Eo3 Elements For Success

Welcome to the Garage Gym Athlete Podcast! Jerred Moon, Joe Courtney, and Dave Paczkowski are back—this time, not to rant about what’s wrong with the fitness industry (again), but to lay down exactly what you should focus on. If you’re ready to stop chasing the latest training trends and start building a foundation that works, this episode is your blueprint.

Why the Basics Still Win

Forget the gimmicks, influencer supplements, and overcomplicated programs. The team revisits the EO3 Elements—a simple but powerful checklist of 9 behaviors that, when practiced consistently, can transform your training, recovery, and overall health.

💥 The twist? Only a few of these are about exercise—the rest are about how you live your life.

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The 9 EO3 Elements: Your Daily Checklist for High Performance

Here’s what the guys break down, with real-life examples, personal struggles, and pro tips along the way:

1. Sleep (7+ Hours Per Night)

• Why it's the cornerstone of recovery and cognitive performance

• How Joe and Dave prioritize consistent bedtimes and dark, cold sleep environments

• Jerred’s tip: 5-5 breathing to fall back asleep when life stress hits

2. Hydration (50–60% of Body Weight in Ounces)

• Water intake made simple, with or without fancy electrolytes

• The role of sodium and how to avoid overpaying for hydration powders

• Joe’s hydration “catch-up” strategy (and when it can backfire)

3. Two Healthy Meals Per Day

• Why it’s not about perfection, just hitting at least 2 meals with quality protein and micronutrients

• Jerred’s “3-50-Micro” framework: 3 meals, 50g protein each, with real foods

• How the guys avoid decision fatigue around food while staying consistent

4. 10+ Minutes of Extra Aerobic Work

• Not your workout—this is extra!

• The power of walking, especially post-meal

• How Dave and his family get movement + family time + digestion in one walk

5. Adequate Sunlight Exposure

• Sunlight for vitamin D, testosterone, and circadian rhythm

• When to supplement in winter and why stacking it with your walks is a win

6. Digestive Awareness

• Chewing food properly, smelling your food, and not overloading with fluids during meals

• Why the team struggles with this (hello, military-speed eating) and how it affects sleep

7. Meal Timing (12+ Hour Fast)

• No need to go extreme—just give your digestion a 12-hour break

• Why Jerred uses a 7 PM alarm to stop nighttime snacking

• The surprising benefits of shifting your last meal earlier in the day

8. Warm-Up and Cool-Down

• Everyone agrees: warming up is great. Cooling down? Not so much...

• How even a short post-workout walk can make a big difference in recovery

9. Downregulation (Meditation, Breathwork, Low Light)

• Why breathing > meditating for Jerred

• Joe’s “Kindle in the dark” strategy to wind down

• The Garmin “relax” alert that Dave loves to hate

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Your Challenge: Stack the Wins

Jerred challenges listeners to track how many of the 9 elements they hit daily—not to be perfect, but to improve. Hit 3 today? Aim for 4 tomorrow. Build consistency and awareness, and your training results will follow.

These 9 habits are the difference between feeling burned out or feeling like an athlete—even if you only train an hour a day.

 

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Garage Gym Athlete Workout of the Week

Podcast Transcript

Jerred: [00:00:00] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Garage Gym Athlete Podcast, Jerred Moon here with Joe and Dave. [00:00:10] Gentlemen, how's it going?

Joe: Not too bad. Doing good.

Jerred: Awesome. We're gonna jump right into it. So last week we were talking about all these problems. [00:00:20] And the solution is here. And so we're gonna start, we're gonna kind of go back to the basics, uh, is how we're thinking about this episode.

We sent an email out last week if you're on [00:00:30] the Garage of Athlete Newsletter. Uh, about the EO three elements. Something that's been a main staple here at Garage Gym Athletes. It's been a part of the EO three coaching program [00:00:40] forever about how to really see the results you want. And it doesn't have to do as much with the training as people would think.

The training is important, but it's all the things that surround the [00:00:50] training that are really the most important to, you know, getting the results that you want. I, I'll, I'll never forget when I first started working out and I was kind of more in the bodybuilding phase, [00:01:00] um. I kinda had like a mentor guy in the gym, you know, just willing to share information, everything.

And he, he, he told me at the time, he is like, the, the best thing that [00:01:10] you can do, um, to see the results from your training is go sleep. And that was like 20 years ago. And I'll never forget that because that was the first time I ever had anyone kind of tell [00:01:20] me that the most important thing wasn't the training itself.

He was like, the most important thing you could do right now is, is go get, get as much sleep as possible. And I thought that was crazy. [00:01:30] Uh, at that time at least. But now we know, right? Like I, I talked about last week my own personal training, how I am in a more stressful than normal period of life. And so [00:01:40] I'm not bringing as much high intensity because stress is stress and I'm not trying to overload my system.

And so it's really balancing all these things. And so what we have. [00:01:50] Um, in the year three elements, it's set of nine things, I believe, for 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, yeah. Nine elements that we will be going over one by one, kind of talking about [00:02:00] our best tips, tricks for getting these things done and how you can start to keep track of them and really just making a checklist if you wanna keep it simple.

Just [00:02:10] put it in your phone. Check these boxes off. Uh, we've always said treat it like a game. Get as many as you possibly can. Get all of 'em if you can. Get three of 'em, if you can. The goal is just to get more than [00:02:20] you did the previous day, and then find that consistent amount for you. So we're gonna start with where I mentioned in the first element is sleeping.

So sleeping for [00:02:30] seven plus hours per night. And so you only get a point here if you're sleeping for seven hours or more. Um. Where do you guys fall in the sleep range? I'll start with you, [00:02:40] Joe. Are you, are you hitting seven to nine hours? Are you less than that? Where are you at right now?

Joe: I'm fantastic with sleep.

Um, sometimes it takes me a while to, yeah, no, it, sometimes it takes me a while to fall, [00:02:50] to fall asleep, but that's just a different, uh, issue. I, I've always, we've prioritized sleep for the longest time even, you know, we start our bedtime routine with our son at like seven [00:03:00] 15 and he still co-sleep, so like when he's asleep, we're in bed anyway, so it's whatever.

But even before that. We were still like very early to bed people. I think it's just because like, [00:03:10] I don't like waking, I don't like waking up and dragging and just like being completely, completely tired. And not to say that I'm absolutely refreshed every single day 'cause that's just does, that's not just how [00:03:20] things work.

But I've just always, you know, kind of prioritized sleep. Even back, like in high school, I remember still going to bed at like nine 30. Um, and now, [00:03:30] you know, with all the sleep research that we've done, our bedroom is now basically just a sleep chamber. We have. Blackout curtains that never move. So windows are, you know, we couldn't even have windows in our [00:03:40] bedroom and not care because we don't look out the window in our bedroom.

It's always cold in there. We have chili pads. It's, it is meant for sleep. And that's it. There's no tv. [00:03:50] Um, I got a, uh, a clock because I always like to know the time at night and even like looking at my Garmin and turning on the light was too bright. I didn't want that, that little [00:04:00] watch light. So I got a red light.

Clock, but it doesn't shine out. It projects onto the ceiling. So the time isn't even a light that's going [00:04:10] out to your eyes, it's going up to the ceiling. You're just seeing it, the projection on the ceiling or wherever you wanna point it, so you're not actually like looking at the light. And it's so low that I can still see the time that [00:04:20] that's just how much that I just have, just have invested in sleep.

Dave: Nice. Same sleeps, sleeps highly prioritized in our household too. [00:04:30] Um, that's, I mean, really from trial and error when back in I, it was probably around 2020 pandemic's time, maybe just before that. I can't remember exactly [00:04:40] when, but I was just doing the stay up later, work harder and then try and get up early and train at like 4:00 AM and I just crashed and burned from that.

And [00:04:50] I thought I could get away with. Less sleep. And I think everyone wants to think that, uh, you know, I think we all think we're immune and some people are like, oh no, I only need five hours or six hours. [00:05:00] Everyone says that. Everyone says, everyone says that I, I only

Jerred: need five or six hours. It's

Dave: like, yeah.

And I said it for the longest time. Then I started getting consistently seven and consistently even like eight hours when I got, when I get hours, I'm like, I'm actually just a [00:05:10] better person, a better human being, and I recover better. My performance is better. Like everything's better when, when I get sleep Now with three, three kiddos.

That's not always, um. [00:05:20] Not, not always the ideal. Uh, it doesn't always happen the way that we want it to, but they're pretty. We're pretty good about getting them down. I mean, our kids are in, in bed by seven 30 [00:05:30] usually, but sometimes social stuff comes up and, and different things. But we try and prioritize it whenever we can and try and keep bedtime and wake time as consistent as we can too, because that's the [00:05:40] other piece of it.

Um, the seven hours is great. If you can get seven or eight hours, that's, that's ideal. But I found the more consistent I can be with the schedule is probably even more important of waking, not, [00:05:50] not sleeping longer on the weekends, like even on the weekends I'm up. I get up at 5:00 AM You run the weekends?

Uh, it's when my alarms set every day. So that consistent wait time. I, I find I get a lot more thrown off when I, [00:06:00] when sleeping. Wait, times are all over the place.

Jerred: Yeah, that's, that's very similar to me. Uh, and similar to you, Joe, I, my parents gave me a nine o'clock [00:06:10] bedtime. I don't know. When I was young, middle school, maybe late elementary school.

And that's almost been my bedtime since then. Like, I mean, there's [00:06:20] obviously, you know, high school and college, like staying out late for, for different things. But I, I've never been a night owl though. It's never something I've enjoyed. Uh, and so I have prioritized it [00:06:30] quite a bit. I will say when I go through stressful time periods, um, when there's a lot going on.

Like more recently, uh, when we were, you know. Just juggling [00:06:40] multiple businesses, um, selling a house, moving, all that kind of stuff. My brain starts to get really busy and then I start to wake up at like 3:00 AM, 4:00 AM and my [00:06:50] brain just wants to go. And it's only when I'm in those periods of life when, when life is kind of normal.

I, I don't, I just sleep my seven to eight hours. Through the night, [00:07:00] and it's great. But what I've found to combat that, because I know a lot of other people might struggle with something similar, is I just go back to breathing exercises. Um, [00:07:10] and the mo, the, the best one I have found, like I, I love box breathing.

Um, but the one that's really helped me go back to sleep is just five second inhale, five second exhale. [00:07:20] I only need to do it about 10 to 15 times. Um, and then I get really relaxed and it's, you know, I'd say. [00:07:30] 80% of the time, I'll go back to sleep from that, um, from getting really relaxed. So if, if anyone wants to try that out there, like that's a really, really helpful thing for me.

Um, and that's probably the [00:07:40] only thing I do struggle with on the sleep side. Uh, it definitely is a priority for me. Keeping the room dark, cold, all those kind of things. Consistent bedtime, everything that Joe and Dave said. Uh, but when I do struggle with [00:07:50] waking up early or whatever, uh, because of my busy mind, that's normally what I do to mbba that.

So, 'cause I do know sleep is still important. It was like sometimes, I don't know if you guys have noticed [00:08:00] this, I know we're all tracking our sleep. If I get enough deep sleep, at least what's tracked on the watch, whether it's accurate or not, it's, it's tracking something consistently accuracy, I don't know.[00:08:10]

But if I got, like, let's say I got three hours of deep sleep, I could honestly wake up with five hours of sleep and I feel great. Like that's what I've always [00:08:20] noticed. And I can sleep eight hours with like 47 minutes of deep sleep and I'm like. I don't feel good, you know? And uh, and I think that's what happens, you know, when people drink alcohol, [00:08:30] all these other things too, right?

It's like you get the long version of sleep, but it's not deep. Uh, but that's one thing. Like I, I woke up last week for the day at like 3 45 and, [00:08:40] but it, I had like three hours of deep sleep and I was like. I don't wanna go back to sleep. Like I tried the breathing thing, but I was like, I'm just good. Like I think this just mean early day and it didn't affect me that day.

[00:08:50] Um, if I could did that continuously, there'd be a problem. But for that one day I was fine. You guys ever notice that with deep sleep?

Dave: Yeah. I've seen that to be the case. I think so. And that goes along with some of the [00:09:00] other elements I know we'll get into of like if I have a big late meal or eat something late at night.

You know, things like that, that that's where all these kind of build off each other is those can [00:09:10] affect the sleep. And then I can be in bed still for eight hours and get like zero deep sleep and I wake up just feeling like I need a nap already. So I've noticed the same thing with some of that, but it's, as long as it's not [00:09:20] strung together too consistently, like one night's, one thing of short on sleep, but if I get two or three of those in a row, then it starts to catch up.

Jerred: Yeah. Alright, well let's move on to the next one. We spend a lot of time on [00:09:30] sleep because it's that important. The other ones, you know. They're all important, but I'd say sleep is probably the top of this entire pyramid, you know, that's why we also needed to start with it. But the next [00:09:40] one is hydration. So getting 50 to 60 ounces of uh, water, or 50 to 60% of your body weight in ounces.

So if you're a 200 pound male, you'd wanna [00:09:50] shoot for a hundred ounces. Of water in a day. Um, so just take your body weight and multiply it by 0.5 or 0.6, and that's a, should be just your water goal for [00:10:00] the day. Um, I, I feel like hydration. This doesn't need to be talked about as much as it used to. Like I feel like everyone has, um, a water bottle [00:10:10] like surgically attached to their, to their hands.

Americans at this point. Yeah, Americans do. And um, you know, I know my kids like it's a big deal with them taking their water bottles to school and [00:10:20] all that kind of stuff and not drinking from hoses or water fountains at school. Like, it, it's just, it's a, it's a different world. I do think that getting into hydration, um, people talk about [00:10:30] electrolytes a lot more, um.

You know, whether or not how much electrolytes you actually need. You know, we could debate that, but I do find that they, they are important, but you don't have to [00:10:40] spend, you know, 150 bucks a month on electrolytes. You can literally just buy some Himalaya pink salt and lemon and put it in your water if you wanna hydrate, uh, without having to, to be charged [00:10:50] a premium for all these electrolytes supplements.

Uh, but hydration pretty easy for you guys overall.

Joe: Yeah, I, every day I train, I'll start the day with, uh, [00:11:00] with electrolytes. It's water After that, throughout the day that I kind of skimp on, like I might leave my water bottle somewhere and just. Out outta sight, outta mind, but I, we only, we don't, we only have drink.[00:11:10]

We only drink water in the house. We have those icees that I might drink half of in like a day just to have something like refreshing. But that's about it. It, and it's not till like the end of the day where I'm like, crap, I [00:11:20] haven't drank enough water. I'm thirsty and I chug a bunch of water before bed.

Um, unless it's, except for like the really hot months. But yeah, just to do the ketchup

Jerred: right before bed, does it, that's, uh, does that affect the sleep? Does that go back [00:11:30] to screwing with element one?

Joe: Uh, not always, no. I mean, there's definitely times I might wake up at 4:00 AM and I'm like, don't get up to pee.

Don't get up to pee. Yeah, I don't wanna get up.

Jerred: Well, I, I [00:11:40] laugh 'cause you're like, I put my water bottle in the other room or like, whatever. When we, during this move, I lost my water bottle for like a week and I was joking with Emily. I was like, I was so dehydrated that week because I just [00:11:50] like it. I mean, I was still drinking water, but I'd have to like, kind of like you, I'd be like all of a sudden in the kitchen I'd be like.

Oh yeah. I had no water today, so I'd slam like two cups of water, but, [00:12:00] uh, I was way off on my, my hydration when I didn't have my water bottle.

Dave: Having the water bottle around is, is definitely key, but it's, it's not much of a problem for me. I wake up, I, I front load [00:12:10] a little more, like, I feel like I'm really thirsty in the morning after waking up.

So I'll get up and chug, I don't even know how much, 16 ounces at least, maybe 32 ounces till I, till my thirst goes away. And [00:12:20] then, uh, towards the end of the day, once like dinner comes after dinner, I usually don't drink too much water. Just with like digestion and some of those things, I just feel better and not having to wake up to pee.

Joe must [00:12:30] have a superhuman bladder or something if he's chugging water before bed and, and not good enough. But, but I can do that if

Jerred: I'm in the sauna right before bed, I can chug like a 26 ounce bottle of [00:12:40] water if I've been in the sauna and not have to pee in the night. But all depends on the day, the activity.

Yeah, so just keep that in mind when you're [00:12:50] electrolytes, like I said, heay, pink salt, um, some minerals. And if you wanna try any of the, uh, electrolyte supplements out there. I know [00:13:00] Element. I enjoy the, the lemonade one. Do you guys try the lemonade one? Yeah, it's pretty good. They're not a sponsor. Uh, I also like, uh, relight.

It's like [00:13:10] I have a

Joe: tub of relight and I love it because so many electrolytes come in individual packets, but relight actually has a tub with a scoop. So sometimes I could just take like three quarters of a, of a portion or just, [00:13:20] or add a little bit into something. So I liked it because of, because of that.

And the, uh, um, sodium's good.

Jerred: And it's, it's a salt company that decided to make electrolytes, which I [00:13:30] thought was genius because it's, um. I think it's redmond's salt. It's like a pretty good salt, uh, like quality wise. And then they were like, well, we'll make an electrolyte supplement. So yeah, we have that, [00:13:40] an element both pretty solid, but I do feel like I'm getting ripped off after a certain point.

So I also have some Himalayan pink salt that I just throw in my water occasionally if I, um, feel like buying [00:13:50] stuff.

Joe: I also like iq. I do those for sugar-free ones. So if on days that I might be fasting or they also have, and their flavors are good, but they also have iq, [00:14:00] uh, coffee, so like 200 milligrams of caffeine when electrolytes and like a, almost like a cold coffee mix, which are pretty good.

Liz has been drinking those lately. It's [00:14:10] uh, definitely good for the summer too, if you don't wanna make a hot pot of coffee.

Jerred: Yep. Alright. So we got sleep, we got, uh, you know, your hydration. So checking that off the [00:14:20] list. Now we move to the third element, which is two plus healthy meals per day. And, uh, when I first created this, the reason I put it two healthy meals is because, yeah, it would [00:14:30] be great if every meal that you ate in a day was healthy and you didn't do any snacking and everything was enough protein and micronutrients, but there's, there's real life, right?[00:14:40]

And so I think this has actually really helped me mentally too, because. If I had like a really solid breakfast that was healthy. And then let's say I had a post-workout shake [00:14:50] that was good and then I screwed up on dinner, like maybe we're out or whatever, and I had to eat something just not as healthy.

It doesn't derail me mentally [00:15:00] to, because I'm like, okay, I still did two, two out of three, which I'll talk a little bit more about. That's about how many meals that you've four in a day, but it's three. That helps me like [00:15:10] not get derailed. If I have like three bad meals in a day, like three for three bad, that starts to like wear on me.

I start to feel worse. I start to feel less confident. I, and I actually start to feel bad. Like I [00:15:20] just, when I'm, when I'm eating crap food, I don't feel as good. So that's why it's only two plus healthy meals a day with a net adequate protein and micronutrients and, uh, I introduced this in the podcast a few months [00:15:30] ago, the kind of.

Just reminder, something you could put in your, the back of your brain for getting meals is when I sit down for a [00:15:40] meal, it's three 50 micro is what I'm, I'm looking for. So three meals a day, no snacking. Each meal of the day has at least 50 grams of protein in it. Micronutrients and [00:15:50] micronutrients are up to you.

It's dealer's choice, so if you want to get some strawberries in there or raspberries for your micronutrients, or you want some zucchini or it's, it's up to you, but hitting those basic [00:16:00] check marks. As you can see with nutrition, I do not like in-depth macro tracking. I don't like meal plans. I don't like meal prep.

I like just the ability to be very flexible [00:16:10] with like, I'm gonna eat a healthy meal, I'm gonna shoot 50 grams of protein and have some micronutrients in there. I don't know what that's gonna be. That's my choice for, for meal plans. And it comes from doing a lot of [00:16:20] meal planning over the years and meal prepping and hating it.

Um, but I honestly think that you should do it if, if you struggle on that side of things. But, um, we also don't really keep any [00:16:30] bad food in our house, you know, thanks to Emily. So it's, it's also easy for me to make those decisions. Uh, how about you guys with nutrition?[00:16:40]

Dave: Yeah, I, uh, I've, I've kind of fluctuated over the years. I, I used to, for the longest time, was doing more of the intermittent fasting where I'd have sometimes even two meals, two to three meals. And, [00:16:50] um, lately I felt a lot better adding breakfast back in, probably over the past, like two years. Some of that with training in the morning, some of it, um, just with I, I [00:17:00] found.

The two big meals was just too much in my digestion system when I was doing just that and trying to get all the calories in. So, uh, lately I've been probably close to like four meals spread out, and, [00:17:10] uh, getting two plus healthy ones is all my meals are usually fairly healthy when I'm at least at home and, you know, when have control over it, I just feel better that way.

Um, so, [00:17:20] uh, I enjoy veggies, I enjoy salads, I enjoy, um, lots of protein, so it's not too much of a. For me to, to get that. Um, [00:17:30] and I feel better too. So more square meals and not snacking too is another thing that once I took snacking, I was never a big snacker. But I definitely notice when meals get too small.

Then I [00:17:40] find, like for me it's more balancing performance of like, I know I do a little better with some higher carb from like a performance standpoint, but then it's like, okay, if I need to be more [00:17:50] productive from a work standpoint, I get more. Blood sugar, energy swings and those things. So smaller meals give more of that, the, the energy swings.

So that's where some of the, like more square meals help [00:18:00] me out a lot too.

Joe: I honestly don't notice a difference energy wise, whether it's a bunch of meals, um, less or bigger meals. I've only, I've mostly [00:18:10] counted in the past, I mean, tracking wise, but it keeps me from snacking because I'm a big snacker. So, uh, lately I haven't been doing it.

I, you know, now that now there's an AI app that I've used if I wanna just [00:18:20] like check a, do a progress check on, and then all it does is protein calories. Make sure I'm staying with my range. But breakfast, I usually have it about 10, not till 10 [00:18:30] because uh, I work out before that and it's bracketed with a bar and a shake.

But breakfast and dinner are like my big nutritious meals where I'll eat a bunch. Um. You know, breakfast [00:18:40] might be some big scramble, a whole bunch of eggs and some protein. And then dinner's, just whatever I had, I had eaten, uh, that day. Lunch is kind of just a lazy, give me whatever, I'm just need to [00:18:50] fill my belly.

Lately it's just been a bunch of yogurt and protein and like granola and berries, just 'cause it's got calories. It's got fiber. Um, just checking the box until until [00:19:00] dinner. So it's, I've been pretty good in that regard for, you know, Monday through. Monday through Friday weekends is a bit more dicey. It gets a bit loosey goosey and weird [00:19:10] when I, I need to get a lot, uh, better at and, um, focus more on, so that, that's definitely a weakest of mine is on the weekends when got, you know, Liz and [00:19:20] Landon, her home juggling, feeding him.

And then just like, sometimes I just don't feel like making food and then after a while I get so hungry that I'm just gonna eat what's in front of me, which is, which is definitely a problem. So [00:19:30] that's at least five days. I know I eat it for me

Jerred: if I get really hungry. All bets are off. It doesn't matter what I'm eating.

Like I'll, I'll go to Whataburger. It like that's, yeah, that's [00:19:40] why I try not to get hungry because at a certain point I'm like, no, I don't care. Like I just want to eat because if you honestly don't snack, which is hard, um, which is [00:19:50] like my goal now, like I really try not to snack. That causes like, you're really hungry at mealtime, you know?

Especially if you're only doing three meals a day or at least I am. Um. [00:20:00] So let's, let's jump to the next two. I'm gonna combine 'em. So, so far we've done sleep, hydration, nutrition. You knock out those three in a day [00:20:10] and you're crushing it. I'd say the rest of these are, um. Important, but they, they will not give you as big of a [00:20:20] bang for your buck as sleep, hydration, and nutrition.

All the recipe theses, um, are definitely gonna help, but I would equate like the rest of these to being like one of the next, like sleep or whatever. Um, [00:20:30] so I'm gonna combine the next two. It's 10 minutes, 10 plus minutes of extra aerobic work. This does not count on your training, so this is additional movement throughout the day.

And [00:20:40] then also adequate sun exposure. And the reason I'm combining them is because. You could stack these, and that's what I always want people to do, is like stack as many as you possibly can. [00:20:50] Um, and the, the big reason behind, um, the 10 minutes extra of aerobic work, plus the adequate sun exposure. Well, sun exposure, we all know vitamin D is critically [00:21:00] important.

It's important for your immune system, dudes. It's really important for your testosterone creation as well as zinc and magnesium. Um, and then the 10 minutes extra aerobic. [00:21:10] There's one thing that I noticed, especially with talking with athletes. A a lot of athletes, um, even the athletes who are incredibly consistent with their training don't move the rest of the day.

[00:21:20] Sometimes dependent on their job. So it's like, uh, and I, I've been in that boat as well, and, and so it's like, let's say you are the early hard charger. You wake up at 5:00 AM you're [00:21:30] training at five 30, you're done at six 30. It's rush. Go sit in your office or at work until the end of the day. Then you don't really move.

And it's like, yeah, you did that hour of [00:21:40] exercise, but if you're still only getting like 3000, 4,000 steps at the end of the day, even though you're consistently exercising, that's not enough movement throughout the day. So you need that [00:21:50] extra movement. That's why, um, I mentioned that's why I got a dog. I mentioned this like a.

Over a year ago when I first got my dog. I have two dogs now, which I haven't mentioned on the podcast. I have two German [00:22:00] short-haired pointers, um, which is just insanity. I don't recommend anybody get a German short-haired pointer unless you're incredibly active. You like running, [00:22:10] you have a lot of land.

Um, I don't recommend this breed, even though I love my dogs to death. They will make sure you get your steps. Um. Um, so [00:22:20] anyway, adding those two things are really important. Um, and something I'm always mindful of now and, and honestly, since I have these two dogs hitting at least 10,000 steps, a a day has like not been a [00:22:30] problem for.

The last year plus that I've had Piper, my first GSP and now the second one. Yeah. So anyway, how are you guys doing with, uh, sun exposure and Vitamin D Oh, [00:22:40] and sun exposure? I prefer it from the sun, but in the wintertime, do you like I I'll check this box if, uh, if I'm supplementing with vitamin D? 'cause sometimes it's just not possible, but.[00:22:50]

Joe: It definitely helps that I've lived in pretty much warm, good climate places for the last like 10 years because like I've almost always been able to go out and get some sun this last [00:23:00] month, now that it's been not as crazy hot. Um, after every workout or J three, outta four workout, three outta five workouts, I will do a two mile walk outside.[00:23:10]

Um, around the area. I'll, there's like a long board walk, I'll go down and back. And so that's been my, my extra time, which has been, which has been great. And I even got a, uh, finally got a walking [00:23:20] treadmill like two months ago, and I'll pepper that in in the afternoon because I was definitely getting to a point working from home after my workout, I could just chill and relax and, you know, work all, all however I want.[00:23:30]

And even when I, when, when the treadmills at my desk, I actually have to collapse it and move it outta the way in order to pull my chair in versus before I could just lower, lower it and sit down. And instead of just [00:23:40] raising it up. So, uh, lately I've been doing really good at, uh, at those,

Dave: yeah. For us as a family, we, we stack a lot of these together.

So we'll do, so like after meals, we'll [00:23:50] get out and do a walk usually. 15, 30 minutes. Sometimes a little longer, but so that's a good way for us to, I mean, it helps with digestion after it's a big thing. I feel so much better when versus [00:24:00] it's tempting to eat dinner and sit on the couch, but, we'll, we'll get the kids, uh, kids in the stroller.

We're pushing strollers right now. Uh, Elise will sometimes walk with us, but, uh, sometimes [00:24:10] she'll take off and wanna just go for a run, which is fun. But yeah, so we just try and combine those things and get outside and, uh, helps do it for morning after breakfast stuff. Get to see the sunlight early, which [00:24:20] I.

I think helps with, helps circadian rhythm and helping set the, the sleep clock a little bit, and then getting to see more towards the end of the day. Sunlight too is, is helpful for combining all those habits. So instead of [00:24:30] thinking as all these different things we have to do, those are things we just kind of naturally have fallen into with, uh, stacking some of things together.

Jerred: Yeah. Bringing your food and your water with you and you're getting [00:24:40] 'em all done. Right. It's like, yeah.

Dave: Kids take a nap on the way too, and they're, they're checking all the boxes. Kids can get, they're

Jerred: asleep, right? Uh, yeah. So those are two, two big ones. And like I said, when the sun is not as powerful [00:24:50] in the wintertime, it, I think it's per perfectly fine to supplement with vitamin D.

Also really important. Uh, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna stack the next two. So again, just so if we're keeping [00:25:00] track, we've got sleep, seven plus hours, 50 to 60% of your body weight ounces, water, two healthy meals, 10 plus minutes of extra aerobic work and adequate sun exposure. In the next two are digestion and meal [00:25:10] timing.

So putting these together too, because they're also kind of in the same category. So digestion is just making sure that you chew your food, you smell your food, and you limit liquids during eating. [00:25:20] Um, I am the worst. About this one. I'm, I'm gonna go ahead and say I'm real bad at the digestion piece. Yep.

But I also know how important it's for you. And then the second one is meal timing, and that's [00:25:30] giving your body at least a 12 hour break from eating food. Some people call this intermittent fasting. I call it 12 hour break being human. Um, I think when you're pushing to like [00:25:40] 16 hours, that's where I really think it's intermittent fasting.

Uh, but what I didn't realize is that there were like. People eating at nine, 10 o'clock at night and then waking [00:25:50] up and eating at, you know, 6:00 AM and I get maybe you have to long hours, whatever. Like I would do the same thing. Um, if I, like, I've done that, like I got home from a practice [00:26:00] earlier in the week and I did, I screwed up, didn't eat dinner before we got home at nine.

I'm starving, I'm going to eat. I don't really care. You know, like, I think, I [00:26:10] think our bodies can handle those things. I, I'm not real strict on, I'm not strict on a lot, to be honest, because I think the body is super resilient, can handle these one-off situations. Um, but [00:26:20] what I didn't do the next day was wake up and eat the first, as soon as I opened my eyes, I waited a little bit longer to give my digestion a break.

Uh, so anyway. Um, [00:26:30] Joe, you already mentioned you're not good with digestion. I'm not, but I wanna hear. Here, your, your side of it. Do you blame the military like I do, or you just Uh, oh, a

Joe: hundred percent. I silly. Like I'm in, I silly, like I'm in basic [00:26:40] training, like I'm about to get yelled at. Yeah. Because we have to get up and go a hundred percent.

Yeah. I just shovel my food. Uh, I, I'm, I am good about the no liquids. I don't drink during meals, but I don't shoot my [00:26:50] food. It's just however fast I can get it down and, and get it going.

Dave: Yeah. Yeah. This one's, this one's tough for me. I, I've always ate super fast and growing up with. [00:27:00] Two other brothers and if, if the food's gonna be gone if you don't even fast Yeah.

You didn't get seconds or anything. So is, uh, it's always been, still seems to end up being a competition when we get together, somehow [00:27:10] it, it comes out. But, uh, liquids I'm better with. Um, meal timing though. Yeah. That's something I've just naturally fallen into feeling better with giving it a couple hours before bed and a couple [00:27:20] hours after waking up is usually, I don't know if it's always exactly 12 hours, but usually dinners.

An ideal setting at least a couple hours before bed, and I don't like to eat right [00:27:30] when I wake up.

Jerred: Yeah. And these are pretty simple. I think I, I have an alarm that goes off on my watch every day at 7:00 PM and [00:27:40] that's my reminder to like, Hey, you should probably stop eating. That's honestly, that's the only reason that ALARM exists is like.

This is where you should consider stop stopping because [00:27:50] I, I have noticed the further I can separate bedtime from food, the better I will sleep. Like I said, if I need to eat, I'll, I'll choose the calories and the protein [00:28:00] if I haven't had enough food in a day most of the time. But if in an ideal world, if I am going to bed at nine o'clock or 10 o'clock and I can get those three to four hours of no eating before I go to sleep, [00:28:10] I do sleep better that night.

So that's a big one for me. Uh, but then, you know, waking up the next day and. I typically just have water and black coffee, and then I'll eat a little bit [00:28:20] later. But, uh, yeah, this morning was actually the opposite. I ate dinner at like 5:00 PM and didn't eat again, and then I woke up [00:28:30] and ate at 6:00 AM which is very rare for me.

I don't normally eat that early. Um, but that's 13 hour break, right? So still, still check the box. Uh, all right, let's move on to the next one. Warm [00:28:40] up and cool down. So making sure that you warm up before your, uh, training session and cool down after the fact. Don't lie. [00:28:50] Do you both warm up properly and cool down?

Don't lie about the cool down is the, is the one? Yeah. What are you, what are you guys doing in your training right now?

Joe: 50 50. [00:29:00] 

Jerred: 50 50. What you cool down sometimes? Uh,

Joe: yeah. It, it really, it's, it's that two mile walk. If I do that, if not, then I'm not cooling down. [00:29:10] So like. Three days a week maybe I'll, I'll do a walk after my workout.

But that's, that's about it. Warmups, it'll depend on what, what the work I'm doing. I've been doing a lot more because, uh, my back issues just, [00:29:20] I've been, I've been wanting to get more of that, but you know, there's times where run days I just put on my shoes and Leroy Jenkins it.

Jerred: Yeah. I don't warm up for runs, [00:29:30] not gonna lie, unless I'm like gonna be doing some sprints, just 'cause I'm always scared to pull a hamstring.

But yeah, I don't, I don't warm up for runs most of the time. How about you, Dave? [00:29:40]

Dave: Not for, not for running. I'm not super good at, I'm gonna do a couple like leg swings and butt kicks, then I'll take off and first miles will warm up sometimes. But yeah. Uh, cool [00:29:50] downs are yeah, cool downs. I'm not good with warmups.

I've, I've always enjoyed, like, I, I like getting my body actually warmed up and little extra mobility work fairs I need. It, um, [00:30:00] just keeps me injury free, honestly, and keeps me feeling good. So warmups are not much of a problem. Cool. Down though. It's like my last set's done and I'm. I'm pretty much getting outta there and, and [00:30:10] hopefully there's a walk somewhere in there, but sometimes it's sitting down and working depending on whatever we're doing.

If it's end of the day stuff, we're going right into dinner and different things, so, uh, cool down's. One I could [00:30:20] certainly improve on.

Jerred: Yeah, that's, and that's why I said it 'cause I knew you both would be like me. I warm up. I'm pretty much, I never skipped that anymore. I used to, like years [00:30:30] ago I would skip and be, I just gotta get in and get the work done and like get outta here.

But now I kind of have like a set. Routine. That's where I put a lot of my [00:30:40] prehab stuff like rotational work, just like all these BA like I don't even, I don't even warm up specific to the. Training session anymore, I just have [00:30:50] like my own warmup that kind of hits everything, like rotational legs, like shoulders, all this kind of stuff.

So get the blood going. So I, I make sure that I do a warmup every time. Cool down. [00:31:00] Very difficult for me to consistently do. Uh, and it's never gonna be for like 10 minutes. Like I might hop on a rower for three, four minutes after and consider that [00:31:10] my cool down, but probably not as good as it as it could be.

I've also tried doing some. Breathing exercises after a training session, but that's also hard to [00:31:20] like, get in the habit of doing. Uh, but yeah, cool. Down is definitely tough, but that's why we put them both in there so you can, you know, start to recover from the training and, [00:31:30] and get yourself outta that, you know, fight or flight response and, uh, start to down regulate a little bit, which moves us into our last and final one, which is downregulation.

So [00:31:40] meditation, breathing, and limiting night. Nighttime light exposure. So I think downregulation is, um, really important. This stuff, when I first started, [00:31:50] let's just say creating content online was more fringe. This was more like, you're kind of weird for talking about it. Um, and now it's, it's very commonplace, you know, it's second [00:32:00] nature.

I feel like everybody, not everybody has a practice, but everyone's aware of one and a lot of people think that they should, uh, whether you are meditating, breathing, praying, whatever it is that, you know, that kind of helps you relax [00:32:10] and get in that different, um. State of mind. And this is something that's really been really big for me.

Like I, I, I don't really do any meditation anymore [00:32:20] at all. I used to, um, but I do a lot of breath work. I feel like that's, and the reason being is I feel like they're kind of one in the same and breath work. I actually feel a difference [00:32:30] after the fact and meditation. I don't always, you know, and so, uh, breath work is something I've seen more results w with and stuck with, and I'd say.[00:32:40]

I have some sort of breathing breath work practice four to six days a week. It's almost a never miss for me. Um, you know, I, [00:32:50] I, uh, I do it pretty consistently. How about you guys?

Joe: I do not do meditation or, or breathing. I have a really hard time with breathing stuff. [00:33:00] I definitely enter the, the fight or flight response early.

I feel like I just get really, really bugged out when, whenever I just try to do any sort of, any sort of breathing, you should examine that. I

Jerred: think I've talked to you about this before. You should. You [00:33:10] should examine why that's happening, like why am I starting to freak out when I'm trying to relax?

Joe: Yeah, I don't know.

I just, it's the controlling of the, of the [00:33:20] breathing of, of the breath, of like, I need to breathe faster. That just like really, really trips me up. I know when I've done breathing ladders, it's like a real struggle to breathe slowly during some of those moments. [00:33:30] Um, but for down my downregulation, I guess.

What if it's for, for before bed, you know, we go to bed at lights out or at eight o'clock and that's when land is usually falling asleep. I don't go to sleep until [00:33:40] 9 15, 9 30 because we just sit there reading on my Kindle, which is, has a warm. Light. They're not really the shining. I just, I read for an hour plus [00:33:50] every single day in the dark, cool bed.

You know that that's my easing into transitioning into bedtime. So completely dark, just reading normal book. [00:34:00]

Jerred: I think that counts.

Dave: Yeah, I'd say so. My, uh, my reactionary, my reaction strategy is, uh, box breathing. Like if I'm, if [00:34:10] it's really hitting the fan and I'm in my Garmin. Conveniently tells me that I'm starting to get stressed out when I'm obviously stressed out, which makes me more stressed out.

That Garmin's telling me that. Uh, the [00:34:20] relaxed reminder. Yeah, the relaxed reminder. I'm like, I don't wanna relax right now. There's the reason I'm stressed. I've never gotten one of

Joe: those. Yeah.

Jerred: Oh, watch might be too old. Or you're too chill. I don't know. Yeah, you're just

Joe: super chill. I don't get stressed really?[00:34:30]

I don't think.

Jerred: Well, what's funny is like I was basically unaware of that feature until. Uh, well, I, I knew it was there, but like, I, I barely, [00:34:40] very rarely got the relax reminder this time period in my life right now with remodel, rebuild, you know, living in an rv, all this crap that we're doing. I'm getting a relaxed [00:34:50] reminder like once or twice a day.

Um, it's, it's definitely, it's eased off now. I'd say the last couple days, I don't think I've gotten one, but I was getting one once or twice a day and I was like, you're pretty good at [00:35:00] picking up stress. This is what, like, makes me buy into Garmin stuff more. It says, I got deep sleep, I feel better. But I try and make that assessment before I look at the sleep [00:35:10] chart.

I'm like, I'm like awake at 4:30 AM I'm like, I feel really well rested. Then I'll look at my sleep chart. I'll be like, yep, two and a half hours deep sleep. You know what I [00:35:20] mean? Like that's how I try and treat these things. And same with like, I know I'm in a stressful period of life right now and it's saying, telling me to relax.

So like it, it's just pretty good at like picking these things up. [00:35:30] I'm really, again, not a sponsor, but huge fan of Garmin. Way better than whoop.

Dave: Yeah, so it is pretty accurate. It's, uh, there's times where it's subtle. I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess my stress was subtly creeping up. But most of the times [00:35:40] it's like kids screaming every, like, everyone's in a moment and I'm like, my watch is buzzing.

I'm like it all, like I, I got a garment. I, I know, I know that. But box [00:35:50] breathing is like the reaction, uh, if it's already, if I'm to that point. Uh, but the things that are proactively doing that, and I'm not super consistent with it, but things like journaling, [00:36:00] um, Lindsay and I get time together in the morning, just, um.

Reading and praying together and different things like that. And at the end of the day, we try and have our, our, uh, end of the day check-in where [00:36:10] we're just hanging out and, and getting some time together after the day to, um, kind of have those two, those two touch points that start the end of the day seem to work really good for us of just like overall [00:36:20] management day stress.

But, um, I'm not, we're not perfect with those either too. It's, you know, that's an ideal setting, but those proactively help set up a lot of the less stressful moments during the day. [00:36:30]

Jerred: Yeah. It's a good practice, I think. Um. The more you can dive into this stuff and really control your mind, control your thoughts, I think it, it goes a [00:36:40] long way.

Uh, but that is everything. That is all nine of these. Um, I'll do a quick recap. So sleep, seven plus hours, 50 to 60% of your body weight and ounces [00:36:50] of water. Two plus healthy meals, 10 plus minutes of extra aerobic work, adequate sun exposure, digestion, meal timing. So giving that digestion, uh, 12 hour [00:37:00] break, warming up and cooling down as one item, and then downregulation.

So here's my challenge to everyone listening, uh, to the podcast, is just do as many [00:37:10] as you can. Okay? Getting nine of these in a day is very, very difficult. Uh, but if you can get those first three, like we talked about, sleep. Water [00:37:20] and healthy meals. You've done a bulk of the work for your day right there.

Anything else that you get after that? And on this list is the cherry on top. So when you go into prioritize [00:37:30] these, try and get those three and then see how many else you can get and track this over a 30 day time period. That's the actual challenge, like track these, [00:37:40] like whether it's a notepad, um, you know, pen and paper, or you actually are taking a note in your phone.

Try and do as many of these as you can each and every single day. [00:37:50] Just hitting the basics and just track it and be like, okay, I got five today, three today, two today, one today, nine today, but, and start to track how you feel, how you're showing [00:38:00] up in life, how you're showing up in your training sessions, how you're recovering.

And you'll be surprised when you really focus on the basics. This might be what was like really holding you back from a [00:38:10] progress standpoint or a mental acuity standpoint, anything like that. A lot of times it just is going back to the basics. But that's it for this one. I [00:38:20] appreciate everyone listening, all of our Garage gym athletes out there doing the training.

Thank you so much. If you'd like to be a part of our training, you can go to garage gym athlete.com at any time and sign up [00:38:30] for trial. We would love to have you, but that's it for this one. Remember, if you don't kill comfort, comfort will kill you.