Finding Your Sweet Spot
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Finding Your Sweet Spot
Balancing Fitness and Nutrition While on Holiday
Interview with Charlie Blumenthal Fitness Trainer and Will Knight
(Charlie) So, and we're back. We are so back baby. (Will) So, we all know fitness is important. And for me, I work out when I'm on holiday. Actually I just started this probably when I was in Brazil. I was in Brazil for 7 weeks, I started to work out, I did some boxing, some MMA, walking on the beach in the morning. Walking outside in the summertime is actually invigorating and gives you a lot of energy. Because you see other people like-minded as yourself working out.
(Charlie) It's great to hear that you prioritize staying active and maintaining a routine, even while on vacation. Consistency is key when it comes to fitness and overall health. For someone who is trying to establish a routine, especially a single parent or someone with a busy schedule, starting with simple activities like walking is a fantastic way to begin. Walking is low-impact, accessible, and has numerous health benefits.
As you mentioned, walking regularly can significantly contribute to longevity and overall well-being. It's a great way to get moving, improve cardiovascular health, and boost mental well-being. Once someone has established a habit of walking regularly, they can gradually incorporate other forms of exercise like weight lifting, resistance training, or sprinting, as you mentioned.
For someone with no background in fitness, starting with walking and gradually progressing to other forms of exercise can be a sustainable approach to building a healthier lifestyle. It's important to find activities that are enjoyable and sustainable in the long run. And as you've experienced, taking breaks or adjusting your routine based on your circumstances, like being on vacation, is perfectly fine as long as you get back to your routine when you can.
Overall, the key is to find a balance that works for you and to stay consistent with your efforts to lead a healthier and more active lifestyle.
It's all about finding a balance between staying active and allowing yourself to rest and rejuvenate during your vacation. When you return home, you can gradually ease back into your usual workout routine, incorporating the intensity and variety of exercises that you enjoy, such as MMA classes and boxing.
Remember, fitness is a journey, and it's important to be flexible and adaptable to different circumstances, including vacations. Enjoy your time away, stay active in ways that feel good to you, and when you return home, you can resume your regular routine with renewed energy and motivation.
I think the question is like, you know, you kind of want to find a sweet spot where at a minimum you're maintaining. Like let's say you spend your year hammering weights, making good gains, building strength. You just don't want to lose that when you're on vacation. So I think you kind of spoke well to that, like kind of finding this sweet spot where, okay you did sign up for a gym. You know, you are weightlifting.
How many days are you weightlifting while you're here? I weight lift around 4 days a week.
It sounds like you have a solid weightlifting routine! Weightlifting four days a week is a great way to make gains, and it's impressive that you're maintaining that while you're away. If you ever feel the need to reduce the intensity or frequency, training twice a week can definitely help you maintain your strength and muscle mass, especially if you focus on compound movements and ensure you're lifting enough weight.
I think the big thing is you don't want to come back home having lost strength and muscle. You know, that would be a fuck up in my book. Yeah, yeah, I think, you know, trying to find that maintenance threshold, keep going. Like I said, if I were here for longer, I'm only here for 4 days. If I was here for 7, I would say, I would try to make 2 of those days a weight training day. But, you know, it's just me.
Also, frankly, I'm not going to lose muscle mass one week off in the gym. So even that is not necessary. Sometimes you actually take a week off and you actually gain muscle. Because your body is recovering. It needs to rest. And recover, yeah, totally. Alright. So what do you think about being on vacation in this beautiful place of Mexico? I got to tell you, I think, you know, provided you're not an alcoholic and just drinking every day, I think this place really lends itself to healthy living.
I think it's very easy to make healthy decisions here. You know, it's possible every now and then you go out and you drink a lot and you stay out till 4 in the morning, allegedly. But, you know, if you have... It's not like either one of us did that. No, I would never do that. HAAHAHAH. You know me, dude. I would never do something like that. I would never make a mistake like that. But I really do think it's easy to be healthy and it's cheap.
And, you eat lots of fresh food and there's good protein here. And sunlight. I think that for me has been a big thing. Especially us in Chicago. You being a black guy in Chicago, respectfully, it means like your threshold for vitamin D exposure is way higher than mine. In order for you to get adequate natural vitamin D levels from the sun, you need way more sun exposure than even I do. And I think we are all very vitamin D deprived.
We (Charlie) talked about this earlier being in Chicago. So I think just being close to the equator and being more exposed to sunlight is like also amazing for your health. And that was a huge factor in what caused me to book this trip. It wasn't just that I needed a vacation. I was like, I need a fucking vacation where there's sun. And maybe I got a little too much sun on day one. Allegedly.
We don't know. (Will) Charlie Well, I have to say you look like a red lobster. So I think you got some sun. I think you need to get more sun. I disagree. I think I look like a beautiful pink baby. I think I look like a big fat pink baby, dude.
All right. So we're going to wrap this up. We Covered a lot of ground here today. We did. Anything else we got to talk about, Will? No.
Look, we'll save it for another episode. We got a lot to cover. We had some fucking fire conversations about Western medicine, the pharmaceutical industrial complex, and holistic living. And you have background in emergency medicine, so you're very knowledgeable about the subject. We got a lot to talk about here, guys. But, you know, catch us on the next episode next week. We'll see how that goes.
We got to go get some breakfast, dude. We got to go get some carbs. Necessito proteÃna, bro. Necessito mucho proteÃna. Oh, hey, one more note. When we got here, the first thing I did, I bought electrolytes and I bought creatine. You know why? Why did you buy electrolytes? All right. I'm not going to lie to you, man. There's two supplements that I feel have made a traumatic difference. Dramatic difference, not traumatic difference in my life.
Electrolytes being number one. I think for about five years of fitness, especially when I was, like, big into CrossFit, I think I was chronically dehydrated because I was drinking so much water. I drank fuckloads of water, but not enough electrolytes. I was drinking no magnesium, no potassium. I had enough salt in my meals, but, like, I was— I had no minerals in my system, and I fucking sucked ass.
I sucked ass, dude. And the moment I started supplementing with electrolytes, my performance in the gym changed hugely. And I feel so stupid. I feel ashamed as a fitness professional saying it took me that long to get on fucking electrolytes. But I also realized a couple things, that we are constantly depleting our electrolytes. I drink a good two to three cups of coffee a day. That depletes electrolytes.
Sleep depletes electrolytes. Creatine depletes electrolytes. Alcohol depletes electrolytes. There's so many fucking things throughout the day that depletes electrolytes. Working out depletes electrolytes. So, that has been a huge difference, taking electrolyte supplementation seriously. And easily the most impactful thing that I actually take that, you know, is good for my gains and performance in the gym.
Now, electrolytes are different. They come in different forms. They come in different variety. The pills, you have the water. Powders, whatever. The powders. What do you look for in a good electrolyte? Yeah, so I'm no expert. I look at what, like— What do you take? So, I take, the brand I take is actually something Dr. James Nicopolitano, I think his name is. He kind of put me onto these. Redmond.
Redmond Relight. And Redmond is a salt company out of Utah. And they have a product called Real Salt. And there's this salt basin in Utah that is, like, isolated and away from industry. And I think it's got uncontaminated salt that has a really good mineral profile. It's not unlike a Himalayan pink salt or, like, a Celtic sea salt. Those other two options are also really good. But, you know, they're American.
Good salt company, and they do a really good electrolyte product that agrees with my stomach. I think some people sometimes get digestive issues from different brands. Also, I think the price point is very reasonable. It's, like, 45 bucks for, like, 60 servings. Also worth noting, I am not a paid affiliate, but I should be if anyone buys them because of this product. Another big brand that people go for is LMNT.
I think they're fine, but I think the only problem with that is I don't like their packaging. They're in these single packets, which I think is stupid and wasteful. And they're fucking expensive. So it shouldn't be expensive. No, just to clarify. Also, coconut water fucks. Yeah, just to clarify, like, for me, I don't take electrolytes. I had a kidney transplant, so I don't do a lot of electrolytes supplements.
But what I do eat is a lot of fruit, a lot of veggies. I drink a lot of water. I drink coconut water as well. So I just can't go. And you have to look at the sodium content of things like that so far as a person who has other medical issues as well. Yeah, and this is where I definitely, like, don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. So nobody listen to me on this. However, my only question to you would be, I bet, Will.
First of all, I think as a society, we have a fear of salt. I think many people have been told to watch their sodium for a very long time, even without kidney transplants and whatnot. People have just been like, don't eat too much sodium. I think sodium has gotten an undeserved bad rap. And again, I don't—this is where I'm kind of— And this is your personal opinion. Yeah, I'm echoing other doctors that are smarter than me, and I don't fully understand this. This is something that everyone should consult there own medical care professional care team.
So I'm not saying this, you know, don't hold me to this. But I think it has gotten a bad rap for drivers of cardiac issues and stuff like that, where I think really the driver of those has actually been, like, processed sugars and stuff like that. Yeah, I agree. And also, I think my only question to you would be, despite your kidney transplant, the fact that you work out so much, you are constantly secreting sodium.
You are sweating so much. So I actually wonder if you actually could take electrolytes. Again, I'm not saying you should, but I wonder if you could because you are so active. If you were sedentary, I'd say it's different. But I think our bodies are very good at secreting excess stuff. We pee it out. We sweat it out, And since you sweat so much, I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Well, that's a different subject. I have to refer with my doctor on this.
So we're going to close this out. This is my friend and one of my trainers, Charlie. And he is one of the best people I know. Thank you. Well, the feeling is mutual, my friend.
This is a personal blog soon to be a podcast these beliefs are personal to each person. thank you for reading/ listening.
