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We’re talking Kanye’s documentary, learning how to become a morning person, running, and Love It or Leave It!
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This is Joy & Claire Episode 126: Catching Up With Friends: Coach JK McLeod, Joy and Claire
Episode Date: May 12, 2022
Transcription Completed: June 19, 2022
Audio Length: 40:59 minutes
Joy: Hey guys, this is Joy.
Claire: And this is Claire.
Joy: Welcome to another week of our podcast. Thank you for being here. We have the month of May business going on, as we’ve mentioned before. So we are bringing on some of our favorite people, our favorite friends, and we are just having what I have unofficially called “Catching Up with Our Friends” episodes.
Claire: What a unique name. Come at us for all your product-naming needs.
Joy: Yes, please come at us for all your marketing miracle needs. JK McLeod – Every time I say “JK McLeod” fast, I always mess it up. Every single time you’re on, I’m like, “JK [mumbling].”
JK: It’s consistency. It’s cool.
Joy: I guess I need to “rubber baby bubby bumper” before. Buggy bumper?
Claire: Red leather, yellow leather.
Joy: Anyway. So didn’t do my word warmups for the newscaster auditions. Thank you for coming back on the show. We’re going to just catch up with our friends, and I am so excited that you’re here.
JK: Yeah, absolutely. When you reached out to see if I would come back on, I was basically like, yeah, why wouldn’t I?
Joy: I’m glad you feel that way. When we were talking offline – I’ll do an actual snippet on Instagram of your background. Your gym just looks very organized, and every time I talk to you something looks more organized. And you’re like, well this is the Instagram versus reality because if you turn the camera around, it’s a hot mess. But it looks great. Well done. Whatever you’re doing – are you watching The Home Edit?
JK: That is very interesting you mention that. My wife Emily is currently obsessed with that show. It’s very funny you say that, as there is a red couch in the corner.
Joy: I didn’t even notice that. Anyway, we’re talking visual on a podcast. But you have a good aesthetic going on.
JK: Thank you. I worked hard.
Joy: I always have to comment on your t-shirts because you always wear a cool t-shirt. What is… you’re indoorsy, you’re not outdoorsy. Claire would not wear that shirt.
Claire: I’m… omni-doorsy. Like am omnivore, both. I like being inside and outside.
JK: I definitely skew more toward the indoorsy. This shirt, it just says “Indoorsy,” and it fits me to a “t.”
Joy: I can’t remember if we talked about if you’re an introvert or an extrovert.
JK: I am a diehard introvert, hands down. Certain situations, I call it selective engagement.
Joy: I would have guessed that about you. Maybe we have talked about this before.
JK: Yeah, I think we have.
Joy: Alright, so enough of that. What’s going on in your world? How are you doing, first and foremost?
JK: Well, I appreciate you asking. I am doing well. I don’t know that I have anything new, different, and exciting going on in my world. Still doing the same. No, for real, still doing the same.
Claire: Sometimes it’s kind of nice to not have any updates.
Joy: I know.
JK: Yeah, you know what, let me walk that back just a little bit. I did just get back into town from seeing my parents in Alabama. I’m located in Illinois. Got a chance to swing down to Birmingham, Alabama, spend some time with my family. That’s the most recent. Fresh, just came back into town yesterday news. It’s the first time I’ve flown in a few years actually.
Joy: Were you on a plane where everyone was throwing their masks in the air?
JK: Yeah, there was a little bit of applause when the pilot was announcing what his expectations were, essentially. He did the whole, “Hey, just to give you the lay of the land. Masks are no longer required, however I do ask that you treat people with respect who decide to still wear them.” On each flight that I took, and I had one connect down, so four flights over the past week. And each flight, the pilot made it very clear. Let’s treat each other with respect still, and no judgement, and all be cool. I thought that was pretty solid of him to do.
Claire: I’m flying to Mexico in a week and a half. I talked about this on the podcast a couple weeks ago that I don’t think I’ll ever get on a plane without a mask again. People’s air is just gross. I don’t want that stuff in my mouth.
Joy: [laughing]
JK: I go kind of back and forth. I don’t even know what to do with that.
Joy: JK is like, I don’t know what to say.
JK: Yeah, I don’t know what to do with that. I would say, if I had to use a percentage, I would say it was less than 10% as far as the masking goes.
Claire: Who had one on?
Joy: Who had one on?
JK: Who were wearing one. And I would say the airport was about the same too.
Claire: Oh, gross.
Joy: Oh no. Do you have an opinion about it? This is all opinions, but what is your take?
JK: On which part? Because there is a lot of moving parts in this.
Joy: Masks or no masks?
JK: For myself or others?
Joy: On you.
JK: I’m being real specific.
Joy: I get it, I get it. Yes, for yourself.
JK: Situational, to be very transparent. Situational.
Claire: On a plane?
Joy: How about on a plane?
JK: On a plane? Mask.
Joy: Just curious.
JK: Yeah. And a big part that plays in that is the proximity to other people. I am a recovered asthmatic, but I still have some issues here and there. Sinus things here and there. And I just spent so much time growing up flying back and forth, I just know how germy that can be. So I’m completely down with… I have no problem with wearing a mask, even if we reach a point where Covid is a thing of the past. I think we’ve seen the benefits, especially those of us with kids.
Joy: For sure.
Claire: That is what I’m saying. Even if Covid had never been invented, I still would wish that people… masking on planes and densely packed public areas is something that I wish had always been the norm. Now that we’ve done it for however many years – as you guys who are listening and JK as you know, I have a six-year-old in kindergarten. When he stopped wearing a mask in school, we all were sick for like the next six weeks. Just with crap that we hadn’t had in years. I know there’s implications to our immune system potentially, and there’s social implications. I am not saying it’s a complete zero-sum game. But man, it’s really nice to not get colds. We can just leave it at that. We don’t have to go too far into the masking politics.
JK: As we had discussed, I think at some point on one of my – I’m totally going to drop my cool points – on one of my few appearances.
Joy: Many appearances.
JK: I think what it comes down to is when you get engaged in that conversation, what issue are we talking about? Are we talking about a mask? Are we talking about you feel like this is a freedom issue? Different things like that. For me, I tend to be completely fine with something that I feel like may give me a better chance at either not getting sick myself. Not even just Covid, just in general. Or potentially, I’m around a lot of people day to day, me not getting someone else sick. Especially because I was going to visit family and family friends where the average age was over 60. I just know as much as I move around and interact with people, if there’s something I can do that is, for me, zero inconvenience – zero inconvenience. I’m the dude with glasses and a beard, and I somehow can make it fit. I’m good.
Joy: You’re good.
JK: There’s a lot to work with.
Joy and Claire: Yeah.
Claire: You have a lot of facial variables.
Joy: I didn’t even think about that. What does it feel like?
Claire: Joy is patting her face.
Joy: I’m squishing my cheeks.
JK: We are doing a lot of visual stuff today.
Joy: We should just release, for the first time, on YouTube. You heard it here first.
Claire: No. No.
Joy: Never.
JK: Are you having PTSD from some of the former YouTube episodes?
Claire: People are like, “When are you going to release your stuff on YouTube?” Do you have any idea how hard it is to update the website, put out reels, write captions, respond to DMs, remember to send people the Calendly link without having to ask 30 times for it – shout out to Zach Anderson for not giving up on me. I can’t do that. Let alone, YouTube. What do you think I am?
Joy: We always talk about if we had an assistant. But then I’m just like, that even feels like a lot of work.
Claire: And we’d have to manage the assistant.
JK: It’s a tough life, you know.
Joy: Anyway, we’re talking about masks. I’m talking about masks. So aside from that, we don’t have to go down that road. But I do want to ask you because I love your podcast Help Me Understand because it really does challenge us to try to understand one another. I have a hard time – and I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this – I do have a hard time where it turns into a freedom thing. Where there’s a lot of people who could get really sick if we don’t wear masks. That’s something that I have a hard time. Especially when parents are influencing their kids, where the kids are going to school and they are just like, “No masks!” It just feels really icky to me. But there’s people who will write us and be like, “I have a really life-threatening illness that if I get sick, I’m really going to be sick still. Covid is not over for me.” That’s really hard for me to think about when people are throwing their mask in the air on planes. No. No. This is not graduation.
JK: I briefly mentioned that I was visiting family. Some more context behind that is that my mom is in her early 70’s, and she is still working full time. She works in an extended care/rehabilitation/hospice facility. So I want to be as responsible as I can. Because again, I don’t know what I’m carrying. I have no idea. Just because I feel completely fine doesn’t mean that I may not carry something. Again, I don’t think from my standpoint that this is something that’s Covid-specific. I was the kid that growing up, I was the cool kid that always had a pocket pack of Kleenex in my back pocket. Yeah, that made me real cool.
Claire: And your inhaler and your little water bottle pouch.
JK: You bet. You bet. I was always used to having the sniffles and different things like that. I just noticed that when I was in places where masks were required, more and more often, I just noticed after reflecting after a few months, I’m not walking around sniffling all the time and things like that. It does speak to the introvert in me that people do tend to keep their distance a little more voluntarily. Versus, I was the person way before masks who would be like, would you mind moving back just a little bit for me? I try to do it in the nicest way possible. Personal space.
Joy: Oh, personal space is a big thing for you?
JK: It is. It’s a thing for me.
Claire: I don’t want to breathe your air. Never have, never will.
Joy: I have to watch myself sometimes because I’ll get adjacently confrontational. I was at Costco the other day – meaning, I will get confrontational but not to the point where –
Claire: Keep telling the story. Joy is going to get in a fight at Costco. Keep telling the story.
Joy: Yes. I was in line at Costco at the pharmacy because they sell JT’s – who knew they sell vet things at Costco? I was waiting in line to get these great chews for JT. Waiting, waiting. And the guy behind me was so close to me. Scott was standing next to me. I looked up and was like, that guy is standing way too close to me. I know that the guy could hear. But things like that, I can’t control it. It flies out of my mouth. I could easily turn around and be like, could you? I just looked at Scott and was so aggravated.
Claire: That’s so passive aggressive, I just love it.
Joy: Yes.
Claire: It’s like the definition of being passive aggressive.
Joy: It’s one thousand percent passive aggressive. That’s where I get worried sometimes. I will be the person that if I am running on the road and a car gets too close to me, I will do the hand gesture like, “What the fu…” One of these days, that’s going to be my downfall, I think.
Claire: You’re going to get smacked one day.
JK: Yeah, I’m not very good at the passive aggressive thing. I just say it.
Joy: I don’t know if you should be good at passive aggressive. I think it’s not a good thing. I don’t think we should strive to be good at it.
JK: Yeah, I’ve definitely received some coaching and feedback on that, mostly from my wife. Who is like, you don’t always have to say what you’re thinking. I’m trying to get better at it these days.
Joy: And in relationships, it’s a different issue. Relationships, it’s really easy to go passive aggressive as a default. Real easy.
JK: This is very true. Very true.
Joy: Speaking of passive aggressive, can we talk about Kanye?
JK: Oh boy. Yeah.
Claire: I’m just going to say now that I am just going to step to the side of the court for this conversation.
Joy: This will just be a moment. JK and I have texted quite often about Kanye and his downfall.
JK: Yeah, it’s a whole saga.
Joy: But I do want to talk about, just briefly, because you watched the documentary series Jeen-Yuhs. So give us a run down in your thoughts around that whole situation of what’s going on with him.
JK: Yeah. So to provide context – as always. I think I’ve said before, it might be my favorite word.
Joy: It’s your favorite word, and we love you for it. It’s always context. We love to know exactly where you are coming from.
JK: And I think it’s important because I feel like most people, especially within our age range adjacent – I like that word “adjacent.”
Joy: I overuse it, but it’s okay.
JK: It’s okay. Just go with it. Have a particular either music artist or popular person that at some point they felt like this person’s art or their craft really speaks to me. For me, Kanye West was that particular person. I was the guy that dropped out of college. I was the guy that felt like I always had this different way of thinking about things and whatnot. And 2004 or 2008 when College Dropout came out, whenever that album came out –
Joy: I think it was ’08 because it was near the year I got married.
JK: So in 2008 when that album came out, it’s one of the first concerts that I had actually been to, one of the first hip-hop concerts I had been to.
Claire: Fact check, 2004.
JK: ’04, okay.
Claire: I can contribute. I contributed.
JK: The facts person, yeah, I like it. So ’04, now I remember because I went to a concert in ’04, another one in ’08, and another one in 2013. At that time in 2004, a very pivotal time in my life. Pre first child. Like everything, just trying to figure out who am I, what do I want to do with my life, that sort of a thing. And his music just really spoke to me. Over the years, just watching the evolution of not only his music, but also him as a personality and watching that change, it was something that just, quite honestly – and I told you this when we were texting back and forth when you were asking me, “What do you think?” You probably would believe the number of people who reached out to me because they know I’m such a Kanye fan, who were like, “What do you think?” I was like, I honestly haven’t watched it because I’m not ready yet. So I sat down traveling back over this past week, I finally watched it. Because no distractions. I’m just going to check this thing out. And the vantage point that it was told from, for those that have not watched it, it’s on Netflix, and it’s a three-part series, right around two hours long.
Joy: Yeah, pretty long.
JK: And the two guys who produced it, Coodie and Chike basically grew up with Kanye.
Joy: Yeah, it’s kind of amazing. It’s kind of amazing the footage they have. We’re talking baby Kanye sitting in front of his house.
JK: Yeah, way back in the day.
Joy: Yeah, way back in the day. It’s crazy the footage.
JK: So long story short, the vantage point and the perspective that Coodie tells this documentary from, it hit so close to home for him to share his perspective and through his eyes, him watching the old Kanye to the ascension to when Kanye hit it big. And from my perspective – I’m not giving away any details, and everybody knows – basically hit a point where after doing Kanye’s first video, being with him when they were still calling him “Cayenne” and “Cane” and things like that.
Joy: Like, who are you? Yeah, it’s crazy when you see those clips when people are like, “I’m sorry, what was your name?” Oh my God. It’s crazy.
JK: It was nuts. But being able to watch that whole thing, especially near the end, you can tell that it’s very tough for him to continue to film this. And there’s even points where he’s turning the camera off and says, “I can’t do this.” And getting kicked out and then brought back in. Overall, I thought it was super impactful. I think for those who have not really been in that Kanye camp of watching the evolution over the years and have only seen these past few years Kanye.
Joy: His “downfall” and the things he’s done.
JK: Yeah. I think this would open a lot of eyes.
Joy: I agree.
JK: I remember going to a Kanye show in 2013 or 2014 when he did the Yeezus Tour in Chicago. This was after his mother had passed away.
Joy: Yes.
JK: I got a chance to hang out with his cousins at that show. It was just a random twist of fate. I got invited to the show by one of his aunts. Even they at that show said, “Dude, he’s just never been the same.” He’s never been the same.
Joy: Since his mom passed away, yeah.
JK: You can see it. Their relationship. His mom was rapping his songs. His mom knew his stuff word for word. So it was just a really tough thing for me to watch. And now for me to see some of the really – my opinion – abusive behavior, the verbally abusive behavior. It’s just tough. It’s really tough to watch. It’s so hard to separate the artist from the person. You think, how much of this is life being imitated in your honor or vice versa.
Joy: Yeah. I think the thing that you and I talk about offline or through text. You want to support him as an artist because he influenced you so much. But to watch what a hard time he’s having, it’s similar to when you see Britney and what’s going on with her. Now granted, I think she was a victim of a lot of really horrible things. But how much fame plays into that and how much people’s eyes on you at all time, I can’t imagine. I cannot imagine. Same thing of Michael Jackson of watching – that one, I think, hit really hard for me because his music shaped my childhood. “Thriller” was life-changing for me and I think a lot of people, watching that video. Then later you try to marry the person of the things that they did but the art that they created. When he was starting to do all that very controversial stuff of supporting Trump and wearing a Trump hat, what were your feelings when that was going on?
JK: I’ve never been – that I can recall. I don’t want to do revisionist history. But to my knowledge, I’ve never been one to get my political influence from anyone other than potentially my parents and that’s about it. To be totally up front with you. So I was not someone who felt like, “Oh okay, Kanye supports so-and-so, so that means I should.” That was a very clear sign to me, it’s time to start making it clear when someone says, “Oh, you like Kanye?” Yes, I love his [with emphasis] music. I started noticing myself being very specific about what I liked and didn’t like.
Joy: Yeah.
JK: So it didn’t affect me as much. But I also think it’s one of things that a lot of the creative geniuses out there are a little quirky and a little weird.
Joy: It’s true. Not that I know them personally, but I think you have to be in order to be in that world. I think you have to be in order to be in that world. Anyway. I’m glad we covered Kanye. I feel like we could probably do an entire series about that documentary. But it was great. I do recommend people watch it. Creatively, culturally, human behavior. It’s a really good thing. Let’s take a quick break and talk about our favorite sponsors, Ned, the makers of our favorite CBD products. This month, Ned would like you to improve your sleep. We love the Sleep Blend. We love the Mellow Magnesium. One of the best products that they have is their Sleep Blend. Claire and I talk about it all the time. It really does help your sleep. If you want to tackle any of your sleep problems, get on the Ned train. Their products are third-party tested. Full transparency. You can go on their website and see everything from where the farmer lives to how they third-party test their products. And everything comes with a money back guarantee. You can support the podcast by supporting our great sponsor, Ned, by going to helloned.com/JOY or enter code JOY at checkout. That’s helloned.com/JOY to get 15% off. Thank you, Ned, for sponsoring the show and offering our listeners and natural remedy for some of life’s most common health issues.
Claire: Alright, now it’s my turn to talk to JK. We did not plan on taking turns, but I really don’t have anything to say about Kanye, except that I really like the song “Gold Digger.” That concludes my experience with Kanye. I dance to it at a lot of bars in college, so there you go. So one of the things I talked about on a recent episode is that you have been heckling me about waking up early in the morning, and you fired back that one person’s heckle is another person’s support. Which to be clear, I do feel supported/heckled. Supported in a big brother heckling sort of way where he’s doing it out of love. You also had recently mentioned that you were going to think about starting running, even though you didn’t consider yourself to be a runner. Similarly to how I’ve started working out early, even though I don’t consider myself to be a morning person. I offered that being in denial about your personality traits actually helps manage expectations. I wanted to talk to you about these limiting beliefs we have about ourselves. Or not even limiting, but these beliefs that we have about ourselves that we might not even realize are limiting. I will also say, the morning thing. I was almost nervous to be posting about that all the time because I have made this big deal about not being a morning person, and now here I am working out in the morning. If I were to start running, I’ve made this huge deal about not being a runner. What if I were to start running? I’m sure I build that way more up in my head than anyone else. Everyone else is like, “Oh, Claire is working out. Moving on with my day.” And I’m just curious, does that truly show up for you in running? Does that show up for you in other areas? How are we sabotaging ourselves here?
JK: Well, first of all, I do appreciate the fact that you at least entertain my heckling. It is truly meant to be support.
Claire: I do love it.
JK: I think back to the time when I myself transitioned into training in the morning. I was not always a morning person. Actually, when I first started going to the gym on a regular basis voluntarily, it was usually around 8 or 8:30 in the morning after I dropped my daughter off at daycare. I would go to the gym and then start searching for a job because I had been let go from a job. So going to the gym even was something that was new to me. Talk about limiting beliefs and self-sabotage. That was at the age of 30 or 31. So prior to that, I had not on purpose stepped into a gym at all. All the time, I would make fun – quite honestly, I made fun of people who were always all about let’s go to the gym five days a week or six days a week or whatever they were doing. A lot of it was around the story that I told myself because of my battles with asthma. I felt like I can’t do that. That sort of a thing. Part of it is just me projecting my own issues on you. Thank you for at least handling that for me.
Joy: We all do it.
JK: Appreciate that. Yeah.
Claire: We’ll take them.
JK: But I think going back to the original topic, I myself, I’ve never identified myself as a runner. It’s not something that I’ve ever really been into. And I also know that there are benefits to it. I did mention after listening to your episode with Coach Klutz – that’s what I call her. I think that’s what she goes by, right?
Joy: Kelly Lutz, Coaching Klutz, yeah.
JK: So it was really interesting that that episode came out right at the time that the sign-up period for a running challenge at my gym was about to close. There was a few different tracks you can do. It’s called the modest mile or some sort of 5k thing or something else. I don’t even know the names of the other two because I was like, modest mile all the way. That’s my program. My normal routine is I pop on your podcast on Thursday mornings, usually around 4am or so, on my way into the gym. I listen to it that morning. And then, I’ll be straight up. The tipping point is that the gym advertised this really cool t-shirt that came if you sign up. So I was like, well, that’s just a win-win.
Joy: You do love a good t-shirt.
JK: I do love a good t-shirt. So I think that really, from my perspective, I think we identify or we say these things that we could never be or “I know I am never going to do that” because – and let me say, I have noticed that when I do that, it’s because I have some particular image of what that thing is supposed to be. So for example, if it was the morning person. Okay, so that means that I have to be super happy about getting up in the morning to work out. That means that I’m going “beast mode” in the morning, and I’m just going balls to the wall. I’m just going crazy and I’m doing these crazy workouts. When it could be, you know what, I get up. I work out for about 20 minutes. And I can’t play that off. I’m sorry.
Claire: I’m sorry. I was trying to lean in interestedly, and instead I hit my head on my microphone.
JK: Nothing will ever beat the kneading dough thought. That will never be topped.
Claire: Guys, here’s my problem. And then we’ll come back to what you were saying because it’s important. I have no poker face. None whatsoever, on anything I ever do in my life. Even if I am at the hair stylist and she’s like combing my hair and it hits a little snag, I make this face and she’s like, “Are you okay? You’re acting like I just ripped out half your head of hair.” I just can’t control it.
JK: Very reactive.
Claire: My face just does this without permission.
Joy: You don’t hide your emotions, yeah.
Claire: I don’t hide my emotions. But it’s not even emotions. It’s normally the facial version of me being like [loud reaction].
JK: Good to know.
Claire: Go on. It’s not you. It’s my face.
JK: On that note, I think that there is a bit of that perfectionist, all or nothing piece that trickles into the story that I’ve told myself. And working with quite a few clients where we’ve broken through some of the self-limiting beliefs that they’ve had. A very common theme that I tend to see in myself and other is that we usually have this picture of if I’m a morning person or if I’m a runner or if I’m somebody who is insert whatever label you want to here. It’s because it’s based on, as growing up, what we saw as this is the picture of that. I think now when you bring social media into it too. I remember even having that feeling – it definitely goes into that imposter syndrome piece – before I was able to switch to putting “Coach” into my Instagram name. Because in my head, I’m thinking all of these other people that I’ve followed that are lightyears ahead from a knowledge standpoint. I remember being like, this is a really big move. I’m going to put “Coach” in front of my Instagram handle. That’s my opinion on it. I think a lot of it has to do with the story that we tell ourselves about someone who identifies as this does. It’s usually based on not the reality for the majority of people.
Claire: I think that’s really true. For me, that’s why I’ve been trying to be maybe overly hammering the point to people that, hey, I don’t actually like getting up in the morning. There’s not some magical transformation that’s taking place. I just don’t have a better option. You don’t have to be a morning person. Your eyes don’t have to spring open and with birds chirping to get you dressed in the morning. That’s the vision I have of morning people is like Joy who wakes up and is like, I’m up and I’m drinking my tea and I’m listening to my podcast and I’m walking my dog. It doesn’t matter what else is going on. I always joke that when Joy and I go on trips together, I wake up and I check our Instagram stories to find out where Joy is. It will be like, she’s on the pier on a run. Where’s Joy? Oh, she’s on the Santa Monica pier. I’m going to go back to sleep.
Joy: [laughing] It’s true though.
Claire: That’s literally how I do it.
Joy: She doesn’t have to text me. Just check my stories. That’s like our GPS system.
Claire: And then I have that same belief around running, that thought recently of I want to try trail running or I want to try a race. But what are people going to think? Are they going to think, “Why would you do that? You’re not a runner.” I’m going to get out there and have to walk half the way. That’s not what runners do. I don’t have the innate love for it. I’m not going to just be out there and – I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a runner’s high. I am just putting this out there. I think people who say they love being pregnant are lying, and I think that the runner’s high is a myth. Those are my two things that I don’t think are real.
JK: You’re just straight going to choose violence right now.
Claire: Those are the two flags in the sand that I am willing to just plant. No one likes being pregnant. And no one actually gets a runner’s high. It’s like that guy who is on campus with the “prove me wrong” sign. It’s me.
Joy: I think it’s a fair argument. I feel the same way about people who are like, “I married my best friend.” I’m the same way. No, you didn’t.
Claire: Are they still your best friend?
JK: Oh man.
Joy: I don’t think anyone is married to their best friend. Prove me wrong.
Claire: Prove me wrong.
JK: Boy. I think something else that comes to mind in this particular conversation is that what can be a challenge too though is sometimes you start this thing and you’re really hard and heavy after it for a while. Just because you, say, right now you are five days a week getting up and getting in the gym and getting the workout done, that doesn’t necessarily establish what the benchmark or what the baseline, I guess, has to be every single week. I think that’s a thing that’s really important too. It goes back to that piece of consistency. I talked about it here and in other places before. Consistency is different from season to season. Very often, I will have folks that maybe start something that’s new for a while. And then I’m not trying to be the Darrell Downer here, but they hit a point –
Claire: Darrell Downer.
JK: Yeah, I feel like it’s been Debbie for so long.
Joy: Poor Debbie, she gets a bad rep.
JK: My wife has an aunt named Debbie. All Debbies aren’t bad. If there is a Darrell, sorry buddy, but that’s fine. But I think that there will come a point where there is a season. Maybe it’s weeks, maybe it’s months. Where 4-5 days a week is not something that fits into the schedule. That doesn’t mean that all of the sudden you’ve become inconsistent. I think that’s what I try to really encourage people. Once they’ve made that move to do something new, let’s talk about what you’re putting in place to keep that happening and then realize that consistency is not necessarily going to be a number. It’s about you trying to do what you can more often than not.
Claire: I love that you said that about consistency because I’ve experienced that a lot in even short-term seasons recently. Where for a month I’ll be able to work out every day, and then for two months it will be more like once a week, and then for two weeks I’ll be back in the gym every day. What I have learned along the way is that sometimes actually making it to the gym once a week is a lot more effort than making it to the gym every day in certain seasons. Really, the only constant I can hold is the amount of effort I’m willing to put towards it. That amount of effort, given whatever the millions of other factors are in my life and in my schedule and in the world around me, will either express itself as getting to the gym at 5 o’clock in the morning five days a week. Or it will express itself as getting to the gym one Saturday a month because that’s all I could fit in. I’m not going to go past that level of effort. Not to say that I couldn’t, but it would be at the detriment of other things that I value. And that’s what I finally have realized. If I push that dial too much further up just to maintain this habit for the sake of habit, it’s not worth it. We’re almost out of time, but I want to do a few quick “love it or leave it” with you. I’m excited to hear your take on some of these things.
JK: Rapid fire.
Claire: Rapid fire.
Joy: Rapid fire.
Claire: Well you had some great rapid fires. Let’s start with these. Currently obsess with fill in the blank. TV series.
Joy: Oh my gosh, I am currently obsessed with Selling Sunset, the latest season. And Married at First Sight, but it’s okay.
JK: Oh my gosh, that show is such a train wreck.
Joy: It’s so bad. It’s so bad. But the perfect check out. I need a check out. I need to check my brain off. Okay, go.
JK: Yeah, my current obsession, which they just had the last episode of the season, it’s a spinoff of the Power series on Starz. It’s called Force. Power: Force. So anybody who is into the Power series, it’s a 50 Cent production. I was a big fan of The Wire. If you love The Wire, you will dig Power. They’ve had three or four spinoffs now. So Power: Force. It is definitely not safe for work, kids, or anything.
Joy: Okay.
Claire: Okay, watch with the headphones on. I don’t have one. I don’t. The last series that I watched was Boba Fett and the last episode of that was in February.
Joy: You’re not obsessed with anything at all?
Claire: TV show wise?
Joy: I was going to say. Anything?
Claire: So currently obsessed with… the prompt was TV series.
Joy: Oh, I thought it was just obsessed with blank.
Claire: No. I don’t have a TV series I’m obsessed with because I don’t watch TV. Okay. Currently obsessed with… is there an activity that you’re currently obsessed with?
Joy: Well, I have a race coming up, so I’m obsessed with training for that.
JK: Walking. I’m so obsessed with walking right now.
Claire: Okay. Hot take. Mine is not drowning, AKA surfing which I’m going to go do soon.
Joy: Yay.
Claire: By the time you guys hear this, I will have already done it and hopefully not drowned.
JK: That’s right. The renegade rows.
Claire: So many renegade rows. This program I’m doing has so many dumbbell flies.
JK: Oh, perfect.
Claire: I know. For surfing, I feel like it is actually pretty perfect. And then today I had to do a bunch of frog pump squats. Which I’m about to do a reel of the most awkward moves to do in a public gym when surrounded by 60-year-old men.
Joy: Yes. Do it. Oh my God, so awkward.
JK: Can I let you know that the awkwardness is not gender specific.
Claire: Got it. Universally awkward.
JK: Yeah. I hip thrusted and glute bridge a lot. Yeah. That’s why I usually don’t have my glasses on. I have my hat down over my head because I can’t make eye contact.
Joy: [laughing]
Claire: If you can’t see anyone else, they can’t see you while you’re hip thrusting. That logic checks out. Okay. Love it or leave it – working out in the morning?
Joy: Love it.
JK: Love it.
Claire: I wish I could leave it, but I have to love it.
JK: Don’t’ deny your destiny.
Claire: Air fryers?
JK: I love it. I’m a big fan of air fryers.
Joy: Leave it because I don’t use it.
Claire: Joy doesn’t cook. I love the air fryer. I love it. Wine slushy/other adult slushy drinks? I love it.
Joy: Leave it.
JK: Leave it. I actually don’t drink, so that’s an easy one.
Claire: Fair enough.
JK: And I still maintain my sanity, it’s kind of crazy.
Joy: That’s great.
Claire: Everything Bagel seasoning? Love it.
Joy: Everything Bagel… you know, if I used it – I have it in my house, and it really is delicious, but I don’t cook or have any reason to use it.
Claire: You kind of forget about it.
Joy: I kind of forget about it.
Claire: Well I put it on everything.
JK: I’m a leave it guy on that. If I’m putting anything on a bagel, it’s cream cheese.
Claire: Fair enough. But the thing is it makes everything else taste like an everything bagel.
Joy: Taste better, yeah. He disagrees.
JK: Yeah.
Claire: Athleisure in the workplace?
Joy: Oh man. I’m going to leave it.
Claire: I’m going to have to leave it. In-person workplace, leave it. I was at work the other day, and I work in a very big building full of people who are just coming back to work and a lot of young people. I was standing in line, and this guy is in cut off sweat shorts. I was like, you are getting paid to be here, sir. Put on a pant.
JK: I will surprisingly, I think to some people, I have to say leave it. Because just because you can doesn’t mean you always should.
Joy: Yes.
Claire: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
JK: Yeah.
Joy: That’s a great one.
Claire: I have some beliefs that are maybe antiquated, and maybe we are all dating ourselves here. But I just think if you’re getting paid to be somewhere, you should put on an outfit of… make me think that this wasn’t just the first thing on the floor when you woke up.
Joy: Exactly.
JK: Like, I ironed your athlete shirt.
Claire: Sure. If you’re coming into the office in Gucci sweatpants, fine. Those have been hanging in your closet? I accept. If you’re walking in in something that you easily could have slept in, get out of here with that. I also feel very strongly about this with closed toes in the workplace. There are 1% of people that can do this correctly, and most of them I don’t want to see your hairy toes. I just don’t. Put on a shoe. You’re getting to be here.
JK: This is such a controversial topic. Especially because do you know the new Abercrombie documentary just came out? Or you probably didn’t know that.
Joy: I can’t wait to watch that.
Claire: No. Why? Can you not wear flip flops at Abercrombie?
JK: No. There’s a whole cookbook.
Claire: Oh, I did know about the look book. I had a friend that worked at Abercrombie in 2002.
Joy: They would rank people on their looks. Yeah.
Claire: Did you really? How many polos did you wear at one time?
JK: Well, keep in mind, I was also a massive Kanye West fan. So I’ve done the double polo, black and pink.
Joy: Of course you have.
JK: But yes, that was my first job in college actually.
Claire: Wow, in college.
JK: Yeah.
Claire: Any time I see these 2000’s parties cropping up, which first of all, I don’t know how old that makes you feel. It makes me feel real old. But almost no one is wearing a double to quadruple popped collar polo. I’m sorry, you are not at a party in 2004 if somebody didn’t have at least four polos on.
JK: No. With the front tuck.
Claire: And the studded belt.
JK: Yeah. I didn’t do studded belt. I did do the front tuck and whatnot. I don’t know how I got hired there, but I did.
Claire: Well, it’s because you’re dashing looking and smell of $40 cologne.
JK: That’s a legit thing. You had to use half a bottle the first few hours of the day. You had to spray, spray, spray until you got through half a bottle.
Claire: Honestly, that cologne is like a core memory for me.
Joy: Oh my gosh, every time you walk by the store, you’re going to pass out.
Claire: I’m transported to the 8th grade formal.
Joy: I’m like, I’m immediately drunk from the alcohol in the air.
JK: Oh my gosh.
Claire: Alright guys, we’ve got to wrap up. JK, thank you so much for joining us. You’re so great. Where can our listeners find you?
JK: Easiest place is on Instagram at @coachjk_themusclefeed because I’m okay putting “coach” in my handle now.
Claire: Awesome, thank you so much. Listeners, you can find us @joyandclaire_. Go check out our new website joyandclaire.com. Don’t forget to support our sponsor, helloned.com/JOY or discount code JOY at checkout. Get your sleep dialed. Use those cannabinoids. You know you love them. Thank you, guys, for joining us, and we will talk to you next week.
Joy: Thanks, guys. Bye.
Claire: Bye.