Duty & Fitness with BIG NAZ

In this conversation, we chat with Lieutenant Jason Nasworth, who shares his extensive career in law enforcement and his passion for fitness. We discuss the importance of maintaining physical, mental, and emotional health in a high-stress profession, the challenges of dealing with trauma, and the humorous moments in law enforcement. Jason also shares his journey into bodybuilding, the rigorous preparation for competitions, and the significance of diet and nutrition in achieving fitness goals. In this conversation, BIG NAZ  discusses various aspects of health and fitness, including the role of salt in diets, dietary restrictions due to allergies, the importance of mindset in achieving health goals, the balance between social life and healthy eating, the costs associated with maintaining a healthy diet, understanding the role of fats and nutrients, meal prep strategies, essential supplements for fitness, the significance of regular blood work, and the influence of faith on personal growth in fitness.

Takeaways

• Fitness is a crucial part of managing stress for law enforcement officers.
• Maintaining a balance of physical, mental, and spiritual health is essential.
• Finding healthy outlets, like the gym, can aid in processing trauma.
• New officers should prioritize safety and health in their careers.
• Continuous learning and training are vital for seasoned officers.
• Mindset is crucial for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
• Diet and exercise play a significant role in overall health.
• Faith can provide support and guidance in personal health journeys.

IG: BIG NAZ

Transcript

Vernon Phillips (00:09.402)

All right, welcome back to critical aspects of law enforcement. I'm your host Vernon Phillips and today on the show We've got a special guest. He's gonna share about himself his career in law enforcement, but also his Long time in the fitness world what he does to keep himself healthy and in shape and so I'm gonna turn it over to him so Jason want you to do shelf. Tell us who you are and a little background about yourself

BIG NAZ (00:36.664)

Okay, well, Jason Nasworth, guess for those that know me at work, it's Lieutenant Jason Nasworth. I've been with the Sheriff's Office for almost 24 years, 25 total in law enforcement. I started out my law enforcement days at Bellevue Metro, and I did that for about a year. And then I came over to the good side over here at the Sheriff's Office, started out there.

Let's see, boy, that's going back a long time. So I started out obviously on patrol, was a field training officer for a while. Then probably about four years into my career, I got on the K-9 unit. Started on that, well let me back up. For those that know, Brian Litz, when he was killed, he was a K-9 handler.

That's actually when I got on the team is after he had passed. So I actually replaced him on the on the unit So from there see I was a canine handler for probably a few years and then I Got promoted to sergeant within the canine unit. I stayed with the canine unit probably for I'd say eight or nine years and then I went from there, I went to the drug unit. I worked back there. Why they would send me my size to the drug unit, I don't know. For some reason, nobody would sell me anything. No, I had a good time back there. I was there back there for a couple years. I actually, I did a short period of time, about two weeks, I left the agency and went to Orlando Police Department. And, I had some stuff going on in my personal life and I thought that, you know, moving to Orlando would help. But anyways, that didn't work. So I came back. Thankfully, I was still in good graces with everything and came back and took up where I left off. let's see, I went from there. I went to patrol for a little while and I went to over the schools. I did the schools for a little while. And then obviously I got promoted to lieutenant. Now I'm working patrol.

BIG NAZ (03:03.758)

But yeah, it's been almost 25 years, 24, 25 years with law enforcement.

Vernon Phillips (03:10.488)

Yes, so quite the history there with law enforcement and we'll kind of dig in that a little bit. So for those of you who do not know Nazworth here or your kind of social media name, Big Naz, there's a reason behind that and the reason you say why they've sent you in the drug unit because if you do not know him, he is a monster of a man. How tall are you?

BIG NAZ (03:36.462)

I'm right at six four. I'm getting older now, so I feel like I'm shrinking a little bit. So I'm probably six, six three ish.

Vernon Phillips (03:38.49)

Okay.

So, the 6'4", but some people might like, well, that's not that big. Well, when you are the frame that you have, it's not so much that you're tall, but you're also a very large man. And if I can pull up a picture, I'll stick it in there of you next to somebody super short, so I can find one. but.

BIG NAZ (03:49.56)

Mm-hmm

you

BIG NAZ (04:01.55)

you

Yeah, maybe I'll have one of me and D'Angela somewhere I can put it in there.

Vernon Phillips (04:08.586)

that would be a pretty good comparison. That's like Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger in Twins. That's a good movie. So yeah, there's a lot there and I want to dive in a little bit, but obviously we know that law enforcement is a stressful career, not just for yourself, but also for your family and things like that. what is it that you do that keeps, and I know some of this already obviously,

BIG NAZ (04:15.95)

huh, yeah, okay, that's my favorite movie

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Vernon Phillips (04:37.018)

Just because you're big into the fitness world, but you know, what do you do that keeps you, know, balanced? You know, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. What do you do to kind of keep yourself in check on a regular basis?

BIG NAZ (04:49.086)

Well, obviously working out is a big part of my Keeping focus and getting relieved and stress I've been lifting weights probably over since I've been a police officer. So almost 25 even a little bit longer than that. So probably 27 28 years. I've been lifting weights and Competing probably for about 20 of those years Competition wise that and I know we'll get into that a little bit what that entails but that helps me with my stress. The working out helps me with my stress. Praying helps me with my stress. I also serve on the security team at my church. That helps me being around all the guys. You know, in law enforcement, it's nice to get around guys that aren't in law enforcement all the time. There actually is some normal people out there. It's nice to talk about other things than law enforcement and I recommend that, that helps a lot.

Vernon Phillips (05:47.448)

Yeah, I mean those are all good good points because especially you know for yourself It's not just about taking care of yourselves physically, you know, and I talk about this a lot It's taking care of your your whole person, right? Like every aspect of who you are So you're just because you're in really great shape doesn't mean that you know Medically emotionally spiritually that you're also in good shape I mean you could be in the best shape of your life, but you know, you could just you know, cognitively you could be just all over the place You know, your emotions could be a mess and spiritually you could just be

BIG NAZ (05:59.246)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (06:08.225)

Thank

BIG NAZ (06:14.798)

Mm-hmm.

Vernon Phillips (06:17.498)

You know, just kind of out there drifting. So it's really important just to invest in all of those areas. And I think for myself and me and my wife, we're just talking about this recently is, over the years I've really focused in on, you know, like the mental, emotional and spiritual aspect, obviously, you know, I probably am more heavily engaged in the spiritual aspect than any of other ones. you know, here recently I've really, you know, over the last year or so I've really maybe two years starting to dive more into the physical side and trying to start eating right and making sure that I'm doing that aspect. Because if we're going to talk about maintaining your full, your whole person health, it includes your physical. So if you're not doing that, but you're talking about promoting that, then it kind of makes you a hypocrite a little bit. So when we look at the career, obviously there's a lot of different things that we experience, different critical incidents and things like that.

BIG NAZ (06:52.28)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (07:05.559)

Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (07:14.404)

So if you're willing to share, looking back over your career, what's one of those most significant times that you can remember and then how did you get past that? Because that's one of the things we really want to promote is, hey, you're going to go through some type of event that's going to really hit you or stop you right in your tracks. But the thing is to process it and get past that. So if there's something that you've got that you're willing to share.

BIG NAZ (07:41.08)

Well, man, there's been several. As far as, know, like co-workers and stuff dealing with, obviously, like I mentioned, I replaced Deputy Litz when he was killed. That was definitely a traumatic event. And then having to deal with, knowing him personally and dealing with his death and then having the honor of replacing him in a unit that was a very close unit, that was difficult. And that took a lot of time for everybody to heal. And then, know, when Adam and I were close, Adam Rendell, when he committed suicide, him and I were pretty close, I took that pretty hard. those are the two, the main things that come to mind. Now I've worked calls, you know, I've seen a lot of you know, unfortunately people have been deceased and the one that hurts the most I think was my first drowning of a of a little boy. I think my son was around the same age, two or three years old and having be the first responder on that and trying to do CPR on the kid. And obviously he didn't survive and that was probably my first traumatic event that really hurt. Really took time to get over that. I still think about it today. So all of those things that I mentioned, I still.

Still to today, I still think about all that stuff.

Vernon Phillips (09:11.386)

Yeah, is there something specific that you do or you practice to kind of help you work through things like that?

BIG NAZ (09:19.47)

You know, I think it's good to think about the people that we've lost and you think about the good times you had together. I do that. Like I said, I go to the gym. When I go to the gym, I do a lot of thinking when I go there. I put my headphones in and I just think about some of the decisions I've made, some of the decisions that I need to make. And it just kind of, get a clear head and I'm..

It's kind of like a recharge. It kind of resets me and lets me see things a lot clearer. So I know everybody has their own. Some people go fishing, some people play football. I love doing all those things too. But obviously the gym has always been the best medicine for me.

Vernon Phillips (10:10.458)

Yeah, I mean, that's a staple in your life, obviously. I mean, if you've been doing it for the last 20, 25 years, and obviously it shows, but that's something that you've found that really resonates with you. And that's the thing, right? It's finding that thing that works for you that helps you kind of work that out in a positive way. But obviously, there's also those...

BIG NAZ (10:12.494)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (10:16.706)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (10:26.082)

Mm-hmm.

Vernon Phillips (10:39.258)

those critical instances really sit with us, but then there are also those calls for service that are humorous or just kind of awkward in nature. And I mean, I already know of one, but I'll let you share. I'll let you share if you got one that you can think of that's funny or just awkward, call for services you've had in the past.

BIG NAZ (11:02.777)

man, jeez, put me on the spot. don't know. 

BIG NAZ (11:38.102)

Lord. I remember probably one of my first apprehensions on the K9 unit. I can't remember what the call was. was... We were tracking somebody for something. It was obviously an arrestable offense.

And I see the guy and we're in the woods. I cut the dog loose, gave him his commands and know, shouted all this stuff I'm supposed to shout and they disappear. And of course, when that happens, you just kind of stick your ear out and just listen and you eventually you'll hear and you can hear the guy just just yelling, you know, begging for help. So we get to the guy and as I around the corner, I could shine my flashlight on him and he's got a hold of the guy on his buttocks and the guy's got his arm wrapped around the tree and he's just kind of doing this tugging motion. And he's like, Lord, please get them off, get them off. And it's like, I try not to laugh, it's like, this is the day before body camps do. But that's one of the funnest things I've seen probably.

Vernon Phillips (12:46.935)

All

Vernon Phillips (12:52.218)

Uggghhhh

Vernon Phillips (12:58.202)

Yeah, you know and I don't understand the the whole thing when you share yourself as canine, know, if you don't stop I'm let the dog go and They don't they just keep running I don't know if they think they're just they're gonna get away or the dogs not gonna find them or you know the dog can't get to them, but

BIG NAZ (13:14.828)

I don't think they hear you. think it honestly, I think you have so much tunnel vision. The adrenaline is going so much that I don't, I don't think they actually hear you, but you know, they say like when you're in a shootout and stuff like that, you don't hear the, you don't hear the gunfire, you know, that could be one possibility.

Vernon Phillips (13:28.996)

Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (13:34.01)

Well, there's nothing, I probably shouldn't say it's what I'll say anyway, but there's nothing better than watching a good dog bite. Especially when it's a bad guy. I'll probably get censored for that, but it's okay. But obviously, we talk a lot about just the career and how stressful it is, but when you think about our new people coming in,

BIG NAZ (13:42.958)

Yeah.

BIG NAZ (13:48.908)

Ha ha.

Vernon Phillips (14:00.686)

you know what is some advice you give to those who are just starting out their careers those are you know just getting into it just kind of learning all about law enforcement

BIG NAZ (14:11.766)

Well, you know i'm experiencing this now as a as a watch commander we've got a lot of new guys out there on the road and And I try to get I try to talk to each one of these guys and I obviously being safe is one of the the main things that I tell these guys but keeping your health I'm all about you know me I'm all about health I talk these guys and there's a lot of more approach me and ask me about working out and diets and stuff like that and I help out and I tell anybody I'm like I'll help you with a diet. I just you know, got to stick to it, you know and But I do that and I just get out there and I get on the road and I go to calls and you know just try to just observe Try to mentor them a little bit if I see him doing something wrong and I not to get on to him, but I'm like, you you might want to do something this way, be a little bit safer or you know maybe if you would have talked to this person like this you know because I always remind these guys this is these people you deal with they're not not all of them are bad most of them are good people and you remember that somebody's mom that somebody's sister somebody's dad just treat them how you would want your family treated so that's one of the big things I tell these guys

Vernon Phillips (15:28.762)

Yeah, absolutely. And then what is some advice that you'd give to, you kind of fall in this category because you're 20 years plus into your career now. But the guys who have been in and they're kind of seasoned now, maybe they've been in 15, 20, 20 plus years. What is some advice you'd give to them?

BIG NAZ (15:53.838)

Never stop learning. Always do the training. Listen, you're never too old to do anything. I'm almost 48 years old and I still compete, I still do bodybuilding. I can get out there with these guys and run and do whatever. So you're never too old to do what you wanna do, to chase your dreams. Just keep at it.

Vernon Phillips (16:21.144)

Yep. So obviously, you one of the big things with you is fitness. You know, that's one of the reasons, you know, we wanted to have this conversation because, you know, we wanted to get a little bit of your knowledge and your background, your experience in the fitness world. And just kind of tell everybody kind of that journey that you've been on, you know, since you started. mean, obviously, you you compete, you know, you're regularly in the gym, you're constantly, you know,

BIG NAZ (16:41.934)

Thank

BIG NAZ (16:45.71)

Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (16:50.65)

putting in the work both on your diet and you know, just in working out. don't you just kind of tell us how you got into that and then, know, kind of where you're at now with all of that.

BIG NAZ (16:54.008)

Mm-hmm.

you

BIG NAZ (17:04.254)

Man so of course that unit that is a lot. That's going back a long ways. I've never really Before we you know, we did this podcast. I started thinking that's like I know we're gonna talk about when I started working out But I Would say in high school I didn't really play any sports in high school I mean I played sports, but I was never really on a sports team. I played a little football But I actually a lot of people don't know this. I used to race cars when I was in high

Vernon Phillips (17:05.986)

That's a lot,

BIG NAZ (17:32.174)

I was actually a stock car driver and that was kind of like my ambition. My my my dream was to be a NASCAR driver and the local tracks out here I bought my own car I Had my own little pit crew and everything and start traveling around the local tracks, but then you know this thing called marriage happens and babies and stuff kind of puts through a wrench in it, so I was working for a grocery store chain at the time and I decided to get into law enforcement, went to the academy and all that. And, I kept getting the nickname of Barney Fife and, from people I knew. And when I first started working out and when I first started as a police officer and it kind of bothered me like, you know, or I call it slim or string bean or something like that. So that kind of motivated me a little bit. And, so I went to, there was a gym in Bellevue to your health spa.

So people know that that live here locally. Met up with a trainer there. ended up, we ended up actually being good friends there for a while. And he started me out, working out and training. And I actually, so about a few years into working out, I started powerlifting. And there was back then they had state law enforcement and fire Olympics.

And for those that don't know, it's like a squat, deadlift, and bench press. Those are your three main power liftings. So I actually started out in that. And of course, being tall, was a disadvantage for me. But I think that is probably where I got a lot of my size from. I I started deadlifting a lot and started squatting a lot. And almost every day I would meet with his trainer and we ended up becoming friends. We just started, we became workout partners.

And every other day we'd be we'd be doing deadlifts or we'd be doing squats. We'd be doing benching. And I just noticed my size was just getting I was just putting on muscle like crazy. And I was probably. I know I was under 200 pounds when I first started with the Bellevue Police Department. And within. A couple of years, year or two, I was I was in the 220s and then I bleed my way up to the 240s. And.

BIG NAZ (19:58.99)

So I started doing that. And then once I was competing for a few years, I can't remember what year it was, but I tore my patella doing a deadlift. I think I was trying to pull, it was over 700 pounds. So trying to pull it, tore my patella. And the guy that I was training with was actually a bodybuilder. He was a competitive bodybuilder. And I had been watching him and going to some of his competitions. So when I tore my knee and started getting better, I said, hey, you know, what are you?

What do you think about me trying to bodybuild? And he was supportive of it, but he's like, the only problem is you're very tall and bodybuilding is not a tall man's sport for those that don't know. Most of your average bodybuilders are under six foot. I think the top pro bodybuilder right now, he's like five, six, five, seven.

Vernon Phillips (20:53.555)

So I still got a chance here.

BIG NAZ (20:55.444)

Yeah, yeah, so a lot of people realize that they see pictures of these guys on stage and stuff like that And they think they're like these big monster guys But then when you get close to them, you see that they're they're not tall Bodybuilding is a very as a sport for short people for sure so anyways So we decided I was gonna I was gonna train for my first competition. This was in like 2000 some early 2000s can't remember exactly when but Did that it was in Tampa it was the it was called the Tampa Bay Classic and It was my first show went there and competed actually won my first show. It was the novice class So I was excited. I just went there to just say I'm gonna try this and I realized I was gonna win and So from there, I'm like, oh man, this is pretty cool. I like this, you know

So I just went from there and I can't sit here and tell you how many shows I've done since then, but every year since then I've done two or three. I've taken some years off here and there. I've had some injuries and stuff. Probably two or three shows a year. So I can't say that I'm near 100, but I'm pretty close to it.

And some I've won, some second, third. My most recent, I've kind of segued into the Olympics now. There's an international law enforcement Olympics and it's hosted every two years and it's in a different country. So I've traveled a lot. I've competed in Ireland, I've competed in California, I've competed in New York. I just got back from Canada.

I got one coming up in Australia. So that's that's been really exciting and I'm really blessed to be able to do that.

Vernon Phillips (22:49.946)

Did you do one over in Tokyo? Didn't you go to Tokyo?

BIG NAZ (22:53.974)

I did Tokyo, but I didn't compete then. They had one, I wasn't ready for it. So I just went over there to visit.

Vernon Phillips (22:56.504)

Okay.

Vernon Phillips (23:03.674)

So when you, just to kind of give people an idea, because I mean, I don't really know how much goes into it, but how much prep work goes into competing in a competition.

BIG NAZ (23:06.53)

and

BIG NAZ (23:15.382)

So It's pretty intense. It's it's Average is 12 to 14 weeks of training That's just to prepare for a competition now You're always you're always you're always competing against yourself. I like to say because you're always trying to improve yourself so Whenever you do one competition, you're like, okay, I need to get my legs bigger. I need to be arms bigger and you get my shoulders bigger whatever but a typical competition prep is 12 to 14 weeks and that's all your dieting. And that's the main part of a competition is your diet. That's usually what will make or break you. know, everybody's that there's a lot of guys that, I'm going to compete, I'm going to compete and they'll get about two or three weeks in the diet and they just can't handle it. It is tough. It's really tough. You got to weigh out all your food, your time, you know,

Your cardio's gotta be at certain times. Your weight training's here. Your supplementation, you gotta do all that stuff. There's a science behind it, you really are. And I use a coach for it. I I can do stuff on my own, but it's always good to have a coach that can kinda look at you and critique you. It's nice to have another person look at you and critique you. And then outside of your weight training and your diet is what's called your posing.

That's where everybody you know you stand on stage and you flex and stuff and that's a workout itself and and you try to pose when you've got about Probably 100 grams of carbs in you. You know you're just like you know you're like ready to fall asleep standing on stage sometimes But it's intense. It's a lot People don't realize it but it once you get used to it once you get Once your body starts getting used to the diet it becomes a lot easier

Vernon Phillips (25:11.748)

So what's a normal week routine look like for you? Like how is that structured and what does it look like?

BIG NAZ (25:20.408)

So when I'm getting ready for a competition, usually I try to do it when I'm on day shift, obviously. It's a little tougher at night. It can be dumb, it's tougher. I'm usually up about 5 a.m. and depending on how much I've had to eat day before, where my weight's at. always weigh myself in the morning to see where my weight's at. And then I do my cardio. Usually I do it fasted, which means you don't eat.

So I'll do about 30 minutes of cardio, then I'll eat. And of course, you know, most of my diet is egg whites. Usually I have egg whites and then whatever my carb is for the day, it's usually cream of rice, oatmeal, or sometimes I'll spoil myself with a English muffin or something like that. And then if I have to work, I go to work, I prepare all my mealstake them with me, put them in a bag, in a lunch bag. When I'm done with work, I come home, usually have a meal before I go to the gym. I go to the gym, probably weight train for, depending on what I'm training, if I'm doing legs or chest or something like that, it's about an hour and a half, hour to hour and a half of weight training. And then sometimes I'll do another 30 minutes of cardio. And then, then you gotta start your posing. So when I'm done training, there's a posing room at the gym that I go to and I go in there and I pose. And what that does, it's when you're holding the muscles and holding the pose, it helps the muscle develop. So it makes the muscle harder in a sense. And it just, it kind of gets everything to pop, for lack of a better term.

And sometimes, you know, sometimes if I'm off, I'll go to gym twice a day. I do what we call two a days. And that's only during competition time. Usually when I'm not competing, I'll just go once a day.

BIG NAZ (27:32.11)

So it takes up a lot of your time. I know when I'm competing, most of my family knows that for about 12 or 14 weeks they don't see me that much. I don't purposely distance myself, but it's just one of the things you gotta stay focused. And if you wanna win, you gotta stay focused.

Vernon Phillips (27:56.026)

Yeah, so within all of this, obviously, what is your average sleep time? How much sleep do you try to average?

BIG NAZ (28:04.462)

I like to get eight hours obviously, but six is kind of typically where I'm at. Yeah, at least six hours. So on a normal day, I'm in bed by 10, I fall asleep by 11, and I'm up by five. It's on normal day. And of course, know.

Vernon Phillips (28:22.49)

Yeah, because obviously we know that sleep is vital to the body and the brain, so getting an adequate amount of sleep. But I've also heard other people talk about, if you're going to choose between sleep and training, they're like, I'm always going to choose training. I'll sacrifice sleep, but I think you've got to find a balance in there somewhere. I think if you're getting three, four hours a night, I think eventually,

BIG NAZ (28:26.83)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (28:30.656)

Thank

BIG NAZ (28:46.414)

Yeah.

BIG NAZ (28:51.374)

Mm-hmm.

Vernon Phillips (28:51.93)

that's going to build up and you're going to burn out.

BIG NAZ (28:56.47)

yeah, and in your diet man, that's a big thing. People don't realize how important your diet is. You know, I can go in there or anybody, you can go in the gym and kill yourself for two hours, but if you're not eating right, it's not gonna do anything. It's not gonna help. You're basically, you're wasting your time.

Vernon Phillips (29:14.276)

Yes, so there's somebody who's just starting out or just wanting to kind of jump into it, obviously, like you said, diet's a big thing. So what is just a kind of a basic setup that they should be looking at?

BIG NAZ (29:28.43)

as far as what, like a diet?

Vernon Phillips (29:29.816)

Yeah, as far as diet.

BIG NAZ (29:31.63)

Well, depending on it depends on a lot of things it depends on your lifestyle and your like I don't typically train clients The ones that I do I always have them I tell them okay, I want you to write down what you eat I want you to write down everything you eat for a week and they bring it to me I'll look at it and then I'll start critiquing it the first thing that I do When I have somebody on a diet, I usually haven't cut out all their dairy so I everybody cut all your dairy out at first. No yogurt, no cheese, no, and we can throw some Greek yogurt in it later for the probiotics, but I want to cut all that out. Any sodas, cut all that out. I don't care if it's a diet soda, sugar-free, whatever. If it's a carbonated drink and you're trying to lose weight, you can't have that stuff. And the reason why is, you know, you take a perfect example. If you take a soda,

Even if it's a diet put it inside a balloon. What's it gonna do? What's the balloon gonna do? Gonna expand You gotta remember that's what it's doing in your stomach And dairy is very hard to digest So and here lately as I've gotten when I soon as I got past 40 I've learned Digestion is a very key and and this goes for people under 42, but if your body is not digesting your food right, it's it's a big key. It's you know, you've got to make sure your body is digesting the food right. And that's why have people cut out the dairy so they can body can kind of work a little better and work on digesting the food. But doing that and, you know, just basically your your lean meats, your chicken, your fish, your beef, any kind of sirloin is good.

When I say fish, the white fish, kind, know, like a tilapia or cod. Your salmons are good. They have the omega threes. Typically I like the omega threes at night. I always eat either a salmon or steak before I go to bed. Because the fat is good for you while you're sleeping. And people don't realize salt, Himalayan salt, sea salt, salt your food. A lot of people have...

BIG NAZ (31:55.598)

Steered away from salt thinking it's sodium. You know it's gonna make me hold water. It's not true I used to think that too, and I would never salt anything and some of these trainers and people that have been around a lot I'd see these guys backstage and during a competition. They're like the grinders salt mother food. I'm like you would Why are you putting salt on your food? He's like man. He salt is the best thing to help lose weight

So I start saltin' all my food and water, lots of water. Of course, you know the body's mostly made up of water. But you know, people have allergies and then you've got your vegetarians and stuff, yeah, that's just kind of the basic thing, what I tell people.

Vernon Phillips (32:47.61)

Yeah, I mean, think dairy, like dairy bothers different people. Like, I mean, obviously, like my older, she's got a dairy allergy. you know, for her, it's, you know, she's got an EpiPen. So for her, can't have any dairy. You know, for her, it's you know, got an EpiPen, life or death kind of thing. you know, depending on the amount that she, but she's pretty good now. mean, you know, she's 12, getting ready to go on 13. So she, you know, she's real good about.

BIG NAZ (32:59.534)

wow.

BIG NAZ (33:05.699)

Mm-hmm.

Vernon Phillips (33:16.29)

know reading ingredients and knowing what she can't have and what she can't have so And then even for myself, you know, I cut out dairy there for a while. I've introduced there back in But I probably will not you know, keep it here much longer Just because you know for myself like I've got I've got autoimmune disease. I've cut out a lot of things You know, I've cut out, you know gluten and corn and you know things like you know tomatoes or anything It's like an inflammatory, you know

BIG NAZ (33:30.286)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (33:39.288)

Mm-hmm.

Vernon Phillips (33:44.346)

I've cut out especially you know dairy dairy can be an inflammatory and especially you know depending on how much you have and You some people just don't have a really good tolerance for it So you know I've kind of gotten in the habit of like you know getting it back into my diets And I'm like kind of working it back out So you know that's kind of work where I'm

BIG NAZ (33:48.632)

Yeah. Yeah.

BIG NAZ (34:06.806)

Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong. Listen, I love ice cream. I mean, that's probably that's one of my biggest weaknesses. I'm not telling people that, you can never have dairy. And, sometimes, you know, put a slice of cheese on your burger, you know, have yogurt, have if you know, if you're to have milk, have almond milk, you know, it's there's alternatives and there's and there's there's ways around it. But, you know, we can talk about this more later, but it's it's all up here, man. It's in your mind.

Vernon Phillips (34:10.376)

yeah.

Vernon Phillips (34:31.358)

yeah.

BIG NAZ (34:35.63)

You have to want to get healthy you have to want to eat right and if you know if you don't have that mindset It's most people they don't they won't stick to it. I mean that's with anything You know, you got to have a mindset, you know everybody these guys they want me to help with the diet or they want to come to me They want to compete You know, it's I'll help them with stuff and you know, and then I'll see him on social media later a bar drinking, you know It's like you can't you can't do this stuff guys you gotta, don't get me wrong, there's times for that. And we all wanna have a good time and we have to spend time with family and I agree with all that. But if you're not healthy, if you're not here, you're not gonna be able to spend those times with your kids and your grandkids and stuff.

Vernon Phillips (35:25.838)

Well yeah, mean you can't have this idea that you want to be healthy and compete and be on diet and have a 12 pack of beer every night.

BIG NAZ (35:31.47)

No, no, no, no, no. Now listen, my dieting is extreme. Now I'm not pushing this on any, and the people I know, I only know a few people that compete here locally. But I understand everybody has a normal life and they have kids. So when I help people with diets and stuff like that, I'm like, listen, you don't.

You don't have to copy what I'm doing because I'm pretty extreme, you know, and I know that. mean, it's pretty much. You know, I when I go out to meals with my family, I usually take a container of chicken with me. You know, that's how extreme I am. So I don't expect anybody to be like that. That's that's what I choose. That's what I enjoy. It's like if I don't have a container of food with me, I like I like I feel naked. It's weird.

Vernon Phillips (36:24.314)

Yeah, we don't you know, we don't go out to dinner that much mostly because there's six of us and it'll cost us, you know, like four hundred dollars so but Absolutely, we were just talking about that on the way home today, you know from church we were talking you I stopped it the You know, we depending on you where we go. We'll go to you know all of your Publix But I'll try to go to Publix when they've got you know, some of their some of their different cuts of steak on sale

BIG NAZ (36:32.331)

And eating healthy is expensive.

Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (36:50.234)

And instead of buying the pre-cut, what I'll do is I'll buy, so last weekend they had a whole beef shoulder on sale for like 549 pounds. So I'll get that and then I'll cut my own steaks out of it. Because it's a little bit of a way to save some money, but if you want to eat healthy, it costs you a lot of money. mean, we probably figure, we were just talking about on the way home from church today, and I don't know, we're probably $1,300, $1,400 a month in food.

BIG NAZ (36:50.286)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (36:59.701)

All right.

Vernon Phillips (37:20.869)

And that's because we're not buying You know, we're not buying a bunch of junk So, I mean you could go to the grocery store and you could buy a bunch of you know, you know pre-made You know stuff that's full of you know garbage, but you know, that's just not You know, we we a lot of meat and I mean that cost money I mean you you start buying I mean we stopped today and I probably bought you know $80 just worth of

BIG NAZ (37:21.304)

lot.

BIG NAZ (37:36.664)

Yeah.

BIG NAZ (37:42.05)

Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (37:48.89)

of meat, right? So I mean, got some you know, ground sirloin, you know, I made some burgers this afternoon. And then I bought my I bought a chuck roast that I'll end up, you know, cutting that up into the stakes. And people are like, you bought a chuck roast and you cut it into steaks? Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a it's a it's a yeah. And people don't understand, like, what do mean? It's like, no, it's the same thing they're going to do. Like, and then they're going to sell you the steak for twice as much as what you can cut it for yourself. So

BIG NAZ (38:04.888)

Same thing that this meat market does. Yeah. Right.

BIG NAZ (38:16.812)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, people want the quick and easy. They want the quick and easy.

Vernon Phillips (38:18.848)

And I'll tell you what, so yeah. But I will tell you since I kind of, you know, because I'm kind of doing more of like a, I was doing full carnivore there for a while, and now I'm kind of doing more of like a ketobor, kind of, you know, because I've got some dairy that I'm doing, but I'll do avocado. That's pretty much the only thing that I'm doing like outside of kind of your meat and things like that is avocado just because of the fat content. But

BIG NAZ (38:31.182)

Mm-hmm.

Vernon Phillips (38:47.098)

What I've gotten to used to is like people are like, man, how do you eat a cut of meat like that with all the marble in there and all the fat? I'm like, actually, when you get used to it, the fat actually, for me, kind of gives me a sweet taste. Because your body kind of gets used to that. And there's a lot of nutrients in it. People don't understand that. Yeah, your body needs that. they're like, how many eggs do you eat? And I'm like, we go through eggs like crazy. I mean, like we just eat a lot of eggs.

BIG NAZ (39:05.91)

Your body needs that fat. Yes.

BIG NAZ (39:16.002)

Yeah, I'm hurting right now with eggs. Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (39:18.053)

Oh Yeah, because I mean we try to get them on sale But I mean if you if you get you doubt you can get down low like yesterday I stopped at the you know the the DG market and I paid 750 for 12 and I'm like oh You know and the best place that I found is you can get that Walmart has the they're not Walmart Publix has the the crate, and I'm not sure I'm not sure how many earn it

BIG NAZ (39:30.83)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (39:44.398)

The box Yeah, I've seen I've gotten those before I do a lot of egg white. So I Go to all I do a lot of my shop my Aldi

Vernon Phillips (39:46.872)

the box. Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (39:54.764)

Aldi has, so have you had Aldi's ribeye? Aldi's ribeye is pretty much like, is one of the better cuts that I've had. Yeah, they've got, so that's probably, if I do a ribeye, that's probably my favorite is getting it from Aldi. just has a good, it tastes pretty good. But yeah, we'll try to do most of our stuff there.

BIG NAZ (39:58.007)

Yeah.

BIG NAZ (40:02.484)

I buy all my meat and fish from Aldi. Believe it or not, yeah.

BIG NAZ (40:12.728)

Yep.

I stop in all of these usually once or twice a week and I stock up on my egg whites and my meat. Then I go to Publix for my other stuff, obviously.

Vernon Phillips (40:24.036)

Yeah, but yeah, it's crazy eggs right now is crazy I mean you know so I mean that that big carton went from nine bucks to 15 bucks right now so but but I mean for myself Sorry what I'll do for you know for a for a good thing to take with you is so I've got a muffin muffin pan It's got 12 square. You know muffins in it. So what I'll do is I'll get my eggs

BIG NAZ (40:29.24)

Huh.

BIG NAZ (40:33.72)

That's crazy

Vernon Phillips (40:52.954)

I'll scramble them up and then I fill up those muffin tin. I'll throw some bacon in there or something or maybe a little bit of cheddar. I'll bake those and those are something you can take on the run and it's just easy. Each one is about one egg and I'll probably eat 12 of those a day.

BIG NAZ (41:16.142)

No, that's good. I do that sometimes. Yeah. Those are good.

Vernon Phillips (41:21.466)

But that's a good alternative to snacking on stuff all day. And then the other thing, people, much like you, they'll say, hey, how do you afford to eat that way? But when you look at how much you go out, right? I mean, how often people go out to lunch every day at work? I mean, you see it all the time, and they're spending 20 bucks, easy. Even at fast food joints now, you're spending 20 bucks. So when you're doing that every day, you have to look at it say, OK, well, what can I go and buy?

BIG NAZ (41:28.098)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (41:43.126)

A person.

Vernon Phillips (41:51.662)

I mean, for what they spend, you know, two, three days going out to lunch, I can go and buy, you know, a whole, know, beef shoulder and cut that up and get, you know, eight, 10 steaks out of it. And that'll be good for, you know, the whole week. So it just depends on what you want to do. then, you know, so I, I'll usually cook enough the night before so I can take some the next day. It just, depending on what you want to do. And,

BIG NAZ (42:07.714)

Yeah.

BIG NAZ (42:18.254)

Not to mention the restaurants, I mean you know, you don't know what they're putting in the food when they cook it either. Most of the time they're, you know, five pounds of butter and you know, everything else just to make it taste good. Smoothies, don't get me started on smoothie king because that's sugar in a cup basically. Yeah, protein but you're watching when they make a smoothie now you'll...

Vernon Phillips (42:24.857)

Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (42:35.034)

Yeah, but they put protein in it.

BIG NAZ (42:44.14)

they go to this little clear bottle and they squirt this clear liquid in there. You know what that is? It's sugar water. Yes, exactly. It's the sugar water. So that's why all your protein shakes taste good there. Tell them to not put that sugar water and see what your protein shake tastes like. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy.

Vernon Phillips (42:49.304)

High fructose corn syrup.

Vernon Phillips (43:02.038)

Absolutely. We could probably go around and around about this forever. So obviously, you work out a lot. you probably take supplements. So what is something that are some good supplements that somebody who's getting into working out and trying to get their self back on track is good to start introducing into their daily routine.

BIG NAZ (43:30.493)

First of all creatine I recommend creatine to men and women creatine has been around I think since the 60s and It's one of those supplements that have never had any I don't think any kind of side effects that I know of any research I've seen Creatine I always tell my guys creatine glutamine a branch chain amino acid Your vitamins multivitamin your proteins make sure your proteins Check your ingredients on your proteins because there's a lot of crap out there And for the older guys Usually when I have when I help people like over 30 over 40, I have them go get their blood work done Because you need to take a look at your metabolic profile to make sure that all that's healthy

And for guys that are getting over the 40s, I mean, I'm on testosterone. I've been on testosterone for a few years now. And anybody with low testosterone, they're going to know because it's not healthy to have low testosterone. But I mean, we can talk about that some other time. But as far as over the counter, yeah, those are your main ones. creatine, glutamine, branched chain, that's all the stuff that I take. I have this stuff that it's called size on and I have it on my website or my the link on my instagram it's made by gosphari and it's got all that stuff in it that I said and it's kind of a intro workout you kind of sip it as you're working out I personally I sip it all day long because you know as much as I work out and you know and with my job obviously sometimes I'm on the road like

I have time to eat or you know, I miss a meal. So those amino acids in the, all those supplements are gonna keep your muscles from breaking down. So I always tell these guys, you know, when they get their amino acids stuff, said, drink that stuff all day, especially if you're working out five, six days a week, your body's gonna be craving all that stuff and you don't want it to, you don't want your muscles to deteriorate. You wanna keep those muscles, keep them full.

Vernon Phillips (45:50.906)

Now with your creatine, do a cycle on that or just every day?

BIG NAZ (45:51.586)

That's your basic stuff.

BIG NAZ (45:56.846)

Do it every day any any supplement. I think you should come off of it. I would say at least 30 days I'll do I'll do my creatine and aminos and stuff for 45 60 days and then I'll come off for a month. I have my blood work done every six months. So usually two to three weeks before I have my blood drawn I come off everything and That way, you know, once I get the the green light, know, hey kidneys are good, liver's good, all that stuff and because you got to be careful with the creatine you know make sure you drink a lot of water because it can make your kidney counts go up a little bit but if you're just doing five grams of creatine a day I don't I don't really think that's gonna hurt too much these guys that put half a jar of creatine in their jug and thinking it's it's just like any anything some of these guys they use this stuff and they make it look bad and it's like well dude you shouldn't have half a jar. That's probably why your kidneys shut down.

Vernon Phillips (46:56.248)

Yeah.

And you don't need to load it. mean, you just start introducing your die. You don't need to, you

BIG NAZ (47:06.574)

No, I never was a fan of like loading phases. So you don't, you don't need that kind of stuff. But even kids, you know, these guys with the high school kids that playing football and stuff like that. think career teams safe for pretty much any age. You know, obviously I wouldn't put a 12 year old on any of that stuff, but high school kids, you know.

Vernon Phillips (47:25.146)

Yeah, but yeah, and then kind of back to your thought about blood work. mean, if you have not had your blood work done, then you are doing yourself a disservice. Like you should be, I have mine drawn every six months. Most of that's with my autoimmune, but so I've actually been off of my prescription medication for almost two years now, just through my diet.

I've been able to kind of keep that in check because I cut out those things that aggravate or enhance that autoimmune, which is a huge thing because I want to be off as many prescriptions as I can. So right now don't take any prescription medication, prescription. I keep saying it's the same thing. mean, touch me, it's the same thing, right? mean, it's something that you're...

BIG NAZ (47:59.054)

Ahem.

BIG NAZ (48:03.202)

Mm-hmm.

Vernon Phillips (48:22.51)

you're tied into unless you change something, unless you make a decision. I just think that there's a lot to be said about your diet and your exercise and just your overall health. We could go down that road and probably piss a lot of people off.

BIG NAZ (48:26.498)

Yeah.

BIG NAZ (48:37.944)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (48:42.23)

Yeah, everybody's got their opinion on different things, you know, I-

People gotta be careful and I always tell people this when I do my podcast. It's like these younger generations of, you if some chick is 20 years old on Instagram and obviously her last name is fit for some reason, just because she looks, you know, she's 20 doesn't mean she knows what she's talking about or even with the guys. They're telling people to take this and don't take this, don't take that. Listen, you know, that stuff.

You be careful what you take because there's a lot of stuff out there that's bad for you and getting your blood work done is something that I recommend for anybody. You know there's different things you need to look for. Your testosterone level, your estrogen, men and women, your thyroids, your blood count, all these different things that can have an effect on your diet. You know, you may...you may have put somebody on a good diet. It's like, you're not really losing any weight. I'm like, when's the last time you your blood work done? Well, I had it done in five years. Go get your blood work done. Well, this last guy, his thyroid was all messed up. He had to get on thyroid medicine. So that's the reason why he wasn't losing any weight. That and he was going to the bar and drinking.

Vernon Phillips (50:04.664)

Yep. Well, so for me that's, that's, you know, so I've got, Hashimoto's so, but, like I said, I haven't taken, I've been off of my thyroid medication for two years now. just because I've, I've cut out, you know, like I said, I cut out the gluten, I cut out in the corner, I cut out these things that, you know, that, aggravate, you know, that aggravate and, you know, just through trying to maintain, you know, don't get me wrong. Just like you, you know, I like ice cream.

BIG NAZ (50:22.797)

Uh-huh.

Vernon Phillips (50:34.554)

And but now I've learned that for me, it's almost like, you know, as I'm kind of going through this journey myself and kind of getting, you know, educating myself more, you know, I don't get it near as much, but the last several times, like, man, my body just been like, you know, revolts on me, like, what are you doing? You know, like, because you go for, you know, three, four weeks at a time, and you've got this this really good clean spell. And then you're like, hey, you know what, you're,

BIG NAZ (50:34.584)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (50:47.502)

you

BIG NAZ (50:53.518)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (51:04.184)

me and the wife are out or whatever, we're coming back through, like, let's get some ice cream. And my body is just like, no, don't like it. I mean, it tastes great, right? And then every time, my wife's like, why do you do this to yourself? She's like, you know what's gonna happen. So I started looking at, what are some ways that I can kind of do this from home, but do it that doesn't have all the extra ingredients, right? So we've been kind doing that a little bit.

BIG NAZ (51:13.602)

Yeah, mine does the same thing.

Vernon Phillips (51:33.696)

And just to try to offset it, trying to use better ingredients where, because you go to Dairy Queen or some of these places, you're getting ice cream, but you have no idea what else is in. mean, it's all so, no one in your body is like, what are you doing? So, yeah. But we kind of keep going around and around and around, but.

BIG NAZ (51:44.522)

yeah.

Yeah.

BIG NAZ (51:51.842)

Yeah, it's got chemicals in it and stuff. No telling.

Vernon Phillips (52:00.602)

If somebody was interested, and I don't want to put you out there like this because I know it's frustrating that people reach out to you, like, what do need to do to start eating right or get healthy and this? They'll have the great intentions and then they get into it a week or two. But if somebody did want some advice, what's the best way they could get in contact with you? Just through social media?

BIG NAZ (52:15.416)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (52:24.206)

Social media or if they work with me they can obviously text me or call me on my work phone or they can email me I have I Have some some generic diets that I have some day. I wouldn't say generic some basic diets on my On my desktop here. I have one for male one for female And I can send that to whoever and I can critique it but as far as like taking clients on stuff like that I'm not really up to that right now I'm looking at some of that stuff. I'm working on maybe doing my own YouTube channel as far as some training videos and stuff. But there's a million of them out there. that's what I'm doing right now. That's why I told you my podcast is kind of in a restructure. I'm trying to figure out, I want to do something that, you know, that something nobody else is doing. I know it's kind of hard, but yeah.

Vernon Phillips (53:18.944)

yeah.

BIG NAZ (53:22.136)

But yeah, those, I think my, what's my part, my.

BIG NAZ (53:30.71)

Instagram is yeah aka big nas and then My facebook they can they can message me on there and i'll help out whoever Yeah, I don't mind

Vernon Phillips (53:30.98)

I'll put your... Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (53:41.326)

Yeah, if you go with it, I'll put your social media in the show notes and then that way they can go to it. But I appreciate you coming on. Before we wrap it up, just one last thing. mean, when you look back over your career and just your fitness journey and everything, how much has your, we kind of already touched on a little bit early on, but how much has your faith played a role in that to kind of where you're at today?

BIG NAZ (53:46.072)

Mm-hmm.

BIG NAZ (54:07.144)

my face is played a lot. you know, I always had a big shout out to my my pastor at Meadowbrook, Pastor Tim Gilligan. He's what I was going through some personal time while he actually reached out to me personally and was there for me and reminded me who I was and who who our father is and who who has our back. And at the end of the day, you know, God has our back and and there's nobody stronger than him strong as I am I know he's a lot stronger so I find myself as I get older I find myself talking to God more and more about am I making the right decision and you know I think he's talking to me I feel like he is on certain things so what's that what what's Mark Wahlberg say stay prayed up

Vernon Phillips (54:35.137)

yeah.

Vernon Phillips (54:55.0)

Absolutely.

Yeah.

Vernon Phillips (55:01.37)

Yeah, we didn't even get into infrared saunas and cold plungers.

BIG NAZ (55:06.592)

man, yeah, we need to do a I'll tell you man. I This podcast world is crazy. I have a I have a doctor that comes on, you know Usually we would do once a month and we I would pick a different topic each time and that was one I would do supplementation for men supplementation for women I'd pick a whole different thing peptides Different types of protein. I would actually like take like I'd put like the nutrition labels of like protein powders up on the screen and the doctor we would sit there and go through them and actually he would tell you what's actually in these proteins and you'd be People would be like crazy to think that the stuff they put in I mean we know that but We actually do a sessions on autopsies of these bodybuilders that have passed away and stuff like that any bodybuilders or people in sports

Vernon Phillips (56:01.466)

Mmm.

BIG NAZ (56:05.006)

Especially the bodybuilders unfortunately with the drugs and stuff and some of these guys and the doctor will sit there and explain what the drugs had did to them and why they died and it's very interesting. They go back and look at some of my videos, they can see some of them. It's crazy about some of the stuff that, the stuff out there, what they can do to our bodies. And that's what you gotta be careful of.

Vernon Phillips (56:22.073)

Okay.

Vernon Phillips (56:31.054)

Yeah, is your YouTube channel still up? I mean, is it still live? Yeah, okay, so I'll,

BIG NAZ (56:33.024)

It's still up. Yeah, it's got it. Muscle, the muscle breakdown.

Vernon Phillips (56:37.88)

Yeah, I'll throw that in there too. but other than that, I appreciate your time and you know, next time we'll, I'm there's some other things we can dive into, but I appreciate you come on just sharing, you know, about yourself and about your, you know, your fitness journey and you know, what you do to maintain your overall health. So, I appreciate it. Thank you. 

BIG NAZ (56:55.746)

Yeah, no problem. Anytime. All right. Thank you.