Cam Konig | Candian Kettlebell Athlete

Welcome to the platform podcast. I'm your host Jordan Kunde-Wright, founder and head coach of the Twin Cities Kettlebell Club And I'm on a mission to help others build sustainable healthy habits I know how hard that can be because I've struggled and succeeded to varying degrees throughout my life But I've lost over a hundred pounds and kept it off for over a decade now the key for me was discovering my passion for lifting weights in Kettlebell Sport on this podcast we'll talk to athletes coaches experts and everyday people about Kettlebell's fitness programming nutrition mindset making an impact and generally striving to grow and leave a legacy of positive change Please join me. Alright welcome in to the platform podcast. This is episode four and on this episode I have Cam Conegg He is a Canadian Kettlebell sport athlete. He held the long cycle record for Canadian lifters He might still hold the record we're not quite sure but we'll talk about that and he also is a is an iron worker by day So working a manual labor job and also finding time to train on top of that. So Cam, thanks for coming in man Hey, how's it going? Good. Thanks. Yeah, thanks for having me on man. I've never done anything like this before so Little excited little nervous, but we'll give it our best shot, right? I appreciate it. Yeah, man Well, we'll have some fun. It'll be good anything that we anything that we mess up. We can always edit out and post so don't worry about it Alright, perfect. We don't want to make you do too much of that though. Yeah, I don't do very much of it. I'm not going to lie No, no fair enough. So tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? So I grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in a nice little area. We're like 45 minutes outside of Toronto, but with like our traffic is insane here So you're lucky to get there in an hour and an hour and a half. But anyways, yeah, just outside of Toronto I played a little bit of hockey, but nothing high level. I was listening to your intro and like I didn't play any high level sports just You know hub that kind of thing for hockey. I skateboarded here and there's no boring all that kind of thing and then Yeah, as I grew up I got in a weightlifting a bit in Linder in high school because Just kind of seemed to be the thing to do, right? But I never really got into it got into it And so college and then that's kind of where I started getting more into like athletic endeavor because Before that my local apps when I was born actually so I've had asthma my whole life and like Really, you know intense sports stuff. I kind of like almost but Now now I realize I let myself believe that I couldn't do it if that makes any sense like I I let myself think that oh, this is this is super limiting because and I'll never be able to really be great at anything kind of because like I have asthma, right? So You know, that means you're you're super limited or whatever. So Then I kind of got into powerlifting and college with a bunch of guys and then that actually led to Muay Thai somehow And then eventually, you know, you kind of start pushing past the thresholds, right? And then like I was I was pretty overweight the whole time because I was on prednisone my whole life. It's like corticosteroid. Yeah, I would say I remember like I still remember the taste eating them as a kid in the apple sauce and stuff like that, right and Just you know grew up overweight my whole life so like And you know, that's So how how tall are you and when you say okay, and when you say overweight, what were you? What were you in? Oh, I'm my heaviest like I remember I went to the doctor and I was I thought I was 230 you know And I mean how you kind of estimate what you're weight before your because you're scared to step on the scale, right? I don't know. I was I can relate brother to Yeah, yeah, so you know, I was really heavy my whole life and so finally I got to college And I stepped on the scale for the first time and like I man it had to be four years five years, you know And I thought I was 230 pounds like that. I looked at myself. I was like yeah, I'm 230, you know You just assume I stepped on the scale. I was like 282. I remember I'll never forget that And I was so I'm 510. I'm 282 of my doctor's just like You know your your asthma is bad because you're 300 pounds You know like that's back with doctors where I feel they're not as current anymore You know like I feel they don't They're not as forward anymore my doctor at the time was like you know you have asthma And you have asthma attacks a lot and he's like and that's probably why So You got mass on top of your lungs, right? That's yeah, yeah, and like sleeping was uncomfortable and you know I was just super unhealthy. I have Xima like I still have these conditions like a bit but like they're nowhere near as bad as they were and You know you just kind of get a reality check when you when you first when you you step on that scale and then the next thing You know you you see a picture you know social media is starting to come around, right? It's college First year college. I think Facebook came out and you're starting to see pictures of yourself um Candidly right where you don't you don't know that this picture is coming and you can't turn your right way You know you can't suck in as as quick as you thought you can get the picture somebody snapped at the bar and you're like oh crap Whoa, that's what I was like. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah exactly, right and like you know you're the fun loving guy Like you can booze because you're 300 pounds Right, so you're just kind of the fun loving party guy, you know, and it's it's fun for a time or whatever But you really do feel like a lot more unhealthy. So I ended up meeting Cheryl kind of on the end of college and I like I kickbox all three college, but I just like and I did a couple smokers and stuff like that which are just like fights in the gym Um, but everybody was just huge to the kills right like you're You I was 280 so I was heavyweight right like I was stepping on the scale and like you know After the doctor, I started so like I started cutting weight But I got down to like maybe two sixties, you know, I'm like I still fighting guys for a six four and like everybody's, you know There's no testing or anything for for lowly weights. I so you get beat up a bit and then I was kind of like okay, if I'm gonna do this I should probably lose some weight, right? So I need to get into the light heavy at least Well, yeah, well in reality I probably should have been like like 55 at the most right, but anyways, that's beside the point because Uh, one time I ended up getting rocked and I went back to the house I lived in the year before at college And I was like, okay, I think I'm gonna give this up, you know, I don't think this is for me Maybe that's you know, like maybe my head isn't just built to be To be hit, right? So I kind of got back into piloting a bit crossfit a bit and then um, I ended up meeting my Now, I guess common law wife wife Cheryl and she and I were both still pretty overweight I think I was like two 50 at this point trying to lose weight like the doctor told me but She you know, she she wasn't like huge or anything, but she wanted to lose weight too, right? So we both kind of started looking into stuff She's like, hey, there's this kettlebell club in Guelph, which is a town Like maybe again, 45 minutes outside of Hamilton, but just not Uh, which was my hometown and but just not the same way as Toronto And it was just this it was in this warehouse was really neat these guys had like A ton of competition kettlebells and It was a donation based class because they were There were through a church I guess and so their space was donated and everything was donation which was really neat So I remember I held a 16 kilo Bella single one for a single minute And I was like whoa, like that, you know how long was that like four or five minutes and it's like no that was a minute I was like, oh wow, right? It's like the pro guys do this with double that plus another one And I just like I couldn't believe it was real, you know what I mean like when you first hold them And they tell you what the pro guys do like I don't know I just I couldn't believe it when they told me what they do, right? I don't know about you, but yeah, no, I got the I got a similar a similar but less less gentle introduction Yeah, you know, I came in pretty pretty cocky Right and the guy the guy that that first introduced me to bells he was he was a marine Uh, he was he was my boss at lifetime fitness and he he had introduced me to the bells and of course he had the RKC RKC bells and everything and he he got me going on the on the the 24's Uh, and and he was like, yeah, well, you know You know, you're you're you're big and in shape, right? So you know, you said you want to try the kettlebell sport thing That's 10 minutes with with double 24's I got two 24's right here. Let's let's see what you can do in 10 minutes, right? And so so I was doing double double long cycle 24's Uh, and and I just went at it completely balls to the wall like no concept of pace whatsoever because at this point I was you know I was I was powerlifting as well and I you know, I was I was totally in the in the 1500 range on on my totals and I could I could power power clean about three hundred and three hundred and fifteen pounds to clean and jerk and so so I thought I was Big and strong and so I was like, oh these are these are light, you know, I picked them up I was like oh these aren't that these aren't that bad, but I had no endurance at all I was completely anaerobically trained no cardio at all no technique and I just went balls to the wall And I made it about six minutes in and and then like literally had to put the bells down And collapse on the floor and started like seeing spots and then I had to get up because I was like I'm gonna puke like I literally had I literally had to run out of the gym where I was a personal trainer at Run outside to go throw up That was my introduction. That was my introduction to kettlebell sport and of course Matt the guy who introduced me to kettlebells Just laughing. I mean he's he is just rolling dying laugh and he thought it was the funniest thing You know because I came in so cocky like for sure. I'm gonna finish this like yeah, it's that's mind over matter You know I can get 10 minutes no big deal. Yeah, I mean he's like yeah, welcome welcome to kettlebells You know, it's like it really doesn't scheme that long does it at first like when you first think about it It doesn't yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're like ah, you know, I can go I can do like grace or whatever for you know The 30 cleaning jerks with 135 like I like I can get through that, you know and how bad can this be right? Like it can't be that much worse. You gotta do a couple more But you know you you almost think it's gonna be easier because you got one in each hand instead of like a bar Right, I don't know why but that's how I thought I was like oh, well, it's just you know 50 pounds in each hand right like Yeah, that's how I thought I was like yeah, I was like I was like doing three fifth Emily I'm power clean and three 15 like this is nothing you clean and jerk this up No, no big deal. And then I was true for the first two minutes. Yeah And then yeah, oh my god that third minute right like even even now to this day that third minute is really where you find like How that set's gonna go Right like I find anyways like uh if I got a long set that third minute really determines whether I'm gonna sink or swim for some reason I don't know what it is, but I find I find that For whatever reason the the mindset for me depends on the length of the set And whatever like 70% of the way into the set is is always when my mind is like yeah, we should stop now That's cool. Yeah, I got that like like even if it's if I'm if it's a 10-minute set then minute seven is like the death minute for me If it's a five-minute set then it's like minute three if it's a three-minute set then like two minutes in one minute in my I'm like You know because I'm always adjusting my pace based on the duration of the set, but it's like right I don't know that's just a mindset thing for me that my brain is always telling regardless of what the duration is My brain is always telling me like 60% of the way through that I should be done Yeah, well, yeah, I got a light intro, but I kind of came in a bit more headed too And I went out and I just there was no competition gyms in my area So I went out and I bought 232 because I was like oh, that's the pro weight and so I'll just do I'll do five and then I'll do 10 and then I'll I'll do 15 and then I'll do 20 Right and you think you can just like build like that right and obviously that's clearly The absolute wrong way to go about it. So I was like oh, this is clearly too heavy for me So I'm gonna I ended up buying some 24's and then the next thing you know I was I did valet valet race course But it was like the kettlebell professionals. It was all online. It like okay. Yeah I got in a little bit before you I actually I actually the first certification I did was with Catherine Eimes in Bethesda, Maryland through the World Ketterbell Club I flew out to Bethesda to do that and then Right and then like six months later. I brought Katheryn and Valeria Federanco to my gym here in the Twin Cities and had them teach Of course here. Oh, that's awesome. It was it was great But you know, I mean you know you know how Valeria's we did the pentathlon and this was when he was first starting to pilot the pentathlon Right, right and we did the pentathlon at the end of the end of the day And I tore up my hands in the second the second event Which was I think the the the clean and the clean and press Yeah, I just tore the crap out of my hands because I had I mean my hands were already a little bit sore from from the day of training I just tore the crap out of my hands and like I Like bleeding and I just I'm like I'm like Coach, what do I do and he literally just slapped my hands? Yeah, he took my he took my raw hand and slapped it with his with his big hand And he just goes kithleville's teaching you a lesson that you need to improve your form Yeah, and laugh me and I was like he just laughed at like an evil laugh, but I was like Okay, but what do I do right now? He's like you put your gloves on. It's fine So yeah, like just keep going. It's fine if you put your gloves on but you need to work on your form That's great by side manner Yeah, just so cold. He was just so cold, but it was it was great I mean he was it was totally friendly, but it was it was just like okay So I just tore the crap out of my hands and he's like yeah, just finish, but put your gloves on Yeah, most people are like oh you should probably just take it easy the rest of the day and then you know And he's just like oh there. I'll make it hurt a little less than the bells. He's gonna smack the crap out of it while it's nice and raw now Oh, man. Yeah, he's a I didn't really get to work with him too much. I worked with a lady named Mandy a lot And unfortunately I didn't end up finishing unfortunately because there's no gyms in my area and They wanted me to train somebody and my my girlfriend at the time really wasn't interested in sportlifting because she got into to more like crossfit style stuff So yeah, it just you know, we both kind of went that way for a bit and then she got me to meet up with With Scott my like Scott Scott Shettler actually had an extreme performance training systems in Atlanta I his parents live Kind of near Columbus, which is about a four-hour drive from us So I kind of wanted to get into kettlebell sport more because actually So I was doing crossfit because I was working on a place called l3 west cam and what they made were Like targeting turrets for for planes And so this place man they treated you so well that they had an ergonomic specialist come in and measure your body, right They measured your limbs and everything and then they set up your desk So it was ergonomically perfect to prevent like carpal tunnel syndrome To prevent, you know, just any sort of Sending for prolonged period injuries like this is the the way this company treated you but the pay wasn't great So my uncle who is in the ironworkers, you know, sorry, I kind of got off because this is how I ended up getting back into the sport My uncle and the ironworkers, you know, it's like this is what the starting wages you want to be in a premise and I was like sure right so Started doing that and I was like there's no way I'm gonna make it through eight hours in this without some sort of like Like I can't squat a hundred, you know, one thirty five a hundred times and then have the balance to walk on a rebar right it just doesn't work Yeah, like when your legs are that sort you have no balance and like Your balance is is your life, right? You're like it might not be your life, but like When your leg falls through that crack because you don't have the balance to just step over that big step And then there was that you know, yeah You break your leg that sharp bar was sticking up underneath and it caught your leg wide open, right? So I just like there was no way I could continue doing like crossfit stuff, right So I thought oh maybe you know kettlebell sport It's like a strength endurance thing, right? Which is kind of what rebar is you're doing Basically hundreds of micro deadlifts a day You're getting in a super awkward positions You have to do a lot of threading of bars, which is like you have to put it at one end and then thread it like To the other side right and these things are 35 millimeters thick So imagine to handle on your kettlebell, but 12 meters long Right so like like 36 40 feet long and you got to feed it from one end to another with these and it's like Getting caught on everything, right? So you're just pushing pushing so it's a lot of awkward positions a lot of heavy lifting And I was like well sports perfect because you don't like yeah your legs were out a bit But like you're not doing like super deep squatting for it generally, right? So and it's going to give you that endurance to be able to do all those you know Micro lifts every you know for eight hours a day So my old lady's vegan and her friend Scott Shatler who I was talking about before who actually ended up becoming my coach We met him in Columbus and he's like listen man You work a hard labor job, but like I think I can get you at least to candidate for master's sport, right? So I was like okay, he's like you should do 10 minutes though because I was only doing five minutes at the time And I was like oh god 10 minutes, right like Because I just I knew that there was no way I could really train that hard But he said I could do it, so I believe them Well, because you're a your a plow horse like me A quarter horse, right? I had the same thing. I was like I was like I'm gonna stick with these five minute events because there are a lot more reasonable for me Yeah, I like him a lot more and Dennis Vasiliv My was my coach and he was like no 10 minutes 10 minutes is kettlebell sport five minutes is not kettlebell sport He basically basically said you know, you're playing if you're Yeah, he's much he's much nicer about it than that But he was basically like if you're not doing 10 minutes You're not really doing kettlebell sport. Yeah, the purist the purist Our 10 minutes like there's nothing right because Scott was actually a feda-renkel guy He was one of feda-renkels first guys here with like do you must know like Marty Farrell, right? Yep And Chris Duffy and all those guys so Scott kind of did it with them So yeah, he he uh he took me on and he coached me for For quite a while actually like probably two and a bit three years like I always started competing maybe four years ago And so he got never I've never met Scott, but I like he's a legend. I know you know, yeah, out him I've you know, I know so many people that have worked with him or you know But I've actually never met Scott in person. Oh, he's a great guy really great guy He you know, he he actually believed in me so much that he gave me my programming and you know Just did it for free because you he thought I could do it. So I ended up doing my best sets for long cycle On I said I looked at the Canadian record and I was like oh, it's it was like I think it was 81 reps and I was like oh, I can beat that with 20 kilos. So I Like an idiot the day before I trained super hard for it then the day before my buddies like hey man Uh, I got these tickets for the rappers games. It's box seats like do you want to come? I'm like, well, I got a competition tomorrow. I just won't drink right and so of course that that never friggin works out right And then they're like oh the beer is included and you're like yeah, yeah, so like the beer's included with the ticket. Oh So I ended up getting half baggled and And so I walked out there right my old lady is just human because like I've put blood sweat and tears into this 20 kilo set because I was like You know, I work at heart at the time, right? You know, I'm just like starting rebar kind of not just starting but like you know Pretty pretty new into it and like trying to train to and then so and then she was just so mad because all the cramps all the you know All the madness from bad sets everything, right? And it's just like she's like You know, you're throwing it all away for just to go what and go out for one night. So I ended up hitting 90 and I felt like Eat in a something minutes and I put them down And oh my god, did I hear it from both of them because like That's not it, right? You know, 10 minutes is the time that's not it, right? So Uh, yeah, I heard about it from both of them for for that one. So but night I mean 90 plus reps on on long cycle is Respectable with with just about any weight, you know, like that's yeah, that's still nine over nine rpms over the over the 10 minutes And if you did it in eight minutes, I mean you were you were crushing man. You were going 11 or 11 rpms, you know That's that's cruising that's that's getting pretty aggressive with it. So yeah, yeah, that's that's respectable I'm gonna I'm gonna challenge I'm gonna challenge your old lady and Scott That's still pretty respectable output even if you didn't finish the 10 minutes man Yeah, I thought so too, but you know Well, what can you do, right? But you know, he's gonna have a critic so I but I understand it though because like it was also my fault that I didn't last the 10, you know That was my fosh and they've done that right and and I've made adjustments now I've had opportunities to party before sets not not taking them, but like What can you do? You know, you just you make bad decisions. So anyways, yeah, there's that one and then Scott kind of got Not mad at me, but he just kind of said, you know, man like if you're gonna take this seriously take it seriously kind of deal Right, so at this point I was like a hundred and like I think I weighed in at one oh Eat something like that and so I was like okay. I better I better buckle down. So I got down to like 98 kilo and that's when so I was I had moved up to 24 kilo at this point And I was doing a WKSF composite competition and I think their CMS With 24 was 78 for my weight class Uh, and so I had a set I did an 82 and an 81 so I hit the WKSF CMS numbers in two competitions and then uh I hurt like my last last serratus like it like my serratus impacted in between my ribs And it like pinched my lat and a bunch of other stuff in there and then it all up into like my sub scapula and all that got kind of all tangled in there all at once. So I like I took a bit of time off and then I tried to come back strong for like 10 minutes sets again, right and I tried to come back at 28 kilo Like to to move up again, right because I'm like okay 80s with 24 twice now I'm gonna start you know moving up to 28 and I tried and then Before the Arnold I got hurt a little bit and That was so that was March 2019. So we're getting pretty close to like to current events Uh, and then I kind of was just like, uh, you know, I don't know if I have I did 70 and I won the 105 kilo long cycle there uh With yeah, I got 70 reps, but I got three no counts and my body was just done with uh like I just couldn't do 10 minutes anymore And like he was giving me some really wild training sets like he told me about some of Federanko's old training sets And he was giving me stuff like before the one competition He he gave me a five sets of five minutes on five minutes off long cycle 24 kilo And I was like single or double double And like that was the most ruthless that I've ever done it was the worst thing I've ever done I think I did I think I did seven a minute the whole time And then that was and then I had pretty much the next week off And then that's when I had my 82 and then I did another competition really close demo 81 and then that was it like I had nothing left So I ended up actually trying to get out of rebar and uh, I don't know if this is Okay to talk about values. I had another job offer and I uh, I ended up feeling a drug test for weed and uh Is that cool if we get into this? No, no judgment here, man Okay, and and you're in Canada, so No judgment here, man. Like I'm all about I'm all about activating the parasympathetic system by any means necessary So you've been training hard, so yeah So what ended up happening was I do have like a legitimate medical prescription for it because we get Uh, through our benefits right through my like work benefits. We gain Tax right ups and stuff if you have your medical card So mine wasn't through my family doctor though, so I actually ended up quitting rebar And because I thought I had this job, right? It was a pretty cushy job for a railway I would have been like a management deal like truck and everything So unfortunately what happened was the the guy who did the testing didn't like that It wasn't from my family doctor. It was from like a clinic, right? But these clinics are still legitimate like that you get your patient number. It's all legitimate. It's just He didn't like that, right? And his say is the final say Wow. Yeah, he says it is as a positive or negative drug test Dr. Lucco I'll never forget this guy because he's screwed me But anyways, so that was my ticket out of rebar And so what ended up happening was I was like, you know what? I want to really make him run at master sport I've already kind of gotten out of the trade for a bit and my old ladies parents were actually nice enough to let us stay there and So we ended up renting our condo And then we stayed with her parents for a bit so I could just pretty much train And that's what I did and I did that competition in New Brunswick in September of last year and I just did 20 kilo by Athlon because it was my first by Athlon and I got to spend the whole weekend with Denisov there Which really changed pretty much everything about like my lifting because I was lucky enough that I stayed with Kim and Mike Eagles of the platform kettlebell club in Mountain New Brunswick amazing people I got to give them a shout out because they are they opened their house to like a bunch of us Denisov was staying there too, so I literally got to like talk to him the whole weekend It was really neat man, it was cool to hear it tight like he was telling me about like his time with like Klokov with Misha Kloklav, like the strong man Um and just some really cool stories about competing and all that kind of stuff and you know, he just said to me I think like I got down at 98 kilos and then I went back up to one away So yeah, the struggles real man and trying to like you know Trying to keep it off, right? So so let's get it. Let's get into that a little bit because I first I got it I got to give you and your old lady a shout out for the best fucking Instagram handles out there So for people that don't know cam on Instagram is fat belly rack Which the first time the first time I saw one of his videos on Instagram. I was like fat belly rack I have to be friends with this guy because this I was like this I wish I had this Instagram handle and then his wife's handle is kettlebell and donuts And I I love the I love those handles, but you've been you've been really You've been really slim and down. I mean you've been really focused over the last what like nine months. Yeah, yeah So we ended up having a lot of weight Yeah, so I you know, I went from 98 so I had all those good sets. I was from 98 and then I did have heard myself I quit rebar and I went back up to one away man and it was like Oh, you know, here we are again like I'm getting close like I was like so I'll talk pounds. I guess I should probably talk pounds. Anyways, I was up to almost like 242 right so again getting close to 245 getting back up to 250 You know, you're a stone throw away from 280 again, right? You're like, oh, where where did this come from? How did this happen, you know And I thought that maybe I was putting on good weight and it was gonna help my lifting and I really just Well, I think I was just diluting myself and then when I had that weekend with Dennis of um He he was just like listen man like you're gonna be so much more comfortable if you lose some weight pretty much is what he said Here's just like your rack position is terrible He's like your conditioning is not great. He's like Your techniques okay. He's like but you fixed this stuff you lose some weight He's like you can be really good at this right So that kind of lit a fire under me to be like okay, I need to uh, I need to do something and actually sorry Just before I forget back to that Instagram handle you know where that came from I was looking at belts on lava champions website Yeah, and on his website it says um For massive athletes you can take the belt yeah, I creating the fat belly right so that's where I Uh, actually, I stole it from your website So yeah One of the best Belton shoemakers out there So anyways, yeah Given those given us massive athletes something to something to brag about Just so honest they like there's just no There's no filter really right just the most honest like Uh, those guys all of them right there. They're just there's such honesty there and like oh, I guess I should mention I did do Sergei Rudnev's course as well too after Canadian nationals But I was you know, I was a hundred eight kilo then too and like I died doing his course, man Because he's very fitness oriented right like it's very like You know snatch lunge snatch like snatch lunge push up drag and tail roll up You know like big combinations long like body weight stuff for like kettlebell stuff Yeah, and then when when Denisov told me like you know You're gonna be better off losing some way and I was like okay and you know again Cheryl was into it and like you know you go through those platforms, right? It happens where you're in it to win it and then you're not and then you're in it to win it You're not so we just bought uh the rp strength diet template We were just like you know what let's buy the template And we'll eat what it says the Renaissance periodization Yeah, yeah Yeah, they had the the vegan template so we ended up buying that and then uh So she but like Pretty much all they do because like to get to where I was I was like while working at physical jobs So I got back into rebar, but I was eating like a bag of chips a night like big bag of chips And like a decent sized bag of candy too, right? So you know, you just you justify it because you say you work hard and working in the gym But in reality when you start replacing those calories, which is pretty much what rp strength does, right? Like the Renaissance they basically replace the calories you're eating with um Calories from like vegetables and stuff, right? Yeah, so I ended up familiar like it's it's a pretty it's a pretty uh Well research and it's Dr. Mike Israel, right? Is the guy behind the rp uh periodization and I'm I'm a big fan And and I've like I've done some of his stuff I like a lot of the stuff that he does and essentially what they do their approaches protein You start with you start with protein and it's based on your body weight and you're gonna start with protein And then fat is is essentially gonna stay stable because you need a certain level of fat for hormone regulation and beyond that It's just extra calories So they they basically based on your body weight You're gonna take a certain gram certain number of grams of protein a day You're gonna take in a certain number of grams of fat every day And then everything else is carb cycling based on your activity level So if you're doing jack shit that day You might get 50 grams of carbohydrates But if you're working hard and you're going to do a two hour session They'll give you 300 grams of carbohydrates, right? It it automatically carb cycles for you And they tell you when to eat what and you know, based on when you eat your or when you plan on eating How many times a day you plan on eating when do you plan on training? So they talk about pre-intra and post workout carbohydrates so carbs are for performance It's a it's a very intricate system and it for people that are really anal and really detailed oriented It works really really well. It's very science-based It's a it's a really strong approach And and they also have a like a minimum threshold of I think not I think nine servings of vegetables a day Is like their low end threshold and then they try and Incremental increase you like 12 plus servings of vegetables a day You know, so people like how the hell do I get the and like you get on there you get on their Facebook group And you've got people like oh you put crystal light and three cups of spinach into a blender with two cups of water and blend And that's and that's how I get three of my servings of vegetables People are literally just like trying to to force vegetables into their system But from a nutrition standpoint it makes sense right because they're trying to to get your macros right first and foremost Or get your calories right first and foremost and then get your macros right and then they're also saying oh by the way to do that You also need to get your microbes right and so you don't even track your your vegetables as calories But you have to track your servings. Yeah, I don't forget the timing's important too Yeah, drink a 30-year protein drink before your workout and then you know the last two thirds after plus your you know Cup of orange juice or whatever you're supposed to drink as well as it was yeah You gave a really app description of it there which was uh Detail oriented and it is it does get a little wearing to try and follow. Yeah, well, and if you For people that are super anal it's great, you know, yeah, and if you and if you the thing I give you know Isartella ton of credit for is if you ask why on anything? He's got a very well-reasoned scientific, you know And he's got the research to back it up He'll send you the fucking links like everything is well researched and based on peer-reviewed science And there's no bullshit in it He's not telling you that you have to do fasted cardio because he's like Yeah, if you want to do fasted cardio great But there's it may or may not benefit you the the the research isn't clear But the research is pretty pretty clear on how much protein you need so this is how much protein you need and this is when you need it And like anything that is really backed by science he doesn't back off on he's like no, this is how you do it You know, yeah, you're serious about maximum performance This is the right way to do it if you want to do it less intense than that fine Just understand you're not going to get the best out of your body. And that's right So we ended up doing the app too We ended up getting on to the app just because we found the template to be so Difficult to follow. Yeah, so like you have the app. It sends you your reminders But then it gets to the point where like you're adherence like you're you're stuffing this stuff down your face Because you're like I was 250 pounds right so well not 250 but close to it So like just a nice round number but you know, you're like oh man like They're trying to get you to 246 right so they're they're keeping you at these calories But the way you're getting them is because you're stuffing down like you said okay There's crystal light and three cups of spinach And then I just ate that whole bag of of slice peppers there and then now I got a you know And then your grocery bills out out of like out of control too right Especially when you're you're that heavy and then once you start leaning out a bit It starts like you're you stop having to eat so much grammage. There's just so many grams of everything. Yeah The volume is crazy Oh, man, and I feel bad for the people that like they start on it and they're like well The only vegetable I like really is broccoli So I've been trying to get all this broccoli and then you're like oh my god You're trying to get 12 servings of broccoli a day. I feel terrible for your spouse Terrible for your toilet like you need to get some lower five vegetables in if you're gonna eat 12 servings a day Like you know a couple of servings from broccoli's fine, but good god if you're Yeah, exactly. You're doing it all from the ciferous vegetables. I feel bad for you, but Yeah, so what's worked well for you? You know, I mean our piece great and like I'm not I'm not bagging on RP at all No, no, not awesome awesome system for people that are serious about performance But like you said one of the challenges is adherence. So what's worked well for you from an adherence standpoint Like what have you been able to stick to what's been the what's been the thing because you've been doing it now for over a year You know, yeah pretty consistently with with with ups and downs like we all have, but what's what's worked well for you? Uh, just honestly getting out of the routine of snacking snacking kills you and I actually stopped drinking quite as much too I don't who's like I'm not a booze hound or anything, but you know the way you're gonna look you know for sure have sex, right and so I kind of stopped doing that and definitely Having Cheryl as well being like really into it because she's working with a coach online now from London Ontario, which is another town Her coach is lazy from all these village fitness and London Ontario and she started working with her Yeah, yeah, they're great people like Sarah Cheryl and Sarah actually worked together at a store a long long time ago and then Sarah Opened this gym and it is a gigantic facility like I want to say her new gym is 12,000 square feet And uh, yeah, yeah, it's really awesome. She's her community's great there. She she lets us you know Any open gym if we want to drop it and film some videos there just because it looks way cooler than a friggin bedroom You know she's always she's always been super sweet and so yeah, I We got Cheryl a coach from there just to and she uh leaves it really open ended for Cheryl and uh Cheryl kind of does my meals too and and we've just been Learning how to eat right, you know, and then it's getting to that So have you gone so have you gone vegan with with your wife or is it like how does that work with your wife being vegan and you being I eat a vegetarian diet. Yeah, I hate a vegetarian diet So I only like the only things that are vegan that I eat are like cheese yogurt and eggs Okay, and then other than that, I pretty much think like all these I eat tons of tofu. I eat tons of tempeh Which is like a compressed soybean Well, I take them down your animal protein then so yeah Yeah, I'm carrying your water there Yeah, you know, it is great for variety But for me, it just doesn't that was one of the things that actually really melted the weight off for me because Um, I didn't grow up eating a lot of really good meats, right like I grew up My mom was a teacher my dad was a teacher Lot always really busy. They're marking at home kind of stuff So like and it was at the time when you know, I this is basically when they were saying hey fat's terrible for your sugar isn't that bad Right And I think my mom just kind of you know, I think everybody believed it But I just wasn't getting good quality meat. So that's what I could make you fat, right? That was a simple Yeah, there's a simple concept to understand Yeah, so I you know, but I did grow being like all that like kind of processed stuff So like my meats that I enjoyed were like chicken nuggets and I really like like pepperettes and Like you know a steak to me wasn't like a thing right because we never had it at home So like even like you know the the cold cuts I got weren't the greatest things in the world, right? See my family comes from the cattle industry and like my family was in the in the slaughterhouses and my grandfather was a cattle trader and you know So so you know my my dad to this day like my brother and I have become our father's sons, you know like we go to the grocery store And we're like oh the the steaks on sale. It's buy one get one 50% off. So we got a stock up in low We got the chest freezer downstairs and yeah, absolutely By your half cow sometimes and I do actually I buy I buy a local grass fed half-side a beef you know a couple times a year And I hunt so I've got a freezer full of innocent and you know, but And you know what that point I don't need as much meat as I used to because I'm trying to you know decrease my environmental impact, but you know I could probably I could probably take some tips from from you and from you and Cheryl on on how to More vegetarian and vegan because I think it's it's definitely something my wife has talked about going vegetarian And it's definitely something I'm I'm not going to go vegetarian I'm just being realistic with myself But I am trying to decrease my my carbon footprint by eating less less meat. We could always do like a day every other week Right where you do like a vegetarian day. Yeah And just do it like once every two weeks and then it's not like a big thing Right, I did it for a month in college my freshman. You're just to prove I could because somebody said that I couldn't You know And I lost like I lost like 10 pounds the first the first two weeks and then I realized that cheese pizza was vegetarian and You know that I realized I realized all these all these other all these other things that were crap food were also vegetarian But that's it. I didn't learn how to eat as a young youngster You know, I really didn't learn like this is what your plate should look like and then when I go to my friends houses That did I was like oh, this is terrible. You know, I was a kid. You don't know. Yeah, do you realize siblings? Yeah, yeah, I have one sister. She's four years older than me Did she ever give you a hard time about about being a being a chubby kid or was it mostly anecdotal growing up? No, no, I actually my own When I was a kid, I got teased like because I had asthma and I had glasses and stuff and I was overweight and but my dad had a really young age and this wouldn't fly these days But like when I was young, I came home crying one day and my dad was like what's wrong? I was like the kids are being mean to me right Well, you know, there's the same old stop story that every kid gives his dad I think it happens to every kid in their life and he said hey You know, the teachers are gonna tell you that words don't hurt but words hurt And he said if anybody ever touches you touch them back twice is hard, right? So You don't start sites you finish them. Yeah, yeah So I remember one kid pushed me and I shoved them into a fence and then The next thing you know nobody was ever mean to me again, you know, it just it just kind of and then eventually You know, you just you just get less and less scared of that thing like When when you're a kid you're so scared that something's gonna happen Oh, I'm gonna push this kid and nobody's gonna like me anymore, right? But my old man was like if you let that kid push you like you're never gonna live it down You know like they're just gonna push you further every time so I was lucky in that sense for sure that he he definitely was like Don't let anything like that happen you because I think he do you know like you look like a nerd son Right, you look like a jumping nerd. You're gonna get picked on so you better learn right to either Defend yourself or get out of the way, right? So But yeah, so that's kind of up till now. That's kind of been the struggle and right now I Just really stand stand discipline has been where I've gotten like I'm weighing it like 88 right now KG So like 185 is I think that would be roughly yeah, yeah, so yeah, but the problem is now there's all these killers, right for for kettlebell sport 85 KG Right, yeah, get destroyed. I was happy at 105 because I you know That's where I'm that's where I'm trying to get to you man like I'm I'm in denim. I'm in Dennis. I was weight class right now like I'm like I just I gotta get away from that monster I gotta get down. I gotta get down. I gotta be able to live in the 105 But not go all the way down to 95 or 85 because there's all these slayers down there Unbelievable, right? So yeah, but right now I'm only doing five minute events because I'm kind of Kind of giving up on the 10 minutes stuff. I'm a little too hurt nowadays And Sheryl's Sheryl's doing really well. She hurt her foot actually really badly. She has terrible fighter fasciitis So yeah, we posted on we posted online a little bit of you posted online about that a little bit And I interacted with you guys a little bit about that, you know because like she's she's doing essentially a push press style Yeah, she's keeping she's keeping she's doing double extension rather than triple extension to to Decrease that impact on her foot and ankle, right? She's not she's not Flexing at the ankle and then absorbing that force on the way down and You know, she's she's getting that she's getting that knee and hip extension pretty pretty aggressive especially at the knee So the quad one day one day we can get her back. Yeah One day we can get her back to those big To to the raising her heels, but she had a platelet-rich plasma injected into her heel but before COVID, right? Yeah And then so it was great. It didn't wonders for but we haven't been able to get back the doctor said she'll probably need Two or three treatments because we do have like we do have health care here like free health care, but You got to go see you Well, you have to go and see like for what she got done in the states where we just went You know you go you pay and they see you and that's it right you walk in you have an appointment They give you your espresso. It's delicious, right? It's made in the Excuse me sorry dollar espresso machine for us. She's got to go to a consultation with her family doctor That's I think I think you have I think you have this wrong First first you first you go to your to your general practitioner Who chart who charges you who then who then refers you to somebody else who also charges you who then refers you to the specialist Right, which is all then you get the three problems, right? So then so then you well this is no this is how it works here to you Yeah, yeah, there's that they've figured out how to maximize the profit man like It's it's pretty crazy. I've had a few I've had a few procedures done in the last at the end of last year I was you know I had I had to have my my septum fix and my tonsils removed because I eat right I wasn't I was getting sleep apnea Even though I was at a relatively healthy healthy body fat percentage and you know right technically still obese by the BMI But that's a metric for populations not for individuals right. Yeah, I was it you know I was at like 25 22% body fat depending on you know the the methodology So I was relatively fit and like they brought me in for a sleep study and they're like, oh, yeah, it's you have tonsils stones That's what's causing the problem. So they're like oh, we need to take those out Oh, by the way you also can't breathe out of one nostril Do you want us to fix that while you're in there like yeah sure? But I had I had to go through like three levels of I had to go through three levels of referrals before I could actually get cleared for the procedure And right and they try you know you get charged for all of those for every one of those visits So they've you know, yeah, so we've been here for a constant Yeah, hurdles to clear Yeah, we did have to pay for a consultation for first and then the treatment but For it would have literally taken three years to get done here what we got booked in a week there, right? So because they not only are they they booking all these different consultation appointments But you got to remember yeah your consultation appointments you have all of them right but they're all pretty close Yeah, they're they're they're a year right and because she's young they don't want to operate So like you're waiting a year for your next consultation then a year for your next consultation And then you finally get to see the next guy so it's three years down the road that you're in pain for right? So I was pissed that I had a six-week wake but right right exactly exactly so it's it you know it is We just ended up doing it in the States and we're lucky enough that we were able to do that But you know like not not everybody has that right so people wait years for surgeries here especially if you're young Because they don't want to right they don't want to replace your knee because in six years they're gonna have to do it again Yeah, yeah for sure Yeah, and they're gonna have to pay for that right so the province is if I may if I may give a shout out to another person I will say I and I can connect you with him my my guy Sean Here in the twin cities is a is a movement therapist who's all about foot and ankle mechanics And he has helped me a ton. I had a really I had a really bad right ankle and really bad foot That just couldn't I couldn't I couldn't supinate on that ankle I All sorts of issues and it was causing upstream issues and and I've been working with him for like a year and a half And he he really helped me a lot and I started getting into you know barefoot training and strengthening my feet and restoring Toes and all that stuff. It has been such such a huge difference for me So I would I would recommend Sean Sean. He's a he's a great movement therapist and and I've got a few other resources I'll connect with you off the pot. Yeah for sure for sure some foot and ankle stuff that's helped me a lot that I you know If I share a share of could get back to doing to doing full on jerks. God. She's gonna be a freaking beast with that You start bringing the calves back into it after she's been training without him for you know Six months for ever. Yeah, one thing I don't know what like oh my god She's one of the Christians. Oh, yeah, and the foot's just the worst thing to recover. So oh, yeah, yeah my wife What he had is to it's hard because she's my wife's you know working in the ER and she gets you know 30,000 steps in a night and yeah, oh, just my feet are killing me. I'm like well. Yeah, I know shit Understaffed all the time. I'm sure so lifting heavier stuff than she probably should be and Just totally exhausted. I'm sure that they're there. Oh Man, I don't envy Speaking of why I have I have to ask you how did you get how did you get your wife in the kettlebell sport because I I'm trying but I can't oh She took me to that class and then I got her and she got you into it. Yeah, but then she didn't want to do it anymore And then that's what I was doing the Fedoranko course She actually ended up starting it because we moved into a condo together and I The one bedroom. I was like I'm gonna lift weights in here because I don't want to go to the like I don't want to have to drive to the gym when I'm Dead tired after you know eight hours 10 hours of rebar like there was a point. I was doing 10-hour days of rebar coming home and training Uh because I had a competition coming up so I was like you know 12 hours of physicality a day I was like I'm just not going to the gym and no gyms have sport bells here in my town So I was bringing my bells to the gym just to work out at a gym Ah, yeah, so yeah, I was just done with that I can't say No, so maybe one day I'll be able to open one up here, but I got to put my shackles away for that for sure Yeah, I hear you. Oh man, I want to be respectful of your time and I got my I gotta get my kids Yeah, for a bonfire. I promise I promise that we do smores tonight. So we're gonna get there. Yeah, enjoy man enjoy It was a pleasure though. I'm really appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, I hope I hope it was what you were looking for my friend and I really appreciate what you're doing and getting the word out there about the sport It's really helping like I said I'm an asthmatic It's been one of the greatest things to learn how to breathe under stress for me as an asthmatic So that's just one last point I wanted to make because it's definitely changed my breathing in my life in terms of That ailment that I carry around with me every day. Yeah, it's taught me how to avoid You know those panic attacks when because you know when you're in that rack you want a panic and you keep it cool You can do anything. I actually really like you said that my son my son You know my son's foreign he was diagnosed with with asthma as well. Yeah, I'm you know You know he and he the funny thing is he watches me and he loves the kettlebells and he's got his own little kettlebells as does my daughter You know, but I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna get him under the bells, you know, it's gonna stay in his life, man Yeah, well, I didn't think about it learning to breathe under stress. Yeah, that's yeah If once you do it, you can avoid your blue inhaler avoid that ventolin as much as possible because this the you know Take your controller if you got to but that blue puffer is the thing that you want to avoid as much as possible And learning to breathe in the rack and under stress like that has been the greatest thing that that's happened to me In terms of my health and benefits from kettlebell sports So I just want to get that in there before we sign off I know you got to get out there enjoying those sports enjoy that fire my friend I will man, I will And like like I mentioned like I mentioned on the gram I think you you officially have to change your handle now to former fat belly rack I'm gonna think of a good new I gotta think of a good new one. I like to be a bit funny with them So I'm gonna I'll try to I got a new mustache and look kind of like I'm or five. Maybe something like that All right, but I look forward to the reveal man. Thanks Thanks for listening to this episode of the platform podcast. I'm Jordan Kunde-Wright If you have a question, please email me at Twin Cities kettlebell club at gmail.com Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at Twin Cities kettlebell club on Twitter at tckb club Online at Twin Cities kettlebell club.com And please help us grow our reach and give us a review on Apple podcast Spotify Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts until next time