Video summary
The discussion centers on the intricate relationship between alcohol consumption, fitness, and personal development, highlighting how these elements are deeply interwoven in modern lifestyles. The speaker recounts his journey from being a club promoter for fifteen years to deciding around his late twenties that drinking was hindering his progress toward desired personal growth goals. He realized that every few weeks he would ruin meditation streaks, dietary plans, or training routines by consuming enough alcohol to reset them entirely. Consequently, he chose elective sobriety and found it incredibly productive, granting him greater focus and consistency than when he returned to drinking. This shift underscores a critical cultural observation: unlike other drugs where abstinence does not invite scrutiny, society often assumes that someone who stops drinking has something wrong with them due to the deep engraining of alcohol in social culture. A significant portion of the conversation addresses whether abstaining from alcohol inevitably leads to a "boring" life or forces one into isolation within straight-laced circles. The speaker challenges this notion by arguing that many people do not have true friends but rather drinking partners, often using intoxication as a sedative to make dull social interactions seem interesting. He suggests that individuals who rely on getting drunk to facilitate connection are missing out on more meaningful communities of genuinely engaging people. However, he also acknowledges the nuance in his own family life; while he grew up around pubs where alcohol acted as an enhancer for introverts, his sons demonstrate different approaches—one enjoying nightlife twice a week with moderation and another viewing their body as a temple who abstains entirely—proving that good friendships exist regardless of drinking habits. The speaker introduces the concept of "periodizing" alcohol consumption to balance health benefits with social enjoyment, a strategy he found highly effective after losing his taste and smell due to long COVID. During this period of six months without alcohol, he shed weight and achieved nutritional markers better than even those in his profession who consume it daily. He describes the joyous return of his senses upon regaining them but emphasizes that life is a dance between vacancy and saturation rather than an all-or-nothing choice. This cyclical approach allows individuals to reset their sensitivity to alcohol, meaning they can enjoy a drink with less negative impact on subsequent days because overconsumption often stems from numbness; by becoming more sensitive again, one needs far less to feel the effects of a beverage like French Chablis or Sherry. Despite his personal success and advocacy for moderation, the speaker admits to being labeled a hypocrite by both partying communities and sobriety groups due to running nightclubs while sober and later promoting alcohol virtues after quitting. He defends this position by asserting that demonizing alcohol is unnecessary unless it becomes an abusive tool like a "demon," noting that many people haven't had truly good nights out if they believe alcohol cannot enhance them, pointing to Newcastle as proof of its potential when used correctly. Ultimately, he critiques the British culture where most adults go over a month without drinking only before their first sip at age fourteen, comparing this lack of discipline to how one might cycle off supplements like creatine rather than taking something indefinitely. The conclusion is that while alcohol has its place in upbringing and social life for some, making big changes requires routine and consistency, which often necessitates temporary abstinence or strict periodization to maintain high performance and clarity.
Read the full video transcript
you talk a lot about alcohol diet sport
all that kind of thing are they all
interwoven I mean you're a fit guy
obviously pretty clean living from what
i' I've read and heard is that also part
of the secret cocktail of contentment or
what's the
answer the alcohol thing was interesting
because I was a club promoter for a
decade and a half I adored working in
that industry I loved and was very proud
of what I achieved but I got toward the
end of my 20s and realized that all of
the personal development things I wanted
to do seemed to be held back by me
electing to ruin 36 or 48 Hours
depending on how hard I went every
couple of weeks I wasn't a big drinker I
didn't drink all the time but I drank
enough to kind of reset my meditation
streak or my diet or my training or
whatever and I decided to go sober
elective sobriety and uh it was very
very useful for me I found it
unbelievably productive I was very
focused I had great consistency and I
actually preferred Being Sober to going
back drinking now alcohol is in a unique
category of drugs where it's the only
drug where if you don't do it people
assume that you have a problem yeah
people aren't asking you why you're not
on cocaine are you okay what would you
mean yeah yeah it's whereas with alcohol
there's an assumption that oh my god
there must be something wrong because
that's how engrained it is into the
culture and for me again it's all about
consistency consistency is the important
thing and if you want to make really
really big changes you need a routine
and unfortunately the British Larry lad
drinking culture that we have that I
wholeheartedly contribute to and still
think it has its place in a Young
Person's upbringing isn't always
conducive if you want to try and make
big changes in your life do you end up
though with uh by default almost a more
boring friendship group I mean do you
avoid people who like a drink and a
laugh and a party do you end up having a
by comparison a more boring life and is
it consumed by people who are all pretty
straight laced and clean living and and
for many people watching who are not as
disciplined might find that a bit of a
turnoff that assumes that people who
drink a lot are interesting and in my
experience yeah that is actually the
opposite so many people don't have
friends they have drinking Partners
especially in their early 20s they have
a group of people that they go out and
get wrecked with they do not have a
community of people that are really
interesting to them if you if the only
way that you can hang around with your
friends is to get drunk to sedate
yourself so that they actually seem
interesting that's not the group of
friends for you you can find
significantly better friends that you
can go out and get drunken maybe that
makes okay let me pull you up on that so
I grew up in a Country Pub so I grew up
around people when I was young who would
come in they'd be incredibly dull for
about 20 minutes have a couple of pints
and suddenly life and I could see that
alcohol as long as it wasn't being
abused could actually be an enhancing
tool to making people who perhaps a
little bit introvert or a little bit
boring whatever it may be and I can tell
you from my own Sons for example my
oldest boy likes to go out a couple of
times a week and hit the nightclub scene
he's got loads of great mates they have
a good time it's in moderation the other
five days are pretty abstemious and so
on but they love that and they're and
they've got and he's got really nice
friends but they love to go and have a
bit of a party twice a week my middle
boy is an actor and a boxer and so on he
he thinks you know his body is a temple
like you and he would be nodding away to
everything you're saying but I can see
that both of them have really good
groups of friends they're just a little
bit different and I don't see that
alcohol need to be needs to be demonized
unless you're basically using it like a
demon no I I would agree and this is
where I got in trouble with both the
partying Community for being a hypocrite
that I ran nightclubs and was going
sober and then I got in trouble with the
sobriety Community for being someone who
had gone sober and then extoled the
virtues of alcohol anyone who thinks
that alcohol can't make a night out
better hasn't had a good night out and
they should come to Newcastle in the
northeast of the UK and Frid newcast I
an ATT test of that yes so look that's
the first thing that I need to say about
it secondly I think that you can
periodize these things and this is what
I found was really useful for me so I
would do six months of sobriety usually
from the start of the Eur maybe just
before Christmas because you can get
through the hardest bit which is the
Christmas period when your willpower is
at its highest as opposed to at the very
end where you go ah I'll just finish it
a little bit um and I worked very hard
on introspection and reflection and all
the rest of the stuff and then I was
like okay it's the back end of summer
and maybe I can have a couple of and how
do I feel about alcohol and I tell you
something else resetting your alcohol
sensitivity is so fantastic because lots
of the bad effects come from the overc
consumption the reason you're overc
consuming is because you're not feeling
the effect so if you make yourself more
sensitive you can have a little bit of a
buzz on and not feel so bad the next day
so I think six months of sobriety every
couple of years for people is a a very
good well I actually had it because I I
got covid and then got long covid it's a
couple of years ago and I lost my taste
and smell so there was no point drinking
alcohol because I couldn't smell it or
taste it it was all like water literally
and it was heartbreaking to crack open a
bottle of my favorite French you know
shatter batai and Discover it literally
tasted like glass of water is the
weirdest thing um but I I gave up all
alcohol for about 6 months shredded the
weight I mean I've never been as fit in
fact my my nutritionist and don't laugh
I do have one um she she said that my
numbers when she tested me after six
months were actually better than hers
right because I wasn't basically pouring
stuff into my body that I didn't need to
um but I can't begin to tell you the joy
when my taste came back that first glass
of wine afterwards I can't lie about
it well that's what life is life is uh
it is push and pull it is uh vacancy and
it is um saturation of things and I
think that that dance is good but how
many people that are listening to this
right now especially lot of the British
people the last time that they went more
than a month without consuming alcohol
was when they were 14 it was before they
had their first drink and if there was
any other drug people talk about
something like creatine one of the most
researched uh compounds in health and
fitness oh well you know you don't want
to be on something all the time so maybe
you could cycle off meanwhile this
person goes out to the pub once or twice
a week for eternity