Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 159: Q&A - Hunger, Elbow Pain, Beginner Routines + More!

Episode Date: January 31, 2022

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Hey there, everybody. Welcome in to another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Tranga. And in today's episode, we're going to be talking specifically about some of the fitness questions you have asked of me over on my Instagram. That is probably the best platform to reach me on if you want direct interaction, engagement, and you want to know my thoughts on some of your fitness, nutrition, and health-specific questions. What I will generally do on that platform is once or twice a week, I'll post an Instagram story with a sticker on it where you can ask me your fitness, health, and nutrition questions. And I answer as many as I can over on the platform, whether that be with standalone stories, spoken

word, or even doing what I do on here, where I go over some of the questions in greater detail, much greater detail than I could using something like, say, a 15-second Instagram story. So I have a variety of questions from you guys today that I think are really, really good, including what supplements do I take and when. I answer questions about how much time I spend in the sauna, tools for reducing hunger while dieting, what you can do to manage elbow pain

specifically related to lifting, what to do with regards to your post-workout nutrition when it comes to training later in the day, how you might adjust your lifting if you're dealing with back pain and whether or not you should use a belt or a brace, and how you might be able to continue to get lower body specific gains when dealing with a foot injury. So these are all questions specifically from you. I will shout out all of those of you who answered or who asked these questions when I go through them and answer. But before we do that, I want to talk to you guys a little bit about our awesome sponsor, Elemental Labs. Elemental Labs has a flagship electrolyte product known as LMNT. And this is

a supplement that I take every single day. And we'll talk more about that in the opening question, which kind of goes over my daily supplement routine. But elemental labs electrolyte is absolutely phenomenal. It's naturally sweetened, naturally flavored, contains no artificial ingredients or colors. It's sweetened with stevia and comes in amazing flavors like orange salt, citrus salt, raspberry salt, mango chili, lemon habanero. And even for those of you who want to mix it in your protein shakes, things like unflavored or even chocolate. The reason I love LMNT is I'm a huge fan of hydration and the many ways in which

hydration can influence our health and performance. And I love to start my day with a half a packet of Elemental Labs LMNT. I take that right out of the gate, get hydrated, get fluid into my system. And when I train early, I get much better pumps. I have better energy. I have substantially less soreness. And I also use it whenever I'm doing my cardio work, my aerobic work. And I especially use it when I have my long sauna sessions where I'm in there from anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. If I use the steam room on that day as well, I will absolutely be sipping on my LMNT because I want to replace the water that I'm losing through sweat, but also the electrolytes.

If you've ever noticed your sweat has a little bit of a salty taste, and that is generally from the exchange of things like sodium, potassium, and magnesium that happens when we perspire. When water leaves our body through the skin, it takes some of these valuable electrolytes with it and replacing them with bioavailable forms that the kind of forms found in LMNT is a really, really valuable way to make sure, an effective way too, to make sure that you're staying hydrated. So Elemental Labs and myself have partnered up to make sure that you can try their product in every flavor for free. All you have to do is pay shipping. Element will ship its eight most popular flavors right to you. All you have to do is head over to drinkelemente.com slash coach

Danny. Again, that's drink the letter L the letter M the letter N the letter t.com slash coach Danny. And you can get all of their most popular favorite flavors sent to you just pay shipping. Okay. So getting into the first question, and this one isn't from a single person specifically, but this was just a question that thematically I was getting a lot. Another one of these that I answered similarly was what is the ideal training split for my current schedule, right? So this is a question that appears a lot from a lot of different people. And it's fairly simple. It's just what supplements do I take and why and at what time. So I figured I would just go through my current supplement protocol as it stands from morning to evening.

So keeping it very simple, I start off every morning, like I mentioned earlier, with a large 32-ounce serving of water with a half a packet of Elemental Labs LMNT Recharge electrolytes. With that, I take my seed symbiotic, which is again a prebiotic probiotic that contains a variety of different strains that are clinically proven to work in humans and clinically proven to survive the stomach. That's something that can be quite problematic for many probiotic supplements, which is can they even get through the stomach and to the small intestine and large intestine where they will propagate and, you know, take effect. And so I start my day with Seed and I start my day with LMNT. If you would like to try Seed, you can go to seed.com and

check out using the promo code Danny15 to save 15%. But again, you don't have to buy any of this stuff. You probably don't need it if your diet is in check, your training is in check. This is just the cherry on top. These are extras. But if I take it, I know a lot of you guys will ask, well, can I take it? Where can I get it? And because I have partnered with many of these companies, I will always let you know when I am affiliated and when I'm not. I want you guys to be able to make informed decisions and save where you can save. So before I train, I will usually take a pre-workout. Now, if I have not yet had caffeine, I might have a caffeinated pre-workout. And if I have had caffeine, usually in the form of an espresso shot, I will have a non-caffeinated pre-workout. So the pre-workout I take most days is Legion Pulse. And when I say most days, I mean some days I just don't take pre-workout.

This is the only one I take. I take the Legion Pulse pre-workout, stimulant-free. I like the tropical punch flavor. And if I have one with caffeine, I like the cranberry flavor. If I'm in the sauna, this would usually come midday after I finish training with clients or post-workout. I will again sip on the Elemental Labs. At least once a day, I have a protein shake that contains the vital proteins collagen, which I really could care less about with regards to muscle gain. I take it so I can get a diverse array of amino acids, the kind of which that are more commonly found in collagen. I'm not affiliated with vital proteins. I will have Legion's Whey Plus in that shake as well, so I can get the amino acid profile that is kind of unique to whey and that is a little better for muscle growth. And I will have a scoop of Legion's Greens Powder Genesis because I like the different

micronutrients and polyphenols, but most specifically because it has three grams of reishi mushroom. For the Legion supplements, like the pre-workout, you can check out at Legion using the promo code Danny to save 20% off your first order and double points after that. In the afternoon, I take one ashwagandha KSM 66 500 milligram tablet from Tribe. I am not affiliated. I take a vitamin D capsule, 5,000 international units from Jaro Formulas. I am not affiliated. And one fish oil capsule from Legion. I am again affiliated with Legion. In the evening, I will take another fish oil capsule, a zinc picolinate capsule from Thorne, no affiliation, a magnesium bisglycinate capsule from Thorne, no affiliation, and two Legion Triumph multivitamin. Again, I am affiliated

with Legion. I like to take my vitamins before bed and I tend to only take two because personally, multivitamins of any kind can cause me some kind of gastrointestinal distress. And I have found two Triumph is kind of my sweet spot. So those are the supplements I'm taking at the times that I am taking them. You guys have asked me that question on multiple different occasions and I figured what better place to answer it than on here with some greater detail. But let's go ahead and dive into the questions from my most recent Instagram Q&A. This one comes from at individual Gigi, and she asks, how much time do you spend in the sauna? So I've referenced this before, but Andrew Huberman, founder of the Huberman Lab podcast, phenomenal science communicator, who's really good at aggregating a variety of different health specific habits and behaviors and really kind of breaking them down into actionable habits

recommended about three, four months ago on a podcast of his 57 minutes in the sauna. I've also heard from Dr. Rhonda Patrick that you want to probably, if at all possible, extend your sessions out so that they're somewhere between about 25 to 30 minutes. And if you do more, that tends to be better. But I'm usually aiming for one hour to one hour and 30 minutes per week spread into three or four 25 to 30 minute sessions. So my low end is 57 minutes. My high end is 90 minutes. And on average, I spend about 30 minutes in the sauna. I have started recently spending about five minutes in the steam room as well to finish the gym that I go to has both a sauna and a steam

room. And I like the steam room because I find that it helps with my congestion. I really struggle with allergies certain times of year. And I've been fighting off a little bit of a sinus thing recently that's resulted in a pretty terrible headache. Quite frankly, this headache has been lingering for long enough that I'm like getting to the point where I'm relatively concerned, but it appears to be consistent with other allergy-specific sinus-style headaches I've had. But what I'm usually aiming for in the sauna is a session between 25 to 30 minutes. Now, if you are just getting started and depending on the type of sauna and the actual temperature of the sauna, that might be really, really hard

for you. I remember when I first started using the sauna, my throat and my nose were very sensitive to the high temperatures and a 10 to 12 minute session was more reasonable for me. So that's what I started with. And you can always work your way up. A little bit goes a long way. And while 57 minutes might be the sweet spot, that might be hard for you to do across even three or four sessions. So just do what you can. I tend to go after my workout. That's what works well for me because my gym has a sauna. But if you're just getting in the rhythm of it, just try it out, see how you like it and try to work your way up to that 57 minute mark. Okay. Second question comes from at Wilson Wonka and he asks for tips to reduce hunger. So here's a few that I quite like. And again, these are just simple nutritional tips. But when

it comes to reducing hunger, a better way to look at it might be what can we do to increase satiety or feelings of fullness? So when you're doing something like dieting, you're going to have a natural response physiologically to, from like a hormonal standpoint, to feel hungry. Your body's going to go, I have noticed a decrease in my caloric intake. I have noticed an adjustment from my homeostasis and I would like to not have to deal with this. So I'm going to try to make you hungry. So we don't have to deal with any stressors. So appetite changing or appetite changes associated with caloric reduction is normal, but you can offset that by eating foods that increase satiety. So foods that can do that are foods that are high in volume, such as vegetables. They're again,

fibrous. There's quite a bit of water. Fruits generally, again, fairly low calorie, fibrous, quite a bit of water. Protein, that can be high volume, particularly leaner proteins. And again, fairly low calorie, fibrous, quite a bit of water. Protein, that can be high volume, particularly leaner proteins. And again, very filling. Both proteins and plant foods tend to be quite satiating. So increasing your intake of those foods, making sure that you have those foods available for snacks when and if you find that you have a craving. So for example, being able to have an apple or some carrots or some lean proteins or even a protein shake when a craving hits or those hunger feelings start to kind of become more present, you can really put those aside. Another thing you can do is stay hydrated. It's a very effective tool to make sure that you have

some volume in your stomach, just be sipping on water. And then a really good tip is to try to exercise and try to get better sleep, right? Because when you're exercising, typically you're not going to be hungry. And when you're sleeping, typically you're not going to be hungry. But additionally, getting enough sleep will help with regulating blood sugar and it will definitely help with regulating appetite. It's also like pretty obvious, but if you sleep six hours a night, that means you're awake for 18. So that's 18 hours where you're kind of thinking or wondering about food. And if you sleep eight hours a night, then you're sleeping for 16 hours, or I'm sorry, you're only awake for 16 hours. So that's two whole less hours that you're like actively thinking about or dealing with hunger. So those are some really actionable, simple tips for

reducing your hunger. Hey guys, just wanted to take a quick second to say thanks so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're finding value, it would mean the world to me if you would share it on your social media. Simply screenshot whatever platform you're listening to and share the episode to your Instagram story or share it to Facebook. But be sure to tag me so I can say thanks and we can chat it up about what you liked and how I can continue to improve. Thanks so much for supporting the podcast and enjoy the rest of the episode. Number three comes from at trust no one at trust underscore no underscore one. And this question says, what can I do for elbow pain from lifting? And so I think it's important first and foremost to get a specific diagnosis as for the kind of

pain that you're dealing with. Now, the most common pain that I see with individuals is either biceps tendonitis, triceps tendonitis, or some form of tennis elbow, golfer's elbow, etc. And so these are basically just tendonitis ease or tendinopathy of the various tendon of the elbow. And what you can do is try to diagnose which tendons are bothering you. So if tricep exercises where you reach full extension bother the back of the elbow, it's probably safe to assume it's not the biceps tendon and maybe it's the triceps tendon. If doing biceps curl, particularly like incline curls or preacher curls, and when you get to that fully lengthened bicep position and there's a little stretch on that tendon, if that agitates things, then you might be able to determine that it's some type of biceps tendinopathy.

And so what you can do is you can give those tissues time to rest. You can hopefully after your training, promote recovery by maybe reducing inflammation in the area by maybe icing. But if it's biceps tendinopathy specifically, one thing that I have seen that works fairly well is eccentrics. If it's like, again, golfers or, you know, tennis elbow, I think eccentrics can tend to work pretty well. There is some literature on that. I haven't had a lot of luck with triceps tendonitis, but whenever you're dealing with a tendinopathy or pain specifically in a tendon around a joint, continuing to hammer away at it isn't always the answer. But again, the best thing you can do is get a diagnosis. So if you can book an appointment with a qualified physical therapist or practitioner who's, again, educated and qualified to make a diagnosis, you'll get to the bottom of it and you

might even be able to get some rehabilitation work in your schedule where you can work on putting that pain away so you can get back to productive training. As smart as it is to try to work around things and try to strengthen surrounding muscles and try to keep pushing, sometimes you end up making things worse and digging the hole a little deeper. So the first thing I would recommend is getting that elbow pain diagnosed and then maybe exploring some eccentric training if it is something like golfer's elbow, tennis elbow, or even biceps tendonitis. Okay. Next question comes from Kira Crouch. I guess that would be at Kira Crouch. Yeah, that sounds right. And the question is, I work out late. Can I still eat a post-workout of carbs, protein, and fats, or should I have something light? So I don't really think that when you

work out has a huge impact on what you can eat after you train. I understand that a lot of people believe that eating late at night is generally bad practice for body composition. And you've probably heard many people say like, oh, don't eat carbs at night. It will make you fat. And so, you know, a lot of people are curious, like, what can I eat if I train really late in the evening? Or what can I eat if I train really early in the morning? And what I would say is, my assumption is that if you're working out late, you're probably also sleeping late or going to bed late. So you probably are working off of a different chronotype than the typical person. And a chronotype just means like maybe you're more of a night owl, maybe you're more of an early bird, maybe you're right in the

middle. And if your whole day is biased later, meaning you wake up late, you work out late, you go to bed late, there's probably absolutely nothing wrong with having a post-workout meal late. And if that post-workout meal contains carbohydrates, proteins, and a little bit of fat, that might be the best thing you could do for recovery. Now, as far as your sleep goes, eating super, super late in the evening is probably not ideal for your circadian rhythm. But if your circadian clock is already biased a little bit towards that night owl tendency or night owl archetype, a late meal that will promote recovery, that will fuel you for your subsequent day ahead, is probably absolutely fine. If you prefer to have a smaller meal and keep it light because that's just the way your appetite is

and it helps you sleep better to have a smaller meal before you try to go to bed. I don't see any problem with that. What I would recommend to you, and again, this really just depends on where you're at with your supplementation, but if you do take a caffeinated pre-workout super, super late prior to a late training session, I might try to do away with that if that's at all possible. Okay. This question comes from Nancy for Gianna 15 and she asks, what's a good beginner training workout routine? How do I start? So first and foremost, I would refer you to previous episodes of this podcast. Uh, I did one recently called a, it was called

masterclass. Uh, I think it was called Workout Routine Masterclass or some kind of workout masterclass. And what I really liked about this was I went over a variety of different training protocols for a variety of different training schedules. So depending on the number of days you can train train that's going to have a ton to do with the different programming considerations you'll make the different programmings you can choose from so if you're training three days a week you might try this if you're training four days a week you might try that i go over all of that there but assuming you're totally new and you're just getting started i think you have to train enough to form a habit but not so much that

you burn out so i would recommend starting with three resistance training sessions that focus on compound movements done three days a week. And if you can, try to do those like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. So you have a day in between to recover. You're not battling excessive soreness, and you can build up from there. Another thing that you'll probably want to consider is just how long these sessions are going to be. And I think when you're newer, shorter sessions can be really productive. So anything from 30 to like 90 minutes is probably more than enough if you're just getting started.

And I have found that the sweet spot for most clients is between 45 and 60 minutes. And focusing on compound movements, so movements that use a lot of muscle groups. So squats, hinges like deadlifts, lunges, rows, presses, things where you can really build intramuscular coordination, meaning the coordination between all of your muscles working together or many of your muscles working in concert. That's really good for just building general competency in the gym and creating a good foundation of athletic capability for years of training ahead. All right, this question comes from mdscn.bbla. I suffer from low back pain. Should I use a brace even though I'm not really lifting heavy? Okay, so first let's talk about low back pain.

That's something that you should, much like elbow pain, get diagnosed because there are a multitude of things that can cause low back pain. And there's also something called nonspecific low back pain, where it's hard to actually delineate what is causing the pain. And pain is multifactorial. It's something, it falls into a model that we can call biopsychosocial, meaning our pain is influenced by our biology, our psychology, and our social experience or our expectations. So to try to decide how you might approach your training with your back pain is going to be very specific to you and your back

pain. And I don't think that a brace is going to necessarily be the right answer. Can a back brace be beneficial? Sure. Can a lifting brace be beneficial? Sure. Can a lifting belt be beneficial? Sure. If you're not lifting particularly heavy or you're not doing a lot of barbell lifts, you might not need a belt, but that doesn't necessarily disqualify a back brace from being a good idea. But until you know the root cause of your back pain, you have no idea what you're really doing to that tissue or whatever, right? So what I might recommend is do movements that don't cause pain, hold off on the back brace until it's recommended by a professional, and try to get in to see a professional, like a physical therapist would

be ideal. Or even in an instance like this, you might rely on somebody like a chiropractor. Okay, last question comes from at Jess with a G. She says, I've got a broken foot. Can I still get good glute gains? I can only do hip thrusts, good mornings and cables. So yeah, I do think you could get good glute gains. I think that the hip thrust is a good glute exercise. I think that the good morning is a good glute exercise. I think that some of the cable work you might be doing like cable hip abductions might be a good exercise. I think that some of the cable work you might be doing, like cable hip abductions, might be a good exercise. I'm imagining squats are off the table, of course. With a broken foot, that'd be quite hard. Walking lunges are a no-go, for sure. Split squats, probably a no-go as well.

Something that I might recommend trying would be a 45 degree hip extension, because a lot of that is going to be loading the hip and your feet are in a pretty still position and there's not a lot of axial loading, if any at all there. So that might not put a lot of compression on the foot, which would probably be a nice one to add into the mix to get a little more variety. You absolutely can still get good glute gains,

but you probably won't get optimal glute gains until that foot is fully healed and you can start incorporating some other movements, but I wouldn't get too discouraged. There's plenty of ways to train through injuries and stay productive. All right, guys, that does it for today's relatively quick episode. I want to thank you for listening and for engaging with me on my various platforms. If you'd like to help me reach more people and help the show grow, it'd be greatly appreciated if you left me a five-star rating and review on either iTunes or Spotify, wherever you listen to the podcast, where views are one of the best ways to help me grow and reach more people. Thank you so much for tuning in,

and I will catch you on the next one.