Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 1414: The Truth About the Leg Extension Machine, Using Intensity Vs. Volume to Improve Squat, How to Transition From Tracking to Intuitive Eating & More

Episode Date: October 31, 2020

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin answer Pump Head questions about going from tracking everything to eating intuitively, the “demonized” leg extension machine, focusing more on intensity or volume when trying to increase the squat, and good ways to deal with a Type A personality and addictive behavior. Weird News with Sal. (3:53) The challenge of dealing with online bullying as a parent. (10:50) Mind Pump Recommends, the Art of Happiness Podcast with Arthur Brooks. (17:04) Mind Pump’s biggest pet peeves surrounding the election/politics. (21:14) Justin’s experience being the only sober person in the room with salvia. (32:02) Studies with Sal. (37:05) #Quah question #1 – What would you recommend for someone who is going from tracking everything to eating intuitively? (39:54) #Quah question #2 – The leg extension machine is often demonized, but why does it exist if it’s not good? (49:39) #Quah question #3 – When trying to increase my squat, should I focus more on intensity or volume? (55:31) #Quah question #4 – What are some good ways to deal with a Type A personality and addictive behavior? I sometimes struggle to find balance in life and easily get caught in the “all or nothing” mentality whether it be diet, nutrition, etc. (1:01:13) Related Links/Products Mentioned October Special: MAPS Anabolic and No BS 6-Pack Formula October Promotion: ALL MAPS Products 50% off!! **Promo code “OCTOBER50” at checkout** German man sets world record with 516 body modifications Man Covers Body In 140 Pounds Of Bees To Set Record The Art of Happiness Podcast - Politics and Unhappiness Visit Caldera Labs for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Code “mindpump” at checkout for the discount** The Proof – Caldera Labs The Ultimate Goal to Intuitive Eating Step by Step Plan to Move Into Intuitive Eating Intuitive Nutrition Guide | MAPS Fitness Products Intuitive Eating: What is it and is it Right For You? Stop Working Out And Start Practicing Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Arthur Brooks (@arthurcbrooks)  Instagram

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, MIND, with your hosts. Salta Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You are listening to Mind Pump a World's Number One ranked fitness health and entertainment podcast. Now in today's episode we answer fitness and health questions that are asked by listeners and viewers just like you. But the way we open the episode is where we talk about current events, we talk about studies. That's the intro portion. Today's intro portion was 37 minutes long after that. We got into the fitness question. So let me give you a breakdown of today's episode. We open up by talking about two new Guinness book records that were set recently.

Oh yeah. Weird ones, but interesting. I gotta check it out for yourself. Then I talk about how my daughter experienced a little bit of bullying online and trying to stay grounded. So I'm trying to do it now, stay grounded. It's tough. Then I talk about a podcast that I listened to recently by Arthur Brooks, great podcast.

He talks about politics and happiness and why the more involved you are in politics, the less happy you will be, then we talked about a, actually just then talked about, being the only sober person in the room when everybody else was doing salvia. Yeah, I don't recommend it. That sounds like a great time.

And then I talked about a study done on a product by Caldera Lab that showed that people had dramatic improvements in their skin. Now, Caldera is a company that we work with that produces some pretty incredible skincare products. One of the products of the good is a 100% plant-based, it's non-GMO, and it's the first men's skincare product in the US to be both made safe certified and ink-eco-certified.

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96% of people reported healthier skin, 91% less dryness, 87% showed improved fine lines and wrinkles, 89% showed improved radiance and luminosity, and 85% showed more even skin tone. So if you want to try the product out, use the Mind Pump discount for 20% off. Here's what you do. Go to calderalab.com. That's C-A-L-D-E-R-A-L-A-B.com-forge-mind pump, and then type in the code Mind Pump and get that 20% off. After that, we got into the fitness questions. The first one, this person wants to know

how you can move from tracking your food to eating more intuitively. The next question, this individual wants to know why the leg extension has been demonized. The third question, this person wants to know, look, I'm trying to get my squat to increase. Should I focus more on intensity or volume? And the last question, this person wants to know

how to work with and maybe solve their type A personality traits. Also, one day left for a huge workout promotion. Okay, so all of our workout programs, all of our maps workout programs are 50% off. You have 24 hours left to take advantage of this promotion. All of our bundles are also 50% off. So bundles combine multiple programs, already discount them, so you can throw an additional 50% off. Okay, so huge sale.

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Again, you have 24 hours to take advantage of this promotion. Doug, can you pull up one of the first links there that I sent you? I want you guys to see. What do you got? What do you got for us? Well, you know how like, people are just, we're just competitive, right?

I can't, I can't personally say, I'm more competitive. I can't personally say I'm more competitive I can't say that I'm the best at anything in the world, right? Can you guys say that at all? No, right? No, right Yeah, you can get over here He's like well, let me think about it. I'm pretty good at a lot of things. I'm pretty good at a lot of things We think you're a quick I'm mostly the best of being humble. He's like I'm pretty good at sex But we don't want to yeah, we don't want to go there. I'm mostly the best of being humble. He's like, I'm pretty good at sex, but we don't want him. Yeah, we don't want to go there.

I don't want to. I don't want to show the videos. Measure that. No, so. So there's a couple new Guinness book of world records that were sent. There it is, there's one. Oh, see?

Okay, so the down point. So this guy right here is a Guinness book of world record holder. Holder, I've got him already excited. Look at this guy. He, he, he, he, the most modified body modifications. The most body modifications,

he looks like a demon. In the, ever, right? Five hundred and sixteen body modifications. What? Yeah, so he's got, I include some of them. What are, what are they? I see tattoos, piercings,

sub-dermal implants. The sub-dermal implants are really interesting. The, he has the world record for the most piercings when they were officially counted at 453, 158 piercings around his lips alone. A bit of his parents are so proud. Yeah, look at, look at, what's in his, what's going on with his tongue?

I don't know, dude, did he split it? What's wrong with his eyes? Are you guys not seeing this? Yeah, I think so. What he did is he tattooed his eyes or whatever. They inject ink so they're completely black. He's got the subdermal horns, the ears. He looks like a conservative.

Yeah. Who's he voting for? We have no idea. That's my guess. Isn't that crazy right there? Oh, man. Why? Yeah. Oh, oh, that's idea. That's my guess. Isn't that crazy? Right there? Oh man.

Why? Yeah. Oh yeah, that's scary. That's scary, son. So there's that and then there's the other one. So I'm more interested in the person that's attracted to that. Oh, I don't know. Do you get a partner after that?

I don't know. He's got to be flying solo. Well, I mean, you know, he's the best in the world at that. That's true. Could be attracted to someone. Oh, yeah. This one gives me the willies. attracted to something. Now this one gives me the willies, bro. So this next one. This one gives me the willies.

This is another Guinness Book of World record. This guy was able to cover himself with 140 pounds of bees for the Guinness Book of World. Now I'm past it. How many bees is 140 pounds? A lot. That's a lot. And they just dump it on them. They're not even like gentle about it

Well, I'm at okay, so think about this way first of all think of a standing with a hundred and forty pound suit Yeah, like that would be hard to do anyway, but now it's bees crawling around stuff look how miserable his face is They're just staying in the shit out of him right now. Look at that. Oh, now I know you Adam You have a thing with bees right? I do. No, it's some like traumatized. Is that all that's all from that time that you That's it. It's all sick one bee to come down or what I thought was growing remember when I when I told you that when I was in high school I I did a Over the summer. I was one of those kids right and I think you guys I think we've talked about this before I

Anything for some side money like I would, I would take any job and he said, so someone you started hooking. Yeah, stop. Dude, there's no out in the country where I live. There was no money in that. Or maybe I could sit here, right? So, yeah. So one of my, uh, the girls that I went to school with her mom, uh, they had like this little bee business. And she's like, would, you know, would you like to make it? And they was good money. I can't remember for me. It was like, that time, it was like $ she's like, would you like to make it? And they was good money. I can't remember for me.

It was like that time. It was like $20 an hour, which was like, oh, that's a lot. Yeah, that was like 5x the minimum wage. So it was like, oh my God. So but you go in the middle of the night when they're sleeping and it was the, we were moving, you know, becrates or whatever you call them. And that's when I had to get the whole suit on and everything. And I told you guys that it was like,

it was, I could feel them crawling and running, you know, under the suit. And I got so hot and sweaty that I felt the sweat running down my back and then I felt it run down my crack and that was enough. That was, that was a, I went like sprinting away, ripped everything off. I had to call it dude, I was like, I can't do this.

I can't just be working while these things are crawling all over you and then you're sweating inside the suit and you can't tell if you sweat or be. Yeah, a sweat or be running down your body and it's just too freaky feeling for me. And then you also, it's inevitable. Try to let you on top of it. Well, it's in pop, like, so at least the suit that I had, and maybe today,

like, you know what? Do you have a picture of this? Oh, I know, I wish. Oh, man. So this is before people carried iPhones around and took pictures of everything they did, right? So this is what, way before that. In fact, I don't even think I have this.

I think I had a beeper at this time, do you know what I'm saying? I had a beeper. Yeah, you could beep me out there. Yeah, you could call me. But why? You know, like only drug dealers are the ones that need it. You were so important, it was Yeah, you could call me. But why, you know, like only drug dealers are the ones that needed it. You were so important.

It was cool. In seven the grades. Well, you know, don't you remember too? You could do code with each other. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Beeper would vibrate in class, and you could pull it off, and you could, okay. Yeah, boobless.

That's right. You said, remember boobless. Have a good day. Have a good day. Okay. It was eight, it was like, what was it? Two, two, three, I don't remember what the code was. You turn it upside down. Oh, yeah, yeah, you

The calculator to yeah, these are all things that we did Oh, yeah, by the way Adam. I am digging the cholo look for today. That's nice. I know man I don't know how much of it's a cholo looks kind of racist to say that no Just because I have quarterbacks to do me. It's a cholo look I mean flannel and in car heart is not a chola. Well, you had a buttoned up all the way when you walked in. Well, I want to be able to separate what gang I'm with compared to Justin, because Justin

wears a flannel every once in a while. Justin's the mountain chola. Yeah, the mountain chola, the Justin James gang. I think you're racist, guy. No, I'm not. Dude, shut up. You got the beanie. The only thing that throws it off is the torn jeans. If you had dicks on, I'd be like, that's great. Yeah, that's what Cortez on. Yeah. And what are

those belts that you know, the ones that it's like you just pull it through. Yeah, is there a name for them? I don't know what the name is. Did you got to remember I grew up in South San Jose. That was a legit style. I'm not trying to be racist or whatever white white News dress like it. Black is like adopted it. Yeah. Yeah, it's not a it's not a Mexican thing. Yeah. Oh, you're trying to backp it on the races It was very like inclusive I'm gonna try that more that works so good just to call some of the races when they shut them up. Yeah real fast Backstory when they shut them up. Yeah, real fast. Like, oh, we did it. I got a backstory. Yeah, exactly.

Let me provide. Isn't that funny? It's a natural reaction. That's the thing. South Delta need to tell us, like, to justify that. Isn't that great? Well, I mean, you just, that's the climate, though. The next one is pedophile.

You say that? Wow. That's the next one. That's the next one, man. Drop the bomb right there. We'll try in a meeting. We'll be in a meeting and Adam would be like, I think we should do this.

No, I think he'd be like, I don't know, Sal, it's racist. Like fuck. Oh man, how do I get back? We're going with what Adam said. Yeah, exactly. Anyway dude, dude, man I had a tough situation this morning. What's up? So, you know, my kids are now at the age

where they start to deal with other kids bowling and stuff like that, right? So my son's 15, he's nothing with him, but my daughter's 11 and you're starting to see that stuff with other kids bullying and stuff like that, right? So my son's 15, he's nothing with him, but my daughter's 11 and you're starting to see that stuff with other kids. Here's the challenge. As an older brother, it was easy for me to handle. When I had my younger siblings,

if someone bullied him, I would just go beat them up. Done, it was fixed right away. Yeah. Can't do that with my kids because that's frowned upon. You know what I mean? So this morning, so this morning, I hear that my daughter, so she plays role blocks and I guess there were some kids, or I don't know who anonymous people,

texting some terrible shit to her through the system, telling her to kill herself and whatever. What? Yeah, dude, it made her cry and I'm just like. It was anonymous person. Yeah, dude, it's just, it's the reality of today. I mean, he's so furious. Like, what do I do, you know?

Yeah, and it's all online. So it's inevitable. Like, my kids have experienced some of that too. It's online, yeah, it's just, every now and then you'll get like, just some shit heads coming through and just dropping in some troll comments. And then, you know, so I try to manage every now and then,

but you can't, like, they just come in and out and they're just like shitty. So two things, one, is if it was a text message, don't you have the number? No, no, no, it's not a text, it's like a DM, it's like a DM comment within the game. Yeah. Oh, okay.

So you can't track and see who it is. No, it's anonymous. Okay. And then what is this, I'm curious, what does this conversation look like for you guys for the kids? Like what are you saying to your kids over? Well, what I'm gonna tell her is I'm gonna say,

first of all, you don't know who they are, the random people, they just do this because it's like a crank call. It's nothing personal and there's people in the world that are like this. I mean, part of me is like, okay, this is introducing her to the real world a little bit. People can be this way.

Right. But the other part of me of course is like, super protective dad of me is like, okay, this is introducing her to the real world a little bit. People can be this way. So, but the other part of me, of course, is like super protective dad, which is like, you made my daughter cry, you know what I mean? I'm gonna go slap some people. Yeah, I know, and I look at like options for limiting who comes in out. Like, there's ways where they can just go on

when their friends are on there. And so there's ways of like, like, at least like pushing off a lot of like the random public that comes into these online games. So there's like some firewalls there, but yeah, they're gonna see it and it's just a matter of like, if they see it, they're supposed to tell me about it and that's really like, I'll have a conversation about it. Yeah, you know what it is, it's that I, first of all, as a kid, I hated bullies anyway.

I didn't really get bullied maybe a couple times, but I hated seeing other kids do that to other kids that were either weaker or more timid. It really used to piss me off. But here's the big reason why I think it bothers me is of course it's my kids, right? So anything that they, when they feel bad, I feel bad. But it's also because I remember what that felt like

as a kid, like there's almost no, you know, it's a really bad feeling. It's not like hurting yourself where you fall down and hurt your knee. It's like, you guys remember that, right? You feel the shame and the pressure or whatever from your peers. And so she's perceiving it that way.

And it makes me so mad. Yeah, it's a, I obviously haven't dealt with it as a dad yet. So it's an interesting thought, like how I would deal with it. Because I feel like you, there's a fine line, right? Like you don't want to be over protective about it because the truth is it is It is today's time. I mean so like that was like that when we were kids, too It's just now. It's just

Yeah, instead of it being in person. It's I don't know so which is worse right is it worse to be at school and then having like a kid Actually like literally physically bully you and say something or is it psychological torment now? Right, or is it worse on like Instagram? Or like what would be worse as a kid? I mean, I've heard stories too of people, you know, taking, taking an image and direct messaging like other kids with like terrible stuff that they're saying

and that they create fights on behalf of a kid that doesn't even know they're doing this to them. So they basically set them up. Or they'll take a photo, like the meme. It's really evil. First of all, kids can be really mean. You guys remember what it was like, right? When their bullies are just, they're just terrible

and it can be very, very mean as kids. And what they'll do, this is really terrible. Sometimes I'll take a picture of the kid and then they'll photoshop it and share it. Yes, so like if a kid is, for example, let's say that they're calling them like fat or something, they'll take the picture and make a pig face and then send it out to a bunch of people.

And now you feel like, oh my gosh, all these people are a part of this joke on me or whatever. I mean, I can't even imagine, you know? Yeah, what do you do if that happens to you guys? If you thought about that, like what do you do? I mean, I can't even imagine, you know? Yeah, what do you do if that happens to you guys? If you thought about that, like, what do you do? I mean, I think I teach my kid to send it back and do something funny with it. Throw some shades on the pig face

and send it back out to everybody. Like, I think you can't make a big deal about it. If you make a big deal about it, then you give it more power than what it really has. It's like, oh, it's just stupid. People do this all the time. It's normal. I think you would have to have that and teach

them how to handle it more so then get freaked out about it or upset about it or try and talk them down over. It was just happened early this morning and this is the first time. With this, with this particular, she's had little things with her friends, but something like this where bothered her to where she was crying. My wife is really, really good at helping me stay grounded because I can get spun really easily when it comes to my kids. It's like my weakness, right? So she's like, she says, Sal, she goes, here's the thing, we got to remember not to make them safe, but rather make them strong.

And I think that's a very right, right. Because this is gonna happen smart. This is gonna happen. Right, I agree. That's why I think the conversation is more like what to do with it or how to deal with it versus like, you know, who did that or why would they do that and then getting all, you know, freaked out about it. Yeah.

That energy's only gonna transfer over to her and that's only gonna make it worse. Yeah, exactly. So I'm gonna go hang out with her today and go for a drive and have a conversation about it whatever. Yeah. Hey, you know, a laugh about it, try and make it about a big deal. Hey, it happens, you know, this is on a video game that she plays online or whatever. I'll be like, you know, this

happens everybody's just your first time, you know, it's going to happen again. Yeah. Don't worry about it. Try to make it kind of like laugh it off. That would be the most part of this now. You get just look for it. Exactly. Anyway, along those lines, man, I listened to a great podcast this morning. So Arthur Brooks has a podcast called The Art of Happiness. And he did a podcast on politics and happiness. And it was absolutely brilliant. Brilliant podcast was just hammered.

He interviewed someone. No, he has a co-host on there. And I think it's a graduate student that talks about research and stuff and he was talking about how so there was a study that showed that and they controlled for all factors so they controlled for gender race income like all the factors you can control for and they found that people who say that politics is very important to them are fifty percent uh... more likely to have,

just to be unhappy. And he says, this is something that's grown over time because we're placing so much more value on politics. And there's a new term that, I'm going to find the terminology that they're using these days to describe something that wasn't happening in the past. It's called homophily? No. Yeah, yeah, homophily.

Homophily, that's it. Yeah, homophily. Homophily. I don't know, man. I don't know, pronounce it. Political homophily. So this is where, and they're finding this on dating sites, when people are dating, they are looking for other people

who have similar political views. And he says that in the past, this wasn't the case. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I thought, really, I didn't realize that this wasn't the case in the past. And he says, in the podcast, he says, and this is very smart. The reason why it didn't happen in the past is because in the past, we didn't attach, we attached political views to your ideas of how things should be done.

But we didn't attach it to morality. In other words, you think because someone has the same political views as you, that they are moral. They're more moral. And he goes, that's just not true. He goes, I have differing views with lots of people, but I consider them to be very moral. We just have different ideas if I wish to get there. Just because you think corporate tax rate should be 40%, I think it should be 20%, that doesn't make you a moral or me a moral. Just means we have different ideas if I wish to get there. Just because you think corporate tax rate should be 40%, I think it should be 20%, that doesn't make you a moral or me a moral, just means we have different ideas. So he said one of the best things to do right now

is to literally completely disconnect. He's like, so once you vote, disconnect, don't look at, don't watch political stuff, don't listen to it, and he goes, it's addicting, and I'm like, listen to it like he's talking to me. Yeah, the whole time. I he goes, it's addicting. And I'm like, listen to it like he's talking to me. The whole time. So you got me right now. I've launched more and read more political shit in the last

six to seven months than I have in my entire life. Actually, and more, the closest time I had to this was, so I had a best friend who his wife was the hairstylist of Cindy McCain, John McCain. All right. Right. And so she was on the campaign trail with Cindy McCain, John McCain. Oh, right, right. And so she was on the campaign trail with him when he was running. And my best friend was living with me at that time. And so the TV was on 24-7, but I didn't sit down

and I just paid no attention to it. He was watching constantly, he was talking radio was on and in the trucker where we went, constantly in my ear, telling me shit, and I just kind of like deaf ear to him, I'm like whatever, I don't care, sports for nerds, that's what I've said forever about. You know, there was more brilliance

on what you said back then than you realized, I think. I mean, have you guys noticed your quality of life decline because you're way more into it? Oh yeah, no, you get it. You get it, you get it, you get it as a provided any substance. No, you get all emotionally charged about it too. And then it creates all kinds of conflict with friends because the likelihood that you,

all your friends have the same political view is very, very rare. That's what he said. That's exactly what he said. He says that he thinks the reason why people who are more attached to politics are less happy has more to do with the fact that it's damaging their relationships with the people around.

Thank God that the ones that I disagree with happen to also be friends that go all the way back to childhood, so we're like family, so I'm not getting rid of them. But I could totally see how, if you just met somebody in the last four or five years, and they have a super... Right, you don't have a really, really strong foundation

with them, and then this whole thing is going on right now with the election. I could really see how a lot of people, why you see all this shit going on on Facebook, which is unfriend me if you like so and so. Well, everything's just so twisted. Like COVID, for instance, it's so political. Like, well, that shouldn't be political.

That should just be like a disease that we're all trying to like, you know. Oh, that's my biggest pet peeve of the, I'm like, why are you wrapping that into like your political candidate? Has nothing to do with that. Yeah, my biggest pet peeve with the election right now is that COVID is the number one debate topic.

I mean, everything is centered around that. And it's like, the truth is, no matter what is said from either candidate, we can't prove they're right or wrong no matter what. So why have the discussion? Why turn it in just so we can all be validated on our belief, like yeah, he's right, that's how I would have done it too.

You don't know, maybe that way is totally wrong too. So nobody knows and maybe the way we did it was perfect or maybe the way we did it was the worst way we could do it. You can't debate that. So it's such a terrible thing to bring up as one of the major focal points of the election is COVID Well, that's so stupid one thing he said on the podcast is how We can be addicted to our opinions and ideas and that's what happens with politics

And as I'm listening like I'm like man. This is me like I get so drawn in and I need to find out And I need to know more and I need to find out and my quality of life is declining. And it's like, just turn it off. And you know what, things that are addicting is hard to do that. It's really hard to do that. I find that turn it off, but I wanna know. I mean, I get it. Like with the, that's why I use the, you know,

coin the whole, you're sports for nerds because I know what it's like to be like that with sports. Like you get wrapped up in a team. And there's lots of drama in that too. Oh, there's a ton. And the more you know about your team, the better you can defend it to somebody else that your team is better.

And it turns into that. And if somebody comes at you and they end up researching and finding a better fact or deeper information about your own team or their team. And that's why LeBron's the good. Oh, and so then it sends you down the rabbit hole of like, oh, I got to defend that. You know what I'm saying?

I got to be able to prove that my team is better for these reasons. You know, and so you get further into the research and you pull stats from something else. And then, you know, it just turns into this rabbit hole of all you're doing is researching to prove to already confirm your bias already, you know, which is so weird. I know it's funny about sports is because there's so many teams. There are certain rival race, right? There's like the red socks and the Yankees, right? Aren't they rivals?

Yeah. And when they meet, you sometimes get fights and whatever, right? Raiders and Niners, when those games happen, you start to see stuff happen. But because there's so many teams and because it's not necessarily, like, you don't think just because someone's a Cowboys fan, that they're immoral, you think that think just because someone's a Cowboys fan,

that they're immoral, you think that they like the wrong team, but with politics, we have two parties, so it's like, you're either on this side or you're on that side, and then we make it seem like, oh, the other side is evil, not just that they like a different team, so that's what makes it so much more dangerous. Yeah, it's gotten so intense,

it really does have that good versus evil, and both sides are like promoting that as the devil or the angels, like what side are you on? Well, that's the other thing that I can't stand that. I, you know, obviously again, being involved in this for the last six to seven months more than I ever have is most of what I hear is, you know, attacks to the character of each candidate.

I'm like, I'm so over that. Like, that's, that's, that's, and for you to not know that that's a fucking strategy, you're an idiot. Like that, that is the strategy from the opposing side is to make them look like a bad person. And so then people will be like, I can't believe you're voting for X.

He's so this. And it's like, what? That's, well, that shouldn't even be an argument. Thankfully, there's other like, what? That shouldn't even be an argument. Thankfully, there's other branches of government. That shouldn't even be an argument of your basis. That would be like, and that's why I think it's silly, because in sports talk, if you were to argue like something like that,

like arguing that your team is better because they're better people, like no, give me the stats. It's stupid. That's the truth. Yeah, give me the stat. Your team is better, because your guys are nicer and they do more community service.

Get the fuck out of here with that conversation. It's like comparing to quarterbacks and you're like, you know, this guy's got this many touch sets. Yeah, yeah, Tom Brady, he's a bad guy. Yeah, Tom Brady, he helps out the elderly community. You know what I'm saying? So they're a bit, what? Give me stats, bro.

Like, that's not a- That's what Mark, she does. But that's what it sounds like when I listen to most people argue politics, that's why they have no business arguing. you don't even know the sport very well And you're sitting here defending a candidate with things like character flaws Now how are you how do you and your friend reconcile because I know you and your friend you and your best friend's Yeah, totally different. Yeah. Yeah. You guys just avoid the conversation

No, we have a thread that's unfortunately it's become you know a that. There's three of us that are really, really tight. We go about the elementary school and two of us lean one way, one one leans the other way. My buddy who is, he's really intelligent. He's a principal. He has his master's degree. He has his degrees in economics. So he's a very smart guy.

I actually enjoy it. Like, and I told him that the other day, he actually got really upset in our thread because sometimes he could probably feel like he's getting picked on because there's two of us and one of him. And my other buddy is like the, you know, he just, he throws out all the,

he's easily suckered into like the memes and the character bullshit. And so he's like throwing jabs. And then my buddy, my other buddy, who's a pose is that, right? He always comes back intelligently and kind of squashes what he's saying. And then I have to come in and kind of save my friend who I agree with, right? It's like, no, that's not how you approach this. So that's kind of what goes on in this thread, right? And so my, my friend who has very opposing views to me was just

like, let's, let's stop with the politics in this thread. It's like, it gets lame. Let's talk about our kids and all this stuff like that. And I said, I agree, but I said, hey, just so you know, I said, dude, I really enjoy this discussion with you because I respect you as an individual. I know you. I love you. You're like a brother to me. That's right there, man.

And I respect how intelligent you are. So I actually like to hear you tell me I'm wrong and tell me how you disagree because it does. It helps me either one. I'm always open to changing my mind. I really believe that I go into every conversation and debate like that. And so maybe there's things that he can change my mind

or it's only gonna solidify my argument more because I'll have to intelligently defend it when I'm talking to him. What I don't wanna do is I don't ever want to get into debate with somebody who's just an idiot who's just like, again, arguing, you know, characteristics and characteristic flaws about a candidate. To me, that's, again, it's like Tom Brady likes old people like, so he's a better quarterback. He's just hot air.

Yeah, yeah, it's like, no, that doesn't give me statistics to support what you're trying to say. And then let's have a friendly debate and conversation around it, and we're okay. But I mean, sometimes it goes to where it gets a little heated back and forth, but because we have such a, I mean, we don't even consider ourselves friends, and we would consider ourselves family. When you go back 25, one of them's 25 years,

the other one's 30, something years. So when you go back that far with each other, you do, I look at them as brothers. I think of them as family, more than I think of them as like friends of mine. So it hasn't divided us, but it definitely has created more arguing and tension than it ever has. Oh, it's been very polarized in my family. Especially in my brother, I told you,

we got into a really intense conversation, but after that, we just really decided like, okay, like I've said my piece, you said your piece, we can agree to disagree, and then we're just cool again. And the good part about my brother and I is we've always had like disagreements, but we're family, so that's obviously an easy thing. It's like we're family, we're gonna get along regardless.

But what's sad is that it's so devices between him and my parents. And it's just become this intense wedge. And so I'm always, I used to be a little bit more leaning in the direction of what my brother used to think. And we just got separated somewhere along the lines there with all this, the latest stuff going on in the world and where we're at in life and whatnot.

But I definitely like, I'm always interested in what he has to say in his perspective. And so that way too, I can understand where he's coming from and then I can counter it. He can counter it. We go back and forth. It's like a cordial conversation. But you can't have that with a lot of people right now, which is sad. Yeah. And the truth is too. And the reason why we so we were all together, right, this last, previous weekend, and we actually avoided, or at least me and my buddy, who I think know the most about the Paul,

is we try to avoid, my other buddy, like, stirs it, throws the fucking memes out and talks about shit and we kind of ignored it. He drops the grenade. Yeah, he drops the grenade, the waffles. Yeah, yeah, that's totally what he is. Let's let this, like, because he wants to hear, that's probably have the discussion,

but we avoid it, like, because I do, regardless that we're okay, we're good friends, it still puts like a cloud over my day. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Nobody wants to argue with a close friend or family member over any disc, oh, any topic. And so, you know, it could really,

it could really darken a day. And so I try and avoid it as much as I possibly can. I'm like, I'm over it. And I can't wait for this election to be over because at that point, this is another thing too, like to your point, Justin, you know, this whole COVID thing should be like we're all together in on this.

Yeah. We're all trying to figure this out together. And I think once the election's over and whoever wins, you're stuck with that person for the next four years, it'll end that whole discussion of like, who did it right? Who should it in this way? Should it in that way? And then like, critiqu stuck with that person for the next four years. It'll end that whole discussion of who did it right, who should it in this way, should it in that way, and then critiquing everything that's done. Instead, we'll all band together and let's see.

There's so many forces at the top that are fighting each other over that information. And so that's where we're getting it from, as the very top is so divided and divisive with it, that hopefully after this election, they'll actually come together again. Honestly, to me, it feels like because it's election season, this has been leveraged so much from each candidate, I'm so irritated at it.

Anything that will get the emotions going, they're gonna spend a lot of money using. That's just 100%. Billions of dollars right now being spent to make us, and then we all suffer the consequences of that. What's the famous quote? Don't ever let a good crisis go to waste. Of course, that's politics.

And they're spending a lot of money to make us scared or angry. Those are the two most effective emotions. Scared or angry, scared or angry. And so if you pay enough attention, you're gonna, you're not a bad ass. And I feel like I'm a very self-aware person. And I am realizing that I am not as, you know,

in control of myself as I like to think. So I need to turn it off because otherwise it riles me up too. And I'm somebody who I think is, you know, tends to be more self-aware. So I can't imagine average person who just tunes in, gets pissed off and then runs around. How many days do we have left?

I'm counting the days. I can't wait until it's over. Oh, I know. I can't wait to laugh about the way that everything changes afterwards, too. Regardless of who gets voted in, it's going to be like all of a sudden. Everything's an afterthought.

Yeah, no more drum. I was going to ask you Justin. I was going to ask you about your weekend. You said, wait till the podcast. So I want to ask you now. You were doing something over gonna ask you about your weekend, you said wait till the podcast, so I wanna ask you now, you were doing something over the weekend with your friends and you wanted to talk about it? Oh, yeah, so what I was talking about was,

this wasn't over the weekend, but when I was with my friends one time they decided they were gonna try Salvia. Have you heard of the, the, you had friends that did that? Yeah, did you? I don't, my friends did you know

Oh, no, not me. No, no, I don't understand sober person. I don't get salvia by the way. It doesn't look fun It doesn't look fun at all and it's it's over the counter you can buy it right it Honestly, they turned into Grimlands if you guys ever seen like videos. Okay, so I have washed it Let me get this clear here. Okay, you're almost 40, you're old friends, decide they're gonna try something. This is a lot, this is like years ago. Oh, okay. I was just telling Sal about being the only sober person

in a room of salvia. And like, what I experienced, so I was on the couch, this was like years ago. But it's a lot of pressure dude, cause it's kind of scary, right? Oh yeah, like, so they, there was at least three, three other people in the room with me and I was sitting on the couch and we were playing video games.

And so they decided to try it. The first guy took it and then just kind of slouched into his chair and then it was gone. It was completely gone and I'm like, wouldn't put my hand in front of his face, nothing. And then he started freaking out and then started to kind of like make all these weird like groaning noises and he was like,

and then another one of my friends got on the ground started crawling towards the TV and was like, booh, they look like zombies dude, it was really scary. Wow, and so I don't, that's for like five minutes. That's what I'm saying, I don't get the allure because I've seen videos that are, it's because it's a short run. That's why.

It's weird. It's in everyone that have tried it. No, fuck no, bro. I was a grown-ass adult when it came around. Like, you know, and truth be told, I mean, maybe if I was like a teenage kid when I did a lot of other stupid shit and it came around and that was like a popular thing,

but by the time that became viral and everybody was talking about it, I was already into my mid to late 20, so I was already mature enough to know like this looks good. It's supposed to be one of the most powerful who's loosened genic substances ever. And if you go on YouTube, you know what it reminds me of is you ever seen someone who's done DMT. So we have. Yeah, when you, when someone does DMT, we could see that.

It's very, very similar that like the way they were, it's a short, it's a short, weird trip that you see them go on and then they're kind of out of it and then they come back to and then it's like, but I mean, yeah, they went to like the other side of the universe and back. It was like, it was crazy. Like I had no, there was no appeal at all for me. Were you afraid like, am I gonna have to call

like, yeah. Oh yeah, I was like, are they gonna have, like start seizing out or something? Like what's gonna happen? Cause they were it like, ambulance. Yeah, I was like, are they gonna like start seizing out or something? Like, what's gonna happen? Cause they were just like, groaning, making like weird, gutter-old, noit-le-breh. Ah, like, I'm like, are they possessed? Like, what's happening here?

It was crazy. Now stupidest thing I did when I was a kid, there was a little trend of this for a while was you would basically make yourself pass out. Did you guys remember that? Oh yeah, that was the thing, when we were kids. What a stupid, that's where you like, cross your, yeah, that was the thing. Two kids. What a stupid. That's where you like cross your arms over your throat

and then someone pushes on you. Yeah, you're supposed to like squeeze, it's basically getting choked out. Squeeze your crotted artery, you pass out and then you wake up and you're like, ooh, what happened? What a dumb thing that kids do. I do remember doing that.

So I do remember. I do. I mean, that's what it is though. It's like, I mean, there's something about us at that age that you're drawn to these weird, crazy, fear-seeking things. I mean, when I what it is though. I mean, there's something about us at that age that you're drawn to these weird, crazy, fear-seeking things. I mean, when I think about how I used to drive my car, or like, I mean, I think every,

that's why every parent probably freaks out when their kid is at that age to do it because instantly they remember how they drove. I'm telling you dude, you have nothing to do with their own kid, it has everything to do with themselves and like, oh shit, I remember this stupid shit. I'll do that. I tell you what dude, you just nothing to do with your own kid. It has everything to do with their own themselves and like, oh shit, I remember this stupid shit. I was doing it. I tell you what dude, you just, you just be happy right now that your boy is as old as he is

because then when they start to become teenagers, you start to lose your grip over them. And then you know, you remember, you remember when you were, I remember when I was 15, 16 and the ideas I had. You know what I mean? Like I'm like, oh my gosh, is this what I'm gonna have to like deal with? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's the thing too. And like bringing up that story.

Like I didn't have my kids back that like I was like a completely different person and I still was like, this is a bad idea. You know, and those guys were doing it. Like what's happening? Dude, I remember one time like cousins and I, this is when we first got our driver's license, we were doing, we were pulling the handbrake

and doing turns in neighborhoods. Yeah. You know what I mean? It could have been really bad. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? You just go off road all the time in this little crappy, like, Honda Civic.

Yeah, I remember not that long ago with a couple of dope friends driving over mediums in the suburban. That's different. Do you guys remember that? It's totally different. Totally different. Joseph and Kurt, that was a rentacar.

That's it. That's it. So rentacar, we had insurance. Remember that it's totally Yeah, that was a rent a car Rented car we had insurance Spin to layer is totally responsible all because I dared you that's what it was I'm the anima we were all in the same car Drive over the media Yeah. Yeah. Oh my God, that's one though. Hey, I looked up, our sponsor, Caldera, did you guys know that they did some studies on some of the ingredients in the products? Oh really?

Yeah, so they're skin care products? I'm sold. I've been sold for a minute. That's why I got my buddy for his birthday. For his 40th birthday, I got him a bunch of Caldera. No, it's like the use serum. It's totally not my buddy thing to do this, and I'm like, just trust me.

Wait a minute, you bought your friend's skin serum? I did, I did. I did. He's 40. I'm saying we're getting older. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully he doesn't take it. I don't know what you're gonna talk about. How is it with wrinkles? So that's okay.

So yeah, exactly. I don't know what South where South's going with this stuff. That's what it said. It said it reduced wrinkles in the stuff. Wow. Yeah, we're getting old. And we're up in the splash. We're up in the top where your dry skin is stuff like that. Like, Yeah, and we're getting old, and we're up in the splash. We're up in the towel, where you're dry skin and stuff like that.

Like, you can feel it like right away, I told him, I said, listen, I said, hang here, I know this is not our thing to do like face serum, I said, just, just go in the air. I told him, I said, go in the air, go look at your face right now. Look at your wrinkles, look at your dry skin, and then I said, I gave him a couple drops, I had him rubbed his face, and then look at you. You could see the difference right away. Instantly. So right away, you were like, we're like, we're him a couple drops, I had him rubbed his face, and then looking for, you could see the difference right away.

Yeah. Instantly. So right away, you were like, I'm like, Crows feet. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, look at my skin. Yeah.

No, some of the ingredients in there are, and natural anti-inflammatory, of course, moisturizing. So you put all that on your skin, and you're gonna have better, but it's got studies, got studies supported. So I think they're a great product. And your friend likes it? Well, we'll see, I just, this was literally the sweet kid.

So it's 40th and I got him some for, I mean, I got him other things too, but I mean, I thought that I'm tied to the telem, I said, listen, this is a very nice bottle of like face irms, so don't just like use it once and then throw it to the side because I'll take it forever. You rub it on his face for him? No, I did not rub it on his face for him. Yeah, but like, you find yourself paying more attention to these types of things that are like going to keep your youth and all that It's like it's interesting. It's like oh, okay. I guess this is where you start recognizing it Well as a as a man too, it was very taboo just a decade or two ago

Like you just don't it wouldn't be a thing or a guy would like use face serum put like well you were getting your toenails done So you're you're on a different. I'm okay with it. That's why you know, I'm saying make fun of me I don't give a shit. You know, I was like yeah, yeah, it's exactly it's like give a shit It's like I'm okay with it. That's why you know I'm saying make fun of me. I don't give a shit You know, I was like yeah, I look good. Yeah, it's exactly. I think give a shit It's like I'm okay using it. You know, that's why Justin still struggles with it over there He probably needs it the most ashy. Yeah That's why would you have your dog here if your dog's licking his legs? Collegiate yeah Oh my dead

Delicious Eating all my dead skin. Going To Organify.com. That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com. And use a coupon code MindPump for 20% off at checkout. First question is from Darby Jane. What would you recommend for someone who is going from tracking everything to eating intuitively? You know, this is actually a pretty tough transition. So there's several transitions that you make

when you're trying to get a hold of your nutrition, right? You go from number one, being pretty unaware of what's in food, calories, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, how it affects you. So the first step really is to start tracking, right? You're tracking, you figure out macro first step really is to start tracking, right? You're tracking, you figure out macro goals, you figure out calorie goals, and you start to eat according to those goals to accomplish body composition, you know, goals or just to feel a particular way. So that's a

pretty tough transition right there, right? Going from just eating whatever to tracking and aiming for certain targets. Now the next tough transition is to go off of tracking because you don't want to track for the rest of your life. That's a very, that can definitely develop into a poor relationship with food. You're stressed about what you got to eat and how you can hit your targets. It's just neurotic. It can become very neurotic. We see this a lot in the fitness and health space.

So long term, ultimately, the place you wanna be is you wanna be able to eat healthy, but you also wanna be relaxed about it. You don't want it to be a stress where you're constantly aiming for targets and hyper-aware of every single thing that you put in your mouth. You want it to be more of a relaxed state.

So that's what intuitive eating is. So to go from tracking to intuitive is another hard transition. I would argue it's a harder transition and it takes a little longer. So here's a couple strategies. One, start to pay attention to body signals that have nothing to do with body fat percentage weight or muscle. So digestion, skin, energy levels, start to pay attention to mood shifts. I notice when I'm stressed, I tend to aim for these kinds of foods.

When I, these kinds of foods, I feel better or I feel worse or I feel tired. Start to pay attention to those kinds of things. Start to make connections. And then the next step is to slowly come off of tracking. And that looks like, here's an easy example. You track seven days a week, hit targets. Now you're going to do it six days a week,

and you make one day intuitive. And then when that gets comfortable, because it will end up happening at first that it'll look like an off day, right? This is intuitive, and it turns into like, eat more, or you you go crazy or whatever. Get to the point where that day feels comfortable, then add another day, then add another day,

and eventually you're seven days a week eating intuitive. It usually doesn't look linear, it usually looks like you go one, two, three days, and then find that you gotta track again, and then you go back and then back and forth, but over time, it'll turn into where you're not tracking. Are you saying that? So I have them pay attention to all those,

like you're stool, your hair, your shape, your energy before you stop tracking. Correct. So I want you to kind of start to make that connect, because if all you've been doing is measuring, weighing, and tracking calories, and then you're weight probably, or looking at yourself in the mirror.

If that's all you've been doing for a really long time, it's really hard to make that just that leap to now almost an intuitive, if you haven't yet made the connection to, when you're eating this way, when you're hitting your targets, how do you feel on the other category? Yeah, you have to because otherwise,

what ends up happening is you go from not tracking, this is what I've seen with people, they'll go from not tracking to still kind of tracking. So they'll go, oh, this isn't intuitive, but they're still eating the same way they did before, or they're mentally keeping track of their macros, because at that point, all they're paying attention to is body fat percentage,

my body weight, calories, proteins, fats, and carbs. So you have to start to make all those other connections, because that's what it's about. Well, the difficulty is that you're putting all of the responsibility on what's written out in terms of like, I know that my schedule is this. And so now, like, they're mindlessly sort of just taking that and then going and finding the food and applying it into the formula. So wouldn't it to be beneficial to try and mimic exactly what they've been doing for a while, but not looking at their sheet and weighing and measuring? Well, I also think that it's, so I think the people that, so obviously anybody who's been

tracking and hitting their targets really well, they can give you a generic response of, oh, I, of course, I feel better. Well, of course you do, because you're probably eating in either a maintenance or a calorie deficit, you're getting enough adequate protein. But it's got to be even further than that. Like you have to like start to pick apart like days that you have, oh, like this day, I had, you know, a bunch more fiber, and this is what happened. Or this day, I had, you know, less protein, and I noticed my digestion was better.

It's not, oh, I, when I hit my targets, macronutrients, I feel great, I sleep good, I have my everything feels good, so then I'm trying to hit that again. You're still not really learning how to look at what's in the day and how each of those decisions are affecting all the things we're talking about. You have to start to unpack that first, in my opinion.

Totally. It can't be as generic as, when I'm hitting all my targets, I feel great. You know, like this just general umbrella of like I feel good. Totally. Because intuitive eating involves sometimes eating foods that are not on the menu, eating foods

that might be physiologically unhealthy, like cake or cookies or pizza, but the intuitive aspect is, I'm with my friends, I'm enjoying myself, we're connecting right now. It doesn't feel like a cheat day because it's all one diet. So you have to connect all those signals. You can't just go into it with, Protein Spouts, carbs, calories, general,

feeling good. You have to kind of understand. And it is a slow process. Look, it's, okay, here's a good comparison. It's like you're learning how to dance. And when you first learn how to dance, you're counting your steps one and two, and then step back.

And three, you have to keep track. You have to keep count and keep track and keep count. But you can't always dance that way, right? You'll never really be a good dancer if you're always counting your steps. That's the equivalent of counting your macros and hitting your macros. At some point, you just dance to the music and it becomes freestyle.

And you enjoy it and then you can move with your partner and then the music can change a little bit and then you can move with the music and that's what intuitive eating feels like. And now you've also got to be patient because if you're like most people, you've never really ate in a way that paid attention to other things other than what tastes good and what do I crave? That's how most people make their decisions. So it's not like you've been eating that way for 20 years

and all of a sudden I'm gonna track and eat intuitively, it's gonna take me three months. This is a process that takes a little bit of time, it takes practice, and you'll probably have to revisit tracking on and off throughout this process over and over again. Yeah, because every time you're tweaking it every time, right? So part of the transition looks like I was alluding to with the protein. And let's say for my body, roughly 200 grams of protein is ideal for me,

right around there. So I noticed because I've gone back to tracking, right? I've pushed as low as 130 grams or lower, okay? In protein, and then I've had days where I've pushed beyond 250 grams, and I noticed a dramatic difference. When I'm below 130 consistently, I'm just not building muscle. In fact, I feel like I'm almost losing some muscle if I consistently hit under 130, like day after day after day. When I push beyond 250 consistently day after day after

day, I notice that it's a little bit harder for my body to digest. And so there's this kind of sweet spot of where I want to land. So I've had to go back and track to kind of know what that feels like. What does it have? What is a day, a high day of like lots of protein looked like for me? What's a low day? And then the same thing goes for fiber. What happens when I'm like under 20 grams of fiber for the day? I can tell that my stool is off. What I can tell when I'm between 30 and 80,

my stool is perfect. When I go beyond 80, I know that my stool's loose and it's like weird, right? So like, and you have to go back to tracking each one of those things to kind of get a feel of it. And then you're going, what does that look like on a plate and in three or four meals through the day. So there's a intuitive eating is a long process. And I know we've talked about it. It's the it's the pinnacle. It's the ultimate goal. It's just like

programming and training. Yeah, I don't even think it's a goal. I think because you don't get there. It's like saying, my goal is to, it's like when people say, that's a good point. We'll still go back and track all the time. That's what I mean. It's like saying, oh, after I get in shape,

you'd have clients say this, well, after I build muscle and get lean, then what happens if I stop working out? Well, you'll just go back to what you're capable of. Yeah, where you were before. So really, if I could define intuitive eating, it's this. It's eating in a way that is healthy, generally healthy, in many, many different ways, both emotionally,

physically, psychologically. That is also relaxed. It's not stressing you out because when you get stuck in the counting of calories and macros, it starts to become a stress, it starts to become unhealthy. You could have perfect eating and it still be unhealthy eating

because you're obsessed with it. Well, that's what I would notice a lot of times is the biomines necessary sort of approach where this keeps my weight at this amount. And this is where I need to stay. And it's like this hysteria over that versus really paying attention to what foods are benefiting you the most, what's helping your digestion, what may be inflammatory that you're

just masking over because by all means necessary, I need to stay here. So just kind of like paying more attention to all those signs. Next question is from Nicholas Costa 3517. The like extension machine is often demonized, but why does it exist if it's not good? It's been demonized? Yeah, well, okay, so number one, I'm going to just, for people of bad knees, maybe. The number one selling, piece of selling exercise equipment in the world.

So the top selling workout equipment ever was a thigh master, okay? This was a thing you put between your legs Spring that you squeeze together and lots so that so that's number one So just because something exists doesn't necessarily mean it's got tons of value now the leg extensions Got way more value than a thymaster to be fair It's just there's a lot of exercises that are better and the back half of my career as a personal trainer I rarely use, rarely use the leg extension. I used it in the beginning because it wasn't quad,

it was the only quad isolating exercise I knew and I thought, oh, this is something you have to do or finish your workout with. Towards the back half, I never use a leg extension machine with anybody because it just doesn't have as much value as lots of other exercise. But that doesn't mean it has no value, right? Yeah, and I found like rarely did I have a client that like had a hard time connecting to their quads. And that being, you know, something that I was more focused on posterior chain type of machines,

or something that could help connect a little bit better to, you know, glutes hamstrings. Like quads were pretty much involved with a lot of machines or something that could help connect a little bit better to, you know, glutes hamstrings. Quads were pretty much involved with a lot of, and a lot of times I was trying to get the quads not to be so dominant. So, yeah, I mean, I would use it in terms of like just adding it in as an accessory tool to, if I needed some isolation work for the quads, but really there was so many more like exercises, lunges and things I could add that had way more value. Well, we have to remember that the introduction

of machines was for rehabilitation first. And the leg extension has tremendous value for rehabilitation. I mean, anybody who's tore their ACL, any sort of knee surgery, that is a staple exercise that every PT is gonna do with you. You normally start with just your leg of knee surgery, that is a staple exercise that every PT is going to do with you. You normally start with just your leg of your weight, or the weight of your leg on the edge of a bench, and then they end up putting ankle weights on your ankle, and then you do leg extension, and then eventually you progress to a machine that has a little bit of resistance. It's one of the

best ways for you to. And then if you, you know, so you don't have to add a bunch of weight, we now can use things like blood occlusion on a, you know, so you don't have to add a bunch of weight, we now can use things like blood occlusion on a lay extension machine and you can get, you know, some great, you know, you can get some great benefits from not allowing your, your quad to atrophy as much because of your knee and then start to build the muscle back before risking a lot with like a squat or something that's, or a lunge, which for somebody who just tore a ligament in their knee is dangerous.

Somebody who just three months out of ACL, MCL type of surgery and they were to go squat or lunge, that could be really dangerous. But somebody who's sitting in a fixed position in a leg extension machine with their quad tied off for blood occlusion, I mean gets tremendous benefits for building muscle and low risk on their knees. So the machine has tremendous value.

And that really was the main purpose for it. Now, it was so good for that that there's also benefits for hypertrophy in building muscle. But when you look at it from the lens of like a trainer, like we all look at it, the way that you're targeting the quads, I can do that with lots of a sissy squats, I think, or 10 times better, right? Because you have to have good hip mobility, you have to have good hip extension and be able to activate your glutes in a movement like that. You have to have good ankle mobility and control, good stability. And then you also target the quads

incredibly in an exercise like a Sissy's quads. So as a trainer, we always look at things like, if this client is healthy, they didn't just tear their knee, I can have them do a movement that gets all the same benefits as a leg extension and a lot more. So I'm going to do that as a trainer, but it doesn't mean that those things don't have some value. For example, if I'm really trying to target the quads,

I might use the lakesenction to pre-exhaust before I go into like a squat. There's a great use of that tool. So when you look at, when you start to look at the landscape of a gym and you're looking at all the machines, first of all, one, remember that was the main purpose of why they originally were created was for that purpose. Putting you in a fixed position

to keep the rest of the body very stable so you can isolate a part of the body, really the most benefits to that is if you were the rest of some of your body, it was injured somewhere and you need to be keep it stable and you don't want to risk hurting it. And so that was the main introduction of that. So you first have to look at it like that.

And then as a trainer when I look at every machine, I know that I can emulate and get the same benefits with free weight. And with that, which is more functional to the average person. So I'm always gonna lean towards other exercises unless that tool makes sense to use. And it makes sense when there's an injury,

it makes sense if I'm using it for pre-exhaust or if I have something very specific I'm trying to do or I want to isolate. Otherwise, most clients, I'm not trying to do that. The only other exception is a body builder. Is somebody who, I'm trying to isolate a part of their body because they're underdeveloped. They were judged on stage and the judge goes,

hey, you got great glutes and hamstrings, but your quads are weak, which by the way, is rarely ever the case. But if that's you know, hey, you got great glutes and hamstrings, which are quads a week, which by the way is rarely ever the case. But if that's the case, okay, let's do exercises where I can really hone in on just the quads, okay, then they have some value. But for the average person who's trying to just be healthy, build muscle, burn body fat, it's an exercise or a machine that I'm not going to use that much because I can do other things that get the same thing accomplished plus way more benefits with it. Next question is from Forlavacy Claudio. When trying to increase my squat, should I focus more on intensity or volume?

Well, okay, if your goal is to get stronger, first off, intensity, volume, and frequency are all important. So, intensity is how hard you train. Volume is the amount of sets and reps you do, so the total amount of volume. And then frequency is how often throughout the week that you actually do an exercise. They're all connected and they all should move

based off of which one you're moving. They are. But if you had to go either or, and you're looking for strength gains, volume and frequency are probably the more important ones. Absolutely. You're going to get more, and you can see this with Olympic lifters, even power lifters, who lift some of the heaviest weight in squats.

They squat frequently. They don't go once or twice a week at max intensity. They're squatting a lot of times per week, especially Olympic lifters are doing it often, often, often. And they're getting really, really good at the week, especially Olympic lifters are doing it often, often, often. And they're getting really, really good at the movement, they're getting their CNS to fire well, and it just gets them really strong. I remember years ago, there was this,

in the bodybuilding or muscle building forums, there was this thing that was making its rounds, it was causing a lot of, you know, a lot of discussion. It was this squat every day program. I don't know if you guys remember this, but it became a thing where it was this challenge for the next, I don't remember what it was, 30 or 60 days, you squat every single day.

Yeah. And what they did was it's going on right, it just happened. Squat tober. Oh, that's why there's a question. This is going on. That's popular right now. Yeah, and so the way they did it was they would tell people to modify the intensity.

So you squat it every day, but you didn't squat max out every single day. And people were coming back and saying things like, I added 30 pounds to my squat. I added 40 pounds to my squat. I've never had a squat go up as high as it did as when I did that. I experienced this.

If I want an exercise, single exercise to go through the roof, I just do it often. I modify the intensity. I'm not gonna go far. Oh, you're a good guy far. Get better at the exercise. It's just like practice. And every time we try to kind of bring this back to, like if you're practicing for a sport

and you're trying to get better at a skill, you do it very often. And if you can do it often without a lot of intensity, it helps the body to really recognize that movement and get more effective at the recruitment process to that. So now you're stronger in it and you're moving better in it and the technique gets better with it as well. So there's a lot of factors to that with frequency that's a benefit.

The intensity is something that you do want to challenge yourself with. But I would say that that's one of those cards you don't want to introduce as much as the frequency. It's like nitrous for your car. Yeah, so volume and your frequency is like learning how to steer and how often you drive. So how often you steer and how often you drive is the volume and the intensity is throwing nitrous on it.

Until you've practiced and you've driven lots of corners and you've been doing a day after day after day after day, do I then want to apply the nitrous into the into the equation? It just it doesn't make sense and it's it's riskier if you're still learning how to steer the car You've only driven it a handful of times and you're also throwing nitrous on it You're likelihood of you spinning out and crashing is much higher So get really really good at driving and practicing doing all that before you throw that in there because it's probably The most abuse thing that I see in our space and a lot of that is because we live in this Instagram bubble where

You know even Olympic lifters like you guys alluded to that But you know the problem with even powerlifters and they don't ever a video their practice You don't see you don't see some of our good friends who are some of the best in powerlifting and Olympic lifting. They're not showing when they're moving 135 for 10 reps for five of their workouts. They're showing PR stuff. They're showing the stuff when they're pushing because that's what's cool, that's what it's likes,

it's what we get shared. But a lot of people don't know that. A lot of people don't realize that those guys aren't lifting like that. Very often at all. They're doing it for Instagram and then that's it. The rest of the time that you don't see, they're training the other way. They are training how to steer and drive

and be frequent about it all the time before they throw the nitrous. And I think also there's a little bit of confusion because people think building the most muscle is gonna make the squat the best. Some truth in that, but not a lot of total truth, right? Just getting better at a squat will make your squat go up. I mean, I remember lifting with competitive lifters,

they would tweak my form. I mean, within the same workout, they would tweak my form, how I needed to squeeze, where I needed to place my feet, where I needed to drive or whatever, and I would lift five to 10 pounds more in the same workout. I didn't build muscle in that same workout. It was just my technique was different. So practicing the squat does that.

It also teaches your central nervous system to fire more effectively. And then because you're lifting with better technique, and then because your central nervous system is firing better, you do build more muscle. So that's what you should focus on. It's like a golf swing also. It's like an intensity is the power that you swing.

You want to get the mechanics down and the reps in of getting really good at it before you throw any sort of intensity into it. Yeah, watch me golf. I'm saying. What? And I'm saying that because I make the same mistake in that sport.

It's like, and it's the same rules that apply to weight training. I know better. It's like, and I know every time I get out there, because you want to. It feels good to throw some intensity in there and muscle it, right? The same thing that people approach, workouts, it feels good to get that sweat, that burn, to be so far there if you're smooth.

That's right, that technique is sound. And so squatting is the same way. Get the reps in, increase the volume, continue to increase the frequency, practice, practice, practice. Hold off on the intensity, save that for like, when you really hone in the movement, practice, practice, practice, hold off on the intensity. Save that for like when you really hone in the movement and then every once well,

throw a little bit of intensity in there, don't over abuse it. Next question is from Sarah Stone. What are some good ways to deal with a type A personality and addictive behavior? I sometimes struggle to find balance in life and easily get caught in the all or nothing mentality, whether it be diet, nutrition, etc.

Oh yeah, this is all of our clients. Well, this is home for me. It's me too. Me too. I used to make a joke that I'm like a light like there's, that have two speeds, like it's, I'm totally interested and obsessed or I don't care at all. And it's a tough one to work with and juggle. I think one strategy is to become obsessed with balance.

So it's like you're focusing this laser focus that you have on the thing that will help you become more balanced. So you're like, okay, I'm going to focus on being balanced, I'm going to focus on doing things that have balanced me out. So if I work out, for example, too hard all the time, and that's my favorite thing to do, I'm gonna start to obsess a little bit about yoga, meditation, relaxation, maybe.

Just kind of start the ball rolling a little bit. Because this can burn you out. This type A personality can burn you out, can cause a lot of problems, and it's gonna take some work because it sounds like you've already developed maybe your past winning strategy was to go all or nothing.

Well, here's a thing, and this one's really close to home for me. It serves itself for many things. It doesn't for addiction and exercise. Okay, so the all or nothing type A personality serve me a lot in work. I have the bill, and I know it has for you too, so I'm or nothing type A personality served me a lot in like work. You know, I have the bill and I know it has for you too. So I'll adjust them.

Like the ability to focus on one thing, put your head down and grind at it. You've probably had a lot of success. But when you look at things that your body can become addicted to and then also exercise, that doesn't work very well there. And you have to understand, it took me a long time to figure this out.

So with all dress, the addiction thing first. So, I have the same personality. I then, I became obsessed with always having control of myself and never allowing something else to have control of me. So, whether it be caffeine, marijuana, any drug that you could think of that we allow to ourselves to take. If I find myself, feeling like I need it or wanting it every single day for weeks on

weeks, I now like, okay, this thing has control of me, I don't have control of it. And so then I become competitive with myself to be the one in control. And so, and you get better and better at that. Sometimes you're going gonna go overboard, you're gonna allow yourself to do something, drinking caffeine or whatever the thing may be, and get addicted to it. And so, you'll have to back pedal off of it.

And it'll be this kind of ebb and flow thing for a while. So, that's the addictive behavior thing. And then the weightlifting thing, I used to be like this, where I was either on or off. If I was on, I was measuring my food, I was dialed eating, I was training five to seven days a week and felt great. And then when I was off, I had this attitude of like,

why should I train if my diet was wack today? Like, it's not worth it. It's not worth it, right? And that's not true. It's totally different for me now. Like, if I'm far better off, at least getting two or three days in training, even if I haven't really dialed my diet

And I mean when you're talking about overall health and then also the benefits of training training has so many other benefits other than just your Weight gain and weight loss exercise is so good for the brain It's so good for your energy levels so good for your sleep It's so good for my relationships with people like my productivity at work, so it's not just about what I looked like, and when I'm dialed in food was, and that's how I used to measure it before. It was all about what I looked like, and I knew that if I wasn't eating correctly

and I was training, I really wasn't gonna see progress in the way I looked very much, and so then I was like, I'll fuck it, I'm off. But when you actually start to value exercise for all the other benefits of it, you start to look at this like all or nothing added to totally difference. Like, oh, okay, maybe I didn't have a great week of eating,

but I train three or four times, therefore, all these other, maybe I didn't make progress in my fat loss or make progress in looking better, but I did have better energy, I did have better sleep, I did have better sex, I had all these other things that weightlifting bleeds into, and so you have to kind of reframe the way you look at exercise.

Yeah, I think you just, if this is your mentality, you have to put that kind of intensity in barriers, in checks and balances, you have to really plan it out. And that's something you have to assess this constantly. So you have to assess each day like what you've done for recovery, what you've done for recovery, what you've done. Can I get more competitive with trying to challenge myself to get better sleep and what does that look like? And can I accomplish all this work in a smaller window? And that's

something that I've really tried to challenge myself is to be able to be more efficient and figure this out so that way I can open up more space. So really the competitiveness for me and that drive was now focused more on how much open space can I create so I can put poor back into my space. Yeah, and now studies show that there is a strategy that you can take that might help with this.

And that is to schedule breaks or vacations. So because type A people tend to things have to be scheduled and measured, and I'm doing this, I'm doing that, book yourself a weekend or a week where you know you're going to go on vacation and you're saying to yourself, okay, because I'm on vacation, I know it's gonna be okay to not exercise, to be looser with my diet or to not focus on work. I'm just gonna relax or whatever. And they find and studies that this helps build that into your life.

So you start off with these scheduled breaks and then eventually start to make them more a part of your life. You know, vacations for me were something I discovered relatively recently. They did that for me. You start off with these scheduled breaks and then eventually start to make them more a part of your life. Vacations for me were something I discovered relatively recently. They did that for me. I would take a vacation and I'd find that I was able to unwind and disconnect a little bit. Then when I came back, I felt much better and I started to value them differently.

So maybe try something like that out, try maybe a workout break. If you're obsessed with your workout, schedule a workout break and say, okay, every five weeks or whatever, every four weeks, I'm going to take four days off and not work out at all. Maybe you need to sell it to yourself and say, it's going to help you get better shape or whatever. But do it. Just take the break.

And it might help you reassess the situation and have a different perspective. Look, MindPump is recorded on video as well as audio, so come check us out on YouTube MindPump podcast. You can also find us all on Instagram. You can find Doug, the producer at MindPumpDug, Justin at MindPump Justin, me at MindPumpSalon. I had him at MindPumpAdmin. Thank you for listening to MindPump.

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