We Play Full Out with Bart and Sunny

Fitness and Function: The Life You Save May Not Be Your Own

• Bart and Sunny Miller • Season 1 • Episode 73

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What if your physical strength was the only thing standing between someone you love… and the help they need?

In this raw and revealing episode, Sunny and Bart unpack a true story shared by speaker and storyteller Dan Clark — a story that left the entire room in stunned silence. It involves a 10-year-old boy, a collapsed father, and two first responders who arrived too late... not because of traffic, not because of equipment failure — but because they weren’t physically strong enough to help.

This episode isn’t about shame. It’s about truth. And the truth is: our bodies aren’t ornaments, they’re instruments. We don’t need to look good to be good. But we do need to be ready.

Sunny and Bart discuss:

  • Why most people don’t realize their body is their first and last line of defense
  • The hidden ways your body is working for you every single day — without thanks or attention
  • How negative self-talk literally rewires your physiology and drains your energy
  • The simple mindset shift that turns fitness from punishment into partnership
  • Why being physically fit is about playing full out in every area of life — not just the gym

They’ll also share what’s going on inside the I Do Epic community this month, including a no-shame, all-fun fitness challenge that’s helping high-performers reconnect with their bodies as sacred vessels — not problems to be fixed.

Whether you’re feeling strong or struggling to start, this episode will remind you:

Your body isn’t the enemy. It’s your greatest ally.

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Bart:

Welcome to. We Play Full Out with Bart and Sunny Miller. Take it away, Sunny.

Sunny:

Thank you, bart. Yeah, I'm going to start today with a question. What if someone you know died because you weren't physically fit enough to help them live? Yikes, yeah.

Bart:

That would be crazy. Yeah, let's talk more about that.

Sunny:

Well, we recently had the chance to attend an event where Dan Clark was both a speaker and a teacher. He shared this heartbreaking story. Dan's daughter is a professional dancer touring in London. When she was just 12 years old, she took a dance lessons at a place called Center Stage in Utah. Fun fact, this is where Derek and Julianne Hoff learned how to dance Awesome. Her dance partner and best friend was a boy named Hefa. One day, dan's daughter Hefa, hefa's mom and Dan's wife were all in Denver for a national dance competition. During the event, dan's wife called in with some urgent news. Hefa's dad had collapsed in the kitchen and Dan needed to get there quickly. Right after he hung up on that call, dan received another one from Hefe's 10-year-old son, soa. He said Uncle Dan, my dad just fell over in the kitchen. He's not moving or breathing.

Bart:

That would be quite a call to receive, right, not going to lie.

Sunny:

Especially somebody that you know, that's like close to you. Yeah Well, Dan asked if he had called 911, and so it confirmed that he had. Dan promised to get there as fast as he could and he drove like mad for 45 minutes to reach Spanish Fork, Utah, 45 minutes to reach Spanish Fort, Utah. When Dan arrived, he was shocked to see the ambulance still parked in the driveway. Inside he found two older, out-of-shape EMTs struggling to lift Hefe's dad. Now he was a big Polynesian firefighter who stood at 6'2 and had 200 pounds of solid muscle. Unfortunately, they weren't fit enough to get him onto the gurney, out the door and into the ambulance so they could race him to the hospital. Because it was a small town with limited resources, they had to call for help from a nearby town which, as you can well imagine, caused more delays, Despite the advances in modern technology. That should prevent a man like Hefe Sr to pass away. He sadly passed away from a stroke, leaving behind three young sons and a grieving widow.

Bart:

Yeah, I think at that point in time I would be, as a friend, frustrated, upset, let down, disappointed, and there'd be a lot of emotions, I think, on the family end and everything else.

Sunny:

I mean I'd be crazy. You're spot on. At the funeral, everyone felt a mix of sadness and frustrated anger. Everyone felt a mix of sadness and frustrated anger. Anger because the EMTs hadn't taken their physical fitness seriously enough to perform their duties effectively and indirectly caused Hefe Senior to die.

Bart:

You know, this is an amazing example in so many things right Because they could be the most amazing EMTs.

Sunny:

They probably were.

Bart:

Yeah, exactly, they could have been Medically right, could be the most amazing emts. They probably were. Yeah, exactly, medically right, like they know all the things, how to do all the stuff where everything's out on the van, all but one thing right. Didn't have enough fitness to pick somebody up, right? Imagine that you're super fit and then you're on the opposite end I mean, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, for sure Like there's so many good examples that are like popping in my head right now. Yeah, it's crazy.

Sunny:

Well, most of us are not EMTs, but some of us are parents, partners, leaders, business owners, and our bodies are the only vehicle we get for any of that. Your body is the container of your power, not your punishment, amen. That's why our we Play Full Out Life Mastery program starts with the gateway called the vessel, our bodies. The code we unlock within this gateway is just as I said my body is the container of my power, not my punishment.

Bart:

Yeah, and you know, what's so cool about what we're talking about is is that let me brag a little bit on our family, but you know we've always taken fitness seriously. Yeah, like our son was a competitive cyclist, I was a competitive cyclist, you know. So on and so forth. I can talk about our daughters, everything like that.

Sunny:

Yeah.

Bart:

I mean, we've got photos with our family in full on stage, stage-ready bodies, and not that you have to be stage-ready, but I think the way we've acted as parents is really shine through in our kids and them saying, hey, this is important because we want to be able to play and do things. And now that we have a grandbaby, holy takes it to a whole nother level for me because she really is a workout.

Sunny:

She takes a lot of energy.

Bart:

Holy cow.

Sunny:

Oh. So this month in IDU Epic, which is our elite execution network for high performers, we are having a really fun fitness challenge. Yes, it is almost summertime and slimming down and getting toned up is top of mind, but our bodies are about so much more than looking good Amen. At the end of the day, it isn't about having six pack abs. It's about being available for your life, that's, physically, energetically and emotionally.

Bart:

So many good things, like so many reasons why this is important, right, because I mean just one that pops in my head is that if you want to do anything, you just want to have enough energy to be able to be energetic right To actually go do something.

Sunny:

And enjoy it. How many times like when I just don't have the energy and I look outside and it's a beautiful day and I want to be out there enjoying it so bad, but it's like I just can't do it, Like I'm too tired, yeah All right.

Bart:

Well, I ask you guys, if you're watching this or listening to it right now, really to do a self-check, because at yep, so our bodies were not designed to sit all day all fingers pointing at us as entrepreneurs.

Sunny:

It wants to move, it craves movement, it wants to serve you and it does at a very high level.

Bart:

Think of all the things your body does in a day that you don't even consider hey, I'm telling you one thing, like you guys can see right there, I know it doesn't look like much right.

Sunny:

Right.

Bart:

But honestly, like you take it for granted, when all of a sudden you put it down, you're like oh ouch. Or like all of a sudden that scab starts to get a little tighter right. It's just crazy how we take our bodies, when they're at a certain level for so much granite, like we just take it, like we don't even think about it.

Sunny:

We don't.

Bart:

But boy, when something happens, we do.

Sunny:

Sure do. So. We're going to start with vital functions. So you stay alive without lifting a finger. Your heart beats 100,000 times a day to circulate blood and oxygen, while your lungs are busy taking 20,000 breaths a day to circulate blood and oxygen. While your lungs are busy taking 20,000 breaths a day while simultaneously oxygenating cells and removing CO2. While this is happening, your brain is firing billions of signals to coordinate movement, thoughts and emotions. Your kidneys filter 50 gallons of blood per day, removing toxins, and your liver neutralizes harmful substances and regulates over 500 vital functions. Our bodies are machines.

Bart:

Absolutely Right, and we don't even think about it.

Sunny:

We don't have to sit and think about okay, pump heart, pump heart, pump heart. You know what I mean.

Bart:

Sometimes I do you, scare me to death. I'm like pump heart, pump heart, pump heart. You know what I mean. Sometimes I do you scare me to death.

Sunny:

I'm like heart pump. Okay, repair and protection. So you're healing 24 7, as bart was just saying about his cut on his arm. Your skin regenerates constantly, healing cuts, bruises and scrapes without any kind of a conscious effort on your part. Your immune system detects and attacks thousands of foreign invaders daily. Broken bones, fuse infections are fought off and damaged cells are recycled or replaced. Your body cleanses itself, detoxifying through your liver, kidneys, breath and even your sweat. We're going to keep going.

Bart:

Dang, let's go. Man, these people are going to be like I didn't know so much about the body. You're going to want to write down all these facts.

Sunny:

Okay, energy and digestion. You eat, you live. It's a good thing. Your digestive system turns food into energy cells, hormones andregulating chemicals. Enzymes break down complex meals into usable building blocks, and your gut microbiome helps regulate your immune system and even your mood.

Bart:

What have you been eating lately? I've been off sugar so I might be a little grumpy.

Sunny:

Okay, balance and sensing. So you're walking magic. Yes, yep, your vestibular system that's a big one keeps you upright and balanced while moving again without a thought. Your muscles contract and coordinate in harmony with your nervous system. Even when you're asleep, your eyes adjust to light instantly and your ears can filter out background noise. Your super brain processes pain, pleasure, fear, joy and stores your memories, dreams and desires.

Bart:

Process more pleasure, process more pleasure.

Sunny:

Where's the joy? Where's the joy? Emotional and energetic alchemy. Then we get to the emotional and energetic category.

Bart:

Let's do it.

Sunny:

Your body responds to joy with serotonin and endorphins. Love me some serotonin. Yeah Little endorphins are good once in a while especially in those workouts, yeah. But it also releases cortisol and adrenaline to protect you in stress. Our posture and breath change your confidence and clarity in real time and, finally, your heart produces an electromagnetic field detectable several feet away, influencing others.

Bart:

Wow.

Sunny:

Are you influencing me right now?

Bart:

Absolutely.

Sunny:

All right then.

Bart:

You like it, I do Good.

Sunny:

If you take all of that into consideration, your body could technically be considered your best friend. Better than a best friend, more like a sacred companion or cohort.

Bart:

Your supercomputer, baby.

Sunny:

Really is. Your body is working for you and serving you 24 hours a day. We didn't even talk about how it grows your fingernails, grows your eyelashes, all the things right. There's even more than what we've discussed.

Sunny:

Crazy. Should we just keep going on? Should we AI this and just get more stuff for everybody out there? No, I think we get the point. You're getting the point, okay, yeah. So again, your body is working for you and serving you 24 hours a day, even when you've neglected it, even when you're mad at it, even when you aren't listening to it. I don't think you'd continue to serve me if I acted that way.

Bart:

I don't know if any of us would serve others.

Sunny:

But our bodies do.

Bart:

They do it.

Sunny:

Our bodies do. And what do you give it in return? Do you talk to it the way you would talk to your best friend, or do you spew toxic negativity at it every time you look in the mirror? Do you feed it the way you would feed a small child no toxins or chemicals or do you fill it with junk and expect it to run like a Ferrari?

Bart:

I hope you're not talking about my Cheetos, don't go there.

Sunny:

That was your outside voice.

Bart:

Don't go there. I wasn't going there, okay, good.

Sunny:

Your body continues functioning for you, but if you ignore it, it starts ignoring you back. And the cost of that? You're tired all the time. Your brain fogs out. Halfway through the day you get injured doing things that used to be easy. Maybe you feel overexerted from things that used to be easy. You can feel overexerted from things that used to be easy. You can't play full out with your kids or grandkids because you get too tired too quickly. That doesn't sound familiar.

Bart:

No, I don't want any of that either.

Sunny:

So there's two parts to this. First is physical fitness isn't just going to the gym, it's a way of life. Staying physically fit and healthy isn't just about going to the gym, it's a way of life. Staying physically fit and healthy isn't just about going to the gym. It really is, once again, a way of life. The solution doesn't have to be extreme, aka you don't have to live at the gym Although a 30 minute gym workout per day is a pretty legit thing to do but you can and should move as much as you can.

Bart:

Yeah, and on that point you guys like, for me the biggest thing is is like I used to do kettlebells, and a 30 minute kettlebell workout for your overall body used to blow me up. But I was at one of my strongest points core, strength, core, everything, arms, hands moving that bell around. You know my squats. It was crazy what that did for me. I loved it, so 30 minute workout can absolutely get you ripped.

Sunny:

Yep. So some other things you can do. Park farther away.

Bart:

I thought it was the coolest thing to manifest the front row parking spot. You tell me it's not.

Sunny:

No no you could park farther away. Take the stairs, walk the dog longer. Take the stairs, walk the dog longer. Pick up something heavy on purpose. Yeah, go to bed used up, like your body did something. I can't remember the book we were reading, but it basically said you should go to bed physically exhausted every night. Yeah, like your body, just it actually craves it. Yeah, and I think we all know we should eat healthy. So stay in tune with what your body needs and feed it the fuel to optimize yourself on a daily basis, because in reality, we live in a world engineered for convenience, which means we have to consciously choose to live inconveniently.

Bart:

Yeah Well, and I think on that note too, like, let's be clear, you know, diesel runs on diesel, which isn't a high performance fuel, but it chugs along. A lower grade fuel will get you by, but if you want to be a Ferrari and you want to run a Ferrari engine, you've got to put high octane in it. So there's just levels of fuel that you put in and you can just use the analogy of a car of how you want to perform at that level.

Sunny:

Yeah, high performer, then you need, you got to act like one.

Bart:

I mean, if you're a Ferrari, you got to act like it. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. If you're running a company, you're running all these things, you better be looking at yourself as a Ferrari and doing the best you can. Now, sometimes you just can't. It is what it is. Yeah, but you know you got to do the best you can.

Sunny:

Yeah, because, again, fitness isn't about looking good, although that can be fun too. It's about being ready and able to show up and play full out in your life.

Bart:

Let's go.

Sunny:

All right, we're going to go over to number two. Physical fitness isn't just about moving our bodies, it's how we talk to them. So now that we're locked and loaded on getting our bodies up and moving, we need to discuss how we are talking to our bodies. Now I have a friend who is constantly pointing out things about her body she doesn't like. She wondered if her body could hear her, even if she wasn't saying it out loud. I responded with a definitely don't do it like abort, abort, abort. As someone who has struggled with body image, I found it hard not to self criticize until I started thinking about all the crazy cool stuff my body can do.

Bart:

Yeah, it's so good.

Sunny:

Now, every day, I take time to consciously notice something my body can do and I praise it for being so awesome. Yep, I can be even just like oh, check out my toes. Or like, look at my fingers, look at what they can do. Like I can hold things, I can make things, I can create. You know, it doesn't always have to be about whether I look the best in the world or not. You know so good. The energy shift has been extremely noticeable and self-image has definitely improved. But, interestingly enough, there are all kinds of unconscious processes that kick into play when we think negative thoughts about our bodies. We're going to talk about how your brain registers self-criticism as a threat. Thank you, as a threat.

Bart:

Yeah, I don't want to be threatened by it.

Sunny:

So negative self-talk activates your amygdala, which is your brain's fear center. Your body actually perceives it like emotional danger. This releases cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Chronic cortisol release weakens your immune system, increases inflammation and stores fats. In other words, beating yourself up makes your body defend against you instead of working for you. Isn't that crazy?

Bart:

So crazy. Just once again, it's such a powerful mechanism that we don't even understand all of it. So when we get enlightened about it, we need to pay attention. I know this may sound boring to some or not as exciting to learn about, but at the end of the day, if you don't know what you don't know, you don't know. So once you're aware of it, then you can do something about it. So hopefully they're getting you know we're all getting awareness about what is going on so that we can make a greater impact.

Sunny:

Yeah, I mean, if you think about, like beating somebody up every day you wouldn't do it. You wouldn't do it. They would start to defend against you. They would put up all the stress hormones and the adrenaline, the cortisol, every time they see you Right.

Sunny:

So, it makes sense that your body would do the same thing. The next one is the cells eavesdrop on your emotions. According to Dr Candice Pert, author of Molecules of Emotion, your thoughts and feelings create biochemical messages that flood every cell in your body. If you think, don't say out loud, even if you just think I'm disgusting, your body actually copies and pastes that instruction into your biology just like a computer code.

Bart:

So you are coding your body, that 100% supercomputer again right.

Sunny:

Yeah, Cells adapt to that vibration and over time it literally shapes your health, posture and energy field.

Bart:

Yeah, it's crazy. And so I was with a young entrepreneur today and we were having a conversation and it was just about a text, and I could just tell that there was a lot of emotion around it as he talked about this text and so we'd started to discuss that, just because I was like so why do you have this emotion? You know, kind of went through the whole process and I think by the end of it he had such an aha moment of like no wonder I'm attracting this, no wonder this is happening in my life, no wonder because I'm creating that. All that, all that energy.

Bart:

It's me, you know, and it's that is the hardest thing. Sometimes, you know, it's like the saying goes, the more pointing a finger at somebody, we think we're pointing one finger at them or pointing them all really back at us, you know. But it's really a reality check, because I've done it, I did it for years, didn't know when I was pointing all 10 fingers back at myself. Yeah, you know, and when we have those aha moments, it's just like dang, but it's like thank you, yeah, that's exactly.

Sunny:

Now I understand how to program the computer. Yeah, yeah.

Bart:

If you don't know coding, you can't do it.

Sunny:

So good, okay. So again negative self-talk. You disrupt the mind-body feedback loop. Your body is always, as we were saying, trying to support you through healing, balance and communication, but when you constantly insult it, ignore its signals or punish it with shame, you shut down communication. You become numb, disconnected or constantly in pain. You might even start to sabotage healthy habits because deep down, you don't believe you deserve vitality.

Bart:

It's crazy, isn't that funny? Yeah, we don't deserve wealth, we don't deserve this, we don't deserve that. You know we have this programming running behind and, like we don't even know, sometimes it's running. But we got to figure it out. You got to go find that code, delete it.

Sunny:

You do because I think self-sabotage is very common 100%. And we know that we're doing it, but we don't know why we're doing it.

Bart:

Amen.

Sunny:

So hone in on that Zap it.

Bart:

Well, yeah, exactly, not only zap it, but realize some of it's not your fault. It's just the way system we were talking about has a lot to do with it. It really does.

Sunny:

Okay. The last one, I believe, is that you reinforce negative identity loops. Thoughts repeated become beliefs, beliefs become identity and identity becomes action. So if you're thinking I always give up, becomes you don't even start, I'll never look good. Becomes you don't nour. Start I'll never look good. Becomes you don't nourish or move your body. My body is broken. Becomes you subconsciously reinforce patterns of illness or fatigue. It's crazy. So what you want to do is flip the script and start speaking to your body like it's a sacred partner. Your body responds to love. It lights up when you say thank you. It softens when you say I'm listening. It softens when you say I'm listening. It heals faster when you say I believe in you. So good yeah. Thoughts don't just become things. We've heard that before.

Bart:

Yep.

Sunny:

I think I've read a whole book on it.

Bart:

Yeah lots of books on it.

Sunny:

That they become cells, patterns and possibilities inside of you.

Bart:

Yep, let's go so good, so many takeaways in here to just really noodle on, think on, but really just be aware of yourself. And if you're not, the best way I find is to journal. Just take and start journaling, because when you start journaling those thoughts will come in. Just write those thoughts down right then and there, and then just line them through, cross them out and rewrite what you want. And, as a matter of fact, at our event, one of the things we're going to do is write down all this negativity. We're going to take it out of the campfire and we're going to burn it. Yeah, bonfire. It's funny because here's an example.

Bart:

If you want to find one of these that you work on. But let's say you have something inside of you that you just aren't like in love with money, what I dare you to do is just go draw out $5,000 and carry it with you for an entire month. Now, for some of you that's going to be like what Are you kidding me right now? That's a lot of money. What if I lost it? What is that all of a sudden saying about you?

Sunny:

Yeah.

Bart:

You're scared that you're not going to make the money back. You're scared that you're going to give the money. You're scared of all these things because if you weren't scared, you wouldn't be worried about it for a second, because you know it's water, it's coming back, it's no big deal. I can carry it anywhere If it disappears. That was what it was meant to happen. You see what I'm saying? I do, but it's a hack. So if you don't pack cash on you and you're afraid of that, then you're afraid of money in some way, shape or form. Yep, does that make sense?

Sunny:

Absolutely. I was going to say in terms of body image and the things that we've been talking about. If you are ready to go out, say for the summer, and you've got an outfit on and all of a sudden you're like, oh, I'm going to throw on a sweatshirt because I don't like how I look. Yep, it's the same thing. Yep, it's like. No, you just got to go out and own it.

Sunny:

Yeah, and just tell yourself no, I am beautiful, yeah, I'm awesome Because, as soon as you start covering up or start thinking those thoughts, then your body's going to respond. Totally, we had little Lila over for almost the entire week. Yeah, we did, Boy. I forgot a lot about little babies. She is six months old. Her mom, Mercedes, went to Disney World so we had the pleasure of having her little busy energy around us all day and it was so fun. It definitely reminded us of how much energy those little humans take.

Sunny:

Yeah, I'd say we have been event planning like crazy and getting more and more excited as it draws near. We have five.

Bart:

Five, four, three, two, one, five tickets left.

Sunny:

And two luxury tents left, so come party with us if you feel called to. It's June 5th through the 7th at Mountain River Ranch here in Idaho. You can check it out at wwwidoepiclivecom.

Bart:

We also have the Playbook Power Hour Call last Tuesday. It was a great call. Our I Do Epic group, through the 7 Figure Entrepreneur's Playbook. We talked about 90-day goals and what they are going to accomplish within the next 30 days. We're hyper-focused on hitting these targets and growing our business and their businesses with this strategy, and I'll tell you what that call was just so much fun. It's so great to see our entrepreneurs just like really dive into why they need a why. Why they need to plan. How to plan backwards makes for success. How to plan for their family, how to attach the business, how to get buy-in from their family on what they're doing so their family supports them. I mean, there's just so much good stuff that we went through there. That was just awesome, so I'm so grateful we did that.

Sunny:

Well, I like to always say if you don't know where you're going, how are you going to get there? Yeah, and I know that analogy is used a lot, but that's the truth, right?

Bart:

So good, All right, and so, uh, I think everything Kobe we talked about last week got in his saxophone things. He did had a great lesson this week Xander by chance. I said it's Kobe. I said yeah.

Sunny:

Xander is our other son.

Bart:

Yeah, so Xander got all that done, which has been awesome, and he's been driving himself to school so far safely, yeah, and been playing a little pickleball with us too, which has been nice.

Sunny:

Yeah, all right, he can still beat me. He doesn't practice as much as I do.

Bart:

I don't know what to say to that, so I'm just going to leave that alone. There's nothing to say. All right. Well, is that everything in our updates? That's it All right. So thank you for watching. If you feel like this was important for you or you could share it with anybody else, that would help us a ton, because we kind of want to get the message out. There's other podcasts. You can go listen to those also. That would be great. So with that, this segment sponsored by I Do Epic.

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Bart Miller

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Sunny Miller

Host