Getting To Yes | Scott A.

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys, it’s Dean. Welcome to the Better Man Podcast. Today’s episode is a member interview with Scott. Scott is a construction worker in Georgia and in this episode, we talk about how a scary blood panel test led him to make some changes. He started with improving his diet. That led into running and weightlifting, which quickly led him to do something less intense on his body.

Dean Pohlman: He eventually started doing yoga, and he’s now doing ultra running, which is like marathon running, but even further. So I really like this conversation because we talk about the motivation for Scott ultimately being the ability to say yes to whatever he wanted to do. We also talk about how this was a very slow, gradual process for him.

Dean Pohlman: He’s been doing manual yoga for three years now, and it probably took him 5 or 6 months until he really noticed the improvements. Which is to say that sometimes you got to stick with it for a while, but now he’s at this point where he’s looking at mental yoga, how it fits into his life, and can’t imagine it not being there.

Dean Pohlman: So I really like this conversation for a lot of reasons. I also get to ask questions from. I get to ask questions to a member of a certain demographic that I don’t really talk with that much. We’ve got a lot of guys who are office workers, but I don’t have a ton of conversations with guys who are have more active jobs.

Dean Pohlman: So it was cool to hear what his experiences with that. Anyways, I think it’s really interesting. I hope you enjoy this interview and I hope it inspires you to be a better man. Hey guys, it’s Dean. Welcome to the Better Man Podcast. Today we have another member interview. I am talking with Scott A and we’re going to be learning about his health and wellness journey and and more.

Dean Pohlman: So Scott, thanks for joining me today.

Scott A.: Thank you.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So, you know, you reached out to me. I’ve started, you know, we’ve been doing these member interviews for, probably six months now. And you reached out, said, hey, I wanna tell my story. And I was like, cool, let’s tell your story. So when did you has health and wellness always been important to you, or was there a time in your life when you realized, oh, I’ve gotta I’ve gotta fix some stuff?

Scott A.: It has not. It was more of a recent thing. I kind of had, like, two things kind of collide at the same time, and I figured it was my wake up moment. I been getting my physicals, and every time I go and get my blood work done, everything is high, okay? And basically, I go down each list with my doctor and she would be like, me, like, what can I do to fix this?

Scott A.: And I’d be like, you can lose weight. What can I do to fix this? I can lose like.

Scott A.: And,

Scott A.: So we kept on, we keep on going over that stuff. And I was getting to the point with that where I was like, I’m going to try to lose weight. I’ll just give it six months on this. And if it starts trending in the right direction, I’ll continue. And if not, I’m just going to continue to eat whatever I want to eat.

Scott A.: And just.

Scott A.: Go the opposite direction. But then like the.

Dean Pohlman: Next six months thing.

Scott A.: I figured that’s a good amount of time. You know, in six months it.

Scott A.: Because if you give it.

Scott A.: I mean, if you try to give it a week, you’re not changing in a week. In six months was when my next blood work was going to be done. Okay. So makes sense. It was it gave a good amount of time.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And then ended doing that.

Scott A.: I just started changing my diet mainly. And I would just keep on substituting A for B and it would just get smaller and smaller. And then eventually I got to. And this sounds kind of boring I guess, but I start eating almost the same thing every day. Like every breakfast it would be a Greek yogurt yogurt, apple. And then for lunch of an apple, a banana and a salad.

Scott A.: Okay. And so, so it was kind of structured and I’ve gotten away from that over time. But. Once I started doing everything the weight loss was pretty consistent. It was 1 to 2 pounds a week all time.

Dean Pohlman: That’s that’s the way it’s supposed to happen.

Scott A.: Yeah. Because I didn’t want to do more than that because I was looking at it long term. And I don’t think if you did quicker than that, it’s sustainable.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. You have some people who actually lose weight too fast and they actually run into some health problems.

Scott A.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So yeah.

Scott A.: And I think your metabolism kind of changes as it goes too.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah for sure. So how did you what encouraged you to be consistent with that change as you were starting out. Because that’s I mean going from eating whatever you want to I’m just going to have an apple for breakfast. Might be.

Scott A.: Yeah, don’t I guess once you start changing, the change kind of builds itself in a way. So like I, I work construction, so it’s kind of hard to eat healthy but want, you know, hey, I’m going to bring this to lunch, as am I. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to pack my lunch. I’m going to drink my water, I’m going to have my salad and everything’s done in front of you.

Scott A.: It’s your only option, you know, you just. I’m not going out to eat today. I’m not doing.

Dean Pohlman: That’s true. You can really I love using I love using the, the healthy, the person who wants to be healthy, the that version of yourself to just make life for your future self miserable but restrictive and effective.

Scott A.: Yeah.

Scott A.: I mean, I like to say you don’t have another choice. This is your choice right now. So you can either enjoy it and take it for the better. You can or.

Scott A.: You don’t eat, you know. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So I’m, I’m actually really curious about this because I know that we have you know, I don’t I don’t speak much to this particular demographic of ours, but we have people who are, you know, we have guys who are very active for their job. And I usually talk to the office worker. Right. And that’s that’s most of who talks to me is the guys who are spending way too much time sitting right.

Dean Pohlman: They have terrible posture. They have all these aches and pains from sitting. But on the other end, if you have a super physical job, then you need similar things. A lot of people have the same, you know, they’re using their bodies incorrectly, kind of the same way that you would use kind of the same way that you would approach, like your workouts at the gym.

Dean Pohlman: You tend to have you tend to rely on the wrong muscles you aren’t using. You aren’t using your core. You aren’t using your hips effectively. You’re not really using your upper back as much as you should. So there’s a lot of those kind of, similarities. But you guys also need kind of different, different movements. So I’m curious for you, what what did you notice between come of what I was talking about versus what some of your needs were?

Scott A.: Yeah, it’s funny you say that because sometimes it’s just I I’ll be listening to you and it’ll be like, oh, for off if we’re going to like, well, this doesn’t really apply per se. But yeah, you just make a little bit of changes here and there because like with us, I mean that’s partly why I started the yoga.

Scott A.: It was just my body was destroyed. I mean, my knees shredded. You know, your joints just hurt from physical working. I mean, you don’t see a ton of older people on the film because your body can’t keep up with it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. How how old are you?

Scott A.: I’m 47.

Dean Pohlman: 47.

Scott A.: Okay. So, like, that was one of the. The big things I noticed with the yoga was when I could tie my shoes without coming up with a game plan.

Scott A.: I here, you know, I just had to be like, all right.

Scott A.: How am I going to tie my shoe? How am I going to bend over this far? How am I going to do? And it sounds simple, but like the day I was like, oh man, I just tied my shoe and didn’t even think about it.

Scott A.: It was just, yeah.

Scott A.: Like such a huge.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. How long do you remember how long it took for you to be able to do that from start to happen? That happened.

Scott A.: That was probably a while, maybe 4 or 5 months.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

Scott A.: Because like when I started like the diet end, I started because of the health issues with my blood work. Yeah. Now the yoga and then and I started partly because of my work and partly I was I was looking at properties with my friend and they were fairly large properties, but I was gassed. I was just dying. And I’m just like this, this can’t stay like this.

Scott A.: And, I mean, it was bad enough. My friend called me up like a few days later. He’s like, I can’t tell you what to do, but you need to do something.

Scott A.: It’s like you just can’t.

Scott A.: Be be healthy. Like, this was like, you know, when I do something, I go in, so I like, okay, I’m going to get on the treadmill, I’m going to lift weights. And I got on the treadmill.

Scott A.: And there was nothing happening. Just it was a no go. So the the treadmill became.

Scott A.: An elliptical, you know, because I can do that.

Scott A.: Yeah. And yeah. And and then the weight.

Scott A.: Lifting became, just planks, just like, I mean, six second planks, eight second planks, whatever I can do.

Scott A.: Yeah. But then, then.

Scott A.: The planks, I started thinking, like, you know, I like to be flexible. And this seems adjacent to.

Scott A.: Yoga, you know, it’s like, maybe I can do yoga and get some, benefits out of it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So how did you go start, how did you start looking for something yoga related?

Scott A.: I went on because with I travel in addition to work. So, like, finding a studio was not going to work. And, yeah, I don’t know that I, Cartersville, Georgia.

Scott A.: Okay.

Scott A.: And between Atlanta and Chattanooga. Okay, so kind of rural ish. Okay. But the studio thing didn’t really appeal to me. Yeah. So I’m like, let me find something online. You can find anything online. And I’ve found someone, but like her, her voice. This is going to sound silly, but her voice kind of annoyed me because it was soothing and comforting type thing.

Scott A.: Yeah. And then I found you.

Scott A.: And it was more like coaching. Instructive, which is what I prefer. So I started watching your. Well, the first what I watched was a, Clark series one. Yeah.

Scott A.: So I was like, I do this is way harder. I know what I can do. But then I started.

Scott A.: Finding other ones on YouTube, and I kept on doing the YouTube ones and YouTube ones, and eventually I was like.

Scott A.: All right, I feel guilty. I’m not paying this dude that I’m watching. You know? I was like, okay, let me sign up for a subscription.

Scott A.: And I figured if I put money into it, it would force me to use it because I was like, I’m not going to spend money on something I’m not going to use.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that was going to be my question. You know, I’m always curious about like, you know, I see some people who comment on my YouTube videos, like every day. It’s been like two years and I’m kind of like, so, you know that I have an app, right? Like, you know, that I have more workouts and like, you know, that I have this whole thing and, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So it’s interesting, to hear, okay. Number one, you just you just felt guilty. So you signed up like, well, you know, ideally people aren’t just signing up because they’re guilty, but. Well, I’m like, it’s a guy.

Scott A.: This is his business. This is what he’s doing. I was like, it’s not some huge company out there or it’s, like everyone makes a difference.

Scott A.: And I’m. And I’m like. And that will force me to do it and stay with it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s that’s kind of how I, I mean, I look at it as, I mean, I don’t know clearly, you know, I’m biased, but I also look at it as like, I mean, you know, $12 a month, give or take to, you know, just to, to have all the workouts that you need to have everything, all the programs, like a progression to actually do it, a community to support you, like, and you actually get, you get to talk like I’m accessible to like, you know, you you don’t sign up for like, Beachbody or like, I shouldn’t say that.

Dean Pohlman: I’ve had the Beachbody guy on the podcast, but you know, you don’t sign up for a giant streaming service and then you’re able to, like, talk with the trainer. That doesn’t happen.

Scott A.: But it’s kind of hard to understand the program before you’re in the program, if that makes sense, because you don’t. I mean, most of us, I would imagine, are just getting into it. Most of us are probably older. We’re a little kind of gun shy to start with because, you know, you don’t know what you’re doing. And then it’s this whole online program you don’t know how to use.

Scott A.: It just until you’re in it, use it because, like, I’ve gone through many iterations of how I use your program, it was like when I first started, it was solely I’m going to start with the absolute beginner program. I’m going to go through there that I’m going to do the breath program, I’m going to do the strength program.

Scott A.: And now that is not at all the way I use your Man flow yoga.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Are you, are you one of the just figure out what you’re going to do that day, guys, or how do you use it?

Scott A.: It depends.

Scott A.: On what I’m doing. And can I almost use it more now as, one to stay healthy and movement, but two, it’s supplemental to my other stuff because, like, right now I’m doing ultrarunning. So that takes up so much of your time.

Dean Pohlman: And yeah, you’re a runner, ultra runner. That’s cool.

Scott A.: Yeah I got I got a big race coming up. So like currently.

Dean Pohlman: Are you, are you just that weird guy who’s, like, running around town barefoot and everyone’s like, there goes Sky. Just. Just running this 30, 30 mile runs.

Scott A.: I am the weird guy.

Scott A.: I do not do barefoot.

Scott A.: And it’s probably more like, man, that homeless.

Scott A.: Guy out there just keeps on running. But it’s a small.

Dean Pohlman: Focus on that guy.

Scott A.: I know so.

Scott A.: Many people, you know? But yeah, I mean, you just put in so many miles. It’s funny because I’m always like, am I the story in other people’s conversations at night.

Scott A.: You know, I’m I’m I’m like, see?

Scott A.: Like running again.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Taking, taking up space in their heads for free. That’s awesome though.

Scott A.: So like now I use it for a lot of recovery. I’ll use it for like this morning I was doing an ankle flexibility because it’s pretty important. And stabilization. But then I also did some I did a couple OCR, so I’d use that for like upper body and with my strength training. So when I was doing the weightlifting, obstacle course races.

Dean Pohlman: Like okay, like Spartan. Spartan.

Scott A.: Yeah. Because I do like the Savage race. Same thing. Stuff.

Scott A.: Okay. But it it mixes it up.

Scott A.: And then I did I’ve done rock climbing, so I’ve used that to the flexibility and strength is I mean they kind of go hand in hand really.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Cool. So rock.

Scott A.: So it just depends on what I’m doing now. It’s like, how can I focus your program to help what I need.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. So I’m going to I’m going to come back to that in a second and try to understand like so you went from you went from dieting. So you went from just like okay, I got a diet because, you know, I’ve got some, scary blood test results here. So I got to test that. And then you went into, okay, now I’m going to work out and do like I’m going to go to the gym, I’m going to run, I’m going to lift weights.

Dean Pohlman: And then you started doing yoga instead. And then you were doing endurance. So like, what all have you when did you start man for yoga. And then like, what all have you done since then?

Scott A.: I started man for yoga about three years ago.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

Scott A.: So that was at that time. That’s when I was doing the elliptical and planks because I was only like stuff I could get. But then when I started doing the yoga, I can do yoga and not till the next day where, you know, when I do heavy running or heavy lift training, it takes me days to recover sometimes.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Scott A.: You know, and I that’s one thing I found with getting older is your recovery is it’s longer. You might be able to do the workout, but you’re going to pay for when you pay for it.

Scott A.: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I might be able to go out with the kids and play basketball, but the next day not very good.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Yeah, that’s the thing for it. It’s not it’s not what you can do. It’s what you’re willing to recover from.

Scott A.: Yeah. But that’s what I found with yoga is I can usually recover from it because I would.

Scott A.: For a little while.

Scott A.: I was even doing it twice a day. I do a morning just like a wake up morning to get you going, and then I do it after noon, because, like, for me, I started doing it in the beginning. I was doing a lot of times in the evening because that’s when I had time. But I felt I wasn’t giving the benefits because I think afterwards is when you feel looser and nicer, then by the time you wake up, you’re kind of getting stiff again.

Scott A.: So like most of my time that I would get the benefits is.

Scott A.: When I’m sleeping, right? That’s not what I’m using.

Scott A.: It for at that time.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Scott A.: So I had to switch it up to a morning routine.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Okay.

Scott A.: So then I went from that, like my elliptical became running or jogging or walking around.

Dean Pohlman: Yes. This is this is jogging. Walking moving quickly. Combination of movement.

Scott A.: Yeah. Just one foot in front of the other.

Scott A.: I mean.

Scott A.: One step at a time and then, you know, then, my planks started getting into weight training a little bit more where I could start moving weights. So that I think I started that about the same time I was doing the strength foundation thing. So I kind of felt they worked off of each other a little bit.

Scott A.: Yeah. For sure. So that was maybe six months and something like that. Okay, cool. Like and this might help other people. But the one thing I really wish I had done was recorded some of my early workouts and written down how I felt during them and how the move felt, because at least for me, my change was slow.

Scott A.: It was a gradual. You know, even today I’m still not super flexible. I mean if, if you get a 16th of an inch or 32nd of an inch which you would never be able to measure, that’s a good progression. Yeah. And if you take that over a month. Yeah you take that over a month you can see it.

Scott A.: But because you’re you, you’re you every day. So you don’t see the change from Monday to Tuesday. Yeah. And I kind of wish I could gone back and seen that because the closest I got was I’ll do yoga out on my pond on a, on a stand up paddleboard. And then I went.

Scott A.: I went back to know absolute beginners, and I felt like an absolute beginner. And because it’s so hard.

Scott A.: And I was like, okay, this is this is how much I progress that now you add the movement of that. Now, I felt like I did in the beginning. So I was like, okay, I really did progress a lot. I just you don’t remember where you started from sometimes.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And that’s that’s usually what happens. It’s not like, it’s not like a before and after photo. It’s usually what happens is someone, you know, they do, they do a, you know, a series of workouts, they do a program. But then like you, they kind of come back to it after a few months and then they’re like, oh, this is this is easier than I remember.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Or sometimes it’s the other way. Sometimes it’s actually, oh, this is harder than I remember it. It’s because they’re actually paying attention doing technique and they’re incorporating the proper muscle activation. Whereas before they were kind of just what’s Deen doing? I don’t know. Let me mirror him. Let me try and make myself look like him.

Scott A.: Well, you’ll say things and I didn’t. I mean, I listened and I knew what you were saying, but I didn’t understand or comprehend them. Because like you would say activate your glute. No idea what that was, how to do that, what that was.

Scott A.: I mean I know what my glute is.

Scott A.: I don’t know how to activate it. I can’t make that. And now if I’m doing it so long it makes sense. I guess I don’t know how to breathe.

Scott A.: You know, something simple. Yeah.

Scott A.: When you’re just, like, breathing, you’re. I was like, what is this? How does it work? And now it’s like, okay, I understand it. So it’s like you’re to your point. If you went back and redid the things. Yeah, it’s it’s a completely it’s almost a different routine.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Scott A.: Yeah. Like when you, when the day you realize you start cutting down all the time.

Scott A.: It was like, oh I, I’m no longer guessing.

Scott A.: Now. It’s more like when you’re like, oh this is going to be fun. It’s like, no.

Scott A.: This is not going to be oh yes. Yeah. That’s that’s true.

Dean Pohlman: You are not wrong. Yeah. That’s that’s my code word for this is going to be an intense one, but I get excited about it. So I say it’s fine because it is.

Scott A.: Yeah. I think that might be universal, though, because I was, doing a trail run the other day and some ultra runners ran by and they’re like, oh, you’re going on the fun trail.

Scott A.: And.

Scott A.: What does that mean?

Scott A.: I have you know what that mean? It was not. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So, you know, so I don’t have a lot of construction guys, on the podcast. So I actually wanted to go back to that topic and ask you some questions around that. So, how do you guys what’s what is like the conversation? What is the culture around health in and construction communities? Is it like, do they care about it or is it just like, I mean, just let me know.

Scott A.: Just there’s like generations kind of of construction because there’s a lot of us old timers, were raised a certain way and your body was more or less just a tool you used out in the field to get the work done. So you didn’t take care of it. You didn’t do anything like that, and you just abused it.

Scott A.: You did whatever you could, get the job done. And now a lot of the newer, younger guys are, they eat a little bit healthier and, they work out a lot more. That’s, that’s a lot of their thing is they’ll go to the gym and work out. They usually don’t do a lot of cardio. They don’t do yoga, but they’re they’ll ask you about it and then never follow up on it.

Scott A.: Can I I’m told a lot of people about man flow yoga but.

Scott A.: Anyone’s ever actually.

Scott A.: Went through it especially like oh I have a lot of kids like and, and running on and like a running club. And so I’ve talked to some of the ladies and they’ll be like, oh, what yoga do you do? And you’ll say, man, flow yoga. And you kind of get this look. And they’re like, well, it’s not just for men.

Scott A.: It just it’s the name.

Scott A.: It’s geared to like some of us, flexible older people generally. And yeah, so you kind of got to go through the whole explaining it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s a conversation starter for sure.

Scott A.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So what’s the so how do guys so that older generation, how do you guys deal or like how do you guys talk about pain. Is it just like, my back or is just like.

Scott A.: You’re just supposed to have it.

Dean Pohlman: You’re just supposed to have it?

Scott A.: Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s like with, with all my levels, pretty much everything is good now, except for. I gotta check it now. But my liver enzymes are always high, and I think it’s because of the amount of painkillers I was.

Scott A.: Taking to get.

Scott A.: Through the day. Okay. Did you take all your what is NZ and you’re not good on your liver.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No. If you need to take those just to get through the day. Yeah. That’s.

Scott A.: Yeah I can you know I can eat those like candy more I love you know you won’t even swallow water. I think now the only time I take them really is on like race day or something like that, when you know you’re okay. So that’s a huge change.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I like that. So what about. What about eating? What do I mean, what’s the what’s the culture around eating or like, what do you guys have for for lunch or is there does anyone like you guys get healthy stuff today?

Scott A.: No. A lot of the guys still go out to eat every, every day for lunch. So you’re talking fast food most of the time. Yeah. You know, sometimes there’s like food trucks that come with the job sites, but you’re talking a lot of, like, tortilla based stuff, right? You know, a lot of Mexican food, which.

Scott A.: Generally tastes really good, but not always what you want to.

Scott A.: Eat every day.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I used to, I used to when I was first starting mental yoga, I had a, I was a job. I was a mover, which was an awesome job because it was a new company. So we got paid pretty well. You got tips? We were paid as contractors, so, it was it was a good setup.

Dean Pohlman: And it was good for me because I was like, cool. I get to work out, I get to be active. But you are. I mean, you’re moving the whole time, like, literally moving. You know, you’re moving your body, you’re lifting things, you’re picking things up, you’re moving quickly. And so you got to lunch and you’re, you know, you’re starving.

Dean Pohlman: And so you eat, you know, and and most I don’t think anybody actually brought a lunch. It was all guys like in their early 20s maybe, maybe some guys in their early 30s. But, you know, mostly younger guys. And we would go to, you know, we would try to go to places that had all you can eat buffets for lunch.

Scott A.: And, you know, that is exactly, you know, and I think I was think about that.

Scott A.: You would go to like CCS and you would have a couple pizzas, like two whole pizzas or whatever at lunch, and you wouldn’t think twice about it.

Dean Pohlman: All right. And then, but then you get back to work and like 15 minutes and you’re like, I think I need a nap. And you just push through it and it’s just, it sucked.

Scott A.: But yeah, it’s a hard.

Scott A.: Thing when you have a high calorie output. You do need to counteract it with the input. Yeah. So like, like once I started, it was something. And it’s something that I’m still dealing with is when you’re doing weight training and ultra training and yoga, you need to offset the calories, because when I was in a deficit, you’re more likely to get injured and you’re not feeling properly.

Scott A.: So you got to like, can I started I think I was 211 when I started. I got all the way down to 151, and now I’m up to like 170, which is probably a better way for me unless I’m trying to do like marathon training.

Dean Pohlman: Where, yeah.

Scott A.: I’ll tolerate about 510.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Yeah. It’s a good it’s a good way with 510 and working out and doing that much active stuff. Yeah, I can see how that would be challenging.

Scott A.: Yeah. You.

Scott A.: You, you.

Scott A.: Get to the point where you’re not taking in enough calories to fuel your activities. Yeah. And then if you don’t fuel it, you know, you’re not getting the gains from what you’re trying to do. Yeah. And you get injured and right it’s all this cycle where everything works together. You know if you got to sleep right you got to eat right.

Scott A.: To me those are the two main things. And then it’s just being active. You know working out. Yeah. Doing some cardio. And then they all kind of go hand in hand.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So how, how did the, you know, what was your mentality with the adding in new healthy habits. And curious about like was there a curiosity to, to just try it. Was there like did you notice like, oh, I’m, I don’t know. So what was that? What was, what inspired you to to make more changes.

Scott A.: At some point in life, you kind of get tired or hurting all the time. And like, sometimes my friends would do something like, they would go on a backpacking trip or something, and they want to invite me because they know I just drag it. And, you know, if my kids ever have to grant, you know, kids and have grandkids, I want to be able to be around and physically functional for them.

Scott A.: Yeah, I guess, what I really want to be is a yes and so on. And if someone asks me a question, if they say, hey, you want to do this, can you do this? I want to be yes. Whereas I want to say no because I don’t want to do it. It’s not because I can’t do it.

Scott A.: You know? I want to be there for myself and for everyone around me.

Dean Pohlman:

Scott A.: And if you don’t change and get healthy, you can’t do that.

Dean Pohlman: Was that a sudden realization for you or was there a is that a general. Like an over time thing.

Scott A.: Is this whole thing it’s just it’s such a slow process because as you physically get better, you know, I read a lot of books and I, I worked on my mind and how to look at things. And the weird thing with your mind and your body is you can’t or not to, not your, your mind and your thoughts and you can’t gauge it the same way.

Scott A.: Like if I’m doing yoga, I can tell you I can do this pose or not, or if I’m doing a race, I can tell you what speed I am. But when you’re working on your mind and your attitude, there’s no test for that.

Dean Pohlman: Right?

Scott A.: You know, where I found and it’s such a slow change, you still always think of yourself as your past self. And, So now when I meet some new people, they’ll describe me a certain way. And that’s not how I see myself.

Scott A.: And it’s kind of,

Scott A.: Or like I still describe myself as fat because I’m so used to being fat. And then people will look at you weird and you can’t figure out why. And then you’re like, oh, yeah, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not that person anymore. But you still.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Scott A.: It’s hard to move on from who you were sometimes.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No, I hear about that all the time in the community. I mean, I talk about it probably every podcast episode that I do, I hear people talk about, well, I’m not really an active person. And I look at like the posts that they just made, they’re like, well, I, I run three times a week and I do yoga five times a week, and then I go to the gym.

Dean Pohlman: On the other days I’m like, what are you talking about? You’re an active person.

Scott A.: Well, it’s like when you say, you know, so with the athlete.

Scott A.: And so then I’m like, ooh.

Scott A.: I don’t like.

Scott A.: That word because I just do not consider myself an athlete or a runner or any, just you don’t look at yourself that way.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No, it’s, No, it’s a thing. Yeah. I think most of the people in mental yoga who talk to me, I mean, we definitely got to people who were athletes in high school. And, you know, they kind of usually what happens is they let themselves go, for a while, and then they have this oh shit moment, and then they start doing, you know, getting back into things, getting back into workouts.

Dean Pohlman: But then on the other hand, you have the guys who, you know, were never really active, who hated working out, who were the last picked for sports. Yeah. You know, they come in demand for yoga. They’re like, I’m not an athlete. I’m like, cool. You’re welcome. Great. You’re you’re here. You’re in the right place.

Scott A.: Yeah. And I mean, who you were doesn’t dictate who you’re going to be. You know, it doesn’t.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So you got a couple of other questions. So how have, How did you feel supported, in making these changes? Did you have was your family on board with you? Was, you know, do you have community? Did you join groups or. Like what what how is that that social support there or not? There?

Scott A.: I guess some of it I didn’t like, you know, I was saying I didn’t write down and I didn’t take pictures. I really didn’t tell anyone what I was doing because I think if I started doing that, I wouldn’t have even started because I’d be so scared I was going to fail. That. And that would be a record of it.

Scott A.: That I’m just like, no, I’m not going to do that. So I just kind of kept it. And then when I did start, like some of the guys at work, right, I had like cancer.

Scott A.: Or something because when I went in there just wow. And no one really wanted to, you know, necessarily say anything.

Scott A.: And then they’re like, oh, no, he’s just working hard and just eating better.

Dean Pohlman: I think he’s dying. No, no, no, no, he’s just working out guys.

Scott A.: Yeah. I mean I guess they look kind of similar, you know, maybe you don’t know it.

Scott A.: You know, my family was I mean they’ve been supportive of it, but, then I always take everything to an extreme. So I don’t think anyone fully understands what I’m doing now. Okay. But yeah it’s like my, my oldest, she would, our youngest, she would do man flow yoga with me. So when I was like having a conversation with Dean.

Scott A.: She’s like oh. How old is this?

Dean Pohlman: How old are you? Youngest.

Scott A.: She’s 18.

Dean Pohlman: She she’s 18. And then the oldest is 28. 28.

Scott A.: Yeah. That’s that’s why I got into construction.

Scott A.: I needed to make money off.

Dean Pohlman: You got it? Okay. Yeah, yeah.

Scott A.: So it kind of changes because, you know, high school, I played soccer and did sports and all that. So because I was always when I first started doing electrical, I was so small, if they needed a small guy or light guy, I’d be the one that put up in the ceiling to walk across stuff you couldn’t walk across, you know, so small and like, I’m not.

Scott A.: Doing this again. I start putting on weight.

Scott A.: And that did not turn out good.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. I always see the young guys being utilized for the things that like, yeah, I don’t think most and I mean, look at what I look at what the younger guys in, you know, in construction or jobs like that are doing. And I’m like, yeah, I couldn’t do that. And I’m supposed to be in pretty good shape.

Scott A.: So yeah, I mean time catches us all.

Scott A.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So what’s the next thing you want to work on in your fitness. What are you working on right now.

Scott A.:

Scott A.: I’m trying to do a, a couple runs I want to get into like Chicago qualifying marathon. I want to get to 100 miler, but ultimately I want to get back to playing soccer and ultimate frisbee and stuff like that. Okay? I, I like the team aspect. I mean, so much of, like, running and even doing the yoga, I mean, I’m kind of part of a group, but you kind of part alone when you’re doing it.

Scott A.: Yeah. So it’s kind of now. And so I want to be part of a team aspect, something physical where there’s a little bit of physicality with it. Can you kind of miss the, you know, soccer. You’re bumping into people. You’re you’re hitting people. But running. The only time I get physicality is when I trip and hit the ground.

Scott A.: And sometimes even then I’m like, yeah, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: You know, or if you run into a cougar on the.

Scott A.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Trail.

Scott A.: Or something.

Scott A.: They’re bear.

Dean Pohlman: Right there.

Scott A.: Yeah. That’s always there.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That’s only happened like twice to me.

Scott A.: So but and you know, and like playing soccer and stuff it, it scared me a little bit because of the quick moving back and forth and your knees and whatnot.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, I agree that part is scary. I played lacrosse up until I was 30, I think, or 29. And then pandemic happened. You know, leagues got shut down for, yeah. Actually no. If they got shut down, maybe not here in Texas, but like a year or two, I was out. And then when there was games again or when I considered, oh, maybe I can go, I think I went out and I played once and I hadn’t played in like probably two years, and I went out.

Dean Pohlman: I did like one run. I think I played like one half. I had like a five minute shift and then, yeah, that was that was the last time I played.

Scott A.: That was it. You got to five minutes and were like done.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. It’s just I’m just so scared of getting injured. And even back when I was playing in my late 20s, like, I would go out and I would do agility drills, like, I would go out to fields and do sprints and do, like, cone drills and stuff because I’ve had plenty of injuries from playing the cross and I don’t want to get, I can’t get I mean, I, I don’t want to get injured, you know, and like if I get injured, obviously I can’t create.

Scott A.: Your livelihood in your body. I mean, that’s the same way I am. I am my, my livelihood and my body. So.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So it’s just there’s too much on the line. So yeah.

Scott A.: Do they have adult lacrosse leagues that have.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah they do. You know, they’re they’re pretty competitive too. And most of the guys who play are, you know, recent college grads and still in their 20s, and you got a couple guys in there, their 30s who play, but there’s a mascot. I think I’m looking for the Masters Leagues. If there’s a masters League, then I’m like, I’m in.

Dean Pohlman: Like, if I can just be the fast guy amongst a bunch of, you know, 30 plus guys, like, I can do that. But yeah, like trying to keep up with like the 24 year old who just graduated college and played D1 like, no, that’s that’s that’s going to be hard.

Scott A.: But I guess that’s ultimately the goal is to get to the point where you can do whatever and be like, yeah, yeah, I can do that. I could go play soccer. Yeah, I like to get back, do some more rock climbing and stuff.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. I mean, I just came up with the title of the podcast episode is Getting to Yes.

Scott A.: Yeah.

Scott A.: I mean, that’s to me, that’s that’s everything is when you get to the point where you can do everything and you just choose what you don’t want to do. So I mean that’s one of my big things now is every time you say yes or something you’re saying no, there’s something else and that’s good and bad. You know like if, if I go downstairs and it took me a while to value my own time, like taking 30 minutes to do.

Scott A.: Oh yeah. I felt like I was being selfish to my family and those around me by taking time for myself. I that’s a that’s a recent thing and I’m not used to it. It feels kind of. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: That’s that’s something to overcome.

Scott A.: Yeah. You know, and I think that,

Dean Pohlman: Go ahead. We’ll go ahead.

Scott A.: Sorry. Yeah. I was going to say I didn’t think that would be, a thing, but the more I got into it, I was just like, man, I kind of feel guilty.

Scott A.: Doing some of that stuff.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. And that’s like, that’s something that families have to, you know, people have to kind of balance. They have to have conversations and they have to make sacrifices. And, you know, I had to wake up earlier than they want to. And.

Scott A.: And like, my family’s been great about it. It just it’s something internal and me where you feel like, you know, you should be doing something different.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. All right, so let’s get into our rapid fire questions. What is the one habit, belief, or mindset that has helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

Scott A.: I would say don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do. Okay, so I mean that that works for me in a lot of different stuff. You know, like part of the reason I was scared of yoga was because the things positions. And I was like, I can’t do that, but I can’t do these simple ones.

Scott A.: I can do a cat cow.

Scott A.: Yeah, but let’s start there.

Scott A.: So to me, I mean, that works with everything kind of in life, you know, don’t if you can do one thing out of ten, that’s one thing that you didn’t have before.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, it’s a great way to look at it. What’s one thing that you do for your health that is often overlooked or undervalued by others?

Scott A.: This is one I’ve been kind of working on, but I’d say it’s, embracing failure. Okay. Thinking thinking of failure more as a, positive thing because it meant you try to go past your limits a little bit and at least tried. And that’s a good thing, you know?

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. True. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life?

Scott A.: I’d say the unknown, because I can deal with everything I know, but I don’t know what’s going to happen today or tomorrow. Yeah. You know, just you have everything planned, and then the unknown happens, whatever that is. And it’s going to wreck your day. And it’s out there always.

Scott A.: Looming out over your, Yeah.

Scott A.: Just so that’s that’s where my strength comes from is where the goal come from.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. What’s your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

Scott A.:

Scott A.: I guess maybe just sometimes slow down and take things in and enjoy it, celebrate your wins. And, I mean, none of this is a race to the finish, so just enjoy what you have and celebrate it.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

Scott A.: I mean, you know, for something small, just be proud of it. Yeah, I’ll take it on.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, that’s great advice. Be grateful. All right. Well, I really enjoyed this interview. Thanks for. Thanks for doing this, Scott. This was, This is awesome.

Scott A.: Yeah. I mean, I really got to thank you for setting up the program, having it structured the way you do. I mean, it’s made a huge difference in my life. I mean, I don’t think I’d be human. I am today without it.

Dean Pohlman: So thank you.

Scott A.: Thank you for the program.

Dean Pohlman: You’re welcome. My pleasure. I appreciate the words. It’s awesome. God, it’s worked for you.

Scott A.: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: All right, guys, well, I hope you enjoyed that. Scott, once again, thank you, for coming on. If you’re enjoying this, I forgot what I say at the end of this. Anyways, thank you for listening. I hope this inspires you to be a better man. I’ll see you guys on the next episode. All right, all right, guys, hopefully you enjoyed this interview.

Dean Pohlman: If you want to learn more, about man for yoga and you haven’t already become part of our community, go to more info yoga.com/join to start a free seven day trial. If you’re already part of the community and you’re listening in here and it’s inspiring, I want to say thank you so much for being here. If you want to be on an interview yourself, let me know.

Dean Pohlman: Reach out to me at help at more info yoga.com. Send me a message in the members area or the app. However you want to contact me. If you’re enjoying the interviews, feel free to leave a review for the podcast. You can do that on Apple Podcast on Spotify. You can also watch video versions in the members area.

Dean Pohlman: An app of man for yoga, or on the Better Man Podcast YouTube channel. I hope you guys are enjoying these episodes. Hopefully this new round of interviews is going well for you guys. I hope it’s inspiring you. I hope it inspires you guys be better men and I’m looking forward to seeing you on the next episode.

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