Reclaiming Your Health After 40 A Mans Guide to Renewed Vitality

Reclaiming Your Health After 40 A Mans Guide to Renewed Vitality

Bryan Gryn: [00:00:00] I would say the most important thing would be just to prioritize their health. Um, I think that, especially when we talk a lot about 40 plus, you put your health on the back burner. Maybe you have kids, you have work, and you wake up and it's 20 years later and you're like, well, not happy with the way you look or feel or your confidence.

And I think that like the earlier that you can prioritize your health, not only it's going to do you good, but it's going to help the people around you and it'll allow you to be around for kids, grandkids and things like that. So I think just the fact that you, if you start prioritizing your health and.

Maybe even go out and hire a coach. I think it's a great place to start as well, just to get you going. Um, I think that, you know, that's, that's first and foremost. So putting yourself first, I think is important

D Brent Dowlen: today on the fallow man podcast, guys, I've got coach Brian grin. This is especially for men over 40 today.

We are looking at. Your fitness needs as you hit 40 and beyond, because while they don't have to change your [00:01:00] entire life, you are going to have a different experience. And coach Grin is going to walk us through how to continue our fitness journey into our forties and how to take care of our bodies. So we're still lifting a few years later and don't destroy them in the process.

It's going to be a great show guys. Let's get into it. Here's the million dollar question. How do men like us reach our full potential? Growing to the men we dream of becoming while taking care of our responsibilities, working, living, being good husbands, fathers, and still take care of ourselves? Well, that's the big question.

And in this podcast, we'll help you with those answers and more. My name is Brent and welcome to the Fallible Man Podcast. Welcome to the Fallible Man Podcast. Your home for all things man, husband, and father. Big shout out to Fallible Nation. And hey, that's just our long time listeners. You can be part of that too.

And we'd love to have you join that group. A warm welcome to our first time listeners. There is a lot competing for your attention. So from the bottom of my heart, thanks for checking us out. Appreciate you giving us a chance. Be sure and connect with me at the Fallible Man on most social medias. [00:02:00] I'm particularly active on Instagram.

Let me know what you thought of the show. My name is Brent. Today, my special guest is health coach and trainer, Brian Grin. Brian, welcome to the Fallible Man podcast.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm Brent.

D Brent Dowlen: Ryan, we like to start things off nice and easy. So how's your trivia? Depends on the topic. Uh, full disclosure, I go out of my way to try and find things that are hard.

So, you know. Oh, okay. But every now and then I get, I get someone who just like, it clicks for him. In which decade does the Netflix series stranger things take place? Is it the seventies, the eighties, nineties, or the early two thousands?

Seventies. All right, guys, you know, the rules don't cheat. Don't look. And for God's sake, don't write it down. If you're driving, we'll come back to that a little bit later. Brian,

Bryan Gryn: that was wrong. I think, I think it was, maybe it was the eighties. Okay.

D Brent Dowlen: [00:03:00] Brian, I don't do big introductions as far as. Uh, all of the certifications and credentials because no one actually gives a crap who today in this moment is Brian Graham.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, so I am a, let's see, you know, it's funny. I never get these questions. Uh, well, I am, uh, that's a great question. I'm a golfer. I'd say, uh, also a health coach and I enjoy hanging out with my dogs and my wife. and keep it pretty simple. Um, and I think I'm pretty level headed, positive individual, and, um, just in, in enjoy the little things and just being at home.

So pretty simple, just family and friends. And, uh, I'd say that'd be the best way to describe me.

D Brent Dowlen: You know what? There's no, I should have told you there's no wrong [00:04:00] answer to this. Right. I know

Bryan Gryn: that one. All right.

D Brent Dowlen: What's your favorite

Bryan Gryn: childhood memory? Favorite childhood memory. Um,

well, the first thing that came to my mind because I am a big golfer is, uh, I think I was like 16. I ended up playing with a guy that was on the tour, the PGA tour, and I beat him and shot my lowest round ever, uh, at that time was 68 and, uh, that just like stood out. I think I was young and, and made an impression on a tour player and played my best round.

So that, that's the first thing that came to my mind. Excellent. Yeah. You a Harry Potter fan? Not a big Harry Potter fan. Sorry. Is this another trivia? Cause I'll probably get it wrong. I'll guess.

D Brent Dowlen: No, I was going to ask you what, what house the sorting hat puts you in, but you may not even know what the houses are.

Yeah. So that's fine. Well, [00:05:00] we can skip over that one. Okay. You're, you're a, you're a health coach in general and a fitness guy. Uh, whiskey and deadlifts, pro or con? Uh,

Bryan Gryn: pro. I'm, I'm not a big, I'm not a whiskey guy, but deadlifts I'm all for, so. Have you, have you heard of this concept

D Brent Dowlen: before?

Bryan Gryn: No, is this like a new, yeah, I don't know.

No,

D Brent Dowlen: no. Uh, so the guy who owns Kabuki Strength, uh, out of Portland. Introduce this to the world, really. And what it is is he'll take a couple of shots and the opening rounds of his dead lifts when he's training deadlift. Not, not enough to like get hammered, but just a couple shots, because the first thing you start to lose is that throttle control and your inhibition.

And so it actually naturally deadens your save yourself reflex and let you actually tap deeper [00:06:00] into your strength.

Bryan Gryn: Maybe I'll try that one day.

D Brent Dowlen: So some people I've seen devotees of, uh, the thought who actually like compete that way. That's Um, I've, I've seen an actual competitor take shots before their deadlifts.

Bryan Gryn: Nothing surprises me nowadays.

D Brent Dowlen: Um, I've heard other people, coaches who were just like, are you stupid? You did what? Right.

Bryan Gryn: Um, yeah, last time I heard of that was in college. But, uh, I'm not, I'm not surprised, you know, whatever works, I guess.

D Brent Dowlen: What purchase of 100 or less have you made in the last year that's had the biggest impact in your life?

Bryan Gryn: Hmm. Okay. Well, first thing that came to mind is podcast lights. For my, for my studio, uh, I'm still trying to work that out, but yes, I would say that would probably be the first thing that came to my mind was under a hundred, although that gets more expensive when you keep buying them. So, [00:07:00] but right. It's not cheap, but, uh, I just bought one that was like 50.

So I'd say those lights. Because I'm trying to still figure that out, but,

D Brent Dowlen: all right. Worst song

Bryan Gryn: ever.

Oh my gosh. Um,

I wish I like, knew the names of the songs. I can hear them right. Can,

D Brent Dowlen: if you want .

Bryan Gryn: Yeah. You don't want me singing, um, the worst song ever. Um, I mean, I'm not like a hard, I feel like you might like Hard Rock. I don't love like. It's music where they scream at you. So anything like that, I just off the top of my head, I can't think of that.

D Brent Dowlen: I'm not a fan of the screamer band. Okay. Okay. That's so I like, I like hard rock, but I like some more classic hard rock where like you can still understand what they're, [00:08:00] I, I, I've had a couple, I used to work with teenagers all the time and I had one of my teens who was in a band and the lead singer for his band.

It was like, I'm like. Hmm. What is that even?

Bryan Gryn: Yeah. So anything like that,

D Brent Dowlen: what hidden talent do you have?

Bryan Gryn: Oh, um, I mean, I can touch my tongue to my nose. Is that a hidden talent?

D Brent Dowlen: I think so. I can't do it. Like the majority of people can't do that, so that's impressive. Okay,

Bryan Gryn: I

D Brent Dowlen: told you. Nonsensical. Yeah, I like this.

Zombie apocalypse, which weapon of choice?

Bryan Gryn: Um, weapon of choice? Mm hmm. Is it like a real weapon or just like a make believe weapon? Uh, real weapon. Okay, [00:09:00] um, I mean, it'd have to be some type of automatic, automatic, uh, machine gun, I guess. Fair enough. Yeah.

D Brent Dowlen: What's something everyone should know about you before we dig in today's show?

Bryan Gryn: Um, gosh, what should they know about me?

I would just say that, um,

probably that I've, I've changed my mind through the years on different topics with health and wellness. I think. Some people get into this space and they're so dogmatic about one certain thing, but I think that I've always been open to learning and trying to expand and, um, improve or just, you know, figure out like what works for myself and for clients.

So I think just like the fact that I'm sort of, I guess, pliable to different and new things.

D Brent Dowlen: All right. [00:10:00] I like it guys. We've been getting to know Brian just a little bit, who he is, what makes him take a little bit about him. In this part of the show where you dive into health. Now, Brian specializes in working with men over 40.

He is a health coach. He is a trainer, but he specializes in working with guys in the second segment of our lives. I can appreciate that deeply. Like I said, I'm 44 and I know there are some definite changes in the way my body functions at 44, as opposed to, you know, 34 or even 20. And so we're going to dive into that.

Now, Brian, we got to start right off the bat with something that every guy worries about. We've all heard that our testosterone starts to decline at 30. Uh, every guy who knows anything about that is terrified of that concept. So, talk us through a little bit of the differences as we shift from 20 in the way our health works.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah. I mean, you talk about testosterone, obviously [00:11:00] that's one marker. And I think first and foremost, it's important for people to, you know, get, get their levels check, uh, understand that like, you don't know what you don't know. Like you, I think that you go to the, the, your, your primary health physician and they want to just take certain, um, blood measurements and, and they're not even, some of them aren't even open to doing ones that aren't, you know, being covered by insurance per se.

So I think it's important first and foremost to just measure and know where you're at, um, and that'll help sort of guide you down, you know, you know, what steps you need to take after that. Um, and like you mentioned, testosterone is obviously something that does, along with muscle mass, if you're not lifting, go down every decade.

Um, And so I think, you know, once we understand where we're at, I don't think there's like a quick fix. And I think a lot of people out there want to think that they can just, you know, their testosterone can just, you know, shoot through the roofs if [00:12:00] they start doing a certain thing. But I will say, I think that the easiest and best way To slowly get your testosterone back to optimal levels, uh, is building muscle mass and strength because we do know that sarcopenia does either is a real thing and that's loss of muscle mass and strength goes down about three to eight percent per decade.

Um, after the age of 30 and even a, even a greater decline after the age of 60.

D Brent Dowlen: I'm going to mute my mic. There we go. Now you mentioned before we went to our first break that you changed your mind that you're pliable about learning and staying up in the industry. What do you really changed your mind over the last 10 years? Just give us an idea.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah. Well, I mean, gosh, probably around like 2016, 2017.

I really got into [00:13:00] fasting and, um, I started doing it on myself and then implementing with clients. Um, and don't get me wrong. It's, it's actually done some real great things for individuals. Um, because I think for some people, they need sort of these boundaries around when they're going to eat. But I also started to realize that, like, you know, this whole, you know, low carb or carnivore slash fasting, um, sort of, gosh, I don't know if you want to call it like a, uh, way of eating or a way of, uh, like some people just label themselves as that, right?

They're carnivore or they're, you know, intermittent fasting, and I think they can play a role, but what I think I've changed my mind is that, like, carbs aren't bad, right? Like that, um, As long as you're eating whole food carbs, I think they can actually be of benefit to individuals. And I think that just eliminating complete macronutrients, um, is, is not always the solution.

For some [00:14:00] people, maybe initially it is if they're, if they can't handle, um, you know, maybe they can't digest certain, certain, um, I don't know, vegetables or things like that. But I do think that I've come back to the realization that, um, sometimes more restriction doesn't always. And, and if you start going down that rabbit hole of restriction, eventually you just run out of options, right?

Cause you can only cut so many things and, and then it, and how long, how beneficial is that long term? So if you think different things there, but I've sort of changed my mind around, around that whole, those whole topics. I

D Brent Dowlen: think, right. I used to joke because until recently I finally let my certifications.

Go. Cause out here, there's just not a lot of plentiful work on it. It's more of a hobby anyways, but I used to do a lot of personal training. Uh, and I think I used to joke on my clients. Like, it's like, I can help you lose weight on a jelly bean diet, right? It's, [00:15:00] it's really not a magic food. Um, I think it really becomes individual for people.

Like I tend to, if I'm trying to lose weight or lean out, I'll tend to jump into like a ketogenic diet. I don't do it because I think it's the perfect way to eat. I don't go, Oh, I'm a keto guy. I have really low willpower when it comes to certain sweets and carbs. And so the easiest way for me to jump back into like, uh, uh, trying to lose weight or something is to tell my brains like, okay, no, we're taking a break from this for now, right?

It's not a forever thing. It's a, Oh, I've got to be in wedding pictures. Three months. I should lean out a little bit. I'm getting a little lazy over the winter, right? But it's a my brain having that restriction just going. Nope. Okay taking a break from this for now takes the temptation out Because [00:16:00] I want the sweets.

I have a sweet really bad sweet tooth. And so just telling my brain. Nope You can't have any of that stuff Works, I don't recommend it long term for anyone necessarily because you have to learn what your body does so I don't think there's a I've watched all this diet stuff for years now and it's like What what works?

Well, what works is what you can live with without feeling like your life sucks.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah yeah, I mean, I mean I think obviously the the The oncoming of the whole keto diet has had, like you mentioned, has helped a lot of people in the sense that it has people to prioritize protein, um, to cut out maybe certain gut stressors, right, that are irritant of the gut.

This could be gluten. Um, you know, these could be from, um, different lectins that are in, in, you know, wheats and things like that. And then, you know, cutting out food additives. You know, you talk about like sweets, um, and [00:17:00] just having more nutritious, like red meat. Personally, I think, you know, that is a very nutrient dense food.

And then if they can remove seed oils, right. If they're, you know, and a lot of those seed oils are coming in boxes and bar codes that are, that are just processed foods. Um, you know, if, if the keto diet can bring you that, because we've seen this advent with the keto diet of, um, there's like, you can hear people call it like dirty keto, where it's like.

It's keto, but it's not healthy. , you know, it's not, it's got a, you know, all these additives and, and flavorings and things like that, that, that maybe make keto, but like, that doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy. So, uh, but yes, I think that like eliminating, like you said, like you have a tendency to overdo, maybe it's like, it sounded like processed carbohydrates or processed sugars and things like that that Yeah.

That le led you down, lead you down sort of this black hole of, of eating. Um, and for you, it works, you know, for some other people, it might be something else, [00:18:00] but yes, um, I think anytime you can get away from the standard American diet is a good thing.

D Brent Dowlen: Well, I actually tried keto for the very first time I tried keto.

I was trying it for a client. Um, he's a little heavier. We were looking for a solution for him. He. Brought it to me and I didn't have any experience with it. So it was like, okay, well, let me try this with me because I have experienced dieting. I tried very different. All I think I've probably been through almost all of the different fad diets and styles of eating.

So it was like, let me try this out. I liked it. It felt good for me. It was easy for me, but he had no experience with actually being on a structured diet. And it's like, no, no, you're not doing this. And I still wouldn't ever put him on that diet because I know him and just for him the mentality of that Restraint and I use keto as an example just because it's [00:19:00] my go to when I'm trying to drop a few pounds But it's not necessarily the best diet.

It's not necessarily the right diet, right? Well, I do have to ask because one of the things that I see floating around online I don't know if it's right or not is that After 40 guys do better with a little lower carb, not necessarily no carb, but Less and I think that has to do more with process carbs And the really nasty, like, chemical laden processed foods that our society is soaked with.

But, is it, like, is it better for a little lower carb, a little higher fat over 40? Is that a difference thing? Or, I don't know. This isn't what I do.

Bryan Gryn: You know, I don't necessarily, I mean, there's some truth behind what you said, obviously. Anything processed, whether it's processed, um, carbs, [00:20:00] protein or fat is, is not going to be good, right?

Like, if you're eating high amounts of, um, just of like seed oils and polyunsaturated fatty acids, like that could play a role. Um, I think, I think what I find most is individuals, especially 40 plus, but it could be people that are younger as well, is, is gut health. It's like, I think just plays such a major role in everything like that has to do with, you know, weight and sleep.

Um, and, you know, even just like getting your arms around, um, having a healthy digestive system, I think is really important. And so, um, I started working with clients and using something called like a GI map where we can sort of, it sort of lays out, you know, people get blood work, which is great, but not really telling you what's, what's going on in the gut per se.

And so I think the technology and the, um, the advancements around gut health are going to continue [00:21:00] to evolve. Um, and there's, there's a, there's a lot that goes with it, but having an idea what's going on inside your gut and what foods you might be sensitive to and what foods might work for you, um, can make an impact as well.

So do I think that like, as you get over 40, like low carb necessarily might be, it might be, you know, especially if, if like we said, like, I think if you're coming from the standard American diet, you know, you go on any type of, you know, diet, Um, but even just the vegetarian, vegan, um, road, even though I'm not, that's not like I'm not a fan of that per se.

So I know it works for some people and that, and that's fine, but, cause I do think you're lacking certain nutrients from going that route, but, um, even that people can get results from that. Right. So, um, I do think calories matter to some degree as well. So I think having an idea of like how much you're eating, um, and, and just recording that for like a week, maybe just go on like a chronometer.

Like I use chronometer. And I don't even do it every day. I just try to get a feel for where [00:22:00] I'm at and, and then sort of have an idea. Cause I think some people might think, Oh, well, I'm doing it cause I'm, I'm, maybe I'm overeating, but you could be under eating too. I mean, I don't work with a ton of women, but I do know plenty of women who don't eat enough.

Um, and so that's an issue, but I think first and foremost, you've got to sort of track where you're at and then, and then, and then make sort of. Yeah. Solutions from that is chronometer a tracking app. Yeah

D Brent Dowlen: Most people you say crap tracking app and they jumped like my fitness or something, but my fitness Yeah.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah. I mean, there's quite a few. I just use chronometer I've um, they have a base basic one and a pro one, but it works, right?

D Brent Dowlen: All of them want more money. All of them had the pro model to get more money. Yeah, exactly now As we age right we start to deal with You Depending on the lifestyle you've lived, [00:23:00] uh, you start to deal with some mileage, some wear and tear, right?

My experience with guys, once we hit, you know, 35 to 40, some of those, uh, care free 20 year old moments and 18 year old moments start to come back to haunt us a little bit. some injuries that have, we've racked up along the way and then that joint health, right? And I think part of that has to do with diet, uh, the joint health overall.

I love what you're saying about gut health. I had a conversation with my doctor a couple of years ago and he's like, you know, we're finding out that gut health has more and more to do with just your overall health and blah, blah, blah. And I looked at him and I gave him this, really? Thanks for catching up kind of right.

I asked him, I said, you know, how, how is it that Y'all's medical journals seem to be about 20 years behind bodybuilding magazines, right? [00:24:00] Because they've been talking about gut health and bodybuilding forever So I I'm a big fan. I don't understand gut health as well as I'd like to all right I hear eat yogurt and stuff like that, but there's got to be more involved.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, I mean gut health There is a lot going on. I mean, it's it's like, you know, they say it's like the second brain um It's like our, uh, I would say that you have what's called the intestinal mucosal barrier, which is like, um, it serves like two main functions. I'll just give you like a quick, um, there's a physical barrier to our gut immune system.

It's like a second, it's like a second skin, uh, so it protects the bloodstream from like bad bacteria, toxins, parasites. that are naturally coming in from the things that we eat. So, um, we have these sort of mechanisms that help keep our gut healthy. [00:25:00] But, you know, you have this physical barrier and then, and then you have something called a chemical barrier, which is called something called SIG A, which is, um, it's, it's pretty much just a way of, um, just blocking or helping identify what's good for the gut and what's not good.

And, um, So, like, for example, if you do a, like, some type of gut test and you, and you have, like, high secretory IA, that means that something's going on, um, or you've heard of, like, leaky gut, that means that, like, things are getting in that shouldn't be getting in, and, and leaky gut can happen from, gosh, um, it could be environmental, it could be stress, like, high, if you're, if you've been on antibiotics your whole life, Um, you, you know, so these are things, infections, um, just different food allergies, um, and once you, you, you know, you have your healthy gut, which you have all these like junctions, [00:26:00] these barriers of entry into the bloodstream, but once that gets broken down, which could happen over time.

That's why I was saying, as you get older, this, now that doesn't have to say someone in their twenties and thirties can't have leaky gut. But, you know, once you get, you know, leaky gut or it's leaky and inflamed and, you know, there's some atrophy and then these certain things that aren't supposed to get into your bloodstream do, you know, that's when it can cause issues.

And there are certain, um, you know, there's certain sort of like, um, responses like that IGA that, that can be signals to, um, you know, to allow us to understand that, you know, what's something's going on, right? Like there's some, you know, there's some, there's something that's getting through that shouldn't be.

And so anyways, that's like, you know, the gut, you, you have all these sort of like safe safety measures, but like when things get, get bad, or if something, things come through, like that's when it can sort of compound. And sometimes you don't have any [00:27:00] symptoms from this, right? This is, that's why it's like sort of one of these things that you maybe want to test from time to time.

Um, even if it's once a year, you know, once every couple of years, just, um, you know, see if there's any. Because symptoms and, and you know, it might come down the road that could be from, that could be sinuses, joint pain, like you talked about, I mean, um, constipation, uh, diarrhea, you know, even stuff on your skin.

So you'll, you'll, you'll, you know, the leaky gut affects the whole body. And so you'll, you'll, some people just get these symptoms in different ways. And so people are like, Oh, I have eczema. Okay, well, this could be a gut issue. You know, so

D Brent Dowlen: now I mentioned the achy joints and I, I'm, I'm a high mileage. I've done a lot of damage over the years.

My chiropractor said, if, if you were a car and I was a car, I'm the commuter car that drives three miles and you're the off road vehicle that's never seen paved road. I was like, thanks. I'm not sure how you want me to react to [00:28:00] that, but I've definitely racked up a few miles. How do you talk to men over 40 about maintaining some mobility?

With those racked up injuries with things getting tighter. Do you encourage stretching? Do you, are you a yoga person? What, what's your go to when working with men on that?

Bryan Gryn: Yeah. Um, I do like yoga. I mean, I will say there are parts of yoga where I'm like, yeah, I don't like. necessarily agree with like every little thing that goes on in yoga, but whatever.

You can say that about anything, right? You could always find, you know, certain stretchers or certain things that I'm like, I don't, um, I I'll just pass on that, right? Like some of these moves that, you know, these men and women are doing, I'll just pass on that. And I think that's just knowing yourself and your body.

It's like, okay, that pose is not for me, but I do like yoga in the sense that it gives you this balance. It gives you some mindfulness, uh, just being present [00:29:00] on the mat. You don't have your cell phone. I was like, you bet, I, you know, I do see women and men who have their cell phones right next to their mats.

I don't really get that. Um, you know, but, um, I do like it as far as just like, you know, hips, you know, maybe getting some mobility in your hips, working on balance. Um, and so if someone can do yoga once a week or something like that, that's what I shoot for give or take, but I've been doing it on and off for a long time.

Um, I think that's a great place to start sort of some type of movement meditation. Um, I think, but yeah, like getting your body and also to answer your question, I, so I'm a fan of yoga, but I also think that prepping your body before your lifts are important. Um, and I'm recently going through a certification called Prescript.

I actually had, uh, a gentleman by the name of Jordan Shallow, Dr. Jordan Shallow on, and he sort of, he started this, uh, certification. just really knowledgeable guy about how the body works. And, um, I think that, like, for example, like shoulder health and things like that, you can do certain things. [00:30:00] That can help make your shoulders like just less prone to injury.

I mean, injury can obviously still happen, but so I think just prepping the body like, you know, you, you, I don't, you're not a golfer, but like, like you listen to like Tiger Woods before he goes and plays around a golf. He's prepping for like hours, you know, he's up doing getting his body ready. I think those are the things that need to be done more.

So when you get older, when you're younger, you could just hop out of bed and just lift and be fine. Um, but I do think there has to be a little bit more, um, of like prep work and just making sure that the body's like ready to go, uh, before you do any type of, uh, strenuous activities. So

D Brent Dowlen: I'm, I'm notoriously bad about not doing warmup.

Uh, I, I, I, let me rephrase that. My idea of warmups is. Working my way up in sets as I go with,

Bryan Gryn: and let me tell you, I think that's fine. I mean, I really do. I don't think you need to do some fancy warmup. I don't, you know, [00:31:00] stretching or things like that, but yes, that's right. Like slowly working your way up is a, you know, that's a form of warmup, right?

D Brent Dowlen: So I, I tell guys all the time, I was like, you, you see those guys like doing powerlifting me. So they're like, I'm a big strong man fan. And I was like, you guys saw, saw that lift on camera. You didn't see the hour and a half they've been warming up to do that one lift on camera. They didn't just walk out there and grab a thousand pound yoke and start walking with it cold.

That's how you die.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, yeah, I mean, like you said, I think working up to a set is a warm up in itself. I don't think you need to do anything crazy, but, you know, even just little things before squatting, you know, like say you're doing like, single leg, You know, deadlifts or like hip airplanes or, um, even walking lunges is a great form of just getting the body prepped before you do a [00:32:00] squat, you know, things like that I think can can over time go in your favor and work well, um, just to get the body ready.

D Brent Dowlen: What do you think? I think one of the things people neglect a lot of time and it's my opinion. What is your prescription for men, especially over 40 on post workout care, right? Recovery. Sleep.

Bryan Gryn: I think sleep is number one. I think, like, now I feel like as I, I mean, I'm 43, you're 44. I mean, I try to really hone in on that as my basis for recovery and obviously giving myself a number of days of sleep.

You know, I think, you know, obviously I've been, I don't know how long you've been lifting for, Brent, but like I've been lifting for so long that I'm, it, it's not like I'm like crazy sore and, you know, I'm not really, you know, I'll have bouts of little soreness, but, but I think it's just about listening to your body and knowing, you know, when, when you're ready to, to, to get back [00:33:00] in and do something else in the gym.

But I think post workout, I think just focusing on quality sleep. It's probably like 80 percent of it.

D Brent Dowlen: Uh, we're huge fans of sleep here. Uh, actually both my sponsors are sleep related because. I put so much, like I was the typical guy for years. It was like, ah, sleep when I'm dead. Right. Quality sleep has, is so incredibly important and it plays back into like gut health as well.

Right. Getting your body enough rest. Uh, I think people under recover. I don't think you have to do that. Like I always get a kick out of the people I see at the gym who are like 20 or 30 minutes of foam rolling. They lift a couple sets and then they're like another 30 minutes. So like, you know, working on it.

So as muscle and all this stuff with like a tennis ball and I'm like, what'd you actually lift? Right. You got an hour and a half of pre [00:34:00] workout and workout recovery and you've got like 15 minutes of lifting man

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, I mean, I think I think It can be overdone. I mean like we said I think focus on quality sleep and then you know Obviously probably making sure that you're getting quality protein.

I think those are like You know, just to help obviously, uh, you get those amino acids, the complete amino acid profile and making sure that, you know, um, we can build ourselves back up, right? Cause that's the whole idea. So, um, those two things I think are most important.

D Brent Dowlen: What is the biggest thing you noticed between dealing with like a 30 year old client and a 40 plus year old client?

Bryan Gryn: Well, I used to work with like 20, 30 year olds. Probably, I used to train them, um, back probably like 7, 8, 9, 10 years ago. The biggest difference between, um, I, I mean, I think probably what we've been talking a little bit about is just with the older clients, you just have to [00:35:00] ease them into it a little bit more, get the body moving and, and, and so I think it just takes a little bit more time than the younger clients and younger clients can, can recover quicker.

Then that older clients, but you know, I've had plenty of older clients that can lift more than the younger clients. So I don't think like strength, strength is something that can be built at any time, um, for, for anyone. I mean, it gets a little more blunted as we get older, but you can still build strength and build muscle as we get older.

So, but I think the biggest is probably just the fact that as you get older, you need to focus even more on recovery than you do when you're younger.

D Brent Dowlen: With your 40 plus year old clients, do you have a preferred regimen as far as what you've seen, right? You've worked with enough men. What works and what does not work, you know, obviously you've got to take in consideration Like you got guys like yourself who have lifted for a long time So your training regimen doesn't look like someone who's [00:36:00] never lifted before necessarily But have you found certain things work better?

Uh, past 40 with clients on average.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I have some clients that came to me and they, they're fairly untrained and for untrained clients. I think it's important to, you know, maybe just start doing a little bit of everything, you know, like we don't really talk about like splits when it comes to workouts.

I think that's maybe a little bit geared towards more advanced lifters, but I think for people who are just starting out, um, just doing a little bit of everything. Total body. you know, um, and making sure that you're just sort of hitting, hitting each body part and not too much. I don't think you have to overdo it.

And because everything's sort of, um, gosh, it's just, uh, you know, if, if I had a client that was untrained and came to me and we did an hour legs, you know, you're creating, [00:37:00] too much of a stimulus right there that their recovery is going to be difficult. And, and I, it's just, it, that's not, that's, you're, you're almost going to go backwards before you go forwards on that standpoint.

So I think the important thing starting out for an untrained individual is to make small steps, take small steps and to realize that you don't have to be crazy sore to get results. Um, so I think those, you know, as you deal with people that are more advanced and have been training for a while, then you can sort of get into different splits and, and focus a little bit more on like exactly like how many sets of reps we should really get into.

D Brent Dowlen: You guys, we've been discussing slight differences and that's thing is we're not saying you turn from 39 to 40 and your whole approach to your fitness has to change. We're saying there are definitely some things you're going to take notice of and some tweaks you need to start making. We're not talking about a 20 year old versus a 60 year old.[00:38:00]

We're talking about just realizing your body does change with time. And there are certain things you're going to have to pay attention to. But for the average guy, especially in America, we have a lot of professions that leave us in really unhealthy ways. I think a lot of sitting, a lot of screen time these days, sitting in chairs for long periods of time.

So for our listeners who are listening to this thinking, Oh, you know, I, I, maybe I should start paying attention to my health. Can you start walking us down with some tips just to say, Hey, if you're ready to start trying to get your health back on point, right? You're, you want to play with those, keep playing with your kids.

You want to have that energy to live your life actually. Where's the starting point for us? Can we start walking us through how we go?

Bryan Gryn: Yeah. I mean, I I'll take you through like what I take a typical client through. And you know, the first thing that we address is, you know, [00:39:00] we create some type of clarity and set a baseline of where we're at and you can go through, you can go as crazy or you can get minimal on this, or you could go. Grey Z as far as how intricate you want to learn about your body and, you know, sort of where you're at at this time.

So sort of like a, however you want to go about doing that, that full baseline assessment, it could be something from a Dexa scan, you know, to, uh, blood work, uh, you know, to, you know, like GI map. Now, again, I think it's important to. To maybe have a coach or someone to help you out with this, to analyze your results, but I think being aware of like where you're at and then understanding like where you want to go is important.

And then why you want to go there. Um, I think, but once we get past that and we understand sort of where we're at, um, I think it's important to identify like one to three sort of low hanging fruits or like those, those major [00:40:00] culprits. That will make the biggest impact early on in your health. Um, and so, you know, this could be a lot of different things for different people.

Um, Maybe you like you met like Brent mentioned, you're someone who does sit at their desk and you find that you're just not getting enough movement throughout the day. This could come down to just, you know, adding in a daily walk. Um, preferably whenever I don't think there's a perfect time. It could be, you know, during lunch, be in the morning.

First thing I always say, like, if there's something that you want to put as a priority, try to do it first thing. Um, because as our day goes on, we tend to find excuses. So, so once we create clarity, then we want to identify like one to three sort of major culprits that are, um, sort of we feel that are not serving our health.

Um, and another example would be, let's say that you tend to eat late at night. Okay. Well, what can we do to counteract [00:41:00] that? Maybe we can replace that with something else. Um, if you're snacking, just let's say you're snacking on chips at night. Okay. Maybe we can set a time that we stop eating. Uh, let's just say seven o'clock is the time.

So anything after seven, maybe you can drink something you can't, but we're not going to eat something because typically after seven, we're eating things that aren't necessarily good for our health. So that would be maybe another example of sort of that low hanging fruit that we can, you know, make the biggest impact with.

Um, and then from there. Gosh, we get into like activity upgrade and understanding and Brennan, I'm just sort of walking you through my process. You can stop me whenever, whatever we can elaborate or go, go through more, but, um, understanding like your activity level and what it, what it is right now. And then I think.

I think what's important is, you know, we talked about daily walks, but I do think that like, especially as we get older, like resistance training is that much more important. So [00:42:00] doing some type of lifting and this could be body weight lifting. Um, this could be with bands. I don't know if you've heard of the X three I've had, I've had Dr.

Jake wish on, I used it during COVID for a long time. I'm not using it as much, but there's a lot of different avenues out there where you can do it from your house and it doesn't have to be like an hour and a half trip to the gym. And so, you know, it could be a little bit of a micro workout, right?

Literally, just do a walking lunge or just a wall squat, right? While you're just sitting there, uh, in your office or wherever you're at. So putting in these small, like, just moat like activities that hopefully the goal will be to get them to become habits. All right, that takes some time. Um, and then we get into anything, you know, sleep related, obviously.

And I just think, you know, I don't know if we can get into this or not, but building routines around your morning and your evening, I think, are really important. Sort of the bookends of your day. Um, you know, Brett, like you talked about, you like to get things done [00:43:00] early. Um, I think that's great and I think for anyone that's looking to upgrade their health, gosh, less distractions, less people up early on, you know, obviously we want to, you know, you got to find a mix because we want to also prioritize quality sleep.

So, um, you know, if, if you, if you're not getting enough sleep and you're getting up too early, uh, you know, that could be an issue as well. But I do think that if you, let's say you want to get into, you know, an early morning walk or some type of lift early on, if that's the only time that works. Then I think that's the time that, you know, would be good for you.

Um, so

D Brent Dowlen: in here for a second, uh, I started getting up early guys because that's when it worked for me, right? That's when I had time when the rest of my world, my immediate world, my household was asleep. What? When I had. All right, if I wanted to get stuff done, if I wanted to work on these alternative things that weren't currently in my day, they were [00:44:00] new things I was adding.

I had to get up and get it done. Right? I go to bed pretty early. Like, I'm, I'm a little old man in that. I'm usually in bed by like, A 45 or nine because I get up at four, right? Uh, and, and I found that works for me. Some people are night people. There is some research that says that sleep is more important before midnight.

The sleep you get before more than midnight is more important and more valuable for your body. Uh, I've read some studies on that. That always interested me. You're talking about micro workouts. I'm a huge fan of kettlebells. Like you can have a single kettlebell in your office and do a lot with it. Uh, for micro workouts, whether you're just carrying it around with you are actually like doing some kind of kettlebell exercise.

I actually used to work in the corporate world, uh, and I had a yoga mat I kept under my desk because I worked in the night shift. So on my lunch break, [00:45:00] I would turn on a yoga video on YouTube and roll out my yoga mat and push my desk to the chair to the side. And I'd have the security guard walk through a couple of times in the middle of the night and just kind of pause.

The first couple of times he just kind of paused and was like, are you okay? Right. Yeah, lunch, doing some yoga, then we got to where like he'd be walking through and I'd be in like, you know, warrior two or something and he'd be like, just keep on walking. Didn't think anything of it anymore. Yeah, that's yeah.

But that's, that's when I could get into yoga and that really helped my spine. Uh, I also, when I was on day shift, used to do walks during lunch. I worked in this big building and so I could get some sunshine and some air and get outside actually, because I think that's healthy. I would walk during my lunch period and just walk laps around my building.

So I think I love what you're saying about, you know, Low hanging fruit taking some of the stuff [00:46:00] that's you you know what it is, right? I go keto when I want to lose weight because I know the temptation for me is to eat the Refined sugars and carbs like ice cream and cookies and crap like that and I don't eat a little bit I eat a lot a bit which is a problem Right.

So for me, that's a low hanging fruit. Cause I know if I eat a little bit, I'm not going to eat a little bit. I'm going to have the bowl, like the, you know, the, the man cereal bowl, you can pour half a box of cereal in. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm going to do, I'm going to do that with ice cream. So for me, that was low hanging fruit to pull that out when I'm trying to get my diet back on track.

Because I know what a temptation that is for me, right? So I like this idea of low hanging fruit. I think we try and make it complicated sometimes the little health choices. Um, so can we dive into that just a little bit more as far as, you know, [00:47:00] what, what's some things that guys just don't think about?

Bryan Gryn: Well, like you said, the little, it's the little health choices they add up over time. You know, it's like, it's like, um, there's a great book, uh, Jeff Olson called the slight edge. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but highly recommend. Um, it's just a book you can go back to, but it just talks about those little daily decisions that we either make or don't make, and they're sort of simple little things, but, um, they just add up over time and those are the decisions that are going to sort of put you on the road and these have time either work for you or against you.

And so, you know, you talk about like those little walks and things like that. And I think I see a lot of people just like put things off, put things off, put things off instead of just doing it. And even if just going for starting with like a five minute walk and then just building that momentum. And that's why we talk about those low hanging fruits early on, because I think it's really important to build momentum early on.

So it doesn't have to be anything [00:48:00] groundbreaking and, and like, Oh, this magic, whatever. It just has to be those little things, those little decisions that you make on a daily basis. that slowly add up and work in, you know, work in your favor when it comes to health. Um, so, but you were asking, um, sorry, I just went on a little tangent about no,

D Brent Dowlen: you're fine.

You're absolutely fine. I think, I think that is actually probably one of the bigger things I've learned at 40 that I wish I had paid more attention to at 30. Is it's it's not that one big thing you do, right? And that's not just in health, right? That's in everything. It's it's the collective little things stack on top of each other over time.

Mm hmm. It's something I wish I had caught on earlier into life.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, no doubt. I think, you know, I was lucky my parents got me [00:49:00] into lifting sort of like they started doing it. For them, it was later, but for me, I would think I was like 16, 17 in that range and, you know, just being around like minded individuals and being, having that community, you know, you talk about like for yourself, you like the strong man competitions.

I mean, that's a community, right? Those are people that are all looking towards the same goals and working together. That's why I think like CrossFit became so big was that community aspect. And, and whether you want to agree with how everything they do is, is, you know, that's up, up in the air, but, but it's built community and, and honestly, like it's, it's, it's, you know, had such a great benefit for so many people that.

Yeah. So I think that's another big pillar is hanging around people who are, that you look towards as far as health and wellness, you know, And just the way they carry it themselves, um, you know, so I mean, we see it all the time, people who hang out when we're younger, [00:50:00] right? You hang out with the wrong crowd in high school or whatever, and then you end up doing what they do.

And so I think it's important to maybe, uh, you know, as you get older, I think you're more aware of that and, and, um, more conscious of the people you hang around with and making sure that they, they're, they're, they have, you know, the same goals and the same aspirations that you want to have.

D Brent Dowlen: You won't catch us trash talking The other disciplines very out much around here.

I'll tease. I have a mentor who is a Ranked chop CrossFit like diet die is 50 I want to say he's 55 now 50 455 and dude is ripped. He is in phenomenal health Um, he he's a great crossfitter and I love him to death. I gave him a little bit of a hard time Uh because I got him to come down and do a strongman competition Oh,

Bryan Gryn: cool.

And, [00:51:00] uh, yeah, that's probably a totally different discipline for him though. Oh, yeah. I'm sure he, I don't know how he did, but those are two different ways.

D Brent Dowlen: He did really well. Like the overall fitness level from his discipline with CrossFit, the overall fitness level and health carried him. Cause we were doing like, it was a novice level competition.

I was doing that event. I was running. And so I knew I was going to have a lot of area guys who didn't train or anything like that. So I, I, I didn't push the levels up on it. Right. Sure. But he did great. But yeah, he was like, yeah, I won. Cause you weren't competing. I'm like, well, I'm the host. It looks bad.

If I win my own competition. Uh, right. He was like, yeah, I won because you weren't competing. I was like, but it was, I was like, it's totally different discipline and it is very, very different. So I don't pick on too much CrossFit. I think you're right. The community aspect of that helped so many people get healthy.

Uh, [00:52:00] and, and so I absolutely, I have a deep respect for CrossFit fit for that purpose is the way they organized it. Reached a lot of people that the gym hadn't reached before. Um, so I, I, I, I tease other disciplines like, uh, I treat teas, bodybuilders, but I have the utmost respect for the guys who get into that because the discipline takes to do that as unreal.

I think one of the things is you have to adjust your expectations though at 40. Right. Uh, art, can you still compete in bodybuilding or strong man or CrossFit or? Yes. I know a lot of guys who approve of that. Like I said, my friend is a ranked CrossFitter at 55. He, he did the CrossFit open in Vancouver, Canada.

He took third, the two guys who beat him were [00:53:00] 20. That's

Bryan Gryn: impressive.

D Brent Dowlen: Right? Yeah. 55 year old, 20 year olds. And these are the podiums, you know? Uh, so you absolutely can now he has years and years and years of fitness. So you probably aren't going to podium, uh, If you start your fitness journey after 40, you do have to have realistic expectations.

I know I will never necessarily compete in the top 1 percent of power lifters are not power are even strong men, right? Because I racked up a lot of injuries. And I don't recover like I used to,

Bryan Gryn: and I remember Magnus, Oh, right. And he was like,

D Brent Dowlen: yeah, he's still around. He does a lot of judging at the big events.

Magnus is at world's strongest man and Arnold, which are the two really big, uh, like they're, they're the crown glory events of power of strong man. Magnus is always a judge. He's one of the head judges. [00:54:00] Usually that man is is a legend still and gets all kinds of respect in That sport. Yeah, rightfully so Brian.

What do you have coming up? What's next on the big project list for you?

Bryan Gryn: It's a good question. I you know, I came out with a book about four months ago. So I've just been getting it out there it's a It's called a stepladder system. It pretty much walks through like what I take clients through in a six month period You And, uh, just, it's almost like a workbook.

I don't want to say it's a book, but, um, and it's mainly a PDF, but you can get it in a soft cover. Um, and yeah, that's been the big thing for me lately, you know, between that and the podcast and then just general coaching with clients. I think those are the main things right now.

D Brent Dowlen: How has that experience writing a book?

Bryan Gryn: Well, I've done two books. I did a kid's book, which was easy. Not, I, I shouldn't even say that was easy. You know, I'm, I'm, uh, [00:55:00] I did a kid's book just for fun, like 2017. Uh, it's called the magic zoo and, uh, yeah, no, it's, it's fun. It's a cool journey. I mean, it's a great way to just get your thoughts out there.

You know, this step ladder system, I, I did it, you know, it's obviously my thoughts, but I got some help. You know, I think that's important if you're, if you're just starting out with a book. So I had someone to help me write it, but, um, yeah, it's fun. It's, it took time. I think it took at least, you know, about six to eight months to do.

D Brent Dowlen: Tell us about your podcast.

Bryan Gryn: Yeah, there you go. Get lean, eat clean podcast. Uh, that's cool. Um, yeah, I've gosh, I have over 350 episodes. Wow. Congratulations

D Brent Dowlen: on that.

Bryan Gryn: Um, I started around COVID and, um, started out with one episode a week. Now I do two. I do a micro. Talk about micro workouts. We do sort of a micro show.

I noticed, I think you do that a little bit with your podcast [00:56:00] and that'll be maybe averages eight to 10 minutes, just maybe on a topic I touched on, or we touched on with a guest or, um, something that I just thought was top of mind. That would be important to discuss. So micro, and then we do interviews, um, gosh, all different individuals are experts from the health field.

Um, talking about anything from, you know, what we've talked about today to, you know, getting into, you know, health and wellness for all different types of individuals. So yeah, um, it's been good. Yeah. It's, it's, I mean, I'm, you know, I enjoy it. I'll do it until I stop enjoying. I think you do a podcast because it's something that you enjoy and it's a good way to just meet new people, um, and, and also learn, um, and help, help your audience learn as well.

So, um, definitely it's the, the podcast space has been great. become more popular since when I started, uh, whatever four or five years ago. Um, but, but I still do enjoy doing it. So

D Brent Dowlen: I, I had one of my, uh, clients ask me, cause I do [00:57:00] some consulting for podcasting as well. Uh, they're like, how do you know when you're done?

I was like, well, if I stop enjoying doing this, Right. The podcast is over. If I don't want to do it anymore, if I don't love doing it, like I, I love doing this. If I stopped loving doing this and it's done. Right.

Bryan Gryn: Right. Exactly. Yeah. Cause I don't, you know, I, I mean, do you start a podcast to make money? No. I mean, you started to get a message across.

Uh, there's a, could be a bunch of reasons, but yeah, if you're not enjoying it, it's not, it's not worth the time.

D Brent Dowlen: Oh yeah. Yeah. And for all you out there, I hate to disillusion you, but like you have a better chance of starting a legit business than you do of succeeding in podcasting, majority of podcasts will never, ever, ever make a dime.

Um, so I hate to put that out there into the universe. That's just unfortunately the reality. So yeah, it's definitely a labor of love to do it. Brian, where is the best place for people to connect with you?

Bryan Gryn: Um, [00:58:00] I'm on, you know, I'm on the social media sites, not crazy, but, um, uh, I would say the best place is my website.

Just briangrin. com. Um, if you want to, uh, reach out and we do, you know, do a short consult, like a 15 minute talk, you know, we can discuss. If you want to reach out, um, but that's where everything is. That's sort of the hub, social media, my podcast, Brian grin. com is, is, is the best in my book is all there.

D Brent Dowlen: And of course, guys, we'll have all of Brian's, uh, connection points down in the show notes or the description, whatever platform you're listening to this on or watching it on, I know you're all concerned. About what decade in the Netflix series Stranger Things takes place in hmm. You know, that's got that's the important part, right?

You said 70s and then you correct 80s. It is actually in the 80s For all of you. My daughter has been enjoying watching that with me. That's become a daddy daughter thing I've seen it all before but she's finally old enough at 12. I'm okay with her watching it with me So we've been, [00:59:00] we've been watching that with my nine year old is off at a friend's house or something.

That's just some us time super entertaining show. Uh, very different. So I, I like shows that are halfway original actually, because there's so few of those these days. Right. Right. Brian, if our audience heard nothing else today, nothing else in this conversation, what is the most important thing you want them to hear?

Bryan Gryn: That's

D Brent Dowlen: a good

Bryan Gryn: question. I would say the most important thing would be just to prioritize their health. Um, I think that especially when we talk a lot about 40 plus, you put your health on the back burner. Maybe you have kids, you have work and you wake up and it's 20 years later and you're like, well, not happy with the way you look or feel or your confidence.

And I think that like the earlier that you can prioritize your health, not only it's going to do you good, but it's going to help the people around you. And it'll allow you to be around for kids, grandkids and things [01:00:00] like that. So I think just the fact that you, if you start prioritizing your health and maybe even go out and hire a coach, I think it's a great place to start as well, just to get you going.

Um, I think that, you know, that's, that's first and foremost. So putting yourself first, I think is important

D Brent Dowlen: guys for myself, Brian, thanks for hanging out with us today. Be sure and check out these other episodes and be better tomorrow because what you do today, we'll see you in the next one.

David McCarter: This has been the fellow man podcast.

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