Thank you for checking out The Community Conversation, brought to you by Prototype Training Systems, home of CrossFit Prototype. The Community Conversation highlights a different member of the Prototype Community each week and allows them to tell their story, share their life experience, and communicate their perspective on all things fitness.
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Today’s guest on The Community Conversation is Dr. Dan Fanselow! Dan is the owner and founder of Family Chiropractic of Westboro, located in Westborough, MA. Dan has been a member at Prototype even before its inception, he’s my personal chiropractor, he’s a world traveler and family man, poker star, and just an all-around great person!
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Mike Collette 0:02
Hey everyone, thank you so much for tuning in to the community conversation brought to you by Prototype training systems home of CrossFit Prototype. The community conversation highlights a different member of the prototype community each week allows them to tell their story, share their life experience, and communicate their perspective on all things fitness, all listen to podcasts and watch YouTube videos that highlight some of the world’s greatest leaders and visionaries. We believe we have some amazing people here at prototype and we want you to get to know them. So to that end, I want to introduce our 11th guest on the community conversation. Dan fanselow, a lot of people know him is Dr. Dan. Dr. Dan’s a part of the Prototype community even before its inception, he owns family chiropractic here in Westborough. He’s one of our community business sponsors here a prototype. He’s my personal chiropractor, and I will say he’s a magician, not only fixing your pain, but also preventing it as well. And another thing about Danny’s I’d say he’s a wanderlust. They’re traveling, seeking out new adventures that sets you know, I think, maybe not as much now, but I know that Dan has traveled almost all over the world. Maybe we’ll talk a lot about that. And he’s a family man, just all around just amazing person. So Dr. Dan, thank you for being in the conversation.
Dr. Dan 1:16
Yeah, I was, uh, I was thinking about you when this all started, right, like, (blank space) type open. Did you buzz out? When did prototype open?
Mike Collette 1:29
Prototype opened and I thought you said the prototype open prototype opened in 2012.
Dr. Dan 1:35
Alright, so that’s nine years ago. So 10 years ago, I was working on at Boston sports club and Mike was my personal trainer. And I was like the guinea pig. It was while he was like, I think he was learning about CrossFit stuff. All sudden, we were doing this. We went from like lifting weights to like double unders. I’m like, what are we doing here? You know, and I’m doing all this stuff. And um, there’s another amazing member, maybe she’ll get interviewed one day of our committee or maybe she already has a Sally Harwood probably bunch of people know. And Sally and I used to work out like personal train with Mike. And to this day, you know, I call her Damn that Sally Harwood because we’d be doing stuff. And Mike would be trying to get me to do like, I don’t know, a kipping pull up. But we’d be working on double unders that we’d be trying to roll for time and all this CrossFit stuff that he was developing his programming. And he would always say to me, you know, well, Sally can do, you know, XYZ, and I was like, Damn, that sounds like achieving stuff that I couldn’t achieve. And it was, it was the competition started then.
And she’s still kicking my butt. But it’s, uh, you know, it was pretty cool to watch the whole development of it. You know, I was, I was a member from day one, you know, right from the beginning, you know, before for you, yeah, we were, we were, we were started up, and then it all, it all took off. It’s been awesome. You know, it’s been an awesome thing to watch the whole evolution of it. I was commenting how awesome Mike is, I had just the community, it’s just been great at keeping engaged during COVID it’s, it’s been really tough, you know, my office, you know, sees a drop off, get your hands on, and we never close, we were essential personnel had to work from day one, you know, trying to navigate the waters of it, and trying to allay people’s fears and do everything to keep everybody safe. And, you know, keeping the engagement that prototype has been able to do is just awesome. You know, it’s, it’s really amazing, you know, you get pounded with these emails every day and probably, who go with that gives us every day. But it’s, it’s good to keep keeping everyone engaged. And we’re talking, Mike and I, before we get on about one of the most important things you can do in this time is take care of yourself. I mean, it’s, it’s really this, this disease is not about the disease, it’s about you. I mean, and America in general is so unhealthy and anything you can do to improve your general well being is going to go miles toward you know, it’s going to be a mask and a vaccine hands down if you’re the right way. Proper vitamin D, good nutrition, exercise, love. You get it all, we’re going to be a healthier environment than anything else anybody can do for us. So it’s about getting yourself strong. And in doing that, it’s the most protective thing you can do.
Mike Collette 4:08
Yeah, yeah, there’s there’s so many ways that we can go with this. I’ve been looking forward to this number one, I think I mentioned to you earlier, let me just circle back about Sally Sally’s still crushing it at like 6am 7am every day. So that is non stop. So she’ll appreciate hearing that shout out. But, you know, before, you know, we kind of keep going down like different rabbit holes, I would love for you to kind of just give give everyone kind of like your background, like, you know, I know, everyone knows at this point, you started doing this before we even opened up prototype in 2012. But like, where’d you grow up? You know, give us your kind of your story time. Like when did the only chiropractic like talk about let’s talk about?
Dr. Dan 4:49
Yeah, um, so I’m one of those anomalies that knew in 11th grade that I was going to be a chiropractor, so and I never wavered. You know, I my mother had heard Practice could help with asthma. And my brother had asthma. And we went to this lecture about from his chiropractic talked about how the nervous system controls everything. And that if your spine is in alignment, then your nervous system works better. So anything can get better with chiropractic care. It does not have treatment for everything, but it’s just one component of the health and getting your spine aligned, could help with all these conditions. And my brother never went. But my my mother and my girlfriend and my cell phone started going when I was a junior, we went to this lecture and I said, that’s what I want to be when I grow up. And I never wavered, I went right down that road.
So I’ve been doing this for 31 years. So this was, you know, 1757 to 40 years ago, when this was the case, chiropractic was, you know, a pretty maligned profession. It wasn’t very well respected, wasn’t covered by insurance or any of that. And so my mother was like, well, you need to have a backup plan. You know, I’m like, Yo, I’m going to be a doctor. She’s like, Yeah, well, you’re gonna have something to fall back on, just in case. So when I went to school, I double majored. This is something that a lot of people probably know about me, but my, my major is in musical theater. So I actually, you know, that that’s what my BA is. So I’m pre med and musical theater, right? And then and then and then on to chiropractic school in New York, Long Island. And started my, my practice from there, moved up to Massachusetts came here, but I grew up in New York, I had an ex wife who dragged me up here, and, and so started my practice and then I’m been Westboro for 31 years raised three kids. You know, my my wife, like two stepkids, my daughter raised three kids here. My youngest is an obstetrician in Tennessee, the oldest is down in Florida working at Universal security and the middle daughter and myself and her husband and my wife, Gayle, who some of you know who used to work out across it.
She, we built a house in Hudson and we live in this multi generational house with my two grandkids and it’s been really cool. When we built the house we we built a CrossFit gym in the house. So we have you know, rubber floor double wood, you know, the whole setup, we’re missing an air bike, but they just got a peloton which you can sort of sub out once in a while, but, you know, so it’s great. We have rings and pull up bars, and you know, it’s pretty cool space. And we’ve it’s so that was a came up to westborough, I wasn’t really working out a ton, a lot of movement in musical theater, you know, dance and took ballet classes, movement classes, a lot of bodyweight stuff, which is some of the stuff I like a little gymnastic stuff. So some of the things I like or do better at CrossFit. You know, unlike most people at CrossFit, I like burpees. So you know, doing you know, those kinds of things. I like the weights were a whole new thing for me. I had started training with Mike, we started doing some weights. I played tennis at the time also. So that was something I am I have I’m a victim of a CrossFit injury from bad technique and bad teachers, not Mike and Brian, but someone showed me butterfly pull ups once which I don’t think you do much there. Some people do them but um, and so shoulder injury I work with Martha to rehab that it’s been much better I’m able to do pull ups again. She’s awesome. Another member of our community if no one’s seen her any of that she’s I know she’s doing a mobility seminar. thoracic mobility seminar Actually, that’s actually a good point. She’s so March 2 and march 9 so by the time this airs that might have already already got asked but yeah shout out to Martha their lot She’s awesome. Yeah, she helped me out as well. And you know, so just became a member of the community and kept doing CrossFit it’s it’s a great exercise and game at the same time. And so that’s been my journey for fitness This is really you know, really started back then I was just kind of an all around did a lot of stuff hike bike a lot of, but no real traditional fitness.
I don’t know what happened. Did I lose you ?
Mike Collette 9:08
I see it now. I see you, buddy. You’re right there.
Dr. Dan 9:10
You me see me But I don’t see you, some malware thing. I don’t know. I will just keep going.
Mike Collette 9:15
We’ll keep going. And I see you. You see me, I see you and I see myself and I can hear you. So I think we’re good.
Dr. Dan 9:20
Okay, so that’s really awesome. I don’t know. I don’t know something about technology, man. You know, yeah, I stay where I’m at. So okay. Anyway, it’s crazy. I’d like my my screen isn’t showing you at all. But we’ll I don’t want to I don’t want to lose it. Sorry, man.
Mike Collette 9:36
We’re in. We’re in the COVID world still. And we’re still doing things virtually. I actually made things a little bit more convenient for some folks. And, you know, so actually, no, why don’t we kind of go there like, you know, with everything that’s gone on Dan, with COVID. I know you mentioned like you guys were essential and operating. Yeah, like you know, let’s talk a little bit About that, like how you were able to, you know, work with your patients and, and all that sort of stuff, because, you know, I’m a huge advocate of chiropractic work, it’s done wonders for me. I’ve had multiple back issues, you know, you obviously, the one that treated me So, um, and yeah, so how did that work? Or how
Dr. Dan 10:23
it was pretty tough right in the beginning, um, we, I’m on the board of registration, a chiropractor’s, but we, we were, it was, it was like a midnight decision, whether we were going to be considered in or out of, you know, the very first closure. But we fought to say, Hey, listen, we’re taking care of, you know, doctors and firefighters and police officers, nurses who have to go to work. So you know, we’re considered essential. And, you know, so we were deemed essential. It was just tough. I mean, we saw a huge drop off in the business, just because people were afraid. I mean, it’s just the reality of it. But, you know, now people come, you know, we make sure you know, the tables are wiped, and we mask and do what we can to keep people safe, but it is a hands on profession. So there is a level of having to get comfortable with that. But the contact is is safe, you know, everything’s doing it. And so the business started picking up again, and people started coming in. And we managed, I mean, we’ve been able to, you know, survive through it, we let people know where there was interesting. In the beginning, people would call you know, two months after March 14, when the whole crap hit the fan. You know, they started calling me going, are you open? I’m like, yeah, we’ve been open the whole time. You know, I’m thinking they just knew that, but I guess they didn’t. And so it’s slowly picked up. And people come by CrossFit community is great, they, you know, they come for injuries and for wellbeing, you know, people come because they want higher level of performance. So like, and other people come because something tweaks, I find, you know, the the conversation that I have with, you know, as some of us middle aged, like myself, you know, get out there and, you know, want to compete with the 20 year old, who’s next to us. A lot of what I’m coaching people aren’t in the office is their headspace with working out and why did they do it? You know, I used to joke around, I would come in every, every time I would come to the gym and workout. And I would say to Brian, I just sent another PR He’s like, really, I’m like, Yeah, brex taken, I was, like, you know, so you’re always just another day lived as a personal record every day. Right? So, um, that’s what we’re all about. And, you know, so I always have to sit down with people when they’re hurt, like, I want to get back and I want to do this and like, Whoa, but why do you Why do you go to CrossFit? And what what do you what are you trying to achieve? You know, and so, you know, I think people have to step back and figure out why they do it, and then approach it in that way. You know, there’s some people who want to play CrossFit, you know, CrossFit is a sport and a lot of levels. And when you go balls to the wall, in a sport, you can get hurt. Um, just like, if you’re playing all out football, I mean, something might happen to you.
But it’s also a sport that you can play and get fit while you’re playing. As opposed to tennis where you probably play tennis every day, and not achieve a certain level of fitness from playing, you know, you need but this, this sport of CrossFit allows you to get fit at the same time you’re playing the game. And so it’s the level of competitiveness, I sort of work on people, I’ve talked to people about how sometimes, you know, using less weight is okay, it’s not what the person next to you is doing. I mean, it’s all about modifying and finding what’s works for you. And the best kind of workout is the conjugal do, you know, so what you can show up for and do is the best for you. And so I try to encourage that with them. And just nurture the people through the injuries. I mean, they come in, they’re hurt, we’re able to, you know, help them get back to what they want to do. You know, there’s a few people now who have been coming in recently, you know, I can’t tell you who but they, you know, they, you know, little injuries and they’re getting ready for the open and I’m like, you know, sort of like, Okay, listen, the opens coming. It’s not, you’re not on TV, you’re not, you know, if you when you when it’s up, you just play it, just go have fun, and don’t get hurt, you know, so, but what I’ve, what I tell my other patient population using CrossFit loss, and they’ll often ask me, you know, what do you think across what I heard, it’s bad, you know, and it’s, it’s been maligned, sometimes in the, in the chiropractic world, because of injury. And the reason that that happens is poor coaching. And one of the things that prototype has is, is amazing coaches, the, the unfortunate part of CrossFit is, you know, not nothing against anybody, but you can go out and take a weekend class and become CrossFit certified and open up the gym, but unless you really have the background and the training, it’s, you really need to research who it is you’re training with, and technique is everything. And prototype is awesome at that. It’s just, it’s straight. And, you know, people who come in and really, you know, I’m like, well show me what you’re doing when you deadlift or this or that they really know what they’re doing because they’ve learned, you know, so it’s great. So I don’t think that’s happening. Sometimes. It’s just Because their head gets in the way. A lot of times, it’s already out of the listening,
Mike Collette 15:05
you’re saying a lot of stuff, listening to your coaches, putting your ego aside. And the approach that you’ve taken is that you know, continual progress, consistency that matters much greater than, you know, trying to set a new personal record every single time in the gym. The personal record is, like you said, breathtaking, another day lived, feeling good, you know, feeling better, working towards your personal fitness goals. And that can be a bunch of different stuff.
Dr. Dan 15:33
I, I probably say once every week or so to some CrossFit. I’m like, Listen, if you deadlift 400 pounds, you definitely deadlift 350 pounds. You’re not a better person. I said, it’s okay. You’re lifting weight, you’re moving things around, you’re picking up some heavy, you’re putting it down, you’re moving, you’re breathing. You’re doing some good in your life. And, you know, have the right coaches doing it is awesome. So yeah, no, it’s been great. I’ve really enjoyed it. Something I had never liked before weightlifting scared me was not enjoyable. But this has made it great. Learning the techniques and doing that. It’s been a really neat training I am one of the other things I did was my wife used to do these spring triathlons. And for me to go run three miles, you know, was like, you know, I would hate the idea of it. And I really did, I decided I would do one with her, you know, like, Alright, let’s just do this thing. And, and it was wild, I didn’t train running at all, but just did CrossFit for a while. And I just went out one day and just ran the three miles, I like, holy shit, I just ran three miles, I didn’t even stop it was like, so you get this level of fitness that you’re not even aware of that transfers well to other activities. And so I ran these couple trap arms like no problem. I mean, I wasn’t winning, but I wasn’t trying to win, I was just trying to finish and run and bike and swim the whole way. And they were awesome. So that that helped. So that was kind of a neat evolution in my in my fitness to say, wow, I could just do this, you know, without even really thinking or training much for it. Just cross training with CrossFit. worked well. So that was kind of cool. It works. Yeah, yeah. And like I said, the best workout is the workout you’ll do. I mean, people will come in the office all the time, say, well, which is better, you know, this or this, I’m like, the one you’ll do is the better one.
Mike Collette 17:22
And the one you’ll do consider consistent,
Dr. Dan 17:25
consistently show up for so for nine years, I’ve stuck with it. And you know, I crossed it three or four times a week. And it’s been, you know, nine years straight to doing that. So it’s great. I feel good. I mean, I’m, I can’t tell you. I mean, the number of people in the world, Mike and I were talking about this. So you know, relating it back to COVID. And, unfortunately, you know, how many people have passed, and it’s a tragedy, but the bigger tragedy than COVID is the the unhealthy nation we live in. I mean, you know, we have so many Americans dying, but it’s because so many Americans have all the cofactors that make it a risk. I mean, obesity being the biggest one or heart disease or blood pressure, every single one of those diabetes, or type two diabetes is a lifestyle issue or cardio metabolic lifestyle issue that can be controlled with diet and exercise. And we wouldn’t be facing the level of this pandemic in this country if we were just healthier. So it’s awful. And so just getting people to stick with something. And do it would be so amazing. And if we can use our resources that way, it would be incredible, you know, we should be out there saying, Are you making sure you’re doing XYZ? Not not just Are you making sure you’re wearing a mask and distancing? But are you making sure you’re also exercising and getting vitamin D and eating right and sleeping enough and drinking enough water? We have a lot less dead people, you know, and it’s it’s a shame, maybe one day fitness or exercise facilities, gyms, trainers, maybe they’ll be deemed essential. Yeah, I would hope, right? I mean, what a crazy thing to close gyms in the middle of this. It’s what people need the most the community of it the mental health component, right? That’s all of it. Yeah, all of it. I mean, it’s great that people are doing it at home, but especially what makes CrossFit such a wonderful thing is the community spirit of it. Getting that is, is vital to life. I mean, this lockdown is tough on people. So it’s, it’s going to be nice when we can open up and get back out there and be with each other high five each other without worrying about sanitizing our hands first.
Mike Collette 19:24
Right? I know. Yeah. I think we’re all looking forward to that. I think we’re getting to the other side. But, uh, something that I wanted to ask you is a lot of people you know, coming from your profession tend to this is just my opinion, but I would imagine tend to use your services when they’re in pain, right? versus like a me a maintenance and I know how important maintenance is.
Dr. Dan 19:49
Yeah, it’s like 50/50 right. So we we tend to feel like we’re okay. If Where I feel okay, like, I feel good. There’s nothing wrong with me. I don’t need to do anything, but it’s sort of I, one of the analogies I give people is like, Well, you know, you go to the gym to lose 20 pounds, you do that you don’t say, Okay, I’m cool. Now I’m done. You know, it’s like you’re never done. I mean, you’re always taking care of yourself. So when someone sees a chiropractor, what they’re seeing before is, let’s just without using all the fancy words, but simple spinal misalignment, but that happens due to stress. And when I say stress, I don’t just mean emotional stress, but we all have that, you know, this job, relationships, finances, kids, you know, the pandemic, you know, emotional stress holds us in our, in our, in our bodies, and it’s really tough. And then there’s chemical stress things we eat, or drink or breathe, you know, you know, stress us out, we’re not all perfect, and all of that. So that toxified our system and, and causes issues. And then there’s physical stress. So we all bend and lift and twist. And I’m seeing a ton of people just sitting so much more, you know, at the pandemic, just not going to work. They walk from their bedroom to their, I don’t know, their couch, or their dining room table, and they sit in front of their computer. And eight hours later, they’re I think people are I think I’ve read somewhere that people are sitting an average of three to four hours additional per day. And then and then add, let’s let’s add pounds of snow on it. Yeah, inside the shovel. Right, right. Like, so. Yeah, one of the things I talked about, I’ll show you now is I took like, so you and I have been talking for, you know, 15 minutes or whatever. I tell everybody, Look, don’t sit for more than 10 minutes. So just stand up, do a jumping jacks sit back down. I mean, how long does it take me? Like, right? So it’s like, but you should be doing that all day, if you’re sitting like every 10 minutes, you should get up. I mean, for a second, do a bodyweight squat, do a push up, you know, and, and sit back down like a minute. I mean, like, minute or a second, you know, and you, it’s so much healthier for you, you know, and so, all these physical stresses, chemical stresses, emotional stresses can cause spinal misalignment. So what we need to do is we need to figure out ways to remove those. So there’s meditation and yoga, exercise, stretching, laughing, you know, it helps our body get rid of some of these things. But, you know, having someone check your spine myself, you know, look at your spine to say, Alright, well, this is not perfect. And if we make it perfect, you’re just going to perform at a higher level in everything. And so that’s where maintenance chiropractic comes in, you know, most professional sports teams have a chiropractor on the team, who’s there seeing people who, whether they’re in pain or not, um, yes, they’re treating injuries, but they’re also saying, I want to perform at a higher level. I am probably I can’t think of one was probably, I mean, in practice 31 years, so somewhere around 25 years ago, when the LPGA would come through kin, Blue Hills, there was a team of us who would go volunteer and work as in a chiropractic place in at the LPGA. And those women would come sometimes, literally eight times over the course of the four day event. I mean, they’d come in, they’re like, and they weren’t in pain, but they’d go, they’d hit 100 balls, you know, on the range, they say, Hey, I got a hitch in my swing con, they I adjust them, they go out and play the whole round, they come back and hit another 100 balls. And then you’d adjust them again, you do that every day for four days. And they would just they’re like, I just want to, you know, perform at my highest level. Yeah. And you see these I mean, look at, not Tiger from this recent injury. But you know, these people with tons of back pain, it’s, you know, it’s a, it’s a dynamic motion and very normal. Not abnormal, but aggressive balance, too. I mean, you’re on one side. So yeah, so weird. So yeah, a lot of people come for just general wellbeing performance. I think it’s shocking to people when they’re in my office, and I’ll see a mom bring a newborn baby to me, you know, it’s like, Okay, well, there’s birth trauma, or, you know, kids fall a million times learning to walk or, you know, they bash their heads, and, you know, so just getting their spine checked, not because they’re in pain, but because they want to achieve a higher level of functionality. It’s just one more, one more thing you can apply to somebody to make them healthier. It’s sort of like, the benefit of eating organic vegetables. I mean, you’re not seeing the benefits when you eat them. But long term, you know, it’s beneficial. So long term, getting your spine adjusted. Okay, is there anything out of place of coming in for a tune up? Sort of like a dental cleaning, if you think of it that way? It’s just a, that’s about half my practice. And the other half is my back set up? Can you do something about it? You know, so, you know, we’re there for them. So, in other words, you’ve got their back. I got their back. I do.
I got your back. And, yeah, it happens all the time. And especially after CrossFit, I mean, we were just talking about some of the people who pop in at 6am. You know, they work out a 5am and then I open at six, and they’re, uh, they’re popping in my office, they’re waiting there in the parking lot. Like, come on, feeling good. Just get me back into a place. They’re not feeling good, you know, but whatever it is. Yeah. So yeah
Mike Collette 24:57
it keeps them going and it keeps them moving in that Ultimately where it all boils down to, yeah,
Dr. Dan 25:02
yeah, good spot on mechanics just, you know, we’ll help you know it. I mean, we can move into the next level of what I do. But you know, I went on further in my education. I got my postdoc in Functional Neurology. I think we talked about that a little bit in the gym, maybe with Brian a little bit.
Mike Collette 25:17
Yeah, this stuff fascinates me. I, you know, I would love for you to talk a little bit about that, just, you know, kind of give it that the high level, I don’t think a lot of people really know about this sort of stuff. And it’s been a while since you and I talked about
Dr. Dan 25:29
Yeah, we haven’t talked about it much. Yeah. I remember, a month back by now I did a little experiment to try and see if we can increase you know, weights by just the amount you can lift by just doing some weird stimulation. But the basic principle of functional neurology is that we have a two hemispheres in our brain. And for us to achieve the highest level of function, they both should be at equal levels. And one side of the brain does one thing one side does other things. It’s not as simple as all this. But you know, people’s brains should be sort of an even levels. And over time, and like sometimes we see these imbalances. So if we apply stimulation equally, oftentimes, we’re approving them, but we’re improving them like this, we’re not doing this or doing this. And so a lot of the functional neurology approach is looking at imbalances in people and saying, what stimulation can I do to activate a certain part of your brain to help that rise to a better level and then again, improve performance. And we use all types of stimulations. I mean, the patients who come in regularly don’t see this, because that’s sort of the specialty work I do outside of regular office time. But, you know, we might use light stimulation in someone’s eyes or playing music in just one year. And there’s some, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen them, there’s these things called eye lights that some athletes have used successfully, where they can get stimulation from one one hemisphere of space to stimulate one part of their brain and they find they’re able to perform better, it was cool, it came out of a study, an interesting sports study of swimmers and their and their take off time off the blocks. And they were finding that when the photographer’s are lined up on one side of the pool, it would change their time, and it was the flashing of the light in their eye actually, at the takeoff, change some of their reaction speed. And they put some of that together, well, wow, if we stimulate them, one way, we can raise their reaction speed based on their brain imbalance. So from one person maybe like from the right side of space is good, but for someone else, right from the left side of space, and the evaluation of that is sort of what I, you know, went back to school for so it’s, that was just a postdoc thing. That was kind of fun. For me, and then I’m in my world travels, as you brought up somewhere in the middle of that Gail and I were driving through the countryside of Iceland, and we got wrecked and I wasn’t across here that this was 15 years ago. So before you and I even met and I was life flighted big head injury shattered collarbone, dislocated jaw. And I want to being treated by a functional neurologist for some of that. And is that what got you into it? No, I was actually in the program. When that happened. I was in my postdoc schooling for it, but it was I actually got to see it applied lifetime, you know, so it’s kind of cool.
Mike Collette 28:18
And it’s cool, and I’m glad you’re okay. from me.
Dr. Dan 28:21
That was a cool experience. I got a helicopter ride, but I don’t even remember it.
Mike Collette 28:26
was kind of cool. I don’t remember.
Dr. Dan 28:27
Yeah, I don’t know. Gail talked her way onto the copter. I know, one of our members is a lifeflight. Nurse. Yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Gail talked her way onto the on to the helicopter and came with me.
Mike Collette 28:38
Oh, that’s, that’s awesome. Get a free a free flight. Right.
Dr. Dan 28:42
Yeah, I think she was a little freaking out.
Mike Collette 28:45
Yeah, I can imagine. So, Dan, we’ve been chatting and there’s so much that you’ve done not a lot of knowledge that you’ve dropped. I’m going to hit you with the Spitfire questions. I’m going to ask you one that’s not on the not on this list. But we mentioned traveling, what’s your favorite place you’ve traveled or the best place you travel all time? And I know, you know, you’ve been in a lot of places
Dr. Dan 29:11
There were different experiences, I think I think it’s interesting. And, and, and, you know, when you a lot of times, it’s not what happens or where you’ve been, it’s the moment you know, when Gail and I got engaged. We were helicopter hiking in the Canadian Rockies. And he would take this helicopter up and they would teeter you over this ridge and you jump out and you know, you had a guide and like get out get out these old like nom copter pilots, you know, and then you drive away and you’re standing on this ridge in the middle of the Canadian Rockies. And you look around and you’re like, the only people who’ve ever been here in the history of mankind, you know, humankind and it’s like, wow, but you’re not. And, you know, so that was that was pretty amazing. I really liked I really liked Italy of the countries I’ve been to I mean the people and it’s it’s sort of those moments those days you have that you remember there’s an area of Italy called the chink a tear along the coastline, and I’m hiking that was just amazing. Most of its the outdoor adventure II kind of stuff most recently, the year before. So not this past September, but a year ago, Gail and I hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, to Machu Picchu. So we did the whole night. And you talk about people in shape, you know, we’re huffing and puffing it, you know, 14,000 feet and these porters in like, broken like teeth, as you know, are carrying like 70 pounds, just like flying past you’re like, Okay, well, we’ll see it, though. You know, they’re, they’re like three hours before you they got it set up a hot meal for you. They’re like dying to get there, but it’s pretty cool. I know. I’ve seen some pictures of you doing some hiking with the guys and you know, some mountain hiking and stuff. It’s, but those are those are the best. It’s really the memories of of the, of the experiences, you know, some trips with my kids and stuff, but as far as physically beautiful, those Canadian Rockies were just stunning. But Italy is hands down just an amazing trip every time. So I know that was maybe a hard question for you. Yeah, there’s there was gonna be Yeah, moments in these in the in the different experiences with an age but it sounds like, yeah, outdoor components of these things. You’re not going on a vacation and just sitting on a beach. There’s a lot. It’s not our thing. I mean, you know, I get that, like, people like to do that. But no, I mean, it’s always like the culture the food. This was the best, you know? I don’t yoky you’ve ever had you know, you remember that one taste and that one? That one experience
Yeah, it’s it’s there’s no favorite. I don’t think I mean, there’s, there’s the memories just hit you. They well over you and you’re like, Wow, it was fun to do that again. But there’s so many other places to go. I always have, you know, get what’s the next place? What’s the next place? You guys are? Yeah, let’s end this pandemic. Um, you know, in the next place is going to take some change in in my office because I i’ve been 31 years I’ve never taken more than a week, you know, because people want you around. And so when we can do two weeks it’ll be Australia and New Zealand. That’ll be that’s that’s high on the bucket list. And I like to I like to hiking in Patagonia down in Chile. And I have this bucket list thing about the Kilimanjaro but Gail’s not interested so I have to find some people who want to do that. Hey, are you familiar with when half of you man Yeah, the one half Got that? Yeah. These guys like climb? Like, you know, it takes most people like climb Everest in like shorts. And like yeah, like that was sorta but like they so they do that to Kilimanjaro. It takes these people. The typical person, I don’t know. 12 1012 days acclamation these guys like take this course. And they do it in like two days. In like shorts and a T shirt, you know? Yeah. I don’t want to do that. But I I’d like to do it. So.
Mike Collette 32:52
Yeah. Wim Hof Method, cold submersion, all that the breathing techniques. It’s breathing and cold. Yeah, pretty fascinating. fascinating stuff. I’m reading this book right now. It’s pretty cool stuff. Yeah. Um, my father in law is really into that. Next question, favorite movie TV show of all time, and or? Oh, wow. Man. So those are so hard. Um, you know, I asked the tough questions, man.
Dr. Dan 33:20
I’m like, I’m not like a stand up comic on the side. So I love the TV series. I love every Seinfeld, you know, just watching Seinfeld just keeps me going movie. You’d have to give me a genre you know, I have I don’t know. I mean, if I had to say okay, this is the movie I probably Shawshank Redemption.
Mike Collette 33:37
Uh huh. That’s the classic. Yeah, basically, the easiest way to think of that question is how I think of it is if you’re scrolling through TV, like a bunch of TV channels or whatever, and every time that movies on you have to watch it,
Dr. Dan 33:52
it’s Shawshank that’s the one like, I’ll stop and I’ll just watch that, you know, animal houses up there, too. You know, that’s, that’s such a classic because classics are just like, but you know, even the newer classes like that the common like the hangover or something like you just stop and you’re like, there’s so many great lines and all these movies, like how do you not watch him but yeah, no, I liked the movie.
Mike Collette 34:12
I did that yesterday, I was turned on Superbad, which is one of my favorite of all time it’s one of the most quotable it’s, you know, it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s the stupid comedy stuff that I like. Next question Danny. Favorite musician or music artist or band of all time?
Dr. Dan 34:31
Oh, favorite musician is a JT probably James Taylor. I’m I’m always yelling at Brian. I’m like can we turn this head banging stuff off kill your mother just put on some mellow you know, like I’m rattling Brian. I he plays reggae just plays reggae music all the time. He doesn’t all those workouts at noon are like, you know, head banging wraps. Yeah.
Mike Collette 34:54
Gotta have the higher tempo when you’re gonna get drowned out that the breathing, the PR breaths
Dr. Dan 35:00
You know, when I’m working out, I put on like, you know, Billy Joel radio Simon and Garfunkel radio, James Taylor radio on Spotify, and the kids will come up up into the bonus from the workout room and be like, how do you work out to this music? I’m like, I’m working out slow, obviously.
Mike Collette 35:16
Yeah, I didn’t say anything. If I’m at home working out, I think I put on Dave Matthews Band. Yeah. Or john mayer or something like that. It’s the same sort of thing.
Yeah. And then last question, I think I know the answer this, but like, What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working? working out? You know, what’s your What’s your favorite activity?
Dr. Dan 35:37
So you know, my pastime? Well, we would say travel and I’m a foodie. But actually, we you know, this about me, but I’m a big poker player.
Mike Collette 35:45
Yes.
Dr. Dan 35:46
So that’s probably
Mike Collette 35:47
We didn’t even talk about that you got on the talk about that. Let’s Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s do it. Yeah.
Dr. Dan 35:52
Yeah. So poker is like my thing, right? So that’s my little side hobby. that not a lot of people know. But yeah. Three years ago, whenever it was good, I don’t know what good means. But I did. Some I did win this tournament that got me into the World Series of Poker, the main event, flew out to Vegas, the whole TV thing, and I wasn’t on TV, and we were but it didn’t air. But uh, you know, it was cool. It was a great experience. I didn’t win anything. But it was it was fun. I played, you know, it’s a seven day tournament, or, you know, maybe deep into the second day, and typical poker bad luck crap. But, but, um, but it was a you know, but I played well, and I felt good about it. And, ya know, so that’s something I do, it’s a bunch of different groups I play with, you know, a group of like, 85 year old guys, you know, old guys in Wellesley that I play with, and then there’s, you know, the younger crowd, I play with these, you know, kind of what you call these real blue collar. Kind of grungy dudes, you know, it’s fun, though, it’s just neat to mix it up. Yeah, I love the game I love you know, the different personalities. And I like the psychology of the math of it. And it’s, I don’t know, if you find this, but you know, you work with people all day, you’re, you’re on, you know, you can’t have a bad day. I mean, you can, but you’re not supposed to bring it into the gym and bring it into my office. So, you know, we’re always having a good day at work, you’re always having a good day in the gym. But the truth of the matter is, we’re human. And we’re not always having a good day. And sometimes, the last place you want to be is at the gym, but it’s your livelihood, you know, so you know, we’re the last place I want to be is in the office. So you you, you get present time consciousness, and you give it your all and you show off 100% every time. But sometimes you need some, some break from that. And I find poker is, you know, completely different than any of that, right? It’s like, I can go into a poker game, put on a hoodie, put my hood up and not say a word for 12 hours, and just sit there and play and be in my own head and be in the math of the game of the psychology of the game. And it’s, you know, I don’t have to say a word. And as you, I’m sure you can hear how fast I talk. I’m a New Yorker. And that’s all day in my office, and I never shut up and, and then, you know, I never shot when I’m working out of the gym. And, you know, there’s a constant chatter going on while I’m working out. And it’s, it’s probably annoying to some people when I’m working out next door, but at the end of the day, you know, it’s I find the escape in poker to be like, wow, this is just so different than anything I have to do all day. And it’s really nice, you know, so it’s good, I play a fair amount. And it’s been even, even through COVID there’s a couple places that are open to you know, they mask up and keep it relatively safe. And, you know, we’ve been able to do it, it’s been good.
Mike Collette 38:31
So that’s awesome. Yeah, I think everyone needs that activity that they can shut their brain off or just, you know, de stress or take their mind off things for for a lot of people that’s working out and exercise and maybe CrossFit and that sort of thing. But you know, I think having additional hobbies, for me, it’s golf, and that it’s been the last six or so maybe plus years now. I’ve been playing golf, but it’s a get on the golf course outside to two to four hours of, of time spent where you’re kind of just doing your thing. But uh, but Danny, I appreciate you being on the Community Conversation. What was that?
Dr. Dan 39:14
Yeah.
Mike Collette 39:15
So I think you broke up a little bit. But but but Dan, I appreciate you being on the community conversation.
Dr. Dan 39:20
I’m losing you I think we’re losing each other.
Mike Collette 39:22
Yeah. Or you’re coming back. Now. We’re I think we’re we’re coming to an end here. But again, I was just mentioning, thank you so much for being on the cake.
Yeah, man. And thank you for everyone that’s tuning in and watching and listening right now. Remember, every week we’re releasing a new community conversation with a new guest to get your week started. So to be the first to know about new community conversation when it’s posted, subscribe to our YouTube page. We’re also now on Spotify and major streaming platforms such as Apple podcasts. We also release this in our daily brief newsletter every Monday again to get your week started. And if you’re not in our community members-only group on Facebook and you’re a member of Prototype. Just let us know. We’ll make sure that we get in there because we also post the community conversation in there as well. So until next time, Dan, thank you again for being on today. My man,
Dr. Dan 40:12
thanks. It’s actually great seeing you like this. I mean, we never get to talk anymore. So we’ll have to get this gym open.
Mike Collette 40:19
100% my man.