Ep. 549: Is AI the Future of Strength Training?
00:00 You know, thanks for what you do with your podcasts and all the rest. You're doing a great job. Hope everybody keeps tuning in. You get a lot of good info, a lot of insights, understandings of how to get strong, how to stay strong, how to use your strength. You do a great job, dude. You make things better than they are in real life, I think. If you don't follow Massanomics, you all do it.
00:18 Social media, website, everything. Massonomics. What's up, everyone? Episode 5.49 of the Massonomics podcast, the lifting podcast, about near Finn. My name is Tanner. My name is Tommy. Tanner's you know what did last year ago
00:46 at this time? A year ago at this time, October 2025. I assume we were living in the moment, but I couldn't tell you what that meant exactly. You know, actually we kind of are. I mean, you could say,
00:59 we had, we would have been at, were we at Mount Rushmore? Yeah, that was this. We were at Mount Rushmore. That was fun. That was fun. I just pulled a clip of that for a, you know, a reel on Instagram.
01:11 And I just was thinking, that almost looks fake to me when I pull that video up that we were sitting there at Mount Rushmark. I can't believe that was a year ago already. That felt later in the year to me for some reason. I don't know why. Yeah. Remember it was kind of raining there as we were getting set up. I also remember.
01:28 Definitely one of the longest podcast episodes that we ever had to set up. One of the longest setups for a podcast episode we ever had. It's also fun to think that we are officially, you know, while we were recording that, we said, oh, man, we got this. We got something big that we're coming out with in 2026. Yeah. Like we were kind of foreshadowing at what was to come with Jim Radar. So it's like that idea is now already over a year old,
01:51 which is also crazy to think about. Yeah, it is crazy. Also a little prelude to supporting our supporting members. Looks like Big Jess has listened along live and it's her birthday. So a little early supporting our supporting member, happy birthday to live list. You too could listen live by, you know, becoming a supportive member, but that's the only way. We are going to do some Q&A training questions specific to training questions this week.
02:25 But before we do that, speaking of training and what someone might wear to do training, I would wear shoes usually. Some people go barefoot, you know, for deadlift. I go barefoot. Let me rephrase that. Some people go barefoot. I go barefoot. Can you tell what I mean there? I know exactly what you mean.
02:47 Yeah. I wear shoes from barefoot. store bear like a bear, like a grizzly bear. And I wear, I mean, I have also. What I wear the most is ursus. And I was actually just looking at my ursus. Is it Gen 2 versus Gen 1? Do they say Gen?
03:07 Or is it? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Correct. Correct naming right there. My gen one and my black ursus gen one are kind of turning brown. A little less black than they used to be.
03:17 Yeah. We just say the shoes are not black. These shoes are not black. Black not. And it's because I wear them so much. I wear them to work. I wear them doing yard work. I just pretty much, I just wear them all the time.
03:33 He just lives in them. I just live and laughing and loving. in my barefoot shoes. You can too at barefoot. Store. Use discount code, Masonomics. Safety 10%.
03:42 This episode is also brought to you by Juggernaut AI. Juggernaut AI is the smartest program for you. Here's how it works. You download the app and you tell the system all about yourself and your goals. From there, their proprietary algorithms are going to work towards building the smartest program specifically for you. And it's going to be individualized programming made for your goals.
04:04 It's going to make adjustments with you every step of the way. So that's going to be before each training session, after each lift, and at the end of the day and the end of the week. So it's going to just get your lifting dialed in just right. So those days when you're feeling good, it's going to give you a little extra. The days when you're beat up or not feeling it, it'll dial it back so you can be recovered and fresh for the next one. I've been using Juggernaut for like four years now. Pretty much up there with my best lifts ever currently. So I can vouch for the effectiveness of it.
04:35 and I think it keeps training really fun and engaging. If you want to save 10% on the lifetime of your membership, you need to head on over to juggernaut.AI.com. Sign up through the website, and you can use code Masonomics to save on your membership. Thank you, Juggernaut AI. Juggernaut AI, perfect thing to talk about today because we're talking training.
04:55 Well, also along those lines, did we mention, is the meets officially on Open Powerless? Did we ever mention that? No, I think it just happened like two days ago, didn't it? I think it happened like the day we recorded last week. So I don't know if we might not have mentioned it though. No, I think you maybe had said like, I think we're making progress, but that was it.
05:15 Okay. Okay, yeah. Pull it up. Let's see how people did. What's that website? Open powerlifting. It's this new, remember when we broke the news on open powerlifting on our podcast because our podcast is 100 years old? Dude, I do totally remember that actually.
05:34 It's just really funny to think about now. I got it here. Do you got it? I just, why, you need to get them to put your meats all under one. They're still, well,
05:45 that's the issue. You can't email them. And I guess I have to, well, I'm a big Git lab. I was going to probably help you out. I was to submit a Git ticket to sell it to say merge Thomas and Tommy. I know how to do it now.
05:55 Well, you should do it for me then because I'm clearly. I probably actually can. Yeah, do it. Uh, yeah, because I'm missing that one meat.
06:04 Uh, what was like the second, well, uh, the second lift hard Livesey. I think is under Tommy and not Thomas. Thomas DeFay got 13th at the Lift Hard Live Easy this year out of 70, 79. My old high school football.
06:17 It's really funny. I was looking because my, what is it? My Wilkes is like 0.1. This year my will, let's see, what's the difference? Is it point? My Wilkes this year was really close to your best ever. Yeah, 390.59.59.9. My best ever is 390.88.
06:33 So I'm like 3 tenths off of my best ever. Very close. That 390.88 was good for a modest, like, seventh place, but the 390.59.59 was good enough for first place. So it was just, just some stiff competition. That was a tough competition back in 18. There was a lot of strong people in that you're. There was.
06:54 And the difference of like 10 pounds would have moved you like four spots on the total. It was something like that. Like there was a lot of really good guys in there. There was. Actually, I just want to look at a couple of names here. Abe, Big Abe. Remember Big Abe? Oh, yeah.
07:07 Is he a Jackal's disciple? Or not really? You know, I don't, I can't remember. I can't remember now, actually. Larry, of course, was in your weight class. Thick Nick Berlovich. Oh, God, he was in that one still? Jake the snake, Heinrich.
07:26 Austin Benson. Austin Benson and you. And then maybe a couple other people I don't even know. Yeah, dude, that was, everyone was very strong there. Yeah. Arthur French. Seltico lifter there. Okay, yeah.
07:40 Yeah, but the Lift Hard Live Easy Classic 4. When you look at open powerlifting, it does show it's a slightly different color. It's like a different shade. It's what is the 50 shades of gray? Instead of being mostly white letters, it's slightly gray letters. Yeah, yeah.
08:02 Then that's because it's a non-sanction meet, which we knew that going, into it, which I don't know if that anyone cares. Like, do you feel different about that being a different color? Like, everyone just wants it on open power lifting? That's my thing. I can still see how I can still see all my performances there. And to me, that's what matters.
08:20 And finally, we found out, since it's on overpowerlifting, Matthias Cash did in fact win this year with his works at 506. Yeah. And was that his, that was one of his best performances of all time, actually. I think it was. I guess it depends on if you go by Wilkes or dots. That's always the tricky part with it. Yeah.
08:42 And Bryce got second with this 2,06 pound total. You can have to round out those numbers up. Round out the pot. Actually, they were very close, though. They were within, they were within. Well, but on Wilkes 14 points is quite a bit. Like, well, I suppose. Bryce would probably have to add like, I don't know, 50 plus pounds to his total.
09:06 or more to add 14. Well, and on dots, they're way farther apart. Yeah, isn't dots even more favorable to lighter people? It must be not rounding out the top three is Jeremy Norwood with his 469 Wilkes at 1851. Yeah, but good to see that it's on open powerlifting. Yeah. Yeah, it's fun looking at those numbers. Yeah.
09:29 Any other thing we want to talk about before we just jump into some questions this week. I mean, we can talk about whatever we want, whenever we want, but. Okay, let me see here really quick. That was the... No, that's good. I'm officially ready. Okay.
09:50 Do you feel better that your results are on open power lifting? Does it feel more legitimate to you? Actually, I feel like my profile is actually complete when I get that one merged with my full profile. So all my listings are there together. Actually, you know what this made me think of? I'm listening to the Elite FTA or the Table Talk episode
10:08 with Steve De Novi on it. I listen to that whole episode, yeah. You know, I see, I see Steve on a podcast. I got to listen to it. You know, I got to see what, here with that guy saying to what stuff. And then him and Dave together is a very funny combination of people in my head.
10:19 Yeah. People we both know, like, pretty decently well, but like them together is odd. Yeah. Juxtaposition. It is. But it's funny. I mean, Dave, you hear,
10:31 I get the impression Dave spends a lot of time, just the crunchy numbers on open power lifting, you know how much he brings up thinking. Yeah. And he said that many times over the year. of like how they're trying to figure out like the total addressable market of power lifters competitive power lifters that are out there and how they kind of use open power lifting um but where the hell was like going with this now oh i just spaced out the time of lifting and steve denovi
10:57 table talk uh yeah listening to table talk i had a point oh i think maybe it was just the fact that they're oh i think i know where i was going with this his day was like you know after like three years you know you do about three years of meets and you you can figure out, okay, what's the ceiling for this person? He's like, if you've been putting in the work and effort and you've got three years and you're not closing in even remotely on like a national level, well, you kind of know what your ceiling is. That's true. And then he's like, which I'm like, actually, I've never really thought of it that way. It kind of is true though. Yeah. That's not like, oh, yeah, I've been given this a pretty honest effort for three years. Now I'm going to really like start to
11:34 get strong. It's like, that's not usually how that works, you know. Correct. And then he said, And then, you know, after like five years, at that point, most people are kind of just out of the sport. And then he's like, and then it's like the percent of people that ever that have like more than 10 years of competing history. Right. It's just like hardly a thing. And that made me think like, you know what? Actually, when I go back and look, did I damn it? Did I just close us out?
11:56 Of course I did. Here we go. When I go back and look at mine. So my first meet ever was in 2015. Actually, I did a meet this year, 2026. So that's one, two, three. four, five,
12:09 six. I have seven meets to my name over the course of 11 years, which is pretty cool because they're kind of just saying how like, yeah,
12:15 and then like the number of people that compete after 10 years is just not even really a thing at all. And I'm like, ah, I've done that one. Like, that is pretty sweet.
12:22 So I do like the idea of just keep banging those in year after year. You know what? Sort of related to that that I was thinking about the other day. And I wondered if this is true,
12:34 like, a trend or if this is just something I experienced myself at the time. is I've done, I think, about 12 strongman competitions. And in that same period, I did maybe five or six, maybe six powerlifting meets. So that's one thing to think about. And then the next thing I want to mention is, it feels very much today to me that people say,
13:02 either I'm a powerlifter or I'm a strongman lifter or whatever it is. Right. And I feel like at the time, even up till currently, but even especially then when I was doing like both every year, I never really ever said either of those things. I never thought that. You're like, I just go away up. And I still to this date, exactly what you just said there. I'm a lifter and that I also like to do competitions. Yeah.
13:27 It's how are we choosing to express this lift, this strength for this competition. Yeah. That's exactly what I always thought. I mean, throw the Highland games in there too for that matter. Well, yeah, they did five or six of those. even to a lot because it was even more fucking around than anything. I mean, given it,
13:42 sure, it's the most fun you can have with your clothes on. But, but I did just think that that I'm like, maybe that was just a me thing, but I also felt like everyone I was doing that with, because it was several people. Yeah.
13:56 None of them would have ever said that they are one of these things either. Yeah. They were just kind of like, I don't know, we just lift. And then we like to also do the competitive have part of it sometimes. I think that is an important distinction.
14:09 Yeah, like that, because that was absolutely the thing then is like, well, no, I mean, we're still going to be going to be going to lifting. And like, if you're going to do strong man,
14:14 you might do a little more implement work during that time, you know, and then if you're going to do a part of you meet, like, yeah, you might do a little bit more of a peak leading up to it. But other than that, you know,
14:22 it was 90% the same. Yeah. And maybe that's just more of a, a factor of the time of the, because I just, I just, yeah, I mean,
14:36 probably a little bit. because it was all just less sophisticated then, too. Right, right. Like in 2012, when we did the strong man competition, I'm curious, like in 2012, how many strong man comp, amateur strong man competitions were there in North and South Dakota? Like the one we did.
14:54 And then maybe you didn't be generous and throw Minnesota in there. It's not like that's probably wasn't many, you know, Minnesota probably had a couple bigger ones that like, Dave O'Sland and, you know, Like these people were using in preparation Once a month or a man. Yeah.
15:11 Yeah. That was, I don't even know. I don't really have a point with that. But that was something I thought about that I'm like, I never really thought, I guess I've done twice as many strong man shows as powerlifting. But I still never at the time thought, oh yeah, like I do strong man. Yeah. Yeah.
15:28 I mean, that is an interesting way of framing it for sure. Because like Larry is a great example. You would generally say, Larry is a power lifter, I suppose, if you were to say something. Mm-hmm. But the dude's done probably nine strongman competitions. Which is actually really funny to think about. Yeah.
15:49 Right. Right. Which most people will never do that many. No. You know, they get into it. You know, they get into it. We'll actually never hit that many because it's just, right.
15:57 It's the longevity thing. I mean, even it's the same thing of powerlifting. People that are into powerlifting, most people will never hit, you know. Five, honestly, probably. Yeah. I mean, I think that's fair to say most in the, sense of true definition. Most people do one and they're like, okay, I've got that out of my system.
16:11 I'm done. You know, most people don't come back for a second and the numbers drop off drastically at five and then again at like 10. But I do think that that's me. My thought was maybe that's a sign of that was a thing of the time just because you didn't really. But like now the labels are a lot stronger because there is just so much, it is so much more sophisticated like you said.
16:34 It's very much easier to be like, no, I'm in this camp. because there's actually a camp to be in. At the time, there really wasn't. It wasn't divided into camps. And he put them into the things to have to support your identity within that. Right. All right. So we submitted, we offered up a Q&A.
16:54 Did you see the picture for the Q&A of this? Actually, yeah. That's an oldie. You see Thick Nick in the background? That was one of those things I did spot. Yes, thick Nick there. Yes. Yeah.
17:05 He's in a better place now. What's that, Michigan? The Carolinas. Oh, I can remember where he went. Is he from Michigan? He's from Michigan. I like to think somewhere thick Nick will hear this and have a very slight chuckle to himself. Keywords vary and slight.
17:29 Yeah, but we put out an all-point bulletin for questions for us that are training-related. So do you just want to start at the beginning and we'll get through as many as we can this week? Let's do it. I have not pre-vetted these at all. The vetting will be as I read it in my head before I read it out loud. We did our Olympia recap last week and the next thing people come to us for us training advice. So here we go. Yeah, that's right.
17:54 First question from Perfect Little Sweetie. Do you ever use 35 pound plates? I don't have any. So can't really do that. Did you have some for a while and you sold them? Well, oh yeah, actually I did. Yes, I did. Did the Phillips?
18:10 Yes, they got my 35s. I forgot about that. Yeah, that's it. I don't actually. They're in a better place now. They are in a better place. The, I don't have a problem with 35s. A lot of people don't like them.
18:24 Massonomics Gym has 35s. I think it looks cool, especially when you're to your top or working sets where you're going to have those planted on the bar for a while. That is the preferred look at my opinion. But, yeah, I don't have any 35s. I very rarely use them. Yeah. I don't use them on bench because we don't keep any 35s in that area.
18:45 I don't use them on deadlift because I don't know why. Occasionally I will use them on squat. I don't have a good reason why that is, but I very rarely use them. Yeah. We've got some strength old 35s. Give me one second here. This old burning here is. What, Bernie get his ears lowered over there?
19:06 He's really losing his mind. I got to lay them out of here. Wait a one second. All right. While Tommy's doing that, I am going to mention, I'm just going to mention Elite FTS. This is a little early, but I'll mention them anyways. They're actually our newest sponsor of the show.
19:21 It's exciting news here for episode 549. We've got him on. We talked to Dave. We were talking about Dave and Table Talk earlier. Actually, there's been several good table talk episodes lately. I don't, I'm guilty. to not listening to every single one. I kind of cherry pick all the people I like.
19:39 And there's just been some really good ones lately, like that Steve DeNovey one. And I have to look at some of the other ones I've been listening to lately. But don't sleep on table talk. If you're looking for a podcast to listen and you're into training, there's always something good there every single week.
19:55 So that's table talk anywhere you listen to podcasts. And then EliteFTS.com. That's where you can use discount code mass 10. It'll save you 10% off of most the things. that you would buy from them our number one favorite item that you can still get from them is toilet paper. You can either buy it from EliteFTS.com
20:13 and save 10% with their discount code or you can show up to the Lift Hardly of Easy Classic. We'll just give you a free roll. So otherwise, if you don't want toilet paper, check out their band, safety squat bar. We're coming out with new stuff all the time. EliteFTS.com. Were you getting worried?
20:28 I wasn't going to come back. No, I was just rambling on an Elite FTS ad instead. So Bernie, there was a pizza that was left on the counter and I knew everyone went to bed. And I just, it was just, his brain was fixated on it. He was losing his mind. So I had to go put the pizza away. Here we go. From Big Chris Dominger, thoughts on using AI for training templates.
20:54 So not, you know, not an app that uses AI in the title like Juggernaut AI. Just ask your favorite chat bot. What's, yeah. I mean, it's an option. Like, you'll probably get something that can definitely get you stronger, especially if you prompt it in the right directions, I think. I don't even think you probably have to prompt it. I mean,
21:11 probably I guess you should probably tell it what you're training for, what your training goals are. And you could give it enough of information about yourself and what equipment you have available. And I think if you really fed it a lot of information, I'm not saying you're going to get the perfect training program, but you're probably going to get something that's not terrible. It sounds like you probably, I mean,
21:30 I mean, just the way these things work, it's trained on every program. that exists online, which is basically all the programs. So in theory, you should get something pretty good. Is it going to miss some things probably? But yeah, from the few, I mean, we've talked to some people that do it. They seem to like it. So it is an option.
21:47 You also ask thoughts on RPE-based training versus percentage-based training. Okay, this is, I feel like we've talked about this over the years. Maybe not. I mean, we've for sure talked about this offline a ton. And the thing that I still, okay, I do use Juggernaut, which uses an RPE scale, you know, but the thing that I still don't totally get, or I think that, the thing that a lot of people don't get is RPE isn't a program. Like, you know, RPE, I think some people think.
22:22 At least that's the way I would also can think about it. I do not think of it. And I'm not saying Chris is thinking this, but I think there's a few distinctions here. I think there's a lot of people that think like, oh, use RPE. Yeah, I don't use that program. I use percentage base. And it's like, but that's not like RPE isn't a program. Like to me.
22:38 Why are they mutually exclusive? Yeah, like you can run a percentage based program and still assign an RPE. All to me RPE is is when you get done with your lift, you take a moment to reflect and say, and I'm dumbing this down a little bit. But on a scale of one to 10, how hard was that lift? And like if you're like, boy, that was the hardest thing I couldn't have ever done. I couldn't do another one. You know what?
22:59 That's an RPE10. Congratulations. You just use RPE. And if you're like, who, that was moving pretty good. I probably could have done like three more of those. You know,
23:07 that's kind of like an RPE7. Like you're doing it. Like, I don't even think you have to say you do RPE. I think for a lot of people would do some value to like at the end of your lift, just take a moment to think, how hard was I trying right there? Like how much like it doesn't that seem like that would be beneficial to all
23:24 people's training just to have some introspection and some, like personal reflection on your capabilities as a lifter. I would say so. Like I guess, yeah. I mean, do you ever get done with a lift and be like, boy, I don't know if I could do three more or 20 more.
23:38 Like, do you ever think that when you're done? You kind of always, you kind of always think about that. Like once you've done, especially if you used it a little bit for something, you can always. And even on days you're like,
23:48 oh man, that's going great. Like you're already, you're almost there. Like, you know, like if you get done with a lift, you're like,
23:54 oh, that was flying. I could have done a few more. It's like, you almost just said art. You almost just did it when an RP you almost just did it. Or like the days you're like, oh, that was a grinder. That was brutal.
24:04 Like, oh, you're almost there. Like you're kind of saying RP one or two. Like you're so close. So that's what I think is funny where even if you'd say I don't like RP and all that, I do think there is some value just looking back on your lifts and being like, you know, how hard was that? Like, how hard am I grinding to get these done this week? Because that even just tells you something like, is your pro,
24:25 like should you be grinding that hard? like is your program where it should be? Should you dial your numbers back? Are you not recovering? Like that starts to like make you ask a lot more questions, just asking how hard was that? And now granted, there is, you can go way, way deep in the RP thing.
24:40 And this is the thing that I always think is funny when I do listen to table talk, how like Dave is kind of always an RP skeptic where he's like, I mean, there's like a thousand factors. You know, like you can be really pumped up. You can be, and it's like, well, and I understand that too, but it's also, I guess to me,
24:56 once it gets to like working in harder sets. Like there is a certain level that like a certain gear you're in, you know, to get the work done. So it's not like we're not in the same ballpark at all. Like I get at your effort on a one rep max is probably a little different on a one rep max on meat day like your mental and your effort is probably a little different than when you're doing like an eight set,
25:15 uh, on hypertrophy like, but you can also affect that's, those are just factors. I know. I know. And then, you know,
25:22 the skeptics will say, but then it's all subjective. Well, okay, come on now. Like that's, you could kind of do the same thing with percentage if you're going to be that way. So I don't know. I think there's, I think there's absolutely room for both of those things to exist.
25:32 And a lot of times there's room for both of them to exist together even. Yeah, that's what I would, my two notes is they're not mutually exclusive, first of all. And also, RPE, if nothing else, can be a useful tool for auto regulation. It's just a useful tool for regulation. It's just a tool in the toolkit. I mean, Like, I mean, to me, like, I don't know. I think juggernaut is kind of behind the scenes sort of percentage based.
26:02 You know, like, it's, I mean, I can just see it happening. Like, I've done it long enough that. I know I'm getting a certain percentage of all the stuff. And if I start saying, oh, no, this is an RP. Like, if it's starting to get to harder sets, like, you know, at the end of a wave where I know it's going to be kind of a more of a testing week. And I say, oh, these are really, really easy. I know it's going to bump that percentage up the next week.
26:23 And, you know, to try and find, you know, to get that. RP dialed in. Yeah, I mean, that could be a whole podcast on its own, though. From Big Matt Sussni. Okay. He says, do you guys prefer a speed strength or a strength speed squat day? Speed strength or strength speed? I think I actually know this is kind of a, this is a, to me in my mind when I hear this,
26:47 this is something that comes up. This is almost a West Side conjugate riddle. It certainly feels like that. But here actually listeners, we're not experts. on this and you feel free to correct us, but the way I think about it, it's whichever word comes first, strength speed or speed strength, that's the more important. So speed strength is moving relatively light weights really fast. Strength speed is moving still moderately heavy weights as fast as you can. So his question is, do you guys prefer speed strength or strength speed squat day? What I actually
27:23 prefer to answer the question is a strength speed squat day because I still want to have I don't really train a lot with like 50% loads that I'm you know I'm not doing the old west side video thing frequently where you are seeing the guy slam the weight like as furiously as possible but I do like the thought of moving your any set with intention and like as fast as you can Yeah. Like that, of course, makes sense to me. So to answer the question, like sort of a joke for us, but to answer it seriously, I would say strength speed is what conceptually makes a lot of sense to me.
28:03 I get both sides of it, but strength speed is what fits in with my training and my brain. I would agree with that 100% too, because I don't, what the thing that I don't like is, if you're talking speed strength, I don't like the thing when you start getting like 50% loads. And on some lifts, it can even be more than that where you can move it really, really fast to the point where if you actually are moving it as fast as you can, it starts to mess up your form and your positioning and stuff. Like when you like really, like this is one thing I never do.
28:30 I don't think there's anything wrong with it. But I don't like it is I see people like really accelerate to the very top of a squat where like you're almost getting on your tippy toes. And I'm like, well, that like moves the bar out of positioning. Like I lose my tightness. Like I personally,
28:43 I hate that. Like I'm never going to do that. Right. And like, and same thing kind of with bench. Like I could blow up the bench so hard where like your shoulders almost leave the bench. That's the bench.
28:52 I really see that. You know, I can just picture it in my head. And I don't like, there's nothing wrong with that. I just never like that. Because I'm like, well, I feel like I'm actually ruining my movement pattern in order to move these weights that are so light that I'm not getting anything as much out of it. So that, yeah, I agree. I'm more of a strength speed guy.
29:09 This isn't really that. But do you recall any of the old videos of the Lillowbridge's in the animal cage? It was like slow-mo in tight videos and they're squatting. And the bar is, uh, leaving their shoulders like, Yeah, leaving their shoulders on every rep, you know. And I'm like, well, you could, well, I couldn't do that with a lot of weights, but you can do that with a lot of weights if you just like really explode at the end. But like, emphasize the very little end.
29:32 But the lift is already done at that point. That's my thing. Right, because you could be slow out of the hole and then still at the very end, blow it up off your shoulder. Like at the very end, that's when the lift gets easier and easier. So like, I don't know. Could I do that with 315? Maybe.
29:47 I don't know. Probably. Yes. from H.G. McCall, when are you going to start doing some training that will actually build size? Fair call out. Yeah. That won't be. Classic comment of that won't build size.
30:05 Yep. We're trying. It's not working, but we're trying. Dude, I actually just along those lines just finally started. I got done with my bridge block. I'm on a hypertrophy block. Juggernaut right now. Yeah.
30:17 So you're building size. Some sets of A to just hitting more of the. competition style lifts. I'm kind of feeling that a little bit this week. So you're building size. I think. We'll find out maybe six months. So the time is now.
30:31 The time is now. We'll find out how successful I am. Big Keith says, thoughts on a virtual crew, PR board, Google sheet, or something of the sorts for all. Well,
30:44 in Keith's instance here, I would say the problem there is the PR board, would be limited to just a single squat, a single bench, and a single deadlift. And just Keith really want a PR board where it's just limited to one single version of a single lift. Here's actually why I probably wouldn't want to do that
31:05 because I do that on a really small, I had to do that on a really small scale with the gym PR board. And even there you have to set rules that some people do and don't like. Like even with just 20 people, you have to set a few boundaries and people will be like, well, why does that count? And why doesn't this count?
31:26 Yeah. And I don't like, do, I don't like, I don't want to be the person that tells someone else what gets to count to them. I want everything to count to whatever people think they want to count it towards. I don't want to be the person that has to say, no, that doesn't count. I don't count that. Yeah. And not because of even just like form or. But you do see some wild things too, though.
31:47 Like you see, because there was some people that got really, really good at, you know, maybe using every leverage and trick in sumo deadlifts. And then like when it would come to competition, like it would be drastically lower. Right. They were chasing the gym PR board to the detriment of almost their lifting. Yeah. So there is always that component to it too.
32:12 From Diet Coke Destroyer, do you guys ever plan on competing in a sanctioned meat again? Tommy, a sanctioned meat. I mean, I wouldn't be against it. My biggest thing is just like I'm now, I'm pretty much at the point when I do live hard, live easy. Like, I'm going to do that meat. And then like just the way my life works is my only.
32:33 You really want to do another meet during the year? Well, not really. No, I don't really want to do another meet because like the way. Like is one kind of the right number? At this point of my life, yes. Like if I just had less things, I would probably do another one. Like two in a year would be fun. But realistically, that's not going to happen though.
32:48 No, and then like it would also. Like you're not going to have less things to do. Well, no, I know. That's the thing. It's already like damn near impossible for me to even be the one at our own meet. Like I was just thinking about that. I'm like, you know what? I actually do kind of in my mind sort of underperform at the meet every year.
33:03 Well, actually just set my expectations relatively low to how training goes because it's just so hard to really have that dialed in the way it would typically be. So. Yeah. I would say I don't really plan on it. Because the only thing I'd want to do is our own unless it's sanctioned, which we have after this year, I'm like, I don't really know what reason
33:24 we would ever make it sanctioned other than so we can collect $40 from every competitor that we give to someone else. I'm like, that's not a good idea. A hundred and some dollar federation. Well, right. We already got to take enough money from everyone. Like, let's not take money from them just to give to some random people in some other.
33:43 So the letters can be whiter on powerlifting, you know? I mean, that's what we're talking about, basically. Would that make it any more fun? No, God, no. Of course not. It wouldn't make it any more fun at all. Yeah, I mean, I have no problem doing a sanctioned meat, but yeah, I'm at the point where I'm probably just stuck doing one a year.
34:04 And if I'm doing one, it's going to be the one we put on. From FitMat, Fat Matt, masks you'd train in, train in, Goblin, Luchador, other, et cetera, would you train in any masks? Well, I mean, I wouldn't. I had that luxury where I could do it right now. Nothing's stopping me. I mean, the goblin one had, it was quite the vibe, seeing people on the platform with that thing, you know?
34:30 Yeah. He also asks, what's most important? Sets, reps, or intensity slash weight. So I guess if we're saying, if we can only pick one of those things to purposely manipulate, like what's the most important number of sets number of reps or intensity slash weight i don't know i'd probably if i could only manipulate one i'd probably work with intensity and weight probably i think that's got to be the answer yeah if you can only if you can only pull one lever that's the one yeah because otherwise you're
35:07 saying the weight is always the same and you can add reps or take away reps or the weight is all certain point. You can add sets or take away sets. At a certain point, you just got to get better at lifting like heavy singles and doubles, you know, like that's... Right.
35:24 Just, you just got to be better at lifting heavy loads, is what I'm trying to say. That's what I've always thought. From Big Bremi, do you think front squats are the best alternative lift to help your back squat? Hmm.
35:45 Okay, I think it's a little dependent on the person. I personally think squat is my best lift, and I don't do any front squats. So could my, so what is your best alternative lift that helps your back squat? I mean, the main variations I do are either high bar or a pause or pause, high bar. Yeah, yeah. I mean, once, once you run. Especially if you're saying high bar is alternative. Yeah.
36:15 And like you can do high, I mean, you can pause high bar or just regular. Or sorry, you can do, yeah, regular pause squats or high bar pause squats. And after you finish up a block of doing like pause squats, like where you're really just pausing them. And then you get out of that, you're like, oh my God. Like I don't have to just sit there and suffer. Like I can just do the lift. So like it feels like you're flying after that. And that is what I just wrapped up.
36:38 So like going back to regular squats, oh, it does just like a whole like the amount of suffering time just drastically reduces. Yeah, I like all of those. I think it probably really just does depend on the person. For me, I don't know what my... Well, and we're just going to assume that we already know that leg extension is the number one way to increase your spot. Yeah. We're just thinking what's the best of second place here? I mean, obviously, I was thinking about things that don't involve sitting on your ass because obviously the ass sitting ones are the best.
37:09 The best ones, yeah. Yeah, clearly. From Big Jake the Snake, Mount Rushmore of places in Massonomics, old or... new massonomics gym any versions of massonomics gym to hit a PR examples being larry rack in front of the yellow door etc okay i got a couple so your mount rush more of places to hit a PR any iteration of mass nomics gym but a specific place within the gym just going to say a few that come to mind as being and i'll figure out how to rank these but i'm just going to say a few that are instrumental to me in the I think of that original deadlift platform.
37:50 So in front of the yellow door. Is that what that was? That was the yellow door right there. Yeah, in the original gym. Okay, I can't remember what, okay. Yeah, that was the, uh, yeah. So that, that deadlift platform there. That was a good one.
38:01 We just weren't there very long, so I don't have a lot of, uh, PR memories. I mean, that was the first place of Bench 315, the bench there. That's the biggest, uh, iconic specific area of that gym, though, was that deadlift. I mean, it was like half of the gym, too, but. Also, it just like when someone was there. everyone was paying attention. Yeah. But that bench was the first bench in there where I hit Bench 315
38:23 and that's a pretty big milestone, benched 315 for the first time. Yeah. So that one. And then for me, there's two other ones in the, when we first moved, when the deadlift platform was more in the middle of the room,
38:36 you know, that was pretty, that to me felt pretty iconic for a while, hitting deadlifts there. And then the squat platform right when you walked in the door, you know, room like oh that was my squat spot for a while it was right there uh i really liked i really like those spots i agree with all three of those those are for sure three on them i mean don't get me
38:58 wrong the racks now are great too where they're at but i just have much less PR experience in those racks over there those are all just really iconic spots too just just the icons of lifting right there that deadlift platform in the middle of the room in the near in the new gym was I mean, it was in smack dab the center of the room, too. Like, talk about Garner attention. Yep. That's really only three, but. Oh, there it is then.
39:30 We're just going to three. Oh, crap. He said Mount Rushmore, didn't he? Yeah. I was thinking he said top three. Yeah. Yeah, so deadlift platform in the first one. Well, I technically put in bench in the first.
39:42 Okay, okay. The blue bench in the original gym. Although, when you first got the elite FTS benches, I did have a streak of hitting some bench PRs. Yeah, do you think it's the elite FTS bench that was on the south wall in front of where the PR board used to be? Yeah, I felt more badass hitting benches on that one than I did in any other spot, you know? Yeah, like that was like that was. Yeah, I hit my heaviest bench ever on that one.
40:05 Yeah, too. That's a good one there. That's a good number four. From Big Wicose GM. What program did you have the most success with? Well, I mean, the jackals one we ran a lot and that one just works really good at what it does and everything um i mean and you could see yeah like my biggest total of all time is on that one by like five pounds
40:33 or something and wilkes by a fraction and wilks by like three-tenths of a wilks point or something but you also use juggernaut to build yourself up from just as much to the same point yeah that's what i was going to say is i don't know um now in my slightly older slightly the more fragile broken body. If I could get again to where I am now running juggernaut. Or sorry, running jackals. Like I think the jackals program is really, really good, but it's more of like a just balls to the wall do it thing.
41:03 Where the juggernaut program, you're typically looking at like 20 some plus weeks to line the whole thing up. So you have a little more time to finesse it and bring the whole package together, if you know what I'm saying. It's the same too for me. I'm currently on my second run through of jackals where I just do jackals of the bench. Okay. So I was going to ask, are you doing all three?
41:29 Because that is, that's the other. No, no, no. I actually kind of am doing it on the deadlift, too, because I'm doing two sets of five, and I'm doing it on that day and that sort of thing. But not on the squat, because I'm not barbell back squatting at all right now. So, uh, so I guess I'm doing. I'm not on the bench. I'm doing the exact program.
41:54 You know, on the upper body stuff, I am doing the jackals program. And I'm on, I just finished week three of my second time through. So it's been, I took one D load. So I'm on like 12, 13 of jackals.
42:05 And I'm really liking it on the bench press. Again, the biggest difference, or one of the biggest differences, is taking a moderately heavy single on every week, which I haven't done for a really long time because I haven't done jackals for. forever. So that, uh, actually that's, that's really feeling good to me now that even in the first
42:26 few weeks, it felt really odd. And now I'm starting to be like, oh yeah, this does, I am training myself. That's the thing. To lift a heavier single every single week. It is like there's a, there is something to do that. There is a real skill to that. Like, it doesn't matter how strong you are, but there comes a point where when it comes to actually handling singles, like if you don't practice it, you're not going to be that good at it. Yeah. And I can be like, getting better at it. Also just mentally where I'm like, no, it can be 95% of my one rep max.
42:59 And you just know you got it. And I don't even have to think twice about it. I'm like, well, I know it might not be easy, but I'm like not even worried about like, I just, I've done this weight. I did it three weeks ago. And six weeks before that, I did more than this. And, you know, like eight weeks ago, I did it again.
43:17 So it's just like, well, I know I'm going to get it. Prepping for this last meet was the most that that mental concept had ever clicked for me where I'm like, nope, just squatting 500. Like I know I'm going to get it. Like it's like, right. There's still some anxiety because it's 500. But it's just like, yeah, if it's, if you're putting 500 on, I know I'm getting this. Like there's no debate there. And same thing. Like it was getting to the point of like benching 335 to 340. I'm like like, yeah, it's a lot. But I just, I know I'm going to get this. Like there's no, there's no debate in my head as to what's going to happen. Like that is a cool feeling when you start knowing like you're saying when you're talking like 95ish plus. You're like, no, no, I got this here. Right. You had to, uh, the, the more so the proof in the pudding, like it was good my first eight weeks through and I finished with a 385 single bench on week eight. My single is 385 and then my five by three, whatever the way it was. I don't know.
44:08 This next time through in about five weeks from now, my single will be three 90. So the real proof to me of if it's actually working is assuming, I did everything else well, do I move 390 equally as well as I did 385? Like I'm actually already pretty pot. Like I have kind of no doubt I'm going to get it. But if I get 390 and it's like just marginally harder than my 385 was, I can't definitively say I got stronger because I probably could have done 390 the day I did 385. But if I do 390 and I get done and I'm like, that moved as good or better than my 385 did eight weeks prior.
44:48 then that's when I start to feel confident that I'm actually making progress. Yep, that you might as well throw $4.35 on there and just do it. That's, that's, or if I get to that final day and I'm like, $3.90 just isn't enough. I'm going to do $3.95. That would also be an indicator to me that I'm like, no, this is, Jackals is working for me right now. Well, and if you're there, you might as well just go to four plates. So, you know, it's, well, and then I want, why would you stop there?
45:15 Right. Just throw another little something on there. That's actually what I don't do, what I specifically try not to do. The only time I would do it is the week eight, the final one of the. And the other thing I've been doing with Jackals, this time that I've never done any of the other times I ran it, is I do the weight that it says on the program. I don't know why I started doing this. I used to just always round everything to five.
45:41 I have all the plates. So I do, if it says 376, I do 376. Really? You actually do that, really? Yeah. Yeah. So like my single this week was 376. In the past, I suppose I would have done 375.
45:55 Yeah. And then my sets of five sets of three were 323. In the past, I would have done 325. I definitely could have done 325. It wouldn't be like I would miss a wrap. It's safe. Okay. I see what's going on here.
46:12 No, I want to play it exactly what it says is what I want. want to do. What you say it's because you're a big percentage-based guy? Is that why? I guess it is. My thought is I want to get done or I want to get to my week eight and not be like, you know, actually I rounded every set up for seven weeks by five pounds. And I got too strong.
46:34 Well, no. So I actually like did, you know, I don't know, five times 15. You know, I actually lifted 700 more pounds than the percentage wanted me to. wanted me to, is that why I don't feel good today? Right. It's a potential thing. So I can't use that as an excuse because never almost when I would round, I would never be like, I'll just do less.
47:00 Right. It's like 377. Never I'd be like, nah, I'll do 375. I'm like, no, 380 is fairly close. It's only 3 pounds more. Yeah. I felt the only one. I think you go less is like, if it's 321, you're like, okay.
47:11 One. If the one pound, I think, is when you would make. be considered doing it. From Big Paul, when do we start dropping off our marketplace equipment at Tommy's garage? I've already started. I've got stuff headed there now. Just, yeah, I have a Jacob's ladder in here. I have several very large leg machines. What about that total, like, I don't even, it was that cable crossover that have like entire leg extension leg curl machines off the sides of it and I'm like, did that have like six plate stacks on it?
47:50 That machine had to have weighed 10,000 pounds, not actually exaggerating. You need an actual forklift to move it around. We pass a lot of Facebook marketplace deals around. And then we've kind of, we always say, well, Tommy's got room. That's what I need.
48:08 Yeah, that's what I'm missing. From not fat, cultivating mass. What is the calf rays of the upper body? Ooh. I mean, it has to be some type of forearm exercise, doesn't it? I guess it's the forearm curl. Yeah. Right? Or maybe it's one of those. Or like a wrist roller kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. You get a pretty nasty pump going with those. Or I think it's the, the concentration dumbbell wrist curl. Right, where you like have your arm on the bench and your wrist over the edge of it with a little dumbbell. I mean, let's be real. It's like a Shane exercise.
48:51 Oh, no, that's the exercise when I'd go to a commercial gym that I would see all the 15-year-olds doing for way too long. And I'm like, trust me, guys, this is not the one you need to be worried about right now. Do you ever see people doing that? No, I'm not lying. Like, that's, yeah. No, but like people that know what they're doing. Oh, oh, no. But for some reason, like you said, why were, where did people decide that that's a thing you should?
49:19 Like, I also get it. someone's a competitive bodybuilder, if someone's like a grip or an arm wrestler, like, there's probably reasons for them to do that. Those aren't the people I'm talking. Yeah, I'm talking about guys that are like 15 and weigh 135 pounds. Squat or bench or, yeah, like, the problem, the problem with your forearms isn't that you're not doing enough concentration forearm exercises. It's that you're not doing enough of anything, you know.
49:44 Why would people be doing those all the time? Dude, I just like, who talks, some of that? Don't just picture people at the YMCA doing that. Yes. Absolutely. I do. Like every day that I haven't seen someone do that in a decade of being at massonomics gym. I feel like I saw it every day we went to the Y. It was for a decade. Like multiple people would be doing that. Is it just one of those things too where it's just like you see it and you're like yeah you know what actually I like that exercise because you just it's not that hard to do it and it gives you not that hard. There's almost nothing easier. There's almost nothing no lift you could do with ways you could potentially make it hard. But also people are that are doing that are. aren't making it hard, though, you know.
50:22 But even if you make that hard, at the end of the day, you're getting a slight, a little forearm. Oh, yeah, it's still very, very relative on the scale of things. Like, you're kneeling over supporting the weight of your arm on a bench. Yeah. And just letting your wrist hang over the edge with a 20 pound dumbbell. I mean, you could be sitting on your ass. You know, you could have that going for you.
50:41 That's true. That's true. But that's, so that's the calf raise of the upper body. Uh-huh. Okay, from Big Garrett. What's the Nautilus chain point? pullover of the lower body. Oh, the novel's chain pullover of the lower body.
50:59 Well, I mean, maybe the, kind of was like by definition, it has to have a chain though, doesn't it? Oh, okay. Doesn't it? Or are we just saying like the chain is in spirit here? Yeah. I guess you could go either way.
51:17 God, that's a, what were you saying, the glute bridge, you thought? Yeah. Or like, what do people, the hip thrust or I'm not really sure why that, that, why I'm saying that. I guess the lying leg curl.
51:34 Kind of. Yeah. I don't, I don't know. That's a tricky one. Coming from a guy that doesn't use a lot of machines too. It's really hard for me to say exactly what that would. What would be the best carry over there? All right.
51:54 was third one in a row from Big Tray. What is the squat of the core? God. The squat of the core. Probably like those like weighted crunches, you know, with the strap, maybe. What do you mean by the strap? Like you get like the long ab strap and you can kind of. Yeah.
52:16 So you're saying like a cable weighted standing. Yeah. Or even like kneeling, you know, you can kneeling. You know, you can kneel and people do them too. That's kind of what I was thinking too. for some reason. So I guess it's got to be that. Because you have to have something you can load
52:28 and then also take through a range of motion. And it does require a certain amount of your whole body when you do those because you've got to have like tension all over or else you'll just like fly back. I believe that is the correct answer for that one. Yeah. It's got to be that one. Should we pause to do supporting our supporting member?
52:46 Yeah. And then maybe we could kick off live listeners and do a couple other things. but supporting our supporting members, this is just the 49th time that we've done this here in season two of the Massonomics podcast. It's a relatively new segment. What we like to do is give back to those that support us.
53:06 We do that through a number of ways. One of them, just one of them, is this segment each week. Many other things, though, including but not limited to, here at the, towards the end of 2026, we have a big mailer that's going to go out to every supporting member at the time. And I say at the time, because I've seen some people's memberships be timing out because they got a new credit card and then their membership cancels. So you might want to do a little checking. Time out, do we?
53:40 Yes. No, we do not like it. And you're not going to like it when we send out this gift and you don't get one. there is going to be a line in the sand for that. We are going to probably eventually release some more details, but we do roughly know what it's going to be. And this is a considerably big one. This is an important one,
54:03 and you would be very sad if you missed out on it. So if you're a listener of the show, you're going to want this thing, and the only way you can get this thing is by becoming a supporting member. So please do that. In the process, you may also get shouted out of here, like big bam, bam. competed at October Fest
54:20 USS Strongman competition. He got second place in the men's middleweight class. You know I said to myself when I saw that? That's my boy. That's my son. Lucas likes to lift things.
54:39 competed at Northeast strongest stone lifter. He won and got three event wins. Oh, hell yeah. Big Matt, Big Mad Cow and Big Scott got together for King Kong Grip. Big Mike E celebrated his 15-year marriage anniversary. Big Zach hit a life PR with a new job as a superintendent.
55:07 Big Buzz hit a family PR, welcoming Big Grace to the family. Big Jessica B competed at Westerns 2020. in Canada, taking home gold and the Best Lifter Award. Our brady little sister podcast called the Unpaid and Underrated Podcast, where each week they interview a Masonomic Supporting Member. This week that supporting member was Big Nicole. Go give that a listen. It's just another perk of becoming a supporting member
55:40 as you could make it as a guest on the show if you get involved in the community. And then our Drunken Uncle podcast in the Greatest, greater massonomics podcast universe is the half-baked thoughts on training captain by none other than waffle iron himself. This week, one of the guests was a supporting member Big Mo. So go give that a listen as they talk a little training and whatever else your drunken uncles might chat about on a podcast. Thank you to everyone for supporting what we got going on over here.
56:16 Do you want to read one more ad while I boot people here? here. Let's see. Yeah, I'll do that. I think I know just the thing. I got just the ticket over here. Are you giving people the axe? Yep. Axe and I'm left and right. Okay. This is the Strength Company. We've set out to build a better barbell plate on American soil. We ended up here at Wisconsin's legendary Wapaka Foundry. With over 60 years of ironworking experience, The Foundry had the knowledge, technology, and processes to build our weights to our exact specifications. The Strength Company plates are slim but rugged, smooth but easy the grip, and electrocoded for durability and to look great in your gym. This is the next generation of American Idol, only available from the Strength Company.
57:12 Other quick notes I would mention on the Strait Company is, I believe, soon they are shipping the 250 anniversary American Flag Edition 45-pound plates. I believe you can order those still, possibly, too. So you can get one wall supplies last. And they have their annual turkey pole competition where you can sign up to actually compete in person in Southern California, probably Costa Mesa, if you. I had to guess where that's at, somewhere around there. If you're a SoCal person, you just hop on the four, get on the 90. Take your ass back where you belong. Or you can actually compete in that virtually as well.
58:00 And all proceeds go to some veteran front. I can't remember which one it is. But it's probably a good one knowing Grant. So check out the stringo. Okay. Do we want to do a certified training facility of the week? or do we want to go to some questions again first? Maybe we'll wrap up questions
58:22 and we'll do certified trainings that we can rate our report altogether. Okay. From Big Emmett, how much heavier and safer would your squat be if you had a mono lift? Yeah, Tanner,
58:34 how much heavier and safer would it be? I feel really confident in saying my squat wouldn't be any heavier if I had a monolift. Because I do know that walking my squat out has never actually been the limiter of...
58:49 a weakness. I wonder at max squat. No. And squats is never a weakness. No. And safer, I guess you could make an argument for that because it's a
58:59 different safety system. I've also seen a lot of times where people don't have those set up. Yeah, I've seen where people don't have that set up properly. I guess in either scenario, it really depends on setting it up properly. Yeah.
59:14 It hinges on that quite heavily. Like most things in life. When you do things wrong, They didn't not work correctly. Here's another one, maybe from Richard Sellers, I think. What's a training implement you thought was, okay, what's a training implement you thought was just a gimmick, but turned out to be effective. Oh, okay, I really like this question.
59:37 Maybe this is the title topic. Yeah. Well, I mean, are we keeping notes on what's going to be the title of this episode? You just made the note right there. So make a note. note note it so that i can text you on sunday morning yeah what do we talk about i got a name oh yeah actually crap i i haven't written any of these down so i'm not going to actually that'd be bad yeah they'll disappear have to yeah go scrub through all these again um well i can say one it's kind of a cliche
01:00:06 answer for us currently but i did think the vulture was a little bit of a gimmick until i got it and i can say that i do really really like it not just from a not just from oh this is a cool uh shiny new toy to play with i I mean, I do, I've started even messing more with these damn force curves and all this stuff. And, yeah, I really, really like it. That's one. But if we want something more, more traditional here, do you have anything that comes to mind right away for you, Tanner? Gosh, I actually can't think of what comes to mind. I just, I feel like nothing does come to my mind.
01:00:40 I thought maybe you would say the Voltra. And what did I think what could be gimmicky and then I got it and is actually good? I guess the consui grip, the consui, I do like the consui pull-up handles. I actually believe, I'm like, because there's a lot of, a lot of people sell a lot of elaborate ways to have different grips on a pull-up bar. I like just a straight pull-up bar and then having the cheap plastic consuey handles. You can throw wherever. Right.
01:01:12 Yeah. So maybe that, because I kind of thought that those were pieces of junk. And I'm like, I don't know, I actually kind of, I do like these. I think where this one's hard for us to answer is that we are fans of the basics. It's hard. Like we can't be like, oh, I'm really surprised front squats actually work. I kind of figured those would be more gimmicky. It's like, well, we kind of like all the basics already.
01:01:33 So I'm just trying to think there's anything really obvious for overlooking. You know what? One other thing. Okay, here's something more. But one thing that I don't know if I'd think it was gimmicky, but I just didn't do it forever. So then when I actually did, I was surprised how good it works is just a straight-up little ab wheel of any kind. There you go. That's actually a good one. Those things do light you up surprisingly hard. Yeah, that is a good one. Especially if you haven't been doing them. I would agree.
01:02:00 Yeah. Very true. Yeah. Yeah, they work pretty good. Big Jess, the birthday girl. Can you actually just give everyone the Jackals program? Kevin, RSG has become the official keeper of the Jackals program. You got to know a guy. Sonomics Discord. So if you just send out the bat signal, Kevin will be there to DMU the Jackals eight week program. Big Brandon said, Half Thor Bjoranson has said,
01:02:30 if eating crap made him stronger, he would do it. Would you? No. That's not like my number one priority in life right now. So like Thor, it still kind of is. I would need to know the specifics.
01:02:46 If I only had to do it one time. and it made me the strongest man in the world forever. Like that would be an extreme example. I'm just assuming. If I eat crap every day and it just barely made me stronger, I wouldn't want to do that. But if you're like just eat a little sliver of crap. You eat crap three times a day every day.
01:03:06 And in exchange, you'll get to do $3.90 on your next jackals bench. I probably would opt out of that one. But if they said here's half an ounce of dried, minimally offensive crap. If you eat this, you can actually deadlift 500 kilos. That's a little different game. I'd be like, well, that seems fun. That's a fair trade.
01:03:31 So what, I'm going to gag for five minutes and be like, well, I don't want to do that again, but I don't have to because now it paid off. Let's be real. You've done worse things than that before. I mean, 20 bucks is 20 bucks. All right. Big mofo. If you had to train for a power lift.
01:03:48 meat but couldn't use any bars, how would you train? Oh. No barbells and you're training for a powerlifting meat. No barbells. I could bench with dumbbells. I'll tell you what I would do. I'd get a lot of stimulus there. I'd tell you what I would do.
01:04:06 I would hop in my car. I'd drive across town. I'd go find the most busiest furniture store I could. apply for a job on the spot. Because you, so you just, you just do a blue collar job because that's, that's real world strength. Yeah. Actually, I would just be, I see what you're getting at. Yeah.
01:04:31 I just be moving couch. I mean, my conditioning would come in just out of, just insane. Well, and that's real world strength. Yeah. Like, that's not like this made up shit in the gym. That's actually like, that's real world strength. Yeah. Have you ever seen what a guy looks like when he pushes refrigerators around on a dolly all?
01:04:50 day. Yeah, usually like a fat piece of shit. Yeah. No, that's what I'm going for here. That might be too harsh, sometimes like a fat piece of shit. Not usually sometimes. Yeah, that's what I would do as if I couldn't train barbell movements. I'd be a furniture mover instantly.
01:05:18 Yeah, that's better than whatever else. I was going to say. Whatever, dumbbell hocus pocus you thought was going to work over there. I'm like, real world strength blue collar job is the obvious answer. Because that's real world strength. Yeah, I'd be freaking turning some of your wrenches. None of this gym.
01:05:37 Dampsy shit. Wrenching away, my squat would be like you wouldn't believe from all the wrenching I'm doing. Does real world strength transfer over to the powerlifting platform? though, because that doesn't really seem like a real world application. The competition needs to be, get this refrigerator for me to be on a dolly. Not like without a dolly because there again, the person that lifts for sure is going to be better at it. Quite frankly, even with a dolly, the person that lifts is going to be better at it. But that's maybe not real world strength.
01:06:13 Yeah, that's the thing though. Like their strength is kind of built on lies, smoking mirrors, you know. There's strength and then there's real. and then there's real world. Uh-huh. Strength. Yeah, it's like there's smarts and there's street smarts here.
01:06:25 That's exactly like, yeah. That's like what this is, you know. Yes. Big Andy, what supplements do Tanner and Tommy take to stay big and strong? Mm-hmm.
01:06:35 What's your supplement stack? Well, that's what everyone wants to know. Yeah. Um, so leading up to the meat, I was, I was doing really good about,
01:06:46 um, taking us one scoop of protein a day. and getting my creatine in. I was doing really good for like the two months leading up to the meat, three months leading up to the meat doing that. And now that's done. I can't say I do either one of those. So my supplement game is zero at the moment.
01:07:06 So no supplements. Supplement free as of right now. I have it, you know. Happy to report, since whenever back on the podcast last time I said I was going to try taking creatine again, I'm still on the creatine. Are you?
01:07:22 Okay. I take every morning, I take creatine, seven and a half grams, according to the scoop. I take three scoops. And it's creatine monohydrate. I buy, it's the white package with the orange, the very simple white package with the orange bulk supplements. Yep. Walk supplements. Creatine monohydrate powder.
01:07:43 Tastes like nothing. It's the first thing I consume in the morning. and I finally got in a routine of doing that. I've probably been on the creatine for like three months straight. All right. And then I take, I have a half of scroop, a half a scoop of protein powder in the morning in my oats. Is that what you sprinkle your, is that what you sprinkle your peptides all over to? Oh, we're counting peptides.
01:08:12 Tanner's signature protein oatmeal pepthides. Peptide mix up. Oh, I didn't know we're counting peptides. The only thing, about once a week, I take three-fourths of a scoop of fusion sports performance pre-worked-out powder. It's not like for real. You do that. I thought that thing when you showed a picture of it, that it'd be like a brick. It's so old.
01:08:41 No. God knows how they did it, but it is still a powdery substance in there that tastes about as normal as it did. it was seven years ago. Remember Ghost sent us a bunch of stuff a while ago? Yeah. I mean, that was now a couple years ago, I think. Well,
01:08:55 but they sent us a tub. They sent us tub. Okay. Yeah. And because they used so little, I mean, I usually only take like a half a scoop, but I would take it and it'd be very rare.
01:09:02 Was it bricked? It's getting, well, it's like, I mean, it's well over a year old. It's probably two years old at this point. Oh,
01:09:09 but that fusion sports performance I have is like, well, that's what I'm trying to say, six years old. The ghost one is already getting kind of cakey, and that's maybe two years old. The Fusion one, yeah, has to be from 2020. Fusion Sports Performance Supplements hasn't existed in half of a decade as a company that you can purchase products from.
01:09:25 You know what? It's because they made their product too good. It lasted too long. It lasts. Yeah. So I occasionally have a pre-workout just for the caffeine. If I'm like, yeah, I want to go balls to the wall on caffeine, get a couple hundred MGs coursing through my veins. Feel alive.
01:09:45 Sometimes I just got to feel something again. Okay, from Big Boston, Jose. Worst weight slash rep combo during a hypertrophy block. Five reps, heavy, 10 rep sets, medium, 15 rep sets lighter or other. Well, I guess I would also ask, are we talking on the main movements or on accessories? We'll say squat. Oof. Well, I guess I've never had squats like programmed for like 10 reps before as like the main movement.
01:10:26 You know, maybe some type of squat variation would be lighter. But it's also getting pretty light when you're starting like 10 plus reps. I'll say like right now I'm on the 8th. When you start doing the once the 8th start getting up there, by the end of those, man, you are really feeling it. Like that's, you know, like you're really fun. fighting for your life. So for me, that's probably the answer there.
01:10:50 Yeah, I could see that. Just once you start getting to 15, they just have to be so light to do 15. Is that the first 10 or nothing? And then it's just how bad did the last five suck is what it turns into. Yeah. But it's still a really hard five by five of squat
01:11:03 is really hard. Yeah. Like if you, if you, but it is also over relatively quickly compared to say an eight or 10 or upset. I don't know, that's the question, I guess. But maybe the answer is in the eight range. Yeah, because I'm going to say eight.
01:11:23 Because eight, you can still hit some decent weights. But, yeah, you can still be feeling it a little bit through those first few. Yeah, Big Zan. What are some things you do in training that you know are not optimal, but they're just fun? You just do them anyways. But just fun. I thought I'm just going to end it.
01:11:45 What are things you do that are not optimal? I'm like, oh, where to start? I do a lot of stuff that falls into that category. Like, I don't necessarily do everything because I think it's the most optimal. Yeah. But still fun. Well, for me, actually for me, the more right answer is just not optimal. Like, I would just, in general, like my training sessions to be longer and be able to do more stuff.
01:12:16 just can't because I don't have the time to do that. So I don't have a lot of just fun stuff that I'm mixing in typically. But I don't know. I don't really add much fun. I don't have a lot of extra fun lists that I do. Fun is a very interesting word. Well, because when I hear that, I think like, oh, you're doing some frigging isolation forearm curls is what I like,
01:12:42 I think of that. Because, like, fun kind of makes it seem like, well, you're doing this for fun. And if you're doing something for fun, it's because it doesn't do anything. I'm like, well, because, yeah, that's a good, because what I was thinking, like, right now, part of my programming, I don't know what the case is for this being optimal. And that's not why I'm doing it is, like, on my one day a week, my last exercise each day is sandbag to shoulder, which it's kind of the opposite of fun. But that's also what's kind of fun about it for me. Like it's not fun.
01:13:16 It's miserable. But that's kind of why I do it because I'm like, oh, I want to do this because it's awful. The thing is, though, is also with that, though, if you're talking about adding some type of conditioning stimulus,
01:13:26 it is pretty optimal for that. It's pretty good. I mean, you could potentially pick something that is less strenuous. Because you could say if you just want to do conditioning, you might do something else. You know, like I'm just.
01:13:35 But there's also a thing of like when you pick something you want to do, though, it does make it more optimal too. So that's what's tricky about that. I guess I do, sometimes when I do grip, stuff would be a good answer for that because that's, you know,
01:13:51 if I haven't really been doing any of that in the last several months because I'm, I mean, I kind of replace that with now I'm doing like sandbag picks and some different things like that. I always have something I'm doing that I don't really do because I think it's optimal for my squat bench deadlift training, but it's just like what I want to do at the end of my
01:14:09 workout. That's usually where it goes, whatever I'm going to fit into that box. From Hey Bupper. What is one piece of training advice from early in your journey that you still lean on today? I mean, I still think about the whole thing. If I can't get it up for one more set, I might as well start throwing the dirt on me right now. That's the only thing ever been true or words.
01:14:35 Like, come on. Like, if you just can't turn it on for one more set, like, what are you doing here? Like, you might as well just pack it up and get out of here. So what is the advice, though? I mean, the advice is if you can't get it up for one more. set you might as well start throwing the dirt on me now it was said by larry legend one day after i don't know he'd probably it was probably like a wednesday and he'd worked like 60 hours for the week and he came into the gym in his jeans and workboots you know at the ripe age of 40 completely
01:15:03 covered in dirt and mud just looking like he'd been to hell and back and you know kind of feeling down on himself and then he started does the whole well you know he's probably he's probably squatting like 4.50 for sets of five in his work boots. And before one of the sets, he probably said some long the lines of like, I always figure if I can't get up for one more son, you might as well start throwing the dirt on me now. And I'm like, man, that's pretty profound, Larry. That was the only thing I could think of.
01:15:33 I mean, isn't that the thing? No, like, isn't that the thing, really at the end of the day? Yes. Because it speaks to having some longevity in it. Because if you get to that point, like you don't get to that point after you've been lifting for three months, you know, like that doesn't happen. And then it also speaks to something of like, well, you know, if you're going to call it quits, you might as well send this damn thing here.
01:15:51 Like, are we doing this or not? Yep. You also ask, which exercise do you most associate with South Dakota? Oh, that's an interesting thought experiment there. Probably the South Dakota Shield carry, if I just. Oh, great answer. I wasn't going to think of that. That's the answer.
01:16:10 Yeah. How could you pick something besides the 20-20-4s to mind, but I just want to say. South Dakota, I think the South Dakota shield carry. 2024 massonomics Lift Hardly VZ Classic Strongman event of carrying the South Dakota. Only time it's ever been used in competition, we bought, had made and bought this very expensive.
01:16:31 We actually own the rights to that event. So if anyone wants to do it, they have to pay us a lot of money. Well, and they also have to get the shield from us because it's the only one that exists. Is it Texas, who makes that again? Texas Power Concepts. Yes, they also have to pay them a lot of money to make one. From Jay Brown, pick one. Only using leg extension curl machine for leg days.
01:16:58 Or not being able to eat eggs. Oh, I could pick easily not being able to eat eggs. I can, I don't, I mean, I don't dislike eggs, but I don't really like them that much. I don't know. This is more of a dilemma for you. Tanner. Only using leg extension leg curl machine for leg days. That would be some shitty, that would really ruin leg day for the rest of my life. Did he specify what the felt load is on this hypothetical leg extension like curl? So I'm going to say, let's say it's the perfect felt load.
01:17:34 Okay. It's that perfect felt load that doesn't exist. Okay. We're going to say optimal felt load that no one's figured out how to make you. Okay. Yeah. And that rate that just. So I'm assuming it's endless range of motion. Right. Endless range of motion. I mean, yeah, it's selectorized. Okay. Selectorize, it has like a 500 pound stack because I mean, so it's going to need. And big ass legs to work here.
01:17:57 Not only the felt load, but what's the term for like the amount of weight at the portions of the strength curve? Yeah. It's got the perfect strength curve to go along with it. Yeah, wow. Just right curve just the way you want the strength. Oh, man. I can't believe no one's made this machine yet. what are they thinking?
01:18:16 I actually don't think I could go with taking eggs out of my diet. That would really ruin my breakfast every day. That would ruin my breakfast every day. The leg day conundrum would ruin one training day a week. So I'm going to just use the leg extension. Because I guess, so on back day, I can still deadlift. On bench day, I can still bench. You know, I could do everything else.
01:18:40 But man, I could get away with that. I think about that leg day, though. Think about how screwed you are. It would be terrible. It's awful. That is a wasted day of leg day. But I would still do it because I'm like, well, this is better than no legs slightly. This is marginally better than not lifting legs at all for the rest of my life.
01:18:59 That's how I value the leg extension leg girl. It's barely better than never getting to lift legs again. It's just a step above doing nothing. Because like if you said, you only get to squat, you'd be like, well, frick, that's fine. Like I get 90% of the- Pretty stout and healthy my whole life, I guess. But if you say only leg extension leg curl, I'm like, oh, man.
01:19:24 Yeah. Really makes some piss poor leg workouts. You have to get really creative here. Big, uh, this one's from Big Bam Bam. Hello, dads. Would you guys ever consider doing training vlogs again on YouTube? I really miss those dads. Well, I mean, I wouldn't be against it.
01:19:45 The first problem is that we don't really train together ever. Right. I actually just like yesterday had a thought. And I'm just now piecing together. It's a potential answer to this question. You know what I could see the one application we could do this. Say someone comes in to visit us for Massanomics gym. We don't really do training vlogs anymore.
01:20:08 We do walk around. What we do is walk around interviews around their home gym and do an interview with them, you could almost do a training vlog that's an interview. It's hot, you know, we do hot ones of a gym tour.
01:20:23 Right. You could do hot ones of a training session. Right. Where lifter X comes in and we're like, okay, we're going to our take on a training vlog with them. They're coming to Massanomics gym you're saying. Yeah,
01:20:35 you're coming to Massanomics gym. Or we're going to visit you. But like just doing a training vlog, I just don't think it fits our style that well. But if we also do an interview where it's like, oh, we're doing bench first. We do a set. And in between, it's like, you know, we're at we, we have this, we have a series of questions, you know, even some like pre-can, canned questions that we're going to go through while we're doing it. It probably requires some editing. Yeah. And that, because you're not going to have
01:21:03 an hour long video. Yeah. You know, but you know what I'm saying? Like, it's almost like an interview of a training vlog because then, because we have to think of what you, Tube rewards because this stuff is all a lot of work. So we don't want to do a ton of work that doesn't reward us in any way. Yeah. But you could almost spin it with then titles and thumbnails and content that it does potentially reward because it's, you know, you're at, you're talking to Juji Mufu about. Yeah.
01:21:32 Well, there's the problem with that is is that. And I actually do like that idea. The problem there is that it's so dependent on big names now because. Oh, yeah. For sure. Where with home gyms, you can have unknowns. and the remarkable part can be the gym. And then that that's the part that gets people interested
01:21:49 is this remarkable scene, this gym. Like that's interesting. Right. Okay, who's the guy behind this? Where if you don't have a big name, like now like the remarkable part has to be your strength. But if you have like crazy strength, you probably have a big name.
01:22:05 So like, and then also like YouTube just doesn't really reward training videos like at all unless it is huge people. No, that's why I was thinking of alternate. And it's alternative spins of training videos, you know, is like this. But then it still kind of relies on a name. Yeah, like it revolves on having juji-moo-foo and boogs and people like that. I guess an example would be our most recent, most recently published gym tour with Big Tim in Phoenix. You know, if you take the title and thumbnail of that video, which is, what's the title, training into your 60s?
01:22:40 Yep. So you can actually do a training. Like the video could be the title and thumbnail could be exactly the same. Because it's not, you just take off gym tour off of the end of it. And it's still the same title applies because you asked him the same questions. And you get to find out about his training history and him throwing a disc. But they're the question,
01:23:01 though, is we do absolutely have a baked an audience of people that know they're going to see a gym tour when they see that. Right. And how many of those people now are like, oh, actually, you know what, I don't even care about a gym. tour. I just want to see these guys chatting. No doubt there is a section of that audience. That would be totally cool with that. But there's also a section of the audience that is doesn't care about. I want the gym tour. And I still do kind of think at the end of the day, like YouTube's like, yeah, we don't want to push this as much either because just training videos.
01:23:27 We know we're going to go as good. But that's our secret sauce. We do gym tours, but it's an interview. You know, if you haven't picked up on it, we do an interview. Like a rogue equipped tour is, here is my rogue equipment. Right. Astronomics gym tour is let's chat about your life and your lifting history and also how you got this equipment and whatever else might come up while we're here. Yeah. And the other thing that makes that one of challenges, it's hard to do on the road because when we're doing five in a day, like, you can't do like five legit training sessions in a day. It's like, oh, for sure. Like, I mean, I would argue that it's almost impossible to do one training session the way we do it on the road.
01:24:06 Yeah. So that's the first problem. It's almost impossible. Yeah. So then you are back to what you talked about, though. like this is the thing that brain's like, but it is feasible bringing people into Masanomics gym, but it is just the thing of bringing people into Masanomics gym
01:24:17 is a whole process in itself too. Oh, for sure. But there is something there where you could, like there is a format there that is. Because there again, we put a lot of time into that so we can't do it without an angle that we think at least has a potential chance of working. Yeah.
01:24:33 You know, that video is way more work to edit for sure, like you were saying. Oh, yeah. Like that video for setting a gym tour is a significant time of us. Hey, for doing this full time, I'm on board. We're doing this right now. Right.
01:24:44 But we're also not at a point where we don't make our full time living off of massonomics and YouTube and all that. That's why we have to make a lot of the decisions we make is what can we, what can we put out and what can we also put it out efficiently? This is what, like every week when I added a video, I go in and I do the initial pass and I put all these little notes to me of a B roll here, here, here, here, and I get done. And I see like 30 spots of Bero and I'm like, yep,
01:25:04 don't got time for that. Let's clean all those out and get just the ones that I know we have to have. And it's like, yeah. So it's like, yep, can't spend hours and hours collecting, finding B roll for all these spots. As cool as and fun as I think it would be, it's just, it's not in the schedule right now. So. Right. So the answer is no plan for a training.
01:25:28 Because I guess the alternative is when you and I are together and we're doing videos. Because in the past, we occasionally did one where we do a training, like one of the videos, we're going to do a training vlog because we're in the same place. we could do that but for us it's what's you know how do we present that in a way that somebody that that a decent amount of the audience is going to enjoy it you know like there's always going to be someone that likes it but we got to get it on more eyes yeah i'll also say this and maybe this is a personal flaw with me but i think if most people have made videos they can attest to this um it's very very hard to be an actual training mode and also shoot content mode not just like
01:26:08 be on camera, but like shooting content, like, okay, do I remember to get this shot? Is this making sense in the flow of the video when I'm going to edit this? Well, it screws up your training. It does. Like, you're just so distracted. And like, if you've never done that, like maybe you've recorded yourself doing a how-to of something. Just think of how long it takes you to like put something together and then how long it takes you to put something together when you film yourself.
01:26:29 And it's like four times as long. I can tell you it is way more of a pain in the ass. I mean, even like crew falls. Like, I mean, it's sweet and fun going to Los Campionnes. But I'm spending the first two hours. were there recording people because I have to get that part done. And I mean, I would love to just be shooting the shit and hanging out the whole time. But unfortunately, like, I can't do that either because that's how this goes.
01:26:49 So that that's the other angle with it. I will say probably the closest thing we've ever done to this would be when Chad came to Aberdeen. Look at on the Juggernaut channel, the video that they did with us. Like to me in a perfect world, that's what it would be is we would do that right there. I mean, that was their edit of it. But it's like, yeah, you're in the gym. Here's kind of a montage of us having fun talking, doing some things. and here's some big lifts at the end.
01:27:10 And like that's the thing. And like it's fun and really, really cool. But that's just not the spot we're at right now. Yeah. Big Eddie, Corn Fed Highlander says, how do you feel about bands? Dynamic resistance, stretching, body weight, et cetera. How do you feel about bands?
01:27:28 One second here. I accidentally. I forgot to put the power cable into my camera. My first thought on bands is they're so affordable. there's almost no reason that everyone shouldn't have some at their disposal. You might not even know what you're going to do with them. And I think you should just have them because you'll probably figure something out along the way. I think they have almost an endless amount of possibilities.
01:27:55 The utility to the cost is awesome. And yeah, I just use them for, I couldn't even tell you everything that they get used for. They get used for all kinds of stuff. Yeah, I think that's one of those. You know, I don't, I don't really use it with the, like, I'm not coming bands on the bar. Yeah, I don't really do that part of it. But like you're saying, they're pretty affordable. They take up no space in your gym and you can get a variety of them.
01:28:20 And whether that's something that you use for, like when we're at Jujimufus and he's showing us different, like, warmups with them for, like banding things and, like, working through stuff. Like, just having them, you'll find uses for them. So, yeah, I think it's a great thing that everyone should have in their gym. Big Kurt, any recommendations for starting Jackals programming with limited equipment? I don't like how Jackals have just made it such a resurgence since when we visited Brad again. We hadn't talked about it in seven years and now like half the topics are related. It comes up over and over again. Any recommendations for starting Jackals program with limited equipment?
01:28:56 Jackals is almost perfect for limited equipment. I mean, yeah, it's just, it's basically just barbell and weights and a bench and a squat rack. Yeah, like, I mean, there's something. accessories in there, but the accessories are like dumbbell movements then. Also, don't even think about the accessory choices that hard. Matter as long as you do just the main movement's hard. Do a curl, do a tricep lift. I mean, I'd say it's the ultimate like low.
01:29:19 It kind of is. Like, ideally you have a rack and a barbell and a bench. Like that's preferably you have those, but that's kind of if you're trying to do anything. You've got to have those. Yeah. Yeah. Once you have those, yeah, that's all you need for juggernaut. Detours.
01:29:34 Sorry, Jackals. Jackals. Having an issue coming out of the hole on squats and falling forward slightly accessory to fix it, question mark. See, I'm really bad to ask on this because I've never once had a single issue with this in my life ever. I would say pause squats would be my best one to tell you. Not a bad one. Because when he paused there and then go back up, it's a lot. easier to be intentional about your positioning on the way up when you when you when you when you mix that
01:30:12 pause squat in so I would think uh I would say in my opinion pause squat I would also maybe look at is this wrong is this wrong thinking to maybe look at how you're racing on squat works too like are they saying they're rounding over what are they saying no I um is that what they're saying what did they say coming out of the hole on squats and falling forward yeah there I guess there's different things there If you're, I was thinking more they're bending, that they're, what's happening is that their hips are coming up faster than their, uh, upper body. You know, like I wasn't considering if, yes, if they're rounding and like losing a brace and yeah, that would be it. But I'm picturing more that their hips are rising before there. And then they end up doing a good morning or, you know, their chest is, uh, parallel to the floor.
01:31:02 Right. Does part of that come from? Okay. This is me not knowing. Not a programming, not a programming expert here. Is part of that just come from your legs not being strong enough, like in your back is taking over? Like, is that a school of thought there or not?
01:31:16 Basically what I've seen, almost everyone that does that myself included, there are people with longer femurs and they bend over more to begin with. I never see people that squat, back squat vertically. Like you, Larry, Corey, I've never seen any of you on your hardest squat ever. that happened once.
01:31:35 And I mean, it has like if I feel it, it's because I go, I go right back down the way I came back up. Like nothing. That's, uh, that'd be the, that's the first thing I noticed is also that with having the prerequisite of like, understanding squatting to be, you know, somebody that's new can make all kinds of mistakes. Right.
01:31:59 Like I'm talking about when I'm comparing people that all, All our experienced people, yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah, if you've been lifting for a year and you say you're rounding or you're tipping forward in the squat, that could mean a lot of different things. My not technical answer is getting stronger fixes everything because, you know, when I run it over on the squat, when it gets too heavy. Yeah. And, you know, when if 405 is a heavy-ass weight for me, I might round over.
01:32:29 if I get stronger and it's easier. I'm not going to round over. I don't round over. You know, so like the cure typically is getting a little bit stronger. Yeah. And that's not a great answer, but that's actually like an application, what I think works the best. That is how a lot of that goes.
01:32:46 So it's like, oh, the answer for a lot of things is just get stronger and then you can work through those weak points. I know there's flaws in that type of answer, but that's kind of what I callously think of usually. Yeah, true. Big mostly math. What's the best exercise for quad development? Feels like a bit of a joke question at me.
01:33:10 I think that's taking pot shots. I'm obviously not qualified to answer that one. What do you think is the best exercise? Because you've sworn off leg extensions, right? Yeah, I haven't done a leg extension in well over six months at this point. So is the best exercise for quad development? The squat or a different exercise? People don't want to hear this,
01:33:33 but do do some high rep sets of high bar squats and tell me what that does to your quads do that one tell me what you feel and then also just do some split squats just even grab like do get that rear foot elevated grab like a dumbbell hold it in your hand do some split squats you can play around with that stance how far apart your legs are there you know how long your step is yeah and tell me that that doesn't just absolutely light up your quads i mean for me any of the does it 10 times more than than leg extensions does. I would,
01:34:07 any squat where you can get your knee moving forward in your back angle, saying more vertical. Yeah. And then a lot, I mean exactly what you said, because you said a high bar squat.
01:34:21 Like to me right now, I'm doing goblet squats with a kettlebell. And I do a narrow stance with my heel elevated. And I do it as a quad exercise. and my God, will it like. You can't like those things up, can't you? Way more than I can.
01:34:37 Like, it's way different than the leg extension. Like, you can get a really localized pump from a leg extension. But it's so localized to the point where I'm like, it feels like I'm doing the freaking forearm isolation pump of the lower body here. Like, it's, doesn't it? It feels like, okay, can we, can we do more than like this one, like, golf ball size area of isolation? Like, can we maybe just get a little bit more?
01:35:00 where yeah if you're doing a higher rep quad dominant squat work yeah i like what you said though it is the one of anything you do to start getting your knee traveling over your foot yeah which is funny because from some people it's like oh the cue is like never let that knee go over your foot it's like no i'm telling you man do it your quads and just feel something they've never felt before along those lines big mac if it's not seated why does it even get counted
01:35:27 that's what i'm wondering that's what we've always said. Okay. Big Evan, should I drop a few pounds to be sort of lean under 90s or dirty bulk to fill out the under 105 KG Strongman?
01:35:48 I mean, you've been in both of those weight classes. Yeah, I mean, I don't know. When you say drop a few pounds or we literally talking about like dropping less than five. If it's less than five, I would, that's probably not bad thumb. moderately clean up your diet and like you're there in a couple days. If it's like 10 though, then you're actually talking to it's like 10.
01:36:07 You're kind of talking a different game here all of a sudden. You might be talking not being as strong as you are now at a certain point. You know, and that kind of sucks. Yeah. So I'd say keep that in mind. The only thing I'd add, the only thing I'd add, because he does put at the end of it, Strongman and he doesn't say powerlifting, in Strongman, it may be meaning you get to use lighter implements.
01:36:30 Yeah. So for the amateur or, I mean, all of us, like non-professional in both sports, in powerlifting, I would, unless, if it's just a few pounds, go ahead and cut down. Otherwise, who really cares? Just lift the most weight.
01:36:44 Yeah, just show up. Just do the thing. In Strongman, you do actually get the potential advantage of getting lighter implements. There again, could you say, so what are you trying to do? The lightest implements you can? Like, what do you?
01:36:59 you want to be, are you trying to be strong or you're trying to lift the lightest implements you can get your hands on? You can take the easiest way out here. Come on. But I do, I lean on those things too much. So I would say it makes sense in strong, you know, especially if you're just a few pounds away. Strong man stir fry.
01:37:23 How often do you like to change up your program approach or does it stay rather habitual? Well, okay. Mine's maybe a little more straightforward than you're. Tanner. I've basically, I have said it in this episode, I've been, really, we've stuck pretty good on the training question. I mean, who knows the people. We're almost done with questions here. I mean, I've for real, I've basically been on Juggernaut for like four years now. And the way juggernaut goes is that it wants to break it out into phases. So you have a hypertrophy phase, which depending on how far you set out your program, like the default is like 26 weeks.
01:38:00 So a half a year, you're probably going to have about 12 weeks of hypertrophy. You're probably probably going to have about eight to 10 weeks of strength, and then you're going to have like four weeks of peeking. And so with all of those, like you're getting different phases throughout. And then when you're done, you can throw in a bridge block at the end after you've peaked or done your meat and whatever, where you're going to get about six weeks of kind of more like GPP conditioning, high rep time stuff like on a timer where it's just like, hey, let's get you in better shape here and mix it up. So that's to me is why I really like Juggernaut, is that it's always kind of like going through these seasons and changing where it's not just like, yeah, here, you're just running
01:38:39 75, 80, and then 85%, and then reset it and do it again. That's why I like Juggin out a lot. It just gives you so much longevity with how you can change your approach. But in the case of maybe someone like Tanner or when you're working through maybe injuries and things like that's not always the best option either. Like you need to maybe do a little more custom approach to certain things. my take on that question is probably weird because this I said this before I said this before I kind of think almost all training is the same at the root of it like I
01:39:17 actually don't see differences in most things the more I think about it the more I just think it is all the same so even when I'm doing different things I'm like well it's still basically the same I mean yeah there's like a lever or two your pulle it's like I got right I mean I'm still going and lifting hard. It's just, I just maybe dial, pull back the weight a little bit, and to make up for it, I just do more of it. You know, like, right. It's like those are kind of the two things that you're playing with the most. Yeah. And I do rotate in a lot of different exercises that I'll, I like to do things for periods of time. But then I'm also like, well, but I also kind of keep the core things all the time. Yeah. So that's why I think to someone, uh, I could maybe and explain it
01:39:56 in a way that it sounds like I'm doing different stuff all the time. But I'm, I actually think I'm really very rarely changing anything. And I even say that if I'm doing juggernaut or if I'm doing jackals, at the end of the day, I'm like, it's still actually kind of really similar. With both of us, it is the thing of we're doing the same thing pretty much all the time.
01:40:16 It's just a matter of like, what's the rep scheme look like? Right. That's really like at the end of the day, the only thing that's really getting messed with a whole lot. And then maybe you're taking a little different look at accessories. Right. Like I don't,
01:40:27 like I have this, like I've been hitting the Voltra hard. I'm still doing this. for more or less the same stuff. It's not really different. Yeah. It's not like I'm training, changing up my training to use the Voltra.
01:40:37 It's like, no, I'm just, I'm doing the things I was doing. I'm just using it. I'm just loading up a box instead of a weight stack. Like,
01:40:45 yeah. Big Beardham. FMK, strong man powerlifting grip. We're just, we're killing grip competition for sure, obviously, but I just answer for both of us.
01:40:57 Yeah. Okay, there we go. I like grip. But yeah. Let's be. We have to call a spade a spade That's fair We actually have
01:41:07 Now are a part of hosting two grip competitions a year At this point I made numerous videos about grip stuff even Yeah I probably I mean at this point You can say I have married power lifting I've been in it for the long haul now
01:41:22 And you did a little strong man So A little bit yeah There you go There you go That's pretty much answered I could Waffle
01:41:31 between the two. I already said I'm not one or the other, so I'm not even going to comment. From recent inomics, if there was a massonomics fitness test, MFT, what events would it include? This is pretty good, actually. Okay.
01:41:48 Yeah. So we'll say there's three events. All three. Okay. That was going to be my first concern is how many do we've got to limit this to, but there may be. There maybe needs to be one cardio event
01:42:01 to fit with. the fitness standards, you know, cardio-ish. Yeah. Maybe the beer mile or the cottage shoes mile. Yeah, a beer mile. Where you eat one tub of cottage cheese around each lap. Yeah, that would be pretty good.
01:42:22 I don't know. What would be the lifting parts of it? If it's a massonomics one, well, I mean, I don't know, would you go as cliche as the horse stalemate gripper? Or would you find? something more historically significant to massonomics or would it just be as basic as the bench press or something like that's what i was just wondering is do you have to have like a good old standby like
01:42:44 the bench mixed in there you know right because it could be the bench maybe the bench i guess it could be the 225 special i mean that's not a bad one do you is this going to to to buy the book if you do a double overhand 28 and a half 10 rep max deadlift Yeah, that's, I like that. It's a, there we go. It's on an original Texas power bar, a 28.5 millimeter, double overhand, no hook grip, 10 rep max deadlift. Because if anyone that doesn't know, the thing, your weight selection is so important for that event,
01:43:23 because you only get one attempt. Yeah. Because your grip's going to, like, if you make it to like eight and fail, your grip is going to be toast for a rerun at that. Yeah. So it forces you to be a little concerned. conservative. But you're also rewarded by pushing yourself. So there's a, there's a lot of mental aspect. You are allowed when you set the bar down, like to like pause for a moment and adjust your grip, right? Like you have, it's not like you have to lock on and never. No, because after a while, what you typically find is that just doesn't help anyways. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. So it's so you can do that. It's not like a like a farmer's not like a farmer's not like a
01:43:56 No, it's not like if it slips you're screwed. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's just the kind of is. By the time you slip, you kind of are screwed though. That's right. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. Like, yeah, you're allowed to keep trying it, but like I, you know, everyone knows how that goes. Yeah. So, yes, definitely I'm 100% sold. It's the 10. Also, it tests some strength endurance. Yeah. Because it's a 10 rep max deadlift.
01:44:20 It's really a grip event. But you do need, require a prerequisite amount of deadlift strength in order to be decent at it too. And cardiovascular strength to make it through all the time of those. I think it's definitely the 28.5 millimeter. double overhand. Maybe that's just the whole test, actually. That tests everything. No, that's just the whole test.
01:44:41 That's the massonomics fitness test is your double overhand, no hook rep, no straps, 28.5 millimeter, Texas power bar, 10 rep deadlift max. I've done 45. I think my best is maybe I've done over four. I've done 455. I may be done like 475. Somewhere in between those two. Something like that.
01:45:06 I did just warming up for deadlifts the other day. Just I want to say on a 29 millimeter bar. Maybe that was my problem. I was on a 29 millimeter bar. Yeah, that's basically, that's as apples to oranges, but go ahead. I think I just did like a double at like 355. And I'm like, oh, double overhand.
01:45:24 I'm like, that is about the limit. You know, like I'm just so far off. Here's, since we're talking training today, because this is very true for this specific example, though. When I'm training that, which sounds like an absolutely idiotic thing to be training for, when I'm training that, I get way better at it. Oh, you do. Right?
01:45:45 Yes. Oh. When I'm not doing it, like I can't do that right now. 405 for 10 would be hard. But in like two months from now, 405 by 10 would probably be easy if I actually. So is it just purely that time spent hanging on to the bar is what gets? you better at it. I don't know. I have absolutely no idea. I would hate to even wager a guess. But that brings me to the broader topic that overhead press, this is just a note that I would make
01:46:15 it. I think what people tell themselves. Overhead press all habitually for years to be like, I'm not push press, overhead push press, not just a strict press. I would say, I'm not good at push press. I'm not good at that. I'm not good at that. If I think about it long enough, I start to tell myself, you know why I'm not good at that? Because you don't do it. I don't fucking do it. That's usually the secret of why you're not like you and I'm like, you know what I've gotten way better at that I've just do it every single week is the push press. Yeah. And it's not always good, I mean, it's not always that easy. That one especially to me though. Like there's very much a level of technicality and timing to that lift that right that's a lot of lists don't have so that one makes a lot of
01:47:02 sense to me that right because i in the past i mean this was actually true like when i strict press 300 pounds i don't think if i push pressed i would have got 305 like i wouldn't have done i actually think i would have done less weight it would have messed me up because i was just training my strict press and to try to push press i wouldn't have even i wouldn't have gotten 300 pounds that day. But at the moment now that I've been push pressing for like five months, I'm feeling really good about it. And I'm like, oh, yeah, you know, who would have thought? Doing it makes me better. Right. Next thing you know, people are going to say you look stronger than what you actually. Strangering what you look, you know. That was my only thought about that
01:47:46 as just a reflection on myself that I'm like, oh yeah, you know, typically those things you say you're not good at. Because you don't. Sometimes doing them does help too. That's why I'm not good at hook grip because I don't do it. Is that what's going on there? That is a good example actually also. This doesn't apply to everything because some people by nature are going to be a better deadlifter than a squatter or a better squatter than a deadlifter. And you can bring those things up and stuff.
01:48:13 But usually you're not going to completely flip-flop that because your body is, you know, people have certain built-in advantages. Yeah. People have advantages that are. harder to overcome or, you know, just they're going to excel at certain things. But hook grip deadlift, certain grip things like the push, I think there are certain technical things, but just doing it a little bit. 10 max double overhand deadlift.
01:48:40 28 millimeter Texas power bar original. Double overhand 10 rep max deadlift. Obviously those things require practice to get good at them. And I sick of hearing people sit. Everyone always says, I'm not good. at the 28.5 millimeter original Texas power bar double overhand 10 rep max dead left. I'm like, yeah, you know how many times I've seen you do that? Never. Zero.
01:49:06 In fact, I've never seen anyone do it besides me. You know how you become one of the best at something? You come up with something that literally nobody else does. No one else even wants. Nobody else. That nobody else even has even the slightest bit of incentive to ever even try one. That's so nonsense that nobody will do it. From extremely mediocre lifter.
01:49:34 Second to last question. Is it worth it to train strong man year round? Yeah. Like, what are we talking? Is there some moral cost or some? I think it's just whatever you want to do. If doing that is what keeps you interested in training, then it's worth it. You can also just lift regular weights, you know, three to four days a week.
01:49:55 And then just kind of like mix in a little bit. bit of strongman stuff one day and you're still training strongman year round you know true and yeah just whatever you want to do i don't even think of that yeah just whatever you want whatever's floats your boat for the usually but also if you just want to you know strength train and then right when a power strongman competition comes up just a little bit of event training right before it you could also probably be you could also make a lot of improvement doing that yeah in most situations But if you like doing Strongman all of the time, you could probably mix in a little event stuff one way or another
01:50:32 as different variations almost all of the time. But if you want to mix in some Strongman training while you're moving furniture, is that allowed to? Is that? See, that's where the lines get a little blurred because you got two things. You've got gym strength, which is useless. Kind of fake strength. Yeah, it's fake.
01:50:53 Jim strength equal to approximately fake strength is a good way. Is that the term you use fake strength? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's like what gym strength is because on the other side of the spectrum, you have real world strength. Yeah. And those two never do the twain intermix. No, no, they're very separate.
01:51:12 Yeah, because fake strength is when you get out in the real world, what is like this couch? Does it weigh 50 pounds or 5,000? We don't know. We just know it's really, really heavy. Yeah, you know, but who it's not that heavy for, the person that has real world strength. Yep. Not the person that can deadlift 900 pounds.
01:51:32 Yeah, you see, you see an immovable couch. They just see the next, the next paycheck in front of them. Do you think Jamal Browner's going to be over able to just go out there and easily pick up a 90-pound couch? Hell no. No. Not a chance. What is, do you think, uh, can someone help me with the Ottoman over here, guys? It looks kind of intimidating.
01:51:51 Do you think half Thor Bjoranson's going to just? just be able to move a piece of furniture on his own? No. No. And then obviously if they did, they'd say, well, I'm not going to lift today because I got that. I don't have to lift today now, you know? Well, you did all. Well, that's because an ounce of real world strength is worth 100 pounds of gym strength.
01:52:11 Like the conversion is so. It's like a thousand to one. Yeah, it's like a thousand to one. Well, you know, Bryce said he grew up moving furniture and look at him. And he's enormous and totals over 2,000 pounds. Yeah. That's real world strength. Yep.
01:52:29 Yeah. That's true. Well, wasn't his family like own a furniture store? That's just cheating. No wonder he's so good lifting. He has all that real world strength. Yeah, he's literally got a couch in his body,
01:52:41 you know. It's like, I grew up raised on real world strength. Yeah. If I can't get it up for one more, you might as well throw the couch on me right now. Isn't that what he says? Oh, I got to have cramp.
01:53:02 Just throw that couch over the top of him and call it a day. Oh. You ever get a cramp like in your abdomen? No, I see you doing it, though. I do not get those. I get them when I do, you know, we talked about those standing, because I do standing. standing curls with like the long
01:53:26 I do crunches like that and occasionally I get that you might just throw the couch on me now so something comes up that it's so dumb I like when something comes up that it just mixes all stupid things we've set in together.
01:53:55 That's why it's getting me because we've been ranting on all these idiotic things and then one statement just like, that one statement in a vacuum doesn't make any sense to anyone ever. And it really doesn't even make sense, but with the whole episode as a whole, it makes perfect
01:54:14 sense. Yep. Throw the couch on me now. Yeah. Last question. Best training advice for new dads. At what point do I sell all my home gym stuff? Well, you sell all your home gym stuff when you get married. Yeah.
01:54:33 After the funeral. Speaking of Bryce, yeah. What's your one best piece of training advice for new dads, Tommy? Oh, God. I mean, keep living. Good luck. Good luck. My piece of advice is just do the best you can while it's the hardest, you know.
01:54:52 Still do something. Don't quit altogether. You can get something in done. You might have to change your schedule. It might not be ideal. You might not go as many days a week as you can, but do what you can and don't quit altogether. Yeah, I would say like you do have to acknowledge that you are kind of playing the game on hard mode now.
01:55:09 Like whether you want to say that or not, like you kind of are. Like life is going to happen because now you're not the only one calling the shots. So training days are going to move. Sessions are going to get cut short. Things are going to disappear. Assuming you're going to be part of. of your family. Like, that's, if you don't want to be part of the family,
01:55:27 actually my advice is don't not be a part of your family because you're prioritizing your training. Like, actually, I'm just, I'm working on the assumption here that you want to be a dad. Like, if you don't want to be a dad, actually, you don't have to worry about anything. You're just fine. You're going to be just fine. The rest of your life's going to be pretty miserable, but your training is going to be just fine.
01:55:47 People in your life pick up the slack. But if you want to participate in the household things, just know, like, things aren't going to go perfect and a lot of times they're not going to even go that great. But as long as you keep sticking it out, you can still make progress. You don't have to use an excuse to do nothing ever again. Exactly. Yes. And I'm saying yes. I don't want people to think like I'm saying this like, oh yeah, that sounds miserable. It's a ton of excuses. It's not. But like you just need to be aware that that is like the game has changed. It's different now. And you got to roll with the punches a little more than before I was just like, oh, God, I didn't eat the perfect foods a day and I got 30 minutes less asleep. It's like,
01:56:20 my advice actually changes depending on the type of person it is. If you're the person that lifting is absolutely everything for you and you had to keep the perfect schedule at all times, my advice is exactly what you said. Just understand that that's going to change if you want to be a good father and a good husband and all of that stuff and accept that, that it's not going to be the end of the world.
01:56:44 And you're that type of person. You're going to figure out your training. Like, you know, like, that's just, you're going to figure out. My squat day is on Sunday and some days my squat days on Thursday. Like they still all happen, but it's just depending on how much life is happening. Right.
01:56:59 And if it's important to you, you're going to figure it out. The advice I would give to people that are barely, you know, have just barely got into lifting, but recognize it would be an important part of their life is don't use it as a reason to never lift again. You don't have to do that.
01:57:15 You know, like you can figure it out. Now that I'm a dad, now it's time to, just take it easy and coast on into the grave. It's not what we're doing here. You're still doing the thing. Yeah.
01:57:29 That's it. That's our Q&A on training. My God, was that a lot of sets and reps talk? Is that a new sets and reps? PR? That probably is, actually. That was a lot.
01:57:38 That was an insane amount of sets and reps talk. Yeah, I did not see that much. I really did not think we were going to do that much. I think it was really good, though. I love some sets and reps talk. I thought that was great. we're almost two hours in. I wonder if we should jump to a radar report.
01:57:53 I think so, well, or yeah, I was going to say, do we save this for next week? But maybe we do just talk about it this week, right? I think we could. Could we? Or do we save it? Are we burying it too far at the end here? Maybe we're burying the lead and maybe we just wrap this episode up. Maybe.
01:58:16 Maybe that's better. Okay. This week's podcast or YouTube video was the, did we tell? everyone that it was the 10 most popular home gym products as picked by the. So this is kind of a radar report. Ladies and gentlemen, can I please have your attention? Radar love. The radar report is we published this YouTube video that is the 10 most popular products on Jim radar.
01:58:50 And to show you to emphasize how much. Jim Radar is even just changing daily. A lot of the numbers change drastically just from when we recorded this like maybe like six weeks ago until now. Was it even that long ago? Was it a month ago? It was about six weeks ago, yeah. Okay, six weeks ago.
01:59:08 Just a lot of shifting and a lot of new ownership of products and like the rotating Vigrat cable attachment from Rogue just keeps climbing the ranks of the Voltra. The Voltra. Just significantly ownership. And it just emphasizes me that it's interesting to see this ownership data on equipment as more and more people keep coming to Jim Radar and using it. Anything else? Because you put the video together, anything else that stood out to you on the top 10 or anything like that?
01:59:41 I guess my takeaway from the top 10 is, you know, if you actually look at the most popular products on Jim Radar, specifically this list, because we excluded Masonomics products from the list, is that you'd have a hard time. saying any of those are actually bad products. You know, there's just a lot of, like, really good products, which to me kind of does reinforces the point of like, you know, it's the, the cream sort of rises to the top. The good stuff does get found. Now, granted, there's Jim Rader. We got like 9,000 plus products in here. There is a lot of hidden gems, but you don't get to be in the top 10 by having a bad
02:00:15 product. And that's what I think this list highlighted to me is that, and it's also a variety, too. You know, it's not like it's nine power bars or nine. racks and one other thing. Like it is a pretty good variety from benches to cable attachments to cardio, like to storage. Like it's all kind of there. Do you know what the highest rated item in the top 10 is?
02:00:38 Ooh. With, you know, the highest, the best five-star rating out of, you know. Counting Masonomics stuff or? No, not counting massonomics because that's a lot of five-star stuff. Is it horse tall mats? It is not. It is. with 53 reviews influencing this.
02:00:58 The rotating V-grip rogue cable attachment has a 4.95 out of five. That's pretty crazy, actually. With over 50 reviews. I mean, that's really highly rated. And, like, that's enough people that you're getting a lot of different kinds of people and opinions there and stuff. And it's almost a perfect rating. That's funny.
02:01:19 It is a five-star product to me, though, like, based on our formula, because for our rating system, we have three, you know, what do you, subcategories or, you know, it's performance value and build quality of our three categories. And it's like a five out of five on all three to me. It's interesting looking through the list. The other ones rated high, like 4.9 or higher. The anchor, 4.93.
02:01:43 The PR 5,000 rep rack, 4.95. Yeah. Also the Texas Deadlift Bar, 4.95. Yep. Co-Plate's 4.95. And see, these all make sense to me. Like, to be a 4.95, and these all have a huge sample of reviews, too, you know, like, it's a ton of people reviewing it.
02:02:05 Yeah, Barbell Rescue Bush, 4.96. Yeah. That, like, to have this much ownership on the site and, and also that high of a review, I mean, you do know, not only is it good, it's also priced at a way that makes sense. to the consumer too. That is the thing. Yeah. Because once you're at like now,
02:02:26 I've never really paid that much attention to it until right now. Once you cross that 4.9 barrier, you basically are getting fives across the board from the majority of people. And in order to do that, you have to have not only a good product, but the pricing has to be.
02:02:39 The price has to be. The market considers good too. Because like the Voltra's expensive, you know, you can subjectively answer this how you want to, but the Voltra costs a not insignificant amount of money. It's expensive as a fair way of saying it. relative to a lot of things.
02:02:54 So that knocks it. If you look, same thing to weapons. That's what they get knocked on a lot is the price. That's what they have a 4.72. You know, some people say they stick and have issues with that, which is a common complaint.
02:03:05 But I bet the price is the biggest category that they're missing a star or two on, you know. Yep. Yeah. Value 4.5, 7. That is their lowest rank in three categories. Same with the Voltra. They're a 4.27 in value.
02:03:21 Yep. So to get this many reviews and have over a 4.9 on Jim Radar, it's a pretty good product. You know, the Texas deadlift bar, the row rotating V-grip attachment, the rep PR 5,000 rack, the barbell rescue brush. Even the sputting along the abstract 4.9-1. All of those do hit the bark of being in their category, relatively affordable, and then also just a good product on top of that.
02:03:49 Yeah. What the hell does this horse? Stoll Matt Gripper have a 4.99. That's what I was. Who's the smart ass? Who knocked at a point? Someone knocked it on ballot. Well, no, someone's knocked it on build quality once and someone on value ones.
02:04:04 If I was going to knock it, I don't think it'd be valued. Probably be build quality. Yeah, someone here build quality. Yeah, because the nubs wear down. It's like, well, yeah. That's what horse stall mats are, though. Yeah, that is fair, though. They're not necessarily wrong.
02:04:20 But they have now been black. from the website. Those accounts are now blocked and reported. Just kidding. One other thing that comes up, you know, people, we have different, as long as we're speaking about reviews, probably mentioned this before, but there's, this part of Jim Radar is a review site. Jim Rader is not a review site, but a big part of the site is users can leave reviews.
02:04:46 I think at the time of recording, we have almost 21,000 reviews for Jim Rader. equipment products on the website, which is freaking huge and insane. But there's always going to be varying levels of quality of the review. And we do not remove reviews for being either favorable or not favorable. Neither of those reasons are ever a reason that we're going to take a review down. Both opinions are encouraged, in fact. Yes. Even if it's our own products, except for that.
02:05:18 I have to say that, but we will be deleting you if you say that. them. Just kidding. Yeah, we hate it when other companies monitor their reviews, which is why we don't do it unless it's on our balance. Only if it's on ours. And really the only instance that it'll come up that we've ever had to moderate any reviews is if it can be determined that the reviewer has not used the product. because it even says right on the site what our minimum requirements for our review are. And it's, you know, your feedback helps others make informed decisions. Please only review equipment you've actually used and have enough experience with to provide a helpful review.
02:06:02 Low effort reviews, you know, if you haven't actually used the equipment, could potentially be reviewed. And it's really what we'll remove it for is if it can be determined you have not used this piece of equipment. And people have left reviews saying, I haven't used this. but this and then like. And then that's when we have to be like. For something you haven't used before. Like that's when we have to be like, well, we have to remove your review.
02:06:23 And we've had to do that a few times, but we won't really, low effort is almost too subjective. Yeah. We're not really removing for that. What it really is is if we can determine that you haven't used the equipment. That brings me to my point.
02:06:38 When you're analyzing reviews, on the 45 pound Ohio power bar here, there's how many reviews, 78 different reviews on these, this. Some of these are going to be awesome and informative and could help shape my opinion. Some of them are going to be almost tell me nothing. That's the nature of reviews. Like you're describing reviews.
02:07:01 Yes, that is the nature. And someone will leave a comment on a review or like someone will leave a review that you don't find helpful at all. And I can almost guarantee you there's someone else that will find that same comment or that same review that you thought unhelpful, quite helpful because it discusses something in their situation. specifically. Right. What's helpful to me is I think the large quantity of reviews that we're building here. So you can choose as you, someone doing research, which ones are helpful and valuable to you and which ones aren't quite as helpful and valuable. And then also like the ratings that are being assembled together. Because when something gets a lot of reviews and ratings,
02:07:40 you can start to see just like what we're talking about, these 4.9 and above products, are probably pretty damn good. Like, it's almost a certainty at that point. Maybe it's not what you want or need, but for what they are, they're probably good. That's my little spiel on reviews. I don't even know. I went into six different tangents off of one thing,
02:08:01 but the top 10 products on Jim Radar, check out the YouTube video. Next YouTube video at the time that this comes out, or the week that this comes out, it's going to be back to a gym tour, I think, in Phoenix probably. I think maybe one of the points you're also trying to make, and you didn't actually say this, is that we don't delete reviews just because someone, discuss something's negative. And there was some comments. Someone did just recently leave a review saying they left a review on another website. And it was deleted because it was negative. So they came to Jim Radar to leave that same review. And I think that's totally fair and legit. To leave the review again on Jim Radar, like to get it out there. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. They left the review on the equipment company's website. And they said that equipment company's website. And they said that equipment. company deleted it. So then they were able to come to Jim Radar and review it and leave their
02:08:49 negative opinion and now it is there for everyone to see and it will not be removed. Yeah. Whereas before you guess I guess you would add to the Facebook page and yell into the void and have like 10 people tell you you're stupid and wrong or something and then it disappears forever a week later. Well, here it can be documented. Yes. Yeah, and that's cool. That is empowering the consumer, I would say, is what that is the ability to do. It's like, A, we give them a place to say that, but it's a place that carries weight because more people are using this all the time and it's becoming a valuable reference for a lot of people. Because you can just put that on your personal Facebook profile that, hey, this company screwed me over and a few people might see it. But now the entire community can see it forever in a place that they're going to be looking for it.
02:09:39 So that encourages companies to do the right thing. A, not delete reviews that you leave on their website, if they're fair but negative, and B, just do better in whatever it was to begin with, whether making the product, customer service, any of that stuff. Yep. All right. Is that all we got for this week?
02:09:59 I think so. Tommy, where do they find you out? You find me at Tomahawk underscore D? You follow me at Tanner underscore Bear. Just make sure to follow Massonomics at Massonomics and Jim Radar at Jim Radar. See you.
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