Cooper Brunner Podcast

In this episode of the podcast I go over some of the fat loss tips I have learned over the years. I wish I knew about these tips years ago! But now that I have gone through each tactic, I know they work and they are very simple to do or follow. 

Tune in to hear what the three tips or strategies you can use in helping you achieve fat loss goals.

Fitness Trainer Bryan Parady and I discuss the following topics:

Training to build strength: how do I increase strength numbers in my major lifts? (Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press)

Process of how to break down your one rep max to calculate your own strength training program.

5x5 Training for beginners looking to build strength. What is the best protocol for building strength? (sets, reps, etc.)

How to properly recover during your strength training phase. 

How to refuel your body to build muscle.

Is doing more training volume more effective for adding size to your physique? 

Is CrossFit a good way to train to build muscle?

Can you build strength while dropping weight?

Strategies you can use that will help you stay on track with your fat loss goals. 

Sat down with former college hooper, standout athlete Sam Jurgenson discussing his ongoing battle with depression and mental health struggles. Additionally, we go back and forth about ways to overcome this growing problem in society, but the reality is, it starts with taking care of your physical health, exercising etc. The small promises you make to yourself, what books/podcasts to listen to, and the compounding effect. Thanks for tuning in.

Interview with former Marathon WR Holder Brian Reynolds - Double Leg Amputee “Monster Runner”

Background Story:

• Double Amputee Distance Runner
  • Former Marathon WR Holder for bilateral below knee amputees 3:03:22 
    • Chicago
  • Broke Double Amputee Half Marathon 
    • Wineglass Race Series Marathon in NYC
    • P.R. at 1:17:05

So what happened to YOU, give us your story about your condition!

Powerlifting Days:

At age 23, could Powerlift 485 Lbs @ 132 pounds.

• How did you train to achieve such absurd numbers!?
• How did you overcome lifting without squatting or using your lower half? What equipment did you use? 

Running Journey/ WR Chasing 

Walk us through your journey to running marathons, you went from powerlifting to running because…? 

• Tell us the story behind that transition. 
• In the article made by Runners World, you state that “Running is about consistency” what kept you motivated/driven or inspired to stay consistent with your running to push through barriers and become a “monster runner”?

What sort of training/running do you do leading up to a Marathon?

• Are there major setbacks to your training? Do the prosthetics cause any issues to your body when running 50+ a week?
• I read that you train with  the ElliptiGO bike, How does tool help you in your training? 
• Any strength training on top of running?

So you attempted Breaking the 3-hour mark in the marathon at Chicago, walk us through that event.

• What went wrong? 
• What were some of the setbacks? 
• Whens your next race? 

Ending questions:

What fuels you to continue pursuing your sub 3 hr marathon? 

How do you overcome your worst times, like when you don’t feel like training or when negative thoughts enter your head?

Looking back at your powerlifting days, did you see yourself getting super involved in running?

What is one life lesson you will never forget?

In this episode we go over a range of topics:

- Overcoming being flat out DUMPED by a girl
- Understanding the difference between inspired and motivated
- My personal story, how to make a comeback after hitting "rock bottom" and ending my  college baseball career at Oregon State 
- How to get through depression/negative mindset
- How to build self-confidence and self-esteem

Topic #1 What type of leader are you? 

• To give the audience some context of how we got connected, I actually randomly stumbled upon you on Instagram and watched your leadership video. 
  • The video was authentic, and I could tell you meant the word you were saying, your “flow” is powerful  
• What are specific qualities a successful leader has to have?

Topic #2 Being Alone vs. Feeling Alone  

• What’s the difference between feeling alone and being alone?
  • Physical state vs Mental state
    • “Being in a room, and still feeling alone.”
  • How do you overcome loneliness
    • “Isolation is a powerful thing”
• Benefits of talking to yourself 
  • (I do this too, helps me focus/articulate my thoughts) How has that helped you in life/marines/relationship
• Pros/Cons
  • Pros
    • Recharge/Decompress
    • Working Out/Focus
    • Creativity/Your Vision
      • Time away from things
        • Achieve your goals
        • Pull away from the situation
        • “The dream coming true vision”
        • Time apart away from people (your deployment)
  • Cons
    • Worst critic is ourselves
      • Putting ourselves down (you vs you)
    • Depression
      • Military perspective
        • Holiday’s
      • How do you get over it
        • Hobby
        • Go places
        • Go to the movies
        • Call up old friends 

Topic #3 Leaving Your Comfort Zone

• The risks of leaving your comfort zone
  • stress/anxiety 
  • Too much of something
    • Over training
• Hunters and Gathers by nature
  • Used to move with a purpose
    • Society is complacent 
• How do I leave my comfort zone?
  • Pool analogy “take a leap of faith”
    • Shock our bodies, get into the pool
    • 3 feet, take a couple of steps “feet still touching the ground”
  • The opposite of comfort, “Danger”
    • The opposite of comfort, is opportunity
    • Taking the fish out of the tank
      • A
• The benefits of getting out of your comfort zone
  • The opportunity to grow
    • If the tank is small, then the fish will be small
    • Ambition is allowed to grow
  • Learn about yourself
    • Move past your “breaking point:
    • Finding out how strong you are
      • Finding your weaknesses
      • How far can you really go?
        • The benefit of leaving, is a discovery of yourself
  • Confidence will increase
    • Each small battle that you win, your confidence will go up
      • Each step, you can always go back
        • Gaining experience, gaining confidence 
        • Clean the wounds, go back again
  • You will learn about challenge
    • Talk about your first course 

Topic #4 Reviewing The Past, but Move Forward

• Forgiveness
  • Certain things you do not tolerate
  • “Drawing the line in the sand”
  • How do you handle negativity?
• In order to move forward, you have to let go of the anchor
  • Do not dwell in the past
    • Past relationships
      • Friendships
        • Shed that extra bagg

1. How to get out of ruts or plateaus with strength/muscle building 
   1.  Micro and Macro cycles 
   2. Week by week routine (rep/set regiment) 

1. 5x5 Training 
   1. Is it worth it? 
   2. What results have you found with this method? 
      1. Has it helped you with strength building? 

1. Gym Myths 
   1. #1 The dirty bulk 
      1. Is it effective? 
      2. Why is the dirty bulking diet bad for your health? (too much sugar, extra stress, constant fluctuation of weight) 
      3. True goal is be in physically fit state - clean calories 
   2. #2 Should I be lifting heavy weights to gain muscle? 
      1. Stagnation 
      2. How to tone and define - lift heavy? 
      3. It comes from calories, lift heavy and eat clean (high calories daily) 

1. What you need to be doing for your training to lose fat 
   1. Limit your rest periods 
   2. Workouts? (box jumps, sprints, etc.) 
      1. What does a workout look like? 
   3. Split body workouts?

1. The Intermittent Fasting Diet 
   1. What are your thoughts about it? How you tried it before?
   2. The Benefits 
      1. Burning fat while in a fasted state 
      2. Boosts metabolism 
      3. Higher energy throughout the day 
         1. Focused during the day, don't feel as hungry once the REM cycle or eating cycle is consistent 
      4. Longevity, killing bad cells, repairing cells, and "cleansing the body" during the fasted state 
   3. Drawbacks 
      1. Hard to stay consistent; binge eating 
      2. If you are working out in the AM, you may become hungry a few hours after training. 
   4. Strategies to help with Intermittent Fasting based on my personal experience 
      1. Drinking carbonated water 
      2. Taking MCT Oil with black coffee 
      3. Drinking black coffee debate (Dr. Fung theory on if it "breaks your fast" 
      4. First meal to eat - Protein, helping with insulin sensitivity 
      5. Essential Aminos taken after workout to "preserve muscle" debate 

Q/A Questions

D_staley4

"Thoughts on best protein powder or do you prefer just good food after workout?

"How Important is it to have specific days for specific lifts? Like monday legs, Tuesday chest, etc. 

Kevin

"Best pre workouts and best brand to buy protein and stuff like that"

I've never bought into just positive thinking, if you just think positive and think great things happen through just positivity, you're missing another piece to the puzzle. 

winners win through hard work. At the end of the day your effort and putting in hours and hours of work towards your craft in my opinion is a requirement. Nobody wins by working less and the concept working smarter, not harder is totally garbage delete this out of your framework of mindset. 

Do Both.

What I mean by this is work harder and smarter. One thing I know about reading studying about the 1%ers is that, the Elon Musks, the Steve Jobs, the Ed Myletts, the Will Smiths is that they're incredibly smart guys when it comes to their profession but they also invest the most hours and that's why they beat the guys who were just naturally good at their job putting in mediocre amounts of work. 

Will Smith told a story on Charlie Roses Show. The story's goes like this:

One Summer Will's dad tore down a wall connecting to his bakery, his dad told Will and his 9-year old brother to rebuild it, a job Will said would be impossible, it would take them years to complete. When Will told his Father that he couldn’t do it, that it was impossible, he stood in front of Will saying "Don't you ever tell me there is nothing you can't do." 

You see the point that his father was making is that you don't try to build a wall, you don't set your goal on building that wall, it might be the end result, but you tell yourself that I'm going to lay this brick as perfectly as brick can be laid, and you do that every single day, and soon you will have a wall.

Results come from being consistent, and consistency comes from having deep, emotional reasons that get you hyped to wake up early in the morning. 

TI comes down to this:

 Why do you want to lose weight? Who are you doing it for? What actions can you take to ensure you keep that weight off for good?

Our goals don’t get us up in the morning, our reasons for having those goals do. I wanna share with you a story.

There was a young man, who at the age of thirty found out that his Uncle had a heart attack and at his funeral it was a very sad thing he was a father of a family, great family, and all of the children turned out to wonderfully but as a fifty year old man he passed away so he will not enjoy watching his children's children grow up, he won't enjoy the lovely house he worked so hard to obtain, he won't take on life's beauty with his wonderful wife, all of it was left behind. 

After the young man left the funeral, all of the sudden his reticular activating system in his brain starting bringing up ideas of "hey, Ed, maybe you should get your heart checked? When was the last time you went to the doctor? When he was flying back from the funeral, he noticed that on the tv screen on the plane that the Oprah Winfrey Show was being played, and on the show they started talking about this new scan for your heart that reveals what could be deadly plaque in the arteries, and Ed was thinking to himself, "you know what, that's an incredible new discovery" and because of the reticular activating system immediately grabbing attention to heart scans he decided it was time to go see a doctor and get his heart checked. 

They begin the visit and the doctor says "Hey so the ladies up front told me that you're kind of a successful young man" Ed says thank you very much. Doctor goes "you probably live in a big house" and Ed goes I live in a decent sized home sir, yes. 

The doctor hasn't bothered showing Ed the results, but he then says "do you have any kids?" Yes, I have two a little boy and my wife's pregnant with my daughter wh

We invest today. Sacrifice today for tomorrow's betterments. But if we don’t know what that betterment is, the want factor,  what were really doing this for, we cant win this war guys.

If you had 6 months to live…. What would you do differently…. With your life? What would you do differently…. If your life is not what you want it to be if your not living the way that want to live. If you're not experiencing what you want to experience. If its not giving you want, you’ve got to ask your self, what have I sold my soul for? 

A real man in the dark when nobody is watching he is putting in work. A real man when coach aint even watching he's studying on his own, cause he loves he loves the PROCESS. 

Everybody wanna be a beast!! everybody gotta a lot…. tattoos are lions. Most of all think a lion is who is because of how ferocious he is when he catches the gazelle or catches that zebra. If a lion sees an animal that’s wounded or a real hunter sees an animal that’s wounded, what do they do? 

They don’t kill em, why don’t they kill em? HE ALREADY HURT…… And they beast…. Hahaha A part of being a beast just aint eating the gazelle a part of being a beast is the hunt….. IT's the hunt that they excited about… BECAUSE REAL LIONS  LIKE TO HUNT, THEY LOVE THE PROCESS JUST AS MUCH AS THEY LOVE THE PRIDE AND SOME OF YOU JUST WANT TO SCORE….. YOU DON’T LIKE THE PROCESS YOURE NOT IN LOVE WITH THE PROCESS. 

They say when people take the courage to journey in the center of their FEAR they find nothing. It is only mini layers of fear being afraid of itself. 

You put in 120% every time or you put in nothing  because listen to me very closely….. Today this opportunity you have, it might not be next year, it might not be here the year after next, it might not be here the year after that, this is the only moment you got and you better take advantage of this particular moment. 

If hit the wall some place you’ve looked in the mirror too many times and haven't smiled 

You want to change your situation  move from where you are… the journey is not easy, before you start the journey, MENTALLY, you must fuel yourself with the right reasons, the right fuel to sustain your ENTIRE JOURNEY EVERYONE IS HOT OFF THE START.

IT DOES NOT TAKE TALENT YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE TALENTED, RIGHT? YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE GIFTED YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE THE QUICKEST THE STRONGEST, YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE THE MOST INTELLIGENT TO GET TO WHERE YOU WANNA TO BE…. BUT THIS IS WHAT YOU GOTTA DO YOU GOTTA GRIND 

YOU MIGHT COME FROM PRIVILEDGE, YOUR DADDY MIGHT KNOW A FEW PEOPLE TO HOOK YOU UP WITH A JOB, BUT YOU WILL NOT OUTWORK ME…. YOU BETTER GROW UP AND GET TO THE POINT AS A MAN TO IF YOU EVER GET BEAT YOU BETTER GET BEAT BY SOMEBODY JUST PURELY MORE TALENTED THAN YOU ARE, YOU BETTER NOT EVER GET BEAT BY SOMEBODY BECAUSE YOU BEAT YOURSELF…

Sleep is actually an elevated anabolic state, meaning that in the midst of your deep sleep the body is heightening the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, skeletal, and muscular system. 

To make it simple, sleep is basically helping your skin or appearance look younger and rebuilding your bodies system. Getting high quality sleep improves the functioning of your brain, boosts your metabolism, and increases physical energy.

You will not have the body and life you want without giving your body enough rest, during  your sleep cycles your body naturally discharges a hormone called melatonin, which is produced by the Pinal gland in your brain and sends a signal to regulate the sleep-wake cycle in your body.

It helps control your wake and sleep cycles and keeps our mind sharp, plus prevents diseases such as Alzheimer's, insomnia and fatigue. One of the best ways our bodies can produce melatonin is by getting more sunlight during the day. We know that naturally the bodies melatonin production  is lowered throughout the day, but at night it rises. One of the best ways to increase your melatonin production is by completely  blacking out your room at night. That means shutting off or turning off light sources in your room ( like lit up power buttons on your computer, bright alarm clock lights) ideally the best way to black your whole room out is to buy and put up blacked out curtains, and putting them on every window to ensure the morning  sunlight isn't escaping into your room to cause disruption in your sleeping patterns and sleeping cycles.

References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2887188/
https://www.sleepadvisor.org/melatonin-important-sleep/
https://valleysleepcenter.com/3-things-you-should-know-about-rem-sleep/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/prescriptions-life/201804/6-ways-night-time-phone-use-destroys-your-sleep
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/circadian-rhythm
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleep-newzzz/201312/new-details-caffeine-s-sleep-disrupting-effects
https://themodelhealthshow.com/