80: The TRUTH About Cold Therapy: Benefits, Myths & Best Practices | David Maus Jr.

The TRUTH About Cold Therapy: Benefits, Myths & Best Practices | David Maus Jr.

David Maus: When I jumped into cold water for the first time, I was dealing with depression. 

Michael Kummer: What I recommend to anyone, if they want to, you know, figure something out, well, go ahead and try it. Eat only plants for 30 days and see how you feel. 

David Maus: It's just scary because like the reason I bring that up is because this morning one of the parents also asked me like, or didn't even ask me, just commented and said, my daughter got, um, my daughter, so a kid in school, uh, was approved for ozempic and she's not even that overweight. Like she's, she's literally not overweight...

Michael Kummer: The challenge really is that, you know, with most parents, you know, are you going to believe, you know, the influencer on YouTube or your pediatrician, right? Right. Obviously, you know, we are not a medical authority, you know, we just happen to share stuff that's been working for us.

David Maus: Hey, I'm doing similar to you. I used to watch your videos all the time. I still do. Like I subscribed to your channel and I love watching your videos. And I feel like we work with a lot of the same brands. And this is our first time actually talking. 

Michael Kummer: Um, I mean, I, for the most part of my life, I thought I was, I was feeling good until I started feeling good.

David Maus: if I had to give somebody like a, like, Hey, do this. It's free. I would say only take cold showers. Don't even turn the water hot. Go outside as soon as you wake up, as soon as your eyes open up, and put your bare feet on the ground, and walk around for five minutes. 

Michael Kummer: that a lot of the science is BS.

It's influenced, it's poor quality, and it's very difficult, at least for the average person, to figure out whether or not the study is 

David Maus: I've never got medical advice from somebody face to face that I want to look like. There was a time in my life where I was really chunky and chubby, actually a long time in my life, and I used to say like, it was just my genetics. I used to say, I'm just, that's, I'm just built big. I'm just, I'm a bigger guy. 

Michael Kummer: You need to find something that you can do for the rest of your life. You know, there is no such thing as a 30 day diet or a, you know, reset or, you know, it's all BS, you know. 

David Maus: So I got home, started taking ice baths and cold showers every single time I took a shower. And it changed my life. It really did. I know people say that about everything, but it truly, it did. It changed my life. 

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Michael Kummer: All right, David. Uh, thanks so much for joining me on the show. I really appreciate it.

Um, I came across your name or I read your name, uh, I think it was a couple of months ago and I'm like, this dude must have, uh, German ancestry, if I do. 

David Maus: I do. Yep. Yeah, there is a German and Italian. It's kind of like that weird mix that you didn't think happened, but it happened. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah, I'm quarter Italian too.

And, uh, and obviously I'm from Austria. So, but, uh, yeah, mouse is, I mean, as I guess as German as it gets. 

David Maus: For sure. No, it is mouse. But then when we moved over here, I guess my, my parents or grandparents were like, no, it's moss. I answer to whatever. 

Michael Kummer: Cool. Well, um, you know, when I first saw your content, I'm like, wow, this dude is kind of like me, but more successful.

So, you know, I, I got to learn more. I got to figure out what he's doing that I'm not. Um, but you know, that's should not be the main topic of today's episode. I really want to learn more about. You know, why you transitioned from running several car dealerships to working on your health and, and fitness full time and, and, you know, making an income, you know, by doing so.

I mean, that's really, because that kind of, you know, reflects what I've been. I mean, I used to be in software sales, not, not in, you know, in the automotive industry, but nonetheless, it's, it's kind of a hard cut going from, you know, corporate America, so to say, to cold plunging all day and making money with it.

You know? 

David Maus: No, you're not wrong. You're not wrong. It's a dream and it's a. It's all, it's all, it's honestly, it's all a gift from God. I have no idea how I'm doing what I'm doing, but, but it's working, but it's awesome. 

Michael Kummer: Um, what was one of the, you know, shifting from, from the automotive industry to focusing on personal health and wellness.

What's like one of those, what was one change or habit that you have adopted in your daily routine that, you know, anyone who is interested in improving your health and well being could benefit from? 

David Maus: Oh man, that's a great first question. Um, cold showers and cold plunging, getting into cold water. So backstory, I'm from Florida, so we don't have cold water.

12 months out of the year, the lake behind me or the ocean. The coldest it gets is 75 degrees. So like that wasn't really that cold. Um, our showers aren't even that cold, but I was actually out snowboarding with a bunch of buddies about, you know, back in 2020, it was like right around COVID time here in the States.

And I, uh, we got back from snowboarding all day, ankles were sore, knees were sore. We went back country. We were just having a blast, but we were exhausted and we were going to do it all again the next day. And one of my buddies. He's a little bit, he was a little bit more on the crunchy side at the time.

That was the word crunchy. If you ate like super organic, super clean, all that stuff. And he's like, dude, let's go jump in the river behind us. And there was like ice floating down it. We're like, no, we're going to, we'll die. There's no way we can do that. And he's like, no, no, no, let's go do it. So we jumped in there and it was like the most invigorating feeling in my life.

And at the time I didn't really realize it, but I was experiencing some pretty intense brain fog at work. I had done the same thing for 20 years, a lot of motive for 20 years, not the same thing at all. It kept progressing. I kept climbing the ladder. I was the vice president of, um, of our business. And for the last seven years of my tenure there, and I learned a ton.

My dad was probably, he, he was like the only healthy person in his family. So I adopted a lot of habits from him. Like we would be on vacation and instead of. Taking the monorail or whatever we would walk, you know, instead of just sitting on the couch, we would see who can do the most pushups. So like we always were active.

He was always super active and I love that about him. And I think that inspired me to always stay fitter than, than most that I worked around. So I'm kind of answering two questions here. The transition from automotive, uh, how I got into health and fitness. And then my first, basically the first thing that really changed my life that I think others should adopt.

And I think it's cold water therapy. So jumped in that water, caught out. And I just felt like a new man. I kind of. I think about that, that movie, it was like a Ryan Reynolds movie where he's a video game character, free city, free guys, something like that, where he like walks out of the bank and he's all beat up and he like touches the little, the little health box and he's like, Oh, I feel brand new.

That's how I felt. I really felt brand new. So I got home, started taking ice baths and cold showers every single time I took a shower. And it changed my life. It really did. I know people say that about everything, but it truly, it did. It changed my life. Never would I have thought that this is what I would be doing.

Right. And it's all because of that. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. My wife, you know, likes to say it's, it's, it's the feeling of before you get in is terrible, but getting out is incredibly. It changes you, you know, in the moment. And I think also in the, in the longterm and, and if you can just get over that initial hump of, you know, yes, I'm going to get in, I'm going to feel like really, really cold for a little bit, but it's totally worth it.

And 

David Maus: you just got a sun home sauna, a cold plunge, right? 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. 

David Maus: Have you cranked it down to 27 yet? 

Michael Kummer: Uh, that's, it's been set to that temperature from the get go. Um, because I, I, I like, I really wanted to, because I used to have for, I think for two years or so, I had, uh, the original plunge, you know, that white acrylic tub and it went to 39, right.

Yep. And, and, but I remember my very first ice bath, uh, at the Dave Asprey biohacking conference a couple of years ago was in a Morosco, right. And that was, that was ice on the bottom. And, you know, I kind of remembered that feeling, but I wasn't sure anymore. Is there a difference between 39 and 33 and for them, you know, longest I would have argued, it doesn't really matter.

It's so cold at this point, you know, that you're going to be cold regardless. But there is still something different about if there is ice. I don't know if it's mentally or, or physically, but there is a difference when there is ice floating in the water and you're sitting in there. It just feels crisp, right?

Um, it 

David Maus: does. So last night I got home. Um, I volunteer at our church and I'm with like seventh grade boys and my kids are there. We got home. I had to put the geese away. Had to put the chickens away. The whole family was already asleep, except for me and my two older daughters. And I just, I'm like, man, I need to like, I need to unwind and decompress after this, this night, it was a great night, but it was a late night and I went out and I was like, you know what, like so many people say don't cold plunge at night before bed.

So I went out, I did 15 minutes in the sauna, got nice and sweaty, rinsed off, and I jumped in, and I have it set at 27 right now, so it's like, the chunks of ice are like 2 inches thick, and I got in there, and I was only in there for 45 seconds, at night I try to do like really quick cold dips, I call them, where you're not getting into that cold thermogenesis, but you just, you get your body temperature, a quick shock of cold, I went and laid down in bed, and I fell asleep the fastest I've fallen asleep, and I didn't wake up until, This until this morning and I use an eight sleep mattress, right?

And it was like my highest sleep score i've had in a while and i've even had i've even done videos on Cold plunging before bed and how it makes me feel and how other people like how does it make them feel? And it's always been very positive, but it's funny like even though I know that sometimes don't do it at night and Going that cold, I thought maybe this was a bad idea, right?

I'm going to do it every night. 

Michael Kummer: I'm 

David Maus: getting in that thing every single night. 

Michael Kummer: And I've, you know, funny enough, I went into the sauna last night with my wife for 25 minutes and we were, you know, close to dying in there. And I'm like, well, you know, it's not terrible. It took me half an hour to fall asleep, which is way, like typically I'm out within 10 minutes, you know, I'm asleep and it took me way longer.

I'm like, well, this is exactly the opposite of what. You know, the common consensus is that, you know, heat before bed is good. Cold is not so good because it, you know, can disrupt your sleep. But I think there is a lot of nuance to it. And I think one of the nuances is how long you stay in there and how much stress you're exposed to, right.

Or how much perceived stress. Absolutely. If you get wrecked in the sauna, I think it's as counterproductive to sleeping well. As if you stay in the cold plant for five minutes and you're shivering, you know, for the next half hour. So I think that I think is a very smart idea because it kind of, it kind of resets you, right?

And it calms you down at the same time as counterintuitive as it might sound, but being in the cold and being really forced to To calm down because otherwise your brain would be freaking out I think that then extends to your bedtime and you and you really stay in that like I'm good. I'm calm. And you know, I can fall asleep kind of no, 

David Maus: absolutely.

And I think that's my determination. I I love, um, the big doctors and scientists who get on YouTube and get on these podcasts. And they talk about like three minutes, cold plunge, three minutes. Like, no, it's different for everybody. Everybody's body. And everybody's different. And I love having new people come over.

And even people who are like super cocky and confident and like gym rats who are just like, Oh, I'll, I'll, you know, I'm up for any challenge. And to see how everybody just reacts differently to different cold temperatures, different times, different times of day. There is no like one size fits all for everybody.

I think that cold water therapy, and this is the benefit to getting. Something with, uh, an adjustable temperature, like a cold plunge that has, you know, a chiller as we both know, but if anybody's watching and they're like, okay, David, you said cold water therapy, start with a cold shower, jump on a cold river.

What's the next level. The next level is getting into a cold plunge because using ice, you can't really Determine the temperature and depending on where you live, like me in Florida, I was, I was spending like 300 a week on ice. It only took me one week to say, okay, this isn't going to work financially. I need to just build something or buy something.

And that's how it started for me. I built a DIY cold plunge before really I had ever seen anybody else do it. And that's really to kind of answer your original question of like, Hey, I'm doing similar to you. I used to watch your videos all the time. I still do like I subscribed to your channel and I love watching your videos.

And I feel like we work with a lot of the same brands and this is our first time actually talking. Um, but it's just, uh, I just, I really enjoy. Helping people get cold, whether it's spending, you know, spending a hundred dollars or spending, you know, 15, 000, whatever works for everybody's budget. Cold water therapy is definitely one of those things that can change lives really quickly.

And. I just, I love my favorite thing. Mike is, is when people come over and they're people I know struggle with anxiety and depression and I get them into cold water and for days, like they don't have it at their house, but for days they're texting me like I still feel so good from that, right? Yeah, it's, it's, that is the power.

No, I'm not a doctor. That's not medical advice, but just to hear people's testimonies and I'm not telling them, Hey, cold water is going to help you. With your depression, your anxiety or whatever, but when they get in the water and then they get out and they feel that accomplishment and they feel like.

Just all of the feelings we feel on a daily basis and they feel so good for days after that's like the sauna feels great and I love a sauna just as much as anybody, but I think that getting cold exposure, making cold exposure a part of a daily habit, that's a non negotiable. I think everybody needs access to it somehow, some way.

Michael Kummer: And you know, the funny thing is. Um, I talked to, I visited, uh, Morosco, uh, headquarters a couple of months ago. And I talked to Thomas, the, uh, the owner or the founder of Morosco Forge. And he brought up a good argument because there are a lot of studies, you know, with heat exposure, with sauna bathing, you know, the Finnish culture and everything, but one of the things that is, is often not covered or is not mentioned is that most of the people who sauna bathe regularly and with cold.

Right, so all the benefits you're getting from a sauna really only from the sauna or maybe from the cold after or a combination thereof But I think the point here really is that cold is, is, is a critical factor, uh, regardless of how you spin it. And, and I would also argue that if I had to choose between a cold plunge and a sauna from a benefits perspective, I'd go with the cold.

Uh, even though it sucks more being in the cold plunge than in the sauna. 

David Maus: It's so true. And a lot of people ask, I get that question a lot. I'm sure you do too. It's like, hey, if I could only afford one. Should I buy a cold plunge or should I buy a sauna? And there's a lot of next step questions that, that I like to ask people.

Obviously budget's a concern. Is it, are you renting your house? Do you own it? Do you plan on being there for a while? Cause you know, if you get a barrel sauna, which is great. Or even these larger infrared saunas any any sauna. They're not easy to move like once you have it built. It's pretty much there Yeah, so that's always a determining factor budget's a determining factor, but really You just brought up a great point that thomas brought up and that's that you know I don't know anybody who's ever in the history of life Gotten in a sauna, sweated, got all gross, nasty, and then just like, no, no, and didn't take a shower and then, and then just kind of like went about their day and then laid in bed all nasty and fell asleep.

I'm sure it happened back in the day, but I don't, we don't know that. So, like you said, like Thomas said, like, even if they didn't in cold with a cold plunge, everybody who saunas. Rinses off with a shower, rinses off with a hose, jumps into a lake, gets the sweat off somehow. And that theoretically, or at the end of the day kind of cools the body down unnaturally.

Cause you're not just letting your body cool down like you would in a cold plunge by letting your body drip, dry and heat up. So you bring up a great point is are all these studies kind of nuanced because There's extra things happening along the way, right after the sauna that no one's really talking about.

So, Hey, good, good call. Good point. 

Michael Kummer: Um, you know, you, you mentioned sauna bathing, you mentioned cold plunging, but obviously those are, you know, I guess important, but nonetheless, just puzzle pieces of, of an overall, you know, healthy lifestyle. And there is, there is a lot to it. How do you cut through the noise?

How do you advise people to cut through the noise? Because if you go online and search for, you know, what's the best diet, what's the best exercise regimen, what, you know, you name it, they are, they're, you know, conflicting, there's conflicting information and sometimes so conflicting that I'm like, how can, if this is true, how can the other one, you know, I mean, there are, there are just the opposite, basically very polarizing.

Yeah. Um, how do you How do you, how do you figure out what works and what doesn't? 

David Maus: You're gonna laugh. I, I try to just have fun and put myself in uncomfortable positions. I, I really don't. I follow and subscribe and listen to a lot of the doctors and a lot of the people on YouTube who share studies, go over studies, talk about studies.

I am a study. I am constantly changing. I am constantly trying and I'm constantly challenging myself. I did CrossFit for a long time. I stopped doing CrossFit and I started really focusing on cardio. I quit doing cardio so much and I became a gym rat. I got off being a gym rat and I went to these bootcamps where it's kind of like at 45 style, which is all kind of CrossFit style.

Got back on CrossFit, love CrossFit. And now I'm hybrid athlete training. I, for the workouts, I'm, I get bored. I'm I have ADHD, so I get really, really bored. I, I can't do the same thing over and over and over again. That's what I love about CrossFit is you never know. Like, I don't like to read the workout before I show up and I'll use, and this probably isn't good, but I use chat GPT if I'm going to work out at home.

Cause. I literally plug in there. This is the equipment I have. This is what I want. This is the stimulus I'm looking for and I have 45 minutes. Write me a great workout and ChatGPT will give me a great, great workout. Or, hey, I'm, I'm training for a high rocks and I want to also train for a marathon. I want to do two a days and I want to do it three days a week.

Write me a workout with this equipment. So, And I don't do that all the time I go. I still, I still go to my CrossFit gym and have workouts with the group because I love being around people. I still will go to a gym and work out with a friend who invites me to a gym. I'll I'll work out anywhere for my workout for my diet.

I'm also constantly changing right now and probably for the past two years. I've really enjoyed the way I feel on an animal based diet. So I did carnivore for about two months, not very long, but I did full carnivore for two months. I got to that phase where you get the Hershey squirts and I couldn't control it and I was like, I got it.

I need to change this. This isn't working for my, my life. It's not enjoyable. So then I started throwing in some fruit and dairy and honey. And some carbs and I felt so good. So I'm right now about 80 percent animal based, 20 percent junk, 20 percent horrible, 20 percent American diet. I have four kids that, um, as much as we have access to healthy, great, wonderful foods here, I get to work with a lot of great brands that provide my family with really, really good foods and supplements and snacks and drinks.

Um, they still like goldfish and Oreos and, and Prime, you know, it's, they're still kids in school and that's the cool thing. So I, you know, I'm not one of those super strict parents. I want them to enjoy life. Um, they have their entire life to work hard and, and try to fight off all the crap that they're putting in their bodies.

Now, like me and you are from when we were younger. Exactly. But, um, but yeah, so 80 percent really clean animal based organic foods, grass fed beef, organ meats. I love organs when I can't eat them because they're hard to get here in Florida. I take supplements, organ supplements. I highly recommend organ supplements.

Um, there's just a lot in there that's bioavailable that we can't get from our food that our body really loves. And I feel great when I stopped taking organ supplements or stop eating organ supplements for two to three weeks, I feel it and I get back on it and I feel it. So I, I just experiment to answer your question.

I experiment with myself. I check in with my body. I do use a service. Um, it's, it's called blokes enjoy where. I get my blood work and my comprehensive labs done every quarter and we have coaching. So we'll talk about my current workout program, my diet program, my, my stress levels, what I'm dealing with in life.

And they'll develop kind of like a suggestion plan. Like, Hey, you're starting to trend downwards here, here, here, and here. Here's some suggestions that you can change lifestyle wise, diet wise, workout wise to maybe lower your stress levels, whatever it might be. Um, or supplements, whatever. And then every quarter we, we change it.

And I love working with them because it's not, it's not me just guessing or going off of my feelings. It's me literally seeing like. It's, it's me seeing what's happening on the inside of my body on a cellular level and I've really focused on, have you heard of biological age? Sure you have. Yeah. So I've really started to put more focus on my biological age, which chronological age is the number, how long you've lived.

Biological is how your body's aging on a cellular level. And it's really cool to check in with that. You have to get tested for it. Blokes does that. Um, I'm sure other companies do too, but to see, to see the changes you make, like I do, I ground every morning. I get morning sun. I don't wear sunscreen. I don't put a, like, I don't put chemicals on my body.

As much as possible. I drink high quality water when I can which is most of the time I ground I'm always barefoot But you know and I've made some changes to my lifestyle where I can feel and see in the mirror that like I'm trending Backwards in a good way Biologically and my wife is too so she gets to work with joy Which is the female division and she's younger than she's older than me in real life by three months And then she's younger than me biologically.

So She's kicking my butt. I'm kind of competitive, so I've got to work harder at 

Michael Kummer: that. Right, right. Uh, that's awesome. Um, now, you know, I obviously, I've, for most of my, I guess, health and wellness career, so to say, I've looked at scientific evidence. But I've come to realize, especially in the last maybe one or two years, That a lot of the science is BS, uh, it's influenced, it's, it's poor quality.

And it's very difficult, at least for the average person to identify, to, to figure out whether or not the study is good and, and really meaningful. Right. And so I've, I've also been leaning more on the, you know, N equals one kind of, you know, how do I feel, you know, and that's a very simple experiment. And that's at the end of the day, what I recommend to anyone, if they want to, you know, figure something out, well, go ahead and try it.

Eat only plants for 30 days and see how you feel. You know, eat only meat for 30 days and see how you feel. At the end of the day, though, is with most of those experiments, there is very little to no harm. You can only learn, right? If you just have to be willing to listen, right. And, and, and, and look in the mirror and say, okay, this is, I'm looking and feeling better than I did yesterday.

So obviously, you know, I'm on the right path. If I don't, you know, maybe that was not a good choice. And, and by doing so, I think it's very easy. Well, it, no, it's not very easy. It's easier, I guess, to figure out when you, when you look at all the noise and you know, you pick something and you run with it for a little while, whether or not it's working.

Um, but I still think if you're like brand new, if you just woke up this morning and say, you know what my life shit, my health shit, I need to do something. Um, I think it's easier to just follow someone. For a little bit, who you trust or who resonates with you and then not just blindly follow them forever, but kind of, you know, get your cues, figure stuff out, get like on a, on a certain framework, maybe like an animal based diet, which doesn't have to be carnivore.

It doesn't have to be keto, but somewhere in there. And then you figure out what works for you. I would probably not start with a vegan diet as my first choice. Uh, nah, my last recommendation. Yeah. But, but nonetheless, you know, you, you got to find, I think someone and then start experimenting. And I think that what most people struggle with is finding the time to experiment and to listen to the bodies.

Right? 

David Maus: Absolutely. And I'm sure you, I'm sure you are very familiar with this, but I think the, the thing that blew my mind the most is because I know a lot of people who are vegan and their energy levels are always really down. And I, I'm a simple guy. I just, I look at something and I say, that's not right.

So I avoid it. I look at something and say, that's what I want. So I am attracted to it. I look at a guy like you and I've looked at a guy like you for, for years on YouTube. And I'm like, I want a body like that. Whatever this guy is doing, I want to do. So I start following you. I start watching and you don't even know this prop.

This is our first time ever talking, but I start watching all your videos. I follow you on, on social media and I try to see what are the, some of the things. That you're doing and can I do those things and if I can do those things am I willing to do those things? And am I going to do those things and when I do those things?

Do I feel better? Does it make me, am I heading towards my goal or am I heading away from my goal? I think that, you know, I, I'm not a big, I'm not a big, I don't recommend vanity, but I do think that when you see somebody who looks the way that you would love to look, you got to ask them those questions or you got to at least try to do the things that they're doing.

What are you doing that I'm not doing that if I did, would it change the way I look and feel? And if you can answer those questions and be honest with yourself and actually do the things, then that's, I'm just a simple guy. I try to see what other people are doing that's working and just emulate that, emulate that.

And then if I can do it better, cause we all have strengths, we all have weaknesses, we all have mobility, strengths and weaknesses. Some people can't do movements with a barbell. I was one of those people for nine years out of the past 10 years of doing CrossFit. I could barely do a clean because my elbows just wouldn't, just wouldn't work.

They wouldn't get there. But I asked people who had been through the same thing at my gym, like, Oh yeah, for years I couldn't do it either. And then I started foam rolling my lat and I'm like, really? And then I started to do some sweet, this weird stretch on the bench and do like the whatever, all these different stretches and stuff.

I just started doing them. I'd be home on my couch. We're watching a movie. I'd get down on my knees and do the prayer stretch and stretching out my lats. And now I can do a clean and it feels great. It doesn't hurt anymore. So, and I was one of those people who was like, Oh yeah, I just can't do it. But yeah, you can, you just don't want to, or it hurts.

There's just a lot of little things that we can do to, to make some of those positive changes. Um, no matter where you're at, somebody who's watching this, listening to this. And they're someone who can't break parallel on a squat. I couldn't either. I stopped sitting on, uh, chairs, benches, and couches when I had an opportunity.

I'd sit on the floor and I'd put my feet flat and I'd try to pull them as close to my butt as possible. And at first it wasn't very close. And now I can literally get my heel to touch my butt. And I try not to sit on chairs as much as possible. And that's just one small change that any human being on the planet with legs can do.

And it would help you with your hip mobility and flexibility and help you get deeper on squats and make it hurt less. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. No, just small things. Yeah. I totally agree. Maybe one thing that I wanted to point out because it's, uh, it's, it's one of the most frustrating things for my wife is because we have a.

I would argue a very comparable lifestyle, right? As far as we eat, as far as we sleep, as far as we exercise, all of that. But she's like, you know, I don't know what you're doing that you look like you do, but it should not be possible. You know, and I'm like, you know, I'm sure there is some genetic factor.

So that's maybe one thing I want to point out is there might be people who work out more, who eat better, who sleep better, who do all the things better than I do, and still don't quite look the same because we, we all my brother is, will never be as, as, as. We'll never be as, as, uh, how do you, as the English word has as much muscle volume as I have, he is ripped, he is strong and all of his fit, but I just tend to bulk up significantly easier.

Then he does and I think I have said more like from my mom because my mom tends to be a little bit bulkier. My dad is, you know, way skinnier. And so I think, you know, there are also genetic components that yeah, you know, I don't say that genetics, you know, dictate your life by no means. I think epigenetics are way more important.

Um, but there are still certain factors that, you know, just by looking at someone, first of all, you don't, you usually don't know the whole. You know, story, what they are doing, what they are not doing. Um, and then obviously, you know, everyone is different. So I would also caution people to not necessarily, especially, you know, as far as, well, really anything is concerned and say, okay, if I do exactly what they do, I'm going to get the same results.

Uh, if that was the case, I would be in a 100 meter Olympic champion and, and I'm not, you know, 

David Maus: right? No, you're so right. And I think, um. I love that point. And like, for me, I look at, I went to Wadapalooza last year in Miami cause I live in Florida, just drove down there. I wanted to go and I'm looking around at all these professional crossfitters.

And I realized like, Oh. I'm probably never ever. And I had no aspirations to be, but probably never ever going to be a professional CrossFitter because I'm a foot taller than almost every person that I see on the floor. Most CrossFitters that are really, really strong are, you know, a little, they're shorter, they're under six foot.

Like most of them, there are some that are taller, some exceptions, but that's just not, I just probably won't get to that level. I didn't start lifting and working out competitively seriously and taking my health seriously. Heck until about four years ago, really, really about three years ago. And I, um, and I, so I won't look at somebody like that and be like, I want to do that.

But I look at somebody like you, who, how tall are you? We're similar size. I think, yeah, I'm six foot one. Yeah. I'm six foot one. And I. I'm like, all right, like, I probably will never look just like you, but I like your lifestyle. You got chickens, got geese, you work out, you eat healthy, you're, you, yeah. So I look at somebody like that and I'm like, okay, I can do some, I can take some of the things that he does on a regular basis and make it a part of my life.

And at least once again, just take some steps forward, take some steps in the right direction instead of sitting on the couch. Opening up a bag of unhealthy popcorn or, you know, or chips, I can make some better choices that will actually take me towards my goal instead of away. And unfortunately, a lot of things we do takes us away from our goal.

Michael Kummer: Yeah. Speaking of, you know, I have come to the conclusion that the more we try to hang on to our modern life, the more we have to. Mitigate it in the sense of, you know, if we were living out, if we were to live out in the wild, you know, naked, half naked, barefoot, you know, no sunscreen, no, no AC, nothing. We wouldn't have to sauna, bathe and cold plunge.

You know, it would just be implicit, right? It, there was no, there was not any other choice. Right. But because we want to have this modern. lifestyle. Now we have to invest in tools and, and techniques to kind of mitigate all of that crap that we have invited into our lives. How do you kind of balance between going back to the basics versus spending time and money on mitigation?

David Maus: Wow. I love that question. And I have, I love educating. So. The school my kids go to, um, me and my wife have became kind of like the non, non employed people who help people with their health. Every day. I was just there this morning and I had two parents ask me questions on how I see your kids working out with you.

How do I get my kids to work out? My kid wants to gain some weight. How do, cause he's super skinny and he wants to play football and sports. How do, how does he put on muscle? How does he put on size? So we're constantly just having to ask them questions about their lifestyle. Where do they live? What's their schedule like?

Because you can't, you can't look at somebody. That's the other kind of thing. You can't look at somebody and say, I want to look exactly like them. And expect it to happen. You have to also ask what's their lifestyle like. So for me, I started making some practical changes in my life to go back to the basics.

Uh, I stopped using hot water in my shower. I just don't even turn it on hot, whatever the cold temperature is that comes out. That's what I shower with from the beginning to end. Almost every time I take a shower now, sometimes you feel like you want to take a warm shower or you want to, we have a steam room in our shower too.

So like. If we turn the steam shower on, we turn the hot water on as hot as possible to really get it nice and steamy. And it's very exhausting and fun, but whenever I take a shower, it's a modern convenience, but I turn it as cold as possible. So it kind of brings me back, takes the hot water out of the equation and it puts me back into.

The old school roots of, you don't have that option. There's no such thing as hot water. It's unless you boil pot. So doing that, walking outside, if it's possible, I know people live in New York and there's very few places where there's actually dirt and grass, but grounding has been a game changer for me.

Getting morning sunlight on my skin has been a game changer for me. And I think about some things like our ancestors back when we didn't have electricity, when we didn't have how a home like this, which was just a sealed box of stuff, this is so this is so weird. How we do this. Like, we live in these homes where we quickly shut the doors.

We leave the windows shut. We have the air conditioner just pumping the same air around. We very rarely cycle our air. And we wonder why we're always sick. So in my house, I'll open all of the windows at least three times a week, turn the air conditioner off. Sometimes I'll just keep it on and just let, you know, air conditioning outside.

As my dad used to always say, don't air conditioning outside and just let the let the whole house completely cycle through so that we get at least some fresh air. Inside the home, having plants inside is great. If I had to give somebody like a, like, Hey, do this. It's free. I would say only take cold showers.

Don't even turn the water hot, go outside. As soon as you wake up, as soon as your eyes open up and put your bare feet on the ground and walk around for five minutes, if you happen to get up before the sun comes up and you have to get in your car, as the sun's rising, roll your windows down, take your sunglasses off, stop wearing those things and get natural sunlight, not with windows.

On your face, on your skin, in your eyes, even before 10 o'clock, if you get to an office and you don't have like all of this isn't working out, there's no such thing as morning sun anywhere in your commute. Maybe you take a subway, walk upstairs, get outside, walk outside and find some small little sliver of sunlight before 10 o'clock in the morning.

And just let it hit your face. Mm-hmm . I don't, I'm looking at myself on this and I'm like, man, I look so like red and orange, and people are e even complimenting or commenting on like, Hey, you're, you're like turning brown, like, what's going on with you? I used to be super pale. Mm-hmm . I used to be pale and burnt all the time.

I used to load up with sunscreen. I was a surfer too. Mm-hmm. Growing up I surfed, I wakeboarded, I wake skated. I lived on the water, I lived outside. But I always wore sunscreen and I always tried to wear like organic, healthy sunscreen too. But I still just stayed pale three years ago. This wasn't long ago, three years ago, I stopped wearing sunscreen, cold Turkey, just decided not to wear it anymore.

I was watching old school version one liver King when he used to be educational and not doing all this crazy stuff when you talk about grounding and morning sunlight. And I'm like, dude. I actually get that. It actually makes sense. Our ancestors used to do that and they didn't wear sunscreen. How come they didn't get burned?

And they were running around killing animals in the middle of the day. Right? So I stopped wearing sunscreen, started getting morning sun, started getting sunlight on my skin. And this is my natural color. Now, this is just what I look like. And it's October. Um, I'm always outside though, but I get morning sun every single day.

My skin tone has changed. My skin health has changed. It's funny. Cause people, I made videos on this. Like I stopped wearing sunscreen for a year and this is what happened. The comments are like. You're going to get skin cancer. Okay. I have friends who were sunscreen their whole life and has skin. Okay. I would rather just take my chances with nature.

And then at night, Mike, this is the thing that's game. There's been a game changer at night, obviously trying to turn most of the lights off, putting red lights on. If possible, I have my kitchen lights where I can turn them all to red. So we have like at least one room in the house that has illuminated lights, but it's red, um, going outside and just looking at stars and looking at the moon before I go to bed.

In the grass, barefoot grounding, that has been a game changer as well. So here's the prescription. Get up, get outside, barefoot on the ground, get morning sunlight on your skin. Only take a cold shower. Then before you go to bed, get outside, barefoot, bare feet in the grass, bare feet on the ground and look at the stars right there.

You don't need a bunch of equipment that'll bring you back to your roots. Try to eat some beef organs. Try to eat some grass fed beef once a day. That would be like the simple get started playbook. 

Michael Kummer: And it's, I mean, almost anyone should be able to pull that off. Right. You know, and even I would argue, you know, if, if the, the, the meat you're buying is not grass fed, grass finished, you know, buy meat, you know, buy, eat some meat, eat some eggs, you know, and fill the rest with whatever you feel like, you know, more or less.

Um, and it's so simple at the end of the day. But it appears to be so difficult for many people to wrap their head around, you know, just doing that because I think everyone is so caught up in, in all of the stuff that we do, you know, there are so many stressors, so many, so much noise that's That distracts us, you know, social media and whatnot, people get anxious just by thinking about making better choices, you know, yeah, it's true.

And that's obviously counterproductive. Um, what's your take on intermittent living, uh, in the sense of, you know, you obviously know about intermittent fasting, uh, you know, there is, you know, exercising intermittently. You don't do it all the time. But there are, if you extrapolate from there, you know, you could say, well, you know, intermittent sleeping might be a good idea too, because anything that kind of, you know, stresses you to a degree makes you stronger and more resilient.

What's your take on that, especially as far as sleep is concerned, because I'm, those are one of, that's one of the topics where I'm like. I don't know if I could pull it off. I don't know if I buy into, you know, sleep, not sleeping for a night every so often, or cutting my sleep short. 

David Maus: No, I need sleep. Like since I prioritize sleep, everything in my life progressed positively.

And on nights when I get, cause I, um, I started sleeping on an eight sleep mattress about a year ago. And before that I wore a whoop for almost two straight years and only for sleep data. That was before really the aura ring and all these other little wearables. It came popular now. I just wear a Garmin.

Like that's kind of my wearable of choice, but the eight sleep whoop, all that fun stuff. I found that when I got like five to six and a half hours of sleep all day, the next day I felt groggy and not, not there, not, not a hundred percent on, um, but at seven and a half to eight and a half hours of sleep on fire, like all day long from the second I wake up to the second I go back to sleep.

I feel just unstoppable and good. Um, anything over eight and a half hours, I also feel groggy. Like I, like I got into a new cycle and I got a little too much sleep. So there's like that sweet spot. And I think it's really important. Here's what I would suggest anybody to do. If you can just buy some sort of very inexpensive but effective tracker and try it, try it out for yourself because I think everyone needs to experiment with their own self because we all have different stress.

We all have different. Everything's different. Every part of us is different. We're all built differently. So It's one of those things that I would recommend getting a tracker that you don't have to like invest your entire life into, but try some different sleep times. Try going to sleep at different times, waking up at different times, sleeping, different amounts of time, drinking different things before bed.

The one thing I don't recommend is melatonin before bed. I know that became super popular for a long time. I personally, I don't recommend it just because. Anything that your body should be producing naturally, if we can control it, even into our aged years, I feel like that's definitely, um, something to avoid.

I don't know. What are your, what is your take on melatonin? I'd actually love to hear from you on that. Yeah. I mean, for the longest 

Michael Kummer: I'm like, you know, any hormone, anything that, you know, that impacts a negative feedback loop in the body is not a good thing to take chronically, you know, be it testosterone, be it melatonin, whatever, you know, anything you put in and your body stops producing it.

Can't be good. You know, if you do the extended periods, I mean, now if you have jet lag, you travel across time zones, you know, I, I, I leverage melatonin, but on a regular basis, you know, that's a good idea. I actually didn't 

David Maus: think of it like that. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. I, I'm like, eh, not, not sure. But you know, then I, I, I came across a lot of signs that Show that apparently the negative feedback loop is not impacted by exogenous melatonin.

Okay. Uh, even at, at, at crazy amounts that I would never consider like, you know, 50 milligrams or two, there are even some, you know, like 200 milligrams of melatonin, which is like nuts considering the body makes, I don't know, a milligram or whatever. Um, you know, per night or per day. So I, I'm not sure. Um, I, my gut feeling is that whatever, you know, you, you pop, You, uh, you apply from an exogenous perspective is probably not worth doing chronically.

David Maus: Did I ever, have you ever heard my story with testosterone? No. So pre me doing this, pre me being in content, health and wellness, recovery, all this stuff. I had always lived a somewhat active lifestyle like we talked about earlier always moving Um, but in the car business, it was not a very active first job I stayed active and I would have clubs of people Who wanted to be active and like at nine o'clock twelve o'clock three o'clock every three hours.

We would always meet Um on the front deck and we would drop down and do 20 push ups Just something like little micro snacks like throughout the day or workout snacks as people are calling them Now we were doing these for years just to just to move blood through the muscles at work But I, you know, we had started having kids stress drinking a little bit, not ever getting drunk, but drinking a little bit, all the normal, but not necessary and very unhealthy American habits I was doing.

And I was living, um, started losing drive, started dealing with massive brain fog. Um, Low libido and I was young. I was in my early 30s at the time. It wasn't long ago So my dad who had been on testosterone don't mean to put him out there but like my dad and other people who had been on small doses of testosterone for a few years and we're like Hey, it's kind of like Kind of a good thing.

I didn't know any better. Um, and at the end of the day, no one was influencing me I made my own decision, but I went to a local clinic. I got my blood work done The process was not was not very fun. I had to go to all these places. I was all over the road It wasn't like working with blokes where they send someone to your house and it's awesome But the process was grueling.

I got in there and I was super nervous because one I don't like needles and two I I did not want just like you said I did not want to start at an early age taking testosterone and When I thought there's other options that were out there. So I sit down with this doctor and he prescribes me one cc of testosterone.

Um, twice a week is what he wanted me to take. And as you know, that's a lot, but my, my levels were under 200. I don't mind. I've shared this story. So like, I don't mind sharing this. My levels were under 200. I was at the time like 33 years old. Um, and I was kind of desperate and I was, I was working out. I was started trying to do some of the right things.

This was shortly after I started, um, cold plunging and sawn on a regular basis. So I felt like I was doing some of the right things and I got my blood work done after I had started doing the right things for like six months or so. And those were my numbers. So it's like, Holy smokes. What were my numbers prior to the cold plunging, taking cold showers, eating red meat, doing all this stuff.

So I was somewhat desperate and I was like, well, I guess I have to, I guess like I'm at this point. So, um, to your point, I said, okay. I didn't know the process. I got home. I had this needle that was like two inches long, super big needle, super scary. I'm like, what do I do with this thing? There was no training manual.

So I call, I call somebody. I'm like, Hey, like, what do I do? And they're like, okay, like reach down, grab your butt cheek. I like go to poke myself and I'm like, I can't do this. Like, there's no. There's no way I can do this. So I convinced my wife to do it and like she does it and it hurts and I'm like, ah, everything about it sucks.

So, and then like her pushing an entire, like an entire syringe of the, or not an entire syringe, but a full, you know, a hundred. Whatever it is, milliliters or whatever it is into my took us. Um, that whole process was a process. And I'm like, I gotta do this twice a week for indefinitely. Like, there's no way I'm going to do this.

And it was expensive. Like to your, to your point, like that was a lot of TRT. And it was expensive. So I did it for, so I never did a second shot that week. Um, I just did one the next week. I procrastinated. I didn't do it on the same day. And then I convinced my wife to do it again. And it sucked, um, the next week.

So I started, I never did the full prescription of what they wanted me to do. And I, um, and then I eventually just kind of weaned myself off and just, just stopped, like just completely stopped. And then I started working with blokes and I shared that story with them and they're like, there's so many other things you could do.

You can take TRT, of course you can take, and you, you know what, you might, you might benefit from a very, very small amount of TRT. Not a full syringe of it, not twice a week. Right. That is 100 percent gonna shut down. The production of it. So there's like more to the story and I plan on doing a second, uh, video kind of following up.

I've had people ask, cause I did a, my TRT experience video on, on YouTube and it's helped some people because other people have gone through that same experience. It's like, it's almost one of those subjects that people don't want to admit that they are considering because it is, you know, kind of looked down upon.

Um, Because there are other options and there really are like working with blokes exposed a lot of options and I was able to get my levels to a very good number without having to take supplemental TRT and we've made some great lifestyle changes, which I would love to recommend to other people, but sorry to like throw that out there on the show, but I just think it's a topic that I don't mind sharing that I've experimented with that and, um, can continue to be open minded to you.

Any type of peptide if it's necessary. So it's just fun to kind of learn. Once again, I feel like I'm just a big science experiment. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. And, you know, I, my, my story is somewhat similar. I've, I've done it for a while too. And, and then I realized that my, it took me almost a year for my LH, the luthanizing hormone to get back and, and start producing or, you know, trigger the production of, of endogenous testosterone.

And I'm like, and I've only, and I, and I only did, uh, testosterone, I think for two years, if I'm not mistaken. And I'm like, imagine, you know, doing this for decades, you know, you might never, you know, get back. And at a time I took HCG to kind of keep my own production going, which is, you know, ridiculously expensive.

Right. Um, and despite that, you know, I'm like, no, you know what? This is so not worth it. You know, there's, there's gotta be better ways of, of, of, of doing this. And so I totally agree. And I appreciate you sharing this. 

David Maus: Yeah, absolutely. Hopefully it's helpful to somebody out there. You know, I just, I feel like some people, you know, they see how the liver king was like exposed.

It's like, if you look at this guy and think he's never taken anything, you're already out of your mind. Like, but there's also like, if, if something, if there's a supplement out there, that's going to make you. Reach your goal a little bit faster. Most people are gonna would love to just do it. You know what I mean?

It just, yeah. 

Michael Kummer: Why not? Life short, you know what I mean? We all try to, to get to our goal quicker and there's usually nothing wrong with it. If you just. You just have to, you know, be aware of the potential consequences, right? Uh, and decide if, if taking the convenient route, if it's helping you in the long run, because very often I found taking the inconvenient route, being uncomfortable is much more rewarding in the long run.

Uh, and, but sometimes it takes a while to figure that out, you know, uh, took me 40 plus years. 

David Maus: 100%. There is, I want to, if you don't mind, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the ozempic traseptide kind of world there for two sets of people. One for people who are extremely overweight and really want to lose the weight so they can start exercising.

And two people who are in shape. Um, but just want to get a little bit more cut, what are your thoughts on, on that? Yeah, I 

Michael Kummer: mean, for those who wanted to get in a more, I mean, at the end of today, you know, I, I think everyone should do whatever the heck they want to, you know, um, it's not my, my, my place to tell anyone what they should and should not be doing.

I would never consider it. Um, and, and obviously. You know, the shape I'm in, the health I'm in, it's easy to say, you know, that I would not ever do this if I weighed, you know, 300 plus pounds, maybe I would have a different view. I don't know. But if someone comes to me and say, Hey, you know, I, I'm way overweight, um, exercising hurts.

I, you know, my knees, whatever I can't, I would still argue that, you know, go swimming. And go on a, on a, on a low carb, you know, ketogenic, carnivore, whatever diet, you lose that fat incredibly quickly, especially if you're so severely overweight. I mean, going from, I don't know, 150 to 120 pounds is probably significantly more difficult than going from 350 to 250, right?

Right. Yeah, for sure. So. I think there are, there are probably cases where, you know, medication makes sense where it's, it's, there is a net benefit to it, but I, I think those cases are a few, um, I, I know people personally who, you know, they want to lose 10 pounds and, and take that medication. It's insanity to me, you know, absolute insanity, because you're going to gain that weight back, um, once you stop, once you cannot afford the medication anymore.

And. It's much like with a diet, you know, you need to find something that you can do for the rest of your life. You know, there is no such thing as a 30 day diet or a, you know, reset or, you know, it's all BS. You know, if you don't, if you don't make the right choices every single day, you're going to be, you know, in a shit hole, you know, sooner than later.

So that's my take on it. 

David Maus: It's just scary because like the reason I bring that up is because this morning one of the parents also asked me like or didn't Even ask me just commented and said my daughter got My daughter so a kid in school Was approved for ozempic. 

Michael Kummer: It's 

David Maus: and she's not even that overweight.

Like she's she's literally not overweight. 

Michael Kummer: That's what 

David Maus: she It broke my heart like and how do you tell a parent who cares so much about their kids? social credit of not you know of not being made fun of for being overweight in school and stuff like that like There are so many other things you can do.

Um, and it's just like out of love. It's like there are so many other things you can do. And some of us, some people, some people watching this, some people listening to this might, might be, you know, at the, the second half of their life. And it is a little harder to get started when you're 200 pounds overweight at that point.

So always make the best decision for yourself, but definitely weigh out the consequences. Anybody under the age of 30 getting on something like that, that can truly mess you up for a lot longer than it's going to help you. Um, definitely reconsider, definitely, but make your own decision, do your own thing, whatever you feel is right.

But it just kind of like, I wanted to bring that up and ask your opinion because It kind of just, it was like a shock that the doctors are prescribing it to kids. 

Michael Kummer: You know, anything kid related. And the challenge really is that, you know, with most parents, you know, are you going to believe, you know, the influencer on YouTube or your pediatrician?

Right. Right. Obviously, you know, we are not a medical authority. You know, we just happen to share stuff that's been working for us. But a lot of the things are also like, I feel like a common sense. If you really look back at how humans have been doing things, you know, does it make sense to do, you know, what the doctor says, or does it make sense to do what we've been doing for a very long time, depending on how long you think humans have been on this planet, you know, that varies obviously, but however long you think, you know, it's been working, you know, and it's not right.

Working maybe 200 years ago, or even less, you know, 

David Maus: You know, one of the things I like to do is I like to follow people who have a complete opposite take of of me And I would encourage people watching this or I would encourage anybody to share this with somebody who may Feel completely like I have friends.

I have family members who 100 don't care what I say or what I have to show for anything any of the lifestyle changes I've made in my life or my family's life Their kids are always sick. They're always sick. They're overweight. They're depressed. They're unhappy But everything I do is wrong because their doctor said otherwise I would just encourage people to maybe go on instagram and follow some Follow some profiles that are somewhat educational and share conflicting and controversial topics, um, that you don't agree with, you know, like I, I think it's interesting when you follow somebody who is a straight up 100 percent vegan influencer and see what they have to say about people who eat meat.

And I think it's really interesting to see. People who are overweight and, you know, and I've tried all these different diets and all these different things, but found one thing that works. I just think it's interesting, like, if you're in a mode where you're like, whatever you're doing is not working, you don't look and feel the way you really, really, really want to feel.

And the sad part is, Mike, and you know this, some people out there don't know what it feels like to feel healthy. Yeah, yeah. Like they don't know, like they've only lived sick and unhealthy for so long. That they don't know that even if they're 200 pounds overweight, they can jump into a cold shower or a cold plunge and get out after a minute, two minutes, three minutes, and feel healthy for like at least five minutes.

Like they could feel that feeling that we feel on a regular basis of just endorphins rushing through your body and circulation actually happening. What's that tingling sensation in my foot? Oh, it's actually blood flow. I've had some, some overweight people get into some of the cold plunges at my house and they're like, I don't like that feeling.

There's, there's, there's something happening in my feet. Oh, that's called blood flow. That's called circulation. You just have never felt that because you sit down for most of your life and, and being fun and friendly and, and loving and all out of love, it's just like, come over, co plunge every day, sauna every day, do these things that make you feel those ways because like your body wants to be healthy, it doesn't want to be sick, and there's things we can do and they don't have to be expensive things that can help us live healthier, optimized.

Michael Kummer: Yeah, 

David Maus: I know. I totally agree. And 

Michael Kummer: the main challenge, I think for many people really is that since they have such a low baseline that they think they are held, I mean, I, for the most part of my life, I thought I was, I was feeling good until I started feeling good, you know, I'm like, Oh, You know, and I think you need to make and that's why I think experimentation regardless of however you want to experiment, you know Go, you know on a vegan diet and if you feel worse and maybe okay At least you felt that you you felt the delta right do something else and you felt the delta in the other direction I'm like, all right, you know, I I can actually this is not My baseline is not the end of it, you know, um, and one thing.

And then the other thing, especially when it comes to medical professionals, you know, I would always, if, if someone tells me, Oh, you know, you're eating too much, too many eggs, you're eating too much red meat. I'm like, look at me and look at my blood work and tell me what I'm doing wrong. You know, right.

The proofs in the pudding, you know, if I'm feeling good, if I'm looking good, if I'm, you know, my blood work reflects how I feel and how I look, why on earth would I stop eating meat? You know, That makes no sense whatsoever. 

David Maus: It's just wild. It's just, it's wild too, because like I've never gotten advice, medical advice from somebody face to face that I want to look like.

Right. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. 

David Maus: You know what I mean? Like most of the doctors, and this is no offense to doctors. This is no offense to anyone in the medical industry. Absolutely. There's some really great people out there and there's just like any industry and anything, there's, there's really great people. And then there's the other side, but most of the people who have ever given me any medical advice have been either overweight.

Bald, just not, just not the look that I'm really going for. Um, and you just kind of think back to that. Like if, if is the person giving me advice, do I want to look and feel and have energy levels of that person? And if the answer is no, just kind of maybe. I don't know. Start making your own decisions. And it's obviously, 

Michael Kummer: you know, one thing if, if the guy says, Hey, you know what, you know, look at me, you know, and that's because I've been doing a certain thing forever.

And now I'm changing it and I'm feeling so much better. I might not look like it yet, but at least, you know, that's a different story, you know, because not everyone who. You know, who, who experiences hair loss might be, you know, doing something wrong. Like, you know, I did a lot of, for three decades, you know, I did everything wrong.

I could be doing wrong. And I'm sure I'm paying the consequences, you know, with like injuries and tweaks and, you know, all kinds of things that I'm paying now for. But at least I know that what I'm doing now, you know, is, is, is, is, is, is not perpetuating, you know, all of those issues. I'm fixing hopefully most of that.

David Maus: No, absolutely. And I think you are, I read a quote yesterday that, that I, that I loved and I've. I hope that like anyone watching this who doesn't know who I am like I wear my heart on my sleeve and I'm very vocal and very open with my thoughts and just with my life like I'm an open book. Ask me a question.

I'll tell you the answer. Um, I read a quote. It was it was that your body is a direct reflection of your choices and it's no shame That's not like a body shaming thing But it's like if I chose every day to just sleep in stay inside sit on the couch Rarely move eat processed garbage all day And drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, all the things that we all know, like, even if you do them, no shame, we all know have negative effects on our, our health.

Um, if I chose to do that myself, currently, if I chose to do that for 365 days, guaranteed by the end of 365 days, I would look and feel. Like crap, right? I just would, um, every day we have a choice. We can choose to drink water instead of soda. I, here I am chugging a fit aid with a procrast or with a, what am I call it?

Not a procrastinator. What's hypocrite? Hypo hypocrite. Hypocrite. Um, but we could, we could choose to drink water spring fed good water that actually has some nourishment for our body with maybe some, some good salt and electrolytes, or we can drink soda. Do that enough times. Repetitions, our habits, our choices.

We're going to feel different whether we, we're going to feel different where there's going to be a difference in our feelings and in our looks. And I've, I've realized like, you know, there was a, there was a time in my life where I was really chunky and chubby, actually a long time in my life. And I used to say like, it was just my genetics.

I used to say, I'm just, that's, I'm just built big. I'm just a, I'm a bigger guy. And I am like, I'm a, I'm a larger, larger, you know, I feel like I could put on more muscle if I really focused on it and I could do those things. Um, I like the way I look and at the end of the day, like I didn't like the way I looked not long ago, I look in the mirror and say, Holy smokes, what happened?

Is this, is this who I am? And I made different choices and I look in the mirror now and I'm happy with how I look and there's even more room for improvement because I know that I'm not doing everything perfectly, but that quote that your, your body is a direct reflection of your choices is such a good quote because if you look, if you're listening to this and you look in the mirror and you.

Don't get excited with how you how you look physically. It's gonna affect how you feel about yourself mentally, too Yeah, and like last night, I don't even know if I'm allowed to share this stuff. But like last night We opened up for prayer and a young kid that I had never seen before when I walked in he was praising both hands in the sky crying Praising and it was just amazing to see I'd never seen this kid before his first time At this campus, large campus.

We don't have like 500 kids there all from middle school to high school and they opened up for prayer and said, ask the leaders to come up to the front. He like came straight up to me. I don't know why. Never met this kid before. It came straight up to me and I like, dude, so stoked. I saw you praying and, or I saw you praising Jesus, man.

That was so awesome. How can I pray for you? Is there anything specific? And he looked at me with like the most sincere eyes and said, can you pray for me? I am fighting depression. Really bad and I was like depression. I'm like, how what grade are you? And he's like, I'm in eighth grade guys That's a massive problem.

This is a good looking kid this kid This kid obviously knows and he's and he's fighting with depression Obviously I prayed for him really well and and and shared that that's just the enemy's easiest attack on you to try to take you down from who you are meant to be and called to be But this is, this is a kid who had like, in my eyes, as someone who don't, I didn't know anything about him.

Don't know anything about his home life, his habits, his eating habits is. Anything about his health, but he looked like he at least took care of himself to some extent or his parents did. And he had such an energy about him, but he's fighting with depression. If he's fighting with depression and he's openly asking me to pray for him, how many other people are fighting with depression?

And I shared one thing and I'll share this with you. When I jumped into cold water for the first time, when I, when I jumped into that cold river for the first time, I was dealing with depression and if you knew me at the time, you would never guess because I, I married my best friend. My wife is, is my rock, my everything.

I love my kids. They're, they're the best thing that ever happened to me. I had, I made great money in the, in the job that I was in. I had most people's dream job, most people's dream income, house, all the things, material things. And I was fighting depression severely. Severely I jumped in that cold water when I got out was the first time I I felt what it felt like to not fight depression and When I read studies and heard people talk about the studies I never I never even expressed that to anybody before like I had never really like That was the thing since I started making cold water therapy, cold showers, a part of my daily life.

I mean, obviously other things have changed too. Physically I've, I've changed my, my diets and other things have changed, but that was the thing that originally changed my feelings about myself, my future and my life. And I shared with him, I was like, Hey, why don't you, you know, when you get home tonight, Take a cold shower and start taking cold showers.

He's like really why so I shared some of the things that happened Some of the chemicals that are released when you get in cold water and when you get out and he was like I will Thank you And I just wanted to say that I feel like that's a story that I want to share with more people because like it changed My life it wasn't like getting into cold water and getting out of cold water didn't change my life because now I'm a content creator And this is my life.

This is my income and this is my livelihood It changed my life before I ever thought I would, I was going to be a content creator. And I just want to encourage more people to experience that. 

Michael Kummer: Yeah. Yeah. No, I absolutely agree. Well, that was, that was a good wrap up. Um, I think, um, very much appreciate, uh, the hour and, and almost eight minutes you spent with me.

It was a ton of good information, really good conversation. I think, um, I think there's a lot to learn, uh, on my side, obviously, you know, from what you were doing and I'm gonna, you know, keep, keep following your stuff and, and try to pick up what I can and make it, see if it makes sense to make it part of my routine.

Um, and yeah, again, thanks so much. I really appreciate it. Um, I, I don't think it happens very often that, um, at the end of the day, you know, some people would say, Oh, but you know, you guys are, you know, competitors at the end of the day, but I'm like, you know, there's no such thing as I think competition, um, in this niche that we are in, you know, if we were selling Fruit Loops might be a different, you know, argument, but we are not, you know, uh, most people are unfortunately unhealthy, so there's a lot of, I think.

Um, opportunity to get the word out. Uh, and I think the more we can team up and, and, and make this happen, I think the better it is for everyone involved. 

David Maus: Totally agree. And I'm just, I'm honored and thankful you asked me to be on your podcast. I've watched your stuff for years and just, uh, to be able to actually have a conversation with you is really cool.

And to know that we have a lot of parallels in our lives and we do. We do work with a lot of the same brands. And like you said, I actually, yeah, I never thought of it like that, but no, I don't look at any other content creator in the health and wellness space as a competitor. I look at, we're each leveling each other up with our, our content, our delivery, the products, because here's the other thing too.

We have, there's so many products, there's so many. How do you figure out what's the right one? And, um, and I think more content creators that are sharing their honest experience and reviews of products and how the products have maybe changed their lives or have worked for their lives. Cause, cause we're, we're all a little different.

So I love different takes and I will continue watching yours too, because I, I always enjoy. I always join watch your, and I know this is probably horrible to say, but like how you, your talk, your accent is awesome. 

Michael Kummer: That's one thing I will never be able to shake regardless of how long I live in this country.

All right. And it's, it's, it's awesome. So don't shake it. All right. Thanks, man. Cool. I appreciate it. Um, I let you know when the episode airs and, um, include all the links that you have sent me. And if there's anything else you want to share, you know, just let me know and I'll make sure it's all part of the show notes.

Let's do it, bro. All right, man. Well, I appreciate you, brother. Thank you. Cheers. 

Extra: Ever wonder why chronic disease is skyrocketing while big pharma and food corporations rake in billions? In our next episode, we expose how the system was designed to keep you sick, and more importantly, how you can break free.

Don't miss this one.