Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2131: How to Break Through a Bench Press Plateau, Simple Tips to Get Leaner, How to Work Out With a Herniated Disc & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Episode Date: August 2, 2023

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin coach four Pump Heads via Zoom. Mind Pump Fit Tip: Do you want to get stronger in the real world? Offset your training! (2:21) The importance of... having a balanced conversation and not getting emotionally charged. (33:07) The value in listening to your REAL friends. (36:38) An important PSA for all inspiring coaches and trainers. (45:42) The animals are rising. (53:56) Shout out to Patrick Bet-David. (55:52) #ListenerLive question #1 - Any advice on progressing in my bench press? (1:02:09) #ListenerLive question #2 - Can you build muscle and endurance at the same time?  (1:16:09) #ListenerLive question #3 - How can I determine my ideal caloric intake? (1:28:58) #ListenerLive question #4 – Is MAPS Anabolic the right program if I can’t push myself too much on progressive overload due to a previous injury?  Is there a better program for where I am in my current training to hopefully compete again in the spring? (1:40:52) Related Links/Products Mentioned Ask a question to Mind Pump, live! Email: live@mindpumpmedia.com The Nutritional Coaching Institute (NCI) has decided to give away their Rapid Cash Masterclass for FREE! Learn the same scholarship framework that has produced over $50 million in the last 9 months alone for their clients, all completely free. Sign up for the training HERE! August Promotion: MAPS Anabolic Advanced 50% off! **Code AUGUST50 at checkout** Mind Pump #1315: The 8 Best Exercises You Are Not Doing Anthony Weiner MELTDOWN | PBD Podcast | Ep. 287 Visit NutriSense for the exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Code MINDPUMP at checkout** Mind Pump #2127: Bench Press Masterclass The Hip Airplane (Full TUTORIAL) The McGill Hip Airplane MAPS O.C.R. Mind Pump #1830: Five Steps To Determine Your Ideal Caloric Intake Mind Pump #1860: Fourteen Of The Best Foods For An Amazing Physique Ask Mind Pump MAPS Symmetry Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Stan “Rhino” Efferding (@stanefferding) Instagram Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) Instagram Mark Bell (@marksmellybell) Instagram  

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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 most downloaded fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump, right? In today's episode, we answered live caller's questions. But this was after a 58 minute introductory conversation, where we talk about things like fitness,
Starting point is 00:00:27 current events, our lives, fitness and health studies and much more. By the way, you could skip around by checking the show notes for timestamps. Also, I wanna be on an episode like this one. Email us your question at live at mindpumpmedia.com. Now, this episode is brought to you by NCI. This is a company that helps coach,
Starting point is 00:00:45 coaches and trainers. They teach you how to become more successful both for yourself and for your clients. And right now you can get it in their rapid cash masterclass for free. Go to NCI mind pump dot com forward slash R, M. By the way, in today's episode, you hear us talk about how every Wednesday, we get on a Zoom call with coaches and we help coach them on their business. If you wanna know how to find out more about that, go to the NCI website, send them an email,
Starting point is 00:01:18 make it an angry one. Hey, how do I get in there? I wanna talk to the guys at MindPump because there is a way to do that. Also, we're running a sale this month on one of our most popular workout programs, one of our newer ones, Maps and Obolic Advanced. This is one of the most powerful strength and muscle building programs that we have. It's half off right now.
Starting point is 00:01:41 So the first half off sale we've done on maps and a ballad advanced. If you're interested, go to anabolicadvanced.com, use the code August 50 for that discount. All right, here comes the show. Teacher time. And this teacher time. Oh, shit, Doug, you know it's my favorite time of the week. Two winners this week. One for Apple Podcasts, one for Facebook, the Apple Podcast winner is lowbeth 33 for Facebook is Chris CRI. Both of you are winners and the name I just read to iTunes at mindpumpmedia.com, include
Starting point is 00:02:17 your shirt size and your shipping address and we'll get that shirt right out to you. You want to get strong in the real world. In other words, the kind of strength that transfers outside of the gym. Try this. Offset loading. What's offset loading? This is when you load your body in an unbalanced way. No, I'm not talking about bouncy balls and stability balls and weird dynodiscs and stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:02:44 That's not what I'm talking about. I mean, literally offset weight on your body, like a suitcase carry or a one-arm shoulder press holding a barbell, not a dumbbell. Why does this make you strong in the real world? Because nothing in the real world is perfectly balanced like a barbell. The energy and power leaks that you experience when you try to lift something limits your strength.
Starting point is 00:03:08 So, strengthen your body in a way to where it can exert power when you're offset. By the way, the old, wise, strong man of the past understood this. And let me tell you, they kicked the crap out of the average bodybuilder today. This is a forgotten art. Why do you think this fell out of favor? bodybuilder today. This is a forgotten art. 100% Why do you think this fell out of favor? Because hard. Yes, really hard.
Starting point is 00:03:29 Yeah, to me that's too easy of a default answer. It's like there's a lot of hard stuff that we continue to do. There's risky. And the things I think right, like right away, I think especially having a kid, like carrying a kid, like there's so much value in training with loaded on one side like that because that's so much value in training with loaded on one side like that because that's how you'll always carry your kid. Yeah. Yeah. Always carry your kid
Starting point is 00:03:49 like on one hip or one side or you're not going to hold my gun. Yeah. Yeah. You're not like perfectly about like nobody holds a kid like this. Yeah. Like you have to move. Yeah. So, so it's like that's something that men and women have to do our our entire history. And so why why would we lose that and where would we where would it disconnect like, oh, that we know lower need to do our entire history. And so why would we lose that? And where would it disconnect like, oh, we know what we need to do that? I know the answer. Really? Yes, 100% I know the answer.
Starting point is 00:04:12 I thought a lot about this. It's because we began worshiping the symptom and the visual effects of strength rather than the strength itself. Okay. If you go back, you go back, and now I referred to the old wise men and women of the past in the strength world, back then, and we're looking at the turn of the century,
Starting point is 00:04:39 1890s and then the early 1900s. How you looked was cool, but it was really about what you could do because the world revolved around what you could do. Now you go back before that, you go back a thousand years. Nobody cares how awesome you look. It's what you can do. Can you swing this heavy sword? Can you pick up this boulder?
Starting point is 00:04:59 Can you do lots of work? And then the side effect of that was people who were able to do those things tended to look a particular way. And if you look at the contests in the strength world in the past, they all involved some type of function. And then they started to include a round where people actually showed off their bodies. And eventually it was the body showing off part that took over. And everybody, nobody cared about this. Created this physical like specimen just by doing these strength feats. But for a-
Starting point is 00:05:31 Do you think like when Eugene Sandow walked around with his shirt off at the pool back in the days like that actually women didn't think it was attractive or wasn't into it? Oh no, so Eugene, I'm so glad you brought him up. He's the perfect example of when this started to shift. Okay, so go before. He's a bit later. Yeah, so give me a guy, we've looked at some, obviously, we've looked up some of these old timing guys, right?
Starting point is 00:05:52 And you've shown me people well before, even sand down that like, actually, I didn't realize how good some of their physiques looked. I remember when we first started, you brought all those books and I started looking, I'm like, dude, there was some like bad ass physiques that didn't get highlighted. So my question is, because it was such an anomaly back then and it wasn't, you know, praised
Starting point is 00:06:13 or highlighted, did that guy take his shirt off at a pull and girls go, oh, that's weird. You know what? Yeah, they did. I bet. I must be like initially. Right? No, you're right. You're right.
Starting point is 00:06:24 It was more of like an oddity. Yeah, like what's wrong with him? Yeah, like he's deformed or something like that. Or something wrong with his metabolism or something. Yeah, yeah, so if you go back, right, first off, Eugene Sano, let's just talk about him for a second. This man, under 200 pounds, by the way, if you look at his body, even by today's standards, he looked incredible.
Starting point is 00:06:41 Yeah. Well, he's the trove muscular, he's the trophy for Mr. Olympia. He looked incredible. Yeah. Lean. Well, he's the trove muscular. He's the trove, you from Australia, Olympia. Yeah. He looked incredible. And the reason why he became famous was because he was one of the first strong men who looked a particular way didn't just perform strength feats. So he was actually quite smart and he would display his physique
Starting point is 00:06:59 and also was able to perform. Whereas before that, it was really just about the performance. In fact, Eugene Sandals records records were beeped by George Hackensmith shortly afterwards. But why is Eugene Sandal known more because of he posed in people saws physique and they connected the two. And it was like, he was bringing it back to the Greek ideals with Greek statues and stuff like that that were kind of immortalizing like the beauty of. So that's where I kind of think he was probably bringing back a bit of what might have been known from statues and things like that.
Starting point is 00:07:34 So yeah, I probably was odd initially, but I'm sure, you know, ladies went home that night later and just couldn't get it out of their head. You know, just to plan it. So I don't know, like, it's so like, because there's a lot of, I mean, you know, we've done, we've done like surveys and stuff on women today and the average woman, you know, when, when you put like a shredded bodybuilder guy next to like kind of a dad bod, like the most women will actually picked out. Now that's today's society and we've been inundated with all these great looking bodies.
Starting point is 00:08:05 So you have to ask yourself that if you go back even further. Well, I'll give you an example. Here's an example right now, and this is to the women listening, and I guarantee you 90% of them will agree. And I think men know this as well. Imagine if you had two men, okay? Stay next to each other, and you can see their bodies. One guy was an excited and ripped muscular, and the other guy just looked like a,
Starting point is 00:08:26 I don't know, normally fit guy. Not unhealthy, because that's different, right? You look unhealthy then, that sends a different signal. Just kind of a normal fit-looking guy. If they're just standing there, I'm sure the average woman will be like, wow, look at that muscular, amazing physique.
Starting point is 00:08:38 Now, imagine if both of them, with their shirts off and everything, went and go built something, or had a chop some wood or fight off some shit or who knows. And then you saw the other guy who's not as ripped and shredded and the way he moved and what he could do and how he could function. And let's say the shredded rip looking guy couldn't do any of that stuff. 100% the women would stop finding that man attractive and what all of a sudden look at the guy that could do all the shit and be like, oh, that's way harder
Starting point is 00:09:05 It's the physical feats. Yes. Yeah, I mean, it's it's undeniable when you see like a body that's built doing things that are really difficult and You know, they're really strong and powerful with it It's so I agree with that would the question I would have is like how much is the disparity? You gave an example of like the super shredded guy and the guy that looks average, but with that even work on the guy who like kind of looks a little sloppy. You know what I'm saying? He's got a little belly on him. He doesn't look like he, but he's functional and he can lift the things and he can do the physical stuff. He could chop the wood, he could build the house and the other guy.
Starting point is 00:09:39 I think it depends on the scenario. Like ripped but metro-sexual. I think it depends on the scenario. So I'll give you an extreme. You got a guy that looks kind of sloppy. Yeah. And then you got a guy that looks all shredded. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:49 And then they're in a situation where they have to protect a bunch of people from, say, criminals. Yeah. And the shredded guy runs away and screams like a little baby. And the other guy throws down. Yeah. He's way hotter immediately. And the other guy is not attractive whatsoever.
Starting point is 00:10:01 By the way, the things that we tend to find attractive today, really if you look at the root, the root is in the capabilities that got you there. So like, for example, why do women find men who are wealthy attractive? It's because it's evidence of his ability. Right, right, he could hunt, he could say. Or just support and create and whatever.
Starting point is 00:10:21 Well, yeah, that's today's, what I meant by hunt. That's a today's modern time of like being a hunter killer, right? This is why a trust fund baby guy, who's got tons of money, but is a freaking spoiled brat, is not attractive to a woman. Whereas a guy who's got less money, but dude, aren't himself, is confident,
Starting point is 00:10:36 works for it, far more attractive. So the same thing goes with physique, is that we look at bodies and we find them attractive. And nowadays you don't have to test yourself as much. Things are safe. Guys don't have to do shit like they used to. So really all you have is the evidence of what they look like. How terrible are men though?
Starting point is 00:10:53 Nothing. That's not the same for us. What do you mean? Like if you put that example of like, no, it is not. Absolutely. You put a woman in front of two different women and you know, one of them is like completely out of shape and can go do whatever physical feelings.
Starting point is 00:11:07 No, not that, not that. Because we've also distorted it in the other direction. So we might find like hip to waist ratio, fertility. Okay, yeah, but then they go extreme in that direction. Okay, yeah, so that's different. Yeah, but okay, we don't go back to it. I mean, how is that the same for women? No way, it's not.
Starting point is 00:11:29 Okay, I'll give you a scenario. Yeah, yeah. You got two women. Yeah, one of them looks perfect. The other one looks healthy. Yeah, okay. Okay, why do we have to use this? That question.
Starting point is 00:11:38 Poor health is a really strong signal. Okay, well, don't say poor health. Just say kind of sloppy. You're like like poor, like, she don't look like she's ever touched away. Yeah, but she looks healthy, there's a difference. You can look like you don't work out but look healthy. Okay. You could also look like you don't work out and look unhealthy.
Starting point is 00:11:52 Okay, okay, okay. Fine, doesn't look like they work out, but doesn't look like, well, a person's unhealthy versus like perfect. Yeah. Now watch them, now have them care for you, care for your kids, show compassion or do any of the things that men tend to value. So I disagree. And then the other one is like, so I disagree. Gold digger stuck on herself.
Starting point is 00:12:12 So I disagree. You see examples of that? Yeah, no, totally disagree. You'd be more attracted to the gold digger? No, no, don't spring me into this. I do because I've dated a lot of women. I've dated a lot of the wrong women and then I've figured out like that. Oh, you're secure.
Starting point is 00:12:25 Right, I've figured that out. Yes, I'm referring to secure people. I'm talking, oh, well that's the same as the one. By the way, that's not most people. I know. So in a normal scenario like that, and we see examples of, I mean, how many rich dudes pick the girl who's just beautiful.
Starting point is 00:12:40 She's not capable of doing hardly anything. No, you're right, you're right. Let me back up. I'm referring to secure people. When people are really insecure, it all goes out the fucking hell. Okay, yeah, but here's a thing though. Because then the woman might want to get that.
Starting point is 00:12:52 That just looks good. No, I think even an insecure woman still makes that decision you made. I don't think security, that's why this is, that's why the sexes are different here. This is where I think. When you use another example, an insecure woman might want the rich, trust fund baby,
Starting point is 00:13:05 over the guy who makes a couple hundred grand a year who is an entrepreneur. Well, that's still logical because she still is gonna get support. She's still gonna get financial support. If they can both support her, but one's super rich, and the other one's like, okay, the insecure woman might be like, I don't care, I just want all the money, it's my point.
Starting point is 00:13:21 Whereas an insecure guy might be like, I want the perfect looking gold digger, you know, girl that doesn't do anything else versus the one that, okay, it doesn't look as good, but it's actually genuine caring. So yeah, when you're insecure, that goes out all the window. It just throw everything out the window.
Starting point is 00:13:35 I guess is what I'm trying to say. I'm talking about secure, healthy attraction. Is connected to those things. You're, I mean, your point is really good with, I think the knowledge is, I. I just think with men men are so visual that that matter so much more. Unfortunately, it's not like it's just that sex or for for Partnership mating period. Oh, just sex is different. Yeah, throw that the window. So back to the offset loading. Yeah, anyways, the attraction. That's a whole nother conversation. But yeah, I was thinking about that in terms of the structure of the gym
Starting point is 00:14:10 and like how we've seen that completely evolved. So, you know, to as you can see, like most of it is now like based on kind of comfort, like single body part kind of focus, like ways to be able to kind of pump your muscles up without having to, I guess, strain through and like really do these like difficult offset loaded, like real functional type of movement. Yeah. So I'd give an example back to Eugene Sandow. Here was a guy who under 200 pounds could do a one arm bent press, which is essentially
Starting point is 00:14:43 lifting something in the air with one arm. Okay, there's a technique to it, but imagine somebody lifting something straight up in the air with one arm, 270 pounds. And it wasn't a dumbbell, it was a long barbell. So imagine how hard that is. So the strength is incredible. Now, you know, you mentioned pumping up muscles and stuff like that. What kind of a body does that build?
Starting point is 00:15:11 It builds a body that looks, and you know this when you see it, it looks strong in the real world. If you look at the physiques of these people, they had their core was incredibly built and strong, strong oblique, strong core, very strong looking upper back shoulders, hands and forearms, strong legs. They looked like they were stronger than the average person who is just as maybe ripped or whatever at the same body weight. So builds are tremendous physique and we're missing out. So even somebody listening right now who's like, I don't care about that because I'm not going to have to do anything. You're missing out by doing stuff like heavy loaded suitcase carry. Yeah. Or when's the last time somebody did an overhead
Starting point is 00:15:49 one arm press, not with a dumbbell, with a barbell. Try lifting a barbell with one arm. That's still hard to do. It's still hard. Yeah. What are we trading? What are we trading?
Starting point is 00:15:59 We put plates on there. Yeah. Even if you do super light plates, it's hard to do that. I feel like, you know, what they used to build up, like it was sort of its own check and balance because to be able to lift a heavy weight like that
Starting point is 00:16:12 unilaterally over your head, you have to have a pretty reinforced system to be able to sustain that and be able to keep your core nice and strong and supporting the spine and the hips. Do you think that when the bent press, for example, do you think that was born out of like, oh, this is a good movement,
Starting point is 00:16:35 or this was the most functional way to get the most amount of weight above our head? That one. And then it turned into an exercise. Yeah, so the goal was get the heaviest way above your head. And then there's the best technique. Yeah, that you know, it would be interesting to have watched the yellow issue of that.
Starting point is 00:16:49 Yeah, how they like it. I see them in their way to that process. Yeah, because you know, the first try wasn't that. Yeah, well, even in the bent press, like you see, there's like, like, crazy technique with that. And like, they're actually, they've learned how to not let it sort of stop here in the shoulder joint
Starting point is 00:17:06 in terms of like the force. They're able to learn how to distribute the force. So if you get your obliques involved, you get your back involved, you get your hips involved. All bigger muscles involved. All bigger muscles now you have to contribute to stabilize a weight. And then you can, and then now like that lever is so much more effective. Yeah, you know what's crazy about this too, is that when you, what we don't, a lot of us don't realize, especially when we're working out for a while, that the limiter to our strength
Starting point is 00:17:33 is has less to do with the exercise that we keep trying to get stronger and more to do with the fact that there's a leak in power or there's an instability that we have yet to identify. So I'll use myself as an example. I love deadlifting. I'm good at deadlifting. It's the one lift that I can do that I feel real confident if I'm around other strong people. Well, my deadlift went up because I did an exercise
Starting point is 00:17:56 that I had no idea what contribute to my deadlift, which was offloaded carries or offloaded overhead presses. Why? Well, if I break it down now as a trainer, there was probably an instability there, laterally with my QL or one of my bleaks or something like that. So I was practicing like these suitcase carries with a barbell, which is really weird and awkward. Then I went to go do a deadlift and the weight came up.
Starting point is 00:18:22 It just came up very smooth. It felt very different because I had done something that my body needed to be done that I couldn't really even break down knowing as much as I know with my own, my traditional methods. So like what's my whole point with this? Like there's a lot of wisdom that we can learn
Starting point is 00:18:40 from a lot of these exercises that are not popular anymore. That we used to be very popular for a reason. We don't do them. Yeah, you know what I mean, what I think of immediately is like, there is this need for mobility. There's this need for that sort of supplemental movement to what we've created in terms of like the environment
Starting point is 00:19:00 of the gym, the way that we train. There was definitely a deficit there. And using these kind of unconventional lifts the gym, the way that we trained, there was definitely a deficit there. And using these kind of unconventional lifts are the ones that were a little more demanding in terms of functional strength. It covered all that. It strengthened all of those muscles to where it really didn't require a lot of the mobility to address these things.
Starting point is 00:19:23 Well, think, a 100 years ago, okay? There were no desk jobs. Every job was somewhat physically taxing and required mobility. And like so it was so much more common. I think that has a lot to do with why a lot of this fell out of favor too. It was just like, because we've now shifted
Starting point is 00:19:41 to where the majority of jobs are not physical labor. Most jobs today are sitting at a day. That just didn't even exist. So it's just like, I think real quickly, and then you add that to the like, oh, we care more just about aesthetic. So it's like, oh, what's the quickest way just to get to this aesthetically looking?
Starting point is 00:19:58 Well, imagine if, I'm gonna use an analogy. Imagine if a driving, nobody drove cars anymore. For whatever reason reason we could float or whatever we could just like, like start track, right? But people still got cars, but nobody drove cars. It would very quickly move from what went inside the car to how the car looked.
Starting point is 00:20:17 Nobody would give a shit about the engine. If all you ever did was look at it, it was all about how it looked. So then we would do things to make it look fast. When in the past, it was, okay, cool, that looks fast, but is it actually fast? You know, it's funny back in the day. So what they used to do with these competitions,
Starting point is 00:20:34 what they call the bronze era of these strength competitions, is people would show up and they would do these challenges. So I'd be like Eugene Sandal versus Soh and so, or Soh and Soh and so. They would show up, they'd stand on a stage. And initially, I'm sure people would look at them, be like, wow, look how big that guy is. Or, oh my God, look at the whatever.
Starting point is 00:20:52 Then they go right into the competition, who can lift the most weight. Nobody gave a shit anymore. In fact, if you looked a lot bigger and stronger than the other person and you lost, it was even more of an embarrassment and even bigger plus for the other person. There's this guy called the,
Starting point is 00:21:07 I don't remember his name, the mighty Adam. Yeah, the mighty Adam. Yeah, he's one of them had like a crazy, bro, he's this tiny dude. And he would like bend like, you know, prison bars and do weird chage. And he was the famous cause he was this little dude. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:21:20 Who was so strong, so. What is, okay, this may be a stupid question. What are all the, era, bronze and what what exactly how did they get their name like why is it the bronze era? Why is it the golden era so bronze? I think what they're trying to do is like You know how in with empires and the discovery of metals it became like bronze was the first metal almost like the tools They have to work with yeah relating. Like kind of relating to that. Yeah, I think that's where they came with. But anyway, bronze.
Starting point is 00:21:47 I would find that out. I'm curious. It would be weird. And it went bronze and then silver. Silver would be, I think, 1940s to early 60s. Oh, so there is a silver era. Yes, okay. Yeah, so it went like bronze.
Starting point is 00:21:59 Then it went to like silver, maybe 1930, 1940s to 1960s, and then the golden era, which we all know of as being like the 70s and 80s. Like, so what is that? I don't know, I don't know what they call it. Venice Beach. Yeah, I don't know what they referred to it now. I didn't know there was a silver.
Starting point is 00:22:16 Platinum era. There was a, but when you hear golden era, like the golden era bodybuilding, they're talking about Arnold's era. Everybody refers to that as the golden era. Yeah, for sure. No, yeah, no, and that one I was more familiar with. That wasn't really familiar with even the bronze era
Starting point is 00:22:28 until you guys started talking more about the old. But you could see the evolution of strength sports going from what you could do to what you could do and how you looked to just how you looked. Like nobody cared, like now the most popular strength sport or like bodybuilding, I should say, nobody knows or cares about what they could do. It's all about how they look.
Starting point is 00:22:50 Yeah. And it was the opposite in the bronze era. And then it slowly moved into, you know, even in the silver era, they had competitions where bodybuilders were flexed, but then they'd have to perform a little. So it's right, I would love to see that. Honestly, for to body corporate, more people, I think, yes, the physical specimen, the
Starting point is 00:23:10 body that you've built, but now, like, let's see it in motion. Let's see what you can do in terms of the functional. You know what? Social media has brought that back a little bit. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, exactly. As you follow your favorite bodybuilders and you love watching someone like the Ronnie Coleman thing was like a big deal, right?
Starting point is 00:23:26 Or some of them don't rank high in bodybuilding at all, but are well known more for their feet, like Larry Wheels. Larry Wheels bodybuilding. Yeah. But he doesn't really do what is that? He does have a great physique, but he's strong as well. Ridiculously strong and he became well way more known. Stad efforting didn't really win lots of competitions in bodybuilding.
Starting point is 00:23:43 Yeah. But he was so strong that's kind of how he sealed the ring. So what's the evolution look like? Do you think that you think we come back? Do we actually come back to this? Like do we get to a place where that is highlighted more and it is something that we care? I have a good question.
Starting point is 00:24:00 I don't know. Do we, does it come full circle? Is it a blend in the future? Like you're kind of alluding to, like what does it look like? Or do we move into something completely different? I like that it's a little bit of a blend. You know, we saw this with women too. CrossFit did this pretty well with women
Starting point is 00:24:12 where all of a sudden like strong women became kind of cool again, but it wasn't because of how they looked. It was what they did. And then people said, oh, they also kind of look good. CrossFit did that a little bit for women. And you see with social media too now, women are celebrating more of like their lifts than before.
Starting point is 00:24:30 Still not nearly as popular as how you look. Yeah, same with the thing with the man. I don't know where it goes. I don't know where it goes. It does got the actual breakdown of the year. What is it saying? So bronze is 1894 to 1939. Okay, there's silver air as 1940 to 1959.
Starting point is 00:24:42 Golden air is 1960 to 1983. What does that mean for you? Yeah, what is now? That's what I 1940 to 1959. Golden era is 1960 to 1983. What does that mean for you? Yeah, what is now? That's what I wanted to know. I don't know. It just stops there. How funny is that? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:53 Finally, I'll lay him a sec. Everybody else sucks. Yeah. Oh man. It's pretty wild. The exercises and the root workout routines change a lot too, which is kind of interesting. If you look at the routines of the bronze you know, the bronze era versus the,
Starting point is 00:25:06 you know what sucks about this, by the way, is that as we move through different, because bodybuilding still has a huge influence on how people work out, okay? Although now we're seeing more influence from other, you know, strength sports, which is pretty cool. But what sucks is as we move into new phases,
Starting point is 00:25:24 we tend to have like lose the wisdom of the previous one. I know, I know. Instead of compounding, I mean, let's not just throw everything out from bodybuilding. Let's add to everything. It's exactly find a way to, no, it's so strange to me. I personally have never been like that. I'm genuinely curious about all these different modalities.
Starting point is 00:25:44 And obviously there's a whole cohort of people that love this modality. There's got to be something there. Right. Even if it's something that doesn't really appeal to, like, I'm not a big yoga guy, but I remember even like when being around yoga going like, well, there's got to be something really valuable here. I need you to do this. Yeah, that many people have.
Starting point is 00:25:59 I got a great example, because a lot of people will remember this. This literally happened and it's what's funny to me is it's starting to go back again, which is really weird. When we were like in the middle, like in the beginning of our fitness careers, so you're looking at late 90s, early 2000s, there were exercises that there was lots of wisdom behind them that completely fell out of favor.
Starting point is 00:26:22 We talked about them all the time. Barbell squads, barbell deadlifts. Literally, I know people listening right now who are younger than us, don't even comprehend that this was a thing, but I swear to God, you went into a gym in the late 90s, early 2000s. Nobody, barbell squatted.
Starting point is 00:26:37 Nobody. Is this so much not an exaggeration that I kid you not, I could go probably almost a year and not see a squat done in the gym. You could go five years and not see a deadlift. Oh, definitely, definitely. I didn't even know what a deadlift was. That's my career on my career.
Starting point is 00:26:54 That's how they share people. That's how foreign it was in a commercial big gym. I'm not talking about some powerlifting gym. The only place you would see barbell squats and barbells that have powerlifting gym. Yeah, you wouldn't see a bodybuilding gym either. All right, an athletic gym. Of course, but yeah, but I mean, again, what works, like that was always kind of a place
Starting point is 00:27:14 and I was a little bit skewed, because every time I was in a commercial gym, it was like nobody was using squat. Nobody even had more than one squat rack. The biggest 24-finished 50,000 plus square foot, one squat rack. In the corner. Dusty.
Starting point is 00:27:28 Yeah. And people would do bison curls in it. Dude, for even a straight bar. That's where the mean came from. Yes, that was a real thing. That was a real thing from that, because there was definitely a transition of where that's what people were doing. And the reason why this is such a good example is people now,
Starting point is 00:27:41 if you tell them, how valuable is a deadlift? How valuable is a squat? They're like, oh my God, best exercises ever, best results ever. Just to, and that just goes to show you how the wisdom can be so lost, how people can become so ignorant. We are talking about some of the most effective exercises that strength athletes knew about. If you went back to the 60s, 70s, early 80s,
Starting point is 00:28:05 everybody did dead lifts and squats, everybody, then everybody stopped doing them. And it was so forgotten that people, you're talking about the best exercises ever, nobody did them at all. That's how forgotten it was. So to think that we're all of a sudden more aware now and that couldn't possibly happen now.
Starting point is 00:28:25 You are fooling yourself. And I'm talking about the exercises that I mentioned earlier in this episode are some of those exercises. You never see anybody do heavy suitcase carries or one arm presses with barbells or bent presses or whatever. You'll never see those in the gym.
Starting point is 00:28:43 Does that because they're not effective? No, they're super effective at developing incredible physics and strength. It's just forgotten. Just needs to be taught and it's totally focused. Totally forgotten. You know what's another one? Bento Verose, nobody did those, excuse me,
Starting point is 00:28:57 pullovers, nobody did pullovers. Like there were so many exercises that people stopped doing that now everybody, really. Did you see all the comments on our, or the true King of All Exercises, the Deadlift conversation? That's great debate. Always, yeah, brings people out of the woodwork.
Starting point is 00:29:12 Yeah, no, our pretty friend Steve, he jumped in there on the clean, clean, don't read, prestigious. He got a lot of likes for it, but I was like, you know, the problem with that, it's the same, and what I said was the same reason why the reason why a clean depressed is not the king of all exercises because is the same reason why a overhead squat would not be is because the limiting factor is how much you can press. And so as much as I agree that
Starting point is 00:29:38 that's a great movement. And then if you could get that skill to do that, that you just keeping that skill up forever is gonna keep you pretty damn strong. This thought process is like full incorporation of the body, right? So like totally, there's really not a lot of examples like that, but that is such a high skill movement. And we're trying to talk about relatable exercises
Starting point is 00:29:59 that people kind of sharpen and work on all the time in the programming. That's one that's like, I there's part of me is like, yeah, I can see where he's going with that, but in terms of squat versus deadlift, that's just a little bit more in the zeitgeist of the picture. Well, you have to take an account,
Starting point is 00:30:19 okay, what's the world record for a clean and press? Yeah, isn't gonna come close to a deadlift. Yeah, no, like it's a lot by the way, but that's a limp It is a limp lift lift lift. Yeah, but let's say that it was a 400 something 500 pounds tops It's not like a thousand thousand pounds of deadlift and they end the guy who could put a thousand pounds on a deadlift bar Is is going to theoretically build more overall muscle than the person who can do a clean and press for that Yeah, well it goes like this for people who aren't familiar. Trainers will know this, but for people who aren't familiar, there's like a scale of skill that is required to perform an
Starting point is 00:30:52 exercise. Why is that important? Because if you don't have the skill, you can't acquire the benefits of the exercise. So in other words, if you can't curl, because you don't have the skill of curl, I mean, and I'm using an extreme example, so people get it. If if you can't curl because you don't have the skill of curl, and I'm using extreme examples so people get it, if you can't curl because you don't have the skill of the curl, well then you can't get the benefits of the curl. So if you look at the skill list, it kind of goes something like this and we can break it down even further, but it kind of looks like this, like a single joint exercises, multi-joint exercises, then it goes lifting with speed is at the top of skill.
Starting point is 00:31:28 Now I could break that way down. We could go like supported, unsupported, you know, lateral, blah, blah, blah, blah. But lifting weight with speed is the pinnacle of skill and 99.9% of the people out there and 98% of the people in gyms cannot, don't have the skill to lift properly with speed. That's all it is. So a clean and press is like, there's speed involved with that.
Starting point is 00:31:53 Most people who work out, they're really kidding. Yeah. That's why it's a, that's where the, I think the argument falls on its face is just that, you know, it's a good, it's a good point he brings up that if you, if you could do that movement and just stick doing to that movement for the rest of your life,
Starting point is 00:32:08 it has tremendous overall value, health, strength, everything was, but the entry level to that is like, you know, like you said, 90 something percent. It's at the pinnacle of the population. And I mean, I already think the deadlifting and squatting is already like, that's very to make for the average person. That's technical.
Starting point is 00:32:28 Yes, and you could spend half of your lifting career getting good at that and figuring that out, which leaves lots of opportunity for growth and change. Well, the truth is, if you give me a 35-year-old who's not fit, but otherwise healthy, I'll be able to get them to squat and deadlift at some point, and then they'll be able to reap all those benefits. You may never be able to get them the declinators. A good percentage of them. We'll never be able to do a proper,
Starting point is 00:32:54 I didn't teach it. Fact. I didn't teach it all the years I tried. I didn't have anybody that I was. And there's other ways to get speed in a lift without being so technical like a kettlebell, right? You could use something so much easier. There's only athletes, like young athletes.
Starting point is 00:33:08 Yeah. Anyway, I'm going to take us in another direction. What's funny about what I'm about to say? It's just, yeah, Adam, you remind me of this so much like, you're sitting here, we're sitting here talking about, you know, like how you look and, you know, what a woman or a guy is going to find track. And it's you and I can go off so hard on debates and arguments and stuff. And it cracks me up because you and I are so similar in the sense that I think we like arguing so much because we both learn that way. But for everybody around us.
Starting point is 00:33:40 I'm like, shut the fuck up. It's exhausting. I know it's exhausting. Some people appreciate some people don't. It's like, I mean, again, like, shut the fuck up. It's exhausting. I know, it's exhausting. I mean, some people appreciate some people don't. It's like, I mean, again, it's probably why we're polar. I saw the last YouTube video that went up and we dabbled in religion and God talk, right? That's always gonna divide your audience.
Starting point is 00:33:55 And, of course, I know I put myself out there when I start talking about that. One of the things I love, I'll put this out there, just kind of, let's just, you help balance it so much, dude. It's important talking about that. One of the things I love, I'll put this out there, just kind of, let's just, you help balance it so much, dude. It's important to have that like, I don't know, even if somebody that's sort of, like in the middle of a lot of time,
Starting point is 00:34:11 so you know what the hell's going on over here? Like, I still appreciate that, even if it's not like a strong counterpoint, like it's still like something to kind of like taper it now a little bit. Well, I'm gonna say this, there's a lower the tension for everybody. Like, it's very rare. And I. Well, I'm going to say this. There's a lower the tension for everybody. It's very rare.
Starting point is 00:34:27 And I know this because I'm this person, meaning I annoy a lot of people because of it. And I'm sure you do too, Adam. It's very rare to find somebody that you could really argue with who enjoys it. And then afterwards you're done. Yeah. Most people don't like it. Nobody gets emotionally charged by it. Or we get emotionally charged too, but after we're done afterwards you're done. Yeah, most people don't like it nobody gets emotionally charged But yeah, or or we get emotionally charged too, but after we're done. We're done
Starting point is 00:34:49 And afterwards I think back I'm like that was fun. Yeah, maybe it's like overkill No, because a lot of people just didn't like it's uncomfortable So it's very rare to find someone you and I just tend to be like that Yeah, I look at it almost like the same way I look at sport. Like I really love, I love sports so much that getting beat or losing doesn't like make me so angry or have a bet. Like I love to win so much that I'm okay with losing on the way to learning how to win, right? And so a debate is like that same way for me.
Starting point is 00:35:17 And so my feelings don't get hurt when someone is aggressively, and I mean, we operate our business that way. I mean, that's one of the reasons why it survived as long as it has survived is because we embrace that we encourage that. Listen, if you have a point and you believe in it, like strongly enough to where you want to argue and debate about it, like bring that shit on
Starting point is 00:35:39 because I want to hear that. And if I disagree passionately, like I want to see that and because that's where the holes are gonna come out, right? That's where, and you, at the end of it, many times we have that, I walk away going, oh, you know what, I actually didn't think of it that way. Like now I get where he's coming from or whatever, or you feel you go like, yeah, I'm pretty sure
Starting point is 00:35:59 he tried to poke holes and all that, and it didn't go the way he thought it was gonna be. Well, so it takes me, so I learned by listening. That's why you don't really reap in the bit of it. I know. You get like, do you get the most liked by it, right? So we have to be the polarizing personalities, right?
Starting point is 00:36:16 Yeah. It's like a communications a whole new thing for me. I've been trying to sharpen it forever. So I'll eventually get in there. I think you're just wise. I think that's what it is. But anyway, so as to say, nobody wants a three-way argument. It takes, that's three ways are cool, but not an argument. So, sorry for the joke, Doug. So this, this segue is perfect. That's like necessary. I know. This, this segue is perfect because I wasn't going to talk about listening to your friends because there's so much value.
Starting point is 00:36:46 I know everybody, especially on social media, like to say, everybody else is bullshit. Don't listen to anybody. All that matters is what you think and I get the truth in that for sure. But I think we forget the value and now I'm gonna preface this by saying real friends. Okay, so like real, not shitty, idiot, whatever,
Starting point is 00:37:07 like real friends, there's so much value in listening to your friends or your spouse or somebody that you trust because they're gonna be able to tell you things about yourself and about what you're doing that you're completely unaware of. And now why this is so valuable is because it requires a little trust. So like, I trust you guys, tremendous, I trust my wife tremendously.
Starting point is 00:37:31 If you guys say something to me and I disagree with it and you're like, Sal, you know, you do this all the time and irritates me and I'm like, no, I don't, no, I don't, no, I don't. And then later I can sit there and be like, like, so, okay, Justin and Adam, they're good guys. They're not full of shit, they're out for my best interest, I trust them. I'm gonna trust what they say, even though inside,
Starting point is 00:37:51 I wanna like argue with it. And then you have this great awareness. Now, the reason why I'm here with this is the value that I got from training clients is now I'm starting to realize it for myself in a lot of different ways. this is the value that I got from training clients is, and now I'm starting to realize it for myself in a lot of different ways. Because in order for a trainer to be successful
Starting point is 00:38:11 with their clients, the client has to get to that point. Because you train a client and half the time, they don't believe what you're saying. But if they can get to a point where they just trust you, then the whole world opens up. Bro, that's such a great comparison. And I was gonna say before you even got to a point where they just trust you, then the whole world opens up. Bro, that's such a great comparison. And I was going to say before you even got to that point that, you know, the most difficult part about that is actually first finding somebody who truly cares for your well-being.
Starting point is 00:38:37 Yes. Because like, surface friends will, you know, they'll want to keep you below them. And so they're not going to give you that kind of advice. Right. One of my favorite quotes is, nobody cares how much you know until they'll want to keep you below them. And so they're not going to give you that kind of advice. One of my favorite quotes is nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. And so you first as a coach and trainer, you have to be able to give that to your client. Like they have to know that you genuinely care
Starting point is 00:38:58 about their well-being first. And that's the first goal. Even before getting them to lose weight and follow this this and others like, they have to like feel that I care about them and their well-being. And like that's all I'm trying to help them figure out. Once I can make that connection and then I can start to move them in the right direction by coaching up because you're right. Most people that hire you, they've already failed a bunch of times on their own and they
Starting point is 00:39:24 already have their own ideology around the way they should, and they just, they always think that you're gonna hire you, you're gonna have some like magic trick that you're gonna send them, and a lot of times it's not. It's like actually helping them work through a lot of deep rooted shit. It's a lot of it's like counseling, and you have to help them get there, and a lot of them don't think they're signing up for that. I saw a clip that people use this as a way to poke fun. It's kind of sad, but there was this clip. I don't remember what show it was from.
Starting point is 00:39:53 It might have been one of those, like, my 600 pound life or something like that. And there was this girl, and she's obviously, I think she looked like she was five or 600 pounds, and she's talking to her doctor. And she's like, and so people are using this to poke fun. But as I watched, I felt lots of empathy for what was going on.
Starting point is 00:40:08 And she says, you know, I gotta just learn how to eat more vegetables because I'm a picky eater and he goes, you're 600 pounds, you're not a picky eater. And everybody laughed at it, ha ha ha ha. And what I heard was, she's in such denial that when someone tells her, you know, something like that, she doesn't want to listen. I don't think that doctor was very effective in that case.
Starting point is 00:40:30 Now imagine if she had a friend, and maybe she does, but imagine if she did this, she's got this friend, she's known for her whole life, and she goes, you know what, me and Susan, I've known each other for a long time, like I know she truly cares about me. And she's telling me I'm being like this. And even though I feel like I'm not, and I wanted to deny the shit out of it,
Starting point is 00:40:49 I'm just gonna consider it that maybe they're telling me the truth. You imagine how far people could go if they could do that. That's the value of having good people around you. Oh, I would argue, I think that self-awareness is maybe the single most important thing, the skill that you'll ever learn in your life. And evolving that skill, right?
Starting point is 00:41:09 Getting better and better at that, I think is probably one of the most important things that you could ever do. Just to be successful, period in life, not just financially business, but in friendships and relationships, in marriage and raising a child. Like the self-awareness key is like,
Starting point is 00:41:27 so so important. You guys ever in moments like that, or your wife, this is good with spouses too, especially because I think men and women will get married and then we just don't listen to it. You ever in a moment like that, or your wife says the same thing, or whatever, and you're like, no, I don't,
Starting point is 00:41:38 no, I don't, and then you sit there, go, okay, maybe she's right. Yeah, maybe I have this key. She's popping up. Like, oh, okay. I acknowledge that. I gotta, yeah, I gotta work all that, you know, that one thing right up. Like oh, okay. I got it, yeah, I got to work on that, you know, that one thing right there. Yeah, I mean, I made a huge difference.
Starting point is 00:41:50 Well, I mean, yeah, that actually happened to me recently. It was like things that, I don't know, I don't like to necessarily go around and fix everything all the time. I know I do that sometimes to like, you know, I'll lean into that and like, you know, use that as, what do they call it again? Like, chore play. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. My lean into chore play a little bit. But for the most
Starting point is 00:42:09 part, I don't like doing it. And so, but I want to get things done as well. And so I'll do it and you know, and in court, he's a little more analytical, very like, you know, detail-oriented. And so she'll see like my work and we'll just stare at it. And then like we'll report back to me, you know, sometimes like, oh, hey, like, no, this isn't good enough. This isn't a good job, you know, and I'll be like, what are you talking about? Of course it's like, I get all like defenses, you know, because it's like, yeah, I like based on what I'm looking at. Like I would have to, I know exactly what it'd take to do a good job.
Starting point is 00:42:44 And it's sometimes that's like weeks or something, sometimes it's like, and so you don't wanna admit that yeah, I went fast. I don't admit that yes, I know it's not perfect. I could have done a way better job but I got the job done but she can't get past sometimes that she can see the flaw and won't let it go. And so this is like a conflict thing,
Starting point is 00:43:05 but I've learned now that like, okay, okay, if I'm gonna do this, I just have to do it right and every time. And so I've gotten better at that, but that used to be a lot of things. Or preface it to her, like, hey, if you want me to do this, you know that. That's the big one.
Starting point is 00:43:19 Yeah, that's the next level. I can do this, but it's gonna be kind of a half-ass job. And if you want someone to do this professionally, like we should probably hire someone to go do this. This has been a constant conversation. Yeah. So it happens with Jessica and I. So we're having a baptism for the baby.
Starting point is 00:43:34 And I get very anxious when we have big parties at our house. I don't like big parties at my house. I feel like I got to look at everything, and watch everything, and to make sure everybody's whatever. I would rather pay a lot of money, have it done at a restaurant, and it's all catered and taken care of, and I just show up.
Starting point is 00:43:52 Now she's the reverse. She gets more anxious when we're doing it at a restaurant or something, because then she has to worry about the little ones when they take their naps. How do I do this with the baby? So there's this thing, right? So I'm like, I don't wanna do this at the house.
Starting point is 00:44:07 She's like, no, I'm gonna plan the whole thing. So I wanna do it here for the baby's naps or whatever. So I'm like, fine, we'll do it here. So inside of me, I'm still a little upset about it and anxious, but what I do is I don't let myself feel that. It's like whatever. So last night, she shows me this, we're gonna do a kind of outside
Starting point is 00:44:24 and we're gonna have all the kids come and it's gonna be hot So we have like water games and stuff outside to cool everybody off So she ordered this big like play structure thing and it was supposed to be here yesterday She shows me this email. It's not gonna be not now. Keep in mind that this is happening tomorrow She gets this email and it says oh, we're not gonna get it till maybe 10 o'clock at night the night before. She's like, oh crap. She's like, we're gonna have to put this together.
Starting point is 00:44:52 And in my mind, I'm already like, you mean me? 10 o'clock at night the night before? Now what I didn't do, so instead I make all these other arguments, we get this big fight. The truth is, I don't wanna do this. I make this about it anyway. Now I feel like I gotta do more or whatever. But I didn't communicate that.
Starting point is 00:45:10 Instead I'd communicate all, so this shit, we get this big, we'll fight about the bunch other stuff. So this morning I had to sit down and I'd, it's like, all right, she's telling me, cause then she called me out, she's like, I think you're just feeling this way and I don't wanna admit it. So I sat down like, yeah, you're right.
Starting point is 00:45:22 That is what's going on. And then you have way better communication about the whole thing. But anyway, where's my point with this? My point with this is, is, in order to be effective at progressing any direction, if you have someone you trust, sometimes it's okay to have faith and listen to them. And now where's this taking me? Good trainers and good coaches understand this.
Starting point is 00:45:45 Like your job as a coach or a trainer is to be able to earn the trust of your client. Otherwise you're worthless. Otherwise everything you say and do is worthless. The second they find it too challenging, the second they think, whatever you don't understand, how hard it is for me, you love working out, you don't have kids, you don't work like I do,
Starting point is 00:46:04 your back doesn't hurt, whatever, you are simply not gonna be effective. And I, trainers are almost never coached or taught this. Only one place I've seen talk about this, which is NCI, I've actually seen courses in entire, you know, curriculums devoted to teaching coaches, how to get their clients to kind of trust what they're doing. I never learned any of that.
Starting point is 00:46:28 I had to learn that the hard way as a coach. As the right questions and spark that communication because there's just so much there that they're unaware that they need to divulge to you, right? It's one of those things like you have to really look at it as more of a detective in the very beginning and be able to have somewhat of a predictive conversation that leads in a better direction so you structure everything more effectively.
Starting point is 00:46:53 Totally. You know, speaking of NCI, I've been wanting to bring this up the next time we had a commercial for them and we are really terrible at promoting and talking about the Wednesday call that we do with them. Oh, yeah. Every time that I do like a post where I just, I get so many DMs of people going like, what is this? Where is this?
Starting point is 00:47:14 Where is this? Yeah. And I don't know, I don't know what the reason behind why we don't talk about it or promote it much. Maybe Doug, you can find out for me the exact link where to send people so they know. But, and I believe it's only, I think NCI only charges 99 bucks, I think is what it is, they charge.
Starting point is 00:47:32 Yeah, a month for that. And you're getting access to us like on a private Zoom call. I mean, the call's only got maybe 15 to 30 trainers on it every single week that have the opportunity to ask any questions about scaling and building their business. A lot of times when I know Sal gets on, they get a lot of deep nutrition and supplement type questions. I mean, you name it.
Starting point is 00:47:55 They ask it. And we talk a lot about this type of stuff. Like, this is the type of stuff that we communicate to these trainers is, you know, it's one thing to have the education and the certifications and understand, you know, it's one thing to have the education and the certifications and understand, you know, human physiology and understand program design and macros and so that. But then the real meat of being really good trainers is this type of stuff that we're talking about right now, understanding how to communicate with clients, how to make them
Starting point is 00:48:20 feel and understand that you do care about them and the psychology of it, which I feel like is a lost art in coaching trainers. We put so much emphasis on the science. Yeah. The exes and os. Yeah, and I think that's why too, I get so passionate about, you know, debating and arguing some of the science nerds because they put so much weight in that when it's like, dude, you guys, you're obviously not that great of a trainer because if you've trained enough people you realize that is such a small percentage of tools that I use them. Yes, you need to have basics that you need to understand.
Starting point is 00:48:56 Like, I'm not saying that you can be uneducated and be a really good trainer. You got to know your shit, but once you got a good base knowledge on nutrition, physiology, how to build a program for a client, man, then the majority of it is communication and behavior modification and then how to support. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? It reminds me of is like the sort of Bible-fumper approach. In terms of like, if I'm this trainer, I got all these facts. I know what's best for you take it
Starting point is 00:49:29 Do it like and it's just like there's no communication there That's actually a really good analogy because that's another like everyone's had I mean I grew up in a place like this where you know every time something went wrong or didn't do anything right like You know my parents would like, you know, cite a verse to me. Like that was working, you know what I'm saying? Like, same dude. Right, and it's just like that is not,
Starting point is 00:49:52 like that's not the best way to convert somebody over to you is through your life, right? Showing them, like showing them the life you live and then how that's played out for you. I think the same thing goes with training. Training, like you just touting the science to them and beating them over the head with the science is not going to be very effective.
Starting point is 00:50:11 You guys remember when you figured out, if you told clients how challenging it was for you with health and fitness or whatever, that they would, how much more effective you became when you was time to coach them. Oh yeah. It was amazing. That was one of the things that, you know,
Starting point is 00:50:27 I normally say on the show that like, oh, it took me five or 10 years to figure that out. That was one of the things I think that's actually why I had pretty good success even early when I was very, very little education experiences. I was comfortable with being vulnerable and I was okay with like telling my clients that like, I'm just learning or I don't know or I'll go find the answer for you.
Starting point is 00:50:50 That served me so much like early on like that didn't bother me too. Man, you were so ahead. Yeah, most of the time. And that part I was. And that part. So it was ego in our space. So that's a hard one to use. Every space.
Starting point is 00:51:02 And I think that's, I think that was kind of a superpower early on. I think because I definitely was not that educated. I didn't have a lot of experience. I wasn't that butt. There were so many other things that made trainers so much better than what I was. Yet I was one of the most successful trainers in our area, right?
Starting point is 00:51:17 And a lot of that had to do with that was, I was okay with that. And I think that's why my clients liked me so much is that I made them feel like I'm just like you. I'm not that different. I'm saying, yeah, we might have different goals or body types may look different, but I'm trying to figure this thing out too. And I've been working and it's not easy. And I've been spending my, I think, leading with that is such a powerful tool. Yeah, I remember like my studio when I used to, my studio was next to a grocery store.
Starting point is 00:51:45 So every once in a while, I would go to the grocery store, two doors down, and I'd run into a client who had just finished a workout or, you know, they lived in the area so they're grocery shopping. And I remember that how immediately self-conscious they were about their shopping cart as soon as I ran. And I wasn't even thinking about that. Oh, hey, John, what's going on? And you'd see them like, they fuck, we're no hide, you know? I had to get in and apologize. Oh, that's just because I had to bagel bites.
Starting point is 00:52:11 Yeah, this is for guests that are coming over to this town, like, listen, man. Like, that's actually my least favorite part about being a trainer is when you like sit at dinners with people like so awkward. Like, we just had a family dinner on Wednesday with all of our family over, right? There was like, I don't know, 15 plus of us, all, so awkward. Like, I don't, like, we just had a family dinner on Wednesday with all of our family over, right? There was like, I don't know, 15 plus of us all at my house.
Starting point is 00:52:29 And it never fails. Like, we can't sit around and play to food and eat without some go, yeah, somebody feeling guilty and needed to like tell me, you know, what they're working on is it's like, I don't fucking go. I said, like, you're my family. I love you no matter what. You and I both know that you've got all kinds of resources and access to me. If you want it and you need it, like, I don't fucking go. You're my family, I love you no matter what.
Starting point is 00:52:45 You and I both know that you've got all kinds of resources and access to me if you want it. And you need it like right now at family time on Wednesday night is not the time to talk to me about this stuff. Like I just want to, you know, see the shirts like off work. Yeah, yeah, it's something. And it's like, and sometimes it's not even like,
Starting point is 00:53:00 they're like necessarily like prodding, asking me questions as much as they're just like telling me what they're gonna do. And it's just like, no, you're not. I'm like, it's okay. I've known you for a long ass time. Like, no, you're not gonna do that. Like, and I don't care if you do or you don't. You know what I'm saying?
Starting point is 00:53:14 I love to do it. I love you either way. You know what I'm saying? So that is one of the things actually I don't like is that once you've become that the trainer, you know, in the family or in your circle of friends, like it's so funny to see the guilt. Well, I see, my family now knows,
Starting point is 00:53:30 but what I used to always get was, there's certain foods I can't eat because they'll bother my digestion, but people would always think it's because it was some like special diet or something else on. Oh, you don't eat dairy, is it because it's inflammatory? And it makes you fat. So you know, it gives me diarrhea. That's what I mean. Yeah, yeah. Oh, you don't know what I get down because it's inflammatory? And it makes you fat? So you know, it gives me diarrhea.
Starting point is 00:53:45 That's how it is. Yeah. Oh, you don't really want to get down with it. Oh, yeah, bread makes people fat. No, no, bread fucks up myself. Yeah. Just like shit. Yeah, if you had glue, I don't want to eat it.
Starting point is 00:53:53 If you had a gluten-free bread, I'd fuck it up right now. Yeah. Well, you know what else is getting fucked up right now. So you guys remember this whole thing going on with like the Orcas and like how they're like knocking ships over and all that stuff? Yeah, that's like a thing. It's like a really bizarre the Orcas and like how they're like knocking ships over and all that stuff. It's like a really bizarre phenomenon that's happening. They're like going a lot of well.
Starting point is 00:54:10 Okay, so now there's examples of gray whales doing the same thing. Like almost they were taught or like had, this is like spawned now to like a different species of whale doing the same exact thing. Attacking boats. Attacking boats. Attacking boats. And then also there's been all these examples of this one like sea otter just going around
Starting point is 00:54:32 and like biting surfers and then like, and they can't catch it. And they're all trying to like find this. It's like biting them and like terrorizing like all these surfers and I'm like, dude, the animals are rising up and they're coming out. Wow. And now, do you think this is legit?
Starting point is 00:54:49 Or do you think it's just like, like it's because of like the pockets of it's reporting it, making it feel like, or is it Aquaman who's ordered it home? There's something going on. We pissed off some animals there in the ocean. I saw a video of somebody was, well I showed you guys the one where the person
Starting point is 00:55:06 was kayaking and a whale, actually only swallowed them. Yeah. I saw which is terrifying. I saw another one where this person was, it looked like a kayak, I think it was a kayak. And a whale, you know whales will come out of the water and then,
Starting point is 00:55:17 but you don't think about how big of a wave produces when it's next to you. Terrifying. Throw the video and it's big at like massive mountain of an animal. And then the way that come, I would be the scariest damn thing. Dude. You can't do anything. Yeah, no, that's really scary.
Starting point is 00:55:33 And I imagine if he actually landed on you, I mean, that would knock you out and you'd probably drown. Oh, 100%. Yeah, that's easily beyond scary. So what you're saying, Justin, is the fact that I don't go in the water beyond my knees is justified now. Yeah, you're probably, yeah, probably a smart, smart move in your heart. I'm saying.
Starting point is 00:55:52 Hey, did you see Patrick Pet David interviewed, I sent it over to you, sorry, did you actually watch it? I did. Oh, you did. Oh, my goodness. Oh, it makes me so happy. I'm probably a sad listener, friends. I'm one for you.
Starting point is 00:56:04 Yeah, I hate you just the right time. You're a friend for two. Just had that conviction. Yeah. You're like, I'm like, I gotta watch this. I don't say no to that. She always does this and I never watch. I mean, so I actually did.
Starting point is 00:56:14 I knew very little about the, I actually did more homework looking him up after the fact. I didn't know who he was. I watch a lot of PBD's content. I like, I think he's a phenomenal interviewer. And he did great. Dude, he did not get shook. He asked them a really,
Starting point is 00:56:30 no question, nobody wants to ask. I mean, so you know the Clinton kill list? All the people connected to the Clinton. Yeah. That's what he asked. It's substantial. And weiner, Anthony Weiner, things name, just squirmed and got aggressive and defensive.
Starting point is 00:56:44 This is the one that his name Anthony Weiner, he also like was caught with a dick pick, right? Yeah, and trust me, P.B.D. found a nice way to slide that in and like, freaking throw a job at him that way too. So he also, his laptop also had all this potential information that was damning to the, the Clintons and stuff like that. Yeah, remember that whole like smash the hard drives Hillary Clinton.
Starting point is 00:57:07 Oh, yeah, yeah. He was a big part of that. Thousands of emails. And there was speculation that he had information on them. So that's kind of, I don't. I don't. So I was bringing it up because you know, just more of a shout out to me.
Starting point is 00:57:20 This can be our shout out today because I don't think I've actually shouted PBD out before, but you know, of, including Joe Rogan, because Joe Rogan's a phenomenal interviewer, Tucker Carlson is a phenomenal interviewer. I would say, I would say Patrick Bet David brings on and takes on more people he disagrees with than anybody else. know. Yep. Like he keeps his cool and he stays on task. Yes. I mean, he does a really good job of bringing on very challenging conversations. He does not shy away from somebody who strongly disagrees with his point of view more than anybody I know.
Starting point is 00:57:59 Like Joe, Joe's really good about like bringing like a good range of all these guests, but he tends to bring for the most part, like people moderate with their beliefs. And he doesn't get into a lot of like hard arguments or debates where P.V.D. will bring people. He brings up people he's more interested in. Yeah, exactly. Like on both sides, right? Like Joe will bring people on that he's curious about. You know what's interesting is that because the media space is shifting, I'm seeing more and more podcasts have these big yes on,
Starting point is 00:58:25 podcast house, Russell Brand. Oh, he's an odd guy. The Santa song. Yeah. Oh, interesting. Yeah, and so I feel like these politicians are going in this direction. Now Vivek Ramaswami has been doing this now for a while.
Starting point is 00:58:38 And he goes on podcasts where they go after him and he does a good job of defending. But I feel like the direction to start moving that way because of the power of social grief. Yeah, dude, so that's a good thing. But he does, PBD does incredible. Yeah, he's a great one to challenge people, like he said. He is.
Starting point is 00:58:57 Yeah, he's really some socialists on there before he's interviewed and like people that disagree with him economically, it's pretty. Oh yeah. I mean, he's like, like I said, he's one of my favorite to go listen, especially if it's somebody who people disagree with him economically, it's pretty. Oh yeah, I mean, he's like, like I said, he's one of my favorite to go listen, especially if it's somebody who I don't agree with, I wanna hear that interview, because I know he's gonna challenge him.
Starting point is 00:59:12 And so that was, I didn't even know who that guy was until then, but boy, when he brought the Clinton hit list, it was a 40, 46 names. I mean, that's pretty scary if you're, if you've worked with them and like you just see, like this list of people, his big argument and debate back, right? The Anthony Wiener guy was like,
Starting point is 00:59:32 they're 70, 80 years old. They could connect a bunch of people. I could connect a bunch of dead people to a 70 and 80 year old, so that's the heart. Which is a fair argument, right? But these are like not just old people don't have any. Oh, we're at the end. Yeah, they're like a lot of, yeah, they're like a lot of like, there's a lot of them.
Starting point is 00:59:47 And I'm sure that list of the 46, there's some like real tragic random, real deaths that are slid in there to like make the list look bigger. But there's quite a few on there that make you go like, wow, it's a younger, healthier person. That doesn't make you at all curious and skeptical. Like that, that's just where I just,
Starting point is 01:00:05 I want to like, I don't know, I can't like relate. I guess, you know, I can't relate at all. I can't just take something at face value of like, oh, what's, yeah. Well, you know, that's just how it goes. Like, people die. Do you think there's any, do you think there's any percentage? Does left or right? Right. Do you think there's any amount of politicians that I remember when I got into this with Brendan, because he was arguing this with me. I don't believe there's anybody that's in politics that is genuinely good. I really don't know.
Starting point is 01:00:34 Not at high levels, maybe local. But you ain't gonna make it that high unless you're, first of all, there's a self-selection mind. Yeah, exactly. In order to want to make a maniac narcissist, there's no way you can make it through otherwise. Yeah. And then there's so much there's so much structure around these establishments that they're not going to let you like remember Tulsi Gabbard started rising in the Democrat party.
Starting point is 01:00:56 They took her down. Ron Paul started doing some Republican party. They took him down like their own party. Examples of good. Yeah. RFK right now he's starting to rise in the Democrats party They're they tried to shut him up. They tried to censor him in Congress. Yeah, so I think to get to that level It's like you got to play the game man. I don't know how else you could you could make it? I really don't yeah, that's unfortunate One of the most effective ways to lose weight get lean and keep it off forever is to work with a coach.
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Starting point is 01:01:52 Go to nutritioncense.io-minepump. Use the code mind pump and get $30 off. NutriCensusSpelled in UT, our I, S, EN-S-E, again, .io forward slash mind pump. All right, back to the show. Our first caller is Benjamin from Illinois. Benjamin, what's happening? How can we help you? Not much.
Starting point is 01:02:15 Thanks for taking the call. I get it. Summit to the question, not sure if you guys have it in front of you, but I love your program. I use an anabolic, sorry, aesthetic, Naman, anabolic, and sorry, not anabolic, but working up through some of the power lifts, bench press, squat, deadlift. You know, I feel like I have things pretty dialed in. I gained about 70 pounds of muscle, or sorry, 70 pounds of weight in my deadlift, you know, 60 pounds on my squat. And my bench just doesn't seem to go anywhere. I'm just kind of looking for a little input about, is it form-based or I need to focus on some
Starting point is 01:02:48 ancillary exercises to get things moving? It's always been a struggle point for me, and I feel like my diet's, and everything else sleeps fine, and just have to end recommendations. Yeah. Am I seeing that right? You're two, two 45, two reps? That's my most, I did two 50, two reps. It's my max I did two fifty two reps is my max bench that I've done, but I mean I've gone from like doing two thirty to two forty five all while adding you know 70 pounds to a deadlift during that same time frame. So and you're and you're and you're like a pretty good and you're 187 pounds pretty strong bro. There's a lot of there's a lot of room. Yeah, but the deadlift and squat there's a lot more room than there is with the bench press.
Starting point is 01:03:26 And yeah, so what we tend to do is, you know, I don't know, when I was a kid, it was difficult. Yeah, benches a little bit different, especially for, you know, a guy your size and body weight. I mean, your deadlift and squat is exceptional. It says there, you're deadlifting 455 for four, you know, and you're a 315 pound.
Starting point is 01:03:44 These are good numbers. Yeah, they're pretty damn good. Now, let me ask you, what's your overhead press look like? Because that exercise sometimes makes a big difference for some people. Translums will. Do in your program, I was getting up to 164 reps. Okay, you're doing pretty damn good. Have you, now, have you done anything with progressive
Starting point is 01:04:06 resistance like bands or chains? Not with, not on the bar. I have some bands I could add to it. I add that in for some of my, you know, off-day exercises, but not with the bar now. Okay, and then how often are you bench pressing? Yeah, in a bulk advantage. Frequency. On average twice a week, I'm probably doing, yeah, about twice a week. Okay, so here's something you could do at your level. And I say your level, because you're pretty damn strong, is you can reduce the focus on the other lifts. So you just, you do them, you practice them, but you're not trying to push them.
Starting point is 01:04:38 But then the effort you put into your bench press and the exercise that help with the bench press, like overhead press, I would say, maybe incline press, is right, put the effort. You're benching twice a week, once is heavy low, the other one is more of what they would call dynamic, where you're lifting more for speed and explosive power, but the intensity's lower in terms of how hard you're going. And then I would say every maybe two or three weeks, you could add bands to your heavy day, where you have weight bands to your heavy day, where you have weight on the bar plus bands,
Starting point is 01:05:08 giving you kind of this progressive resistance. And then you should start to see the weight move up a little bit. You can even look at, and this is where I kind of like using the product, the slingshot, in terms of- Oh, that's one way to do it, yeah. Yeah, it just, it does the same effect, but in terms of you being able to load a bit more,
Starting point is 01:05:24 and so you get acclimated to heavier weight and it gives you that elastic energy to really help you don't give you a little bit of a boost. Also too, I mean leg drive and the actual technique of bench pressing. If you can get your body more rigid and anchored, it's going to contribute a lot more to your force output. So that would be my two things I would really peer into. And then the overhead press and deep dips, if it's really just like digging out of the
Starting point is 01:05:53 holes, the issue, that would be my go to. I mean, I see some benefit too of running in a bulk advance too. So I mean, I think that he gets some value. He's definitely an experienced lifter. So maybe consider doing that as far as the next program is running that. Have you done just a, have you done like a full cycle of not bench pressing and focusing just on the incline or using dumbbells? I had in dumbbells. I've never given it up completely and then just did other stuff. I mean, I go back and forth over the years,
Starting point is 01:06:25 I mean, this is, you know, 10 year issue with the bench press more or less being stuck, but I've gone off periods of time and come back and it seems like it's always the same plateau. Yeah, so, I mean, especially with that experience, I'm much experienced. Sometimes it helps to change the exercise, something that's similar but different,
Starting point is 01:06:43 like an incline or just dumbbells. And then just get as strong as you can in that lift. Then you go back to your traditional bench press and then you'll find within two or three weeks that you passed your previous PR. The other thing too is your 187 pounds that says here, 35, are you pretty lean? I've never been tested, probably in the 10% range, I would imagine. I mean,
Starting point is 01:07:06 100% maybe. Yeah, one's the last time you like, wait, he's being a surplus. Yeah, one's the last time you try to gain like some size. Well, I was recently, um, during that ballking phase, I mentioned those numbers with the deadlift and even the 455, I kept it for 75 on that. I was, I was about three, three hundred calories. I was in bulking phase for at least four months, taking a little break just doing like a micro cut right now, but yeah, I mean, I mean, I should up the calories, I don't know. Yeah, I mean, you just went out of the bulks,
Starting point is 01:07:37 that answered my question. You know, at your level, that much training experience you said, you've been working out for 10 years, and you kind of get stuck in this position, in this position of this lift, this is where the more advanced stuff starts to make more sense and I don't mean advanced as in harder. So sometimes I say that to somebody like, oh, I gotta go just more nuance. Yeah, I think all I gotta go to failure, I gotta go do
Starting point is 01:07:59 heavy negatives, I gotta do forced reps. No, that's not what I mean. I mean, in the sense like, paws reps can be really good. Chains and bands can be really good. Heavy supported isometrics can be really good. Even half wraps with like a yoga block, you know, so that way too. Like it depends on what you're sticking points, I guess this is where I would kind of peer into. I also really like which your original advice
Starting point is 01:08:24 you both gave, and I didn't get really an answer from Ben if you've done this. Like have you ever like ran a whole program cycle where like your main focus during that program is like I'm gonna get like hell of strong at dips and load to where you're like, you got 90, 100 something pounds between your legs while you're doing a dip.
Starting point is 01:08:41 Have you ever tried to get really strong with weighted dips? No, although I did just buy a dip bar for my basement. So, I need to install it. So there's so much value in that and you'd be surprised to carry over into a bench press. Like, make it a goal right now to see how much weight you can get up to with heavy loaded dips. Yeah, I want to say that one of the limiting factors
Starting point is 01:09:03 a lot of times I've experienced and I know a lot of my clients experience was like an instability in the shoulder, because I get a certain point, you keep loading, loading, and trying your best when, if you notice that where does the weak point, where do you tend to start feeling a lot of the tension, and it may be like getting to a point where it's painful,
Starting point is 01:09:23 or I mean, I could only get to a certain level for my shoulders with talk to me. And so I started really working on shoulder mobility and rotational mobility to get my rotators to respond and to keep my shoulder more stable which then helped me to generate more force. Yeah, I just feel like shoulders are the sticking point. I started doing some band work with the rotator cuff, some isometrics.
Starting point is 01:09:46 Maybe it made a little bit of a difference so far. I was probably stick with it, but it just feel like, in this general sense of, I don't have any actual post-herence stability to shoulder or anything like that, but it just feel like that is the weak point when I'm trying to push off. Yeah. It's usually the case at this point. At this point, that's when it starts to make a big difference. You know, so To put it differently
Starting point is 01:10:09 Generally speaking when someone kind of gets started and it's the first few years of their lifting I mean you're looking at just general strength general muscle building All that stuff as you get do this for longer and longer I mean you've been doing this for 10 years And you want to add more weight to the bar. Now you're getting into the sport of bench press, right? Or the sport of deadlift. Now it becomes much more about maximizing leverage
Starting point is 01:10:35 and technique and stability. It becomes minimizing any power leakage. It becomes much more intricate, I would say, at this point, than it did, like the first few years that you lift it. Like, if you called me and said, I've been working out for two years, I'm like, oh, it's going to, you know, here's a few things you can do, but someone like you, this is where I would have fun with, like I said, isometrics, bands, you know, speed presses, changing the movement up a little bit, like to a slightly different exercise
Starting point is 01:11:06 or getting stronger in something that may be revealing a weakness like an overhead press. Like, you know, that did it for me at one point when I got really good at overhead carries and overhead presses, I saw my bench press go up. So this is where it gets a little bit more into the sport and not, you know, maybe what has worked for you in the past. I would also recommend that of all that great advice
Starting point is 01:11:26 right there, you take one or two tops of those and really implement it and measure it and track it. Like I was giving you the way to diss thing. Like that's why I would just focus on one thing like that. Or if you go to the band speed stuff, like pick one or two of the things that we're giving you as potential for advanced tips. Yeah, and really try and perfect it, get good at it, get stronger at it for four to
Starting point is 01:11:49 five weeks, and then maybe implement another technique and play around with it. And then see what you notice. Has the greatest carryover into your bench days and start to implement like that. Don't throw all of it at once because then it's going to be tough as you're what's really working for you. Got it. Okay. No, as you're what's really working for you. Got it. Okay.
Starting point is 01:12:06 No, definitely try it. And the slingshot device that you mentioned, that's like a aftermarket device can buy online. Oh yeah, Mark Bell. Mark Bell's products, yeah. He has those. Got it. Yeah, I don't know.
Starting point is 01:12:16 That's a great easy way to apply when I said with the progressive resistance. Yeah, it's super convenient instead of trying to set up the bar with bands. It's way more convenient. Yeah, it'd be nice. And I don set up the bar with bands. It's way more convenient. Yeah, it'd be nice. Um, and I don't know if you guys have any more time. I did have one other second question written down there, just about a kind of a chronic
Starting point is 01:12:32 glute media spasm usually hits me with deadlift sometimes a squat. Obviously isn't holding me back too much, but I'll feel it afterward. It just keeps coming left side and I can see the glute media is tremendous. It just kind of gives a little pop and then it's spasms and really holds me back for a day or two. I've done prime, I've strengthened that up with some dynamic, you know, 90, 90s, active pigeons, type stuff, but it just seems like it's been going on for about a year now,
Starting point is 01:12:55 and I don't really know what to target it to get it, like X, I mean, specifically to go away, and we do have thrusts at that end there too. Yeah, you're okay, because so you got a little bit better by doing some of the things that you mentioned like active pigeon in 1990. I think what you need to do is lateral strengthening exercises. So yeah, so I would do like lateral sled drags would be great.
Starting point is 01:13:16 That'd be a great way to get that to happen. Got it. And you think like on what's the squat the? Cossack? Cossack squat. Yeah, or lateral on what's the squat that costs? Accompanied costs. Yeah. Or cost. I'll be good. I good. A good, a good primer for that is the assisted Miguel, right?
Starting point is 01:13:31 It's the, you know, I think squat university's got a good one. I believe we did it on the, on the YouTube channel. Do you know if we did, actually, a mass prime pro, we have the assisted, we, I don't know for doing that. I don't know if we're not. Is it assisted or is it just the regular one to imprim prime? You just grab.
Starting point is 01:13:47 Yeah, you would grab a squat rack. Yeah, but I mean, I'll do that because I have some some more issues sometimes and doing that five to 10 times on each side for two sets. Yeah, really, really, really primes that well. I mean, your strength though, Ben, connecting is important. That's what it'll do for you, but you probably just need to get stronger, laterally, even more so. I mean, literally a lateral sled drag would be the best.
Starting point is 01:14:16 Literally, where you attach it and you pull it and you walk sideways crossing your legs and strengthen a lot of volume and low damage. That's like one of volume and low damage. That's like one of your best go to that totally. I'll see if my wife let me buy a sweat left at the backyard. You're going to ask for permission. Thanks, Ben. We get it.
Starting point is 01:14:36 Yeah. Thank you. Yes. I got a man. That was a little, little day. No, no, no. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:14:41 My bad. Yeah. No, you know, at the, it gets to a point with strength where it becomes a sport, you know, like you're not gonna necessarily get tons of benefit by adding 10 pounds to your bench press. Yeah. At that point, but you get's a little bit more technical.
Starting point is 01:14:58 I, for me, for my deadlift, getting it better was just deadlifting more. Then at some point, I had to get really creative. Yeah, you really have to peer into it more and make it a highlight. It is a focus. I think too, we kind of went to the dips route. The reason why I liked it so much, it almost reminds me of how I was able to get more strength from a deadlift, from a deficit deadlift.
Starting point is 01:15:20 It's like you get a little further in the range of motion. You get comfortable there. You can produce and generate force in a position where it's like it's you're not in an advantageous spot for leverage, right? So to be able to grind and generate and focus on that will definitely produce, you know, a lot more strength. Well, I also think it's because it also addresses a little bit of the shoulders stability component too.
Starting point is 01:15:42 Of course. So you both hit on that as like a potential, you know, limiting factor, he highlighted that as you do. So you add in the deficit point that you're making with a little bit of that strength stability in the dips. Like that's why that was the, why I went that direction to kind of get, you killed two birds of one stone, especially
Starting point is 01:15:59 if that's not something he's ever really try to get strong at. Like I think just trying to get really strong at heavy loaded dips and even use lateral work too. You know, see some care. A little help. Our next color is Jim from Illinois. Jim, what's happening?
Starting point is 01:16:12 How can I help you? Hey guys, how's it going? Good. Great. Very excited. Been listening to you guys since episode seven. Started listening to you for your fitness and exercise of ice, but I stayed listening
Starting point is 01:16:29 because of your fatherhood and family adventures and it brings a smile to my eyes because to my face, because everything you guys are going through, I went through like 15 years ago. My one advice to you is enjoy it because it goes fast. Yeah, there it is. I tell everyone, the best things God ever gave us was kids and dogs.
Starting point is 01:16:55 So. That's why I keep having a hard time. Calm down, sorry. All right, Jim. What you got for us? All right, I'll just read my question because I'm long-winded. I don't want to go on a tangent. So what is the difference between a giant set and a super set? And are they not similar to doing a circuit set with weights? I know some of your workouts like your cardio program music.
Starting point is 01:17:22 That's, if all you have to work with in a gym is the Smith machine, can you do squats, dead lifts, good mornings and bench with this machine? I know it's not as good, but does it help at all or am I wasting my time with this exercise machine? Also, training for a tough mudder, just finished anabolic, now I'm doing maps cardio, going into maps. OCR. I'm actually started OCR already event is August 26 58 I weigh a hundred and ninety eight pounds I lost 50 pounds and went from two thirty three to one eighty through eating clean and doing maps anabolic
Starting point is 01:18:01 Which I love that program. I did fall Adam's device and I went on a bulk. Now I'm at a hundred and ninety eight pounds. My maintenance calories are thirty two hundred and as I put a muscle I've dropped three pant sizes. That's awesome. I was going to start a mini cup but since I'm doing a OCR I decided to scrap that. My last question, which I probably know the answer to, is, am I doing too much as I jog every day, starting Maps OCR program, and I averaged between 12,500 to 25,000 steps a day if I work.
Starting point is 01:18:42 All right. Now, the first question, let's start with the first one, which was five questions. to 25,000 steps a day if I work. All right. Now, the first question, let's start with the first one, which was five questions. Yeah. Giant sets, and it's just, okay, so the term giant set was used by bodybuilders to refer to a superset that it consisted of three, typically three to maybe four exercises. Bodybuilders rarely ever combine more than two exercises. If they do, yeah, if they do, then they'll go three. So a superset is two exercises back to back.
Starting point is 01:19:13 A giant set is typically three back to back. What's the difference between that and a circuit? Circuits are typically more than three and don't involve any rest. Yeah, or minimal. Or minimal. Or minimal. Yeah, it's like circuit, circuit, circuit. You rest to get water, circuit. Whereas bodybuilders might do two, like,
Starting point is 01:19:33 three exercises and then they'll rest for like three to five minutes and then perform it again. So that's kind of the difference. All right, Smith machine. Bench press, you can do with the Smith machine. Squats, deadlifts, good mornings, not so great. Especially deadlifts, I would never do with deadlift. Inverted rows.
Starting point is 01:19:50 Yeah, yeah. That's about all I got. Yeah, overhead press, you can do on it, you can do rows on it, but squats, are not the same at all. Well, deadlifts, you can't even. Okay, so what I would do in replace of that is just dumbbell work.
Starting point is 01:20:04 Dumbbell work and then go unilateral. Right, so it's not like, because we're gonna get a bunch of grief with the Smith machine advocates on here, right? So it doesn't mean you can't do those movements. It's just they are not ideal because the way your spine is shaped and the way that track works, okay?
Starting point is 01:20:20 So it's not ideal for movements like good mornings and deadlifts. So if I had a client who was telling me, oh, I've all of you guys just Smith machine at this gym, but movements like good mornings and deadlifts. So if I if I had a client who's telling me oh, I've all of you guys just smith machine at this gym But I want to do squats and deadlifts. I'd say do they have dumbbells? Yeah, you're right. If you got a Smith machine you got dumbbells And then I would say instead of doing your you know deadlifts on a machine like that do single-a to dumbbell deadlifts and you're gonna get Very strong by doing that and it's way more challenging, way more beneficial squats. I'd say let's do Bulgarian split squats with dumbbells instead of doing that Smith machine.
Starting point is 01:20:51 So that's basically what I would have them do. If there's a Smith machine there, I know there's dumbbells there. And that's what that's what I haven't do. Yeah. And then for your obstacle course racing question, he's doing the right thing right now, which is OCR. You are. There's two, There's two things that people need to consider with it. Everybody considers the first thing, which is, do I have the fitness? Do I have the stamina? Nobody considers the second thing,
Starting point is 01:21:12 which is there's a lot of skill involved. I have strength. Yeah, there's a lot of skill involved with some of the movements, okay? With a lot of the movements, a lot of the obstacles, let me put it this way. If you have two people doing the same obstacle, one of them is very skilled at the obstacle, and the other person is not at all, the person without the skill is going to exert like three times
Starting point is 01:21:35 as much energy to try to perform the same thing. So one thing that a lot of people mess up with or don't even focus on with OCRs practicing the obstacles. Like just practicing the obstacles and getting good at the skill of scaling a wall, jumping off, crawling under things, spying, roaps. Like that makes a huge difference. In fact, they have studies on athletes, like really high level athletes. And they show that like a cyclist at a very high level burns less calories cycling than somebody who's at a lower level because they've gotten so good at the technique of it.
Starting point is 01:22:11 Their bodies just become like this machine with it. So I'm going to ask you, Jim, what do you think you're limiting factors at your fitness? Do you feel like you're not fit enough to complete the task? Are you familiar with the obstacles? Like, what are we working with? Well, I ran in it last year and my grip strength needs work because they have a, I call it the American, if you ever watch that ninja show, they have a TV, they have a vent like that where you got to do a ladder, then you swing these circle things,
Starting point is 01:22:45 and then you got to do a trap piece, otherwise you fall in the water. And my grip gave out before it, my arm strength is some dead hangs. I mean, we have, there's a lot of that in the program. Yeah, there's so much good. There's so much good to do. I've been doing the rice bucket. Okay, perfect. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:23:02 Rice bucket, those dead hangs, yeah, you're're gonna do a lot of, you know, good strengthening with that and also to just like different types of, yeah. If it's ropes, if you can attach that for like inverted rows or anything, you just have those types of grips that you're gonna experience, you know, with the challenges would help. I'm really proud of that program.
Starting point is 01:23:21 We don't talk about it a lot. It's kind of like the red-headed stepchild for us. Like nobody mentions it that often. You're revisited for sure. But we, I mean, when we wrote that with Amelia Boone, like we really, like part of that process, like where do most people struggle? And what you struggle with was one of the common ones.
Starting point is 01:23:39 So what we programmed in there is to address that. So that's, that program's pretty robust to get the average person to be able to complete one of those and do pretty well at it. So, here's the thing to, here's the thing to Jim. And I know that the end of August is the competition. So I wouldn't do it for this one, but if you end up doing another one, there's something else to consider.
Starting point is 01:24:00 What, let me ask you this, how much do you weigh and how tall are you? 198 and 510. Okay. So, not for this one, because it's too soon, it's coming up here, it's around the corner, so don't do what I'm about to say for this one. 10, 15. Yeah, so when you talk about grip strength, you know, if you lost 15 pounds, okay, you would have way better grip strength on those events than if you got stronger in your grip
Starting point is 01:24:26 and stayed the same body weight. Like a lot of people don't realize that, like you can have a lot of strength in your grip, but if it's in comparison to your weight, that's where things tend to get thrown off. In fact, you can get weaker in your grip and lose 15 pounds and you might perform better as well. So not for this one, I don't want you to lose weights too soon.
Starting point is 01:24:45 So don't try to cut right now that'll screw you up. But for if you do another event and you find that the grip part is really screwing you up, like I'm coming later. Yeah, you come in lighter, it makes a huge difference. Now can you build strength or muscle and endurance at the same time? Because I can't look at it like a scale.
Starting point is 01:25:05 If you build endurance, you lose muscle or if you build muscle, you might lose endurance. So can you can you build both at the same time? I want the holy grail, guys. It depends, it depends who I'm talking to. Generally speaking, strength improves endurance. I say general because as you start to get more advanced, that's not necessarily case. But if you're asking about performance, that's different, okay? Performance is different.
Starting point is 01:25:36 Now, you could take somebody and you could have them simply become better at a skill, you could have them lose some strength, but because the event requires them to maneuver their body, their strength or weight ratio actually gets better. In other words, if you lost 30 pounds, but you got 10 pounds weaker in all your lifts, you're still stronger as a ratio of your body weight. If it was a body weight type of competition, you feel stronger, right?
Starting point is 01:26:05 So performance is very different. And that's a much more specific question. And then the answer becomes a little bit more accurate. But generally speaking, can you improve both? They just happen slower, rather than focusing on one or the other. Yes, smaller margin and longer period of time, I would say. I guess it's kind of similar to trying to lean out and build at the same time, like the unicorn sort of program, but you know, and it's not impossible, but it is definitely difficult. It's difficult
Starting point is 01:26:38 to take those both on at once versus kind of, you know, really focusing on one and then transitioning to the other. Totally. Well, when this events over and I get through OCR, what program would you guys recommend for me next? I have you done symmetry. Yeah. Oh, symmetry is great. You have symmetry? No, I do not. Oh, that's the best one. Yeah. Symmetry with like a cut with everything. Yeah, symmetry with a cut would be awesome. So lean out do symmetry and then and then prepare for the next OCR vet you want to do I got one last question for you too Sometimes I find it kind of hard to hit my protein intake I was in the store and I seen they now have protein water and I see they now have protein water. Does it like bloody grass and protein,
Starting point is 01:27:27 the bottle of water? Yeah, it's collagen in there. I think there's collagen protein. Yeah, that'll help you hit your targets. I mean, you know, we better forgot it from food, but if it's hard, that'll help shrink down with each piece. Yeah, that'll help. You remember?
Starting point is 01:27:43 I'm hit like 150 or so of protein, but I know I should be a little bit higher Yeah, you'd be bet I mean you could do that you'd be better off getting a high quality protein powder and just adding it at the end of the day I would say Well, I thank you guys you got it man. Yeah, good luck. Yeah, good luck man It was pleasure talking with all of you. Thank you. I like him. He's an OG man. That's an episode seven.
Starting point is 01:28:08 You know, I remember that when he said seven. Seven. Oh, I missed that. That's why he actually had seven questions. I don't know if you guys count. For the number of you. He said he was like, let him go. You know, I remember specifically when this happened, I was younger.
Starting point is 01:28:24 I was trying to do one of my first actual cuts and I was dropping weight on the scale, lowering my calories, and I'm like, oh my god, I could do more pull-ups. I'm getting stronger and I'm like, oh, wait a minute, I'm lighter. That's one that, that whole paradigm shifts, I'm like, oh, that's because I'm lighter. I'm able to do more. People don't consider that when they do so. It's actually wild, what a huge difference makes.
Starting point is 01:28:48 Yeah, there's times where I don't even do any pull ups whatever, and I just leaned out 15, 20,000 times. I hop up and also said I can do way more pull ups when I was training him like, you know, two, six months later, right? Totally. Our next caller is Osvaldo from Florida. Osvaldo, what's happening?
Starting point is 01:29:02 How can we help you? Hey, it was one on, guys. What's happening? How can we help you? Hey, it was one on, guys. What's up, man? So basically, I'm six to, I'm 272 pounds and I'm 35.7% body fat. I'm trying to obviously get that down, right? And then so I had somebody kind of give me a little calories and macros at 2,462 calories, 258 grams of carbs, 209 grams
Starting point is 01:29:31 of protein, and 66 grams of fat. But I find that very hard to stick with, and I always end up eating more food. Sometimes I wake up in the middle, then I like a two in the morning, and I'll go to the kitchen, I like weigh it out and everything and I like eat it and I go back to it. So I guess my question is based on my size and I'm 42 years old. Is that the right track? So I just, I don't know, what do you guys think? Where did you get this Cal? Who gave you this number?
Starting point is 01:30:01 Where did you come up with this specific number of 2462? Who gave you this number? Where'd you come up with this specific number of 24 62? It was somebody I met that is like a trainer. I met him outside of the training world. And he basically, I sent him pictures and he kind of, that's what he came up with. Yeah, he guessed. Okay. So that's he guessed all these eight balls. Yeah, dude, there's such a huge, such a wide variance when it comes to caloric maintenance and what would be a cut. And that was a lot of things here to dissect. It's probably too little for you.
Starting point is 01:30:36 It's just why you're waking up in the middle of the night. It's definitely low fat for him. Yeah, the fat is low. 66 grams is kind of low. The other part, the other thing that you didn't say here, but I'm reading your question, if you don't mind me saying on the podcast, was that you, you're clean and sober for seven years
Starting point is 01:30:53 and food kind of became your drug as well. So that kind of clouds this up a little bit, okay? Because the cravings could be, because you're eating too little, which I think you might be, or it could be that you need that fix that food can provide us when we don't have something that were, you know, the things that we're used to using. I'll say this, if you want to find out what calories you should be eating, you want to track what you're eating when you're eating normally
Starting point is 01:31:21 and be very meticulous, and then you can cut from there, because then you figured out kind of what your maintenance is. And I would assume at your size, your maintenance is probably, I would say 2,400 calories is probably too low for you, but I don't know because I don't know what your maintenance is at, and that's what I would do if I was your trainer. The second thing I'll say is this,
Starting point is 01:31:42 if you find that tracking and counting actually makes it harder for you just because it's like you're putting too much focus on everything, I would take a step back and be a little bit different with my guidelines. I would say something like, I'm not going to eat heavily processed foods, I'm going to eat as much as I want, but nothing, nothing that's processed. And I'm going to hit, you know, let's see, you're 270 pounds. What's your target body weight? How much body, what do you want to weigh?
Starting point is 01:32:10 See, I don't know. That's the thing. Like, I don't know if I would look good at 225 with a bunch of muscle or maybe like I 185 super lean. I don't know. Well, you're trying to like, I see an Ameri. You're six foot tall. I would say a good place to be would probably not forget yet, about 200 pounds is a general area to look.
Starting point is 01:32:30 So I would say no heavily processed foods, eat 200 grams of protein a day from whole foods and let me just start and drink a gallon of water a day. That's it. Don't cow anything else. You'll probably get leaner just doing that. In fact, I'll bet money that you'll get leaner if you do that consistently, just doing that. Yeah, I think for sure the problem here is, you're trying to restrict too hard,
Starting point is 01:32:51 and then you get that craving because you are hungry, you're low fat, you're low calorie, and then you tend to over swing. Versus telling you what Sal's saying, which is eat when you're hungry. You, throughout the day, as you're going through the day, eat consistently throughout the day, just make good choices, count the protein as your main thing that you're counting and avoid processed foods, but don't try necessarily to restrict really hard.
Starting point is 01:33:14 And while you're also strength training, if you're doing that, my guess is you're going to lean out and or build muscle. And if you do it through whole foods and you feed yourself correctly when you're hungry and you don't binge because you've restricted really hard, even if you do over-consumed calories a little bit here and there because you're strength training, that'll get prioritized over to building muscle. So what's killing us is the binge. And the binge is probably happening
Starting point is 01:33:40 from the hard restriction. So if we just get out the hard cut and the hard restriction of such low calorie, low fat that you're in right now and feed you what your body probably wants and needs, you're not going to have those tendencies to want to really overeat and consume. And again, like I said, even if you do over consume a little bit, it'll get prioritized over the building muscle if you if we're a strength training. My dude, look, if you did this, okay, if you ate steak, chicken, eggs, rice, potatoes, fruit, vegetables, like whole foods, okay, whole foods, and you didn't eat out, because that can also mess you up,
Starting point is 01:34:18 so you don't eat out, whole foods, you ate 200 grams of protein a day, so like I eat 200 grams of protein a day, and then you just ate until you feel satisfied. That's all you did, and you drank water, that's it. That's all you did. I bet you'd lose 30 pounds alone, just from doing that, 30 pounds would come off your body, of body fat, just from doing that alone.
Starting point is 01:34:38 And of course, you're doing a strength training. You wouldn't have to count or do much else besides, just follow those few guidelines right there. And you won't feel hungry because you're like, I'm hungry. What am I need? Okay, well, I can have more steak and rice or I can have more chicken and fruit, you know, stick to those foods. And the 30 pounds will come off and it won't feel like it's feeling now like you're kind of having this battle. I have chicken thighs too, chicken breast suck. Yeah. Um, are you following many maps programs?
Starting point is 01:35:02 I have chicken thighs too, chicken breast suck. Are you following many maps programs? Well, I bought aesthetics and I bought performance but I haven't trained them yet because I'm with a trainer right now, but as soon as that finishes, I was gonna start. I'd actually put you on anabolic. I will send you over maps in a bulk. I'd actually like you to start there.
Starting point is 01:35:20 How often are you with the trainer? Three times a week right now. Oh, you're good, bro. Does he listen to Mind Pump? I was gonna say he can run. Oh, I have a little bit of a problem. That should be okay. Everybody listening, everybody listening right now, okay?
Starting point is 01:35:30 Show is fucking big enough by now, okay? If you're hiring a trainer, that should be part of the qualifications. Do you listen to the show? Then listen to the show, then find a trainer it does. It'll solve so many problems. He could answer this question better for us because he's heard of the show. So that or use ask the line way we can verify.
Starting point is 01:35:47 Use asminepump.com. So there you go. But I'm telling you, man, if you just did what I said with those guidelines and you wait until you were full, okay? So you don't get to worry about trying to eat last or you're like, I got to eat 200 grams of protein. I'm gonna eat whole natural foods.
Starting point is 01:36:03 I'm not gonna eat out, not gonna eat process foods. I'm gonna drink a natural foods. I'm not gonna eat out, I'm not gonna eat processed foods. I'm gonna drink a gallon of water a day. That's it, every day, you'll lose a lot of body fat from doing that and you'll feel like you're not dieting. Yeah. A lot less pressure that way for sure. Right, well for me personally, I like to track cause I feel safe that way.
Starting point is 01:36:20 But I got, I tracked like at 2945 and for there I feel good. I don't feel hungry, I feel like, I don't wake up in the morning, I'd like to eat, but then I was like, I don't know if that's too much, I'm not gonna lose weight. No, that's good, you're good. And here's the thing, if you really like tracking, okay, I'm not gonna fight you on that either,
Starting point is 01:36:38 like okay, do it, but then I don't care, I don't care if it's 2901 day, 3200 another day, 2700 day, I don't care. So tracking if it makes you feel better, but as your coach and your trainer, I'm telling you to eat house-house eating. If it falls on 3,200 calories some days, it falls on 2,600 calories, other days, I don't care.
Starting point is 01:36:56 That's fine, that's all good. In fact, that's more natural, more sustainable, more realistic to what your life is going to look like in the future when you get to the exact weight body type that you want, you're gonna have days where you have more surpluses and days where you have lower, there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever. It should have a natural ebb and flow like that. What we're trying to solve is the binging.
Starting point is 01:37:15 And the thing that's probably binging is the desire to cut weight and lose faster. So you're cutting calories harder than you should. And then your body wakes you up in the middle of the night It says fuck you feed me working on your palate and then you go and and then you over consume So feed yourself throughout the day as you're hungry take the tips that's how saying don't worry if it hits I don't even care if you have some days if you're eating through whole foods It's hitting 35 3600 calories the big as big of a guy's you are who's strength training and moving Okay, who has a day where he hits 3600 calories. If you lifted weights pretty hard that day or
Starting point is 01:37:48 the day before, don't worry, that shit's going to go to building muscle. You're going to be okay. Here's what people get confused is, okay, the leaner you get, the more detailed you're going to have to be. Right now for the next 30 to 40 pounds of body fat, you don't need to be very detailed except for what I said. Okay, you don't need to. It's like, it's like you're looking at a mountain, you want to carve it into a, like a detailed statue and you take a tiny chisel and a little hammer right out the gates and it's like, no, no, no, we need to throw some dynamite at that first. So don't worry about all the tracking and all that, whatever, you'll lose 30, 40 pounds just from doing it. Now, are you gonna get a six pack?
Starting point is 01:38:28 Probably not. Once you get down to a certain point and everything's working great, then we dial it. Then you can start to dial in in, but like literally gonna waste your time if you do it. In fact, if you get too dialed right now, if you get too meticulous now, you're gonna keep rebounding.
Starting point is 01:38:42 You're never gonna be able to get out of this point. And you get frustrated because you're putting the work. You're putting so much work into tracking and trying to stay right dial to whatever a number is that you got a trainer gave you or you gave yourself instead, give yourself some freedom and flexibility. Totally. Just avoid eating like an asshole, eat when you're hungry, target the protein and train hard. You're going to be okay. Okay. Thank you guys. I appreciate it. We got you. You got it, man. Thanks for calling in, brother. Yeah, man. Take care. You got it. I wish people just really got that the human body. There's a huge misconception out there that we're we evolved to be these mindless eating machines. That's not true. Yeah. The reason why that happens to us is because we're eating food that has been especially designed
Starting point is 01:39:27 to make you overeat. A good luck trying to get to a relatively healthy body weight, eating foods that were scientists spend a lot of time designing to make you overeat. Now, if you stick to whole natural foods, here's what will happen. Your body will naturally bring you down to a relatively healthy body weight. Now, it's not going to be 10% body fat, but it's not, it's going to be a lot leaner than what most people walk around it. And it's not going to feel like this crazy uphill battle and struggle. Then when you get down to, for most guys, probably
Starting point is 01:40:00 17, 16% body fat, you feel good. I want to get 10%. All right, now we can start counting calories and getting more detail. But most people, you don't need to go that far at all. I mean, I feel it's very obvious to me. This guy's training five to six times a week. He's seen a trainer two, three times a week. He's probably pushing pretty hard in the gym. He's a big dude.
Starting point is 01:40:19 He's 270 pounds over six foot tall. And he's only giving himself 2400 calories. So his body is screaming at him. I want to build muscle. I'm trying to build muscle and he's restricting restricting because he cares so much about dropping the weight on scale. And then of course, he probably has a good week or two in a row and then he breaks and then he fucking goes way off the rails and goes over.
Starting point is 01:40:39 And then that's what gets stuck in this pie too. It's like, man, at this level to your point, there's no reason to get that anal about how many calories or grams of protein. It's like, hit your protein and take eat whole foods when you're hungry. Train hard, your watch will happen. Our next caller is Jen from Belgium. Hi Jen. How can we help you? Hi, thanks for having me. It's past my bedtime here in Belgium, but it's good to be there with you guys anyway. Awesome. Thank you. So I've been listening to you now for a while, my personal trainer, and I've pretty much changed my whole program for myself and for my clients because I'm listening to you guys.
Starting point is 01:41:17 So thank you very much for all the advice. It's super helpful, and I've seen amazing results and so have my clients. So thanks so much. Awesome. Awesome. Herve it. All right, so I'm going to read my original question. And then I'm going to read the follow-up to it because some information has changed. So, and then you guys could ask me whatever. It says I'm a bikini competitor that
Starting point is 01:41:38 has had to drop out of an upcoming competition in October due to not being able to train and pose properly because of a piriformis muscle injury that has caused pain in my hamstring calf. I'm going to physio and I've had electotherapy, deep tissue massage and acupuncture with my therapist, and it's given me some relief, but that in addition to significantly lowering my weights and increasing reps when training has helped, but I'm still in a constant pain. At the time I wrote this, it was not short pain, but it was extremely tight pain in my leg making most movements lower body-wise, super painful. Before dropping out of the competition, I had been training with heavy weights and about 10 to 12 reps per set five days a week since last November, except for
Starting point is 01:42:25 a peak week this past March for a competition. And my plan for after the competition in October that I'm now not doing was to reverse diet slowly and run anabolic to change things up. So I purchased anabolic already and I'm anticipation of this, but however now that I am not doing the competition, I thought to start anabolic now and even contact your team about running it with this energy injury. I was advised to run Prime Pro with it, which is great advice, so I'm happy to do it. My question is, if I run anabolic with lower weight and higher reps at this point in my
Starting point is 01:43:02 training with now coming off of the injury is that ideal. And also if you have any advice for strengthening the piriformis anyway, that would be helpful. And so the follow up is that since I submitted the question, I was diagnosed with two lower herniated discs and that was where the pain in my leg originated from. So for about two weeks I was doing nothing at all, no upper and lower and nothing. And since then I've been doing light band work. And then yesterday was my first day back at the gym and I restarted anabolic. But I could only squat mostly, not necessarily because of pain, I'm not in pain anymore, but mostly because I'm kind of terrified of
Starting point is 01:43:52 triggering it again. I squatted 30 kilos and only benched 30. And then for deadlifts, sorry, this was on Monday, and then for deadlifts today, I did RDLs with dumbbells. And I think that was maybe 32 kilo total. So basically, I don't know if Annabelle is the right program at this point. I don't know kind of where to go with this because I want to lift heavy again. I want to compete again, but I'm pretty terrified of going too fast
Starting point is 01:44:28 and too heavy too fast. So I wanted to know if you guys have any suggestions of where to go. I don't think it's the wrong program, but I do think we have better programs for where you're currently at. Cemetery is where I'd have you. And then after that,
Starting point is 01:44:43 I would actually put you in something like performance. What happens a lot of times with my competitors or strength athletes, we train so much in the sagittal plane and we neglect sometimes core training. So core and multi-planar movements, I think would be extremely beneficial to you, which is addressed in maps, performance, and then also mobility, I think, is extremely beneficial to you, which is addressed in maps performance and then also mobility I think is going to help you
Starting point is 01:45:08 So to me if I had to recommend a program order it would be symmetry and performance I'd like to hear if the guys agree or disagree You know, I'm glad you gave me the update Jen because you were you initially were talking about it being a Pariformis injury, but it didn't sound like Pariformis at all because it went down your leg. In fact, I was gonna ask you if you had any low back injuries because it sounded nerve related. Do you know where the discs that are herniated?
Starting point is 01:45:36 It's between NL4 and NL5, and then apparently a much older one, L5 S1. Oh yeah, I don't know how much. Yeah, so I mean, yeah, okay. How much? Yeah, so, I mean, yeah, that's, so you had, you had to hurt the disc was pushing on the nerve and that's causing that kind of pain. Do you have any weakness on one side or is that all better now? Yeah, actually a couple of years ago, actually, I felt on the steps and since then it's been
Starting point is 01:45:59 that my whole left side has been a mess of trying to, I mean, you can not now, but I could literally look in the mirror and see where my shoulder was, you know, really high. My hip is kind of off, so I've been doing therapy for it all. But I don't know if that contributed to possibly the injury being on that side, with this whole situation, but right now I have no pain. And I, with the two workouts that I've done that were both in a ball like I really went slow and I focused and I made sure my hips were
Starting point is 01:46:29 in line and that sort of thing and I didn't have any issues doing the workouts but like I said it was super low weight and that's the that's the injury that you think that caused at the fall. I think since I'm a little older since it happens so maybe that's it but you know I think it I'm a little older since it happens, so maybe that's it, but I think everything kind of started then. I dislocated the bones in my foot during the fall after that. That's what it was. Okay, so I'm going to give you some good news, Jen. If I were to take, I don't know, 100 people and scan them, you would see a lot of herniated discs with no symptoms, and you'd see a lot of herniated discs with no symptoms and you'd
Starting point is 01:47:06 see a lot of discs that look fine with symptoms. So the good news here is that this is not a death sentence at all. It probably did change some of your recruitment patterns. You look very fit, you compete, so you're probably really strong or you can be pretty strong for your size. This is where adding load on the bar doesn't make any more sense. Really what you want to do is you want to be able to add load without adding load. What I mean by that is slow the reps down, making the pot maybe do a pause rep increase the intensity, right? So let's say for example, you're squatting with a hundred pounds on your back and you're like, I could add 30 pounds to the bar
Starting point is 01:47:50 and do 10 reps. Well, what I would rather have you do is do a hundred pounds, but make the 10 reps feel like you have a hundred and 30 pounds on your bar on the bar by changing the tempo and making the exercise feel more challenging. You're gonna get more benefit out of that, at your level, then you will by just trying to get stronger.
Starting point is 01:48:09 Now, if you're a beginner, I'd say just get stronger, but right, this is where you're gonna get your benefit now, is for making the exercises feel heavier and harder versus can I do more reps and can I add more weight? Yeah, and address these imbalances really, I mean, take the time to go through and build new patterns. And I think that because of that cute kind of injury, it did kind of shift in terms of priorities of how the body is trying to stabilize and organize itself.
Starting point is 01:48:42 And so to Adam's original advice, I do see value in symmetry, and especially the first phase is really like isometrically driven and putting you in these positions and split stance positions and different positions for you to really hone into being able to be stabilized and be able to produce force in those. And then, unilaterally, now we're addressing a lot of those imbalances in trying to correct them with strength. So, I think in that sort of timeline and going through symmetry, then eventually we're going to get some more different types of planes of movement, too. I do think are very valuable moving
Starting point is 01:49:21 laterally and rotating. That, if that hasn't been part of your programming at all, is going to have massive value in terms of like keeping you pain free and strong. Yeah, go map symmetry. Start the exercises with your left side. That's your weaker side, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:49:40 Okay. Let the left side dictate how many reps and what the weight is for the right side. And from now moving forward, just because you're fitness level Let the left side dictate how many reps and what the weight is for the right side. And from now moving forward, just because of your fitness level, because of your experience, I wouldn't worry anymore about necessarily getting stronger. The approach I would have is, can I make this feel heavier with my technique and my form? Can I do it that way? Because the risk versus reward ratio when
Starting point is 01:50:06 you just get started is amazing to get stronger. As you get stronger though, it starts to shift. Like it stops making sense to keep trying to add weight to the bar at some point. I mean, you could do it, but the risk to reward ratio is so crappy that it's like, why do it? Unless you're going to compete in powerlifting, and that's your life passion, I would say your approach with all strength training from this point, and this is just because again, because you're so fit already,
Starting point is 01:50:34 and you've got great experience. I would every time I work out, it's like, can I make this feel heavier? Can I make this feel harder? Can I feel it more in the target muscle? Can I be more perfect and controlled with my repetitions? That's gonna lead you so well, regardless of what program you follow.
Starting point is 01:50:52 But I do like map symmetry though, because it's so focused on balancing out right to left. I think you'll get a lot of value out of that. I think if you were a client, a mine, or a friend, I would actually try and discourage you from competing anytime soon in the next year or two and really encourage you to, you know, with the same type of discipline and attitude that you have towards being a bikini competitor because obviously we can see that you've been successful at doing that.
Starting point is 01:51:22 I would actually like get into these movements that we have in performance after you get through symmetry. So, symmetries really trying to really face to. Yeah, right. So, symmetry first is the foundation. We need to do that right now for you to try and balance out what we possibly can address some issues.
Starting point is 01:51:38 Performance now starts moving into these kind of unique movements that as a bikini competitor, you're probably gonna be unfamiliar with. And then I would, as if I wasini competitor, you're probably going to be unfamiliar with. And then I would, as if I was your coach, as we're going through it, I would try and take that bikini competitor obsession to those movements. Like, let's get perfect at this movement. Let's get really good at this exercise and get that hyper focus that you know, I know that you have and put it into things like that that I know that are going to bulletproof
Starting point is 01:52:03 your body and benefit you long term. That would be my selfish, you know, recommendation if you were a friend or a client as I would move you away from competing right now. And this is a mean forever. We could potentially revisit that. But where where you're at right now, your body, the level you're at that's like Sal's pointing out, I don't think you need to get any more shredded or focus on those things. Like, we need to bulletproof this body and take care of that for longevity.
Starting point is 01:52:30 So you're able to lift weights all the way till you're 90 years old. So, yeah. And you'll actually get better results that way with development and shape and aesthetics anyway. And just to be clear, this doesn't mean avoid low reps. People think when I say this, oh, I can't go low reps anymore.
Starting point is 01:52:45 No, no, no, you can do sets of five. It's just you're picking a weight that you could do 10 with and then you're making five feel heavy with your technique. It's all about the intent with the lift is because you know this. You've been working out, like I said, you're fit. I bet you could take a weight that you could do 15 reps with and make it feel hard at 10 reps just by the way you do it and how you focus attention. That's it. So that's the mentality because you keep trying to get stronger at this point. I mean, you could do it.
Starting point is 01:53:15 I just don't think you're going to get the reward that you would get out of it out of what I'm saying. Out of what I'm saying, I think we'll get more reward out of it. Right. Does that also count? Do you think if right now I'm in a kind of a mini cut because I was previously bulking. And so then once I stopped with the goal of the competition, I was like, well, some of this has to go. So I'm kind of in a mini cut now with a thought that maybe in a month, I would do the reverse diet out.
Starting point is 01:53:42 And once I got to maintenance, then go over a couple hundred calories, I kind of push it. So when I start to bulk, do I still stick to this plan? Oh, assuming. Yeah. Always. This is the mentality you should follow working out from now on. Yeah, bulk or cut does. Yeah, it doesn't matter.
Starting point is 01:53:59 By the way, you look super lean. What do you cut? What's your body fat at? Because you said you're going to cut. What do you have right now? I have no idea at this point because it like survival mode kind of after everything's happened I'm just like I just want to fit in my pants. I mean I would probably throw you in a maintenance phase I would put you maintenance or bowl just from what I'm looking at right now You don't look like I need to cut you or lean you out at all So I would again being selfish and telling you what I want. I would say let's get right to a good calorie place And just maintenance calories totally have you fed I bet you're in say, let's get right to a good calorie place and just maintain its calories.
Starting point is 01:54:25 Totally have you fed. I bet you're in the high teens at the most body fat percentage. And I would have you, I would want you to hover around 20% body fat. That's where you get the best results across the board. Yeah, before I started cutting, I think I was at the highest was like 2,300 calories
Starting point is 01:54:41 and barely put on any weight with it. So, I mean, I probably could have gone longer at that if I'm higher. Yeah, let's feed you. Yeah, stop the cut. So, let's go in a little more of a bulk maintenance type of deal. Okay, cool. All right, thanks for calling in, yeah.
Starting point is 01:54:57 All right, Jen. We'll send you a map symmetry. Yeah, send you this program, by the way. And follow back up with us. We'd love to hear how you're feeling after you've gone through symmetry. So, circle back to us. Yeah, sure thank you so much guys. It's amazing. You got it. Thank you. Thanks. You know it's like at some point adding weight to the bar,
Starting point is 01:55:16 you make it feel heavier. You're getting way better results across the board and she's obviously fit. I've been doing this for a while. Like, such a longevity hack too. I mean, it's a hack for anybody, but I mean, at a certain point, like if you're just not moving the needle forward or if you have something that you're recovering from, especially, there's a lot you can do to increase, you know, what kind of stress you're placing on your body
Starting point is 01:55:44 without actually having the risk go up. That's right. Yeah, when you're focused on aesthetic so much, it's really easy to neglect some of these other movements that are just so important to you. Yeah, they're so important to you at all ages and stages of life, but even more so as we get older and in. Or the more advanced you get.
Starting point is 01:56:03 And the more advanced we are because it does. It's a higher risk with your ability to push and move more weight. And so, and I can just tell she's already incredible shape already. And if she we're already starting to see these issues and she's had this been diagnosed with stuff like to me, I'm like, you let's not even think about that stuff now. Let's get really good at. And I bet she hasn't done things like a multi-planneder lunge or a wind meal or a Turkish kid up. Or like, these are a lot of great exercises that would really benefit her to get good at.
Starting point is 01:56:36 Just bolsters the body. Yeah. And so I would, and this house, you know, adding to my point with that is, and she'll probably end up looking really great to you know, saying like, point with that is, and she'll probably end up looking really great to, you know, say, like, cause she's got a solid foundation. So doing a novel stimulus like that, while she's fed, she's gonna actually see probably greatest aesthetic results. I'm glad too she gave us the update, cause she said, performance,
Starting point is 01:56:54 and she was explaining the symptoms of my, so my performance sounds like something for me. Back. Look, if you like Mind Pump, head over to MindPumpFree.com and download all of our free fitness guides. You can also find all of us on Instagram, Justin is at Mind Pump Justin. I'm at Mind Pump to Stefano and Adam is at Mind Pump Adam. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically
Starting point is 01:57:15 improve your health and energy and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Superbundle at Mind Pump Media dot com. The RGB Superbundle at MindPumpMedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes maps and a ballad, maps performance, and maps aesthetic. Nine 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 sour, animal, and Justin as your own personal trainer's butt at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle has a full 30-day money bag guarantee
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