WELLNESS WISDOM

And you don't have to be closing in on fifty or past it to get a ton out of their wisdom and their experience. You know, I wasted a lot of years. I don't believe in regrets, but if I'm being honest, for years I was sort of unfit. I loved working out. That wasn't a problem, but I wasn't that smart about it, and they didn't get the results that I wanted. I didn't eat very smart. I didn't drink smart. I would drink a lot more tequila and mescal than wine and whiskey. It makes a difference. You

can look it up on the road. I didn't sleep nearly enough when I got injured early in my life. I didn't rehab properly at all, and I paid the price that all turned around. I got three surgeries in two years, two in the shoulder area, one in the knee, and this time I attacked the physical therapy. I turned weakness into strength and actually got stronger after the surgeries and established a mind body connection, and that has been

really important in my life. But in my early years, I certainly wish that I had listened to people as sharp and passionate as Gabby and des are. We are the ones that create the limitations. I do it to myself. I'm not different than anyone else. I'm my own worst enemy. I'm the one who creates these boundaries because I'm a right to try something new, and just to remind people that, you know, being willing to try something new and having you know, and they even talk about neural plasticity trying

these new things. It's like you're never going to regret that, and also put yourself in environments where people are supporting you when you're doing something new. The fact that I'm very competitive too, I mean I'm extremely competitive, So if I see something, I just automatically look at it as a challenge and then the competitive nature of me takes over. So I think one of the one of the best pieces of advice to that I've heard I got from

my mentor was you know, work smarter, not harder. You're gonna enjoy my conversation with Dez coming up later. We had some good laughs about the old game days and his love affair with donuts. Gabby is a former Florida State seminole, was a pro volleyball star and an international model, and always created platforms to promote wellness and fitness ideas. The Gabby ri Show on Apple Podcasts take some really

deep dives into fascinating topics. Her husband and business partners a legend to Giant Waves, surfer adventurer Laird Hamilton's, and together they're raising three daughters and splitting time between Malibu and Hawaii. So earlier this year a milestone that freaks out a lot of people. I didn't feel great about

turning fifty. How did you approach it emotionally and physically as that date was getting nearer and then when it hit you know, I actually, to be honest, I remember forty being a lot more uncomfortable for some reason I don't know, than fifty. And and I also think that between forty and fifty I had a lot of things happened, especially as a parent, that really kept me focused on things that were really important, but also weirdly with a

new level of surrender. If I might say this, like you get to certain places in your parenting where you, uh, you you learn to surrender. But you know it's like almost everything, um is okay, I'm gonna work hard and do the best I can, and like what are you gonna do past that? And the other thing I have learned that I think is really important is not to spend too much time on things that are so out of my control, Like I'm not going to stop time.

And so one thing I've really tried to do a lot of in my life is when I really know I can't really change it, or it's something that like New Yorkers would say, it is what it is, right, it's like what are you gonna do? You're gonna torture yourself. It's like, no, could I be my most badass self right now? Let's go. And the other last thing, too, is I'm always reminded I can't be younger today. But in some weird way, there's something I could do to

be better, for sure. But yeah, I wasn't like, also, let me frame it up and not. I wasn't like, oh my god, isn't it awesome I'm fifty? I was like, WHOA, that's kind of weird. When did how did that happen? I certainly and gracefully accept that I'm fifty. I have three daughters. Um, you know, the other thing that's interesting is when you're biologically sort of not in that prime spot anymore. There's no better way to learn about that as a mother than when you have three daughters and

you watch them all blossom sort of into that. And so that what that does is you talk about acceptance. She goes, Yes, I'm I'm not at that part of my life at stage anymore. But I have a lot of desires or dreams or I'm highly motivated to train hard and do things, and so why shouldn't I even if I'm a mom or fifty or someone's wife. Well, acceptance is important. You seem to be lined up with that.

Does defiance play a part? Saying that I'm not going to listen to every signal and my body is sending me Because some times the body is telling you to pack it in, to quit, to not commit in the same way you have in the past. What what role does that sort of defiance play for you? You know, you'll You've talked to a lot of athletes, and you know that no one ever plays You always play in pain or discomfort of some type. No one's life is

ever fully perfect. I think part of living is part of being able to move forward and continue towards progress and growth even when you have things that are uncomfortable, be it personal or physical. And I think that for me personally, what I have learned the difference is when it's hard and when I'm hurting myself, And so I try really hard on my training not to hurt myself, but by all means, I certainly go towards hard um pretty often. Yeah, I mean beach volleyball and volleyball in

general incredibly rigorous sports. Sometimes people get caught up in the trappings of the sport don't realize what hard ass work it is to to move around and get up and down in the sand. I may describe the workouts that you went through when you were sort of in the in the peak days of your professional career, well, I mean like every athlete, you'll hear I know so much more today. Uh in my training, I wish I

was as sophisticated then as I was now. But certainly my volleyball was very sophisticated, probably like three or four hours in the sand. And then you're doing land training to enhance your performance. Um, so whether it's versions of pliometrics and and uh different types of the year, whether you're maintaining during your competing time, or you're trying to build strength and endurance in preparation for your season. But you know what's interesting is I've gotten older and been around.

But the only thing I always want to remind athletes, um, young or old, is if you're in a repetitive sport. Every sport has repetitive motion. UM, part of your training should be unwinding what you're winding up all the time, and unfortunate our training oftentimes he continues to reinforce those patterns. And so one thing I have learned is i've gotten older, is I can work really hard, but I just need to work hard in a different direction because I've been going.

Your sport takes you by nature. You know, if I'm a picture by nature, this is what I'm doing. These are my mechanics, right, So it's just it's just um, you know, and I didn't do like breath work. I didn't do active recovery. When I was competing. I would take a day off, but I didn't. Maybe you get worked on. But the other thing is reminding people, especially

as they age, to participate in their recovery. So whether it's stretching or breathing or getting a sauna or swim in a pool, that it isn't just Okay, I took the day off, but do stuff to actually boost your recovery. For sure. You mentioned a couple of things. Are there other specific things that you wish you knew then that you knew now that involved, if not training harder, but training smart. What would you like to tell yourself from a couple of decades ago, Hey, Gabby, this is what's

really important that you don't know yet. That flexibility and stretching is so incredibly boring. If you're not naturally good at it, you shy away from it. When you have long levers and you're jumping athlete. Normally you're not good at it, But to do it because you might save yourself a lot of headache. Um, I listen, I think I have an artificial need because of a lack of hip and ankle mobility and tight quads that were like

beef jerky. I don't think there was anything wrong with my knees right, and so I would have definitely said, I know it sucks, and it takes an extra ten minutes. And you have here and there to go and places to you know, go to and people to see. Take the time and do it. You seem really at piece as you should be with where you are now. But many athletes I've talked to go through almost some morning phase when they understand that peak condition that they took

great pride in being able to achieve. They're not going to be there again. It's gonna have to redefine maybe what peak condition is. But that's really difficult for a lot of athletes, whether it's an endurance sport or a or a contact sport. A lot of men have expressed that to me, did you go through any sort of period like that? Uh, you know, yes and no. Mostly no, because let's face it, I played beach volleyball and that's a very small platform. So I always had my eyes

on the horizon. I was always really well aware of the limitations, and so I was always doing many things. And it wasn't really because I didn't love volleyball. It was because I had. I was like, I did all those things to to support my habit of playing volleyball. So it wasn't like a basketball or football where it's like all in and then all of a sudden you look up and you're like, you know what happened. But here, this is what I say to a lot of athletes.

I will have athletes to come and train with us. And I had a kid form played Clemson football, double knee surgeries. He's done and probably talented enough could have at least had a shot in the NFL. But it's not gonna happen, right, And I said, I always try to remind athletes you're like a loaded gun. You just have to pick your next target, you know, And to not think that that's all who you are, that is your identity. No, that is something that you, as the

individual person, chose to express yourself. And within that there was camaraderie. There was hard work. There was learning. If you were lucky enough to have a good coach, there was some interesting mentorship um. And then there was competing at this high level, that frequency that like when you get to touch it once in a while, you're like, man, this is all pistons firing. But we can do that in other places in our life. We just have to,

you know, recalibrate, redirect that action. UM. And having said that, I think it's also important for an athlete to be reminded what a great thing that you got to experience something at that high level. Now, if there is a reminiscent and there's something sad about it, but how lucky for you that you got to experience something at such a high high level. And now what do you want to do? Because I think we don't give ourselves enough credit.

I don't mean athletes, I just mean human beings that if you really were willing to work hard and work towards a goal and work with other people, UM, that

in this next phase, they can do it. But they just have to, you know, put effort towards what is that One of the companies you and your husband are involved with, XPT fascinates me stands for extreme performance training, and the extreme is an interesting definition of how you guys define extreme because it really is so well rounded and so holistic, and we'll cover some of the things

that are under the x XPT umbrella. But what we was sort of the reason behind putting this company together and combining the various things you guys were expert in from breathing, moving, recovery well. So we didn't really even want to do this. But a girl I used to compete with who then UM was a very dear friend of mine since and then we we never really played together, but we played at the same time, and then we

started working together. She watched us for like ten years doing in this training, especially the pool training, and then we incorporated heat nice and then started learning about breathing UM and this really through whim Hoff. And then there's a great book for anyone who wants to read it, even just people have to sit their desk all day long, called The Oxygen Advantage by a gentleman named Patrick McCune, which will tell you why you should be nose breathing

all the time. UM. And she's like, you have to share this with other people, and we were like, we don't know anything, and how are you gonna people fly around from around you know far and spend to a tough days with us, but anyway, it was born out of that, and the pillars of that are breathe, move and recover. So obviously Laird being a surfer and Lay's sort of the creative impetus for all of this. He's the most curious and we'll try things if it makes

sense and mess around with it. So breathing, imagine first a big wave surfer. There's something extra right, like oh, they're held under and like the you know, the precious breath if you will. But really, once you get into the practice of breathing, you realize how most of us are not doing it correctly. So that's and that's the essence of life. Okay, we can do without food and water and all these things for quite a long time. Breathing air not so much so movement. You know, we're

physical beings. We just need to move our bodies. And even with an XPT, we're not here to tell you how to move. We will make suggestions, but ultimately it's getting people to be like, huh, how do I want

to move? You know some people back I can't even step inside a gym, and you go, great, there's a million ways to do it, and then recovery, which is what I alluded to earlier, which is like actually the boosting or the supporting of your recovery, be it through stretching or breath work or getting mobility or self care. Like there's a great program called by a woman named Joe Miller. I don't have anything to do with it. I just know it's a great resource called Yoga Tune Up.

And she basically will teach you how to scrape every part of your body and get you know your your fashion, get everything unlound that you can do, and she has a whole kit and it's pretty genius and and so getting people to be responsible for their recovery. But if you talk to Laerd, it's like it also means get to better early. It also means try to eat well. It also means don't fill your time and your brain

with a bunch of crap. And it also means like, how are your relationships Like when you really talk to him, he's talking about the flywheel, And so we wanted to present that because I think the idea of sharing and saying well, we've been in this this seems to be working for us and our friends, but also reminding people that if we talk to them in a year, maybe

things that we're learning or sharing will be different. Because I think that's the other thing, is reminding people not to ping around, but to stay open minded to continuing to learn so that you can continue to adapt and improve. Yeah, I'm going to dive into of looking forward to getting deeper and what you guys are doing. But adaptabilities what

I wanted to ask you about. I'm glad you brought that up because obviously, with what we've been through with the pandemic, people are forced to constantly adapt with yoga studios and pools and gym's closed. What your program seems to do is to instill those skills in people that they can not focus on what they don't have, but what they're able to do and still get great results. That's got to be satisfying to see how people you've trained.

Have you use that in the last four or five months. Actually, it's also trying to use the platform to connect to other people with each other so they can support one another on this online community right now, because the other side of this is I couldn't get it done every week, and I don't think LAIC could either without the support that we've created, and it's to remind people that very few people, even the greatest athletes I've ever met in

the world, can get it done alone. So how do you put in place that system that makes you successful? Not that you should fly out of bed every day and be like I can't wait to get after it, but saying, okay, where would I fall short or fail? And how do I put a system in place so that I have the opportunity to be successful. You've got such strength and you describe intensity as a person. Not everyone who's gonna come to this or be listening to this is going to have those same qualities. They're not

going to have an elite athlete background. What what do you say to people who who want to dive in but maybe they don't think that they have those qualities? Is insignificant quantity to really succeed at this. I always remind people that when we do stuff like this, like it isn't actually about Layard Night. It's about the individual person and so wherever they are, that's their baseline, and it's just about taking you to your best. Because I think at the end of the day would be like

me comparing myself to Layard or I have kids. I've had guys come to my house that are twenty six year old guys in the NFL. Like, am I going to compare myself to them? No, I'm not. So. The whole thing is, and this is true to life, is how do we look inside of ourselves, be honest with ourselves, say Okay, I could probably do better, I could probably do more, I could probably push myself more. And also to remind people that we are the ones that create

the limitations. I do it to myself. I'm not different than anyone else. I'm my own worst enemy. I'm the one who creates these boundaries because I'm afraid to try something new And just to remind people that, you know, being willing to try something new and having, you know, when they even talk about neural plasticity, trying these new things, it's like, you're never going to regret that. And also put yourself in environments where people are supporting you when

you're doing something new. When people come to XPT, Lard and I always say we can find anyone who can show you how impossible it is. That's not what we're doing. We're not here to show you that we can crush you. We're here to usher you and guide you into your experience. That's it. It's such an interesting collection of folks that seem to drop by your house and train, whether it's

in California or Hawaii. And and what what an eclectic interesting group, not all athletes and other figures, some famous people, some not famous people. I mean that must be really interesting to have that kind of collective energy and really different mindsets together. What have you gotten from people who maybe have far lesser athletic backgrounds, but but they have their own experiences? What have you learned from them when they come hang out with you? Guys? You know, we

have a lot. I always tell the people we do these, like you know, meet and greets in them beginning, I'm like, I know, you're all alpha's in your own world. So if it's a CEO person or a hedge fund or a VC guy or you know, I've had a lot of ladies that will say, oh, it was my whatever birthday and I gave myself a present. Um. And what you see is one common thing UM is the ability to stay curious and to try UM. And also like we let's say Alpha's right, so we have a lot

of alpha's. Everyone's more spectacular than the next right that comes to the house. And we always say leave your sword at the door, right, like we're all just you know, getting through and making it and um, you know, so humility and just the openness to not knowing everything and to trying new things. Um. And that's what you realize that myself and a seventy year old woman with the twenty five year old boy young man, we could share that value and we could connect better than people who

would appear to be more similar to us. Because when people are open minded and curious and willing to say I'm scared, but I'll try it. Um, we can you can connect. The holistic approach of your company is what's impressive to me. There are people who believe that all improvement is interconnected, that improvement in one area is by definition, improvement in the whole. How does that come into play for you guys where when it's is very there's very much a mental I don't know if you call it

a spiritual component, but that goes with the physical. I don't know. I think it depends on your approach, right. I think if you're moving in a way and eating in a way that supports you sets you up to the opportunity to probably form better, whether it's in your relationships, at your work, dealing with your own personal issues, whatever

that is. But I don't know that it's a guarantee because I know a lot of high performing people that can move better than anyone on the planet, any perfect diets, but they also use it as an escape and something

to control. And so that's where we fall short if we go like, well, I have my calories and I did my forty eight minutes and my heart rate was this, And I'm like, oh, you're trying to control your life through your moving and eating versus I'm going to do all of this because it makes me a better person, and it also sets me up to be fertile ground for like, Okay, now I can really tackle the hard stuff. That's interesting it that I guess the idealized versions that

all improvement is connected. But you're saying a lot of people wall it off. How how would you help them to sort of break that down and have whatever you're trying to impart that have a positive effect in the rest of their life. I just think it's the invitation to say we're not perfect, and we can't control everything, measure everything, time everything out, weigh everything out, and that

life is incredibly messy. And if you choose, especially to be entangled, which means relationships of any kind, then if you want to like sprinkle in some kids and like, you know, do all that that, it's like it's messy and it's and you're upside I'm upside down a lot of the time. You know, I'm a mom, Like I don't know what's always going on. And um, you know, they say that that part of our existence is entanglement,

that really we awaken in these entanglements. And so I guess what I would say, because I believe everybody has their path, is to make the invitation to say, okay, it seems like you have you're in charge of that pretty good. Now you want to take on do you want to go to the next level, in the next grade or become a professor, which is to like get messy and try to improve um in the areas that UM are not only scary, but they're impossible to be

good at. Like no one's ever going to say like, wow, you're a great parent, not really like it's all you know what I'm saying like, like to be a human being and to say I'm gonna show up every single day. I'm unsure. I'm scared. I don't even know what I'm doing, and no one at the end of the day is gonna be like, great job, and here's the metrics. Now I'm interested. That's a good mic drop. But I want

to circle back on a couple of things. I don't want to bog this down into breathing, but it's something that fascinates me because I am a whim half disciple you mentioned him, and and it's it's as simple as sort of breathing and then learning to hold my breath. Then very proud that I've gotten to five minutes and can do it consistently. What you guys are teaching that was way more um sophisticated than that, right. I mean, it's literally learning how to use your muscles in your body.

It's to to do the fundamental thing that we humans do well. I don't think I don't know about sophistication because I appreciate like women himself is, you know, can do all these studies and works with Dr Huberman and has done all like you can control a lot, so he but the thing about women is also women is sort of like a showman in a certain way. But what's amazing is that has actually created a breathing movement.

You know whom has done that? So for us? Because if it's one thing, if you're whim but if you're going to be communicating with people and teaching people, especially like give me a guy from Boston who runs a hedge fund, um, you know, breathe and you know, like, motherfucker, isn't gonna totally work right, Like it's like, okay, well, here's the science on what happens when you mouth breathe like a free diver, you scrub your CEO two. Okay, fine,

what does that mean? What that means is then the oxygen that's actually in your blood stream, the only way it can be absorbed into the cells and tissues is for your CEO two to be high. So how do we do that? We knows, breathe and so then and break it down from there, like you know, we do a lot of hypoxic training in my pool. What happens there? You're getting you say to someone, Okay, you're gonna have

meetings for the day, you have an early day. How do you, how do you use the breath to up regulate to go into your sympathetic Okay, you've had a hell of a day, you're stressed out, you're getting ready forbid. What breathing patterns can you use to go into your parasympathetic and try to get a rest all night sleep because that's the only time you recover. So we try to approach it more like that. But see, I think

it's all hands on deck. So if you've got a guy like whim and he's turning on millions of people and they're like even conscious of their breath, I think that's a wind. Both of your lives been so intertwined with nature. Explain why you think that exercise and whatever nature connects with people is better than the fluorescent light of a gym. What do our bodies get out of being outdoors when we're trying to achieve fitness? Well, I mean the sun alone, And I would encourage people if

they don't definitely don't have to believe me. Just do the research on sunglasses because so much is stimulated and cute through our eyeballs from sunlight, for production of melatonin and things that will impact our sleep later and for vitamin D and other things. Right, So I think, uh, you know, our natural system, our biology is quite beautiful and quite harmonious with our our natural environment. And you know we're on computers, were in cars, where we live,

in cities, what have you. And I totally respect that. But the fact is it doesn't take away from who we are biologically and um, some of some of those things. So being out in nature, even your skin has you know, photoreceptors on it, So with the light, you're picking up things about the light, um, you know, through your through your skin. So for example, why you want to sleep in a dark room even if you had a mask on and not have any lights on, it's because your

skin is still aware of the light. Um and natural lighting versus fluorescent lighting. I mean how that imp hacks your overall emotional well being anxiety and hormones and everything else. Um, it's a real thing. So if people, unless they're skiing on a mountain or like riding vehicles where they need to protect their eyeballs, I would encourage them to go without sunglasses, especially outside, as often as possible. And um, people say, well, my eyes are sensitive in the glare,

and it's like Okay, they're not. I have green eyes, and it's about a practice. And it's also about the the eye dilating and constricting all the time, not just being in one state. That's how you keep your eyes strong. But also it's a joke about two parts of your brain or outside of your skull, and it's your eyeballs. That's really interesting. I've never heard it described that way, you know, just anecdotally. I mean, I like to climb mountains and hike, and the sunglasses are often a part

of that. But I've just found recently just taking them off and letting the real light in unless the glare is really causing you problems. I mean, I felt better. I don't know why. Maybe that's based on what you just described. And I've started to use them only when absolutely necessary, if it's off of snow. And I didn't know that was the reason, but I think that's part of it. I think it just sets our brain and

our whole chemistry in a certain way. And also I think, you know, if you talk about nature, when we walk in nature, are we use our eyes to look where we're stepping? I mean, there's so many nuanced things that are occurring they're so good for us, um that uh, I know it's easy to overlook. The last component is recovery, which has a lot of different aspects. UM. One of the more dramatic is obviously the ice bath. UM. My other guest, Desmond Howard's says ice baths are torture, they're

they're not for him. And I said, look, whatever works for you and recovery, you need to figure that out. Would I be shamed if I came to your place and didn't sit in the ice bath and tough it out, because I know that's Listen, the cold shower thing. I mean, the cold shower is to an ice bath like a propeller plane is for a fighter jet. I mean it's ice bets your extreme. It is. I will remind people that, actually, I think the sauna is the king ultimately for recovery.

I think heat chocked proteins and some other benefits that you get from really sitting in a sauna over the long run, even your cognitive function, prevention of Alzheimer's and all calls mortality. There's a lot of data showing how high that is, so he is certainly important. I think what's interesting about the ice is Besides, obviously there's hormone regulation and mood enhancement and certain things that actually happened.

Um and for women, you know, we can get into brown fat and sometimes that motivates them and all of that. But um, there's something about doing something that you're actually a little uncomfortable with, Like I'm not I don't go in the ice and be like, oh yeah, party in the ice. I'm like the fact there we go. There's something about working on that where you're like, I'm uncomfortable and I'm gonna have to stay calm. That feels really

important to me. Now, if anyone does use a nice stuff, I want to remind them not to do it directly after heavy lifting. Um, it's important to have that destruction, that inflammation, all of that that we do when we bang iron, and so the ice can stunt that a bit.

So what I remind people is that the ice, like if somebody came out football practice and they were running okay, but if you know or if you separate it as a separate practice, but definitely don't go from a performance type of training where you're trying to get gains like weightlifting and go into a nice stuff because you have a unique perspective on this with with your own experience and layers experience. Are there any differences in this process

of adapting and accepting but defying just enough? Uh? The fitness aspect of fifty plus between men and women, is there a fundamental difference or is that is there a generalization that's not worth making there? No, I think gets different, but maybe not for the obvious reasons. I think obviously men have more testosterone, and so there's something interesting. Um, but I think a woman, if she is taking care of herself pretty well, um, you know, you can perform

for a really long time. I mean, but they do have more of that hormone. You know, listen, let's honor the testosterone. You know, it's like it's a real thing. But I think something else that maybe a woman falls vulnerable to that a man may be less, is the aging part, Like we're more I feel I could be wrong from my perspective, is sometimes we're more conscious, self conscious of that we're getting older. And for men, they continue they they're not the young bull anymore. So they

have to manage that. We don't have to manage that, right, Um, but they sort of it doesn't occur to them like well does my skin look pretty? And like all this stuff where for women beyond on who we are as athletes. If we if we uh don't make peace with that, I think that that's another addition to our story. To what degree is making peace Gabby tuning out the external stuff, the static what society tells us, and giving much more credency your InterVoice, And how do you wrestle with that?

If you do? I think it's both and I think it's the life that you try to build. So then what you're looking to is you go, huh, how and what other ways do I contribute as a person? So I have knowledge that I didn't have TI years ago or um, you know, I used to joke that I have a couple of guys on the XPT staff. They're

very they're incredibly smart. Um, but they're like thirty five, right, big strong, healthy, good looking guys, And I think to myself, and not that it ever mattered, but in that moment, it's like, it doesn't matter if they want to sleep with me, like I'm in a way their boss, right, And so I think in a way for women sometimes it's too it's to understand that we have so much to contribute, and yes, at a time when we're supposed to be biologically signaling, like if that's your choice that

you're gonna make babies, then you're gonna your skin is gonna look a certain way, your lips are gonna certain way. Then you move into a different phase of your life, you don't you're done with that, right and so we have other things uh to give and contribute, And you can always be an athlete. That's why it's so important

to take care of yourself. And the other great thing is there's things I have now is a person that I wish I had as an athlete, which was I wasn't I it was very hard to be competitive and then not somehow didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Right, Like here you are in your early twenties and you have this weird thing of like my job is to go out and you know, get somebody, and um, then there's a part of me as a girl that's like, oh,

that was a struggle, you know. And now, believe me, I have lost that because I've learned Listen, I'm never gonna make everybody like me or make everybody happy. So I'm gonna stop trying, and so the energy goes into a different direction. So I think that's why it's kind of cool to be stay in sports and stay in athletics or trained, because I always say, sometimes I do drills today and I'm really like, literal, go, this is

what we're gonna do. And I respond like a fifteen year old boy, you know, like I'm defiant, I roll my eyes and I'm playful or obnoxious. And that's because in that moment, I'm just being an athlete and having fun and exploring the female, the male sides of myself and enjoying that. Um So I think that that ends up being overriding for sure. Fifties and a milestone, there are other milestones ahead. Do you look ahead at all?

Or or are you just in the present? Do you warrant wonder and worry about potential limitations that are inevitable down the line. I mean I always joke like, how are like Laird's going to be with an old lady? And then I think, I'm myself, I'm not going to be with some old guy, you know, Like I we joke about that, like I think about that and I go weird okay, Um. I think I'm always looking understanding the landscape ahead just a little bit about as far as like where, what kind of what part of the

landscape would you like to end up on? So you're never sort of just floating around. But I think that I know that if I do the work most of the time, it's not I'm not perfect. I missed my workouts, so I might need a piece of cake or whatever. I don't know, um, but if I'm really showing up and doing the work, that I probably will be led in the right way as long as I'm really trying to listen to my own inner compass and really be

diligent about keeping the noise out, um. Because then you'll find that people are like, how did you get there? And I'm like, yeah, I don't know. I just listened to myself and trusted myself that this is where I was going to belong and and and learn how to you know, reorient when you aren't in the right spot. I think it's really wise adaptability, and it's many forms.

I want to ask just a couple more things. One, if someone is not predisposed to accept all this, they don't see immediately the value let's say they've been sedentary. Let's say they may be given up hope on being fit and well at whatever stage their life, then this is complicating you. Everybody is different, But is there a an overarching pep talk that you would boil down for someone in that position? I think it's you know, listen,

I always say this. If if I say to you, oh my gosh, you need to move and you need to eat well, I can. I can show you how to do everything. I could lay it out for the map, I could even take you, but until you figure out why it's important to you, until it becomes a value

to the individual person. So what I would first say to somebody is, Okay, do you think you need to do that because you think you're supposed to want to do that, or do you understand the value the value of taking care of your health and things like that, um And then getting them to their whether it's for relationships or what have you write and then it's just reminding them just a little at a time. It isn't about taking the whole thing and going to the top

of the mountain. It's going hey, listen, today, the best we got is a fifteen minute walk and we take out our worst eating habit just want not stop eating everything. Just take the one thing that you do that you know you is really the worst thing and eliminate that and just start there, um and then and and then remind people that we do need like our brothers and sisters to to schedule with us to help us be successful. That if you're going to do what, you really have

to create a small plan. Um. But I always am curious with people, and I say, like, you keep your houses clean, you clean your cars, you give your car the right fuel. Ultimately, at the end of the day, besides our relationships, the most valuable thing that we own

is our health. And I don't know if it's like having been an athlete where you get injured and you're like, I don't even know if I can sit on the toilet on my own and walk across the room because of my knee or my this or my back, that you like, I don't need to lose that to understand, Um that it's but it's see, but see, it's a value to me. That's why I do it. So really

it's got to start there. And when people don't have hope, UM, I think it's the time when you lean in when you're just not sure, but you know it's the right direction. You know, I'll tell you something really quick. So I have a friend who who's in the Navy Seals. Second day of Hell Week, guys are sitting on the beach looking the sunset and the most amount of people are

leaving as the sun's going down. They're sitting on the beach and they and they hear the bell ringing, one bell, the bell, the bell the guys when they quit, and the guys are on the megaphone going the A teams coming because they have three teams that run the run the challenges. They're the alphics are coming. You're gonna be so cold, it's gonna be a long night. The reason they got for the first day was adrenaline. The second night, he said, you can't believe I go. What happened? He goes.

The fear of what was going to happen destroyed so many of these guys. And so what I would also say to these people is when you feel that way, just move forward. And most of us we make it through. The suffering and the imagination is far worse than the suffering in reality. Right, if you can just get people to understand that just just keep leaning into it, and

I give you my word. And there's not many things I would stand on that that well we can get there, and that and that the individual person is worth it, and it's them reminding themselves. I'm worth it, and I'm important and I need and this is uncomfortable and I'm just gonna go into it. Well, thanks, I'm inspired, I've learned a lot, fired up. I'm ready to go outside of nature and do a workout and maybe even a nice bed. You might have even convinced me about that.

I can get the courage if you're like a real man and stuff you. Thanks for being an example to too many people female and male appreciate you. Oh well, thank you. It's listen. If making it to fifty, and that's the other thing for people, just remember it's it is really truly the gift of another year. And when we're eighty, we're going to look back and think, oh my god, look how young we were at fifty. So let's not waste the whole hell of a lot of time.

Time is precious, and we appreciate Gabby for being generous with hers You can follow her on Instagram at Gabby Reese and the Gabby rees Show is on Apple Podcasts. Desmond Howard, he's probably working out right now. We're riding his bike around Miami or blending some new smoothie recipe or brewing some exotic tea. Does has become even more passionate about his health and about sharing ideas with others since hitting the Big five Oh this spring. On Instagram,

his hashtag twenty one at fifty connects with people. He goes live each Wednesday evening for wellness Wednesday. Of course, in football, he was a Heisman Trophy winner at Michigan Super Bowl m v P for the Packers. He is a dear friend and a colleague and a mainstay of course on ESPN College Game Day for many years. So, Desmond, my friend, as this milestone in your life approached, I've left that in the rear view mirror. What was your psychological and physical approach to turn in the Big five

OH this year? I'll tell you what CF because Um, I've been working out consistently. UM. I was excited about it. Unfortunately for me, it happened during the pandemic, so I couldn't have like the all out celebration that I wanted. Um, but psychologically I was excited, but I was happy. I

was happy because I'm in a good place. I feel like I'm in a good place, you know, especially mentally and physically, and I wanted to start to just share my mental state and my my physical state with people because they had a lot of people they didn't believe

I was fifty. You know, there's which is a good thing. Well, you know, I took it as a compliment and they said, no, you can't be fifty, and um, so I felt good about it outside of the fact that I couldn't have like a big celebration, but it was good to celebrate with the people on on my Instagram. As an approach, does you know that age goes from being four in the first number to a five? It's traumatic for a

lot of people. Make a great point. The better shape here in, the better you feel about yourself and your life, the less of an impact negatively these milestones have. Did you do things in your forties knowing that you're about to hit that fifty miles and it's just a number, but it can be a lot more than a number for a lot of people. No, you're exactly right, and it's it's it is a milestone. And I guess in my forties I started to prepare myself just physically for

being a healthier person. And it actually, see if it started before I got in my forties. I was about thirty nine years on thirty eight thirty nine, and I went to the doctor and it's regular check up, and when I got my blood work back, and the doctor told me that my cholesterol was starting to creep up. My my LDL numbers were starting to um creep up

a little bit, and he wasn't comfortable with that. So obviously most doctors, as you know, they want to put you on some type of pill to control it, and I was against that. So I decided to just try to alter my eating habits. Um. You know, I have a sweet tooth. Um, I'm guilty of that. I have a sweet tooth. At that point, I probably could eat a dozen Crispy cream donuts, you know, with in a matter of a couple of hours, and I even think twice. Um, So I knew I had to give up that type

of of of of sweet our minetory. Everything is good in moderation for me, So I wouldn't eat it does if I will still get some doughnuts. I was there those days when they just delivered those donuts. You you were a notorious doughnut eater, so on college game day they would know that and here would come this box of donuts. I'm thinking Desmond's gonna share. Now. That was basically for you exactly. You remember those days, oh man.

So how tough was it to say, Hey, I'm getting this from my doctor, I'm taking this seriously, I'm gonna make a fundamental change and how I'm taking care of my body. You know, it wasn't very difficult. Um. The challenges came later on when I would travel with game day that those were the really challenges for me. Um. As far as like I said, I didn't stop cold turkey. I was gonna eat doughnuts. I just wouldn't eat them as often or as as many. Um So, but I

still got sweet tooth. So I just started to practice the whole philosophy and everything is good in moderation. Um. But then traveling with game they that became the challenge for me. Because you're going to some of these small college towns. They don't have the best options as far as trying to eat healthier, and and that's what I was doing. I was I was on the quest eat healthier. So keeping that type of eating habit consistent became the challenge.

And then you get the big dinners. You know, we would go out to dinner and then I mean it's like a it's like a king's um spread. Sometimes we would go out Friday nights. But then and just sitting there and watching certain members of our crew just go at it. You're not gonna name herb streets name. Now, I know what you said. Man, healthy habits on the road for a lot of people who travel for whatever their bob is is super challenging. I want to get back in a little bit later to so what you

put in your body? You are a chef master, with the smoothies, with the tease, a lot of interesting things that kind of go into your overall wellness program. But I do want to backup. So you you retire an O two, so there's eighteen years between retirement and turning fifty. How was your general state of health? You mentioned you had some health issues that doctors addressed in your forties. What about working out? Because one one thing I've heard

from the lead athletes. When they retire, what messages with their head is they know they will never be in that kind of shape again, and sometimes they just give up because they know they can't be what they once were. How was that for you wrestling with that reality? Well, I continue to work out, probably not as much or as intense as intensely as I used to when I played football, but I would. I would work out. My setback came when I actually had a meniscus tear, and

so once I had to have that repair. I've never ever had any surgeries below the waste, never and so that was the first time I had um hurt my knee where I had to have surgery and that set me back. So then coming back off surgery and then doing the rehab, you know, first of all, your body is not the same because you know you're up put on the shelf for a matter of months. And dealing with that rehab and then trying to get back in shape, that was a challenge because I wanted to run outside,

but my doctor he was against that. My my pt physical therapist he was against that. So then I had to make an adjustment. So I started to use the elliptical machine more because says there's low impact on your knees and the bike. So I had to make an adjustment. As far as Mark Cardio, you know, you want to get your body back in shape, but you want to do it the right way. So I couldn't run outside anymore. I could barely, you know. I wanted to do sprints.

You know, they said, you know, we limit the spress maybe ten but no, you know, three miles five mile runs, not nothing like that. So I would start to do interval training on the elliptical or on a spin bike, meaning I would go maybe thirty seconds hard on the elliptical and then thirty seconds you know, just normal. And I would do that maybe twelve or fifteen times. So that was to simulate a sprint. And I would do

the same thing with the bike. So early on, because of the surgeon I had on my knee, my body who didn't feel the same and kind of you know, a guy out of shape, and it was a challenge now mentally to get back into some sort of shape. Yeah, I think athletes have so much experience with injuries. You

you said you hadn't had a knee before. But what I found is the more experience you have with injuries, sometimes that knowledge can be a negative to your mindset because you know what it takes to get back off an injury. And people who have never been injured before. I watched their reaction, they're scarcer here some uncertainty, but I also watched the reaction whether it's on the football field or or just the general public when they've had

repeated injuries. And I've been there, you know what it takes and how much work it is to get back to where you were. And what was there a low point when you thought, des, Hey, you know I'm not gonna be able to be as active in retirement as I thought before you figured out how to manage the injury. Yeah, I believe so, because it was like I was going through the motions. It's like I'm going I'm working out, but not with the definitive purpose in mind, Like I'm

just going through the motions. And when you're going through the motions, see, you're not going to see the results that you want. You know, you know what you want to look like. I know what I used to be, but I'm not getting to that point. So it's extremely frustrating because I'm you know, going through the motions. I'm going through pt UM trying to make these alterations. Now, like you said, this is early now, this is this is UM. You know, two thousand to two thousand three,

this early. So I haven't made the adjustment meant to the yet to um change my eating habits and the change my my my my workouts and things that nature. So early on it was a challenge because even though I was still working out, I wasn't seeing the results that I wanted. Yeah, that mind body connection UM is something that an athlete understands, maybe from a young age those of us who are non athletes. My injuries helped me to establish a mind body connection that I didn't

have before. So you know, you have to attack the weakness when you're doing physical therapy to get back to where you were. But I found I was able to improve, not just get back, but improve. And I think that the value of physical therapist, man, it's it's there right there with surgeons, I think in terms of the importance of coming back. You know, when you were in your forties and approaching fifty, were there figures for you that were inspirations. I don't know if they're ex players or

people from other walks of life. For people should wait a minute, here's what's possible at fifty and beyond. And I'm gonna be inspired by what they're doing. Yeah, you know what I have. And I'm gonna go back to talk about the physical therapist because you did hit a good point. That's a very excellent point actually, because they are so important, their essential, and a good PT is the remedy to to overcoming any injury that you've had, any surgeon that you've had, and I've had a great

PT here. And the thing is you walk into some of these offices and they have like the jerseys of some of the professional athletes who they've helped. So so just imagine. Okay, so now I'm a professional former professional athletes. So I'm like, Okay, I know this guy. I know that guy. I know this guy, and it gives me confidence that this guy knows what he's doing. And some of these guys I can, you know, I can reach out to them and ask him about out the PT.

Guy I remember doing uh PT, Oh man, what was this? It must have been like oh six and uh it was some professional guys in there, and I think that just helps me. But then I started to think, you know, it's not just professional athletes and me's just regular people

who have surgery. This must make them feel like really good though, because they're getting the type of physical therapy that the people who they watch, like this guy who plays for the Heat or this guy who plays for the Dolphins, of these guys right here who played for the Miami Hurricanes, the same type of physical therapy at their game. So I think that, you know, that's that's uh I meant to add. I meant to say that they're very essential to overcoming things physically but also mentally

to the way that they approaching. And you walk into these places and you see all these jerseys up there, and you're like, Okay, I'm in the right place. This guy knows what he's doing. I can totally relate to that. I saw all the jerseys the people that operated on on each of my shoulders and my knee have had the three surgeries in the last two years, and I looked at that wall and I tried to get a sense of how fast they were able to come back,

what things they did. And I know that I'm not an elite athlete, but if I could attack it with the same mindset as though I'm trying to get back on the ice or back on the field. UM, I thought that would be helpful, and I think that's good advice. I'm I'm a huge believer. I try to be a pie piper for for the the power of physical therapy. When you see guys days in the sport that you used to play him Tom Brady use forty three and

the way he has sort of reshaped his physical training. Tara, Oh, it's forty six year old t o running a four four to forty against Tyreek Hill. When you when you saw that kind of thing, is is it now possible, through more knowledge and training, to to be elite like that much later than it used to be? I believe it is. Um you know you have, I mean the tech, the technology that we're dealing with now is so or

advance and where where it was, especially when I played football. UM, the knowledge of nutrition and different ways to to train, whether it's dumbbells, whether it's UM bands, different things in the way that they affect you by Because I know that Tom Brady is really big on the band system. He loves the bands, and you know, you could take them anywhere that you want. You know, you're using your hotel role. You don't necessarily need like the heavy weights.

And that's his trick. I mean, that's his key to success. When he believes in you, you factor the nutrition, the technology, and now the different ways that you can train to to I guess give you the longevity that you're you're looking for in particular sports. It's really mind blowing. Back back when I played football. I remember when I was in Michigan CF. You know, if you had like an a c L that was career threatening, like an a c L back then, I was like, oh my gods,

you're gonna be able to come back? Would you ever be the same Now? A c L is almost like an ankle spraining these days. I mean, it's so common and players are back on the field like that. So it just gives you an example of how far we've come as far as you know, technology, medicine, and physical therapy is concerned. You train yourself to play two of the most punishing positions in any sport receiver, kickoff returner. The collisions. You're training your body to be able to

withstand collisions. Thankfully, you no longer have to train your body to do that. What what is your routine? Take people through kind of what you do on the physical side. We'll get to the mental side in a bit, but physically to sort of stay in peak shape at fifty now, you know. I like I like to mix it up. Um. I like to do bands, I do um free weights, um man, I've done some classes. This is a it's a class called s l T which is really a challenge. And yeah, it's it's a challenge. So I like to

mix up. Like the box too. I love boxing. I think boxing that's some of the most uh difficult training, um that's out there. I think boxes are in tremendous shape. I have a jump rope. I love the jump rope. I don't do any more roadwork. I can't do roadwork anymore. You're getting the ring with somebody, do you getting there? In spars, it's just you you you you do all the punching. And I used to not anymore, but I used to get in there with my guys. So I

had a trainer. His name was Matt Bamonte and he's actually Matt Damon's trainer too, And uh, we all used to hang out and Matt Beamonte. He learned under Angelo Dundee. Yeah, and so we used to have dinners together. Angelo was the greatest, loved loved him, you know, he rest in peace. But so he learned, he trained under Angelo, and yeah, I used to get in the ring, used to put on the head gear, and man, I missed those those sessions. But that's just like the best trains. I love to

mix it up. I love to mixing up a lot. I've never seen you post on Instagram a boxing training thing. Maybe you have. I do see you post your bike rides all the time. You've come to cycling because I know that running is punishing on the knees, and like a lot of people our age, you look for lower impact cardio. But you get to be outside and you're living down there in Miami is a lot of beautiful

places you can cycle. So talk talk to me about how important that is to what you're what you're doing physically. Now that's another element too. I like cycling. Um, you know, I'm a I said earlier. I like the liblical and the spin bike and cycling outside is just you know, first and foremost, it gets my mind right, Like I just this is me, the bike and my thoughts. Um, and you can just ride. And I like to take a course where there's you know, obviously a minimum out

of traffic as far as cars are concerned. But when you get out there, Miami is beautiful. You know, I wrote on the beach um last week. Sometimes I'll go over the Key Biscne and ride over that bridge and I absolutely love it. You know, you can just keep going. I mean I can't. It's it's just know. It gives me the opportunity to reset. I normally do it on the weekends so I can reset. And uh yeah, this

great car deal, a wonderful car deal. I was a guy who I think you know this, Like, I used to love watching toward the fronts right the Tour de France is like the best, and I would be amazed

at those guys. Every day I would get up and watch it with my son and watching the mornings, like, man, that's just amazing that they can spend that much time on those bikes from the different stages and watching the pelotons and how you know the precision, how close they are and how they just stayed um so close to each other at those speeds mind blowing. I had the privilege watching a lot of Tour de France is up close and personal, and you're right, it is amazing. Recovery

is one of the key things in that sport. How these guys do these five six hour rides and then do it again and it's over a three week period. Recovery is something for those of us at a certain age that's a challenge because you can have your peak days. You can go out, you can still have a great day, even if you're a non athlete like me, but you might feel it more the next day that you used to. You might struggle to figure out about recovery. What do you do to get your body back right and ready

for the next work out. Well, I'll tell you what you know. When I played ball, people with well the trainers will always say you gotta getting ice tub and I'm absolutely against the ice tip. I felt like it was torture. I could not do ice Like if I was a five and anyone wanted to get the secrets out of me, just ice, I tell you everything. So I never was a big fan of getting into the ice tubs. It just didn't I couldn't do it. So what I would do is um not at an advanced age.

Now what I do is I make sure I stretch afterwards. You have to give yourself time to stretch and stretch properly. Don't rush through a stretch. Stretch properly. I take bags of ice. I can do a bag or two of ice and put that on something and put it on like my hamstrings on my quase if they feel sore. That's junior varsity. A bag of ice is nothing like taking an ice bad plant. But you make you make

a good point. People tell you things, here's what you have to do, here's the best way, and a lot of people do talk about ice baths, including the other guests on this podcast, Gabby Reese. But you have to figure out what's what's right for you. I mean, if it feels like torture and it's not working for you, it doesn't matter what other people say. Right, Oh, you're absolutely right. You have to do. You have to listen to your body and do what's best for you and

the I guess. The great thing is there are a lot of different um examples out there to how you can't recover. So just trial and err, look at YouTube, look at a person who you respect and see what they're what they recommend, and then try and if it works for you, fine, if not, then move on. So that's that's why I do especially listen. We get you get up there in the age, you know, you gotta

start making adjustments, you know, and thirties anymore. And so that's why I started to look at certain people and look at what they would do to recover. Started doing my own homework and my own research and figure it out what's best for me. But the most important thing you can do, like he said, and I've talked about this on my Wellness Wednesday, is listening to your body and do us better. That's for you. Yeah, you bring up a concept there that's really important to me and

I think really important to everybody. There's there's different stages when you hit these milestones. One is denial. If you get past that, then I think it's the balance between defiance and acceptance. And I think acceptance has a negative connotation, even though people who study psychology understand that accepting things is really a part of you know, raising your consciousness. But we want to be defiant and say that I am not going to be defeated by the aging process.

How do you balance off, you know, being defiant versus accepting the reality that you have to make adjustments. Yeah, my biggest challenge has been the fact that I'm very competitive too. I mean, I'm extremely competitive. So if I see something, I just automatically look at it as a challenge and then the competitive nature of me takes over. So I think one of the one of the best pieces of advice that I've heard I got from my

mentor was you know, work smarter, not harder. As you get older, you have to learn how to work smarter, not harder. And I think that's what I've really applied to to my mental state now, because it's challenging where you're competitor and you say, okay, well this says I need to do this many reps and I want to do it at a certain weight. Now I have to make sure that. Listen, if I did it and say I used forty five pounds before and I'm struggling to get to my target, then I'll start to back down

because you don't. You never want to compromise your form for waiting. You never because that's how injuries happen. So I understand if I'm at seven. Listen, I can't give you a perfect example that this isn't. I had a TRX, right, so listen. I got this TRX from uh an event I went to. Those are the straps you attached to your bars right there? You're there kind of body way. But it's a strap system, right, absolutely right, yeah, and it's all it's it's just body weight. So I'm using

this TRX at my house. Never use the system before. And it comes with a video. So you have this video, you download and you play it. So I'm going through a full body workout. It says forty seven minutes full body work. I'm like, forty seven minutes. Signed me up. That's I do that every day. So I'm doing this workout CF and I'm done. That must have been a Monday night. Tuesday I was okay. Wednesday morning, I got to take my son's to school. I drop them off. As I'm about to run to my car, my back

spazzumed up for me. Just tach, it just just stopped me in my tracks. I'm like, oh man, what is that. It's a long story short. I called a chiropractor. He asked me how I had anything new. I was like, no, not, that's oh yeah, a couple of days ago, I did this TRX thing. He's like, that's what it is? I like really say yeah, he said, because that system you're you're suspended and you don't have any support for your back and if your technique or your form isn't correct,

you can really heart yourself. You're exactly right. Used properly with good form can be really beneficial. And people are always searching and trying something new. But if they're not mindful, every rep and every exercise with the form stuff can be really damaging, especially when you're searching for answers and trying new stuff. That twenty one at fifty one for those of you who don't know Desmond's number at Michigan.

What was the inspiration behind that hashtag and launching this program on Instagram where you could be an example for others and also get great feedback from a lot of your followers. The inspiration was the fact, like I said, we talked about the earl, I was hitting his milestone right now, I'm quarantined. Um, you can't really go out, you can't celebrate. So a couple of friends were saying, you know, you should do something on Instagram to try

to celebrate your birthday. I was like, you know, that's a good idea, and so I came up this concept. Okay, twenty one at fifty because that was my number of Michigan. But I still felt young, Like I didn't feel like I was fifty. And I always tell people, um, you know you're you're getting older, but don't say you're getting old, because there's a difference. Getting old is a mind state. Getting older. Everyone's getting older. Only people not getting olded

the people who ain't here no more. So getting older is better than the alternative, isn't it. So you braced for this, you want to celebrate your birthday, but then it becomes an expression of all the things that you can do physically. And people have really connected with that on Instagram. Yeah, it's really taken off, and um, you know I was really surprised by it. You know, you have people where they reach out and they want advice, and you know, I was just really, to be completely honest,

just trying to share my lifestyle with people. This is these are the things that work for me. They may not work for you. But I'm gonna let you know. I'm gonna open my life up to you and show you a glimpse of what I do to keep myself healthy. And that was pretty much the motivation behind the two. And the response has been tremendous, you know, so the I started the Instagram Live which has been a lot of fun. Um the Wellness Wednesdays and I've had some

some special guests on there and we we've enjoyed. There's been a lot of fun. I share, you know, my my workouts, my eating habits, um, the things I like to drink, uh, smoothie recipes, tease people. I'm sure people you know probably familiar with the guy name Rod Marcus Roger Mark Artist is a guy who's big in the culinary world. Not just because of tease. We also can get exotic um herbs and spices that a lot of these high end restaurants and very popular chefs like a

Wolfgang Puck. These guys will using their recipes at their restaurants. What part does that play in your overall wellness and how does it play into the physical part the tease that you create and focus These are not regular teas. You should you should follow Desmond. You should see the kind of things he puts into water to to to make a tea to drink and the smoothies. What what part does that play in the overall wellness picture. It plays a significant part. First, I drink a lot of water.

I do, But now I like, I like t I drink a lot of tea, and I believe that the the nutrients that you can get from certain teas are beneficial. Um, you know they're healthy for you, um low, low and zero calories, which is beneficial, which is great. It's only calories you might get come from however you choose the sweeten sweeten your teeth. But yeah, and so these non caffeine to tease, you're not You're not getting the boy I drink. I drink green tea during every podcast interview.

But I'm getting that's a caffeine delivery system. Something tells me you're You're not about the caffeine and these teas you create, right, Yeah, yeah, you know, I'm a guy who needs caffeine. I really don't. So if it hasn't cool, if it doesn't, I'm good. But you know, I like, I like Maya teas and uh like oo long teeth, and I mean I have like probably in my pantry

three shells filled with teas well. I think people who take this in and as you said, you started it sort of as maybe a one way thing, you sharing with others, but now they're sharing back and I go on your feet and there are people, hey, does that went out for this ride or look at this workout that I did. What's been the most gratifying or surprising aspect of that where you realize the impact you're making another people who are also going through the aging process.

I tell you what, it's really funny when you hear about people who you're affecting that you didn't know you had any effect on, Like my my I give a perfect example. So my I have three brothers, right, two old or one younger, and my my oldest brother sent me a text message from my second you know, my other brother's wife, right, So come to find out that

my older brother's Jonathan, now my brother Chad. His wife watches my wellness Wednesdays and she watches my Instagram and she mentioned the biking, but she didn't mention it to me. She mentioned it to my oldest brother Jonathan, and she said, yeah, Jonathan, I got chat out here riding bikes now because we're gonna catch up with Desmond. I was like a secret.

They didn't even let me out there watching, but he said she sent him a video of my brother out there riding bikes with his wife, which was like it meant everything to me, Like if I can affect my brother, who like he's not, by any stretch of imagination, the guy who works out does any cardio, but for him to get out there because he's inspired by seeing me do it was it just warmed my heart. It was

great to see. That's a great story. Now you gotta get Chad down there out of Cleveland out into Miami. You said you're competitive, You're gonna you're gonna raise him on bikes and leave him in the dust. Are you just gonna ride alongside him and be supportive? I would have to be supported. I'm not trying to break his will. Well, I think it's great. I think when you realize you're affecting people that you never imagine when you put content out there, that's the best possible use of social media.

So one at sixty, how do you think that will feel different ten years from now? Will you be able to do the same things with the same intensity, or will you have to make adjustments. I'll tell you what the funny thing is. I thought about that too, I really have. And you know, because for me, it's a lifestyle and I want to continue is lifestyle for the next ten, fifteen, maybe even twenty years if I if I can. And you know, we talked about cycling earlier. And when I'm on my bike, you know, I see

people much older than myself. I see people who look like they're in their sixties, and you know, and they're riding. Maybe not at the same speed, but at least they're out there doing something, and that encourages me, uh in more ways than once. I know I can do that. As far as lifting is concerned, hey, no more of the heavy weights. You have to decrease the intensity, maybe lower the weights, but increase the reps. That's always an option.

But I do continue. I do plan on continuing this lifestyle. UM. Still eating healthy, um, you know, drinking my my juices and my teas. Uh. I'm not gonna get away from my my my ment and my ginger tease, my my child. So I do think I'll be able to continue this for at least the next ten to fifteen years. I think it got more years than that. You man, you continue to be an inspiration, uh in, a great example

to me as well as many others. And and thanks man, I appreciate your taking time and sharing your story and some of your tips and secrets. Oh Man, thanks for having me. You're an inspiration to me too. I'm chasing you, buddy, chase somebody else. I'm just trying to hang on out here. But I hope you enjoyed listening to Votes and Gabby. I had great fun talking to both of them. Are

grateful to them for their time. My thanks to my co executive producer Jennifer Dempster, producer Jason Wiko, and a good buddy Scott mckecker and for his guidance in this episode. I hope you'll subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to comment on what you liked or maybe what you'd like to see improved, you can message me on Instagram at Chris Fowler. I'll talk to you again soon