Why Repetitive Movements Cause Stiffness Too | John C.

The vast majority of men with back pain, hip pain, and joint pain sit far too much on a daily basis. While sitting all day terrorizes your joints, there’s another potential cause of stiffness:

Repetitive and constant movement. 

Today’s guest and Man Flow Yoga Member, John, works the night shift at H-E-B. His job requires him to move constantly (he gets 18,000 steps a day when he’s working). And the constant, repetitive movements have unleashed pain, tightness, and stiffness on his back, hips, and joints. 

John’s big problem (which he didn’t realize until after he joined Man Flow Yoga and dialed in his consistency) was that he never engaged his core prior to Man Flow Yoga. 

But now?

Not only is nearly all his bodily pain gone completely, but he even helps his coworkers eliminate their pain – something he credits to my instructions when doing a Man Flow Yoga workout. 

John’s story proves that moving too much (but in the wrong ways) can also be as bad on your body as not moving at all. 

Here’s what else he shares in this episode:

• How John motivates himself to workout even though he’s a father of five who works the night shift 
• Why trying other types of yoga (that aren’t Man Flow Yoga) can cause you to injure yourself 
• How community can improve your consistency more than perhaps anything else

Listen now!

The Better Man Podcast is an exploration of our health and well-being outside of our physical fitness, exploring and redefining what it means to be better as a man; being the best version of ourselves we can be, while adopting a more comprehensive understanding of our total health and wellness. I hope it inspires you to be better!

Episode 142 Highlights

• How moving constantly for work is almost as bad for your back as sitting all day (1:20) 
• Why does Man Flow Yoga consistently outperform other styles of yoga for bodily pains? John explains at (12:07) 
• The absolute best Man Flow Yoga program for moving your body in all the ways you should move your body but don’t (17:54) 
• Simple ways to incorporate your core into daily movements (and how this staves off back pain) (19:19) 
• How being consistent with Man Flow Yoga helps you eliminate pain for your family, friends, and coworkers (34:47) 

[su_spoiler open=”no” class=”podTscript” title=”Episode 142: Why Repetitive Movements Cause Stiffness Too – John C. – Transcript” style=”fancy” icon=”plus-circle”]

Dean Pohlman: Hey guys it’s Dean. Welcome to the Better Man Podcast. Today’s episode is a member interview. I’ve got John C here. John’s from San Antonio. He came to the last weekend workshop that I did in Austin, earlier in May. And, we’re gonna be talking about his story. So, John, thank you for being here.

John C: Appreciate it. Man. Thank you.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So, you know, I got to talk with you in person at, at the weekend workshop series. And, you know, I talk with so many people who are, you know, guys in their 50s and 60s, guys who are inactive at work, guys who generally sit too much. And you are you don’t fit this mold. So I was excited to have this conversation just to find like, hear about a different story, right?

Dean Pohlman: You’re a guy. You’re right for your job. You’ve got this awful nightshift thing going that you have to manage. So, yeah, I’d be great if you could just introduce yourself and tell people kind of, you know, just the basics, of of your life right now.

John C: I’d love to hear that work. So I do work the night shift. Been working night shifts off and on for years. Daytime shift, night shift. I work at a retail company, so, my schedule fluctuates.

Dean Pohlman: H-e-b.

John C: Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah. H-e-b. Yeah. I work overnight. H-e-b. So pretty much is, they call it, overnight coverage. So I pretty much watch the store as far as anything that goes on refrigeration, anything with the partners or anything like that. That’s pretty much what I do. But overnight, I feel like I’ve done it before.

John C: A lot of it, because I have stalkers overnight, so we pretty much stock the store. And it’s a constant, it’s just a constant constant moving as far as, stocking down, stacking, a lot of, movements and everything like that. And what I do as far as my job right now, pretty much walk and run the entire store and, just I could do maybe about like 18,000 18,000 steps a night, pretty much.

Dean Pohlman: Wow.

John C: So, yeah, it’s a it’s a lot. So I do a lot of walking and, there’s sometimes I do sit down there like that, just, for a little bit if I ever have a chance. But it’s mostly walking. But, sometimes if another department as far as, like groceries or GM, they need help. I pretty much help them out as far as stocking.

John C: But also to as far as being a company for so many years, I’ve done stocking before and if a lot of partners, a lot of employees pretty much, always have their back. Always and always because down stacking, there’s so much little items that have a double stack, put it down the aisles and everything.

Dean Pohlman: Down stacking.

John C: Down stacking is pretty much you have a pallet of a product and you pretty much down stacking onto the floor. As far as where the product supposed to go. And it’s just concept bending down.

Dean Pohlman: Concept guy.

John C: Using your back a lot, a lot, a lot. Yeah, yeah. So I hear I hear a lot of people and I’ve dealt with it. A lot of people have back problems. Yeah, quite a bit. I hear all the time. And, I know I always hear people as far as people working at desk, they have back problems and everything because they sit there for so many hours.

John C: But also too, if you’re break it down pallets and are it like that or just in general if people are actually working in the warehouse, it’s the same thing. They’re pretty much building a pallet, right? Like that. It’s concept up and down, up and down, and it’s a lot of wear and tear on your back a lot.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

John C: So yeah that’s pretty much what I do. So yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. So is that what that is that kind of your, was that kind of your oh shit moment to do you get sick of the back pain or did you look around at your coworkers and say like, okay, I don’t want to end up like these guys or what? Yeah. Start, you know, looking for something.

John C: The. I got to being stiff. I got tired being stiff. I got tired of, feeling the pain. I got tired of, back pain. I just got fed up with it.

Dean Pohlman: And how old are you, by the way?

John C: I’m 4041.

Dean Pohlman: Okay.

John C: Yeah, yeah. And even older guys, too. I see them a light as far as, like in their 50s. See them? Like they always saying, oh, my back hurts, my back hurts. And I was like, I’m not going to be like that when I get older. I’m not going to get I’m not gonna be not 56 years old and start having back problems.

John C: And I see a lot of that the way their posture is. And, I was like, like, I just told myself, I can’t be like that. There’s no way I’m going to be walking around like that with, back pain where I just in general my posture, because I know a lot of times you have mentioned as far as, a lot of the posture, people are always going to be in a form like this hunchback.

John C: And I’m like, I, I’m not going to be doing that in the morning. Like I refuse to. I, you know, I rather, I rather, you know, this there’s always, you know, you go to a doctor, you go go to choir practice or you could go to massage therapist. You mean you could do all these things that help, you know, help to a certain point, but then back to work again.

John C: You’re going to start slow. You’re going to start feeling the same pain all over again. So yeah, that was pretty much.

Dean Pohlman: You did try out massage therapist and chiropractor, right? Was that like one of your first things that you tried out?

John C: No. Yeah. I’ve been for years. I’ve been going to like chiropractor’s and intern like on my back. I at a hunch over and I think that that’s like and it it helps. It does. But then there you go back to work again and you know, same thing. Constant moving all over again. You know, up and down, up and down.

John C: That’s like so, you know, and it may someday if it’s too late, you know, it helps to help relieve the pain. But the for, you know, it only go for so long and then all of a sudden back to square one all over again.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. So did it. So it worked like initially or does it, does it just only work for, like, when you get it and then it starts hurting as soon as you’re not doing it or like how.

John C: Yeah. Yeah, pretty much it that because I mean you could go to a massage therapist and they’ll help you out to relieve the pain like the knots and then the muscle tissue and, or like that. And then it helps. And you go home. Okay, cool. I’m relaxed. I’m fine. Everything’s good. And then we if you consistent work on days and nights to do what you’re doing, consistent is the pain is going to come back again.

John C: And, Yeah, I just like I can’t, I can’t be, I can’t I refused if you go to that physical pain like it’s stuff and I see a light. So.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. Were you, what was your background with working out like, did you play sports in high school or were you active when you were younger?

John C: Yeah, I used to I used to play football back in high school. So I played football and then, Yeah, I always been active when I was younger, you know, kids that ride a bike, they play basketball, football, you know, skateboarding and all that stuff. You see that back then? So, yeah, I’ve been pretty much a very active.

Dean Pohlman: Got it. So you I mean, you’re still relatively you’re still super active because your job. Yeah. And subsidy is like dude, if you enter you enter some competitions for like maximum steps per day. You’re going to you’re going to win some competitions. Yeah. Yeah. You should see if there’s like a, you should see if this is random walking competitions or step competitions that you can enter.

Dean Pohlman: Maybe you win an extra hundred bucks a month or something. But then you started doing, so you stayed active. But just the nature of the work, just like a lot of pounding ground on your. Exactly. I mean, in your life. Are you lifting things up, too? Are you, like, picking things up and like.

John C: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Worries. Yeah. So you’re. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Well, our shoulders are like, what’s.

John C: Yeah. So when, when I stock or I usually use to stock, there’s always a lot of up and down movements too, as far as, heavy stuff like dog food, for instance, like dog food is like 50 pounds a bag, majority of them 25, 50 pounds a bag. So it’s like you’re constantly moving up and down.

John C: Put on the shelf, lifting in the, putting above your shoulders and, detergent. Aisle two is another heavy area, so they pretty much you get the boxes, they come in fours and that’s a lot of up and down, up and down, movements. And yeah, it’s like you’re getting a workout pretty much, if you like, more dirty, either Walmart or anything overnight that this, retails for stocking overnight.

John C: You’re constantly doing it. It depends like 8 to 10 hours a night straight. You and you take lunches? Yeah, you take breaks, but sometimes people will work through it. And it’s a it’s the content. And then when you get off from work, you’re tired, you’re exhausted. And of course you had to your go to your everyday life and take care of things.

John C: You take care of your areas and things like that. It is it is very it is very exhausting creative areas.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And you’ve got what you have. How many kids do you have?

John C: I have five, well, I have two. My boys. Yeah, I have two, my boys and I have three of my step boys. I mean, my three step boys, three kids, but they were old enough already now. So my daughter, she’s 28, my two boys are 26 and 25, so they’re well enough already. So. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. Got it. So, so when do you. So when do you find man for yoga? What did when what did you like and why did you say like, oh yeah, I’ll try this. Or like, what else did you do. You try to.

John C: So I bought this on I saw it on YouTube and I was looking at as far as, different yoga routines or different, yoga instructors. Okay. So you were looking for yoga, though? Yeah. Yeah, I was looking for yoga because, I was looking for stretching routine or stretch. Right. Or just before, because I’ll always say stretch.

John C: Stretch your muscles like, oh, you need a stretch, you need stretch. I was like, okay. Yeah, you need to stretch.

Dean Pohlman: Other guys at your company who were like, doing stretching on a like where there is there like, is there like the, you know, the 55 year old guy who’s been there for like 30 years, who does, like, all these weird.

John C: No. Actually no.

Dean Pohlman: For doing or like, no.

John C: Actually, at my story. No, I don’t see as far as guys doing stretching. I’ll go back to it a little bit. That’s funny how you mentioned about that, but, I know I see at that warehouse, I know they do stretches before their shift, but at the store, it’s like once they go in, they pretty much go straight in and go to work.

John C: So it’s kind of, do.

Dean Pohlman: They make them.

John C: Different.

Dean Pohlman: At the warehouses?

John C: Yeah, pretty much. I heard from what I know. Yeah. They make them like they like stretch like, you know it’d be three star sports, right? They, you know, stretch out. It’s pretty much the same thing. Like in the warehouse. They’re like, okay, stretch out, get ready, get your body, moving like that. So I know the warehouse does, because the warehouse, they could work up to ten, 12 hours a shift.

John C: So I know that the stores. Yeah, I don’t I don’t see them doing that. And it’s something I’ll look at it with if I’m, like, in charge of a department where I used to be, I was like, okay, maybe I should get the police, come in together and start stretching before we start a shift. Yeah, but that doesn’t happen because right away we go in and we’re like, okay, we’re ready to rock and roll.

John C: So.

Dean Pohlman: Right. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s tough to get people to do extra stuff that on top of.

John C: Yeah, exactly.

Dean Pohlman: We’re going to work out more before I work out what. Yeah.

John C: Yeah. Exactly. So, so yeah, I was just looking for that. I was just looking as far as there’s a lot of yoga instructors. There’s a lot of, I could mention quite a bit, but, so when I found yours on YouTube, there are some routines I have done. That’s okay, I feel better. This was good.

John C: And the way you describe things in just to you want to hurt yourself? There’s always modifications. And, I even tried DDP yoga. That’s funny. I tried to like, once or twice, and I was on my phone and I was it was one of the DVD. Oh no, it was DVD at the time. So I was one of the DVDs I put on, and I try one of his routines and there was one of them.

John C: He was like, okay, hold in position and just stay there. Kind of like he’s in a touchdown position and I hold it for so long and I strain my neck and I could not move or anything like that. I was like, okay, I’m done. I’m not doing that. So I seen that. I, I seen like this a lot of general, but, nothing was working for me.

John C: It just it wasn’t it didn’t it didn’t feel right. I was like I kept on training, like you pretty much study. I was like, okay, what is there gotta be something out there, like, to help me more understand versus just you could go with the flow of a yoga. It’s in some areas of but they’re not explaining it in a way for you to understand as far as like your muscle tissues, as far as what your core as far as your back, as far as the glutes, they don’t really explain that much.

John C: They just too much. Just go with the position, go with the flow. It’s pretty much it. Yeah. And I would understand it. So yeah. So there was times I did some of your routines for back pain relief and it will help out a lot. And I’ll do it sometimes. And then sometimes I will just like yoga is just, you know, I had an ego.

John C: I was like, I don’t need do yoga. Yoga is just for, like, feminist thing. I’m not going to be doing yoga, like, right? I just out of stretch.

Dean Pohlman: But yeah, I’m not doing yoga. I’m stretching.

John C: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I just, Yeah. So then I think there was an offer that you had on, I think I saw on Facebook it was like, a six week challenge, one on foundation. So I took it. I was like, okay, cool. And then I got on the Facebook community. I had an app, and then I did it maybe for, like maybe a week or so.

John C: And of course, when you’re on the program and also in life happens, it then it just throws you off. Right? So I, I was like, I, I didn’t continue with this like but then I keep on seeing, seeing on the community, on Facebook all these guys with the just in guys in general. Nothing feminine or anything like that.

John C: But just guys in general, all the talk about their health, talking about you know, being pain relief, talking about just in general, like always seeing anything in the Facebook community is always positive. I can never see anybody saying negative anything to each other about anything. So that’s one thing I like about the, Facebook community.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

John C: And,

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, it’s a really.

John C: Awesome.

Dean Pohlman: Community. Yeah. Developed like, people are just supportive. No one’s like getting on people and saying like, come on, man, you need to do better. Like, people are like, hey, it’s tough. You know? They’re like, they’re supportive. It’s not like, right. You know, I think it’s a lot of it’s a lot different than like the, you know, the one of the Alpha community that we see on.

John C: Oh yeah. Yeah, I seen those. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: I don’t want to I don’t want to say anything to offend anybody. But you know, we know who we’re talking about. Like the guys who. Yeah, pretend to pretend to be masculine. But really, there’s covering up something.

John C: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. That’s true. Yeah. So, you got.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So the community. So. So you did the foundations challenge, so you eventually, I’m assuming you got back into it. So what did you what did you start doing? Consistently. When did that happen?

John C: So I was on the membership and then afterwards I was on it. And then also I got another offer. I was like, oh, cool. All right. Cool. I’ll take this offer. And then. For a good while, I was up in our, grocery department stock overnight for maybe like a week. And I was like, man, this is a reason why I don’t want to be a stocker overnight, because it’s a lot of wear and tear on your body.

John C: So there’s some videos on, on the, on the app, which I really like. You can search it. It’s as far as anything like you look for thought, back pain, knee pains, soldier soldiers, anything that you can look for. So I was looking for back, and there was, like, a ten minute routine, helping back, helping relieve your back.

John C: I was like, okay, cool. So I did it, and they helped out a line. I was like, damn, I just okay, like, so I don’t feel stiff no more in my back to the hurt as much as, like, yeah, all right. And I know all your videos that say always stay consistent and, help out, relieve the pain.

John C: Like, okay, so I did it for maybe a week and I was like, man, my back feels so much better. And it’s not aching. It’s not hurting. My hips don’t hurt as much. Like, I feel better. I was like, okay, they mean look at different programs now. So then I think one of them, you start off with, getting back to this series, with the community.

John C: Yeah, that’s part my favorite.

Dean Pohlman: So I really like that series. Yeah, I made a lot of programs, but like that one, I feel like, you know, I’ve been doing this for so long that when I put that together, that put together, like, all the things that I felt or like all the things that, like, people were should be doing but weren’t doing, and a lot of like uncomfortable movements, just things like, oh, this is really hard to do.

Dean Pohlman: But then when you do it, you feel so much better.

John C: Yeah, yeah. So I started doing it and I know a lot of them. A lot of your yoga’s, videos is always focus on your core and never focus on my core. My always my focus went back. So when you’re saying focus on your core laying down, have your knees up in the air and you start feeling shaking, I’m like, I need to strain my core.

John C: It’s like, yeah. So I just like, I went through a pain. As you know, a lot of times when you go to workout, you go to gym and you start doing some, chest press or doing something in general or pull ups or anything. Yeah, it’s going to hurt in the beginning. But if you keep on doing consistent, you it’s the pain is going to go away and you’re going to start getting more repetition.

John C: You can start, getting more strength. So I kept on continue. It’s like, okay, this is helping. My core is a something really the back. It’s not so much, worry about my back. So much is so much focus on my core. And I notice a lot when I’m at work or my home. When I pick something off the floor, I might have been over my back to pick up the floor.

John C: I squat down at pick it up, or I use my core to pick up the floor like I have more awareness of my body, when I do stuff. Yeah, so I notice.

Dean Pohlman: So you on the one hand, you’re doing this job that is super strenuous, right? And you’re putting your body through a lot of stress, but kind of on the other hand, you have this opportunity to do all of these functional movements that most guys like, aren’t doing at all during the day. You just have to make sure that you’ve got, you know, the right, level of mobility so that you can do it the way that your body was designed to do it rather than, you know, developing these improper movement patterns that just cause back pain.

John C: So right now.

Dean Pohlman: You could actually just get really jacked doing, doing what you’re doing and be strong and, you know, but like, obviously, you know, probably more than the human body was intended to do, but, yeah, yeah. Anyways, it’s, you know, a blessing and a curse kind of kind of situation, I guess. Yeah. So what’s yours? So. Okay, so you found that getting back into it program.

Dean Pohlman: You were doing that where you’re doing that as part of the, the the challenge. Was there a.

John C: Community? Yeah, yeah, I was doing the part as a with the community and that’s what I like about it. Like on the app or even on Facebook in general, like people poster, videos or the poster pictures, as far as their, poses or anything like that. So everybody’s like, you know, engaging with each other.

John C: Everybody’s like, all right, cool, man. You know, like it helps motivate you. And, that’s what I really like about it. And, you know, after a while, of course, those life happens. You know, people try and stay consistent as far as what the program is like, try to they try to do from late to Friday and then something happens.

John C: It’s like they throw them off as like, oh man, I’m going to be doing this no more. I’m done with it. But we helped with the community. And when you go through social media, you see people still doing it consistent, being more disciplined. So then I was like, okay, I’m gonna put my mat down and I’m going to get, you know what?

John C: If I miss a day, then I’ll just do another day or I just do a double up on it.

Dean Pohlman: Okay. So you double up on it. Got it? Yeah, yeah. So what, what enables you to be consistent? Like, you talked a lot about noticing the results of the workout. You talked about having the inspiration of the community. Are there other things that you think about, like when it comes time to do your workout, you’re like, I really don’t want to do it today.

Dean Pohlman: What do you tell yourself that you know, allows you to to do it when you don’t want to do it?

John C: That’s that’s most every day.

Dean Pohlman: Every every day, even more. Yeah.

John C: Every every morning. Because I also, I also go to the gym to, like, maybe like two days of the week, I go to a gym and, it’s just the way the whole fitness industry right now, it is, it’s it’s crazy chaotic.

Dean Pohlman: But.

John C: It’s just because everybody has their own, like, different programs, different routines. Everybody has their own, like, nutrition advice. Everybody’s like, okay, you could do this for fat loss. You could do this for building muscle. I’m like, like it’s better just to get a magazine. Yeah, exactly. It’s like, where is it? Where you just go look in a magazine.

John C: You could see a bodybuilder, or anything in the general as far as nutrition, you could look at that versus. Right. Yeah. It’s it’s chaotic. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: But, get a book and ignore everything else. Make it.

John C: Yeah. As I.

Dean Pohlman: Said, you know. Yeah. Simple, but not necessarily accurate, but.

John C: Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So, yeah, it’s just because sometimes when I get my work, from something, I could be mentally exhausted. And sometimes I just, like, I don’t want to do anything. But, after I set up my notice, I noticed my improvements. As far as my flexibility. And what is, the pain relief I have, I have noticed that I feel different now.

John C: That I can just stop what I’m doing because I like. Yeah, helping people, I like people, I like coaching people like helping people. I like kind of being a spa in a way, because, they always ask me questions, not in general about health, but more about life. So, I just told myself, I’m going to just keep on continuing what I’m doing.

John C: Another too, because also, I know I mentioned the Facebook community, with my grandpa. He I got sick a couple times. Yeah, I got two strokes, and he’s like 80 something years old and seeing him, also see my uncle, too. He also had, heart problems. I just they always told me it’s like, just make sure you take care of yourself.

John C: That way you won’t be sick. I, I was always watching for my health. I tried to, but, you know, so I was like, okay, like, I just need to focus on my health, but also to just try to learn as much as I can. So that way, if somebody were to ask me that question or I can, because they see me, they ask questions as far as seeing what you’re doing, as far as, in yoga in general or just in anything fitness wise.

John C: Yeah. What are you doing to, be consistent, be disciplinary like that. So, yeah, I guide them, I show them in a way. And, yeah. So that’s the reason why I just, keep on continuing what I’m doing. Sometimes I do feel I do too much nice words over training. Because I work, then at home, then going to gym, I feel is too much, but I was like, I can’t, so I’m.

John C: You’re going to have pain regardless. I know a lot of plans. I could go on, but, I know a lot of times people tend to be in pain and they feel, okay, I’m going to take this pill to help relieve the pain. And yeah, but it’s not going to it’s not going to help it help relieve.

John C: It wasn’t going to fix it. Yeah. And, they feel like it’s a magic pill. Like they want to happen overnight. It’s not going to happen overnight. It’s got to be consistent with as far as what you do or try to be persistent and to have that mindset as far as the reason why you need to do what you do to take care of yourself.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. So it sounds like for you being able to be a resource and being able to help other people is, is is a big motivator for you. Showing up for your workout when you when you don’t want to do it?

John C: Exactly. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah for sure. So I’m wondering if you can go a bit more detail into, the improvements that you noticed. So you mentioned pain relief. Like, do you notice that your, like during the day you feel better at your job? Do you just feel not as and then like after your job, after, you know, a long shift, like, do you feel as sore or like how has that specifically improved?

John C: I noticed in my squats, like in my squat, I deep down in my squat, if I pick something up the floor like, deuce, why am I bending over my back because of the floor or lifted up, deep squat? And it’s funny, one of the guys that saw me is like, goddamn John, why he why the hell you guys so damn low?

John C: And I was like, am I going to be using my back, man? I’d rather just squat down, pick it off, and I need to pick off and then, you know, you know, do whatever with it. But, I noticed that. I noticed, my posture, my posture. I’m not so much hunched over. I noticed that my posture has been a lot better.

John C: And my flexibility too. I noticed I could touch my toes. I could, hold a stretch. I could like some of your routines, like a whole day for a while. And it does feel a lot better. And, just in my movies in general, I, I, I feel better and. Yeah, of course I am sore causes sore every day.

John C: But that’s why I like doing your your routines. Because it helps relieve the soreness. It helps. Yeah. There’s there’s times I don’t feel like doing anything. But then like looking in one of your apps in your videos and say, okay, this yoga is for low energy. I was like, okay, let me do this one. So that helps out too.

Dean Pohlman: So yeah. So let’s talk about some of the, the the night shift reality. So how do you how do you manage to, you know, like what all do you do to make sure that you don’t go crazy? I guess.

John C: So this is this is my routine. And I know some guys are, are different. So. Just say in general, okay, I go to work at night. So I worked a night shift, a lot of it. A lot of guys, females in general. Anyway, working night shift, either get a coffee or they’re getting an energy drink. So I constantly drink energy drinks and I try and back off, but I can’t drink energy drinks too.

John C: Keep myself awake overnight, keep myself, my energy high and everything like that. So after that, after work, I get home, I take my kids to school. That’s a reason why I work at nights right now, because I take my kids to school and then, pick them up in the afternoons. So after that, after my shift, I go home, I take care of my errands, take my kids to school, and then I try to sleep.

John C: And some guys, they stay awake. Some guys, they go straight to bed. It depends on their life in general. So I can maybe sleep. Maybe 4 or 5 hours in a day and then, get up an afternoon to pick up my kids from school and then spend time with them. Take care. You know, be with them, then do my errands.

John C: And then before I always go to work, always least take a nap. Probably work at least. Maybe hour to to hour for nap. Because if they for instance, if you get up early afternoon, maybe like a 2 or 3 an afternoon, and then by the time 8:00 comes around, you’re going to start feeling tired, you’re certainly exhausted. And then for some reason, the clock clicks in, in your mind, your body is like, okay, I’m going to go to sleep at night.

John C: But when I go to sleep at night, you have to go to work. So then you have to set your alarm to get up to make sure you’re okay, and then get up to go to work. So that’s what I do. That starts my chaotic routine as far as with that.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah.

John C: And so, yeah. And then some nights when I’m off, like last night, I was off. Sometimes I tend to go bed early. I go to bed like me, like 10 or 11:00 at night. I get up taking my kids to school in the morning, like around seven, and then I’m up. But I think it sucks when you’re off that night and then to, go back to work the next night, it throws your routine off.

John C: So then it’s like, okay, now I got to figure out. So it’s when I’m gonna take my nap or when I go to sleep before I go to back to work at night, because sometimes there’s some people that they’ll stay up for 24 hours and. Yeah. Wow. It just. Yeah. I don’t have a couple times. It’s not fun.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No, it sounds awful. Geez. All right. So there’s no like. Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks for sharing. I have no like. Yeah, I think I, I think when you talked about it with me, I think like the most I think the things that I like said like were, you know, you want to do as much as you can in those situations to encourage yourself to sleep when you need to sleep and stay awake when you need to stay awake.

Dean Pohlman: So it’s like getting like super blackout curtains during the day so you can mimic night as much as possible, doing things that before you go to bed, you are getting your body to wind down. Instead of like rev up. Right. So like a morning routine for you would actually be like an evening routine.

John C: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: You know, when you get home from work because you’re trying to, you’re trying to wind down. So, like, all of those things that people do to get better sleep, you have to do, like, twice as hard because you are fighting circadian rhythm, like you’re fighting your body’s natural, you know, built in clock to be aware.

John C: Yeah, it’s.

Dean Pohlman: Light and go to sleep when it’s dark. Man, that’s tough. I bet there are people who are, you know, specifically focused on. Have you have you looked for anybody who’s like, specifically teaches health for people who have night jobs? Is that is that advice?

John C: I, I yeah, actually I’ve seen a couple of my YouTube to talk about that as far because a lot of night I mean just in, in my sleep in general, like nurses. Yeah. Anybody who works in night shift security guards, yeah. It’s tough, I mean, stuff, I mean, I mean, or my job being active.

John C: Keeps me awake, but there’s some other jobs in general, like, you know, being security guard overnight. So we had something. We have security guard overnight, and he’s there in his car all night, as I do. How you sleep, rolling up or not, is you wait. Yeah, because he’s watching the store or watching equipment or some like that.

John C: Wow. He was in his car and some security is. Yeah, they’ll get up, they’ll walk around, whatever. But know you last I think couple nights ago, you sit in his car and he hasn’t slept maybe, what, 3 or 4 days? He has his reasons because he had to take care of some stuff, because he has like two job security wise.

John C: And I’ll see him. I’ll see his eyes. I was like, you need to get some sleep, man.

Dean Pohlman: He owes you, bro.

John C: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And then I say he’s like, I can. And I was like, I get it, I understand it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s tough stuff. Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So for you what’s kind of like what’s the next thing you want to work on in your fitness or like what’s your, are you working towards something right now?

John C: No, I’m trying to study more as far as, and just in general, as far as with the body, I’m trying to study more as far as, like yoga in general. But your type of yoga, not some other type of different yoga is. And like, some of them, I just, I mean, it was just for a minute, general, I’m looking more for that.

John C: And, Yeah, there’s some you could help out with females. But just more in guys. And it’s funny, because we had I mentioned earlier because there was this one guy, at work a couple days ago, he was saying about the he’s having back problems or bias hits, and I say, you’re good at me, right? He said, I’m just in pain, man, I don’t know.

John C: I can’t really move. And he’s bringing me, like, his 40s. Yeah. And, so I so I asked him, well, what’s up man? To me, you’re right. He was he was having pain from his hip down to his legs. And I was like, okay, you have synthetic nerve. Yeah, that’s what you call it. Yeah, I said pain.

John C: And so that’s what you have as like, there’s some routines that can help you relieve the pain. So, like, I show me quite a few of them, at work, and then, he’s like, I told him it’ll help, but you just don’t constantly be doing it. It’s not going to just happen overnight. So the hope is to relieve the pain off of that.

John C: Because I think this is coming from your nerves, from your hips down to your. It’s going down to your legs. Yeah. So after I talk to him about that, I went to take care of my thing, what I need to do at work. And then he put me to site. He goes, hey, man. He’s like, hang on, I know that.

John C: I say, because I do yoga, you know, I do some, yoga routines to help relieve the pain and or just in general, it helps out. So I stand by his glutes, about his hamstrings, about his, back. And I tell him about the doing the pigeon. You could do the pigeon on. Well, we have pallets stacked up so I tell him do the pigeon, stretch on there to help you really thing and yeah.

John C: So he was so I thought he was like, yeah, I’m doing a bump. I’m stretching his body over lunch and over onto the pallet. I say, don’t do that. Sit, stand up straight. So I just kind of guide him in a posture way to stand up straight. Show him that the routine to help him help with that pain.

John C: And, he was just asking me like, hey, how you do it? How do you know about that? And I told him, I say, well, I do, I do mental yoga. And I told him to say, you need to look up this guy on YouTube and, it helps. And then if you want to be a member, you know, just sign up for it.

John C: And, Yeah, they’ll help. I think it took me a little bit to, get where I’m at. But if you just stay consistent with it, it will help you out.

Dean Pohlman: So what’s his name?

John C: His name was Eddie.

Dean Pohlman: Eddie? Eddie? Yeah. Okay.

John C: Okay. Yeah. Okay. See, here’s I going to tell him. It’s like, hey, if you hear this podcast, man, here you go. I meant your name.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. That’s awesome. I’m good. I’m glad that you’ve been able to share that with, coworkers. That’s really cool.

John C: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: That’s really cool, man. All right, well, I want to get on to our kind of rapid fire questions, so, I’m excited for your responses here.

John C: Oh, nice.

Dean Pohlman: First question. What’s the one habit, belief or mindset that’s helped you the most with your overall health and wellness?

John C: Not to be feeling stiff and looking the other older guys in general. Not to. Yeah, I just, I just, I refuse to, I, I watch it for my health. That’s my, my main thing is watch out for my health. And, I like seeing guys who are fit and who are, you know, I like seeing older guys in general seeing fit.

John C: I it’s a that help motivate me because that’s like, I want to be I want to be like that guy only be like that guy like he’s nice and fit. Nice posture. This is one coworker I see, my coworker, but one of the vendors, I see, they he’s nice, he’s tall, he’s he’s good. He’s lean. I was like, man, I won’t be like that guy.

John C: So that’s that. No, that’s cool. That’s what helps out.

Dean Pohlman: Okay, cool. What’s the one thing that you do for your health that is often overlooked or undervalued by others?

John C: I push myself too much. I feel that, and, sometimes I, I feel it’s not enough, but, Yeah, I just to me, I just gotta keep on doing what I’m doing and, regardless, regardless of it just in the long run, it in the long run, it will be, like, is it. It’ll be much better in the long run.

John C: Yeah, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: So cool. What’s the most stressful part of your day to day life?

John C: Being a bad.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, yeah. How old are you? Your younger ones.

John C: My boys, they’re really older. And as it is, 116 and other one’s 12. Okay. But, Yeah. Teenagers, you know, when you’re in that age and. Yeah. And especially my siblings still who still live with me. Yeah. So they’re adults, but act like kids. But being a dad, being, being a husband, being a family man, it could be very stressful.

John C: So.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah, a lot of, responsibilities there.

John C: Yeah.

Dean Pohlman: All right. And what’s your best piece of advice for men who want to be healthier?

John C: Check out Man Flow Yoga. But I tell you this,

John C: Just let their ego go. If you if you feel like only be masculine. I want to be fair. I want to be strong. I want to look like a bodybuilder or anything like that. Just let that ego go, because you’re going to wear and tear your body and your joints are going to hurt, and it’s going to kind of point that, you know, like the way you feel.

John C: So, just take care of your health. That’s pretty much all I can say. Take your health, try to get more flexibility, try get more built, more mobility. And I promise you, like, you’ll feel so much better. Yeah, I know you try to build confidence. You look to have a better physique in your body. But as long as you feel better within yourself and your body, and you get that mental clarity, like you feel a lot better, that’s all.

John C: That’s all that matters. So, yeah.

Dean Pohlman: Love it all. I, John Bell, it was a pleasure meeting you, that we can workshop series. I hope to see you again. Thank you for doing the podcast today and sharing your story. Really appreciate it.

John C: Appreciate it. Thank you.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. And I appreciate you being active in the community as well. It’s, you know, I tell it to everybody who’s active, but like, it wouldn’t if not for the contributions of the individuals who are actually saying stuff and commenting and posting photos like it wouldn’t exist and it wouldn’t be out there to motivate people. So thank you so much for being part of that.

John C: And, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Dean Pohlman: Yeah. No. All right, guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope H-e-b hires me to be their wellness coordinator. I will see you guys, on the next episode. I hope this inspires you to be a better man.

[END] [/su_spoiler]

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