The Guest
Joe Di Stefano, CSCS, RKC – “Joe D.I.” as he is referred, is an international speaker, fitness expert, entrepreneur and coach. Joe is the Director of Sport at Spartan Race, the world’s leading obstacle racing organization. He is also the Founder of RUNGA, an off-the-grid experience designed to educate people on health and fitness, and connect them with their full potential.
Joe has coached athletes from mainstream competitive sports for 15 years and for Obstacle Course Racing exclusively for the last seven. He has instructed more than 100 seminars in over 10 different countries within topics such as OCR, kettlebells, breathing and mobility. Joe’s work has been featured in Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Outside and SELF Magazine.
The Episode
Our episode today is all about quality breathing and its effects on overall health. We can go three weeks without food, but we can only go three minutes without breathing, yet breathing is something that many people don’t think twice about.
Joe also discusses why international travel and running are bad for you, and how intent and belief are the key to health.
Joe leaves listeners with advice on focusing on breathing as a beginner. “The place to start is controlling your breath and respecting the power that it has. It can really truly change your entire outlook and make a lot of the other things a lot easier.” He suggests laying on the floor with your legs on a chair and blowing up balloons, to focus on that quality exhale and inhale.
Topics Covered
- Advice on effectively working out with kettlebells
- Joe’s health and fitness journey
- The mindset realization that significantly improved his recovery from a skull fracture
- How to use breathing to prevent illness and stay healthy
- Tips for getting started with breathing as a beginner using balloons
- Joe explains what makes a quality breath and why quality exhales are the biggest problem most people experience with breathing
- Cumulative stress load and the difference between working in and working out
- Joe’s biohacks for travel for beginners
- How RUNGA came about
- Creating an environment of impossible failure
Quotes From The Episode
“The one thing I’ve always lived by is I’m not trying to force anything. I let the world take me where it wants to.”
“When you take a proper breath you massage your adrenals, exhale toxins, control your internal environment, and control digestion. You can do just about anything you need to do by mastering breath.”
“If we just focus on a quality full inhale and quality full exhale, we should do that for a while before going way into the trenches with a specific form of breathing.”
“Keep as many pieces of your life supporting the end game of being as healthy as you can possible control, even when there are huge icebergs in that.”
“There is a difference between health and fitness.”
“Your body gets good at what it practices the most. When I sit at a desk and stress out 8 hours a day, that’s what I get better at.”
“I refuse to do things I don’t love to do, and my cumulative stress load stays low.”
Resources
RUNGA on Instagram and Facebook
