Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 305: Calf Training, How I Eat in a Week, How Many Exercises to Do + MORE!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome in everybody to another episode of the dynamic dialogue podcast. This is episode 305 of your favorite fitness performance health and productivity podcast. In this episode, we are going to talk about the best exercises for developing the calf and lower leg for cultivating strength, muscle mass, stability, and a well-functioning ankle. This is something that way too many people neglect. And even if you don't want to get jacked in huge calves, having strong mobile ankles is valuable. Another discussion about what I eat in a week, what I eat in a day and what I eat in a week seems to be a very popular question, but will be it on Instagram or be it on the pod. And what I'm going to do today is give you some weekly eating concepts as well as kind of an overview of how I eat. We'll talk a little bit about motivation and what you need to do on days that you just don't

Starting point is 00:01:01 want to do the thing. The total number of exercises you should do on a given day to optimize growth in a specific body part, and how I go about managing calories and what I would recommend for anybody who's simply looking to maintain. Okay, folks, thank you so much for tuning in. We will get right into the questions. This podcast has some awesome partners. And one of my favorite, of course, is Legion Athletics. Legion is my go-to supplement manufacturer for what I like to call my big rock supplements. This would be my protein powder, my pre-training formula, my post-training formula and creatine, and my kind of ancillary vitamins and micronutrient protection. So why do

Starting point is 00:01:46 I like Legion so much? What sets them apart? It's quite simple. Legion uses all natural ingredients. All the formulas include natural coloring and natural sweeteners, no artificial sweeteners, just stevia. And every single formulation, be it a pre-workout or a vitamin contains clinically effective dosages of ingredients shown to work in humans in clinical research supported by robust trials. No filler, just legit ingredients in each and every formulation proven to work. The whey protein isolate is so light. It's fantastic. It mixes in water. It tastes amazing. And I drink it every day, even as somebody who's lactose intolerant. That's just how high quality this whey protein is. And it's sourced from Irish dairy cows that

Starting point is 00:02:29 are raised well, eat their natural diet and packaged in climate friendly packaging. I love their plant protein too. For those of you who like something that's a little on the thicker side, and you aren't a fan of animal products. Also, I love Legion's pre-workout, but specifically the pre-workout that does not contain caffeine. That would be their Stem Free Pulse. I'm a huge, huge fan of beta alanine and L-citrulline, but I don't like taking in wildly high amounts of caffeine. So if you are somebody who likes pre-workout with caffeine, you can try Pulse. Or if you like it without caffeine because you maybe want to enjoy your morning coffee or monitor your caffeine consumption, try the Pulse Stim Free. My favorite flavors there for sure are the New Grape and the amazing, amazing Tropical Punch.

Starting point is 00:03:14 As for my creatine, I get that from Legion's Recharge. Five grams each and every day. I take it on the days I train as well as the days I do not because Recharge also contains L-carnitine, which can help with promoting muscle recovery and decreasing soreness, as well as the taste I do not because Recharge also contains L-carnitine, which can help with promoting muscle recovery and decreasing soreness, as well as some ingredients to help with creatine utilization. And of course, my favorite supplements for my ancillary micronutrient health are Legion's Multivitamin and Legion's Greens Powder. Not only do these two products contain a ton of high-quality vitamins and minerals, they also contain unique adaptogens like KSM 66 ashwagandha and reishi mushroom, which I like to take each and every day to promote my health. If you want to cover all your bases with a high quality protein, creatine post-workout or the ancillary micronutrient health

Starting point is 00:04:00 stuff like greens, powders, and multivitamin, I encourage you to go over to legionathletics.com and check out using the promo code Danny. That'll save you 20% on your first order and you'll rack up points that you can use the same way as cash every time you use the code and you'll also be supporting the show. So this first question comes from Holtquits underscore photography. um, hold quits underscore photography. And the question is the best exercises to get better calves. He also adds that he's 66 years old and he has a runner. Okay. So whether you were a runner, a bodybuilder, a basketball player, some type of athlete, it is definitely a good idea to place a considerable emphasis on developing the stability and mobility that you need at each joint. This will help you age well, this will help you stay strong, and this will help you stay mobile. So from top down, let's start with the shoulder. The shoulder is a very mobile joint, okay? A very mobile joint. So we must maintain mobility. The

Starting point is 00:05:07 thoracic spine needs to be a mobile joint. So we need to maintain rotational capacity there. The lumbar spine needs to be a little bit more rigid. The hips need to be a little bit more mobile. The knee needs to be a little bit more rigid, right? Just like the knee, so does the elbow. You need mobility at the wrist and ankle. So there's kind of a stacking effect. And one of the more common joints that is less mobile than I would like it to be for movement and athletic function is the ankle. So the ankle is mostly influenced by the movement and contraction of the tibialis anterior, the gastrocnemius, and the soleus. The gastrocnemius and the soleus are the two muscles that make up the calves. Just like the quads are four muscles, the hamstrings

Starting point is 00:05:51 are three muscles, technically four. The biceps are two, the triceps are three, the calves are two. The soleus and the gastrocnemius. The soleus is a plate-like muscle right on the back of the tibia. The gastrocnemius is a two-headed muscle right on top of the soleus. And the tibialis is a long kind of sheath-like muscle that runs up the shin. Having strength in all three of these muscles is important. This question has a caveat that it's coming from a runner. So anybody who's a runner or who has run is very familiar with the tibialis anterior because when that muscle gets tired, when that muscle gets fatigued,

Starting point is 00:06:30 when that muscle gets DOMS, we get something called shin splints, which many of you have experienced. It's not a fun thing. So to have a functional ankle, which is important for building strong and big calves, you need to first have strength in the tibialis, the soleus, and the gastrocnemius. You need good mobility. To develop the calf, which is a primarily slow twitch muscle fiber, that's the composition of this tissue for most people, which makes sense. It's a muscle that we use a lot in gait. It would potentially have evolved to be highly beneficial for this muscle to be able to, you know, contract for long periods of time without getting exhausted. I think to grow a muscle like that, higher repetition ranges,

Starting point is 00:07:20 moderately high volumes in a good amount of frequency can be really helpful. So typically before I do any leg training, any lower body training, I actually warm up my ankles with some calf and tibialis work. A few sets of tibialis raises and a few sets of loaded calf raises before your leg training will create better mobility at the joint by virtue of moving it. And if you train your calves hard enough, close to failure, I like between 15 and 20 repetitions. Sometimes I will do a set of one minute of calf raises seated to hit the soleus, standing to hit the gastrocnemius. That will grow your calves. The problem with people who have, or I don't want to say the problem with people, but the problem many people make when looking to grow their calves. And I mean, this

Starting point is 00:08:09 makes sense, right? Who hasn't, who hasn't made mistakes in a muscle building journey at some point. The problem that a lot of these people make is they simply don't prioritize calf training the way they do other muscles. When somebody wants to grow their chest, they go in and they hit their chest right away and they hit it with a ton of volume. When somebody wants to own or somebody wants to really crush calves and develop a huge, awesome, badass set of calves, they still pretty much always do just calves at the end of their leg day, which is kind of not how you're supposed to attack any muscle that you want to grow. It's pretty damn clear, folks. If you want to grow a muscle, it is absolutely and undeniably in your best interest to focus on the priority principle.

Starting point is 00:09:10 This is the principle that states a muscle that you would like to grow ought to be trained very hard with a good amount of volume and a good emphasis on contraction, on technique, on form. Okay. All of these things really, really matter. And you're not going to be able to do that. You're not going to be able to focus on form and technique and proximity to failure. If you lackadaisically hit a muscle for two sets on your way out the door. And I see this happening way too much, folks. I really, really do. It's frustrating because I know that a lot of you are well-intentioned, but if you have a muscle you want to grow or develop or an athletic trait or a skill outside of the gym that you want to grow and develop, don't only approach it and make time

Starting point is 00:10:05 for it when you're already exhausted. Okay. Next question comes from Olivia Marie. And the question is, can you share a typical eat, uh, eating week? Can you share a typical what you eat in a week? Okay. Got it. So we'll start by saying what I typically shop for and the foods I typically bring into the house. So I always buy a lot of protein about once a month. I'll go to Costco and load up on frozen fish, some chicken breast cutlets. A lot of times those are called tenders, high quality sources of protein, eggs, yogurt. I load the fridge with these things. I also keep a lot of my favorite carbohydrate sources on kind of a standby. Potatoes, breads and grains and rices. And I've always got a lot

Starting point is 00:10:55 of fruit around the house. During the summer, it's pretty much peaches, nectarines, apples, and berries. That's what I have around the house. So that's what I typically will snack on, graze on, and make meals out of every single day of the week. And probably have a protein shake. I have two scoops of Legion's Whey Plus. I had a day where I didn't have a protein shake for the first time in probably like two months, just the other day. So it's pretty common almost every day. And the reason I do that is because I like to start my day with protein and water. So a big protein shake in the morning helps me get ahead on protein and helps me get ahead on water, which are really important for being an athlete, for maintaining lean body composition and for, you know, balancing and approaching health the

Starting point is 00:11:40 way that I want to do it. Having that gives me a lot of freedom in the evening. So it's like, you know, I have this one meal every morning, every day of the week. That's really easy. It's always my first meal. By the time I'm ready for lunch, pretty much anything's on the table. If I'm at the studio or if I'm busy, I can go out to lunch. If I'm at home, I can prepare something with all these foods. If I go out to lunch, I have something for dinner. And if I cook lunch, I often will, or if I cook dinner, I will often go out for lunch. So I give myself flexibility for at least one meal a day. One thing I like to focus on during the week that I don't hear a lot of people talk about that I think might be of value to you guys is considering the benefit of including variety in your diet. Meaning every day you can't fit in

Starting point is 00:12:29 every fruit and vegetable, but over the course of a week, can you include four to five different fruits, four to five different vegetables, two to three different sources of grains. Doing this and promoting variety in your diet is a great way, much like buying stocks from multiple companies instead of just one, to diversify, quote unquote diversify, and increase your exposure to different nutrients. So just like you diversify a portfolio, it might not be a bad idea to diversify your eating, your exposure to different nutrients. That's how we do it. You probably should eat a lot of the same things most days, meaning like maybe for breakfast, you have a lot of protein and a lot of water with some fiber and some fruit. And for lunch, you have a good amount of protein on some,

Starting point is 00:13:24 you know, with a carbohydrate on the side with some healthy fats. And for lunch, you have a good amount of protein on some, you know, with a carbohydrate on the side with some healthy fats. And for dinner, you have a little freedom, but just rotate different things in and out across the week. Don't always have the same fruit. Don't always use the same protein sources. It is great to have a lot of consistency. And if you're dieting and looking to lose fat, sometimes choice can be, or having too many choices, I should say, can actually be a detriment. But for the promotion of health, sustainability, and the maintenance of one's weight, I think being a little bit more flexible with what you eat across the week, focusing on macros, focusing on total volume, and putting an emphasis on variety can be a great way to promote health. All right. Question from Mark L1.

Starting point is 00:14:06 Do you ever have days where you don't want to work out and just say, fuck it? Quite a bit of the days where I don't want to work out and just say, fuck it, especially lately. You know, I've been doing this now for 10 years. And for 10, I've been working out for longer than that, but for 10 years I've been working professionally as a trainer. And every year I get a little bit less motivated and a little bit less inspired to train. And I don't know if that's because I've just accumulated so many hours of helping other people do the thing that when it comes time for me to do

Starting point is 00:14:42 the thing, I'm like, I've been talking about this nonstop. You know, I don't want to do this right now. I'm kind of burnt out on this in the theoretical lens of like, I've been talking about it and discussing it with people all day. I'm not ready to go do it. I feel like I've done it, but I haven't done it kind of thing. So my desire to train is actually pretty low most days, but my commitment and my understanding of the benefit are so high. I can't in good conscious actually avoid it. It's insane to not train. Knowing the benefits that I know, knowing the unique way that it affects my body personally, my specific body, not your body,

Starting point is 00:15:28 my body. Everybody's body's different. Most people respond really well to exercise. I am one of those people. I know how much better I do when I'm exercising. I bet you do too. Those things add up and they really just kind of overcome the fuck it mode. What's going on guys? Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company, core coaching method, more specifically our app based training. We partnered with train heroic to bring app based training to you using the best technology and best user interface possible. You can join either my home heroes team, or you can train from home with bands and dumbbells or elite physique, which is a female bodybuilding focused program where you can train

Starting point is 00:16:10 at the gym with equipments designed specifically to help you develop strength as well as the glutes, hamstrings, quads, and back. I have more teams coming plan for a variety of different fitness levels. But what's cool about this is when you join these programs, you get programming that's updated every single week, the sets to do, the reps to do, exercise tutorials filmed by me with me and my team. So you'll get my exact coaching expertise as to how to perform the movement, whether you're training at home or you're training in the gym. And again, these teams are somewhat specific.

Starting point is 00:16:40 So you'll find other members of those communities looking to pursue similar goals at similar fitness levels. You can chat, ask questions, upload form for form review, ask for substitutions. It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the core coaching collective, my app-based training community. Back to the show. The desire I have to live a good life, to be optimized as a business person, as a partner, as a family member, as a business owner, as a boss, as a leader, as a podcast host, as a dog vet, you name it. Every little tiny role I occupy in my life is improved by exercise. Every single role I occupy

Starting point is 00:17:29 in my life is improved by exercise. I want you to think about that for a second. That's pretty cool. It's pretty damn cool to know that no matter what you do, no matter who you are, no matter what the hell's on your calendar, exercise is probably going to make it better. The I don't want to go days, the fuck it days, the I'm not feeling it days, those are so much more common than the I'm jacked, I'm excited, I'm ready to go, I can't wait to get to the gym days. So if you can't get to a place where you normalize the lack of desire to go and train with intensity and still push through, you're probably missing out on something. And I've said this on the podcast before, working out is a great microcosm for life. Little things add up in the gym, little things add up in life. You work hard,

Starting point is 00:18:21 you get good results in the gym. You work hard, you get good results. In the gym, you work hard, you get good results in life. You find a training partner to elevate you who's a little bit ahead of where you're at. You get ahead in a gym, you find a mentor who's a little bit ahead of you to help move you along, you get ahead in life. There are so many parallels. And what I love about the days that I say, fuck it, and I wake up and I still train. Those have the ability that when something that isn't as beneficial as a consistent workout routine, maybe it's going to the DMV. Maybe it's going in for a checkup. Maybe it's having a hard conversation with a partner. Maybe it's saying, I'm not going to spend money on this thing that I want. I'm going to save it. I'm going to

Starting point is 00:19:04 practice prudence and thoughtfulness and frugality. I'm going to hold onto want. I'm going to save it. I'm going to practice prudence and thoughtfulness and frugality. I'm going to hold onto this. I'm not going to be impulsive and I'm going to save it for something I want. There are so many ways that a regular exercise routine and overcoming not wanting to do something puts you in a position to improve your position in life in a way that you would never expect working out to be able to impact. We think of fitness as just lifting stuff up and putting stuff down. And it is so much more complex than that, folks. There are so many more nuanced and, you know, unbelievable things that come out of a fitness routine than just getting lean and skinny and just getting some muscles. And the biggest one is probably being able to push through

Starting point is 00:19:53 tough things. And a piece of advice I give a lot of people for the days that you're not interested in working out, it doesn't seem very palatable. Maybe it's the last thing on your list. Just go do the warmup. Okay. Start slow and just go do the warmup. Okay. This question is from whole stove of V. And the question is, is doing eight exercises on a leg day too much? So this is a yes, no answer. Yes. If you are doing squats, deadlifts, leg press, split squats, Romanian deadlifts, hip thrusts, walking lunges. Okay. If you are doing nothing but high volume compounds, if you can get through eight of them, three to four sets each, there's no way you're training hard. There's just not. I have yet to meet somebody who has high output on multiple compounds that can do more than like two or three. In elite physique,

Starting point is 00:20:58 in female physique, one and two, the eBooks I've written in pretty much every female program I've written the last 10 years, two to three compounds done hard, executed with intensity is probably all you need. You can push it up to four if you dial back the total volume, but for the most part, folks, you don't need to do eight exercises. You might need to do eight exercises a week for legs. You know, they say between 10 to 20 sets. If you're doing 20 sets hard, you're going to crush it. And that might be 20 sets of hard compounds with some occasional isolation work, some warmup work. This does not count any of your prep work.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Any of your warmup work doesn't count your first warmup set. I'm talking about hardworking sets. I don't think you need eight. And I think with legs in particular, what you have to keep in mind is because legs are such large muscles and they require a huge activation effect from the central nervous system, right? To put a bunch of weight on a bar and deadlift it, to put a bunch of weight on a bar and squat it takes a considerable amount of energy from your brain of all places. And, you know, I think it probably is in your best interest to ask yourself,

Starting point is 00:22:13 what are the three or four exercises I can do with amazing output and maybe two or three to support it? So, you know, I, at the most seven with only four of them being really high output and a couple of them being accessory, I would say just four to six. That's probably where I would want you. And this is true for the chest, the back, the shoulders. Uh, you know, the thing with legs is there are a lot more exercises to choose from with, with the exception of maybe back because back has so many different muscles. Um, and yeah, if you're like, I did two sets, I did hip thrusts and split squats, and then I did leg extensions and hamstring curls. And then I did hip abduction work and then I did calves and then I did soleus. I'd be like, okay, that's a lot different than just doing like eight glute only exercises, which is typically what I see. So I would, I would avoid doing eight

Starting point is 00:23:10 exercises that directly load the legs and compound fashion. And instead think what are the three to four that I can give a really high output and attention to not lose form and progress over time. Once you've identified those, do those for four to eight weeks consistently. Don't change a thing. Look to find improvements. And I bet you make better results than just doing eight exercises that by the fifth one, you're half-assing everything. Okay. This question is from Mary underscore Elizabeth underscore Anderson. The question is, do you track your calories and macros daily, even when you're maintaining? I don't. I tracked macros for about a decade,

Starting point is 00:23:51 closer to eight years on and off with multiple periods, doing it meticulously for every meal. So I have a really good idea of what's in what. In fact, my fiance and I are preparing for the wedding in October, and she has been tracking her macros very diligently. I'm so impressed with her. She comes from a family where that kind of behavior is not typical, and food is a very social thing. So to see her being mindful and thoughtful of her portions of her macros in pretty much every context, including the hard ones, thoughtful of her portions of her macros in pretty much every context, including the hard ones, the social ones. I'm super impressed. But the reason she has to do this and I don't is because I did it a very long time ago for very, very, very many days in a row to the point where

Starting point is 00:24:37 I can be about 80 to 90% accurate tracking in my head. I understand. Oh, excuse me. It's I'm recording right now. It's 6 0 5 AM on the West coast. I, um, I understand that that is probably a little bit like when I hear that, I feel sick. It might be a little bit of an overcomplicate overconfident assertion. If a client said, Oh, I'm 80 to 90% accurate on my calories just by tracking in my head, I'd be like, bitch, stop it. You're lying. Because most people are not accurate without actually using a food scale and an app. But I am pretty much at this point, I'm only tracking my protein intake because I eat a pretty high carb diet, which I like for my fitness goals. I know I eat a lot of carbs. Fat is usually kind of in the mix between 50 to 80 grams a day, which I like for my fitness goals. I know I eat a lot of carbs. Fat is usually kind of in the

Starting point is 00:25:26 mix between 50 to 80 grams a day, which I love. I always try to get two to three servings of fruit, which is easy to count. Now, if you want to achieve a new level of leanness, if you want to optimize your training, if you want to take it to the next level in anything that you do, tracking is going to help, especially in fitness. So if you're not interested in maintaining and you are interested in optimizing, a little bit of tracking goes a long way. But because I'm in like perma maintenance in that I'm pretty happy with my physique, I'm not rushing to add more muscle. I'm not rushing to get lean. I don't track all the time. Every once in a while, I'll track track for a day just to see what that day

Starting point is 00:26:08 looked like or where I'm at writ large. And it usually comes out to about the same. I eat between 2,800 and 3,200 calories with almost 200 grams of protein every single day. But I would recommend most of you spend time tracking so that you can learn what foods contain what calories and macros. Okay, folks, thank you so much for tuning into the show. I hope you enjoyed the episode. A big favor I have to ask of you is to leave a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more people find the show and I want to help connect as many people with fitness as I can before I die. That's literally my goal. So I could use your help in making that goal possible by leaving a review or sharing their show on your Instagram story. Be sure to tag me so I can say thanks. And thank

Starting point is 00:26:54 you so much for tuning into this episode. I'll catch you on the next one. you

Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 305: Calf Training, How I Eat in a Week, How Many Exercises to Do + MORE!

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