Core Strength with Nashville's Nick Carrier

Ever wondered why fitness goals feel so elusive, despite your best efforts? Let's get down to the core of it with Nick Carrier, a master fitness expert known for transforming lives through goal achievement and habit formation. Step into Nick's world as he takes us through his journey, from becoming a certified personal trainer to coaching at Orange Theory and Eshalon Fitness. Infuse yourself with the power of mindset work as Nick shares his daily gratitude practice and how it has shifted his energy from negative to positive. Nick's morning and evening routines are also on the agenda to inspire you to remain focused and motivated.

Now, imagine having a toolbox of foundational core moves readily available at your disposal. Nick opens up his fitness treasure chest, shedding light on the importance of core strength and stability exercises for overall well-being. We explore not just typical exercises like plank holds and bird dogs, but also everyday functional movements that can be seamlessly woven into your routine. Stand on one leg while putting on socks or going up stairs without using the hand railing, it's fitness made practical and doable!

But what's the point of all the sweat if motivation dips? Here's where Nick's golden advice comes in. Dive into the questions he asks himself: what are you trying to avoid, who are you trying to become, and who are you doing this for? It's about having a clear picture of your goal and creating your own North Star for direction. Nick wraps up with a powerful exploration of the role of accountability and community in fitness journeys. Hear his personal story of discovery, transformation, and the positive impact he's made on those around him. Intrigued? Join us and let Nick inspire you to live your best life.

https://www.instagram.com/carrier_bestyou/?hl=en   @carrier_bestyou

www.nickcarrier.com

10-week Virtual Transformation- https://www.nickcarrier.com/sales-page1681482949501

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Welcome to the Mentally Strong Podcast. I'm Colum Sutherland, on my journey as I explore and discover all there is to know about living well with multiple sclerosis. I'm a normal guy who was recently diagnosed and started treatment. I will share with you my conversations with others who are living with this chronic condition and with professionals who provide resources and advice. My hope is that you gain inspiration and ideas to improve your life. Welcome to the Mentally Strong Podcast. In today's episode we focus on core strength, balance and attitude. Core strength and balance are two areas of exercise I was recommended to focus on by my neurologist. I would suggest it's important for everyone's long-term well-being.

Speaker 1: 1:13

Today's guest may not specialize in chronic conditions, but it will only take you a few minutes of listening to his podcast or working out with Nick to be drawn to him and his abundance of positive energy. His podcast is called The Best U, with over 500 episodes. He's a master fitness expert on goal achievement and habit formation. He has coached over 5,000 fitness classes and hosted multiple fitness events, helping people all across the globe lose body fat and build muscle. As a certified personal trainer, corrective exercise specialist and fitness nutritious specialist and seven years of coaching at Orange Theory Fitness and Eshalon Fitness. he is widely regarded as the transformation expert by working professionals with busy lives. His expertise on goal setting and habit formation has been featured in Nashville Fit Magazine News, channel 5, and on numerous podcasts around the world. Nick Carrier, welcome to the podcast. I am super excited to have you here today and I'm really hoping I'm not doing any burpees or push-ups by the time we're done.

Speaker 2: 2:25

Callum, my man, I appreciate you having me on No promises, but probably not going to make you do any today, but no future promises.

Speaker 1: 2:33

Awesome. So for those listening, this is the first time I'm actually meeting Nick. My previous encounter with Nick was with Eshalon. I'm sure some of the listeners are getting tired of hearing Eshalon because it keeps coming up. Nick used to do a lot of the workouts on. Eshalon loved his workouts and his energy and that's why he's here today to share that. Tell us a bit about your background, nick.

Speaker 2: 2:59

Yeah, so I grew up in Atlanta. I went to University of Georgia. Basically, i'm kind of like a lot of people when you go to college, you don't really know what it is that you want to study, or you don't know what it is that you want to do. I always, when people would ask me that when I was a senior in high school, i was like I don't know what I want to do, but I love sports. I played sports all growing up and was an athlete growing up and I was like I like sports, but I don't really know how I'm going to do that because I'm not going to be a professional athlete. I'm good, but I'm not that good. I'm only 5,970 pounds, so I'm only going to go so far, but anyways, i actually started as a. I started in finance, so I studied finance and insurance when I was in college and that was what I majored in. But in between my sophomore and my junior year of college, i was home in Atlanta during the summer and I was at the gym that I used to work out at in high school. And I actually had a personal trainer in high school for football and baseball and I had a good relationship with him. And in the middle of my workout he came up to me and we were just talking and then he was like, have you ever thought about being a trainer before? And I was like no, like why? And he was like I think I think you would be really good at it. I think you've got the passion for it. I think you'd be really good at it. And I was like okay, like awesome, appreciate it. And then he was like well, talk to me after your workout and I'll tell you how to get certified. And talk to him after the workout, he told me that you could get certified online by taking a course. And I was like, well, i don't have that much going on this summer, maybe I can just do it. And so got certified as a personal trainer that summer in between my sophomore and junior year, and then went back to the University of Georgia for my junior year of college And I started off applying at some big box gyms at the university gym as a personal trainer, but I didn't hear back from any of them.

Speaker 2: 4:41

And then there was one day where I was driving and I saw an orange theory fitness tent in a parking lot And I had never heard of orange theory fitness. Before. This was back in 2014, 2015. And I was like, well, maybe one day I'll just stop by and see what it is. And one day I stopped by, talked to the owner of the studio. Now the studio hadn't even yet opened. They were just doing pre-sales in a parking lot. So I talked to the owner of the studio and he was like, well, why don't you come by at the beginning of next year when we have coaches tryouts, and why don't you see if you can, if you can be a coach? And so I went and did coaches tryouts and got got accepted as a coach at Orange Theory. And so I coached at Orange Theory my junior year and my senior year of college and absolutely loved it.

Speaker 2: 5:25

And so at that point, when I was going to graduate from college, i was like I don't really know what I want to do. I should probably get a job in what I studied, but I really love this fitness thing And maybe I can figure out how I can integrate fitness long term. And so let me just get a job in finance now. And so I actually had a job lined up as a mortgage lending officer to, and I was going to do six months of training in their Atlanta office And then I was going to move to their Nashville office after that six months And the biggest draw to me was moving to Nashville.

Speaker 2: 5:56

That's where I really wanted to be.

Speaker 2: 5:58

I didn't really, i didn't just really have my heart set on being a mortgage lending officer.

Speaker 2: 6:02

I wanted to move to Nashville And so that was the selling point.

Speaker 2: 6:05

And so I took that, took that job offer.

Speaker 2: 6:07

But then before even starting the training in Atlanta, they told me that the Nash, the Nashville part of it, fell through.

Speaker 2: 6:12

And then I was going to have to stay in Atlanta and immediately I don't even really know how I didn't think longer about it.

Speaker 2: 6:19

But immediately when they told me that, i was like Oh sorry, no longer interested, and got off the phone, called my buddy who lived in Nashville And I was like dude, can I just like live on your couch for a little bit, and then we'll figure it out. And he let me come live on his couch for a little bit. And then I kind of rushed into a job after a couple of weeks as a recruiter with an employment agency And so much of my two weeks when I was there. I remember having the thought process of Why am I doing this nine hours a day when I know it's not what I want to be doing long term? And I can just figure out long term as I go along. And so after two weeks I quit. I went back to coaching at Orange Theory a little bit, went to doing some personal training And then then I started the podcast and kind of started Best U and have been figuring it out ever since.

Speaker 1: 7:12

What prompted you to start the podcasting.

Speaker 2: 7:15

I got into listening to podcasts probably right after I graduated college, So I hadn't been listening to them for so long, But at the time that I quit that job to give some timeline I quit that job probably in October of 2018. Or of 2017. And then not really until January of the following year did I have a little bit more of a solid routine. So there was kind of two and a half months where I had a decent amount of time on my hands And so using I used that time pretty wisely by listening to a lot of podcasts we'll see YouTube videos and reading and trying to really figure things out, kind of going through a little self discovery phase, And I loved how much I was learning from podcasts and how much I was being inspired by podcasts And I was like this thing is awesome.

Speaker 2: 8:05

And then, long story short, I read a quote in a book from Ralph Waldo Emerson that says Every man is in some way my superior And in that I can learn of him. And for whatever reason, that quote stopped me in my tracks And I had thought I was thinking about wanting to do a podcast up until that point. And when I read that quote I was like, Yeah, I just want to learn from other people out there who are my superior, who know 10 times more than me, And I want to selfishly learn that for me so that I can get closer to the best version of myself but also share that with everybody else who listens. So that was kind of the real catalyst for me to actually creating the podcast.

Speaker 1: 8:48

Who were you listening to on the podcast? I'm curious. I need to ask.

Speaker 2: 8:52

Yeah, i was listening to Lewis houses the school of greatness podcast a lot, and then I was also listening to the Edmile show. So Lewis house and Edmile were my two guys that I listened to religiously I still listen to, but now I have a bunch of other podcasts that I was listening to as well.

Speaker 1: 9:09

I think Edmile got me hooked. Mmm that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 9:13

Yeah, man, his energy is just next level.

Speaker 1: 9:16

He's amazing, also from the financial services business.

Speaker 2: 9:19

That is true, You're going to be the next Ed baby.

Speaker 1: 9:24

Break it on. I've seen his house with the podcast. You went more motivation than fitness. What was the reason for that?

Speaker 2: 9:32

Yeah, so I during this time period when I was listening to a lot of podcasts, youtube videos and reading books, one of the first ones that I listened to and was Simon Sinek's find your why And I always thought that that was finding your why was kind of this fluffy, nice idea. That really wasn't that important. But then I actually gave it some thought. I was trying to figure out what my why is, because I've always been a hard worker, i've always pushed myself hard and I was like, why, like, why do I actually do that? And I kept coming back to I just want to become the best version of myself. But I didn't like that. I kept coming back to that because I feel like that's just a lot of people say that, a lot of people say the Best version of yourself, and it was too cliche and it didn't feel unique to me. But then After a while, when I kept coming back to it, i realized that The reason I didn't like it was because a lot of people say that you should get closer to the best version of yourself, but they don't tell you exactly how. And For that point forward I was like I want to learn Actually how, how does one get closer to the best version of themselves. How does Nick get closer to the best Nick carrier that he can possibly? how does Callum get to the best Callum that he can possibly be like? Is there a framework, like what, to give me some steps that I can follow to get to the best version of myself?

Speaker 2: 10:48

and then I was like, oh, and I've always been somebody who loves health and fitness, but there's so many different areas of our life that are really important, and so I wanted to attack it from all areas rather than just health and fitness.

Speaker 2: 11:01

Because, while I love health and fitness, i just think that that it is a great avenue, a great vehicle to help build your confidence and show off your work ethic that then can translate and Disipate into the other areas of our life so that they can flourish as well. And so I love health and fitness. But if I just did a health and fitness podcast, i think that I would personally get bored of it. I think that I need all of the other areas, because I'm curious about all the other areas as well. And and I kind of just to finish off with this I kind of see, getting closer to the best version of yourself has six different areas of our life our health, our personal lives, our career, our finances, our spiritual life and our relationships. And so I kind of try to simultaneously Improve all those areas of my life.

Speaker 1: 11:51

Even now, because this is my first one-on-one conversation with you, i'm not surprised by this, but your energy is always high. of course, i'm seeing that, the smiling face and In the workouts we've done, you're always smiling, high energy, and that's what attracted me to your workouts. Is this a way you've always been or is this something you've had to work on to get to the point where Positive energy, abundance of energy Just your vibe is awesome? So is that something that's been worked on or sipping your natural disposition?

Speaker 2: 12:26

Yeah, no, first off, i appreciate it, thank you. I will definitely say that I was born, born with high energy. I do think a lot of it was nature. If we're talking nature versus nurture, i was always the person who, during my sister soccer games, i was like running up and down the sidelines cheering her on and and things of that nature, so I always had that in me. However, i I was very blessed with, with parents who are always very encouraging, always believed in me a lot, and so that was a large part of my continued positive energy. Because I think I Think that I could be a high energetic person. But if I was, or if I had parents that were negative, if I had friends that were negative, if I didn't have good teachers, coach, coaches and People around me, then maybe that energy could have been channeled towards negative things, towards not good things, and maybe I just talked bad about people all the time, but I'm and I'm very vocal about it just like a terrible person. But I was. I had positive, i had positive people around me all the time, and then I do believe that the mindset work that I've done over the last number of years since I've graduated college has made it so. The high energy continues to be positive and Continues to be purposeful.

Speaker 2: 13:47

I think a few things that come to top of my mind is, when I recorded a solo podcast on this not too long ago The quality of our day. If we finish a day and we say that that was a great day, it's because we had a good, positive emotions all day long. If we feel like it was a crappy day, then it's feel we're sad, angry, frustrated all day long, and so the quality of your day is simply a quality of the sum of your emotions throughout that day. And so a good question asked then is okay, if I want to have a good day, how can I regulate my emotions so that I have positive emotions, more so the negative, and as abundantly as possible, and a few good questions to Consider to have good, positive emotions lasting throughout the day? number one and this is one of the things that I really have Focused a lot on is focusing on what Not focusing on what I don't have, but focusing what I do have. So my I have a daily gratitude practice that I've done over the last five, five and a half years, where I write down three things that I'm thankful for every single day. And to give you a good example of how my energy Maybe used to be negative in some ways, as I remember, i used to always be the driver.

Speaker 2: 14:58

I grew up in Atlanta, so I grew up in high traffic and in aggressive drivers, and so that's kind of how I always grew up not maybe the safest thing, but I Remember anytime somebody would be driving slow or cut me off, like I would be the driver who's just pissed off and it ruins the rest of the car ride. And I remember one day somebody was driving slow and I was just like looking at the trees, being thankful for the trees, and I was like, what the hell, am I What? I would never used to think that way, and I realized that the gratitude practice that I did in every single morning. It set the tone for my day to channel my brain to be searching out things that I'm thankful for Rather than be searching out things that I'm pissed about. And so, first thing is are you focusing on what you don't have or what you do have? Second thing is am I focusing on what I can't control or what I can control? and Again, i'm never one who's gonna be complaining about the weather per se. I'm never gonna be one who is Like when COVID happened.

Speaker 2: 15:56

I didn't say woe is me. I said, okay, what does this make possible for myself? I'm just. I always try to think about what can I control? and then, lastly, am I focusing on the past, the present or the future? Am I dwelling about the past? because I'm dwelling about the past is probably gonna lead to negative emotions. And then we want to find the right balance of focusing on the present and the future.

Speaker 2: 16:18

For focusing on the present And we are where our feet are if I'm here with you today, that's gonna lead me to happiness in the moment and fulfillment in the moment. But there's also periods of time where I need to be focused on the future. So I'm setting myself up for success, i'm preparing for whatever it is and I'm ready for whatever opportunities are gonna come before me. So I really believe that I Was born a high-energy person. I think that a lot of that is nature for me. However, i feel like I have been able to implement some habits and some mindset shifts so that that energy can be more positive energy than negative energy. I'm obviously not perfect, but by doing those three things focusing on what I do have rather than what I don't, focusing on what I can control rather than what I can't, and then Properly focusing on the past, the present or the future.

Speaker 1: 17:02

Do you have a morning routine and an evening routine?

Speaker 2: 17:05

I had. Yeah, i do so. My morning routine Are you? you want to know what they are? Sure, so morning routine, i always wake up, fill a glass of water, brush my teeth and like, shower and get ready and do all that stuff and by the time that's done I finished my glass of water. Now I'll preface this by I get.

Speaker 2: 17:26

I get up at 2 55 in the morning. You what? I Get up at 2 55 in the morning. I do all of that. Then I sit down and I have My notebook I'm showing Calum in the video my notebook. I know you guys are just hearing, but I have a notebook where I then write down the date. I Write down three things that I'm thankful for. And then I have a Bible app that I follow every morning. That takes me two or three minutes to get through, and then, after I go through that, i sit down and read for 45 minutes, and so that's to the extent of my morning routine now.

Speaker 2: 18:00

Every morning basically, or most mornings now, i coach at 5 am, so that's kind of why I wake up so early, so I can get all that done before I go coach. So that's kind of the morning routine. The evening routine is Mainly just preparing my day for tomorrow. So every single night I write down Exactly what I'm gonna do tomorrow, in sequential order, that way, when I'm actually living out my day, i'm not huh, what am I gonna do next? It's like no, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. I don't. I'm never deciding what I'm doing that day, it's already decided for me, and so that's kind of how I cap off each, each work day, if you will.

Speaker 1: 18:37

The reason I asked about your morning and evening routine is I've heard I Can't remember who said it, you've probably heard it before but we tend, when we're going through a difficult day or a difficult time, we go back to our default and And by setting up your day to start out in a positive manner and end in a positive manner, that Tends to become your default. So if the day was rough and your emotions weren't so good, you tend to stay on the positive side.

Speaker 2: 19:09

No, i love it 100%, 100%. I mean, if you, if the middle of the book wasn't very good, but it started good and it finished good, then then you at least had some wins in there And and, like you said, you finished on a positive note. And the way that I start is positive, right With my, with my gratitude practice, and the way that I finish. I don't know if you can necessarily say it's, it's positive, but it's, it's clarifying. A lot of people go to bed with their brain racing of like, oh my gosh, i gotta do this and this and this and this and this tomorrow. And I don't have that because I've already clarified what it is that I'm going to do And so I'm not having a million things run through my brain when I'm trying to fall asleep at night.

Speaker 1: 19:51

And I would guess that contributes to a good sleep, which contributes to good energy, which contributes to a positive day. Yeah 100% Total right turn meditation part of your day or part of your routine.

Speaker 2: 20:05

It's funny. It is not right now. There was a period of time where I was doing a little bit of that and got away from it, but it's actually funny. I interviewed somebody from my podcast It's hilarious that you're asking me this Interviewed somebody from my podcast a few days ago now who's big into meditation, and she was talking about how she does it, why she does it, everything like that, and I literally write it.

Speaker 2: 20:27

Have it written down tomorrow that after I do my Bible app, i'm going to pull up a YouTube video of I don't even necessarily know what this means, but Theta waves. It's like a sound. It's a certain sound that's supposed to get you in a certain state, and I'm going to do it for three minutes where I just pulled music closed, my eyes focused on my breathing. I'm definitely not somebody that you should reach out to for meditation practice, guidance or help, but I've heard so many people preach the importance of it and the benefits that it's brought them, and it is one of the few things that I haven't ever really done consistently, so I'm going to give it a go.

Speaker 1: 21:05

I really turned onto it when I heard that Ray Dalio meditates, i think, 20 minutes a day, twice Yeah. So I think if he can do it and he can find the time for everything that he does, there has to be some positive there.

Speaker 2: 21:20

Well, that's a great point and takeaway for anything that somebody is saying that I don't have time for It's like bullcrap. Ray Dalio is doing 40 minutes of meditating a day. It's not a matter of time, it's a matter of priority, and I think it's really important. I, number of years ago, stopped saying the words I don't have time and have now say if that, if that's the case, i'm saying I'm not willing to prioritize the time. Because if you say I don't have the time, you can't do anything about getting any more time, but you can do something about changing your priorities. And so it's important to be honest with yourself. It's like you have the time, and so I would much rather say here's somebody say I'm not willing to prioritize meditation right now. I'm like, okay, that's fine, you're just being honest with yourself, which is good.

Speaker 1: 22:07

Circles back to focusing on what you can control and what you can't, and keeping things in with control, because we all have the same 24 hours. I am not going to prioritize getting up at 2.55 AM ever. Maybe a flight for vacation, possibly, but that's really early and I don't know how you're still smiling. Well, i'll tell you.

Speaker 2: 22:28

I do go to bed between about 7.30 and 8.30 each night, So that allows me to still get some good sleep. I try to get at least seven hours most nights not every night, but most nights as best I can.

Speaker 1: 22:42

Andrew Huberman would be proud of that. Yes, he would. For those of you who don't listen to podcasts, Andrew Huberman is pretty big in the podcast world, especially in the health field. He will segue to fitness. So when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in January, I was speaking to the neurologist about what exercises are most beneficial for improving my chance of long-term health. Two of the areas he suggested I focus on was core strength and stability, or core strength and balance. I guess it's the same thing. What type of importance do you place on core strength and stability?

Speaker 2: 23:21

Yeah, no doubt those are two critical things for all of us, especially as we age, as we get older, i think. First off, with core strength. I think it's the foundation of everything else that we do. So, for example, if you're trying to do a lot of pull-ups an upper body move but your core isn't strong, you're not going to be able to stabilize yourself very well going up and down, and so you're going to be limited in your ability to perform. If you're trying to do a squat or a deadlift lower body moves you're going to be limited if your core strength is not strong, and so it's such a foundational thing that we need to do to be able to perform with other areas of fitness and movement. And then the other thing is with core strength is most of us are sitting all day long, so it's important for core strength to maintain posture. But when we're standing, in order to keep our body in alignment, core strength has to be there, or else we're just going to be having bad posture, and I know the last thing that I want to be is that 65, 75, 85-year-old man whose natural walk is hunched over and looking down at the ground, just simply because I have bad posture. So core strength is massive for that as well.

Speaker 2: 24:35

And then when it comes to stability, i mean stability is really huge in performance, if you're thinking sports and stuff like that, but it's also obviously massive when it comes to longevity and injury prevention as well. It's kind of having what's called proprioception, like body awareness essentially, and if you don't have stability, then there's, you're leaving yourself susceptible to injury. If you're playing around with your kids and you get caught off balance and you need to find or catch yourself off of one foot and you can't, then you're more prone to an ankle injury, a knee injury, whatever it is. If you're walking down stairs or you get pushed, like, stability is super important for injury prevention, and injury prevention is critical because if you get injured, then you can't do as much fitness stuff as you could have done. Therefore, you lose all the benefits that fitness brings you, and so stability is super important for performance, injury prevention and everything like that too.

Speaker 1: 25:32

And my understanding as, as we get older, one of the leading causes it's not one of the leading causes of death, but it leads to death is injuries and falls on people who are 100% of age of 80 and core strength stability, balance can help prevent that.

Speaker 2: 25:51

Core strength, stability, balance, no doubt. And then, last thing I'll say with that is most of the you know, if you, if you, if we're using the example of falling downstairs, let's say, or stepping off of something, when you're stepping off and you're landing, what you're doing is challenging your eccentric strength, your your strength to decelerate, if you will, the strength of going down. And that kind of strength oftentimes doesn't get trained by people Or it fades away as you get older. And so not only is stability and core strength really critical for not falling, not getting injured, but also training general strength and eccentric, eccentric strength, or like deceleration, is really important too.

Speaker 1: 26:36

So we'll start through the technical first. So what could someone do to start strengthening their core? And I think, for the purpose of the conversation, strengthening your core is going to help you with stability and balance. Is that? is that fair? Yep, so if someone's at home listening right now and they're going, okay, this is something I want to do, what might be a starting point for them.

Speaker 2: 26:59

Yeah. So basic planks are great. If you can't hold a plank on your toes, go on your knees. If you can't do that, do on an elevated surface, and so a plank is essentially one of the most foundational core moves in fitness. Where you're, it's an isometric hold. You're keeping your body still and you're challenging your entire core, meaning your the front, your abdominals, your your lower back muscles, and then you're the side of your core as well, and so plank holds is a great way to start.

Speaker 2: 27:32

Then doing things. I mean basic things like sit ups as well. Sit ups can sometimes be tough for people. If someone has a hernia, let's say, then a sit up you might want to, might want to stay away from. So isometric holds are really great. Some plank bird dogs are great. If you're on your all fours and extend your opposite arm and opposite leg out, hold it for a second, reset and switch, that's a really great core and stability exercise. Something like a bicycle crunch is a very basic core move on your back. That again, that is really good. So I would say a plank hold is a really good isometric. A sit up is really good if you're on a, if you're able to do an exercise like that. A bicycle crunch is really basic and foundational and that plank bird dog is really great as well.

Speaker 1: 28:17

Is there any functional stuff in your day to day life that you might do that would help with your core strength? I'll give you an example. One of the tests I'm doing for myself now is when I and this people can laugh at me, it's fine. I put my socks and my shoes in the ground. When I stand on one foot, i go over, get my sock, put my sock on and then bend over, grab a shoe on one foot the whole time, which was way harder than I thought it was going to be. Something along that line where at home you're just walking around the house, you're doing your day to day activity. What might be something you could do that would help?

Speaker 2: 28:49

Yeah, i'll say a few different things. One thing is I actually do very similar when I'm putting on my socks. I try not to lean against anything. I try to always balance with one foot in the air, slide the sock on. Now that can be pretty difficult. so if you can't do that, then we can do some of these other things.

Speaker 2: 29:07

One thing that I always like to do is when I'm standing up from a chair or when I'm standing up from a couch, i don't use a table or my hands to push me up.

Speaker 2: 29:18

when I stand up, i try to just use the strength of my legs, and I oftentimes do like a pistol squat when I'm standing up, just use my one leg to stand up straight. Then I think the last thing I would say is and now, this is to be done with caution, depending on who you are and your ability levels, but when you're going up and down stairs, not using hand railing can be good as well. Again, use that with an abundance of caution, depending on who you are, in your situation and your physical ability levels. I would say those things are things that come top of mind when it comes to non-outside of intentional exercise, things that you can do first ability balancing on a leg for a sock. When you stand up, don't use assistance. standing up, don't use your arms, You stand up on one leg and then when you're going up and down stairs, not using any sort of assistance as well.

Speaker 1: 30:08

Now I heard this the other day about the Japanese culture of sitting on the floor, and one of the ways they stay healthy is they're getting up off the floor without using their hands.

Speaker 2: 30:17

Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome. It's funny how many lifestyle things like that can be so critical to your physical ability. If you're just sitting on a chair and the most you have to do is your legs are already at 90 degrees and then stand up from that, but then you use assistance, the difference between that and getting up off the floor with no hands is dramatic. Like you said, it's all about, you got to think about what are oftentimes a leading cause of death. No, not directly a fall, but you mentioned Dr Andrew Huberman. There's a podcast that I listened to him not that long ago of talking about how, if you fall an injury yourself I think they were looking at specific injuries that say, maybe a hip injury or something then the likelihood that you're going to be dead in like 10 years is 100%. The likelihood that you're going to be dead in five years is I'm making up numbers now 80%, so on and so forth, and so it's like this stuff is a lot more important than a lot of people give a credit.

Speaker 1: 31:16

Yeah, it's. I mean I went the path I went down was for the obvious reason of being diagnosed, But as I've gone along in educating myself, I've really shifted to okay. This is not only important for helping me stay healthy with my illness, it's just down the road. As I get older, this stuff I need, like stay alive, this is what I need. And you were talking about going down and up the stairs without the railing and you sort of touched on. I think it's going down the stairs is where we do the most practice because that takes the most strength as we get older. Yep, okay, often for people the technical part is as strange as it may sound, is probably the easiest part. What do you say to the person that's listening right now that just either says they can't do it, they're scared to do it, they just I guess it's probably fear.

Speaker 2: 32:17

Yeah, there's a few different things. So the way that I always coach people with their goals is you have to find a powerful enough Y to start. You know, before earlier on the podcast I talked about how I thought that your Y that Simon Sinek was talking about is kind of like, okay, that's just a nice, like fluffy idea. But when you get really down to it and you come up with a Y that is really powerful and emotionally powerful for you, that can be a huge driver. And one of the things that I say is that your Y isn't just what gets you started, but it's what keeps you going when what you started gets tough. And so the way that I coach people to build out a powerful Y so that it keeps them going when time gets tough or they're saying I can't, or they're saying I don't have time, or things like that is there's three questions that you can ask yourself. Number one what are you trying to avoid? Number two who are you trying to become slash? what do you want to be able to do? And three who are you doing this for? So I'll go through those each briefly. One what are you trying to avoid? I mean, kalam is trying to avoid having his diagnosis holding back from doing the things that he wants to do. Kalam is trying to avoid having falls when he's older. You know, what are you trying to avoid? Oftentimes people will be like I have a family member who is really out of shape, overweight. My parents are really out of shape, overweight. I don't want to be them, whatever it is like. what are you trying to not become? and kind of paint a clear picture of that, because that clear picture is the thing that you're running away from. Number two who are you trying to become, or what do you want to be able to do? Like, are you trying to be somebody who is healthy and who can do whatever they want to do, movement-wise, in their 70s and 80s? Do you want to be somebody who can run around with grandkids? Do you want to be somebody who looks and feels a certain way and is able to perform a certain way? Somebody who's confident, somebody who is not tied down to eating, eating sweets all the time? like who do you—who do you want to become and what do you want to be able to do? That way, you have a North Star that gives you direction of something to work towards. So now that we have something to run away from and we have something to run towards. the last piece is who are you doing it for?

Speaker 2: 34:20

Now, obviously, every single one of you listening, if you're on your health and fitness journey like you are doing it for yourself. You are doing it so that you can have a better life, so that you can have more energy, so that you can have more confidence, so that you can look, feel and perform a certain way. But there's also going to be a hell of a lot of people who are positively impacted by the improvements that you make in your health and fitness. Whether that's somebody in your family, whether that's a co-worker, that's a friend, like whoever it is. there's going to be plenty of people who are inspired by you, who want to exercise because of you, who make changes in their life because of simply seeing you making the changes in your own, and so never underestimate the impact that you can have on those around you, whether—again, you're trying to be a good role model for your kids, you're trying to be a good role model for your parents, you want to be an inspiration to your friends, whatever it is like, who are those people that you can positively impact because doing it for ourselves is great and we need to do it for ourselves.

Speaker 2: 35:15

But we all know that if somebody else is relying on us, we're oftentimes more motivated to do it for somebody else than we are to do it for ourselves. So if we—when we're tired, when we're not motivated, when we think we're thinking we can't we're thinking we don't have time If we can think of our child, who is relying on us to be that good example, is relying on us to be healthy so that we can be there for them when we're older, then it's like fine, i'll go work out. Fine, i'll not put pizza in the oven, right, what are you looking to avoid? Who are you trying to become and who are you doing this for? If you can come up with a few emotionally packed sentences that just gets you freaking going, then that is the first step to get your butt off the couch and to erase that excuse, those number of—those few excuses that you—that you mentioned.

Speaker 1: 36:06

How do you communicate to someone you're working with that—or express that how much better they're going to feel once they start? I feel there's a disconnect because they might go. I feel okay because they don't know.

Speaker 2: 36:22

That's a great question. That's a great question. I think that, to be honest, i think most of the people that I work with have had a season or period of their life where they know what it feels like. They know what better feels like and it's funny I talk about that with a lot of people that I coach is I do think that one of the struggles for people who have never been healthy is they have no contrast between what feeling good feels like and what not feeling good feels like. If you have never felt it before, it's hard to figure out—it's hard to be motivated enough to do the hard thing and put in the hard work to get to this unknown place that you've never been to. I think what I would do for somebody who's never felt it before is to really address the what are you trying to avoid and try to really get them to see what hell could look like. See, like if you continued your bad habits, if you continued to eat sweets, if you continued to not move, if you continued to drink too much alcohol, like. Imagine that you continued these habits for the next year, two year, five years, ten years Where would you actually end up? and try to get them to really think about what that negative picture of what their life could look like. Hopefully, that version of hell is bad enough to get them to get going, because if you've never seen that North Star or anything that resembles the North Star with health and fitness, then that can't—that's going to be hard to—then you can't have that as a source of motivation. It just needs to surely be what you're moving away from.

Speaker 2: 38:01

The last thing that I'll say, to kind of form the analogy on this is you know, there's a lot of people who grow up in sheer poverty who end up being massively successful. The thing that gets them going in the beginning is not a picture of somebody who's super wealthy. You know we were talking about Edmillette. He had the you know water turned off in his apartment When that happened.

Speaker 2: 38:24

He's not thinking of having a jet and a house on the lake and all of these things. He's thinking like, holy crap, i need the lights turned on. I need to get away from this thing that I'm trying to avoid. And I think the thing that you're trying to avoid gets you moving with urgency, and so it gets you going. It might not get you going in the perfect direction, but it'll get you going And then, once you start to get a little bit more of a glimpse of what that North Star could look like, of what your life could actually look like, then you'll be able to leverage that side of motivation a little bit more. So that's what I would think I would say to that.

Speaker 1: 38:58

Great question though. Yeah, the reason I asked it and is I see the way or unhealthy habits in terms of diet specifically, and they're like it's so good, it tastes so good, and I've got myself to the point where I know how that's going to make me feel And I just it does taste good, but I also don't want to. I don't want to feel that way.

Speaker 2: 39:23

Yeah, the way that I'll kind of button that up is I think a lot about my decisions and relationship to how they'll impact the future version of myself. I think about that probably an odd amount. I think about how am I going to feel tomorrow. Like, like you said, if I eat this tonight, how am I going to feel about that tomorrow? How am I, how am I body going to feel tomorrow If I, from a business perspective, if I don't do these things this week, like how is that going to affect me next week? And so I think a lot about taking care of the future version of myself And so I think if we can do that a little bit more, it'll positively influence our decision makings. in a lot of circumstances You don't always, again, want to be living in the future, you still want to be in the present a lot. but I think that can from a health, from a healthy decision versus an unhealthy decision. I believe that it can be massively important.

Speaker 1: 40:14

Yeah, and to tie that together if you're focused on the present moment and doing the right things today, your future self is going to be taken care of Exactly. Your process is the day before planning out the day, but it's doing those right things today that'll build your future self. Yeah, nailed it. So if someone gets going and they take the right steps, how important do you think it is for them to surround themselves with a social group that aligns with their values?

Speaker 2: 40:48

I think that growth and improvement can happen alone, but I think it's only sustainable through community. Having grown up and doing team sports, having done group fitness ever since, like the power of a community, of the support, of the encouragement of people to pick you up, it is next level. I think it kind of goes. It coincides with the idea of who are you doing this for? We're great at letting ourselves down. We're pretty good at not letting other people down, and so having other people to live for, to a certain extent I think it's powerful.

Speaker 2: 41:25

It's funny I used to say I forget what book or what podcast that I got this from, but remember saying this in some of my echelon classes is like, who are you here for? Like, think about who are you here for. I mean, maybe with regards to who are you here for in your workout, but who are you here for in life? Like, who is here relying on you? And I think that keeping in mind the other people who are in your health and fitness circle is just massively important. And the last thing I'll say from like a practical habit standpoint, is James Clear says, in atomic habits of get in a social group where your desired habits are the norm I have.

Speaker 2: 42:07

There's a lot of people who go to parties with their friends and everybody's eating like crap. When I go or host a party, the food that I'm going to have is going to be good, and so the desired habit is just normal, and so I don't have to think about it. There's no decision to be made, it's just, it's just made for me, right, it's already, it's already out there, and so I know right now as well, if I want to go work out, i can easily text a number of people like, hey, you want to go work out, and I'll have somebody who will go work out with me. It's not like, oh, who am I going to tell you? I'm not going to be able to go with anybody today, so I'm not going to go. So I think it's massively important for support and encouragement and accountability, and then I think it's massively important for your decision making to be already made up for you. Again, it's can you be a part of a social group where your desired habits are the norm?

Speaker 1: 42:54

I can't say anything more than that's perfectly said for me. Over the past six months, where it's become more serious for me, i've noticed a huge shift in what I will accept, not only in what I will do, but what's around me. That's awesome Because I know over time, if I'm around it, it's going to influence me, because I'm human, i have discipline, but not that much, so I need to surround myself with like-minded people that want to do the same things And that's going to encourage. And really, if I think about my journey with echelon, that's what it's about. I'll get on the bike and do a spin class and people are listening, are not going to understand this, but I'll do it just so I can hang out with friends. Yeah, forget the workout. I'm just going to socialize, which is weird on a virtual bike.

Speaker 2: 43:43

Well, like and like you said it's, it requires less discipline because you don't have to force yourself to do it, you just kind of want to do it.

Speaker 1: 43:50

Exactly. It's way easier if you want to do it, as opposed to I have to get up at six and work out before I go to work and if you're dreading it it's way more difficult. So this has been awesome and everything I thought it was going to be. I'm sure your attitude comes across to the listeners. You're amazing. Thanks, man. You made a big announcement. I believe it was June 26th If I did my research properly. You want to share?

Speaker 2: 44:21

You did, yeah, so we just launched our virtual 10 week transformation experience. So I've been coaching people through the 10 week transformation for the last three years now, and now we've taken it virtual and the people who do it virtual now have. There are three recorded workouts each week, just like echelon workouts, when I would film those. There's a full body workout, a lower body workout and an upper body workout. The workouts are fun, they're challenging and everybody will have a very specific goal that work they're working towards. They'll have weekly goals to get them to the overall goal. They'll have a scoreboard so they can monitor their progress and we'll have weekly accountability calls where the rest of the people in the group are there. They'll provide that support, encouragement, accountability. They'll provide the sense of the desired habit as the norm.

Speaker 2: 45:07

And so, yeah, man, i'm really excited because the 10 week transformation has we have coached 454 people up to this point through it here in Nashville And for me now to have the ability to reach more people who live anywhere like that was one of the great things about echelon, right, i was able to expand my reach to be able to reach more people who are in Canada and talk about temperature and Celsius and not Fahrenheit. And now and it's awesome I get to be on a podcast with somebody from Canada and I've coached a few people from Canada as well. It's awesome, it's so cool, and so I'm really excited about being able to reach more people through this virtual 10 week transformation experience. The workouts that I filmed and programmed for this thing are next level and I'm super pumped for people to experience them too, when you say next level, i'm not going to comment.

Speaker 2: 45:56

Well look, anybody can modify it just as need be, but they're next level from a quality of workout and an experience standpoint.

Speaker 1: 46:05

We're going to have fun 100%. That starts August 7th, I believe.

Speaker 2: 46:10

That starts August 7th, yep, so we'll have August 7th to October. 15th will be that 10 week timeline.

Speaker 1: 46:17

And I don't know this one. I'm going to ask this one Are you doing any Instagram live sessions anytime soon, ish?

Speaker 2: 46:25

I am. I don't know the schedule. Right off the top of my head I've got a few coming up. They are going to be I'm not sure exactly when this airing, but I've got July 12th in the afternoon at 5pm central. July 19th, 5pm central. So, anyways, you can follow me on Instagram at Carrierer underscore best you. I always post about those and I have those on my website as well. At nickcarrierercom slash Instagram live. But I love doing the Instagram lives. They're a fun way to connect with people and uh, and be able to see a lot of you guys from echelon on there too.

Speaker 1: 47:01

So I did my first live on a couple of weeks ago. It was great and it was uh fun watching Nick at Laugh That in the park.

Speaker 2: 47:11

I most certainly did. I most certainly did.

Speaker 1: 47:14

Anyway, nick, uh, thanks for coming on. You've already told people where to find you. I will put everything in the show notes so people can find you and reach out to you. I haven't done his transformation program, but I know someone personally who did and she swears by it. So I would encourage you to try that out, and you can give Nick a test drive on his Instagram live work That's beforehand if you want to. I hope I didn't make him sound too scary. His workouts are awesome and you can modify. You'll see progress. That I can promise you. Awesome, let's keep in touch.

Speaker 2: 47:51

Awesome, cal Appreciate it man Pull, one shouldn't fly too. Music, music, music, music, music, music, music, music, music, music, music, music.