Episode 19: How to Keep the Military from Killing You Long After You’ve Been Discharged with Ben Greenfield

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

Hey what's going on guys, so I have a really great show for you today with worldwide fitness expert Ben Greenfield, and I just want to give you a couple of things so you can get the most out of the show, because there's so much in here that can benefit you. The first is this, there's a lot of scientific stuff we're going to go over, because one of the things we're trying to do with this show is to help those of you who are still in the military and those of you who have gotten out of the military to live your best lives. We talk about some different things you can do to really kind of block some of the issues that come up after military service. You know, lot of times, even though you're moving around, you're exercising, you're PTing, you can run into a lot of different types of health issues, because especially in the combat arms, the lifestyle isn't entirely healthy. So we talk about a lot of things that can help to protect you, especially while you're out in the field.

Also talk a lot of about a lot of things that are related to veterans who have gotten out and things you can do. So definitely take a look at the show notes because I'm going to list a lot of the things that Ben talks about. On top of that, we also talk about some other awesome things, as far as living your best life. And for those of you who are hunters talking about fitness related to hunting and how to become a better hunter. So all this is a really packed episode.

It's not the longest episode, but it's really packed with information. So I hope you get a lot out of it. And without further delay, let's get into the show. Good afternoon and welcome to the Warrior Soul Podcast. This is episode 19 with Ben Greenfield.

About ten years ago, it had been a few years since I had gotten out of the Marine Corps, and I remember while being in I was constantly PT'ing, constantly running, constantly exercising, going out to the field, doing lots of things. But in addition to that, I was also chewing tobacco, lots of cigarettes, drinking lots of alcohol, and when we were on deployments, a lot of times I was living off of MREs, which are filled with things like sugar and lots of preservatives. But, you know, like a lot of other people, I looked forward to getting out. I love the Marine Corps, but I looked forward to getting out and to starting my civilian life. And it started with a lot of excitement.

It started with school, and it started with the prospects of a new career and a new life. But as we got on, things started to change. You know, found myself asking myself, do I ache every morning when I get up? Why am I having such a hard time staying awake all the time? Why am I having such a hard time putting thoughts together?

And why does everyone around me seem to annoy me so much? As I went on through the years, I began to study health and fitness. Eventually became a trainer, but I never really had a clue as to what was really going on. And as to some of the things I could have done to prevent this stuff, until I came across a gentleman who's on the podcast right now. His name is Ben Greenfield.

He's widely considered to be one of the best personal trainers in the world. He has a best selling book called Beyond Training, and one of the most influential podcasts in the fitness industry. And Ben's book is significant because its premise is that triathlon training, which Ben started in, can actually be unhealthy. And a lot of the premises he goes over in this book can actually apply to us. And so first things first, Ben, I really want to thank you so much for coming on this podcast.

I know you have limited time, but but it's just a real pleasure to have you on here.

Ben Greenfield 00:04:25 (link to this point)

Hey. Thanks for having me on, man. It's an honor. I'm I'm glad you asked me.

Chris Albert 00:04:29 (link to this point)

Ben, just to jump right in, you know, read your book Beyond Training, and at the beginning you have a tale of two triathletes, and just briefly can you go little bit over why you put that into the book?

Ben Greenfield 00:04:47 (link to this point)

Sure. I mean, it's to differentiate the idea between training smart and training training stupid. Basically, there's this assumption that if we lift heavy things, run fast, do high intensity interval training and train with really good exercise science, go deep into the pain cave, beat our bodies up, hit the gym multiple times per week, you know, and just just just hit it hard every day that we can eat what we want and that we are somehow bulletproof to a lot of the environmental assailants that we encounter in our especially modern post industrial era. And the fact is that everything from, you know, freaking you know, it cost exposure to to cell phones and Wi Fi to Mhmm. Mold, to fungus, to poor nutrition, to toxins in the environment or in our personal care products, to lack of sleep, to poor digestive health, to poor hormonal balance, to lack of blood flow to the brain.

All of those things wind up, even if we exercise a lot, potentially making us people who are healthy on the outside, right, like fit and strong, but unhealthy on the inside. And and in that particular section of the book, what I'm talking about are, you know, two Ironman triathletes, one who is training smart, right? Like like a lot of minimalist training, high bang for the buck type of exercise protocols that are smartly programmed along with really good nutrition and really good care for the digestive system and the brain and the hormonal system versus that person who just goes out and crushes it for as long as hard as possible each day and then just eats what they want and lives the way that they want because they assume that the exercise is just basically, you know, gonna gonna cover up any other any other issues when it comes to their training program or or their lifestyle program. And the fact is that, you know, when you look at, like, a like a pro athlete, for example yeah. I mean, freaking Michael Phelps gets brought up a lot.

He eats 10,000 calories a day or Usain Bolt, you know, dips into chicken McNuggets, you know, all the time that you and and, you know, there's there's photos of this where where you'll see him doing that. But how are those guys gonna look when they're 40, 50, 60? How are their brains gonna operate? Are they gonna need joint replacements? Are they gonna have inflammation?

Are they gonna be, half or more of the football and the baseball players you see who once they retire, you know, Charles Barkley, Michael Jordan, look at these guys, they're, you know, fat and unhealthy. And a lot of them have like prediabetes and all these issues that they were able to skirt early on in their training when they were young, training a lot, etcetera, but that have now caught up with them. So the idea is that you look at life through the lens of not just performance, but through the lens of performance and longevity and health. My you know, what I lay out in that book is that, sure, avoiding, let's say, gluten is not necessarily going to make you faster at Spartan race, but it's certainly going to make you healthier. And I would say that, you know, if if, you know, something is going to make you healthier and you can go just as fast, why not do it?

Chris Albert 00:08:14 (link to this point)

Absolutely, absolutely. You know, one thing I just want to give you a little bit of insight here, maybe we could take that tale of triath two triathletes and and apply it here. You know going back to the life of somebody in the combat arms in the military today, who's going out to the field all the time, you know I remember weeks where we would be doing a lot of movement to contact, we're carrying heavy packs, doing long, long humps, living off of MREs, which, you know, you're putting lots of sugar in your body, crackers, you know, processed cheese, things like that.

Ben Greenfield 00:08:55 (link to this point)

Oh, yeah.

Chris Albert 00:08:55 (link to this point)

At the same time

Ben Greenfield 00:08:56 (link to this point)

I mean, lot of

Chris Albert 00:08:56 (link to this point)

MREs.

Ben Greenfield 00:08:57 (link to this point)

Oh, yeah. I'm I'm not in the armed forces, but I mean a lot of them are.

Chris Albert 00:09:00 (link to this point)

Probably dealt with some of the toilet issues that come along with it too, the the the bathroom issues. But on top of that you're getting very little sleep, you're cleaning your rifles all the time and you use this rifle cleaning fluid that gets on your hands and that's known to cause cancer, And then, you know, a lot of us, we get tobacco and we smoke cigarettes mainly as a nootropic to try to keep ourselves awake and to keep ourselves alert in the situation. You know, for somebody who's currently in right now, you know, 18, 19, 20, 21 year old kid who who's not gonna feel it immediately. Are some things in your mind that they can do to to protect themselves during this period of time in their life?

Ben Greenfield 00:09:53 (link to this point)

Sure. So so MREs are a reality. You know, I I personally quit using them. I I now travel when when I do, like, my multi hour adventure races. You know, I I just got as many clean bars as I can get, and then I'll use, like, dehydrated meal replacement powders that are healthy, like like, Ambronite or Supergreens or, you know, any of these things that you wind up just, like, mixing with water that sticks your ribs, but that are far healthier than an m r MRE.

But the idea here is that, you know, as far as answering your questions about mitigating the damage, I mean, part of it is is removing a lot of the compounds from your body as much as possible, and that comes down to care of the the liver and the gut. So there are supplements that help to cleanse a lot of the damage that that type of stuff can do to your biology. One of the one of the ones that you'll see used in the hospital a lot that actually works really well, they'll use it in the hospital for, like, alcohol poisoning, but it also works for just the average person to for their, you know, for their liver and to fight off inflammation is N-acetylcysteine. Yep. That's also abbreviated NAC.

Chris Albert 00:11:07 (link to this point)

I've got that right here on my desk, actually.

Ben Greenfield 00:11:09 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. There's one called Pharmanac. That's really good. There's another one that's very similar to NAC.

That is glutathione. Liposomal glutathione, the kind that dissolves in your mouth is good because glutathione doesn't get absorbed by your digestive system very well. That's another one that I like. Binders that that can bind toxins. Chlorella is a really good one.

It's like like algae, basically. You can find that in supplement form. You can find it in edible form. That's another one. Magnesium is also very important for for clearing and cleansing the liver and the gut.

So that's another one that I like. So as far as the gut goes, those those would be a few that I'd recommend down that alley. You're gonna you're gonna run into a lot of cognitive issues and cognitive inflammation as well when when you're dealing with, you know, that that type of lifestyle. I really like the the study that was published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs a couple of years ago done by doctor Daniel Daniel Amen in NFL players in which they showed that they could reverse brain damage in NFL players. And in that particular study, what they did was they they did what's called a SPECT scan of the brain.

A SPECT scan is is just basically what's called a computed tomography of blood flow to different regions of the brain. And then they gave these guys a neuropsychological test to evaluate their cognitive performance. And then they had them follow this protocol. And in this in this particular case, what they did was they they limited their alcohol and drug use, which, you know, was just kinda like a a no brainer and made sure that they got enough sleep, which is also kind of a no brainer. But then they all also introduced in that particular setting, and and they showed reversal of brain damage, like, in these NFL players.

In that one, they did high dose fish oil. They did just a basic, like, really good high potency multivitamin, like a multivitamin with a whole bunch of nutrients in it, not like a crap, like, Costco multivitamin, but, like, a good multivitamin. Mhmm. And then they used they used some some herbs that have been known to actually help with the brain, particularly. The ones that they used were one called ginkgo, which is also really good for, like, elevation training, ginkgo biloba.

They used one called vinpocetine, all these are just, like, legal over the counter things you could buy on Amazon. They used acetylcholine. They used something called acetyl L carnitine, which is also a really good pre workout booster. They use something called huperzine A, which is something, you know, like the Tim Ferriss talks about that one in his book, Four Hour Body. But it's just basically, like, almost like a herbal smart drug.

And then they use two different antioxidants. The antioxidants that they use in this case were the N-acetylcysteine that I already talked about, and then they used alpha lipoic acid or or what's also known as ALA. And they showed, like like, a huge reversal of brain damage and a huge reversal of cognitive impairment in these 30 retired NFL players that they looked at in that study. And, yeah, I mean, you you could look it up. I I think the full study is free online to go read, like, exactly what they did, but that one's called reversing brain damage in former NFL players.

One other interesting study because a lot of this stuff that that attacks your brain and your body, it's the same type of stuff that that tends to cause Alzheimer's.

Chris Albert 00:14:37 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Ben Greenfield 00:14:37 (link to this point)

And they did a very similar study that was just, like, shocking in terms of, like, reversal of Alzheimer's, which, you know, they don't really consider that to be a reversible disease. What they did was they took a whole bunch of people, and they began to reverse Alzheimer's in in literally elderly people who were who were just their brains are falling apart. And in this case, they did a whole cocktail of things on them. They they did this entire therapeutic system for Alzheimer's. And in that case, what they did was, first of all, they put them on a low glycemic index diet Mhmm.

Low inflam inflammatory diet, low grain diet. Right? So it was almost like a paleo diet, but they had a lot of plants, and they ensured that there weren't a lot of, like, sugary, starchy foods. Everybody in the study was doing a twelve hour fast every day. So it'd have at least one twelve hour period of time where they weren't eating, you know, like, 8AM or or 8PM to 8AM type of thing.

Right? Everybody was doing some type of yoga or meditation or even music. Right? Like relaxing music at some point during the day. Not a ton, but, like, twenty or thirty minutes a day of some kind of protocol that didn't involve a hard workout.

That was just like yoga, meditation, music, stuff like that. They got everybody on eight hours of sleep a night. In in this case, they were using melatonin, just small micro doses of melatonin to help these guys get to sleep at night, and these men and women get to sleep at night. But that that's another one that they threw in there. They used a lot of similar antioxidants and nutrients, as I just described with that study that they did in the NFL.

But they also used, like, a high dose curcumin. And then they also threw in one called bacopa, which is, an herb used for cognitive enhancement. They used high dose DHA, which is, you know, very similar to high dose fish oil. And then they used a bunch of what are called mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols. And that would be the stuff that you get from, like, blueberries, green tea, dark chocolate, red wine, tea, like any of these, like like, kinda tannin rich foods.

Mhmm. So they had they had a whole bunch of nutrients like that. And then they also had them they're they're upregulating their ketones in this case by giving them a whole bunch of coconut oil every day. So they were getting, like, two or three tablespoons of coconut oil every day to to amp up ketone production and get them on, like, higher fats, lower carbs. And then the last thing that they do with those folks, you know, I mentioned things to help with, like, liver toxicity, like N-acetylcysteine and glutathione, but they also did a metal detox with them.

So they put them on, like, metal detoxification because heavy metals are also one of the things that can cause, like, Alzheimer's and cognitive decline and stuff like that. So it's really interesting. And that that study, if you wanted to go read it, that one is called reversal of cognitive decline, a novel therapeutic program. And that appeared in it was in in aging journal, but it was done at what's called the Mary Easton Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research. And even in people who don't have Alzheimer's, it's it's really, really good for anybody who wants to, like, reverse, like, cognitive decline or or damage to the brain or even, like, TBIs and concussions and stuff like that.

Like, all this stuff works for that kind of stuff too.

Chris Albert 00:17:57 (link to this point)

Awesome. And I'm I'm gonna include all of these supplements in in in in links to different products here in the show notes. You know, lot of what Ben's mentioning here, it seems to be related to metabolism, and how we process nutrients, how we process sugars in our body, and how it relates to inflammation, am I correct Ben?

Ben Greenfield 00:18:22 (link to this point)

Yeah, yep, exactly. So a big part of it is shutting down inflammation, controlling fluctuations in blood sugar, and then introducing things that increase blood flow.

Chris Albert 00:18:31 (link to this point)

Awesome, yeah, these are things that you can include, say, you know, if you wanted to take pill organizer or something like that and stick that in your gear before you go out to the field, There's definitely some field expedient ways to do this. As far as workouts go, Ben, we touched a little bit on less long death march workouts and and things like that and and more shorter, intense workouts. Can you touch on that a little bit?

Ben Greenfield 00:19:07 (link to this point)

Yeah. Sure. And and and before I jump into that, you know, like like you mentioned, like, logistically, obviously, like, you know, popping a a billion pills is not necessarily logistically that feasible, especially when you're out in the field. The way I've done it in in a lot of my my races and and multiday competitions is I'll kinda follow that eighty twenty rule and just, like, find, like, you know, certain supplements that have cocktails of a lot of the ingredients that I just went over. Like, one of the ones that that I'll use I don't you probably heard me talk about this on a podcast before, like, Tian Chi.

Yep. It's just, like, one packet of a whole bunch of adaptogenic herbs that contains, like, like, 90% of of what they used in those studies. So that's one that I'll use for for something like that. And when I combine that with, like like, something that I can use as a replacement for an MRE, that that works pretty well. It's just like a one two combo that that's easy to travel with and and stick in a bag.

Yeah. And it's all just like powder, so it's not going to go go bad or, you know, if it gets gets it's in a packet. Right? So if it gets wet, you don't have to worry that much about that type of thing. As far as exercise goes with the high intensity interval approach, you know, the idea here is that if you look at the world's best endurance athletes, especially, they spend about 80% of their time in, like, low level conversational aerobic cardio.

Like, now, when I'm talking to you, like, literally, I'm walking on a treadmill right now.

Chris Albert 00:20:38 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Ben Greenfield 00:20:38 (link to this point)

And it's at a very, very slow pace. It's conversational. It's aerobic. But you'll see athletes doing that, you know, all day long, and then they spend about 20% of their time in really, really high intensity, like pain cave interval training, like 100 to 150% of their VO2 max, like super duper hard, but very, very little time doing just like kind of like medium intensity training. Right.

Like hour long slogs, you know, of of running during lunchtime or like getting on a bike and pedaling, you know, kind of hard, but kind of easy, you know, just just, you know, basically what what what would be called like black hole style training is what I call it in the book. But training that exhausts your muscles glycogen levels, but isn't so hard that you're actually sucking your lungs or getting super fit. That's a really crappy way to train versus spending a lot of time just like on your feet, engaged in low level physical activity, not planting your ass in a chair for too long a period of time, you know, doing the kind of things I do where I'm just like, you know, walking on a treadmill, moving, trying to stand my feet all day. And then the icing on the cake is you just go super duper hard when you do lift or when you do do your high intensity interval training where you're doing, like, you know, like, let's say, Tabata set where it's just twenty seconds as freaking hard as you can go. Ten seconds easy.

Twenty seconds hard. Ten seconds easy. And you just do that, like, you know, eight times through, and that's your workout. And a lot of people think that that's bold, that you can't get fit doing that type of stuff. The people that think that usually haven't actually tried going hard enough during those high intensity intervals.

Like, right now, I had I had one workout yesterday for six minutes.

Chris Albert 00:22:19 (link to this point)

Wow.

Ben Greenfield 00:22:19 (link to this point)

And and and my lungs are still burning from that workout. In that case, it it was it was basically, I I had a I had a harness attached to my waist, and and the guy I was training against had a harness attached to his waist. And we just basically pulled each other for, like, it's six minutes, just, like, back and forth as as freaking hard as we could go, and that's it. That was the workout. And I'm sore and and beat up from that.

And, you know, and the rest of the day, was just walking, moving around, just getting stuff done. But, you know, that's it. And and this morning, I woke up, and I did a 100 burpees. Right? That's probably because today is a pretty busy day for me.

I gotta go to the bank and get much of stuff done and, you know, I got to drive around, apologize. A lot of times, I'll I'll just do something like that. You know, those 100 burpees sucked. Like, I was total pain cave during that time. But it's just like, it's in, it's done.

And now the rest of the day, I'm just low level physical activity. Right? So that type of training actually works really well. And, you know, I'm I'm always amazed at you know, guys who go to the gym for, like, you know, whatever, two hours a day and just kinda crank it out, but don't don't go that hard. Don't go that easy.

It's it's just it's it's not a very efficient way to train versus really, really hard dips in the pain cave for brief periods of time, and then everything else is is like aerobic, easy, conversational, but physically active.

Chris Albert 00:23:40 (link to this point)

Yeah. It's it's really amazing, to think about it that way. I used to own a gym in in Long Beach, California called Metroflex Gym, and and that was a gym where I don't know if you ever heard of, CT Fletcher, Mike Rashid, or any of those guys, but a lot of those big YouTube bodybuilders came out of it. And we we used to do these, two, two and a half, three hour workouts, and my brain afterwards, I could not think all day long. And ever since, you know, leaving that gym and and I moved out to the country, I've been doing a lot more shorter, intense workouts, and some of those Tabata workouts, they're insane, as far as what they can do to your lungs, what they can do to your conditioning, and how hard they can be.

But my brain just feels so much better, I have so much more energy during the day after a workout like that as opposed to, like, a a three hour long, you know, iron workout where I'm squatting and then doing leg presses and things like that.

Ben Greenfield 00:24:41 (link to this point)

Right. Exactly. No. I'm I'm a fan of those type of, like, brutal workouts, like, literally, like, once a month. You know?

Once a month, I'll do a workout that just scares the hell out of me. But, you know, for the most part, you you don't need to do those workouts as often as you think. That's the problem is is, like, a lot of people just think you gotta keep doing this. But, I mean, like, if do a good workout like that one or two times a month, like, that's all you need for those big, voluminous, intense workouts. And then after that, it's just, you know, recovering and allowing your body to soak up and absorb all that fitness.

Chris Albert 00:25:09 (link to this point)

Awesome. And and also, as I've heard you mention before, you don't necessarily need a treadmill desk, but but one of the things you can do that's inexpensive is, to keep, a kettlebell next to your desk or, know, even just do some burpees every hour or something like that. Is that something you suggest?

Ben Greenfield 00:25:27 (link to this point)

Yeah. I mean so what I have here in my office right now is is a heavy bag

Chris Albert 00:25:31 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Ben Greenfield 00:25:32 (link to this point)

A pull up bar, and then my treadmill. Right? So I can just, like, stop throughout the day and do certain activities. I I was working out. I travel a lot, and sometimes I'll find myself in a hotel room for ungodly periods of time, you know, in conferences and stuff like that.

So I travel with a suspension trainer. Right? And I'm an author, and so I write. So I'll do a Pomodoro technique where I'll write for fifteen minutes, and then I'll stop. And I'll do 20 burpees and 20 inverted suspension pull ups from the suspension trainer, and then just go back over to the computer and keep writing.

And so I'll, like, go on, like, a three hour writing stint where by the end of that three hour writing stint, I mean, you do the math. Right? Like, I've done 240 burpees and 240 suspended rows and written for three hours Yeah. With the with that pomodoro technique. So that works really well too.

It's those, like, little mini breaks where you're just, like, doing super duper brief, you know, body weight type of exercise or suspension type of exercise and then getting back to work. So I I kinda like that type of technique too.

Chris Albert 00:26:32 (link to this point)

Awesome. I know we're you I wanna be really respectful for of your time here. I wanted to just touch on a couple of other things. How old are you right now, Ben? 35, I think?

Ben Greenfield 00:26:46 (link to this point)

Chris Albert 00:26:47 (link to this point)

34. And you've got two twin boys, I know they have to be a handful. For some of the older guys who have gotten out and they're working full time jobs or maybe dealing with family things, as far as scheduling things out and, you know, scheduling family time and and, you know, making time for work and making sure that you have time to work out, are there any tech techniques you'd suggest for that?

Ben Greenfield 00:27:18 (link to this point)

Yeah. I mean, as as far as making the time to work out, you know, a big part of it comes down to, like, what I just described. Right? Like like Mhmm. Thinking of the workout as not being something that you necessarily have to, like, carve out time to go to the gym and spend an hour to do, but instead just, like, injecting those those small bursts of activity throughout the day.

So by the end of the day, you've done a whole bunch that that's that's added up pretty well. I'm also, you know, a big fan of figuring out ways to make activities that you're gonna be doing anyways harder. Right? Like, so in my car, I keep a hand grip trainer, and I keep these things called expandable hand bands that allow me to do, like, grip training and hand extension. Captains of Crush makes some really good stuff.

And then I keep a PowerLung in my car, which is like a device that I can breathe really hard in and out of. So while I'm in my car, I can do hand grip strengthening and lung training. Another thing that I'll do is when I ruck or, you know, when when I hike, basically, you know, like, with my kids or with my family, I'll, you know, throw a kettlebell in my backpack, and sometimes I'll even wear an elevation mask and just turn it into a tough workout. Right? Like a hike I'd be doing anyways.

I'll just turn it in into something a lot more difficult, you know, and and figuring out ways to to take things that you'd normally be doing and make them a little bit harder. I'm a big fan of that. I'm also a big fan of doing things that don't seem like they make you fit, but they do, like cold showers. Right? You get a huge bunch of nitric oxide produced.

You you actually burn a lot of calories when you do that. So I just never take a hot shower ever. Like, I take two showers a day, and they're always just icy cold, as cold as I can go for about five minutes. And that's really good at actually allowing you to burn calories and build nitric oxide without necessarily devoting yourself to a full on workout. And then the if I could if I could tell you one more.

Well, what's another one that I do? You know, probably another big one that that I'll use, and this is gonna sound dumb, but every time I go to the bathroom, you know, take take a pee, whatever, I do 40 air squats. You know? So every day, I've I've done, like, hundreds of squats. So I like, I do that kind of stuff all the time, and and all all it means is that I can stay pretty fit with with really minimal amounts of exercise.

You know? And I compete against guys, you know, professionally in obstacle course racing and stuff who are at the gym for literally, like, three, four, five hours a day, and I'm working out for twenty minutes a day and beating these guys because I just have so much low level activity just built in throughout my day. So by the end of the day, I've just done a ton.

Chris Albert 00:29:58 (link to this point)

And that's awesome because it also builds longevity into your routine where, you know, you're not constantly abusing yourself, but you could probably do this sim a similar routine all the way up into sixties, seventies, and eighties. Right?

Ben Greenfield 00:30:12 (link to this point)

Years old? Yeah. Oh, screw that. I'm I'm talking, like, a 150 years old.

Chris Albert 00:30:16 (link to this point)

Oh, nice, man.

Ben Greenfield 00:30:18 (link to this point)

But but yeah. I mean and, you know, I I say that I just sound like I'm I'm in jest, but, I mean, like, honestly, if you take care of your body, there's there's no reason that you you can't you can't live a a a pretty freaking long time feeling really good, you know, and and there's some there's some centenarians out there who are over 100 years old. And if you look at their protocols, you know, they're they're active. They've got a lot of love and relationships in their life. They're drinking a glass of wine every day.

They're eating real food or, you know, drinking raw goat's milk or, you know, just like eating food our grandparents would recognize. And they're not, like, doing some brutal hard work out every day. They're just, like, low level physical activity all day long, eating real food, having a lot of love and relationships. Most of them have some kinda, like, meditation or prayer or something like that present in their life. And, I mean, it's not rocket science, but it's just, you know, it's one of those things that that you just have to kinda make mild lifestyle adjustments to achieve.

Chris Albert 00:31:12 (link to this point)

Yeah. My aunt William is a 108 and that's that's her to a t. She she

Ben Greenfield 00:31:16 (link to this point)

That's awesome.

Chris Albert 00:31:16 (link to this point)

Has all those things. You're also an avid hunter and I know a lot of our listeners are into hunting and you do you do the the hunting competitions.

Have you been able to work hunting into your routine, or or or what do you do to prepare for a hunt, and and what types of physical activity have made you better at hunting?

Ben Greenfield 00:31:36 (link to this point)

Yeah. I just got back from a from a hunt over in Colorado, and I'm on my head up to BC in a couple weeks to go hunt moose and bear up there. You know, hunt hunting's you know, it's it's tough. Right? Because a lot of times, you're you're you're cut off from your technology and your work and and all that jazz.

And and, I mean, like, so here's the deal. First of all, I hunt when I hunt, I hunt hard. Right? Like, I I've got a heavy pack on. Move hard.

I cover a lot of ground on foot. And so, you know, hunt for me a lot of times is, you know, a hard workout. You know, I a lot of times on on the hunts, I'll bring a suspension strap. So back at camp, I'll be doing, you know, inverted rows and pull ups and stuff like that, kind of working some of those muscles I'm not working when I'm just, you know, rucking. And then, you know, as far as as the training for it goes, a lot of times when I'm shooting, I'll I'll shoot, but I'll shoot during a workout.

Right? So I'll I'll put, like, you know, three 3D targets or, a a standing bear at 20 yards and a deer at 40 yards and a bedded elk at 60 yards. And, you know, what I'll do is I'll I'll shoot the the deer, drop and do five burpees, then shoot the bear, drop and do 10 burpees, shoot the elk, drop and do 15 burpees, sprint, grab each arrow, sprint back, and I'll have a heavy sandbag there. I'll do 10 sandbag overhead presses, and then repeat that sequence, right, for, like, like, an AMRAP, right, as many rounds as possible for a half hour. You know?

And so a lot of my hunt training, what I'll do is is simulate a scenario where your heart rate is gonna be high. I mean, if if you called in a bull or whatever and and even if you're you haven't been, you know, running or or or rucking, your heart rate just goes up. So getting used to shooting when your heart rate is high and even turning your your hunting workouts in into actual workouts is, in my opinion, a kind of a fun way to train. So those are some of the little ways that I work it in. But but, yeah, I I love to hunt, and it that's a that's a great workout too, you know, assuming we're not talking about, you know, whatever, standing in a tree stand over a pile of corn.

Chris Albert 00:33:40 (link to this point)

Awesome. Just to finish up here, you know, you've had a lot of success, and and, you know, you've worked your way up to a really awesome place in the fitness industry. For some of the guys out there who are looking to maybe get into the fitness industry, maybe eventually run their own online training programs and things like that, What do you suggest for those guys who you know, as far as getting started, what they should be reading, what types of literature they should look at, and and as far as how to start their careers?

Ben Greenfield 00:34:18 (link to this point)

I don't really recommend. I mean, I I I'm I'm a voracious learner, and I recommend always, you know, reading the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research and subscribing to, you know, reviews like the the Examine Research Digest and Alan Aragon's Research Review and reading websites like, you know, like like my website or or the Suppversity website or, you know, fitness.alltop.com or any any of these other things that that allow you to stay on top of your game. But, I mean, honestly, I I trained my ass off for a decade running brick and mortar personal training studios and just, like, for eight, ten, twelve hours a day training people. Right? Like like, everybody from soccer moms to CEOs to to professionals for athletes.

And, I mean, that's really my recommendation is get out there, put in the work, see as many people as possible, learn how to do functional movement screens, learn how to do do exercise tests on people, learn how I mean, learn how to use blood lactate testing equipment and VO2 max equipment and high speed exercise cameras and, you know, like, really learn a lot about the human body. And my my my number one recommendation to people is not to be the Instagram Snapchat trainer who's, like, Snapchatting photos of yourself with your shirt off and, you know, getting clients around. I mean, get out there. Put the time in the trenches. Like, that's that's what a lot of people make that's where a lot of people make the mistake because they're like, oh, I'll write an ebook.

Mhmm. But that's that's not really the way to become an excellent trainer. You gotta get out there and, like, put the time in and and actually, you know, be flesh and blood with people in the gym training them for a long time before you get to the point where you can, like, you know, start doing more stuff on the Internet, for example. So my recommendation is just get out there, put your nose to the grindstone, and work hard. I wish I had a magical answer for you, but answer is, know, I'm I'm start start seeing people and see a lot of people.

Chris Albert 00:36:12 (link to this point)

That's an amazing answer that I I think a lot of people need to hear, especially in the fitness industry as as it's been in the past few years. If there's one piece of advice that you could leave all of our listeners with from the veteran community who are seeking to live their healthiest, most optimal you know, best lives, what would that be?

Ben Greenfield 00:36:39 (link to this point)

One tip to live your ultimate best life.

Chris Albert 00:36:42 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Ben Greenfield 00:36:45 (link to this point)

One one little thing that I do every day when I wake up in the morning is I whip out a journal, and I journal what what my system is is I write down one person I can help or serve that day. Mhmm. Right? So one person just go out of my way to to help. I write one thing that I'm grateful for, and then I write you know, for for me, I read the Bible every morning.

So for me, I write, like, one biblical truth that I discovered, like, something that that inspired me that day. And just, like, starting off the day with a habit, a routine like that that's really positive and that that sets the stage for you to for you to be aware of other people's suffering or ways that you can help other people. Be aware of some type of of greater story for your life or spiritual power, which has also been shown to be associated with longevity and to be aware of something that you're grateful for. My opinion, it's a really good way to start the day and a great way to to just, like, keep yourself grounded and and and grateful and also tapped into the things that are the most important in life.

Chris Albert 00:37:46 (link to this point)

That is absolutely amazing, and it's something we've talked about before on this podcast, and it's it's awesome to see somebody like you who is so successful practicing that. Ben, I I seriously wanna thank you so much for coming on this show. You know, your your knowledge, your insights have helped me immensely over the years. I know this is the first time we've ever talked, but, I've been following you for quite a while, and you've had a huge impact on my life. And so I wanna thank you for it, and I know you're gonna have a huge impact on a lot of people by coming onto this show.

Where can people find you? Where do you hang out online? What how can people get in touch with you, and how can people follow you?

Ben Greenfield 00:38:31 (link to this point)

Yeah. Just go to bengreenfieldfitness.com.

Chris Albert 00:38:34 (link to this point)

Awesome.

Ben Greenfield 00:38:35 (link to this point)

That's as easy as that.

Chris Albert 00:38:37 (link to this point)

Awesome. And the best the best podcast I've ever heard as far as health and fitness goes.

Ben Greenfield 00:38:43 (link to this point)

Oh, nice.

Chris Albert 00:38:44 (link to this point)

Absolutely. Thanks, Ben, and we're we're gonna sign off now, but for all of you out there, thank you so much for listening, and we will have the show notes for this episode up on the website, and until next time, I'll talk to you soon.