Gina (Host): Welcome to the Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics ISH Dish Podcast, practical health advice from Iowa Specialty Experts. We want to connect the members of our communities with the latest healthcare information that's understandable, relatable, and useful to your daily life. With me in the studio today, I have Phil Bedel and Phil is a, IT help me out here. What's your actual title here at the hospital?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Actual title Systems Analyst. But basically help desk here.

Gina (Host): Help desk systems analyst, Jack of all Trades.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: There we go.

Host: We love you by the way.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Oh, Thank you.

Host: You're awesome. So that's his real hustle. And today we're going to talk about your side hustle. Yes. So your side hustle is a personal training.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yes.

Host: All right. So, what I want to know is just, we're going to just jump right in here. How did you get into fitness?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: So, my journey started back in 2014. So I was recently married. I had a one year old baby boy. And I was 260 pounds, so Yep. You know, o overweight. And I just, like, I tried to lose weight for years. But the motivator was really my family.

Like, I got a little guy I'm trying to chase after, you know, and I'm just huffing and puffing all the time and I'm, you know, I just, I need to be better for them. I need to set a good example. I need to be healthy so I'm around long term.

Host: Seems like that is a lot of people's story that they find that one motivator. You know, like, I want to be around for my grandkids. I want to be for my children's weddings, you know, all, all those things that, that one thing that they can hang their hat on to really be serious about it.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. And, and that's the key is you, you have to find your reason. So you, you're not going to do it for somebody else. You know, I want to look good for somebody or something like that.

I mean, that might motivate you for a week or a month, but you really need to find your why.

Host: Right? Absolutely. So you found your why. And then what did you do after that? So I'm, I'm ready now. What?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. So for me, I had no idea where to start, so, I just downloaded the MyFitness Pal app. Yep. And uh, was like, I'm just going to track my calories today and see what happens.

And I was shocked. I actually didn't track all my calories the whole day. Mm-hmm. I, I made it most the way, to like 5,000 calories.

Host: Oh wow.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. I was shocked. I was no idea that I was eating that much.

Host: Right.

And, and then, and if you're honest, which, you know, you don't have to be, like you said, you didn't put 'em all in, but if you had, obviously that number would've been greater.

I, I mean, we, as in my husband and I did my Fitness Pal app years ago and stuck to it religiously for a long period of time.

And it is shocking how much you really eat if you are starting to measure and weigh things.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah, and I mean it was a lot of work to track calories and I actually kind of started eating like more frozen food, you know, like those healthy choice things just cuz it was easy to scan the app, which you know, I mean people preach, you know, you need to eat raw food, organic, you know, all that stuff.

And I mean, yeah, that's probably as good as it gets, but really making, you know, just healthier choices than you have been. Mm-hmm. Is really, I mean, going to start moving you in the right direction.

Host: Well, and then you can't do everything just right out of the gate.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Exactly.

Host: Because then you get overwhelmed. And then what happens? We quit.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. And that's one thing I've heard is like, just find something little that you can change and that you can be content with for the rest of your life. Because you can't, you know, I've done probably every crash diet you think of, you know, along my journey and yeah, that's the thing, like whatever you start with, you have to be okay with.

Host: Sure.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Forever, otherwise you're just going to put the weight back on. So like when I started, you know, those healthy choice meals, they have a variety like, and most of 'them are between like 150 to 400 calories. So that was easy to track my calories. And when I started I mean I was eating two of them, which was 800 calories, which, you know, depending your goal might be a, a big lunch. But for me that was a small lunch at the time and you know, eventually then I'd get down to just eating one. So, you know, but it was all gradual over time.

Host: Sure. And then did you find that once you started reducing your calories that you weren't as hungry?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah.

Host: You kind of settle into a new normal or a, a more, you're satisfied with less food.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. And so I don't know how the dieticians would about this, but this is just my journey, so, yeah so I, I made the decision that I was, I was no longer going to eat till I was full, because I noticed when I ate till I was full, the next time I would eat, like I would crave that sensation of fullness. So I would eat till I was full again. So I was like, I, I am just going to focus on eating till I'm no longer hungry.

Host: Right.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Cause that's ultimately the goal. And I remember one time at lunch I realized I wasn't even hungry. And

Host: hmmmm.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: How much do I then?

Host: There's a hunger cue that,

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. I'm like, I didn't eat breakfast this morning, but, and it's like 1:30 and I should be eating lunch, but I'm not hungry. And so if I start, when do I stop? Like, yeah, I have no cue. So I just didn't eat lunch that day.

And so I, I mean it's, I didn't even know what it was called at the time, but intermittent fasting, you hear so much about that.

Host: Sure Mm-hmm.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: That's basically, I did that for a while. I was basically one meal a day, so I would just eat dinner every day. And, but I dropped from 260 down to 200 pounds.

Host: Wow.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Doing that.

Host: Wow.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Actually 280. I was 285 at my, my highest weight then and brought it down to 200. Now back to what I said earlier though, if you're going to lose weight, you have to do something, you plan to do your whole life.

Host: Mm-hmm.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Well, I like food. Like let's just be real. And so it, it was great at the time, but I can't only eat one meal a day for the rest of my life. Like maybe it'll work for some people. And so I ended up putting 40 pounds back on and then tried a whole bunch more diets until I finally just settled into where I'm at now.

Host: Had you incorporated fitness into that, your journey at that point yet? Like weight training or

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: No.

Host: Aerobics or anything?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: No. Just strictly diet.

Gina (Host): When did that come in then?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: That came. Oh, I want to say probably four or five years ago.

Gina (Host): Okay.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: So I had another, well I still have it, but another side hustle at Target. And they had like this fitness plan you could get like an Anytime membership for like 25 bucks. So I just went ahead and got that. I had no idea what I was doing. I was so terrified to go.

Gina (Host): It is, it's, it's intimidating for people.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Oh yeah. It sure is. Yeah. Because. I mean, your first thought is, man, I'm going to walk in there. Everyone's going to be judging me. Everyone's just going to like, stop what they're doing and stare at me. You know, like that's how it feels.

Host: And, and in truth, they don't care about you at all.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: They don't care. They have, I mean, as sad as it is, everyone in there has their own insecurities.

Host: Right.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: And so, I mean, yeah, there might be that one jerk, that one time that judges you, but I mean, I've, I go usually three or four times a day for, you know, three or four years now.

Gina (Host): Mm-hmm. And.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: And yeah, I've never really ran, I've went in, ran into that maybe once so.

Host: And we don't care about that one jerk.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: No, yeah. He's got his own deal, you know, issues to deal with. So, so yeah. I mean, everyone's there just, they're trying to do their own thing, their, their own goals, you know, and, and so I just start. I just walked to the machines cuz there was, they're all lined up and I had no idea what to, to, to do, but it, I mean, it's literally written on the side of the machine, like how to adjust the se and so I would just kind of like do a coup like couple arm things that I, you know, kind of looked easy and kind of like look around, see what other people were doing.

Host: Mm-hmm.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: And then it just kind of all started from there.

Host: Okay. So then now you're starting to work out. And you're still doing the diet. Well, not diet, but lifestyle change eating wise. And you were chronicling your weight loss on social media.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. Yeah. I would kind of just post stuff on Facebook, just my wins. Hopefully like motivate some other people.

Host: Right. Right. And then somebody saw those

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah.

Host: Steve Simonin,

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah.

Host: Our CEO and, and encouraged you to maybe look into becoming a, a personal trainer.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah, we were literally just like walking. I was by the IT office and he just happened to be walking by to his office and he goes, Hey, you ever thought about being a personal trainer? No. No. And he's like, well, I've been, I've been watching your journey and I've been seeing, you know, some of your progress and I just think it'd be a great fit for you. It would push you to be better. And then also along the way you can help other people out and he is like, I just think you'd be a really good fit for it.

Host: That's really cool. That's, really neat that he recognized that in you and, and pushed you a little bit. So then you decided to do it, obviously.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yep. So I took a course through a National Academy of Sports Medicine. They have a certified trainer program, so I took four months to do that and yeah. Got all my certifications.

Host: So, how long have you been doing this?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: About three or four months now.

Host: And you like it?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah.

Host: Good. It's fun to, because you and I have talked about hooking up in that respect. Because I love to lift weights. Just haven't done it for a while because I usually go overboard and end up injuring myself. So I need to step back and, and figure out an actual plan. Okay. We're going to start here and then we're going to work up, and then we're going to do that. But I think having somebody like yourself is wonderful because you can guide someone like me to do the right things at the right times.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. And I've learned that through experience too, cuz I'm like, I want everything now. Of course. Like I'm instant gratification generation, why can't I just walk in and, you know, squat 300 pounds, you know,

Host: And not have to go to physical therapy the next day.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah, exactly.

Host: For five weeks. So where, where do you see your clients, by the way?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: I've started seeing clients here in Clarion. Okay.

Gina (Host): Okay.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: At the fitness center. Okay. Yep. Uh, uptown or downtown. Mm-hmm. And then I've also started like an online coaching program. So, cuz I know we have a lot of people that ne can't really make it to Clarion, so

Host: Mm-hmm.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: I want to able to help everybody out.

Host: Okay. What does that look like?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: So it's an app. So I can build out a program for you. And then it just comes to your app. You get into the app, it's got all of your workouts for the day laid out. And then it's got like a brief description on what to do, and then a video link in case you need just like a quick refresh on how to do it. Then you enter your results. So how many reps and sets you do, at what weight, and then it tracks all that. So then next time you do that same workout, let's say just bench press, next time it shows up, it'll show you what you did last time.

Yeah, so, you know, cause a lot of times you're trying to think like, oh, what weight did I do last time? So you're kind of playing around. So yeah, it's just all laid out right there for you.

Host: I like that idea because I'm the old fashioned girl who likes pencil and paper, so I have wads of paper, literally at home that will say Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, five pounds,

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Oh,

Host: 10 reps and it gets it. It's just not convenient. At all.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yep. So that this is all of that, but just in your pocket.

Host: Nice. Nice. I like that. So, if I were to hire you to be my personal trainer, and we, so we're going to meet, what does my first session look like? What kind of things are you going to ask me or expect?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. So before we even get to the gym I'm going to send you some paperwork. Okay. Mainly just to protect you and yourself so it's got some medical questions, you know, cuz if you have like back pain or previous injuries depending on the injuries or, other medical issues. Mm-hmm. You know, sometimes you can't jump straight into the gym. Right. You know, and you might need to go see a one of our doctors to get clearance first. So once we get all that paperwork out of the way and I kind of understand what your goals are, then I'm going to lay out a plan.

So that first day in the gym we'll do a little assessment just to kind of see how your balance is, what your level's like. You know, I'll look at a few things. And then we'll do just kind of a, like a condensed workout that first day. Okay. But then after that, then we'll really start to get into the program.

Host: Okay. And then, so typically how many times would we, you and I meet?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: I like to go for two or three times a week depending what fits into your schedule. Mm-hmm. But especially with the online one, you know, you have kind of your own a lot more flexibility there.

Gina (Host): Yeah. Can we do a hybrid of both? Or is it, is it usually just I'm online or we're meeting in person?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Oh. We could probably do a hybrid too, I guess. I hadn't thought of that option, but yeah, if you wanted to meet one like once a week just for accountability and then two other d you know, two other times a week you're doing the app. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that would be a good option too.

Host: Okay. Well, I'm, I'm, if we hook up, that's what I'm going to ask for, just so, you know.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Okay, good know.

Host: So I'll just have to be a little bit difficult. Let's visit really briefly about spot reducing. I am a fitness podcast junkie. I love listening to people talk about it. I love all the things. And there's a lot of talk about how your abs, what is it like 80% of your abs are made in the kitchen? Because you really need to get the fat off in order to even see the abs. So is it a myth that I can go to the gym and really just spot reduce wherever I feel like I need it?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah, that's definitely a myth. So, um, I know.

Host: There we go.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: You can work on your abs 45 minutes a day and you know, like you said, unless you're doing the other stuff to get down your weight, you know, you're not going to see 'em and abs a, I mean, you gotta be pretty low body weight to see abs. Like you see the actors in the movies, you know, they got these shredded abs. They don't have those all year round

Gina (Host): Right. And they probably don't eat when they're trying to develop these.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah, yeah. They're going to cut their diet way low. Mm-hmm. You know, before production. They're going to cut out salt and everything to get that, you know, body fat, way down.

Host: Yeah. Zero carbs.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: They might not drink water either or, lower their water, you know, to get more dehydrated. Yeah. So, mean, some people do have abs, but it's pretty rare, you know.

Gina (Host): I feel like we just are so, conscientious about everybody else on social media, and that does not do any favors for anybody. There's a lot of comparing like, well, why don't I look like her and I want that, and I mean, how much does protein play a part in all of this, you know, there's so many questions.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah, man, that whole social media, you know, they get the lighting just right, you know, or the right filter and,

Host: And, and it's probably the 100th take of that same photo. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And, and meanwhile, I'm just sitting over here going, well, I want to look like that. But you also can't look like that, just sitting around not doing anything. Right.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. And now's, I mean, a great time of year to get started cuz maybe you don't have a membership. Maybe the gym's intimidating. I mean the weather's getting nice. Go. Go on a walk. Start there. A jog. You know, a lot of nice trails, a hike, you know, anything like that.

Gina (Host): So. Right. Do you feel like people can over I'm asking this because I've, I've read this too quite a bit lately, and it is, I'm getting of an older age as well, so it makes a little bit of a difference that you can over exercise, especially aerobically. Like, do I need to go and run 45 minutes, or, you know, I'm hearing that long walks are just as good. And what's, what's your take on that?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. Like aerobic, for like weight loss or just yeah, you can definitely overdo it with, with the aerobics. And honestly for weight loss too, a lot of people don't realize this, but strength training is going to be better for that because the thing with the aerobics is you're only burning calories while you're working out. And with strength training, cuz muscle is like the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn just sedentary throughout your day.

Host: Right.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: So, and man, I heard this, I don't know, a little while back, but let's take burpees. Yeah. No one likes

Host: Yuck

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: a burpee. Doing burpees, you burn about 13 calories a minute. So if you could do all out hardcore burpees for 10 minutes, which I don't know anybody that could do that, but if you could, you'd burn 130 calories, which

Host: Not worth it. Sorry.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Like two Oreos, maybe three, right? So

Host: I'll just skip the protein bar that day.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. So. I mean, aerobics is good, you know, it's good for your heart. It's good to get things pumping. I'm, I'm not going to say don't do it.

Host: Mm-hmm. but I do think there's a more, a, a better emphasis on the strength training. And I'm gonna say because I'm a female and I'm, like I said, I'm in my fifties, so osteoporosis is a big deal for me now. You know, maintaining and building strong bones, it takes you a long way through life.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. Yep. And that strength training is going to be a really good to slow down or even help prevent osteoporosis.

Host: Right. Right. Wow. So there's a lot of things. There's a lot of considerations. Any other tales of wisdom for the topic of personal training?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Well, so a lot of people. I mean, one of the things I hear is like, oh, I don't need a personal trainer. Like, they don't want to spend the money. And it's like, well, I know what to do. I just need to get out of bed. Mm-hmm. You know, I just need to go do it. And that's the hardest thing. And that's one of the things that having a personal trainer can help with.

You know, you, you've spent the money, you know, you've put in the commitment if it's in person, you know, at this time on this day, there's going to be somebody at the gym, you know, expecting you to be there. So it's accountability. And if you're doing the virtual app, you know, I'm going to check in on you, see how things are going. So it's, it's that accountability thing. One thing I guess with that, like spending the money, making the commitment is I'm trying, it was probably three, four years ago. I don't really remember, but I, I just made this decision that I was going to start running. So I downloaded this like, couch to 5K app.

Yep. And it's, you know, you start out walking for whatever time and then you'd run, and I'd kind of made up my mind that whatever the person on the app said, I was just going to do it. You know, and sometimes I was running so slow that, you know, an old lady in a scooter probably could have passed me. But the thing, like, I refused to go to a walk.

And I, I had like, made, made up my mind and I won't, I'll never forget cuz I couldn't even like go a mile, walk, run. Yeah. Like before I was just exhausted and I was talking to a friend who was a runner and he's like, why don't you do a 5K with me? And I'm like, I can't even do one.

Like, let's get the re there before I do three. And he's like, you got a month and a half, just, just do it. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, no way I'm going to do it. And he was telling me like, it's not, a serious thing. Like there's going to be like grandma's walking their kids in a stroller there. Like it's not, you know, this all out sporting event, just sign up.

It's like, okay. So I spent the money, you know, I did the registration and then I posted online like, Hey, I'm going to be doing this. Like now I'm committed. Cuz now people have seen it. Like, if I don't do it, I'm a like, feel like a fool and I spent the money and I don't want to waste the money. And that was such motivation, like I just mentally felt different. Because now I'm not just out here to be out here. I've made the commitment, the financial

Host: You trained for it,

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: And now I'll have something to train for. Yes. Right? Yes. You got a goal. Yeah. And that day it was such a personal win for me because we got there and I had so much energy and we were just going to do like a little warmup jog, you know?

Mm-hmm. We actually ran the whole 5K course as our warmup.

Host: Oh.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: yeah. And then like we were at the starting line and we ran the 5K and it was my best time yet. Even though I had just ran a 5k, you know

Host: You did 10 K.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah basically. And then like we stopped at a gas station or a truck stop and I took a shower and cuz it was in Ames and when we went to adventure Land.

Host: Oh my.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: And I did all day at Adventure Land. But it was just, I felt so great. And thinking back to 2014, me, you know, no fitness, no good diet. Like absolutely, couldn't have done any of that.

Host: Absolutely that's awesome. I have a very similar story. I did the same thing. Friends of ours were doing a, a 5K at a church down in Des Moines for their group, and they said, why don't you come and join us? I said, there's no way. There's no way. So I downloaded the couch potato to 5K and started doing the same thing on the treadmill. Okay. And then every day I'd do a little bit more, a little bit more, got to the race. I was so nervous. But I ran the whole thing, start to finish. Never stopped once, had a really good time, I thought, and I could not have been more myself.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: That's awesome.

Host: Yeah. Yeah. Just that commitment, just making it, and showing up for yourself.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yep. I'd say this whole thing, diet, weightlifting, running, I said all of it's like 90% mental.

Host: Absolutely.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: I mean, totally. You just think you can't do it. You haven't done it for so long.

Host: Yep.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: You can do it. Yep. And the one thing with running that kind of played into everything is I would just tell myself, get to the next driveway. Yeah. And you'd get there. Okay. Like I did it. Like small accomplishment, now get to the next driveway. Yep. And it was just like these little like bursts of like joy and adrenaline every time you get to one. And like that changed a lot of things for me because a lot of times I would be like rushing to get to work on time, you know?

And now I'm getting up early, I'm running, I'm hitting all these goals. So like on my drive to work, it's like you can feel it in your chest. Like your lungs are open, everything feels great,

Host: You're more mentally alert.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah. And you know, I mean, to some people it's no big deal. But like, I'd come into work like, ah, I ran two miles today. Like, look at me. You know, like,

Host: It's gonna be a good day.

Hold

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: your chest up high. Like, yeah. So it, it just changes everything.

Host: That's amazing.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: So yeah, just little goals. Little goals. You can do it.

Host: it Okay If anybody is not motivated by this part of the podcast, you should be. And how would they, if they want to talk to you further in person, how would they get ahold of you?

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yeah, they, I mean, they can hit me up just on my work email, if that's easiest. My number's on the internet. Otherwise, so my business, little business is called PhilUp on Fitness. PhilUp like P H I L U P, a little play on words there.

Host: Oh, okay, PhilUp on Fitness. Yeah.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: So yeah. Thank you. It's just philuponfitness@gmail.

Host: Okay. Okay

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Com. So.

Host: So, All right. Awesome. And then they can always reach out to the hospital and ask for you too. I'm assuming if cuz you work.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Yep. call help desk.

Host: Yup are. Sitting in IT. Love it. To me, it feels like I, I love this, this phrase and I feel like this is so fitting right now. We can do hard things.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: A hundred percent.

Host: There you go. All right. Thanks for being on today, Phil. I really appreciate it.

Phillip Bedel, Personal Trainer: Thanks for having me.

Host: Thank you for listening to Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics ISH Dish Podcast. For more information on the topics we discussed today, visit us on the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. There you can read a transcript of today's episode or previously aired episodes, as well as get the latest news from Iowa specialty hospitals and clinics, and explore all of the services that we offer. For the ISH Dish Podcast, I'm Gina. Thanks for tuning in.