something simple. Maybe I'm just going to start with a simple fast.
• 65:23
• Like we said, it's cheap. So my encouragement is we need more strong men. And I think it does start spiritually, like getting right with the Lord, being able to look yourself in the mirror and say, Lord, how can you use me? And how can I be useful for my wife, for my kids, for my business, for my community? And so developing that mindset and then start today. Don't, not now, start today. Immediately put into practice something that's going to help improve you. And I think that's
• 65:55
• just kind of the key and then compounding that day after day, the consistency builds up and it's a beautiful thing and God blesses us in that. So it's good. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely man. If guys wanted to like look you up and and just kind of reach out or how do they get a hold of you? Yeah, so my Instagram is just at Graham Holmberg. I'm not real present on there. I do a little bit more through our at 11th Element
• 66:22
• Instagram channel. But yeah, I mean I think your best way to contact and be involved with me is to go to CrossFitHilliard.com, find your local CrossFit gym. And if it's not even me, maybe you're tuning in with us and you're not. Find a local CrossFit gym that somebody who can come alongside you in person, start helping you implement some of these disciplines. But yeah, if you're in the Columbus area, Hilliard area, CrossFitHilliard.com, say get
• 66:48
• started and love to come alongside you and start to help make some impactful changes for you for 2025. That's good, man. That's good, man. Hey, well, gentlemen, I appreciate you guys being on the show. It's going to wrap it up.
• 66:58
• Make sure you guys go to warrior3project.com. Just subscribe, newsletters, social content. We've got a Warrior 40 challenge we're super pumped about. And so, hey, and also, you know, share this episode. Maybe a brother that's struggling or, hey, mentally, physically, spiritually, regardless, share this episode with them.
• 67:17
• Until next time, Grant and I pray you have a healthy, happy, blessed day. Bye-bye.

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