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A
If you master your money, you can also master your health. And if you do both, you are going to absolutely be unstoppable in this world.
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B
Whether it's your finances or your fitness, what gets measured gets optimized. Take two months, track your nutrition and optimize it. You now have a blueprint of how to eat to have the physique that you want. Same thing with your money. If your money is not where you want it to be, the number one thing you need to do is start tracking all aspects of your money.
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A
Focus on your health span, meaning how amazing is the quality of life. When you are in your 70s, 80s and 90s, are you going to be walking around with a walker? Are you going to be in a wheelchair? Or are you going to be able to do the stuff that you actually want to do?
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B
Living those values, living those habits and embodying the mindset of financial independence and being fit by default, you're going to become very fit and very rich.
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A
What's up everybody and welcome to the Personal Finance podcast. I'm your host, Andrew, founder of MasterMoney Co and today on the personal Finance podcast, we're gonna do something different and we're gonna talk about why health is wealth. If you guys have any questions, make sure you join the Master Money newsletter by going to MasterMoney Co newsletter. And don't forget to follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or your favorite podcast player. And if you want to help out the show, consider leaving a 5 star rating review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast player. Now today we're going to be diving into why Health is Wealth with Justin David. Carl. Justin is one of those folks who is extremely fit and he's got a framework that really helps him stay fit and do this consistently. And what we're diving into today is we are going to talk about a bunch of different areas. First, I want you to note that your health is one of the biggest impacts you can actually have on your money. Why? Because healthy people have more mental acuity, which means you're going to perform better at your job, which also means that you are going to be able to make make more money. And so health is one of those important factors that we haven't talked enough about on this show. But this is going to be a big, big difference maker for most people. And what we're going to be diving into in this episode is a bunch of various areas that I really think most people need to understand how impactful now this can be. We're going to talk about what people get wrong about diet and hydration and thinking through how to create a diet that actually works for you, how often you actually need to work out, and how consistent you need to be when it comes to those workouts. Justin and I each work out pretty much every single day. Do you need to do that? Most likely not. And so this is one of those areas where we dive into how frequently you need to work out to have that mental acuity to be in shape to make sure you are your best self. In addition, we're going to talk through strength training versus cardio and how to use it to your advantage. We're going to Talk through why VO2 max and grip strength are really, really important for longevity and your health span. Plus, we're going to talk about why protecting your health is one of the highest ROI things that you can do. This is an investment in yourself. You can reduce your lifelong cost of health insurance just by doing this as well. And so money and health tie in together beautifully. This is one of those areas where if you master your money, you can also master your health. And if you do both, you are going to absolutely be unstoppable in this world. So these are one of those areas where I definitely want you to tune into this. Justin has some amazing information. He has helped hundreds of people get in shape and really get into the best shape of their life. And if you are someone who is a high performer or you strive to be a high performer, this is that episode for you. So really pumped for you to listen to this. So without further ado, let's welcome Justin back to the personal finance podcast Workplace Chaos. You know the feeling. Deadlines are stacking up, emails are flying, and then someone on your team gives notice. That's when you think this is a job for Sponsored Jobs when you need the right hire fast. Indeed, Sponsor Jobs helps your post stand out and reach quality candidates instead of hoping the right people see your listing Sponsored Jobs boosted in search results so you can match with candidates who meets your specific criteria like skills, certifications or locations. And you only pay for results. And here's something wild in the minute I've been talking to you. Companies like yours made 27 hires on Indeed according to Indeed data worldwide. That is real momentum. Sponsored job posts directly on indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non sponsored jobs. So when the pressure's on and you need someone who can actually move the needle, this isn't your job. It's the job of Sponsored Jobs. So spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who can check all your boxes and listeners. This show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com podcast just go to Indeed.com podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply. Need to hire this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs so you've heard me talk about BILT as the loyalty program that allows you to earn points on rent wherever you live. And they just leveled up even more. As of 2026, homeowners can also earn up to 1.25x points on their mortgage payments. This is thanks to Bilt's three new credit cards, the Palladium Card, the the Obsidian card and the Blue Card. All three can turn your housing payments, rent or mortgage into flexible rewards so you can choose the card that fits your lifestyle without missing out on points and exclusive benefits and built points. They can be redeemed at top airlines and hotels, Amazon.com purchases, future rent payments and more. And built points have also been ranked by top publications as the industry's most valuable point of currency. Your housing payment is already your biggest expense. Make it your most rewarding. Find the card that fits your lifestyle and apply today at joinbuilt.compfp that's J-O-I N B I L T.compfp and make sure to use our URL so they know we sent you. Terms and limitations apply subject to approval and eligibility. BILT cards are issued by column NA member FDIC pursuant to license from MasterCard International Incorporated. So Justin, welcome back to the personal finance podcast.
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B
Great to be here again, brother. So thankful that I met you at fincon and I'm back on for round two.
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A
Exactly. I'm excited to have you here too. We're going to talk about a different topic and something we really haven't talked about much on this show without just kind of in passing. We've had conversations with, you know, when I'm talking to the audience, I'll talk about how important this is to me, but this is something that I think really needs to be talked about a little bit more. And we're going to talk through why health is wealth on this episode, we're going to talk through how to take care of your health, some of the things that you and I each do when it comes to thinking about our health. I've taken a lot of big steps over the course of the last two or three years Just making sure health is one of my number one priorities. And so this is going to be more so a, I guess, overall conversation about some of the things that you do. I'll talk about some of the things I do and we can kind of dive deeper into this. So when we first just start out here, I want to kind of talk through diet. Diet obviously is one of the most important areas when it comes to health, longevity, and thinking about how we can actually make sure that we are on track with our fitness goals. And so can you kind of talk through the way that you think about your diet? Specifically, I want to talk through kind of the macros because for some people, they may choose one diet, some people may choose a different diet, but I want to kind of talk through macros, why macros are important and do you track macros, all those different things? And let's kind of dive into that.
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B
First, great question, awesome topic. And I, believe it or not, tracked my macros, tracked my calories for 10 years straight. Now it has been about two years since I've tracked, but back in my early 30s, sometime around 32, 33, I worked with my first fitness coach. And I'd never tracked my calories before. And the first two weeks he just had me track them. And we quickly discovered why I could not get a six pack after trying to get a six pack for 15 plus years. And that's because six days of the week I would literally eat chicken and broccoli. And then on Sunday I would have a cheat day and come to find out I can easily eat 7,000 to 10,000 calories in a single day. So those six days of quote unquote, clean eating were completely destroyed by my excessive overeating on my cheat day. Now, I think some people, maybe they don't have the ability to consume as much food as I can if I'm not left unchecked. But essentially that brought up my average calories per day to above my maintenance calories, which is why I was getting a little bit fatter every year. Now I worked out at the same time seven days a week, oftentimes for two to three hours a day at the gym. Then I would go for a hike. And so after those first two weeks, my coach was like, two things. I'm going to set some macro targets for you to hit. I'm going to set some calorie targets for you to hit. And I want you to only strength train five to six days a week. And I want you to follow a specific workout program that is going to be the same program for 12 weeks. And I had never tracked prior to this. And it was crazy. In six months, true story. I lost 30 pounds of body fat. And I went from 18% body fat down to around 8% body fat in six months.
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A
Wow.
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B
And I got shredded. I got ripped, got the abs for the first time of my life. Literally was so stoked, started posting shirtless photos on Instagram. I was stoked to go to the beach parties, to the pool parties. And this is something I've been chasing since I was probably 14 or 15. Like I was one of those kids who was buying the as seen on TV ab machines because I so desperately wanted a six pack. And prior to tracking my nutrition, I just ate enough to always be in a slight surplus. So I always had that extra layer of body fat. So I, I always say that I was kind of fit kind of fat. So no one say I was overweight or anything like that. But I was never excited to take off my shirt because I didn't have that six pack that I wanted that I saw on the COVID of Muscle and Fitness as a kid growing up that I saw the action movie stars having. And finally, in my early 30s, working with a coach, tracking my nutrition, tracking my macros, tracking my calories. It was like just simple math. And I just followed, followed the macros, followed the calories, and the body fat just melted off.
- [11:38]
A
Oh, man, that's, that's, that's an incredible transformation. It's all just from tracking your macros. Which I think the one big thing for, for me early too is when I started to track my macros or have an understanding of them that just gave me way more overall education of what is actually going on. And I could understand, okay, well, if I put this into my body, this is going to have a massive difference overall. Then if I just made sure that I kind of stuck to my plan so I can see the difference. Specific foods. And I remember even being able to kind of factor in some of the foods that I liked when I wanted to factor in and look at some of the macros that I'm looking at there. So for you specifically or anybody out there that you coach or whatever else, how do you kind of talk to them when they are thinking about their specific goals? Let's say somebody wants to put on some muscle, maybe they want to build some muscle. Do you tell them, like, for me specifically, I, I eat one gram of protein per pound of body weight. That's the way I kind of always just been operated. I make it try to as simple as possible. Do you tell them to eat more or less than that? And then how do you think about the rest of their macros? Once you kind of look at protein, because protein is obviously the biggest topic for most people out there, every food is throwing more protein into it. So how do you kind of think about protein? Is that your first staple that you want to look at?
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B
Yeah, great question. I want to cover a couple quick things. I'll address those. So I actually ate dessert every single day and still do. And that's the amazing thing is when you start tracking your food, and as long as you're hitting your macros and staying at your total calorie target, you can have dessert every single day. It was crazy. There was a period where I would save 4 to 600 calories per day for dessert, and I found these yasso ice cream, Greek yogurt ice cream bars. And I would eat 4 to 6 a night, and I was 8% body fat. And so I still eat dessert every day. And that's one of the powers of tracking and literally logging your food. You know, weighing on a food scale, tracking in something like MyFitnessPal. Now there's these really cool apps like Macro Factor and Cal AI, where you can just take a picture and it estimates it for you. So it's getting easier and easier. So it is a little challenging to track your food if you've never tracked it before. But the way I thought about it and the way I teach it to my clients is it's like brushing your teeth or taking one to two minutes to be mindful of what you're eating. So if you can take a 1 to 2 minute to enter what you're eating, it allows you to pause and appreciate what you're actually putting into your body. And at the same time, you're learning. Okay, six ounces of chicken looks like this. A cup of rice looks like this. A cup of broccoli looks like this. So that when you eventually go back to intuitive eating, which I've done for the last two years and made maintain 10% or less body fat, you know how to eat to support your ideal physique. So going to your question about the actual split of the macros, how much protein, how much carbs, how much fat? I believe the current scientific literature shows that.06 grams is the minimum per pound of body weight is the minimum that you want to ingest in order to support muscle building and muscle maintenance. So I recommend to my clients 0.6 to 1 grams per pound of body weight. Some clients do better having more protein. It makes them feel more satiated. They just, they like eating more protein. Some clients, they want more carbs because maybe they do a lot of cardio and they need that source of energy because carbs is our body's preferred source of fuel. Now you can train your body to do almost anything. This is why people have success with the ketogenic diet, which is a really high fat diet. You can train your body to burn fat as the preferred source of fuel, but you have to switch over and it takes a few weeks to do that. And people go through all sorts of challenges, like the keto flu, if you've heard of that, where you just feel like absolute garbage. And then finally your body switches over to burning fat. So, but originally, humans carbs for fuel. So the way I look at it is 0.6 to 1 grams of protein per pound of body weight, which usually nets out for total calories for the day to be around 20 to 25% of your total calories for the day comes from protein. And that 20 to 25 is are you having.06, 0.8 or 1 gram. And that's kind of one why the it slides from 20 to 25. And then I suggest to my clients that they have 15 to 30% come from fat. And I'll tell you why the difference. Typically, in my experience, I've been coaching online for over three years with both men and women. Women tend to do better around 25 to 30% coming from fat because it helps with their hormone regulation and mood stability, et cetera. And men can get away with 15 to 20%. 15 to 20% of their total calories coming from fat. Most men, some men do need more. They need 25 to 30. But my experience working with well over a hundred clients is men do pretty good around 15 to 20% coming from fat, and women do better with 20 to 30 coming from fat. And I would argue more like 25 to 30 coming from fat and then the other 45 to 60% coming from carbs. So none of this matters if you're eating too many calories. So this is the thing that I have to teach every client and I had to learn myself. So I'm not pointing the finger, I'm not judging. It doesn't matter how healthy you eat if you consume too many calories, because your body, any calories it does not burn for the day gets stored as body fat. So body fat is literally just stored energy. So if you think about back to ancient Times when we actually struggled with feasting and famines, like when humans couldn't find food. Awesome. We have this stored energy source called body fat that we can pull from until we find the food, because the body is always trying to optimize for survival. And it's unfortunate in the day and age that not only is food so readily available, but we're also programmed to eat all the time. There's commercials on tv, on the radio. You see food on social media. We're constantly told to eat, eat, eat, eat. And if you're not careful, it doesn't matter how much or how healthy you eat. If you eat too many calories, your body's just going to store it as body fat. And so the key is, the way I think about the macro split is that is to create the physique that you want. So by having a call it 25% fat, 25% protein, and 50% carbs, you're gonna have an amazing energy for your workouts coming from the carbs. You're gonna have good fat. So you have clear thinking. Your hormone levels and metabolism is good and you feel satiated. And then the protein is gonna be there for muscle maintenance and muscle building, and that will give you a nice physique. And my experience working with over 100 clients over the last three years is most people eat not enough protein and too much fat. So when they start tracking, almost 95% of the clients I've worked with, they start tracking and they're eating 30, 40, 50% fat and like 10, 15% protein. And the split is just way off. Because if you think about it, especially packaged food, processed food, it's just jam packed full of fat and processed carbs, and it's addicting as fuck, right?
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A
And I, I think that's where you know, especially when you don't have an education when it comes to eating, you're going to realize pretty quickly that, you know, the high fat content, the high carbohydrate content is really going to do a number on you if you don't have enough protein in place. And for me specifically, I am someone who has tweaked this a million different times. And I do it first. I was, you know, tracking all my macros. Once I got a feel for what my macros need to be, I started to make sure that I was adding in foods that helped me feel good. So, like, for example, a lot of times I have now stopped eating breakfast. So I kind of fast all the way through the morning. I'll eat a Lunch. And usually the lunch that I eat doesn't have many carbohydrates in it either, because usually I want to be more so kind of in a deep work session by that timeframe and just going throughout the day and then doing work. Then I'll increase my carbohydrate intake later on in the day. And part of this is also because I do a lot of my workouts in the evening, so I'll do workouts later on the day. I do running and lifting and all those different things, and I do it later on in the day. And so I kind of target my macro intake based on some of the activities that I'm doing and based on feel. And this was something that was developed over time. It took me a lot of, you know, trial and error to get to this point in time, but now I feel in like, like I'm in such a good position from where I used to be, where I would just kind of eat whatever I felt like at that given point in time. But now I have kind of structured it into my day where I feel best, and that has absolutely been life changing for me.
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B
Yeah, a couple notes on that. So the other thing I recommend to all my clients and what I follow is 80 to 90% of your calories should be coming from whole foods. So I'm not a zealot that says no processed food because modern science has made some pretty delicious, enjoyable processed things. And as long as 80% or more of your food is from whole food sources, this meaning like single ingredient, you know, like a piece of chicken, a piece of steak, or and I would even consider, you know, if you're on a plant based diet, minimally processed things like tofu, tempeh, seitan as protein sources, those and then fruits, vegetables, et cetera, 80% or more coming from whole foods, you're gonna feel good. Because when you eat a bunch of processed junk, it's really easy to eat too many calories because they are engineered to be hyper palatable and they're addictive. But when you eat whole foods, it's much harder to overeat because your body has to do a lot more of the work of actually breaking down that whole food versus these processed foods have already been processed. So this is one of the reasons you can start with one or two chips and suddenly you've eaten a whole Costco sized bag of chips and you're like, what is going on here? I'm still hungry, right? And a friend of mine brought this idea to me that I think is so incredible. A little controversial, but it's really interesting if you think of processed food as street drugs. So they street drugs like cocaine, they take the coca leaf, they break it down and then they cut it with a bunch of other stuff so they get way more. So that pure powder is now 10 times as much powder, so they can sell it to 10 times as much many people and make 10 times as much money. And that is the same thing that is happening with processed food is they're adding in all this random shit and diluting the pure ingredients so that they can sell more and make more money. And by adding all those additional cheap ingredients, it makes it even more addictive. And when someone told that to me, I was like, holy shit. No wonder food companies do this. No wonder it's so addictive. And no wonder these companies are making so much freaking money and continue to make more and more hyper palatable, ultra processed food because they make more money, it's more addictive and follow the money.
- [24:47]
A
Exactly. And that's kind of, that makes a ton of sense. And I think overall most people, if they look at it that way, they think about it that way. I think it's, it's going to be one of those things that it becomes, you know, second nature once you get the ball rolling. I always see this as getting the ball rolling downhill. And at the beginning it's very hard. Like if you are used to a processed food diet, it is very hard to switch over. But once you start to, you know, replace one thing at a time and gradually get this going, you're going to feel like you are pushing a snowball downhill. The same thing for compound interest is once you get the ball rolling and you get your dollars invested and you get a feel for it, you can start to increase it as your income increases. The same thing goes for fitness and they are really, you know, very much correlated. And we'll talk about that as we go through this here today. But I think that is one of the most important things that people need to note is your diet is, you know, the majority of the game when we're talking about this stuff. And then we'll get, we're going to get into exercise too. But I think this is just one of those areas where most people need to, to make sure that they understand what they are doing first. And for those of you out there, one of the things that I did is, and usually if you have like standard health insurance, this is covered with your standard health insurance too. There is a company out there called Nourish and nourish is like dietitians where your health insurance typically will cover this. So if you're out there and you're like, I don't know where to start or I don't know what to do, I used them for years and they were actually really, really good when it came to just thinking about, you know, what foods do I need to eat, how much protein do I need, how much, you know, vegetables should I be adding into my meals. And it is very, very helpful to just have these conversations with people. And so it is literally free through your insurance. Just make sure your insurance covers it. But most insurances are covered through nourish. So I think it's another interesting way to kind of go about this if you are looking for a place to start. Also, let's talk through some of the exercise side a little bit because when I think through this portion, this is obviously a huge, huge portion of something that you and I have had conversations about in the past. And I want to kind of talk through maybe your routines when it comes to exercise, how you think about exercise, strength versus cardio, all those different things. So first, what does your training schedule look like right now? And if someone is looking to, you know, start or revamp their training schedule, what should they kind of focus on?
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B
Great question. I want to connect the idea of intermittent fasting and fueling around your exercise that you brought up.
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A
Sure.
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B
And I think that'll be a perfect segue into training and how I train, how I recommend people to train, et cetera. So intermittent fasting is something I've done for over a decade and essentially it's just a time restricted eating window. So Andrew mentioned that he typically does not have breakfast and he'll have lunch and then dinner and maybe some snacks in between or something. I'm not totally sure what he does and I did that for years. I would train, strength train in the morning, fasted in a completely fasted state. And time restricted eating or intermittent fasting, there's lots of different versions of it. You can do a 12 hour fast, a 16 hour fast, an 18 hour fast, you can do it so you don't eat breakfast and then basically you eat between 2 and 8 o'. Clock. You can do where you eat in the morning, but stop eating by 2 o' clock and then you're fasting the rest of the evening and it doesn't really matter. But one of the incredible things about intermittent fasting is you're essentially calorie restricting by restricting the time. So this is why a Lot of these different diets work is because they're by default reducing the amount of calories that you eat. So to illustrate this, if you're on a keto diet, you've basically removed carbs. A keto diet, a true keto diet, is very, very little carbs, like less than I think 20 grams, which is like nothing. And so you've removed the whole food group. So by default you're going to eat less. So you're going to be in a calorie deficit and you're going to lose weight. Oh my God. Math works out same thing with time restricted eating. So if you're only eating in a 6 hour window, call it from 2 to 8, your chances of overeating are much smaller than if you had breakfast, lunch and dinner and you had that space in between for your body to digest that food and to develop appetite again. So this is why keto and time restricted eating or intermittent fasted works is because behind the scenes they're reducing the total number of calories you're eating. Right? And this is the same thing that happens with a whole food plant based diet. If you're only eating whole foods, it is so hard, 100% Whole Foods. It is so hard to overeat because you're eating so much fiber, which is making you feel full, which then by definition you're not, you're eating less calories and you're in a calorie deficit and you start losing weight, right? And it's the same thing back in 80s 90s, these ultra low fat or no fat diets, they've just removed another food group and by default you're in a calorie deficit, so you start losing weight. So one of the beautiful things about tracking your nutrition is you don't have to remove fat or remove carbs or anything else. You can have everything and still be in a calorie deficit and still have dessert. But on the note of intermittent fasting, when I started playing pickleball seven days a week for two to five hours a day, I realized I could no longer train fasted because I would go work out at the gym, strength train, then I go on the courts and I would have no energy. And if you play pickleball like I do, I am running all over the place, explosive energy, sprinting from one side to the next, never letting anything that I could maybe get to go. And. And so I started having breakfast again for the first time in probably 10 years. Back in April of last year, 2025, I realized I had to Start fueling up. In order to do these long two to five hour pickleball sessions. Especially if I'm doing a double day where I'm strength training for 45 to 60 minutes and then going and playing two to five hours of pickleball. So depending on your physical output, I obviously you can tell spend a lot of energy doing physical things. Now a normal person, there may be strength training three or four times a week and they don't have to be as strategic about fueling up as someone who's cycling for two hours a day or running super huge amounts of mileage. Those people just have to fuel more because their body's consuming more energy. And if you want to not get sick, get injured or completely bonk, where you just like have no energy, you're gonna have to strategically fuel up. So if you're strength training say three times a week or four times a week, totally get away with fasted training, no problem them. If you are training in the evening, probably gonna need to fuel up for lunch or a snack before. And really what I would recommend everybody is look at your ideal training split and when you want to work out, is it in the morning, is it at lunch, is it in the evening? And how much are you actually doing? Because I think if you can get away with intermittent fasting and training in the morning, it's gonna be really easy for you to shed unwanted weight without even tracking calories. Now I'll pause it in case you had any questions.
- [33:27]
A
No, I think that is, that's a great thing to know because the timing of when you eat and the way the thought process there is obviously the reason why we're eating is so that we can energy and we could have energy to expend. And so that is more so why should be structured in different ways for each and every single person. And I agree with you. I mean especially if you are doing a lot of physical activity in the morning and or you know, you like to get your workouts done in the morning. I go through seasons where I do that. That's where like the fueling in the morning could be something that is really important. Especially if you're doing as high volume as Justin is. That is an area where probably make sure that you're eating something otherwise you're going to bonk or you're going to crash. Whereas folks who you know are exercising later in the day, they may be able to do intermittent fasting. If they're doing their, their exercise in the evening or the afternoons, that is going to be Another area where you can look at that. So how do you kind of think about or structure this? So like, do you think through strength training? You said, you know, you strength train on a bunch of different days. So how do you kind of choose how many days you're going to strength train? And in addition, if you're playing pickleball every day, I'm assuming that's kind of your main source of cardio. Is there any other cardio that you think about too?
- [34:29]
B
Great question. So one note. If you are Training less than 1 1/2 to 2 hours of training in the morning, whether it's a combination of cardio and strength or all cardio or all strength, I think you can totally get away with intermittent fasting. If you're starting to go above two hours of training in a single day, you're probably gonna need the fuel up before or during that training session if you want to not crash. So I think even if you're training in the morning, you can totally intermittent fast. If you're doing traditional 45 to 60 minute workout combination of strength training and cardio or one or the other, totally fine for me. I recommend to people strength train three times a week. And if you want to strengthen the most important muscle in your body, your heart, either combine a little bit of cardio into those three days or take another day and have a dedicated cardio day. But all the longevity research is now showing how important strength training is for health span, meaning the quality of your years as you age and get older and older. So I'm a firm believer that everyone should strength train at least two times a week, if not three times a week. So I recommend three. And I think you can be in incredible shape working out three times a week, strength training and adding in 10 to 20 minutes of cardio on one or two of those days and you can be in amazing shape. You don't need to work out six times a week, seven times a week, you can literally work out three days a week, be in amazing shape, and each one of those workouts is 45 to 60 minutes. So we're talking two and a half to three hours of exercise per week. And you can be incredible shape. Now some people like me, I love to work out, I want to work out every single day. So for me, I strength train and this is going to be a little confusing, but I'll explain it. So I follow a six day split for strength and it's upper body push on one day, next day, upper body pull next day, leg day, and then Day four is upper body two push, fifth day is upper body pull. And six day is leg day two for the week. Now here's what I do. I unattach it from having to happen in a seven day period. So this is where I'm at a level of deep relationship with my body. So if my body's like, whoa, we're cooked. We can either strength train today or do pickleball, but we can't do both. I just choose one of them. Or it's like, hey, we're exhausted. Today is just walking and foam rolling and active recovery. So that six day split may take me eight days or 10 days or even 12 days or even 14 days depending on how hard I'm pushing myself on the courts, the pickleball courts. Because on a given week I might be super well rested. Low workload, not much going on with my family, no stress. And I'm like great. Six days of strength training this week, seven days of pickleball this week, and then the next week, family shit's going on, work shit's going on. And I do three strength days in seven days and four pickleball days in seven days. And I just listen intuitively to my body and look and see what my whoop is saying about my recovery. So I'm at a level where I've been so diligent, I've been so obsessed with fitness and training that I, I can intuitively listen to my body. For my clients I put em on a three day, four day or five day split and then the crazy ones who love to work out as much as me, I'll give em a six day split. But tell them, hey, if your body says you need to skip one of these and have two rest days, do that.
- [38:57]
A
I think that is the great, like a great way to think about this because I, I do something similar now and I have been lifting weights since I was 18 years old or even probably even some in high school for sports, things like that, and forever. For the longest time I would do like the bro bodybuilding split, like for the longest time. Then all of a sudden I switched it up. And when I switched it up from doing a split, it's, it's similar to yours, it's kind of a push, pull split. But I do kind of full body push, full body pull back and forth. And what I did was I tested it in a bunch of different ways. I've tested literally every single split that is out there. But I figured out what my body responds to best is more frequency throughout the week, but lower volume in terms of, like, in one single session. And so what I ended up doing was I will hit each body part for that push session, which push being, you know, quads, and then any other push, you know, exercises that happen on the upper body, and I will look at that push session and I will go and do one exercise per body part. And then on the pole session, I'll do one exercise per body part. But I'm hitting it three times every single week. And I've noticed my body just responds better to that. I feel better, I'm less achy, I'm less sore, it's less pounding on my joints, those types of things. And then adding in cardio and running, like run. I've been doing a lot more running as of late. And so usually running 20 to 30 plus miles a week is kind of where I range, which is just kind of like a standard, you know, mileage per week for any, any given runner. So that's been the area that has been feeling really good, and I felt better than I ever have before. My resting heart rate's a 42. My every single time I go to the doctor, they freak out. But it's been one of those areas where I like to consistently work out. I feel better when I am working out, and the more I can, the more I will. I wish I could run every day. My joints won't let me, but if I could, I would. And so it's one of those areas that I think is, is super, super important for most people to kind of figure this out. And even, and like Justin said, when you get started, reducing the amount of time that you're working out, maybe you're just doing, you know, lifting three days a week. And I think everybody should strength train because health span is 90% of the reason why I shifted everything. Justin and I are both fans of Dr. Peter Attia. He's absolutely amazing in terms of talking about this kind of stuff. And it is one of those things where if you look at and focus on your health span, meaning how important or how amazing is the quality of life when you are in your 70s, 80s and 90s, are you going to be walking around with a walker, Are you going to be in a wheelchair? Or are you going to be able to do the stuff that you actually want to do? And that is really what I'm trying to focus on, is being able to do that kind of stuff in addition to being really fit right now. You can do both, and both are going to help equip you for that timeframe. So that's the way I structured mine as well. And so that is one of those areas where I love to just think through and kind of test over and over again to see what works and also what keeps you motivated, what keeps you going to the gym even when you don't. To want those types of things are really, really important.
- [41:42]
B
Yeah. A couple things that I want to illustrate. Strength training can be calisthenics, body weight movements, or it could be lifting weights, like dumbbells, barbells. It could be kettlebells. It could be batons and clubs. It could be pushing a sled, which you and I both love, pushing and pulling the sled. And so what I always encourage anyone is to follow the fun when it comes to your fitness. So do the things that are fun and enjoyable for you. And there's types of strength training, dozens, if not hundreds of different types, and you can find one that's fun for you. Like, some of my clients love kettlebells and hate dumbbells and barbells. Some of my clients don't even want to look at a kettlebell because it seems too far out there for them. So for me, I consider myself a hybrid athlete. So I do a combination of gymnastics rings, calisthenics, traditional bodybuilding kettlebells, clubs and the sled, sandbags, battle ropes. And these are just different skill sets, strength training skill sets that I've picked up over the years because I get bored with bodybuilding weightlifting. So I got into gymnastics rings during COVID when everything was shut down. I set up gymnastics rings in my garage, and I got super into it, and I got so shredded and felt like a gymnast and looked like a gymnast. And now that's a staple is I might take 12 weeks off and do a pure bodybuilding weightlifting and then go back to doing predominantly gymnastics rings, plus a weightlifting leg day. Right now, I'm in a hybrid where I'm doing some gymnastics rings, some traditional weightlifting, along with the kettlebells and sandbags and sled. But the point I'm trying to make is there's so many different ways to strength train and just keep exploring and have fun. Because I see a gym or any outdoor facility as a playground. And I want to learn how to use every toy in that playground, every swing set, every thing. I want to understand how to play with it and play with it. And so I've picked up all these different skill sets around strength training over the years, and each one has been its own journey in itself. Just learning the skill, how to Use it how to not hurt myself, especially with things like clubs when you're swinging clubs around. And I've definitely almost knocked myself out or given myself a concussion with that. But it's made my journey so fun and exciting. And when I get bored of one thing, I just go to something either new or something that I haven't done in a long time. And the thing about following the fun is fun taps into your spirit. And your spirit is an infinitely renewable energy source, whereas willpower is finite. You might be good, I don't know when this episodes coming out. January of the new year, you're super into your workouts, and then the willpower by the end of January's all used up and you're no longer training anymore. But if you follow the fun, and that's one of the reasons I'm so into pickleball is pickleball is my main source source of cardio. I do do some running and some riding of a peloton bike for VO2 max training. And we can talk about that if you want. But I can play five hours of pickleball and it's like two seconds went by. I'm like, what? Five, five hours went by. I want to keep playing because I feel like a kid when I'm playing the sport of pickleball. And I think everyone can find different physical fitness endeavors that feel like pure play, whether it's Zumba dancing, trampolining or rollerblading, cycling, running, horse riding, I don't know. There's so many different types. And just follow the fun and then fitness becomes this beautiful journey of enjoyment instead of just struggling through a workout that doesn't even excite you.
- [46:34]
A
And I think that's such a wonderful tip, especially when it comes to just any of the workouts you're doing. And one of the things I wanted to talk to you about was cardio, which we're talking about here already, is. You know, you said your. Your main source of cardio is pickleball. And if anybody hasn't played pickleball before that, something that really kind of got me more interested back into cardio again. For a couple of years, I was just lifting and I wasn't doing much cardio. And pickleball is a great, like, integral, you know, zone two activity. Unless you play like Justin does, where you're flying all over the place. But for the most part, it can be a zone 2 activity if you're playing doubles, where you are, you know, doing something that's interesting, that's fun, that you enjoy now, if you are someone out there that's like, hey, I don't really want to play pickleball, but you like to hang out with your friends and talk to your friends. Just go on a walk together every single day. Or if you are someone out there who is really interested in, you know, running or increasing, you know, your VO2 max, and we'll talk about that in a second. That is something that you should, you know, you can look at running, you could look at rowing, you could look at, you know, riding a stationary bike or cycling. There's so many different things that you could do out there that I think is super interesting. Join your local basketball, you know, league. Join your local, you know, volleyball league, whatever it is. There's so many activities that you could do. Just get out there and get active, because that's the most important thing overall is to find those things that you enjoy. So I cycle through this stuff, like, just like you do, Justin, where I'm thinking through, like, right now I'm looking at doing a Hy Rox. And so I have friends who are asking me to do an ultra. I don't know if I want to do an ultra yet, but I'm interested in kind of doing a Hyrox and kind of testing that out. So I went and bought a rower. I have a rower in the house. I'm testing out if I really want to go do this. I got the sandbags and everything else. And so we're looking at this as something I want to test and see if I like it. I've gone through seasons where I've done marathons before. I've done all the New York York Marathon, for example, and I did the New York Marathon. I think I told you this with in college. I did it for the. The first time and didn't train at all. The next couple of days after, when I finished the marathon, I finished it. But when the next couple of days, I couldn't walk for a few days in a row. So it was one of those things where I have, like, tried everything from triathlons all the way across the board. And it's really just going through these cycles and enjoying those cycles and having fun. So I really like that tip. I think that's one that's really, really important. Important for most people. At the start of every year, I find myself asking the same question. Am I actually making progress or am I just tracking what has already happened? It's one thing to look at last month's spending. It's another to build a plan that moves you forward, whether it's paying off debt, stacking up an emergency fund or saving for something big. Set yourself up for financial success this year. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool designed to make your life easier. It brings your entire financial life, budgeting, accounts and investments, net worth and future planning together in one dashboard on your phone or laptop. You feel aware and in Control your finances this year and get 50% off your Monarch subscription with code PFP. And what I love about Monarch is their new AI features where it's going to track your spending automatically. But it also has a new AI assistant that you can chat with and you can ask questions. How much did I spend on groceries last month? Or how much did I spend on my kids activities last month?
- [49:33]
B
Month?
- [49:33]
A
So set yourself up for financial success in 2026 with Monarch, the all in one tool that makes proactive money management simple all year long. Use code pfp@monarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with code pfp. The first day of spring always does something to me. I start to clean out closets. I start to clear out the garage and getting things organized again. And every year it makes me think about the bigger stuff too. Not just spring cleaning my house, but cleaning up my long term to do list. And one of those things is protecting the life that we built. And that responsibility can feel heavy. Making sure your family would be okay financially if something happened to you isn't exactly a fun task. But it's an important one. And that's where policygenius comes in. See, policygenius isn't an insurance company. They're an online marketplace that helps you compare life insurance quotes from some of America's top insurers side by side for free. And their licensed team works for you, not the insurance companies. They help you find the right coverage amounts, prices and terms, answer your questions, handle the paperwork, and advocate for you along the way. It's about clarity and peace of mind. Protect the life you've built with Policygenius. You can see if you can find 20 year life insurance policies starting at just $276 a year for $1 million of coverage. Head to Policygenius.com to compare life insurance quotes from top companies and see how much you can save. That's policygenius.com billion dollar investors don't typically park their cash in high yield savings accounts. Instead, they use one of the premier passive income strategies for institutional investors, which is private credit. Now the same passive income strategy is available to investors of all sizes thanks to Fundrise Income Fund, which has more than $600 million invested in a 7.97 distribution rate. With traditional savings yields falling, it's no wonder private credit has grown to be a trillion dollar asset class in the last few years. So visit fundrise.compfp to invest in the Fundrise Income Fund in just minutes. The fund's total return in 2025 was 8% and the average annual total return since inception is 7.8%. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Current distribution rate as of 12312025 carefully consider the investment material before investing, including objectives, risks, charges and expenses. This and other information can be found at the Income Funds prospectus@fundrise.com Income this is a paid advertisement I remember when I first started investing, I kept telling myself, I'll start when I have more money. I didn't feel like I had enough. But what changed for me was realizing it's not about having a lot, it's about starting. That's why I like Acorns. Acorns is the financial wellness app that makes it simple to give your money a chance to grow. You could sign up in minutes and automatically invest your spare money, even when all you've got is spare change. One feature I really like is the potential screen. It shows you how your money could grow over time with the power of compounding. It's motivating because it shifts your focus from where you are today to where you could be tomorrow. And Acorns grows with you whether you're just starting or planning for bigger goals. It keeps everything in one place, investing, saving and building better habits along the way. Sign up now and Acorns will boost your new account with a $5 bonus investment. Join the over 14 million all time customers who have already saved and invested over $27 billion with Acorns. Head to acorns.compfp or download the Acorns app to get started. Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns tier 2 compensation provided potential subject to various factors such as customer accounts, age and investment settings does not include Acorns fees. Results do not predict or represent the performance of any Acorns portfolio. Investment results will vary Involves risk Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC Registered Investment Advisor. View important disclosures@acorns.com Pfp now let's talk about some of the longevity metrics that we are thinking through here. So V2 Max is one of the big ones. How do you train your V2 max. And, and why is it so important to you to make sure that your V2 max is something that is strong? Because if you look at Peter Atia's research or, or some of the folks out there or the research that he studies, he talks about VO2 max as a longevity metric. So, you know, how do you track yours and what workouts do you do to kind of help increase your VO2 max?
- [53:53]
B
Great question. I'm going to back into it because you mentioned something that is so critical to healthspan and sticking with your fitness, and that's community. So all the research for longevity shows that that deep connections with people is actually the number one predictor of how long you're going to live, or at least one of the top ones. And one of the easiest ways to make fitness so fun is to get involved with a community that is built around a certain sport or physical activity. So you mentioned Hyrox. There is a huge. Hyrox is like, like, in my opinion, the new CrossFit. Not in the sense that it's the same, but in the sense of the hype around it. Everyone's super into Hy Rocks right now. One of my clients is literally training for a doubles Hy Rocks event and he's so excited. He joined a gym that has specific high rocks training and it doesn't matter. One of the reasons I love pickleball so much is because of the community aspect. I have literally created 70 new friendships over the last eight months just because of pickleball. And I see these people three, four, five, six, seven times a week. And I have all these friends that play pickleball, whether it's basketball. Our mutual friend, Chad Carson. Small and mighty real estate investor Chad Carson. He plays basketball with his local basketball group of friends and he's jazzed about it. He loves to use his strength training to support his basketball performance. And I see this glimmer in his eye when I talk to him and he's, he tells me, justin, people hate playing basketball against me because I just like never stop hustling. I'm always hustling, hustling, hustling. And I just see the joy in his eyes when he talks about his basketball playing with his, his local club that he does two or three times a week. And so whether it's pickleball, cycling, there's cycling groups, there's run clubs, join a community. It's so empowering. And there's gyms, CrossFit gyms, hi Rocks gyms, all sorts of things. Just join A community around whatever sport, endeavor, or physical activity that you're in, and you will have so much more fun. So let's segue into VO2 max training. Why that's important. Quick definition. Hopefully my memory serves me correct. So, essentially, VO2 max is how efficiently your lungs, muscles and body all work together to process oxygen. So a higher VO2 max means that you're more efficient and your body works in better synchrony together so that you can run longer, faster, work out harder for longer, cycle for longer, up more mountains, more miles, et cetera. So one of the things that Peter Attia talks about in his book, I Believe It's Outlive.
- [57:29]
A
Outlive. Yep.
- [57:31]
B
Is that VO2 max. What your actual score is is another one of the huge factors in your health span and your lifespan. And you can strategically increase and build your VO2 max fairly easily without a whole lot of training, to be honest. So I got into this in March of 2025 because whoop, which is a health tracker, they released this new feature called WHOOP Age, where they give you a biological age score. And one of the metrics that influences that score is your VO2 max. And I realized if I could increase my VO2 max, my whoop age would decrease even more. So my whoop age, I'll pull it up in a minute here as I'm talking, is over 11 years younger than my chronological age. And this is because my VO2 max, resting heart rate, HRV, which is heart rate variability, these are all really high, and they're actually at the level of someone who is 11 years younger than me. So training your VO2 max is very easy to do with running and cycling, in my opinion. There's other ways to train it, but you can swim, you could row, you could do other things. But VO2 max is really easy to train with. Interval training while running or interval training while cycling. And this is how I do it. So basically what I will do is I'll warm up. Let's say I'm doing a run, I will just jog five minutes, get my body warm. After my body's warm, I will run hard. If I'm outside, I'm usually trying to find a hill. Or if I'm on the treadmill, I'm running uphill on the treadmill. And I will run hard for a minute, and I will try to push my heart rate into Zone 4 and hold it in Zone 4 for a minute. And then I will go back to jogging and maybe lower the incline on the treadmill and do an active recovery for one to two minutes before I do another one of those hard intervals. And I'll try to do three to six of those hard intervals, all in the time span of 10 to 15 minutes. So if I do three intervals, I can bang it out in maybe 10 minutes. If I'm doing six intervals, it's gonna take me 15 to 20 minutes to do it all. And I'll do the same thing on my peloton, my stationary bike, where I'll warm up and then I'll do a minute of going as hard as I can on the bike, cranking up the resistance like I'm climbing a hill on the bike, get my heart rate up into that zone four, hold it there for a minute and then go and get let go slower and easier for one to two minutes while my heart rate recovers, and then doing three to six of those intervals. And when I started doing this, I went from a VO2 max of 47 to 58 in about a month, which 58 for someone my age who's 43 is at the elite level for my age group now, now a marathon, ultra marathon runner, they're going to have a VO2 max of 60, 70 if they're a professional athlete. So I'm not a professional athlete, but I'm in the top 5% of my age group for a non professional athlete. Does that make sense?
- [61:46]
A
It does. And 58 is very high in comparison to what most of the population has. That's a unbelievable VO2 max, which I think for most people out there, you start tracking your VO2 max. My guess is for the majority of people, depending on if you've kind of been working out for some period of time, you're probably going to start off in the 40s at some range in the 40s, unless you really fit, and then kind of work your way up from there. And I think that is one of those areas where, you know, a lot of people, it takes some time to get it built up. And it's amazing the way that you did it because for me, even specifically I've. I've tested out like the Norwegian 4x4 method, where you're kind of doing four minutes on really hard, four minutes off really hard. I like your methodology better where it's one on, one off, but you can kind of get more reps in through that time frame and you could do it faster. So I think that's something. I'm going to implement it and see how the, you know, the one minute on, one minute off or two minutes off is going to be, because I think that is something where a lot of times the Norwegian 4x4, you're trying to get four minutes in that higher heart rate zone, in that zone four. But the problem with that is that it's pretty hard to maintain for four minutes straight, especially early on for a lot of folks. So I think this is a great point where you can kind of start, you know, doing it this way first. And really, if you want to build it up or you really are, you know, focused on maxing out that VO2 max, then you can kind of build it up from there. But I really, really like the way that you do it because that's a much easier path for most people to get started with.
- [63:04]
B
Yeah, I can give some advanced tips and then also to explain how I'm tracking this. So I am a tracking maniac. So not only do I wear a WHOOP fitness tracker, I also wear a Garmin. And Garmin, if you do a 15 or 20 minute run, it will recalibrate what your VO2 Max is. And so that's how I'm tracking. My VO2 Max is through my Garmin. The best test is one of those facilities where you get this oxygen mask put on you and you're on a treadmill. But I'm way too lazy and I'm not going to spend the money to do that. So I just go by what my WHOOP is or by what my Garmin says. I'm. From my understanding, the Garmin VO2 Max tracking is fairly accurate. It's not the gold standard of putting the oxygen mask on and going to a facility, but Garmin is really built for endurance athletes where VO2 max is really important. I've also learned some techniques to increase your VO2 max that I learned through this app and it involves breath work. Why you're on a treadmill or running outside. I do it on a treadmill. So I'm just going to put a huge disclaimer up. Try this at your own risk, because if you pass out and injure yourself, me and Andrew are not responsible. So basically what it is, is you're doing carbon dioxide training from my understanding. So your. Your body's ability to process carbon dioxide. So what I do on the treadmill is I will walk uphill on an incline, anywhere between 15 and 20% grade. Fortunately, my gym, the treadmill, goes up all the way to 20%, which is higher than most treadmills. Most treadmills only go to about 15% and I will walk around a 2 mile per hour pace. And then I will breathe in, out, in, out for maybe five to six times and then all the way out. So big breaths in. And then six to eight times to that and then all the way out, so big breath out. And then I will hold for a count of 8 to 10 seconds and you will feel like you're going to pass out. And then you breathe all the way in and this crazy sensation goes through your body. Especially for me, it goes through my lower leg. And I'm not totally sure how to explain it. It's like they get super heavy and almost pins and needles a little bit, but not uncomfortable. And during this time, after the eight to 10 seconds, you go back to normal breathing. And I will do four, three to six sets of that on a non interval training day. And this is breath work from my understanding, scientifically shown to improve your VO2 max. Now, again, strong, strong warning. Try this at your own risk. You literally might pass out. I haven't passed out. You feel like you're gonna pass out, but I haven't passed out. So I hold the side of the treadmill when I'm doing this so I, in case I do pass out, I don't clunk my head on something. But this is a new technique that I maybe two months ago, two and a half months ago, that I do one to three times a week on the treadmill. I haven't tried it outside running because that just seems too dangerous to me. But on a treadmill I've tried it. So, Andrew, I'll let you decide if you want to cut that piece out because it's too dangerous to put in this. But it is one kind of unique trick to using breath work to actually improve your VO2 max.
- [67:22]
A
I think it's an interesting, it's an interesting concept because overall there are, you know, there's a lot of, I've seen some other hacks and tricks just like that that people have been doing where they use masks or whatever else. And I think it's gonna, it's one of those areas that probably can overall just help the oxygen expenditure that your body has and the way that it can actually, you know, process that oxygen. I think it's a really interesting way to, to look at this. Are there any other things when it comes to health Spanish that you think about? I know grip strength is a big one that a lot of people talk about. I, you know, there's things like I do, like farmers carries, for example, I don't do them enough. Honestly. I need to grip Strength train a lot more. I know there's balance things that people do. Is there anything else that you think is important for folks before we kind of get into Mike? Just some of the thoughts we have on, on the health and wealth connection before we close this out.
- [68:07]
B
The older you get, the more time you need to spend on recovery. So I do recovery protocols every single day. And I talked about this. I forget if this was during your interview on my show or my interview on your show, but I basically every morning I do three to ten minutes of percussive therapy. So I have a theragun, which is a percussion, it's basically like a power tool. And I give myself a self massage with that. Then I foam roll for another three to 10 minutes. Then I get in a hot shower followed by two minutes of cold. And then I do and I'm a nut, so let me finish and you'll see why. Then I put put Arnica, which is a homeopathic cream that you can get off Amazon that helps with sore muscles. And then I'll put on some essential oils and then I give myself a stone massage where I'm scraping. This is a gua sha and it's made out of jade. You can get them made out of all sorts of things. And so I will scrape my neck, I will scrape my chest, my biceps, my triceps, my legs. And then I have massage tools like this where I'll dig into sore muscles. And so I do this, that whole routine every freaking morning. Now I'm early retired, so it might take me if I'm rushing, I can get it all done in 10 minutes. If I'm taking my sweet time, It'll take me 20 to 30 minutes. But I train a lot, so I play pickleball if I can seven days a week. And I'm strength training four to six days a week on top of that pickleball. So I have to be hyper vigilant about my recovery if I want to keep going at that pace and intensity of physical output. So I think cold plunges, massages, foam rolling, self massage like I do with the theragun and the stone massage. Any all that is amazing. I also do a little bit of yoga, stretching in the shower. Again, I'm a crazy person. So I do three to five minutes of stretching in the shower because my body's super hot. So I do that before I turn on the cold. And, and before pickleball and before strength training, I will do some mobility slash active stretching to get my body warmed up for the exercise. So I'm 43. I'm not 21. I can't just go right into lifting weights or running around concrete courts. Otherwise I'm going to injure myself. So I think that recovery protocol, the older you get, the more that should be a part of your weekly routine. So for me, I've just found doing some every day makes me limber, mobile and injury free. But the easiest way I tell people to do, if you're strength training three times a week, cool. Take two to seven minutes, do some foam rolling, do some active stretching and incorporate it into those three workouts a week. So I think mobility and active recovery is super important. Grip strength, I do agree, is really important for me. I don't proactively do it because I do so much kettlebell work, so much gymnastics rings work and batons and clubs. I'm working on that grip strength all the time. Time.
- [72:14]
A
And I think that is a really important note is that for, you know, when it comes to recovery, I think that is one thing as much as we are all training, it is something you definitely have to prioritize. Overall, like a big thing that I do is a lot of cold. I have a cold plunge, so it's a one of those areas where, you know, I definitely use that. I'm looking at buying a sauna within the next couple of months here. And so those are two big, very area, you know, big areas that I want to do like hot cold exposure. Right now I only have the cold exposure, but those are things that are I'm looking at too. And I know every single time my joints feel better when I'm in the out of getting out of the cold plunge. And there's a lot of things that are, are really important there too. So before we wrap this up, I want to kind of tie this in. How do you kind of see, you know, health and wealth? How do you see those intertwined? Now we could do a whole episode on this. Obviously this is a big subject and overall this is a, a subject that I think there's a lot of correlations between health and wealth. But why is it so important for us as wealth builders, as people who are pursuing financial independence or FOX or people who are already financially independent? Why is it so important to make sure that health is prioritized? Why is that one of the big keys overall?
- [73:16]
B
Yeah. So two notes. Sauna. There's research that shows doing sauna does incredible things for your lifespan, health span and even your testosterone. So I go through periods where I'm super into sauna. During spring and summer, I cold plunge in the Pacific Ocean. I'm too much of a wuss to do it during the winter, so I just cold shower at home. And the incredible thing about a cold plunge is the speed of recovery for my body. If I cold plunge after, say, a day of pickleball or strength training or a double day, the next day, I just feel so much better. And sauna is amazing. So much research on it. But onto health is wealthy. There's so many parallels, and this is one of the reasons why my brand is fit rich. Life is I've been obsessed with fitness and money and wealth my whole life, as well as building a life that I absolutely love and really empowering others to build a life they absolutely love. So right off the bat, at the beginning of this conversation, we talked about tracking macros. So whether it's your finances or your fitness, what gets measured gets optimized. And I found this first in my fitness, but then I applied it to my finances, and it was amazing how fast. When I started tracking my macros and calories and body fat percentage, literally lost 30 pounds of body fat and dropped 10% body fat. So went from 18 to 8. Like, that's insane. Same thing with my finances. I was in debt for a long time, $80,000 in debt. Then I started tracking my money, got out of debt, and then went on to become a millionaire. And I literally, everyone asked me, what's the number one thing you did for your money to get out of debt and become a millionaire? And it's tracking, tracking my money, my income, my expenses, my savings rate. So the fact that that principle of tracking what gets measured gets optimized, works in your fitness and your finances. Now, I don't believe you need to track your nutrition for 10 years, but take two months, track your nutrition and optimize it. And then you now have a blueprint of how to eat to have the physique that you want. And you can go back to intuitively eating same thing with your money. If your money is not where you want it to be, the number one thing you need to do is start tracking all aspects of your mind. This is super easy to do now with apps like Monarch Money and Empower Personal Dashboard, which I think has been rebranded again. And that is such a fundamental that I think everyone, whether it's your fitness journey or your financial journey, you need to start with tracking whatever the key metrics are. And, and I like to think about what is the golden metric for me on my journey to financial independence. The golden metric was my savings rate and we talked about this, I believe in my original interviews on your show. So they can go back and deep dive on savings rate. You talked about it on my show so they can come listen to your interview on my show. So I won't go into that. And then I think for the golden metric for fitness, I think there's a few in terms of looks, it's your body fat percentage because it doesn't matter how much muscles you have, if you have a layer of fat covering it, I think body fat percentage and muscle mass is really important. And then for health span, VO2 max and resting heart rate is really important. And those are very easy to track with, say a whoop, a Garmin. And then I use a body scale at home. You can include the link that, that tracks my body fat. So I've been tracking my body fat every single day for over 11 years. I just step on the scale, it sends a current through my body, I can't feel it. And it tells me what my body fat percentage is. So my goal now is just to stay at 10% or lower body fat year round, intuitively eating. And I've done that for two years.
- [77:34]
A
And I think that's, that's perfect. I think that's kind of the overall thing that most people need to understand is there's so much correlation and they work together so seamlessly. And if you look at this in a way where, you know, like tracking what gets measured, you know, is going to be the thing that you're really going to focus your time and energy on, that's where those, that correlation really does fall into play.
- [77:53]
B
Yeah. The other thing that I, I try to encourage every single one of my coaching clients to do, and really anybody, is you want to make fitness a lifestyle because if you're lifestyle is a fit lifestyle by default, you're going to do things that keep you fit and healthy. And I also think financial independence or FI is a lifestyle. They are a set of core values, habits, practices in both fitness and FI that if that is a part of your lifestyle, you can't help but be fit and become rich and financially free. So I think lifestyle is, it's kind of like the foundation. And then mindset is, goes on top of that. So mindset is psychology and habits. So if your psychology around money, your psychology around fitness, your habits around fitness, your habits around money are good, again, you can't help but get fit and rich. And so if you're living a lifestyle that has those as core values, fitness and financial independence. And then your mindset is built around fitness and financial independence and you're living those values, living those habits and embodying the mindset of financial independence and being fit by default. You're going to become very fit and very rich.
- [79:32]
A
Absolutely. Well, Justin, this has been incredible thus far. Thank you so much for coming on. We'll definitely have you back on here on the show very soon. Can you tell people more about where they can find out about you, your show, everything else you have going on, your coaching and everything else?
- [79:46]
B
Yeah, absolutely. So the other thing we didn't talk about, that I, I kind of mentioned in passing at the very beginning, and I see this all the time, is people just show up to the gym and they do whatever you need to follow a structured, a well structured workout program. Otherwise, this is why you see people who go to the gym every week and a year later they look exactly the same or worse. And you need to follow a structured workout program. So I have a free 4 day workout at fitrichlifecoaching.com workout that you can follow, or you can find one on ChatGPT, but follow it for at least eight weeks and then track every workout or every exercise, log every rep, every set and try to improve every set and rep. Like increase the weight, do more reps. And this is what is called progressive overload. This is how you build muscle. And that's the other big problem I see with people in their fitness is they're just haphazardly working out. And yes, any workout's great, but if you really want to shape your body and build certain muscles, you need to follow a structured workout program. My podcast is Fit Rich Life. It's available everywhere. 80% of the episodes are the financial independence journey or the entrepreneurial journey. The other ones are the fitness journey or the relationship journey. Really what I'm trying to capture is the hero's journey. If you're familiar with Joseph Campbell's Hero's journey, every human goes through this. Back in the day, it was like the odyssey. Now, the modern version of the hero's journey, I think comes in the form of building your own business or achieving financial independence or having a massive fitness transformation or a massive transformation in, say, your relationship with another person. It's available everywhere. I write a weekly newsletter, Fit Rich Life newsletter. It goes out every week. It's tips, tools and strategies for fitness, money and life. You can read in less than 5 minutes. Level up your fitness, money and life. And my coaching, I only work with eight to 10 clients at a time. If you're interested, you can just go to my Instagram or fitrichlifecoaching.com and you can set up a free consultation with me. I have two spots open at the time of this recording. They may be filled by the time but there's always a wait list so you can check it out. And yeah, as I sort of mentioned, I'm semi retired so I play a lot of pickleball. I release a podcast every other week and I release a weekly newsletter and I'm really just enjoying my semi retirement.
- [82:36]
A
Well, awesome. We will link all that up in the show notes down below. Thank you so much again for coming on. We truly, truly appreciate it.
- [82:42]
B
Yeah, last thing. I'm ustindavidcarl everywhere. Most active on threads and Instagram, But X Twitter, LinkedIn Everywhere @JustInDavidCarl and I'm always happy to connect with people on social media.
- [82:57]
A
Awesome. Well thank you so much again and to everyone listening, we will link those up down in the show notes and we're gonna have Justin back. So thank you again.
- [83:05]
B
Thanks for having me on the show, brother.
- [83:07]
A
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