Happily Healthily

Often when we’re feeling compromised in our health and or our happiness, the first place to look is not for things to add to our lives in order to “fix” them; more that we should look for things that need to be removed and often those things come in the form of our behaviours.

“People need to have a strong ‘why’ – it gives them a stronger sense of purpose.” – Jason Khalipa Jason Khalipa (@jasonkhalipa) is an entrepreneur, dad, author, Crossfit Games champion and all-around remarkable human.  He is incredibly generous with his wisdom and energy and has channelled much of what he knows into his forthcoming book, AMRAP Mentality. (If you’re unfamiliar with the term AMRAP, it means as many rounds or as many reps as possible in fitness training.) In our conversation, we cover: How he applies his champion’s mindset to get the most out of life, including working through a very challenging time where his little daughter was battling leukemia. How being healthy and strong gives us reserve power to work through life’s challenges and just some thoughts on living a good life. How building camaraderie and community on the floor of corporate fitness facilities has evolved the way teams connect and perform in their day-to-day work. There is so much we didn’t end up touching on, so if you’d like to learn more about Jason I highly suggest reading up on him in J.C. Herz’s incredible book, Learning to Breathe Fire: The Rise of Crossfit and the Primal Future of Fitness as a starting point. Athletic accomplishments aside, Jason is a generous teacher, community member and role model.  Check him out on Instagram at @jasonkhalipa or check out his chain of gyms at NC.fit. Links/Mentions: AMRAP Mentality: Succeeding in Competition, Business and Life By Making The Most of Every Minute

“We live our lives as if our next day is so guaranteed, but it’s urgent.  Life is urgent. “ Justin Duguay   Justin Duguay ( @jtdioxide ) is back for round two and we both agree that we pushed ourselves a bit into the zone of discomfort at times with this one. I happen to think that adds value to the episode, but you will have to decide for yourselves.  Justin is, after all, the guy who said, “Vulnerability makes us ripe for growth,” during his interview in episode three. Covered in this episode: A unique project that Justin and his sister, Danielle, have brought to a local school An inconvenient truth about the fitness industry and its experts A story of two encounters that have brought focus to his life You’ll quickly recognize that Justin is a guy who is very motivated by helping other people perform better in their lives.  He shares a lot of his coaching reflections and insights on Instagram at @jtdioxide or you can check out his blog at www.CrossfitDioxide.com .

“I can only perform well and do things well if I’m taking care of myself – you can’t pour from an empty cup.” – Sal Di Stefano Sal Di Stefano (@mindpumpsal) is a lifelong health and fitness experimenter/enthusiast and fitness media entrepreneur as well as co-host of the disruptive and informative Mind Pump podcast.  Mind Pump is an online radio show/podcast that has been described as Howard Stern meets fitness. During our call, Sal gets into: Aligning your health goals with the rest of your life. How he thinks about self-care through life’s challenges. His “trading dimes for quarters” philosophy. Avoiding the trap of “fighting for 1%” in your health and wellness If you enjoyed this conversation, I would strongly encourage you to check out episodes of Sal’s podcast.  They currently have well over 600 episodes available and have interviewed everybody who is making a difference in the field of modern fitness and wellness.  You can also check out Sal on Instagram @mindpumpsal. Links/Mentions: Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding Mind Pump Media MAPS Anabolic MAPS Anywhere

Sarah Beatty (@9tothrive_inc) is the founder 9 to Thrive, a brand new a corporate wellness events company who deliver fitness events to workplaces.  Tired of constantly struggling to balance a busy workload with her health and well-being and inspired by her passion for health and wellness, she focused on creating an easy way to bring healthy activities TO the workplace. But this episode isn’t all about workplace wellness! Sarah is also a personal trainer and has some great tips for helping people to get started on their own wellness journey, so if that’s where you’re at and what you’re looking for, we’ve got that in the conversation too.  In the episode, Sarah shares: How small changes can lead to discovering your hidden superpowers. How smaller businesses can offer wellness initiatives that help them attract talent. How to start building workplace wellness initiatives with your teams, even with no budget. Measuring the ROI of workplace wellness initiatives Links/Mentions From The Episode Sarah’s social channels: Business Site  Instagram

“The more you move, the more you exercise, the less stressed you are and the lower the risk of chronic conditions.” - Richard Cisneros Richard Cisneros is a physiotherapist and acupuncturist who specializes in helping athletes recover from injury or lapsed athletes ramp themselves back into better, stronger movement.  He’s on the podcast because I admire how his methodology empowers the patient with a focus on returning them to at least some movement as soon as possible. We actually had to restart a couple of times due to having a bit too much fun, but here’s what we got recorded for the episode: The surprising therapeutic power of deadlifts His impactful internship at a neuro-rehab clinic Richard’s philosophy on how our mental game plays into our physical game Richard is super passionate about helping people to perform optimally, simply by enhancing human movement.  Connect with him via his clinic’s website, right HERE. Links and Mentions: Episode 4, featuring Greg Amundson Website for Richard’s clinic.

“I don’t chase happiness; I choose what’s worth struggling for.”  - Matt Poyner  Many of us may find ourselves occasionally putting off important things in life because we are "too busy."  Matt Poyner is a backcountry outdoorsman, dad, artist, carpenter, ER doctor, graphic designer, husband, and brewer, among other things (and not necessarily in that order.)  You could say he leads a busy life, but he might call it a life of fulfillment. In our discussion, we have a few laughs and dig into: What makes being an emergency room doctor the perfect vocation for a person of varied interests. How physical struggle and exertion has contributed to human evolution His philosophy on parenting Matt’s four elements of a fulfilled life. Links and References : How to Be Everything: A Guide For Those Who (Still) Don’t Know What They Want to Be When They Grow Up by Emilie Wapnick Wired to Eat: Turn off Cravings, Rewire Your Appetite for Weight Loss, and Determine the Foods That Work for You by Robb Wolf The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance by Steven Kotler  

“The best diet theory is the one that relates best to your unique hormonal function.” -Bharat Oza Bharat Oza  ( @b_elite_bharat ) is back and this time he’s answering your questions as submitted via Instagram and our Facebook Page.  Among other things, Bharat shares: His thoughts on what makes “the best nutrition strategy” What’s the deal with intermittent fasting and is it right for you? Thoughts on Bulletproof and other fatty coffees Pros and cons of paleo, ketogenic, HCLF, plant-based diets Bharat still spends loads of time learning and sharing as he explores how we can all live better lives.  Want to learn more from Bharat?  Tune in to his weekly Facebook live videos at 9:00am EST each week where he shares a ton of great information. Enjoy!

This is a solo podcast where I share an essay prompted by a recent conversation with a friend.  These are a few ideas I've had kicking around in my branium for a few months now and it was time to try to channel them in some type of cohesive flow.  

“We’ve got to get out of the habitual thinking, and the only way to do that is to put new thoughts in.” – Denise Marek Denise Marek (@marekdenise) used to be a self-proclaimed expert at worrying, and the root cause for that turned out to be linked to events that happened very early in her life.  Finally, she realized that she was able to look at her circumstances differently and it was then that she began to identify the four steps to getting herself (and others) from a state of worried and stressed to a state of calm and to eventually begin working on a path of self-mastery. In this episode, we discuss: Denise’s proven four-step process for managing fear and getting yourself CALM How she became an expert at worrying before she became the worry management expert. How she made up her mind to get the same book agent as Dr. Phil and then easily made it happen. How to train fleas. (Who knew that was even still a thing?) Denise gets extremely real with me in this interview; be sure to stick around to the end for an amazing honest view into her origin story.  If you want to put a name to the face and check out more of what Denise is up to, you can follow her on Instagram at @marekdenise or check out her website, denisemarek.com

Sometimes we think our path in life is already pretty well optimized but then something comes along to challenge that belief.  In Ryan’s case, that challenge was confronting the fact that he was an alcoholic and an addict and I suppose that’s what made me consider this one so carefully as not everybody is going to identify with his particular experience. The thing is, the great thing, about this story, is that no matter where we are on our own journey, we can relate to Ryan’s story on some level.  By even seeking to optimize for awesomeness in life, we implicitly acknowledge that we can always continue to grow and we take responsibility for that growth.  We empower ourselves to look for areas of our lives that can be made better by owning our situation, making new decisions, changing our outlook or building new habits. Ryan is a lucky guy – he had the presence of mind to accept the help when it was offered to him.  Life was teaching him a hard lesson, but luckily he was present in class that day and paying attention to what he needed to learn.

“If we can ultimately seek mastery of what’s taking place in our minds, then we have much greater command and control over the conditions and outcomes in our lives.” – Greg Amundson Greg Amundson (@gregoryamundson) has worked in law enforcement as a Sheriff’s deputy and a DEA agent, and he has served as a captain in the US Army and is now the owner/operator/head coach at Crossfit Amundson in Santa Cruz, California.   He’s an elite-level athlete, an author, a speaker, a podcaster and a man of unshakeable faith.  He’s also known in some circles as “Crossfit’s Original Firebreather,” and I feel very fortunate to have had him play a role in helping me get on the path to improving my own health and happiness.  Greg goes deep in this episode – I had a lot of questions come in from listeners around some very tactical elements of health and fitness but, as you’re about to hear, this guy is thinking on a whole other plain. 

How meta!  A podcast about the reason for starting this podcast. This episode serves as a quick introduction to Happily Healthily and shares with you the vision for what this podcast hopes to explore over time.  I also admit to the fact that "awesome" is a much-overused word but listen in to find out what makes it the perfect fit in our tagline, "Optimizing for awesomeness."

“Vulnerability makes us ripe for growth.” Justin Duguay Justin Duguay ( @jtdioxide ) is a gym owner and an incredible movement coach, but he’s also a deep thinker about the interrelatedness of physical health with emotional health and happiness.  In our discussion, we have a few laughs and dig into: Thinking about discomfort as describing step one of a success system His 63 y.o. mother in law’s squat powers. Perception of progress vs. actual Decoding the importance of doing hard things. You’ll quickly recognize that Justin is a guy who is very motivated by helping other people perform better in their lives.  He shares a lot of his coaching reflections and insights on Instagram at @jtdioxide or you can check out his blog at www.CrossfitDioxide.com .   Enjoy!

“People need to start listening to their bodies more.”- Bharat Oza Bharat Oza is, among other things, an expert in stress-reduced fat loss who, like many of us, has struggled and spent many years to arrive at an amazing understanding of what it means to be healthy.  In this episode, Bharat shares: His years as a “fat vegetarian” How he learned the importance of a personalized approach to wellness Emerging information on how gut health effects our overall health How arriving at the right motivation helped him finally live happily and healthily Use of exogenous ketones in supporting fat loss and body/brain performance Bharat still spends loads of time learning and sharing as he explores how we can all live better lives.  Want to learn more from Bharat?  Tune in to his weekly Facebook live videos at 9:00 am EST each week where he shares a ton of great information. All links and show notes at www.HappilyHealthily.com