Barbell Shrugged - Alex Turner - Training, Nutrition, and the Influencer Lifestyle — Real Chalk #90

Episode Date: August 27, 2019

I originally met Alex a few years while he was sponsored by a huge supplement brand called “SHREDZ.” The company sponsored several athletes at the time and in just a short period of time and built them into super stars. It was at that time I started to ask a lot of questions and see what exactly all these people were doing that was giving them the kind of income that had people driving around in Lamborghinis and such. It was a crazy time and I’m fortunate to have known a few of the pioneers like Alex from that time.    In this episode we touch on a little of what makes a solid “influencer” and how training modalities and nutrition has changed over the years. I also ask Alex to share about his own fitness and nutrition regimens that he’s used over the years and what his opinions are on all of them. Lot of great chatter in this one that is sure to get you pumped for the week.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Show notes: http://www.shruggedcollective.com/rc-turner ------------------------------------------------------------------------------   ► Subscribe to Shrugged Collective's Channel Here http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedSubscribe 📲 🎧 Listen to the audio version on the Apple Podcast App or Stitcher for Android Here- http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedApple http://bit.ly/BarbellShruggedStitcher Shrugged Collective is a network of fitness, health and performance shows that help people achieve their physical and mental health goals.  Usually in the gym, but outside as well. In 2012 they posted their first Barbell Shrugged podcast and have been putting out weekly free videos and podcasts ever since. Along the way we've created successful online coaching programs including The Shrugged Strength Challenge, The Muscle Gain Challenge, FLIGHT, Barbell Shredded, and Barbell Bikini. We're also dedicated to helping affiliate gym owners grow their businesses and better serve their members by providing owners tools and resources like the Barbell Business Podcast. Find Shrugged Collective and their flagship show Barbell Shrugged here: SUBSCRIBE ON ITUNES ► http://bit.ly/ShruggedCollectiveiTunes WEBSITE ► https://www.ShruggedCollective.com INSTAGRAM ► https://instagram.com/shruggedcollective FACEBOOK ► https://facebook.com/ barbellshruggedpodcast TWITTER ► http://twitter.com/barbellshrugged

Hello, hello, hello again, my beautiful people out there. This week's episode, we're gonna be sitting down with Mr. Alex Michael Turner. I met Alex way back in the day when I was actually dating a girl named Nikki who was part of the Shreds supplement team, and he was on that team as well. And at the time, it was just a crazy, crazy time.

Like, supplements were just hitting the Instagram scene, and a lot of people that were sponsored by companies like Shreds were legit movie stars. These kids were rolling fat. Lamborghinis, just the craziest stories and the craziest lifestyles you'd ever seen. And it was my first time being introduced to it. I didn't even know it was happening. I went to a meeting one day with Nikki, and I was like, holy crap, these kids are insane. Like what are they all doing? You know? And I had so many questions and Alex was one of those people who, he was always cool and he always talked to me and we always like wrapped back and forth. And I saw him over the years, even after shreds was gone, which we talk about in the show. And he's had a whole bunch of other things kind

of going on. But one thing that he's really good at is he's a great influencer and he has a great outlook on the whole influencer lifestyle and stuff like that. And he's going to share a lot of his favorite things and a lot of the things that are really hard about being an influencer because a lot of people want to be an influencer and they don't understand how much work actually goes into it. So we hit that a little bit. We also talk about, because he is a competitive bodybuilder at times, how much nutrition and workout regimens have changed over the years. I mean, when he started to now, I talk a little bit about like some of the things that I saw when I first started to now, he's been in bodybuilding the whole time. I was an athlete doing regular

bodybuilding. Then I was training to be an athlete again. Then I was training in CrossFit and now I'm where I'm at now. So I have my input, but in terms of straight bodybuilding, he talks about all the things that are going on, especially with the diet, the diet part. There's a lot of this keto stuff, carb stuff, all these different things going on. And also ask him some of his experiences that he's had with some of these other big influencers and what their routines kind of look like. because some people's routines are gnarly and some people's are a lot less than you think actually so it's crazy so i really wanted to hit all that stuff with alex and we did and it's one of the best talks i've had um just on just nutrition and training with someone just sitting there rapping about it and having a great time we're still at madison for

this podcast during the crossfit games it's a vibe, and I think you guys are really going to love it. So before we get into the episode, I want to talk about our sole sponsors, which is myself. I want to talk about the Carb Cycle Challenge right now that's been taking over the globe. If you guys are interested at all in that challenge, you guys probably heard me talk about it a few times in my podcast in the past. The Car challenge is basically a routine schedule of how many carbs you're going to be eating each day to either make you burn fat or gain muscle or even maintain if that's your goal. This is, in my opinion, the easiest way for you guys to get to your goals. It's not super hard to follow. You can do it on any budget. You can have any diet restrictions.

You can be a vegan, a vegetarian, whatever. You can get it done. It's just a certain amount of carbohydrate intake every single day for your goals specifically, and then everything else will fall into place easier than any other diet that I've ever done or coached to my clients over the years. Now, I've owned a gym for five years. I've been a professional athlete and a personal trainer for like 15 years. I've had a lot of experience in this field, and I've changed already thousands of bodies with this program. So I'm real excited if you guys check it out. All you have to do is go to jimryan.com.

It's G-Y-M-R-Y-A-N.com and you guys can check it out. On there as well is all of my interval bodybuilding books which have hit the scene really hard. I mixed together the cardio with the bodybuilding stuff. It's not exactly like CrossFit. It's actually quite a bit different. You have different intervals for time

and different bodybuilding sessions that are not for time mixed with cardio modalities that are for time. And it's just creating the body that you would get as if you were in the gym for an hour doing cardio and then you come back to the gym later and do weights. Now we're doing all that in one shot. You guys only have to go to the gym for an hour doing cardio, and then you come back to the gym later and do weights. Now we're doing all that in one shot. You guys only have to go to the gym one time, and it's my preferred method to train.

And you guys have probably seen me talk about this on my Instagram multiple times. So if you guys ever want to check that out, that's on jimryan.com as well. And for all you CrossFitters out there or people who are trying to get better in these anaerobic windows, the Dark Horse program is taking over the world.

Finally, we have a program that'll help you guys in that anaerobic windows. The Dark Horse program is taking over the world. Finally, we have a program that'll help you guys in that anaerobic threshold window where you guys can start and end with a plan. You guys will know how to go into every single workout and how to get the most bang for your buck in that workout every single time. Not only that, but we actually put together a running video that links up with a video that I put on YouTube. I hit like a half a million views and I only had 20,000 subscribers at the time, 10,000 subscribers at the time on YouTube, half a million views. This video went absolutely viral. So now we made a more detailed running video. So you guys have all the tips you guys need to get your running

form down, less pain on your joints, better joints, better economy, like less effort to run faster and make your body feel better. So there's so much stuff going on right now on jimryan.com and that's where all my stuff is and I hope you guys check it out. But if you don't, no worries. Still share this episode. Let me know that you loved it.

And don't forget, when you guys share the episode, don't just share it with me, but share it with Alex. Let us both know that you love it. Tag both of us and if there's any funny parts or great parts that you really liked about it, quote that out and let us know what it was. So without any further ado, here we go. Alex Michael Turner. Let's get into it. All right, Chalk Nation, we're back. We're at the Fit A tent at Madison at the CrossFit Games. I'm actually sitting down with a friend that I met a long time ago. What is it, like four?

No. Three or four years ago? Was it that? I feel like it's almost been five. Wow. Yeah. No. We're getting old.

Yeah, it has. I was dating Nikki, and I had the gym already for like two years. And the gym's five-year anniversary was recently. So it's like three years, I think. Okay. All right. Well, that just goes to show how old I really am getting because time is also moving at a much different pace. You forget everything as you get old.

Well, anyway, guys, this is Alex Michael Turner. Hey, how are you guys doing? Actually, your Instagram is Alex Michael Turner also, right? It really is, yeah. So there's an easy way to find him. And actually, his thumbnail on his Instagram looks very similar to mine. It's just a man with his shirt off. It was inspiring, so I just...

I had to get up with with the status quo yeah i think what i what i really like most about your whole situation as far as being in i hate the word influencer but like a fitness person on instagram who is passionate about which sounds worse than influencer a fitness person i'm good about fitness. Yeah, yeah. Well, you started with one of the biggest companies in the world, Shreds, which I've talked about on the podcast a few times.

It was a huge company. I don't really have anything negative to say about them. They just kind of had some bad things happen in their business and it kind of fell apart. Yep.

But what I think is admirable on your part is a lot of people that were in that scenario were getting paid very well and some people left at the right time and some people didn't yes and some people went down with the ship and some people had different uh aspirations to do different things yeah and i think that what was interesting about your scenario is you were always kind of on the edge of like

i have these other things that i could do and i think that's what really makes like a good successful person who's in this space because there's a lot of people right now they want to be on instagram they want to be on Instagram. They want to have a business in fitness and be mobile and be able to do whatever they want whenever they want. I mean, it's the dream. Yeah, it really is. And I think that more than anything, it's the dream that is built by somewhat of an illusion. Because I don't think people understand the work that really goes into the back end of this stuff that we do.

It's really annoying, tedious phone work. Very much, yeah. And so, yeah, I'm wherever I want to be, but I'm on my phone for like a ridiculous amount of time. When's the last time you went to like a dinner and just enjoyed the entire dinner without looking at your phone? Well, even like taking a video with somebody. It's like, hey, man, you got to tag me. Yeah.

It's like, I can't even just take a quick 10 second video. It's like, all right, well, I'll fucking tag all 37 people in this video. Do you follow me? Can you follow me back? It's just a very weird world we live in. Yeah, it's a little tedious. My wife gets home from like her nine to five and she's just a very weird world we live in. Yeah, it's fine. It's a little tedious. My wife gets home from her 9 to 5, and she's just going, you had all day to do this. And I'm like, I really didn't.

No. My time is very consumed. But what's funny is a lot of people, they'll get stuck at a certain point on their Instagram. I remember mine was like, I was at, I think, 70 or 80,000. And I was like, I don't know how to get more. And I kept reading, not reading, but reading posts about different people. And they're like, if you want to get more followers you need to like be active on your Instagram like do more things on your Instagram and I was already posting every day but I wasn't like responding to my

messages I wasn't like being really active about like tagging locations and doing these like extra little things that just take five seconds but by every comment but by the end of the day that five seconds for every little thing adds up to be five hours. Truly. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's 1,005 seconds. Absolutely.

Well, and as you start to grow, it's insane because the demographic of people get needier. So when you're nobody or when you have a small following, I shouldn't even say nobody, when you have a very small following or something that's not extremely overwhelming, I feel like people don't expect as much from you. But as you grow, your value is also expected to grow. And when you stop providing is when you usually stop growing. And one thing I will say, too, is I think a lot of people see these paths people have carved with social media, but don't realize the work that's gone into it over the years.

Not months, years. So Paige Hathaway, myself, Joey, any of these people, yourself, you didn't just start yesterday and decide you wanted a big following. You had to put the work in for years. And so I think that there's a weird thing too, that with the shift of social media, anybody's going to say that, you know, you know, algorithms, quote unquote, all these things that mess with things, whatever it is. I think the biggest factor is that we just live in a different time for growth. So anybody who wants to have these massive followings, there's certain things that you And whatever it is, I think the biggest factor is that we just live in a different time for growth. So anybody who wants to have these massive followings, there's certain things that you can do to grow a following, but nothing like you could five years ago.

Nothing like you could even a year ago. So I do think it's a little bit funny. Not funny, but it's out of reach for a lot of people when they sit back and think, I'm going to quit my nine to five. I'm going to quit something that I've worked hard to build a structure in my life with. I've gone to college for possibly to be a social media influencer. It's like, hold on. It happens a lot, though, in the younger groups. Oh, my gosh.

People that are 18 to 20 range, they're just like, I don't need to go to school anymore. They started some personal training program online. They're making like $5,000 or $6,000 a month. Yep. And they're just like, well, this is the same salary as a nurse. So that's a pretty solid job. And I'm only going to go up from here. And they just, they cut it. Yeah. The thing, the thing people forget about, they don't think about health insurance pensions, you know, IRAs, they don't think about anything like that longterm. And you're never going to be able to really have those things if you're not intelligent with this also. And I mean, we can both say that we know most people in this aren't very intelligent when it comes to taxes, when it comes to handling their money, they can

make great money, but it also is one of those things. There's not like a learning. Well, there's not like a lesson or a textbook you can pick up that says, this is how you do this. This is how you do this. And this is how you should do this. Yeah. So I think people learn with experience and some people don't ever learn, but social media is a wild beast. It's getting crazier and crazier. It's crazy. What is, what's your top thing that you're doing right now? So the thing for me that, that I have really latched onto and actually fallen in love with again is, and, and when I say that I really fell out of love with fitness and it was because of social media, you know, during the shred days I woke up and was going through the motions and I was going through my lifts and I was eating my food and I wasn't having fun with it anymore because it became a job.

Yeah. And I think the longer you're in it. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, totally. You know, and so the thing that for me was I literally had to sit back and look at what brought that passion to my life. And the passion for me was the conditioning. It was the dieting and it was being able to shut my phone off and not care about the opinions of everybody else and i had to do that and so for me you've known me for years now and there was a

period with shreds and transitioning on past that point in my life where i wasn't as conditioned as i could have been i kind of got lazy with things i depended on my following and i relied on my following and really was like you know i don't have to be this crazy athlete. I don't have to do cardio every morning. Like, I have a following. And I think that does go to a lot of people's heads. They become complacent with these followings, and it's like, I don't have to put the work in anymore. But that's the biggest mistake people can make, and I made the mistake.

It's very easy to unfollow somebody. Very easy. Like, if they're not inspiring you anymore. Yeah, totally. And so for me, you know, i found that passion with conditioning um so conditioning i think it's one of those things that in uh releases a bunch of like endorphins true truly yeah like if you get painful conditioning okay yeah so you want to talk about painful i was getting to working out with you yeah but the thing is is like for me back to even just venturing into like crossfit chalk to do to doing different things that i had never implemented riding a road bike you know doing

steady state and hit cardio on the same day for different reasons it was it was that's what i really want to start getting into on this show is because like you started bodybuilding when 10 11 years ago and and what's the difference that you're seeing in your conditioning and stuff now like training wise i used to always be steady, slow state. Yeah. So the thing for me is I have noticed heightened energy levels. I've noticed my endurance is through the roof. I am happier. My endorphins, like you said, are just constantly flowing. And I just feel this, this almost like a constant adrenaline rush when I'm currently conditioned like this. And it's interesting because I used to wake up kind of lazily. I'd wake up 8, 9 a.m., you know, get my day started, have breakfast. To wake up at 4 or 5 a.m., and I'm

going to tell you something else I do because of you, take a cold shower. To be able to hit a cold shower, go hit some fasted cardio. It is a wild way to start your day. But I tell you what, when 7 a.m. hits and you've already knocked out more than most people are doing, you know, by 7 a.m. hits and you've already knocked out more than most people are doing by 7 a.m. in the entire day, it's a good feeling. If I can get to bed early, I'm obsessed with waking up really early. Absolutely. Well, and it's funny because I used to do the same thing where I would actually avoid going to bed early because you're going to miss out on so much stuff going on late at night, right?

I was worried. Nothing good ever happens past like tea. No. And I was always so concerned. You're looking at shoes,, like all sorts of stuff. What's on Netflix tonight? It's insane. What am I going to eat that I shouldn't be eating?

Netflix is literally the most stressful thing I've ever been a part of in my life. Truly. Yeah. And when I found out about Amazon Prime, that was even worse. Yeah. It's just a never-ending circle. Ridiculous. Okay.

So training's changing quite a bit. I even think that it's interesting in the last 10 years. I don't think, I really truly don't think that people look at these things. And, like, I think this is why I'm always, like, at the forefront of a lot of things that are kind of going on in the fitness world. Like, I'm always, like, one of the first people to do some sort of, you know, training niche or something like that. But I think that I can, it's very easy to see. Like, you go to 24-Hour Fitness and there's a fucking rig there now. Yeah.

Like, people are doing CrossFit in 24. Yes. Like, 10 years ago that was not happening. No. It just wasn't. Well, coming out, it wasn't an option to the CrossFit games itself. I, I being a bodybuilder got a lot of messages from people. Yeah. And a lot of people that were very involved in the fitness world that were laughing, that thought it was funny and made their jokes. But then there's other people who like this just as much as that. Yeah. And they follow you for both reasons. Totally. 100%. And, and what I was getting at is I want to latch onto those people who are accepting of that

because they're the true athletes. They understand that you can't sit there and do one thing for your entire life and be happy with it. And if you can, great. And I'm not going to hate on that, but I'm not one of those people. I need constant stimulation. And back to that waking up feeling like I got hit by a train, it was coming into CrossFit Chalk.

It was actually jumping in and working with somebody like yourself, who was a genius with programming, who could put together wads and things that were just going to kick my ass, but in a way that they were movements I could do, but don't do. There were things so out of the norm for me that it was a great way to switch it up. And to wake up feeling like I had rhabdo day after day from training with you. Dude, I legit got rhabdo in my first CrossFit workout. And that's easily understandable now. But my first workout was Fran, if you know what Fran is.

No. It's 21-15-9. It's thrusters at 95 pounds and pull-ups. And it was my first workout, and I did it as hard as I could because this guy bet me $500 I couldn't beat his score. And I almost died. Dude, it was bad. It was like a four-minute workout,

and then followed by an hour and a half of projectile vomiting. Well, weren't you telling me something about when you were competing in the CrossFit Games, didn't you get heat exhaustion to the point where you actually were like... Yeah, I posted that photo all the time. But you finished. Oh, no, I won. I won first in the world in that workout. But as soon as you finished, it was like...

Oh, yeah, to pick up my stretcher. No way. And as I was walking out, they were like, Sir, we told you to slow down and to drink water. Did you not hear us? And I was like, I'll die before I lose this event. And I don't remember saying it, but my friend has a video of me saying it. And I'll kill you too.

I almost threatened to kill people the next year. But I'm a very passionate man. That's all right. I can sit here and be passionate. You can just tell. I respect it. I come in the room and people know, oh, this guy's for real. Yep.

The crowd just clears. That's right. And I have my short boat shorts on i'm just i wish that people could see a visual of this right now i'm waiting for something to slow shorts and an iron maiden t-shirt is very very i'm like a bipolar at the moment i'm actually more excited for the next shorts to come out yeah yeah so okay we have um, different training routines are coming through. How does your body feel after like 10 years? Cause now you're getting into actual bodybuilding competitions now, right? Yes. Yep. It it's way different. I mean, your metabolism starts to slow. Everything starts to change. My recovery time has changed.

I noticed my sleep patterns are different. When I was younger, I could jump in and I could hit shoulders every day. I could lift legs day after day. I was just an animal. It was also something that I realized I was young. So as I've gotten into my 30s, it's definitely something that I can't laugh at. You do age, but you have to just be able to innovate with that and train differently. Are you taking more rest days or no? No, I'm not.

How many days a week do you train? I usually train six to seven. Whoa, six to seven. Six to seven. I only train five. See? And you're a savage you train? I usually train six to seven. Whoa, six to seven. Six to seven. I only train five. See? And you're a savage, and so I should probably take some notes. But one thing I will add to that is generally with the six to seven,

there will be a day in there that's more of a full body circuit that's just kind of touch up, more for sanity. Yep. And I think that that's part of it is I have just gotten so addicted to the conditioning aspect of things, to seeing shreds come out that I've never seen to seeing striations that i've never seen to being able to actually run distances and not be tired that it's an addicting thing so when i take a day off my rest days might be like it might be a bike ride see yeah okay all right it might be hill sprints with you yeah i mean not hill sprints those are nasty but i do a lot of bike riding a lot of paddle boarding i'm so glad

you admitted that very fun stuff But my sprints are hard. They're very hard, yeah. It has to be one of the hardest hills in the United States of America. Well, it took me three times before I was puking. So, yeah, that was a very good experience for me. So, now. But I'm feeling old. That's what you're asking.

I feel old. But what I was going to say is, like, I think it blew a lot of people's minds to see the Ronnie Coleman video where he's, like, broken. Yeah. So, like, with all the people that you've trained with, I'm sure you've trained with a bunch of, like, famous bodybuilders. I've actually never even asked you this question before. But, like, of all the people that you've trained with who are, like, super famous, what are their training routines like, the guys that are, like, fucking enormous? So it's so funny. I know there's some supplementation involved, obviously.

Like, it's a bodybuilding world it's normal but like totally yeah there still is a difference between some of these guys yeah it's fucking enormous and it's so bizarre because you can take two people that look identical that have the same followings that look the same same physiques massive guys and they train completely different completely different so i'll jump in with one guy and it's like he has a full built out program built around starting with strength training jumping jumping straight into full endurance training, and then... All in one session? All in one session.

And then you have a guy that all he does is powerlifting-style training. And it's like you literally don't do any volume work, and you look like this. So I know genetics play a factor for some of these people too. And some people don't even do any cardio, and they look crazy. That guy, Colm Von Mulger or whatever? Yeah, no cardio. He doesn't do cardio ever. No.

And we all know he loves crossfit too yeah so his videos are so funny he's like on the bike in greece like doing presses i've never met him before is he awesome he's really awesome he looks awesome he's somebody you should have on this show i would love to it would be so good i sent him a dm but i didn't get anything back oh my gosh my dms are aggressive too i'm like hey my podcast gets a million downloads a month you should message me So you can be on Like I try to be really

Short and sweet I don't want to If I saw that I would jump all over it I know I try to like Be aggressive I'm actually honored To be on this right now

I'm very pumped This is going to be fun To listen to this Doing cardio tomorrow Or in the next few days I'm going to be pumped You're actually You're fucking

You have a great flow So I get a lot of people On here and they Kind of freeze up And they don't have A lot of stuff to say So of all these guys too Well I'm married Yeah So I don't get to talk a lot of people on here, and they kind of freeze up, and they don't have a lot of stuff to say. So of all these guys, too.

Well, I'm married. Yeah. So I don't get to talk a lot. Oh, wow. Hopefully she doesn't listen to this. Oh, yeah, no. Oh, God. So have you seen some training routines that were just, like, out of control? Like, these guys are just getting after it hours and hours a day?

Yeah, you know. Have you seen any that are the complete other opposite of the spectrum? They work out, like, 30 minutes a day, and they still look ridiculous. I would say that I haven't seen a lot of people that train simple like 30-minute sessions, but I think that more than anything, there's a few people. I'm going to give Mike Rashid a shout-out. I think Mike Rashid is one of those people who's a good friend of mine. He's very amazing with his training because he is somebody that he consistently will switch things up,

but not in a crazy way to where you're doing strength and volume in the same workout, but he will hit like serious strength workouts. He's very strong. But then on the, on the contrary, he'll also have a workout where he is doing volume work and you see it translating over to somebody like me a lot more. I have to do both. I have to, I have to switch it up. I shouldn't say both. I have to do everything. I can't just train volume or I lose size. I can't just train strength or I'm too sore all the time without the definition that I want. And so to maintain the physique that I like, I have to literally devise that programming to where I'm doing a switch up of strength training. And I like going off of feel.

I don't actually make blocks. I'm just like. That's a really good point. And there's so many people that would call you crazy for that. Yeah. You know, you're not structuring it. You're just going off feel. That can't be helpful or scientific.

What I like about it is, like, sometimes you go to the gym and you don't get the machine you want. Yeah. Plan B has to happen real quick. Yeah. You're not going to wait for 10 minutes for that. Yeah, and you better not be, like, bummed about it. You know what I mean? It's not that big a deal.

That's really true. Dude, I've made the sickest workouts recently. I actually kind of want to make a book out of it because I started going to 24-hour fitness a lot more recently so that I could understand what it's like to be someone that's in those gyms. Okay. What did you take from that? What did you – Oh, dude, it's crazy because you can't leave your machine. Yeah.

No. Or you lose it. Yes. And then, God forbid, you want to do a super set. So, like, now your one buddy has to be over there. He's got to have, like, a hat or a water bottle. Hydro flask on this. And you guys have to, like, sprint to the other one.

So I'm trying to figure it out. You guys have to sprint to the other one. I'm trying to figure it out. I'm like, all right, cool. I started making, I call them bro sessions. It's all team style 24-hour fitness workouts. The other day, me and my buddy, we did follow the leader. It was lat pull-downs to failure. You just do as many as you can get. We picked a weight that we were both getting between 15 to 20 reps.

Okay. And as soon as you failed, you went over to this other row with a wide grip, and it was the same deal. And as soon as you failed with that, we went over to a dumbbell bent over row, and as soon as you failed with that, then you got to rest because you had two other homies that were going through. So it was almost a minute, and we just did a 20-minute AMRAP of it. And it was done.

Dude, we were toast. That's amazing. And everybody in the gym was like, dude, that looked dope. What would you guys just do? Yeah. You know what I mean? And I think it's cool because now we have all these functional fitness CrossFit people, and they're going to regular gyms now because they're looking for a space.

Because they're cheaper. They're cheaper. Yeah. I mean, I own a gym, and I think that there's a huge reason for people to still go to CrossFit gyms. Totally. Oh, absolutely. Like, for myself, even. Like, if I didn't have my homies to go with me to the gym, I'd be like, I want to go to a class that says 3-2-1-go, and I don't want to think about anything.

Well, and I don't want to think about my workout. I want to do the same thing everybody else is doing so I can get pushed by it. When you're in the other gym, like, you don't know what everybody else is doing. You're watching a bunch of things that are just mind-blowing. Some guy's doing fucking tricep pull-downs with his neck. You know what I mean? It's ridiculous the things you see. Yep.

You see trainers training people to do that stuff. It's unbelievable. And that's something I do want to touch on. And you were there that day. I mean, the last really strenuating day I had with CrossFit Chalk, I mean, I was squatting with those guys, and I was hitting like 405 for reps, and we were just doing the two reps. But for me to take that kind of weight, it was the energy of everybody around me.

I never would walk into 24, and I would never hit 405 in a 24. But to sit there that day and fail with that on my back. But even if you hit 225 in 24, everyone's like, damn, that guy's strong. Totally, yeah, totally. You do 315, 400 pounds. You never will get that kind of motivation, you know, and you're never going to have that camaraderie. And that's one thing is obviously I guy's strong. Totally. Yeah, totally. You need 315, 400 pounds. You never will get that kind of motivation. And you're never going to have that camaraderie. And that's one thing is obviously I've never hit a ton of boxes.

It's still new to me. But that is one thing that I fell in love with is I didn't walk into a clique of people who made me feel horrible about myself. They knew I was new to it. They knew that I had had previous conditioning experience. But they sat there and they worked their asses off and it motivated me to do the same thing. So as I looked at the guy to my left or my right and they're going up in weight, do you really think I'm going to drop my weight? No, I'm going up too. And so it is one of those things that you need to come back. I'm coming back, dude. Trust me. I am so excited for the people. They're so fun. Like everybody in there. Oh, I'm not coming to work out. I'm just going to come sit there. Honestly. So lucky. I just have like the craziest group of

people. They're so fucking awesome. But, um, so the next thing I want to touch on is the diet stuff. So everybody loves to follow these Instagram people for one workout, two diets. And then a lot of times they like to kind of see what they're doing on the business side. And they're like, oh, that's really cool. I like what he's doing. Totally. So the one thing we haven't hit is nutrition. So personally, we talked about this before the show.

For the first time in my life, I went from high fat, low carb, and I've been doing high carb, low fat for now I'm on day like 11. You loving it or what? I hate it. You hate it? I hate it. That's like my method. That's what I normally do.

All bodybuilders are high carb. That's what I normally did. And I've been switching it up and I've been doing higher fats, low carbs now, which to switch that up was wild for me because it was – I wanted to ask you, do you know any, like, successful bodybuilders? Because I don't know a lot of successful bodybuilders. Like, do you know any that do high fat, low carb, and that look good? Honestly, I don't know a whole lot that can maintain their size with it.

And it comes down to I feel like – You usually get – like a bodybuilding coach would tell you that you'd be flat, right? Yeah. And I could see that. I mean, whenever I've done, like, just straight ketogenic diets, that was my biggest issue because i was always flat i felt great my my mind was on point i was shredded but i was flat my workouts were horrible so for me i had looked at you know i had looked at like even placed carbs through a ketogenic diet and still didn't even want to go that route keto wasn't right for me the method that i'm using now is just working and it's amazing and I love it. And it's, it's literally something where I do have moderate carbs throughout

the day, but when I say moderate, I'm talking about like, I have a half cup of white rice and I have oats, but the biggest difference that I've seen is pre and post workout. And so through any certs or any nutrition, you're just having carbs pre and post workout. I'm having carbs first thing in the morning and then pre and post workout. And that's okay. Everything else is fats along with my meal. And for what you're saying, half you're looking at your talk, it sounds like 50 grams of pop, like 150 grams a day. Yeah. No more than 150 grams. I'd say I'm right around 120 grams a day. Okay. You know, and so that's like my style. So like I do, I call it earn your carbs. It's not true keto. No, I'll you're utilizing them for the,

what they need to be used for. I do them pre-workout and I do them post-workout and then post-workout is always a number depending on how hard I work out. Okay. Very similar to me. So sometimes I'll work out a little bit more because I want. And your post-workout is a little bit more than your pre-normally. Yeah. Okay.

So for me, what I've done is, so through any sort of training or any sort of education that I've done over the last 10 years, I was always taught, everybody's always taught carbs and protein post-workout. 100%. And actually in the beginning it was protein only. Nobody even said anything about carbs. Yeah, truly, truly. And get a shake in immediately or a food right after your workout. And protein doesn't do dick after a workout.

I am going to probably piss a lot of people off right now because I do not believe in that anymore. I believe in opening up that window for protein absorption with carbohydrates. And so for me, I think that that's... And sugar, actually. Totally. So what I'll do is I'll usually do a half cup of blueberries with my post-workout oats.

And what that's giving me is it's giving me my spike with my insulin, and it's also allowing me to open up my body and my muscles for that protein that I'm going to drink or eat, usually eat 30 to 45 minutes prior or post, you know, oats. So what I'm doing is I'm starting out my pre-work to 45 minutes prior or post oats. So what I'm doing is I'm starting out my pre-workout with a half cup of oats. I'm finishing with between two-thirds of a cup, half cup to two-thirds of a cup, depending on how hard I'm training, usually two-thirds of a cup.

And I'm eating that with blueberries. And then 30 minutes to 45 minutes post, I keep wanting to say prior, post that, then I'm eating my meal. Then I'm getting my protein in. The thing I've noticed with that is I feel so much better post-workout. I hold my pumps longer. I feel my recovery has changed. And on top of that, my nutrient absorption, I'm not getting the bloat that I would get post-workout. I feel like it's actually cutting my bloat out. Granted, I take digestive enzymes and things like that, but my bloat has almost disappeared. And so it's ironic because I've started switching my clients over to this to where for the longest

time I was going off of everything I'd always been taught. I think if you're in the maintenance to shred phase, like I think low carb has to happen. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think that it, it actually feels great during that point. Like I've been like maintaining the same body frame for like for a long time. And you know the best part about that is to switch it up with somebody and really replenish everything in their body, give them another week of high-carb, low-fat just to switch it up and then switch them right back.

Yep. And it's all they need. And so to all these people out there that are so concerned about these two, three low days or the fourth high day off and on, I've done it all. I'm sure you have too. I do the carb cycle challenge. That's my big thing. Okay, okay. So how many days low are you? Um,

it's only two days a week that are high. Okay. And five days are low. Okay. So like between three, so three, four days low, and then you're hitting a high day. Yeah. Okay. Well, no, five days low, too high. Oh, so you're doing two back-to-back high days. No, not back-to-back. They're, they're separate. Okay. Okay wild dude yeah but see this is why it's so exciting for me because even sitting here i'm trying to concentrate on this podcast yet i'm trying to think in my mind about all of your diet now i'm like that's so interesting to me so dude and i love talking to people about their diets because a lot of times people they'll listen to all this and they're like well fuck, fuck, I just heard all this. And I listened to this other podcast and this guy is like this.

And I genuinely think I can sum up the whole thing with this thing that this guy told me one time. It was like when I was like 13 years old. I was training in a gym, oddly enough. And this guy looked insane to me. And the only reason I was even in the gym is because my friend's parents owned it. And they let us go in there. And they showed us how to lift. Yeah.

If you're going to lift in here, guys, you've got to do this. We don't want you fucking around. And people being like, there's kids in here. Know what you're doing. Right. So we walked in. We benched every day. Did curls every day.

Even though they told us not to. We just, when nobody was looking, we would do a bunch of curls and get out of there. But I was like, hey, how do I look like that? And the guy was like, every single thing that you put in your body must have a purpose and i was like thank you i was like what does that mean and he's like i want you to go home and i want you to like read about carbs and protein and fat and i want you to read about when they go into your body i'm not going to teach you if you really want to know you'll find it out yourself and i just want you to i want you to know what you're supposed to eat when you wake up when before you get here, when you're done here,

and then everything else before you go to bed and what not to eat before you go to bed. He told me, like, every single thing that I should be knowing. And then left it up to you. So every time I'd go to eat, I'd look at my meal and I'd be like, I don't know if I should eat this. You know what I mean? And my mom was like, what are you doing? And I'm like, well, because we'd, like, be at dinner and we'd have a big two-liter Pepsi on the table. And I'd be like, I can't drink the Pepsi. And she I'm like, well, cause we like be at dinner and we have a big, uh, two liter Pepsi on the table. And I'd be like,

I can't drink the Pepsi. And she'd be like, why? And I'm like, well, I really want to look like this guy at the gym. And he said, I can't do that at night.

And she's like, okay, right on. Yep. She was cool with it. You're opening up a whole new window too, because with you being a trainer and training people, I'm sure you get asked all the time to,

to facilitate diets for people that you're not comfortable with. And one of the diets that I'm not comfortable with for exactly the reason you're talking about is any sort of IIFYM dieting that features micronutrient-lacking foods. Not even fasting. Fasting is one that bothers me. Everybody wants to fast because it's convenient. They're like, I'm just going to fast. And I'm like, I'm going to give myself this window where I absolutely can't gain weight.

It's painful. I just listened to fast. And I'm like, I'm going to give myself this window where I absolutely can't gain weight. It's painful. I just listened to a giant podcast on that, actually. And it was painful listening to how this guy lived his life. Because you look at him and you look at his physique and his anatomical structure. And it's like, this is why you're able to do this, though. And we're talking about an ER doctor that does this. And he was talking about how I have such a busy life. I literally fast for 18 hours.

And then I have a two to three hour feeding window. And then I go back to my fast. literally fast for 18 hours and then I have like a two to three hour feeding window and then I go back to my fast or I go to bed and then I start my fast when I wake up and it's, or no, when he goes to bed and I was like sitting there going, so you eat for, you eat one meal a day between two hours to three hours a day and he's like talking about it. I'm like, yeah, but you're also skinny. You have no muscle mass. You have no definition to you at all.

Dude, i get blown away by the fucking keno body guy yeah oh my gosh it blows me away i'm always like why is this guy like fads man it's a fad it's crazy and so that was one of the things back in the shreds days that i used to butt heads with so many people on was because that was when the iifom was really spiking a popular phase and it was because you saw it's back though i feel like it is it was like it was super high and then because you saw... It's like it's back though, I feel like. It is. It was super high and then it was gone. Everybody's like, it's dumb. And then all of a sudden it's high again.

I'm like, what is going on right now? And I'm not popular to those people because I don't focus on really talking poorly about it anymore. I just explain to people why I don't believe in it. And I believe in the same thing you do. Why am I putting this in my body? What is it doing for me? And if there's something better

that I could be replacing it with, I'm going to do that. And so micronutrients are huge to me. And so my clients come to me they want their macros i give them all their macros but i also very boldly state anything you fit into these macros that is outside my diet parameters that's on you because i'm not here to tell you the sour patch kids you made work are going to be the same thing as you know know. It's not the fucking same. It is not. Everybody's like a calorie is a calorie. I'm like, no, it is not. It is not. It is not. And so that's the other thing is with my dieting, I've never done that.

So when I write diets, when I follow diets, I eat diet food, you know, down to the fact I watch my sodium. And so it's not saying I don't eat sodium, but I watch it. Dude, I get fucking excited about eating healthy. I'll look at my cabinet and be like, fuck yeah. i don't have any junk in here there's nothing i walk through a whole foods with freaking my hands over my crotch trying not to you know it's like oh it's amazing i'm like there's nothing in here and then i like i look at my i'm like triumphant in my open my refrigerator and i'm just like yeah i can't fuck up there's nothing to fuck up with

right now you know what i mean yep there's one. There's two things that I think are very important to point out. And one is when you're coaching people, they always ask about your macros. And you are not that person. So stop. Yes. Like what Alex's macros are, what my macros are are totally different. And it works for us. And we figure that out over God knows how long.

Yep. Let's talk about yours again. Let's talk about your experience. What's going on and we'll work with it so i think that always asking other people about their macros is not appropriate no and two one thing that i have always been against that i've actually started because i don't like giving people excuses i hate excuses when people have some sort of gnarly excuse yeah i genuinely started to believe that the like endomorph ectomorph all that shit actually i existed i i always thought it was terrible but now all the people that i've talked to on the

podcast i talk about their diets and this and that it actually does kind of play like everybody like like i'm short and stocky and yeah people like me do better on low carbs and high fat yeah and anyone who's like kind of taller and naturally more slender i would do better with high carbs yeah yeah and so it is ironic to be doing it the way i do it because i feel better when i have high high carbs i just think it's good for me to be like passionate i mean not not passionate but like just to be embracing yeah embracing towards that subject when someone's like well hey this is not working for me even though it's working for me i'm looking at this guy and he's like you know he wants a certain goal and i'm like well this is not working for me, even though it's working for me. I'm looking at this guy, and he's like, you know, he wants a certain goal. And I'm like, well, this is what I do, like in the beginning.

And then it's not working for them. And I'm like, well, you're not doing it right. And it's like, no, wait, actually, their genetic makeup might be different. This is what we need to switch. Yeah, and I was like, that shit doesn't exist. Endomorph, ectomorph, sounds like a fucking excuse. And then the more people I talked to, I was like, wow, that actually does play pretty well. Same thing, yeah, same with keto. I mean, I have a few keto clients right

now and I did keto for three years myself. Do you know anyone getting jacked on keto? No dude. And it's funny cause it's marketed as this muscle sparing, you know, amazing diet that people can get jacked on. Yeah. But the reality of that is people are not going to ever get jacked without the carbohydrates in the system. Yeah, it's impossible pretty much. You can look amazing. You can look sculpted. But to grow or to actually put the size on, you need glycogen. Which, if you don't have any, you can break down protein.

But I don't have a PhD, so it's hard because you have doctors out there that will say you're wrong. And when I hear that, I'm just like, damn, this is why I don't speak up about it very often. Well, if you're in a caloric – so everything is caloric surplus or caloric deficit, right? Yep. So if you're in a surplus of protein and fat, your body will gluconeogenesis it, turn it into what you need it to be. And then, yeah, you'll probably still put some weight on, but it might not look as good. What kind of weight? Yeah, it might not look as good.

Yeah. And I think that's where people kind of fuck up. And it's like, well, I had a Sour Patch Kids after my workout, and I'm like, dude, I just like – That is so the same as oats. Yeah. You know, that is totally the same thing. You got the right macros down. Sick.

Yeah. Cool. Jesus Christ. But not the same. Yeah. So it's like I don't understand what's happening here. So that's cool. I really like listening to everybody's diet plan is always like super interesting.

I've got a question for you. Yeah, go for it. What's your opinion on water intake? Because this is one of those things that I think, it's not a very talked about thing, but it's also a very criticized thing. And it's funny, because I like to ask people this, because I drink two gallons of water a day.

Easily. I drink one at most. Okay. But mainly because I'm just not cognizant enough. Okay. Like, I try to walk around with a hydro flask. I didn't bring it with me here, because I'm traveling, and I just don't like bringing it with me. It's super bulky.

And, like, we're at the FitAid tent, and everywhere I look, there's no water. There's just fucking FitAids. Well, see, it's like for me. I found for me. Literally, right now, this entire podcast has been, like, me, myself, and Irene. I'm like, hey, guys. Someone say fire? Yeah.

I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, yeah. Oh, we just got a bottle of vodka in the house. We just got a bottle of vodka. There you go, Ryan. But see, the thing for me, too, it's so funny you say that. I've noticed myself, I had the hardest time getting all my water in for the longest time. But, of course, I'm driving a lot.

I'm traveling a lot. I'm moving around. So to grab a gallon of water and put it over my head, take a drink out of it, whether it's a hydro flask I'm taking the lid off on It's so, it sounds so trivial, but I would avoid it. I'd be in the middle of traffic on the four or five and it's like, I'm not going to sit here and take a sip. I'm stopping and going. I'm not sitting here sipping my gallon. So what I found was even my hydro flask for me as a person to put a flip up straw on that thing. So no matter where I was at, I could just sip on it. I get two gallons of water and like nothing. I need to do that. Cause I think

just take, even taking the top off is... It's such a pain in the ass. So it's a convenience factor. Yeah. But it changes everything. That's a really solid point because I won't drink it a lot in my car because of that reason. And they don't fit in my cup holders. Yeah.

Yeah. Which pisses me off. So with a locking hydro flask, you can grab that thing, flip it with one hand, sip it, and put it back. And it's like I find myself subconsciously just drinking water all day. But there is a lot of people who fluctuate like up to plus or minus five pounds which is because they're not drinking water their body looks flat because of water not because of food yep and what i like though is every once in a while it's good to actually not drink water because your body releases more growth hormone really yeah it's pretty cool wow see like significant amount i was like to hear you say that, that's interesting because I've heard something similar to that.

But I believe it now more coming from you. Yeah. That's interesting. It's a really cool thing. Like when the bodybuilders are on stage and they haven't drank water the whole day, like they've tested their levels and they're really high. Really? And they get like because they're higher growth hormone, they have higher nitrogen levels.

And you just have bigger veins and shit like that. Wow. That doesn't surprise me, I guess. So every time I don't drink water, I'm like, oh, I'm just boosting growth hormone. They have higher nitrogen levels. And you just have bigger veins and shit like that. Wow. That doesn't surprise me, I guess. So every time I don't drink water, I'm like, oh, I'm just boosting growth hormone. It's pretty cool. You're like feeling the blood flow. So I actually think about that. Like when I'm really thirsty, I'm like, fuck, I'm just growing right now.

Yeah. Well, yeah, that was a question I wanted to ask you. And I think it's something that I get asked a lot. My clients have trouble with it. All my clients go and buy hydro flasks and flip up straws. They all get their water in now. And it's funny because I'm for sure taking that away from this podcast. These are literally things that I enjoy sharing.

Every podcast, there's like one little fucking thing. I'm just like, oh, that was gold. Everyone right now, they're all going to be stoked literally only because of that. Funny story. On the flight here, I had just filled my water bottle up past security, filled it with BCAs. The pressure in the cabin of the airline I didn't think about, right? So I'm on this flight packed with people,

and I go to open my container about an hour into the flight, and like a pressure cooker, I swear to God, BCAs, like a geyser, all over the plane, like five people back, five people forward, to my sides. I'm covered in BCAs. And so a little warning, too, is to my sides. I'm covered in BCAs. And so a little warning too is to watch the pressure when you're flying with your hydro flask. Or you will piss off a lot of people. That is excessive.

You'll show up to CrossFit Games covered in BCAs. Thankfully that wasn't like a trip to New Zealand of 16 hours where everyone's covered in BCAs. Truly, yeah. Where BCAs are probably not legal even. Yeah. So what's the future looking like for you right now? What are you trying to get into? I always like asking people their future plans. You know, I actually used to really stress about what was coming up next.

So I'm married. I have a very supportive wife. And I think that that created a lot of balance in my life for calming me down as far as focusing my attention towards the things that were needing the most attention and priorities. So right now, I have some amazing connections. I have some amazing brands I work with, FitAid, LiveFit, Purikana. There's Gatsups. There's a lot of companies that have invested in me that I do a lot with. And I think I was always focused on what was next or who else. Who else can I add? And I've learned that, for me, I found a lot of fun and passion in just focusing on these endorsements right now,

really, really flowing with them and creating good relationships with these companies. Instead of putting 50% into them, putting 100% into every single one of them and just really, really running with them, it's allowed a lot of things to come my way. And so right now, I am looking at eventually opening up a gym, a contemporary gym, not a CrossFit box, but just something that was more private and personal training based that also did group training. Because I think that that's something that I enjoy and I've enjoyed. I used to teach group training back in Boise, Idaho.

I know there's a big market for it. I've still never been there. I want to check it out. It's so beautiful. You would probably never come back. I'm allise, Idaho. I know there's a big market for it. I've still never been there. I want to check it out. It's so beautiful. You would probably never come back. I'm, like, all about the outdoors. I heard it's cool. People in Chalk would do amazing up there.

And I heard the downtown area is, like, kind of up and coming. It's so beautiful. Yeah. I miss it a lot, definitely. But I think that's for me. For me, right now, I'm just running with these endorsements that I've never had the opportunity to work with that are actually on another level for me. And they're exciting.

Dude, I totally agree with what you said about, said about throwing 100% into what you're doing now. Because every time I just stop stressing about anything like that, I don't stress too much about it, but I'm like, what should I be doing next year? I want to grow. I want these things to happen. And all of a sudden, I'm just doing really good at what I do, and someone's like, hey, I want you to do this for me, or I'm going to start this company and you should be part of it or whatever.

Can you shop this for me or can you do this? It's crazy. I mean like right now like you just being here and taking the time to come out to Madison and be here at FitAid, you got to go on a podcast that has a shit ton of downloads. And I'm so excited about this. You know what I mean though? But like that's just – that's the thing is like you just brought the best version of yourself to the table. Thank you, man.

And you're there and you're doing it. And I think a lot of people, they have all these opportunities. And we know people who have a lot of opportunities. Yeah. And they just fucking throw them out the window. Yeah. Or they get cocky with it. They get arrogant.

They just don't do anything. They get complacent like you were talking about. Complacent, you know. And this is constantly a game of returning value to the people you work with. And I think that's the other thing these influencers, they don't think about. These people just write them checks and they expect the check because they look good or because they have a nice personality. And I'm sorry, but business is business.

And so it ends for a lot of these people too because they don't continue to show that value and they don't continue to put the work in. I'm going to take it even further. Influencers are salesmen. You're a salesman. For sure. You're selling your body. You're selling these products, whatever it is you represent.

These people are following you because they believe in what you're doing and they want to learn from you. So if I say to them, I'm going to drink vodka post-workout, I'm guessing a good percentage they're going to drink some vodka. Yeah. And so what you put out to these people, it needs to align with what you truly believe or else long term you're going to get called out on your shit you're can i swear i have that for sure 100 you're going to get called out on it and people are going to realize it's not real and the integrity that that well i think that people should be following someone for

a certain amount of time and actually like researching that person a little bit before they even put any like trust truly because there's too many people out there now. Yeah. There's just so many and you don't even know. You see a body. You see a booty and the booty program. I'm going to buy her booty program. She's got a big ass or he's got great abs.

I'm going to buy the ab workout, you know? And I think that that's the thing is you have a lot of people that are underqualified. You have a lot of people that haven't had the experience. They are genetically inclined. You know, I'm genetically inclined, dude. I've done this for 10 years, and I look okay. But at the same time, I've never been on a professional level as far as, like, the Olympia stage or something like that.

But it also never appealed to me. I found a happiness with training how I train and where my body was at. And what I maintain year-round, I know I can maintain year-round what most people maintain for a week for those shows. So I would rather look that way year-round and feel good. I've never really understood, like, looking insane for a week and it's gone. I'm just like, I don't understand. You see them in their off-season.

Their off-season, quote, unquote. Well, that week is really unhealthy, too. It's like an unhealthy week. They're so close to death. Yeah, it's bad. Yeah, you throw some diuretics and some other things into the mix. Yeah, it's crazy. It's horrible.

It's dangerous, diuretics. Yeah, totally, dude. People die. Yeah. Yeah, all the time, actually. It's insane. So, yeah, man, I'm a big fan of that. That's what I've just been kind of just having faith in, just being 100% all the time.

Hell, yeah. That's why I'm always so energetic. You're very straight up, man. I go up. I go home, and I fucking crash. But, like, yeah, I fucking try to bring the heat every single time. Well, and that's, I think, why our friendship gets a little – I get along with you. And it's like even with the CrossFit games and the one-ton challenge, you know, it was funny because everybody around me, they were

super, super, not, not, not fueling me with BS, but they were, they were very motivating to like, dude, you got this, you can do this, you can kill this. And the thing I've always respected about you is you, you didn't scare me away from doing it. You were very coach-like. You were very coach like you were very realistic you were an athlete to me you talked to me as an athlete and said hey this is the kinds of numbers you should be putting up this is where you should be and i have been filled with

so much bullshit from other coaches in the past i've walked onto stages ryan where i wasn't ready and it humiliated me i've walked into shows that i wasn't ready for i've prepped for things and not realized where my competitors were at because i've listened to coaches that were so into selling their bullshit to people that you believe it i'm gonna win the overall of this or i'm gonna go and crush this and you walk away feeling lower than you ever felt and so it was actually really a big factor for me to get a little bit more honesty too and have somebody say straight up like this is where you should be because I'm a competitor. I'm somebody that likes to win.

I like to contend at least with the people I'm competing with. I don't want to walk onto a flag football field with no flags on my waist. Yeah. You know, so it's like, it's kind of one of those things. And sometimes I feel like I would have more followers if I, if I lived like the, if I just showed the highlight reel all the time, but I always show people everything, everything. I don't care.

Yeah. Yep. I think that's the way social media is shifting, though, is people want to see the everything. But people don't realize either. A lot of people do not realize. I know so many people who have 10,000 followers and make more money than people who have a million. Yeah.

I hear it all the time. So she had a private account forever while we were married, and I would always tag her. And she had like 100 followers. And she was like, I'm never going gonna make it public like i don't need to and she posted like her baking and like our dogs and things on her page that were just private so one day and we had been together for two years she was like it'd be funny to see how many pending requests i have so she turned her page public to let them all come in and she had 16 000 people

pending from all the shouts i'd given her over the years. So she went from 100 followers to 16K in a day. That woman posted the next day and had more interaction on her page at 16K than I had at 700K. Granted, I've posted a lot longer and been there a lot longer, but it was new to people. They were excited. It's like, oh my God, Alex's wife is posting. We get to see her. And so I think to some of those people out there listening too,

they need to quit focusing on how big of a following they have, how many views and likes they're getting, and what they're giving back to these people. Because I tell you what, man, if somebody asks me a comment on my page or a question on my page, I will answer them. If somebody says, Alex, I'm really trying to decide if I should get this protein, but what flavor should I get, the chocolate or the cinnamon? You know what kind of a difference it makes to people to just simply be human with them

and go, hey, dude, the cinnamon kicks ass. Yep. They're going to go buy the cinnamon and they're going to love it. And it's what you really use. Yep. Versus the guy who's like, here's my post. Use my code. I don't really give a fuck what you buy.

Yeah. Like, dude, those are the people that are going to burn themselves out. So. And that's where the beginning full circle. Totally. I've been talking about being on your phone for a long time. Yep. But it does equal better engagement and then. It's still a job a little bigger paycheck so the people out

there who think it's an easy job it's still a job still a job for sure yep heck yeah we just get to do it in different cool places way cooler places dude i'm stoked having you on the show that was great we hit so many great things i think we're gonna get a lot of value out of that and i'm excited to have my other upcoming uh guests on the show. I'm excited to be out here in Madison, Wisconsin, and I will see you guys again next week. If you guys ever have any recommendations that people want to listen to, please let me know. Please make sure you guys go ahead and follow Alex Michael Turner on Instagram.

Do you have any websites right now? No, I don't. Okay, just the gram. All right, and he just said he will message you back. So for every person who doesn't get a message back, he has to remove an article of clothing and then put it on his story. This will be done live. Trust me. I don't wear a lot of clothes already, so this is going to be fun.

All right, guys. I'll see you next Tuesday. Thanks for everything, Ryan.