The Snowball Effect of Small, Consistent Change | Russ H. | Better Man Podcast Ep. 117

The Snowball Effect of Small, Consistent Change | Russ H. | Better Man Podcast Ep. 117

Russ first discovered Man Flow Yoga like many other men do: 

His back ached, he was out-of-shape and carrying a few too many pounds on his person, and he has long known he needed to exercise. But the traditional approach to fitness never interested him. 

He needs to be active in his career, so being sore from lifting wasn’t an option for him. But as the years passed by, the weight tacked on, and he started paying the ultimate sacrifice: bodily pain that made life just a little bit harder each day. 

Well, after discovering the Man Flow Yoga YouTube channel, Russ experienced a snowball effect that completely transformed his life—one small step at a time. 

First, he reversed the physical problems he had: He eliminated his pain, improved his posture, and shed a few pounds of fat. 

But then, as he became more and more consistent, he unlocked his awareness and uncovered an inner sense of calm. 

His life transformed from a ball of stress into a peaceful oasis. 

From there, he had realized the root problem of all of his troubles: He let his life pass him by without even realizing it!

But everything changed when he found Man Flow Yoga… 

Not only did he take back complete control of his life, but he’s a healthier and all-around better man because of one small step he took three years ago. 

In today’s show, Russ shares all sorts of brilliant insights like:

  • Why smaller, less significant changes actually produce bigger and better results long-term
  • What actually happens in your life as a result of consistent exercise 
  • How to get started right now instead of procrastinating 

Listen now!

The Better Man Podcast is an exploration of our health and well-being outside of our physical fitness, exploring and redefining what it means to be better as a man; being the best version of ourselves we can be, while adopting a more comprehensive understanding of our total health and wellness. I hope it inspires you to be better!

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Episode 117 Highlights

  • Why yoga is the superior form of exercise if you’re nagged by aches and pains all day (2:14) 
  • The “small steps” secret for becoming more fit in your 50s than you were in your 30s (2:34) 
  • Why gentle intensity, like you find in Man Flow Yoga workouts, fundamentally improves your muscles and posture (without making you too sore to move the following day) (3:27) 
  • How to trick your brain into wanting to work out when you’re exhausted after work (4:59)
  • Can yoga make you more productive at work? Here’s why this chemistry teacher says so (10:49) 
  • Why physical activity is so wildly effective for calming emotional energy (even if high-stress situations) (11:04) 
  • The most effective way to boost your confidence—with almost no risk of injury—if you’re overweight and out-of-shape (14:08) 
  • How simply cutting low-fat foods can reduce your appetite and make weight loss less frustrating (19:01)
  • The “Macro Mentality” for weight loss for eating healthier without starving yourself (28:00)

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Quotes from this episode’s guest:

  • (2:15) So I got onto Man Flow Yoga and I thought, “This is amazing – the changes were like literally instant, the day after, two days later, I felt so much better. And I thought, wow, this is really, really good.” 
  • (3:52) The gentle approach of yoga really surprised me with how intense it could be. And I thought, ‘This is brilliant and exactly what I want.’ Something that’s making a change, I can feel the difference in my muscles, I can feel the difference in my posture and things like that.
  • (5:05) What is it that makes you want to do it? And it’s that feeling afterwards. That really has been a game changer for me. If I get home from work and I’m tired, I think, ‘oh, I’ve got to do some yoga. It’s like, yeah, but you know damn well you’ll feel better after you’ve done it.’ 
  • (9:17) If you want to improve, you’ve got to do something consistently. 
  • (12:29) In terms of physical stuff from doing yoga, my posture’s better. I stand taller. I ache less. I move better. I’m much more flexible than I used to be. 
  • (13:59) I have some definition in my muscles. Again, not a massive amount, but I could see it. As a guy that’s always been overweight and a little bit self-conscious about how I look, yoga’s been a really big confidence boost. 
  • (14:54) Smaller, less significant changes actually produce bigger, better results long-term because it’s more sustainable. 
  • (33:28) Your life can be gone so quick. And I think we just need to slow down, chill the F out.
Episode 117: The Snowball Effect of Small, Consistent Change - Russ H. - Transcript

Dean Pohlman: Hey, it’s Dean. Welcome back to the Better Man podcast. Today’s episode, I have Russ H here to talk about his fitness journey. So Russ, let’s get started with how you started with Man Flow Yoga. When do you start?

Russ H.: So I started about three years ago, I think it was I was at the end of the pandemic and I decided that, I really need to do something about my health and my fitness, and I was experiencing, like, soreness and sort of back pain and too much sort of hanging around in the pandemic. And I thought, well, I’m going to do some yoga, try and find some on YouTube.

Russ H.: And so I searched, yoga and it was all sort of like female oriented. And I thought, no, this is not right. So I thought, well, is there any yoga for men out there? And you popped up and then that was that. And about two weeks later, I started up with Natural Yoga and signed up for the whole year.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. Cool. So let’s talk more about that. That realization that you were being really act during the pandemic. You had some aches and sores popping up more than you were used to. What was happening there?

Russ H.: Yeah. So as I say, just generally sort of sore. And I was about 45, I think, at a time three years ago, as I said. And I think you only start eating to do something, about my fitness. I’ve never been really into gyms and things of that. It’s really not my thing. I’ve tried other things and maybe do it for 2 or 3 weeks and then just think it’s too hard.

Russ H.: I don’t like this. I’m not going. It’s a no pain, no gain thing. And houses. I’ve tried yoga before, and so I got into yoga and I thought, this is amazing. The the changes were like literally instant that after two days I felt so much better. I thought, wow, this is really, really good. So back out straight away.

Russ H.: I was like, this is amazing. And and I tried a few more the workouts on YouTube, and I got into it that way. So it wasn’t really like a one big I wish it moment is sort of more, more smaller ones along the way. I’ve always sort of, known that I should do more about my fitness on my health.

Russ H.: And now that I’m sort of 48, I’m thinking, well, I’ll be 50 soon. I really need to do something better, bigger, more, look after myself and, Yeah, having joined engages. Well, I found that there’s. And there’s much more things I can do, in small steps to sort of look after myself and improve my fitness and things of that.

Russ H.: So that’s that’s kind of where I am at the moment.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Cool. So I mean, I mean, that’s pretty cool that you did a workout or a couple of workouts and you noticed the improvement immediately. So I’m assuming that that’s what helped you be consistent, because if I don’t know, you know, my question normally here is, you know, what do you think enabled you to be consistent, especially considering that you’ve you’ve tried to do workout programs in the past and you kind of, you know, you should give up after a couple of weeks.

Dean Pohlman: So what was the difference?

Russ H.: A big difference is when I’ve done other things in the past, you end up being more sore than you originally and that that puts me off. I don’t I don’t like being so the whole kind of, you know, whole idea of no pain, no gain work until, you know, you barely can’t move. That’s just not right. And, it just doesn’t sit well with me.

Russ H.: I’ve got a job to do, a very active job, and I kind of walking round, stiff and sore at it. Just puts me in a bad mood. So, yeah, the more sort of, I say gentle approach from yoga. It’s the it’s really surprised me how intense it could be. And I thought, this is, this is brilliant.

Russ H.: It’s exactly what I want. Something that’s making change. I can feel the difference in my muscles. I can feel the difference in my posture and things like that. And like I say, within sort of two to sort of work out any sort of two weeks. I was like, this is absolutely amazing. Where do I sign up? So I did, in that first month, I was pretty much on it every day.

Russ H.: My wife’s like, wow, you know, you really got into this. And because you couldn’t get, you know, anything else, really? I also like busy day. I’ve got to do my yoga today. I got to do me over today. But then when, you know, real life sort of takes over again, you kind of get out of that habit.

Russ H.: So in that initial sort of flush I’d finished, I did find it a little bit more difficult to be consistent. But I’ve kind of gone in, gone in and come out of it. You know, on off, on, off. And again, you know, we’ve had discussions in the group and things about that, you know, you might do yoga a lot, you might come out of a come away from it a bit and do something else.

Russ H.: So might have to take a break and come back. And so that’s what I’ve done. And it’s not a problem now just because I’m not doing it all every day. I don’t find it an issue. You know, it’s it’s not something to be worried about because I know I’ll come back to it. The big, big change for me.

Russ H.: Having since joined engage, we have that discussion about, you know, what is it that makes you, want to do it? And it’s that feeling afterwards, and that really has been a game changer for me is if I get home from work and I’m tired, I think, oh, I’ve got to do some yoga. It’s like, yeah, but you know, down well you’ll feel better after you’ve done it.

Russ H.: And that’s what I need. That’s a kick in the ass that I need just to get the mat out and get opening. And that’s now become negotiable every day. Six, 7:00 in the evening, yoga mat out. You know, it’s been done. It’s not something that’s great.

Dean Pohlman: That’s awesome. Yeah. I think, I’m surprised at that. I was initially surprised when I asked people, you know, hey, what helps you be consistent? And they said, well, it’s it’s knowing how I feel. Afterwards. I said, oh, okay. You know, so yeah. So that, that, that kind of fits in with that, you know, you know that after you do the workout, you’re going to feel great.

Dean Pohlman: And even if you’re not energetic beforehand, you’re you’re going to feel better afterwards. Yeah. So yeah that tracks so what what do you do for work. You said you.

Russ H.: Have a high school teacher in a secondary school. So you teach from the age of 11 to 18. In my job I do got it. So it’s pretty far along.

Dean Pohlman: What do you what do you teach?

Russ H.: Chemistry in sciences.

Dean Pohlman: Chemistry and sciences. Okay. Chemistry. That was 11th grade. No, 10th grade, I think. I can’t remember, I think it was 10th grade. 10th grade for me. Right.

Russ H.: Is that 11? Yeah. So, 14, 15 year old, 10th grade.

Dean Pohlman: I would have been 16.

Russ H.: All right. Okay. Yes. A GCSE age. That’s. Yeah. That’s the first sort of exams it, students take. And then if they stay on to decide to an advanced level, that would then take them up to university level after that. So yeah, I teach all the way through.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. Okay. So, so you mentioned you you you mentioned kind of, you know, ups and downs with consistency. And I think a lot of people really struggle with that when they if like you, they were really good for a month. Right? You’re doing the workouts every day. It’s kind of a non-negotiable. And then after that, you know, maybe you just start doing other things or you lose, you know, the same level of motivation that you had, the same level of excitement because it’s not as new anymore.

Dean Pohlman: So, how did you get to the point where you just realized it’s okay to have those up and ups and downs, or what did that look like for you?

Russ H.: I think the that the realization is, okay, is this taking me into sort of July this year and with this course, this and engage really. And it’s okay to have times when you know, you full on with yoga and you may be less busy and more motivated to do it. And it’s also okay as well. When it takes a backseat, you do something different instead.

Russ H.: Or you might maybe take a little bit of a break. I did find initially that if I did do yoga and like too many intense workouts, that I was getting really sore and to the point where I didn’t like that, I don’t like that. Not so. And so I’ve mentioned, and so I learned, you know, just to back off it, maybe I’ll have another rest day or something like that.

Russ H.: I’ll do something less strenuous. I did also. You mentioned something as well. Way, way back actually, about discipline is much better than motivation. And you know, you know, you should get on the mat, you know, you should be getting the workout done. And I did adopt that mantra for quite a while. And that’s actually something I share now with my students when they’re doing revision, for example.

Russ H.: And stuff is, you know, I know you’re not motivated to exact to revise for exams, but you have to be disciplined. So they’re all my students. Another discipline, another motivation. Okay, well, discipline over motivation. Deep home in 2024.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I’ll send you a I’ll send you a 24 inch photo of me. So I just put it up on the wall just over.

Russ H.: I would happily, happily have that on my wall every these guys. That is the yoga. That is the yoga dude.

Dean Pohlman: That’s the yoga dude. Is he on TikTok? Maybe. Yes. That’s funny. So. And I, I always like to go back to that first month, of when you’re, you’re developing, you know, like consistency. And you talked about changing your mindset of moving from, you know, motivation based to focusing on discipline instead. What do you think really helped you be consistent that first month, especially when you weren’t feeling energetic or didn’t want to do it?

Russ H.: I think it was the idea that if you want to improve, you’ve got to do something consistent consistently. You know, you talk about three times a week and that was the minimum that I want to be able to do things. So I would not reschedule around my working days and like to make that that was make sure I was fitted in.

Russ H.: But really then so when it start to wane, that motivation, that newness started to fade. It was then that you got to be disciplined. And if you want to make it make a difference, you have to do it. You know you can’t. You’re sitting there thinking of subscriber paper money and nothing’s happening. You know, you have to be doing that on the mat.

Russ H.: You have to hit that mat every day or every the day or whatever it is. And so so that that’s really helped me get over that are kind of although you can’t be asked to do it, you know, it’s not. No. Get up, go and do it because, you know, it’s gonna make you feel better. And like I say, now that is my driving force.

Russ H.: I know it’s going to make a difference and know it’s going to make me feel better. Taller, more energetic. And I’m tired, that kind of thing. And there’s so many different things. You can choose me. It doesn’t have to be the work that you planned for that day. You can pick something else as well. If you’re not feeling it at the end of the day, or you’re not feeling it in the morning, there’s always something else you can pick as well.

Russ H.: So I think in terms of consistency, my main thing would be focus on the after glow. You know, focus on the glow that gets you through, gets you to do it really does.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And I like that. You also mentioned if you, you know, you’re just not feeling up to the normal workout. You can also choose a less intense workout. There’s there’s you know, there’s so many options. That’s the that’s the benefit of choosing your own workouts.

Russ H.: Yeah, absolutely.

Dean Pohlman: You do what you want on that day. So what have you noticed, in your life, what improvements have you noticed as a result of being more consistent with exercise just in day to day life?

Russ H.: Also, more energy that focus in the day. Since we’ve been doing this sort of engage my, my stress levels are way, way, way lower than what they would have been. What do you think.

Dean Pohlman: Helped with that?

Russ H.: I just think it’s the stuff we’ve discussed, the things that, you know, be be kind to yourself. Don’t hold yourself to such high standards all the time. You know, no one’s perfect. You know, we we try to in my job, there’s always something that needs doing. You never, ever going to get a clean slate. But for 20 odd years, I’ve tried to get that done to keep that that To-Do list so short.

Russ H.: But it is a killer. You know, it can be a killer. And sometimes you say, no, that’s enough. I’ve done enough today. You know, that can wait till tomorrow. Or this is, stressful situation. And it’s it’s a pain having something out to. We tend to spend a lot of time, having things put upon us in, in my job, things that we then have to go and sort out.

Russ H.: So you often, very often sort of firefighting and we things. And that can lead to a very stressful situation. It can lead to a lot of conflict with with colleagues and staff and things like that. But I’ve now got beside the mentality that when I get stressed about it, it’s not my fault. I can solve the problem consortium better and faster if I remain calm.

Russ H.: I don’t need to be exploding emotionally or moaning, groaning, whinging, whining, that kind of thing. I do have the occasional sort of like, you know, roar at people when I need to, or, you know, a moment, a whinge, but nowhere near as much as that. And that’s been, I think, the main change I’ve noticed this year, since being engaged in terms of physical stuff, I’m doing the yoga as well.

Russ H.: I mean, my posture is better, I stand taller, I eat less, I move better, I’m much more flexible than I used to be. I have always been quite flexible. I can bend over and put my hands feet flat on the floor anyway, but I can do that. And now go further. You know, bending and picking things up is is not a problem.

Russ H.: I mean, when my daughter was a lot younger, I used to hurt to pick her up, but that’s not a problem. And she’s now twice the age and twice the weight, you know, because I pick her up and swing around and things like that. And it’s just everything’s just so much better. And it’s not. I have not had to go to a gym to get that done.

Russ H.: I’ve not had to be hitting, you know, weights and things and no pain, no gain. Okay. I’m not going to be the next option. I go, but I’m happy and that’s the main thing. I’m happy what I’m doing.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean no, you said it perfectly. And, I think it’s significant is that you, you know, you have all these functional benefits in terms of strength, in terms of energy and flexibility. But, you know, it doesn’t come at the expense of your your short term, how you feel. Right? You you’re building strength, but you’re also not, you know, killing your body in the process or yeah, feeling excessively sore.

Dean Pohlman: You’re able to still do you know, you’re able to still do all the other things that you want to do in life. But, so how long do you think it took to, to notice, some of these benefits that you’re talking about?

Russ H.: I don’t know, the physical stuff was like literally days, weeks and then of months down the line. Once I became sort of more consistent, looking at myself and thinking, wow, you got some some definition. And again, not a massive amount, but I could see it. And I think that’s those lines or definition lines. I’ve been there before and that makes you feel great.

Russ H.: You know, as a guy that’s always been overweight guy, that’s always sort of a little bit self-conscious about how it looks. That’s been a really big confidence boost, you know, and to know that I feel better and I move better and I think I look better as well is, is is incredible.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And then I, I wanted to go back to you were talking about you know, just just being kind yourself. Do you think that’s the just changing the way that you treat yourself? Do you think that’s why you’re you’re more calm? Is that the the main reason for that or I, I really want to focus on that, that idea of just being more calm in day to day life.

Dean Pohlman: What do you think is responsible for that?

Russ H.: Yeah, I suppose really is it is that the idea that you don’t have to do everything straight away? That’s something else I’ve learned as well, is, you know, much smaller, smaller, less significant changes actually produce bigger, better results longer term because it’s more sustainable to do that. And like you say, not being kind to yourself and not not beat yourself about things and learning how to do that, negative self-talk, it’s been really, really important as well.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I think a lot of people, something, something that we’ve heard from within that engaged community and with a lot of these interviews that I’ve done, is people start with the negative self-talk in order to kind of motivate themselves to exercise, but in order to be successful over time, that negative self-talk kind of that, that shame based or guilt based motivation has to shift.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, to where you’re treating yourself with kindness instead. And, and then, you know, so yeah, that makes that makes sense to me. And so I know you also do other sorry. What are you going to say.

Russ H.: And I say like you got a dog if you keep abusing the dog, the dog’s not going to respond. You’ve got to you’ve got to treat the dog well. You’ve got to, you know, coach it. But at least it’s it’s interesting to kind of think, you know, where does that mentality come from. You know, where does that negative self-talk come from in your mind?

Russ H.: What’s happened to make you think that maybe it’s just deals in society? I don’t know, but it’s been an interesting, not a massive journey, but a small journey to kind of change that mindset. And, I’m liking that. I’m liking getting into the reflective side of yoga and engage. And so it’s it’s had a big, big difference on on the way I think of you life.

Russ H.: I don’t get as much stress. I’m not bothered by things as much. I’m not as emotionally outburst in, you know, as I maybe I would have been in the past. That’s that’s really quite important in that that helps just get settled into the yoga and being more children and everything in general really.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I think that definitely taking time to reflect on things and and to pause is, yeah, overlooked in our society. And like you said, it’s about how much can I get done in as little time as possible. Let me get the things off the to do list instead of taking time to yeah, to process things and lowering your expectations on yourself, which has been not for me, has been that for me has been very helpful.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t always do it, but when I’m doing it.

Russ H.: I think as well. What about those that negative self-talk comes back to that, that idea of you expect when you start doing something new, to see results immediately. It’s like, wow, wow, I’ve already dropped that, you know, 14 pounds of stone, whatever it is, in literally two days. So that’s that’s one realistic. You can have that expectation, but you do, you know.

Russ H.: Yeah. You know, I’ve been going to the gym, I’ve been doing this white wine, I’m looking at XYZ and it’s not fast enough. But it takes a year again to state that you are you know, it’s take all my life I’ve always been an unfit overweight and I could have been doing better. But now I’m taking steps to move forward.

Russ H.: You know, that’s the main thing is I’m doing something about it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And let’s get into that. Because I know that yoga isn’t the only thing you do. You also do, you do other workout classes, and you also have, I think, in the last couple of months. So is based on what you’ve been saying within the engaged community, you’ve been now making little tweaks to your diet and you’ve been noticing some pretty significant results.

Russ H.: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, after the first second, I think it was I looked at nutrition, started looking at, diet and, you know, making small changes there. I really sort of cut down on things like carbohydrates. I identified certain types of carbs that just don’t agree with me. And I never even thought that was a thing.

Russ H.: You know, you get to the age of 40 odd to eat whatever’s put in front of you. That’s how I was brought up to eat it. That was it. You went without. So you ate pretty much whatever was put down in front of you and as a simple suggestion of, you know what? What what doesn’t work well in the body.

Russ H.: And it turns out it’s noodles, you know, like Chinese news. Can’t stand them. I hate, you know, the taste, the texture. And they actually made me feel crap afterwards, so they’re gone. I don’t have those anymore. I’ve cut back on. We. We don’t tend to eat like white bread. We tend to have, wholemeal bread most the time, but I kind of cut back on that and started using sort of cracker bread things instead, and made some tweaks.

Russ H.: Big thing is ditching the low fat foods, which is something that I’ve always had drummed into me as an important thing. You know, is your, your advice to kind of switch up on that and go back to full fat stuff? That’s made a big difference because I’m not hungry. I’m not always wanting something else anymore. And having been away for a week, I’ve kind of sit back into old habits, but I’m looking forward to getting back into that now.

Russ H.: And thinking again about, you know what I’m eating. I’ll start taking protein shakes. I’ve also started taking some, creatine as well. And that as my brain is brilliant at the minute. But listening to people like Josh talking about it and that kind of change in mental acuity and it’s it’s amazing stuff, you know? Anyway, I’m thinking I’m 40 odd and my brain’s already starting to tire.

Russ H.: You know, being at work, it can be quite tiring, but I think it’s meant to be different. It’s taken a little bit of creating the protein shake in the morning. That’s that’s been an interesting experiment, as it were.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. And and kind of like you said, it’s just it’s a lot of like you haven’t overhauled your diet entirely. You’ve just made little tweaks and recognized, oh, this doesn’t do well with my body. So that’s cool. And yeah, I’m glad that you also took my advice on on the fasting. I think there is still I think fats need a new word.

Dean Pohlman: That’s the issue because because you say fat and you’re like, oh, well, that’s body fat. And like, well, no, fat is also a type of food and it doesn’t make you fat necessarily. Yeah. You know, so I think that’s where the confusion is. But yeah, you know, when you eat more full fat foods, you’re going to feel, you’re going to feel more full when you’re eating those.

Dean Pohlman: There’s also a lot of when you take out the fat from a lot of, fat rich foods, you’re actually taking out a lot of the nutrition. And so you’re kind of just eating nothing. Yeah. You know, when you’re eating low fat foods. So. Yeah. I’m glad you mentioned that. And then, you also doing other workouts?

Russ H.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: What else? You. And it sounds like you’re there. Fun workouts.

Russ H.: Do you have to up. It’s called club. Besides, And yeah, we went last night. It was a Halloween special. So we went along. We were covered in, like, glow in the dark, like fable and things like that. And we, we do aerobic dance routines to, 90s and early noughties dance tracks, and there’s kind of like strobe lights and there’s glow sticks and it’s just so much fun.

Russ H.: It is so much fun. There’s now, used to be the only guy that went to this, and now another guy come along with his wife or his partner, and it’s just really, really good fun. You come out, you know, really happy, joyous. It’s just such a good fun, especially if you’re in that sort of era, you know, when you were younger, in your teens and 20s, you used to go out and do that kind of thing of a nighttime?

Russ H.: Yeah. Yeah, really good fun. Really good fun. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: That was what I, that was what I used to do when I, even when even after my wife and I met, we continued to go out, but, you know, and go out 2 or 3 nights a week. But, I mean, we would just go out and we would have a couple of drinks to get going.

Dean Pohlman: But then as soon as we got to the dance floor, we I don’t think we really had any. I don’t really have anything else to drink after that, but we would dance for like 3 or 4 hours and then we’d, you know, be it was Austin. So it’s like 100 degrees, you know, it’s 90 degrees or 95 degrees at night still.

Dean Pohlman: So you’d be totally drenched in sweat.

Russ H.:

Dean Pohlman: Definitely. Definitely a solid workout.

Russ H.: Yeah I love it.

Dean Pohlman: So you guys. So how has so you, you talked about this a little bit, but I’m curious how external support systems or communities have been helpful along your fitness journey.

Russ H.: I think the, the sort of the Facebook community and the engaged community is sort of two separate ends up being really, really good for me because I don’t have other people that, I can bounce ideas off for sort of fitness and things like that. And if you, if you got a question, you can always ask it in the Facebook group or the engagement community.

Russ H.: There’s someone there to, answer the question or just sort of show support. And it makes it makes a big difference. And I don’t have a lot of, guy friends around here. I’ve got a couple, but not not many. And we don’t really get opportunities to kind of sit down and talk about stuff, as maybe we should do.

Russ H.: But having the community online is, is a way of being able to kind of address that. So that support, I think is really, really important. And it’s been really good so far. I’m amazed at how how well people are gelling now. It does seem a bit weird at the start, in first joint because like, you just want to kind of say too much, overshare too much, or a person.

Russ H.: It’s always kind of like, you know, commenting on things. But it’s nice, it’s good. It’s I really do enjoy that. I like that aspect a lot. Yeah. Everyone’s really.

Dean Pohlman: So.

Russ H.: Taken.

Dean Pohlman: Oh, I was going to say. So what are the kind of questions or what’s the kind of, what are the kind of, support that you get from interacting with the community?

Russ H.: I think in terms of physical stuff, you know, if you’re struggling with a particular type of work out or is struggling with sort of like weights, things always people on hand to give you some guidance about, how to go about doing, particular weight lifting technique better or an adaptive post. You can do it, without hurting yourself.

Russ H.: Things like that. They sort of more mental health side I think is really good as well. You know, I had the, the comment on there the week that, I come home from work, it was the end of the term and it was just getting to me and I just like kind of off loaded and, and everybody was just so, so, so supportive.

Russ H.: Not one person said, you should go and do this because that’s, that’s that kind of the UK British mentality is you need to go and do X, and we don’t tend to take very well to being told what to do. Do is, guys, we don’t do that. But all right, having that different approach of like I hear what you’re saying Ross and that’s normal.

Russ H.: Everyone feels like that. That’s really good. It’s not just you, it’s not just you that’s, you know, the odd one out or overthinking things or whatever it is. You know, it’s it’s really good to have that, have people backing you up like that and saying that that hurts. That’s tough. And you’re right. It is not right. You know, it shouldn’t happen, but it does.

Russ H.: And that kind of validation is really, really important to me.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah I’m glad you mentioned that. And that’s that’s been my experience too, is some of the best support that you can get from people is just someone saying, hey, I’ve also had that happen to me, or I also have been there or, you know, hey, I know how you feel, and I think it makes sense that you feel this way.

Dean Pohlman: So not even getting advice on how to fix things were just saying like, oh yeah, I have that. I had that thing too. Yeah. You know, yeah, it’s super helpful to be able to hear that. And yeah, I think as men we also do try to do it’s the problem solving mentality, right? It’s so it is really cool that we do have that community where it’s more about giving support and and empathy rather than trying to problem solve.

Russ H.: Yeah. That’s it. The impact of the empathy is what’s what’s missing generally, among men, we tend to laugh things off a lot or we tend to say doesn’t bother me, but really want someone to, you know, give you a pat on the back and say, it’s fine. You know, you’ll be okay. It’ll be all right.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Well, thanks for answering those questions. So what’s the what’s what’s the next thing that you want to work? Oh, you know what? I had one one other question I wanted to ask. So when were you? What have you been at your heaviest in terms of weight?

Russ H.: Now I am the heaviest of the been at. Well, plus or minus at about 10 pounds.

Dean Pohlman:

Russ H.: I mean, I think when I was early 30s, late 20s, I got to about 17, 17 stone I can’t do the maths on that. I’m not sure what that would be. And I thought, I need to do something about this. And I joined him a slimming and the long and short, that is. I lost about 56 pounds altogether.

Russ H.: And then after that, we had, daughter. And gradually I gain that back and then more. So now I’m about about 19.5 stone. I am definitely, definitely not going to hit 20, which I think is about to 19. Stone nine is about to 70 pounds. And so, and then, as I said of the week had lost, I had lost ten just out of nowhere because of the change of men.

Russ H.: I thought, right, I cannot lose that. I have gained a little bit of that back particularly have been away. But I’m determined to get that back down again. So my next sort of what’s next for me is to go back and focus on that. I really need to get the weight down. I need to be fitter in terms of that, even just losing that small amounts and noticing which is better in my sort of abdominal area, I don’t feel as full, didn’t feel as heavy.

Russ H.: Hit my back, hurt less because I was carrying less weight around, but I’m already noticing I’ve got to with my knees and my mum’s just had a knee replaced and she’s 7 to 3. And I don’t have to go down that route. It’s likely will happen, I don’t know, but I mean, if I can postpone that until as long as I possibly can, I’m downloading to do that.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So what’s the, what’s worked for you in the past when it comes to weight loss? What have what strategies or so.

Russ H.: Has the the the center I went to worked on this idea of, you allowed to eat certain things completely like free will, but, you could eat lean, lean, sort meats and proteins, things like that. Or restricted. You could eat, a limited amount of carbs on certain days and other days you could eat unlimited carbs and limited amounts of protein.

Russ H.: So basically creating a calorie deficit by reducing massively one of those two main macro groups. But also with that was that everything had to be fat free or less than 4% fat. So this is where this mentality comes in of you kind of have normal fat foods because that that’s I’ve done that for so long. It’s great that a thing in my head that I can’t do that.

Russ H.: But now I’m beginning to change that and I’m actually noticing benefits and not being able to eat, for my body have been listening, you know, more mindful of what I’m eating and listening to, the kind of cuz I’m getting because I have after, you know, getting to the age I am now and just eating what I want, when I want.

Russ H.: And I’ve totally divorced myself from the cuz I’m getting inside my body. I realize that now and having done the stuff in engage like the other month, we know about listening to your body, listening though, looking out for those signs of, satisfaction. When you’ve eaten a meal, you don’t have to eat everything. I’ve always been a plate cleaner.

Russ H.: And now I’m not. I don’t have to. I’m quite happy to leave stuff on my plate. In fact, I make a point of doing that. Or leaving, at least in a mouthful or to a food, just because I can do that. You know? It’s like, now I can do that and it’s not a problem. So that’s some of the ways I’ve been sort of changing my mind, my mindset about food.

Russ H.: I have tried to get back into that sort of, the slimming club way of reducing weight, but it’s it doesn’t work well with families because you have to be very restrictive in certain types of foods. And it’s not it’s not good. When you’re cooking, you know, meals for families, it doesn’t quite work as well as that when you go, yeah, it’s around that.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That makes it tough. Yeah. Even we, we’ve heard a lot of guys like from within our community who have just resigned to the idea that, you know, my family eats one food and I make myself a separate.

Russ H.: Yeah, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: It’s harder.

Russ H.: I’d rather not be. Yeah, because my daughter’s quite picky what she eats. Anyway, I don’t want to start thinking. What? That doesn’t have to eat there. So I don’t eat that. I that to be able to eat what she wants, you know, so to make sure that you see that, refusing certain types of foods cause she might get the same idea.

Russ H.: I did intermittent fasting for a while. I tried that, when she saw me sort of not eating breakfast. So I don’t want to have breakfast. I. And it’s like, no love. You need to eat breakfast quickly. Like a steak. You know, you definitely need to eat breakfast. So. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Well, yeah. Sorry for sorry for problem solving instead of empathizing there. Oh.

Russ H.: It’s okay.

Dean Pohlman: So. All right, so that’s that’s the that’s the next thing with the fitness, I’m sorry, I had a question that I wanted to ask, and I just forgot it momentarily here. So give me a second. You’re talking about eating foods as a family. You being example. I, Oh, here it is. So it sounds like there’s a just a much greater theme of awareness and how you live your life.

Dean Pohlman: You’re much more aware of stress. You’re much more aware of what you’re eating. You’re taking time to to reflect on things. Is that.

Russ H.: Absolutely.

Dean Pohlman: Is that right?

Russ H.: Yeah. For a long time now, I realize that life is just sort of passing me like that. You know, when when I’m at work, school days are busy, you leave the house and you head down right to the end of the day. So there’s always something to do, and you never get chance to kind of, like, sit back and go, you know, what am I doing?

Russ H.: Where am I? You know, you be rushing to eat your lunch, that kind of thing, coming home, having tea. And then you just do that in the evening times. And I think like a one, one big change for me is being just to, just to sit back a little bit and smell the coffee, you know, just and look at the flowers and, and be a little bit more reflective.

Russ H.: Now, what do I want to eat? Well, if I’m not hungry, I’m not going to eat. I’ll have this. You know, or I want to go and do some yoga because I feel stiff, I feel soul and I’ll feel better afterwards or so things like that is just just doing things that you want to do when you want to do them and just just taking that time to be a little bit more mindful, you know, what do I want for myself?

Russ H.: Because one day I will wake up and I could be 70 or 80 and that’ll be I’ll be going and then life will just have gone by. And I don’t want to do that. I really don’t want to do that. We talked about the seven wise thing and I’ve had some time. So I think about that and I want to be around for as long as I can, but, that’s passed away a few years ago.

Russ H.: He was he was poorly, suddenly got cancer, but he worked every day of his life and he ended up losing his job. So I kind of did like 30 odd years in the railway. And he was desperate to get a new job. And I said, dad, you don’t need time, don’t worry about it. Because he was very close to retirement age anyway.

Russ H.: So he retired. Yeah, about 5 or 6 years of retirement and then sadly developed pancreatic cancer. At 18 months later he died and he was 71. I’m not not massively old. I don’t think really. But it’s that well that’s it. You know, you’ve you just the life can be gone so quick and I think we just need to slow down, chill, chill out and just take it on.

Russ H.: Take it on board, you know. Don’t.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Russ H.: Don’t rush.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, I’m glad you mentioned that the seven whys exercise is, is something that I try to encourage everyone to do, especially when figuring out, you know, what is your motivation for wanting to be healthier? You know, you can’t just say, well, I want to look better in the mirror because there’s a deeper reason that, yeah, right.

Dean Pohlman: You want to be confident? Yeah. Why do you want to be confident? You want to feel a certain way. Right. So we get to the bottom of the thing. So. So when you did that seven whys exercise, what was, was that what really came up for you? Was it was it recognizing. I don’t want to. I don’t want to go.

Dean Pohlman: I don’t want to pass away early like my dad did. Or what was it like?

Russ H.: Whatever time I’ve got, I want to be fit and I want to be healthy. And I don’t want to be a burden to people to be able to go out and enjoy life. Because I work bloody hard in my job and I, I’m going to enjoy my holidays. Whatever retirement I do get, you know, I’m going to make sure I fill it with everything, you know, fill it with as much as I can.

Russ H.: Life’s out there to be seen and experienced and that’s what I want to do, that that’s my why’s. I want to go out, see the world, do things. You know, I’ve also sort of within reason. I don’t say no to anything. You know, if it’s a new experience, something new to try, like. Yeah, I’ll give it a go.

Russ H.: I why I’m doing this because you said a bit back. Would you like to do one and I said no, I’m terrified. Not. Then you asked me why not, why shouldn’t I? I’ve got a story to tell. It’s important. Yeah, let’s do it. So here we are.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And you’ve done a great job. Job? I’m. Your answer has been great. I also to succinct. You’ve been way more succinct than I have I have been I’ve been floundering. So. Yeah. Thank you for thank you for holding this interview together.

Russ H.: I talk for a little bit.

Dean Pohlman: All right. Yeah. Present presenting that I can help. All right, so I’ve got my rapid fire questions here. Okay. I suspect you might have answered some of these already, but we’ll do it again. So what is the one habit, belief, or mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

Russ H.: For.

Russ H.: Take time to yourself. All the time. To yourself. As much or as little as you need. One thing that has helped you in this sort of like being more mindful is is taking that time, not feeling guilty. You come home from work, how about 20 minutes to defrag? Because if you don’t defrag, can be very ratty at home.

Russ H.: I can be very absent because I’m still chugging around things at work and if need be, I’ll take myself into a different room with a cup of tea, sit down and just have ten 20 minutes to myself. Sometimes you make the long do. Not much. They know it’s in my wife, you know, she’s like, you know, we’ve got jobs too.

Russ H.: It’s like, yeah, but I just need five minutes to just to calm down. I’ll float. I work very close where I live. I can be home in 20 minutes walking. And I do drive because I have to go to school in the morning. But I used to be able to when I worked at my previous school, I had an hour drive there and back, and that was the time that I took to to calm down, to unwind.

Russ H.: I got home and I was fine. I was back to being muscle, but now I’m out of work and I’m home and I’m still work. Russell. You know, I’m still doctor. Hey, that’s my title at work is I’m Doctor Haig and I’m going to come out of that take time, you know. So I think that’s important is making sure that, you know, take time to process things and defrag, declutter, that kind of thing.

Russ H.: Yeah. It’s really, really good for yourself. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I can I can definitely relate to that. So, what’s one thing that you do for your health that is often overlooked or undervalued by others?

Russ H.: Don’t overwhelm yourself. I think going back to the mental thing is, is, is be aware of how much you can deal with it. You can’t just keep taking things on and on and on all the time. You need time to process like I was saying, but don’t be frightened of saying no. That’s enough. I’ve got enough to deal with.

Russ H.: I want to go away now and sort these things out or process that information. I’ll come back to you later on. Important thing.

Dean Pohlman: I love that. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life?

Russ H.: Work? It’s got to be. Yeah. It’s a it’s fun, I love it. I would never do any of the job, but it it can be really hard sometimes because it’s you literally have only one pair of hands, and you need ten pairs of hands to be a teacher in England. Anyway, I suppose you see, you know, people online is said, you know, it’s and it’s no different in the States.

Russ H.: It’s tough but it’s very rewarding. It’s a really, really good job. I’ve been doing it 21 years now, and it’s the only kind of proper job I’ve ever had. And I’ve loved every minute of it. But it can be really hard work. It can be mentally draining, physically exhausting sometimes. But it does cause a lot of stress.

Russ H.: It does. Wife would say, you’re joking. Now we’ve started Tim again today, so I’ll see you at Christmas because that’s it. Now, you know I don’t want it to go get me out of my mindset for the whole Tim, I’m working on that. You know, I’m working on being more present in the evenings once I’ve had time to sort of declutter, as it were, and do.

Russ H.: Yes. Yeah. But yeah, it can be stressful, but it’s enjoyable.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Well, thank you for teaching. Not everyone not only was up to doing it, we definitely need them. All right, my last question. What is your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Russ H.: Make a bloody start. Stop faffing around. Get on with it.

Dean Pohlman: It’s so British. I love it.

Russ H.: Yeah, it is true, though. I mean, for years and years and years. Like I said, you know, you should be doing something. Really. You should be doing something wrong. So try this. Don’t like, try this, don’t like that. And then here I am, 48, ten and 49 next year. And you know, I’ve been up in weight downing weight, but I’ve never felt as fit as I have now.

Russ H.: You know, in terms of body movement, things like that. I’m way, way better than I was. But you have to make a start, pick something, make small changes, but be consistent, but make that body start. Otherwise you got no way.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, well, I want to thank you for being part of our community. I love seeing your post. You’re really good about, you know, helping to inspire other people and keeping us updated on things and supporting other people as well. So, yeah, I just want to say thank you so much for for all that you’ve done to be part of our community.

Russ H.: It’s a pleasure. And thank you for all that you do as well. I mean, you know, a chance encounter on YouTube has has made a big difference, you know, so it’s changed what I was doing to change who I am. I think really, you know, so now I’m much more chilled and much, a better man maybe, I think, you know, to to other people because I’m not as ratty as I used to be.

Russ H.: And yeah, I think I’m getting wiser and more sagely as, as time goes on as well, because I’m taking time to think about, you know, what my beliefs are and what I want to do and where I want to be. And you know what’s important in life. So, yeah, the whole thing has been really quite transformative. So thank you as well for having that that spark or whatever it was, whenever that was to create months ago.

Russ H.: Yeah. But it really is. It’s an amazing thing. You don’t realize.

Dean Pohlman: Thank you. Thank you very much. You’re welcome. All right guys. Well I hope you enjoyed that interview. I hope it inspires you to be a better man. You can hang out with Russ in the Facebook group or in engage and man for yoga. So again thank you Russ.

Russ H.: You’re welcome today.

Dean Pohlman: All right guys I’ll see you on the next episode.

[END]

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