Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2576: Top 5 Superfoods Trainers LOVE for Their Clients & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Episode Date: April 16, 2025

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin coach three Pump Heads via Zoom. Mind Pump Fit Tip: Top 5 superfoods trainers LOVE for their clients. (2:09) What actually causes muscle growth? (21:23) Sal’s weekly training update. (25:53) Justin’s Road to 315. (29:23) Signs of overreaching. (32:58) Attracting high-end health clients. (35:41) Red light to reduce sunburns. (38:20) Super mom! (41:18) Conceptional vs. reality. (44:46) E-bikes are the move. (48:04) One of the BEST supplements for blue-collar workers. (51:45) Vitamin D and hormones. (54:27) #ListenerLive question #1 – How do I change my workouts accordingly without overtraining during this cut, all while trying to help with my hip mobility issues and SI joint pain? (1:00:42)  #ListenerLive question #2 – I successfully implemented a reverse diet alongside MAPS Split, starting from a low of 1700 calories. Now that I've completed phase 3, should I repeat MAPS Split in a caloric deficit, or transition to MAPS Anabolic? (1:13:42) #ListenerLive question #3 – Any tips you have for believing in yourself, and your abilities, and going for it? Would you recommend contacting successful trainers and mentoring/shadowing with them, and learning the trade? (1:22:19) Related Links/Products Mentioned Ask a question to Mind Pump, live! Email: [e-mail] Visit Joovv for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Code MINDPUMP to get $50 off your first purchase. ** Visit Transcend for this month’s exclusive Mind Pump offer! ** 25% Off All GHRPs (April 7 – April 30). Tesamorelin (Troches + Injections), Hexarelin (Capsules + Injections), IGF-1 LR3, and Sermorelin. Bundle Options: 2-Month Bundle & 4-Month Bundle. ** April Special: MAPS HIIT or Extreme Fitness Bundle 50% off! ** Code APRIL50 at checkout ** Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods Sore muscles…what does it mean? – Mind Pump Blog Justin’s Road to 315 Push Press Kawasaki unveils hydrogen-powered robotic horse that you can ride Porsche begins production of ‘e-fuel’ that could provide gas alternative amid EV push Get your free Sample Pack with any “drink mix” purchase! Also, try the new LMNT Sparkling — a bold, 16-ounce can of sparkling electrolyte water: Visit DrinkLMNT.com/MindPump Mind Pump #2385: Five Reasons Why You Should Hire a Trainer Online Personal Training Course | Mind Pump Fitness Coaching ** Approved provider by NASM/AFAA (1.9 CEUs)! Grow your business and succeed in 2025. ** Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Joe DeFranco (@defrancosgym) Instagram Dr. Stephen Cabral (@stephencabral) Instagram  

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind pump with your hosts Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is mind pump. Today's episode live callers called in. We got to coach people on air, but that was after the intro. Today's intro is 58 minutes long. In the intro we talk about fitness studies, fat loss, muscle gain, exercise, workouts. It's a good time. Again, after that we got to the live callers. If you want to be one of those live callers, email us at live at mindpumpmedia.com. Send us your question and what you want coaching on. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is JOOVE. This is red light therapy like you see in

studies. So improves the health of your skin, boost collagen production, improves recovery of her muscles. Some cases can balance out hormones. I'm not making this up. The studies that support this are numerous. Go check them out. Go to JOOVE.com that's J-O-O-V-V.com forward slash mind pump. Use the code mind pump, get $50 off your first purchase. This episode is also brought to you by MPHormones.com. Our doctors will do blood tests with you. They can recommend hormone therapy. They can also recommend peptides for you.

In fact, right now, they're having 25% off all growth hormone releasing peptides. These are peptides that'll boost your growth hormone production so you have growth hormone like you did when you were 18 years old. Go check them out. Go to mphormones.com. We also have a sale this month. MAPS hit in the Xtreme Fitness Bundle. They're both 50% off. You can find them both at MAPSfitnessproducts.com. Just use the code April 50 for the discount. All right, here comes the show. T-shirt time!

And it's t-shirt time. Ah, shit, Doug. You know it's my favorite time of the week. Two winners this week for Apple Podcasts, none for Facebook. The Apple Podcast winners are Wild Red Hot Babe and Periwinkle Clover. Both of you are winners. Send the name I just read to iTunes at mindpumpmedia.com, includes your shirt size and your shipping address, and we'll get that shirt right reveal to you the top 5 super foods that the best trainers and coaches love

to recommend to the clients because it gives them the best results. Let's go. Super food. The most interesting part about this is I don't know if you were to Google 10 superfoods, I'm not sure. Yeah, would these all pop up? Definitely not. I think one of them would.

Maybe one or two of them. So I'll start. How can we make? These are unique. As I say, normally you have a title like that. These are the most unique. Because, okay, so let me give you the first superfood, just so people aren't tuning out,

and then we'll back up and explain what's going on here. So the first superfood is grass-fed beef. It's extremely nutrient-dense. In fact, you could, and this is not, I'm not saying do this, but you could eat just beef forever and nothing else, and you'll probably never get a nutrient deficiency. Especially grass-fed.

And you really can't say that for pretty much any other food. Yeah, not just the one food item. No. I can't think of anything else. No, all right, let's back up for a second. Superfood has been completely bastardized. Agreed.

It is, and marketing. It's on every magazine, like you see it all over the place. It's a marketing term, and they'll pick some random nutrients and say this food provides this thing. The more exotic and weird the food is, the more likely it is to be labeled a super food. In reality, a super food is something that gives you lots of nutrients that is easy to digest

because it doesn't matter. A rock is a super mineral food but you can't eat a rock because it's not gonna do anything for you? It needs to be accessible because who cares if I, you know, name some leaf in the Himalayas that you can only get at a particular time. Nobody's gonna eat it. Why are we talking about it? Okay. Unless I'm trying to package it and sell it as a supplement which is what they also do. It needs to be accessible, easily digestible. In other words, digestible for most people, because who cares otherwise?

And are you gonna eat it? Is it something that you would actually eat? And again, is it nutrient dense? Does it provide wide-ranging health benefits backed up by not just data, data's very important, but also by experience. And we train lots and lots and lots of people. And so the foods that we listed here are the ones

that we just noticed bang for buck. Like when we had our clients eat these foods regularly, we just saw improvements in their performance and their health and their fitness and their fat loss, muscle gain, everything. And at the top is grass-fed beef. When I had clients who didn't eat beef, or who ate conventional beef and switched to grass-fed beef. When I had clients who didn't eat beef or who ate conventional beef and switched to grass-fed or especially people who didn't eat beef and this is more often female

clients than male clients. When I would have them switch to to grass-fed beef and include it in their diet on a semi-regular basis at least three days a week, they would notice strength gains. We would see their blood markers improve, energy would improve, and they would all come to me and comment on it. They come to me and say, you know, you told me I would feel better eating beef more regularly. I have been and I tell you what, my energy is up and I'm sleeping better and it's just it's high in B vitamins. There's good iron content in there. It's one of the most nutrient complete foods you can find. Grass-fed beet has a great fatty acid profile.

That's why I said grass-fed. Well, especially because when we were training, and I'm not sure if that's swayed a bit now. I think it's kind of shifting from a lot of the vegan propaganda, but we had a lot of clients coming in where a lot of TV shows, a lot of magazines were really demonizing red meat specifically and talking about all these detriments to it and saturated fat and like they're putting all this together. So they're just eliminating a huge source of protein, a huge source of nutrients from their diet that they're eating before.

And so to bring them back towards grass-fed beef, it had like just this crazy significant change in their energy and everything else. So I love that you did those qualifiers. Because if you were to, like I said, if you were to Google super foods and get the big list of all of them. You get a bunch of weird stuff. You get a bunch of random stuff and it's like, okay, of those things, how many of these things

did I really? Like you would see kale. Just eat kale, see how long you survive for. Not only that, but even just eating kale, like the foods that you listed see kale. Okay, just eat kale, see how long you survive for. Not only that, but even just eating kale, like the foods that you listed on here, and really I'm like, I'm spot on with you on four of the five, so I can't wait to get to the fifth one, because I'm curious where that's coming from.

I don't know about that one either. Yeah, so it'll be a good discussion around that one. But I 100% recall recommending these foods to clients, and it making a significant impact. Like it was like a big, like it was a this really helped this client and so and that more than once so that is the qualifier for me is like what are the foods that I said hey just add this to your diet or just do this thing and made an impact that's kind of where this list is coming from I feel. Now let's go back to what

you said Justin about saturated fat. Now there are polymorphisms or you know people who don't respond well to a lot of saturated fat. So what they'll see with the high consumption, if everything else is healthy, if they have too much saturated fat in their diet, their blood lipid numbers won't look so good. Now there's debate as to whether or not it's that important. People that I really trust would say it probably matters. So with those polymorphisms, you probably should watch, and you know this if this is you, right? Yeah, your doctor will describe that.

You'll see it, you're eating healthy, but your blood lipids are a bit off, and so you gotta reduce your saturated fat intake. Well, here's what's great about grass-fed beef. It's leaner, it's a lot leaner. So like eight ounces of rib eye, eight ounces of flank steak, whatever that is grass fed, it's lower in total fat. And the fatty acid profile is higher in omega three fatty acids than conventional beef. So I've had clients like this. This is why I'm saying this.

I've had clients like this who are very, I had a few clients like this, were very diligent, healthy. Their blood lipids were a little iffy and everything else looked good. And they're like, well, should I eliminate red meat? And I said, you know, before you do that, let's switch you to all grass fed and see what happened. And that did the trick. That did the trick.

They switched to all grass fed without realizing the protein went up anyway because it's leaner, so it's got more protein per ounce. And calories went down. Their fat went down a little bit, calories went down a little bit, the fatty acid profile was different different and it made a difference. So for people who eat a lot of beef, this makes a lot of sense, especially for people

who have those polymorphisms. But nonetheless, it's a superfood. It really is. Again, it's one of the few things you could only eat ever for the rest of your life. I don't think this is ideal at all, but you probably- Getting more protein per capita, especially for a lot of the young athletes and trying to recommend, because they're just going to go right to shakes and to get it from real whole food and really up their protein with that and ground beef and easily assimilate

it. That's one of the best options. By the way, I also made this list somewhat balanced. So you're going to have some proteins, you're going some you know foods that are you know more starches or whatever because I want to include all of those in this category so next up sardines or wild-caught salmon I put or because some people don't like sardines well I'm glad you said or because I've actually never recommend sardines but I have wild-caught salmon all the time all the time so but that's just because, have you had sardines yet?

You and me both. I don't know why you guys, they're not bad, they're good. I think people confuse sardines with anchovies or something. They're not bad at all. I mean, they come in a can and you're eating like a whole looking fish, it looks pretty disgusting. Yeah, get them skinless if it really makes a big difference. The skin's healthy, but get it without the,

no, it's actually, I'm gonna go buy some when we're done with this. We're gonna try. Add a little salt and olive oil, dougletyle, they're just really good. It's not a hyper fishy tasting fish either. But sardines are so high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, it's also a clean fish.

Here's the deal with certain fish, and by the way, this is why I said wild caught salmon. Salmon's a bigger fish. If it's farmed, it can eat, it tends to have higher levels of toxins. The fatty acid profile isn't as good. Still not bad, but it isn't as good. Wild caught, much cleaner. Yeah.

Sardines, because they are small, they don't accumulate toxins. Like, for example, a good example of this would be like the mercury content in swordfish. You can only eat swordfish so many times before you get too much mercury. Sardines are extremely clean fish, very high in omega-3 fatty acids,

very high in protein and other key nutrients. It's definitely a super food in that category. Wild caught salmon, also very, very good though. Also very, very good. And you said you recommend that one a lot. Yeah, because omega-3s is like a very common thing that most clients need a supplement. And again, it's kind of like how we recommend protein.

It's like, my goal is always to try and get these nutrients through Whole Foods. And so if I have a client that is being told that they need more omega-3s, which is very common, it's probably one of the most common supplements that doctors recommend. It's that, hey, I guess we can take your Omega-3s and I'm not saying I'm against that,

but it's like we could also try and incorporate some salmon once or twice a week, every week, and probably get those numbers up just from that and that's a better route. And it is higher per ounce in Omega-3s in salmon. Doug, if you could look up for me a serving of sardines in a can, how many Omega-3s are in there. It's super concentrated.

One can every three of those a week or something like that and you'd be getting a really nice dose of Omega-3. I mean, you had a lot of success getting clients to do that, huh? That's interesting. Yeah, I did. A lot of people, so there you go, one little can, 18 grams of protein, so you're not even getting like a huge, it's not even a huge serving, 1800 milligrams of Omega-3s in one of those.

70% of your daily value of vitamin D in one can. It's just so, it's more nutrient dense than salmon. And now when I had clients and I recommend sardines, they all had the reaction you guys had, like, oh, sardines. Then when they buy them in olive oil, you put salt on them or something, and everybody's like, that's actually pretty good.

Do you have any tricks to disguising it or anything like that? You just, I think it's the eating out of the can that's like. Put it on a plate with olive oil, throw some salt on it, see for yourself. I'm telling you, it's not bad at all. You like tuna fish? Yeah. It's less fishy than tuna fish.

I'm open to giving it a try. It's always been a tough one for me. It's just like, that just looks disgusting to me. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean. You've been working. Keep it real. But I'm like, you can get me to try stuff like that.

I mean, I'm not that resistant to it. I just, because I was, I always went the salmon route to clients, regardless of, I didn't know how beneficial that was in comparison. It's obviously of the better route. If you convince Klein, I just think that's all. Well, you don't like any fish. Yeah, exactly.

I'm a bad example to bring in this conversation. Yeah, so, yeah, I supplement. You like fish-shaped nuggets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I hate the fish sticks. All right, next up, blueberries. Blueberries, so here's what I love about blueberries. If you were to compare, a while ago,

there was this craze over the acai berry, remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now that you can find them everywhere. It's because of the company Montevie. Yes, so, a while ago there was this craze over the acai berry, remember that? Like this, now that you can find it everywhere. It was because of the company Montavi. Yes, so for a long, a while ago, it was like 20 years ago, they talked about this exotic Amazon berry, high in antioxidants, it's a blueberry in the Amazon, it's literally the same thing. But because it was so exotic,

and it is very high in antioxidants. It's exotic but it's so, like it's everywhere in Brazil. It's just like blueberries here. It was on marketing. Blueberries are super high in beneficial flavonoids, antioxidants, super high in fiber, super accessible. It's the best fruit. This was a go-to one for me for the fiber, antioxidants, and low calories. So it's a great way for your clients to get that.

And everybody likes blueberries. Low on the glycemic index. If I had clients that had a lot of time, they had any sort of constipation or digestive issues, I would literally prescribe two cups of this for the next three days, and they would be cleared up. It was like a go-to move. Easy, tastes good.

Blueberries go on so many things so well too. So this would actually be on probably the top of my list of like when I think of the, that I recommend the most. Not that blueberries trumps grass-fed beef. It definitely doesn't. You couldn't live off of it. No, but I want it to be balanced. Yeah. I wanted a fruit in there.

Yeah, like you can't just eat blueberries and live off it. But again, using the qualifier you said of like, these are the things that we recommended a lot, made an impact on clients, hands down blueberries was probably actually number one. And if you were to look at like, because they always talk about antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds and whatever,

and you were to look at different foods, blueberries crushes. The reason why nobody talks about blueberries is because it's not sexy. Well, and by the way, berries in general, right? Any berry, right? So it's raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, all those are very similar in the fact

that they're high in fiber, high in antioxidants, and very low calorie when you compare it to other fruits. By the way, this is like a staple. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries are staple foods for my kids. Like they're so good for you and kids love them. This is one of those. It's like a treat.

Yeah, it's one of those foods for parents where, because you sometimes like, okay, it's healthy, but they won't eat it. He just food it out. They eat berries. Let them eat it. Just leave it out there and everybody grazes. Berries in Greek yogurt is like a go-to meal for my son. Yeah.

And it's like a treat to him. Sprinkle a little bit of granola on top of that and he thinks he's got a dessert. Yep. Next up, this is not at all a nutrient-dense food in terms of micronutrients, but it's extremely easy to digest. It's very inexpensive, and it's the most versatile starch

that you'll find anywhere, which is white rice. White rice is the best. If you want a starch, it's the best. Everybody digests it well. You can add it to anything. It's inexpensive. It's like a very easy, cheap, clean, effective source of carbohydrates. This is my favorite one on your list. Because I think it'll be the most controversial as a super food. But again, using the qualifier that you said, there's probably nothing that I've recommended more than just plain old white rice.

There's nothing I've ate more than plain old white. It just goes with everything. You can have it mixed with eggs and stuff for breakfast. You can have it for every single meat that you eat or enjoy. It goes with fish, it goes with beef, it goes with lamb. I mean, it just goes with everything. And it's so good.

I mean, to me, like white rice just complements everything. It's a great, and it's also, the reason why, it's very easy to measure and track. And when you're working with clients and you're trying to be consistent with their tracking and their macros, I mean, nothing measures easier than a cup of rice. It's such an easy way to stay.

And have you guys ever had a client have like specific digestive issues? No, digest so easy. Nothing. Yeah. It's the easiest, cleanest sources. By the way, better than brown rice too. Way easier.

Because brown rice, the fiber in brown rice can cause problems, actually anti-nutrients. By the way, brown rice on paper looks healthier, but through the digestive process is actually less healthy. Actually, it can cause nutrient deficiencies. Brown rice massively overrated, white rice winner. White rice is it. All right, lastly, here's where you're probably

gonna debate me a little bit. Zucchini. Now, here's why I wanted to include a vegetable. Now, zucchini's technically not a vegetable, which is a good thing. Zucchini is a fruit, fruit are, generally speaking, easier to digest. Very rare to have an intolerance to fruit versus vegetable,

if you were to compare them. But zucchini provides you with a lot of the benefits people are looking for from vegetables. In particular, motility. Like, well-cooked zucchini for digestion is amazing. It's also very low in calorie. Now it is high in certain nutrients, lutein, zeaxanthin, which are both great for inflammation,

the brain, eyes, skin, but it's just this one thing that if you want to eat more vegetables to improve your digestion, but you also may have issues with food intolerance, whatever. So we're thinking digestion is a big process. Because I would be like, well, nutrient-wise, I would have gone cruciferous. But then some people can't. A lot of people have issues with cruciferous.

Yeah, they can't process it as easy. Yeah, you threw me for a loop on this one. Something like avocado, spinach would have been this one. Something like avocado, spinach, would have been more likely to make my own. I like avocado, but we had our fats in there. Otherwise I would have put, number six would have been avocado. Oh yeah, avocado.

Oh, I guess that's true. You have plenty of fat. Okay, so that's kind of where you're thinking. No seeds or nuts either. And then sell me on why so much better than spinach. So there are, now okay, people are gonna be like, why are you saying that? Okay, so the carnivore enthusiasts, they make points that have some truth. I think they're all super extreme. I do think they're cases where

some people have just autoimmune issues where they react to everything and they go on just a pure beef diet and it solves problems for them. So I get that. But the argument they make against vegetables in particular is vegetables have compounds in them that are in them to prevent animals from eating them. So in other words, if you're gonna have an intolerance to a food, vegetables can kind of be high. Same thing with legumes. So you see legumes will have issues, nuts will have issues, egg whites you'll have issues, why the egg white protects the yolk. And so the theory of vegetables are like,

spinach doesn't want you to eat the leaf, they don't want you to eat the roots, what a plant wants you to eat is the fruit. It wants you to eat the fruit. So fruit is very easy to digest, whereas vegetables, sometimes yes, sometimes no. So you talk to people about spinach, and you'll get people who will say,

man, if I eat too much spinach it messes me up. And the way they get around it is they cook the hell out of it. They'll boil and cook the hell out of it. Same thing with cruciferous. If you eat, I made this mistake once, I ate a bag of raw broccoli. Oh, bro.

It was terrible. You gotta cook the hell out of it. But see with zucchini, it's a fruit essentially. It wants to be eaten so it doesn't pose those issues. That's a new one of me I like that. We do zucchini though we do it a lot I just I don't know if I ever went that way but that makes sense that makes sense if that's something that you are challenged with more than likely they're gonna be able to have zucchini over other ones. Yeah my wife makes it real well too she'll this way is really good

where she slices it actually my son will slice it now my four-year-old but it'll be sliced then she cooks it with olive oil and cast iron So like olive oil garlic I'm not sure salt and she kind of blackens it a little bit in the cast iron. Oh, man That's good. And that is like that is like the best for digestion. Yeah. What does that say there Doug? So our vegetables real. Yeah, so it's more of a culinary term rather than a class of plant. That's funny. It's roots, stems, leaves, flowers, some fruits are included in that group of vegetables like zucchini. Interesting.

It's a culinary term. Was it just that they have seeds? Was that the classifier? That's what it used to be. For fruits. If something has seeds in it, the plant is growing it and wants it to be eaten because that's how it... So then they poop and then it grows. And then it's a fertilization. I know, isn't that hilarious? Yeah. I know, I love it. Anyway, I was looking up, or I actually came across this post on what actually causes muscle growth. So, as you guys probably know, there's always this debate.

Is it damage? Is it waist buildup? Is it mechanical tension? So the debate was, so mechanical tension is just the tension on a muscle fiber as it's contracting, whether it's concentrically contracting, you know, shortening, eccentrically lengthening, or isometrically just holding, right?

So that's mechanical tension. Then there's waste buildup, which is like the burn, and the pump, and the- Lactic acid. That you feel, yeah, or some people will say say lactic acid that's a debate as whether or not that's a waste but right it's the burn it's the you know that the pump all that stuff the other one is like damage is it damaged so you damage a muscle fiber then your body goes in heals it and then it makes it stronger so there's been this

debate back and forth and for a while now the data has shown that it's probably mostly mechanical tension or more data is coming out showing that it's probably all mechanical tension. So what we're finding with damage is that if that's true then then I mean I've talked about this for a long time that I remember when I first read this as a trainer that technically soreness is a sign of overtrain. Too much. Too much. It is, then it's completely overrated. I mean, if it's all mechanical tension, then the signal of soreness the next day

is more likely a sign of over training than that you had a good workout. So here's where it gets interesting, right? Like applying enough mechanical tension to a muscle fiber to trigger muscle growth probably will elicit some damage. So it's hard to separate the two. And then the waste byproduct, when you get a pump and then you do subsequent sets,

it probably increases the tension on the muscle fiber because of the fluid buildup in the muscle. But it all points back to mechanical tension. So interesting, right? What does this tell us? All points back to mechanical tension. So interesting, right? It's interesting. What does this tell us? I think what it tells us is what's most important is trying to get stronger, at least for the first few years,

which is what we've always kind of preached. Longer rest periods, right? So you don't necessarily need to chase some of those other things. But yeah, it's interesting what the studies are coming out. I mean, I feel like that points to the soreness thing more than anything else to me, is that it's not necessary. You, if you create good tension,

that there's a very good chance you're gonna adapt, grow, build muscle, you don't necessarily have to be sore. Now, could you be, you create a ton of mechanical tension and then also become sore? Yes, but I think that just points more to that that's more of a sign of over training. And the goal is, can I create mechanical tension in this workout without actually getting really sore is what maybe is the Goldilocks zone. Yeah. The reason why I was also reading about eccentric contractions, because they've've shown eccentric contractions build more

if you were to compare it to other types of contractions. So for people who know what that is. Also most more likely to get you sore. Correct, yeah, so that's the other side of it. So for people who don't know, like an eccentric contraction would be like me curling a dumbbell but now I'm lowering the weight. That's concentric, controlling the lengthening, right?

Eccentric, concentric would be curling it up. But the reason why they say eccentric probably builds more is because you can apply more tension. So if you can curl. Four times more. Yeah, so if you can curl 50 pounds up, you could probably lower a lot more. It's four times.

With control. They've actually done it. They say on average, whatever you can do. I remember reading that. Yeah, on the concentric motion, you can load four times more. And I've tested it before just like okay This is what I can curl then you have somebody like yes

It's like the spotter yeah, they used to work out like that where they just hold the weight and then you're just eccentric Bringing it but then the other side of that is with that much tension comes damage sure you're gonna get some damage along with it Totally this is why I think for a lot of people Who don't who've never trained with really heavy weight, when they do, it's like game changer. Like their body just, because there's a lot, I mean, you can get a lot of tension with higher reps too,

but it requires, in my opinion, more work. We're more focused too. More work. Yeah, like heavy sets, like it's heavy. You're gonna have a lot of tension. Yeah. You're exerting a lot. You're denying it, yeah.

You know? So I think that may be why you see that, especially when we got female clients who never train in the three, four, five rep range, switch them over and it's like boom. So yesterday was technically an off day for you? No, yesterday was a workout. Oh, so yesterday was a workout, today was a workout. Today I just did sauna and stretching.

I just sat in the sauna and did some gnarly stretch, which is, man, it's gnarly, dude. 30 to 35 minutes in there with really deep stretching. Hard, static stretching. Now, have you had... What poses are you doing? I did quad stretch. I'm focusing on stretches that are beneficial for jiu-jitsu.

So in jiu-jitsu, when you're in someone's guard on the ground, you need to sit back on your heels, and my quads are just tight. Lot of happy baby. So I'm doing that, no. No, that's when the other guys did your goal. Like Seiza and the, yeah, like couch stretch. Say what?

Couch. Yeah, which one's couch? So you put your foot back on the bench and then. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, did that. Press your hips forward, yeah. Pigeon, did a lot of pigeon. It's for some of the S-mount stuff that I would do. Hamstring stretches. That's

not super important. Now, are you finding yourself, have you had to have like an inner talk, like where it's like, you know, today is you're supposed to go in like that. And there's like, wow, maybe I'll just do one little exercise. Like, are you even having that kind of a challenge where you're tempted? Even though you've, because you've decided Monday and, Monday and Thursday is supposed to, I'm assuming you've picked a day so you don't do this, right? So Monday, Thursday, you get to lift. Other day's not. Are you coming in on a Tuesday or a Wednesday

and going like, ah, maybe I'll do it today? So I don't know if this will change, but the first week was tough and I just felt sad. I just felt depressed and sad, you know? I did, it sounds funny, but it's true. I just felt dead. Now that you're getting stronger, you're happy again. No, no, no. You know, it sounds funny but it's true. I just felt down. Now that you're getting stronger, you're happy again. No, no, no.

You know what? I didn't even really pay attention. It wasn't until you asked me how much I was lifting. I had to go add it up because I was purposely not. I'm okay, I'm okay. Something switched. Again, I don't know if it's gonna switch back. I'm sure it'll struggle at some point.

But I feel totally okay. I think, so I think it's, or my guess is that- But we're in the third week. Even though you're not trying to focus on strength, focus on the mirror, I have a feeling that you're gonna see positive, both in either strength maintenance or maybe even strength gains,

and aesthetically looking as good, unless you, which I don't think you're going to do like fall off the wagon diet wise. I think what you're going to realize is that you're going to look as good or better and you'll be as strong or better with significantly less. And so at that point, I feel like you'd be motivating. At least that's how it's been for me is like as I've reduced my volume down, I'm like, this is maybe comforting might be the right one. Yeah. Okay. Maybe that maybe that's probably how I can feel. I'm reduced my volume down. I'm like, this is cool. Maybe comforting might be the right word. Yeah, okay, maybe that.

Maybe that's probably how I like it. But I can feel I'm letting go of it. Of course, a lot of prayer. I think that's helping a lot. I'm sure at some point it'll pop back up. But it's interesting for people listening who are stuck in that place. When you move in a different direction

and kind of stay there, eventually those chains start to break. You start to feel those chains break. It's initially, it can be hard. It's like, if you always track your food, always track your food and you go off. At first you feel like, ah, you know, I'm going nuts, but then after a few weeks, what you'll

find, it feels freeing or like you weigh yourself all the time. So, um, you know, but I don't know if it'll come back. You know, when it'll come back, it'll come back. If I go start lifting weights a lot, if I make it all about lifting weights and bodybuilding, then that old if it'll come back. You know when it'll come back? It'll come back if I go start lifting weights a lot. If I make it all about lifting weights and bodybuilding, then that old monster starts to come back. But the fact that I'm not doing it, I think has helped.

And I'm actually enjoying the mobility, well, enjoying's a strong word. I'm not hating it. Yeah. That's the, I don't think I'll ever love it. Teaching yourself to enjoy it. You know, but. And then you recorded recorded yesterday, too

Right. Yeah yours and you've you've dramatically reduced the amount of volume you were doing dramatically Yeah, which is funny cuz like then like, you know that goes I verbalize I'm talking with you guys about it and then I'm out there like yeah I'm gonna cut all this out and then I just keep you know this set. Well, I'm gonna do their set I'm gonna there like, yeah, I'm going to cut all this out. And then I just keep, you know, this set. Well, I'm going to do their set. I'm going to do their, I caught myself, uh, ramping it back up. And then I failed. Yeah, I was feeling good. And then I failed on like two 75 that I was like, Oh, okay.

I, I should stop. You know, I was like, I was going to do it again. My ego wanted to really just get back at it and like, I've done this before. And like, you know, cause that's a know because that's a new that's a new like a new bar bar for me like I just got back and I'm like I want to keep you know hammering it home like this is like a consistent thing so that was an ego shot that like kind of hit me real hard and then I was like you idiot like um you were just talking about uh feeling good and strong and and you know reducing a lot of volume. But anyway, it's all part of the process.

I need to exhaust, I just need to start going off of a new playbook and really stick to it. You know what, so years ago when I was chasing a 600 pound deadlift, I would make this mistake. I'd hit a PR and then I'd come back. Try another PR the next day. And I'd be like, that's my new, yeah. And then what I was.

It's hard not to. It's hard. Yeah, because you're like, maybe I got a little more. Well, so then what I did, I was reading Soviet-era training methodologies, and what they would do with their athletes is when they would hit a PR, they'd go way back, and then they'd focus on speed

for a while. That's exactly what, and I know logically, I was like, yeah, that's what I should be doing, and then I didn't do that. So now I'm like, yeah I'm just gonna try is really hard to discipline myself to do that. Well, it's resisting that temptation There's a part of you when you hit that PR you go like what could I done ten more than that? And I get like five more pounds. Yeah that temptation of like and that went that went down pretty good Maybe maybe next week. I'll do little, you know what I'm saying, versus like, okay, PR, now reset, go back,

change it to way light, speed. I got a question for you. Are you using the DeFranco grip thing before your workouts? Oh, to see? No. Oh, I wonder if that would help. And you know what else is a factor too, and this is why I'm really looking forward

to going and working with, Thursday I'm gonna work with Jordan, but there's the, what we have set up here is so not conducive to what I'm trying to do. Uh, because Dale, poor Dale, I'm like, okay, we've got to lift it back up. So we have to, every time I do like I drop, I have to be to pick it back up and then put it back on the rack. And I was like, and I didn't want to complain cause it'm getting exhausted just with that extra bit.

Boxes that you can get. Yeah, like pulling it and bringing it back up. And then I was like, when I hit it before, I did a lot less laddering up to that point. I started at like two. So no fatigue. Yeah, no fatigue. Fatigue wasn't there.

And then also to the in-between. So anyway, I have all these excuses. But that's, I'm factoring all that in for when I really try to like, you know, get beyond it. But when the day comes and you're towards the end of this program and you're gonna go try after these PRs, Sal and I will come be your weight bitch.

And we'll... So that way you got it. I'm out of weight, bro. He's not as strong. I'm gonna get tired. Well, there's two of us, I figured. Yeah, still heavy. By myself, I can't beat you. Yeah, out of weight bro, he's so strong. I'm gonna get tired. Well there's two of us I figured. By myself I can't do it.

Dylan will appreciate it. He's like trying to film. Yeah poor Dylan, this guy's trying to camera man and do it by himself. I put him through the ringer dude. That's not fair to him at all man. You know, I mean we, I know one of the things I've always enjoyed is when we have these conversations and the stuff that we continue to learn or even if it's a lesson we've already learned, but again, how it's still challenging the PR stuff. I'm reminded of just, man, when I'm not tracking and I'm not really going after protein, I'm

definitely guilty of dramatically, way less than I should. I just know I'm this- Where do you fall when you don't? What do you think 80 grams? Wow, yeah, so I to to protein meals. Yeah. Okay. Yeah or three medium-sized ones or whatever with that Yeah, so if I if I don't actively go after protein, I probably fall right around 80 grams crazy maybe as low as 70 maybe I'm lucky one twenty one thirty, but dramatically under and maybe I'm lucky 120, 130, but dramatically under.

And one- Is it your breakfast? Is that like a determiner? Yeah, yeah, so if I'm breakfast skipping like I'm doing sometimes, that's right away. That guarantees I'm not gonna get even anywhere close. But yeah, normally lunch and dinner, then there are these kind of big protein meals. But even a big protein meal is, you know.

About 60 grams? Yeah. You had 120 if you're lucky? Yeah. So that's huge. That's a big. Big is like 45, 50. You know what I'm saying?

You're talking about 8, 10 ounces of meat or more. That's like a pound and a pound just to get 160. So it's just hard to do that. So when I was in Mexico, I trained two of the three days or two of the four days I was out there and overreached. Man, it really is a night and day difference on how fast I recover versus when I'm under. Huge, huge.

And I'm reminded of that, so I wanted to share because I'm like, here we are, I'm almost a week since then, right? So it's like six days, I'm still really sore. And I'm like, to a point where I was like, man, I didn't overreach that bad. Like, you know what? I've been so low protein the last three, four days.

I'm like, I'm just not giving myself enough. And I can feel how much the recovery is dragging out. For me, it's sleep one, protein second. If those two things will affect my recovery, like nothing else. So ironic you say that because I've been sharing the whole thing going on with the eight sleep and getting that all fixed and stuff right now waiting for them to send over the new one and my sleep has been terrible. So what I'm probably noticing is a combination of deprive because I shouldn't I bear I

really was I did a workout that was intended not to do a lot of damage I was like, oh, this is just just a nice light easy Whatever shouldn't be that sore and then I would end up being pretty sore a lot sore that I thought I'm like, yeah Here, why am I still sore? But then I'm like low protein Terrible sleep. What's your wimpy? Yeah Hey, I want to ask you you you you had theburn, you said we could use the Jew for it. Oh, so yes. So what did you notice?

So I probably didn't get burnt. I mean, I didn't burn and peel. For sure I overdid the sun. I mean, I was in Cabo, so we were like out. So this was after the fact you used the light. Yeah, and you know what made me do it? So the house, I mean, did you guys see the video of the house? Yeah.

Bro. Insane. That was an insane house. Shout out to Jim. I don't know. When Jim came to the studio, did we tell the people, the audience on air that he was there? I don't remember if he just got to. I don't think so.

I think that was just off air. So the audience knows. We had a guest come in. He's been a longtime listener. I'm sure he'll listen to this. So shout out to Jim. And like really listens to the show. He's listened to a lot of episodes, came in.

I can't even remember how Katrina set up the visit for him to come by, but he came in and watched a live recording. He knew that I go to Cabo a lot. Katrina and I go to Cabo a couple of times a year for a very long time. He's like, hey, I'm building a place out there. Then he goes, I would love for you to check it out. I know you and Katrina travel and do stuff like that and love to hear your opinion on it and give me feedback. And I'm like, oh cool, yeah, well, I'll hit you up when I'm going to head out that way. And so we kind of stayed in contact

back and forth a little bit. And then this trip came up where I'm going out there for a wedding. And I reached out to him and said, hey, I'm going to be out there around this time. Is the house available? And he's like, oh my God, it's finishing up right now. This would be great. I'll be like, the first guest to stay in it. And he's just like, we'd love to hear your opinion and feedback. And he sent me over a little bit of a hype video on it and I could tell it's a nice place. I'm like, oh, that's a really nice place. This is cool. So I'm, I'm super excited. We go with another couple,

but the video did not do justice. Like I went there and I went, holy shit. I mean, I told Katrina, I've. Bro, I've been blessed enough to stay in a lot of really cool Airbnb. We stayed in a ton of Airbnbs together. We looked for really cool spots. I don't think I've ever been in a house this cool. Like as far as everything it had, like he has really thought, I mean.

Oh, there was a spa in there. A full spa where you actually can get facials done and a massage. Facials right there. I mean, and the details, like a warmer for the sheets, the red light therapy sitting right by the thing. There was a cold plunge, a sauna, steam, a shower to rinse you off between, the gym.

I mean, that was the biggest. It was better than a hotel gym. Oh, it was the biggest. The lit up bar surface. Oh, a body fat tester. I mean, the detail that he put into this place. And his goal, he said, I really want to attract a high-end, health-conscious client.

And so I mean, I'm like, bro, you just hit it out the park with this place. So you used the red light there. So I used the red light there and back. Nice. I know I overdid the sun. And I was like, oh, we just were talking about Juve and you're talking about the sunburn thing. And I'm like, I've actually never intentionally, one, I don't burn that easy. It takes a lot of sun for me to even probably need that. I'm like, oh, this is the,

I knew it was coming on. I could just tell the way my skin was turning red. I'm like, oh shit. So I right away, the next day did it there. so I did it two days there, and I've done it since I've gone back, and it kept it from turning into a burn, which obviously we all know what our skin is like, and so you can tell when like, oh this is gonna be a sunburn and peel or whatever, I knew I was on that path, but just from doing the light, the two days there,

and then I've done two more days since I've been back, kept it from turning into a burn and peeling, and just turned it into a nice tan. Yeah, it reduces inflammation. For people who aren't familiar, so red light, this spectrum of light activates mitochondria. It's well known, well studied. It's been studied since the 1970s.

It's not new science. And it reduces inflammation, stimulates collagen production, reduces damage. By the way, what it does for skin, it'll do for muscle, right? So if you do hard training, and you get the wavelength of red light that penetrates through the skin, because you can get deep penetrating

or stuff that just focused on the skin. And I know Juve has the panels that do both. So the big panels will do both. So I've tested what you're talking about now. I've trained legs really hard, intending to, or trying to get sore, and then red lighted one side and not the other side. And you notice a difference.

Oh, yes, oh yeah. You will absolutely notice a difference. That's so wild. And I don't recommend you do that, but I was so curious because I remember when we were reading all the studies, and it's like, could it be making that big of a difference? Like, come on, well, the easy way to test it is,

I'm gonna train hard, trying to get sore, and then I'm gonna use one side and one side only and then see if I can feel the difference. Oh yeah. Well think about it right well how does this benefit you? Well we just talked about mechanical tension stimulating muscle growth and damage not being the thing that stimulates muscle growth. Well what if that allowed you to apply more mechanical tension more frequently and subvert the damage? Not get as much damage. Well now you got better results.

In fact, I think, I've never thought of this before, but I think red light therapy would be a great way to bring up a weak body part. So you increase the volume and frequency of a weaker body part, add red light therapy specifically targeting that area, and you'll probably get faster results. Well you make the analogy all the time when you try and teach people the

adaptation process you always use tanning as the example of that and that really mitigated the damage I would have done you know you always say well just ten minutes at a time well I didn't do that I stayed out there for hours definitely overdid it like overtraining but because I did the red light therapy it ended up adapting just fine I got a great tan from it and so of course it would apply I would think very similarly with training is like it now allows you that that that ability to maybe overreach a little more than what you normally would because you can still recover and go back out it. Dude I got to tell you guys

a story that happened over the weekend that was just it was it was pretty awesome to see in the moment though It was a little scary. So we my wife She was super woman. So we're all hanging out at home. We have friends over They haven't been over this couple that we met so we're all hanging out. Everybody has little kids so the kids at one point or watching TV we're all having a little bit of wine together at the table and The kids are eating snacks. My wife bought these granola ball things or whatever, and the kids are eating them.

And my four year old gets up, and he starts choking a little bit. And he makes a face, and listen, this is not an exaggeration, okay? You'll meet these people at some point, they'll tell you. My son stands up, he starts to gag a little bit. Bro, my wife from the kitchen, I listen, flew in there, swooped stands up, he starts to gag a little bit. Bro, my wife from the kitchen, I listen, flew in there, swooped him up,

turned him upside down, pop, pop, pop, pop, hitting him, he spits it out. I mean, so fast, everybody there, like the couple we had over were like, super mom. Oh yeah, they're like, oh my God, you went right into action, you flew over. And I was laughing because, and I was making a joke,

I'm like, I bet like it feels me choking. She flipped me upside down. I started shrieking. But she got into action so fast. In fact, she was wearing a dress, and she's like, I'm pretty sure I mooned everybody. I'm like, I don't think we noticed. We were looking at my camera.

I think every parent has experienced something like that where you, I mean, I told the story where I like pulled my growing muscle because you just you get it I heard him going down the stairs it's just it's a weird thing to you know to reflect on after it's happened it's like I moved faster than you you could pay me all the money in the world and I couldn't replicate. There's another level you don't even know you have. Yeah that's the thing it's crazy. She it was I. I mean again, it was split second. As we were processing that he was,

is he okay, boom, she's over there. And she literally snatches him up. She snatches him up, she's holding him with one arm upside down, pop, pop, pop, hitting the bat, and he tells like, whoa. So scary. Yeah, I had that when Courtney was at work. The Marlboro.

Oh, that's when I remember. I mean that was even, at work. I remember when that happened. I mean that was even, yeah, even with Ethan too. Both kids, I've had to do that. It was just like, oh, that's terrifying. We have, we bought those choking, I don't recall, but it's like a little mask thing and you pull the plunger. I got the same thing.

Bro, the Facebook ad got me. Those bastards. That ad scared the shit out of me. I was flipping through I bought three of them Listen, I know there's a there's still sitting in the plastic Like yeah, it's the worst. I bought one of every size. It's the worst ad. It's the worst most effective ad ever I'm flipping through Facebook and you're watching cuz like what's it looks like a a security cam video and there's a mom running outside Holding your kid who's choking trying to help him was like don't let this happen. I'm like, what's it looks like a security cam video. And there's a mom running outside, holding your kid who's choking, trying to help him. It's like, don't let this happen.

I'm like, oh, bye, bye, bye, bye. It's tough too because there's a lot of value in the kids taking big chunks of meat and learning to chew and stuff like that. And so that's been a constant battle, Katrina and I, because there's this temptation to want to chop it up all. Because of the fear. Yeah, all small for him, so he doesn't have to worry about it.

But it's like, man, we're also depriving him of building all that muscle in his jaw and that digestive process of him chewing on something like that. There's a lot of value to that. Yeah, there's a lot of value to that. So it's like, ah, how do you balance this? This is we know. That's parenting in a nutshell.

Right. It's everything. Oh, they're climbing the tree. Oh, man, if he falls, that's not going to be good. You got to be scared. You start to get afraid. Take the risk on here. Oh, yeah.

Sit in it. You know, it's like, oh, Yeah, yeah. You start to get afraid. I'm gonna take the risk on here. Oh, yeah. Sit in it, you know? It's like, oh, dude, have you guys seen? I wanted to bring this up because I just saw a video, and it's so wild and something I didn't really foresee in terms of technology and how they're going to come up with these crazy products. But Kawasaki, I believe, they came up with, I think it's Corleo, they call it.

It's like a quad, right? Oh the but it's a freaking like an animal Yes, it like has legs and it like runs and then jumps no it doesn't yes you sit on it you sit on it and it's like I mean for conceptual But they said that they're actually gonna put it in production I thought you're talking about the big wheel that I sent you guys guys I totally did not know do you did this trip me out? I was just thinking like if you're in the forest and then all of a sudden somebody's I want to see

No, like no, and it looks like oh, I didn't see this video, but that's not real. It's Concepts a hydrogen powered robot horse. Oh, that's cool. I mean if you play the video you Roll up you I Was like imagine being so sketchy if I saw that in real life imagine being a young dude You would mechanical horses become a thing could they I know Why not? It's kind of weird they would because they can get further like in terms of like terrain That's what I'm saying. Like what I what I've never, that never even of all, all robot never thought like, wow, mechanical horses.

That'd be like going backwards, right? Yeah. But, but you're like, wait a minute. There's imagine value to that. Now imagine you're like a, like a young dude and you got one of these for the first time and you roll up to like a, like a bunch of girls. Hey, like how cool would you be? Get on my robot horse. Like how cool would you be? Get on my robot horse. Get up with this. Look at that.

It jumps, like you think about jumping over like some crap Oh my god. Imagine the rush of that. Oh my god, it'd be scary. Dude, that would be, I kind of want one. I didn't even know that was gonna be a good one. I know, I actually, I was like, I would like this. You know, what I don't know, like there's so many conceptual things now. It's like, which one are we really gonna get?

I think Doug was talking about this the other day, somebody else had shared this with me and I heard this and I think this is true And we're gonna I believe that Porsche is working on like a like a synthetic carbon neutral fuel So that basically it's gonna be like gonna be like gas powered cars, but it'll be carbon neutral And so I mean carbon neutral so well right now gas is not right sure so it'll I don't know it's like a synthetic type of Hydrogen does it? I think hydrogen hydrogen powered cars they just emits steam right or or water vapor water vapors the Yeah, so it's called e fuel and it's made from

Water and captured co2. Oh, that's why. Yeah. So it's, it's, so whatever it's capturing and then putting it back out. So it's carbon neutral. And you can use it in a regular gas powered engine. That's what makes it so crazy. So imagine having this badass gas powered car that sounds awesome and has all the things that people love that are enthusiasts. Yeah. Yeah. I mean that could be, you might have game-changing that would love that are enthusiasts. But you're not polluting. Yeah. I mean, that could be, people might have game changing that would be if that happens. That's way better than this electric nonsense.

I mean, if they made it cost, if it was not effective. Well, look it up, Doug. Yeah, that's the challenge right now. It's not cost effective. But they're working on that. But nothing over was, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, most everything that we figure out,

like it's really not cost effective at first until. Since you guys are talking about this, you know what's funny? I've been contemplating just cause I'm trying, I'm doing different things to stay active. I'm like, maybe I should go buy a bike, you know, cause I live in a good town, you know, where it's a nice bike riding town. I want to get you a good helmet. And I had, I know dude, why would you point to your dickhead? Just got a match.

Super aerodynamic. Just cause you wear a triple X helmet. Just gotta match. Super aerodynamic. Just because you wear a triple X helmet. Yeah, I got a big ass dome, dude. Juggler. Anyway, so I was talking to my buddy about this. Because I mean, you know, it might be good. It's good activity. I used to like riding my bike when I was younger.

And there's these electric bikes that, they're not the electric ones, they're like little motorcycles. You still have to pedal them. So it's got just an engine that helps you, and I'm like, why would I want that? And he goes, bro, you go all over the place. It's a mountain bike.

You go up, hill, downhill. He goes, you just enjoy the scenery. He's like, you still have to work. It's a game changer. You know you have that already, right? Yeah. You know you own that already, right? That's the one we have over there. I haven't used it. That's exactly game changer. You know you have that already, right? Yeah. You know you own that already, right? That's the one we have over there.

I haven't used it. That's exactly, so it's cool is that You're so awesome. There's all these levels of exactly how much assistance you want. So if you want a full on pedal, you can full on pedal. If you want just a tad of the electric to kick in, then it just, which is awesome.

So it's like Yeah, but we have the cheap ones. He was showing me this like $7,000 like a main one. Well, I mean, it can get, yeah. It can get crazy with it. Those are nice, dude. They're not, they it's like. Yeah, but we have the cheap ones. He was showing me this like $7,000 like amazing one. Well, I mean, it can get, yeah. You can get crazy with it. Ours are nice, dude. They're not, I mean, I guess they're cheaper than that, but they're not like crap.

I haven't even talked about this because you guys, kids, and I don't know, we have different kind of like stages, but like my older, he keeps borrowing my e-bike, and it's like the range and the accessibility to like in terms of going further than we would have gone as kids like it's crazy and two they're having major problems with a lot of groups of kids because they'll make their way onto the roads and so they're starting to try and crack down and like you know and take the bikes from them like the kids are getting arrested.

So this is the one yours is the one that it doesn't go on it So you still have to peddle you stuff the pedal. Okay, so that's what I was super 73, but but They're trying to class them now. So like based on how fast they go like, you know, it's legal You know, otherwise you got to get a license or like and so they're trying to kind of Organize because right now it's the Wild West, and you see kids like, you know, doing wheelies in traffic and doing all this crazy shit. So my buddy was telling me, because in this area, we have some of the best biking trails around,

best mountain biking trails around, the easy ones and advanced ones. He goes, yeah, yeah, me and my wife go, and he's fit, but he's like, I'm not trying to go on this crazy trail. But with this bike, I can go on. It's like opening up a whole new world, dude, it's crazy crazy. Like I would have been so into it if I was a kid Well, it's really cool again how you can decide like gee is this gonna be a workout day You're really trying to get after it or do you want it?

It's more about the scenery and going distance and like so you can really Ramp up the assistance or you can really bring it down and make it feel like you're pedaling and so that it is cool to Have that flexibility. Yeah, I might get one. Yeah, I mean you can really bring it down and make it feel like you're pedaling. And so it is cool to have that flexibility. Yeah, I might get one. Yeah, I mean, you can probably borrow your own and see if you use it. Well, yeah, it's all the way up there. Yeah, I remember that when I was like, I remember I bought bikes for Katrina and I when I thought I was like, I'm a bike kicker, but I don't know. I did it for a little while.

Yeah, I dig it. So I'd be interested for you. It's freedom. You're probably the most likely one of us to probably do it. And Doug rides his little moped over here every now and then too, so maybe Doug. But yours is not an e-bike, right? Yours actually can drive on its own,

or is it also an e-bike? It can drive on its own. It drives on its own, yeah. Can you pedal it too, or no? Yeah, absolutely. So you have the same thing. Yeah, so most of them are like that, where they can. You can turn it on if you want without pedaling.

Oh, OK. I'll give that one a shot. You know speaking of my neighborhood. There's all this construction work where I live right now They're they're doing all this work. And anyway When I go on walks with the kids we see all these construction workers I always tell my kids to say thank you to them or whatever and the other day we got them You know breakfast and stuff and I thought to myself I like, they would probably like element, element tea, because it's hot, they're working outside. That's gotta be one of the best supplements for people who, blue collar workers who work outside,

it's gotta be one of the best things. It's to have that electrolyte powder in your water as you're working. The amount of sweat that they put out, especially these guys working on roofs and stuff, these guys are working on the roads, but it's starting to warm up. You're outside all day doing that,

you are sweating your butt off. It'd be interesting to see who's buying a lot of that. Obviously that company is growing like crazy. It's athletes, a lot of athletes, but blue collar workers has to be a nice. I would think that would be a nice, I mean I remember, and you did too, we all did, we all worked construction with our parents

and stuff like that. My dad used to add a little salt. Yeah, well it was Gatorade was like the thing back then. Like that's what all the guys did. They all had Gatorade and stuff like that. Like this is such a superior product now that you would think that they would make that. I mean, I would think that's just smart if they would,

I mean, imagine I'd go rolling up to all these big construction job sites and drop it off. I mean, what a- Oh, absolutely. we did that. Yeah. For, you know, the guys working on our house and, um, it was funny too. Before that, it was like, we're giving them beer and they're like, we gotta stop giving them beer. It's cool and all that building our house. Probably not a good idea. It's all crystallized. It's cool, but you know, whatever it's, uh, we dropped off some, some element and it was like,

you know, there was one guy that really appreciated, but the rest were, I should have qualified it better because it's not Gatorade. It's not something sweet. It's not something like, so once they kind of understood that, you know, what its intention was, like you have to kind of explain it first,

because otherwise it's just like, oh wow, they thought it was like ocean water. Oh yeah, the salt is over. If you don't understand the value. Especially if you add it to a little bottle of water. That's half a packet. Oh yeah.

It's too much in a little bottle. We stock the outside fridge with our contractors. It's so tasty though. With the ready to drinks already, and they've been drinking them, so they definitely appreciate it. Yeah, my cousins love it for Jujitsu. They say they notice a big difference in the performance in Jujitsu. For sure. Yeah, my cousins love it for Jiu-Jitsu. They say they notice a big difference

in their performance in Jiu-Jitsu. For sure. Yeah, sodium's a huge part. Well, it is. A loss of performance, and these are the old studies, right? This is the original Gatorade studies. The loss in performance that a lot of athletes will see,

there's a lot of factors, but one of them is the loss of sodium through sweating. And when you replace that, you get back a lot of performance you lost. So the original formula was like that. I want to circle back, Sal, because I had, and I just forgot about it until you started talking about this stuff right now, getting back to my being out in the sun.

And you know, everybody always talks about getting recharged, you know, like when you go on these vacations, like, oh, I just did this thing. And what's the literature say about the exposure to sun and direct relation to things like vitamin D hormones in my body and how much does that impact hormonally? Obviously, I know sunlight is important to us,

but what's the literature say about the, can I in that short of a timeframe see a- So vitamin D is fat soluble, right? So if you were to, if you had low vitamin D and the doctor were to give you a supplement, there's two ways you could do it. You could take a little every day or you take one big-ass dose. Yeah. Right? So you could take 5,000 IUs every day or you take a 35,000 dose, you know, IU vitamin D capsule and that's it for the week. So once a week type of deal Oh, I didn't know that you could do it like yeah, in fact, that's how they often do it

So like my dad was low vitamin D, which by the way The amount of vitamin D you synthesize from the Sun. I think it's a pretty significant amount per hour Maybe Doug you could look up. I think it's like 40,000 I use for an hour sunlight, but there's a wide individual variance because if you're dark skinned, you're not gonna synthesize nearly as much as if you're light skinned. Now my dad, we're Sicilian, we go out in the sun, we get very dark.

Like this is me not being in the sun. If I go out in the sun for a week, I get like several, several shades. Yeah, we're alike like that. Yes, I get very dark. So my dad works outside a lot. He's retired, he likes to work out in the backyard, and he was having all these symptoms of low vitamin D,

but didn't know. He just thought he had lots of aches and pains. My back's hurting this, hurting that, hurting, I don't feel good. And finally went to the doctor and they said, do you think you might have low vitamin D? And my dad's like, there's no way, I'm outside all day. And they checked him, he was.

So they gave him massive doses of vitamin D just a few times to build it up. So what does that say? 22%, so 1,000 IU can be synthesized. So 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure will give you 1,000 IU's of vitamin D. Wow, just 10 to 15 minutes. On a sunny summer day, a child wearing a bathing suit

can generate 10,000 to 20,000 IU's of vitamin D in 15 to 30 minutes. Wow, in just 15 to 30 minutes. So I'm spending four hours out there one day. I can get a mega dose like that. And then, and I didn't know, you just said something I had no idea about. Because one of the things that, so I was supplementing with vitamin D, 5,000 I used, and I remember we got those Cabral tests, and it came back, I was extremely low still on 5,000.

So 10,000 is now what the ones I get her with that But again, I'll be really good for like four or five days and I'll forget for two I didn't realize I could triple it up. Yeah, you could buy a 50,000 IU Vitamin D. This is why people don't recommend it because then Sometimes people forget and they end up taking too much. You can get toxic right if you take too much vitamin. Yeah But you could buy yeah, you could take a big dose on Monday.

I had no idea about that. Otherwise, that's exactly what I would do. My mother-in-law, she had low vitamin D and the doctor gave her 50,000 IU capsules and she was taking like one every four days, something like that. Because it's fat soluble, it just builds up in your system. I did not know I could do it that way.

You don't pee it out like vitamin C. Wow, and then of course that impacts hormones and everything like that. But yeah, going outside, man, you synthesize a lot. Yeah, so a three day hanging out in the sun. Oh yeah, you got a big ass dose of vitamin D. Wow. The only way to know would be to test your vitamin D level

to see how much you made, how effective it was. But you seem to not absorb a lot of it supplemental. You have to take a lot to move the needle. And nothing feels the same as getting it through the sun. Yeah, I mean the only way to know is to get tested. That's why I think it's so important to get tested with your nutrient levels. Like our partners at mphormones.com can test that.

And then based off of that, determine what kind of supplementation you need and or hormones. Low vitamin D can cause low testosterone. You know, it's one of the first things I do right now. Obviously, all of us get questions all the time from family and friends. And I've now, ever since we made the partnership

at MP Hormones, I just like, go there first. Go get all that. Then when you get all your results back, then we can talk about the programming, the diet, all the other things, whatever supplements you need. It's like, that's become my default my default, go take those steps first. Because that always tells me too how serious, you really want to work, you want to be healthier,

like let's go see your baseline and then we can go. I got to tell you guys too, so are they running a special, Doug, on growth hormone releasing peptides? Yes they are. Oh they are. Tessa Maryland is on there, right? That is correct.

Okay, so I got to tell you guys. You love that one, don't you? I love that one too. My wife was taking Tessa Maryland is on there, right? That is correct. Okay, so I gotta tell you guys. You love that one. I love that one too. My wife was taking Tessa Maryland, okay, and then she was getting her growth hormone levels tested and she was taking the recommended dose. Her growth hormone levels were like in 18 year olds from taking the Tessa Maryland.

She actually lowered the dose. That's how much it'll raise your growth hormone. Wow. Yes. That's cool. It was still good, but it was at the upper limit. And so she wanted to reduce it a little bit because she's like, I don't want to have whatever.

Now did you ask her or did she report any things that she actually feels? Sleep. My wife noticed huge impacts on her sleep from the test of Maryland. But you'll get the fat loss, the skin. The body composition one, there's a test of fensin for Courtney, it was like magical.

Oh, that's a different, yeah. Yeah, that was. Did is a Tessa Fentzen for Courtney was like magic. Oh, that's a different Yeah, which is yeah, that was I was that helper big time Yeah, like yeah, it was it was like one of those things that like sometimes you find something that just unlocks Results almost like within a week. Yeah, it was like crazy if you find the right one, but yeah, there's hexa Well, it's a test of Maryland. So Maryland. These are all the growth hormone releasing Peptides and they legit will bring your growth, I mean they very predictably will bring up your growth hormone levels just by making

your body produce more. And the rest of the month they're 25% off. Is it 25% off? I think so. Element is an electrolyte powder, you add your water, no artificial sweeteners, no sugar, and it gives you the right amount of sodium to fuel your workouts.

If you don't eat a lot of processed foods, especially if you're on a low carb diet, you'll probably benefit from adding element to your water. Go check them out. Go to drinklmnt.com forward slash mind pump. On that link you'll get a free sample pack with any drink mixed purchase. All right, back to the show.

Our first caller is Shauna from Canada. Hi Shauna. How are you? Hey guys, I'm doing good. This is so surreal. I can't believe I'm here. Thank you for everything you guys do. I know everybody says that, but I just wanted to start off by saying that because I'm really

nervous. Yeah, so if I can just give you guys a bit of a background before I jump into my kind of questions, is that okay? Yeah. Sure. Okay. Um, so I'm 37. I'm a mom of two.

Um, and I've been listening to you guys consistently for a year and a half now. I've gone through all your podcasts to gain as much knowledge on strength tips as I possibly can, as I embarked on my strength, strength training only journey for the first time since January, 2024. I've essentially been active my entire life. Prior to kids, I was one of those workout class junkies for years,

did dragon boat for a couple of years, went through an endurance craze phase with running, completed a triathlon and always trying to find new ways to be healthy and fit. I hired an online trainer in January of 2024 and worked with her for nine months. Over those four months, I won the New Year New You program, which essentially was who had the most results overall on their transformation journey. I am, however, feeling stuck without the help of the trainer as it didn't work out with her. So I kind of just tried new ways to do my own things since not being with her. I felt really tied to her app and her programs that she used

to provide me phased out workout programs. I lost 23 pounds from January to May last year and now I'm back up 11 pounds since reverse dieting and working on my metabolism. My goal is to build as much muscle as I can and work on my glutes and lower body

and now I'm at a point where I think I'm getting too fluffy My goal is to build as much muscle as I can and work on my glutes and lower body. And now I'm kind of at a point where I think I'm getting too fluffy and I want to cut for the summer. I currently train five days a week and I work out slowly from home. I'm starting to cut down from eating about 23 to 2400 calories a day over the last four months and I've been trying to build my lower body and also bring in my waistline, which has been slightly challenging due to having diastasis recti. I've seen some gains in the right places, glutes mainly and legs, but at times I tend to think I over train and I did this with my trainer as she had me doing

it this seven days a week. To bring my macros down too fast is also nerve is sort of a challenge for me as I don't want to lose what I've built. And I also struggle with some hip mobility issues on my right side. So it makes it harder to connect with my glutes as I would like to when it comes to squatting. So I try to stick to unilateral movements. My kind of open-ended question would be is how can I change my workouts accordingly without overtraining during this cut, all while trying to help with my hip mobility issues and SI joint pain. And is there a program you could recommend that I could use for a cut and only do this from home? I have like the interchangeable dumbbells, barbell, incline bench, squat

rack, plates, a rotted bow flex and a power tower. And my original goal was to grow the glutes and legs. And I understand that I have a little bit of a setback not having all the equipment. So if I can get to a gym every once in a while, I'll use whatever I don't have at home. So my ultimate goal is to get to a place where I can see the muscle growth,

maintain a cut look and continue to grow off season while maintaining a metabolically good place. If you guys can provide any advice, that'd be greatly appreciated. Yeah, Shana, we're looking at your great question, great. Your before and after pictures. It was incredible.

Great job, exceptional job, you're doing great. I think, I definitely think you're overdoing it with the workouts. For sure. Yeah, so Muscle Mommy would be a great program based off of the areas you wanna focus on. I will say this this with online coaches, there's always good ones and bad ones.

And then there's ones in between, and the ones in between, what they do well is they'll coach people, but what they don't do well is set the person up to be able to do this on their own. So it tends to feel like this, like I'm dependent on this coach, and I'm not really being coached on how to do this in a way to where I can develop this relationship and understanding of how to modify my workouts, how to change my diet,

so that I can just do this for the rest of my life. You're the perfect candidate for that because you've been doing this for so long. It's something that you value and that you take seriously. So I think a good coach again would be very valuable for you and I can have someone reach out to you and that you take seriously. So I think a good coach again would be very valuable for you and I can have someone reach out to you and call you because we have some coaches that we know are really good that can help do that. As far as program is concerned I think muscle mommy would be ideal for you and then with diet I mean your calories are good. I think if you were

to cut your calories follow a good program I think you're gonna see that nice smooth fat loss without muscle loss. I think you'll be good. I was even considering a symmetry for her. Symmetry would be another great one. I was thinking of that one too, at one point, cause I did end up getting muscle mommy on a side point and I was scared to start it. Cause when I looked at it, I was like, I'm used to doing PPL. And this was more of like a full body.

So I got a little nervous and I put it aside until I was able to sort of like, I'm still kind of like stuck in my coach's mindset of PPL. So I've been like just doing whatever. So if you think it'll benefit me, I could always 100% it will always remember like if whatever you do, whether it's push pull legs or or you do a body part split, or you do a full body, whatever you do most of the time, almost anything else is going to be better as far as like the novelty. Like it's going to be a new stimulus for you. If you're used to doing push pull legs, and you've done that for the last year, going

to full body may be one of the best things you possibly do. Just that alone. And then reducing the volume. If you're training seven days a week, I like something that's more like three or four days a week for you. That alone with the calorie reduction, I think will lean you out nice, keep the muscle you've built. You're not going to lose it. I think you'd easily scale back that much. What about like activity? Like I didn't know if I heard you say, did you say steps and how much you're moving? Are you doing any cardio or anything like that?

I try to hit 10,000 steps a day. I have a sedentary job, but I'm always making sure I listen to you guys when you say to do those, how important it is to take the 10 minute walks after each meal. Nice. So I'm really trying to make a point to do that now that the weather is nicer here,

cause we had a lot of snow, but I've always been very consistent with anything that I've done, like steps, sleep, water, getting to seven, eight hours, sleep, water, getting to seven, eight hours of sleep. Like I'm really good at following something when it's laid out for me.

So active wise, I think I'm, I'm in a pretty good spot with my steps. I even kick myself sometimes when I only get 6,000, which isn't very often. You're, you're going to respond really well to a change up in your routine and a reduction of volume and full body, I think is the way to go. Especially if you've been PPL for a long time.

I do think someone like you would get a lot of value if you're still open to working with a coach, to having a coach work with you and then the idea with the coach is to work with them for a little while and then say, hey, I'd like to work with you for a bit. Here's a goal I have for summer. But then my idea is like, I want to be able to learn how to do this on my own. I don't want to work with you for a bit, here's a goal I have for summer, but then my idea is like, I wanna be able to learn how to do this on my own. I don't wanna work with a coach for the rest of my life. What does that look like?

So to give you an example, this was how most of my clients trained with me. This is why I had clients for 10 or 12 years. They didn't train with me two or three days a week for 10 or 12 years. Initially they did, but eventually it turned into like once a month, or some clients had once every other month,

they'd come in and see what they were doing. Some clients had just worked with through text here and there but they were able to really be able to learn how to do this for the rest of your life because you don't want to be left feeling like you are now where it's like you're not with your coach, you feel a bit lost. Like, okay, what do I do? You have good idea of exercise, you know how to eat healthy, but you feel like you're kind of floating around a little bit. What tends to happen with that is you cling to what you were doing before, which is what I heard. You're afraid of changing from this PPL routine because that's what you've done or what you

did. And I don't have a program because she gave me programs, so I don't really know what I should be following where I'm at now, like in the cut phase and volume reduction, et cetera. Yeah yeah yeah I think I think I'll have a coach reach out to you Shauna and I think that they're gonna be able to recommend which if you end up working with them that you get the program included if you don't I'll make sure we give it to you regardless but they'll be able to recommend which program will be best

for you based off you know talking with you for 30 minutes you've done an incredible job I mean yeah and your before and afters is incredible. Amazing. Incredible. I actually just think, I think you can do a lot less and get as good a results, maybe even better, like doing less. Like that's what you've done such a good job. You've done such a good job building a great base. Uh, you've got good muscle mass on you.

Um, I think you are training more than you need to. And I think you can maintain and improve your physique with less work, a better balance. Yeah, I think what you'll find is you'll actually get a better metabolic boost as well. I think you've done really well in spite of the fact that you're doing so much strength training which is more than, not just more than necessary, it's probably, I would bet definitely more than what is ideal. So you can tolerate it, so your body's recovering probably, but it's probably not getting you the best results because it's so much.

If you do- And just to make note on that, not really because I actually started losing a little bit of hair, like more than I, and I figured that was probably from a bit of over training part. For sure. Yes. Yep, yep, yep.

And I'll tell you what, Shana, with your history, I've done this enough to know that when I work with somebody who used to be lots of classes, endurance stuff, triathlete, the battle is always that they always slowly inch towards the max they could tolerate until the signs get quite obvious. So I'm positive that a more appropriate routine is gonna give you more time on your hands but

really gonna give you're gonna get results that are gonna blow you away. The other thing I want our trainer to do with you too is to customize a priming routine before you get started because of what you've talked about your hips. You should have a series of movements that you do every day and every day before you work out for sure that they teach you. So they'll take you through that when you go through prime and get set up. So that's something that just you pointing out the hip stuff, there should be a series of movements you do every single day before you work out in addition to what we're talking about scaling back.

So typically SI joint pain from bilateral movements like squats or deadlifts, typically fixable. I mean, I'd say probably nine out of 10 times I could fix that with a client. There's a 10% of the time where it gets a little tricky. So this is, and because you're fit and active, this is not gonna be an issue. You just have to identify what the issues are.

And we'll go to pelvic tilt part. Does that stem from hip mobility issues, would you say? Because I only recognized that when I started squatting in strength training, whereas in classes I didn't even think twice about it, because you don't really know what you're looking for. Depends on what you mean by that. So what do you mean by pelvic tilt?

Anterior tilt, posterior tilt? Is it asymmetrical? When I go down to do the back squat, I have that curve in the lower back. It can't get down low enough. So I try to just stick to 90. So you get the, I can't, it tilts so then I can't feel it in my glutes. So you get some, some, some movement in the low back as you go down.

That could also be her abs too. So she could, she might be not, what might be happening, right? We might not be bracing and engaging the core. It could also be ankle mobility. Yeah. I mean, this is all the stuff that you're going to go through when they take you through prime. So they'll take you through the assessment and they'll look at all this stuff and then

they're going to be able to tell by your squat assessment. Not uncommon what you said, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Not uncommon at all. Okay. Well, thanks guys. So I'll give that a shot and I really appreciate your time. I appreciate everything you guys do.

You guys mean the world to me. I listen to you daily, so. Thanks for everything. And again, I gotta say this, great job. Yeah, yeah. Like really, I mean. Crushing it, yeah. Are you looking at your before and after?

I mean, that's crazy. That's a remarkable thing. I know, I sent you, yeah. I'm very happy with the results. I'm that type of person that always strives for more and then when I see the fluff, I want that cut again. So just trying to figure out how to go about that. Yeah you're in a good place. Yeah we'll find that balance Shana don't worry. Okay thank you so much guys. Thank you.

Very good. Yeah great job. I like seeing that. I like seeing I mean her calories aren't in a bad place. She can cut from there. Um, you know, her, she's definitely leaner than she was with more muscle. Uh, I mean, I don't think you can ask for more, but yeah, you know, just speaking to, uh, the coaches out there, uh, you could be a great coach or good coach, I should say, but your goal should always be, can I get this person to be able to do this without me? Give them guidance of where to go after we get, and I know that sounds crazy, right? Cause as a trainer, you're like, what do you mean? I want me to get my able to do this without me. Give them guidance of where to go after we get there. And I know that sounds crazy, right?

Because as a trainer, you're like, what do you mean? I want me to get my clients to stop training with me? Well, yeah, but here's what ends up happening. They stick around, you work with them less, you get more clients, you develop this client base that never leaves, it just looks different, and you make a real long-lasting impact. And then the referrals you get from that are just insane.

Our next caller is Chris from New York. What's up Chris? What's happening? Hey, what's up guys. Great to meet you. And thanks for the opportunity to be on big thanks to Doug for getting me in. So like Doug said, my name is Chris. Um, I got introduced to you guys by my nutritionist and trainer, Anthony Castigliola. He swears by you guys. So shout out to Anthony. And I've been lifting in training for probably about 25 years, really with minimal interruptions over the years.

Last January, I turned 39 and I was the heaviest that I had weighed. So I was 255. I'm only 5'8". And I was approaching 40. So, you know, I just knew that if I didn't get on track, it was just going to get worse. So I was also confident that I just knew that if I didn't get on track it was just gonna get worse so I was also confident that I could do this because I had lost I think a little over 60 pounds when I first got sober back in 2010. I knew it was gonna be hard but I knew that I could get it done right and at the time and a big motivator and I hear you guys talking about this all the time right is I promised my seven-year-old son that I'd be back down to my wedding shape. And I was mindful of not saying wedding weight by the time I turned 40, which was this past January 15th. So, you know, and you guys know this

as a father of three young kids, like I just knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I had to make it work. So I started on my birthday, January 15th, and in June of last year, I was able to get down to 210 pounds just through my own programming and diet based off of what I've done over the years. And I just knew that if I wanted to get to the goal and I kind of needed to kickstart things back up and really dial things in, that's when I started working with Anthony. So at that time, I started tracking my food, focusing on 200 grams of protein a day,

along with many other things that he has suggested. And then I also went from high intense cardio sessions down to focusing on just getting like 10 to 15,000 steps a day, which was a great situation to be in. So all that to say, I was able to get to 180 pounds exactly one year after I started. So on my birthday this past year, after being in a calorie deficit for so long, Anthony guided me through a reverse diet, which I was nervous about, as you can imagine in the beginning.

But it really ended up being great. And I started the reverse diet at the same time that I started the the map split program. And last week, I finished phase three of the program, I was weighing in at 195. So I put on roughly 15 pounds through the three month program, along with the reverse diet. Originally, I had planned on starting the aesthetics program once I finished maps, but maps split, but it was, you know, once you go from that, I feel like it's really hard to try anything else. So now I'm kind of in between whether I go to maps, do I do the split program again,

now this time in the calorie deficit, or do I try, you know, maps aesthetics or frankly, any other program that you guys would suggest. So that's my first question. I got two questions for you. Yeah. What are your calories at now? So right now I'm at 2,500. So I'm making my way back down, but I'm still, I'm still dropping a pound or two

each week at 2,500, which is great because I'm 1700 before. Okay. I go to map symmetry and stay where you're at with your calories if you're dropping body fat. But I think symmetry is a great follow-up to split. Great follow-up. And you're gonna continue to see results. Yeah, if you're losing weight at 25,

don't cut your calories. Yeah. That's exactly it. And the fact that we're gonna switch over to a programming that will be like a novel stimulus that's so different than split, that help that will respond. That'll keep it going perfectly. Have Doug. We'll have Doug send that over. Yeah. Great progress so far, bro. You look incredible. Yeah, thanks. No, I appreciate it. Um, it's been great.

Um, you know, as it relates to the only other question I had, I think it probably still applies to, um, the program that you guys are suggesting. I think over the three months, guys, maybe I missed like three weeks where I didn't get six workouts in and I got five workouts. So instead what I did was I combined the leg and the pull day and I just took like the core exercises out of those workouts and combined them into one.

Would you recommend that I do that? If like, you know, life comes up, right? Whether I'm traveling for work or whatever the case may be, would you suggest that I do that if like, you know, life comes up, right? Whether I'm traveling for work or whatever the case may be, would you suggest that I try to combine to get that fifth day in? Or, and I don't know anything about the program you guys are suggesting,

so I'd definitely look into it and look forward to starting it. But, or would you suggest that I just pick back up on a Monday where it's day six? Let's just use the split example. So I was kind of curious on your thoughts on that. You know I don't think there's a wrong answer here because that's not that much a missed workout, one workout out of six days a week. I do

want to point out though this is one of the reasons why we're like such big fans of full body routines and most of MAPS programs even though we have a split are full body for that exact reason because if you if we were doing full body I'd be like don't even worry about it we're we're good to go. And you're gonna be balanced still because you're doing full body routine. So I do think that's something to consider, especially if you know that kind of occasionally happens. If it only happened one time, it's like in a year,

then who gives a shit, it's not a big deal. There isn't, like Sal's saying, there's no real wrong answer. But if that's happening once a month to you and you notice that, like where you don't get all six days in a split, this is where it's like, dude, a three-day a week type of full body is probably even better for you. Yeah, it's not a big deal if you miss a workout, especially when you're training on a high

volume routine like split. Split, everything's getting hit twice a week, so missing one workout means you still get that body part. It's not gonna really change anything. And to be honest with you, with that much volume, missing a workout probably is good for you. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. But with symmetry, I mean, you're gonna be set.

It's less volume than split was. If running a split program, and so I'll tell you how I used to do this, because I ran a lot of split when I was bodybuilding and stuff. And of course, even when bodybuilding, I would run into days where this would happen. And I would always start over on the muscle group that I care the most about or that I'm trying to progress. So if it was, so even if I did, like I said yesterday, so let's say I ended on legs but

legs is my main focus and then that week I only get five workouts in and then technically it was supposed to be chest that I missed and then I'm going on Monday again, I start back at legs. I always start on the weakest muscle group in my split no matter when it landed because I'm trying to increase frequency and volume on that muscle group to catch up to the other one. If I missed a week of chest, it ain't a big deal. It's one of my strengths, so I'm not worried about it. So if you have a body part like that, that you feel like you're trying to bring up, that's a good strategy too, is that anytime you miss a day, you're starting back over on that day

always. And what that does is actually increase the frequency on the muscle you're trying to catch up. So that's also a good strategy. Yeah great advice. Yeah I can do that. It's legs for me too brother. There you go. So that's it made it easy for me. It's just like if I miss a day I'd say hey another leg day. Another leg day. Yeah so start back to that. That's a good strategy. And like I said I think keep your calories where they're at. Keep going where you're going. With and it follows symmetry. I think you're gonna continue they're at. Keep going where you're going. And follow symmetry. I think you're going to continue to see progress with that.

Yeah, Doug will send over symmetry for you. Awesome symmetry it is. Yeah. Thanks, boys. I appreciate it. You guys are doing great work. Appreciate the positive message. Keep grinding, boys.

Appreciate it. You got it, man. Thank you. All right, see ya. You guys think his trainer was Italian? I was going to say. That last day, bro. I was going to say. I was like, man. Thank you. All right. See ya. You guys think his trainer was Italian? I was going to say. That last name. I was going to say.

I was like, oh my God, there's a lot of vowels in there. Yeah. Is he Russian? Yeah, what's going on? No. You know, I mean, so what people don't know is he was a college athlete, he's been training for a long time,

and so he probably has this kind of genetic ability to handle a lot of volume anyway. So split is a lot of volume for most people, but he's progressing well. I think his calories could go even higher. I really do. He can, but he's not in a bad spot. No, he's in that. Sounds like he's in the Goldilocks zone.

Yeah, he's in a good, he's in a really good spot. Sounds like a healthy metabolism. He's lost a lot of body fat, built some good muscle. He's in a great place right now. I mean, this is a great example of two where people tend to over correct or overdue when they're right where they need to be. You know what I'm saying? It's like he's cruising right where you need, but you know, everybody wants more, you know, more results faster. It's like, Oh, so I'm going to rat this.

Like, no dude, just stay right there. You're in a beautiful spot. Our next caller is Sean from Canada. What's up Sean? What's happening? Hi, how's it doing? How you doing, guys? Good. We're good. How can we help you?

OK, first I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to hear me out. I know you guys probably get a million requests, so I really do appreciate it. I'll read you the email I sent in, and then I'll just update you where I am today. OK. So I just wanted to thank you for spending the time you do giving out advice, coaching,

helping people to be the best versions of themselves. I've been listening to the podcast for about now about eight months. I found it incredibly beneficial and I've been able to relate to each of you on some level. I find your takes on life, parenting, relationships, and fitness inspiring and extremely relatable and insightful. I'm 41 years old. I'm divorced, father of two girls, age 15 and 12, and after finishing university I landed up working in the family automotive business and I've been

there ever since. I've always been hesitant, actually I'd say like more afraid to take risks and pursue my passions. I kind of like to stay in the safe zone and Don't like to get out of there The years sort of just passed by and I felt almost stuck for a while now for quite a long time I feel like I'm my own worst enemy. I overthink over analyze and a result I land up looking at their negatives, which has led me to shoot down a lot of my ideas before I even attempt them. I think this has become worse since I had my daughters and became a father, because I'm more extremely fearful of taking risks and I don't want to jeopardize any of the security I have for myself or my kids.

I suffer and have been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. I had a really tough time and I was diagnosed with that. I did the CBT and I've taken medication and it's been life-changing. Fitness has always been like a tremendous help and it's become a huge passion of mine. I started working out in the gym as a teenager and I've played sports, basketball my whole life. But when things got really bad with my anxiety, I found like solace in the gym, it was sort of like my safe place.

Since then it's become a place of escape for me. Over time, my passion for health and fitness, as well as I feel like advocating for mental health, especially for men has continued to grow. And now I've come to the point where I'd like to try and pursue a career and finally do something with my life that I find meaning in and that I can make my kids proud and something of my own that I'm passionate about.

After listening to you guys, I recently pulled the trigger and you motivate me and I enrolled in the NASM, CPT, CES, CNC and the PES, the Elite Bundle course. Wow, good. Wow. Good for you. Yeah. I just wanted to know what your advice would be with regards to next step once completing my certifications. I could continue with my current career and like build up a fitness career in the evenings

and on weekends. I just don't know how to transition fully into a new field with a mortgage, two children, other financial obligations. And as well as I'm doing now, I know my anxiety will come up. And I feel like I'm gonna doubt myself and put pressure on myself to kind of like stay in the safe zone and stay safe and stay in my current situation. If there's any tips you have just for believing in myself

and abilities to go for it, would you recommend contacting successful trainers and mentoring with them, shadowing with them and learning? And so that's why I left the email off. Sean, you we have to get you in our course. You've got to get in there with all of our trainers. We've got we've got. Yeah.

We've got a thousand trainers in there. They get they're they're getting calls, support calls every week with our team. It's an incredible community in there. So it's not just the course that you go through and everything you're going to learn from that. It's the community and communication that ongoing that's going to help you. I can tell you right now already just from the little bit of time we're talking, there's an opportunity for you to share your story.

And I mean, I love the mental health angle for you since you've personally dealt with that and there is a big need in the fitness space for men like you to be vulnerable enough to share that. And there's not a lot of people doing that. So you being you, there's a lot of opportunity for you to help a lot of other men in that space. And if you were in our course and I was helping mentor you, this is the direction I would be really trying to push

you into building your brand around that because it's authentic. It's you. It's you. And it will help a lot of people and not a lot of guys in the fitness space. It's all macho. Everyone's macho. Everyone's got it together, but deep inside, they're all fucked up and nobody wants to admit that. It's a lot of what the success of Mindpump was because of us being vulnerable like that and sharing about ourselves. That's why it's done well because there's not a lot of people in the space that are doing that. There's definitely a stigma to it. There is. There's a stigma to it. Sean, I gotta tell you this. Look, there's two things that I think are important to understand. One, your fears and wanting to stay safe are valid because you're a dad.

You're not just some dude on your own, you know, you can go sleep on somebody's couch, no big deal. You're taking care of your kids, but there's another side to that coin, okay? The most motivated men on earth are fathers. That's a fact. When you look at the data, when they talk about men make this much money, what they're talking about are married men with children or men with children.

When you look at single men without kids, they actually make less than single women do. So being a father, yes, there's a responsibility there and it can definitely be scary because it's not just you, but it's also extremely powerful and motivating. Now I identify with you quite a bit with what you're talking about. The gym was my safe space as well,

and it's someplace I felt the best at. What helped me the most with that was helping others. So there's two directions that I would move you in. One, to continue to be able to pay your bills while pursuing this career, a big box gym is gonna allow you that opportunity because they have a structure, they have a system, they have the leads, they have people in there.

Two, would be working with our community. And now if you work with our community, you're gonna get, so our course specifically teaches coaches how to build their business. You've got all the education, you've got the best education. The NASM courses that you're enrolled in are the best. They're the best with education. But for building a business, that's what we specialize in. And then the part that makes us different is the coaches that we have in that run our course course are there helping coaches build their business.

And they're teaching them how to do this and kind of, you get semi, you get a little bit of coaching along with our coaching course to move you through along with this. And then one last thing I'll say, so I think helping people's gonna help you a lot with your own personal stuff, it did for me. And then if you have a spiritual practice,

the data is very clear. Nothing helps generalize anxiety It did for me. Then if you have a spiritual practice, the data is very clear. Nothing helps generalize anxiety like having a higher purpose, a purpose bigger than yourself, and a spiritual practice does that better than anything. Anything. I can tell you that personally and I can show you what the data shows. Nothing comes close to that. Those are the two big things that I'd recommend.

Yeah, because what I do now I'm successful in that and financially it's great but I'm missing the fulfillment. Some things it's not fulfilling me and I'm feeling like I'm stuck and it's like I'm treading water and I'm not getting anywhere. You're being called to something, you're already making the right steps, you already have a great story and message to share. It's literally, it's if you were my buddy, I'm pushing you off the cliff right now. I'm going to show I'm going to shove you off. You're in the right headspace. You know, you what you want to talk to is what you

should talk to. You're the right guy to talk to that. Jump in and build it. Yes. I mean, as soon as you are in a place where you can get into our course, I want you in there because I 100% think that's what you all you need right now to help you. You need an accountability group. You need peers with you with this process because really it's just that constant reiteration that there's definitely a plan and a way to construct this that's going to be successful. And it know, it just needs, you just need that constant kind of accountability around you to help. There's two things that differentiate trainers that build a successful career and ones that don't.

One of them is they feel called to it, so it's definitely a purpose-driven industry. So good trainers, successful trainers, the ones that really feel like, I want to do this, I want to make a difference. But the second part is they understand and they learn how to turn this into a career. And it typically comes from good mentors or a good system. And if you're missing that, it's very difficult.

But when you have that, it's guaranteed. It's guaranteed that you'll build a career doing this. Have Anne call them. Yeah, I think let's have somebody reach out to you from our team. At the very least, you can kind of give you a little bit more detailed advice. We have somebody on our team that's really, really good

at getting people like yourself going in the right direction. Amazing, thank you. And I just want to update you. So I've done the Nesems, I completed the CPT, I'm doing the CES right now. Great job. Oh wow. Yeah, that's huge. I've also reached out to my gym. It's more of it's not a big box gym. It's like a tennis like racket club

They've got a gym But it's more like an older clientele and I asked them if I could sort of they were open to like an internship But just somewhere I could shadow brilliant. It's perfect I feel like there's so much knowledge, but it without practice and I don't want to like high-faceted and Put like an Instagram profile start charging people to train. I don't feel like... Good integrity. I want to first know, I sort of want to have experience before I go there.

Sean, Sean, you're gonna do good bro. Forget Instagram. You're gonna do good. You're right on point. Yeah dude, everybody thinks you build your personal training business with Instagram. You don't. You're doing the right thing. And by the way, the kind of gym you just described is a perfect personal training gym.

It's better than a big box. Perfect. Older clients have all the more disposable income. And I thought I could put the corrective exercise into practice there with that kind of gym. Yes, yes, yes. Yes, dude. That's where the business is at. You're the things you want.

You have the right mindset, bro. You're going to do fine. You're going to be fine. Again, I'm just, I'm going to push you off the cliff. You got to jump. And then just one last thing I'll just add is the one thing that pops up a lot is I'm 41 and I know you guys you guys always mentioned that You notice when you're like 60 the gap between If you're physically in shape or mentally in shape compared to your peers, and I feel like I noticed that now even in my early 40s

There's a big difference. Yeah But at the same time I feel almost like I feel like I'm in still in my 20s or 30 there's a big difference. But at the same time, I feel, almost like I feel like I'm still in my 20s or 30s, like I feel no different. But when I start going into this, like venturing off into becoming a trainer and I then like, it's like a double-edged sword, I start telling myself I'm too old for this. Oh God.

Hey listen, can I just be, to be frank with you, two identical trainers, identical in every way, except one is 41 and one is 21. You know who's gonna get more clients? The 41 year old. Yeah dude. The reason why there's a lot of young trainers is because people pursue this career

typically at a younger age and they're working out. Whatever. People want wisdom. No dude, are you kidding me? If I became a trainer now, I would crush my old self, even if I had the same wisdom and skills, just because I look like I'm older. So, yeah.

That's an advantage. It is an advantage. It's an advantage for you, bro. You're gonna be good. You're gonna be good. I'm gonna have Ann call you, help you out with something, share everything with you, and I hope to see you inside of our community, dude.

You should be able to. I will be for sure. Thank you, guys. All right, Sean. You got it. Yeah. I appreciate it, thank you. Take it easy. That's such a funny, actually opposite perception.

Because I've heard people say that, like I feel like I'm 45, am I too old to be a trainer? Everything being equal, if you appear to be a middle-aged and fit, just the clientele alone will probably- They relate to that. Yeah, dude. You know how hard, it was harder for me

as a 19-year year old trainer getting clients because of my age. I was actually a hurdle I had to overcome initially and I did a good job of doing it. But yeah, dude, now age is like, actually do better. He's on the right track. Totally. This is, if he doesn't get in our course and he listens to this, Sean, what you do right now is what you're doing.

Get your, get done with the CPT like you did, do your CES, go intern, work for free, do whatever, to get around people, to get around clients, to help people, to build relationships, to get good at your craft. Like that's number one, number two right there. Hone in on the skill. And then as far as like,

as I start to build my personal brand, I'm building around the story you just told me. What you just told me that you've dealt with, how fitness has helped you, share that message, be yourself, be authentic. There are probably millions of men that are not openly sharing that and saying that and that they need help, they need guidance. Go be yourself, share that message and you'll help a lot of people.

Good. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. Justin is at Mind Pump. Justin, I'm at Mind Pump. Does Stefano Adams at Mind Pump? Thank you for listening to Mind Pump Justin? I'm at Mind Pump DeStefano. Adam, is that Mind Pump Adam? Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy,

and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes maps anabolic, 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 and over 200 videos the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal Adam and Justin as your own personal trainers but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a 5-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing MindPump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, by introducing Mindpump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support and until next time, this is Mindpump.