Fingers and toes.
[laughter]
Big, beautiful obituary.
Yes!
[laughter]
[music]
Welcome to The Outlifting Lounge, the weekly
show serving queer conversation, news and no-nonsense
fitness for gay, bi and trans guys.
I'm Alan.
And I'm his husband, Derec.
Coming up on today's show, we'll reveal exciting
news about our brand new Outlifting Lounge, talk
about the telly that's been making us absolutely
howl with laughter, trash talk Trump, and celebrate
some amazing everyday fitness wins.
[music ends]
Well, we are back.
Back, back, back, back, back again.
Yeah.
Apologies for the interruption
to our normal service.
We had been quite good at putting out
a weekly podcast, but that kind of fell
on the wayside for a few weeks.
Apologies to our regular listeners who were expecting
a show the past couple of Sundays.
It didn't happen.
However, we are back with a bit
of a revamped and a refreshed show.
Yes. And we are refreshed as well.
We've been super busy, which is one of the reasons
why we took a little bit of a break.
But we're back.
We've got new vigour, new life, and
we've got lots to talk about.
And if you're not a regular listener,
if you are tuning in for the
first time, we are Derec and Alan.
I'm Derec.
He's Alan.
I'm Alan. [laughter]
I'm the Scottish one.
Yeah.
Basically, we chat all kinds of queer crap.
And we also run Outlifting, which is an online
fitness agency for gay, bi and trans guys.
So we actually do talk a little bit
about fitness on the show as well.
But it is approachable fitness.
No nonsense fitness.
I think there's so much crap out there.
There's so much misinformation.
And we like to just cut through all that
BS, give you the facts, and hopefully give you
some nuggets of information that you can take away
and apply to your own fitness.
Yes.
The only toxic we like is
the song by Britney Spears.
Well, you do.
I'm not a fan.
[laughter]
You just lost half the listenership there.
In that one statement.
I need to hand back my gay card.
And I'm sure I said that a few episodes back
when we were talking about the Devil Wears Prada.
So, oh God, is that me officially straight?
Definitely not.
I could attest to the fact
that you are 100% not straight.
100%
homo!
Did we mention that we're husbands?
Yeah, we are married.
[laughter]
So will we give a quick catch up on how
life has been for us since the last show?
It's that long ago.
I mean, lots has happened and I
can't even think what that might be.
Well, we've got big news.
So obviously, this is The Outlifting Lounge.
We broadcast from our lounge.
In Gran Canaria.
And the exciting news is that very
soon we will have a new lounge.
We will.
We are moving house.
Well, we're getting the keys on the 1st of June.
And then we're hopefully going to be all moved in.
Well, we need to be moved in by the end
of that week because we need to hand the keys
back from this place on the 5th of June.
Yes.
And the new place is very nice.
It's very plush.
So the lounge will be a bit of an upgrade.
It will. Yes.
So we are no longer putting out a full
video version of the podcast for time-saving reasons.
We want to reinvest that energy
into other aspects of the podcast.
So it's audio only, but we still will be putting
clips from the show on our social channels as well.
So you will get to see our new
lounge from the start of June, early June.
So hopefully you're excited as we are.
Yes.
Or you're just nosy and you want
to see what our house looks like.
Which is one of my favourite things to do.
I love looking in people's houses.
He really does.
He's a nosy bugger.
Part of the reason that we
are moving is to be closer.
So I have started a few shifts in a bar in
the Yumbo Centre because I needed to get away from you.
Derec is officially a terrace tart.
I am a terrace tart.
So basically, Alan and I just do
everything, especially since we moved to Gran
Canaria a couple of years ago.
We do everything together.
So that is great.
It's really nice.
But, you know, it's good to have some time apart.
Plus, I am very ADHD, like very ADHD.
And I need to be going out, socialising,
basically burning off some of the lots of
excess energy that I have got.
And I found the perfect outlet for it
outside of teaching fitness classes, which I loved
doing, but can't really do here.
So, yeah, I buzz about the terrace at Copacabana
in the Yumbo and I absolutely love it.
Yeah, we went from one extreme to the other.
We went from in Glasgow, where we hardly
had any time with each other, to seeing
each other all the time over here.
So, it's good that you've got this little
outlet for all that pent-up energy you've got.
And you are bringing in
the tips, so it's brilliant.
[laughter]
It's something I am quite good at doing, actually.
I thrive when I can have a bit of banter and
a bit of chat with people, and I absolutely love it.
It's just such a good thing to do.
It's really nice, as well, because people come here
on their holidays, and it's nice to have that
kind of holiday buzz from them, too.
I absolutely feed off that.
So, it's lovely.
And it's been good for us, and we are
now moving house so that I can be closer
and walk to and from work, basically.
And I can pop down on a Friday night when
you're working with haggis or dog for a wee shandy?
Yes. The shandy is for you, not for the dog.
Should clarify.
Nobody phone the Spanish equivalent of the RSPCA.
What would that be?
The eth eth eth eth eth de perros?
Wow! [laughter]
RSP-thay-A.
[laughter]
So, obviously, I am still
working in Outlifting as well.
I basically have two jobs now, and we don't
really have time for much else, but we have
managed to cram in a little bit of our
favourite sitcom ever, which has made a comeback.
See what I did there?
For season three, which I never
thought was going to happen.
But, yeah, it's been very good so far.
It has.
We can't believe that Lisa Kudrow is back
as Valerie Cherish in The Comeback, and we spoke
about this quite a few episodes ago, saying you
have to watch it, but before you do, make
sure you watch seasons one and two, because you'll
get a lot of the references in season three,
and we've been watching it.
There's been a lot of little throwbacks to
the other seasons, which has been really nice.
It's so good, and I think season one was very
different in tone from season two, because season one was
very rough and ready, and then season two became a
bit more cinematic, a bit more polished, and then this
season is, it's very much moved with the times, and
there's, whereas the other two seasons were very much like
behind the scenes, reality, raw footage, this one is a
bit more like an actual sitcom show, so it's very
much evolved, but there's been so many like funny bits so far.
I think episode one started off a bit slower, it
was an introduction, and then there's only been three episodes
so far, but each episode has built on that and
become funnier and funnier, so I'm really excited to see
where the season goes after this.
Yeah, and there was a little cameo by Trixie
Mattel in episode two, where Valerie Cherish talks about
being on The Traitors, which was brilliant.
So good.
We don't want to give too much away, so
we're just giving little tidbits of information about it.
Let's play a tiny little clip, like
a couple of second long clip of
that scene, because that's so funny.
Don't you wish you knew who the traitors were?
I do.
Stressful.
Stressful! [laughter]
It was stressful.
So stressful. Stressful!
She's like, I think you really do have to
watch it from season one to get it.
It's not that long, though.
The episodes are quite short.
Watch it if you do not
know who Valerie Cherish is.
I guarantee you that your life will
change after you are introduced to her.
Absolutely. She's a gay icon.
As well as The Traitors bit, where
she became a contestant on The Traitors
who only lasted for two episodes.
She was also... so episode one opened up with her being a
guest performer on Broadway in Chicago as Roxie.
That in itself just set the
scene for the entire series.
She's so bad.
It's so funny, but she's a bit more self-aware
this time of how bad she is, which is
quite something different for season three, I think.
Yeah.
Less delusional.
And we were in tears in episode three
where there was a little throwback to Mickey.
So Mickey was her hairdresser in
season one and season two.
And unfortunately, he's passed away.
He's no longer with us.
But there was a beautiful little tribute to
him in episode three of this season.
And we were very touched by it.
It was beautiful. Yeah.
Going into season three, I hoped they
would do a tribute to Mickey.
They would do something because obviously the
actor is no longer with us.
And they outdid themselves.
Season three had me in tears by the end.
And the show finished with
this beautiful tribute to Mickey.
And it was your funeral
song basically played over.
And I think that really got you.
You're going to need to
explain your funeral song now.
So basically, I want Last Dance by
Donna Summer played at my funeral.
And all my friends know, Derec knows,
because anytime it comes on, I'm like,
this is my funeral song.
And they played that at the end
of that episode, which was really sweet.
Very fitting.
Yes.
It's my last dance.
It's my swan song.
I know. I will get up and dance.
If you go before me, I'll get up and dance to it.
I won't want to.
I'll be crying.
I will be wiping away the
tears with the life insurance money.
[laughter]
Wiping away the tears with the 50 euro notes.
No, I want everybody to get
up and dance at my funeral.
I don't want it to be a miserable thing.
Get up, get a drink in you and get dancing.
Right. You're not dead yet.
Let's calm that chat.
Well, there's one other TV programme
that we have watched recently.
And it's just, again, it's
just short 30 minute episodes.
And it is so funny.
We haven't watched season one.
So, but for some reason we
decided, but I know why.
It's because Alan Carr's in it.
We decided to watch season two and
we have been in wrinkles laughing.
It's called Last One Laughing.
And the concept is that it's a
room of maybe eight, is it?
Comedians?
Eight or nine, ten maybe?
In a room.
And basically, they're not allowed
to laugh or smile.
And it's being watched over by, what's his name?
Jimmy Carr. Jimmy Carr!
But there's challenges to make them laugh.
And we have been in tears
watching them trying not to laugh.
It's so funny.
And they do this bit where each of
them has a joker that they can, well,
Jimmy makes them do it at random times.
And they take the stage and they have
to try to make their fellow contestants laugh.
And I have to say, so Diane
Morgan is one of the contestants.
She plays Philomena Cunk.
And her joker was one of the funniest few
minutes of television I have watched in years.
Like, my eyes are watering up just thinking about
it now because I was, when I say I
was crying with laughter, I mean, the tears were
rolling down my face and hitting the floor.
And that is no exaggeration.
She basically does this farting thing.
I mean, farts on their own
are pretty funny, but her doing it.
And she was kind of doing it as Philomena Cunk.
Just so deadpan.
Deadpan, straight face.
And everyone else was like, I'm sure
one of the women, was it Maisie?
With the short blonde hair.
She was like actually going to explode
because she was holding in a laugh.
It's so, it's like so funny.
And the farts, the fart sounds that
she picks were just so good.
Like there's every variety of fart
sound that you can imagine.
And she just played them so well.
Absolute blinder.
But yeah, if you haven't watched Last
One Laughing, you are absolutely missing out.
We're going to go back and watch season
one now when we finish season two, because
it is so, genuinely just so funny.
We've still got a few episodes to watch, so
we'll watch that over the weekend no doubt.
Yeah.
And not only that, but we found out that
Diane Morgan is coming back as Philomena Cunk in
a new series that's going to be on BBC
and Netflix called, I think it's Cunk on Cinema.
And if nobody knows who Philomena Cunk
is, which I'm sure you will, but
if you don't, go and watch it.
It's Cunk on Earth.
She's done Cunk on Earth, Cunk
on Britain, Cunk on History.
She's done loads of them.
So good.
But I think she started out on, it
was The New Year Wipe by Charlie Brooker
that he did at New Year's Eve.
It was on BBC Two or something.
But it was her, Philomena Cunk.
And another guy called Barry Shitpeas.
And they did these like little vox pop
things as like members of the public.
And that's, that's where
their characters started.
Okay. It was so funny.
She is hilarious.
Yeah.
Looking forward to that.
And I think the reason that we're watching so
much funny TV at the minute is to distract
ourselves from what's happening in the world.
It's funny you should say that because I was
watching some reels on Instagram the other day and
it was giving me all this comedy stuff.
And I was like, this is so nice.
I can't remember the last time I was on
social media and thought, well, that was good.
Yeah. Because the world is basically
fucking burning around us.
Yeah. So a little bit of escapism is what
we all need at the minute, I think.
Like Trump's just gone insane.
He's absolutely crazy.
He has lost it.
Who knows?
Like we're recording this on Saturday.
It goes out on Sunday.
Who knows what's going to happen
in the next 24 hours?
Whatever information we give could
be superseded by then.
Well, we're hoping that we get the
news that everybody is hoping for.
Fingers and toes!
[laughter]
Big, beautiful obituary.
Yes!
[laughter]
That's awful.
But yeah.
It's not awful.
It's correct.
No, it's awful if it doesn't happen.
Oh, yeah.
[laughter]
Honestly, the man's gone crazy.
What he's done with Iran is just horrific.
Like we're not going to get too deep
and too political on the show because this
is like really very, very serious.
Like we're talking possibly the start
of World War III, but something needs
to happen to stop this man.
Yeah, we can't like not talk about
it because it's just such big news.
But again, yeah, there's so much to go into.
We're just glossing over it to
say that he is fucking mental.
Yeah.
And he's committed so many war crimes and the
US officials are not doing anything to stop him.
His own cabinet are fully behind him.
Other lawmakers are not really
doing enough to stop him.
It's really, really serious times.
So yeah, Last One Laughing.
It's the best show to watch.
[laughter]
Also, Melania did that weird press conference
during the week where she brought everybody's
attention back to Epstein after Trump had
basically bombed the fuck out of Iran
to try to distract him from Epstein.
Yeah. What is going on?
I think there's a few theories going
about either he's going to die soon.
So she's like, right, I'm distancing myself.
Big news is going to come out.
So she's distancing herself or it's
to distract from the absolute disaster
that Iran is.
It's just crazy.
And so this podcast is all things queer, right?
So we're talking about this through a queer lens.
I think we have come up with the solution
to just in general, all of the world's issues
to try to start fixing the world.
And that is to stop letting old men run things.
And from now on, only girls, gays and
theys should be in positions of power.
You can't see it because it's the
audio podcast, but I'm doing ovahs.
Ding, ding, ding!
Oh, this is where we go ASMR.
I'll try to bring it close to the mic.
Let's hope that picked it up.
So... We're doing our gay clap, basically
our middle finger and thumbs together.
Also known as the other gay clap.
But let's not get into that.
[laughter]
So yeah, all I'm going to say is Beyonce was
almost right when she said, who run the world, girls.
Because it really should be.
Girls, gays and theys.
But Trump could possibly be one of us.
Tell me why.
I hope he isn't, but tell me why.
That really funny clip that somebody put up on
TikTok during the week where they clipped a segment
of one of Trump's mad speeches and gave it
the caption, has he been to a gay sauna
or what is he talking about?
Let's play that clip just now and you
can decide whether or not Trump is talking
about his time at a gay sauna.
They came in so fast and so hard
and these guys knew exactly what...
Let's go.
Come on. Get in.
Let's go. Pwah.
They came one right after another.
Not at the same time.
They don't want to come at the same time.
They had to come right after each other.
They didn't have any room.
I mean, that's a man who
knows what he's talking about.
Yeah.
Although coming at the same time, that's quite an art
form, but yeah, one at a time is better.
[laughter]
Oh my God.
And on that note, shall we move
to the fitness section of the podcast?
Yes, let's do it.
So this is our regular fitness section,
but just before we discuss fitness wins,
remember that we offer online coaching specifically
for gay, bi and trans guys.
If you don't feel like you're winning at fitness,
but you'd like to be, stay tuned after this
section for details on how you can book in
for the free discovery call to chat with us.
Okay.
So you mentioned fitness wins.
That is what we are talking about today.
So we have found a Reddit thread.
You know, we love Reddit threads and the title
of this is what's a fitness win that sounds
tiny to everyone else, but felt massive to you.
And the reason that I really love this
is because especially in our community, we mentioned
earlier, fitness and body image and things like
that can feel quite toxic.
We totally are the opposite.
We really work with people on changing their
bodies, but also it's about changing their mindset
and how they look at themselves and feel
about themselves as well and dismantling quite a
lot of that toxicity.
So this essentially is about fitness wins.
So it's stuff that isn't, it goes
beyond six pack, big butts, all that
kind of stuff, all that superficial stuff.
And that's why I love this.
That's why we wanted to include this today.
Yeah, I think it's super important.
We always talk about celebrating the wins,
no matter how small they are, because
those wins are absolutely huge to you.
So like Derec said, it's taking away from all
the superficial stuff and it's stuff that you can
do on a weekly basis to celebrate your progress
and how well that you're doing.
Yeah, it's super important.
No matter how small, celebrate your wins.
We always preach that to every one
of our clients and anybody that listens.
Celebrate every little small win.
So the person who posted this on Reddit,
they shared theirs and their win was that
they had done a full push-up, not a
modified one, not halfway, a real push-up.
They'd been working towards it for six weeks and
they said they cried a little when they managed
to do a full push-up on their toes.
Absolutely.
Like doing a full push-up is
a difficult exercise to do.
And the fact that they've been working on it
for six weeks, that's, you know, a good amount
of time to be working on it.
And then that first, like, you know what, I'm going to
give this a go and then you do it is amazing.
It's similar to clients of ours who maybe want
to work on their first pull-up, for example.
You know, all the steps to get them there
and then they do their first unassisted pull-up.
And that's the thing.
It might not seem like a win to somebody
else who is further along in their fitness journey,
but they were there once as well.
And that's why it's so important to recognise
the small steps that take you from where
you are to where you want to be.
Some of the other comments in here
from other Redditors are really good.
So I love this one, which
is, my shoulders cannot slouch anymore.
I'm physically incapable of pulling them
down and making myself small when
I'm not feeling confident.
Do you know, for me, that was such a
big win when I first got into fitness.
And the big realization for me was that
I did not have good core strength.
And that realization happened when I discovered
that my core had gotten strong.
And I was standing taller.
My shoulders were more pulled back.
I was just, I felt more
confident walking down the street.
That physical change translates
into amazing confidence.
It really does.
So yeah.
We used to see that when we taught fitness
classes, we could see the difference in people.
And as soon as you pointed that out
to them, they're like, oh, actually, yeah.
And then you could see them walking
with even more confidence after that.
Totally.
That's a good one.
Totally.
Any that you like in there?
So this is one that I really like, and
it's running all the way home from the gym.
So this person lives 400 metres from the gym, and
they tried last year to run home from the gym,
but they had to stop a few times.
And now they are able to do the whole
distance without stopping, which is a huge, huge win.
Do you know what?
On a similar note, somebody else has said,
being able to walk up two flights of
stairs without gasping like a dying fish was
the most noticeable in my day-to-day life.
So yeah, just like that increased
level of fitness, doing these day-to-day
tasks and noticing big change.
It's amazing.
It is.
And we notice it with our clients as well.
So we've had three wins that I can
think of off the top of my head
this past week or two from our clients.
So number one, Mark, he is smashing it.
He's been so consistent.
He's been doing the leg press, and then
he just realized that the leg press actually
had a starting weight on it.
So he's been lifting probably about 45 kg
heavier than what he thought he was lifting.
And I was like, fucking brilliant.
On you go.
Yeah. Which is just great.
Well, I mean, so in the business,
you're the one who deals with clients
on a day-to-day basis with everything.
But in the back end, I keep an
eye on progress and we talk about everything.
And I have to say that I have
been so super impressed with how Mark has
taken this and just run with it.
I mean, he loves the gym now.
You can see it from his social media channels.
He just loves being there, there all the time.
And he has found his place, like really found his
place in the gym and he just owns it.
It's amazing.
He started off doing home workouts and now I
can't actually get him out of the gym.
[laughter]
He's just, he's found his spot,
his place, which is brilliant.
Yeah. Ian as well, big shout out to Ian.
He's the lightest he has been in eight years.
Also, he put up some progress photos this
week and he is like a different person.
It's unbelievable the change in him.
I'm so proud of him.
I am super impressed.
That transformation is unreal.
His, his whole, like the whole shape
of his body has changed so much.
He has taken it and run with it.
And I know, I know that this
will be giving him so much confidence.
Yeah.
And Richard as well.
I can't not mention Richard this week because
again, he is someone that, um, maybe wasn't
as confident in the gym as other people.
He had his usual cardio machines that he would
go to, his usual machines that he would use.
And I threw him a challenge when he
started with us and he messaged me saying,
really, you want me to do this?
I was like, go in, see how it goes.
And then let us know.
And he has not looked back.
He's like, do you know what?
I just go in and I just do it.
And he calls it the, the gorilla area in
the gym where all the big muscle marys are.
He's like, I just go in and do my thing now.
I don't even care.
I love that.
I'm stealing that phrase.
That is the gorilla area.
Love it.
I have to say, Richard came
to us through the podcast.
So he was a listener and he liked
what we were saying and it really resonated
with him and he became a client.
But I think that underlines the real importance
of getting the right coach for you.
So from listening to the show, Richard knew
that we were going to be right for
him or he had a good idea anyway.
And he came along and it's
such a good symbiotic relationship.
Because when somebody like that comes along
to us, coaching is an absolute pleasure
because you know you can really work.
You know, you're going to vibe straight away.
And he has been brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
And he is thriving on this coaching programme.
And the changes in him as well,
confidence wise, physically, mentally, he's just a
different person now as well.
He's absolutely loving it.
Yeah, definitely.
But yeah, back to this Reddit thread.
I mean, there are so many here that
are talking about wins within the gym, about
being able to increase their reps, increase their
weights, do specific exercises that they couldn't do.
But what really jumps out to me is some
of the everyday things, the other wins related to
your fitness journey that absolutely are just as important
as being able to lift an extra five or
10K in a particular move.
Things like, as somebody says here, putting
on my socks and shoes without putting
my foot down, if that makes sense.
So they're actually able to lift a leg up,
stand on one leg and put their socks on.
Put their socks and our shoe on.
I mean, that again, getting that balance, getting
that core strength, it all adds up to
the greater whole of your fitness journey.
It just shows how much their core strength
has increased if they're able to do that.
Yeah. And there's another one here.
I briefly flirted with a guy in line at
a store and he said he wishes he was,
and then in quotes, athletic like me.
Woohoo.
Love it.
Again, it's not only how you perceive yourself.
Other people start to perceive you differently because
it's not only the physical changes in your
body, it's how you carry yourself.
It's how you stand a bit taller.
You're more confident too.
So all of these things, just brilliant.
This is absolute gold.
Celebrate every single small win.
I know I've said it before, but
I'm just going to repeat it.
Yes, it's worth repeating.
But yeah, I mean, this
thread is just absolute gold.
If you do have time, we'll put
the link in the show notes.
You can have a look through yourself.
But yeah.
Sorry, I've just scanned down the thread here.
And I've just noticed one that said, I
can do 15 minutes on the Stairmaster.
Well done.
But one question, why?
That's absolute torture.
Yeah, Alan doesn't like the Stairmaster.
To be fair, you do have short legs.
And a dodgy knee.
So yeah, it's a bit more of a challenge
for you than it might be for others.
Let me at ‘em.
So yeah, absolute gold in here.
I think this is brilliant.
It's all about the wins.
It's all about celebrating your wins.
And let's leave that with you.
Brilliant section.
And we would love to hear from you.
If you've had any wins that you have
celebrated recently, why don't you drop us a
comment or even message us on Instagram?
We always like to hear
other people's success stories.
Yes, absolutely.
Always love to hear it.
So you can get in contact with us
about that or anything, actually, by email.
And that is podcast@outlift.ing
Our handles on Instagram and
TikTok are @outlift.ing
And you can send us a DM on Instagram
as well as another way to get in contact.
Okay, let's wrap up the show.
So that is us for another show.
I did mention before the fitness section, though,
that we would talk about how you can
get in contact with us if you think
you could benefit from our coaching services.
So Alan and I run Outlifting, which
is an online coaching service for gay,
bi and trans guys who want to
transform their bodies and build unstoppable confidence.
We do that through online personal training.
It's very specific coaching.
You get basically hand-holding with
daily contact through chats.
You get a weekly video check-in.
We've got lots of nutrition support and lots
and lots of other support as well.
If you want to join our ever-growing community of
guys just like you who are growing in confidence
and changing their bodies one step at a time
and racking up some amazing fitness wins, you can
book in for a free, no-obligation discovery call.
To do that, the link will be in the show notes.
You just click on that.
It'll bring you through to a Calendly diary.
You can choose the slot that is
best for you and get booked in.
We would love to chat through to you and you can
then decide whether we are a good fit for you.
And don't forget, if you've loved the
show, please consider taking 20 seconds to
leave us a five-star rating.
It really helps us reach guys just like
you to spread the message of fitness.
But that is us for this week.
We will be back next Sunday with another show.
Make sure you are subscribed on your podcasting platform
of choice to keep up with the conversation.
But for now, over and Outlifting.
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