Mark Bell's Power Project - Your TRT User Manual With The Queen of Men’s Health, Ali Gilbert || MBPP Ep. 963

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

In episode 963, Ali Gilbert, Mark Bell, Nsima Inyang, and Andrew Zaragoza talk about the benefits of TRT, what to be cautious of, and who is a good candidate for TRT. Go get your labs done now: https://marekhealth.com/PowerProject to receive 10% off our Panel, Check Up Panel or any custom panel! Follow Ali on IG: https://www.instagram.com/thealigilbert/   New Power Project Website: https://powerproject.live Join The Power Project Discord: https://discord.gg/yYzthQX5qN Subscribe to the new Power Project Clips Channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UC5Df31rlDXm0EJAcKsq1SUw   Special perks for our listeners below! ➢https://drinkag1.com/powerproject Receive a year supply of Vitamin D3+K2 & 5 Travel Packs!   ➢ https://withinyoubrand.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off supplements!   ➢ https://markbellslingshot.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off all gear and apparel!   ➢ https://mindbullet.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save 15% off Mind Bullet!   ➢ https://goodlifeproteins.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save up to 25% off your Build a Box   ➢ Better Fed Beef: https://betterfedbeef.com/pages/powerproject   ➢ https://hostagetape.com/powerproject to receive a year supply of Hostage Tape and Nose Strips for less than $1 a night!   ➢ https://thecoldplunge.com/ Code POWERPROJECT to save $150!!   ➢ Enlarging Pumps (This really works): https://bit.ly/powerproject1 Pumps explained: https://youtu.be/qPG9JXjlhpM   ➢ https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/powerproject to save 15% off Vivo Barefoot shoes!   ➢ https://vuoriclothing.com/powerproject to automatically save 20% off your first order at Vuori!   ➢ https://www.eightsleep.com/powerproject to automatically save $150 off the Pod Pro at 8 Sleep!   ➢ 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   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 ➢ https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more ➢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 on all platforms ➢ https://direct.me/iamandrewz   #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell #FitnessPodcast #markbellspowerproject

When women go through menopause, no one blinks an eye. It's like natural to go on hormone replacement. For guys, there's so many stigmas surrounding it. Normally, the negative side effects come with larger dosages. What are best practices for frequency of when you should be getting that shot? If they actually go to the doctor, the doctor says, oh, it sounds like depression, here's a pill, when in reality they may just need some testosterone.

I also think it's a little like nudge off the couch. Your social circle will probably change. That's okay. And then they're going to start asking you how you did what you did because they're going to think it happened overnight. The guy will go on TRT. He'll feel amazing. His sex drive will go through the roof and he's like, can we get my wife to match me? Women's hormones need to be optimized as well. I think there's a lot of women on testosterone, and it doesn't have to have the negative sides that we sometimes tend to associate with testosterone. There's injections, there's pellets, there's creams. There's nasal sprays, there's trochies, there's pills now.

Why would someone decide to go in each specific route, and how effective are they? You're a heavy person. TRT is almost going to just blow you up, but it is going to be a thing that is going to help to be a motivator. How about the sides of like acne? So what's the difference between cipionate and propionate? About things like growth hormone, anivar. What is a true replacement dose?

You know what makes it bigger? If you don't care about your balls shrinking on TRT, that makes it bigger. Apparatchit family, welcome to the podcast. We are 900 plus episodes deep. We're bringing tons of different experts in fitness, health, nutrition, and business. And we thank you all for your support. And we're also glad to be bringing these individuals to you. Now, if you've enjoyed this podcast and it's brought benefits to your life,

we'd really appreciate it if you left a five-star review on Spotify or Apple, as that helps the podcast grow and thrive, and we can continue bringing you amazing content. Thank you for your support, and enjoy the episode. Cool, Mark, whenever you're ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm ready. What's going on, Allie?

What's up, guys? Doing well today. Why are you laughing? Gave us a little gift. Yeah, he gave us weenie tips. Just a tip. And a shaker cup and a cookie. I'm so nice.

Yeah. I know. Yeah, no one ever brings us stuff. Yeah, rarely, right? Really? Bill Maeda? Yeah, he gave us these little kettlebells. Rude.

Yeah. So rude. No one brings you just the tip? Nope. Nope. That's the first tip. No one brings you just the tip? Nope. Nope. That's the first tip. People used to bring me donuts when I was fat. That's about it.

I love donuts. People stopped bringing donuts, though. How dare they? Well, what would you prefer, donuts or penises? I would say that I like the direction we're heading in. How'd you get in into all this penis stuff? I have daddy issues. How'd you get into all this male hormone stuff?

Because it's rare to hear a female talking about it so often, I think. We've had a couple other females on the show talking about, we've had Dr. Gabrielle Lyon who talks about protein and different things but also talks about testosterone and she works with a lot of males via working with a lot of military people and so forth. So how did you kind of get into some of this? So I graduated with a degree in exercise science and like everyone who graduates with that degree, you want to train athletes. So naturally I'm like, all right, strength and conditioning. Here I come. And then you kind of realize how much money you make.

And I was like, all right, maybe we'll start personal training. And I grew up in the town of Greenwich, Connecticut, which has nine golf clubs in it. And the guys that – Home of the WWE. Stanford, yes. Next door, yep. Yep, the McMahons went to Greenwich High. I didn't know them, but I pretended I did to get out of a parking ticket once in college.

Oh, wow. Yeah, so they know me through that. So working with men who played golf gave me an idea that, hmm, golf is a sport. Didn't know anything about it. I played soccer in college. Soccer. Real sport. Real sport, yeah.

And I was like, I maybe should learn this. So I started bartering with local pros to learn, and I would train them. And then I was like, man, these guys take this shit seriously. Like, they're obsessive, and they could afford to train. So all my clientele were guys. And the discussion would always turn from how do I hit it farther to like how do I get abs? How do I get rid of, you know, like that and stuff like that?

And so that kind of morphed into the nutrition discussion, which morphed into a hormone discussion because men don't go to the doctor unless it's like a dire emergency. And they were taking like random test boosters off the shelf and stuff like that. And I'm just like, wow, I'm going to really dive in on all men's health stuff. And my business coach at the time was like, you know, there's no women talking about men's health. Go in on that. And I was like, all right, that's what I'm going to do. And I went to medical conferences, spoke at medical conferences, learned from many different doctors. This is like 2010. So spent time learning as much as I could so I can understand guys because there's so many women's health oriented certifications and courses

and everything, but there was nothing for guys. And so I just started having the conversation with guys about their hormones and they didn't really know much about it. And so fast forward, here we are. And I just kind of diffuse the awkwardness about anything that might be sensitive and just bring it up naturally in conversation because guys don't talk about it with each other. So that's kind of how we landed here. I've been trying really hard to shorten that story, but that was good. You know? Yeah. Do you think the men that you're speaking to, do you think they're more comfortable in talking to a female or less comfortable?

I get asked that a lot and I think they are more comfortable because it's not something, you know, like women, we will go in the locker room or we'll be very social at the gym. What goes on in the locker room? We're not blow drying our balls. I'll tell you that.

You guys aren't. But I have heat to my balls. But what are women doing together in the locker room? Is it like we're picturing? Or is it not? How are you picturing it? Because then I don't want to ruin this fantasy if it's something. Yeah, it'll probably get ruined. Just open titties.

Titties just everywhere. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Here, there, you know, whatever. You you have them you don't they're there but tons of discussions open discussions whatever guys great guys don't do that guys just keep to themselves yeah yeah so naturally if i just talk to them about you know how's your boner stuff like that it opens up the discussion for a lot of other stuff.

And that's not really how I do it initially. How's your boner? Yeah. I mean, now I can because people know what they're getting into. I think you can give it to them in like the form of like a fortune cookie or something. They pop it open because everyone loves a fortune cookie, right? It just says, how's your boner? And you're like, yeah, that's.

And then you have to end the sentence in bed. There you go. You'll be graced with a large popped tent in bed. Well, let me ask this. I'm assuming because TRT is a subject that always comes up. So is it typical for guys to just pretty much want to come to you so they can just immediately get on TRT? And again, there's nothing wrong with it. But how do you handle that?

Because it is very popular. It is something that you see a lot of not just fitness influencers doing, but a lot of guys just getting onto it. So how do you handle that whole topic in terms of getting on or what they should do beforehand? I try to provide as much education surrounding it as possible on Instagram and then get that discussion going. Because when women go through menopause, no one blinks an eye. It's like natural to go on hormone replacement. For guys, there's so many stigmas surrounding it, as you know. Like you're cheating, you're on steroids, it's going to kill you, all this stuff.

So all these questions I help filter through my Instagram but also in DMs. And a lot of guys really are very naive to the whole process and they don't know the difference between going through their GP or a company like Merrick who understands the whole process competently and how to go through that. So I do get a lot of guys who come to me specifically because of that hormone piece and they want to understand, is this something that they're a candidate for? You know, is it wrong for them to consider it if they're 29 or something like that? So there's a lot of those questions that come up because guys really don't know. Like, am I special or am I, you know, is something wrong with me? If I have symptoms when I'm in my 20s, that happens a lot too. And then guys are just curious because they've been told about it or they have a friend who went on it

or their GP has said, oh, don't go on it because, you know, cancer and heart attacks and stuff like that. So, yeah, testosterone has been like one of the deep dive subjects for me to help guys understand what they're getting into if they consider it. And the biggest thing that a lot of guys struggle with is the fact that it's for life. That's one of the biggest things. And it has to be for life? Yeah. Typically? Yeah.

Why? Because you're replacing a hormone that the body's not producing anymore. And they struggle with being reliant on something external like that. Which is weird because you would think it would be other things that they struggle with the most. Yeah. So, and out of all the clients that I've dealt with, anyone who's gone on TRT, nobody's been like, you know what? This isn't for me. Really?

Come off. Yeah. Okay. Just last question to kind of ask about that because I wonder, you know, somebody gets on TRT, their testosterone gets into a better place. Maybe they get into better shape because we had Pete Rubish on the podcast. You know what I mean? Do you know Pete Rubish? Okay.

So everyone knows who he is. He came off a bunch of things and he's trying to get his testosterone back for himself. But if a guy comes off testosterone after a while, is it just very difficult for him to start producing his own testosterone over a long period of time? Or is it just not worth it as a process? I think a lot of guys depends where they're starting. Okay. You know, so, and what happened beforehand. So say they experimented with PEDs or something when they were younger, and now they're

trying to rectify that situation. Different than if, say, somebody had symptoms, but maybe their testosterone wasn't super deep in the hole, like, you know, sub 200, sub 300 or whatever. And even some guys at 400, 500 is considered low, you know, even upwards of that. It's just such an arbitrary number. But I think it does depend on where they start. And then if they decide they want to try come off and see how they feel, they don't really feel great after, you know, and I tell them, I'm like, you can come off like it's not going to kill you if you come off. That is an option.

And I tell them, I'm like, you can come off. It's not going to kill you if you come off. That is an option. But don't expect that your natural production is going to jump back to where it was, which is suboptimal anyway, or exceed that. Because you also, say you were on for six months to a year, you're older now. That plays a part of it. So I think that has a lot to do with where they are in their lives and what they're dealing with too and stress and taking inventory of everything around them. I've definitely seen people go on and then come off just because like the inconvenience of taking shots and stuff like that.

And then there is a lot of like cat and mouse going on. Like you take the shot. You get some blood work done and there's some back and forth between you and a doctor. It's like a little bit of work. And then there's a lot of just like little things that are annoying like needles and like what to do with needles. And it's like a whole thing. For someone that's new who's never really tampered with any drugs before, you now have kind of a whole list of things to kind of be a little bit accountable for. So there is a little bit of like, I guess, there are parts of it that are a little like bumpy, I guess you'd say. And you sometimes take a bad shot and that can be really annoying.

Sometimes you take a shot and then you get your blood work done like maybe too close to when you – and so on and your testosterone is kind of through the roof. Some people get some scares because different people have different reactions to it. Their blood pressure might be high for a little while or something like that. But they're all things that you can kind of coach people around and through. Most of the side effects that people associate with testosterone in particular, normally the negative side effects come with larger dosages. Normally when you're in like a TRT range, I don't know if you're agreeing with this or not, but normally when you're in a TRT range and somebody is monitoring it, I'm not going to say that there's no side effects, but it seems like there's a lot less. It seems like they're minimized quite a bit. I think that also is dependent upon who is administering it.

So what type of clinic and or doctor, because there are still places that will prescribe one shot every 12 days or even once a month. Actually, the most abysmal one I heard the other day was 50 milligrams once per month. Where's that going to get you? Like you're almost better off not going on TRT because the time that for your next shot to come, like think of how you're going to feel with, you know, with that spike and that drop. So I think if guys get on a good protocol and they're able to inject, say, two to three days a week or maybe they like doing sub-Q every day. You know, I personally don't think it really matters that much. But if they feel good on a protocol like that, then it's definitely going to be different than if it's a larger dose once a week or over the course of a month or so.

But yes, I do think that additional side effects such as like higher blood pressure and even some heart palpitations that I've heard and again, their blood work as well, depending on how much they're taking can be different with higher doses for sure. Acne, maybe a little bit of hair growth and stuff. I think some of these things are things that we just, you know, for me, I was always just like, yeah, this is a part of it. Oh, yeah. And one of the most annoying things, because doctors don't think to tell guys of this, is the weight gain.

Like the acute weight gain from more water weight, obviously more androgens is going to— Your face blows up a little bit. Oh, my gosh. And these guys are like, I gained five pounds in two weeks. They freak out because guys freak out about the scale just like women do. And we're pegged as the ones who are psychos. Pegged. Excellent choice of words. i threw that in there for you you just got 200 points i don't know what that means the points but what do i win

win a dick just tip just tip that does have a little black in it right i love it yeah it has two little eyes two little cute little eyes. Oh, they're eyeballs. Yeah. I didn't see. I was trying to pick it off there. Oh, he's got eyes. I was trying to pick it off there.

And then it's little thing. It's got something on there. The little hole is the nose. There's no one who's going to humanize a boner more than me. Let's face it. That was interesting, the way you were rubbing that. Yeah. Not your first rodeo, I assume.

No, it is not. Oh, with mine come on guys hey hey things got a little weird there for a second i hope they get weirder oh they will they might maybe so how uh how about like managing expectations for some of these men you know like because i just i know that there's a lot of dudes that don't take anything that think that those that are on are like npc bodybuilders because they take you know 200 milligrams of testosterone a week um do you have to kind of like bring them back to reality and say like if once you start taking this you still need to put in some effort if you want to get you know xyz results oh yeah i mean let's let's think about what used to happen when somebody is in shape we used to say oh what nutrition approach or you know what program did you do

to get like that now it's like hey what's your stack yeah what's the protocol especially if the person's like over 40 you're like oh yeah the guy's on yeah because like the person commenting on that has no profile pic has 10 numbers in their profile username, probably doesn't lift. So they're coming at – like, every time I post a progress photo of one of my guys, what else is he on? I'm like, he's just on TRT. But he actually goes to the gym and – And SARMs and peptides. Yeah.

And other illegal substances. Some I put in the water bottle. But they think that automatically. And it's like at first I used to get so angry because it would dismiss all the hard work that these guys do. And I'm like, yo, look at their nutrition. Like they are dialing it in. These guys are pedantic about this shit. And you do have to manage the expectations for

the guys that think it's a panacea like oh i can just inject trt and i will look much better in the mirror and they think that it will solve all their problems and and that also leads to like it's swinging to the other extreme where guys take it and then they're like i have diarrhea is that from trt i have a headache is that from trt could diarrhea be from trt like not that i'm aware okay i mean you know anything's possible anything's possible yeah it's the equivalent of when you're helping somebody with a diet and you you um you know advise that they eat something quote healthy and then all of a sudden it's like oh i'm cramping up it's definitely that thing that you gave yeah like no dick it's like, oh, I'm cramping up. It's definitely that thing that you gave me. Like, no, dick, it's not that, I promise. But because now they're injecting something,

they're going to blame everything on it. 100%. That's interesting. Because that has nothing to do with, you know, maybe they drank their face off over the weekend or, you know, haven't gone to the gym in four days, like stuff like that. But it is tough to manage because there are guys who are like,

I've been on TRT for three months, I'm not jacked yet and it's like so what are you eating how do you train do you train hard enough like sleep yeah like you could sit on a couch you can inject all the trt and all the steroids you want you still are not going to morph into some muscular adonis. But there was that one study. Yes, and somebody will come at me for that. There was literally a study, right, that showed people gained significant amounts of muscle mass without training. Tons. This hasn't even aired yet

and they're in my DMs. Like, you know that. People are circling it. Oh my god, they love to come at me for that stuff sometimes. But it makes sense. I mean people gain muscle mass when you're a teenager. You gain muscle mass. You go through puberty, gain some size, gain some muscle mass.

And so it would make sense that if you take a little testosterone that you're going to gain some muscle. But I think what people maybe get confused is um it's not like perpetually right you know it it gives you a little boost it's a nice card to be able to play um but then you played that card and now you have to train and have to eat properly just like everybody else yeah you still have to put in the work you know and and telling them that uh you're not going to gain slabs of muscle in a very short time. If anything, it's going to help augment your recovery and help you focus and actually motivate to be there. Because most guys initially, they're dealing with brain fog and cognitive clarity going downwards and just not feeling that oomph. And I'm like, this is going to help you to be able to train harder.

But you still have to eat and train hard enough to be able to warrant muscle growth. But, you know, they just want to inject and then buy a Theragun and all this stuff to recover. I'm like, what are you recovering from? TRT. It's a popular topic. A lot of guys are hopping on it. It's something that we've talked about a lot. And you might think you're a candidate, but how would you know if you haven't got your blood work done and you don't know where your markers are? That's why we've partnered with Merrick Health owned by Derek from More Plates, More Dates. And the cool thing about Merrick is you'll get your blood work done and you'll also

have a patient care coordinator that can help you analyze your blood work, analyze your testosterone, all these other markers to help you actually figure out if you're someone who needs TRT, because there could be things that you could be doing nutritionally with supplements or even with your lifestyle that can boost your testosterone to the levels that they should actually be at. Andrew, how can they get their hands on it? Yes, that's over at MerrickHealth.com slash PowerProject. And at checkout, enter promo code PowerProject to save 10% off the PowerProject panel, the checkup panel, or any individual lab that you select. Again, that's at MerrickHealth.com slash powerproject,

promo code powerproject at checkout, links in the description, as well as the podcast show notes. You know, you mentioned earlier about the individual that worst case, some guy was taking 50 milligrams once a month, right? And you have a lot of people that maybe they're getting TRT from different places and they get different suggestions.

So what are best practices for frequency of when you should be getting that shot because i mean i even got the question from a guy at jiu-jitsu i'm like dude i don't know you know what i mean so what are the best practices for that me and mark just look at each other well i just know that guy that like that guy that's asking you he's like he's like fuck you and sema i know you know he goes into his car and he's like i can't believe that motherfucker just lies to me every day. He just will not tell me.

Like, why doesn't he like me? Please, bro. We know each other. He's trying to catch you so you'll slip. Ah. What are best practices? What are best practices? So the guys that are, you know, with other clinics or whatever, it's understanding.

All right. You were advised to take one shot a week. Cool. There are guys who can do that because there's always that one study. And is that a good thing? One shot a week? If they feel good. Honestly, it's like, why change it?

So it's more, do you feel like your symptoms have resolved? Cool. Maybe there's more optimal ways to look at this. Most dudes do well on twice a week. And I think from a compliancy standpoint, that's also very good because like you said dealing with needles is not really something everyone wants to handle unless they're on the cream um or they want to travel with it stuff like that but kids popping in and out of your room dogs and whatever the fuck else yeah like it's just needles everywhere you know like you don't want to deal with that like but like yeah the scrotal cream then has

you know its own challenges too and. And that's a daily application. But I would say helping them navigate that conversation is going to be crucial. If not, maybe be with a practitioner that understands why more frequent might be useful because there are a lot of guys where they're like, yeah, they won't switch. Or they think asking for increased frequency means asking for increased dosage. And it's like, no, you could actually split that dosage. That might actually help you feel better over the course of a week. So are you feeling better than you were? And I'm not talking like you just started TRT last week and we're talking a week later.

Like three to six months in, do you feel a difference? Cool. And obviously labs are useful, but symptom resolution is going to be like the priority. So what have you seen it do from a standpoint of someone's like mindset, maybe like, maybe not so much anxiety, but depression. Have you seen it be really useful in some people that you worked with? I know sometimes it's a touchy subject because people might need more advanced therapy and stuff like that beyond just taking a shot of testosterone or beyond they're getting their hormones right. But getting your hormones correct can definitely help make you feel a lot better.

Oh, my gosh. This is one of the best, as a coach, I would say transformation. would say transformation. When I have, when I start with a client and we get clients who were maybe like at most 25% body fat for guys. So they're not overly obese, but they're mostly trying to get jacked and shreddy and maybe went about it the wrong way. So a lot of these guys, they don't understand why they feel the way they feel. And they think maybe they're depressed. And usually the cycle goes well, if they actually go to the doctor, the doctor says, oh, it sounds like depression. Here's a pill. Or they're taking something else for anxiety or something like that. When in reality, they may just need some testosterone, but ancillary things such as therapy and maybe mindfulness, meditation and stuff. But when I get them to a point where they're in shape and healthy

and this approach to coaching, I've termed GPP for TRT to get a guy in the most resilient, healthy state possible so that TRT will work the best it can for him. So when they get into that shape and they're starting to improve naturally, when you exercise, you start to look better and feel better all of that's going to contribute to a more positive experience of just living and then when you add the testosterone and they become more confident and and just even over a zoom call sometimes just the way that they're talking to me is different and their whole demeanor i've sat back and i've been like, dude, listen to you right now.

Who are you? You're like this confident, like just the, and they don't even realize it. That to me is like mind blowing, you know? And it makes what I do very gratifying. So it's cool to see because it can be a game changer because I know how hard it is for guys to admit when something might be wrong and to actually have the courage to ask about it. Even just sliding in the DM sometimes is a step forward that they may not have taken before to handle their health because they know that they can't keep living the way that they're living. I think a lot of people played sports when they were young and they were, you know, you kind of had to practice in order to play and you got kind of yelled at a lot and you got reprimanded for messing around in practice and they made you run and all that kind of stuff. But when people are done with that, when they get out of high school, they

start to kind of lose some of those disciplines. Life kind of happens and you either go to school or you go to work or a combination thereof. And next thing you know, somebody gains 10 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds and so on. They start to kind of lose themselves and maybe they don't have that same bravado or same feeling of when they used to throw some touchdown passes when they were in high school. They don't feel as good about themselves because they look different and they're starting to kind of recognize and it starts to drag you down a little bit, I think, for a lot of people. So that's an interesting thing that I do believe testosterone can do for people. And I also think it's a little like nudge off the couch, you know, a little bit of like,

because if you, it may not be the thing that gets you off the couch. But if you can get off the couch and get yourself in motion, it feels like it's going to be something that's going to propel you forward faster than what you're used to. A hundred percent. And sometimes guys just need that. You know, they need that push. Anybody really needs that push sometimes. And I think we forget too like a lot of fitness professionals are like just get off the couch and go just do it you know like obviously very easy to say but it's in the administration we love it we love we love training so I mean yeah for us absolutely like Sam asked me

what I do for fun I'm like I lift because it's fun to me that's my time these people have no understanding of what that means, you know, and to get them to appreciate that now they have to identify as somebody they're not is a huge undertaking that I think doesn't go appreciated enough in the fitness industry. Because you're asking somebody who hangs out with people who are going to make fun of them for what they're doing, who are going to put them down and say, and Seema, why can't you just have one drink? Why can't you have one bite? Why can't you eat this with me? Mark, you're so boring. Like all of that, that's going to be thrown at them

and we have to warn them about that. And I tell guys, your social circle will probably change. That's okay. It's happened to a lot of us. You're going to fail in social settings. That's okay. You're going to build resilience. You'll start to be able to say no because you're going to feel so much better.

And then they're going to start asking you how you did what you did because they're going to think it happened overnight. And they're like, Ali, you were right. That happened. Like I went out with my friends. Or they'll have crippling anxiety over something social like the 4th of July because it's usually a lot of drinking and fireworks and preparing for them for that you know onslaught is huge and i think a missing component of what we as fitness professionals do because people really it's like bullying but in a social setting for adults yeah you know you know ellie have you or do you have any thoughts on the the link between like someone's behavior and their

testosterone because i would say that many of us here are lucky because we kind of happened to have any thoughts on the link between someone's behavior and their testosterone? Because I would say that many of us here are lucky because we kind of happened upon lifting when we were younger. My mom put me in sports and got me in the gym when I was young, and that was a habit that I had. So as I got older, whether I'd get stressed or when I just feel antsy maybe, I would exert myself. And it's something that's just continued to just be a habit of mine. And I think that those habits have had a positive effect on my body composition and testosterone. But many people who maybe they haven't had that habit from when they were young, or they haven't gotten into that type of lifestyle, I get how testosterone can be the thing that gives you a motivation because

literally your testosterone is going up. So you're going to feel probably a bit more vigor, a bit more motivation. But then I wonder, like, for the person that ends up changing their social circle because now they're more motivated, well, what if they found a way to change their social circle beforehand, before hopping on some TRT, right? And they get in some jujitsu, so their whole community is different, or they join a powerlifting gym, so their whole community is different. I would assume that that would probably also have, over a longer period of time,

a beneficial effect on their testosterone. I'm not saying TRT is bad. I don't think it's bad at all, but I do wonder if it's something that you're probably going to end up having to be on for the rest of your life, wouldn't you want to flip all the switches you can flip potentially before making that choice? What do you think about that? Yeah, I love that question. That does encompass like my GPP approach because I like to educate guys, like, listen, anything that you do from a health perspective, which includes changing your social circle or understanding how it might change, is part of building resilience for the rest of your life. And that's a big one. And I think that if you, there are studies actually, I don't know

them off the top of my head, but hanging around higher testosterone men does breed more of that from maybe guys who are a little bit lower. Yeah. I remember reading this. So I know it exists out there. I just can't – sorry. I can't pull it out right now. There is some sort of stat too even just, for example, being around people that make more money than you has like a 25% increase on your salary over time yeah so think little things like that being around people that

are maybe a notch you know above is a weird word but maybe they're maybe a little ahead of you of where you're at currently in your life totally really helpful think about entrepreneurship or very successful guys they end up feeling very isolated and alone because there's not a lot of people like that unless you go to something like a mastermind or you have friends who are in that, which tends to be when we travel to conferences or stuff like that. But I think getting them to understand who is around them and maybe it's been friends since childhood and stuff like that, it's almost like you can edit the relationships because this can happen with family as well.

So you can be around family that maybe they make you feel a certain way. You don't have to see them as much as you feel like you should just because they're blood. Same with friendships. Like, you know what? I'm going to keep this person at arm's distance. I'm going to handle them when we have,

you know, this group gathering, but I'm going to respect how that relationship exists as it is and it doesn't have to be anything more and you kind of accept how that person is because maybe they're triggered and they're making someone feel a certain way because they can't do what that person can do

and so finding more of people who are like-minded I think is huge, especially in adulthood it's so weird making friends as an adult because it's like, hey, I know you have your own clique, but can I be a part of that? Because we get along really well. But I'm 41 right now, so I don't know if that's allowed. But I'm constantly making newer friends wherever I go

because you find people that are in that same circle. So I think it's natural for guys to grow out of maybe the friendships that aren't serving them anymore. And I don't mean saying that you have to have transactional relationships from a friendship. But maybe it's not providing something positive to them. I think we've all been through that where people we were friends with maybe middle school, high school, you don't really talk anymore. Obviously social media is part of that. But I think the person that you – or the people that you surround yourself with has a huge contribution to how you shape yourself as a man.

What if that friend is more of a friend? I'm thinking like married men, you know, if they're going down one path and they have these habits, oftentimes their partner will have the same habits. But then the man jumps on TRT and starts changing quite a bit. Do you ever have to like counsel and like have that talk with some of your clients about like, hey, like maybe you might want to bring your wife on board with what you're doing now? Or like how does that conversation go if maybe the wife isn't on board? I love that because that happens a lot where the guy will go on TRT. He'll feel amazing. His sex drive will go through the roof. And he's like, can we get my wife to match me?

And I'm like, I'm not the women's health specialist, but she can go through Merrick Health as well and get her own workup done because it is important for a female to be optimized. And I tell them, and I'm very open that I've been on TRT for almost two years because they don't know that women can do TRT you know they barely know they can do trt they don't understand so i educate them women's hormones need to be optimized as well we can go through that and then yes she can match you so it's usually an educational curve for the women as well because they don't think oh well that doesn't really affect me until i hit menopause

and i'm like i'm 41 you know i'm on progesterone testosterone i don't think, oh, well, that doesn't really affect me until I hit menopause. And I'm like, I'm 41. I'm on progesterone, testosterone. I don't mind talking about it. And guys have said this is very helpful because I can tell my wife. And just from their perspective, even though I'm not a man, they're like, oh, so you make it more normalized by admitting that you're on it too. And then people still think, oh, well, that's why Allie looks the way she does. I think there's a lot of women right now on testosterone and people don't even really

know it. People don't know that that can be an effective approach for even females. And it doesn't have to have the negative sides that we sometimes tend to associate with testosterone. No, I'm on like, when I remember to inject, like maybe three to six milligrams a week, which is nothing, you know, some women milligrams a week, which is nothing. Some women are upwards of like 20, 25. So honestly, when I don't inject because I'm ADD and I'll forget, five days go by because I'm on propionate, which is a shorter half-life, I'm like, why am I so bitchy today? And then I'll just take an injection. I'm like, okay.

I think women are almost easier to convince in a way because I don't know, it just seems like you guys have gone through great lengths to look a certain way and present yourself a certain way every day. And so Ozampic and growth hormone and maybe just a little touches of this, this, and this

and you could look a little thinner, look a little more toned. Yep. Right? I mean, it a little more toned. Yep. Right? I mean, it can really help a lot. Do you not like that word? It's just a funny word. Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I know. I've had guys say that. I don't want to get jacked, you know, or big and bulky. I don't want to get too big. I have actually, golfers say that. Aside from women,

oh my God, I'm like, bro, goblet squatting 40 pounds twice a week. You're not going to explode into the Hulk They're like no, I trained before and my legs got huge and you're like no they fucking didn't

And they're like Tiger Woods is so big and I'm like for like JB Third String I mean, for who? I don't want to look like him In that HBO documentary they made Tiger Woods sound like the fucking Hulk They're like yeah, he was a beast out there.

He's big, but he's not big. Let's look at the population of golfers. Compare Tiger Woods to the rest of them. All right, I get what you're saying, but to say that he is way too jacked, I mean, shit. Come on. I would laugh at that all the time because I'm like, you guys sound ridiculous. Yeah. I can't get too big.

It's going to ruin my golf swing. And I'm like, really? I see you, like I said, twice a week and you're playing golf six days a week? Yeah. Okay. God forbids your chest grows and your stomach shrinks. Right. I mean, we're all trying to get bigger.

Could be terrible. You know, yeah. God forbid you fill out your shirt. They make the golf shirts in a fitted way like it's supposed to fit. I digress. Earlier you mentioned a scroll cream, right? And I've heard

Andrew talk about pellets, right? So there's different, there's injections, there's pellets, there's creams. Why would someone decide to go in each specific route and how effective are they there's nasal sprays there's trochies there there's yeah there's pills now there's there's a lot of different methods um i think guys who choose the cream over the needles probably because they

don't want to deal with needles they're more comfortable using a cream especially with traveling even though they don't really care like people will like take your salt from TSA before they'll even look at your needles. They think you're just a diabetic because that's America. Yeah. So with the cream, it's a lot more absorbent on the scrotum. So there are creams that you can do on your arm and all of that stuff, but it's eight times more permeable on the scrotum given that you shave the scrotum. So you got to make it look pretty scrotox it up a little bit, you know, does have a higher dht component so if libido is of concern there are some doctors that might utilize the cream first to give the guys that initial drive and if they have no issues with applying twice a day cool they're good to go injections

tend to be very easy and you can change the dosage quite easily as well. They're cheaper than creams traditionally. Pellets are what I would consider more of a suboptimal delivery method as would many practitioners that I've dealt with. Just from the fact that you can't really control the dosage or change it and it's invasive. So if you know it's a tic-tac size thing that gets implanted into your glute. Some people do well for like three, four months and then there's this crash. So it's not like you can up the dose the next day. Yeah.

So it's a little bit more invasive than that. And they're very expensive. So it is better if a guy will choose to go injection or the cream route. You also mentioned nasal sprays and something, a trochee. There's nasal sprays. There's trochees that like you put under sublingually, stuff like that. Very small amounts. Depends on what pharmacy you're dealing with.

Stuff like that. They've used, there's suspension that's come in trochees, but I don't think you can get those anymore. Injections and creams. You got something, Andrew? No, I was just going to ask. You said there was even like an oral, other than the trochee. Did you say that there was like, you can take capsules now yes of testosterone and decwini which is the longest lasting ester it's like a month so i don't know much about it i just know that there's a

pharmacy that just um manufactured it recently that's supposed supposedly not you know liver toxic but who knows they're trying to you, you have to create all these alternative delivery methods when something that you naturally produce can't be patented, really. I think kind of back to Nseema's question about building these habits and surrounding yourself with maybe individuals that have the same goals. You know, if you need to lose weight, you surround yourself with individuals that want to lose some weight, probably be really helpful. I'm trying to build the habits and stuff like that. It's great. I mean, there's books you can read, there's YouTube videos, there's podcasts, like there's so many things where you can start to ingest that information, but there's a lot of people just like in really, really bad shape. There's a lot of folks that are like, I think we're, we're kind of talking a little bit

about kind of, uh, you're, you're mentioning some of the people being like 25% body fat and they're just kind of, they, they want that like extra boost, you know? Right. But there's people that, you know, they have a really bad back or really bad knees. Um, they've been 50 or a hundred pounds overweight for five years, 10 years. They haven't, you know, getting up a flight of stairs is going to be really hard. So it is interesting. Like, where do you start someone like that off?

It's, it's obviously it's on an individual basis, but if you're trying to think about it, like logically, you're like, yeah, it would be a good idea just to get this person to be able to like, you know, walk to their mailbox and be able to walk back, get around like-minded people. All these things would be great. But the odds of that person being able to do any of those things is very, very low. It's very close to zero. And that's why we have such an obesity epidemic and dealing and helping people over the years that are obese. I've seen this happen many, many times and they ask about TRT and I'm thinking like,

you're a heavy person. TRT is almost going to just like blow you up. But it is going to be a thing that is going to help to be a motivator. So it's like, let's just break out the toolbox because you're in a lot of trouble and we need to figure out how to navigate this. So let's throw some testosterone at this let's throw some ozampic at it let's let's uh you know let's do this and let's do it in a in a reasonable way where you're not like

when i start to communicate with somebody i will pass them over to steven granzella and i'll say you know go talk to smoky he works with merrick get hooked up with good people that know what they're talking about, that know what they're doing, and let's see if that's going to be something that would even be prescribed to you in the first place because I can't prescribe anything. I wish I could. That would be great.

At first I thought this was something prescribed. Oh, can you pass that to me? That's Tren. Tren and... This is a mind bullet. Creative. Power Project family, if you're trying to increase your muscle mass if you're trying to lose body fat if you're trying to stick to nutrition plan if you're trying to get fit pretty much if there's anything you're trying to do for your health

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And I've been getting the best sleep of my life. Now, if you don't want to replace your mattress, you can just get the Pod Pro cover and you can put that over your current mattress to get all the benefits of Eight Sleep. But if you also need to replace your old nasty mattress, you can get the Pod Pro cover and the Eight Sleep mattress. Andrew, how can they get it? Yes, you guys got to head over to eightsleep.com slash powerproject and you guys will automatically receive $150 off of your order. Again, eightsleep.com slash powerproject. Links to them down in the description as well as the

podcast show notes. It's interesting because it can be a double-edged sword sometimes because their body is highly inflamed, highly unhealthy, and you're adding a hormone that doesn't want that hormone in it into it. However, like you said, it can be the impetus for them to actually get off that couch and be motivated to do something. So I think I'm actually one of the, on the side of the

fitness professionals that does not hate on things like Ozempic and stuff like that for that reason. Yes, of course, we all want everyone to understand that it's not the easy way out and it's not you know the be all end all how long have we been educating people to do the right thing they have enough information obviously if we continue to bombard them with do this do that exercise all that stuff like they're not they're not listening obviously so if this helps them want to do something because it takes the weight off because their joints feel better and they can walk to the mailbox again, which is a huge feat and might be zone two cardio for somebody, let's have at it. And framing this person's mindset as this is a goal for you and make it a competition at least with men because

men like competition so i give them you know i'll give them competitions like mini ones for steps if they are very overweight which i always thought was like strange because you know you think 10 years ago like counting steps that's so weird but now that can be a goal like i want you to get you know 500 more than last week and stuff like that can absolutely help, which is so weird to think about because when we grew up, like we didn't have that. I always talk about how in the 80s, our TVs, we had to physically get up to change the channel. And there was like 13 channels and you had to like hit it and stuff like that. And in the car – Sometimes stand next to the TV just to get it that and in the car i was standing next to

the tv just to get it to come in yeah i don't know why with tinfoil and shit like that or nintendo shit even i had a remote damn that's wow y'all really were going through it it's a long time ago we had to very stressful you'll be blown away about about this but we actually had to reach on the other side to undo the car window. I remember that. I think my first car I had, yeah. And cars had two keys. So you had to walk on the other side to unlock the other door.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, I didn't know. And the phone was against the wall. Like you couldn't leave the wall. And you had to do this to dial it. I never used a phone like that. Yeah, that is ancient. Yeah, exactly. There's videos of kids like this to dial it. I never used a phone like that. Yeah, that is ancient. A rotary, yeah. Yeah, exactly. There's videos of kids trying to attempt it, and it's all fucked up, and they don't know what they're doing.

And then you had to stalk people physically, like in the bush. Oh, yeah. Not on Facebook. Yeah. You couldn't just look at their story, find out where they were, then stalk them that way. Exactly. That's the best way to do it. I remember my dad, I mean, this was like a wireless phone, but my dad would just pick

up the phone and just start dialing. Yep. And sometimes I would be on it. I'd be like talking to my friend. So embarrassing. Or somebody called the house. But he'd be like, beep, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. And I'm like, I'm on the phone.

He'd be like, how? I'm like, I'm upstairs. Or? Or he's like, was like what or he would be like what are you doing at the store why'd you pick up the store phone yeah i'm trying to call cvs what the fuck you doing there yeah so confused allison allison what do you do mom get off the phone is like mortifying with the one phone line and then all that you remember call waiting like that was like oh my god we can see who's calling us and avoid them star 69 star 69 baby yeah can call people back dial up yeah like when you pick up the phone and then the internet connection would just be off yep yes yes that was frustrating that was very frustrating i remember when i got a cell phone and you know you have your your voicemail box right like it's just to go straight to voicemail

you never hear it until the message is recorded and done my mom would leave me messages like andrew it's your mom pick up i'm at the house pick up the phone i needed i'm like mom i i don't i can't hear these until it's already sent it's not an answering it's not an answering machine which i used to be the voice on our home answering machine to bring those back answering machines were dope mark how old were you when you had your first cell phone oh I don't know I don't I don't recall any of this yeah it's been in your 20s yeah right yeah like I think I was 17 coming out of high school and like you had to ask people if they had texting and then like to text one letter took like three key presses and it was a nickel per text yeah I remember to text one letter took like three key presses. And it was a nickel per text. Yes.

I remember to send one was a nickel. To send one, it was a nickel. Yeah. It was crazy. The whole point of that tangent was the fact that we don't move like we're supposed to. We literally can sit on the couch, press buttons, and order food, a wife, a husband, whatever you want to come to your house. Sit in diapers. I mean, literally.

So we don't have to do anything physically anymore. And that's what contributes to people being so. What's the site for a wife? What's the website? Smokey. I do have a question on the line of what Mark was mentioning about CRT. And individuals are very overweight because you did mention how some people get high blood pressure. Right.

And I would assume that if you're on a higher dose, the likelihood of getting higher blood pressure would be higher. So if someone is very overweight, they do have a high resting heart rate and they do want to get on TRT, what are some things that they need to think about if they're already getting on or beforehand? What are some health things that they need to think about so they can get handled so that they don't have to deal with any type of heart issues? If they're not doing any type of aerobic work, now would be the time. The single best way to bring down blood pressure, to bring down resting heart rate, and to facilitate just better endothelial function overall, aerobic work, which has also taken its own pendulum swinging in our

industry because it used to not be cool. It's making a comeback. So now if you say, hey, I'm doing like upper zone one or zone two or conversational, like as you know, marathon training, stuff like that, making the comeback to be cool again because it is a health promoting thing. But it allows us to build more mitochondria, which we all remember in high school is powerhouse of the cell. It's the only thing we remember. But that allows us to use more carbs and fats for energy because we make energy in the mitochondria.

But aerobic work is a great way to build that. And so that allows us to recover more, to sleep better, to eat more, all of that stuff. But just guys are afraid that, you know, their muscles are going to fall off and lose all their gains and everything. So it's educating them on how that's not going to happen. Maybe if you're an ultra endurance athlete, you never lift, you might lose some muscle mass. But doing aerobic work could actually make you more anabolic by allowing you to recover better and faster. And that would be my number one, because usually they're not doing any form of aerobic work.

And like you alluded to, it could be walking to the mailbox, which could be taxing for somebody and walking alone. Like if you look at your heart rate while walking, some guys, they're below 100. Some guys are like 120. That's, you know, upper, that's low zone two, upper zone one. Like yeah you know upper that's low zone two upper zone one like you know that's healthy and i would assume that if uh somebody's just getting their testosterone from a low reading to a modest reading or in a high to optimal range i guess you'd say um that there's again there's probably not an issue

with blood pressure, even if the person is heavy. Again, I'm just, I'm making an assumption, I guess if they were to gain body weight, then maybe their blood pressure would go up a little bit further. But I would, I would think that if you're, if you're taking somebody from a low testosterone standpoint and just getting them, they go from 200 to 600, really shouldn't see like their blood pressure being all jacked up. Yeah. And that would be something also for the medical provider to assist with. And I'm a big fan of people taking their blood pressure at home and getting a Bluetooth cuff or something so that they can monitor it.

And so as they progress with what exercise program I implement, what is that looking like down the road? Are we improving? Is this something useful? That's why I love Merrick because they understand that side, the exercise side, all the aspects of health aside from just the pharmaceutical route, and then getting somebody in that position to be healthy and resistant. Because we do want guys to see that they do have to do this work despite if they're injecting or not. How about the sides of like acne?

Guys that do get acne, is there any, have you found any solutions to that? Because I think Andrew was able to figure out some things recently. But do you know of anything people can do? Because some people, that's a big issue. Yeah. So some guys, if they had acne as a kid badly, they might get it again as an adult if they go on testosterone. Keeping liver health in check, glutathione, injectable glutathione is tremendous for that.

I use that. If I start breaking out, then I'll, you know, oh, yeah, glutathione is just another injection. Yes, but it's not as frequent as other stuff. And then there's topicals and just like general hygiene because men tend to when they shower they hit the armpits and then they hit this pit and that's it so you know teaching yeah yeah teaching hygiene in general it's a good thing you get a scrubber for the back yeah yeah you know when you're a meathead you can't get behind there someone has to yeah and you know if someone's off duty or you weren't going to press the button and hire somebody

to come over and help you shower there's a button I will give you guys links to all these services the wife the husband the shower

thank you post show throw it in the show notes the table shower that Stan Efferding used to use after the training sessions it's been a while

I vaguely remember I know it was inappropriate but no it was inappropriate. No, it was appropriate. I love inappropriate. What's a table shower? Yeah, what is that? It's when you lay face down on a table and you spread your butt cheeks open

and they wash your butthole for you with a hose. Where? Why? It's part of a massage. Two very different responses. I guess I would say why not. It sounds great. Yeah, just would say one. Sounds great. Just a happy ending massage, Paula.

Is everyone here? I don't know why you guys are stiffening up so much. There's nothing else to do around here. Stan used to say it after every training session. I just kind of always thought he was kidding around. So one time I was like, hey, where are you going? He's like, I tell you every time I'm going to get this table massage and table shower and I'm like oh he really does do that that's what he's actually really tried it I've never tried it would you like to I'm not offering

but I think I'd get kicked off the team well I mean there's a table right here I have not I'm okay not I'm okay with that i'm good with that sounds interesting though i mean if i went to a massage parlor and it happened that's one thing i mean i mean that listen there's treatments at these spas that we just there we call it off the menu i mean my neck is i was hoping to get my neck worked out but our boy chris elkins that's coming onto the podcast he knows a few spots. Truly, he does. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm no help when it comes to that. Sacramento. Unbelievable place. Who knew? But, Andrew, you said that there's some stuff as far as tests that's been helping out you, and I have never heard that before. Well, I'm still trying to figure it out because, so, like, I mean, through puberty and whatever, when you start to get acne, like I had a little bit.

It was never an issue for me. Like I never looked in the mirror and be like, I don't want to go to school because I have pimples and stuff. Like I do not have that story. And then growing up, I never washed my face. I never paid attention to any of it. I worked on cars and I would just like rub oil and dirt on my face and laugh because I never got acne ever. Start taking testosterone and then poof my back just lights up and you know it's I again even with that I didn't really care too much because

it's on my back like no big deal but then for jiu-jitsu as we're bowing out somebody's like oh dude somebody bled all over your back and as soon as you said that I'm like dude I know exactly what happened like I popped like a nasty zit or something on the mat. And so I got this big old gross spot on my back. So then I became really like self-conscious about it. So again, I'm still figuring it out. But something that I've learned is that when I'm taking tests that's in grapeseed oil, that's what I'm starting to break out. And then when I switch to MCT oil, then it seems to be clearing up.

But it could be coincidence. I'm not 100 100 sure because it hasn't even been a full month but i can visually see through pictures that like oh it's absolutely clearing up along with some other things you know like the hygiene stuff that i was talking or that and sima was talking about that i have now started doing because of this like before i just didn't you know a little bit of water here and there were good. But now with all of it in conjunction with the MCT oil, it's like, oh, I think we're actually on to something finally. Yes, that totally slipped my mind. A lot of guys have allergic reaction to the grapeseed and more pharmacies are making it with the MCT oil.

Mine's an MCT oil. So, yeah, because I when I first went on, I went on test sip and I broke out a lot. And I was like, this is awful. And the water retention, I just couldn't deal with. And then I got on prop and it's mixed with MCT. So much better. But, yeah, a lot of guys. Usually, or they'll have like a site reaction that's different from just them maybe not using uh like or cleaning the area or not

injecting properly and then that can be from the oil too but yeah so what's the difference between sipionate and propionate so sipionate's half-life is a lot longer like five days and propionate's like around two just a different ester shorter half-life so for me being a woman and injecting like three to six milligrams it's like literally like a tick mark on the little insulin needle so very rarely would i have a sight reaction or anything it was just more like the acne and what are some uh what are some maybe blind spots that people have i mean we know with trt that a lot of times you're going to get prescribed testosterone if it's appropriate but what are some other things that can really be helpful

and just kind of help people in a way that maybe they didn't think of before? Like as far as prescription? As far as any of it, like whether it's a recommendation for vitamins or minerals or if it's a recommendation for like carnitine or any of these kind of like things that aren't necessarily pharmaceuticals. Glutathione, I mentioned like that. That one's really great. Very powerful antioxidant. Vitamin D, I think, you know, people that live in Florida, still deficient.

So I think that one can really help, especially with immunity as well. A lot of people forego multivitamin just because it's not exciting. And I think that that can be very powerful because it literally covers a lot of bases if you have a high-quality one. We're not talking like one a day. The gummies are delicious, I know. But honestly, a true good multi is going to be more than one capsule. So it's going to be multiple times a day. And I think guys don't like taking a lot of supplements.

So the less is better. So it's the order of priority and what we want to accomplish. So most of my guys, creatine, vitamin D, a multivitamin, fish oil. And then if they're willing to do glutathione or carnitine, cool. Throw that in. I think that's helpful. Anything else beyond that could be something specific that they're dealing with for themselves. But I think there are a lot of different – or tadalafil too for endothelial health.

And they all think that that's just for their boner. And it could actually be for longevity and health too and blood flow and a pump. How much of that? Because there's like different dosages for Tadalafil. Like five to ten. Five to ten. Yeah. Yeah.

Daily. Most guys take five to ten for endothelial function and health. So the ED dose would be more upwards of ten to twenty. Got it. Power Project Family, we talk about beef and meat all the time on the podcast. That's why we partnered with Certified Piedmontese Beef. and me all the time on the podcast. That's why we partnered with Certified Piedmontese Beef.

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Fuck yeah! About things like growth hormone, Anovar, like there's a whole list of like other things that can get prescribed potentially. Yeah. So it's in Florida, you can get a prescription for anything. Like literally, I think in Wawa, they have like clinics and stuff. So a lot of guys ask about Anovar and I think they ask very early about it. They literally just go on TRT and I think the kids call it TRT plus where you're having TRT plus other things. And then there's like sports TRT. There's all these terms that have gotten thrown around. So

they're like, do I need Anovar? And I'm like, well, I don't think anyone has an Anovar deficiency, but why are you asking me that? And they're like, well, I want to look harder. And I'm like, cool. How long are we in with the training right now? Like how long have we given training and eating a chance before we go there? I want them to dial in their TRT. So if we add too many things at once, we're not going to know what is doing what. So if we want to look at that, then that can be a consideration when we've reached symptom resolution. We've given enough time and enough time in the gym to eating and training the way that we've set up. That's huge because they get so impatient.

And I get like TRT is exciting. But then once you go on the internet and then you start watching YouTube and then you hear all these guys doing all these other things and it's like let's do one thing at a time. And I get it. I'm impatient hell I'm like you know I want everything yesterday too and that's kind of our society but like Andrew and I were talking about how teenagers these days instead of going to the gym and giving themselves a few years of eating and training it's like oh what's arms I parents be like, yeah, my son wants to take this RAD something. And I'm like, oh, my God. Like, let's not go there.

Let's learn how to train first. Let's learn how to go to the gym. You know, we didn't have SARMs when we were growing up. So, like, we barely had internet. Do you have people stay away from SARMs generally? Or is there a time when you have anybody utilize any of those? I have not personally. Yeah. I don't have any guys who have used it. Any specific reason? it or if they have they used it on their own before they came to me yeah and they feel that that might have messed them up how so like how

do you like how have you seen it potentially mess anybody up hpta access dysfunction or maybe they have like super low lh uh they have really low testosterone low thyroid something's going on so or high prolactin just like labs are just not right for everything that they're trying to do from a training and eating standpoint and lifestyle standpoint i'm like we have to get this figured out so i've seen some weird shit guys have like super low everything and they've never touched an anabolic, but they've done things like SARMs and stuff. So I have a question kind of when Mark asked about like any type of supplementation or whatever, um, Adam Hotchkiss went over my blood work on air and then he suggested I take P I P P five P for free test. So I've been taking that, uh, inconsistently, but I've been, I've been using

that. So are there any supplements that you think would be beneficial based off of somebody's, whether it's their free testosterone, their total anything, are there any supplements that you think actually move the needle for people outside of what you just mentioned? I think if they're deep in the hole and they're deficient in a lot, like there is a correlation on studies with vitamin D and low testosterone. Like I think something like that. I think the expectation that guys think is that it's going to go from 250 to 950, and they're going to feel a difference. Same with all the test boosters on the market and stuff like that.

I think it can bring you to a place of better function that you may not necessarily feel. And I think that we're used to cracking ourselves out pre-workout and like, we want to feel it. So if they don't feel something with supplements, which rarely people do, then it must not be working. But I think that very few things can bring you to a place where maybe a full symptom resolution and testosterone is needed. Because there are a lot of guys that don't want to go that route or they're afraid of it for reasons we were talking about before. And also along with that, what is a true replacement dose? I know it depends on where guys are as far as their testosterone, but you, I think you mentioned this Mark, like you see guys who are like, I'm on TRT and they're on some big doses. Like it's not

TRT at that point. It's just a lot of testosterone. So what does replacement look like generally? You're right because there are guys that will start at like 75 and then they'll kind of cruise and titrate up and reach maybe 100, 150 weekly. I do have guys who are on 300 and they titrated up to that to achieve full symptom resolution. Okay. I think legally practitioners can prescribe maybe 400 milligrams. I don't know anyone who's at that level. Yeah. But I think when they've achieved, again, I keep saying symptom resolution, but say,

you know, an example of that, they felt pretty depressed. They felt very lethargic. They had very low motivation, low libido, just low drive for life. Once they've gotten to a place where they feel more like themselves, maybe they're sleeping better, they're recovering better. Cool. We've reached a point where maybe we can stay there. Very few people are beyond the 300 milligram, but I think most guys are mostly in the 100, 250, maybe 200. Some clinics start at 200. I'm like, no. Again, where somebody is contextually matters.

But is this a trick question that was asked to you? No, no, no. But I do wonder, do you find that there are any issues when guys do go high? Like, let's say they go 400, 500, because a lot of people, they want to end up going higher, right? Are there any things that end up happening when guys do that

that they need to be mindful of? Because there are many people who will pull that trigger and just send it. Yes. Blood pressure, as you mentioned before, they may feel more anxious. That's a big thing is guys who have anxiety or have had anxiety, if they go that high, it can amplify it a little bit. But beyond that, I think they just have to be mindful of how they're feeling physically. If they're starting to get out of breath, what are their labs looking like?

Is this helping everything else or is it hurting? Because labs are a snapshot in time that's going to tell you how everything else is affected. So is this doing something positive for us or not so much? But I don't have any guys who have been in that lane, so to speak, beyond 500 plus. Most of my guys have come to me either experimented or they're curious about TRT, they're afraid of it, or they think they could benefit from it. And I think two clients I have who are 250 and one is 300 okay do you know if like a true TRT dose you know again for the person this person beat me if it would affect your cholesterol because the last two guests that we had on Stan

efforting Simon Hill both kind of scared the shit out of me with my cholesterol levels but I was wondering if the information, the data that they have is from just like general population, but that general pop's probably not on TRT. And since I am, I'm wondering if that has any bearing on some of those numbers. It usually improves it. Okay. So it doesn't make it worse. No, it'll improve. Other things can make it worse, but testosterone definitely can improve it. You're speaking from a standpoint of

somebody having low testosterone to having more normal testosterone. But if you have high testosterone, like my understanding is if you take a lot of testosterone, for example, it can be really detrimental to your cholesterol oh yeah sorry i'm not saying i'm not saying that he takes a lot i'm just saying like that's usually what we see so there if you get someone in a healthy

range like and you uh said you were in like 800 or a thousand or something like that right yeah so that shouldn't cause problems with cholesterol, right? And also, too, there's other tests now that they have for determining true cardiovascular risk for somebody having to do it. I think Stan mentioned it, actually. It's a contrast with dye. I've gotten it done, where it determines the type of plaque that you have, if it's sticky, soft, hard, all of that, which I have a very good lipid profile, but I still wanted to understand what my true risk was, and I'm green light. But there are guys that I've had get that done where their history, family history is atrocious, and they have horrible lipids,

but they're clear as far as plaque and everything else. So it doesn't always add up what's on paper versus what you can see on some of the more extensive testing that they do now. So it's not the entire picture. And if that's the true worry for somebody from a cholesterol, cardiovascular standpoint, then I would definitely maybe look into more extensive testing

if that's a concern for sure. Sounds good. How about frequency of testing? Because one thing I noticed with a lot of young guys is I've talked to a few guys and they're just like, yeah, I don't necessarily want to get my blood work done because they don't want to see what's going on. They are like, we'll talk to them and be like, oh, yeah, I'm going to get it done soon. Two months later, yeah, I'm going to get it done soon. And it's like you really are trying to stay away from what might be going on underneath the hood, right?

So how often do you think people should be trying to get some blood work done? If they're not on TRT, I would say at least twice a year, you know? Yeah. I'm a fan of that. Some people usually once. If you go on TRT, then it's going to be more often depending on the clinic as well, because you have to do follow-ups and stuff like that. But yeah, guys don't want to, like, it's literally something they don't want to confront, similar to logging their food. They just don't want to, like it's literally something they don't want to confront. Similar to logging their food. They just don't want to know. They want to be ignorant to that. And I'm like, well, this is something

that's going to really help you. With my coaching, I wrap it in to that. So they go through Merrick as part of the process of health. Like this is only going to help you get to the end result. So painting that picture, and I think they might be conditioned to blood work being negative and always associating it with negative because conventional medicine and maybe being sick would warrant you getting labs.

Or they had a loved one who maybe had cancer. That's how they found out was the cancer marker on initial labs. You never know what someone's trigger is going to be. So it's understanding that too instead of like, you know, don't be a baby. Just go get it done. You know, it's like, all right, well, why are you avoiding this? Like what's the real reason? Similar to someone saying, you know, I just don't have time or I can't afford it.

Finances could be a reason. But like what is underlying as to why you're actually avoiding it? What's the psychology? If I physically take you, will that help? what is underlying as to why you're actually avoiding it what's the psychology if i physically take you will that help and i actually offered to help set up the mobile phlebotomist too someone can come to your house it's that easy so you don't have to worry about going and waiting and you know not knowing what's going on you have someone come to your house you roll out of bed boom no one has to see you you know and you don't even have to see your labs if you don't want to.

So they'll send them to you, but you don't have to look at them. I'll look at them. Your physician will look at them, Merrick Health Coach. But you don't have to worry about it if you really don't want to. So there's that too. What's your exact role with Merrick Health? So I use them for my coaching program. So say you wanted to coach for me, with me, then I'd be like, cool, Mark, what's your goal?

And you'd be like, yeah, I want like a 16 pack. I'm like, cool, let's do that. Have you ever gotten labs done? Most guys have not, or they're curious about the process of TRT. And it's a beautiful process where you get your labs done, you get a requisition, you go to a local lab core, like I said, you can have a mobile phlebotomist, you get your labs finished, you have your call

with one of the Merrick health coaches, and then you can move forward with one of the physicians. And then I am involved where I can be privy, obviously based on permission for the client to look at the labs, to be in touch with the doctor as well. And I can also say like Dr. Hotchkiss, for example, we share clients. I'll be like, Adam, this is what we're doing from a nutrition standpoint. So this might be reflected on his labs. This is what we're doing from a training standpoint so that you can know that I'm going to take care of, you know, any issues if there's insulin resistance or stuff like that shows up. So, or this guy might be pre-diabetic. Don't worry. I'm on it. I'm handling it. So then they think that I'm on the same page as the doctor, which I am, and that they feel more

comfortable because they have that full team approach, which I love. And I've been trying to get to happen for years. So they've been a fantastic company to work with because they understand somebody who is more athletic and more proactive. You know, like if you lift the day before, you might have higher liver enzymes and stuff like that. That's not always understood. It takes a lot for a guy to go to the doctor or get his labs done as it is. And now he's going to be dismissed and be told that, you know, oh, you have to go get a liver ultrasound when you just had a hard leg day the day before, you know. So it's nice because I don't have to worry about that stuff.

Whereas in the past, I used to have to worry about all these things that they were being told that I'm like, oh my God. And I'm not a doctor. So of course, with the food chain, you know, they're going to listen to the doctor. And generationally, there are a lot of people that still do everything their doctor says, a lot of people that still do everything their doctor says, which, you know, again, is a case-by-case basis. But having Merrick to be able to provide that team approach is awesome. And the client feels so much better.

Because when everyone's on the same page, it's just a lot easier. Can you imagine, like, he's your doctor, I'm your trainer, he's saying one thing, I'm saying another thing. It puts you in a bad position. And it's awkward. And it's just the client doesn't want to be, you know, playing mediator. Yeah. You're getting treated like a pro athlete, having a whole team of people that are on the same page, helping you. A hundred percent. It's great. And it's, it's awesome. The education they provide and, you know, clients like that I'm

associated with them and that I work with Merrick because they have seen all the info online and they're like, oh, yeah, like I love what they provide content wise and everything like that. And they also walk the walk and talk the talk, you know, so that's important, too, because you don't want to be dealing with professionals that maybe aren't about the same type of lifestyle as you, which is huge. about the same type of lifestyle as you, which is huge. I'm wondering, have you been paying, and is there anything that you do for clients that may have an elevated ApoB? Because that's a panel or that's a marker that from the past few shows has been coming up a lot. Is that something that you pay attention to

or is there recommendations that you have for athletes who are on TRT and have a high ApoB? I will ask them like their family history and the direction they want to go. And usually talking with some of the Merrick doctors, if we want to do more extensive testing. Yeah. And there's a cardiologist that I associate with as well that can do that. Like the test we were talking about.

Got it. Yeah. So if that's of concern. Yeah. So I try not to blur the line too much. I play doctor on TV or on TV, on social media. But my strength is in reading the hormones and understanding the relationship facilitation with them because clients don't really always know the questions to ask or if they should ask questions. Gotcha.

I'm curious about this. Since you work with so many men, I don't necessarily know the age range of the guys you work with. this since you work with so many men i don't necessarily know the age range of the guys you work with but i remember when i was working with a lot of guys where there was online and in person they'd always have like that person that they wanted to look like for a lot of guys in my generation like oh yeah man i want to look like a dbz character from dragon ball z and then there's a trend of like guys are like yeah you know brad pick fight club that's what i want to look like so for you is there a trend in what you see that guys want to like have the looks that they want to have or just what's that look?

I like that. Cause I asked that on my intake form. Ah, okay. And the reason I do is because of the golfers. Cause like sometimes there'll be like, you know, I don't want to be too jacked.

And I'm like, what does that even mean? So like, show me a photo. Well, like high green. Like what the, don't do that to me.

He's, I mean, he, he's not even a person to them. Like they, they can't fathom like getting that big. Like if that happened overnight to them, like I would be like, yo, what are you doing? Because I have a whole lineup of guys that would love that.

So I ask that because for me, if you want to get dick skin lean, listen, that process is a lot different and a little bit more restrictive than somebody who's like, I just want some abs to show. more restrictive than somebody who's like i just want like some abs to show yeah so if they say i want to be shredded i think dick skin they might think like ryan reynolds you know or like just not having a typical what would be perceived as a dad bod they want some abs to show so i will get ryan reynolds quite often and the way he looks um and I think that he is lean with tone. A bit of muscle, yes. With tone, right? Yeah. Sometimes they'll pull Instagram people,

send me an Instagram photo of people. I don't know who they are, but like some, you know, fitspo person. But the trend has drifted from skinny Shreddy, like David Beckham or Ryan, to more like bubbly shreddy.

And I would say that that would be somebody who is more filled out and put the time in with training and eating. Yeah. And I'm realistic with them. I'm like, great. Do you want to know the realistic process for this is not going to be one year. It's going to be multiple years. Or like The Rock is 6'5", and he's like 270. That's easy. Like, yeah. It's not going to happen multiple years. Or like The Rock is 6'5", and he's like 270. That's easy.

Like, yeah. It's not going to happen, buddy. But guys will ask, well, how long would it take to look like The Rock? And I'm like, okay, how about we not? You know, pick somebody else.

But I think people underestimate what they can accomplish in multiple years. Yeah. You know, and they don't realize how long it takes. And I tell them, listen,, when you entrust in a coach or somebody to take you through the process,

see it as a long-term thing. Don't put a start and end point to it. You're changing your lifestyle. You're changing everything about you. If you really want to look a certain way, this is the commitment. If you want some abs to show, this is the commitment. If you want that to last

the rest of your life, there's a lot we have to change. There's a way to do it sustainably. And I think that's the misconception. I think a lot of guys see a lot of the guys with veins and, you know, bubbly muscles and stuff. And they're like, what is he on? What do I have to take? And I'm like, you just need to put the time in. How often do you have guys ask you guys? I mean, shit. How long have you been lifting? Forever.

Yeah. Yeah, 17 years. Okay. So talk to me in 17 years, right? But I started lifting at 15. but I started lifting at 15. And if I actually stayed with that, like throughout my entire life, like being consistent,

I probably would be even bigger or whatever. People don't start in high school though. They start looking at SARMs in high school or they don't even have physical education as much, you know, and being in the gym, there's the proficiency of lifting that has been lost as well. And you know what? I found this more with online coaching. I trained people in person for almost 20 years. And when I switched to online, I was like, fuck, it's so hard to get people to train intensely and for them to understand what that means. understand what that means but also i i have a lot of other coaches i coach and i'm like where did you learn to deadlift like and you can't just jump through the computer and and be you know so

i can film videos for them and i can provide critiques but you can't teach intensity you know so it would be hard to say like leave a few reps in the tank because for some people that's like 20 and i've actually used this strategy with guys where I'm like, bro, like you're literally your top set is my warmup. What is going on? Yeah. I don't lay into them like that jokingly. And I'm like, this is what I want you to do for the next two weeks.

First week, you're going to do two sets of every exercise, as many as you can to fit till failure. Beat that the next week. And literally the amount of reps they do is the same weight they've been doing plus 10 to 20 reps like yeah yeah you know just because it burns doesn't mean you stop it burns a little yeah i mean maybe whatever i sound a certain way but like i think a lot of people would agree with that i mean a lot of coaches at least who have jumped to online from in person it's just one of the hardest things to teach. And that if you have everything else dialed in,

and that is the one thing that you're not really driving home, that can leave results on the table. Like, it's crazy. I mean, the culture of lifting, I'm going on tangents, but like the culture of lifting too,

if you go to a gym where people respect lifting, it's different than some of the other commercial gyms or the more spa-like gyms and stuff like that where nobody's living their life on their headphones. Kids go to the gym, they all train together, they all have headphones on, they don't talk to each other. They're on their phone playing

while one kid's trying to not hurt himself with dumbbells over his face. But you don't find a lot of those gyms anymore where it's the respect and the culture and all of that. And I've only realized this just from all the traveling that I've done the last few years to where I call, I'm a meathead, so I call it a meathead gym.

I'm like, yeah, I feel at home. You know, like the women look like me. Like the guys are like, you know, awesome. Like it's like, it it's cool and that's where when people say what are your hobbies and you say i lift it's places like that that i love you know former competitors or people who competed you know in powerlifting and stuff like that they respect the culture you don't find that a lot in a lot of gyms you were admiring our penis pump before the uh episode started here today yes can we demonstrate do a demonstration i don't know on on the tip might might explode how long have you had

that uh i don't know over a year now maybe a good maybe a year and a half two years that that little buddy's been up there was that thing helpful have you have you talked to guys where that's been helpful for them? I have actually because I didn't believe I didn't really think that they were a thing. I think that a lot of people get excited and think it's going to make their dick a lot bigger but it's more for dick

health than it is for getting your dick bigger. And it does make your dick a little bit bigger. You'll pump it up for sure. You know what makes it bigger? If you don't care about your balls shrinking on TRT. That makes it bigger wait whoa yes wait rewind what's going on here i got lost it's sort of like shaving your pubes off now you all of a sudden it makes it look bigger oh i mean not every guy yeah sorry you didn't know that but like not every man will experience some you know atrophy but guys worry about that and i'm like listen just brought me

back to rich piano y'all remember that shit yes yes i'm like we don't care trust me they get in the way they're not like the aesthetically pleasing thing to look at but i'm like no girl says on like a tinder profile i'm a girl. I got a special girlfriend then. And then of course I will get the DMs. My wife cares. She's a ball girl. My girlfriend's a ball girl. I'm like, okay. Hey, it's allowed.

All these ladies coming out. Being ball girls. Yeah. Ball ladies, give us a shout out. Let us know. Do you like them? Or do you think they're just nasty and you want them to be smaller? Just use the nuts emoji in the caption or in the comments section. us a shout out. Let us know. Do you like them? Or do you think they're just nasty and you want them to be smaller? Let us know. Just use the nuts emoji in the comments section. Use a little peanut.

Scrotox. Or peanut, then an X if you don't like it, and then two peanuts if you do like it. I mean, it is a thing. And I have a great meme that maybe I could send to you that has roosters. I don't know what this is called under the rooster's neck. Yeah, like their neck thing. The neck thing. And it said, hot days, cold days.

And I was like, I'm making one that says TRT days. And it was a rooster with the little amount of whatever neck shit that it had. People loved it. I put it in all my presentations. I'm like, this is awesome. But it's stuff like that that gets guys talking about it. You know, because like you can't, I mean, humor is the vessel that I use to talk about this stuff.

Yes, there's serious times, but I mean, I like making jokes. I like making dick jokes. People send me dick memes and everything all day long. There it is. Yeah, that's right. That took talent. That is art. Oh, God.

See, even Adam liked it. Yeah. Hotchkiss. Shout out, Adam. All right. How do women get jacked? I'm looking for a picture I just passed where you're just, there it is. Here we go.

I don't think many women understand how long it would take to look like that. Because you do hear the thing, I don't want to get big. It's like, well, fuck, good luck. A couple weeks. For those that do want to get jacked, what do you think women are missing? Oh, for women, it's the consistency of eating enough to grow muscle tissue, which men deal with as well. But lifting heavy weight, I played soccer in college. I had no upper body.

I wanted shoulders. I wanted a bigger upper body. your upper body. So if you frame the mindset of a performance mindset and you eat in a way that allows you to hit PRs in the gym, then the byproduct is aesthetics. That shoot took me

a while to prep for. It was months of eating enough and then cutting down to that. And I'm not, I don't consider myself a big person, but as you know when you lean out, you look bigger. know and people think like you're massive like tiger exploding in muscle you know you did mention how like um i actually because you mentioned that hrt and women somewhat normal i actually thought it wasn't something that was talked about that much and i'm curious it's

like because you because even I need to get my mom to get some blood work done to take a look at if anything needs to be optimized. But I know that you mainly deal with men, but for women, what kind of things should they be thinking about post-menopause or pre-menopause as far as HRT? Because I know you mentioned testosterone, progesterone, but what should they be thinking about there? So I'll use myself as an example because I think it can help clarify. I thought progesterone, but how, what, what should they be thinking about there? So I'll use myself as an example. Cause I think it can help clarify. I thought progesterone would make me fat. Like again, when people ask me about women's hormones, I'm like, I know all the men's stuff, like the women's were so complicated. So it was a game changer for me for sleep.

Cause I was, I would lay awake and I'd have like my heart, my heart rate would increase. And I'm like, why am I awake? Why do I feel anxious? my heart rate would increase. And I'm like, why am I awake? Why do I feel anxious? I never had anxiety. And my doctor is like, progesterone? And I was like, that's going to make me fat. And he's like, no, Allie. Like it actually helps with bone density and stuff.

So apparently you don't want to be on estrogen before you hit menopause as a woman. So for me, testosterone, progesterone were game changers. Testosterone, I went on, I was like, well, if I lift and I eat and I do all the right things, then shouldn't that be enough? And it wasn't. And for me, it was more like low motivation, low libido, just like couldn't make gains in the gym. And when I say make gains, like my strength gains were not anything appreciable. So when I went on that, it helped all of that. And I think a lot of women get dismissed when they present these symptoms to usually it's their gynecologist.

My gyno, it's a man, and he and I talk about men's health stuff. Like when I'm with him, it's really funny. I'm like in the stirrups like, yeah, so what do you think about that? So he understands it. He's trained by like you think about that? So he understands. He's trained by the same docs that I respect and stuff. But not everyone can have that experience when you're discussing stuff like that. So I think that bringing the symptoms to somebody who understands women's health can just help them get the right type of testing and everything. Because they are also told that HRT is going to cause cancer

and issues like that too. So I think that TRT for women is a thing that they can definitely bring up. But a lot of women, they message me and they're like, oh, you're on TRT. I didn't know and I just went on and it's been a game changer for me and they just feel so much better. Their mood is more stable. Like all those things. But I am far from an expert, I would say, in women's health hormones.

Got it. Because I've spent so much time learning about you guys. Is the cream effective for women as well? A lot of women use cream. Yeah. Yeah. I started on cream and I didn't really feel much of a difference. And I'm weird and I like injecting.

It's like a process. much of a difference. And I'm weird and I like injecting. It's like a process. It is a process. They're little tiny insulin needles. You don't really feel it. You do feel it. I did some carnitine for a little while. Those are different though. Those are like they're water-based.

The oil doesn't hurt nearly as much. You can take a bad shot of anything, but testosterone usually doesn't hurt. Glutathione was like nothing. That one just felt good. Cold. Yeah. Yeah, that's what it was. Nice and cold.

You ever get a glutathione push like in your hand? No. What is that? They put it through a big needle in your hand. Oh, like a drip? Oh, like IV? Oh. IV.

I've had an IV of it before. No. I've never been a needle fan since I was a kid. It's just not my cup of tea. Listen, totally fine. And I think, too, like I've had guys say that they're injecting testosterone with like a 22-gauge needle, which is a horse needle. And I'm like, that's your loader needle.

Why are we injecting with that? It's faster yeah I've heard 18 like the big old harpoon oh 18 good lord dudes that are just like well I you know pulled with this I don't want to just boom nope fuck that no thanks

I mean yeah it can take forever with the smaller needles but oh that's going to leave a dent or a huge welt yeah i was doing 22 and then i just like why does this hurt so bad and then i bumped it up and oh yeah yeah it's not fun what do you use i don't have time to use the insulin needles it takes forever so you use a big needle too um i don't know i think it's like 22 or 23. Yeah. How thick is that? It's not too bad. Yeah, it's not bad. It sucks, but I definitely have gone up to, I think, 27, and it's like you literally don't feel it.

Yeah. 27, I would say, is probably more popular. So the higher the number, the smaller. Sometimes it makes it tough to push it through and all that shit. There's like a stupid logistics of it. I definitely don't like that because there's been times where I'm pushing. It's like, come on, man, just get, go, go, go. And then it'll whoop and it'll all go in.

I'm like, oh, thanks. Now I got a nice little lump right there. My palms are starting to sweat. You just go like ventral glute right here. I'm trying to get better at that one. Yeah. I just do glute, glute. I do it on the top of my glute because I want some size there.

So I'm hoping maybe like, you know, it'll have a sight reaction to make me look a little more swollen in the right areas. Is that weird? Is that weird? No, not at all. That's why I do my shoulders. See? See?

Allie, where can people find you online and maybe they want to follow up for some coaching and stuff? Where can people find you online and maybe they want to follow up for some coaching and stuff? So on the Instagram at theallygilbert.com. Or no, sorry. At theallygilbert on Instagram. Slide in the DMs. There's nothing known as TMI in my world.

Also, silverbacksummit.com. That's the home of my men's health event that I host. So people can find all info about that. And that's this November 9th through 11th in Austin, Texas. Merrick Health is sponsoring and that's basically bringing together all my trusted physicians and men's health experts as well as fitness and nutrition men's health experts all in one room in an unfiltered, entertaining delivery method for information across the three days. So those are the best ways to find me. I do answer all my DMs myself. So slide on in.

Strength is never weakness. Weakness is never strength. Catch you guys later. Bye.