Why Men Over 40 Are Aging Faster Than They Should And How to Reverse the Decline. Guest: Janet McConnell - 36

0:00 Welcome to Driven for Health. This is episode 36 and really excited to have you here today with Janet and I. Now Janet is a longevity specialist. She has transformed her life from her 30s forties when she realized she just wasn't looking or feeling that great. And we'll go into her story a little bit. And then when we when she transformed through the last what 2 decades or so at the young age of, I'm not even going to say how old she is or young she is because she does not look how young she is. She's a testament to good health, good nutrition and just overall taking care of yourself.

0:46 Let's welcome Janet McConnell to our show and we're going to jump into longevity. Janet, what is one or two key pieces of takeaways you'd love for the guests to just grab on to? Hello and thank you so much, Coach Brian for that introduction. And it is OK to say my age. I'm going to be 70 in four months. That's incredible, right? I wanted you to say it, not me. No, I know in our culture we're afraid of that. Like never your age. I mean, if you're a longevity person, you should tell your age because that. It's a badge of honor for you, right? I, I hope my goal is I'm 42, almost 43 at the end of this month, being today's December 8th, but 28th is my 43rd birthday.

1:36 But I just want to look and feel the way I do now when I'm 50. But I imagine that'll keep going until I'm 70. I just want to be young and Sprite and energetic and all so right. Well, so to answer your question. And if you keep going the way you are, you will reach that goal. Thank you. Thank you. I think it's important, you said a couple of takeaways. Yeah, like one or two big things that you want to grab onto and then we'll jump into the story. So we just spoke the audience, right? We want to get them all ready to go. Yes. So I think that one of them that I believe very strongly and that I want people to take away from this is a way of shedding this.

2:16 The idea that aging is something to avoid because we can't avoid it. So they to meet it is head on in saying aging is inevitable but decay is optional. I love that that is that's powerful. I like that a lot. So what she's saying is that you can choose to take care of yourself or let yourself go, but at no matter what point you are in life, And she and I are both a testament to working with way too many clients throughout the years, that no matter where you're at, you still have the choice to improve yourself. Even if you let yourself fall victim to a chronic illness, just not paying attention to life, stress, all sorts of different things that like throws at us, you can still choose to do that.

3:06 So let's jump in your story with that juicy nugget. Tell us what were some of the say when you're around my age, that middle life, because that's where a lot of my listeners are in that middle age. They've got young families, kids. It's crazy trying to do all the things and we know that women are super women for sure, and and that's part of your story. But the the guys too, they get they're having their own issues with juggling all the demands in middle age and we'd much rather have a midlife evolution in a sense of better health than a midlife crisis. And they crash and burn with their relationships, their finances, their create whatever. We don't need to do that.

3:50 Right. Well, I think that sometimes that crisis does come, but it can be the doorway to transformation and it can be a new beginning. But it doesn't mean you have to have a crisis to be healthy when you're older. It's just sometimes that's the way it, it's like, it like takes you by the shoulders and shakes you a little bit. So that's exactly what happened to me. And you're absolutely right. I think from our late days to about 50, depending on the person, those are the hustle years because back when you're ramping up your career, you're creating your family, you are establishing yourself in society and you are and, and we're off to the races. So there's some that you need to do and cram into every day and every week and every year that and it and it's, I mean, quite frankly, it's pretty fun, stressful sometimes, but very changing.

4:52 And what can happen. And what happened for me is that I started out my life very healthy. So as a young person, I was an athlete, my parents were vegetarians. I had this amazing, you know, I became like this iron child and I was good at everything in sports. And as I launched into my 20s, I was still healthy because I was still I had that youthful vitality. So many people, they take from that high school and they're athletic, and then it starts to be that some point in the college years or early 20s where they get settled into life. And that's probably what sounds like might have happened to you. Yes, yes, my, my career was so fun and engaging and, and satisfying and, and I just fell in love with it. And I stopped paying attention to my health because I was already healthy.

5:46 I took it for granted. I, I will admit that I took it for I was like, I don't know what all this business is about going to a gym. I mean, what are you doing? I mean, I would go on a hike or play a football game or whatever. I could do all those things without training for it. So I didn't really quite understand what the hullabaloo was about until I got into my mid 40s. And at that point I was just a notch below the C-Suite. I was a director of operations traveling all over the country. Lots of responsibilities. Yes, and and and sleep deprived, jet lagged, eating hotel food and airline food and eating on the run.

6:32 And usually those foods are not healthy. Carbs, sodiums and fats, right? Fried things and sugary things and caffeinated things. Well, and it was OK. I mean, I wasn't, I wasn't sickly, but I was gaining weight and I, I was feeling a little more tired and it was harder to keep up, like to bounce back after a difficult weeks, for example. So anyway, I went to my annual physical when I was 46, as one should do, and the blood work came back. And my doctor, he just kind of sat me down and he kind of looked at me over. The talk that you don't want to ever get right, right.

7:15 And he he slid a stack of prescriptions across the dust and he said, I don't know what's going on with you, Janet, but you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high triglycerides and you are borderline obese and you are on your way to early heart disease. Right. And that just hit me so hard. I mean, I knew it was a little fluffy, but so is everybody else, you know, I, I didn't, I wasn't like fat, like I felt like I was, you know, really. Also, just think about the culture that you're in the position in your career and just the the family raising all the all those things that are going on in that 40 ish time window.

7:58 I'm feeling and my oldest is 16. I've got it 16, soon to be 15 and like a week, then 12 and 10, three boys and girl. It's I spent at least 15 plus hours Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at after school events, which then cramps my work schedule and capacity to do all that or let alone do anything for myself. It's just forget working out. I have to work, go to the after school thing and then I'm falling asleep by the time it's past bedtime. Yeah. It's like your commitments that you set into place because you wanted to then just kind of become A and you can't just keep it. It's like a gravity well that you can't escape until something just shakes your complete world where you have to stop and take stock. So he had a little pep talk with me and said, listen, you aren't, you are you're trending down.

8:52 And it's I don't want to see this. You're, you're you really are too young to be this old. And so here's some prescriptions to get you back on track. No talk of exercise or what I was eating or anything. And. Just medicine. I just glanced down at them and those were the medications my grandparents were taking and I was like no, no, something just, I just, I got stubborn really quickly and I said listen, give me 6 months, give me and and he goes, are you bargaining with me? Yes, I am. But he needs I had been seeing him for a few years. And so, all right, let's make the appointment right now.

9:34 Let's write it down and you're coming back and you'd better throw up. And if you're still not good, then you're taking these prescriptions. OK dear, so I. Want to interject real quick, just for everyone listening, The reason the doctors give you prescription is they're there to triage, they're there to help immediately. Everyone knows that it's a lifestyle change. You got to change your nutrition and exercise and all that. But the doctors, due to our healthcare system, their bandwidth, the insurance, all these things that we're not going to talk about but we know are a big challenge for them to actually serve their clients very well. If you come in with high blood pressure, they give you a blood pressure pill tomorrow.

10:18 It's normal and you are adherently healthier and at lower risk. If you have cholesterol issues, you take this pill and it will lower consequently and keep you healthier, longer, show less signs. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't do something to get away from that health issue. But I just want to throw that out there. And that's why the doctors do what they do. But they would love that you just, you bargain like Janet. And I can't tell you how many clients that I've had show up on my door saying the doctor wanted to put me on meds and I said no. And then I didn't know what to do. But episode was it 29?

10:59 Yeah, it was episode 29. I had a colleague on his name was Brian too. He had a 374 blood sugar. He had the cholesterol he had he had the whole game it and he did the exact same that you did. He said I'm not doing this if I'm going to die young, then I will, but I'm not taking meds. And then he made a quite a shift. He slipped and kind of fell back in old routines. But then he ultimately has had a lifelong shift going into his mid 50s to the point where he has developed a fitness coaching business with his son, his mid 20s son. So it's a complete 180 in lifestyle. So if you're listening in and you are excited about what Janet's saying, listen to episode 29 and Brian has a story that'll help inspire you as well of being that stubborn.

11:50 I'm not going to take medicine route. And So what happened and after that point that you actually transitioned in the last what, 2:00-ish decades? Right. Well, it was a rude awakening. It was much needed. And I'm really glad that my doctor gave me just a little bit of grace to pull myself together. And I, I, well, after I had a little hysterical meltdown in the parking lot, I went to Walt and I talked to my boss about it because I said, listen, I've got this bit, this thing I need to work on, but I don't want to back on my travel schedule. She said, well, I have a trainer, Janet, why don't you just hire him? He's fun. He really knows what he's doing.

12:32 He'll take care of you. You'll show up because you have an appointment and start with that and then figure out the rest as you go. And I was good at, so I did that and he happened to be a bodybuilding trainer and it was fun and I loved it. So I was very compliant. So I did all of the, the, the bodybuilding strength training and didn't address my diet at all. Brian only did my only worked out, but it was three days a week at 5:00 AM and. Yeah, it's committed. Yeah, I was serious. I I took it on. And so by the end of six months, even without changing my diet, I had lost 35 lbs, which tells you how much I needed exercise.

13:14 Yeah, exercise really helped. And the quiet came in after, because then after I went to my doctor, got cleared because all of my symptoms were gone and I was much in much better shape. I saw these two women that came to my gym training at the same time as me who were just a little bit younger, but they were jacked. And I was like, they're lifting the same weights I'm lifting. If I was curling a 20 LB dumbbell, they were curling a 20 LB dumbbell. They look like that. And I remember asking my trainer, why is it that we're doing the same thing? And they look like that. And I said, oh Janet, they're bodybuilding competitors and they're five weeks out in the stage. And so they you have to eat strategically. And I said, what does that mean?

14:02 And you want it now? So that was a year late. Here's the other thing. Is that you? You you said no to the medicine, Then the next step, you consulted a close friend or Co worker, They gave you a solution. Hey, hire this person that knows what they're doing. And that was just the next step. And then you started showing up and that was the next step. But just show up when you schedule and do the work. They ask in a personal trainer. I was a personal trainer for six years and then I owned a gym and and that was the main thing. Just show up when we agree that you're going to come and you will be significantly more compliant. And what I'm trying to say to the audience is it's just a simple next step of, OK, I need to move in the direction of getting healthier. And then it starts to unfold.

14:49 Now she's hooked, bought in. She's already had an incredible transformation so far, But then we're human. We always want more. It just can't always just settle. It's just like, oh, what are they doing? OK. And that's because your, your, your social circles were different as well. And, and the what was accepted and what was seen as OK and, and the next step. And, and that's just as how this unfolds. A tiny little story of me. I ran in high school, I ran in college, realized they their warm up speed was my race space. It felt like I said, all right, I'm a little out of my league here, but I went to a Saturday morning running group that was fun and engaging. We get up and running Saturdays and 12 miles on the Buckeye Trail.

15:33 All of a sudden I ran A50 mile race. I ran a dozen marathons because that's what they did. And guilt by association. I wanted to be like my peers and, and so this is where you're at. So what what was some of the the, the shifts that that transitioned of say that nutrition piece now? Yeah, that's powerful. What you just described is that surrounding yourself with the people that you want to be more like because that will inspire you and they'll pull you along on days when you don't feel it, you know? Yeah, you're not always going to feel it. Right, right. But so I think what happened too was I had reached that goal of getting off of my doctor's radar. And then I didn't have a new goal. But when I saw those ladies and found out that they were, I was like, OK, I want that now.

16:18 So it's also what is the next goal? And don't leave yourself, you know, treading water for too long without it. So I saw that I wanted that, and a year later I was on my first bodybuilding stage. But that required that strategic eating, which reduced me to the idea of eating clean. Plenty of protein, a balance of carbs and fats, healthy fats, healthy carbs, slow carbs, all of that. And then learning how to schedule everything and and and very measured and aware so that you can't. As soon as you try to trick yourself, it shows up on your body.

17:01 Your body doesn't lie. No, if you're not losing weight, it's because you're not in the calorie deficit. Period. Yeah, yeah, that's it's nice that something in this world doesn't lie, but does it have to be your body? Right, right. So that began my journey of learning how to eat clean, take care of my body, really honor the hard work. I can see what's happening to my body and thought, why would I give it junk? Look at it, look what it's doing for me. So I got a respect for my body, which gave me confidence. It changed everything and then after a couple of years of that, it really propelled me into wanting to change my life purpose from being a corporate person for a company. It was great mission, but it really was not dear to my heart. Not an alignment.

17:55 Right. And so that's when I became a fitness trainer and into all things health and longevity. And and so let's just pause here for a moment. So getting rewinding everything, the doctor appointment turned into talking with your Co worker, turned into a personal trainer, turned into 35 lbs down, turned into want to hey, they're doing what I'm doing. Why am I not getting better results turned into you paying a lot more attention to nutrition. And I just want to throw this in here. There are a lot of different ways to go about nutrition in a sense, but Janet was eating Whole Foods, she was eating portion food, she was having proteins, vegetables, searching guards, some fruit, and having balance in the day, eating an appropriate calorie amount for what her body needs were to reach her goals. And whether you want to be a bodybuilder or not, a go on stage or not, that's irrelevant.

18:53 The physique athletes just stay in a diet longer in a sense, and diet meaning that we're in a cut phase, a fat loss phase for an extended amount of time. And any person could do that if they're willing or want to stay in that cut phase for an extra two or three months in a sense. And then they will be as lean as a stage competitor, bodybuilder or physique athlete. And I just want to throw that out there to anyone listening in that there's no difference of what where Janet was when she decided to shift to her getting to that say elite level, conditioning level. So just willing to do the work longer. And you could already tell she's a go getter because of like her career path and all.

19:37 And and then she just shifted that intensity and drive in her career and focus some of it on her health. And it made a obviously a lifelong shift. So anyone else can do this. I talked to so many high performing, productive, career driven people and they're successful and got money in the bank in the car and the the vacations in the house and blah, blah, blah. And they don't have the body and then they're high. Agency or capacity in one area and and really alone the other and one of my habits and and strategies and probably yours as well because we'll get into the actual coaching pieces you borrow from this person to to pull into this to raise up your health. And that is a very strategic coaching practice that we do. So now you're coaching people.

20:29 You have some processes here was go heavy and go home myths, right? And strength versus ego lifting and different things. Let's jump into some of your actual how you coach men, because that's your primary audience too. That's why we're here. And they're say 40s, fifties, 60s and beyond. What, what are some of the things that you're seeing and how do you coach them and, and challenges and all? It appeals to me what you said about having the house and the car and the job and everything, because I would say to that to your listeners, tend the house that you live in this one, this is the house you live in your entire life. You can get a new car, but this house you just won.

21:11 So it. Wears. Out right if you. Don't or later you don't affect. Change orders, the blueprint is fine, but you need to affect change orders. So one of the things, yes, in talking about go heavy or go home, which is kind of like a Jim Bro phrase that we. Lap. You know, right, Because you know it. I mean, it has the idea of if you're going to do it, go all the way and don't leave anything behind. So that's OK. But it's really important as we leave our 20s and our 30s get into midlife and beyond that. If you are in this for the long haul, if you want to live as long as you possibly can as well as you possibly can, then you have to shift. It doesn't happen overnight, but you have to catch yourself thinking that way.

22:04 And remember that if you prioritize load over form, then your joints and your tendons and your are going to pay the price. So if you want to build longevity, strength, it's not couched in a momentary performance but in the consistency over time of good form, being intelligent about where your body is and to not ignore stability, mobility and balance along with big muscles because otherwise you'll have more injuries, longer recovery when The thing is when you get older. If you get injured, then it's more of a set back, which is not desirable and it makes you less motivated because you're like, oh, I don't even know what I'm doing. This is ridiculous, you know.

22:53 So. Yeah, so I I think you and you made a good point about you don't have to be a competitive bodybuilder to be in great shape, but some of the habits are similar. It's just a lot more intense. But it's. Well, let's say intent, not necessarily intent, intent on their purpose to the outcome. The same thing with say in the career path of a lot of the, the guys that we work with, they're very intent on attaining a certain income level, a certain level of status, a certain car, a certain personal brand in a sense of how people see them. They're very intentional on that.

23:34 But they don't see the, the health as one of those areas. And it could totally be from their upbringing to the crazy chaos that comes in the 2025 to 50 ish range of, of life and trying to juggle everything that's happening there. So the intent of where your health is. And Jane and I both have very strong intent on staying healthy because obviously it's part of what we do as a profession, which is important. You got to look the part, be the part. But then it's just who we are at our core identity is we are people who take care of themselves and we do the the basic things because our coaching is probably very similar.

24:17 Get some sleep, drink water, eat Whole Foods, eat 3 or 4 times a day, have balanced meals. These are things that I preach for 30 plus episodes and and giving the keys. But it's the accountability of the support or, or having that transfer of identity that is the biggest challenge, having that support accountability there. One thing I remember you speak now right on stage and all, and and you said friends don't let friends skip leg day or brain day, right? Right, yes, that's friends. Don't let friends skip. Leg day is kind of also a phrase that we like to use in the gym because leg day is usually the hardest and it's the one people kind of like. They know they need to do it and sometimes they do. But there's always that feeling of like, oh, it's going to be so hard.

25:09 It's going to be a lot and what I want to say to people is that in my latest speaking rounds that I've made in the last year, I have really I've dived into brain health a lot and it's connection to physical activity. And we've known for a long time that cardio VO2 Max is really good for the brain. We know that community and friendship and connection is really good for the brain, but there's there's so much more to it than just doing Sudoku puzzles to avoid dementia. Finding out in the research now in the last four years, it's been long enough to have longitudinal, double-blind, peer reviewed research that says one of the most important things you can do to catapult your your brain for health in the decades to come is really maxing out the strength in your legs.

26:09 Your legs are the stimulus for BDNF, which is brain derived neurotropic factor, which is like miracle growth for your brain. So the lower body work that you do gives you the biggest hormonal and neurological response to be able to rewire frayed connections, to create new brain cells, new neurons, and also it helps with improving insulin sensitivity and insulin mussels love sugar, so they're kind of. Carbs. Now let's take a time out here. You eat food. Food is dried of calories, then protein, carbs and fats, and then your body does things with it.

26:54 Magically it takes carbs and break them into glucose and then that elevates your blood sugar levels and then your body releases insulin which then grabs onto the blood sugar in stores. Stores isn't necessarily a good or a bad thing depending on how you utilize it. And what Jen is referring to is when you do leg day and you have used a lot of gas in the tank. The tank being your muscles and the fuel being the muscle glycogen which your body converts blood sugar into and carbohydrates that you eat. Whether it's simple sugars like the white stuff, candy, honey or, or even say like milk or rice, or then we have the just our, our regular food sources that we have too, that then get put into your muscle. And so you work out and then you eat carbs, which is important here, right?

27:46 We're, we're both of us are in agreement that carbs are important, that you shouldn't cut them out. And so you eat carbs and then they go back into the muscles, which then recover the whole body and the muscles and help keep you strong and energetic and recovering well and all these things. So time back in. Just want to declare that for people. That was that was a really good breakdown of what happens. We we think of muscles as a place where glucose just naturally goes like it's magnetized to go to your muscles. If you have more muscle mass, you can process more glucose and what happens is then your insulin sensitivity stays healthy.

28:29 And the reason that good for your brain is because, I mean, one of the nicknames for dementia is type 3 diabetes. And that's because when you become insulin insensitive, not only can it lead to diabetes anyway, it can also encourage dementia processes to begin happening. So it's really, so that's why now my clients always come to the gym and they go, it's leg day. Friends don't let friends skip brain day. Yes, yes, that's awesome. And and so let's define insulin resistance. So say normally your body, you eat this much food and your body releases this much insulin to be able to then grab on all that and store where it needs to go and the muscles and stored body fat.

29:17 That's how that's what your body's constantly storing and releasing carbs, storing and releasing body fat. It's it happens all day every day. So people like, oh, I don't want to store fat. You are going to, it's just a biological process. So your body, you eat this much, you release this much insulin to deal with this. Well, insulin resistance means that you, you got to, nothing happens here. You need to hear and then hear and then hear and hear. And you keep having to release more, which then places a huge strain on your your pancreas and other systems that are going on because you have all this, you have this much extra insulin every single time that you eat to get the same response that it used to cost here. And it is a big issue.

30:02 And it does lead to type 2 diabetes or it goes into the process of where exactly what Ken is talking about is causing dementia. And that's just based on just poor eating patterns that you could influence dementia happening sooner or more aggressively, even if you were going to get it anyways, what it could be happening sooner, faster, more aggressive if that were to be the case? Right, Yeah. And and also what you're describing in that you did a really good job of breaking that down, Brian. I have to keep it as simple as possible for people or they I lose them anyways, right? You know, it's just like, OK, what's the third grade explanation of how we explain this, right?

30:44 Well, and when insulin is really high like that and it's having to increase in order to keep trying to do the job and you have extra insulin in your body. When you have extra insulin in your body that is not reacting with sugar, what that does is it leads to what we call visceral fat. That is one of the influences of creating visceral fat and that is the fat that grows around your internal organs, in your AB and in your chest, heart, your liver, everything. And so that is the toxic fat that and one of the signs, this is one of the physical signs that, excuse me, that you have too much insulin swimming around is when your waist is bigger than your hips. So if you guys waist and it's a larger, you know, we talked about the dad body.

31:34 Beer belly exactly what I was going to point out. So you you already transition of if your stomach is hard to push on and it sticks out a lot, then yeah, you're you're in trouble even if this real fat. Blood test, even if your blood test doesn't quite show it yet, right? As it will. I mean, it's it. Will yes, it's coming, is coming. Right. And so that's the thing to really watch out for, even if your doctor has not, you know, rung the bell yet on you to have to take insulin help. So it's really important to get that under control. And I believe that that is one of the cultural things that we kind of make it OK these days when we talk about how 70% of our population is overweight and it's so it's kind of normal.

32:24 Normalized it, right? Not good for longevity. I mean, obviously. It's not, it's not. It's normalize that the food that you eat on a everyday basis someone else has prepared for you. It comes in a package, a box, it's got a label on it. These are obviously things that don't necessarily align with eating more of a Whole Foods diet, which that in and of itself will cause a lot of some of the issues that you're having to reverse. Because you'll feel full and more content and have more fiber and more vitamins and minerals, which will then help just manage your overall hunger and help you manage your calories better. And you'll lose weight if you're overweight by stop eating stuff in them box and or something's got a lot of sugar or carbs or bats or things that we referenced even earlier in the call of that with your travel career, right? You lived it, you experienced it and it did exactly what it was made to do.

33:25 And it's just unfortunate that our society spends so much time and money and influence just to have those really tasty, ultra palatable processed foods available to the public that ultimately is making us sick. Again, not not part this episode to jump in, but we're doing our part right. We are getting out, we're speaking, we're talking, we're communicating, educating people and encouraging them and creating real life transformations. When someone awakens, in a sense, they take the red pill and they come out of the matrix, so to speak. And like, wait a minute, why have I been eating all this stuff? Well, it's because Kellogg's has spent billions of dollars to tell you that Frosted Plex is great thing to eat first thing in the morning.

34:13 And right before bed, too. Because. Yeah, right. I just had somebody respond to me on my YouTube channel saying thanks to you, I'm now eating protein for breakfast. And, you know, he was like listening and he goes. I used to just have strawberry zingers. Yeah, right. Nothing like he's starting that that insulin roller coaster off the first thing in the morning, right? Yeah, yeah. Pretty scary. Yeah. But I oh, go ahead, go ahead. You finish. I already know what I'm going to say. Oh, I was just going to say that it's important. I mean, people say to me like you did at the beginning, like, well, you don't look like you're on the verge of turning 70. And what I try to say to people, and I don't know that they always believe me, but I have been working on what I am today for 25 years.

34:59 Yes, 25 years is day in and day out and not always super disciplined. I I don't. You don't have to be here. So I let myself off the hook a little bit. Thanksgiving dinner, right? But then it cut, Then you're right back in it. And I want your audience to remember that your future self is just about to be born right now, just about to be born what you want that new self to be. Right, right. I think of maybe in 43 I by the time I'm 70, it's what third, if I do the math correctly, it's what, 27 years or something like that left. I can be a millionaire just investing properly. I can have and own a house.

35:52 I can own cars, I can have challenging to to grow a family at this point at 43, depending on how young or old my wife is or remaining fertile, but I could have like a whole other life in that time frame and and still come out really well. So this is a wake up call. If you're listening in and you're like, wow, I'm completely lost. I don't know what to do. I just don't feel well. I don't like myself the way I look, feel any of that stuff. It can be different. Yeah, absolutely. You have you control it and it's it's easy to to kind of like forget that in the in the mad rush of life.

36:34 But we do have choices that we can make. They're the art. You're an architect years now where you're building your future health and strength and muscle that are laid down now are insurance for when you are 70 or 80, life insurance. You're doing it right now for then and. You'll. You won't know until you get there and you don't want to be like, wow, I should have done something. And and life insurance and quotations cost a lot more. If the next say 25 years is in poor health and poor nutrition, it it's going to the ROI on that investment is significantly in the wrong direction than where you want it to be and it will cost you way more. Everyone's like, oh, health insurance cost so much now what do you think it would be like a 25 years? Holy moly.

37:25 Right. And if you have a heart attack that is a clear 6 figure occurrence that that you pray that there might be insurance that can cover you. But also like, well, this one little tiny clause in this one thing and yeah, it's on you, not us. You know, like, wait a minute here. It's so good. Right, right. Take take your own health into your own hands as much as you can and it will give you the dividends. The ROI's beyond just feeling good, looking good, but the ability to experience life on a significantly higher level is what's at cost here. Yes, exactly.

38:06 It is that, what do you call it, sweat equity? Yes, yes, yes. And a lot of it's free, right? You can drink water, you can go to sleep on time, you can walk your body, you can do calisthenics. All the stuff is free and readily available to you to start and do and and be healthy. And each of those things you mentioned, those are little habit tweaks. You know, you don't have to do everything at once, but pick one thing perfect that because every little habit that you change for the better is another vote for the person you want to be.

38:49 And it's another way of really underlining that you are who you say you are. If you're you know, if if you're amazing at work and you're the hero of the day, how are you that for yourself Are you who you say you are? Then let's get to it. Yes, let's do the work here, people. Yep, exactly. I'm curious about what are some of the other things that you talk about or hear other people talking about, especially when it comes to say, longevity, taking care of yourself. Are there any other highlights that come to mind from you or your colleagues when you're when you're on the speaking circuit? Yes, one of the things that we talked about quite a bit in this last I went, I was in Minneapolis a couple of months ago and a lot of there was a lot of talk about this idea that how important it is, especially for men when they retire from their career and now they're and if they're especially if they're still healthy, what now, you know, and So what, what is it that you want to do next? So one of the things we've talked about is that even more for men than women, I think your identity is caught up in what you do, you know, what kind of what do you do? It's the first thing we somebody else and then that just ends well.

40:11 I used to I used to do this. I right? Your past identity. I used to. Play football back in high school and then I haven't taken care of myself at all since then. Right, but you still want to go heavy or go home. And that's right. I think that having having a vision or who you want to be next, what are the, what are the things that you've always enjoyed doing, barely had time to do that can now expand. Who are you now really journaling and meditating and therapist, whatever you need to do to get that out, But find out who are you now or who do you want to be next? Because it's really completely up to you. You don't have to punch in.

41:02 You know, you're, you're you now and having those goals and aspirations. And very many people in my audience, they're always very active goals like traveling or getting better at the golf game or their pickleball or their time. Pickleball's all the rage, right? Yeah, yeah. And just having like, what is it? What is it right now that you love doing that Maybe you don't get to do a lot, but you love doing it that you don't want to give up when you're 70 or 75. It gives you joy. Even if you don't have grandchildren yet, will you will. So do you want to pick up your grandchildren and play with them without throwing your back out?

41:47 Do you want to be able to get down to the floor and play with them, or is it going to hurt your knees or your hips? You know, you want to take care of yourself so that things that bring you alive do not go away when you retire. When you're 80. I, I think about Dick Van Dyke. You know, Dick Van Dyke is, he's 99 right now and he is turning 100 years old on Saturday. And he has this, this, this amazing presence he's written a book about. What did he do to make it here? Well, he loves to dance. He loves to dance. He quit smoking and drinking in time. Living in that, that's a high celebrity lifestyle, right? Back in that day, yeah.

42:34 He was back in the days of Mad Men, when everybody smoked and drank. Yep, he was young and so he. Smoking was cool, yeah. TV cars in the 60s, everybody smoked like chimneys. But he also just has this, this joie de vivre where he just loves being alive and being vibrant and he speaks very eloquently of this. But but it's because he stayed moving and he stayed challenged and kept looking for the next thing he was interested in. Super. Right. And let's think, so he's turning 100 and there's a 30 years from where you're at to where he's at. And again, you can reinvent your whole life and you can be a millionaire and you can do if you focus your energy and you choose to become these things in a sense.

43:26 And, but ultimately what Janet's saying is you need to live a happy, healthy life that has some purpose and and intention to it to be able to thrive. Because without those things and life is meaningless in a sense. I know one thing that I'm going to have a big problem with here. And the next daughters, 10 and my oldest is 16 and they're going to empty nest at some point relatively sooner rather than later. Now all of a sudden the holy cow, my oldest is driving now and to an high school and holy cow, it's just going to be my wife and I here within 10 years basically. And that's going to be a radical transformation in my day-to-day life. And I, I was crazy busy last week with school activities and I will, was going out of my mind trying to juggle all the things. But then Fast forward in 10 years, I will be missing those things so much So.

44:23 And I will, if I'm not careful, life will get very boring because no matter what, my whole family environment was 6 people, there's 15 relationships. And it's like this dopamine pinball machine, you want this and this. And then we're going here. It's just like constantly going on. It's going to be a very interesting transition into what that, that part of life will look like for, for my wife and I, but huge opportunity to obviously stay engaged with my family. It's going to evolve The, there's going to be a more opportunity to travel. We've travelled all 50 states. We've, we're going to work on all 7 continents now and and then after that it'll be the finer parts of travel or different adventures that we haven't been able to seek out or, or whatever. Who knows?

45:13 It'll be wow crazy but fun and we'll live in anticipation. That's one undertone I always tell clients is we have to live in anticipation of what's to come and be excited and have something exciting on your calendar. Even if it is just hanging out with your family or with a friend or traveling somewhere or doing a OK or writing a book, whatever it might be. But we need to have some sense of purpose and excitement of something that's to come. Yeah, Yeah. All that stuff is so true. And you made you, when you said 7 continents, you made me think of this lady that I just finished training a while a couple years ago. Who wanted to see all 7 continents? And she was 82.

45:57 She had five of them already checked off and she had two more. So she needed help because she wanted to go to Australia and scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef. Yeah, so she got certified and then she trained with me so that she could be strong enough, and she did it. That's awesome. Such a such a a bus in there. Yeah, that is so awesome. What are maybe as we start to wrap here, but what are some other success stories that you've seen from your clients like that? That is a huge amount of success that you can't put into terms. I'll start with one and then I'll turn it over. But I had a lady, her name was Betsy Finley. She was a personal and training client of another person at the gym that I was at.

46:42 She started coming to my phenomenal abdominal class on Mondays at 5:00 and then she came to my spinning class and then she started doing my shake and bake Friday night boot camp class. And then all of a sudden she is the other trainer stops and she's changed job roles. And I, I was like, I'll take Betsy, yes please. And that from 55 to 60. Now I just want to say she never worked out before age 50, OK, Because it just wasn't part of culture. I imagine you probably were felt that too on some levels. It's like, yeah, no one worked out when I was younger unless you were just like a tomboy or something like that, right? The girls sports were just not that much of a thing as they are now in the availability opportunity there. So she didn't work out before and she wanted to go kayak. She wanted to reinvent her life and do fun things and go on hikes and take pictures of of wildlife and on. And she became a CrossFit world champion at the age of 60. She could deadlift 250 lbs, she lift 100 lbs over it. She could do rope climbs, she could do pull ups. She could do all these crazy things just because we did what Janet said was just progression.

47:51 We just lifted a little bit more than we did the last time. We just kept good form and technique and hey, you lifted this last time. How about we lift this plus 5 lbs And all of a sudden she was really strong, really fit, really capable on. And again, we didn't let her skip leg day either or brain day, but she was functionally fit, capable to do fun, exciting things at the age of 60 plus. And you know far more than a lot that having that level of strength and that that ability allows for you to go travel around and, and jump on speaker circuits and, and, and do all sorts of fun stuff, which is is really fun. That's probably what I will do is my kids start to to move out of like, well, let me go talk somewhere and go travel.

48:36 Someone pay me to speak and and buy me places please. Yeah. I mean, all of that, just having the energy available to me to do the things, all these things that I'm doing is, I mean, I think I'm busier now than I was 15 years ago, but it's all things I've chosen and that I've worked toward. But there's story that I can think of as I'm thinking of a story of one of my guys. He he was a Seattle police officer and he was the. Kind of was one of those before. That walks, he walked his beat. He didn't have a car. I mean, he used a car. He so he knew his neighborhood really well.

49:19 He was a very recognizable face on his. So he, as we know, police officers often retire at a fairly young age compared to the rest of us. And so around in his I probably he was probably about 50 and he retired and then he'd worked hard his whole life, was pretty fit because he was walking all day. And he moved here to Arizona for, for retirement. And it was a bit great golf. It was a great place so he but but he proceeded to be very sedentary. He just thought I can relax now. I don't have to set the alarm, I don't have to do any of that stuff I did before.

50:01 And he sat around a lot beyond walking his dog, maybe mowing his lawn. He was not physically active. So sadly, he contracted Parkinson's after about ten years or so into his retirement. But what was he doing? He wasn't exercising. He was eating ice cream before bed as a regular thing, lots of sugar while he slept, insulin, right, and various other unhealthy habits. He started to develop a little spare tire. So his wife said you need you need to get to the gym. You're not being healthy. And this is South fast and I love you. I don't want to see this.

50:46 Have you? So he signed up and trained with me. And after a year, I mean, he loved it. It was fun. Yeah, so you probably tapped into his younger self, right is hey, you're strong, handsome man, let's get back in moving and and tapped into all that energy. His, his, his joy for it reminded me of my joy for it when I first encountered it, it was like, it's like this feels so good. And you get pretty much better pretty quickly. If you're really consistent, you see progress really quickly. And he just loved that. So, so he started and so after about a year, he came to me and he goes, you know, because he went to a neurologist obviously for his Parkinson's and he was taking some minor medications to control the tremors. But that was it kind of early stage. But his doctor said, I don't understand it. I don't understand why you're not getting worse. And so, you know, so he didn't have to up his meds. And this doctor, of course, was treating lots of Parkinson's patients.

51:53 The general progression, it's a progressive degenerative disease and there's no cure. So it's just a matter of keeping the person functional as long as you can. But this was the one patient who was actually strength training. And he kept saying that. And then he'd go back three months later for a check up again. And Nope, still don't know why you're not getting worse. And that is what made me curious about the connection. Yes. Plug into the research and found out sure enough these papers were coming out from neurologists who are finding that there's something too lifting. So even now he's still very active. There has been a little bit of progression. You know, it's been 4 years.

52:40 So you know, the stuff he's experiencing now, he should have experienced in one year. Right, right. So it's going to extend the quality of his life just because his wife got after him and said you need to go to the gym. Yep, Yep, Yep, that. That's excellent. Kudos for her to stepping up and calling him out and making sure he did something because sometimes spouses or people don't and they end up again, get by association. The people you spend your time with will either lift you up or sink your ship in a sense. And if they were both or just dozing off on the couch with ice cream balls on their, their, the visceral fat stomachs that are poking out, then yeah, they're, they're both going to die younger because of just lack of movement. Humans are meant to move.

53:32 We have to move until you die. And that I have an 83 year old that I'm working with and she is, as she was talking about, she's having a hard time keeping food and calories from getting burned too much. She's 83 and she's like, I keep losing weight. And so she's like, maybe I should stop going to the gym. Say Setsu is her name Setsu? We can't do this. I am not going to advocate that you move less. I'm going to advocate that you eat more and whether we eat when you first wake up and you eat right before you go to bed and we eat as much as we can in there and higher calorie foods, the Whole Foods and more calorie dense starches and, and healthy bats, then that's what we're going to do. Because the answer is not move less in your situation. The answer is eat more And and that's, that's what we're going to do.

54:22 It's funny you're this because a week from today, the video that will drop in my channel is about if you've been skinny all your life and you now realize you need to strength train to preserve your bones and your muscle. What do you do? Because you've never diet. And one of the recommendations was that there's there's ways that I give where you can sneak calories in that are healthy to make it easier to meet your calorie demand so that you don't losing weight, but you also don't feel bloated and heavy. Right, right. Yeah. Exactly. Well, this is awesome from from a really busy acts of life to realizing you're kidding.

55:10 You got called out and you did something about it. Now you're at the young beautiful age of 70 and you're thriving and more energy than probably any other 7 year old that you ever come encounter with, right? But you're using it for the better of mankind, the better of humans and, and encouraging people to take better care of themselves and, and so where can we find more out about you, your website, your YouTube channel? Like where? Where can we go to hang out with Janet? The most active spots are that my YouTube channel Aging Strong for Life and I trust that you will post the link. Yeah, it'll be in the the show notes below, right, If I'm pointing down below, right. That that it's it's on fire right now. It's it's I'm having, having kind of a viral moment, but I think it's just not because there's a lot of people out there looking for answers on how to a strong what you know, to, to cut through all the noise and all of loss and the hype and that, you know, the extreme language and to it's, it's like straightforward information, just like what you would give, you know, where it's like, here's the steps, here's what you do, here's a story, here's I tried, here's what didn't work, you know, so it's all of that.

56:31 And then the other place I'm on a lot is LinkedIn, because LinkedIn is where people that are wanting to look for speakers hang out. So I'm there a lot, but I put a lot, I post a lot of videos there as well that are short and to the point. My website is really just a lot a place that houses all of my is for training and which I most I just train in person right now thinking about launching an online coaching program, but I haven't I I just sort of you. Should because that's what I've been doing for 10 years and I would probably not go back. I do like in person, but the capacity and reach and if you're going to travel a bunch, you can still have active clientele and not miss a payday in a sense because you're not there, right? It's more scalable.

57:24 Yeah, it's more scalable. I have, I'm considering that now and writing another book. I have my my first book is Elements of Aging Well, my journey so far. Look at that. Show that picture again one more time. You can see this on our website too. But you, you look great. You've done so well taking care of yourself. Yeah, there's pictures in there my my bodybuilding pictures too. But I want to write another book. It's the working title is unretired and unstoppable. Yes, that's that's. I think of this time, Brian, I think of this time in my life and in your clients who are getting older that this is the bonus round, you know, game.

58:04 Shows. Like, yes, where you can win the game with one thing, like, you know, Jeopardy and then there's double Jeopardy and then there's Final Jeopardy. And in Final Jeopardy you could be in 3rd place and you could still win. Yes, right. You know, and that's kind of my working, you know, premise for what I want to write in this book. So I'm working on but those are the two best places to find me as my. YouTube and LinkedIn. Excellent. Excellent. Well, thank you. Do you have one last parting gift in a sense, a tip trick hack, something that that you could part us with that someone like, yeah, that that's really good stuff. Well I just heard the other day on a podcast where the person said I think it was like a Buddhist saying or you know some Zen thought leader who said don't pray for the road to get easier.

59:03 Right. Work to build stronger legs and so that kind of goes along with my idea of easy is the enemy and challenge is the cure. Yeah, I totally agree with that. Life is meant to be lived if there are going to be challenges that you have to overcome and the people who are successful have learned the skills and understand that you, their change is inevitable. It happens every single day of your life. There's change and you have to adapt and the strongest adapters will survive. And that's just evolution period. That's the world that we live in. So buckle up. Retirement doesn't mean sit on the couch and eat ice cream and bon bons and start to do with strawberry zingers. It's you still have to move and you have to find a different stimulus for how you channel your energy. That's right, yeah.

59:58 Go down swinging. Yeah, exactly. But I want to thank you and I want to thank everyone for listening to Driven for Health. And this is episode 36 with Janet McConnell and all her information will be down below. But what we both agree on is live life in a challenge and and conquer everything that comes your way. Have a wonderful day. Thank you.