Hey everyone, welcome to the fit to fat to fit experience podcast with your hosts, drew and Lynn. Manning, we’re so excited. You guys joined us today. Yes. Hello everyone. Um, today we have a great episode. Um, Mike Bledsoe is, uh, has another very successful, very popular podcast called barbell shrugged. Uh, we bring him on the episode today and, um, it’s a great episode. He has so much information, so much wisdom, knowledge, um, and he’s very similar to our philosophies too. We get into, you know, his transition going from the bodybuilding kind of mentality back in the day to more of a mind, body connection, longevity, loving your body first instead of just punishing it and, and working harder, you know, no pain, no gain type of mentality. Um, so very, um, very surprising. Uh, we had a great talk with him. He gets into his $15 morning smoothie that he takes now, which is crazy. It is. And, and you know, we are, you know, spinning, shake people and, and I’m into, you know, superfoods and, and micronutrients just like Mike is. And he kind of talks about specifically what he puts into the, so you guys gotta to stick around and, and listen to hear what he puts into this.
Yeah. And we have a lot of great discussion about supplements and different nutrients and vitamins and you know, some of our thoughts on that as we like to talk about it. But really I like Drew’s mentioning, I really enjoyed his just philosophy and viewpoint on the mind, body connection and steering a little bit away from just, you know, you’re healthy if you exercise cause that’s not always true. So stick around for that.
Yeah, we talked about the difference between performance and health. A lot of people think if their performance is good, their health is good too, but it’s not always true. So before we jump into the episode with Mike, um, uh, the sponsors for this episode are the first one has ever really will Everly well. Dot com is, uh, I’m very excited about this company. It’s a unique company. Basically what they do is they provide at home testing for certain types of medical tests that you want to do. So your cholesterol and lipids, your sleeping stress levels, uh, your hormones for women, which Lynn is a big fan of, of preaching about that cause it changed her life. Um, and pretty much, I think they have about seven different types of tests that you can do. You can do a heavy metals test, you need to do a food allergy tests as well.
And this, what’s cool about it, the thing I like about everyone I’m excited to announce them to you guys is that you go and order your test online, they send it to you a couple of days later, comes in the mail with a, you know, easy to follow instructions on how to do the test. So you’ll pick your finger, you’ll put like five drops of blood in this thing, you captures it and you close it up, you seal it up and you, you mail it off. Either you drop it off at a ups store, it’s prepaid packaging, right? Or you schedule a pickup. So ups will come to your door and just pick it up for you. So it’s so much more convenient than having to go to the store, uh, or sorry to the store. That’s it. Going to the doctor and scheduling a doctor’s appointment where you wait around forever and the doctor’s always late and you know, you got to go to this lab or that lab for these different tests.
It skips all of that. It’s so convenient, it’s affordable, super easy to follow. And you know, after you send it in a couple of days later, boom, that email you with the results. And the thing I like about it is the results are so easy to understand and read of, you know, what your levels are, where they are now, what that means and what you can do to improve them. Right. It’s great it and so easy to follow with a green, yellow, red type of system. Um, and it’s, it’s pretty much, you know, uh, dumbed down so anybody can understand it.
Yeah. Biggest complaint I get from women is I feel like I’m doing everything right and not seeing results. And I will, I mean this sounds ballsy of me to say, but the truth is, is every time that I’ve really seen someone be consistent and tell me that it’s always their hormones. And I always tell them, go to your doctor, get your hormones checked. And that is a great route to take. But the one thing that’s great about this, this company and what they’re doing is a lot of people you know, don’t have good insurance or don’t know what doctor to go to, don’t know what tests to ask for for their home hormone panel. Don’t have a doctor that actually shows them where their levels are at afterwards, exactly how you know where they should be and what they can do to fix it. And this makes it affordable so everyone can do that. So you can have the peace of mind of knowing where your hormones are at and what you can do to make sure you’re in an optimal position to see results if you are exercising and eating healthy because you’re fighting against a brick wall if your hormones are imbalanced, period.
Exactly. You guys. So here’s the cool thing. Go to Everly Everly, well.com. That’s E V E R L Y w E L l.com. Forward slash fit to fat to fit like my brand. Um, or type in the code of fit throughout the fit at checkout for a discount. You guys, that’s exclusive to you followers. So everybody will that count for size fit to at fit or use my discount code fit to fat to fit on any of their tests that are available and there will be more tests coming.
Awesome. You guys, our other show sponsor is quest nutrition.com. We’ll have that in the show notes. You guys know that I am a huge lover of quest nutrition. Um, I’ve been using their protein products for years. Um, of course they just started with their protein bars, which are still a favorite of mine and I like to preach about how it is so convenient to have this type of quality source protein on you. Of course, we all like to eat whole foods, but the fact is is we’re on the go so much. I know I am. And so having these protein bars in your purse, in your car at the office will help you avoid the fast food trap. And what’s great about them is they taste good for a lot of people. They satisfy that sweet tooth craving. I personally love, for example, their cookie dough bars are my favorite. Um, but in addition to that, they’re high in fiber, they’re low in sugar, they’re high in protein, so they’re a great go-to snack. I also really love their quest chips. Actually put that in my daughter’s the quest chips in my daughter’s school lunch every day. She loves them and it’s a great way for her to feel like she’s getting the kind of treat that other kids get, but it’s actually a lot healthier for her. So go check them out. Quest nutrition doctor.
Yep. And they have some cool Quito snacks. Now you guys, you can check them out. Quest nutrition.com forward slash quest labs for all their Quito products. So if you’re in the, into the keto lifestyle like I am, you can definitely, uh, sample some of their stuff, which is amazing. It tastes really, really good. Even then likes them. So. Alright, let’s jump into today’s episode with Mike Bledsoe.
[inaudible].
All right, Mike Bledsoe. Thank you so much for joining us here on the fit to fat to fit experience podcast. How are you doing today man?
I’m doing fantastic. Thanks for having me.
Awesome, man. No, it’s our pleasure, man. We appreciate you coming on. We’re big fans of what you do and, uh, and I appreciate you, you, uh, take us some time out of your day. So now you’re, you’re out in Memphis, right?
Um, I’m actually in Southern California. I live in a small town in Sanitas.
So Cal, yeah, we’re actually both from, I, for some reason I thought I read that you were from Memphis, but I guess that’s where you grew up, right?
Yeah, that was a, it’s probably just an old bio, so I’ve been, I moved from there about two and a half years ago.
Okay. Yeah, that’s probably what it was. So you like Southern California versus a Tennessee?
Uh, yeah. Uh, the weather’s nice. Uh, yeah, there’s several things going on here. I, I prefer,
yeah. Yeah. We both grew up there. I grew up in San Diego. Len grew up in San Demas, so we’re definitely big fans of it. Not, we’re not big fans of the traffic or the cost of living, but everything else, beautiful weather
out of the city. So I think I’m doing okay.
So just to introduce you to our listeners a little bit, like, you know, obviously, you know, I know a little bit about you, um, and I know about your, your podcast, barbell shrugged. I’ve listened to a lot of episodes on that. Tell us a little bit about your, your past and you growing up. You went into the Navy, uh, out of high or after high school, right?
Yeah. Yeah. I, um, I, you know, before, um, before I started training, I wanted a trend so badly. I think I was probably about 13 when I saw some fitness magazines at the grocery store and I wanted to do that. And my parents told me, you know, you’ll stunt your growth. You can’t lift weights until you’re, you know, and they said the arbitrary age of 15, I think part of that was the local gym said that if you were going to be in the gym by herself, you had to be at least 15 years old. Um, so yeah, I was like, I think I was obsessed with it before I was able to really start and, you know, on my 15th birthday I walked into the gym and started lifting weights based on whatever was in the magazines. Um, yeah, I, I did go into the Navy, uh, I made a swing at the seal program, uh, got hurt. Uh, they, I was going to happen to begin training, you know, during hell week and they were like, Oh, we’re just gonna roll you back to the beginning. And, uh, and I was like,
would have defeated me.
Yeah. It went to the, went to the fleet for three years after that. Um, enjoyed my time there, did a lot of training, um, uh, you know, mostly like bodybuilding type program and running and swimming. It was the majority of my training, um, while I was in the Navy, got out of the Navy, um, started, went to, um, school too. I’m focused on, I just started in the business program. Um, after one semester of business I an accounting class, um, defeated me and I
okay.
And I, uh, I, it was like, Oh wait, there’s an exercise science program at a school. I have no idea what you do with that, but that seems like a lot cooler than these are arbitrary numbers on this, um, credits and debits page. So I switched to exercise science program where I thought I knew everything. Um, and then I was serving, served a dish, a humble pie when day one of the weightlifting one Oh, one class I detected that program was Olympic weightlifting actually. And I had no idea what it was. It was match and clean and jerk. So I fell in love with that like day one. Um, and then about a year and a half later, I discovered CrossFit. And while I’m in school, I opened up the first CrossFit box in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was going to university of Memphis at the time.
Um, I ran that box from Oh seven to around 2012. Um, and in 2012 we started the barbell shrugged podcast, started traveling a lot and really pursuing, um, that, you know, uh, and the barbell shrugged podcast really was amazing for me. I think I learned more about not just fitness and nutrition, but also just life in general. Um, and more than four years of doing that show than I had, you know, the previous 30 years. And that was just due to interacting with people who were the best at what they did, um, on a weekly basis. So it was, uh, as I’ve been very fortunate, um, to had the exposure to, um, health and fitness and formats like I have over the last couple of decades.
That’s awesome. So what’s, what’s your philosophy like if you had to sum it up, and I know this is probably a large, larger question that you can break down too many components, but if you had to sum up your fitness philosophy, like what you educate people on or want people to focus more on, whether it’s hopefully a little bit of a both exercise and nutrition, what would that be?
Well, before you answer that, Mike, I know that you’ve kind of evolved over the years, so maybe talk a little bit about like your old philosophy and kind of, and kind of where you’re at now and why that’s changed. Yeah, that’d be awesome to talk about.
Yeah. Uh, yeah, I would say it’s a one 80. Um, in regard to how, um, you know, I would say in my earlier years, I wouldn’t even call it a philosophy. It was just, um, you know, no pain, no gain. Um, it was very, um, I was very brutal, uh, to myself, uh, in regards to training and I was brutal to other people as well. Um,
how so? What do you mean brutal? Like extremely strict or,
yeah, it was, um, it was, well I would say I was much more brutal on myself, but, um, I, I really try to progress people in myself more quickly than was appropriate. I, um, I was just very, very aggressive and I think this is common amongst shrink coaches as a whole is the older they get, the more conservative they become. Um, and it’s, and when you’re younger and invincible, um, you know, it’s, uh, the amount of poor movement that is allowed is greater than then as you get older. You know, after you accrue a few injuries, you’re like, Oh, maybe I should consider quality of movement over intensity. Um, you know, and you know, I grew up, I would say my philosophy was, as long as you’re keeping an 80, 85% clean on your movement, then, uh, keep ramping up the intensity until you drop below 80%.
I would say that where I’ve gravitated to now is more of like a 99%. Um, you know, the quality of movement during a training session is of the utmost importance. Um, you know, and there was just a lot of things I was not paying attention to when I was younger. Um, in regard to, I would say that I moved from a place of quantity to now a philosophy of quality. Um, and so, uh, you know, a lot of what I did was, you know, it was more about the weight on the bar or the speed at which we were doing things and things like that. And nowadays it’s more about, um, seeking the quality of movement and then consistency and frequency. You know, I think a lot of times people put a lot of emphasis on intensity, but they completely ignore the fact that if you’re not consistent moving with frequency and with high quality [inaudible] it’s, it’s not a great path to be on.
And so start with time, you know, and this re this is in regard to nutrition as well. You know, there was a period of time where I was hyper focused on macronutrients and you know, I wanted to get, you know, 200 grams of protein a day and X amount of carbs and, and X amount of fat. And I did care about the quality of those macronutrients for sure. Um, and I was making better choices than a lot of people and suggesting better choices than a lot of other people. However, um, as time has gone on, my focus on the quality of my nutrition is much higher. I, um, I, uh, you know, it used to be like, what’s the best way protein I can get my hands on? And now it’s more along the lines of, you know, uh, what vitamins minerals can I get from natural foods? You know, I just shot a, uh, a morning smoothie video, um, where I’m basically sharing my morning smoothie, which is basically just jam packed with as many superfoods as possible and high quality ingredients.
Can you share it with us right now?
Uh, yeah. Well it’s actually, it’s a ridiculously lengthy, um, morning. I think my morning smoothie, uh, if you were to add up all the supplements and the cost, it costs about $15 a month.
Whoa. Whoa. I’m now, I’m really curious. I feel like you need to share, at least I think you need to share what’s in this smoothie.
Yeah, well, you know, and as an example, my, my old morning smoothie was like, okay, I’m just putting in like the Costco whey protein and, and uh, you know, I put some kale in there, but you know, and I just got whatever blueberries or whatever it was at the store. And now I’m much more selective. Um, I use, um, my, uh, my man, the entire ingredient. Actually I can pull this up right now cause I just sent, um, I just sat, uh, the recipe to my friends. I split, I did 12 ounces of water, one tablespoon of coconut oil, five grams of creatine, a one tablespoon of metamorphosis by a company called elemental wisdom. And it’s got us spirulina pine pollen and a bunch of different medicinal mushrooms. So it’s got, you know, um, you know, uh, cordyceps, lion’s mane, Shataki, um, Rishi, a lot of those types of mushrooms.
Um, I do about two to three tablespoons of rock Cal. Um, I do a scrape of vital proteins, greens, um, which is a collagen Sutherlands greens and collagen. Uh, so I use their stuff. Um, I use my main protein source for that. Smoothing is probably split between, I get about 20 grams from the vital proteins and then I get another 20 grams from roots nutrition and that protein is egg whites with, um, and that’s got some Sacha inchi and some Latina as well. Um, one of the big reasons I switched to that from like say whey proteins, I did a whey protein for like 18 years and you know, pattering down milk and then delivering it. We don’t know exactly, you know, people have only been masking sending that for maybe 10, 15 years. So, uh, I have some reservations about longterm effects and, and the fact that I was taking it two or three times a day.
So, you know, most people don’t take protein shakes two or three times a day, but if you’re a competitive athlete, that happens. So for me, a lot of it’s just kind of like dialing back anything I used to do and upping things that I that are new. Um, I also do one, I probably closer to two or three tablespoons of raw almond butter. I kinda, I that I love my fat and then I do a cup of frozen mixed berries, mostly blueberries and blackberries. And then I do two, uh, stalks of kale. Uh, so that’s what the morning smoothie looks.
Man, you were lying about all those superfoods. I, I can relate to that. And I sometimes put superfoods in my smoothies. Maybe. Yeah. How does it taste
right? Serve it to my friends on occasion and um, and they love it. There’s nobody, nobody gives me a weird look and I’ve definitely made a lot of smoothies in the past where it was not easy to get down. Um, yeah, that’s kind of a Morin’s maybe compared to, you know, it used to be, you know, I would just like put a can of coconut oil, right. Can of coconut milk and two scoops of protein, uh, some spinach and some blueberries would be like the old version. And now it’s now I’m like seeking out the highest quality stuff and a lot of things that are in my smoothie or you know, um, it’s, it’s because I’ve talked to the people who have developed the supplements and who are doing the research and the research and the studies aren’t, they’re either not being done or it’s five years off before it’s popular.
So if you want to find cutting edge health and nutrition, the last place you should look at is the scientific studies because the scientific studies are, um, they’re based on what people are trying, you know, there’s somebody out there playing around intuitively with some of these medicinal mushrooms and seeing the benefits it has for mental acuity, for skin health, joint health, digestive health, and there’s all these factors that they’re looking into. And a lot of these things are good for more than just one thing. So in order for us to fund the studies for the next five years to get these things done, it’s going to cost millions of dollars. And so the way the system is set up right now is somebody has to make money off the product before they can fund this study to say that the product works. So if you’re only looking at scientific research, um, for finding out what it is you should be putting in your body, you’re 10 years behind.
Uh, so, uh, in the way that I approach, uh, nutrition and supplementation is yes, I will do everything the studies say I look at the research and I’ve covered all my bases there and I spent a decade of my life like really making sure I have everything the research says dialed in. And now that I have everything the research says dial in, I understand that and I understand how it impacts my body personally and I know how to conduct case studies on myself. I now go into, um, I’m now playing around with, I’m hanging out with people who are willing. Yeah. I, I intuitively thought this was a good idea. I started taking this and I saw these benefits and we are collecting some research on it now, but it’s not like, it’s not so much research that it’s just, you know, the journalists are going crazy over it. So what I’m doing is I’m hanging out with those guys and going, you know what, I’m going to add this to my Smitty this month. I’m going to do this supplement for one month and see how I look, feel and perform. Um, and um, ensure enough, you know, that’s kinda how I, I’m coming to conclusions around my own stuff is just treating myself as a Guinea pig all the time.
I’m curious, I’m curious then with especially with all these different products and supplements and you testing this obviously on your body and of course everybody’s different and I like to tell people that same thing. Like the biggest thing is there’s no one perfect thing for everybody. Exercise or nutrition wise cause of course you need to try it out and see how it affects your body. If you had to pick let’s say three to five things that you’ve implemented into your nutrition supplement wise, vitamin wise that has, that you have felt the biggest has made the biggest impact on your body and why, what would that be? You got it. You got to select a few because people are, people ask us about supplements all the time and they, they see what you’re just saying, all the research, Oh, everyone’s doing coconut oil. Why are they doing that? You know, everyone’s using spirulina. Why are they doing that? If you had to choose a few key things and explain like what the benefits are and how that’s really you’ve seen or felt a noticeable difference, I’d be curious to see what you pick.
Um, okay. So, uh, my very favorite, so I won’t name an ingredient because, well, I’ll name a product. Okay. And, and all of a sudden you guys are linked to this product. Uh, it’s called, uh, Kalia and that’s Q, U, a L, I a by a company called, uh, neuro hacker collective. And so, um, a lot of, well, we can go back to like where my philosophy is now. A lot of where my attention is being drawn at this moment is, um, achieving flow States as a choice. So a lot of times people get into flow States by accident, you know, they’re playing their sport and then they’re like, wow, I was just kind of in flow. And you know, people get to experience that maybe once or twice a year. Um, and what I’ve looked, what I’ve been looking into is how to achieve that, um, as a choice.
Um, and not only that, it’s not only achieving that during an athletic, um, moment, but just, uh, as you’re working, if you’re, if you’re doing your job, um, achieving flow in a meeting or achieving flow as you’re reading or learning or something like that. So, um, this particular self Malia is set with the intention of, um, uh, it’s, it’s called a no Tropic, uh, is the category or the class of substances it would fall under, uh, which is normally associated with cognitive enhancement. So the idea is you have this maybe creativity, things like that. So what’s, what’s really cool about this, and it’s, I’ve been taking it since around January. Um, so I know the guy who developed it and I started playing around with it before it made it to the market. So I’ve got two or three months on everybody else. But, um, the, uh, the thing that sold me on the most is the intent of the supplement is to, um, is to build the support structures and the hardware and the body on which, uh, the things that we found consciousness resides on.
So, uh, the idea that, uh, that, um, it builds up the mind, body connection. Some, there’s a few things we have to understand before you and consider like having this conversation. And that is that we, um, we are not really our body and we are not our mind. We are something else. And I notice is true is because I’ve been able to observe both my mind and my body without being identified as I or, um, so, uh, what this supplement allows us to do is to, um, allows me to do, is more readily, uh, jump into that observer perspective where I am not identifying with my mind or my body. And then I’m also able to direct my attention into, um, a physical, um, thing or a mental thing. Um, and with a hundred percent focus and some, um, it really, you know, just, you know, the quality of your mind is going to be dependent on the quality of your body for sure.
Um, and some, uh, this really helps build up that connection. And, and for me, um, the fact that I ha am able to achieve more focus now, um, during my movement practice, uh, allows me to be in better shape than I’ve ever been. Um, I move with much higher quality, um, and with a lot of focus on breath and my mind isn’t drifting during a training session, which means that I’m now getting, um, much better results, uh, way less pain. I don’t do dumb things, I don’t move improperly. Um, again, it directs my focus 100%. So this supplement not only helps me dark during my workouts, but as you can imagine helps me and just my job, just the things that I do on a daily basis, my interactions. So what I like most about the supplement is the intent of the first intent of the supplement is to build up that the hardware structures that your, that your consciousness resides on. Um, and we can say to your consciousness is the thing that is not your mind or your body that is truly you. Um, so, um,
which a lot of people use something like meditation to, to connect with that. So, and we’ve talked a lot about that in the podcast. So people have listened for a while. This is not maybe as we will have a topic as maybe others. So yeah.
Yeah. I mean I have a morning meditation practice. Um, I do a lot of breath work as well. I find that breath work is the quickest way for me to access, um, consciousness outside of the mind and body. Um, so, um, this something that actually helps out a lot. So for me, uh, there’s about 40 different ingredients. There’s, you have to take it before you. Um, it’s like, uh, I take step one before breakfast and the step two after breakfast. So I basically take, um, three pills, uh, when I wake up and then, um, an hour later I drink that smoothie I just mentioned and then I pop, um, step two of this supplement. And the reason there’s two steps is some of the ingredients would be competing. Um, and then, uh, and then the other thing is, is some ingredients might upset your stomach. So it’s good to do it. Um, well if you have some fat in your belly.
Yeah. So quick question about this, cause we’ve had some people on talking about these, uh, nootropics or you know, um, this category of supplements that are new, right? They’re up and coming. Do you feel like this is where the supplement industry is headed because how many new proteins or amino acids or you know, pre-workouts can we come up with before you know, I, in my opinion, it’s way over saturated right now. The supplement industry, do you feel like this is where supplements are going and the smart drugs?
I think, I think more people are becoming aware of the entire system versus focusing on the recovery of your muscle belly. Uh, and so with that being the case, I think that the variety of supplements that are going to be on the market is going to start growing rapidly. Um, now you know, something like, no tropics is still in the early adopter phase and I think, um, supplements like the one I was just talking about, this particular company is going to do a better job of, of saying, Hey, this is a good place to start. Because with no tropics specifically at such an early adopter thing that what was working last month or the thing that was popular last month is no longer popular. It’s this other thing. Um, and I think it’s actually gonna get bigger. I think there’s going to be a larger percentage of the population that buys a lot of the E more bodybuilder ish supplements.
And then there’s going to be, uh, another segment of the population that’s going to gravitate more towards, um, what I would call, you know, just healthy. I’m trying to think of the entire body as a system, including the mind and body as something to consider versus just, you know, what can make this muscle recover after I did dead lifts yesterday. So, um, I do think that there’s going to be a, I think that a market is being created. I’m not sure the market is going to shift. Um, so I think there’s going to be a certain percentage of people, a smaller percentage that are going to gravitate towards this type of thing. And then there’s always going to be the same old, same old, um, going on. Um, you know, supplement companies. They need to change their branding every two or three years cause people will get sick of seeing, you know, certain markets, you know.
Um, so you know, it’s kinda like a nightclub. Uh, what night club is popular for more than two years. People get tired of saying the same thing. So the nightclub that’s the nightclub doesn’t go out of business. But what the nightclub does is it changes the sign on the front. It shuts down for a few months. It re does their entire interior, so on and so forth, and they reopened. Everyone thinks a new nightclub open, but it’s the same owners. It’s the same people running it, but they know they have to keep it changing every once in awhile. Supplement companies are the same way. If you watch people who own the companies, like anyone who’s been in the industry for like say 20 years, they’ve owned like, you know, five to 10 supplement companies, they build it up to a certain point. They see the brand and diminish over time. They get out and then they’d do it again.
Yeah. That’s interesting. I’m curious, kind of going back to the, to what you use and what you’ve seen a difference for, for so many of our listeners that don’t spend a lot of money on buying, um, actual supplements but instead are looking to, to try to improve or enhance whether it’s their health or or performance through different like super foods. Is there something that you’ve integrated, you know, you know, a lot of people, for example, have been on a kick, like not, you know, like a coconut oil, everyone should be having more coconut oil. Is, are there any type of foods that are more readily available to people that they could just integrate into their nutrition plan that you think is really beneficial and why?
Yeah. W well, one thing I wanna mention is, uh, having an awareness around how things make you feel. And it’s kind of why I listed that something as the first one, how it makes you feel like being tuned in with when you die, when you take a supplement or a food and checking in with yourself and going, how do I feel after taking this, you know, 30 minutes later, an hour and a half later that night, how did you sleep the next day? How do you feel? And so I think a lot of people just do what they’re, versus take the supplement and really check in with themselves and see what is the impact this supplement is having on me. Versus just saying, you know what? They said it was good for me. I’m supposed to take this protein, so on and so forth. I’ll just take it. I take this pre-workout, I’m amped up, but don’t realize they can’t sleep well that night it’s was like, well, you’re crap your recovery shit, but you can really, you know, attack the workout. That’s a problem. Um, as far as, um, man, as far as like a supplement and like, uh, that makes the biggest difference.
You mentioned the such, and she mentioned spirulina.
Oh, cinnamon had so much benefits or coconut benefits or, um, I, I would say the thing that I picked and most recently that had the biggest benefit is, uh, that mushroom mix. Um, the, the, um, that I was just talking about the, it’s called metamorphosis, um, is the name of the supplement. And it, um, when I started taking that, I actually saw them, I started at my body, started adapting to my training faster. I got leaner really quick. Um, I got leaner. I noticed that my, uh, the things, uh, you know, I’m always looking for asymmetries in my body and looking to fix them. You know, something that might take me six or 12 weeks to, um, catch up. When I started, uh, supplementing with the metamorphosis, I noticed that my ability to adapt, um, uh, happened a lot quicker. And so there was some things that were just even on my nerve nervous system felt like it was adapting more quickly.
Um, and so a lot of this is kind of hard to describe because I’m pretty tuned into how things make me feel and most people are not. Sometimes when I get talking about it, I recognize that some people were like, I might be people, um, well some feel this way. And I think a lot of times we’ve been taught since we were kids, to ignore how we feel when that’s going to be one of the biggest predictors of what’s actually happening. Um, because that tells you what’s happening without any of these stories that we create in our minds about why something is happening. And so,
yeah, well I think like your average consumer, they, you know, maybe they aren’t in tune with their, their mind body connection, right? And so they don’t realize how certain things make them feel. Whereas something that’s super simple, like caffeine for example, it’s like, Oh, everybody’s gonna feel this, right? So I was like, boom, let’s just add more of it. And then boom, people would be like, Oh, this is amazing
as a problem I have with a lot of supplements. You know, people are like, Oh, that’s so awesome. I feel amazing. I’m like, well, sure they dumped 200 milligrams of caffeine in there. How are you not going to fill that? You know, and for me personally, I can’t, I don’t consume after noon and if I want to sleep that night, um, I know I’ve, I’ve put in my diet recently that was a really, uh, big benefit was Rocca cow. So I put the rock account and smoothie and then, um, I, I don’t really drink very much. Um, more. I mean there was a time when I was in the Navy, I was a sailor and I drank like one. Um, and over time I’ve kind of realized that that’s not really the best thing for me. So, um, for instance, I went out on Saturday night, I went to a house party.
Um, and what I did not do is consume any alcohol, but what I did do was I made a rocker cow drink that was pretty high dose rocket cow. And that will give you some energy that will put you in a really positive mood. There’s a lot of benefits to that just from a mood perspective. And I’m going to go hang out with a bunch of my friends. Um, a little bit of care cow is super beneficial so I’ll, I’ll actually before I go out, um, and then not only that, you know, things like being leaner and stuff helps with that. Um, so I’ll drink rock a cow that’s super healthy and instead of no alcohol or something like that. I also supplement with CBD cannabidiol, um, with Zen, with vapes. And so I find that with CBD it helps me sleep much better. Um, anytime I see something with CBD, I my nervous system down regulates and allows me to recover much more quickly on these are things, things that are happening with the nervous system and then the hormones in my body are way more important to me now. Then how much protein am I getting? So it’s like, how is this impacting my mood? How’s this impacting, uh, it doesn’t make me feel heavy. You know, if you’re taking supplements or eating meals where you just feel heavy for like two hours afterwards, you know, that’s a sign you might need to lighten up somewhere or the radiance or something like that.
Now CBD for those that don’t know is the non psychedelic, um, uh, part of, of marijuana, right? So it’s not the THC that’s going to get you a high, you’re not getting high off of CBD. Right. But it does give you, uh, the, the health benefits, right? So sleep is one of those antiamyloid, uh, inflammatory benefits too, right?
Yeah. And because it helps downregulate the nervous system and it definitely helps. It is a mood enhancer without the, like you were saying, the psychoactive effects of THC. Um, and we’re really fortunate now being 2016 that CBD is now legal in all 50 States and you can order it online and have it shipped to you. And it’s beautiful. Um, and, um, the two ways I consume it as, as an oil and or, uh, as a vape. So I do both. Um, I want to note that, and this is gets said a lot as you know, that it has all people say, Oh, it has all the health benefits of marijuana without the psychoactive effect. And that’s not really true. Um, there are a ton of ton of benefits to the other parts of the marijuana plant. The cannabis plant. Um, there’s way more benefits to THC and other parts of the cannabis plant that are still illegal. And so it’s really easy for us to say, Oh look, you know, the CBD is non-psychoactive and it’s good for you. Um, it doesn’t have a THC, so you’re fine. Um, I think there’s a lot of health benefits to THC as well. And that’s the, that’s the, uh, that’s the part of the plant that, um, the governments are so terrified of for some, for some. Um, and so I just want to note that I think that there’s a massive amount of benefit from THC as well that’s going unrecognized.
Yeah, no, I think we’re in the same boat as you, but, uh, you know, things take time, especially when it comes to the government to get things approved and then, you know, the big companies come into play as well. So, um, no, I appreciate you kind of, you know, sharing your wisdom with us and on what you’ve learned. And kind of going back to what you started out saying is, you know, you become your own Guinea pig, your own and self-experimentation, uh, this is the best. This is one of the things I try and get people to do is to learn how to become their own self experimentation, to find out what is optimal for them. Because, you know, they’re listening to me or you or people in the industry like, Oh, you know, here’s these, um, these, uh, these, these new mushroom supplements. Or here, there’s, you know, CBD, there’s spirulina, there’s all these things.
Like, which direction do I go? Right? This feels so overwhelming for people. It’s like, well, just start out very simple, you know, find out what works best for you. Do it for a minimum of 30 days straight. And, you know, don’t just weigh yourself. There’s so many other ways to measure, uh, progress in your life other than the scale. And so it’s hard to get people to do that. But I think people are starting to realize, okay, you know, the self-experimentation thing, there’s value behind it because I can’t just always take what a doctor says or what some, you know, a podcaster or fitness guru says, I got to find out for myself. And so that’s, I think that’s what your goal is. That’s what my goal is, to get people on board with that and really, um, find what works best for them, what’s optimal for them.
Yeah. And I really like that a lot of what you’re talking about is more about the mind body connection. Cause I feel like actually I’m really pleasantly surprised with a lot of people we’ve talked to. I feel like the industry is actually heading a little bit more that direction than, than before where it’s all just about, you know, exercise like you’re saying pushing your limits and eating a certain way. Like, Oh, you must eat paleo because we’ve actually had a lot of people on, on our podcasts that talked more about the mind body connection and it’s kind of amazing. Um, when you get to that point and you’re able to more be in tune with, with your body and, and your mind and, and focus a little bit more on that. Like you were saying consciousness that the benefits you have. Cause I actually got a funny snap today from a girl that follows my Snapchat.
And the common, the most common question I get snapped about is how do you eat like that? Or how do you live your life like this? And you look like you do. And people hate my answer. They hate it because I usually just say, you know, meditation, de-stressing, good sleep. I also eat veggies. You know, even though I eat donuts, um, mind, body connection, you know, I’m happy. I’m like honestly, like I’m the most fit I’ve been, even though technically I probably eat more sugar or exercise less, but I’m happier than I’ve ever been. And I talk a lot about that mind body connection. And people are like, Oh, like they don’t, they hate that answer. They’re like, Oh, I want a meal plan. They want me to say they want me to say something about like, I’m in the gym for two hours a day and I’m doing CrossFit or, and I’m like, no, that’s not it. I really feel like if people focus a little bit more on that mind body connection and being in tune with their body and more intuitively eating and exercising that they would see more progress.
Yeah. It’s an evolution of the industry as a whole. It’s an evolution of individuals reaching a certain point and enough individuals in the industry reaching that point where it’s becoming a common conversation. And, um, yeah, I, I, um, I usually encourage w we tend to see things for the surface, right? So, um, we have different levels of consciousness and when people are focused on what’s happening on the external, and so they’re focused on why is this belly fat not coming off? They’re focused on this or that, and they’re focused even on how much weight is on the bar when I’m doing a back squat or something like that. Um, their focus is on this external thing and they’re, they’re basically from, I won’t say they, I’ll say that I used to, um, and I won’t project my life on others, but, um, I used to punish my body for not being good enough.
And then what, what’s that, what that’s evolved to is realizing that there are deeper roots in me. There’s deep roots around, um, how I view myself and view my body where I’ve learned to be more kind to myself. And then I was also, I’ve had a few experiences where I was shown, um, how I could help. The quality of my mind could be much better. Um, and I started focusing on the quality of my mind and what was, what’s been interesting is as I’ve cleaned up the quality of my mind, the quality of my body has automatically stepped in line. Uh, some of the things you were talking about, you know, stress, um, when I would say there are things that I manage now I have a company, I have 20 people in the company. Um, not everybody is happy all the time. Uh, and, uh, you know, two, three, four years ago when those types of events were happening, it would stress me out. And I think that had my previous self been in the, in the place I am now, I would not handle things nearly as well. And so all that has to do with the quality of my mind, which in turn causes me to have good quarters, uh, cortisol levels. Um, you know, I,
which for those that don’t know, cortisol is as stressed induced hormones.
Yeah. And so, you know, uh, and that one, having that one thing out of balance will throw all the other hormones out of balance. And so, um, for me it’s like one of the things is like, Oh, we’re trying to get somewhere with our bodies. And so we’re just hyper focused on our body. And then at some point, you know, a lot of fitness professionals, they’ve been in it for 10, 15, 20 years, they’ve kind of done all the body stuff they could do. And I go, where else can I improve? And I think that people are then directing their attention toward the quality of their mind and then they, they have this huge awakening around, Oh, the quality of my mind and the quality of my body are intertwined and there’s this aspect of my life I’ve been neglecting for 20, 30, 40 years.
I now put my attention on it and now that my body is going through this transformation in a way that I was not even focused on it. So for me personally, my body went through a transformation. When I put my focus on the quality of my mind and it without even putting a plan in place to be in better shape, it was just like I just started making better choices every day. Things that I already knew was good for me, I was able to make the better choice and yeah, it was just really, really good. Um,
yeah, kind of want to, if you don’t mind, I want to back up to your story because I, I, and you’ve already talked about this a little bit. You know, you used to be of this old body building style philosophy and you know, more weight on the bar and you know, kind of punish your body. And that’s the reason I kind of brought you on was cause I can totally relate to them. That’s how I used to be as you know, I, even though I looked great, I punished my body, not out of a place of love for my body, but at a place of kind of, of hate. Like you need to be better. You’re not good enough. And I want to know for you what, what was the, the flip that was switched, like when did it start to trend to transition to this more focused on mind, body connection and longevity and getting out of that ego of, you know, how much weight can you lift? Um, what, what was that flip that switch for you?
Um, a series of, uh, humbling experiences, um, picking up practices like meditation, going places like Peru and doing plant medicines was Shannon’s, um, I would say they all played a role. Um, I would say the biggest thing for me was
it was, it was a combination of two things is one is just directing my attention to the quality of my mind. And I would say that I’ve refined the quality of my mind and found a lot of joy and, and getting there because anytime you start focusing on the quality of your mind, you become happier and it feels good to be happier. So there was a point where I’m like, you know what, I’m going to do a lot of things to help me be happier because when I’m happier I can be more productive, so on and so forth. And my focus wasn’t actually on my physical being at all when I got down that path. So it was a mix between meditation and then plant medicines. Um, you know, maybe going to Peru, doing Iowasca, um, and, and kind of like seeing my life from a more objective perspective and what got me to where I am now.
Um, helped me, um, to get in that better mindset. And then I also about two years ago, stopped competing in the sport of weightlifting. And two years ago I stopped competing and I had, um, because I went in, I had a hernia and ended up having three hernias. Um, and so, and, and I was, as I was lifting the most weight I’ve ever lifted, I was the strongest I’ve ever been in my entire life. Um, I was almost the heaviest I’ve ever met in my entire life and I was competing at a pretty high level and I was just bursting at the scenes, literally. And I, I stopped competing. I started, you know, it was all kind of, I would say in the last three and a half years, there’s been this focus on meditation, the quality of my mind, and then also stepping out of competition.
And I noticed that when I’m competing, I’m trying to write, write a different kind of line and there’s a difference between performance and health and to think that that performed, you know, health definitely, it should be at the base and performance resides on top of that. But if you’re, if you’re looking to put as much weight on the bar as possible for a given competition, um, to think that that is also, you’re at peak health is a naive perspective. Um, and so, um, any anybody who gets into this long enough realizes that these two things, um, are not the same and some people can perform at a high level for a short period of time, um, without that consideration. So for me it was, you know, making, I noticed that when I was not competing, I took much better care of myself. I noticed that I was happier. And so for me, and I don’t think this is the right answer for everybody, I think competition, it can be really healthy and fun. And I, you know, I may, you may see me compete again one day, who knows, but for this point in my life, cutting out the competition and then focusing on the quality of my mind as as, um, made the biggest impact.
Yeah, no, that’s really powerful what you said, the difference between performance and health. And I think that’s great for people to realize. I mean, even if they’re not a competitive athlete, we automatically think, uh, you know, if we have great performance, that our health is great, but no man, you probably look at a lot of, even professional athletes. Yeah, they perform awesome, but I guarantee you the health is not, you know, they’re not where it should. If you got them tested, I’m pretty sure most of them, you know, for based off of their nutrition per, uh, protocol and, um, you know, just their, their overall mind, body connection. Yeah. They’re, they’re performing really great, but, and you probably see it as well working in the industry too, right?
Yeah. And I think some of the people that do compete at the highest level, you know, uh, uh, rich Froning Prosser games or something like that, I think he probably has a better mind body connection than the average person. He just, you know, it may not have been intentional. Um, but I, I do think that’s what’s separating, you know, the greats from the goods. Um, a lot of times, and it’s not something they’ve intentionally done. It just, you know, somehow isn’t the way they were raised or there was a coach or two along the way that really helped them refine that or if something they just naturally gravitate towards. So, um, I definitely noticed that I’ve trained with, you know, some of the best in the world. A guy like rich Froning, I’ve, I’ve trained with him and I noticed that his, his focus is different than say the average CrossFitter. Yeah,
no, I, yeah, I can, I mean, I can only imagine. I met, I’ve met him before and uh, yeah, he’s just in a whole nother level. Um, and yeah, and I just think it’s a good, like a way to kind of gauge that is for people to ask themselves questions. Like if you’re, if you’re listening to this podcast, if you’re training and if you’re struggling, if you’re feeling stressed all the time, if you’re not sleeping well, if you feel extreme exhaustion and fatigue, that’s probably a sign that you’re not treating your body the way it needs to be treated. You know, go get your hormones tested. Go, you know, maybe, yeah, maybe try something out new, take a week rest from doing the training that you’re doing. Like you shouldn’t, like when people tell me, well, I know I’m healthy because I’m eating paleo and I’m CrossFitting five times a week, but I can barely open my eyes. I have extreme fatigue in the afternoon and I can’t sleep at night. I’m like, that’s actually a sign that your body’s not doing that great. You know, just because you’re, you’re exercising doesn’t mean like we’re talking about, doesn’t mean you’re healthy.
Yeah. And a lot of times people don’t even know they’ve been fatigued for so long and it kind of crept in. They don’t even recognize it.
Right. And they’re just basking it with coffee.
Yeah. Nobody, nobody even knows that they’re actually completely exhausted until they get into a place where they’re not exhausted. And like, how was I living that way? Um, yeah. I use ’em, uh, I want to get back to this real quick. Uh, there were some I was wanting to mention was, um, if we, if we were to make one habit change, um, every month for the next year, that’s all positive habits. That’s, that’s amazing progress. That’s incredible. Um, and I use this thing called a sleep cycle app and you can track sleep and how things and back to your day, but you can also track a lot of other things. Uh, like I can put in there, I can like customize, um, my stuff. Like could I drink alcohol day? How did that impact my sleep? Um, did I have sex, you know, it was an PM sex and then,
yeah,
no, how does that impact my rest and my recovery? Um, and then, you know, and then just kind of brings my awareness to what I’m doing day after day. Um, and then another thing that I really like about that app is, um, in the morning, first thing in the morning, it takes my heart rate and it asked me my mood for the day. And so, you know, it’s like, did I wake up happy? Um, you know, uh, apathetic or sad, you know, and I’m just like, Oh, just select one of these three. And so I can start drawing conclusions between things. Just kind of going back to the self case study thing, I definitely wanted to make sure to mention that.
Cool. Now we’ll put a link in the show notes to the app. Actually just lift it up right now. Then I’m downloading it just to check it out. Um, but um, we’re kind of running, running short on time here, Mike, and we’ll let you go. But before we go, um, just a couple last lightning round questions for you that, that we always ask all of our guests on the show.
Yes. But at the very end of our show, we like to do the lightening ground. So here, here’s what it is. We’re just going to ask you a few quick fun questions. Mostly they will have no real relevance. We just enjoy it. You need to answer them as quickly as possible, as quick as possible, as honestly as possible. You, you prepared, you’re ready.
I’ve had a little bit of a fear. I feel a little bit of fear in my belly.
Also, Judy, you ought to start. You want me to start? If you could be any animal, what would you be? Dolphin. Oh, me too. Same. Okay. Sorry. Continue. Spirit animal. My spirit animal.
What is your go to cheat meal food that you just eat. You can’t stop eating.
This is going to sound terrible. I’m just yogurt and granola with berries. I mean it’s not really unhealthy. Yeah, that’s probably like the, that’s the worst answer ever, Mike. That was the worst answer at her.
No, but I know what he’s, I know what he’s saying. I know what he means. Like it’s not that unhealthy, but granola has got a bunch of added sugar. I know what he says.
No, I just food anymore. It doesn’t give me the same kick it used to
everybody. We’re going to pretend that was never asked. We’re moving on to the next question. What is your favorite trashy television show? It can’t be good. It can’t be like, no, it needs to be trashy. I don’t want to hear national geographic. I love that show. But no, I want to hear if there’s something that you watch that’s trashy.
I mean South park, but I don’t really don’t consider South park trashy cause it’s like a really good commentary on our society. Um, that would be like the closest thing to try. I mean, I think a lot of other people consider it to be a trashy television show for sure.
Fantastic. Okay. Mike, have you ever been overweight in your life?
Mmm, I don’t think I’ve ever been over maybe 12% body shot.
Wow.
I don’t think. Yeah. Yeah.
Awesome. No, first of all, that’s, that’s awesome. Um, the reason I asked that is obviously, you know, my, this whole podcast and my brand is based off of my fit to fat to fit journey where they let themselves go for six months. Do you think that could be one of your next self experimentations is let yourself go for six months? No exercise, eat, eat a typical American diet and then see how quickly you can lose, get back to under 12%.
Not a chance. I, I, um, I saw you do that. Not, I um, I couldn’t comprehend it. Uh, yeah, it just, I just don’t, that would probably be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. I mean how hard was that?
It really was. It really was the hardest thing because that’s the thing is I’ve never been overweight and so I never knew any different. I’m like, I’ve always been in shape and it just was such an eye opener and it was way harder than ever imagined. I mean cause in our minds we kind of think, Oh yeah, we can eat all that food. We, we feel good for a minute. But then it would suck. You get sick of the food, you feel horrible. I’ve never felt so worse physically, mentally, emotionally in my life during that. Then during that period of time where I was 75 pounds overweight and I didn’t know if I’d be able to lose the weight. So it’s super scary. Risky. It’s not, it’s not fun. But at the same time it definitely humbled me. And at the time I had, I think I needed to be humbled cause kinda like what you were saying at the beginning was like you expected people that you were training to to kind of have the same philosophy that you did.
Like, Hey, just push yourself harder. What’s wrong with you? It’s not that hard. Stop being in the junk food, you know, train harder, you’re going to see results. But there’s so much more to it. And I didn’t understand that until I went through this and had more realized, more the mental and emotional struggles that people go through when it comes to overcoming food and, and overcoming the mental and emotional challenges that people have until I did this. So it was something that I needed to go through. Not saying everybody needs to go through it, but I was asking everybody that comes on the show like do you think he could do it? But it is scary as hell.
Yeah. I mean I never want to say never because that means it’ll end up happening. But,
well, maybe for season three, man off the, we’ll see how season two goes with my TV show. Uh, we’ll see if, uh, if, if you’d be up for maybe trying out for season three, Mike Bledsoe from barbell SRE
for my wife. Let that happen.
She wouldn’t, she wouldn’t actually. Yeah. Well then with talker and to not letting you of course, because she knows how hard it was from her perspective too. Like having to deal with me, you know, whining and complaining.
Yeah. It was too much. It was too much hormones in one house. I could see that life is too good. I don’t know if I’d, I don’t think there’s enough money you could throw at me to make me even want to do that. You can say like, it’s a billion dollars. I wouldn’t be like, I just couldn’t do it. Think about it for a billion dollars. Everybody does have a price.
All right. Well, Mike, uh, before we go, uh, let, let people know where they can find you on social media, your websites, um, all that.
Yeah. Um, check, uh, check out a barbell, shrugged.com. If you’re a gym owner or you’re in the fitness business at all, um, go to Bob business.com. I mean check us out. You just start social media for those two. That’d be good. Um, my personal Instagram is Mike underscore Bledsoe. Um, Twitter is Michael underscore Bledsoe and then he can follow me on my Facebook. Um, is facebook.com/bled. Sophia is my fan page. So.
Awesome. Cool man. Well we appreciate you coming on Mike. We had a great time and we learned a lot and I know that our followers learned a lot and that’s the thing, like you said, like I’ve learned so much doing these products, uh, versus like all the education I’ve had.
Yeah, absolutely. Hearing different people’s perspectives and stuff. Yeah, absolutely love to hear your story and your perspective and I’m sure like there’s going to be a ton of people Googling all those products.
Mike sent me the link when that, when that recipe’s up and we’ll put it in the show notes maybe before this episode airs further for that shake. The $15 break.
Yeah. Yes. It’s totally off to try it once so it works out. I’ll have to try it once. Okay man. Alright, thanks Mike. Bye.
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Hey guys, thank you so much for listening to today’s episode with Mike Bledsoe from barbell Schroeder. We really hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you did, please feel free to share it on social media. Uh, also we’d appreciate your support by going to iTunes and subscribing to our podcast and leaving us a review please. So that, um, that definitely helps out with rankings and things like that and just, you know, lets iTunes know that people like us. So, uh, we appreciate that. You know, if you feel like you find value in our podcasts, uh, we don’t want, we don’t want you to lie for us, you know, if you hate us then obviously don’t, but, um, if you do, then please support us by doing that. Uh, we appreciate any and all support that you guys give us, especially throughout the years. I can’t believe, you know, fit to fat to fit my brand is as become what it is. And it’s because you guys, so thank you so much for all that you guys have done for us and all the support throughout the years. Okay. To stay in touch, you guys, you know me. Uh, my social media is at fit to fat. To fit my website is fit to fat to fit.com. Please subscribe to the newsletter to stay in the know of what’s going on with new podcast episodes and the TV show. I’ll keep you guys informed.
Yeah, and you guys can find me on Instagram and Facebook at the number two fit at home. My website is the number two fit@home.com and just like drew, I have a newsletter that I send out. You can subscribe to that on my website.
All right. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We’ll see you guys back here for another great episode on the fit perfect fit experience podcast.
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