Core 4 Body
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[00:00:00] the reality is men, you never know what's coming. Once the sun comes up, the family wakes up. The day begins. You have no idea what's coming.

You're, you're never going to reach a point where life is easy and there's no challenges. The only question is. Are you preparing yourself and increasing your capacity every single day so that you can meet those challenges head on and serve your family in the process and not walk in weak and putting them in a position where they have to go fight the battle that that is your responsibility to fight. Right now, the world needs great men who will stand up and lead with honor, serve with purpose, and courageously fulfill their God-Given roles and responsibilities as husbands, fathers, leaders, and men, it's time we see more men thrive. Marriages filled with passion and families [00:01:00] that flourish. So whether you're a man struggling to figure it all out, or an awesome husband and dad looking for the next level, you've come to the right place.

We are your hosts, Franklin Swann and Tanner Hays bringing you practical, applicable tools and strategies you can use every day to build yourself into the man God is calling you to be. This is the world needs men. Let's go.

Welcome back to the World Needs Men podcast. We're your host, Tanner Hays, Franklin Swann. Today we're gonna be talking about one part of what we call the core four, and that is your body.

Today's gonna be really more of a technical kind of podcast, a little bit more of a how to and in getting into some of the detail.

Around, um, what our morning process looks like and also [00:02:00] trying to help you maybe look through the lens of, of your body and through and of fitness, a little bit differently today, and really connect it to all the areas of your life that really matter and that are important. Everything from your relationships with your family, to your spirituality and your walk with God and your your purpose in life.

To, to your business or your career and, and how, you know, your, your body's just connected to all those things. And, and it's not just an isolated, part of life. It's really, um, it's really connected to all of

them, right? And so our, our body is like the vessel or the tool that God's given us to experience and express life.

It's like a

vehicle, right? And if your body goes away, you go away, at least from this world. And so while we're here. Why don't we live it to the fullest with a body that can help us do that. Exactly.

You know, and, and the Bible says to, [00:03:00] um, your body is a temple and to take care of it. And, uh, we want this podcast to be an actionable way that you can, use on a daily basis of not just taking care of your body, but weaponizing it against just normal life.

Right. Did

the. Um, it, it's a gift and we can use that gift to one, live a more enjoyable life. If, if you are fit and healthy and feel good, life is just gonna be a more enjoyable journey than if you don't take care of your body and then if you have some consequences because of that. And, and a fit, healthy, strong body also allows you to serve your family better.

It allows you to carry in the groceries from the, from the car. Pick up your, your son or your daughter when they're sick and, and carry 'em upstairs to bed. you know, one day when you're an old age, can, can you take care of your wife if she needs to be taken care of? Well, a strong healthy body is a critical [00:04:00] part of all of that, and, it's the little habits that we have every day that allows us to show up in that way.

versus something that, you know, you look up and have to course correct after a lot of years of neglect,

When you don't have a strong, healthy body, you know, maybe you've gotten sick or had a broken bone or hurt your back or something, all you can think about is getting back to health.

Mm-Hmm. And you're consumed with that. And for a lot of people you'll do anything to get back to that point.

so what we're gonna propose today is, is some very simple. Uh, routines and habits that you can put into place that compounded over time will allow you to, elevate your health and your fitness, gain strength and, and have a body that really serves you and is able to be used in all of the areas of life that really matter.

Again, your body goes away if, if you're sick. And I mean, things do happen. So we, we certainly [00:05:00] understand and recognize like, I could get hit by a truck tomorrow and be crippled for the rest of my life. But even then, okay, so what can I even do if I'm in a wheelchair? Well, I can still do things for my body.

I can fuel it properly, I can lift weights. I mean, there's, uh, you know, with my arms, there's, there's still things I can do. So outside of. a catastrophic accident outside of a terrible, diagnosis that we get for a typical man day to day. Here's some, some very practical ways that you can accelerate your health and your fitness so that you can show up and have a great life with your family.

Core four. Body is the first element of that, and it's broken down into two categories. You have your fitness and you have your fuel. So fitness is all about your physical body, your ability to lift things, run, jump, swim, just really just enjoy life and in your body [00:06:00] either is accelerating you towards that end and it's helping you or it's hurting you and holding you back from.

All the things that God's given us to, to enjoy. I mean, I love to go trail running. I love to jump in the lake. I love to go and, and hike mountains. All of those things are gifts that God's given us. But if I don't take care of my body in the right way, then I just squander those opportunities because my body's not able to allow me to enjoy those things.

When you get up each day, how do you really incorporate this into your life and, I would encourage you not to look at fitness as just let me just lose 10 pounds. Let me just lose some weight. I will look, wanna look better in a swimsuit or whatever. That, that's fine, but connect it to the people and the mission and your purpose in life.

And understanding that when you train yourself, you allow yourself to show up for all those, those things in, in a better way. And so. [00:07:00] Very simple. What we do every day is get up and one of the boxes we check is, did we sweat today? Did we exercise our physical body? And, there there's a number of different things that, that go into this.

should you be strong? Yes. Should you be fast? Yes. Should you have endurance? Yes. It's, I don't want to be the, the marathoner who can run a thousand miles and yet. I'm very weak and can't lift something. I also don't want to be the muscle guy who, who has so much muscle that I can't run down the street and I don't have any cardio.

So all of this is a balance, and you may need a trainer that, that helps you with this. You may need, uh, to join a class or, or a gym. You may have a garage, set up like, uh, like I do and, and you can just go out in your garage and, and get in a workout. You may not have worked out in years and so you just need to start walking.

But a, a huge part of this is what you get out of it, not just physically, [00:08:00] but the mental, emotional and spiritual aspect of training your body. When you move your body every morning, you release all kinds of endorphins and you, it is one of the best stress relievers in the world. So if, if you're a man who is running a business or has a stressful career and you are married and you wanna show up, great for your wife.

You've got kids that are, that want your attention and need your attention, and you're trying to n navigate and balance all the stress and the pressure. One of your best stress relievers and capacity increasers you will ever find is to simply train yourself physically and, and allow your body to get all that stress and, and pressure out in a really healthy way, which is to just exercise.

Just it's, it is the, if there was a, cure all pill. This would be it. Yeah.

To help you look better, feel better, you know all the

things. Sleep better, think better.

Right? [00:09:00] You would, you would take it and, and exercise checks all those boxes. And really what we're talking about here is more than a challenge, more than a 75 hard or anything like that.

Not that there's anything wrong with those things, but we're talking about daily practices done over a lifetime. That are more than just for the, you know, how you look, but that can touch each part of your life and help those around you, your kids, your, your family, and, even encourage your, your employees and, and your friends as well.

you know, when you show up and you've worked out in the morning, you will perform better at work, you will think more clearly, you will and you will respond. Rather than react. And so you end up making fewer bad decisions and, and you have fewer bad reactions that you'd then have to go clean up.

And, and so it, it really is kind of the, the miracle cure all. And I would encourage you to look at this as a really, an [00:10:00] identity change. It's not something that you do, it's who you are. For me, I. It doesn't matter if I'm on vacation, it doesn't matter if I am up late feel bad. Like I get up and I move my body in some way every single day.

Uh, it may be an hour long run. It may be just that I, I'm short on time because we are traveling or trying to hit a early flight and I just crank out a bunch of pushups, you know, but it doesn't matter the situation. I am going to just prime my body every day. And, and it's also. Really powerful because you are exercising dominance, dominion, and control over your physical body with your mind as well.

And in not allowing yourself to, talk yourself out of it or to, to start negotiating with why you don't need to work out today. It's just something you do because the reality is men, you never know what's coming. Once the sun comes up, the family wakes up. The day begins. You have no idea what's [00:11:00] coming.

You're, you're never going to reach a point where life is easy and there's no challenges. The only question is. Are you preparing yourself and increasing your capacity every single day so that you can meet those challenges head on and serve your family in the process and not walk in weak and putting them in a position where they have to go fight the battle that that is your responsibility to fight.

You said some, or you said two things that are so important. one, having a purpose of why you're getting up and, taking care of your body every day. that is so important. And the second thing, it doesn't matter what day it is, it's part of who you are, that you're taking care of your body, um, whether it's going on a walk, doing some kind of strength training, it's just a part of who you are and you're gonna do it no matter what.

Mm-Hmm.

There are a thousand different ways to work out. There's a thousand different workout programs, so we don't need to necessarily tell you what to do. You'll learn about [00:12:00] your body. If, if you don't know anything, if you haven't been training or doing anything, go get a coach Go join a class, get a coach.

Have someone who can teach you. But if every day you just have the very simple, outcome that you are going to sweat in the morning before the day begins, get that stress out, get to thinking clearly. Work out your body, give, build some strength and endurance. Then that is the first step to showing up as a positive and confident and really present man who can just be there for his family and, and do the things that need to be done for the day.

And the ultimate goal, you know, after you've made this into a habit and you've, you've started, the ultimate goal would be to be well-rounded in, in all those different areas, whether it's endurance, strength, Or muscular endurance, any of those things. and strength being a huge part because if you're over the age of 30, like both of us are every decade as a male, you will lose three to 5% [00:13:00] of muscle mass every decade.

And most men will lose up to 30% of their muscle mass in their lifetime. And that's if you do nothing. Doing nothing isn't nothing. Your body will start to waste every dec decade waste away in atrophy if you do nothing.

I I want you to go back and, and hit on that again. And because men, you need to listen up right now, what Tanner said is so important.

The, there is a cost. You may pay a price for fitness, which is you have to get up a little bit earlier. You have to go through some discomfort, which. I mean, we all have heard the, the term no pain, no gain. I mean, your body has to be, pushed and challenged in order to gain strength or endurance for all these things.

So there's a price you pay for fitness, but there's also a cost to not doing this for yourself and for your family. And so, Tanner, say again, min, listen up. This is [00:14:00] incredibly important what he just said. What is the cost of you making the decision? Because that's what it is. To not exercise and not treat your body the way it needs to be treated and look at it as something that should be strong, that should be powerful, and that should have capacity, uh, to be able to be used in service to others.

Like what does that cost? So not only

will you in a decade's time will you be less healthy, but more outta shape. You will have less muscle mass to even work with at that point. And you made a great analogy earlier when we were talking about this, that this muscle wasting over time is, is like inflation.

This is physical inflation year over year. If you're doing nothing, you're not gonna outpace the atrophy on your body.

So it's, it's like every day you're either getting stronger or weaker, either time is taking its [00:15:00] toll. and you're gonna suffer the cost of the diminishing strength that comes with aging or you're going to offset that.

And that's the thing, none of us are victims to this when it comes to our, uh, ability and, the responsibility that we have to, to invest in our health and our strength and, and our fitness and, and all. And, and it comes down to just a very simple decision every day to sweat and to move.

So that, that's it. And for. Ideas on what that looks like. There's, there's a thousand different things online you can sign up for. You can run, you can, uh, join a gym. You can lift weights, you could do juujitsu or some kind of a, a, you know, self-defense there. There's all kinds of options. The point in the most important thing is that you're just moving and challenging yourself physically every day and getting your body primed for the day.

So that's part one. [00:16:00] That is body fitness. Sweat every day. The second component is fuel. So if you drive or drove a Ferrari, you would never put regular unleaded in the tank. You would always use premium fuel. You would treat it with kid gloves and, and you would treat it like what it is. Uh, a high performance sports car.

if you look at your physical body in the same way, that's basically what you've been given. You may be treating it like a, like a clunker, but God's given us all these amazing bodies that we can either treat like Ferraris or treat like clunkers. And so one of the very simple tools and all of these things that we share on this podcast, I want you to think of as a tool.

Imagine starting off and you got a big old toolbox that's empty and you're beginning to fill it. With all of these tools that allow you to operate and navigate life, in, in a better way. And so [00:17:00] every day I go and sweat, do a workout. This morning it, for me, it was a run, and then I get in and I go and I make a green smoothie.

It sounds too simple and it sounds like something that, why would I do that? Because all of these things Franklin have heard. People talk about or Yeah. Yeah, I've heard that before, but I, I think that what people don't again get is the connection to all these other areas. As we get older, we've got, you know, our modern American diet is not great and we don't get enough leafy stuff.

And the, the reality is if your gut men is not working properly, it is going to. Impact your mood. It is gonna impact your thinking. It is gonna, you, you will feel sluggish. you'll be literally full of crap. and that won't impact every area. I mean, you come home, you, your, your body's not operating properly.

You're in a bad mood. You're grumpy, you're not [00:18:00] thinking clearly, you're groggy. Because of that, you, you probably don't even realize it because it's become normal. And then all of that gets carried into how you. Speak to your wife and how you interact with her when you come in the door and how you respond to your children who want your attention, but you've had a long day.

And so when we're not fueling ourselves right, we put ourselves in a position of just being grumpy old men. don't wanna be that. Right? drink a green smoothie every day. It's kind of, you know, the, uh. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Well, a green smoothie every day. I've been doing this now for, gosh, years and years.

I even travel with a bullet blender. I, I was in another country one time. It was funny. I, uh, I had my blender and I plugged it in the wall and in the ampage was different in this country. Oh no. And I didn't know anything about it. And so I plugged the thing in and it just. It pretty much exploded and smoking it every, everywhere.

It was kind of, it was [00:19:00] kind of funny, but to the point, I mean, I, I travel with this thing everywhere. It's kind of my own little addiction, but every day I drink that green smoothie and I feel better, and I've been able to maintain the exact same weight within a couple of pounds for years doing these simple little protocols.

And it just, again, it's become who I am, not what I do.

Right. You ever got stopped in TSA for your blender?

I have to check it. Yeah. 'cause it's got the little blades on it, right. So yeah, I don't, I'd actually have never tried to take it on the fly 'cause I'm terrified they'll take it away from me and then I won't have my blender.

So I try to check it. So if, if, if you don't have a checked bag, uh, you probably can't get around that. But I have flown with it. Yes. Smart.

Well, one of the things you mentioned that's so important is taking care of your gut. And this is huge in the health world right now, is the gut brain connection. We know that a large portion of your immune system is also tied to your gut.

And so you may be listening to [00:20:00] this podcast and thinking it's not that simple. And it is simple to be doing these green smoothies. It's not the only thing that you need to be doing, but most people in our society are eating a standard American diet, which is devoid of nutrients. And this is one way, one surefire way to get nutrients every single day.

and one huge benefit being your immune system. 'cause if you think about it, most people are eating a terrible diet, which is not helping their immune system, which they're getting sick, which then they have to take antibiotics, which is destroying their gut, which then they're refueling with lack of nutrients.

Getting sick again, taking more antibiotics, and then over a lifetime that there's no wonder we have so many chronic conditions in our

society. and it's such an important thing to realize that it's not an isolated thing like you, if, if you don't have a healthy gut, you won't have a [00:21:00] healthy brain and it will impact your thinking.

It will impact how you feel and it will impact the actions you that you take and then the results that you get. And so there's just such a link. Between the two. And to Tanner's point too, none of the things that we're gonna share, any of them are cure alls. And just the, the only thing you have to do, all of these things are tools.

No different than if you've got a toolbox. You've got wrenches and pliers and hammers and screwdrivers and, and saws and all these different things for all these different uses. It's not the single tool that makes the difference. It's the accumulation of all those tools in what all of those tools allow you to build.

You can have a hammer that allows you and a bunch of tools. You could build a shack, you could build a mansion, but it's the same tool at the end of the day. And so this is just an additional tool you can use and have in your toolbox that you could implement each day as a strategy for fueling yourself with some good stuff.

Knowing that a big [00:22:00] part of our diet just is going to be, as you say, tanner, devoid of nutrients, devoid of nutrition. And this just helps to get, uh, get all that back on track, right?

So sweat every day, drink a green smoothie. That

is, crazy simple. Not always easy, but that's, that's number one of our protocol of how we wake up and how we start our day.

And so you sweat, you've drank a green smoothie, you can check that box. Your body is now, has now been put into a position of being primed. You raise your energy level, you raise your, uh, your energetic vibration. So now you're, you're partly getting yourself into, let's just call it a good mood so that you can step into the day from a positive place versus a negative place.

and just to, to give you an idea, what does mind look like? So what is, uh, a, a real green smoothie look like? So there's, there's actually a website and I think it's Green Smoothie Girl, or Green Smoothie Goddess, something like [00:23:00] that. It's got tons of great information when it comes to green smoothies, but you can Google all kinds of stuff.

I keep mine very simple. I put some banana in mine, I put some green powder mix, and there's a number of different brands that you can get that would be good. I put some protein powder. Um, I like the Jocko protein powder mix. Then I put water and I put a bunch of spinach, big old giant handful of spinach, a lot of greens, and that's as simple as I make it, and I zap that up.

I drink it, and I'm on with my day. It takes me about three minutes to do that, and it's just a part of my routine and I don't even have to think about it anymore. So very tactical. Today, we wanted to give you some real things that if you made this a part of your morning routine, you got up a little bit earlier and did this for yourself.

You would then give your family an amazing gift of a man who was more present, more patient, more positive, because you've done work on yourself first. [00:24:00] That allows you to show up and lead and be an awesome husband and father.

We ask that if you found value in this, that you subscribe to the podcast and share it with someone that you think would find value in this as well.

If

there's a man that you know who would benefit from this, please share it with them. We want to get these messages and these tools and resources out to as many men as we can so that marriages can be thriving, families can heal.

So kids have great dads so that wives have great husbands and one man at a time. In this world, we can make a difference.