Laurie Christine King | ETP#23

[aaron_straker]: 0:31

What's up, guy, Tubby, Tuesday, welcome back to another episode of each train. Prosper today we have my new friend and perfect or first female guest on the broadcast, Miss Louri, Christine King, And today we werere going to get do a bunch of cool things with her. But first I'm going to let her introduce yourself. first thingspers. thanks for not calling me Laurie Christi King, 'cause that happened a long broadcast. I'm like O, Definitely not my name. Hello, Um, but obviously you guys all know Brian Bo, Seem pretty well. I am Briryan's business partner for Paragon training methods. I had a formal education and food nutrition dietics, and so Um, basically been in the coaching space almost a decade and a half, which, like I was thinking about the this morning was like, Oh my gosh, I'm old like we're We're getting there, Um. But then doing the nutrition fitnessing for quite some time, Uh, competed at regionals in twenty sixteen, and that was when I tore my shoulder and it was actually kind of what led me to working with Brian. Um, because I was basically looking for a more sustainable way of training. Also just wanted to you know, bounce back from that surgery and wasn't really having luck with various modalities and various different ways that I tried. And so I was nutrition coaching and then Um. On a present day, you know, we ended up launching Paragon in twenty eighteen, because basically when I was coming out of training compeatively as a cross, the you know regional athlete it was like Well, I'd spent years over training under eatating and it was like when you looked at labs it was like Well, my digestive health and got health was a total mass. Um. thyroid levels were terrible. You know, hormone levels were like none existing across the board. And so it' was just like I felt really freck and terrible, but here I was. You know, I love to train you. I've always loved working out and stuff like that, and so happened to me, You know, Bryan through the introduction of a friend and kind of the rest of his history, Because you know we were really had a problem solve through a lot of different things, and like coming from the high intensity background, Like I wanted to keep doing that right. And like the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. And so Brian was kind of the person that got me, you know, to pull back and just kind of look at. Okay, You know, how can we train in a more sustainable way, But you know, can we kind of get the best of both worlds where programming is still fun? Um still allows you to look good, but it's still supporting. you know, your health and stuff like that. And so Um, compounded over time, you know we, we did a lot of trial and err on workouts and also just getting me to effectively do less. and kinda you know, make smarter lifestyle changes. I' mean, more importantly, know, just really prioritizing recovery. Actually feeding myself in my activity levels And so when we were able to turn around, kind of all my health issues, all my hormone issues, Um, but also you're getting me looking and feeling better. And we we did we. We effectively problem solved. you know, checking all the boxes. It was like whoa, like we. We need to share this for you know, with the world, because in the coaching space on both the nutrition and fitness and it was something that we were seeing quite frequently. You know, it was like people. I, I would say you know, Crossvit's been around forever, but it's like it really took off. I would say you know it's like I found it personally in twenty twelve, but you know, compounded over time, Um compounded over the fact that you know so many people were chasing that competitive edge and you're wanting to compete. You just saw so many people where it was like they're spending five, six, seven days in the gym. They're killing themselves, but they're not even happy in a withier body composition. They're no longer performing well. Um seeing an o client after client where it was like Whoa, You're doing the most. You're not eating enough food for your activity. You know, we're starting to see some health issues whether it's got stuff, whether it's horm on stuff th rid stuff. You know. you name it. You've got it. and so we started seeing this. You know, this being a common thread among clients where it's like well, ultimate. like I want training. That's funine. but I just want to look at and feel good, and you shop ats my bests, and I still care about. You know training. I still want to hit Prs and see progress. So how do we get that to people? And so In twenty eighteen we founded Paragon Training methods, and then you knows a few years later we have thousands and thousands of members around the globe that you know. we're just teaching. Hey, you don't have to kill yourself to look at him. Feel good. you know, inside outside, The excellent. So we' going. One of the first things I want to talk a lot more about is around Paragon, Because it's interesting that we. You know, my personal relationship with Broin and our history has a little bit of think of the earlier inkling of that, so I definitely want to dig into that. but before we get into that brame. what's the latest with you? told me about the last since we talk last.

[bryan_boorstein]: 5:14

Yeah, last time we talked, I actually just relisted to the beginning of that episode to to re. listen to my update from last week to give my update this week and I can. uh, I can honestly say that my body weight hasn't changed at all. I'm still right exactly where I was basically last week. so um, so yeah, I thing. I, I had a refie day, Um. I, I was hungry for three straight days and the scale didn't move, so I had a refe day. Then it went up, because I had a refe day. Now it's back down again, so I'm essentially right where I was last week at the exact same time, and uh, we will continue moving forward from here and tracking my weight every day on Instagram. my, uh, my new program that we also talked about on the last episode, which has you know a semblance of of a bro split to it where there's focused muscle groups on each specific day. Um, I just finished day two of week two yesterday. Um, and it's going great. I'm really enjoying it. I'm getting slightly sore in the muscle groups that I'm supposed to be getting sorry, and I'm feeling like I trained them and I'm still getting the stimulus and the other muscle groups, Uh, that aren't receiving the the primary workload and uh, it's been enjoyable. So for whatever it's I mean we two. I enjoy it and I'm dying to know Erarin. If you have come to any conclusions with what you want to do with your training,

[aaron_straker]: 6:33

I have. so it's really wild, especially as I was putting together. you know, last week's episode to release it. Um, it was very like therapeutic for me. And what's funny is like, kind of like like we like we talked about on the on the episode. I was just like between, like the sun not being out and I was like a little bit, you know, going you know in circles with with my diet not making like the. I wasn't just as indherent as I normally am, and that affected me and then, like the training on top of it, I was just kind of in this like self created like you know, rabbit, whole of of misery type of thing, And you just were like, presented very clear and like simple things to me. And I was like Oh, this makes so much sense. So it was like a little like a therapy session for me last week and I felt immediately so much better. I did exactly what you said. Had a couple really really great training days? Um, and it's been really really cool. so Um, that was. you know, my update on from last week. That for me right now it's my last few days here in Austin, and then Jenny and I hit the road like first thing in the morning, Thursday, which was in two days to drive to Salt Lake City. It's about a twenty hour drive and then I will spend the next at least three months. Uh, living in Salt Lake City. So that is my update and then Laurie. What is the latest with you? Ohoh, Well, we might stand up Padd goinging the other day. That was great and it was mystical. Yeah, and got burnt a shit. Um, so we currently have an apparel lunch going on. So that's kind of then the big like thing at the forefront. we, they say, do Paragon and Strong Maletta apparel, Um. every quarter, So we

[bryan_boorstein]: 8:06

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 8:06

then not steply and keeping me busy, But I think the biggest one is. Um. I haven't done a continuing education course in a while, and so I decided to do the N. T. a. which is nutritional therapy practitioner, of course, and it has taken up more my time than I was probably like, prepared for it, to be honest, so it's probably I'd say like fifteen to twenty hours a week of

[bryan_boorstein]: 8:30

M.

[aaron_straker]: 8:30

studying. And so it's like the first few weeks we're kind of gradual kind of show. But like this week it's like Hey, I want you to read like four chapters of anatomy and physiology, and then like do all these things. I'm like. Oh lord, so that's definitely, Um, kind of finding a new balance and just like work stuff, and trying to stay on top of that 'cause it's like even though I've been, you know, doing this coaching thing for so long and have a formal education, it's like you always want to stay up to speed on. you know what, our current practices, current thoughts, Um, and stuff like that, And so I think the N. T. A, what drew me to it was that they, I don't want to say, Go against a lot of things that I believe or support. But it's just a very different approach to things and you know, for me it's like I'm very much about like macros, and let's have quantifiable data and you know stuff to actually analyze and they take a way different approach. They do a lot of like motival interviewing. so like a lot of asking the right questions and really helping guide people to their outcome and helping you know that that client or that that person on the receiving end, kind of putting them in the steering wheel and moving at their pace rather than I feel like. In you know, kind of macro space is like. Hey, so just do this. Oh, you're struggling with this. Okay, just do this. you know, So it's really gotten me to change. not only how we kind of coach people in our Paragon group, but just you know how I'm writing content for social media and stuff like that. So that's been. Um. it's been very challenging. It. definitely, it has gotten me outside of my comfort. zone, and had to you know, kind of rewire. Um, And it's it's doing exactly what I wanted. I wanted something that would challenge me. It would challenge my belief systems and really let me open up to you know, consume information that I may or may not agree with and stuff like that. So it's definitely been uh, quite the undertaking and it'll be a. It'll be a long ten months, but um already, I think we're in. We're entering week three or four, and uh, I, it's already been worth. you know, every penny of the investment. I'm super excited about that.

[bryan_boorstein]: 10:30

that's awesome. I, I definitely want to hear more about thatcause. I also, I enjoy the process of of kind, seeing the way that the other side thinks about things, or the way that they teach things. And then you know you might actually like you said, Kind of learn something from it that you can apply. and and it actually enhances what you do. So I think that's really cool that you're open to that and doing it,

[aaron_straker]: 10:51

It's very like the N. T. A takes a very kind of like, functional and more holistic route to things so like, a lot of like, certainly staying in scopes, like at the end of the day. you know there's a lot of things that doctors need to handle, but we know you know, working with clients andm working with you know members of our programs. It's like Well, if somebody starts eating more real whole foods and they're getting enough fibre and water and exercise Well, Yeah, like that's going to improve your heart on health there. Yeah, that's going to improve. you know, thyrid health. You're well being your blood sugar. so like they're really into talking about blood sugar regulation and you know things that you can do to support got health. and like I said, just like a lot of stuff that. like I, its, it's been very. It's been fun. It's been very very pe. Yeah, I really love that. One of the things that I try and do every single year is a continuing, a new continuing education, and I would say in the last like year year and a half understanding more of like the functional nutrition principles, Uh has been like. my. my. like. uh, It like draws me in a little bit because

[bryan_boorstein]: 11:57

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 11:57

I feel like just learning more about the body and it's a lot deeper than your typical. like Oh, you know, proteins, high, fat lower or whatever, or the eat. you know less, move more type thing. You just have more tools in your tool box and that's never a weakness. So for you know, sometimes I'll get coaches that are new or whatever and they'll reach out Tomune, and like asking. Well, what can I do to like? get up like you need to invest in learning and that's a lot more than just reading. You know, one off ins to Grandram posts and stuff Bles thing. The podcast Yeah, was big. I, listening to broadcast when don't give you wrong Like I learn a lot of like Pi, pick up nuggets and stuff with having like a formal structure to walking through like filling those gaps.

[bryan_boorstein]: 12:37

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 12:38

Um, I think it's very very important. so investing in your craft. he's a hundred percent way to go well, And I think the most interesting one to me was the N t A program. You know. It's like when you take on a client, you typically have like a questionnaire of like, Hey, you know, these are. This is the information I know and so I'm taking it because they basically make you like, Go through it like you were a client initially and I think there were three hundred and twenty questions in this initial like consultation thing like it took me like twenty minutes. but it was you know,

[bryan_boorstein]: 13:06

wow,

[aaron_straker]: 13:09

just asking questions that again, you know. it's like I don't think that a lot of times, especially when we're talking about just you know, nutrition, which is on inscream or whatever you know. It's like these questions were very important questions that you might not think to ask, And so like one that comes to mind was like asking. Hey, like when you were born. Was it? you know, a baaginal birth or was a Cicarean birth? or you know, just asking these very high level costs or like, even there was a chart and it was like I forget the what's officially called or formally called that. It's like the poop chart where it would say like, Hey, like on a scale of like one to eight. You know what? What does your digestion? you know, and stuff look like? So it's I think like that was even shocking to me. 'cause like I said, it's just so much more intensive. and so I think especially, you know. kind of the Gos for continuing educations, People do a lot of like precision nutrition. Uh, there's the nutritional coaching institute. Um. I believe Working against gravity has one as well,

[bryan_boorstein]: 14:08

mhm, Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 14:09

Um, so it's like there are all these courses, but it's like I actually think this would be such a great. You know if I could go back in time, I wish I would have taken this sooner because it, it really is. I want to say legit. but it's like it's It's not a cheap price tag. I believe the course was like six thousand dollars, but I quickly saw that like the price tag reflects what you're getting rather than I feel like again, you know, some some courses that I've taken our beenn apart of it. Justs like Hey, So like you, you know, do this do this and

[bryan_boorstein]: 14:36

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 14:37

so I think like it's uh. I've been very impressed. It would be a kind of my overall situation with that cool.

[bryan_boorstein]: 14:42

When I did uh, the opex in like two thousand, twelve, two thousand thirteen range, it was like five or six thousand dollars as well, and that was a super valuable one. I get that.

[aaron_straker]: 14:52

what we'll do is. Uh, I'll get the the link for you from the an T. A stuff and'll put it in the show. Nots for anyone who's interested cool. So kind of what I want to steer. the. the. The first part of the conversation around is too like Paragon, right, so, maybe not so much as what it's become, Because it is like it's been really cool to kind of watch. Especially, you know. I've always, you know, I mean, lourie, just Sp, used to be like someone I followed on Instram and then Brian. I' obviously going for like a decade now, but just watching the kind of formation of that and then kinda just want to dig back a little bit and and think about like your thought process around starting it. Why? and I'll you know, be completely transparent. I, what I think is really cool, is back when Brian, you were first going through that opec stuff like I was a member at the gym. It was twenty. twelve. Was it or twenty around that

[bryan_boorstein]: 15:38

Yeah. Yeah, that's I think when you started Yeah, I started Opex around

[aaron_straker]: 15:39

night For

[bryan_boorstein]: 15:42

twenty twelve. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 15:43

right and I remember,

[bryan_boorstein]: 15:43

and you were there at the same time. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 15:45

Yeah, and I remember you coming back and you're like Okay, Here's what we're doing. We're not doing cross with. For like the next four months, we're just goingnna lift and get strong and I'm thinking like, what? Like, Why would we not do that? We just show up six days a week and just you know, run ourselves into the ground. This is what you know we do here and you were like, No, you know, I learned all this

[bryan_boorstein]: 16:03

right,

[aaron_straker]: 16:03

new stuff, so I just want to go through like a little bit of the early stages of when you guys were starting Paragon, or just thinking. Okay, We have this idea right. You had like with when Louri started working with you guys and then she had all these. you know, positive beneficial changes to a physique or you know, entercrance system or lab

[bryan_boorstein]: 16:18

yeah.

[aaron_straker]: 16:19

values and stuff. Just take me through that little, like the early process and thoughts around that, and why you guys wanted to kind of position differently with the industry. I'm laughing mostly because it was like Brian was like the responsible smart dad. That was like Hey y, you should do this and I was like the little hoobmb child. That was like Hey, but wait like. I know I want to like, feel better and improve my health, but I still want to do like Kipping, pull upps, And can we still like Olympic lifts And can we still like Go fast and do these things. And you know Ban would try to try to, you know, kind of find the happy middle, but I think like testing wise for stuff with programming. It was very simple because I felt so bad that it was very distinct and very black and white on. You know, it's like I remember. I think you program like three sets of ten back squats or something, and I remember I was like wrapping out like seven eight and it was just like I am on. Well I don't feel good. I shouldn't be here. Um, and same thing you know, it's like I remember specifically. it was a lot of like conditioning pieces. I would just get very lighthed, like, almost feel like I was going to black out, but like I said, like the the reoccurring thought of like, ooh, I, sh. I shouldn't be doing this right now like I'm unwell. This doesn't feel good. Um, but then reversely. you know, Brian would program pieces or certain new repschemes or whatever, and I would be really good and you know it would be kind of normal business, So I feel like that made it a very easy scale for us to test. It was very black or white like this is. yes, uh, this is a no. but I definitely, I get broan to rum for his money on on the programming side because I was saying I wanted to do one thing, but I was ultimately. still asking for all these asterriks of like. Well, I still want to be able to Olympic lift, and you know, do muscle ups and kipping pull ups and all these things

[bryan_boorstein]: 18:16

well, it's a huge challenge for everyone that's coming from the crosst space into more of the like sustainable hyperthia approach. Be much of your identity is still tied into those movements that you can do, or those weights that you can lift. Like I even had a like deja Vooum, the other day when I was driving past Cross it, Senitus and Boulder, and I had like had an immediate flash to this moment in like two thousand fourteen or fifteen, where I said to Andrews. I was like it will never not be important to me that I can snatch you twenty five. And and like I'm I'm here in two thousand twenty one. And I'm like I could give literally two shits if I ever snatched you twenty five again. Um, because it was so deeply tied to our identity, So kind of going back to what Aaron was saying like about how I went through this Opec certification and then kind of changed a little bit of the programming in the Crosst gym. We have to remember that my background before crossfit for twelve years of training was more like strength and hypertrophy based. And then I stumbled into this cross fit space, so I had about two or three years of crossfiit under me when I went into the Opec Cert, So it was still like the

[aaron_straker]: 19:23

Ssss.

[bryan_boorstein]: 19:30

minority of the time that I had spent training was in the cross fit modality. So when I went through Opx, and this is like kind of a a functional fitness organization, right like they. They're not purely crossfit, They're like a smart intelligent training Ma method. But but they used Crossviit as kind of their testing mechanism. Um, so their programming is geared toward being the best crossiter that you can be in most cases, and they were sitting there still using a lot of these practices that I was using in my prior twelve years before Crossfit and I had gotten so much from them too. Like I even remember starting cross Fiit and not even feeling like I was that far behind because I had done hypertphy work and I had done hit intervals like I just had to learn some skills, but my conditioning didn't go anywhere, so it started to kind of make sense in my brain that you can maintain a lot of these adaptations by just doing a little bit of it and having these focused periods where the majority of the time is spent actually working Sp. Phicity, and becoming better at one major methodology, and then you can transition throughout periods of the year and put change where the focus lies.

[aaron_straker]: 20:35

And to get back to what you'reing too, it's like I think it's so hard to go from like the athlete side of things, where it's like every day I go in I emptied the tank. I lead myself on the floor like if you, there's definitely there was a strong kind of feeling where it was like Oh, if you don't end a worko, you know on the floor panting, sweating and rolling aroundund. like you didn't go hard enough. You didn't work hard enough and it's like trying to take that person and then be like Hey, So you're going to do buy subcurls and you're going to do some bench and you may or may not even sweat the entire time, And like your artt rate might not even get elevated. And so it's like people want that feeling and they want that sensation of like that in Doorphinhe, and

[bryan_boorstein]: 21:20

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 21:20

like, Holy Cowy, did something hard and so like that's very. That's a hard bridge to try and jump, you know, between those two and getting somebody to buy, and of like well, you actually don't have to feel like that to still see strength gains to se. you know P Rs. to still look really good. Um, you know it's like that's that's probably. I still think. The number thing, like number one thing we see people struggling with is like getting from A to b, and like buying into that concept right.

[bryan_boorstein]: 21:51

Yeah, well, I think that it ultimately comes down to what we found when we were working together in the beginning. Is that so many of those highly glylytic pieces, whether it's like ten reraps of backquot on the minute, which is just not enough rest? or whether it's like conditioning circuits or metabolic type circuits? Is that that stuff just leaves you with a high level of systemic fatigue, but doesn't actually give you as much kind of like local fatigue in the target muscle that you're going for? You're not actually working. that mucle failurecause is failing you before the muscle fails you. And that's great like there's there's time in training for that like we need those adaptations so that we can increase work capacity, and and and continue to get the most out of the hypertphy work that we're doing. But I think that it's important you know to relay the message to the people that follow us and stuff that the the majority of the time spent has to be in this more recovery based approach because recovery really is the. If you want body comp transformations of any sort, you want to see strength gains and hyperrophy, then you, you have to you, absolutely have to recover. You can't design a program that doesn't prioritize recovery.

[aaron_straker]: 23:07

Well, I think the hardest thing, and this happens in both the nutrition and fitness space is that everything works until it doesn't, and when you're on the receiving end of when it does, went holy cow right. It's like I was thinking about this the other day because I actually was back at my old Crosswit gym the other day And so it's like back in, you know, twenty twelve, twenty thirteen. I feel like everybody was just like yelked out of their minds like six packs all the stuff. And then it's like fast for it. a few years and the same people no longer look that same way. It's like Oh, you know, Interesting and it, you know it is. It's just recovery is as you said, the secret sauce. Whether you're trying to hit P. Rs. whether you're trying to improve your body composition, you successfully do a cut like there's so many different things that it's like recovery makes everything so much easier. but again it's really hard to get people to buy into that because it's like on social media, you see all these things, or you see. you know. Maybe everyone's highlight realels rather than you know. the work that's

[bryan_boorstein]: 24:07

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 24:07

potentially going in behind the scenes. You know to get there

[bryan_boorstein]: 24:12

It's kind of ironic because in the level one for crossfit one of the main teaching points is the fitness fatigue spectrum, and so when fatigue gets too high, it masks fitness. And then you don't see gress And and I think it's also confusing in the crossite space, because a lot of people see progress not because their fitness is exceeding their fatigue, but because the movements that they are working on are skill based, so they're seeing neural adaptations, but they're not actually seeing like body composition improvements that accompany it.

[aaron_straker]: 24:43

well and it's hard too, because like the way that somebody looks does not dictate their health. And so if you look in the body building stage perfect examples, You know, if somebody gets up on stage, you know they're They're super shredded. Well if you actually looked at labs, theyd probably be pretty horrific like thyroid labs. Would probably you know, be pretty terrible hormone levels and probably be bad. You know, it's very common for especially like our menturing individuals to lose their menstrual cycle. Um, so it's like they look very fit. But then you know you, you're not actually seeing the healthll side of that. I think Uh, Christian Goosemann is one of my favorite people. He does a yearly like summer shredding, And so he documents everything and it's so interesting because you know he goes up on stage at the end and he looks incredible, But it's like you know that, maybe month or two months leading up before you know there, there's footage where he's laying on the floor. You know too exhausted to do anything or it's like it's like eighty degrees outside days walking around in like a beane and joggers and hoodie because his thighroids so low that you know it's freezing to death, and and stuff like that, And so the same thing you know. It's like in the cross of it space you can have somebody that's so jack, so shredded and performed so well, But that doesn't necessarily mean

[bryan_boorstein]: 25:57

Mhm. Mhm, Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 25:58

that you know that that health component like they're just two totally different spectrums

[bryan_boorstein]: 26:03

totally agree with all that,

[aaron_straker]: 26:05

and one thing is really. I. I love with W. We just took the conversations because like I know, first handd what that's like right where like those years where you're learning skills and like your, your snatch is increasing Because like you're finally hitting a triple extension and not like pulling from your midfigh and all these things, you have mobility and you a right. Um, you have like a strong overhead position finally, and then you kind of get in that like sweet spot where like you are getting better and your body composition's improving And then what happens and this is exactly what happened to me. I started. I'm like. Well, you know five is returning me really great examples. Like a really good return, Like Let's go to seven and we started

[bryan_boorstein]: 26:44

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 26:44

training seven days a week, And I remember Brian when you pulled me aside and we' like 'cause the gym was closed on Sundays and you're like Hey, are you guys training seven days a week And I was like F. here we are, dude. and you were like No, Ig Now Ratle is and I had no idea that that wasn't smart. I thought like Well, if I do, if this is getting me

[bryan_boorstein]: 27:01

right,

[aaron_straker]: 27:01

that like moor's even better. But then what happened was the stress Hormon started inching up and then it reached the threshold where my sleep started suffering. and then I just I. I just kept doing more and more. It got worse and worse. Sleep only got worse. And then that's where like the Achilles rupture started. And like all those things that like were like my me on unwinding after you know, like literally, like two years of just running myself into the ground. And what's really cool? Now it was like here's the three of us, you know, a few years removed or whatever we do. Less we all look fa. I much better. we feel good. We're sleeping good like I know what My, my labs and hormones look like. they're really good. And it's it's really cool to just see like we've gone through it. We're on the other end now, much smarter about it and reaping more benefit, which is cool. Well, and I think, when you're training so much to you and up in this tricky recovery de that compounds over time, so

[bryan_boorstein]: 27:57

Mhm, Mhm, Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 27:57

it's like I remember that even when I was, I was training for in twenty seventeen and it was Um, before I had you on shoulder, certain, and stuff like that. That's what I was working with likeke maoy of empty performance, and I mean, I was eating thirty two hundred, thirty four hundred calories and it was a five three individual and we were training. you know, double sessions every single day, six to seven days a week. Like we, We didn't do as an much on Thursdays and on Sundays, but it was still like Hey, you're goingnna swim an hour. Hey, go do this gymnastics where. Hey, on Sundays you know, go run up the track and do these things right. So like we at at face value we did not. We were training seven days weeks. there, there were no restys and no amount of food would let me recover from all of that activity. But more importantly I wasn't hungry. so it's like I was starting to just eat kind of low quality foods. You know a lot of like candies, drowning everything and maple syrup and just trying to get in as many calories as possible, and the entire time you know Mike Malloy was like Hey, like you need to train less. And for me it didn't seem like an option because I was like kind of the worst person on our team, and trying to you

[bryan_boorstein]: 29:13

hey,

[aaron_straker]: 29:13

know, secure the spot to compete And well, if everybody else is training some

[bryan_boorstein]: 29:16

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 29:17

days a week, I can't just show up five days a week. You know it's like well, we trained together as a groove. You know all this stuff. but it's like I had people and I had friends that were like. You really need to do less. and like, It's not good that you don't have a hunger response right, Like dying animals aren't hungry Like. But it just like when I finally started training less, and when I started peeling back on everything, it's like so many benefits starting popping up and I remember specifically, I think got texed dubry, and I was like for me my work day would end up whatever time I went to the gym, because I would just be so brain foggy

[bryan_boorstein]: 29:52

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 29:53

I couldn't think straight, so it's like I couldn't take client calls after I went to the gym or I couldn't answer work emails, or right content or whatever it is, And so I remember it's like something. Popped up and a client needed to talk. You know, it was like seven thirty eight P. M. And you know, so I take this phone call and I hang up the phone and I'm like, Oh my gosh, like I just realized like this is the first time in years and years that I have mental clarity and like

[bryan_boorstein]: 30:20

yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 30:20

I'm I'm feeling good between the ears right, So it's like for me that's such a good good radar Present day because I actually just completed mirth uh on Saturday and so same thing, it was like I had so much class workors that I needed to get done for this N T a program I had so. Much workd stuff that I need to get done and it's like I'm sitting at my computer and like a Pl. B doesn't equal right. but I, I'm so far removed from training in that way that I totally forgot about that, you know, and then just got a recent reminder. So it's like that is such a good gauge even of

[bryan_boorstein]: 30:53

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 30:53

just how hard I'm at training present day, because it's like whenever I start to feel that way and I'm like Oo. you know, mental clarity, Brainfog like that's my know. Okay, we need to take it back a little on training like we granded too hard. The weights were too heavy. We were moving too quickly. We weren't restting enough. you know whatever that is for. You know that training day trying to look at. Okay, Like not, where did I go wrong, but like where could I have done this differently so that I didn't have that outcome.

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:23

totally. I. I totally get that and I actually usually finish my training about fifteen minutes before we start this podcast And then I just like pop in here and I'm like Do this. Let go. And if it was crossit, like literally, No chance. I mean I would be on the floor for like thirty minutes first,

[aaron_straker]: 31:39

One thing. one last thing I want to talk about before then we shift into Uh, the next topic so many times like I remember that feeling of like, literally existential dread after a workout where I had to lay on the floor for like thirty minutes, And what what I know now is like I was hypo. I was going hype up because

[bryan_boorstein]: 31:56

right

[aaron_straker]: 31:57

likerew no one across with these carbs because carbs are bad, But then everyone does this crazy know glyclytic movement for fifty minutes and then you're like. Why do I feel this way Like? why can't I finish a rep? And why am I laying here? It's like because your blood sugar's too low. Because you've just pissed through all, But you're not taking any in And then you just rain yourself in the ground, And that's like one of like the wildest I would say from, like my own personal realizations. I like all those times I was just laying there hypoglycemic and had no idea I

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:26

and then we go out,

[aaron_straker]: 32:26

used to get. Oh, go ahead.

[bryan_boorstein]: 32:28

as you can say, that we go home and overeat and just go into food coma for the rest of the day.

[aaron_straker]: 32:34

Well, I was going to say I like a line without a lot, because I remember when I was living in Dallas, I would always train super early in the morning, so like my crew was like the show up to the gym at five forty five, six a M. And then I'd usually get home at say like eight nine a m. 'cause we'd go get coffee. whatever afterwards. That's like. I remember. I went through a hard phase where it was like I would get home from the gym and I would be freezing cold and I would be shaking and I g like at the time a plus B't equal, and very similarly like now I know like, Oh yeah, well, you weren't eating enough food like you. Probably you know. it's like I'm sure that if I had been bringing food with me to immediately like, get in some carbs or get in like a protein carb shake or something, But it was just like there wasn't that you know back a few years ago, like there wasn't as much education and understanding about exercise modalities and and again, like the true needs for cross it. I know that this was probably a year or two ago, but I remember a major, like news networking thing, put out an article and it was titled like If you want to be a better cross fitter, you should go. quito. and like I, I used to do that on social media a lot like I don't anymore, because I just can't handle it. Um, but I mean, I lift that up and it was. It was one of my most like popular inigram posts I've ever had. Like had like ten thousand lights, and I mean Crossw Games athletes doctors. everybody was chamming in on it, but I mean I. I just made a very simple post being like Hey like there's a difference between like I understand, you know, with social media we live in a click baate world. Where're trying? We're trying to get that be. it's like when we're putting out information that is actually going to harm people like that's the first rule of coaching. That's the first rule of you know having a level of influences like we do no harm right. And so I made a post. It was just I think like the The picture image or Twitter post or whatever it was said like. Actually, If you know, if you're trying to get better across the akito is the, you know, the worst thing you can do for yourself and they're just like science, science, science, evidence, evidence, evidence and people showing up in the comments just being like friaking. thank you. Um, but

[bryan_boorstein]: 34:39

I love thaty.

[aaron_straker]: 34:39

again you know, it's just like we. E. even if you dial back to twenty, twelve, twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen. it was like. Well, Yeah, like that was when I discovered paleo, like I was the person in nutrition dietic, So it's like we have been class and de. Yeah, but like paleo and cocnut oil, and like present day I'm like. No, like all the things you love doing require a carbohydrate. it's right

[bryan_boorstein]: 35:00

yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 35:00

so it's like I think. Unfortunately, it's like certain ideas picked up, but they weren't back to buy evidence that were're backed by. you know science of research, but we just didn't have that understanding. But it's like now you know, even when you look at Crossweit Games athletes or whatever you know, it's like you're not seeing the super shredded super lean individual like you're seeing athletes that eat and they do

[bryan_boorstein]: 35:21

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 35:21

prioritize recovery, Because again you know it's like that works for a while, and then you get injured or then you know you get taken out of the game because your body can't hang over time, So it's like even with that you know the best athletes are the athletes that can recover over time, and those are the people that stay. Uninjured and you're able to stay in the game.

[bryan_boorstein]: 35:41

totally

[aaron_straker]: 35:42

Y. I agree. so I want to pivot a little bit into Um. something that. uh, I mean you briefly mentioned in the in the beginning of the past, but being strong and well fed, so especially being uh, a a female. Right, and or what's what's the proper terminoloy? Want use yourstating individual? Yeah, it's the. the goal would be to be inclusive. Um, but I think the to answer your question, it's like there's so much like. Even if you go to the grocery store, it doesn't matter. you know who you are. Grocery stores are going to be full of magazines that say tryr. you know, try this extreme diet celebrity lost. you know, forty pounds. Um, you know, lose ten pounds fast. we open. You know social media, whether talk, whether it's inigram, Facebook right, and we're repeatedly told this message of you are not enough. You need to be leaner, you need to be smaller. Don't take up space. I think, especially with mentoring individuals. You see this idea of you should be quiet. and you shouldn't take up space and you shouldn't be allowed. Um, and I feel like, especially the nineties The two thousand's like when we're looking at, you know Frontway models, everyone is real thin and super skinny and so over a time it's just compounded into this very toxic. Um, even you know, it's like I regularly go through and kind of purge my social media. But that's like I can't follow accounts that spam transformation before and after photos. I don't want to see. Even you know. it's like I don't. I'm very sensitive presently about like I just don't want to open up my phone and see like half naked bodies And you know girls in super tiny shorts and sports bras and it's like Well, yeah, like I still sometimes post some of that sometimes too, because I'm training. It's hot. You know whatever, but it's like that's such a hard mental game when repeatedly our experience on Plan of Earth is you aren't good enough. You aren't enough. You need to fit this certain beauty standard or this certain ideal, right, And so it's very difficult to be content with your body if you're spamming yourself with even more of that by the people that you follow on social media, Um, The you know, the types of accounts that you follow The pod costs. You listen to you, whatever it is, and so, Um, for me, I came from the background of being severely

[bryan_boorstein]: 38:09

Ss,

[aaron_straker]: 38:09

underweight, So in college I was ninety two pounds at five foot three. Um. I was training for a marathon again training, you know, five, six, seven days a week, Um, but just constantly restricting my food even wasn't when. even when I was ninety two pounds, I remember looking in the mirror and still hating what I saw thinking that I needed to, you know, Sti. If I just lose even more weight, I'll be happier with myself or I'll finally love myself or whatever it is. And so part of why getting into strength training, you know, the The Barbll changed my life, and lifting heavy changed my life because it shifted my perspective from my value is only tied to what I look like physically to being proud of what my body could do, and being proud of what I could bring to the table, And so I was able to shift my focus to. Oh, okay, this week, you know, I back squatted seventy five pounds. It would be so cool to squat a hundred pounds. And and so it allowed me to celebrate what my body could do, rather than just you know, hyper focusoing on what it looked like and so compounded over time. Uh, when I actually competed competitively I weighed a hundred thirty eight pounds, which is quite. You know quite the disparity from Um that ninety two pounds you over the years, but it was so easy for me because all I wanted to do was perform well and beat other people at workouts and so hyperfoing again On Well, I just want to get better at lifts and I just want to be a better athlete and I just want my body like. I just want to celebrate. You know what I'm able to do and accomplish, and so you know, over time my weight certainly changed. You know as my goals have changed and stuff like that. but you know it's like kind of being the one shining light in the industry where all we see is you should cut your calories. Do you know this calorie cycling thing? Hey, transformation, and you'll be before and afters? Um, just really being that one person doing education on? Hey, this is actually how much food you need to eat in a day like you're eating fifteen hundred colors a day. What if you could be eating twenty one or twenty two hundred calories and your body weight doesn't change, But everything gets better with more food right, Like when we're when we are eating at maintenance, and when we're adequately fed well, our sex stripe's really high. Our hormones are great. We feel great in training. We're hitting P. Rs. We, you know, th just so many benefits when we are just well fed and again allowing ourselves to recover like you're not going to recover, eating fifteen hundred calories a day doing. you know how, whatever exercise it is, you know four to six times a week and so putting out that education because that was what I was lacking, even having a formal education in food nutrition, dietics. We, you know, it's like I took five or six anatomy physiology classes. I took Organa can bioch you all the stuff right, but I never learned. Hey, this is how much food I could be eating in a day or Holy cow. You know so many companies are. There's kind of just been this weird generic like Well, if you're a menstruating individual, eat twelve hundred calories a day. Um, you know, if for a non menturing individual, eat fifteen hundred colors a day, and it's like well, most active individuals if you're strength training. if you're getting some to eight k steps a day. Well, your maintenance calories are minimum, eighteen hundred to twenty one hundred calories And I still think that's low for most people. Um, for me again, you know it's like I love sharing my story because I'm not a tall individual And so when I'm five three, I'm lifting for sixty to seventy five minutes a day, three to four times a week getting some to a K steps like that's doing a lot less than I used to be Right Like that's That's what most people are doing. So why am I shorter than you? eating more food than you? Because for me it's like my maintenance calories are anywhere, twenty three, twenty four hundred calories. Um. and and I feel like over the years Ive, you know it's like people are like. Oh, just that's so much food. and it's like, But it's not like you think it's a lot of food Because we're surrounded by this concept constantly of not eating the food. Or you know. it's like there were sectors where nut companies. It's like it didn't matter Wh you what nutrition company they werere coming from every single female is probably you know, eating sixteen hundred eighteen hundred calories. They're probably you know, doing the thing right, so it's like there's just been so much messaging, not encouraging people to just take up space to be well fed and to be able to show up as their best right. And so it's like I feel like that has caught on like Wildfi Because it it gave people permission like everybody. ultimately, You know, it's like it's not fun to be restricting yourself and it's not fun when you're restricting your calories and still hating how you look and expecting certain outcomes. It's like the thing is like if you don't love your body right now, you're not going to love it. ten pounds, light or twenty pounds later. It's like that process starts right here right now. Regardless of you know what happens with your weight. your body composition, Um, so taking away that you know, I just never wanted to be another source and I still don't really like or enjoy covering. You know, hey, this is how to do a clerked ups say, here's how to lose body fat because it's just like it's all I feel like I ever see on social media, but I still have to cover it because if I don't teach people how to do it properly and how to do a chloor to sit sustainably and how to set all of that up, you know well, where are they going to turn to for that information, Because they're probably going to end up in the worm hole of doing superrastic things, and you know not. Being in a position to diet, but then trying to cut their calories, not understanding why it didn't work even if they went to a vast deficit, you know, there's just so many things that's like just trying to be that one person that's really taking care of people and helping them step into the long game of stuff, rather than well. Yeah, like most people. If you ask them, you know what are your goals? Well, I want to lose body fat and I wantnna gain muscle. The average person doesn't understand that those are two totally completely different goals. Right Like well, we want to lose body fat. We have to create a clerked deficit, and that might mean eating ten to thirty five percent below whatever our maintenance calories are, but reversely if we're trying to gain muscle and we're trying to hit P. Rs. we're trying to gain strength. Well, that's going to be best suited being in a chloric surplus above our maintenance calories. And that might be, you know, eating five to twenty percent above where maintenance calories All right. So it's all I've ever done the past few years is just try to put out information to help people you know T to guide them to where they're trying to go, rather than getting caught up in the Oh, well, my coworkers doing keto. So I guess I'm a dukto or oh, uh. Intermit fasting's really hot right now. Well, hey, like if you're a menstruating individual, here's some things you might need to know before you go do thisquieto thing, or before you go do this intermittent fasting thing. Um, it's really my. My platform has always just come from trying to break some really complicated topics into easy to digest, easy to consume and understand and easy to apply. I've never never put stops on my information, right. It's like I give you everything that I possibly know, because I just want people to be, you know, to feel comfortable in their skin, to love their body, and and you know to to live a sustainable life of eating the food that they enjoy while still feeling good in their skin. One thing that, um, I, it's It's a similar thing that. I will obviously speak of a lot of more coins again, but not do as much of a degree because of bit of a different demographic, but one of the things that really people do not understand enough of, and I want you to kind of take this Sro food a little bit. It was like what happens when you start eating more and you know, changing that target around, like more intensity, more cordial to become like less, as opposed to like. I want to try and like achieve. You know greater weights and push, or and increase my like ranges and things like that. Like what sort of things do you feel that you've personally experienced when you've gone through that approach? So I think it's trying to change what people are

[bryan_boorstein]: 46:34

four,

[aaron_straker]: 46:34

kind of focusing on? So it's like we're told to hyper focusous on what the scale says, and we're told to hyperfous on what we look like, And so when you're working with clients, it's getting them to shift their perspective to things that aren't those metrics. And so we start looking at. Well, hey, like, what is your suck drive? Like? what's your menstrual cycle? Like you know, Is your menstrual cycle happening every twenty eight to thirty five days? You know. Is it riddled with tons of symptoms and heavy bleeding and cramping? Perversely? is it non existent, or is it superregular? Is it coming? You know every thirty five to forty eight days? Um, you know how is your sleep quality? Are you waking up multiple times a night? Do you wake up every single night To you know, Use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Are you waking up starving and hungry? Um, reversely you know are, do you lay down on the pillow and you know eight hours later you roll out of bed. You know how do you feel when you do wake up in the morning? Are you feeling super rested and recovered or reversely? Do you roll out of bed and you have to crack open? You know, a coffee, A, an energying energy drink. whatever it is, Um, you know, are you somebody that you hit two p. M in the afternoon and you suddenly arehausted and you need to take a nap. Are you bunking out during the middle of your workout? So we're just not feeling strong in the gym. You know, there's so many things that's like. all of that gets better with food. And if we're adequately fed, you know we should feel like a million bucks like. even when we're talking about like. Well, how do I know if I'm in a position to cut my calories and work out, you know losing body Fl. It's like well, if you're already dealing with, you know a lot of the symptoms that I kind of listed before. None of that is going to get better in that absence of food like that's all about to get you way worse right. So it's like when I, um, I don't do one one coaching any longer. But when I used to, you know it would be like the first. I'd say three to six months. I'm not talking about cutting calories. I'm not talking about Deps. It's like we're worrying about like. Well, hey, are you getting enough protein in your day? Um, are you eating fruits and vegetables throughout the day? Are you getting enough fibre? Are you ga enough water right like we're building up that house kind of brick by brick by brick. Because when we do cut our calories it should be a relatively easy transaction right like it shouldn't be like. Oh, you know, I go into a clerk, defsit. It's miserable and everything just suddenly gets terrible. It's like Well, Yeah, like cutting is always go to be work. There's goingnna have to be adjustments made, but you know, if you're having to white knuckle and the scale is not really moving and and we're not making the progress we should be. Whoa. Were we in the position to diet in the first place, you know, and it that's going to be extremely, you know, individual. But it's like I have always been a long game kind of coach. And so if I'm gonna put a client through a cut, I want to make sure that when we do it if fucking works like, I don't want to. You know if somebody hired me and was like, I want to cut. you know, cut my colors right now. Well, I'm goingnna take the education to explain why we want to spend you know, three to six months at maintenance and just adequately feeding ourselves before we go into that, Um, my personal rules of thumb and again, You know every coach is going to have different preferences, but I don't want to see clients dieting for more than one to two times a year Like that's max, Um, because I, you know, even when I'm talking about how long of a duration I want to let them be eating out low calories. I don't really want someone diting beyond twelve to sixteen weeks, because we know that we're going to start seeing down regulation of so many things right beyond that twelve to sixteen weeks. Can you keep cutting absolutely? But we also might see increased risk of. Well, how is our thyroid health looking? How is our sex hormones on our menstrual cycle looking? Oh, well, we, we just hit weak twenty and suddenly menstrual cycle disappeared. Ooh, like that's That's the body giving feedback that's no longer picking up what we're putting down right. So it's like those are again my personal preferences, but I don't want to see somebody dining for longer than a couple of months at a time, and more often than one to two times a year, also for a variety of reasons, because it's like well, if all we ever do is cutter calolors, cutter, calories, cutter calories. We're not always just losing body fat. There's a high chance that we're also losing muscle. so at what point during that year did we spend time being, you know, at maintenance or in a chlor surplus, putting muscle back on the

[bryan_boorstein]: 51:15

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 51:15

frame right. It's like well, we might lose all this weight, but if we lose a lot of muscle as well, we might actually end up with a body composition that's worse than when

[bryan_boorstein]: 51:24

hm,

[aaron_straker]: 51:25

we started, and I feel like you see that so much with like my mom's generation, specifically where it's like kind of our fifty to, I would say like fifty to sixty five seventy year old women where it's like Well, we spent so much of our life dieting That bodycomosition' is just not great, you know, it's like even with my own mom I'm like man I. Wish I could just get you into strength training. I wish I could get you picking up heavy weights even twice a week. right. Um, So it's just like there's so many factors that go into that, but again you know, it's like I. I've proven this over time for myself. personally that you know nearly a decade and a half late. you know a decade a half later. Well, these are actually pretty good rules of thumb, because again you know it's like what's the point of losing all that weight? If then our hormones are racked and our thyroids racked or cordos all levels. Or you know all these things start compounding and then maybe you end up gaining all that weight back because we didn't just prioritize, you know, playing the long game like you have your whole stink in life to get to

[bryan_boorstein]: 52:27

hm,

[aaron_straker]: 52:28

where you're trying to go. So you know how do we change this to be a sustainable way? I remember, I had um, a client that he lost. I believe it was a hundred pounds in a year, which is quite a bit of weight. And so to get there he worked out seven days a week, dieted that entire time. and yes, he accomplished that weight loss And that's you know, that's great. That's incredible good for him. and the entire time, I'm listening to the recap on kind of how he got from point a to point B. In my head, I was going, man, I wonder how differently you could have done this and accomplish the same outcome, and had it be more enjoyable, more sustainable. or even in his case, he, you know we were. I believe at some point he was four hundred pounds. Um, so it was like still had more weight to lose, but in my head I kept going. Well, what if you even could have lost more weight Because again you took diet breaks or again, you know we limited these times. so it was like Okay, you know this, twelve to sixteen weeks. we're really goingnna crunch. We're really going to do the work

[bryan_boorstein]: 53:41

Mhm, Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 53:41

and then we're going to go back to maintenance and we're going to, you know, let our body get that recovery. Um, and again, never know that answer. but as a coach that's always where my head is going. it's like Well, there's you know a million ways to skin the cat. But ultimately, when we take care of the body, the body always takes care of us right back. And so the longer I coach, the less interested I am in super restrictive measures. Super, you know, a superharsh like uh, I think a good phrases. you know, results that come fast, may or may not be results that stay. So it's like if I'm goingnna, if I'm personally got to bother to do something, or if I'm going to have a client bother to do something, I want it to work and I want it to not be miserable. And sometimes you, you do what you have to do if you were weighing. For you know, an Olympic weight lifting need or whatever it is. Sometimes you don't have a choice, but that's you know, that's always been my coaching direction is. let's play the long game. Let's

[bryan_boorstein]: 54:41

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 54:42

skip. You know giving people super disordered habits, or you know approaches to their food to their nutrition. You know how do we let people no longer be at war with their body? Well, still getting the job done. You know achieving their goals. How do we play the long game? That's what I'm interested and I'm not interested in. You know your sixty day challenges. I'm not interested in. You know, extreme measures and again, there's nothing wrong. If that's if that's up your alley, and that's what you love doing or you love doing with clients like good for you, it's just not my personal preference.

[bryan_boorstein]: 55:18

I feel like uh, as a solution to the people that want to diet like multiple times a year, or whatever. It's probably a result of when they're in a maintenance plus period. They're they're too high and then they feel this need to go low, so I feel like in a perfect world right, like eating maintenance should be kind of like T to get good at maintenance. Right. So maybe you're you're eating in a in a surplus and you're in that five to ten percent surplus area. You're not even needing to go up to like twenty percent and then on the deficit on the other side, you don't have to go all the way up to thirty five percent on the deficit because you only went five to ten percent on the maintenance side, So now it takes you nine or twelve months to even gain any appreciable amount of weight, So now you go ten to twenty percent on the deficit side and again you're just kind of hovering plus their minus this maintenance area, and eh, you get really good, You get practice at. Maintenance or being around maintenance. So you know what That isn't what that feels like, but you also don't have to take any drastic measures either on either side, either. So ultimately like that's probably what I would think of as the Holy grill.

[aaron_straker]: 56:22

Well and think about it, We see this wither members all the time. You know. It's like when I used to po like post about. I remember. Uh, I did a cut and I was able to successfully like cut on twenty one to twenty two hundred calories. And P, Y know people are like losing their minds because for most people it's like, Oh, I want to lose weight. Cool. Well, I had to go to twelve hundred calories. I had to go to thirteen hundred calories. Um, and how many members have we had recently in our group Because they're either working with our nutrition coaches or they' readd my e book or consumed enough in my content that you know. It's we just had one the other day and she was like Yall. I am successfully cutting and losing like

[bryan_boorstein]: 57:00

Yeah, yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 57:00

weight right now on like twenty four, twenty five hundred calories. Uh, my, my good friend in Uh, nutrition coach Tana, same

[bryan_boorstein]: 57:06

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 57:07

thing like she's been posting, Kind of her. I think Yall had been like on the same spectrum like. Oh,

[bryan_boorstein]: 57:11

we've been connecting.

[aaron_straker]: 57:13

but it's like I remember when I worked with her years ago. you know. it's like we fought tooth and nail to just get her calories up, because she was coming from a background of training for marathons, and ultras, And you know, cross fitting and and just doing the most, and so I had to fight her tooth and nail to get her to eat. You know twenty four, twenty five hundred calories and here she is cutting on twenty five

[bryan_boorstein]: 57:35

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 57:35

hundred calories right. But it's such a different dynamic than the people you do see in the space where it's like Oh, well, doing this template and eating. You know a thousand calories or twelve hundred calories And it's like there is. There's a lot again. there's a lot of ways to skin the cat. There's one that sounds a lot less miserable, but

[bryan_boorstein]: 57:55

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 57:56

it requires a lot more discomfort. It requires a lot more fun and work, but again, ultimately, it's like we should be eating out maintenance more than we do anything

[bryan_boorstein]: 58:05

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 58:06

else. And so if all you've done the past year is cut your calories cut your calories been consistently eating. You know, below say two thousand calories. Well, you need to go spend a whole lot of time buying your bot. You know, buying back love from your body, because again, everything was is likely so down regulated from being in that chronic, restricted chronically under recovered, chronically under fed state. Um, it's what a cool testament to what we do right up again back to strong mu fed like, I'm sure there's people that are like I want to cut calories on. you know, twenty two hundred, twenty five hundred. Um, and again like there's just so much nuance. There's so much you know. there's so much to it. But even back to what you were saying about the extremes of like dieting at, you know, thirty or thirty five percent or having to be in a surplus. It it. There's so much of it depends because we actually know well. The longer we've been training and the more muscle we have in our body, we actually might not need as much of of we might not need as many calories over our maintenance to accomplish the goal. Like our body gets very efficient at that, and so like, I'll just throw out some made up numbers as an example. But let's say you know if I was going into a flor surplus, I might only go five to ten percent above fllooric maintenance. So if I

[bryan_boorstein]: 59:22

right,

[aaron_straker]: 59:22

normally shoot for say twenty five hundred calories. Well, maybe my surplus only looks like twenty six to twenty seven hundred calories. But if I were a newer training individual, one might have to go to twenty eight hundred, twenty nine hundred. Um, Because again, the body's just not quite as

[bryan_boorstein]: 59:36

yeah, right.

[aaron_straker]: 59:38

efficient, does it? You know. it's still trying to figure it out. Um, but then reversely you know same thing. It's like your deficit is going to depend on kind of where your foods at have been at the past year. Um or

[bryan_boorstein]: 59:49

yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 59:50

two. so it's like if you've been chronically restricting. Well, Yeah, like if you you'll lose weight, like go to that thirty thirty five percent defsit. And if you are consistent, and if you are, you know, actually hitting those numbers, tracking them away a measure. if food would like doing the thing. Um, I think like E, you know a quick math in my head. That would be me eating like sixteen hundred calories like Yeah, That would hurt. I would feel like dut. I probably couldn't sustain that. I probably couldn't keep working out

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:00:17

Mhm.

[aaron_straker]: 1:00:18

the way I work out. but if I did it, I would probably lose weight right, but reversely because I spend more time than I do. A. Anything else at maintenance I can cut at. you know, probably what, a five or ten percent deficit. I don't have to go to that nasty space.

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:00:33

Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 1:00:35

You are in control of kind of what that looks like,

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:00:38

your. uh, your point to the to. the needing less of a surplus. You know, the closer you get to your genetic potential or whatever, like. Yeah, I think in a perfect world, like if I knew for sure that my maintenance was three thousand calories, then I would go three thousand in one calorie, and that would be the amount that I would eat, because that would be a surplus right. But like that, five to ten percent there is is there to buffer so that we know like, even because maintenance is a jumping target that, no matter what, like five to ten per cents, pretty good we're We're probably in a surplus, Right and then on the deficit side, I think that's actually interesting because Um, like Martin Mcdonald, has done a bunch of research on supers steep deficits, Um, which have apparently like really good applicability in obese populations right, So you're going to that thirty five to fifty percent deficit and you're just getting in in your. Smashing shit, and they're losing almost purely body fat because they're just so big that they have so much of it. Um, but for people that are again closer to that genetic spectrum of musc mass or Andor, maybe don't have an excess of body fat. like, like, like me or like Ain, or like you, Like when we go to diet, where a we're starting from a healthy place to steal Erarons Thunder. He says that shit all the time. He's like. Your body responds really well when you're beginning a diet from a healthy place, So credit for that.

[aaron_straker]: 1:01:56

body safe to get le and stay lean Like that's been my co for the pas a decade. But

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:02:01

Yep, totally No, And that's exactly what I was going to say Is like You know you, just when it just works when you're when you're starting from a position of power like that that when you go into a deficit, it works and when it stops working, you just reverse that shit and you come out in deficit because it's not working anymore. So stop beating a dead horse and just get like right back where you need to be. Go to maintenance. Go to surplus, keep life gone,

[aaron_straker]: 1:02:23

one thing I do on is people will ask us. Well, how do I know? How do I know when to stop? Like how do I know when it's not working like Run your numbers. Has your average weight been the same way for like three weeks now? and don't get me wrong, There are like your extremes right. if you're getting on a bodyuilding stage or whatever, like this doesn't apply to you, but you probably already know that anyway, type of thing, if you're running your average for like three weeks and you're basically the exact same spot and you know you've been adherent and your hunger starting to increase your cord. As all levels are increasing, you're waking up in the middle of the night and you're super hungry and all these different things at it's time. so like for for instance, like we're not. You know. I mean, technically, you know, on paper I'm a professional dieter, 'cause this is what I do with my life, but that's like a bit of a joke there, so the majority of us like we're not getting paid to do this right. It is like it's a quality of life aspect. If you're super hungry and you're super low energy and you're miserable in all these things like, it's probably not worth going any further and get what you can't get what you got right, and then slowly start reversing. Things are only going to get better from that point. Yes, you're putting your fat loss on Pawe while you improve your systems, and then what happens is you feed up more up. Regulations happen, so your undergrin function will begin to improve that quarter. All will begin to drop your sex hormones, willgin to start picking back up again and you're just putting yourself in a better position and kind of like what Loy you was saying. If you're dieting like three four times per week like you're not or not, time through times per year, you're not doing your due diligence in between that and you know, staying true to your, your, um, you know maintenance, moving target. You're probably Ca, like weeks of like fuck it, where you're not tracking

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:04:04

Mhm, Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 1:04:04

and having super. You know highly palatable foods, and then like slinghootting, someone wanted fat pack on. You're like the times you spend in maintenance, and and even like those you know, very moderate surplus, depending on your goal, really do set you up for success. And then dieting becomes one, ensuring your labs are in a good spot if you're going to go that route. Um, and then sticking to it anywhere from like eight to sixteen weeks, depending and just getting what you came for and then immediately getting out and getting back to mainten. It's like that's really the name of the game and it really is like. I don't know that like mature is the right word, but like you have to be mature enough and you have to be self aware to pay attention to like. Oh, you know, it's like your body is always trying to speak to you and send you a message. And so it's like I. I remember. I said this in the Facebook group recently for a pairg of members. Um, at, you know, inrresponse a scenario. but it's like Hey, like your mostrual cycle disappeared. You're having all of these symptoms. All of these things like your body is screaming at you to pick up the phone. Are you going to listen? Are you going to pick up the phone? Are you going to be brave enough to do the things you need to do and start taking care of yourself and start actually feeding yourself right like it's We have to have that component Because again you know it's like if we're coming from that space of like, Oh, well, I've lost ten pounds, but I still need to lose twenty. It's like yo, like your body did an incredible thing and it worked really fucking hard. So like you have to be thankful and you have to also understand like you didn't get to whatever point you were overnight, So it's not going to happen that way. You know, trying to come back from it, you know. it's it's gonna be. I don't think that you know the self improvement game ever stops. you know, for me, it's like I'm always going to the gym and I still wantnna see P. Rs. and I still want to get stronger and all stuff. You know. it's like constantly being a work in progress, but mutually being super content with where I'm at and being very proud of you know the work I put in. Um, but again you know it's like when we're only seeking validation from people and we're only hyperfed on. Maybe even this number that we made up in our head right, like so many people fill out. You know a client consule for coaching and I'll be like I need to lose twenty pounds. Wh, where did the twenty come from? Like what? Where did that number magically appear from? Well, it's it's a number that doesn't mean anything that you just kind ofcide like. Oh, yeah, this. this would be a great goal. right. Um, So it's being it. It's being able to reflect on the progress that you've made, feeling really proud of it and being able to be content And that's that's hard. Like that is right, but it's like we have to play the long game and we have to take care of our body, But again it's like it's when people you know. like, let's say we're going on vacation and people are like, Oh, I'm really stressed out about your network now. And what am I going to do And like how, what should I pack? And it's like the gym is literally always gonna be there like I get it, Trust me like I love training, so like if I go on vacation, I also want to train. Um, but you know it's like again, the gym's always gonna be there. You always have that time to go put in the work. Similarly, it's like you don't have a deadline forever for getting to this. You know, this body composition you're trying to achieve or trying to hit these goals right. It's like Yes, we, we want to set smart goals and we want to have things that we're working towards and stuff like that. But it's like we have to stop putting on these deadlines and we have to stop living in this mindset of like, I'm really miserable. I've hit rock bottom. I need to lose this weight right now. It's like shit takes time. and and the sooner you, the sooner you embrace that like, the easier everything gets because it's like again, you don't? you don't build a company overnight. We didn't build Paragon. Yeah, we didn't just found Paradon, and then two days later, you know we. we have thousands of members. It's like well, it took years and years of consistently posting to social media sharing our story, sharing what we do every single day. you know, Just putting the pennies in the bank right and your body's not much different. We have to be consistent. We're consistently working on these goals and over time you know it's It's never linear. We're gonna have times that we slide back wards and forwards. We make rapid progress and maybe we don't make progress, But when we consistently show up, we do eventually get there. and so again it's just reframing the way that people's people's expectations. Also, Um, Alex Macla and I were talking about this recently, but you know it's like people are. Are you willing to do the work to achieve the goals that you have set? You know, it's like for me, I cansistly track my food mostly from a place of. If I don't track my food, I'm really bad at eating and I will end up actually under eatating, because I just get really busy. I'm stressed with work or whatever. So it's like for me, I track pretty consistently throughout the course of the year, and it's like I'm not shy to take off, you know, days from tracking or this and that, but like I look a certain way because I'm very, very, very consistent about all of my inputs from my nutrition to the way I approach my lifestyle. You know, even if I go on a vacation, even if I go on a cruise, those habits aren't really changing how I'm eating aren't really changing right. Um, but again with social media people think like, Oh, if I just do this one thing like this

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:09:33

Ss.

[aaron_straker]: 1:09:34

willll happen or Oh, like if if I just start this challenge, You know in sixty days I'll look like this and it's really getting people to understand. Well, like what work? are you truly willing to do? And it's okay if you don't want to do that work. but you have to be truthful with yourself, Right or people say. Oh, like I, I track my food. Um, I'm I'm definitely. You know if I eat over sixteen hundred calories Ah, I instantly gain weight and it's like Okay, like there's a lot unpack there. But are you truly tracking everything that goes into your body? I just recently did this where I switch from energy drinks to coffee and I realize well, fuck me, I have haven't been tracking my coffee every single day. I haven't been tracking the twelve ounces of almond milk. I haven't been tracking whatever syrups are in it right, and so like at track it one day, and I'm like whoo. That's that's probably like a hundred fifty calories every day that I've just been air ing and like not including in my day. Well, I've been getting coffee for like two weeks straight. and that's a lot of calories that I'm not accounting for in my daily macros. right, Um, same thing you know. Well, do you have kids? Are you nibbling on their dinner? Are you you know eating the remaining cookie? Are you cooking and you know tasting a lot of people love going out to eat at restaurants? Are you tracking the oils that they probably cook your chicken, Brest, or yourre salmon in? Oh, did you track the dressing that's probably in the salad? You're eating right like there's so many things where it's like people are doing? They're trying their best. You know they're doing these things, but there's a lot of things that they may not be accounting for. They may not be remembering to track. You know whenever I see that you know, Oh yeah. I, I'm eating sixteen hundred calories and I'm gaining weight. I'm like I have a lot of questions. I wantnna, seafood logs. I, I have so many questions because I've been around those types of people in real life and I'm watching what they're doing and I'm seeing. You know the things that are missing in those sixteen hundred calories right. Um, see, Yeah, that helps a little bi of side Ra. I thought I think that was some good talking points there. Yeah, there's always more than kind of meats the eye with dieting, and not not with specific dieting, but like being objective with your with your food and takeke, And that's really what it comes down to. Are you really being honest with yourself? especially out to you. A lot of people just don't know really realistly how much Uh, you know oil or butter is in your. You know salmon or steak or something like that? On top of her how what type of cut it is and the differences. There's a lot to pack, like you said, and it's just playing the long game. You learn a little bit more as you go. Um, and it's just that is really. I think the kind of theme here is like playing the long game is always going to work out in your favor, and knowing that the the harder you step on the gas and the waaler you step on the gas, generally will not work for you. in the long run, It's good to know one to push and when to pull back. and you really shouldn't be pushing that frequently, maybe about twice per year

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:12:29

It's a lot like training in the sense that you want to build habits and do it in a sustainable manner.

[aaron_straker]: 1:12:35

exactly. and I will say too, like, I think there's merit and this is like for sure how I've learned a lot of. Really good lessons and how I have ended up at the place I am now with my nutrition and my thtness, my everything. But that's like I think. Unfortunately, as humans we have to ride out the extremes before. maybe sometimes we're willing to listen. Like as coaches, we obviously hope that you know people come to church with us and that they just you know, love and embrace our messages. But I think more commonly the theme is, most people aren't too different than myself. Where it's like they had to really go the extremes on what they were doing with their food. How they were training before they were willing to step back and be like. Oh, okay, I'm ready to do less. Oh, I'm ready to buy into this eating more food thing like I'm miserable and can't handle this any morere. Um, so I think, unfortunately, like that is a very annoying but very true thing that we see you know as humans. one

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:13:34

Mhm,

[aaron_straker]: 1:13:34

thing I think would be pretty cool to wrap up with is if I mean, I know I personally have one. I know you do, Brian May, or me. not, if based on my memory serves, serve me correctly. But what was that point where you were like? Okay, I'm willing to learn. I'm willing to you know, pull back. like. What was that you know? Proverbial low point for you. if you don't min sharing. I've had so many. Where do you off in? start? Um, No, I. I think the very obvious one with Paragon for sure, And it's um. I. I. Something I love saying now is that Paragons started as my story, and over time it's evolved to be our story, because again you know, as unfortunate as it is to have gone through so many phases of just health problems in general, Whether it was got, health and digestive soft, We, it was hormon stuff. Um, I've been. I. I was diagnosed hypoer at seventeen, so like thyroid stuff is always, We're always on that roller coaster, right. Um, but you know going through all of that the best type of teacher is somebody that has personally experienced it. So for example, I've never been pregnant, so I'm probably not going to be the best you know, pregnancy and postpom coach. Right Do I know the very important things. Sure, but ultimately gun. I've never been through it, so I'm probably not going to be the best coach. but reversely. you know, it's like I've been through so many things with my health with my nutrition, with my fitness. Um that truly, you know, It's over the years when clients would come to me. I was really able to resonate and connect with them because I've been there and I felt that and I understood how it feels to be in that position like man like. I just feel like garbage and I just want to feel good and I just want to you know, train again and and truly show up as my best right Like I get that. Um, so I think Paragon has just been such a gift because it's been the gift of just giving back everything that I've learned and helping people navigate through the same things that I've been through over the years. Brid you have one oreg mo. You go.

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:15:44

I have a sequence that led to a moment, so in two thousand fifteen, I did that physique comp that left my hormones completely trash. So it was actually kind of unrelated to cross, Aside from the fact that I guess I used crossfit as my conditioning as I was preparing for the physique show. But you know, in six months after the show I basically trained only lifting two to three days a week. I didn't do any cardio. I just went for walks and i lifted and it took until about December and I felt I felt good. Finally, and then January came. It was like open January Sixteent time to prep for the open. I'm feeling good. Let's do this thing right. So I did it and I hated all of it And then I did the O open and I hated that too, and as soon as the open was over, I went right back to training like four times a week, strength training with walks, and that was the beginning of of creating Involved Was which eventually led to Paragon, Is that whole notion of training with walks, and at that time it still had you know, Olympic lifts and someing like that, But as we as we know it's it's transitioned a lot in those days, but it was. Kind of that experience of going through that sequence of events culminating in the open of two thousand Sixteen and then realzing how much better I felt when I was doing it a different way. That kind of just created the whole cascade that followed from there.

[aaron_straker]: 1:17:05

Yeah, I mean, I remember those days I remember just seeing that like just. I could just feel that like defeat in you kind of post that show And like Brian, who's like you know, loved to train and stuff and you were just like Y. I just don't want to do it. I remember they were like. it was like, kind of sad. you know,

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:17:21

It was so sad. Yeah,

[aaron_straker]: 1:17:22

honest. Yeah, I remember, for mine was. I mean, when I ruptured my kiilles like I was that dude in the crosspit gym. That ruptia was a killing doing box jumps And and then I went from like you know, training literally, like six days per week having so much fun And and then it was Oh, like you're out for seven to eight months Like you're not doing. You're not even going to walk again for the next four months, Um, you in a wheelchairs. Christ, Yeah, and I remember it was like I was like my friends had to get me groceries and stuff like that Like it was really shitty for me and it really was like Okay. I have all this time like I'm going to learn and I, It's when I like, read my first nutrition book and realized, Oh carbs aren't the devil like I need to sleep like these things. Oh, I can't just be drinking alcohol. you know, hardcore four days per week and it not affecting me. I realized like there was much more to everything, as opposed to just like training in a silo calories coming in. and then like the other parts like it, the body works in connected systems. it's not in Sil, And that's when things really started. Really, you know, changing direction for me and I've really never looked back. You know, I had fortunately a few more injuries and then like after those are really solidified things up. and I've know, as I've only gotten older, things have only gotten better which is really really cool.

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:18:41

I remember that man. That was one of the craziest freakiest things that happened in the Crosst gym over the years, rebounding thirty inch box jumps and then snap and I have this vivid memory too of you actually making the best of it. You made you made lemonade out of lemons, and for Halloween that year you were a hobo in a shopping car and your friends were pushing you around,

[aaron_straker]: 1:19:03

Yeah, its like five days later.

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:19:03

so that was that was amazing.

[aaron_straker]: 1:19:07

Yeah, Yeah, that was. uh. I'm glad those days are on me. Let's put it that way.

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:19:12

Well, I think ultimately. like the coolest part of all of this is that we all went through like similar stories, and we all have found success in training in a different manner. Our body comps are better. Our hormone function is better. We we function mentally better. we were smarter and uh were able to help other people. And it's really cool to see the meandering stories and how they all kind of led us all to a similar place.

[aaron_straker]: 1:19:38

Well, I think something that I was thinking about too is like How cool is it be Cause we all kind of voice us at some point where it's like that's weird. Like here, we are all getting older yet looking better and feeling better, and I feel like sometimes you know I' written social media post on this, but like it drives me crazy when people used to say like Oh, it all goes downhill after thirty and it's like I'm about to turn thirty two and like I, I'm looking pretty good. Actually, like so, I think that school is like, also kind of combating that narrative of. Oh, like. Actually, if you take care of yourself and you are consistent with good nutrition and good lifestyle and got exercise habits, you don't have to fall into that narrative that we so commonly hear in society, I couldn't agree more

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:20:32

Such a good point. Yep,

[aaron_straker]: 1:20:34

cool. so worry. Why don't you tell the people where they can find more about you and then uh, let's Blug Paragon as well, Fisher, so super easy to find on the internet. Uh, you just need to know my full name. So on Inteigam, it is Laurie Christine King, My website is Laurie Christine King, Dot Com. My Youtube is Youtube, Slh, a Louri, Christian King, Um, and then, obviously, with Paragon, Its Paragon training methods, Paragon training methods Dot Com, And you, to this fair gun traing methods. I love that continuity so easy. I wish I would have Uh thought about that before I set up. all of Min Still got time. It took a while. Any closing thoughts from you, Brian.

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:21:14

there's a really loud vacuum above my head. Can you guys hear this?

[aaron_straker]: 1:21:17

Yes,

[bryan_boorstein]: 1:21:18

I'm going to go back on you, love everybody.

[aaron_straker]: 1:21:21

all right. awesome. so lorry, thank you for joining us on a episode today, and uh with that guys. I will talk to you guys next week.