Ever Onward Podcast

How To Stay Strong, Healthy, and Fulfilled Like “Doc Thor” | Ever Onward - Ep. 51

• Ahlquist. • Season 1 • Episode 51

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What’s the key to staying strong, healthy, and fulfilled even under pressure? Dr. Kaleb Redden shares his proven strategies for creating healthy habits, overcoming setbacks, and finding joy in the journey.

In this episode, we dive into the remarkable journey of Dr. Kaleb Redden, popularly known as “Doc Thor,” whose story is a powerful blend of inspiration and achievement. In 2020, Dr. Redden competed on the Titan Games, where he earned the iconic nickname “Doc Thor.”

As a leader in sports performance and nutrition, Dr. Redden has worked with elite athletes and everyday individuals, helping them unlock their potential while juggling the challenges of family life and a demanding career.

Discover Dr. Redden’s fascinating journey as he balances the rigors of a sports medicine career with the joys and challenges of being a father. He offers insightful perspectives on parenting, the evolution of sports, and how his small-town upbringing in Big Piney, Wyoming, continues to influence his life. As we explore the joys of outdoor activities and the tight-knit community spirit that shaped him, you’ll gain a unique glimpse into the world of a dedicated physician.

Throughout this episode, we unravel the complexities of maintaining a work-life balance in the demanding field of medicine. Dr. Redden shares how he navigates the challenges of bureaucracy and potential burnout by finding fulfillment in patient care and personal endeavors, like running a cattle business. He emphasizes the profound privilege of healing others and the rejuvenating power of family time and hands-on activities. For anyone feeling overwhelmed by the demands of their profession, this conversation offers practical insights and inspiration to seek joy and purpose amidst a hectic schedule.

In this episode we also dive into the importance of healthy habits, particularly for those entering their 40s and 50s. Dr. Redden shares practical tips on incorporating aerobic and anaerobic exercises into daily life, underscoring how small lifestyle changes can ensure longevity and vitality.

The episode concludes with an inspiring tale of resilience, highlighting Boone Bartlome’s incredible story of defying the odds and motivating others with his indomitable spirit. Dr. Redden’s experiences, both personal and professional, serve as a testament to the strength of community, dedication, and the relentless pursuit of well-being.

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Speaker 1:

Today on the Ever Onward podcast we have Dr Caleb Redden. He is Dr Thor from the Titan Games. We've known him for a long time. He is a wonderful guy. He's a sports medicine doctor here in town. He does a lot of great things here and we can't wait to catch up with him, see what he's up to and talk all things health and wellness Dr Caleb Redden. Caleb, thanks for coming on. Man Pleasure Straight from the hospital.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, straight from work here. Yeah, it's good stuff, it's been a while.

Speaker 1:

It's going to be fun getting caught up. Yeah, I'm excited. We were just talking about your kids. I didn't know you Listen. Yeah, we've had the joke today. This is like the handsome, like uh athletic dude uh day on the podcast, but uh, you have a 19 year old I do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, 19 year old son, he's doing great. It's been. The one of the best parts of my life is being a dad. But yeah, he's 19 and um, then I have a 15 yearyear-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, and she is a boy. Oh boy, the boys were easy to take care of.

Speaker 1:

Oh amen, I had boy, three girls, and I remember the very first time, like at 13 or 14, there was like just some random crying and I'm like what is this? This is different.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, if she would have been born first, we'd only had one. She'd have been an only child, I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 1:

Yep, oh, that's great, that's great. Are your kids into sports?

Speaker 2:

They are yep. So my daughter, she's a hard charger. She loves volleyball, does club and pretty busy with that. I'm sure a lot of Idaho parents are aware of what it's like to have a kid in club sports. It doesn't matter what the club is, but it stays pretty hopped up. And then my boys both like football and track.

Speaker 1:

Both play football and track Pretty intense with club sports nowadays, right it is. It's not like when I grew up like you did. You did it in a season and then you went and played in the fields and then whatever. It's different now, right?

Speaker 2:

It is, yeah, club it in a season and then you went and played in the fields and then, whatever it's different. Now, right, it is. Yeah, club sports are an entity all their own and just I was the same way like I played club hockey growing up and it was club just because it wasn't a school sponsored sport, but you just paid for your ice time and the ref time and your parents carted you around the state and you traveled because you had. Where'd you grow up? In Wyoming, wyoming. Where were you born? I was born in Provo, utah. I never lived there. My dad was doing his training. He works for Williams, which is a big natural gas processing company, so he was doing training there. They had me and then they moved right to Wyoming, essentially, so I was born there what town?

Speaker 1:

Big Piney is the name of the town Big Piney is the name of the town Big Piney, Wyoming. I think I remember this.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, population is like 350, 400 people. It's a pretty small, isolated place, but a bunch of tough kids come out of that small town.

Speaker 1:

Let me tell you what was the closest bigger town?

Speaker 2:

It's a 65-mile drive to Kemmerer, which had a couple thousand, and then big like Walmart. The closest Walmart was like Rock Springs and that was a two-hour drive to get to Walmart.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Kemmerer, right.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm. Spelled funny, yeah, spelled funny, yeah, kemmerer Isn't there like a reservoir there or something. Yeah, so Fontenelle, fontenelle Reservoir, and it's got some big I'm trying to think of, of think ling cod are in there like crazy huge ling cod yeah, yeah, there's some, there's some good fish in there, for sure.

Speaker 1:

Well, I went there once and never again. So my father-in-law's a nut, right, I remember this, that's why I remember camera. So he says, hey, we're gonna go fishing, you want to go? And it's the middle of winter and he's like there are these great big fish in there and, and I will remember, he had this little aluminum boat with like a 25 horsepower outboard and we'd go fishing, trolling for these lean cod in the middle of the winter. And I just remember sitting in that boat because he is a, you know, we got there. We I can't remember what time we got there and got there in the dark and all day long and we didn't catch one fish. He showed me all these pictures and I just thought there's a point at which, like, I just would rather die. I'm so cold that it's, definitely, it's a.

Speaker 2:

It's a cold place, that's for sure, yep um, how's it?

Speaker 1:

how you, how you been? How's business? Let's talk about that. Let's get caught up first.

Speaker 2:

Yeah um, you know it's funny, uh the uh. The community has grown at such a remarkable rate, um, that the number of patients that need to be seen are increasing exponentially, but the number of physicians is not, and we can only work so many hours a day, see so many people a day, so we're busy, to say the least. A lot of people who have moved into town, who like outdoor activities, you know, mountain biking, skiing, hunting and fishing, those types of things, and I'm a sports medicine physician, so as a sports medicine doctor, you know those are sort of our bread and butter patients. And then the club sports that's exploded and getting bigger and bigger and it's busy. Yeah, we see a lot of people and a lot of injury care and then a lot of performance enhancement and optimization. It's kind of like my niche and there are a lot of people who are interested in that. So from a physician standpoint, we're really busy.

Speaker 2:

And I think the biggest complaint that I think everybody has in town is it just takes too long to see a, you know, a doctor. It's a long wait and we're aware of that. We realize that it's definitely a problem, trying to do everything we can to fix it, but it it. Just there's a lot of people that need to be seen and you know, I think, um, that's a good and a bad problem, right like it's job security, but at the same time, we feel that stress oh, yeah, yeah, how does it ever correct itself?

Speaker 1:

we're talking in the hallway on your way in here and you're like, yeah, I'm working 65 hours a week. Um, like it's just, yeah, it's just. Do you worry? And when we talked about you coming on again today, I'm like what do you want to talk about? I'm like I don't know. But there's a lot of things I want to talk to you about. One is just do you worry about burnout? Because even I mean you think of all the specialties that there are in medicine. You are a sports medicine doctor, so in theory, you've picked the thing that you're around healthy people all the time, happy people all the time people to get better.

Speaker 1:

I mean you're not dredging in the ERs, like some of us schmucks do, but just the pressures of modern. I hear it from all my colleagues that were in medicine with me. They're just like I don't know man. It's just, it's different now. Talk about that.

Speaker 2:

Well, and I know I'm preaching to the choir because you've you know, working in the ER definitely has different levels of stress and I recognize that and realize that. I think if you work in a dermatology clinic you would you know, if you work in Durham, the stress that you feel there is different than the stress you feel as a in the ER. But you're right, I did pick a profession that I enjoy, so there's passion there. I really like where I'm at. I can't really see myself being a doctor or doing anything else. So, that being said, when I, when I feel like you know, I talk to people about burnout, I don't look at it as burnout. I look at it as being tired because I enjoy what I'm doing. And I look at the definition of burnout. There's a sense of, there's this lack of purpose, lack of autonomy, lack of drive.

Speaker 1:

That's a great distinction, because that's not what it is right. You went in it for the right reason. You're passionate about it, you love it, you're just freaking tired.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it for the right reason. You're passionate about it, you love it. You're just freaking tired. Yeah, you're just tired, you're worn out.

Speaker 2:

And I I had a conversation with an older doc years ago who told me that burnout and granted, I'm not sure that I totally agree with this, but he told me that burnout was a luxury, he said. He went so far as to say depression is a luxury. Like you, you know, he's like, and he brought up my dad, who's a hard-working blue-collar guy. He's like when was the last time your dad didn't go to work because he was sad? And I was like never he goes. When was the last time your dad didn't go to work because he was tired? And I was like oh yeah, no, no, he just he always went. Like when was the last time your dad didn't show up? Because he was, you know, he like brought these things up and he was like you know, burnout is a state of mind and he's like, you decide the state of your mind. And yeah, of course there's certain levels of you know, the tissue breaks down.

Speaker 2:

We get, you know, I get that, I recognize that. But I think burnout really comes down to losing the joy in your work. And as long as the joy is there and you're able to manage being tired, I don't. I don't like. For me, I don't feel burned out Now. That being said, I definitely acknowledge the tired you know working. I work in clinic five days a week and then I work walk in like urgent ortho, orthopedic, urgent care at least one weekend, if not two weekends a month. And then I work nights, at least two or three nights a week I'm covering some sport and then at least one or two weekends a month I cover a sport and then I try to make it to my kids sports and then I try to do the things that are.

Speaker 2:

You know, I have other jobs outside of medicine with you know, social media and content creating and you know, sponsorship things that I do that are ancillary income. So I feel like I realistically probably work seven days a week but I don't mind that I. I sort of probably enjoy that in some ways.

Speaker 2:

But I recognize that the people that I work with and you know, the the majority of people that I work with don't really want to work seven days a week, 365. They like breaks. They want to have some some change in the the scenery, and I definitely have. You know, we were joking as we were coming in. I, I'm a blue collar guy with a white coat and I work like a blue collar guy that came from nothing and has something to prove. And, uh, you know, I've been in practice for six, six, seven years and I still feel that way and I think that as long as I feel like my my work has purpose and that there is some benefit to it outside of just a paycheck, I feel okay with it. And then all the other things that I do keep me busy and keep me out of trouble, as simple as that sounds.

Speaker 2:

I have got pretty bad ADHD and if I sit still too much I get pretty bad anxiety. Truthfully, a dangerous place for me is on a beach with nothing to do. It causes me to be quite unrested and pretty agitated. Nothing to do it causes me to be quite unrested and pretty agitated. So the more busy I am, the less there's time for the demons to get in my head and rattle me up. So I recognize that there are a lot of people who get burned out. I recognize that a lot of people feel tired and there's probably some crossover there. But for me, as long as there's some purpose there, some mastery, some autonomy it's been written about that those things create a feeling of success for me. Seeing patients that are improving helps me to feel like, you know, if I wasn't here and helping this person, then their life's affected in a negative way.

Speaker 2:

The people that work with me I don't say for me, I say with me, because they're my team and you would know this as well as anyone If you don't have good nurses in the uh, in the ER, you're not going to do well Like you're just not going to do well. So the team that I work with, I'm I'm definitely very aware of their level of being tired and everybody's is different and I don't want to overdo it for them. But for me I'm, I'm, I'm doing okay still Definitely work hard and definitely tired from time to time, and I'd acknowledge that. And for me to recharge it doesn't take much. I go to the mountains and go hunting or go fishing, or I have a little ranch, I have some cows, I do a small cattle business. So going out to work with my hands helps me, doing things with my family helps me. So I think there's a way for me to recharge. It doesn't take a week off, it just takes maybe a couple of hours and then I feel like I'm ready to go again. It's great.

Speaker 1:

It's great. One of the one of the things, as I'm listening to you, is I um, medicine, healthcare, helping people is such a, it's such a pure interaction. I mean you think about, like, if you strip it down to that, like someone's got a problem and they don't know how to fix it and they need, they need a physician to help them or heal them, um, and it's such, there's nothing like it and I mean it's just such a privilege. I mean. I think, I truly mean that I think most of the people that I knew, associated with for years, you know decades of my life, they felt the same. They felt the same kind of honor and privilege.

Speaker 1:

It is gratitude for just being able to wake up every morning, go to work and take care of people, and I think that will always be the essence of health care. I think what happened to health care in my time and is the, the, the bureaucracy and business and interactions just are mind-numbing in today's world. And and um, thank heavens that you still have the good part of it right, there's still patient care and it still motivates you and you still walk away every day saying, man, I had some, I had wonderful interactions and I got to take care of patients, the sacred privilege, because the rest of it's it's changed Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and that's that's where it feels like I think a lot of the people who are burned out, a lot of the docs that I know that that would describe themselves being burned out. It's not that they're burned out with doing the job which is taking care of people. The science is still exciting to them. You know the learning opportunities. You're a lifelong learner as a doctor. You constantly reading, like that's exciting, you know it's, it's challenging in a good way. But it's those other things you're talking about, like the. You know the fights and the struggles with insurance and the fights and the struggles with an administration. Or you know gosh, the chart notes, and I mean litigation and surveys and complaints and all the things that, like, you know it's all that other stuff that makes it more difficult.

Speaker 2:

My dad used to joke. My dad's definitely like my dad is one of the coolest like blue-collar guys. He's got a book full of quotes and he always talks about like when he's he got out of cattle business, cause my grandpa was a it was a cattle hand, my dad was an oil guy, so he's, you know, moving up breaking these chains of bondage from the cowboying days and stuff, and so when I, I was the first one to get a bachelor's degree in my family, and when I went to school, my dad he was like you know, just remember that with cows you always win. And I didn't, you know. And I grew up cowboying and working in drilling and I worked on rigs for a lot of years too, and like now that I've got my own kind of life and some hobby cow business on the side, I recognize that the value in that was, even though he got out of the cattle business too, he realized that there were days where the paperwork was killing him.

Speaker 2:

For him it was working with engineers that like they're telling him that it's supposed to be built like this and he's telling him it doesn't work like that. Like come and put the wrench on the nut and I'll show you. Like you can't do it because the engineers are like, well, on paper, I don't care what it says on paper, come put it on, you know what I mean. And then for us it's the same thing. It's like well, we need you to see this many patients, or we need you to do it in this amount of time, or we need you to get these things done before you order that MRI.

Speaker 2:

I say, hey, listen, I hear you, but that's not how it works. Yeah, like come, that saying comes from the cows. You always win. Like you can't argue with that. Like eventually you're going to get them into the next pasture, eventually they're going to get fed. Eventually you're going to get them in the trailer, eventually you're going to get slaughtered. Eventually you're going to put them in a package. Eventually, like at some point with cows, you it may fight, at some point you're going to win.

Speaker 1:

I can't wait to—Corey Hall is my good friend, oh yeah, and he's just a cowboy and we do some of that together and I love that line. I love it With cows, you're always going to win. I also—I'm really connecting with you right now because I think of my life now and what I enjoy more than almost anything is going out and taking care of the cows, doing those simple things. There's always something to do. It's so good for me, it's so, in fact it's. You know we go up to McCall, to the ranch, and that there's always work to do.

Speaker 1:

And it's fun work and I enjoy it. I'm outside and I'm with my dogs and I'm not thinking about anything. I don't care where my phone is. I don't even check an email and for me, if I go on vacation, like to Hawaii or somewhere like that, it's like I'm a wreck.

Speaker 2:

So I'm really yeah, there's a lot of just I'm looking at my phone.

Speaker 1:

It's just so different. So it's funny that you spend all your life trying the first part of your trying to get off a farm and then you spend the last part of your life trying to get back on 100%.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and it does drive my own man nuts. He's like boy. I thought I got you educated, you get out of this life and you know I'm shaking his head, but it's good though. That's really cool.

Speaker 1:

Um, talk about your craft, which is a sports medicine, which is a great field, I mean. Uh, a lot of advances, a lot of treatment, and you get to be part of the performance side of it too, and that's got to be exciting because you're around healthy people that are trying to improve their physiology and those sort of things, and what advances have you seen. And it's an exciting time to be, you know, I think we started kind of with the hey, I just got off work, I'm tired, I'm dragging ass coming in here to now like, hey, there's great things going on, right.

Speaker 2:

So that's the flip side of it yeah, talk about that for yeah, it's really exciting.

Speaker 2:

Um, I think one of the things that we see that is changing rapidly is the field of orthobiologics. Yeah, and non-operative treatment for orthopedic concerns I would say the vast majority of complaints. We use that term, of course, in medicine, but the vast majority of orthopedic complaints are non-surgical and you know, finding treatment for people that is successful, that doesn't require a surgical intervention, is remarkable. Getting people back to doing the things that they want to do, or getting them to a higher level of doing the things they like to do, is is very, it's very um enriching, and so I think orthobiologics is a field where we're seeing advances and um improvements in outcomes, which is really exciting. Um, I think, a lot of to understanding I'm I'm really happy to see that um, strength and conditioning is and and improving body composition is being looked at more as a medical treatment. Now, yeah, it's more common um and it's more accepted, I think, in the in the public's view. Uh, 20, I mean, I've been, I've been working as a personal trainer, writing diets for people and exercise programs since like 2002. So I've done that for a long time and I always used that, incorporated that in my practice along through medical school and residency.

Speaker 2:

I was always the guy in the back that's like, well, hey, what about if they get stronger? Like, would their knee pain get better if they got a better quad VMO activation? Or hey, what about if they get stronger? Like, would their knee pain get better if they got a better quad vmo activation? Or hey, what about if their hip, if they're oh hey, what about if they got their glute needs stronger? Would they get better? Like you know, I was always that guy that was the professors where I was like, here's the meathead again talking about lifting weights. But but really now we see that, gosh, that actually is a huge component. Like we can prevent significant orthopedic concerns as well as metabolic and health concerns. Lifespan improves and healthspan improves with, you know, improving conditioning and um and improving body composition, like reducing body fat, improving skeletal muscle it's, it's the silver bullet and you know, there people have known that a long time but it's becoming accepted that. Oh yeah, it's not just the doctor harping on me to lift weights. I actually think this is a good idea. It's becoming common knowledge.

Speaker 2:

So, as a sports medicine provider, being able to use exercise and nutrition as medicine is really exciting to me, because that's a. That's another passion for me, and being able to incorporate that to where you know, even if it's someone who's never exercised before, we're helping them so that they're learning how to exercise and eat differently versus someone who's really good at exercise. I mean, like a big part of my practice with sports performance is helping professional, semi-professional, collegiate olympic athletes improve. In what ways can they improve? And it's really exciting to do that as well. Like that's. I mean that's like if you, if you were going to compare that to like mechanics, that's like someone who works on uh, you know the, the, the jalopies, the. I don't want to like honda civic right versus a ferrari. You know what I mean. Like that, of course, you need to work on the Honda Civics because that's what keeps America running is all those cars that have great gas mileage and stuff. But once in a while you get to work on a race car and that's really fun and exciting.

Speaker 1:

That's cool.

Speaker 2:

That's a big part of what I do too, and I I really enjoy that. I'd like working on Honda Civics. It's not like I don't, I know, in the seven-year-old pickleball player for sure, but also being able to work with those high-level pro athletes that really want to get better is super exciting.

Speaker 1:

Let's, let's. I'm going to take you down both those paths. So let's do Honda civics for your 40, 50 year old weekend warrior. Want to be healthy, want longevity in your life, want to be healthy and and live long and enjoy your things. What are the things you're telling your patients right now?

Speaker 2:

Deconditioning kills and fragility is fatal. So if you're 40 or 50 and you want to live a healthy and strong life, do not allow yourself to become deconditioned. Aerobic and anaerobic exercise If you're not doing it, we're going to start now. It doesn't matter where you're at, we're going to start today, kind of a thing. And then fragility is literally fatal. I mean ground level fall, the hip fracture leads to all cause mortality, right. So if we can improve your skeletal muscle and your bone density, that's what we need to work on right now. And if you're 40 or 50 and you have a sport you like you know you like golf, pick a ball, whatever tennis, it doesn't matter what it is like let's, let's get you to the point where you can do those things more frequently with less pain, right. So, less of the idc type pain, and a big part of it is just making really simple small changes with people and then just keeping them accountable isn't so much of a consistency, totally like, like, go go through like, so we're.

Speaker 2:

Honda Civic. Yeah, sticking on Honda Civic Honda.

Speaker 1:

Civic, probably 15, 20, 30 pounds overweight. Yeah, probably not eating well, eating the usual American diet a little mental fog, tired, not sleeping well, too much time on the phone, too much work, busy, and you take that person and you start with sleep and then you say, hey, start exercising. What? What is that actually? What is your? Yeah, what does their exercise program look like to really make a change in their life?

Speaker 2:

it just has to be very consistent, just like you said. Like people will talk about inspiration and motivation. Uh, they're useless. Like, dedication and commitment are 10 out of 10 more useful. If you're committed to something and you continue to do it, you don't need to be inspired to do it, you don't even motivate you, you just do it.

Speaker 2:

I mean, did you brush your teeth today? Yeah, why? Well, it's just part of my routine. I want my teeth to last me a lifetime. Right, like well, you look at it like that, then?

Speaker 2:

I mean, people used to ask me in the gym like man, how do you stay motivated to work out through residency? It's like I don't. I'm usually full of answers not all of them, right, I had no answer. I was like I don don't know. Nothing really motivates me.

Speaker 2:

What inspires me is seeing some 50 year old guy that's overweight, that's come into the gym two or three times a week Cause he wants to be healthy and be around for his grandkids, like that. You know how hard that is that. You know how difficult that is for that guy to show up here in the morning going to work 12 hour shift driving a FedEx truck, and he's going to come in here in the because he wants to be able to be around for his grandkids. You know how hard that is. This guy never worked out before right With a Honda Civic. If you put oil in the machine, you fill it up with gas, you put tires on it and if you drive it like a reasonable human, it's going to last you a long time, right. Same thing if we're in our 40s.

Speaker 1:

Dude, I feel like I'm back in rural Wyoming right now getting a lecture from your dad. I love it. He's going to love. He's got to listen to this and go. Man, my son is killing it. Put oil in there.

Speaker 2:

Put oil in it, put fuel in it, like put tires on it. Make sure you, you know, fill up your blinker fluid. You see that wink Where's the camera at? Fill up your blinker fluid, make sure the Duma flotchies are flashing. I mean, if you just take care of it and maintain it, if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready Right and so with with someone who's like in that timeframe, by the way, that your thirties or thirties and forties were probably the most influential, and most 30 and four year olds don't realize this. This is a whole nother lecture that I give people but, like in your thirties and forties, you don't realize how pivotal and quintessential that decade of life is to set you up for the next 30. You really have like people have no idea how important it is, Cause they usually gain 10 or 15 pounds in their twenties.

Speaker 1:

And it's habits, right, totally yeah. Like to your point, like I want to brush my teeth every day. If you stop brushing your teeth in your twenties, your thirties and forties, teeth would fall apart, fall apart. But but it's just it it is. It is habit for me, yep.

Speaker 2:

And if you, if you look at like the really simple things like, so that 40 year old person is like, how do we start that Right? Like I asked him to do very, very simple things like have a conversation with him about what their normal life is like, what are the normal routines, what are those things like? And then how can we alter that in a way that isn't catastrophic Usually does not need to be a catastrophic change. It can be very simple. Like you know, stop drinking your calories, right, drink water instead of, or drink a calorie free. You know these are the foods you really like. Let's just eat a little bit less of those things Like. You can still have spaghetti meatballs. Just eat a little bit less.

Speaker 2:

You drive by three gyms on your way to work. Would it? Would it kill you to get up an hour earlier, or maybe leave work a little bit earlier or maybe sneak in there? You know what I mean. Like there's options, right, and so I'll tell people too, like, even if they've got a desk job or something, it's like, well, hey, can you stand up and walk for 90 seconds? Usually people, even I mean, I'm busy, like my job is like, but I can spare 90 seconds to walk up and down the hall and if you do that 10 times, like all of a sudden you're adding steps, adding minutes and you're exercising throughout the day.

Speaker 1:

Talk a little bit about so, seven days in a week and for that Honda Civic, 40 year old person. Um, it's consistency over time and but, but the amount of time a day. You can be pretty effective if you stretch like let's talk about stretching a day. You can be pretty effective if you stretch like let's talk about stretching, stretch and and get some cardio and some weight training in. It's not a lot of time every day.

Speaker 2:

It's the consistency over time, correct? I work out for 45 minutes, maybe an hour. I like to work out, mind you, it's something I enjoy. So I work out at least six or sometimes seven times a week. But you don't need to do that right, like if you work out for 30 minutes most days of the week and you modify your caloric intake. Most people see dramatic changes If you go from, like Honda Civic.

Speaker 1:

And what I love about the human body is like if you did that consistently for a month, you would feel different Totally. Everything changes, everything changes.

Speaker 2:

Your taste buds change, like your cravings for sugar decrease because your taste buds turn over after 60 days or whatever. It is like 45 to 60 days your taste buds are changing, so now you're not craving it as much, doesn't taste as good like. If you can do, if humans can change a pattern and maintain that pattern for three months, they start to notice a big change. Maybe not the rest of the world, but if they're able to do that for six months, then you know people that they know really well are going to notice there's been a difference. If they do it for a year, they're a completely different person. Cellular level, everything changes mitochondria, red blood cells, white bloods all of it changes right within a year and so you can be a completely different person in a year.

Speaker 2:

The hard part for people it's not complicated, it's just difficult to do.

Speaker 2:

The science is not complicated, it's very simple, right? The equation is very simple, the biochemistry is very simple, even though metabolism would take up this entire wall Calories in, calories out, and then macronutrients, micronutrients and then output, and lean muscle mass is the metabolic organ that we're really focusing on. So increasing lean muscle mass, appropriate intake, consistent time frame it really isn't complicated, but it is really hard to do for most people and I think that, having some very simple, achievable goals, you can't set the bar so high that you walk in on day one and you're like, well, I am never going to climb to the top of that mountain, not going to even try, like that. It just shuts people down. So if you, if you're like, well, how about today, at our 15 minute break, maybe we don't have a cigarette, maybe instead we just have a conversation, don't smoke. And tomorrow, instead of having three Pepsis at lunch, maybe we just have one. And then, a year from now, you're drinking water and you're not smoking and you're exercising and live a longer half of your life.

Speaker 1:

Um, before we leave this, um talk about the mental health advantages that come in a world where we I mean you look at how our world's changed, right? Most people live attached to a phone, checking social media, comparing their real lives with someone else's make-believe version of their life. We're more sedentary than ever. Testosterone levels are lower than ever historically, Cortisol levels are higher than ever, Sleep's worse than it's ever been. I mean, you start going down all the trends that we have in america.

Speaker 1:

And then you look at just the obesity rates in america and comorbidities that are happening in america, and and then so there's all that. And then just go to like, well, why would we be having more anxiety, depression than ever before? And you're like, well, I don't know?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, right, it doesn't take a doctor or a scientist to look at that and say I don't know, that doesn't seem like that. That equation doesn't check, right, yeah, yeah, I think exercise is one of the most overlooked antidepressants, for sure, and I think food is probably one of the most abused antidepressants. I mean because people do, they use, they use food as a way to deal with their stress and anxieties and that's it's not an appropriate method, but it is quite common. Exercise changes your brains, you. You have a pharmacy floating around in your body and people may not realize this, but as you exercise you release hormones and endorphins that change your brain chemistry the same way that a tylenol would or an aspirin would or an antibiotic. I mean it changes your chemistry, your neurochemistry, and those, those chemical changes that occur have a dramatic effect upon the way you feel and, as you mentioned, cortisol levels, stress hormones, neurotransmitters, which are responsible for a lot, lot of the function, the functions of your body, and homeostasis and how it all works.

Speaker 2:

But exercise pretty much plays a role in every human system. I mean everything from your skin. I mean, even if you start exercising and you have difficulties with inflammation in your skin, I mean, I've got a good friend who's a dermatologist. I've talked about this with him a lot like how exercise improves your skin, and that doesn't seem like something that would come up in Chapter 1 of dermatology, but it probably should, because it's something we have, all of us have access to. Not all of us have access to the medications that might make your skin clean and healthy, right, but we can all exercise and it does. It has a direct effect upon your cells and your skin and can clear up inflammatory responses that occur in your skin, and I've seen that happen with patients too.

Speaker 2:

It's remarkable. So if you're looking at one tool, one lever that you can pull to improve mental health, that pretty much we have data that supports its use for everybody. It's exercise. I mean, it works on your neurochemistry, it works on your mood, it works in a plethora of other ways that are. You know, the science is really incredible and it's exciting, but it's also really simple. You know, just get your heart rate up and keep it up and do some resistance training, release some endorphins, release some chemicals, change, change your hormone levels and feel better. I mean it's, it really does work. That's powerful stuff, okay.

Speaker 1:

That's great. Let's talk about the Ferrari. Yeah, so now you have the Ferrari right, these, these people athletes you, you, you help all types and and they're fine-tuned. It's got to be fun for you for them to come into you and say, okay, my performance is here, I want to take it to here. It's kind of the other end of the spectrum for you.

Speaker 2:

It's really exciting. And I should say for the people out there who think they're a Civic, the Ferraris have just as many, if not more, problems than the Civics. Social media, people comparing themselves and stuff. Comparison will rob you of happiness and you know, if you're a civic, don't compare yourself to a ferrari and remind yourself that civics do just fine. Yeah, it's interesting like you'll find things, sometimes big things, that can be improved upon with the Ferraris, the pro and the higher level athletes, and it's often the same component. We're humans. We have one heart, two lungs, 10 fingers, 10 toes, right Like you've all got. For the most part, we're all built the same, but we're all built different, and I mean that in the most as simple as that sounded, it was incredibly profound that you just have one heart beating in you, just like everybody else. So if it's possible, it's possible. It doesn't matter where you start from, but the Ferraris. Usually you have to dig a little bit deeper to find the key to making this car faster.

Speaker 2:

How do we make this person more effective? How can we help them with improving their rest and recovering their sleep? How do we help them with their mental health? How do we help them improve muscle. They're already quite big and quite strong or quite lean and quite fast. Like, how do we improve upon that? And it's not. It's interesting because you know the the term asymptote right. Like this continual improvement but not a lot of change on the on the x-axis. They get to this point where, like super trained athletes, will feel like they're they're not really improving anymore. They've just met this plateau. But they really are. It's just it's such a small increment that it's hard for them to notice it. So a lot of times what we're doing is showing them like, hey, you are improving and here's how you're improving. And like sometimes they're data driven, sometimes you know, sometimes it's not. It's like having them step back and look and say, oh, you're right, I, I do feel like I'm I'm doing okay in these aspects, and then you know it's interesting too, it's it's fun to find ways for them to get you know to build strength.

Speaker 2:

The human body is a phenomenal machine. Oh my gosh, it's so exciting to to watch it, watch it work at its highest level and and honestly, I'm just enamored by performance. For someone who's a fifth grade kid that just learns how to swing a bat, it's like man. Did you see how that kid swung the bat and hit the ball. It takes so many motor neurons firing on the same way for him to do that. It's just as exciting as watching someone hit their 50th home run in the season or whatever. It's still just powerful to see. But I love working with those high-level athletes because it causes me to work a little bit harder too. I have to dig a little bit deeper. I have to find new, unique ways to improve upon where they're at, and that's fun and exciting. That's cool.

Speaker 1:

Talk a little bit about the availability, through your practice here, for people to. I mean, I know you're hard to get into, but what are, what are the options within your practice for those that need, need help or or?

Speaker 2:

we try to be as accessible as possible. I mean we're we're trying to be open to, to to seeing new patients, like we're. We're definitely seeing new patients. Everybody in my clinic is seeing new patients and, um, you know it's. The hard part is like if you call in and I work for you know a big hospital system and you're on hold for a long time, I would just say don't give up, stay, stay on the phone don't give up.

Speaker 2:

Don't give up like don't give up, like stay on there till you get what you need, like don't take no for an answer, kind of a thing. Um, you know, it's funny, people reach out in a lot of ways now that they didn't used to social media, being one of them, and I have a hard time there because I can't legally, like really communicate with people through social media. It's not a safe way for that, you know, for lots of reasons. But people reach out through social media all the time to get appointments and things like that. But you know, people get on online and they they can request a consultation and we're we try to do our best to get people in. We're probably only really booked out maybe three or four weeks from a, you know, a new patient evaluation.

Speaker 2:

But, um, the hard part is like the type of evaluation, the time frame. People often will call and be like, well, I want to be seen on a tuesday at three o'clock, and it's like, well, yeah, you know how, about a wednesday morning at 8 am? No, I can't do mornings. It's like, and that's you know how, about a Wednesday morning at 8 am? No, I can't do mornings. And that's sometimes what pushes people out a little further is like their availability.

Speaker 1:

I just looked down on time. I got three more things I've got to get through with you. So, people that are, I'm going to do a formal introduction on you, but you're Dr Thor during the Titan Games. Right, that's what you. It was a big, it was a big deal. Right, that's what you. It was a big, it was a big deal right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, people have been calling me Thor for a long time before the Titan games. They just ate it up, like Dwayne Johnson thought that was hilarious and he's obviously friends with Chris Hemsworth and like would just totally like running down. So you're on Titan.

Speaker 1:

So for those listening you know you were on the Titan games and that's. That's where I mean it was from. You know your story. It was really cool. I mean it was for people that knew you it was. It was really awesome. But because of that you got a pretty big social media following, which has continued. Talk about how that fits into your life and content and all that.

Speaker 2:

You know it's funny, it did nothing for my social media actually, like all of it didn't. Like my social media actually changed in the last like six months. I gained 85,000 followers in six months because I started working at it. The same way you would start working at trying to get into college or going to a new job or something like that yeah, dude, look at that. Oh man, a couple of magazines I didn't. You know what's funny? All those things that I do on social media, too, are it's just learning the process and understanding. I looked at it like I was trying to learn calculus social media. I thought that, going on the titan games being on tv, I was expecting this mass expansion social media. I might have gained 500 followers after that so you know, dustin portella yeah, I do okay.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, he's done it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, phenomenal and and the amount of money he has coming in off what he does yeah, it's like he's good at it, but it's, it's a second job, right?

Speaker 2:

yeah, it is, and that's how I've treated this is it became. You know, it's still a way for me to connect with family and friends, because I grew up without it, right?

Speaker 2:

so I'm in that generation that facebook was a college thing, that my senior year like, oh, you got to get this facebook thing right. In med school they told us get rid of all social media right. So I canceled, deleted everything, and then in residency they were like, no, it's okay if you have social media. So I started a social media account, got on the Titan Games shortly after, thought it was going to blow up. It didn't. I was like man, I thought they were going to help us, like that was the trade here, but it didn't. It really got big when I started learning. I started learning the process and using social media like a tool, just like I was learning calculus and once I learned how to improve it. Now now I understand how to continue to make it grow. But it is a lucrative. It is a lucrative business tool and it is also something that my perception of social media is that it can be so terrible that and everyone has it that I want to create, at least in some ways, some positivity out there.

Speaker 1:

That's what I love about it. I mean, you look at what Dustin's done. It's positive, it's using a medium. Same way it can be used in a negative way, in a very positive way, to help improve people and Dustin has been a great mentor for me.

Speaker 2:

We've been buddies for a long time. We met in Costco one day, like randomly 10 years ago or something, and like we've been friends ever since, but that guy has been a very like. He's been a great mentor for me on how to like. More than anything, I ask him how to deal with the negative ramifications Cause the heart.

Speaker 2:

The the bigger your social media following is, the more there are people who say mean things. And uh, and you know, and I've had people get jobs, like I had a guy in Canada get a job using my name and credentials from a picture off of social media. He made fake ids and stuff and I got called by this company like hey, are you coming to work today? I was like, what are you talking about? And so like there are weird things like that that happen through social media that I had no idea it was even going to be a thing and I used dr pertella as a reference often to be like, hey, man, what do you do in this situation? You know, and he was like, oh, yeah, anyway, so that's been cool.

Speaker 2:

But social media is a great way for me to connect with people and and to create. Um, I think I do two things I try to make people laugh, create positivity, and then I slip education in there. If you just did education, it's it. It like I did that for a long time and I would get you know, nobody sees it. Yeah, you, yeah, you got to do it all. You got to do it all, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So it's Dr Caleb Redden, mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

R-E-D-D-E-N Dr.

Speaker 1:

Caleb Redden yeah, I love it. Hey, one last thing yeah, boone Bartlemay. Yeah, I love that kid Boone Bartlemay, a great kid, here, locally paralyzed playing football, and honestly, he's probably one of the most inspirational human beings I've ever interacted with and I've known him for years, but how's it been being his doc?

Speaker 2:

Because, you're his doc, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, like I couldn't argue with anything you just said. The only thing that I have over Boone is that I'm better looking than he is. Hopefully he hears this. Boone um, I got a better mustache than he does. That guy is you don't have a better truck? No, you're right, he's got a better truck. That dodge is remarkable.

Speaker 2:

I started working with boone um. It was really interesting. He was training at the gym just shortly after his incident and I was like, hey, man, like he was trying to do a tricep press down and he couldn't quite get to the rope to change it. And I was like you know, I knew enough about, uh, adaptive athletes to know that he doesn't want someone to help him. He wants to do this on his own. It's important for him to learn how to do this.

Speaker 2:

But at the same time, I was like, hey, the real goal is for you to make those triceps bigger and tougher, isn't it? So, yeah, I'm like so what if I create an opportunity for that to occur by moving this down for you? And he goes that's fair deal, so I'll take that deal. It's like all right, and that's how it started. And then, from there, I was like, hey, you need to get, uh, you need to get stronger, and you can't do it here. And so I had him come work out with me at the mecca gym for a few years, like we worked together, like I would train with him two or three times a week, and then from there it became like he needed help from a physician standpoint with other things, and so I would see him as a patient. But I didn't know it started that way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's not super cool it started. It actually doesn't surprise me a bit, but yeah, the guy that guy.

Speaker 2:

He's so freaking tough and like there would be days where I was so humbled I mean, I'm a, I'm not a.

Speaker 2:

I'm not a, I'm past. I'm not a pro athlete, but I'm a pretty strong guy and I feel like I'm a pretty good athlete for my size and my strength. I don't want to sound boastful, but I'm pretty stout and there would be days where I'd be training with Boone and I'd be like holy crap, this kid just not only did he stand up out of this wheelchair to do what we're doing, and the weight maybe isn't the same, but he's making me work, and like I'm supposed to be training him. And like there'd be days where I'd just be like you good, hoping he'd say yes so that we could quit, because that kid, yeah, does not understand quit. And and that's one of them like that's like uh, that's an inspiration to me is watching someone overcome adversity, make adaptations and modifications in their life to be successful, and do it with a positive attitude. And he'll, he won't lie to you until he never gets sad or gets down to the dumps. He does just like all the rest of us so great.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so he's so vulnerable and he has so many people because he is. He's like hey, look at what I'm doing and look what I've overcome. But hey, I have bad days and it's hard and it's rough.

Speaker 2:

There's a mountain to climb.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he's nothing wrong with calling it out boone, if you're listening to this man we love you sure do, boone.

Speaker 2:

And, by the way, it's about time for us to get back in the gym. Push some iron brother. Yeah, I love that hey thank you for coming on.

Speaker 1:

This was super fun. I want to do it again.

Speaker 2:

Let's do it this is. This is really good yeah, thanks for the opportunity and all you do for everyone.

Speaker 1:

It's a, it's a. It's a great thing.