In this powerful episode of the Life Lifted Podcast, we tackle a growing issue that affects millions of men worldwide: depression. With rates of depression in men increasing by nearly 20% over the last decade, it's more important than ever to understand the underlying causes and explore how fitness can be a transformative tool in improving mental health.

We dive deep into the alarming statistics behind men’s mental health, examine the societal and economic pressures contributing to this rise, and break down the stigma that often prevents men from seeking help. Most importantly, we highlight how fitness—whether it’s strength training, aerobic exercise, or mindfulness-based activities—can help men regain control of their mental well-being.

Join us as we share practical tips, personal stories, and expert insights on how to create a balanced fitness routine that not only strengthens the body but also heals the mind. Whether you're looking to support a man in your life or improve your own mental health, this episode is for you.

Take the first step toward better mental and physical health. Tune in, share with a friend, and let’s break the silence together.

We return to our regular scheduled program after an unanticipated Summer break!

Life Happens.

On this episode, we catch up on life. But this isn't just any regular catch up session--a lot has happened this Summer.

Mike shares some of the challenges that he's been through over the past 2 months, including an incident that landed him at the urgent care and sidelined him for....well you have to listen to find out.

Chris also shares some updates on life and we talk about the mindset of dealing with unexpected challenges. If you've had some rough days, we are here with you and we talk about how we get through life when things don't go as planned.

We also discuss some fitness stories about getting results with less effort. finding the right tool for the job you need to accomplish with your health a fitness, and reflecting on over half of 2024.

We also share some fun stories about a recent trip we took with several of our trainer friends to Big Bear.

Lots of stories on this episode!

We hope you enjoy hearing about our lives and how we navigate the challenges and good times and you can relate. We're excited to be back!

In our special guest series, we invite Dr. Yonnie Proctor to share with us her unique perspective of physical therapy and the new and fascinating approach with her clients. On her Instagram @yonniestyle, she describes herself as "I treat and train dope humans."

We have the privilege of working alongside Yonnie at our local gym in West Hollywood and witnessing her unique and personalized approach, so we couldn't wait to talk to her. Yonnie shares her story of growing up and how she chose Physical Therapy as her profession and how she has evolved through different experiences to where she is now.

It's exciting to hear that she is on the forefront of a unique approach to not only helping her clients with physical pain but also optimizing their body for performance in life after they've progressed out of pain. Most people will go see a physical therapist at some point in life, so understanding this approach is something that is interesting and helpful.

We also discuss how someone can become their own advocate in the current healthcare system if they need care like physical therapy, how to prevent injuries, and what kind of training approach a physical therapist takes with a client. It's a very fascinating conversation.

How does a physical therapist train a client in a gym that is different from a personal trainer and where do you draw the distinction in "training?" A lot of the difference is based on client needs and outcome goals. How do you determine your outcome goals of your body? We dive in to these questions and so much more in this special episode!

Follow Yonnie @yonniestyle for more about her approach and her passion for pickleball.

We're excited to bring on personal trainer, bodybuilding competitor, online coach, and colleague Andrea Iwanejko (@dkofitnessexperience).

What does it feel like to be at a very low body fat percentage? Should someone bulk or cut first? How does someone who love going to the gym start to enjoy working out? With so much information on social media, how do you know what workouts to do and who to trust? How does someone from San Marino (in Italy) end up in Los Angeles as a well respected fitness coach?

We answer all these questions and more on this episode!

Andrea shares how he developed a passion for fitness at an early age and navigated all the challenges of growing up and deciding on a career to end up as a fitness coach in Los Angeles. If you listened to Episode 17, where we get into our own opinions of bodybuilding, we lay it all out for discussion with Andrea, and we go deep!

Andrea shares his passion for helping people change their lives and make improvements through fitness and nutrition. He shares his thoughts on how bodybuilding fits into overall fitness and when the discipline can be used to help improve your fitness or change your body. This episode is packed with a lot of great insight!

If you want to learn more about Andrea, follow him @dkofitnessexperience

On today's episode, we discuss the controversial question of whether obesity is an epidemic or not.

What got us here? There's debate on both sides about obesity, especially as rates continue to rise in the US. There's also a growing movement of people who believe there is "healthy at every size."

We debate various points of view on this episode, from people who believe that obese people should be sent to fat camps to how the TV show The Biggest Loser created an unhealthy view of obesity and weight loss. You may find some viewpoints controversial but stay with us as we talk about health and ultimately land on a balanced perspective to view health.

Have you ever stopped working out for a period of time? Was it hard to get started back up again?

As trainers, we see this quite often when new clients come to us and we've also learned from our interactions with people in the gym. Through hundreds of conversations over several years, we've learned the main reasons that people may quit their fitness habit or routine.

But this podcast isn't just about giving you the reasons, we also offer solutions on how to overcome these challenges that you may face in your fitness journey. We share times in our own lives that we quit working out and how we were able to restart the habit. We also share what are the easiest ways to get restarted when you pause or take time off, such as having an injury or getting discouraged with results.

We'll think you'll be surprised by some of the reasons people quit, but also relate to the challenges we all face trying to make improvements to our bodies and health. We hope this episode helps you stay motivated or rediscover the motivation you may have lost!

If you workout in a gym, did you know that you are most likely doing Bodybuilding?

In this episode, we discuss the components of fitness and how bodybuilding is one aspect of fitness. But why has bodybuilding dominated the fitness industry so that it's the primary method of training?

Mike and Chris lay out the components of bodybuilding and how they have shaped the modern fitness industry and how most people train. We also cover what are some of the bad things that the focus on bodybuilding has brought to fitness. The goal of bodybuilding is primarily aesthetic and that can take precedence over being truly fit and mobile and has even influenced popular, unhealthy beliefs about nutrition.

But all is not bad! We have a lot to thank bodybuilding for! In fact, we may not even be doing this podcast and be working in fitness if it wasn't for the popularity that bodybuilding has brought to the fitness industry. We go over all the good things as well!

It wouldn't be fair if we didn't discuss some of the dark sides of bodybuilding from steroid use to setting unusually high and unhealthy standards for body composition.

It's so fascinating that this aspect of fitness has become so predominant but we also see where changes are starting to take shape in the fitness industry.

On this special episode of Life Lifted Podcast, we invite a trainer colleague and friend, Jeffrey Pierre, into the studio. We're really excited to share this podcast with Jeffrey as we've had some really great conversations as a group and we want to share this with our listeners.

Jeffrey shares his story of how he came to LA and became a personal trainer. He also shares some challenges that he's had to overcome with his health and fitness like Sickle Cell. We're inspired to share his journey with you.

We also go over different training styles and fitness interests from CrossFit to Boxing, which Jeffrey is currently training and sharing his learning and challenges training this sport.

We also talk about purpose and fulfillment as trainers and what motivates us to work with clients.

Because we all work in LA, we debate what it's like to be a personal trainer in LA and also dive into some challenges with working as online trainers.

We hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it.

Follow Jeffrey on IG at @jmpierre

You can also follow Mike @itscoachmolina and Chris @chrismusser

Timestamps

0:00 Intros

3:25 Online Training Discussion

8:52 Crossfit

11:52 Jeffrey's Training Style

14:44 Jeffrey's Journey with Sickle Cell

29:11 Effects of Alcohol on Health and Fitness

32:08 Becoming a Trainer and the Motivation Behind It

36:24 Fulfillment and Purpose in Helping Others

49:30 The FIRE and the Motivation to Keep Going

55:38 Being a Trainer In LA

1:03:54 The Importance of Human Connection in Training