“5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing” with Dr. Len Lopez

The number one side benefit of exercise is that is it slows the aging process — who doesn’t want that? It’s the intensity of your workout that triggers the surge in TT and GH. The sad or difficult part is that you just can’t swallow or inject these hormones, you have to move your body to make it happen. Second, you’ll reduce your risk of a heart attack. An aerobic workout done correctly will make your cardiovascular system more efficient compared to someone who is not aerobically fit. That’s life-saving! Lastly, there is that endorphin hit you get, which has a positive effect on your emotional well-being. Again, you can’t buy this stuff or you shouldn’t! Simply get your body moving!

As a part of my series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Len Lopez.

Dr. Len is your ideal health and fitness coach — doctor, because his background and training as a Nutritionist, Strength and Conditioning Coach and Chiropractic Sports Physician helps him practice what he preaches. He’s an author, inventor, entrepreneur, as well as, husband and father of three.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the story about how you first got involved in fitness and wellness?

I have to give credit to both my mom and dad. Dad had all three of his boys playing sports at a young age, all the way through high school. Mom is the one who after reading a book on health and nutrition, made all kinds of changes, beginning with a handful of vitamins we had to take before school.

We didn’t really know what we were swallowing. She would tell us most of them are for sports recovery. We listened to what mom said — for my brothers and I, it became more of a contest to see who could swallow the most pills in one swallow. And yes, we nearly lost my younger brother once or twice from choking.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

In my opinion, my journey is more interesting in and of itself, simply because my career turned out much different than what I thought it would be. I never imagined any of the public speaking, talking on radio and television, writing articles and books, to eventually formulating nutritional products and inventing My Portable Pullup Bar. So, for me the interesting thing has been the journey and not knowing what lies ahead.

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

Think of the movie ‘Broadcast News.’ It was over 20 years ago when I was invited as a guest to a local television program that was bilingual. Now my Spanish was only OK, and this was live TV, so naturally I started sweating like Herb Brooks did in the movie when he got in front of the cameras.

The sweating was only half the embarrassment. Now, imagine the camera cutting away from me to allow me to wipe my face with a tissue I was given. Unfortunately, we shot the show at 6 pm and this was back in the day when everyone shaved everyday and my 5 o’clock stubble snagged onto the tissue paper, leaving my face partially covered with torn pieces of sweaty tissue paper…needless to say, they cut away from me again.

The good news was, the information I presented was good and was invited back. My take-away was obvious — Pat Don’t Wipe!

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

I’d think it is my ability to explain in layman’s terms, some of the more complicated bio-chemistry and physiology the body goes through to help people better understand why it is important to exercise and/or to eat this instead of that.

I share that because I’m a big believer in patient compliance and I believe if you make it understandable, it becomes easier to follow through on.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Not everyone knows this, but years ago I was a struggling actor in Los Angeles when I met Dr. Monte Greenawalt at the hotel I was working at. We started chatting and somehow I shared with him an idea I had for an invention. I had no idea who he was, but he was impressed enough to give me the opportunity to properly present my idea to him.

So, a couple of weeks later I flew out to visit him in Las Vegas. My eyes were immediately opened when I arrived at his house, because it wasn’t a house — it was a mansion.

So, now I’m thinking, who is this guy! Basically, he saw something in me and told me, Len, you were impressive enough to convince me to listen to you, which isn’t an easy sell. But more importantly he made me feel like I did have something to offer. Coming from him, it helped me believe in myself, like I had never had before.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?

Mis-information has to be first, because there are so many books and article on low-fat, high-fat, no-carbs, low intensity or high intensity training. An opinion on everything, so the question has to be, not everybody can be right if they are preaching opposing thoughts.

Next, it’s Distractions. When I was a kid, we only had 3 channels. Today, it’s easy to kill hours channel surfing, streaming tv, internet, social media, video games, you name it! By the time you realize you have been in this unproductive ‘black’ hole — you don’t have time to workout, cook a decent meal, or do something productive.

Lastly, there are too many tempting Options. I’m not against junk food or fast food. My family and I definitely indulge, and the old saying, “out of sight out of mind” doesn’t really exist anymore. There are so many fast-food, pre-packaged, carry and go junk options that makes it easy to ‘fall off the wagon’ of eating right and regular exercise.

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional and physical health.)

Eat Right — Train Smart is my simple motto that encompasses two basic laws of health and fitness!

It’s NOT what you eat — it’s what your body absorbs and eliminates! At about age 35, everyone starts to lose about a half-a-pound of lean muscle a year.

That being said, here are 5 health and fitness tweaks for better results.

1. SIT, EAT & RELAX:

Good health and fitness begins with Diet and Digestion.

How do you expect to Nourish and Strengthen your body — if every time you eat, your tummy gets irritated and inflamed?

When you Sit, Eat and Relax — You allow your Digestive system to Turn-On and produce those all-important digestive juices, needed to breakdown and absorbs the nutrients in your meal.

When you eat on the go, in the car, in a hurry — you don’t give your digestive system a chance to turn on.

“It’s like washing your clothes without adding detergent.”

Those digestive juices are important and play a major roll. Without them, you get this partially digested food runny through your digestive tract, rotting and fermenting inside you. Maybe that could be the real cause of your digestive problems?

2. Exercise is a form of STRESS!

Can Your Body Handle the Additional STRESS?

If your body is already loaded down from stress — how do you expect it to respond when you add more physical stress?

Low intensity, aerobic exercise is Suppose-to be Stress Reducing. Unfortunately, most people let their ego’s get in the way and do their aerobic exercise at too fast of a pace for their current level of aerobic conditioning. This makes it Stress Producing — Not Stress Reducing on the body.

This is probably the most common mistake I come across and a major reason for sticking points and plateau’s.

3. Your Workout Intensity Matters!

Yes, the more intense your workout — the more stressful it is! But the more intense your workout — the more testosterone (TT) and growth hormone (GH) you produce!

That’s a good thing, because these two hormones work to burn fat and build lean muscle. More importantly, they Slow the Aging Process and will keep you from losing that half-a-pound of lean muscle a year.

But if you lolly-gag through your workout and don’t really Stress Your Body, when it’s time to push yourself. You don’t produce as much TT and GH and that could be why you’ve lost some of your lean muscle over the years. Keep in mind that the intensity level or your level of exertion for a 30–60 minute run or class is not the same as that of a 5–10 minute high intensity workout, when done properly.

4.Burning the Wrong Fuel!

Burning calories is not the same as burning Fats!

You burn calories for one simple reason — to Produce Energy! You do that by burning calories from Fats, Proteins and or Carbohydrates. That’s it — those are your ONLY 3 fuel sources!

The goal for your metabolism is to burn calories from that big reservoir of fats we have stored-up and around our body, for the 23 hours of the day we’re not working out. And make sure you’re NOT Burning Lean Muscle for the one hour you do workout!

So often people unknowingly end up burning lean muscle (proteins), instead of fats and carbs, when they workout. Can you say cellulite!

5. Turn Your Workout OFF!

Your workout is when you tear your muscles down, it’s the ‘Catabolic’ breakdown phase. The quicker you can Turn-Off that Catabolic phase — and activate your body’s Anabolic Rebuild Repair phase, the better your results.

Unfortunately, a lot of people finish their workout and stay in that ‘catabolic’ phase by racing for a shower, hustling off to work, kids, meetings, shopping, whatever.

The point is they stay in that hurry up, got-to-go lifestyle, which keeps their stress hormones elevated and keeps them in that ‘catabolic’ phase much longer than they think.

As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for the public. Aside from weight loss, what are 3 benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain?

I believe the 3 or 4 main reasons people work out are to Look Better, Feel Better, Sleep Better, and have better Sex.

So, the number one side benefit is it Slows the Aging process — who doesn’t want that? It’s the intensity of your workout that triggers the surge in TT and GH. The sad or difficult part is that you just can’t swallow or inject these hormones, you have to move your body to make it happen.

Second, you’ll reduce your risk of a heart attack. An aerobic workout done correctly will make your cardiovascular system more efficient compared to someone who is not aerobically fit. That’s life-saving!

Lastly, there is that endorphin hit you get, which has a positive effect on your emotional well-being. Again, you can’t buy this stuff or you shouldn’t! Simply get your body moving!

For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are absolutely critical?

I don’t believe there is one or two specific exercise you have to do. I believe you need to find a way to get physical activity in your life, that you enjoy doing. Otherwise, you’ll quit when it isn’t convenient. If you don’t like running or lifting weights — Don’t! Go swim, dance, hike, yoga, shoot hoops, play tennis — but keep in mind, you may not get the specific results (adding lean muscle) you are looking for.

If you want to add some lean muscle and burn some body fat here’s my recommendations.

Get some aerobic exercise into your life and do it correctly! Remember aerobic exercise helps you burn fat the other 23 hours of the day.

Secondly add some anaerobic exercise such as resistance training and or interval training. Due to my limited time to workout, I’m prone to My 5 Minute Push-Pull Workout for my upper body, and interval running/sprinting for my lower half. It’s these short, high intensity workouts that help you spike your TT and GH which is what keeps me young and fit at 60.

This kind of workout is similar to what our brave men and women who serve in our military follow when they go through boot camp, and they come out looking pretty darn fit.

In my experience, many people begin an exercise regimen but stop because they get too sore afterwards. What ideas would you recommend to someone who plays sports or does heavy exercise to shorten the recovery time, and to prevent short term or long term injury?

All the pounding we put on our body from exercise causes inflammation — and inflammation triggers PAIN! So, instead of grabbing an anti-inflammatory add some omega 3 fatty acids to your diet. Omega 3 fats are your body’s natural anti-inflammatory. They are the unsaturated fats that we Don’t eat enough of anymore.

It’s the omega 6, the saturated fats that produces inflammation in your body. The problem is that we eat so much more of the omega 6’s than 3’s. This keeps your body in an inflammatory state. And makes your body less efficient at managing all the different sources of inflammation thrown on your body daily. On top of that it makes you more prone to heart disease as well.

Secondly, grab some proteolytic enzymes. They eat-up inflammation and attack it in a different way than omega 3 fats, which is why they are wonderful for recovery.

The ONLY caveat is, you Absolutely, Positively have to take them on an empty stomach, otherwise they will work as a digestive enzyme and breakdown your food instead of helping you manage your pain.

Last, but not least is Magnesium! It helps calm down and relax your Body and Mind after your workout or at the end of the day.

Calcium triggers your muscles to contract. Magnesium triggers them to relax. Why do you think Epsom Salt baths are so great? It’s All Magnesium!

There are so many different diets today. Can you share what kind of diet you follow? Which diet do you recommend to most of your clients?

Since I’ve never been on a diet, it is hard for me to recommend one. There are many good principles you can pull from such as eat protein and fats with each of your meals. Stay away from the wrong carbs (processed white flour, processed sugar and milk). Most importantly, if you have digestive issues — Fix Them, otherwise you could be wasting money on foods and supplements you are NOT absorbing!

I like the KISS principle. Keep It Simple S_____!

First and foremost, it has to be a diet you can follow long-term, otherwise you will quit when it isn’t convenient. I’m always careful about shakes and drinks instead of a real meal. I think the good Lord gave us teeth so we could chew our food.

I’m prone to My 5 and 2 Diet. Feed your body like a temple for 5 days and treat it like an amusement park for 2. The goal is Simple, eat more good meals in a day, week, or month — than bad.

Yes, some weeks will look more like a 4 and 3 diet or worse. But consistency pays dividends and you will make progress. Yes, it would be great if everyone took 21 steps towards better health by eating 21 good meals in a week. But for a lot of people, 16 good meals and 5 splurge meals in a week — is moving in the right direction.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

There are several, but the one that really caught my attention was by Dr. Phil Maffetone, called “In Fitness and In Health.”

He opened my eyes to Aerobic Training. It was kind of counter-intuitive to — Run Slower to Run Faster! And my ego kept getting in the way and made it hard for me to slow my pace, but once I did and started seeing the results. I became a believer. The one thing that made me feel better, was that I wasn’t the only person making this mistake.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Feeding your body, is no different than feeding your mind and spirit. It’s a daily process that continually needs nourishing.

What I came up with is similar to my 21 steps for healthy dieting.

We know healthy food nourishes our body, the same way healthy thoughts, habits and attitudes nourishes our mind and spirit. The question is are we really nourishing our mind and spirit?

My STEPS Program is a simple personal development program that helps you track how well you feed your body, mind and spirit.

• Did you EAT health today?
• Did you get some PHYSICAL exercise today?
• Did you nourish your conscious mind with positive THOUGHTS?
• Did you feed your subconscious with positive thoughts when you SLEPT?
• Did you work on and feed your SPIRIT today?

If you did? Shade-in the appropriate STEP and track it.

It’s a simple accountability, To-Do list that makes it easy to track and reflect on how well you’ve been doing on some of the most fundamental things you can do for Yourself daily!

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

There are several, but I always like the one by Thomas Jefferson, “I’m a great believer in luck! Seems like the harder I work, the luckier I become!”

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

I feel like the person who just won an Emmy and am fearful of forgetting someone, so I’ll name everyone!

Living in the Dallas area, there are so many successful men and women I would love to visit with. The obvious ones are Jerry Jones, and Mark Cuban, along with Tillman Fertitta and Marcus Lemonis for all the obvious reasons, but I can’t forget Roger Staubach and Hershel Walker….great athletes and successful businessmen.

What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?

fb@drlenlopez

instagram@drlenlopez

twitter@drlenlopez

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!