The B.rad Podcast

Hey, Brad Kearns here with some thoughts from my morning walk about the foundation of any excellent, well-rounded fitness program for peak performance, vitality, fat loss, and longevity.
Did you know half of regular runners get an overuse injury every year, and 25% of regular runners are injured at any given time?
In this episode, I explain why the modern endurance running approach is deeply flawed, why walking provides an excellent aerobic conditioning effect with minimal impact load or injury risk, and why it should be the foundation from which you launch your more ambitious fitness activities. I also share why resistance training is the missing link for many people, including Dr. Doug McGuff's “Big Five” workout, and why true sprinting—not long HIIT sessions—is the single best workout ever known to mankind in terms of return on investment for reducing excess body fat, promoting overall functional fitness, and supporting longevity.
Research reveals that anaerobic muscle fibers decline at a rate of around 40% per decade without intervention, compared to roughly 10% for the aerobic system. That's why we have a critical obligation for longevity to hone the anaerobic system with brief, explosive maximum efforts.
The three fitness laws are simple: move frequently at a slow pace, lift heavy things, and sprint once in a while. That is the winning ticket for true fitness, weight loss, and longevity.

TIMESTAMPS:
Brad emphasizes the importance of walking as an activity from which to launch your more ambitious fitness activities. [01:51]
Steady state cardiovascular exercise and other extreme endurance exercises often create injuries. [03:01]
Sprinting is the single best workout known to mankind! It's all about quality, explosiveness, power, lots of rest in between. [08:30]

LINKS:
Brad Kearns.com
BradNutrition.com
B.rad Whey Protein Superfuel - The Best Protein on The Planet!
Brad’s Shopping Page
BornToWalkBook.com
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
The Primal Blueprint
Body by Science

We appreciate all feedback, and questions for Q&A shows, emailed to podcast@bradventures.com. If you have a moment, please share an episode you like with a quick text message, or leave a review on your podcast app. Thank you!
Check out each of these companies because they are absolutely awesome or they wouldn’t occupy this revered space. Seriously, I won’t promote anything that I don't absolutely love and use in daily life:
B.rad Nutrition: Premium quality, all-natural supplements for peak performance, recovery, and longevity; including the world's highest quality whey protein! Get 20% OFF your first order!
Peluva: Comfortable, functional, stylish five-toe minimalist shoe to reawaken optimal foot function. Use code BRADPODCAST for 15% off!
Jaspr Air Scrubber: Ultra high-performance air purifier - blows other air filters away! Save $200 on your unit with code BRAD.
Get Stride: Advanced DNA, methylation profile, microbiome & blood at-home testing. Hit your stride the right way, with cutting-edge technology and customized programming. Save 10% with the code BRAD.
Online educational courses: Numerous great offerings for an immersive home-study educational experience
Primal Fitness Expert Certification: The most comprehensive online course on all aspects of traditional fitness programming and a total immersion fitness lifestyle. Save 25% on tuition with code BRAD!
#bradpodcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the emotional patterns you struggle with aren’t actually who you are? What if they’re just patterns—and patterns can be interrupted?
I’m joined by Dr. Elisha Goldstein, returning to the show eight years after his first appearance, to talk about his new book, Tiny Shifts: How Emotional Health Transforms Stress, Relationships, and Longevity. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about healthy eating, exercise, fitness, sleep, and all the things we do to live a long and healthy life, but what about the emotional stuff? Because Elisha makes the case that emotional longevity is just as important as physical longevity—and that living in a high-stress, agitated pattern can potentially take years off your life.
We get into his simple 4-R method: recognize, release, refocus, reinforce, which can help you catch yourself in an overwhelmed loop before you spiral into those undesirable, repeatable patterns. We talk about why the skills we learn can easily fail us when we need them the most—when we’re under pressure, agitated, or triggered—and how to create more space between stimulus and response.
Elisha explains why emotions are biology, how getting in touch with what’s happening in your body can change the way you respond, and why asking your brain better questions can lead to better answers. We also talk about the everyday moments that can send us into these patterns, from traffic to social media outrage to difficult relationships, and Elisha shares a personal story about getting scammed online that puts all of this to the test in real time.
This is a fascinating conversation about emotional health, longevity, and learning to recognize the patterns that drive our behavior so we can interrupt them and give ourselves more choice in the moments when we need it most.

TIMESTAMPS:
Can Dr. Goldstein's 4-R method be the tool we need when we get under emotional stress and dysregulation? [01:03]
We live in stressful times. Even when we see ourselves as living a healthy life, we might not be aware of how this stress is effecting our body. [07:01]
The moment of awareness when you realize that you are tense, your heart rate is up, that's when you begin to recover. [10:25]
Your body always has a physical response. You can learn to map your feelings on your body. [15:10]
Our responses are just a pattern, not part of our identity. [20:01]
If a label (diagnosis) is helpful to you to identify something so you can better understand the pattern and create an intervention, it can be helpful. [25:24]
Trauma can be passed through generations. [27:14]
We learn to refocus. What do I need right now? [30:47]
When you can identify what you are feeling, your brain is mapping the sensation. [38:33]
Asking yourself questions like "What do I need? "Why aren't I kinder to myself?" puts you in a more empowering place. [44:15]
When dealing with being taken advantage of, what comes after anger? [46:21]
An example could be if there was friction in your relationship, you can ask yourself, "What would it be like if I just stopped trying to argue and just listened instead?" [47:44]
Social media can be very much a detriment in a lot of ways to our minds and our culture. [49:51]
If you get wrapped up in some news that upsets you, it makes you obsess about it, creating anxiety. [51:24]
If you can overcome a pattern once, and not react with that triggered response, it's a huge breakthrough. [54:27]
Listen to your experience. [01:02:03]
If your message to yourself is, "I should be able to shift my perspective and feel better," you are just feeding the feeling of shame. [01:05:39]

LINKS:
Brad Kearns.com
BradNutrition.com
B.rad Whey Protein Superfuel - The Best Protein on The Planet!
Brad’s Shopping Page
BornToWalkBook.com
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
Book - Tiny Shifts: How Emotional Health Transforms Stress, Relationships, and Longevity
Dr. Elisha Goldstein Podcast
Uncovering Happiness
elishagoldstein.com

We appreciate all feedback, and questions for Q&A shows, emailed to podcast@bradventures.com. If you have a moment, please share an episode you like with a quick text message, or leave a review on your podcast app. Thank you!
Check out each of these companies because they are absolutely awesome or they wouldn’t occupy this revered space. Seriously, I won’t promote anything that I don't absolutely love and use in daily life:
B.rad Nutrition: Premium quality, all-natural supplements for peak performance, recovery, and longevity; including the world's highest quality whey protein! Get 20% OFF your first order!
Peluva: Comfortable, functional, stylish five-toe minimalist shoe to reawaken optimal foot function. Use code BRADPODCAST for 15% off!
Jaspr Air Scrubber: Ultra high-performance air purifier - blows other air filters away! Save $200 on your unit with code BRAD.
Get Stride: Advanced DNA, methylation profile, microbiome & blood at-home testing. Hit your stride the right way, with cutting-edge technology and customized programming. Save 10% with the code BRAD.
Online educational courses: Numerous great offerings for an immersive home-study educational experience
Primal Fitness Expert Certification: The most comprehensive online course on all aspects of traditional fitness programming and a total immersion fitness lifestyle. Save 25% on tuition with code BRAD!
#bradpodcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Get ready for another great show with Ben Azadi, author of the new book KetoFlex. Ben has an incredible story—after struggling with obesity and depression in his early 20s, he lost 80 pounds and completely transformed his health.
Today he's helping people better understand metabolism, fasting, and the ketogenic diet by simplifying complex science and turning it into practical, actionable habits that don't feel overwhelming.
We talk about why eating too close to bedtime can interfere with your body's biggest fat-burning window of the day, why Ben believes in making just one "tweak a week" instead of overhauling your life overnight, and why he says, "You don't lose weight to get healthy—you get healthy to lose weight."
We also discuss metabolic flexibility, the role of hyperinsulinemia and seed oils in today's obesity epidemic, why keto isn't meant to be a forever diet, and the simple mindset shifts that make lasting change possible—including Ben's memorable reminder: "If you treat your health casually, you'll end up a casualty." Ben also shares the productivity habits that have helped him write multiple bestselling books while staying focused on his mission of helping others reclaim their health.
Ben Azadi is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, and functional diagnostic nutritionist known as "The Health Detective." After struggling with obesity and depression in his early 20s, he transformed his health by losing 80 pounds and reducing his body fat to 6%—an experience that inspired his mission to help others improve their metabolic health. Today, Ben is the founder of Keto Kamp, where he educates people on intermittent fasting, the ketogenic diet, and metabolic flexibility. He is also the host of the award-winning Metabolic Freedom podcast, which was named Keto Podcast of the Year at the 2022 Metabolic Health Summit.

TIMESTAMPS:
Ben Azadi explains in this podcast some complex scientific insights about sleep, about metabolic health, about how the body's supposed to burn fat while we sleep, about what's going on during the day and how to manage this global obesity epidemic. [01:05]
Ben's story of being a very unhealthy depressed young man involves an 80-pound weight loss he experienced. This started his journey toward better health. He will explain the basics of the ketogenic diet. [04:55]
If you treat your health casually, you'll end up a casualty. If you are 23 years old or 63 years old, your body will respond when you change the signals you're giving it. [10:10]
What does it take to get motivated and inspired to take on the responsibility of managing your own health? [16:31]
When you eat too close to bedtime, you're missing out on the most important window within a 24-hour period for fat loss and fat burning. [18:14]
If you eat the same meal in the morning and evening with exactly the same calories and micronutrients, the insulin response is different. [22:44]
When you are most insulin sensitive in the morning, is that a good time to fast? [28:40]
If you put rules and guidelines into your life, that is a really nice method of succeeding. [32:34]
Start with whole foods, start with good sleep, start with movement and then build from there. [37:33]
Keto Flex is a spin on metabolic flexibility. It's do keto but don't do it forever. [38:22]
When you're in ketosis, it signals to your body that you're going through kind of like a famine. It's a stressor to the body. [43:13]
How did Ben lose 80 pounds in nine months? You don't lose weight to get healthy, you get healthy to lose weight. [48:54]
Are seed oils promoting hyperinsulinemia or are there other things at play here that's interfering with our ability to burn stored body fat? [52:33]
The definition of whole food is that it is a single ingredient food. [58:11]
What kind of application does the consumption of exogenous ketones have? [58:42]
Ben explains his KetoFlex plan here. [01:01:04]
Ben shares some of his secrets of managing his busy life, writing books, teaching, podcasting and keeping that 80 pounds off. [01:06:16]

LINKS:
Brad Kearns.com
Brad Nutrition.com
Brad’s Shopping Page
BornToWalkBook.com˜
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
Keto Flex
Metabolic Freedom
Burn
ketoflex.com

We appreciate all feedback, and questions for Q&A shows, emailed to podcast@bradventures.com. If you have a moment, please share an episode you like with a quick text message, or leave a review on your podcast app. Thank you!
Check out each of these companies because they are absolutely awesome or they wouldn’t occupy this revered space. Seriously, I won’t promote anything that I don't absolutely love and use in daily life:
B.rad Nutrition: Premium quality, all-natural supplements for peak performance, recovery, and longevity; including the world's highest quality whey protein! Get 20% OFF your first order!
Peluva: Comfortable, functional, stylish five-toe minimalist shoe to reawaken optimal foot function. Use code BRADPODCAST for 15% off!
Jaspr Air Scrubber: Ultra high-performance air purifier - blows other air filters away! Save $200 on your unit with code BRAD.
Get Stride: Advanced DNA, methylation profile, microbiome & blood at-home testing. Hit your stride the right way, with cutting-edge technology and customized programming. Save 10% with the code BRAD.
Online educational courses: Numerous great offerings for an immersive home-study educational experience
Primal Fitness Expert Certification: The most comprehensive online course on all aspects of traditional fitness programming and a total immersion fitness lifestyle. Save 25% on tuition with code BRAD!

#bradpodcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a most informative and inspiring show about the amazing ancient superfood of cacao!
This episode will give you everything you need to know about its remarkable health benefits, healing properties, and how to choose the most sustainable, eco-friendly, fair-trade bean-to-bar products. You will learn about the fascinating history of cacao as a sacred food, currency, and medicine, why it remains one of the most highly regarded superfoods on the planet, and how the food industry took this extraordinary raw material, stripped out everything useful, and transformed it into little more than a heavily sugared version of the original.
Along the way, I explain the science in plain English—from the powerful polyphenols that support your heart, brain, blood pressure, gut microbiome, metabolism, and mood, to why cacao may be the single most antioxidant-rich food you can eat.
I also reveal the disturbing reality behind much of today's commercial chocolate industry, including how mainstream processing destroys many of cacao's most valuable compounds and why ethical sourcing matters. You'll learn the difference between raw cacao powder, cacao nibs, and high-percentage dark chocolate, how to identify truly high-quality bean-to-bar chocolate, why I became a dark chocolate connoisseur, and the artisan brands I recommend.
When this episode is over, you're never going to look at a chocolate bar the same way again, and you'll be fully armed to make the best product purchasing decisions and obtain the maximum benefits from consuming foods high in nutritious cacao.

TIMESTAMPS:
Cacao is one of the most highly regarded superfoods on the planet. [00:56]
When you are finished listening to this episode, you will never look at a chocolate bar the same way again. [02:28]
The best way to enjoy chocolate is to put it on your tongue and allow the flavor to dissolve in your mouth. [06:38]
The history of cacao is fascinating. It is one of the most nutrient dense, biologically active foods in all of human history. [08:10]
Early civilationa learned to ferment, roast, and grind cacao beans into a drink. It was more than a flavoring agent, it was very much a spriitual centerpiece as well as used for medicinal purposes. [10:11]
After the Europeans added sugar to cacao, it lost some of its medicinal purpose, although it still is a good source of antioxidants. [12:29]
There are many cardiovascular benefits from cacao. It improves platelet function. [18:17]
Cacao has been shown in studies to produce meaningful reductions in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. It is also known to help boost levels of HDL (high density lipoproteins.) [20:55]
Cacao consumption improves your overall lipid profiles, including helping with healthy triglyceride levels. [27:24]
Does cacao help with weight loss goals? [28:27]
Cacao has an impact on brain function and mood. [31:37]
In contrast to the powerful, hard and fast effects of caffeine, theobromine in cacao works more slowly. It has a gentler mechanism and a longer half life. [35:08]
Studies show wonderful benefits from cacao on the gut. It has been identified as a potent prebiotic which is what feed probiotics to flourish in the intestinal tract. [38:59]
Reasearch shows cacao has properties protecting you from UV damage from sunburn. [46:35]
Just how damaging to health is mainstream modern chocolate processing? One of the terrible aspects of the low-priced chocolate is because of the support of child slave labor harvesting these beans. [50:02]
Look for the designation of "bean to bar" on the product. It should also have cacao beans as the first ingredient. [55:05]
In mainstream processing of the beans, they have to use super high temperatures which degrades the polyphenol. [57:17]
There are three categories of products which can deliver these wonderful health benefits. [01:00:07]
When the bar is above 80%, this is where most of the research showing cardiovascular cognitive benefits was conducted. The words "cacao beans" should be the first ingredient on the label. [01:05:53]
Brad lists his recommendations for good chocolate bars. [01:19:44]
How much chocolate should one consume? [[01:29:06]
Do not refrigerate high quality dark chocolate. [01:32:50]

LINKS:
Brad Kearns.com
BradNutrition.com
B.rad Whey Protein Superfuel - The Best Protein on The Planet!
Brad’s Shopping Page
BornToWalkBook.com
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
Burn
The Primal Blueprint
Podcast with Shawn Askinosie (Chocolate)
Podcast with Todd White (Dry Farm Wine)
Dry Farm Wines
Askinosie Chocolate
Chocovivo
Cocoa Runners
Nomosu
Pump Street Chocolate
Puna Chocolate
Ranger Chocolate
Rausch
Spring and Mulberry

We appreciate all feedback, and questions for Q&A shows, emailed to podcast@bradventures.com. If you have a moment, please share an episode you like with a quick text message, or leave a review on your podcast app. Thank you!
Check out each of these companies because they are absolutely awesome or they wouldn’t occupy this revered space. Seriously, I won’t promote anything that I don't absolutely love and use in daily life:
B.rad Nutrition: Premium quality, all-natural supplements for peak performance, recovery, and longevity; including the world's highest quality whey protein! Get 20% OFF your first order!
Peluva: Comfortable, functional, stylish five-toe minimalist shoe to reawaken optimal foot function. Use code BRADPODCAST for 15% off!
Jaspr Air Scrubber: Ultra high-performance air purifier - blows other air filters away! Save $200 on your unit with code BRAD.
Get Stride: Advanced DNA, methylation profile, microbiome & blood at-home testing. Hit your stride the right way, with cutting-edge technology and customized programming. Save 10% with the code BRAD.
Online educational courses: Numerous great offerings for an immersive home-study educational experience
Primal Fitness Expert Certification: The most comprehensive online course on all aspects of traditional fitness programming and a total immersion fitness lifestyle. Save 25% on tuition with code BRAD!
#bradpodcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, how about a podcast guest of the fittest female athlete in the world?
Her name is Lauren Weeks and she is a Hyrox legend and a three-time world champion widely considered to be the most decorated competitor in the sport’s history and the world’s fittest woman. That’s a title you can throw around and argue about, but she has a legitimate claim because Hyrox is an incredible athletic challenge that demands both extreme endurance capability and the strength and power to perform these challenging stations that happen in between one-kilometer runs.
Lauren breaks down the entire Hyrox competition, how this fitness sensation has taken the fitness world by storm, and her journey to becoming a three-time world champion—including winning world championships, competing while eight months pregnant, returning to take second in the world, and eventually breaking the world record in both the pro and open divisions.
You’re also going to learn some really interesting insights about her training. Sneak peek: most of her training is comfortably paced. I want to pound this message into our heads over and over—here is a woman performing at the very highest level ever seen in total athletic, functional fitness, and most of the time she’s training well within her capacity.
Lauren shares how she balances aerobic training, strength work, and specific Hyrox preparation, and why building your aerobic system, staying strong, and training consistently are the foundation for performing at the highest level and staying fit and healthy throughout life.

TIMESTAMPS:
Lauren Weeks, World Champion in Hyrox, is here to give an explanation of the sport and some trips for training. [01:03]
It's a sport that encourages you to have an aerobic base, but also work on strength, which I think is really important for longevity. Lauren explains the stations. [04:29]
So pacing, no matter what level you're at, is gonna be incredibly important. [12:18]
If you're racing full bore for around an hour, that's pretty much the definition of the anaerobic threshold. [16:01]
The participants in these events vary in their skill level. There are divisions differing in the weights at the stations. [19:11]
On average, the average time is probably just about 90 minutes, but the range is anywhere from just under an hour to probably just over three hours. [22:31]
Range of motion might be a problem for folks who haven't trained for these stations. [25:17]
Did it take a long time for Lauren to get to the world champion level? What is it like being a professional these days? [27:04]
How many different events are there on the calendar? [32:48]
What does her daily training regimen look like? [34:54]
How can you be 8 months pregnant and compete in a Hyrox competition? [45:55]

Learn more about the Centr x HYROX ecosystem:
For gym owners and operators interested in Centr x HYROX commercial opportunities:
https://shop.centr.com/pages/commercial?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=TheB.radPodcast&utm_campaign=Podcast
Try the Centr App (includes the only HYROX-certified digital training programs):
https://centr.com/p/hyrox/all-programs?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=TheB.radPodcast&utm_campaign=Podcast

LINKS:
Brad Kearns.com
BradNutrition.com
B.rad Whey Protein Superfuel - The Best Protein on The Planet!
Brad’s Shopping Page
BornToWalkBook.com
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
B.rad Podcast – All Episodes
Peluva Five-Toe Minimalist Shoes
High Rocks (Hyrox)
Wikipedia: Lauren Weeks
Emom Training
thehybridengine training

We appreciate all feedback, and questions for Q&A shows, emailed to podcast@bradventures.com. If you have a moment, please share an episode you like with a quick text message, or leave a review on your podcast app. Thank you!
Check out each of these companies because they are absolutely awesome or they wouldn’t occupy this revered space. Seriously, I won’t promote anything that I don't absolutely love and use in daily life:
B.rad Nutrition: Premium quality, all-natural supplements for peak performance, recovery, and longevity; including the world's highest quality whey protein! Get 20% OFF your first order!
Peluva: Comfortable, functional, stylish five-toe minimalist shoe to reawaken optimal foot function. Use code BRADPODCAST for 15% off!
Jaspr Air Scrubber: Ultra high-performance air purifier - blows other air filters away! Save $200 on your unit with code BRAD.
Get Stride: Advanced DNA, methylation profile, microbiome & blood at-home testing. Hit your stride the right way, with cutting-edge technology and customized programming. Save 10% with the code BRAD.
Online educational courses: Numerous great offerings for an immersive home-study educational experience
Primal Fitness Expert Certification: The most comprehensive online course on all aspects of traditional fitness programming and a total immersion fitness lifestyle. Save 25% on tuition with code BRAD!
#bradpodcast
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.