Inspired Health with Nick Jones

S02E05 - Join me as I get personal with my longtime friend and bodybuilding mentor, Nick Jones, who shares his inspiring story of overcoming a troubled past and dedicating 33 years of his life to nutrition, health, and wellness. We discuss the impact of health and wellbeing on actors' careers, and Nick gives us a sneak peek into his podcast Inspiration. We also explore how Nick's experience starting his successful supplement brand, GenTech Nutrition, fueled his passion for bodybuilding and commitment to health and wellness.

We dive into the world of maintaining a healthy diet for actors on the go, how to make smart food choices, and the effects of aging on our nutritional needs. Nick offers invaluable advice on optimizing gut health with probiotics and performance supplements, empowering actors and others to lead healthier lifestyles. Together, we explore the importance of finding an exercise routine you enjoy and emphasize the critical role diet plays in achieving your desired body recomposition results.

Don't miss this insightful and engaging conversation with Nick Jones, as he shares his wealth of knowledge and experience in the realm of bodybuilding, health, and wellness. From building muscle and losing fat to achieving optimal body recomposition through proper nutrition, exercise, and hydration, this episode is packed with valuable life lessons and practical tips to help you live your best life - both on and off stage.

Check out Gen-tec Nutrition online for training and health advice.

Follow Nick on Instagram at Nick Jones World Champion for regular training and nutrition videos.

And check out Nick's podcast 'Inspired by Nick Jones' wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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Transcript

David John Clark
Host
00:00
Welcome back to the show everyone. We step out of the usual acting industry today for something a little bit different. I'm chatting with longtime friend and bodybuilding mentor, nick Jones. Nick's a bodybuilder and owner of GenTech Nutrition, which he founded in 1999. Nick has devoted 33 years of his life to nutrition, health and wellness, as well as the art of bodybuilding. As a bodybuilder, it is Nick's goal to improve the quality of life and enhance performance through superior nutrition, exercise and specific supplementation. Nick's dedication to bodybuilding has paid dividends throughout the past 28 years and has been justified by his achievements through local, national and international platforms. His achievements include Mr World, mr Australia, mr Australasia and the prestigious Mr Universe competition. 

00:47
I reached out to Nick because I wanted to talk to him about health and wellness and how actors can benefit from living a healthy lifestyle to benefit their acting career. We end up talking a lot more on the acting side of things than I expected, with a look into Nick's own podcast Inspiration and how actors can learn from everyone's life journeys to create their characters. This is a great chat with Nick and I hope you enjoy it Now. It takes something away from your own health and wellbeing. So here we go and I'll see you on set, guys, nick. Welcome to the show, mate, david. Thank you. Thank you for coming along. 

Nick Jones
Guest
01:19
Thank you for having me. Thank you for how it's really. I'm actually excited about it. I was looking forward to it seeing you evolve over the years, and you've gone through a bit of a quickening in the last five to 10. I'm really keen to chat. 

David John Clark
Host
01:32
I've been trying to work out how long we've known each other. I think Facebook has this friend since 2010, which I think that seems reasonable. It's about the time I met you at the Australian Muscle Store. You were doing a promo for your DVD, Natural Reinvention, which you were very kind and gave me a copy of, and that was our journey started from there, I think, if you remember. Yeah well, that would have been 2007,. 

Nick Jones
Guest
01:57
That DVD. 

David John Clark
Host
01:59
Mm. Oh well, there you go, even longer. Yeah 15 years, jeez time. just. 

Nick Jones
Guest
02:06
we're all getting old mate Oh mate, it doesn't slow down, that's for sure. I turn 50 next week Oh mate, welcome to the club, welcome to the. So you're born when you were 73, were you? 

David John Clark
Host
02:15
I'm a 73, baby. 

Nick Jones
Guest
02:16
I'm a 71, I'm a couple of years ahead, mate. 

David John Clark
Host
02:19
Same as my wife Kelly. She's a 71 baby. Have you heard something? 

Nick Jones
Guest
02:22
special about her mate. No, i know what it is The year of the we're year of the pig man. You miss us. They're good, the pigs, the bulls. 

David John Clark
Host
02:29
That's right. Yeah, yeah on the bulls. So the same as my Slasons, Taurus. 

Nick Jones
Guest
02:34
Oh, my God, double. So they work hand in hand. 

David John Clark
Host
02:36
Oh, double, nick. I want to talk about our journey together and what I've learned from you as a bodybuilder, but I've explained in the opening address for this podcast that this podcast is about actors, but you're not an actor per se. I want to talk to you about your background in bodybuilding, and you're very media. Excuse me, let's speak English. Today, david, i've actually come on the show to talk about health and wellbeing and how actors can benefit from that healthy lifestyle, both personally and for their acting. Firstly, though, could I ask you to give us a little insight into Nick Jones? where did you grow up? How did you get into bodybuilding and the evolution of your company, gen Tech Nutrition, and also we did chat at the start. You've got a little bit of acting background there, so maybe we can touch on that as well. 

Nick Jones
Guest
03:31
Sure, sure, geez, could be a long, convoluted story, but I'll make it as quick as possible. I love it. You don't want to sit around listening to my background all day, but I was born in the UK. I was born in Essex in the UK. Mom and dad are my older brother, chris, 18 months old. 

03:47
We moved to Australia in 73, i was just 18 months old as a baby moved to Adelaide and then mom whisked us off to America myself and my brother and her to study. She studied beauty therapy. So I actually did my first year of schooling in Washington DC in 1976, we were there and I loved it. We lived with my auntie and uncle and my two cousins for a year there and went back to the UK for a few months after that. But mom and dad split up at quite an early age. So that was I was about six when we came back. They split up. 

04:22
So I had a I'm not gonna say a typical childhood with a single parent, because it sort of wasn't typical back then. I mean most of my friends. I don't think I had any friends through school that had single parent. I don't think I really had any. So it was unusual back then. So, mom, you know mom worked hard as a beauty therapist to try, and you know, keep a roof over her head, which she did, you know extremely well. God bless her. You know, without you know, some downfalls there and it must have been so hard. We had no family around and she was looking after two boys on her own. We didn't see dad for many, many, many, many years. So Chris and I grew up. We ended up in Housing Commission, some affordable housing for mom which helped her financially, probably didn't help us At the time. I was 15 when we moved into Housing Commission in Morpherville. Prior to that I did start doing quite a bit of work. I did a photo shoot with a friend of mine now, greg Schwark Do you know Schwarky? in Adelaide. 

David John Clark
Host
05:22
No, not by no, no. 

Nick Jones
Guest
05:23
A lot of your crew might know him. So Schwarky's a photographer. He's on Leader Street there, down the road from the old LaCour News, and so Schwarky did a lot with Tanya Powell Model Agency. He did a lot of photography over the years. So I did a shoot with him when I was about 14 and started getting some work with McLeod. So I'm probably talking I don't even think they're around now, mcleod's they were in Rundle Mall. But I did a bunch of catalog staff as a teenager and a bunch of commercials, did a KFC commercial And I did a commercial where I did have to act. I had the what's it called Not the lead one down from the lead the supporting Support. So I was like, yeah, i was like support in that it was a government funded commercial and we were at a teenage party and I was spiking the punch with some alcohol and the tea and that was do you know who your children are mixing with tonight? So me and the lead were spiking the punch there, which wasn't too far from the truth. It's. 

06:18
Time went on and we ended up in housing commission and the environment we lived in was pretty rough. I got in a lot of trouble as a teenager, a lot of legal trouble and there was a lot of violence and drugs and alcohol, and it was just. It was just the environment, david, you know, and I've got so much to be grateful for to bodybuilding because it really did save me. You know, bodybuilding gave me a sense of wasn't even purpose, but it gave me a sense of self discipline, it gave me a sense of. I mean, i was inspired very much by Stallone back then in first blood and and Arnold in command. I had just come out command, i saw, i was watching those movies as a young teen was really impressed by the look of the guys, not just to attract the opposite sex or just the visual side, but I think it was a deep, it's probably something deep in my psyche that muscular, strong, confident superhero, you know, that could, that could fight off evil and that that was, could, could protect those around them. And so I was really drawn to the physics of those guys and and bodybuilding gave me that. The effort that I put into something really gave me a reward quite quickly and it formed a self discipline and it formed a sense of a certain sense of confidence and self esteem. And it wasn't just narcissistic. Narcissistic, it was the feeling I got from exercising and training and making physical change and seeing that change. So bodybuilding for me, really, in many ways it saved me, david. It saved me from a life of violence and crime and drugs and alcohol, really, to be brutally honest. So I've got a lot to be thankful for. And of course I went on with my bodybuilding and travel the world and competed in the world championships, the Mr Universe, five times. I've won many national titles and and I still to this day, at 51, nearly 52 years of age, and I think now, david, i really reap the benefits of the bodybuilding lifestyle and it's and it's something that's very metaphorical. 

08:24
I'm quite philosophical. I read quite a bit, of course in my troubled teenage years, when I was coming out of all the trouble, i started looking for answers. I didn't grow up with religion but I started reading a lot of books on metaphysics and quantum physics and really new age thinking which resonated with me. So I got into my meditation and did all kinds of workshops, from American Indian sweat lodges to to breathing technique and re birthing, and so I had to work through a lot of anger as a child, had to work through a lot, and that was the vehicle for me to do that and get some sort of understanding and self awareness. So it all played in together And so bodybuilding was never just about building big biceps, was really about a personal journey of self discovery, of self development. 

09:12
You think it's just a physical development, you know, but I learned very early on that I'm a spiritual being, having a human experience and the human experience is this is one part of it developing the self physically, but certainly with everything we we learn through the practices of bodybuilding. And so it's very much a spiritual journey, just as much as physical. So that's how I got into it and that's how I've utilized it. And the metaphor of bodybuilding is, you know, when we're in the gym and we're putting stress on our body, the response to the stress is growth. So stress creates growth and I've been able to understand that as a, as a philosophy and apply that to all parts of my life where stress is necessary for growth. And so to run from it's not something to oppress and suppress and try and get around. You have to cop with, cop stress, we do, and it causes growth. 

David John Clark
Host
10:06
So that's. That's something you can use across all aspects of your life, and we'll dive into that to get your thoughts on how actors can use that. So you, now you run an agentic nutrition. How long have you been? you've had that up for quite a while now. 

Nick Jones
Guest
10:24
And 2000 I brought out my first product. So it's really 22, 23 years now. 

David John Clark
Host
10:28
And you started in South Australia with Gen Tech. 

Nick Jones
Guest
10:30
Absolutely Yeah. I started as a distribution business out of my garage and I'd worked for a great Australian brand called Massashi for about seven years at that stage And I had a bit of a. The original owner was a brilliant, brilliant man, tim Horwood, for the formulations and the quality of the products was was the best, the best in the market And I used a lot of the products and I was actively competitive in the Mr Universe at the time. So year after year I was going to the NABBA Universe and trying to win that title And when I finished up with them in 1999 I was getting ready for the 99 Universe and I thought well, i'll, i'll prepare, i've got enough money saved, i'll prepare as a full time bodybuilder and go and try and win it this year, because I already competed twice and placed fourth and third the previous years. So in 99 I was prepping for the show and kind of realized after a couple of weeks I was getting a lot of job offers from other companies to become a sales rep for them. So I've done quite a good job for Massashi in Adelaide at the time And I didn't really want to work for anyone else but realized it was helpful to my bodybuilding, to have something outside of bodybuilding, so to have some work, to have a discipline, to have, you know, a job where I had to rock up every day and and do the work, even though I didn't really feel like it. I recognize that as being important. So so I started GenTech and I started distributing other brands in South Australia and driving around in my mates and my mate bodybuilding friend, scotty, had moved back to Canada at the time of me finishing with Massashi And of course, i didn't have a car. I had to hand the car back and he said to me use my car for your little business and when you can afford your own car, sell mine, and why me the money? So I'm forever grateful for that, because I was driving around this little shipbox Toyota Corolla, or it was to all the retailers and taking orders and delivering the products the next day And as I could afford to. 

12:23
Well, it was really the that, the thing that stimulated the release of my own brand and own products. It was never a dream to have my own supplement company, but because I was using these other brands and products, i wasn't using Massashi anymore. I was getting ready for the Mr Universe, which was the ultimate title to me. I wanted to be using the best quality products. I didn't know the quality of the raw materials that these other brands were using, so I started researching the best quality, creating the best quality glutamine, and then I just I sourced them. And then I sourced a lab in Victoria and thought I bring on my own. So at least I know what I'm getting. And then I'm also in control of my own stock levels, because there were brands I was distributing who had run out of product. When they'd run out of product that I'd made popular out in the market, i couldn't supply it. I couldn't sell it. They were restricting my ability to make money and to do business. So that was quite frustrating for me. 

13:17
So starting my own brand, there was there was two benefits. One was I knew the quality of the product that I was using and I demanded a high quality products. I've always been a. I've always been a healthy bodybuilder, not just about building a big, shredded physique. It's been about health the whole way along as well. So I wanted to be using the best quality raw materials personally. And then I wanted a sustainable business that I was in control of. So I started bringing out my own products in 2000 with creating glutamine, and as the business is kind of still the same, it's very unorthodox. You wouldn't start a business like this today, but as I could afford to bring out new formulations or reformulate and improve current formulations and products, i would do so, and I still do that to this day, basically. 

David John Clark
Host
14:04
And the biggest thing that I get from you and your videos on Instagram and you're talking about your products and talking about bodybuildings is your knowledge and understanding of the quality of these ingredients and how they work and how they work with the body. Have you, have you been to university, or is this all what you've learned on the go, on the fly, in the trenches? It's a good question. 

Nick Jones
Guest
14:26
I look, don't be impressed with the knowledge, because that's all I know. Let me, let me start with that. I don't know anything else. 

David John Clark
Host
14:35
But that's good. You know everything that you need to know for your business and your and your lifestyle being a bodybuilder Absolutely. 

Nick Jones
Guest
14:42
Absolutely, it's my passion. It's been my passion for many, many, many years And I'm still fascinated by it. I'm an occlusion training with doing arm training with occlusion bands at the moment, which I haven't done ever trained 35 years. So I'm still doing new stuff after 35 years and it keeps me inspired, it keeps me engaged, It keeps me excited to a certain degree to see trying something and see what the result is. 

15:05
So I really learned back in the day was before the Internet was about the turn. No, it was before the Internet when I really started reading about nutrition and reading about training and reading about supplements, because it would have been the early 90s Like I started. I think my first contest was 90 or 91. So I was, i was reading, and I was never a great student at school. I was so distracted, you know, and it was a pretty unstable environment that I lived in. So When I want to know something, i'm probably very good at researching it and finding the information and that information then sticks at that point in time. But it's really through a drive, a drive, a passionate drive for knowledge on that topic at that point in time. So everything that I've learned has really been through reading and then applying to myself or a lot of the athletes around me and Measuring the results. So that's really where my knowledge base comes from. 

16:01
It's just a lot of books, these days internet, but again you've got to be very You've got to decipher the information, more so now than ever. Who's written it? What are they done? What do they know? You know? I mean, if I'm gonna climb Everest, i want to make sure that my guide has been to the top. I want to make sure he's been to the top. I don't want it like I'm not shunning science at all. Science is great, but I don't want a guide that's read it in a book on how to get to the top of Everest. I want to listen to someone who's been there. So I'm very big on experience, along with the technical knowledge. 

David John Clark
Host
16:37
It's interesting because I've just I was on a zoom call just before this with Acting coach of mine, jeff Seymour, and he proclaims a lot to Because acting has coaches galore out there and he says go check them out on IMDB and see what they've done. And a lot of acting coaches have never been on TV, they've never been in film and they don't do it. That that'd be like me walking into a supplement shop and seeing an overweight Person who's eating a hamburger saying, yeah, you need some of this and you need some of that? 

Nick Jones
Guest
17:07
Yeah, and that does happen. 

David John Clark
Host
17:09
So you've learned on the go, and obviously You've competed in bodybuilding and what we would call an elite level, so you've had to learn how your body Made it to the top, didn't you? so that's, that's brilliant, absolutely. 

Nick Jones
Guest
17:24
Absolutely. Yeah, it is like that. I think it's important to be the image of your business, But it's not even not even a drive for that. It's like what are you passionate about? If you're passionate about it, you do it. And then I think you get to a stage where You're passionate about it, you do it, you've done it, you're still living it and breathing it. Then you, then you can teach. But I really feel, to truly understand something you can't Understand something by reading about it, by studying it, you go to experience it, to understand it. And once you understand it, i think that's when you can teach it. 

David John Clark
Host
17:56
Awesome you know, Nick, i want to touch quickly. You run your own podcast, now called inspired, where you're talking to people who have Have got stories about their background, where they've struggled to get to where they're at, and you've you've delved into it a little bit now and this is big for actors. It's about Understanding characters and person. So what inspired you to start your podcast and what have you Gathered in your own learnings from the people you've spoken to so far? 

Nick Jones
Guest
18:28
Well, great question. I mean, let me start with I love acting. I love, i love the arts. I Don't know how, but I've been lucky enough to work with a lot of people in the arts at different stages and there's such an openness and a lack of judgment and, you know, a free spirit and a freedom to explore and Go into the dark places, shoot for the light, but go dark and go deep and really explore at a level that You know most people won't and certainly won't talk about. So I've got to say I love the arts and I've been fortunate enough to have some friends that are artists and I've had some on my podcast. 

19:07
I've had a bit of a break from the podcast. It's just really a financial thing. It's quite costly and I've just put some money into advertising, but I do want to get back to it. What if I learned from them what I've learned here's and what I believe is Everyone, everyone goes through hardship, everyone you know this lifetime, i mean, i've been very fortunate with my readings on metaphysics and and and again all my readings on metaphysics and quantum physics. Am I delving into meditation and rebirthing and sweat lodging and all of that stuff I did and still do really came And was born out of my struggles, out of my darkness. Everyone's going through something in this lifetime. Everyone goes through something. Hey, no one's getting out alive, david, no one's getting out alive. That's right. So what I've learned from the podcast from people from so many people is is certainly that, and What I have learned is, when you are in the darkest times, when you are in states of depression, true depression when you're not seeing any light and you're in complete darkness, i think there's no such thing as being strong and being motivated and having drive. Forget that You. Might you get to a place where you actually give up. For me, you actually give up and you let go and You sit in the darkness, and it's a horrible place to be, horrible place to be. I don't wish it upon anyone. However, it's a great place on which to build. That's an old cliche. 

20:40
The darkest time is just before dawn. So when I talk to friends and colleagues that are going through depression, i'm not sadistic, but I get a little bit excited for them and I feel a sense of inspiration Coming, because I know that this is a truth. I've lived it, i've breathed it, i've witnessed it, i've seen it. The darkest time is just before dawn and I think what people need in their darkest time is not Motivation, is not a pep talk, is not to get up and get and push on, it's to let go and To get hope, to have some hope. It's just that little bit of hope that lit as soon as you can see that little bit of light and it will come, even if you're in darkness, it will come. It will come. 

21:26
The darkest time is just before the dawn. The dawn always comes, but they just I didn't don't even know. It's such a, such a hard thing to explain that true depression. But you just gotta Give up, let go and just be, and you just have to wait sometimes and that light will peak through. But you need hope. 

21:49
So I gotta say, if I start going down because depression runs in my family if I start to go down and that Black dog comes and just sits, sort of out of nowhere, just comes and you're like, oh, what are you doing back here? Like you know, i've I've got a beautiful wife, the love of my life, i have three beautiful children, i live in a nice home, i get, i've got, i'm able-bodied, i'm healthy and I'm strong and I get to exercise and I've got great friends and You know we, we have clean air and clean water and sewerage and and process healthy food and heating, and you know running water and We just we have so much these days but doesn't matter, you can be a multi-billionaire and have depression, right. So you What I do. I've got to say what I do. When that black dog starts to come and sit, that's when I know I have to get up early. I have to spend some time in nature. I've got to go for a walk first thing in the morning and I've got to start the gratitude. I've got to start my day with listing and thinking of all the things I have to be grateful for. So, between that and spending some time in nature, that's a. That's a good start. That's a good start to remind me I have got everything I need. 

23:07
It's okay to sit in the darkness a little bit. It's okay to be a little sad. It's a human condition with spiritual beings having a human experience, and the emotion is part of being human. Sadness, happiness, positivity, negativity, it's all a part of being complete and being human and it's okay. It's okay, so it's. I don't know how I got that far, down that rabbit hole. I can't even remember what the question was, dave, to be honest, but I guess no, the inspired podcast. 

23:40
Again, i was inspired to get that off my chest. You know, just like the people that come on the podcast, we all go through something, all of us. I don't think anyone's getting out unscathed. You know, if we were perfect we wouldn't be here, right? None of us are perfect. We're both positive and negative. It's part of being complete And and and you know, i think actors, i think actors, more than anyone understand exactly what it is. I'm saying Because I find the arts, a lot of the arts, come from darkness and depression, especially musicians, singers, musicians You know, i know it, i can feel it. I can feel it with so much real music. Generally a little bit older, wiser, musicians that have been around, actors, a little bit older, wiser, you've got children, you're married, you've got a family. You know, you've done some tough stuff with your other work And we've all been through some stuff, we've all got a story. So, with the inspired podcast, i'm so grateful that my guests come and share their story Because, again, when someone is in the pit, all they need is a bit of hope. 

24:47
They go. Oh, vince did it, david did it, nick did it, they did it, they did it. They seem to be going all right now Wonder what he did. Hey, nick, what did you do when you were really dark? What did you do? So that's another really key thing to do. When the black dogs hanging around, you'll know someone that's been through some shit and they seem to be doing all right. They seem to be pretty happy. Most of the time. They seem to be healthy. They seem to be doing all right. Ask them what they did And I guarantee it anyone that's been through depression they will hold out their hand and they'll say David, come with me, my friend, let me show you what helped me And hopefully it helps you. 

David John Clark
Host
25:26
I love that. I love that. And there's I think there's two things in that From an acting perspective, both for developing characters on set and drawing on that but actors as well, because we have our ups and downs like everyone else. There's moments in there where you just think, why am I doing this And why am I struggling And is it me? And you get that depression. So depression can come in all sorts of formats. It's either you can see it coming or you just don't know why you feel like shit today. So and I love that Yes, we call you a bodybuilder, we call myself a bodybuilder. 

26:03
It's what we've learned in that style of training and the exercise regimes and everything. So you seem to be drawing on that and delivering that to the world now through your videos on Instagram, letting people know that it's not about having the big biceps and looking great even though you've. You know you look fantastic on stage when you've done your things but it's about encouraging that health and that wellness. My wife's going to love this, because she's been trying to get me to do the meditation for a long time now She's right into it. She's doing all the wellness for children with her daycare, so she's learning wellness for children. That seems to be a big new buzzword these days, isn't it? 

Nick Jones
Guest
26:44
Wellness, yeah, and it's big in the US. I believe I've got a friend, a very close friend, that travels back and forth and he's saying the wellness consultancy is a really growing industry over there. Now I did a course called Wellness Consultancy back when I was 21 in Adelaide. It was a naturopathic college And yeah. So I guess I was doing a lot of this stuff a long, long time ago without sort of putting a tag or a label on it. But I mean wellness, i don't know. I think living well, living well in whatever format, i think, psychologically and spiritually as well as physically. I think living well. I mean, what else have you got, david? You know, like you're, if you're not living well, you don't have much to offer, right? So I think, again, we go through these stages in our life and we become different people, and part of becoming different people is letting go of the old you, and you need to. You need to do that. As we get more responsibilities, we get older, as we get more understanding, as we get older you kind of you do. you let go of certain parts of yourself and you take on these new, new parts and ever-evolving parts, and as you can do that more and more. I guess you get to a point and you can only do that when you're aware, when you have some self-awareness you can only do that. And when you are well, when you are, when you are not spending each day poisoning your body, you get up in the morning. A lot of hey, a lot of people poison themselves throughout the day with the thoughts that they have, with the food they eat or don't eat, with the drugs and alcohol they take, with a lack of water. I mean there's three types of stress that cause disease. There's chemical stress, which doesn't have to just be drugs and alcohol. All those things I was talking about can be lack of fresh air, toxic environment, like living in the middle of the city, can be not enough water, can be too much food, can be not enough food, the wrong sort of food, so there's. So there's chemical stress. Then there's physical stress. So physical stress can be not exercising for some people. Other people can be too much exercising. We can over train, you know that as well. I mean physical stress can fall off a ladder and hurt yourself. That's physical stress that causes disease. 

28:58
So there's there's chemical, there's physical, and then there's mental and emotional stress. When you've got all three of those, you're bound for burnout. You're destined for burnout. I reckon we can cop too, for a little while. So physical stress for us is good. We make it a good stress. Chemical stress not so good for us. 

29:16
Mental and emotional stress is a given. We're married with children, we're trying to make ends meet, we're trying to pay bills That's a given. That's a given. So no, you're going to have that one, the mental and emotional stress. You are going to have that. Unless you're living on a mountain top in the Himalayas eating our falafel sprouts, right, you won't have any of the stress, right? But that's not reality. We're in the game, david. We're not sitting on the sidelines, we're in it. Look at you. You've transformed yourself. You're acting now, at this stage of your life, you took on what was obviously a hobby and you're making it a profession, and now you've evolved into your podcast And it's very inspiring to see. To be honest, mate, it's really inspiring to see. Thank you, i was blown away when I saw some of your casting that you would upload onto your social media. I was like, wow, he's really doing it. He's good. 

David John Clark
Host
30:02
That's nice to hear that sort of feedback. Thank you, thank you very much, But it is. 

Nick Jones
Guest
30:05
I mean how many people start a new career path in their 40s? 

David John Clark
Host
30:10
Yeah, yeah, most people are starting to settle down and it's and it's not just another career path, It's one of those. acting is such a tough industry because it is full of rejection over and over and over. I mean, imagine going to go. People go for a job interview. You know you might get a couple of job interviews but eventually you're going to get a job pretty quick. But actors, they do job interview after job interview and they might do 100 to get one one job. 

Nick Jones
Guest
30:37
And how do you deal with that? How do you develop a thick skin? How do you deal with that? Because I used to go for castings as well when I was a teenager, for a bunch of stuff. 

David John Clark
Host
30:46
I think I'm lucky. I mean, I go through the same thing every other actor is, But for me I don't need the job because I still have my, my real job I like to call it my real job And I'm 10 years out from retirement. So I'm looking forward to when I retire and I get my, my pension at the end. Then I'll be able to focus on the acting. But even then I don't need to rely on that. Yes, So so long as I'm still having fun with the acting, that's all that matters. So I see an audition as a job. They've wanted to see me, So I deliver and I walk out of the room and I go. Well, there we go. If you get it, you get it. If you don't, well, there's always the next one. 

Nick Jones
Guest
31:24
You let go, you let go over, your deliver and you let go. 

David John Clark
Host
31:30
And I love that everything we're talking so far just is so pertinent for actors, but so pertinent for everyone else as well, isn't it? Absolutely, it's awesome. But, nick, i wanted while we're talking about actors and actors have like many other careers, of course again, this question will be able to answer for everyone. With demanding schedules and travel frequently and being on the, not in your normal environment, being able to eat the way you would normally do, how to act as? how would they maintain a healthy and balanced diet while they're on the go? How do you see people to stick with that when it's easy to just go and have the macros or the burger and chips? 

Nick Jones
Guest
32:13
Yes, it's a great question. I think there's two things here. One is discipline of being organized with your food. I mean, as bodybuilders, we pack it in Tupperware. We've done it for years. It's just part of what we do. So that's one side of doing it. And then I totally get it if people don't have the discipline and don't want to be eating out of lunchboxes. So that's one. 

32:32
But the other thing is choices. You know, david, you can. I could eat out three times a day and be in great shape, right, and even now, look if I get stuck, if I have to run out of the house on the weekends with the kids because we're running late for soccer in the morning and then, and then swimming for the kids is on straight after And then we're going to get to tutoring and my kids are so busy. So my weekends are probably even busier than my weekdays running my businesses. So you know when I have to make choices. Let's say we go through, we go through McDonald's, i have my brekkie at home, we go to soccer And then before or after swimming, we'll go through Mackers and I'll buy the kids a bacon and egg McMuffin their kids. 

David John Clark
Host
33:13
They've got the metabolism that they absolutely do. I'll get four eggs. 

Nick Jones
Guest
33:16
I'll get sometimes six eggs. If I'm dieting I'll get six eggs It's like six bucks They're a dollar each And I'll have two of the yolks and six of the whites and chuck the other yolks away. You know another thing I'll do if we go past through McDonald's. I've got no other choices. I haven't been organized. I'll buy a chicken salad with double chicken. I go out to a restaurant. I went out last night and I am getting in shape for something at the moment. So we had a family dinner last night and I got salmon with steamed green veggies and a baked potato, like it's what I would normally eat. So it's choices, right, it's really choices And education wise, i think. 

33:54
Folks, if you can be mindful, protein is derived from the Greek word protein. Pro means means of first importance, means primary means of first importance. So 80% of our dry body weight is protein. So our skin, hair, eyes, nose, teeth, muscle, connected tissue, immune system, percentage of blood hormones all made of protein or amino acids 80%. So it does have to be in first importance. 

34:24
So lean source proteins, i believe, at every meal, are crucial because they cause that satiety as well. You're not hungry after eating some chicken breast or some fish or some lean beef or eggs. You're not so hungry after eating that It keeps you. It doesn't keep you full and bloated, but it keeps you. Look, there are essential amino acids, essential proteins. They're essential for life, so they're essential. Carbohydrates are not essential. We need them. They're like fuel. They're fuel for our body, like petrol in the car. We need a certain amount. We certainly need the fibrous ones, the green veggies. We need those fibrous vegetables to keep our intestines clean and keep our digestive system working well and our metabolism ticking along. So, lean source proteins and the fibrous vegetables, those are foods that will stimulate your metabolism. Those are foods that will maintain your lean body structure and good health and well being. 

35:16
The carbohydrates is something you manipulate, like anyone and everyone. The problem is we're so lazy and it's all about convenience. Anyone and everyone that wants to lose some body fat. You must eliminate sugar, eliminate it, sugar gone. And you must eliminate processed carbohydrates chips, crackers, you know all those processed carbs. They're the two types of foods you must eliminate, right, but they're tasty. 

35:42
When we're unorganized and we don't have our other foods, they're really easy to grab and when you start eating those sorts of foods when you are hungry, you'll eat way, way, way, way too much. Your blood sugar will spike when you eat those types of foods. Your body produces a hormone called insulin, and insulin is a storing hormone. Insulin won't allow you to release fat and burn fat as fuel. So insulin long term overproduction of insulin of course causes adult onset, diabetes, obesity, heart disease. So sugar is the poison. Sugar and starch has the same effect in the body. Sugar and starch are poisoned to us. Lean source proteins, fresh fruits and vegetables, be well hydrated, make good choices, try and be disciplined and organized, and if you're not, you make good choices when you go into the cafe. 

David John Clark
Host
36:30
And so you know, with actors, i mean, they're not professional bodybuilders or anything like that, so they don't have to be strict like we are when we're dieting. I'm trying to get into shape now to compete in September Awesome, and I'll have a quick chat before we finish, about losing weight. When you're 50 years old, it seemed to be a lot harder, so people don't need to be so disciplined 100%, and it's about having that balance in their life, isn't it? What would you tell actors? what sort of process to develop in their exercise and their dieting and their eating regime without actually being a bodybuilder and strict and eating their chicken and rice and things? 

Nick Jones
Guest
37:11
Yeah, good question. Yeah, no, exactly. No, i absolutely get it because it's become second nature for us. We've been eating this way for 20, some years, 30 years. Again, choose the right foods as choices. Choose lean source proteins. Eat your protein first. So don't start on the breads and the processed carbohydrates when you're sitting down to meal. Don't start on that. Start on the protein first, the lean source proteins. Make sure you're getting some fresh fruit and veggies with those proteins. Make sure you're hydrated. Yeah, so choose those lean source proteins. Eat the protein first is the first importance. 

37:46
Certainly enjoy your food. Don't restrict yourself. Like it's. I know I don't. It's not like I can't eat that and I can only eat that. I enjoy my food. Now I enjoy my bodybuilding food. I have chicken thighs and make them taste nice with different marinades. I enjoy a beautiful piece of fillet steak. I enjoy salmon, I enjoy fish and we do ginger and shallots on it with a little bit of oil and I really actually enjoy my food. So you know, enjoy your food, make good choices, don't overeat and certainly Stay away from the process carbs. And if you really enjoy the process carbs and you like pizza and you like pasta And you love ice cream. 

38:26
I love ice cream. I have it once a week. No, i, yes, saturday night. I went for burgers on Saturday night with chips with my kids and went to Messina ice cream and I would say, if you're not getting ready for, i would do that when I get ready for a contest. One meal a week, whatever I want For the actors I would say stay as strict as you can throughout the week. 

38:45
On the weekends have some treats, but stay as strict as you can in the week. Make good choices, because the other, the other thing with making good choices And it's most of the reason I do it It's to keep your energy high. It's to keep your energy high to keep your blood sugar stable as well. You, i know, with acting, you guys actually work hard when you're making a movie up to 16 hours a day on Set, their long days. You need to keep your energy high. When you have big loads of carbohydrates you have a big bowl of pasta or you have a big thing of hot chips, porridge not so much, but if, for some reason, if you had a big bowl of porridge, you know those big serves of that type of starchy carbohydrate. You get so sleepy and so sluggish. You need to keep your energy high. 

39:32
So lean source proteins, fruits and vegetables and some essential fats. I mean, i love coconut oil in the off-set. I don't in the off-season. For me, a lot of people say do you eat a lot in the office? I don't need a lot in the off-season, i just add oil. I add oil to my meals. I had 20 30 mils of olive oil on every meal and I keep eating the same foods. That's my only difference. I add oil. I have a lot of coconut oil with my first meal because I get the energy from the coconut oil. So I have that with my, my porridge, my oatmeal, or I put in my protein shake. So lean source proteins, fruits and veggies and essential fatty acids and stay well hydrated, as you are. Stay well hydrated. Yes, we need, yeah, we. You know we don't want to get overweight, but we don't want to be sluggish, so the foods I'm talking about will keep your energy levels high. 

David John Clark
Host
40:17
That's beautiful, and so it's again. We've just come back to that balance in about having it. So you know, you can have your, you can have your treats and stuff like that, and if we're talking the chemicals, you can still have your glass of red wine, can't you? 

Nick Jones
Guest
40:30
It's absolutely, david, i still do. I had a. I love port and red wine there. That's the alcohol that I like. I'm not a big drinker, but I had two glasses of grandfather Poit, had three glasses actually Saturday night with my ice cream. I was like a, i was like a pig in a pen Mate. I sat on the couch with my kids and I ate my miscine or ice cream. That three glasses a port and it was I don't know. That that's, that's, that's joy, that's happiness for me and you certainly can do that, absolutely can do that. 

David John Clark
Host
40:58
Excellent. And now I touched on it before, nick How does that change as we get older? No, whether I'm bodybuilding like I am now, or for the older actors out there does, does the the diet need to change is? I find that now that I'm 50 and as you get older, they're more crappier food you eat, they're quicker, you can put the weight on and then when you turn on the switches Then try to get into shape, it's a lot harder to go back the other way. Obviously the body's changing, so do we need to do anything differently or just to try not to be out of shape when we get to 50? 

Nick Jones
Guest
41:32
That's a great question. I mean it's you get out of shape, it's hard to get back. I think that's obvious, that it gets harder and harder the older we get to get back. So you know to try and maintain it. But again, you've got to enjoy it. You've got to enjoy your food. You've got to enjoy the exercise you do. If you don't like going to the gym to lift weights, don't. If you enjoy tennis, play tennis. If you enjoy swimming, swim. If you enjoy mountain biking, mountain bike, if you enjoy walking, walk, do some exercise you enjoy and eat the foods you enjoy, but make sure they're the right ones. 

41:59
So, with a food, what I think and what I've seen and Spoken to older bodybuilders over the years We just don't need as much carbohydrates we used to. Our metabolism does slow down with age and there are two things that stimulate and speed up the metabolism. There are two things. One is obviously exercise. The other one is eating, and again eating these certain foods, and the foods are lean source proteins and Fibrous vegetables. They're the types of foods that stimulate the metabolism, they're the types of foods that keep us mentally sharp. It's those big bowls of pasta, it's the bread, it's the pizzas, it's the carbohydrates, it's the risotto's. We just don't need that much carbohydrate. In fact, i think we run a lot cleaner, our systems run a lot cleaner with energy production when we use fats. 

42:49
So for me, i much prefer and I know as I get older I'll probably reduce the carbs even more, but I do it now. I have very moderate carbs. I have moderate to high protein, lots of veggies. But I add olive oil to every Single meal and all coconut oil to meal one. Sometimes coconut oil I put in my coffee as well. I love coconut oil, my coffee. 

43:11
So again, i don't have milk. So it's again. It's the sugar in milk. That's the issue. Yeah, fair enough. 

43:17
Yes, the sugar, sugar, sugar sugar and processed carbs. We need less. They are poison to us, especially as we get older. They, like you say, they don't take long to store. You eat those and blood sugar shoots up. It's that blood sugar. We've got to watch the sugar. 

43:32
So, eliminate the starchy processed carbs. Reduce the heavy, starchy foods like pasta and bread And white rice. Just reduce the quantities. Have a little bit but lean sauce, proteins, fresh Veggies, some fruits particularly berries are great for us and some essential fat. So when I'm saying essential fats, almost Anything that's liquid at room temperature, apart from, say, avocados and nuts and seeds. They've got essential fats and a solid a room temperature. Otherwise, if it's liquid at room temperature, if it's a cold pressed oil, if it's in a dark bottle, have a tablespoon or two on each meal as a rule and you'll find your blood sugars a lot more stable. 

44:11
You won't crave as much carbohydrate You won't if you have. You have a chicken salad or fish and veggies and and maybe a small amount of Starchy carbs. But if you put 10 to 20 mils of olive oil on there, you will not be hungry For another three hours. And again, don't snack. Eat meals. Don't snack. It like snacking. I don't know where these three meals and two snacks came from. I don't get it. I just eat meals. It's a bodybuilding thing to eat meals, but you're better off not snacking. You eat a meal, so you eat your brekkie. You go for maybe three, four hours. Then you eat another meal, you go for three or four and we're busy anyway. 

44:49
You go for another three hours you eat another meal and again The meals are a balance of lean sauce, protein, fresh veggies or some fruits being berries, and a small tomato amount of complex carbs like brown rice, jacket, potatoes, oatmeal if it's a breakfast, you know, an unprocessed. Unprocessed grain With some essential fats. 

David John Clark
Host
45:10
Yeah, i've. I've been doing the fasting principle for probably 10, 15 years now, which I love. It works really good for my shift work And so, yeah, you've got an eight hour eating window So you don't have time for meals or, and it certainly don't have time for snacking. So the biggest thing I found for that and this is good with the age is One of the reasons I I took on the fasting, and I know a lot of Advocates in the fitness industry. 

45:35
They either love it or they don't like it. I, as I read that it there's a boost to your growth hormone, which is naturally declining at our age. And it's surprising because I still go and do my bloods with my doctor and I asked him I said can you, can you do my Test for my testosterone levels as well? and he saw look, i tend not to do that because if there's a problem you you'll have indicators that I'll test, but I'll test for it Anyway. So he did and then when I came back he was surprised because they'd they'd risen And so I'm advocating that my fasting principle is working. The high protein and the lower carb diet in that sort of regime works really well for me. So again, it boils down to if it works, don't change it, isn't it? 

Nick Jones
Guest
46:20
Absolutely. If it's not broken, you just keep doing it. And of course, weight training stimulates growth hormone and testosterone over and above cardiovascular. Cardio is great for heart health, for the cardiovascular system, but certainly weight training for bone density, for joint integrity, to maintain muscle on the body, but definitely for growth hormone production and testosterone production. It's the way to go. Like you say, fasting as well. Fasting will help to stimulate growth hormone, absolutely. 

David John Clark
Host
46:50
Cool In relation to supplementation, nick. Obviously your background with Gentek and that in this environment that we live in now, everyone's struggling financially to even just to buy that healthy food and everything, and actors could be living from paycheck to paycheck. Yeah, would you recommend. If someone did have a minimal amount and had to just want to do some sort of supplementation, what would be your number one supplementation to help you in the gym and to push you through those To help? 

Nick Jones
Guest
47:19
you in the gym or help you with general health, maybe both. Ok, i'll give you two options For general health for me, a great probiotic And they're very, very hard to know. What's a great probiotic? So something like acidophilus strain. There's about 29 strains of acidophilus available commercially. There's only a handful of them that work, that improve your gut bacteria, So to know which ones is a bit of a minefield. I do know again, i don't get paid for this I do know the owner of a probiotic company called the products, called ProGood, and I love it. So I've been using it for about seven years. I've started selling it on my website, So it's not a promotion to get you to my website to buy it, but to me, overall general health. 

48:07
Forget about a multivitamin. Work on your gut health. Get a good quality probiotic and use it most mornings. So because that'll boost your immune system. Our neurotransmitters, our fuel, good neurotransmitters dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin. They're produced in our gut, they're not produced in our brain, so it's crucial to have Yeah, it's crucial to have good gut health. So, general health a great probiotic is your first. Forget about. Forget about synthetic multivitamin, the only other product for general health. I'd say get a supergreens type of product, but either or either, or. I prefer the probiotic And again, if you're cash strapped, you might do the greens every day A supergreens product, gotcha, you know every day for a few weeks and then do the ProGood for a few weeks And you see what makes your energy higher and wards off colds and flus etc. 

48:58
As far as yeah, so general health, as far as bodybuilding, i'm a bit unorthodox but it's come through. It's come through years and years of practice and research. I love an intra-workout supplement of carbohydrates, creatine, amino acids and electrolytes. I've built a product called P2P. You drink it before and during your workout. It fuels my workouts. 

49:23
Most consumers would use a pre-workout product to get that kick and get that high from all the caffeine and stimulants. Then they'd use a protein after training to help recovery. I would say for my priorities it would be intra-workouts, most important for me, then my post-workout protein, then my pre-workout stimulant style of product, but ultimately pre-intra post. That's what you do for an elite-ish level bodybuilder that wants to maximize their results, because the rest of the time food can do what supplements can do, but during that point in time pre-workout, during the workout, immediately after food can't do what those supplements are doing So. It's really a performance enhancement using a pre-workout. It's a performance enhancement using an intra-workout, but it also helps to reduce breakdown during the workout. And then it's accelerated recovery by using a post-workout protein. I love it. It's awesome. 

David John Clark
Host
50:22
Awesome, nick. Well, thank you very much, pleasure. I know you're very busy and it's a Monday for you, so you've probably got a lot of paperwork and stuff to do. Just one last question for you What three things would you tell an actor if they walked into a fitness center with you? What three things would you recommend that they do or implement in their lifestyle for a better life and to make their acting journey a more healthy and easier regime, going with all the stresses that come with it? And it's not just actors, everyone goes through the same stresses. 

Nick Jones
Guest
50:56
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. I mean, i would ask them first are they getting ready for a certain role? You know if it's Chris Hemsworth getting ready for Thor, or if it's Arnold's got a bit out of shape and he's got to do the expendables, what about two, four or five or six, i don't know. I think so, yeah, so, just depending if they're getting ready for role and need to be lean to muscular, they've got to implement a bodybuilding lifestyle to build muscle and lose fat And it's pretty full on for general health, wellness, longevity, vitality, flexibility. And again, most people when they come to the gym, most people when you ask them what do you want to achieve, they say I want to tone up a little bit. Okay, you want to tone up a bit. Yeah, yeah, i want to get a bit fitter. Tone up a bit and get a bit fitter. Okay, you want to get fitter. They go yeah, yeah, i want to get fitter. I feel like I did when I was 20. Okay, well, i mean, i could train you for a half marathon. You could train a half marathon. You could run a half marathon in 12 weeks. From nothing to 12 weeks, would you like that? I'd love that, but you'd still look the way you do. Oh no, i don't want that. Okay, what about we did no marathon running and we did some weight training and we manipulated nutrition and you could look like you'd be on the cover of a men's health magazine in 12 weeks. What do you think of that? Yeah, that sounds good. 

52:13
So I mean, most people want to look better naked. That's when they come to the gym. Most want to look better naked. So let's be honest, what do you want to do? So, really, it's all of it's a dumbed-down version of a bodybuilding lifestyle. It's called body recomposition. We want to build some muscle, lose some fat. In doing that, we need to do a full body program. Whether you're, you need to train each body part once a week. So let's say you're going to the gym. You say, okay, you can come to the gym twice a week, all right then well, let's do lower body one day and upper body the next. Let's get some good mobility work before the workout so we can maintain your flexibility and vitality. So, mobility work I'm talking dynamic stretching. I've got a bunch of this stuff on my website, not my social media which you can hopefully give the listeners after. 

David John Clark
Host
53:00
Yeah, so I'll put it in the show notes for sure. 

Nick Jones
Guest
53:02
Yeah, so definitely some mobility work before the workout. We train each body part or area once a week, at least one and a half, maybe maximum. And then your nutrition, like we've been talking about eat some lean source, proteins, good quality fruits and vegetables, eliminate the sugars, eliminate the processed carbohydrates. Drink plenty of water, because ultimately, you can train as hard as you want And if your diet is out the window, you can actually go to the gym. But if your diet is that bad, you can increase body fat levels and lose muscle even if you're going to the gym. If your diet is that bad, you can't out train a bad diet, you just can't. So your nutrition has to take as much, if not more, precedence than the exercise. 

David John Clark
Host
53:46
Well, that's a perfect way to end it. The podcast, Nick. thank you very much, My pleasure. I think, as I said to you, I really wanted you to get you on the show for actors to learn about your health and wellness, and there's so much in this for actors, but anyone else that's listening, so it's brilliant. So thank you very much. Now where can everyone find you? You've got to. You're on social media both as Nick Jones and GenTek. Is that correct? 

Nick Jones
Guest
54:12
Yeah, that's correct. So GenTek nutrition, g-e-n-t-e-c nutrition and Nick Jones World Champion It's not a narcissistic thing, i just put it in when I was doing my social media a long, long, long time ago. So Nick Jones World Champion for my personal stuff And I give away a lot of training, information and nutrition information Because, again, as I'm at that point in my life where it's nice to serve, you know it's, you know it's just that point in my life, it's time to give back and I'm doing pretty well. Everything's good in it. It makes me feel good. That's. What makes me happy is being able to give back. So if you jump on either one of those, my website, gen-techcomau, has a workout club. It's free. It's got workouts on there, nutrition plans They're free, just join it as free. 

David John Clark
Host
54:58
That's wonderful. Thank you very much, nick. Thanks, david, it's been a pleasure to have you on board And we'll see you in the gym. 

Nick Jones
Guest
55:06
Yeah, look forward to it. Be well, everyone. Bye for now.