Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 241: Perfect Squat & Deadlift Form, Avoiding Injury, Muscle Stim & MORE

Episode Date: February 19, 2016

Sal, Adam & Justin take on more of your questions. Included in this episode: how to know when you have achieved perfect squat & deadlift form, using muscle stim for MAPS Trigger Sessions, using gym implements such as straps, wraps, belts, etc., and how to push boundaries in the gym without injuring yourself. Please subscribe, rate and review this show! Learn more about Mind Pump at www.mindpumpmedia.com

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind, pop, mind, pop with your hosts. Salda Stefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. Hey, so I, you know, obviously, because everything's going on with me this last week, and stuff I've been a little behind on our social media and stuff I got on the other day. And I saw the guy that you lit up that made the comment about Jason Allen Scott or Jason. Yeah, we should be, we should be, what,

so it's a, you fill me in or where that, where that come from, he just, I don't know where to start talking shit or what. So this guy, yeah, he started off by saying, you know, you have to be pretty dim. So in other words, you have to be pretty stupid

to think that what he's saying is true and then he starts picking apart. You picking apart his own experience being so knowledgeable at the tech industry and like starting a company and it's like, oh, fuck yourself. Guess what? Like my company, you can't find it anywhere. There's no website. There's no nothing. But I exist. Yeah. You know, I'm saying like, and you're trying to say that he's not creating this and all and you have, you're so like, oh fuck yourself. Yeah, that's that's actually what I said to him. Yeah.

Here's a deal. If we have a guest on our show, we like him. We will defend them. We like him. And we've got their back. Number one, number two, I can't fuck. We can't fucking vouch. I don't, people are gonna tell me stuff about themselves.

I'm not gonna freak out. I can't go check on it. Now someone's giving fitness advice. I don't even know if you're lying, bro about themselves. I'm not gonna freak out. I can't go check on it. Now, someone's giving fitness advice. I don't even know if you're lying, bro. I'm gonna check you, you know? Exactly. And now the fuck who's supposed to know like this? Exactly.

But if people are giving me fitness advice and stuff like that, then of course we're gonna correct information. But if someone's talking about themselves, then whatever, if they're entertaining, we like what they're saying and it's awesome. Great. Jason Allen Scott is a fucking great guy. He stories the dude is entertaining hell he's got his own podcast which is now doing pretty well so whatever so this guy gets on their acts like an asshole so i basically said that and i told him to go fuck himself

that's the reason that verbatim yeah i'm not one to say that usually well it's so send me the sides to become these critics, you know like to get the fuck out of here, bro Come on be serious like we're gonna just be like yeah, that was entertaining And you know it's a there are guests exactly what it's something there are guests There are guests there are guests We're not more last. Yeah exactly We're not gonna bring them on the show and molest them right here on here. You know same I'm saying regardless It what they say or not, you know, and I think like a south set I think and we've had guests we've had guests We've had come on the show that we have a different

Philosophies as far as like our beliefs and things with that doesn't mean that we're gonna put them on the show and you know It's not it's a me. I don't find it. It's not fair You're not gonna put any I don't care how smart the dude is what that you put the three of us on on one person It's not good very. It's not even a fair fight. We would even do that. Why would we do that? It's not. No.

Yeah, we try and listen to them instead of just sit there and make this into a battle debate. Yeah, right. So it's like, I don't know. Unless we structure it that way, maybe down the road we may have a guest. Well, it's controversial and we're gonna hype it up as such though. You know, I know ahead of time. Yeah, we would set that up for sure. Well, I mean, we've kind of tried that.

We've failed. Well, that's did, yeah. We're trying to cross, we've been trying to get a cross-fit buddies of ours to come on for quite some time, but you know, they're all intimidated to do that. And we've even trying to like, hey, no, we're not gonna get after you. We've been super, you know, kosher. I want Ronnie. I want Ronnie to come on.

I don't. I want Ronnie to come on. I don't. Why? Because it's it won't, I'd rather have Neil come on. Neil would be great, but here's why I want Ronnie. Because Ronnie's coolest hell. Ronnie will fire back at us.

No, we can have a good time. We can have a good time with him. Ronnie will lay right over. No, you won't. Yes, you will. Absolutely. I'm gonna have a listen to this episode. I see. Some motivated amongst him. Ronnie will lay right over. No, you won't. Yes, you will. You think so? Absolutely. I'm gonna have a listen to this episode.

I'm gonna have a listen to this episode. I know my brother. No, I don't mean what I mean by fire back is like, we can talk shit back and forth and have a good time. I feel like Neil is gonna get tense. He's gonna get butt hurt. Which would make good radio. Yeah, it's okay.

I guess, yeah, yeah, I guess you're right. Yeah, I'm thinking of the audience and the audience. He looks aggressive. He is. He's a really aggressive. Yeah, and, I guess you're right. Yeah, I'm thinking of the audience and the audience, like the audience, it looks aggressive. He is. He's a really aggressive. Yeah, and he's definitely, he's very, he's very intelligent. He's very intelligent. He is a very intelligent, very opinionated.

So I think it would make for great radio. And he would not, just because the three of us have a different view than he does. This is the last name again. Maddox. Neomatics. So if you guys know who he is, I'm gonna light him up on social media tell him to come

on mine pump? Because he has it, he has it, he has it, he hasn't answered us. I, you know him and I would say. But see the thing is I feel like if he gets like like a like tense and aggressive, like you guys don't know Doug, you haven't seen Doug around aggressive people. He's easy to just, he's got a chimp among them. Doug, back of him. Doug's a crazy motherfucker and I don't, I'm not, I don't want to do it.

He's in a chihuahua. I don't want to do with that. She's gonna give him. He's got the dirty shift that he made out of a two three and I don't want him to stab him. The fucking in the ribs. See my pocket right now. I'm not trying to promote violence. We're just trying to have a conversation.

Hey, I didn't blend out. I didn't say. All right. I found another another great show. I just started watching and of course I know they're so smart timing. You know, we talked a day about Netflix and time. Are you already talked about the OJ one yeah, and now the OJ one's out So you start watching that yeah, yeah, how fucked up is it the first episode you're watching it?

You're like this motherfucker got away with murder Oh, you know I got a book afterwards how to get away with a murder. Oh my god That's what you're gangster what you get off of it and you're like I'm gonna write a book on well I mean look at the situation like you know divorce right she fucking takes him to the cleaners Then she's banging some dude and you know, he's a crazy motherfucker. Plus he's probably played football probably has head smash That's a head trauma. That's a head trauma. It all adds up. It all adds up. Pretty crazy. Hey, you know what we do today. What do we do?

Oh, you know, before we talk about the quaw, before we talk about the quaw. You just mentioned it. I brought home a deer. You do that, bro. I brought home all of everybody's balls like that. You can't see it. You're glued to it, then we see it.

And then we say it. Yeah, well, we'll do that in a second. But I brought home a snack last night. Okay. And I tried to share with my boy, then we say. And then we say it. Yeah. Well, we'll do that in a second, but I brought home a snack last night. Okay. And I tried to share my boy, my boy Adam, and we're hanging out watching a little OJ, and he was interested in my snack. It's like the third time you've asked me if I want to pack.

No, he eats fucking pork rinds, dude. Cheater on this! Yeah, dude, he's trying to roll over. He's like, I'm gonna get dirty ass over it. Yeah, he's... You never had chit-choronis? Oh. Huh? It reminds me of like pulling over at a truck stop

and some like, that's where I got it. That trucker's like, yeah, I feel it here. Have some pork rind, all right? You have some pickle feet or pickle bones. Exactly. Oh, pig's feet. Yeah, that sounds good too. No.

This one should do. You get a pork rind. You get an unflavored pork rind. You're weird. And you put hot sauce on that shit. No, you don't This would you do you get a pork rind you get an unflavored pork rind You're weird and you put hot sauce on that ship. No, you don't or or you put lime on it a little bit more salt Because you know they can never have too much salt on pork rind or and then eat that son of a bitch or you see normal Huh or you see why that not normal? That's not normal. It's gross. That's normal dude. That is perfectly normal It is not it's fucking better than your peanut butter, banana,

crazy shit shake that you have at night. That's amazing, dude. Yeah. Let's tell everybody what that is compared to your, what do you guys want? It's like the loco monkey, right? That's called it. Yeah, I make my own little peanut butter,

peanut butter away and banana shake at night, man. It's like a little bit of cocoa in there and it's awesome. Chop up peanut butter and I don't know. That sounds kind of normal. Yeah. It sounds pretty bomb as well. Sounds like a pussy thing to have.

Pork rinds. Pork rinds of your man. Or fried up animal skin. You're a trucker. You were hoping Jess was going to jump on board with you on those days. No, I knew he wouldn't. Sorry, bro.

Only one of us in the room has the K-Honest. K-Honest. K-Honest for sure. I got the Kuevos. Kuevos. In Spanish, Justin. Yes. What are we doing next?

We are at... I don't know. I don't know. No! No! No! No! Damn it. Stop for the K-Honest. This is new one. Oh, yeah. I mean, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I All right, our first question is from Zach Harding. How do you know when you found the perfect form

for deadlifts and squats? When you're able to deadlift five, six hundred pounds. I'm just kidding. For me, it feels like, it just feels effortless. Like I get in the, if I'm squatting, bars on my back, I get in the hole and I drive through and the only thing I have to think about is driving with my legs. I don't have to think about balance the only thing I have to think about is driving with my legs.

I don't have to think about balance, I don't have to think about, ooh, you know, my hip feels funny, my foot position, it's just, I go in the hole and come up and it just feels, I feel like I'm in the groove with the squat. With the deadlift, same exact thing, I feel tight, I feel braced, and I just come up for me, the deadlift feels, that's easy. It's easy for me to feel like I'm in good form with the deadlift. The squat tends to be a pain in the ass,

although I will say, since taking master trainer, Adam Schaefer's advice, my squats feel a lot better. Now that I do the dynamic, it's good at pointing things out in squats. I've known that it was... He didn't point my forearm out. It was just the functional dynamic forearm know, I'm literally doing that video that we posted on the forum of you Doing all that stuff. Yeah, that's what I'm doing literally that exact thing. Well, you need to open up

You know, I Like a bird. I think we talked a little bit about this just recently in one of our episodes But you know squatting for me was, this has been my nemesis for a long time. I've always known the importance of it, but honestly, for a guy who was, like I said before, I was training legs once a week and I'd get after them with a long hour, hour and half workout, and I'd always try and incorporate squats and whatever I did, something bothered me. My knees bothered me. My low back was the big one. My low back was bothering me more than anything else, but there was always something they would never felt

comfortable. And in my head, I was trying them a lot because I would incorporate them, like every other leg workout and I was training legs. But now I mean I train I squat two to three times a week every single week now and I've done that now for a year and I have to honestly say it's taking it's taken almost a year of two to three times per week religiously for me to finally feel like that's a great point that I have truly I'm truly I can get under there get my dynamic warm up get under that squat, constant pattern. Yeah, and now I feel like it's, it's fine. It was just maybe, God, just maybe like a month or two ago,

I had, I kind of had felt that feeling already, and then I kind of regressed a little bit, and I had to go back and reassess my squat and tweak a couple of things. You know, it's such a, it's such a major movement. And it's, I don't know, Justin said it at one time when we're talking about that it's not like, it's not like any other lift. You know, it's almost like learning a sport, you know, it's like learning something

like it's a skill. Let's be honest. It's a skill. That's what he said. It was a skill, you know, and it really is. And it's taken me a long time and you know know, you know when you trust me, you know when it's there because you, you no longer have to really think about it. You know, you no longer have to like look down at your feet

and see your stance, you no longer have to think, okay, drop my hips back and my coming too forward, not enough, you won't think about it anymore. Your body will naturally kind of go into that pattern, but it takes time. And it took me a lot, a lot, a lot of practice and tweaking and playing with my skin. Checking your ego, putting it out there,

dropping the load, you know, making sure. Yeah, you have that like tension from the beginning and then you're going down into the squat, you're protected, you're supported, and you know, it feels like, you know, you're in a low enough position where you got depth, like all these things matter. And then also just being able to grind out of that depth and get good force and power

out of that. I like watching Justin Squat for two reasons, number one is sexy. No, but number two, the real reason I like to watch him is you can tell he's in the groove the groove You know when you watch him squat he drops in and comes up when you watch me an Adam squat You can tell that we're both Constantly looking for that groove and working for it and feeling it and so there's gonna be lifts that are like that for you And I have I would say I Don't know have you guys found this trend's natural tea? Well, I was just gonna say have you guys noticed this trend that people who find squats totally natural

tend to find deadlifts more challenging and vice versa? I think, yeah, I've noticed that too. And obviously I'm the perfect example of that. Like, I watch you guys dead left and it's like, it's like, you know, super fluid and everything's all, you know, aligned in the way that you want it. For me, it's just like every single rep is just this grind and I'm really trying to improve. And it's just not a natural fit for me. So it's interesting.

Yeah, because I've noticed that with a lot of people like our buddy Joe, he's a frickin' excellent squatter and he, you know, deadlifts for him is, he's commented, I strongly shit regardless, but he's commented that deadlifts are something he has to kind of focus on and practice. Craig is the same way too. Craig is the same way and he's a badass squatter also. Yeah, yeah.

So, and I'm thinking now, if we think about the hit, they're all football players too. So, I mean, we didn't do any deadlifts just so you know. They don't really deadlifts and squatter. No, they don't deadlift. They don't teach you. They're both football players too. So I mean, we didn't do any deadlifts just so you know, they don't really deadlifts and they don't, they don't, they don't deadlift. They don't teach you both football players. And they don't really teach it in any sport to be honest with you. Like as unless it's like wrestling or it's like an MA or something like that, but like, yeah, deadlifts aren't really until now.

I think now that they're incorporating it more in the programming, which is smart because it's a base, you know, lift that you're going to build off as far as strength is concerned. incorporating it more in the programming, which is smart because it's a base, you know, lift that you're going to build off as far as strength is concerned. But yeah, like there are more prone to teaching us power cleans and clean in jerks than they were to have an astute deadlift, which is strange. I would say if dead lifts, if you're a great squatter and you find dead lifts to be challenging for you, practice good mornings because good mornings will get you really good

at that hip hinge movement. And if you're a good squad or you're comfortable with the bar being on your back. Good mornings can be challenging though. No, they can be very challenging. Don't use a lot of weight. I would say go light and just practice that hip hinge. That's a advanced movement.

And if you're not a good deadlift or a good morning, it should be even more challenging. Because most people that are poor at deadlifting have a hard time really, at least in my experience with clients and teaching people, have a hard time rotating their hips out, you know, because they, the hinging right now or me, I can, you know, they, they, they still, they want to pick the bar up. It's not a pick the bar up movement.

People don't realize that you're not, I mean, it looks like it. When you look at it, like someone's picking the bar up off the ground, but. You're not, I mean, it looks like it when you look at it, like someone's picking the bar up off the ground, but you're really not, you're pulling it off the ground. Yeah, you're hinging your hips back and you're getting your arms, and your arms just drop straight into it and then it's just a lever movement.

It's a lever movement, not a picking up where I think it takes a while for people to really grasp that and be able to fire that. Now, for me, I find when I get into position, naturally my body kind of goes right in there. I pride myself a lot, and that's why if you look at my Instagram, it's flooded with deadlifting and squatting,

because I tend to notice that too. Everybody loves the posts, what they're bad ass at, every, all like guys we're talking about and a lot of plenty of other dudes, they always post their squat, or they always post their deadlift. Like I like to post both my shit. Like I'm trying to improve both and I want them both to be good. You know, but they all you know, you always see people tend to do one of the other.

You rarely ever go through someone's pay unless they're up into powerlifting and they and they actually do everything and they're doing all the fundamental movements, but a lot of guys will only, especially in the competing world. You see one or the other, you know? Yeah. So I guess to make a long story short, it's when you, when those exercises, the form feels like second-age.

It's kind of like love, you'll just know. Yeah, you just know. It'll just slip right in. Yeah, wow, right, Doug. Yeah, all right, DanR87 asks, can you use STEM for maps trigger sessions? No. So next question.

Yeah. So, a trigger session for those of you that are listening who are not enrolled in the Maps program, a trigger session is a very light form of exercise that's used on the days off to keep the muscles in an anabolic state or to keep the muscle building signal loud and clear. In particular, the loud muscle building signal you might have set off the day before when you did your heavy workout.

So it's like you're getting a little bit of a pump, a little bit of a burn, and you do it several times a day. So that's the key with the trigger session. Now, Stim. It's actually a good question. Yeah. Now, Stim, Stim is, if you've had physical therapy or you've had an injury, you've probably had Stim before

and that's where they put the electric pads on your muscles. The intended use of them. Yeah, and you can actually buy Stim machines for pretty cheap now in Amazon. You can get one for like a hundred bucks. And what it'll do is when it turns on, it makes your muscle flex and then relax,

flex and relax, flex and relax. Now Stim has been studied quite a bit with exercise, and Stim has been shown in some studies to augment exercise, but in no way, shape or form is it a replacement for any form of full range of motion exercise. The reason why physical therapists use it for rehab is because if you're really injured and you can't move your muscle in any type of range of motion, then it's better than nothing. That's the only reason why they would use it. Right. Well, you're bypassing what you want to happen. The whole concept of that is the neurological connection from your brain down to your muscles.

You're creating an artificial brain in a sense down there by putting the positive and the negative between, you're not getting that. It's creating that artificial stimulation. It's giving you some, but it's not even in the same ballpark. Well, we're right When someone when someone gets injured, you know, let's just say I'm saying that I'm it because you're not you're not connecting with your brain Yes, no, it's mindless. Yes, mindless like muscle contract. So exactly when you when we when I get an injury to my Tor my a cell MCL right and it crazy. My whole left side just completely at your feet. It was insane how much at at your feet. And you know, what ends up happening during that injury, because you're not using it, you're not having to fire it on a regular

basis, your brain stops to send as many neurons to that side as it is doing to the right side, because it's when you're moving, reprioritizes exactly. Reprioritizes to other side of the body and other parts of your limbs thatrioritizes to other side of the body and other parts of your limbs that needs it more. So one of the things they do to help slow down that atrophy is they're gonna e-stem and do things like that to create that artificial connection. But nothing is going to beat the real connection coming

from my brain and telling it to do that. And the whole concept of the trigger sessions is to stimulate that way and is to, what's the word I want to reinforce? Yeah, reinforce that and increase that. Not to, you know, you don't want to artificially do that. Right. Now, that, I mean, that all being said, I, I would, you know, if you have a stim machine, I would definitely say experiment. Don't, don't, don't trade, don't replace trigger sessions or workouts with stim. But, you know, if you got nothing better to do and you're sitting there and you're studying or reading or working, and you have a weak body part, hook up your steam, steam machine to it and do that too.

And see if you notice anything. I mean, I can't, it won't hurt or just squeeze your muscle really hard. Uh, what you're just doing that? Just internally. Yeah, if you could, if you're, if you, if you can do that, but if you're sitting there working, you know, and you want to do something mindless. Well, you can't tense up when you're sitting there. I can do that, but if you're sitting there working, and you want to do something mindless. Well, you can't tense up when you're sitting there. I can do that. I guess you could.

I don't know. I feel like it'd have the same effect as a stem machine. It would. I've used them before. I have actually have a machine. I haven't used it a long time. And what I do is I just for fun, shits and giggles, I put it on a watch TV.

Well, I use it more like almost like a massage therapy more to me than anything else. Yeah. Like if my- Put on your bunch. Right on the gooch. Yeah, it might like my shoulders have been bothering me with that.

I'll hook it up on the shoulder and get that stimulation and it feels really, really good out towards. So it is such a mild stimulation that you're getting there versus something that's intense, like working it out. So reminds me of when I was in chemistry and we had this thing called old Sparky. And it was this some kind of electro, electro that you have these two different rods

that like we made a circle, we all hold hands and then we would hold onto the rod and this electrical current would go through the whole group. you know, and this is like kind of a demonstration But it got to the point where me and my best friend We were challenging each other like oh dude who who's gonna let go first right? So it's just me and him and we're holding on to this like rod and we're getting this like Electrocuted the shit out of ourselves for like as long as we couldn't, like yeah, my whole body's just super tense.

And then after that, like I had this like huge kink in my neck, you know, going into it, I was like, it was gone. Yeah, I was like, but yeah, I'm glad I didn't have a heart attack. Just the idea of fun is very different from my idea. We did crazy shit back in that. So it's like I'm bored, Let's punch each other in the nuts It's like a good pretty much. Let's go hold it like you know, it's funny. I guarantee you've done that Where you and your friends run around smashing each other my friend shot, you know those air soft guns

We got him to shoot his own like testicle. Oh point blank Dumbest thing single dumbest thing I've ever seen. You know what's awesome? You know this is why men evolved to have two testicles because it's shit like that. Yeah. Hey, I don't need this one. God's like, I'm gonna give him two of these motherfuckers. We knew one of them was gonna go.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly, here we go. Next one. Yeah, this guy has both of his. Avi, father of five. Yeah. Do you advocate?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, fully operational here. He's asking, do you advocate gym implements such as belt straps, etc. Only in with sex, only if you're making love. He said he's only a chock guy and he's just curious to our thoughts on all that stuff. So here's so wrist straps. No, definitely not. wrist straps are the ones you tie around your wrist and then you tie them around the bar because your hands are too baby weak

to hold onto the weight. That's right. And you wanna lift it and you can't hold it with it. Cause out and you can't hold it with your log. You know, you better go get your wrist straps. Cause you can't hold it with your baby finger. It's gonna break. So here's a hit.

So that, no, this is why I say no on that. I'm such weak wrists. Here's a deal. So that, no, this is why I say no on that. I was such weak wrists. Here's a deal. Your wrists, your grip and your wrists evolved to be strong as fuck ladies and gentlemen. Please listen to me right now. Your hands connect you to the world. Do you think for one second that the human body evolved

to have weak as hands and have a back that can pull way more weight than your hands can? No, not at all. We also evolved from fricking monkeys or we were monkeys at one point. Your hands will get strong as hell. And if you weaken them, you'll also change your muscle recruitment patterns in the rest of your body.

They show that when people lift heavy with wrist straps, it changes recruitment patterns in the shoulder area, which is not a good thing because unless you're gonna wear wrist straps all fucking day long and strap it on to everything you try and lift, you don't want a different recruitment pattern. Not to mention in real life, if you can't hold on to something, you're not going to lift it.

So that, I'd say no. Knee wraps, I'd say no. Elbow wraps, I'd say no. Most everything I'd say no, a belt, I would say used judiciously, use appropriately. I would use a belt if you're really, really strong and you're starting to lift super heavy weight and you're a little afraid that if your form goes off, can't you say that same thing about the wraps for you? I mean, I'm kind of in the camp of not using the belt and using your same logic with the wrist wraps with the belt because I feel like that is an ego.

That is a step outside of your limitations as far as load bearing on your spine, your core. Your core should be able to adjust and brace and that should be your whole support system is your own muscular system. I can't disagree. I can't argue with you. I cannot argue with you.

Well, I use wrist wraps the other day. Fuck. And the show. Cut. I use wrist wraps and I can deadlift bare handed without wrist wraps more than most. So but here's the thing. I used it. I have, I've got an issue. Well, I mean, you mean, did you get a manicure?

No, no, no. I had, I've got an issue going on with my pronator tariffs right now. Oh, yeah. What's different? Well, that's why I want to, that's why I want to come from the side here. And, you know, there's, I don't agree. He does that to us comes from the side. Yeah, I do.

I'm coming from the side here because these guys always do the work out for me. I don't want you to feel like you're a bitch if you have all these, because I have all these things in my bag. Literally I have wraps, I have straps, I have belts and I have, and I need wraps, although I use my knee wraps

different than most people use knee wraps. They're all in my bag. The same way I feel about all these tools is the same way that I feel about most supplements. I have them all. I've got it all. I've got them all just in case, and there's times where I've incorporated them

because I feel there's an e-flam. Now, the reason why I use wraps the other days, I say I've got an issue with my pro-nader terrorists. I'm getting ready to do back stuff, and I'm getting ready to do C to row. Now I can see the row completely fine. When I'm healthy and fine, bear handed and grip hold of 200 plus pounds and do that no problem.

As I can deadlift over 500 pounds, bear handed. Now, it right now, when I grab onto a bar to do bicep curls with 20 pound dumbbells, it fucking hurts right now. And I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing with my stretching and getting massage and trying to give it rest, but I'm stubborn. I wanna workout, I like to workout. And so part of me is crushing that

and probably not doing what I should be doing, which is taking some time off and rehabbing it, doing what I should be doing. So instead I've thrown my rap song so it's not gonna stress my form so much and then I could get a good back workout in. And for me, I'm going to use it like that right now until I get some full recovery on my my pro and interteriors and get it back to feeling great. It'll get incorporated here and there.

When I use my belt, my belt, especially when I was learning how to find the question we just asked two questions ago was learning how to find the question we just asked two questions ago was learning how to you know how long to take you guys know you perfect for them and dead squats well for a long time when I was squatting I was using my belt whenever I went heavy just because I didn't feel like Super comfortable I hadn't felt perfect and I wanted to be safe if I'm gonna put 400 pounds in my fucking back And I don't think I have the most beautiful squat I want to make sure that I'm a little safe when I get there. That being said, I work all the way up

till I get over 300 pounds before I would put the belt on there because I also don't want to, I don't wanna put a bunch of weight on my back and not strengthen my core that along the way. So that was important to me. So I don't use knee wraps, those to me, I think. Have you ever used them? No. So I used them for a little while because I was thinking about competing in a powerlifting

competition. And you can definitely lift a lot more weight with knee wraps if you use them properly. But then I noticed something interesting. I noticed I would get a type of knee pain later on that I didn't normally get. And I realized, and I started to analyze, what does a knee pain later on that I didn't normally get. And I realized, and I started to analyze, what does a knee wrap do, right? It creates a lot of elastic energy. Elastic energy, but it's really about stability.

It's all about the force, right? It's like squeezing around the entire joint. Well, when you look at the knee joint and the way it moves, when you flex and extend the knee cap, the patella has to slide along a groove on the femur. And so I'm creating all this. Ben said. I am well, it's still going to slide.

It has to, but I'm creating all this pressure from the outside pushing down and in on my patella. And now it's sliding on the femur. And that feels like a recipe for congromalacia, which is where you get the, you know, the cartilage underneath the knee cap starts to get worn down because of all that pressure pushing down on it from the outside. And that's what I started to feel. So I've never used knee wraps since. And I feel like that's the only one out of all of them that I find that could be that

detrimental. The rest of them might, you know, if you use wraps, if you use a bell tall time, 100%. If you listen to this radio, if you've listened to to a time, 100%. If you listen to our show before, we kind of talk a lot of shit about guys that walk around with their belts on and doing cable exercises and they don't ever take it off. Well, I think to another thing to bring up is the whole Kinesiotape. And the philosophy behind that

from a performance standpoint is that they can do exactly what you're talking about, Adam, where you can like damper the signals, as far as like specific musculature. So if there's something that, you know, I don't want to fire and I want to kind of work my way around, then they can tape in such a way where, you know, they can repattern it. So now I'm going to recruit more. Another great point. You know, this, this type of muscle and I can give this one a rest.

But I mean, that's, that's, that's pretty technical. And, and then again, it's, this is all rehabbing. And so we're talking about rehabbing. And so that's a totally different. Well, I'll say this. Well, just like, but I think that's, I'm glad you brought that up because that's something that just, that's fall right in this category that can get abused, but then also can be utilized, you know, the tool. Yeah, it's, you tools have to be used properly. And it's, it's why I use the analogy of it being like supplements for me. There's a

place for all the learning how to supplement for your needs, what your body needs at a time and understanding that it's not, you know, oversaturating and use all time, we can, is not good. Utilizing these tools all the time would not be good. They're there. There's ways to use them and not use them. I mean, I love Squatch shoes. I love Squatch shoes and I know ideally what it would be better is for me to completely stretch my calves out and foam roll and break up all that and open it up so I better range emotion, but it feels more comfortable being an elevated heel. But in reality, I should spend that time. Well, it's tough when you're a guy who's trying

to build his calves. So you're hitting calves four times a week, plus you're squatting three times a week. So my poor guy, damn calves, you know, that's their little bit of relief they get is by putting myself in some elevated shoes. But I know what I should be doing. I wanted to clarify too, because you said, you know, I don't want to weaken my core by wearing a belt. And here's what you're going to end up hearing.

The belt doesn't weaken the core. It changes how you utilize it. It changes the direction, unless you wear a fucking belt around the grocery store. Exactly. Everywhere to go. You're fucking weakening it. Exactly, but I wanted to say that, because I know there's

to be some, you know, fitness warriors that are listening and everything. Oh, no, no, no. I read a study that said, you mean that. You know that. You know that. You know that, you know that. Right.

No, no, and you know what? By the way, I will say this I I stopped using a belt for about three weeks and I used it again yesterday and I'm going to start using it less and less and less and less I'm looking to do like heavy heavy maxes and I noticed it in the first when I stop using it I felt way less stable after about a couple weeks I started feeling pretty strong without the belt and I liked it. So, you know, what Justin was saying about the belt, I cannot argue with, but there's a lot of people that compete in powerlifting and they let you use the belt and stuff like that.

Well, I see. I'll then use it. If you can compete with it, then you should use it because you learn how to use it well. Well, I can tell a difference right now when I go to, when I start hitting, when I get up to 405 without a belt, which I've done. I can totally tell when I get stuck coming out of the hole, I can feel that when normally I would have my belt where I would feel myself push out against push out against the belt and then spring up. It's not there anymore and I give. So it is different. There's learning to grind out when you start getting that really. That's where I notice the most. I don't notice it 300 pounds. There is learning to grind out when you start getting that really.

That's where I notice the most. I don't notice it. 300 pounds. If I'm working out, I'm doing if I'm doing triples or five by fives or whatever, I don't really notice it. If I, in fact, I feel better without the belt. But the moment I go for like a PR or I start heading up over 400 and I'm coming out of the hole, you know, I'm used to having a belt there. And I don't have that same engagement with my core as I normally would. Yeah, what I've been doing is I've just been bracing, I'll brace the shit out of my core.

Like, I'm back out of the cage, I'm ready to squat. I brace my core hard, and what I mean by braces, I imagine someone's gonna punch me in my stomach, I just, oh, real tight, and then I go down and come up, and then I relax it for a second. You do it right away at the top before you even get moving. Yes. I'm trying, that's the technique that I, you know, back again to the squat thing,

perfecting it. I don't have that perfected. It's something I'm continually trying to get better at is my breathing technique. When I, and we're talking about when we're going really heavy here, is bracing yourself before you come up. And because I, and there's ones when I know I brace just right and it's, it feels great. Oh, you feel I come up so easy versus if I am not, if I'm not tight there, I'm not tight

everywhere, I'm firing that in essential nervous system, just right, which is, yeah, you can tell you can tell how well, how great it is for the CNS because of that because when I don't, it's like, I just give out. It's interesting because I feel like, you know, your brain too has these like shut off valves, right? When it like knows it like, oh, you know, this is an uncertainty, you know, no, let's not give him this, this help and this aid. Like, you know how like all of a sudden,

you, you by just gives out, you know, like, oh my God, it's the worst. I think everything shuts off. So it's like, I think that's another reason why, like, bracing at the top is so crucial for me, because it's like, look, we're supported. We got this, you know, and I don't have that sort of mental side of it, too, to go with that.

So I agree. Nate P. Strickler, tips for pushing boundaries while avoiding injury. Nate, for a member, good guy. Right. Pushing your boundaries while avoiding your injury, it's all about checking your ego and listening to your body. And this is a constant, this is constantly,

something I have to work on for myself, constantly. And so I can say for, and I know for everybody, I've ever known that really enjoys exercise, it's something that everybody has to work on all the time. So you really, you just got to listen to your body and just check your ego. And if you hit a PR one day, then the next workout, don't challenge yourself to hit a PR again. Do it back it down.

Even if you feel great. And if you hit a PR and you feel like, oh shit, I think I have five more pounds in me. Don't go for another PR. You know, it's stuff like that. My hips a little sore. Well, then I probably shouldn't go crazy with it. So I should probably listen to my body and work a little bit more on my form. Or, you know what, I'm feeling a little tired, or I'm feeling a little sick, or I'm under a lot of stress right now. You know, you've got to talk to yourself, but you know what it is? You've got to become your trainer. Become your own trainer.

Because speaking for myself, I am 10 times the trainer for my clients than I am for myself, especially when it comes to this. I pride myself in pretty much never injuring a client and I pride myself in always having my clients feel good. And I injure myself 10 times a rate because I don't listen to myself as if I were training myself. And I started getting more often.

There is a flip to this because and I 100% agree with Sal. And I think that's a perfect answer for someone like this for Nate because I know the fault Nate's been a follow-ins for a long time. I know he's a part of the program in the forum. Remember, a super fit guy, very intelligent. So that's great advice to him, because he's probably more like us,

where we have a tendency to always push the boundaries, because we know we understand the boundaries, we know the rules. And so someone like that, he's got a good game. He's like his fitness experience. So people like press it. So people like us tend to flirt like that and our best advice is a learn how to step it back a little bit. Now the flip to that, he is the other person who is timid to work out and is already in their mind,

told himself this is challenge and they don't want to do it or it's hard and they're being a pussy. You know, so there's the other side that they don't, they don't ever challenge their limits. I don't know how many people I've, I've got that are like, you know, that are afraid to, to squat any weight on their back because it's just, it sounds so dangerous and they've heard all these horror stories and it's like, you know, I get the, I'm like, no, you have no idea how you're way stronger than you think you are.

You think you can only put 30 pounds on your back and squat like you're, you know, and you're 40 years old. Like, no, do trust me. We could get a lot more weight on your back and get there, you know, but those people have a lot going on mentally on the opposite side. They have this fear, this fear of either getting hurt or they've heard these stories or, or just pushing the body that way because they've heard these stories or, or of just pushing the body that way because they just never applied themselves in that direction.

And this is very common. Okay, from a trainer perspective, this is very common when you pick up a client who is non-athletic. If you get a client who's mid, middle 30s, 40s and you ask them, you know, and they've never played a sport before, you know, they, they, they were in to other stuff. Yeah, they have no concept of what good pain feels like. Exactly. They don't know what it's like to push through boundaries or to stretch their limits or what are like that. They always go to their limit and they stop and they never

learn to progress through that, which I believe that's a very important part of gains and continuing to progress is learning to challenge yourself and, and to press through those, those boundaries. So whoever I'm talking to, I'm going to change yourself and to press through those boundaries. So whoever I'm talking to, I'm going to change my answer to this because I know Nate, so I would hop right on board with Sal and literally say it just like that to a client of mine. Now, if you were a client of mine and I'm getting a feel of your type of personality and you are probably timid and you just, then I'm going to challenge you a little bit. I'm going to challenge you to kind of flirt with boundaries and go that way because you've

never pushed that way. And I know I got to get you to mentally break through that. So, you know, not to generalize, but I find when it comes to like lifting more weight than you should, I find my male clients are that that's their problem. That tends to be the male problem. Like I'm gonna go lift more weight and I want to lift more weight and that's the male ego. That's a fair assessment. Is that fair I wanna lift more weight and that's the male ego. That's a fair assessment.

Is that fair? That's a very fair assessment. Now with women. We're peacocks. We are. And now with women, I don't see that as often. Not nearly as often, but there are those type A women that push it and typically it's not the weight

that they push. I very rarely do I have a female client, even the hardcore ones who lift too much weight. It's typically that they work out too much. Yeah. That they're just fucking, they're just grinding themselves in the dirt and they're doing all this cardio and they want to do those workouts and everything has to be super intense. And that's what I find the issue with women.

Adam, you brought up, you know, former people who are not athletes on the flip side. If you get a client, that's like 45 and they haven't worked out since college, but when they were in college, they were division one swimmer. Here's somebody you're going to have to put a leash on because they don't, they, their concept of what their body can do is based upon when they were in college and they were swimming, you know, four or five hours a day. And let's talk about the college trainers in science, 20, 30 years ago too. Yeah.

And they had shitty because they were burning so many calories. Yeah. And then they come in and they're like, that work out was too easy. And I'm like, you haven't worked out for 20 years. It was perfect. Like my friend who I played college ball with and then he just, you know, kind of let himself go. And then it's like, I'm getting back into working out.

And he just decides to bench press, right? Because that used to be the staple thing for him. And then he had bench press. And then of course he tries to max and PR his first time back, you know, totally destroys his shoulder and now he's rehabbing. You know, it's so big. But it's, yeah, it's so, it's unfortunate. Because it's people, I mean, it mean, there's a whole process behind this

and it's not like something that you just want to start sprinting into, you know? And you know, you have to keep that in check. You gotta remember, man, like exercise and diet are supposed to do one thing above all else. They're supposed to make you feel good. That's above everything, okay? If you feel good and what I mean by good is like, oh my God, I've got good energy. I'm sleeping good. My health feels good. My joints feel good. If that's not

happening, then you check yourself. Either you're working out wrong or you're not doing it hard enough or you're working out too hard or your diet's off. Because the problem is I've noticed is when we stop paying attention to that. And especially for the people that over push themselves, they completely ignore those fucking signs. Like I've, I'll see people, I'll look at them and it's like, they're working out, I see people at goals all the time, who I see there all the time, and they're lean, and you're looking at them and it's like,

dark circles under their eyes, they look like shit, skin is bad, they're lean, sure, and they're just, you just see them driving themselves to... They're unhappy and they're eating out of a tuna can. Yeah, and they're just driving themselves to frickin' metabolic destruction. And they're not listening to their bodies. So you should feel good, even if you're training

for performance, you should feel... Performance is a different kind of good, but you still feel good. Like you should still feel aggressive and strong, and I feel like I can go fucking do anything right now. You shouldn't feel like you're dead, you know, or like you're getting sick or you're stressed or I can't sleep or you know, like.

Well, we've talked about this before that, you know, so many people correlate soreness with an effective workout, you know, and it's not, it's not in a good, and I think that's another great, you know, tip for learning balance and pushing an avoiding injury is that I'm always searching for that. I do want to feel that I had a workout, but I want to walk out of the workout feeling energetic and the rest of the day I want to feel good. And the next day, I want to be able to feel kind of everywhere I worked out, but I want to feel it.

I don't want to be cripple. I don't want to feel so sore that it hinders me doing something else because I got to go, I mean, the body works together. So when I got to work out today, I got to still use those muscles that I won't call on as much demand because I'm probably doing something different, but I still want to be able to work out and not because I'm so sore, I don't want to feel

hindered to do any of those things. No, man, if you're trying to get a tan, you want to get a little darker each day. You don't want to go out and sunburn yourself every single day. I mean,, if you're trying to get a tan, you want to get a little darker each day. You don't want to go out and sunburn yourself every single day. I mean, how far are you going to go? If you go outside and get freaking blistered every time, it's the same fucking thing with exercise.

You're not trying to go damage yourself. You're trying to set the gears in motion for your body to end up with a bacon dick. With me. No, that's a very good point to bring up and I think it's probably one of the most abused when you think about it with training, right? I mean, think of all the clients,

think of all of our peers. Oh, trainers, trainers are fucking guilty as hell of doing this to their clients. I see this shit all the time. They'll get a new client and it's like, I'm gonna make them hell of sore so that they think that they, you know, I'm a good trainer. You're a bad trainer.

Stop doing that. Stop doing that. Stop doing that shit. Stop making your freaking, you know, you're 56 year old female client, do a circuit including plyos and shit. I saw that the other day. Bro, that's an epidemic 56 year old, you know, female client, do a circuit, including playoffs and shit. I saw that the other day.

Bro, that's an epidemic. That's not just like a kind of, like we're talking to like a majority of trainers because that was something that I always had to fucking get on to even our own tree. It's something that we all had a habit of doing is, you know, you wanted to show up other trainers on who could put the most craziest workout together, you know?

Who could get their client to sores? And it almost feels like it is badge of honor that I, oh man, my client was so, and it creates this culture where all these trainers start doing that, and it becomes like, and then it becomes crossfit. It's so straight. Right?

And then as a trainer, if you're trying to build a business, I will tell you this right now, you hammer your clients, a lot of them will love you in the beginning, but you're not gonna have clients for a very long time. They'll either get injured or burnt out. And what I mean by burnt out is nobody wants to be sore all the fucking time, and it'll impede on their work,

on their family life, they'll feel tired, they'll get sick, and you'll have a client for three months, and then they're gone, and you won't have that client anymore, or you can train them properly, and then you get clients for years. Life time. Life time, who wanna work with you and and hire you and you make their life better. You don't make their life harder.

Yeah, well you become a nurse and I think we all have this relationship with our clients now where they literally call you for every little tip. I get text messages, hey I feel this going on with my body. You know, I noticed this. That's what you want to be. You become a great trainer. Yeah, I was thinking about eating this, this would this be a better, I mean, they want everything, every time they come, and you've built this value with you

that, you know, they feel so confident that anything related to nutrition or their body or working out or even overall health, general health, they want to consult you first before they make the decision. And that's the best because that's how they truly learn is that, and that's how I tell clients, it's like, I want you to go through this and try this, but then I want you to feel open to ask me.

And then I'll explain to you. I won't just tell you, no, don't do that. Well, then stay away from that. Yeah, then we get a better look. Like we're the preventative health and fitness professional at that point. You know, like we're preventing injury ailments, you know, like health conditions down the road, you know, and that's avoiding all these visits to the doctor, you know, all

these like impending things that are going to come down the road once you just focus on hammering your body and trying to get to a certain aesthetic. You know, it's just hard. It's just that long-term thinking versus short-term. I mean, every day, like that's what it amounts to. And it's just unfortunate is because like, our society and everything in general is just about like, okay, what's the quickest way I can get there? What's the quickest way I can get rich?

What's the quickest way I can do this? And incidentally, that's not the quickest way to get fit. You know, to beat yourself up. If you become that trainer that the client calls when they have a pain or ache and they call you because they want you to take a look at it and help them, you have become a master trainer. If you're the trainer that your client cancels on because they call you up to like, you know, I kind of twisted my knee playing a of the day, so I can't make our workout, then you have yet to become a master trainer.

With that being said, please leave us a five-star rating and review on iTunes and check us out on Instagram. We post some pretty awesome and funny information. You can find mine pump at mine pump radio. You can find me at mine pump sal, you can find Adam at mine pump at them and you can find Justin at mine pump Justin. Thanks for listening. Thanks selfies. You'll check me at MindPumpSale, you can find Adam at MindPumpAtom, and you can find Justin at MindPumpJustin. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening.

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