Latest / In the Valley of Giants / M̶r̶. Rabbi Universe | Elchanan Brody | ITVOG Ep. 30

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M̶r̶. Rabbi Universe | Elchanan Brody | ITVOG Ep. 30 · In the Valley of Giants

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Was the focus at the beginning the aesthetic or was it more the
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like mechanical force that you could create?
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I was never into the aesthetics. I'm going to Shiva with men.
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I mean, it was there wasn't like, I'm going to shoot him.
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Yeah, I was going to shoot him. Years later, there's nothing
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known to impress. So I would do those like once a
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year in competition or something like twice or three times during
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competition. Outside of competition, I'm
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working with around 210 kilos on the squats.
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I've been just around 160 on my Dell is probably around 230,
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something like that. Try to stay away from those
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those Max numbers because it does bring a lot of fatigue,
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mental fatigue, nervousness, fatigue.
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Right. So that's how you treat your
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clients. But what about family and
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friends? When you see something like
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that, does it bother you and do you say something about it?
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Should you be saying something about it?
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Do you think in the Haredi world there's enough attention on
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obesity and health as well as mental health?
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That's. A very loaded question.
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Hercules has no place in the Jewish faith.
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A God from Greek culture that was known for power, submission,
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fear. It's not us.
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Jews are all about the soul and the connection to God.
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So if that's true, how could we have an Orthodox Jewish Khareidi
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powerlifter by the name of Ohanan Brody?
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I had to find out. I spoke to him about psychology,
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mental health, physical health, why he's into what he's into.
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Can we as a Jewish people get better in those areas?
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I thought he had a lot of interesting wisdom to share.
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And in terms of his comment about rabbis being able to
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powerlift, don't believe everything you
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hear, Al Khan. Brody, thank you so much for
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joining us here today. You're.
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Welcome. It's my pleasure.
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So Judaism and powerlifting, 2 things that I would not imagine
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go together. I'm going to come out of the
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gate swinging here. Al Khanan.
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One of the biggest distinctions between Greek thought and Jewish
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thought is the focus on the body versus the focus on the mind and
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the spirit. In fact, the words that we have
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for heretic that we find in the Gemara, in the Talmud as
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Apicuris, which the river, that is Epicurean.
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So the focus that you have, which is on the body, which is
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powerlifting. Why do you feel or do you feel
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that as a Jewish endeavor and why do you not feel that that's
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an investment in a more Greek lifestyle?
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But the way I was, I was raised into it.
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I had many good coaches who were great role models for me.
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And one of them said, and the difference between a Greek
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ideology, which is mostly extinct today, we really don't
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have that as much is that the Greek ideology was that the
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purpose is the body. The body is not a vessel to
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achieve something else. It is the purpose.
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There's nothing above the body, right?
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Because we're here for X amount of time.
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We got to make our body the most we can make out of it in order
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to enjoy the body. But as Jewish thought, I was
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raised to believe that the body is a vessel for something else.
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And as the rhumbam emphasizes, Oh yes, the whole area and daya
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Mata over there, of course, take care of the body even says that
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exercising is, is more important than eating healthy in this
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perspective. OK, I'm sure the spectrums of
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exercising spectrums of eating healthy, but no one can ignore
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the fact that exercise is really important.
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Now, besides, besides the importance of from a health
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perspective, it's, it's pleasure, right?
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It's healthy for the mind. So I found I got into
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powerlifting really when I was maybe getting around to that
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again afterwards. But I got into it in yeshiva
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because I found that it helped me learn better because I was
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getting overwhelmed sitting in front of a good mark for so many
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hours that that the outlet of an hour, hour and a half going to
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the gym really helped me stay in focus for these long darn among
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shears. So exercise is a vessel.
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It's a vessel that takes care of our body to make sure it's
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healthy. It's a vessel to take care of
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our mind. That's a vessel to have fun.
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Having fun is an important thing.
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That's how I see it. Do you feel that in an active
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way it is It is the one here. Watch.
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I'll ask a little bit differently.
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OK, Your career is based off of powerlifting.
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Are you a Jew that powerlifts or you're a powerlifter that's also
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a Jew? Meaning how is explained to me
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how you view it and how you see it propelling you and your
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Judaism and your belief in the Lord of hosts to get closer to
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Him. I can't remember the name of
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which Robert was one of my very sad ones, that his name was a
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requirement, he said. How do you identify yourself?
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Some people identify themselves from head to toe.
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Others identify themselves by their family around them.
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They see them as part of who they are.
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Others identify them by their community, by the yeshiva, by
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their land, by their country on Israeli right, by their nation,
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by their religion, or by the planet they're from.
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I don't know many people who identify by the planet they're
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from, but that could be an identification.
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So I have many things, right? There's different.
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I'm a husband, I'm a son. I make, I make.
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It's my business, right? I coach people and I do
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powerlifting. So that is definitely a way that
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I put my energy into it. I'm Jewish.
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I guess that depends on what would I put first, right, to
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identify myself am IA Jew before a powerlifter.
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The question is what would I put first?
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I've never competed on Chavez and I would say a majority of
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competitions are on Chavez. I definitely put that before my
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career. I don't coach women.
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Women have amazing coaches out here.
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I put myself in the place of coaching men.
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I feel like coaching is very personal and the only personal
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funeral relationship I have is with my mother, my sister, my
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mom, and the coach welcomes they have.
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So I would say that by Jewish Parks like if I could phrase it
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like that. Beautiful.
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I just wanted your perspective on that.
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OK, So you ended up choosing powerlifting.
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So why you shared that it helped you in your intellectual
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pursuits? Was there any other reason that
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you got involved in powerlifting?
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So I was looking for a physical outlets to get to exercise when
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I was in yeshiva. I've done martial arts for a
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while, but most of the places I was doing martial arts was when
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people got together once or twice a week.
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Couldn't have something that was getting together too often.
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Maybe if there was I maybe I wasn't there.
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I would be in the MMA today or UFC or something, who knows.
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But the agenda was cheap. You get a monthly membership,
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you show up whenever you want it, as long as you wanted.
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And I found that I could exercise and feel good that way.
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So I just enjoyed it. I just clicked in it.
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I mean, I find people find this click that they have with, with
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music something I just clicked with arts and it just clicked
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for me. I really enjoy the time that I'm
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with myself at the gym, pushing myself to the limit sometimes.
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Sometimes I'm not pushing myself to the limit.
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I'm just taking it easy. And I find that it, it helped me
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focus. I really enjoy it.
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Was the focus at the beginning the aesthetic or was it more the
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like mechanical force that you could create?
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I was never into the aesthetics. I'm I'm an yeshiva with men.
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I mean, it was there wasn't like I'm going to sheduk him.
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Yeah, I was going to sheduk him years later.
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There's nothing no one to impressed.
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I I mean, there is an aspect of telling my friend, let's arm
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wrestle. Let's even stronger.
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I mean, that's but you wouldn't put in like, I don't know, 8
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hours a week in order to be the strongest arm wrestler in
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yeshiva. It's a little excessive.
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I just enjoy the aspect of getting stronger to see more
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weight on the bar and knowing that I'm better than that was
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last week and progressing in it. So you weren't like cutting and
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bulking a lot. You were just, or maybe you were
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bulking a lot. Maybe you're just trying, you're
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just purely trying to push as much as you could.
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So you weren't interested, interested in that, you know,
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trim Greek sort of 6 pack aesthetic.
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That was ever a goal for you? I never was into that.
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No, it's sometimes I come as a thought a guy would be guys
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would be like, Hey, do you have a six back?
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I'm like, oh, interesting, would it be like to have a six back?
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But never was like a goal of mine to my aesthetics.
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Not really. In the beginning, did you know,
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I mean, are you gifted? I really you know, did you did
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you realize in the in the beginning that you had good
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genetics? I don't even know if if you do,
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do you do you push above bar like you above average?
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I'm assuming I see awards behind you.
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Yes I am. I'm I'm very strong.
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I don't know if I'm genetically gifted.
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MY1 criticism about a genetic prediction that they never
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predicted. They always find someone who's
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who's strong and they say, oh you were gifted because you're
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strong. They never predict someone who's
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unstrung. And don't you go to this point,
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you'll be really good. The genetic gift giftness gifted
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is usually a term used afterwards, not before.
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But there are some perimeters we could look at.
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Long arms good for swimming. Tall people are good for
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running, right? I do have some gifts when it
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comes to powerlifting. My arms are long, which is a
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disadvantage when it comes to bench pressing and and a very
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good bench presser. So I don't think the genetic
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component is as much of a factor.
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I think it's mostly disciplined programming and and sticking to
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it really. You stick to it for long enough,
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you'll be good at it. OK, I'll Conan.
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So I want numbers. So give me numbers.
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I want bench, I want squat, and I want the I don't really know
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much about working out, but aren't those aren't those like
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big workouts? Yeah, those are the big
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movements. So my I haven't pushed myself to
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the Max in a while just because I hadn't have a need to do that.
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I don't even know if I'm saving it for anything.
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It's just it feels better to know that I have more in the
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tank than to fail something. I don't like failing in my in my
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workouts. I haven't pushed limits yet.
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I did 275 kilos in competition. There's the competition
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standard. So it's worth referees making
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sure I follow the standards. Without the standard spot, I
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could probably do a little more. I'd even with the standard, I
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probably could have done a little more.
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So I would safely say that I did 275 and with my bench press I've
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done 195 kilos again, cutting standards and everything.
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And with debit, they're not 3. 20 Those are my numbers, OK.
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And I guess that first number was your squat.
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Yeah, sorry, my first, the 275 was squat.
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Yeah. OK, All right.
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What are your working sets like? So like, if that's if that's
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going to be the higher PR, so then what does what are your,
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what are your regular workouts look like?
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So I would do those like once a year in competition or sometimes
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twice or three times during competition.
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Outside of the competition, I'm working with around 210 kilos on
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the squats. I'd ventures around 160 on my
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dad's, probably around 2:30, something like that.
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Try to stay away from those those Max numbers because it
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does bring a lot of fatigue. Mental fatigue, nervous system
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fatigue. Everyone knows muscle fatigue
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when you're so after your workout, but that's actually the
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the fastest recovery fatigue, which is the least of my
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problems. I'm really worried more about my
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nervous system recovering and my mental.
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CNS yeah, yeah, sure. OK.
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So but what it was in terms of repetition.
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So 160 on a bench? For how many?
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How many reps are you pumping out?
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I'll probably do like 5 fives, 5 sets of five reps, 3 * a week
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I'll do it. So that's like total of 15 sets
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a week like that. Wow, OK, so someone like me, how
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long would it take for me to to get to numbers like like that,
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to get 160 kilos on a bench? I've tell, I've tell all my
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trainees who join me that I cannot predict their numbers.
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Usually I under predict in order for them to pleasantly be
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surprised. But if you're starting from
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nothing and you're dedicated for it, you're able to do it really
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well. I would say that within two
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years you could reach impressive numbers, Competitive worthy I
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would say. But could anyone reach the
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numbers that you mentioned? Or do you think that that is
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against? Why not?
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Why not? I mean, I pushed myself really,
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really hard. They would have to push
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themselves as hard as I pushed, but there's no reason they
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cannot. I mean, I have some trainees are
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very, very close to me. Some of them have passed me a
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drop in one lift, the others on a different lift.
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But there's no reason that you can't.
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Have you ever used any performance enhancing drugs?
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Never. I'm actually probably the most
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tested athlete in Israel and not because there's so much testing
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in our sport. It's because I'm always that
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lucky one who gets sick. Even if I'm 10th place in a
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world event, they choose me to get tested.
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Maybe it's the anti-Semitism they see the key fo, yeah, we're
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going to pick him. But no, I've I've no desire for
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a profound performance in that I've never wanted to even it was
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never a desire for me. How about your clients?
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I will not coach someone on performance enhancement enhanced
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drugs. It goes against what I believe
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in harming themselves and I let them know that.
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Now if someone dishonest with me and they might be using it, I
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wouldn't know. By request, I asked my clients
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to be honest with me and I believe that 100% of my trainees
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are not on PEDs. If you had a client that shared
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with you that they were on on anabolics, would you tell them
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they have to get off it? Like what's?
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What's your moral stance on the topic?
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That's it's their, that's their right.
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They could be on steroids if they'd like to, but I I wouldn't
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coach them. I would refer them to a coach
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that I would that I know would coach them, but I wouldn't take
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it on my hands. OK, and so why are you morally
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against it? I think it's hard to hear.
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You know what you know? You know what?
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Let's let's. So let's go the other way, OK?
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Have you ever eaten ice cream? I've haven't had ice cream in 13
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years. OK, but 14 years ago did you
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have ice cream? I've had ice cream.
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OK, have you ever smoked? 13 years ago.
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OK, so 14 years ago, 13 years ago, you smoked.
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OK. Were those things that you did
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having that cup of ice cream, was that a violation of any sort
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of religious dictum? No, and having taking stairs is
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also not a violation of a religious value of mine.
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It's. So what's the difference between
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you're good? Open it up.
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They're not. They're just not healthy.
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Now I think this. Isn't healthy.
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Right, that's fine. They're both not healthy.
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Ice cream is is well accepted and it's it's normalized.
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So I accept people that wanna that wanna have ice cream.
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I think cigarettes are not it's halfway.
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It's kind of in between kind of been accepted, not accepted.
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Depends. I look at it, it's legal, but I
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would encourage people not to smoke if they ask my opinion
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why? Should we care about what?
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Why do we care about what's accepted, not accepted?
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Meaning such societal norms to decide whether something is
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healthy or unhealthy. Those three things that you
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mentioned, you just admitted that they're not healthy.
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So how would you be more morally against one option versus
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another? Right.
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There's degrees of unhealthiness and there's degrees of how much
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I could influence it. So example, the steroids, the TD
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world, it fluctuates based on pressure.
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So in other words, if I know, if I normalize, if I accept it, if
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I support competitions that don't drug that, if I code
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people who are not who are on drugs, I'm encouraging people to
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take drugs because if there's competition, people want to be
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the best and they could take drugs, they will.
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And if I coach people and they know that I will coach them,
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even if they're on drugs, they will take drugs.
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In other words, I could influence some people how to
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take drugs and I could influence the culture to be healthier.
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When it comes to ice cream, there's not much I can influence
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about. It doesn't mean I don't try.
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I will tell my clients and my trainees that I don't have ice
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cream. I don't recommend them having
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ice cream. I think it's not healthy for
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them, but but it's not something that's going to change in
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society that fast. So you're saying the entire
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reason why you wouldn't morally discourage us is because you
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don't think you'd be effective? Right.
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I don't think I could be too influential in it.
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Doesn't mean I wouldn't discourage it.
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Differentiation. I was discouraged having eating
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unhealthy. I discouraged smoking.
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But I wouldn't not train, not coach someone who is, who is
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smoking or eating ice cream. Well you wouldn't not train
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someone that was taking anabolics.
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Also, you said that before. No, I would not train them.
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OK, so why? I'm sorry, so I must have served
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you before. What?
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What's the distinction like? What?
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Why is 1 so much of a bigger moral violation in your view?
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In my view, I could influence the culture of steroids in the
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in the country. By just not training someone.
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Right, because by training someone, if someone comes to me
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and says I see you're really strong, I want to be strong as
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well. I'll do anything it takes.
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I'll take even steroids. If I change their mind and tell
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them do not take steroids and don't listen to me, then I'm
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changing the culture. I'm changing him.
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He won't take steroids. His brother might not take
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steroids, his friend from the gym.
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We're influencing people because in Israel steroids is getting
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some somewhat widespread, but it's not as widespread as other
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places. And I think every person in the
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field an influential like I am, we could do something about it.
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But I don't, I don't understand. So just say you smoke.
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I'm not training you. You're killing yourself.
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I'm not going to be part of that.
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Why can't you take the same stance?
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I have a lot of values that my trainers might not follow.
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Some of them are not as religious as I am and everyone
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has their point of view. But when it comes to steroids,
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when it's when it's talking about our sport and it's it's
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our sport encourages it. In other words, because our
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sport encourages people to be the best as steroids helps you
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be the best. So in a way, our sport
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encourages that. Our sport doesn't encourage ice
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cream. I mean, you could eat ice cream.
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Our sport does not occur smoking.
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Our sport encourage encourages steroids because that makes it
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the best. So the the way I see it is I
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want to educate people to be the best they can be without taking
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stairs, without harming their health.
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OK, so you would view someone that wouldn't be training by you
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as do you have a smoker, someone who eats ice cream, and someone
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who takes anabolics? In your mind, each one is as
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morally culpable as the next. I try to judge people, you know,
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I don't know what makes persons APDS.
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I've never had the desire to take PDS.
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If I had a desire to take these, if I never took and I overcame
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it and came out of it, then I could, I guess, judge people and
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decide what I think about it. But it's really not fair for me
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to say to someone who's had a desire to take it on it.
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But what I think about them, I respect people who aren't
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serious. It's the people.
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And I'm sure the temptation was very strong and it gives them a
17:47
lot, I'm assuming. But I wouldn't take it.
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And if anyone asked me what I think about it, I think no one
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should take it. I mean, it's hard to say no one.
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I mean, people who are sick, they've done medications, right?
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So people who are sick and need it, they should take it.
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OK. When did you decide to open up
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your own? I mean, I'm assuming that you
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competed before you opened yourself up to receiving
18:07
clients. Is that true?
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It kind of happened together. It was 2018, I think maybe 2017
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even. I told my wife that I want to
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compete and she was like, why do you need to compete?
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You're so strong into the gym, like why don't you compete?
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And I never wanted to compete before.
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But then I told her I think I'd get, I can start a business with
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this. I think if I compete and I do
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well, I think people want me to coach them how I could.
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I could make something out of this.
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And I was learning in call. I was like not making any money.
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It was a huge sacrifice that I took on myself.
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Where were you learning what? What would you leave?
18:37
I'm just curious, do you remember about lean what you
18:38
were learning? When in Colorado, I've been in
18:40
the color for 10 years. I mean I've been learning all
18:42
difference I give in Colorado. But what was what was the last
18:45
thing that you got a kiss before you left?
18:47
I mean, I didn't leave. I didn't leave learning.
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That's, you know, I don't. I didn't say you did.
18:51
I said Colorado. I didn't say you stopped
18:53
learning. Right.
18:55
So I think I was learning some hedging.
18:57
Yeah, we were learning Peakwachna fish and those things
19:02
we were learning. Sure.
19:04
Excellent. Beautiful.
19:05
OK. And then so you trained for this
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competition and where'd you place?
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I placed first in my category, the guy talking about PEDs, the
19:14
guy that got first place before me, we both take it, were taken
19:17
to a lie detector test. That was the drug testing that
19:20
they were doing back then. It wasn't just a urine sample
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and I of course wasn't on steroids.
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But the other guy, they got him to admit during the the
19:28
polygraph test that he was on steroids.
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So he got disqualified. So I got to 1st place that way.
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And then after you won that, that championship, you're like,
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oh, now I'm going to open up a business.
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Did people come forward right away?
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Did. How'd it work out?
19:43
So I had people for the competition all the time.
19:46
People recognize that I was stronger than ask me to coach
19:48
them. And I would coach them, charge
19:49
them a certain fee. And I didn't take it too
19:51
seriously. I didn't really make it a strong
19:53
business until I decided to compete.
19:55
And then I made official, I had put my taxes and then, you know,
19:58
make it a real business for myself.
20:01
OK. And did you have a lot of
20:02
clients right away? Did you have to spend time
20:04
building that up? I mean, this is an interesting
20:05
story, Ohana, because you started off as a younger man in
20:08
a cola. You were learning Talmud and
20:10
medieval commentaries all day, and then you decided I'm going
20:13
to open up a powerlifting business.
20:16
That's so classic. Right.
20:18
So I was, I was dabbling in it. It was, it was, I did have a
20:23
quite a few clients, I would say not as much as I have today.
20:26
So I think it is a process. I did many mistakes on the way.
20:30
I opened my own gym back back in before COVID.
20:34
Why was that a mistake? Because COVID wasn't great for
20:37
my. Business, OK.
20:39
All right. Yeah, so I didn't lose any money
20:42
for Hashem. I was able to cover my my, my
20:45
losses. And I realized that coaching
20:48
without owning a gym was actually better for medical
20:50
insurance and all the stuff with it.
20:53
It's its own business really going to gym and to coach and do
20:55
different things completely. It's easy to confuse the two,
20:59
right? I love coaching.
21:00
Having a gym would be awesome because I could coach and I love
21:02
the gym. So owning a gym is awesome.
21:04
Not necessarily, but I found for myself that coaching online,
21:08
that's what I do. I don't really meet my trainees
21:10
as much. They're they're welcome to meet
21:11
whenever they want. Don't charge them extra fees if
21:13
they come while working out and we and we get together.
21:16
But most of my trainees, I mean problem are from the US.
21:18
Some of them live in a lots and others, you know, often socks.
21:22
We coach online, so they'll send me videos of their of their
21:25
workouts and I'll critique them. I'll tell them about technique,
21:27
build the program, choose the numbers based on their
21:29
performances. And I've got guys compete
21:32
internationally without ever meeting them in person.
21:36
That's interesting. Yeah.
21:37
So slowly I kind of develop, develop the skills I've learned
21:40
from other coaches. I've spoken to different
21:42
coaches. And I mean, a lot of experience
21:44
also, You know, you learn. You learn by doing it, really.
21:46
OK. And in terms of the the sport
21:48
itself, do you feel that it's cathartic?
21:51
And, and the reason why I explained it in this way is
21:54
there's a whole bunch of hobbies that a person could take up.
21:57
They could build watches, they could paint paintings, they
22:00
could hike. There's all sorts of things that
22:02
a person can do. But powerlifting is a very
22:05
painful sport. It's a very difficult sport.
22:08
It's a very sweaty sport. So how does that work for you?
22:12
And maybe you want to talk a little bit about your clients,
22:15
why it's cathartic, if it's cathartic, and how so?
22:18
I mean, there are people who like change and excitement in
22:21
their life and there are people who like stability.
22:23
Part of thing is kind of a stable sport, right?
22:26
It's not your running it, you're trying out different mountains
22:28
to climb every other week. It's the same boring movement in
22:32
a way, but it's your boring movement that you're used to and
22:35
familiar with. There's something nice about
22:37
that. So I think that's what I
22:39
connected to. I mean, it's very, it's very
22:40
hard to say what each one connects to have different kind
22:42
of trainees that have trainees who are very young and ambitious
22:44
and have trainees who are older doctors, lawyers, scientists who
22:49
just like the fact that they're very strong.
22:51
They could deadlift out of the blue 235 kilos.
22:54
I just had a guide last week, scientist and and he likes that
22:57
about himself. Like, Oh yeah, I have this like
22:59
side thing that I put an hour a day into hour a day, three times
23:03
a week. That's all he does.
23:04
And for long enough to really see great results from it.
23:07
Some people, that's what drives them.
23:09
They like have that their side thing that really grounds them.
23:12
And for some people, they're ambitious and they want to put
23:14
in 12 hours a week and be the best they can do.
23:16
I'm so for everyone it's a little different.
23:19
I think I went through stages I think for a while.
23:21
For me, it was very ambitious when I was trying to get my
23:23
trainees. I knew that if I prove myself,
23:25
I'll do better. At a certain point, I think for
23:28
me, it's like to fit into my lifestyle.
23:31
I like take my leg off the foot, off the gas a little bit, but I
23:35
still push forward. So it's kind of like I'm not
23:37
ambitious to reach, you know, 20K progress in a year, if
23:40
necessarily, even if it's 5K, that's enough for me.
23:43
But I'm not the place that I'm ready to enjoy my numbers and
23:46
not move forward. But I think it's, we go through
23:48
a period of time and it might, might change, you know, next
23:51
year I might something become more ambitious and let's see the
23:53
joy in it. And I remember one of my
23:55
teachers tell me that Torah is very deep, right?
23:59
Torah, there's, it is endless really what you could go into
24:01
it. There's, there's no ends.
24:03
If you intellectualize the, the books we study, there's like no
24:08
end of how much you can go into it.
24:10
And there's so much death. But he said the truth is that
24:12
everything has such death. If you look at a flower, you
24:14
know there's so much depth to it.
24:16
And in powerlifting there's a lot of depth to it.
24:19
You're saying the pain. I think most of us enjoy that.
24:22
It's it's my big about that. But we enjoy the fact that we
24:26
worked hard. Leaving the gym knowing that I
24:28
did something, I overcame something.
24:30
It feels good. Many days I don't feel like
24:32
going to the gym. I get into the car, I go to the
24:35
gym, I don't have the conversation with myself if I
24:37
want to go or don't want to go. The feeling afterwards is so
24:40
great. If I had the conversation with
24:41
myself, I might have not. I wouldn't, I might not go.
24:44
And I think most people starting to go to the gym, that's like
24:47
what holds them back. They have the conversation with
24:48
themselves and they end up not going if they're, you know, if
24:51
they're not in the mood for it. But as someone who's done it for
24:53
years, I don't have the conversation.
24:55
I'm at the gym dragging my feet. I'm tired, but I do it anyways.
24:58
I'm leaving the gym. They feel so good.
25:00
There's that dopamine that just some of that familiar movement.
25:04
And I'm the kind of guy likes habit.
25:05
So I like the fact that's the same movement.
25:07
I know what to expect. It's nothing new, very simple.
25:11
It's not complicated. Not basketball that you know,
25:13
the other players, whatever they do, I have to like, you know,
25:16
prepare myself for. It's just a very simple thing.
25:19
So I find that I find that predictability stable for me.
25:23
I think that I tell this to my students and people who seek my
25:28
advice often, but people that are facing depression in their
25:33
life partially if not wholly depending on the situation is
25:37
because they have no control over their environment.
25:39
Now, in reality, God controls everything and we really don't
25:41
have any control. But what gives the appearance of
25:44
control OK, is stability. So it does bring that stability,
25:48
that repetition of doing things over and over again.
25:50
But people that have given up, you know, they feel that they
25:54
can't do anything. And I feel that in a hero story,
25:57
that's the lowest point, right? So you're, you're down in the
26:01
middle of a pit and you're Yosef in the pit, you're Joseph in the
26:04
pit and you can't climb out. And that's the lowest part of
26:07
the story, right? But in order to become the the
26:11
Prince of Egypt, what you have to do is you have to overcome,
26:14
right? And so I know that Doctor Jordan
26:16
Peterson says for a lot of his depressed clients, the first
26:19
thing he'll tell them is to just make their bed.
26:21
You don't see anything else. Make your bed, right?
26:23
Because it's it's something you don't want to do, but you can
26:25
conquer that, right? So I find that a lot of people
26:30
that work out fairly religiously, they're very robust
26:34
and resilient people. And I think it's because of this
26:37
phenomenon that you're talking about.
26:38
This is because if you take exercising seriously, it's not
26:44
am I going to do it today? You are going to do today.
26:46
And depending on how obsessive you are, when you have a deal of
26:49
the week that you don't really even want to take it, right?
26:51
So it's it's those people that that create those sort of habits
26:56
of I will break myself and do the thing that I don't wish to
26:59
do. And I found those people to be
27:01
generally more successful in life because they're used to
27:05
that push and they're used to becoming the heroes.
27:07
So I think what you're saying is quite important.
27:11
So it's funny, sometimes people need therapists.
27:13
Some people need psychologists to help them work through
27:15
feelings. But sometimes people just need
27:17
to be Unchained. And maybe calling a home and
27:21
Brody might be a better idea theoretically, I'm serious, than
27:24
calling a psychological professional.
27:27
Have you seen that in your clients?
27:29
Have you had people that you felt were depressed or having
27:31
trouble in their marriage or whatever it is, and then you see
27:33
them working out and then over time they just kind of become a
27:35
different person? I've seen that when, you know,
27:38
there are people that that don't work out or they're quite
27:40
overweight and they're depressed and then they they, they
27:43
exercise and their whole life kind of changes.
27:45
Have you experienced that? Definitely I I mean, I don't
27:49
want to expose any of my trainees and share any of their
27:51
personal stuff, but if you see my the messages I get or some of
27:54
them are really. Well, watch you.
27:55
You can, you can, you can change some of the details, can't you?
27:58
I'm curious to hear a story. I, I really don't want to get
28:01
into the details. I'm afraid of who knows, maybe
28:04
one of them could be watching this and they're like, oh, no,
28:06
that's me or something. I don't want to point anyone
28:08
out. But we do develop some personal
28:11
relationships, especially with younger ones.
28:13
You know, at the age of 16, people mold much more.
28:17
They, they, the, the, they, they search for guidance from, you
28:21
know, people they feel close to and stuff come up, you know,
28:24
what's happening at home and different stuff like that.
28:26
And a lot of them tell me training is what like, it gives
28:29
me that, that peace, like no matter what happens.
28:32
And I remember, I remember one of my friends telling me it's, I
28:35
think it's, I think it's in the name of Jay Tversky giving your
28:39
promise to God for 5 minutes. Not, not entirely right.
28:43
I'm going to take them back after 5 minutes, 5 minutes.
28:45
Take my problems for me so I don't have to think about them
28:48
and I'll take them back right after.
28:50
And I found that really smart. Like it really helps you relax
28:52
and it takes up into perspective.
28:54
So for many of them training was that they'll have so many stuff,
28:57
they'll be bullied there, you know, different stuff in life.
28:59
But none of that matters when they're at the gym and working
29:02
out, they're able to pause everything.
29:04
And people who don't have that, sometimes their brain is still
29:06
working overtime, right? They're in their house worrying
29:08
about everything that they can do nothing about, but the brain
29:11
is working on that. So the gym is a wonderful way to
29:14
take take your mind off it. So for some people it's music.
29:16
I know some people, that's how they cope with it, but some of
29:19
my trainees, they'll message me about stuff that they're going
29:22
through and I'm like, this is, this is crazy.
29:24
Like I can't even imagine going through what they're going
29:26
through. But they're, they're doing the
29:28
workouts and they're, they're saying this, I love this.
29:30
This is keeping me stable. How does this bleed over to the
29:34
rest of your life? Like do you train your wife?
29:37
Does she need to work out too or is it just her clients?
29:40
My wife is 100% independent so I I, I.
29:45
What a safe answer. Good for you.
29:46
Yeah. I keep it separate and she'll
29:50
ask you like my opinion about something, but I would not like
29:54
I keep it. I keep it completely separate
29:55
and I'll tell you something else and make sure doesn't come on
29:59
the expense of my wife. So we travel out of the country.
30:02
I don't want to miss a workout, but I know she we wanted to
30:05
stuff together. So I usually wake up at like
30:07
5:00 AM and go to the gym and the reason I wake up at 5 AMI
30:10
have two two reasons. One, if my wife is sleeping, so
30:14
I'll be back before she wakes up and she doesn't even have to
30:16
know I worked out. We she knows I worked out, but
30:18
doesn't have to impact her. And the second thing, the gyms
30:21
are empty at 5:00 AM. So there's no pretest there's
30:24
no, you know, women around and I could just trade and be
30:29
comfortable and I find that really effective.
30:33
So, so, so my workouts, I make sure it doesn't impact anyone
30:37
around me as much as I can and I make it work no matter what.
30:40
So I have a lot of workouts that happen at the early AM because
30:43
that's the only time that. Work, Does it bother you when
30:46
people, especially the people closest to you, aren't
30:49
exhibiting the very healthy and moral codes that you live by?
30:55
I'm not making an accusation, by the way, of your wife, of your
30:57
mother or your father necessarily.
30:58
But like, you know, you're eating very healthily, you're
31:01
going to the gym multiple times a week.
31:03
You know, blood work is excellent.
31:05
And then you see, it doesn't, I'll leave your wife out of it
31:07
because maybe that's too personal even as a theoretical
31:10
thing. But you see your father, your
31:11
brother, your uncle, right? Like, and they're not following
31:14
those things. Is that does that bother you?
31:16
And do you feel inclined to say something?
31:18
So when it comes to powerlifting, that is like one
31:21
of the lower values I have. It's fun, but you could be an
31:24
amazing, healthy, smart person without powerlifting.
31:29
I mean, there's so many amazing sports out there that that
31:31
people love. And I speak to people, soccer,
31:33
tennis, you know, so many good sports out there.
31:36
So I I don't judge people for not enjoying powerlifting.
31:41
No, but, but, but but powerlifting is something that
31:43
you chose within the health sphere.
31:45
Like you said before, you know, working out regularly, it helps
31:48
you psychologically, you eat healthily, you don't smoke,
31:51
etcetera. So you're outlook, you're health
31:52
conscious guy. This is clear, right?
31:54
And you feel that this is morally important to you.
31:57
You won't train a client, right? Even if they're not competing.
32:00
That was the implication if they're taking anabolics, right?
32:04
So that's how you treat your clients.
32:05
But what about family and friends?
32:07
When you see something like that, does it bother you and do
32:09
you say something about it? Should you be saying something
32:11
about it? Depends on what this, but I want
32:13
to hear your answer first. Right, Depends on the
32:15
relationship or what it's about. I mean, some people, let's put
32:18
it this way, if some, if a person is really healthy, you
32:21
know, they're athletic and everything's amazing for them
32:23
and they smoke and they're not taking care of their health.
32:25
It just doesn't pain me so much. I mean, they feel OK when you
32:28
see someone who's going through diseases, pre diabetic and going
32:32
through stuff and they're not taking care of their health, it
32:34
pains me. I don't judge them.
32:36
I could imagine that they're struggling with so much and
32:39
their relationship is right. I could put a word in and it
32:41
could influence them probably and I would right.
32:43
I've, I've seen people smoke and I tell them, I don't think it's
32:46
good for you to smoke. I will have a conversation if
32:48
it's right. But if they're, if they tell me,
32:50
you know, mind your own business.
32:51
This is what I do. I, I wouldn't bring it up again.
32:54
You know, it's their thing. But she would actually bring it
32:57
up though. I would bring it up if I think I
32:59
could think we could have a good conversation about it and and
33:02
change his mind. You meant to go down to.
33:04
Smoking. Do you think in in look, we're
33:08
cats out of the bag, Everyone is watching.
33:10
We're both it seems that we're both her 80.
33:12
Do you think in the Her Eighty world there's enough of
33:15
attention on obesity and health as well as mental health?
33:20
That's a very loaded question. I would say that there are many
33:25
oppressive, yeah, many oppressive power lifters that
33:27
are her 80. So in that in our sport
33:30
specifically. Oh, yeah.
33:31
Oh yeah, it's a, it's a very steady get, like, like.
33:35
Rabbis. Like I am, I mean, studying in
33:39
yeshivas, I mean, myroshiva was a, was a, was a swimmer.
33:42
He swam a lot. That was his sport.
33:44
Wow. I wouldn't say he was a
33:46
competitive swimmer the way I'm a competitive powerlifter, but
33:49
he valued exercise. And, and I think I've seen both
33:54
cultures a little bit. There are some people who in
33:56
Israel, right there are people who are not religious who value
33:59
health a lot and they really take care of their health.
34:02
Other people who not who are not religious good people are
34:04
people. And in the already world, it's
34:05
very hard for me to say if it's more or less There are the stuff
34:09
that I found. I find a Haredi extremely health
34:13
conscious about their their kids nutrition.
34:16
I find that people I know, look, maybe it's my circles of Haredi
34:20
and secular people that I'm around, but I found a Haredi
34:22
people very they would have a lot of kids, right?
34:24
They want to make sure their kids are very healthy.
34:25
They'll study, you know, somewhat about health, but when
34:29
it comes to the kiddushes, then, you know, and the shoddest food
34:31
sometimes that get out of hand and that's what health might
34:35
lose. You know, the IT doesn't.
34:37
It's not their forefront of their mind what they're thinking
34:39
about, but with and you brought mental health and I want to get
34:43
to that as well. But in terms of health
34:45
consciousness, I think the heart rate are OK overall.
34:48
There's always room for improvement, obviously, but I
34:50
think they're overall they're pretty OK when it comes to
34:53
mental health. I think the hearty are are are
34:57
there are a few generations behind when it comes to the
35:00
ability to admit it, to recognize it.
35:03
And I wouldn't say normalize it really, but to to know that it
35:06
is it exists and it should be dealt in a normal way.
35:10
I've seen so many people who don't want to talk about it.
35:12
I find out, you know, they're struggling with something and
35:14
their parents don't even know or their, you know, siblings don't
35:17
even know. All right.
35:18
And I think what I tell them is it's your, your thing to do,
35:21
talk about with your therapist, which they don't have, right.
35:23
But get a therapist, get a psychiatrist.
35:25
I think that holding it in is not good for your mental health.
35:29
I think if your close people know about it, you probably need
35:33
to be better off. I think in that area, the shame
35:36
that it carried, I think the the our community is a few
35:39
generations behind. Why do you think that is?
35:42
What's the reason for that phenomenon?
35:44
I think there's a there's a pressure to be excellent, which
35:46
is an amazing pressure. I mean, pressure is not always
35:48
bad. We want to be excellent and
35:51
having a mental illness, people interpret it as not being
35:54
excellent, which is false. You could be a very excellent
35:57
powerlifter with mental illness. You could be an excellent rabbit
36:00
with mental illness. You can manage your mental
36:03
illness and people want to be perfect.
36:05
And especially in a field where your mind is.
36:07
So it's so important, right? In our, in our society, our mind
36:11
is what we value so much. It's, it's what you, when you
36:13
talk to someone in learning what you're doing is you're picking
36:15
someone's minds, right? You want to, you want to
36:17
understand what they think and they want to understand what you
36:19
think and get some get wiser together in the topic you're
36:21
studying. I'm so I think mental illness is
36:24
something that people are very ashamed of being embarrassed of.
36:26
What's the way to combat that? As society or as individual?
36:30
You can answer both if you'd like, or one.
36:32
As individual, I mean, you got to do what's right for you.
36:34
I mean, I think the right thing, probably I'll bring, I'll bring
36:37
my personal, my personal thing. I had Crohn's disease when I was
36:42
20 and I didn't have the privilege, luckily to hide it
36:47
because I was in the hospital for two months.
36:49
All my friends were in the Shiva were amazing and supportive.
36:51
They visit me in the hospital, in the hospital.
36:53
Masha Shiva was supported. All my rabbis.
36:55
It was it was actually the best way to go through such an
36:58
illness. I kind of imagine keeping that
37:00
to myself and people not knowing that I'm going through what I'm
37:02
going through and, and, and people in my case that I know
37:06
that went through it without being in the hospital weren't
37:08
fortunate to be in the hospital with crones that everyone
37:11
knowing about it. I'm just trying to hide it and I
37:13
think holding that in their stomach is not great for their
37:15
stomach. And and then when dating comes
37:18
around, people are like, oh, what if the what if a girl finds
37:20
out that I have this flaw, they won't want to date me.
37:24
I didn't have the privilege for Hashem and people who dated me,
37:27
my wife who dated me, she knew what she's dating.
37:31
And I don't think I had any flaw in that.
37:33
I think people have struggled with different things and there
37:37
was nothing for me to be ashamed of.
37:38
I didn't do anything wrong to earn this.
37:41
And I think with mental illness, it's the same thing.
37:42
No one did anything wrong to get mental illness.
37:46
So the way to combat it for the individual is to not listen to
37:52
the voices around them. And these voices could be the
37:53
parents. I've seen parents to tell their
37:55
kids. People cannot know you have
37:57
this. This is going to ruin your
37:58
sister's dating life. It's going to ruin so much for
38:00
us. Do not tell people.
38:01
And that could be because their parents might have undiagnosed
38:04
mental illness in order to to desire to hide the secret of
38:06
their kids. So sometimes it's to ignore the
38:09
people who are these voices, listen to the professionals.
38:13
I think that usually would guide the person to the right
38:17
decisions. Again, not they would have told
38:18
them what to do, but they'd probably guide them.
38:20
That's for the individual as a society to accept people with
38:23
this, right? I mean, I've met, I have many
38:26
friends with mental illness who are amazing people.
38:28
I know they have this illness and I could look past it.
38:31
And then the other aspects were best friends.
38:33
So I'm going to give my answer to this that was very well put
38:37
on, but I'm going to give a Huck dumb on introduction.
38:42
We were just speaking before we started filming about my episode
38:46
with Cory Gill Schuster. And one of the comments that was
38:50
pointed out to me was someone that said why don't hurry them
38:54
do Shuru Lumi, which I actually really liked the question.
38:57
I thought you know the I've said my opinion many times before why
39:01
I think hurry them should not be in the army in its current form
39:05
and how the Army can be changed to perhaps accept carried him in
39:10
the army. If we had an army that Devin
39:12
Amela would have served in or you who the Maccabee would have
39:14
served then, and I think that that's an army that we should
39:16
seriously consider being a part of.
39:19
But in truly me that's not necessarily the case.
39:22
And what's interesting is in his accusation, which I do think has
39:25
merit and should be discussed. Maybe not right now, but it
39:29
brought back one particular memory that happened to me.
39:32
So years and years ago, I had a terrible back injury that I was
39:38
hospitalized 7 * 4 and I had surgery.
39:41
And I remember at my darkest point, I was in, what happened
39:46
was I had, I was in such excruciating pain that I would
39:50
be awake for about 50 hours straight screaming and then I
39:54
would just pass out and then wake back up.
39:57
It was, it was absolutely terrible.
39:59
And I was in the hospital and I woke up and I had, I was just
40:03
feeling terrible. And these boys knocked on the
40:07
door to my it's like I'm getting a little emotional just speaking
40:10
about it, but knocked on the door and it was a bunch of her
40:14
eighty kids, you know, during after their first seder, after
40:17
their first study session. So they have people know DC was
40:21
scheduled. They have a longer afternoon
40:24
break because they learn very late into the night.
40:27
So they took their time that they had off to come with a
40:30
couple guitars and they just were asking, didn't ask if
40:34
you're Jewish or not Jewish, male, female, doesn't matter.
40:37
Do you want us to sing you a song?
40:40
And I said, no, I don't want you to sing me a song.
40:42
And I said, wait a minute, wait a minute.
40:44
And when I was lamenting the most at that point is that I, it
40:46
was very hard for me to learn Torah, which is my life.
40:50
And I said, yeah, I want you to sing me one song, which is
40:54
Lulita Rasca by more time and David.
40:58
So Lita Rasca is a it's a verse in the in the Tanakh, in the
41:03
Jewish Bible. And in there we say that if it
41:07
if it was not for your Torah, my God, my delight, I would perish
41:11
in my affliction. And they saying that to me and
41:14
it really changed my life. It was such a powerful moment.
41:19
So that I think that sensitivity to health and mental health,
41:23
that's why they were there, I think was a really beautiful
41:25
thing. Jump into the answer itself.
41:29
Why did I give the entire introduction?
41:31
I'm critical of, of the hurry lifestyle that I, that I sign
41:36
off to. But the reason why I'm critical
41:38
of it is because it's not perfect.
41:39
I think it is the best lifestyle that it is in existence right
41:42
now and known to man. So I all I want to do is make it
41:45
better. You know, I'm, I choose to be
41:47
this way to follow these things because I believe that they're,
41:50
they're morally true and, and just look at the world every day
41:54
we're getting closer to the messianic age because of that.
41:57
So what that here are my here are my criticisms.
41:59
I think that in terms of physical health, I completely
42:03
disagree with you or actually I'm not sure you addressed it
42:06
directly. You talked about nutrition.
42:07
I think nutrition, I hear you. I think it's even getting
42:10
better. I feel like people eat better
42:13
now than they did 30 years ago. I feel like I remember my
42:15
grandmother shoving as much butter and cake and strudel to
42:19
me as possible when I was growing up.
42:20
And like now I'm so much more conscious with my children.
42:23
So is my wonderful rabbits and wonderful wife.
42:26
But I'm Buster Soul. But, you know, I think I think
42:30
that that in terms of physical activity, we're terrible.
42:33
I mean, you're in coal. How many guys in coal like went
42:36
jogging during the afternoon break and I have the time for it
42:38
or worked out? You're probably going to tell me
42:40
none. I'm going to tell you none when
42:41
I was in coal for years. I don't know anyone else that
42:44
that that, you know, exercise. And I think that that's a real
42:46
problem. I think that it's something that
42:49
we as Ribbonam have an obligation to talk about the
42:53
niche smart, the niche Martim is not.
42:55
So Shake and Lloyd, we have a verse in the Terror that tells
42:58
us that it is a religious obligation to be healthy.
43:02
So I think that we absolutely need to be healthy, which I find
43:05
interesting because when we look at our biggest rabbinic Jewish
43:08
leaders from Moshe Feinstein was known for talking about how from
43:11
Jacob Kamenetsky, you know, health is absolutely on the
43:13
table. It's just something that we need
43:16
to be a little bit more aware of and speak more about.
43:18
So I say to all of our viewers, health is important.
43:20
It doesn't matter how big of a Torah scholar you are.
43:23
It doesn't matter if you're a Jew or not.
43:25
You know, you're made in the image of God and you have to be
43:27
healthy. So I do think that there needs
43:29
to be more campaigning on that in terms of mental health.
43:32
The it's the last thing that you said that I really think is the
43:34
lunge pin. I'm not sure it's a it's a
43:36
striving for perfection thing. It may be, you may be correct,
43:39
but I think it's a shit of thing.
43:41
I think it's a matchmaking thing.
43:42
There is so much stress that is put on, you know, being able to
43:49
find a spouse and then having the way that the her eighty
43:53
world does marriage is through a matchmaking matchmaking process.
43:58
Excuse me, in which a person puts who they are on a one
44:01
piece, one piece of paper, which is is somewhat comical, and then
44:07
you read it and then the other person reads it.
44:08
And then of course, you know everything there is to know
44:10
about the other person. But I think what's really just
44:12
supposed to do is to show that the morals kind of line up.
44:14
But then you meet them and the fear is like, Oh my gosh, this
44:17
person knows that I have ADD or OCD or XYZ, then they're never
44:21
going to go out with me. And there is some truth to that
44:24
in the sense that, yeah, if I'm trying to find a spouse, you
44:28
know, why should my first choice be to the person that's, you
44:32
know, suffering from schizophrenia?
44:34
I get that. But I think that's where the
44:35
fear comes from. And I think what we need to do
44:38
is just be super, ultra transparent.
44:41
So people ask me all the time, should I be putting this on my
44:43
residence? Like, should I be telling people
44:45
that, like, you know, I struggle with this thing?
44:47
And my answer is pretty much always like, absolutely you
44:51
should. Well, what if it damages, you
44:53
know, my ability? I'm like, oh, so that'll damage
44:55
your ability. That's, that's the other
44:56
person's choice. But you can't hide, you know,
44:58
issues that you're having from someone else.
45:00
And then, oh, then that person is just going to settle
45:02
afterwards. We need to desigma, stigmatize
45:05
this, all of these negative things that we're dealing with,
45:08
because dealing with negative things is all part of life.
45:11
So there's a Doctor Who actually we had early on the show, Doctor
45:14
Levitz, and he is a pioneer and trying to introduce mental
45:19
health awareness into religious society.
45:21
He's been very, very effective. So I hope that he he continues
45:25
to do so. But absolutely, we also need to
45:27
be talking about the acceptance of mental health issues in the
45:30
community where I think that it's misunderstood.
45:32
It's usually like very polarized.
45:36
It's either we never ever talk about this thing, which I think
45:39
is the wrong approach where you have kids that walk into hater
45:42
like, you know, very religious schools be like, I have
45:44
schizophrenia, which is also like a horrible approach.
45:48
We need as a society to be accepting of people that are
45:51
different than us. It just has to be OK.
45:54
And there are certain things that you keep behind closed
45:56
doors because they're private. But that doesn't mean that you
45:59
don't share it with, by the way, your wife or your husband or
46:02
your parents. Like the the people that need to
46:04
know should know and you should be open about it.
46:06
No one should have to struggle alone.
46:08
You know, Jews are all about Keisha, but being all of 1 body
46:13
and one soul, one heart. And I think that's that's that's
46:16
how we should be living. Oh, Haman, I think, I think
46:19
that's what we need to be looking for.
46:21
You bring a lot of good points. I want to go back to one thing
46:24
and then I want to adjust this as well.
46:25
You brought up people in Colorado going to to the gym.
46:30
I would encourage you to hit the nearest gym to you.
46:32
That's men only, and you'll be surprised how many rabbis are in
46:37
those. Places.
46:39
Oh, yeah, That your name? Rashia Shiva.
46:41
I've had some really good conversations that Jim's.
46:44
I just encourage you to try it out.
46:46
Yeah. Yeah.
46:47
She's surprised. And I, I've been, you've said it
46:50
right. I mean, everything you said
46:52
about being open about illness, mental illness, is there are
46:55
people who need to know and there are people who don't need
46:57
to know. And you know, it doesn't have to
46:59
be something you'd want to tell the whole world, but there
47:01
should be some people that you feel like you don't have to hold
47:04
that secret and share with. And I think you're right.
47:06
Shaddukham dating is definitely a tremendous pressure for
47:11
people. They're afraid of people finding
47:13
out those flaws and and sometimes it, it really depends
47:17
what it is going into details of someones illness should be kept
47:22
for the date when you meet the person in person and you have to
47:24
talk about it, right? You have to write in the resume.
47:27
You know, I suffer schizophrenia.
47:28
This is my voice as I hear it. You.
47:30
Know. Yeah, exactly.
47:31
Just just. All I'm saying is don't, don't
47:33
we can't lie about it. We can't lie about this stuff.
47:35
That's what I'm saying. You know, I understand that the
47:38
paper just to make sure that we all have more or less the same,
47:40
you know, moral systems, because the three most important things
47:43
about marriage is physicality. It's chemistry and it's the same
47:49
moral codes, the same moral system values, you know, so
47:52
we're just trying to, to, to open up the door so we're not
47:55
wasting our time. But absolutely, somewhere in
47:57
those dates, you can't go to the next level without sharing, you
48:00
know, with the other side what's really going on.
48:02
Yeah, for sure. Right, OK, now in terms of any
48:07
religious kickback, although now I know I feel what your answer
48:10
is. But have you ever met a rabbi in
48:12
a gym that says, oh, don't tell people I go here?
48:15
Or have you ever, you know, been training someone and there's
48:17
some rabbi that says, Ohana, you really shouldn't be doing this
48:20
or I wish you were doing something else.
48:21
Has that ever happened to you? My life and and gyms have a
48:24
very, very positive. I don't really have many
48:26
negative stories. I'm sorry.
48:28
There was one time I walked with a Gamara in my hand into a
48:32
competition and we showed Theo and, and this lady walks up
48:36
again and says, is this place kosher enough for you?
48:39
So it's like trying to like hit, you know, say something that
48:42
mean to me or something. I'm, I'm assessing it.
48:44
I'm assessing it. So I haven't heard from
48:47
religious people saying, Oh, you're not religious enough or
48:49
anything like that. I have heard it from secular
48:51
people that I'm too religious to be in this circle of people
48:54
classically asked me, So when did you become Balcheva?
48:56
Assuming that I had a secular like upbringing where we were
48:59
encouraged to do sport and then I became from and somehow I
49:02
didn't drop it or something. But in the religious world, when
49:05
I was in Eshima, there was a rule.
49:07
No, going to the gym forbidden because because they were
49:11
supposed to be all in Torah. That's all you're supposed to be
49:13
doing and a gym takes you out of it.
49:15
There was 1 exception, that was me because I've never missed a
49:18
shear, I've never missed a seder and the rabbi saw how much
49:21
better I was learning when I was to the gym.
49:22
So the request to me is please don't encourage other people in
49:25
the Shiva to go to the gym because they won't do it the
49:27
same way you do it. They'll go to a mixed gym.
49:30
You know who knows what where we'll take them.
49:32
You go to the gym and remember my sheet was going to the pool
49:35
so he didn't mind. Guys go to the pool.
49:36
He just felt like a gym is where people care about their
49:38
aesthetics, which I didn't might take their minds off what's
49:42
important in in yeshiva. So that was the push back I got
49:46
from them. I remember one one person at a
49:50
gym telling me once that he's been going to a different gym
49:53
and I said what Jimmy told me the gym and I said I think
49:55
that's a mixed gym because yeah. But anyway, sinning every day I
49:58
come to a gym so I might as well go to a mixed gym.
50:00
It's the same that it was a sin. I didn't have that perspective
50:03
as he did. So that was that was his
50:05
perspective. But overall, people think it's
50:08
really cool. And as one friend told me, in
50:11
the in any community really, but also in our community, as long
50:15
as you're successful, then it's cool, right?
50:17
If you're a failed architect, then you're not cool that people
50:22
criticize you. Oh, architects, you're not it's
50:24
not, it's not a good thing anyway, right?
50:25
If you're a failed soccer player, oh, soccer, horrible
50:28
sport. But if you're successful, it
50:30
what a kid as a sham. You're so amazing.
50:32
We love you so much, but as long as successful, no one's going to
50:35
criticize you. That's what I that's what I've
50:37
came came across people like, oh, it's amazing you're able to
50:40
learn and work out. That's amazing.
50:41
As opposed to how dare you leave learning for working out?
50:45
I haven't heard that. I mean, if I was a failed
50:47
athlete, I would imagine that would be more of that, right?
50:49
How? Why would you leave learning for
50:51
such a thing? Well, but remember what we were
50:54
we were just discussing why is it a little bit taboo in the
50:56
Jewish world? See, you're rough told you don't
50:59
go to a gym, but like if there was a, I'm assuming you went to
51:02
a kosher gym. I won't push you if you don't
51:03
want to talk about it, but you know, there's, if there was a
51:07
kosher ship option, do you think that their band would still not
51:10
allow guys to go? I only went to kosher gyms.
51:13
There are bands and not like there's a few things I didn't
51:15
like like about it. Some boys will go to the gym and
51:18
they would get obsessed with their body.
51:20
And even from a secular perspective, people have to be
51:23
careful in the world of sports by dysmorphia that could develop
51:27
from it, you know, different pressure that people feel about
51:30
their bodies. Sometimes it's unhealthy.
51:32
So I didn't struggle with that. But the rabbi's felt that if
51:35
boys get obsessed with their bodies, it wouldn't be healthy
51:38
for them. They won't be able to focus on
51:39
learning. They're also worried about who
51:41
they'll meet at the gym because in the gym, even in culture
51:43
gyms, there were people who were like on steroids, right?
51:46
They with tattoos and you know, you don't want to get close to,
51:50
but in my case, there were those people in the gym, but there was
51:53
also the a Diane, a huge rabbi, Torah scholars that we could
51:56
discuss Torah with. So in my case, they saw that I
52:00
was doing in a positive way. But for most guys, they didn't
52:03
want to make it as a rule, everyone go to the gym.
52:05
Thank you for helping that way because they're really worried
52:07
about the influence that people get get in the gym.
52:10
But if someone went play soccer, they wouldn't mind that.
52:13
They would actually encourage that to get some support.
52:15
OK, how about injuries? Because I feel like powerlifting
52:19
and and weightlifting are you're the most susceptible for
52:22
injuries. Have you experienced any
52:23
injuries? Have you had clients with
52:24
injuries? And Yiddish, we say.
52:25
Pooh fuckhead. Opposite, really.
52:28
Oh yeah? Well, part of The thing is one
52:29
of the safest sports out there. You have more injuries than
52:31
running and jogging. Surprisingly, you've.
52:35
Never had an injury. Defied injury like IA few weeks
52:39
ago. Not a heavyweight. 15 kilos.
52:42
Was leaning on the wall and fell on my toe and my toenail broke.
52:45
That's probably my worst injury I've got.
52:48
So you never tore your rotator cuff or like tore your ACL or
52:52
none of that? Nada.
52:53
Nothing. It's not, it's not.
52:55
It shouldn't be normalized. What we do see is people on for.
52:58
For our viewers, El Hanan is a genetic freak, OK?
53:02
I don't think so. I really think everyone should
53:04
should get into it. Do it safely and you'll be safe.
53:06
And as I said, lower injuries and running.
53:08
Running is great. If you like running, do it.
53:10
Don't be discouraged. Not not to run because I said
53:12
there's injuries there, but all injuries could be avoided.
53:17
I've never had any injuries. I think my programming is bad.
53:20
It's good. My nutrition, my sleep, even my
53:22
sleep is not good. I, I, I, I make my program work
53:25
for it. So I've never had injuries.
53:28
I have like felt my muscles get really stiff and I had to like
53:32
dial down, but never an injury. And oh, I was going to say PEDs
53:36
increase the risk of injury because the muscles get much
53:38
stronger. The bones don't, the ligaments
53:40
don't. So the ligament could tear off
53:41
the bone if the muscles are so strong, but the ligaments
53:44
aren't. So the stigma of injuries in
53:46
sports, a lot of them are influenced by PED users.
53:50
So this is not the case for most, you know, for natural
53:53
athletes doing it. There are cases that people, you
53:55
know, get hurt. It happens, as I said, that the
53:58
leading cause of injury in gym is mistakes like a weight
54:01
falling on the toe. That is the leading cause of an
54:03
injury. Not, you know, lifting the
54:05
weight. Everything's perfect.
54:06
Something snapped that goes out, that doesn't happen.
54:09
So do you are the are there things that you do in order to
54:13
prevent that injury, or is it just listening to your body?
54:15
Do you stretch? Do you do sauna?
54:16
Like what? What's the thing to keep you
54:17
from dying? I think, I think stretching is
54:22
amazing. I don't do it.
54:24
I remember, I remember everyone. So you just go in cold, You
54:28
just, you just warm up and then you just start pumping out 160?
54:31
No, I do, yeah. I don't even do a warm up.
54:33
I do it. I like warming up.
54:35
I think it's important, but I I could bend 160 without warming
54:38
up. And you won't feel anything.
54:41
Nah, I might feel discomfort for the first time, like, oh wow,
54:44
this is like, it's funny. It feels funny.
54:46
And in a second, that's fine. How old are you?
54:49
I'm 33. You're weird.
54:55
OK, great. All right, well, is there
54:57
something else you'd like to bring up or you have closing
54:59
thoughts that you'd like to add or a message?
55:01
Maybe you want to give the greater community the message.
55:04
That I would, I guess, want to give people is to take care of
55:07
their health. I mean, as we were talking so
55:09
much about it, mental health, physical health, and I've been
55:12
struggling with Crohn's disease. I mean, I don't struggle with
55:14
that anymore because I eat healthy.
55:16
And I think that's, that's something that people could do,
55:18
right? People could manage different
55:21
health issues they have with exercise.
55:23
People with diabetes, their blood sugar could be more
55:25
normal. If they're exercising with heart
55:27
conditions or heart risk for heart conditions, they could
55:30
prevent them by exercising, maybe not powerlifting, parking
55:33
for the muscle for your heart. You probably want to do, you
55:35
know, swimming or running or something like that.
55:37
But exercise is so important and health is so important and I
55:40
think people should do more of it.
55:42
Really. I think people won't lose out.
55:43
It would, as you said, you mentioned this and I think it's
55:45
very true. It helps people's businesses.
55:47
I mean, I've been, I'm coaching doctors and scientists and
55:49
different people who are really, really busy and it, it really
55:53
grounds people it, it helps people normalize their sleep.
55:55
People have a hard time sleeping.
55:57
Trust me, if you come exhausted after a long workout, you'll
55:59
fall asleep much easier. You're lacking the appetite it
56:04
people make bad choices. They eat unhealthy food because
56:07
it's tastier. If you're really hungry, you
56:09
could eat something that's not as tasty if it's healthy.
56:12
So if you know you need to get your enough protein and
56:14
vegetables into your diet, if you're hungry, it's easier.
56:17
When you're not hungry, it's easier to go to junk.
56:18
So unfortunately a lot of people, they're not facing
56:21
hunger in their day, used to eating junk.
56:24
I had exercising effects. So many things people ask me the
56:26
better to eat healthier to exercise.
56:28
One would influence the other. If you're taking care of your
56:30
health by eating healthy, you might be encouraged to start
56:34
exercising. If you're taking care of your
56:35
health with exercise, you're probably going to be encouraged
56:37
to start eating healthy. I think health is so important.
56:41
It's so important for, for as Jews, right?
56:43
We want to have our minds sharp in learning.
56:46
Your mind is sharper in learning.
56:47
If you exercise, if you give your, your mind this mental
56:50
break, there's it's a real mental break anyway, You have to
56:52
talk to people running. Their mind goes on to say cruise
56:57
for however long they start running for When you're lifting
56:59
weights, all you're thinking about is getting the weight up.
57:01
It really gives that mind a real, you know, no stress.
57:04
There's nothing that bothers me right now except for getting
57:06
that weight up. That's like the perfect thing
57:09
for your mind to have like that brick and your body's pumping
57:12
oxygen to your brain and you're being supported by these
57:15
endorphins and feel good hormones in your body.
57:19
It would influence so many things would influence your
57:21
relationship with your wife, with your kids, make you more
57:22
patient. I'm not perfect, but it's
57:25
definitely easier with exercise and it's definitely harder when
57:27
a person has in a in a thick body to be a pod, have a
57:31
positive outlook about life, as you said, not to be depressed.
57:34
All these stuff are so important and I wish and I hope that
57:36
people do it more. And as I said in earlier, I
57:38
discourage people using steroids and discourage people from
57:41
smoking and I encourage people to be healthy.
57:43
I think it's important. I'm not just into powerlifting,
57:45
I'm into hell. Part of thing is where I take my
57:47
health. I get help from power thing
57:50
because I like it so much, but there's so many ways to get help
57:52
without power thing. I don't think everyone is in the
57:54
power. I think.
57:55
I think it's awesome. It's an amazing tool for it.
57:57
Beautiful. And if I come by, will you show
58:00
me how to exercise? Is that what you're telling me?
58:03
It's so simple but yes for sure I would definitely help you.
58:07
OK, great. Thank you so much for joining us
58:09
today. Yeah, we learned a lot.
58:10
Thank you so much. Thank you.