Recover Faster, Work Stronger: The Field-Tested Hydration Playbook

Speakers
Dylon Koch | Working Athlete

Dr. Kevin Rindal | Vimocity

Resources
- Everyone Communicates, Few Connect by John Maxwell
- Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast
- Dr. Andrew Huberman Podcast (Hydration & Galpin Equation)
View The Transcript

You fuel your truck with premium gas, change the oil on schedule, and check the tires before every trip. What about

your own body? The one machine you depend on to provide for your family. Dylan Cook from Working Athlete learned

the hard way what dehydration can do to your mind and muscles. Now, he helps

thousands of field workers avoid the mistakes that can cost lives. Whether you're Tom Brady or you're Tom climbing

a utility pole, your body breaks down. That's your money maker. If you've ever grabbed two monsters and

a bag of funions on the way to work, this episode could change how long and how strong you last on the job.

Dr. Kevin here and I just want to personally thank you for being a part of this community. It means the world to us

and without you, we wouldn't exist. The only favor that I will ever ask is that

you like or subscribe to the Work Ready podcast as this ensures that we can continue to grow this community and

bring these amazing guests and conversations to you each week. Thank you so much. Now, let's get to work.

Hello and welcome to the WorkReady Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Kevin Rindal. So happy to be here with Dylan

Koch uh from Working Athlete. Dylan, it's so good to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us.

We first got to know each other through the introduction from Paul Salgado and Raul Guardado at the Power Element podcast. And Paul was like, "Dude, you've got to connect with Dylan. He's such a good guy." We immediately hit it

off. And one thing that I've just so appreciated about you is you're an educator. and and every time I've seen

you ever connect with people, uh it's always about educating them, bringing value to them, and so just I've always

really appreciated that about you. Absolutely. Well, we're really excited to hear your story, also hear about your background in hydration, nutrition, heat safety, and I think our listeners will

really enjoy learning some of the things that you have to share today. And then, yeah, just hearing some of your your personal background on things that you

do. you've you've been an athlete your whole life. You're working with industrial workers and industrial athletes and so yeah, really excited for the conversation. But one thing one thing that I love about you and I'm sure a lot of our listeners can relate to this. You started working with your hands at the age of about 6 years old uh with your dad owning a landscaping business. So tell us a little bit more about um your growing up and how that influences what you do today.

Yeah, absolutely. No, that's that's part of my I could you could say my story or

upbringing that I absolutely um cherish and it's one of those things that you

know in the time in the moment you don't realize how many lessons you're learning um that are that are lifelong lessons and

uh being able to share that um in the blue collar hands-on manual labor space

is is amazing. But then doing it with your father and your dad is is even better. So, um yeah, my dad is a Marine.

He got out of the uh Marine Corps after a desert storm. Um and he quickly

started, you know, he had nothing. Got out of the Marine Corps and had nothing. So, um he took what was ever in the bank

and went and bought a mower and a weed eater and started his business. And uh you know, essentially was knocking on

doors and uh 30 years later, he just he just retired. and he sold his company and um but in the earlier stages of his

career uh it was myself and my brother that were his helpers. You know, we we

were the cheapest labor around and he was able to teach us his his boys some lessons about the value of the dollar

and hard work. And um this was in the valley of Phoenix. So it was hot. I mean

I looked at the weather in Phoenix today. It's a high of 120. So um that's not even real feel. So I I just learned

so much about how your body responds uh physiologically,

you know, mental mental readiness. And in those moments, it's so difficult to

understand the impact of heat and hydration and fluid balance on cognitive

ability and decision-m and and your body working. And at the age of six, seven, eight, all the way through high school,

I didn't think of it because I was young. I could I was resilient and I could handle a lot, right? Um but then,

you know, actually I won't get to that yet, but I I did that for a while, right? And um I was also an athlete, so

our our family, you know, we revolved around sports in a lot of ways. And um

you know, I was blessed enough to play baseball all the way through college. Um and then continued my education as you

said in sport and fitness administration and then you know was in sport uh strength and conditioning for athletes

uh professional collegiate high school in their offseason and uh you know and then jumped over to corporate wellness

in the white collar space and it's just really shaped me into uh being able to

help people as an industrial athlete right as a working athlete to help them

understand uh that what you how you take care of your number one machine, which is your body, it impacts so much. Not just safety and performance, but quality of

life. And that's what I'm passionate about. You know, I like to hunt. I like to fish. I like to do physical active things. You know, I've got two daughters and um I want to be able to be physical.

And in order to do that, you have to take care of your body. And I I think that's what's so impactful with with uh

with what Vimocity is talking about as well. I this this is amazing just being work ready, you know, workforce readiness. I mean, this is very cool to see this shift in people's mindsets paying attention to these topics. I love that. So much uh that I want to

dive into about your background. Uh before we do, what is your definition of

uh an industrial athlete or working athlete? I think you guys have like the best name out there when it comes to a company working athlete. But yeah, what does that mean to you and what do you see the workforce doing that is athletic in nature?
Yeah, I mean the reason why, you know, I think working athlete is so um relatable

is because a lot of bluecollar or tradesmen out there in general were

former athletes. A lot of them are, you know, they're gritty. They're kind of rough around the edges a lot of times.

Um they have this toughness and grit that a lot most, you know, a lot of

people in society don't have. Um, and that's just because a lot of times through their life, they they grew up

blueco collar. They grew up with their, you know, loved ones working in trades or being, you know, uh, working long

shifts or, you know, with their back up against the wall, right? And, uh, that

naturally establishes, uh, grit. And I believe that, you know, being involved in sports athletics for most of all my life up until the age of probably, you know, 25 26 years old, I was I was highly involved with sports. And then jumping over to the bluecollar or

outside work, I guess you could say. It doesn't even need to be outside. There's inside industrial athletes as well. Um,

it's just amazing how relatable and how physically and mentally demanding an

industrial athlete is demanded. I mean, very similar to a sports athlete. You know, we always say sport sports

athletes only compete on average like 30 minutes a game on average. You know,

football players are on average like 4 seconds long or something, right? And it's these short bursts, high impact.

So, it is a completely different energy resource that they're pulling from in general. Um, but also people don't

understand the physical demand and mental demand in blue collar or trade

work and it's long it's prolonged over a whole day, right? Um, the mental demand

and physical demand, you're an athlete whether you believe it or not, you're an athlete. So, um, you've got to be

resilient and you've got to be able to adapt to the situation that you're in. And I believe that's what creates an athlete is the adaptability

um to look at your environment and make sure that you know you're building in capacity or margin to perform strong or

safe. Absolutely. Yeah. Tell us a little bit more about your sporting career. Uh you

played baseball, football. Love to hear a little bit more about that. Some of the the highs and the lows of of playing

sports. Yeah. No, I I mean my dad's a lifelong coach. Um he coached uh my team, my

brother's teams, not all of them. Um but you know, then he was a semi-pro coach,

he was a collegiate coach, high school coach. He still coaches high school football. He can't give it up. But it it

involved us in sports naturally because, you know, I would either go to practice and just be around the game. Um you

know, and then I just fell in love with Sandlot. So, I wanted to be, you know, Benny the Jet Rodriguez my whole life.

So, I was watching BA or I was playing baseball and um I was lucky enough to to

play baseball all the way through college, but I was I was a football guy at heart. Um an absolute football player

that was playing baseball. Um you know, I just I had probably more recruiting

opportunities for football than I did baseball, but I just unfortunately had some some nerve issues going on in my

neck. Um, I guess that's what happens when you're playing middle linebacker at 185 lbs, you know. So, I I just played

like I was 220. So, I had a lot of a lot of banging of heads and necks and I just

had some nerve issues that prevented me from maybe expanding that career or prolonging that career. It would have

been done at college anyways. I mean, I'm only 5'10", so I'm like, you know, I probably wasn't fast enough to play past

college in football, but I feel like I could have had a good career in in college. But, um, I had to make a a

business decision and understand that, um, at the end of the day, I wanted the support for my schooling and, uh,

baseball was going to give me that opportunity because I felt like I could do it longer. Um, and which is directly

in line with, you know, um, industrial work, right? Because pain tolerance and

your ability to stay focused on the job and you know playing injured whether it

be in the industrial field or on the sports field, you can't cut in

physically or mentally if you're always in pain. And um I was experiencing that

at too young of a time in my career. Um but luckily, you know, I as I mentioned,

I got to play baseball. I was recruited for baseball. I played uh for 5 years in uh college and it allowed me to finish

my schooling and uh stay involved in athletics which was fantastic. But yeah, I mean still to this day I still help

athletes on the side just because I can't get away from it. The coaching runs thick in my blood and um you know I

still help athletes uh here around town for their to increase their performance.

So um it's never going to go away. Awesome. I love the the Sandlot

reference. Benny the Jet Rodriguez. We just had Fourth of July. Every Fourth of July, I have to listen to or watch that

scene, America the Beautiful with Ray Charles singing and the fireworks going off. I think that's one of my favorite

clips in in movies. But uh yeah, relate to you 100%. I was 185 pound

middle linebacker who was playing way above my weight and uh multiple brachio

plexus injuries, concussions uh kept me from playing football at the next level and but at the same time it's like one

of those things that motivates you. I I don't think I would have gone into sports medicine without that experience

because uh part of my journey was overcoming uh those injuries and figuring out how do I rehab this? How do

I, you know, continue on? because I mean constant numbness and tingling in my right hand for for years. Um but it's

those experiences that definitely uh impact things and and influence you know who we are today.

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[Music]

I do want to I I love that idea on the coach uh aspect and I want to double

click on that cuz uh when you go out and you meet with let's say utility

construction utility company or construction company I mean you're educating folks on hydration and you're

not just saying drink this, drink that, do this, do that. It's like, let's No, here's the why. Can you explain a little bit more about um your style with

education and coaching and why why you found that to be effective

when it comes to connecting with with frontline workers? Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I'm jumping ahead, but uh I know that we were going to, you know, discuss my favorite podcast or book, so I'll save that for kind of later, but I know that one of the things that I believe is most

important is is connecting with people. And um that I actually it was my high

school football coach that instilled that in my brain. And that was, you know, you have to show you care before

you critique somebody. And um I I as I mentioned I was involved in sports my

whole life until post college and um you know and then I I jumped over to this

white collar corporate wellness role and that was a demographic that I've never dealt with and it was a challenge to

communicate and connect with these people. Right? I went from having, you know, to find I went from trying to max

out a power clean to trying to get people to get out of their chairs to get a healthy snack out of the b the break

room, right? And that was a challenge for me. Um but I believe that my

background in coaching uh it helped me adapt quickly and helped understand what

intrinsically and exttrinsically motivated that demographic because they weren't motivated as the same way as

sports athletes were right they it was a completely different uh motivation and

coaching strategy and um as you mentioned yeah I mean in what I do um

you know we're in the we're in the I guess you can say business of electrolyte support, but really we're in

we're in the business of um helping people out. I mean, that's that's what we do. We go in and we train on, as you

mentioned, heat illness and dehydration, but um we we open and widen that scope

so much more because people don't understand that your fluid balance

impacts your mental health, your muscularkeeletal injury prevention, your

brain fog, right? your cognitive ability, your your um healthy aging, like it has so much impact. And so when we come in and coach and train, at first when I first got in this, I walked into a room of like 250 linemen. And I swear those guys were like, "Okay, who the hell is this guy?" You know, I was way too technical. Didn't talk to them the right way. And what I learned was,

"Okay, I have to do better job relating to who I'm talking to." And any good

coach will tell you that that's you know that's what you have to do. You have to find a way to motivate that person. It's

your job to do it. And um you know so I had to change kind of the way I I

approached this demographic. And it it's one of those things where that's when we really started to lean on the relation

of sports athletes and industrial athletes. Um because your body is your money maker. Whether you're Tom Brady or

you're Tom climbing a utility pole, it doesn't matter. your your body breaks down, that's your money maker. And

without it performing at the highest level, um you know, you don't get to

provide, you know, and that that motivated a lot of this demographic. And I we kind of leaned on that and hooked

into that. Um, and it was one of those things where, you know, we we we became

the subject matter experts on, yes, heat illness and hydration, but really in general, it was just um building a a a

physically resilient workforce, you know, through high quality nutrition uh

and hydration programming. And um you know, we we take on that. We don't take

that lightly because it's so preventable. you know, heat illness and dehydration is such a preventable thing.

Um, and now that we understand that it's the root cause of a lot of other incidents, you know, people are starting

to open their eyes to it a little more. Yeah. No, I I love that. Uh, one of the

things that I've found just so interesting is that when you talk to people about things like hydration and

nutrition, exactly what you're talking about, people are like, "Oh man, another safety initiative, another safety talk."

It's like, do we really have to do this? But what I find fascinating is, you know, a lot of the the men and women out

there, I mean, they're driving nice trucks. They are putting like high quality premium fuel uh in these

vehicles. They're doing all kinds of stuff to to make sure that they're running in tip-top shape. But then when it comes to like you said their money

maker, their most important asset, it's like there's not a ton of thought or even education to um to people in terms

of like why you choose this over that. Can you uh maybe share with us some of the the most common misconceptions that

you hear uh related to hydration, nutrition, and just fueling your body for performance?

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, um, you know, one of the things that, uh, you

know, you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Like, as cliche as that is, with hydration, it is so easy. I, heck, I do it. I I'm involved in hydration for a living. That's how that's how we put food on the table for my family. And

there's days where I don't take uh ownership to my hydration protocol,

right? and then all of a sudden you start to feel or see the symptoms and you're like, "Wow, okay, that's so easy

to you for you to um forget." Um, and hydration in my opinion is one of the

most neglected things. And we know that. I mean, about 70% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. You're not

getting enough water every day. Um, and you know, one of the things that we can

focus on is is having a plan. And it's such a simple fix just to make sure you

have, you know, a 20 to 28 ounce hydration, you know, next to your bed. So, you know, whenever you wake up at night or in the morning and that uh little

thought comes in your mind like, "Oh, I'm thirsty." And then it's like, "Oh, well, I'm rushing for work." And then it's like, "Oh, I got to grab a bar." And next thing you know, you don't have any water and you're tired because maybe you didn't have a nutritionally dense or sound uh diet the day before. And now you, you know, now you're reaching for a canned energy drink or a 20 ounce coffee, which there's nothing wrong with coffee. It's the most consumed beverage in the world probably. Um, and caffeine.

There's so many benefits to natural caffeine in your diet at healthy doses, but um, we need to make sure that we're

kickstarting our system with water first thing in the morning. So, our challenge is always establish a hydration plan and

if you follow through with it, you're naturally going to feel better most importantly, but you're going to perform

stronger and safer as well naturally because your body's 80% water. um rather

than running on fumes all day uh you know you can have a full tank and uh

make sure that we're firing on all cylinders. So, uh, developing a pre-intra and post hydration plan is probably, if I had to guess, the, um, biggest issue with with bluecollar hydration. It's just because, as I mentioned, you don't plan and then you run to QT and get two monsters and a

couple tornadoes and a, you know, bag of funions and you think that you're good

to go for the day. And uh you do that time and time and time again, it starts

to compound and things catch up to you. You hear it all the time. I hear it all

the time from guys in these trades and gals in these trades that are like, "Man, I just wish I would have paid

attention to these things a little bit more." You know, because people don't understand inflammation. They don't

understand how your body responds to this gunk you're putting in your body. Um and then you have a job that demands

so much out of you physically and mentally and uh we don't ever we don't ever refuel properly. So uh the biggest

misconception in my opinion is not having a pre intra and post hydration plan.

Yeah. And one of the things I've heard you say uh several times is the water you drink today is the water you'll have

for tomorrow. So thinking about even hydration the night before if you know that it's going to be, you know, extra

hot tomorrow, you're going to be physically uh active the next day. Can you talk a little bit more about that

and maybe some recommendations for the night before and then first thing in the morning?

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, we we like to say you can only work tomorrow as much as you recover today. Um and really, you

know, the the cliche terminology that's used is hydration starts at home, right? Everybody prints them out and puts them

on posters in the break rooms and you know, but what does that really mean and

why? You know, why does hydration start at home? You know, we've heard it a thousand times, but yet we still have

people falling out all the time. And the reality of it is is just because people

don't really understand that, you know, as we mentioned, your your muscle tissue is 80% water, your brain's 80% water,

your lungs, your heart, your blood, everything's water. And if we don't uh

pay attention to it, how do we expect it to improve? Right? We always say that what you pay attention to improves. And

one of the things that you can do very very simple is as I mentioned 10 to 20

ounces of water within the first hour of waking up. And then um at the end of your day, you know, if you're going to

be having a few cocktails, I know bluecollar culture is a lot of people

drink, you know, and that's just one of those things that culturally um that's just kind of what has taken hold, I

guess you can say. And it's it's something that we we don't tell people how to live their lives or anything at

all. We just say hey why don't we compound it with some good you know let's compound it and complement it with

some some water in there because you know alcohol is a natural diuretic. Uh

the caffeine is a diuretic and then most people because of that they don't sleep well, right? They've got increased

cortisol which is causing poor sleep cycles and now they're always in their fight orflight mode. And um you know

that's another big problem with energy drink consumption is it actually can increase your cortisol levels which in

my opinion has is a big root cause of mental health in bluecollar trades. Um

because you're never shutting off. You don't ever shut off. And we're marketed and commercialized into believing you

have to drink two to three Monsters or canned energy drinks a day. You have to do it. Um and unfortunately the side

effect of that is just completely bashing your uh natural adrenaline

production, your adrenal glands. And in turn, you know, in response, as we

mentioned, we lived in a in a over production of cortisol society and and I

truly believe that that has a lot to do with mental health in the in the trades. Um, I know I kind of went off on a tangent there, but um, at the end of the

day, we need to make sure that we have that 10 to 20 of ounces ounces of water first thing. And then after work,

challenge yourself to do about a bottle of of water an hour because if you aren't saturating yourselves at the

cellular level constantly and consistently, um, you're not going to get true

cellular hydration, which means you're going to be behind the eightball in the morning. Um, and actually to piggyback

off of that, the importance of that is because at night, unless you're hooked up to an IV or have a camel back on your

back, you're losing fluid all night, right? That's that's why when you wake up, you're 2 to three lbs lighter every

day, you know, because you're you're respirating. Um, you're sweating, you're

breathing, you got all this vapor coming out, and then you get up to use the restroom. And so now you wake up way

behind. And then if you compound that with the night before you were drinking alcohol and didn't have enough water,

now you've probably 5xed the amount of fluid you've just excreted, right? Um

and now you've got to go to work and perform safely and and then you think

that that's not going to have a prolonging effect on your body and your mind for a career in a trade.

Unfortunately, I think that's why this the the trades are riddled with some of the issues that they have. Um is just

because we aren't paying attention to the things that we need to. Um so yeah, I I would just say that post and that

pre and post hydration is so key. Yeah. And you know, I think one thing

that's really helpful is you go to any operations room, safety room, restroom

at a, you know, a facility and it's like they have P charts and you can look at

Lagging indicators: thirst and urine color explained

the color of your urine and understand like where you're at from a dehydration perspective or they talk about people,

you know, paying attention to the thirst uh reflex and response.

Those are both great um guidelines, but if you're having like excessively yellow

urine, you're thirsty, you're already behind the eightball. Can you expand on that a little bit more? Because those

are both lagging indicators that you're already dehydrated. Yeah, you you hit it on the head. Those are both lagging indicators that um

unfortunately your your brain and your cognitive ability and capacity has already already gone through the phase

of heat illness. By the time you realize your your peas darkening um or even you,

you know, you begin to lose uh extremity response, right? Your brain's already

gone. Um, which in in my opinion is is what is most scary about heat illness

and dehydration and heat stress because you may have somebody that um

unfortunately goes through a fall, right? Or a slip or a trip that results

in a broken arm or some or maybe they backed up their bucket truck into a into

a civilian vehicle or per se, right? And it's one of those things that that was

due to heat illness and dehydration or or dehydration, cognitive decline, right? That caused that issue, but it's

going to be recorded as something else when really it was due to lack of

hydration that caused a brain fog, right? Um, and that's in my opinion what

is probably the highest risk on on in heat heat cases because oftentimes we

come in and we ask companies and we say, "Hey, how many heat related illnesses do you have?" And they say, "Well, we only had one last year." And it's like, "No,

actually, I would imagine that you probably had a lot more. They just weren't categorized as heat cases,

right? they weren't in OSHA recordable as a heat case, but somebody was in a brain fog and made a silly decision and

got themselves hurt or somebody else hurt. Um, and so it's looking at root causes in my opinion that uh really is

and more and more people are opening their eyes to that which is good. Yeah, you and I have had quite a few

conversations about this like the energy wheel and thinking about hazard recognition and putting direct controls

in place and I talk a lot about it from a perspective of pain. You know, how is

pain impacting brain function? But then when you start talking about like how is hydration and heat impacting cognition

and brain function and someone's ability to actually see those hazards and put the direct right direct controls in

place I think is a big part of this serious injury and fatality prevention framework and that human being at the

center of the energy wheel is is a big part of this. Uh any any other thoughts on that? No, I I I mean I would say

yeah, you and I are kind of cut from the same cloth as far as believing that because I I truly believe that um if if

we could collectively get all of the trades or bluecollar work if you want to call it, industrial athletes um to pay

attention to just simple things, simple manageable things like your hydration

protocol, proper electrolyte replacement, um soft tissue injury prevention programming, whether that be

um you know a recovery program or a stretching program or a muscular movement program, ergonomic program,

whatever it may be. I think we would all quickly realize that um it has so much

more impact than just how many soft tissue injuries you had or how many heat

illness cases you had. I truly think you would see a massive shift in safety. Um,

Hydration as a cornerstone of safety culture

and in turn, you know, a lot of these people are motiv motivated by production, you know, and sometimes

throwing safety and compliance out the window in order to achieve production. Um, but I think the irony behind it all

is if we all had this programming and set in place in the framework of all these processes, I think you would

actually elevate all of those things. safety, performance, production. Um, and

you know, and I truly think that because it's completely

uh it translates directly from sports, right? It it's the same thing. You you

have that athlete that you take care of and all of a sudden their career is

40% longer than other athletes that don't do those things, right? and they have less injuries and they have higher

salaries because they're performing more and better, right? So, it's the same thing. It's the same exact thing. It

translates directly over to the industrial work. Yeah, I love that. That's a great tiein.

Um, speaking of professional sports as well, uh, the founder of Working

Athlete, Doc, uh, Mark Pollson, uh, Coach P, we we affectionately call him.

Uh, absolutely love the guy. We've uh done some collaboration with you and him on some educational series with tell us

a little bit about coach P and I've heard him talk about sludge blood and that was a new concept for me just the

terminology but love to hear a little bit more about coach P how he's influenced you and then if you could

talk about sludge blood. Yeah. Um, you know, Coach Pete kind of took me under his wing when I first

started with us on the wilderness athlete side of our business, the hunting side of our business. And, um,

you know, I I then transitioned over to the working industrial side of our business and did a bunch of trade shows

with with coach. And, you know, my dad being a coach, too, it's like, okay, now I've got Coach P who's a lifelong coach

as well. Um, and being able to just, in my opinion, just witness connecting and

communicating with people and helping people understand the concept of hydration in general.

And, you know, if you've ever seen Coach Pete speak or you have the opportunity to, you definitely should. Um, he's one

of those guys that being a former athlete, like I I want to run through a brick wall after after sitting in a

presentation, you know. Um, and he's just really he's a charismatic guy. So, yeah, a lot of shout out to Coach P for

sure. And yeah, one of the things he talks about all the time is uh he he preaches on performance and recovery

better than most people um as it relates to nutrition and how you take care of

your body and how it affects your recovery, you know, cuz you can only work as hard as you recover or you can

only play as much as you as well as you recover, right? coming from the sports world. But um yeah, he uses the

terminology uh sludge blood. And essentially what that phenomenon is,

you know, it's kind of like the engine oil to your vehicle. Your blood builds up toxic waste as well, just like your

oil does, right? Um and your your oil begins to thicken from all this, you

know, metal shavings and toxic buildup. And um it increases friction in your in

your block or in your motor and it it uh increases pressure and all of a sudden you blow a gasket, right? And uh that's

because your oil is thickening. It's getting dirty. And so in order to

maintain that asset, what do you do? You you change the oil every four to 6,000

miles or if you've got a newer vehicle, I've seen some up to 8 to 10,000 miles or, you know, whatever it is. you're

changing your oil to make sure that it's remaining viscous or fluid-like or clean

because it as I mentioned reduces friction which lowers heat um a bunch of

other positive things about oil lubricating the machine right same thing goes for your blood though your blood

trans it transports oxygenated blood to your brain to make sound decisions it

transports them down to your extremities to move your fingers you know at the neurotransmatic

Um, and it transports electrolytes to act as conductors or connections to make

sure that we're firing on all cylinders mentally and physically. Um, and then

you know obviously the natural cooling mechanism of you know there's a bunch of benefits of hydrated blood. But moral of

the story is your blood is on average around 40 to 50% water. Um, and what

happens when you aren't on a proper hydration protocol is you stress the fluidity or viscosity of your blood and

it actually thickens and it makes it harder and harder to pump through your

body up to your brain to your extremities. And that's why when you go through a dehydrative state or heat

stress, you feel like your heart's about to pound out of its chest. um because it's having to work so hard to maintain

and it's trying to cool your body through thermmorreulation and trying to get blood up to the brain to to make

sure we're still firing on all cylinders, right? And it just has to work so much harder. And that's where

the the terminology sludge blood comes from. It's because it turns into sludge, turns into gunk where it just doesn't

want to move and your circulation decreases. And there's so many, you know, negative side effects of poor

circulation in general. Um, but as it relates to natural cooling mechanism or moving your extremities, you know, it

can be very dangerous being an industrial athlete. Yeah. And even beyond circulation, one of the ways that

I often time describe dehydration is hydration levels are really important

for our lymphatic system as well. And our lymphatic system is basically like I mean that's like the sewer system of

your body. It's like flushing all the the toxins, getting all the junk out of your cells. When we exercise, when we

work, we're physically active. It produces a a waste byproduct in our

body. And our body has to send that through the lymphatic system, uh get it to our kidneys, flush it out. And I

oftentimes tell people like if if your driveway is dirty, are you going to pressure wash or are you going to wash

it with a garden hose or a pressure washer? And you know, if if you have a pressure washer, you can get get that

junk out of there. But if you have a garden hose, it's it's going to be a lot harder. And so when we have that sludge

blood, I think I I think that's a great way for people to think about it. It's just there's less hydrostatic pressure

that is going through your body to clear stuff out. And so, uh, again, you talk a

lot about this that, um, dehydration not only affects your brain, and it's it's

not much. You might want to correct me here, but I think it's 2% dehydration impacts cognitive function, but there

was a study that also showed that 1% dehydration, which isn't much. I mean, for the average person, if you're 200

lb, it's like, uh, you know, 1% dehydration is like 32 ounces of of

water that you're dehydrated, which that can happen pretty quickly. I mean, if we can lose 32 ounces in an hour in certain

conditions, that increases our risk of developing a muscular skull injury. So, it it changes the uh the structure of

the muscle, the tendons. They become uh less resilient to stress. And so there

is a definitely a correlation between like muscle strain uh injury to tendons,

ligaments in those type of settings. Can you talk a little bit more about how dehydration impacts soft tissues as

well? Yeah, absolutely. I mean I know whenever we were you know in my previous job we

working with athletes I mean hydration was like number one priority because you

know your your muscle tissue is up to 80% water and I like to use the the

analogy of a sponge. You just take a dishwashing sponge or some, you know, car wash sponge, doesn't matter, a

sponge, and you take a dried out sponge and you try and move it and it doesn't

want to move through functional patterns, right? It doesn't want to really move at all. It's kind of rigid.

It's stiff. It's a little more prone to maybe like a tear or a break or it just doesn't seem like it wants to move,

right? Doesn't seem healthy. And you take that same sponge and you dunk it in a bucket of water or a sink and all of a

sudden that there's life in that sponge and it's able to bend and move without

heightened risk of tears, right? And that same thing goes on in your muscle

tissues daily. And you know, you hear people in the trades of all these aches

and pains and these things and joints and as you mentioned how that affects

your ability to concentrate and perform um you know pain tolerance etc. So yeah,

there the the muscularkeeletal or the the soft tissue injury approach to hydration in my opinion. I mean we know

it makes up close to 40% of all injuries in the trades. And it's to me it's just

so obvious. It's like hey everybody listen look at the sports world. They

focus on these things because they know it affects their performance and injury resiliency, right? It's the same thing

that over here in the trades that we should be doing too. Now, we don't have as much um

you know, I guess you could say attention like we don't have trainers on the sidelines. they're in our, you know, luckily there's some job sites that have

uh physical trainers on jobs and, you know, on-site health and safety teams and, you know, that it's amazing how far

we've come. But, you know, it's one of those things where injury prevention as

it relates to soft tissues is, I think, can be addressed

first with hydration. you know, you pay attention on getting on a sound hydration protocol and then let's work

into some actual ergonomic and you know, muscularkeeletal release programming

that can allow your body to actually uh perform at its highest capacity and in

turn you're going to feel better. If you feel better, you're going to perform stronger.

Few months ago, uh, Vamosity, my company and, uh, working athlete collaborated on

a video series on heat safety and hydration. We'll definitely add a link

into the show notes so that people can access some of that content. But, uh, I may butcher this. Is it the galping

equation? Is that is that that can you can you talk about that because

I think it's a great um way for people to think about um how to pace uh their

hydration levels over the course of the day. So what is kind of a rule of thumb when it comes to hydration?

Yeah, I mean most people um in a normal lifestyle they say about your like half your body weight in ounces would be

typical uh structure and that's no heat just like regular at

rest. Yeah, that's like at rest in your home minimum uh is what you should

you weigh 200 lb you should be drinking 100 right now.

That's like on the low end for most most people. Um the

closest I I guess I would say the closest to the gold standard of recommendation for for hydration I think

it's the it's the most transferable to everybody is uh what we Yeah. The Galpin

equation. And I heard this on a Dr. Hubman podcast and it just really hit home with me. Um, and it was it's you

take your body weight and you divide that by 30. Whatever number that gives you is how many ounces you should have

Hydration and soft-tissue injuries (the sponge analogy)

every 20 minutes during work in a perfect world. Um, now we don't live in

a perfect world, but we can all strive to achieve as close as we can to that. And what that means is I'm 210 lb.

Divide that by 30, that's 7. I should be having about seven ounces of water every

20 minutes during work. And if you start doing the math, that's 21 ounces every hour. That's about a bottle and a half.

Uh, you know, your typical water bottle is 16 15.9 ounces, 16 ounces. Um, so you

can call it a bottle and a half per hour during work. Um, and that can that can

change so much from person to person, but as far as a like as gold standard or

rule as possible recommendation, that's a great framework to work off of because

um then from there you can hone in on your individual needs and it takes it it takes personal ownership here too, you

know. Um, it takes you understanding, okay, yeah, you know what? I may be on a medication that actually holds on to all

my salts or I'm on a medication that excretes all of my water and salts. Right? You need to know these things

because your employer, they may not know that. And if you're being treated the

same as the person next to you that is the complete opposite as far as conditions, that can be a heightened

risk as well. So we need to make sure that we understand uh those type of things. But yeah, back to your question,

Galpin equation is probably the best one to offer for everyone. And the whole

point of that is a uh it's like using the termin or the analogy of a uh

24-hour drizzle rain versus a 2 to 4 minute downpour monsoon. Um you

know, which one's going to saturate the soil more? which one uh gets a deep

rooted moisture. And we can all agree that a 24-hour drizzle is going to be

better for saturation. And that's the same thing that goes for yourselves. You know, your cellular hydration is what

you should be paying attention to. Um and often times, what do we do? We like, oh man, I'm thirsty. And it's boom, I'm

going to slam 32 ounces of water. And then it triggers your urinary response and you urinate a lot of it out and

there's no saturation. Um, so we need to just make sure we have a strategy and plan to offer a saturated approach to

your hydration and um, you know, you're going to get true cellular hydration through that process.

Yeah, that's such a great uh example of, you know, the the drizzle versus the

downpour. And I mean, I teach this stuff all day long and, you know, I would

still guzzle water. I I do a lot of like long-distance triathlons and so it would be you know pound at 16 ounces and just

realize that it's just going through my system and it's not being absorbed. So I think that guzzle versus you know 7 o

just slow steady throughout the day is such a big difference. Uh talking about electrolytes too

because most people when they think about electrolytes they think of sodium chloride potassium. It's like, oh, eat a

banana and you're going to be good. But let's talk about some of the other um really critical, you know, minerals,

electrolytes, uh different um components of hydration that are really critical

for cell function. Um love to hear more about that. Yeah, you know, electrolytes um a lot of

times people don't realize that all they I mean they're essentially salts, right? And your body demands them because they

carry positive and negative charges throughout the body. And you know we

want balance in those two because you know too much of one thing you know it creates imbalance and you want to have

that balance connectivity and uh you know this is where as we talk about ownership you know in a perfect world everybody would be getting all their vitamins and minerals from their natural diet and water that they're drinking but that's not the world we live in anymore.

you know, we live we live in a convenient uh demanded lifestyle where we never stop. We're on our phones and we're working and now you've got AI and I it's just never stopping and you just uh unfortunately

what takes a toll is our is our um our diets and our nutrition and electrolytes

in general. We need to have conductivity at the neurotransmitter level to move your fingers and your your feet and your

extremities and make decisions. And um they act as conductors or connectors in

order to do that. And what happens when you don't have enough of them is we you

know you've got arcs, right? Or you've got zero connectivity. And that's where muscle spasms kick in or brain fog kicks

in or um you know another thing it would be hyponetriia on the other side of the

spectrum is you've got people that are well I all I drink is water. You know

water's it's not the same as it was 40 years ago. You know, you take water out

of a faucet 40 years ago and take it out now, due to um chlorinating and

cleaning, having to clean water through that process, it strips the vitamins and

minerals from your natural water as not, you know, it's not the same as it was 40 years ago. Um because it loses efficacy

uh whenever you have to clean the water. And um what people don't realize is that

you know water water is not the same. That's why you go to the gas station and there's 30 kinds of water at the gas

station, right? And um it's uh it's one of those things that when it comes to

water only people, a very big danger to that is you can

flood out your salts. You can uh you can actually dilute your salt so much and

this is very dangerous because it mimics it mimics dehydration almost to a tea as

far as the symptoms. And so you'll have somebody that or will be going through the same symptoms as dehydration and

we'll naturally say you need to drink more water and they'll intake more water

and continue to dilute their salts which is just as dangerous as not having enough salts, right? And um uh that

causes very very very bad issues because you think you're hydrating and you're actually making the

problem worse. You're actually flooding your own system out. So um yeah, that

can be very dangerous as well. But it's one of those things where electrolytes, you know, we we got to try and find

balance. That's great. I appreciate that. I I wore my Whoop every day, so I'm

constantly looking at my recovery, especially first thing in the morning. uh heart rate variability and sleep quality, heart um resting heart rate, stuff like that. I also do a lot of blood testing, urine analysis, uh twice a year, I I do pretty in-depth testing. Um when I started that, which was about 2 years ago, my vitamin D levels, zinc levels, magnesium levels

were like hardly even showed up on on the test. Like I was so depleted in all

three of those. and I was really struggling with my recovery and heart rate variability. My recovery scores were really low. Once I started supplementing with vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, especially before bed, and paying attention to some of these other minerals that you talked about, I really started to see um a positive trend in my recovery. And then over the last year, the last two tests, things have started to normalize and it definitely has had

an impact.

Can you talk about magnesium, zinc and vitamin D and just the importance of having those either in your diet or through the um hydration that you consume?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean um you know zinc and magnesium are probably the most

uh widely deficient in you know minerals in most

people's diets. you know, unfortunately they're not found in convenience foods.

Um, oftent times they're they're usually found in like green leafy healthier

stuff on the outside of the grocery stores. And um you know it's one of

those things where I I think they I I forget what it was what the exact number is but it's it's uh

it that or zinc plays over 400 over 400 processes throughout the body that zinc

is responsible for or at least involved with and you know 80% of Americans are

chronically deficient in in zinc or something like that. And it's it's just one of those things that you don't know

until you know, like you said, and if you aren't tracking data, how do you

ever expect to make improvements? Um, you know, this, you know, obviously coming from like strength training,

right? You know, I'm working with an athlete right now actually, and he's trying to build weight for his senior

year of football and um he's complaining, I can't I can't gain weight. I can't do this. And I said,

well, do you do you even know what your measurables are? you know, do you even know? Like, are you tracking how much

protein you're taking in a day? No, I don't really know. Well, how do you expect to to actually make improvements

if you don't know? And um that's often times with like magnesium and zinc, right, or vitamin D. People don't know

that they're deficient in these things until, like you said, you get tested. You go above and beyond to get tested

and and find out and hone in on it. But yeah, it's one of those things you don't people don't realize how good you can

feel until you supplement things that you're deficient in. And as I've said

before, I always always will encourage people to get everything from your

natural diet if possible, you know, because it's the most bioavailable. Um,

and the the efficacy of it so much higher than most supplements, you know, depending on which grade of supplements

you're sourcing. But there's no better way to get those same minerals that you're discussing than than getting them

from a natural source. But in today's society and world, if you find out you are deficient, you know, supplementing

with a high quality bioavailable supplement or vitamin is,

you know, there's a lot of great ways to do that these days. Yeah. No, that's that's a really good

point too because I think with the physical demands that a lot of the workforce has or if you you know

physically train from an athletic standpoint um you are going to probably have to supplement and uh and also think

about different things. You know, part of the the the thing that I was experiencing was like muscle cramps at

night and I was like having trouble like calming down just realizing that that magnesium was a big part of that

equation. uh especially with the sleep and calming down my autonomic nervous

system and uh and so again that's one area that I was I eat a ton of green

leafy vegetables and and good sources of zinc and u magnesium but realizing that

I needed some supplementation to help out with that was really big and you know a lot of people are like well I'm

cramping I should have potassium which is part of the equation but there are other components there and so yeah

magnesium um and zinc definitely is another area that I think people should look into. And again, having blood tests or

biomarkers, things that you can um actually use to measure that so that you

can track it. You can't you can't manage what you don't measure and uh so I think that that's a a really important uh part of that. Can you talk about branch chain amino acids and you know the importance of that uh as well when it comes to uh

cellular recovery and function? Yeah, absolutely. Um one thing to

piggyback with what you just did before I talked BCAAs is the importance of magnesium. It's it's that relaxing like

you said. Um it allows your body to relax your muscle tissues to to relax.

And that's you know the that's all that cramping is is just over uh constricting

overfiring muscle tissues, right? And it that magnesium actually allows your

muscle tissue to relax. Um and that's why it does enhance with sleep and irritability etc. Right? Um so yeah also

magnesium it's the activating or um carrying electrolyte. It actually if

you have an electrolyte product that does not contain magnesium

um they actually say that that sodium and potassium completely loses its efficacy because magnesium actually

um bridges the barrier or gap at the cellular level to pull in the sodium and

potassium. And a lot of people don't realize that magnesium plays such a vital role to transporting those other

electrolytes. So extremely key to make sure that you are at your uh uh proper

level of magnesium and make sure magnesium is present in your electrolyte uh replacement product because it's

you're that transporting electrolyte. Um BCAAs building blocks. BCAS are building

blocks of protein branch chain amino acids. Um, you know, I won't go too far

in depth with like specific ones or like elusine or, you know, there's there's a ton. We could we could dive into more.

Um, but just to keep it generally speaking, I like to explain them like uh

little bricks to your wall, right? BCAAs are like bricks that you're stacking and

mortaring and putting together. And um you know we like to say the vitamin C is like the mortar to your your your wall

right. So we always say maintaining a high quality zinc and vitamin C uh diet

or you know supplement with a solid BCAA in your in your diet as well can it

makes you more resilient right because you're building this strong strengthened wall. Um, and those BCAAs, as I

mentioned, are those are those actual building blocks to your muscle tissue. You're, you know, as it relates to

industrial athletes, you're doing a physically demanding job.

And unfortunately, you aren't ever recovering your muscle tissue most of the time. Um, and that starts with a

recovery program, of course, but also replacing what you're damaging. And you

have you can only replace what you're damaging by giving it the fuel that it needs. And BCAAs are precursors to the

protein synthesis process or rebuilding process. So BCAAs are so so important to

recovery and muscle management. Where do people get BCAAs naturally in

food? And when is it appropriate to supplement or maybe have that in

something that you're drinking from a hydration standpoint? Yeah, absolutely. You know, BCAAs, you

can find oftentimes you can find BCAAs where you're sourcing protein. Um, but

also there it's such it's the supplement world is there's a lot of there's a lot

of fraud in the supplement world. So, um, you have to do your own research and find find supplements that work for you,

right? We're we're in our hunting side of our business has been in the supplement space for 24 years and we will be the first ones to tell you. We may not be for you. You may find one that actually is more bioavailable to your body that absorbs better with your with your particular body, right? So, um

I would just highly suggest that if you're going to go the supplement route with BCAAs, which often times you have

to in today's world because, um you know, even sources of meat they say

don't uh offer the same bioavailability for BCAAs and protein as they used to due to overprocessed foods, etc., etc.,

etc. Um, so if you are supplementing, we would just highly suggest, you know,

finding one that works for you because you'll know if if you're if you're const you're consistently uh offering your

body the fuel that it needs and it's making itself available to your recovery

process, you're going to feel it. You're going to feel better. Um, you're probably going to start seeing a a a

difference in your, you know, muscle tissue. Um, but yeah, the the supplement

space, you know, as far as suggestions and BCAAs, I would just I would just make sure that you're doing your

research to find out what works best for you. Um, but most individuals due to the

uh society we live in would absolutely benefit from a high quality branch chain

amino acid supplement. You mentioned that there's a lot of fraud, which I totally agree in the

supplement space. I mean, I look at some of the stuff and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, how how is this stuff even on the market?" What are some of the warning

signs that people should look for that uh a supplement may not be of the right

quality, purity? Um and then on the other side, what are what are some

things to look for when it comes to choosing um a brand of a supplement?

Yeah, absolutely. I mean oftent times you know you can look at uh the

reputation I mean any you know most of the time you can try and trust reviews right um but at the end of the day you

know there's so there's so many bots out there too where you don't even know what reviews are real or not. So um you know

doing your own research to look at the the how long a company's been around or the reputation that they have. Um, but

also there's certain uh there's certain information out there as far as where they're sourcing ingredients from. You

know, are they getting them from a a from a massive supplement farm that

essentially they're just a marketing like they're just a marketing brand that's white labeling supplements and

saying they're a supplement nutrition indust. Um and you know over over production of

those uh those supplement farms typically you know it can be uh a lower

grade source of ingredients that they use. Um so I would just say do your own research. There's not there's really not

like very visible warning signs, but I would just say know know your body too.

And like you said, you you can't manage what you don't measure. So if you're taking a supplement, you should have

some sort of accountability measure to make sure that what you're taking is doing something. You know, whether that

be a qualitative measurement or a quantitative measurement. Are you feeling better? Generally speaking, do

is there you know, then there's placebo effect there. I guess you could say a little bit, but um there's also things

that you can track measurably, right? or uh quantitatively like as far as like if

you're an athlete and you're maxing out and all of a sudden you started taking creatine or branch chain amino acids and

you find out that your max went up 40 lbs in 6 weeks, it's like, okay, this stuff's probably pretty good as far as

the efficacy and bioavailability of these ingredients, right? There wasn't. Obviously, there's some other variables

there, but you you'll know because you should feel better and you should be performing stronger most of the time if

it's something that you're defi deficient in. Double clicking on creatine. I remember,

you know, playing sports in the 1990s, uh, you know, everyone was trying to bulk up and, uh, people would do

creatine loading. I was definitely one of those people. I had no idea what I was doing. It was just the thing to do.

you go to GNC, you get a a huge massive tub of it, and you're, you know, throwing stuff into protein shakes. But,

uh, let's talk about creatine real quick because I I do think that, you know, more and more research has come out over

the last few years about it and just it's something that we could pretty much

all benefit from and it doesn't matter what age. Can you talk about some of the the more recent research that um you

know validates how creatine not only is good for you know muscle development and

cellular health but also even cognitive function. Yeah. Absolutely. No, it's one of those

things like you said it's um it's the most well researched and probably widely

used supplement ever. Um, and it actually kind of came from muscul uh

musculardrophe that they started using creatine and then it got commercialized into bodybuilding, right? And then

everybody was taking creatine and then it got a bad rap because uh of issues with kidneys and uh etc. But there's

over the last few years there's been a ton of research around creatine and the benefits of athletic and fitness

performance. But then as you mentioned um actually improve brain function and

uh there's actually a bunch of research out there that it may it may actually positively impact cognitive function and

um especially due to people that maybe aren't getting enough sleep or maybe they're in high stress environments or

maybe they're constantly feel like they're in a mental fog or brain fog. It

can actually improve uh they say it can improve your memory focus and it can reduce the amount of mental fatigue that

you're going through. And um I will say this, my myself, I just I took creatine in high school a

lot and through college and then I just stopped. And then the last probably 12

months or so to 18 months, um we just we actually launched the creatine ourselves

and I was like, you know what, I'm going to get back on it. And um I will tell you this, my my mental sharpness I focus

I what I noticed was a lot more in tune whenever I was on creatine. And um I

think it's just because it actually you know create you know creatine in

general is uh it helps produce or regenerate a ATP which is you know

obviously your your primary energy source for um you know the mostly high

intense type stuff but it does impact just your normal energy as well. And um I felt like I could feel that

drastically. And then I mean as far as the gym and my my performance and fitness, I mean it was hands down like a

complete shift whenever I got back on creatine. Um so yeah, my personal like

my personal uh encouragement would be to explore creatine if and uh do it in a safe

quantity. Uh there's plenty of information out there. I I'm not here to tell you how much to do or not. I mean

there's people that are saying you can take up to 10 grams a day safely. um most of them air on the side of like two

to five. Uh so we would just say you know do your own research but I can tell

you firsthand that my cognitive mental focus is improved just as much as my

physical performance has. Awesome. Thanks for sharing that. And then you know we would uh be remiss to

not mention protein and give people some guidance on that. Can you talk about some of the the general principles

related to how much protein people should take? Again, physically active people. Protein is absolutely the

building block of um recovery, muscular health, um every everything involves

protein and I think for a lot of people out there, we're probably not getting enough. Um, I know that protein is the

number like when I think about food choices, I'm always thinking about how to get protein in every single um, meal

that I I have over the course of the day. But can you talk a little bit more about just general recommendations?

Yeah, absolutely. Um, protein in my opinion, you know, in in today's society

is neglected so much. Um, and it can it can vary on what you're what you need

based on uh, you know, what you're trying to achieve. You know, if you're

looking to, you know, be building, you know, you're look, say you're an athlete and you're looking to be putting on

Creatine: performance + cognitive benefits

muscle, per se, they actually say that you should have around one to even

upwards of 1.5 grams of protein per pound. Um, which is crazy to think about

because I mean you start tracking your protein it's like wow okay getting 225 mil grams of protein is pretty hard um

but you know with supplementation it can be achieved and with focus it can be achieved but um you know in general you

know generally speaking for non-athletes or nonfitness muscle building bulking

people uh we don't need we don't need you know a gram of uh protein per pound.

Most people you're looking at, you know, half a gram to uh you know, 3/4 of a

gram or.7 g per pound of body weight for most people to maintain to maintain your

muscle mass. Um but you know, I would say generally speaking for the for like

the industrial worker, if you don't replace what you're breaking down, you're going to continually be in this

deficit that's going to increase fatigue, physical fatigue. So we you want to have more protein than a

sedentary person or somebody that works at an office job. So I would encourage people to stay right around a pound of a

pound or I'm sorry one gram of protein per pound in order to uh maintain and

not uh you know get a heightened risk of physical fatigue.

We start out this conversation with you talking about planning for success and a

lot of times, you know, people they're out the door first thing in the morning. Um maybe they don't bring food with them

and you know they're like, "Oh, I'll stop and I'll get a good lunch, but then, you know, they're schedule gets

cramped and it's like it's another gas station meal for for them or a gas

station snack." And uh you know, it's pretty tempting to to pick, you know,

just something off off the shelf that maybe isn't high in protein um or high

quality, has a ton of preservatives or maybe a ton of sugar in it. Can you talk about some things that people can do to

prepare to have protein ready and available when they're working before they leave, but then if they're, you

know, out and about, they have to stop in a g gas station. What are some good uh tips that you can provide people with

for sources of high protein snacks? Yeah, absolutely. Um that's one of the

biggest challenges I think in in bluecollar industrial work is the the time demand and the the schedule that

you're on. It's so difficult to stay on top of your of your nutrition, you know,

and unfortunately, like we said, commercially and I guess in society,

you're just marketed to not be making the right choices. And um it's so much

easier to to run through, you know, the the drive-thru or to stop by the gas

station and um you know, just get things that aren't nutritionally sound for you.

Um but yeah, some some basic things would just be preparation. Uh you know, trying to maybe put together some um

some macro, you know, balanced snacks trays or, you know, have some cheese and

salami and uh maybe a few pretzels or something like that just to get some

good high quality macronutrition in your diet throughout the day. It's going to be so much better than, you know,

slamming a cheeseburger and and just hoping that you're going to get by. It will give you some um natural, you know,

quick response energy, but oftent times it's not going to be solid fuel. It's not going to be sustainable fuel. And um

you know, your energy production, it relies so much on high quality protein

and high quality fats and carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates. And um you know, having a having a plan to hey, you know what? I'm going to run by Sam's and get I'm going to get some protein bars for the week or I'm going

to get uh like I mentioned, maybe some some snack packs uh on Sunday. I'm going to pack up some

some snack packs for me to keep in my cooler, right? It's inconvenient. It's

not the cool thing to do, but you will absolutely feel better and in turn, um,

you're probably going to have a more enjoyable life because you're going to be feeling better.

Yeah. And one thing that I would say too is watch for like the sneaky ingredients

in in some of those high protein snacks too that you know over time like you just keep eating them over and over

again. I would say that preservatives are probably one of the number one things I see like especially in a lot of the beef jerkys and um you know meat

sticks. It's like MSG, sodium nitrite, like all these different uh yeah

preservatives that probably are not that great for you as well. Tons of sugar in some of that stuff that you know you

just don't realize how much sugar you're actually consuming in in some of those products that seem like they would be

healthy. So yeah, I I would say that just watching that stuff as well is important.

Dylan, man, we've learned so much. Uh this has been a great conversation. Before we uh close things out, just want

to hear some more personal thoughts from you just in terms of like what what you do. I mean, it's one thing to recommend

stuff, but what what are the things that you do like for a pre-shift or a preworkout meal or snack? Um would love

to hear some of your ideas on that. Yeah, definitely. Um, you know, I'm I'm

human. So, one of the things I think why we relate so well to people when we go train is like, hey, I I I'm human as

well. I make mistakes. I have a beer every now and then. I eat my cheeseburgers. You know, it's one of

those things where you've got to have balance in life, you know, and whatever your balance is, you need to find you

need to find that balance. Um, but try and live as, you know, 8020 as possible.

um because it it impacts so much more. And my motivation is like I want to be around for my grandkids and I want to be

able to still be physical and maybe do some hunts still and and fishing trips

and camping and being able to throw the ball around. I want to be able to do that as long as I can and I want to be

able to enjoy my hobbies as long as I can. And um as it relates to being, you know, in the workplace is you want to be

able to after your trade still be able to do that cuz you're at an increased um

environment to to actually you're up against it more than normal people. So um I would just say myself in general is

if I do not plan I I will not I will not succeed. I have to have things prepped

for me. Um, luckily my wife owns a uh meal prep business, so I'm pretty

Gas-station hacks and meal-prep strategies

spoiled. Um, I'm pretty spoiled. I have meal preps uh that are usually stocked

in the fridge and they're just easy grab and go. Um, but unfortunately, I fall into that trap all the time of I don't

want to have to make this and put it together and do all this stuff. And as humans, we make the mistake of reaching

for for the convenience. And uh convenience, you know, that's not built for our success most of the time. Um, so

yeah, I would just say developing a plan. I could tell you my my preworkout or morning uh routine is is uh 3/4 of a

cup of uh whole fat Greek yogurt, plain Greek yogurt with some raw honey and uh

maybe some fruit. Um, so I'm getting, you know, high quality nutrition there. Um, and then I really

really try and stay on about a one 1.25

two five to one and a half grams of protein per pound for myself. Um because

I feel like if when I don't I'll wake up in the mornings groggy. I won't be recovered. My energy production's

completely depleted. Um and I'm constantly living in that deficit. So I got to make sure that I keep my fuel up

in order to stay performing. You're crushing that protein, man. That's good. That's that's a challenge

to get that much protein. Yeah. Well, luckily I work for a

nutritional company, so I I have a I have a monthly stipend of protein shakes, which is nice.

Love it. Uh, what are your go-to recovery techniques? You still train, uh, lift, do do all that. So, maybe even

just, you know, overall recovery. What what what are your go-tos? Yeah, I mean, the number one modalities

of recovery is sleep. And um you know through this season of my life it's been

diff more difficult to achieve that with you know two Irish twin daughters and um

it's just that season where some you catch sleep when you get it right and uh but sleep is so important you know 7 to

n hours of sleep a night has so much impact on your recovery and it's hard to

recover your body if you aren't giving it rest and um so yeah sleep would be number one. Uh, and then obviously, uh,

myofascial release, whether that be foam rolling or stick work or, um, you know,

lacrosse ball, uh, trigger point release, that type of stuff is is very key to, uh, maintaining a a pliable

body. But, um, you know, in normal stretching, as much as I despise it, it

I my body feels so much better whenever I work through functional movement

patterns. And um you know I know these things I and that's the thing is it's

such a challenge that I know these things and I still neglect it at times. So it's one of those things where I

understand and I can I can sympathize with people that um don't come from this world and how alienated they can feel

when you try and implement these programs and processes into their into their daily lives, right? Um, so yeah,

it's important for us to just try and be 1% better every day, you know, even if

it's taking one minute to stretch tomorrow morning and then maybe by the end of the year you're up to 30 minutes,

you know, and you're listening to a a leadership podcast or a motivational podcast at the same time right now.

You're double dipping. So, um, just doing things incrementally and letting it compound over time is extremely key.

Awesome. I I love that. And uh Irish twin daughters. You've got your hands

full right now. My my boys are 13 and and 15, so I'm well past that, but I

remember those days. One thing that I want to compliment on you is that, you know, more and more research is showing

that the impact of positive relationships and community on overall health and stress. And I mean, I've been

at line rodeos where you've got the whole family there and you're you're taking them with you when you're on the road and you're on the road a lot. Uh,

but just I think you do such a good job um prioritizing family and putting that

first. So, just want to give you a shout out for that. Uh, Dylan, how are you

learning and growing right now? What podcasts and books are you listening to? Yeah, I um I one of the books that I had

written down was Everyone Communicates and Few Connect by John Maxwell. Um I

love Maxwell's stuff, his leadership stuff and um you know I it's one of

those things where it's completely right right everybody communicates and if you you actually connect with people and

when you connect with people you establish trust and when you can establish trust that's when a lot of

great things can happen and um you know as you mentioned I'm I'm technically in the world of sales and

commodity sales at that and it can be very difficult if you don't have the ability to build relationships with people and help them understand uh their why and why you know why these things are important. So yeah, I mean I

that's one of the ones I had written down but um I am a

monthly listener to the Craig Craig Relle leadership podcast. I absolutely love uh Craig Relle for for

many reasons. Um but also his leadership podcast is is just phenomenal. He brings

on amazing people. Uh obviously he comes from the world of uh you know Christian you know Christianity. He he he has uh

uh life church all across the world etc. But his leadership podcast um isn't like

a religious podcast. He he kind of just brings on business leaders, thought leaders and they just talk all things

leadership. And uh I I really kind of nerd out and gig out on leadership stuff

because um you know being a being a father and um a thought leader as it

relates to you know how much people I get to talk to and speak to uh you know being able to share more than just heat

illness procedures is what is why I do what I do.

I love that. And John Maxwell, he he says uh leadership is influence. And I

think that's such a great definition of what leadership is and we all have influence. And so that by default makes

us all leaders in in some way. And so yeah, highly highly recommend him. He's I would say that his work has had a

profound impact on on my life and my leadership. And Craig Rochelle, man, I I

listen to his podcast every single month and so definitely would second that. Um,

what is your personal mantra or motto that keeps you motivated?

Um, mine would probably just be um I mean in general we I come from a very

strong family that's deeply rooted in faith and um you know I I don't take

that very lightly. I was I grew up around very strong uh strong men and I

believe in having a you know strong men in in community and in family. Um and

that's I would probably say that uh probably the most important part of my life is is being that to my daughters

and then obviously uh you know w with my wife as well. So, um, yeah, I would just

say family in general is just so important to me and and why I, you know,

do the things I do and why I'm passionate about the things that I'm passionate about. Yeah, I love that. Comes through in

every everything that you do and say, Dylan, uh, final question here. What is your definition of being work ready?

This is the work ready podcast. How do you think about being work ready? And what would you like to leave our guests

with? Yeah, I think being work ready is um essentially building in enough margin uh

Leadership lessons: Maxwell & Groeschel

or capacity to make sure that when things go south that you're you're still going to go home safely and you're still

uh it's not going to turn into a serious injury or or something worse. So, I think what that means is um you know,

paying attention to to your physical readiness, your your mental readiness,

right? Um because all those things are going to impact uh the environment and and situation that you're working in.

And you know as you know everybody fail safely right failing forward

essentially. Uh we want to make sure that you're you are cut in and mentally

and physically fit to perform your work safely. Um and because we want you to go

home and be able to enjoy the things you want to enjoy. I love that, Dylan. Man, so good to

spend this time with you. Just appreciate who you are as a person, husband, father, uh leader in this

industry. Thank you for sharing all this knowledge with us. We're all better because of it. How can people find you?

Um outside of this podcast? Yeah. Um I'm pretty active on LinkedIn.

You can just look up, uh Dylan Cook on there. It's Ko. uh a working athlete is

also on there on LinkedIn. Um and then you know my my my email address is very

simple. It's just my first name Dylan d y l o nworkingathathlete.com.I'd be more than happy to to connect with anybody that's interested and maybe expand on some some topics that we discussed.

Awesome. We'll put that in the show notes, but really appreciate this time. Thank you everyone who has joined this again. We so appreciate the work that you do. Your commitment to keeping the lights on, building the buildings that allow us to function, the roads that allow us to drive on. We wouldn't be able to enjoy the things that we do in life without the men and

women who do the work um with their hands. And we're so appreciative of that. And I just want to leave everyone with the thought that you are worth investing in. I think it's so important to remember that you're a gift to the world. And when you take care of yourself and you invest in yourself, you become a better version of yourself, a healthier, happier, more resilient

person. And again, leadership is influence. We all influence other people and and we can really have a profound impact. So, thank you so much for joining the Work Ready podcast. Can't wait for our next conversation. And thanks again, Dylan. Really appreciate it.

Thanks, Kevin. Nice talking to you.

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Recover Faster, Work Stronger: The Field-Tested Hydration Playbook

WorkReady Podcast Episode 2

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Lagging indicators: thirst and urine color explained

Hydration as a cornerstone of safety culture

Hydration and soft-tissue injuries (the sponge analogy)

Creatine: performance + cognitive benefits

Gas-station hacks and meal-prep strategies

Leadership lessons: Maxwell & Groeschel

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