Unlocking the Compound Effect of Fitness | Oscar R. | Better Man Podcast Ep. 144

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys, it’s Dean and welcome to the Betterment Podcast. Today’s episode is a member interview with Oscar Rashad. He lives in Louisiana. He had his OSHA moment back in the 1990s when he went on a charity walk, saw a photo of himself and didn’t like what he saw. Since then, he has dedicated himself to improving his health and wellness, starting with small steps, joining a gym, getting on the treadmill.

Dean Pohlman: And now he’s doing manual yoga, lifting weights, running, doing cold plunge, doing sauna, doing it all. But we talk about how he built up to doing that. In this episode, we also talk about the mindset that he uses when he approaches wellness and how he has the ability to modify and adapt his workouts to his current needs. Making sure that he doesn’t push himself too much, but respects his body and is able to continue to stay active with that mindset.

Dean Pohlman: So guys, I hope you enjoy this interview. There’s a lot of great things that you can get out of it, and I hope it inspires you to be a better man. Hey guys, it’s Dean. Welcome to the Betterment Podcast. Today’s episode is a member interview with Oscar Rashad. Welcome, Oscar.

Oscar R: Thank you Dean. Appreciate the opportunity and I hope the rest of the main Flow community enjoys our conversation.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So I met Oscar at the last, we Can workshop series that we did here in Austin, Texas in February. February. No, no, no, it was May. What am I making? And Oscar, comes up to me, and, between one and the sessions, and he shows me his this app that he has, and it shows his, you know, it shows his muscle mass, it shows his weight, and it shows his body fat percentage.

Dean Pohlman: And I think it was like, what was it, 17% or 15 for 17%? 17 and almost, 100 pounds. Lean muscle mass, which is very good. That’s really good. So I was like, okay, this guy’s in pretty good shape. So I’d love to, you know, I thought, oh, this would be a great conversation to have. So.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So you talked a lot about the other things that you that you do with your fitness. You have a pretty great gym that you go to that has a lot of different things. And I’m assuming it took you a while to build up to doing all these things. So I.

Oscar R: Always.

Dean Pohlman: I always like going back to kind of like the beginning of when you really started to, work on your health, work on your wellness. And I’m wondering for you what was kind of that? What’s that? Oh, shit. Moment where you realize, okay, things aren’t going the way that I want them to, and it’s time to change.

Oscar R: We was probably back in the late 1990s or early 2000. Our company participated in one of these five K charity walks. And, you know, as they usually do, there was photos from the event. And when I saw a photo of myself from the event, I realized how much weight I had put on and it was like, oh shit, it’s time to do something about it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, okay, that’ll that’ll do it. And so what did you start to do? What is your what were some of the steps you took?

Oscar R: What do you. That’s when we pretty much this, you know, I started watching what I was eating and then we ended up joining the health club, which was, you know, I didn’t join, did I really didn’t do any regular exercise until about 23 years ago when we joined the health club, you know, so everything that I’ve accomplished has been just over this time.

Oscar R: Short time. Right? Time span. But we joined the health club, so I did, walking on the treadmills. They have group fitness classes, so sort of participating in some of those. Okay. You know, sorry to lose in the weight, you know, notice that my strength and endurance was increasing, you know, and started doing a little bit of running, which I talked about that a little bit later.

Oscar R:

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: You know, that was pretty much the start.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. So when you said watching what you ate, what did you mean what what did that mean for you back then? What were some of the adjustments you made?

Oscar R: Well, I know that you had mentioned to me that you have come down to South Louisiana for a wedding and one time. So you can imagine if you tasted some of the food down here. The food is a very big part of our culture down here. People like to eat, and it’s just has to do more with, moderation.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Moderation. Okay. So how did you did you have, a system of guidelines or something that you used to say, okay, I think I’ve had enough food or what did portion control or, like, what was it?

Oscar R: Yeah, it’s I think it’s more portion control. And then, you know, at the same time, you know, my wife wanted to go in the same journey pretty much, you know, to be healthier. I mean, we had three kids at the time and that was keeping us busy. So, you know, her cooking habits and stuff like that. You know, it was just we changed, you know, how we cook things and how much we ate.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. How old were your kids at the time? Do you remember?

Oscar R: They were just early teens. Okay. Early teens.

Dean Pohlman: How do they feel about healthy food that they get that they’re like, what is this? Or like.

Oscar R: No, they were just kids are kids. But they were good. They were fine with it. Okay. As long as there were some the.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, okay. Yeah. My son, my son yells at me if we started just having, we started getting different pasta. We started getting like chickpea pasta instead of normal, you know, like normal durum pasta. Oh, we durum pasta. And now it’s, But now he can tell, like, which ones are like the the, you know, the, like, Italian style pasta and which ones are the chickpea pasta, like.

Dean Pohlman: No, those ones are yucky. I’m like, just put tomato sauce on. Oh fine.

Oscar R: We’re sorry, I, you know, when the kids were younger, how they were picky on what they ate. But now that they’re adults, stuff that they didn’t like when they were kids, they love, you know, and now they’ve got kids of their own and they’re going through the same routine is trying to get them to eat. Okay. No, this is good to eat.

Dean Pohlman: Yes. Just I would like applesauce. Actually, mainly just started eating, beef jerky sticks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like they both like them. I’m shocked, but mainly. Anyways, I’m getting off topic here. All right, so you were moderation, portion control. You started making different foods. It’s awesome that you had your wife on board with you for that.

Dean Pohlman: Did you guys have.

Oscar R: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Did you guys just have a conversation one night and you’re like, hey, like, what do you want to what are we doing here? Or. Like what? What did that what did that look like?

Oscar R: Well, you know, she’s like had mentioned I mean she had some she continued has some back issues. So I think it was just knowing that you got to do something to you can’t let it stop you.

Dean Pohlman: From.

Oscar R: Getting being healthy. You know, you got to try to get some exercise in, you know, lose some weight and stuff like that. You mean. And that’s the whole point of it is to be able to enjoy our lives, you know, and not let it become a hindrance to it.

Dean Pohlman: Right. Did you guys kind of hold us, hold each other accountable? Did you say like, hey, do you really need to eat that? Or like, or did she encourage you to go to the gym? Or like, how did you guys support one another?

Oscar R: Yeah, yeah, probably in the beginning. I mean, you know, she would cook something and, you know, it was like it was always something that I enjoyed. I mean, she’s a great cook. So, I there was no issues really with what she was cooking. You know, I think I really think it came down to more portion control, which is just saying, okay, you know, do I need to eat this much of it?

Dean Pohlman: Gotcha. Okay, cool. So all right, so this is 20. What is this 25 years ago mean.

Oscar R: You know, this early 2023, 2020, 2003 or 2004 maybe.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. All right. So over 20 years ago, that first, if you can remember kind of that first year or that first two years, what were you at that time when you were when you, when you saw that photo of yourself from that charity walk? How how heavy were you? You remember.

Oscar R: If I had to guess, I was probably tipping over 210 maybe.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. And what do you what do you what do you now. What’s your what’s your like what’s your ideal weight I guess.

Oscar R: 175.

Dean Pohlman: 175 okay. Did that just that number just kind of slowly creep up over time. Or what? What it, what happened?

Oscar R: How do you I guess I, I can remember when I graduated high school, you know, in 1980. I had a 28 inch waist. I mean, I was thin, but just like, you know, started working and everything. And next thing I know I’m at 36 and it’s like okay you go in the wrong direction here.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay. Got it. So kind of in that first, do you know how how long did it take you to, to lose weight. Do you remember. Well.

Oscar R: It seemed like, you know, it in a way was easy, but it takes time. Yeah. And like, we’re always talking about being consistent with work out, being consistent with, you know, what foods we eat and stuff like that. It’s just you got to be faithful to the to the journey to make it worthy. Yeah. And get the result you want.

Dean Pohlman: Right. Do you remember that there was, you know, as you were starting your health wellness improvement journey? Do you remember a specific time where you realized, oh, this is this is working like I feel it feel lighter or my pants or, you know, my pants are too big now, I was there was there some sort of, you know.

Oscar R: I think there was one, moment that sticks with me the most is, you know, going to health club and I would go on a treadmill and I was running on a treadmill, and I had a coworker that also went to the gym there. He was actually a Ironman athlete.

Dean Pohlman:

Oscar R: And he comes into my office after I get back to work and he’s like, when are you running your first five K sorry, I’m not running A5K I’m not ready for that. And he’s like, I saw you on a treadmill. You are. Let’s do it. So I signed up for A5K and and ran and got almost addicted to that.

Oscar R: So you know that was a little bit of my motivation to to keep going because I was doing something I enjoyed doing. Got a little bit too competitive probably with it at times. Yeah. Y’all wanted to play games and I’ve won a few of them for my age group.

Dean Pohlman: And yeah.

Oscar R: But I enjoyed it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah that’s awesome. That’s really cool. So that was that was your thing for a while. So you were really into running. Jogging.

Oscar R: Yeah. Running. And then at the club they have the had high intensity interval training classes. Yeah. Called circuit training. But you know, and really enjoyed that for a while. But then I realized that if I was trying to do weights on Monday, Wednesday, Fridays and doing the circuit training classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I wasn’t giving my body a chance to really rest and recover.

Oscar R: Yeah. You know, so I was pushing a little bit too much.

Dean Pohlman: Right?

Oscar R: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. How old were you when you were when you were doing that? Five days a week?

Oscar R: It was, 2010, but the classes, I think it started because it was before, before Covid. Yeah. So, you know, I’ve been doing it for a while.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. So you’ve been keeping that for for years. It sounds like.

Oscar R: Yeah, I did okay for several years, you know, like early in the morning.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. And you realized at some point that it was too much or what happened.

Oscar R: Yeah. I think, the real moment came when I tore my rotator cuff and bicep, and so I had to take that break from the class to recover, and that I started, you know, evaluating. Am I doing too much? You know about it? Do I, you know, listen to my body and say it’s body telling me you need to give me rest days, you know, choose a different not do anything, but just choose something that is better for those days that to give my body that break it needed.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So kind of looking back now, were there any warning signs? Did your body give you signals that, hey, this is this is too much, dude, I think we got a I think you got to back off a little bit.

Oscar R: I, you know, I was thinking about it,

Oscar R: You know, you walk around the gym and all that, and you see these guys are, you know, built engines like you admire what they’ve accomplished.

Dean Pohlman:

Oscar R: And it’s like, well, maybe I can do that, you know, and it’s like I was using the wrong benchmarks to try to improve myself to the point where I was doing more harm than good. I didn’t need to lift, you know, as much weight as they were or run as fast as somebody else was running. If I was running A5K, you know, you have to do what’s best for you to achieve your goals, you know, and I found that, you know, after my recovery from the, rotator cuff and bicep that I could still do the weight training and get with the results I was looking for without pushing myself to that breaking point.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. How old were you when you got the rotator cuff surgery?

Oscar R: Wrote it.

Dean Pohlman: I don’t remember.

Oscar R: I think it was 2019. Then I, I had the surgery.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. So how how old were you then?

Oscar R: Then I’d say I’m 63 now, so I was probably like 50s, you know? Okay.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. So you were okay. So you were you were pushing, pushing fitness in through your 50s, doing five workouts a week. Wow. It’s a lot. How did you, how did you keep up with all that? How did you how did you, how did you motivate yourself to stay that consistent?

Oscar R: Because I when I would see that I was getting results that I wanted, that I was, I, I like the way I felt that I had, you know, the strength and and you know, or endurance to go do things outside. We have a large piece of property that, you know, I maintain and it I could do it without any issues, you know.

Oscar R: So it’s like I knew that being consistent, consistent with workouts and.

Oscar R: Taking care of myself that way I’m able to do other things in life. Got it that I enjoy.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So you noticed that doing the workouts was giving you the strength and endurance to be able to to take care of the property, to do all those other things that you wanted to do with life. Right? Okay.

Oscar R: Just being able to enjoy, you know, life to its fullest.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And so you and you do all your workouts first thing sounds like you doing first thing in the morning.

Oscar R: Yes. I usually get up, you know, try to get up around between 430 and 5 and go to the club, before coming to work.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Time you go to bed.

Oscar R: Have a chat.

Dean Pohlman: What time do you go to bed?

Oscar R: I try to shoot for 9:00, but a lot of times it’s. It’s a little bit later than that.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: Okay. But, you know, I’m, I’m kind of person. That probably does it. You know, if I get six, seven hours of sleep, I’m good.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Got it. Yeah. I’m just trying to trying to do the math backwards here. Going to go and needing to go to sleep at this time to be able to wake up at, at this time. Sometimes I wake up at like 545, it’s maybe once a week and it’s usually an accident. I don’t know why it happens, but, you know, if I can get up by six, I can get up by 615.

Dean Pohlman: That’s good. Then I have my time to, you know, be able to stretch or do some language learning. That’s what I’m doing in the mornings now. It’s a.

Oscar R: Little bit a lot of times.

Dean Pohlman: We.

Oscar R: Go on a Saturday and Sunday. I make up for it, sleep in a little bit.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. What time do you in you, you know, you’ve got a you’ve got a job. What time do you what time do you go to work.

Oscar R: Usually it’s around eight, 8 to 5 30 or 6, you know. Okay I just make sure that everything that I need to get accomplished is done for the day before I leave.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. Have you tried doing it any other way? Have you always worked out, first thing in the morning?

Oscar R: Yeah, I can remember probably when we first started, and the kids were pretty much out of the house. We tried the afternoon go and after work, but I found that working all day, you know, 8 or 9 hours during the day and then trying to go to the club, it’s like I just didn’t have the energy level to to do a good workout.

Oscar R: I, I am much more of a morning workout person.

Dean Pohlman: And.

Oscar R: Been doing it for so many years now. It’s like you see the same people at the club every morning, you know. So we kind of got that little community kind of like man flow yoga community. But when there where, you know, you see the same people there and you talk and, you know, encourage one another, you know, when they see you work it out and stuff like that.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So when you first started trying to work out in the morning, do you remember what that was like? Was that did it just kind of make sense and it was easy and it happened automatically, or did you have to force yourself to get up or how’d that happen?

Oscar R: I think what really helped me really jump into the morning is when they when they started the circuit training classes, I enjoyed them so much that it was like that was my motivation to get up. I wanted to go to the class. I wanted, you know, to participate in it. So it was like, I’m doing it for that reason, you know?

Oscar R: And I think that that continues now. I mean, I’m not doing the circuit training classes anymore. But that’s still my motivation for getting up in the morning to go work out is because I know I have enough, I have the energy I want. I had that desire to go to the club and get a good workout in.

Dean Pohlman:

Oscar R: And then I’m ready and it really makes my day itself go by a whole lot easier.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. So it does a lot of does a lot of things for you. And you’re actually motivated to get up and go that’s great. Yeah. It sounds like it sounds, it sounds like it works well for you. What is I’m just curious what does your does your wife work out to to she join you. Does she do other things?

Oscar R: She does other things. We have a room when we built the house back in 2015, we have a room dedicated like there’s a treadmill and an elliptical bike in there, you know, so she’ll use that, you know, sometimes, you know, but, you know, she she does her thing. You know, the club is my. Yeah thing.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, cool.

Oscar R: So we have some, you know, some free weights in there, some dumbbells and stuff that she can use a few kettlebells. So yeah. You know when she’s I don’t I try not to, push her, you know. Right. She does her thing and I do mine.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Cool. So you started doing so also when you were here, in, in Austin, we talked you do a bunch of other things, obviously. You know, you do manual yoga. But you also, you’re also talking about I think your, your, your club has, does it have cold plunge. It has, it has sauna. It has. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: That kind of stuff.

Oscar R: So and it was after you know the Austin I decided where you know on my cardio days which I’m calling Tuesdays and Thursdays. I took the advice and I go to the cold plunge first.

Dean Pohlman: And.

Oscar R: After that I would go outside. There’s. We have a nice park that’s pretty much right next door to the health club that I can go and just take a nice run, walk outside. So that’s what I’ve been doing. But yeah, the club has sauna, steam room, whirlpool, hot tub, cold plunge, yoga, cycling classes, group fitness classes, tennis courts, pickleball courts, racquetball quads.

Dean Pohlman: Lots,

Oscar R: Three different workout areas. And they just they’re wrapping up a building that’s dedicated. It’ll be the women’s only women will have their own workout space.

Dean Pohlman: Cool. Yeah. And just, just in case you’re listening and you want to learn more about, cold plunge and sauna, we have, we have an episode that’s either live now or will be live, later this season with Brian McKenzie, who’s, super smart guy who’s was a pioneer in all of the cold water immersion and heat exposure.

Dean Pohlman: And its impact on physical fitness. So he’s got an episode where we talk about that. Just want to hear about this in more depth. Just a little, little side note. And yeah, so, yeah, cold plunge. You can do it. You can do it before, if it’s a shorter time, you can do it after cardio. If it’s a longer time and you really just want to, you’re not so interested in the the if you’re not as interested in the, the muscle building aspects of cardio or if you, you know, if the workout wasn’t done really with the intention of building building muscle and you just want to make sure that your body recovers

Dean Pohlman: more quickly, then that’s where you can use the cold plunge to kind of you know, kill that inflammation. And, yeah, just get back to feeling, get back to feeling ready for your workout. So when did you start doing mental yoga and why?

Oscar R: Well, it was after, had torn my rotator cuff. You know, I tried to go back to the circuit training classes, and I noticed that the flexibility in my right arm just wasn’t where it should be. You know, I was still struggling with. It was tight. Yeah. So the, fitness director at the Club Records, man, did a move, but I think they called it movement yoga class that they were teaching there.

Oscar R: So I went to it and found that it it worked. I mean, it was isometric style yoga similar to to man flow where we holding would hold the pose for a while. You know, she would Q what where you should feel it. And, where it shouldn’t hurt, you know. So I noticed that it started it was working, I enjoyed it.

Oscar R: But then Covid hit and while she was getting ready to open up her own practice, but then Covid hit. So that put a damper on it. She started teaching the yoga outside of this health club. She had to go on her own, but then it just got to the point where it was financially, you know, too much, a little bit.

Oscar R: So I was searching for other options, and I actually did the fit for the, program for a little while. And he had posted a link to your program, and that’s how I found Man Flow Yoga. And it’s like, yes, this is this is exactly what I need.

Dean Pohlman: I got it. So how did you, how did that help?

Oscar R: The fact that it was able to do your workouts on my schedule, because right now I’m finding that I can go to the club in the morning, get my workout, and in the evenings, find a 30 minute, you know, 40 minute, maybe workout that you you’ll have on in the program workout area and do that in the evenings.

Oscar R: And it just helps stretch up, you know, everything, relax everything, and just overall feeling better.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. Okay. So it’s a lot of a lot of the recovery aspect for you.

Oscar R: Yes. Yes.

Dean Pohlman: Cool. How do you fit in your schedule right now?

Oscar R: Right now I look been a weight trainer on the Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I started doing cardio, going to the club early in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays for that. And I dedicated Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday evenings to doing yoga, you know, Demand Man’s real yoga program. And then, you know, if I’m feeling energetic or I find that I have a little bit more time, I’ll throw in a couple extra workouts.

Oscar R: Yeah. I mean, when we first started doing Man Flow yoga, you would say try to get 90 minutes in a week. And yeah, I don’t know, it kind of got stuck into my brain. It’s like, okay, I gotta try to get 90 minutes in.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. So however you want to do that three 30 minutes per week or, you know, I think 90 divided by 15 is like.

Oscar R: Two 45 minute sessions even, you know.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We even we’ve even got five minute routines in there if you want to, you know, do something that that fits in like that. So what did you notice when you started doing manual yoga consistently? How did that impact your other workouts?

Oscar R: It just everything seemed more fluid. Oh that makes sense. It just totally.

Dean Pohlman: Yes.

Oscar R: It was just easier to to do the workout. But then also because through your cueing when we’re doing different poses, I would develop that mind muscle connection so that when I’m if I’m doing a bench press I’m thinking about those muscles within my chest and making sure that I am targeting the right muscles. To do it you know.

Oscar R: Yeah. So the yoga has helped me learn to listen to my body and know which point I should be working at the time. You know, if I’m doing, you know, some rows for my back do I feel it in that upper back. You know like when we’re doing, you know, like I can, like, maybe a down dog, you know, I, you would say you should feel some of it in your upper back, you know.

Oscar R: Do I get that same sensation? You know, when I’m working out a different muscle group?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. So that main muscle connection, that, muscle activation or that muscle activation work that we do, that’s cool. Right? Yeah. Carried over. So, what are some. Did you start with strength Foundations challenge or what was what was the first program that you did?

Oscar R: Yeah, I think it was the Strength Foundation, was probably my very first program that I did. Yeah. And then after that I would just, you know, when you ever you put out a new one if it sparked my interest. You know, go to that one. I get, you know, I tried to do the challenges. But being a lot of the challenges were daily, right.

Oscar R: Routines. I just trying to get the strength training and the yoga and it’s like, well, let me just find a a different workout, you know, and or I would just do it on the days that I could, you know, I wasn’t keeping up on the same schedule is, you know, the challenge days, but at least I was doing it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So you usually follow along to, how do you find your how do you find mental yoga workouts that you’re going to do?

Oscar R: Well now with the new app, the way you have everything designed right now? I’m going I went to the 30 minute long sessions, and I’m looking at all those and saying, okay, which one sounds like it’s an area I need to work on or address, you know? Okay. Especially now that I’ve gotten back into running, you know, I want to make sure I take care of my needs because before I had to quit running for a while because I just pushed myself too hard, you know, and I started having knee issues, and it’s like you get the runner’s knee, and I was like.

Dean Pohlman:

Oscar R: I don’t need to push myself that hard. But with demand for flow yoga, I’ve been able to do the proper recovery and strengthening the, the muscles in the joint, my, within my knee joints, you know, and making them stronger.

Dean Pohlman: Gotcha. Yeah. So, so how do you, you know, you’ve had you’ve had road obviously you had the rotator cuff, injury. You had some knee problems in the past. When you get injuries, how do you how do you deal with them. What’s your you know, how do you fix them but also stay active at the same time?

Oscar R: I just learn if I’m doing like if I’m, say lifting some weights and I feel a muscle strain or something like that, it’s like I will find a different exercise or something that I can do to keep going.

Dean Pohlman:

Oscar R: But not risk hurting myself more. You know I just, I guess I make adaptations. Yeah. You know maybe it, it will be not lifting as heavy of a weight but still going through the motions where I’m getting, I’m working the muscle. Working, you know, stretching it out or just keeping it from tight. Tight, getting tight on me.

Oscar R: So I just I find adaptations, you know, different ways to adjust the workout. Yeah. I mean, I, I don’t believe in saying, oh, my knees are hurting, so I can’t run no more. No, I can walk.

Dean Pohlman: You know.

Oscar R: Keep moving. Yeah, well I don’t I don’t let anything become a dead end, okay. It’s just a detour.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: I found something else to do.

Dean Pohlman: And is that kind of. Is that a is that a life philosophy that you kind of take into everything, or is that something that.

Oscar R: Yes.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Yes. Well that will that will help you continue to stay active no doubt. I mean it already has. So yeah, it’s good. So what’s the what’s the next thing you want to work on in your fitness? Do you have another big goal that you’re working on or what’s the.

Oscar R: What’s the thrill? After attending the, the workshops in Austin, I realize I’ve never really done any myofascial release, so I want to work, foam rolling. You know, I took advice, and I ordered a vibrating foam roller, and I want to start doing that more. Yeah, like getting those benefits from the, the foam rolling. Yeah. So I would, you know, find out, you know, you have several videos where, you know, on the, foam rolling.

Oscar R: So follow along with those. Yeah. Just try to develop that habit.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Foam rolling is awesome. I love it. A lot of people, you know their likes. Foam rolling doesn’t have any data that support. I’m like, well, I, I don’t need data. It feels great. It feels great for me. I noticed that it’s so easy, so much easier to be more flexible when you’re foam rolling, recover more quickly. The soreness goes away.

Dean Pohlman: This is great.

Oscar R: So I mean at the club this is a they have an area set up that we call the stretch room. And they have all these different foam rollers and everything. And you see bouncy people in there you know doing it using the foam rollers. And it’s like looks like it hurts. But it’s it does have its benefit, you know.

Oscar R: So I really that’s my next thing is to really work on making that part of my routine.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, I love it. It’s a great goal. All right. I want to get into our, rapid fire questions. You you ready for? All right, so first one is, what is the one habit, belief or mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

Oscar R: It’s,

Oscar R:

Oscar R: Remember why I’m doing my workouts, that I’m doing it for my benefit so that I can enjoy life and it’s something you do for yourself. Yeah. Nobody else can do it for you. It’s just something that. For me. Yeah, I. I don’t know how else to put it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, well that’s great.

Oscar R: You, you know, and then.

Oscar R: The, the, I guess a side effect of it is that by doing the workouts and I see their accomplishments and I get from it and it’s like, I know I’m doing something good.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: You know.

Dean Pohlman: So what’s the one thing for your health that you do that is often overlooked or undervalued by others?

Oscar R: That, that I adapt to my workouts, you know, I add, I don’t do it to a point where I’m doing more harm than good with the workouts. You know, change can be good. So if I’m.

Oscar R: People, you know, a lot of times, you know, they they’ll see me working out or something and they’ll ask me what program I’m following or what I’m doing, you know? And I explain to them, I think I’ve even mentioned to you I give myself a handicap just because the workout program says to do this many sets or this many reps, I listen to my body and say, okay, this is the right number of sets, the right number of reps to do.

Oscar R: You know, I don’t do anything, I won’t, I don’t want to hurt myself. That’s not the point.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: So I think, you know, I think that’s what people don’t realize that, you know, it’s something that you have to do. You do have to adapt, you know, to what how your body is feeling at the time.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: And then I can always, you know, go back to it once I get over that little hurdle.

Dean Pohlman: Good. That’s a, that’s a, that’s a good thing to do. Stressful. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life.

Oscar R: Finding time to do everything that I want to do. You know still working. You know you know I what I like I say get up early, go to the club. That just makes the day go by easier. But still, at the end of the day, it’s like, what if I just had a little bit more time to do something else, you know?

Oscar R: But you just when you set your priorities and realize tomorrow’s another day, you got another chance to get it done.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: So it’s just time.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. True. All right. Last question. What’s your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Oscar R: There’s a few things I was thinking about. I mean, one thing I would say, like I said, I didn’t start working out on a regular basis. I was in my 40s 20 some years ago, so it’s never too late to start. You know?

Oscar R: I could, you know, some people would say, oh, I wish. And I thought to I wish I knew back then what I know now if I would’ve started out working out earlier, you know, how much further would I be with my accomplishments of what I have done so far? But that’s only, you know, discounted what I have done.

Oscar R: I appreciate what I’ve been able to accomplish doing my workouts for the past few years and I’m happy with it. And that’s my, my motivation to keep going, you know.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Oscar R: There was a, an email recently that came through and it said in the but there comes a to a point when you have to be strong enough for what you do in life, you know, and that’s, you know, I, I it just hit me because it’s like, that’s what working out, doing the man flow yoga is about. It’s getting you to that point where you’re happy with your results, with what you can do, that you can go on and, you know, enjoy life.

Oscar R: You know, you don’t have to be like the guy next door next to you. You do it for you. You figure out what it is that makes what you want and go for it.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

Oscar R: Thank you. In that same, email, there was a, a report and it says, if you look at the research, it’s power, not pure strength or muscular size. It is a better predictor of longevity and functional independence in our later years. And it’s like, true, you don’t I don’t need to be able to squat 315 pounds or bench press three times my body weight.

Oscar R: That’s when man flow. Yoga is becoming such an important part of my workout. It’s like it’s preserving the longevity of my movement and function ability. Yeah, so that I can continue to do what I enjoy.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, I think that’s, that is the common mission statement of most men’s fitness goals. When we hear about that within the mental yoga community, it’s not. Yeah. You know, people would love to look great with the shirt off, but if that doesn’t happen, then the most important thing is just being able to be physically fit for what they want to do for as long as possible.

Oscar R: That’s right.

Dean Pohlman: You said it. All right, well, Oscar, thanks so much for coming on and sharing your story.

Oscar R: I really appreciate it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I was great talking with you at the The Weekend Workshop series. Glad I got to hear your story. Glad you got to share some of that here. And yeah, I just thank you for being part of the man for yoga community. I think your story is inspirational. I think, you’ve, you know, you’ve done something special with your health, with your fitness.

Dean Pohlman: And, I’m looking forward to, looking forward to you continuing to do it all. So thank.

Oscar R: You. I’m hoping to make another, you know, workshop soon, too.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

Oscar R: I enjoyed our time together. Thank you.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, yeah. And thanks for making that. You made a. We didn’t even have these, but you made a custom, custom man for your good decal and put it on the back of your your windshield.

Oscar R: So when I did it, every time I mentioned man flow yoga people like, what is that? You know, so I got that out. I got it on the on the back windshield of my truck. You know, hopefully people will Google it and, you know, discovery for themselves. And yeah, I mean, it’s yeah, if you’ve done something truly amazing, I think all the members of the community or owe you a debt of gratitude because it’s really important what you’ve done is so important and it benefits us so much.

Oscar R: Thank you.

Dean Pohlman: I’m grateful to them for, you know, giving me the opportunity and for also bringing their stories so that it’s that it is a community. It’s not just people doing a workout online, but, you know, there really is a community there. So so thank you again.

Oscar R: Correct.

Dean Pohlman: Cool. All right guys. Well I hope you enjoyed listening to Oscar’s story. I hope it inspires you to be a better man. I’ll see you guys on the next episode. All right guys, thanks for joining me. I hope you enjoyed that interview. If you want to check out more on mental yoga, if you haven’t already joined us, go to Mandalay yoga.com slash.

Dean Pohlman: Join, and get started with a free seven day trial. And, get into the programs, see how it’s helping people for yourself. If you’re already part of the mental yoga, yoga community, I want to say thank you for being here. Thank you for being part of this. Thank you for sharing your stories. So leave those comments on the workouts.

Dean Pohlman: You know, have conversations in the community section of the app. And if you’re on Facebook and you want to be there, then we’ve also got the Mansfield community on Facebook, members only group there. If you’re enjoying this podcast, you can leave a review wherever podcasts are. So on Apple Podcast on Spotify, we’ve got video versions of the podcast and the Mansfield Yoga app on members area, and also on the Betterment Podcast YouTube channel.

Dean Pohlman: So check those out. That’s what I’ve got for you today, guys. Thank you for listening. We’ve got more episodes on the way if you are, if you need a little more of a boost to get started, if you’re not quite ready to try a free trial, I also have a free seven day Beginners Yoga for men program.

Dean Pohlman: You can sign up for that and give it a shot at Mandala yoga.com/7dc thanks for listening. See you on the next one.

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