Nkechi sit down for an enlightening conversation with Funk Roberts, a fitness expert dedicated to helping men over 40 transform their health and well-being.

Funk emphasizes the critical importance of maintaining physical and mental health as men age, addressing common challenges such as declining testosterone levels, increased belly fat, and the need for mobility and recovery.

He shares personal experiences that shaped his journey and highlights the necessity of vulnerability in men's lives, encouraging listeners to seek support and open up about their struggles. The episode dives deep into the cultural expectations of masculinity and how they can hinder men from prioritizing their health.

Join Nkechi and Funk as they discuss actionable steps to empower men to reclaim their health and inspire those around them.

If this episode resonates with you, then remember... SUBSCRIBE • 5-Star Rate • COMMENT • SHARE this Podcast!! 💚❤️🙌🏾🙏🏾

Find Funk Online:

IG: https://www.instagram.com/funkrobertsfitness/?hl=en

Website: https://www.over40alpha.com/over-40-alpha-main-sales-page

Find us online: https://linktr.ee/nkechinwaforrobinson

Great day, amazing human.

Welcome to the Empowered in My Skin podcast where our mission is to help 1 billion people in this world think in more empowering ways.

Empowered humans empower humans.

So you are in the right spot to become a lead domino for empowerment today.

My name is Ingke Chi.

I'm not only your host, but I am a vibrant, optimist, obsessed success to bring you empowering content.

With each episode we will be bringing you content alternating between longer episodes with featured guests and shorter episodes called Empowering Bites where I'll be joined by my co host Gabby Mamone.

So if you're ready, let the show begin.

Yes, great day, amazing humans and yes, YouTubers.

Don't tell, don't tell the audio people who I have here with me, but I actually tell anyone that's listening and watching.

I first want to start off by saying I'm going to claim this human as a friend because I, I realize I've known you, I've known him for a really, really, really long time and so really, really happy to sit down in like an interview to pick his brain around men's health.

So as you know, on the Empowered My Skin podcast for the last three years, this is the third time we run a series during the month of November all around men's health and the importance of it.

And, and so yes, so I asked this amazing human if you would join me in conversation because he is everything expert about this and not I love it.

My coach always says don't just look it like don't just look at be it.

And, and so he doesn't just look fit, he is actually extremely fit.

Yes, fit in mind and body and soul and everything.

So he's the creator of multiple ventures including a fitness business business, a supplements brand and a thriving community called the Over 40 Alpha Brotherhood with over 18,000 members.

All of his accomplishments in fitness have actually won numerous awards, he's a best selling author and he has a real big passion for and dedication for helping men over 40, 50 and 60 improve their physical and, and mental well being.

And I truly do believe like when you set out on a mission to do something that is bigger and greater than yourself, you don't have to worry about how you're going to do it.

The how actually just organically comes to you.

And that's what I think I've observed of you over the years, is how so freely and willingly you just give to the community at large.

I'd also say that he doesn't just stop at fitness.

Very passionate about community, running Programs that promote workouts and nutrition guidance and mindset coaching, along with fostering strong connections among members.

And I think you actually, I know you just told me in our B roll, I'm about to announce them.

But hold on.

In our B roll, you said don't speak yet.

But you said you.

I think you have four best selling.

Your four right on Amazon, bestselling author.

Yes, four.

And he has major TV network appearances and he's a speaker at global fitness events.

And so now you're probably wondering, like, who is this Cuban?

And so please join me in an amazing podcast.

Welcome for the only fun Roberts that exists in the world.

Thank you so much.

That was an incredible intro.

I want to thank you so much for inviting me here.

Just want to mention I am under the weather, so if you hear my voice or what have you, you know, I look a little, you know, dead.

That's okay.

But I want.

You look great.

You look great.

And you're.

And your voice is as husky as ever.

And to be quite honest, I have a husky voice.

Um, so.

But mine's not.

I don't.

I think I was just trying to keep up with 3,000 high school girls on.

On Tuesday.

They beat me out.

So.

Okay, as always on this podcast, my first, my first question is always, what has been your most empowering thought of the day you've had so far?

Empowering thought of the day, Wow.

I gotta get my tribe secrets course complete.

That's the most empowering thought of the day that I had.

Your.

Your tribe.

Yeah.

So I do.

I have a business that I help other business owners create their own tribe, their own community.

So we're literally creating that right now.

Use the same method that I use for the over 40 Alpha brotherhood.

And so I'm in that midst of a new venture that I'm really excited about.

Okay.

So anyway, we're gonna have some C roll.

Okay.

But yes, some C roll as soon as we're finished because that just totally like, ding, ding to me.

So.

So let's just talk about it.

You are over 40.

Yeah, 55.

You're 45.

55.

55.

Damn.

15 years over 40.

And before I get into like your expert mindset, I just also wanted to say that you are not, you're not exempt from, you know, what you actually help other men with, right?

Is actually your body's changing over time.

So at the age of 55, how are you doing physically, mentally, emotionally?

How, like, what are you finding is in the presence of who you are today?

And how do you Work through it.

Yeah, you know, I've been pretty much following my own advice.

Nutrition, workouts, recovery, like that's been an added bonus here for me, like recovery, mobility, yoga, a lot of mental recovery, supplementation, the whole kind of pillars of health.

And you know, I feel great, I feel awesome.

I mean, yes, I'm battling some injuries, knees, back, but the mobility is the, is the, is the new kind of focus.

Right.

Really and truly leaning into that more than the workouts.

But at 55, I feel amazing.

Literally feel amazing.

Now it wasn't always like that, but I do feel amazing at 55.

And when you say mobility, because I think ladies that are listening to this, do, please.

I'm also listening for alignment and as well as what I'm feeling at 52.

But when you say mobility, that one spoke out to me because I recognize that in my journey of aging, the same things have not, are not working now that have worked before, either as I'm coming out of an injury or as I'm feeling a little bit like days when I feel demotivated so I'm having to shift.

And one of the things I just realized is the stretching seems to be more vital now than it's ever been in the past.

But, but, but when you talk about mobility, like what, what is actually what's behind that?

Can you double click on that?

Sure.

So when I started the over, first of all, when I started the Over 40 Alpha Brotherhood program, I started that my goal was to help men transform.

But I knew that it's an online program so you know, they click on the link, it's follow along workouts.

But one of the key things I was thinking was, listen, I can't, I gotta make sure these guys don't get injured.

Because the last thing I want is for people to say, hey, I'm doing Funk Roberts programs and I got injured, right.

So I implemented things like yoga, mobility, flexibility on like the Tuesday and Wednesday, so Tuesday and Thursday.

So two days of the week we focus on recovery.

Like I mentioned mobility.

And that's just because we're closed, right?

We're, we're, we're always closed, whether it's driving, whether, you know, we're on our phones.

And for men, you know, that's not something we've leaned into throughout the years in our 20s, 30s, 40s, right?

Like that's not something we're like, oh yeah, let's go do some mobility.

Let's go, you know, do some open, open up the thoracic spine.

Let's do some balance Right.

But as we get older, joint pains.

Right.

Shoulders, elbows, wrists, back, knee, hips, very, very tight, and that leads to injuries.

So the number one thing for me when I started this whole process was ensuring that I implemented that.

But for me, myself, it's ongoing.

Every morning, mobility, after we go for hikes, mobility, Tuesdays and Thursdays, mobility and mobility.

When I say mobility, I mean yoga, mobility, flexibility, hyperbolic stretching, which is kind of like extended stretches, things that are going to help me stay injury free and pain free, and that's that, because that catches up to us as we get older.

Yeah.

And do you also, like.

Do you.

Do you subscribe to massages?

Do you do physiotherapy?

Like, where does that fit into your routines?

So for me, I don't.

I don't do massage.

I don't do physiotherapy just because I have that.

That routine dialed in.

Right.

It's one of those things that's like.

It's like part of my lifestyle.

Like, if I do this, then I will be in physiotherapy.

If I don't do this, I will need massages.

But massages aren't bad.

I always tell my guys, like, lean into that stuff.

If you have access to massages, lean into.

You know, obviously the mobility and recovery is part of a program, but that.

That's like, one.

One of the things we always say is mobil that recovery piece, the physical recovery piece is just as important as the workouts.

Yeah.

That's a mindset shift for most men.

Men don't.

Right.

Because it's not the sexy thing.

It's not.

I want to build muscle.

I want to get jacked.

It's more like, oh, I gotta do something that's very difficult, very humbling, very hard.

But they feel great.

I feel great.

You know, waking up in the morning without your back tight or.

You know what I mean?

And being able to move a lot better during the day.

Yeah.

You know, you go on vacation, you want to go for a hike, you want to enjoy your vacation without saying, I'm knee, I gotta bum back, or whatever it is.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

I say my husband is actually, I'm gonna say it's probably in Covid when he discovered that, but he does way better than me, actually.

I'm trying to gain some inspiration from him.

Stretches every single day.

He goes down, does the rolling, and he can roll for a long time.

And.

And.

And to your point, he stretches and.

And it's not the cool and sexy thing, but he sees the The.

The importance of it.

So, so continuing along, like physical health and the topic of aging, what are some of the biggest challenges that men over 40 face when it comes to maintaining their health?

And if I kind of use, let's just say Covid, because a lot of people use this as an anchor point, how is.

How have these challenges really evolved in the recent years?

So challenge.

The challenges have not evolved.

They're actually the same challenges that most men have when I was 30.

So I'm gonna take it back to something personal because the reason why I decided to focus more on men over 40 is because I understand their challenges.

Not from.

Because I'm a fitness expert, but because I actually had those exact same challenges.

Right, so what are they?

Well, belly fat, right?

You're adding all this belly fat from, you know, just inactivity, hormonal, your hormones decrease.

So Testosterone, the number one male hormone.

So after the age of 30, testosterone decreases 1 to 2% every single year.

Now, testosterone is our number one male hormone.

So we need that to be as high as we can.

And unfortunately, testosterone is the lowest it's been and like, I think pretty much in the modern day times, right?

So belly fat storage, not being able to build muscle, so going into the gym and doing workouts that they used to do definitely aren't working.

Metabolism slows down, right?

So that, that is more.

More about lifestyle and less about actual the aging portion of it.

But, you know, 20s, 30s, you got a family or focusing on your career and all these things kind of catch up, right?

Joint pain, lethargic, so you don't have the energy that you used to.

And it's not just about building muscle.

There's a lot of people who are like skinny fat, like, they just, they're, you know, they feel weak.

And all of this is driven mostly by testosterone, the lack of testosterone that most of these guys have because they haven't lived a life that is going to help them naturally increase.

So the biggest thing when I first started my program was belly fat.

Men just wanted to lose belly fat, right?

I got to lose this belly fat.

I need more energy.

I need to build muscle, and I don't know what to eat and how to eat because, you know, throughout these years, there's so many different fat diets, restrictive diets, all of these things.

Oh, I tried keto, I tried paleo.

Morgan's doing this thing working.

Dana White's doing this.

I tried this one.

I tried this one.

None of it works for us because we need a diet or a nutrition plan.

A, that's a lifestyle.

So something that is not temporary.

And we need something that's going to help feed our hormones, feed our bodies.

Sarcopenia, which is a natural loss of muscle due to aging.

So after 35, we suffer from sarcopenia, natural loss of muscle due to aging.

Muscle is the organ of life.

It is the key to life.

You have to be building muscle throughout until you die.

Right?

And that's going to look different as you get older.

But that is like, that muscle is metabolic, so you're going to burn more fat, you're going to be stronger, you're going to be healthier.

So all of these things start to happen to men.

Late 30s, early 40s.

And that happened to me.

And it wasn't until I realized that my testosterone levels were low.

I had, I went to the doctor, did a physical, followed up.

He's like, hey man, you're just.

This is the one.

I'm 39, so it's a while ago.

He's like, hey man, your testosterone levels are the levels of a grandfather.

It's like 189 nanograms per deciliter.

Usually men's testosterone.

600, 700, 800, 900.

Mine was 198 or something.

And I was a big guy.

I was 215 pounds, but I was big and puffy.

Like I, I had like puffy muscle syndrome.

Okay.

Male pms, right?

That's a, that's Elliot Hol.

I never heard of that.

Elliot branded that many, many years ago.

Because that's another thing that happens to guys who used to go to the gym.

They started to get big and puffy and soft and I don't know what's happening, right?

So that was happening.

I had a really big belly.

My libido was down, no energy.

And then I started to get anxiety, depression, suicidal, drugs, alcohol, partying.

All of the things that.

This is spiral.

This is.

Yeah, it's a massive spiral.

And it was a testosterone.

That was key.

The doctor was like, okay, so I can put.

Now this is what, 15, 16 years ago?

So TRT, which is testosterone replacement, called steroids.

They're not, they weren't as like prevalent back then, but I knew enough that there's no way I'm gonna take that.

Because I was a professional athlete before and testing was big, right.

So I'd already known the side effects of, of what testosterone steroids can do to you if you take it exogenous.

So you take it outside the body.

But I did ask my doctor at that time if I could do this naturally, and he said I could.

So that's when I really dug into naturally, increasing my T levels, which I did six months later, and Bloody Dolly died.

Now I'm helping men over 40 over the last six years, but I understand their struggle, right.

Because most, most guys will see me and think that, oh, you know, he's been like that forever, or this is genetics, or he doesn't understand where I'm coming from.

When I tell them my story, I go deep into my story.

It's.

It's like a mirror, right?

Mirror to what they're.

What they're struggling with.

And that's when I knew that after looking around to see if there was any programs or any information for men over 40, there still wasn't six years ago.

And even to today, there isn't as much.

It's usually for women over 40, it's not.

Yes, there's a lot for women, all.

Kinds, but barely men over 40.

Barely.

And so six years ago is when I started the program.

Six years later.

Thousands and thousands.

I'm talking thousands and thousands of transformations.

Like, and not just before and afters, but just life transformations.

Yeah.

Their relationship with their kids, with their wives, you know, things that they're doing in their 60s, 70s that they've never done before.

And so knowing that, you know, it can be done naturally, but it's just leaning into the lifestyle but also understanding where they're at makes it a little bit easier for me to connect with them.

Right.

For them to kind of trust, because it is something different, it's something new.

And it's not sexy.

Right.

It's not like, hey, man, I'm doing this type of, like, no one's heard of the Meta test boost system, but that's what everyone does in the program.

Every.

Oh, everyone has.

Is it.

Is it an entrance requirement?

Well, no, yeah, it's just.

It's just the, the pillars of our.

Yeah, yeah, listen, we got.

We got ourselves a tribe, so we know, you know, you know, that's how it is if, you know, you know.

And so.

Wow.

Well, thank you for that.

Because the next question I was going to ask you was about the work that you do around testosterone.

Because I think if anything, there's not very many men that I hear other than you really talking about it.

And I'm pretty sure there's a lot of myths around that still.

And so what are some of those myths that you think are tripping up men today?

Yeah, so the biggest myth would be that you can't increase Your testosterone levels naturally.

That's really the biggest myth.

Again, I'm gonna.

I'm always gonna go back to six years ago, because that's when I started this journey.

But six years ago, when I started the journey, I was leading with testosterone, thinking that most men knew that testosterone is our number one male hormone.

It's responsible for everything, overall health, everything that we are as a man.

Not just us being a man, but our health.

It's really important.

But no one seemed to understand that.

Right.

It was.

It wasn't something that there were guys that didn't even know what testosterone was.

So I'm like, oh, wait a minute.

They don't even know what that is.

Right.

And then again, looking out to see there's no wonder, because no one's really talking about testosterone.

They talk about the negative.

Yes, it's awesome.

Like, it's.

It's toxic.

It makes men toxic.

That's another myth.

But they don't talk about the fact that it's.

Aren't.

It's what makes us.

If we don't have testosterone, it's over.

Right.

So.

So some of the myths that we see today, moving to.

To today is that, yeah, you can't naturally increase testosterone.

Like, you can't do it without exogenous testosterone.

It's trt.

And I see a lot of fitness people, experts, talk more about the TRT and less about how to naturally do this.

How to do this with nutrition, with workouts, with recovery, with sleep.

Like, all of the things that would make you healthy to begin with, but also increase testosterone, balance your hormones, you know, decrease estrogen and get you healthy, as healthy as you can, because you're living that lifestyle.

The byproduct is going to be the physical changes.

The byproducts are going to be energy and less anxiety and more confidence and all of those things.

That's.

That's probably the biggest thing.

And I think now that TRT is becoming more commercial, you know, like, more people, more fitness, guys are now saying, oh, yeah, no, I take trt.

Oh, yeah, I'm with this clinic because, you know, there's a lot of money in that, involved in that industry.

Yeah, that's.

That's.

That's a little.

It's not really frustrating, but it's frustrating.

Yeah.

It's something that you have to work through.

Yeah.

And I mean, it's not something huge because, again, I'm really focusing on the guys who are struggling.

Right.

The guys.

Yeah, yeah.

Who just don't really know about the testosterone thing.

It's Mostly when they start listening to all of these podcasts and this person, that person, their doctors telling them to go on it, that's when they come back and ask questions.

But that's really the biggest thing.

The other thing, too, is the toxicity that comes along with having a lot of testosterone.

Right.

Which is not true whatsoever.

It's our number one male hormone.

We need it.

Like, it's that they're, like, more angry, they're more aggressive.

Yeah, no, not.

Not when you naturally increase your testosterone.

It's maybe when you're jacking a whole bunch of stuff into you, but that's.

That's not the case.

So those two things are really, really key.

And yeah, those are.

Those are probably the two biggest.

Ms.

And somebody that's listening to this, what might be some early warning signs that they can.

That they can sort of, oh, maybe I need to go and get my levels checked.

What would that look like?

Yeah.

So low libido, number one.

So no sex drive.

Belly fat, right?

Belly fat's huge.

Can't build muscle.

Low energy, low drive.

Okay.

That's a lot change in changing.

Change in your.

Your just.

Just your.

Your everyday.

What's the word?

Looking for temperament.

Yes, thank you.

Your temperament, like, it goes up and down.

Anxiety, depression, just.

No drive.

All of those.

It's pretty much what most men struggle with right now, like, specifically in their 40s.

I mean, it's starting earlier, unfortunately, but in the 40s, specifically.

Okay, man, go and get yourselves checked.

So maybe this one, this next question in, like, cultural expectations of.

Of masculinity and the.

In the impact that that has on men taking care of their health.

You know, what, what do you believe?

Like, what's the.

How does that play into all of this?

So my hat.

Those people who are seeing this is provide, protect, provide, protect, procreate.

Be the king of our kingdoms.

This is our Alpha virtue.

Okay?

This is something that, as much as the fitness side of the things were a.

A driver for me, creating the over 40 alpha brotherhood was more about me making men responsible again.

Making men men again.

Right, because we're using our men to suicide, to just, you know, in general.

And we need men to be providers, protectors, procreators, and be that king of their kingdom.

So where does health fit in?

Well, where does.

Where does health fit?

Well, you can't do any of those things unless you're healthy, right?

Like, you know, we need.

If we're not healthy.

Here's.

Here's a.

Here's.

Here's an example.

The last Thing as a man, 40, 50, 60, whatever that you want is that because of your.

Because of your inability to take care of your health that you're the one ending up in the hospital and it's your family that has to come to the hospital and take care of you?

You're draining your family's energy.

You're draining your bank account.

You're draining the emotions.

Like, that's not what you need to do.

Like, you're.

You're supposed to be the one there.

That's.

That's taking care of everybody else.

But a lot of times, isn't that.

Also a cultural expectation that men are supposed to do that?

And then 100, 100.

That's exactly what we are supposed to do.

We're supposed to provide, protect, procreate.

And procreating doesn't just mean making kids.

It means, you know, connecting with.

If it's the woman of, you know, your queen and creating that environment with your queen, with your partner, women, with respect, like, you know, looking for solutions, not problems.

Like, we have a whole ton of virtues that we follow that help us to be the best man we can be for ourselves, for our families, and for the community around us.

Right.

To help others, lift others up.

A lot.

You know, we've gone through a lot where we have, you know, let go of a lot of our responsibilities.

Right?

And.

And.

And that's catching up to a lot of guys in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, because we don't take care of the things that we should have, let alone all the things that have happened to us when we were younger.

So health.

Health is going to be the key to that.

Because even if health is not the number one value, like, for myself and my amazing, beautiful wife Angela, in our vows, we talked about health and that being our number one value.

So we both value health equally.

So we understand that that's our number one thing, but I understand that that's not everyone's number one.

Yes.

But if it's kids, you got to be healthy to be able to run around with your kids, to take them here and there, to be that, you know, role model like you as a f.

The mother, the household.

Those are the role models.

Not the teacher, not the freaking football player.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

You have to be that person who your kids look up to.

You have to be that man who your daughter looks up to to say, okay, this is what I want my husband to be like my dad.

Right?

I want, you know, like, you got to be there, and that means you got to be healthy.

If it's money, if money is what you value, then you still have to be healthy to be able to show up and, you know, go to work or have the energy or the confidence or take risks, whatever that may be.

So whatever you value in life, health is always going to be the anchor.

Yeah.

Health is always going to be the anchor for you to, to perform at the best you can.

Yeah, that's.

There's no if, ands or what's about it.

And again, like, it's not like I'm just talking about this stuff.

The, the case studies and the changes, and even when the wives of the guys in my program contact me, like, man, you have changed my husband.

It's.

It's been incredible.

You know, it's, it's.

Those are the things that drive me.

Right?

Yeah.

And, and even the, you know, I have a.

I want to just tell a quick little story.

I don't know how much time we have, but.

No, no, please, please.

Yeah.

One of my.

I'm not gonna tell my members.

Name one of my members.

He.

He took it.

So this happened probably about six or seven months ago because I have coaching calls every week, a group.

So he took his kid to, to the park.

So they're playing in the park and it's really hot.

So he takes off his shirt and now he has a six pack, right?

He's like 50 years old, but he has a six pack.

So he takes off his shirt.

Kids are playing.

And then the other kids look at the one kid and goes, oh, my God, who's that?

Who's that?

Then the kid says, that's my dad.

And when, when he saw his son say that and the look on his face, the proud look amongst all these other kids, that.

That was his father.

He broke down and cried.

And then on the coaching call, we all were like, oh, my God, stop it, stop it.

But those are the, those are the, the things that are life changing, right?

Those are the things that, like, okay, what I'm doing is, is great, right?

I'm affecting my, my children, I'm affecting my family, I'm affecting the community.

I'm affecting whomever I'm.

I'm connecting with, right?

So it's all health, health.

So let me.

Just.

Because like that moment, that really actually that, that, that felt good.

And when you said, like, he broke down, right.

Like a.

Men hold a lot of emotions internally, I think in, in large part of a bit of the cultural expectation, right?

Like, they are, they are meant to be these providers and this.

Any other.

And It's a lot of pressure, a lot of stress.

But so how do you crack the code of vulnerability?

Like, I see you stand in front of your story.

You've.

I mean, I don't know how many years ago I heard it, but you've always stood in front of your story.

And I know sometimes it's like, it's that whole, if people see you doing it, it gives them permission to do the same for their lives.

But men's vulnerability, the masculine, masculine, like, a lot of that's coming more into mainstream and men trying to be a little bit more vulnerable.

But how do you.

How do you help your clients just become a little bit, Take off some of that edge and be okay with their vulnerability?

Yeah.

So part of this virtue is about being vulnerable, knowing when to be vulnerable.

The lion, the lamb, knowing that it's okay.

Listen, at our age, we've gone through, there's nobody in.

No man in a 40s, 50, 60, 70, has been unscathed, has come out unscathed.

We all have stuff that we need to take care of.

So one of the big things that we talk about and that I'm a huge proponent on is they need to go talk to somebody.

Because what generally happens with men is in their teens, in their 20s, in their 30s, like you said, they push this stuff down.

I gotta keep this mask on.

I gotta keep this.

This macho mask, or I just got to keep this mask on to show that, you know, I can handle this.

I can't ask for help.

I got to keep pushing all of this stuff down.

All this negative things that may have happened to me when I was younger or things that I may have done.

I got to keep it down and show that I'm.

I'm, you know, I can.

I can handle it.

Oh, I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

I'm good.

How you doing, brother?

I'm good.

I'm good.

That's like a, you know, that's a cultural thing for us.

I mean, I hear all the time, but I'm good, I'm good.

You're not good.

Any good.

I know they are good.

They're not good.

So anyway, so what starts to happen when you're 40?

What I'm seeing now, because of as many of the men I've worked with, is that all of this stuff that you've been pushing down for years now starts to come up.

Why do you think we got so much suicide and depression and anxiety?

It's not covet that's that's not why.

It's because we.

When you start getting older and you don't have the tools and don't use the tools or resources to take care of the things from the past, that starts to creep up.

You start to sabotage yourself, you sabotage your decisions, you sabotage the people around you.

And then you start.

That starts to lead down a very dark, depressed and.

And.

And, you know, a road that ends up in death ends up in suicide.

So one of the biggest things that.

The reason why I tell my story and.

And, you know, I just don't hide anything for me, because I know that the most powerful person in the room is a person that does.

Has nothing to hide.

Like, I'm.

I'm sitting back here, you know, feet up.

Everyone's kind of trying to posture here and there.

Like, man, what are you gonna say about me?

You already know everything about me.

You know my darks, you know my lights, you know everything.

So it's about getting help.

That's the number one thing.

And this is not.

This is cultural wide.

I've had guys in my podcast, Latino, Asian, all of these men from different cultures who deal with masculinity, right?

That masculinity that we need to lean into.

But the problem is we now need to be vulnerable, ask for help.

But it's not something that happens like this.

You can't just say, hey, man, you got to be more vulnerable.

Like, what does that mean?

What if I kept things down for 40 years?

How do you expect me to just all of a sudden let it all out?

Like, that's not natural for me because I don't know how to do it.

If I want to lift weights, I go to the gym.

When I first walk into the gym, if I've never lifted weights before and I'm, okay, go lift weights, I'll be like, what do I do?

What do I do?

Right?

Oh, I need you to eat healthy.

Go eat healthy.

What do I eat?

What do I eat?

Like, you're not going to know.

So you need some guidance.

You need some help to take you through.

Okay, let's go step by step.

It's going to be a little uncomfortable.

It's going to actually be very uncomfortable.

But we have to let go of the things that we're holding on to, whether we're holding onto it consciously or unconsciously.

And we need help with that.

So that's why I tell them, go talk to somebody.

Get a therapist.

Get someone who has no connection to you.

Not your friends, not your wife, not your Kids, someone has no connection to you because they're going to hear the things you're saying and they're going to tell you what they say.

Yeah.

And that's what we need.

We need someone who we have, you know, we can sit down and just.

They're gonna, they're gonna guide us because they're the expert, right.

They're the therapist or what have you, the professional.

And that'll allow us to start unpacking.

Here's the onion.

Right.

We want to get back to the core of who we are.

Start peeling back the onion.

And when we start to peel back the onion, when we start to, to.

To let go of things in the past, whether it was things that happened to us.

Because I'm finding more and more men have had a lot of things happen.

I mean, we're Gen X, right?

We're.

There were no phones and computers and none of that stuff back in the day.

So a lot of crap has happened to a lot of men in all cultures.

So the more we can let go of things in the past that aren't helping us move forward, the more we can add the good stuff.

Right.

Start adding the good things.

Oh, there's room for.

Because right now there's no room.

Yeah, right.

That's.

Hold on to it.

We isolate and then that's it.

But we've gotta let go.

We've got to be part of being a, a man.

Part of being, you know, part of leaning into the alpha.

Virtue is asking for help when you need help, knowing that you cannot do it alone.

Leaning on a community of other guys in the same journey as you and using them as, as, as your support.

The, the other thing I love about the Brotherhood is like, these guys are from, like we in inside.

So my, my program is a membership site.

Like it's a three year program.

They just go and do it on their own.

But we have.

Okay, but we have a Facebook community.

It's called the Brotherhood.

That's the community.

Right.

Okay.

And everyone connects in the community.

We don't talk politics, we don't talk religion, we don't talk pop culture.

Like none of that stuff is in.

It's all about us becoming the best men we can be physically, emotionally and spiritually.

But we also have men from all over the world.

Literally all over the world.

Africa, India, Toronto, Australia.

All colors, all race, all backgrounds.

And everyone in that, in that brotherhood call each other brothers.

Why?

Because we're all on the same journey.

We focus on our, on our.

On.

We don't focus on Our differences, we focus on our similarities.

And you always see guys saying, man, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, like that.

It's a common word that gets used, man.

And in the brotherhood, because we do love each other.

We.

We are brothers in arms.

We're all understanding the journey that we're on because we all started phase one, phase two, phase three, phase four.

So we all started the same place, but we're.

We all understand that we need to be the men we need to be.

So whenever.

You know, whenever something happens, someone dies in their family or, you know, something tragic happens, whatever it is, they're changing.

They have that space.

They couldn't.

I tell them, you got to come in here because when you're.

When you're with your family or what have you, you do have to be the guy who's like, okay, don't worry, Brenda, don't worry.

I'll be good.

Okay, Bob.

Yeah, yeah.

You.

You do this on.

On Phyllis, you can cry over here.

You guys do this.

I gotta get with all this stuff.

Ready?

Like, yes.

That's a lot of work that you have to do, but you need to dump that.

Yeah.

Because your cup is getting.

Your cup is decreasing, decreasing, decreasing.

So you come into the brotherhood, guys, man, I had a really tough week this week, man.

This is what happened.

This is what happened, man.

I need you.

I just want some support.

I just need to get this out now.

They're out, right?

Because when you write things down.

I know I'm going all over this.

When you write things down on paper, it's out, right?

It comes in light.

It doesn't.

No, this is great.

And I don't.

Trust me.

I was like, well, we're over the time.

But I.

I thought that that was so.

I think that that's so important is just that men.

There are spaces where men can find that.

Now, I do have to ask as a parting.

Maybe this is the parting question.

I did.

I.

If I can.

I have one more.

If I can get, like, one more minute of your time, you can get.

An hour of my time as.

As a woman.

Yes.

Because as you were talking, I think it's very easy in your position to sell and, like, suggest to another guy.

Hey, brother, I think, you know, you can really.

You really need some help.

Do you have some advice for women how we can help guide our men to get help?

You can't.

You cannot guide your man to get help.

You can't.

It's not happening.

It's not happening because it's not your.

It's not.

It's not your fault.

I'm not saying that.

That's not your job.

Listen, you didn't.

You didn't marry a man to be their mother.

No, I know that.

And to be the partner and.

Yeah.

Imagine now, you know, Sorry, I shouldn't say that.

That's a partner.

You're like, brendan, I got you, man.

You must be going through something.

You must.

You have a lot on your plate.

You.

You need somewhere to release it.

Like.

Like that.

That's the kind of the angle I'm coming from.

Not a motherly, but like, like, dude, you're going through a lot.

Like, you, like, you're not talking to me.

You gotta.

Yeah.

Okay, so I'm gonna backtrack a little bit.

If you have a relationship.

Yeah.

That's been like this, where you can talk to each other and communicate with each other that way, 100.

That's a great idea to say, listen, just go talk to them.

It's going to be very difficult because you guys.

But you know your partner.

Right.

So for most of the men that I work with, they don't have that relationship with their wives.

Okay.

And that's because they're.

When they come into the program, they're at rock bottom, man.

Physically, most.

It's not like their wives may have already been telling them to go to a program.

So that.

That a little bit of a friction.

Not everybody, believe me, not everybody.

But there's a lot of, like, resurgence of the relationship after they start to transform.

Right.

They got to work on themselves.

And it's very difficult now if you have a relationship where the two of you are incredible together and you communicate and you've been, you know, that.

That rocks rock.

The solid, solid rock for.

For each other, then 100.

Yes.

I mean, that would be natural to say, listen, you gotta.

You gotta go talk to somebody.

But again, sometimes men don't like that.

They feel like they're weak.

Right.

Like, you're tapping into the weakness of, like, oh, well, I don't have to talk to somebody.

Right.

Because again, we are.

We're from another ear.

Like, right now.

Like, if we were.

Jen, whatever it is right now, it's more acceptable to do that stuff.

It's more millennial.

Like the millennium.

Yeah.

It's more acceptable.

Talk about mental health issues and stuff.

But we're old school, man.

We're still not there.

Right.

So I think.

Yeah, I think just.

Just being there to support the process, it's gonna be really, really key.

But telling your Husband.

I mean.

I mean, like I said, if you have that.

I said suggesting.

I didn't say I'm coming in, because I'm sure there's some women that are sitting here saying, man, how do I get my husband into that program?

Yeah, well, here's.

Here's another.

Here's another example of where that.

Where the communication gets a little bit.

Stick stuck, sticky.

I had a guy in my program who, for.

He came in at, like, 300 pounds, stayed in it for about five months, just lost his job, 500 pounds.

Connection with his wife, not there.

Goes through about five months, like, transforms.

I think he lost, like, 50 or 60 pounds.

Feeling good, everything's great.

Gets a new job, right?

A new job.

He has new confidence.

And then he goes, yeah, you know what?

I got to quit the program because my.

We have to cut costs, right?

My wife to cut costs.

I'm like, okay, all right.

So this is one of the costs that I'm going to cut.

I'm like, okay.

And I said, are you sure this is the one?

You sure this is the one you want to cut?

Because you came in at £300, and these are conversations I have.

You came at £300.

This is what you got to.

When you came in, you were struggling.

Now you got a new job.

Is this really the thing?

Like, are you sure your wife.

Like, did you even tell your wife this?

And he's like, no, no, but, you know, we got to cut costs.

So he goes.

I said, all right.

I let him go.

Two days later, he comes back.

My wife was pissed off at me that I made that decision to cut this very thing.

Because we don't think about that.

We don't think about that.

We think differently.

He's like, my wife was so pissed off.

He goes, that this is the only thing that you've done.

Why the hell would you, like.

It's so funny.

It's so funny.

I told you.

I said, there's no way your wife is gonna watch you to cut this.

This is not a big thing.

This is sa.

Your life.

This is saving your life.

I can see that.

Yeah.

Yeah, totally.

It was.

It was.

It was hilarious, actually.

I love that.

It's.

It's.

It would be no different than me.

I.

And back to what you said earlier, actually, like, very similar to you and Angela.

Ethan and I met at the gym.

Like, health is, like, other than God, health is our number one.

And so they were like, in the times of strife and struggle and cuts, it ain't going to be the gym.

It's not our health.

Right.

It's, it's the other stuff before it even ever comes close to that.

So.

Wow.

Well, I, I, man just, I could go on and on.

And so as a parting question, and it's interesting just as a sidebar, one of the other individuals, Jonathan Reed is his name.

I interviewed him just before your interview is and he's tackling.

He, his has a podcast called the Boycott.

And so his whole thing is like when we see men today, like the ang, like sort of the, the angry man, like the angry man, like the violent man is like you, it's harder to fix that.

You have to get them when they're boys.

And back to your point, it seems like the millennials have figured that out, like getting, getting with nature, talking things out, being, you know, like, like allowing them, allowing themselves to be who they need to be.

Like really finding themselves.

So I don't want to ask you about your young, like what would you tell younger?

But it's like the men, men are beginning to age.

And so for all of those men that are sitting here, you know, what does their 70, 80 year old self need to be telling them?

Like what's that thinness that they need to be telling them to say, yo, like dude, like start health as well.

So start eating healthy, start training, working out, start focusing on your mental health, start leaning in on mobility so that your 70 and 80 year old isn't in a wheelchair, but you're 100 years old doing burpees.

Because we're at a point now in the times where we have so much advancements in medicine and science and technology that we don't know.

We want to put ourselves in a situation where we can lean into those things 10, 20, 30 years down the road, depending on what that is to help us live, live longer.

But your 80 year old self is going to tell you that.

Like your 80 year old self is probably going to tell you the same thing that you're 50 or 40 years old.

Yeah.

Be like, man, I should have, should have been stretching when I was.

I'm gonna put, I have to, I'm just gonna, I have to like, just, I want to go just a little bit more on this one.

Yeah, that's a lot what you just named.

And to anyone listening, that could be really overwhelming if they haven't started.

Like if they're just so.

I'm just like, what's the one?

And maybe it's a different journey for everybody.

I don't know.

I don't want to try to Lead the question.

But like, they.

Like, without making them feel overwhelmed.

Find a program.

Find a program.

Because you can't do it alone.

You can't.

You just don't know enough.

There's not enough out there.

Or there is too much out there.

Okay, so you're here and you're hearing this, and I'm supposed to do this, and I just don't know.

But you have to find a program.

Find a program and lean into it.

That's the first thing.

And I guess that's the only thing I'm about to say, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I want to say find his program.

Yeah, but I mean, just find a program.

But if you want a program, I.

Want them to find your program.

And the reason for the alpha.com why.

I will tell you why I want them to find your program is because.

And I hate to say this because I'm not trying to.

He's not an Instagram, what's called Insta Trainer or whatever.

Like the.

Whatever.

Like those things that just popped up.

Like everyone just be popping up and.

Expert in this and expert that.

Like, he's done the thins.

He's gone through the thins, you know, and so.

And.

And look like the evidence has swallowed any.

I love this.

Swallow any argument that you can give them about, you know, men's health not being important.

His evidence has swallowed any of that argument.

And so I do believe I.

You are the real deal.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

That feels great.

And listen, it's not about me, by the way.

Like, no.

I know you're giving me props and we're here, but honestly, my evidence for what this program does is in the thousands of people.

The proof, right?

The fact that these guys are still with me six years.

There's men still in the program six years later.

Funk.

Wow.

Really?

Eh.

Oh.

Thousands and thousands of men are still in this.

They don't want to leave because a.

They.

Aside from the results that they get and just the communication, it's the community, it's the brother.

They love the brotherhood.

Like, they just.

There's.

There's guys who go to other programs and still are part of the brotherhood because that's how.

That's how powerful that is to be part of, you know, a collective of men who are all on that same journey, who understand each other.

And no one.

We don't judge anybody.

No one gets judged.

And that's.

I think that's.

That's another thing that us men are afraid of is judgment.

Right.

I don't want to be Judged.

Listen, brothers, I'm telling you right now, cut.

Take off the mask.

Because it's not helping you.

Take off the mask.

I'm giving you empowerment.

I'm giving you permission.

Take off the mask.

Yeah.

And talk to somebody.

Yeah.

Because every single man in their forties, fifties, sixties, specifically late forties, fifties, 60s, 70s, black, white, red, yellow, or brown, we've all gone through something.

So once you start talking about it, you'd be very surprised where everyone else like, yeah, man, same thing.

Or, yeah, I'm going through something similar.

It's like, oh, man, we could.

Man, how come you've never told me about this before?

Or, oh, you know, I want to keep it down, but, you know, it's just too much.

Like, these are conversations that friends have.

Right.

Stuff away from them just to feel we, you know, I didn't want you to think I was weak.

Are you crazy?

You're not weak, man.

You're amazing like that.

Yes.

You gotta just let it out.

I'm telling you, they will.

Your friends, your.

The people who you speak to will look to you more as inspiration and motivation than as weak.

Believe me.

You're not weak.

Yeah.

And I actually do like that as a.

As a really parting message.

I think at the end of the day, even you doing it for yourself, you end up influencing and impacting other lives as well along the way.

So, Funk, thank you so much.

Thank you.

And again, I'm sorry I've been under the weather, but I appreciate it.

You don't stop.

I'm giving you back that.

Sorry.

Just take that.

Sorry.

You were.

You were fire.

You were fire.

You delivered.

You.

You.

You dropped the mic a couple of times.

You.

You landed the plane on this assignment.

And I'm thanking you and so grateful for you.

And to everyone that's listening, I trust that you are empowered by this episode.

And thank you.

Thank you for helping me fill this support, this assignment of bringing Men's Health and the topic to the platform.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

And to everyone that's listening or watching, this is where I say we're out.

Bye.

Yeah.

Show those guns.

There you have it.

I trust you are feeling more empowered in your skin.

As the late Dr.

Maya Angelou said, when you get, you give, when you learn, you teach.

So it would mean so much for us at EIMS if you would share this episode and tag us or teach an insight that you took from today's episode on your socials and tag us.

Feel free to leave us a review over at itunes and follow us on social media.

Empowertomyskin.

Finally, remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

See you soon.