How do I get started walking for fitness – a great interview with David Paul and his daily podcast “Walking is Fitness”

Ralph Estep Jr.:
00:00

Do you feel like you're stuck in a fitness rut? Have you been wanting to get more active but don't know where to start? Well, today we're talking with podcaster David Paul about an easy way to improve your health just by going for a walk.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
00:22

Yesterday we talked about the importance of designating beneficiaries for your 401K accounts. Don't forget to make sure your accounts are set up properly to protect your legacy. You can check those out at AskRalphPodcast.com. Well, before we get to the interview, let's start with a Bible verse. This one comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 19 to 20, and it says this: "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." So today we're going to be talking about starting a walking routine for better health and better fitness. To help us out, an interview with Dave Paul, host of the podcast "Walking is Fitness." Dave shared some great tips on how to get started with a walking program and more importantly, how to stick with it.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
01:25

Welcome to the show, Dave.

Dave Paul:
01:26

Ralph, it's an honor. Thank you.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
01:28

No problem. I'm one of your daily listeners to your podcast. It's really made a huge impact on me. So tell me about the connection between fitness and finance. I mean, that's what we talk about on my show. But yeah, about that connection.

Dave Paul:
01:42

So interestingly enough, the episode that you did on July 10, you were talking about ways to save money. And one way that I have found in saving money is by being committed to fitness and using walking as a fitness activity. There are really five ways that I've used walking and fitness as a way to save money.

Dave Paul:
02:06

Number one, walking—you just don't need a whole lot of equipment. You don't need to belong to a gym. You can, if you want to use their treadmill equipment, but you don't need to. You don't need to buy fancy equipment, you don't need fancy clothing. Most of the time when I'm out walking, I'm wearing cargo shorts and a T-shirt. I will say this: while it is low cost, it's not no cost if you want to do it the right way. And you don't want to—this is probably a little dramatic—you don't want to injure yourself. And that is it's good to invest in shoes that are uniquely qualified for your feet. I always recommend to my listeners, go to a running store and have them look at your feet and have them bring out shoes that are the right fit for your feet. Because if you're wearing the wrong shoes and you're doing a lot of walking, you're going to feel it. Having shoes that your feet are happy with is going to serve you well. So other than the shoes, you really don't need to spend a whole lot of money on equipment, which is not going to save you a lot of money upfront.

Dave Paul:
03:17

Number two, when you walk a lot and you build your fitness capacity, you find yourself looking for ways to walk even more. And I have found this to be really true. When I'm going somewhere and I have to pay to park, I am willing to drive a good distance away if I can save money on parking. A handful of years ago, I love the band U2. I used to live in Maryland and they were in DC at the stadium that the football team plays in. And I didn't want to pay the $60 or $80 it cost to park right next to the stadium. A little bit of research found a metro subway station that was a mile away, cost five bucks to park all day. And so I drove there, paid my $5, walked the mile, walked past all these people who were paying first $40 and $60, then add to, and I've done that quite a few times. I'm willing to walk a little further and save money on parking. So that's a fun way to save money.

Dave Paul:
04:31

Number three, boredom. I don't know about you, and maybe this is just the season of life that I'm in. My wife and I are now empty nesters. I still work full time, but I have a lot of schedule flexibility and time flexibility. So my schedule is not packed the way it used to be. And I'm a morning person and I'm never bored in the morning. But when we hit the afternoon hours, I can feel the boredom creep in. Instead of going out and spending money to beat the boredom, I'll take a walk. And walking is a great boredom buster. And I have no idea how much money I've saved because I took the walk instead of doing something that cost me money.

Dave Paul:
05:15

Number four, vacations. Now I know that vacations aren't cheap, and some vacations cost a lot. But if you have built a fitness capacity and you love walking, you can build that into your vacation activities. And it's a way to save money. We used to spend quite a bit of time at the Outer Banks in North Carolina—that's where we went on vacation as a family. And we would combine—we would go in with other families and get a beach house not on the beach, but usually a few blocks away from the beach. And we spent a lot of time at the beach and did a lot of walking. And so that became a vacation activity of choice. And it saved us, I'm sure, a lot of money.

Dave Paul:
06:01

But probably the biggest way that you can save money if you are intentional about fitness—and this, of course, is not simply limited to walking, although walking is a great fitness activity—is that when you are intentional about fitness and you've got a long view, you can lower the risk of an early death. You can lower the risk of heart disease, you can lower the risk of certain types of cancer, you can lower the risk of type two diabetes, lower the risk of dementia and other chronic illnesses. There are no guarantees, of course. But when you make a commitment to fitness and you've got this long-term view, you're lowering the risk of really some bad health outcomes, which of course also lowers the amount of money that you're going to be spending on doctor's visits, on medication.

Dave Paul:
06:54

And it's not just the money that you spend. It's also the time that you're spending in doctor's offices. My wife, shortly after we moved here to Myrtle Beach—in fact, the day after I got down here, she was in a terrible car accident. She was in the hospital for a week, in a wheelchair for two months, and spent quite a bit of time in doctor's offices. And I was the one who accompanied her on all those doctor's visits. And it was kind of an in-your-face reminder of this is what could happen if you're not intentional about taking care of your health, investing in your health.

Dave Paul:
07:36

Now in her case, the accident was not her fault at all. Somebody ran a red light and piled right into the driver's side door, T-boned her. And she was at zero fault. But the reality is based on research, we can lower the risk of all those bad health outcomes and lower the amount of time that we're spending in doctor's offices and fighting illness. And so it's not only a money thing, a financial thing, it's also a time thing. And what is that? You money people like to say, time is money.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
08:13

Certainly, and I concur with everything you've said. And people don't realize, you know, I just hit—I'll be 52 in September. And it's funny as you get older how things start to break. And health is a big one. I see a lot of people that don't pay as much attention to it as they need to. Now, one of the other things that I love listening to you about, it sounds to me like walking for you is also about relationship building. Tell me about that.

Dave Paul:
08:38

Oh yeah, so I'm an introvert. I'm a full-on 100% introvert. And one of the best descriptions that I heard defining the difference between introverts and extroverts but focused on the introvert part is it's not that we don't like people. I love being around people. I love spending time with people. I love being with my friends. I love being with my wife, being with my children and grandchildren. But introverts recharge with alone time.

Dave Paul:
09:09

And when we're with people, that's an expenditure of energy. Extroverts, it's just the opposite. You know, they feed off of other people. Being with people is energizing to them. As an introvert, not so much. So I need to make sure that I've got alone time built into my schedule. I'm a morning person, my wife is not, so I'm able to get out and enjoy plenty of alone time. And then we take at least two walks every day. And these aren't necessarily short walks. And we are talking—talking about the day, talking about our dreams, talking about our children or grandchildren.

Dave Paul:
09:51

When we have people come down and visit us—we live in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We're about two miles from the ocean. And we have discovered—this was not a surprise—we've discovered that people like to come and visit us. And one of the things that we enjoy doing with people who come and visit us is taking walks with them.

Dave Paul:
10:12

And so all of this walking really is a fantastic way to get to know people, get to know people better. We've gotten to know our neighbors because we walk through the neighborhood quite a bit. We've built relationships with neighbors through, you know, just being out in the neighborhood and stopping and talking with them.

Dave Paul:
10:34

But I would say that the primary relationship that has benefited from walking is the relationship that my wife and I have. And we've now been married for 40 years. And I would say—and I'm pretty certain that she would concur—we are in the sweetest season of our relationship. And that's because we're intentional about the time we spend together. And a lot of that is, quite frankly, while we're out walking.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
11:01

That's awesome. You know, I love listening to your show when you talk about your six children and I think you've got 10 grandchildren. So my question for you, Dave, is how do you get started with this? How do you, first of all, get started on your own fitness journey? And how do you get your partner or someone to get connected with you?

Dave Paul:
11:21

So those are two very separate questions. And I'll start with the how do you get started personally. One of the things that I heard John Lee Dumas, who is a podcaster, has been doing a daily podcast probably now 10, 11, 12 years—I don't know how long it's been. He talks about if you want to podcast to thrive, identify a real problem that people have and then be the number one solution to that real problem. And so the real problem that I've identified that people have—and I think most of us if we're being honest, I know that I've had this problem—is that we hear continually about the advantages and the benefits of exercise and fitness and how you need to do this. And as we get older and we're visiting the doctor more frequently, we start to hear, you know what, maybe you should be moving more, maybe you should exercise more, take walks more because it'll do your health a world of good. So we hear a lot of this you have to, you should. But translating, transferring from the have to, to actually succeeding in a fitness journey is really, really, really hard.

Dave Paul:
12:43

Getting started for most people is hard. I recognize that there are some people who have no problem getting started—they start things all the time. I have no problem starting things. The real challenge is sticking with it. Because particularly in the area of fitness and health-related issues and exercise, we recognize that there is potential transformation.

Dave Paul:
13:10

We want to lose some weight, we want to look better, we want to feel better, we want to turn around this health metric that the doctor has pointed to and said, you know what, if you don't start moving more, if you don't start making some changes, this is not going to end well. So we have this huge vat of emotional motivation. On the front end,

Dave Paul:
13:33

I'm going to make these changes. And we jump into the deep end before we learn how to swim. And what inevitably happens is you get a week or two in and you're no longer feeling that motivation like you did on day one. And you don't see the progress because progress is really slow. And it's like why am I doing this? This isn't working. And we find ourselves looking for excuses to bottom out. I don't need to take the walk today.

Dave Paul:
14:07

And then not only do you not take the walk tomorrow and before you know it, you're weeks maybe months down the road. And it's like, oh yeah, I wanted to do that walking, that fitness thing. So what I constantly talk about—and I'm not a doctor, I'm not a licensed personal trainer. And I make that bluntly clear in the podcast. I'm simply a guy that loves walking, has found success in sticking with it and wants to help others who want to get started and stick with it. And the key is to start small, think long, which is why my podcast is only 10 minutes long.

Dave Paul:
14:51

And I hate using that word "only" because even when you're getting started, walking every day for 10 minutes—that's a hard thing to do. That's a hard thing to do. And so I'm suggesting that let's take a 10-minute walk together. Don't worry about progress. Don't worry about how much weight you're losing. Don't worry about how you're feeling.

Dave Paul:
15:12

The whole goal at the very beginning is building that habit. And it takes a long time to build a habit. And for some, even a 10-minute walk is too much. For some, it's simply, you know what, we're going to open the front door. And if you live in a house, we're going to go to the end of the driveway and back. That's the walk for today. If you live in an apartment or a condo, open the door, walk to the end of the hall,

Dave Paul:
15:36

and that's your walk. It's building the habit. As your fitness capacity grows and hopefully your enjoyment grows, then you can start thinking about walking longer, walking longer than 10 minutes. Maybe considering that 10,000 steps a day goal—that's a great goal. It's a terrible, terrible goal if you're just getting started.

Dave Paul:
16:03

So goal number one is to build a habit. I've heard research that it takes on average about 66 days to build a habit. Throw that 30-day thing out the window. Most of us need a lot more than 30 days. And so once you have built the habit and you've got that fitness capacity, then now again, I'm talking from the perspective of an introvert, then you can talk about inviting others to join you.

Dave Paul:
16:35

If you're an extrovert, and the idea of starting and doing this thing alone feels like, oh no, I don't want to do that, then maybe the best thing is to find someone that's already walking. You see someone who's walking in your neighborhood, maybe someone in your family, maybe someone in your home who is walking every day,

Dave Paul:
16:55

Hey, can I tag along with you for 10 minutes or so because I really want to get started and you walk 30 minutes a day, that's too much for me. Or again, if you're an introvert, you can begin inviting people to walk with you, maybe not every walk but some of those walks. Now, of course, I also recognize there are going to be situations where you're married and you begin this fitness journey and you're looking at your partner and you're thinking, oh, they need to start walking, they need to move more.

Dave Paul:
17:33

You need to handle that with sensitivity and with care. My recommendation is that you just start building that habit for yourself. Don't start pounding on your partner, hey, you need to go with me, hey, you need to start doing this. Let them see how much fun you're having. Maybe every now and then invite them. If they say no, don't hold it over their heads.

Dave Paul:
18:01

And at some point, they might actually want to join you because they see the impact that it's having on your life. I have a friend who's a personal trainer, and her family doesn't share the passion that she has for exercise and fitness. And I've watched how she is just really sensitive to the people that she loves. And she's not like pounding it, you know, you need to go with me, you need to do this. She just does her thing. And when they join her, she's happy to have them along.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
18:37

I like what you said because it's sort of like when I tell people to get started on their financial journey and build an emergency fund. I mean, you can start with $5 a week. And like you said, maybe for them it's walking to the mailbox.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
18:50

I remember when I was over 420 pounds, I went to the doctor. The doctor said your blood pressure is through the roof, you have type two diabetes. And he basically said to me, you better get started. I now remember intentionally, I'm going to get started, I'm going to get on the horse, I'm going to do this really hard.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
19:05

And I blew myself out quick because I was going to solve this overnight. And when I finally took a step back and said, you know what, I'm going to do a little bit at a time. And I love what you said about the relationship building too. And I think what you're really getting at is modeling behavior. And I think that's awesome. So I'm going to turn the script a little bit. And now I know one of the things that just recently—and you've been doing a podcast for a while now—but tell me about your transition to where this became a business for you.

Dave Paul:
19:32

Yeah, that's a great question. From day one, I always looked at it as a business even though it wasn't making money.

Dave Paul:
19:41

When I started, I was still quite a few years from retirement. I'm getting closer to that now. And I am not someone who wants to simply stop working and then walk all the time. As much as I love walking, that's not my retirement dream. And so I have spent a career in radio. I love communicating with listeners.

Dave Paul:
20:07

Podcasting is a cousin to radio. And I love podcasts. And I thought, you know, I think I would like to start a podcast. And I go back to John Lee Dumas—be the number one solution to a real problem. What can I do that could actually help people as opposed to, hey, I just want to start a podcast because I think this will be fun.

Dave Paul:
20:31

So I approached it from the mindset of this is going to be a business. And even though I wasn't making money from day one, it took a while before I made anything, I invested in the business. I bought the equipment that wasn't super expensive, but I wasn't looking to cheap Charlie it, to use an old phrase.

Dave Paul:
20:56

I went with a podcast provider that had a track record. And it cost me some money. And that was fine. But interestingly enough, my microphone for the podcast is actually an Apple corded mic. And I've tried other mics, I've been willing to spend the money. But this provides the best sound because I record the podcast while I'm out walking.

Dave Paul:
21:24

And so I needed something that was actually flexible enough to go with me while I was walking and still provided the sound that I need. But recently I started a YouTube channel and invested a nice little chunk of change in a mic for the YouTube channel. So on the front end, bottom line, I was always willing to invest the money because I always had the idea that this is going to be a business

Dave Paul:
21:50

at some point and going to make money. And I don't want to at that point go, oh, I guess this is a business. Now I will say, and you know this because I'm using your services, and you've been a godsend, literally. I knew at some point I was going to need professional accounting or professional financial assistance in really shaping this up as a business.

Dave Paul:
22:17

And so reached out to you. And I'm really grateful that I did. And of course your expertise far surpassed my expertise beyond simply, well, I need to, you know, really kind of shore this up and turn this into a business. And you've been very helpful for that. So really it goes back to day one, even though I wasn't making money, it was just the recognition of I'm going to approach this like a business.

Dave Paul:
22:17

And I heard you on Dave Jackson's wonderful podcast, the School of Podcasting. I was starting to make some money, and I thought now's the time. Ralph is a fellow podcaster, he's an expert. And you were the number one solution to my real problem of how do I officially now turn this into a business.

Dave Paul:
23:12

And then as I get closer to making money and actually starting to make some money, you were really a godsend, the number one solution to that real problem that I had.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
23:24

I truly appreciate you saying that. So what has been your biggest surprise in the business side of things?

Dave Paul:
23:32

You know, I guess it's a gift. I always have the long term in view. And so the idea, start small, think long, for me is not as challenging as it might be for others. So even from day one, I knew that this was a long play. This was not going to be a quick hit podcast, even though I was excited about the possibilities. I knew it was going to take time to build the audience. Marketing the podcast was actually harder than I expected. And I expected it to be hard. So I knew this was going to be a long play.

Dave Paul:
24:18

I knew that I needed to set up the systems from day one that were business systems, even to the point of how I record the podcast. It's like, okay, this is going to be a part-time job for me. I'm doing this every day, but I can't really do this every day.

Dave Paul:
24:38

I'm going to need to have time off. And so I built those systems into how I structured the podcast from day one. But even so, the conversation with you, I knew that there were things that I did not know, but it was still a mind-blowing conversation. I was like, oh, I never thought about that.

Dave Paul:
25:02

I never considered that, had really never had that in mind. So for someone who even is thinking long term, is thinking, yep, this is going to earn money, it's going to take time. Having a professional accountant, having those business practices in place really does require someone who knows what they're doing.

Dave Paul:
25:30

One of my sons is a professional filmmaker, professional YouTuber. He's self-employed. And I've been the annoying dad, "Andrew, you need to get someone who knows what they're doing because it's going to serve you well." I don't think he's pulled the plug on that or pulled the trigger on that yet. But we'll see.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
25:51

So Dave, I know you're motivated for the walking, but how do you stay motivated to keep doing the daily podcast? I do one as well, and I know it can be a grind. So how do you maintain your motivation?

Dave Paul:
26:03

Well, number one, I love it. Number two, it's having an impact. And I made the commitment when I started that I was going to do this every day, 10 podcasts every day, even if nobody listens. I'm going to do this for a year.

Dave Paul:
26:21

And so I made the commitment with myself, made a promise to myself that I'm going to do this for a year. And then I will reevaluate. And gratefully, while it wasn't a huge audience, there were people because I had actually started a blog about walking in 2018. And the podcast, the daily podcast as it is today, started in 2021.

Dave Paul:
26:49

So I had three years of this blog. And so I had a small audience. So when I started the podcast, I started with promoting it through the blog. So there were a few hundred people who started listening from day one. So I was grateful for that. And they were so gracious and so kind and so encouraging.

Dave Paul:
27:12

And as the podcast continued, I started getting more and more feedback about the impact that it was having on their fitness and on their lives. So having the feedback that this podcast really is having for some a life-changing impact. I've had listeners reach out and say, "You've saved my life."

Dave Paul:
27:39

Well, I'm grateful that they have said that and they've reached out, but they're doing the hard work. They're the ones that are actually doing the work that has changed their health. But the reality is the podcast is having an impact. And honestly, Ralph, it's been three and a half, three and a half years, two and a half years.

Dave Paul:
28:05

I'm coming up on, losing track of time. I'm coming up on year three in November. And I still love it. As long as I have something to talk about and topics that I'm excited about. And that's really my favorite part of the podcast is finding the topics. And that probably goes back two decades in radio. I was a morning DJ for many, many, many, many years.

Dave Paul:
28:35

And I learned that the key to doing successful radio is know what you're going to say before you open the microphone. And so I love doing the research about things to talk about for each individual break. That's what we call them in radio, the talk segments between songs, we call them breaks. I don't know why. Doing the research for those breaks.

Dave Paul:
28:59

And then thinking about how can I structure this in a way that brings value to the person on the other side of the speaker, the listener. And so I loved doing that in all my years of radio, and I still love doing that. So if I have topics that I'm excited about, and I always do, I haven't run out of topics, I still have a ton of topics that I haven't explored yet, then I enjoy going out and turning that mic on and talking for, actually it's a little bit more than 10 minutes.

Dave Paul:
29:30

And then I edit them down so that they are right around 10 minutes because I don't want listeners who are just getting started. And I'm saying we're going to take a walk for 10 minutes. And that's what they're counting on, 10 minutes. And I keep going and they're like, wait a minute, am I not doing enough? I don't want any listener who's getting started to feel like they're not doing enough. So I am very consistent about every episode falling within 10 seconds of 10 minutes.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
29:58

And the other thing I will say is, being a daily listener, you get into some cool topics. But I think the coolest thing, I think, was last week when the rocket took off in front of you. That was really cool. As a listener, I got to be honest with you, I mean talking about being able to impromptu. I honestly didn't know if you were witnessing a car accident or if something had fallen out of the sky. But tell me about that. So you had planned on a topic that was completely different than what you were able to turn on a dime there.

Dave Paul:
30:28

Yeah, so the topic for that episode was consistency. Consistency, staying consistent with fitness is one of the hardest things. It's that whole sticking with it, you know, it's really just looking at it from a slightly different vantage point. So I wanted to talk about staying consistent.

Dave Paul:
30:49

And I had my topic planned. I don't have a script, but I do have thoughts. It's not so much an outline. But I have thoughts that I have actually put into the Notes app on my phone. So I'm walking, holding my phone, kind of looking at my notes. And one of the things—and I enjoy doing this—I want to be present in the moment because I'm literally walking outside. And I want to be present in the moment.

Dave Paul:
31:23

And if I see something, I will talk about what I see. That on that particular morning, I was getting ready to talk about the topic and I glanced off. I was walking and I turned to my left. And it was a beautiful morning. The skies were clear, it was a crescent moon. I love crescent moons. And there was a bright star.

Dave Paul:
31:48

I was pretty sure it was a planet that was near the moon. And I've got an app on my phone that I can pull up and point it up in the sky and it will tell me what it is. And so I'm talking as I mention, I see the bright star and I said I'm going to do something that I've never done.

Dave Paul:
32:07

And I'm, while I'm talking, I'm pulling the app up on my phone. I find the app and click on it and then turn back. And it's no longer simply the crescent moon. And what turned out to be Jupiter. It's no longer simply the crescent moon and Jupiter, there was a rocket. And this was not the first rocket I have seen since we moved here to South Carolina.

Dave Paul:
32:32

We're closer to Cape Canaveral. I'm aware of these rocket launches and when they happen at night, it's brilliant. Just lights up the whole sky. But I didn't know that a rocket was launching because it was still pre-sunrise. I didn't know a rocket was launching. And I turned back and I see the rocket and I'm like, oh my.

Dave Paul:
33:15

And I think there was a pause of about five seconds, which is probably, you're filling in the blank, oh my gosh, what's going on. And then I described what I was seeing and took a picture and posted the picture on Instagram. So listeners who were interested could see what I was describing.

Dave Paul:
33:15

I don't know that I did the play-by-play of the rocket really, really well. But what you heard was my total surprise and awe and quite frankly, childlike delight at seeing the rocket in the sky. And I think that went on for three, maybe four minutes before I finally got back to the topic of consistency.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
33:43

Yeah, and that's motivational too because if you think about it, when you're out there walking, it can get very routine and mundane. But I hear you talking about, well, what does that sound? And I hear you talk about sprinklers and the rocket. And this morning I heard you talking about a motorcycle sound that you hear every day.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
34:00

So I guess what I hear you saying, David, is you can enjoy that journey and look for things to experience during the walk.

Dave Paul:
34:06

Oh, totally. And that's one of the beautiful things about walking as a fitness activity. And again, I want to mention, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a licensed personal trainer.

Dave Paul:
34:16

I've also never said that walking is the only thing you need. The experts say cardio, which walking is—cardio exercise is good. Strength training is good, lifting weights, balance exercises, flexibility, what we eat is important, how we manage stress, the sleep we get, all of that factors into our health.

Dave Paul:
34:38

So walking is not all you need. But I also don't want to blow listeners out of the water who are just getting started. You know, like you heard your doctor said you need to start doing more, otherwise, this is not going to end well. And by the way, I don't know how much weight you lost, but what an amazing transformation. I mean, that's an incredibly hard thing that you did and that you stuck with it.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
35:07

Yeah, I have lost about 130 pounds. I always tell people I've lost a quarter of myself. But no, it's the truth, Dave. And I was sitting there in the doctor's office, I remember my blood pressure was 200 over 100. And he looked me in the eyes and I had two young boys at the time.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
35:24

Now they're 23 and 26. So it's been probably 10 or 15 years. And I said to myself, look, I'm not going to make it to see them graduate high school. And I'm not trying to be dramatic. And I'm not a doctor either. But you know, it's just those little take the first few steps. And that's one of the coolest things I think about your podcast is it encourages you to take those first steps.

Dave Paul:
35:48

Yeah. And even though walking is not the only thing that you need, I love walking. And I've done episodes about this. Even if there were zero benefit, zero health benefits to walking, I would still walk as much as I do. Because I love it. You can listen to a podcast. I took a walk before we started talking today. And I was listening to your podcast and you do a great job, by the way.

Dave Paul:
36:18

I love the information, the accessibility, how it's presented. You can listen to podcasts, you can listen to audiobooks, you can listen to music, you can listen to nothing and just enjoy the sounds of nature. I mean, there's so many ways to make this fitness activity fun. And so the enthusiasm that I have both in the podcast and in the YouTube videos, it's real, it's not manufactured. And in fact, I think sometimes I'm not even aware of how excited I can sound about walking. And one of the consistent comments that I'm seeing in the YouTube channel, people who are watching the videos is, "Oh, you sound so happy.

Dave Paul:
37:08

I love your joy. I love how you just really love this fitness activity." And now, you know, the reality is when you get started—and you know this firsthand—when you get started, it's not fun. Most of us, particularly if we've waited a while and we've got some added weight or added age, you know, we're going to feel that.

Dave Paul:
37:38

And that walk even to the end of the driveway is like, are you kidding me? What are you telling me? This is fun. This isn't fun. And the expectations are large, progress is small. And so there's really not a whole lot of fun at the beginning. But if you stick with it and you don't try to do too much at the beginning and you've got this long-range view, it really can become fun.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
38:11

So I ask all of my guests on my show—you know, I have a Christian show. And what I hear in your voice a lot is passion, I hear, to be blunt, a mission. So tell me how you manage to merge your business, your podcast, and your faith because I hear it.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
38:28

You don't explicitly talk about it, but I can feel it as a listener.

Dave Paul:
38:32

I appreciate that. Thank you, Ralph. I am a believer in Jesus, have been since I was a teenager. My professional career, most of my time has been spent working with a Christian radio station. And one of the things—I'll never forget this meeting.

Dave Paul:
38:52

This was maybe 10 years ago. And I don't even recall what the meeting was about, but someone who was our sales director, he said that one of the things that makes us as a Christian radio station unique is that we love our listeners. It's like, you know, we do, and I had never really heard someone put it that way.

Dave Paul:
39:19

And I feel the same way about the listeners of "Walking is Fitness" and those who are watching the videos on the YouTube channel. My desire is to serve every listener. They're doing a hard thing. I know they're doing a hard thing. I want them to understand that I know they're doing a hard thing and I want to be encouraging.

Dave Paul:
39:43

I want them to be able to stick with it because I know that if they do, they really could experience some life-changing health transformation. I had, again, a viewer of one of the videos. She was talking about how she was on blood pressure medication and statins for high cholesterol, started walking every day.

Dave Paul:
40:09

She was motivated after watching one of the videos. And after four months, she's off the blood pressure medication. She's off the statins. I had a listener who is in Ukraine. And we know the terrible situation in Ukraine. And he listens every day. And he said, listening to your podcast is an oasis in my day. And so my desire is to serve my listeners. The passion is to serve my listeners.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
40:44

Yeah. And like I said, I hear that. One of the things you always say is, "I'll walk with you tomorrow." That's my commitment to you. You talk about it's an honor. And Dave, I just want to tell you, keep up the good work, my friend. You've made an impact on me. And I know it's made an impact on your listeners.

Ralph Estep Jr.:
40:59

So as we end here today, how can listeners best connect with you?

Dave Paul:
41:04

So I have a website, walkingisfitness.com. And there's a tab for the podcasts. And every day, the five most recent podcasts are on the website. And of course, if you have a podcast app, the Apple podcast app or Spotify, "Walking is Fitness" is available through those apps or any of the other apps that you might use. And then on YouTube, it's the "Walking is Fitness" channel. And it's not simply the podcast repurposed on YouTube. Each of the—I do a weekly video, and it's separate from the podcast. And I try to make it fun, finding different places to walk. And again, answering people's questions who are curious about walking as a fitness activity and inviting them to move from curiosity to action and invite them to listen to the daily podcast. So walkingisfitness.com is kind of the springboard, and "Walking is Fitness" on YouTube. And if you're familiar with podcast apps, "Walking is Fitness."

Ralph Estep Jr.:
42:14

Thank you, Dave. I truly appreciate all your time today and your kind comments, and I will encourage all of the people to tune into his "Walking is Fitness." It is something that you will definitely benefit from. So thank you, Dave.

Dave Paul:
42:28

Ralph, it's been an honor. Thank you.