Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 358: The Latest in Fitness/Health Tech in 2024
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Transcript
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Hey, everybody, welcome in to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast.
As always, I'm your host, Danny Matranga.
And in this episode, we're going to be discussing the latest in fitness tech, gadgetry, apps,
recovery tools, activity trackers, and more. I think that technology has become an interesting
partner in our goal of living healthier, oftentimes to our benefit, of course,
but very clearly to our detriment at times as well. So how is it that you can take advantage
of tech and take advantage of these incredible advancements,
really, in various different technologies to improve your health without becoming a slave
to the data, so to speak. So I think you guys will really enjoy the episode as we kind of unpack
what really is happening as we transition into a more futuristic world of fitness. Enjoy.
as we transition into a more futuristic world of fitness. Enjoy.
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125 bucks. First and foremost, you know, I'm excited about the technology that's changing
our lives. I think that we are at a junction with, you know, social media,
where things have become a little sticky. And, you know, I believe we went through a similar
cycle with the internet. And I think now with, you know, the large language models, the chat
GPTs of the world, the Google Geminis of the world, we're going to see changes. Again, I think
it's like a third wave technological
revolution. I think the internet revolutionized how we interact with technology. It made access
to information no longer an issue. Social media, in a way, revolutionized like a second wave how
we interface with technology. It made things more interconnected and social. And with it,
It made things more interconnected and social. And with it, there are consequences. As somebody who has a presence on social media, I would say that even though social media does give you
a lot of exposure to well-intentioned, high-quality purveyors of information across
various fields, if you listen to this podcast, it's because you like my critiques and my opinions
and punditry about fitness, living healthier, getting the most out of your time in fitness
so that the other areas of your life that matter can really thrive. I'm just struck by the negativity and the weight of social media, despite the Andrew Hubermans of the world,
despite the Jeff Nippards of the world, the Mike Israels of the world, and then people who I think
just contribute so positively, who social media allows us to have access to. There's so many people I'm
not naming that make great health and fitness content. But my point is, all of the access is
weighed down by the actual negative health effects of using the product. I think we know now that
chronic use of social media is quite bad for us. But I still think it's an interesting technology.
But here we are again with a third wave of artificial intelligence and seeing how people are beginning to use it already
and thinking about how that will ultimately enhance people's health and fitness. I am hopeful,
dare I even say excited, because people have really been struggling with their health. It's getting worse. I think we
have the access to the information. I think most people have access to the information that they
need to make the changes to live healthier. It's just very hard to integrate the habits and
behaviors long-term and avoid the more seductive elements of our culture like enjoying the shit
out of food and alcohol and engaging in sedentary behaviors that are super dopaminergic like video
games or streaming or all the things that make us more sedentary than we know we should be.
So I'm hopeful that technology can pull us from this. That said, I understand that there's probably a
lot of skepticism from many of you who listen with regards to technology and fitness and artificial
intelligence. So I will try to stick on the simple and practical line here. We won't get too
into the weeds. Everybody has an opinion on these things. I'm just letting you know,
Um, you know, everybody has an opinion on these things. I'm just letting you know,
I am fairly optimistic. That will be kind of my position as we talk about fitness tech and all that. So, you know, my goal is to just look at the accessible tech, uh, that, you know, nothing
crazy or out of the realm of what's practical. I think these will be things that you're either familiar with,
or if you're not, the learning curve with regards to usage and integration shouldn't be all that steep. So I think the first point to really touch on here, or the first category, are wearables.
And what wearables may or may not be worth your time in 2024 as we kind of,
you know, continue to integrate technology. And wearables are not new. There actually are,
you know, wearable companies and wearable brands and, you know, just wearable technologies that
have existed for much longer than even, you know, Fitbit, which in my opinion, as a brand, is
kind of being phased out just by the dominance of Apple in the tech world. We'll talk about Apple
throughout the podcast today. But long before there was Fitbit, there was Polar,
and there were companies before Polar that specialized in monitoring heart rate
and then, you know, delivering that information directly to you, um, in the form of data,
usually to a wrist wearable. So you could see your heart rate, you could see your rough caloric
expenditure. And then Fitbit came along and added steps and prompts and, you know, text message
integration, smartphone integration, which was great. But when everybody transitioned to,
you know, an iPhone, I'd say this is like circa 2000 and maybe 2015. You know, I don't remember
when the first Apple iPhone came out. I think it was 2007.
Let's find out here. Original Apple iPhone release. 2007. Yeah. June 29th, 2007. So I
think it took a while, but I'd say around 2015, like the percentage of people using an iPhone,
like really, really tipped so that the majority of the smartphone market was using iOS.
And when they launched the Apple Watch, because of how seamless the integration is between those
two products, Apple Watch kind of took over. And, you know, Apple is in itself a luxury brand more
than it is anything else. You know, it is, of course, a technology company, but
it is a technology company with a substantial amount of status, particularly luxury status,
associated with it. It means something to have an iPhone. It means something to have a MacBook.
It's a prestigious brand with a heavy price tag tag and it is good technology. There's no denying
it, especially the UI. Like they're very easy to use technologies, but, um, you know, Apple watch
was a sexier, more, uh, clearly marketable product. I, and of course the fitness aesthetic that is
AirPods, we're not going to talk about that, but it is rather interesting when you, you know,
critique the kind of current fitness aesthetic. Apple Watch and AirPods are like a kind of very
frequent component of the traditional fitness chick aesthetic. You know, you have the AirPods
and you have the Apple Watch and you track your workout and your steps and your
rings and all of this. And it is just become totally ingrained. So from a like wearable
wrist tracker thing, I think we'll talk mostly about Apple watch and you know, that technology
we'll talk about straps like whoop, which are a little bit different. Um, they offer more features.
Uh, we'll talk about Aura Ring and
kind of keep it there. So those are kind of the big wearable technologies that I get the most
questions about and that I think really stand out in terms of like, okay, who are the brand leaders?
Who are the big names, the product engineers that are making stuff that's really sticking?
engineers that are making stuff that's really sticking. Is this the most affordable stuff? No,
but this is the most popular, most asked about, et cetera. So starting with Apple Watch,
how do I feel about an Apple Watch? Do I think you should have an Apple Watch? Do I think there's utility to an Apple Watch? First off, I don't have one. I've been thinking about getting one,
but I don't have one. And what I'm interested in is the aerobic tracking capabilities and the step
counting capabilities because I do enjoy seeing that data. I am a data head in that way. I don't
have one because I don't like the idea of more notifications coming at me. I live with
kind of notification overload as many of you do. And I don't love the idea of constantly getting
the buzzes in my pocket when my phone's in there on my wrist as well. It makes me a little bit
uneasy. I feel like I'm, like I said, notification overload as is. So turning the notifications off and just using it for the steps and the
aerobic tracking is interesting to me. That said, I haven't made the decision to opt into having one
because those are the two data points I would use and caloric expenditure with these particular devices is pretty inaccurate in my opinion.
So if I'm only really using it for two data points, it's not for me. And I would argue if
you're only going to be using it for steps and tracking your cardiovascular activity,
and you're going to actually enjoy the feature of having notifications
pass through to another device, then it may be worth it. Because I think there is something to
gamifying and quantifying different micro behaviors that can drive up a good or positive or desired
outcome. So you want to be fitter. Having the Apple Watch cost money, putting it
on your wrist shows some form of status. I believe those things immediately give you a jolt in
motivation and maybe identifying with like, I am doing the thing. I invested some money in this.
Investing your money into a particular outcome is for sure a good idea if you want to
increase your likelihood of sticking with it. I think having
metaphorical skin in the game really makes a difference. So it's like buying an Apple Watch
with the intention of using all of the fitness features that it's capable of is probably a net
positive for most people, despite the cost associated with it. And if you can get past the fact that the calorie tracking leaves a
lot to be desired, let's say, and the inaccuracies there aren't the fault of the manufacturer,
it's just more the difficulty in assessing humans and how dynamic metabolism is,
then I think it's a good product. Now, Whoop is similar and I think has many, if not all of the same capabilities,
but it also generates various scores and different data sets to help you get a greater
kind of look at your recovery. I don't think most people need that much data. So this is,
in my opinion, where I kind of will draw the line on what I
believe is practical. I have clients who have whoops. I know many people who have whoops.
I've never had a whoop or used a whoop. I do think that some of the data, additional data like HRV
and perhaps the sleep data specifically can really add a lot of value to assessing your health.
And I think for most of you, that is data that would be of benefit, but you can also simplify
it and just be like, how do I feel? And one, what time did I fall asleep? And what time did I wake
up? Or what time did I go to bed? And what time did I wake up? You can fairly accurately gauge sleep and in my opinion, readiness without this level of technology.
That said, if you're a data nerd, if you love data and you're all about it, I think a Whoop
could be a cool addition to your routine. And I think it could drive some positive outcomes and give you even more information than an Apple Watch, which is designed to function as an activity tracker, but that's not its entire
kind of job, so to speak. Whereas Whoop is clearly a fitness product designed to kind of
give all of its firepower, let's say, to the generation of fitness data.
The last one, also very popular in the wearable space, is Oura Ring, another product, again,
I have not yet used. I know people who have used them. I have many clients who have them.
I would think about it as similar to a Whoop in that it can generate great data beyond that, that I think you could get from
an Apple watch. Um, and it is a ring instead of being a strap. So that might be aesthetically
more up your alley. Um, you know, that might bring with it again, a sense of status. They
come in these shiny, bright colors, you know, cool metals, just like jewelry. So, you know,
it's something you can wear and maybe that elevates your buy-in or your commitment. I think that's where a lot of these technologies really
drive change is just in the level of investment from the person who has chosen to purchase the
technology, right? So if you made the decision to get the technology, in this case, it's the Oura Ring or the Apple
Watch or the Whoop, that represents a greater level of investment than not.
And that will, for most people, drive outcomes greater than when there is no skin in the
game.
You're going to use the data.
And a lot of people, after a couple months, they just say, fuck it, I'm not going to use it anymore. So be it. But for some, hey, I have this
thing. Let's see what it can do. I'm going to put it to use. I paid good money for it. Let's maximize
it. Hey, I'm really wanting to make a change. I'm going to invest in a wearable. That's where
these things drive changes. I think for people who like the data, who can use the data, who aren't intimidated by the data, who don't get paralysis by analysis, these are cool tools. Of course, native to
smartphones is the technology that is applications. There's so many apps in the fitness space.
There's so many different things on your phone specifically that you can
use to improve your fitness, nutrition, and your routines. I do think smartphone use is
obviously ubiquitous with anyone listening because I think 98% of the listens to this podcast are on
smartphones. So I know one thing about you guys, and that's that there's an extremely
high chance you're listening to this on a smartphone. So what technologies, what apps,
what products exist for smartphones that are not wearable per se, but that I think can really
meaningfully enhance fitness? The first is a quality macro tracking or nutrition tracking app.
I really like MacroFactor, which I've used. I really like Macrofactor, which I've used.
I really like MyFitnessPal, which I have used. These are really great high UI, meaning easy to
use UI and user interface with food scanning, with weighing, with huge libraries of food to help you better understand your caloric
intake. I don't think there is anything you can do that will better improve the quality of your
training, the quality of your health, the quality of your weight loss journey, or your just general
journey to better health and productivity and having energy, etc.,
than knowing what you put in your mouth. What's going on, guys? Coach Danny here,
taking a break from the episode to tell you about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method,
and more specifically, our one-on-one, fully tailored online coaching program.
My online coaching program has kind of been the flagship for core coaching method for a while. Of course, we do have PDF programming and we have app-based programming.
But if you want a truly tailored one-on-one experience with a coach like myself or a member
of my coaching team, someone who is certified, somebody who has multiple years of experience
working with clients in person online, somebody who is licensed to provide a macro nutrition plan,
somebody who is actually good at
communicating with clients because they've done it for years, whether that be via phone call,
email, text, right? This one-on-one coaching program is really designed to give you all the
support you need. With custom training designed for you, whether you're training from home,
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You'll get customized support directly from your coach's email or they'll text you or they'll
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baked-in accountability support, and all of the stuff that you need from your coach when you
check in. We keep our rosters relatively small so that we can make sure you get the best support
possible. But you can apply today by going over to corecoachingmethod.com,
selecting the online coaching option. And if we have spots available,
we'll definitely reach out to you to see if you're a good candidate. And if we don't,
we'll put you on a waiting list, but we'll be sure to give you the best shot at the best coaching in
the industry. So head over to corecoachingmethod.com and apply for one-on-one coaching with me and my
team today. The nutrients, both macro and micro and the calories. That is, and always, in my opinion,
will be the greatest input you have to improve your health outside, of course, of things like
maybe exercise and sleep, which even then I still think I'd give the nod to nutrition. Nutrition is
key. And there are some amazing apps that make tracking what you eat, journaling and logging
what you eat very easy. And I'm of
the impression that anybody who's looking to get a handle on their weight or to feel better,
you know, or to move a little better, you need to spend some time diarying, if that's even a verb,
logging, tracking, and being mindful and calculated and intentional about what it is you're eating.
Striving for targets is
awesome. But even if you're not, and you're trying to eat more intuitively, which is all the rage,
or maybe it's, you know, with a focus on protein and fiber, which I always recommend,
even just tracking some targets or tracking and seeing how high of the protein intake or fiber
intake you can get, or if you can keep your calories below 2000 or below 1700 or
below 2500 or whatever, maybe you want to gain some muscle and you want to eat a little more.
It can be that too. But I still think that the fitness app tracking, calorie tracking apps are
quite good. And I'm a big fan of MyFitnessPal and MacroFactor. I'm also a huge fan of the Notes app on my phone and Google Calendar
and any of the various calendar or reminder apps on your phones for scheduling workouts.
I find that keeping a digital calendar is really, really helpful for me.
And it makes me feel quite a bit better about not missing workouts, making sure things get done,
giving me a place to coordinate and put thoughts specific to my fitness. I have a note category for
my fitness, for my training. I log all of my training in the Train Heroic app. We'll talk
about that in a minute, but specifically calendar tracking, time blocking, efficiency optimizing, the way in which you can
seamlessly integrate calendars from work, from personal, on these various calendar apps,
whether it's Apple Calendar, it could be Google Calendar, it could be Reminders, it could be
whatever. There's really a built-in layer of structure to our lives now digitally with these technologies
that can make, hey, you keep telling me that you do not have time to work out. And it's like,
maybe you don't, but I call bullshit until we can sit down, look at a calendar and block out
some time. And if at no point we can make that work, it's just not going to happen.
can make that work. Like it's just not going to happen. Like I'm like, we go through all 24 hours of the day and no matter what we do, we can't carve out time to work out like, okay, then I
believe it. But with a lot of these technologies, they allow for easy time blocking. You can
schedule your whole workday, your whole commute, your time with your family, your time with kids and see if just generally there is a window in which these,
you know, things can happen. Like they can still, um, you know, get done. And there's almost always
gaps. There's almost always blocks. There's opportunities for sure, for sure for workouts
to happen, but it's much harder if you don't have a plan. And I find
if you have people sit down in front of one of these unbelievably easy to use calendar apps
and just block things out, like, oh my goodness, does it like all of a sudden reveal,
oh, I didn't think I had time, but you know, there's a huge chunk right there. Okay. Well,
what do you usually do in that huge chunk? Oh, I scroll TikTok or, oh, I stream time, but there's a huge chunk right there. Okay. Well, what do you usually do in that huge chunk? Oh, I scroll TikTok or oh, I stream. Those are the moments where the workouts get done,
maybe where the meal preps get done, the small granular habits that so many people say they
don't have time for. So apps that allow you to better manage your time and allocate time and
block time are huge. I think there's some great fitness
tracking apps. There's the Strong app. I log all my training that I'm doing right now in
Train Heroic, which is my app. I use Train Heroic to host three different group training programs,
all of which are awesome. Train Heroic has great user interface. So it's super easy. It keeps track
of data. It actually tells you when you hit specific PRs on various volumes. Very easy to
use. Very fun. All the tutorials for every exercise, the sets, the reps, it's all in there.
And I'm just following the Forever Fit program right now. That's what I'm now. When I go to the gym, I do a workout from Forever Fit because
basically my live programming is in that program. So I like Train Heroic. I like actually using pen
and paper. I like logging workouts in notes. I think there's so many great tools for logging
your workouts. Like I said, you can use the Strong app. There's
really no reason not to log that. If you don't want to be on your phone, which I totally respect,
and for most people, I do think maybe that's the right move because goodness gracious, it's hard
to be on your phone in the gym all the time and not get distracted. But you could use a composition
book in that case and just log your workouts by hand. And I think that's really
important too, but it's not quite on the smartphone. I'm also a super big fan of apps like
TickTick, which allow not TikTok TickTick. It's like a scheduling optimization app,
very helpful for time management. I use reminders on my phone quite a bit.
So I can actually have Siri remind me of something I'd like to get done or that I've made time for.
Apple Health, something that all phones have. Even if you do not have an Apple Watch, you can just
go to your phone and check health and you'll find quite a bit of information about your sleep, your steps, your movement. You'll even find headphone audio levels and suggested headphone audio levels for your auditory help, shall we say, I think it's really important in the long run to pay attention to various
different components of your health. And there's some fairly robust health tracking.
You can use this app, for example, to track your cycle. If you do have an Apple Watch,
there's some pretty interesting integration for the heart rate data and such. And the tracking there, there's a mental well-being tracker.
There's a respiratory well-being tracker. Some pretty interesting stuff that gets worked in
at the higher levels when you have the Apple Watch. But Apple Health at its base has some
cool stuff that might be encouraging to check out. Another category of things I wanted to hit on that I
thought was interesting is like the integration of virtual reality and likely soon augmented reality
in fitness and kind of just the gamification of fitness through these tools. Like
it's pretty remarkable to me just how, you know, rapid these technologies are advancing. Like, I'm not sure
if many of you are familiar, but like in the original video gaming days, there were VR headsets
that you could put on and they like made everybody super dizzy and like want to throw up and
fucked up their emotion. Like I said, like, it was just super funny to watch like the infancy of vr
because vr came to us as a technology through gaming and like growing up i quite enjoyed
playing video games legend of zelda pokemon when i first started um and then transitioned more into
like xbox and playstation and out of nintendo with the exception of Pokemon and Zelda, which I've
always played and will still play to this day even. But the technologies for home video game
was Microsoft and Sony making Xbox and PlayStation, and they both went very heavy at VR, but it was
just not easy to generate for home use. And it still hasn't totally blown up in the gaming space,
but I see more and more VR in the fitness space and finding ways to enhance workouts for people
by making it less boring. And you're not using true VR on a Peloton or something or a Nordic
track, but I see so many technologies where now they will simulate the
space around you on your spin bike so as to improve the journey that is the class and make
it feel like you're riding in the Alps or something. And I constantly see things for VR
with fitness now for ads. You put this on and it will generate a bunch of different programs.
Maybe it's a boxing
program where you see your opponent, or it's a weightlifting program where as you go up and down,
you're playing a Flappy Bird style game. There's so many interesting things. I think this could be
a thing. What I really think is it probably will just, just like it did in the gaming space,
appeal to a very small percentage of people, but the technology itself
will never hit mass appeal. There are certain home products that I think are really cool
because most of this would be done at home. Things like Peloton and products like Peloton
are very popular. They have a very popular
community. Good way to get your aerobic fitness a little on the pricey side. Again, another kind
of status brand, um, things like tonal or mirror, which are kind of, uh, you know, they're not VR
true VR, but there is a component of resistance training baked into a little bit of like,
Hey, this, this television interface
will show you how to do the exercise with the cables, which use these really interesting systems
that are more minimalist. So they would go better in a small home space than a free motion cable
machine. But there's all these unique home cable machines. There's been a huge boon in just having a home gym. That's very normal. And there's a lot of interesting home
gym technologies that are kind of cool, whether it's adjustable dumbbells, adjustable kettlebells,
all kinds of different things. Nike is now making home fitness equipment. And Nike is kind of a hybrid lifestyle clothing technology
brand. So you will very shortly see Nike's strength. They call it Nike strength. Their
home gym equipment start to integrate various technologies. And I would not be surprised if
they ultimately try to compete or absorb a brand like Peloton and work that into their existing brand. We already know that they
kind of synced up with Apple with one of their watch products a long time ago.
They used to have Nike Plus. That never really worked out for them with their running tracking,
but I would never count that brand out of the space. So there's going to be more stuff for home. Um, but I think that the wearables right now
and the app stuff is probably better than a lot of the VR stuff. And some of the at-home stuff
is encouraging. Now, another thing that you'll see a lot of is like tech recovery tools and, um, you know, tech pain reduction tools. And I've seen foam
roller, smartphone, smart rollers, vibrating rollers, percussion guns, massage guns,
you know, Norma tech boots, uh, all kinds of stuff. I mean, I'll, I'll use this kind of visual
or story to drive my point home. I was walking through Best Buy a
couple of months ago. I don't even remember what I was there for. I think it was some type of
speaker component, um, or no, it was an extension cord. And I walked all the way to the back. And
when I was walking all the way to the back, I saw adjustable dumbbells. I said, what the hell are
that at Best Buy, which I think of as a total
technology store, I guess they also sell certain manufacturers' washer and dryer and kitchen
products because those are kitchen technologies or home technology, so to speak. I saw a rower
and a spin bike and Normate tech boots and all these different massage
guns.
And I was like, wait a minute, these are all technologies in a way.
And they're all fitness related.
And I was like, damn, this is taking up like this section, like a substantial amount of
square footage in Best Buy, um, was allocated to these recovery tools, these technology
enabled fitness, health enhancing recovery tools, these technology enabled fitness health enhancing
recovery tools. So I thought that that was very, very interesting. Um, you know, it was,
it made me stop and kind of take pause and think, okay, there's definitely a market for this that
isn't just in the fitness community. Like there's plenty of people, um, who, you know,
community. There's plenty of people who are in a situation where they would be walking through Best Buy and they say, oh, that massage gun is cool. I have some chronic pain in various different
parts of my body and this will help me manage it. Or they might see those adjustable dumbbells and
go, oh, that would be cool. I'm going to maybe get these and start working out. That's an entry point for a lot of people just sitting in Best Buy. And maybe what gets you
into fitness is the massage gun that makes your back feel better or the dumbbells that you can
adjust at home or the really cool bike with the great screen and you see it in the store.
I don't know, but I do see a lot of those technologies, those specifically recovery
technologies. I know I mentioned Best Buy has dumbbells and other stuff, but it was the recovery
tech that made me go, wow, okay, so there's definitely a market for this. Not only that,
there's a market for this with the general population, which I think is huge when you
talk about, are we actually going to get traction with this at scale?
And I think with fitness brands, it's like, okay, you can make a lot of money selling to fitness
people, but you can make a boatload of money selling fitness to non-fitness people because
most people are non-fitness people. So it's like, if you just realize the non-fitness people
and go like, damn, okay, we know the fitness people would get like, if you just realize the non-fitness people and go like, damn, would the,
okay, we know the fitness people would get like, enjoy this product, but would the non-fitness
people enjoy this product? And if the answer is yes, then it'll probably be great. And I think
we're seeing a little bit of that with some of these recovery technologies, especially the percussion guns, because those started as sideline NBA kind of sports science tools. And then very quickly they got to gym rats. And then
very quickly they got into Costco. It's like they're everywhere. And so many people have one
at their house and it's like, okay, percussion massage. Is it great for health and fitness? No,
it's probably not going to make a big difference, but it is an entry point product to feeling better and having your body feel better.
And that is a big deal. So that's kind of my review of the current landscape of tech. I'm
interested to see AI and how AI, you know, integrates itself into the fold here and all of that. But, you know, I think we're
still really early on that. I hope that technology doesn't drag us any further down or into any
further decay. It seems like our connection to technology has been largely making us more
sedentary and obese and depressed and anxious. So that worries me, but we're heading the direction we're heading and
my podcast isn't going to stop the kind of rotation of the earth in the direction that
we're going culturally. So this is my read on the tech and what I think you should do,
what's worth your money. It really does come down mostly to wearables, some apps and some home tech,
and there's some brands that are doing good and we'll see how how that
goes with the inner wovenness of ai to come but if you like the episode be sure to hit subscribe
like uh leave a five star rating share this with somebody share to your instagram story and tag me
those things all actually help the show grow a ton and the more you guys do it the faster it grows
uh which makes me very happy. And I'm super
grateful that you choose to listen to begin with. So, you know, knowing you can help me grow,
it means even more. So I'll catch you guys on the next episode and stay healthy, keep making
good decisions. And, you know, don't think you need these technologies. They're just cool to
have. All right. Have a good one.