In this episode of the Strong New York Podcast, Kenny takes the show on the road to the LA Fit Expo to sit down with health and wellness legend Mark Sisson.
Mark—New York Times bestselling author, former elite endurance athlete, and founder of Primal Kitchen—shares how injuries from running led him to rethink fitness, nutrition, and footwear, ultimately creating the Primal Blueprint and Primal Kitchen. He breaks down his simple framework for long-term health (diet, walking, lifting, sprinting, and sleep), explains why metabolic flexibility matters, and challenges mainstream nutrition “science.”
We also dive into entrepreneurship, lessons learned building iconic brands, and why Mark launched his minimalist footwear company Peluva to address foot health from the ground up.
00:00 Live from LA Fit Expo: Welcome & Why Fitness Events Matter
00:26 Meet Mark Sisson: Athlete, Entrepreneur & Early Biohacker
01:25 From Running Injuries to Evolutionary Biology (and Building a Career)
02:17 Primal Kitchen Origin Story: Fixing Diet Through Better Sauces
03:33 Facing Rejection: Defending Paleo, Epigenetics & Self-Experimentation
05:55 Science, Money & Nutrition Confusion: Why Mark Stays Non-Dogmatic
07:29 Try Things, Track Results: Awareness, Experimentation & What You’ll Stick To
09:33 Metabolic Flexibility: The Real Goal Behind Any “Best Diet”
10:35 80/20 Fitness Basics: Walk More, Lift, Sprint—Then Decide How Far to Go
11:43 Born to Walk: Why Most People Shouldn’t Run (Injuries, Form & Catabolism)
14:07 Runner’s High Myth & Smarter Training: Cross-Training Over Mileage
16:12 VO2 Max vs Real-World Longevity: Build a Strong, Balanced Hybrid Athlete
17:19 Whatever Happened to America’s Fitness Culture? Setting Up the Bigger Question
17:47 Why We’ve Gotten Softer: Screens, PE, and “Trauma” from Gym Class
18:40 Building Big Businesses: Choosing the Right Idea & Betting on Yourself
20:18 Purpose Over Profit: Mission-Driven Entrepreneurship (Sauces to Footwear)
22:02 Failures That Built the Empire: Pivots, Lessons, and Mark’s Origin Story
23:08 3 Business Non-Negotiables: Team, Capital, and Timing (Plus the Keto/Atkins Lesson)
25:31 The Simple Health Stack: Diet First, Walk More, Lift & Sprint, Then Sleep
26:51 Sprinting Done Right: Intervals, Examples, and Avoiding Injury
28:15 When Endurance Backfires: Overtraining, Heart Health, and How Humans Really Moved
32:28 Training Smarter at 72 + Where to Find Mark (Wrap-Up)
What is The Strong New York Podcast?
Being STRONG is more than just how much weight you can lift.
The Strong New York Podcast is dedicated to inspiring you to become your strongest self- in the gym, in business, in relationships and in life.
Join Kenny as he sits down with his strong as fuck buddies and shoots the shit on what it takes to be strong willed, strong minded and physically strong. Season one features everyone from entrepreneurs and local business owners to doctors and industry leaders in the fitness and wellness space.
With over a decade of experience, Kenny Santucci has made himself known as one of New York City’s top trainers and a thought leader in the health and wellness industry. After transforming his life at 15 years old through fitness, Kenny made it his mission to transform the lives of those around him.
Kenny has trained some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Jon Bon Jovi, Liev Schreiber, and Frank Ocean, and has been tapped as a fitness expert sharing his training approach with Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Runner's World, SHAPE, Well+Good, among other publications.
Kenny is the creator of STRONG New York, NYC's only Health and Fitness Expo. Strong New York is an immersive day of workouts, wellness experiences, panel discussions, and inspiring conversations with the best in-class wellness professionals, industry leaders, and change makers who are sharing their expertise on today's hottest wellness trends and first-hand experiences on how to optimize your overall health and life.
You can find Kenny at The Strength Club, his private training and group strength training facility in the heart of Manhattan located on 28th and 5th Ave in New York City.