0:00

if you think of a person listening

0:00

to this right now and they're

0:02

going, can I, can I be an athlete?

0:05

Can I do these things? Can I face the struggle

0:07

and do these things?

0:09

What are some tips you would have for

0:09

that person to help them shift into

0:12

an athletic mindset when they don't

0:12

perceive themselves as having an

0:15

athlete's body or looking like an athlete? First thing I'll say is yes you can.

0:19

I have this phrase of

0:19

delusional self-belief, right?

0:22

Yeah. Ooh, delusional self-belief.

0:25

Yes. And that's the notion is that you

0:27

have to believe in yourself so

0:30

much, so hard that anybody else

0:30

around you thinks you're crazy.

0:35

Welcome to the Fantastical

0:35

Fatty Podcast, where we celebrate

0:39

fat baddies challenging fat phobic

0:39

stereotypes, smashing anti-fat

0:43

narratives, and changing the freaking

0:43

world for fatties like you and me.

0:47

I'm your host, Lindsay Johnson,

0:47

a k a Fantastical Fatty.

0:51

I'm a fat joy activist, fat

0:51

liberationist, and fat fitness lover.

0:55

I'm here to remind you that you're

0:55

allowed to love every inch of

0:58

your fat body, take up space and

0:58

live your best fat baddie life.

1:02

No matter where you are at on your

1:02

journey to fat liberation and fat joy,

1:06

this podcast is gonna amp you up. You're gonna get to hear from

1:08

some truly fantastical fatties.

1:13

Whether they themselves are in

1:13

the space of fat liberation or fat

1:17

activism, or they're just living

1:17

badass lives in a bigger body.

1:21

Without further ado

1:21

let's meet today's guest.

1:23

Hello fantastical Fatties. Welcome to another recording of

1:25

the Fantastical Fatty Podcast.

1:28

we have a fantastic guest on

1:28

today's episode, Martinus Evans.

1:33

Now, if you don't already know

1:33

Martinus where the heck have you been?

1:36

You need to go immediately

1:36

to Instagram and TikTok and

1:39

look up 300 pounds and running

1:42

Martinez has run over eight marathons

1:42

since his doctor told him to quote

1:46

unquote lose weight or die in July, 2012.

1:50

since then, he's coached hundreds

1:50

of runners and founded the Slow

1:54

AF Run Club, a community of

1:54

over 10,000 members worldwide.

1:57

He's also author of the book, slow AF

1:57

Run Club, the Ultimate Guide for anybody

2:02

who Wants to Run, and he passionately

2:02

speaks about issues related to size,

2:06

inclusivity, mindset, diversity, equity

2:06

and inclusion, and mental health.

2:11

Our conversation today really

2:11

centers around s philosophy

2:14

of delusional self-belief.

2:17

And how most of the time, all of the

2:17

time when haters are gonna hate when

2:22

they're telling you that you can't do

2:22

something or they think that you are

2:26

stupid Martinez's words for trying to

2:26

do something, athletic in a bigger

2:31

body or really anything, period.

2:34

We have to understand that those

2:34

naysayers, that doubt that is

2:38

theirs, that is their belief for

2:38

themselves getting projected onto you.

2:42

And you, my friends, do

2:42

not have to listen to it.

2:45

In this episode, we share

2:45

some embarrassing stories.

2:47

We share some inspiring stories,

2:47

and oh my goodness, did we laugh?

2:51

Like literally my cheeks hurt and I

2:51

am wiping away tears of laughter.

2:56

Friends, I'm so, so excited

2:56

for you to listen this episode.

2:59

Let's get into it. Martinus, welcome.

3:02

Welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today, Lindsay?

3:06

I am doing amazing. I'm excited to be here.

3:09

Thank you for having me. I am excited and I am honored.

3:12

Oh my goodness. The work you are doing , in the

3:13

fat run space is incredible.

3:19

Mm-hmm. How the heck did you get into this?

3:23

Um, I asked myself that question every day. So it all started in 2012.

3:30

Um, in 2012, I was working at

3:30

Men's Warehouse at the time,

3:34

um, a commission sales job. A suit salesman on my feet eight to 12

3:37

hours a day in hard bottom dress shoes.

3:42

I'm running around selling suits. Right. I, I like to pin that as I

3:43

continue to go to the story.

3:46

Um, by far it's the worst thing you'd

3:46

probably wear for a long period of time.

3:50

Yeah. Um, but that's, that was the uniform.

3:53

Developed some hip issues. Went to go see a doctor, which

3:55

led me to another doctor.

3:58

And as I was sitting in there explaining

3:58

to him what's going on with me as far as

4:02

like this hip and things of that sort,

4:02

he's like, I know what's wrong with you.

4:05

I said, okay, what's that? He was like, it's because you're fat.

4:08

Mm. You need to lose weight or die.

4:11

And, and for me, I was kind of took

4:11

aback cause I'm like, a, you don't

4:15

know me, b I just sat down and told

4:15

you like I'm on my feet eight to

4:20

12 hours a day in this dress, shoes

4:20

running around, yada, yada yada.

4:23

So obviously I'm quite active.

4:26

Forcefully throughout my work. Mm-hmm.

4:29

And we just have this whole

4:29

argument, you know, he wound

4:32

up like, well, you know, yeah. Stomach is a pregnant woman,

4:32

all this other stuff you need

4:35

to start walking on the track. Um, all this stuff.

4:39

Right. And I remember telling him like,

4:39

screw you, screw all of this.

4:42

If I wanted to, I'll run a marathon. Yeah. He laughs at me and tells me that's

4:44

the most stupidest thing he heard

4:47

in all years of practicing medicine. Yeah.

4:52

I wanted to lay hands on him. Lindsay, I can't even imagine like

4:53

that is re That is ridiculous.

4:58

Keep going. I mean, I think that's so relatable. I think every, every fat

4:59

person, you know, relatable.

5:03

So I wanted to lay hands on him. Um, continue to have a argument and

5:04

I stormed out the doctor's office and

5:09

on my way home still ruminated uh,

5:09

ruminating about this whole situation.

5:13

I drive past a running shoe store. Mm-hmm. Going to the running shoe store

5:15

and bought shoes that day.

5:18

And that was kind of like, My

5:18

journey went home, got on the

5:21

treadmill and failed miserably. But I was so determined to, uh,

5:23

say, fuck you to this doctor.

5:28

Yep. That I kept going back

5:28

at it every other day. Yeah.

5:32

Yeah. And at what point did you

5:32

sign up for a marathon?

5:37

So, um, throughout that journey,

5:37

like most people think, well, You

5:42

do it, you sign up for the marathon? Not really.

5:44

I didn't run my first marathon

5:44

until about 18 months afterwards.

5:47

Right. So yeah, I met that doctor

5:47

in like June or July in 2012.

5:51

I didn't run my first marathon

5:51

until October, uh, 2013.

5:56

So throughout that whole thing. Yeah, no, what I was gonna say, but

5:57

18 months to go from not even being a

6:01

runner at all to running a marathon,

6:01

that is, to me, that feels quick.

6:09

Um, I guess, you know, I

6:09

don't have an answer for that.

6:16

I just knew, like, it took for me,

6:16

I thought that was slow, right?

6:19

Yeah. Um, cuz I, I expected to run a marathon

6:19

that day, but okay, that didn't happen.

6:26

But you know, I, I'm a very methodical

6:26

and obsessive type of individual.

6:32

So like I, I started with Couch to 5k,

6:32

founded out Couch to 5k, wasn't meant

6:37

for people or size, or people who in

6:37

slower bodies because the last day

6:42

of Couch 5K is like, run 30 minutes.

6:44

Congratulations. You ran a, a 5K and me doing a map and

6:45

being like, so you expecting me to run

6:49

something faster than a 10 minute mile? Yeah.

6:52

What the fuck is this? Um, And then I tried to find, um, tried

6:54

to hire a running coach back in 2012.

7:00

Nobody would want to work

7:00

with a 300 pound man.

7:03

Really? Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

7:06

Couldn't find a running coach. Everybody would say, kid, you

7:08

need to lose weight first. Huh?

7:11

So everybody say You need to

7:11

lose weight first, or like,

7:13

nah, I don't think I can do it. Blah, blah, blah.

7:16

So I went on the whole journey of

7:16

myself to like go to the, get a

7:22

running, run coach certification

7:22

myself, read all the running books.

7:26

Yeah. And did all this other stuff

7:27

pretty much to like work on myself.

7:31

Yeah. And do the things that I wanted to do.

7:33

So yeah. 18 months later, you know,

7:34

I ran my first marathon.

7:38

It, it's so interesting whenever

7:38

I talk to any trainers of any type

7:42

who are in a, in a bigger body, and

7:42

it's almost always because of some

7:47

sort of discrimination or anti-fat

7:47

bias, um, that they've experienced.

7:51

So they said, well, I'm just gonna do it myself then. Yeah, it's so funny and even even

7:53

listening to that, like I, I have run

7:58

a couple of triathlons and when I was

7:58

training for my first triathlon, I got

8:04

to the swim portion of the training

8:04

and swam a length of the pool and then

8:09

halfway back and then doggy paddled

8:09

the rest of the way I was done.

8:14

I was like, oh goodness. I apparently don't know how to swim

8:15

for, for endurance, for distance.

8:20

And so I was like, let me get a swimming lesson. Let me get someone to

8:22

help me with my stroke. Right?

8:25

And the, oh my good goodness, the way

8:25

that this trainer got into my head

8:30

about my body size and, and that I would

8:30

not be able to complete the triathlon

8:35

and I was at risk of like drowning.

8:38

And, you know, I think they were

8:38

doing that thing where they wanted

8:41

to make me feel like I needed them.

8:44

To maybe hire than I think it was

8:44

kind of that, but either way, the

8:48

doubt that they put in my head, I

8:48

stopped training for a whole month.

8:52

I was like, what have I done? I'm so dumb.

8:54

I can't do triathlon. I'm gonna die out there.

8:57

And they just like it. They shot my confidence so much

8:58

and it's, it's so interesting.

9:04

It's so interesting as a bigger

9:04

person to try to carve out any space

9:09

at all in the world of athletics. In the world of sport.

9:12

Yeah. It is not easy. Forget just that, you know, like

9:14

our bodies can do it if we, if

9:18

we are gentle, if we train them. But it's the stigma, it's the

9:20

exclusion, it's the discrimination,

9:23

it's the straight up bullying. Did you experience that as well,

9:25

not just from run coaches, but

9:28

even in the world of athletics. Like did you experience

9:29

that from other runners?

9:33

Absolutely. Um, when you mentioned swimming,

9:34

it acts I actually flashback

9:38

to when I was in high school. Mm-hmm. So, um, in high school they offered

9:40

this free, like lifeguard lessons

9:46

type thing, and I'm like, well,

9:46

shit, like I wanna be a lifeguard.

9:50

Uh, so go through the whole training,

9:50

get all the way there, and did not

9:54

get my lifeguard certification because

9:54

I made too b too big of a splash.

9:58

Jumping into the pool. So like that was the thing,

10:02

like they teach you like how

10:05

to like jump in the pool. Yeah.

10:07

And like not make this big splash. But since I'm a larger individual,

10:09

my splashes was always bigger

10:13

anyway and I didn't get my

10:13

certification because of that.

10:16

But can I ask a bit of

10:16

a nerdy question here?

10:18

A technical question. Does a splash have something to do with.

10:21

Saving lives? Like is that a thing? Yeah.

10:25

Um, from, from what I remember, like

10:25

from what I remember, like, yes.

10:29

Like having a splash, like you trying

10:29

to jump into a pool and you next,

10:34

like trying to jump next to somebody

10:34

and you make a bigger splash than

10:37

it might disorient him and business. Okay.

10:40

Oh my gosh. That's, that's so wild.

10:44

Okay, well that's awkward. Awkward. I, I could have been on Baywatch,

10:45

like they, they, I could have been

10:49

on Baywatch, like I could have been

10:49

the first fat lifeguard, but instead

10:52

I had to be a marathoner instead. Yeah. Um.

10:56

When it comes to like bullying? Absolutely.

10:58

Um, in the running scene.

11:01

Absolutely. Even the way I got the name Slow

11:01

AF Run Club right for the community

11:05

I created, um, I was running a

11:05

race and somebody was heckling me.

11:09

Like, imagine running a

11:09

marathon, being at mile 18.

11:13

You got your headphones on jamming,

11:13

just trying to make sure you don't stop.

11:18

You see somebody doing

11:18

like large gestures.

11:21

Out the corner of your eye, so

11:21

you thinking something's going on.

11:24

So you take out your headphones and you're like, what? What's going on?

11:27

And he's like, your slow as fuck. Go home.

11:30

And I'm like, I'm confused. I'm like, what your slow as fuck.

11:33

Go home. And I'm like, you are not even running.

11:37

You're, you're on the sidelines buddy. You're on the sidelines drinking

11:40

and you telling me to go home.

11:44

No, you fucking go home. Oh my goodness.

11:48

That's What did that, did that, what did that do? Did that, did that fire you

11:50

up or did that deflate you?

11:52

No, it pissed me the fuck up. But from that point on, um,

12:00

That's how I even came up with

12:03

the name Slow AF Run Club. Yeah. Because I was like, oh, I

12:04

got something for his ass. Yeah.

12:07

As a big middle figure to him, I'm gonna

12:07

write slow across all of my T-shirts.

12:12

Yep. And I'm gonna run these races. And people found it hilarious.

12:16

And then people wanted to buy them. I wasn't selling 'em at the time.

12:20

And then the entrepreneur and we

12:20

was like, well, I'm selling these.

12:23

Yeah. Yep. And then I started, I sold 500

12:24

shirts in the first weekend.

12:27

Um, I'm selling these shirts

12:27

and the rest was history.

12:31

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

12:34

Oh, I love a business born out of spite.

12:41

I love it. I love it.

12:44

And you know what, it's so

12:44

interesting how you heard that

12:47

and you were like F you buddy. Mm-hmm.

12:50

And you created a whole brand. And then I think about myself and I

12:52

think I heard that and I immediately was

12:56

filled with self-doubt and, and stopping.

12:58

And it's like, how do you think

12:58

we can support people in bigger

13:05

bodies in shifting their mindsets? From being discouraged and defeated

13:07

to being f you, I'm doing it?

13:12

Yes, mindset is definitely a, a thing.

13:14

Right. And I, and I, I have a few mindset

13:14

tools that we can talk about.

13:18

Right. I think before we even get into all

13:18

of this, it comes down to it's you

13:23

versus the thoughts in your head. Mm-hmm.

13:25

Versus the, the thoughts of other people

13:25

of you versus your thoughts of your head.

13:30

In your head of those other

13:30

people of you as well.

13:32

Yeah. So as a larger individual, we

13:33

have those things going on.

13:37

You have so many thoughts

13:37

going on in your head.

13:39

You got the stuff that, that you

13:39

already dealing with with yourself.

13:42

You got the other people trying

13:42

to tell you something and then you

13:45

got the thoughts of you dealing

13:45

with those thoughts as well.

13:48

So it's a lot to deal with

13:48

as a a plus size individual.

13:52

Right. And you know, the first thing

13:53

I always say is seek therapy.

13:56

Um, you know, mindset, tips and tricks.

13:59

Um, Will help, but therapy

13:59

will work wonders as well.

14:04

So, you know, that's the first thing I

14:04

always tell people is that, you know,

14:08

you need to figure out how to be able

14:08

to deal with these thoughts as well as,

14:15

um, help keep those things in check. Yes.

14:18

So one of the things that I do that

14:18

I learned from therapy is I, I, I

14:23

give my inner voice a, uh, a persona.

14:26

Yeah. So I name him Otis.

14:29

Otis is a old raspy man that has a

14:29

raspy voice that's gonna talk shit

14:34

when you don't need to do, it's think

14:34

of like one of those uncles who's

14:37

always saying, Inappropriate shit

14:37

at, at, at, at, at any given time.

14:41

Yeah. That's augusts. And sometimes, you know, with that

14:42

uncle, you, you have to grow up and

14:45

be like, uncle, I don't, I don't care what the hell you saying. You need to go on with that bullshit.

14:48

Like, go on, go away from here. And then he'd be like,

14:50

oh, you didn't grow up. Now let, let me go here.

14:53

Mind my business. So like that's the first thing, right?

14:55

Is giving that inner voice a persona so

14:55

that way you can really understand that.

15:01

That voice is not you. It's something else that

15:03

you are able to address.

15:06

Yeah. And I would say like that's,

15:06

uh, the second thing, right, is

15:09

that, um, y your thoughts and

15:09

feelings about yourself isn't true.

15:15

Yes. You know, our mind is going to drum

15:15

up some things, but your thoughts

15:21

and your feelings about yourself, Are

15:21

not true and we need to realize is

15:25

that if we look at those as we are

15:25

looking in the mirror, we can realize

15:29

like, oh, that's just the mirror. That's just a reflection of me.

15:32

That's just a reflection of what's going on. Yeah, but that's not me right now.

15:38

So, um, that those are

15:38

like the starters, right?

15:41

Like that's top three right there. I love that. Well, and I was gonna say really

15:43

quickly to, to add on to that, like,

15:46

so many times our thoughts, like,

15:46

by the way, mine is called Frank.

15:49

My inner inner gremlin is Frank. Mm-hmm.

15:52

And he, he is based off of a, um, uh, back

15:52

when I was on the, on the Strata council

15:58

in a, in a condo of mine years ago, he was

15:58

like the whatever, like the head strata.

16:04

Liaison for the building, whatever. I don't know.

16:07

His name is Frank. He was the worst.

16:09

And that is my, you know, because

16:09

there's a part of me that's like,

16:12

Frank, you're just an idiot. So I have no respect for you.

16:17

You are small minded and

16:17

a bully and you're dumb.

16:20

And so like when my inner voice

16:20

goes in, I can visualize Frank and

16:24

I'm like, like, you're nothing.

16:27

What am I, what am I outing you? But I was gonna say that.

16:31

A lot of times those inner

16:31

thoughts, they are not our own.

16:34

Right? Like, we didn't make those

16:34

up, those were put into us.

16:37

Right. Society and media, family, you

16:38

know, a, a, a weird uncle or

16:42

a, a crappy strip instructor. So I think that's even, uh,

16:44

like that's something that

16:47

I wish we acknowledged more. Like that isn't even your voice.

16:50

When you say your thoughts are not you,

16:50

it's because that's not even your voice.

16:55

Yeah. Yeah. Big facts. So I would say those are the top three.

17:00

Yeah. And then if I had that on, add a

17:00

bonus one is do it a afraid, um, yes.

17:05

In my book, and I know we gonna talk

17:05

about it a little bit more later.

17:08

Yeah. Um, I have this phrase of like, you

17:08

know, you, you need to have the, I'll

17:12

go if I have to by myself mentality. Yes.

17:15

And um, that's the thing, that's

17:15

the notion of like, You wanna

17:19

go do something, you are afraid. You, you think that, oh, I need

17:21

somebody to hand hold me along the way.

17:25

No, this is what you really need to

17:25

lean into and go do it by yourself.

17:29

Because by doing it, by yourself,

17:29

by doing scary things by yourself,

17:34

you are then giving yourself the

17:34

uh, The permission to get gritty.

17:39

Yeah. To get hardened to, to be

17:39

able to do even harder things.

17:44

Because you did that one

17:44

thing while you were afraid.

17:46

Yeah. What was the first thing that you

17:47

did that you can remember doing

17:51

by yourself that gave you that

17:51

mentality, that gave you that wisdom?

17:55

Um, other than buying shoes, other

17:55

than buying running shoes, my

18:02

doctor told me I was gonna die. Um, I, I, I think there was multiple

18:06

things along the way, right?

18:11

So, for example, my first run, it sucked.

18:14

Um, I was inconveniently

18:14

sandwiched between two gazelles

18:18

as, as I like to call them. Uh, one guy was going like 10,

18:20

the other guy was going like nine.

18:24

And I remember being like, holy fuck,

18:24

like, How fast do I need to be going?

18:29

Like I can't go like two or three on

18:29

here and like these fuckers are going 10.

18:33

So I'm thinking to myself,

18:33

well, I'm gonna go seven.

18:36

Horrible idea. And when my body hit that treadmill

18:37

on the ground, when I fell 15

18:43

seconds later, you know you fell. Yes, I fell.

18:50

I fell. Okay, so 15 seconds later you fell.

18:57

15 seconds later I said, I told you when

18:57

my body hit that ground, when my body

19:03

hit that ground, it made a lo a noise.

19:06

I've never heard before. Have you ever heard fat

19:08

skin speed on the treadmill?

19:15

That shit did not hurt. Feel amazing.

19:18

And it was, what did the GS do?

19:24

So they stopped and they was

19:24

like, Hey bro, are you okay?

19:27

And I got outta, I grabbed my cell phone,

19:34

I ran the hell about it.

19:39

You know what's amazing? That would be enough for

19:41

so many people to stop.

19:44

So how, how did you get back in there?

19:48

So, um, I have a tattoo on my wrist.

19:50

I have a tattoo that I got very young. Um, and it says, no struggle, no progress.

19:54

It's a yes. It's from a speech from

19:55

Frederick Douglass.

19:58

Um, and the whole speech, or part of the

19:58

speech, you know, says there, you know, if

20:02

there's no struggle, there's no progress. And they go on to say like, people or men

20:04

who favor freedom but does not agitate

20:10

change are like people who want, um,

20:10

Props but don't want to do the work.

20:16

Yeah. Of tilling up the land. They want the ocean without its loud roar.

20:20

They want the rain without its

20:20

thunder and light lightning.

20:23

And that boat just always meant

20:23

something to me of in order to do

20:30

something like you're going to have to

20:30

go to through some type of struggle.

20:34

Yeah. And he says like the struggle might

20:34

be a moral one, it might be a physical

20:38

one, it might even be a mental

20:38

one, but it has to be a struggle in

20:41

order for you to get some progress. Yeah. So as I was at home, like walking

20:44

home with tears in my eyes, like I

20:50

reached out to the doorknob of my

20:50

apartment and um, and as I tore the

20:55

doorknob, I the doorknob, it hit me.

20:58

Like I looked at my tattoo

20:58

and I was like, fuck.

21:00

I know what I need to do. I need to go through the struggle. Yeah.

21:04

Yeah. Get back on it. Oh my gosh.

21:07

Wow. Wow. I love that.

21:11

I love that. So, so you talk a lot about

21:12

like the mindset of an athlete.

21:18

Mm-hmm. And I mean, that is the

21:19

mindset of an athlete, right?

21:21

Right. What again, if you think of, if

21:22

you think of a person listening

21:26

to this right now and they're

21:26

going, can I, can I be an athlete?

21:31

Can I do these things? Can I, can I face the

21:33

struggle and do these things?

21:36

You know, what would you, what are some

21:36

tips you would have for that person

21:39

to help them shift into an athletic

21:39

mindset when they don't perceive

21:42

themselves as having an athlete's

21:42

body or looking like an athlete?

21:46

So, um, first thing

21:46

I'll say is yes you can.

21:50

And, um, I have this phrase of

21:50

delusion, delusional self-belief, right?

21:55

Yeah. Ooh, delusional self-belief.

21:57

Yes. And that's the notion is that you

22:00

have to believe in yourself so much,

22:03

so hard that anybody else around you. Thinks you're crazy.

22:07

So the, the example I like to

22:07

use is if we look at all these

22:10

modern mo, modern marvels, right?

22:12

That we all take for granted. Like somebody back in the day had to been

22:14

like, you know what, Todd is sending a

22:18

telegram or a pigeon or whatever they

22:18

sent to communicate to people back then,

22:22

or hopping on this horse and riding

22:22

40 fort nights to get there, right?

22:26

Like, I wish I could sit

22:26

here and talk to them.

22:30

And somebody else had to be like,

22:30

you know what, that's stupid.

22:34

Go home, go to sleep. But somebody worked on it, right?

22:38

Or like, the same thing with

22:38

flying some, the Wright brothers

22:41

or so was like, you know what? I'm tired of riding these horses.

22:44

It's hurting my, it is hurting my butt. It's taking forever.

22:48

I, I don't, can I, can I fly there?

22:51

I wish I can fly like the birds. And somebody had to be

22:53

like, you are stupid.

22:55

That is dumb. Don't do that.

22:59

Yeah. You're delusional. And that's the same thing

23:01

with delusional self-belief.

23:03

Like you're gonna be like,

23:03

I wanna be X, Y, and z.

23:07

I wanna swim, I wanna be a swimmer, I

23:07

wanna be a runner, I wanna be a cyclist.

23:10

And people are gonna look at

23:10

you and be like, you are stupid.

23:14

You are dumb, and you're delusional.

23:17

And guess what? That's okay. Cuz the only thing you have to

23:19

do is continue to believe in

23:21

yourself and continue to put in

23:21

those actions and that delusion.

23:27

We're actually coming to fruition. Like everything's impossible

23:28

until it isn't anymore.

23:31

Yeah. Yeah. That's literally, it's out there.

23:34

I have that, that in my, in my gym, in

23:34

my gym, it says everything, everything

23:39

seems impossible to until it's done. Right.

23:42

Yeah. So that's the thing. So when I was telling my family

23:43

and friends like, Hey, I'm,

23:47

I'm about to become a runner. I'm about to be a marathon.

23:50

And they was like, the fuck,

23:50

what you doing that shit for?

23:53

And there's a, there have been friends

23:53

now who had came to me and was like,

23:56

damn, you know what, Martinus, I wish I

23:56

would've went on you with this journey,

24:00

because I'd be a marathoner too. I'd be traveling around the world with

24:02

your ass because I've been, I would've

24:05

been right there at the journey with you. But that's the thing, right?

24:08

Like people don't see it for you. People don't see it for you.

24:12

Yeah. And that means truthfully, they

24:12

don't see it for themselves.

24:14

Yeah. So that's why they're, they, they put

24:14

their own pre preconceived notion on you

24:19

and it's only a, a very smooth, a small

24:19

percentage of people who, who I told

24:25

like, Hey, I'm might run a marathon. And they looked at me

24:27

and they was like, okay. Mm-hmm.

24:29

How can I help? Yeah. But other people's like,

24:31

why would you wanna do that? Is it bad for your knees, your fat,

24:33

heart problems, all this other stuff,

24:37

bad for your knees, all this other shit. And I'm like, Let me do me.

24:42

And then don't, don't even add on

24:42

the fact of like, yo, um, I'm gonna

24:46

be, I'm, I'm, I'm going to move and

24:46

I'm not gonna focus on weight loss.

24:50

Yes. Yes. It would sound like the fucking world.

24:55

It's about to explode. Cuz I'm like, yo, I'm

24:56

not gonna get on a scale.

24:59

I'm not gonna monitor the spoon. I'm not gonna do all this other stuff

25:01

My exercise in my movement is not

25:06

dictated by a fucking number on a scale.

25:09

Yeah. Like I have a workout plan and

25:10

I'm going to do that regardless

25:13

if I get, I get on the scale. Yeah.

25:15

And it says I I two pounds down, or

25:15

if I'm three pounds up, that's not

25:21

gonna dictate how I'm move my body.

25:24

Yes. And, and I feel like for most

25:26

people they don't understand that.

25:29

And that's the most craziest

25:29

thing they, they ever heard.

25:32

Like what? Like why would you exercise and do all

25:32

this stuff and not wanna lose weight?

25:36

Yeah. Like, isn't that gonna happen? I'm like, well, my body's gonna

25:37

do whatever it's gonna do. Yeah.

25:40

Period. And well, and there's like, I'm for,

25:41

I'm forgetting this, like how did I

25:45

forget this when I was talking about

25:45

doing the triathlon, I'd always wanted

25:49

to do one, but I thought I had to be

25:49

thin because all triathletes are thin.

25:53

Right. That was my perception.

25:55

That's what we get shown. And so I, I was like, well, I gotta

25:56

lose weight before I can do a triathlon.

26:02

And then it was a friend, a

26:02

friend who'd actually got hit

26:04

by a car while riding her bike. Mm-hmm. And it messed up her hips,

26:07

it messed up her back.

26:09

And she was like, I am not

26:09

going to basically be a victim

26:12

in my head or in my body. I'm gonna do a triathlon.

26:16

Do you wanna do one with me? And it took me a couple hours

26:18

of thinking about it, and then

26:20

I was like, you know what? Yes. Let's do it.

26:23

Like let's do it. I'm athletic, I am fit.

26:26

I love movement. Let's do it. And I picked the training

26:28

plan, and I did the training

26:30

plan, and I did two triathlons.

26:32

Two. Mm-hmm. That summer. And it's like, yeah.

26:36

Was I one of the only fat people? Absolutely.

26:38

Yeah. Was I the only one in no wetsuit?

26:41

Because they don't make plus size wetsuits. Absolutely.

26:43

Yeah. Did my fingers and toast freezes? You know, like Absolutely.

26:47

But you know, it's this, it's

26:47

this, this belief that if I'm in a

26:51

bigger body, I can't do it right.

26:54

And that's absolute nonsense because

26:54

of course we can, we just gotta train.

26:58

Just gotta do it. Yeah. And the thing is, will it be harder?

27:02

Yes. Yes. Will it look different from.

27:06

Would everybody else see? Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Would you get weird looks

27:08

and and confused looks?

27:12

Yeah. Yes. But guess what? You're not doing it for

27:14

the external folk guy.

27:16

Anybody else? You doing it for your own personal joy?

27:18

Yes, exactly. The amount of times I would tell

27:20

someone that I would do a, I,

27:23

I'm doing a triathlon or I did a

27:23

triathlon and Martinus the way that

27:26

they would look me up and down. Yeah.

27:28

Immediately up and down as their

27:28

brain was trying to calculate.

27:32

But then what was really interesting is

27:32

how, and, and they didn't need to be, but

27:37

how they would feel bad about themselves.

27:40

Mm-hmm. Because you can hear the

27:40

narrative, well, this fat person

27:42

did a triathlon and I didn't.. Like what?

27:45

You know? Right. And it's like it's breaking their brains.

27:49

Not just in their belief in themselves,

27:49

like you said, oh, I could have done

27:53

that if this person did it, why didn't I?

27:55

But also, hopefully breaking their

27:55

brains and their own internalized sort of

27:59

like, like their stigmas and stereotypes

27:59

throughout people in bigger bodies, right?

28:03

Because we need everyone's brains

28:03

breaking around this and, and expanding

28:07

open right into, well, Crikey.

28:11

Maybe fat people, you know, are human

28:11

beings who are capable of things, and we

28:16

need to not be so mean to them, you know?

28:19

Exactly. So I think that's the thing.

28:22

You wouldn't be, you would be surprised

28:22

of how many times, like people look at

28:26

me when I'm running the race mm-hmm. And they like, oh, is

28:28

this your first time? And like, Nope, I ran about

28:29

a hundred different races.

28:32

And they're like, what? Mm-hmm. Or it's like, oh, this

28:34

is your first marathon. It's like, Nope.

28:37

I ran about eight of them already. Yep.

28:40

And it, it is just No, no. It's so, so no, so nonchalant.

28:46

It fucks them up. So that's what I'm saying.

28:48

It breaks their brain. That's what, that's why

28:50

I do it so nonchalant.

28:52

Like, Nope, I've ran

28:52

eight of them already.

28:58

So do you have like, like

28:58

metals and things like that?

29:01

Do you have like a wall of

29:01

finisher, metals and all that?

29:03

Yes, yes. Yes. Badass.

29:06

So badass. I love that.

29:08

So let's talk about Slow A F Run club.

29:11

Let's talk about your book. You know, who was your book for?

29:16

Um, truthfully, the book is for

29:16

the Martinus who started running

29:20

in 2012 and did not have any

29:20

resource and nobody would train you.

29:24

Yeah. Um, that's, that's who

29:24

this book is for, right?

29:27

Um, Anybody who felt left out felt like

29:27

they don't have any, any resources when

29:34

they come to running or just being active.

29:37

Mm-hmm. This is what this book is for, right? Yep. Because most how-to manuals

29:38

written by runner are written by

29:42

runners who are elite athletes.

29:45

Coaches of elite athletes are

29:45

like former Olympians, right?

29:49

Yeah. And they're telling you

29:49

how to run their way.

29:51

Yeah. And even when I got my running code

29:52

certification, they gave you a book.

29:55

It is called The Daniels

29:55

Formula on running.

29:58

Right. And they're like, this is the Bible. Like this is the book you want to

30:00

use when you're coaching people open

30:03

that book, and it's boring as fuck.

30:06

It's dense. It has types of formulas and it

30:07

has past charts that don't even

30:12

go past like a 13 minute mile. Yeah. So I'm like, so this is the Bible.

30:15

Like, is this your king?

30:17

Yeah. Is this your king? And it's like, It, it, it

30:19

didn't work for me, so I had to

30:24

make stuff that works for me. And this book is full of, um,

30:26

I call 'em cautionary tales.

30:31

Mm-hmm. Different stories that I experienced

30:31

being a, a plus size runner.

30:35

Things I wish I would've learned the hard

30:35

way or wish I would've learned the easier

30:38

way, but I had to learn the hard way and,

30:38

um, yeah, like, Not only do I give you

30:45

these stories, but I also give you step

30:45

by step ways on how to run and breaking

30:51

it down from mindset to actual form to

30:51

nutrition, to recovery, to workouts.

30:57

All of that stuff that I wish I would've

30:57

known or people who have asked me

31:01

throughout the years is inside that book. Yeah.

31:04

Oh my gosh. So you talk about the cautionary tales

31:05

and the things that you wished that

31:09

you didn't have to learn the hard way. Is there an example that

31:11

comes to mind right away?

31:14

Yes, there's tons of examples. So, first time, um, a cautionary tale

31:16

or a lesson I learned the hard way.

31:21

I call it the cha monster. The what?

31:24

The cha master, the chafe monster.

31:26

chafe monster. So one run I went, this was probably

31:28

the longest run I ever went on.

31:33

And I had, I was wearing these long

31:33

basketball shorts, cotton underwear

31:39

and like, it was a very uncomfortable

31:39

run cotton from head to toe, right?

31:43

And I remember like running and adjusting

31:43

the underwear cuz it was riding up, like

31:47

adjusting my shirt, all this other stuff. And I get done with the run,

31:49

like, felt good about it.

31:53

You know what? It's time for me to go get a shower.

31:57

I get in the shower when that

31:57

hot water hitting my raw body.

32:03

I made the loudest noise in the

32:03

world and it felt as if I was being

32:08

cut by a thousand razors yo, because

32:08

nobody told me, Hey Martinus you

32:16

shouldn't be running in cotton. No, especially in cotton underwear.

32:19

Yo, what are you doing? So that's a type of cautionary

32:23

tale I have in there, right?

32:26

Um, chafe is real. Yeah, the chafe is real.

32:29

Um, another cautionary tale is on

32:29

the time where I had to call, um,

32:34

my significant other tell they come

32:34

get me off the side of the road.

32:37

So I was running and before,

32:37

before this one time, I wouldn't

32:42

eat anything before I go run. Mm-hmm. You know, I, I was still in

32:44

the mindset of like, well, like

32:47

I need to lose a few pounds. Like, yeah, let me not eat.

32:52

And just go work out and

32:52

I'll just eat afterwards.

32:54

I have a protein shake or whatever, whatever. Like, that was my mindset back,

32:56

right when I first started running,

32:59

started running and there's this term

32:59

call, hitting the wall and running.

33:04

And like, it's literally where

33:04

like your, your energy will

33:07

be instantly sucked from you. Right? So I was running, I was out in the

33:09

sun and like instantly it's like

33:14

boom, like ran outta energy and

33:14

like, felt like I was gonna faint.

33:19

So I like had to call my significant

33:19

other and sit on like this stoop or

33:23

this stump and say, Hey, come get me.

33:26

Like I feel like I'm

33:26

about to, about to faint.

33:28

And in the car ride back,

33:28

she was like, you hungry?

33:31

And I'm like, yeah, I'm fucking starving. And she's like, you didn't eat

33:34

anything before you went on a run.

33:36

And I was like, no, I never eat. And she's like, that's dumb.

33:41

You should eat. That's a different

33:44

kinda delusional, right? That's a different kinda.

33:47

That's right. She's like, that's dumb

33:49

why you didn't eat.

33:53

I'm like, you know what? I don't know. Like I just thought, you

33:54

know, I, I'll just eat athe.

33:58

So like, those are types of cautionary

33:58

tales that I have, um, in the book.

34:02

Yeah, we had, um, I don't know

34:02

if you know Mia Braithwaite?

34:06

The Fat Athlete? Yes. And she is a Fat Rock coach as well.

34:08

Yes. And she was one of the

34:09

first guests on the podcast.

34:11

And that was, that was the theme of the

34:11

podcast, why runners need to stop dieting.

34:17

You need to fuel your body. Exactly.

34:20

Exactly. So I know that you, you have that sort

34:22

of effort approach to diets as well.

34:27

Mm-hmm. You know, what piece of advice would you

34:27

give to somebody who is shifting from

34:32

diets and exercising to lose weight,

34:32

to fueling your body and exercising,

34:37

because it's for you, be for joy. Diets are dumb.

34:41

Mm. That's the first thing. Just it's dumb.

34:44

Um. So I, I say that not just from like,

34:46

um, a motivational speaker mm-hmm.

34:51

Type of thing. Right. So, in the past life, um, Martinus has

34:53

a, um, bachelor's in exercise science.

35:00

Uh, I also have a master's

35:00

in health promotion.

35:03

Right. Which is a subset of public health.

35:06

During that time, I was also

35:06

working at a, uh, medical school

35:11

who, who did a lot of research in.

35:14

Um, behavior change, social

35:14

media and things of that sort.

35:18

So one of the, uh, PIs as we like to call

35:18

'em, are like principal investigators

35:22

or like the professors there. Like she did a study looking at

35:23

all of the diets and comparing them

35:29

of like all of the weights lost

35:29

over time and things of that sort.

35:33

And the, the, the result of that

35:33

study was that there was no one

35:39

diet better than the other when it

35:39

came to amount of weight loss and.

35:43

How much weight stayed

35:43

off, um, post, post trial.

35:48

Mm-hmm. So diets are dumb.

35:50

They're dumb, they're

35:50

dumb, and they don't work.

35:54

They're not, and they're

35:54

not health promoting.

35:57

They're, they don't work. Um, it does not promote health.

36:00

And, you know, and I think the last

36:00

thing is that, When you are a larger

36:06

person, a person of size, you know,

36:06

a lot of people tend to forget, like

36:11

there's this term called homeostasis.

36:13

Mm-hmm. Which means like if your body has

36:14

been known this for a long period

36:18

of time, it wants to stay there.

36:20

Right? Yeah. Um, there's also a term

36:21

called abosi rebound.

36:24

Yeah. Which means that once you lose

36:25

weight or lose fat or whatever,

36:28

things that, that fat wants to get

36:28

back there because of homeostasis.

36:33

And then the other thing is

36:33

that like, there's no such thing

36:36

as like burning fat, right?

36:39

Mm-hmm. Once those fat cells, once your

36:39

body grows those fat cells and you

36:43

quote unquote lose weight, those

36:43

fat cells still stay in the body.

36:47

Those fat cells don't go anywhere.

36:50

They just shrink and get smaller. So hormonally, Those fat cells

36:52

want to be nice and plump.

36:56

Yep. Yep. So when you think about all of that,

36:58

you really understand that this

37:01

whole diet shit is just bullshit.

37:04

It's literal bs. It literally, it's not scientific.

37:08

It's not. It's not, yeah.

37:10

And fueling for your body and fueling

37:10

for the activities makes more sense.

37:15

Yes. So I, I really think it's

37:15

interesting when people are like,

37:18

ah, you're promoing obesity. Like, how are you gonna be active

37:20

and run and not lose weight?

37:24

Like, you must be eating

37:24

thousands of calories a day.

37:28

And I'm like, actually I do. Like, have you heard about

37:30

my bas of metabolic rate?

37:32

Like, yeah. Have you heard that time?

37:36

Sure. Have you heard about my

37:37

basal metabolic rate?

37:49

Looking up, bitch. Have you heard about my

37:53

basal, my BAS rate grade?

37:57

Because like people don't know that. So when, when I can flex and

37:58

throw those terms around Yeah.

38:02

And it's like I know more

38:02

than you, like Yeah, yeah.

38:04

You, you get your information

38:04

from, uh, influencers and

38:09

like, just, um, infomercials.

38:11

But like, I actually went to

38:11

school and learned this shit.

38:13

So like, yeah, like you must

38:13

be eating 20,000 calories.

38:16

And it's like, that's impossible,

38:16

but like, yeah, like as a 300 pound

38:20

man, like my basal milk, poly grade

38:20

is somewhere around 3,500 calories.

38:25

So maybe a little bit more. So, especially as As a runner.

38:28

Exactly. As a runner, exactly. Like it's so interesting when like

38:30

somebody will tell me they're on

38:33

a 1200, or, sorry, a 1200 calorie

38:33

diet and they're easily 300 pounds.

38:37

I'm like, that's not enough calories.

38:40

That's, that is you're eating less

38:40

than half of probably what you need.

38:44

No, definitely less than half. Like you are starving yourself.

38:47

Mm-hmm. I know. And, and, and again, like you say,

38:48

you're getting your information

38:50

from infomercials, from, from bad,

38:50

bad, bad, like bad information.

38:57

Not rooted in science. Not rooted in reality.

38:59

Exactly. And, and it causes so much harm.

39:02

Right? So much harm. So if you think about Slow AF Run Club,

39:05

the, that we have the book, but we have.

39:10

The culture, like the culture

39:10

that you're creating, right.

39:14

What do you hope will be your legacy

39:14

from what you're creating here?

39:19

Oh, man. Um, the legacy I, I hope I'm creating

39:20

is that I, I actually change the

39:25

running industry to make it more

39:25

inclusive and it stays that way.

39:29

Yes. Um, I think that's a legacy that I am.

39:32

Really trying to build here. Um, when it comes to the running

39:34

industry, uh, a a big thing

39:38

is a racial, racial identity.

39:41

Yeah. But also gender identity, right? Yeah.

39:43

Especially when it comes to sport. When you think about some of the, um,

39:44

bias laws that has been passed when it

39:49

comes to gender identity and like, I,

39:49

I'm always like, that stuff is amazing.

39:55

It's great, but, and can we also

39:55

focus on like pace diversity and.

40:01

You know, uh, size

40:01

inclusivity as well, right?

40:05

Yeah. Because I think all of that

40:05

stuff goes hand in hand.

40:08

Like, yes, you are working with

40:08

gender identity and making sure

40:13

that there's a, a nine, a non-binary

40:13

check that somebody can check there.

40:19

Could you also get shirts

40:19

passed a two x Yeah.

40:22

There as well? Yeah. Right. Like last time I checked,

40:24

you know, you getting these

40:26

shirts at dollars on a, on a.

40:29

You know, literally dollars.

40:32

Can't you spend the extra

40:32

two or $3 and get somebody a

40:35

shirt that actually fits them? Yep. So those are the things

40:38

that I'm thinking about. I'm actually, um, uh, one of the other

40:40

things that we're doing is that yes,

40:43

we have slow run club, the actual club. Mm-hmm. There's an app on iOS and Android.

40:47

Okay. So we can go download that right now.

40:50

Um, But we're in the process of

40:50

launching a nonprofit as well called

40:54

the Slow AF Run Club Foundation. And one of the things that we're doing

40:56

there is that we're allowing individuals,

40:59

or we will be allowing individuals to

40:59

apply to launch their own, uh, in-person

41:04

Slow AF Run Club in their own local area.

41:06

Yeah. So we have that. But one of the things that we're also

41:07

gonna be doing is working with these

41:10

races and providing various toolkits

41:10

based off the feedback we get of the

41:15

members of like how races can be more.

41:17

Size inclusive or pace inclusive as well.

41:20

Yeah. Yes. I love that.

41:22

Oh my goodness. This just came to me.

41:25

And stop packing up the

41:25

marathon and tell everybody's

41:28

finished the cross finish line. Right? Tell everyone's finished.

41:30

That was always something that like in,

41:30

in, you know, whenever I would do any kind

41:34

of races and it's like people have packed

41:34

up their chairs and are leaving and are

41:37

waving goodbye as they're walking out and

41:37

everything's closed, and by the time you

41:40

finish the cross, the finish line, please,

41:40

please stay until the last racer is done.

41:47

Right. This is, this is a part of being

41:47

inclusive is making sure that you're

41:51

still supporting everybody's run counts.

41:54

Everybody, even the pace, the lower paces.

41:56

The slower paces. Right. So I, I also think about that when

41:58

it comes to racing in general, right?

42:01

Like my thing is this, if like, if

42:01

it ain't for the elite athletes who

42:08

are running to get a app prize money.

42:11

Yeah. All the other runners. Truthfully don't matter.

42:15

Yeah. So like why not do it where there's

42:15

a reverse, like, you know where

42:20

they got it now is like you got

42:20

the elites go off and the next,

42:25

like why not inverse that, right?

42:27

Yep. Why not? You know, give the person or like

42:28

give somebody the opportunity to

42:32

opt in and say like, Hey, I need

42:32

more additional time on the course.

42:36

Like, let them start before Yeah. The race actually official will start.

42:40

I think there's so many ways that you

42:40

can be creative to let that individual

42:45

who wants to run and participate,

42:45

but also feel like they want, they

42:48

won't, uh, finish within a cutoff

42:48

to still participate and still get

42:53

everything that they need from it. Like, I think that's the thing is that.

42:57

Yeah. I feel like they almost,

42:57

they're stealing from me. They're stealing from us because we paid

42:59

this money just like everybody else.

43:03

Yep. You line us up in the back

43:04

and you tell us good luck.

43:07

Yeah. And then you shut down everything,

43:07

even though we paid our, our green

43:10

money just like everybody else to get

43:10

a, uh, a pleasant race experience.

43:16

Yeah. And I said, coming home

43:17

to the lights turned off. Yeah, exactly.

43:20

I agree. And that's, that's what we're talking

43:20

about when we talk about being inclusive.

43:24

It's not a box that you check. How are you creating a culture

43:26

of inclusivity where everybody

43:29

is welcome and there isn't. Some people are welcome and

43:31

some people are tolerated.

43:33

Mm-hmm. Right. Celebrated and tolerated.

43:36

I love that. So you mentioned that you have the slow

43:37

AF Run Club app that people can join.

43:41

I love that you're able to create

43:41

your own sort of satellite slow

43:45

a F run clubs in your local area. We have the book coming out June 6th.

43:49

Mm-hmm. We have you all over Instagram on

43:49

TikTok as 300 pounds and running.

43:53

Where, where is the first place

43:53

people should connect with you?

43:58

Um, ig. IG is where, where, where's it at for me?

44:02

Uh, at 300 pounds and running. Uh, 300, 3 0 0.

44:06

Spell out pounds and runny. Yeah. Um, and then the next is, you

44:08

know, IG for, um, slow run club.

44:12

So it's run slow. On Instagram and, um, Facebook,

44:14

but I, I, one, one of the things

44:19

I always encourage people is to

44:19

download the Slow Front Club app.

44:22

We have about 10,000 pit members

44:22

worldwide there, and we are just there

44:28

to pour into of love tank and let

44:28

everybody know that they are runners

44:32

and here to support you along the way.

44:35

I love it. I love it. Before we wrap up, any final piece

44:37

of advice for listeners today?

44:42

My final piece of advice is that

44:42

it may look different from what

44:46

you see on tv, but you can do it.

44:50

Oh, beautiful. I love it.

44:53

Oh, thank you so much

44:53

for joining me today.

44:55

This has been brilliant. I love it.

44:58

I cannot wait for your book to come out. I cannot wait for our listeners to

45:00

get to dive in and, and read it.

45:04

Friends, remember to not be afraid

45:04

to do things on your own, cuz

45:07

you're probably gonna have to. And what is it?

45:09

Delusional self-belief del

45:09

delusional self-belief.

45:13

Brilliant. I love it. Thank you so much, Martinus

45:15

this has been fabulous.

45:17

Thank you. Thank you so much for listening.

45:19

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45:19

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45:24

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45:48

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45:51

Love ya.