CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #191 Rabbi Herschel Praeger Don't Survive But Thrive

there's this belief that if you just drop the weight then you're good and know the person could be skinny but not be healthy we kind of view it as that if we're just losing weight we're good it's not a full answer the real issue is loss of muscle and weak metabolism as you get older say a person's in their 30s certainly as they they age more you know in their 40s we losing muscle every year it's just the fact of life un less your strength training person is training they're lifting they will fight the loss of muscle that naturally comes as a person gets older the key to long-term health is not just weight loss but it's muscle building and hormonal balance they train for strength for energy and Longevity it's not about bodybuilding which is doesn't really shtim so well with the T approach of you know glorifying the body but it's about functional movements [Music] and welcome to kazak Torah talks with special guests we have with us our dear friend at kazak RAB RAB how are you so good to see you and we're gonna be speaking about stop surviving start thriving an exciting topic and before we get to that topic rabby Pi we're get a little bit background about yourself absolutely so first of all thank you so much for having me here it's really honor to be here um how did uh what what I end up doing here so I guess going back to my youth I really understand the whole um the whole way that the fitness came about to me was really due to the fact that I had a very low self-esteem as a child I was um I had a I had much worse as a kid and uh to certain extent I still have a stutter and you know kids could be very very cruel they're very very uh very nasty and um as a child um my self-esteem suffered greatly so I was uh you I it was it was very very painful Rel living this going back and as a result of this I my my self-confidence suffered um and it would came across how I walked how I talked and I was looking for a point I was probably an adolescent some maybe 14 15 years old and I was looking for a way that other people would respect me I went to public school and also I didn't really respect myself too and I turned to Fitness as a natural progression and whenever I uh began doing Fitness with every workout and with every uh repetition that I do you know slowly but surely doesn't happen overnight but what I notice is that I started to change the way that I look my physique would change and I started to think differently about myself I also people noticed the time and I slowly but surely started to know gain more respect amongst my peers which is probably something which you know most teenage boys want very very badly fit in I think everyone teenage boys teenage girls whoever you are but especially you know as a teenager and um you know due to the fact that I I I really wanted that uh that steem amongst my peers and myself also um so I turned to to Fitness and also to martial arts as a way I feel people wouldn't respect me doing my stutter and just humiliating you know what I went through so I used martial arts as a way that people you know that be careful they told me you know so that that's how I that's how I took to it and I really you know part of my personality is if I do something I go all in I really go all in you know it's a certain energy that I have and I went all into the fitness I went all into martial arts for about three to four years before I found Torah before I found Judaism I went all in and um this was taking about I around 18 years old approximately at that time I uh I went on a like a Birthright style wasn't exactly Birthright but it was it was the reminiscent of that that type of trip for Jewish teens who were unaffiliated with with with with religion uh and who had been to Israel before and I took up the opportunity too I think not fantastic opportunity let me go to Israel um on my break and I went and lo and behold I don't think that they had anything that they you know they that they envisioned that I would turn out like this the way I am today you know teacher did not think that's what they had in mind uh however I think you know being in Israel and just being around the beauty and of just of the the natural sight just it's very holy Place very spiritual place there a lot of a lot of spirituality in the air um I was just also at a juncture of my life I kind of skipped the detail that um due to the fact that I was also that I that I wanted to I always wanted to break my own boundaries I always wanted to test myself further and further so I signed up for the Marine Corps now what does that mean people always ask me did they go to did you go to the Marine Corps the answer is I enlisted in the Marine Corps and I uh I enlisted in something I don't know if it still exists today but it's going back to 1997 something called the delay entry program D what does that mean basically me that every weekend um I committed to going to uh training which was I somewhere in like Ridgewood Queens take the bus and I used to go uh to train with these other fellow teenagers and what it meant is basically that I had certain perks I was already part I was in the late entry program and I would train and I got into the the the all the the L in the of the Marines whatever it was me so I was already at that point I signed up in the beginning of my senior year of high school following and I went on the trip to Israel during the winter break during the vacation and at that time I was like literally had a Crossroads in my life and I wasn't sure what to do where I was going and that point in my life I was just Prim and ready just for like like Hashem guide me where am I you know Hashem like where do you want me to go just and I saw there were signs there were guide posts every Hashem is you know sending us messages if we're a tune if we're listening for it so I was thank thankfully thank God I was I was attuned to it and I saw the messages and I said to you know what um the rine Corp I not for me um I had some issues getting out of it however the principles of the Marine Corps St stay with me and the the discipline of the martial arts and the fitness still very much of who I am um just to make a long story short I ended up going to Israel for three years I spent two years in W fantastic place I recommend anyone who's starting that path to to go there um and I learned for two years in or by great great teachers over there bman that's um and um then I had a background already I grew up in vars at that point was located there so I had a connection TOA people there who were M with me along the the road poro um and they aranged for me to go to my final year in Israel learning as a as or as a you know single young married man unmarried man I was in I was in there so I spent three years in Israel came back to Queens say the the rest this history after that I was part of the system I learned for how many years was 11 years there afterwards um and I ended up getting a from the Yesa in the year 2013 what it was I left Yeshiva in the year 2011 and I took my first job teaching at a local elementary school and I was um was very enjoyable I had to tremend this run there at L of to the administration and the people there who helped me and I was there teaching there for about 12 years I actually fitness along the road was kind of like it was took a backseat was very very committed to my studies I was very very into learning I still am but not to the same degree that that I was focused on at that point and was like dormant I think that's the word I'm looking for was dormant um it's interesting story how it was so so to speak renewed itself um I think of probably was I hope there's anyone watching this right now that I I use Fitness as a punishment for one of my kids during during recess talk whatever it was losing I said okay that's it you guys are going to give me 20 push-ups now again I was whatever I had the Fitness in my bones but I had train for so we're doing I said okay you know what I'll I'll do it with you at recess supposed to just the typical Reby if he wants the whatever give a punishment I like yeah have a seed for five minutes so I said no you're can do push-ups like what you push-ups I would actually whatever whatever is a punishment and yeah um I found out I found out some of the some of the parents like Rabbi it's good you should do more more of the punishments nice as well but I always did it with them I didn't just watch him do it I did it with them as with so it wasn't just I was watching do it I I got on the I got on the ground was push with them and I don't know what happened but it kind of like reawakened within me that feeling of like who I'm good and I used to push people and people said to me you know why don't you make a program for the kids in the school and we would love to do it so I'm like okay we'll do some sort of boot camp and I had maybe about seven seasons I did seven semesters I did Rabbi fitness boot camp for the kids U at Charon and many many many kids have gone through the rabbi Fitness and I you know just did basic things but we made it fun we made exercise into a fun thing and I saw that I you know gifts everybody everyone has their own individual talents and gifts and things that they're good at and I saw that one of the things that I was that I was actually gifted at was that I have a way to inspire people and I use Fitness to to connect to people as well and and a way to kind of push past their limits and to ultimately um feel good about them as a person to kind of use that as a you know as a way to be outstanding and to shine everyone really wants they just feel good about themselves so that's how I that's how it kind of got me to dri a fitness that I started doing more as a uh you know as a business I was doing it I I launched the business officially with the with the logo and everything maybe it wasn't 2017 2018 right I was going to ask you it started I remember then there was a pause and now it's back what's uh what's the difference so okay good question so I had done kind of my my my nature is that I'm a like I like to do something I do I do it properly and I was I self do it right y yeah and but in a certain sense there it's a pro and a con if you do it as well I mean so I was kind I kind of solo solopreneur it I was doing everything myself and I I wasn't really delegating and I didn't have systems I was basically just trading time for money and I was hustling to get clients and I really found that it just wore me out um it just grounded me down and because I'm dealing with men as well and locally it just wasn't able to make it uh financially worthwhile my time so it was kind of like a burnout trading time for money and it just um I I I needed to take a pause just for my own sanity and just and I took and I I tried other things throughout the past was maybe about three years or so and nothing really spoke to me I really do have a passion for fitness and I like it however I need to I need to learn from the mistakes that I made and to try to make it more scalable and to do things that will necessarily trade time for money and will'll be able to give over people in in a greater way so with that in mind I'm I'm relaunching it but in a way that I can scale it and that I can reach more people and that I'm not going to drain myself as ultimately part of the things is you want to keep your your your own sword sharp you don't want to wear yourself down and you know you have to balance of course that work life um 100% balance so yeah that's that's that's what hopefully will be you know different I'm trying to learn from the mistakes that I made not to repeat them but I really believe that very very strongly everyone has a passion something that they love to do that they're good at and U something that I I I I I love to do and I have a certain act to connect people to you know to being their best version of theirself through Fitness amazing amazing so so many people when they hear the word Fitness they think Fitness equals weight loss losing weight is that accurate good question so um definitely definitely if a person is um overweight and which a lot of people are because we we lead sedentary Lifestyles um definitely that could cause problems you know a person is over overweight with time um causes uh there could be other issues that arise such as diabetes could be brought on type two diabetes and heart disease if if things go uncheck but kind of there's a there's this belief that if you just drop the weight then you're good you know the person could be skinny but not be healthy how's that make sense so we kind of view it as that if we're just losing weight we're good and it's not a full answer while being overweight has problems to it but the real issue is loss of muscle and weak metabolism and um by the time it happens a person is older my my Niche where I focus on primarily people people like myself middle-aged men um as you get older um say a person in their 30s certainly as the they age more more you know in their 40s we're losing muscle every year it's just the fact of life and unless you're strength training so person is training and they're lifting and they will fight the loss of muscle that naturally comes as a person gets older and with that with that lack of muscle is that you have to you have to make sure the person is not tired they have energy that their that their joints are supple that they're able to move they have energy they can move move around and the key to long-term health is not just weight loss but it's muscle building and hormonal balance um I mentioned this before but one of the approaches that really resonated with me a lot is the CrossFit approach and what's so special about the cross approach is that they train for strength for energy and Longevity it's not about bodybuilding which is doesn't really shtim so well with the T approach of you know glorifying the body but it's about functional movements right right what is a functional movement an example would be let's say um functional movement would be squatting right everyone is getting up and standing we sit down when the person sits down we squat so most people they could just fall into the chair which is what typically or you could squat into a chair you're sitting on a couch right you could squat into a chair um if you let's say uh when you lift down that is I'm giving a visual a person lifts down to pick up a package most people will typically Bend from the hips and pick it up with with straight legs and they're going to go if the package is too heavy they're going hurt their back oh but if you do it a deadlift properly you bend your knees and your hips and you can so that's that's what a deadlift essentially People Press if you're going on a flight you need to push something overhead you're doing a press these are all functional movements they're not bicep curls or tricep push Downs or these things in which there is a time in a place where if a person is ending Rehabilitation or if a person is looking for certain Aesthetics there might be such thing the isolation movements but CrossFit is very focused on functional movements it also it's it's also gold is to prevent people a person just natural becoming decrepit like losing their function of their body not being able to move their and just having energy for their kids having energy for their family being able to pick up package and not get exhausted you know to dance at a wedding to move around you know you're picking up your kids in one hand whatever and you have a catch with them and just like oh not hurting you know being able to live and um really that's why I I like as well again if a person is is doing a cross they will have a nice physique but the idea is notless they have a gym body they need real world strength real world strength and this type of training keeps you active it builds endurance it's not just on muscle it's endurance it's stamina it's flexibility Mobility it's speed all the things which we we want to be more athletic as we get older and to slow the process of Aging which is a natural thing but we want to try to slow it as much as possible we don't want the age to jump on us we want to try to push push that natural decline as far back as possible and to our old age be have energy and stamina for for our children and our grandchildren just to leave a full an active life exactly as you're saying so the so the the idea is that is that we're not meant to just exist or survive but really supposed to thrive and you know you don't need to look like a bodybuilder but person does have to we do need physical strength to be able to you know juggle think about what a fir man what a religious person has to do have to d three times a day wake up early we have to learn we have to make a parosa we have to make a living there so many wife kids time for yourself there's so many demands upon I don't have to tell you you know firstand right have you know you know precisely what I'm talking about so there are a lot of Demands and unless a person is taking time to you know make his his his his vessel his K of his body strong and healthy just to be able to serve God God properly you know that's really the idea is that a strong body leads to a strong soul and uh listen H we have an obligation to take care of ourselves we have to take care of ourselves obviously you know person command it's a Comm obviously you know there a person could could overdo it and they could say I have to I have to spend the whole day you know that's where the balances of course we know that our priorities is not the body but we can't neglect it 100% we can't neglect it that's something which unfortunately is over looked in terms of our eating and in terms of our taking times of uh you know we speak more about this obviously there's sleeping there's eating there's training and the majority of ones of one's so to speak service his aoda is done outside of the gym it's you know the gym is say is your training for let's say an hour a day but what are you doing for the other 23 hours a day sleep is very very important the person needs rest in order for them to rejuvenate to function properly and then to grow and to be healthy and to you know have the good hormones releas and of course nutrition what are you doing for what are you ingesting you know that's something which is you know you can't out train in a bad diet 100% so I have a lot of people that I speak to and I always invite people encourage people come to this year come to this class come to learning and many times you know what I hear oh that time doesn't work for me I'm like what are you up to and they tell me I'm I'm I'm going to the gym like that's amazing I always encourage I'm great but like you said overdoing it we're talking about guys that do it for so long and I give this Mas this Parable that I tell them very simply the comparison I should say that you think care of the body like we just said 100% you have to keep in mind the body is 120 years most people are 7080 but then is forever yes yes yes yes so 100% we have to keep both we can't overdo and definitely it's not the you know the body is is a vessel and it's we treated properly when if we take care of it that's basically you want care of it which is all one of the reasons why I enjoy that because like the crossfits not an emphasis on bodybuilding it's just about longevity and strength and functional fitness which is why stop surviving start thriving so I I hear the rabbi talk a lot about testosterone and uh HGH why should every person uh care about this and and why is this important I I uh we have the of having every PR in our and learn and and teach and run the the the Shabbat programs so I get to see the rabbi a lot and he speak to a lot of people so why is this so important good question so so testosterone and human growth hormon HGH uh why is this important so to make to make a long story short as we age um we are losing testosterone we're losing muscle year after year and low testone in short person makes makes a person weaker and less energetic uh I think think everyone agrees you want energy you want you need energy you know you need but we don't want to be taking our Celsius or Red Bulls or whatever other coffee whatever it is you know there's certain things a certain point like you know Natural Energy so testosterone in short you know without getting too scientific is a master hormone for men it's a master hormone for men and it controls muscle mass it controls fat storage mental sharpness on you are somebody are foggy or somebody are more dialed in right I'm sure that happens and even confidence too even more confidence want confidence right in a healthy way of course but here's what most guys don't realize is that as we said as a person is aging you naturally are losing testosterone year after year and my time person is in their 40s and 50s most people have half the testosterone that they have when they were you know their 20s um and what's unfortunate is most people don't realize that it's occurring what will the so they'll see symptoms they'll be fatigued constantly tired oh so tired I don't what to do I can't sleep problem when a person has low testosterone he has hard time sleeping too you think I need sleep but it's it's it's a it's a vicious cycle because the D testosterone doesn't allow for the good sleep which allows you to release more testosterone um of course belly fat no one likes that no all want to be lean and you know and have muscle belly fat that stubborn that that won't go well even if you're eating well but a person has low testosterone it just it's very difficult to lose that those extra pounds around the waist um brain fog ever been like uh you know I feel like after perum like but like every day of the year like right so everyone has had it at times just foggy you feel like it's a just like a foggy morning in your brain um and even lack of motivation everyone wants to have a you know have a charge and we feel just a lack of motivation and um mood changes as well uh you know testosterone and the endorphins that are released are are natural drugs and these are good drugs for you you want you want to be high on these things this is what gives you this is what you know fuels you and gives you a good personality and the ability to weather the bumps of life you know I called the shocks so Tas is is a very good thing if a person is like we said before um it's there's so much to juggle there's so much to juggle in in from Life as we touched on before you have learning you have the Family Life parosa wife responsibilities Community responsibilities so many things going on here and these are all good things but if we don't have the energy the drive and the focus then it's hard it's hard to show up and and we're not giving it our we're showing up but we're not you know 100% there or even sometimes sadly not even half the way there you know we might be awake but how much of our we really getting you I think I think it's a fair statement to say that we all want to be there not just there physically we want to be dialed in you want to be whatever you're doing whether you're learning whether you're ding whether you're spending time with your family whether you're working you want to be winner time right you know you want to be dialed in and um but but the problem is if a person doesn't have that that engine how is he driving so so that's where testosterone and human growth is so important uh the good news is that you don't have to there there is testosterone therapy but I wouldn't necessarily say that everyone needs that at first there are natural things that can be done uh such as um help one trains okay there are different ways which we speak about and I have I have a group where we we talk about these things ways that you can you know natural remedies so to speak things that you can do practically that you and I can do uh can you throw us some tips off absolutely absolutely um okay one of the things about let's say a CrossFit perspective will be that that of is doing isolation movement such as this or whatever you know uh we'll do we'll move multiple compound joints so we'll do say a squat I'm wearing a suit right now it's my or we'll do a press or do a push-up or a pull up or even that's the beauty of cross even we can't do nothing but we can always scale it so you can do things that are that means we can kind of like Dial It Down for people who not holding by that level yet but when you're going to be doing multiple joints you're moving as one so that will full full body movements like I just showed you uh doing a squat or a deadlift or a press or you're your pulling motion or your pushing M so not only are functional but you're moving multiple joints at once I'm squatting I'm lifting I'm pressing so you're getting more than one one muscle group involved why is that important because you're stimulating more muscles and when that happens the way that the pituitary gland or the glands that are releasing all these things I'm not a doctor but it comes through the more parts are moving the more stimulated the more is being being released as opposed to just doing you know this or whatever might be more the machines which is yeah you won't find the machines and I'm not into that and I don't I don't recommend that people need it for like I said I need it for a rehab or therapy that's a different story but even then I would try to do more of a functional type of approach um daily weekly every other day how often should they be the amount of exercising that's a good question I would say generally recovery is very important very important you you want to overtrain overtraining could kill the sastone as well but for most people an average AR typical person to start with three times a week once every other day you know got it for few minutes again depends on the person again I would say again a person has to you have to the same way that you know we take time every day no matter how busy we are in in our day I have to D in chakas it's not a not a I'm not going to get to today person really has to look at that's really the thing of making time for yourself you don't make time for yourself it's really it's the same way that say that a have deal to you know to split between the holding with person makes time let's say to you know I don't want to spend money on life insurance but it's a it's a it's it's a must I have to do it it's not a matter of like you don't want have to but it's something so something person also has to make time you have to make time for eating make time for and your person has to make time as well when you do that the Returns on investment you will get um you know so again you could based upon your eating your nutrition as well harm or you know depending upon there's there's foods that can definitely release disas the foods that can hamper it you want to try to avoid the processed food the sugars you want to avoid that you want to try to have more lean protein meats and these are again I'm not a nutritionists but I'm I'm giving you you know general advice of what things and of course sleep is so important that can and it's very difficult especially with people in phones and staying up and respons but and to make time for sleep sleep is very very important and it the body recovers and it and it releases hormones during when when you're sleeping especially the first two hours of your circadian rhythm it's a fancy word for your sleep cycle um first two hours the first two hours yeah I just actually saw something about that that's when the most testosterone is going to be on levels highest to when person does like post-workout there's like a surge you like press the the like like release of testosterone so the first two hours of a person's natural Rhythm that doesn't mean whenever the first D you go to sleep that means if a person's sleep cycle you know everyone has different but let's say approximately whatever normal adult would say I don't know they going to say well this one let's say 11 to six or 12 to s whatever might be whatever their normal sleep cycle is so within the first two hours that's the highest the brain after that it's not the person gets to bed late unfortunately he not getting the same release of testosterone and that they need and that will affect them so that's very important uplifting proper nutrition and I'm just touching on the Russ proing the basics here equal higher testosterone level and that's basically what helps person you know when you're doing that so then your your attitude is better your you know your mood you're able to cope yeah everything is about and I I know myself sometimes I'm busy and I don't and I'm just like I feel like I'm just you know I ever have that you feel like you're just dragging yourself the day like stop surviving start thriving that's it that's it that's it B you want to have you're a good example of that yeah when I see you you're like that's what we're trying to get over that gift that we we don't want to just be a survival want to be thriving we want to be living being our best being our best self amazing rabit Fitness rabit prer uh love everything you're saying obviously there's much more to all this and we encourage everyone to follow Rabbi Fitness and we have AAG custom a final message for our broad audience okay so I would just say as as we mentioned before that most men in general from men are trying to survive and I get it I also try one of those people as well but I really you know the whole reason why I started this is because I want to I want people to just Thrive I don't want them to just get by I want them to thrive andem gave us one body it's our body as you mentioned before it's a CLE it's a vehicle but it is a vehicle important vehicle that if a person is just like a person is is fasting they're not in themselves so we need to take care of ourselves we need a vehicle for ter for our family for our careers and we have to you have to take care of it and stop waiting until you H until there's no choice you know some people wait they don't they un they will toate they'll view that's the thing they'll view exercising as kind of a luxury when unfortunately when they have to visit a doctor doctor when meds I have no choice the doctor said it don't wait till it's that point when a person has to go on meds to lower their their sugar or their diabetes go we there's so much that yes ultimately God does run the world and it's true but we have to do our part we have to do our part and stop waiting for her until you have to take her do it now make the time it's the best return on investment and I have a free WhatsApp group where we talk about real solutions for men who are struggling with these things Fitness Nutrition I'm also struggling to I'm a real person I have this I'm not perfect I have my ups and downs but we're trying and um we're each other it's it's Community it's not just about me I'm human being and I try and everyone has their owns and together we we we have a nice nice community so please take advantage of that where we we discuss Fitness Nutrition and energy hormones and just show up and be your best self that's basically what what what comes out to 100% has herel prer Rabbi Fitness for the amazing Torah talk stop surviving start thriving you heard it from the rabbi himself on a personal level rabbi's the testimony witness to this I I took it upon myself as well the rabbi has helped me than it feels great thank you Hashem and we want to thank everybody for joining us once again kazak Tor talks uh every single Tuesday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time k.org c.org uh special thank you to the the various different platforms that host the kazak Torah talks the feedback is really amazing I always mention this and it's it's everywhere I go people are stopping oh I just heard that one I just I like that inside oh I forwarded this one and I Shar and uh send us the feedback as well feel free to email us info.org info chq.org think various different platforms toury time uh and many others uh daily giving a dollar day goes very far away we want to thank them and encourage everyone to be a daily Giver look into it uh daily giving and uh once again you're daily Giver wow me too amazing uh great great great organization amazing concept and want to thank everyone involved with kazak all the born members and staff members and volunteers and every single one of you for joining us uh suggestions are always welcome like you mentioned before and we should all be we here news be healthy be healthy and happy healthy and happy H and healthy and happy [Music]