148. Fitz Koehler: The Four Pillars of Fitness and the Exact Formula for Strength, Fat Loss, and Longevity

Strength is the foundation of longevity. When muscle, cardiovascular fitness, mobility, balance, sleep, and nutrition align, performance improves, metabolism sharpens, and aging becomes something you influence rather than fear. In this episode of Extend, we sit down with Fitz Koehler, founder of Fitzness.com, keynote speaker, race announcer, and five time author, to unpack her Four Pillars of Fitness and the exact formula for sustainable weight loss and long term vitality. We break down the difference between activity and deliberate exercise, why toning is a myth, how the grunt, huff, wince, and wobble signal true adaptation, and how a simple calorie budget paired with high quality nutrition preserves muscle while reducing fat. We also explore how discipline outperforms motivation, why sleep and strategic naps accelerate recovery, how strength training protects bone and balance during menopause and aging, and how tracking weight, reps, and daily habits creates measurable progress over time. Fitz Koehler is one of America's most electrifying keynote speakers, a premier race announcer, fitness innovator, host of The Fitzness Show podcast, and five time author whose latest book You Supercharged! The Exact Formula for Fitness, Weight Loss, and Longevity is helping people worldwide build strength, resilience, and lasting health. What We Discuss: (01:35) Fitz's Origin Story: From Teen Fitness Instructor to Industry Leader (03:42) Cancer Recovery and Rebuilding Strength After Treatment (09:20) Why Strength Training Is the Fountain of Youth (12:00) "Toning" vs Real Muscle Adaptation (13:42) The Four Pillars of Fitness: Strength, Cardio, Flexibility, Balance (17:15) Activity vs Deliberate Exercise (21:08) How to Start Again and Improve 1% Per Day (26:10) Discipline Over Motivation (29:02) You Supercharged and the Exact Formula for Weight Loss (32:28) The Calorie Budget Strategy Explained (40:09) Muscle Preservation, Protein, and GLP 1 Considerations (42:41) Sleep, Recovery, and the Power of Strategic Naps (48:00) Tracking Progress: Scale, Strength, Hydration (52:00) Menopause, Hormones, and Building Strength at Any Age Thank You to Our Sponsors: Function Health: Learn more and join using my link. Visit www.functionhealth.com/drshah http://www.functionhealth.com/drshah and use gift code DRSHAH25 for a $25 credit toward your membership. Learn more about Dr. Shah: Website: https://www.drshah.com/ Clinic: https://www.next-health.com/ Instagram:darshanshahmd https://www.instagram.com/darshanshahmd/ Learn more about Fitz Koehler: Website: https://www.fitzness.com Podcast: The Fitzness Show https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fitzness-show/id1133236848 Instagram: fitzness https://www.instagram.com/fitzness/ Linkedin: Fitz Koehler https://www.linkedin.com/in/fitz-koehler/ Facebook: Fitzness https://www.facebook.com/Fitzness-218599521492381/ You Tube: @fitzness https://www.youtube.com/fitzness Tik Tok: @fitzness13 https://www.tiktok.com/@fitzness13

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Welcome to Extend with me, Dr. Darshan Shah, a podcast dedicated to cutting-edge science, research, tools, and protocols designed to help you extend your health span. Having become one of the youngest doctors in the country at the age of 21, and trained and board-certified at the Mayo Clinic, I've accumulated three decades of practice as a board-certified surgeon and longevity expert. Over that time, I've discovered that a mere 20% of health knowledge yields 80% of the results when it comes to your health span. We're living in a new era where we are creating a new healthcare system, no longer focused on disease management, but achieving optimal health and vitality. Join me as I interview world-renowned experts, offering you a step-by-step guide to proactively avoid disease, and most importantly, extend your health span.

• 0:49Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Most people think that fitness means working out regularly, but many are only training one quarter of what their body actually needs to be strong, resilient, and long-lasting. In this episode of Extend, I'm joined by Fitz Koehler. She's a fitness innovator, a race announcer, podcast host, and the author of the new book, "You Supercharged: The Exact Formula for Fitness, Weight Loss, and Longevity." Fitz brings an energizing, no-nonsense approach to health that cuts through quick fixes and fads to focus on what truly works, a system built around what she calls the "four pillars of fitness." We break down why strength, cardio, flexibility,

• 1:32Dr. Darshan Shah?

  and balance are all non-negotiables for real fitness, how her exact formula integrates movement, nutrition, and sleep for sustainable results, and why discipline, not motivation, is a key to long-term success. Fitz also shares how she applied these principles during her breast cancer journey to go from sick to strong and come back more powerful than ever. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and build a body and mindset that's truly supercharged, this conversation is for you.

• 2:08Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Hey everyone. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to talk about something that you hear me talk a lot about, your biomarkers. And I want to tell you how I'm approaching this situation right now with all of the patients that are calling me from listening to this podcast. So what happens is every day, patients are writing to me saying they feel exhausted, they can't lose weight, they're having brain fog, and they see their doctor, and the doctor tells them all their blood work is normal. But the problem is, this doctor usually is only checking about 10 to 15 biomarkers that only tell you if you have a disease developing. Meanwhile, your body has 160 different systems that are running. Then all of these have blood tests that we can test on how effective they're working for you every single day. So if someone is not close to one of my clinics, one of my next health clinics,

• 2:52Dr. Darshan Shah?

  then I tell them, go to their local laboratory and get on Function Health. Function Health gives you access to 160 different biomarkers, the same kind of comprehensive testing that we do at all of our next self-clinics. And if you try to get this on your own through your regular doctor, it can cost you thousands of dollars. Hormones, inflammation, toxins, nutrient levels, they're all tracked over time in this one platform called Function Health. They can even help you get an MRI scan or a CT scan if you want one. So what I love most about this company is that they don't have a crazy incentive to do this. Function doesn't push supplements, they don't have pharmaceuticals they're trying to get you to take. You're just getting the data, and you're getting insights from the data. And you can bring this data to a clinic like ours,

• 3:36Dr. Darshan Shah?

  and we then have the information that we need to tell you how to improve your health. Membership is now only $365 a year. Literally, it's just a dollar a day. And right now, if you're one of my listeners, you can get a $25 credit towards the membership. You just go to the link in the bio, or go to functionhealth.com/drschah, and use the code DRSCHAH25 for a $25 credit towards your membership.

• 4:05Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Fitz, thank you so much for coming to California to join me for the Extend Podcast.

• 4:10Speaker 01

  I would have come to Norway for you, Dr. Shah.

• 4:12Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You're amazing. Thank you. Thank you. So sweet of you. Okay, so you are an incredibly well-known fitness expert and you give advice to thousands of people on fitness and you've been living this lifestyle since you were like a teenager, basically, right?

• 4:28Speaker 01

  Right.

• 4:28Dr. Darshan Shah?

  But you've seen your fair share of ups and downs.

• 4:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, I have. And it's funny, I did start teaching fitness at 14.

• 4:34Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You taught fitness at 14?

• 4:36Speaker 01

  I started teaching fitness at 14.

• 4:37Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 4:38Speaker 01

  Yeah, I left Cinnabon. I was working small, making cinnamon buns. And I was at the gym post-rehab. I had an MCL tear, went to PT.

• 4:48Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Was that from sports or something?

• 4:49Speaker 01

  From soccer.

• 4:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Soccer.

• 4:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. I was a mediocre soccer player, but I still got it. I got a real superstar injury. And the physical therapist after surgery said, you need to join a gym. So my mother lied. She said I was 15, so I could join Spa Lady, a little women's gym in Fort Lauderdale. And I joined and I fell in love with exercise and I started taking classes and I really enjoyed that. And I was working at Cinnabon, which is the direct opposite of making, of teaching fitness. But yeah, my manager got mean. And so I quit and I applied at the gym. And they said, have you ever taught fitness before? And I said, no. And they said, well, do you think you could teach a class on Friday? It was Tuesday. And I said, well, I'll give it a go. I mean, thank goodness I'm a gamer. That's really where it all began. And I just fell in love with it. I love the, I love

• 5:32Speaker 01

  the act of exercising with people. And then I love the outcomes. You know, even as a really young person, I started seeing not only people's bodies changes, but their minds were upgraded, their lives were transformed, they had better social circles, they had more confidence, they were getting better jobs. And my fascination, my commitment with it has just grown exponentially over the years. I'm so in love with what I do.

• 5:56Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Wow, that's amazing. And I know a big part of your story too, and how I met you was through Dr. Dawn Masalem. And then, you know, you met her at a run for cancer and you went through a cancer journey yourself, right?

• 6:08Speaker 01

  I did, yeah. Yeah, I'm, I think I'm six years remission right now. But yeah, thank you. I did, we call it the treatment triathlon, chemo, radiation, surgery, all the stuff. And I was beaten up. I had that moment where my mom shouted at me, you need to eat. You look like you're in the Holocaust. And I said, oh. Thanks Mom, I'm working on it, but thank God I'm a fitness expert because when I hit rock bottom and it was very, it was very hard to hit rock bottom, I never had a doubt that I would rebuild my body and return to not only normalcy, but excellence and athleticism. But at that point, I thought about all the millions of my peers, you know, think how many cancer patients hit rock bottom, they are devastated by chemo and radiation and

• 6:51Speaker 01

  amputations, etc. And they have no idea how to get back to, you know, not only normal, but even better. And once you've recovered from cancer, you, you tend to embrace life and want more. And so, so yeah, so I wrote the Healthy Cancer Comeback book series and I'm really committed to helping other patients go from sick to strong.

• 7:14Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, that's such an incredible mission. I think you're absolutely right, you know, I, prior to doing this podcast and doing my current clinical practice, I did surgery in a lot of women who had breast cancer. I did the recon, the removal and then the reconstruction piece of this. And you're absolutely right, like, I think the mindset of post-surgery for many women, of post-breast cancer surgery for many women, is that this is kind of like the end of a normal life, when the reality is it can be the beginning of a whole new, a whole new lease on life, a whole new attitude around fitness and health and nutrition and all of it.

• 7:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's perspective. I mean, it's, no matter who you are, what you have, the second someone looks at you and says, hey, you've got cancer, or ALS, or Parkinson's, or whatever it is, the only thing you want at that point is health, right? You don't care about the car and the clothes and the purse. All you think is, jeez, I just want to be healthy, right? And so, I find it interesting, bless the medical professionals who are telling patients, you should exercise, you should eat right. But doing it during all of this treatment is, is trickier than it sounds. And so, being able to have that firsthand experience and then, of course, the fitness expertise, I, I was just compelled to put it together. And thankfully, so many people are buying off on it, that yeah, exercise

• 8:32Speaker 01

  and nutrition are, will make you more likely to hit remission, less likely to have a recurrence. And then, of course, just go live larger than ever. And there are so many cancer survivors that are living really big and, and really joyfully, despite some of the, the scars they may carry, so.

• 8:51Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right, absolutely. And, you know, looking back from your perspective of now going through this and writing these books.

• 8:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:58Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I have a friend going through breast cancer right now, just getting started on treatment. What are like two or three big pieces of advice that you can give her to make it through? And things that you wish that you would have known and have done differently?

• 9:12Speaker 01

  Well, I would say control what you can. So there's always something you can control. I mean, just choosing a doctor. That's within your control. You don't just let them hand you a doctor. You research the one that works for you. And when your doctor makes treatment recommendations, know that you have the option to say yes, approve or deny. I approved everything my doctor suggested, but it was something I could control, right? And the other thing is exercise. You may not be the person you were. You may not be able to do the things you could do before, but do something.

• 9:44Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  You know, even if you're having a sick in bed day, and boy, did I have a lot of those. I would do bridges in bed. I would stretch in the shower. There's always something you can do to push the needle forward. And, you know, balance training is very important. You know what's worse than being a sick cancer patient? Is being a sick cancer patient with a broken hip or a concussion because you fell. And boy, do these drugs make people wobbly, right? So if you're constantly just doing whatever you can, when you can, you know, you'll regress less quickly. And then you'll be able to bounce back more effectively.

• 10:16Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, that's so true. So true. That's great advice. And also, I think, you know, from the nutrition perspective, make sure you keep your protein and your nutrition up. You know, chemotherapy is incredibly depleting of nutritional stores. And I see that leads to a massive amount of muscle loss as well.

• 10:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 10:34Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And, you know, you and I both know, when you lose muscle while you're trying to fight cancer, it becomes harder to get into remission.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  Makes everything harder.

• 10:42Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  You know, it's interesting in the running community. So folks, if you don't know, I'm a race announcer. So I deal with some of the, I host some of the largest, most iconic running events in America. Big, big events. And there are some folks out there, some running experts, I'm using the quotation marks because it drives me mad. But they'll say, do not strength train. If you want to be a good marathon runner, do not strength train. Oh, and I got a real beef with that. Because I think on any given day, doing any given thing, would you rather be stronger or weaker?

• 11:13Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 11:13Speaker 01

  What's, is there any, Dr. Shaw, is there any place in time where it's more beneficial to be weaker?

• 11:20Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, this makes no sense. I can't believe the running coach is telling people don't strengthen.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  Yeah, some really, really well-known iconic ones. And so there's a fight constantly convincing people. And of course, women are afraid they're become, they're gonna look like bodybuilders. And it's just, you know, strength is the fountain of youth, I truly believe. It's, it's the thing that keeps us off the floor. It keeps us, prevents us from having sprains, strains and tears. It boosts your metabolism. It builds strong bones. It's, it's everything, so.

• 11:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You know, I've always wondered, where does that come from? You know, whenever you ask a certain population of women in the past, and this is changing, thank God, that I don't want to strengthen because I don't want to get bulky. Where does that misconception come from?

• 12:03Speaker 01

  I, you know, just like the olden days.

• 12:06Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, I guess so, right.

• 12:08Speaker 01

  Blaming Bridgerton or something like that. But I remember my mother told my sister she cannot take weight training class in high school because she would look like a bodybuilder. It's just this random myth. It's almost like suggesting if you wake up tomorrow and go for a run, you will immediately become a world-class marathoner.

• 12:24Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  It's just so outlandish. And women, we don't tend to make enough testosterone to build large muscles. I mean, I, I do an enormous amount of strength training and I'm still a pretty small girl. I watch what I put in my mouth, right? So ladies know that to build bulky muscles, not only do you have to put an exorbitant amount of effort lifting, but you have to double down on nutrition. And you're packing in the protein in unreasonable ways. Um, so, you know, we watch the older generation now, these women, they, they fall, they shatter like glass.

• 12:57Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Exactly.

• 12:57Speaker 01

  And they gotta have their hips replaced, or they just die because of those broken hips.

• 13:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 13:01Speaker 01

  So we should be telling, you know, we should be adopting the notion that we should be strength training aggressively every other day.

• 13:08Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes.

• 13:08Speaker 01

  For a million reasons. And then our daughters should be taught that strength training is. Vital and you're not going to look like a man, you're going to look like a much hotter woman.

• 13:19Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes.

• 13:20Speaker 01

  Right? Vanity's okay, right?

• 13:21Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah. Absolutely. So I think part of the problem is too is like, you know, you see women with large bulky muscles, usually those women are on testosterone replacement therapy in addition to strength training. And that's on purpose that they get that way. So that is not a picture of someone that just went to the gym every other day and was working out.

• 13:39Speaker 01

  Right.

• 13:40Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right?

• 13:40Speaker 01

  Nowhere near it.

• 13:41Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Nowhere near it. Right. And to your point, like, you know, most women, almost all women that strength train will just become like a more lean version of themselves.

• 13:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 13:53Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And that's it. But the strength is the key because it's a key to a few things. Number one is a key to balance, so you don't fall, but also the key to healthy bones, so you don't break a bone if you do fall.

• 14:04Speaker 01

  Absolutely. Absolutely. I also like the ladies who say, well, I don't want to strength train, I just want to tone. Toning is not a thing. There is no such thing as toning. Folks, pay attention. Toning doesn't exist. Either you are getting stronger or you are not. And so when you're doing Pilates or using kettlebells or gravity, doing pushups or lunges, it should be challenging you. Whenever you train to a point where you grunt, you go, ah, right there, this is hard, that's where you're tearing tiny muscle fibers and that's where your body has the ability to send in the little repair troops and rebuild. And two days later, two days later, if you have rested after this workout, your body is better, it is stronger. But toning doesn't exist.

• 14:48Speaker 01

  Toning is just, you know, if you're doing what you could already do before, combine that with age, you're getting worse. And so everybody should be aiming to get stronger.

• 14:56Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah. And she said so many important things right there. I want to double down on a few of those things. Number one, there's no difference between toning and bulking and strength training. It's all the same thing, right? Second thing you said is that after exercising, your body requires a rest period. And that's critical. We know this now with a lot of research showing even in between sets, a three-minute rest period is critical, but definitely after a workout, having a day in between or, you know, if you want to go to the gym every day, alternating muscle groups.

• 15:27Speaker 01

  Right.

• 15:27Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right?

• 15:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 15:28Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And lastly, you also said this, and I want to rephrase this, you said, you must be feeling the burn. Like you have to work out to the

• 15:37Speaker 01

  Challenge yourself.

• 15:38Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Where you're challenged, right? Can you talk about that a little bit more? What does that really feel like if you're in the gym?

• 15:43Speaker 01

  Well, it's that, so I have these four pillars of fitness. I know we're gonna talk about them. In fact, I'm just gonna go there now.

• 15:49Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Let's go there.

• 15:50Speaker 01

  Alright, so the four pillars of fitness that folks need to focus on in order to qualify as fit are strength, cardio, respiratory fitness, flexibility, and balance. And if you're lacking any one of them, you don't qualify as fit. So if you're a marathon runner, for example, who can't do one push up, are you fit? I don't think so. If you're a bodybuilder and you can't touch your toes, are you fit? No. If you're a yoga instructor, but you can't climb two flights of steps without sucking wind, are you fit? No. And so, fitness requires balance. It requires proficiency. And again, strength, cardio, flexibility, and balance. And so, we're trying to get better. You know, there's activity. Activity is walking around the mall, roaming around the farmer's market, doing housework. That's being active.

• 16:34Speaker 01

  Exercise is deliberate. Exercise is something you do to enhance yourself. And so, for strength, I look for the grunt. Anything where you get to the point where you go, ah! Whether it's a lunge, you can't lift your body off the ground again, or you're doing a bicep curl. I'm not saying sacrifice form, I'm just saying you challenge yourself. That grunt came out, that means you're probably working at the appropriate level. With cardio, you should be huffing and puffing, right? You're not just walking and talking and having a big conversation. That's being active, you're burning calories, sure. But if you wanna make your heart and lungs stronger, you've gotta suck a little wind. You don't wanna be going at a point where you can't say, "This sucks." You gotta be able to say, "Wow, I can't wait till it's over." And whatever, you know?

• 17:16Speaker 01

  It's huffing and puffing with some ability to continue on for an extended period of time. With flexibility, you know, you, you reach, twist, pull, until you wince. You know, that "ay!" that right there, that little squeak that comes out of your mouth and you, you wince your eye, that means you're making progress, becoming more flexible. And then, of course, if you're doing balance training, it's the wobble. So, you know, I do yoga sometimes now, begrudgingly, but I do it. And a teacher will put us in Repose where we're standing on one foot and there's always that person in the front of the room who can stand there perfectly with her leg up above and she's completely statuesque. Well, because she's so still, I know she's not making progress.

• 17:57Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 17:58Speaker 01

  It's the weirdo in the back who's wobbling around, trying so hard to stay upright. That person is making progress because of the wobble. The wobble tells you, you're challenging yourself. And eventually, if you do that motion enough, you will get better and better. And so four pillars, it's huff, puff, grunt, wince, wobble. And then you become the fitter version of yourself.

• 18:18Dr. Darshan Shah?

  So cool. It's a, it's a great kind of foundational thought process. That everything you do with fitness has to be done to the point where you, you're barely doing it or you can almost not do it anymore. And so that's, that's where you make the true progress. It's another word for that, you know, we use in medicine, science is adaptation. To say a signal adaptation has to be to a level where it becomes difficult.

• 18:43Speaker 01

  Absolutely. And there's certainly room in the world for you to go on a leisurely bike ride.

• 18:48Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Sure.

• 18:48Speaker 01

  But when we're trying to achieve more, when we're trying to supercharge ourself, age backwards, you gotta put your body through the paces and, you know, we want our lungs and hearts to be stronger. Wow. You know, we brush our teeth every freaking day. Nobody makes a stink over it.

• 19:05Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 19:05Speaker 01

  You know, but if you lose all your teeth, you can still gum down some food. You'd be fine with no teeth. But when your heart and lungs give out, it's, it's game over, right?

• 19:14Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Game over, right. Exactly. Yeah. And so, you know, you, you mentioned that activity is separate from exercise. I think that's a really important point because, you know, there's a lot of talk sometimes of, oh, just do gardening or just, um, it's, it's two different buckets and you need both, correct?

• 19:30Speaker 01

  Yeah. Yeah. And activity is great. I have dogs. I'm constantly out with the dogs. I'm not making any progress as I walk around with the dogs sniffing bushes. When I clean the house, if you think that your workout is cleaning the house, false.

• 19:43Dr. Darshan Shah?

  No.

• 19:43Speaker 01

  No. Usually, exercise requires either a sports bra or some goggles or some weird shoes or a mouthpiece, a helmet. Exercise is deliberate. You are doing this. Motion to get better and so please keep being active because most of our lives are sedentary, right?

• 20:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Exactly.

• 20:02Speaker 01

  We lie down in bed, we wake up, we sit at the table and eat, we eat, sit for three meals a day, we sit in our cars, we go places, we sit on the planes, we, we sit for entertainment. So just being up and moving around, you know, a thousand extra points for the folks that are purposely being active, but please don't think that that suffices for exercise, it's not.

• 20:24Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, absolutely not. So, you know, whether you're trying to get 8,000 steps in a day, or your guard, what have you, that's just being the opposite of sedentary.

• 20:32Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 20:32Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You know, humans were never really sedentary until modern times. Humans walked around, that's why, you know, we came from some little place in Africa and we traveled the whole world, it's because humans were meant to move. So that's a requirement, but that does not signal any longevity signals around aging and also doesn't create any progress and you need the deliberate exercise to do so.

• 20:54Speaker 01

  Absolutely, and you know, it's funny, we look at, not really here in America, but in other countries, they have statues for their ancient Romans and Greeks and those folks are built like Adonis, they're ripped and they didn't have a kettlebell set, right? They were just lugging stones and chasing their dinner and so, and eating out of the land.

• 21:15Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 21:15Speaker 01

  It's not so complicated.

• 21:17Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right, absolutely. So if a woman comes to you and she wants, a woman or a man comes to you, but maybe you want to focus on women, they want you to help construct a workout routine and they're just getting started in this whole journey.

• 21:29Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:30Dr. Darshan Shah?

  How do you incorporate all four pillars for them? Because it seems like a lot initially.

• 21:34Speaker 01

  It's not, I mean, but I like what you're saying, there's probably a lot of people who think that, you know, first of all, I never set goals for people, so I want people to decide who they want to be.

• 21:45Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Mm-hmm.

• 21:46Speaker 01

  Right? It's not about me telling you what you should be, it's about you saying. This, this is the better version of me. This is what I'm striving for. And then once we get there, then we can make a plan. The plan, the plan has to involve all four pillars. But let's say you want to be an endurance athlete. Okay, we're gonna put a lot of effort into swimming and biking and running or whatever you're doing over there. And then we're gonna do the strength training that not only supports your overall health, but maybe put in some extra effort on the exercises that will support that activity. You know, with runners, I have a specific strength training for runners video. It's 12 minutes long. If you do it every other day, I promise you, you will run further, faster, and pain free. There's the same type of workouts for golfers and tennis players and pickleball and so forth. So, you know, it's, it's, let's talk about

• 22:31Speaker 01

  what your goals are, and we'll create a plan that, that, that accommodates those, those wishes.

• 22:38Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That fits that. What if it's someone that just is beginning their workout journey? Like, say, you know, it's January right now when we're recording this. And I'm asking you this purposely because I have a lot of people calling. And they're like, you know, I haven't worked out in six months, maybe a year, since my last January New Year's resolutions. Like, what do I do to get back into the gym that, and I only have, you know, two or three days a week, I could spend an hour on this. What, where do I start when I'm just getting started again?

• 23:05Speaker 01

  So we start where you are. And wherever you are is where you are. You can't be that other person next week or now. So, you know, think about activities that you already know how to do, that you enjoy. I think those are really important, you know. So if you really like swimming, start there. Go swimming. If you like cycling, that's your choice. Unless we have some serious issues, walking works for folks. And then you start to lean into the other thing. Okay, if it's that, I should do balance training. How do I do that? Okay, well, let's stand on your one foot while you're brushing your teeth. Let's stand on one foot while you're checking out at the, at the grocery store. Anytime you check out, you should be on one foot. That's balance training 101. For stretching, all right, you spend a few minutes in the morning and a few minutes at night. Or you

• 23:50Speaker 01

  use resources, right? The internet is overflowing with fitness folks saying, here's how. You know, my YouTube channel is packed with hundreds, hundreds of free Videos where I say here's how to work your back and here's how to work your shoulders and so forth. So get a book, the books are, you know, there's a lot of opportunity there. So we, nobody can claim ignorance on fitness anymore. There's, there's a whole bunch of fitness pros out there.

• 24:15Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Absolutely.

• 24:15Speaker 01

  Teaching, you just gotta want to. So start where you are, start doing something you already know how to do that you enjoy. And then your goal is to get 1% better every day. Yeah, we're not trying to get 10 or 20% is 1% better today. What can you do with nutrition, with sleep, with exercise, with hydration to get 1% better? And then you do the same thing tomorrow. If you do that, I promise you a month from now, you're gonna wake up and say, hot damn. I feel a lot better six months from now. You may not recognize yourself. And so, um, small goals and then learning. I think learning how to do more will help, help push you along.

• 24:53Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, so start small.

• 24:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:55Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And then work up.

• 24:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 24:57Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Do something consistently. I think you said, you know, every day do something, right?

• 25:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:02Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And also then building upon itself, right? So 1% improvement every single day is a really good way to get started.

• 25:10Speaker 01

  I think so. And then if you're doing something you think is fun, you're so much more likely.

• 25:15Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Lean into it.

• 25:15Speaker 01

  To stick with it. I mean, gosh, I think about men have this secret society where you can just show up on any basketball court.

• 25:22Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Mm hmm.

• 25:22Speaker 01

  Anywhere and then the guys are like, yeah, come play. And they throw you the ball and you run around and you play ball together, right? And so women, we've got different things we like, but it should be fun. And if you start with the fun, you know, maybe you have to incorporate some things that you don't enjoy so much. Maybe you don't love strength training. I don't care, do it anyways.

• 25:39Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 25:39Speaker 01

  Do it anyways, but also do the things that are fun for you. So you'll look forward to your workouts.

• 25:44Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Got it, got it. And then say, um, someone does, a woman does want to get stronger.

• 25:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  How do you focus in on that strength training routine? Say you mentioned every other day, right? Cause you need that rest signal in between. So what do the exercises actually look like?

• 25:59Speaker 01

  Well, the same they are for men. And I know we're going to talk about the book, but there's over 300 photos in the new book on how to, and it's broken down. Here's how to work your chest. And I only included exercises you could do with gravity, dumbbells, or bands.

• 26:13Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Great.

• 26:14Speaker 01

  You know, there's a whole bunch of other great equipment you could use, but let's simplify it, right? And so you're going to work all your major muscle groups, your chest, your back, your shoulders, your biceps, your triceps, your quads, your glutes. We're going to work them all, not just our abs. Right? Not just the front side of our body. A lot of people go to the vanity muscle. I'm going to do biceps and abs and my butt. Right? Everyone wants a big juicy butt now, right? But we're going to work all the muscles evenly. And we're going to do it every other day. And the strength training, it's funny. Like with cardio, there's not a lot of, there's not a lot of rules other than huff and puff.

• 26:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 26:51Speaker 01

  You know, huff and puff. But with strength training, there certainly are some rules. You know, you should be working all the muscles. And then you should work opposing muscles. So if you're going to work your chest, you should work your back, bicep, tricep. That's because if one side of the muscle is weaker, it's more likely to be injured, sprain strains and tears. And so we want some equilibrium throughout our body. And, yeah, I mean, it's just, you start somewhere. You go do one exercise for each body part. Do a few reps here, do a few sets, and then build on as you get comfortable with that.

• 27:23Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, and the key is that you want to feel the grunt.

• 27:25Speaker 01

  You got to grunt with strength training, yeah. And I tell you what, you know, I have the master's degree, but I also think I have a master's degree in the most simple stupid science on earth. Exercise and sport science, like move your body. There are some rules, but really, there's not a lot of rules. Just get out and do something. You'll be better off than if you're doing nothing.

• 27:45Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I always think about too, like, you know, when people come in to see us in January, there's this big Problem with motivation.

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Right.

• 27:54Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And so, and then also the motivation lasting past like the second or third week of January. So, how do you talk about motivation with people?

• 28:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, motivation is a lot of fun, good for you if you have it, but who cares if you're motivated? Do it anyways. That's what we call discipline. You know, motivation will get you to the start line. Discipline will get you to the finish line. And so you can't be a person that's constantly relying on a Hawaii vacation or a class reunion or whatever's got going on. Your health needs to be a priority and you need to be a priority. And it's interesting how many people say, well, I can't exercise, I have kids. And I think dude, the kids are the incentive, they're not the excuse. You made these humans, you are responsible for taking care of yourself. So you could stick around and nurture them and love them and support them as long as possible. We don't make humans and then say, sorry, I'm out.

• 28:47Speaker 01

  I ate garbage and didn't exercise, right? So motivation, lovely, if you have it, good for you. But it's discipline, you make a plan, you stick to it no matter what.

• 28:58Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right, right. And I like what you said also, like, you know, it needs to be almost automatic.

• 29:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Health should become a habit and shouldn't require motivation.

• 29:06Speaker 01

  Right.

• 29:07Dr. Darshan Shah?

  The motivation is that you're going to stay alive. And so it's just create a habit around it, which is doesn't, once you have a habit in place, you don't need to be motivated, it just happens automatically.

• 29:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it's that there is no get out of jail free card on your workouts. It's the same thing as brushing your teeth. Imagine if you want a week without brushing your teeth.

• 29:25Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right, exactly.

• 29:26Speaker 01

  And your teeth are cool, but in the scope of our lives, they're not really that important, right? But it's your heart and your lungs.

• 29:33Dr. Darshan Shah?

  We take so much more care of them than we do our bodies.

• 29:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, and I get it folks, I, I talk a big game because I live this, but I have been overweight. I have had an eating disorder, I was sick. I've had a whole bunch of very human things. Sometimes people look at me and they say, you don't understand. And I say, buddy, you have no idea how much I understand. And that's why I'm willing to lean in and tell you the freaking truth. Because I want better for you. And at some point, you gotta want better for yourself.

• 30:02Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  And maybe you might not take those steps unless someone of authority pokes you in the chest and says, you're screwing it up, and you're not gonna be around here for a very long time if you don't get your act together. And so, yeah, discipline, you just have to do it. And I promise, with every, you can have every single thing I own. If you exercise regularly, and you start eating nutritiously, and sleeping well, and drinking water. If your life doesn't get better, you can have it all. All the Fitzcoler stuff is yours. I promise.

• 30:32Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 30:32Speaker 01

  It's a guarantee.

• 30:34Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It is. I mean, there's no way around it. You're gonna feel better once you start getting those, getting those pieces in place.

• 30:40Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:40Dr. Darshan Shah?

  So you wrote this book.

• 30:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 30:42Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You supercharged. So what does that mean, supercharged?

• 30:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, so, supercharged is the much better version of yourself. And so, it could've been just called supercharged, but it's about you being supercharged, and the exact formula for fitness, weight loss, and longevity. And so, you know, I always start by saying, I'm not going to tell you what you should accomplish, who you should be. You start there, and let's make you better. Wherever you are right now, let's go all the way. Let's have you more energetic. You feel your best, you look your best, your body performs as it best, at its best. And it's interesting how many people are, you know, I'm 40, I'm old. It's like nails on the chalkboard to me, right? So choose, make a choice. Either you could be the 40-year-old complaining about how old you are, or the 92-year-old bragging about how youthful you feel.

• 31:28Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 31:29Speaker 01

  You've got choices. Let's make good ones. That's what this book is about. And it covers everything. It's nutrition, and hydration, and exercise. And one of my favorite chapters is aging like a badass. And then there's the flawless-ish. So, I don't believe in perfection. I promote very much, perfect is boring, so nobody's ever asked to be perfect. But the flawless-ish chapter actually includes a lot of the things that you offer in your Next Health Wellness Facilities, right? It's getting massage, and taking care of your skin, and going above and beyond to nurture. Your body and your mind and of course it covers mental health too because we have a lot of choices. There's certainly rooms for intervention, medical intervention and pharmaceuticals

• 32:13Speaker 01

  and so forth, but we could also choose perspective. We could choose to be brightsiders. We could choose behaviors that elevate, that boost adrenaline and serotonin, all the feel, all the endorphins, right? So we talk about mental health in the book and there's the no, why your excuses are lame chapter. That might be my favorite.

• 32:33Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I like that.

• 32:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's something for everybody. If you are a grown up who wants to look better, feel better, perform better, you supercharged has got something for you.

• 32:41Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I love it. I love this chapter, your excuses are.

• 32:45Speaker 01

  Lame, why your excuses are lame.

• 32:47Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah. Tell me about that. What are some of the lame excuses you've heard and why are they lame?

• 32:52Speaker 01

  Well, you know, it starts with that. I'm a parent, which drives me mad.

• 32:56Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes.

• 32:56Speaker 01

  I have a job. Well, good for you. Good for you. You've got a job. You should have a job and you should take care of your health. You know, I point to some of the most powerful men on the planet have been American presidents. And so we had Bill Clinton, we had Barack Obama, we had George Bush. They exercise regularly while kind of managing the world.

• 33:17Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 33:18Speaker 01

  And family. So if they can do it, y'all can do it too. So yeah, the excuses chapter. My husband eats more than I do. That's because he's a bigger person. He requires more fuel. If you eat like he does, I assure you, you will be the same size as your husband. So make those choices.

• 33:34Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right, absolutely. I want to hear your perspective around weight loss and nutrition as well. What are your thoughts around someone that comes to you that says, I need to lose 20 pounds, 30 pounds?

• 33:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I think most people know they're fighting weight. You know, we don't need to look at a chart to figure out what our weight needs to be. I think if you do want some guidance, perhaps you do speak with your physician. But most people know, you know, they're like, what should I weigh? That's not for me to decide. You, you know where you felt best or what you think and we can aim towards that. So when I was overweight as a teenager and trying to figure out how to lose it, I mean, there just wasn't as much information, but I was in grad school and I kind of felt like I was maxing out on fitness content. I wanted to learn more, but I couldn't find any more to learn. So I started reading medical journals, physical therapy journals, and I came across one statistic that said virtually.

• 34:27Speaker 01

  Humans burn approximately 10 calories-ish per pound of body weight per day. So it's between 8 on the low side, 12 on the higher side if you're, you know, very active. But it's about 10 and I thought, it can't be that simple. I reread it again, I was like, is that possible? And so, folks, if you're not doing the math, basically that says if you weigh 150 pounds on average, you're burning 1,500 calories per day. If you would like to stay at that size, continue consuming 1,500 calories a day. If you would like to get larger, you consume more than 1,500 calories. If you would like to be smaller, you can, you should consume less. And you can actually pretty much fine tune this.

• 35:10Speaker 01

  If you would like to weigh 132 pounds, 1,320 calories. That's your daily max, your budget. And if you choose your budget and you stick with it, eventually your body has no choice but to shrink, shrink down to that size. Now, if you just stick with the budget and you eat garbage food, yeah, you could lose weight. But it's, it's not gonna be fun and you're gonna crash and have headaches and feel awful. If you take your caloric budget, whatever that is, and you fill it up with 80 to 90% of your intake being highly nutritious, the fruits and the veggies and the whole grains and the lean protein sources. You have a little wiggle room, I believe in 10 to 20% can be whatever you want it to be. You know, for me, I have milk chocolate every day. Feel damn good about it too, you know?

• 35:51Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That's great.

• 35:52Speaker 01

  So you don't have to be perfect, but it's that caloric budget really dictates your, your size. And then if you add exercise, well, you lose weight a little faster, you gain muscle a little faster. So it's gotta be a combination of your budget, eating the right amount of the right food for the specific size you would like to be. You can control your size, folks. If you think, I can't lose weight, trust me, if I put you in a canoe and sent you out to sea with nothing but a jug of water, you would lose weight. So if you feel like, I can't, you're lying to yourself. If you're believing Oprah Winfrey, who tells you that you're obese just because of your genes? That's a lie too. If we send any obese person out on a canoe in the ocean with no food, they will lose weight. And so...

• 36:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, it's not rocket science at all. It's just kind of learning to be reasonable, have a goal, set your caloric budget there. Some people say, "I don't like to count." Well, okay, do you like being overweight? You know, we gotta count money. We have to budget a lot of things in our world. And so you're basically budgeting your intake. I think if you spread it out throughout your day, you'll have enough fuel, enough energy to keep you satisfied. I do not like diets. I don't like keto. I don't like intermittent fasting. I don't like any of the extreme measures. I think temporary measures leading to temporary results, and nobody wants to deal with keto crotch. So, you know, let's do it the good old fashioned way.

• 37:15Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, you know, I think also, you know, the focus on eating real nutritious food is very helpful because when you have a diet of, you know, 1,500 calories of fiber-rich vegetables, whole grains, good protein versus 1,500 calories of, you know, ultra-processed garbage. The 1,500 calories of ultra-processed garbage is gonna make you wanna eat more because you will be hungry because it's not nutrient-dense. And they engineer the food to be hyper-palatable, keep you hungry as well. And so you're gonna eat more. You're not gonna stick to 1,500 calories. It's gonna end up becoming more. And so focusing on good foods rather than having to count can also be like a good step in the right direction.

• 37:57Speaker 01

  Yeah, I think the counting part matters because some people just have no idea.

• 38:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, that's true.

• 38:02Speaker 01

  You know, they're like, "I'm overweight. I don't understand. I eat healthy foods."

• 38:05Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Oh, yeah.

• 38:05Speaker 01

  Oh, you're just having too much. Just having too much. And the arbitrary 1,200 calories a day, that only makes sense if you're me. You know, John Cena gets put on the 1,200 calories a day. He, he like tosses humans over, you know, he, he would be so angry, right? And of course, on the back of these nutrition labels, it might tell you on a 2,000 calorie a day diet. If I ate 2,000 calories a day, I would be 200 pounds, even though I exercise a lot. So, you know, the calories in versus calories out thing, I think it's very essential for your weight, for your size. When it comes to the quality of your health and your capabilities and your feel-good, nutrition can't be beat.

• 38:46Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, people need to know what those numbers are. And they also, you know, like, one of the cheapest, like, easiest things that you can buy is like a little food scale.

• 38:55Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 38:55Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right? And then you start learning how many grams of whatever. Is a realistic portion for you when you start doing a little bit of math?

• 39:04Speaker 01

  I can't tell you how many of the folks that I guide have reached out and said, oh, my God, I thought I was eating one bowl of cereal.

• 39:11Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Oh, yeah.

• 39:12Speaker 01

  But then I measured it and I was having three servings of cereal just because I had a big bowl. Like, well, this is my bowl. Clearly, it's one serving.

• 39:19Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 39:20Speaker 01

  And then the weight starts falling off. You know, folks, don't drink your calories. Don't drink. There's no satiety in that. You know, when you, when you emulsify even fruits and vegetables, they lose their fiber and they're not filling. So you could have a gallon of apple juice and not feel satisfied.

• 39:36Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 39:36Speaker 01

  One juicy apple could really make you feel stuffed.

• 39:40Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 39:40Speaker 01

  Because of all the fiber in there. And so, you know, there's some nuances to eating wisely, right?

• 39:45Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right, absolutely. And so I think everyone is to find out what works for them, but they need to be armed. It's a little bit of knowledge first.

• 39:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:52Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And so all these things that you talk about is really just people educating themselves finally about, you know, their own bodies, what their caloric requirements are, what are the right foods to achieve them.

• 40:02Speaker 01

  Yeah. And always don't fall for the gimmicks. I mean, if somebody is there telling you buy this thing out of the trunk of my car or go to the nutrition store and buy this product with the word weight loss on it. I mean, if I sold you an apple and then put the word weight loss and said it's a weight loss apple, you would know that I was scamming you, right? So any of these products that have the word weight loss on them, scammers. If you have money to throw away, just throw it to me. I'll, I'll catch it and do something good with it.

• 40:28Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes, yes, exactly. It's so true. The, the weight loss products is just makes zero sense. You talk about this thing in your book called the exact formula. What is that?

• 40:37Speaker 01

  So that is that calculation. That is your goal weight with the zero on the end. That's your caloric bud, budget. The exact formula for weight loss is right there.

• 40:46Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Hmm. You make it super simple for people.

• 40:48Speaker 01

  Well, it is super simple. And, you know, people are like, oh, it's, it's simple. It's that's, I mean, once I learned the formula, I went from I mean, I lost forty five pounds and I've kept it off for life and then

• 40:58Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Forty five pounds, wow.

• 40:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, so I was a much bigger girl.

• 41:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 41:02Speaker 01

  I was a much bigger girl and I was just kinda aimless and then again, I read this statistic and I was like, that can't, it just can't be that simple. And it is, you know, now we have apps and things and folks, I definitely encourage you use an app or write it down and do it every freaking day for a very long time. Even now, I'm, I've been in this body for twenty something years that I love. I still go through, I know that already I've had like four hundred and fifty calories today and I'll keep going based off of that information, but yeah, the formula works every time.

• 41:34Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, I think one thing to be cognizant of though too is when you're counting calories, you also wanna simultaneously be building muscle.

• 41:40Speaker 01

  Right.

• 41:41Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Because if you're just counting calories, and I see this a lot now with people on GLP ones, that they lose muscle mass and the, the, the weight on the scale is actually deceptive because in fact, most of it could be muscle loss versus fat loss. And so I think there's a, you have to create that signal through going to the gym and feeling the burn to make sure you're building muscle, not losing muscle.

• 42:02Speaker 01

  Well, you're exactly right. So it's quality of food.

• 42:05Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes.

• 42:05Speaker 01

  Right? It's, it's getting enough protein and enough healthy fats, enough carbohydrates and stuff. Carbohydrates are not the enemy. They're not the enemy. They give you energy, they're fuel. I'm a potato lover. I'm super Irish. I think my body composition is about sixty seven percent potato at this point. So, you know, none of the healthy foods are bad for you. So if you're eating wisely, then you drop the weight and you're better for it. You're not just a baggy, you know, a loose bag of skin. For strength training, yeah, you do need protein, but you don't eat excessive amounts. Like our body can only use so much. Um, so you should be putting, you know, your nutrients to good use.

• 42:45Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Mm-hmm.

• 42:45Speaker 01

  Right? And what else, what else are we missing? I feel like.

• 42:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Like the omega fats, getting good, high-quality fats.

• 42:53Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 42:54Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Can be really great for energy, reducing inflammation as well. Yeah, and also, like, I like to add in fermented foods like yogurt and kimchi and things to just really be beneficial for your gut as well.

• 43:05Speaker 01

  So folks need to go back and listen to your episode with Dr. Dawn Musalem, because she is just, I mean, she dishes out some of the most fantastic, exciting nutrition knowledge.

• 43:17Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes.

• 43:17Speaker 01

  Ever, right? She's like, if you have kiwi, then you will live for 400 years or whatever. I mean, she's so good with all of that stuff. But yeah, nutrition is a powerful force for health and energy, and it keeps your digestive system working, right? I mean, people don't realize that the ultra-processed foods is maybe why they're constipated and so forth. You just, you start eating the good things. It's almost magic. I hate to use the word magic when it comes to fitness, because it really requires thought and discipline and effort.

• 43:51Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yes.

• 43:51Speaker 01

  But if you're doing those things, the results can be pretty magical, right?

• 43:55Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, absolutely. We talked a little bit about recovery. How would you put, like, recovery and sleep being a form of recovery into this whole formula?

• 44:03Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's paramount. Sleep is the thing. So I always say, it's like, watch what you put in your mouth, move your body, and sleep. So tired people don't make good decisions, you know? Tired people skip their workouts. They're very lazy with nutrition. They're cranky as heck. Nobody wants to be around a tired person. It's amazing how many people show up to the office or doing whatever, and they wear it as a badge of honor. I got barely any sleep last night.

• 44:31Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I know.

• 44:32Speaker 01

  Dude, that's a red flag!

• 44:33Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That's horrible.

• 44:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:35Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You're not gonna make good choices for the rest of the day.

• 44:37Speaker 01

  No, don't be my Uber driver if you didn't sleep. Don't teach my kids. Don't be my doctor. Don't do my accountant. I want you well-rested. And so, you know, creating a quality sleep environment that's cozy, and you're not too hot, not too cold. Maybe you need a TV on, maybe you need it off. Naps? I'm a professional napper. Oh my gosh, some people, they're like, I would never nap. And I think, dude, you are missing the point, right? It's like plugging in your phone in the middle of the day. Nothing's more satisfying than seeing that battery recharge, right?

• 45:09Dr. Darshan Shah?

  This is a good analogy.

• 45:11Speaker 01

  Oh, so good. So I actually, in my backyard, I have a swing and a pergola. I bring my dogs out there. I can fall asleep for 20 minutes and wake up like, can I, like a, like a crackhead. I wake up and I'm completely.

• 45:23Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I do the same thing.

• 45:25Speaker 01

  Energetic person.

• 45:25Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I love that. You know, that, that 3pm or that 2:30pm nap for 20 minutes.

• 45:30Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh.

• 45:31Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And you're just like, what happened?

• 45:33Speaker 01

  That's right. That's right. How tragic is it that so many people are too good for naps?

• 45:39Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, I know. If you can fit it in, it can be magical.

• 45:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:43Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Especially if you're one of these, like, I'm an early riser, and so I wake up at 5am every day. And so by 2, 2:30, my battery's running on really low.

• 45:51Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:51Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And you're right, it's like plugging in your phone and charging it.

• 45:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, and, and it's not that heavy sleep. And you can set alarm. You can say, I'm gonna do just a 20-minute nap. But set the alarm and then you wake up and it just feels good. You start functioning better. That's, that's really the thing, is functionality. You know, if you're not sleeping, you function poorly. And again, you're mean. However, if you do get great sleep, you wake up with a pep in your step. You're a lot nicer. You're more likely to hit the workouts. You're more likely to make good choices with food. And then if you've worked out aggressively and eaten wisely, you're so much more likely to sleep well. You know, so it's this cycle of awesome if you're willing to put in the effort upfront. And so some of these behaviors may be different for some of our listeners right now.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  You know, that they may be annoyed by my pushiness, that they need to do balance training or whatever. But I assure you, if you start doing it, eventually you'll feel bad if you don't do the things we're telling you to do.

• 46:47Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, absolutely. So balance and strength, cardiovascular fitness, and also flexibility.

• 46:54Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 46:54Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And this can be done. In every other J A gym workout combined with some daily activities as well?

• 47:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, so again, the strength training has rules to it. You know, if you're working a particular muscle, just let's say glutes, you should wait 48 hours. Cardio you can do every day.

• 47:09Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Okay.

• 47:10Speaker 01

  Stretching you can do every day. You can do multiple times a day. You can do a real stretch class or yoga class or go do karate. That's really good for flexibility. But for me, I also build in these little things, these rituals. So when I let my dogs out in the backyard, I open the door and I drop down, I stretch my hips. I have this series of incredible hip stretches that just make everything feel better, including my low back. You know, the great majority of American adults living with back pain.

• 47:39Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It's huge.

• 47:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, and, and most of it isn't because they were in a terrible skiing accident. It's because they are tight or they are weak.

• 47:47Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 47:48Speaker 01

  And so.

• 47:48Dr. Darshan Shah?

  You're sitting all day.

• 47:50Speaker 01

  But yeah, you can, you can repair that. You don't have to feel bad. You can stretch on the regular. And so the hip stretches happen for me when I let the dogs out. You know, when I walk to my kids bathroom, I do the door stretch. It opens me up, stretches my, my packs and then I stand up a little straighter. I think, I think great posture is very sexy, very powerful. So it's meaningful to me and I work hard to achieve that. And I'm drawn to people. You know, if folks, if you stand up straight, you are so much more likely to get the job, get the client, make the sale, meet the love of your life. And so, yeah, there's a lot of respect for someone who comes in and their body is working at a high level.

• 48:32Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, I agree. The back stretch you just talked about right now for achieving good posture, could you mention that one more time?

• 48:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, so it's both hands on the door, not on the door frame, elbows down, just walk through it and open up. Just open up your chest. The other great choice you can make for great posture is rows and reverse flies. You know, making sure those back muscles are strong so they can hold you upright. But yeah, strength training, stretching, it's all very sexy folks, really.

• 49:00Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Absolutely. And so I, you know, I wonder, one of the big things that I like to do is to give people something they can track over time. So are there measurements people can track so they can see if they're becoming supercharged?

• 49:11Speaker 01

  Absolutely, absolutely. So it starts with their goal setting, right? So let's say there's a weight goal. You track that. And, and you know how some people just are so afraid of the scale or they loathe the scale? Well, the scale does not love you. It does not hate you. It's just a tool of measurement, much like a thermometer or a barometer or a tape measure. It's just gonna tell you the truth when your pants, when your stretchy pants won't. And so use the scale once a week, not every day, not before breakfast and after lunch. You will drive yourself mad and there's absolutely no benefit to that. If you are trying to lose weight, we're looking for a downward trend. If you're trying to gain weight, we're looking for an upward trend. But once a week is just fine. If you're trying to measure your strength, yeah, jot those things down. Today I can do five pushups.

• 49:56Speaker 01

  Hopefully, a month from now, you can do 15 pushups or more. And so, yeah, get a pen, get a paper, a piece of... Can you imagine if people use pen and paper? I'm still a weirdo who does that, but the notes section of your cellphone. You know, if you document your intake, you know, how much water you drink. You know, it's very funny, um, with the 64 ounces of water.

• 50:18Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 50:19Speaker 01

  Well, for who? Me and John Cena should be having the same amount of water? You know, you and a cancer patient? No, it's all very different. And so you should have water. I, I would say get a Yeti or a jug and keep drinking it. But I don't believe in the specific ounces, that everyone should have 64 ounces. What do you say, doc?

• 50:40Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I think that number is way larger than most people actually need on a day-to-day basis. Um, I do think, and I do know, as we age, our thirst doesn't really catch up with the amount of water we really need. So you do need to drink more than what your thirst tells you.

• 50:54Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 50:55Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And it should be water too. I mean, you know, I think a lot of people relieve their thirst with, you know, like cans of Diet Coke or, or other like sugar sweetened beverages. But your body needs water, um, in its purest form. And hopefully, you know, water that's been, uh, filtered or through a reverse osmosis doesn't have any toxins in it. So I think it's, like you said, it's individual, based on your overall muscle mass and your total weight. And you just gotta find the right number for you. I think when you stress out about 64 ounces of water, you end up not doing anything, because you just give up.

• 51:31Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 51:31Dr. Darshan Shah?

  So I think it's, you know, just being mindful that... Like two or three large glasses with every meal should take care of most people.

• 51:39Speaker 01

  I agree, I agree. And if you're active, you need more. And if you live at a high elevation, you need more. If it's a super hot day, you need more. But I mean, that's water. It's not so complicated.

• 51:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Don't overcomplicate it, right?

• 51:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so there's definitely measurable opportunities within fitness. But again, it starts with who do you want to be?

• 51:59Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Mm-hmm.

• 51:59Speaker 01

  And, you know, in chapter one of this book, I tell folks, get naked. Get naked, strip it down, stare at yourself in the mirror. You know, because it's, I think vanity is looked down upon. People are like, you shouldn't be judgy. No, I think you should definitely judge your own health and your own body, because that's how we make progress, right? We can make clear decisions. So strip it down, write down five things you love about your body. I love, I love my strong arms, I love my sparkly eyes, whatever it is. Five things you love about your body. And then write down five things you would like to improve. You know, it may not even be an aesthetic improvement. It may be, you know, my dang back is tight, right? Or my, my right arm feels weaker than my left, whatever it is.

• 52:42Speaker 01

  But start there, you know, always start with the pride, the things you love. We don't want this to become a bad experience. And then you are get real with yourself and, and make five, five specific goals. Even five specific goals, but you also have to account for the four pillars.

• 53:01Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, absolutely.

• 53:02Speaker 01

  And the formula if you want to lose weight. And then quality nutrition, because it matters. And every single ounce of your body will perform better. From your brain to your organs to your skin, everything is better when there's high nutrition.

• 53:15Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah. I love it. I fully simplify this. It's not that hard. It's these few simple rules that you gotta follow.

• 53:21Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 53:22Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And things will move in the right direction.

• 53:24Speaker 01

  Yeah. And so the other caveat right there is all the people say, well, But I'm doing menopause. Okay, well, you still need the four pillars of fitness and water and sleep and quality nutrition. And your body, even during menopause, can improve.

• 53:39Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Right.

• 53:40Speaker 01

  You can fend off osteoporosis, osteopenia in a large way with nutrition and sleep.

• 53:48Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Sure.

• 53:48Speaker 01

  And exercise, you know, there are testosterone boosting activities men can do through healthy habits. You know, not everything has to come in pill form. And so, yeah, whoever you are, whatever you're going through, you know, when I was coming back from cancer, when I was enduring cancer care, I still had to focus on those four pillars.

• 54:05Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 54:06Speaker 01

  And quality nutrition and water. And it's no different from me now. I mean, I'm different, but the, the steps are the same.

• 54:12Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, it's the same steps for every human.

• 54:14Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:15Dr. Darshan Shah?

  No matter what, yeah.

• 54:16Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:16Dr. Darshan Shah?

  And the four pillars are important because I do think a lot of people either, you know, think that regular motion is exercise or they don't get any value out of the exercise. Like, you know, I see a lot of patients that go to the gym three days a week and they're just not making any progress.

• 54:31Speaker 01

  Right.

• 54:31Dr. Darshan Shah?

  It's very simple to figure out why they're not making any progress. So not doing the things that you're talking about. What were they again?

• 54:38Speaker 01

  Huff, puff.

• 54:39Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 54:40Speaker 01

  Grunt wins wobble.

• 54:41Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah, exactly. I think that, that adaptation signal is critical to make progress every single time you work out.

• 54:48Speaker 01

  You know, I think so. And, you know, when I started teaching fitness many years ago, it was really important that you check your heart rate. And I, I mean, it's not the most complicated thing in the world, but it's also not the most simple, stupid. And I feel like I've streamlined, streamlined fitness over the decades, right? And that's what the book is there, just to simplify everything. And I get so cranky about all the vultures in the fitness industry, all the people selling lies and gimmicks. And they're just trying to get in your, in your wallet, you know? They're not looking out for your best interests. And all these people think you have to do all this hokey stuff. You don't have to do hokey things.

• 55:23Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Yeah.

• 55:24Speaker 01

  You know, we think about those ancient Romans that were lugging cinder blocks, chasing their food, eating off the land, drinking water from the stream. I mean, I mean, they died younger because they were being eaten by the lions they were chasing, right?

• 55:35Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Or they get an infection and they never have it.

• 55:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah. I mean, you combine. Find these quality habits with modern medicine. We should be able to live really long and really well. And you know, as you know, it's it's no fun to live really long unless you're living really well.

• 55:50Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Absolutely.

• 55:51Speaker 01

  And so those golden, golden years are made because you are putting in the effort today. You put in the effort today, so all of your tomorrows are brighter and more comfortable and more fun.

• 56:02Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Hmm, I love that. Absolutely. This is such a great advice. For people that want to read your book, where can they get it from?

• 56:09Speaker 01

  Well, thank you for asking. So You Supercharge, The Exact Formula for Fitness, Weight Loss and Longevity. It is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, all the places. However, if folks come to me, so I'm at fitzness.com. It's my first name. Fitzness, F I T Z N E S S dot com. I autograph every single book that leaves my office.

• 56:30Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Wow.

• 56:30Speaker 01

  And then they all get the little fitzy sticker, which is, yeah, the theme running through the book is, put a little fitzy on your shoulder. Let me go with you, you know, so you don't have to do this alone. Let me be with you. If you have a little fitzy sticker on the back of your phone, perhaps if you're ordering dinner somewhere and you see my face, you might be convinced to order something healthier than not, or less alcohol, or work harder at the gym. So I give out presents and I package them all with the most beautiful, fun packaging. So, um, so yeah, the book is available in all places. But if you come to me, I make it a little more fun and add some love.

• 57:03Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Fantastic. And then also people can find you on social media and YouTube too, right?

• 57:07Speaker 01

  Yes, sir. I am at fitzness everywhere. So Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, all the places. And, and here's the deal, if folks are listening and they would like to follow, great. I promise quality content in return. In fact, I just recorded some from your center here, your next health here in West Hollywood. Yeah, some really fun stuff.

• 57:26Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Awesome.

• 57:27Speaker 01

  But what I'd rather is they reach out and say, hey, I heard you on the Extend podcast. Cause it's so much more interesting for me to have friends than followers. So don't be shy, folks. Say hi and we can be besties.

• 57:38Dr. Darshan Shah?

  I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for joining me for the incredible advice and introducing your book to my entire audience. And we look forward to having you again back on when you write your next book.

• 57:48Speaker 01

  Thanks, Dr. Shah.

• 57:49Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Thank you.

• 57:54Dr. Darshan Shah?

  That was a really fun conversation with Fitz. Here's my top five takeaways. Number one, most people are only training 25% of their body. True fitness requires four pillars: strength, cardio, flexibility, and balance. Most people only focus on one or two, usually cardio and light weights, while ignoring the others. Missing even one pillar increases injury, limits progress, and reduces long-term resilience. Number two, active is not the same as fit. Walking, cleaning, or casual movement is important, but it doesn't replace exercise. Being active should be a baseline, not the goal. To get fit, the body must be challenged. Lifting until you grunt, cardio until you huff and puff,

• 58:39Dr. Darshan Shah?

  stretching until you wince, and balance work that causes you to wobble. Those signals mean that your body is adapting. Number three, strength training won't make you bulky, but will make you powerful. The idea of toning muscles is a myth. Muscles only change by getting stronger, which requires progressively challenging loads. Building muscle improves metabolism, protects bones, supports hormone health, and makes aging and recovery from illness dramatically easier. Number four, discipline beats motivation every single time. Motivation might get you started, but discipline is what's going to carry you through. Health has to become a non-negotiable priority,

• 59:22Dr. Darshan Shah?

  not something you wait to feel inspired about. The people who succeed aren't more motivated, they are consistent. Number five, fitness is a lifeline during and after adversity. During your breast cancer journey, Fitz focused on what you could control: movement, mindset, and consistency. Even small amounts of movements help preserve muscle, speed recovery, and rebuild confidence. Physical fitness isn't just about aesthetics, it's a powerful tool for mental resilience, healing, and reclaiming your life.

• 59:56Dr. Darshan Shah?

  Thank you so much for listening to the podcast today. Please remember to subscribe if you liked this episode and give us a good review and share a link with your friends. It really helps to support all of our efforts. I also want to remind you that the information shared on this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Please consult with your healthcare provider or physician before making any decisions or taking any action based on what you hear today, especially if you have any underlying health conditions or on any medications. Your doctor knows your personal health situation the best, and it's always important to seek their guidance.