Dean Pohlman: Hey guys it’s Ian. Welcome to the veteran podcast. Today I have a member interview. This is Christopher Jay from Chicago. Chris, welcome to the show.
Christopher J.: Thank you so much. Glad to be here.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So let’s just get straight into this. What was and when was, your oh shit moment? When did you realize that you needed to make a change with your fitness?
Christopher J.: Yeah. To be perfectly honest, it was kind of not one moment. But as a lot of I’d have Gen-X people, I ended up having a lot of things in my life that, yeah, we’re kind of undiagnosed for a long time, up until I was close to 30, you know, had hypoparathyroidism, which impacted my muscle movement development, which was undiagnosed for 24.
Christopher J.: And then I found that I had bilateral hip dysplasia, which, was diagnosed at age 40, which resulted in a, total hip replacement. And so I realized through all those things, I was really active pretty much throughout most of my adolescent childhood. Growing up. But I was really impacted on how active I could be in terms of just what my body physically could do at the time because of those various things.
Christopher J.: Yeah. And so it was really kind of getting some of that stuff coordinated and taking care of that allowed me to start going, okay, I need to start focusing on my health. So that was part of it. And then it also when my husband and I moved from Chicago to New Hampshire, my level of incremental movements and, and just general activity level dropped significantly because I went from just incremental movement, walking to the train, walking to the office to.
Christopher J.: Yeah, and to my car in the driveway and driving to an office and sitting. And so I think through all of that, my body and also, you know, the hip and all of that stuff started to really play out into where I was feeling much older than I actually was. You know, at 40, you know, I was starting to walk with a cane and had a limp and and yeah, just felt more like I was 90 as opposed to 40.
Christopher J.: But then through getting the hip replaced, which I would, I wouldn’t have waited nearly as long as I did. Yeah. For that, because realizing how much better it felt having a hip that functioned, even though artificially functioned more normally, made a huge difference in my life in terms of how active I could be and how. Yeah, much I could do and I and and so that I think was the big kind of oh shit moment.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. We had another guy on the podcast were interviewed recently who had, he either had he had one hip replace and then he had the other hip replaced a few months later and that was his he had the same feedback. He was like, I wish I had known that this would help sooner and had done it sooner.
Christopher J.: So, you know, and I think part of it was being 40. You’re like, I’m way too young to have a hip replacement.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. So how did you. Yeah. So yeah. So a lot of this was like I mean, I don’t know, it’d be interesting if you were starting to be told in your 20s that. Okay, you’ve. Yeah, you’ve got these things going on. What was kind of your process for starting to, improve those things? Did you just listen to what the doctors told you to do?
Dean Pohlman: Did you want to learn more about things on your own, or.
Christopher J.: I mean, like with the Hypoparathyroidism, that was kind of a random diagnosis. You know, because I went in just for general health screening and ended up finding out, you know, the calcium levels in my system were basically nonexistent. And so that took a long time to kind of square away. Yeah. Because at the time, there wasn’t any sort of treatment for it other than supplemental treatment, like take 3000mg of calcium a day, vitamin D and all of that.
Christopher J.: So it was just a supplemental treatment. I’ve I’ve subsequently actually been involved in a study at the NIH, which has been interesting, for a medication that’s worked amazingly for my condition. But that’s another story. The hip replacement. So that took a long time for the parathyroid to kind of be worked out. And it was interesting because there was never a, like this oh wow moment.
Christopher J.: I feel different because it took so long.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: To get to some semblance of normal. But now I really notice things and just my how my body works. Yeah, yeah. Like.
Dean Pohlman: When did you get the hip replacement?
Christopher J.: Hip replacement was in 2011. So basically right before, right after I turned 40, I had the hip replacement. And that hip replacement, you know, made a huge difference. And one thing I find really, really interesting with now doing the yoga is I notice the differences between, you know, the artificial hip and how the currently natural hip functions.
Christopher J.: And so that’s kind of interesting to see. And honestly the artificial, it moves in much cleaner way than the other, natural hip.
Dean Pohlman: Okay. Cool. So what happened after the hip replacement. How did you did you go through PT for therapy for that?
Christopher J.: Yeah, I mean I did all the usual. I did probably about six months of physical therapy. I did join a gym, which has been kind of the story of my life. Was joining the gym, going regularly for six months, dropping off for about a year, going back, you know, and so it was a lot of doing the regular, you know, physical therapy, a lot of the exercises, you know, clams and hip abductions and, you know, bridges and all of that,
Dean Pohlman: All that good stuff.
Christopher J.: Those were all exercises prescribed by the physical therapist. So it’s really played in well. And I really notice a huge difference in like, especially the hip flexors if I’ve not been as consistent, say, for a week or something, I just really feel everything kind of tighten up and my whole posture and, mobility seems to shift.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Into so were you are you the kind of guy who, you know, you said story of your life, I think. Or maybe, maybe I’m imagining that, but did you are you the kind of guy who, you know, you got into a program? Did a few months of it, and then you kind of fell off? And was that your was that your pattern largely for like, you know, since 2011.
Christopher J.: Yeah. I think that was definitely my pattern. And I think the biggest challenge for me is, has always been getting out the door. Okay. Once I’m out of out of the house and at the gym, I’m great. Okay. So it’s getting that mental motivation to get out, get out of the house and actually get to a gym or into some form of exercise.
Christopher J.: Which, you know, I have to say probably is one of the reasons, like, man flow yoga has been really good for me. It, you know, I kind of cut out that aspect of having to get up, leave the house or go, yeah, I get too skinny.
Dean Pohlman: You don’t even have to put on pants. You just.
Christopher J.: Exactly.
Dean Pohlman: You’re ready to go.
Christopher J.: Yeah. So I think that made a huge difference in me being able to be consistent.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Got it. So before. So all right so when did you start looking for something like man for yoga.
Christopher J.: It was really during Covid. You know I was at home. I basically from March of 2020, I’d been, you know, the office closed. I’ve been working remotely ever since then. And I was looking for something, you know, at that point, gyms were closed.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: And in general, I kind of really was of the mindset. I’m not going to join another gym unless I find something I could do on my own. And then I feel like I’m not going to get enough out of it. Then I’ll look to a gym. Okay. Yeah. So it’s through that, you know, like a lot of people, like, I went on YouTube looking for, you know, yoga.
Christopher J.: Yoga for man, yoga for guys. Yeah, some were good, some are bad. And then I came across yours, and I liked the non kind of spiritual aspect of it.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: And, and I felt like the other thing I liked about it was yeah, it was references and everything was more geared toward men as opposed to the. I’d done some yoga before. Yeah. But it usually I was the only guy in the room. Every reference was geared toward females and their anatomy and, and so it just it, it didn’t feel as comfortable of a space.
Christopher J.: Okay. To me.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: You know, so that that made a huge difference.
Dean Pohlman: So you all right? Cool. So you found man for yoga and how often did you do the workouts at that point?
Christopher J.: You know, I was pretty consistent, at, at the start, I think I had a hard time finding kind of a rhythm of workouts.
Dean Pohlman:
Christopher J.: But then I did end up, you know, going from YouTube to that kind of mental yoga. Yeah. Dedicated site. Yeah. And then found the programs. And the programs I think are a huge help for me, because if I know, okay, I’m going to go do this exercise, then this exercise. Yeah, that helps me kind of keep on track if I feel like I’m going out and just kind of, what am I going to do today?
Christopher J.: Yeah, I have a really hard time keeping focused.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, totally. So you had a structured schedule to follow?
Christopher J.: Yeah. And I think you. Yeah. In that my general mindset, it’s it’s like kind of focus on one thing, work on that. Get that, you know, succeed with that, then move on to the next. Yeah. It’s kind of how I approach my life in general.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, totally. So when you first you so all right, so you’re on YouTube for a while. How long were you on YouTube? Just kind of like bouncing.
Christopher J.: I take maybe a month or two.
Dean Pohlman: Okay. And then you came over to the, the website. You found the programs. How often did you do the workouts? When you first started?
Christopher J.: When I first started, I was doing it about, I think. I mean, it was a while ago, so it’s hard to reach back that far. But,
Dean Pohlman: I would say your full your. Oh no, that’s not that shouldn’t be. And you’re more flexible now so it should be easier to reach. Yeah. But,
Christopher J.: Yeah I think three times I think. Yeah. Because I, I, you’ve always had like, if you do these things three times a week.
Dean Pohlman: And you listen to.
Christopher J.: It, I think you, great. I think I, I generally try to do at least three times a week, you know, lastly, I’ve been and I, I find for me, if I’m even if I do like about five times a week, I, I’m, I like that rhythm now, where I’m at in the process.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. So when you were doing it three times per week, what results did you notice? Oh, sorry. I disconnected there for a second. So I hear you. And you were doing it. When you were doing the workouts three times per week. What results did you notice? Kind of within that first month?
Christopher J.: I, I really started to notice, just especially my gait. I think my gait has always been hugely awkward to say a little bit. Okay. Because I, I think I don’t know whether it’s the hip flexors. What. But they’re better slightly Frankenstein gait to myself where I end up kind of leaning forward.
Dean Pohlman: Okay.
Christopher J.: And I think you.
Dean Pohlman: And Richard, I think you and Richard would get along. It sounds like Richard has a lot of these similar or just, like, awkward movement tendencies.
Christopher J.: Yeah, I, I think I grew too fast for the rest of my body at point. Okay. Yeah. So I notice just my gait feels longer and more relaxed, like I don’t feel like I’m stumbling forward, if that makes sense.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. That’s cool. So notice when you’re walking improve gait. It sounds like you felt longer. What else did you notice? And.
Christopher J.: You know, just general ickiness in terms of, you know, reaching and bending for things, you know, like bending down to tie my shoes. Yeah. I’ve never been my whole life. I’ve never been a person that could touch their toes. Yeah. I could maybe get past my knees. And so you know being able to bend over and touch my toes or, or tie my shoes without sitting down.
Christopher J.: Yeah. Has been kind of a huge improvement.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: So I really notice those aspects I mean in the early and the early kind of period, I really notice a little bit of achy ness afterward, you know, because I think stretching areas like the hip flexor that is an area that I really notice a lot when I’m doing, like lunges and things like that.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: Yeah. So there definitely was, you know, a some growing pains with moving into those type of movements and stretches and long held poses.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. But okay.
Christopher J.: At this point I’m, I really I honestly enjoy the sensation of those now.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: As opposed to dreading. Oh, God. At lunch.
Dean Pohlman: Okay. You enjoy the sensation. Now, why did you say you enjoy it now? Because it doesn’t feel good. Or do you associate it with.
Christopher J.: There’s some sort of I honestly, I would put it toward some sort of tension relief and release, I think.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: Because I think I, I generally hold my stress very physically.
Dean Pohlman: Yes.
Christopher J.: And so, I think there’s definitely a, a release of tension and a kind of a change of mindset for me.
Dean Pohlman: Okay.
Christopher J.: Yeah. So if I’ve had a really long, stressful day, I’ll even if I’m not necessarily feeling it, if I, if I go do a, a routine or a program, I feel better after. I think a lot of the stress has left, you know, and just my body just feels more relaxed.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Awesome. I mean, yeah, that’s that’s very consistent, with what we hear, people look forward to the feeling of, of afterwards. So that kind of leads me into my next question. But, this might be your answer. It might not. But what do you think enabled you to be consistent? You know, you talked about kind of stopping and starting, when you were on and off at a gym.
Dean Pohlman: What do you think enabled you? I mean, and you’ve been doing mental yoga for how long now? Consistently.
Christopher J.: Like, I think it’s about a year and a half. Close to two years, I think.
Dean Pohlman: Okay. So that first month I always like to go back to the first month because I think that’s the first big hurdle. What do you think enabled you to be consistent?
Christopher J.: Well, there’s a couple of things, I think competitiveness with my husband, like he was a gym, all right. He was getting really consistent with the gym at the time. And so I felt like, oh God, I got to do something. So that.
Dean Pohlman: Helped. Love that. That’s awesome.
Christopher J.: And I think I honestly just feeling like my body functioned better when I did it.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: Was a big motivation for me.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. Cool. So is there a particular is there did you did you discover that there was kind of this, this sense of, or this particular reason for motivation, like when you thought about when you didn’t want to do a workout or when you didn’t feel as energetic that day, maybe you had a day where you didn’t sleep well, a long day after work.
Dean Pohlman: What was your motivation? What did you what did you tell yourself, or what was kind of like the you know, if there was maybe like a deep fear, of if you didn’t do this, this would happen. Or like, what helped you motivate yourself?
Christopher J.: Yeah, I, I think I keep going back to. My biggest challenge was getting started and getting the foot out the door. Get started on the exercise. Once I did it, I was felt much better and just really appreciated the end result. So I think really that’s what pushes me through kind of that discouragement or low energy moment.
Christopher J.: I think going, okay, I don’t feel like it’s going to, I don’t feel like doing it right now, but I know if I do it I’ll feel better. Yeah. I, I mean I go that’s not a major reason, but I think that really is what pushes me through it.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No, absolutely. No, that’s I mean, that’s that’s very, very consistent with what we’ve heard. I think knowing that you’ll feel better afterwards is definitely motivation.
Christopher J.: And it just it helps my mood. And I think it does usually gives me more energy. Yeah. At the end of completing a routine, even if I start it when I’m tired or not feeling it right.
Dean Pohlman: Cool. So what are some. And you already talked about some of them. You talked about, you know, the improved gait, the general ickiness kind of going away, feeling better in terms of stress afterwards. Now, you’ve been doing it for a year and a half, almost two years. What are some of other benefits that you’ve noticed in overall health?
Christopher J.: You know, I think.
Dean Pohlman: As.
Christopher J.: You know, through getting my body feeling like it functions better, it’s also allowed me to get back into cycling.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, okay.
Christopher J.: I did a lot of, you know, but I think just time in life got in the way. And the bike just sat in the garage. And I live close to the lakefront path in Chicago, which is a shame not to utilize that. So yeah, I think it’s allowed me to get back into cycling, which has overall benefits.
Christopher J.: And in and of itself, And you know, and I think, yeah, I’ve started walking more, I, and I’ve also started doing like catch game competitive, say with Apple Fitness. I’m competing against friends with that. So so I think it’s how it’s led me to be more conscious of my exercise and my general routines.
Dean Pohlman: Okay. Yeah. That’s great. So it’s encourage you to start doing other exercising. Yeah. Exactly. Be more active and make it more fun. Make it more social. Yeah. Sounds like that’s awesome. So how has the you mentioned sort of the one thing that you’ve mentioned here is, you know, it sounds like you’ve used Apple Fitness. You’ve I’m assuming you’ve connected with friends on there to kind of make it competitive.
Dean Pohlman: You you’ve got the competitive thing going on with your husband, with your partner. How else has community or other social structure, been helpful to your fitness journey?
Christopher J.: Yeah. And actually, now that you’re mentioning that, I feel like I should have mentioned, I think that is also an aspect that has helped keep me consistent. Yeah, I think mental yoga as just as an exercise, you know, group of routines is great. But I think what really has kept me coming back has been really that community. Yeah.
Christopher J.: Because when I found out the the Facebook Man Flow Yoga Facebook community, yeah, I, I really like that aspect. And I think I’m a super contributor or something on there right now. But I like sharing like the routines. Like if I complete routine, I’ll upload some photos and kind my workout for the day. Yeah. And I feel like it kind of gives, kind of an accountability and connects to the community, which I think for me, especially going through Covid and working remotely for so long.
Christopher J.: Yeah, was something that I feel I really, really needed back in my life. And I and honestly, the like the group out there is supportive and that has been huge. I mean, I just like getting likes of like, great job, you know, is enough to kind of help keep you going I think. Yeah. Exercise routine. And then also the engage community, which I fully admit I need to engage more with the engage community.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That’s why it’s called engage. I call it engage for that reason. Yeah.
Christopher J.: But the community, I think really sorry. In the background, the community was really, a huge part of what’s kept me committed. Yeah. This routine, I feel like there’s people out there that have my back.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay, so that was kind of my next question was, you know, you talked about accountability posting and and then you just mentioned feeling like people have your back. Can you talk about that a little bit more?
Christopher J.: You know, because when you go out and post, you can see what your challenges are. And, you know, people will say, yeah, I’ve experienced that too. Here’s what I’ve done to kind of get through that. And or, you know, you can be a support for somebody else. And I think that has been. You know, I think it makes a difference in a lot of people that are out there.
Christopher J.: Yeah. And I’ve seen honestly, I’ve seen some amazing transformations, you know, of people that have been doing the program say my time that I have and I’ve just seen huge transformations in them physically and emotionally, I think. Yeah. And I think that’s, you know, been a great asset, you know, to the people that take advantage of the community.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. So, what are your what are your current goals right now? What’s kind of the next thing that you want to work on in your fitness or the next hurdle?
Christopher J.: Honestly, I put it as diet.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: For me, I think that’s my biggest hurdle to get over. Yeah. Because sadly, yeah, I look at all of the foods I should eat as punishment. Almost. Okay, so I think that’s my biggest hurdle.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Got it.
Christopher J.: Like, I’m always jealous. My husband likes eating salads. Yeah, like eating roasted vegetables.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: Not my thing, but I know I need to work those in there.
Dean Pohlman: Right. So what has, has as went. Since when have you struggled with nutrition? Do you, you know, do you have an ideal goal weight or.
Christopher J.: You know, nutrition? Honestly probably my whole life. And I’m not putting blame on parents but I did not have great examples of diet. And so and if I right now I have to say I’m at about 220, I would like to be around 201 95. I need to and I think diet is the big hurdle that’s kind of preventing that.
Christopher J.: Shifting down probably.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: Yeah. Because I think, you know, exercise wise I’m, I’m feeling stronger.
Dean Pohlman:
Christopher J.: And I feel like my body’s working better but I, I just need to.
Christopher J.: Eat things that are better for me and have better times. You know and sometimes that does get to be a challenge when, you know, let’s say you have a partner that isn’t necessarily on that same path of diet. I mean, you know, like trying to have a food curfew is a huge challenge for me. Yeah. Because I’ll if I was by myself, I could do it.
Christopher J.: But then if somebody else is, I’m going to go get some snacks like I’ll join you.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Give me some snacks. Yeah. That’s that’s something that we’ve heard about a lot is like, it’s not so much that you can’t create the structure or the environment that you want to reflect your nutrition goals. It’s that your roommate, right? They’re like, well, I can’t buy I don’t buy chips, right? But my roommate buys the chips and then I’ve got chips and I don’t want them that I can’t, can’t throw out his chips.
Dean Pohlman: So, yeah. So what has, was there a period of your life when you made an effort to be better about your your nutrition and you realized results? And if so, what helped or what worked for you during those times?
Christopher J.: I think.
Christopher J.: I think making sure everybody in the household on the same page, I think that’s the biggest hurdle. And when it has worked, it was when we were both on the same page.
Dean Pohlman: Okay.
Christopher J.: Of of we’re going to eat better and that’s how we’re going to do it.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And right now, sorry. I’m going into like, going into betterment podcast mode where I pretend that I’m a psychologist. But what’s the are you guys just not on? Have you not brought it up, or is he not interested in being in there with you? Or, like, what’s the, what’s preventing that from happening? What’s the fear?
Christopher J.: Maybe I think it’s are dealing with dealing with stress and. And and somewhat depression I think a points yeah. I’m definitely a stress and boredom eater. I think that runs in my family.
Dean Pohlman:
Christopher J.: And I think my husband has the same somewhat issues that to at times.
Dean Pohlman: Gotcha. So you’re you’re both okay with having that. Yeah.
Christopher J.: You know and honestly I it’s.
Dean Pohlman: A it’s a comfort.
Christopher J.: It is it’s it’s it’s it’s comfort.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Yeah okay. Yeah. Makes sense. Yeah. That’s something that we’ve talked this month we’re doing nutrition and engage. And I think I would love we
Christopher J.: Yeah. And I know there’s some member that puts together a monthly kind of protein rich, like, meal plan. And.
Dean Pohlman: Oh, yeah. What’s his name?
Christopher J.: I’ve started getting and I’ve gotten those. I’ve pulled out some things.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: So. Yeah. Going to do those as much as I can.
Dean Pohlman: I don’t think that’s.
Christopher J.: I’ve done chia pudding, which is good.
Dean Pohlman: So yeah, I was going to say sometime, something that makes a lot of sense to me. And what I’ve been recommending is just kind of recognizing, what are you trying to get out of the stress eating. Right. So. So, okay, I’m eating because I’m stressed. But if I put my food over here and I had to deal with my stress instead than like, what would you know what would come up?
Dean Pohlman: Or what am I stressed about? Or, yeah. Can I, can I talk about this with my partner? Right. A lot of the I don’t know, I’m just speaking from my own experience here. My wife and I have started talking a lot more recently. We we’ve we’ve had some pretty, like, leaps and bounds in our own relationships.
Dean Pohlman: But one thing that now we are doing is like, we we don’t watch TV as much and we end up talking a lot more. Okay. So we just, you know, talk about the things that are stressing us. And, you know, we lean on each other in that way. But I think before, yeah, I used too much.
Dean Pohlman: I relied more on food or relied more on just kind of like distracting myself with with TV or with, you know, other things.
Christopher J.: But and I think, yeah. And that is something that we have talked about, like instead of sitting down and watching TV at night when there’s generally usually what’s on us and anything we’re actually interested in.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: Yelling, going for a walk instead.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Like, oh, and I think looks good on another show with new mediocre actors. Yeah.
Christopher J.: That in the news lately hasn’t been the greatest. So.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, you want to you want to mess up your whole day, turn the news on for sure.
Christopher J.: Oh, yeah.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah.
Christopher J.: Yeah. And I think probably some of that. Yeah. Just the general world in general. That’s somewhat stressful.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. I think, any time you focus on things that you really don’t have much control over, recognizing that life control is just inherently stressful.
Christopher J.: And I do pretty good with that aspect. Yeah. You know, not trying to get stressed out about things that I can’t change or people’s behavior that I have no control over.
Dean Pohlman: Right. It’s easy to fall in the rabbit hole, though, even though you know where I was, you know, like I’ve been here before, but I’m going to do it again anyways, because that’s where I want to go right now.
Christopher J.: Exactly.
Dean Pohlman: Cool. Well, I want to move on to the next part of the series. This is this is my rapid fire question. So I’ve got four of these. The first one is what is one habit, belief, or mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?
Christopher J.: I think it’s to focus on one thing at a time. Yeah, not necessarily excluding the big picture. Yeah, but not focusing on the big picture of something. Because for me, I find that overall is overwhelming.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Absolutely.
Christopher J.: Yeah. And I think if you focus on one thing, like I said, one thing, finish it, move on to the next. By the time you notice that you’re completed everything or you focus on small, manageable goals.
Dean Pohlman: Yes. Yeah, that’s great advice. What is one thing that you do for your health that is often overlooked or undervalued by others?
Christopher J.: You know, honestly, I think taking time to relax, you know, you don’t have to have every second filled with something. I think, you know, taking that time just to be. Is healthy and helps to keep you sane.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Did you say that you’ve done more of that since starting doing yoga?
Christopher J.: Yeah, I definitely think so. Yeah, I find that points almost meditative to go through it, especially now that I am familiar with the poses. I don’t have to watch. Right. You know, and so I can just kind of focus on breathing, like the breath series I really liked. Yeah, I just found that almost meditative.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No, it definitely is that much for focus on breathing for sure. What is the most stressful part of your day to day life?
Christopher J.: Yeah, working from home. I think it’s probably getting up and opening the laptop and getting online and finding out everything I need to catch up on, especially. Yeah, people I work with are in East Coast time and I’m on central, so I’m always behind.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Do you do anything before? Before then you just get up and you’re just straight into the laptop.
Christopher J.: Well, no, I get up, but I generally am one that gets up early, so I get up early. I take the dog for a walk. Yeah. Breakfast and then get up. Yeah. Okay. Up and catch up.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I’m glad that you get that walk in. I think that makes a huge difference.
Christopher J.: If it wasn’t for the dog, I wouldn’t have a lot of the exercise.
Dean Pohlman: Yes. And that is why we get dogs. Yes. Last question. What is your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?
Christopher J.: Yeah, I think it’s really just take that mindset of one foot in front of the other.
Dean Pohlman:
Christopher J.: You know, and small, manageable goals and tackle those. And that’s really my best advice. Yeah.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that seems to be what has worked the most for people within the community. It’s not been I am going to completely overhaul everything and start tomorrow. It’s okay. What can I do? Like what’s one thing that I can start doing and improving. Yeah. And then when you do that and you’re successful with it, then you realize like, oh, I can I can do other things.
Dean Pohlman: Let me try this one too. Let me try this one. And then you build this sense of confidence and being able to achieve goals rather than, you know, setting extremely, you know, extremely, I’m blanking on the word lofty. Yes. Lofty, ambitious, lofty, ambitious goals and then not completing them and repeating the cycle.
Christopher J.: Exactly.
Dean Pohlman: So. All right. Well, Chris, I just want to say thank you for being part of the man for yoga community and and and doing all of those posts that you do. I think a lot of people are scared to do that and to put themselves out there and to show, hey, like, I’m doing this work out. Here’s a photo of me doing workouts.
Dean Pohlman: Here’s some of the struggles that I’m encountering. And, when you do that, you help other people be consistent with the workouts, and you also show them that, oh, that guy is going through that same thing. You know, for everyone who actually replies, do you think of, like, all the people who don’t reply and all those people that you’re affecting?
Dean Pohlman: So I just thank you for that.
Christopher J.: Well, and thank you. I mean, I just see the amount of people that like I said, I’ve seen some amazing transformations of folks out there. Yeah. And I think it’s because of the community you’ve helped create. Yeah.
Dean Pohlman: Well thank you. I mean it’s it’s an honor. It’s really cool that people, out of all the things they could choose to do online, they choose to. Yeah. Let’s try this man flow yoga yoga dude person and. Oh okay. Yeah. Yeah. So. Well, thank you again. I appreciate you doing this.
Christopher J.: Oh. You’re welcome. Thanks for asking.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Of course. All right, guys.
Christopher J.: I’m an actor. This is somewhat out of my comfort zone.
Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s.
Christopher J.: Not my comfort zone.
Dean Pohlman: Put me, You’re making your own lines.
Dean Pohlman: You put your real self out there. You don’t get to have a fake self or, imagined character. Exactly. Yeah, well, thanks for getting outside your comfort zone for this. Yeah. All right, guys, well, thanks for listening. And I hope you got a lot out of this. I hope it inspires you to be a better man. Be sure to check out the rest of these episodes in this series if you find them interesting.
Dean Pohlman: I’ll see you guys on the next episode.
[END]
