S05E141 Post Reset - Now What? Sustainable Health Goals with Guest Coach Adam Ramsden (Copy)

What are you supposed to do now that your New Year's Reset Fitness Challenge is done?

Concerned that the new health resolutions will not stop the slide back into old habits? You're not alone. Join hosts David Syvertsen @davesy85 and Sam Rhee @bergencosmetic with guest coach "The Professor" Adam Ramsden to dissect the New Year fitness crash and discuss the psychological elasticity that often leads to rebounding after setting ambitious health goals.

We share insights on how to create sustainable changes that stick, drawing from personal experiences and the wisdom of health gurus. Whether it's about setting realistic goals or the mental gymnastics of fasting, we're exploring it all to keep you on track without the snapback.

We discuss our experiences with the ups and downs of reset challenges and the practice of fasting and how incremental changes can make a lasting impact.

We delve into ways to avoid the all-too-tempting overindulgence post-fast. Plus, we don't shy away from the highs and lows of competition, sharing stories from the trenches of the CrossFit Open and the crucial 'cool down' phase that follows.

Wrapping up, we turn to the art of planning for conquests ahead with strategies for long-term health goals. Discover how even a brief vacation can reshape your outlook on your fitness journey. From the hook grip in weightlifting to the nuances of nutrition, this episode is a treasure trove of tips and anecdotes to fuel your health and fitness aspirations with the HerdFit Podcast guiding the way.

@crossfitbison @crossfittraining @crossfit @crossfitgames #crossfit #sports #exercise #health #movement #crossfitcoach #agoq #clean #fitness #ItAllStartsHere #CrossFitOpen #CrossFit #CrossFitCommunity @CrossFitAffiliates #supportyourlocalbox #crossfitaffiliate #personalizedfitness

00:00:05 Avoiding the New Year Fitness Crash

00:11:37 Reset Challenge and Fasting for Wellness

00:16:48 Fasting, Fitness, and Post-Competition Reflections

00:23:09 Planning for Long-Term Health Goals

S05E141 Post Reset - Now What? Sustainable Health Goals with Guest Coach Adam Ramsden

Transcript

David Syvertsen

Host

00:05

Hey everybody, welcome to the Herd Fit Podcast with Dr Sam Rhee and myself, Coach David Syvertsen. His podcast is aimed at helping anyone and everyone looking to enhance their healthy lifestyle through fitness, nutrition and, most importantly, mindset. Alright, welcome back to the Herd Fit Podcast. I'm Coach David Syvertsen. I'm here with my co-host, Dr and Coach Sam Rhee, and, for the hat trick, we got Coach Ramsden back back for episode number three. Thank you so much for giving us your time. Topic three we're going to let him open it up and talk about the avoiding the post-reset slash open crash. And, Adam, I want you to start us off by what you mean by this and why you think it's an important topic for everyone to listen to.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

00:53

So a lot of people, when I talk to them about fitness or anything in that realm, I use the analogy of a rubber band. Rubber bands are a teacher's best friend, but we've all had that bag of rubber bands that you leave in the back of the drawer, that you grab them and they're all crusty and stuff like that and you can't use them. They're broken. So a rubber band is meant to stretch, obviously, and be able to come back to its original form. A lot of times when we do challenges like this New Year's resolutions we make these big, wide, full life changes. So we're taking that rubber band and we're saying, okay, I'm going to pull it back in one direction, and a lot of times we pull so hard that the rubber band just snaps. It's just not maintainable and it's something that you can see here.

01:43

You go really hard when you start out at the gym and you end up getting injured or something. You just can't handle the volume and the load of the work that you're doing, and so we see a lot of that with New Year's resolutions. Everybody's like I'm going to quit drinking or I'm going to quit smoking and just like not sustainable changes. So I really want to talk about ways that we can avoid Once we are finished up with reset, because it is a big life change for a lot of people. They're changing the way they sleep, they're changing the way they eat, they're changing the way the amount of water that they drink, and it becomes a struggle four or five weeks in. So how can we avoid just giving up or saying, no, I'm just going back to the way I was before? How can we avoid that crash?

David Syvertsen

Host

02:32

at the end of it. Yeah, I mean so. According to the Wall Street Journal, it just has someone send an article to me about gym business stuff. But it started off with 43. It's now February, or almost February. That means 43% of people give up on New Year's resolutions already and I don't know how they got to that. But somewhat trusted source and I did I went and looked at the bison reset challenge percentage of people still logging scores and I know some people are a few days behind. So I really went back to who logged those first few weeks and it's a little over 50%, but it's still not as many as I'd want. That's it.

Sam Rhee

Co-host

03:08

Yeah.

David Syvertsen

Host

03:09

And again we're going to see if that picks up a little bit, because again I sometimes wait three, four days to log. So let's say that number is 60%. It's still. A lot. Of people at some point are just like. It's not for me. I went too hard. That first week had a bunch of sixes and now I just don't want to do it anymore and that's a crash. And we see this all the time. The fitness industry, the business of it, banks on people like this, right, and they the amount of deals that you see from a gym that's up the street or most global gyms centers around. Bro, let's get as many people as we can to sign up for this exclusive offer on January 1st. Knowing, not knowing and actually kind of hoping they give up Because you can't have 4,000 people in that gym, your business would not work, but so you're kind of hoping that three quarters of them are never going to come but still pay you.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

04:07

And the $19 a month. It shows up on your credit card charge and you just say what is that? And how, whenever it's $12.

David Syvertsen

Host

04:14

Yeah, If it's $150, it's different, so people give up on that. So I'm telling you, this is almost like a dark side of the industry is that you are trying to get people to pay you without actually using your service and that's. But the issue is, they know people are going to do it. It's proven sign Like it's going to happen. It's proven data every year. That's going to happen. What causes the crash? Is it that we just went too hard, we didn't pace correctly out of the gate, or is it? Is there something that we're just not thinking about? What causes that crash?

Sam Rhee

Co-host

04:49

Sometimes it's expectations. Sometimes you really put so much on yourself and then you get super disappointed that you're not okay, difficult for yourinkaex' Emotional reaction is very negative. So, like you said, maybe you went hot for six days and you're like, and then you break you can't drink that kind of water, you can't eat right, you can't meet your goals that you had, and what was supposed to be a positive experience now becomes negative and you're mad at yourself. You're mad at this stupid challenge for making you have to do this stuff. You don't wanna do it anymore and so you're just like forget this, this is unhelpful, and you just stop and that negative emotional reaction. Anytime I have something like that, I dig into it and I'm like why do I feel so negative about something? And that I think so much of our lives are driven by that kind of emotional reaction. And I think that that's a big part of it because of disappointment. Not in others sometimes, yes, but it's in ourselves and that's tough.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

05:54

And I think that when we look at the six categories that we have, people aren't a spectrum for that. Some people telling them to get seven hours sleep is gonna be very easy. For other people it's gonna be impossible. And so a lot of people see this as pass fail, where they're going for the six every day, they're going for their five every day, and if they don't get it in that first week, it takes about three weeks to generate habits or just have them ingrained in your everyday life, and so a lot of people see that they can't get there on the first week and they say, okay, I'm not gonna be able to get there, so let's just forget it.

David Syvertsen

Host

06:36

Yeah, I think knowing the why, sam, like, why do I feel this way? Right, and how do I get to this point? Building the three weeks I love? I agree with everything there and I think one thing we all need to do a little self audit on is why are you pursuing that goal?

06:54

Because from my experience I do feel most people have a certain goal because they want to impress someone else. And I'm almost harsh and blunt to the point where I think it frustrates or maybe even offends people sometimes. But I always try to let people know, especially like with CrossFit Sport or losing weight and looking a certain way. No offense to anyone that has that goal, but there's not that many people that truly care about it. And I actually want to say that from a supportive perspective, meaning if you don't get to that level, if you don't look like that, no one's gonna care either. Like they have their own goals, their own lives and like, yes, I know your friends are supporting this gym will always support you with whatever goal you have, but it's not going to positively impact many, if any, lives if you get there. And I think all this external pressure that you feel, this outward desire to impress that person and that person it's. I think that's why a lot of these goals start to kind of disappear as the weeks go by, because you do, you start to learn that at some point and it's not a truly fulfilling, ever-lasting result that you might be like right, I finally looked the way I want to look. I finally ranked the place I want to rank. Why isn't anyone treating me any different, you know? So it's kind of like an empty feeling, like you did all that for that and that results is not there for you.

08:26

Where I see people I mean Adam's one of them to me is that to me, his goals are very internal. This is the way I want to live, this is the way I want to be. Dan Cote is like this to me as well. Right, and I don't think it's a coincidence that they're good friends and have been good friends a long time, because I think again, you attract what you are, you are what you attract, and they're so like. This is what I want for myself. So that's why it's like a constant. It's there 12 months a year.

08:54

Do you have bad stretches? Yeah, you're a human being, but I don't think much has changed about either one of those guys with what they're pursuing and all the effort that they put into Ice baths, cold showers right, if you're doing it to impress someone else, to make an Instagram post, a story about it, to get to talk about it with others, it's not gonna last. If you're trying to lose weight and eat healthy so that you can, someone could say, oh, you look lean. Oh, yes, I made it. It's like doesn't really matter, it doesn't really bring the result. Now, touch on that a little bit, adam, because I feel like this is something that I always admire about you is that a lot of these things that you put yourself through and the self-education that you do and the trying to always find another edge it's truly for you and then also to help teach others. Touch on that a little bit.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

09:39

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say it's more for me now. Nowadays I'm thinking more about my kids, like my grandkids, who I don't even know will exist, you know, at some point in the future. And so you know, being a tech guy, I actually chat GPT'd it. I said you know what, let me take AI and figure this out for me. So I asked chat GPT? I said what are giving in-depth way to optimal health? And this is what it came over Nutrition, physical activity, sleep, stress management so similar to mindfulness practice that we'll be added in this year Social connections, avoiding harmful substances, regular health checkups, mental health, hygiene and safety and continuous learning Like that's reset in a nutshell.

10:26

That's what we're doing and it's changed over the couple of years that we've done it. But I think we've hit the sweet spot this year of hitting every aspect of social, emotional and physical health. That's awesome and how you can optimize that. So if you can take these six weeks and find out what works for you and then create a goal for next year of maybe going a little bit further, then that rubber band's just stretching a little bit at a time and you're gonna find ways that you don't get that snap back where you say, okay, now I'm gonna eat cookies and ice cream every day because I didn't get to do it for five weeks. What can we sustain over the long term so that we can plan for 10, 20, 30, 40 years in the future and know?

Sam Rhee

Co-host

11:10

the why behind it. Yeah, the bending, not breaking, is a great concept with this. I think just because you had a whole week of ones and twos does not mean you can't do better next week. And if you're someone who's like I don't wanna log all these ones and twos, everyone's gonna see that and they're gonna think I'm a degenerate or something Like okay, fine. But I feel like I think if you actually make it a challenge and say, can I do better next week? And then the final week, can I come on strong?

11:46

I'm a very slow starter when it comes to CrossFit workouts. I always take forever to warm up. My first round is the slowest. I try to make the last round always my best round. And if you can take whatever negative emotions you have about it and find something positive in it, hang on to that, say all right, I know I'm not gonna be able to eat right, but at least I can get that drink the water, intake one for the rest of the challenge or most days or whatever. And most of these things need to have a positive mental, emotional benefit for you. You did a really great job setting it up, because you told people don't try to get perfect sixes, get the five, get the four, get the, whatever it is, and I will tell you I haven't changed my life. One Iota for a reset challenge. I get a three every day, but you know what it does. It is making me think about maybe I will do a little bit of something else in it, like I've done that every year. I drink way more water now than I have in the past because of the reset challenges. My eating style is so much cleaner than it used to be because of multiple reset challenges. There are certain things I'm not going to ever do, like drink over 50% of what he didn't announce, but there are certain things that have stuck and I feel very positive about it. The mindfulness is one that I've been wrestling with this year.

13:17

It was so funny. I saw Rafi and he's like have you done any? We had that great podcast, fantastic. If you haven't listened to it, you must listen to it. And he's like after that I saw him last week. He's like hey, have you been doing any of the mindfulness stuff? And I was like you know, I really want to. I haven't. And it was so funny because it's in my head. I know I'm going to do it. I bet at some point you will, I will.

13:41

And he actually sent me something. He thought of me. He sent me something yesterday and I was like that's really nice and I know I'm going to incorporate it because it feels right. It takes a while for it to stick for me. Nothing comes quick for me. But take whatever you have left for the rest of this and do what you want with it. Like if you log zero, it's not supposed to make you feel bad, okay, it's only supposed to make you feel good. So even if you're like I can't do any of this except no alcohol, great Log that one or the 20 burpees or whatever it is Like, just do it and try to take something positive out of it. I think that's a good thing.

David Syvertsen

Host

14:24

Adam, I want to ask your opinion on this idea of fasting that we both took it on this year. I've done it three of the past four years. The one year I didn't do it, I feel like I started to fall apart a little bit, but maybe we could talk about that at a different time. The fasting I started off my reset challenge with a five day fast and I think you did three days. I think a few other people in the gym did three days and I want to get into. Is this counterproductive to what we're talking about? Because by definition, that fast is really stretching that rubber band of like. I view it as there's different reasons behind fasting, but it does give you some positive momentum to try and restart the way you eat, your relationship with food, also just giving your gut a break from constantly being stressed and overworking. I think it's mentally challenging more than it is physical, especially the back half of it. The first couple of days are pretty rough, like physically, you just feel weak, a little hungry and everything. But then it turns into this mental emotional battle and by the end of it and there are some people that disagree with fasting and I think you need to know why you're fasting and for me it's kind of just resetting I keep using that word Everything eating habits, letting my body get a break, and at the end of that every fast, like day five, I feel so good, mind and body I wouldn't say I feel fit.

15:48

I remember I worked out right after the few days after that fast, worked out, did not try to crush it, still did not feel good and I think we did a workout next to each other. We were both just like slogging through it, toast to barred, boxed to arms. I was scared of every boxed over. I did that. I would have paid to watch them, but it was, you know. I think it takes the right person to take a fast on and really reap the positive rewards from it long term, because there is a desire, once that fast is over, to go have a cheat meal, to go make up for some progress, make up for a lost time. As you will, can you relate and kind of talk about the concept of fasting and how this can set you up, kind of tease this up for you. But you have to be and this also a good first test for you in terms of are you going to crash after the reset slash open.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

16:40

Yeah. So first thing I'll say is I'm not a doctor, yes, and give any medical advice. This is all anecdotal. You know stories that I'll tell.

16:48

The one thing I will say is that I don't think we're stretching the rubber band as much as we think when we think about not eating for three days. You know, evolutionarily we're able to go weeks without food. So you know, when somebody says, oh, I'm starving, I'm hungry, you know like I'm going to get yelled at for this. But no, you're not. Sorry, you've never been hungry. Yeah, it's not in your life. Is that what you tell your kids when they come up to you? Yeah, yeah, and you know, and I get yelled at, yeah, so we live in an age with endless available calories, you know, and for much of human history those calories were not available. So our body is very good at adapting to not having food. So at first, you know, it was a question of okay, can I do it, can I go without? You know what would that feel like to go without food?

17:43

I did 24 hour fast. So you know, experiment with intermittent fasting for a while, and I do think it is a good reset for your body, you know. You just feel better after those three days of you know, everything has a chance to kind of reset, everything has a chance to rest. It's like taking a rest day from the gym. You know your gut just doesn't have to be constantly working. Your digestive system is not constantly working to break down the food, to use it as energy. So, yeah, there are some things that you have to, mistakes that I've made. You know I didn't taper myself off caffeine the first time. I did an extended fast. Wow, brutal, got that vicious headache.

David Syvertsen

Host

18:32

Remember that.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

18:33

Yeah. So you do have to prepare for it. It can't just be a ah, you know what I'm going to take off today from eating. A lot of people do that. That's a, you know they'll do off and on daily fasts. But I would say, you know, definitely check with your doctor and make sure that you're able to do it before you go for an extended time. But I think there are some benefits to it, but there are also, you know, cons.

18:56

So one thing I found out when I was doing intermittent fasting and started counting macros is that I just couldn't get the amount of protein I needed during that eight hour window. It was just almost impossible. So, unless I was eating a pound and a half of ground beef for lunch, and just that being it, I just wasn't going to hit my numbers. So you know, for people that are coming to the gym every day and you have your numbers and you need to hit those protein numbers. You know, intermittent fasting, you have to look at how your numbers are going to shake out and what you would have to eat. You know, a lot of times when people work with Kelly Kavan and stuff like that, what they'll notice is they're not eating enough. You've said this before, and so intermittent fasting is going to put a strain on the time you're able to get those calories that you need and the fats and the carbs, so it's tough to do so.

David Syvertsen

Host

19:52

Let's wrap this up with talking about the open again. All right, it is open season. After all the tying together what we've already talked about in regard to lifestyles and reset. We see this a lot, all the gearing up towards the open, the excitement. You know we really do get excited here for a long time. We talk about it a lot, we make a big deal of it the Tuesday after the open is over. You know, for a lot of us it's a relief. You're just like finally it's over. I just want to get back to normal working out and stop mapping my whole week around a Friday workout and a Sunday repeat. Maybe you know, and we will have a post open episode. But there is a crash that we can relate to. People that sign up for these like qualifier competitions where they travel, there's three days competing. It's your entire life revolves around a few workouts and then all the end.

20:43

We've seen and heard many games athletes talk about this. I remember Andrew Ager made a really great post about this years ago, about the second. It was over. It was like that's it, like I've put my whole life into this thing and that was it. And do you have any advice for someone that views the open that way, because we do. We have a lot of people that, like they, are locked in. They've been talking to me about the open and training for an extra programming for months, like 10 months, and they're going to do great. I can't wait to watch them, but I am I always get a little worried in that scenario that the second it's over, it's not going to fill the cup the way they thought it would and it's a crash. It's a real crash. Is there anything an athlete can do over these next few weeks or during the open to kind of prep for that potential crash? That's going to kind of take away, you know, a lot of their why behind their training.

Sam Rhee

Co-host

21:41

It's a really good question, I think it's. I think most athletes that prepare for something big take a decompressed period for a couple days, a week or two. I've seen you do that every time something really big comes up because there's such a big void once it's gone, like you're like poof. I've been like spending every weekend training extra, I've been thinking about it constantly and now I have nothing there to fill that. That dopamine crash happens. You don't know what to do and I think for most athletes, if you really build yourself up for something, make sure you take some time afterwards to decompress a little bit. And I think that if you do that before and you always say this before you make any decisions about next year or what you're going to do in the future or how you're going to train or what else you're going to look to do take that time and just do nothing. And I think for most people that's such great advice after every big event Just take a little bit of time to decompress and get some perspective.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

22:48

I think when you, if you think about like an Olympic athlete, right and let's say Michael Phelps there was the last time he stood on the podium getting that gold medal right and what was he? Like 30? Yeah, right. Like now you've got 40, 50 years left For us. We talk a lot about the long-term goals of health. So I think, yes, taking that couple of days after that open, after that comp, and kind of reflecting on all the work that you did, that's wonderful. But I think that's also the first day that you can say, okay, what's next?

23:27

And Peter Atia, who is a brilliant guy, loves finish reading his book, but he talks about two different ways to approach that. He says you can either forecast, which is, you know, looking at the next year, what are your goals for the next year, coming up to the next open or the next competition that you have? And then he also talks about back casting, which is, what do you want to be able to do when you're 70 years old, 80 years old? And let's start thinking long picture and kind of make those incremental changes to our lifestyle that's going to allow us to do that when we're 80, 90 years old, hopefully 100 years old, and that's what we're doing, you know. So there is always a next day or a next step that we can be thinking about, even after the day, after the open, when you say, okay, I'm done for now, Good, take that breath, but your journey is just beginning.

David Syvertsen

Host

24:17

Right, yeah, to blend your two answers together, and because you guys are both right that at some point after the open, after reset, you do have to make a plan. It doesn't have to be the day after, it doesn't have to be as you peel yourself off the ground after 2324.3. All right, but there should be some sort of like all right, what is next for me? Absolutely, but don't rush into it, saying that you have to come up with that answer, because I've seen this after the open to is people want to go full bore into training for the next thing. So there's like right, there should always be a plan. And communicating with other people about this plan, in my opinion, is vital because whether it's a coach, a spouse, a friend, something that's been through this before, it's really important to communicate your thoughts and listen, because sometimes, when you go through a situation like this, trying to avoid a crash after the open, it's just so much internal thought and the more I've learned about mental health for myself, but also other people. The communication with a social connection, which Adam talked about earlier, it's not important, it's vital. So have conversations with people, find a support group, find a good listener, but that can also give some really sound advice and that's usually going to come from someone that's been doing this for a long time and has seen the good, the bad, the ugly and then start to think about where your next step's going to be, but don't feel like it has to be made, you know, the second after the workout, because I do think there is value.

25:48

My favorite thing we used to do we just don't do it anymore is we'd go away after the open, like.

25:54

My favorite trip I ever did with Ash was we went to the Bahamas. It was literally the Tuesday after the open was over and it was such a perfect timing and I know not everyone could do that. I'm not telling you to go on vacation If you do, it could bring me with you but it was and we did that after semifinals a few years ago, our quarter finals, I forget whatever and to Florida, and I remember it was so much easier for me to reflect on what I want coming up, you know, and if you're going to throw yourself back into this blender of training and training and work and stress and this and that, and I don't think you get the clarity that you think you want, you know it's kind of like a lot of crowded thoughts. So be patient, but when, while you're being patient, know that you do have to come up with your next plan, it's not something that's going to come to you months later. It's going to be something you actually have to put a real effort into.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

26:54

And as coaches, or if you're on the other end of that conversation, somebody comes up to you and they say, okay, what do I do? What are my next steps? You know what's my plan? You know we get very nervous because we don't want to give somebody advice and have it not work out for them.

27:11

So I was at a training the other day and you know, a great piece of advice I got is that and I think it can work for anybody is that, since we have experience with these things, one of the things, one of the strategies you can use is to say for some, for others, for you, so for some people, you know, the nutrition thing has, you know, some people have done paleo, some people have have done keto. For others, it's just been trying to eliminate processed foods. For you, we can try one of those things, but whatever it is, we're going to be there to support you and I think having that support is a huge thing and it kind of lifts the responsibility of your giving dogmatic, you know, advice of what. This is the one way, right, you know, because it's not one way for everybody, absolutely. Some things are going to work for some people, other things are going to work for others, but the support being there is the most important part, absolutely Except for hook, gripping the barbell.

Sam Rhee

Co-host

28:08

Everyone needs to hook, grip the barbell. And then if you say you're never going to do it, I always just say you're not going to do it yet.

Adam Ramsden

Guest

28:15

Know who you are If you said you're never going to hook grip.

David Syvertsen

Host

28:18

All right, thank you guys. I hope that helps you guys avoid any sort of post open, post reset crash. This is maybe something you want to save for that time period. Just kind of bookmark it and come back to it after the open or after whatever challenge you're on, whatever competition you do, and that's it. We'll see you guys next week. Thanks. Thank you everybody for taking the time out of your day to listen to the herd fit podcast. Be on the lookout for next week's episode.