Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 1922: Fatphobia & Other Lies That Are Keeping You Fat, Unhealthy & Sick

Episode Date: October 13, 2022

In this episode Sal, Adam & Justin tackle myths that keep people from taking charge of their health. There is a new enemy in the fitness space and its victimhood! (1:20)   Seven myths that are keeping you fat, unhealthy, and sick. (10:26)   #1 - Health at every size. (11:07) #2 – Fatphobia. (19:54) #3 - Gyms are judgmental unaccepting places. (26:49) #4 - Building muscle makes men toxic jerks. (33:45) #5 - Fitness leads to alt-right political leanings. (38:07) #6 - Gyms are only for privileged people. (41:00) #7 - Eating healthy is more expensive than eating processed foods. (44:54) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Seed for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP at checkout for 20% off your first month’s supply of Seed’s DS-01™ Daily Synbiotic** October Promotion: MAPS Symmetry or MAPS Strong HALF OFF! **Promo code OCTOBER50 at checkout** Mind Pump #1560: Woke Fitness Is Making You Fat & Unhealthy Mind Pump #1465: The Truth About Health At Every Size Mind Pump #1912: The Science Of Successful Marriages & Relationships With Drs. John And Julie Gottman Calif. Prisons To Remove Weights | AP News Physically Strong Men Lean Conservative, Says Study - Newsmax Mind Pump #1605: How To Get Jacked On A Budget Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources

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. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the world's number one fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is MindPub. Oh, we got a spicy episode for you today. We talk about fat phobia and other lies, lies that are keeping you fat sick, sad, unhealthy. Now this episode is brought to you by a sponsor seed. This is the best probiotic company you'll find anywhere. They have a

delivery system that you won't find anywhere else with their probiotics so that the beneficial bacteria actually get to the places they need to get to. In fact, they have this huge machine that simulates the intestinal tract. So they know for sure that these capsules do what they're supposed to. But anyway, I've used a lot of probiotics, it's the best one by far.

Go check them out. Go to seed.com-flour-slash-mine-pump, then use the code MinePump and get 20% off your first month of seeds daily, sinbiotic. Also, we got a big sale going on this month. Two workout programs on sale, maps symmetry and maps strong, both 50% off. If you're interested, go to mapsfitinistproducts.com

and then use the code October 50, that's October 5-0 with no space for the discount. All right, here comes a show. There's a new enemy in the fitness space and it's victimhood. You got to shed the victim mentality or you will not succeed. Today's episode we're gonna talk about all the different ways to try to manipulate you and to make you feel like a victim so that you stay fat, sick, unhealthy and sad.

If watching Sal getting canceled on Instagram wasn't enough for you. Buckle up. I'm a noir. There's more. You know, there's this movement and it started, at up. I'm a noir. There's more. You know, there's this movement and it started, at first it was kind of like small. Yeah.

And I talked about it a little bit on the show, maybe a year or two ago. I think we did an episode called Woke Fitness about Woke Fitness where we kind of pointed it out. But it was small enough to where people, I even got messages from people who were like, that's not really happening. I don't see that.

Yeah, I thought it was parody when you sent it over before. I was like, this has to be from the onion or one of those kind of publications. No, I can see, now it's starting to grow to the point where it's starting to gain attention from all people, from people who believe it, people who are against it. And, you know, I'm not gonna look,

I'm gonna be quite honest. The fitness and health wellness space has always been filled with bullshit, right? It's always had a lot of bad information. That's where we start this podcast. But this type of information is the worst. It's the worst because it's insidious. It prays on people's empathy and it prevents people from even taking that first step. So the other lies make people do the wrong thing, work out too hard, try fat diets, all bad, all bad. We've crushed all those.

But this is different, it's more insidious, and it's gonna actually demonize everything that's right about the fitness space through telling outright lies, and making people feel good about feeling bad, which is not a good thing. Now, how conspiratorial do you guys get in this, when you see this happening right now?

Like, I mean, because here's how you're trying not to, but, you know, I think it's, it's one of those things. You just, what's the, like, what's the motivation, right? And like, and to me, it's just, it's, it's some kind of, like, to include politics and so much of our lives these days. I think it's advantageous now to really kind of move people one side or the other. You know, in any kind of regards, like they're going to get votes because they're polarizing people so much. You know, I know I give you guys a hard time about that stuff and I normally just like let it roll. Like the whole like politics got into my football. They got in my basketball.

I was sour about it for a little bit bit, felt better about it after about a year two. And I felt like it got a little bit better at least. Um, but now they're coming after fitness, man. And like now, now I feel a little more irritated than I did before because it's already been, I feel like our whole career kind of an uphill battle to, to, to make people feel comfortable to take that first big step of taking action. It's hard enough. Yeah, exactly. And so if now we have, and so then it makes you wonder, right? Like we know that the, in politics, it's ideal to divide us, right?

Divide us so they can conquer and steer the narrative and so that. So, you know, obviously us being weak is also advantageous for that too. Oh, okay. So you're hitting the knee on the head in my opinion. So first off, what's the motivation? Well, it's always make money. So that's always number one. How can I sell people things?

And making people feel divided and victimized, especially when I provide a solution, is a great way to make money. So there's that. But then there's also what you said out of which is people when they don't feel empowered are very easily manipulated. And fitness is a pursuit of self empowerment. Anybody who's done it for a long time will tell you this. If you've done it for a long of the five years, especially if you've done it for a long

of the 10 years, it's extremely empowering because it's a journey of failure and success. It's a journey of self-acceptance. It's a journey of accepting what you can control, what you can't control, of hard work and effort and what you get and return. It's a journey of discipline. It's a journey of self-mastery. Somebody who feels very empowered, who feels very in control of themselves,

who feels like they have self mastery, or at least they have the tools to accomplish a certain level self mastery. Well, it's gonna be hard to manipulate me. It just is, if you're on a stage telling me how I need all these other things that you're gonna offer me in order to feel good or comfortable or safe, or you're telling me all these other people

of the reason why I have all these problems, and I feel empowered, I'm gonna look at you and be like, ah, that's not true, and no, I'm not gonna, I don't like that message because I feel good about myself, I feel good about what I'm doing. And so it makes people very easily manipulated, and it's a fact, by the way, if think about it this way, are you, when you feel confident, happy, healthy,

are you more or less likely to fall for scams? Are you more or less likely to believe that someone who has a different opinion is evil versus just differing opinion? What kind of lens and filter do you see the world through when you're healthy, strong and confident? And I mean, this is all, of course, within context. So not me, you might not be strong on that guy,

but you yourself feel that particular way. Now let's do the flip. How do you feel when you're sick? I mean, when I have a cold, I'm negative. Just the cold makes me feel... You're just down, yeah, you're overall energy, your thought process, you're kind of like, you wanna be an isolation, a lot of times,

you don't wanna be around people. So that's just, you know, commonly, if I feel, if I don't feel good, I'm not necessarily projecting my best self. Yes. And there's, there's not a single drug or combination of drugs or medical intervention that comes close to improving your, your, your, your health when it comes to your mental state, things like depression, anxiety, fears, confidence, they improve better through exercise, nutrition, through feeling empowered, through taking control of certain things,

they improve better and they continue to improve long-term, better than any other medical intervention we have. But here's the problem. It's all of it, or most of it's free, right? So there's not like a product that I'm buying. There's not like a drug that I'm buying. So that's where I think the root is of this. And then politicians are smart because what they do

is they find areas of the culture where they can demonize and they can control. And fitness is open now, it's prime. And they're showing now, this might be a great place for them to permeate. So how much does you guys had explode when Johnson and Johnson and Pfizer come up with some breakthrough Drug that you know stops fat gain or or it viscerates fat better than any supplement on the market and it's patented by them

Yeah And then the government comes out as encouraging everybody to take that instead. I mean how how much do you freak out when that happens? You know why let's just pretend for example this won't happen But let's just pretend they did invent the perfect drug for that. Literally keeps you lean and there's zero side effects, which would never exist. But let's just say zero side effects, you just take a pill,

you could eat whatever you want, don't have to exercise and you're lean. Is that gonna give you all the benefits of the journey through exercising eating right, creating a better relationship with exercise and nutrition, creating a better relationship with yourself, all the things that happen on the fitness journey. No, you're not gonna learn any of those disciplines.

It's the difference between being flown to the top of a mountain versus climbing it. Yeah, you still get the same view, I guess, but is it really the same experience? You really become the same person. So when that drug comes out, which I think at some point it will, although I think there will be side effects, I think it will be all kinds of other stuff, I'll be happy because people will take it, it'll take a while, but people will take it and then be like, why am

I not feeling all the benefits that I've always heard about being fit healthy, like what's going on? And then we'll be able to be like, well, here's why. Oh, I wonder if that's what you'll get from it. If it is, to me, that's a long curve. That's gonna take a long curve. Yeah, it's gonna be, I don't know, I won't feel like it's step us back 15, 20 years ago.

At first, yeah. I mean, I don't know, this part of me is like, it just feels like a natural progression of over decades of us trying to solve anything that's hard, right? Like if I, like, if I can get to point eight, to point and to point B Faster and more efficiently. You know, that's that's sort of the trajectory that we're always trying to achieve with any kind of technology Advancement any kind of education like how can I get there quicker? How can I retain all this you know faster? How can I get?

What I used to work Decades for in just a few years. That is the key right there. There is no point A and point B with fitness. There is no point B. It's the getting to points along the way that you can arbitrarily create, but it's the journey. It's the process where you get all the value. And you talk to anybody again,

if you're watching or listening to this, and you know somebody who's exercised and ate right, and it's really something that they prioritize for like 10 years or more, ask them. And they'll tell you this. They'll tell you this 100%. So that's just it. What's it is that people think it's the end result.

Were they gonna get the value? There's the little value in that, right? You're healthier, I guess, physically, and not stuff, but it's not really most of the value at all. It's everything along the way. But let's talk about some of these big lies that have been promoted and pushed that are so dangerous to everything that we try to do. And by the way, for people who don't know, if you're new to this podcast, the three of us

collectively have worked with and trained people and coached people and managed gyms. And essentially, we've been trying to help people solve this issue for themselves, the Collectively have worked with and trained people and coach people and manage gyms and essentially we've been trying to help people solve this issue for themselves the issue of poor health obesity You know poor mobility pain that kind of stuff for collectively over 60 years So we've made a careers out of this and it's only recently we've made good careers out of it Right for a long time we worked hard and in industry where it's hard to make a lot of money So wasn't money driven it was definitely passion driven first. So this is our big passion.

But let's start with the first one. The first one is the message of health at any size or health at every size. Now I get the core of it, which is you can be overweight and be healthier or be overweight and less healthy, okay? But the way that they're spinning it and using it is to say that the same person at a decent or should I say appropriate body weight

or body fat percentage would have the same health than if they were 50 pounds or 100 pounds overweight. That's not true at all. That's false. The being obese by itself is a health risk factor regardless of all the other things. So this is a terrible message. There's no such thing as being healthy and being obese.

You'll be healthier. All things being considered at a more acceptable or appropriate body weight. I think a lot of the points that you had written down, I think they started off with good intentions. Like if you get on, there's a website for the health and every size, I forget what it's called, but they have basically their breakdown or their mission statement or whatever.

And there's not a lot I disagree with at all, reading them. In fact, I don't think I disagreed with anything when I read it, but what's unfortunate, and I don't know how common this is, and this is more a political thing, I feel like, and you would know this, how often does a movement get hijacked? Like somebody who is great at manipulating something,

sees an opportunity that, oh wow, this is gaining traction. Let me adopt it early, I'm going to use this to do this. And so I think a lot of... A lot of... Yeah, when I look at the things that you wrote down, um, I feel the same way that you do too. But then I also feel like I can remove myself a little bit and go like, okay, at the, at the core of these, I think, I, I want to believe they started with good intentions. And then they've been

hijacked in turn. I think, I think some of them started with the criminal of truth. Some of them are complete and underlies. Yeah. But I think some of them started with the kernel of truth. Some of them are complete and underlies. But I think the health that every size, that specific one started with a kernel of truth, which is, yes, and I used to talk to, I worked with clients for a long time, we struggled with being overweight. Some of them never got to their ideal body weight.

Some of them struggle with it the entire time I train them. However, their health still dramatically improved. So there's definitely truth that if you're overweight or obese, but you're exercising and you still made some changes into nutrition, you still made some lifestyle change, just not enough to lose all the weight. So you're still overweight. You're going to be healthier than you've made. And I think too, it was sort of backlash to a lot of like the models there. Yeah, good idea. Back, you know, back in the day, you get all these like cover model fitness, people that were like super shredded or like, you know, girls that were like very thin and lean and that being the

ideal body type they kept portraying. So it was like sort of a push back on that into, because we've never really hit that happy medium of health, like what that really looks like is terms of marketability. So they went to the other extreme of that to try and include a lot of people that didn't feel included, but yeah, it just got totally bastardized.

If there was a picture of a pro body builder on a magazine and it said, this is healthy, it would be just as preposterous, even though they're big and shredded, it would be just as preposterous, even though they're big and shredded, it would be just as preposterous as what I'm seeing where they have somebody who's clinically obese and they've already done, so there's now been several magazine covers

or articles or whatever with this, where they have an obese individual and it says this is healthy. It's just as preposterous, both are very... I'm wealthy, both are extremely... I think the kernel of truth they stand on is, and I'm sure you guys can think of a scenario where this is happening in your career I mean, I definitely remember there's been times where I've had a client who is you know 40 50 pounds overweight

And she was healthier than the little skinny model girl that I trained. Right. And so there's examples. Well, you just brought up a good point, which is when it comes to health, there's a lot of individual factors being played and you're right, comparing yourself to someone else is not an appropriate comparison. You don't know what's going on. Someone can even have perfect physical body fat percentage

look good, but really have this is health because mental issues and stuff like this is how they defend that though. Right, but that's because there are examples of that. There is an example of a client I had who just carries 50 pounds over weight. She over consumes food on a regular basis, but she she trains hard and she trains athletic. So she could run, she could jump, she could squat, good weight, and just maybe she's got good relationships in life and she gets good sleep. But then you're right.

But then she's still overweight by 50 pounds. But if I had to meet the other girl that I was giving an example of was a aspiring supermodel girl who used to starve her body, used to do cocaine, used to do, like, and just a terrible race of food, doing drugs, and yet the average person would see those two people and go, oh, she's the skinny girl is probably, so I get, I get that argument, but it still is not a, it's still not a good representation of what true health looks like, because then

there's the other element of, if you're carrying that much extra body fat on you, there is a part of you that's not, you're not being honest with yourself if you're saying that I'm the healthiest I could be. You know, are you in better shape than what you were when you were a hundred pounds overweight? Or are you in better shape than the cooked out girl who's starving herself?

Arguably yes, but I don't think that you're a true representation of health and positioning it that way, I think is a dangerous. who's starving herself, arguably yes. But I don't think that you're a true representation of health and positioning it that way, I think is a danger. And the reason why that's such a disingenuous comparison is you have to, you can only, to have an accurate comparison, you can only compare yourself to yourself.

Because me versus someone else, first of all, I can't judge them 100% on how they look. There's a few things you can look at and say, okay, well, that person may overeat, that person may under eat, whatever. But you can't really make it comparison. But what I can say is if you have the same person in two scenarios, doing the same things, the only difference is one version of them is at a body white, a body weight that's appropriate. And the other version of them is 50 pounds higher than that in body fat. The 50 pounds higher body fat is going to have worse health.

So the reason why this is such a damaging and the way that they're twisting it and pushing it, the reason why it's so damaging is it's telling a bunch of people that obesity doesn't matter. Yeah. That obesity isn't a risk factor for health. It's just not honest. It's not honest, it's a big lie. And what's happening, what I'm seeing is this false self-love movement from it. I love myself.

That's why I eat this food. That's why I'm overweight. This is me loving myself. You're not loving yourself. You might feel good because you're not feeling bad about yourself, but you're not actively loving yourself. You're still making yourself healthy. Let's just say that's step one.

Right. So yes, I do agree with the sentiment of loving yourself. Let's just say that's step one, right? So yes, I do agree with the sentiment of loving yourself. And I think that if we get into fitness and health and we're motivated to go on that journey, it should be motivated on behalf of you loving yourself and improving yourself and wanting the best for yourself and being the optimal version of yourself. And all that happens through the journey and the process of, you You know refining that through fitness and health practices, but you know we can't Just stopping there is it's not being honest with yourself

And it's really not loving yourself because you're you're not really continually trying to To address these things and to and to love yourself by by yourself by focusing on the work that goes into. That's right. We talked about this in the relationship conversation. A lot of love is not a feeling. It's an action. You're not taking action on something that would be truly loving yourself. And that would be taking care of your health, being healthier.

So, yeah, I know. I'm not a fan. And I think that this has been exaggerated because it's as a marketing ploy. Yes, you could sell people, man. When you sell them that they're, this is why I get so annoyed, is the very people that I've made a career out of helping, sincerely trying to help. Like, I have a deep, it's hard not to get emotional when I talk about it because this is something I care very deeply about. It's hard not to get emotional when I talk about it because this is something I care very deeply about.

These same people are being manipulated so hard, and I get mad when they get manipulated and all kinds of different directions. The fitness and health space has done it so many different ways, you know, diet pills and crazy workouts and all that stuff. But boy, this is a, this one is really bad because it prays on their empathy,

it makes them feel like victims, and then they want to do nothing about what's going on, and because they've been lied to you so poorly. It actually deters them from pursuing a lot of times fitness in general. Yes. The next one, here's the next one. This is a term, and this is what people love to do. This is what these people like to do, people that like to either political, I guess political

propagandists or people who try to come up with terms to manipulate people is they invent terms. Fat phobia is one of those things. First of all, a phobia. Can we get the definition of that? What is a phobia? Just look at what is a phobia? To Webster.

No, just give me fat phobia. Well, no, just look at phobia because phobia is like a clinical term. It's different, I don't like spiders, but do I have a clinical phobia against spiders? No, right? Very different. So what they're doing is they're trying to say, well, people who are trying to get you to lose weight are fat phobic.

Okay. That's like saying a cancer doctor who's trying to get you to get rid of cancer is cancer phobic. Or somebody's trying to help you get, well, heart disease is a heart disease phobic. Did an actual psychologist come up with this term? Because otherwise it's invalid. It is, here it is. It's not a real word. An extreme or a rational fear or aversion to something.

So if I'm trying to help someone lose weight, which means I'm actually trying to help them and work with them, do I have an extreme or rational fear or aversion? That doesn't make me a phobic, you know fat phobic. Yeah, but what they say is oh if you're not if you try to get people lose weight Your fat phobic gyms are full of fat phobic people if you're trying to lose weight yourself you have your own Fat phobia. This is so terrible because it's like it's it's Pathologizing mm-hmm the process of improving your health your health which is crazy because it's like it's pathologizing.

The process of improving your health, your health, which is crazy. Read it, sour, read it, let's say. Weight basis sometimes also called fat phobia, or weight stigma, describes the negative attitudes and stereotypes surrounding and attached to larger bodies. This is totally written by a totally made. They've totally made that up. They really do. Yeah, she's shoehorned something into a phobia.

I, I've actually heard people in a cool condition all of a sudden. I've had, I've heard people say, if you don't want to date someone that's overweight, it's because you're fat phobic. Seriously, it's like, I don't want to date, you know, I only want to date tall guys. Well, I guess I'm short phobic or something. Yeah, right? Yeah, just add phobic to anything. Yeah.

First off, excess body fat is a very visual, and this may be one of the challenges of being overweight, is that it's a very visual representation of your health not being ideal. So naturally, we're going to have, we're not going to feel as attracted to people in this particular way. Just like someone really bad skin, someone who's teeth are really bad, or someone who looks like they're sick. Okay. That's the reason why that's the root of it.

There's a bit of displays of not being healthy. That's the root of it. Yeah. Now, that's no excuse for treating people like shit. That's no excuse for not being nice to people for being an asshole or a jerk. So if somebody's a jerk to you because you're overweight or uses that as an excuse to be a jerk, well they're an asshole.

But fat phobia, they invented that. They created it. I don't even think that existed before they started making it up. I mean, maybe it did in a very small percentage, but have you guys ever met someone that's really? No, no. Fat phobic, that you would say, oh my god, you have this irrational fear?

No, I mean, clasophobia, I know a couple people that have that for real and like have just been in somewhat tight space situations and like had panic attack like serious serious. Yeah, you know like it's it's a condition a serious condition so this is completely it's true if you were really fat phobic you wouldn't be able to go anywhere because yeah fat people yeah, you're like ah, you look like run would be a good idea land you would be able to go to the movies you would not be able to go anywhere because there's fat people. You're like, ah, you look run. You wouldn't be able to cross Disneyland. You wouldn't be able to go to the movies. You would not be able to go down to Walmart. Oh my god, you would go anywhere. You would have an ice cream shop.

You would be able to go anywhere if you were truly fat fob. If you were scared like you're scared of spiders and scared of those things like that, that's irrational. You would freak out every time you got into any of the places. There's no, there's nowhere where you see everybody's super fit. Even the gym is full of that. Oh my god, in the gym, you're going to see

I'll quite a few people that are overweight because they're trying to improve their health. Super. The reason why this is again, so such a terrible message is it's telling people themselves who are trying to improve their health that they're somehow fat phobic or they somehow fall into this category

of these terrible people that are against larger bodies or whatever, which is very, very strange in a twisted way of manipulating. It's a weird way to provide somebody a word to shut down any kind of conversation you might be having with somebody. Like some kind of disagreement, I've noticed that a lot. And we're in this sort of world now where you get into comment sections and back and forth with people and it's even harder to have honest conversations because terms all of a sudden will get thrown out if they don't like what you have to say and then it just shuts down the conversation. It's just a way to justify your behavior. It is a scientific fact.

You are eating more than you are moving and you want to justify that. That's simple. It is literally that simple. It is a justification for your behaviors. Your behaviors have led to 30, 40, 50, 100. And the doctor that wants to tell you to lose weight because he sees your blood lipids and he wants to lose weight for your health, well, he's just fat phobic.

I actually saw that by the way. I've seen people say, see how easy that is to use? It just shuts it down. Shuts it down. Oh, my doctor told me to lose weight, says I'm 100 pounds overweight, they're fat phobic, I'm gonna find another doctor.

I actually saw the whole thing on that, and there was actually people supporting them, which is crazy. It's like, well, that's what a doctor's supposed to do is tell you how to improve, or deeply- By the way, you can, I know what I just said,

I know what guarantee you can irritate some people, but you can be that way, and I can still be empathetic to that person. I mean, I just be a good person. 90% of the conversation that we have on this podcast are around behaviors and helping people, and admitting to our own behaviors that we struggle with and how to overcome that and work on that and improve that, and it's a lifelong journey and pursuit. So I have tremendous empathy for somebody who struggles with those things, but to deny it and ignore it

and to then potentially blame it on other people is not going to help you. It is not gonna make- It's gonna hurt you. It's not gonna make your life in any more rich by doing that or healthy by acting like that. And it actually demonizes, this is the part that really hurts my feelings,

to be quite honest, is it demonizes the very people who make a career out of helping people in the situation? By the way, we don't help people. Renders is powerless. Yeah, I wanna be straight up, like we don't help people by walking up to random people who are obese and saying,

I'm here to help you, it doesn't work that way. I know that, I know that, I'm not gonna do that. That's gotta make a change. That's gotta make a change. That's gotta make a change. That's gotta make a change. That's gotta make a change. That doesn't work that way. I know that. I know that. I'm not going to do that. That's going to make a change. That's right. Well, I'm so stupid. It's not going to work. Here's my card. It's not going to work. I help people who came and seek help, right? But they did seek help and I was very empathetic and I understand the struggle and it's challenging. I had my own body image issues just in the opposite direction. So I totally get it. But fat phobia is made up. It doesn't exist. It's another way to manipulate you into buying products

or going in a particular political direction. Here's the next one. This one's, I've talked about this one many times, but that's the myth that gyms are these judgmental, unaccepting places. So like you're gonna walk into this gym, you're overweight, and everybody in there's gonna look at you and be like, what are you doing here? You don't belong in here, get out of here, don't touch my equipment.

Wow, look at that woman, she's so fat, look at that guy, he doesn't look good or whatever. This is terrible because there's actually zero, there's not even a kernel of truth in this. Gems are the most accepting places in the world for people who are struggling with weight. But most accepting. I mean, this is a perfect example of like judging a book by its cover or like, you know, coming in with narratives you've created in your own mind. Who's being judgemental? And expecting that is to be the result.

And, you know, and I noticed like, I mean, anybody's guilty of this. Like I'm guilty of this of, you know, just creating and portraying thoughts in other people that I think they're thinking of this. Like I'm guilty of this of just creating and portraying thoughts in other people that I think they're thinking of me. And this is just sort of adding gasoline to that. And it's justifying this sort of idea, this insecurity you have that's coming in,

when in fact it's not actually reality. Like being in that environment is a very embracing environment where people actually care about improving and want you to be a part of it. Remember when they did that reality show? I remember being so irritated. Like that would never even happen right there. They did this reality show.

Do you remember this Justin? It was like a hitting camera. Yeah, it was like a hitting camera and they staged like two people. It was like these two girls and they were intentionally like gossiping about somebody else. Like it was like somebody who was overweight. And this was in my gym. It was in a gym and what they were intentionally like gossiping about somebody else. Like it was like somebody who's overweight. And this was in a gym.

It was in a gym. And what they were seeing was who would say something with someone like, and so, and I remember hating it because I remember going like, you're already representing the gym. Like that's like a normal thing to happen. So it was the real the study or the what they were trying to see was like, if these two people were gossiping about this other overweight person that was trying to work out, would somebody chime in and say something or do something? You know what's funny?

It happens so fast people jumped in. It was like literally whoever was next to them, you walk up to them and tell them off. Yeah. And that's what the host said. Yeah, but still though, I didn't even like it because that never would have. I've been in Jim's for 20 years.

I've been in Jim's for 20 years. Produced situations. And so I would think statistically speaking, I would probably have a really good chance of seeing that at least a handful of times. If it even happens at a small fraction of the, I've never seen two girls gossiping loud enough to where I can hear them about somebody who's overweight trying to work out. Never. Oh my God, I'll tell you something right now.

If you want to get, if you want to have threats of violence, here's something that you go into a gym and make fun of another person trying to improve themselves. And you wait and see how the other members, especially the seasoned, consistent members, how fast they get on you and kick you out of that gym. So do you guys think that, okay, I'm gonna ask an unpopular potential question that may lead to an unpopular answer,

I should say. We early on, we came out in really hammered shreds, if you've been with us long enough. And Justin used to make fun of Joey Swole all the time. He has recently revived his, you know, stardom or fandom or whatever you want to call him. He's like the defender of people in the just. So do you think, I want to hear your opinions on this,

do you think it is a good or a bad thing what he is doing? Oh, I haven't watched enough of him. Yeah, describe it to me. Hold up, I guarantee, I guarantee one of his last videos. You know, he does knows he's like somebody who he's shamed the shamer. Yeah.

So I'm asking you guys because I'm wondering because it's obviously right in this wheelhouse of gyms or judgment tonics. What he does is he finds somebody else. So here's where it's partly damaging, partly because he's pushing the narrative that gyms are unacceptable. Right. You know that they're these judgmental, terrible places

if you're at a shape and you're a beginner and you don't know what you're doing. It partially good because he's also, you know, saying, hey, this is unacceptable. But it does push that narrative, doesn't it? I mean, the other people that push this narrative are in our space, which makes me mad is planet fitness.

Planet fitness's entire marketing was around gyms that didn't have bodybuilders and judgmental people, and we have an alarm in the gym that goes off, and you know, if there's a it's a lunk alarm, in fact, they call it. And I hated that because it painted gyms in the wrong way. And it now was it was brilliant marketing. It got a lot of people sign up But it promoted this idea and this myth and again, it's a fact like In fact the most accepting gems are the most hardcore gems

This is this is something a lot of people don't don't know if you've never worked out And or you don't have a lot of experience in gems the most intimidating gems are the hardcore ones I mean you walk in people are serious everybody looks super focused, the equipment, like there's chalk on the floor, maybe, maybe there's angry music in the background, or maybe not, maybe it's just quiet, some of these places are quiet, people listen to music,

people are grunting and sweating, and it's intimidating. Okay, here's the irony, that's the most accepting gem, because every bit in there is super seasoned, super hardcore, and if you intimidating. Okay, here's the irony. That's the most accepting gem because everybody in the air is super seasoned, super hardcore, and if you walk in there and you're a beginner, go up to anybody in there and be like, hey, can someone help me use this machine? Or I want to lose weight, what should I do?

And you'll get a bunch of free, really good advice. That less likely to happen in those big globo gyms. It's just true, which is the irony, right? People think the hardcore ones are the most judgmental, they're the least. Well, I mean, and it's just it's purely a numbers game too, though, right? You're if you're a planet fitness and you're $9 a month, you're getting 2000 workouts a day, probably plus. If you're in one of those, you know, hardcore gyms, you've got, you know, 50 workouts in the day and those 50 people are probably hardcore, serious people who appreciate somebody trying

and so it would probably be very much more community driven and something like that. Where I mean, it's like a cash cow in one of those places. And that's unfortunate because what a lot of gyms don't realize is one asshole who is probably even a new person themselves being rude to another person like that. Now that gym has a stigma of like, oh, these people are fat, phobic, or these people are judgmental. But it's funny, right?

Because we've all managed gyms. Who were the members that were the coolest, nicest, friendliest? The ones that have been there forever. The new member, yes. Yeah, for sure. The most consistent people. But this is a terrible myth because it keeps people

from walking into gyms. Because they're like, oh yeah, gyms, those places, like people are going to make fun of me, people are going to look at me, people are going to, I mean, people in my own family felt like this. I had to convince my mom to go to a gym recently over stuff like this. And that's my mom. I've been in the space for forever. And now she realizes, oh my god, gyms are not what I thought they were. So terrible myth, not true whatsoever. And I think that again, they're trying to keep people easily manipulatable. Here's another one.

And this one actually has, there was actually some legislative action that went behind this myth. So it's the myth that building muscle makes men jerks or toxic. There was legislation around this. Yeah, what? Yes, there was. So I don't know if you guys remember this,

but California prisons, first of all, prisons historically had weight pits. That was the reason why they got it out, was that? They took them out, because they said they don't want the prisoners to be big, strong, and aggressive. That's how they sold it. Oh, I thought like dudes were really getting their heads

bashed in with dumbbells. Well, you know, I know what's happening. You know what's funny? It's basically these heavy weapons, we should probably get you. You know what, that can happen. However, when you talk to people that work in that industry,

and we'll get into this, but one of the benefits of having a weight pit is you could take it away. Like when you're in prison, you got nothing. Yeah, right, that's like, but when you're allowed to work out, and you're there for 10 years, like you don't wanna break the rules in there,

you wanna keep working out in your gym, That's the thing you look forward to. That's an interesting thought to me because if you're taking away away for them to have any kind of like self-improvement and Independence, it's like taking away the library. Yeah, how much more animosity are you gonna get in return for that? More depression. It'd be interesting to actually see if after they got it pulled if there was anybody who actually went back to do some pull reduction in violence. Yeah, I don't think so. I bet you're not. I bet you're not.

That would be a really good question. You know Arnold, you know, Arnold, they did this in pumping iron. Arnold, he's traveled to gyms and do free seminars and stuff. Like, like self-improvement tools, like education, exercise, like that kind of stuff, spiritual practices, those should be encouraged in prisons. So, to me, when they took them out, it was such a big deal to me because I'm like, that's the dumbest,

why would you do that? They need an outlet and they need to feel empowered in some way. I mean, a lot of, by the way, I've employed a lot of ex-fellens who found their way through fitness. They started working out. It's such a good point that Justin makes. So it's like you would think that actually, the more things that the inmates gravitate towards that you potentially couldn't restrict them from if they're not behaving correctly would be, I would think it would be more of an asset

to you keeping the place. You know what I'm saying? Like a basketball court, I know they do that. Like no more basketball today. You guys were acting like idiots last time and so it's like, they gets everybody in line. You keep taking away the things that they have as outlets. And then I would think that there's harder to manage.

What else are you gonna take away? Yeah, and honestly, I think it was because it made it easier to control because they're more depressed, more sick, more whatever, and not as big and not as strong and that's intimidating. And a lot of some of these, see, look, I'm not, shit, what if they really knew that? Maybe that was their intention,

was that they're easier to be controlled because they're sick, they're weak, depressed, versus if they feel independent, strong, and empowered. Now aside from that, because that's kind of like a side conversation, generally speaking, the process of building muscle, which requires discipline, patience, acceptance, failure, because if this doesn't work, that doesn't work.

It doesn't make men toxic. It makes men better. Okay. Now, can you have a toxic jerk who's big and muscular? Of course you can. Of course you can. But that's the exception, not the rule. The toxicity, the anger issues, it's tough like that tends to improve in people who pursue pursuits of

self growth, right, of personal growth. And fitness and building muscle is just a part of that. Let's talk about mental health. What does that look like for somebody that isn't pursuing anything like weight training to help them get stronger and healthier and being a better mindset? In general, I mean, I hate to bring up shooters, but I would wonder about that in terms of toxic masculinity. On somebody that's weaker and feels a little bit more victimized and then they wanna do something about it versus somebody that's strong, you know, enable body. That's 100%. You know, I've heard it said before,

if you think strong men are dangerous, just want to know. I'm more concerned about weak men. A weak man, right? So no, no, no, building muscle doesn't make men toxic jerks. It doesn't make women toxic jerks. It improves people, but they still exist. The toxic shitty people exist

that all sides of the spectrum. All right, next, this one's funny. I read an article on this the other day, and there's actually, I have several articles now I've read on this, which is that fitness and gyms lead to all things alt-right political leanings, which is really crazy. Now, the truth is, it's a reverse correlation, right?

So it's, what they have found is they've done research on people that work out and they tend to lean to the right or towards a libertarian, right? Right, right. And so, what they found, you get to move into all right middle of the spectrum. But I mean, that's where that, I think that where the data comes from. Studies have found that as men become physically stronger, they're more likely to lean conservative. And there's some theories as to why, by the way, there's an unhealthy and unhealthy conservatism.

So just like there's a healthy and unhealthy liberalism. So don't twist them. Like when you think conservative, don't think just the toxic, like the shitty sides or whatever, there's healthy versions of it. But really what it is is at its core, especially when you talk about like libertarianism, which is like kind of a regional, that original, and in fact, it was called classical liberalism. Now it's referred to as more conservative, but when you look at people, as people become

more empowered, they're less likely to want government to do things for them or to control things for them. And so this is just part of that process. As you do things to improve your health, as you do things and you feel more in control of things, so to that, you're less likely to want, people impeding on what you're doing or whatever. So that's what they find.

And that's why this got pushed in that direction. Let me ask you that. So if that's true, got pushed in that direct. Let me ask you that. So if that's true. Does that mean that Entrepreneurs compared to W2 employees are entrepreneurs at a higher rate? Right. Yep. Is that true? Yeah more like that would make because you're obviously if you are controlling your paycheck and deciding your work hours, you're a more empowered person. You've decided to go down that path. And the opposite is true, if you work for corporate America

and you have to show up when someone tells you, you have a boss who oversees you, you're less empowered, it's just a fact. So are people who are entrepreneurs more right leaning at a higher rate to compare? Yeah, and remember the right respect from is like, really twisted now, but yes, generally, but it depends on the space.

There's huge swings depending on the space, like higher education tends to be over here and blue collar tends to be over there. But nonetheless, all fitness does is it makes people feel more empowered. And so they're less likely to feel like they need to vote for politicians who are going to promise them things or protect them from things or take things away in order to keep them safe, that kind of stuff. But there is no, it's not about alt-right. In fact, alt-right, which is very unhealthy and toxic,

if people pursue improving themselves, they're probably less likely to be in that kind of toxic space. All right, here's the next one. This one's funny to me, which is, I've heard people tell me this, which is that gyms are only for privileged people, right? Because, oh, you can go to the gym.

Plan of fitness to care about. Yeah, I was gonna say, there's not as an option. I mean, you drink one Starbucks coffee a month and you're almost at the same price as what, that's why it makes me laugh is because gyms, man, access to a gym is so cheap. Let me take some little. There's an interesting note.

I guarantee you both have stories like this. I remember every gym that I managed, okay? I had several members that were homeless that would pay for a gym membership. So they could use a shower, the soap, and all things like that because they saved money by having a gym membership to be able to shower and wash their body

through the gym. I signed up several. Yes, I did. I lived in RVs and would come in and use our facility. And that's not even planet fitness, I mean, yeah, planet fitness, which is $9. I'm talking about this, which is- Yeah, when we were doing $30 bucks a month.

Yeah, $20, $30 bucks a month. So, yeah, this is such a- Now, here's part of that. Okay, fine. At some point, I guess it might be an expense You can't afford which I totally get even at $9 a month. Okay, fitness is not Exclusive to gyms. There's there's there's lots of things you can do to improve your health and fitness Through activity that required zero equipment. They require nothing at all. Just your body We have whole programs designed Around no equipment. So this idea, again, is designed to divide people

and to making people think, well, you know, gyms are just for those people over there that are privileged and they're not for you, which is not true. And by the way, I wanna say one thing too. I've never been in an environment as accepting of different political leanings, different ways of living, different ways of who you like to,

you know, over all diversity in general. Jim's are incredible. Very diverse. It's funny, I was talking to so Father Steve is a priest, he's a friend of mine, and he told me one of the things he loves the most about the gym is he goes, man, when we're in the gym and we're all squatting or deadlifting or pressing

and everybody's like, motivating each other, he goes, nobody gives a shit who you voted for. Nobody cares, who you like to sleep with. Nobody cares. We're all there trying to improve ourselves to this thing called fitness. So it's interesting to me that they're trying to do it.

It's interesting to me too, because I guarantee you, no matter where you live in the country, so long as there is a gym there, right? Obviously there's some places that don't have gyms for you know an hour or two hours away or whatever But if you have a you know local gym in the area and you get an opportunity to meet the manager or the owner of that facility And $9 a month is what's keeping you from getting access there and you come to him and say listen I just I don't have access to the money. I don't have it, but I want to work out so bad. What is there anything I could do around here? Oh, God.

To get a free membership. I'll sweep your floors. I'll take out your trash. I did that. I guarantee, I did too. Yep. When I had people that I could tell we're in a position that they couldn't, and so I, and I know most gym owners are like this.

A gym owner is not going to be made or made or of rich or broken from $9 more or less a month and seeing somebody who genuinely cannot afford access there and is willing to work or do something to help out just to get free access. They have the power to write a free pass and they'll do it every single month if that person is being honest and is trying to help out. I gave a free pass to someone like that and then they were so great for the culture of the gym because they were so positive and so motivated and just such great people, I just kept hooking them up.

That's real gym culture. That's real gym culture. That's the truth by the way. And I ran some of the most successful money making gyms and one of the largest fitness organizations that when that was it. And by the way, successful gym owners understand culture. And the culture is so opposite of some of the stuff that we're talking about. Oh, yeah. We opposite. Here's another one. Eating healthy is much more expensive than eating unhealthy or eating healthy is privileged. This is terrible. This is a terrible myth because eating healthy is actual,

there's ways to do it that are actually easy and will save you money. They'll save you money over processed fast food garbage, 100%. For example, we've done a whole episodes on this. In fact, maybe we can link one of them, but rice is extremely inexpensive, great source of complex carbohydrates, easy to digest. There's one, dry beans.

Another great source of complex carbohydrates, also source of fiber, also source of some plant protein, very inexpensive, long shelf life, easy to prepare. Tuna fish. You could buy, by all, you could buy this at 7-Eleven. Tuna fish, milk, eggs, frozen, bulk chicken, frozen bulk ground beef, frozen vegetables, frozen vegetables, okay?

All extremely inexpensive and you can find them almost anywhere. In fact, you can find a lot of that convenience stores, not even grocery stores. So this whole idea that eating healthy is more expensive is totally false. It doesn't have to be all organic and- That's where it comes from. It's raised and all these buzz terms out there, which the further along in your journey,

and you can afford some of those things and to get up your quality, like sure. But in terms of the big movers, what you just mentioned is very accessible and you can buy it in bulk and it's pretty cheap. This is another politicized thing to me. I mean, I never even heard of this until Whole Foods came around. You know, once Whole Foods became one of the more popular stores and everyone calls it

Whole Paycheck because how expensive it is and so like that. Now I'll say it's like, it'll be more expensive if you shop there. Yeah, and so now it's turned into only privileged people can eat the healthiest grocery stores. It's just like you don't need the healthiest grocery store to be healthy. And you gave really good examples of some options that are ridiculously true, especially if you buy in bulk.

You buy five pound bags of rice, five pound bags of beans. Like those things you would save a ton of money. But the truth is, if you're overweight because you are in a quote unquote food desert, you just need to eat less. And you're helpful to drive back to your home. And you're helping dramatically improve. Yeah, and the way we do exercises at home and eat less,

and you will dramatically change your health. Yeah, and by the way, we looked up the definition because I'd never heard of that before food desert. It does. Yeah. And then someone brought it up and I'm like, what is that? They're like, oh, it's when people don't have access to healthy foods. So I'm imagining like a city. We're here in the Salat lately. So I'm like, what is this?

And is this another like political term that's been used to, you know, to sell things and kind of, you know, propaganda. I looked it up. Do you know what a food desert is? What's considered food desert? This is a place and they label it as usually an urban, I'm a reader now. Low-income urban areas, which by the way, that's interesting they include that, but that's fine. Yeah. You'll see why. Low-income urban areas where a significant number of people lives farther than, rare for this, a mile away from the nearest grocery store. Do any of you guys live

close less than a mile away from a grocery store? I don't. Yeah, yeah. The closest grocery store to me is two miles away. So that's crazy that they would make that the definition. And notice how they can make it sound like it's a much bigger problem than what it really is. Right.

You were talking about a very small minority appeal. And by the way, I lived in like a true what I would consider food to. I grew up, okay. And- Well, like when you're on the- Yeah, it was an hour and a half to the first. That's a real one. Yeah.

And we had a gas station is where we had to get our food from. Or once every other week we would drive into town, stock way up, put everything in a freezer and that's how we eat. So I get what it's like to be in a, like what I would consider a real food desert where you have to drive that. But that's why it's interesting. Notice how they put urban areas, urban or dense. And they include that less than a mile away.

The truth is a real food desert, like you're like an hour away from food. Those places exist, but a majority of people live, you know, within five miles of a grocery store. But even convenience stores offer healthy options. Healthier options. I mean, to me, it's just another way to feed in. Fireable options. Feed into the oppression Olympics that we play all the time.

It's just like, oh, here's one more thing that we can marginalize and show all these people over here. It's just like, and again, you can have empathy for that, but then also call bullshit on the victimhood shit. Like get out of that. Like that, it's not serving you to have that attitude of poor me, I'm in this situation. Cause you know what, if you have that attitude,

you're gonna be in that situation forever. 100% agree, but again, this is one of those things where there's actually no truth in it. Eating healthy, which, this is one of those things where it's at there's actually no truth in it eating healthy Which which this is what eating healthy includes okay? Eating less Okay, so eating less it includes Foods with less ingredients and less required processing typically Both of which cost money in other words if eat more, I will necessarily spend more money.

If I eat foods that require more processes to put together, I will necessarily spend more money when I'm comparing in the proper context. So like rice that's dry, one ingredient, it's got a long shelf life because it's dry in a bag. Okay, so it's cheaper than rice chips or processed foods that contain rice, for example. Okay, dried corn, which dried corn also has long shelf life, is going to be cheaper than corn-based

processed foods when you go on a calorie per gallery type of basis. So my point with this one is it's not just off, it's completely the opposite. And so what it does, and this is why it's so damaging, is people who are in situations where they do feel, they live in poverty, where they do feel, man, things are tough, they're gonna hear this and they're gonna be like, there's nothing I can do. I have no options, I have no choices, I'm not empowered in a particular way. I'm helpless, and then what does that tend to breed?

And again, people don't even take that first step, which is infuriating. Look, if you like the show, head over to MindPumpFree.com and check out our guides. We have guides that can help you with almost any health or fitness goal. You can also find all of us on social media. So Justin is on Instagram at MindPump.

Justin, Adam is on Instagram at MindPump.atom, and you can find me on Twitter at MindPump.com. Thank you for listening to MindPump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, at Mind Pump Cell. 9 months of phased, expert exercise programming designed by Sal Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels and performs. With detailed workout blueprints in over 200 videos, the RGB Superbundle is like having Sal Adam and Justin as your own personal trainer's butt at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee,

and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at MindPumpMedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a five-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing MindPump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is MindPump. and pump to your friends and family.

We thank you for your support. And until next time, this is Mind Pump.