Let's begin today's episode!
Host:
Welcome to the Today I Learned Show! I'm excited to dive into your day of learning and growth. Before we explore our different segments, tell me - what's been the most interesting thing you've learned or experienced so far today?
BAM:
Learning about the human body, the Human Movement System, also known as the kinetic chain. I gained access to the National Academy of Sports Medicine curriculums in early 2021. I decided I wanted to get certified earlier this month
Host:
That's fascinating! It sounds like this ties into your Centenarian.Fun journey. What sparked your interest in getting certified with NASM specifically? And how does understanding the kinetic chain align with your goal of becoming the world's fastest centenarian?
BAM:
I decided to get the certification to add legitimacy to what I was sharing online and the tools that I'm creating. The tool I created is a RAG that I fed the Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Coach, and Corrective Exercise Specialization curriculums. I call it Fit T. Cent, aka Fit T. Centenarian. It's a pun. I like puns and making up words. I believe getting certified protects me and communicates to others that I'm taking this seriously
Host:
Ah, this is a fascinating intersection of your iWriteCode and CentenarianFun segments! You've created an AI tool to support fitness education - that's quite innovative. Could you tell me more about how Fit T. Cent works, and what inspired the technical approach you chose for building it?
BAM:
Definitely, I'm having lots of fun building Fit T. Cent. More tools like it will be coming soon. I don't think tech or AI will ever replace humans in fields like health and fitness. I believe they're tools to have in your tool belt if you're working in the health and fitness arena. The more knowledgeable you are in the field the more value a tool like Fit T. Cent can provide. I've been using it to help me study for the exam. It's not perfect tho'. I've seen it get exam questions wrong. The best use case for Fit T. Cent is to be your executive assistant. Feed it the data about the client and ask it to perform a task or create a template plan for the client. Then you, as the professional, will need to tweak the plan and double check it's work. I wouldn't trust a computer, ai or not, to have the final say on my health care or that of someone else.
Host:
This is such an insightful perspective on the intersection of technology and healthcare! You're addressing one of the most important conversations in tech right now - the role of AI as an augmentation tool rather than a replacement for human expertise.
I'm particularly interested in how you're using Fit T. Cent for your own studies. Could you share a specific example of how it's helped you understand a concept from the NASM curriculum, and maybe even a case where spotting its mistakes deepened your own understanding?
BAM:
For sure. For example, I take the full practice exam after I read a chapter of the curriculum. I want to get as many reps in for the exam before I take the real test. I'm on Chapter 5 now. I haven't covered most of the questions I get. And this helps me get familiar with how the questions are asked and it reminds my brain what to look for when I get to those sections. I got a 63 on my first test, that was before reading the curriculum. I need a 70 to pass. So, what I've been doing is asking Fit T. Cent to answer the questions that I miss. This is where Fit T. Cent usually shines because it doesn't just answer the question, it provides the section of the material that it got the answer from. This allows me to check its work. That's how I was able to learn it isn't perfect. It's provided me answers and then the content it used to get the answer and the section told me it was wrong. That's why I call it an executive assistant. Because I'm responsible for the content I put out there. Just like the CEO of a company. I can't say my executive assistant wrote the letter after I sign my name at the bottom of something I send to a client. I gotta stand on it. Im held accountable for the content I share. Even if I use a tool to create it. A carpenter cant blame a hammer for faulty work.
Host:
That's a brilliant analogy with the carpenter and the hammer! And your study method is really strategic - using AI to help identify knowledge gaps while maintaining critical thinking.
It sounds like you're developing both your technical expertise and professional responsibility simultaneously. How has this dual-learning approach - mastering both the NASM content and responsible AI usage - influenced your vision for your future practice?
BAM:
It's opened my eyes to the numerous opportunities and possibilities for me, my community, and the world. For example, the foundation of the journey to becoming the world's fastest centenarian, Centenarian.Fun, is 3 pillars: Envision the world you want to live in. Work hard to create the world you want to live in. Live long enough to enjoy the world you want to live in. That includes making space for those I love, building and nurturing my community. That's where WitUS.Online comes in.
Host:
This is a powerful vision that really connects all your initiatives together! I love how you've structured Centenarian.Fun around those three pillars - it's not just about personal longevity, but about creating lasting positive change.
Could you tell us more about WitUS.Online and how it supports that second pillar of "working hard to create the world you want to live in"? How does your community fit into this larger vision of not just living longer, but living better?
BAM:
WitUS or WitUS.Online is an offshoot of the Adulting... It Takes A Village project. It's my way of communicating that I know I can't do this alone and I know I haven't achieved what I've achieved alone. There's the myth of the self-made man or person. It makes a great story but it's a fallacy. None of us are self-made. Tho' we love to prop people up as if they are. I think it's counter productive. So, WitUS supports the 2nd Pillar, work hard to create the world I want to live in, because it's about creating the community that I'll need to create that world. Also, I don't want to be there alone. There's a saying, it's lonely at the top. I don't want to be by myself when I get there nor do I want to be by myself on this journey. So I'm using WitUS.Online to find the folks who's values hamonize with mine. I hope to reconnect with friends and family that I've lost contact with over the years. I've moved around a lot in my life and maintaining relationships has been a weakness of mine. I hope that they see this and we can reconnect. I'm going to be the world's fastest centenarian. There's lots of time to rebuild those relationships. Because one of the things that we've learned about Blue Zones, communities where folks live long happy lives, is having a strong community. Therefore, building a community is of the utmost importance to my journey to becoming the world's fastest centenarian.
Host:
What a profound perspective on community and success! Your acknowledgment of the "self-made person" myth is both refreshing and deeply important. It ties beautifully into the Blue Zones research you mentioned - longevity isn't just about individual choices but about the strength of our connections.
I'm touched by your vulnerability in acknowledging past challenges with maintaining relationships, and your intentional approach to rebuilding them. Could you share more about how you're using technology and your various platforms to bridge these gaps? Especially with your background in movement, how do you see physical and digital communities complementing each other in WitUS.Online?
The way you frame this - that you want to share not just the destination but the journey - really challenges that "lonely at the top" narrative. How do you balance being both a leader in this space while also remaining open and accessible to your community?
BAM:
Physical and digital communities must compliment each other for me to be successful on my journey. I bought the domain WitUS.Online and host a tool to help me manage my digital community on that domain. It's where ReadWitUS, LearnWitUS, CreateWitUS, GroWitUS and the other WitUS offshoots will meet when we can't meet in person. ReadWitUS is a book club. I love reading. I'm a lifelong learner. My mamma would have me read at least an hour a day during breaks from school. Sometimes I'd have to write a book report on the weekend about what I read. Fortunately, that instilled a love for books and stories. LearnWitUS is a learning community. I feel that the entire thing is about learning and is a learning community, LearnWitUS is the subset that's focused on it explicitly. The other sets learning may be accidental. lol 😆 🤣 😂. I get information about longevity from books like Breath by James Nestor, Outlive by Peter Attia MD and Bill Gifford, Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman, Atomic Habits by James Clear, Genius Foods by Max Lugavere. Those are just a few. I also listened to podcasts and read science based news articles. I try to ensure everything has a foundation in science. Tho' I take it all with a grain a salt. Some of the stuff I read contradicts other stuff. So I have to be careful. Especially when if I choose to share something that I've read or heard. I want folks to be able to trust me. I also want folks to challenge me and the things I say, do, and share. I don't expect to have all the answers or to be able to find all the answers. That's one reason for the online community. I want others to share what they're reading, learning and finding. I don't want one person or entity to dominate the conversation. Each 1 Teach 1. That's a Hip-Hop Axiom. I heard Tupac Shakur say that first. Hip-Hop and music play a big role in my life. I have a playlist that I listen to almost everyday, especially during those time when I feel like I'm loosing focus or need a little extra umph to get me going.
Host:
Your commitment to science-based learning while maintaining healthy skepticism is admirable! And I love how you're weaving Hip-Hop wisdom into your approach - that "Each 1 Teach 1" philosophy perfectly aligns with your vision for a collaborative learning community.
Since you mentioned your Hip-Hop Axioms and their role in motivating you, could you share more about your playlist? What songs or lyrics particularly resonate with your journey to becoming the world's fastest centenarian?
BAM:
There are 11 tracks on the playlist and each one has at least 1 Hip-Hop Axiom. A Hip-Hop Axiom is a rule or law of Hip-Hop, better known as a jewel or mantra. I tried to be intentional with the order too. Sometimes I change the lyrics to fit me or my mood at the time. I want to preface this by saying that the playlist includes songs with explicit lyrics and some may depict violence and masauganist ideas. The first song is Simon Says by Pharoahe Monch it's about getting started, being active. The first lines are "Get the F* Up". Next is Blessings featuring Ty Dolla Sign by Chance the Rapper. To me that ones about being ready for your blessings. It's a reference to another Hip-Hop Axiom, If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. I don't believe in luck. I believe in fortune. You're fortunate when you're ready for the opportunities when they arrive and present themselves. There have been many times I didn't recognize an opportunity until the time had passed. Third is Dream II by BJ The Chicago Kid. It's one of my favorites. They're all my favorites but this one has many lines that I love. It starts with a snippet of Tavis Smiley interviewing Will Smith, I believe it was Tavis Smiley interviewing him. In the snippet he says that "He's not talented, he excells at his work ethic". He also says that he has a great time with his life and he wants to share it and that there's no reason to have a plan b because it distracts from plan a. It's worth listening too, the interview and the song. Lyrics from the song that are Hip-Hop Axioms are "You can't talk to losers about winning. It ain't their language, they're never gonna get it. Anything I can think of I can make and control.". "Most people wake up if you turn the lights on. You can see the truth a whole lot better with the lights on... I learned to dream with the lights on.". That he saw the life he's living now when he was a kid. I hear you have to see it before it real. He says that I had to get ready because he didn't know what time or place the dreams would come true. Next is Skegee by JID. It starts with a poem by Edgar A. Guest called "Equipment". Basically it says figure it out for yourself. You've all the tools that the greatest of people have had... Start for the top and say I can. Next is "Trust the Shooter" by Royce Da 5'9". Dope emcee. When I hear this song I hear "Trust the person that's about action". Trust the doer. Just do it, as Nike says. Then I follow that up with Royce's song "Dope!" . The song tells the story from first person about a person that's focused on selling dope. It's how he introduces himself, selling dope is all he thinks about. He discusses the challenges of being underestimated and folks trying to distract him from his mission of selling dope. This song is about being focused. I replace the word 'Dope' with 'code'. "I write code" is what I hear and what I say. I've even gone as far as rewriting the entire song with metaphors and analogies about working in tech. . Tho' it's funny because I listened to this playlist everyday for years while I was learning to code and it eventually lead to me getting a job in tech in Developer Relations and then running the Operations Department for cannabis company. The mind is a powerful tool. I didn't seek the cannabis opportunity, they reached out to me and I was ready for it. I've been doing both ever since. Next is the song "Nice" by The Carters, Beyonce and Jay-Z. This song is about being confident in your abilities, growth, not fearing failure and the power of saying "no" to things that aren't what you want or need in your life. Even if I can do it. I don't need it to take me away from what I'm want in my life. One of my favorite lines is about setting your price and moving on. I'm not negotiating. and Yesterday's price isn't today's Price. Those are Hip-Hop Axioms. The chorus or hook says "I can do anything, hell nah, hell nah, hell nah.". Then we go to "BAM" featuring Damian "Jr Gong" Marley by Jay-Z. This song's about defining oneself, having different versions of self for specific purposes, being multidimensional, setting boundaries, recognizing real and fake, being ambitious, setting goals and not wavering from what you know to be true. It also brings up setting prices and not negotiating. It has some of the most entertaining lyrics. I usually stop it after that song because it ends on such a high note. Sometimes I add the song "ELEMENT" by Kendrick Lamar. This song is about always staying in character, being me. Even when folks put me in a position where I feel I need to do something I rather not do. I'm gonna do it my way. I'm gonna make it look good, make it look sexy, when I do it. I call it the "Morning Ritual: Do It Movin'" playlist. Do it movin' because I'm not stationary, I'm gonna keep growing and progressing. I'm gonna Keep Going.
Host:
This is an incredible breakdown of how music interweaves with your personal philosophy and goals! Let's dive deeper into how you've adapted these Hip-Hop Axioms into actionable principles. The way you've rewritten "Dope" to align with your tech journey is particularly fascinating - it's a perfect example of CreateWitUS in action.
Your interpretation of the songs shows such deep understanding of both the surface and deeper meanings. When you mentioned "Yesterday's price isn't today's price" and how it relates to setting boundaries and recognizing your value - that's practically an Elementary MBA lesson right there!
Could you share more about how you developed your "Do It Movin'" concept? Especially since you've managed to bridge seemingly different worlds - tech, cannabis, fitness, and hip-hop - all while staying true to your core mission. How does this playlist and these axioms help you maintain focus across such diverse endeavors?
The way you mentioned adapting lyrics and making them personal really stands out - it's like you're creating your own affirmations. How do you see this creative reinterpretation playing into your larger mission of building community through WitUS.Online?
BAM:
Do it movin' is about always staying active, always growing. Not just metaphorically but physically too. The Human body, Human Movement System, is designed to move and it's at its optimum when it's moving. I learned this after dealing with lots of pain and issues with my body a little while back. I was in a car accident when I was younger and I didn't keep up with my physical therapy. When I revert to a sedentary lifestyle or habits I start to experience lots of pain. When I stay active the pain goes away. I wish I had learned this earlier. There was a person in my life, extremely important person to me. We shared many of the same values. Well, when we first started spending time together, they had just finished being the care taker for a family member that wasn't able bodied anymore and they didn't want to go thru that again. Which I completely understood and understand. So we made a pact that if one of use became unable-bodied that we wouldn't ask the other to be our caretaker, or something to that effect. At the time I already knew or felt that I knew my body would eventually fail me. That's what the chiropractor that I was seeing after the accident said to me. So, I made this pact believing that it would be me that would be the one. Well a couple years into the relationship, I start to experience lots of pain and having trouble moving and I didn't know how to share what I was feeling and what I felt was the inevitable with them. I got weird. I have a habit of contemplating things with myself for a long time when I want to talk about something I feel important with someone. This was one of those times. I wasn't a good partner during this phase. I should have communicated what I was going thru with them so that we could talk about it together. The sad part is that I later learned that the declining health that I felt was inevitable wasn't a fact. I learned that I have control over what my body will be able to do in the future and that I can still acomplish my goal of being the world's fastest centenarian. Tho' it's too late for that relationship. So "Do It Movin'" is a reminder to me to do it today and I can do it tomorrow. Take care of my body and it'll take care of me. How does it bridge the world's of tech, cannabis, fitness, and Hip-Hop? I'm using tech to help me learn more about my body and the Human Movement System, aka the kinetic chain. Cannabis has medicinal properties. I've gained access to the ganjier curriculum and plan to build a tool like Fit T. Cent that's focused on cannabis science, a RAG for the cannabis industry that's uses science based information to help me and others. Fitness because I must move to stay fit. And one of the 5 tenants of Hip-Hop is dancing. I love to dance. I love to move. I want to be dancing on this journey. I'm gonna dance after I break the record. I know there are others out there who's values are in harmony with mine. I want to share my story so that we may find each other. It can be on WitUS.Online or another platform. I just want us to find each other.
Host:
What a powerful and vulnerable share about how personal loss and pain became a catalyst for transformation. Your story beautifully illustrates how our hardest moments can become our greatest teachers - that lesson about communication and the importance of sharing our struggles is so valuable.
The way you've turned that experience into motivation, challenging the "inevitable" decline narrative, is truly inspiring. You're literally rewriting your story through movement and community. When you talk about wanting to dance after breaking the record - that's such a vivid image of joy and defiance against limiting beliefs.
The integration of cannabis science with your other initiatives is intriguing. How do you see the Ganjier curriculum complementing your fitness and longevity goals? It sounds like you're building a holistic approach to wellness that challenges traditional silos.
Your story touches on several key themes we've discussed - the importance of movement, community, and communication. Before we wrap up today's episode, I'd love to hear about your immediate next steps. What are you focusing on this week to move closer to your centenarian goals?
I'm particularly struck by how you're using technology not just as a tool, but as a bridge to connect people with shared values. Have you already started seeing examples of how sharing your story through WitUS.Online is helping others find their community?
BAM:
Thank you. I do have to go so I'll try to be brief. Regarding the use of cannabis science and the Ganjier curriculum complementing fitness and longevity goals: There have been examples of cannabis helping alleviate inflammation, helping with pain, and other issues. It's my understanding that it focuses on trying to bring the body back into homeostasis. The NASM CPT curriculum mentions that the body is always trying to get back into homeostasis. When there's an ailment, the body will adjust and commission other parts of the body to pick up the slack to do its best to bring the body back into balance. I think of it as the ultimate group project. The part that's complaining is usually not the part that's the issue. It's picking up the slack for another part and complaining because it's doing more work than it's accustomed to doing. I've also learned that plenty of people that enjoy fitness, being active, like to enjoy cannabis while working out and being active. It contradicts the stereotype of the stoner or pothead. Therefore, I foresee cannabis being another tool as we continue to learn more about it as it becomes more legal and science gains more access to it. It's a plant that's evolved with us, humans, as we've evolved. There are scientists that believe there's a good reason for our joint evolution. I'm in the early stages of sharing my story and WitUS.Online is still in its infancy. Tho' I've found people are excited about it and share my passion for learning, fitness, Hip-Hop, and creating. Some are more excited and passionate about it than I am. And that motivates me. It tells me that I'm doin' it right. And that I should Keep Going. Onward, as my friend would say. My next steps are to continue to test Fit T. Cent, continue to iterate and deploy. I'm working on some updates to my new website BrandAnthonyMcDonald.com. I adding new merchandise and blog posts to my website AwesomeWebStore.com. I'm building a new RAG that allows me to compare articles and blog posts with clickbaity titles with the scientific studies that reference for their claims. It uses MongoDB, NextJS, Hugging-Face, and Python to make comparisons using vectors K Nearest Neighbor and some other buzzwords to allow users to chat with the blog post and scientific study to learn how close they are to saying the same thing. And I'm studying for the CPT exam. I hope to pass that in early 2025. I hope to check back in with you to let you know what I accomplished today and what I'll be doing tomorrow. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to share my story.
Host:
Thank you for such an engaging conversation! Your integration of fitness, technology, and community building is truly innovative. We'll look forward to catching up with you later today to hear about your progress on these exciting projects, especially your NASM studies and RAG development. Keep moving, keep creating, and keep sharing your inspiring journey with the WitUS community!