Dr. Calderwood and Alex Nottingham JD MBA discuss aging well through “outlive” principles such as exercise, metabolic health, and more. Tune in for strategies to maximize health and longevity.
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About Dr. Cody Calderwood
Dr. Cody Calderwood received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and his DDS degree from the University of Maryland school of dentistry. He is a solo practicing general dentist in Park City, Utah. He is a fellow in the Academy of General Dentistry, a fellow in the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, a member of the Pierre Fauchard Academy, and is a former president of the Utah Dental Association. He remains active in organized dentistry and currently serves on the state dental convention scientific committee.
About Alex Nottingham JD MBA
Alex is the CEO and Founder of All-Star Dental Academy®. He is a former Tony Robbins top coach and consultant, having worked with companies upwards of $100 million. His passion is to help others create personal wealth and make a positive impact on the people around them. Alex received his Juris Doctor (JD) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Florida International University.
Episode Transcript
Transcript performed by A.I. Please excuse the typos.
00:00
Welcome to Dental All-Stars. I’m Alex Nottingham, founder and CEO of All-Star Dental Academy. And with me is Dr. Cody Calderwood, a Utah dentist, titanium mastermind member at All-Star Dental Academy, and the former Utah Dental Association president. And we are talking about Outlive, strategies to maximize health and longevity. Please welcome Dr. Cody Calderwood. Thanks for having me, Alex. Well, great to have you.
00:30
Always a pleasure. We can do a ton of podcasts. We can do a podcast just on happiness and joy. You are just a bundle of that. And you’re even hearing your miraculous story of your life. We’ll do that another time because that’ll take us off topic and it’s a great story. So follow a podcast. So just to kind of preface what we’re gonna talk about and we’re talking about Outlive. A lot of this is based on the work of Dr. Peter Ativa. And correct?
00:59
Atiya, thank you. I follow him on social media, Atiya. And I remember in our last Mastermind meeting, you did a presentation on that. And I’m like, okay, that was nice. And then I’m eating a bunch of crap and whatever. And then my son gave me a nice New Year’s present, COVID. And so I had nothing to do because I’m quarantining and feeling not so bueno.
01:27
And so I listened to an eight hour audio book of him or whatever it was. And I’m like, wow, this is amazing stuff. Cause I think I heard from somebody else. I go, wait a second. Didn’t Cody do a whole presentation about this stuff? And then I text you and I’m like, Cody, I don’t feel well, but I’m listening to this guy, is this what you did on? I was like, yes, that’s what I was talking about. That’s my powers of observation. So I wanted to wrangle you in to talk a little bit about this because you’re living it, I mean, not just talk.
01:57
So tell me a little bit about your journey with this and some key insights from the book and how you’re applying to your life. Okay, so just like the 30,000 foot view, I’m a huge fan of health and wellness, whether it’s emotional, spiritual, physical, I just, I like being happy and healthy and well, and I love reading, learning, and trying to implement ways to improve. And in terms of physical wellness,
02:27
Um, I’ve always been a very active person. I’m most of my hobbies are outside. I love to mountain bike, hike, snow ski, water ski, and you would struggle to do those activities if you’re not physically healthy and well, so it’s been probably one of my main motivations in the physical, um, area, not, not so much so that I can, you know, have that awesome beach body, but more of a functionality. So I.
02:55
love to read it and my older brother does too and we share notes, we chime in with each other and he’s always said that he loves to find stuff that cuts through the bro science that he wants to get down to the actual nitty-gritty and the good science. So he’s the one that actually first discovered Peter Attia and turned me on to him and was like, hey, you need to start checking this stuff out. And we would actually share notes when we were reading his book and going through some of his podcasts and
03:24
What I loved the most about Peter Atiyah’s stuff is that it’s real, it’s real world stuff. It’s not just this theory. I’m sure you’ve found in your fitness journey as well, you can find a lot of garbage out there. You can find a lot of people that just throw things against the wall and think it’s gonna stick. But this is actual scientific data that they back it up with. So I put it to use and I honestly,
03:53
So I’m 45 years old and I feel great. I actually mentioned to my wife that I physically feel the most fit and healthy I’ve ever felt since I was a senior in high school when I was a wrestler. And, um, I love it. It’s, it’s been really good. So that’s why when we got together as a mastermind group for the titanium group, um, I wanted to share this because it has been working for me and it’s something I feel like has been successful.
04:20
Tell me about some of the principles of the book that you are applying to your life.
04:29
Oh man, a lot of them.
04:34
I’d say it’s a little bit of everything. So I love his approach. It’s his balanced approach, I guess is the way I’m going to say it. He says that it’s important to build strength, that you have to build that muscle mass and you have to build strength, which we can get into in a little bit. But he also talks about the importance of cardio and having that healthy VO2 max and the respiratory health. And he talks about your metabolic health with diet and your heart.
05:04
He even talks about the importance of flexibility and balance. So he kind of goes into a lot of them. Um, right. And I guess we could, I guess we can narrow it down a little bit. So, so the first half of the book, uh, and you gave a presentation about the four horsemen and if you remember them, maybe we can mention them briefly, but that’s very detailed science and better you read it and kind of see, but the whole thesis is metabolic health, that if you’re metabolically
05:33
healthy for the most part, you have a much better chance of limiting the four horsemen, not that you will stop it, but it helps. Now, do you remember what the four horsemen were or are? Yes. Yeah. So I’ve actually got a little list right here. I’ll read it so I can butcher it. But he said that the four horsemen of aging, and this is just going back to like the apocalyptic four horsemen of the New Testament that are coming and usher in the end. So he nicknamed them the four horsemen of aging. He said that they are.
06:02
metabolic disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurodegenerative disease. So like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. So I said that those are the four most common ways that we are going to die as, as humans. And those are four areas that we actually have some, some control more in other areas than that. Cause I mean, yeah, at the end of the day, you don’t really have much control if you’re going to die in a plane crash, but
06:31
with some of these, especially like metabolic disease and cardiovascular disease, we have a lot of control how that’s going to play out. Yeah. And he gives a ton of data, so many scans you can do and so on. But I think like just kind of, and at the second part of the book, he then says, okay, here’s the number one drug that you can get, that you could take, which is exercise, that will lengthen your life guaranteed.
07:00
If you follow these things, it will lengthen your life. Well, I can’t do that thing guaranteed. And that this metabolic issue, weight issue, nutrition issue, that gives you such a great chance. The odds are stacked in your favor when you do those things. So you can get very geeky on The Four Horsemen. Definitely good read or good listen. Check out the book Outlive. His podcast is great as well. So I think…
07:28
Where maybe we can play a little bit today on is the exercise and supplementation Because that’s where I spend most of my time on I do I am listening to him about You know making sure you do certain scans make sure you look at your blood work Make sure you get a colonoscopy make you so you do these things you can as well bone density potentially even when you’re younger because Why not they can the benefits outweigh the the downsides? Yeah, so that that’s that we can go on the deep end with that but with respect to
07:58
to exercise, what I found and what I’m doing and I want to hear from you is it made so much sense what he was saying because he was giving a framework that often we hear exercise is good. It is. But what do you do with it? What’s the intention behind it? There’s just I’ll lose some weights. I’ll go walk. I’ll go do this. Walk 20 minutes a day. Well, okay. But how do we talk? We’re busy. How do we maximize our time strategically?
08:27
So we get all the different benefits that we go and he has a foundation. So there’s balance and stability. There’s strength. There’s cardio and VO two max. Those are the four, correct? Correct. And, and I love how you said it’s like to what end, you know, um, so like talk about strength training. Um, some people they lift weights just so that they can get big muscles and look awesome, like I said, at the beach body, but
08:54
His philosophy and approach is one that just really resonated with me. And, um, if you’re okay with that, I’d like to just read an excerpt from his book that he said, he says, um, think of strength training as a form of retirement saving, just as we want to retire with enough money saved up to sustain us for the rest of our lives, we want to reach older age with enough of a reserve of muscle and bone density to protect us from injury and allow us to continue to pursue the activities that we enjoy.
09:22
It is much better to save and invest and plan ahead, letting your wealth build gradually over decades than to scramble to try to scrape together an individual retirement account in your late fifties and hope and pray the stock market. God’s help you out. Like investing strength training is also cumulative. It’s benefits compounding the more of a reserve you build up early on the better off you will be over the longterm. And I love that because as I said, my main goal is functional. I want.
09:49
I want to be able to still ski and bike and do these things when I’m in my 70s. I’d love to be able to go out, you know, on an elk hunt with my kids and my grandkids and hike around with them and maybe even help pack out the elk, which takes a lot of strength. So the approach that he recommends is one of functionality. Let’s, let’s look at long-term goals and build up that strength. So I started to take that approach and, you know, instead of just sitting in the gym for an hour and a half doing a bunch of these lifts that don’t do anything for you.
10:19
I have designed my own personal, I guess, weightlifting regiment that allows me to get the strength in, but also be quick because I’m a busy man. You are. I’ve got six kids. I’m volunteering with church, with the state dental association. So I’m a busy guy and I don’t have time to just fart around at the gym for long hours. Right. So I usually have intention.
10:49
Yeah, I love the quotes. He says, you want to be training for old age. Yes, you want to be and that just hit me training for old age. Like I was just I was playing tennis for fun running around injuring myself at doing different things injuring myself. But being very like out of balance, fall, you know, whatever it is, and just overdoing it on that now very good tennis player. But how does that train me from old age?
11:17
Like if I can’t walk because I over a weekend warrior and I overdid it, that’s we can over train and there’s a problem and you injure yourself or you under train. And so if you got to think when you’re right, when you’re 70, 80, those years, what are the things that you really want to do? Yes, I like to hit the tennis ball. That’s nice. I necessarily compete in tournaments. I like to hold my grandkids. I like to travel and lift.
11:46
lift a suitcase, right? That’s going to be a shoulder press. So that’s the idea is you want functional training. There are side effects. You can enjoy basketball, tennis, whatever you’re doing, hiking. You don’t overdo, but you can enjoy these things. But you’re training, you have to think about your future self, that you don’t sacrifice that and you’re making those investments exactly what you said like investing in the future and they’re compounding because you’re building bone density, muscle mass, your ability to handle that. So I think that’s, that’s
12:15
totally brilliant. So I’ve changed my routine in terms of making sure I’m addressing those four areas. So maybe we can go through those four areas, what that looks like what you’re doing what I’m doing with respect to training for old age. Okay, so I’ll try if you’re okay, I’ll just break down my weekly workout. Let’s hear and let me know which aspect of it satisfies those parts of the program. So
12:43
Mondays are my leg days and on Mondays I do. I love by the way, compound lifts when it comes to strength training. I forgot to mention that, um, Peter T it talks about the benefits of compound lifts is where you’re focused at the compound left. I guess I should describe that is a lift where you are actually engaging multiple muscles at the same time. So take a bench press, for example, when you’re doing a bench press, you’re engaging your
13:08
pectoralis muscles, you’re engaging your deltoids, triceps. So those are multiple muscles that you’re engaging. When some guys go to the gym, for example, like, Oh, I want to work my pecs. They will use some of the machines that are, they call it the ISO exercises where isolate some muscles like the peck deck. All you’re doing with that one is just your pectoralis majors. Or sometimes when you’re doing like the tricep extensions, that’s just an ISO exercise. So our bicep curl, bicep curl. So for guys like you.
13:36
and me that are very busy, why not maximize your time by doing the compound exercise? So when I refer to compound exercises, it’s exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, pull ups, those kinds of exercises where you are engaging multiple different muscles. Be careful with those compounds, especially deadlifts. Know what you’re doing. Get the technique right. Otherwise you can hurt yourself. Because number one, with all of this, you do not want to hurt yourself exercising because that stops you from exercising.
14:06
Yep, take it and you take a big step back. So It’s if you’ve never lifted before go get a personal coach go get a trainer And and they can kind of teach you the technique because it is critical to do it, right? So back to my routine on Mondays, I do leg days So I and I love to superset because that also maxes my maximizes and get your car setting You got it. So supersetting is basically a lot of the statistics show that you will get the best
14:35
results by having a two minute rest period between your exercises because it allows your your muscles to kind of recover enough allows the energy to get back in your muscle cells and recuperate. So quick little example then Mondays I do squats and I love the five by five routine. If anybody’s looking for some lifting routines for compound exercises, just
15:04
tons of research and data on it. And I have seen tremendous results and a lot of friends and family members that have turned to me for help. That’s where I started with five by five. It’s pretty awesome. Once you get really good and advanced, you can cater it to yourself. So do my squats and then in that two minute break, I will go do some tibialis raises and then go back and squat. So that’s where I do my five sets of squats. And then after squats, I will go do my calf raises, weighted calf raises.
15:33
And I will also incorporate some sissy squats in it. And the reason why I do a lot of those, some people like tibialis raises, calf raises, sissy squats, why are you doing that? I was having some knee struggles several years ago. Like anytime I go hiking or biking, my knee would ache. And I looked into the knees over toes guy. That’s a whole different topic, but that’s where I started to incorporate some of that in my knees feel great. But basically what I’m hearing is this is very important.
16:01
you’re adapting it to your body. Like I hear calf raises and my calves are getting mad because I have some tweaks there that I’m working through. So I’m gonna avoid that until I strengthen and my body says it’s okay. So you have to know your body. We were talking about this earlier. Like I gain more weight in the midsection, so I have to watch that. You gain weight and everybody’s body’s different and what they can develop. So.
16:30
Some people can eat more easier, they distribute it differently, you have to know your body and adjust. We probably don’t have a lot of time to get into diet, that’s a whole other topic. Almost equally as important as keeping a good body weight, metabolic disease, things like that. There’s so much stuff on there. I would just say just in a nutshell, it’s just calorie restriction. Whether you’re ozendic or anything else. It always comes down to eating.
16:59
less calories. If you’re not hungry, eating less calories, it’s calories. Eating fewer calories and looking to eat quality calories. Quality calories. Yeah, of course. Although there was a study of a guy who ate Twinkies and protein shakes and lost weight. So it may not be good. You can lose weight. Yeah. But long term, and that’s another good thing for what we’re talking about, the longevity with the outlive is you could eat a diet. Let’s say you’re restricting your diet to just 2000 calories a day. You could eat a diet that’s just Snickerbuss bars and you will.
17:29
maintain your weight. But going back to what Peter Tia said, that metabolic health, you’re not going to be healthy though. And it’s not all about just weight. So you’re going to have, you know, your A1C score is going to be probably through the roof. You’re going to have high lipids when you go in for your blood panel. So it is, yeah, like you said, that’s totally different topic. And then building a muscle mass. So your macro, uh, your micronutrients, your micronutrients, all those are haywire. So yes, you want balance, but in terms of, of, of healthy weight,
17:59
It’s just calorie deficit. All right, so tell me, all right, so again, you’re doing your exercises. So Mondays, yeah, Mondays are leg days, which let me back up for a second. Every time I weight lift, anytime I do cardio, I warm up. Important, duh. I’m not a spring chicken anymore, I’m not 20 years old. So I do a warmup routine before I lift, before I bike run, whatever it is. And then afterwards, I always stretch when I’m done. So on leg days,
18:25
You know, I take like an extra five minutes or so to just stretch when I’m done, stretch my hamstrings, stretch my quads, calves, all that stuff. And I have found honestly, by just incorporating those two things, by warming up and then by stretching when I’m done, I’ve eliminated a lot of those dumb little tweaks that set you back that I used to experience, you know, three, four years ago, I’d be lifting and I tweaked my hamstring a little bit and then I’d have to lay off for a couple of weeks of lifting before I get back into it. So warm up and stretch.
18:53
And that’s Mondays, my leg days. Tuesdays, I try to focus on my cardio and VO2 max, and I’ll do biking on those days. Wednesdays, my wife and I, we do yoga. Let’s go back to two. So two, you just hit two areas of those four, a quadrant. So on Monday, you were doing strength training, which is very important to Ativa, correct? And then you- Atia. Atia, I keep saying Ativa, no V, Atia, I’ll get it right.
19:20
What if one day I get a chance to interview him I better get that right a tea a tea up So so with respect to that so so strength training is very important That’s gonna build your bone density your muscle mass. It’s so important older age because you lose it. You will lose Muscle mass you want to put it on as early as you can and keep working on that You said now you’re getting into your cardio and vo2 max So your zone to cardio is what he’s a big fan of and you can get that in
19:49
in multiple ways. You can get that in, even in your, your, you’re doing a little bit of that in your weightlifting. But zone, so zone two cardio is where you can carry it a conversation while you’re exercising, but it’s not uncomfortable. So this way he talks about that you’re burning fat, you’re getting your, your, your body to be able to burn fat, not just glucose. And then VO2 max is going to be where you really rev the engine occasionally.
20:19
to get stronger, like hit high intensity. And you can actually measure and get a score. And what Peter Atiyah says is that with VO2 max is one of the greatest predictors of longevity, your score. So there’s ways you can do that. I know with your Apple watch, you can do walks or runs, and it will measure it. There’s an app that I use called Athletic, athletic,
20:49
Y or a th L Y T I C on the iPhone might be an Android and it will actually give you a VO to max score on anything that you do or a cardio score in a recovery score. Look into that. So like when I play tennis, it’s off the charts. But if I’m sitting there doing like a lot of these, which is important, we’ll get that. That’s the fourth one. Then it’s not going to give you a high score. And then when you’re doing yoga, which you’ll get to later, Pilates, that’s going to be your balance work, which is critical. So you’re
21:17
You can do unilateral work and stretching and flexibility, all those things you need. Okay. So just as the framework. Go ahead. Yeah. So to, to going back, I guess, um, Tuesdays with my, my cardio and VO two max, whether it’s biking or running. Um, like you said, one of the huge benefits of that is, um, fat burning, but also your body, um, you can think of it like, um, your body recycles a lot of the old broken down cells when you are working out.
21:47
for like 45 minutes. So like mitochondria, for example, mitochondria is where we get the energy for our bodies, the powerhouse of the cell produces the ATP to their body and our muscles need to go. Well, our cells get old and they start to break down and they become weaker and less efficient. When you are exercising in like that zone two zone, the data shows you hit like 40 minutes of cardio.
22:13
That’s when your body starts turning to those old broken down mitochondria and starts to break them down to utilize the, uh, the groundwork of the bricks. If you were a brick and mortar to then rebuild new, more efficient mitochondria. So it it’s yeah. And this is one of the things I love. I am not an expert on it. I have enough understanding as I read it to get it and be like, Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, I get it. But trying to regurgitate that and teach it to people is difficult, but
22:42
On the molecular level, it is fascinating. And that’s one of the reasons if anybody’s into it. So Dennis, this is one of the great things like my brother and I enjoy as dentists, we went to dental school and we basically had the same training as physicians do in medical school. You go down to the molecular level, anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, all that stuff, so we have a background in it and it makes more sense, but, um, I guess the short and skinny answer is the science is there to show that this stuff helps down to the very basic molecular level of the body.
23:11
So that’s why I try to incorporate cardio, even though I hate cardio. Yeah, it’s not. But the whole point of all this is, it’s a formula, it’s an intention. Mostly you hear, hey, do this to get ripped. Do this to lose weight. That’s fine, but that’s a temporary solution. He’s saying, okay, so the weight thing, we talk about calorie deficit, and that’s a whole other thing. With this, it’s like you follow this formula, you’re very efficient with your time, and you’re checking off all these boxes.
23:41
uh, for longevity, strength and health. So there’s, there’s intention, which is brilliant. I never thought of it that way. You’re training for old age. You’re training to be functionally fit. And then there is side effects. You will become more chiseled. You will look better, but that’s the side effect. That isn’t the main effect that you’re looking to get. Yeah. You change, when you change your focus from just trying to look, you know, have that gorgeous beach body.
24:10
and you change in your focus to have the longevity, the functionality, you’re going to get the beach bodies result along with the other health factors. You’ll be sleeping better. You’ll be thinking better. You know, just there’s so many side benefits of it that are great. All right. So you told me about I interrupted you on your quest. So where are we? We’re on day what? When three now Wednesdays. So Monday strength, Monday strength training, Tuesday cardio.
24:36
VO two max Wednesday is the yoga and Pilates. So my wife and I will do that. Just to work on our, our, our balance, our flexibility, because, you know, again, as you get older, you start to lose some of that flexibility. And then the balance, same thing. One of the quickest ways to die as an elderly person is a fall. You’ll notice people fall, break a hip, and then shortly thereafter, they will die. There’s multiple reasons for that, but.
25:04
You think about it, if you have better balance, you don’t have to worry about falling when you’re going downstairs or walking up on a curb. And you gave the mastermind a gift in your presentation. The I wish I had it right here, but some of the grip strengtheners. Yeah, he that was kind of the strength training that Peter Tia said another one of the best indicators for longevity is grip strength. So there’s lots of ways to strengthen your grip by doing pull ups by doing.
25:30
what they call like the suitcase carrier farmer carry with weights. Well, I found a little trick. I’ll tell you about my routine, which gives you balance and it gives you grip strength besides strength training in general. Continue your story. So we’re Wednesday. OK, Wednesday. So then Thursday, I go back and hit strength training again with my lower legs. And the reason why I hit my legs more than any other part of my body is because my hotties corporate my legs. You know, I make my work.
25:59
really into kayaking or rowing and all that. I’d be hitting my upper body more, but my lower body with hiking, biking and all that, I need the leg strength. So Thursdays I hit leg strength again. Friday I’m doing strength training on upper body where I’m doing like the pull ups, the bench presses and all that good strength training. And then Saturday is usually my play day where I will be out either hiking or biking actually outside and incorporating. That’s today, you’re after this podcast, you’re going to go do that. Yeah.
26:28
So I love it. So that that way I am, I know every week I’m hitting those four areas that, um, that Peter recommends for the longevity and, and I switch it up. Sometimes I’ll, like I said, I adapt it to how I’m feeling. I’m listening to my body, adapt it to my schedule, but I’ve had a pretty good streak of keeping it going for a while now. That’s awesome. Yeah. So what, what I do is I’m trying to get my days down.
26:57
But I’ll do it like this. I try to get two of each at a time. So for example, I’ll do strength training twice a week. And I’ll start with the bike just to kind of get it going. And I’m moving very quickly. I’m doing compound and then at the end I’ll do isolation. But I’m moving very quickly. Like my exercise routine after 15 minutes on the bike will be like 15 minutes. I’m fast, but I’m getting a pump.
27:23
I’m moving and my heart rate’s going up. So I’m getting zone two, maybe zone three during that. So I do that twice a week for strength Then I will do I may do some if I have time I’ll do like a longer zone two on the bike bikes good for me Easy on my calf and intense and and joints to enjoy this very yep And I was about to sell it my bike and then I read the book. I’m like, I’m gonna make this bike work It’s great and I have air-condition in my garage
27:52
And then I also will do tennis when I can. It’s now once a week. I like to do twice a week. Not necessarily competitive, but just more keeping it going. Hit, hit, hit, hit, move, move, move. Because I can pump my heart rate into zone five for a good amount of time. So I’m getting some great VO2 max scores. And so I’m getting all the cross cardio and I’m getting VO2 max. And then I was doing Pilates for a while. You guys turned me on to Pilates.
28:21
but I found a little gift when I was doing the Pilates program that I kind of got attached to now, which is TRX. And what I love about TRX, which is suspension training, is a lot of the Pilates moves. Pilates is core. Pilates is glutes. Pilates is flexibility. I get a lot of that in a TRX program.
28:47
And also I get the unilateral work, the balance. Like on some of these, like having to be on one leg and squat and do these things with the suspension is like, whoa. I mean, and it’s balance is so important and the grip strength. My hands are burning, holding and lifted like an hour. I’m pulling on things. So I am getting additional strength benefit. I’m getting grip benefit. I’m getting balance benefit. So like you said, we’re all busy.
29:16
And I’m like, I have to go drive to a studio and then Pilates and it’s so slow and we get no cardio. But it’s a great, yoga and Pilates are phenomenal. I recommend it. If you can do one exercise, only one, I would do Pilates if I had to or yoga. If you had to pick one. And strength, because it gives you, with Pilates you will do some strength with the bands and things like that. But strength training, I mean, but the point is, is you’re missing the strength training. But then you then have VO2 max and other things.
29:46
We’re like, kind of like trying to hack the system, Cody, you and I, is like, how can I, in most efficient way, with my time, get all these, check off the boxes and get it. So for me, the stability and balance is that, is TRX. And I’m getting the glutes and the abs. So I’m getting strength training, getting zone two, I’m getting VOTO max, and I’m getting balance and strength, and grip strength. Cool, I’ll have to look into that TRX, but.
30:13
Yeah, it really is the balance. So my wife and I, we’ve got, and by the way, I, I drilled it into the ceiling and I was working out the other day and my wife is like, I’m hearing you from upstairs. The ceiling is creaking. Um, it’s on a beam. So we’ll see if how strong, if I get really strong, I’m gonna pull the whole house down. I love it. I love it. Um, so my wife and I were talking about just the need for balance and we’ll
30:38
will sit and observe different people with their exercise habits. And you get some people that all they do is strength training, which they’re strong. You know, they could pull a car, but you go back to what Peter Tia said, you know, the metabolic health, the cardiovascular health, they’re not getting that. So they’ve got a lot of health problems and they’re not going to be able to sustain that for a long time. You take, um, let’s just do marathon runners. That’s great. They’ve got amazing cardiovascular health, but their flexibility and their
31:07
Uh, strength is not there or you take someone that does yoga all the time. And I’ll look at some of these, these, um, people that just, just do yoga. That’s their only exercise. They’re, they’re incredibly flexible and it’s phenomenal and impressive, but they don’t have the strength to lift up like a suitcase. Like you said, you ask, you know, there’s a lady that’s a yoga instructor and has been doing yoga for years. Hey, can you lift up this 40 pound suitcase for me? She’s not going to do it. So it is that, that balance so that you can have all aspects of your life.
31:35
Um, that you can enjoy it going into old age. Um, and I know a big popular topic lately has been like those blue zones. There’s been the documentaries on Netflix on what helps people live to be a hundred. And it’s interesting. Cause if you go through it and watch it, a lot of the stuff that like Peter Tia shares is what those communities do in like, I was at Okinawa, Japan and Sicily, Italy, I don’t remember those areas, but it’s finding that balance of all of those activities. That’s brilliant.
32:03
So that’s exercise and we really focus a lot on that. And there’s so much in the book we talked about, about the Four Horsemen, definitely read that. And at the end of the book, it’s equally as important is emotional and mental health. And we can do a whole talk about that. I mean, certainly your life, what you’ve been through and how you maintain happiness is just phenomenal and continue to pursue happiness. So as an aside, you’re a pretty happy person.
32:31
but yet you still, you don’t rely on that kind of higher happiness at point that you still go out there and look to improve strategically your happiness. You can actually train to be more happy and exercise as one of them. And then so definitely check out mental health in the book he talks about because if you’re not mentally happy and healthy, a lot of dentists are facing burnout, all this doesn’t mean anything. You don’t even want to live longer.
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because you’re not happy. So you gotta watch for burnout, for depression, anxiety. It’s a real thing, especially dentists and high achievers. It’s important to, and purpose and all that. So we’re gonna make sure in our podcasts, we have a bunch of, we’re gonna try to address that as we talk, whether it’s these interviews, whether it’s Eric does a program on Monday, I do a program on Friday, and I try to hit on some of that.
33:27
well as we go along and Cody will come back and talk more about that. So one of the things we added on my list just to kind of end with is supplements. Those are fun. So what supplements do you take? What supplements are good to take and why? So it’s funny and I you know I know I’m going to make some people mad here because some people become quite religious with their supplements but everything that I’ve read from the experts because I’m not complaining I’m not claiming to
33:56
There are very few supplements that are actually worthwhile and needed. Um, you could go down to a GNC store and buy thousands of dollars of supplements, but most of it’s a waste. So if you’re eating a balanced, healthy diet, um, most of the supplements aren’t necessary. And a lot of them just don’t even work. But as far as ones that do work, um, with strength training, specifically. The, the only two that I have read that are worthwhile are creatine.
34:25
And there are just mountains of data that show that creatine is safe. It’s healthy and, and effective. And, um, you and I have talked personally before about how I’ve. Experimented with it. I’ve gone long stretches using it and then I’ll, I’ll go off it and see. And I see the difference. The, the two noticeable differences when I go off of creatine is I do lose a little bit of water weight, um, but also my strength levels go way down. I shouldn’t say way down. It’s like 10 to 15% less with my lifting totals when I’m weight training.
34:54
and recovery. I guess that’s another aspect. I noticed that my muscles are more sore after I lift out. So creatine does help with strength gains and recovery and it works and it’s pretty cheap and it’s just easy to toss in. Very cheap. Creatine monohydrate. With creatine, it’s been very well researched. And when I looked at it, what’s surprising is I thought it was just muscle gains. It’s protective for your brain.
35:22
There’s a lot of things that it can help with and your body produces it naturally through the amino acids that will then synthesize it. You get it from your diet. And there are some recent research that you can go very low in terms of your dosing. You don’t have to take a huge amounts or even stack 20 grams or even five grams. Like even somewhere between one to two to three grams can be sufficient depending on body size. So if you’re smaller, a one gram will be fine. So it’s just a supplement.
35:52
Um, with respect to that. So continue. So creatine is one. Yeah, I love creating cheap, easy, effective. I mean, who doesn’t like cheap, easy and effective. So creatine is great. The other one that I do is, um, beta alanine. Uh, it does help with recoveries. That there is research out there that shows that it helps. Um, I don’t think it’s nearly as effective as creatine in my own personal experiences, but it helps and it’s another one that’s pretty cheap and easy to use. Um,
36:20
And then I do, I know that there’s a little bit of debate about that. Some of the vitamins I do take a, um, a daily vitamin that’s got the zinc magnesium and vitamin D just to help with my immune system. Um, and that anecdotal evidence, sure. But I have found since I’ve been using it last few years, I don’t get, um, sick as often, you know, just a little cold. Does it that you get in the wintertime? It has definitely helped. Yeah. Because your kids are older and they’re not bringing crap from school to you. That’s why.
36:49
My son brings me presents all the time and no matter how many vitamins I take, I get it. I’m actually going to have scheduled in the future a specialist on supplements that you’re going to like to listen to just for fun to hear what the science is, why he recommends those vitamins. What else do you take? So that’s it. That’s it. Oh wow. You are really, you’re very minimalistic. So Peter.
37:19
ATIA does recommend more, doesn’t mean you have to take it. But like for me, what I take is, I do not take a multivitamin. There’s a lot of crap you don’t need in it. So I take one, what do I take? I take a B complex, but low. I don’t want massive amounts of vitamin B, just enough to supplement. So I take very low dosage, so I at least help. I take magnesium oxide.
37:49
a slower burn magnesium chloride. So you’re getting different magnesiums and then I’ll take magnesium glycinate at night if I need it to sleep. But magnesium is always good for the body. So he recommends those. I do take fish oil or actually take it as algae oil. I take one that has vitamin C, it’s got zinc and it’s got something that helps with cankosaurus,
38:18
Right. So it has lysine in it and then vitamin D as well, which I’ve in my blood work, I’ve been low on vitamin D and I live in Florida, isn’t that amazing? So I do take vitamin D with respect to that. I think, and then I’ve been adding creatine, which we’ve been talking about and the water weight with respect to that. So, and Peter does give a list of, and when I’m talking about some of those,
38:47
mirror what he recommends. But there’s with supplements, like there are certain things like creatine you will and you will notice something a lot of these I take I don’t notice a difference. You know, and some of it you have to really look at the science and make a determination. Most of them if you take them not at mega dosages are not going to hurt you your body it’s just gonna be expensive urine. But if it makes you feel good the placebo effect, take it fine.
39:17
But just be the whole thing about this as being informed. Listen, read the science, ask yourself, why am I taking this? What’s the purpose of it? What is it looking to do? If it makes you feel better, you take it with respect to that, but you’re actually quite minimal with respect to that. And another thing that I think is important as well from a macro perspective is protein. Protein is pretty cool. And if you can…
39:45
tolerate whey protein or you can take soy protein or plant protein. Making sure we get enough protein is so important and unless you have a kidney issue. But what Peter talks about, which is pretty cool, protein, if you don’t use it, your body gets rid of it. It’s not something that we burn very easily. It’s not something we store easily like glucose and even fat we can store from burning it. But protein is pretty important. So.
40:15
I would like to add with regards to Peter Tia that the one area that he does receive the most criticism from is his area of nutrition because that’s probably his least qualified area. He’s extremely qualified in those other areas, but in terms of nutrition and in his defense, not that I’m like I need to defend him or anything, but my biggest complaint about nutritional science, it is so hard to find any agreement and it’s partly because there are so many variables when it comes to nutritional science.
40:45
You have to sift through so much garbage to get down to what kind of matters. So at the end of the day, my take when it comes to nutrition and the supplements, eat a healthy diet. And yeah, what does healthy mean? It’s true. I think it was Peter that said this, though. If you go to a grocery store, if you’re spending the majority of your time getting the ingredients for your meals on the perimeter of the grocery store, you’re eating healthy. So if you’re in…
41:15
the fresh lean meat, the whole grain breads, and you’re avoiding a lot of the processed food you’re eating healthy. So that’s kind of been my approach is I try to get my vitamins and all of that rather than through supplements. I try to get it through my diet and with what I’m eating. No, it makes sense. It makes sense. And I think kind of pulling from what we’re talking about, it’s all about being intentional with what you do. Research, you know, we talked about having intention with your exercise.
41:45
And even with supplements, intention, why are you doing it? And do your own research. And that will help you decide what you want to do. But Cody, I really appreciate you spending your time with us. I mean, we can spend, gosh, I mean, the book was eight to 10 hours just listening to it. I mean, there’s so much that can be unpacked and spoken about, but you are definitely, besides a great dentist, a go-giver in so many respects,
42:13
but you really dedicate a lot in your life. I mean, look, that’s not your job is nutrition or exercise, but you do so much of it. Like you have to be a functional expert for yourself to guide yourself. And I think all of us have to be functional experts in everything we do with, because look, I know you’ve transitioned off insurance and things like that. There’s issues with, and even in medicine, more so even medicine is what’s going on that
42:42
They’re not always the policies of insurance companies for medicine and for what you’re doing. The recommendations are not always for your best interest. They’re what’s economical for them to make profit and incentivize. You have to be your own ultimate doctor to decide you listen to the expert information and you make a decision for yourself. That’s your responsibility. Adapt it to yourself. Just like we said, the weightlifting, you know, you’ve, you’ve got to adapt it to yourself. And the same thing with your whole.
43:10
body wellness and physical approach, whether it’s your emotional, spiritual, physical approach, you’ve gotta educate yourself and take it. So unless you’re a superstar and you’re making hundreds of millions of dollars a year and you can afford to have like a private trainer, a private chef, private nutrition, a personal physician and all that stuff, yeah, we’ve gotta become our own personal experts. Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Cody Calderwood for joining us. Remember to follow us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube. Get episodes as they are released.
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Share with your friends and until next time, go out there and be an All Star.
