RUNGA Radio

In this episode, I share the recent conversation I had with Strong Coffee founder Adam Von Rothfelder on his Up and Adam podcast. We talk about David Hawkins’ scale of consciousness and how negative emotions, such as fear, guilt, shame, and jealousy, keep us resonating at a lower vibration, whereas courage raises our levels of consciousness. As fathers and business owners, we compare notes on parenthood and reflect on the personal and economic challenges of the last year. We also emphasize the importance of speaking the truth (even when it isn’t what people want to hear), and I list the foods I think we should be eating more of as well as those we should be taking pains to avoid.

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My guest today is conditioning and performance expert Joel Jamieson. Joel is an online educator who teaches fitness professionals how to write science-based conditioning programs that deliver real-world results. He is also the CEO and founder of Morpheus, the world’s first personal digital recovery system. Joel was one of the first people to realize the importance of using heart rate variability as a gauge to measure where a person sits on the scale of fitness and recovery. In addition to measuring heart rate variability, activity, and sleep, Joe’s latest app, Morpheus, can help you achieve your fitness goals by balancing your training and moving your body into the recovery zone. 

As well as geeking out on heart rate variability, we talk about managing stress and training the autonomic nervous system to move out of sympathetic dominance.  As a recovery specialist, Joel emphasizes that our health is affected by many factors (not just the time we spend training) and advises paying proper attention to our sleep, diet, and stress levels. 

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Today I want to talk about the therapeutic effects of exposing the body to hormetic stressors such as exercise, fasting, and extremes of heat and cold. It’s important to remember that the benefits of these practices come with consistency. In the case of cold water immersion, I recommend trying to establish a routine that includes at least five cold showers and one ice bath per week. The water doesn’t have to be freezing; any temperature that makes you uncomfortable should be enough to spark an adaptive response and help the body mobilize fat, regulate blood sugar levels, and build resilience. To obtain the optimal health benefits from heat exposure, I suggest taking four saunas per week and limiting each session to 19 minutes. In this episode, I also answer some of the questions I’ve been getting lately about nutrition and exercise and explain how to build the stability and strength required to do a successful pistol squat.

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In today’s episode, I chat with my old friend Jeff Vernon, creator of the Trueform Runner, a treadmill designed to improve running form. Talking to Jeff reminded me of the first time I tried the TrueForm. As I recall, it was a somewhat awkward experience with a crowd of people looking on and making me feel self-conscious about my performance. The TrueForm Runner is self-powered, and it was unlike any treadmill I’d ever used before. You need to run with good form and technique to keep it moving, and it really shows up any quirks in your running style. In fact, it’s been called the ‘best lie detector in the gym’ for its ability to expose the flaws in your form.

My second experience of using the TrueForm (in private as part of a running course) was much more satisfactory, and I quickly realized what an important tool it is for improving form and turning people into better runners. I believe that the secret to injury-free running is running well, and the TrueForm teaches you how to run at the right pace and in the correct position. What’s more, it dramatically reduces your likelihood of injury.

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In this solo episode, I talk about the importance of focussing on the foods and exercises that make the most difference to our well-being. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed my recent post supporting the theory that ‘pulls are proteins, pushes are carbs, and swings and carries are fats.’ Basically, I believe that certain foods and exercises are more important for our health than others, and I divide them into three categories, essential, non-essential, and conditionally essential (i.e., necessary for a specific period of time to recover from an injury or improve a particular health problem). 

In my opinion, pulls and proteins are essential, pushes and carbs are non-essential, and swings, carries, and fats are conditionally essential. I believe we eat too many carbs and not enough protein. I also think we spend too much time doing push-ups and back squats and not enough time practicing deadlifts and hang cleans. At a time when two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese, and many of us spend a significant proportion of our time hunched over our computers, I suggest some simple ways to redress the balance and prioritize healthy food and exercise choices over high-carb diets and old-fashioned Arnold Schwarzenegger-type workouts.  

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To follow on from my recent appearance on the Eben Flow podcast, Eben Britton joins me to talk about mindfulness, truth, and the healing power of cannabis. Eben is a former offensive lineman who played for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Chicago Bears. He’s also a super-sensitive spiritual guy who studied creative writing at the University of Arizona and practices yoga, breathwork, and meditation. Since he retired from professional football, Eben has become an advocate for the healing power of cannabis. As a believer in holistic healthcare, he’s appalled by the way that pharmaceutical opiates are routinely prescribed to players, and he is one of the founders of Athletes for Care, a group of NFL footballers, UFC fighters, and Olympians who have experienced the power of natural healing through plant medicine.

We chat about the human experience and the problems of living isolated, disconnected lives rather than being part of a supportive, tight-knit community. We also touch on the difference between phony holiness and authentic spirituality, and Eben describes how he has managed to rebuild his life after his football career. 

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In this solo episode, I talk about the four ways I’m bringing burpees back into my coaching programs. During my time as the Head of Sport for Spartan Race (where the penalty for failing to complete a challenge in a race was 30 burpees), I was responsible for making people do a lot of burpees. Perhaps understandably, ever since then, I’ve been reluctant to incorporate burpees into my training programs. However, just lately, I’ve started teaching them to people working out at home who want to get their heart rate up but don’t have access to a fan bike or a rower. But I’m not sticking to old-school burpees; I’m adding four variations that will bring variety and interest to your workouts. 

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Today, I sit down for the second time with Daniel DeBaun, the founder of Defender Shield, a company that provides industry-leading protection against the electromagnetic (EMF) radiation emitted from our digital devices. Daniel is a former engineer who has over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. He is committed to helping people protect themselves from EMF radiation and has recently worked with a team of scientists and engineers to develop a new shielding technology designed to provide protection from 5G frequencies. 

Daniel and I discuss the 5G rollout and talk about its possible implications for our health. We also look into some of the recent research into electromagnetic radiation and consider how it can affect our bodies, disturb our sleep, and disrupt our connection to the Earth’s natural electromagnetic frequency. Above all, Daniel suggests some straightforward ways to manage our environment, limit our EMF exposure, and protect ourselves and our families from artificial electromagnetic radiation.  

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This Friday, I’m sharing a clip from my recent appearance on Eben Britton’s ‘Eben Flow’ Podcast. Eben is a former NFL player turned mindfulness practitioner and cannabis advocate. He’s a super-interesting guy, and we get into some profound and somewhat controversial topics in his show. My episode is called ‘Trust Thyself with Joe DiStefano’, and the first forty-five minutes are dedicated to kettlebells. The clip you’re going to hear today focuses on breath and why nasal breathing is so essential for our mental and physical health. 

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In this week’s show, I weigh up the benefits of the Carnivore Diet with cookbook author, chef,  and avid CrossFit competitor Erin Blevins. Erin has a background in competitive distance running, and she was introduced to CrossFit in 2016 while working as a chef for the Superman actor, Henry Cavill, during the filming of Justice League. As well as cooking for superheroes, Erin has worked as a nutritional coach for professional athletes, baseball players, and Navy Seals. She is the founder of shutupEAT and shutupWORK, and last year, she co-wrote The Essential Carnivore Diet Cookbook, a collection of meat-based recipes designed to promote healing and weight loss. 

As an athlete who has competed at a high level in multiple sports, Erin understands what foods are needed to fuel high-intensity exercise. She talks about her transition from vegan to carnivore and describes how shifting to a primarily meat-based diet has helped improve her health and performance. She sets out her organic approach to coaching and nutrition, emphasizes the character-forming aspects of competition, and explains how to keep motivated during the pandemic.

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