Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Welcome to the Heart Rate Variability podcast. Each week we talk about heart rate variability and how it can be used to improve your overall health and wellness. Please consider the information in this podcast for your informational use and not medical advice. Please see your medical provider to apply any of the strategies outlined in this episode. Heart Rate Variability podcast is a production of optimal L L C and optimal HR-V. Check us out at optimal hr-v dot com. Please enjoy the show.
Speaker 1 00:00:32 Welcome friends to the Heart Rate Variability podcast. I am here with a great guest today that I am excited to dive in to his latest book and, uh, uh, his four steps, which I think is really gonna resonate, uh, with our audience here. So, I got Greg Damon, uh, fellow who Hoosier, uh, hi. I love that about your bio. So, uh, uh, Huntington, I believe I, I spent time in Muni, and I was born in South Bend in West Lafayette. So, you know, as far as I know, you're out west here now, very short distances as far as, uh, what, what we deal with out here in the West. So, um, always great to have another Hoosier. I, I don't know, it's a stereotype, but it's good to see, uh, that basketball, we seem to remember how to play that this year with Purdue and I, you having pretty good teams.
Speaker 1 00:01:21 So, uh, for one, I'm enjoying this, but I'm really, um, excited to talk about your book, your work, um, the framework, uh, uh, that I really enjoyed reading in your book. So, um, but I, I wanna start out a little bit just with your story. Uh, I, I think how you came, uh, to be this, and, and I was joking with you a little bit ahead of time, is mm-hmm. <affirmative>, uh, the cover of your book is beautiful, and you're on it with your shirt off, which, uh, uh, my joke is that that would, uh, not be a positive sales. I'm pretty proud of my fitness level, but I, I, yeah, I think you're in pretty good shape, Matt. I'm not at that level. So, uh, but, uh, it doesn't sound like you always, uh, had that physique, uh, and you've really, uh, what what I appreciate about your book have, have really not only looked at the physical side of health and wellness, uh, but I really appreciate the, the mental health side, the relational side, and in H R V we talk about social, cognitive, uh, uh, mental medical health. And, and your book really, I think, captures it does capture all four of four of those aspects, uh, that we know improves heart rate variability. So, I, I'm excited to share your story. So, how did you become a person who in their sixties, uh, can, can throw your, uh, Speedo body on a cover of a book with Fry, my friend? Uh, so, uh, tell, tell your story a little bit to introduce yourself to our audience,
Speaker 2 00:02:55 Matt. Thank you for that, that kind, uh, uh, introduction. Um, and by way of introduction, yes, my, my name is Greg Damian, uh, and I'm the author of the book at 60, the Four Steps to Look and Feel Younger at Any Age. Uh, I, I'm a motivational speaker. I like to think of myself as a health and, uh, and fitness influencer. And, and I'm a coach. Um, so my story is the second, is sort of the second chapter of the book. The first part of the book. I basically say, look, the, I I put myself out there because I, I like to show people what a 60 year old can do. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, but I don't, well, and, and, and it's not necessary to do what I do <laugh> from, from a health and fitness perspective, which we can get into to be healthy and happy. Right. And, and you mentioned the, you know, the mental side of this. My story goes back, you know, and I, and, and yeah, thanks for bringing up, uh, Indiana. I was born in Huntington, Indiana. My parents moved my, my mother's from Fort Wayne, but they moved to Buffalo, New York, which is where my, my, uh, father's from. It
Speaker 1 00:04:05 Was too warm in northern Indiana for them that they had to find someplace with worst weather than we Yeah. Right. My
Speaker 2 00:04:13 Mother was 19 years old when she got married. I mean, those were the days, right. And yeah. And she, she moved from Fort Wayne to Buffalo, and she, she must have been thinking, oh my gosh, how could I, could I couldn't, I have made a better choice than this. Yeah. <laugh>, well, they did sort of see the light because when I was in second grade, uh, my family moved down to Huntsville, Alabama.
Speaker 1 00:04:35 Yep.
Speaker 2 00:04:36 And, you know, which
Speaker 1 00:04:37 Is a, a huge, another big move, like big, big move. Oh,
Speaker 2 00:04:40 Yeah. <laugh>, that's a huge move. Uh, I mean, you know, the math is 1969, so Yeah. You know, the men had just landed on the moon. Um, I was eight years old and my, my folks moved me from Buffalo, New York to Huntsville, Alabama. And I'm going, you know, the people here talk different <laugh>. They don't talk like my parents. They don't talk like my friends back home. It was a bit of a, it was a bit of a transition, and I don't think my parents ever, you know, when I wrote about this, my mom read it. She's like, you know, I never really thought about that, you know, the impact on, on the kids when we did that. And, you know, thanks for bringing that up. And, and I never felt, um, I was, I, I didn't embrace the southern culture. My brother and sister were both younger than me, so they pretty much grew up with it and, and have stayed there their entire lives.
Speaker 2 00:05:31 And so when I go back, um, yeah, they, they kind of turned down the southern accent, some <laugh>. Right. Uh, but my motivation, and, and, you know, I, um, I was the hundred I mentioned, I, I was the 118 pound kid in high school. So I wasn't, you know, I was, and, and a lot of this was just my own beliefs right. About self-worth and how do I, how do I, uh, fit in with, with all of these people. Um, and I didn't get a whole lot of encouragement for my, my folks to, to go do something grand with my life. You know, fortunately for me, um, I, I was really good at math, and I, and I went to, uh, even in, in, when I was a senior in high school, I went to the u local university, and I took calculus. So yes.
Speaker 2 00:06:19 Was I a nerd? Yep. I was a nerd <laugh>. Right. Um, didn't necessarily make me very popular, but I had already started down that track with, uh, the, that school, Alabama, Huntsville. And so I, I just put my head down and said, I'm, I'm gonna get through, you know, I'm, I'm gonna, my father was an engineer. I decided to study engineering, and that's what I did. And in three and a half years, I got that degree, and, uh, and I, and I moved down to Florida. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, my father had a very curious sort of way of raising his kids, and he wasn't terribly involved. Um, he more or less surrendered that to my, my mother and what his main, I, I mean, I hate to kind of say it, he's passed now. And, you know, I had a reconciliation with him, which was a beautiful story.
Speaker 2 00:07:10 But, um, I was kind of resentful, but I also picked up some of the alcoholism from it. Yeah. Right. And so when I got down to Florida, I, and, and, you know, there's plenty of opportunities to drink in Florida. Everyone knows that <laugh>. Yep. Right. I started doing my fair share of drinking, but I had a coworker who encouraged me to go run with him. And I don't know what made me do that, but I did. And I ran three miles with him. And he was like, he was like, first of all, most people don't take up the, uh, opportunity to go run with me <laugh>. And then when, when they do, they don't usually go run three miles. And so that was kind of pretty cool. And I started running with him. Um, and, and the alcohol started to really compete in a way with my, you know, my, my fledgling athletics.
Speaker 2 00:07:59 Yeah. And it kind of came to a head one day that I was driving home from coming home from work after happy hour, having had some, some, um, alcohol and weeding in and out of traffic. There's this voice in my head that says, eh, I don't know what you're doing here, dude, this, this may not be smart. So immediately I slow down to the speed limit, which is 55, and I look over my shoulder and there's a state trooper steering right at me. And if I'd been pulled over, then I'm sure I would've been over the legal limit. It would've been bad. It got my attention. I, I really said, Hey, you know what? I don't wanna go down this route. I've seen what it did to my dad, and I've got other paths that I can go follow. And, and for about 10 years, uh, I didn't drink.
Speaker 2 00:08:42 I didn't drink at all. I was kind of just one of those decisions that I made. And just to be clear, maybe I had one or two, but it wasn't like I was, um, drinking significant amounts of alcohol. Right. And I got involved in, um, running competitively, and I was a pretty decent runner. Not a great runner, but a pretty decent runner. Um, my friend, uh, who, uh, got me involved with running, had a cyclist. And so I started riding with him and, and I said, well, if I'm doing those two things, I might as well go do some triathlons. Right. So I, I did, I started and, and it became, um, very therapeutic for me as well. I, one of the first benefits that I saw from it, Matt, was stress reduction. Hmm. I could go out and run or ride and, and, and forget about everything else. I mean, I could really get in that moment. And it was really valuable for me, almost more so than anything else, other than I also liked the way I, I felt, but I also got self-esteem out of the, outta that process as well.
Speaker 1 00:09:44 Right. Awesome. Well, I was gonna, I was gonna ask, Hey, you know, it's, it's funny because alcohol is a, uh, you know, uh, some of my co-hosts and I, who, who do other pod, you know, who come on from time to time, it, it's sort of a, a co-host of the show because we, uh, we, you can't, I think H R V, uh, measuring it on a regular basis pretty much ruins alcohol for anybody really cares. Like, if you care about your score the next day, it's just like such cognitive distance to wake up and like, oh, here's the data to to, to show you. Yeah. And as you kind of go, and I, I know we're, we're, I'm stopping you a little bit in the middle of, of the score, I want one to continue, but one of the, the four steps, which I loved is mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:10:29 <affirmative> dream big. Right. And I wondered, when you, when you look at this transitional period as your life was transforming, I, I sort of wanna, like, how did your beliefs change? How did your thinking change? Like, you know, I, I just like, cuz it was, it seemed like, you know, as I I was reading such a big turning point in your life, like, like you had that that event that you kind of woke up realized certain things could be better and just kind of how your beliefs, how your thinking was changing as you went to somebody who may have considered health, but maybe on an average level to, to really being a, a world class performer in many ways.
Speaker 2 00:11:13 Well, that's, that's kind. I haven't, well, maybe I did the pull up attempt. That was pretty cool. We could talk about that. But the belief side of it in my twenties, the, the sports and, and athletics and, you know, the other thing I I should mention is that, um, in, in high school, and I, I always sort of looked younger than, than my actual age as well. Right. It was just something that came over that, that,
Speaker 1 00:11:38 That picture of you at 20, I would've guess 13. Like, I was like, whoa, I'm glad I read the caption on that. Cause uh, yeah. I, I, I had to say, I was like, wow, he looks young and you've continued to, to hold that. You
Speaker 2 00:11:53 Too. Thank you, <laugh>. Well, part of the, part of the process for me was, you know, I said to myself one of these days, because looking, looking younger, those age, those years aren't really that all that beneficial in social situations and work situations. Yeah. Uh, you know, it it, it played, it played against me. I'm, I'm sounding a little victim like there, and that's not the message that I want to send. It was the, I, here, lemme put it this way, it was the way I was thinking, but that thinking was definitely flawed. Yeah. But what did help me, what was driving me and what you're, I think you're getting at is this idea. And what I said to myself was, one day, if I take care of myself, this is gonna pay off. My time's going to come. Yeah. Right. And I did, I had that belief.
Speaker 2 00:12:44 I didn't know how, um, I didn't know, you know, exactly how this was gonna manifest. I, the, the, that picture of me in my twenties, and I put a side by side up on Facebook group, and someone asked me the question, he said, what would that guy in his 2021 say, if you asked him how he could have, if he knew what was gonna happen at 60? Yeah. And, and my answer was, I think that guy would say he wasted a lot of his twenties and thirties. Yeah. Right. I, I really did. And so I, I didn't date a lot. I, I, I talked, I told, tell the story about how I did get married in my mid thirties. I got divorced. There was again, that voice that came back to me. And I, I don't know why. Um, but it just kept telling me that, um, you got more growing to do. Mm-hmm. And it, that growth was going to happen outside of this relationship. So, you know, I agonized over this for, for months and months. I mean, in a way, this was the first person I'd had a relationship with, and now I'm gonna, you know, walk away from her. Um, but I, but I ended up saying, you know what? I, I think this is, this is the right path for me. Uh, you know, her reaction was, Hey, you wanna get divorced? That's fine too. <laugh>, <laugh>, we tips, you know, <laugh> Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:14:10 Maybe a little bit on the ego side, probably a lot stuff, a whole heck of a lot easier.
Speaker 2 00:14:15 I I have to acknowledge that I was, you know, probably sort of selfish in the relationship and, you know, I can understand her perspective a lot better, but here's
Speaker 1 00:14:25 Love. It's well,
Speaker 2 00:14:26 Yeah. Right. Well, what happened during that divorce process was, I'm packing my stuff up. We flipped a coin as to who was gonna get the condo. And she did. And that was part of it as well. I had to be free. Right. Because if I ended up staying in that condo, I wouldn't have done the things that I did, like sell all my stuff and move to Hawaii. Right, right. And, and so, you know, the universe was really tipping the scale, I think, um, on all of this. But I found pictures of me in my twenties, and the epiphany was, holy cow, <laugh>, holy cow. I was, all of that stuff was clearly in my head. I'm not a bad, you know, I wasn't a, um, an unlikable, un unattractive, unlovable guy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Right. And, and that was a big epiphany for me to realize that this was really all in my head. And, and this was about five, seven years ago. And, and of course, um, changing the, the, the relationship situation opened me up to a whole bunch of new experiences. I took some help, self-improvement classes, um, got out there and, and, uh, and dated and met my, my, my current girlfriend. She introduced me to some really wonderful spirituality, which is actually how I got in, uh, introduced to H R V in the first place.
Speaker 1 00:15:48 Oh. Through spirituality,
Speaker 2 00:15:50 The har have you ever heard of the HeartMath Institute?
Speaker 1 00:15:53 Oh, absolutely, yes. Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:15:54 Absolutely. So Greg, we were, we were listening to this guy, Greg Braden, and Yep. He talked about, um, you know, the, the, the, the mind heart connection. And that's how I first actually heard about H R V.
Speaker 1 00:16:07 Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 00:16:08 Yeah. Right. Um, so anyway, I did, I did, after the divorce end up, um, selling my stuff, going to Hawaii for a few months, it didn't really solve my, my my, you know, my issues. I, I did get to experience sort of pre-retirement, which was a good thing. All of these things really are beneficial. Right? Yeah. The universe was really conspiring, and this is a belief. The universe was conspiring for me to get the experiences and, um, meet the people that I needed to meet mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And anyway, I ended up coming back, um, to the, to the us. And as my 60th birthday was approaching, I, I said, I wanna get some, you know, professional pictures made, um, and to be able to po possibly share Right. The, uh, the work that I've done. And, and when I did see this one picture that's on the cover of the book, I'm like, okay, if not me, who, and not now when Right.
Speaker 2 00:17:05 If I'm not, if I'm ever gonna share this story, I, you know, now's the time to do it. Right. And, and so that's, that's how I, um, got to the point of saying, I want to be able to share what I've done, share my experience to, to help influence people. I mean, my kind of my coaching target audience men in their fifties is who I think I have the most impact with. But I just love when anyone says, Hey, when I've heard your story, I, I'm, I'm, I'm eating better, I'm exercising more. Right. I'm, I'm, um, I'm lowering my stress. Right. I'm paying attention. Right. And I'm being intentional about how I live my life. Yeah. Because health in and of itself is, is, I mean, we could put all of our energy into being healthy and not actually live life. And that's not the point either. Right?
Speaker 1 00:17:56 Yeah. I, I would love to ask a question because I know, uh, I believe in Colorado where, where I'm talking to, uh, you won a body building contest. If, if I'm correct, if I'm remember that.
Speaker 2 00:18:08 I was, so what I won in, in, uh, the, my early fifties was the banham weight, um, competition. So the in, in body building shows. So after I did triathlon, I was diagnosed with low bone density, another story. And that's how I actually got, um, started into, well, both testosterone replacement as well as weightlifting mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I was in Germany for work, and, and one of my colleagues who was a bodybuilder, he said, Hey, Greg, have you ever thought about, you know, being on stage? And I'm like, I, I weigh, I weigh 130 pounds. What are you talking about? Right. I mean, um, and he is like, no, no, no. I mean, you, you've got, you've got a nice physique. And I think, you know, with some work you could build, you know, put a little muscle on you and, and you, you do great.
Speaker 2 00:18:54 So I'm like, well, okay. And, and so, um, I did, I, I, I started and I got a, you know, a couple of coaches and trainers and, um, at 52, 53, I think it was, I won the banham weight. So it was 143 pounds in below division in the state show in Colorado for two years back to back. I'm still not beyond the idea of going back on stage as a 60 year old competing in that, that weight class. Yeah. I mean, that's still a thought that I have in my mind. There are senior or master levels, um, categories, but typically those are not weight, um, divided. I, I'm like, Hey, bring it on. If you, you know,
Speaker 1 00:19:41 I was impressed. So I wonder maybe, cause I, what I, what also I like about your approach too, and this is, uh, again, our, our audience, you know, this won't be the first time they've heard me, is like u utilizing like heart rate variability. I know the metrics that, that we both pay attention to is that measure of overall health. And, and I think, well, I know at least from my perspective, one, the challenge is, is a more holistic way to look at health. Because I, I've met everywhere from, you know, growing up as a basketball player, you know, uh, I imagine in what I know about the body building world, which is the, not a ton, but mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I've watched a few documentaries over the years that, you know, is that you can be, you can look good but not be healthy. That, that like Oh, sure.
Speaker 1 00:20:30 That the health is, I mean, I think sometimes our vision of health, you know, that's why H R V doesn't lie to you. Cause cause you may it look good, but be, you know, not healthy in other ways. And so I wonder, you know, as you have triathlons, uh, body building, uh, really an exemplar now a coach to, to help people. Um, and I, I just see this more, I've had three books in a row on my library list on how, how you age in a healthy way. And you can't, you can't separate the mental, the psychological from the physical. It, it all like, that separation of mind and body really has never existed just how we think about it. Right. So I wonder, like, you know, as you look at, you know, all, all the things in your book is again, uh, uh, you know, kind of a book at least titled with having a Great abs and the six pack that you, or eight pack or what, a 12 pack or whatever <laugh>, whatever it's I'm looking at on that cover, you know, recharge often live well own your health Dream big. It's not like you're doing not, there's not, one of your four steps is do planks for 20 minutes every day. Like, so, so I wonder how you look at this from, obviously you've got the physical part manifested, um, in, in a way that you're a role model. How, how do you look at that holistic approach, um, to live in an aging, um, the way, the way you coach people to do that and be healthy?
Speaker 2 00:22:05 Thanks for asking the, the, the number one thing that I want to convey is that we don't have to age the way society tells us that we, that we should age. Right? Yeah. I, none of us can do anything about the, the, the number of years that we've been here spinning around the sun. That's, that's just, you know, that time marches on. What we do have a lot of control over, total control over is what we do with our time. Right. And, and how much of that time we want to, and energy that we want to invest in our future self.
Speaker 1 00:22:45 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:22:46 Right. Uh, you, you, you mentioned the, the dream big, uh, step in the book earlier. And, and, and I start that step off actually with a chapter on beliefs because I am a big believer. I love that, that everything in life starts from our beliefs. Yeah. And when do those beliefs start? They start when we're children from our parents. And, uh, I, I quote Bruce Lipton who's who says, you know, um, well, he, his quote is, if you want to understand how your beliefs have affected you, look at your life. Right?
Speaker 1 00:23:19 Yes. Absolut, absolutely.
Speaker 2 00:23:21 And, and, and the interesting thing is maybe not so you can look at what you are, but what are you not?
Speaker 1 00:23:28 Right? Oh, that's great. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:23:30 Because what you're not is so much driven by your beliefs as just as much as what you are. Cause if I'm not even willing to try, I've, I've lost before I even started. Yeah. And that's, you know, and, and it goes back Tobel and I, and I, I lived it. Right. I mean, I, like I said, I wasted a lot of my, uh, my twenties and thirties by not, not really having confidence in myself, um, both in social and as well as professional situations. I mean, my, my career is fine, but a lot of people, I mean, I was very fortunate in the sense that I went to Indiana to do an MBA in 1989. Okay. Well, you, and, and my MBA was an information technology. Well, that was a good choice. That was a very good choice. <laugh>, right? Now, I ended up going to work, uh, for a car company.
Speaker 2 00:24:23 It would've been a little different if I'd come out to California <laugh> and, and hopped in with, uh, Oracle or one of the fledgling tech companies. Right. Um, but nevertheless, it was a good choice. Um, but, you know, the, the whole, the whole point of dream big is, is a couple of things. One is let's not be limited by our, by our limiting beliefs. And there's ways we can identify those and change them. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then let's think about how do we wanna live our life. Right. What is it that we really want to accomplish? Uh, and then, and then finally, what are our goals, our, our health goals that we need or want in order to support what we wanna do. Yeah. So those are really the, the, the, the package of, um, ideas. And, and I also, uh, talk about what do I wanna be when, when I'm 80, for example.
Speaker 2 00:25:16 So it's 20 years from now. Right. And I, the, you know, my thinking here has evolved. And, uh, one of the stretch goals that I have, and I, and I, and I lived in, in Colorado for 20 years before moving out here to Phoenix. And I did it, not, not all, but I did about 19, I think the 14 footers, um, over the last three or four years after I came back from Hawaii. And I said, why not climb Kilimanjaro? Someone Summit Kilimanjaro, one of the, you know, the, I think it's the big seven peaks on the planet at 80. And, and as an interim goal is in the next five year increments, I need to be climbing. You know, one of these high peaks in Colorado or wherever doesn't have to be there. Right. Um, ev every five years, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, the, the message here is, live your life. Don't wait. We don't know. And, you know, in and live. Well, um, my very first chapter, and it's kind of, and I, and I make this comment because dream big is all about what do I wanna be and how am I gonna do it? But the very first chapter in Live Well is be present and happy. Yeah. Right. So set a destination, but enjoy the process because the process might be the whole point. I love it. Right, <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:26:38 So, so I also wanna talk about the recharge often because I, I, in the H R B arena, you know, I, I think that the thing that heart rate variability has done for athletes, and part of my mission is even if you're not, even if you're a corporate athlete or you know, you, you just wanna bring your best to life. You know, with the, with the athletes have used H R V to really transform sport, uh, probably from when we were both growing up. I'm sure Alabama wasn't that much different than Indiana with sports craziness, just maybe exactly a different shape ball. Uh, sure. <laugh>, but you, you know, that, that, uh, push yourself, push yourself, push yourself into the brink, and then get up as early as possible the next day and do it all over again. And now you look at somebody like LeBron James, who as of this recording is doing, whether you like him or not, doing amazing things, and Oh, yeah. A, a very advanced stage for a, a basketball player professional, I Brady. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Brady just retired. But I don't think we would look necessarily a Brady as a elite athlete. I think it was a late quarterback, but, uh, yeah. You know, but I also would throw the ball down immediately if I saw a 350 pound person.
Speaker 2 00:27:54 <laugh>,
Speaker 1 00:27:54 I mean, at too. So there's no judgment there. But, uh, you know, you, you look at that, and I think what, what these lead athletes have been trailblazers for us is, and I like to say thinking about recovery as a verb. Like, okay, what am I gonna do And think about recovery as part of my, my performance. And I would love to just kind get your thoughts. I mean, you, you outlined this in your book around, you know, meditation, prayer mm-hmm. <affirmative> sleep. But just kinda how you look at that as, you know, uh, uh, continuing to be a, a high level, uh, physical, uh, role model a at your age, how do you look at recovery? Especially as you're in your, your sixties still pushing the envelope because your goals are, like, even your 80 goals are like, boy, could I do those? I'm not really sure. I would like to say I could do a, some of them, but, um, you know, so how do you look at that, that, uh, recharge recovery, uh, piece in your own life?
Speaker 2 00:28:56 Well, I started taking, um, sleep much more seriously about three or four years ago. It wasn't one of the first things that I really embraced. And as, as you know, I've, uh, I've had, I've been wearing an aura ring for not quite the last year. And one of the features that I didn't really realize I was gonna get out of the aura ring was the ar, the H R V. Yeah. Um, data. Yeah. And, and I, I've, I've been really kind of fascinated by, by this. Well, let's, let's talk about that for just a second. Right. Right. So, yeah. Um, I was, so when I first got the ring and I, I was initially looking at my HR V data and I'm, and I'm 60, and my h average V overnight was around 60. Um, which was, which is pretty decent, I think. Yeah. Let's, let's call that good.
Speaker 2 00:29:47 Yeah. Okay. <laugh> fair enough. And what I, what I even noticed on top of that, and so I started doing some, what I call structured breathing. It's a meditation technique, and I would use the ring and the, the, the meditation technique is really simple. I would just breathe in hold like that for say a toll of about six to eight seconds, and then breathe out through my, uh, through my, my, uh, mouth again about six to eight seconds. So in hold out, hold my H r v shot through the roof. Yep. I, I could get H R v, you know, on a 15 minute average in the 80 or 90, or even a hundred. Yeah. Um, range. So, you know, the, it was really fascinating to me, right? Yeah. To see that, that sort of reaction. Now, more recently, I have, um, for a couple of conditions taken on a couple of medications, and those medications have whacked my H R V.
Speaker 2 00:30:54 It's, it's just, it's, it, it's frustrating and incredible. Um, and, and, and I'm, and I mentioned this, I had a, a call with my doctor on Monday of this week, and he said, why don't we do this? Why don't we take you off of one of those meds and let's see what happens for a few weeks. Yeah. Right. And let's see what the trade off is here. Um, and, and sure enough, as, as I've gone off of one of these medications, um, my H R V is trended back up. So I was on this medication, I was like, in, in the mid thirties, and I'm like, yeah. Oh, I'm just like, this is, you know, this is aggravating. Right. And, and so yeah, I've seen a trend up this week in terms of, of my H R V recovering back to where I was. I do also pay attention to, and of course, the aura is, is pretty strict about, Hey, you know, you're, you're not getting enough recovery time.
Speaker 2 00:31:46 Yeah. Uh, I've been always really pretty, uh, consistent with taking a day a week off. Great. Um, from, from exercise and, and I can see I, and, and sometimes I will, I'm, I'm really pushing hard and, and maybe in my schedule, you know, I've got this German <laugh> calendar and Yeah. And, and Thanks mom. Um, <laugh>, and, and, and it's like, wait a second, I need a day off tomorrow. Yeah. This, I, I've just been pushing it too hard. I need to listen to, to the, to my body, to the data and just respect that. So I, I think all of this recharge often is really about, you know, bringing energy back into our systems. Yeah. Um, and you know, the, whether, whether it's prayer, meditation, and of course from a spirituality perspective, it, it doesn't, it doesn't, I, I'm not dictating a, a, a spiritual path for folks. I'm, I'm encouraging people to consider it. Um, and I talk a little bit about my process, right. That, that I went through, uh, in the book. And, and it's been valuable to me just to, to be able to, um, have experiences, um, and interactions with other people, and actually to reconcile some of my grievances with religion <laugh>. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:33:09 Yeah. Yeah. I know. You know, so, so a couple things you said, I, I, I love the example of using heart rate variability. I, we, we talk a lot about it on the show, and I, I've been, I've shared a lot of my own stories about like the in of one, so mm-hmm. <affirmative> Sure. Here you can look at population norms. They, they give you a reference point. Uh, it means that 60 is pretty good for someone your age. Uh, so you could feel good about that, but you know, you still wanna improve it. Right. Right. It's what you're doing. And then seeing that, okay. In, in the study of Greg, Greg adds a new variable to his life, a medication, which does something to heart rate variability, which probably is saying something mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and then getting off that under doctor's supervision, everybody please here.
Speaker 1 00:33:59 Sure. Um, that, that you can sort of measure, okay, what, what, what happens when I'm going Maybe stay on one, take one off. What, what do you see improvement there mm-hmm. <affirmative> and really getting that data and feedback. And I, I know as you know, I progressed my, my late forties now, like, you know, things change. And it's like, okay, you know what, what does, you know, now that I live, you know, in Colorado and can go hike, you know, do I need to run? Like, what, what is jogging versus hiking, you know, basically walking in the mountains. Uh, well, what's that different to test those things out, to kind of find through the stages of your life as your body shifts, you know, kind of what keeps you at that at a healthy level. And that's, I love that example of using, you know, I always advocate for H R V to be a new vital sign, and boy did you like, that's, that's one of the best examples I've ever, uh, heard of, of that usage.
Speaker 2 00:34:59 Yeah. That's, and you know, I, I, I had a great triathlon year when I turned 50, 10 years ago. Um, I, I did do some triathlons this last year. Uh, I didn't have the same, same results. I mean, it's just, you know, I, I'd love to be able to tell you that I beat my times from when I was 50, and I, and I didn't, I didn't even come close actually. Uh, and, and several reasons for that. I didn't train, you know, I, I almost didn't train at all in that way. And, but here's an important point. Um, I'm playing the long game now. Yeah. And I'm, I'm intentionally doing things that will contribute to my long-term health, even if it means a certain short-term trade-off. And, and lemme give you the example. So this last year when I was training to do triathlons, I didn't stop lifting weights.
Speaker 2 00:35:53 I wanna maintain the bone health, and that was an issue that I had earlier as well as my muscle mass. Yeah. I know I could have been a better triathlete, and I've taken those hours of weight training and put them on the bike, or, you know, ran swim. But I consciously am not doing that because what difference, I mean, whether I'm a minute or two faster or slower in the, in the race, even if it means I don't end up on a podium, I don't really care about that. Right. Yeah. I, I want to be, I wanna be functional, and I wanna be functional in, in my senior years. Why, why? So I can, um, hopefully encourage and inspire other people to do.
Speaker 1 00:36:37 That's, that's awesome. So I always, I always finish up with authors on, on this question, and I'm, I'm really curious about, uh, your answer to it, because I, I find what I love about writing books is I learn things. I learned things like things that may, that, like in my talks, my training, those sort of things play a small role all of a sudden become more important. Like, there's kind of epiphanies, putting ideas, thoughts on the paper. And I just kind of wonder, as you went through the process, uh, with this book, was there anything that sort of, you, you, any of those epiphanies or any insights, um, you know, as you were thinking deeply about this for I assume several months at a time at least, like anything sort of, uh, come at you that, you know, may have not have been there as you, uh, star stared at that first blank page?
Speaker 2 00:37:33 Well, lots of things happened through the course of writing, for sure. Um, and I, I don't, I haven't talked with too many other authors, so I'm not sure. And, and I know that there's no one right way to do this. Right. It's just whatever process you use to put clay on the, on the pallet and start molding it, is it an additive process, a subtractive process? I, I, I do know that a number of my thoughts came through meditation, right? Yes. Where, where I'd be meditating and the thought would come to me. And, and even the, the dollar, you know, that that acronym which I went through the process of trademarking for, for some reason, I guess <laugh> Right. Came to me, I think as a part of a meditative process where I was really considering how do I wanna package it and present this in a way that's, uh, easy to understand and, and consumable. Um, that would be one thing. I also know it's a very iterative process, at least for me. Yeah. We were talking even before we, we started recording that I'm, I'm going through and every time I go through a revision, it's, it gets better. Yeah. It does. And you know, for, for me, for a book like this, it doesn't need to be perfect. I'm not, I don't, you know, need and we can all quibble over certain of, um, sorts of puncture and grammar, grammar and that sort of stuff, right? Yeah. Um, passive
Speaker 1 00:38:56 Voice, I learned, uh, I have this software that Grammarly, I'll give them credit cuz they talked about like passive voice was my big thing, so,
Speaker 2 00:39:06 Oh, I see. Yeah, sure, sure. Um, and, you know, it's, it's a different world. We, there's, it's, I mean, if people have the idea of writing a book, I would encourage him to do it. It's not that hard these days. Right. I hired for the, for the cover of my book, I went to Fiber. Yeah. Uh, and, and I gave him the, the photo that I wanted to use and the, the idea, you know, the title of the book. And I probably have spent about a hundred dollars Yeah. Altogether, um, working with this gentleman in Pakistan, right? Yeah. And I credit him in, in the, in the acknowledgements of the book, Hey, if you're interested, go reach out to this particular gentleman on fiber uh, dot com. So it's really kinda cool that we're making this so easy to do. Yeah. Right. And, and bringing in people from, you know, literally all over the world. Uh,
Speaker 1 00:39:59 Well, and it just expands. I mean, I imagine as a coach and a mentor, I mean, it just expands. You can do that now for people you haven't met. And plus, uh, I would imagine a, an amazing manual to help with, with the people that you do coach, uh, too, cuz it's Sure. Real, a real step by step of, uh, ways to, yeah. Ways to, again, organize within these four steps. But, but very holistic. Like I said, that's what hitting me is like, you know, cuz sometimes you see, you know, uh, books like this and it's like, you gotta do it my way. You know, this is the one way you can do Right. And get the results. And I really think that you, you give the reader so much to think about, um, that, that there's definitely different pathways to, to living a long, healthy fulfill
Speaker 2 00:40:52 Fulfilling. Yeah. I think I love that word. Thanks for bringing that up. I do, I made, um, a point in this book to have exercises at the end of each chapter. Yeah. Right. And at the end of each step, I suggest that the, the reader go back and consider the, the different, um, observations that they've made from each of the chapters and to consolidate it down to, Hey, here's the key takeaway for me in Dream Big. Here's what I, here's here's what I wanna accomplish and why, um, own your health. We didn't really even really talk about that. Right? Yeah. And, but there's folks out there that wanna help us, but ultimately it's up to us.
Speaker 1 00:41:28 Right?
Speaker 2 00:41:28 Right. We own our health. Um, and who's, who's your medical team? Right? And are they the right folks and do they know what you're trying to accomplish? So, uh, that, um, I, I actually out on my website, um, people can actually, if they just sign up, they can get a workbook for free that's got all of those, those steps and well
Speaker 1 00:41:49 As we wrap up, uh, give them that address. So,
Speaker 2 00:41:52 Okay. Awesome. Sure. Yeah. Uh, it's, it's abs sixty.com. So AABs a t sixty.com is, is the, uh, the website. And, uh, sure. Feel free to, um, to go out there. I am featuring some folks as well, if people have other, you know, stories that they would like to share. Um, and, and I'm, I'm also got some the opportunity to, uh, to work with folks as well through the services, um, that, that I'm offering. So, uh, by all means, please, please do take a look at that and reach out if you have any questions.
Speaker 1 00:42:25 Spectacular. Well, we got the address, Heather, we'll put that in the show notes too, as well as, uh, a link, uh, you know, coming up, uh, with, uh, where to find the book. Uh, obviously the website, I'm sure we'll have all that too, but, but we'll throw that in the show notes, uh, that everybody can find at optimal h r v uh, dot com. Greg, uh, really enjoyed the book, really enjoyed our conversation. Uh, good luck, uh, with the book. I know it's always an exciting and nervous time when you <laugh> when, when you, you're buried to send it out to the world. Uh, uh, you know, it's, it's funny, there's the, Hey, I can change every word in this point, and then you hit published and then it's, it's, you know, at least locked in for a little bit, uh, with that mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So, uh, congratulations. I, I think it's a, it's a really, like I said, it's abs and so, so much more, uh, uh, with this and a great holistic approach to aging. It got me thinking a lot. I love the activities, so
Speaker 2 00:43:22 I love to hear that. Matt, thanks so much for having me on. It's been a lot of fun. Uh, and I, and I always like to, to chat with, uh, Colorados
Speaker 1 00:43:31 Awesome. And Hoosiers, we, we got a few things. That's right. <laugh>, we got a few things in common. So, uh, hey, maybe we'll have to meet up, uh, for, for a non alcoholic beer, uh, when you, uh, come out to Colorado next time. So
Speaker 2 00:43:45 Let's do that. Get down Arizona.
Speaker 1 00:43:47 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Well, great. Thanks so much. I really appreciate your time and your work.
Speaker 2 00:43:51 Appreciate you too.
