#111 Fasting to Become the Strongest Version of Yourself with Elliott Hulse

Elliott Hulse (0:00)

All of our diseases, both mental and physical, are due to over consumption. Whether we're over consuming food, over consuming entertainment. So if we want to regain and retain our strength, as men in particular, but all people, then we gotta stop the consumption. And I think the best way to begin that process of returning to our true nature is to fast from food.

Stop eating. Counting macros is hard. Doing cardio is hard. Fasting is simple and easy.

I love it.

Siim Land (0:33)

Body, Mind Empowerment.

SPEAKER_3 (0:34)

Get stronger, faster, smarter, quicker, friendlier, more helpful, more driven.

Siim Land (0:40)

Everything the body needs.

SPEAKER_3 (0:42)

Control your mind.

Siim Land (0:45)

Welcome to the Body, Mind Empowerment Podcast. I'm your host Siim Land and our guest today is Elliott Hulse. Elliott is the founder and CEO of Strength Camp, which is a fitness business that not only teaches weightlifting, but also teaches you how to become the strongest version of yourself.

Elliott, welcome to the show.

Elliott Hulse (1:03)

Thanks for having me, Siim.

Siim Land (1:05)

Yeah, it's good to see you again. And last time we saw from in face to face was in Chicago a few months ago in November, if I'm not mistaken. So what have you been up to like since that time?

Elliott Hulse (1:18)

It's funny because I know we're going to be talking about fasting today and as soon as I got home from Chicago in November, that's when I started experimenting with prolonged fasting. So between then and now, it has been a tremendous transformation in my body and in my life due to these big chunks of days without eating.

Siim Land (1:42)

Right, right. Yeah, you do look quite different and you're much leaner, so to say that what got you into this, why did you want to start trying these fasts?

Elliott Hulse (1:55)

Well, it's funny because I first started fasting in 2002 and I did it as a spiritual fast. I became part of a spiritual community and it was, as soon as I joined, they were like, hey, by the way, this is our fasting month. And so I'm like, okay, I guess. And, you know, I had just finished playing college football and stuff. So I was huge. I was drinking protein shakes three times a day. And here they are. And they're like, well, are you going to fast with us? And I was like, okay, yeah, so I did it. And so it was 19 days. And it was sort of a little different where it was no food and no water. So it was a dry fast, but from sunup to sundown.

And my life changed big time at the time. My body changed and my life changed. I attributed it to a myriad of different things. I was reading a lot of spiritual scripture at the time and praying a lot. And so there was a transformation of character in mind through that.

But it wasn't until many years later that I began to realize the transformative effect that the fast itself had, not just on my body and how much weight I lost and how energetic I felt and how bright and aware my brain became.

That now so much new science, I mean, it's only been a past few years, all of a sudden science is interested in fasting. Back then, I didn't know what was going on. So 10 years later, I think like 2012, 2013, I started when Warrior Diet came out, started messing with fasting again. And I remembered the great benefit that I had every year by doing the Baha'i Fast.

And so knowing that I was coming up on my 40th birthday and I had started and failed at a few different attempts to transform myself, I just thought back to how rapidly and how extraordinary the transformation always had been when I would fast for that month, for that 19 days. So I decided I'm not going to wait to do a 19 day fast. I want to just start now. And so in November, I started out with the toughest part was learning how to go to bed without eating. So I did a couple 36 hour fasts and then I pushed it to 48 And then I started doing three day and five day fasts. And it was a lot of fun. I love challenging myself. And I didn't expect to lose nearly as much weight as I did as quickly as I did. I was actually a little astonished. I didn't I never thought I would. I thought I'd lose like 10, 15 pounds. I'm down like 40, 40, 45 pounds. That's pretty good. And the crazy thing is that it's not like it was hard. Counting macros is hard.