Transcript – Weight Loss at Any Age: Interview w/ Lyndon Hepner
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LLAFIT 0:00
Hi, listeners, I’m on the line with Lyndon Hepner, a 6A high school football coach in Oklahoma, a history teacher, and someone who represents that it’s never too late to reach a fitness goal and change your relationship with food and exercise. You can follow Lyndon on Instagram @lynhepner, l-y-n-h-e-p-n-e-r. So, Lyndon, was there a specific event that triggered your lifestyle change?
Lyndon 0:30
It was more a culmination of just, like, okay, good daily things, you know, like, clothes that wouldn’t fit, you know, you know, and like, go to the doctor and they’d say, pre-diabetes, and [I] never failed, go to a restaurant and, you know, had to eat at a table because couldn’t fit in the booth; stuff like that.
LLAFIT 0:51
Was there a year that you started, or have you worked out on and off throughout your life, and then you just kind of took off on a specific year, or?
Lyndon 1:00
Well, I can’t really pinpoint to a year. I coach, and that takes up a lot of time, you know, you can’t work out and watch your workout. And when, you know, 5:30, 6 o’clock in the evening that I would come home because you know, I had my kids. And so, and I’m not I’m not blaming anybody or, or the situation, it’s just that I did not take the time for myself. And that’s when there’s kind of a steady, but slow descent, you know, the scale started going up, and the clothes started getting tighter, and then got replaced and stuff like that. So I can’t really point to a time. But 2016 is when I started going back to the gym, but it was, you know, what I was used to and what I was comfortable with. So it took a couple of years to finally, you know, admit that, okay, you don’t know everything, you’re gonna have to change. And so 2018 is kind of when I point to when it you know, it took off. Something that I know is corny, but I believe this: fear stands between you and your goals. And the fear of losing one I wanted in the moment was greater than what I wanted most. And so I’d face up to that and overcome that fear. And now I apply that all the time. Like, are you serious? Are you really going to do 1000 reps a day? Won’t that hurt? Or should you be afraid of that? No, just power through it. That’s kind of underlying or overriding attitude that I have to remind myself to do, but it tends to work.
LLAFIT 2:28
And that was part of the spark? Or is that what keeps you going?
Lyndon 2:31
I think that’s more keeping me going? You know, because I’m always looking for, you know, I mean, I’m on Instagram, and I’m seeing yours, and I’m seeing others, and I’m getting ideas, and I’m stealing stuff. Good coaches are the biggest thieves ever, you know, will act like is ours. So just a combination of, you know, years of this, and trying to put it together, find out what works and what doesn’t.
LLAFIT 2:53
Yeah, because maintaining fitness isn’t about one specific goal. After a while there, there will be a series of things and sometimes you can’t just pinpoint one answer.
Lyndon 3:05
Exactly.
LLAFIT 3:06
Have you found that to be true.
Lyndon 3:07
Exactly. I mean, it kind of changes, you know, and just when you think, you know, people, you know, my brother said, Well, what what, you know, what are you aiming for? What is your goal and go, you know, I’m never satisfied. And I don’t like to sound, you know, like anything wrong, but like you said it’s ever changing. And then once you reach a milestone or a point, well then now that’s in the rearview mirror. Let’s go for something else.
LLAFIT 3:32
Exactly. And then your new starting point is better than your previous starting point. So you’re just building on top of what you’ve already accomplished.
Lyndon 3:40
Exactly.
LLAFIT 3:42
So you’re a history teacher and a football coach. So have you always done both together? Or what do you focus on more prominently of the two?
Lyndon 3:53
Well, I was raised on a ranch in northwestern Oklahoma. And it wasn’t for me, my dad said boy, you ought to go to college. And I did, and, so, I left the far… left the ranch and I became a teacher; I wanted to coach and the only way you can coach to get into high school coaching is that you got to teach, right. And I just, I love that. I am hired to be a teacher. Okay. And extra duty pay is coaching. Now what takes up more? The coaching part, but I love the the l love, you know, history. And so I’ve done both to answer your question. I’ve done both except for one season that I spent in Austria coaching American football there. All the other years of in combination history teacher and coach.
LLAFIT 4:38
Okay, so that’s interesting. So you coached in Austria, how did that come about?
Lyndon 4:45
Well, my son who had coached at southeastern Oklahoma State University as a grad assistant–we were at my daughter’s pa graduation like a meal before–she she’s a PA–and like the meal before we’re going to go to graduation, he just happened to mentioned that one of his former players wanted him to come to Germany and coach. And I said… they have football in Europe? And, so I get on a website and some Skype meetings and some emails and I’m going on to Vienna to coach American football in the spring of 2011. And, so that’s kind of how it happened once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I loved it. You know, I’d like to go back sometime. That’s kind of how it happened.
LLAFIT 5:28
That’s, that’s really cool. So how in demand is American football coaching and how popular is American football in Austria?
Lyndon 5:38
They have teams from Sweden to Italy. It’s–always, you know, this is not a slam or anything, but I always say, you know, football in Europe is treated kinda like soccer was in America about 20 years ago. Whereas, like, what is this… and maybe 30? You know, it depends on the area, you know, saying, but its popularity. You know, it’s it’s edged out by soccer. Most of our football games are actually played on soccer fields that had to be remarked for football. So the popularity isn’t just overwhelming. It has pockets, but great opportunity. And he was really fun.
LLAFIT 6:15
Yeah, that sounds awesome. And so in our previous conversation prior to this interview, you mentioned being a 6A football coach, can you explain that to me? Sorry, I don’t follow football.
Lyndon 6:27
That’s fine. Okay. There’s like 130 some high schools that play football in Oklahoma and forgive me if I don’t have that number, correct; I should know. But what they do is the biggest average daily membership schools, there’s you know, they take the top 32 largest, as far as population, schools and that’s 6A, and then they move down the next 32 or 5A and you see it just goes down like that. Now, some classes are bigger because you know, there’s just you know, they don’t have they can just put 30 on everyone. And it even goes down. There are two classes of eight-man football, you know, regular football is 11 man. And there are two classes of eight-man football. So 6A is the biggest schools, that play Oklahoma. Okay. I’ve been a Mustang High School the last couple of years. It’s an awesome school: awesome administrators, teacher, students. We got a great football program. Coach Blankenship is our head coach. So, I gotta throw in the Go Broncos! All right.
LLAFIT 7:30
So were you a football player in your youth at all? Or what specifically led you to that? And does any of your training somewhat mirror football strength training or any aspects of that type of training?
Lyndon 7:44
Well, I was like I said, I was raised on a ranch and I was riding horses, all my youth and then started watching football, like maybe 8, 10, 12 years old, and went out for football at Freedom High School in Freedom Oklahoma. And, so, played their eight man football. It was a small school, so we did everything played basketball, ran track, and then had an opportunity to go play football in D2 college, Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma, and then transferred to Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Alva and played college there. And so that was that’s kind of been my, my sports background as far as training, you know, strength training. It’s, it’s essential in football. Now, it wasn’t when I was growing up in high school and almost in college. But now strength training is paramount in, in football and every sport–I will say that–every sport, basketball, I don’t care, baseball, strength training, conditioning is something that you cannot do without… and, you know, be successful, in my opinion.
LLAFIT 8:54
You develop power…
Lyndon 8:57
Power, flexibility. explosiveness…
LLAFIT 9:00
Yeah.
Lyndon 9:01
Injury Prevention. I mean, just…
LLAFIT 9:03
Yeah.
Lyndon 9:04
The list goes on. And you overcome obstacles, you know, saying. You’re not going to lift as much as you want every day. And, so that failure provides feedback, and dedication, you know, dedication and perseverance. All of those things become important, you know, in the development of athlete. So do you work out alone? Or do you have a trading partner partners? Well, I kind of, I mean, most of the time, I’m alone at the gym. I mean, but I’m at a gym. And so, you know, I ran into a guy that we trained sometimes His name’s Kevin stamper. We train a lot together. But I have a training partner. That’s also my best friend, Susan, my wife of 41 years. Lately, we’ve been training together as much as possible. So that’s really cool.
LLAFIT 9:55
Yeah, that’d be awesome. To have a more permanent training partner.
Lyndon 10:01
Right?
LLAFIT 10:01
Such as your spouse
Lyndon 10:02
Right.
LLAFIT 10:02
So do you both share the same training style or…
Lyndon 10:06
You know, she started out–she had knee replacement surgery–she had gone to the gym with before, but then, you know, work and everything had kind of kept her out of it. So she was motivated to get that knee back in, you know, in a workable functional situation. And so she was going to the gym to do that. And then it wasn’t long before she started adding, like upper body stuff. And now she’s got a broke down to where she does pushing one day pulling one day muscles, and then legs one day along with our stretch. And sometimes I’m going are you guys not done? Are you not done yet? Can we go? So she’s, she’s, you know, once she decides to do something, stand back because it’s going to get done.
LLAFIT 10:49
So, one thing and that too–with some people who aren’t familiar with exercising regularly–they don’t understand what the draw is. And so once you actually get started, then you start adding goals, and it kind of had has a way of growing on you.
Lyndon 11:03
Exactly, exactly. It can be anything you know, and what I suggested this may be off track a little bit. But so you remember those goals, it’s not a thing where it’s vanity, but take a picture, you know, take a picture at your worst–because I avoided cameras, it’s hard to find, you know, it’s hard to find pictures of me, you know, back in my 325-pound life. And, so take pictures occasionally and look at the difference, you know, look at the or keep track of you know, like how far you run or you know what your lift is or something to do something as milestones. So you can keep it… Because there’s going to be times where you get discouraged or feel like it’s not going anywhere, look back at where you’ve come from.
LLAFIT 11:43
Yeah, that’s actually a really helpful tip. Because one of the aspects of lifelong fitness or long-term fitness is you’ll go through cycles. And sometimes you might think: “Oh, I’m I have a little more extra body fat on me.” And then if you look at your records, you might have had the same body fat a few years ago, and you still push through it, and you’re just going through the same cycle again. And it’s not something to feel discouraged by or to be afraid that you’re suddenly putting on a lot of weight.
Lyndon 12:13
I’m glad you mentioned that because one of the things I felt like I was a slave to was a scale. And recently I’ve had like body fat analysis. And that’s that’s a lot better way of finding…
LLAFIT 12:24
Yes. It is.
Lyndon 12:25
What you know, what you’re made of literally?
LLAFIT 12:28
Yeah, yeah. Cuz your weight is everything you just ate or didn’t eat?
Exactly.
Or if you went to the bathroom? Or did you know…
Lyndon 12:37
Or humidity or the scales wrong… it just, you know, people that are slaves to it, like it makes or breaks their day? You know? Yeah,
LLAFIT 12:44
yeah. Yeah, checking body fat is so important. And other than that, measurements, I mostly just do circumference measurements. I mean, if, if I’m really messing up, I might get my body fat checked, but that’s right. Right?
Lyndon 13:00
Well, you know, if nothing else, just how do your pants fit, you know, is a good, but I, from that from while I lost 120 pounds, and I’ve gained some back. But I want to know what that gain is. And so I have body fat, I was having it like every three months. And COVID is kind of stuff that some hearing that DEXA scan is the next thing you know. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna get one of those one these days and try to I’m trying to keep my body fat around 15% or under. And it’s been that way. So if this gain is what I want it to be, it’ll stay there and get better.
LLAFIT 13:36
You might be able to get a free one at a local university.
Lyndon 13:40
Yes, yeah. I wonder if [inaudible]…
LLAFIT 13:44
So, what is your overall philosophy for, um, for example, fat loss, muscle gain or maintenance; we may have kind of covered it just now. But do you have an overall philosophy on training and nutrition?
Lyndon 13:59
Well, I know this it’s paramount, the diet… the nutrition is paramount. If you’re going to have weight loss, you can’t outwork–you can’t, you can’t go on this in the end do a really hard workout and then go have, you know, like I used to have five hamburgers on the way home you know, you can’t do that you can’t outwork bad dietary habits. And you know, I shy away from the word “diet” because it becomes a lifestyle. And everybody’s different. You know, my journey may not be what somebody else’s is, but as far as fat loss, it’s protein, you know, lean you know, you pick it. I don’t care. It can be you know, even if you’re vegetarian, you can find protein and then non-starchy vegetables, you know, you know, maybe not the ones you grant gravitate to like French fries and mashed potatoes, but, but you know, non-starchy vegetables and a little fat along the way away, and then, you know, find ways to be satisfied with that. And then step back because it’s gonna start happening. So maybe not at first you will see the improvement that you want. And then again, you may see great improvement and then level off later. But, you know, consistency is the key to do that. And I know people, you know, have what they call, like cheat days, I would really, I would shy away from those until you have pretty good, a pretty good, you know, like, not stopping point. But you know, like a goal, because cheat days can turn into cheat weekends and weekends can ruin a whole week of work. It’s just, you know, and then why are you going to work so hard, and then throw it all away with a cheesecake or whatever, you know. So, I mean–I’m not saying don’t do it, but do it as reward like when you reach a certain goal.
LLAFIT 15:46
I totally agree with that because you have to develop discipline first. And if you’re–the way you gained weight was through having difficulty disciplining your eating habits, then you have to develop that first, prior to going jumping right back into it. So do you follow an overall philosophy for all stages, fat loss, muscle gain and maintenance in terms of nutrition?
Lyndon 16:12
Well, I haven’t hit maintenance yet. So I’m still researching that muscle gain. I think it’s pretty standard. You know, I’ve talked to people that the like, the goal is kind of a gram of protein for every pound of bodyweight. But like, like my, my normal meal is three bites or protein, one by the non starchy vegetables, repeat. Until it’s over five or six small meals a day, and try to get 30 to 40 grams of protein. And I know the standard is 30 grams over three hours. But I have some questions about that I want to talk to nutritionists about, but I think you can, the key is protein for so many reasons. And, and of course, you got to have some carbs.
LLAFIT 16:58
Okay, and do you feel satiated and energetic for your workouts based on how you’re eating now?
Lyndon 17:04
I do. But you know, you also got to rest, you know what I’m saying. You can’t you can’t stay up till two in the morning. And then… I get up at 4:30 and I work out of five, you know, so if it’s the old-person lifestyle, I’m going to bed. It bothers me with this daylight savings time because sometimes I’m headed to bed and it’s still kind of light outside. But, you know, you got to make some investments to get some dividends and that’s where I’ll do it is like, you know, a clean diet and plenty rest. And, and gotta you gotta hydrate.
LLAFIT 17:40
So are you saying that older people have an advantage on everyone else?
Lyndon 17:46
Yeah, I’m gonna call it bad. Yeah. So we go to the all you can eat buffet at 4:30. And then we go to bed at night. Okay, let’s not go there. All you can eat buffet. Yeah, yeah, that wouldn’t be good. That would got us in trouble.
LLAFIT 17:59
So the current phase of your weight loss journey started in 2016. And I don’t think we covered it much. But, um, you had weight loss surgery, correct?
Lyndon 18:11
I did. I did.
LLAFIT 18:13
Okay.
Lyndon 18:14
I mean, I felt like I was killing myself and trying to do everything right. And it just doesn’t wasn’t working. For a lot of different reasons. I considered it and I ran it by my wife, and she was supportive. And so we did that. But before we get into very far, just don’t let anybody tell you, it’s the easy way out. Because believe me, there’s a better better check into it first, before you before you say that. I will give you one example. And I don’t know if I should mention this show. But you know, The Biggest Loser show before that? One year, they had 15 people that lost over 100 pounds of those 15 people 14 gained it back, but guess what the one that didn’t gain it back had?
LLAFIT 18:37
Weight loss surgery?
Lyndon 18:38
Weight loss surgery. So, and I know there’s ways to cheat the gastric sleeve or the bypass too and gain weight. And so so it is a tool. And you know, I’m not gonna argue with anybody, but that might want to judge, but but if I were, I would ask him like, how do you paint the ceiling in your house? Do you get on ladder? Or do you just jump up using your own, you know, your own, you know, vertical jump to paint the ceiling? Use a tool, right? Well, the one I chose was that, and it’s not, you know, you can’t reverse it. So, um, it’s part of me now. And it provided a great springboard by which then you can see some, some improvement.
LLAFIT 19:39
Yeah, and there’s nothing wrong with–we support science in various ways, but it’s funny how in some other ways people say, “Oh, that’s cheating.”
Lyndon 19:49
Right. Right.
LLAFIT 19:50
And well, we’re okay with supplements a lot of times but not okay with surgery that can save your life.
Lyndon 19:57
Yeah. Literally. You know, there’s, there’s arguments both ways. But, but, and I honestly, the people around me have never been anything but supportive. And I don’t mean to sound bad, but I don’t feel like everybody deserves to know. And and, and so if sometimes people say, “Well, you know…” I just say, I ate more, and I exercise–I mean, I eat less, and exercise more, you know, that was, that’s my standard answer. And then if they really, you know, are interested, then I’ll go into it, but once you get me started is gonna be like a two-to-three hour explanation. You know, you better not.
LLAFIT 20:35
In terms of weight loss surgery, since you mentioned how some people have had it, but may not have been able to maintain the results.
Lyndon 20:42
Right, right.
LLAFIT 20:43
Is that the key? As far as when people try to dismiss weight loss surgery? Is it really about maintaining the weight loss? In the long run? That makes it not a cop out?
Lyndon 20:57
Yeah, I haven’t thought about that. But I think that would have to be a major consideration, you know, is… because… I just refuse to think that, that I would go through this and then blow it, you know, in a few years, you know. That’s, that’s, like, if I’m afraid of something that’s going to be one thing is that, you know, maintaining and or.. but I don’t like word maintaining as much as I like improving, you know. Even if it’s just one little thing.
LLAFIT 21:27
Yeah.
Lyndon 21:28
And so, you know, at the end of this deal, you know, I want it to be a success as I look back at it, not like, Oh, well, that was a period of time when, you know, look at those pictures. You know, what happened? You know, that kind of thing?
LLAFIT 21:41
Yeah, yeah. Cuz you can compare it to when people get liposuction, for example, and they gain weight again, and then they say, “Oh, I thought it would stay off.” When really you have to do the work to make sure it stays off.
Lyndon 21:56
Right, right. It–Like I said, it’s just a tool, you know. You don’t take a hammer to cut bread. You know what I’m saying, and so if you, you know, if you decide to use a certain tool, you’re going to use it the right way.
LLAFIT 22:09
Yeah.
Lyndon 22:09
It’s only for that it’s not for the next job. You have to get some other children use then.
LLAFIT 22:15
Yeah, that makes sense. So based on your expectations for the weight loss surgery, how were the results? And also the process of it? Was it a difficult process post-operation? And were you nervous prior to going into surgery?
Lyndon 22:32
I’ll start with the last part. I was not I was ready, you know what I’m saying. We had, we had scheduled it for spring break. And I was told that I’ll be back to work, you know, three to four days. And so–by the way, it’s called Weight Wise in Edmond, Oklahoma, they a heck of a job they do, like counseling and support group, you know. They don’t just do it, and then let you go, you know what I’m saying. It’s within the country, it was five miles down the road. So, you know, anywhere in Oklahoma or wherever you go there. But anyway, the process is… it’s a surgery, you know. They go in, and basically, they, your stomach shaped like a J or an S, right? Well, when they do the sleeve, now it’s shaped like a sleeve, the hits, it’s, and along with it, there’s less ghrelin in there, which causes hunger. And you can’t hold as much in my whole being, you know, when I went into to do this and check into it, the psychologists asked me, you know, like, why do you want to do this? And I said, I want to, I want some way that you can’t rationalize eating too much. Well, believe me, if you eat too much with this, it’s coming right back up. And so that’s one of the things that keeps you you know, on track.
LLAFIT 23:51
Okay.
Lyndon 23:51
So…
LLAFIT 23:51
Well, I do have a question about that. So that’s–I can understand the stomach possibly expanding again, but what about the ghrelin? You mentioned. Does that regenerate? Or does that increase again, if you eat too much?
Lyndon 24:07
I was told that it takes about a year for your body to figure it out. And that was it. That’s all they ever said to me. So I’m imagining that it could, as it is, from March 2018 to now, I have found that I still, you know, I get hungry. But it doesn’t take as much to satisfy that hunger.
LLAFIT 24:31
Okay.
Lyndon 24:31
So it plays right into the whole, you know, “small meals” thing. Couldn’t eat a big meal.
And you don’t want to either, right, because…
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, here’s the deal. You still get hungry. You still want to be on stage. Okay, that’s where the discipline comes in, that you mentioned earlier. You’ve got to realize, no–you will hear it–and I’ll do it, I’ll say it again: “What I want now can’t override what I want most.”
LLAFIT 24:58
That’s a good that’s a good phrase. I’m going to have to keep that one.
Lyndon 25:02
Oh, and you know, here’s the deal. You asked about the process, you got to go for a good while with just like a liquid diet afterwards. And then you go to a soft diet–you know, you know a liquid diet–have you ever been on that, eww–and a soft diet?
LLAFIT 25:18
No.
Lyndon 25:18
You know, because you’re, you know, there’s surgery, you know.
LLAFIT 25:21
Yeah.
Lyndon 25:22
You can’t break that loose. And so there’s about what six-week period that you’re, you’re transitioning back into regular food? And so yeah, yeah, a typical day would be like some eggs, you know, then a protein bar, then you know, tuna. You get the idea, just…
LLAFIT 25:40
Sure.
Lyndon 25:41
On down the on the way.
LLAFIT 25:42
So people who have seen your success now, do you actually train people outside of football? Have you ever been approached to train anyone?
Lyndon 25:55
I do not train anyone, you know, I go to the gym sometime. And the coach me wants to create form or whatever. But I know people don’t–you know that–they don’t want somebody walking up to them and changing that. And so, the only, I guess my wife is about the only person that–we work together. And, and you know, I would say that we’re–she would probably say that I’m a trainer. But I’ve not ever actively, you know, unless like if somebody comes up wants to then we can talk but, you know, other than our sport or football, then that’s kind of been it. All right. One thing I want to mention about our training.
LLAFIT 26:34
Sure.
Lyndon 26:36
Our football program has a strength and conditioning coach. So I follow his recommendations, his plan while I’m there. And And honestly, what we do for the kids is beneficial and it’s lifelong. But we focus on some movements that I don’t do anymore, you know? Yeah, I don’t do squats. I do a lot of leg exercises, but but squats for different reasons, like knee surgeries and stuff? I don’t do. And we do–we center a lot of stuff for our power cleans. And so, you know, I just don’t feel the need to do those as much. They’re still good. And I wouldn’t tell you not to do either one of those. But so, so what what do I do at school and work, although it’s beneficial, I often don’t do on my own training.
LLAFIT 27:26
And that’s a good point, actually. So just having experience over the years of exercising, there are some exercises that you might eliminate, but not lose the results that you gained from doing those exercises when you switch other exercises.
Lyndon 27:43
Right.
LLAFIT 27:44
So do you find that you’re at a disadvantage in any way? Because you don’t do those powerlifting moves or squats?
Lyndon 27:50
No, I don’t feel like I’m at a disadvantage. I think that the squat, the deadlift, the power layout, the power clean, you know, those things are what you can build a foundation with. And, you know, I mean, you can do them at any age, I just, you know, I’ve just kind of for whatever reason, you know, got away from them. But but every once while I will go power–ah, ah deadlift, you know, I mean, I incorporate that on leg day, some days, my shoulders and knees have kind of gone to where squats are not, you know, it’s just harder to do. But, But, you know, hack squats, you know, the leg machines, you know, there’s a lot of other ways to work legs and glutes that, you know, you can,
And you feel like you’re still getting the results you want from those movements?
I do, but, you know, maybe like a million other people, I have focused on my upper body so much. And so the legs have got, you know, get caught up. So late days are not skipped anymore.
LLAFIT 28:51
Yeah, I understand that. So going back, just briefly to your weight loss surgery, did you have to worry about skin removal or anything like that?
Lyndon 29:02
You know, the skin doesn’t a snap back. For my age, it didn’t it might some people, but it didn’t snap back. So it was a constant reminder that you have run a mile–or No, you’ve run 10 miles–10 feet from the finish line on this mile. But, you know, you haven’t finished. It just to me it was the culmination of the journey, you know, saying I got to get rid of this extra skin. You know, it’s hanging around my waist. Everybody get up and you know, whatever, it’s in the… I just knew it was there. So, although I’ve lost the weight I consider to like, you know, run a mile and saw I’m a few yards from the finish line. You know, this is, this has got to happen too you know, for the whole, you know… it was the whole package to complete it.
LLAFIT 29:48
Okay, well, I’m glad you’re able to get that done; I have heard of people who lose a lot of weight or get weight loss surgery and they have that excess skin.
Lyndon 29:58
Yeah, the one surgery was covered by our insurance program in Oklahoma. The gastric sleeve the the skin removal is not we went to Dr. [inaudible] in Edmond, Oklahoma, which I would recommend highly. And got it done.
LLAFIT 30:17
Yeah, well, you know, feeling good in your own skin can really affect your mood. So I imagine…
Lyndon 30:24
Yeah, definitely.
LLAFIT 30:25
Yeah, you needed to take care of that to stay motivated and to not, you know, feel down. And given your weight loss surgery, you made so much progress with that. But then when you have the excess skin staying there, I imagine it’ll still affect your mood.
Lyndon 30:40
Exactly. Use you. You’ve said it exactly right. It’s just, you know, like, okay, it’s one step, but we’re not done yet. You know what saying. Now, here’s the deal, I waited a year, because I mean, you wouldn’t want to do this and then lose more, or, you know, whatever. And so you don’t want to make that. You don’t want to do that quick, you know, saying, after you’ve lost, like where your goal is, then you want to see if you know, settle in, so to speak, and make sure that there’s not going to be any more loss or whatever. And then, and then of course, the next thing is make sure you don’t fall back into old habits and ruin the process.
LLAFIT 31:21
So you’re a history teacher, a football coach, you made a major change in your nutrition and exercise habits back in 2016. And if you don’t mind my asking, How old are you? So the listeners know that, you know, it’s never too late to reach their fitness goals?
Lyndon 31:45
I’m 64. I’ll be 65 in May.
LLAFIT 31:49
Yeah, so that that tells me that I have no excuse, at least for the next 30 years. I have to keep going. So there you go. Yeah, people like you always remind me when I feel like, you know, am I gonna suddenly gain weight when I’m 40? or something? I’m like,” Well, no, I don’t have an excuse.” Because look at him. You know, people like you are really important, especially the fact that you started while you’re you started this portion of your finished your journey very recently, you’re still able to make progress and maintain it. So that’s really important for people to see examples of that. So they can’t make any excuses. But not just for that reason. But so they know it’s possible.
Lyndon 32:33
Right? I’ve seen a T shirt that says, let me see if I get this right: “You don’t quit lifting weights because you get old, you get old because you quit lifting weights.”
LLAFIT 32:42
Yep. Yeah, that makes sense.
Lyndon 32:44
I can quote T-shirts all day.
LLAFIT 32:45
So in our brief talk before this interview, you mentioned that you do short rest periods. And you also practice what’s called EMOM, which is every minute on the minute cardio. So how does that type of training? How do you keep energy for that type of training? And if you have short rest periods during weight training, how do you, you know, stay energetic for that day in and day out? As far as what your weekly training routine might be?
Lyndon 33:18
Okay, well, the ever made it on the minute was kind of a transition for my weight loss, where I wasn’t doing, you know, I had to suspend actual weight training. And so I was basically doing cardio and so I kind of negotiated What can I do EMOM, which is, you know, weight training, and it’s also cardio to me, you know, there may be people that argue that but but it was a transition from like I said, cardio to weight training, which incorporated both, I thought, so that’s why I did it. And, you know, as far as energy levels, I guess I’ve got my macros about right, and my rest and everything’s because, you know, I mean it, you want to leave a workout, feeling like you’ve done something, but you don’t want to leave a workout wanting to do it again, you know. I feel sorry for somebody that thinks they’re gonna catch up after years of inactivity and they’re going to do it in a week or one day and then pretty soon they quit going to that gym membership is just, you know, how much ever money a month that you’re not using anymore. And so–and here’s another deal, unless you’re training for, you know, the Olympics or or whatever, you can pretty much set however you want to do it–don’t let somebody else’s program to lead mine or anybody else’s. You know, run it if you want to wait one song on your workout playlist, get them earbuds in and you know lift and then wait a song to do the next set, you know, or whatever…
LLAFIT 34:50
Okay. Your rest periods during training have not worn you out or anything like that. You’re still able to maintain energy…
Lyndon 35:56
Right.
LLAFIT 34:58
With short rest periods. About how long are those rest periods?
Lyndon 35:01
Well, I say this is where I’ll let rest 30 seconds, you know, like, I’ll do like four or five sets, 30-seconds rest, and there be might be 30 to, 15 to 30 reps for each set, rest 30 seconds in between. and then on heavier days, then in maybe a three-minute rest, you know, between like a heavy bench or, or heavy deadlift or something like that. So they kind of vary. But what I was saying, you know, you don’t want to leave just, you know, on–if it finds you on the floor, the gym or throwing up and you’re going, you’re not resting enough. You know, you’re, you need to, you know, realize that it’s, it’s a, in this case, it’s a marathon, you know, consistency and staying with it. And so you don’t want to dread it, you don’t want to hate it,
LLAFIT 35:42
The message overall is listen to your body, but also make it maybe practical so you can keep
Lyndon 35:48
Yeah, and stay with it. You know what I’m saying it’s consistency, it’s, it’s the day-after-day thing; you’re not gonna get it one day; you’re not gonna lose it one day.
LLAFIT 35:56
Yeah, that’s true.
Lyndon 35:58
But, but it’s just like, consistency. And, and it’s those days that, you know, you may not feel like it. I mean, 4:30 in the morning, sometimes ain’t right. You know, you don’t want to get up and do it. But, you know, you know, just you need to get where you feel worse, if you lay back down, and also have also have a scenario in the morning, I give myself five seconds: 5, 4, 3, 2, boom! You’re up. And by the time you’re out, you tell yourself that you’re gonna have a good day, you know, so it’s already been decided, so get after it.
LLAFIT 36:32
What are your future fitness goals at the moment?
Lyndon 36:37
Well, short-term I wanna win at something every day. You know, one, lift one, goal one something, you know, when today, long term, I want to be healthy enough to enjoy my grandkids; I want to look good in my clothes, and maybe at the beach; and anybody that wants help, you know, I’d like to help them achieve their personal goals. But I’m not going to push myself on somebody to do that.
LLAFIT 37:03
Understandable.
Lyndon 37:03
And that kind of makes sense.
LLAFIT 37:07
All right. So Lyndon. I’m so happy you were able to speak with me. You’re an inspiration. And I know that I have to keep going for at least another 30 years.
Lyndon 37:22
I’ll be checking in on you. All right.
LLAFIT 37:24
Well, hopefully we’ll have you on again. And you could give us more information on your training and we can keep in touch.
Lyndon 37:31
Cool. I’d love to Thank you.
LLAFIT 37:33
All right. You’re welcome.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
As an athlete for over 22 years and a broke single mom for most of that time, I created brokesinglemomfitness.com, now LLAFIT.com, to aid anyone who believes the road to fitness requires a lot of cash or time. In reality, the way to fitness is paved with knowledge and firm principles; teaching readers how to master both is the goal of this site. LLAFIT – Lifelong Applied Fitness