78: Unlocking Peak Fitness and Resilience with Kyle Bernier

78: Unlocking Peak Fitness and Resilience with Kyle Bernier

Kyle Bernier: It was like a light bulb switch. As soon as I tried it, I knew, like I knew this is what I'm gonna pursue. Like, I love this. I'm good at it. I, I like the pain, I like the intensity. I like competing in fitness stuff. Like, it's awesome. 

Michael Kummer: But diet, um, what is your general framework? Um, do you follow a specific diet?

Do you follow a specific framework? What are the things that you. Try to eat more and eat less or avoid completely. 

Kyle Bernier: It's sleep. Like if I don't get enough sleep for me personally, there's some people out there. I hear stories where they're like six hours a night, five hours a night, and they're fine. I'm like, I don't know how that's possible.

That sounds like... 

Michael Kummer: I'm not buying it. 

Kyle Bernier: I'm not buying that shot. 

Michael Kummer: I always try to look for an opportunity. You know, if, if the economy goes down the drain, I'm like, there's got to be an opportunity in there. You know? 

Kyle Bernier: Um, I heard Matthew McConaughey say this and I've realized it. It's true for me as well. He, he, he was on a podcast and he said that like working out for him.

All the problems or things he had to do before he worked out, they felt like they were stacked vertically, like on top of him, crushing him. Then he would go work out and he felt like they were stacked laterally, like out in front of him. It didn't feel as much pressure. 

Michael Kummer: So how do you find that balance between choosing what you truly want to do more often than what you kind of have to do?

Kyle Bernier: And so the same thing when I'm working with a client, you have to give me feedback. I'm going to give you a guideline, some nutrition stuff. And you tell me how are you feeling, like, what are you, like, what are you actually feeling inside? And then I can tailor it even better and even better and we grow and we grow in this relationship over time.

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Michael Kummer: All right, Kyle.

Hey, super excited to have you on the podcast. Um, you know, you are one of those, there are, I think there are two type of, um, fit people on this planet. They're the ones that look incredibly fit and are less fit than they look. And then there are those who look fit, but are actually way fitter than they look.

And . I, I kind of, I, I like, you know, whenever I look in the mirror, I'm like, I, I do look fitter than I'm actually am. And when I saw you work out for the first time, uh, or one of the first few times, it was a partner workout. You did it by yourself. And I'm like. This dude is ridiculous, you know, he looks fit and and and healthy and everything but he is significantly fitter than you might Then then your physique might suggest and i'm like, what the fuck do you do?

How do you do that? Um, so I want to learn, you know more about How did you got to be so fit? What are you doing? What are some of your core pillars that you know make up a healthy? Lifestyle that, you know, mental health and physical health included. And how do you, how do you, uh, use all of the things that you've learned to help others get healthier?

You know, you work with clients, you know, you write, you know, uh, trainings for them and, and, and all of that, you guide people. And I think that's a very, very difficult task because most people don't have. the willpower and the discipline that you do. And I'd like to learn and hear how, how do you help people, you know, get better, even if they don't have the same grit, the same kind of discipline as you do.

But maybe let's start with, you know, introduce yourself. You know, what do you do? Um, how do you get to where you are right now? And, and what are some of the core pillars that make up your healthy lifestyle? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah, for sure. Okay. So my name is Kyle Bernier. I am a former professional CrossFit athlete. Which I say loosely because in that sport it's very hard to be a professional athlete and it's not like getting drafted to the NFL and then you're just, you get a contract and you just fight for a starting spot.

It's like, you do everything a professional athlete does with like hardly any pay. So, like, actually no pay. So, but I was a professional athlete for a really long time. I got to travel the world. Went to Dubai, South Africa. I've been to London. I mean, I've been gone, eh, not everywhere, but so many places. Got to have a lot of great experiences.

Um, and that was all in CrossFit in college. I was a football player and a track athlete. And all throughout high school and middle school, I was football and track athlete. Really loved those sports. I wanted to go to the NFL. I remember as a kid, I would like sleep with my football on my bed. I'd be like, let's see if I can hold on to it all night.

And I'd wake up and it'd be on the floor. Like, you know, I was doing all that weird stuff. And I'd have the NFL channel on all the time. But, uh, then I got to, it was my, I was 18. And my mom actually wanted me to try CrossFit because the gym opened up. And my dad, he was like, for whatever reason, he was like, no, don't do it.

It's too much conditioning. You're going to get small. And I was like, all right, well I wanted to listen to him. So like, all right, I won't do it. Well then I finally went and tried one and it was like a, uh, I tell everybody this, it's like a, it was like a light bulb switch. As soon as I tried it, I knew, I knew this is what I'm going to pursue.

Like, I love this. I'm good at it. I like the pain. I like the intensity. I like competing in fitness stuff. Like it's awesome. But I still wanted to go play football and run track in college just to see that through. So I went and did that. 

Michael Kummer: in track exactly? Sprint? 

Kyle Bernier: So in high school I was a hurdler. So 300 meter hurdles and 110 high hurdles.

And then in college they recruited me as a decathlete. So I had to go and learn how to, how to learn how to pole vault, how to learn how to do javelin, the shot put, like all the things that go into being a decathlete. So I went and I did that for two years. It was actually really good at it because it was very similar to CrossFit, like you had to be strong, powerful, enduring, and you had to do it like back to back to back to back.

I loved it and I was like, okay, this is kind of cool. It's setting me up to be a competitive CrossFit athlete. I'll do this. Plus there were girls on the team and I liked that there were girls on the team. It was kind of fun. So I did, I did, so I did track and I did football for two years. And then I kind of got to the point where I was like, man, I think I really just want to go all in on training for CrossFit.

So that's what I did. I stopped, I stopped doing both those sports. I picked up an internship in the weight room. Um, so I got to work with all the athletes I was just on the team with. I got to learn about strength and conditioning and I got to train for free and I just started doing stuff, moving toward being a competitive fitnesser.

And it wasn't until after college when I moved to Charlotte and got a job at a CrossFit gym. That I actually got connected with a coach and began that trajectory of, right, okay, now make semis, now let's actually really push for the games. So that's, that's a little bit of my high level of my journey.

Michael Kummer: Alright. I actually, I didn't know that I, you know, I, I thought you, I don't know why, you know, you were with training Think Tank for, well, as long as I have known you, but I, I had no idea that you actually started, uh. Much earlier than that. 

Kyle Bernier: Oh, yeah, dude. I started really young. I was, I was doing all the stupid stuff, like just as many Metcons as I could do in a day.

I didn't actually plan how to train, but I was like, let's just go for it. 

Michael Kummer: All right. And then, you know, what do you do today? I mean, are you still pursuing CrossFit career? Is that still? 

Kyle Bernier: I think so. I've taken the past few years have been interesting. We don't have to go into all that unless you want to.

But I 2021 is the last time I competed. 2022, I qualified again, but I hurt my back and had to back out in the 2023. Um, actually hurt my back again and had to drop out. So the past two or three years, and I'm also in a different career now, so I'm not doing it full time or I wasn't. I was in construction, still training really hard, thought I wanted to compete.

And it's not until the past six months where I've gotten into online fitness coaching, where I'm trying to actually help people improve their fitness, providing programs, some low ticket offers for people to subscribe to some programming. It's not so recently where I was like, I think I want to like, try and do it again.

Like try to make semis and go for the games and really just do it. I love training. I love competing. And I was like, you know what, why not? Like, what's the alternative, you know, in five years, I'm going to look back and be like, man, I kind of wish I would have tried. So I think I'm going to go ahead and make a.

I'll run for it again. 

Michael Kummer: Oh, yeah. How old are you now? 

Kyle Bernier: Uh, so I'm 31. I'll be 32 in February. 

Michael Kummer: All right. Well, that's still a good age. Yeah. I think it was two years ago where I think we watched the, uh, the semifinals in, in Tennessee. And I'm like, you know what, maybe in the masters, you know, it kind of, you know, I kind of got really excited about it, but I'm like, you know, dude, I'm 43 now.

I don't think I, my priorities have changed slightly and I'm still competitive. But there are a lot of other, um, you know, shiny objects that I'm chasing now. And I'm like, nah, you know what? I think I'll leave that to someone who is 10 years younger than I am. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah, it's I'm, I'm, I'm truthfully, I'm really close to that as well, where like.

It just might not be smart to do it, to pursue it full time, but I'm not quite there yet. I'm like right on the fence. So I'm like, all right, maybe we'll, 

Michael Kummer: yeah. Yeah. All right. So besides working out a lot and hard, um, what do you do? You know, you mentioned you were injured. What have you learned from, from those injuries in the sense of, you know, the importance of recovery, the importance of maybe not doing certain things, even though.

Someone told you you should do them or others are doing them. You know, what are some of the lessons you've learned that can, you know, that the average show can apply as well to exercise? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. So, so two things, two things that I really took away from, from getting tweaks and getting injured. One is that it's teaching you something and it's, it's teaching you something about either how you're moving in certain movements or there's either some sort of.

You're moving improperly in a way. There's a, there's a dysfunction in the body where you're, you're compensating somewhere. So you're going to have to go seek it out and you got to find that little problem and solve it. That was one thing I learned. And, and, and also like whenever you get injured, don't shy away from doing stuff.

You want to keep moving and you want to let pain be your guide, you know? And so a very practical way for people out there listening, it might, that might sound confusing. It's like If bench pressing to a full range of motion hurts. So it only hurts when you're in the very bottom, when the bar's on your chest.

That's where it hurts your shoulder, let's just say. But if you can bench, maybe you put blocks on your chest, and you can bunch to the blocks, or floor press with no pain, it's like, okay, let's do that, and then let's progress that movement deeper and deeper over time so you can come back quicker. So that was a huge thing I learned where I didn't have to stop everything.

I just had to modify accordingly. And the last thing that was huge for me was how to maximize every day with whatever you can do. You know, when I tweaked my back and I was like, I'm not picking up from the floor. I'm not squatting. I'm not doing that, but I can ride the assault bike. I was like, all right, I'm gonna ride the mess out of this assault bike.

Like I'm just going to crush it every day until I can do other things. And so you learn how to maximize whatever's in front of you. Just to keep moving forward and like, keep, keep adapting and keep improving. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. One of the things that I've learned, uh, you know, I was a pro track athlete as well back in the days, uh, more like on a hundred meter than anything else.

Um, and I got injured a lot more than I really cared for. And interesting thing was I came always out stronger than I got into the injury. So, and, and that was probably because I was over training to a degree and my body just needed the rest. Uh, but then on the other hand, it was always an opportunity. To do things that I didn't have time for, you know, during regular training, like be it in a mobility work, be it stretching, be it, you know, whatever the case might be riding the assault bike, you know, all of the things that you normally kind of, I don't have time for that because I need to get through my training program.

Well, now is the time. And I think from a mental perspective, there are some people who get really depressed when they're injured because they can't, you know, do what they want to do. They. You know, might be preparing for a competition out there, they're, they're injured, but I always have looked at it, um, as an opportunity, you know, to, to recover, to do things that I don't have time for.

And that has helped me a lot when I then finally got back and was, you know, pain free again to go all in and, and, and be better, you know, and, and, and win that competition potentially, you know? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. I'm so glad you're saying that, man, because once you, once you go through like a few tweaks, a few injuries, like you do it enough times.

He gets to the point where it happens. You're like, you just know how to handle it. And that mental bog, that depression, it doesn't come on. You're like, okay, this is going to take a few weeks, maybe a few months, but I know how to work around it and it's all going to be okay. You just hate handle it so much better.

Michael Kummer: Yeah. And the other thing I liked that you said is, you know, just don't stop moving. You know, I mean, obviously, you know, you don't want to, if you have a torn, you know, whatever muscle you don't want to, you know, if torn biceps, you don't want to do biceps curls, you know, with a hundred pounds. Right. But, you know, as much as you can without it being super painful, you know, you've got to keep that muscle moving.

Maybe the first, you know, three days or whatever, you'll give it a rest, but then you, your muscle needs to remember what it's supposed to do, right? That's one of the things I've learned is. You know, not moving and just holding still is going to be worse for the healing process, worse for your performance down the line than if you just move as much as you can.

And, you know, without feeling too much pain, right? Some discomfort is probably okay, but 

Kyle Bernier: yeah, I mean, I would just go for like, when I first sweep my back, I was like, okay, I'm just going to go for a walk. It was just like a real slow walk, just something. Now you just kind of figure out how to walk without pain.

And then it goes into cat cows where you're moving your spine. And then you're trying to bend over slowly and like just body weight stuff. And eventually you get back to ground zero where you're like, okay, I'm all right. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah, fair enough. Um, what else, you know, what do you do outside of the gym to kind of support, you know, your, your performance in the gym as well as during competitions and their recovery?

What are some of the key pillars that you pay attention to every day? 

Kyle Bernier: Dude, the biggest thing is sleep. I've noticed even if my nutrition is not on point and, and If I'm being honest, like a lot of times it's not, especially this phase of life, I'm super busy and like some, there's some days where I just don't eat enough and it's like, okay, I got it.

I've got my stuff prepped and I try to stuff my face as much as I can, but some days it just doesn't happen. But I've noticed even with that, it's sleep. Like if I don't get enough sleep, For me personally, there's some people out there. I hear stories where they're like six hours a night, five hours a night, and they're fine.

I'm like, I don't know how that's possible. That sounds like I'm not buying it. I'm not buying that either. Shot. Because like if I, if I even cut it down to like seven hours, like I do that two or three nights in a row, it's like I started to feel it big time. So I really try to hone in on getting sleep as much as I can.

Try to get a nap in the afternoon. Like I have my son in the afternoon sometimes and he goes down for a nap. I'll use it as an opportunity, man, like wait for an hour, man. Makes a big difference. 

Michael Kummer: Do you do anything special to sleep well, or does it just come naturally to you? I know a lot of people are struggling with, you know, they want to go to bed at the same time every day, but they don't fall asleep or they wake up in the middle of the night or, you know, stuff like that.

Uh, how is it with you? 

Kyle Bernier: You know, right now in this phase of life, dude, I'm not struggling at all to fall asleep. So like, cause I, I used to take like some magnesium. I used to take like the beam energy drink or not energy drink, the beam sleep drinks. I used to take that stuff. Dude, I've noticed kind of similar to what you said when we had our podcasts.

Like if you're active during the day, you wake up with the sun, you're moving around, like you're taking care of those things. Like when it comes to time to go to bed, like. You'll go to bed. I go to sleep pretty great. Right. I've actually just recently started doing some journaling and reading before bed.

So that might be something people can add in. Like I'll just. Journal, whatever thoughts are on my mind for a few minutes, read a few pages of a book, just to kind of tire out my brain. Once my eyes start like closing as I'm reading, I'm like, all right, so I put the book down, turn the light off. And I mean, I'm out.

Michael Kummer: Yeah. I've noticed that, you know, you can be exhausted, but still not be able to fall asleep. But I, I, if I had to guess, I would say that if you're mentally super exhausted, uh, because you're stressed out, you know, from events that happened during the day, but you're not physically exhausted. You can have a hard time falling asleep, and we've noticed this in particular with the kids when they are, you know, just inside all day, they play whatever, you know, make crafts, whatever.

I mean, they're, they're doing stuff that, you know, is, is all well and good, but they are not exerting themselves physically much. Then they have a harder time falling asleep or going to bed at a certain time, whereas if they're out all day. And run around and have, you know, swim classes and, and tennis or whatever at night, they're out, you know, there is, you don't need to tell them to go to bed, you know, and I think the same applies to adults.

If we are in the office all day, even if we had a lot of pressure and stress out and we feel like wiped out when we get home, that's not enough, you know, for, you know, your, uh, the normal release of, of hormones that would occur during the night, especially if you're not in the sun during the day. And I think that's one of the key things that I've noticed if I'm in the office all day.

I have a harder time falling asleep. I mean, I sleep well most nights, but I can tell if I'm outside, if I get sunlight in the morning and during the day, there is no, I mean, I start yawning and 10 minutes later, I'm out, you know? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. You know, one thing I've noticed too, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on this is, um, I heard Matthew McConaughey say this and I've realized it.

It's true for me as well. He, he, he was on a podcast and he said that like working out for him, all the problems or things he had to do before he worked out, they felt like they were stacked vertically, like on top of him, crushing him. Then he would go work out and he felt like they were stacked laterally, like out in front of him.

It didn't feel as much pressure. And I've noticed that recently, like whenever I go get a great workout in and I'm sweating and I get done whatever stress was on my mind, all of a sudden it feels like. It feels more manageable and because it feels more manageable at night when I lay down It's like I don't feel as stressed.

I actually feel okay about all this. Like I feel like I can handle everything We got a plan. I worked out. I don't know if you've ever noticed that but for me that's been huge recently 

Michael Kummer: I've, I've, I noticed, I've noticed actually this morning, I went for a walk and it's been, I told you before we, we, uh, hit record that it's been incredibly crazy.

There are so many things, so many balls in the air, so many projects, so many, you know, like little issue and a lot of noise. And I sometimes feel then I don't even know what to tackle first. Right. So it's kind of like, you know, everything being stacked on top and it's just pushing down on me. And I don't even know.

What I'm going to do next, you know, what, what's going to make a difference, you know, how can I relieve the pressure? But if I go for a walk or I work out, you know, suddenly, you know, all the, all those issues are still there, but they appear to be like, okay, so I can do this first or I can do that. You know, I have like, I feel like I'm in more control, 

Kyle Bernier: right?

Yeah. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. 

Kyle Bernier: It's like the, like the working out just like. Or like it prioritizes your, your, your tasks, your brain automatically figures it out and you're like, okay, this one's first and 

Michael Kummer: you just do it. Yeah. Yeah, no, totally. And, and, you know, speaking of one of the big things I've noticed that when there's a lot going on, then sometimes, you know, I'm, I'm so blocked that I don't do anything.

You know, I just sit there and think about all the things that I could do and I'm not doing anything. Yeah, but then when I say, you know what i'm just gonna do this whatever it is Usually if it's something small it can be done quickly. You know that mental win It's incredible because it kind of gets you into the groove of like, okay, now I'm going to do the next thing at the next day.

And you know, next thing, you know, you're done with your stuff, you know, and you, you, and that's way better. Obviously they're not doing anything because if you don't do anything, those things are not going to go away. They're going to be there tomorrow again with more probably on top. 

Kyle Bernier: No, that's awesome. I can totally relate to all of that.

Michael Kummer: Yeah. All right. So you, you prioritize sleep. You generally sleep well. Um, what else do you do in terms of. Managing stress, you know, that's a big thing for a lot of people. You know, there is, we, we all under so much stress. Um, you can tell when you're on the road, people honk and, and, and show you the finger.

I feel like I'm in Europe, you know, back in the days, I would tell everyone, Hey, here in Georgia, everyone is relaxed. You know, if you miss the green light, people wait patiently behind you. Not anymore. You know, um, how, how do you, how do you handle all of that pressure and stress? 

Kyle Bernier: So I'll be, I'm going to be very, very honest and vulnerable here.

That's something I've been working on a lot. Um, I, I've had a tendency, I'm trying to stay away from IM statements. You know, like I am impatient, right? And whatever. So I've shown a tendency throughout my life to like, there's, there's get very overwhelmed when I get overwhelmed that I react poorly. And so recently what I've found that's really helpful is if I, if I call someone and I have a conversation.

Like, you know, I'm sure people listening might want, you know, like what's the biohack, what's the breathing method, what's whatever, and all that stuff is great. Like jumping in a cold tub, going in a sauna, working out 100%, it can absolutely reduce stress and help you feel great. But sometimes what I found recently is like if I call someone, like in particular, like call my mom, I'm like, Hey mom, I just like need to talk for a minute.

And like, I just verbalize it and she just listens to me and gives me some feedback. Or call a friend. I've noticed that that's been super helpful for me for in this particular stage of life, that's been super helpful. 

Michael Kummer: That's, that's interesting that you say that because just the other day, you know, I, I usually, I think that the person I talk most to.

It's Kathy, you know, well, let me, let me maybe, uh, rephrase that. The only person I talk to like about feelings is Kathy, right? And that works well if whatever I'm dealing with involves someone else, but not her. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Michael Kummer: Right. But if it's something that I, you know, I'm like, I don't really like how you, you know, whatever, I'm not going to go to her and say, um, Hey, you know, I, I really don't like you right now, you know, uh, let's talk about it and, and I've noticed.

That I'm, I'm then a lot in my own head, you know, I have conversations with myself and I, and, and obviously I'm not in that, in, in that particular, you know, when I'm in that, in that certain mindset, I'm not helping myself, you know, to feel better, you know, usually because I'm, you know, I'm my own echo chamber, you know, I just reconfirmed what I, you know, want to believe to be true, you know, whether or not that's really true is, is a different story.

And I've noticed that I never seek, you know. I, I never call someone else and I'm like, and, and, you know, if I then, you know, ask around in our friends, family, I think in the, especially in the last couple of years, that's become a very common occurrence that we don't maintain Relationships with other people who are not family members, you know, where you can feel comfortable and say, Hey, you know, I'm really going through something tough right now.

You know, I wanna talk without being judged, kind of, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And, and that's one thing that I've, I've noticed as well. I'm like, you know, I got, I've got to, you know, first of all, be that person who can listen to someone else. Um, and, and I'm, you know, that's really one of my big weaknesses. I'm, I'm not incredibly empathetic, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm someone who can offer some, I'm, I'm a solution provider.

You know, if you come to me with a problem, I'll try to find a solution. I'm not the one who, and, and my wife hates it. You know, when she says, you know, whatever ABC and I'm like, well, here's a fix. You know? And like, I am not looking for a fake. I'm not looking for a solution, you know, 

Kyle Bernier: exactly, 

Michael Kummer: exactly. So if someone comes to me and I'm, I really have a hard time.

Not to try to provide a solution, but just to, you know, be empathetic. Yes, I, I understand where you're coming from. You know, I've been there as well. It sucks, you know, kind of, and that's it, you know, without trying to fix the problem. Um, and, and I think a lot of the people that I know, Dave, in a very similar.

You know, everyone tries to, okay, let's fix it real quick so we can move on to something else instead of just saying, no, let's just ruminate. Let's just, let's just feel it for a moment because, you know, you've got to learn how to, and that probably goes into some other areas, um, that, that you can resonate with as well.

You know, you've got to be comfortable being uncomfortable, right? And that also means sometimes being uncomfortable with your own feelings, right? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah, dude. Oh, that's so hard to do, but yes, a hundred percent. That's what, that's what like, we don't have to go into this rabbit hole, but like addiction, a lot of people who struggle with addiction, it's really a coping mechanism.

They, they, they don't like, they don't like feeling whatever emotions they're feeling inside. And so learning how to just sit with those and share it with someone and just like, okay, I'm accepted. I just shared those emotions. Now we're past it. I don't need this, whatever, this substance, this thing to feel better.

I mean, it really goes, I mean, it goes a long way and that, and that goes, that, that's mental health. And then that ties into your physical health. Like once you get this squared away, like this will come, it really will. 

Michael Kummer: And you know, that's interesting that you say that because obviously, you know, addiction doesn't necessarily mean, you know, being addicted to hard drugs or to alcohol.

It could be being addicted to, to food, you know, to certain types of food that might be incredibly unhealthy, but it could just be. You know addicted to to eating something and I think everyone can relate to that when you're stressed out You're more likely to say oh i'm gonna just You know, eat something because it makes me feel better and even if it's a, a steak, you know, but if you don't need those calories, those nutrients at that particular point, you know, in time, because you're, you're not hungry, you're, you're topped off, you know, why eat, you know, and, and I think that then goes back into, you know, people having issues, you know, losing weight or whatever the case might be, it very often goes back to your, you know, mental state of mind where you then compensate with.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. With choices, food choices, or, you know, alcohol or nicotine or weed or whatever the case might be. That's going to be done in your way, you know, um, and, and, and we'll, and it's not only in your way to obtain optimal health, but also in the way of learning how to deal with those uncomfortable.

You know, emotions and just being, you know, what, let's embrace feeling sad right now. You know, yeah, just feel sad. You know, nothing wrong with that. You know? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's definitely, I actually, I love talking about this stuff, but we can, you can, we can go on to other questions too, but I think for, for men, they struggle with most men struggle with that in particular.

It's like, we don't want to feel weak. You know, we don't want to tell like our dude friends or our wife, Hey, I'm sad today, like, like, we don't want to say that, but. It really, it's, it's, I'm learning that it's actually, it shows you, it shows that you're a stronger person. Like, if you're able to identify that, talk about it, say it, in the face of that fear, man, that goes a long way with, like, someone's character and their ability to just, like, sit with that.

Michael Kummer: Yeah. Now that's, you know, and it's, it's so interesting because for, for most of, well, neither my wife nor my kids, Until not too long ago have ever seen me cry. 

Kyle Bernier: Yes 

Michael Kummer: I I don't I mean, maybe if I get hurt so bad that it really uh, not even then I don't really you know Right, you know, I I don't I didn't think I have the capacity to Be sad enough to cry about something, you know, I suck stuff up, you know, I push through it I bulldoze over it and and for the for a long long time.

I thought that this is the way, you know to To go about things but the problem is that it makes you kind of dull to you know, how other people And, you know, that's really the, you know, the lack of, of, of empathy that, that I've shown for, for a long, long time. And I'm like, that can't be it. You know, I don't think that's, that's the right way.

Um, because I cannot, I cannot lead someone. I cannot, you know, be a, in a, in the context of a family or, you know, a group or whatever the case might be. If I cannot, if people feel like, you know, I don't understand where they are coming from. If I feel like, you know, if you were sad, you were stupid and weak, you know.

You're not going to be a good leader, you know, uh, and especially as the, you know, the, like the head of the family kind of, you know, I mean, you know, with kids in particular who don't have the capacity yet because they haven't learned yet how to, you know, manage their emotions, how to understand when it's appropriate to feel a certain way.

Um, if I'm just like, you know, why are you crying? You know, this is stupid and there's nothing to cry about, you know, it's not going to be helpful, you know, to help them manage that stuff better. And so I'm, I've, I've started, uh, trying to be more, um, I guess, cognizant of how I truly feel and to not try to suppress every single emotion that I, that my body wants to show, you know, and, but it's a very fine line.

I feel like, especially in the, in the, in the context of, of man, you know, how far do you go? You don't want to be the, you know, the whiny little bitch, you know, in the corner whining about every single thing. 

Kyle Bernier: Right. 

Michael Kummer: But at the same time, when it's appropriate, you know, for my kids, I've noticed they, for them, it was like a light bulb going off.

Hey, that can actually cry too. You know, it's not just me. I'm not the odd one, you know, in the family. It's actually normal because if, if he does it or if he can do it, then I guess I'm safe, you know, showing those emotions to him. And that's very difficult depending on how you were raised. Right. I, I don't remember exactly how my parents managed, you know, us showing emotions.

Um, but if I had a feeling, if I have a feeling, you know, it was probably somehow I, I got to the point where I felt like, you know, I'm not supposed to show. Those emotions, right? Yeah. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. Yeah. Probably. Yeah. Probably just not seeing it. 

Michael Kummer: I 

Kyle Bernier: mean, that's, that's something I try to show Maverick a lot is at least I, I try to encourage him as like, Hey buddy, it's okay to be mad.

It's okay to be sad. You know, say something about, you know, proper way of, you know, it's okay to be mad. We just don't want to throw things, whatever. But I try to at least affirm it, you know, but he hasn't, he's, he's still not old enough to like really understand. He's me cry. He doesn't fully understand what's going on, but Yeah, man, it's emotions are super important.

I'm learning. As I'm getting older and older 

Michael Kummer: and how to manage those in the sense of that, that don't, you know, block you. Right. I always, whatever I, whatever I do, whatever challenges I see ahead of me, I always try to look for an opportunity. You know, if, if the economy goes down the drain, I'm like, there's got to be an opportunity in there, you know?

There always is, you know, the challenge is finding the opportunities and, and, and, and sticking with a positive mindset. So you, you have the capacity of identifying an opportunity when it comes your way. Right. And I think the same goes with emotions. You know, there's an opportunity if you feel super mad, super whatever, you know, maybe figure out, okay, why, why did that trigger me so much?

You know, why do I allow someone else to, to basically trigger an emotion inside of me that then negatively impacts my health? And maybe that my productivity for the rest of the day, because I'm so pissed about, you know, X, Y, Z, and I'm like, how do we get to a point where, where someone else does not have the power to influence my emotions in a negative way?

Right. I think that's really the Holy Grail of, of, uh, of dealing with emotions to say, you know what, I see what you're doing and I choose how I respond to that. 

Kyle Bernier: Right. That's it, man. That's it. Are you into a stoic philosophy at all? 

Michael Kummer: No, I'm not. Um, not yet. 

Kyle Bernier: I've read, I've read a good bit of like the stoic stuff, but that was, that was a big thing.

I mean, even Jesus talks about it too, but the stoics might be a little bit more relative to most people, but they, they, they just, they talk about that. Like, don't like no one makes you mad. No one makes you sad. Like, it's just a thing that they said. It's a thing that happened. You're choosing to label it a certain way and then internalize those feelings.

It's like, but it, they didn't make you mad. It's like, you're, you're internalizing that responsibility on them. So like, they're in control of your happiness. It's like, you really want to give that person control of your happiness? Yeah, yeah. When you start to like, logically go through that process, you realize Okay.

That's pretty silly. Like that doesn't make a lot of sense at all. I'm not going to give this bird power over me. Come on. 

Michael Kummer: And that really goes back to, you know, a lot of it really, it really chives were very well with my overall philosophy in life where I'm like, I want to. I want to have the responsibility to pick and choose what I want to do and how I want to do it.

I don't want any government to tell me what I can and cannot do. I want to have full control. And if I go out and buy, you know, if I decided I want to, you know, buy heroin. That's my choice. You know, it should be my choice and I should live with the consequences. I think we are now in a world without, you know, getting too political here where kind of the government or, you know, other people, authorities, whatever they might be, you know, try to protect you from making stupid decisions.

And I absolutely despise I want to be responsible. And if I fuck up. It's on me and nobody else. If I stick my can into a microwave and turn it on, it's on me. I don't need a label on the microwave. Um, you know that I should not be doing that, you know, and, and that's kind of, you know, goes back to letting other people influence how you feel.

It's on me, you know, it's my responsibility. To, to respond instead of reacting, you know? 

Kyle Bernier: Oh yeah, that's good. Respond, react. That's big time, man. Yeah, that's best. All 

Michael Kummer: right. We talked about that. Um, diet, um, what is your general framework? Um, do you follow a specific diet? Do you follow a specific framework?

What are the things that you try to eat more and eat less or avoid completely? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. So right now I think my dad's probably gonna surprise a lot of people right now. It's mostly meat. It's not like, well, like like breakfast would be eggs with some chicken sausage. Um, I might put that on like some Ezekiel bread with some onions, tomatoes, things like that, whatever.

Just make like a breakfast sandwich. And then, um, I usually have a bowl of granola. Now, Hot take, I know it's very debated, but I do it because I'm trying to consume enough carbs to compete competitively and be able to train right away. That's very context dependent. I consume quite a bit of carbohydrates because I'm exerting a lot of energy and I want to recover really well.

I want to make sure people hear that out there because if you're not training to like compete and do a bunch of stuff, You, you definitely wanna make some wiser decisions with your carbohydrates and just your diet in general, but I'm just trying to eat it so I have some granola with that. Then I'll have, like, I eat these things.

They're called lower bars. I like those. They're pretty cream, pretty clean, uh, bar to eat, and it's just again, calories got good carbohydrates, good protein, tons of meat, so burger patties, chicken, like the whole thing. And then dinner, dinner right now, I don't even want to tell you guys, I'm kind of embarrassed because we're in a restaurant and sometimes dinner is just like, Hey, bro, if they leave like a slice of steak, I'm gonna eat that slice of steak.

I'm not going to throw it away. It's like, I'm literally just like kind of surviving in that sense. So take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. I'm, I'm, I'm in an interesting phase of life right now, but me, I 

Michael Kummer: mean, I, I mean, I would not throw this sake. I mean, I, I'm typically the trashcan of the family, you know, uh, and, you know, even extended family or friends, you know, Hey, you're not eating this anymore, you know, give it to me.

I'll eat it. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. Pass it over. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. I, I, I, I don't like wasting food. I think I have to, from my mom, my mom, whatever we kids wouldn't eat, she would eat just so it wouldn't go to waste, you know? Um, obviously not a great strategy. You know, depending on your caloric exertion throughout the day, you know, if you're not burning that stuff, it's going to stay with you, um, regardless of what it is.

Um, but that's kind of where I have it from. I, I hate throwing away, uh, and wasting food, you know, knowing that, you know, some people go hungry to bed, you know, I don't want to throw stuff away. Yeah, I do 

Kyle Bernier: that. I, I hate doing that as well. Yeah. 

Michael Kummer: All right. Um, so we covered sleep exercise, stress management, diet, uh, what else, you know, you, you're, you're religious.

So what is your take on, you know, on, on, on, on believing in something greater, I guess that's just, you know, us, what is, you know, your, the sense of community that builds, what is your, why, why are you religious? Yeah. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. I mean, so. Without giving you the whole story, the whole testimony, I mean, I grew up in the church and I have, I mean, I heard the stories over and over and over and I grew up in a really, a great church where it was not like it wasn't rules.

It wasn't laws. It was just like genuinely Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through him. Like the actual gospel was just preached to me at a very young age over and over and over. Um, but it didn't become real to me until I had a pretty profound experience in college.

Yeah. And I'll share a little bit about that. But once, once I had that experience, I just, God just really got ahold of my heart and like, just showed me like, how fragile life is and, and just how scared I am of it ending. And what I, what I mean is. So I, I, so I smoked weed for the first time in college. I took a hit out of a bong, which was really dumb for the first time.

My buddy was like, Hey, this will be great. Let's do it. What could possibly go wrong? Yeah. Yeah. What could go wrong? He talked me into it. And he's like, well, I've cookout trays afterwards, like a bunch of fast food. We'll, you know, we'll have the munchies. We'll enjoy it. Well, we smoked and I took a massive hit and just like, I had a very horrifying experience where I actually, I thought I died.

I thought I died and gone to hell. And it was like 100 percent convinced that where I was in that moment, in that trip, whatever, that psychotic episode was actually hell. And what I realized was just how, like, how much I don't want to feel that and just how, like, on the edge everyone is from that feeling every single day.

And it's like wherever you choose to put your beliefs, I'm not here to have a conversation about that, but I believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and life. And I realized that without him, like, I'm on the edge of that experience forever, every single day. And it was really terrifying. And I just realized how much, like, I actually need, like, I remember when I came out of that and was going through the few months of, like, PTSD, like, just recovering from it.

I was having nightmares every night. It was terrible. But I remember sitting down and like eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I remember being like, oh my gosh, this is the best sandwich I've ever had. I'm so glad I can eat this right now. Because I didn't want to go back to that. And so that's when it really became real to me of like, this is, this is not a game.

This is like, we're not just like floating through space and, you know, let's just see where we end up at the end. Like this is actual life and death every single day. Like every moment that we're alive is God's grace is being patient with us because when it's over, like it's over, you're not, if you're not on that side, you're on the other side.

It's not going to be good. So that's, I mean, that's, I just a little bit about why I am religious, but now I, I just, now it's exercising that every day and choosing to learn more and more about what it means and that sanctification process. Knowing that God has a plan and he's for us and things are hard to all that stuff.

I'm not sure that's helpful. 

Michael Kummer: No, it is. Um, you know, one of the things that kind of goes along with this is, you know, that saying, you know, live every day as if it was your last. Right. And I'm like, well, if it truly, if I truly knew today was my last day, I would make significantly different choices than I'll actually make.

Right. Yeah. But I also realized that it's, it's not sustainable to live every day as if it was your last. Yeah, that's the balance 

Kyle Bernier: of it. You know, yeah, 

Michael Kummer: so how do you find that balance between choosing what you truly want to do more often than what you kind of have to do? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah, I think finding, so, so God gives each of us gifts.

He gives everyone like a talent, right? You know, mine might be communicating. Like I feel like I'm a decent communicator. Um, it's definitely physicality. Like I'm very athletic. I'm very good at fitness and doing that thing. Like I have a gift. I have a subset of talents that I'm called to use to bring glory to him.

And so yes, you want to live every day as if it's your last, but if it was your last, like you said, like I would probably, I don't know, go hug everyone. And we would, I don't know, we would do something, right? Something different than what I do every day. But you find that in that day to day grind, You, you're living out a purpose that you're called to.

You're living out your design and you learn how to fall in love with that process and that work because that work is actually supposed to be joyful. Like we're called to work, you know, even Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall, like God said, Hey, go. And like, you're, you're, you're called to work this garden.

So you're going to go and you're going to make sure everything's taken care of. It was just more joyful until, until the fall happened. And then all of a sudden the curse came. And so you, you just figure out like, okay, what, what am I good at? What do I feel like God has me? What, what talents can I bring to the world that was going to bring joy to people and be useful to people?

And then you, you step into that and then every day it's just like, okay, I'm going to be faithful to this thing. And if you bless it, that's awesome. If not, at least I'm doing what I feel like you've called me to do. And you kind of, you kind of hold it with an open hand. And I want to be clear here. I want to be very clear.

I struggle with this. Like, they're like, I want to have success. Like just selfishly want to have success. And so I'm learning how to do this with an open hand every day of like, okay, God, I'm just, I'm going to make this content on Instagram. I'm going to try to sell this program over here. I'm going to try to go compete at the games, but like, if it doesn't happen, help me to be okay with it.

And you have a different plan for me. You just sit that process over and over and over. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. And one thing that's also kind of a chase into this is because I've noticed I'm going to give, you know, taking care of, of livestock as an example, you know, Um, going out and feeding, you know, the chickens in the morning, you can either view that as a chore that you have to do, or you can try to truly enjoy the process, regardless of what you pick, it has to be done.

Right. And I'd rather enjoy the process by consciously slowing down and believing that, you know, this is part. And it doesn't really matter if I believe, um, if you, if you're religious or not, or what your religion might be. That this is all kind of part of a greater plan, right? Um, and just enjoy the process rather the end result.

I mean, there's a saying in German, der Ziel, meaning, you know, the path that you walk is actually what you should pay attention to and not reaching the target, like climbing a mountain, if you only enjoy that moment when you reach the peak, but none of the process, it's a very short lived, you know, moment at the end of the day.

But if you enjoy the entire, I don't know, three days, it took you to hike up. Right. It's a whole different experience. And that's something I try to remind, you know, the kids or whatever, they say, Oh, I don't want to go out and do, you know, whatever. I'm like, you know, let's enjoy this. You know, we have. A privilege that our work is go out and feed chickens, you know, or walk the dog or sit in the sun and, you know, get some vitamin D.

You know, that's what ultimately what pays the bills for us. You know, who can say that, you know, nobody, I mean, yes, others too, but for the majority of people, you know, they are stuck in something that would not necessarily be their first choice. Maybe never was, you know, at least in our case, there are many things that we chose and then it just kind of became a chore or a routine because we forgot to appreciate the moment.

Um, and, and the fact that this is all part of a something greater, you know, we are taking care of animals. We are taking care of other, you know, life at the end of the day and that life is going to feed us at some point, you know, what greater, you know, thing to do is there, you know, on a, on a given day.

And so. I think that's one of the important things that really try whatever you do, even if it's something that you maybe not don't want to do at the moment, try to enjoy, find joy in what you're doing. Um, and if you really can't do something else, you know, 

Kyle Bernier: yeah. Yeah. I'm so glad you're saying that, man.

Cause you know, for me, the majority of my life has been fitness. I've, I've. The journey for me, day in and day out, has been in the gym. So like, those are like, where I've been falling in love with the process. But like, I think back to 2021. And 2021 was a really fun year. Because we had really great athletes come to the gym.

I mean, for people who may know or don't know, but like Warren Fisher was there. So Travis was there. Noah came up, uh, Jake Berman was there. Like we had, uh, um, Amanda, uh, Shelley, I think is her last name. So that we had a host of like high quality games level athletes in this facility for like three months.

And every day we're like training together, we're throwing down, we're talking trash, we're doing all this stuff. And then we go to our competition and then it was over and everyone was gone, you know, except for Travis. He's still around, right? But I remember and, and, and I didn't know at the time that that was going to be the last time I might, like, I might compete for four years.

I mean, who knows if I'll compete this year, but I look back and I'm like, man, it was so much fun every day. And I didn't enjoy it the way that I should have been enjoying it, you know that moment like that moment in time So hung up on I gotta compete. Well, I want to perform. Well, I wanted to this which is great.

Yeah, but like Those moments you look back on it and you're kind of always regret you're like, I kind of wish I would have just soaked it in a little 

Michael Kummer: Yeah, yeah, and the same obviously goes, you know, when you have kids, it's the same thing, you know, they you know stuff becomes a routine I'm like, oh they are loud there or whatever and I'm like, you know, next time, you know They are like in our case our oldest one, you know is you know 11 like where did the last 11 years go, you know, it's And it's very, I think just slowing down, doing less, I think is one of, that's really my, my ultimate goal in life is to do less, right?

To enjoy more the few things that I do and do well. And not try to chase every shiny, you know, object, uh, there is because at the end of the day, you know, life, life is short, you know, and, and, you know, it, it goes by so quickly. I always say, you know, when someone says, Oh, but you know, you're, you know, only 40, more years left.

I'm like, well, take a, that means I have maybe 40 more summers. That's not that much, you know. Um, so 40 times in those spending time in Georgia summer, you know, sitting out in the, in the humidity, you know, yeah, 40 is a lot, but 40 is like, not that much, you know, if you just count from one to 40, it goes by fairly quickly.

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it's really, it's really profound when you start to put it like that. 

Michael Kummer: Um, how do you, and all of that, we've, that we've talked about now, when someone comes to you and says, Hey, I need help, you know, I need some hand holding, I want to get better. I want to get healthier. I want to, you know, perform better, whatever, get stronger, build some muscle, lose weight, whatever the case might be.

How do you approach that? How do you. Kind of, because everyone is different, you know, everything appears to be so simple and cut and dry on paper, but even diets, you know, even within a certain diet or dietary framework, there was a lot of nuance. Um, how do you approach that? How do you make sure that you, you know, deliver what someone needs without necessarily following, you know, dogma and say, Hey, you know, you have to be on carnivore, you know, or CrossFit.

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. Yeah. So it's a lot of, uh, with. Well, so there's, so there's two ways. So one, one side, like if, if, if, if I were to talk about the pillars a little bit, like one side of it is the mental side. So like, everyone that I found like needs some sort of help mentally in, in some capacity, which I don't know if that sounds to mean the way I word that, but like some sort of help in that regard.

So I, I, I focus a lot on that. First is like getting you to like. Like kind of retraining your brain with a lot of stuff that we've just been talking about like not running from the emotions that you're Feeling not not holding on to this workout as like the end all and be all if today was like a really crappy day The wind might just be doing the workout and just going lighter for the day Like you did it like just learning how to like retrain the brain and maximize opportunities and work around life structure But still keep moving forward and just let go of the expectations That's a huge piece that I really try to help people understand and still for myself I try to work on but then if we're gonna get into like the more practical tactical side of like Making sure everything's tailored for a specific person.

It's a lot of phone calls a lot of conversations. We're like, hey, what have you been doing? What have you seen work? Have you seen anything work? Is anything been helpful for you? Is there anything that like you don't like to do because you've got pain like I kind of have to understand like this person And then I can design a workout routine around it And then it's a lot of feedback.

You know, people, people want to think that I can just have like a phone call with someone or meet someone one time and just write the perfect plan, the perfect nutrition, whatever. But it's a very symbiotic relationship. They have to be giving me feedback. Like, you know, I have, like when I'm working with Max, my old coach, I have to tell him, hey, On this workout, I felt X, Y, and Z.

We need to work on that. If I don't tell him that he's just like, Oh, well, you just need to do like, for instance, doing burpees today when I was doing them, my arms and abs were on fire during it, but my heart rate was great. My legs were fine. So it's like, if I don't tell him that he doesn't know that there's a localized muscular endurance with my arms and my abs, we train that I don't have to do burpees every day to the end of time.

Like I can get better at him by doing other things. And so the same thing when I'm working with a client, you have to give me feedback. I'm going to give you a guidelines, nutrition stuff. And you tell me, how are you feeling? Like, what do you like? What are you actually feeling inside? And then I can tailor it even better and even better.

And we grow and we grow in this relationship over time. That's what I found to be the most successful. Cool. Um, I can get, I get pretty close on the first shot cause I've been doing it for a long time, but the more feedback I get, the better it gets. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah, no, that makes, that makes a lot of sense. And, uh, and I think that's why, you know, if you just get like a workout plan or a program, you know, off the internet and you know, run with it.

I mean, I think regardless of what you do, if you do something, you're probably going to make progress. Yeah. But if you really want to make significant strides, I think you need that feedback loop has to exist. You know, it has to be there. The coach needs to figure out. Okay. You know, I mean, a very good example is, you know, there are a lot of, no, not a lot of things.

There are certain types of movements where I'm really, really strong. And there are certain types where I suck ass, like absolutely, you know, anything involving, you know, tricep endurance. I suck at, you know, and yeah, and, uh, and so, you know, that obviously then comes to bear, you know, when they are like, you know, a lot of burpees because, you know, it's like that push up if there is like, you know, even something like wall walks or handstand push ups, you know, stuff like that, where my, where I have to do a lot of repetitions and once my tricep fatigues, you know, I'm down to singles, you know, and it's embarrassing because If you look at some of the other workouts where I absolutely crush it.

And then, you know, there was another workout where I feel like, you know, uh, dude, you, you know, you're like a 60 year old housewife, you know, uh, doing, and, and so, you know, but again, you know, if, if, if I, you know, if, if that's, you know, if, if, if that was, you know, important enough for me to work on. I would have to tell it my coach.

Hey, listen up, we need to be working on my triceps endurance because otherwise it's going to limit what I can do with pushups, with handstands, with, you know, whatever the case might be. 

Kyle Bernier: Right. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. And it can be very like all, all the feedback is very context dependent, you know, like, um, you, you're giving the example and I gave the example of like a performative goal.

Hey, because I want to be performing at the top level as possible. I'm going to give you like a, a very physical, like a very specific thing that's around, like, Hey, I struggled on this movement with this limit or whatever, and that's very helpful to someone who's just like general population or like, Hey, I don't really care to run a marathon.

I don't want to compete in CrossFit. The feedback can just look like, like, what was your energy level? Like, what was your enjoyment? Like, did you enjoy the workout? Cause that's a huge piece of it too. Like there's a balance where like, sometimes you have to do, sometimes it's just going to suck. You got to do the things that are going to suck.

Like if I give you a set of squats that are going to crush your legs, you're probably not going to enjoy it, but it's going to be so good for you. But I want you, like when we step back and we aggregate the whole year, like I want you to say, you know, I've really enjoyed the training. I felt successful in it.

I felt like I've gotten results. And then you want to sprinkle in the, like the sporadic moments of like, okay, I didn't enjoy this, but I can see how official, you know, you. Play that you wanna play that dance with your clients? Yeah. 

Michael Kummer: Alright. Uh, if people wanna find you and, you know, say, Hey, you know what, I really wanna, you know, improve X, Y, Z, um, you know, lose weight, get better, get healthier, whatever.

Where do people find you and, and how does working with you look like? Is it, you know, do, do they book you for, for a, for an, for an hour, you know, for an hour or on an hourly basis? On a weekly basis, on a program basis? How, how does it work? 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. So you can find me, I'm most prevalent on Instagram. So my handle is strain forward fitness, um, on other platforms as well.

Like I'm on YouTube, Tik TOK, and it's, it's the same thing. Strain forward. Um, so you can find me there, but if you have like a, like, if you wanted to start the conversation, it's best. If you just shoot me a DM, like just shoot me a message. Hey, this is what I'm struggling with. This is what's going on. I saw the podcast.

I saw your content. I saw whatever, like I would like to. Have a conversation with you. We'll go back and forth a few times and then I'll send you my Calendly link. We'll book a call 30 minutes. It's free. There's no like obligations, no pressure, anything. We'll just see if I can actually help you out. Like that's a big piece.

It's like, I want to actually feel like I can be a benefit to you. And if I can, and it makes sense, let's do it. And we'll go through a four month process of like helping you reach your goals, whatever it is. And then we'll reassess at the end of those four months. Yeah, 

Michael Kummer: maybe that's also, uh, you know, something important in terms of, you know, setting expectations, you know, if, if you, most fitness goals, health goals, whatever, you know, you don't reach them in three weeks, right?

It's, it's a process. You likely, whatever. Uh, in whatever state you are, you probably, it probably took you a while to reach that state. So if you're severely overweight, you probably didn't get overweight overnight, right? It took you a while and reversing all of that can be quicker, hopefully it's quicker, but it's still going to take some time.

And so I like you to set, you know, the four months period. I think that's a, you know, typically I would say, you know, give it at least 90 days, but I think four months is probably more realistic in, in, in the sense of, you know, seeing actual results and assessing where to go from there. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah. Yeah. Four months has been a really good window.

And I, and I, again, with managing expectations, someone asked, I did a live the other day and someone asked me, you know, how long would it take to go from zero to it? Like my dream body. And I was like, I mean, it's going to take you a minute. Like it ain't going to be quick. Like again, four months is a great start and you can get a lot of stuff accomplished.

Six months as well. You really can. But like to solidify it, this is my opinion, but to solidify it to where like, This is now who you are and you, you don't want to miss the gym. It's now a habit. Your body looks the way you want your building, like your muscle or your, uh, your training age is starting to increase.

So now like, if you take a week off and you come back, you're fine. Like to get to that level, you're looking at at least a year, 18 months of like consistent day in day, just like I'm committed to this process. If you go through that, like it is very unlikely that you will ever not be fit. But you go through 18 months of like really getting after it, you, you change the trajectory of your whole life.

You really do. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. And yeah, I, I've noticed this typically whenever I look back, I'm like, well, the last two years, you know, have made a dramatic impact, whatever, you know, the outcome was, uh, and, and then maintaining it, that's really the good news. Maintaining it is significantly easier. Then getting there, you know, if I don't, yeah, I've had, I've had months where I only worked out once or twice a week and everyone in the gym, you know, said like, you know, I don't know what do you, how you do this, you know, you, you work out, you come once, you know, and you're still crush it.

Uh, and we work out every single day and, you know, and, and, and we are, we are not. And I'm like, well, you know, once you've reached a certain level maintaining it, uh, you know, if you still make the right choices, you know, lifestyle choices, obviously we sleep with, you know, stress management with diet and everything, but maintaining your physique is so much easier than building it up.

Uh, and you definitely don't want to not maintain it because you lose it very quickly. Then two, once you have reached that threshold. It goes downhill very quickly too. 

Kyle Bernier: Yeah, yeah, I was, uh, I'm not sure if you're familiar with Mind Pump, but I was listening to them a long time ago. So they're, they're pretty prominent, uh, fitness podcast, but they were talking about, um, when you, when you've, after you've been training for years, I forget the number, but like you've been training for a long time, kind of what you're alluding to.

If you were to take a few months off, whatever, to come back. It's, it takes one ninth the time it took to get it in the first place. One ninth. That's like, dude, you train for a month and you're back to where you were after taking six months off. Cause your body, your body actually remembers it. Yeah. So it's so worth the investment of like, I'm going to train as hard as I can for as long as I can.

You can, you really, it has a compounding effect. 

Michael Kummer: Right. Yeah. Cool. Well, that was fun. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you so much for taking the time. Um, I'm going to link all of the resources that you mentioned down below in the show notes, obviously, I'm going to let you know when the, when the episode airs, it's probably going to be a, uh, a little bit because we have, uh, we've recorded quite a bit leading up to that.

Um, but, uh, it was fun and, um. I still owe you a couple of bottles of, uh, of our organ supplements. Uh, I wish we had met up today so I could give it to you, but, uh, we, maybe you want to come over one of those days and, uh, and check out the chickens and stuff. And then I'll, I'll give you a couple of bottles.

Kyle Bernier: Oh, that'd be so, that'd be awesome, man. I'd love to do that. Thank you for having me, man. 

Michael Kummer: All right. Thank you. Appreciate it, man. 

Extra: I'm bro. In the next Primal Shift podcast episode, we're cutting through the noise surrounding beef. Is it really a heart killer? Does it cause cancer? Harm the environment? Or lead to weight gain.

We're tackling these myths head on and uncovering the truth about one of the most ancient, nutrient dense foods on the planet. Tune in as we explore the science, the myths, and the facts you need to know. Don't miss it.