Jey (00:09.116)

And welcome in to another episode of the Young Dad podcast. I'm super excited for today's episode. It's been more than a month in the making, I think. Waiting for this guy's busy schedule to clear up. But when you're a doctor and a coach and a dad and a husband, you're kind of busy. So I totally understand it. I get it. Dr. Anthony Harrell, welcome on to the podcast today. Super excited to have you. You're a trained physical therapist, also a personal trainer.

Anthony (00:33.617)

Thank you.

Jey (00:38.62)

you deal with so many different issues, but you also no longer work in common practice, correct? You do your own thing, you do your own kind of ideas, which are definitely against the grain of the physical therapy world, where it's just to get people well enough, not for them to have sustained wellness. So I love what you do. I love how you do it. I love what you're doing. So go ahead and tell us a little bit about you.

Anthony (00:45.425)

Correct.

Jey (01:07.942)

uh your practices and just about you as a person in general.

Anthony (01:13.585)

Awesome, yeah, thank you. Glad to be here talking with you this morning. So my name's Anthony. I am a licensed physical therapist out in California. I was practicing physical therapy since about 2016. I've been involved in the health and wellness space though since about 2012, maybe a little bit before that as a trainer. So lots of experience.

I've gone everything from sports medicine to neurological rehabilitation on the physical therapy side, all the way to personal training for weight loss to performance for tactical athletes like firefighters, law enforcement, that type of thing. And it's been really fun. I'm excited to get in on the entrepreneurial journey, which I've been doing for a couple of years now. And just seeing where that takes me. I've chosen that mostly to initially was to get more time with my

my family. And as you as you probably understand and know the chasing entrepreneurial things actually can take a lot of time away from the family if you let it so it's been a it's been a juggling act but it's totally worth it. Everything's been worth it.

Jey (02:20.412)

Definitely.

Jey (02:24.828)

Definitely. No, I love that. So a little bit about what you do is you do health you fitness and health for athletic and motivated people You kind of have a special interest or I guess not kind of you have a special interest in mental health and men's health in general But you serve all populations you offer remote trainings and rehab consultation. So

How did you get on the path of sports therapy? Obviously, you did your undergrad probably in like biology or like exercise physiology. And then you went the PT route then after. So kind of how did you get into your practice of physical therapy? And then why did you get out of it to start an entrepreneurial journey?

Anthony (03:07.793)

Yeah, so yeah, I went and got my bachelor's in kinesiology and then went to, yeah, you were right there actually. And then I went to UC San Francisco for my physical therapy degree. Initially, I went into the rehab world because I had a background in sports, played baseball and football growing up. I was doing really well in baseball in high school and then I had a pretty big injury. I separated the ligaments in my shoulder.

Jey (03:12.764)

Okay. I was so close. I was so close.

Anthony (03:37.541)

had some concussions and that was kind of that. So big change of course for what I thought I was gonna do initially. Everybody has that dream of either being an astronaut or a sports star or something like that when you're young and that didn't happen.

Jey (03:49.18)

I had the same dream. I had the same dream. I damaged my elbow pretty badly. First year of college, I was playing D3 baseball and it was significant UCL injury and I didn't, it was like, well, you can stay here, but we're going to yank your ship and we're going to, you're not going to be able to really rehab here because you're not going to be on the team technically. And.

Anthony (04:03.793)

Yeah.

Anthony (04:15.505)

Man, that's tough.

Jey (04:16.06)

It was just like, well, then I'm just, I guess I'm done. I guess I'm done. Cause I don't, I don't, I don't really have another option right now, but no, I get that. It's could have gone pro, you know, I would have gone bro.

Anthony (04:20.561)

Yeah.

Anthony (04:27.057)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, no, I feel you on that. And so you understand the love of the game and all that. And that's exactly what drove me to the rehab side. Like I wanted to help other people. And so I did become a physical therapist and I learned quickly though that things like insurance dictates plans of care. I learned quickly that, you know, when you might go to like a...

Jey (04:34.244)

Mm -hmm.

Anthony (04:52.945)

what calls itself like a sports medicine clinic that you probably are seeing 90 % of people that aren't actually involved in sports at all. And so it was a little bit of a wake up call, you know, like not that there's anything wrong with seeing people outside of the sports realm, but my impression going in was, you know, I'm going to be the next physical therapist for, you know, the San Francisco Giants at the time or the Dodgers, you know, and it's just, it doesn't work out quite that easy. And so I got a little impatient with life and I said, you know, I could use a little change.

And so I started exploring other options, something that was going on at the same time that I was working in these sports and orthopedic clinics. I was seeing like a lot of men coming in my age or at the time a little older than me. So early thirties at the time and they were having issues, you know, with like stress management, which was turning into like pain in their body. They were having issues with like performance, just operating day to day.

And I was like, wow, what's going on? And I started realizing like a lot of people by the time they got into the physical therapy clinic were just so deconditioned, so stressed out, so not feeling connected to the world around them that they were coming in and the pain usually was a sign of something else. And that being just overworked, under slept, drinking too much, not hydrated enough, going out too much.

And I was like, wow, all these health factors coming in. And I was like, maybe I should explore something up the line a little bit. And so I looked into that a little bit more and realized like, hey, I should pick up my personal training again, talk to people about, you know, prevention, if you will. And I've been kind of running with that ever since and figuring out the path that I've wanted to take with that, which also has a story in itself, if you want to hear it. Yeah.

Jey (06:44.828)

Of course, of course, but before that, I want to show the audience something here on the screen.

Anthony (06:58.321)

Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right. The old days, the old high school news. Yep, right -handed hitter, right -handed thrower.

Jey (06:59.324)

And bam, look at that. Look at that guy. Look at that guy. Right handed swing. Ooh, that front shoulder. Front shoulder a little bit kind of kind of dropped it there. You know, I'll break down that swing for you. Let me see. You played third short.

Anthony (07:19.473)

Yeah.

Short, yeah, short stop.

Jey (07:24.752)

I get like it see I'm left -handed so I had very limited options coming up I was I got to pitch I got to play first base But I was way too slow to play the outfield so I didn't get to go out there so

Anthony (07:29.137)

Yeah, yeah.

Anthony (07:34.449)

There you go.

Anthony (07:40.561)

Catcher wasn't an option, no pitching. I mean no third base or short stop second base. They kept you at this.

Jey (07:46.012)

I played some, I played some, I played first base primarily and pitched. I, I PO'd for my last year in high school. Cause that was the path I was clearly on to the next level. That's where like kind of my calling card was. I could, I can play a good first base. I played third, I think I played third for like three innings in one game one time.

Anthony (07:59.185)

Uh -huh.

Anthony (08:11.665)

Oh nice, nice.

Jey (08:13.052)

because I wanted to and I begged my coach to let me play somewhere else other than first base just for like a couple innings. I begged. I think my sophomore year, I played a couple games at second base just because I could. It was weird. It was hard. It was really hard, but I never got to sniff short stuff. That was absolutely not. I was a non -starter. I actually came up.

Anthony (08:17.809)

Right.

Anthony (08:27.343)

Nice.

Anthony (08:33.457)

Right.

Jey (08:42.3)

My very first position I ever played was catcher actually. My coach when I was playing Little League, I want to say I was like seven, eight years old, first time playing. My coach that I had, I had a left handed catcher's mitt. I don't know why. It just worked. I mean, I just lucked out, but the first position I ever played was catcher. And so I actually have kind of cool. I have this, actually I don't think it's this. Oh.

Anthony (08:45.393)

Oh, interesting. Nice.

Anthony (09:03.243)

Interesting.

Jey (09:11.964)

Not that one, that's from a different one. This is my first game ball I ever got.

Anthony (09:18.961)

Oh, right on, that's cool. That's awesome.

Jey (09:21.212)

So this is from 5 -7 -0 -5. I was still playing catcher, probably like my second or third year. And everything finally clicked. I was playing with the same coaches, luckily enough. And everything finally clicked from playing catcher. And I finally made the play, whereas runner was coming home and coming to the play. And I dropped down and I blocked him.

Like it was a perfect block, like his foot was in my glove. And it was so cool. Like it was a night game, the lights were bright. I remember the throw coming in, I got it, I dropped and it's the highlight of my little league career at that point. So, and then after that, I never played catcher again. Cause I got, I got to the level where like they weren't allowing it, even though there's not really anything wrong with it. It's just a liability. So.

Anthony (09:51.729)

Yeah.

Anthony (09:58.513)

That's awesome.

That's awesome.

Anthony (10:07.951)

Uh -huh.

Anthony (10:12.433)

Yeah, yeah. That's pretty cool. I like that story.

Jey (10:15.484)

But yeah, that's a Surrender Low story. But yeah, tell us about the story within the story there.

Anthony (10:21.713)

Okay, yeah, so the story within the story. So during college, I was doing wildland firefighting for the Forest Service. And that was, you know, a lot of fun, got to travel around the country a bit and fight fire for a few years. And so fast forward through grad school and all that, you know, wanting to be a sports physical therapist that didn't really pan out. Seeing this issue with mainly men at the time that I was noticing being like really stressed out over work.

um, under slept and I was getting back in, I was like, I need to get back into the personal training side of things. When I did that at the same time, I was starting to get people reaching out from my old wildland firefighting community, um, about similar things. And I was like, Hey, that could be a lot of fun as well to kind of jump back into that and see what I can do as far as helping people. Um, so. I started writing some fitness content, uh, for a wildland firefighting site.

I got into taking some virtual or remote calls for wildland firefighters. And at the same time, I started picking up wildland firefighters. I started getting some law enforcement officers here and there and started working with men's health at the time. That kind of became like my entry way back into the personal training and fitness space. So everything comes full circle. And then now I'm starting to work with baseball players again. So everything is coming full circle. It's kind of crazy.

Jey (11:48.54)

Very cool. That's crazy. So that's cool. So it went from physical therapy in a sports clinic to then back into personal training to then working with firefighters and then back into it all. So what? So for being far off the line, being in that prevention aspect of it.

Anthony (12:03.281)

Yeah.

Jey (12:11.258)

that's huge. I feel like a lot of men, I mean myself included in this too from time to time, where I find myself like, gosh I hurt, I ache, I'm tired, like I just hurt. So where, how important is that prevention for men as they enter their 30s, their 40s, and these later stages in life?

Anthony (12:31.057)

It's extremely important. Starting at the age of 30, actually, you might've heard that you lose muscle mass every year. And I don't have the percentage right off the top of my head, but it's something like a percent or two gets lost, I believe, every decade. And that's naturally. And again, I'd have to fact check myself on that. But there is a loss in muscle mass naturally. There can be major shifts in testosterone for men, of course. Just as far as being...

connected as well to society. A lot of men tend to have less friends as they grow up. And as we get older, we don't have these types of conversations like you and I are having. We tend to start to lone wolf it or just be with, you your family and you don't you don't even share things with your family. We get kids, we have we take that role as a father as a as a dad. We might be married, take that role as well. And so what happens is a lot of men just start to feel very disconnected from society.

Jey (13:12.636)

Absolutely.

Anthony (13:30.161)

And as you're well aware, that the pandemic of just men ending their lives too soon, just such a sad thing. I deal with that in the wildland firefighting community, but also just as I've been getting older, starting to see acquaintances and fellow men in our community just making that choice as well. And it's just such a sad thing to see that because...

I feel like if we worked on the prevention, we got people exercising. Exercising is great for releasing feel -good hormones in your body. You feel more confident with the changes that you see and you feel. You're more energetic to spend that time with your family and your friends. And not only that, there can be a big social aspect of it as well to where you might work out with a buddy or you have an accountability partner.

or a coach or something like that. And so you get to naturally talk to somebody and kind of air out about your day while you're working out as well. So there's just so many benefits to getting involved in health and taking charge of your fitness. I just wish more men really would hear about those benefits and think those through because a little effort goes a long way in this scenario.

Jey (14:47.164)

100 % and you know, I'm I'm aware of the the 30 decline I'm coming up on it here in a couple years Actually a year or so I'm coming up on that 30 decline because as I understand it like there's a drop in Testosterone there's a drop in the overall quality of your baby making stuff There you like 30 just just a weird number like if you're a sports fan you always think of 30 like in sports

It's like, oh, well, if they're on the wrong side of 30, that's all bad. Like you look at it in the NBA, like an NBA player could be 30 and been in the league for 10 years already. Like if you look at a football player, though, like they've been in the league for five, six years. If you look at a baseball player, they could have been in the league for a year come 30. So every sport's different, but they still could have been playing for, you know, the last 10, 11 years between college and high school and.

Anthony (15:19.025)

Right. Right.

Anthony (15:27.151)

It's kind of crazy.

Anthony (15:34.223)

Yeah.

Jey (15:44.732)

all these different grueling aspects of being a professional athlete. So when we hit 30, it's like, oh, we're toast, we're cooked. That's how I've always thought about it. Because I was such a sports guy, I'm like, OK, when I hit 30, I'm basically retired. I'm basically done. And now getting there, I worry about it because my fiance and I plan to have kids and whatnot after we're both 30. And I'm just like, oh, man, this is.

It's stressful because it's like, I know I'm healthy. I know I exercise. I know I take care of myself. I supplement properly, but I'm just like, what if I'm just like, I'm more naturally at risk for these things to like happen because of the quality of me. Like the quality of me drops after 30. Like my mind's going to be fine. Granted five concussions, but.

Anthony (16:31.121)

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

Jey (16:38.588)

It's scary. Like 30 is a very scary number for men and can be so. I think you're 100. I don't think I know you're 100 percent right. Like a little bit of effort in like your your overall health and wellness when it comes to like your fitness and exercise. And it doesn't have to be a lot like for some super crazy busy dad that says they don't have any time. Where do you start with him? Like for the dad listing, it's like, well, that's all good and well, sounds great in theory.

uh, as easier said than done, classic saying of every man ever. What, where did they start? Like if I was struggling, where do I even start? How do I start?

Anthony (17:20.817)

Yeah, I love that. That's a very valid question. And you're right. I mean, that's just seems to be the first thing out of all of our minds, including my own brain and train of thought. When I get really busy, it's like, how am I going to tackle this? So what I would say is, you know, oftentimes you'll will bring up like the big ones. So sleep, you know, are you getting enough sleep, which as a dad, as you know, you're usually not getting enough sleep. And a lot of times that can't even be changed, unfortunately. So.

I don't harp on that too much, but I do say, hey, if you could, if you do just happen to have that situation where your children will let you sleep for eight hours, then you should be getting that sleep for eight hours. But if you can't, I understand. I'm in that situation too. I can't get eight hours of sleep. I'm lucky if I get six to seven.

Jey (18:02.426)

No, I'm Yeah, exactly. Like if I get six seven It's a miracle It's a great day I feel great the rest of the day

Anthony (18:10.171)

It's a miracle, it's a good day. Yeah, no energy drinks needed. Start there. And that's, again, that's usually a non -starter as well as we both know. So then I look at things like, hey, well, are you drinking enough water? You know, water, are you eating enough protein? Everybody drinks fluids, everybody eats throughout the day. And so that's usually an easy one because people can't usually...

Jey (18:17.188)

No, I'm good.

Jey (18:24.764)

Mm -hmm.

Anthony (18:39.729)

Find a big excuse for that one. It's usually like, no, I'm not drinking enough water because I am drinking energy drinks, or I just don't drink anything up until I come home from work at three in the afternoon. And you're like, whoa, like, first of all, start there. You're gonna feel way better. You're have less headaches. You're gonna have more energy if you just hydrated a bit. So I'll start there. Encourage people right when they wake up to get a glass of water. If you're too busy to get proper nutrition in, take a supplement, as you know.

Jey (18:52.86)

Yeah.

Jey (18:57.98)

Yeah.

Anthony (19:08.657)

Drinks, drink your protein. There's so many ways to get your protein in and fluids in if you're drinking your protein. Instead of.

Jey (19:08.858)

Mm -hmm.

Jey (19:15.388)

Yeah, those are two big things for me. I can feel for myself personally, when I'm not hydrated, my eyes start to hurt. My eyes start to feel extra dry and I'm like, holy crap, I need to buck a doll and drink some water. I notice those things about myself. Or I feel myself, my mouth, or if I'm talking, I'm really thirsty because I have to do a lot of talking and I work in mental health. And so I start to feel my mouth like, mmm.

Anthony (19:30.385)

Yeah, exactly.

Anthony (19:39.087)

Right.

Jey (19:43.196)

like swallow my spit just to keep my throat high, my lubricated and stuff. And then supplementation is so, so important. You know, I, I talked to the Bucked Up CEO recently, really cool guy, Ryan Gardner, really cool guy. But you know, I take daily greens every day, organic greens made by Bucked Up. Like, I know I don't like vegetables. I know these things about myself, the men listening, you know, these things about yourself, find the supplement that's going to work for you.

Anthony (19:44.847)

Yeah.

Jey (20:11.484)

Like for me, it's greens. Like if I have a day without my greens, I feel fat, I feel lethargic, I feel just gross. I feel like I'm missing something because I've been taking them for two months straight now. And so like I have to get that in. Plus greens and that green streak is a great way to hydrate yourself too. It's a great way to get hydrated. Like in the mornings when I take that, like I am, I am hydrated. Like I'm feeling good. So.

Anthony (20:34.833)

Absolutely. I right there with you, I take reds and greens too if I'm not feeling like downing a bunch of vegetables that day.

Jey (20:41.084)

Yeah, I've never taken reds. I don't know too much about them, but greens, I can swear by them. Like I can, I'm a greens truther. Like if you don't like vegetables, you don't have the time for vegetables, vegetables aren't your thing. Whatever it is, your relationship with vegetables. Maybe to you, veggies are corn, potatoes, and carrots. Or starchy things, right? Leafy greens aren't your thing. Whatever your excuse is, like a good green supplement.

I feel gives me and reading the labels, I feel like gives me way more than trying to eat so many servings a day of vegetables and greens. So I do that instead because I feel like I get more out of it. It's the way I'll actually take it. Like I'm not you're not never going to catch me eating a salad. Like even my mother -in -law the other day, like, oh, you don't like salad. I'm like, yeah, that's right. I didn't have any salad on my plate.

Anthony (21:34.993)

Right.

Jey (21:36.218)

And she's like, oh yeah, you don't like salad. I'm like, yeah, but I took my greens today. We're good. She's like, oh, okay, okay, okay. Making sure like I at least did that kind of thing. Cause it's important to have those nutrition, those nutritional elements to your body to make sure that you're like healthy and well supplemented and whatnot. So make sure that you, you do something. If you need a recommendation, I got you bucked up greens all the way. So.

Anthony (21:45.809)

Right.

Anthony (21:59.089)

Absolutely. I love it. Yeah, absolutely. I'm right there with you. And sometimes, you know, we get into the weeds with science and practicality and people, you know, which I do know, like, if you have the time, if you have the ability and the want to do it, eating whole protein, eating whole veggies is always like the best way to go. But if you can't, the next best thing to do is like you said, supplement, supplement with your reds, greens, supplement with protein powder.

We tend to make everything black and white and in reality everything is in the gray zone and Whatever works for you works for you. That's what I always tell people. It's just like dieting. There's no one correct diet It's what you're gonna do consistently and what you enjoy so I ride on with you there

Jey (22:38.14)

Bye.

Jey (22:42.428)

100 % there that diet aspect is so important Because I've tried I did a hard carnivore for January Like I was pretty strict in January on like a carnivore Like it's so good. I didn't really notice like Any major changes like I did it for a solid like month Maybe like a weekend of February 2 and I'm just like this isn't

really doing anything like I'm not feeling any like I feel a little bit different I feel a little lighter a little less pain but um now since I've been off of it for a few weeks now like the pain starting to creep back in uh I feel some of the inflammation coming back because I haven't been eating as well or as clean or as strict so I'm like okay maybe maybe there was something to that uh but it wasn't like a strict carnivore it was kind of like a keto carnivore or like keto stuff mixed with carnivore stuff like

Anthony (23:34.449)

Right.

Jey (23:37.276)

If I had like bread or something, it was like keto bread or something like that, just to kind of mesh the two together. I feel like that worked really well for me. But again, that's me that worked for you. You're absolutely right. Find what works for you as far as supplementation. And one of my recommendations that I make, you know, just to friends and whatnot that I've done myself is like, go get your blood work done if you can.

Like go find like exactly what you're lacking. Like one time I did that, like my iron was low, my vitamin K was low. I'm like, what the heck is vitamin K? Proteins low was a little bit low when I got my blood work, but every time I get blood work, my protein is always low no matter how much protein I eat. So.

Anthony (24:17.393)

Yeah, no, that's a great one. I'm actually gonna get a physical and get my blood work done next month. And it's just an age thing as well. I'm just turned 35. I wanna make sure I'm addressing that stuff because, you know, like you said, thirties is when things creep in and then the forties, you know, I wanna be prepared for that because that's also when you start to hear about like cancers popping up and just things that you weren't quite ready for. And so being 35 entering your thirties, I just wanna make sure we're like on top of this now.

Jey (24:31.652)

Mm -hmm.

Jey (24:38.972)

Mm -hmm.

Anthony (24:47.185)

and starting to get in the routine now of getting checked up and getting checked in with yourself. So.

Jey (24:47.26)

100%.

Jey (24:54.3)

100 % like for myself on our Monday after this recording like I'm planning this call and schedule my annual With a blood work panel because I really want to know where like my testosterone is at and I want to know how my thyroid is and I want to know

uh just overall how like my different vitamin levels are doing but i'm most concerned about my thyroid and my testosterone levels because i feel those two things like make or break it for me like i want to make sure my thyroid's in check and i also want to make sure like the diabetes runs in my family you know understanding my family history like i know diabetes can run in my family so i need to get that checked

uh as well so those are like my big three things uh thyroid testosterone and diabetes but for testosterone i've kind of played around with like supplementing testosterone before just to see what it does like for me how it makes me feel um and i feel so much i feel different which kind of worries me

Anthony (25:38.161)

Absolutely.

Jey (25:57.596)

is that maybe it's already lower than it should be for myself and like for my body. So I'm like, OK, this is something I definitely should pay attention to, because if I'm feeling this much better with a small supplementation dose, then maybe maybe there's something deeper and underlying here.

Anthony (26:16.241)

Yeah, and again, like you said, getting that blood panel would be probably the best way to check under the hood and get like the real truth behind it. So I agree with you on that one. Yeah, no, I love that. And I think that would be the next thing I would tell people, we already talked about it would be your diet and just getting regular check -ins, you know, if you can. I mean, most of us don't have a good excuse to not go to the doctor and get our blood work or get our physical, so.

Jey (26:22.94)

Exactly.

Anthony (26:42.641)

But way too many of us do put that off as well, but it's like a one time a year thing, like you said, we should make time for it. So.

Jey (26:49.34)

Definitely. It's all about making the time for all these things last free few things we talked about, you know, making the time for yourself to exercise or to get some fitness in, you know, maybe you or to sleep, you know, sleep on 100 % get that one can definitely be a non starter. Like that one can be so hard and so difficult. And then I don't remember.

but it all came back to making time. I feel like if any dad checked their screen time report on their phone, you're gonna see some time. You're gonna see some hours that are available for you to maybe sleep a little bit more, because it's gonna show you your hour by hour breakdown. Maybe you have an hour at night that you could just be putting down your phone and forcing yourself to go to sleep, because if you're a dad, you're tired. You'll fall asleep.

Anthony (27:26.161)

Yeah, oh yeah.

Jey (27:43.204)

If you let yourself, you'll fall asleep. But just really checking that screen time report and making that time can be so important and such a huge part of all of it. But I feel like those are all great places to start and they're important places to start.

Anthony (28:00.241)

Absolutely, yeah, and another thing, if you are having trouble sleeping, as I encourage people, if you do have an extra 10 minutes, which who has an extra 10 minutes, but lunch breaks, maybe breaks at work during the day, if you could just do one of those where you're walking, getting some steps in, that always helps too. So physical activity, and that's usually where I'll start with people as well with the exercise portion, if they're like, I just don't have time to exercise well.

I'll tell them, do you have five minutes to do some pushups and some sit ups? You would be surprised that if you do five minutes continuously of doing pushups and sit ups, you'd be surprised at how much work you can get done and how tired you will be. So there's usually a lot of time for that. And same thing, if people are like, I'm really stiff, I don't have any flexibility, but I don't have any time, I might encourage people to just sit on the ground and play with their kids or while you're watching TV.

Sit in front of your couch rather than on it, you know cross your legs and straighten your legs get into different positions While you're watching TV, maybe try stretching. There's a lot of ways to kind of weave in fitness as we call it into your normal day Just by taking walking breaks by taking a call or a meeting while you're walking if you're able to Walking with your family getting on the floor and sitting all those things take you through different ranges of motion. I

Jey (29:04.196)

Mm -hmm.

Jey (29:16.614)

Mm -hmm.

Anthony (29:23.057)

They move things, they get your blood flowing, and they're all good for you. And a lot of them don't really take any extra planning. So that's like a good place to start for exercise.

Jey (29:31.932)

100 % I really like that like being on the floor with your kids like you might end up down there anyway but you know how fun your toddler is gonna think it is to like see you stretching on the floor and then they're gonna try to stretch and you know how fun that they're gonna think that is that you're stretching and they're gonna try to stretch and mimic what you're doing and Then honestly, you're creating something in that moment though. You're creating something in that moment. You're setting an example like of

like stretching is important, like I'm going to get it in where I can get it in. Or if you're doing pushups and you have a seven year old boy or something, guess what? They're probably going to start doing pushups too, because they think it's cool that dad's doing pushups kind of thing. And then on top of that, if your significant other walks into the room and you're doing pushups and your kid's doing pushups, guess what? Your significant other is going to like that a little bit. You're going be like, wow, look at you. Kind of thing.

Anthony (30:25.617)

Right.

Jey (30:29.852)

And so there's, there's a lot of benefits to it. Um, is all I'm saying. So, but it's worth a shot, you know, five minutes is only five minutes and you can do it while doing something else, like stack it in with another activity. Um, like I love walking around and talking on the phone. Um, if I knew that the service was reliable enough, I would walk around and podcast, but I feel like that's very counterproductive. Um, and that wouldn't work out that well. And.

Anthony (30:41.617)

Absolutely.

Anthony (30:52.593)

That's awesome. Yeah. All right.

Jey (30:58.812)

So I try not to do that, but you know, like get it in when you can get it in. Like if you have dogs, walk your dogs. If you have toddlers, walk your toddlers. Same concept here. Same concept. If it's just you and your partner at home and you're not a dad, then ask your partner to go on a walk. Go or just walk around inside or ask your partner to do something with you that's active and

Anthony (31:05.579)

Absolutely.

Absolutely. Same concept.

Anthony (31:20.497)

Absolutely.

Jey (31:27.964)

Do something, ask your partner if they want to go to Target, walk around Target. You know, do it like for them, but know like you're just going to be at least moving and moving your hips. That's like, that's the biggest key here for me at least. Like I have to keep moving. I have to keep active. When I stopped being active and I'm just like stagnant and I sit around for a long time, like I was super sick last weekend. I could barely get out of bed. Like I was just not feeling well at all. And so like I stayed in bed a lot.

come Monday when it was time to go back to work. My neck was killing me. My shoulders hurt. My body hurt. My arms were like stiff. Like I didn't have the same range of motion. Like I felt old. I'm like, holy crap. I can't be just staying in bed. I needed to because I needed to sleep and I needed the rest, but it was so painful for like three days. It took until like Thursday just for me to feel normal again. I'm like stretching my neck. I'm trying to stretch my spine, stretching my legs, my hips, my arms, everything. And nothing's like.

stretching or Being gone. I'm like, holy crap. I'm never staying in bed that long again. Like I will just suffer I'm just gonna suffer next time

Anthony (32:29.713)

movie.

Anthony (32:36.849)

Well, we have that cheesy quote or saying in the health world that you might've heard before, motion is lotion. And it's so true though. I mean, moving around keeps your joints lubricated. It keeps blood flowing, brings good nutrients in to areas that might be needing it. If you have an injury as well, we recommend people keep moving because it does flush the bad things away from the injury side. It brings good nutrients into the injury side to help you heal and repair.

If you're sick like you were, you know, in the rehab world, people, you know, you'll be recommended to like move your legs or do some bridging in bed. Like you said, just some gentle stretches, anything just to keep your joints moving and lubricated because as you know, things will get really stiff. And that's usually, you know, why people get so stiff as they age is because the joints are less hydrated naturally because our bodies are retaining less water naturally. And then...

In addition to that, we're not drinking enough water, we're not getting enough protein in, we're not eating the right way, getting enough nutrients. And so our joints and everything just gets super stiff and robotic. And so keep moving, that is the secret.

Jey (33:47.26)

definitely no that's that's the key to it i mean i tell my grandma who's my grandma who's 74 i'm like whatever you do lady just don't stop moving because the day you stop moving is the day you start dying um and it's it's it's scary like i don't want to tell her like hey you stop moving you're gonna die but like

Anthony (33:57.073)

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Jey (34:07.088)

That's the reality. Like if she stops moving and just stops like being even somewhat active, walking up and down the hall or walking over to her friend's apartments that live close to her kind of thing. Like if she stops doing any of that, like that's the day she starts to die. Um.

And like, I don't want her to die anytime soon. Like, she has great grandkids, so I think that's like really cool that she was able to experience that. Like, she's lived a fulfilled life. Like, she kind of jokes all the time, where she's like, anytime that the maker wants to take me, he can. Like, I'm cool with it. Like, I'm ready. I'm like, stop talking like that, lady.

Anthony (34:43.537)

Yeah, right.

You're staying here.

Jey (34:50.044)

And then she'll say something. I'm like, maybe he should take you. Um, I'm I'm I would be absolutely devastated if the day that she passed, even if I have like months in advance knowing, like I'm still going to be devastated the day she passes. Um, that's going to be hard because she raised me from when I was two weeks old till I was 13, uh, ish years old. So very deep connection with her and whatnot. So either way, I'm going to be devastated. And.

Anthony (34:53.169)

That's funny.

Anthony (35:04.561)

Right.

Anthony (35:12.901)

Gotcha, yeah.

Jey (35:16.892)

uh probably actually take bereavement leave for the first time like in my adult life uh really from a job so second time second time but yeah anyways um what are some of like your top okay i guess we talked about the the places to start i guess since we have about 10 minutes here what are some like your top like pieces of advice for like dads uh or for single men

or any combination of the two married men that maybe that don't have kids, just for men in general, what are some of like your most important pieces of advice for them to get started up the line, to work towards preventative like health and preventative maintenance of themselves?

Anthony (36:01.489)

Yeah, yeah. So I would say first and foremost, and I know it's not for everybody, but the research science all shows that it's really helpful if you can get yourself on some type of resistance training program to do that and do that two to three times a week. And that doesn't have to look like being Arnold Schwarzenegger or some type of meathead, which turns a lot of people off. That can also look like doing pushups and dips and sit -ups in your house.

putting a weighted vest on or carrying, you know, something heavy and squatting with that or a child. Yeah, children are the perfect weight, especially toddlers to carry around and squat and push, do bench press with. So start there two to three times a week if you can. That would be a huge prevention piece. The next thing I would say is to manage your stress, which...

Jey (36:34.588)

child.

Jey (36:40.86)

are the best. Absolutely.

Anthony (36:54.609)

Men are awful at doing. I don't care if you're single or married, whatnot. We are just so awful at managing stress. A lot of times that looks like stress management for most men looks like either drinking alcohol, using substances, chewing tobacco, playing too many video games, all of those things which we know just doing too much of is not a good thing. So I highly recommend, and you probably know this because you're in the mental health field. I highly recommend people learn how to just

Jey (37:17.456)

Absolutely.

Anthony (37:24.387)

you know, find a breathing practice, find a meditation, find something that gets you just kind of, I don't know, Zen is the right word, but you know, just gives you some peace.

Jey (37:31.962)

No, that's absolutely. I'm going to I'm going to cut in on that one and advocate for, you know, just mental health services in general. If you can go and talk to a mental health, like a mental health professional and get on there. No, they're not a sponsor of the podcast. I don't know if I really want them to be if they were to offer, but like better help dot com or find a remote therapist, find somewhere local in person. If that's more your cup of tea, you know, find an app.

look into peer support even. Peer support is a great outlet as well. There's an organization that they kind of have different pop -up locations across the country called Dad's Move. They're a peer support organization. There's a lot of different options out there to get that kind of outlet for like talking it through or like building like a skill for it.

And it's skills. It's not just talk therapy. People, a lot of men think of therapy and they think of, oh, I'm going to go sit on a chair and talk to someone about how I feel. No, that's very untrue. Actually, like you're going to go in there and you're going to learn how to manage your stress. That's going to involve some talking, but it's going to be like learning like different practices. Like maybe it's meditation, maybe it's journaling, maybe it's exercise, maybe it's breathing techniques. Maybe it's understanding like, okay, where's my stress coming from?

being able to pinpoint that if you can't do it on your own, because it's just too much and too overwhelming for you to do it on your own. So you can learn to pinpoint, OK, my stress is coming from my relationships at work. OK, now I need to learn how to build better relationships at work, which in turn means I need to learn how to communicate better at work, which in turn means I need to learn ABC skills. So you get to the root cause of that stress and you learn how to manage it from the roots, not just stress management, because that's too broad.

So talk therapy can help you learn how to dig deeper into that. Like, why are you stressed? Where is it coming from? How do you manage that? Like, what's the real reason you're feeling the stress? Because stress is going to be a secondary or third kind of like reaction or feeling in the scope of all of it. So.

Anthony (39:42.193)

Yeah, I love that. I think that's great. More people definitely need to be involved with their mental health. And I was, yeah, exactly. Exactly. I was gonna piggyback too.

Jey (39:48.636)

100 % more men especially that that four to one That one to four suicide rate, you know one woman every four men Veterans, you know older, you know Caucasian men, you know that age range of 40 to 60 high risk for men for those suicide rates lethal suicides, it's not just Non -lethal ways things like that. Like it's it's a gunshot in the mouth. It's a

non rehabilitation rehab kind of like resuscitation. So.

Anthony (40:23.409)

Yeah, that's some heavy stuff. And, you know, just piggybacking on what you were saying, I use that same approach for people with like their nutrition and their ability to exercise as well. It's like, okay, you know, I know that you're saying that you're stressed out, you don't have the ability to do these things, but then similar to you, get to like the root cause of like, you know, why is it that, you know, you're eating this instead of that, or you're, you know, choosing to sit and stay on the couch rather than venture into a gym, for example.

And it's a very supportive mindset. I'm not, there's no shaming anybody. It's just saying like, hey, let's figure it out. Like, let's figure out if you don't like lifting weights, what physical activity might you like to do? And when you start talking to people like that, they're like, oh, well, I kind of like being outside. Well, it's like, okay, well, let's try like hiking or running or maybe hiking to your favorite fishing spot. You know, that type of thing. If you like, we and I both agree. If you hate vegetables, let's see if you can get some supplements or multivitamin.

And I think similar to what you're saying at the mental health is just like, let's meet people where they're at and not force people to fit into this congruent space that they feel incongruent with. I think that exactly everything you're saying, I support and I try to take that approach too, because otherwise people aren't gonna have the reason to change. They're not gonna wanna change if you're just forcing that on them.

Jey (41:26.652)

Mm -hmm.

Jey (41:43.388)

Definitely, they're not going to stay changed either. They're not going to, it's not going to be sustainable. It's going to be temporary. It's going to be quick. Um, and it's just going to lead to regression or more issues down the line. It's going to lead to more health issues. It's going to lead to maybe mental health issues, physical health issues, worse pain because you're going to think, Oh, well, I'm good enough. I'm going to go do this thing. Dang it. I just blew out my back kind of thing. And

Anthony (42:06.223)

Yeah.

Jey (42:07.484)

It can lead to more complicated issues, more harder issues. Maybe it's a tear in something like, oh crap, now I'm torn and I can't deal with pain unless I'm drinking alcohol, but I can't drink alcohol now because of this. I had to have knee surgery and all these things. So it can lead, it can lead down these paths which are so dangerous and whatnot. So it's important, like you said, to create sustainable change, willing change and change that's going to work for a person. But I know we only have a minute or two left.

Are there any last big pieces of advice here that you want to leave for the dads or for the listeners out there?

Anthony (42:44.721)

I would say to take care of yourself first and I know sometimes it doesn't seem like it makes sense to prioritize yourself as a man, as a father, as a partner. But it's really important because if you don't put, like an airplane, we've all heard that thing where you go on an airplane, put your oxygen mask on first to help those around you. It really is true. If you're suffering mentally, emotionally, if you're feeling out of shape,

If you're in pain, you're just not gonna be able to play with your kids. You're not gonna be a good partner. You're not gonna be the best person that you have the potential to be. And I feel like it's so important to find the way to carve out a little time in each and every day to put yourself first. Make sure you're addressing your mental, your physical, emotional health, those deep aspects of your life. Make sure you're doing something for you and you get one life.

live, you should really find ways to enjoy it and find other men in your life, you know, like yourself to connect with. And if you can't find those men right nearby you, I think podcasts like yours are amazing because you can still fill your mind and your brain with healthy things to listen to. You know, I was browsing through some of the episodes you've done. You've had a wide array of people on and it's awesome because even though this is the first time you and I are physically talking, I feel like.

I'm connected to you in some sense. I feel like you and I both see the world as something that we want to improve and see things in the same lens. And you can find your community and podcasts like yours. And I think that's a really great thing, things that you're doing. Just, you know, fill your brain, fill your mind with healthy information. And that's a great way to get started and changing your life.

Jey (44:22.364)

Absolutely.

Jey (44:32.514)

Absolutely a lot of great great tips there a lot of great. That's great advice overall Want to give a quick shout out to today's sponsor the June app drive positive behavior change with June is your child struggling with behavior habit or routine while at school or at home well June might be worth a look this new Revolutionary app combines a video game that kids love with important tasks and habits that you want them to practice daily

Give the app a try for free and use my code YNGDAD to earn 25 % off. See why over 500 ,000 families and over a thousand therapists are recommending June, that's J O O N and visit jounapp .io backslash young dad to learn more. You can visit that in the show notes in my link tree. You can visit that wherever you find young dad podcasts on social media. You'll be able to connect with the June out there.

Also for the listeners, whatever platform you're on, make sure you like, subscribe, leave a review, leave a comment, do all the things that you can do on whatever platform, YouTube, Spotify, Apple, do all the things that you can to support the podcast. And lastly, also down in the show notes, make sure you sign up for the email list that came out. I don't know how many episodes ago, but it's a new email list. You get first access to the episodes, pre -save links.

In and out to the episode, anywhere I might be as well. So all the great things in the email list. So please sign up for that. It's a great way to connect further with the community and with the podcast as well. So.

Anthony (46:06.319)

Right on.

Jey (46:06.426)

That's it Anthony, tell the people where they can find more of you. And where they can all the things.

Anthony (46:09.359)

Yeah, no, absolutely.

Okay, yeah, so I'm pretty active on Instagram. My handle is HSP strength performance. As I move more into the training side of things, I've had to change the name a little bit there, but it's HSP strength performance. You can connect with me there. I also have a website. It's www .dranthonyherald .com. So dranthonyherald .com. Yep, there it is. Thank you so much.

You can reach out to me there. I do online coaching as well as in -person coaching for fitness and nutrition. I think those would be the best places to reach out to me. You can also email me at coaching at dranthiherald .com. I'm a wide open book. I love helping people. I love being on podcasts and talking to people like you. So if, you know, if this resonates with you, you're probably in the same community as us here. And I would just love to.

Jey (46:38.406)

You're welcome.

Anthony (47:07.633)

to hang out with you as well and talk with you as well. So I appreciate you having me on Jay. It's been nice.

Jey (47:13.212)

It's been awesome. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your knowledge and your insights and everything you shared with our listeners today. So it's much impactful. It's much appreciated. And I really appreciate it. I learned some things today too. So.

Anthony (47:24.881)

Awesome, yeah, let's do it again in the future. I'd love to come back on and hang out with you.

Jey (47:29.306)

Heck yeah, man, I love that.

Anthony (47:31.567)

Awesome.