Tim Boyer | Kettlebell Transformation

What is up everyone? Thank you for turning into this episode of the platform podcast I just wanted to take an opportunity to tell you all. Thank you very much for listening this year in 2020 and I hope that you have a wonderful and safe holiday season that you get to spend some extra time with your loved ones and Really take in and enjoy This kind of unique opportunity to take it to spend a little bit of extra time at home I know 2020 has been really difficult for a lot of us But there's also some silver lining to it. You get to spend a little bit more time without all the hustle and back and forth to different families and different venues So maybe a little bit more quiet time at home with with your closest family I hope that that's the case for you and I hope that everyone is healthy and well and ready to ramp into 2021 and kick things off with a bang If you appreciate the content, I've put out so far. 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Don't forget to use code tckb to get your 10% off and use the affiliate link in the show notes Please so without further ado, let's get into this week's episode Thank you and have a great Holiday all right welcome into this episode of the platform podcast my guest today is Tim Boyer I'm really excited to welcome him in he's my first guest that is not a kettlebell Professional not a personal trainer not a coach He is just a guy that I've met on Facebook who is going through his own Personal fitness journey and he happens to be using kettlebells as kind of his primary modes of of training And somebody that I reached out to because I found his his story really inspiring in the progress that he's made really inspiring So I thought it might be cool for people to hear from somebody who's who's doing it and really going through it And we can talk about what that experience has been like in some of his background So Tim thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it man. Awesome. Thanks for having me on So we'll get into some of the some of the kettlebell stuff a little bit later But let's give everybody just kind of the the the background on who are you and what you know What do you do? So we were just talking a little bit before we started recording So what do you do for a living right now? I worked well for the past 20 years I've been working at the United States Mint where they make Coins I work in Philadelphia so we do all the coins for basically Half of the country Denver does all the production for the west coast. We're all east coast And you said that that obviously involves robots and robotics So are you like are you involved in the engineering and maintenance of the robots as well? Yeah So we have this one program we don't use robots on A lot of stuff a lot of stuff is just presses that press coins is for the general public Then there's a new mathematics, which is the collectible sets And we use robots on them So we have these collectible sets that have like 10 coins and I'm dependowing on the year they have all different coin sets So the robots pick and place the coins in these and I gotta go in I gotta set up the cameras for these robots set up the pick and place and maintain the robots So I do vision systems Basically your XYZ coordinates on the robots That is awesome. I actually do some adjacent work I work in I work in AI for for my day job and One of the one of the projects that I'm working on with people much much smarter than me is Using drone footage to do AI imaging and inferencing on the cell phone towers to To coordinate, you know, whether or not the cell tower components are Needing maintenance before we send somebody up, you know, strapped onto a 600 foot high cell tower, you know, let's send a drone up first and see if we can get a picture that says Oh, yeah, that needs that needs to be looked at or not right so that's much safer So that's actually one of the things that I'm working on as well. So that's that's cool You guys have you guys are also using some machine vision stuff. So that's really cool That's awesome. So let's let's get into your your background a little bit from you know We'll go back to I mean as far back as you want to go like tell us how you how you came up? Where did you where did you grow up? Where are you from? Where do you live now? I live right now. I'm in Galway, New Jersey Which is about 12 miles inland from Atlantic City I've been living here for about 10 years. I'm at my wife. She is from down here I grew up in Philadelphia and South Philly. Are you an Eagles fan? I am. I'm an Eagles fan too I literally have a Philadelphia Eagles Sitting next to me on my desk and well, this is gonna, you know, this is timely. I have a Carson Wentz bobble head Also sitting also sitting on my desk while fittingly it has a broken ankle It got knocked off the desk and snapped so I actually super glued it back together and then taped it back up with athletic tape And I said oh, that's actually pretty fitting representation in Carson Wentz as as an NFL Yeah, it's been a rough year Hey, we we got our Superbowl, man that that's you know and I got to go to the parade and that was one of the greatest days of my life I had literally just moved to Minneapolis like not not more than six months prior to to that Superbowl Happening I just moved back to Minneapolis and I actually had my my local barber You know, everybody's got a guy right, you know, and he he was cutting my hair and he was like your Eagles fan, right? Like yeah, he's like I can get you tickets, man. I can get you tickets to the Superbowl and I was like Bullshit he's like no, I can I can I was like All right laid on me. He's like oh, it's like five grand a piece and I was like Oh You know because I'm of course you're tempted because it's you know, it's the Superbowl It's in your home city, so like you don't have to pay for a flight. You don't have to pay for a hotel or anything But I'm like I also got two kids And I'm like and I'm an Eagles fan. I've seen them go to the Superbowl and lose in heartbreaking fashion before I've seen him come close and I was like I was like Now they're like I'll pay the money. I'll go see there and they're gonna lose or they'll be that team It's like gonna get just annihilated and I'll just be pissed that I spent all this money that could have gone Like it's college funders. Yeah, so I passed and I watched it watched it at home with my wife which was which ultimately ended up being awesome as well because She was you know, she was just as excited for me as such a great game I was awesome great my friends and that the ending of that game was just amazing. You want to do Philly Philly? Sure, that's so great, man So I honestly is one of the most exciting Superbowls I think of all time like you even objectively just as as a football fan like yeah It was one of the it was back and forth the entire way and like nobody expected Nick Fouls to win a shoot out against Tim Brady. I mean let's be honest. This is fucking Tim Brady Like nobody nobody expects you to take down Tim. And nobody could stop drunk in that second half either Well, yeah, that's all As a that's a whole other thing But it was I mean, it was just such a such a crazy game like every time you needed a big play Somebody came up with a big play like Cory Clement like he's barely in the league now I mean, I know the Eagles still still play him on occasion, but like yeah, but he's not he was really good that year too He made he made that incredible catch like he was a huge player in that it's just like there's so many like Unsung heroes, you know, and then Jason made big catches Jason Kels and Aguilar my all-time my all-time favorite eagle I actually have a Jason Kelsey Jersey. He's the center for the Philadelphia Eagles for those of you that are not Eagles fans I played center in college and I always appreciate the underdog Jason Kelsey's an undersized Center center pick a six-round draft pick from Cincinnati everybody overlooked him For those of you who don't know him either you should all Google his Super Bowl speech It's one of the best speeches you'll ever hear Hungry dogs run faster. I actually have that I have that on a t-shirt that I that I wear on occasion So all right enough nerd nut on the enough nerd nut on the on the eagle so you grew up at you grew up at Philly You're a Philly guy, so I like you even more Even though there's probably some baggage that comes along with that from a perception standpoint people think we're all assholes Yeah You know that's all right. Nobody likes us and we don't care. That's that's right So now and now you work for it now you work for the mint and you you started out like When you started out your your journey online you mentioned something a couple weeks ago that you said I didn't I don't even have pictures from When I was at my heaviest because I couldn't stand the way I looked right Right I get pictures taken on me I can I can I can completely relate to that because when I was When I was at my heaviest you know after graduating college and getting getting hurt I I mean, I played football at 280 to 90 and I went almost a whole Another spin over that when I got to my when I got to my heaviest and I and I lost a lot of the muscle that I had game So I was like probably three hundred seventy three hundred and eighty pounds But like once I hit three thirty three forty I stopped weighing myself. I stopped taking pictures like Like all here so so how how how taller you how big are you because you're I mean I love your emails big Tim right I'm hoping to get you to the point where it's gonna be like tiny Tim is gonna be your new email handle or something But I'm not a real tall guy. I'm just I'm like five ten. Okay And how have how heavy how heavy did you get like at your heaviest? I mean estimate if you if you don't know but like my heaviest weigh in I'm weighing in I know I was 355 at my heaviest that's I'm sure I was over that But okay, but the biggest number you ever saw on the scale was was three feet was three fifty five and then yeah But it went you're saying it went it went worse than that you know just like Because I stop weighing myself and I kept eating and drinking. Yeah, I ain't like an animal Okay, it's been um, it's been a up and down journey my whole pretty much my whole adult life I've lost over a hundred pounds more than one time So my struggle has always been to keep it off I've had like major life events happen and when I lose weight and then I just Like the first time I've ever lost weight. We'll just go back So back to the first time I ever lost a bunch of weight I was probably I started out like 290 20 years ago because my son just turned 20 in November So my oldest son he was born and I decided I'm gonna lose weight so I went on it wasn't called keto back then it was Ackins and nobody knew what the hell keto was So actor Ackins said eat bacon. Yeah, and that's what I My ex-wife at the time was like, you know, there's this diet Did you just eat bacon and eat meats and cheese and mayonnaise and I was like how I can do that So I did it and within six months. I got down to 187 Wow Yeah, I've also over a hundred pounds and six months and it's just like I was in my 20s. I was 23 at the time And it's the first time I lost my cholesterol. I don't even I didn't get blood work done. Yeah Okay, so so you lost so you lost a lot the first time with with with the Ackins, you know keto keto 1.0 Yeah, and it was like a blessing and a curse I'd say because I lost it all and They end up getting divorced and I kept it off for a while, but I got divorced in my early 20s and I had played guitar and the first thing I did was start a band and then yeah We were pretty good We weren't Spend a lot of nights playing playing in my band playing shoes lava nights out drinking So as goes with rock and roll I played in a in a cover band in college that we called Destin to fail because we had no delusions about You know where where we were going, but we always told people, you know the more you drink the better we sound So drink It's true So what kind of music do you play I saw I saw the picture with the old SVG Guitar man, that that's a that's a sick that's a sick Ack so you put guitar and did you sing as well? I did backup vocals not much of the singer What what what what type of music were you guys doing original? Were you doing covers? We started out doing covers just so we could play places and get paid Yep, yeah, and then we we morphed in our own songs Nice. What kind of music we're like punk band Okay, who are you big influences? Um My influences are all like New York hardcore bands, but we were a lot shittier than that Like the my oh my band guys were like real into emo stuff and brand new and taking back some day and stuff like that so Okay Nice Yeah, I've gotten I've actually really gotten into highly suspect a lot lately They're they're Brooklyn. They're not necessarily punk, but I just figure being in the scene You probably you're probably aware of I've never heard of them yet. Oh really well You know come on. I think you I definitely will they're they're very they're very good and then You know the strokes and you know of course there's there's a hole. Yeah, the whole study is another one It's I think I'm a New York area band. Yeah, the New York scene is is crazy the whole east coast I mean, it's just one big metroplex So did you guys did you guys tour up and down or were you just or were you just mostly New York and Philly and Jersey and Philly Jersey? We played like the first place we played with Syracuse which was like an eight hour drive for us Nice Which was it was it was the drive there was more fun than actually playing there We played there and it was like maybe 10 people there, but the drive there was a blast So nice were you guys actually making money doing it or was it just like couch surfing and hanging out with your friends and making some money or not enough When we played we're like from South Philly and when we played in South Philly we would play this one club and they didn't card anybody So at the time all of my friends were like 19 and 20 And they didn't card anybody so it was 20 hours only can drink so we would pack that place with 400 people And we were making a ton of money then for that show only that show any other show a percent of the door then Yeah, any other show though outside of that we were making any money We actually played one show where somebody do it in another band broke a window and we actually had to pay money That's how it was going Somebody somebody else broke the window and you had to chip in for the all the all the bands had to chip in and pay for the window So that's how that one wow there would have been riots man. I would have That's cold man. That's on them man. I don't know about that. That's that's pretty that's pretty crazy That that band needs to pay for it, but I can't imagine I can't imagine asking the other bands to chip in Well, nobody knew what band did it so oh, okay one of those kind of nights. Yeah It was definitely a drummer. That's all we know always so is the drummer one. Yeah, the drummer We were actually doing it. We actually were doing a show in a in a pole barn in the middle of like Northwest rural Illinois, which is where I went to high school and grew up and we were we were playing For whom the bell tolls and it just so happens that the guy that the guy that was The guy that was hosting this this had an old school bell in this pole in this pole barn He started ringing that that bell while we're playing for whom the bell tolls and of course, it's loud as shit This PA that we borrowed from a from a from the bass players family member from the bass players cousin We were playing on a borrowed PA. Well, naturally we pick up, you know You pick up a school bell across three microphones and it blew out the PA Is one of the same kind of we were playing that show for free like we were just there to to play for the For our old high school friends and free and free drinks and we ended up, you know We ended up having to replace the place the PA system instead At least you had a PA when we drove the Syracuse and got there they didn't have a PA Everybody's just playing through the stacks. I you're playing. They didn't have a PA They didn't have Mike stand so we had to tape our microphones to symbol stands and play out of amps. I was Yeah, fun times All the adventures of being an aspiring rock star in your in your early 20s. Yeah Good times. Oh, that's awesome. That's awesome. Not not conducive to a healthy lifestyle It is not and that's when the way started to back on yes, I did Then that was the first time so I got back up again and every time You know, it's a slight goal and Every time I would put a little more weight on then the time I took it off Yeah, but also like I said that one of the first time I did the pito die It was a blessing and a curse because they developed a deep fear of carbs for me Yeah, and I got into that mindset where I can't lose weight unless I don't eat carbs carbs are the enemy. Yes Yeah, terrible. Yeah, they're terrible. I've learned the next time I lost over a hundred pounds again. I did a choice in my life And the next time I did it without doing pito But that was a real you realize that you know, there is no bad macro nutrient just too many right yeah Yeah, just overeat and calories is basically calories and calories out Do it the way you can do it In my opinion, the best diet is the one you can stick with amen I can I can 100% back that up and I can nerd out on the science if people want but you know That's ultimately what it comes down to I mean, I've done your insistency over time. That's that's what it comes Definitely than anything. I've done keto. I've done paleo. I've done weight watchers I've done the zone diet You name it's been a long 20 years. I've done pretty much everything So which one what so what what approaches what approaches your your fate like if somebody came to you and they're like hey Tim I'm you know, I got a hundred pounds to lose and I want to do it the right way What would what would you what would you say to him what what what what approach would you recommend to him as somebody now? It tried a lot of different approaches Right now I'm at the point like I like to count calories and macros and what I do now and I've been successful with like right now I'm down 75 pounds since April So good work. Thank you. So what I'm doing now is I just stick to a calorie goal and a protein goal And I let the fat and carbs pretty much fall within you know because I'm Before that I would drive myself crazy and over-analysed everything. Yeah, yeah, and that's not I mean It is what it is if you like that kind of stuff, but it can also drive you crazy So I would tell the person like you know eat what you like But everything counts. We just got to count everything You can if you want pizza you can still have pizza, but you have to make up for it in other areas Like if you're gonna eat pizza that day just maybe egg whites or something early in the morning now a lot of carbs That sounds like a very reasonable approach That's that's awesome and that's that's fantastic. I like that. I like that approach too That's actually very similar to how I how I go about it with with a number of people that I work with in the way I've done it myself right where it's you focus on your calories first focus on your protein second because the proteins What is what's gonna support your lean tissue which if you're trying to lose weight Long long term you need to keep as much muscle mass on you as you can and calorie deficit is not going to Spare all of your muscle tissue, but if you eat enough protein, you'll maintain more of your muscle tissue Which is your metabolism higher you might lose weight a little bit more slowly, but you'll be able to lose more in the long run And then kind of like you're talking about I use carbs and fats kind of as a shell game right where they're both energy sources They both taste good Clicked up. Yes, absolutely. And that's where I count at nine nine grams per calorie We're not you know calories program. Yes. Yeah. That's and that's that's you're you're 100% right That's what it's the old peanut butter thing right it's like Yeah, how much how much is a tablespoon of peanut butter and then you see it and you're like fuck that's depressing Yeah, that's too much that's 250 calories in that like oh my god And then you're like or here's 250 calories worth of Cheerios or rice or whatever and you're like oh my god That's a lot more food. Yeah But you know, but like you said it ultimately like it comes it's kind of the shell game of you You take some from the carbs you take some from the fats or whatever like you you're gonna have pizza today Okay, great. You know your fats are gonna be high then you know your carbs are gonna be high You need to make sure you get your protein in earlier or you need to make sure you have your sides out with it Right, but it's all that you know those those trade-offs. I like that approach because like Then nothing's off limits right nothing's forbidden. You're not like oh my god It's my birthday and I can't have cake because I that's not keto or that's not atkins Like no I mean, I still have days where I slip up, but Everybody has days you slip up. You can't beat yourself up over it either. Yeah, absolutely. I think I still have that's a huge huge thing as well I still take one day like every Saturday me and my wife get a pizza every Saturday. That's our Saturday. No, I used to do All right, now now what kind of pizza is it because because you know That's a whole thing. I'm from Chicago We don't do Yeah, we don't mess around with like deep dish Chicago. This is New Jersey pizza. It's real pizza. New Jersey pizza I had a feeling you were gonna say that but you know, you know what you know what the real Chicago style pizza is though It's the cracker crust the the super thin crust Cooked crispy. That's the real Chicago style pizza actually. That's what most Chicagoans actually the deep dish Okay, not this not that Dish that's like a I like it. I like a deep dish of course because I grew up there You know you get your feed or you know, it's it's like a but it's a casserole man One slice of it and you're like oh my god, I was so full like that's that's not You know and actually more than anything. I actually really like a Detroit style pan pizza or or a good Brooklyn fin slot You know a foldable floppy fin slice slice that's that's my alley right there Yeah, all pizza is good, right? It's it's kind of like sex, right? Yes, it is some of it's just better than others But nothing bad, but do you want it? Yes. Yes Whatever whatever styles available. I'll take it. Absolutely So like that's become our Saturday night every Saturday night we have pizza That's awesome. That's awesome. I turned it into like just just a meal now because I was doing For a while I was doing a whole cheat day and I just Wasn't losing like I wanted to see you got a I had to rain it back in a little. Yeah Yeah, that that can that can be an approach that that Definitely can can undo progress like if the cheat day goes The cheat meal I like right because you know, it's common you get to plan for it It's something to look forward to you get date night with the wife or what you know, whatever it is for an individual But a full cheat day can be a you know pizza and then you know, whatever the readers. I have a thing for the readers McDonald's Doritos. Yeah, you know six pack of beer, you know, like then it's like well suddenly your caloric average for the week went from Oh, you are holding the 2,100 calorie average and yeah, you took it now you took in 5,000 on Saturday Well now your average just you just blew your average out and now now no wonder you didn't lose any weight Yeah, but that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes It is it is because you know when you're bigger it's like quicker true So you know when I'm over 300 pounds, I'm like I should be able to eat one day like that, you know, I felt entitled Yeah, but it all but you have to pay for it later right because it eventually eventually it slows down And then if you keep eating like that as you continue to drop right it's that diminishing returns like it gets harder and harder The leaner you get the lighter you get the harder it gets you get you know metabolic down regulation You know all of those you know wonky those wonky nerdy things that we can get into but yeah, you know And it got to that point and I was like I got to reel it back in because I work way too hard to Let one day Throw it all out of whack. Yeah, yeah, and so let's let's talk about the work in hard part like speaking speaking of working hard professional segue I saw that you I saw that you put up what the 90 90 hard presses on double 32s is that right? Yes, that was today today's training then I did um how your shoulders Still attached I don't feel dead. I don't feel too bad. I love pressing to like my favorite thing I know you're a press that you're a pressaholic. I think you said the other yeah Because even after I did that was 90 presses and it wasn't 90 in a row for anybody listen It was spread out over 30 minutes three presses every three presses every minute on the minute For 30 minutes nice So after I did that then I did Half kneeling press with the 40 kilo of them for five reps on each side just to see if I could do it That's 88 pounds for anybody. They can't do the math in their head and like that's a that's a lot That's a that's a serious press is that the new toy is is the for the 40s of the beast right when now to 40 The age. Oh the 48s the BC. Yeah, you're right. You're right. So that's like the baby beast the 40s. Yeah, the baby beast. Okay And you and somebody and somebody somebody dropped you a 48 too, right? Yes, they did That was wonderful. I'm a lot of awesome people out there still restored my faith in humanity Yeah, that's good. Yeah, because you hit somebody breaking to your car I think I saw like like a week before or something like that. Yeah So two weeks ago outside of the minute because I worked overnight I worked overnight shifts So I came out in the morning and somebody broke out the back window of my car And then they don't have security cameras for for that so you can like find somebody and beat their ass Well, you would think they would but not on the side of the building Inside job Well, now there's there's a huge homeless population around there. There have been some inside jobs around there But in there before but we won't talk about them because We don't want to get you in trouble. Yeah, but there's a big homeless population around there. So Sure, I made this stupid mistake of leaving some tools overnight that I was working on in my car Yeah, something somebody saw something shiny that they thought they could spin for an easy couple of bucks And so it was worth breaking out your window and yeah, they got a cold drive And then later that week my debit card got compromised and so I tried to buy a new iPhone for a thousand bucks So it was a rough week Yeah, that's yeah, that's that's rough. That is that is really shitty But on the somebody hooked up with a with a 48 kilo kettlebell too You know, they did a little later So, you know, that's not fully balanced But something back in the positive side of the ledger and you decided to take that bad boy for a dance Did you start with deadlift in it or where you're like immediately? I gotta press it Because I've done it. I've done it before with With my 32 and my 16 together. Yeah, yeah in one hand And that was a lot harder because you'd double on your grip on that And you got the dynamics of two weights to manage the shifting on and you know all that fun stuff So how many how many times how many times have you pressed the how many times can you press the the beast Unbroken is it just one at a time or you build up? I pressed it five times late I think it was a week ago. I did a five times on each side nice good for you man. I had a little the most like minor leg drive somebody pointed out, but And I'm a kettlebell I'm a kettlebell sport guy So you leg drive is fine in my world But you know, I get it. It's a strict Hard part surprisingly like the clean took me the clean really surprised me on that one Yeah, man, but the dynamics of it I've used two hands before to get like because I was using the 16 and the 32 together So I was used two hands to get it up So what I want to clean this thing I was not ready for it Yeah, that's the the centripetal force thing of of those ballistic movements. There's a there's a reason those those things get your heart rate up so much You got to recruit a lot of muscle tissue to get those things moving that quick and then they they weigh more at certain points in the arc And they're like weightless at certain points in the arc Yeah, and it comes quick at you. Yeah, yeah, absolutely So kettlebells are your primary form of training now right like that's they are now they weren't forever I was in the powerlifting before I got in the kettlebells. Oh, let's let's talk about that I come from a powerlifting back as well. So I started out like So in my 20s, I got into just going to the gym like you know, I started out with the regular bros split, you know Back and buys Yeah, exactly Then in like 2000 I'd say 2010 2011 I got into um you ever heard of Pat Flynn Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I started following Pat Flynn like back in the day and got into kettlebells a little bit I bought two kettlebells. I had 216 kilogram kettlebells I bought them maybe for like two months or so. I got into it Then I moved down here with my wife And I joined the gym and I got real into powerlifting started doing 531 and got pretty I wasn't Great at it or anything but I had okay numbers And I just love for people for people that aren't familiar powerlifting similar to kettlebell sport is only three lifts It's it's bench press squat and deadlift for the highest total that you can Come up with in those in those three lifts To win a powerlifting meeting you can and you can win any one of those individual events It was really fun. I just like the challenge of putting more weight on all the time Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So did you did you do any any actual competitions or were you just I never actually did because I just got into it at the gym and never I never wanted to compete because I was always I was always waiting till I lost more weight Yeah, yeah, that's my weight. I was like I'll get blown out of the water Yeah, when you're that's the thing like I you know, I've told people my totals before and they're like oh my god You know, I was like because I you know what my at my peak I could pull I could pull almost 600 I could squat 555 and I could I could bench press 455 You know which people are people are like oh my god, that's that's massive weight And I'm like no, no, no, you know, you don't understand. I wade 200 I wade 280 pounds at the time when I was doing that I was training for football. I just happened to be strong But it was for football training was like you go you go into a heavyweight division of powerlifting like that's I mean, that's a 1300 total is it's not embarrassing, but it's it's nowhere near competitive Yeah, you look awesome and then in your gym your like gym you'll be like oh that guy's awesome But then you go to the lift to me and you're just it's not that's why I never I regret it now. I do regret it because I should have just left for the experience of it all It is it is it is an interesting interesting. I've never competed in an official event But I've gone and I've gone and watched just as a spectator because I you know I've had friends that competed and it is it is cool to see like but it is When you see the legit powerlifting guys that was that was part of the reason I was like yeah now I knew because I went to um when I was still living in the Philly area and I went to this one gym iron sport gym That has like really strong dudes that go there and One dude is how lifting's huge out there. Yeah, and the one dude was squat in like 900 pounds And that's a ridiculous squad just watching these guys set up for that. I'm I can never imagine doing that Yeah, when when people wear those shirts that say your your workout is my warm up Like those are the guys that actually can wear a shirt like that and it's legit because like you're like Oh, what's your heaviest squat ever? Oh, I did four fifty four or five fifty five and they're like oh, yeah That was my like sixth warm-up set on my way up to 900 It's awesome. That's awesome seeing now. Yeah, it is. Sorry. Are you familiar with Chris Duffin? Have you ever seen Chris Duffin from Kabuki strength? No, I have I probably I might even follow one Instagram. I don't remember names that well. Yeah, fair enough. So he's he's a led like legendary powerlifter and he's like You know, he's never been a super heavyweight. He's you know two forty two fifty But he's the only person in history that's ever pulled a thousand pounds and squatted a thousand pounds from multiple reps Um, so he did he did a thousand he did a thousand pounds squat for three Which he trained for he trained for like a year and a half to do that And then he was like then the next phase was he was gonna and then he did a thousand pound deadlift for three It was it was not as it was called his grand goals campaigns Like he does these things is like because he raises money for special Olympics They do a lot of work with the special Olympics population in in powerlifting and So he did this is like raising awareness raising money and it's not he also did a thing where he did He did like an 800 pound squat every day for 30 days in a row or that was his goal was to do it in 800 pound squat for 30 days in a row He didn't make it the full 30 days, but he again was raising money for the special Olympics Like to see him do a thousand pounds squat and a thousand pound deadlift like at 260 pounds right like most of the guys that do that are like, you know, Thor Bjornson's size in there 350 pounds, you know, so he's A hundred pounds lighter and he yeah, he's like my side like he's Or our size, you know, like I'm five or five eleven six foot, you know The football program at six one, but I've never been six one You know, like he's a relatively normal size got a big, you know, relatively normal size and he's just The the accomplishment of that like still blows my mind like it's insane to have a two-year training strategy to get to How are we going how am I going to lift a thousand pounds three times like I can't even imagine breaking the floor with that thousand pounds. No, right like most of us can't like that's I don't it's a it's just a it's just a crazy crazy feet of strength Like into and to do it from both the squat and the deadlift because most people are really good at one But not both right there. You media graph both. Yeah, like well. Yeah, me too But like to be able to do it like that's just I know it's that's a other other level type of Type of accomplishment, but it goes you know kind of goes to show you that mindset matters, but he's also, you know An incredibly technical lifter and has a whole team of people around him Yeah, all he surrounded himself with really really great coaches and stuff, but anyways, you should check it out I'll send you the I'll send you the profile because they're they're fantastic. I'm my huge. I just look them up on my Instagram right now Follow nice nice. Yeah, he's he's a he's a really really cool guy He's one of my he's one of my one of my heroes one of the guys that I would love to if I could ever get him on this podcast That's also he's a he's a great guy, so But anyways, so powerlifting powerlifting background and now you got into kettlebell sport And are you working with Joe Daniels? Yes, I am. I'm doing his I'm running his eight-week program right now when we four of that And Joe knows his stuff, right? And he's he's gonna put you through some paces man Joe's a great guy. Yeah, he is. He really is good dude Like I was doing powerlifting and then I got I blew out my back pretty bad Doing powerlifting I was that'll happen. I put on a bunch of weight that's one of them times I told you I lost some weight. I got married in 2016 So I lost weight for my wedding Then I was at a lower weight 2016 2017 then my wife got pregnant We have the two and a half year old now So when she was pregnant with him, I was the one that put on all the weight Okay, she got pregnant. I just ballooned up What do you think that is? Well, it started out with like she would be like I want pizza I want this I want that you know She's my pregnant wife. I want to get her what she wants Yeah And then I started like oh hell I want pizza now. I want like And it's just I don't know that simple the sympathy weight they call it right. Yeah I spotted without a control. I call it solidarity weight Sounds good that way. Yeah, it's better that way. I don't feel bad for her. We're in this together Even though she's the one that's got a birth to child, but yeah, I looked like I was carrying it though Okay, so you put on weight during during the during your wife's pregnancy for the weekend So then I was trying to lose the weight again I was going to the gym and I had a real shitty belt at the time For I had some just a regular Milky belt that had velcro Yep, yep, that I was using and So one day I had 425 on the bar and I got my belt and I said I'd getting fatter So at the bottom of the squat my belt blue And I just lost all tension And Instead of dropping it like I should have been smart and just dropped it the ego kicked in and I'm not dropping it in a gym full of people Yeah, and I does make a lot it does make a racket when you drop that much weight Yeah, and I pushed through it and on the way up I felt something popped And that was the end of my power lifting career Yeah, and I ended up hurting in two discs like L5 and Which which which L which L was it L3 L4 L5? I think it was L4 and L5 and I ended up with a pinch sciatic nerve, which was I wouldn't wish on anybody. Yeah Because that was really bad and that was That would wall I would walk and it would come and go. I'd walk in it felt like I got shot all the sun That's so I a similar injury ended my college football career I herniated L3 L4 And I played with it for a couple of games because I was Pop and Viking and like they were M&M's And it wasn't until I started getting sciatic nerve pain and losing losing feeling down my right leg and could no longer anchor When I was you know blocking a guy that I was like okay, I'm and it was I'm gonna get somebody else hurt Okay, then we get your quarterback killed exactly. That was exactly it. I was like I can't this and of course I you know was a I still remember the game. I was going against a guy who was like 5,900 pound, you know stereotypical nose tackle in a straight-up zero technique And all he could do was bull rush and it only took him two bull rushes to realize that I couldn't I couldn't block him. Yeah, I couldn't anchor him So he didn't try and do anything other than bull rushes all game because he just feels like this guy can't stop me So yeah, I took myself out at half time and never played again Powerful feeling same same kind of thing, but yeah, I mean it was a terrible it was a terrible feeling that that sent me into a pretty pretty spiraling depression for a period of time, but You know, I mean you will do that like I wasn't even and I wasn't really an athlete I was just like I got it like the power lift at my gym But it that sent me I got kind of depressed too because I couldn't do like I was always a fat guy There's something about pain though, too. I feel like I feel like that that level of pain and how much pain you're in all the time Just like wears you down mentally And it took away like you know, I was the fat guy all the time, but at least I was strong. I had something you know Yeah, a stronger than the average person and then I was I didn't look good at 300 pounds, but I was a football player So it took away like my kind of my identity like I like in work I was always the strong guy that could lift the motor out of the machine You know without using a whole easter saw and now I'm now was like a broken old fat guy Yeah, so it's kind of depressing. I don't have my strength anymore or what that you know So and then I just ate my feelings And then that led me to being at the 355 more which takes us up to the pandemic And then and then and then enter enter the new motivation Right so so let's let's talk a little bit about that. What was the what was the new the new reason why for when you decided You're going to lose weight again. What's the new motivation? So okay, well January I was in my buddies wedding And just getting this talks for it, you know at my size was Is the pressing first law Then you see the pictures and like oh my god that you know, you know, you're fat But then till you actually like you see the pictures of you like oh my god, that's what I look like Yeah, did you has your mom ever said anything to you? Yeah, that was my that was my rock bottom I was I was out at the bar with my buddies and and my mom came out and she was like Honey, you look terrible. I guess my mom like she's like the sweetest nicest woman sweet sweet Christian And I know it came from a good place, right? But it was like yeah, like but yeah, it's like and I see and I see pictures from that night You know, I'm like, yeah, I see And that but that still wasn't I still got fatter than that because you don't just stop right away, you know Now it takes a little you gotta be like it's like a slapping the face. It hurt. Yeah, it hurt real bad So okay, so you you you're like you see the pictures from the wedding Yeah, so this is like now in January and February now February hits and I'm like, you know I'm gonna this is gonna be my year which I say every year You know, I'm gonna get rid of all this weight. So I started diving a little Then the pandemic started to happen and start hearing, you know how it's not good for obese people and I'm like, gosh shit You know, I got a two year old and I just kept thinking like I have so much unfinished business and like kept thinking like what if I got sick and died now I would feel a complete failure in life like I don't know what it was. It just really struck me Like I don't want to die being overweight and obese and not doing anything with my life and just I felt like a failure Yeah, so it like hit me hard and but all the gyms were closed in New Jersey because you know Jersey was one of the hardest hit. Yeah at first So I had the two kettlebells laying in the corner of that collected dust for like almost a decade So that's when I got in the kettlebells. I was like let me break those out And that's what I broke those out and I broke out like some old emails. I had from Pat Flynn And started doing that Yeah, Pat's got some good stuff man. He does. I love that I love Pat Flynn and then I decided one day I listened to Dan John podcast a lot. Oh nice. So I wrote Dan John and he actually answered me I still talked to him. I post on his forum all the time. I actually talked to him. He actually knows who I am which blows my mind That's very cool. Yeah, it's hard to explain to like normal people don't know who Dan John is but Yeah Dan John is a legend in kettlebell. Yeah, and he had an Instagram story and I When he was live on his Instagram and I said something. He's like oh, this is Tim and like told people who I was like oh my god He knows who I am so I was like fanboy and big time So anyway, it's a legend. That's that's awesome So I wrote into him and he gave me some suggestions on what to do and actually listen to them Which he was surprised by And then I decided to make a post and on a forum post, you know for my swings And post on Reddit, which Took me a lot to do that because I was like, you know, Reddit is very troll friendly Yes, it is and the first You're not going into a safe space when you when you post a video on Reddit. That's the nature The very very first response I've ever got on Reddit where you're too fat to do kettlebells So that's just the start hit but then I got nothing but like, you know, I get a troll here and there every now and then but I've got nothing but positivity from Reddit Made meant so many amazing people from there and I've got like hundreds of followers and it's been pretty awesome That's great And so now it's been it's been I mean shit, it's it's December 21st is when we're recording this so you started You know, you picked up the dusty kettlebells all the way back in January, February when it was actually it was April by the time I picked the box Okay, okay, yeah, but it's I mean, that's still that's a solid eight months You've lost 75 pounds in eight months, which I don't think anybody can Can thumb their nose at right, you know and and you're you're being super consistent You're getting you're getting stronger and stronger all the time you're doing Joe's uh, I'm assuming you're doing the the muscle muscle the muscle only program based on yeah based on the based on the volume He's got you doing I'm assuming you're doing his muscle program. So and everybody can find out at www. kettlebellmuscle.com Shameless plug for Jeff. Oh by all means it kettlebell a lot kettlebell lockers also Joe Daniels uh Website right he's yeah jose goes awesome. I got it. I got to get him on the podcast too. We've we've been trying to connect and He I think he yeah, I would say he responded he responded to me and and I responded to him And then just the calendars never lined up and I that was one I've got to follow up with him because he's Joe's a great guy and he he's so knowledgeable and such a good coach and doing you know Uh doing the good work of uh of putting kettlebell kettlebell goodness onto the world I'm just putting positivity on the world. I just got his follow up program till for after my eight-week program. He's got a six-week Complex program. Nice. Yeah, so this is a I mean, so let's talk a little bit about it You're doing a hypertrophy focused kettlebell uh program which to anybody that says the kettlebell you can't gain muscle with kettlebells I say bullshit and Tim says bullshit and I know Joe Daniel says bullshit if you haven't seen Joe Daniels He's built like a brick shit house And he he does nothing but kettlebells for like the last 10 plus years. So, you know There it's false. It's just it's just unequivocally false, but it's you can you can speak to my house or are you after you do one of his One of his only muscle game programs, you know, I'm surprising. I don't get sore ever I don't get sore ever. Yeah, wow never I never had the only time I get sore is if I take like a three-month break and start turning it again That's but other than that I don't get sore, but I'll take I get tired and his programs I call him an engine because you look at his programs on paper And you're like oh, I can do that no problem. It looks easy and starts out easy and it just Next thinking how you're dying it sneaks up on you and you're like Jesus. What happened? Yeah, he's in the sassin with that kind of stuff. Yeah, that's that sneaky that sneaky volume. Yeah, every every minute on the minute. Oh, okay Yeah, it seems it's easy. It's simple and you know concept, but It's easy. He's also opening the door for me Like he's got cleaning jerk and stuff and long cycle and some of his program and I'm just starting to get in this word. I'm really really bad at cleaning jerk because I have nerve damage in my left foot from From when I had the herniated disc. Yeah, so I have a problem where I can't really push off You know on the dip Yeah, I can't like push off on my toes. So I'm trying to learn it. I actually did some today after my program Because I really I want to get in the sport. It seems really fun. It seems like a great community Like I listen to you your podcast and all the people you have on it seems like an awesome community It really it really is man. It's a it is a great it is a great community And you you connected you connected with our girl kettlebell and donuts, right? Yeah, and she's a blueprint cam is awesome Yeah, yeah, they're they're great. They're great and and she's got some of the same Herses here's is a little different but foot foot issue and she had to corrupt well not correct But adjust her technique based on based on some of the foot and ankle things that she had going on So yeah, and you're I mean you're on great hands with Joe Joe knows injury recovery and the healthy movement patterns as well as anybody in this space So I'm sure when you know whenever Whenever you you're ready and you're like yeah, I want to try sport You know You can't you can't do much better than Joe Daniels. He's I was going to ask you know Solomon You know Solomon Ruskin. Yep. Yep. He's been on. Yeah, he's talked to me a ton since I started He's like sent me messages. He's been trying to get me in the kettlebell sport forever Well, and I will say I will say of the lifts if you can't do triple extension The one lift that you don't need triple extension for at all is snatch Yeah, you actually Joe just told me that yesterday. He's like you could always compete in just the snatch Yeah, yeah exactly and but so but the last thing yesterday I did I did a well. Yeah, yeah, I mean I did it I did a 10 minutes snatch test yesterday On the 20 kilo and yeah, I mean that's you know, I have no No knee issue or no back pain or anything, you know I think that that would be the that would be the place to start even the long cycle the long cycle is definitely going to be where you're Where you're gonna feel at home coming from you know coming from a meat an old meat head background Yeah, you know, that's where you're gonna feel like oh, yeah, I know I know this movement cleaning jerk. Yeah, I know this You know, but you know, it's Also right now I have it's all it's all goodness man like hard hard style is super super beneficial Especially for your goal of you know losing weight dropping fat, you know That's it's super super beneficial for that and obviously Joe's got you you're gonna you're gonna build you're gonna build muscle Which is only gonna help you lose that faster, you know, so what about what about your diet now, you know, as far as what what Macros do you stick to you know, you said you focus on calories and protein? Yes, like give just give people an idea of like what guidelines you're using so right now I'm very my calories from day to day because I tried to like Saturday. I try to be a little more free So I try to stay a little low on you know during the week So I can have more calories on Saturday So I look I focus more on a weekly view than a daily. That is absolutely the right perspective on it I I want a hundred percent for the for that and I'll say oh, I will equivocate that with saying for the goal of fat loss Looking at a weekly average is the way to look at it if we're talking about maximizing sport performance That's a whole different conversation. Yeah, but you know your your goal is fat loss. So yes, I think you you absolutely are in the right spot with that So right now I've got my calories pretty like I started out when I started out back in April. I was doing like 2400 And now I'm down to like I go anywhere from 19 to like 2100 a day Okay, and 200 protein and the rest falls where it falls Okay Nice, so and the and your and your body weight is is what now Right now 279 Okay, nice and I do I also like I do intermittent fasting usually during the week Because it just goes well with my schedule because I work I work third shift So my hours I work an hour from home and my hours at work are 10 in the late to six in the morning So I have an hour commute by the time I get home at six I am Then I play I'm as soon as I get home by the time I get home at seven thirty my son just wakes up So I play with him make him breakfast Then I go out and train by the time when I'm done training the last thing I feel like doing is eating Yeah, and I just I don't like to eat before or after really I know that's not That's blasphemy to a lot of people, but Well, that's it's only blasphemy if you're dogmatic Yeah, you know, is there is that is that you know, it's the is that the best science Well, it's all individual right working for me. So yeah, exactly right like it's you know, and it's it's those things of like Not everything is a lab controlled experiment right like you're in the real world working night shift Having a commute having all those things. So if you don't feel hungry There's probably a reason for that right. Yeah, should should you should you get some calories and immediately following your workout? Yeah, probably the best way for me to do it would be to like have a protein shake, but after doing one of Joe's workouts, I don't feel like eating. I really don't yeah, no, I'm tired because I That's where I go to bed too And that was the other thing I was gonna say right your your situation is unique because you're not trained You're not training. You're not training in the middle of your day in in the middle of your day, right? Like at the peak of your awakeness You're trying to leave before shortly before you crash, right? So do we want to throw a bunch of calories in when your digestive system is now going to be Wound down because it's always digestion is always diminished when you sleep, right? No, we don't want to throw a bunch like You know, I would I would recommend maybe like a way ice a hydrolyzed way isolate and a like highly branch cyclic Dextrin right just to get you in a parasympathetic state and to give your muscles something to help recover with Right, give it a try. I know those things those things are super, but those things are super easy to digest to and you're talking and you're talking 200 calories, 250 calories, right? We're not talking we're not talking something super heavy Right hard to digest and like I like that sick that that cyclic dextrin because it it helps you replenish glycogen But without a huge insulin spike there's not a big insulin response to it helps you replenish your glycogen It helps put you in a parasympathetic state So we're we're getting into the rest of the just phase never trying it It's it's awesome. It's it's I actually call it zombie dust Because like it it brings me back from the dead like if you've got one of those workouts where you know You're talking about like you burn through a ton of you burn through a ton of sugars because you're working at a really high intensity And you're just like I don't I don't want to eat anything. I can't eat any solid food Yeah, I drink that with some some hydrolyzed way protein and water and it's very light It's not hard on my system because you've got it the byproduct of lactic acid makes makes your digestion like not ready to absorb Like people don't I don't think people appreciate that enough like high intensity exercise does not pair well with digestion Immediately post post workout. That's why simple carbs and simple protein is the direction to go post workout Like that's that's what you should be doing because your your body's not ready to absorb nutrients It's trying to recover from the the hell you just put it through Like you you put it in a super inflamed state. It's not ready to digest and absorb you need to get it into that state So But you know Joe knows these things Joe like I said you're in great hands Like that would just be my like if you were going to eat something I would I would say something super simple like that something that's going to be really easy on your digestive system Easy for you to consume quickly, but that's not going to be super heavy in your stomach And you're still going to wake up hungry for for your for your breakfast when it's time for you to wake up right Because it's gonna be a ton of calories, but That's my first meal of the day is when I wake up it like I usually wake up at 6.30 and eat dinner with my family Yeah, yeah, so you know, there's like Joe Joe's super knowledgeable on both sides the training and the nutrition side He came from a he came from a bodybuilding background before he even got into animal training He's a precision nutritionist or two. Yep. Yep. So yeah, Joe's Joe's awesome. So, you know Listen to your coach You know bottom line you talk to your coach and he's gonna he's gonna get you right You know, but you're doing I mean you're doing awesome man like thank you Like for I can tell you from like from my perspective like it's it's inspiring to see and I love to see that there are I love to see that there are people that Are just like gonna get after it and do what they need to do and I love it, man It's like to come a new passion for me. I started a blog now. I know yeah, so talk about that Do the self promote a little bit please. I just you just you just put that out there. So right now I can't even tell you like the link to it because I'm not even sure. It's like a way to send it to me and I'll get it in the show notes Okay, yeah, I'll say to you because I just started it last week because people been like you know You got to document your journey. I'm not a writer, but I figured what the hell and I just it's not even about that Like people just like I said, it's inspiring to see to see people are real people that are that have struggled but are Figuring it out right they're going through it. Yeah, I just opened up and put it told my story You know, and then the last one was about being a father. I got scolded on right it for that proposing about that From the moderator because it wasn't about kettlebells Yeah But I mean, it's fun you know something to do now just document how I feel I want to be honest about my like you know my ups and downs because I have times I mess up and It's weird. It's I don't know. I'm just a normal dude and I have like people sending me things on Reddit and I get Like all this crazy amount of praise on Reddit and it's hard to accept sometimes, you know Yeah, I'm just like I like I Struggle with it sometimes like I don't want to disappoint anybody like who the hell am I to get all this praise? And I You know, it's weird sometimes. Oh, it's yeah, that's that's an interesting dynamic though too, right? But it that's there's kind of a built-in accountability portion of it because You're just a regular guy, but because your story is inspiring to so many people You're kind of stepping into a leadership position whether you realize it or not, right? I know it's weird I have like thousands of eyes on me and you're putting yourself out there now So you're kind of a leader message me like, you know, I've thought about like quitting Reddit just because of some of the bullshit and the trolls I get you know, but I've had people message me and like you know your story and your inspiration and Like I've had one guy message me and like you really helped me in a dark time and Like stuff like that is like awesome to hear you know, yeah, it inspires me like this people telling me I inspire them to inspire me to do more and work harder. So It's like a cycle of an inspiration cycle Yeah, absolutely is that sounds the yeah, it's that iron sharpens iron thing though, right? Like it's like I don't know there's just I think you're right on like there's something about that that put yourself out there And being genuine and honest about what you're going through and what you're struggling with allows other people to identify with you And then they tell you about their struggles and and but it becomes self-reinforcing because it's not like people Wallowing in their struggles as people saying yeah, you you inspired me to that I could I could overcome too And then it just makes you be like the next time you're like oh, I really just want to I just want to like eat the whole pizza and you're like No, no, I'm gonna like I didn't feel like working out today And then I saw your video and then I picked up my kindle bells and like hell yeah Yeah, what's your excuse like I just put it I just put in a two-hour commute on each side an eight-hour shift And I'm working nights and I you know But I still got in my I still got in my 45 minutes of I love it. I mean I would crush of crushing from Joe What's your excuse the hardest part of of Joe's program for me now is it's only four days the rest I just get I just yeah, I love training now. I actually like In my blog I put one about like what I where I want to go in the future with this because you know I want to hit my goal of weight loss But I Eventually might like look into becoming like a strong first serve or some kind of serve just where I can help more people and Yeah, like be a legit with helping people not just some guy Joe Joe's IKFF Like yeah, I think he's a master coach now or yes, yeah, yeah, so I'm just I'm gonna say maybe go IK My technique though Well, that's you know, but you've seen Joe's technique and So I'm just saying he's gonna he's he'll probably push you the he'll push you in a good direction either way Like and that's not that's no like I have no I have nothing but love for for strong first for IKFF Yeah for any like so long as you're for kettlebell for low so long as you're for fitness like and making improvement I don't care like that's I'm so I'm so not dogmatic about it like I think I think hardstyle is awesome If you do it right and you do it smart like there are some great hardstyle coaches out there great athletes In the hardstyle world great kettlebell sport athletes obviously like I got nothing wrong with CrossFit Either you're a great CrossFit athletes, right? It's it's it's like anything else it can be good or bad if you're too dogmatic on it Yeah, and you can look like an asshole and of course there are idiots in every space But like ultimately if you're getting out there moving some weight getting off your ass Not eating like shit You know you're putting your putting good vibes out there like I'm with you like that's all I'm about man. That's all I'm about I just love I love doing it I like I like helping people and helping myself so we'll see what the future takes me but All right, so I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you a hard question now, okay You've you've gained and lost a hundred pounds two times now. What makes this time different? Why is this time gonna stick? I don't I just I don't know why I just feel it's like ingrained in me everything What's different about your mindset this time? Well, I mean it started out with like you know, I was afraid for my life I'm 40 now I'll be 43 next January 3rd. So like most little under two weeks. I'm not getting any younger now It's just everything yeah, everything's different like you when you realize your own mortality, you know I just lost a coworker from COVID a couple weeks ago So yeah, yeah, the 400 pounded though and He was home, you know, he didn't die Wasn't from COVID, but COVID took him out, you know, and then you never recovered after a couple of months So you know, I struggle with that like I like the just the the dichotomy of You know people are like well, it's not COVID causing the death. It's our Sedentary lifestyle. It's our which there is some validity behind that because Yeah, yeah, they'll be here if there wasn't a COVID I mean yeah, and so like I guess I guess it just bothers me to see so many people being like well We don't have to like if you just if people just wouldn't be such fat asses and wouldn't be so lazy and then we wouldn't have to worry about it It's like well, no, that's not true either like my wife works in the ER that she's leaving to go to the ER here She you know 10 minutes right and she she treats people all the time that are young healthy fit people that still have to be Intubated so it's still a thing that even if you have zero Comorbidities can still Take a girl that was 18 year old sister. We had a girl that was 18 year old senior that died of COVID Like a the next down over from where I am But it just it seems like we're so like I don't know and maybe this is my my you know my old you know fat kid You know mentality, but it's like it seems like we're still bullying the fat kids, right? It's like you know There's still so much fat shaming and like we're a fat country like there's a lot of problems that need to be fixed But there's also a latency of intervention to to response to right like you and I are perfect examples Right it wasn't like I just decided I was gonna lose a hundred pounds and I could do it in a day It took me if it took me a fucking year to lose 75 and then it took me another like I'm fucking another six months to lose the last 25 for me to hit the hundred pound weight loss mark like it doesn't It doesn't yeah, and it doesn't go fast I'm still in a danger. Don't we if I got if I got it I don't know how I mean I exercise on my last healthier than I was when I was a 300 pound couch 355 pound couch potato, but So like we can we can point and say like oh well We should like if everybody just take care of themselves and they're healthy then we wouldn't have to worry about this like Yeah, well, that's not the reality that we're dealing with We have to deal with the reality of the fact that you know a large population of people are not healthy So we have to deal with that first and foremost. Yeah, should this wake us up and be like hey We have some systemic issues in our food system and our lifestyle and all those yeah, fuck yeah I fucking hope so I hope everybody's like hey, this is a wake-up call like like you said right You know, if I get it what's gonna happen to me like That's a I hope that everybody takes that same personal Interest and awareness to it because I think that's a great response, but I also am a two-and-a-half year old that I look at every day Yeah, I mean I wake up to like my two-and-a-half year old that kid means the world to me like I couldn't you know the just picture and like not being around for him like I would get next to Pride, doesn't it, right? Just just get some stuff to take it about it now like So I was like I have to do something I you know, I have to take Take responsibility for my actions and you know You've got to reach a point where Is shoveling food into my face worth You know because even if I let's say I don't get COVID, you know I'm 43 and I go to the doctor every six months because I have hyperthyroid too So take medication for that. So I still got to go get blood work, which is usually good, but my dad died at 61 from cancer So like my grandmother died from lung cancer cancer runs in my family my dad had was a diabetic. I'm not yet But I was on that on the way. Yeah, you're on the path. Yeah, so like it's not like if I didn't get COVID or something I was still on the path like You know, you don't see a lot of 300 pound old men. Yeah So I want to be there for my son and now he's got a kettlebell Isn't that great? Do you know? What's it called? Send him a code kettlebell. You know Moses Moses don't go. Yeah. Yeah, so he reached out to me on Instagram I never talked to the guy and he was like I told him I have a son and he was like, oh yeah, I'll send him a kettlebell I was like, oh he's only two and a half and I get that it doesn't matter He sent him a 2 kilogram kettlebell, which my son thinks is the best thing in the world. Yeah, it's awesome My I got I got to myself I got my my six my six-year-old and my and my almost five-year-old You know, he's foreign, you know, foreign three-quarters or whatever at this point But we got to we got to Moses's kettlebells as well the matching the matching The kettlebells as well and they they they love it and you know So it's so it's so reinforcing for us though as fathers right because like yeah, my kids my kids see me doing it And they come out in the garage and they grab their kettlebell like see in my kids doing jerks They're doing long cycles and so I'm like my my daughter's got pretty like it makes me feel good about my farm Because I'm like my daughter's got pretty good form and I'm like uh she's like how did you learn that she's like I just watch you and I'm like God it's dusty in here You get that they tug on the heartstrings man But it it just reinforces those my son grabbed his the first day and I showed him how to press it Which was kind of a mistake And he's running around the house with this when it over his head and I always Carey's man. He's just a hard attack though like where do you learn that from Probably shouldn't have shown him how to press yet Uh, that's awesome. He's like he comes up to me, you know, and he's like one day I want to be strong like you daddy and that's you know, so I'm doing something right at least Yeah, my my my son had a great one the other day actually He was telling me all the things that he loves and it was you know He's all the things that I love he's like I love kettlebells and I love I love the black hawks and I love football and I love Yeah, I'm a black hawks fan. I'm from Chicago man, you know We'll go there we'll go there but He's like I'm like I'm like I'm like that's awesome man. You're like a mini me and he goes no you're like a gigantic me Which is that is my son in a nutshell like he's He's kind of a smart Alec but he's my son is a personality. I love it man. It makes me so happy I want to be respectful of your time. I this has been super fun conversation. I've really enjoyed it Thank you so much for coming on man and Like I can't I can't say it enough like Good on you for for taking the the initiative that you're doing but you're inspiring a ton of people and thank you for like being I don't say brave enough to put yourself out there and like deal with the trolls on reddit But you know and whatever and still and still being like yeah, fuck you. I don't care You know, I'm gonna keep doing. I'm doing and you know in another year's time when you're when you're hitting your goals And you're you're looking the way you want to look and be like oh yeah, I'm too fat to do kettlebells fuck you I'm pressing the b-star day. Yeah, exactly right? So good on you man. I'm I'm Super happy you agreed to come on. I really appreciate it. Thank you for having me on dude. It was awesome Yeah, if there's anything I can do to support you I'm happy to I'm happy to support you know, I'm cheering you on like I said you're in great hands But if ever you're if ever you're wanting to you're wanting to come to I'm gonna be hosting a competition here in in Minneapolis Sometimes this fall that that announcement is is TBD, but yeah, if you decide you want to do kettlebell sport I'm good for that, you know, but the you know if you want to catch a birds game I'm good for that too, man, so yeah Not this year meeting person meeting person soon, but yeah, definitely I would love to All right, man. Thank you so much. I really appreciate him All right, have a good one, man. You too, but Thanks for listening to this episode of the platform podcast. I'm Jordan Kunde-Wright If you have a question, please email me at twinsities kettlebell club at gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at twinsities kettlebell club on Twitter at tckb club Online at twinsities kettlebell club.com And please help us grow our reach and give us a review on apple podcasts spotify stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts Until next time