The Daily Choice: Shaping Your Body’s Future With Client Ray Lee | WBWL Ep 110

This is an episode of my podcast with my client Ray Lee that is worth to share, especially for parents.

Have you ever worried about not having the energy to keep up with your kids in 5 or 10 years? Or worse, not being there for the big moments down the road? It’s a heavy thought, but it’s a reality that starts with the small choices we make every day.

My client Ray, a dedicated father of two, found himself on this path. For years, the daily grind meant his own health was an afterthought. He got complacent and accepted age, pain, and even weight gain as a normal part of being over 40.

This led to a slow decline that was stealing his vitality and his ability to be the dad and athlete he wanted to be.

His story of transformation is why we recorded this latest podcast episode, "The Daily Choice: Shaping Your Body's Future."

Ray made a conscious decision to change. He started showing up for himself, even when it was hard. The result? He's down 40+ pounds, running marathons, and at 49, has the energy of his 35-year-old self.

He didn't just get his health back; he secured a more active future with his family.

His story proves that it is never too late to make a divine choice for yourself and, by extension, for your loved ones. The journey to becoming a healthier parent, partner, and person starts with a single decision.

I truly believe this episode can be a catalyst for that change.

Let me know what you think.


All the best,
Dr. Jason Won.


If you need some help from me and have decided from today to make a choice to be healthier, would love to support you in seeing a brighter and healthier future. Click here: https://go.flexwithdoctorjay.com/apply 👈

Transcript

0:03

All right. Welcome to the Won Body Won Life Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Jason Won, lifestyle physical therapist. Who I love to work with are normally busy parents that either struggle with chronic pain or struggle with consistency with exercise, and struggle with anything in which they feel like they're worrying about their health breaking down, or they feel like they're gonna be a burden to their family. Or maybe they're just really wanting to put themselves first for a change. And so right now I have one of my clients here, Ray. And he is more than a client. I've actually known him for a very long time, so I think we can dive into that in just a bit. But I think that if you do stick around for this whole podcast episode, I think that one, I think you'll be very motivated and you'll want to make that spark for change. And I think that raise a person that personifies that. The topic of today and the title today is called The Daily Choice. I think that. Yes, I always talk about consistency, but I really liked how Ray actually framed this to me when we were working together is that he said something that was very profound to me. He said that, I, Jay, I haven't been on a diet, I haven't been on a workout program. Yes, you gave those things to me. I haven't been on those things. I've been on a choice. And I thought that was very profound.'cause every single day of our lives are a mix of daily choices. And those choices can be negative, they can be positive they can help to compel change and they can help to. Send you the wrong direction, you can go into a state of decay. So I really wanna just bring light to that and share ray's journey here. So Ray obviously I've known you for a long time, but welcome in. How are you doing today? Thanks, Jake. I'm doing great. I'm feeling great. And yeah, just wanted to share some of. My journey, how I got here and and how you're a part of my journey. Definitely, just a little background. I've always been in a very physical world basically an athlete growing up, playing basketball. I eat, breathe loved basketball. I played basketball at one point, like seven days a week. I was pretty athletic. I just. I just knew that this is something I loved. And as I got older, I still try to keep the sport near me. But injuries like tore my Achilles having a family, a lot of things happened that just didn't really align with, playing basketball. I got into biking. So biking and just it started with it started with just a simple around the block around Lake Merced. And next thing I'm riding 20 milers, 30 milers, 40 milers. Even. I've done it even a century. But even with that being said, biking on a week every weekend I was biking, but it just might. My, my health, like people thought I was pretty healthy because I was like, biking a hundred milers and doing all this stuff, but I wasn't, I like, something wasn't right and until just recently my my, my pops, he was diagnosed with like cancer and like at that point something struck in me, like health is super important. It's, it could just come and go as, as is and it was something that like it triggered in my head like, I, I want to do something. So I think at that time I was 210 pounds. I decided that I wanted to I wanted to challenge myself. It was September of 2024. I said I wanted to challenge myself and I wanted to run 30 days for. For 30 30 minutes for 30 days. And I was never a runner. I always played basketball all my life, but I was never a runner. So I ran for the first four days. It, I was so scared. I would just run down the street and run around the school and 30 minutes later, I would just come back home and I would be dripping with sweat. I would be breathing harder than I've ever breathed before. And then my, my my phone would say, oh, you've only ran like a mile and a half. It's like barely moved. And my body was in shock. Like it was telling me like, what are you doing after the fourth day? I was like. I remember being in this seat exactly where I'm talking right now, and I was hunched over and I wish I like whispered in my, to myself I'm gonna give up. I'm gonna give up. Like I'm gonna give up. And then my son, he's 15 at that. Yeah, 15 at that time. He's dad, you're not gonna give up, are you? And I was like, oh my God. If I give up now what is that gonna show my son? So I was like, nah, I'm not gonna give up. So I just kept on kept on trying. I didn't figure out like how to run and I just finally my body gave up, collapsed. I got really sick. Long story short I, what happened was I think November December rolled around and finally said, you know what? I'm gonna give running a try again. I didn't. At that time I found a certain method of running, so I started doing that, and then I started finding success. Like every time I ran I wasn't tired anymore. I was like finding success, but at that time I was like I was losing like a pound a day. But it wasn't it motivated me, but it wasn't like the motivator. But I was like something's right. Happening. That's right. But I need help. So I said I, I wanna get stronger, right? Like I think I, that's what I I came to you and I said to you, I said, Hey James I wanna get. I want my legs to be stronger, but all my life I've been lifting weights and I've been lifting weights. Like I could, I, I used to be able to squat like 307 pounds. I used to deadlift, I used to do everything, and then I came up to you and I said, but I wanna learn how to, I wanna get stronger and running. And I, I don't know if you remember that day I was like, I want to get stronger and running. And then you're like, okay. So you put me on a program and then you said, here, this is what you need. You just need to at that point, like I chose. I chose to get I wanna get stronger. I, I wanna get better at running. So then I said I need, I couldn't do it on my own at that point. I said I, I needed more.'cause I'm a competitive person. I wanted to get more. And then not knowing that this, getting more. Was gonna open up more doors for more things. And so you taught me a routine. You taught me four routines late day one, late day two upper body, one upper body pull, and then upper body push. And then it was just like, I think it was like 30 minutes, 40 minutes a day. I went to the gym, did it, and then I started I started, like, when I started running it, it was, it's getting easier. And then not only that like my weight, it just started to get small it started shrinking. Like I started losing more weight and I was like, okay, something's good's happening. Something is definitely happening. But then I said, you know what I have to choose. There's must be more. And then I, so I said, you know what? I started I love to have my beer. I love to have to drink and things like that. And and I said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna see what, how, what I feel like if I stop that. So I stopped drinking, and then I was like, whoa. Like I could run for farther now, and like my legs feel better. It doesn't have to recover. My muscles aren't recovering right. And then, so I'm like, whoa. This choice that I'm making, right? Like it's making me feel good. And and I'm like, you know what? There's other choices I can make. I ended up cutting sugar only eating like real fruits. I cut, I started I said, oh I made a choice not to eat processed foods. And then I just, and then I just started making different choices every day. I realized that small victories every day, which is if working out. Was a victory. Not doing certain things as a victory, just going on a 30 minute run as a victory, like small victories on a daily, it started compiling into a snowball. And I, I think, I started feeling stronger. I lifted all my life. I always thought I was stronger, but not only was I getting stronger I started seeing change in my body. Yeah. It's a lot of one from a mental standpoint, you realize that every day that you made the right choice was a small victory that led into a much larger victory. I think some people, they don't really get started because they're looking for something quick. They're looking for a quick result, and it's good to feel like that endorphin rush from one run to another, where you get your workout done, you made a choice, right? There might be days that you're super tired, but you're like, you know what? I'm still gonna show up to the gym because this is, I'm taking ownership of. The responsibility to my own body. I'm making the choice to go to the gym regardless of my emotions or how I feel that day. Or if you had a bad day you still decide to show up, right? You also made the choice to cut out beer and to cut out more processed foods or cut out sugar, and each of those choices while you didn't see an effect immediately, you might have seen it like a week later or a month later, and now we're talking. Six months later, after, now we've been doing this for over six months now, and so now I believe, what are you not what, 30 to 40 pounds down from when you started? I'm I think, I started at two. I remember scaling at two 10. I'm I'm down to at least 1 65. It's, I don't feel like I, I think. For me, one thing I've realized is that it's it just feels so much more easier. When I used to. What? Park the car. And I'm like, oh, I got all these groceries. And I'm like, oh, you know what? It's not even that bad dude. Just pick it up and just go, it's oh let's go up these stairs. I work in a physical world. I work in automotive, but it's just like even my coworkers, they just started seeing me like, be more. Motivated and moving. And it's it's one of those things that like I just started enjoying it and, but I think the one thing that really motivates me is that it's crazy js I'm 49 years old and I feel like I'm 35. I feel really I feel better now than I, I probably did when I was 35 years old. And it's not because I think it's just the choices that you make and with the things that you go, okay, you know what I enjoy this and I, I wanna run.'cause as a kid you always. You always as a little kid, if you watch your kids, right? Like they always run and when they're running, they're always laughing and smiling, right? And as an adult when you're not able to run, it's like you, you cut something off. But once you realize that you can run again, like run, you're like, whoa. There's a instant joy or run swim or do something fun, right? Like you could be doing that. And I was like. In my mind I was, I'll be honest with you, Jace. I know I talked to you about it and you said, oh you always said to me like, what do you think? You think you're gonna play basketball again? I'm like, no, I don't think that's gonna happen. But, the one thing that actually brings joy is that like I'm able to do other things. I, I'm able to like, spend time with the family and not be tired, chase after the kids, or do things with the kids or do the things I enjoy doing now. And I think that's what the choices that I've made in the last six months is allowing me to do going forward. Hopefully, I can sustain these choices so that I can move, continue to. Grow as that individual. Yeah. Let's go back to a point that you made when you made the choice, even before I was working with you to decide, hey, I'm just gonna do, I'm just gonna start running outside. Obviously the first four days felt like hell felt very brutal. And at that point there was, again, there was another choice, right? One of your choices that was really in your head was like, I'm just gonna give up from here. And then you found some motivation from, whether it's within yourself or maybe your, it was your son, that little pep talk that was like, Hey, you gonna give up now? Take me through those moments on the people out there that may be listening right now that, they start something and let's say it feels like hell or they feel like they've had a setback. Some people they start something and then they feel like a strain. How do you, how would you depict that in your head on how you were able to push through? That initial bout of hellness, right? That initial bout of I can decide to give up now versus I can continue to push forward and try to see more good outta this. I think from the journey I've learned something really true that is. It's, I think what you said in the with me and you. When we started working together, you said, okay, you can have a bar, you can throw 315 pounds on it, and I'll tell you, go there and then go bench this. You're not gonna be able to do it. I know you can't do it. And you might be able to do it, but. You probably gonna strain yourself. You might hurt yourself. And you might not ever want to do it again. And I think that's one thing that I've learned through this journey is that you can't go there and just jump into the ocean and, but think that you're gonna, you're gonna swim three miles. You're not, and I think you need to start, you need to start. Like a certain point where if it's if it, even if it's running, like you can't just say, I'm gonna go run a marathon. You need to start at a pace where it's comfortable for you and then you build on a daily and you grow and you could like, but you have, like you said, you have to grow on a daily. If it's just say, I'm gonna go out and just do. One mile. Okay, that's fine. One mile. Like just walk one mile, and then maybe to next day you feel so much, you feel actually pretty good. You're gonna walk one mile and then maybe speed walk. Maybe when you feel comfortable, then you go, okay, you know what? I'm gonna speed walk half the time and then maybe walk the other time. But maybe this time I'm gonna add maybe another half a mile, and then I'm gonna add maybe. One mile another mile. Next thing you know, you're doing two miles and then you're constantly building. Then you go, you know what I think today I might just try to do a light jog and push yourself. I think that kind of mindset, it that can relate to, you, can relate that back to your ability to grow yourself. When you put that expectation where, oh I need to go out there today and run 10 miles you're gonna, you're just setting yourself up to fail, and you're gonna set yourself up to not want to go do that. But when you set yourself up correctly and then, and build yourself, you're gonna, you're gonna achieve bigger and better things that you might not even. Have that expectation. So you don't need to have that expectation. It's just gonna be, it's gonna be just gonna keep growing and your body will tell you, Hey, it's okay. You can keep growing, keep going. There is no set goal because you're gonna be able to keep, continue to grow. As I, I've learned is the more I do this, the more I go, you know what? I can grow stronger, I can grow faster. I'm gonna grow and I start push, I start putting these mini goals and they say, Hey, you know what? I think I'm gonna try to do this. I'm gonna try to do this. I started with barely can't even run a mile and I. I know I I've ran a marathon. It's crazy. You ran a marathon, which is ridiculous. I just woke up one day and I said, I feel like running out. I feel like running. And I started running and then and I said, I feel so good. I just kept on running like Forge Gump. And then next thing I'm like. From Daley City I'm all the way down to Chase Center, and then I'm running all the way to going a bridge and back. And the next thing you know, my clock, my watch says a marathon. And I'm like, holy crap. I just ran a marathon. And but, but in my mind, like it's, it wasn't like I, I woke up one day and said, I'm gonna run it. I actually like it. It built it, it built up to it. And I think whatever you your body is so much more powerful than you think. Your mind will always tell you, no, you can't do it. You can't achieve it. But believe it or not, like you can overcome that. And when you do overcome, the only way you can overcome that is by making that choice to get to that. Like these choices that you make will overcome that mindset. Yeah. I think you hit on some good points around taking a more gradual approach. The gradual approach is like when I first met you, it's always to get a good, strong baseline of where you're at. So giving you the right tools so that those tools that I give to you, you're not gonna to like, take those tools and also all of a sudden injure yourself, hopefully, is to provide like the right guidance and tools and even the right progressions. So just want to hit on a few points that I thought would allowed you to be successful and. I think you can find some agreement here is like the tracking of things, right? Knowing and understanding that like, okay, if you did a mile today, you should be tracking that and knowing that the next week you can do a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half, right? It's very important. Or if you wanted to go from four miles an hour, you're not gonna immediately just jump to nine miles an hour and expect your Achilles and other tendons to be okay with it. You gotta take a more gradual approach to that. The, there's a system to everything, right? And. Going back to that point of when you were at, that point of four, four days into your 30 days of running is that you could have said to yourself like, I'm gonna give'em from here because it's just too damn hard. And it's very true. It's like many people feel like the hill, that the hill is too steep to climb, right? The ladder is too long, right? I cannot scale to the top of the building. But when you really do put your mind to it, as cliche as that sounds, is that your body is extremely capable, extremely resilient. It doesn't matter if you're, I'm 35, 36. You're 49, but at 49 years of age, that's incredible. To go from just seven, eight months ago, barely even able to run, 30 minutes to now running a marathon for fun. So it's good to see that journey unfold, but to see that every single day was indeed a choice. The choice to continue to progress, the choice to not just maintain the choice, to not skip a workout when it was drizzling outside of it, is that these are all the choices that we do make. I've al always been a person of choice where, I choose. To put my body through hell while working out for 16 to 90 minutes, but while I'm feeling that suffering temporarily. That it's allowing me to gain the pleasures of, like you said, being able to keep up with my kids or being able to squat down with my kids and not have knee pain or, to pick up a ton of, like we're going on vacation, not to carry the gr, the Rocco, the crib, everything. And to be able to do that without injury, that was a product of just daily choice. So yeah, I, one, I just wanna commend you,'cause obviously this has been a journey that I've seen. Unfold you're 45, 50 pounds down running marathons, and obviously you're gonna con continue to keep this up. I guess that the next thing I can ask you is in terms of. Main so there's something that, that I always say is that you usually don't find growth where it's comfortable, right? You don't. It's like you need to find growth through discomfort. Or another way to say it is you need to be uncom, you need to be comfortable with being uncomfortable because in the moments of discomfort is where you're gonna see growth. So even nowadays, even at the peak that you're at right now you're 49, but you're feeling 35. How are you continuing to just push through and like level up from here? I'm just curious on what your mindset is now. It's funny that you asked that. I think, going through working with you, Ja, like my mindset was like, okay I wanna get to a certain point I got here and I'm like, okay, you know what? I think I'm cool here. I'm cool here, right? And then the more I started to get to that point where I started to start saying to myself, I'm cool here. I'm cool here. That's, and then I just recently realized,'cause I I tweaked my back go, coming back from Hawaii vacation. And, I was running and working out at the gym and then and I was just not really working on my back. And next thing like I just lifted a tire and I tweaked it. And I realized I think the reason why I did that is because. Like I wasn't like, I wasn't there. I was just accepting the fact that I'm okay. I'm not pushing myself. And then once, once I realized that I, that I, I didn't that I lost my, I, I I had this pain and I lost this ability to get my back straight and there was this pain, a sharp pain in my back. I was like, dude, I never want that. I never want that. Like it really, it just there's something in my brain that says I never want that and I said, you know what? I know how to prevent that and that, that is to strengthen like con, make sure that I'm always continually pushing and strengthening my back. And it's crazy because I was, for the last three weeks I was help, like working with a friend and then we're working out and then, it was, and then I neglected working on my back and I think back on it and I'm like, oh man, maybe two, three weeks and then the vacation, and then I didn't, I all of a sudden, like I tweaked my back on, on a move at work that I do hundreds of times the same thing. And then I just tweaked it and I was like, dude, like how am I gonna, how am I gonna prevent this from happening? And the funny thing is it just happened like yesterday. And that same day I, I know I texted you, but you didn't respond. But that day that right when it happened I wasn't like super injured, but I knew I tweaked it. I went right to the gym and then I did a light back workout and I came home and I was watching TV and I was doing like like squatting and thing bending over without without any weights. And then this morning I woke up and my back was like, feeling pretty decent. Like it was back to like good any other time. Like it wouldn't have been like that. And I think it was just the things that you've taught me and like the things that you've taught me to strength is so important. You need to address the problem, not like rest the problem to avoid it. So for me, going forward. Like this actually was a really good experience for me because you have, I think, when you go through things, you learn and you you want to get, you want to grow from it, and I'm like, never again do I want this to happen. I'm gonna push even harder. I wanna I wanna get strong. Like I wanna, I want to get the numbers higher. I want to get like I'm a believer. Let's do it. Yeah. Sure. And sometimes it take, sometimes it takes something like that to, for it to happen. Yeah. Like if everything was kosher, maybe I didn't need to go push myself. Maybe I didn't need to do that. Maybe, but something like this happened, she's you know what? I know why it happened. It's because like I, I took a break and you can't take a break. Like you, you gotta. The ultimate is a choice too, right? It's yeah. The very common thing that people do if they get sick and I, I don't blame people.'cause it's like, whether it's what has worked for you in the past or whether it's a product of experience where hey, if your dad or mom got sick, they usually will rest in bed. I used to do that too. I used to be like, Hey, I have a fever. Fever and a lot of times, yeah, you don't wanna push your body so hard, so you gotta understand where your capacity is, right? If you have a fever, your capacity for exercise is obviously lower, right?'cause there's something inflammatory that needs to be outletted from the body. But that doesn't mean that if you have. Fever or that you have a cold or like a little flu that you go completely cold Turkey, and line bed all day. And these are things that obviously, like when I did reply to you, I was like, yeah, I think that the mistake that you need to learn from was like when your body hurts or when something hurts, is to not necessarily just rust it, right? It's like you can maintain some form of activity, whether it's walking or you did a lighter version of your leg day. Then all of a sudden, then your body responded in a positive way where it's whoa. It felt that load, it felt the weight of the bar on top of your spine and your spine actually felt better as a result of that. All of this is just neurological changes as a result of when things hurt is like you can make the choice of. Resting in bed or putting a heat pack on or just doing nothing because it hurts so much. Or you can decide to actually still move your body and you can still go to the gym, or you can still, at least at the minimum, walk on a treadmill and usually 90% of the time when you choose a more active approach versus a more passive one. Usually your body responds in a more positive way. And I want explain something in terms of mountains, like you ever see like a mount like the mountaineers and they're like putting the spike through the mountain and then they're putting like the carabiners and then they put a little, like a point where they can just hang from that point. Because a lot of times, like when we achieve our goals. We think that we're at like the top of the mountain, right? And a lot of times we feel a little complacent. We're like, we get a spike of dopamine. We're like, yeah, I feel good. I feel great. Because I'm at the top of the mountain right now. And then little do you know that if you just turn to the right and you're looking, there's actually another mountain, there's another, and you're like, shoot. Like I'm either can be like, I work so damn hard to be at the top of this mountain and I can just choose to stay where I'm at. Or I can decide to take the next journey and level up again, level up in terms of speed, endurance, power, resilience, strength, and all that. And that's my decisions too. Like most people at age 36, it's I just passed their prime, but I know I'm not passed by prime. Like I, I can continue to push heavier weight, continue to get faster from. So people need to realize that, like when you have that mentality of maintenance, is that's a choice too. I just wanna maintain, I just wanna do the same three days a week of exercise. I'm okay doing the same weight, I'm okay doing the same rests. That's a choice, but guess what? That choice gets you to Maintenance is better than your couch potato. But the maintenance people that decide I'm gonna do the same, waste, the same stuff. When you turn one year older or one decade older, or two decades older, if you're trying to maintain, guess what happens? You're actually not maintaining. You are indeed declining because your muscle mass and everything are decreasing. You think you're maintaining, but you're not. So that's why like everybody in the world, even when probably when I turn 80, I'm gonna have that mentality to push my body to the capacity of what my 80-year-old self can do. If I continue to push those boundaries, I'm going to maintain a higher quality of life, maintain a higher level of mobility and strength compared to my peers. That is a choice of continuing to push into those later years. Yeah. Am I gonna push the same amount weight when I'm age 36 compared to 80? Maybe not, but like I said, that's also a choice as well, right? You ever heard of the guy, Joe Stockinger? If you haven't yet, Ray, that's a great person to look for. He's 93, 94 years of age. He's in, by far like one of the oldest powerlifters, yet he continuously just shows up and there's video clips of him going viral where he's still lifting 400 pounds off the floor and he's 94 years of age. That's a person that made choices. Hey, Ja I wanted to share something that I experienced with you to, to the people during our like training ventures together. I, I remember in the beginning of our. Are like, when I first started, you gave me this workout routine for my legs and you're, you said to me right away, you're like, Hey, Ray, man you're hamstring man. You're, they're like, they're weak. And then I was like, oh, like I, I've been predominantly like doing squats for my quads. And then you're like, Hey, Ray, just let you know your heavens are kinda weak. And then, so I was like, okay. Cool. And then so you gave me like a leg day one, leg day two routine. And I think I remember going for a month or maybe three weeks and then, and all of a sudden, like I, I injure myself like, like I strained my hamstring. Do you remember? Do you remember that? Yeah, because, so I string my hamstring again. I remember you, I think it was that like I even stopped working out. I didn't even tell you that like I stringed my hamstring until we met up.'cause we, we meet up once a month and then you're like, oh, so what's going on Ray? How's everything going? And I said, oh yeah, like in week two I screened my hamstring. And then I think you said oh, how come you didn't tell me? And I was like, oh, I didn't wanna bother you, so you know I didn't, or something like that. And I said, oh I don't know. Jay's it's pretty bad. Should I, what do you think? Should I just rest it? And then I think I was like, oh, should I rest it? And maybe when it feels better I'll get back on the leg program and then all of a sudden you hear crickets. And then I think you, it was a funny moment. And then you said to me, you go. Ray, I don't think you know me by now yet. And then I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, Ray, that's not the way I work. And I'm like, okay. Like how do you work? I guess I didn't know you at that. Like I didn't know the way you work. So you said to me, you're like, Hey, you Ray, what I'm gonna do? It's gonna add three exercises to your workout. I was like, what? And then you like, add more add. Oh, I'm just making me laugh. I was like, what? You're gonna add three more exercises? He goes, yes, Ray. So what you're gonna do is you're gonna, you're gonna be at home. You don't even need to be at at the gym. You're gonna be watching TV and you're gonna do three more exercises. All right. You're gonna do this exercises, this, that exercise and this. And he showed me how to do it. I remember specifically. And I was like, okay. And then you're like, I want you to do it. Three times maybe three times a week, once in the morning and once a night, it's like a pill, right? And then and I was like, oh, okay. I think I did it maybe four times. It was gone. The pain was gone. I was like, holy crap. Like the pain is the hamstring pain is gone. I could run I could do the leg workout. The pain is gone. I still, to this day, I don't really under you you just strengthened my hamstring. Is that what you did? I don't know what you did, but it was like, it was a miracle thing that I was like, oh my God. Like it's gone. But I think I needed to be on the program to find out what was weak so that you can adapt the program to make. What was weak, stronger. And it allowed me, and may, throughout the whole thing I was, I came back and I said, oh, my Achilles not hurting. Okay, here's three more exercises for your Achilles. This is not, it just I like vent. Finally knew oh, this is how the program works. It's not about the program, it's about how your body's reacting to the program and how are we gonna adapt to get your body stronger and align to the program. Yeah. And I think that's something that I've learned, through, through this experience with you is that don't avoid let's attack the problem. Let's, it's not about resting it, it's about attacking it and doing it in a, in the right method where it's gonna strengthen it and it's gonna better yourself. A lot of co, a lot of doctors or a lot, a lot of people, let's say rest it take ibuprofen heated cold, I don't think you've ever. Told me to ice it once or heat it once or rub it out. No, I never I rarely recommend ice or heating. I don't think you've ever even, I don't think you've mentioned like, even rubbing it or like massage. I don't remember you saying that. Rarely that you can do that. I mean that sometimes things can be like, your hamstring could have been so irritable that I would've, I could have recommended like, massaging it out or using a foam roll, but I usually will say that's less important. Than loading it in the right amount. So just for frame of reference, you'd be like, it's a miracle. I don't know really how it works. This is how it works, right? It's that usually if you tweak anything, is that your capacity for that. That capacity in the hamstring is a little less tolerance to load, right? So if you tweak your hamstring, but then you try to add on an intense amount of load, like you try to just sprint. You might have just sprained it worse. You've seen that in NBA plenty of times where like people, they overdo it, they over sprint or they land wrong and then they tweak the hamstring. So it wasn't about I always say that like avoidance. Yeah. We talk about choices all the time. It's a daily choice. Avoidance is a choice, but also I also think that avoidance is the enemy. And I think you know that very clear not right. Avoidance is the enemy, right? Is that you might have tweaked something, but now you have a choice whether you want to just sit on the couch and just mope. Or you could decide, Hey, I'm going to still supply that injured tissue with the right stimulus, with the right stimulus and it, the stimulus. Right now, the medicine is not, wasn't sprinting because that would be overmedicating, the hamstring, but you want to medicate it the right amount so that you feel better the next day. So that could have been. Single, like hip brushers at home, or maybe it was just like light lunges or something that's still loading the hamstring. If you load it in the right amount, it's going to yield positive adaptations. If you load it too much, which is the same thing like a doctor tell tells you to take medication, heart medication three times a day, but you decide to take six times a day, that heart medication might work against you. You might have some side effects. So that's ultimately how it works. Is. There's physiological benefits to loading injured tissues. There's also mental benefits to when you're doing the exercise and in the moment that you're doing the exercise, you're like, wow, my body can still tolerate hip thrusters. My body can still tolerate a little hamstring load. I don't have to avoid. So there's a mental benefit during the workout while you're doing it. And then not just that, but then you recheck things and you're like, you do the same exercise that, that just injured you. One to seven days ago, and you're like, oh my God. These three other exercises actually made a world of a difference, and now I can do the same exact exercise and get back to running in half the time that I would have if I simply just avoided. So psychological benefits, physiological benefits. Again, we always talk about how many people in their health and fitness journey will make choices with how they respond to setbacks. They'll make choices on when things feel like suffering or when things feel like they're burning or when you're lifting heavier, your weights, you can have that choice. I'm gonna stay exactly where I'm at, or you can make that choice to just be 0.5% better or 1% better. Those 0.5 to 1% betters. Yeah, it might have pushed you a little harder than what you anticipated during that workout, but you see the mental, psychological, the long-term benefits now that you are, head over heels better in every way possible, physiologically, less weight, probably your heart health is every better. You're less visceral fat. These are all the like 0.5 to 1% better choices that we make on a daily basis, which is obviously what you led in with this podcast. But yeah it's not miracles, it's legitimately just science, understanding the nuances of health, healthcare perceives pain relief and how healthcare how healthcare tells people in terms of like diabetic management or heart management's play it safe, low impact. Or when things hurt, don't do anything. Stop. Avoid the stuff that initially hurt you. And now we know that how healthcare should be, that you wanna still push those sub max thresholds. You still want to do something active. And then you start to see those acute and long-term benefits. Yeah. Case. Yeah. I'm curious on your end, like how this is I don't know if, this is a silly question, but the why factor is we talk about daily choices and you can always look at this like fork on the road, right? One is I feel tired, so I can either just skip my workout and just sit on the couch and watch Netflix or the choice of, or I can continue to push through. I'm just curious in your head is what is your why? Like why do you continue to. Be better. Why do you continue to be 1% better? Is it simply more of that Hey, I want to prioritize my health and just be self-care. Is it about your kids? Is it a combination of things? The why factor is something I talk about a lot with a lot of clients.'cause I really want to know from your end, what is your deep sense of why and why you continue to do the things you do well? Jace I think you might even laugh if I told you my wife after. It's because I have addictive personality and I'm addicted to feeling this. Like I'm addicted to the feeling, the feeling of waking up and feeling wow. Like I feel good and I'm addicted to like the food, what it makes me feel that feeling. And it's like when you're able to. Like for the longest time, I don't know how long, my, my body's been eating certain foods, been going through certain things and like I just didn't even know what feeling good felt like. And once you like that, that once you get to that feeling, it's like it's, and it's free and you don't even have to pay for it because you just have to just make the cho the choice. The choice to to put what you put what is right. Eat, you can eat as much as you want, as long as it's in, in that right food group, or you can go out and do what you want to do. It's gonna, it's gonna make, it's gonna make you feel better. Even if it's just walking, just that little bit. It's going to, it's gonna be so much better for you. And I think that the why I continue to do it is because I just love that feeling and I just have like I said, I have addictive personality and I just, I'm addicted to feeling good and I, I just wanna I go, you know what, how am I gonna do it today? And if it's something where I can just need to go to the gym for 30 minutes or if, even if just waking up making a cup of coffee doing 20 pushups, doing pulling, doing like 10 pull-ups and, air squats or whatever, and then you just wake up to that and you go, wow, all right. You know what? Like it's this way to start something good. And it's like a, it's like a routine. You just, it's the mindset. And I think once you get, have that mindset, it just gets easier. And that's damn sure. Yeah, you the mindset is like, it's you if you work hard now, it does become easier later. You can say that in a number of ways because if you work hard today, it is going to feel hard for the next few days or even a week or even a month. But you know that if you just continue to push through and be resilient. Is that hard is now gonna become easy. Right now that hard, which was like 30 minutes of running for you, 30 minutes of running for you is like cakewalk. That doesn't even feel like running for you anymore. It's it's just unusually easy. But for another person, or maybe the version of Ray that was five years ago that was, drinking more or was a lot heavier, you wouldn't have imagined that, right? That 30 minutes is that was hell. Now for you, that's heaven. That's easy. It's like a mental cognitive benefit to be able to run 30 minutes. So anybody that is considering starting a health and fitness journey, just understand that yes, it is going to be hard in the beginning, but you have to make that choice. You have to make that choice to continue to push through regardless of whether you strain something. Learn from it or, yeah like I said, I work with Ray, coach them through it, coach them through a hamstring injury or coach them through a little Achilles strain. Don't have these little setbacks be the thing that has you stumbling down the mountain. Continue to push up the mountain. Because at the end of the day, you will get up to the top of the mountain if you put your mind to it. And after that, then you can willingly decide to look to the right and be like shoot, there's a bigger mountain there. Now I'm willing to climb that one. Then you're, then your new level of hard is now way up here. Your level of hard a year ago was all the way down here. That's amazing thing to see, just to see that growth. Any case, I feel like we can just keep hitting on these points, but I just wanna let you guys know that if there's one person that personifies obviously like hard work ethics, making daily choices. That's right. I think we both have a pretty. Addicted personality, right? But I really love how you said it and the way that you said it was like, I'm addicted to feeling good. You don't even know how good you can feel when you decide to actually start, whether it's running, which is more of aerobic activity, great sport to have in your life. I run all the time to strength training. I think that obviously, now know the benefits of how good strength training can make you feel. But yeah, it's like you, you start that journey, right? You start that journey. It's hard in the beginning, but it comes way easier. And your life in general the ability to just do day-to-day things, carry groceries or carry your kids or run with your kids and play soccer you're not winded, right? You're enjoying those moments. You're enjoying your vacations. You're enjoying the fruits of your labor, you're enjoying your seventies and eighties, versus some people in their seventies and eighties, they're in the wheelchair, they're in hospitalized. You can enjoy those moments later on. So any case I'd love to end this with some sort of note here, rave there's anything else that wanna share that, I think you cap off this podcast. Is there any sort of notes of advice or encouragement or anybody, anything that you wanna say? To the group? I just believe that you gotta be like a turtle, right? And, it's not a it's not a fast sprint race to the finish, but it's a long journey. And the journey, you gotta enjoy the journey and through, through each decision that you make and the changes that happens, you can't do it all. You can't change everything at one time, it will naturally happen. Like just the. Small victories. Small victories are the ones that you go for. And then those small victories will lead to like bigger ones. And not knowing that, it's gonna be like a snowball effect, but do the expectations, be real with yourself and when you are real and don't and you can make that choice the correct choice on a daily. You're gonna be all right. And I encourage anybody to go on this journey because it's your journey, your individual journey. Not nobody else's. It's not that other person's don't compare yours to the other person. How that person, this and that. Everybody has their journey, but, take, be eternal. And believe it or not, that turtle is gonna run super fast. It might be run faster than some of the fastest people that you might think that they're, oh my gosh, they're so fast. But that turtle's gonna catch up and it's gonna be a very powerful one. Absolutely. Great. Great way to end that. Right? You're probably the personification of somebody that was obviously seeing you grow up. You were one of the. Faster people that I've seen. So you wore the hair right? And all of a sudden, like setbacks and injuries and life choices, right? The life choices that you made led you to feeling like a very slow turtle at one point in your life, right? Where you didn't feel good, you're lethargic. You didn't feel athletic anymore. There was injury after injury. And then now, then that's slow turtle now has become the hair again, right? Obviously it's been really good to see the journey. I look forward to continue to support you in that journey. Even the times that like, we'll continue to. It's a touch base. And and this kind of caps off the daily choice, right? You have the fork on the road. You willingly decide today what you want to do. Do you wanna go down this more sedentary route? Do you wanna choose the active route? That's really up to you. So every day is a choice. So for anybody here that you know is considering change, that wants to make lifestyle changes, you wanna get stronger, you wanna get healthier you're a busy parent, but you know that you need to take care of your health. Like I said I'm going to link a description. There is a link to for an application. After the application, you can book in for a free consultation with me and my team to see if we can help you. And if there's any other questions or any other feedback, just feel free to comment below. And let us know what you think about this podcast. So we'd love to get your feedback. In case Ray, I really enjoyed speak, speaking with you. I've known that we've spoken to each other since. If you guys didn't know since I was four or five years of age, but it's been really cool to see the journey. I look forward to supporting you. Okay, thanks Jay. Thanks for having me. Alright man.