Latest / Getting After It / 131 - Spencer Walker - What It Takes to Succeed as a Dad, Athlete, and Student of Life

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131 - Spencer Walker - What It Takes to Succeed as a Dad, Athlete, and Student of Life · Getting After It

• 0:00
  Brett: There we go man.
• 0:02
  Spencer: We're alive.
• 0:03
  Brett: Ready to rock?
• 0:04
  Brett: We're ready to go.
• 0:05
  Brett: You ready to jump into this?
• 0:06
  Brett: Let's do it Well, spence Spencer Walker, I'll introduce you, my long childhood friend I think you might be my earliest childhood friend that I remember.
• 0:16
  Brett: That's like a legit friend.
• 0:17
  Brett: So finally got you on, man, I'm excited.
• 0:22
  Spencer: I am too.
• 0:23
  Brett: I'm pumped on, man, I'm excited, I am too, I'm I'm pumped.
• 0:31
  Brett: We've shared many experiences together, so it'll be good.
• 0:32
  Brett: But um, yeah, man, thanks for coming on.
• 0:33
  Brett: Of course, I gotta ask, because you sent me over a list of topics and I have some.
• 0:39
  Brett: Uh, I have some things, but I want to kick it off with the pack rats.
• 0:43
  Brett: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
• 0:45
  Brett: Can you give us the origin story of the pack rats, what it is, or yeah, what it is?
• 0:50
  Spencer: and I mean do you want to go all the way back to the bite gang or, uh, start with the pack rats first we can go into the bite gang.
• 0:58
  Spencer: We can do anything I think it kind of transformed into the pack rats.
• 1:01
  Spencer: I mean, we started off as the bite gang uh with eric bite gang productions that was our productions.
• 1:08
  Brett: Yep, so bad you know those are still on youtube.
• 1:11
  Brett: Oh really, yeah.
• 1:12
  Brett: Oh, no way, gotta take them down.
• 1:15
  Spencer: Actually, I'll link it in the show notes so everyone can go watch our old videos oh yeah, yeah, pack rats was a group of friends that we had um in high school and, uh, there was a Twitter account.
• 1:27
  Spencer: That's right, that's right that you and Drake managed.
• 1:32
  Spencer: I guess we all managed it.
• 1:33
  Spencer: Yeah, all of us did post random stuff in there and uh, yeah, we were just really tight friends and did a lot of stupid stuff, but also we are still friends today.
• 1:44
  Spencer: So yeah is it I?
• 1:45
  Brett: guess a cool thing?
• 1:46
  Brett: I think so too.
• 1:47
  Brett: It was just fun.
• 1:48
  Brett: I mean, you gave a, you came up with the name pack rats, though that was you remember what it was?
• 1:53
  Brett: Because I do.
• 1:54
  Brett: But honestly, I'm gonna test you.
• 1:56
  Brett: You are testing me, I feel like I'll tell you it had something to do with the van.
• 2:02
  Spencer: Yeah, that's right.
• 2:03
  Spencer: Yeah, it was on, wasn't it.
• 2:05
  Brett: Wait, no, it was your car, I think.
• 2:08
  Spencer: Oh no, it was, it was.
• 2:09
  Spencer: I thought it was Josh's car.
• 2:11
  Spencer: It might have been.
• 2:12
  Brett: I don't know he's like, he's packing it in there like a pack.
• 2:24
  Spencer: Yeah, we have like I don't know the name stuck, oh yeah, and then yeah, I remember josh uh dumped the cooler in the back of the.
• 2:35
  Brett: Yeah, you gotta talk about the call that you swampa fished his car or something those are so good.
• 2:42
  Brett: I remember those, like ali and I we were talking the other day about like um, we're talking about slang nowadays.
• 2:48
  Brett: Yeah, I don't know what anything means nowadays, like I learned the other day what huzz is.
• 2:52
  Brett: No, really, I've never even heard of that.
• 2:55
  Brett: Huzz is pretty much like hose.
• 2:56
  Brett: So like you're talking to the huzz, you're talking to the hose.
• 2:59
  Brett: It's not really great, um, but I was like we didn't really have slanging and I was like, wait, yes, we did.
• 3:05
  Brett: We did?
• 3:06
  Spencer: we had swamp of fish we had like um a sweat, oh we had like the most random things, but they were all our own it was like I don't know if anybody else knew what they meant, but we, we knew what they meant.
• 3:18
  Spencer: Yeah, so good.
• 3:19
  Spencer: Yeah, and that that made it even more fun it.
• 3:22
  Brett: It did, but we were a pretty tight-knit group.
• 3:24
  Brett: We were yeah, still talk to all those guys today.
• 3:28
  Brett: But I have to ask what was one of your favorite stories about the pack rats?
• 3:33
  Spencer: That's a great question.
• 3:34
  Spencer: Let's think here I mean, I actually don't know if I can say this one Preface, yeah, I'll don't know if I can say this one.
• 3:46
  Spencer: Well, just, I mean, I just Preface, yeah, I'll just preface it.
• 3:49
  Spencer: There was something, there was another school.
• 3:52
  Brett: Oh yes.
• 3:55
  Spencer: That was.
• 3:55
  Spencer: I mean they were making out with girls from our school in a certain location and we decided to pretty much terminate that location.
• 4:05
  Brett: Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
• 4:06
  Spencer: That's a good way to put it.
• 4:07
  Spencer: Yeah, I just don't know how much depth I can go in on that one.
• 4:10
  Brett: I mean, yeah, that's probably one of the best ones.
• 4:12
  Brett: It's getting smoky in.
• 4:13
  Brett: Here is what we can say We'll leave it at that.
• 4:16
  Brett: I do remember the fear that we had, all of us, when we left that place we were like something we're all done we're all me and drake.
• 4:24
  Spencer: Specifically, were you in our car?
• 4:26
  Spencer: Was it just me and drake?
• 4:27
  Spencer: I might have been I honestly, it was a blur.
• 4:29
  Brett: That night was crazy, complete blur.
• 4:31
  Brett: Yeah, um, but I do remember we all ended up in front of nick's house and we're all just like what do we do?
• 4:35
  Spencer: like what the heck that was crazy.
• 4:38
  Spencer: That was a crazy or hanging out in the camper.
• 4:40
  Spencer: You remember nick's camper oh yeah, back, stay in the the night there.
• 4:42
  Spencer: That was so good, so good.
• 4:45
  Brett: That was really fun, but a lot has changed.
• 4:47
  Brett: A lot has changed.
• 4:48
  Brett: A lot has changed.
• 4:49
  Brett: Both of us are married now.
• 4:50
  Brett: You have a kid, yep, and yeah, we're both in our careers, which is weird.
• 4:55
  Brett: You're starting them, yeah.
• 5:00
  Brett: I mean you're in it and I'm just starting it, and so yeah, and so yeah, but yeah, I mean one thing I I want to talk about, which I think about in high school.
• 5:09
  Brett: I think about you now is like you're one of the most consistent people that I've seen in terms of like fitness and in terms of, um, like taking care of yourself.
• 5:18
  Brett: Like I remember in high school, man, you'd go to mr sprague's calculus class and you'd pull out arnold's arnold's uh big book of bodybuilding or whatever it calls the bodybuilding book of encyclopedia, whatever it was, um, and like you were always like lifting weights and you were doing things.
• 5:36
  Brett: I was like this guy is nuts.
• 5:38
  Brett: Like I remember I went and worked out with you once when we were seniors I think it was at the ymca and uh, you were doing these things where you were up on a platform and you were doing like deadlifts, um, and I was like I've never done this and I think I left there sore and then the next day like my back felt like I was 87, like it was terrible.
• 5:58
  Spencer: But, and now look at today, you're probably doing deadlifts, right, I mean?
• 6:02
  Brett: yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's a great exercise.
• 6:04
  Brett: Oh, oh yeah, but where'd that come from?
• 6:06
  Brett: Like, did you just get infatuated with bodybuilding and that led to kind of like a lifestyle of?
• 6:13
  Spencer: Yeah, that's a great question.
• 6:14
  Spencer: I've thought about that because, yeah, it's been a huge part of my life.
• 6:17
  Spencer: I mean.
• 6:17
  Spencer: I've stuck with it for like the last 10, 12 years and like basketball you know, playing basketball and football Of course we lifted a little bit, I think, really starting football my senior year like junior year, going into it.
• 6:31
  Spencer: I wanted to really kind of bulk up and so I did some research and, um, I found Arnold Schwarzenegger and just seeing him was very motivating.
• 6:41
  Spencer: I was like dang, I want to, I want to be like that.
• 6:42
  Spencer: And so I started looking up his workouts and started doing those and, um, watching, you know, motivational videos and hearing other people talk about pushing through barriers and stuff.
• 6:54
  Spencer: Yeah, Cause weightlifting is not easy, I mean, and especially for for us like to do it, I had to wake up early in the morning and go lift, and so, you know, waking up early in the morning as a junior in high school, senior high school, is not super normal and so it's not fun either.
• 7:08
  Spencer: It's not fun.
• 7:08
  Spencer: And so I started doing that and started seeing results and wanted to stick with it.
• 7:13
  Spencer: And yeah, I mean it really was just kind of a innate thing.
• 7:17
  Spencer: And, um, just trying to be better at sports too.
• 7:20
  Spencer: I knew that that would help me be better at sports, so that was a big motivation too.
• 7:24
  Brett: Yeah, it's at sports too.
• 7:24
  Brett: I knew that that would help me be better at sports, so that's a big motivation too.
• 7:26
  Brett: Yeah, it's huge.
• 7:26
  Brett: Oh yeah, on the days like, because I remember we would stay out late in high school and sometimes you would leave and you'd like go get some rest so you could like wake up and do that like weight lifting, like was that hard?
• 7:37
  Brett: Because I, I think like we'd always be like spencer, don't leave, like come on man.
• 7:41
  Brett: Yeah, and like, but you had goals, you had driving, I think at the time I didn't recognize that that's what that was.
• 7:48
  Brett: Yeah, it was like you were sacrificing a good time so you could wake up and still get after it.
• 7:53
  Brett: Yeah, was that?
• 7:54
  Spencer: tough.
• 7:55
  Spencer: Yeah, it was, um, I just, I don't know.
• 7:59
  Spencer: In my mind I was like, well, I want this more.
• 8:02
  Spencer: I obviously I knew that we'd still be buddies and friends.
• 8:05
  Spencer: And you know, I was just like, well, I want this thing in my life.
• 8:08
  Spencer: And so I, when you research about sleep and how important that is for building muscle, you know, and we were all pretty I wouldn't say like we were like super skinny, but in high school we were all pretty lean, we were all pretty thin and so like to build muscle muscles really hard when you're really thin, and so got a lot going on, yeah, and so I was like researching, like what do I need to do it?
• 8:28
  Spencer: A lot of it was about sleep and nutrition.
• 8:30
  Spencer: Like that's a huge part of it.
• 8:31
  Spencer: So I started you probably know what it sounds like eating a ton of protein and dude.
• 8:35
  Brett: I remember it's like I think I was talking to, uh, jaron peterson or hunter peterson, one of those guys.
• 8:41
  Brett: I saw them in arizona this past week.
• 8:43
  Brett: Yeah and um, they were at the gym and they were talking about how or I said that you were coming on the podcast to talk and they were like, yeah, I remember spencer.
• 8:52
  Brett: Um, I was like, yeah, he's, he's doing crazy crossfit stuff now, like the guy's huge, and I think it was jaron.
• 8:58
  Brett: He's like I remember I went to go do a physics project at at spencer's house.
• 9:03
  Spencer: It's like one of the goldberg machines or something?
• 9:05
  Brett: yes, I remember that and he said that, like your mom would come in with like these giant protein shakes and like with 60 grams of protein or something like that.
• 9:14
  Brett: And jaron was like I can't drink this, like what the heck.
• 9:17
  Brett: And you're like yeah, I drink like two of these a day.
• 9:18
  Brett: Oh, my goodness protein's important.
• 9:20
  Brett: It is what does protein do for the muscles?
• 9:23
  Spencer: That's a great question.
• 9:24
  Spencer: Like, when you actually work out, you're actually breaking down the muscle, like you're actually having micro tears happen during a workout.
• 9:33
  Spencer: Let's say you're doing a bicep curl, we're going to have micro tears to that bicep, and then the way to rebuild it is protein synthesis, which is that's what your muscle is is protein.
• 9:44
  Spencer: Is protein synthesis, which is that's what your muscle is, is protein.
• 9:47
  Spencer: And so if you drink protein powder, eat, you know, fish, eggs, chicken, whatever kind of protein source you have yeah, um, that's going to help go in and rebuild those muscle fibers, um, yeah.
• 9:56
  Spencer: So that's kind of a big misconception people have.
• 9:58
  Spencer: They're like, oh, I want to get super strong and big and, uh, when you actually go to the gym, you're actually breaking it down.
• 10:04
  Spencer: The time that actually rebuilds you get stronger is outside the gym, like sleeping and eating.
• 10:08
  Brett: So yeah, interesting.
• 10:09
  Brett: Is there, like I've heard, timing protein time?
• 10:12
  Brett: Is that a myth or is it real?
• 10:14
  Spencer: You know everybody's body's different.
• 10:16
  Spencer: I found for mine it's real Like if I get in a good amount of protein powder or a good meal within an hour of my workout, I'm not nearly as sore the next day.
• 10:26
  Spencer: I still might be sore, but if I like eat nothing after a workout and it's like four hours later that I eat a meal, I'm a lot more sore the next day.
• 10:34
  Spencer: So I can kind of tell that getting in that protein earlier, right after the workout, the muscles absorbed it better.
• 10:40
  Brett: Yeah, so I would recommend that for anybody, but, but, um, it could be variable depending on the person I mean I've noticed that too, like when I first um started running and lifting at the same time, because before I was just kind of running, after I was sick yeah and then I started like introducing lifting again because I was a big part of my life in college.
• 10:59
  Brett: Um, I recognized because I would intermittent fast and so I'd go work out in the morning and then I wouldn't eat till like maybe noon and I just always remember feeling like so sluggish from after my workout to around when I would eat, and I was like dumb.
• 11:16
  Brett: Now because now that, like the research says, like you need carbs, like your brain needs carbs to function, oh yeah, like you burn it all out with your workout, like you're not going to have much to go off of Yup, um, but the yeah, I mean now food science plays a huge role in my life because, like you have to time it with your running.
• 11:32
  Spencer: Oh, a hundred percent.
• 11:33
  Brett: You have 30 miles coming up on Saturday and so I have to eat like a lot of carbs the day before Yup and even Thursday I have to eat a lot.
• 11:41
  Brett: Yeah, Get like the muscle glycogen stores and all that kind of stuff up to date, 100% Up to speed.
• 11:46
  Brett: But yeah, I mean in regards to weightlifting and that kind of thing like what's your typical breakdown look like with protein, carbs and fat?
• 11:57
  Spencer: That's a good question, like, if you're because, like obviously you're trying to build or if you're trying to cut, it's going to look different Because, like, obviously you're trying to build or if you're trying to cut, it's going to look different.
• 12:04
  Spencer: Yeah, so if you're trying to build, you're going to want to eat more carbs because, like you said, you need energy to produce enough stimulus in your workout to actually make the muscles grow.
• 12:14
  Spencer: And that's the tough thing about bodybuilding or anybody that's trying to lose body fat, is, if you're cutting carbs out, you're going to lose some of the workouts effect because you just won't be able to go as hard, you won't do as well, right?
• 12:28
  Spencer: So, like if you were going on that run for 30 miles and you were cutting out carbs two days before, it would suck, yeah.
• 12:34
  Spencer: Gas out real quick, horrible, yeah, and.
• 12:36
  Spencer: But you know, if you have enough carbs, that's your, your body's energy storage and you can utilize that.
• 12:42
  Spencer: So, yeah, if you're building, you know, usually 50%, I would say, carbohydrates, if not, maybe even a little bit more, um, so you have enough energy, um, and then definitely protein.
• 12:55
  Spencer: I always.
• 12:55
  Spencer: I mean, some people kind of maybe want to contradict this, but I've always seen tons of gains with at least one gram per pound of body weight for protein, and so if that turns out to be 30% of your daily caloric intake, 40%, um, whatever that is, I that's kind of.
• 13:15
  Spencer: What I go with is always minimum one gram per pound of body weight.
• 13:19
  Brett: I, I, I like that.
• 13:20
  Brett: I mean, that's kind of what I stick with, because I usually feel the best with more protein.
• 13:24
  Brett: Um, and then to the recovery piece too, like, oh yeah, I think it's huge.
• 13:29
  Brett: Um, do you take creatine for recovery?
• 13:31
  Brett: I do, I do too.
• 13:33
  Brett: Yeah, it's a.
• 13:34
  Brett: What's the role?
• 13:35
  Brett: Do you know, like, how it influences the body and like what it does?
• 13:38
  Spencer: I do, yeah.
• 13:39
  Spencer: So your, your body has kind of they've made it into three different energy systems.
• 13:47
  Spencer: So you have the creatine um phosphatase system, you have the glycogen system and then you have the or glycolysis, and then you have the oxidative phosphorylation or like aerobic system.
• 13:56
  Spencer: Okay, so all three of them can help create atp, which you probably have heard about that before, yeah that's like the cells energy right, exactly so it's the cells currency that it uses for energy.
• 14:08
  Spencer: So the more ATP you have, the more energy you can produce and the more you can go about your day doing things Right, um, and so what creatine does?
• 14:18
  Spencer: Obviously, the name of the foster creatine pathway, um, it helps increase that.
• 14:23
  Spencer: So then, overall, it just increases your number of ATP.
• 14:26
  Spencer: It also increases water absorption in the muscle cell.
• 14:30
  Spencer: Um, so your water, so your muscle cells are more hydrated.
• 14:35
  Spencer: Um, and it also I mean there's been a lot of new research and data showing that it actually helps your cognition and memory.
• 14:42
  Brett: That's what I heard.
• 14:43
  Brett: Actually, I heard, uh, dr Huberman talking about that, yeah, and I was like, as soon as he said that, I was like, okay, and I know the typical dosage is like five grams, yep, you might tell me not to take this much, but I take like seven to ten a day.
• 14:58
  Spencer: Yeah, that's funny because I do ten.
• 15:00
  Brett: You do ten, yeah, okay I mean I'm a bigger guy, Exactly.
• 15:05
  Spencer: I mean we're both like what, six, two, six, three, yeah, and I mean you're roughly probably 200 pounds, right, I'm just a little bit over that, and so I think you're just straight muscles Like come on which?
• 15:20
  Brett: we'll talk about consistency again.
• 15:21
  Spencer: Yeah, but yeah, I mean, it's been shown to do a number of things and I think the five grams per pound of body weight is a great place to start.
• 15:30
  Spencer: If anybody hasn't taken creatine, yeah yeah, if you are a bigger person and you are doing a lot of activity like you are running a lot I like to lift a lot and run some too your body is going to use up some of that.
• 15:42
  Spencer: So, yeah, take it.
• 15:43
  Spencer: If you're a bigger person and you're working out a lot, you can probably definitely tolerate seven, maybe 10 grams of creatine a day.
• 15:50
  Brett: Do you know what it does cognitively for you?
• 15:52
  Brett: Cause I've heard like Alzheimer's Yep, um, it helps protect against that.
• 15:57
  Spencer: Yeah, there's new research coming out that it could be promising as uh, um, as a help for Alzheimer's.
• 16:03
  Spencer: That's crazy.
• 16:04
  Spencer: I don't know exactly the pathway by what that works, but it makes sense to me.
• 16:09
  Spencer: This is a crazy study.
• 16:11
  Spencer: They did a study for cognition, for creatine, but also within that study it was on sleep-deprived people.
• 16:20
  Spencer: And it makes sense because if it's increasing your ATP, if you don't have a lot of ATP, you're going to get very tired and fatigued, right, because it's your energy currency.
• 16:28
  Spencer: So it's like if you have more of that and you're sleep deprived, it actually will help you keep going for longer.
• 16:33
  Spencer: And so they had a study with people that were sleep deprived versus non and people that were taking creatine versus not taking creatine.
• 16:41
  Spencer: And people that were taking creatine and were sleep deprived were actually still cognitively there, really, yeah, more than people that were not even taking creatine and not sleep deprived.
• 16:52
  Spencer: That's crazy, like that's pretty crazy.
• 16:54
  Brett: That is amazing, though, like I don't know.
• 16:56
  Brett: It's just my dad's always been so scared of creatine.
• 17:00
  Spencer: Yeah, because like he's worried about his kidneys yeah, there, I mean, there's a lot of myths and there's a lot of things around it.
• 17:06
  Spencer: I wouldn't like, obviously, your dad's a little bit older, you know, and I don't know if he's had kidney issues before.
• 17:13
  Brett: It's like a genetic thing.
• 17:14
  Brett: Yeah, I think he's scared of it.
• 17:17
  Spencer: Yeah, I mean I would honestly consult with, I would do your research, consult with your physician, and you know I wouldn't just jump into anything without actually having some solid data to back it up.
• 17:29
  Spencer: Yeah, um, yeah, I mean, from what I've seen, it's only been a positive.
• 17:33
  Spencer: I used to actually for my exams.
• 17:36
  Spencer: I would take a good amount of it before the exam and it always helped me.
• 17:40
  Spencer: I mean it's smart dude.
• 17:41
  Brett: Like when, when I first noticed this I I started trail running a lot last year.
• 17:46
  Brett: Yeah, I was gonna do my first ultra and I heard about creatine helping with endurance and, to your point, like it obviously makes sense now talking about atp and that kind of thing and fueling more um, energy cells or energy to the cells, and after that, like I was like there's direct benefits when I take this versus when I don't.
• 18:05
  Brett: So now that's just like I'm consistent every day.
• 18:07
  Brett: It's kind of gross.
• 18:08
  Brett: I'll put a little bit of water in my mouth and then dry scoop it and that's it.
• 18:11
  Brett: There you go Just swallow it whole, don't have to worry about it.
• 18:14
  Brett: Yep, there you go.
• 18:15
  Brett: That's awesome, but yeah, let's talk about one thing that people don't have talking about how that's super important.
• 18:22
  Brett: That's when the muscles are being rebuilt.
• 18:23
  Brett: Yeah, so what is like sleep's role in helping build muscle and with recovery in general?
• 18:31
  Spencer: That's a good question.
• 18:32
  Spencer: So have you heard of like sympathetic, parasympathetic, like autonomic nervous system?
• 18:38
  Spencer: I've heard about them but I couldn't tell you what they do.
• 18:43
  Spencer: So just to give you like a really simple breakdown sympathetic is like fight or flight.
• 18:47
  Spencer: Okay, parasympathetic is called rest and digest, and so basically, when you're sympathetic, you know your pupils dilate so you can see more of your surroundings.
• 18:54
  Spencer: Your muscles get filled with blood.
• 18:57
  Spencer: When you're running or when you're exercising or you know you see a bear and it frightens you.
• 19:01
  Spencer: That's sympathetic, fight or flight.
• 19:03
  Spencer: You're ready to go Parasympathetic.
• 19:05
  Spencer: You know you're kind of just laying around, you might be eating, you might be resting and then also sleep, right, yeah, so what happens when you are in parasympathetic is you get a little bit more vasodilation and a little bit more, which means basically your blood vessels are loosening and they're not constricting as much, and so when they do that, it can help with a number of things.
• 19:31
  Spencer: And when your brain turns off at night, it helps recover and clean out toxins and other things that are in your brain.
• 19:38
  Spencer: And then same with, like, your muscles.
• 19:40
  Spencer: Your muscles need kind of more parasympathetic activation so they can calm down and allow some of that repair and so, and also the digest part.
• 19:50
  Spencer: Like, when you're digesting down that protein, it breaks it down into amino acids and then sends it out in the bloodstream to your muscles to then actually get the protein to feed it into the muscle cell to keep regrowing.
• 20:01
  Spencer: Yeah, but if you're sympathetic, that's why another bad thing too, and a lot of people don't talk about this as stress Right, and it's hard to do, it's hard to control.
• 20:12
  Spencer: But if we can control our stress more, um, it actually will limit how much fight or flight we have and can make us actually more healthy.
• 20:18
  Spencer: Yeah, like stress is, um, not not the best for us, and that can be debatable, because there has been some studies on like mindset about stress.
• 20:28
  Spencer: Like you can look at it as like, oh, this is an opportunity for me.
• 20:32
  Spencer: And actually can it change that outcome in your body?
• 20:36
  Spencer: But overall, stress is probably not the best thing for us and kind of does more fight or flight versus rest and digest.
• 20:42
  Spencer: So when you're asleep and doing that, that's when your muscles actually can get the amino acids and recover.
• 20:47
  Brett: yeah, just, kind of relax and repair.
• 20:49
  Brett: Yeah, that's interesting, man.
• 20:50
  Brett: It's crazy.
• 20:51
  Brett: What goes on in the body.
• 20:52
  Brett: It is, it's, it's insane, it's amazing, yeah.
• 20:55
  Brett: But yeah, I mean stress is.
• 20:56
  Brett: I think it's something all of us are going to face.
• 20:58
  Brett: 100, um, there's no getting around it.
• 21:01
  Brett: You're going to be stressed about something in your life.
• 21:02
  Brett: Yep, it's interesting.
• 21:05
  Brett: You may have heard me talk about like the Stoics on this podcast, if you've listened to anything at all, but they always say like hey, yeah, it is like if the obstacle is the way, that's what they say and that is true, but sometimes that can be stressful, yeah.
• 21:19
  Brett: So like if there's a big challenge in front of you, or like you're stressed at work, like you might have to get it done, that might just be your reality.
• 21:26
  Brett: But, like, I was going to ask like what are some things that you do to mitigate that?
• 21:30
  Brett: Like to help with stress relief and to kind of go down that route?
• 21:34
  Spencer: So actually I want to make a differentiation.
• 21:36
  Spencer: So acute stress, meaning a short-term challenge, is actually good for you.
• 21:44
  Spencer: So a small amount of stress is healthy in your life.
• 21:47
  Spencer: What's bad for us is something called chronic stress, so something like where it's been on our mind all day, every day, for weeks on end and it's constantly nagging at us.
• 21:56
  Spencer: So that's the harder part that we need to mitigate Now for me.
• 22:00
  Spencer: Everybody does it differently, but this is where I really do believe the gospel plays a huge role in our life, absolutely.
• 22:07
  Spencer: I think that prayer and scripture study, meditation, going to the temple and having belief in a God and in Jesus Christ I think has been a huge way to help alleviate that Absolutely and to feel calm and to feel like you're getting help and to feel like you're not alone.
• 22:25
  Spencer: I think those are all really wonderful things that I think the gospel brings in that can actually help you in the health healthy way.
• 22:31
  Spencer: But yeah, like I was saying, actually having a small amount of stress is good, because if you don't have anything to worry about or anything to do, you know your life is probably not going to be that good.
• 22:42
  Brett: That's true, you might be just drifting around, yep.
• 22:45
  Brett: But yeah, I mean, I love what you said about the gospel.
• 22:48
  Brett: We'll talk more about that because I want to get kind of deep on that, if you don't mind.
• 22:52
  Brett: For sure, I want to go into what got you into all the focus on the body and where you're planning on taking it, because I know you're starting medical school, starting medical school and kind of walk me through that and like what you're hoping to become in the end.
• 23:10
  Brett: And, um, you know, you're telling me upstairs kind of your ultimate goal.
• 23:14
  Brett: Like I can't even remember what the um, the doctor type is called.
• 23:18
  Brett: That's all right.
• 23:18
  Brett: But yeah, like, tell me how you you got interested in, like hey, I'm going to study the body.
• 23:23
  Brett: Um me, how you you got interested in, like hey, I'm gonna study the body, um, and become a doctor.
• 23:29
  Spencer: Yeah, what was that like?
• 23:29
  Spencer: Yeah, I mean it.
• 23:30
  Spencer: It wasn't my initial decision like going into college, but as I took like biology and anatomy in those classes, I was like I love this stuff, I love learning about the body what'd you originally sign up to do?
• 23:41
  Spencer: So well, it was physical therapy, so it was pretty similar, you know, to being a physician, um, but then, yeah, my wife and, uh, my mom and a few other people kind of influenced me to then step it up to be an actual physician.
• 23:58
  Spencer: Your wife's like kicking into gear, yeah, I mean she's a physical therapist that's what a good wife does, yeah, and so she's like you can do more than that.
• 24:05
  Spencer: I was like, okay, well, I must try harder than that.
• 24:08
  Spencer: But yeah, I mean, just learning about that stuff really fascinated me, and of course I'd been into working out and kind of already knew a lot of the muscles and how they worked and a lot of that stuff, and so I was like, well, this seems like a good career for me.
• 24:19
  Spencer: And seems like a good career for me and, honestly, applying to med school is really difficult because you just don't know if you're going to get in or not and you kind of spend all this money and crazy.
• 24:29
  Brett: Yeah, there's just like no guarantee that you'll get in.
• 24:33
  Spencer: Nope, I mean you have to spend I mean, it was, it was thousands of dollars to just apply, Right, and usually you want to apply to a lot of schools and with every school is more money, Right.
• 24:52
  Spencer: So I ended up applying to like 13 schools and you just kind of hope that you get an interview and you get somewhere, and luckily I did.
• 24:55
  Spencer: And uh, but yeah, being at um, I'm at Norda right now, college of osteopathic medicine, um in Provo, and it's been amazing and I love it.
• 25:01
  Spencer: That's awesome man.
• 25:02
  Spencer: But yeah, the doctor that I want to be is a physical medicine and rehabilitation or PM and R doctor.
• 25:09
  Brett: And you were telling me a little bit about what they do.
• 25:10
  Brett: But mine like just going into it, just a an example, because I think it's awesome.
• 25:15
  Brett: I've never really heard of this type of doctor before.
• 25:18
  Spencer: Yeah, it's kind of a up and coming type of physician, but yeah, it's uh basically you're going to be working with.
• 25:25
  Spencer: I mean there's a lot of different groups, like burns, injuries, uh trauma from like a car accident or just an accident in life.
• 25:34
  Spencer: I mean, you were talking to me about a guy that tripped, I think, at the beach.
• 25:38
  Brett: Yeah yeah, dave Daly.
• 25:39
  Brett: He was a boogie boarding and broke his neck or snapped his cord.
• 25:43
  Brett: I don't know what happened, but it was an imperfect or incomplete uh break of the neck okay.
• 25:50
  Spencer: So I mean people like that, people that had a stroke, people that have all these symptoms that they, um, they need kind of a lot of help to get back to real life.
• 26:00
  Spencer: That's kind of what a pm and our doctor does.
• 26:02
  Spencer: That's so cool.
• 26:03
  Spencer: Yeah, with my wife being a physical therapist, eventually we'd love to work together and she, um, she started already working out at a gym and we have our llc for that and so, uh, the dream is eventually to work together.
• 26:16
  Spencer: But obviously that's like a ways down the road, with me just finishing first year and so I have three more years and then four years of residency.
• 26:24
  Brett: yeah, yeah, I mean that's.
• 26:25
  Brett: That's awesome, though.
• 26:26
  Brett: Like, yeah, I've been seeing you guys post on it's resilient PT.
• 26:30
  Brett: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 26:31
  Brett: So, like what did someone who's going to go see, like your wife, what are they?
• 26:36
  Brett: What does she help them?
• 26:36
  Spencer: with.
• 26:37
  Spencer: Yeah, I mean, for instance, we have a couple of people at our gym that, sorry, yesterday I mean it could be, could be anything you know, from knees to neck to shoulder.
• 26:46
  Spencer: You know, yeah, hip, whatever problem you have you know with, uh, mobility or with movement, with exercise.
• 26:54
  Spencer: You know, someone's like dang my knees are are jacked up when I run.
• 26:57
  Spencer: Like I want to figure this out.
• 26:58
  Spencer: She'll basically look at that and kind of see where the muscle weakness is, where the disparities are, and kind of help them out in a path to get them back to doing what they love to do.
• 27:07
  Brett: It's a huge thing.
• 27:08
  Brett: Yeah, I mean being in the running community.
• 27:10
  Brett: It's like I don't know.
• 27:13
  Brett: I feel like so many people get injured because they don't weightlift, though that's the problem, that's true.
• 27:18
  Brett: And so I see some of the best ultramarathoners out there are like average weightlifters too, yup, and they're like you have to do it, you have to do it, but then like people will neglect it and then like other injuries happen A hundred percent and then you end up seeing a PT.
• 27:31
  Brett: But man, grateful for PTs Like that's.
• 27:35
  Brett: Without them we'd be we'd be rough rough shape.
• 27:38
  Spencer: It's a really.
• 27:39
  Spencer: It's a really good job and, honestly, it's really rewarding too, like I was telling you earlier, because you get to see someone kind of come in with this point and then slowly progress and get back to what they love to do.
• 27:48
  Brett: That's awesome.
• 27:50
  Brett: So that's your ultimate goal with starting your own practice is just have people come in and help them live life better.
• 27:56
  Spencer: really, Yep, 100%.
• 27:57
  Spencer: Live their life in a functional and healthy way and honestly improve them to be even better than where they're at before, cause that's the other thing.
• 28:05
  Spencer: I love exercise and I know that, like you just said, like with weightlifting, you can actually increase your performance in other areas of life, and so, like, if someone doesn't even know about that and they come in with these injuries, I'm probably going to show them how to do that for their future.
• 28:18
  Brett: Yeah, so I mean I love that.
• 28:20
  Brett: Um, I've heard this before that if you like tear a tendon or like rupture a tendon or something, you get it fixed, it can come back like stronger or just as good.
• 28:31
  Brett: Is that right?
• 28:31
  Brett: Yeah, it's definitely a possibility.
• 28:33
  Brett: I mean I've.
• 28:35
  Brett: That's like a big scare for me is, like you know, if something happens like, let's say, I'm on a trail run, I'd rupture my achilles, like yeah, I know it'd come back like kobe did it.
• 28:43
  Brett: But you know it's just like, oh yeah, yeah, kobe did it.
• 28:46
  Brett: It's crazy, it's scary stuff.
• 28:48
  Brett: So I think that's awesome.
• 28:49
  Brett: Though, man, like I don't know, you've always been someone who's looking to help others and so it totally makes sense that you're doing this.
• 28:55
  Brett: Yeah, thanks, man.
• 28:56
  Brett: But yeah, I mean a lot of work has gone into it.
• 29:06
  Brett: Like, going back to the consistency thing and and the principles of actually being successful in what you do, um, you're talking about like how you listen to motivational videos or like when you did in high school, um, but how has that changed over the years to where you've seen like your consistent practice, either if it's in study or in in working out.
• 29:22
  Brett: Like you are obviously someone who has harnessed consistency and like grasp it, that concept very well, I would say um, and it seems to be bleeding into every part of your life and like how has that led to your success?
• 29:40
  Spencer: that's a good question.
• 29:40
  Spencer: Um, I really do think.
• 29:43
  Spencer: Have you ever read the book or heard the book Atomic Habits?
• 29:47
  Brett: Yes, I mentioned it a few times on this one.
• 29:49
  Brett: I love that book.
• 29:49
  Brett: That's a great book.
• 29:50
  Spencer: I mean there's a lot of other really good books kind of in the same field.
• 29:54
  Spencer: I really think people underestimate it.
• 29:57
  Spencer: I mean, a lot of times it's actually pretty easy, yeah, but it's just you have a day and it's an off day and you're like dang, I just I don't want to do it today.
• 30:07
  Spencer: It's not a big deal, but like in the long term of things, it kind of is.
• 30:11
  Spencer: And so, yeah, like right now I'm training for a competition in August.
• 30:17
  Spencer: Really, yeah, for CrossFit, let's go Where's that at?
• 30:21
  Spencer: It's in Utah, so it's FitCon is what it's called.
• 30:25
  Brett: You're going to be at FitCon?
• 30:26
  Brett: Yeah, I'll be there, dude.
• 30:27
  Brett: Sweet, I'll actually be up there for a trade show, so I'll just come by, dude.
• 30:31
  Brett: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 30:32
  Spencer: Yeah, me and my brother-in-law so Brindley's brother is going to do it with me.
• 30:38
  Spencer: Yeah, we're so.
• 30:40
  Spencer: Yeah, it's like a combination of weightlifting and a bunch of CrossFit stuff.
• 30:45
  Spencer: But I know for me, because I've trained strength for so long, I have to do my cardio.
• 30:51
  Spencer: So that's like the big weakness for me.
• 31:00
  Spencer: But I know, with consistency, especially like Zone 2 stuff, because I know that's not as harsh on my body.
• 31:03
  Spencer: Like if I were to go out and run every day like super hard, I wouldn't be able to do that day in and day out.
• 31:06
  Spencer: But I can hop on a bike, you know, and alternate days with slow running.
• 31:10
  Spencer: Then I can keep my consistent habits and I've seen in the past that that's really boosted my performance in like endurance specifically.
• 31:17
  Spencer: Um, yeah, essentially for consistency.
• 31:20
  Spencer: You just want to like from our mission that and knowing how to map out your consistency, you're probably not going to do it right.
• 31:33
  Spencer: So you got to start off with making a plan and then saying, okay, on these days of the week I'm going to be doing this, this and this.
• 31:40
  Spencer: You don't have to be perfect, you know, obviously no one's perfect Right.
• 31:44
  Spencer: Like I remember studying for my exams, I would tell myself I have to get all these subjects done by this amount of time and, yeah, maybe I'd get 80% of them done, but hey getting that much done is a lot better than nothing, right.
• 31:57
  Spencer: Yeah, that's the thing is, if you wake up every morning and make a plan for yourself to accomplish all this stuff and just are consistent at that, you're going to be way further along in a month than if someone that didn't make a plan is like, okay, I'm just going to kind of do what I feel like I'm doing and yeah, yeah.
• 32:12
  Spencer: So that I think that's the biggest key to being consistent is making a plan and trying your best to stick with it.
• 32:17
  Spencer: Yeah, I love that.
• 32:19
  Brett: I think that's huge.
• 32:20
  Brett: Like I mean, you have to know what's coming your way, like I always I was talking to Drew about this actually the other day and we were talking about, of like, because every week we talk about our goals, keep each other accountable, and that kind of thing, and we were talking about how, like we, when we decide to do the goals, it's already been a decision that's made.
• 32:44
  Brett: So like if his goal is to, you know, to, let's just say like, go to the temple or something, yeah, and he's already made the decision to go there.
• 32:52
  Brett: So like when it comes up in his schedule, he's like, hey, I already knew this was coming.
• 32:55
  Brett: Yup, and it's like we were talking about it.
• 32:56
  Brett: It's like it's kind of funny because in school it's like say no to drugs.
• 32:59
  Brett: So like when they come up, it's like, no, not touching them usually do is work out, because it's that's how I like to start my day.
• 33:15
  Brett: Yeah, and it's like I knew I was going to do that last night.
• 33:16
  Spencer: So it's here and let's just go get it done.
• 33:17
  Brett: No, brainer, yeah, no brainer.
• 33:18
  Brett: And then, like at work, I have the things that I need to get done every day, I have the meetings that are set, um, and I just take them and get it all done because otherwise I'd be, you know, wandering around and like I think having a plan is crucial, super crucial, to be consistent and successful in anything.
• 33:33
  Brett: Very underlooked.
• 33:34
  Spencer: It's rare.
• 33:35
  Spencer: You ask people do you have a daily planner?
• 33:37
  Spencer: Do you plan out your day?
• 33:38
  Spencer: People are like no, I just kind of know what's going on and with my free time I just kind of float around, watch TV and do that.
• 33:44
  Spencer: It's like if you look at how much time people actually have and how much time is wasted, it's unbelievable.
• 33:49
  Spencer: And so it's like and that doesn't mean that like you have to be a robot every hour of your day, but like if you want to achieve something, actually do something.
• 33:55
  Spencer: Like you said, you got to have a plan.
• 33:57
  Brett: Yeah, that same conversation with my brother.
• 33:59
  Brett: We were talking about screen time, yeah, and uh, two things on this.
• 34:04
  Brett: So one there's actually a guy that's making an app.
• 34:07
  Brett: It's kind of cool, but he's making an app that is associated with your screen time and it calculates how much screen time that you have and, depending on that number, that's how much you have to exercise oh wow.
• 34:18
  Spencer: So it's kind of interesting.
• 34:19
  Brett: So you like, you'll get notifications and so he was showing it.
• 34:22
  Brett: He's like this week I had six hours and 45 minutes.
• 34:25
  Brett: So I'm running for six hours and 45 minutes and he just like he's trying to promote the app, wow, um, but anyway.
• 34:30
  Brett: So I was talking to drew about that and, um, we both looked at our screen times and we're like, yeah, we have a lot of time that we can be doing spending on other things.
• 34:39
  Brett: And so, for me, I was like I want to plan more for the podcast and I want to read.
• 34:42
  Brett: And he's like I want to read too.
• 34:44
  Brett: And it's like, okay, well, let's use, you know, one of those hours a day that we're doing nothing and just pick up a book and try and educate yourself and read.
• 34:51
  Brett: Yeah, keep going.
• 34:52
  Brett: And like it is amazing how much time that we have each day.
• 34:57
  Brett: I mean, obviously people are busy, yeah, but we can fill it with better things.
• 35:01
  Brett: Oh, yeah, like that's one thing I've been trying to do more is like I think phones are a great tool, but they're also an amazing distraction.
• 35:09
  Brett: They are and incredibly, yeah, it can be detrimental to your success and growth.
• 35:15
  Brett: If it's, you know, in your pocket buzzing all the time and has your attention, you know, it's like you got to look up and keep your head up.
• 35:21
  Spencer: Yeah, that's why, for my study sessions, I noticed that, like when I first started med school, I was checking my phone.
• 35:27
  Spencer: I didn't even realize I was doing it.
• 35:28
  Spencer: Then one time like oh, I'm gonna tally how many times check my phone and it's like 10 times every two minutes I was like, oh my gosh, so I decided to turn it off.
• 35:37
  Spencer: Yeah, and man, you just get into a flow state and you can focus, yeah, like with the phone on you.
• 35:42
  Spencer: You don't realize how much of a distraction it is.
• 35:45
  Spencer: It's crazy and it's kind of hard these days because, like, you kind of have to have that right.
• 35:49
  Spencer: It's.
• 35:50
  Spencer: Uh, when you can just try to focus on the task at hand, you're going to do a lot better at it yeah, like I like sometimes at work I have to focus for a couple hours.
• 35:59
  Brett: I'll just text ali and be like, hey, I'm going to be in the zone for a couple hours.
• 36:02
  Brett: Yep, like, do not disturb, but call me if you need me.
• 36:06
  Brett: She's the only one that can call me on do not disturb, which is nice, but yep, um.
• 36:09
  Brett: Yeah, I think it's powerful and, like two episodes ago I talked about recognizing your potential and living up to it and how a lot of that comes from one, having a vision for yourself.
• 36:23
  Brett: And then two, you have to do the work and you have to be patient and like consistent as well, like those.
• 36:28
  Brett: That's the formula for success that I've seen work in my life is like those three things is is do the work, be consistent and be patient.
• 36:37
  Brett: You can't expect the results to come at certain times and like there's so much more potential to be grasped if we were able to spend our time doing things to get us closer to our goals.
• 36:50
  Brett: Yeah, if that makes sense.
• 36:51
  Brett: But, um, yeah, what have you seen work for you in terms of, like, planning out your day?
• 36:55
  Brett: Like how do you go about that?
• 36:58
  Spencer: Yeah, I mean, I agree with you, I love to get my workout done in the morning.
• 37:02
  Spencer: Momentum is very powerful, so if you can start your day off with something that actually puts you in a good mood and makes you want to do stuff, it's really going to help out the rest of your day.
• 37:11
  Spencer: So for me it's also working out in the morning, and then I love to read, uh, my scriptures in the morning and I think that just boosts my mental and uh spiritual kind of energy for the day to keep going, yeah.
• 37:26
  Spencer: And then, yeah, when I get out the door, I'm I uh well, before I get out the door I make a plan of what I'm going to do and, uh, what that was while I was in med school was the topics I was going to study and the amount of time that I would spend on each one.
• 37:40
  Spencer: And then I'd always make sure that I'd get home in time for dinner.
• 37:44
  Spencer: And then we kind of have a little routine with Christian where we eat dinner together, give him a bath and go on a walk, is the sun setting and kind of helps him fall asleep better.
• 37:53
  Brett: Even though if you have a kid, you'll understand this, it's just difficult sometimes I mean I have brothers and I've seen them, you know, with the kids, and so, yeah, I can imagine that's tough, but it's up and down like some days are good, but then some days aren't as good it has been cool seeing you as a dad like I.
• 38:08
  Brett: Um, I saw this video I think brinley put it on her Instagram or something where Christian was in a little box and you were like running up and down like, doing like a sled, push with him in this little thing and I was like that just like is perfect for Spencer.
• 38:21
  Brett: Like he's a beefy guy but like he's just running up and down with this kid, he loves it.
• 38:26
  Brett: What's funny is we always talked about like how you were going to raise just like the most elite athletes growing up.
• 38:34
  Brett: Like we're always like, yeah, spencer's gonna have the kids who are like d1 athletes in football and stuff like that.
• 38:39
  Brett: I think it's gonna come true, but we'll see.
• 38:42
  Brett: Um, how has fatherhood changed like your routine yeah, it definitely has.
• 38:48
  Spencer: Um, like I think we talked about it's funny, we talked about sleep and I know it's really important.
• 38:53
  Spencer: But, when you become a parent, you kind of just have to realize your expectations for that have to be very low, because I think the kid comes first, you know, and our son comes first.
• 39:06
  Spencer: So obviously taking care of your kid is the most important thing.
• 39:10
  Spencer: So it's definitely changed like priorities of like health and fitness, and it's made me think of more of the long game, rather than, um, oh, I gotta do this and this today, or I gotta try to pr today.
• 39:23
  Spencer: It's like, well, if I go to the gym today and have a good session, that's a win, right, you know.
• 39:28
  Spencer: So it's not like I have to go in every day and just crush it, you know.
• 39:32
  Spencer: And yeah, there are some days where, yeah, I can do that and have enough energy to do that, but if I didn't get a lot of sleep that night, I'm not going to expect this great thing of myself to go in and just have the best day of my life.
• 39:42
  Spencer: That makes sense.
• 39:42
  Spencer: So I think just it's really helped me have a lot more of a long-term perspective and I think it's helped mature both me and Bryn to just think about Christian and what he's going to do in his future and it helps I don't know as a parent.
• 40:03
  Spencer: it just helps you make better decisions because you're like I just told him to not eat this cookie at 7am.
• 40:07
  Brett: Am I going to eat it?
• 40:08
  Brett: I?
• 40:08
  Spencer: better not do it, because I just told him not to Live the example.
• 40:11
  Brett: I love that.
• 40:12
  Spencer: Exactly, and that's something that I really want to do and something that I like as a physician too, and I think that more physicians should is be healthy Live a healthy life.
• 40:23
  Spencer: I mean, I think it's so hard to walk in and see a physician that obviously doesn't take care of themselves and then to hear them say oh, you got to do this, this and this.
• 40:32
  Spencer: I'm'm like that doesn't make sense, you know.
• 40:35
  Spencer: So I think the same thing as a parent's like, if you're telling them to do this, tell them to be kind, be forgiving and and be patient and all these things, it kind of just automatically, if I think, if you're a good person in general, it'll automatically kind of imprint on you because you're like well, I gotta be doing these things too.
• 40:51
  Brett: So I mean, I I'm not a parent yet but, like with the podcast, I'll say things like that too and be like, hey, I'm training for this race, um, and then for me it's like you kind of have to do that, yeah.
• 41:02
  Brett: But I love that example of like, hey, donate that cookie at seven in the morning and be like, oh, that does look pretty good.
• 41:08
  Brett: Christian was kind of right but I'm not gonna eat it either.
• 41:10
  Brett: Yep, yeah, exactly, I think that's huge and like, yeah, just setting the example.
• 41:15
  Brett: And so, like, what a good example that you're setting, like, hey, I'm still gonna live healthy.
• 41:21
  Brett: Um, because I know I I hate the myth of a dad bod.
• 41:25
  Brett: Because I feel like it is a myth 100%, like I feel like it's just an excuse.
• 41:29
  Brett: Yep, um, what was like training like, either in the early days of having a kid or now?
• 41:36
  Brett: What does your training schedule look like?
• 41:37
  Brett: Is it still early in the morning?
• 41:39
  Spencer: There's a myth too, that some people talk about called dad strength.
• 41:44
  Spencer: It's weird because I think it actually happened to me for some reason.
• 41:49
  Spencer: I mean Brindley was in labor for like uh, 36 hours no way, yeah, super tough, and so I obviously we didn't.
• 42:00
  Spencer: I mean it's way harder for her I can't complain, but I didn't get any sleep during that time, so I was tired, but that was it.
• 42:05
  Spencer: I mean, she went through a lot more than me.
• 42:07
  Spencer: So 36 hours, yeah, it's super long, um, but I essentially um, I went into the gym maybe a day or two later and I like PR'd three of my lifts somehow and I was like dude, how is this even happening?
• 42:21
  Spencer: So I don't know.
• 42:22
  Spencer: I feel like there might be some innate thing as a father Like you just know that you have a kid and you're just like stronger because you know you need to protect your family.
• 42:29
  Spencer: So it was weird.
• 42:30
  Spencer: I kind of experienced that for a few months where I, like, was just hitting awesome lifts and then it kind of went away for a little bit.
• 42:37
  Spencer: But I think the main change that happened is is kind of what I was saying earlier is I, I didn't expect the world of myself.
• 42:43
  Spencer: Yeah, um, I, I started to be more realistic with things and just, um and I, I would.
• 42:50
  Spencer: I was like super strict on training six days a week, but if you're working out four or five days a week, it's still a lot better than zero.
• 42:58
  Brett: And it's a lot better than two or one.
• 43:00
  Spencer: So it's like I started to have more of that mindset that, oh, at least I'm going in that many days a week Because I mean there's some nights you get two hours sleep.
• 43:07
  Spencer: Yeah, it's brutal the next day.
• 43:09
  Spencer: Like, how are you going to have a good workout, brutal, the next day?
• 43:12
  Spencer: Like how are you going to have a good workout?
• 43:13
  Spencer: Like it's probably not going to happen.
• 43:14
  Spencer: So I uh, I just kind of started thinking that way more of the long game.
• 43:16
  Spencer: It's like, hey, if I get five days a week in the gym and if I'm, if I'm running and doing these other things, I'm still going to be healthy and I don't have to be, you know this perfect.
• 43:25
  Spencer: But yeah, I think it.
• 43:26
  Spencer: It did transition a little bit from like, oh, I got to be perfect at all these things too.
• 43:30
  Spencer: Okay, I want to try my best to do this and even if I don't hit all of it, I'm still going to be okay because I'm doing my best with it.
• 43:38
  Brett: Yeah, I mean, is there a risk for you get two hours of sleep a night and then, if you go and try and go into the gym and do a workout, I feel like there would be a risk for either injuring yourself or making your body stressed even more and then just puts you in a worse position.
• 43:54
  Spencer: Yeah, Honestly, getting more sleep is the better option, Cause I got like I talked about like you're actually just breaking your body down.
• 44:01
  Spencer: It's good to know, man, I mean.
• 44:03
  Brett: I got to take notes.
• 44:04
  Brett: When the time comes, I'll be.
• 44:05
  Brett: I'll be somewhat ready.
• 44:06
  Brett: I don't think it could be a hundred percent ready, Cause everyone says that, but yeah.
• 44:10
  Spencer: I agree with that.
• 44:11
  Spencer: Like, like you, you hear all this advice but at the end of the day, you know yourself best, yeah, and so you're just gonna have to learn, like that's that's how it is is like you just kind of learn by experience that dang that didn't work at all or that worked, you know.
• 44:25
  Spencer: So it's like kind of as you go, but I think just like the big thing as a parent is being like super flexible, and something I always love saying is you never can control the situation in your life.
• 44:38
  Spencer: I mean, you can sort of, but in general, you know, hard things happen to most people, yeah, and having a kid is hard, but it's also incredibly rewarding, yeah.
• 44:47
  Spencer: So you really can't control all the challenges that come up with that, but what you can control is your reaction to it, absolutely, and your attitude towards it, yeah, and so I think that's like the best way to go, then is just focusing on those things yeah, we can't change the circumstances but we can completely.
• 45:02
  Brett: We have agency over how we respond to it.
• 45:04
  Brett: 100, like I don't know.
• 45:06
  Brett: I think of the story of job.
• 45:07
  Brett: Yeah, like that guy had everything he had his family taken away.
• 45:10
  Brett: He had, like, his house and his fortune taken away, and I think he was sick at times, like his wife died within his house or something like that.
• 45:18
  Brett: Yeah, guy came out with nothing, like he had every single reason to be like man.
• 45:23
  Brett: My life sucks like curse god or whatever.
• 45:26
  Brett: Yeah, but he remained faithful through the whole thing and it's like amazing.
• 45:29
  Brett: For me that's a that's obviously an extreme example of being able to control your emotions and your thoughts and your responses.
• 45:35
  Brett: But, like, if he was able to do it, then maybe you know, if someone cuts me off in traffic, I don't have to get mad like just little things.
• 45:42
  Spencer: It's like you could make that comparison yeah, you don't have to.
• 45:45
  Brett: You don't have to, you know, get all mad and bent out of shape if things don't go your way.
• 45:50
  Brett: In fact, they probably won't they yeah, exactly it's.
• 45:53
  Spencer: It's actually better to expect problems to come, yeah, because I mean it's inevitable.
• 45:59
  Spencer: You look around you, everybody has something, yeah, everybody does everybody, and so you just expect that.
• 46:04
  Spencer: Just know my life is not going to be just all sunshine and rainbows the stoics actually had a principle that they taught about this.
• 46:12
  Brett: Have you heard of this?
• 46:12
  Brett: Probably, but remind me, it's called the premeditation of evils, which is the coolest name ever, but basically it's like you just try and imagine how every situation you're in could go wrong and how would you respond to it.
• 46:27
  Brett: So like, yes, when it does, you're not surprised.
• 46:29
  Brett: And it's like, oh, I already thought this could be way worse than it is yep.
• 46:32
  Brett: So it's like, yeah, I think that's a smart way to look at it's.
• 46:34
  Brett: Like, if it's parenting, if it's fitness, if it's if it's going to school, like expect problems, yep, but realize that you're in control of how you respond and react to it.
• 46:44
  Brett: 100.
• 46:45
  Brett: So I love that.
• 46:46
  Brett: I think that's great.
• 46:47
  Brett: And like what would you tell someone out there who's like I got a dad bod.
• 46:49
  Brett: There's nothing I can change about it.
• 46:50
  Brett: What would you tell someone out there who's like I got a dad bod.
• 46:54
  Spencer: There's nothing I can change about it, Control your responses?
• 46:56
  Spencer: Yeah, exactly, I mean honestly the biggest thing is just one thing at a time.
• 47:01
  Spencer: If you don't know where to start, just do 10 push-ups, and if you can only do five, do five and then do that three times a week, four times a week, five times a week.
• 47:11
  Spencer: And now do a plank for 30 seconds.
• 47:13
  Spencer: Now do some air squats.
• 47:14
  Spencer: Do some lunges.
• 47:16
  Spencer: Hang on a bar.
• 47:17
  Spencer: If you can't do a pull-up yet, start doing eccentric pull-ups.
• 47:23
  Spencer: Slowly lower yourself down if you can't do a pull-up yet.
• 47:25
  Spencer: That's something that I've learned, especially in med schools.
• 47:29
  Spencer: There were some days I was so packed full what I would do.
• 47:33
  Spencer: This is kind of crazy, but every time I went to the bathroom I had a routine to do five and then cross.
• 47:42
  Spencer: So they call them strict handstand pushups.
• 47:43
  Spencer: So I do handstand pushups against a wall next to the bathroom and then I would do 30 pushups and then I would do 50 air squats.
• 47:52
  Brett: Dang.
• 47:52
  Spencer: So you're doing upside down push-ups yes, dang man, yeah, so like that.
• 47:57
  Spencer: That's the thing is like I I knew I had to get something in, so when I went to the bathroom I went and did that.
• 48:02
  Spencer: I think that's awesome, so, and that's the thing is that that's all I would do for the day, but it was enough to like maintain my fitness level.
• 48:09
  Spencer: Yeah, because if you're consistent at something, it's not just going to disappear, right, so it uh, you have to get kind of creative.
• 48:17
  Spencer: But it's like if you're, if you're working somewhere and there's stairs, take the stairs.
• 48:21
  Spencer: You know, like that's the if, if you have a dad bod and another thing too, you can change your nutrition as well.
• 48:26
  Spencer: Like that's a huge part.
• 48:27
  Spencer: It's like if you're eating out every night, well then, probably don't do that, you know.
• 48:31
  Spencer: Start trying to cook more home-cooked meals and eat a little bit more protein, fruits and vegetables drinking all the cactus cooler probably put that away yeah, put that cactus cooler back in the fridge or in the trash.
• 48:41
  Brett: Yeah yeah, that's probably a better place for it, but no, I love that man.
• 48:45
  Brett: It really is like it's start.
• 48:47
  Brett: I tell everyone like start out small, because big impactful changes don't happen overnight.
• 48:53
  Brett: It's like, like you said, it's a small, slow trajectory, yeah, but that consistency adds up.
• 48:59
  Brett: And like you think about, um, like I don't know if you've invested at all or anything like that, or like heard about like compound interest is a big thing, oh yeah.
• 49:07
  Brett: But like you start out really, really small and then over the years it just exponentially grows.
• 49:12
  Brett: And it's like the same thing can happen with any habit.
• 49:14
  Brett: If you're willing to put in the work and, like you said, like if you're studying and you have no time to go to the gym, then maybe it's every time you go to the bathroom you do five handstand pushups and 30 pushups and 50 squats, like whatever gets you going and whatever keeps you at that level.
• 49:28
  Brett: Like try and maintain it.
• 49:29
  Brett: Yeah, cause that's we're all made for so much more.
• 49:33
  Brett: And it's like you got to recognize your potential and try and move towards it.
• 49:37
  Spencer: The funny thing is that took me three minutes.
• 49:41
  Spencer: Four minutes, yeah, and that's not very long.
• 49:45
  Brett: It's not very long, but it's like.
• 49:46
  Spencer: I knew if I could do that it would be a lot better than nothing.
• 49:50
  Brett: Yeah, so I have kind of an embarrassing one too.
• 49:58
  Brett: That'll make you feel better.
• 49:59
  Brett: But let's hear it before every sales call I have, I'll bust out 20 push-ups, just like.
• 50:01
  Brett: There you go on the floor and it's so like.
• 50:02
  Brett: I remember one time this lady she's probably like 60, I don't know just some lady in the office.
• 50:04
  Brett: She like walks by and like does a double take, and then like stares at me, like like this for a second, and then just like kept walking by and I was like that was a weird interaction.
• 50:12
  Brett: But hey, got my push-ups in, yep, so who cares?
• 50:16
  Spencer: who cares man?
• 50:18
  Brett: working towards goals, yep, but um, yeah, I mean, I think it's.
• 50:24
  Brett: It's interesting over the years, like learning these, these uh principles and these, um, I guess, practices that you know you've obviously adopted and implemented into your life.
• 50:37
  Brett: And I feel like I have done a few things, like with consistency and discipline and that kind of thing definitely, um, work hard and like I feel like it's easier, like that's why you're talking about momentum and how it's so important, it's like so crucial, and it gets it's hard at the beginning, but once you get the habit, it just becomes much easier, it becomes part of you and becomes part of your day, like, and if it's not yet, add it to your plan.
• 51:04
  Brett: You know, like, just have it there so you can see it until it becomes part of your day and then, over time, like you'll get better at it and then you can start adding on more challenges and that kind of thing and you just become a better person in the end.
• 51:16
  Brett: 100%, but it is tough, it is hard, it is hard.
• 51:20
  Brett: That's why starting small is important.
• 51:22
  Spencer: Yes, and James Clear always made this distinction that I think is so important in the Atomic Habits book, of how changing your identity, like your perspective of who you are, is huge, yeah.
• 51:35
  Spencer: So if you're like trying to go to the gym or you're trying to, you know, just be a better person, but if you don't identify yourself as a gym goer or a good person, it's going to be an uphill battle.
• 51:47
  Spencer: But if you just start saying I'm the type of person that goes to the gym, or I'm the type of person that does kind things, or I'm the type of person that goes to the gym, or I'm the type of person that does kind things, yeah.
• 51:53
  Spencer: Or I'm the type of person like, if you're trying to quit a bad habit, like I am not the type of person that smokes, yeah.
• 51:59
  Spencer: Or I am not the type of person that eats junk food every day, you know.
• 52:03
  Spencer: So like just doing stuff like that is actually really powerful because it gets you in the mindset of the type of person you are, your identity.
• 52:10
  Brett: It's almost like what you were talking about with christian in the cookie.
• 52:13
  Brett: It's like you know you shouldn't eat that, so I'm not going to.
• 52:16
  Brett: And it's like if you're telling yourself that, it's almost like you're parenting yourself at that point yeah it's like you know what?
• 52:22
  Brett: I'm not the type of person that eats junk food.
• 52:23
  Brett: You're like, okay, well, I gotta listen to myself.
• 52:25
  Brett: Then, yep, so I.
• 52:26
  Brett: I love that and I think it's identity is really important.
• 52:30
  Brett: It is like and I think this is a good segue to talk a little bit about God.
• 52:37
  Brett: If you're up for it, yeah, let's do it.
• 52:38
  Brett: Like, one thing that's very important to me is identifying myself as a follower of Christ, and I'm curious what that looks like for you.
• 52:48
  Brett: Like I have my own answer, but I'd love to hear your own thought on that.
• 52:53
  Spencer: Oh yeah, I mean it's been like you've known me for a number of years and you probably saw, I mean we all did change pre-mission and going on a mission and not even after that since post-mission too.
• 53:06
  Spencer: I mean, obviously there's a lot of people that go on a mission and leave the church or are not part of it anymore.
• 53:13
  Spencer: But at least for me, I think a huge part like we were talking about identity of the gospel is knowing that you are a child of God.
• 53:23
  Spencer: Yeah, and yes, being a follower of Christ goes along with that, because you understand that if I am a child of God, I want to return back to my Father, my Heavenly Father, and so then how do I do that?
• 53:37
  Spencer: And having the identity that you're a child of God I think helps build your potential too.
• 53:41
  Spencer: You understand what your potential is and how you're a lot more than you are just now, and being a follower of Christ is obviously huge because he is the way back, and so then we need to make sure that we're identifying with that as well.
• 53:57
  Spencer: Um, but yeah, I just think having all those things, uh, people overlook it, but it builds confidence, absolutely.
• 54:03
  Spencer: It builds uh kind of a character that is going to be resilient through challenges, because you know that you're more than you are right now, and it also will build you to be someone that is obedient and someone that's willing to do hard things.
• 54:20
  Spencer: Keeping the commandments that God has asked us to do, especially in our day and age, is very difficult, and so being able to do hard things and follow those things is going to help you become a better person.
• 54:32
  Spencer: Yeah, and so for me, I guess, to answer your question, to be a follower of Christ, I think, definitely means to emulate him, to try to be like him.
• 54:42
  Spencer: Yeah, not easy, not easy, definitely not easy, yeah, but very rewarding, and not just for me.
• 54:49
  Spencer: You want it for other people, and I think that's like the end goal is like you want to become something, obviously, but we also want to help other people yeah, yeah, and beautifully said I.
• 55:02
  Brett: Um, when you were talking about that, I thought of elder kieran's talk from this last conference.
• 55:06
  Brett: Yeah, um, I think he said you I think it's called you are the Gift.
• 55:10
  Brett: Yes, and it's all about how understanding your identity as a child of God is one of the most important gifts that you can comprehend in your life.
• 55:21
  Brett: For those reasons, if you know you're a child of God, you know who's in charge of your life and you have to have trust in that.
• 55:30
  Brett: You have to have faith in that that whatever he puts in your path is going to lead you to a better outcome in the future.
• 55:37
  Brett: It's going to lead you to become a better person, and the thing that he said about potential in there is just, it's so beautifully said I'm going to butcher it, but he says something along the lines of like how, because we are sons and daughters of God, if we live right and if we live correctly, he's going to grant upon us Christ and try and emulate His actions and His Spirit and to be kind to other people, because lots of people aren't kind out there, and even to people who are mad at you.
• 56:23
  Brett: Try and turn the other cheek and you know what it's hard, but what we're promised as being sons and daughters of God is something we cannot comprehend.
• 56:31
  Brett: And, like you said too, and I feel like if you're, if you're emulating that spirit, you're also going to help other people around you a hundred percent, which you've probably been on the other side of being helped, and it's like I have to like having someone there to step up and help me out.
• 56:50
  Brett: Um, it's just, it's it's game changing.
• 56:54
  Brett: And um, I'll tell you a quick story, real fast, absolutely.
• 56:59
  Brett: But when I, when I was sick and I was 135 pounds and all these things, I had like some of the worst mental talk to myself, cause like I'd look in the mirror and be like man, you're just disgusting.
• 57:11
  Brett: I tell myself these terrible stories.
• 57:13
  Brett: I think I was more embarrassed of it and so I would try and berate myself, which doesn't really make sense.
• 57:22
  Brett: But then I just remember one time I was listening to a talk, and I think it was President Uchtdorf at the time, and he was saying how God sees you as his most perfect son or daughter, like no matter what, and I just remember that hitting me and I was like how dare I, how dare I take the body that God gave me and the spirit that I have and try and make fun of it, or not make fun of it, like berate it and and belittle myself like yeah, that's not what god would want.
• 57:57
  Brett: He'd want you to say no, listen, like this might be your, your mortal body, but what you have next is is unbelievable, like you can't even comprehend it.
• 58:06
  Brett: So just be strong.
• 58:07
  Brett: I just remember, like having these thoughts like um, and you might feel this way now as being a dad, but I was like if I was a dad and my son said that about himself, I would be heartbroken.
• 58:17
  Brett: Oh yeah, and so like that was like I remember just then I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna stop talking bad about myself as much as I can.
• 58:25
  Brett: Yeah, and now I've, like I've gotten it down to where it's like I wouldn't want to talk bad about myself because, like I don't want to make him sad and like I don't know I just it's just an interesting story, like I don't know why I brought it up, but it's just I feel like God loves you so much that he wants you to be happy and if you see yourself through his eyes, like it changes a lot.
• 58:50
  Brett: It does, I don't know, but I love that story.
• 58:57
  Brett: It's just interesting, like it's.
• 58:58
  Brett: It's funny how I've noticed in my own life like god will put little things here and there to help me remind myself of him.
• 59:05
  Spencer: You know, it's just like, hey, it's a good reminder, oh yeah but I think that helps a ton like just recognizing that this is not it, you know, I think that helps a ton Like just recognizing that this is not it, you know.
• 59:16
  Spencer: I think that's a trap that we all fall into at times, is like what's happening right now, that's it, you know it's like, why is it?
• 59:24
  Spencer: Not going good.
• 59:25
  Brett: And it feels so like stressful, and it feels like that's the whole moment, that everyone's focused on in the entire world, but it's like it's not.
• 59:32
  Brett: Yeah, so there's a lot more to world, but it's like it's not.
• 59:33
  Brett: Yeah, so there's a lot more to come.
• 59:35
  Spencer: Like you're saying a lot of great things, it's like there was a scripture this week at church that talked about after many tribulations, or after all these tribulations, then come with the blessings, yeah, and you just kind of see that pattern in your life.
• 59:48
  Spencer: You know, you go through these hard things, go through these hard things, push, push, push.
• 59:50
  Spencer: It gets so bad, it's terrible.
• 59:51
  Spencer: Then all of a sudden, oh my goodness, it's amazing.
• 59:53
  Spencer: That's kind of how the flow of life goes right.
• 59:57
  Spencer: It's going to be very difficult and then we have an amazing eternity.
• 1:00:00
  Spencer: I was reminded, actually by I can't remember the philosopher or what the philosophy is called, but it's like a certain philosophy that basically is saying, basically proving how believing in God is like more advantageous than not, because essentially, if you're not, you're going to get finite things, things that are here on this earth and you're going to go for that kind of live it up and want all of that Interesting.
• 1:00:26
  Spencer: But the thing is, what are you giving up?
• 1:00:27
  Spencer: You're giving up the chance that there is a God and eternity and eternal reward Right, but if you think about it, you know you're going to die.
• 1:00:34
  Spencer: Everybody dies, so that's all you get.
• 1:00:37
  Spencer: Yeah, or you could follow God and choose to live those principles, to then be a follower of Jesus Christ and then get eternal reward.
• 1:00:44
  Spencer: And, yes, you're giving up the things of this world, but those things are finite, they go away.
• 1:00:48
  Spencer: So, if you really think about it, the more advantageous option is to believe in God, because if there is a chance that he is real and everything is what he said it is, then everything's going to be awesome for you in like eternity, versus just having a good 80 years here or however long we live, right, which I mean who knows?
• 1:01:08
  Spencer: Eternity is like billions of years, so, yeah, it's forever.
• 1:01:11
  Brett: Yeah so.
• 1:01:12
  Spencer: I was thinking about that one day.
• 1:01:13
  Spencer: I was like really thinking about that, like it actually is better to follow god.
• 1:01:17
  Spencer: Yeah, like it actually makes more sense, so yeah, I, I love that.
• 1:01:21
  Brett: my uncle, um, he was a bishop at the time when he used to say this, but I love this quote and I've I've lived by it forever.
• 1:01:29
  Brett: And he, um he was having a conversation with someone and they were like you know, what if all this isn't real?
• 1:01:34
  Brett: Like what if God isn't real?
• 1:01:36
  Brett: What if, like, the work that you're doing now is like, it's not going to work out to anything, it's not going to do anything?
• 1:01:41
  Brett: Like what if?
• 1:01:42
  Spencer: yeah.
• 1:01:43
  Brett: And my uncle goes.
• 1:01:43
  Brett: It's a pretty good way to live, yep, and that was it.
• 1:01:47
  Brett: That was the end of the conversation, but it's like you know what if it's like I love that?
• 1:01:50
  Brett: You know what If it's not true?
• 1:01:51
  Brett: It's a great way to live.
• 1:01:52
  Brett: It is, you know, spend time with family, spend time with those who you love, help other people when you can like as much as you can.
• 1:01:59
  Brett: Don't worry about like materialistic things, like it's a great way to live, stay healthy, that's part of the gospel, like a hundred percent.
• 1:02:06
  Brett: So I I've never regretted, you know, keeping the commandments or or staying true to my faith.
• 1:02:14
  Brett: Yeah, and that's one thing like you can't ever get me to, to discredit Like I'll.
• 1:02:19
  Brett: I'll fight you to the moon and back if you're a you know whatever, but yeah, maybe not fight if I'm a follower of Christ.
• 1:02:27
  Spencer: But you know what I mean.
• 1:02:28
  Spencer: Like I will, I will stand my ground know what I mean.
• 1:02:34
  Brett: Like I will stand my ground like it is, it has gotten me to places that I'll never.
• 1:02:37
  Brett: I never thought I could and I completely agree with that.
• 1:02:39
  Brett: So like you just don't know what's in store for you.
• 1:02:41
  Brett: Yeah, but I love what you said about like after the trial, your faith in the tribulation.
• 1:02:44
  Brett: Like that's when the blessings come 100.
• 1:02:47
  Brett: Have you seen that happen in your life?
• 1:02:50
  Spencer: dude, yeah, honestly, the thing that comes to mind right now is like this first year of medical school.
• 1:02:55
  Spencer: So, like I don't know if you're familiar with MCAT, that exam, yeah, that's a test, right, that's a test you have to do before getting into medical school.
• 1:03:03
  Spencer: It's an eight-hour exam, yeah, and for me personally, I mean I didn't have, at least I don't know, maybe it just was an incredibly difficult exam for me.
• 1:03:14
  Spencer: It was pretty tough, yeah, and I was like I don't know if I'm cut out for this because it was hard for me, yeah, and maybe I didn't have the right tools or the right way to study, I don't know.
• 1:03:24
  Spencer: But I mean, I did okay, I did enough to get into med school.
• 1:03:26
  Spencer: But going into med school, I was scared.
• 1:03:29
  Spencer: I was like, dude, if it's all going to be like this, I might be screwed because it was hard.
• 1:03:33
  Spencer: I can imagine, man, that would be intimidating.
• 1:03:34
  Spencer: Yeah, I got there and I was like, well, what I know is and I really trusted on this I'm like God, you made the body.
• 1:03:44
  Spencer: I'm going to medical school.
• 1:03:46
  Spencer: So basically every day I just said I want to put you first, I want to say my scripture, say a prayer and then ask you what do I need to study?
• 1:03:54
  Spencer: And I started doing that and I got, just to tell you, I got the best grades I've ever gotten in my life for the first year of med school, I had a 4.0, and every single final exam that we had I ended up getting a hundred percent on it.
• 1:04:09
  Spencer: And then, at the end of first year, they had us take a practice like boards exam, which you don't take until second year.
• 1:04:19
  Spencer: Okay, and kind of the same thing.
• 1:04:20
  Spencer: I approached it with the same kind of humble mindset and I took it, and at the end I got a score that they said that's above a second year's Dang man, the second year average score.
• 1:04:30
  Spencer: So they told us we only had to get a certain score the first year, and they're like next year we'll tell you to get.
• 1:04:36
  Spencer: The score was a 200.
• 1:04:37
  Spencer: They're like this year you have to get a 190.
• 1:04:39
  Spencer: Next year, though, at the end of second year, you should get a 200, because that shows you're ready to take the boards.
• 1:04:44
  Spencer: Somehow I ended up with a 204.
• 1:04:45
  Spencer: That's amazing.
• 1:04:46
  Spencer: So I was like, did I really just do that?
• 1:04:53
  Spencer: But I think back to it.
• 1:04:54
  Spencer: I'm like how did this happen?
• 1:04:55
  Spencer: Well, I started reading my scriptures and I prayed, and that's the thing I really put God first, and then I remember specifically praying to him.
• 1:05:02
  Spencer: I'm like there's so much here to study, what do I need to study, so I'd pray about it and certain things would start coming to mind and I'd just write down.
• 1:05:10
  Brett: They start going after it yeah, and so I love that man.
• 1:05:11
  Brett: That's, that's huge.
• 1:05:13
  Brett: Like, yeah, putting god first, he'll direct your path, he will.
• 1:05:17
  Brett: He really will.
• 1:05:17
  Brett: It was like if you're humble enough, if you trust him, like you said, like he will be there for you, he's not gonna let you down.
• 1:05:25
  Spencer: How about you?
• 1:05:26
  Spencer: I mean, you probably have a ton of experiences.
• 1:05:29
  Brett: I mean I, um, I rely on him with everything, man, but definitely with when I was sick.
• 1:05:35
  Brett: I think that's when I I've I had a testimony before and like I was really strong in the gospel, like I went on a mission and everything.
• 1:05:42
  Brett: But when I was sick, that's when I actually had to like rely on him, yeah, and I had to build like a, a personal relationship with god, yeah, and I learned how to pray.
• 1:05:55
  Brett: I think during that time it was just like very meditative, like it wasn't like a script, it was just like I would sit with my thoughts and like try and think of what I wanted to say to god and like what I was hoping for, and like I'd pray for people I was worried about.
• 1:06:10
  Brett: But it was a very more deep conversation, like then, you know, I'd sit on my knees and kind of like list out things previously in the past, yeah.
• 1:06:18
  Brett: So I feel like that taught me how to pray and because of that experience, um, well one, I also relied on him with faith.
• 1:06:25
  Brett: Like through that whole time I was like I know I'll get through this, I'll be okay, yeah, and even when I thought I was dying, even when I was told I might have leukemia, like all these scary things, like I just had to keep going with faith and be like, okay, well, I trust that this is what is needed for me to go through and, looking back now, like I was telling you upstairs, like, because I had that experience of being sick, like I want to, I want to work out, I want to work out, I want to run, I want to stay as healthy as I can and inspire others to do the same, because I believe that everyone is capable of doing great things.
• 1:07:00
  Brett: That all stemmed from being sick and trusting that God had a plan for me, and so I would say that's one experience, but this one you might actually be able to relate to this as being in med school or just working out, but I was at church a couple weeks ago and a member of the bishopric got up and he was saying how there's this verse from the Bible that says, like you know, no man has suffereth the pains, fatigue and I think he says sufferings um, as much as christ, without dying it's like something along those lines, and so it's kind of silly.
• 1:07:41
  Brett: But, like now, every time I'm on a run and like I get really tired, I'm like christ has felt this.
• 1:07:46
  Brett: He knows what I'm going through right now.
• 1:07:48
  Brett: And then like I'm like I can get through it, like he knows what it's like, like yeah, he'll give me strength, um and I was just thinking about that with like med school, like I can get through it like he knows what it's like.
• 1:07:52
  Brett: Like yeah, he'll give me strength, um, and I was just thinking about that with like med school.
• 1:07:56
  Brett: Like, when you're tired, be like you know christ, you know this fatigue, like he he'll, he'll be there he'll understand but I think now it's just like I have a better understanding of my own relationship with god and, because of that, like I want to help other people uncover their own, because it's been the biggest blessing in my life is like, like you said, like relying on God.
• 1:08:19
  Brett: The reason I'm in Utah is because I felt like there was a prompting that I should come up here and I prayed and it, you know, I felt really good about it and I moved up here and now I'm married to Allie and yeah, you know, and have a good job and things just seem to fall into place the more that I align my life with Christ.
• 1:08:36
  Brett: That's awesome, I think it's just.
• 1:08:39
  Brett: Obviously I'm not perfect at it.
• 1:08:40
  Brett: There's a lot that I could get better at and do, but I think it's just slowly evolving to help me recognize that, with God, whatever happens is going to be the best for me.
• 1:08:53
  Spencer: I completely agree with that and like to your point yeah, we're all not perfect at it.
• 1:08:57
  Spencer: Yeah, but like, even the path is not always clear cut Never, yeah.
• 1:09:04
  Brett: I mean it's all over the place.
• 1:09:05
  Spencer: Yeah, but you just trust and you just kind of keep going and you look back and you're like dang, it worked out.
• 1:09:11
  Spencer: Like how did that even happen?
• 1:09:13
  Brett: It's crazy, you can only see it backwards, right.
• 1:09:16
  Spencer: Like going forward.
• 1:09:16
  Spencer: It kind of is it's like the iron rod.
• 1:09:19
  Spencer: You know it's kind of you're holding onto it and you know you're holding onto it, but you might not be able to see in front of you.
• 1:09:23
  Spencer: Then, looking back, it's like wow, made it through that, it was good.
• 1:09:27
  Brett: Yeah, there's.
• 1:09:28
  Brett: I remember Steve Jobs' quote where he says like you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking back.
• 1:09:32
  Brett: Yes, I think actually Elder Anderson referenced that in one of his talks.
• 1:09:36
  Spencer: He probably did.
• 1:09:40
  Brett: But, yeah, it's the biggest blessing and like it's not easy, like you were saying to you know, keep the commandments these days and like, try and stay faithful.
• 1:09:48
  Brett: Like so many of people that we know have left the church and it's it's tough to see, or they have given up on faith.
• 1:09:55
  Brett: Um, either out of like laziness or out of, you know, victimhood, like, hey, I I've never heard from God, like God's never talked to me.
• 1:10:06
  Brett: He must not be real kind of thing.
• 1:10:08
  Brett: Yeah, Um, but it really is like it's one of the best guides for life.
• 1:10:18
  Brett: It really is.
• 1:10:18
  Brett: I don't know, the scriptures never, never lead astray, and this is also kind of funny too.
• 1:10:23
  Brett: But every morning, so I I start my my day with a conference talk.
• 1:10:26
  Brett: Okay, I love doing it.
• 1:10:27
  Brett: When I'm doing cardio, yeah, it's like I'm just zoned in and that's like all I focus on.
• 1:10:31
  Brett: Yeah, but I kind of have two names for it it's a conference in cardio or christ and cardio, and I like the there you go it's good start that's how I start the day.
• 1:10:40
  Brett: Yes, but I love that.
• 1:10:42
  Brett: Yeah, man, I think it's, it's so important.
• 1:10:45
  Brett: And if there was someone out there who, like, wanted to start learning about God and faith, would you have any advice for that person?
• 1:10:53
  Brett: Or, like starting point?
• 1:10:55
  Spencer: Yeah, I mean, obviously, prayer, I think is the best starting point, like communication or relationship with your heavenly father.
• 1:11:04
  Spencer: And I mean, if you're like, if someone really wants to like me with the missionaries, is a really great opportunity to speak to them, and I'm sure they'll say the same thing because we were both missionaries and it's like prayer is huge Right.
• 1:11:18
  Spencer: And then, yeah, scripture study Um, if that be in the Bible, the book of Mormon, doctrine and covenants um, pretty much reading anything that comes from God and then praying about it.
• 1:11:30
  Spencer: And then praying about your life and about other people.
• 1:11:34
  Spencer: Just start building that relationship with him, just start getting used to talking to him and then reading about him.
• 1:11:41
  Spencer: That's, I think, the two most important things.
• 1:11:43
  Spencer: And then, yes, going to church, like if you've never been to church before, going to church, taking the sacrament, realizing what does the sacrament mean for me, yeah, and how is that going to help me in my life?
• 1:11:54
  Spencer: And then, yeah, that's going to lead you down, as president nelson calls it, the covenant path.
• 1:12:00
  Spencer: And then, eventually, you know baptism, going to the temple and all those amazing things.
• 1:12:04
  Spencer: If you're just starting out, for sure, I think prayer is the number one, yeah I love that I.
• 1:12:11
  Brett: It's a great place to start.
• 1:12:12
  Brett: You have to have that communication, yeah.
• 1:12:13
  Brett: But I remember I was talking to one guy on my mission and, um, he was super interested in the church but he wasn't interested in the commandments, okay, and he's like I don't understand why I have to have restrictions on like my life, like that shouldn't be something that you know.
• 1:12:30
  Brett: If god loves me, he should let me live the life I want to live.
• 1:12:32
  Brett: Yeah, and we were just like yeah, like we totally understand, and um, we were telling him like you know, you probably shouldn't.
• 1:12:41
  Brett: He was a smoker and a drinker and we were like, if you want to start like all I'm saying, like we were just telling him like, just don't do it for a day, yeah, see how you feel and then see how you feel the next day if you don't do it again.
• 1:12:55
  Brett: And we came back a week later and we show up and we like sit, everyone in Minnesota has like picnic benches outside of their single wide trailers, pretty much, yeah.
• 1:13:06
  Brett: And so we're like sitting on his picnic bench and he's like elders, I haven't drank or smoked for a week, wow.
• 1:13:12
  Brett: And we bench and he's like elders, I haven't drank or smoked for a week, wow.
• 1:13:16
  Brett: And we're like okay, well, how are you feeling?
• 1:13:17
  Brett: He's like well, one, I feel like.
• 1:13:18
  Brett: He's like I haven't been coughing.
• 1:13:19
  Brett: And he's like two, and I've been sleeping great, and we're like okay.
• 1:13:23
  Brett: So there you go.
• 1:13:23
  Brett: We're like, okay, that's awesome, like that's amazing.
• 1:13:26
  Brett: We're really glad you did that.
• 1:13:27
  Brett: That's some evidence for you, yeah, so imagine if you were following god's commandments as well as you could be like it's, it's a tough path.
• 1:13:36
  Brett: You have to say no to those things, but imagine the life that's out there for you.
• 1:13:40
  Brett: I feel like that's kind of what you and I are talking about is like a hundred percent.
• 1:13:43
  Brett: You stay committed to God, you stay committed to your family and other things that you want to do, and your life's going to be amazing.
• 1:13:52
  Brett: Like it's not going to be free of challenges no, make that very clear but it will be something that you can be proud of.
• 1:13:58
  Brett: Yes, and so getting after it's all about Yup, that is what it's all about, but I love it.
• 1:14:07
  Brett: Man, you're doing big things.
• 1:14:09
  Brett: I'm excited to see where you're at.
• 1:14:11
  Brett: You know, in the next 10 years or so, it's gonna be crazy.
• 1:14:15
  Brett: It'll be fun.
• 1:14:16
  Brett: You too, man.
• 1:14:16
  Brett: You might be the next matt frazier too, dude I don't know about that.
• 1:14:20
  Spencer: The crossfit games athletes are insane.
• 1:14:23
  Spencer: You basically have to.
• 1:14:24
  Spencer: It has to be your like full-time job to yeah, that makes sense so I love it, like I love cross, I love lifting, I love doing all that.
• 1:14:33
  Spencer: But like, to get to that kind of level you just have to devote a lot of time yeah, into it and at the end of the day, it's like I love fitness.
• 1:14:42
  Brett: So I'm saying this with a caveat, like it's not the most important thing in the world.
• 1:14:46
  Spencer: Yes, like the most important thing in the world are the people that are around you yes like helping others, your family specifically, and then you know being a good person, yep, and eventually I mean you can, we're going to be as healthy as we want to be.
• 1:14:59
  Spencer: But something that I've always thought about with, like an athletic career or a career that you're using your body in, yeah, it's probably not going to last super long.
• 1:15:07
  Spencer: Yes, that's the truth of it.
• 1:15:08
  Spencer: So it's like you always want to have some sort of uh end goal that you're going to use your mind, yeah, and so it's like, at the end of the day, like it's super cool, it's awesome and I really respect all those guys.
• 1:15:19
  Spencer: Yeah, but you don't see people that do that for 40 years, cause it's like your body just can't.
• 1:15:25
  Brett: So yeah, it deteriorates, unfortunately.
• 1:15:28
  Brett: Yep, medicine's great, but I did want to ask you is I think you mentioned you're super interested in the research piece Um?
• 1:15:35
  Brett: Are you planning to do research in like your field and yeah, I mean we.
• 1:15:40
  Spencer: we've been participating in research this year, that's awesome.
• 1:15:43
  Spencer: So, yeah, it's actually interesting.
• 1:15:45
  Spencer: It's on, uh, opioid addicts and really, yeah, and people that have anxiety, um, with using opiates and uh, basically they're trying to see if there's a way to not take a drug to help them alleviate those those uh signs and symptoms of like wanting to use again.
• 1:16:06
  Spencer: Yeah, because, like, when you're using a drug and you're addicted to something, you have like peaks and troughs in dopamine levels.
• 1:16:12
  Spencer: So when you're in a trough, let's say this is baseline, if you're down here, then you're going to really want to get something back up to baseline or even above, so you're going to want to use your drug again.
• 1:16:26
  Spencer: Now, normal day-to-day.
• 1:16:28
  Spencer: It's not going to make us go into massive trough, unless someone might have depression or some other psychological issue that could cause that, but majority of people are going to be, you know, kind of right around baseline.
• 1:16:40
  Spencer: But, yeah, if you're using any type of drug that gives you big spikes in dopamine, it'll throw you right back down and when you're down.
• 1:16:47
  Spencer: That's when you want to use again.
• 1:16:48
  Spencer: Yeah, so, but a lot of people they just get more drugs to get them out of that and then the potential of using those drugs as an addiction device goes up.
• 1:16:57
  Spencer: So it's like we got to do something else to get them out.
• 1:17:01
  Spencer: So our research was on basically, they found a way to stimulate natural dopamine release.
• 1:17:09
  Spencer: It sounds really weird, but it was a vibrating chair that really yeah, we would put them in yeah, but they had to be like sitting up really straight.
• 1:17:18
  Spencer: Yeah, it vibrated up their spinal cord um at a certain uh, interesting beat and a certain wave frequency which it was like a 25 to 26 hertz um, offset um, which they called like a heterodyned whole body vibration to go up basically up to the base of their skull and they found that that activated natural dopamine release to where, like, if they, if they came in to the clinic and they had like a low dopamine levels, the hypothesis would be well, we can get you back up to here and when you're here, versus down there, it's a better position to be yeah, you're not going to want to use your drug again because you back up to here and when you're here, versus down there, it's a better position to be in.
• 1:17:54
  Spencer: Yeah, you're not going to want to use your drug again because you're going to feel a lot better.
• 1:17:57
  Spencer: So, yeah, that's what we're working on currently.
• 1:18:00
  Brett: That's cool man.
• 1:18:02
  Spencer: Yeah, it's really interesting.
• 1:18:03
  Spencer: I mean, I think there's a lot of other amazing research going on, especially at Norda.
• 1:18:18
  Brett: Like I want to be a part of more stuff, but right now that's what I'm a part of.
• 1:18:19
  Brett: So, yeah, that's so cool man.
• 1:18:20
  Brett: Yeah, and I hope you it's.
• 1:18:21
  Brett: That's a scary one, so the more help we can get there, the better.
• 1:18:22
  Brett: But, yes, that's awesome dude.
• 1:18:22
  Brett: Well, yeah, I, uh, I appreciate you coming on today.
• 1:18:26
  Spencer: Yeah, absolutely it's been a pleasure.
• 1:18:28
  Brett: Thank you for inviting me.
• 1:18:29
  Brett: Of course you always have a free pass.
• 1:18:30
  Brett: You're one of the one of the pack rats you always can come on, um, but, yeah, I'll.
• 1:18:35
  Brett: I'll put, uh, your wife's clinic in the show notes too, so people can check that out.
• 1:18:39
  Brett: And yeah, um, yeah, if people want to follow you, can they?
• 1:18:42
  Brett: Absolutely, there we go, I'll put you in there too.
• 1:18:45
  Brett: Then, yeah, just throw it in there.
• 1:18:47
  Brett: But you're the man dude, and um, yeah, everyone else.
• 1:18:51
  Brett: Thanks for tuning in and, as always, keep getting after it dude, you're the man.
• 1:18:59
  Spencer: That was so fun.
• 1:18:59
  Spencer: That was fun.