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A daily show focused on helping you live a fit, nutritious, activist lifestyle. We focus on achieving this through technology, psychology and philosophy while also making the episodes funny and entertaining. Join host Ben Garves every day for a helpful episode that runs five minutes or less.
Former congressional candidate and YouTube series host Ben Garves delves more in-depth into the current happenings in the world of politics. This is your go-to podcast if you're looking for news through a moderate or liberal democratic lens to compliment the Ben on Politics YouTube series.
Today I’ve decided I’m done being nice and kindly asking people to wear masks. We’re way past the point where society should tolerate endangering behavior from the few. The mutations, the deaths, the economic crisis, this could all have been avoided had the freedom of the few to be ignorant not been treated like it outweighed the safety of the vast…
Today we’re wading in on what we know about Coronavirus mutations, if they affect the effectiveness of our vaccines, if they make the virus more deadly, and if these mutations are common. What do we know about Coronavirus mutations? Are Coronavirus mutations common? What’s special about the UK COVID mutation? Does the Coronavirus mutation spread mo…
Wearing a mask after getting vaccinated against COVID-19 - everyone is asking - is it still necessary? We’ll dig into this today, especially in the light of the emergency use approval for a second vaccine and (more to come on this tomorrow) the discovery of a mutated COVID-19 virus in London. Good morning and welcome to the Ben Garves Podcast - a d…
On top of a global pandemic and an election year, we had a small war for control of the Supreme Court in 2020. Woof. How is that relevant? Well, did you know Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett does CrossFit? Let’s unpack it. Good morning and welcome to the Ben Garves Podcast - a daily show at the intersection of health, activism, and technolog…
If you’re a fitness tech fanatic like I am, you’ve been jumping into all sorts of mobility tools out there, like The Ready State, ROMWOD, and GOWOD. There’s a new one coming, and it’s something you may already own: your Apple Watch. Good morning and welcome to the Ben Garves Podcast - a daily show at the intersection of health, activism, and techno…
With the rollout of the first COVID-19 vaccine in the US this week, media coverage has been incessant about distrust of our medical industry in the black community. I’ve noticed very few of them actually talk about why. Medical racism. Have you heard of it? It’s been around, it’s an ongoing problem, and it’s coming to light again with the treatment…
People put in a lot of effort to push for vaccination every year when the flu season rolls around, but we’re seeing an even larger effort this year in light of COVID-19. Want to know why? That’s what I’m here for. Good morning and welcome to the Ben Garves Podcast - a daily show at the intersection of health, activism, and technology. I’m your host…
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Ben Garves Podcast: Fitness, Nutrition, and Activism
It’s a huge day in the United States because it’s the day the Electoral College casts their votes in the presidential election, but also, front line workers around the nation will be punching the clock this morning and receiving the first American doses of the COVID 19 vaccine. There’s a lot to digest, so I’ll do this in Q&A format. Who gets the Co…
I recently watched the movie Air Force One, partially to reminisce on a classic Harrison Ford movie and partially to reminisce on what it was like to have a badass president. One of the most iconic lines from the 1997 blockbuster, which also features the likes of WIlliam H. Macy, Gary Oldman, and Glenn Close, is when President Harrison Ford practic…
Okay, is it just me, or does the world have an unhealthy aversion to the idea of aging? There’s a statistic floating around that the anti-aging products industry is expected to be worth $83.2 billion by the year 2027. That’s up thirty billion dollars from the projected sales this year. Let’s be clear here - these aren’t sales of products that help …
Here’s an interesting read for you today: a story in TIME, titled: “COVID-19 Isn't the First Pandemic to Affect Minority Populations Differently. Here's What We Can Learn From the 1918 Flu”. It rings especially poignant today, as TIME says now, “over a century later, Black people are dying at more than twice the rate of white people in the US.” Acc…
When it comes to COVID-19, we talk a lot about the lung symptoms - the way the lungs inflame and fill with fluid, preventing oxygen from being passed into your blood system. What’s talked less about and has been found to be a huge problem in our bodies is how the virus impacts our hearts. Even in young, healthy athletes, we’re finding heart damage …
Canada is doing something I think the whole world can learn from, but take it with a grain of salt. They’re changing the way they look at obesity to say it’s not just measured on a scale and with a tape measure around your waist. Obesity is as much from a lack of good nutrition and exercise as it is from emotional issues and genetics. Here’s the pr…
Those of you who are parents know that your kids can be great at so many things. Chiefly among those skills, like saying the darndest things and sometimes being cute, is a unique ability to carry diseases home from school. Colds, flus, mono, and lice never discriminate, though how we handle them does. NPR wrote a piece about kids and coronavirus. B…
I talk a lot about the importance of our efforts to diversify the communities we serve with our health and fitness work. Today I’m going to read you an op-ed piece from Jason Burns, the owner of Meddle Fitness (a CrossFit affiliate on the south side of Chicago), which seeks to serve a more diverse community than is usually seen in a CrossFit gym. I…
One of the cool things about branching out from the old WODDITY Podcast is that I get to help you with things that go above and beyond our old CrossFit focus. One of those topics is financial security. In March we watched one of the biggest market roller coasters in the history of our modern financial infrastructure, followed by an almost immediate…
There seems to be a huge list of misinformation out there regarding COVID-19, antibodies, and immunity. So I thought I’d take some time this morning to tell you there is no evidence, there is no proof, and you are safer to treat this like the doctors recommend. Let’s start with what an antibody is. Your body develops antibodies as a reaction to an …
Is anyone else feeling just a little left out because they’re not rich enough to join this Peloton craze? Trust me. I’d tear it up on one of these bikes if I could, but I’m just apparently not cool enough. And I’m not sure it would fit in my toy-sized Brooklyn apartment. Not with the dog and the recording equipment. https://youtu.be/VsabBtdCAI4 Is …
You’ve probably seen or heard headlines the past few weeks that opioid abuse and overdoses have exploded over the course of quarantine. The stories seem to echo across the country. In Illinois’ Cook Country, home to the city of Chicago, overdoses are on track to double from last year. In Wisconsin, health officials are reporting overdoses have jump…
Today, let’s talk about overtraining. It’s something many of us are facing right now with limited outlets for our time and energy. Personally, I’m nursing a strained MCL after going from a few CrossFit classes a week to running and walking 50-plus miles a week. https://youtu.be/kvJjMZ9_iL4 It wasn’t a smart approach, but it kept me sane and it real…
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Ben Garves Podcast: Fitness, Nutrition, and Activism
Let’s talk more about racial disparity in our country. It affects us in so many more ways than most people realize and recognize. Research recently published in the Journal of Pediatrics found healthy Black children are 3.5 times more likely to die within 30 days post-operation than their white counterparts. https://youtu.be/WNK_3tQ-Wa0 The study l…
Today on the podcast I speak with author and award-winning video producer Erik Eff about his new book "Pig with a Crown". This gorgeous book, illustrated by Irving Herrera, is a modern fable which expertly balances fun, moral lessons for kids with poignant social commentary for adults. Support Erik and Irving by purchasing the book at: https://pigw…
What is it like participating in one of the COVID-19 vaccine trials running right now? Many people want to know as the world rushes to educate themselves in what the expedited vaccine development process looks like. Richard Fisher wrote a piece for BBC about his participation in Oxford University’s trial. The trial has ten thousand participants and…
‘Aging’ is the topic of the day, as a research article published mid-July found an association between older participants’ physical fitness and their bone mass and structure. What does that mean? Older people who stayed physically fit had healthier, stronger bones. https://youtu.be/ppcMmcUujWc The study looked at 129 participants between the ages o…
Today we are talking about a story in TIME, titled “The Pandemic Is Turning Americans Against the Gym. That Could Be a Good Thing for the Nation's Health.” https://youtu.be/cy36oiFHnKQ What? Yes. At the very core of it, many of us are learning how to be healthy within our own four walls. A study commissioned by LIFEAID found that a quarter of Ameri…
