3547: Why I Work Out by Steve Kamb of Nerd Fitness on Fitness Mindset

[00:00:00] Evening, buyer's remorse. Buy a new car? I'll be moving in. Let's get started. Uh, sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana. You what? Yeah, great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no... No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyer's rejoice? Ugh, I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it. Buyer's rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com.

[00:00:30] Your heart can tell you a lot about your health. Apple Watch Series 12 measures your heart rate every five seconds with the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. So your vitals app, now with heart rate variability, can tell you when something is off. And your readiness score can let you know when to rest and when to push. Hear the story in every heartbeat with Apple Watch Series 12. The features described are for wellness purposes only and not for medical use. iPhone 11 or later required. Based on Apple conducted study of heart rate accuracy August 2026. Visit apple.com slash Apple Watch Series 12.

[00:01:00] This is Optimal Health Daily. Why I Work Out by Steve Kamb of nerdfitness.com. And I'm Dr. Neal Malik, reading you some of the most popular health and fitness blogs out there. With permission from the websites. And always with a bit of my commentary at the end. Now let's keep this intro nice and short. I'm sure you're excited to hear today's post. So let's get right to it as we optimize your life.

[00:01:27] Why I Work Out by Steve Kamb of nerdfitness.com. If you've been following my blogs over on the Six Man website, which is my day job, you know that I just got off of a cruise ship that really wore me down and it took an extra day to recover. Essentially, I spent five days on a cruise ship with John Mayer, Guster, OAR, 12 other bands and 2900 music fans. I slept probably three hours a night and walked off that ship feeling like a zombie.

[00:01:56] Every time I tried to write for nerdfitness, my brain simply said, nope. After a day on the couch and many hours of television, I'm ready to write. I've put a lot of thought over the past few days into why I enjoy exercising. I'm absolutely fascinated with the concepts of efficiency and operating at the highest level possible. If you decide to do something, you can either half-ass it or you can go all out.

[00:02:22] When I started playing online poker years ago, I read probably a dozen books on poker and learned to remove emotion from my decision making. If you can remove the gut feelings and revenge factor by playing like a well-oiled machine, you'll be far more successful and efficient when compared to someone who flies by the seat of their pants. I learned to play blackjack and craps the same way. After a year of screwing around in a casino while on vacations and throwing my money away,

[00:02:50] I read books on both and learned the proper way to play. Now I can teach anybody to play proper craps in 20 minutes. I might even write a blog about it someday. To me, exercising is no different. I'm always amazed at those who can compete at a level above and beyond anybody else. For example, Makoto Nagano, a fisherman from Japan who actually completed the Ninja Warrior Challenge. I realized most professional athletes are blessed with a great amount of innate ability.

[00:03:20] But it's the gifted athletes who still wake up at 6am in the gym, pushing themselves to get better and better that grab my attention. Those that eat right determine the best possible way to get in shape and then attack it with consistency and motivation day in and day out. Make sure you know who you want to be. I couldn't care less about the bodybuilders on steroids or those who can look at a dumbbell and get ripped.

[00:03:44] Those are rare cases that don't showcase how truly dedicated everybody else needs to be to operate at that level. I have so much more respect for the guys with slow metabolisms, or those with fast metabolisms, who really have to work to stay in shape. Being healthy is a challenge and should give you a sense of satisfaction because you know how hard you had to work to get there. I have even more respect for the guys and girls who stay in shape while working full-time jobs and raising a family.

[00:04:13] There are always a million excuses to skip the gym, especially when time is limited. My heroes are those who can overcome every excuse. For those that are struggling to lose weight, I can definitely relate, but from the opposite end of the spectrum. I am one of the fortunate few blessed individuals with a ridiculously fast metabolism. This means that I can't put on any kind of weight, whether it be muscle or fat. As a skinny guy trying to build muscle,

[00:04:41] I have to find a way to eat insane amounts of healthy calories every single day while exercising in order to see any sort of progress, which requires a lot of money and time, like buying more food, preparing more food, eating more food, and cleaning up afterward. I wish I could get away with eating 1500 calories a day, but that would get me nowhere. I try to stick to this routine consistently, not because I want to impress people with how I look, but because I want to be the best person I can be.

[00:05:11] That means being the best person at my job, the best volunteer at the hospital, the best personal trainer to my clients, and the best athlete for the sport in which I'm competing. If I'm playing the piano, I want to get better and better. If it's a competition, I want to be the best. Just like the Xbox Live leaderboard, there are ways you can compare yourself to others and ways to compete against yourself. Complacency is dangerous. Always strive to be better, and you will get better.

[00:05:41] For those who play role-playing games, it's like leveling up your character. There's always room for improvement. There's always one more thing you can do. To quote Gerard Butler, the actor who played King Leonidas in 300, quote, You know that every beat of sweat falling off your head, every weight you've pumped, the history of that is all in your eyes. That was a great thing, to put on that cape and put on that helmet and not have to think, I should have trained more. Instead,

[00:06:11] I was standing there feeling like a lion. End quote. I want to work out because I want to feel like that. Why do you exercise? You just listened to the post titled Why I Work Out by Steve Kam of nerdfitness.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. Evening, buyer's remorse. Buy a new car? I'll be moving in. Let's get started.

[00:06:41] Sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I bought it from Carvana. You what? Yeah, great price. I even have seven days to love it or return it. So there's no... No, no buyer's remorse. More like buyer's rejoice. I guess I'll let myself out. Congratulations. I mean it. Buyer's rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. Your heart can tell you a lot about your health. Apple Watch Series 12 measures your heart rate every five seconds

[00:07:10] with the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable. So your vitals app, now with heart rate variability, can tell you when something is off. And your readiness score can let you know when to rest and when to push. Hear the story in every heartbeat with Apple Watch Series 12. The features described are for wellness purposes only and not for medical use. iPhone 11 or later required. Based on Apple conducted study of heart rate accuracy, August 2026. Visit apple.com slash apple watch series 12. Dr. Neal Malik here with my commentary. Today's author, Steve,

[00:07:38] ended today's post with the question he asked us. Why do you exercise? If you can't answer that question right away, that's okay. But eventually, having an answer to this question is important. And that's because we will all reach a point where we'll be tempted to skip workouts. Maybe because our routines are becoming boring, or we don't like feeling uncomfortable all the time, or we're not getting the results we wanted fast enough. One of the best ways to talk ourselves back into exercising, or really anything else,

[00:08:07] is to ask the bigger why question. Why are you doing this? Your answer might be to get more fit. Okay, but think beyond that. Why is getting fit important to you? Why is being healthy important to you? Because I want to be around to support my family, and being healthy is one of the best ways to do that. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Write down that bigger why, and put it somewhere where you'll remember it.

[00:08:36] Then, when you find it difficult to exercise, or prepare meals for the week, or stop scrolling on your phone and go to bed on time, re-read your why. Very likely, you'll find yourself motivated to get back on track. Alright, that'll do it for today. I'll be back here tomorrow with our usual Friday Q&A, so definitely stay tuned for that, where your optimal life awaits.