For the Love of the Map
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For the Love of the Map
Episode 19: Coach Doc - Mind, Body, Soul, and Supernatural
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Coach Doc’s website:
https://www.muchlovealways.com
Doc’s Daily Dose on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/03kmJJViS3VLi1YhZbidZE?si=qa5W3XpQTSiT4JUQgPWjeQ
For the Love of the Map’s Facebook Community:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1153000382332695/
Hi everyone and welcome to Episode 19. We would like to welcome our special guest, who really does not need much of an introduction.
MJ:No, but we're definitely going to introduce him because I mean, it's Coach Doc, coach Doc, coach Doc.
Coach Doc:Coach.
MJ:Doc's here.
Coach Doc:Welcome.
Coach Doc:Thank you so much for having me. You guys, this is awesome. I'm super excited to be here.
Julia:Yay, I'm glad you can make it so excited.
MJ:Yes, we are all excited. I think the community is going to love hearing from you here with all of us, and you know, one really cool fact that I'm not sure all of the supernatural community know about is you are a legit doctor.
Coach Doc:Yeah that's where that comes from exactly of behavioral science.
MJ:I mean, you have a degree, a bachelor's degree, in psychology, right?
Coach Doc:yes, bachelor's in psychology, master's and phd in behavior analysis, and I'm state board certified at the doctorate level.
MJ:Dude, that's really cool and and you show up in our VR headset and talk to us daily. How lucky are we, how lucky am I. It's a really cool job to have all of the above. All of your heavy thinking stuff that you do on a daily basis, plus coming to us and teaching fitness is wow. What a dream Did you ever expect that?
Coach Doc:and you know coaching football for 16 seasons and I look up and here I am inside of virtual reality, Like what. I had no idea, no clue.
MJ:You also host your own podcast. I do.
Coach Doc:It's called Doc's Daily Dose.
Coach Doc:It started a while back as a way, for I wanted my kids to have a history, so outside of both of my grandparents passed away when I was really young my mom's side we kind of have some information On my dad's side, especially being an African-American from the South there's nothing. There's no record or history of family lineage, anything Family tree. For me and my kids in school and elementary it was not a great day. So one of the things I wanted to do was get my dad on a microphone and record his memories from birth to present day and I think we did like 27 episodes. I did producer's cuts for each and then it just from that dovetailed into my own weekly kind of five to 10 minute reflections on things that are going on in my life and I'm hoping at some point my kids, when they hear it which apparently I just found out my eldest has heard all of my dad's episodes that they will want to turn around and do that with me and we can kind of keep a living record of the Harrison last name.
Julia:Oh, that's really cool.
Coach Doc:I like that that really is.
Coach Doc:I love that idea.
MJ:I didn't realize that was the intention or why you started your podcast.
Coach Doc:Yeah, I just didn't. There's nothing to be known, there's nothing to dig deep into the past, and so it's the first. I grew up just me and my sister, and now, all of a sudden, at Thanksgiving's, we got close to 30 people sitting at a table. So we have the big family we've always wanted, and with three boys, my sister has three girls. It's going to continue to grow and I want there to be some sort of record.
Coach Doc:Oh, I love that.
MJ:I love that your newest episodes. I know you took a little bit of a break, which I totally appreciated you coming back and being just so open with us. It really related to Julia and I because it was about a podcast. You know why you took a break, the reason why you were even coming on weekly and talking to all of us, and so I've really appreciated the rawness that you've come back with.
Coach Doc:Thank you.
MJ:We get to see a side of you that makes you human. You know, we really see you. You're not just the dude in our headset talking to us. You're a real person, you know.
Julia:Yeah, very real.
MJ:For sure.
Coach Doc:With my own flaws, yeah.
Julia:And I'm a new listener of your podcast. I actually have not gone back and listened to your older ones, but I'm hoping to. You know, pop an earbud in while I'm cleaning, doing dishes or doing something and and catch up on those. But I've started listening since you came back and, like she said, your first episode really hit home and had a lot of you know, heart things that went straight to my heart and I've been listening to every episode ever since.
Julia:So, yeah, I appreciate your podcast and listening to them. They're really really cool that you started that back up and I'm glad that you did. We also have something in common. I have three boys. Really, yes, they're ages.
Coach Doc:I've got a. I have three boys, Really yes. How old are they? They're ages.
Julia:I have to think about it for a second. Yeah, I know they're just growing so fast. I've got a 19-year-old, I have got a getting ready to be a 17-year-old, my special needs son, and then my youngest just turned 15. And he's ready to hit the road. Oh yeah, my. Then my youngest just turned 15 and he's ready to like hit the road. My 19 year old doesn't like to drive, but yeah it's. It's a lot of boys at my house, a lot of smells.
Coach Doc:It's like a locker room, right? No, my my oldest my oldest one. Like I'm worried about my youngest one, the most independent. Like I don't have to worry about him at all.
Coach Doc:I can let him.
Coach Doc:Let him loose on the streets now at 10 years.
Julia:Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh man, that's hilarious, that is funny, that is funny.
MJ:One thing I do want to bring up before we get into the meat of the episode, so to speak. I don't think a lot of people realize that you also offer individual coaching services on your website, muchlovealwayscom.
Coach Doc:I do.
MJ:And I think that is so cool. People can come and book individual sessions like fitness up. You know you design workouts for them, also personalized meditations.
Coach Doc:Wow, yeah, so I've done personalized meditations, done personalized meditations, uh, where I will meet with someone. They'll kind of tell me what they're going through, what they're looking for. Um, I have worked with folks on their fitness routine. It can't be supernatural related, um, I can't like watch you play supernatural and and and give you tips on that. Or there's a lot of lifestyle behavior change dealing with issues, um, because I I'm state board certified, so like, yeah, I've been doing that for years and, um, I don't promote it very much, um, and I I'm not really sure why. To be honest, I think it's it's something that I I've hesitated on, like putting front and center, and if I, it'll probably be more group than individual, cause I think you can get as much as I I'd love to help people. I think you can get more help by being around people who are in the same situation as you.
Coach Doc:So, you know, if that, if that works, then great, and please all of you forgive me if you hear noise in the background. I totally forgot that when we planned this today, the gardeners were going to be here and they pulled up right as we got started.
MJ:They want to be on the podcast. They're like hey we got things to say.
Julia:So I guess we'll get right into it. So if you were to describe someone your job, a non-VR user, like, how would you? What would you tell them? I'm sure that's not an easy thing to do.
Coach Doc:I'll be honest, I've gone to. If it is a comfortable leisure situation, I'll just say let me show you something and I'll pull out the YouTube clips of people playing or exercising or the commercials we ran or the trailers. But if I'm, you know, elevator pitch type thing, I'll just say it's amazing. We have every genre of music you can think of from every decade you can think of. There's six different coaches, all to appease whatever flavor you're feeling that day. You hop in. There's brand new workouts every single day and say you click on one.
Coach Doc:You can either box or flow, which is kind of dancing with these bats and striking different color targets. You're in this beautiful environment from all over the world and then these targets start flying at you and you, you know, you click, play. You see me, I pop up, I give you a warmup, crack a joke or two, tell you what to expect. Then we get into the workout. Targets, black and white, start flying to you from out of the portals and you're swinging or punching. And then we work ourselves out all the way through anywhere from two songs to 12 songs and you got different intensities. And we also have stretches and guided meditations and they'll go. I what?
Julia:And I'm like yeah, let me show you. Yeah, it is one of those things you just almost have to experience for yourself. I mean, if somebody told me versus me, you know, I just stumbled upon it and went in and played, I was just blown away by my experience. So someone just trying to explain that to me, I would have been like okay, that's, you know. So.
MJ:So was Supernatural. Your first experience in VR.
Coach Doc:Or had you already been in VR? Before that I had been in VR not as a personal thing One of my colleagues she was the department head over at CSUN and she took me to their VR testing lab where they were testing things like the effects on the eyes. There's a lot of people that are really interested in how people couldn't distinguish between reality and not, for example, walking the plank and dropping off the tall building. She got in it and did it and was crawling on the floor and couldn't go off the end. I put the headset on and just walked off right, like because to me I was like this isn't a real thing yeah my body and brain are connected.
Coach Doc:Saying like this is just a visual I'm seeing, so they were testing things like that, but that was the only time I had used VR before Supernatural.
Julia:Interesting. So when you went in and had your first experience with Supernatural, I mean, what was that like for you?
Coach Doc:It's funny when I went down to have my first interview audition, I was sitting in the car in the parking lot as a lifetime athlete college athlete going. This is going to be really cool and I think I'm going to want this job. But how do I sell to them that this is an effective workout? There's no way this is going to work Like. There's just not. I was just a total, didn't believe it. You know what? Before even stepping, foot, I was just total skeptic, Like there's no way.
Coach Doc:but you know, like I, I still would want to try this. And so when they put me in the headset and I popped out 10 minutes later and I was drenched in sweat, I was like, oh, this is the real deal. This is amazing and so much fun. But besides that, like I'm literally sweating as hard as if I would have played 10 minutes of basketball. Yeah, but besides that, like I'm literally sweating as hard as if I would have played 10 minutes of basketball yeah. I was sold right then and there.
Julia:I think it does that to a lot of people. Yes, yeah, you have to get in there and play. And then I mean, my first time I think I was in there for over an hour and didn't even know it and I'm like I can't imagine my life without this. So it's life changing for sure. I can't imagine my life without this. So it's life changing for sure. So what do you think it is about Supernatural that works so well for so many people who have traditionally struggled with exercise?
Coach Doc:I think it's the variety, the fun factor, the community right Like you literally can pick whatever your mood is in the moment.
Coach Doc:Right, pick whatever your mood is in the moment, right. So if it's a Sunday and I just kind of want to get loose, I might pull up some jazz and a low intensity, but maybe I had a little bit too long of a night the night before and I don't want to do a 30 minute workout, I just want like 10 minutes to get my body open and stretched. Or if I want to stretch or meditate, if I want to punch stuff because I've had a tough day, and the other part is I don't have to get up and get dressed and drive anywhere. I don't have to worry about anybody in the gym watching me or waiting on somebody to get off a machine or being annoyed and judgmental, because someone has been in this gym as long as I have and I haven't seen them lift a single weight or hit the treadmill. They've just been taking pictures. It just eliminates all of that and all of a sudden I can work out without any of those things that could be considered aversive about a gym.
Coach Doc:Yeah, for sure.
MJ:It really is fun Sometimes we just get lost in there. When you were talking about people who can't tell the difference between virtual reality and real life, that was me. When I tried Walk the Plank, I could not do it, it freaked me out. I could not distinguish between the two, and so it plays very well for me in Supernatural, in the sense that I had never exercised before I found Supernatural um at all, like no.
MJ:The last time was high school when they made me run a mile. You know like forced me. I had to do it. That was the last time I had exercised. So for me I was able to really disconnect the fact that I was exercising. I was just in there having fun listening to you, listening to all the other coaches, and y'all were just pumping me full of all this self-belief and all these great confidence-building hilarious comments.
Julia:Or the first time you were called an athlete.
Coach Doc:Yeah, how did that make you feel?
Julia:A lot of people wouldn't accept it. They were like who called me an athlete?
Coach Doc:You know, I'm not an athlete. And that's another cool thing. I don't think we talk about it much is for folks who have never worked out, had a coach, been on a team the experience you're getting.
Coach Doc:That's what I grew up with, like that's what I had from the age of four to 21 was someone being just right there pushing, and so it baffles me in a sense of like wow, you didn't get that. Like, oh, man, but the fact that you get to have it now, but so it's something I think about often is, oh, I have to realize I can't take this for granted and what this means for some folks, because this has just been a part of my life. But for some people, this is the first time anyone's ever called them an athlete, told them good job, told them I see you. You know what I mean you're right, you're right and.
MJ:I work oh, go ahead, marla.
Julia:No you man oh no, you're fine. I was, uh, did exercise and found exercise, but I never found anything that stuck with me. So I mean like three years, three plus years of me playing supernatural like nothing else stuck with me. For three years. I would do something here, do something there, and I joked with Marla before my exercise bike or treadmill would be covered with clothes after a couple of weeks. You know, yeah, that's what it's for. So what were you going to say, marla?
MJ:The whole not having a coach your whole life. You know I had people who believed in me. My parents were great, but having another adult pump me full of self-belief and helping me be a better version of me was definitely not anything I had found until I found Supernatural, and it greatly impacted my parenting of my daughter.
MJ:And I realized, you know, before that I was like, oh, I'm not, I don't have to push her into group sports. You know I didn't do group sports. What did I lose out on? You know, I lost out on a lot, and Supernatural was the door that opened that change in perception for me. And now I realize how important it is that she have a coach, that she is surrounded by other adults besides her parents and her grandparents, to pump her with that belief.
MJ:And as supernatural I know for Julia and I both has changed a lot of our life in so many positive ways and go ahead.
Coach Doc:To that point as parents all three of us here. What's really cool about what you just said is, from my experience, your guys' experience in Supernatural to your kids experiencing another coach, often they will listen to those people way before they will listen to you, and so like it sucks because you're like I'm here, I love you, but if that's what it takes, that's what it takes.
MJ:Yeah, and that's what being a parent is all about.
MJ:You know, as long as she's hearing it from someone I'm happy you know, and we're all so very lucky that we live places that we can put our children into activities and group activities and sports, and hopefully they're surrounded with strong, encouraging adults besides just us. You know, because you're right, my kid is not going to listen to me. She turns 12 on Friday and she might as well be 19,. You know, no, not happening. But you could say the exact same thing to her and it would stick, and she would just repeat it and tell all her friends about it.
Julia:Oh, kids, best, worst thing remember back in the day they used to have like that big brother you know system, and they just don't do those things anymore. It's hard to find you know people that can be there for your kids that aren't family members or and you never know what kind of influence they'll be getting from from other people outside of of your circle. So it's hard being a parent's hard man don't play me no
MJ:and it's. I tried to get her into supernatural. Um, obviously not push, because you know if you push they're not gonna do it. Um, she has played several times and and when, if I mentioned her, we're doing a big community side by side, which you have graciously been in so many of ours, and after that first one we did with you, coach Doc, I told her, I said you know Coach Doc's in, oh, coach Doc, because she's played a workout or two of yours and she's like, can I record? And so we've snuck her in most of all of our big, huge community side by sides and she, she loves that part and she'll get in there.
MJ:She likes to box more and we usually do a lot of flow workouts for side by sides. But, um, she really loves to box and she says it helps her get out of her anger and she moves around and she's just a hot mess. She replies to you guys and, um, she's funny, but I, I think, uh, I know you're not supposed to let your kids play in the vr headset until they're a certain age, but as long as they're monitored, you know we're all adults, do you exactly do?
Julia:you. Yeah, it's like when my son found out we were gonna have you on today as a guest, you know, he was like oh, coach doc. I said so I'm cool. Now he says no, coach doc is cool. So there's that for you. Your kid probably wouldn't say that about you, but they'd say it about somebody else.
Coach Doc:So I'm like all right then. So.
MJ:I do want to ask since you are a behavioral analysis, you obviously are very interested in the human brain, why people do what they do. What would you say to someone who has fallen off their fitness journey? It once was a priority to them and they're sort of just lacking motivation and you're not sure how to support them. You know us as in the community and the greater community. What advice would you give us to help others? What would you say?
Coach Doc:Well, the first thing I would say is don't come at it from a fitness standpoint. Just check on them, like who knows what's going on right, like you just checking in, like hey, I haven't seen you around for a while, you doing okay, how is everything? Like that in itself can change everything, right, um, cause you never know what's happening. The other thing is, um, the, the motivation piece. A lot of times I'll get people coming to me going, and that's the one of the number one is like I'm lacking motivation. I got to get back onto what I was doing and and when they have a session with me or talk with me, we'll talk about everything but that, because I've come to find out it has nothing to do with a lack of motivation. You've got three kids, you're working two jobs, you got two pets, plus on top of that, there was your mom or dad just got sick. So now you have to help. You're not lacking motivation. You're busy, right, you're busy. You're burnt out, and the time that you have to yourself, instead of hopping in the headset, you may be doom scrolling or whatever else the case may be. And then the other part of it is talking about people switching the framework of motivation.
Coach Doc:Motivation, we think of it as you have motivation and you do the thing. When actually you do the thing, get rewarded for doing the thing, and that boosts the motivation. So it's not about being motivated, it's about being disciplined and consistent. Get in there and just do it. Right, if someone's really saying I need to push to get in and do something in the headset, I'm like, just turn it on, that's all I want you to do. I don't want you to pick a monster pros only Just get in the headset and turn it on.
Coach Doc:Inevitably, what happens is I'm like and if you do decide to do something, think about a stretch, a meditation or a quick hits, that's it, two songs, because now it's not a daunting task, right, and they'll get in, they'll click and they say you know, I just stacked two quick hits. Awesome, right, just take the step. So that's the biggest thing for me is one. It's usually not about the motivation and getting. There's always something else going on, because it's all connected. Check on them, see how they're doing and give them a room to have a little bit of grace. You know like, all right, you don't want to work out? Cool, I'll check back in with you next week. See what you're doing.
Coach Doc:Right, and that's it.
Coach Doc:I don't ever want to force anybody or try to push in and really get them in there, because it has to ultimately come from them.
Julia:I love that advice because I see that a lot in the community. No-transcript Some of Marla's videos and my videos. Sometimes we wear a dress, sometimes we're in our street clothes, sometimes we do change. Sometimes I'll lay my clothes out the night before, so there are a lot of steps.
MJ:Sometimes I'm in my pajamas.
Julia:Exactly, yeah, it is just changing of the clothes sometimes. That is that like daunting task even for the most disciplined of people sometimes.
Coach Doc:Of course, and that's the other thing is hey, if you just did one song, that's more than you did, that's more than what had been done. So you have technically, by definition, progressed. We're good, yeah, we're good, right. So how do you balance your fitness goals with other aspects of your life? I am because I think it's in part of how I grew up, but also the training I've had with behavior analysis and self-management.
Coach Doc:I'm hardcore on like schedules, routines, right, um? So, and I don't try to schedule and routine out everything. In fact, I even schedule in unstructured time where it's like this hour, I don't know what I'm gonna do, but it's just going to be open for me to do whatever I want to do. Um, and I don't try to schedule everything. I schedule the three things or four things that are most important for me in my day, make sure that those things get done either in their time slots or just checked off throughout the day, and all the other stuff can fall in place wherever it's going to fall in place. So that's really how I approach it. But don't get me wrong, like Marley was saying, with even the more, I think it was you, julia, with the most discipline. I fall off all the time, but I don't beat myself up about it.
Julia:See, but people probably see you as Coach Doc and they probably think that you don't. But I think it's very interesting. Not interesting, but it's very important to know that you're just a person. You're just a human being too, yeah, that you have life too and you have things that take you off of your path. And I'm a natural procrastinator, so I have to work very hard to stay on task throughout my day. But yeah, I mean, we're all just human beings.
Coach Doc:I think the more you can recognize your own patterns, the better you can be about it. My pattern is discipline, discipline, discipline. I'm doing great. Okay, I've had enough.
Julia:Yeah.
Coach Doc:And then, when I get tired of that time, to be disciplined again. And now, instead of those huge dips, I can start to just kind of make them a little smaller and I'm okay with that. I don't need to be this the whole time. I don't. I don't want to be. I want to be able to have a drink on a Memorial Day weekend with barbecue food. That is totally unhealthy for me.
MJ:I want to do that. Why can't I? Yeah Question do you like banana pudding?
Coach Doc:Like legit southern real banana pudding.
Coach Doc:Oh, not banana bread pudding.
MJ:You wouldn't call it. It's got vanilla wafers in it. Oh no, Real bananas, oh man Doc.
Julia:Well, we know about the potato salad, so we're not going to bring it up.
Coach Doc:It's the texture, the texture. You're a texture guy.
Julia:Okay, Well, that does remind me I do have to ask every guest what their favorite food is. So I appreciate you, Marla, because I would have forgot and I'm wrapped up in this and I'm like I'm not thinking about Doc's favorite food right now. So what is your favorite food?
Coach Doc:Tacos Hands down.
Julia:Oh yes, casting tacos, hands down tacos, yeah same. Yeah, that was ours when, when we answered our on our q a the other week.
Coach Doc:So tacos for us, chips and salsa too. You know, eat your weight is technically my first one, but that's not really.
Julia:You know, that's a no, that doesn't count if you eat three baskets of chips before they bring your food.
Coach Doc:It's nobody knows about that it's a condiment, that's right.
MJ:Exactly. That's funny, oh man. So when you were talking about the dips, right.
MJ:So you go through periods of sort of extreme discipline, right, and then you fall off a little bit and then come back on extreme discipline, right, and then you fall off a little bit and then come back on. I think it's important if people see that. How do I word this? You were talking about patterns of behavior, and I'm also someone who is very introspective and looks for patterns of behavior Like why am I doing this to myself? Why am I choosing to not get in the headset, or why am I not, you know, spending all my attention, like I should be, on this one task that I said I would do. So I look for patterns of behavior and I think it's really important for people who are trying to make changes in their own lives to really look at that. And, you know, keep a journal right their thoughts.
MJ:I know you have a journal. It's a great journal. I've done it twice. It's 100 days and you do it back, you know, consecutively, and it really helps you get in the routine of really checking in with yourself. You know, but seeing those dips, it's like that meme that's all over the internet all the time and it's like an iceberg and what you see and what's really happening underneath.
MJ:And just to accept that about yourself and allow yourself the ebbs and flows, I think it allows you as a person to sort of forgive yourself and move forward more than holding it over your head.
Coach Doc:I think people should be willing to support themselves the way they support others, and we usually don't do that. We'll be so kind, and one of the ways I will always like kind of get, or hopefully get people to open their eyes to it. I say imagine yourself as a nine year old kid and that nine year old kid is saying all these negative things you say about yourself as an adult in their head, like they're saying them out loud I'm this, I'm that, I'm horrible. What would you say to that nine-year-old? So why aren't you saying that to yourself at 40, at 50? Like you wouldn't let that nine-year-old do that, but you're going to let yourself do that at 40? No?
Coach Doc:So, and don't get me wrong, there are times where that dip has stayed way too low, like it. It has gone way too long. But I also know why I want to be disciplined, and it's twofold. One is I I want to be able to have the full range of the human experience. I want to. I want to experience sadness, joy, love, heartbreak, right? The other thing is, like I told you earlier, I didn't grow up really with grandparents. It was me and my sister, my mom and my dad. So to now see that I've got. I'm a great uncle when my kids have kids. I want to be around for when my grandkids have kids and be a great granddad. That, to me, is something that it's so far from the future but seems so cool to me because it's not something I had growing up. That all right. Yeah, you've let yourself stay in this dip too long. Come on now. Look at your son. He just got a girlfriend. Things are like years are flying by. Get yourself back together, yeah.
MJ:I love that Looking at your future when you're in those dips like, who do you want to be, where do you want to be?
MJ:Where do you want to be? That's one of the things that I do for myself, when I see myself in a dip and then I remind myself you know what is it? Where do I see myself in 20 years? You know? I want to be on a beach with my partner. I want to see my kid out living her best life, being happy, having the full experience of life. But if I stay here, stuck in this place, not taking care of myself and doing the things that I know will make me feel better, can I experience that fantasy of where I want to be in 20 years? So that usually gets my butt right up.
Coach Doc:And I'm like let's go, let's be real y'all. When you're in a dip, for like the first part of the dip it's fun, you're enjoying yourself, but after a while you feel I don't know if I can curse on here but you feel pretty shitty right, like you do, and why would you want to stay feeling like that? You have the option to. You know what will change that Like why do you want to stay feeling that way? Yeah, it was cool the first week, right the same way as when quarantine hit.
Coach Doc:We all kind of had a really good time the first two months right, and then by year one and a half, we were like, all right, this is not it.
Julia:It's time to get out. It's time to get out and do something better with myself, right. Well, and we talked about how time goes by so fast because our kids are, you know, growing so quickly. But it's kind of the same thing. Think about back at COVID. We always keep wanting to say two years ago, covid, no COVID. It's already been almost four years, and so time is a crazy thing. So you can't stay there, you have to go, because time's going faster than we can keep up with it, so don't want to waste it.
MJ:Definitely not. I mean time, wow. And then that you know I feel like if you're dealing with a setback, lack of motivation, you know life is just so stressful You're not taking care of yourself. It's like the oxygen mass thing you can't do anything and take care of anyone else if you're not taking care of yourself. So it's important to put your health and you know, your own wishes and desires the things that you know make you feel good, not crappy. Um, make those a priority. But what do people do like? How would you suggest to help guide someone when they have an injury? So they're taken out and it's not by choice.
Coach Doc:Oh, I've been there um, that now my entire football career was finished. Um, the first thing I will say is it's okay to be sad for yourself for a second. Yeah, it hurts like, especially when you have you know something so invested, whether it be a professional career or just it's the first time I've ever had a fitness routine and now I can't do it Like feel it, it sucks and it's okay. Don't try to make light of it Like it's okay.
Coach Doc:Once you're done with your own pity party, go seek a professionals for help to rehab, cause that is a serious thing. A lot of people don't approach in the appropriate manner. Don't approach in the appropriate manner. If you don't properly rehabilitate your muscles, your bones, whatever it is that's injured, you're going to be on the sideline for a longer time and when you come back, you're never going to be the same right the other. So, giving yourself some grace, following through with a professional and then the biggest thing you got to crawl before you walk, walk before you jog, jog before you run. Don't all of a sudden start feeling better and hop into a pros. Only, what are you doing? What are you doing?
Julia:Right.
Coach Doc:Like as a football coach and a former player, if I have a person coming back off injury and you see it in the pros, we put them out there a little bit, see how they do, pull them out, give them some rest. We slowly integrate them back in to the full speed of things. Right, that's why they say like they've got to get their basketball legs under them or they have to get their football wind back, Like those things are for real. So you got to slowly move yourself and progress and again you don't don't worry about getting to where you were, Just worry about getting a little bit better than you were yesterday. Right Cause, even if you progress the appropriate way, especially with an injury, and you're doing everything right, there's still going to be setbacks guaranteed. Your body's trying to recover from trauma, essentially, and so give yourself some grace, find a professional to help you through and take it slow. Take it slow.
MJ:That's great advice.
Julia:I've heard your story and what I think the most inspirational thing is what you do on the other side. You've taken your downfall and your injury and you've turned it around to help other people, and to me that that's really cool, that you take the time to do that, because you don't have to. You could just keep that to yourself and you know, kind of in a way you know, wallow in it. But you know we've all been through things, not just you know supernatural injury or other types of injuries, but things in your real life that didn't go the way we wanted to. And it's how you come out on the other end, on the other side, and what you do with that. That's important too.
Coach Doc:Come out on the other end, on the other side, and what you do with that. That's important too, you know. I'll always say to people too, you know, um, yeah, that injury of mine, it sucked.
Coach Doc:It was a rough, rough two years physically.
Coach Doc:But also like a rough 10 years psychologically Right, um, but I got to do something less than like 5% of the population gets to do Right. I know that there are people right now who would run and pick up all of my experiences and problems and trade them for theirs. So, yeah, I can again. I can feel sorry for myself for a while because it hurts, it's real, but recognize like the position of privilege I was in to be able to play college ball for four years. My two younger sons really want to play and I know how difficult it is, and it's just a reminder for me that I had the privilege and honor to do that and so, even if it was cut short from what I expected, it was still longer than some people ever got a chance to dream of.
Julia:That is true. And then, too, seeing your boys kind of going into the same thing that you did and where and how you got injured, I'm sure there's a part of you that wants to keep them, pull them back, keep them safe, and maybe not. Maybe you don't feel that way, but just put them out there and let them go See maybe that's a mom thing.
Coach Doc:Maybe that's a mom thing? No, it's. I want them. I want them to go after it without any limitations or me holding them back in any kind of way. I'm not the dad who has them outside at 6 am training them. Right, I will be. But I told them if you want that, you have to ask me for that, I won't force that upon you. You have to say, dad, I want to really start training and if you do, I'll give you 150%. But you know it's what is, and there's only, there's only really three things that get me super emotional in the moment where, like I just can't control it- Cheesy, sentimental commercials Like I can't help it.
Coach Doc:I just can't Any kind of good, good movie scene that has to do with a sports overcoming something and they win. But when I watch my kids play ball and do something like it's part of the reason I sit away from all the other parents, because I can't, you can't contain it.
MJ:Yeah, so proud. And yeah, oh man, that's awesome. That is really awesome. I get very sentimental when I see things on TV like a dad and a daughter or a mom and a daughter. That's what gets me, and I'm just in tears. Yeah, and my family knows that about me and they'll look over at me. Oh gosh, is she crying? Is she crying yet?
Julia:That's what pulls on my?
MJ:heartstrings every time.
Julia:I think one of the hardest things as a parent and I know neither of you have experienced this yet is watching your first child pull away. The graduation was it made me me cry. But watching them pull away in their car after they get their license, that is something else.
Julia:Like they're full-fledged on their own person, you know going on about without you yeah some strings have been cut, which I mean, you know, moms are a little like we said, we're a little bit more attached to our babies. But I'm not a helicopter parent at all, but it's it's hard to watch them grow up and go on about their their business.
MJ:So it is why it's important to take care of yourself.
Julia:You know, yes be there for your kids for sure, very true, it's my.
MJ:I think that's my biggest motivator of why I initially started my health journey. My health and fitness journey was to be there for my kid, you know, to make sure that I was going to be around. And, like dog said, you know, he, he wants to be a granddad and all these things, I yeah we all want to do that.
MJ:you, yeah. So I do have a question about your coaching. So I've done a ton of your workouts in Supernatural. I think I'm almost at 5,000 sessions completed and I'll say the majority of them are yours.
Julia:Yeah, and I have a few.
MJ:That's probably true for her. It is the majority of them are are are you? I have other workouts that I love that are from other coaches, but the majority I would say at least half, more than half are all your sessions and from the start you know, back when supernatural became a thing, you were one of the first coaches and your coaching style to me has stayed pretty consistent throughout all of the years. We get a little bit more personal with you and you can tell you got a little bit more personal with you and you. You can tell you got a little bit more comfortable. But how would you say your coaching style has sort of evolved since you've been with supernatural.
Coach Doc:I think the comfort level. The comfort level in the beginning was because it was myself, rainier and leanne all three of us, we were. This is something new, like, not just new for us, but new in the world. And so, you know, we kind of tread lightly and tiptoed around like how big our personalities are going to be, what's real, what's not? And I think my, my and I think my coaching was consistent, because I methodically go about it in a patternized way, right. But I would say in the beginning I think I was a lot more of the inspirational reflection love piece and that was it.
Coach Doc:It wasn't until Game Time series came along that all of a sudden the side of me that no one knew about on a football field got to come out through headset and then I got to play within that range, right. So it's still the same style of coaching, but this side's a lot more aggressive and like kind of you know, gruff voice, where this one's a lot softer and you know. But they're still saying the same messages, just in different ways. And from that now you start to play around with stories, you start to, you know, oh, this got so reminds me of cleaning the house on Sunday, right, like.
Coach Doc:And so just over time, with the comfort level, being able to show my range of coaching, because I will always tell people that when I coached football that one of the biggest lessons I learned is you got some players who need to kick in the ass, some who need a pat on the back and some who need a combination of the three. So I learn that if I'm working with you one-on-one, but in this setting I don't know what that is, so I have to provide you what that all looks like. But it's all still me, right? The same kid that I pat on the back and I tell him good job for what he's done, I'm still telling the kid who I'm kicking in the ass good job. It's just in a different way, right, right.
Coach Doc:So I think that's what it.
MJ:If it wasn't for game time opening that up for me, I don't know if I would have been as consistent, because I think I would have tried a bunch of things that weren't me.
Coach Doc:Okay Now.
Julia:I got to go find your original game time, workout, yeah, yeah.
Coach Doc:Yeah, I've got to go find that. Julia will pop it on the screen If you're watching on YouTube we'll find it and put it up here.
MJ:So we can go go experience that.
Julia:One of the favorite, one of my favorite things that you say while we're working out is for me to close my mouth and I know you've had other people tell you that, and my mouth is gaping wide open and I'm like how did he know and I think about it now in other workouts, not just ones that you coach I'm like if Coach Doc knew that my mouth was hanging open, right?
Julia:now he'd be yelling at me and it helps. I'm like what does closing my mouth have to do with anything? Then I close my mouth and I'm like, oh okay.
Coach Doc:Oh man, so people like me that only do supernatural.
Julia:I don't know if you think that's weird or crazy, but I've thought about adding in other things now that I know a little bit more. You know ways to do things safe body mechanics, form, things like that. What would you recommend adding to a fitness routine if you were only doing Supernatural?
Coach Doc:So first I would say vary up within Supernatural. I know there are a lot of people who get locked into I only do flow, or I only do boxing, or I only do highs and pros only. I'll never do a low. Or why can't we have this in a high? Why is it in a low?
Coach Doc:Well there are people who do lows. They deserve to, you know. And so the first thing I would say is mix up the genres, mix up the coaching, mix up the intensity, turn on you know super sense like. Change it up in there first and then the second thing is, when you step outside of the headset, stop having a predetermined notion of what exercise is. So, for example, people will go I want to lose weight, and the first thing they'll do is hop on a treadmill. I hate running. If there's not a ball, an opponent or some points to score, I'm not running for anything.
Julia:Or a bear chasing you. Yeah, I'm not running.
Coach Doc:And even if the bear is chasing me at some point, if it's too long, I'm going to turn around and be like we just got to do this.
Julia:Yeah Right, let's go.
Coach Doc:Right. So you know, go and try some things. You can try to hop on the treadmill. If you don't like it, try to hop on the treadmill. If you don't like it, what about swimming? Oh, you didn't like that. Go play some basketball. You want to go for a hike? You want to try weights? Cool, you can do Olympic lifting, maybe some resistance bands, join a class of some kind of hip hop dance, but test the waters to find the thing that works for you. If, for me, you can give me any exercise in the world outside of supernatural, and the first thing I'll do if I had my choice is go play full court basketball. Heartbeat, okay, I'm going to play some ball. You know there's no pickup football, but even now I wouldn't play that just because of my age. But basketball I've been playing that at the park since I was nine years old.
Coach Doc:Right.
Coach Doc:So experiment, test the water, see what you like. And that also makes it fun because it turns it into a game.
Julia:Yeah. Right Let it be enjoyable. Just as enjoyable as it is when we put on the headset and get in there and do that. So, and I mean, if you don't do anything outside of it, that's okay too.
Coach Doc:So but I know, what you may not intentionally do anything outside of it. That's okay too, yeah, but I know what. You may not intentionally do anything outside of it, but unintentionally you will, because you won't be worried about climbing that flight of stairs like you used to.
Julia:That's very true.
Coach Doc:Yep, that's a non-scale victories Yep. You'll be like, oh, there's this hill, maybe I'll just take the car, not anymore. You're just going to walk it and not even think about it.
MJ:You're right. You're right, one of the coolest things I had probably been doing, supernatural, for about two and a half months. And I was walking around cleaning the house like normal and I realized I was squatting to pick things up off the floor where I used to just bend. Yeah, I was using my legs, I was squatting and I realized it. And I remember saying something to my husband about it my partner we're not actually married, but I remember saying something to him and being like dude, I'm squatting. And he said I know I wanted to yell at you the other day and say come from the legs, not the back. But you did it all on your own and I'm like what is happening? I'm squatting.
MJ:And then it just opened up so many um doors for me hiking and I wasn't winded, I could go. I was so shocked the first time I went on a three mile hike and I loved it swimming. I could swim laps and have races with my kid. It just supernatural, really opened up a whole new world of just living. But you're moving and being active and that's exercise.
Coach Doc:That's actually my favorite thing to hear from our athletes is not how cool the workout was, but being like I just went on a hike today and I've never done that before and that's because, I feel confident enough to do it now. Yes, that's what I'm talking about.
Julia:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think another level of of supernatural. If somebody says oh, it's not hard enough, go into a party with a group of friends and work out and talk and listen and hit targets, That'll work you out pretty good. You got to take your power down a couple of notches too, and Marla and I party a lot and party with groups of friends a lot, and you have to be.
Julia:You know you're trying to listen to what everybody's saying, Be part of the conversation, talk, and usually you know, we'll ask somebody a question during one of the hardest parts of a prosomely and they're like hold on a minute know, and that's. That's a workout, too. Working your lungs, trying to talk while you're.
Coach Doc:You're hitting targets in a hard workout and for anyone who says that they're it's not hard enough, I would counter that you're not doing.
MJ:You're not doing it right agreed, have you filmed yourself, is what? The first thing that I say when they're like, oh, I can't get my heart rate up. Uh, you know, I'm doing the highest of highs and I'm like, have you filmed yourself, let's see it. Let's have you watched it back. Like, let's, let's make you a side by side and let's see what we can change. Because you can. You can make a low Intense easily. We talk all about all the intensity levels. Yes, I will be the first to admit my favorite thing is the complexity that I can only find in pros only.
MJ:I love them not the older pros only flows, but the newer pros only flows. I love them, my brain loves them, but I can. I also just love a low and a medium mediums are my jam and because I can really focus on form and um, push myself in a way that I can't in a high or a pros only, so definitely not doing it right, y'all. Come on now that's right, that's right, oh man what is your favorite category of workout you mentioned game time really changed your coaching style, right?
Coach Doc:Yes.
MJ:Allowed you to come out. Do you have a favorite category like mood boosters, rock arts, joys.
Coach Doc:Game time got soul, hip hop you don't stop, and fuego, I mean, they all just hit a different thing. For me, um, the the god soul will would probably be my number one, just because it is the music I grew up listening to in my house. So it just brings back memories, of memories I don't even remember right, um, and they'll just be moments of like man. I remember the first time I heard this song and I back memories of memories I don't even remember Right, and there'll just be moments of like man. I remember the first time I heard this song and I haven't heard it in so long. So I love the God souls. Those tend to usually be on the low flow slot side. Game time and hip hop you don't stop is more of the high boxing, and Fuego can be anywhere in there and I just just I feel sexy no joke, no joke yeah, that's funny.
Julia:Um, so we'll end up this supernatural related questions with kind of a fun one, I think. So how many outtakes happen while you're recording a workout?
Coach Doc:Okay. So let'll see. I'm kind of a machine. I get in, I do my VO immediately. You know, there there's no repeating of songs. Um, for my videos, warmup and cool downs. I think the furthest it's ever gotten is take three Um, it's usually, it's usually a safety, and then the next one we're good to roll. Um, and it's.
Coach Doc:It's not a testament to my preparation or skill level compared to other coaches. It is a thing that I think is a testament to being an athlete efficiency. Also, these other folks who are in here recording me the director, sound engineer, producer they deserve to have a lunchtime before the next coach comes in. So if I'm there, I get there late. Or I'm hanging around and cracking too many jokes or not taking it serious, or I'm not prepared. And I'm not saying any of the other coaches do that. I'm just saying that's not the way I like to work.
Coach Doc:I want to get in, do my job, do it really really well, be done, so that we have extra time to fool around if we want to. But I never want to have my back against the wall in terms of time and what needs to be finished for my job, but also for you guys as the athletes to be able to see the workouts. So I don't have very many bloopers. I know that doesn't sound like very much fun, but you know, like that's that's. That's just how I work, it's.
Coach Doc:If you will appreciate this if your kids are playing sports, if you ever had a coach who tells you practice is 6 to 7.30, but practice doesn't end until 7.50, you're upset. But when coach says practice is 6 to 7.30 and on the dot they're not finishing practice at 7.30. They have stopped at 7.25, cleaned up the field, rounded everybody up, he said what he had to say or she said what she had to say, and the kids are released at 7.30? You appreciate that so much and that's just the work ethic I approach it with. So sorry, I don't have any cool no.
Julia:I think the reason why this question was asked is because we see the fun side of the Supernatural coaches when things are shared in the community. You know, we see that like y'all have a good time, you goof off, you play, but you guys also work hard, you know and they don't show us that part.
Julia:Well, I do sometimes, but you know we get to see the fun, goofy side of you guys. They share a lot of fun things with us like that, and I think that's really cool too, and I guess that is the caveat, because when we all are together, it's like trying to herd cats. I'm sure it seems like y'all have a really fun time and that comes across, that you guys really have a really cool, fun, awesome job and that you guys really seem like you have fun together and you enjoy being with each other.
Coach Doc:This past week we had. We normally will get together once a month as a team, but this past week we had three days in a row of stuff, or two days, and I shot the day before. So I stayed in the area and one of the things we had was like this, this big workshop. But I just remember being in this room of like 50, 60 people and it's myself, rainier to my left, mark to my right, dawana here, leanne across here and the high school cackling going on. I was just like we would have been horrible students for any teacher, like Rainier's eating chips. Right, I'm making jokes, I'm. You know, mark is sending text messages, it was just, it was bananas.
Julia:How do you get anything done around here, right?
MJ:Oh, this seems so fun, but they sure do like to pick on you and make you the serious one all the time.
Julia:Yeah, they do no singing no dancing.
MJ:you know no twerking, I can relate to, because my friends do the same to me, because I'm the one who's very efficient, and this is what we're doing. Let's get this done so we can go have fun. Blah, blah, blah Like keeping everyone on task sort of deal, that's my role. And have fun, blah, blah, blah. Like keeping everyone on task sort of deal, that's my role. And so they like to pick on me. Oh, here comes marlo. It's time to be serious.
Coach Doc:We gotta do this, but you know I'm okay if that shortens my day, so I can have more fun, yeah same, he's ready for recess yes, I'm ready. You know that's, that's hilarious. You say that. See, these are the type of things I love to make connections. Ms Ganji Hall, my third and fifth grade teacher, my best friend, timothy, was in both of those classes. She used to let us because we were rowdy boys and we both got our work done early.
MJ:If we got our work done, we could go in the back of the classroom and play dominoes. That's all you needed. Great connection.
Julia:Yeah, what do you need?
Coach Doc:Great connection.
MJ:That's right. That's right. Recess, get your work done so you can go play. Go play so funny. Well, I do want to move to some choreography chatter, because that is what Julie and I are.
MJ:We love Supernatural, but we are officially obsessed with choreography. We study it, we talk about it. That is why we made this podcast. So I don't think we've had the pleasure of having any behind the scenes chat with you about choreography and how you go about interacting with it, your thoughts about it. So how do you go about interacting with, like, new workouts and the way they're choreographed and new moves? You know you just attack it and do it. You get feedback. You're like, hey, hold on a second. I don't think this is the right, the right direction.
Coach Doc:This isn't getting my abs like this absilicious, as it should, you know.
MJ:How do you do that? How is the coach's role with?
Coach Doc:the choreography. So there are times where whether it's a workout idea that a coach has, or if a choreographer really wants to do something cool or cater to a coach's style, that a choreographer will reach out one-on-one and we'll have a session of going through like. This is what I like. This is what really makes me feel good in my body and excites me for coaching. But if that doesn't happen and I typically just get my workouts to prep for the week that I'm going to be coaching I very, very, very, very rarely send back suggestions for change.
Coach Doc:The only time I will is if it feels unsafe. Right, If I made a move while prepping and go, that's going to that tweaked my knee and I was paying attention, you know, really focused on my body. Someone who's not that could really injure them, which doesn't happen very often, and it's it's not because I'm not the fitness expert, it's because I'm not the choreographer, Right. So I don't ask for changes a lot because that's their job. I don't know how I yes, as long as I'm checking for safety, I feel I'm doing my job. But could you imagine if a choreographer, after I recorded something, came back and was like I think you should coach it this way. Yeah, I'd be like hold on.
Julia:Yeah, stay in your lane. Yeah, stay in your lane, yeah.
Coach Doc:And I stay in my lane because they are well-versed in fitness, but they are experts in choreography. I'm not, I'm not, and I've seen what it takes to put those things together.
Coach Doc:Put those things together.
Coach Doc:And the other part of it is and this is just being honest if it's not about safety and it's a personal preference then I'm making the assumption that you guys are going to like what I like, fair.
MJ:That's a great way to think about it actually.
Coach Doc:Yeah yeah. I may not personally like it that much in the moment. I feel like, eh, it was a cool move, or I could be super excited about it and put it out and you guys be like, ah, it was all right.
Coach Doc:Yeah.
Coach Doc:Or I could be like, ah, that was kind of slow. And then to come back, oh, that was the best workout ever.
Julia:It's always a crash. You never know. You never slow. And then the comeback oh that was the best workout ever. It's always a crash. Yeah, they never, probably never know what anybody's gonna say about anything. It probably. I mean, you've got so many people that are experiencing something and coming away from it with a completely different thought process. I'm sure it's pretty hard to to know how to to deal with.
Coach Doc:I'm gonna stay in my lane, that's I'm going to make sure that people are safe and I will ask for changes like that. I love interacting with the choreographers one-on-one, like we're collaborating on something and really excited, and then get to see it come to fruition. You just can't do that for every workout, though Like just don't no one has the bandwidth for that.
Julia:That's why I'm going to let Marla talk about this next question, Because she has a favorite workout and you are the coach. Yes, and you could get her like. This could be the rest of the episode, for I hope you have five hours to spend on this.
MJ:I'm joking.
Coach Doc:Not to stay here too long.
Julia:I'm going to let you have this because you need this moment. Oh do I this workout with Coach Doc? Yes, I'm going to let you have this because you need this moment, oh do.
MJ:I.
Coach Doc:This is a workout with Coach Doc.
MJ:Yes, have your moment. There is a workout and it is a high flow. The name of it is Earn it. Okay, it has knee strikes in it. It has very interesting knee strikes in it, in fact, the warm-up. I tell people all the time when I recommend this workout do not skip the warm-up y'all, warm up. I tell people all the time when I recommend this workout do not skip the warm up y'all. If this is the first time playing this workout, you are going to miss going over some stretching, some technique that you're going to need throughout this workout, because it's one knee up, alternate leg, knee up, alternate leg the first song you open up and you're like I'm going to need that renegade energy and my whole body, my mind flips everything about me. I am no longer this 40 year old chick living in suburbia. Okay, I'm someone else.
Julia:This does listen, I've done this so many times with her.
MJ:This workout is a dream. The choreography in the workout, your coaching, everything about this workout is a favorite for me. But I wonder that was the first time we saw knee strikes like that. The combination of you know, say, your left knee going up at the same time as your right knee going down. It's like a standing crunch almost.
Coach Doc:Okay, and then your body does the other?
Julia:thing and the turning and the turning.
MJ:it was very and you're turning from portal to portal while you're doing this, and the song that that part comes in the name of it is own it. Um. Anyway, I wondered when you first interacted with this map, this workout and these new combinations, how did you know that this was just going to be a challenge you have to master versus hey, now y'all, y'all are crazy. We can't be doing all this, you know um we need changes.
Coach Doc:Well, and you even said in the workout not to interrupt you, doc that you had to do this workout you told us four times to get these, as, as as athletes, you have to be able to progress your skills and master things at higher levels, right, like for an elite performer, a track runner one 10th of a second is a world breaks, a world record, or not, right so? But so if I just keep you at the high school level, well then, that's all you're ever going to be is a varsity high school player, reminiscing about varsity football, like that's it, right? So we got to continue to push the envelope because you guys are getting better. If you don't have challenges, why would you keep coming back? That's when it starts to get too easy is when you've mastered this thing and we haven't been pushing you along the way. The other part about it that I've spoken on this, I think, loudly enough and publicly enough. I don't want you to get a diamond.
Coach Doc:I don't?
Coach Doc:You know? I know points are so important for everybody and I want you to have something to strive for. I want you to keep working. I want you to have something to strive for. I want you to keep working. I want you to see that thing Do? I want you to get a diamond eventually? Yeah, but if something out of the gate every single time you're just, that's all it ever, ever is for you, why would it? You know, I want, I want it, I want you to, I want you to have a little bit of failure so that you can succeed. If all you ever had was success, you don't understand the value in failure and what it teaches you to push yourself a little bit more, to be better, to be more disciplined. So those are the two reasons why, when I saw it, I was like, yeah, this is awesome yeah, I love that it took me months, months to get 100% accuracy.
MJ:I focus on accuracy. We do too, yeah.
Julia:Accuracy, we don't. Power is like. Accuracy is what Marla and I yeah, we're all about accuracy. Yeah, I don't.
MJ:Power's cool. I understand how the algorithm works, so for me power is not a big deal, but accuracy you'll get me coming back every time to get 100% accuracy on a workout and that workout challenged me and I loved it so much. I still love it. It's in my weekly at least once a week rotation, if not more. I absolutely love that workout and it really to me it's the standard for knee strikes, Like I want all knee strikes to be like this, in highs, because it is difficult man but you coach it so great, you do.
MJ:You're like, oh, who cares, you know, let it go. Next time, get it and then, by the end of the workout you're just reinforcing, come back. Are you going to make it a priority, or are you making an excuse?
Coach Doc:It sticks with me every time.
MJ:It's just so good and man, that workout. So I was always interested. How did you decide and say I'm going to keep this challenge and encourage others to do it, or send it back and say, hey, y'all, this is a little advanced for a high.
Coach Doc:So I'm glad I got to hear that. Now, had that been in a low.
Coach Doc:Oh yeah.
Coach Doc:Then it got sent back, even if they were spaced out. Being like this is a little too much movement for a low, yeah, right, but a high pro zone, it's fair game yeah, right as long as you're safe if there's another one of these songs in this workout, that's in another workout.
Julia:Marla's like we gotta go do earn it. Yes, earn it automatically so marla loves her, some earn it. I do, and we have like our favorite go-to workout. So say, there's a week that you know not our favorite music or intensities have come out with something that we enjoy. We have something that we have in the back burner. We're going to go and we're going to get back into that. Usually a madhouse, right, marla.
MJ:Yeah, it is usually a madhouse because, yeah, we crave that complexity. You know, julie and I have been in the headset for three years, julia, a little bit longer than me. So we've trained, you know, and, like you said, you want to keep us progressing and moving forward and for us, we, we want more pros only, which is not something you coach, doc.
Coach Doc:Not very much, and it ties into all the stuff we were talking about of the reason I don't coach very many pros. Only my shoulders are beat to hell from playing football for so many years.
Coach Doc:That's just not safe for me or feels comfortable or enjoyable. A high is my threshold of like I'm good, but once I get into pros only. That's why I will do them every now and then when I'm feeling really good and in that peak of being disciplined. But my, the toll you put on your body playing sports all your life, it's real. So pros only does not. So for those of you who've got injuries or long-term ones, or even if you've recovered, like here's an example of, that's just not something I do Know your limits.
Julia:Yeah, know my limits. Makes total sense. I'll push past it every now and then, but I'm not going to work it. No, my limit makes total sense.
Coach Doc:Yeah for sure I'll push past it every now and then, but I'm not going to.
Julia:Well, I was saying we obviously have our favorite workouts and things like that, but do you have any maps or workouts that stand out in your memories as incredibly fun for your? You know was fun through your first playthrough and you still get excited about that workout and you still want to go in, you remember it and you want to play it again. You know, every day today.
Coach Doc:So I didn't go. I didn't go too far back, knowing that this was going to come up, but I did like I was, intentional on pulling ones that, like I have personally rated, based off of maps, as being amazing. I will say this, and this is not giving anything away amazing.
MJ:I will say this, and this is not giving anything away.
Coach Doc:The four that I wanted to pick all drop in June or July.
Coach Doc:I'm going to be doing them on my own social channel, but I got two boxing and two flows for you and I wrote them down with the date so I wouldn't forget this. There's the boxing gluteus that has knee lifts leg lifts, or knee strikes leg lifts, and that is on October 23rd. There is a flow rap attack that dropped March 7th, the boxing game time from Thanksgiving on 11-24. And then a flow rock boom baby from November 18th, 2022. Those are up there, outside of the four that are coming in the next two months. Those are up there, up there.
MJ:Well, now I can't think about anything else but what is coming in?
Coach Doc:the next few months.
Julia:Be excited we shouldn't rush time, Mara we shouldn't rush time.
MJ:No, no, we should not. Let's savor this. We will definitely grab those workout cards, share them on YouTube and in our group for the love of the map, so everyone else can go check out these workouts. That doc is um saying he loved the mapping and so that's exciting. Is there a particular move that you love to see in flow or boxing that maybe comes up sometimes?
Coach Doc:And boxing is my favorite. Uh, boxing on a bag or sparring with a person, which is a slip into a body hook.
MJ:Oh, yes, it is reminiscent of Mike Tyson.
Coach Doc:To me it's just like this beautiful natural movement of abs and hips and feet and pivot, and it just anytime. If you hear this now and pay attention to like a revved up high intensity coaching of a boxing, you'll see I get some of my most aggressive coaching out on the body hooks Well, I just did one of yours yesterday, your self-love high intensity boxing yesterday to listen to your stories you told and that move was in there.
Julia:Now that you say that that move was in there several times.
Coach Doc:Yes, I love it.
Julia:I'm glad that they put that in there for you and honored you that way.
Coach Doc:For a flow. My favorite move it's one of two. My favorite move it's it's one of two.
Coach Doc:Anything with a tail that brings me way out here up and over, Like I don't I should stretch more than I do, so these types of things yeah, right, but that, but footwork wise and I guess this is boxing or flow is the vertical bars to make you slide left, slide right, and I think it first came out in a roller rink workout. I love that. It's a. You could almost get the same effect by having two skinnier triangles, but you still you wouldn't be able to, you would still have to like, just it's a different kind of slide, instead of step into this triangle, step in. It's a, it's a glide across and I love that move.
MJ:Oh, gliding. I love that. I'm always trying to slide around or glide. It's like my dream I'm always trying to find a surface. I've busted my butt on my hardwood floor a few times with socks on trying to get the glide down no, you should laugh at that because, like, why are you doing that, marlo? Like seriously, why are you doing that? Because I'm just like to try new things, but um, we try things that we shouldn't try yeah, right all the time. Those are great moves, especially the body shots into the slips.
MJ:Yeah, that sounds like yeah very satisfying. Mm, hmm.
Julia:Well, boxing is something that you seem to favor. I don't. I know you do both boxing and flow, but I know you know a lot more about boxing probably than I do in flow, but I know you know a lot more about boxing probably than I do. We do notice that it seems like in boxing the intensities aren't always set in stone. Sometimes you'll go on a pros only and you feel like you're gonna die, and sometimes you go on a pros only and you're like, oh well, that maybe was a high, high, plus, and, and sometimes across the board, even with all the intensities of the boxing, we see a little bit more variation than in flow. How do you see boxing evolving over time?
Coach Doc:You know, I'm not really sure how well. My hope I don't know where it will evolve to, but my hope is that we can really get members to understand and understand not just intellectually but physically by creating it the benefits and the increase of intensity through defense Right. A lot of times when you have a lower, the boxing doesn't feel as intense. It's because you're not punching as much. But if you have a lot of head movement and you're having to get around fast and punch like it is, it's a real workout. Um, you know, but if you're just kind of doing this and then you know so. So I hope we can understand the reiterate to the athlete, like the intensity that can be created by a very defensive approach. But we've got knee strikes, I mean I don't know what else we can add to it to change it. Also, too, there's limited combinations you can do in boxing, right it just is.
Coach Doc:So I think the way we approach them in terms of the 12-round boxing championship, that I had done right dual coaches battling it out like Coach Mindy and I giving it more variety may change some of that feeling. But, like I said, there is a limitation in the sense that there are only so many punches in boxing before it no longer becomes boxing.
Coach Doc:Right.
Julia:That is very true, yeah.
MJ:And I know, julie and I speak about this a lot on the podcast that we prefer boxing workouts that are mostly focused on defensive movements versus offensive movements. Like you said, if you're really in there, you can get a hardcore workout with all the defense the slips, the weaves, the duck bars. I did a medium gluteus boxing yesterday that literally kicked my butt Like I was screaming at the duck like, go away, go, Like I was shocked at how worn out I was and it was because I was very intentionally moving.
MJ:It was hard but it was also really fun. But I definitely prefer the defensive movements over just jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab jab, over and over again straight. But I don't like that for me personally. Some do. So, having variety in the workouts is great. Something for everyone, yeah, so meditation we're going to move from choreography to meditation, because that's I feel like that. Meditation is your baby, it's your world. You obviously put a lot of great thought and time. You write all of the meditations yourself, don't you?
Coach Doc:Every single one.
MJ:Wow, and you just think about whatever's been affecting you or something on your heart for that day or week, or how do you go about writing a meditation?
Coach Doc:So when I am prepping, I typically will prep Thursday. For a Tuesday shoot, I typically will prep Thursday for a Tuesday shoot, but if I have a meditation, I don't prep on Thursday. What I do is on Monday night. I will go into either a dictionary or into my own brain about what is a single word that can capture what I'm feeling right now, this week, this past week, when I find the word and also make sure that it has been used before.
Coach Doc:Right, I pull out two sheets of paper, I put the title on it and then I number it one, two, three, four. I set it on my desk and I walk away. I do myself a rest of the night and when I wake up in the morning and after I do my 20-minute meditation for myself, I sit down at the dining room table not even at my desk, but it's a very specific spot at the dining room table and I just go Because I don't know. It doesn't often make it any time very much anymore, because it's a.
Coach Doc:It starts to sound repetitive, but the the first line that I always write is welcome to your meditation. Please find a comfortable position and set your controllers to the side the moment. I write that, with knowing that this is the title, says quality, boom, I just go. I just go and go until I get to the very last fourth page and it's usually about three quarters of the way down and it's I appreciate you much of always. Fold it up, I put it in my bag, I get to the studio and I record it.
Coach Doc:That's it.
Coach Doc:It is a very intuitive from the heart and soul, and really the secret, I think, for anyone who loves to write is I'm writing to myself. I need to hear the same things I need to hear.
Coach Doc:Yeah.
Coach Doc:I do Like I really really do. So I'm, I'm saying the things that I know would make me feel what I need to feel in this moment, and then I say and if they resonate, awesome, and if they don't, you've got 130 plus other ones to see if they do.
Julia:Well, I hopped in yesterday and looked at a few. I will admit that I am not one that meditates often and I've done your meditations and I enjoy them, but it's just I'm like jump in the headset, get my workout, jump out, and I kind of forget to leave space for that in my day. So for those of you know, people who are like us, who have trouble quieting our brain and taking that time for meditation, what is the best way to train ourselves to stay in that moment? So, I find time to meditate.
Coach Doc:So I think the thing is you just highlighted the two differences of what it is versus what it isn't.
Coach Doc:Meditation is just simply time to yourself.
Coach Doc:You don't have to be. You could be sitting down crocheting in the sun and that'd be, meditation right, the notion of it, of your mind being quiet it doesn't exist. That's not what your brain is meant to do. I've tried almost every meditation technique you can think of, and the cool thing about meditation and VR is you have a visual and you have a voice which can give you a focal point to keep your brain busy, even though your brain will still compete, and try to tell you all the things going on.
Coach Doc:Whereas when you're sitting with your eyes. I don't try to. When I do my sitting meditation, I'm not trying to shut off my brain. All I do is I think of it, as I am sitting in a movie theater watching my thoughts as a movie.
Coach Doc:And instead of engaging with those thoughts and running with them. I'm just like that was an interesting scene. What's next? And then, when I get out of meditation, I'll go huh, that was really weird, I thought of that, or that was kind of funny. And then, when you do that and you can just sit there and be with yourself, there is going to become a time where you get that complete silence and that meditative oh my God, this is what it is. What most people do, mistakenly, though, is try to chase that.
Coach Doc:When you let it happen is when it came, so it's just time for yourself which like if I were to say what?
Coach Doc:five times five is 25. What's, let me just, 12 times 25 is what? 300? You couldn't give yourself 300 minutes in a year, right? If you could give yourself at least five minutes in 25 days. Think about how much, how many, how much time you waste doing other stuff. You're right, just stop, even if you've got a million tasks and you're. I'm doing laundry, I'm cleaning this. I know I gotta go pick the kids up. If I could just pause for a second and go. I'm just going to breathe here for a second. That's meditation. Yeah, everybody's in a rush to go where I don't know.
Julia:Yeah, exactly when are you going. So it's really you're just saying we're kind of thinking about it the wrong way. I guess sometimes yeah. Yeah.
Coach Doc:The idea that you know you're going to be some sort of Buddhist monk with complete silence.
Julia:First off, I think that's what I was trained to think it was.
Coach Doc:And.
Julia:I think that's not for me.
Coach Doc:And first off, how in the world do you know what a Buddhist monk is thinking during meditation? Their mind may be jumping just as much about all the things they don't do and wish they could, or you know what I mean? Like we don't know, um. So yeah, just if you really ever want to try, whether it's in headset or outside of headset, sit down and just listen. Just listen the things around you, listen what's going on in your mind. And instead of um, I heard a really cool quote, which was think of your, your brain as an ocean and each wave as a thought.
Julia:You get to choose which wave to ride okay, I really felt more peace when I closed my eyes, like I didn't need to the the places that we go to in the headset. Those are for working out for me. So when I was popped into a location, I'm like, okay, this is. There's no targets coming at me, I had to just close my eyes. So when I did that, it did it grounded me and it gave me like so, if I'm going to do it in the headset, I loved the sounds that they played, they they overlaid some type of sounds or music or something with your voice and it was very calming and I enjoyed the experience.
Julia:So I'm hoping that I can slow down and not just find time in my day-to-day life just to slow down and breathe sometimes, but in the headset, you know, and maybe just set something small, like once a week, because if you take the time to make these for us, I think it's very important that we know that they're there, and I meant to look at the number of meditations that were in there and I forgot to check the number, but there's a lot of them and a lot of different ones that hit on a lot of different topics that you might need for that time in your life. So, and I was searching through them, I'm like, oh powerful, I need this right now.
Coach Doc:Well, do you guys remember when it first started they were attached to slow burn workouts.
Julia:See, I heard you say that in a podcast I listened to and I don't remember that, but it may be because I didn't. You skipped the cool down.
Coach Doc:I did.
Julia:I skipped everything. Just, we're ready to go. We don't have time.
Coach Doc:I'm calling myself out, right.
Julia:It's interesting that they did that?
Coach Doc:I think that is. Yeah, I think that's a great way to do them is? You're already in the headset. You just did a workout. You're going to skip the cool down? If you are, so, skip it and go take five minutes to just sit down, the same way as if. I don't know if you guys have ever done yoga, but what do they call it? Savasana, or at the end, where they just have you lay?
MJ:Yes, or you have. You lay and feel yeah.
Coach Doc:Feel the difference in your body. Treat it like that, treat it like that and then get out. And now you've got. The endorphins have been flowing. Now everything is settling. You'll feel amazing.
MJ:Yeah, it's very true, because that's how I interact with your meditations. I do them at the end of a workout when I'm alone, and I typically stretch on my own. I sit on the floor and I do a lot of just bending and stretching or like sort of mobility-ish stretches where I'll move, and then sometimes I just catch myself stopping and really contemplating what you're saying. And Leanne said something to me in a workout a long time ago the workout's called base meditation. It's a medium flow and it's an endurance song. It's a medium flow and it's an endurance song. It's like a five something minute song. And she said you know, we all have this misconception that we can't have any thoughts in our brains when we're meditating and that it could be far from the truth.
MJ:Let the feelings come. Feel them, listen to them. It changed the way I thought of meditation from that moment on, and that's how I choose to interact in them. It changed the way I thought of meditation from that moment on and that's how I choose to interact in them. And, like you said, go outside, listen to the birds, sit in your own thoughts and breathe. That's meditation.
Coach Doc:Meditation is connecting to yourself, which allows you to connect to everything around you. But when you connect to yourself, guess what? Yourself got some things to say.
MJ:This is so true.
Coach Doc:It does. It has some things to say.
Coach Doc:And it will tell you you may not like it but it will tell you we're always suppressing some stuff, aren't we?
MJ:We'll deal with that tomorrow.
Coach Doc:Yeah, and that's why people stay busy and are doing things and you're like where are you going in such a hurry?
MJ:They don't want to sit with their own thoughts. They don't want to contemplate, they don't want to listen to what their self is trying to tell them. Warn them, I mean, get in tune with yourself. It's always enlightening, and I always end up talking to my friends and family about whatever it is that your words during a meditation may have hit someplace in me, and then I'll bring it up during dinner. You know, like hey guys, you know so I was thinking, and they're always like are you meditating again in the headset today, marlon, like yeah yeah, yeah, I was you with coach doc sitting around with coach doc again, right, right, right oh man, yeah, I think meditation being a part of supernatural and you being the one who gets to lead, that is just really rad and I hope lots of people take advantage of it.
Coach Doc:I hope so too, For a minute. I think and I'm, yeah, I hope so too. I hope so too, yeah.
Julia:Yeah, we've got a couple of fun questions before we end we have to end on. You know we have to laugh, you know we have to have a good time. So if you could recommend that special someone read any book, what book would you recommend? And this is for our friend Julie.
Coach Doc:Yes, oh, you know it's going to be something that I don't read fiction and I don't want to give a like a discipline type book or anything like that. You know what book like was a game changer for me? It's called I'll Teach you to Be Rich. It's not about like a scheme of things. It's like here's how credit cards work properly and how you can call in to get a limit, increase and automate things so that you don't have to go and pay things all the time. And take this off your plate and set it on autopilot and go and check it in six months and you'll see. And it was just like I never grew up knowing anything about that stuff. School, damn sure, didn't teach me anything about that, definitely not.
Julia:So for me I think when we grew up, our parents didn't really well. I don't know about y'all, but my parents didn't teach us as much about money and how to deal with our money.
Coach Doc:No, I just knew we were broke, it was secret.
Julia:It was secret. I didn't know if we were broke or not. It was not told to me.
Coach Doc:So it is a I have a thing every month. Once a month I have a box. I slip something in for my boys for when my youngest starts 18, to give to all three of them. So it'll be, like you know, 20 something years of stuff every month. But when I, as soon as I got done reading that and taking all my notes, I slipped that in immediately. It was it just it changed the way I looked at how I can take control and structure the thing that isn't important to me, which is money, but we all have to have it to live in the world we live in. So if I don't learn that, then what the hell am I doing?
Coach Doc:You know, if I don't want it to be a concern, then make it not a concern.
Julia:Yeah.
Coach Doc:So yeah, Julie, there you go. I don't know if you're going to want to read that, but she probably will.
MJ:Honestly, she reads tons of books and, fun fact, since the first episode that Julie and I made, julie and I have made, we have said Julie's name in some way or another, just speaking about stories or something or a workout, and so when we knew you were coming on, we had to ask her all right, julie, this is how we're gonna say your name this week, so give me a question. And she just wanted to know what book, so I'm sure she will happily go read it.
Julia:She's gonna be very happy yeah, you made her day, yeah yeah, for sure.
MJ:So this is totally random and weird. In messenger you can. You know how you can emoji react to people's messages. Right a heart.
MJ:You, you, you use a heart you could use a thumbs up you. You know there's standard ones. Well, they don't really have a hug or a care emoji in messenger chats. They got this random, weird one that looks blue and weird and Android phones don't have access to it. So a group of our friends a long time ago decided we're going to use animals as hugs. Okay, I use a flamingo because I like to stand on one leg. I'm all about balance. I love flamingos, julia. What do you use?
Julia:I have a baby chick coming out of an egg. I have no clue why I just do.
Coach Doc:I mean I do have chickens, because you're the chicken lady. Yeah, I have chickens.
MJ:What animal would you pick?
Coach Doc:So I know this immediately, but it makes me Leanne will often in messages not to me, just in general, will put a dolphin and I wonder if that is a.
MJ:I'll have to ask her Is she on our emoji kick?
Coach Doc:Oh man this just made our day. But she's going to ask her and I've never asked her about it.
MJ:but okay, she's hugging you, she's giving you the care emoji.
Coach Doc:I would use a gorilla or a peacock.
MJ:One of our friends uses a peacock. I'm trying to remember. A gorilla is a good one too, because you want just a big gorilla hug.
Coach Doc:You know, and that's your energy, the artwork, if you've kept up, that's going on on my body and on my back. Yes, the two spaces at the bottom, one side is for the peacock, one side's for the gorilla okay, that's what's gonna fill those okay that, and then I've got some other things filling in the top half yeah, I have kept up on instagram yep.
Julia:I have one and I'm done. Julie says I'm done oh man, I'd rather have another baby than go through that again than have a tattoo.
MJ:Oh wow, julie, I didn't know that about you that was painful peacock or gorilla.
Julia:Those are my spirit animals well now know. If Coach Doc gives you a peacock or a gorilla, you have been hugged. That's right. That's right. I love it. Well, at the end of all every episode, we give a weekly workout suggestion and, of course, our very own coach doc.
Coach Doc:We're gonna let you give this week's workout suggestion does it have to be from something that's this week?
Julia:It can be whatever workout you want.
MJ:Whatever you want.
Julia:Any boxing, any flow, any intensity, whatever you want.
Coach Doc:Um, so I would love for people to do the first self-love flow I ever did, because there's an instruction in there that is really hard for people to follow through on. If you know, you know, okay, it will throw your whole brain and emotion out of whack. Hmm, all right, I'd say 90% of the people couldn't do it interesting.
Julia:I started with that workout yesterday and Marla was like no, no, do the boxing.
Coach Doc:He tells the story.
Julia:I did the first song in the flow, so I don't think it's in the first song. I gotta go back. I gotta go back in and I don't like partials.
Coach Doc:I'm partialed out of it there's so many people who really enjoyed it but were just like there's no way I was going to do that. But I think it is a good. Regardless of whether you do it or not, I think it's a good moment of reflection of self.
MJ:All right, yeah, we'll definitely post it in the group and make sure that it's. We have a companion app, or in the companion app we have an account that will put the workout suggestions in so people can easily go and save them. So we'll make sure that's there for sure.
Coach Doc:Yes, Thank you for that. We appreciate it.
MJ:And then when you're done, what do we have to do? We have to look to the left when you're done that workout and make sure you rate the workout. Do the needful things.
Coach Doc:Yes, let us know. Yes, I don't know if you guys, I'm sure you've noticed like we listen to you guys. We listen to you guys.
Julia:It may take longer than you want, not an instant gratification. Yes.
MJ:Definitely make sure you're um rating the workouts and if you have more to say, hit other, because that will generate an email support. We'll email you. Then you can email all your thoughts. You can write novels, like I do on occasion, um, and they will get back to you. Make sure your, your voice is heard, what your thoughts were on the workout, from the music to the movements to the coaching, and if it's coach docs, make sure you hit, love it and um and go from there yes, and we do want to mention again um, coach doc has a website much love always dot com.
Julia:And, uh, don't forget, he also has a weekly podcast, doc's Daily Dose. So we really appreciate you guys taking the time out of your day to hang out with us and hang out also with Coach Doc today, and a special thanks to you for being here.
MJ:We appreciate you thank you, I appreciate you guys and don't forget the real joy and love of Supernatural is found in the journey you go on.
Coach Doc:Much love.
Julia:Much love always.