#1567 Learning To Operate You - Harps & Tiff

sometimes anyway, she was saying, and she was lovely. She was talking about how she'd had a bunch of her clients in this week or patience, whatever she calls them, and they were all like you were when I chatted to you yesterday, which was super flat, and she was talking about how it had to do with the moon and stuff. Remember we were talking the other day about the full moon, and I used to think it was bullshit.

I used to think that, which is just shows that I was kind of ignorant because it's well known that it does have an impact on us and it and I think I told you this story the other day, but i'll tell it for the show. I might have told it once on this show, but I'm not sure.

But anyway, years ago, I did a and I mean this with total respect, I did a corporate speaking gig for a school, like a special needs school, school with kids with primarily intellectual handicaps, learning disabilities and so on. Awesome kids, by the way, awesome school, awesome teachers. Anyway, I had to do a whole day with the teachers, and I got there early and the principle was showing me around the school. That was a non school day, so that's why I had the whole day with the teachers.

But I was asking her about the school do you remember their story or.

and I kind of inappropriately but unknowingly laughed. I went, oh, yeah, I can imagine that all be on the roof howling or something, you know, like I didn't know, and she's kind of looked at me, and I went really and she goes, oh, yes, Like the fucking dumbass. I'm like, wow, I thought you were. Oh, I'm like really, and she goes, oh yeah, one hundred percent. And I got what happens and she goes, ah, you know, everything, like not all of them, but a percentage of them around the full moon.

You know, they're they're you know, they get a bit upset or their behavior changes. And she was I mean, she wasn't being on any level disparaging or in like, she was just saying, what happens. Oh yeah, no, no, we have we all have trouble, always have trouble. There's a few that you know, and I'm like, oh my god. And then not yes day, but the day before I think was a full moon. And then the last couple of days been a bit little.

then and then you feel shit. And then a day or two later, nothing's changed and you don't feel shit. Then you kind of go, maybe it's bio chemical, right.

go home to bed now. And it's like I never feel like that, and I was like, oh, okay, all right, yeah, we won't We'll take the gloves back off then we won't punch the bag.

to put it. I can't put on a front. I feel like this, yeah yeah, no, thanks for putting up with that and making me laugh a little bit and actually making me do train a little bit more than I would have if I had have not gone or.

fucking hamstrings, hips, shoulders against the door. I'm like, all right, jumbo pat, mister fucking PhD and self awareness, just leave that door alone and just get the fuck back a bit, you know. And so I just told you what to do in the gym and I didn't raise anything and we got through it, and I think there was even a couple of laughs. But it is, you know, it is funny, isn't it. Because I could see you on another day and you're, you know, maybe not feeling great,

and I go, what's going on? And you just go blah blah blah blah. Right, And then other times it's like don't fucking ask, don't look at me, don't look at me.

but it's real. But yeah, is that something that you have that you think about or you've had to think about because like you're you're because also you're very fucking lean, right, and like you are. There are very few women who are as lean as you. Yeah, and so does that am I allowed to ask? Is that fuck with your cycle and all of that?

like that. But this year, you know, last year, when I went into fight training and that was a hugely intense anxiety provoking, my emotional response to that was enormous, and I went, well, that's that's expected because the training and the intensity was high and hard, and the pressure that was put on was for that reason was hard. So I went, well, this all makes sense, and I think there's a bit of emotional and psychological stuff for me that's coming out through that environment because of the

work I've done. But this year, when I wasn't in that same environment and I was training, I had a similar couple of similar emotional reactions where I'm for no reason, in the middle of training, I just wanted to cry I was like, oh, I want to quit. And I went, okay, this is out of context. I think this might be hormonal. My recovery is tanked this year. I've been waking up at three am quite a bit. I never do that. I always struggle to get to sleep, but I never

wake up. So I yeah, So I've just made an appointment this week to get all of the levels and

the things tested. Do you know what else was interesting in terms of sorry, in terms of I've been listening to Raw by Doctor Stacy Seems one of her books, and she deals with female athletes, and just today I was listening to it on the way back from Q and she was talking about low energy availability and that's I can't remember the percentage of female athletes that actually run into low energy availability because we don't eat enough to fuel. So you can eat enough to fuel your workout,

but not to fuel your organ functions. And she said look, and I just went geez. She said the thing. Some of the things that tell you you're in low energy availability are stress fractures. Now, I had to my first fight, I had stress fractured transverse process. I had a ferretin level of five two weeks out from that, and I had previous leader that recovered from a stress fracture in my hand. Not at one point did anyone in the medical industry go, hey, who's what are you doing with

your nutrition? How are you recovering? No one's monitoring any level of periodization. It was just, oh, we jab a local anesthetic in your spine and see if that you know, like that was before we knew it was a stress fracture. Yeah, and I just went wow, since two thousand and four back then, because I then I wasn't really paid, I didn't know much about nutrition, or it probably wasn't. I wasn't eating as much as I thought I was back then, and probably I eat a lot more now.

break or fracture. But yeah, you know, I wrote a post that I put up yesterday which is really relevant to this if you don't follow me on Instagram, come on, get on pragg Anthony Harper on ig and the whiteboard post or the whiteboard is when it comes to transforming your body. Something works for everybody, but everything doesn't work for everybody. And then I wrote find your something then

underneath that and this is specific to you, well us. Really, despite what some self proclaimed experts, salespeople and pseudo scientists might tell or sell you, there's no single best exercise program, diet, health protocol or lifestyle because newsflash, we ain't the same. Which is why the drug that saves one person can literally kill another, so that would be penicillin. And why

Dave's healthy snack is John's anaphylactic reaction. And then in another version, I wrote why Sally's favorite strength movement is Jane's bulging disc squats or dead lifts, right, And so like the bottom line, and we say this a lot, people still don't really understand the importance of While yes, we need advice and we need somebody to you know, you go see a personal trainer or an exercise physiologist or you know a tear or a Craig or someone like one of us, and sure you get a program written,

but even me, who's written literally probably tens of thousands, it's still an educated guess. So I don't know exactly how your physiology, your biology, your joints, your ligaments, your tendons, your muscles, your digestive system, etc. I don't know how your nervous system. I don't know how it's going to respond because I've never had I've never worked with your body. So what we do is we go, well, let's start here, because this is based on lots of research and experience,

there's probably a logical spot to start. But then more importantly, let's see what your body tells us, you know, which is why one person can have almonds and it's a healthy snack, and another person can die from an an plactic reaction. Or someone has penicillin and it, you know, it cures their gonorrhea. You're welcome. And someone else has penicillin and they die because they're fucking allergic to it.

Or someone does deadlifts and over twelve months builds an incredible lower back and arson hammies, and someone else does deadlifts, you know, even with perfect form, and they're fucked. You know they're fucked because their body by mechanically you know, lever lanx blah blah blah everything. It's just not suited for that. And the truth is, despite how some people go everyone should do this, it's not true. Not everyone

should deadlift, not everyone should squat. You know, the person with certain biomechanics and certain kind of spine and maybe anterior pelvic tilt, were's a lot more stress on the lumbard discs. And by the way, they're you know, fifty two. And by the way, now, all of a sudden, you putting this downward force of a barbell on their spine. Just because your trainer likes squats doesn't mean it's a fucking good idea, you know. So that listening to your body is super important.

is great because I love fasting every time. Now I knuckle down on fasting a lot more when I train hard and I'm competing, and when I compete in boxing, within eight, nine, ten months, I'm completely burnt out and I go, I don't really deal well with that training. But I'm also amping up my fasting then and then I started listening to Stacy Simms. That's why I've been

going deep on her. And she is so dead against female fasting and especially if you're a female athlete, and her research is amazing around it and also avoiding carbs. So she's like, no kedo for women, Like, that's not like and all of the science is amazing, and I'm like, I feel like when I intermittent fast, I feel amazing. My body responds like that, my energy is magnificent. Ten months later, I'm in burnout.

But she's also and I go, well, I'm not saying that she's deliberately, but given what she does, her bias will be so strong that she won't be able to let go of. Maybe maybe fasting isn't really all that great long term, Like what are the long term things going on?

Ron's got like twelve thousand views. N's is going to be signing fucking autographs at the more Well Leisure Center soon. He's going to be beating those motherfuckers off. Get out of here. Fuck he's got Why do I show him the video next weekend? Oh he's going to be so fucking proud he burst out of his burst out of his tracksuit with pride, his fucking target tracksuit. He'll burst

right out of that motherfucker anyway. But the the thing is, like, I understand that one of the pro and I'm not talking about either of those researchers you spoke about, but in general terms, and I'd put me in this too. Right, when you are quite emphatic about, oh this is the best way to do something, you always have to say for who or for whom perhaps, right, It's like, you know, there are certain things that work really well for me,

like two meals a day. I actually think what works for me would not work for most definitely wouldn't work for you, right, I would say people would be surprised to go, all right, well, Craigs an eighty five six kilogram muscular male with not much fat and tip is a sixty ish kilo muscular female with less fat, right, but twenty five kilos between eskive or take. But I would think for a range of reasons, you need more

calories per day than me. Now, if you went to the hypeweight thing, the BMI thing, the fucking recommended cols per day, micro's macros, it would not tell you that it would be but it would be wrong. Right now. That's the fucking website, or that's the theoretical science. But the real world reality is the sixty year old chick needs more calories that or sorry, the sixty kilogram chick, Sorry the sixty kilogram chick, but yes she's okay with

me calling her that, don't send me an email. Is needs more calories per day on average than the eighty five kilo bloke now that's not scientifically typical. But you know, this is why we need to take science, not with a grain of salt, but as a starting point. It's a starting point, you know, and one of the thing.

And I'm not saying anything either way, but even if we want, if you want me to prove to you how hysterical and emotional people get about science, not logical, not rational, not intellectual, just say COVID vaccine and just fucking watch the pandemonium. Just stand back and watch crazy Town on both sides and the finger pointing and the anger and the fucking bullshit, and it's like, arrest my case. It ain't about science all the time. And this from

a fucking scientist. Science matters, but you still need to go. Okay, So probably and by the way, if you did TIFF's BMI and my BMI and then you look at a high weight chart for her and I, you would find, well, definitely I am overweight, heading towards obese, and probably TIFFs overweight based on her which is ridiculous because her body composition is abnormally lean. So not only is she not fat, which the calculation might show she is, she's the opposite

of fat. So once again, it's just a fucking guide, you know, and like also like another example, I mean, this episode is literally about learning how to operate your body. Like, there's not many people would say, Okay, the guy who trains every day, I'm now running every day, by the way, not far, just one or two k's and I'm lifting every day, and I use a lot of brain energy. By the way, twenty percent of your total energy expenditure, everyone, listen to this for a fucking stat. Twenty percent of

your total energy expenditure is from your brain, give or tape. Now, again, that's science, but the truth is that cognition, thinking, problem solving, creativity is incredibly energy expensive. So my eighty five kilo body, twenty percent of my daily energy goes on that one point three kilo lump of thing that sits in my head. That's fucking amazing too, right, Yeah, But then on top of that, you go, wow, Craig, you should definitely try eat three times a day. What happens when I eat

three times a day? Like, and I'm not talking big meals, I'm talking what you would call kind of regulation and in fact, less than most dudes even at three meals a day, I gain body fat and my brain doesn't work optimally in the afternoon, Like my energy levels and my cognitive function are better when I do not eat through the day. Now is that a recommendation, No, that's biofeedback.

That's my personal experience. And this is why it is incredibly important that people if you are going to see an exercise physiologist and nutritionist to fucking physiotherapist, a doctor and anything, trust them to a I'm not saying they're untrustworthy. I'm saying it's your body. Ask good questions, and if they fob you off, go get another doctor who doesn't or trainer or whatever. Because when someone says to me you need to do that, I'm like, cool, Why well

why tell me? Why tell me the mechanism, tell me the reason, and then if it makes sense to me, you know, like, ultimately, I need to take ownership for my body one and two what I do to my body, or maybe three what I allow others to do to my body, because at the end of the day, I've

got to live in this fucking thing. And I personally have been given advice over the years that was wrong for me, and I did it because I trusted them more than myself, and I ended up getting sick or you know whatever, or injured or whatever the case may be. And by the way, none of those people were trying to do the wrong thing. But you know, even well intentioned people do not understand your body totally because they work with a range of bodies, you know.

into that. Someone should be But when you don't know, you just go okay, oh thanks, yeah, give me an infusion. Done, tick, move on.

I think it was in Europe anyway, I heard him talking. Also, his daughter Mikayla has significant issues. Maybe they have a few green veggies or something, but they definitely they eat carbs, starchy carbs, and I'm pretty sure only meat, meat, and like salt. Right now, would I recommend that to anyone? Fuck?

become boxes or fucking bullfed bodybuilders or you know. But the thing is this arbitrary, inflexible kind of way of thinking that no, that doesn't work for bodies. No, that doesn't work for somebodies, you know, and then you know for you that that kind of you know, when you go to two experts who basically give you very different information within a short period of time about your own physiology, you know, it's like then you kind of go, who the fuck do I believe?

Test that first, because there you go from eating anything and everything to only meet. Of course, whatever you cut out, there's a portion of it that's going to be the culprit. He's going to have a result of making you feel better. Of course, when people do that, no one comes to me and says, I'm carnival. I spent a year just eating no processed food and that didn't work.

here's a question. Is it possible to reduce calories just by reducing calories? And before you send me an email. Yeah, I know, it's easier said than done. I get it, of course. I mean, do you know what fucking makes me laugh? As when I put up a post and someone writes easier said than done, I'm like, of course you fuck with of course, it's everything is literally easier said than done, you know. I mean, here's an idea, and I know it's hard, and I know it's not convenient,

and I know it's not easy. I get it. But if you just reduce your calories and you increase your calorie expenditure, you're going to lose weight, you know. And yes, there's a few rare exceptions, and we're putting aside people with ridiculous not ridiculous, but rare hormonal. But for the most part, the average punter, you know. But again, this is not glamorous, quick, fun, sexy.

to look at other reasons. Why how do I now control my hunger hornbones without just wrestling with it and going on, Well, that's just it. It's like no one else. Another thing that in that book that came up today was talking about gut health and how feeding different. You know people, they're talking about people that love chocolate, and chocolate feeds a certain type of bacteria, and then that

bacteria is a colony inside your gut. And then when you cut sugar out or chocolate or whatever, the food is the craving subsidet. So it's like, oh, so then you start to understand it from this the biology of what you're eating, You go, oh, that might shift. Maybe I can do some gut stuff. Maybe I can see someone that can boost that part of my biology and make it a little bit easier, and then I cannot intermit fast and still have an easier time with food.

He's gone away, he's gone away tonight for a few weeks. I said, I want you to think about it. I said, but if you're interested in like if what you want is me to be you to see me once a week and I'm a little bit of a personal cheer squad, and I tell you you're awesome and you're trying hard.

I go, I'm not that guy, like I'm interested in you over the next five, ten, twenty years, really changing how you know your mind, body, emotions work, because he needs to and he knows that I'm interested in your long term kind of quality of life and performance and experience, and you're being happy content for all that, right, I'm not interested in making you feel good for five minutes in the middle of a chat. And it's like, we

are very in our culture. And I'm generalizing so not all of our listeners, of course, but you know, we are so addicted to comfort and people telling us we're amazing and validating our fear. And I understand all of that, and we need to be loving, kind of empathetic. But you know, there have been times in my life where I needed someone to go, you've been a fucking idiot, because I was being a fucking idiot, right. I just was like, I wish that there was a person in

my life. And there have been a few who have Thank you to those people, but who kind of called me on my bullshit, you know. And I told this story once or twice. But an old guy that I used to really look up to and love, he when I was very young. He and he was real smart, real wise. He said to me, you need to be careful what you do with your mouth, because you're going to bring people down or raise them up, and he goes,

you have a gift and you have a responsibility. What you do with your mouth, what you choose to do, is very important. And nobody had ever spoken to me like that because I was a smart ass and I could make people laugh or I could fucking slice and dice them with my words, right, and I didn't want to do that, but if somebody would have a go at me, it was like somebody would throw one punch, I would throw forty six, right, And that was just

about my bullshit. And he said that to me, and he goes, you can spend your life bringing people down or up. It's a choice. And that changed my life. But you know, I had to be told that, and somebody had to go to me. You know, he didn't say this because he's too nice, but like you're being a fuck with being a fuck, you know. And even times when there were times when I had to say to myself, Craig, you're not fat because you're fucking thick set,

full figure, Craig, you're fat because you're just overeating. You're just overeating, you know. And I'm not saying anyone else, so don't get upset. I'm talking about myself. But like when I was morbidly obese, which I was as a child then later as an adult. Right, I was one hundred and seven kilos in my late twenties, right, which is nelly, What is that? It's third? What is that thirty two kilos three kilos heavier than now? And it's

because I was eating shit. It wasn't it wasn't genetically predetermined, and it wasn't like, Oh fucking woe is me. I was just being a dickhead with food. I was eating way too much. I was eating bad food. I was eating too much food and the consequence. And that's not self loathing, that's just honesty, that's just harps. You're doing this thing, and this is the result. Now you can jump up and down. You can talk about your genetics, you can you can talk about the business dinners that

you have to go to. You can talk about how busy you are and how you don't have time to prep meals. You can and then but you're still fucking fat, Right, you can like and at the end of the day, for me, anyway, that works for me. Obviously, I'm not going to walk up to someone and talk like that ever. Right, But the truth is the truth. If you're wasting your talent,

you're wasting your talent. So don't get upset at me because you're the one wasting it, you know, if you're bullshitting and saying it's a time thing when it's a you thing. Also, don't get mad at me if it actually is a you thing. If it isn't a you thing,

then I'm wrong and you're right. That's cool, carry on, But don't spend your life rationalizing failure and underachievement and underperformance and wasted potential because you actually don't want to own your own actions or your own choices or your own behaviors. Like you know, you're never going to have more talent than you've got right now, tif, I'm never

going to have more talent than I've got. I can get more skill, I can get more efficiency, I can get maybe a bit more muscle, I can get a bit more knowledge, I can get a bit more qualified, but I can't get more talented. So the question is

how much of my talent will I use? And I think that's all potential genetic potential, creative potential, intellectual potential, business potential, personal professional, Like I tried real hard and I'm nowhere near my limit, you know, So you know that's what fascinates me.

an easy thing to think about yourself. But at times when I wasn't able to train, or times when I didn't feel that way about my body, it was like, oh, like there's sometimes you aren't bullshitting yourself too, Like, you know, I wasn't always that and then sometimes I was driven. In fact, it's easy to say, like I've got great genetics and I've always been really active, but there's been bouts of times in my life where I eat to move and move to eat where I go and chastise myself.

And like before I started sport, I would be go haul off to the gym because I'd just overeating a whole bunch of shit, because the idea of putting on weight was fucking a non event, like you know so, and I spent a lot of and but would never fully admit that to myself. There were just bouts of that, and then you get into a sport and you're like, oh, I don't you know body image. Look at those bodybuilders that obsess over food. I'm just this is just you know ah. And then next minute, Yeah.

Or you know, how you're responding to criticism. You know, it's like and that's the thing, you know, It's like, I mean, this is going to sound cheesy, but that's literally why I called this show that you project, you know, because it's like that is I'm the project, You're the we are the project. In my life. You know, my biggest challenge will always be me. My biggest asset and problem will be me, my ability to make good decisions,

my ability to manage myself. Before I try to even have any impact on anyone else's life, I need to make sure that I'm I'm not a fuck up, I'm not a fraud, that I am walking my talk. You know. It's like I said to this dude today, you know what I did love about this dude today? He sits down and he goes, so I'm a narcissist. And I'm like, oh my god. You know, I don't think any man has ever sat down I go go on and he goes. I know, he goes, I'm full of ego, I'm insecure.

I do things for attention. I'm like, well, you're a pretty fucking evolved narcissist, right, Like that's and I'm like I was. I said, you know what, and he and you'd think, oh, he's not a narcissist then because he's but then and he is. But he wants to like he was brave enough to go, this is what I do and how I am and it creates problems, like it is just at that point where he's gone, it's I know what I do and I recognize the problems that it creates and I need help. I'm like, wow,

that's that. I don't know that anyone has ever said that to me, So fucking go, you go, you know, I love that. I love it when men can be a bit like, I'm the problem, so by the way, I'm the problem. Cool, good work, so well done. That's awareness and acknowledgment. Step one. Fucking pat on the back. All right, let's go, motherfucker, let's be better.