I know the phrase “reasonable man” generally when I use it, but if I had to define it, I couldn’t as of the beginning of this post. So, I looked it up. Good grief…it’s now “reasonable person”? Sorry, no! But it meant generally what I thought it did. “Normal”. “Average”. I think we all need to be more “Reasonable Man” before we try to get fancy!

Where am I going with this?

I saw a post recently by Marcus Filly that cracked me up. It was refreshing. It was “normal”…Reasonable Man… and not excessive. In my opinion, it was poking fun of excess, and fancy, but from the standpoint y’all might miss.  Check it out HERE.

In a nutshell, Filly exposes and admits that:

• his blood work is good, but not perfect.
• he wears AirPods/headphones of some type (EMFs)
• he uses plastic containers (BPA & PLAAAAAAAASTIC)
• he sometimes microwaves his food
• he uses Speed Stick deodorant (not “natural”)
• he wears polyester underwear (old studies of men and reproductive issues with this)
• he buys non-organic produce
• he wears conventional sunscreen
• he buys meat that sometimes non-organic, non-free range
• he drinks coffee from a paper cup with a plastic lid (PLAAAAAAAASTIC)
• he sometimes scrolls on his phone at night (blue light)
• he drinks tap water

We all think OH NOOOOOOOOOO! How could he do these things?

But let’s look at this a different way. Maybe he’s our “Reasonable Man”.

• his blood work is good, but not perfect…BUT HE ADMITS HE’S AT HIS IDEAL BODY WEIGHT, LEAN, OBVIOUSLY GOOD MUSCLE MASS AND IN PEAK PHYSICAL CONDITION.

We chase ALL the things in our blood panel, but his point is “on point”. Ideal body weight (body fat within normal range) with a surplus of muscle mass, and the physical ability to do whatever he wants, no limitations goes a long way with health. He feels good. THOSE THINGS often trump chasing one little detail on your blood panel that likely represents a snapshot in time. If you’re “over-managing” your blood labs and you are not physically strong, if you’re carrying extra body fat and you’re physically limited…you may be better served chasing those three little things than what supplement you can take to tweak a lab level. Reasonable Man.

• he wears AirPods/headphones of some type (EMFs)

I seriously doubt that many of our athletes even own earbuds, versus wired earphones, but hey, stranger things… Research is limited and sketchy at best on this. However, I’d bet that we have athletes that will criticize and point out that earbuds are dangerous…and are also the ones who spend $300+ a month in supplements without thinking about just how in the hell their body is managing a vitamin or mineral load of 3,000x more than any food substance contains of that supplement…in other words, we are “overdoing” a lot of other things and not thinking twice about it, but we’re criticizing an hour, 3x a week of earbud use for maybe….long walks, training or meditation…all healthy lifestyle habits. Reasonable Man.

• he uses plastic containers (BPA & PLAAAAAAAASTIC)

I guess the challenge here is this: if occasionally you use plastic containers for meal prep or refrigerator storage, what’s in those containers? Do you eat out, and do the restaurants ever store their ingredients in plastic containers? Do you know? And then the big question…while you are against plastic containers (say for YOUR meal prep or storage), does you commercial yogurt, protein drink or even lettuce come in or do you put it in any type of plastic to store it or bring it home? Finally…if you’re at the level of worrying about this, I’d ask if you are eating whole foods 80% of the time, or are you still eating cereal, food with claims on it and buying supplements that come in …you guessed it: PLASTIC BOTTLES. This one genuinely made me laugh. Reasonable Man: are we doing all the basic right before we obsess over plastic?

• he sometimes microwaves his food

As do we. We’re busy. Actually, I eat most of my stuff cold right now simply due to time. But I asked AI if the fear of microwaves was real and it said “The fear of microwave ovens is a real psychological anxiety”. LOL! This is one where I’d tell you to ask our AI companion to give you the good and the bad (not just your religious or political norm) and then do the research yourself.  Again I’d ask how much processed, packaged, or non-whole food you eat, how much exercise do you do, how often do you get outdoors, do you sleep well…all of those things will make a larger impact on your health than that metal box with a handle handing above your oven in your kitchen. Reasonable Man.

• he uses Speed Stick deodorant (not “natural”)

The funny thing about this is that the concerns about Speed Stick and other traditional deodorants are that it causes skin irritation or rashes…not that it’s unhealthy. And guess what? When your body fat is above normal and you eat out of a convenience store and you’re inactive, you’re more likely to develop odd allergies or irritations to almost EVERYTHING. Don’t think I need to run through the list of questioning your diet, activity, sleep, hydration, socialization, general outlook (positive or conspiracy theorist…which the latter by the way is as unhealthy as a McDonalds hamburger). Reasonable Man.

• he wears polyester underwear (old studies of men and reproductive issues with this)

I had to look this up too. And again…more about irritation if you’re heavily sweating in polyester underwear…and then again, I’d think keeping a toddler in a wet diaper probably produces the same amount of irritation. REASONABLE MAN.

• he buys non-organic produce

My favorite part about his is that not all produce is even suggested to be on the “must buy organic” list because not all produce is subject to high levels of pesticides. The image below shows the EWG’s Clean 15…the 15 produce items that have the least amount of pesticides use. The term organic is mildly misunderstood and currently such a buzz word that when people tell me they only buy organic this and that…I wonder who they’re trying to convince, me or themselves? Many small farms cannot afford the time and money it takes and cost to gain the certified organic label – between $700 and $3,000 a year for small to medium farms – and we wonder why small farms are dying.

Aside from this, if someone were to have a strong desire for strawberries, which are known to be grown with high levels of pesticides, there are very simple and inexpensive ways to clean non-organic strawberries so they’re safe they’re safer to eat. Reasonable Man.  Organic isn’t always necessary and if someone is doing the majority of the lifestyle stuff right, it’s probably OK not to do organic all the time. Stand down, there, tiger!

 

• he wears conventional sunscreen

Again, just like politics and religion, this is off the charts controversial.  Who says short term exposure to the sun requires sunscreen at all? Oh wait, those who believe it prevents skin cancer, right? Correct. But what about those who believe that excessive sunscreen causes skin cancer? Those folks are right too…because that’s the size they believe. Equal weight in both sides of the arguments. THAT’s when mineral sunscreens come to play – and then we go back to …maybe we NEED the most natural source of Vitamin D after all? The reality is…while Filly is an influencer, it’s your choice. He’s telling you what he does. Stop losing your mind over someone else’s choices. But Sam, he’s an “influencer”. Yup. And everyone reading/watching his content has a full on brain, drives a 5,000 pound car, probably pays their own bills, and should be able to make a decision on their own – just because he chooses conventional sunscreen doesn’t mean you have to or don’t have to…different strokes.

Vitamin D is an important vitamin – it’s one of the blood markers your doctor looks at right? Maybe as a responsible, driving, tax paying American, you should do some research on your own and have your own opinion of this…and then follow your own advice and see how it goes. If it doesn’t’ work you’ll have actual n=1 data to make a change and re-measure.

…and you have to know this is coming….did you know that physical activity can drive vitamin D up? Muscle tissue stores vitamin D and exercise helps release it into the blood stream. Your diet, when grounded in whole foods like eggs and egg yolks, fatty fish, mushrooms and liver are all high sources of vitamin D, contributes to higher blood levels of vitamin D. Finally, excess body fat can reduce blood vitamin D! Seriously, one more reason to keep our body composition in the ideal range. It’s not JUST about sunscreen with vitamin D….and concerns over cancer…that’s your individual choice as to how you deal with all of this. But if you’re over top on one or the other side of the sunscreen issue, you had better have your body composition normal, exercise regularly and eat whole foods, ideally including those I mentioned earlier…BEFORE you get into the sunscreen debate. Reasonable Man.

• he buys meat that sometimes non-organic, non-free range

Same story here as above with the organic produce. In fact, the story is even worse if someone is telling you they buy organic beef and eggs or chicken, because organic is referring to the feed for these animals (beef/chicken) and these are grazing animals, not meant to be fed  “feed”, organic or not…grass versus feed for beef, and foraging for grubs, worms and grasses, seeds and fruit versus feed for chicken. “Feed” is usually some type of grain, organic or not, that is not indigenous to that animals diet and therefore makes the animal unhealthy. Sorry, but organic for most meat misses the health concept for that animals lifestyle. And “non-free range”, well, with the price of eggs today, like free range “Happy Egg” Company eggs, still fed supplemental feed versus foraging, run $10 bucks a dozen. If a family is buying conventional eggs and eating them versus McDonalds Egg biscuit, I think that family is doing better at home with their “non-organic”, non-free range eggs.

• he drinks coffee from a paper cup with a plastic lid (PLAAAAAAAASTIC)

Sometimes we do too! Dunkin donuts or Starbucks when we need that afternoon jolt and don’t want to wake up the coffee machine. It’s a choice. You don’t have to do it. It’s OK that Marcus does because we’re in America, right? Freedom of choice?

• he sometimes scrolls on his phone at night (blue light)

While we push that y’all get in a book versus your phone, sometimes we haven’t checked our phones all day and maybe before bed we doomscroll to see who’s kid go 1st in her swim meet, and who PR’d their back squat, and if my nephew is still staying up till 2am and dissing his homework…it happens. Sleep, however, and prioritizing the amount, the temp of the room (cold), and if you can stay asleep for most of the night would take priority. But yea, sometimes we all spend a little too much time on our phones. Knowing that sleep is best when all the “sleep hygiene” stuff is in order, THAT is key – we have a choice to do that, or not to. Reasonable Man. If your sleep hygiene is good and you are a good sleeper, a little facebook or Instagram before bed will not kill you.

• he drinks tap water

This cracked me up! I know people who will spend 5 minutes describing their whole house reverse osmosis system but then tell me they don’t get enough protein or they eat too much of this or that, or give us the 10 reasons they only make one class a week. And yet that reverse osmosis system is the priority. You guessed it: Reasonable Man…and one who often professes too loudly!

We do a lot within “our four walls” at the gym. It’s a safe space where regardless of your viewpoints on many of the things above, we all get along because the common goal is health and fitness. That’s what we do – that’s our platform. Exercise, nutrition…and a few of the lifestyle things wrapped around the goal of being healthy and fit…that’s what we do.

Sometimes, some of our athletes take one or more of the basic lifestyle things like nutrition (supplementation,  especially) or something like the earbud point above a little too far for us. We live in the middle…Reasonable Man. And until average is attained, then “extra”, “excess” or being all fancy with things isn’t something we’re willing to address. It’s no different than the basic calisthenics: everyone hates pushups until they get them, then they want and do more. Everyone hates pull ups, until they get them, and they want and do more. Same with getting to an ideal body weight, nailing a good nights sleep, and reducing stress and chaos so that our bodies can function normally…all the things we nag you about daily. All of these things come before all the fringe hacking. That’s what I took Filly’s Instagram post to be about. Think about it!