Mark Bell's Power Project - How To Unlock Freakish Flexibility and Mobility - Elastaboy || MBPP Ep. 1064

Episode Date: May 6, 2024

In episode 1064, Jake Blundell aka Elastaboy, Alfie Robertson, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about how you can gain freakish flexibility and mobility through stretching. Follow Elastaboy on IG: https://www.instagram.com/elastaboy/ Follow Alfie on IG: https://www.instagram.com/alfiegetshard/   Official Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below!   🍆  Natural Sexual Performance Booster 🍆 ➢https://usejoymode.com/discount/POWERPROJECT Use code: POWERPROJECT to save 20% off your order!   🚨 The Best Red Light Therapy Devices and Blue Blocking Glasses On The Market! 😎 ➢https://emr-tek.com/ Use code: POWERPROJECT to save 20% off your order!   👟 BEST LOOKING AND FUNCTIONING BAREFOOT SHOES 🦶 ➢https://vivobarefoot.com/powerproject   🥩 HIGH QUALITY PROTEIN! 🍖 ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save up to 25% off your Build a Box ➢ Piedmontese Beef: https://www.CPBeef.com/ Use Code POWER at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $150   🩸 Get your BLOODWORK Done! 🩸 ➢ https://marekhealth.com/PowerProject to receive 10% off our Panel, Check Up Panel or any custom panel, and use code POWERPROJECT for 10% off any lab!   Sleep Better and TAPE YOUR MOUTH (Comfortable Mouth Tape) 🤐 ➢ https://hostagetape.com/powerproject to receive a year supply of Hostage Tape and Nose Strips for less than $1 a night!   🥶 The Best Cold Plunge Money Can Buy 🥶 ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   Self Explanatory 🍆 ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained:      ➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!   Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ https://www.PowerProject.live ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject   FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢https://www.tiktok.com/@marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell   Follow Nsima Inyang ➢ UNTAPPED Program - https://shor.by/untapped ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en   Follow Andrew Zaragoza & Get Podcast Guides, Courses and More ➢ https://pursuepodcasting.com/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

What percentage of someone's capacity should they be at when they're stretching? You don't want to be too comfortable, but you want to be slightly uncomfortable where your body's, you know, creating change. Just little things like that through the day, like microdosing that mobility is so effective. Like it just compounds over time and you can do it anywhere. Tight lower back or lower back pain is extremely common. How do you address that? Yeah, obviously you're not going to jump straight into a Jefferson curl. Like you're going to start body weight. And even if you can't do like body weight Jefferson curl,

there's another way you can regress it. What are some things you think people should pay attention to as they're trying to get more flexible? I think the biggest thing for me is just slow progression. I think the mobility side, like you've got to approach it like strength training. The reality is like when you start treating it like that and being like, okay, let's regress the movement, let's build up. And like your progressive overload is moving to the next stretch and like holding it for longer periods, maybe adding weight. If you guys have been enjoying the content we've been bringing here on The Power Project, consider leaving us a review on Spotify and Apple. We've had podcasts with people from Functional Patterns to Ben Patrick to Jack Cruz who roasted us on air. But we did that for you to bring you some of the best information in fitness.

We're learning along with you and leaving a review with how you dig the podcast is really going to be something that helps the podcast move forward. So if you can, leave us a review there and enjoy the rest of the show. They were fucking there, bro. No way.

That's sick. It's a hell of a UFC to have gone to, man. Yeah, first time to Vegas really yeah you had a good first time there were some good highlights from the breakfast buffet

the next day too but we won't pull those up keep that under wraps yeah the one thing I couldn't understand in Vegas was people being able to smoke inside oh that was not yep so weird why is that how how is that still a thing i know yeah just casinos and

just people just smoking it was wild well if you're gonna give away all your money you might as well die slow or die faster you know yeah it was funny at the airport they had like a blocked-in room where you could smoke and play the slaps like as you're leaving the airport. It's like the slot machines and smoking all just condensed into a bubble of like lung cancer. Did you guys enjoy it? We're here, we might as well, right? Yeah, we were talking and now we're not.

It was interesting to see for sure i feel like either you go one way you go like yep i'm going all in i'm in vegas or there's like a disassociation with the whole place which is more outside but we just couldn't believe it and uh you've never been here to the united states before right no i only flow flown through it so that was your first introduction and you got to go to ufc 300 that's pretty cool good way to start for sure yeah no it was awesome it was seriously such a cool experience yeah it seemed like a long event because they like booked so many fights were you guys there for like six hours or something like that probably five yeah we we got there at like 5 30 and then left at like 11 i think so yeah good

amount of time but they do like just pack the fights back to back. There's not much waiting around, which is good. That was insane. Yeah, the Max Holloway knockout. Literally insane. There was what, like two seconds left or something? One second. One second left.

One on the clock. He literally just pointed at him and said, come to the middle of the ring. Let's get it on. So I didn't even watch the fight. So was Holloway winning at that point? It seemed like the other guy was winning.

I didn't think Holloway would have won on decision. Oh, shit. Really? Yeah. It seemed like he got knocked down by a couple punches. He got knocked out. Just last one second. He was down for a minute

after the fight. So I kind of wonder too, like I mean he got dropped hard, you know. But I wonder if Justin Gaethje, if he just even was able to roll over and like be conscious and halfway get up or look like he's going to defend himself. But I think they waived the fight almost like immediately after he got – Oh, he was out for sure. Yeah. There was no way. Right.

No way. Zero chance he could defend himself or anything. Oh, go ahead. I was going to say, Gaethje should have just stepped back and just let it roll out. Right. Yeah. But he called him out. Yeah.

Are you a man? Come here. Fuck. Get out of here. You got to give some credit to Justin Gaethje, though. It's for the BMF title you know it's for the

bad motherfucker championship so yeah it's uh you know it's not not some cupcake

title that they're after and even though what he did you could look at it as being foolish I mean that's these guys are in this game

to like be a legend you know so I think they're just like well they know they're in the land of entertainment right right yeah

it's not very entertaining sitting back and letting that go to decision. Yeah, I'm just like... That'll be a talked about fight for a long time. Yeah. Yeah, it took the two of them, right? It took the two of them to do that. And then there was the Alex... That was so good.

Alex Perrera. First round, bro. We were getting super tired, so we were grateful it was a first round knockout. Yeah. I think everyone knew which way I was going to go. There wasn't… Just even the walk-ins, the difference. Like, oh my God.

The energy. You would not want to mess with that guy. Oh, yeah. He does the stare down. Like, bow and arrow thing, right? No, no. That was so intimidating. Yeah, no.

This wasn't Israel. But in this fight, Per, if you were watching it, like, the whole time, he was like stone cold. Like, he wasn't batting Um, but in this fight pair, if you're watching it, like the whole time, he was like stone cold. Like he, he, he wasn't batting an eye to anything that was coming his way. And then I don't know if you saw,

there was, um, right before he knocked the dude out, the dude kicked his dick. Yeah. And then he, he waved, he waved her Dean off and then he just slapped him hard.

It was fucked up. I wish you could see a highlight. I did catch this fight. Yeah. Damn it, I can't even think of the fighters' names. But this kick just totally surprised the hell out of him. Yeah. God, dude, my brain's not working today.

But that was a good fight. I did watch that one. Yeah, Oliveira. Oliveira, there you go. He should have just finished him off at the end. Like, he was messing around. I don't know what happened. He had that guillotine early, really, really tight. And I thought that was it, right? He should have just finished him off at the end. Like he was messing around. I don't know what happened.

He had that guillotine early, really, really tight. And I thought that was it, right? Because everybody was dry. Everything looked good. And it was locked in. But he was able to fight right out of it. And then, yeah, I think you're right. He kind of just like started playing a little bit too reserved, I guess I'll say, after that. Because, yeah, I thought he was going to win.

But that didn't work out yeah I think he thought he was ahead because right at the end he had him in like a guillotine or something and he was like sticking his tongue out it was like a Darce or something yeah I had Oliveira to win

and I had him to win by submission so when he chucked his tongue out I was like are you serious just finish him I his tongue out, I was like, are you serious? I got lost as well. I was like, oh, come on, crazy. It's a double blow. It was so cool to see, dude. And McGregor's coming back.

Really? Yeah, he's got a fight booked. Oh, shit. Like how long from now? I'm not sure, actually, but Dana said it on the post-fight press conference that McGregor's fighting again. With Chandler? I think it is. I wonder, because didn't he look mad PED'd out?

He's just back in now? He definitely was. I mean, who knows? Maybe he gained a bunch of muscle. He looks pretty damn big. He looked jacked as hell. He's not training. Yeah, yeah. It's just a training hot nutrition yeah yeah that's all you need it's just a consistent

nutritional and training and you can get jacked do you guys remember have you seen that movie with Zac Efron the new one the wrestling movie

I haven't seen it yet I've seen a lot of trailers that's kind of what McGregor's face looked like I don't know if you yeah yeah it was like fucking P.E.D. face

yeah yeah you got it for sure we love him we love him yeah no it would be entertaining for sure. So we'll, uh, we'll bring up some clips for you guys to, uh, kind of address, uh, in a minute here, but I want to kind of get into some of the backstory of Elastiboy and, um, your friend that you brought here. Um, how did you guys like kind of link up and what's your story? You guys in

business together and how did all some of that work out? Yeah. So I guess it all started, well, we, we're both from New Zealand, so both Kiwis and we kind of went to rival schools and we mutually know each other kind of like a little bit. And then we, we kind of linked up at the gym in Sydney uni in like 2019, I think it was. And then, yeah, we just kind of bonded over the gym and never looked back. And now we're in Bondi, Sydney living together for like five years now. And I only recently started social media about, I started in February last year. Alfie started about six months ago. And yeah, we just kind of started posting every day and built this kind of like online community. just kind of started posting every day and built this kind of like online community. And yeah,

now we, we also released our Pure Body Boys, more nutrition focused page. So yeah, I guess in that terms, we're in business together doing that kind of side of things, which is really fun. Yeah. So that's the short of it. But yeah. Yeah. I saw like a bunch of your videos over the last couple of months and that's kind of why we brought you guys here but one of the things i saw um a couple different things i've seen actually but one in particular uh stood out where you showed before and after and you don't see that very often you don't see a lot of before and after of people and a lot of times when you do see the before and after it's only the person yeah it's only the influencer so it's like the influencer is like here i am you know and 16 weeks later i did this yeah um you're having a lot of other people with uh great testimonials and um from these pictures it looks like they're increasing

their range of motion yeah what are some other things that maybe people are getting from this other than just because we can get into it later on like you know the way that you guys move like is that even um is that even like a goal for some people to be able to move with the range of motion that you guys possess? And is that even a safe thing for someone to go after? But what are some of the things that some of the people that you're helping get better range of motion, what are they also benefiting from? get better range of motion, what are they also benefiting from? So I think when people look at my social media specifically, they see like a lot of moves that maybe they, you know, that's the perceived path seems very long. So what I do is try and scale it back as much as I can so that anyone can be able to access some sort of range of movement

where they can progress from. And that's what I've done. So I built like 30 day challenges at a beginner level. So people can kind of just progress slowly, increase their range of motion and strengthen that range of motion. And yeah, the results have just been speaking for themselves really. Like it's honestly super inspiring. Like the one you had up before of Dylan, that first one, I actually, he approached me in Bondi and he was, he'd seen me on Instagram and he was just like, I could see he was just struggling. He was in pain. Like he was like trying to touch his toes. He was showing me and he was like shaking. He was like in pain, like lower back sore. And I was like, I literally have just launched. I think it was the next day,

my 30 day challenge. I think it'd be really beneficial if you jump on it. And he did. And I saw him two weeks later in, uh, in Bondi again at the, the outdoor gym that we go to. And he was a completely new person. And I couldn't believe I had goosebumps. I was like, wow, like, like his energy was better. Like he, he could, he could put his palms flat on the floor after two weeks. And I was like, wow, this is insane. And is insane and the program is just 15 minutes per day every day for 30 days straight and if you do anything for 15 minutes a day every day for 30 days straight you're gonna see some progress which is awesome and like we have like the whole community and the whatsapp group and everyone's keeping themselves accountable like sending in their progress their daily wins etc etc so it yeah, it's just that community environment,

which helps like with the motivation and staying on track. And, yeah, it was really inspiring, especially seeing it in person because online is one thing. But when you actually see the results with your own eyes, with a client, it's insane. Have either one of you guys gotten hurt doing some of this stuff? Because just like with lifting or just with any other protocol when we're trying to make progress and you overreach a little bit sometimes you can get injured oh absolutely yeah i mean have you i think yeah a lot of it's like injury

prevention i think if you warm up the right way and you sort of progressively build into it i like maybe going for that 300 pound sandbag. That was great. You had no warmup. You just started like trying to pick it up. We were like, I don't think that's going to work. Yeah. I think, yeah,

you sort of got to progress into anything, but when you're sort of pushing it, particularly if you're training a lot and training frequently and on the same patterns, I think there is a risk for injury, injury, but no, not myself.

No. Yeah. I've, I tried to do, I just jumped the gun. Basically i was doing human flags and yeah you just jumped right into those no like i was using bands and stuff but i was just doing it too much i think like it wasn't like a slow build-up um and i yeah i popped my bursar sack in my shoulder and so i just had to you know take it take a step back and and not train up a body for you for the amount of time required

to heal the injury and yeah, now it's fine. I could do a lot of like so much rehab and shoulder strengthening, external rotations, et cetera, et cetera now. So that's something I focus on to stop those injuries from happening in the future. Let me ask you this. What would be some telltale signs

that you think people should pay attention to to know when to back off? Because I know definitely with a lot of the mobility and flexibility stuff, I've tweaked things in the past because I was just like, I'm someone who likes to really try to like dig in because I'm familiar with getting injured. So like, I don't think it's a smart idea by any means to push yourself past those limits. But for a lot of people, especially when it comes to mobility, they push a little bit too hard and they tweak something and then they're like, oh, that's why I'm not going to do this stuff. So what are some things you think people should pay attention to as they're trying to get more flexible? I think the biggest thing for me is just

slow progression. Like I really try and progress as slowly as I can, because I think you get the most longevity out of like the movement or skill or, you know, whatever it may be. So that's something I definitely prioritize is just, you know, taking it step by step and just scaling it back as much as you can to your level and then slowly making it more challenging over, you know, weeks, months, et cetera. That for me has been like a game changer rather than jumping the gun, which I love to do, especially when I was younger. Yeah, just slow progression and then you're going to, you know, stop a lot of those injuries from happening for sure. How about you, Alfie?

What do you think? Yeah, I think similar story like you've got to build into anything. Yeah. I think, yeah, it just takes time. It's easy. I think the mobility side, like you've got to approach it and I think it's something that Jake does really well well is approaching it like strength training which is quite unique i think there's a lot of people that separate them and it's a bit of an afterthought it's like oh cool

down for the session maybe i like stand around go on my phone and like flex a few things to like feel it stretch but the reality is like when you start treating it like that being like okay let's regress the movement let's build up and like your progressive overload is moving to the next stretch and like holding it for longer periods maybe adding weight and that's a lot of it as well as like that strength through length yeah so adding weighted progressions into it um so things like jefferson curls fantastic like hamstring lower back and something that you can progressively add weight to but i think there's a lot of movements that because you don't do them weighted people don't really see that they can progress it any further yeah yeah yeah when you got when you were doing your whatever that move was out in the back there where it looked like

you got run over by a car that split pancake thing that was going on there yeah yeah yeah um when you do a movement like that like uh what percentage of your capacity do you feel that you're at and uh what percentage of someone's do you feel that you're at and uh what percentage of someone's capacity should they be at when they're stretching in general like so for like strength training we can say you know and sema can say hey you know try these uh stiff leg deadlifts and try them you know at 70 percent of your you know one rep max or something and i have a decent idea of like the appropriate weight yeah do you kind of have a similar idea in your head with some stuff where you're like, Ooh, that's like at 90, 95, I should, I need to probably back away from that. A hundred percent. So anything you can

perform without pain, I would say go for it. Um, and then it's just like, you, you kind of, you don't want to be too comfortable, but you want to be slightly uncomfortable where your body's, you know, creating change. So as long as you're not feeling pain, but it's uncomfortable, but you can kind of get through it. Um, that's where I would say the sweet spot is for, for gaining that flexibility and length and strength. Yeah. So I kind of base it off a little bit of feeling and then, yeah. Similar to like a pretty good, like massage, right? Like somebody's hitting like a spot and the spot is uncomfortable, but you're not like, it's not like you're out of breath

and you can't deal with it. Yeah. So you can tolerate it and it's, you know, it's uncomfortable, but you can get through it and then you can kind of, you know, over time you see that progression. Yeah. Is there any type of breathing that you guys try to practice or try to teach?

Yeah, I think a lot of like long inhales exhales like you are sort of trying to breathe through the pain i think that's probably one of the biggest differences compared to maybe like power lifting some of those other more explosive sports i think naturally humans are quite explosive movers we get that concept in our head like we're like you need to produce power we understand that concept but with stretching and mobility it's like a long drawn out pain i think we're less developed and sort of enduring that like if you were to say like do i don't know three reps with like max power we're like okay we can like undertake that in our brain and assess that and apply that whereas if you say like a 60 second hold in your best like front splits position that's like a long enduring pain yeah so yeah i think

it's just like changing that mindset and one way to do that is addressing breath and focusing on your breath and breathing through the pain like a deep massage as well what about something like hypermobility we hear people reference that and say that somebody is too like sinewy somebody's too bendy too stretchy and that there may be more susceptible to injury. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think that's definitely a possibility. Like if you don't have strength in your range of motion, you're definitely more likely to get injured.

So that's something like I prioritize, like weighted stretching, super important for me. Like your ATG split squads, your like full depth pistols, like all that kind of stuff is just helping strength strengthen that like end range of motion so that you can prevent those injuries from happening but yeah i think there's definitely some some people out there who are hyper mobile that may not even realize and then they get into like a funky position and they might tweak something um just because i guess they're not their body's not prepared to take that load

in that extended position so yeah i do think that's not some their body's not prepared to take that load in that extended position. So, yeah. I do think that's what some people miss about what you guys do because you guys aren't just getting to these positions. You're also extremely, you're very muscular. You have a good amount of muscle tissue. You can tell that you, either whether it's purely through calisthenics or whether you're adding weights to those movements, like you're accessing those range of where those that range of motion with a level of control whereas a lot of people who are hyper mobile they'll get there and it's like they could easily fuck something up because they don't have strength in those positions exactly so when you're getting these positions do you do you prioritize also having the ability to

get in and out of those positions safely a A hundred percent. Yeah. Like pretty much everything we do is with control. We do some explosive stuff, but most of it's going to be like a controller centric, maybe even a pause. And then yeah, a controlled concentric as well. So yeah, as much control as we can. And that's just like going to stop those injuries from happening as well.

How do you coach that? Because like, I those injuries from happening as well how do you coach that because like i feel like if um like for me like obviously just like not training for a very long time period like i don't necessarily know where that 90 80 percent is let alone for something like a stretch or like a movement or a position so when you're looking at somebody is there some like tail signs that you're like oh dude you need to regress that movement by like you know 50 or whatever you're going way too hard it's not supposed to hurt you're supposed it's supposed to be like rejuvenating right now so like is there anything you can see like maybe body shaking or something like that yeah absolutely like i think if you yeah you can kind of see like it's pretty obvious when someone's

like in pain and like their forms off i don back's rounded, whatever, they're in a funky position. You can kind of be like, okay, yeah, you need to take a step back, kind of reassess, take your ego out of it, and then scale the movement back to your level and then slowly progress from there. Yeah. I can sometimes like, cause I know with like, I know Mark will do this a lot, but he'll like counterbalance stuff like for like to get into a deeper squat, he'll actually use more weight than like you would imagine. Cause you're like, oh, I want to get down into a squat. Let me use no weight. But he's like, no, put some weight on there. You actually be able to crunch down even further.

Do you guys utilize any tools like that to help people get into better positions? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I think counterbalancing is a great way to get into a, like a deeper position using the weight to kind of assist you to get a bit lower and access that range that you may not be able to with your own body weight. I think, yeah, fantastic tool to, to increase your range of motion, slant boards and stuff like that too. Yeah. Slant boards are great. Like so many tools you can do. Yeah. You can use. Yeah. It seems like you guys are, you love stretching so much that you're kind of doing

it throughout the day yeah microdosing and you were mentioning uh the way that jake was stretching on the plane yeah yeah yeah his legs inappropriate maybe yeah air hostess didn't love it yeah they weren't too happy wait what happened in the plane we're at the front of the plane he's got his legs like this on the way like on the wall at the front like sort of in he's got his legs like this. On the wall at the front? Sort of in a V shape. Like a leg press? Pretty much. Leg split.

Yeah, a little pancake. You're like, you don't understand. I want my hip flexors to get tight. Yeah, I don't get it. But yeah, just little things like that through the day, like microdosing that mobility is so effective. Like it just compounds over time and you can do it anywhere like yeah like even what we're doing right now on these on these little calf boards it's just microdosing that those little just those little

things yeah just make such a big difference alpha you picked up the 250 pound sandbag out there that was pretty damn impressive yeah i'm keen to tackle the 300 i reckon after the pod once we get a bit warm you know and your ladies had an awesome night. You got dinner or you just came back from the gym and it's time for that fun time. But you look down at your willy and well, it's not working the way it should. Where's that blood flow?

Well, that's where Joy Mode comes in. And I can read you these ingredients right off the bat because they're all natural ingredients. L-citrulline, arginine nitrate, panox ginseng root, and vitamin C. The thing about Joy Mode is you just slip this baby into a little bit of water, drink it, and 45 minutes later, when you're getting ready to go to the pound town, you will be ready to rock. And you know what I mean by rock. Joy Mode's really awesome because there's a lot of things that people promote as far as sexual wellness tools, but there's a lot of weird ingredients in there. These are all natural ingredients that's going to help your own production of blood flow. Stick it in some water. 60 minutes later, you're going to be able to stick it into something else. Joy Mode's your way to go. Andrew, how can they get it?

Yes, that's over at usejoymode.com slash powerproject. And at checkout, enter promo code powerproject to save 20% off your entire order. Again, usejoymode.com slash powerproject, promo code powerproject. Links in the description as well as the podcast show notes. You guys obviously like to get after it strength training-wise. You can't just pick up a 250 out of nowhere. What's your strength training look like? Yeah, so strength training is like we basically run a split where it's full body pull so like full posterior chain

full body push so for anterior train and then we do a mobility and core compression repeat the first two days and then mobility and arms so we're sort of mixing it in but each movement we fix like very full body like strength through length so a lot of like ATG split squats we do a lot of pistol sissy squats couch stretch yeah instead of bench we're probably doing more like dips or ring dips what was that weird squat you were showing in SEMA

oh that dragon squat that's what put this man on the map yeah that's what started it all for me honestly yeah the dragon squat that was yeah about a three month road got me there yeah what was that guy that we we uh were following that does a really wild dragon the jeans the asian dude yeah i think so he does some really wild i think i'm saying right you know what i'm talking about right yeah i think so is he trying in his like sort of

underground garage and like just backflips. Maybe he could do backflips. Shit. He's always wearing like a flannel and some jeans. His movements are just wild. He moves really well. Yeah. He moves really well. Some of those people out there are just not different level. So it took you a while to build up to that.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Like, again, I just started, you know, I started elevated with the band. Like my mobility was probably like pretty much there. I think the strength with the band. My mobility was probably pretty much there. I think the strength component was lacking. So yeah, you just regress the movement to your level and then slowly progress. Were you like, to figure out that you're Elastiboy,

were you like in school and someone tried to beat you up and then you realized that your limbs are indestructible? How did you kind of recognize that you could maybe move a little differently than other people? I think I realized probably a year and a half, two years ago, honestly. So fairly recently. You didn't really know it. I didn't know it, no. And like, yeah, so I kind of got inspired during COVID to just try new things, got really into handstands and balance and bodyweight training just because I was at home, didn't have much else to do back in New Zealand.

And yeah, when I went back to Sydney in like 2021 maybe, I was just training at the gyms, just the local gyms. And just, I would always get people come up to me like every session and be like, like, what are you training for? Like, are you an athlete? Like, what do you do? Like, what is this movement for? And they're like do you have a social media you should you should post all this stuff and i was like man i was like i used to get that all the time i was like maybe i should like start posting and then even alfie he would tell me like you're so mobile dude like you've got world-class mobility like you need to you're like yeah and then i was just like, you know what? I'll do it. So I started posting in February last year. And yeah, just people started enjoying the content, I guess.

So that's where it all happened. You think some of it might have to do with your background of water polo? I think so, yeah. I think genetically I'm probably lucky just to have a good base mobility. But yeah, water polo definitely helps, like especially with the hips and like the shoulder mobility. Yeah, I think that definitely helps just like as we were talking about before the podcast, like those long strokes,

like full range of motion, length, lengthening through those muscles definitely helps. Yeah. Have you gotten a lot more mobile from hanging around him? Oh, hanging around him is like mobility dysmorphia. He's always looking over and he's in the deepest squat you've ever seen or he's in a Cossack squat. You've just got to play it off and just be like,

that's not even good for you, bro. You're doing it way too far. Well, that's the thing, yeah. It's the classic, I guess. You see someone training harder than you and you're going, oh, nah, that's over-training. That can't be't be good for you no it's been good we're trying a lot together so i think it's definitely changed the way that i train as well yeah yeah you mentioned that you started this during covid earlier so i'm actually kind of curious man like you said

you started with calisthenics like for for you what did that strength level look like because in four years look how far you've come yeah you're a water polo player but what did your beginner stats look like for what you're able to do um so i guess when alfie and i were training at sydney uni um which is like three or maybe four years ago five years ago it was more of like your classic bro split like um bit of functional training in the mix like with kettlebells like we do pull-ups and dips here and there um but definitely yeah more bro split aesthetic focus and then just like yeah i don't know you kind of just get over that a little bit through age and through like just you know lots of time in the gym wait what made you get over it though that's interesting because some people like lift forever and they can never get over that right so yeah yeah yeah what was it

i don't know i think maybe even like social media had a role to play just seeing some crazy People like lift forever and they can never get over that, right? Yeah, yeah. What was it? I don't know. I think maybe even like social media had a role to play, just seeing some crazy movements and being like, wow, like I'd love to do that. Like I used to watch like people online and be like, well, I'd never be able to do that. And then I just, you know, it was like in COVID got expired.

And I was like, oh, let me give it a go. I think it's cool that people like Ben Patrick and people like yourself have made it popular to like do different shit yeah than just what you've seen in the gym forever you know yeah I think for me I just kind of got bored of just conventional lifting um and I was like I want to explore what my body is capable of and see how far I can take this and yeah just see movements online and be like okay i'm gonna work for that like the dragon squad i saw someone else do it and i was like that is cool let me try that and then just slowly worked on it beat it on it and got there i also think as we move from like real format on social media so we move to like a video era it's like we saw what was possible in terms like the functional movement because it's very hard to capture that in a photo right like aesthetics

bodybuilding power powerlifting, like people can see the weight, they can see what someone looks like. But then when you see someone moving and like the movement plans that they're going on, it like changes. And that was around that time. So I think when we're seeing all these people

sort of pop off for various different, like functional movements, it's like, oh, I want to do that. I want to learn what the aggression to that is. Whereas I think it's hard to capture in a photo. Do you guys feel any type, because, you know, some people have the belief that when you gain this level of mobility

and some would call it even hypermobility, that there's a level of pain or injury risk that's associated with it. As you guys have built this skill, do you feel fragile by any means? Or like, how do you feel your body's progressing over time? I mean, I feel phenomenal. Like my body feels literally like the best it's ever felt. Um, I have zero pain anywhere. So I'm, I'm, I'm very lucky I think as well. Um, but yeah, I just,

yeah, I think the mobility has a massive role to play and just making those joints feel good and getting that synovial fluid and those, you you know deep ranges of motion to help protect those joints and just have longevity um but again yeah it comes down to scaling the movement back and slowly progressing yeah and that's the thing though it's like you again with all the things showing even that dragon squat you have a deep level of ability to get into all those positions, but you're not, you haven't lost any tension anywhere. No. You're creating active. Exactly. And those extended positions. And I think that's where some people maybe get some of this twisted, you know, because like there are yogis who can get into these positions and then they can lose all tension. Right. Yeah. But you're getting into these positions and you maintain a level of tension

and control wherever you go. Yeah. Staying active in those extended ranges is super important. Like a lot of people that practice purely yoga, like a lot of them get injuries because it's more of a passive thing and they don't have the strength in that end range of motion and they can like tweak things more easily. So when you're doing stuff like this that we're seeing on the screen, are you keeping fairly active? Yeah, everything I do is trying to stay active. Like this one's more of just like a, I guess like a, it's not super active, but it's more of like a spinal decompression, like working that lateral flexion of the spine.

Gotcha. And getting into the hips a little bit. And this is kind of similar. So staying active in the knees and quads here, but kind of just releasing the spine. So there's certain movements that, you know, a little bit different than others. But yeah, always a little bit of active component to each stretch to kind of protect the joints as much as possible. So maybe in a position like this, obviously you're just letting your body just kind

of hang and you're using gravity. You're bending down towards your toes and you're kind of rocking back and forth. But there's another attribute of this that someone could practice is they could be maybe intentionally flexing their hip flexor a little bit. They could intentionally flex their quad a little bit. They could just try to relax as much as possible. So it's an interesting thing because we have a tendency sometimes to say, oh, like this style of stretching isn't effective, but this style might be effective. But there's so many variables in there. And the movements that you're showing here are, I mean, how the hell, I just don't even know how we would study it. Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? It's interesting. I mean, it's all just like subjective as well. Like, I don't know, there's just so many ways that you can stretch and strengthen. And I just try to show people that, you know, my way basically. And if it works for you, it works for you. Great. Like jump on the 30 day challenge and see what happens. But yeah, there's so many different ways you can do. You had some interesting thoughts on spinal compression. And I think this might be, you know, maybe from this video where you and I got talking about it kind of behind the scenes.

What does that kind of mean to you, spinal compression? Because you even referenced it. Core compression, do you mean? Yeah, core compression. Yeah, sorry about that. Yeah, core compression. You even mentioned as it's programmed into your workout. So, what's core compression about? Core compression compression basically how i define it is like the ability to be strong in a compact position so pretty much when your upper body is compressed and towards your thighs and then being able to be in an active strong position and hold that for an extended or whatever period of time um so something like an l-sit where you're you're kind of on the ground and your legs are lifted and you're holding yourself with your hands, like that's core compression.

And it's super important for any kind of gymnastic style training that you may be doing. So I love doing like handstands and like stolder presses where you're in that pancake position, for example, and then you kind of flick yourself up into a handstand. So core compression is a key component for skills like that. How did you regress that ability when you first started out? What did you start with?

Did you start with L-sits? Yeah, so like L-sits and then just like straddle sit holds, which is like an L-sit but legs wide. And then just in a handstand, negatives, stuff like that, using bands as well. So yeah, like this movement here is a bit of core compression from going from an l l sit on the parallel bars into a handstand um and then like yeah slowly lowering down like negatives like this is such a useful way to yeah there we go

so that's a v-sit yeah which is super tough can't hold it for very long but that's like max core compression you can't look at that and tell me that there's no strength involved it's just passive flexibility you know no there's a lot of strength involved but also mobility helps for sure um because yeah when you're in that compact position like in that core compression position you've got to have long hamstrings so that you can actually keep the legs straight at the same time yeah so mobility definitely plays a role but it's yeah it's a few different variables all all into one which is why i love the the training the gymnastic kind of style training as well you must have found like getting stronger to be really useful in a lot of these

positions that you're in because you know i'm just thinking if I'm trying some of these movements, while I might have certain strength attributes, I don't have them in these particular movements. I haven't learned them. And so if I was to try to execute any of that, I would imagine I would be kind of shaking and trembling and it would be activating and working like a lot of muscles that never got worked before. So over time, I'm sure, you know, the first couple of times you try it, probably you kind of suck. But you don't have a gymnastics background. I think people should know that.

This is all stuff that you just decided to start practicing. When you started doing your handstands and stuff, did it take a while or were you able to pick it up pretty easily? No, it definitely took a while for sure. Handstands specifically, like, yeah, I was looking through some old B-roll of me just doing handstands and I was like, you know, moving around just like against a wall and yeah, again, just scaling it back and then slowly progressing. Like it took me a while, probably took like three or four months to hold like 10, 15 seconds fairly consistently. Wow. And that's hold like 10, 15 seconds fairly consistently. Wow. And that's just like 10, 20 minutes a day of training, like for a handstand specifically.

Like before I'll do my session, I'll just, you know, do 10, 20 minutes of handstands practice to kind of get warm and practice that skill. Yeah. For something like that, I think we were talking earlier, fingers and wrists. yeah for something like that i think we were talking earlier fingers and wrists i think one of the limiting things that that like stopped me from training handstands multiple times was like how much of a strain it had on my wrists so what do you do for that i do yeah lots of wrist training so like i think handstands in general is is great for like finger strength and then also using like an act like the wrist axle and doing like pronation supination ulnar deviation and then like flexor extensor curls and then those those ones i was showing

you before with the plate and then putting your resting your hands on the bench and doing like finger curls like that those finger curls were amazing especially actually after i injured this i felt that stretch in that tendon and it was great so it's actually that's a it's amazing thing for me to keep doing right now. Exactly. And like, that's the exact position. Like you're kind of in that spider grip when you're gripping the floor on your handstand and you're doing that plate curl.

It's like the exact position that your, that your hands are in when you're upside down. So it's great. Like translation in terms of strength for the fingers. Yeah. Let's see if we can bring up that clip of a functional patterns. I think referencing some of the work that you're doing um before we jump into that uh or you can bring it up andrew but um i'd like to ask you guys just a little bit about running you guys um you're you're running quite a bit right like you're running three or four times a week as well yeah yeah i mean i feel

like running's very in at the moment like globally but, but particularly when we live in Bondi and Australia. So yeah, we started a run club, which we do every Wednesday morning. And that's, yeah, it's a good community. It's like sort of a hundred of us that get down every week. A hundred? Yeah. You guys started that? Yeah.

Dude, that's fucking awesome. Yeah, it's cool. That's amazing. It's like our only real way to like, I think, meet everyone in the community. So it's a great way to go and see something that like yeah our brands are so online online and all of our communities sit online so then when you go and like see it in person and it's actually like tangible yeah it's an awesome experience so we do a run and then jake does a 15 20 minute mobility session yeah we jump in the

water because we're running like along the beach and then go for a coffee. So yeah, it's great. Yeah, it's really, really fun. It is so much fun. And it's like six kilometers, super chill, like conversations, like very social. And it's, yeah, it's a great way to just meet the community, get active in the morning, see the sunrise while you run next to the beach. It's just like the best way to start the day.

With a hundred people, I'm imagining there's a bunch of different groups, right? There's like the groups that- We just all go. We just all go we just pack it out but the pace the pace is like i was gonna say there's probably a group that's real eager to like run you know x amount of time versus the other yeah some people are faster than others but when you stop at halfway we get a photo and then we run back yeah it's great and we go early in the morning so we're not taking up you know we're not bumping into people because Bondi does get busy, as you can imagine. That's amazing. Yeah, yeah.

It's super fun. Yeah. You can, if you want, you can search up our, it's called Pure Body Run Club on Instagram. And that's, yeah, we've got some posts there of the run club. Well, let's check this guy out being mean to you guys. Yeah, yeah. That's how he's been mean to David.

And I got no luck luck but they are different mobility is just the ability to move it's mobility movement ability and flexibility is just the range of motion that you are capable of so this even though most people call this mobility is technically flexibility unless i move now it's considered mobility and watch this this is technically flexibility unless I move. Now it's considered mobility and watch this. This is still all mobility, mobility, mobility, mobility. Now it's just flexibility. So what's better flexibility or mobility? Well, that's kind of a silly question because you can't have mobility without that flexibility. So flexibility wins by default, which means the best way to get more mobile is to get flexible first and then you work on strengthening it and the rest will work itself out in time you

know it was bruce lee that said be water my friend by the way i have flexibility programs in my bio stay flexi you can't have... Oh, now he... The editing's great. I love the transitions. He's nailed that. It must be the words in... Andrew, can you read that from there? Is there a statement in there? It's in our text thread, sorry.

Okay, I'll pull it up. This is the quick caption. Great descriptions here, but the mechanics of the movements themselves, there's such a thing as too much flexibility that impedes mobility. This guy is too flexible. Also, what do you call it when you need to go to the surgery room for the hyperflexibility you induce with all this stuff? Surgerability? Is that it? This guy is securing the financial interest of functional patterns in the medical system. That's what I it job security so in his eyes this level of flexibility is too much flexibility

and it's going to be something that gets people injured so what are you guys thoughts on that and he and i'm actually going to search because he does have one where he uses you as the example and that's what i was trying to find i just can can't find it, but I will. I didn't realize he actually used me. That's so funny. They did. They did. Yeah. So he's saying that by me showing my level of mobility, it's going to cause injury for other people because they might try it, for example. Exactly. And I think, so there's, there's a few aspects to it. He thinks that inherently when people try and do a lot of this flexibility stuff, it builds a level of like weakness and too much pliability in the fascia and not enough strength. Right. So a lot of people are building hypermobility where they can tear things where there's like, there's too much mobility in the back and then they have herniated discs. Like

there's a bunch of issues that come when you build this level of hypermobility. Actually, I think a good video example, and it doesn't show you, but I'll send this to Andrew right now. You do dead hangs, right? Oh, yeah. Love. I do them every day. Okay. I think this video right here is another kind of good example of maybe their point.

Andrew, I'm sending it to you right now. This group, Functional Patterns, what they're into is they want any and everything that will progress your gait, like your forward motion, your walking, sprinting, and so on. And I think some of their conjecture towards traditional fitness is that many people are just kind of going through their day-to-day dysfunctional, not really moving very well. And what they're trying to solve for is just to get people to move better in general. So I think that stretching, lifting, anything on top of already having poor movements, I think they're saying can lead to worse outcomes. Yeah, interesting.

And I also want to mention, I like dead hangs. I do dead hangs. It's been something that's been beneficial for my shoulder and jujitsu. But let's play this video because I'm curious to hear your thoughts too. This is the problem with passive hanging. You see, people will hop on a bar like this and drop into a shoulder decompression, trying to lengthen their lumbar spine. But what ends up happening here is you're just lengthening the ligaments in the shoulder to the point where they become hypermobile. And with the spine, you're also lengthening the muscles and ligaments around the vertebral bodies to the point where the more you apply that passive hold and stretch

there, you start to lose the muscular support. I like the music. Yeah, it's dramatic. A smarter way to train length on the spine is going to be through rotation, as this involves the twisting and untwisting of the body. And the reason that this is more impactful than hanging from a bar is that your muscles have to do the work. Gravity isn't just pulling you down, making your shoulder girdle flaccid. This is what we focus on at FP, and it's the reason that we're able to help people untwist their scoliosis and decompress their spine like no other. to help people untwist their scoliosis and decompress their spine like no other. So if your goal is to stretch your lower back, you don't need more passive hanging. You need to learn to rotate.

Okay. So. Interesting. What are you guys' thoughts? I think, yeah, he definitely, like, makes a great point. But, yeah, again, I would just say, like, I wouldn't stop stop doing passive hangs I would just do some active hangs exactly balance it out baby

do both just do both yeah yeah like we do I do scapular pull ups everyday as well as passive hangs so you're just like finding that balance like you don't have to completely not do something like I don't think there's any movement that you just like can't do because it's going to cause an injury like there's yeah there's always a side to both coins you just got

to make sure you hit that balance um and you strengthen both sides and all sides yeah and you guys are also doing uh rotational movements yeah absolutely like we do it all we don't rule anything out we're not like yeah not doing one thing because of, you know, et cetera outcome. But yeah. And you'll even mix in some traditional lifts here and there, like a squat deadlift, like a back squat deadlift, those kinds of things. Yeah. I actually don't squat that much, honestly, but I do like dragon squats a lot and I do weighted pistols. Um, and we do like sissy squats. We do overhead shoulder press as well to help with like um handstand push-ups and things like that and lots of unilateral work we like to do i think that's

you know like i think that sometimes people think if someone doesn't squat that they're like missing out a ton on like fitness and i don't agree with that i think that there should be some type of squat in your program like you're mentioning these one-legged squats that you're doing, the ATG split squat. Like those are all still squats. I think sometimes though, when we think about a squat, we're just thinking about loaded barbell on our back, kind of that spinal compression, you know,

that you might get from some of those types of lifts. So I think whatever way you can kind of mix in, there's so many other ways. Overhead squat is one yeah yeah yeah exactly holy shit yeah yeah there's like endless ways to do a squat and endless ways to do a deadlift there's endless ways to do anything right yeah literally you can add a twist onto any movement to make it more challenging or aggressive that's what i just wonder that's what doesn't make much sense to me because why why do things in a way where you're not able to see what your body is capable of yeah like you for example you have both of you guys have all these amazing capacities but you discovered those right because you were testing certain things out you did some things passively you did some things actively and now you have

control over all of this along with being very muscular at the same time. You're not just like limp yogis. You guys also are strong and muscular. You just picked up a 250-pound bag first day. So it's like there's a lot of good here. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Just strengthen everything, honestly. That's my philosophy.

Strengthen, lengthen everything possible. Do you guys work on explosive movements too? Something like sprints, jumps, med ball tosses, anything like that? A little bit. We used to do more plyometrics. I feel like, yeah, our training sort of like transitioned over time. And again, it's sort of just gravitating to what we're passionate and enjoy. I think people should go in the gym and actually enjoy their training.

They shouldn't be showing up like, oh, I've got to do like this again. It's like if you hate the movement, just change it. Swap for something else that's more interesting. And I love plyometric stuff. I think it's like a really enjoyable way to train. It's explosive. It's different from a lot of the other things. And there's like, it feels great to jump high and to move quick.

I feel like they're very primal movers that like we were sort of born to do in many ways. Yeah. And running's a little bit plyometric too, I guess. Yeah. Running's plyometric and you're also getting some of that twisting in there. Yeah. Yeah. That they were talking about just twisting of the spine and all those kinds of things.

Do you guys, you guys participate in any sports or anything like that? Like Nsema was mentioning getting a lot of progress from swimming. You did water polo growing up, but do you guys do any other activities or sports other than lifting and running? Growing up, a lot of rugby. So yeah, sort of all started coming out of New Zealand. We're a very passionate rugby nation. It's our national sport.

So yeah, growing up, played that, went into university or college and played there as well. And then sort of left that behind a little bit, but played a bit of touch rugby, is basically like rugby but you don't tackle that's a little bit more longevity in the sport problem with rugby is it's like yeah you can't keep running around although people try to like into their 40s yeah just hammering themselves at that point i got uh invited to a rugby match by a friend and he's like oh you should come and check it out and they're like drinking on the sidelines and they're like, oh, you should play. And so I, I, I didn't know

what I was doing. I got killed a bunch of times, um, was starting to figure it out a little bit, but still got killed a bunch of times and then like had a beer on the sidelines. It was amazing. Yeah. Good experience. I was like, is this, I was like, is this the way they really do it? But maybe that's not the way they really do it, but that's the way they were doing it when I was playing it. Yeah. it seems about right. And then, yeah, tennis. We love tennis. Like just for fun.

We just play tennis. Tennis is fun. Tennis is hard. Tennis is so much fun. I love tennis. Yeah. There's some interesting like stats with tennis as well. Like people that play racquet sports tend to live longer.

Yeah. Yeah. Heard that a few times. That does make some sense with like the lateral movement. There's all types of movement. Like hand-eye coordination, lateral movement, like spinal rotation, like everything. Yeah. All this shit going on in your brain, trying to figure out like how to hit the ball, you

know, just right so that the other person has to fucking haul ass to go get it. Right. It's actually an insane skill. It's really hard. Yeah. And golf as well. We don't play golf, but the hand-eye in golf is insane. Like we've played a couple of times, but it's really hard yeah and golf as well we don't play golf but the hand i in golf is insane like we've played a couple times but it's humbling yeah have you guys run into some

people that have been really difficult to help you know like today when we were doing some stuff i'm not as mobile as some maybe so uh you guys were taking me through some like regressions but uh what's your experience been with that? Yeah, I think, yeah, obviously everyone's mobility base is unique and there's, but there's always something that you can do. Like everyone has some sort of ability to move. So you just have to dig deep, even just have a conversation, like an open conversation with the person and just like go through different movements see what works for them and then yeah slowly progress from there

like that's what it's all about just just being open taking the ego out of it and just being like yeah okay like this is my level and this is where i need to start and this is what i'm going to do this is my plan and just go forward from there. Yeah. Yeah. I can see how that can sometimes be discouraging for people because like when it comes to something like jumping, right? Some people, once you make one tiny jump, it hits your back and you're like, what the fuck?

I can't jump. Yeah. And removing the ego to put your hands on a table or hold on to two pieces of pipe and then just kind of hop a little bit so that you can, your feet can learn how to catch that impact. Sometimes it's just too much of a regression for some people. That's kind of embarrassing. They feel embarrassed. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. So how do you, how do you guys work with that with certain people or what do you tell them? I mean, yeah, it's a tricky one. I guess it's just literally taking your ego out of it.

Like you just have, like if you want to progress in this movement and you want to be better and like you want longevity in whatever you're doing, like you just have to. You just got to be okay with it and then slowly progress from there because, I mean, otherwise you can stay where you are. It's a tough one. What's great about the challenge is those. Everyone gets thrown into a group together.

So everyone's sort of starting at like point A together at the start of the month. So I think having the accountability because doing things that you're not naturally good at, which for mobility is like a key one for a lot of people, and particularly if they're like advanced lifters, which I feel are often the people that need the most mobility. Starting back at square one at something that's like in the gym, in an environment where they normally thrive is difficult, right? So I think having that accountability of everyone going through it together instead of being like, all right, well, we're one of like a thousand, you know, it's a thousand plus

people per challenge. So you're like one of a thousand who's going through starting at point A all together. You sort of know if you just stick with it, 15 minutes, so doable. By the end of the 30 days, it's some pretty serious change. Yeah. The community aspect is huge. Like people just love it. And like you send in your daily wins and people respond

and like people are like reacting to the message, like well done, et cetera. Like it's very helpful. And yeah, all my mobility routines are body weight. Like I make sure that they're just all body weight so that you can access them from anywhere you can do it in your bedroom like wherever you are so the ego components kind of taken out of it because you're not surrounded by a bunch of people in the gym most people will do it at home which is really cool so you can just

do it anywhere you're not embarrassed and yeah you can just go through those motions, go through those movements alone. And yeah, see the progress. A constant thing that's been beneficial for all of our health has been intaking enough protein, but also intaking quality protein. And that's why we've been partnering with Good Life Proteins for years now. Good Life not only sells Piedmontese beef, which is our favorite beef. And the main reason why it's our favorite is because they have cuts of meat that have higher fat content, like their ribeyes and their chuck eyes, but they also have cuts of meat like their flat iron. Andrew, what's the macros on the flat iron? Yeah, dude. So the flat iron has 23 grams of protein, only two grams of fat, but check this out. Their grass-fed sirloin essentially has no fat and 27 grams of protein.

There we go. So whether you're dieting and you want lower fat cuts or higher fat cuts, that's there. But you can also get yourself chicken. You can get yourself fish. You can get yourself scallops. You can get yourself all types of different meats. And I really suggest going to Good Life and venturing in and maybe playing around with your proteins. I mean, going back to the red meat, there's picanha.

All kinds of stuff. There's chorizo sausage. There's maple bacon. That stuff's incredible. The maple bacon is so good. The maple bacon is really good. Yo, my girl put those in these bell peppers with steak and chicken. Oh, my God.

It was so good. But either way, guys, protein is essential. And Good Life is the place where you can get all of your high quality proteins. So Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, you can head over to goodlifeproteins.com and enter promo code power project to save 20% off your entire order. Links in the description, as well as the podcast show notes. A low, like tight lower back or lower back pain is extremely common. At least maybe that's just my perception of it because I dealt with it for so long. But if somebody does have a tight or even low back pain, how do you address that? Because the thought of a Jefferson curl when I was in the most pain, I would have been like, get the fuck out of here.

Like, there's no way, you know. So, like, bending down to grab or to pick up my shoes off the ground is hard. You want me to add weight to that? Like, that sounds crazy. So, where do you guys start with somebody with low back pain? With low back pain? I would say, yeah, obviously obviously you're not going to jump straight into a jefferson curl like you're going to start body weight um and even if you can't do like a body weight jefferson curl like there's there's another way you can regress it like even just going down halfway and like touching a chair with your hands and slowly coming back up even if you need to

start with slightly bent knees, it's going to alleviate some of the pressure. Like you can do that. Like there's always ways to scale the movement back and progress forward from there. But yeah, even just like so many people have lower back pain because they're sitting at a desk all day with like consistent flexion in their spine and it's just like compounding over time.

So even just like getting up every hour walking around a little bit maybe hopping into a deep squat doing like 10 bodyweight squats every hour is going to help like decompress that spine and take some of the pressure off is um is that one of those situations where like um like i went in and got some body work on my shoulder i'm like dude it hurts so bad hurts so bad back here. And he went the complete opposite way. Our boy, Oscar, he dug in on this side. I'm like, no, no, no, it's on the back though. And he's like, well, we got to get to it from this way. So when somebody comes to you like, oh, my low back hurts,

and you start working on their hamstrings or their quad, and they're like, no, no, no, it's my back. And you're like, hold on, let's work. Let's get through it this way. Yeah, so you're finding that you guys can get mobility elsewhere and it actually unlocks the back. 100%. Yeah. Like so many people have lower back pain because the hips are tight or the hamstrings are tight. Um, and that's often the case. Like usually it starts from somewhere else, which is causing the pain in that area. So it's really interesting to see like, see like why and dig

into those areas and yeah, just like looking at their day-to-day, seeing the context around, you know, where the pain is coming from and then addressing it from there. Yeah, literally. Yeah. How do you guys eat? We love red meat.

We absolutely love grass-fed, grass-finished, regenerative, you know, steaks. We like the core of our diet is meat and fruit pretty much. What's the page called? Pure Body Dot Boys. Yeah, so that started out from, I guess I was posting and people took like a lot of interest. I was sort of posting like daily vlogs,

like what was living life in Bondi was like because it's a very health conscious place. We had our own club, you know, a lot of getting up early, getting the sunlight in our eyes, sort of living that human optimal lifestyle did you guys learn a lot of so do you guys learn a lot of stuff from hoobman too do you guys yeah we went to uh you guys went to his uh seminar right yeah yeah yeah he came he it was an interesting seminar he went on about um cuttlefish for a long time it was sort of like they gave a booklet booklet, I guess, because a lot of

people he'd assumed would have watched a lot of his podcasts. He sort of like freestyled it and it was pretty unique. Yeah. So he was at home, some grass fed and finished, free range of eggs. So a lot of red meat, really it's whole foods is the principle. So single ingredient away from processed, which for us seems like common sense, but I think it really resonated. And having spent a little bit of time traveling through the US, it's like a lot of our audiences in the u.s and i think we maybe don't quite appreciate how much processed food there is here so it's like seeing the other perspective came here and you're like you all are fat fucks what's going on but we did just come from vegas which is like since yeah i feel like yeah it's like the smoking the eating the gambling

we're like what is going on here but yeah i appreciate the whole of us isn't like that um but it is interesting seeing it for sure what did you guys eat like when you were younger did you guys eat healthy or is this kind of uh you know within the past four years for you focusing on this biggest change in the last four years is probably cutting out processed grains. So no, like pasta, bread. So cutting out that out from the diet. Yeah.

So all of our carbohydrates come from root vegetables or like pumpkin, sweet potato, potatoes, and fruit. Nice. Yeah, meat and fruit.

Lots of organ meats. Like I eat liver and heart and like bone marrow and stuff like that every day. Yeah, those sausages there are like liver and heart of beef sausages with like a beef collagen casing. Oh.

And they are phenomenal. Sounds phenomenal. Delicious. Yeah, just pure beef and liver. And it's really, sorry, pure liver and heart. Is that something you only get in Australia or is that like, is there a brand? You probably can get that somewhere.

I need to find that shit. Oh, you can definitely get it around here somewhere. I'm sure like we recently went to Irwan. I'm sure they would have something. They have like beef liver infused mints. What's it called? Like ground beef. Irwan, it's a grocery store.

It's like a really, really like upscale. All right. You know what it is. I haven't been to it. I don't think we have any out here. Yeah, it's next level above Whole Foods. If you want to empty your wallet, go there. Empty your wallet? Like your whole bank account?

Yeah. It's like $10 for a little pundit of grapes. It's kind of fun. Of course it is. That's $100? What the fuck? Not everything is totally crazy. Not everything's priced totally crazy. But a lot, what the fuck? Yeah. It's like, oh. Not everything is, not everything's totally crazy. Not everything's priced totally crazy, but a lot of stuff is.

Yeah. We're pretty excited. Sliced vegetables or sliced up fruit will be like 25 bucks. You're like, what? Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. But if you go to a regular grocery store, that stuff's always the most expensive as well.

Yeah. Yeah. What about you guys? Is your diet similar or how do you guys eat? I eat very similar. Yeah. A lot of meat, a lot of fruit, potatoes here and there, some rice here and there. Yeah, I remember seeing a reel by you fairly recently and you're like,

if you're not hungry for a steak, you're not hungry. Yeah, you're not actually hungry. If you're not hungry for protein, I think it's kind of a good way to look at it. And it's okay to still eat. It's just good to be conscious of that. Like, oh, I'm just eating because it's okay to still eat. It's just, it's good to be conscious of that. Like, I'm just eating because it's entertainment.

Exactly. Yeah. Which is fine. It's okay to do that. Yeah. Maybe you don't want to do it all the time. No,

you probably don't want to be. Yeah, we usually try and space our meals out like two big meals a day and maybe like a fruit bowl for dessert or something. That's usually what we do. People are starting to get fat

in Australia though too, right? Oh, probably. Yeah, I feel like everywhere. Well, New Zealand's got a high obesity rate. Yeah, New zealand's one of the most i think it's the most

per capita yeah so there's a large um largest polynesian population in the world so a lot of migration from like tonga fiji samo the islands and i think they're like naturally quite like solid bigger solid well yeah look at the rugby teams yeah but then there's probably a lot of like new uh because i hear that there's a lot of you know uh chains that are popping up around those populations so they're migrating towards a lot of those foods too yeah if you have a propensity to be big and then you have this affordable food next to you right it makes it much easier to just yeah Yeah, you're going to tuck in. Well, that's the issue, right?

It's like how affordable it is and how convenient it is and the accessibility. Like that's the most difficult thing. Like red meat. Yeah, we love red meat ourselves, but we also appreciate like it's one of the most expensive things

in a grocery list to purchase. Yeah, the first time I had grass-fed meat was when I was in Australia. There you go. Yeah, we're fortunate. 20 years ago but it's also far more satiating to eat a you know high quality

steak than you know some KFC or whatever so it's going to keep you fuller for longer and you're probably not going to go back for seconds so it's an interesting like way to think about it because you can overeat you know those processed foods and then you're going

to be paying through the teeth if you just constantly eat and whatever it is. Well, I'm paying for the health, like the cost of your health. And that's the way we look at it. So it balances out. Prioritizing your health by spending more in the short run as like you invest and yeah, go to the gym, spending that time, you invest in the right nutrition, feeding yourself, fueling yourself. And then that's like buying longevity into the future and vitality so yeah you're not going to

pay the cost of health care hopefully it's great that more people are starting to realize that red meat isn't necessarily super unhealthy because like all these netflix docs and like in general outside of people who pay attention to a fucking health podcast and guys like yourself and this type of information you ask somebody about red meat, they're like, oh, only have that maybe like twice a month because it's, you know, it's not that great for you. Yeah. Right. So it's one of those things where like the education on it in the broader population still needs to change. Yeah.

Because a lot of people still think it's not great for your health. I know. It is slowly changing. I feel like with people like Paul Saladino and stuff like that, they're definitely shedding some light the benefits of it or they like people will feel super guilty about it like i know i shouldn't eat that much red meat so then they start going for chicken or something like that but then they go to chick filet and it's like well hey that's not the same thing no but so do you guys ever mess with chicken at all or is it just strictly red meat uh chicken and turkey sometimes. I feel like with poultry, it's just hard to get like organic, not like grain and soy fed.

Weak birds. Yeah. Yeah, they're all grain fed. That's the thing. It's hard to find like, yeah, pasture raised chickens and corn and soy free eggs. Some guys are hardcore on like the grass fed,

pasture raised, like good for you. That's awesome. Yeah, when we can, like if it's accessible, we'll definitely opt for it but like obviously if we can't

like there's not much you can do yeah okay but when it's available for sure yeah are you guys excited

about any like food here in the US like pizza or cheeseburgers or in and out burger or you don't care about that no we don't care about it

yeah it doesn't really interest us I feel like we like love our diet genuinely really enjoy like went to the grocery store on the way here yesterday evening and then cooked up like eggs had some blueberries this morning like that's just like the ideal meal for us i think it makes us feel the best as well and that's like i think our training philosophy as well is like we're not just training to look a certain way it's about feeling a certain way that's why we've like stuck with it and just really enjoy what we do. Yeah. Actually, you did mention something in the gym that you're training. You're not really training for aesthetics like you were four or five years ago. When did that shift happen?

Yeah, it's interesting. Probably, I think just with time, but probably like during COVID, I'd say. Like aesthetics is now like a byproduct. Like it is important because look good, feel good, again, comes down to that feeling. But yeah, it's more of a byproduct now. It's not like the primary goal. The primary goal for us now is more just longevity and training and movement and, you know, free to to move how we want and

yeah just feeling good yeah feeling good day to day and for reference like we used to be a lot heavier than we are now yeah like jake was almost 100 kg i got up to 100 i'm 85 now it was wild dude really yeah and like my diet was still super clean very very clean but i would just eat too much. Like the portions were just out of control. Yeah. Wait, so were you 100 kg and like muscular? Yeah, yeah.

But not as lean. But still. I wasn't as lean. Definitely not as lean. Puffy face and like I still had visible abs. So you're athletic enough. Yeah, yeah. Okay. But like I would struggle to do something like a dragon squat

or a, you know, stalled the press just because that extra, you know, a few kgs makes a massive difference with those more tough bodyweight skills. Yeah. Yeah. How long ago was that? We must have played a year and a half. A year and a half ago. Yeah, I was like 96 as well.

So, yeah, we used to be a lot heavier. Back when you were playing rugby it was just like bigger the better yeah yeah didn't hurt as much when you're running in funny yeah funny your hunger just uh sort of regulated itself you think or you guys been a little more conscious of just more conscious of like the portions like you don't need to be in like an energy surplus every single meal you know what i mean just like I actually don't need to eat this much. I think these are large. I think every meal you need to really go for it. Yeah, yeah.

Every meal is like your last meal. Literally. I think the pasta and grain, like cutting that out was huge. That's like a lot of carbohydrates that you're taking out of your diet. So then it became like a very high protein, high fat diet. I mean, that just naturally weaned us out. Did it change the way you guys, like when you guys were eating those foods, did you crave them more? Like, do you find it easier to just eat and be like, I'm good?

Yeah, it's an interesting one. I definitely agree with this. I think I've heard Joe Rogan maybe talk about it where like when you're eating, say like a steak with carbohydrates, you can almost eat more than if you had it. Like I think there's this like natural, I think steak because it's such like rich meat. There's a point where your body's like, okay, I'm done. Like I've had enough.

So I feel like when it's paired with the carb, you can just keep going. Yeah, it's interesting. We had dinner the other night and this lovely family prepared like a traditional Shabbat dinner. They're a Jewish family. Absolutely lovely. And like if there was just a steak there on the plate,

I would eat the steak and be fine. But there was like a plethora of like potatoes, sweet potatoes, like these like delicious beans. Like it was an amazing feast. And I was just like tucking in. Just tucking in. Like it's so easy to just, oh, I'll have another potato. Yeah.

Have another one. Like it's just, yeah, it's interesting. Barely even have to potato. Yeah. Have another one. Like, it's just, yeah, it's interesting. You don't even have to chew that shit. Yeah. If it's there, you're just more likely to eat it. What's Sacramento known for in terms of food? Us? No, I don't know.

Well, I mean, there is actually good restaurants down here. There's In-N-Out. We're in California. In-N-Out is meat meat right just just go get yourself from flying dutchman without the blinds right is that good quality mate it's okay of all the fast food it's gonna be the best but you know again it's still fast food it's not gonna be grass-fed yeah they probably spit it out yeah it'll taste funny he's fucking i think we should try i think we should probably try a Flying Dutchman.

Give it a crack. Mustard fried. Is it just cheese and patty? Yeah. Cheese patty. Mustard fried would be a good idea. It's delicious. Do you guys tuck into that every now and again?

Every now and then. I've done like 10 Flying Dutchman before. It's like 10 patties. Well, actually, 16 patties. So I've done like 8 to 10 Flying Dutchman to 16. In one sitting? Yes, I've done that before. It's been a while, though. The most I've done was 11, so 22 patties. So I've done like 8 to 10 flying Dutchman to 16 patties. In one sitting? Yes, I've done that before. It's been a while though. So I probably-

The most I've done was 11. So 22 patties. Oh boy. But single slice of cheese though. You see, he's the kind of guy who's like, I'm going to one-up you right now. Yeah. I'm joking. I believe you though.

I believe you though. I know it's true. Andrew can eat a lot. No, I feel like we have to try at least a flying Dutchman while we're here. If you're in California, I have to do it. You got to do it. You got to do it. Here in Davis, there's like a lot of Thai food.

There's a good sushi place. Like there's some pretty good stuff. I don't think like Sacramento is not really known for food, I wouldn't say. It's not known for food, but there's a lot of different types of like really good like Indian food. There's Ethiopian food. Like oddly enough, Sacramento is a foodie type of area, but I haven't taken advantage of all the foodie stuff down here so there's brazilian steakhouse too so if you guys want all you can eat steak there you go we i don't know if we can do that we try to avoid all you can eat it's dangerous a competition no one wins at the end of it yeah yeah it's a lose lose yeah

yeah yeah so funny dude I feel that alcohol? nah I'm actually yeah a year and like five or six months sober yeah nice

what made you just stop cold turkey? I just went all in I was just like I don't know like oh there was a turning point there was a turning point

I don't know like in December in 2022 I think or three 22 going into 23 yeah I just picture him like

he's trying to do handstand he's like fuck this and he's hammered and he's like i'm done with this yeah yeah legit is that the scene or no well it was just it's more the unproductivity right like as a byproduct of drinking and then like the overeating like i was heavier when i was drinking i was less productive and i just didn't feel as good and i just just recognized that and I was like, I'm done. I'm done. I'm going to go all in for a year and see what happens. And yeah, now I just, I haven't touched it since and I don't feel the need to.

At that point, how much do you think you were drinking? Probably, I wasn't drinking like a lot. Like we had a massive New Year's where it was like three or four days in a row. Oh shit, okay. And then in December, it was probably like every weekend, like on a Saturday in 2023 going into – no, 2022, sorry, going into 24. Yeah, maybe like once to twice a week. Gotcha.

So that shit takes a toll, dude. Like, yeah, it just gets too much and it overtakes. And then you're just in this vicious cycle of like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you just feel shit. You feel sluggish and tired. And then Thursday, you start to come right and then you're just in this vicious cycle of like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you just feel shit. You feel sluggish and tired. And then Thursday, you start to come right and then boom, Friday, Saturday, you're drinking again. Just cycle repeats.

Yeah. Just not. Australia and New Zealand has like a big binge drinking culture though. Like when they're drinking and particularly like growing up since you're like 16, 17, it's like you're drinking a lot. Like you're like 12 to 18 beers deep on a night. What's the legal age over there? 16? 18.

18? But like everyone starts earlier. Yeah. But like 21, but everyone starts earlier. Yeah. So I think then it's like, you just have this natural progression. And I think corporate jobs in particular, like a nine to five compliments drinking on the weekend, right? You've got the weekends off, you got two days, you can recover,

go back in Monday, everyone's hungover. You may even have like work drinks on a Friday. That's a real classic. So I think when you like step out of that and obviously like working in a capacity where you're working for yourself, it's like you can't have the weekend off. Like that's two days of your working week gone. So I think when you're dialed in that way,

it just feels like a bit of a no-brainer to step away from it. You guys try to pay attention to like caffeine and stuff like that too. We, we love a bit of caffeine to be honest. Um, like every now and again, we'll take breaks. Like I took a month off in February. It's so sad. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Honestly. Yeah. Cause I'd been smacking caffeine like pretty viciously prior to that month off. So I was like, okay, I'll just do a month and see what happens. But yeah, I was feeling really tired, especially around like 11 to like 3. I was just like, dude, I need some caffeine. But yeah, after a certain amount of time, you kind of get used to it.

You pull yourself together and then you're back on. And then honestly, like after a while, I didn't really really notice a difference like i started drinking caffeine again and i was like i don't know if i even need this you know i think the key is like not letting it affect your sleep cycle though so we won't have caffeine after 12 o'clock yeah and that's like really important we're sort of yeah we're pretty dialed in with i think the recovery sleep aspect yeah but we use whoop i don't know if you guys heard of of yeah we have all different kinds of tracking something tracking stuff it's interesting to see the data for sure i think once you see it yeah it's a bit of a wake-up call sometimes if you haven't been tracking it and then you start and you're like oh okay yeah not recovering as

well as i thought gotcha yeah i've always liked caffeine quite a bit too but you know more recently just switched to decaf and then there's still caffeine and like a lot of products that i drink um so i try to just try not to like really worry about it too much um but i am conscious of like hey that's you know your third drink of this or your second drink of that yeah try to you know pay attention to it at least a little bit exactly yeah and i just love the taste of coffee so decaf is fun you know ain't that some shit though because like as a kid you put that shit in your mouth. You're like, this is disgusting. I know, it's weird.

You're like, I like the taste of it too. Don't get me wrong. I drink decaf sometimes. But it's like, it is nasty. We can't subjectively say that this is a tasty drink. Yeah, it is interesting. We can't, but we like it. Is that addiction?

It's decaf. I'm seeing that question. Is it though? I don't know. Because I know subjectively decaf. I'm seeing that question. Is it though? I don't know. Because I know subjectively decaf is shit. It's like not, it's not, it just tastes like juice. It's like sad and there's no payoff. Yeah.

Alcohol, same way? Yep. Yeah. You know, you're like, oh, that's really good. It's not good. It's not. I think anything bitter or spice is like trained over time

so you actually crave like when you become spice adapted you actually crave the pain of spice which is a really strange like neurological sort of event that happens in your brain over time over in Australia do you guys have like bitter and really spicy foods because I know in Nigeria

for example like on the streets you got guys selling like this and really spicy foods. Because I know in Nigeria, for example, like on the streets, you got guys selling like this bitter root and these things because people eat bitter stuff as snacks over there. So like if Mark or any of you guys were to try, you'd be like, this is disgusting. But myself, my mom, like we love that shit because they eat bitter stuff all the time. Do you guys have stuff over there that's just like

we would think is weird or Americans would think is weird? Not really. I feel like it's quite a like westernized culture okay um like we sort of take everything i guess commonwealth from the uk so from england or probably a little bit americanized as well like we're still looking over here for a few things remember chicken palmy it's like a schnitzel and then there's tomato sauce and what. What's a stencil? A stencil? I don't have subtitles on it. Chicken stencil? Is that called sauce on the chicken?

No, no. It's like chicken and there's like breadcrumb. Oh, yeah. It's like fried chicken with breadcrumbs. I think you guys have chicken parmies here. Yeah. Chicken parm. Oh, chicken parm.

Yeah, yeah. So we call that a parmie. Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah. Everything in Australia in terms of slang is just like adding a O or a Y, like the servo or like, yeah. We sort of just change words. Wait, what?

A servo? Servo. Server? It's like a service station, like a gas station. Oh. Servo. Yeah, yeah. Or 7-Eleven, Sleven.

Sleven. Everything just gets abbreviated. Yeah. Too tired to say the whole thing. Exactly. Something like that. Yeah, yeah. S just gets abbreviated. Too tired to say the whole thing. Exactly. It's lazy in Australia. So is a coffee just a coffee? Yeah, I guess so.

And Albee, we call it. And Albee? Long Black. Long Black's like an Americano. You get a long black. Okay, let's try to order one after this. You get a long one. I like that. You get a long black. Okay, let's try to order one after this. You get a long black. I like that.

You're going to go up to Phil's, one of those fancy chicks over there. You're like, let me get a long black. Filter coffee is big here, though, right? Like filter coffee? That's big here, right? You guys use the filter coffee? Oh, yeah. Like a pour over and stuff like that, maybe?

So that's not really a thing the coffee is very good in Australia it's like all like people are quite coffee snobs in Australia so you have coffee here and you think the coffee here

is kind of shitty it's just different it's a different style it's a bit more like watery like I think it's the filtered yeah Americans aren't going to be offended

you can say it's shitty yeah you have to be nice we are being nice maybe we're being a bit nice but yeah the coffee in Australia is like premium it's delicious you get a long black or whatever

and it's got a nice little cream on top not cream but like maybe you'd like temple maybe you'd like temple coffee I don't know if you've had that I haven't had it. Do you know if it's more caffeine or less caffeine than a lot of coffee here? Because I feel like, for example, Phil's, I realize there's a lot of caffeine in that, right?

There's quite a bit. How much? I think in a small coffee, there's maybe 70 milligrams of caffeine. But that's a small, right? So that means in their large, it's like two something. Yeah. So I don't know if that's average for right and so that means in their large is like two something yeah so i don't know if that's average for what's over there too but i think a normal coffee in australia is double shot and that's usually like 120 okay that sounds about right yeah yeah maybe after

this we should go to temple have a shot and then go on a run i love it yeah i'm down for that yeah so okay dude so thank you guys so much where can people find you guys you go yeah you can find me at Alfie Gets Hard on Instagram excuse me

long black and Alfie Gets Hard it started from 75 day hard yeah and you've been hard ever since I mean

staying hard I mean I finished the 75 days he's not soft and then the shared account is purebody.boys and I'm at elastaboy on Instagram

purebody.boys that's it I know y'all have been friends for a long time but you're elastaboy and he's Alfie Gets Hard. It's just like, it's... It's funny. Yeah.

It's an interesting one. And we're all wearing long blacks. It's something done. Yeah. I love it though. No, thank you guys so much for inviting us on the pod and having us here and hosting us. It's been awesome.

Yeah, good luck in Los Angeles. Yeah, thank you so much. We're excited. Strength is never weakness. Weakness never strength. Catch you guys later. Bye.