Podcast 012: How do you stay fit in a 9 to 5 desk job?

Transcription

Menprovement Podcast 

Ready to take your life to the next level? Then you’re in the right place. Get all the information you need to improve everything and live life like a pro. This is the Menprove podcast with Sean Russell.

Introduction to today’s show

Sean 

What’s up, guys? Welcome back to the Menprovement podcast, the number one self-improvement podcast strictly for men. The topic of today’s show is how the busy nine-to-fiver can achieve the performance of an elite athlete. And for today’s show, I have an incredible guest. His name is Jimmy Smith of Jimmy Smith Training; he has been a trainer to numerous elite athletes and UFC fighters, and he really knows his stuff. In this talk, you’re going to learn all about how you can achieve peak performance without having to go on any crazy zero-carb diets. You’re going to learn how to manipulate your carbs at certain times a day to have higher energy levels throughout the day and to still lose fat and gain muscle without having to completely give up that pasta, rice, or bread that you so dearly love. Along with that, you’re going to learn a lot of things about cholesterol and certain foods that will help your sexual life and trigger your fat-burning hormones. And there’s so much more packed into this episode that I’m just excited for you to hear it. But before we jump into it, I just want to give another shout-out to our sponsors of the show Combatant Gentleman. If you check them out on combatjet.com, you use the checkout code Menprovement. With your purchase, you’re going to get a free tie with every order. And what these guys do is offer beautiful men’s clothes for ridiculously cheap prices. I’m super happy that they’re our sponsors because they truly improve men’s lives. You’re not going to find cheaper clothes on combatjet.com. They have full Italian wool suits for $160. And they can do all this because they raise their own sheep, they pick their own pie, and they have zero middlemen, so they bring you legit clothes at awesome prices. Check them out and use the code Menprovement to get a free tie with any order. So, with that, we’ll jump into today’s show to see how the busy nine-to-fiver can achieve peak performance with Jimmy Smith. Alright, guys, I’m here with Jimmy Smith of Jimmy Smith Training. How’re you doing? Jimmy?

Jimmy 

I’m good. I’m good. How are you? Sean?

How Jimmy got started

Sean 

I’m great, man. Thank you so much for coming on the show. All my pleasure Yeah, and I’m not going to lie, Jimmy and I just connected a few days ago. And I don’t know much about him. I know. He’s a very well-respected trainer in the industry. So why don’t you tell me and everyone else, you know, what you do and how you got started? And a little bit about your background?

Jimmy 

To be honest, those are the hardest questions to answer because you end up talking about yourself. But in a nutshell, I attended a Ryan Lee seminar in 2006. I got out of college in 2004. And, you know, I was a trainer and knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to become an Elite Trainer. But I also wanted to build a business, but I kind of didn’t know how to go about it. So, a year and a half and two years went by, and I went to a Ryan Lee seminar. And back then, it was half business seminars and half training stuff. So, the business part really caught on because he was talking about the basic roots of online businesses like eBooks, membership sites, and things like that. So, I said, You know, that’s cool. So, I went back home and registered Jimmy’s with training.com, which, you know, is still out there and active. I don’t really do much on it, which means stuff happens on our physique, formula, and diet.com. So, you can get my podcasts, my videos, and all that stuff. But I went out and just kind of jumped into the online world. And, you know, while I did that, I tried to approach it from different angles. I tried to, you know, get coverage in magazines for articles to build up my reputation and my knowledge, but at the same time, I was trying to do the online marketing stuff, whether it was, you know, a YouTube channel for the War podcast or other podcasts, and on and off for a few years before finally really diving headfirst into it. And, you know, I kind of just grew from there. I guess if that answers your question in a roundabout way,

Sean 

Yeah. So, you started all this in In 2006. So, how long have you been around? For quite

Jimmy 

Yeah. I’ve been around, and I’ve seen so much come and go because, in 2006, there were still not a lot of people online. I remember getting slack for it at my training job because they were like, You know, why is one single trainer going to have a website? They didn’t see the long-term potential that I saw, which was to have a website, get content up, get traffic, monetize those views, monetize those impressions, because every eyeball you can monetize to a degree. You know, and I’ve seen things come and go like I’ve seen people start and stop. I’ve seen people come out of nowhere and explode and have, you know, businesses that may come close to a million dollars a year because they happened to get in with the right crowd that promoted their stuff and built their online list. So, I’ve seen so many different fads come and go in the online marketing space, especially in the online fitness marketing space, that I guess I’m kind of like a veteran now to a degree. So,

Sean 

Yeah, I’d say I started 14 months ago. And I am so envious because I could only imagine if I started in 2006, where I would be right now. And I guess I’ll be there eventually. But yeah, I know sites from about four or five years ago that are huge. Now, you know, multimillion-dollar sites, because at the time that they got started, the Internet was still so young, and it still is.

Jimmy 

You know, yeah, it’s, um, funny because I know a few sites that are only a few years old. And they seem to do well on the exterior based on, you know, Facebook fans or based on, you know, traffic or whatever you hear about online. But I think a lot of it is catching lightning in a bottle to a degree. To make a long story short, I got online, my first email newsletter went out, and I co-hosted a podcast back in 2006. And I went on there one day and said, Hey, buddy, go to JimmySmithTrain.com. And I had an opt-in box to sign up. So, from there, I started slowly building an email list, which was, you know, the really first way that people started to market, and for the most part, it’s almost still the best way. And I started doing that. And then, you know, I would write for a site like Tea Nation, or I would write for a site on bodybuilding.com. And back then, the people who would write for those websites were not business-minded. They were just trainers, bodybuilders, or whatever. But I would always have a link in my bio to my website. So, you know, on a day that a Tea Nation article would come up, I’d have a link that would set them to a squeeze page, which is just a page designed to capture an email list; there’s no content on there; it just has a box that says, Hey, enter your email here for a report. And sometimes they’ll get 50 to 70 or 100 people a day. But as more and more people started doing that, the website started not letting you send to the squeeze page or not, you know, putting your information in there. I had a buddy that wrote an article for T Nation on foam rollers. And he put in an affiliate link. So, he made a percentage of every sale, and he put an affiliate link in that article to make it perform better. And he made like a few thousand Based on the traffic that T-Nation had in a few days Because T-Nation itself is a big company, it didn’t know about affiliate links and articles. So, it seems like they kind of come and go, and I’ve seen how, you know, every now and then someone new will hit YouTube. And they’ll have a million subscribers on YouTube. Because they’re jacking, they take their shirt off, or whatever. So, there are so many different fads and so many ways to do it. And I guess the message is that you kind of have to find your own voice and build your own platform.

How to achieve optimal performance

Sean 

Yeah, so I’m sure you could talk for days on the business end. I mean, you’ve been doing this for ages. And maybe we’ll get you back on here to talk about marketing and how you built your brand into what it is today. Because I know you have over 200,000 Facebook followers, 50,000 Twitter followers, and 50,000 YouTube followers. So you’re a huge brand. And I know I can learn a lot from you. But for today, I want to talk about what you do, obviously on the web and with all your businesses, which is teach people to achieve optimal performance. Correct? Correct. And you have a book out called The Phenomenal Formula Diet. And when I was reading the description, what I was really intrigued by was how you said that you could help the average nine-to-five or achieve the body of a world-class athlete. And that’s kind of what I want to get into today. Because I know I personally have a lot of friends. And when I was a nine-to-five worker, I knew how hard it was to find the motivation to get to the gym in the morning or after work. And worse off than that, I know that almost every day of the week, you’re probably ordering Chinese food or pizza because you just don’t have the time to cook and you’re drained at the end of the day. So I’m going to let you run with it and just go. Yeah,

Jimmy 

Yeah, I mean, it’s funny. A lot of people that might be listening to this might say, Oh, that’s such a bold statement. But the reality of the situation is that to get optimal results with your performance, your training, and your body, it comes down to the effort that you put into it. So you can take someone who works nine to five, and maybe he’s a former athlete or has taken time off the gym, whatever it is. And if they have that desire to get results and achieve results in the gym, you can get them those results, and they can build that dream body, but they have to give you that desire. That’s the only thing that separates, you know, the people on the cover of the magazines from the people that aren’t on the cover of the magazines. I guess, for lack of a better term, it’s that desire. Obviously,  time and other factors are involved, but if you take someone from nine to five who wants to work hard, you can give them a diet, and if they’re going to follow it, they’ll get results. And if they have patience, they’re going to get results. And honestly, it sounds like a cop-out, and it’s not sexy, and I wish I could say, Take nine grams of fish oil, and XYZ will happen, but everything is synergistic. You know, it goes back to that Bruce Lee quote where everything is a tool, and it’s up to the practitioner to determine what tool is the right tool for the job. You know, you wouldn’t try to hammer a board to cut it in half; you’d saw it. So that’s really what it comes down to in terms of changing the body composition. And I mean, if you want to get into the specifics of nutrients, ratios, and workouts, we can totally do that. But it all comes down to the effort you want to put into it.

Sean 

Okay, yeah. Yeah, obviously. I mean, if you’ve got the will to do it, you can be in any situation, whether you’ve got just one extra hour today or you start taking the stairs. I work every day. But I think in a general sense, what if you had a client come in, and he works a busy Wall Street job, and he’s just in terrible shape? What tips would you have for him to start, you know, changing that, whether it be diet or nutrition, that he could incorporate into his busy lifestyle?

How to build compliance

Jimmy 

Right, so the first area I look at is in terms of building compliance. So I try to take baby steps with my clients. And with this example, with that individual, I would try to say, You know what, here, I want you to make sure you have one to two servings of fruits and vegetables a day because I don’t want to manipulate their protein, carbs, and fats, because for the most part, if you take the average individual, they don’t eat breakfast, or their breakfast is like a latte or something from Starbucks. So breakfast, while it does contain a lot of calories, That’s an easy job for later, at lunch. And most people generally eat okay; I don’t see. And I don’t know many people who eat fast food for lunch every single day; that just doesn’t happen. Generally, they’re going out. And because when you go out to get food, there are now a lot of options. So you know, they can get rafting, as it sounds; a lot of them may have higher carbohydrates, rolls, and things like that. But you’re talking just straight-up starches; okay, fine, that’s not a problem. If we build some muscle mass for dinner, a lot of people, again, generally not that bad of an issue, may have bowl pasta, you know. So what I’m trying to get, as their carbs may be high, But all this stuff can be manipulated easily later, what I want to do is I want to build compliance, so I’m going to make them have one to three servings of fruit and fruits and vegetables a day, whatever they want, whatever kind of fruit, whatever kind of veggies, I’m going to make them after a week or two, start with Omega three fish oils, just three grams, there is science for higher need for fish oil. But for this individual, I want to start lowering inflammation and improving insulin sensitivity. And then the third thing is that I’m going to address their sleep qualities. And a lot of that starts to factor in time with diet. I’m going to say, Listen, you can have your pasta dinner, or please don’t have the big bowl of ice cream or the big cookie at nine o’clock before you go to bed. Because while that sugar at night is not as negative as people think, the sugar itself is going to reduce serotonin production, which is, you know, brain neurotransmitter chemicals to help some relaxation, their deep sleep, and their ability to get into REM sleep. And that’s where all the recovery happens. So if you can add more fruits and vegetables to get the micronutrients, add the Omega-3 fish oil, and then improve their sleep quality, Now you’re setting that person up for success.

Sean 

Yeah, I love it. Because you’re not preaching any crazy diet, which is, you know, like 90% fat and no carbs ever, or anything like that, because it’s hard. It’s hard to stick to something like that, especially when you have to eat out for lunch and don’t have a lot of time to cook dinner. So basically, you allow a lot of leeway. But if you can just get these three staples in, then you’re probably 70% ahead of most people out there who worked in the same position as you.

Jimmy 

Yeah, you absolutely are. So, let’s say it’s been three weeks now. And they have that stuff kind of in order. And they come back, and they say, Okay, I’m doing all this; what can we do now? Well, now we can start to address the other things. Now I’m saying, Listen, I understand you may be busy. And you know, you don’t have time in the morning. You have kids; you have whatever. Okay, so you’re not going to have fun at breakfast. But can you have a protein bar? Or? And I’ll give them recommendations? Or can you have a whey protein shake? Can you have a shaker with nuts? Can you make time to have eggs? Can you buy a magic bullet and make a fruit smoothie? So now I’m going to start tweaking their breakfast, tweaking what they put into their bodies, and removing those excessive calories that come from their lattes or Frappuccinos, whatever. So, we’re going to then adjust their diet; we’re going to dress their breakfast rather because breakfast is an easier way for them to switch. We do that because we minimize and reduce those calories. The second step is that work on their lunch again. I understand that they’re busy at work, so maybe I’ll leave their lunch there. But I want to start reducing those lunchtime carbohydrates, and you know, not everybody can be like me and have chicken for lunch. I get that, but we want to help your choices. We want to wrap instead of roll. We want a salad instead of a hamburger. So we want to add more protein and more healthy fat in terms of a salad because they can put olive oil on it that Mikado could not put on it. They can do things like that dinner; I’m still going to leave it the way it is because dinner for a lot of people is time for them to sit down with their family, you know, and people that have kids or people that are busy running around don’t necessarily have time to prepare a meal for their kids and a meal for themselves. So instead of saying, Hey, you’ve got to do salmon or chicken, You know what if you want to have pasta and you train today? That’s okay; let’s just reduce that portion size. So I’m not going to remove him from that; I’m just going to reduce the portion size.

Sean 

Yeah, so you think the carbs definitely, obviously, have a big effect on fat gain and performance overall?

Jimmy 

right? I mean, they really do. And carbs are a tricky slope; you have to modify them.nd for a lot of people, having carbs at night will jack up their insulin; they will not get to a deeper, more restful sleep, and they will have issues there. But when you’re dealing with someone who has not been overly dedicated and may not be super motivated to get in the gym, you have to give them remnants of their old life. You can’t just go in and say, We’re going to remove everything; we’re going to do everything starting today brand new because you’ll never build compliance that way. And I know it’s sexy for, you know, people that have bodybuilding backgrounds, or whatever to go on s toy, No, you have to do a tie, you get results. You have to understand who you’re dealing with; you’re not dealing with competitors, and you’re not dealing with people who are going to go and spend 40 minutes on a treadmill every day and not question you. You have to deal with people’s lives and give them lifetime adjustments.

The importance of having a healthy diet

Sean 

Yeah, absolutely. Because if it’s unattainable, then they’re not going to stick to it. Absolutely. I think that’s what causes a problem for a lot of people; they see all the stuff out there, and it’s intimidating. A lot of the inflammation—you know, you have to do this, you have to do that. And luckily, like you said, it’s not too bad at lunch; you can get a lot of healthy options. And I think dinner is probably the hardest for guys and girls who don’t cook. So do you have any recommendations for people who order out a lot?

Jimmy 

Um, the order amount is tough, because with order and out, you really can’t control what they cook the eggs. And if you go into a diner, they cook it, and all that butter and all that other stuff—trans fats on some other stuff—can’t really control what’s cooked. So the best thing about dinner, and it sounds counterintuitive to a lot of your readers and listeners, is that’s where I actually want to give them the bulk of their carbohydrates. And I do that for a few different reasons. By not having someone have carbohydrates during the course of the day at practice or lunch, you keep their energy levels high, because carbohydrates in terms of starches, potatoes, grains, bread, and pasta are going to raise your blood sugar and drop it when that happens. When that happens, you are going to feel like a zombie, and you are going to not have the energy to produce your cognitive function, which is going to be reduced. A lot of your day is going to be negatively impacted when you have carbs and starchy carbs during the day. But if you can go during the day with protein, fat fruits, and vegetables, getting your carbs from fruits, and you can work out now that your insulin sensitivity is improved, So now that you’ve had a good long day and you’re going home, you can have a portion of pasta, a cup of pasta, or a cup of sweet potatoes, white potatoes, or white rice. Because now your body’s going to take those carbohydrates, it’s going to store them primarily as muscle glycogen because, remember, you probably just trained, and now all those relaxation hormones, serotonin, dopamine, all that stuff that puts you in a good mood, are going to be elevated. So you’re not yearning for cheap food, you know, quote, unquote, but you’re also going to get into a deeper night’s sleep because you had that meal around six or seven o’clock; you’re probably not going to bed till nine. So your body will process that, but it will all feel good. Hormones and neurotransmitters are elevated. So you’re actually sleeping better, and you won’t snack because you just had your carbs at night.

Sean 

Yeah, it’s actually a very good philosophy, because a lot of it is reversed out there. It’s eat  all your carbs in the morning, then kind of cut back at lunch, and then none at dinner. But it does make a lot of sense. Because if you’re working out in the evening—correct me if I’m wrong—you do have to restore the glycogen in your muscles with the carbs; yes, you’re not going to recover. And I know a big problem of mine now is that I don’t eat a lot of carbs. I’m actually, I guess, lucky to have the luxury like you. I can go pretty hard on making my own food and packaging it, and I stay away from gluten and most grains. I also eat a lot of healthy fats. And you know, when I do get my carbs, they’re things like sweet potatoes and whatnot. But then I find myself craving carbs late at night, like sweets. And I think…

Carbs and glycogen replenishment

Jimmy 

What I tried to do with myself and to make it easier, it’s not that it’s a one-size-fits-all, but you know what? It’s going to be better to have carbs at night because, for a lot of people, that’s still going to impact their insulin sensitivity negatively if they have a good amount of fat mass on them if they haven’t trained. So the best advice I actually have for people is that if you somehow have the schedule where you can train in the middle of the day, split your carbs up 50/50. Have that 50 grams post-workout and the other 50 grams, let’s just assume 100 grams at night. You know the topic of muscle glycogen post-workout and replenishment. I go back and forth on that, to be honest, because a lot of the research actually comes from endurance populations, which are people who did a workout and a long run today and may have to do another workout tomorrow and another long run in 48 hours. Yeah, so the need to replenish muscle glycogen is higher than someone who is doing a traditional bodybuilding-based workout. It builds; I don’t mean you’re just doing arms, but you’re training to look good naked. So, for those individuals, I found that it’s a little bit better to make sure that they have some carbs post-training; they’re not going to really refill the muscle glycogen too much because a lot of it’s too much carbs. You need to refuel, don’t you, because your training isn’t necessarily depleting your muscle glycogen? So if I can give them a little carbohydrate post-workout and then a little bit at dinner, that’s where they get the biggest benefit. But you know, it’s like coconut water now, and everybody loves it. So Darlene’s new coconut water is just an excuse to have more carbs. And I’m not knocking coconut water. It’s like Gatorade or Powerade are out there. You see someone that’s pedaling super slow on a bike, and you watch them work out, and it takes them an hour to do four sets because they’re too busy talking to people. They’re not burning muscle glycogen; all they’re doing is giving their body extra carbs, and they have to run through those carbs before they get into their stored body fat. So it’s the same thing with coconut water. Coconut water does have a lot of electrolytes and is beneficial. But for a lot of people, it’s extra carbs. They don’t necessarily need

Sean 

Yeah, absolutely. And what I was thinking about when you were talking was, based on these carbs, what would you recommend over other carbs? Like, would you recommend sweet potatoes over rice over pasta over bread? You know, what is the best kind of carb that someone could get? Who still wants to indulge in that at night?

Jimmy 

Right, right. And that’s a great question too. Because I know myself, I like having pasta once a week. There are studies that show there’s no statistical difference between white rice and brown rice. You know, bodybuilders have this idea that you have to have brown rice. Well, brown rice has one more gram of fiber compared to one cup of white rice. Brown has that fiber. But brown rice and whole grains sometimes have extra phytates in them that may bind and leach minerals. So sometimes white rice is better. So for a lot of people, it’s not as much of a good carbs or bad carbs thing; they can have white potatoes, sweet potatoes, white rice, or brown rice. I tend to reduce little pasta because, while I love it, a lot of the pasta is not fresh unless you make it fresh, and a lot of my pasta I make fresh myself; it’s just flour, water, eggs, and a little bit of soul. Unless you make it fresh from scratch like that, it’s going to have some other preservatives in there. So I generally tend to remove that. But as long as you stick with your potatoes, your rice, and a little whole grain bread, People call me crazy. And it may sound crazy to your listeners, but there is no statistical difference between a candy bar and white rice. So let me clarify that for a second. I know I agree with you. Yeah, yeah, your candy bar does have more sugar; it will have more artificial sweeteners; it will impact your blood sugar a little bit differently, but your body sees the 20 grams from a potato chip or the 20 grams from a candy bar. the same way it sees 20 grams from a sweet potato again, sweet potatoes are healthier, but I say that and bring it up as long as your carbs are controlled. Everybody online loves you, you know. If It Fits Your Macros, that type of diet and I think that diet, while it has some benefits, gives people reasons to eat foods they shouldn’t necessarily be eating. You can slide in a little bit here and there; you get some room for error, some margin for error when you look at it that way, but you have to really be a dedicated person, and you know you have to sit there. I know I screw myself up sometimes, like, you know what? I’m going to have this nice cookie that’s going to have 20 grams of carbs. And sometimes I screw up and end up still overeating by 20 grams. I had that cookie, so a lot of it is that you get leeway, you know, to be super strict, but at the same time, a routine, and being on a routine, is generally what’s going to lead to the best results for the nine-to-fiver

Sean 

Yeah, definitely, and to just comment on your topic about, you know, white rice not being much different than a candy bar, I don’t know if you’ve read Green Brain, but I have. Yeah, I recently just read that as well, and I was really surprised. You know how everyone thinks you know wheat bread this week, President, but at the end of the day, we bread spikes your blood sugar equally as much as white bread, which spikes your blood sugar more than a candy bar? Yeah, it’s like, you know, it’s crazy how the media portrays things in such a big food industry now. So they push cereals, wheat bread, and whole grains, but the stuff is not good for you.

How the media portrays organic food

Jimmy 

We can go and talk for an hour about how I just rewatched Food Inc. Again, the other day, and for any of your listeners that haven’t watched it, Foodie was a documentary that came out in 2006. All about how we are being poisoned by, for lack of a better term, our own government, how it’s cheaper to buy chips and Liz broccoli, and how our animals are treated, and you know, in 2006, that really made an impression on me. And when I started eating, I didn’t even know it was all organic, right? So a lot of stuff with organic is, when you look at it, going to Whole Foods and picking up one of their organic chicken breasts or one of their regular Whole Foods. Chicken breasts and it has the same three bullet points, right? No artificial feed or hormones are used; it is a good environment for the animals. The only difference is that it doesn’t have the USDA organic label. And one of my businesses is a 100% organic, non-GMO extra virgin olive oil. I had to use a different label; I could not use the USDA organic label on that even though it’s 100% organic and it’s verified and certified. Because they want to control the font you use, there are a million things that go into making a product 100% USDA-certified organic. It’s not just if the animals are injected with hormones; it’s not just if they used GMO or artificial crops to feed them. So a lot of times, people are fooling themselves with organic now. You know, I only eat grass-fed beef every now and then if I go and have a hamburger; I’m not a stickler for it. I only eat grass-fed beef, and I only eat  whole foods, like chicken breasts, because again, those are those three bullet points. It does come from farms; they own fruits and vegetables. I go back and forth on honesty; I generally buy whole foods, you know, frozen fruits, because they’re non-GMO, but I’m not too much of a stickler for them. But to what I was saying about Food Inc. It’s funny that in 2006, they talked about how the economy was going to collapse a little bit, and the government said it was really hard for them to sustain the type of food production they were doing. And they said, You’re going to start seeing more genetically modified foods in our food system. Well, now 2014 What’s the big rage? GMOs? You know? Yeah, so that’s just kind of a tangent I went off on; I don’t even know what made me go on now. I’m sorry, you know, brain. Yeah, that’s the thing, so when you look at traditionally, the term whole grains, what are whole grains? Traditionally, they are your rice. They are your own meals; those are social whole grains. But you see a bread that’s Brown, and that’s labeled whole grain. Well, that bread does not go bad in a day. If you buy real whole-grain bread from a bakery, it will go bad the next day; you have to eat it within 24 hours. And a lot of those prepackaged bread are just white bread that are injected with brown dye to make them look brown. You know what I mean? So I don’t know that we live in a world of chaos. We totally do. And, you know, a lot of people say, You know, how should I usually eat organic? Should I eat? Should I be a vegan? Listen, I’ve been to so many conferences and spoken and listened to presentations about vegan diets and going vegetarian, and they say, You know what? People felt better. And you’ll see this all the time. They’ll say I felt better. I lost weight. When I stopped eating meat. We’ll ask them what changes they’ve made to their diet. And you hear the same stuff? Well, I started working out more, I stopped smoking, and I started sleeping. I stopped drinking. Well, no shit, you lose weight, right? You know, it has nothing to do with the meat you ate or the meat you didn’t eat. And I understand that this is a personal choice for everybody. But you know what it comes down to? I just look at it like, Listen, I’m going to eat a lot of broccoli. I’m going to eat a lot of kale. I’m going to get those nutrients that detoxify my body. And, you know, I’m going to eat my sometimes organic meat, sometimes not, you know, grass-fed beef, and eat that primarily; my coffee is going to be organic, but I’m not going to go too crazy, because then you have to look at it this way: Shawn, I have a friend whose only thing they do is buy organic, and they end up spending 200 hours a week on fruits and vegetables, right? Yeah. And it’s like, Okay, so your organic stuff is sprayed with pesticides. Great, that’s good. But there are no studies, with the exception of two or three that I can think of off the top of my head, that show organic foods have more nutritional value; they show they have a little more vitamin C. But when you’re eating broccoli, you’re eating it for the sulfur content; you’re going for the damn nutrients that we know to fight cancer. So what’s better? Are you going to have one head of organic broccoli a week? Or are you going to have three heads of organic broccoli a week and get more of the same nutrient? Well, when you look at it in a vacuum, that is conventional broccoli, but people will say, Hey, it’s sprayed with pesticides. What people don’t realize about the organic argument is that the majority of farms that are out there that are producing organic food have to get certified to be organic, to begin with. And only about 25% of farms that are organic are inspected every year to prove they’re still organic, but they’re producing conventional broccoli next to none next to organic broccoli. There’s a thing called wind. So if you spray one crop and it’s close to another one, you know, so I don’t know, man, I’m totally hijacking this interview. So I’ll get it back on track. But it’s tough out there. No,

Plastics are destroying the endocrine system

Sean 

No, it’s perfect. I mean, this is great information. There’s, and I agree with you on the fact that yeah, we’re really not in control of much. You know, we grew up in the last 20 years. And we were taught and led to believe that all these foods were great, grains were good, and whole grain bread was great. And even with things like that, people are starting to realize that even with things like plastics—you know, we put plastics in almost everything for the last 50 years, and now we’re realizing, like, holy shit, it’s destroying the male endocrine system and our sperm use our sperm. I just did like a big thing on this: our sperm counts are down like 70% from the 1940s since, like, the Oregon chemical revolution and

Jimmy 

Yeah, I have a whole section in my office. You’re talking about it in the formula book. And there’s research where it was done—I believe at the University of Cincinnati. And they had like 14 women who were pregnant, and they made them eat out of plastic containers. And they found that, then, when these women actually ended up giving birth to their babies, the babies’ urine was tested, and it had a lot of platelets, a lot of BPA, and all the nasty plastics in there. Yeah. You know, and then you look further at BPA and platelets; a lot of that stuff was created for, like, the makeup industry. But yeah, a lot of companies saw how good it was and how heat-resistant it was, so they bought it and put it in plastics where we store our food.

Knowledge is always truly power

Sean 

Yeah, and now and then they realized that, you know, oh, sh*t, we kind of messed up. And it’s where certain rates are dropping by one to 2% every year. And it’s scary because, you know, the standards for infertility used to be like 60 milliliters per million. And now that it’s 20, you know, it’s gone. Actually, it’s down to 15. Now,

Jimmy 

Yeah, I’m actually looking at getting my blood gun right now. You know, I like to get it done about once a year just to have a metric of what’s going on, you know, because you get older every year. So if you can have that metric of how your cholesterol went from one year to the next, you know, knowledge is always true power.

Sean 

Yeah. So that leads me to my point. The reason I’m bringing this up is that you’re always going to be told things by the government. I’m not trying to be like a government conspiracy guy here. But all you can really do is educate yourself and then make your own decisions based on your self-education and decide how deep you want to go in it. I mean, there are certainly different levels. People listening here are probably on regular diets; they may decide I’m going to eat healthy. So I’m going to stop eating Fruity Pebbles and just stick to whole grain breads because, for me, that’s still unhealthy. So my level is like, I don’t eat bread, I don’t eat gluten, I don’t eat sweet potatoes, and things like that.” And you’re at the next level, like you’re buying all organic meat and all this, and I buy organic meat or grass-fed meat. But I do try to buy organic vegetables just because of the pesticides and to stay away from plastics like that. So there are definitely different levels, and it’s up to the user; all you can do is give them the information.

Jimmy 

Yeah, you don’t want to, and then it comes down to, you know, it’s your dollar. And how I look at it is, Where am I going to spend my money on? So if I have $100, What What am I going to spend that on? What am I going to do? So maybe my coffee will be organic, my meat will be grass-fed, and maybe my vegetables won’t. Maybe I’ll buy whole foods, frozen ones that are non-GMO, or, you know, and then I’ll spend everything like a piece of pie,, and that’s the way I really look at it. And unfortunately, a lot of people like to go, you know, super hardcore, and everything has to be one way or the other. But when you look at it, everything has to be equal parts. So I won’t buy organic fruit, fruits, or vegetables, but I will buy grass-fed beef, which is more expensive, because I don’t want the corn and the hormones in that. So it’s just really, you know, you vote every time you spend your money.

Sean 

Exactly. Yeah. And it’s also like, right now, I don’t have the luxury of spending an extra $400 on food every month. But if I did have that, I definitely would. So that’s a big factor as well. And that’s

Jimmy 

What people always say to me is, You know, how can you afford to eat? The way you eat? The answer is that I eat less. You know, I still eat a lot of food, but I eat less. I don’t have to eat grass-fed beef three times a day, organic chicken meat twice a day, or fast a little bit. I’m having fruit smoothies; you know, I’m cutting corners there as well. So the quality isn’t as high as some people think it is.

Sean 

Yeah. And before we got on our little tangent here, you gave some incredible tips for guys and gals to adjust their diets ever so slightly on a nine-to-five schedule to still be able to perform at a high level, lose fat, and even, you know, gain muscle to get a six-pack. But now I guess we’re getting to the next level for people who are already at that level and want to really get the most out of their bodies. Mind. Yeah, I know that just changing your diet and adding more broccoli, reducing bread and sugar, and eating more healthy fats is going to dramatically boost your testosterone levels. Yeah, alone. My question that I’m really interested to see what you have to say is how you feel about cholesterol because it’s deemed evil out there. You know, there’s so much evidence coming out now that says that it’s not bad for you, but it’s still being deemed evil out there. And my own father is on cholesterol-lowering medications, and I hate it because I’m trying to tell him that I 100% believe that cholesterol is not something that was labeled as bad 20 years ago, and now that we have different information, there’s so much money in that industry that it’s almost impossible to reverse.

Jimmy 

Yeah, no, you’re 100% Correct. And it’s unfortunate that people like you, your father, and people in my family take cholesterol-lowering medications and blood pressure-lowering medications because they come from an age where, you know, they couldn’t have this knowledge that we had. So they unfortunately got the medications, and you know why? Father will go to his doctor once a year, and he’ll say, You know, I want to up my fish oil a little bit and I want to come off my cholesterol medication. He’ll say, No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Yes, the doctor will say to him, and, you know, is cholesterol bad? That’s a great question. People look at it. It’s like, what’s the Paleo diet, okay? They look at it and they say,You’ve got to eat a lot of fat. Will you tell us if you’re the person who eats a lot of fat? If you’ve got women that are 120 pounds eating 150 grams of fat, that’s still not acceptable. That is still a macronutrient and still has to be accounted for. It’s not as evil as carbs, but it still has to be accounted for. So I don’t think cholesterol itself is bad. It’s how we measure cholesterol. So when you get your cholesterol measured, most people just think of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol. But if you look at your bad cholesterol and further break that down and look at your apple B and other aspects of your bad cholesterol, then you really find out what’s going on and if your cholesterol is  as bad as your doctor is making it out to be. And that situation may be a little different. And as long as the numbers are in the proper ratio, you know, a lot of people have bad cholesterol that is through the roof and good cholesterol that has bottomed out. That’s a bad situation. But as long as there’s a specific ratio of good to bad, you’re okay, as long as your good is going up. If you’re bad, it’s going up. You’re alright.

What causes heart attacks and death?

Sean 

Yeah, man. So these are all great points. And if you guys want to learn more about cholesterol, I’ll link to some great stuff you can read in the show notes at menprovement.com/mop 012. And a link to stuff that talks about how cholesterol is now proven to have no correlation with heart attacks or death. And people with higher cholesterol actually live longer. And it tells the real story of what causes heart attacks and things like that. And it’s actually oxidation, which is ironically caused by sugars and carbs, which, you know, the food companies feed you in all your cereals and stuff, and then your total cholesterol is bad, but times are changing. And if you want to learn more about that, definitely head to the show notes and check that out. Because cholesterol is one of those things that’s going to boost your testosterone and help your brain health if you’re getting it, like Jimmy said, from the right sources. And it’s going to allow you to achieve the performance that these elite athletes do. What are good sources of cholesterol? We’re talking like eggs, avocados, and things like that. The things you have to be careful of are trans fats. Don’t go out and say, Oh, I heard I’m improving and I can just eat fat.” And it’s healthy because not all fats are healthy. So you’ve got to know what fats are healthy: coconut oils, avocados, nuts, eggs, and cheeses, and stay away from trans fats as much as you can. Because what’s dangerous is when you have high triglycerides, and, like Jimmy said, when your bad cholesterol is bad and high and your low cholesterol is low. So definitely keep an eye on your cholesterol levels, but don’t be scared of them. Another thing is that cholesterol becomes dangerous when you have high cholesterol, but you’re also eating a high carbohydrate, high sugar diet because the sugars are what bind to the LDL and render it inert. And that’s when there are complications. Ultimately, it’s really the sugar. And if you eat a high-cholesterol diet with a lot of eggs, cheese, and everything else, you’re going to be fine. And you’re going to be healthier if you are lowering your carbohydrates, meaning sugars, and upping your vegetables and everything else that’s ideal, but I don’t want you to run out and just take what I just said and think you know everything about cholesterol because there’s so much science behind it and information. I really want you to go to the show notes and learn for yourself. If you really want to change your diet and not be scared of cholesterol and get off statin medications, go to the show notes at MedProven.com/mop 012 and click on the link to everything where you can learn for yourself and make the decision about whether you think you want to get off your statin medications and how you feel about cholesterol. All right, enough about cholesterol, and now we can jump back into eating for performance. So where did I leave you off? Jimmy?

Jimmy 

You know, when you talk about eating for performance, I have had the good fortune to I’ve worked with a few UFC fighters, and some people try to qualify for the Olympics. I work with some high-level athletes, and for them, as you start talking about the 5%, So for those people, it’s pretty easy to say, You know, hey, listen, I want you on this many carbs; this was fat. I want you to take the supplements for the train, you know, and all that stuff. You really look at the little things that can give them the best results. You look at it as making them take one or two cold showers a day, specifically a cold shower before you go to bed. It will improve insulin sensitivity and help you sleep deeper. Your body does not have to cool itself down; you can get deeper sleep, which raises growth hormone, etc. You will get them, you know, so just some cold therapy. I live in a condo complex that has a pool, and when the pools opened during the summer months, every day post-workout, you know, six, six, and the pool goes up to six feet. So I just go when I stand in the deep end for about 15 minutes and I feel like a million bucks want to get out of there. Because I’ve controlled my inflammation, I’ve allowed whatever area I just trained to start recovering. All of that matters. You know, you look at specific supplements for boosting testosterone—supplements like maca, Omega-3 intake, anti-estrogen supplements like Dem Endo-3 Carbonyl—and you start playing with all these other nutrients to give them advanced results, and that’s when the 5% really matters.

Sean 

Yeah, and that’s these are still things that guys with nine-to-five jobs could easily do if they had the willpower to take a cold shower every night and even in the morning,. I’ve read Ithatit’s great for you, like you said, t forinsulin sensitivity. I’ve even read that it has effects on your testosterone levels,depression a,d things like that a, and t could definitely change your entire day.

Jimmy 

Yeah, I mean, if I could kind of wrap that up into just three advanced tips for, quote unquote, regular people, you know, I hate that term. But yeah, it’s, uh, taking a cold shower at night. I’ll, because generally they work, they get home, they’re on the computer, you know, they’re doing all that stuff, they’re wound up, take a two-minute cold shower before you go to bed. It will help testosterone, it will help joint recovery, and it will help deep sleep. Get off technology about 30 to 45 minutes before you go to bed. Because yeah, your pineal gland, which is in your eye, will have some issues, and it’s responsible for your body’s production of a whole host of chemicals, specifically melatonin, that gets you to sleep. So shut technology off, even your TV off; read a book or do something; get off your phone for about 30 minutes before you go to bed. Ideally, keep your room around 67 degrees to promote testosterone production and deeper sleep. And if I can tell you to add one supplement, add curcumin. You know, Curcumin is a fantastic nutrient. It comes from turmeric, which is that kind of curry Indian spice that gives you a lot of benefits. But if you can take curcumin just twice a day, your inflammatory markers will go down and your insulin sensitivity will increase.

Getting off technology and sleep

Sean 

Yeah, I take it every day. It’s incredible stuff. Yeah. And it’s funny that you were just talking about, you know, getting off the technology and sleeping things because this is a huge tip that I actually just started to research and learn a lot about: the blue light. Yeah, the problem that we have is that when the sun goes down, you know, our bodies don’t know that we’re in the technological age; we’re still primates and have the same makeup as the Neanderthals. Body is when we start producing melatonin. And as soon as we get on our bright laptop or even answer a text message at 10, At night, that light goes straight into your eye, and your body starts producing serotonin again. And it affects your sleep greatly. I actually just ordered a pair of blue-blocking glasses. And there are actually multiple; there’s a program that you can download for your computer and your phone called Flux. At a certain time, you type in your location, and as the sun goes down, your computer adjusts to not emit any more blue lights. And it’s remarkable. And I’m excited to see how much of an effect it has on my sleep. Because it’s kind of like that feeling when I’m away from technology. And I’ve just been driving back for like two hours from somewhere at night, and I get home. That’s the best sleep I’ve ever had. Because I haven’t looked at a light in the last three hours. But it’s so rare that I ever do that. Because I fall asleep usually after watching TV for two hours.

Jimmy 

Yeah, you’re hungry and correct, you know, when you can do that, I try to do it every night. You know, I’ll have the TV on, I’ll watch a game, but I’ll also not be in front of my phone. I’ll be reading, whether it’s about sports or even diet or stuff like that. And I try not to read about business because that gets my mind going, but I’ll try to read something used to get into that relaxed state and just to kind of, you know, get my body to kind of calm itself down and ramp up, you know, all the good stuff that allows me to sleep.

Sean 

Yeah, it’s really important because sleep is, you know, the most important thing. Yeah, well, totally. Yeah, so we talked about diet, how people can change their diet, eat, you know, less carbs at breakfast, if I remember, and like a little bit less at lunch, and then you can eat some after your workout in the evening. And that’s going to help you lose weight faster than we talked about, you know, a little bit more in depth on going organic and cholesterol. And now we talked about ways that you can improve your sleep and some methods for taking cold showers. So we’ve already gone through a lot of stuff that guys can take today and go out and start to use no matter what they’re doing with their lives, no matter how much free time they have, and achieve a high level of performance. One thing we didn’t talk about was the exercise itself. Sure. What are your recommendations on that for the people who are just trying to lose 10 to 15 pounds and keep themselves at optimal performance but don’t have time to commit like two to three hours a day today? That’s

Jimmy 

a great question. My best piece of advice is really just to make sure you’re progressing every workout, and you can progress in a few different ways by adding more weight to the bar. It’s not about trying to, you know, make big, huge muscles by adding two and a half pounds to the bar every time. That will help you get a lot of results there, and you can progress by adding more reps. So if you bench-press 135 pounds for 10 reps, try to get it for 11 reps; that’s progression. At the end of the day, training comes down to your ability to get stronger, and again, not strong in terms of lifting heavy weight, but stronger in terms of your ability to do more reps, your ability to do more work, and your ability to do less work in a given timeframe. You know, if you’re going to the gym and you’re doing 20 sets an hour, we’ll try to do 22 sets in an hour. So it’s all about progressing myself personally; I’m a little more old school in terms of, Hey, you know, I really want someone to deadlift, squat, bench press, and overhead press. That is how you’re going to get a sexy body, like, you know, cutting all the BS away. There are programs out there that, like, get within 15 minutes. Yeah, they’re trying to market you. I get it from a business perspective that they’re trying to appeal, but you know, you can see anyone, a woman, a dude, someone, especially if you have to work nine to five, who is so short and tight upfront in terms of their quads and lacks their pecs, that the best thing for them to do is to go in the gym and do a deadlift, and you know, work their flexibility and do a row and an overhead press. All that stuff is so important. And people don’t do that. And they don’t, you know, so you can go and train any way you want. You can train full body; you can train upper, upper, and lower; you know, there are a lot of reasons why people love CrossFit and feel that CrossFit is so great, and they didn’t get results anywhere else, which I think is BS. But it’s because CrossFit pushes you to do more of your workout. You know, CrossFit hates the notion of isolation, which I’m going to disagree with. And it’s wrong to a large degree, but you can take someone who doesn’t push themselves, but they go to a gym, and there’s a bunch of people around them working out hard. And their instructor is saying, Hey, you don’t get to choose what you want to do; you’re going to do a shoulder press, and you’re going to do a burpee. And that’s why people progress there—because they’re taking themselves out of their comfort zone.

How many compound exercises should you do

Sean 

Yeah, I totally agree. And you had a great tip in there, which I think would really, actually apply to most people, including my friend who I thought of. I guarantee he’s not doing military pressing or deadlifting when he hits the gym, and he’s probably doing curls and then doing a bench press and then doing a curl machine or like a fly machine. But yeah, those compound exercises—if you can do those, how many times would you recommend doing them—maybe once a week: deadlift, once a week: military press?

Jimmy 

Well, you know what? I’m such a fan of frequency because I really think that that is the most undiscovered variable in terms of growth. I squat twice a week.

Sean 

deadlift twice a week. Yeah, squatting is another big one.

Jimmy 

Yeah. So the best thing to do is to make each workout structured around a lift, you know, like one day is going to be a squat day and you’re going to deadlift a little lighter. Make that a Monday, and then on a Thursday, make that a deadlift day with a little lighter squat. So that’s my best piece of advice there. I have another day where I press, and why press hold that day? So shoulder presses and chest presses Another day has arrived. And then I have a day where I train my arm. So generally, I do two or three full-body workouts a week, full-body in terms of, say, a push press, which uses my legs but also my shoulders. So, you know, that’s a lot that comes into the equation there.

Sean 

You know, those are great tips because I think most people don’t do that. And that alone can change your performance and your results, like tenfold, without even changing your diet and everything else, so to come full circle, all the way back to the diet. I was just thinking about what we never really talked about: what would be a good breakfast example for someone to switch from cereal to

Jimmy 

Yeah, so if they have time, obviously eggs work; people don’t really like eggs. So you know, they can just do like a band’s organic waffle. If they want to do that. They can have a fruit smoothie, or they can have plain old Greek yogurt. You know there’s Greek yogurt with some fruits or vegetables and vegetables with some fruits or granola in there. You know, granola is a little high in calories and maybe not the best source of carbs, but that will help a lot of people just get results or just a smoothie. You know, those are generally the three best options I give people.

Sean 

Yeah, me, I know. I eat eggs, black beans, vegetables, or avocado almost every day. That’s like my signature breakfast, and I like that I find that I react to that really well. I’ve had energy all day, and I cook in coconut oil as well. What are your thoughts on coconut oil?

Jimmy 

I love coconut oil, and I think it’s obviously become super popular. So it’s taken off, you know, my physique formula brand; we’re actually producing our own organic coconut oil soon, but I like it. I tend to cook with it. I don’t cook with coconut as much as I eat coconut. I guess that kind of doesn’t make sense to people. I cook with more olive oil, and I do use a little coconut oil about three times a week on my eggs. But every day I will have a coconut smoothie or coconut milk smoothie. So it’s one cup, which is very low in fat and has no carbs, and I’ll put some cocoa powder, some cinnamon, and some whey protein in it. I’ll have that as a smoothie, and then I’ll have another smoothie every day. That’s a kale-based smoothie. So I’ll buy blueberries, raspberries, or something like that. I’ll put kale in there, and I’ll put turmeric in there. And since turmeric tastes terrible, I actually put coconut flakes, organic coconut flakes. So I’ll put that in there. And, you know, that’s where I get my coconut from. Yeah, I

Sean 

I think that’s great. No, on this, we’ve covered pretty much the whole topic in 48 minutes, which is impressive because I thought that we were going to run really far here. And I think we gave a lot of actionable advice for people who are working nine to five to come on us starting tomorrow morning. Right? Huge, and I’m so grateful for it. So

Jimmy 

I have fun, man. You know, I’m happy that we’re able to do this. And, you know, happy that we’re able to get the Skype stuff figured out. And like I said, if you ever want to bring me on again and talk a little business, I will happily do that.

Sean 

Yeah, before you go, I want to jump in. I think we could do like five more minutes. I’ve got some questions for you that were in the description of your book that I’m really interested in asking you. Yeah, so we’ll do a little rapid-fire session here for the last five to 10 minutes. All right. So you say you have a trick to feeling instantly better after a meal. But…

How to feel instantly better after a meal?

Jimmy 

Yeah, it’s actually how I take digestive enzymes. Believe it or not, for most people, their body does not produce enough hydrochloric acid, and their body will not produce enough of the enzymes needed due to stress, aging, and a variety of other factors that allow their body to properly digest their food. So people eat, and then they’ll be like, I feel bloated. I feel terrible. Well, that’s because they don’t have any of those good digestive properties in there.

Sean 

It’s really interesting. So you take digestive enzymes. Yeah, yeah,

Jimmy 

again, not to keep plugging my physique formula brand. But now we produce an enzyme; a lot of the digestive enzymes on the market are just your general digestive enzymes, but we do a combination of digestive enzymes and probiotics, systemic enzymes, so enzymes that reduce inflammation, but also put a little betaine HCl in them. So hydrochloric acid is something that your body can actually use to further break down the foods that you eat, and so

Sean 

Now it’s really true; I never heard of that. It’s really interesting. Yeah, I

Jimmy 

kind of added that into that formula. So I thought a lot of people don’t do what they should do.

Sean 

Yeah. And that’s physique formula. diet.com. Right. Yeah. We’ll take you there. Yeah. Alright. Question number two: you say here that you have Where is it? One food that will dramatically improve your sexual life

Jimmy 

Yeah, believe it or not, and a lot of people don’t look at it this way. It’s not sexy food. But oysters, you know, oysters are really any type of seafood, but oysters are primarily the main one that is super high in zinc and other nutrients that are going to help you, you know, kind of luck, for lack of a better term, improve blood flow to that region, and increase your sexual drive. A lot of people who train so hard just beat down their bodies, and they do nothing to get them back. So oysters in any fish to that degree will help.

Sean 

And the last question that we’ll run into is, What is the number one fat-burning hormone? And how can you control it?

Jimmy 

Yeah, so there’s a lot of debate, right? People talk about testosterone being good because it starts or builds muscle; they talk about growth hormone because pro athletes use it. But the really best hormone to control your body is insulin, which, to a large degree, is a mother hormone. In that case, if insulin is high, blood pressure is going to be affected, and cholesterol is going to be affected. Testosterone is going to be lower because estrogen is going to be higher. Insulin itself is the most anabolic hormone we have. But it’s also the mother’s hormone. Because if we can control it with adequate carbohydrate intake, we’re good to go.

Sean 

Awesome, man. That’s incredible. And these are only three questions that I just ran through real quick out of dozens in Jimmy’s book: Why don’t you tell everyone where they can find you and where they can find your stuff? And yeah,

Jimmy 

that’s great. You guys can check out my book yourself. That is physiqueformula.com. And you guys can go there, and there will be my book. It’ll be your sales page and tell you a little about the book. Um, you guys can also check out our physique formula at diet.com. That’s kind of my hub. I have a weekly podcast; they drop I just released one with a champion power lifter and a really good, well-known coach. I’ve allowed anyone who is interested in pro wrestling to join. I have a lot of people on there; Eric Bischoff, who ran WCW, and a few pro wrestlers are coming on that, and I tried to get a lot of different personalities. My goal for the podcast is to never truly interview fitness people. I interview people that are related to physical fitness and physical culture in one way, but for the most part, you know, outside the rounds, we can talk about a variety of things. Yeah, man, I’m definitely going to check it out. And it’s on iTunes; subscribe there and leave a review.

Sean 

Yeah, I just found out about you a few days ago, but it was awesome talking to you. And this is our first fitness show. And I learned a lot myself, and I’m sure that people can take a lot of actionable steps out of it, which is what I’m all about. I love that people can go and pretty much start to change their lives tomorrow, so I’m so grateful for you coming on, man. Thank you so much, Jimmy.

Jimmy 

Thank you, brother. I appreciate it.

Sean 

Absolutely.

Menprovement Podcast 

Thanks for listening to the Menprovement podcast with Sean Russell. Get more episodes, more tips, and download our free self-improvement eBooks at www.menprovement.com.