Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2580: Junk Volume: Doing Too Much Kills Your Progress

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Junk Volume: Doing Too Much Kills Progress Why this is a bigger problem than fitness fanatics would like to admit. (1:15) What is junk volume? (3:45) Why do we like it? (7:42) Junk Volume: Doing Too Much Kills Progress, Do These 5 Things Instead. #1 - Focus on the exercises that matter. (11:12) #2 - Don’t compromise recovery unless it makes a LOT of sense. (14:40) #3 - The pump doesn’t matter. (23:17) #4 - Total volume is more important than a specific volume. (25:05) #5 - Spend extra time on mobility. (28:49) Questions: What are some of the biggest junk volume exercises? (32:05) Are machines typically junk volume? (33:37) Why do we see so many fitness influencers doing junk volume? (35:44) Why do pro bodybuilders do junk volume? (37:45) Related Links/Products Mentioned Online Personal Training Course | Mind Pump Fitness Coaching ** Approved provider by NASM/AFAA (1.9 CEUs). ** April Special: MAPS HIIT or Extreme Fitness Bundle 50% off! ** Code APRIL50 at checkout ** Justin’s Road to 315 Push Press Mind Pump #2562: Seven-Time Mr. Olympia Winner Phil Heath The infamous 92-93 progress pic of Dorian Yates. The 93 pic was famously sent to Flex magazine just prior to the 93 Olympia and scared the hell out of the competition. Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Phil Heath (@philheath) Instagram Dorian Yates (@thedorianyates) Instagram   

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind pump, mind pump, with your hosts, Sal DeStefano, Adam Schafer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health, and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode, we talk about junk volume,

wasted exercises, wasted sets. Are you doing more than is necessary, or to put it more plainly, are you stopping your progress because you're wasting your time in the gym doing things that don't matter? Now this episode is brought to you by Mind Pump Fitness Coaching.

Look, if you're a trainer or a coach and you wanna build your business, go to mindpumpfitnesscoaching.com. We have a course that teaches you how to get leads, close deals, build your business. We teach you how to build your business. Me, Adam, and Justin, ourselves, we're the ones teaching the course.

Again, go to MindPumpFitnessCoaching.com. By the way, you will get CEUs with the course for NASM and AFAA, so it'll help you extend your certifications. We also have a sale this month. MAPS, HIT, and the Extreme Fitness Bundle. They're both 50% off. If you're interested, go to mapsfitnessproducts.com

and then use the code April50 for the discount. All right, back to the show. Junk, volume, worthless exercises, sets and reps not only is a waste of time, it's probably likely preventing progress. It's true. If you're super consistent in the gym, you're not getting progress, this may be the reason why. So stop wasting your time. Let's get into it. I think, yeah, I

think anybody who's been lifting for an extended period of time is probably guilty of this, wouldn't you? Yep. It's a natural, I would say, progression to move into doing more and more and more, not doing what's ideal, but rather what I can tolerate, and doing what we would refer to as junk volume. And now there's a belief that junk volume is just extra stuff that's wasting your time, which is true, but the real reality,

the truth is much more sinister. The truth is, junk volume isn't just wasting your time. It's actually stopping you from progressing. It's taking away from progress. It's taking away from progress. So even if you're progressing while doing this, you're actually progressing at a much slower rate, but what's more likely to happen

is you're just not going anywhere. And sometimes you're going backwards. Because you're doing a lot of things that don't, they don't matter and they compromise recovery. And we'll get into all the stuff about junk following, but I would say this is a bigger problem for fitness fanatics than they would like to admit. Yeah, I think this warrants a conversation.

I mean, I really wanted to do an episode on this because I think it's not that easy because the target is continuing to move. Like you, like there's a lot, there's like, generally speaking, this is junk volume, and then there's, this is junk volume in relation to how's my eating, how's my sleep, how's my stress in my life too.

Oh, good point. So it's not as clear cut and dry as like, oh yeah, well if you do more than five exercises in a workout, that's all junk. Or oh, if you do this many total in a week, that's all junk. Or if you do these extra, like there's, so this is why I think it's a bit nuanced. It's a little, why I think even people that have been training for a very long time fall in this trap is thinking that it's a bit nuanced. It's a little why I think even people that have been training for a very long time fall in this trap is thinking that it's not junk volume because they can tolerate it or they can do it, not realizing that in relation to the sleep,

the stress, the nutrition, something that may not have been junk volume, say six months ago, could potentially also be junk volume now. Really good point. So we could probably loosely describe or explain junk volume as more volume than is necessary to get you what you're looking for.

So anything, if you do the right dose, it's going to, the right dose is always going to give you the best results. More than that actually takes away from your ability to adapt, so more than that would be considered junk volume. Now there's more that goes into the conversation, like exercises that tend to fall into this category

more than other exercises. Now you can do junk volume with the best exercises too, just by doing too much. But there are a lot of exercises out there that don't contribute much to most people's goals. All they tend to do is compromise recovery and take away from the most important exercises. Now to be clear, in the right context,

all exercises have value. So if an exercise exists, there's an application where I can make the case that there's value with that exercise. But generally speaking, there's an application where I can make the case that there's value with that exercise. But generally speaking, there's a lot of exercises that don't matter that much. They just don't. And what ends up happening is we end up throwing them in thinking that they make a difference that, okay, this is good.

Yeah, I think a lot of times it's almost like insurance policy. I have to cover the bases here because I feel like I have to at least get an overall You know sort of an approach to strength when in fact a lot of We don't consider a lot of these like compound lifts like cover a lot more than I think people realize When we start like putting it out there and seeing how your body recovers I think a good example this for one that comes to mind right away for me And I remember when we first started the podcast, this was a very popular trend and we talked a lot about it is would be like

the sideways hammer strength chest press, you know what I'm saying? Where the guy gets in the side of the sitting in a hammer strength, which is already, you know, a lesser exercise in comparison of the hierarchy of like bench press, barbell, dumbbell, working your way down. So not only are you doing an inferior exercise already, being on a hammer strength, which they're not bad, but then to actually turn your body sideways

and do this awkward weird angle. And yes, you can make a case for like, oh, this very specific client for this specific need, I could see where we might put that in there. But I would put this in a category of junk vault. I mean, this is like, this is just garbage. I can list 20 other movements that are gonna give you way more return that should be done in your workout before that.

And if you've got the extra energy to do that or you have the extra room to do something that's gonna add, you'd be better off doing something else. Yeah, so think of it this way, right? Let's say you had two meters. One measures the stimulus to build muscle, right? So how loud is the signal? The other one is how much recovery is required of this exercise, right?

Typically the exercises that produce the loudest signal tend to also require the most recovery. That tends to happen. So what you tend to see is, let's say you do a barbell squat, big stimulus, okay, big recovery from doing it. Now what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna throw in a bunch of worthless exercises to continue to try to move that top line further with the muscle signal.

But all I'm really doing, cause it's not really moving the top one at all, it adds nothing. It's just adding more recovery. And if that recovery sign outmeasures the signal sign, well you're screwed now. Now you can send a great muscle building signal, but it requires so much recovery that I'm gonna surpass

my ability to adapt. I'm just recovering. I'm just spinning my tires. What this looks like, by the way, is you go to the gym, you get sore, you have a good workout, you get sore, you go back to the gym, and you stay the same. And you just do this week in and week out. Oh yeah, how much do you use to the gym, you get sore, you have a good workout, get sore, you go back to the gym and you stay the same and you just do this week in and week out. Oh yeah, how much you use on the leg press? I use

this much. Every week? Yes, every single week. Hasn't gone up in months. Well you're wasting your time. You're going in there and you're spinning your tires in the dirt. You're not moving forward, not progressing and that's what junk volume tends to do. Now the question is why do we like it? Like why is junk volume so prevalent? I think the first reason, I would say, is you feel like you're doing something. So when you feel like you're doing something, well, the misunderstanding is you're actually doing something.

So I'm in the jam, and I'm doing the sideways chest press. I'm doing the- It's benefiting, because I'm doing something. And it's like, oh cool, I'm working more towards my goal so I should get better results. So I would say that's probably the number one reason. The second being you feel the muscle. Yeah.

So you just, oh I continue to feel this muscle I'm trying to work, so it's tricking me into believing that I'm actually moving the needle, when in fact I'm taking the needle and moving in the opposite direction because of the added damage, the added need for recovery. You're also pumping a bunch of blood in there too, so it could actually increase the pump

and so there's argument to, yeah, I think there's a couple things that are happening that make us believe that it's good for us or that it's ideas, like, oh, okay, this must be good. It's burning, I'm getting pumped up, I can feel it in my chest. I'm working. Yeah, this has gotta be a good thing.

When again, I just, I think that we just neglect to understand how important the recovery process is in the overall building strength and building muscle. We put so much focus on the signal, right, of lifting the weight in the gym, thinking that, oh, the harder and the more and the louder the signal, right, of lifting the weight in the gym, thinking that, oh, the harder and the more and the louder the signal, the more muscle my body will build and it just it doesn't work. I'll never forget when I was a young trainer, 18 year old trainer, my first job was at 24 fitness and we had this

district manager, Simon was his name, and he was a previous strongman competitor. This was a long time ago, okay? So a strongman was, but anyway, he was a massive dude. He was huge, and he was one of the biggest, strongest people I'd ever met up until this point. I mean, I'll never forget coming to work one of my first days and hearing someone rack an incredible amount of weight, and he was out there repping. He was overhead pressing and repping three plates, and it was just, I'd never seen that before as a kid, right?

So he's my boss's boss, or my boss's boss's boss, who's way up there, and I remember asking him about his delts, he had these crazy looking delts, and I said, I like doing cable laterals from this angle, and I like the incline bench, I'm doing this little stuff, and he goes, he was English, he had this English accent. He's like, just overhead press. Just do overhead presses.

And my reply to him was, but I really feel those exercises. I really feel what I'm doing. And he goes, this is literally what he said to me, I'm a young kid, right? So he's like, put your arms out straight. So I did, and he goes, now do little circles with your arms. I said, you're gonna feel your delts a lot

in about five minutes, but you're not gonna build anything. And remember the point he made, I was like, oh yeah, I was like, totally. Like a light bulb goes off. Yeah, yeah, I do feel that a lot. It's such a good analogy though, Sal, because especially when we talk about building glutes, this is so common, right?

And this was always a hurdle I was trying to overcome with my female clients that really wanna build their glutes. And they're like, but I feel it. It burns. It burns. And I can feel my butt working when I'm doingutes. And they're like, but I feel it. It burns. It burns. And I can feel my butt working when I'm doing it. And when I squat, I don't really notice it. It's like, man, that's where you're going to get the butt. You're going to get it from those deep squats.

You're not going to get it from those little kickbacks. Those kickbacks are just like the little, that's what you're doing for the butt. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You're going to burn it, but you're not going to, you're not going to build a butt, you're not going to build shoulders. I mean, it was like a light bulb for me as an 18 year old kid who's trying to build muscles like this trip will feel my delts burn like crazy,

but those little arm circles aren't gonna do anything. But my overhead press will do a lot. So I think the first thing to focus on here is to focus on the exercises that matter. Now why do they matter so much? Well here's what happens, okay? If you, and the exercise that matter, you've heard us talk about them a million times.

It's your basic compound lifts This isn't the only these aren't the only exercises that matter but these are the best examples of the ones that matters like your bench press squatting dead lifting overhead pressing rowing like they're just really good exercises because if you add 50 pounds to your squat you're gonna build more muscle in your lower body than if you add 50 pounds to your squat, you're gonna build more muscle in your lower body than if you added 100 pounds to a machine for your lower body.

Right, or. Leg extension. Yes, or an overhead press. You add 50 pounds to your overhead press, it's gonna make more of a difference than if you add a bunch of weight to a bunch of cable exercise for your delts. It just has a huge return, and that's what you want.

You want a good return. So focus on the exercises that matter, not the ones that don't matter. So does it matter that you could do twice as many reps on your leg kickback for your glutes? A little bit. What if you could double your reps on your squat or your deadlift?

That would make a big difference with your glutes. You would see that way more return. By the way, this is true for athletics as well. When it comes to athletes, these exercises matter more than other exercises. It's funny, it's almost like as if they're connected, right? Function and getting those results. So focus on the exercise that matter.

They're the ones that make the most difference. The other exercises, they just, it doesn't mean that they don't matter. They just don't matter nearly as much. When it comes to building your body, strengthening your body, speeding up your metabolism, sculpting your body, look at those lifts. Look at those, if those lifts are going up, you're moving in the right direction.

If you have all these little tiny exercises that go up, but those big lifts aren't going up, you're probably wasting your time. You're probably spending your time. I mean, what do you say to somebody who's going like, yeah, well I do that, I do both. Why can't I do both? What's wrong with doing both those?

I mean, that's, because I think that's what happens for someone who really wants to move the needle in a muscle group that ends up doing a bunch of junk volume. Although I do believe there is a percentage that just do inferior exercises that just don't belong and they're missing out on these big ones. But let's say you are doing those and then you also are doing all this other junk volume,

what is the biggest problem with that? So let's say we had a comparison, right? And you did, on one hand, you were focused on the overhead press for your shoulders. And you increased your overhead press by 40 pounds. And over here, you still did overhead press, but you threw in a lot of different exercises that are not nearly as valuable.

As a result, your overhead press went up five pounds. Which one's gonna make better looking shoulders? The one on the left. Now, what am I conveying here? Well, all those extra exercises and sets are really compromising your body's ability to adapt. I'm just taking away from my body's ability to adapt to the exercise that matters the most.

By the way, here's where it gets really complicated and challenging. You might still see yourself progressing on those exercises that matter. You just don't know how much you could have progressed. So you might be listening and challenging, you might still see yourself progressing on those exercises that matter. You just don't know how much you could have progressed. So you might be listening going, well I do all those other exercises, but I added 10 pounds to my deadlift.

Could have been 15. It could have been 50, could have been 30. You just, you have no idea because you're still playing that game of, which really is the next point, which is don't ever compromise recovery unless it makes a lot of sense. It has to make a tremendous amount of sense for you to compromise recovery. Otherwise, that's the most important thing that you need to focus on is, is this the appropriate volume? If it feels like it, you're like, you know, I want to add this exercise.

You better have a damn good reason why you should add that exercise. If your reason is just to do more forget it Don't yeah, I think people just don't Compare like they're not gonna Think right away to just eliminate some of these other exercises It seems like you need to do that for a well-rounded muscle or you need to like add this in is like well the muscle also produces this type of function and so I need to make sure I get it from this angle or

Well, the muscle also produces this type of function, and so I need to make sure I get it from this angle or when in fact if you do take the time to kind of remove those and then see how the recovery, if you can improve that and then also you get stronger and then watch your muscle develop in its completion, like it's a totally different thing. But I think going through that process, people just don't really think in that direction. You know where it makes sense to compromise recovery? It's correctional exercise. Oh, okay. I thought maybe you were gonna go the angle

like an athlete that is trying to train for something where mental toughness takes a higher priority than building muscles. You know, when it comes to that, I think the best way to train an athlete for mental toughness is to practice their sport and get real tired doing it Because it's the most applicable. Yeah when it comes to strength strengths that get stronger. So the example I'll give let's say you're doing an overhead press

Okay, we'll use that we'll stick with that one and that one matters a lot for your delts Just matters a lot and you're starting to notice stability issues. You're starting to get pain in your rotator cuff You know, you know what? Yeah, maybe some impingement's going on, well now it makes sense to add exercises to bolster your overhead press. Exercises that support the exercise that matters so you can continue to get better at them.

Not just add a bunch of new exercises because, you know, for the sake of it, you know, type of deal. I think, yeah, even going through this series, for me it's figuring out too what might be taking me a little bit out of the traction of it. So two, if I feel like it's pulling me too much anteriorly or how can I counterbalance that? And just to add just enough so it just keeps a nice

ball and socket where it's right there in the pocket so I'm not like putting too much emphasis in one direction. You know it's a great example Justin and by the way this is very insidious you guys so this whole like doing more volume that is necessary is very insidious to the point where we know this we've been coaching this for for two decades and we have to constantly check ourselves. Of course. That's our tendency. Dude totally. You're you're you. At the moment you're doing this series, so Justin's doing this video series where he's trying to hit a 315 pound overhead push press,

which is a version of overhead press. It's an exercise that matters. And you were saying earlier, we were talking earlier off air, on how you realize you were doing too much junk volume and you cut it way back. And what happens? That's why this episode totally resonates with me. I'm like, it surprises, on how you realize you were doing too much junk volume and you cut it way back. It would happen. That's why this episode totally resonates with me.

I'm like, it surprises, I guess it's, when you really go back and assess, if it's really working, instead of just trying to push through and get beyond, and I felt like I was trying to play catch up, and I feel like a lot of people do that, and especially if you've been out for a while or like you haven't really been ramping it up

and like bringing the intensity or trying to move the needle and push yourself a little further, you kind of get in this trap of just like, well, I gotta keep kind of adding and building that back up to where I was. When in fact, you know, I would have got, you know, much more progression if I would have listened to my body and then actually like just complimented what I was

doing with the main lift more than anything. So how much less volume would you say you did recently? Because you just said you went up a lot in strength because you cut things. How big of a difference? What did you say? Big. Yeah. Like 30% less?

30? 30 I'd say. Yeah. Wow. That's huge. 30% less moist, yeah. That's huge. And your strength went through the roof. Yeah. Yeah, it's a common problem. What is it about us that we tend to,

we're more likely to overreach because we're always trying to flirt with that line of like doing as much as I can to get the most but not quite teeter over there, when it would serve us so much more to like, well, what's it look like if I were to do maybe just a little too little? Like I could have done way more. Like you never flirt with that line. No.

Think about that. Like you never go in and be like, you know what? Today I'll just do one set. I know I might be able to handle two or three, but I'm going to flirt with the lower end. And maybe I'll go a little like, you don't ever do that. No. Who does that?

Who approaches the gym? I'm trying to be that way every time I get back into like the kick, like if I've fallen off a little bit and I'm going back. I'm like, okay. It would serve you better. It's just ego-wise. It's hard to wrap your head around. It really is. It's like, I know, and I know too, I'm like, okay, I haven't done this in a while. A one or two sets, I should probably be okay. I'll still end up doing two sets a little harder than I probably should have when it's like, I probably actually could have done one really light and been totally fine.

Yeah. You know, if you were to take, to kind of illustrate what you're saying, let's like, I probably actually could've done one really light and been totally fine. Yeah, yeah, you know, if you were to take, to kind of illustrate what you're saying, let's say, I'm gonna use a number scale just to illustrate this. Let's say on a scale of one to 10, a five is the perfect dose, okay? So five in terms of volume, exercise intensity, the whole thing.

A five means I'm maximizing everything. This is the best dose to give me the best results. You're better off doing a three than you are doing a seven. Yes, but yet we'll almost always go nine. A seven will result in worse, way worse results than the three would if the five was perfect. That's exactly what I'm trying to communicate right now. Isn't that weird that like, and you know that,

we all know that, yet we're all very guilty of that. A big part of the problem is we're constantly communicated to with the benefits of activity. So we gotta make sure we communicate this properly. We're talking about strength training, whose primary goal is to build muscle and build strength. We're not saying don't be active. You should be active every day.

That's part of the recovery process too. You should be active every day. You should walk around the recovery process too. You should be active every day. That's a really good point, Sal, because there is a part of me, and I know that I wrestle with this, is I'm going in going like, I haven't done shit today. I've been sitting all day on the line. And really, I probably only need about a 10-minute workout. 10 minutes, a couple exercises, and that is probably... And then go for a walk.

...is going to hit the three to five range for sure. But because I'm inside, I'm guilty because I haven't done any activity. I'm like, I need to do a little sure. But because I, inside I'm guilty because I haven't done any activity, I'm like, ah, I need to do a little more, so I do, and it's like so silly. We're not talking about all exercise, everybody. So if you look at like, if you look at exercise like a Swiss Army knife,

the blade of strength training is muscle and strength. But there's like blades that are stamina, endurance, there's a blade for just being active. When you look at the studies on being active, yeah, you gotta be active. You should be active all day long, you should walk throughout the day, being active as long as it's appropriate is good for you.

We're talking specifically about strength training. Strength training, there's a perfect dose. More than that, it's just gonna give you worse results. So what we're not saying is, do the least amount of work to elicit the most amount of change and then don't do anything else. You still need to be active throughout the day. We're talking specifically about strength training. And then the other part of it is I think we, and I used to get this with clients

all the time, when you get really great results for doing the right dose it almost feels like you're cheating. And so I would get clients who are like I don't understand what's happening. This is literally what would happen. This is, this is. You get antsy, because you're like, well I feel so good, I wanna do more. This is a word for word, okay. This is word for word what I would hear from many clients often.

This is really weird. I would always start with that. This is really weird. I don't understand how I'm building muscle and getting leaner, I'm barely doing anything. And they'd look at me like, should we do more? I'd be like, no. No, I'm just supposed to feel like it.

Well, I mean, use yourself as an example right now. You have reduced your volume dramatically. Not 30%, like 80%. Okay, dramatically, okay? And you're getting down to two times a week, you're lifting. And you're seeing strength gains go up right now. Which tells me, and tells you, that you were probably around seven or eight,

and you just got closer to five. You're still nowhere near three. Think about that. Like three is maybe half of that now. It's like wild that even us reducing, we probably just get closer to that medium range or close to five as we can. It's like we tend to never really push that,

oh, I'm just gonna go three. That's right, that's right. So don't compromise recovery. In other words, there are strength training exercises applied properly with proper intensity always requires recovery. So don't compromise that unless it makes a ton of sense. If it's not an F yes, it's an F no, okay, as applied.

Now here's the next point. The pump, here's another reason why people like that, you mentioned this earlier, the junk volume, all these different exercises, they give you this great tight pump. The pump really doesn't matter, everybody. Now, here's when the pump matters, or why the pump matters. It's not the pump itself that matters,

it's the fact that you're probably well hydrated, well rested, you feel good, you get those crazy pumps, then you see progress. It wasn't the pump, it was all the other stuff that led to it. So junk volume tends to, because I would take female clients, this would happen more often with female clients,

they'd hire me, I wanna build whatever, legs and butt, okay? And we would do like sets of three reps, I'd have them power lift because they never did that before. They're not getting a pump with that. And they'd be like, man, I used to get crazy pumps with my high volume, all these whatever exercises.

I'm like, it doesn't matter, just watch what happens. And their muscles would develop like crazy. And they're like, I don't get it, I'm not getting a pump. The pump doesn't really matter. And it doesn't matter nearly as much as people think. It's oftentimes the fact that you're well rested, well fed, well hydrated, that causes the good pump. That's why you're getting the results. Not necessarily the fact that you're getting pumped, well fed, well hydrated that causes the good pump. That's why you're getting the results.

Not necessarily the fact that you're getting pumped from the exercise themselves. So don't chase the pump. In fact, if your choices were pump versus strength, which one is more likely to contribute to gains? Strength all day long. All day. All day long.

All day long. I think it's because it's a physiological thing, right? That you feel it. You feel it and a physiological thing, right? You feel it. And you see it, right? So, man, heaven forbid you're an insecure young boy who wants to build muscle. I mean, that's like, it feeds right into that. It's like, because I ever remember,

if I could just look like this, you know? So you're chasing that look that you're getting temporarily and it must be good because it looks better than when I looked at it an hour ago. And so it's a trap. It's a bit of a trap. Total. Now you also have this, right? that must be good, because it looks better than when I looked at it an hour ago, and so it's a trap, it's a bit of a trap. Total, now you also have this, right?

You have total volume that you accumulate for your body with strength training. Total volume meaning every exercise I do is, it counts towards total volume. So calf exercises, quad exercise, hamstring, like shoulder, all of that goes in my total volume. And then there's specific volume, meaning volume applied to a specific area.

So like here's the volume to my chest, here's the volume to my back, here's the volume. Now all of it matters, but total volume actually matters most. What do I mean by that? Let's say I do, let's say my goal is to build my glutes. My goal is I really wanna build my glutes. And I do minimal volume for my glutes, but I'm doing the right amount of total volume for my body

versus I'm doing the best amount of volume for my glutes but I mean too much volume for my whole body. Which one gives me better results? The one where the total volume was appropriate and I'm doing a little volume for my glutes. What do I mean by that? Oftentimes what we tend to do when we're training a particular area that we want to develop is we don't consider total volume. We do our normal workout and then we slap on extra volume for the body part that we want to develop and we exceed our body's ability to recover

and adapt to the total volume. So now we get nothing. We get no progress anywhere because our total volume exceeds what we can recover from. So you've got to pay attention to that total volume. And then this is also a moving goalpost, like Adam said, if I'm not getting good sleep, my diet's off if I'm under a lot of stress. If I'm at a calorie deficit, maybe I'm dieting to get cut or something like that.

My total volume, my ability to recover and adapt to total volume goes down. My total volume has to drop. If I cut my calories, I got to cut. If I'm doing hardcore cycling on the weekend, if I'm playing another sport, if I'm playing pickleball three days a week, but I'm also strength training, my total volume for strength training gotta go down. Yeah, if I just lost my job,

if I have a divorce going on, if I got a fight going on. I mean, all these things cause, I mean, you only so much can fit in that stress bucket. And you have to understand that exercise is a stress. And then if you're piling on a bunch of other stuff, then it's very, I mean, this was the point I made when we first started.

Just like, this is the part that makes it challenging. Because even when you kind of think you figured out like, oh, this is the appropriate dose for me, or this is appropriate amount of volume for me to move the needle, it actually does move and change. Because maybe you figured it out when you're optimizing your life. Life is good, marriage is great, work is great,

sleep is good, and you got the right balance of exercise. And then it's like, okay, now what happens when those things are out of whack? What happens when stress is high, work is rough, relationships are rough, whatever? Okay, that now changes, you know? And it needs to be reduced is what it needs to be, and changes that go harder or push past how you feel, and it needs to be reduced is what it needs to be, and changes it, oh, go harder

or push past how you feel, which is what most people do. Here's what it looks like practically. You have, let's say you typically do total of 15 sets on your workout on Wednesday, but that night, you just had bad sleep, and you know it, you wake up, man, I had really bad sleep last night. Well, you go do seven sets. You adjust right then and there.

Don't wait until you plateau real hard. Literally adjust your volume because of what just happened. You'll get such better results by being intelligent that way. Now it's tough because again, we want to do what we're capable of, not what's ideal, but when it comes to strength training, this is very specific.

Build muscle, get stronger. Not do as much as I possibly can. Well it's also tough too because back to the physiological thing is that just like chasing the pump is you get this cortisol dump, you put, you're tired, you're exhausted, you feel stressed, oh I don't really want to work out, I want to make myself work out. And you push really hard through that and you get that dump

and it's like oh. Stress hormone. Oh that feels so good, that was the right, and then you tell yourself that was the right thing to do. And I think it's just this trap that people get stuck in. That's right. Now here's another challenge that we're gonna hit here

is that fitness fanatics, they like to spend time in the gym. This was me, one of the biggest challenges with cutting the amount of time that I'm working out is that I just love working out. I mean, that's just a fact, I just love it. So it's almost like, you know, if I can get away with doing more and get the same results, I might actually choose more

because I like spending time at the gym. Well, here's what you do then. If you love going to the gym, you love spending time in your gym, spend that extra time on mobility. You'll get way better returns. Mobility doesn't compromise recovery, in fact mobility done properly helps facilitate recovery.

It'll improve your range of motion, it'll improve your control and connection, it'll make the rest of your strength training much more effective. So if you're gonna go to the gym and you wanna go to the gym and you wanna spend, because you're listening to this, you're like okay well great,

I work out four days a week, I'm gonna cut it down to two, but I still wanna go to the gym. Spend that extra time on mobility, it'll give you better results. It's not time wasted. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, just to take that extra time to really like reinforce your joints,

to get blood flow, like you said, facilitate recovery, it's fantastic for that. And it too, it's being able to address movement that you probably don't get on a daily basis. And that's one of the biggest pieces for me because you start planning out to train your body for the unknown and for the possibility of things that you may occur at some point. Your body's going to be able to react to that and it doesn't take a lot from you. It's something that gives back tremendously so yeah, you can you could be pretty busy doing a lot of different mobility moves that

Will definitely move you forward not backwards. Yeah, I've been your big hack, hasn't it? Yeah, so I like I like static stretching on on my off days primarily because for me, static stretching helps recovery and it helps get my CNS to calm down and it feels good on my joints. But I also like traditional mobility with the stick. I'll do my windmills, I'll do the world's greatest stretch. It's basically moving through full ranges of motion,

challenging, but I'm not like, I mean, I'm basically, it's basically moving through full ranges of motion, challenging, but I'm not like, I mean I'm moving so it's activity, but it's not a workout. But what I notice is it contributes, and not just, I mean I've noticed with my clients for years, it contributes to their progress. It doesn't take away, and it definitely doesn't compromise recovery.

It's actually better than not doing anything. Yeah. No, and if you don't use it, you lose it. To Justin's point, you're doing these movements that, I mean, the world's greatest stretch is like, it's like a lizard with rotation. Like how often do you rotate your T-spine like that and open up your chest? You don't, rarely ever.

You rarely ever, if ever. And so you're continuing to practice something that you don't want to have to lose. And I mean, we're not kids anymore rolling around and playing all day long and moving in all these dynamic movements. We sit in these fixed positions all day. And so the plus side of that is

if you practice these movements, you won't lose that skill. That's only going to help you build more muscle, build a better body by facilitating recovery, by helping you through movement, just a way better way to approach all the extra time that's inside the gym. We've got some questions here.

The first one is, what are some of the biggest junk volume exercises? You know, I think anytime someone uses a machine and uses a machine in a way that's not meant to be used, that's almost always a waste of time. Almost always a complete waste of time. You're just getting cute. I mean, I'll give you some, you know, abduction, adduction machine,

99% of the time are not used when they're valuable. There's some correctional exercise value there, but typically women are using them to add volume to their inner and outer thigh type of deal. There's way better ways to do it. So they can be a waste of time. A lot of cable isolation exercises where I'm trying to isolate this one specific

tiny part of a muscle that's large, those are a waste of time. Isolation exercises aren't always a waste of time, but generally, junk volume exercises fall in the category of isolation exercises. I was gonna say, what I'd say is they're not, they're not compound lifts, right? They're not the bench press.

Never. Yeah, they're just not that. And if they are, the only time they are is because you're doing so much of it, right? Because you are, you're doing too many sets of squats, which is not normally the case. Normally what the case is, is people are filling up their time in the gym with a lot of the junk exercises, which tend to be isolations. And that's not saying that all isolation exercises are terrible or junk or don't work.

It's just that if somebody is going to fill their time up with quote unquote junk volume, it's not going to be a bunch of deadlifts and squatting. It's going to be the other stuff. Next question, are machines typically junk volume? Machines, I would say, fall in the category more often than not. Especially in comparison to those basic

free weight exercises. You know, going through a gym, you know machines are fun, I like them, I love them, I love, you know, it feels good. But a good chunk of machines, you can get rid of. Look, I'll tell you what right now, okay? This is 100%.

The most, the best results people will ever get, ever, is when they work with a really good coach or trainer. If you go in America to some of the best coach and trainer's gyms, these are coaches and trainers that train celebrities, train people who demand a lot, right? Celebrities, athletes, like people who are willing to pay top dollar to work with the best.

You know what they tend to have in their gyms? Like a squat rack, a dumbbells, adjustable bench, maybe a machine or two, and that's it. And that's it. I had a studio for 15 years, and I had a cable machine and a squat rack, dumbbells, adjustable bench. That's all I did to train all my clients, and I was trying to create you know, top dollar,

and we had incredible, and I worked out that way for myself for most of the time, I still do. Yeah, I mean, I wanna be careful on how we talk about this, because I don't want it to come off like, isolation exercises are bad, and machines are all bad. It's like, there's a ton of value in those things. But if we were building a specific avatar of a person, right, that we're trying to communicate this message to who is

Trying to ask themselves do I do too much junk volume? I'm here I think I might be that person you're you're most likely gonna get it through doing machines and isolation test exercise It doesn't mean those are all bad exercises or I don't use machines or I don't use isolation exercises It's just that more than likely if you are concerned that you may be doing too much junk volume, that's where you're going to find it. And so just make sure that the audience understands that this is us like, oh, throw out all machines, throw out all isolation exercises. They have a place for sure. But if you're wasting a lot of time in the gym, you're more likely, you're more likely doing it on machines or isolation exercises.

Why do we see so many fitness influencers doing junk volume? of time in the gym, you're more likely doing it on machines or isolation exercises. Why do we see so many fitness influencers doing junk volume? Well, there's two reasons. One, is a typical fitness influencer is an idiot. I mean, that's just true. Okay, I hate to say it. They don't know any better. And number two, a fitness influencer is an entertainer.

The best trainers and coaches in the world don't have tons and tons of followers on social media because that's not their business. Their business is training clients. The fitness influencer's business is to get eyes in their media and so a lot of these weird junk volume type exercise, they make for better content. It's just for the novelty of it because people, if you just show like a proper squat,

like they've seen it a million times. They got to post every day. What, you got to post a squat every day? Yeah, that's uninteresting to the viewer. No, they're going to show a bunch of entertainment. And so what it does is it presents that those are more valuable than they actually are when they're not. Novelty.

I mean, we've talked a long time about doing this, being guilty of this in our early 20s. Thinking that I needed to wow my clients with something they'd never seen before. Forget teaching them good programming, getting them to practice a squat over the next 30 sessions with me. No, they've seen a squat before. I need to show them something they've never seen before.

I need to teach them this new creative exercise or do a movement they've never seen before to show my value. And that's a lot of that is just insecurity around your knowledge in the field. Just I didn't, at that time in my life, I didn't know enough to stay out of my own way. I thought this was the way to teach my clients, this is the way to add value versus, no, being able to articulate the reason why we do these boring four exercises all the time is the best thing for you, and then learning how to explain that.

This is what you see on social media. You see a lot of young trainers who just don't have a lot of experience and understand or haven't made it past this point to realize, oh, I'm not really helping my clients that much by teaching them these silly exercises. Why do pro bodybuilders do junk volume? Pro bodybuilders are... They're checking all the boxes already. Yeah, and they're also, like, this is a whole... They live in the gym. This is a different animal completely. They have muscle

building genetics that don't... You're not even the same universe, okay? Like, I remember we had Phil Heath on the show. he was a seven time Mr. Olympia. When he was playing basketball and not lifting weights, he was more muscular than I would ever accomplish on my own lifting weights forever, right? So he did crazy muscle building genetics, they build the bulk of their size and mass doing the exercises that matter the most,

you could talk to any of them, and they could do almost anything, anything at their bodies that'll build a little bit more muscle. So it just, I wouldn't do what they do and expect the same results at all. So that's a big reason for it. And the other thing is like,

pro bodybuilders when they post videos and stuff, if it's not them posing and flexing, again, it's doing some of these exercises that seem to be more entertaining, but still the bulk of their work is in the exercises that matter. Yeah, this is a bit loaded question because there's a lot going on here.

One, you have potentially crazy genetics that you talk about, you didn't even hint to or allude to anabolic steroids and what they do for recovery and building muscle. So they have that going for them. They're also, lifting weights is their livelihood or what they do for a living. And so you have the ability to-

So their stress bucket is just that. Yeah, is that right? So they're prioritizing, I mean, some of us would, I remember taking naps in the middle of the day. Like you were prioritizing sleep that much. You go get a good lift in, go lay down, take a nap. Like you would do stuff like that. Your meals are all planned out, you're well fed.

There's so many variables and boxes that they're checking that if there's anybody who can get away with some junk volume or some exercises that are a waste of time, well, those are probably the guys who can get away with it for all those reasons. That they're doing all the good ones too. They've got muscle building genetics. They're probably on anabolic steroids.

They're probably taking way more naps and sleep than you are. They're probably never missing a meal like you probably do. And so they, of all the people, can probably get away with a lot of that. And then what I noticed with my peers when I was competing is, I mean, I remember training side by side with all these guys and just because they do it and they look amazing on stage doesn't mean they could have looked better and could have done better also. So there's a lot of that going on where it's like, okay, maybe to you, you think, oh my God, they look amazing and I want wanna look like that, I'll tell you that, listen, I train right by him and I think,

man, he could've done half that shit and he would've looked just as good if I'd been. Good example of that, by the way, if you wanna talk about pro bodybuilders, Dorian Yates, I don't remember what year it was, 93 maybe, maybe Doug, you can look up when he took second in the Olympia II, I think it was Lee Haney.

He competes, now he's honest, so Dorian Yates, you hear him on podcasts now, he won the Olympia, I wanna say six times, now he's honest. So Dorian Yates, you hear him on podcasts now, he won the Olympia, I wanna say six times. And he's very honest about his drug use and all that stuff. He got second place in the Olympia, and then dramatically cut the amount of volume he did in his training, and just completely transformed his body,

walked on stage, and he brought in a new era. They call it the era of mass monsters. It was Dorian Yeats that really triggered that and he's honest. He'll tell you like nothing changed with my... was that okay, 91 then it was 92 where he came in. Nothing changed except for the fact that he dramatically reduced his volume. In fact there's a very famous picture, a black and white picture showing the difference in his body from doing less.

So yeah, there you have it right there. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. You can find Justin at Mind Pump Justin, me at Mind Pump DeStefano, Adam at 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,

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