Brian (1s):
Coming up on the GET, LEAN Eat Clean Podcast.
Brooks (3s):
One of the biggest ones is paying attention to your movement outside of your workouts. A lot of people get caught up in the stories around this type of exercise. It's gonna burn fat more efficiently or all these small things. And, and if we zoom out, like the big picture is just move more. you know, most of us have sedentary jobs. We're, we're sitting most of the day. And, and that can have a, a lot of bang for your buck. Alongside that is getting some baseline of resistance training in strength training, lifting weights. That is the, if there's one thing I could have someone doing, even if it's just two days a week, it's lifting weights.
Brian (38s):
This week I interviewed nutrition and fitness coach, Brooks, Coleman, Brooks and I discuss his top five principles that he stands by when it comes to optimizing your health, along with Importance of flexible dieting, Problems with too much restriction, walking as a health hack Brooks weekly lifting routine and his one tip to get your body back to what it once was. Really enjoyed my interview with Brooks. I know you will too. Thanks again for listening and have a great day. All right Welcome to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gryn and I have Brooks Coleman on Welcome to the show. Thanks
Brooks (1m 10s):
For having me, Brian. Excited to be here.
Brian (1m 12s):
Yeah, excited to have you on. Been following you on Instagram, Brooks Coleman. Right. And your health and fitness coach. How long have you been doing that for? Yeah,
Brooks (1m 21s):
Unofficially like four or five years, but like full-time with, with, with strangers I guess for, for about two years.
Brian (1m 28s):
That's great. And your company's data fit? Yes.
Brooks (1m 31s):
Yep. Yep. Little bit of a data-driven background in, in other careers and, and so kinda always liked the numbers side of things and decided to kind of blend the two
Brian (1m 41s):
And. what made you wanna get into health and fitness coaching? Yeah,
Brooks (1m 44s):
That I, I first found the gym like around beginning of high school, had delayed puberty. W was falling behind in sports, way smaller than all my friends. Trying to, trying to get bigger, didn't really have much success and kind of just fell in love with the gym and training instead of practicing for sports. And then fast forward 10 years after that, started to kind of unofficially help some friends who were falling into the same traps that I had Ben for, for 10 years and, and the gimmicks and, and then really just started to find a lot of meaning in, in seeing that transformation in other people. So started to, to take it, take it seriously as a career instead of just helping people out.
Brian (2m 26s):
Yeah. And, and you, you post a lot of great information on your Instagram. Where do you find your inspiration for that? And like what are some of your like, main principles that you like to stand by? Yeah,
Brooks (2m 37s):
I think, I think the main inspiration is truly just like all the things I fell into. All those fads, all those gimmicks, all those things like, you know, we say majoring in the minors sort of thing that don't really work for people who are busy with families and careers and, and really simplifying to make it something that's, that's actually sustainable. But principle wise, you know, I it's, it's cheesy or cliche, but, but that 80 20 approach is, is huge for me. Really focusing and streamlining down to the things that actually matter. My most of my clients are, are body composition focused. We're not, we're not after like a lead athletic performance or like stepping on a bodybuilding stage.
Brooks (3m 20s):
It's mostly just like, Hey, I just wanna fit my clothes better, get some confidence back and, and feel healthy. So it, it, it quickly, you know, kind of dwindles down to, to those, those core principles of, of focusing on the things that, that get you the most bang for your buck. you know, if somebody hops on my Instagram, they'll see, you know, the protein, the eating more fruits and vegetables, the moving more outside of the gym, just getting that baseline strength training and very, very simple stuff that, that I think are, are super powerful. If you can get those, get those locked in long-term, you can get away with a lot more with other stuff.
Brian (3m 59s):
Yeah, I mean I think in the health and wellness space, like there's a lot of stuff that is gets thrown around like a lot of like diet fads and things like that or things just to get viewers and eyeballs on them, right. Where people go do extremes. And I, that's what I sort of like about your, your, your posts are you sort of just continually stick by the principles and the basics. It's a little bit like, I always relate everything back to golf. I'm like, it's a little bit like golf where you can get so thrown by like eight watching YouTube videos and this and that, but a lot of it just comes down to the basics coming back to like grip stance and setup and, and things like that. And I, I feel like fitness and health is the same way.
Brooks (4m 38s):
Yeah, yeah. A hundred percent. Like the, all of a sudden you, you watch too much YouTube or social media and, and I, I imagine with a golf swing you end up thinking about 27 different things instead of just, you know, getting out there and being consistent or, you know, or something like that. Like
Brian (4m 57s):
Yeah, for sure. I mean, with golf it's like, focus on what you do best and just double down on that. I feel like that that'll be your biggest bang instead of trying to chase that new thing. And I've run, I've, I've come fall to this plenty of times. Well, in fitness, what would you say like maybe top five principles or top six principles that you sort of find yourself coming back to when it comes to working with clients? Yeah,
Brooks (5m 23s):
As far as X's and O's go, one of the biggest ones is paying attention to your movement outside of your workouts. A lot of people get, get caught up in the, in the stories around, you know, this type of exercise is gonna burn fat more efficiently or all these small things. And, and if we zoom out, like the big picture is just, just move more, you know, most of us have sedentary jobs we're, we're sitting most of the day. And, and that can have a, a lot of bang for your buck. Alongside that is, is getting some baseline of resistance training in strength training, lifting weights. That is the, if there's one thing I could have someone doing, even if it's just two days a week, it's lifting weights that's going to be the biggest driver of the shape of your body, not just the weight of your body.
Brooks (6m 11s):
And if you ignore that, the scale becomes something that's very transient. So if the scale comes down and comes back up, you have nothing to show for it. Whereas if you get consistent with strength training, you have something to show for that regardless of what the scale does in the short and long term because then it just becomes easier later on to get that look you want. And, and it can even change your body at, at the, at the weight you're already at, which is is when we look at the literature, it's a lot more realistic to increase muscle and decrease fat at, at any given weight than try to lose 20 pounds and keep it off. And then from there on the nutrition side, really eat that protein.
Brooks (6m 52s):
I talk about protein probably every day on social media. It's that powerful. It, it keeps you full. It supports muscle mass, it supports body composition. And then with that, just focusing on eating more whole foods, eating more fruits, eating more vegetables before we focus on, I always like to focus on more of things before less of things because we're all conditioned for failure in this space. you know, we've tried things, we've failed and if we only take this stance of like, don't eat this, don't eat that, it, it creates a scarcity mindset when there's a lot of low hanging fruit from just, no pun intended, just eating more fruits, vegetables, protein, things like that.
Brian (7m 31s):
Yeah. I feel like a lot of people think that to reach their health goals or to lose weight, like they have to restrict and we, I think we've come into this like, I don't know this sort of like the fads now, you know, you know, if carnivore, you have people who are just restricting macronutrients and, and don't get me wrong, I think there can be a time and a place for certain things and maybe it can be used as a tool, but is it, is it sustainable for the long term?
Brooks (7m 55s):
Yeah. Yeah. And and a big part to me is how does this hold up when you can't be perfect? So if your, if your goal is don't have any of this, it's very, it's very easy to get to a point where you're like, well I had some now what type of a thing? Right? And, and then it's like, you know, you're kind of lost and that can really reinforce that that all or nothing restricted binge cycle. And, and similarly, you know, I completely agree, you know, for some people keto approach might work, a fasting approach might work, but the big thing to me is like a big benefit of that is not having to track your food, but the problem is once you hit a plateau, where'd you go?
Brooks (8m 42s):
You can't cut out more carbs 'cause you already cut 'em all out, right? You can't, what do you do just like close your eating window more, all of a sudden you're only eating an hour a day. Like, which, you know, some people do that But, it becomes a lot tougher to be flexible and adjust according to plateaus, And what your body's doing in response to that.
Brian (9m 1s):
Yeah, totally agree. you know, and even, even cutting calorie, like you said, fasting or cutting calories. I mean, I was, I got into fasting probably seven, eight years ago. I wrote a journal about it, you know, was doing it for a few years. And like I look back at pictures of myself and I was just like so skinny. Like I, I know people are like, oh, well that's what they, but like for me, I, I don't really wanna look like, I'm like malnourished. Like I, you know, like I want to have some 'cause I resistance trained. So it's like, I feel like if you look at like a track and field person, I know this people talk about track and field like, you know, the Olympics, right? Track and field, how they look and how like a long distance runner look and it's like, well, which one would you rather look like?
Brian (9m 43s):
So I guess a lot of it depends on your goals, right? I mean, and I'm not saying anything's wrong with running per se and ne necessarily even looking like that if that's how you wanna look. But I also think that, you know, you want to sort of know where you're at, know your goals and then sort of tailor you know, what you're doing around that. 'cause I wasn't eating enough and that was an issue. I wasn't getting enough protein and I wasn't eating enough 'cause I had a small eating window. And so yeah,
Brooks (10m 7s):
Yeah, yeah. That's, that's the huge thing. It's like, you know, I've worked with like over 200 people now and most people have enough, have trouble getting enough protein with a full eating window. So like all of a sudden we condense that down to two meals and it's like, if you're not careful and you just hear about fasting and jump into that without the, the knowledge that that a protein is one of the biggest drivers of what, how your body looks it, like good luck getting enough protein in there. Like, you know, and, and once again I've, I've used fasting with clients like some if I've, well with people, but it's always, hey, let's, let's make sure we get that protein in and, and then like you said, if it's someone that kind of has that history of, of maybe not eating enough, then it can, it can be pretty counterproductive to their goals.
Brooks (10m 50s):
But yeah, you're absolutely right. It all depends on the person, you know, it's, it's that classic, if, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So if, if you use fasting with every client, like you're gonna get blinders on and, and you might not end up doing what's best for that person.
Brian (11m 4s):
Yeah. And I love how you mentioned for your first principle was like movement outside of your workouts, because I know you talk about walking a lot. I'm, I'm a big fan of walking, like that's a big part of my day. I mean, I have two dogs. I know you have, we have one or two dogs or
Brooks (11m 20s):
We've got two as well. Yeah, yeah.
Brian (11m 22s):
Okay. So two dogs, And, you know, three walks a day and like that's a big part of like my sort of, if you wanna say like my routine and my exercise, I mean, I just talk, try to get clients to get out once a day I think would be great. Yeah,
Brooks (11m 37s):
Yeah, I agree. And it's like talk about kind of killing, killing a few birds with one stone walking like you're getting some calorie burn, but also you're getting outside so you're getting that sunlight in which can support your sleep cycle and, and your circadian rhythm. You're also, it becomes, I mean at least for me and a lot of my clients, I'm, I'm sure the same for you becomes kind of like that almost a meditative type of stress management tool. And, and the beauty too is you can piece it together throughout your day. Like, you know, you don't have to get to the gym and, and get on a, you're way less likely to skip a walk than you are to skip a, a sprinting session at the gym.
Brian (12m 16s):
Yeah, no, I mean, I love getting out early. No one's out with the dogs and, and you're up and you're in Denver, so I'm sure you have much better looking hikes or or walks than I do here in Chicago. Yeah,
Brooks (12m 28s):
Yeah, no, that's a, that's, we love it out here for that. Taking the dogs out, we, we usually get a morning and a night one. It's kind of a good like bookend to the day to, to start and end on a, on a peaceful note instead of being in that, that sympathetic just fight or flight mode all day every day.
Brian (12m 46s):
Yeah. Yeah. So it definitely, probably the most underrated like sort of like health habits I feel like people can start doing right away is walking And. what else would you say regarding resistance training as far as your clients? Like are you just having them strive to hit a like 1, 2, 3 days a week? Or do you have or probably depends on the individual and their, their background, but yeah,
Brooks (13m 8s):
We're, we're typically having our clients lift two to four times per week. That's kind of, kind of the spot. Yeah. The, you know, if, if I had it my way I'd, I'd prefer probably three, three or four. But you know, if you're starting from no strength training, two days is like the, the jump from zero to two days in resistance or strength training is massive compared to going from like two to three. So that's a big thing. And And, you know, some, some of my clients that are newer to it and, and we're working out at home and they've got crazy schedules. I have done it in the past where it's like 10 to 20 minutes, like five or six days a week because that just works best for their schedule. So, but but really that, that first two to four days is, is super powerful.
Brian (13m 52s):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, lifting has been a big part of my life and I've changed my routine. I used to be three days Now I I have, I do four days and my splits are like too up or too lower.
Brooks (14m 5s):
I like it. Yeah,
Brian (14m 6s):
That seems to work well. Yeah. What, what I, I'm a big routine guy. What is your typical, like weekly routine when it comes to lifting?
Brooks (14m 14s):
Yeah, so I, ty it depends what, what season I'm in for sure. Yeah. If I'm wanting to maybe, you know, add muscle or the scale's going up or down, I'll, I'll try to hit closer to five. But like right now I'm, I'm in a phase where I'm kind of like, I'm just gonna maintain. So what I do is just three, three full body days and then really try to use the other days of the week to get out and get some aerobic stuff in, get, get some hikes in things like that. And, and that's truly not really for the calorie burn, it's more so for the mental health benefits, the, the aerobic conditioning, just like the, the general health stuff. But yeah, usually trying to keep like one day off per week to, to do nothing.
Brooks (14m 57s):
But, but the walks and then right now three lift two or three aerobic and, and I feel pretty good.
Brian (15m 4s):
Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, I feel like in the summer I'll try to lean out maybe a little bit and then the winner tend to put on a little bit of weight and maybe just increase or decrease reps, increase weight maybe slightly.
Brooks (15m 16s):
I like it. Yeah. Yeah. The a big thing I always try to highlight for people too is like once you build that muscle is a lot easier to keep it. So like if they're, if they're really trying to, if you're really trying to change your body, you, you know, go up to maybe, maybe four days a week knowing that like it's a season and then later on if you want to maintain where you're at, you can bring that down to maybe two full body workouts a week and, and still still maintain what you put that work into build.
Brian (15m 46s):
Yeah. And then I know you've posted about different routines. What about like evening routine? Do you have an evening routine and a morning routine that you like to do?
Brooks (15m 55s):
Yeah, I, I've kind of bounced around. Evening is pretty consistent. So after dinner, taking the dogs for like a 30 minute walk really helps. And then from there, usually reading is, is the big thing. Getting in bed and reading like 30 minutes to 60 minutes before I wanna be asleep. And that is a game changer. One thing that's been big for me recently, I, I grabbed an app called Freedom. Okay. And it's basically like a VPN app that syncs between your computer and your phone. Oh. And you can set block times and block lists for apps and the internet or whatever you want.
Brooks (16m 35s):
So lately I've been turning, I have one turned on and the cool part is you can't override it. So like, I'm sure I, I used to do like the Apple thing Yeah. Where it's like screen time, but then you could just click ignore and it's like, it, it didn't really matter 'cause you're like in the middle of something scrolling so you can turn this on so you can't override it. So I turned that on from like 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM So that like, oh, sweet. The end of my day and the beginning of my day. I cannot be on social media or, or email or anything like that. And that's been really helpful. Mornings I've, I've kind of jumped around a little bit. But, it usually consists of all i'll, I, I like to read, I'll, I'll read for maybe 10 minutes, get a walk with the dogs and then sometimes, sometimes it involves a 10, 15 minute, minute meditation.
Brooks (17m 21s):
I usually get 10, 15 minutes in every day. Not always in the morning, but that's been a big one for me. So I think, I think starting and ending the day with some sort of downregulation, you know, breath work, reading, meditation, walks outside, something that doesn't involve screens and that, that high energy can be be super powerful.
Brian (17m 48s):
Yeah. So I'll check out that app, freedom app, it's called.
Brooks (17m 51s):
Yep. Freedom. Yeah,
Brian (17m 52s):
Freedom. Okay. And, what would you say, like for most of your clients, are you focusing on sort of the fitness and nutrition or do you get into like stress and sleep and things like that as well?
Brooks (18m 4s):
Yeah, we, we do a, a bit of everything really. We've, we've got, you know, of course a big part of what we do is, is simplifying an approach that's gonna actually get them to where they want to go. And then you can't ignore doing all the things that's gonna help you stick with that because that really is the biggest, biggest driver. Doesn't matter how perfect your routine is if you can't stick with it. So focusing on skills to deal with discomfort and emotional regulation, dealing with stress management. Those are, those are really powerful because really when it comes down to it, you know, we're, we're all stressed. Like, is is anybody gonna say that that stress isn't, isn't bad or are they gonna say they aren't busy? We're all busy, we're all stressed, we're not exactly built for this environment we have.
Brooks (18m 48s):
And when you get uncomfortable, when you get stressed, when emotions are, are heightened when something goes on at work, the quickest, easiest, most effective way to take care of that in the short term is tasty food. It's very effective. Like, it, it, if you don't feel great, you know, tasty, high calorie, treat it, it works But it doesn't work for very long. And then if you rely on that in the long term, obviously it's gonna work against you. So, so really working on skills to handle stress and emotion and, and things like that without relying on something like food. And it's just like anything else, like alcohol or shopping for some people, you know, whatever it may be working on, on tools to, to just better regulate yourself is, is a massive part of, of long-term success.
Brian (19m 37s):
Yeah. And, and where do you fall? Do you fall in a certain, I know there's some people who are like in, and you might not fall into camp, but like the calories in, calories out camp or, you know, I, I just, I've had a few people on, quite a few people on, I dunno if you know Jay Feldman and, and, and some others, Georgie Dinkle who are like pro metabolic individuals and, and I've had all their and anywhere in between. But do you sort of find yourself falling in a certain camp? I, you know, it sounds like you take more of a balanced approach. Do you monitor calories or do you sort of just focus on having clients eat whole foods or both?
Brooks (20m 10s):
Yeah, so, so yeah, I'm, you know, the calories in, calories out thing is, is it, it amazes me how much is out there and how much arguments go around that because you know, at the end of the day that is what leads to changes in weight. But that's not necessarily useful all the time when we want to change shape of our body because if we're only focused on that, we can ignore protein, we can ignore resistance training and then all of a sudden, you know, you're losing a higher percentage of, of muscle mass instead of fat mass So. we, I'm a big fan of tracking calories, it's educational. The problem is when it becomes a crutch instead of a tool. So when you're tracking, we always wanna un understand where it's fitting in.
Brooks (20m 52s):
It's very educational to see, oh, like, you know, of course it's great to eat whole foods, but it's a lot different when someone sees for themselves that like, oh, if I'm eating my 1800 calories and like 1500 of it is fruits, vegetables, lean meats and, and like complex carbs, I feel a lot better. I am way less hungry versus like fast food and these things. So utilizing tracking calories can be, can be fantastic, especially when you have a weight change goal. But it's important to know, hey, if you can't track, what are you gonna do? What are some tools to use on holidays, on vacations when you're out to eat at a restaurant so that you're not just like completely screwed if you don't have an app on you So, we do utilize it, but then we pair that with, you know, the intuitive eating skills, the, the food quality, things like that.
Brooks (21m 50s):
So yeah. Yeah,
Brian (21m 51s):
Yeah. I, I agree. I, I think that like tracking is, is important. 'cause a lot of times people don't even realize, first of all how much they're eating or what they're eating as well. And it's also always good to get a baseline. Do you utilize like DEXA scans or anything like that just to see body composition?
Brooks (22m 8s):
We'll utilize, we, we, we don't typically do DEXA scans just 'cause they're, they're more expensive and And what, what we typically do is if I had a more advanced client, we might do that, but most of the time we can get a proxy for muscle mass with gym performance, with body measurements, with progress photos and close fit. That's, those are the big kind of markers of body comp that we use. And, and anything other than a dexa really, there's a lot of noise and a lot of variability. So yeah, I, you know, if, if someone's more advanced, I think it can be helpful, especially if they, if they love the numbers, like I'm not against it by any means, but day to day and week to week, just focusing on, on crushing your workouts and, and getting stronger is gonna be a great indicator of, of body comp.
Brian (22m 56s):
Yeah, I love that and I love asking this question to people that come in that, but what's one, what's one thing you've changed your mind on in the last, let's say five years?
Brooks (23m 4s):
Great question. Let me think of a, of a good one. I think probably food timing. I got, I got very deep into more of the athletic performance and, and really optimal for a long time. And I was all about like, get your protein across three to six meals. Get your protein and your carbohydrate and fast digesting carbohydrate right around your workouts. Get your fat and fiber farther from your workouts, making sure you really kind of time that well. And in, in the literature, especially for more gen pop clients that just wanna be more fit instead of step on a bodybuilding stage.
Brooks (23m 46s):
If you control for total calories, total protein and total fiber for the entire day, you're getting 90 plus percent of the weight there. you know, if someone's working out first thing in the morning, fasted, you know, I, I might implement maybe a, a shake for them or, or some, some quick carbs before they get in there. But, but most of the time, you know, these, the, the limiting factor for exercise performance is not gonna be the nutrition of that day. So as long as we're getting those totals in and that just really simplifies it, you know, I've had some clients come to me who have that history of maybe physique competi competitors or fixed meals a day evenly distributed and then all of a sudden they come in, they're like, wait, so if I just like hit this, whether it's two meals or six meals or snacks or just hitting it total for the day, I'm gonna get 90 plus percent of my results.
Brooks (24m 34s):
Like sign me up. It's, it simplifies, it makes it so much more flexible. So that's a big one for me for sure.
Brian (24m 42s):
Yeah. Not getting so caught up in the nuance of, of it all, because like you said, most of the people you're working with, they're not like competitive bodybuilders or trying to get on a stage. And, and it's true. I think when you keep things simple, that's, that's a much better way of getting results as opposed to just getting so caught up in the details.
Brooks (25m 1s):
Yeah, a hundred percent. And And, you know, with, with like tracking food, you know, like a budget, if you're so focused on this meal plan that has you eating six times a day and you're going out to eat on Saturday and you eat your five meals before that, you know, all of a sudden you're eating like way more of your calories before you get to this dinner and then you end up way overeating. Whereas if you're just like, Hey, here's my calories for the day, maybe I'm gonna go a little lower on pro on calories and higher on protein in the day ahead of this dinner or social event gives me more flexibility. But once again, that depends on the client. 'cause some people you try to restrict earlier in the day and they get super hungry and they're not very good at regulating and, and being okay with hunger and all of a sudden they just go crazy at night.
Brooks (25m 44s):
So it, it definitely depends on the person, but, but yeah, there's optimal and then there's realistic so that, that 80 20 game is, is so important. Yeah.
Brian (25m 53s):
Yeah. What, what is, what does your eating routine look like around your workouts and just for the day?
Brooks (25m 59s):
Yeah, so I typically work out like later afternoon. So if I'm doing that, I do, I'm not super hungry in the day, so I usually eat three meals a day. I'll have like a, a good smoothie in the mornings. I really try to load that up with like, my smoothie will be like almond milk or macadamia nut milk with some spinach, some berries, maybe some like walnuts or, or macadamia nuts, protein powder. And that is great 'cause I love starting the day off with, with high protein, high fiber because that, that just make sure I get those critical nutrients in, make sure I start off on the good foot. Lunch is usually gonna be something, something small we'll do, we'll do some meal prep companies for lunch.
Brooks (26m 44s):
And one that I've found that I really like is called Nutrition Solutions. I tried a lot of 'em, but this one actually has really great, like the, the problem with a lot of 'em is they're so focused on, on macros that they don't necessarily get you like some good micronutrients, but this company is, is really good about including some good vegetables with each meal. So I'll do that or like a Greek yogurt bowl just 'cause I'm not super hungry in the day. And then keep it flexible for dinner. So my wife and I'll will make something. Or if we want to go out to eat, getting like mo a lot of protein, fiber, good micros for breakfast and lunch allows kind of more flexibility if needed for dinner.
Brooks (27m 25s):
And then if I do work out in the morning, I'll, I'll maybe do a protein shake with, with some like Gatorade or Simple Carbs first thing, like on my way there or while I work out. But once again, that's, that's not a, a hu a super important thing to, to be doing. What,
Brian (27m 42s):
What, what would you say to someone that maybe feels like they don't have time to work out? What kind of advice would you give them?
Brooks (27m 48s):
Yeah, this is, this is a tough one. So bottom line I would say first things first, like, you need less than you think, especially if you're focusing on the right things. So if you're focusing on weight training, you know, a total of like an hour and a half across the week is, is gonna be way more effective than zero. From there I would say take a look at your screen time on your phone and like, 'cause yeah, right, it's like, it's like, you know, if you, if you love breaking bad, you're not gonna be like, ah, I just don't have time to watch Breaking bad. So making it simple, making it enjoyable. And you know, obviously that's a, a loaded statement there to make it enjoyable. 'cause I know it can be tough, but in that realm of things, it's like, it's so important to find your values and why this is important to you because that's going to take you a lot further than just getting motivated to look good in, in a swimsuit for the summer.
Brooks (28m 42s):
So, so that's a big aspect. And then I would, I would say if you do simplify and actually start seeing results, that's one of the most, most important drivers of that motivation long term. Like once you're starting to see your clothes fit better, you get stronger, you start to feel that energy increase that is so powerful for, for taking you farther. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's definitely tough. And, and I feel like part of that too is there's a huge element to like that self, self-reflection. Like what's important to you, like, you know, is Right. Like, because
Brian (29m 16s):
Is it a priority? Right,
Brooks (29m 18s):
Right. Right. And go ahead.
Brian (29m 21s):
No, I was just gonna say, yeah, I mean, and like you said, I, I've talked about it before, like micro workouts you don't necessarily need, I don't know if you know Brad Kerns, he's outta California. I've, I've, he's sort of mentored me through the process of podcasting, but he has a really good podcast and he talks about micro workouts and you can do stuff that's efficient and, and, and get, get in and out in 20 minutes. you know, you don't have to go to a gym necessarily either.
Brooks (29m 45s):
Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. Some resistance bands and some dumbbells at home, you can get more than enough in. And then outside of the strength training, I know it's, you know, the, the walks get a five minute walk, like a few times a day or get, get a standing desk with a treadmill. A lot of people don't want to be that guy, but you know, it's, once again, if it's important to you just, just, just do it.
Brian (30m 8s):
Yeah. Yeah. There's a company called X three. Have you heard of the X three bar? I remember using that during Covid a lot. It's just all bands. There's a ground plate, a little Olympic bar, and I use that with some clients as well. So it works out really well.
Brooks (30m 23s):
Yeah. Awesome. I think I've maybe, maybe seen something like that.
Brian (30m 26s):
Yeah, Dr. Jaquis, he's been on my podcast a couple times, but I think he, I think that he blew up during Covid, right? Because everyone was trying to find something to do at home and this was small, convenient, easy, not cheap, but, but you know, well-made, so yeah, I think he, covid was probably the best thing that happened to, to his business, you know, I could see
Brooks (30m 46s):
That the at
Brian (30m 47s):
Home. Yeah. Well, this was great. What, what this, another question I like to ask client or individuals that come on the podcast is, what one tip would you give, even though you've given a lot of great tips today, what one tip would you give someone if they were just starting out and they maybe were, wanted to get their bodies back, their body back to what it once was?
Brooks (31m 3s):
I think the biggest thing I would say is that there's never going to be a plan, nutrition or fitness wise that makes it easy for, so I think a lot naturally with social media and everything we see out there, there's sexy stories around why you've struggled with this. and we, we all tend to have this feeling that like we're broken in some way. And I think going into it, expecting it to be hard at some points and expecting failure is the biggest thing, so that you don't get caught up in this, oh, this is gonna be the thing that unlocks everything for me and makes it easy and I'll never have to think about it again.
Brooks (31m 44s):
That's not realistic because we live in a world of high calorie foods everywhere and we have a mind that drives us to move as little as possible and eat as many calories as possible because it's, it evolved in a starvation environment. So there's no one light switch that's just going to make it easy forever. Go into it with that mentality. Don't ignore the, the mindset side and, and the, the skills that will help you deal with discomfort because discomfort is coming if you want change, change equals discomfort. Your body's gonna fight you, your, you know, there are ways to make it simpler and easy. Like I put a lot of stuff out about that, but it's never going to be easy for, so, so focus on, you know, that that self-reflection, that ability to, to face that adversity so that you, you don't get caught in this program hopping all or nothing mindset.
Brian (32m 40s):
Yeah. Great advice. Yeah. I mean, you're gonna have plateaus. It's gonna happen. Right. And, and know there's probably gonna be some discomfort with change, right? Any, anytime. So just knowing that going in and not sort of having these expectations that you're just gonna float, float your way Yeah. To where you want to go. It's, you know, for anything, whether that's, you know, I always go back to golf, but it's like, you know, golf, you always, you always hear golfers say, oh, I, I got it. I know, I know I got it. And then like two weeks later it's like, God, I don't think I have, it's like, you know, so it's, it's a moving target. It's a moving target.
Brooks (33m 14s):
Yeah. Yeah. The, the top of of the mountain is, is just the bottom of the next one. So it's, it's embrace that, that challenge. And And, you know, I I always like to point out to people like, you know, I, I just said like, it's, it's always gonna be hard. There's always gonna be challenge. You have two options. Like you can avoid that as much as necessary or as much as possible. But what's that gonna do that's gonna socially isolate you, that's gonna keep you from going to, to friends and family's parties, that's going to keep you from doing all the things that really bring meaning to you long term. And, and keep in mind why you even want to make these changes, because I'm guessing it's gonna improve your relationships.
Brooks (33m 55s):
So if we're starting to avoid situations that challenge us because we can't handle them, you're kind of defeating the purpose of this whole journey. So instead of trying to create this life where you avoid all this, why not learn the skills to be able to be there without, you know, self-sabotaging.
Brian (34m 15s):
And I think a big thing that can help is just being around people who live that lifestyle.
Brooks (34m 20s):
A hundred percent. That's a great point.
Brian (34m 22s):
Yeah. Like, I know you belong to a, a gym sort of a heavy hitter's gym, right? And I'm sure you go in there and you see these guys, you're like, wow. Like, you know, you see what they do, the habits, the commitment, and it's like, you know, you hang around those people. If you keep hanging around the same people you hung around 20 years ago and, and those habits aren't serving you, then that's probably the issue is the people you're hanging around are, are influencing you in, in a way that shouldn't that's not positive. And, and you gotta make sure you change your environment.
Brooks (34m 50s):
Yeah. Yeah. That's huge. Huge. Yeah. Environment is, is so much of this like yeah, it, it will get hard, but at the, yeah, go ahead.
Brian (34m 59s):
I was just say you're living in Denver. I know you moved. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people there are very like, you know, health conscious or like fitness for individuals who want to get out and do things, and I'm sure that in itself is a motivating factor.
Brooks (35m 13s):
Yeah, yeah. Driving around, you know, lakes, parks, you're, you're seeing people out with dogs and, and walking and, and always moving. So it's definitely, yeah, definitely helpful. Yeah.
Brian (35m 22s):
So just move to Denver. Yeah.
Brooks (35m 24s):
That's the key, right?
Brian (35m 26s):
Yeah. Put yourself in that environment. Well, Brooks, I appreciate you coming on. Best place for people to find you. Instagram
Brooks (35m 33s):
Is, is where you'll find everything. It's at the Brooks Coleman or just search Brooks Coleman and, and you'll find me there.
Brian (35m 39s):
Yeah, well keep it up. Love, love your handle and all the, all the content you're putting out there. And I appreciate you, you know, you coming on the podcast and sharing all this.
Brooks (35m 48s):
Yeah, this was great. Thanks for having me, Brian.
Brian (35m 50s):
No problem. Thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.
