Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2628: Six Controversial Muscle-Building & Fat-Burning Tips & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin answer four Pump Head questions drawn from last Sunday’s Quah post on the @mindpumpmedia Instagram page.  Mind Pump Fit Tip: 6 controversial muscle-building & fat-burning tips. (1:24) HMB for muscle-building. (20:37) Free weights vs machines. (26:55) Fun table topic starters for deep conversations. (28:52) The Shilajit reviews are in. (48:22) Bacteria vs. virus. (51:28) #Quah question #1 – People are always talking about having trouble connecting with their glutes, but I have a bigger problem connecting with my pecs. Any recommendations? (55:06) #Quah question #2 – When getting home late, is it better to go to bed asap and get good sleep or eat a late-night meal and hit protein? (58:20) #Quah question #3 – I've injured myself a few times outside of the gym, especially my lower back, and it's limiting the exercises I can do. What's the best way to safely build those muscles back to where they should be, and to keep progressing in other areas while I do? (1:00:21) #Quah question #4 – Should I use squat shoes to improve my range of motion in squats? (1:02:34) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Legion Athletics for the exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Code MINDPUMP for 20% off your first order (new customers) and double rewards points for existing customers. ** Visit Organifi for the exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP at checkout for 20% off** June Special: Shredded Summer Bundle or Bikini Bundle 50% off! ** Code JUNE50 at checkout ** Mind Pump #2405: The 5 Intermittent Fasting Mistakes Causing Weight Gainv Effects of different stretching exercises on hamstring flexibility and performance in long term HMB benefits, dosage, and side effects - Examine Oral Supplementation with Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate, Arginine, and Glutamine Improves Lean Body Mass in Healthy Older Adults TableTopics Dinner Party Question Card Game - 135 Entertaining Conversation Starter Cards for Dinner Table with Adult Friends, Getting to Know You Game. Justin’s Road to 315 Push Press The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Mind Pump #1912: The Science of Successful Marriages & Relationships With Drs. John and Julie Gottman Visit Brain.fm for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners. ** Get 30 days of free access to science-backed music. ** Mind Pump #2540: Ranking the Top 5 Ways to Build Your Chest How to Build A STRONG Back | Mind Pump 1972 - YouTube Adam Schafer’s DEEP Squat Mobility Secrets | Behind The Scenes at Mind Pump Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Drew Canole (@drewcanole) 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 Schafer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness, health, and entertainment podcast. This is mind pump. In today's episode, we had listeners write in some questions. We picked some and we answer them, but this was after the intro. Today's intro is 53 minutes long. In the intro we talk about fitness studies, fat loss, muscle gain, family life. It's a good time. By the way, if you want to write in a question, go to Instagram, do it at Mindpump Media and

then we might pick it. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is Legion. Today we talked about their brand new HMB supplement. If you want to try it or others, go to buylegion.com. That's B-Y-L-E-G-I-O-N.com forward slash mind pump. Use the code mind pump. Get 20% off. This episode is also brought to you by Organifi. Today we talked about their Shilajit gummies. If you want to try those out or some of their other supplements, go to Organifi.com. That's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com forward slash mind pump. Use the code mind pump, get 20% off. We also have a sale this month.

The Shredded Summer Bundle of workout programs and the Bikini Bundle of workout programs, 50% off. If you're interested, go to mapsfitnessproducts.com and then use the code June50 for the discount. All right, here comes the show. All right, we're gonna talk about six controversial muscle building and fat burning tips that the data might not necessarily support,

but we support it and we'll break it down. And why, let's go. Let's hear it. Let's go. First one is fasted cardio. Yes. Fasted cardio. One of my favorite. Yeah, you know, so bodybuilders have been doing this forever

where they'll advise, you know, pre-contest. They'll advise, you know, their clients or whatever to wake up and do cardio first thing in the morning or exercise first thing in the morning without any food. Now the theory was that if you didn't have any food in your system, that your body would have to tap into fat stores in order to fuel the activity. So they'd say, okay, it's gonna burn more body fat.

And they've been doing this for decades. Now we have studies that compare fasted cardio to fed cardio, and it is true that fasted cardio increases fat oxidation. You can actually measure that. But the end result is not more fat loss, right? So fat oxidation doesn't matter, because at the end of the day, it's like how much body fat did I actually lose?

So the studies say, doesn't work, doesn't work. Here's the deal though, it does work. I don't think it works for the reasons they thought, but it does work, and I've used this with many, many clients when appropriate, and it's an effective strategy. Yeah I would still include this even though this probably gets a lot of hate and heat and has made tons of Instagram viral clips I would chalk this one up to a win for the bodybuilders. They did a terrible job, I include myself in that category, of

communicating the science around it. So we do get- That's always where they screw up. Yeah, right, exactly. I mean, sometimes we don't do the best at communicating exactly what's going on scientifically, but what you do know is if you've been doing that for a long time, like as far as like, you've done a lot of shows,

you've trained a lot of people for shows, you've had to get, and when you have to get in shape like that where you have a very specific time frame, there is not a lot of room for error and mistakes. And so you know you have this group of people talking about bodybuilders that have been using this method for a very long time and has had tremendous success with it. And so this idea that you know the science community came in and said oh what they've been saying is all wrong and false and not true. And then so many people discontinued that because they thought it was a terrible idea.

It's like, no, it's not that simple. There's more going on. And what I think the way I communicated to my clients that least what I found was, if I set my alarm to get up an hour earlier to do fasted cardio, I consistently got up an hour or more earlier than I ever would. And not only did I get up, but I got up and I did activity. Where if I actually looked at a typical day,

like even today, a typical day for me is like, get up, I kinda get up leisurely, shower, have some breakfast and a coffee, get in a car, drive, come here, sit. I mean, the most activity I get is by noon or one, we take our first walk outside. Whereas let's say I would decide like, hey, I wanna lean out right now,

so I'm gonna start fasted cardio. Simply me just setting the alarm an hour earlier and doing that, starting that, would not only get that activity going Significantly, but then I also noticed another thing happened I would became more active throughout the rest of the day and so you can't account for that all you can't you got to Account for that also as beneficial to you Yeah, so what happened was like you said Adam the the where the mistake was is bodybuilders tried to explain the science behind

Why this worked and so they had a logical direction. I thought that's a logical place to go. It's like, okay, well, you don't have as much glycogen, no food, you're going to burn more body fat. That's the direction it went. Where you eat the energy from, it kind of makes logical sense. That's right. And so what the scientists did is they said, all right, let's control variables.

Let's control activity and calories and see if it makes a difference if someone does cardio fasted or fed. And in that case, it makes a difference if someone does cardio fasted or fed. And in that case, it makes no difference. Now here's the deal, the real world is not controlled like that. In the real world, the biggest factor that you need to consider is human behavior. Period, end of story.

Trainers know this, coaches know this. Like the thing that I need to consider when I'm trying to help somebody get leaner, build muscle, get more fit is their behavior. That's more important than any other factor. And here's what happens. I'll back you up. When I had clients do fasted cardio, their overall activity was just higher.

When I had people do fasted cardio, they actually had better habits throughout the day because they started with this pursuit of fitness first thing. And when they did that first thing, it actually affected their diet, it affected the rest of their activity, gave them more energy throughout the day. They probably went to sleep a bit earlier. That's right.

So they got better sleep. That's right. So really the reason why this works is not because in a lab controlled environment, all things being equal, it's superior. It's because fasted cardio tends to lead to other behaviors or overall activity that's higher, which is better for overall fat loss.

And in the real world, that's what matters. In the real world, what matters is human behavior. Is this gonna contribute to your goal in a general way? Not, does this make a difference in a totally controlled environment, which we don't live in? Well, I'm gonna add another one on here because it's not on your list and it reminds me of this

and that was the tip to don't eat past six o'clock and you'll lose body fat, you'll burn body fat. And the way we explained it of what's happening, again, very similar, is like, oh, your body doesn't have any calories and then it taps into fat stores all night long and so it's burning all these extra calories. So the way that the science was presented was all wrong. But what we have found through training tons of people

and giving this as a tip is that, when do people tend to make the worst decisions eating-wise? After six. After six, yeah. They eat after dinner, that's when they have the ice cream, the pie, the snacks, the popcorn, the get up, you know, that's when you get up. So you just cut it out.

Yeah. So you just cut that out by eliminating the last meal at six o'clock. And because of that, and then to your point, Justin, that probably also improved sleep because they weren't eating right before bed and so better digestion. And so there was a whole host of downstream effects that happened from that great piece of advice. And this was another thing that we came and shit all over with the science community and said, that's not true. This is not what the science says. Yet those of us that have been training people for a long time have observed the behaviors around that tip. And so this is an area

that I love topics like this, because I think these types of things, when I look back of mistakes that I made as a trainer, when I learned the science, but oh, that's these types of things when I look back at mistakes that I made as a trainer when I learned the science, I go, oh, that's all bullshit. And then I go back and I go, you know what, though, but it was such a helpful tip for so many people. It's simple that I'm not giving them a bunch of boundaries and rules, just like, hey, you can have what you want, I'm not gonna tell you what not to do.

I care about what works as a trainer. I care about what works in the real world, sorry, to put it more clearly. And fasted cardio, for a lot of people, not appropriate for everybody, right? If someone's getting bad sleep or they hate doing it like I'm not gonna do this, but when it's appropriate is fasted cardio more effective than fed cardio for people it was. It was because it typically meant they moved more in general throughout the whole day and it changed

the rest of behaviors period end of story. Next up is the mind-to-muscle connection controversy. Now there's studies out there that'll show that they'll have these group of people do a bench press and just press the weight, and then these group over here do a bench press and try to target the pecs more. And what the data will show with EMG analysis

is that they're not activating their pecs anymore. They're not getting more chest muscle fibers activated by concentrating on feeling the pecs. This again is stupid. First off, I don't care what an EMG says. EMGs are, they're not the end result. I'm looking at what actually changes the end result, which is muscle gain.

But even if you forget all that for a second, it is far better for somebody to try to feel the exercise than not. Like making someone more present and connected helps overall, especially beginners. Like if I get a beginner and I'm training them and I'm trying to get them to feel a muscle, what ends up typically happening is their form changes

a little bit in a more favorable way, rather than just not doing. Now the other option is just perfect the technique which is great. I love that as well. It's also very valuable but focusing on the muscle allows you to change the technique in ways that does allow you to target the muscle a little bit better. So I'd like to see end result studies on this because mind and muscle connections have been communicated forever and ever and ever by bodybuilders and this is how I trained people in many instances, especially when we're trying to feel

a particular target muscle or a quote unquote weak body part. Yeah, but we do have studies though, Sal, that do support your ability to recruit more from an area by mentally focusing on that. That's the controversy, right? They'll do EMG studies and say you're not. They'll say, oh, it's the same activation.

Because of the power of the contraction? Yeah. So that's interesting, because I mean, do they look at the surface area, like in terms of like how fart spans out? Yeah, you know, I think they're limited. I really do. I think what you would,

I think it's pretty narrow. The way you would do a study like this is you would have twins train and then train them differently and have to control every single damn variable, which good luck. I know, but do either of you even really need that? Because, okay, I can take this. No, I don't.

I was gonna say, because I would tell you guys, let's take a good example of where you can really manipulate this, and a close grip bench press is an example to me. Early on in my career, I would do it, and I would feel all in my shoulders, right? And then when I really understood my muscle connection, I can keep that all in my triceps.

And so I took a movement, and I know soreness is not the best indicator of exercise working or not working, but I think a movement that I used to do and my shoulders would get really sore, to where now my shoulders never get sore and only my triceps get sore. And so there's, and I can feel it while I'm doing it. It's very clear to me what's being activated

and what's moving the bar more. Because both play a role in that movement, but if I really focus on utilizing my triceps, I could really use that. You know, I don't think an EMG can really measure effort very well. I mean, and this is something I was tripping out a long time when I was trying to create that stick that measured pressure and like,

because it was pretty good about like, if you could drive more pressure and tension and recruit more, it would light up and you'd feel more of that force output. And you could measure that, but in terms of like, yeah, but where? So it's, I think it's just very tricky and it's, like you said, it's a very narrow scub that they're looking at,

so I don't think it tells the whole picture. No, and I could change my technique, I could change just the way it feels. I think this is the more advanced you get, the more important this becomes. I could fatigue my lats faster by concentrating them on them during a lat pulldown than just by trying to move the weight. I think this is how you become, this is how you develop fitness maturity is you

understand mind-to-muscle connection in compound lifts. This is a very valuable skill and I hate these guys that put out these EMG studies because they they're moving people away from something that I think is so valuable. Well, you need it too for secondary muscles. You need it to be able to really have control and stability while you're applying max effort. And so too, you need to be able to feel your muscles so you can have some sense of anchoring control. Well, I've also had countless female clients that came to me trying to develop their butt that were doing the right movements

but couldn't connect to the glutes. And the only thing I got them to do was to be able to connect better to the glutes and then we had butt development. They were doing things like deadlifts, like squats, movements that are great for the glute development, but filling it in all the other, filling in their quads, filling in their hamstrings,

but not filling it in their butt. Once I got them to better connect by doing- Now suddenly grows. Yeah. It unlocks potential. Yeah, we're doing all the same movements. Where's that study? Right. And so, I mean, I don't even care what the argument is here with the EMG studies. It's like,

I've seen enough people where I've changed this for them. So I think, again, maybe the bodybuilders, again, did not communicate the science the best but tremendous Value in learning the mind Yeah, next up is fasting now fasting is Controversial because there are cases where I think it could be valuable and there are cases Where I think it wouldn't be very valuable at all the places that I think it's valuable are for people Who specifically are so tied to food that they're afraid of skipping a meal or missing their planned food.

This is a great way for them to develop a better relationship with food. Where is this not necessarily a good thing to use is when people have a passive eating disorders or passive restricting, in which case fasting is an extreme option., fasting in general has been super bastardized in the health and fitness space. Yes, you do lose weight when you don't eat. I don't know why that was suddenly this remarkable thing that people were like, oh my God, fasting is a great way to lose weight. Yeah, you don't eat food. But I don't think that's a great way to burn body fat unless your issue is that you're

so connected to food you're afraid of skipping a meal. That was me, that was me. So when I fasted for me it broke those chains and it helped me develop a more healthy relationship with food. Next up is priming or pre-exhausting. This is my favorite because they'll show. Recent study just came out to try and shit on this right?

Yeah, it's like if you prime your glutes before squats it doesn't activate the glutes more. You prime your pecs before a bench press, it doesn't. Actually, if anything, it fatigues the supporting muscles more, or whatever, that's what the studies will show. Priming or pre-exhausting, again, an old bodybuilding technique, I think is incredibly valuable because it allows the person to modify their technique

in a way that does get them to activate those muscles a little more. When I got a woman who couldn't feel her glutes while squatting to prime properly with let's say hip bridges and then squat, I could see- How do you explain a warmup set? Yeah. I mean warming up is just increasing the internal temperature that would set, right? So there's no neuromuscular recruitment happening and you're not channeling a sequence?

These studies are so limited. It's so ridiculous. It's ridiculous. And again, I would watch the woman train. We would pre-exhaust or prime. Then we'd do squats and I'd see her technique change. Because now she knows where to feel because she just got a little pump in her glutes

from the previous priming exercises. Totally. So super valuable. Next up is low carb. Low carb can be quite controversial. A diet that's low carb versus a diet that's moderate or high carb, all calories being controlled,

both high protein, in the controlled study showed no additional fat loss. But in some cases, I think low carb is superior. And I think it's superior because when you keep the calories the same but you drop your carbs so your fat goes up, protein's high, it does in many cases suppress appetite. Oh, bro. Yeah. So it's easier to lose fat on a low carb of my food.

It tamps down the cravings. Okay, so in any case, obviously there's a genetic component just like there is in everything and there is going to be people that maybe don't notice as major of a difference. I was a heavy carb eater and when I took got rid of it, one of the number one things I remember reporting back going like, oh wow, my appetite is just gone. Like I didn't, I did not have the, I didn't have the, that's why I remember when we, and if those that have been listening to the podcast as far back as the beginning, when the ketogenic diet was like blowing up, everybody was talking about it, we decided to like

experiment with it and do it. And I remember part of the reason why I moved away from it was at that time, again, I was at the height of my Bodybuilding and my size and physique. I was having to eat like 5,000 calories a day And I remember telling you guys like I can't do it. Okay cannot get to the calories without carbs without carbs It just crushes your appetite. It just crushed my appetite. So I was like so Just pallet fatigue of protein all day long and in fat. I was like, I don't want anymore I don't I couldn I can't possibly do it. And so I was like, man, this is a great diet

or a great way to eat if you are trying to help somebody with cravings and trying to lean out. It's a great strategy for that person. Now for muscle building, not the best approach and not for athletic performance. But I think for fat loss, this is something that I would always have my clients mess with. And you're right, there is a variance between individuals. But generally speaking,

cutting carbs was easier for people to stick to than cutting, let's say, calories from fat. It just killed their appetite more. Last is static stretching for gains. Static stretching for gains, this is, again, bodybuilders have done this for a long time. And there is some data that supports this. This is other data that doesn't support it but I believe that stretching deep painful static stretching at the end of a workout of the target muscle the one you just trained like you do this on your quads you just work out your quads are super pumped go sit go kneel on the floor and lay back and just stretch the hell out of your quads. Now

the way bodybuilders will explain this is it stretches the fascia. I don't know about all of that but I do know when I do this, I do tend to get, first off coming out of the static stretch, the pump gets more intense which is interesting. But I do notice better gains. My clients have had better gains. Bodybuilders have talked this for a long time. I also think it's a great thing to do at the end of your workout to induce parasympathetic state anyway. That's a big part of it is just getting into

parasympathetic state and the recovery process starts earlier, which then you have more chance of really recovering and rebuilding and starting that whole engine. But still too, there's gotta be something circulatory wise too that we're getting blood flow. And again, this all feeds into the recovery. And that mechanical stress that's happening. And again, the downstream effects of this, right?

So all of us have obviously trained and overreached and been really sore. And I tell you what, when you crush legs or train and overreach to the point where it's like sore to the touch, like you don't wanna move. And one of the things- It limits movement. Yes, it limits movement for the rest of the day

because you're just like, oh, everything's like, but you get stretched out and boy, does that really alleviate a lot of that. And now that's just gonna promote me moving more all day long. So again, Contribute to better behaviors. Better behaviors, better movement,

better blood flow, circulation, faster recovery, more calorie burn. I mean, there's a whole host of downstream effects to that that I think that maybe these individual studies that we try and use to prove is it helping for building muscle or not, it's like, that's not, it doesn't tell the whole story. And so again, maybe we didn't communicate this the best on the benefits of it, but there's

obviously a bunch of other things that you get from it that I think are worth it. Yeah, I love it. All right. Speaking of studies, I got to, you know, I got to talk about a supplement and it's not creatine. I know creatine is the king, right? When it comes to muscle gain and health and longevity. And it is, it's in a category on its own

when it comes to supplements. But there is a second place when it comes to muscle building. And I'm referring to HMB. And HMB is second place because it's probably the second most studied supplement there is. CreaTeen being first, HMB being second. It's so many, so many, so many studies on HMB. Now, its effects are not like CreaTeen, so you're not going to notice it's pronounced in effect,

but the studies on HMB are really interesting and I actually saved a bunch of them. I don't know if you know this, but HMB is being administered to, or it's being included in care homes, where they're putting it in the replacement shakes for people who are older. Well, you also, if the audience doesn't know, when you recommended supplements for our GLP-1 group, I knew HMB was on the list that you highly recommended.

Also, doesn't surprise me, because I know Mike over at Legion has created an HMB product and that guy doesn't put out anything if he doesn't have a bunch of science to support what he's doing, so makes sense that's why he's doing that. So what is it, I'm not as familiar with HMB as I am. So it's a metabolite of leucine, and so leucine is one of the amino acids that triggers, it triggers muscle growth more than others.

And it's probably because high leucine content lets the body know a high quality protein has come into the body. So if you look like animal proteins versus plant proteins, animal proteins are more bioavailable, that's important. And the other one is they tend to be higher in the branch amino acids, in particular leucine. And leucine is highest in these high quality proteins.

And it signals things like mTOR, which is a signaller of muscle growth. HMB is a metabolite of leucine that seems to be more effective than leucine is at doing this. Now here's what's interesting with some of these studies. When you look at studies on like older individuals, by the way, if you're, let's say over 50, creatine is even more important for you,

but HMB is a close second. And in studies with HMB, I found a study comparing HMB to high protein for preserving lean body mass in non-training older individuals. So these are older people not working out. What can I take to prevent muscle loss? And I found studies compared high protein diet and not working out to just taking HMB and not working out.

HMB worked better. Really? Was better. Okay, so that was my follow-up question was, in the context of somebody who eats a very high protein diet already, is it got value? Yes it does it does still have value. I knew that obviously that was what I thought was the main reason why you recommended it for the GLP-1 group is like we know that one of the hardest

things it's not better than high protein when you're strength training strength training high protein well strength training is the best but it is something you can add to get some benefit. But okay, but it's still, even with high protein, it still gives minutes. Some things are like, like you, well we even found out branched-chain amino acids still have some benefits too, right?

I mean that was something that I was under the impression that if you were in a high protein diet, it was no longer beneficial, but now we have researchers support both those, right? Probably because the upper limit of benefit for protein may be higher than we thought. And so essential amino acids helps to do that without taking in all this extra protein.

But HMB is an easy supplement to take. It's anti-catabolic. I think it's extremely valuable for aging population, but especially for also for people on a calorie restricted diet To prevent muscle loss and that's what I'm finding in some of the latest studies and there's a lot of studies on HMB And it shows like for preventing for anti catabolic effects. It's extremely powerful. It's good for hypertrophy

There seems to be some fat loss effects which which are kind of like the, you know, because of the muscle building effect. So HMB is one of those, and it's been around for a long time, but again, you want to find literature supporting a muscle building supplement. Creatine King, second place is HMB. I mean, there's literally probably a thousand studies on HMB, and it's inexpensive.

It used to be expensive. I remember when it was expensive. I remember when back in the day, it was like, man, I'm breaking the bank trying to take this on a regular basis. But now it's gotten to the point where you could buy it and it's inexpensive. I wasn't even familiar with it until you brought it up

for a GOP group, so. What's a dosage look like? Three grams a day. Oh, so low like creatine then. Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Yeah, three's a dosage look like? Three grams a day. Oh, so low like creatine then? Yeah, yeah. Interesting. Yeah, three grams a day. Any benefits going beyond that?

Speculation, but that's not what the data shows. Okay. Yeah, data shows, so like legions is three grams once a day, you could take it up to three times a day. Sorry, 12 grams a day, bodybuilders will take, but you could just take it once a day as well. Yeah. Yeah. But especially when you're dieting, I would say it's beneficial.

I've played with it so many times. Here's a deal with muscle building supplements. They usually don't do anything. You'll notice creatine, HMB is more subtle than creatine, so don't expect this like, you know, with creatine you take it, typically a week later you're adding, typically a week later, you're adding five pounds to your lifts.

Like you could tell, HMB is one of those ones that you'd have to take for a few months. Yeah, it would be one of those things that would have been fun to have experimented while I was on all the different cuts. While cutting. Yeah, to see, cause I always, I was very methodical, consistent.

I always tracked body fat percentage before and after a show so I could see like, was I dieting too extreme? It might be a great supplement too when you're sick. So it's like, or injured, right? Cause a lot of the studies on HMB have been done on untrained individuals who aren't working out. And so I think like you're hurt, oh, I can't go to the gym. How can I prevent some muscle loss or I'm sick the gym. How can I prevent some muscle loss?

Or I'm sick. What can I take to prevent some muscle loss? HMB shines It's actually incredibly anti-catabolic in comparison to you know to those other supplements. So it's kind of cool More cool studies. I did I found a compilation of free weight versus machine studies on muscle growth, function, athletic performance, and stuff like that. Pitting them against each other? Pitting them against each other. Wow. Yeah, which you know what's interesting about this?

What's annoying? It's predictable. I've heard people bring up the studies on machines before and say builds the same amount of muscle as free weights. Like there's no, you know, bodybuilders will say this, right, or should I say the bros, the Instagram bros, will hear us touting free weights, and they'll say, machines build just as much muscle.

There's no benefit. You know, the problem with these studies, which by the way, I'll go through all these studies, and I found meta-analysis and everything, when it comes to muscle growth, it is similar, that's true, but remember these are eight to 12 week studies. The learning curve and technique with free weights is longer, you could take somebody

and they could do a leg press fine the second time they use it. It's gonna take me weeks to get them really good at a squat. I'd like to see these studies stretched out over a year to see who's gonna build more muscle and the free weights are gonna crush yeah when it comes to fat loss free weights are better and then where they really kick ass is in athletics they make you faster they make you jump higher machines not nearly as much not new as much yeah

because I mean a lot of them are single joint you know if we're talking about the machines and then it's know, to be able to organize all your muscle groups to create a movement at once, it's like, it creates a dysfunction more than anything. Yeah, now the one area that machines might actually be better is in isolation exercises, which, duh. Yeah. That's exactly why I would recommend them, is to isolate. And that's why you would support in rehabilitation. That's exactly why I would recommend them.

Just to isolate. Supporting and rehabilitating. And that's why you would, all of the things like you, they all are tools, you know what I'm saying? So. Yeah. So.

I was, Katrina and I play this, I think it's called Table Conversations. I get asked every time I bring it up or talk about it. I'm pretty sure it's called Table Conversations. It's a little stack of these cards. Oh, Table Topics. Yeah, I think that's what it's called. We love them.

We always. These are just the two of you? Yeah. Really? All the time. It's like one of our favorite things to do when like, you know, if her and I try and do this, right? Like if we become aware that we're getting

in this bad habit of like Netflixing, Netflix and chill every night, you know, for a while, like I'll totally let myself do that because it's like, hey, why not? I enjoy it. We love movies. It's one of our favorite things to do together. But we find that we're doing that all the time,

consistently. We'll interrupt it with, let's no TV tonight, and we'll just sit in a room and we'll talk, and stuff like that. And those are always just fun. And we've been together 15 years, and those conversations, we always land on one or two that are just like,

oh wow, I wouldn't have thought you would have answered that, or I didn't know that about your childhood, or like, so it always gets that out of it. So we always have a blast doing that. Anyways, we were doing them the other night, and so I was like, writing down, and I was like, I'm gonna make sure I ask some of the guys, because these are just like some funny questions.

And the one that came to mind for Justin was, Justin, if you were, Why Justin? I can't wait to hear this. It's quite for Justin was Justin if you were Just if you were a WWE wrestler, okay, what would you what would your come-out song be? Oh Wow, that's a deep question I gotta pick up music callouts. Yeah, I mean you're coming out. I'd be like my PR I don't know. That's a I had thought about that for like if I was coming Out for like a fight or something. Oh that yeah

No, I wanted to go like heavier because I know a lot of the mainstream doesn't like they can't handle it So I kind of want to irritate them. Wait, hold on Is this like a common because I thought about that too if I'm coming out to a fight Yeah, I like a common guy thing probably We're guys at home are just thinking like, yesterday don't mean shit. It would be a good one I'd like. Yesterday don't mean shit? Who sings that? Pantera. Oh, Pantera. Oh, that's a great song.

That's an amazing song. What was yours? That wasn't a question asked by me. That was a question I saw and I was like, I gotta ask Jess. Well, now I want to know what yours is. What would I be if I was a WWE wrestler? What would I come out to you? No, I don't know. I would maybe I would probably come out to a rage song I mean I like like yeah, great like rage is pretty you know you know fuck you wow and won't do to tell me What's that? What is that? What's the name of that song? Oh? Oh? I think it's something in the name of yeah

Killing in the name yeah killing in the name of yeah, I know it's funny I would play that in my gym when I train clients And yeah line would come on my clients would laugh because they would like I'm not gonna do what you tell me Yeah, I'm do more I would have probably said tool to because tools another one that I love to that's a Staple song for me to work out to gets me going with that only I have this crazy Memory and when I was in my 20s that I went to the pink poodle and a stripper came She came out to all the tool songs and happened with the deftones for me oh really yeah yeah shove

it yeah yeah yeah so i mean so it just killed it for me it just it's like one of those weird things that's burned in my head forever just because i remember with my buddies i'm like does that place even exist anymore i don't know see. See, look it up. That was the most, I believe it does. Oh, no, no. It's on the house. No, no, no. Oh, like, that's my 18th birthday. To defend myself, I drive by it sometimes.

Oh, okay, so that's that. Bro, that was a janky. That direction. That was a. Okay, here's one for you, Sal. Not the best picks there. If you were, if a movie, okay, were to represent your life, oh, gosh. What genre of movie would you be? Genre? Yeah, yeah, what genre? If a movie were to represent your life,

what genre of movie would you be? Genre? Yeah, yeah, what genre? Oh, I don't know. Would you be a comedy, a drama? Would you be a suspense? Would you be a sitcom? A sitcom?

A horror? Would you be a rom-com? You would be a rom-com, that's a good one. I think you would be a rom-com. That's ridiculous. What would you be? I don't know, that's weird, I never heard of that. I mean, I never thought of that. I don't know. I was stuck on the song right weird. I never heard of that. I mean, I never thought about it.

I don't know. I was stuck on the song right now. I was thinking of- You thought I was gonna ask you guys all the same questions. I know, I was thinking of that. Did you come up with a song? Well, you know what I just thought of was the montage music from Rocky IV.

Yeah, it was in the Rocky IV. Because you played in Vegas to try and give me sight-dump for speaking. Oh yeah, no, Rocky's in my house. Don't do that. Yeah, Rocky's in my house. Don't ever play that. You're gonna give me oversight.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would probably be what yours. Give they give me your movie and then Justin you give me your movie after all It'd be a drama. It'd be like I'm 10. I don't know so what like describe your life So yeah, yeah movie a movie a movie is made about you in your life. Yeah, what genre does it fall under? It's like a dark Dog name what everybody's would be. Yeah. What would you put Justin's? What would you put Sal's? What would you put mine under?

Oh my God. If Justin's life was a movie. Yeah. I don't know. I probably have to go with sci-fi with him. Oh, see that's good. That's a good one. Yeah.

Adam would be fast and furious or something. Yeah. Action. Action. Action. I'm cool with that. Sal's the wrong car. I'm cool with that. I'm cool with that. I'm cool Adam would be fast and furious or something. Yeah

How's the rom-com Sounds glee Here's one that everybody ever everybody could think of think of a trend like clothing-wise or anything like that that you did at one point in your life that you wish you like, oh, I shouldn't have done. Easy. Easy. You know that one.

Easy, bro. Overalls with one down. Oh, those are cool, bro. You're coming back. Overalls are back in style. Yeah, but one down? That was dumb, dude. That was LL Cool J, right?

Remember LL Cool J used to roll up one side of his pant leg too, like that, for a while? In the crisscross where you wore him backwards. Did you ever wear your clothes backwards? No, my friends did, though. I had two friends that did. And they tried to get me to do it. And I was like, nah.

But mine was embarrassing. It was like very California, like surfer. Like I used to wear these hats. You'd flip up. Oh, we talked about this in the front. I would hairspray like a wave of my hair to go along the brim of my. That's what came to mind for me. Yeah and then I had like, oh my god, had these really dorky like high shorts that were like fluorescent colored and then like a fluorescent gotcha shirt. It know, it's like a very spot on right there.

I had the hat was like this with the hair sprayed. Yeah, this, you know, like the like a wave or whatever that and then bright, bright pink and blue and neon, like bright neon colors, like just Zubas pants. That was another phase. I went through it. Yes. But the the Hempsey hammer, like the puffy pants. Yes. I had bone fish bones Pants. Yeah. Yeah, I remember those. Yeah. Wow. It's embarrassing. What about you? I went full Miami vice

Did you like all white all white? Socks, you know, I actually have a picture some year Drew it if approved from organified Totally I was totally Drew. Hey, you know what would be fun talking about this topic is it like throw like a party at one of our houses and then you come as like one of your worst trends. I don't even know I can find those clothes. Oh you probably could. Yeah a lot of stuff is getting recycled. I mean some of the funniest pictures I have are when I was so young that my mom dressed me

But whenever I'm in pictures with other kids, I play this game find the ethnic kid. That was me My mom put me in oh, bro I had I'd be three years old playing with other kids Or four years old or five years old in school and I'd have a gold chain with a big Chris fix I just came off the boat like My mom dressed me like a stereotypical little Guido. Okay, nice. All right, last one. This is like a feel good for everybody. So everybody can think about it really, and everybody on a nice like feel good. The last thing that comes

to mind for you that put a real big smile on your face or gave you joy, like something that was the most recent thing. What's the most recent thing? That's easy for me. Oh, let's hear it. Yesterday was Father's Day. Oh, okay. And my daughter came and she brought me a pizza from a place I really like. Because she knows you.

Yeah. And then we just spent the day together, went out for dinner, and then we took a walk. It was just a great day together. That's the best, dude. That's the best. Mine was my little girl, my two and a half year old, we were playing and she just looked at me and she goes But I love you and she just kissed me with her little this little baby kiss Yeah, I just was that was it. Oh, is it? What about you Justin? well We all are cheating as we had Father's Day yesterday and you did you did have your family. Yeah, it's like so not fair

This is a harder one for Justin. We're all gonna pull from yesterday, which is not right. I didn't. He's like. Poor guy. Nobody in my family said no, it's fucked up. I forget you guys. Yeah, like unfortunately mine is gonna be like, related to how my wife left before that.

It was nice, you know? Oh, I know. You had sex. Yeah. For anybody who's wondering what he's talking nice. Yeah. Oh, I had sex. Yeah. For anybody wondering what he's talking about. Um, yeah, but I, I don't know. Like, um, yeah, it was, I don't know. You don't have to circle about. I don't like, can't think of something very specific. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of, it is a little unfair that we all literally just spent father's day yesterday.

You're the only one that wasn't with his family on father's day, which was not fair and un-unique. So every, all three of us are pulling from, all three of us are pulling from yesterday. I should have thought of that when I asked that question. She said like before yesterday, would have challenged everybody a little more. Because I would say the same thing too, my son.

The video that Katrina made was really cool. The top, the whole day was awesome. And exactly how how so first of all she asked me before we left she goes hey the whole family wants to get together for fall because they're it's tradition in her family that like on Father's Day all the women come over and do all the sounds like mine everything's all together 15 overhead yeah yeah yeah that was wrong Oh, there you go. That was joyful.

I was very happy. Yeah, yeah. Your foot was wrong though. And it wasn't a push press. No, I could see the joy in your face right after you got it completed. Yeah, Katrina's family very much to like your, so of course she hits me right before we're about to take off, right? The day before or whatever.

And I'm, you know, like you, I'm like, I don't know where I'm gonna be and none of that stuff. Like I'm so scatterbrained and like, I've learned over time to be Careful when she asked me questions like that just to commit right away. I'm like, uh, I don't know. Hold on Well, when we're where when are we gonna get back? I have no idea. When we get back this that she's like Oh, well, you get back on Saturday and I'm like, okay. Well, what time I'm at So I'm like inquiring to make sure before I commit to then she's like, oh you get back late

I'm like well how late you know, so you get to she's setting me up to be like Yes, so i'll commit to it and then I get home and realize like that is not what I want to go do is go Get with all the family then I find out we're not gonna be home till one in the morning and i'm like hell no I don't want to I didn't she wanted us to host it. So i'm like no, honey I mean for father's day, this is the one day I get to choose what I would do No, I don't want to go do the family traditional thing where we all get together and everything like that I'm like no, I want to sleep in I want to see my son I want to have a cup of coffee and stuff like that

and then that'll make my day and I don't want to be like going anywhere so It ended up being amazing because that's exactly what it was It was just the fan my family the immediate family and it was centered around that. And she went, her and Max went over the top with gifts and things and stuff like that. But the best one was the video that she had made. And I don't, I got to ask her if it was sparked from what I asked her like three days before. I saw this dad, I told you guys this off air. So this dad did this thing online with his daughter who just graduated from high school and he recorded the first day of school every day of her life and just sat her down in a chair and was just like I love that video and it is so good

and I went oh this is so perfect because Max is about to start kindergarten right so he's officially starting that and I'm like let's make this commitment that we set him down just the one day right before and just, what do you want to be? Ask him a series of questions. It's real short and easy and I'll keep it. And so we had just talked about that. So that must have been a fresh in her head because she decides to sit him down

and ask him a series of questions for Father's Day. And actually what I think I liked the most about it was I was surprised by some of the answers. Like she asked him what I have taught him the most and he said love. And I thought that was great. I know that was great. I was not expecting that. You know, I would have, I would have expected that from his mother for sure. Although I do teach him a lot around that. Like I've told you guys that, you know, I've, I teach him about bullies and that, you know,

if kids are mean to him at school, he, you could ask him, you guys could literally ask him on command, max, if you meet a bully, how come they're mean or what that and he'll tell you because their parents don't love them 100% I look forward to the day some bullies fuck with my kid and my kid doesn't even face him and feel sorry for him It says oh man, it's too bad your mom and dad don't love me And so he's uh, so that's what he said back and he did a bunch of other ones. I posted it online. I normally don't post that stuff, but it was so good. Oh, I have another one. We were out to dinner with some friends of ours, my friend Chuck and his wife, and I left to go to the bathroom and I came back and my wife didn't see me coming back and I overheard her

like bragging about me to them, which is really cool when you hear somebody talk about you. That's the best way to talk. And of course, a wife has so much power with her words for her husband. So to hear her talk about what she values in me and my critical thinking skills, and she went into this whole thing

and I could overhear the conversation walking out. Now is that a man thing where like and I've told Katrina this because Katrina is really good about saying a lot of nice things to me but it it's more powerful to me if it's if it's done like that than just saying it to me. Oh I mean I think that's for anybody right because it seems so real. See no I don't think so Katrina wants to hear like I always tell her all the time like I constantly brag about you tell people about you people. Maybe you don't do it enough to her. Yeah, I don't that's Once you know where I'm aware of that. That's what I'm saying, but that doesn't but that doesn't bother me Like she could never say it to me

But if I hear her talking about me in that way or someone says oh man Katrina says this about you like that to me is like That when I'm not around. Yeah feels like you mean it more somehow. I've experienced the same thing where Courtney was on the phone with her friends or family or whatever and was talking about me to them. And I was just like, she didn't know I was there. And it was all real complimentary and really hype. And it was like, oh, wow.

Because I don't hear it directly. And so I think indirectly, I feel like it's like really how they think. Yeah I I know for me with Katrina Katrina has this thing that her mom taught her which is I guess cool and awesome But also it causes this thing for me where it's just like I don't hear that Her mom has taught her since she was little like you don't advertise your man And so like there's this like joke that it's like like all her friends think I'm like this laser guide Doesn't put it down barely can provide like she does not break like she has been trained laser Yeah, she does not she's been trained not to brag about her man

And so if I actually hear her doing that that's like such a big deal for me because that's a no-no for her is like She just don't advertise that is it because don't advertise your man. Don't advertise your man. You don't want other women coming after him? Her mom has taught her that other women are like that and that if you have this amazing man, like they will, yeah. And so that's like it trained. That's some distrust right there, right?

Oh my God. Yeah, no shit. You know, I heard someone say something the other day. Loved to know what you guys think about it. They said that the words I love you to a woman, the words thank you to a man are as powerful. So like a wife wants to hear I love you, a husband wants to hear thank you.

Oh, that's good. You guys agree with that? 100%. I think so. I don't, see, I don't, which is why I always have to work on it because again, it's like the love language thing. It's like because those language thing is like,

because those like words of affirmation, I love you, you're pretty, all that, I don't need none of that shit. I don't need none of it. And therefore I'm really bad about doing it and I have to actively practice that. You know what I'm saying? But.

Because you're like thinking, you're thinking yourself. Oh, the respect thing is everything for me. I actually, even less than hearing something, it's more that, I'll tell you what and I always try and tell Katrina when I catch her doing something like this when she gives me grace or latitude like I know I can be a bear I know that I can be distracted I know that I that's huge yeah that's huge I know that I can be an asshole at some times. I know I could be that guy, like 100%. And when it's in that moment, her not reacting to me being that way

and staying calm amongst the storm, I'm aware of it. And that I see, and I'm like, and I always try and say something to her afterwards, like, hey, I appreciate that you didn't react to me like that or you let me just. Let me vent. Yeah, yeah, hey, I appreciate that you didn't react to me like that or you let me just. Let me vent. Yeah, yeah, because sometimes I just need that, man, for me, I like that even more than any compliment,

any thank you, any I love you, anything like that, is like, allow me a little bit of grace to be. That reminds me of another statement I heard, which was that couples don't fall out of love, they fall out of forgiveness, or they fall out of grace. So little by little, they stop giving each other grace, and then that's what causes the destruction of a relationship.

I thought that was interesting. I think that's very true. No, I agree with that. I definitely agree. Because remember, Zogatman said the number one thing for divorce is what, resentment or contempt? And that would be the opposite of grace, right? The opposite of grace would be contentment, I would think. Yeah, contempt. Yeah, resentment or contempt? And that would be the opposite of grace, right? The opposite of grace would be contentment, I would think.

Yeah, contempt, right? It's like you, everything they do. You hold them to all these things like in the past, you never let go. There's a whole myth, that's like an equal, 50-50. No, it's not. Sometimes it's 70-30, sometimes it's 60-40, sometimes it's 90-10. It's all over the place, dude.

It's all over the place. Well, the other great advice that I've also heard too is like this attitude of like ever even paying attention, like it's irrelevant, it's always, I'm on a mission, okay, 15 years in, I'm on a mission this year, right, it's like the New Year's resolution goal is like, can I love my partner more than I loved her last year?

Irregardless of what she does. Regardless. Sorry, Doug. It's all right. Oh, it's of what she does. Regardless. Yeah, sorry Doug. It's all right. Oh, it's all right. Yeah, it's that word. It's that word. He's told us before.

Irregardless is not a word? No, it's not. I mean, we're comedians. It totally feels like it should be a word. It should be a word. Irregardless. I think Doug said that to us a few times. Has he?

Yeah. He doesn't do it enough. I appreciate, I like when you do that. I bite my tongue a lot. That's how I learn. You know what I'm saying? Look at the grace he gives us. Hey, you know why, hey, you know why I've probably said it

a bunch of times because fucking Doug doesn't speak up until after the podcast. Oh, I'm sorry, Doug. I just slipped it on you. I didn't mean to get you stoned. No, no, no, he's like, after the podcast, Doug loves to let me know that. I'm like, motherfucker, call me out on it when I do it.

That's how I learn. Like, I probably won't do it now because you stopped me in it. I don't want to be that guy either. No, you can be. You can be that. You've earned the right to be that guy with me. Other people can't do that, but you can me in it. I don't want to be that guy either. No, I can be you can be that You're not saying a right guy with me other people can't do that No, but yes, it's a level more Yeah

I mean that and if you focus just on that Then it's amazing what will end up happy on the other end and if it doesn't then that to me that's always meant to be there You guys aren't meant to be right? You're not if you have a partner that if you continue to level up on Taking care of loving that person more and more and more as you as you age and you're with that person The right person should not only reciprocate that which is a word, right? Very good, I reciprocate Sorry, hey we brought drew earlier

I want to talk about his company Organifi. The reviews and the messages that we get on the Shilajit are pretty damn good, but I've also had other people comment that they've tried Shilajit and it didn't do anything for them, and I gotta say this, that the quality control on Shilajit in the market in general is terrible. Yeah, you gotta get the right version. You gotta get the Himalayan, like it is sourced

from where you get Shilajit because they can make it in a lab, they can also get it from other places, and it does not have the same effect whatsoever. So the Himalayan source, like PrimaVe, Shilajit. You should be able to feel the impact. That's what Organifi uses, that's the legit real deal, the stuff that is in Ayurvedic medicine. Do you think that has to do, Sal, with the aging process of it that makes it so special?

Yeah, it's been there for a long time, hundreds of thousands of years. Condensed micronutrients and everything else? Yeah, dude. But they'll make it in labs now and sell it in capsule form, because now it's a trendy thing. I wonder if it's a similar fermentation process as what wine goes through with that. Oh, I don't know. Like how wine ages and makes it's a trendy thing. I wonder if it's a similar like fermentation process is like what wine goes through with that. Oh, I don't know. Like how wine ages and makes it better and so that as it ages like the...

I don't know. Yeah. Isn't wine go bad eventually or is that false? Oh, will go bad, yeah. Eventually, right? It has a sweet spot, right? Yeah, it really depends on the vintage, I guess. I'm not an expert.

What's the most expensive wine you've ever had? You've probably had some of the most expensive I was at a wine guy bar and this guy bought a $700 bottle of wine Was it was it good, you know what I was then impressed. Oh wow Really? Yeah, he was kind of like showing off You've tried $500 yeah Yeah, I mean it was good Katrina's family's really into wine like they were wine makers, right? I think that's what you do when you're at the bar and you get these things. You've tried $500? Yeah. Was it worth it? Yeah, I mean it was good.

Katrina's family's really into wine. They were wine makers, right? They were wine makers? Yeah. I didn't know that. Oh yeah, yeah. Troy, they were in it for a long time. It was a hard industry to crack and make good money.

There was a point where their bottle was sold for $250 or $350 a bottle at Forbes Mill. Oh, I didn't know about that. Yeah, in Los Gatos. Wow. Yeah, yeah. So he was a... What's that old wine saying?

I don't know. There's a wine saying that make $2 million a year so you can make a million dollars in wine or something. Yeah, I forget how it goes, but it's basically... Like rich people do it for fun. Yeah, yeah. It's like there's no money in it and you need to have a lot of money to make any money making wine.

I forget how the exact saying goes, but that's pretty much. Yeah, every time I go wine tasting, here's what I notice. The longer the wine tasting goes on, the better the wine tastes. That's what I notice. Like, now I like it.

After visiting two places, delicious. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, they had great, in fact, they still, so in their family, they put away a bunch of the family stuff they have since Troy's passed. They haven't made wine again, but they're still they're still like

it's gold in the family. Like if we have, I think one bottle still of their wine, it's really, really, really good wine. I got to tell you guys about this. Do you find that saying done?

Yeah, if you want to make a small fortune in wine, start with a big one. That's it, there it goes. Oh, that's a good one. All right, I saw this meme, I guess it's a meme floating on social media, it's going viral, and it's totally sending the wrong message. So this guy, he put on a mask, then he took like,

you know, like the kind we were, you know, encouraged to wear during COVID, right? The whatever. The useless one. Medical mask. And he took a Petri dish and he would speak into it. And then he did another one where he would speak into it. And then he showed the difference, right?

And so the Petri disk without the mask showed like a bunch of overgrowth. The other one showed none. So he's like, see, masks totally work. Totally works. And what's annoying to me is that people are sharing it saying masks should work, they work. I'm like petri discs Grow bacteria. It's bacteria. That's not virus virus. That's bacteria molecule. Yeah, it viruses are smaller molecule

Way smaller. Yeah, then bacteria. That's not what you're showing is bacteria, which is duh But it's not a which is why I mean, you know why they were in a surgical setting You know and you're trying to keep everything like super clean and sanitized like, you know for bacteria Sterile but not for viruses No, but also the training involved with like how you handle it and put it on like nurses go through legit training around that Yeah, I don't know anybody that did that legit training around that. I don't know anybody that did that before they were put on the massive.

So you can't be off about all that forever. So if it's only good for sanitary reasons and bacteria, then like that, so then a lot of the people that are continuing to wear it on planes and stuff like that are silly too? Because a virus is gonna get through that? So if someone has a cold or sickness. Yeah, a virus will get through that.

Absolutely. Airborne stuff's gonna get through that. So then it's literally ridiculous. They're just blocking their own bacteria, and they're breathing their own bacteria. I think people, I think that a lot of people were a bit traumatized. I also think that for some people,

and I see this, I saw this with kids, they like to cover their face. They don't want people to see them. Well that makes sense for teenagers. That makes sense for teenagers. I do. There was a trend before that, that that, where kids wear their hoodies all. But you still see it when you fly.

You still see people wearing them. Well, that's why I just asked you guys. I mean, we just flew right now. There was at least five people on the plane that had that mask on. Now, I assume that they're like, oh, man, maybe there's people that are cold and have a sick. And it's like, oh.

They never let it go. I mean, because there's a new variant out, right? And so I think everybody just started to put them back on. They never really, I don't know, adopted any new information. They just kept going with the thing. Or they just didn't really. I mean, that's why I think what you just brought up is really interesting.

I've never heard anyone explain that. I didn't know that there was a difference between that bacteria. Oh, yeah, bacteria is way bigger than viruses. Yeah. Viruses are tiny. Yeah. Tiny, tiny. Yeah.

So then the fact you wear it on a plane, like and you're trying to not get sick from somebody else's cough right next to you. That's not going to say, yeah, unless they spit on your face. So you're not going to get the spit on you, but yeah, I mean, that's what, yeah. What kind of person you talking to? That's my kid. That is my kid. We tell them not to cough or cover your mouth. And sometimes he thinks it's funny. When he sneezes, he'll come up and right on my arm. That is my kid. We tell him not to cough or cover your mouth and sometimes he thinks it's funny when he sneezes he'll come up and Right on my arm. I'm like, oh, come on, buddy. Don't do his mom gets so mad

Brain FM is engineered music and sounds it sounds like music but there's sounds beneath the music that induce different states of mind This is backed by data and studies. In other words, you listen to their focus, your brain becomes more focused. Listen to meditate, you get more meditative. You listen to sleep and you want to go to sleep. It really works. Don't believe me? Try it out for yourself. Go to brain.fm forward slash mind pump. Get 30 days for free. Test it out for 10 minutes. You'll see what I'm talking about. Back to the show. First question is from House of Fitness. People are always talking about having trouble connecting with their glutes but I have a bigger

problem connecting with my pecs. Any recommendations? Yeah there's a couple things you can do. Yep very similar. First off understand the function of the chest okay of the pecs. So the function of the pecs is known as horizontal adduction of the humerus. In other words, the upper arm, the bone of the upper arm, when you bring your elbow up, the pecs bring that part of your arm closer to midline or center. Anytime you do a press, focus on that part of the movement, bringing my arms closer together, my upper arms closer together. So when you're doing your chest presses, think of that as you do the exercise and try to

feel the pecs be engaged more. The second thing you could do is pre-exhaust, which is funny because we talked about at the beginning of the episode, where you do some light flies before you go on your presses and then go on your presses. Now one of the biggest mistakes I see people making with this is that they just go too heavy And because they're going so heavy they're relying on where they're already strong which tends to be for people like this shoulders shoulders and triceps Well, I'll add to that the other reason is because you could you could understand the mechanics, right of the you know adduction of the humerus but if you are

the adduction of the humerus. But if you are protracting the shoulder girdle forward as you do that. Rolling them forward. Yes, if you roll the shoulders forward when you do that, you get a lot of delt activity and not a lot of chest activity. And so the ability to be able to retract and depress the shoulders.

And keep them in that position as you come forward is the key to that. There's a huge, I'll take somebody and have them do, you know, basically the fly with their arms, just naturally, and I can always tell. And then I take them, start over, retract and hold, and then I'll hold their shoulders. And I say, now put your, do that,

but I'm gonna keep your shoulders in that position. And then you can't help but feel your chest flex. Another movement I love to do with somebody, to help get them to feel this is I used to love putting them on a foam roll down their spine. So they lay on the- You ever use the half foam roll for that? Yeah, yeah.

Okay. Either one would work fine. Whatever you have access to, a half foam roll. Half foam roll is nice because then you're going to roll off, right? But even a regular one's fine. But you do a foam roll down your- so supporting your head and down your spine, all right? And you lay down. And it just naturally can fall further. Exactly.

And what it does is it allows the shoulder girdle to drop back and down naturally. Just gravity will make it roll on the other side. And then I used to love to take a client and just do a real light dumbbell fly on that position and then we get over and we do like bench press and things like that. That would really help them activate. Yeah. The other thing too is focus on the stretch portion of certain exercises that tends to help with hypertrophy.

So with presses, it's hard to get a stretch unless you use dumbbells. Flies, like focus on that stretch part of the lift and try and feel the stretch in your pecs. Try and feel the stretch in that initial bit here where you're resisting and then also too in the squeeze and but Really hold it isometrically and add in effort. So add in that extra bit of attention that you can create yourself Go really slow with it and just take that extra time to feel it as much as possible Next question is from Cory Fris. When getting home late is it better to go to bed as soon as possible and get good sleep or eat a late

night meal and hit protein? I mean all things being equal sleep. Yeah. Sleep is gonna be more important. It's your biggest mover. Yeah I mean there's gonna be cases where you know I might advise somebody to eat. It's gonna be the client who's really sterile eating protein all the time. Yeah like like always. Always. like take a shake or something. Yeah this is they get pretty good sleep already. This is a no-brainer answer depending on the client and I'm even though not everybody fits cleanly into two categories but there's two total different people that I would advise always. You can decide whoever's listening what category you fall to. Are you the person that chronically doesn't get good sleep and you're inconsistent about it,

you have no problem hitting your protein intake and so here you are, you get nailed with this night, you're like, oh shit, today I'm gonna miss my protein. No big deal. That person misses one time. Flip that, you're the person who has such a hard time hitting protein intake, you miss it all the time, and here's another night, here's another night, you're getting home late, and you're below on protein and you're like, oh shit, I need to hit my protein intake, but am I going to miss again? But then it's going to mess my sleep. I'm going to tell that person that their protein intake because we're focusing on that. So it really depends on the client. Sleep wins in the head to head race of what is more valuable in a day by day practice, right? Like one

night of bad sleep is more detrimental than one day of missing protein intake. But if you are a client who chronically misses protein intake and here's just another day that you're gonna miss it because you, now you just, because you got home late, I'm trying to create those good behaviors around that person and you know, one night of sleep is like whatever, we'll get better.

I mean it's funny because this one I mess up all the time because I'll get home late sometimes, especially if we're traveling for the show and I'll be hungry and I'll be like, okay, I'll just eat real quick. And I always regret it because my sleep is not as good and it would have been better to focus on sleep. So I get this, but I'd say generally speaking, like get the sleep and wake up the next day and then try to hit your protein.

Next question is from Emmet M.H. I've injured myself a few times outside of the gym especially my lower back and it's limiting the exercises I can do. What's the best way to safely build those muscles back to where they should be and to keep progressing in other areas while while I do? So to build the rest of the body while not stressing the back that's injured, the low back that's injured. I mean you could do seated exercises, unilateral exercises, supported exercises are a great way to do that. Machines are great. Yeah machines would be great. Any chest supported rows, things

like that, you know that you can put in place. So it's just like you don't want to add a lot of unnecessary stability that your body has to react to. Yeah. Now that being said, if you keep hurting your low back, there's something going on there. You want to pay attention to what's happening. Suitcase carry is a really great way to build stability in the back, strengthen your core properly, strengthen your obliques properly, and then do things like back extensions and get good at things like deadlifts.

But that lateral stability and rotational stuff tends to be an issue when you see these repeated low back injuries, especially if you're working out. Actually, let me preface that. People who work out a lot who also often hurt their back, it's like, why do I keep hurting my back? Typically, there's a lateral-

Too much in the sagittal plane. Yeah, and suitcase carries are really good for that. So are even old school side bends can sometimes be good. Just to strengthen the lateral side of the spine. I think being real specific instruction for this specific client, I would say, while we're healing from the injury, I'm going to do all machine work and wait for you

to fully heal. Then once you heal, I'm running a math performance or a map symmetry program with you. You just need it. It's if you've injured your low back multiple times and to your point, if you are someone who lives consistently then there's definitely something lacking in your programming that's not bulletproofing

your low back. And so great programs that we have that are for that, mass performance, map symmetry. But right now I wouldn't put you in that because it's compromised. So get better, mass performance, map symmetry, but right now I wouldn't put you in that because it's compromised. So get better, get healed, just do machine work just until you get healed, and then when you get back. Mobility and core strength, yeah.

Next question is from Shamank7. Should I use squat shoes to improve my range of motion in squats? Yeah, you can. Ideally though, you'd wanna fix, here's the deal. You can use squat shoes, but simultaneously work on your ankle mobility so that you don't need squat shoes. This is pointing to, yeah, definitely an instability there,

some kind of limitation with the ankle. It is, and now the people that wear squat shoes all the time to squat, Olympic lifters, why? Because they use them in competition But you you want to be able to do this with your foot flat Ideally with your foot barefoot now I don't want to say that lightly Most people can't most people don't have the stability and strength in their foot or the mobility in their ankle to do so

So it is a slow process What you don't want to do is if you're listening to this and you always use squat shoes, you're like, cool, I heard this on mind pump. What I'm gonna do is now go train barefoot and you go the same weight that you normally do and you just try and push it that you're gonna hurt yourself because it requires a whole another it's a different technique and requires different stability and strength. So ideally you want to be able to do this with a flat foot, but you can do it at the same time. You can work on ankle mobility while squatting with squat shoes. I did. I mean, when I went through my big kick on mobility, and in particular ankle mobility, I was using squat shoes

because I wanted to promote greater depths in my squat and keep working on that simultaneously understanding that the limiting factor was my ankle mobility. I just kept continuing to press it, and that's exactly what it looked like. It looked like me squatting with squat shoes for the time being, because that allowed me to still get in a pretty deep squat while I was doing ankle mobility, and eventually got to a place where I could barefoot

deep squats. And so you can absolutely, what you don't want to do is use the squat shoes as a crutch and then never address the reason why you can't do that. Like that's where it doesn't make sense. And you find yourself at the beach or something or with flat shoes on.

Oh yeah. And you end up hurting yourself. Super vulnerable to that. Yeah, because the foot, I mean the foot is covered in muscles and the ankle is a joint. And you compensate for those, then that's how you develop a bunch of strength, is with those being compensated for.

And that can set you up for issues when you don't have the shoes on. So look if you like the show come find us on Instagram Justin is that mind pump Justin I'm at mind pump to Stefano 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 mind mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes maps anabolic, maps performance, and maps aesthetic.

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