Welcome back to another episode of the Real Health Podcast. Our goal and our aim is to add value to your life in under 30 minutes. So we've been in a series of interviewing people who are at different, stages in their health journey. And today, I'm excited to have Buddy Cruze along the journey. So thanks so much for being here.
Thank you. It's an honor to be here. I appreciate it.
So we've known each other for years, and, I remember it wasn't more than a little over a year ago where, and it could've been even closer to 2 years, but you came about the house.
About a year and a half. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And you're thinking about starting a gym...
Yeah.
at your house and then so anyway, but I saw a change in you. I saw a change in you. And I know you were running a lot during that season, but you started talking about how tight your body was getting and how running was starting to bother you. And so you made a shift. And just so you know, you've set an example of- a lot of people around here that are seeing you, that you're leading others just by being here, and it's been special to watch.
So what was your why? Going back, let's you know, you've always always been intentional, I think, in some regards to your health, but...
Sure.
why the shift?
I- yes. There's lots of reasons for the why, but probably the biggest of which is you can take for granted a lot in life. I've been- I think God gives us one body and one body to take care of, and, I'm pushing 70 now. I'm 67 years old.
Come on.
Yeah. And like it or not, your body starts breaking down somewhat at that age and stage in life. I've always been very active, athletic. I've run and played sports and so forth and so on, but I just noticed that I couldn't do the things I wanted to do. Wheelbarrow, load of dirt in the backyard, pick up a grandkid, without it being somewhat of a, at least more of a struggle or tension spot for me than I wanted it to be.
Yeah. And then I, my dad then was 78 years old and had a heart attack and never knew that he even had heart issues. My wife is a workout phenom.
Yes.
So I had a little bit to keep up with there. So there were a lot of things that I felt like it would were speaking into my life, and I, you know, I've been coming to you for adjustment for, golly, a decade now maybe, I've known you.
Yeah.
Or more. And I had been thinking, I wanna either put a gym in my garage or I wanna start working out because I could see myself in the mirror, and I'm thinking I don't wanna look like this.
That's good. And, there's some part that's gonna happen. Everybody's gonna age and die. Death is undefeated. That's right.
At least on this side of heaven.
That's right.
So but I wanted to give my life an opportunity and the best chance I could give it. So I looked in the mirror, go, man, I need to do some some exercise, weightlifting, whatever. And it just so happened I came in to see you one day. And a young man by the name of Lucas Watson's back here introducing myself to him, which I'm good at doing. I like to meet people in your place.
It's a happy place, and I like to add to that. And I said, what are you doing? He says, I'm a trainer next door. And I said, you're kidding. It's exactly what I'm looking for.
So good.
So we connected in September of 2023. We went to work.
Yeah you did.
And he I said, what do I need to do? And I thought he was gonna say, well, you need to come see me once a week. He said, I need to do it 3 times a week. And I'm like...
Challenged you.
Woah. I said, alright. Let's do this. So for 3 times a week now since last September, almost non fail.
Yes.
We've been meeting for an hour and working out.
Yep. Yeah. It's it's been something, that we've I've witnessed the team's witnessed. We've witnessed, Lucas's witnessed your growth. And, I mean, I was in there the other day, and you're you know, I know your hamstrings probably still feel tight, but...
Yeah.
You know, they were moving differently than they were back in September of 2023. You know, you're so it sounded like your, go to training method was just running...
Yes.
as your main focus for season. And what you find is that when you specialize in one area, you start to lose a lot in other areas, and it's just so slow, it's a slow progressive loss.
Yes.
And so when you when you specialize, it does leave holes in other areas of health of your body, physical health of your body. So, when you started to do more of this mobility strength training
Yes.
In combination with some still some cardiovascular training.
Yes.
What did you start to notice that was different in your body?
Well, that's easy. Because what I noticed before that was exactly what you said. I was a runner, but I was losing muscle.
Yeah.
I couldn't do the term we use now, which is a great term is functional strength.
Yes.
I- it's function just the basics of functional strength is going away.
Right.
And I give lots of examples, but just trust me. It was not where I wanted it to be. So I had never lifted weights in my life. Believe it or not. Never. I've played athletics, and it was back in the day when basketball players didn't lift weights because you were in...
Plyometrics.
You were in that nice smooth stroke when you lifted weights.
That's right.
So, you know, we stayed away from weights. And then but I thought to myself, I've got to start building some muscle. To be able to do what I wanna do in life. Lucas gave me the term of functional strength, and I said, that's exactly what I want. Because I took him into the gym the first day I came here, and strength, and I said, that's exactly what I want. Because I took him into the gym the first day I came here, and we agreed to do this. And I pointed out about 3 guys. I mean, they were buff.
Yeah.
Big dudes. And I said, Lucas, if you try to make me look like him, I'm firing you.
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
Because that's not what I'm after.
That's right.
I'm asking what what you said, mobility,
Yep.
and functional strength,
That's right.
To get me into the next decade or 2 in life,
That's right. To where I don't my body doesn't break down when I'm doing just the normal function of taking out the trash, doing things of this nature. How much value do you now have in that we you didn't have before. Right? It changes your perspective, but now how much value do you have in functional strength, now going through it and seeing it and seeing the results on your body?
It's incredible. I can honestly say and I've been only been at this a year now, a little over a year, September of 2023 to now November of December of 2024 is incredible. And just the lifting thing, I would have aches and pains in joints that I thought, uh-oh. I've got a cartilage, or I've got a this, or I've got a that. And all we've done now is strengthen those joints, strengthen what's around those joints, and the aches and pains go away.
Isn't it amazing?
And I'm like, wow.
Yes.
That's incredible.
Yes.
I thought I might have to go to an orthopedic.
It's good. So good. Let's pause there because I think it is such an important message to really take home. When we start to adapt to loss of range of motion and because we hurt, we go to the point of pain. So we're like, hey. If I go this far, it hurts. Okay. I'm not gonna go that far. I'm gonna go a little less, but then we're still hurting. So then you go a little less, then you go a little less, and then you realize you've lost range of motion.
And so there must be a problem in the joint when in reality, as we start to push through that pain in a very tasteful way, in a very controlled way,
Yes.
in a coached way,
Yeah.
As we improve range of motion and we explore new range of motion, we realize, wow, that was just that was just tightness. That was just tension. That was just immobility. That was lack of strength. That was lack of motor control and balance.
Yes. Totally.
You start getting all those things coordinated together, and you realize, hey. The joint was actually healthier than I thought. And here's truth. When you do MRIs on people over the age of 40, if you do an MRI on the low back, it's a staggering statistic. It's close to 40% of people who have a disc bulge in their spine. You know, when you do an MRI of the shoulder, there's a rotator cuff tear of some sort. When you do it in the hip, there's a labral tear.
Yes.
If you wanna look hard enough and find an excuse for your pain, you'll find it.
Yes.
But the rubber meets the road is here. Are you gonna choose to do things the hard way, which is working for a year and pushing through those limits and realize, hey. We all have breakdowns in our body, but that doesn't mean we need to do we need we need to necessarily cut it, do surgery. We can actually structure a program that improves range of motion, strength, and mobility. And, hey, if the pains get better, great. If not, then maybe we can have a conversation at that point.
Yeah. You're singing my tune. That's exactly what's been going on with me for the last year. Exactly. Shoulder pain, knee pain. I had a wrist when he started actually, this is an embarrassing story, but I'm gonna tell you because the 1st day in, Lucas says, give me a push up. I wanna see you do a couple push ups. I said, I can't do a push up. I'm a man telling another man I can't do a push up.
Yeah.
And he says, do the best you can.
Yeah.
So I got down and tried to do the best I can. And one of the problems I had was is my right wrist had something going on with it that where I when I pushed, it would give me such pain. It would hurt. That one of the reason I couldn't do a push up because I just went strong enough to do a push up. But now today, I just did an interval of 78 push ups last Friday, and my wrist pain is gone.
Come on. So good. That's so good.
I mean.
So good.
That's incredible, isn't it?
Yeah. It's incredible in so many ways. The I think I think hindsight's always 20/20. We look back, we had a year of consist one of the things first things you said was I really never missed. Over this last year, you've been consistent, disciplined, structured, and you've seen the fruit of your labor.
And so that's really what we're talking about is healing takes time, strength building takes time, mobility takes time. We want it to be gone in a day, a week, a month. We want to build muscle back in 2 months. It just doesn't happen that way. Health is something that's progressive over time, but if we're consistent and diligent and disciplined and stay on the right course and have someone who's feeding into us because if you were training by yourself, I guarantee,
No.
You would have been so much more inconsistent.
No. I can assure you that.
I'm the same way. I have a running coach. Why do I have a running coach? Because she tells me exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. And so all I have to do is do it.
Yes.
I just have to I have to just choose to say yes to whatever's on the menu for today.
Yeah. And there's some accountability for me
No doubt.
To meet Lucas here and say, okay. I'm gonna be there at 11, And we got an hour to go, and he pushes me, and he knows when not to push and when to push. And I like that. I like the accountability. Oh, absolutely. So that's good for me.
Absolutely. Has it influenced so has your health in this area that you're building here, how has it had a ripple effect on your everyday life?
Oh, wow. I think it's affected everything in my everyday life. My work, although I'm not working as much as I used to, but the your my general health of getting up in the morning. My diet, I...
You start thinking differently. You start thinking differently.
I'll say this to you too. It amazes me it amazes me the number of young guys that work out over here and then they go get a Burger King for...
Come on.
For lunch.
It's insane
And I'm thinking, wait a minute. That's that's a little that's an oxymoron, ain't it? I mean, we there- you y don't have to be the pure keto diet or something of that nature. I mean, that's not I'm not criticizing that. I'm just saying
That's right.
There's healthy ways to eat.
That's right.
There's things we should not consume.
Agreed.
So stay away from those.
That's right. Prioritizing proteins.
So it- so I think it has energized me to pay more attention to my diet, to my sleep. But that was a big thing I talked to you about here... You did. A little while back. And the sleep is right. And so it's a whole health approach. And you've started that. Really, you did. I remember sitting and meeting you for the first time with this dura in your back spine.
You gave this big- I thought, this guy's full of it. I don't- what is he talking about? And then, you know, you start doing you think this is good, and then you and and then I go to start working out 3 times a week, and that's good. I come once a week here and get a full body, you know, kinda restore restorative massage.
It's good.
It's great. It's good. I get a routine, and I guess that's what you're asking, a lifestyle routine now that's as healthy as it's been.
Well, it's a common saying I use is how you do anything is how you do everything. When you start to see the disciplines and the fruit of one area of your life improve, it trickles to the next
Yes.
And the next and the next. And once you start to develop the routine, the consistency, and discipline of one area and it becomes automatic.
Yes.
It's so much easier because now you have the energy to start tackling how you see your nutrition.
Right.
Once you start looking at nutrition and it becomes a rhythm of, hey, I prioritize protein, I eat 3 meals a day, I fuel properly. Well, now we can start looking at my sleep. Okay. I'm being- I'm intentional when I go to bed, when I wake up. Okay. Now I can be intentional about my recovery, my rest, and so, again, how you do anything is how you do everything. And as you become more disciplined in one area, and it becomes automatic, you have the energy expenditure now to put into other areas.
Yes.
And then you become a well rounded individual in your health journey. And that's the goal is can we can we do this consistently and really enough?
Totally. And the answer to that is yes. I give my wife the, you know, the old Baptist, the status about it. If you don't know where a man's heart is, look at his checkbook. And there's a lot of truth to that. Well, I use it for my lifestyle. Yes. Okay. If you wanna look over my heart is, look at my checkbook. See where I spend my money. Then there's a lot of truth behind that. Well, if you wanna look to see where my why is or what my intentions are, then look at my lifestyle.
Yep. It's good.
I could eat a half a bag of ruffles...
Yeah.
a couple of years ago. I still could, but I choose not to because eating a half bag of ruffles is stupid if I'm gonna come here and sweat my fanny off.
Uh-huh. Come on.
And work like I do 3 days a week. Yeah. I mean it's counter intuitive. It is. It just doesn't work together, so you give up the the thing that is not helping your body.
It's the wildest thing to see someone who starts their health journey in terms of training and fitness, CrossFit specifically, how hard these guys work out 5 days a week, and they've got still this massive belly on them.
Incredible.
And all I can think about is you are working your tail off.
Right.
But yet of this really- the labor's in the kitchen.
Yes.
And so abs are made in the kitchen. You know?
No doubt. No doubt.
You're work- you're stronger, but from a belly perspective, I mean, that is purely what we're putting in our...
Yeah.
In our body on a day to day basis.
And the medicine cabinet is in the kitchen as well
Yeah it is.
So much so. So much so.
I mean, how much less Ibuprofen, Advil? How much less medication do we use as we start to heal in these other areas? That's so good. If you're speaking to an audience, who's we're pretty we're pretty across the board balanced, where it's about 30 to 60 year olds that listen in, mainly mainly younger to middle aged families. And a common thing we hear is is, like, hey. I don't have enough time or, you know, they're just we can make excuses.
Yeah.
Make excuses for our weaknesses.
Yes.
Make excuses for what we don't wanna do.
Yes.
Sooner or later, you decided not to make an excuse anymore.
Right.
How would you speak to that to that group?
I think that's the way you speak to them. I have a daughter over here right now. Right as we speak, she's working out. She's a 36 year old mom of 5.
Okay.
And everybody would say there's no way. I have too much to do. Well, she doesn't have too much to do because her kids are now in school, and the youngest is with my wife, which is the grandmom, and she's here working out now twice a week.
Yes. She is.
With her body, which is incredible. So I don't care what age you are. You could be 67, and I like to sleep. I love to sleep.
I love some sleep.
But I get up in the mornings now because I have things to do and things that are best for my body. And I look at it this way, Dr. B. I see life in 4 quarters. If God's good enough to bless us with a full life, it's from 4 quarters, 0 to 20, 21 to 40, 41 to 60, and 61 to 80. And I go, what's after 80? And I said, well, that I call that overtime.
You're so good.
So if you get to 80, it's overtime. Get that. Yeah. But I wanna get to overtime.
That's right. And
I wanna be able to be not winded when I get to overtime. And the only way I know to do that, to tell people out there, to encourage them is that if anybody could do it, that if they can- if they saw me doing this, anybody could do this.
Yeah. That's good.
And they look at me, and I've been- I have been gifted of the bit because I've never really dealt with a weight issue or that kind of thing, but that doesn't have anything to do with it because underneath this facade was a very weak, out of shape, dying body.
Yep. That's right.
And I just woke up one morning and said, I'm not gonna do this. That's good. Yeah. I wanna get to overtime.
Yeah.
And I'm gonna give God every opportunity to get me to overtime.
That's good.
You and I both know.
That's right.
Our days are limited. And if I wake up tomorrow with something that's gonna take me out that to God be the glory. That He- it's His creation, and I'm a part of that. But I think I can help Him.
Yes. You can.
And I know that to be true because I don't drive 90 down Kingston Pike. If you drive 90 down Kingston Pike and run red lights, you're gonna kill yourself.
That's right.
So don't do that.
That's right.
So it's the same kinda same theory, isn't it?
Absolutely. We have a destiny. Right? Like, the Lord does know our time, but there are guardrails that we can put in our life to say, hey. If I eat Burger King every single day, 3 meals a day, I am going to shorten my life. That is the truth. Probably.
Yeah.
Yeah. My life expects probably gonna decrease.
Yes.
And so there are some guardrails that we can put and barriers to put that help us, hopefully get into overtime. It's a beautiful word picture. I love it. I love sports, so it just makes so much sense. Hey. That's it. That's the value that we need. Your communication, inspiration, consistency, discipline, There's so much to unpack there, but one of the most I think the last thing you left us with is you one day just woke up and said, I've had enough.
Yes.
We're gonna make a change.
Yes. I looked in the mirror, shaving 1 morning. I do a lot of contemplating when I shave in the morning. You see yourself. Nobody else sees you. You look in your mouth eye to eye. So there's a lot of kinda deep thinking that goes on because you shave a 1,000,000,000 times in your life, and you don't have to think about it. You just do it. So you're subconsciously, I'm in another world thinking, and where am I going?
What am I gonna do? What's my life gonna look like here post 70? That's good. And I made a decision to to make some changes. And you've been a big part of that. I think the health community that we're involved in is an interesting community now too. And you brought some real truth and some, excuse me, some light to a lot of things going on that we would probably see differently.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I credit you. You've set this up. Your place is incredible. And it's not a plug for you. It's just the truth.
We started coming to Armor Health to get adjustments, but Dr. B found a lot of things you did just when you had these little focal groups you do at night, and I think this guy's incredible. So then you would go in here, and you move in this new building to the gym next door. Boom. And then you bring in a massage therapist, Maggie, and she's not just a lay down and relax. That's part of it, but she works on areas that you're- and I've got a whole health community right here. You got a team.
On less than dry. It's a team. That's true. And I love you guys. It's a fun place to come. You know me. I got the gift of gab, but it's a fun place to come. It's upbeat. It's knowledgeable. It's a well-being place.
That's so good. That's so good. Well, we're grateful for you. Hey. Take a second. Look in the mirror and decide, hey. What does my tomorrow look like? And if you don't like the way your health and your life is going, decide today. Let's make a shift. Let's make a change. Reach out to the community around you and decide today is different. Tomorrow's gonna be different, and we'll make a change. So thanks for joining us.
My pleasure. Yeah.
Thank you so much value in these in these in these minutes
Thank you.
That we've had with the audience. So, hey, thanks again for listening to another episode of the Real Health Podcast.