An interview with Peloton's Matt Wilpers
There's a lot to learn from the world's most positive fitness instructor
👋 Hello, my friends and a very Happy Mother's Day to all of the amazing women in my life and in this community. I hope you're getting spoiled today—you deserve it.
It's been an exciting week around here and I've got some awesome stuff to share today... specifically, 3 things:
The latest episode of the Intentional Wisdom podcast
Some thoughts on tackling mental health struggles
A few additions to your content diet, including an interview with yours truly
Let's go!
Ep.20 - Matt Wilpers - Positivity, Power Zones & Personal Growth
Another Peloton instructor? Yes, another Peloton instructor! What can I say... I'm a superfan. Seriously though, when I first started the podcast, Matt Wilpers was right up near the top of my "dream guest" list so it was really cool to see that come to fruition. He's got a really interesting background which has taken him from Goldman Sachs to pre-med to Peloton.
We covered a ton in this conversation including:
Matt's experience with anxiety and panic attacks
Power Zone Training vs. Heart Rate Zone Training
How to design your own training program
Check it out wherever you get your podcasts! And if you leave a review, I will 100% be your best friend.
Hitting mental health head-on
The moment I finished recording the Matt Wilpers podcast, I said to my wife "Wow, he just really opened up to me about his mental health. I hope he's okay with me publishing this."
It was an interesting thought and the fact that that was my first reaction is probably less a reflection on him, and more a result of my own experience living for decades in a society where mental health issues have long been swept under the rug and not talked about in polite company.
As many of you know, my dad struggled terribly with depression in the last decade of his life and it was depression that ultimately claimed his life. So my radar is very much tuned to looking out for mental health struggles in myself and among my family and friends—but more than that, in tackling them head-on.
It's my nature to be comfortable talking about things like mental health openly—and it's been awesome to see society at large making massive strides in this realm in recent years. But my real interest is not just in recognizing it; it's in treating it, or better yet—preventing it.
I don't claim to be an expert here. But I do have some core beliefs.
One is that I believe nutrition impacts mental health way, way more than is currently recognized by most people. The best piece of work I've read on this topic recently is Dr. Chistopher Palmer's Brain Energy, which I encourage you to read and in which he makes the connection between nutrition and many mental health disorders. There are some legitimately shocking stories in this book of patients whose lives have been saved and whose mental illnesses have been reversed with diet intervention. Dr. Palmer, a Harvard psychiatrist, has been on quite a few podcasts and I'm hoping to get him on mine to dive into this topic.
Another core belief I have is that moving your body is incredibly important to maintain or improve mental health. Vigorous exercise, ideally outdoors, ideally on daily basis is what we were meant to do. It's a natural anti-depressant. Yet, so many of us do not move like we need to move.
And third and fourth, I would add sleep and community, respectively. Sleep is essential for every human operating function including maintaining mental health. If we're not nailing sleep, it is very, very easy to go down a bad path with our mental health.
And on the community side, one of the greatest predictors of happiness and fulfillment is the connection we have with other humans. Matt Wilpers and I spoke about cognitive behavior therapy - basically talking to someone about your problems - and how that was the tactic that worked best for him to tackle his own crippling anxiety and panic attacks.
There's no silver bullet here and I don't claim to have one or to be an expert.
But nailing the 4 things I've noted here may be the best way to (naturally, and I’m a big fan of naturally) work on your mental health.
1. Nutrition
2. Exercise
3. Sleep
4. Relationships
When I am out of kilter or starting to go down a bad path, I look here first. I'd encourage others to do the same.
That’s (almost) it… but before you go…
Content Diet
Dr. Kelly Starrett on Tim Ferriss
I think I need to get Kelly on my podcast. He's got so many great pieces of advice especially when it comes to maintaining mobility as we get older. Kelly talks about walking as way to almost de-toxify the body, which I hadn't heard expressed like that before. He also gives some solid advice on simple body movements we can do to improve/maintain mobility and even some great nutritional advice. Lots of good stuff here.
Greg Campion on the Roadman Cycling podcast
I was honored when Anthony Walsh reached out on Twitter and asked me to be a guest on his show. His podcast is MASSIVE when it comes to # of followers and reach so it was validating to be asked to join. In the conversation, we spoke about a lot of the stuff I write about regularly in this newsletter including the systems I use to improve my own habits and productivity; how to cultivate new habits like writing; and why I love streaks so much. (Did I mention I’m 14 days into a 31-day push-up streak? You should join me the next time.) He even picked out quite the picture of me for the podcast art. Lesson: Be careful what you post on social media.
Full YouTube version of my Matt Wilpers conversation
This kind of blew up on YouTube with >1000 views in the first day. Very cool to see! If you get a chance to check it out, I’d love to hear what you think!
That's it for today, my friends. Thanks for reading. See you in two weeks!
Greg