I Used to..

Nsima Inyang (0:00)

If you're killing yourself in every session, you're not gonna last. You need to get better, but you need to get better while having each session make you feel like you wanna go do it again.

Mark Bell (0:09)

Nobody really likes to hear this advice because it's not challenging enough, but dude, I think you should just walk. You don't have to annihilate yourself to be really, really good.

Nsima Inyang (0:17)

I think if you think about your future self while you're training right now, you will make different decisions. We're not saying don't work hard, but be smart about the work you're doing.

Mark Bell (0:27)

Treat yourself like a professional, and if you want to be able to do it for a long time, you have to figure out ways of staying ahead.

I was on a run today and kind of made me think like, hey, I think this is a cool topic to talk about. As I was running, cruising down the street, a guy said, hey, I used to run like that when I was coming back the other way and doing like my rest interval. First of all, I was thinking, no, you didn't. But I just gave him like a thumbs up, like, all right, cool.

But you know, kind of it makes me think, you know, people say that a lot. I hear it a lot. I think that, you know, seeing people around town and seeing people that are like 25 and in good shape, you see, you know, a volleyball team or you see basketball players or you see various people and you're like, okay, those people are fit. But a lot of times when they're younger, you're just like, I don't know, it's just a fit younger person. Like a lot of people are fit when they're young. I think it sticks out a little bit more like a sore thumb, especially when you dye your hair white and black and you're in shape.

Nsima Inyang (1:31)

J. Jonah Jameson or Omni Man?

Mark Bell (1:33)

And you're older.

So people ask me a lot of questions. They're like, what do you do? How do you get in shape? And all these things. And they're usually like close to my age or they're usually like in their 40s. Yeah. And they'll always tell me, oh, I used to do this. I used to do that. I'm always like, man, why do they use to do that? I understand maybe they used to have a prime and they used to lift a certain amount of weight or do something really efficiently. But now it seems like they're not doing anything.

So that's disheartening to me. And it's like, man, maybe we don't have to say that. Maybe we don't have to say I used to. Cause I don't have to, I could say I used to bench more weight, but I wouldn't say I used to bench. I still bench. I still lift. I'm still in the game. I'm still doing some of the stuff.

Nsima Inyang (2:19)

You love the game, bro.

Mark Bell (2:20)

That's right.

Nsima Inyang (2:20)

I think that's one thing that can be kind of difficult. You know, cause I played soccer since I was six, got cut from college when I was 21

And when I got cut, bro, like because of my foot surgery, first I stopped watching soccer. I stopped really playing soccer. And it's because like knowing what my body was able to do with it and then not being able to do that, it really just kind of pissed me off. And in my mind, I'm like, if I'm not going to be able to be high level at this, if I don't have the ability to try to take this to another level, why am I even going to do it anymore? And that was a really, really, really big mistake. And I realized that these days and I'm playing more soccer, I'm going to touch the ball and building those skills, but I'm doing it from a place of like enjoyment rather than a place of I got to do this so I can try to reach the highest level. I'm taking the pressure off the practice. And because of that, it's just a really, really fun thing to do. And it's the same thing because when you see people, because I know people are like, I used to bench that much, I used to deadlift, I used to do that, and they don't do any of that stuff anymore.

I think sometimes you just put too much pressure on these practices. And if we can remove the pressure and learn to enjoy it and have it be like play, I think it's gonna be much easier to maintain this for the rest of your life so that you can keep running at 60, 70, 80, 90, you know?