Why Getting in Shape Will Make You a Better Leader with Mauro Stara, Six Pack CEO

(Josh (Producer/Team Member) at 00:00:00) Today, we're talking to Mauro Stara, CEO and founder at Six Pack CEO, about how and why tech leaders should become fitter, healthier versions of themselves. You're listening to Joel Beasley, Modern CTO.

(Joel Beasley at 00:00:19) I'm excited to have this conversation because I used to be overweight, and it's so hard to explain to people who haven't been overweight that, like, you feel when you're overweight, like part of you feels like it's okay and it's normal and you just become accustomed to it. But you could be operating so much better. If you were leaner and healthier and exercised and ate right, you would look back at your old self and say, "You're silly for what you're doing right now." And then I saw this opportunity came up to talk with you. You're actually doing that on a daily basis.

(Joel Beasley at 00:00:50) You're helping executives. What's your tagline? How do you describe it?

(Mauro Stara at 00:00:56) In the most simple way, we help top 1% men get a top 1% physique. So men in the top 1% financial bracket get a top 1% body.

(Joel Beasley at 00:01:11) That's awesome. How long have you been doing this?

(Mauro Stara at 00:01:13) So officially started August 2015, so nearly ten years ago. And then 2017, I brought it online. And 2020, I changed the format to what it is today.

(Joel Beasley at 00:01:27) And how many people have you... I looked at your website. All those testimonials, are they real?

(Mauro Stara at 00:01:32) Of course.

(Joel Beasley at 00:01:33) That's awesome. That's awesome.

(Mauro Stara at 00:01:34) That's why we record the videos, because anyone can, especially with AI, you know, anyone can fake a before and after or can steal it. But you can't steal the, I don't know how many we have, like forty, fifty video testimonials where clients sit down twenty, thirty, forty, fifty minutes on a Zoom call and share their experience. Right? There's nobody holding a gun to their head to do that and share that. And so that's why I've added it, because again, there's so many people who can just copy paste or fake a before and after. But you can't fake those long form videos.

(Joel Beasley at 00:02:15) They look real too, by the way. You can almost tell when they're too perfect of after photos. But these actual, like, I believe that these are executives and professionals when I see the photos.

(Mauro Stara at 00:02:29) Yeah. Yeah. But you don't know if those are my clients. I could go to a competitor, copy it, you know, and put it on my site.

(Mauro Stara at 00:02:38) But when you see video after video after video done by those people, then it's a little different.

(Joel Beasley at 00:02:45) So what are you doing? How are you getting these executives? How are you getting them six packs?

(Mauro Stara at 00:02:50) So we have a simple process. We start with two pieces of information. One is we do a lifestyle assessment. So we get in all the data on diet history, metabolism, psychology, preferences, what archetype they are. And number two, we get in blood work.

(Mauro Stara at 00:03:09) So not the classic blood work that you get from your primary care physician that looks at your sugar and cholesterol, and within a minute treats the next patient, and there's another twenty out there waiting. But we get in a very advanced, holistic panel that looks at micronutrient status, hormones, organ function, so liver, kidney, heart, lipids, lipoproteins. So very, very detailed. Immune system, oxygen. That gives us a good snapshot of 97 markers on where someone is at. And I've seen it many times where people say, "Oh, I'm healthy. I just have a little bit of fat," or "I feel good."

(Mauro Stara at 00:03:48) "I'm exercising. I'm eating healthy. My wife cooks all my meals. I'm having smoothies, chicken and veggies. I'm good."

(Mauro Stara at 00:03:55) Then they get in blood work. It's like, "Oh, well, you can do a lot with workouts, with diets, with habits, but there's just a few things that maybe you have a genetic predisposition that your histamine levels aren't great or your body has limited ability to break down histamine, which can cause allergies, skin rashes, all those sorts of things. Or you have a family history of heart attacks." Right? So you can exercise, eat healthy, and everything, but there may still be markers, and I'm more than happy to go into those, that are not optimal, that are out of balance that will increase your risk of cardiovascular health.

(Joel Beasley at 00:04:36) Absolutely.

(Mauro Stara at 00:04:37) Yeah. We take those two pieces of information and put together a plan, laid all out, what to do, workout videos, sets, reps, all laid out there. Take the guesswork out, put it in an app, so the app tells you exactly, "Hey, Joel, here's what you need to do today, how much to eat, what to eat," all laid out so you just have to do the final 5%, which is executing and getting the work done. That's something nobody can do for you.

(Joel Beasley at 00:05:07) So I actually have to do the exercise and actually have to eat what the app says to eat.

(Mauro Stara at 00:05:11) Unfortunately, yeah.

(Joel Beasley at 00:05:14) Now, I know we just met, but I'm really into nutrition. My parents are actually functional medicine doctors, and I just got my updated blood work done last week when I was down in Florida. But it took me a long time, even with their help, because there wasn't someone that was just focused on me. I was the only person that was responsible for my health. And so I like the idea.

(Joel Beasley at 00:05:41) I would tell anybody that's going to try to do it themselves to instead pay a coach that's going to be there for you for this specific endeavor. I would highly recommend that, because it took me way longer than it should have to figure all these little things out. I've probably spent ten years figuring out a lot of the... When I was reading your website, I was like, "Oh, I remember when I figured that out. Oh, I remember when I figured that out." Like how to be able to eat but not be starving and hungry all the time.

(Joel Beasley at 00:06:12) I didn't know that was an option for the longest time, right? And when I found the right combination of foods for me that allowed me to eat them, feel full, then it just became a mental game of my brain was habit forming to go eat, but it wasn't like my stomach really wanted the food.

(Mauro Stara at 00:06:30) Yeah. You're spot on with what you said there. Once your diet is set up in a way that, I always say, supports your appetite, meaning a lot of diets and nutrition protocols work against that. They rely on willpower and discipline, as you said. And a lot of high achievers have that, but eventually you run out of it.

(Mauro Stara at 00:06:56) And that's like holding your breath underwater. You go down and then eventually you have to get up and get air, and that's where you regress. But if you set it up in a way that is in alignment with food density and stable levels of sugar, then you're not going to be hungry. You don't have the spikes. You don't have the cravings, and it's actually easy to stick to it.

(Mauro Stara at 00:07:19) And you don't even have to think about food all the time, right? But yeah, I agree with you, not just for fitness and health, but really anything. You know, there's been an evolution in my entrepreneurial journey, and I'm sure you've had that as well, and many of your listeners. Initially, you think about all the hows. "How do I do that? How about this? Where do I get that?" and so on. So it's really like tactical how.

(Mauro Stara at 00:07:40) And then you ascend to the what. "What do I need to do?" And I can give the how maybe to someone else or something here. And eventually, once I start thinking "Who? Who is the go-to person that can help me do that?" I just started saving so much time. And there's nothing wrong with the how and what approach, but once you focus on the who, who can get me there in the shortest amount of time, then you just collapse time and you see results so much quicker.

(Mauro Stara at 00:08:21) And as you said, ten years. It was for me as well. Like, the first few years of entrepreneurship, I got nowhere. No money. Very, very few clients, and it was a struggle. And then hire first mentor, second one, and so on, and you just see it go up, up, up, up, up like that. And you compress time because, you know, a friend of mine says, he posted a good quote. It's not from him, but he said, "Fools learn from their own mistakes. Smart people learn from the lessons of others."

(Mauro Stara at 00:08:54) Right? So if someone made those mistakes, I want to learn what to avoid and what to look out for and how to do it, rather than making them all myself and spending months and months and years and possibly decades figuring it all out.

(Joel Beasley at 00:09:07) That's smart, though. Now, do you ever work with any technology leaders?

(Mauro Stara at 00:09:12) Yes. So one of my most successful clients, Fred, he runs an MSP business in Pennsylvania. And after his transformation, he sent us a ton of referrals, and now we've got probably around 10 to 12 MSP business owners, mainly in the cybersecurity space. Most of them, not all of them, but most of them. We have two, three software guys as well, but the MSP guys are a bigger pool, and they're very, very similar, all of them, in terms of their thinking and lifestyle and behavior. And great clients to work with.

(Joel Beasley at 00:10:04) Tell me about that. Like, how are they thinking?

(Mauro Stara at 00:10:07) So they're very... You know, you have different types of business owners and industries. And so, for example, like real estate, insurance, it's very extroverted. It's a lot of showmanship. Not a lot, but more than others. Especially like real estate. A realtor has to look good in a suit, show listings and so on. Whereas the MSP guys, not all of them, like if they do a lot of the sales, then maybe still different, but a lot of times they're glued to their desk, many of them, and they have leadership roles. But they're very data driven, very methodical with their thinking.

(Mauro Stara at 00:10:50) They're system guys, less visionary guys. Not all, of course. The software guys, they are very visionary guys. But like the MSP guys, cybersecurity, they have all this in their head where they see how things are connected and potential risks. And I'm a systems guy as well, more than a vision guy.

(Mauro Stara at 00:11:10) I was just, you know, before this conversation, I was talking with someone on, that's an area I want to improve, expanding my vision and the vision of my team and other people to inspire them even more. But anyway, going back to the systems, they're very systems-oriented people. So when you give them a set of data and tracking and numbers, they love it. They geek out on it, same as the CPA clients that we have. And I love seeing that.

(Mauro Stara at 00:11:39) When people appreciate what you've built and the numbers and the data-driven system, it's just a beauty and a joy to watch.

(Joel Beasley at 00:11:48) And then they can see the progress and track it and all of that.

(Mauro Stara at 00:11:52) Exactly. Yes.

(Joel Beasley at 00:11:53) So let's talk about the benefits, right? I'm a big fan because I've experienced it. But what are your clients telling you as far as their professional abilities before and after?

(Mauro Stara at 00:12:06) You mean specific, like work performance related?

(Joel Beasley at 00:12:09) Yeah. Like thinking better, clearer energy levels, you know, all of that.

(Mauro Stara at 00:12:15) Yeah. So when it comes to the business side of things, you have like two main areas. One is leadership, certainty, confidence, trust. So when you walk into a room and you're hunched over like this, your shoulders are internally rotated, and you don't look like you take good care of yourself, then people in that room, subconsciously, they will judge you during the first seven seconds. That's where you get the first impression of someone, and they will judge your level of certainty, your level of clarity, communication, the way you show up.

(Mauro Stara at 00:12:55) And there's going to be that notion, that feeling of, "Hey, that person doesn't take good care of themselves. And why should I trust that person to take good care of me and my business and my needs and my wants if they can't do the most basic thing there?" So there's that factor that initially many clients don't realize, and it's hard to admit. It hurts. But after they've lost like 10 to 15% of their weight, so as soon as 20 pounds, they've dropped the first 20 pounds, they start telling me, "Hey."

(Mauro Stara at 00:13:43) "I'm getting treated way differently. When I'm boarding an airplane, I'm treated differently. I'm smiled at more. I'm respected more by my team, by my wife, by business leaders, business partners, when I go on stage." So it's just a different perception that you give to people, and it's no secret that the more attractive you are, not just as a woman but also as a man, the more magnetic you are to people.

(Mauro Stara at 00:14:18) So that's a big factor there for people who are more outside on stage, Zoom calls, whatsoever. But there's the other one that you touched on with the brain and brain health performance. That's definitely one that you can't deny. The energy crashes after lunch, the snacking, feeling tired, needing a nap, caffeine after caffeine after caffeine to keep up the energy levels, brain fog and fatigue. Those are very, very common themes.

(Mauro Stara at 00:14:49) And then, again, not so much through weight loss, even though weight loss helps, but this is more diet quality, sleep, gut health, fixing micronutrient deficiencies, where people start to thrive really within less than two weeks. Not everyone, but when you fix small things, like brain fog can disappear within days. Energy crashes after lunch, for example, caffeine need is reduced, and we've seen that happen many, many times. And as a result of that, the clients we work with, they, I don't want to say think better because that's not really measurable, but the quality of decisions they make, that's the one that I've heard the most. The quality of decisions that they make are better. And the reason for that, I go back to a client that shared that with me, is you're in a room.

(Mauro Stara at 00:15:52) There's a meeting. It can be on Zoom or in a physical in-person meeting, and you're discussing a problem. Maybe you've lost a big contract or maybe you want to expand to a new area, and everyone is discussing. And then your brain starts to get fatigued. You're tired. You look on the clock. It's like, "Okay, five minutes to lunch." You want to rush it, and then you just make a fast decision, but it may not have been the best decision.

(Mauro Stara at 00:16:19) But if your brain capacity is on fire, it's at its peak, then the way you connect things and your endurance from a performance standpoint will be greater and higher. And you're going to stick around maybe five, ten more minutes in the meeting. You're going to bite through it, and it may lead to a different decision. And why is that so important? If we look at Jeff Bezos, in the very few interviews he gave, he's not super public about giving interviews all the time. He said that as a leader, you have between two to five decisions a day, usually less most days, that are important to take your company to the next level.

(Mauro Stara at 00:17:11) So everything should be done to put myself in the best spot possible that when I'm at a table or when I'm faced with those decisions, I'm on my A game. I'm the sharpest, the smartest, the best. I'm well hydrated, fueled. Everything is on my A game that I can face those decisions and challenges and give my best. It may be the wrong decision, but at least I know on game day I was here and not dragging on my desk with four coffees, super tired, and just making a decision that didn't serve my company.

(Joel Beasley at 00:17:50) I know that feeling. How do you prevent the crash from the 2:30 crash?

(Mauro Stara at 00:17:55) So, you know, there could be multiple reasons why it happened, but nine out of ten times it's blood glucose levels. So when you, for those who wore like a CGM, which is like the patch that you can put here on your arm that you get an app and it shows you your sugar on a twenty-four hour cycle, day by day by day. When you look at most people's CGM data, it's usually like this. It's a roller coaster. Up and down, up and down, up and down, where your sugar should be like rolling hills like this, right?

(Mauro Stara at 00:18:33) And what happens is most people start their day with carbohydrates, even if they think they're doing it healthy. Right? So what they're doing is they have orange juice, maybe granola, maybe some oatmeal and think like, hey, that's healthy. My trainer prescribed it or I read this online and, yes, you know, it is healthy in brackets.

(Mauro Stara at 00:18:54) But what happens is when you have carbs, especially in isolation, your sugar rises. Right? Blood sugar levels go up. You feel great. You have tons of energy.

(Mauro Stara at 00:19:04) You feel great. But as your sugar goes up, your pancreas will release insulin. And your pancreas will release insulin to lower the sugar and clear it from the bloodstream to bring it into the muscles. That's a whole topic we can touch on later, but bring it into the muscles. And when your muscles are full, right, then eventually, this sugar goes to the liver, gets converted into triglycerides, fat, and so on.

(Mauro Stara at 00:19:34) But as that gets stored into your muscles and goes to your liver, the sugar is gonna go down because your body's released insulin to bring it down. Once your sugar goes down, down, down, you start to get tired, hangry, you have cravings, and you want the next snack, the next meal. So you're all the time on that roller coaster. And so now, you know, you snacked, whatsoever you have lunch. And if lunch, again, big spike, usually it's a bigger meal and it shoots so high so the body's gonna release even more insulin and then it's gonna shoot down and that's where you feel just fatigue, you're crashing.

(Mauro Stara at 00:20:12) So how can we prevent that? Many, many ways. You can have something that has a little bit more fiber with your meals that already helps minimizing that spike and it becomes a rolling hill so you don't have the high and the low. It's more like this. But the most effective way that I found is you back cycle the carbs.

(Mauro Stara at 00:20:36) So there's a concept called carb back cycling. And what we do is we start the day with protein and fats. So it can be an egg omelette, can be a steak, can be yogurt with something, it could be protein shake with some nuts, whatever. Protein and fats keeps your sugar stable. And then for lunch, you have, again, protein, maybe some veggies or non-sweet fruits like a cucumber, whatever that may be, some wild salmon, beef, and so on.

(Mauro Stara at 00:21:05) And because of that, your sugar has been pretty stable all day long. Also at lunch and after lunch, you have no cravings, no hunger, and your mental performance is gonna be through the roof. And that's not just me saying that. They've done studies. The most fascinating one was they had two groups of people.

(Mauro Stara at 00:21:25) One had, they both had a 500 calorie breakfast. Group one had granola at 8 a.m., and group B had steak and eggs at 8 a.m. Group A, the granola group, got hungry at 10 a.m. again, so they wanted to eat and snack. Group B, the steak group, didn't get hungry until 2 p.m. So you can eat the same amount of calories.

(Mauro Stara at 00:21:52) Portion size looks the same, plus minus. But the time you eat certain things is gonna impact how much you eat and what you would eat or not. So knowing that, we can reverse engineer it and put ourself in the best spot possible to avoid hunger, blood sugar spikes, energy crashes by starting the day differently and saving those carbs for later in the day, and that's gonna help us maximize energy and minimize hunger, which makes it easy to then eat less naturally, not by force.

(Joel Beasley at 00:22:31) When's the case for carbs? So I heard the breakfast story, which I found to be true. Again, all of my learnings were the full method where I just had to figure it out one step at a time. But when's the case for carbs? Right?

(Joel Beasley at 00:22:46) You said at some point, the insulin spike fills up your muscles, brings the sugar to your muscles. That can be cool, you said. When do you use carbs?

(Mauro Stara at 00:22:56) You mean what time of the day?

(Joel Beasley at 00:22:58) Yeah. Like, how are you using carbs?

(Mauro Stara at 00:23:01) Yeah. So in this example here where we back cycle them, it will be for dinner. And when you have them for dinner, you're gonna get also this spike and you're gonna feel tired, but that's when you wanna feel tired. So it's gonna help you with your sleep, and it's also gonna lower your cortisol because cortisol is a stress hormone, and that's catabolic, and insulin is anti-catabolic. So when your insulin is up, cortisol will go down, meaning your stress levels will go down.

(Mauro Stara at 00:23:32) You're gonna feel more relaxed, more tired at night, which is perfect, which will lead up to good sleep. That was just one example, because most people crash also because they're insulin resistant, meaning their body's ability to have carbs is not optimal. And so this framework works really well for them. But as I said in the beginning, we customize every single program based on someone's blood work. So people who have low levels of insulin or lower levels of blood sugar, they may need more sugar, not sugar sugar, but more carbohydrates during the day.

(Mauro Stara at 00:24:08) So that will be a different approach there to give a little bit more context to your question and to pull that even further in one direction. If you ask when's the case for carbs, then I'd say the best time to have your carbs is around your workouts. So pre-workout for fuel performance energy and post-workout to fueling up your muscle glycogen storages that have been depleted. It's like your tank when you're working out or even when you're running throughout the day. So that's your tank that, you know, is less, so you put in a little bit more gasoline in there.

(Mauro Stara at 00:24:50) And it also helps with recovery if you have the carbohydrates post-workouts. Like, I've seen it times and times again with clients, but also with myself. If I have a workout and I have very little carbs or no carbs after workout, I'm gonna be way more sore the next day. But if I have a good portion of rice or potatoes post-workout, I'm gonna be significantly less sore and fatigued.

(Joel Beasley at 00:25:17) Most of my carbs come from either bananas, strawberries, or this homemade bread that we make.

(Mauro Stara at 00:25:26) Sourdough?

(Joel Beasley at 00:25:27) Yeah. My wife does make sourdough, but there's also this other type of bread that she makes too. She's really into it. And I really like it. And there's, like, basically, the entire recipe makes like 30 biscuits, and there's like a total of two grams of sugar in the entire 30 biscuits.

(Joel Beasley at 00:25:47) Right? So they just use it for the reaction or whatever they're using it for. And so I really like knowing what's in my food because when I started on this health journey, I was working out. I was eating well, but I was still having these crashes, you know? And so I started looking into it.

(Joel Beasley at 00:26:03) I found the sugar thing as you described. And so I was putting all my food into MyFitnessPal app to track everything. And I realized that 80% of all the foods have added sugar in them. It is insane how much people add sugar to things that are mass produced. And so that forced me to move to more of, like, a steak and then homemade bread type diet because then I know what's going in, and I know I'm not putting a ton of sugar into me.

(Joel Beasley at 00:26:33) And we changed all of our kids' snacks and everything too.

(Mauro Stara at 00:26:37) Wonderful. How your change. I always say when you change the man, you change the household, and you're living proof of that.

(Joel Beasley at 00:26:45) Yeah. Well, I mean, it was the up and down cycle of what the sugar was doing became so invasive in my life. I was like, this has to get solved. I thought it was like a genetic issue. I went and had my parents do extra blood work on me because I'm like, I don't know what's going on.

(Joel Beasley at 00:27:01) And then it just came down to tracking everything I'm eating and looking at the diet, and it's like, okay. I am eating so many grams of added sugar in my diet. So now the only sugar that I really get is from bananas or strawberries or, you know, that little bit in the bread, which is like a 95% reduction in where I was, you know, last year.

(Mauro Stara at 00:27:24) Wow. Dramatic.

(Joel Beasley at 00:27:26) I know. I know. And so I started, I removed the sugar from my diet, I think like last summer. And then by winter, my wife doesn't leave me alone now. She's like, very interested in me, and I didn't know that as like a side effect.

(Joel Beasley at 00:27:45) I was just trying to get fit for like myself. You know? And then I was like, eventually, this is gonna wear off. And it's been like four or five months, and she's still very, very interested in me. And so that's the most professional way I can describe it on the podcast.

(Mauro Stara at 00:27:59) It's a perfect way to put it.

(Joel Beasley at 00:28:02) But you see that too. I'm sure you see that because some of these guys are like, they're obese when they meet you, and then they get six packs. Like, their wives definitely notice that.

(Mauro Stara at 00:28:11) Oh, of course.

(Joel Beasley at 00:28:12) Oh, yeah.

(Mauro Stara at 00:28:13) You always hear like, honey, I love the... that part. And, you know, you hear that, but deep down, it's like they want them to change, for not just for health reasons. Let's put it that way.

(Joel Beasley at 00:28:30) Well, the women, they're mothers. I mean, that's the trait you want is for them to be kind and like see you in pain and like try to remove the pain. That's like what they do. Right? And so and they're great at it.

(Joel Beasley at 00:28:42) And so you're exactly right. Before my fitness journey, my wife would say, oh, dad bod's good. Oh, that guy has too many muscles. That's not what I like. Well, when the muscle started to come in, she sure likes them.

(Joel Beasley at 00:28:53) When the dad bod was gone, she was so excited about it.

(Mauro Stara at 00:28:56) You know?

(Joel Beasley at 00:28:57) Yeah. Ozempic's running around here. Everyone's talking about Ozempic. Comedians are making jokes about it. It seemed to have entered the public consciousness.

(Joel Beasley at 00:29:07) Are you, do you have any experience with Ozempic?

(Mauro Stara at 00:29:11) Yeah. It's red hot, especially when you look at some of the stocks from companies that, I mean, there are many GLP-1 drugs. Right? They're just on the rise and, you know, I used to think like, maybe it's a fad, but look, you know, speaking with some people I trust in the fitness industry, of course, you know, predictions are predictions and people could be wrong, but I don't think they're going anywhere like TRT or other drugs or medications. They're definitely gonna stay, especially in America, you know, where U.S. is heading with obesity, dementia, just overall health.

(Mauro Stara at 00:29:56) We've had clients who use them, who, you know, came into the program already on it, and we're using them there. I'm not a big proponent of it. I'm generally, I don't wanna say anti-medicine. That's, you know, not my position, but a more natural first approach. So I always tell every client, look, here's what you're gonna do.

(Mauro Stara at 00:30:21) Six to twelve months, we're gonna do everything naturally: diet, workouts, lifestyle routines, sleep, stress, you know, all of that, supplementation. If we see no change within that period and you have symptoms of low testosterone, whatever, you know, thyroid issues that don't go away, then I'm not against it to add medicine into that, whether it's TRT or, you know, levothyroxine or liothyronine, whatever thyroid medication we have there, anything that would support that person there. Where I get bothered is if someone doesn't even try.

(Mauro Stara at 00:31:07) Like, you haven't even tried it and you're just going all out on Ozempic or, you know, TRT and so on. Like, you haven't even tried it. So that's where, you know, that's the approach I take and where I disagree on. But someone has done it all, and they've put in the effort, and things are barely moving, and they squeezed out the juice from everything possible naturally, I'm not against it. If we stay on the topic of Ozempic, so if someone, you know, has hired a coach, followed the plan, they're barely dropping, and let's say, you know, they follow the methodology that you and I talked about about appetite management with the carb back cycling and they've tried everything and their appetite is through the roof or for whatever reason they're like 50 plus obese, it would be better for them to take it, lose the weight than stay obese, and die from heart attack or whatever other, you know, high blood pressure, stroke, whatever issues they may face.

(Mauro Stara at 00:32:11) Right? That's how I see it. So I'm definitely not, okay, let's throw it at everyone. First things first approach. But if someone has done, putting the work seriously, committed, and they haven't gotten anywhere, then that would make sense.

(Mauro Stara at 00:32:24) But the percentage of people who when they follow the right plan, not just any plan. I'm not saying just one quick fix diet or so, but like, when they've hired someone that puts together a program, holds them accountable, and has a track record of success, whoever that person is, and they've worked with that person, let's say for a year, and, you know, they've barely gotten results or improvements in those areas that they have symptoms on, I'm not against it. Right? So if someone has been on my program, you know, they're sleeping eight hours a night, managing stress, you know, following the plans, supplements, diet, workouts, everything. And we've had cases like that.

(Mauro Stara at 00:33:05) Very, very rare or very few cases. But we've had case like that. Testosterone barely moves, and they have low libido, low energy, and everything, of course, I'm not gonna stand in their way and say, no. You're not gonna touch that. Like, of course, it should be a conversation to be had with, you know, telemedicine clinic, anti-aging clinic, TRT clinic, primary care physician, whoever that is.

(Mauro Stara at 00:33:30) Right? But, again, if someone has never tried it, it's, in my opinion, a little bit disappointing to just jump on that right away.

(Joel Beasley at 00:33:40) Exactly right. And, I mean, some people don't understand that fat is, it's an organ. You know? It plays a huge role in your metabolic health. Right?

(Joel Beasley at 00:33:50) And I don't know if this is correct, but I believe it will increase your, what's the traditionally female hormone?

(Mauro Stara at 00:34:01) Estrogen? Levels. Yes. Yeah. It will feminize your body as a man.

(Joel Beasley at 00:34:05) The fat will feminize your body as a man. You see. All right. Good. I'm glad I'm not just, I'm trying to remember the conversations I've had. My mom and brother are both physicians, and so I'm trying to remember those conversations.

(Joel Beasley at 00:34:15) But, yeah, that's what they were saying. They were saying the men get the men boobs, they'll get big belly fat. That belly fat will then feminize their body even more, allowing them to grow essentially breast tissue and, like, I was like, woah. You gotta get rid of the fat. It's no longer like, I've always looked at it as like something other than me.

(Joel Beasley at 00:34:34) It's like, oh, that's just fat. That's just like a storage thing. I never looked at it like an organ that's actually, you know, managing my metabolic health.

(Mauro Stara at 00:34:43) Yeah. And it's very inflammatory, especially if you have visceral fat that's, because you have like a limited amount of fat cells. Usually, the body doesn't create so many new fat cells in most cases. So what happens is when, you know, let's say you have this cup here and when it's full, the body will say like, well, you know, all the storage is full, we're gonna start storing fat around your organs and that's visceral fat, like, yellow, ugly type of fat you don't wanna have, very inflammatory, will even increase insulin resistance, and, you don't want that.

(Mauro Stara at 00:35:24) That's like, again, very dangerous type of fat. And just going back to what you said with estrogen, so your fat cells have an enzyme that's called aromatase. And aromatase converts testosterone into estrogen, and that will literally feminize your body, increase water retention, makes fat loss harder. So it's a negative feedback loop. The fatter you get, that's why it harder will become eventually to get rid of that fat.

(Mauro Stara at 00:35:54) Right, which is also motivating because you have then higher standards to never let it go back to that place. And it's why if we look at women, they store more fat around their hips and thighs because they're estrogen dominant. But when men become estrogen dominant and have increased levels of estrogen and lower testosterone, they also start to get more fat around the hips, the thighs, the love handles—like the really thick love handles and lower back fat, the man boobs, the nipples get enlarged.

(Mauro Stara at 00:36:31) Dude, if you talked about my website early on, if you go on the website and scroll a little bit, like ten plus pictures or so, there's a guy. When you look at his transformation, he had huge nipples—like big, thick nipples. And when he's six pack lean, he has just a very normal nipple. And his estrogen levels, the blood work was sky high, like it was through the roof, right? So when I see a body, I don't even need to see the blood work or look at the blood work many times. Before they get it in, I can already guess what their hormones look like and even their face. You can see it in the face. If the face is red, very puffy, lot of water, no jawline, you can tell, you know, lot of water retention, lot of inflammation, low testosterone.

(Mauro Stara at 00:37:26) There's a lot that your face and your body gives away to the status, not just of your health, but also your hormones.

(Joel Beasley at 00:37:33) Josh, did you find that picture?

(Josh (Producer/Team Member) at 00:37:35) I am currently digging for it.

(Joel Beasley at 00:37:37) Josh is—I can dig for it.

(Josh (Producer/Team Member) at 00:37:40) You're—I'll just throw it up and just—

(Joel Beasley at 00:37:42) Yeah.

(Josh (Producer/Team Member) at 00:37:42) Yeah, we can be guided here.

(Joel Beasley at 00:37:45) All right, where is it, Mauro?

(Josh (Producer/Team Member) at 00:37:47) That guy? Yeah, here. I thought so.

(Joel Beasley at 00:37:48) Oh yeah, look at that guy. Yeah, those look like boobs before.

(Mauro Stara at 00:37:54) And it's not just him, you know. There's many others, right? But this is one of the most extreme examples where, as you said, you can see those are boobs. And look at the expression of the face as well compared to after—very sharp, clear, dominant, masculine look versus here. It's very, very different.

(Mauro Stara at 00:38:17) Lethargic, fatigued.

(Joel Beasley at 00:38:19) Yeah. All right, so let's look at that. Guy says age 42. What body percentage of fat is that right there?

(Mauro Stara at 00:38:26) I'd have to go back and see his DEXA scan, but I think it was ten or 11% body fat. Probably 11%.

(Joel Beasley at 00:38:33) What do you roll around with on normal—like you're not competing for a fitness trophy or anything? You're just living your life.

(Mauro Stara at 00:38:40) Yeah, I stay between ten to 15%. I like to get down to ten, clear away all the fat. And then when I bulk, I go up to max 15. That's the threshold. I feel really good around 12 to 15%. When I get to ten, I still feel good, but I don't want to say weak. But when I'm naked or at the beach, ten looks great. But when you wear clothes, 15 feels better. Like it feels bigger. You know, you have some more size, some more mass.

(Mauro Stara at 00:39:18) And I just like to feel—I'm okay with being not ripped, but very lean and stronger, a little bit bigger versus ripped but feeling smaller, if that makes sense.

(Joel Beasley at 00:39:30) That makes total sense. Like sometimes I'll cut down and then I'll feel really good at the beginning of the cut, right when the first stuff comes off. And then after two or three weeks, I'm like, all right, I'm starting to feel a little weak. And I look better with my shirt off, but I want to look fuller, you know, with my shirt. I want my sleeves to be more filled up and so on. Small little things, but they help with confidence quite a bit. So I tend to bounce—I don't know, I have to look at a body fat percentage chart. I haven't had the thing done, but if you're looking at pictures on Google, I probably am around the 15% mark.

(Mauro Stara at 00:40:10) Very, very sustainable. One thing that's overlooked is not just how lean you are, but your diet and your recovery can impact how lean you look in the sense of beyond fat. So what I mean by that is if you have poor gut health, very high levels of histamine, or you're inflamed, your sleep is trash, you will hold on to more water, and that's going to mask some of the leanness and it's going to make you look a little bit more puffy. But when that inflammation is gone, when your hormones are in balance and you're really locked in, you will look way different at the same level of fat just because that water weight, that fluffiness, puffiness is gone. I can see it when I have too much bread. So I'm not gluten intolerant, but sometimes when I have too much, I'm a little bit sensitive. I can have potatoes, rice—I eat the same amount of carbohydrates, same amount of calories, and it does nothing. And when I have pasta or bread, like let's say 600 calories or 800 or so, then the next day I'm way more bloated and a lot more watery. It takes like 72 hours to even out.

(Mauro Stara at 00:41:36) And then when I drop that water, it's way different. Like the leanness, the veins, everything comes back. So that balloon effect is there as well. And that's why fat loss or fat levels are key, but also what you eat and many other factors.

(Joel Beasley at 00:41:56) Oh yeah, I'm going to share this very unscientific body fat percentage image. Can you see that?

(Mauro Stara at 00:42:04) Yeah, it's actually a good one.

(Joel Beasley at 00:42:06) Is it? So the guys are—is four to 5%, is that maintainable long term? Because that seems like—I don't think I've ever—I've never gotten down that far.

(Mauro Stara at 00:42:15) No, no. So this is just stage ready. And then once they get off stage, they get back to like eight to 10% and then go back to the next competition if they have another one. Usually they do like two, three a year, or they stay around eight to ten, up to 15 plus or minus.

(Joel Beasley at 00:42:39) Yeah. Yeah, that's a slippery slope from 15 to 25, isn't it?

(Mauro Stara at 00:42:43) Yeah.

(Joel Beasley at 00:42:44) I think that's where a lot of people hang out in that range.

(Mauro Stara at 00:42:48) I would say higher. So most clients that start with us are—well, you don't see the belly of the 25, 30% guy, but most clients that start with us are around like 35%. Like when we get DEXA scans, it's usually anywhere between 28 to 35% body fat. And the DEXA scan usually shows higher body fat than people think they are or like to admit. There was a guy who's like, "There's no way I'm 40." I'm like, "Dude, you're 100% 40. There's no way." So he came to the program, dropped like 15 pounds, got the DEXA scan, and he was still 40 or 41. And that was after dropping initial weight.

(Mauro Stara at 00:43:27) So usually when people think, "Oh, I look good," it's like you're actually way, way higher than you think you are. And the reason for that is—I've seen it also in myself—you look every day in the mirror and you don't see the differences. So it's like a death by a thousand cuts in that regard. It's very, very slowly, and then it adds up. And you also don't look at your back. Like the back fat, love handles, that's less seen. You just see the front. And eventually you see it when someone takes a picture of you or you're in a different environment.

(Mauro Stara at 00:44:06) Like when you change gyms or go to a hotel gym, or you go and buy clothes and you're like, "Wow, is that me? Like, damn, what happened?" You know? But when you're in the same mirror all the time, maybe you suck in your gut, you squeeze it, you don't see those differences there. And it's just a phenomenon that I've seen with myself, but so many guys that we've worked with over the years where the mind tricks you somehow into thinking you're much better looking than you actually are, which is not true. Like physique-wise, right, where it's, "You're good, you're good, come on." Like you're better there. And then you just need to pick up old photos and you start to see like, "Wow, I was way leaner there. I let myself go."

(Joel Beasley at 00:44:52) Yeah, that happens. And then the flip side is true. Once you're working out and you're eating healthy, you can go into that changing room mirror and be like, "Wow, is that me?" But in a positive way.

(Mauro Stara at 00:45:02) Exactly. Spot on.

(Joel Beasley at 00:45:05) Yeah. I used to always blame—when I was chubby, I would always blame the lights and like, "These pants aren't the right size." Your brain will do magical things. But then when you do get fit, you're like, "All right, I look good in the mirror. This is good to be here." And I like hanging out with healthy people. I do, because it makes me feel better. To your point earlier, we kind of glossed over it, Mauro, but you said people are attracted, even in nonsexual ways. Like I want to be around physically fit people because I'm trying to be physically fit. I want to be around healthy people making healthy choices because it's easier to reinforce my choices and eating habits and schedules and all of that.

(Mauro Stara at 00:45:46) Yeah. And you know, I'll give you an example. I was at one of our retreats. We go for dinner at a restaurant, and I sit at a table with clients. You know, everyone has the menu on their phone with the QR codes these days, and nobody was ready to order. They were all glancing over, like what did I order? So it was like I set the bar for the menu. If I order just a salad and chicken, most people would have ordered something similar. But I went ahead, like, "Hey, I want to have the brisket and some potatoes," and they're like, "All right, you know, we can have a little bit more fun here. It's a retreat." And it makes sense. And if you think about it, if you, I, Josh, and two other guys sit in a bar or in a restaurant and we all grab a chicken salad or, you know, a ribeye with some broccoli, and there's a sick guy joining the table—the odds that that guy orders some fries and, you know, something very processed is possible, but the probability is significantly lower. On the flip side, if all of us would be having burgers and fries, McDonald's-type food, and that sick guy would join us, it would be much more likely that he would have that than a salad and chicken. So you're influenced by the people in your close environment. And that's why Ed Mylett—I want to quote him right if I quote him—but your habits are many times the expectation of other people. So when you're in that environment with others, your habits and behaviors will change to the expectation of others. So if you're in an environment where others expect high of you, you're automatically going to raise those standards.

(Mauro Stara at 00:47:53) Vice versa, if it's down here, then that's how it may end up. And it's why, you know, after a few years being in the industry where I've changed the format from just pure one-on-one coaching to a mix of one-on-one and the group model that we have, is because now we have the mastermind and the community, and that creates that high standard and that environment where they see a bunch of other people succeeding and crushing and living that life that they want to live, especially for new people, but also for existing people to reinforce their habits. Versus if you're just alone on this, it's very easy that your circle will say, "Hey, you're too strict, Joel. You're too lean, you're too skinny. Come and have a sandwich." But if you know, "Hey, this is nothing. There's way, way bigger guys out there," it's going to hold you to a different standard.

(Joel Beasley at 00:48:53) How do people join?

(Mauro Stara at 00:48:55) They apply via website or reach out—email, social media, you know, introductions. We get about 80% referrals, so a lot of introductions via referrals. And then I personally review every application, look at if we can help them or not. And then if we can, we make them an offer and we get them started.

(Joel Beasley at 00:49:20) Awesome. And what's the website?

(Mauro Stara at 00:49:23) 6packceo.com. So 6 with the letter, 6packceo.com.

(Joel Beasley at 00:49:30) 6packceo.com. That is an awesome brand. When I saw it, Josh pitched the call to me. He's like, "Hey, we should talk to this guy about health, Six Pack CEO." And then I think the topic—I want to get this right too—I think the official topic that Josh put in there was—let's go to the top here—"CTOs will be better leaders and make more money if they get less fat." I was like, "Yep, that is true. We need them." And what you're really doing by saying getting less fat is you're reducing your testosterone-to-estrogen converter that you've bolted on to the front of your body. Let's unbolt that testosterone-to-estrogen converter from our body and get our hormones and energy levels back.

(Mauro Stara at 00:50:14) Yeah. And one thing I want to add to that is there's a hidden benefit that people only see when they're on the other side. But once you—and I'll give you a specific example—but once you see that you can go from bottom 50% of the population to top 1% within six to 18 months depending on how much fat you have, that expands your thinking and your mind to such a level that you're going to go after way bigger goals. So going back to that example, there's an insurance agent, State Farm insurance agent from New York. He's been in business for 30 years. Business increased, you know, gradually normal. I think it was 52 he came to the program. So already 30 years in business. Twelve months in, and he doubled his revenue. There's no way, no marketing strategy, no sales tactic that he didn't have access to a year prior. That was before AI and so—so it's not like he discovered an AI tool or tactic. But after dropping 50 pounds, four pant sizes, the amount of confidence he had and saw like, "Dude, I was able to achieve that in a year and get to that top 1% bracket. What else can I achieve? And why haven't I pushed harder?" And now they set bigger goals, bigger vision.

(Mauro Stara at 00:51:55) They think bigger in other areas. And of course, it's on you to have the right strategies and make that happen. But just that expansion thinking, that self-belief is unbeatable. And I say all of that not because that's what I sell and offer, but this is the one area that anyone can be in 100% control of, or almost 100%. In your business, you have politics, the economy, markets, regulations, taxes. There's so many rules and things. And many people still made it work even though the odds were stacked against them. They still made it work. With your body, there's no politics. There's—you know, unless politics, you know, say you can't eat meat or so.

(Mauro Stara at 00:52:47) Hopefully we'll never get there. But there's no—

(Joel Beasley at 00:52:51) It's a slippery slope.

(Mauro Stara at 00:52:53) I don't think so. I don't think so. At least not that quick. So there's no politics. There's no regulations, right? You don't need to have a license to exercise or eat healthy or, you know, do this and this. So there's none of that, and once you're in full control of that area, then all the other areas of your life will get better. And the expansion thinking is, as I said, unbeatable, where you just got to that upper echelon and see, "Wow, in one year I got here from, again, bottom 50% or 40% to top 1%."

(Mauro Stara at 00:53:36) "Well, I'm top 30% in my industry. Can I get top 10, top 1%?" And many, many times we've seen that. Of course, not everyone will have that spillover to their business, but many, many guys have had that, and it's been truly amazing to watch. So more than the productivity, all the extra stuff, which is helpful because you get more done, but it's really that self-belief is massive.

(Joel Beasley at 00:54:08) So you got the productivity, the performance, the energy levels, then you got the confidence, you got business reasons, or maybe you just want to be in the top 1%. Right? But there's so many reasons to do it. I love how you framed it that you can't control the marketplace. You can only adapt to the marketplace, but you can control what you eat and you can control what you look like.

(Joel Beasley at 00:54:28) That to me is just—I really enjoy meeting you and I'm really glad that, hopefully, we could send some business your way. Hopefully, some of the listeners, they want to improve their lives. And then for me, selfishly, I'd say after this whole thing, the productivity was great. The business stuff was great. All that was good.

(Joel Beasley at 00:54:45) Confidence was awesome. But just my wife having more interest in me is the thing that wins. That is, like, the fact that I go home and she wants to hug me and touch me and, like, she's interested in me. Like, that is worth so much money. I mean, that's priceless. You know?

(Mauro Starra at 00:55:03) And isn't that what you promised when you got married? Right? No. No. No.

(Mauro Starra at 00:55:09) No. But, like—no. I'm saying most guys get married, and they present or sell a product of themself. They get in great shape, everything, and then they let themself go, which, you know, it's kind of like you blow up the marketing, but then your delivery sucks. And it's like, what happened to the delivery?

(Mauro Starra at 00:55:34) You know? Like, you didn't deliver on your promise. Where when they get divorced, I've seen that again. That's why there's, like, a whole market for divorced guys. Those are the most committed guys.

(Mauro Starra at 00:55:45) Like, very committed on the market, want to get in shape. And then when they settle down, they take the foot off the gas pedal. And it's like, no. Like, you should work on the retention, not just the recruitment.

(Joel Beasley at 00:55:57) You're exactly right. And I did that as well. Like, when I was the most fit I had ever been when I met my wife. And then, you know, it was a mind shift because I was in my twenties at the time. And it was a mind shift of I was doing this to attract women, you know, to, like, be social and to meet girls. And then when I met a girl and I realized, oh, I guess this is the girl I'm with—because we dated for three years before we were married.

(Joel Beasley at 00:56:25) You just—I just got comfortable and stopped doing all the things that I needed to do, you know, to maintain what I was when we met. And I was because I was like, I already achieved the outcome I was looking for. I did this process. But now I'm like, I'm doing it for health. I'm doing it because I want to walk my daughter down the aisle.

(Joel Beasley at 00:56:41) I'm doing it because I'm competing in business, and I need the energy to do it. I'm doing it because I want to feel good about myself regardless of what's going on, like, around me. And so there was just a different set of reasons that I had to, like, consciously accept this long term forever set of reasons. And that's when my mind shift went from just doing it to meet girls to finding a reason to do it forever.

(Mauro Starra at 00:57:08) Just like marriage, there's no start and stop, hopefully. But it's start and you never stop. And the same is with fitness. It's not you start and then there's a stop. It's you start and you never stop.

(Mauro Starra at 00:57:22) So if you know there's no stop and it's forever, why wouldn't you want to get into the race and dominate that race rather sooner than later? Because you're going to participate in that race anyway. Right? I mean, you can choose not to, but, eventually, that's another race downhill.

(Joel Beasley at 00:57:40) Yeah. Are you married? No. No? Okay.

(Joel Beasley at 00:57:43) Do you have kids? No. No. Do you want to get married and have kids?

(Mauro Starra at 00:57:47) Yes.

(Joel Beasley at 00:57:48) Alright. I want to do an interview with you after you get married and have kids. Good.

(Mauro Starra at 00:57:52) Okay. Okay.

(Joel Beasley at 00:57:54) That'll be fun because then we'll have other stuff to talk about as well because I read your stories of your clients. I know you're working with guys that work sixty hours a week, have five, six kids, and they're doing it. They're making it happen. And, thankfully, people like you are out there coaching them and building communities to where people can join. And just so you know, like, for the audience listening in, Mauro did not pay to be here today.

(Joel Beasley at 00:58:19) I'm genuinely excited about what he's doing, and I wanted to help, you know, because I don't do this. Right? But I've been on the journey, and so I want to tell my audience, like, hey. If you guys are going to go on this journey, my only advice would be to get a coach. Don't do it yourself and stick with it long term.

(Joel Beasley at 00:58:36) And then we found somebody like you to come talk that's actually doing it. And we saw that you're doing it and it's legitimate. And so I would gladly recommend you to anybody that comes to me looking for that.

(Mauro Starra at 00:58:48) I appreciate that very much. Yeah. Yeah. And I'll say just to add to the kids—while I don't have kids—and it goes without saying that it's definitely harder to make it work. Like, I've just seen it with guys, or families that I work with, you know, the entire family in some cases that I work with.

(Mauro Starra at 00:59:10) And it is harder, but with the right systems, it's 100% doable. Because what I always say to everyone is how busy you are or where you are has nothing to do with what you eat. Like, I eat the way I eat because of who I am and not how busy I am or where I am.

(Joel Beasley at 00:59:34) Thank you so much for listening. And if you found this episode useful, please share it with a friend or colleague who you think would get value from it. And if you have topics that you would like to hear discussed on the podcast, either add me on LinkedIn or send me an email [email protected]. Every time I get an email or LinkedIn message, it absolutely makes my day and inspires me to keep going.