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Tomorrow can be different from today.
Our lives often leave us feeling hopeless—like nothing will ever change. But perspective is everything. When you know where to look, hope can be found in the spaces and places you least expect.
Join Jason Gore (Lead Pastor of Hope Community Church) for a fresh perspective, practical steps, and weekly encouragement that hope really is possible… even in real life.
I think it be a, can be a focus for a lot of people.
Just how am I able to go about my day
with a great quality of life?
I feel great. And in turn, you're really able
to pour into other people
because you're operating maybe not at your best,
but a better you're, you're a better you.
Welcome to the Hope and Real Life podcast with Jason Gore.
Our team is passionate
and committed to bringing you more hope in the everyday real
areas of your life.
If this conversation and content is valuable for you,
please do us a favor, like, subscribe, and even share.
You never know how valuable it could be
to share a little bit of hope with someone else.
Let's get the conversation started.
What is going on? Hope in Real Life family.
We are here for another episode of Hope In Real Life.
Today we are talking about a topic that I, I man, I believe
so many of us need to lean into.
And, uh, it's this idea of fitness
and how we take care of ourselves physically.
Now look, as I say that,
before you even like, start
to turn this thing off and say, I'm not there.
I'm not ready to jump into this fitness conversation,
and I don't wanna listen to this knucklehead,
make me feel guilty for the next 20, 30 minutes.
That's not what this episode is about.
And I wanna encourage you, stay tuned in.
We're all gonna leave a bit better than when we got started.
I'm here this week with Steve Christo
and Matt Kelly, two good.
But friends of mine. And, uh, there's some gentlemen
that really do take good care of themselves, their families,
investing in the community.
I'm kind of getting, well, maybe a little bit,
and so I, I I want to go ahead.
Let's just start out by introducing,
why don't you guys tell us a little bit about yourselves?
Welcome to the show, by
the way. Thanks. Thank you. Yes, sir.
So, I'm Steve. I am husband to Julie.
My, uh, very talented, beautiful, and strong wife. Mm-Hmm.
Father to Dylan, Katie and Ryan.
A recent empty nester, uh,
work in clinical research as my day job.
And I'm an Apex resident.
I've been at Hope Community Church for around 12 years.
Enjoy volunteering with the welcome team as well
as the stewardship ministry and big news.
I'm gonna be a grandparent in the spring.
Oh, man. Congratulations. Wow. Yep.
We live really excited. Yep. Awesome.
Yeah. And I, uh, I'm Matt
and, um, I live in Apex, married to my wife Brooke.
Um, and we have two boys.
Uh, they're 10 and 13, so I got a little ways to go,
a little more active in the house right now.
Um, and for work, uh, my, myself
and Brooke, we work from home.
We have a family business that does like software and car
and websites for car dealerships.
And, um, just outside of that, um,
we have this thing called F three,
but also, um, I have to get this in
where I'm a small group leader, uh, at, at church
for some senior guys that are probably listening.
So I gotta make sure I can just give them a
shout out real quick, so,
Okay. All right. All right. All
right.
Well, hey, listen, I mean, you mentioned F three already,
and so, we'll, we'll talk about that.
This isn't necessarily a, a podcast about F three,
but we are gonna talk about it because I,
I do believe they're doing some great things,
but set the stage.
Why don't you both just talk for a moment,
just about your own fitness journey.
Yeah. So for me, I, growing up,
I was always involved in athletics.
Um, actually was a PE major. Okay.
So, uh, have a physical education degree, one of my degrees.
Um, but when I became an adult, got married,
started having kids, I was very inconsistent with my fitness
and what I've learned since, in hindsight,
definitely wasn't being my best self.
And so, about seven years ago, almost seven years ago, um,
got involved with a group, Matt mentioned F three
that we're gonna talk about a little bit more.
And it's really elevated a lot of areas of my life,
including fitness.
Mm-Hmm. And so at, I'm 53,
and at this age, I'm
a lot better physical condition than I was at 33. Okay.
Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's been transformative
For me. That's not the narrative
for a lot of people.
It's not the, so that's good to hear that it's poss
even that it's possible.
Right. Should be encouraging.
Give us a little bit of hope. Matt, what about you?
Yeah, I got goals to be like Steve when I'm there.
So, um, yeah, same thing. I grew, set
The bar higher. Matt
Had a active childhood, did some sports,
like soccer and hockey.
Um, one unique thing is once I was at NC State,
that's when nine 11 happened.
Um, and a group of us decided to join in, in a 5K
for the fire department.
And I loved it.
Like, just it from that, from doing that,
and like that environment was just real fun
and there's a little bit of competitiveness to it.
That was great. And so I just, I started signing up
for road races
and just kind of, sort of became a, a runner, um,
and have been doing that.
Uh, ended up being able to complete a couple marathons, um,
and then kind of hit like a, a point where I was just like,
huh, I'm good.
I'm good now. I don't need to continue on that path.
And that's when I was introduced to, to F three
and have been since doing that
for the past nine years now. So.
Okay. And before we jump into just the fitness side
of things, um, I just think it's important just
to recognize like, very few things in our lives
happen in a vacuum, right?
Right. And so I, I'd love for you just to talk about
for a moment, how do you, how have you found
that working fitness into your everyday routine?
Or, uh, we can say, let's just say regular routine
and maybe regular can mean different things
for different people, but how has that,
how's working fitness into your regular routine helped other
areas of your life other than just physically?
Well, for me, I will say it,
it absolutely has made me a better husband, a better father,
a better son, a better leader, a better employee,
uh, a better volunteer,
and truthfully, a better Christian, I believe.
I mean, and that's a, a big
commercial that what you just said.
I mean, that's like every area of your life.
So can you, like, how is that, how does it impact?
How's it what you do physically? Yeah.
How is that impacting the rest of your life?
I, I can tell you on the days,
and fortunately it's more days
and not, when I get up in the morning, I do the hard thing,
answer the alarm, get up and go to workout.
It changes my day, it changes my attitude,
it changes my outlook.
Yeah. It changes how I can show up for other people
and just, well, I'll use work as an example,
as a leader at work, it's important
that I show up in the right way and support my team.
Yeah. And I can tell a difference.
I feel certain other people can tell a difference. Mm-Hmm.
When I have that part right in my life. Yeah.
I'm taking care of my fitness.
I'm taking care of myself first.
I have to help myself first
before I can show up Well, for other people.
Yeah.
No, Yeah. Um, I, it's the same thing pretty much.
But, uh, what's funny is we have a Bible study that we'll do
after the workout, and there'll be some days
that I skip the workout
and just go straight to the Bible study, and I get there
and I always get the question, Hey, man, you okay?
You all right? Because it's, it's a,
it's a different person, right?
Yeah. And just that, like, the trajectory
that fitness does in my life, to set it on a path
that's greater than
what it would be without it is just like very noticeable.
Brooke notices it for sure. And the kids can notice it.
Um, and it's just that idea that like, fitness drives action
where I do a workout
and when I'm done with it,
I completed something hard, right.
That I'm like, man, what else can I do?
Like, you don't want to hold, hold it.
And you, you're not like, oh, I'm done now.
You're like, what else can I do now? Right.
And it just drives that, um, action
to something bigger. Yeah.
I, I think it, I just think it's so important for,
for our listeners to realize,
and if you're looking for more hope in your everyday life,
this idea of fitness and taking care
of yourselves physically, it impacts every other area.
I mean, in my own life, people ask me, so,
you know, so what do you do to work out?
And what's your training schedule look like?
And I tell 'em like, okay, well that probably works for you
because you just love
to be physically fit and you like to be.
It's like, I don't know. I mean, I kind of do, right?
I want, but more than that, it's that there are a few things
that I've seen in my life that are, um, you know, widget in,
widget out as it relates that more
so than our physical health.
I mean, you, if you watch what you eat,
and if you train regularly, you see a positive impact.
And then it's contagious.
Like you just said, every other area, you're like, okay,
so yeah, if I do the right thing,
I'll get the right results.
And so then that filters over, whether it's
what it means in your marriage, what it means is a parent,
what it means in the workplace, and then, and so,
and there really is this, oh, I can do that
and it will yield the results that I'm after.
Mm-Hmm. So you, you keep chasing after it.
And, um, and then when I, we don't even need,
we don't need to get into this right now.
And then on top of that,
science would tell us there are some, I mean,
there's dopamine releases
and all kinds of things that gets dumped into our
bodies that you don't get.
Right. Um, unless you're maybe pursuing unhealthy chemicals.
And that's a whole nother thing.
We can talk about that on a different show. Okay.
Look, it's New Year's season, right? Yeah.
So lots of people, lots of goals.
All the gyms are gonna get full
for a little while, uh, for a week.
And then, you know, people go back to, to everyday life, but
Not after they hear This.
That's right. That's right. They're gonna stay leaned in.
But man, consistency is the key. Yeah.
And so what have the two of you found, um, that has led to,
uh, you staying consistent?
What do you do to stay consistent day after day, week
after week, year after year?
Uh, for me, um, it's definitely like,
it's all about accountability.
And I, oh, that's good. I almost don't like that word,
but it really is about accountability.
And I find that through group fitness.
'cause if I'm doing something by myself, I'm like, oh,
I'm gonna get up and run this morning.
No one knows that I did or didn't,
or no one's gonna know, no one's gonna sleep in.
Um, so group fitness for me has helped with
that accountability to keep it consistent.
Um, and you just share that with other people.
Whatever it is you, if you share what you're gonna do,
like, Hey, it's the new year.
I wanna do a 10 K in June, tell somebody Yeah.
And then you're gonna be a little more accountable to that
and people are gonna follow up with you.
Oh, how's that 10 K training? Right?
Yeah. I mean, I could make up the stat on the
spot, you know, like most people do.
I don't know what it is, but I mean, the, you're
so much more likely if you say something out loud
to somebody, write it down, increase accountability,
the likelihood of actually
following through with it goes through the
Roof. And I need that.
Yeah. Yeah.
Because I'm, I'm big on, um, negative self-talk.
Hmm. And where I, if I don't do it,
I'm real easy to be like, you're lazy.
You don't, no one even caress
if you're going to the workout.
Yeah. And like, being a part of a group, it just washes
that away when I, when I can show up.
Yeah. And they'll check on me. And I
Think it's just worth highlighting that this, this,
we're not talking to some guys here.
I mean, maybe Steve is, I mean, he's 53
and you know, he's looking great,
but you're, you're not here on this show talking about this
because you just happen to be perfectly motivated
and disciplined all the time in and of yourself.
Absolutely not. No, I'm actually in, uh, PT right now
for a knee surgery.
So I'm like, I hurt myself from doing things wrong.
So I'm definitely not an expert.
Uh, Steve, how do you stay motivated?
How do you stay after? How do, oh, sorry,
I shouldn't say, how do you stay motivated?
'cause I'll talk about that in a minute. How
do you stay consistent?
I actually like the word accountability.
I'm gonna differ from Matt there.
Um, but really you're gonna find our answers
are really similar.
Uh, I have a group of guys that if they don't see me
for a couple of days and I haven't let them know
that maybe I'm out of town
or something, somebody's gonna be checking in with me.
Hey, are you doing okay? What's going on? So it's helpful.
It's helpful to have a spouse that is really supportive.
Her alarm usually actually goes off before mine does.
So that, that's really helpful. Mm-Hmm.
I will say, I, I don't, I'm,
I'm not gonna recommend necessarily that your spouse
or significant other is your primary
source of accountability.
I think you need other people. Yeah.
Um, and, and that makes a huge difference to me,
just knowing that there are people,
because accountability is, is about caring about somebody.
Yeah. It's not a negative thing.
And, um, the guys that I work out with,
we care about each other
and we care, care about all aspects of our lives
and fitness, just being one of them
and just making sure everybody's okay.
Yeah. And that's, that's huge for me.
It's, it's just, you know, I would say just show up. Yeah.
Just show up. I saw this quote on, on social media.
Actually, my wife posted it,
so I'm gonna give her credit for it.
Discipline is not about perfection. It's about continuity.
Yep. So don't try to be perfect, but just keep showing up.
Yeah. We are gonna interrupt this program for one moment
to let you know about a resource for personal development
or spiritual enrichment that I know all
of our listeners will benefit from.
And it is the Hope in Real Life mobile app.
What, tell me about it. Hey,
I would love to tell you about it.
It's a free tool made specifically for our listeners.
Anybody like free, free, free is good. Most people do.
And I like to clarify. It's free to the end user.
It's definitely enough free to us to create.
So Jason, what does it cost?
Absolutely free. Absolutely free. How about that?
Um, it offers multiple features, daily devotions,
parenting tips, financial resources, marriage insights.
There's even a community
where you can actually share prayer requesting
that are going on in your life and actually see
and know that other people are praying for you.
In fact, the only thing
that doesn't do is do your workout for you.
That's like the one thing that you, it's like mobile
F three. Is that gonna be like
in the 2.0 versions?
I, I think if we do that, it won't be free anymore. Oh.
We're gonna have to start charging at that point.
But listen, uh, stay tuned.
It it, if this resource is not available now,
'cause this episode isn't being released early January.
It is right around the corner.
So stay tuned and remember,
tomorrow can be better than today.
And hope is possible even in real life.
'cause a lot of people talk about motivation.
That's a question I get. Like, how do you stay motivated?
And the reality is, man, if you knew
how many days I worked out that I wasn't motivated Mm-Hmm.
Um, but I,
but so I, I would say, man, if,
if you're gonna fo focus on accountability, helps
focus on the discipline, the discipline side
of I'm just gonna show up.
I'm just gonna show up. I'm just gonna show up.
'cause when you show up, things start happening.
And yeah, man, consistency I think is, is so key.
But that accountability piece is big.
Um, we'll come back to that in a minute.
'cause I know F three is a part of that.
Let me ask just a fun question here for a minute.
Uh, least favorite day for a workout
or least favorite type of workout or exercise.
Mine is, um, Monday.
I hate getting up on Monday mornings and doing the workout.
Um, but like we've been talking about showing up on Monday.
Sets the week. Yeah.
So what I'll usually do is I'll try
to work out six days a week.
That's, I'll say I'm gonna work out six days a week,
and I'm okay with five, but if so, if I miss Monday, right?
You're behind. I'm on, I'm on the line for the rest of it.
Right? Yeah. So Monday's the toughest day to get up.
Um, but as far as like, exercises go, um, yeah, I,
I don't like to like, do like plank holds and stuff,
but we actually, um, get
to lead the workouts ourselves sometimes.
And I'll call the things that are hard for me.
'cause I know that I need work on them.
So I'll actually call the ones that I hate the most.
Oh, that's good. Um, to,
'cause then I'm accountable to doing them with everyone
Else. But then you can set the rep count,
right.
So then you can do less. If you wanna
Do less, I can always stop the count.
There's a benefit to leading, right? Yeah,
That's right.
Steve, anything you hate? Yeah. So, so anything.
No, you just love it all. You got
The, the toughest, the toughest day for me is the day
after I don't show up for a workout.
Hmm. Because I've, I've broken my pattern.
I've broken that habit. So in the, the past week
or so, I had some business trial while I was out of town.
I get completely out of routine. I get back here.
And the toughest day was that first morning back getting up
to show up for a workout.
Well, let's do this. Um, you know,
we've talked about after a little bit.
Let, let's kind of dig into that for a minute
and then when we finish up, we'll kind
of talk about some overall application Sure.
For folks that, you know, don't have any idea
or desire to jump into F three mm-Hmm.
So we'll come back to that. But F three, it stands
for Fitness, fellowship and Faith.
And, uh, from the most recent stats I saw, I mean I've,
you know, it's been in New York Times Men's Health,
but, uh, it looks like there's 4,287 peer
led workouts across 357 regions.
Mm-Hmm. And so this is like a
fitness movement that's happening.
Or faith, fitness fellowship
and faith movement that's happening all across the country.
Right. And worldwide. Worldwide.
A worldwide and, and nobody's getting paid. Right.
Best we know. And so let, we've got a clip here that, uh,
I just wanted to, to check this out before we talk about it.
Ahmad, if you could roll that clip for us.
Make no mistake, man.
Every day you're in a battle, a battle for your health,
a battle for your family, a battle for your very soul.
There are forces seen and unseen that want you to fail.
They're counting on you to fail.
Some of these are within your old mind, reminding you
of your past failures, telling you, Hey, stay in the comfort
of your warmed instead
of waking up doing something difficult
and accelerating with other men who support you
and require your support in return.
This is F three. There are no lone w for a pack of men
with the shared vision to plant growth
and serve for the invigoration
of male leadership in our community.
We're F three. Are you ready?
Uh, so if somebody was struggling with motivation earlier,
they could, they should definitely lock
that in on their playlist and get 'em going.
So look, a a lot of folks I know they talk about F three,
they, they will say things like, Hey, it,
it's more than a workout.
Uh, what, what do they mean by that? What does that mean?
Well, it's a three F's. It's, yes. Fitness is the thing.
It's the hook that gets guys out there.
So, um, the workout is very important.
It's the basis that the second FT is fellowship.
That's, I like to call that the glue that kind
of keeps the guys there.
And then the faith is where the growth, Matt,
I think you said the explosion happens.
Mm-Hmm. Yeah. That's where you see guys really
improving themselves.
And I like to talk about, just strive
to get 1% better today.
That's good. And, and it has helped me, um,
in it's small increments to get better.
Um, that's, that's really what it means to me. Yeah.
Let's, let's dig into that just, just for a moment and,
and let's just kind of break 'em down.
Uh, so you said fitness.
So for our listeners, what, what, what does that look like?
Workouts can mean, we've probably got folks
that work out all the time
and some folks that have never done
it, but wanna take that first step.
What does, what does the fitness
side look like with F three?
What's an abnormal workout? Like Yeah.
You mentioned your alarm going off early.
Do they need to know that, that
these workouts mostly happen? Mostly
Mostly happen in the morning?
Yeah. Um, like it, but what we said, is it,
'cause it starts your day off, right?
Yep. So it's, it's good to get it in early.
Um, so F three has five core principles free of charge,
um, open to all men, always out outdoors,
rain or shine, cold or hot.
It's volunteer led.
And then in the end we end with a circle of trust.
So typical workout is just gonna look like guys meeting up
in a parking lot or a park somewhere.
And for 45 minutes, they're gonna
Don't avoid the time.
What time, what time are they meeting in the parking lot?
Most of the time that's oh five 30.
Oh, five 30. Yeah. And the, the reason why,
I just wanna highlight that because an easy excuse is like,
oh, my kids, I gotta my kid, like,
your kids most likely aren't getting up before five 30.
That's right. And so, um,
And that's part, that's part of why, right?
That's part of the why is let's get it in
before the day starts with the family.
Okay. So oh, five 30, we're in a parking lot somewhere,
And then one of us is leading.
So it's completely free to lead.
Um, you sign up, you say, I'm gonna lead this week.
And so everyone knows like, I'm gonna go to a red rider,
that's Steve, I'm gonna go to his workout.
We'll come back to what that means in just a moment.
Um, then for 45 minutes we're doing whatever he
tells us to do, pretty much.
And he can tell us to do sprints, bear crawls, burpees,
squats, pushups. We
Might do all of those. Might
do all of those wall sits, like whatever, um,
partner work, anything.
Um, so we do that for 45 minutes
and then we usually end with a little bit of ab workout,
and then we're gonna end in a circle of trust.
And the circle of trust is,
that's why it's a core principle.
It's very unique that this is the time for guys
to be able to be vulnerable.
What we do is we, we ask for like prayers
and praises that can be anything.
Be like, what's on, what's on your heart? What's on?
And it gives time, or it gives guys a chance to just like,
share what's on their heart.
If, if, if something, if they need a prayer request
or if they're going through something, then we can, um,
in some regions you pray, sometimes you just kind
of encourage encouragement, but you just end the workout.
But you know, you get deeper with someone instead
of just like, if you showed up to a gym
and you knew Steve there,
and you just like, Hey, will you,
will you uh, spot me on this?
Yeah. And they're like, that's your, that's
your friendship, right?
Yeah. And you, you, um,
and you kind of just transitioned us very seamlessly
what well done from the fitness side
into the fellowship side.
And so how, how long on the fitness
do you say the workouts normally last? 45 minutes.
Normally 40, 45 Minutes. And
that includes the circle of trust.
Mm-Hmm. Okay. And so then
that moves us into the fellowship side.
So you, you're doing this with other people
that are committed, that have gotten out
of their warm beds to be there.
Mm-Hmm. But, uh, Steve, you, you know, in, in talking, in,
in preparation for the show, you made this, uh, uh,
statement, adult men in general do not have a lot
of close connections with other men.
And F three helps bridge this gap. Right.
Talk about that, just the
fellowship side of it. Just for a moment.
And I can use myself as an example.
Uh, before I found this group,
before I found this fellowship
and this group of guys, uh, a lot of the people that you
are, your quote unquote friends may be people.
If you have kids, um,
who your kids are in similar activities,
maybe you're playing a sport together.
Maybe it's, let's say it's volleyball.
And when volleyball season's over,
or that child moves to a different school
or goes to a different activity
and you're not around those people,
how often do you actually keep hanging around with them?
Not very often. F three allows us in the circle
of trust is a great example where this starts, uh,
to, to be vulnerable.
Men being vulnerable with other men, supporting other men
through the things that go on in their lives.
It could be, you know, a faith journey.
It could be family, it could be lots
of things, work struggles.
We've, we've dealt with all of that.
And it starts in that circle of trust.
And then it flows over.
Like this morning, Matt
and I did a workout this morning after the workout
Accountability.
Exactly. We went to coffee, we call that cafeteria.
So we, we went to coffee
and that's really where that second half
that fellowship grows.
Okay. And we have other opportunities.
It's not always coffee.
It may be going to meet up on a
specific evening of the week.
Yeah. Um, it's, it takes a lot of Forbes
And the, so the fellowship side, um, it happens in
that 45 minute workout.
Yes. And there's part of it that's programmed into that,
but in most of these groups, it leads to opportunities even
outside of that as well. Is that what you're
Saying? Ab
Absolutely. As you get to know guys, um, we grow in
that fellowship and,
and I think, you know, eventually we, you,
you transition into faith, that belief in something
that's bigger than yourself.
And as we are improving ourselves, getting
that 1% better every day, you really want to share that
with everyone and your community.
And so then we get involved with, um, areas of community
where we can lift other people up and help them out.
Yeah. And you know, I, I wanna be clear on this
as let's, let's talk about the faith component.
But I do wanna be clear, 'cause Matt, you even said, Hey,
people might share things that they're struggling with
or areas that they need prayers with, but for,
but, uh, I wanna be clear for our listeners
that might be listening and be like, oh, it's a,
it's a Christian thing, or it's a deeply spiritual thing,
ah, that means I'm not, 'cause I'm not ready yet.
I got too many vices. I got too many.
If they knew what I really struggled with in my life,
and that's a Christian thing or a faith thing,
I've got no place there.
Can you just talk for a moment
about, 'cause I, I know the heart mind.
Can you just talk for a moment about where you expect people
to be before they show up as it relates to their faith?
As far as their faith?
They, all they have to do is, um, just know
that there's something bigger than themselves.
Yeah. So once you start thinking outside of yourself,
that's the faith element.
And what we've been talking about is like that trajectory
that I keep saying that, um,
the fitness brings us out there.
That's the magnet. Like we said.
Um, once you get this guy, this group of guys
that basically just have all this balled up energy of I want
to do more, I wanna be more.
And you get that group together,
then it explodes into like, well, what can we do?
How can we use this to impact other people?
'cause now you're thinking outside of yourself.
Um, and so there's multiple ways to do that depending on,
um, your, your faith and everything.
But, um, definitely community impact is a huge part, uh, of
what f three's about.
Yeah. I mean, I tell our guys all the time,
we wanna show up
and leave this place wherever we are
better than we found it.
We wanna be a net positive impact on our community. Yes.
Whether it's, um, going
and mowing lawns for the caring Place,
supporting Haven House, uh, we've got guys
that pick up food every week that's donated
to Western Wake Crisis Ministry.
I could go on and on, uh, about some of the things
that we do in the community,
but it's, it's having that net positive impact overall.
Yeah. Uh, I'm just gonna say this,
I know this is an episode about fitness, right.
But this is, this is, um, this podcast exists hopefully
to bring hope to people Mm-Hmm.
In, in the everyday moments of their life, in real life.
And at the end of the day, I mean,
if we've got a guy out here that's listening
to this right now, I, I want all of us to recognize we,
we weren't made to sit around and to be idle
and to be unhealthy like our bodies were.
And my belief is we're created to move
and to function in an optimal way,
in an incredible, beautiful way.
Um, but we have to leverage it
because if we don't take advantage of that,
it does go in a direction that it wasn't created.
And we're not gonna experience a hope filled life if our
bodies aren't moving the way that they were created to, um,
the, the fellowship side.
We we're not going to thrive
and live a hope-filled life if we're disconnected,
if we don't have meaningful relationships in our life.
And then on the faith side, you know,
you can believe whatever you want,
but if you're not living your life, understanding
that there is something outside of yourself,
that there is a bigger purpose, you know,
that ultimately leads us to, I would even say contributing
to society and to the world around us, man.
We're just not gonna
experience hope the way that we're created.
And so, while this is not a commercial for F three, uh, I,
I know that nobody gets paid.
And that maybe there'd be some other gyms
or fitness movements out there that do charge
and they'd hate us pushing so much.
That's fine. You can sponsor our show.
We'll be happy to talk about you.
F three does it and they don't get paid anything.
And so I'm more than happy to talk about 'em on here.
But, um, man, what a great organization.
Lemme ask you guys this though,
because you guys are deeply involved in F three.
I have been to, uh, a few workouts myself.
We can talk about you can, you can,
we can make fun talk about that in a minute.
But what would you say to the person's?
Like, okay, but that's awesome. But like, I don't know
that my next step is getting up at five 30 in the morning.
Mm-Hmm. I don't know that my next step is being vulnerable
with some guys that I don't really know that well and
or this whole faith thing.
Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. But, so F three is not my deal.
What would you say to them as it relates
to their own health and fitness journey?
Look, I'd say first of all, the, the idea of fitness,
what it can do is it can build you up
to show value in yourself.
And I think, I think you need that. Mm-Hmm. Yeah.
Um, like you said, I mean, I believe I'm created
by a creator and he has a purpose and a plan for my life.
And if I'm not moving myself forward, not improving myself,
then how am I going to live out the life that he has for me?
And so you can find that in anything.
Um, there can be, like,
I know there's run clubs in the area.
I think pickleball is a great way.
'cause I think that also has the fellowship.
It has the accountability 'cause you can't play by yourself.
And I think just finding that, that,
That F three video sounded really like
hyped up and masculine.
And then you just said pickleball. Pickleball.
I just went, okay. I just wanna be clear.
So we have a wide, he didn't say pickle ball.
We have a wide range. Exactly.
Don't edit that out. I'm gonna let you finish.
So go ahead. Go ahead.
But yes, the idea that like anyone listening right now,
just know you're made for more
and like, build that into your life
and it's gonna bleed over.
It has to like, you can't keep it to yourself.
That's the energy you get from fitness
that then spills over.
I let off talking about how fitness has helped me
and the, all the areas of my life,
and I want, I simply want that for everyone.
So I would just say get started. Yeah.
Do something, show up.
Um, you know, there's no one asking me questions,
so I'm just gonna answer the same question myself.
I think, uh, for me, uh, I,
I'm learning this in life, right?
Everybody in the studio is laughing at me.
Uh, I, I'm learning in life
right now in a lot of different ways.
So as a leader, as a manager, you know, we, it's real easy
to set these lag measures like these goals.
Um, you know, we wanna see X growth in
this or x growth in that.
And so you're measuring like the lag measure the result.
And so people, when they approach their fitness, they think,
okay, my goal is to lose 50 pounds,
or my goal is to lose 20 pounds, or my,
and at the end of the day, like those things can be
so cumbersome and burdensome
and there's, there's not a lot of motivation in that.
I, I encourage people, let,
let's focus more on our lead measures.
Let's focus more on the inputs.
And so you might not be able to completely control
how fast you can get to being down 50 pounds.
Mm-Hmm. But if you say, I'm not going
to eat any refined sugar Monday to Friday,
and I'm gonna work out
for 30 minutes a day, four days a week.
If you're currently not working out at all and you, and,
and you say, and I'm going to commit to doing that
for eight weeks, at the end of that eight week period,
you will see results that are motivating to you.
And so I would say like, Hey, know
what your overall end goal is.
But I would say if you're trying to figure out,
man, what, what can I do?
Maybe it's not go to F three,
but write down, you said this earlier, Matt, write down
what are the things that I can commit to doing?
And give yourself a timeline to commit to that.
And then evaluate at the end.
And I think most people on planet Earth would look back
and be like, wow, I'm blown away at the results.
And tell somebody. Right. That's good. Tell somebody.
But like, even everything we've talked about,
everything we've talked about comes down to that,
that decision to get it done to wake up doesn't have to be,
if you don't wanna wake up at five, find something.
But the decision starts that first time
and then that's the snowball that leads
to the next, that leads to the next.
They like habit stacking is, is a thing. Yeah.
So you, you set your workout clothes the night before
and that's gonna lead you to get up
and not have to like sh shuffle around looking for
what you're going to, um, wear to work out or anything.
So you just, you gotta set up that like runway for yourself.
Yeah. And then you just make baby step decisions.
All of a sudden you're at the end
and you're like, boom, 50 pounds gone.
Yeah. And you're like, how did I get there? Yeah. It
Was easy. If leading
with a goal doesn't work
for you, think of it this way.
Decide I want to be a person who takes care
of my personal health.
Yeah. What does that mean? Yeah.
And that the goals will flow from there. That's good.
And that's, that's the way I think about,
I wanna be a person who takes my fitness seriously.
I wanna be a person when I do have those grandchildren
that I can be really active with them.
Yeah. I wanna be the person
that goes hiking at the national parks.
Yeah. Then the goals will follow. That's
Great. That's good.
Alright, let's do this for a minute here.
Um, let's go off script.
Uh, we got, uh, so I hear, and you guys can, uh,
You didn't tell me about this part.
You can tell me we can do this or maybe we can't.
I don't know what the rules are. I gonna arm wrestle?
Is that What we're gonna do? We're not gonna
arm wrestle.
No. I've got cold. We've a cold punch.
No, we, uh, I wanna, so so what's this deal?
I've heard actually, and I know 'cause I've done it,
but let's talk a little bit about the name thing.
So if you show up to a workout, you're not identified
in workouts, future facing by your, uh, your birth name,
Hospital name is what We call it,
your hospital name, right.
Let's talk about that for a minute.
Within F three, what's that all about?
So we do have nicknames. Okay.
And, um, typically and this, this, every region might,
And if this is like fight club, like the first rule about
fight club is don't talk about fight club.
Don't about fight club, then, then don't.
But you know, if we can talk about it for a minute, listen,
So different F three regions may
do it slightly differently.
Some regions where on your second workout,
they'll name you in, in this area where,
where we are typically you're named out at the end
of your first workout.
So what we typically do at the end of the circle
of trust is we bring that f we call him an F
and g friendly new guy. Oh,
Friendly new guy. You're right. It's a
friendly new guy. Okay.
Yeah, of course. We
Bring him into the circle
and invite him to tell us a little bit more about himself.
And through that process and,
and through maybe we're asking him questions.
If we don't get the information we need,
then we come up with a nickname.
Uh, one of my favorite questions to ask a guy is,
what was your first concert?
Right. Learn a lot about people that way.
So we give them a name
and then from that point forward,
generally at F three workouts
and events, you're known by your nickname. Okay.
And it just has like a feeling of group.
Like once you have a name, you're like, I belong.
That's right. To this. And there's, so there's,
there's a reason behind it.
Um, but yeah, I mean, we, we'll shout each other's names.
Sometimes we don't even know your real name.
We're just like, call you by your nickname many times.
Um, is it fair to say that the names that most people get
assigned or names that they would've picked for themselves
or been proud of coming into said workout?
So we'll give a shout out to this guy.
He, he went to a workout
and he said, my friends call me Dice.
We're like, oh. Oh really? Okay.
And so somehow not here,
someone like was thinking fuzzy dice
in the mirror or something like that.
Anyways, he got the name Hello Kitty
Kit. Yeah. Right.
So to
To his credit, he has, he owns it.
Owns it. He has embraced that name. Yeah.
You know, you know what the, the, the reality is.
And that we're, we're not talking about anything related
to necessarily to to health here.
But the truth is, if you're really gonna thrive in a group,
um, you've got
that group has can't be about personal identities.
Mm-Hmm. Absolutely. In the individual identities.
It has to be. And so for me personally, I, one of the things
that I think is beautiful about the way it's done is y you,
you're kind of setting in the stage for,
hey, this isn't about you.
And so you need to get over yourself real quick if you're
gonna be, and you mentioned we want to,
we wanna have a net positive impact on the community.
One way to do that in this world is to get people's eyes
and hearts completely off themselves.
Absolutely. As fast as as you can
and get them focused on other stuff.
So, Mm-Hmm. Oh man.
How, how about this, what, what questions should I ask?
What, what do you guys want? What would you say? A question.
Hey, Jason didn't ask me this question,
but here's something I'd like to offer to, uh, to the world
as it relates to health and fitness.
Go ahead, Matt.
Um, I don't know.
I I would say this. I would say take it seriously. Yeah.
Uh, you mentioned, you know, I, I'm 53. Yep.
So one of the things that I think about at this stage
of my life is healthy
as I get older.
Yeah. As I enter this part of my life and being active.
And it's really, really important to me.
So probably a lot of listeners out there
that are younger than I am,
and maybe you're able to eat things that I can't eat
and not have the same impact,
but I just think about as my kids have their own children
and what am I able to do in, in those years?
And that's really, really important to me.
Functional strength, functional fitness,
and really quality of life.
And that's something that,
that is a big focus for me right now.
Um, and I think it be a, can be a focus for a lot of people.
Just how am I able to go about my day
with a great quality of life?
I feel great. And in turn you're really able
to pour into other people
because you're operating maybe not at your best,
but a better, you're, you're a better you that way.
Yeah. And I, I just would,
I would encourage our listeners, like
wherever you are right now on this fitness journey,
like it can get better.
Mm-Hmm. And you, I mean, taking baby steps is going
to help you feel better in life overall.
And there is a whole other world, um, on the other side
of being a bit more physically fit.
And so if you're looking for more hope
and like, like this is something that you should pursue.
One thing we were talking about, um,
before the show, Steve, just so you work in, uh,
we'll say the medical field Yeah.
Oncology area, right? Yes.
So we'll, um, which, which contributes to, um,
people's health and wellbeing after a crisis moment.
Like, man, I have cancer. Yes.
And, uh, but what I think I, what I just want
to let our listeners know is there's also a way,
and I think it's cool that you, you operate in that that's
what you get paid to do, but you also create an environment
to focus on how do we, um, contribute
to people's health before crisis.
Right. And can you just talk about that for a minute?
Just 'cause I know we're talking before,
but just your thoughts as someone
who works in the medical field on, hey, yes,
we can maybe cure or help heal
or prolong life once you get a diagnosis.
But what's the impact of physical exercise and,
and decisions that we make before any type of diagnosis?
So yeah. Every day I work in an area
where we work on new treatments for cancer
and for people out there, my family, uh, your family,
if you're listening, uh, most
of us in some way have been impacted by cancer.
Right. And so it's really important
that we're seeking new treatments and potential cures.
That said, so many cancer types are,
are really driven by lifestyle.
Mm-Hmm. And so there is so much prevention we can do.
The truth is I don't like taking medication. Yeah.
And I've worked in this industry for over 25 years. Yeah.
But I think it's so important
that we practice wellness in our everyday life.
And it's not just, you know, working out,
but it's also eating right.
Taking those steps as preventative measures so
that you don't need that treatment that we're working on.
And there's so much impact that we can have. Yeah.
When, when I don't work out, my diet goes away too. Right.
Because I'm like, well I'm not gonna also
eat like clean while I'm all, you know what I mean?
Why does it matter? Yeah. Because I'm just gonna be like,
wo is me and, and I start gaining the weight and stuff.
Um, it's funny, Dr.
Peter Attia says he calls fitness the miracle drug. Right?
It's the drug you start now so
that you don't need the drugs later in life. Right? Yeah.
Yeah. That's good. Well look,
we're gonna start wrapping this thing up.
I, I would say this, uh, getting outside
and moving is so important to, to the human body.
And, and I know you guys agree.
So if we got listeners out there that're like, I don't know
where to start, I don't know what to do, you know,
you've heard a lot of different things.
Accountability, uh, is key.
But man, make a commitment.
My encouragement to you would be to make a commitment
to working out twice a week for 30 minutes and just,
and say, and I'm gonna do it for eight weeks.
And you might think, man, it's eight weeks
long enough, twice a week.
It's a long time to only do something two weeks.
You gotta start somewhere twice a week
for 30 minutes for eight weeks.
And what I think you're gonna see,
you're gonna get about four weeks into this thing
and you're gonna think, you know what?
I can add a third day. Hmm. Or I can go 45 minutes.
I can take that next step.
And it is, man, it's like it's not only is it a miracle
drug 'cause it cures something on earth.
I think it's a miracle drug because it
so dramatically impacts,
like we talked about every single other
area of our, of our lives.
I was encouraged, I'll tell you this, I was encouraged
by our hope and real life team here to let you know
that if you follow us on Instagram,
I am personally I'm seeing here, I'm personally going
to be posting some of my workouts for you
to screenshot and do at home as well.
And so, uh, as with any great team, I have people
that let me know what I'm gonna be doing as well.
So that'll be coming up.
So if you don't follow us on Instagram, uh, please do so.
You can search hope in real life on Instagram
and then hit that follow button
and you'll be able to check out some of those workouts
and you'll even be able to be encouraged a bit.
'cause we do offer other hope along the way.
And there's even other mindless humor things
that pop up on there from Time to Thomas.
Well, uh, that'll keep you motivated.
So, uh, gentlemen, uh, F three.
So, uh, anything if somebody's like, man, I heard that,
but I wanna try the F three thing.
Sure. How do they find out how to jump in? Yeah,
So, um, our main website is F three nation.com
and there's a workout map on there
and that's gonna show you anywhere in the world
that we have workouts and what day of the week they are.
Um, but there's also another cool website called
F three near.me.
Okay. And if you put in your phone right now,
it's gonna show you the closest workout to you.
Okay. And like on the next day. So that's pretty cool.
And if you're looking for a specific kind
of workout, they're not all the same.
Okay. We have different types of workout if you like to run.
We have workouts that are almost exclusively
running. We have what we call
Standard. That sounds absolutely
terrible. It does
Doesn't. That's
What we call standard bootcamp workouts
that are gonna have some strengths, gonna have some running,
moving around, maybe some bear crawls.
I do like those. And then we'll have limited
or even no run, we have kettlebell workouts.
Um, so there, there is something for everyone.
And, um, there,
there may be some ladies listening out there.
There is, um,
what I'll call the ladies version is called Females
in Action fia.
Okay. And you can, uh, find that@fianation.com. Okay.
You can find workouts for that.
If there are ladies listening to this episode
and they've made it through this long
after we've talked about predominantly
that male organization, then thanks.
Encourage your spouse to jump in.
Encourage the man to jump in.
I'm sure that's probably why you've been,
uh, listening for so long.
Okay. We'll put all those links in the show notes Sure.
So that people can check those out.
Uh, we'll have some other stuff in there,
some other resources, uh, for folks to check out as well.
We're gonna wrap up this week,
I'm sure we'll have you guys back on the show
at sometime in the future.
Look forward to it. So Matt, Steve, thanks so much.
Get to bring the cold plunge.
Bring the cold plunge next time.
Alright, you got it. Um, hope in real life family.
Thanks for tuning to us.
Uh, listen, share this with somebody else
who needs a little bit more encouragement,
a little bit more accountability.
And who knows, maybe you'll send it to them
and say, Hey, let's hit the gym together.
Let's hit an F three workout together.
Who knows what's next. Love you guys.
If there's anything we can do
to help you find more hope in real life,
please don't hesitate
to leave us a comment or drop us a note.
We will see you on the next episode.
Thanks for tuning into this episode
of The Hope in Real Life podcast.
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