Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2646: Ten Signs You May Benefit From Hormone Therapy & More (Listener Live Coaching)

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin coach four Pump Heads via Zoom. Mind Pump Fit Tip: 10 Signs You May Benefit from Hormone Therapy. (2:26) Justin’s NASCAR experience. (27:41) To share or not to share. (36:51) Incredible brain studies using Brain.fm. (41:52) This is not financial advice. (48:00) Cannabinoids and heart health. (51:13) #ListenerLive question #1 – How can I heal my relationship with food? (57:27) #ListenerLive question #2 – Is there any difference in strength results between a conventional back squat compared to using the safety squat bar? (1:12:42) #ListenerLive question #3 – What are the signs your calories are too low? (1:16:39) #ListenerLive question #4 – What program should I run after going through the RGB bundle? (1:30:09) Related Links/Products Mentioned Ask a question to Mind Pump, live! Email: [e-mail] Visit Brain.fm for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners. ** Get 30 days of free access to science-backed music. ** Visit NED for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Code MINDPUMP at checkout for 20% off ** July Special: MAPS Split or Anabolic Metabolism Bundle 50% off! ** Code JULY50 at checkout ** Mind Pump #2502: Hormone Therapy for Aesthetics With Dr. Lauren Fitzgerald Mind Pump #2447: The Keys to Visceral Fat Loss & Muscle Gain With Dr. Tyna Moore Low Testosterone and Brain Fog: Understanding the Link  Algorithmic Music - brain.fm Science - Brain.fm Knowledge Base Study: Cannabigerol (CBG) Reduces Fat Accumulation and Improves Heart Cell Function Under Lipid Overload Visit Pre-Alcohol by ZBiotics for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Promo code MINDPUMP25 for 15% off first-time purchasers on either one-time purchases, (3, 6, 12-packs) or subscriptions (6, 12-pack) ** Mind Pump #2210: Best Workouts for Bulking & Cutting Mind Pump #2312: Five Steps to Bounce Back From Overtraining 7-Day Overtraining Rescue Guide | Free by Mind Pump Media Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned LAUREN FITZ, M.D. (@drlaurenfitz) 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 pumping. Today's episode, we answered listeners' questions. People actually called in. We got to help them on air. But this was after our intro. Today's intro was 55 minutes long. Now in the intro we talk about fitness,

studies on fat loss, muscle gain. Today we talked about hormone replacement therapy. It's a good time. By the way, if you want to be on an episode like this where you can ask us questions about your fitness and health and we can help you, email us your question at live at mindpumpmedia.com. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is brain.fm. They play sounds, functional music, that induces different states of mind as proven with fMRI studies and EEG tests. In other words, you listen to the focus,

your brain becomes more focused. You listen to meditation, you become more more focused. You listen to meditation, you become more meditative. You listen to sleep, you get better sleep. Don't take it from me. Try it for yourself for free for 30 days. Go to brain.fm forward slash mind pump. This episode is also brought to you by Ned. Today we talked about their hemp oil products that are full spectrum. Some of them high in CBG, their de-stress blend is high in CBG, that has been shown to maybe, there's some studies that show to reduce fatty deposits in the heart.

Nonetheless, most people like to use their products for anxiety, sleep, or just feelings of euphoria. This is the hemp oil you can feel. Go try them out, go to helloned.com, that's H-E-L-L-O-N-E-D.com, forward slash mind pump, use the code mind pump, get 20% off. We also have a sale on some workout programs. MAPS split in the anabolic metabolism bundle of programs.

All of that is 50% off. Just head over to MAPSfitnessproducts.com and then use the code July 50 for the discount. Here comes the show. T-shirt time! And it's t-shirt time. Ah, shit, Doug. You know it's my favorite time of the week. Two winners this week. One for Apple Podcasts, one for Facebook.

The Apple Podcast winner is BZPants. And for Facebook, we have Jacob Bentley. Both of you are winners. Send the name I just read to iTunes at mindpumpmedia.com. Include your shirt size and your shipping address and we'll get that shirt right out to you. If you're over 35, you've probably considered hormone replacement therapy. Supposedly burns fat, builds muscle, makes you feel like you're 18 again. Is this true and what are the symptoms that you may benefit from hormone replacement therapy? Today we're going to go over all the symptoms, some well known, some not well-known that you may benefit from doing this. Let's get into it.

I think everybody's gonna probably fall into this category. I do. I just think, I don't know, has your guys' position, I mean mine's changed or evolved around, obviously in my 20s I did steroids as a kid and knowing damn well that I didn't need them and they were probably bad for me. And then later realized how many of my clients as they got into their 40s and beyond, this was like life changing for them. And so there's like, there's definitely a abuse and bad side of it that I think the general population is more aware of. And then there's the other side of like people that it can be life changing for.

And I think that a lot of people don't get that part because of the way the general practitioners typically talk about this. Yeah, I would say hormone replacement therapy is probably more of a panacea. I hate using that word, because it's not a panacea. It's not gonna solve all your problems. But it's more valuable, I believe, for women

than it is for men as they get older. Not saying it's not valuable for men. I think if you're a candidate, it's gonna be incredible for you. But what you see with women, paramenopause, which starts to happen late 30s, and then menopause, right a little later, is you see if you were to look at a chart of prescriptions for things like enzylidics or antidepressants,

let's just say things that we typically take or are prescribed because we don't feel good or we don't feel like ourselves, you see that spike as women go through menopause and if you were to take another chart and were to look at women who went on hormone replacement therapy and how they felt before and after, a lot of the symptoms that they tend to get treatments for and again I'm gonna be clear I'm not a doctor so you'd want to go to a doctor for this but you see that the symptoms that they often get treatments for with pharmaceuticals are some of the same exact symptoms that get solved with hormone replacement therapy. And hormone replacement therapy is, according to the

data, healthier for you. Now I also want to say this, exercising good diet needs to be a part of this, Like pushing young hormones through your body when you're inflammatory and unhealthy is probably not good, right? It's probably not a good idea, both for men and women. Not to mention that sometimes diet and exercise solves this for a lot of people. Oh yeah, no, no, good point.

Absolutely good point. But I think what we'll do is let's go through the symptoms. And some of these are both for men and women, some of them are just for women. And let's talk about them. And some of these are common. Ones that if you were to ask somebody they might be able to throw them out. Others not so common, but rather are common complaints of getting older.

That actually are a result of hormones. Hormones changing. Because hormones drive so many functions in the body. So this is a big deal everybody. Like when your hormones change, a lot of things changes. And I'll start with the first one. You start to get this unexplained weight gain or to be more specific, the way you store body fat changes suddenly.

Now I remember this as a trainer training clients. A majority of my clients were women, that's just the way it is for personal training. And a majority of those women were women who were either paramenopausal or menopausal. That's the category of people that tends to be able to afford personal training. And I would hear this all the time,

I'm storing body fat in my belly. That never happened before. It never happened in the belly before. It was usually elsewhere. It was like hips and back of the arms, now it fat in my belly. That never happened before. That never happened in the belly before. It was usually elsewhere. It was like hips and back of the arms, now it's in the belly. Yeah, or I'm getting like weird cellulite that I never had before.

Things just look different. I don't understand what's happening. Or what I would hear from men is, you know, I'm doing what I've always done. Nothing's really changed, which by the way, as a young trainer, my apologies, I thought they were just not telling the truth or not aware, but they would say things like, I'm doing everything the same.

I'm suddenly gaining body fat and I don't know what's happening. Hormones drive, they can drive fat loss or fat storage and they can change how you store body fat. What you'll see in both men and women is an increase in visceral body fat, but in women in particular, they start to store body fat in their belly. What you'll see with men, by the way,

is they'll start to store body fat like women. So if a man's hormones are really, really off, he suddenly starts to store body fat in his upper chest, in hips, and he's like, I don't know, what's going on? You got a jiggly butt now. You get that pear shape, the guy will get sort of get that pear shape when they're off. Yes, but this is unexplained, okay, so again,

it's gonna require some awareness, so if you're like, I don't know what's happening, but then you look back, well, you're like, crap, you know, I'm not working out. That's probably what's causing it. I was so, were you guys, I mean, I was, when I think of a category of clients that I train Menopausal Menopausal women were the most intimidating thing for me to train very difficult

Oh, yeah because of this exact reason right here is because they would be describing something that I couldn't explain their doctors couldn't quite Explain and so I limited to the tools that you know, which is, you know. Yeah, and like you, I was just like, when I do the calorie counting and the figuring all that out, and they're telling me they're doing all that stuff,

I'm just like, it ain't adding up. I just assumed that they had it in line. But I did know enough though, that enough women had told me that, the opposite, that something was going on. Yeah. You know, like originally, the first few, it might have been like, oh yeah, she's lying. She's just probably eating on the side and not telling me or whatever.

But as that started to happen more and more, I realized something else is going on here that I don't have the tools and the resources to communicate this. So I was always a really intimidating client in my early years as a person of choice. It wasn't until later on that I started to meet like hormone specialists and people that actually specialize in helping both women and men that go through stuff like this and realize that the general practitioner just didn't have all the resources. They just did not have all the tools to support these people and they were just giving them terrible advice. And so of course, don't feel as bad now because I realize like it went that far all the way

to the general practitioner, but man, I always struggled having those clients. I had a few clients. When it became more obvious to me was later in my career when I would have clients that were training with me and they were good, they were consistent, they were working out with me, they were active on their own, their diet was relatively good,

and they would be with me for a few years. And then they would go on hormone replacement therapy. And it was like, whoa, what is happening? I mean, I can think of a couple times where both men and women, where they would train with me, they'd go on hormone replacement therapy and within three to six months, we would just see these radical changes.

Like I'm like, oh my God, this is like a big difference. Now I expected it from the men, because I had experience with anabolic steroids, so I knew what that did. But with the women, it was like, oh my God, like this is really making a big difference in your performance in here and how you feel and how lean you're getting.

Like this is pretty wild. And oftentimes they would eat more and get leaner as the muscle started to build. Yeah, to your earlier point, that's what really shifted my mindset was seeing that progress and success with my female clients that had I was supplying everything I could we were addressing sleep we were trying like and even like my client who had retired and now is like not in such demand and not being woken up in the middle of the night all the time.

Like finally, you've seen some progress, but there was just nothing that was really accelerating that. And once she got on hormone replacement therapy, it was like, it's just like this physiological switch just happened. And you know, and for me, it's always been a big stigma because I was an athlete and I was around a lot of like anabolic steroids and I just was so adamant to not be a part of that and to see just what a difference that made and transformation that made within like my clients. It was crazy to me to see that and then see like there really is something here that we're

missing. Yeah. And again, to be clear, we've had experts on the show who are hormone experts, doctors, and what they'll say is that hormone replacement therapy plus exercise, diet, lifestyle for someone who needs it is healthy in comparison to that same person doing everything right without the hormone replacement therapy. Hormone replacement therapy without exercise and diet now becomes much more of a, okay, let's see what's going on here.

The next one is muscle weakness or muscle loss. Again, kind of unexplained. This is what I experienced. So I experienced this in my late 30s. I just started noticing this real dramatic decline in my ability to handle volume and training and I'm kind of like losing muscle. I was like, what is going on?

This is very different than it was just a few years ago. You know, come to find out my testosterone was in the floor, it made a huge difference. This is true for both men and women though. It's like, and you'll know this if you are consistently working out. So this is one of those, this is the person that has been exercising this whole time

and then suddenly, why am I losing strength? Why am I losing muscle? Change the workout. Still happening. Reduce the volume. Still not reversing. This is very strange.

It's kind of in that category of I can't figure this out. This seems to be a bit unexplained. The next one is blood sugar changes. So this happens, like you see with mannulot men with low testosterone as muscle loss starts to happen and you start to see their blood sugar starts to kind of suddenly change. You'll see this in women as well. Again, I would use the context of I've been doing everything consistently and now suddenly this is becoming kind of an issue. I don't understand what's going on. Low energy is another one. This is a more common one This is the kind of low energy that feels crushing I'm getting more sleep almost like mild depression. Yes. It's like I'm getting more sleep

I'm doing doesn't I don't understand what's happening. I don't have motivation. I don't have energy By the way, you feel this dramatic shift in energy when you finally get the hormones right with hormone therapy. It's like the lights were turned on. Less of a grind, everything's a grind before that. That's right, that's right. And now we'll get into some of the less common ones.

Brain fog, so I looked this one up. This happens about 40% of people who benefit from hormone replacement therapy. What is causing brain fog? Your brain, all the functions of the body are driven by hormones. And when your hormones move into it, again, lack of a better term, a suboptimal range,

it feels like you can't get the words. I can't remember the thing. I don't understand. Is it like a firing thing, you think? Is it like not firing the way it should fire? Like what is? Yeah, it could be insulin sensitivity changes. Well maybe we're not using carbohydrates correctly.

Yeah, and by the way, this is more commonly described in women. Yeah, is it hypothyroidism? Thyroid plays a huge role in this one. And again, you'll hear this more commonly in women where they're like, I'm just forgetting stuff. I just don't understand what's going on. I heard that a lot.

40% of people will feel this one. The next one, this one again, this one is not as commonly known, but it's common. 30 to 50% of people who benefit from hormone replacement therapy just start feeling more aches and pains and I this is what I would hear this is what I've heard from friends and clients who went on hormone replacement therapy they before they

were on it they'd be like I just I wake up I feel like I hit by a car I don't understand every joy is achy yeah like I suddenly have stiffness and achiness in my body that I didn't have before. I'm stretching, I'm exercising, I just don't get it. I just don't feel, I just feel stiff and achy. Thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, growth hormone, all of those will play a role in all the things that we're talking about including aches and pains. Dry skin or brittle nails is another one. That could also be a nutrient deficiency,

but if your nutrients are good, what is going on? Again, that's what people will typically say. Low libido and vaginal dryness is another one. I think those are more common. Those are way more common. Yeah, those are commonly understood. I think in men in particular, low testosterone, one of the first things that,

by the way, you don't have to get low libido. First red flags. This didn't happen to me. You were an example of this. This didn't happen to me. I remember when I first was asking you back then, you're like, no, no, I'm fine. My libido's fine.

So you think that it's gonna be that way, but you're an example of somebody who had low testosterone, but libido. I had all these other symptoms, but I did not have low libido. And then, just so people know, when I got tested, my total testosterone was under 230, which was like in the floor.

And yet I still had a libido, because libido is driven by a lot of different things. But most men, in particular, when their testosterone starts to drop, they just don't have the drive. They just don't have the drive anymore. And then finally, mood changes. Now again, this is out of ordinary mood changes, okay?

And also, let me just warn people, I wouldn't use this as a way to talk to your partner. Yeah, recognize it. Probably won't work very well. It's not gonna work. Yeah, hey, I think you need some hormone replacement there. But I mean, let me tell you, when hormones are off, one of the craziest things I ever felt

when I went through that phase of coming off and then trying to go natural and feeling my hormones fluctuate and change, really total mood changes. Emotional, find myself almost ready to cry on a commercial I would never cry over and upset. I mean I could really feel the difference of that. So I think this one is too a little, also more common too. It's like you will feel a difference hormonally when they're out of whack. I mean you can feel that.

Totally. And you know, just a personal anecdote. So my wife now, she's now on hormone replacement therapy and it has been a total game-changer. Now she had some of these symptoms, her sleep was not good for a while but then of course we had kids so we thought oh it's the kids but the kids are sleeping well she's still not getting good sleep. Energy was just not great so that was a big one. The brain fog was worse, but then as the kids

got a little older, got a little better, but it wasn't back to how she was before, so that wasn't a big one. Here is the big one, physical aches and pains. Energy and physical aches and pains. My poor wife seemed to have a problem all the time, and I felt so bad for her. She would tell me that, like,

there's something always wrong with me. It's either my back or my jaw or my neck. She's like, I'm not, I don't understand what's going on. We would look at her exercise technique or form massage. Chiropractor would help. Just couldn't figure it out. She just recently she's doing the like, uh, cause here's a deal with, with, uh, women in hormone replacement therapy versus men.

Men often can get away with just doing testosterone. Oftentimes, women need to go on a multifaceted approach. It's typically not just one hormone for women. It typically looks like some progesterone, some testosterone, and some thyroid. Whereas men oftentimes, it's like we'll just go on testosterone, and everything else seems to be okay. So she did the progesterone, thyroid, little bit of testosterone.

The last thing we added was a thyroid, and it was like boom, instantly, instantly different. Now is she communicating that to you? Oh yeah. She's like wow. She's like this is crazy. I feel way different, way better. She used to get up in the morning,

it would take her an hour just to get moving. And now she gets up and she's like, got energy, just feels so much better. And this is just early stages. As far as the aesthetic changes, that takes months. So she's like, I'm excited to see what happens and how my body responds. Wow.

But it's, again, it's really, really wild. And you know, talking, I was talking to Dr. Lauren, Dr. Lauren Fitz, who I absolutely love. She's the one that's helping Jessica right now with all of this. I asked her, I said, do you think, because I've made this statement on the podcast, but I'm like, let me ask her,

do you think a lot of women are given prescription and antidepressants and enzyllytics when all they really need is hormone replacement therapy. And she's like, yes, absolutely, 100%. Which is crazy, which is wild when you think about it. Okay, so how much are the doctors incentivized to go that direction versus the other direction? Well, the problem with the hormone,

unless you're a hormone specialist, and you have to be a bit forward thinking, is they have these ranges. Yeah, I know. And they don't base it off of symptoms, they look at the ranges. That's it. Right, and so a good hormone specialist

looks at both symptoms and ranges. So that's the problem. The other problem is that what they're trained on is anxiety, treatment, depression treatment. And we have pharmaceuticals for those things. It's not, oh. It can get you to feel a bit better by just alleviating some of the psychological stress.

Plus hormones, here's my little conspiracy part of me. Hormones are generic. Progesterone, testosterone, thyroid, sheep. That was my point. That was my point, is there a monetary reason why they tend to go that way? Progesterone, testosterone, thyroid, cheap. That was my point, is there a monetary reason why they tend to go that way? Because I know that pharmaceuticals are far more expensive than hormones are.

They are, they are. And so yeah, so you have, I mean, when you balance out your hormones, the side effects are what? Improved quality of life, better health. SSRIs, you know, we talked about libido. Have you seen the data on SSRIs and what they do to libidos?

It kills it. Oh yeah, crushes it. Enzyolytics can be very addicting and coming off them can cause really bad. And again, if you're on either one of those or both, don't just drop them and go on hormone replacement therapy. You gotta work with a doctor to figure this out because it could be scary to just come off things like that.

But yeah, I think that's just how they're trained. So unless you go to a forward thinking hormone replacement therapy clinic, what you're gonna get is, oh, you're within range. So maybe it's something else or whatever. This will help you deal with it. For example, if you're a man and your testosterone, your total testosterone is 350, which is on the low end, your general practitioner is not going to recommend testosterone replacement

therapy, even if you have all the symptoms. You go to a hormone therapy clinic and you talk to a doctor there and they see you at 350, plus you have a lot of these symptoms. We're going to put you on testosterone, so long as you're okay with it there and they see you at 350, plus you have a lot of these symptoms, like we're gonna put you on testosterone, so long as you're okay with it, we'll put you on, and let's see how you feel. That's how they approach it.

Well the reason why, so the audience knows, why that's so absurd to me, is that the range is 400 to like 1,100. No, it's 300 typically to 1,100, typically, is what the general practitioner ranges. Oh, I thought it was 300 to 1,100. Yeah, 400 to 1,100. No, it's 300 typically to 1,100. Typically, is what the general practitioner ranges. Oh, I thought it was 300 to 1,100. Yeah, 300 to 1,100. 400 to 1,100, you say it's 300.

Yeah, usually. Okay, so it's 300 to 1,100, so even wider range to my point. So you have somebody who, let's say, all of their teenage years, all of their 20s, even their early 30s, cruised around 950, not even the top, not even 1,100, 950, which is healthy, it's like Doug, right? Cruising around at 950 most of their life,

all of a sudden they get to their late 30s or early 40s, and 950 goes down to 400, that's half. Yeah, you're gonna feel like crap. Yeah, so to think that, okay, you're not in these ranges where we're very concerned, where you get below 300, because if you were below 300, even the think that okay, okay, you're not in these You know ranges where we're very concerned where you get below 300 because if you were below 300 even the general practitioner goes Hey, we probably need to get some testosterone But if you're just hovering around the bottom and you're not through the floor that they oh you're fine What it's like men all the things that you're you're talking about symptoms wise

You for sure gonna feel those if you go from 900 to 400 and your most of your adult life you've felt 900 and so it's so interesting to me that they don't consider that even at the general practitioner level. They don't but remember hormones in particular testosterone is a performance enhancing drug also so that made it that caused all of this to go sideways because it is a like if you're an athlete and you go out on big doses of testosterone, out way outside the range, you're gonna get stronger fast and all that stuff.

So once it got branded that way, it put everything 10 steps behind. So that's number one. Then there's all the risks associated with taking those doses, not replacement doses. Yeah, not replacement doses. The data on replacement doses is amazing. If you go from suboptimal to optimal,

you have improvement in quality of life. You're healthier. Any idea when the first clinic was introduced? When was the first hormone replacement therapy clinic? Oh gosh, I don't know. While now, right? At least a couple decades. Yeah.

So you have over a couple decades of probably tens of thousands of patients of data that we have access to. So it's weird to me that that is still something that is touted, is that it's this performance-hancing, oh, that's dangerous, it could be pro-cancerous, all the things, all the alarmist things

that are said about it. Why are we not coming forward with more data? You don't have to bring people's personal information. You can just use them as a patient one, patient two data of showing people, what is this, 1900s. Well, that's not the way we're talking about it. I see what they're talking about though. Yeah, they were messing with hormones back then.

I mean, we know that in World War II, the Nazis were using testosterone. But yeah, no, not the way we're talking. Here's the other thing that is true, that is very true. The average 20-something, I can't remember the exact number, but the average 20-something year old male today has the testosterone of the average 60-something, I can't remember the exact number, but the average 20-something year old male today has the testosterone of the average 60 year old

in the 1980s, okay? That's right now. We've been monitoring for decades now general testosterone levels in men decline. Every decade. We don't know why. There's a lot of speculation. Xenoestrogens, which are chemicals that we're getting exposed to,

toxins, lack of activity, probably playing a role, but probably not the whole role. We're also seeing hormone changes in women. It's probably environmental, we don't know for sure, but in men in particular, this is happening, everybody. This is well documented. This isn't just like a new thing. We've been documenting this for decades. So when people say, well my grandfather didn't need testosterone replacement therapy,

your grandfather probably didn't need it because things were different back then. And now we're finding this is happening at younger and younger ages. Which is wild. I know there's not a silver bullet, right? But you gotta think that a majority of that has to do with just the, the lack of physical activity that men do. It's got to be a part of it. It has to be a big part of

it. Like, I mean that, that if you were to, of all the things like that, probably that most men have in common today versus men back then, it's, it's gotta be the, the physical, I mean, you were- There's a few theories I heard that are most interesting. Xenoestrogens play a role, we know that. We don't know how big of a role. Life is less competitive in the ways that it used to be that tends to lower testosterone.

So when men are in more physical threat, more testosterone levels tend to go up. Birth control got introduced, which changed women's mating habits. So when women go on birth control, they tend to go towards men who have exhibit signs of lower testosterone. Did that play a role?

Is it birth control in the water? Some of it comes out when you pee. But we do know it's going down. I mean, it's been documented for a while. Fertility's going down too. We've known that for a while. But again, there's a stigma around hormone replacement therapy.

And I'm gonna say this straight up. If you're a candidate for this, especially if you're somebody who takes your health, seriously, you exercise regularly, you eat right, this is a game changer. Absolute game changer, and it's not expensive. Hormone replacement therapy is not expensive. Peptides can be expensive.

You know, testosterone, progesterone, thyroid, is pretty inexpensive to go on those types of things to notice a radical difference. So anyway, I wanna hear about your experience at the racetrack, bro. I heard you talking about your experience at the racetrack So what fighter jet and now the racetrack You guys were invited just so you know, yeah, but yeah, it was it was epic man it was like

again, one of those kind of experiences kind of like going to the Thunderbirds and just we showed up and we got to really get like inside access and they brought us in to the team and they brought us into the trailer and we did the whole like morning meeting and introduced me and like how he's been listening to us and all this benefit that he's gotten from the show. What racetrack is it? This is Sonoma. Sonoma Raceway. And it was a NASCAR event. It was like their cup series. And so I was there, and the crew chief, Travis, reached out.

And he's a big fan of the show. And I thought it was just him, because he was very, he's the one that reached out, and he's the one that's been communicating with me and had taken me around and showing me everything. And then I get in there and everybody was just so nice introducing themselves and I started to kind of realize that I think a lot of them really listen to the show. And then later on come to find out that John the driver, I think he's been a listener and

he's I just I gotta I gotta say like What really impressed me was just the fact that he took time out even to show my kids like the car and like Take them on the track and like right before he's in a race. He's right before he's about to go race and he was doing that Yeah, that was so cool. I took pictures with us and It was like surreal, you know, it was like, I grew up, like my dad was a big NASCAR fan and- I've never been to a race. Yeah, I've never been to a race like from that access.

Like I've never seen it like that. I've always seen it like way in the nosebleeds and like, you know, out there. And so I got to go into the garage and in the pits and saw, and he got to explain a lot about the pit crew which I was really interested in because like You know the physicality the timing the the attention to detail of focus like it's insane and

realizing too he's like I hire a lot of like ex pro football players because You need to be a huge physical guy, especially for somebody on the jack because it's like you don't have like a jack where you just, you know, tug it a bunch of times and it like you get like one like huge torquing like you got to lift the car up really quick and pop it up. And then the other position is like when the guy's fueling it because it moves and it's just a huge amount of fuel that they have to get into the car

And so like really physical job and and and extremely stressful and watching them at work was just like Were you close to them doing it? like yeah, it was like in like on the track like watching them do all this stuff and You know and it just the cars are just so freaking loud and awesome. And like, dude, it just, the kids were just like, their eyes were this big, just walking around like, oh my God, I can't believe we're doing this. You know? And how fast are those cars?

How much horsepower are those things? A hundred and a little 180. I think it was one, 200 miles an hour. Close to that. Windy. And so this was a different one. It wasn't the, the circular track. It was, yeah to that. Yeah, unwindy. And so this was a different one. It wasn't the circular track. It was, yeah, this full S turns and everything.

We went there for trying to drive the exotic cars that one time, but yeah, same track. But to watch their strategy, too, this was another part of it that he was kind of breaking down to me. It was like, the pitting strategy is pretty much the whole basis of the race. Like them getting that right and like timing it and you know understanding when the tires need to you know be switched out and the fuel and like and you could

you could hit a window and be awesome you could just miss that window and be fucked in your last place, you know, and so It just it was cool because I didn't even like I don't understand a lot of what goes into these races and to see it from that ground floor was just I can't even really like Describe how awesome it was. It's so cool that you got to do that And it was just like how many weeks ago was it when I shared you Guys that video that I was like all fascinated with the pit the pit times. Yeah Yeah, I was like I was just geeking out on that I was like dude, you know how crazy the evolution of the pit time

I know and they're down to like I think a second one just barely over a second That's like crazy that they can get those guys in and out in that time as well And so I would love to see that like up close. Oh, you would have- I mean, up close would totally been so cool to see that. It was masterful, you know, to watch them do their thing. And then you'd see like, there's real like conflict and intensity. And like a car pulled in, and I think- I didn't really see what happened, but there was like a competing two cars coming at the same time right next to each other and In for some reason I think one of the cars went too far forward or whatever and then the both pit crews just got all

excited and start fighting and like Physically fighting each other and they're pulling each other off. Well, think about that We're fighting well, I think Well, think about it for a second. If a car comes in like that, if they have got this thing down to, I think, one and a half seconds or two seconds, say, tops, to get you in and out, a car coming in and being a foot off where it needs to stop or whatever, throws that, it can be off. Every guy has to take a step to the side that he was prepared. Like that's how like prepared they are. Yeah. Go right there.

And if that's off by a foot or two, because somebody else's pit crew did something like, yeah, you're furious. And especially since so much is on the line for that part of the race. It's like, I would love to see that up close like that. It's so intense. So intense. To your point, too, I just love all sports.

I love. I mean, at that level, all competitions just get so sports. I love I mean at that level all Competitions just get so in well, and that's where you see mastery like at the professional level That close the love that's my favorite part about every sport has that every sport has a detail about it that you probably don't know really well until someone teaches you or shows you and then to see that mastery of They've been doing this for damn near a hundred years or more now like and that they have figured this out like that's cool to watch I think that's so cool. I mean so jealous. I missed out man. I got to meet the legend and saw the king Yeah, Petty

You and both you and their their car and that that that group and that team and then another car that was there. But just, I was like, you know, growing up I totally watched him in the STP car. And so it was like totally nostalgic for me. And then to see like the kids actually like really getting into it, I'm like, I don't know, maybe this is a thing for them. Like it's, it really excited them. And they were like just glued to it. So how loud are those cars? Oh bro, really loud. But only when they're like full blown, like when they just starting up,

their engines and everything, not crazy, but when they're like full speed going through and like the best was like when they'd have like the caution flag out and you know, somebody's spin out and then everybody's kind of like pacing and getting back into the group. And so they have like, they're stacked now, like in twos and they're all like ready and so they have like they're stacked now like

Intuse and they're all like ready to take off then they all take off together Whoa, everything just like vibrates and oh my god I took I you know I was kind of wearing the ear things is funny because I was asking him a head time Don't you bring like protective ear stuff and all this is like do you work out with gloves? Did he say that to you? I was like oh my god this guy gets it. Oh bro. I was dying. You can't wear them now.

So yeah I felt like this is a pussy inference. What a great one. Meanwhile everybody goes deaf. They're loud. They're not as bad as monster trucks. Monster trucks in like indoors is like. It's not like nitro. That's like deafening and stuff like that. But they're loud. They're loud.

They'll get you. I saw when I was a kid, tractor pulling, is that what it's called? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Were they, that is the loud, that was, that's scary. That's like, yeah, that and monster trucks, I think are some of the loudest. Well, if it's in the coliseum, it's like indoors.

Yeah, especially if it's in clothes, it's like, oh. I remember, I was like 12 and I was so excited and as soon as they hit it, man, I remember we were like, ah! Yeah, that's another level. I don't know if it's cooler what you got to do or that your boys are at such a cool age to see their dad get recognized like that

by other professional sports. That's got to be cool. That did hit me. I was going to say, that has to be like, I mean, the experience was cool in itself. Don't get me wrong. But then, because I know you, like we all know, our kids, we're not cool in itself. Don't get me wrong. But then like, because you know, I know you like, we all know our kids, like, we're not cool to our kids. Like you're just not.

Maybe I get a little bit of that because mine's six, you know what I'm saying? Still kind of cool. But, but then he wouldn't even know that part right there. So he wouldn't even connect the dots and something like that. So, but they're at that age now where, you know, dad's not that cool. But then to see that and then the get recognized and then people hook you up and all that, I mean that's just. That bought me a little street cred. Yeah, for sure.

Thanks Travis for the street cred, appreciate that. Speaking of kids, I gotta ask you guys a question because there seems to be a divide with this. I didn't know that the people were different about this. When you're eating food, when you have your food in front of you and your kids want to have some of your food, are you guys okay with it? Is it not a big deal?

Is it a big deal? Are you protective? How do you react? My son's never done that before. He doesn't want any of your food? Does he want to try any of your food? Never. Even if you're eating something?

I used to have a problem, but I started to let them try it. Yeah. I'm always encouraging him to try things. I want him to try things. In fact, I was joking about it last night about ordering something different, because he has his things that he likes, and I know it's important. I always him to try things. In fact, I was joking about last night about ordering something different because he like he has his things he likes and I know it's important. You do encourage him. Yeah, so I was trying to, I was trying to get him to do something. You know what he did? He's like, well, I'll

do a different dessert. How about that? I was like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. My boys are all competitive now. So they're like trying to get all the meat and all the best stuff before I get there. And they're like trying to get all the meat and all the best stuff before I get there. And they've learned, you know, to calm down a bit because I, you know, it's and I used to have like, you know, some of that from my dad, like convey like, you know, I'm the king of the house. This is what I get. And you know, you don't touch this. And like, I kind of had a little bit of that for a while. And then I was like, ah, you know, I want them to get bigger and eat more protein.

I was like, I'll get more food later. I just kind of calmed down with it, but it used to bother the hell out of me. So my wife is funny about this. This is where this conversation comes up. If my wife gets food for her or a drink, and the kids want it, it visibly irritates her. She's like, this is mine.

I'll get you your own, but this is mine. No, that's funny. Now, I am so opposite with this, so opposite. When I have food, or if I'm eating or drinking anything, and my kids want some, I put them on my lap and we eat it together, and it brings me so much joy. Now part of the reason why, because it goes back to childhood, when I was a kid, this is how my dad was,

this is how my grandfather was, some of the times that they were most physically affectionate was when they were feeding us off their plate. So for me it's like, I love doing it. My wife is very, so yeah, we had friends over and I brought it up and it was divided. Like one of them was like, oh yeah, the other one's like, nobody touched my food.

You know what I mean? And just cause defense, I'm 100% like that. Like for sure, like so Katrina gets upset about this because I'm like this, where if we order something and she goes, oh, and she hears my order, she's like, oh, I'd like to get a bite of that. I will order her a whole nother plate of that. And then she gets mad when it comes, she's like, why'd you order that?

I said, you wanted a bite, have a bite. I'll eat the rest of yours. So I always, I don't want my, whatever is it, and that is to me is like, I've decided this is the amount of food That I want to eat. Yeah, and so anything that's gotta be the bodybuilder in you, right? I don't even know 50 grams of protein. Yeah, I don't know I don't know what it is

But I definitely have a thing like that and I'm like but I can seriously if somebody of a friend or somebody wants a bite Or like I will buy them the whole meal so they have it and I have mine now My son's never picked in my plate So I haven't I haven't came across that yet So it'd be interesting how I want them because Katrina also thinks that I break all my rules for him So she's just like you're so this way with all these things and then he gets to do whatever Daddy tax but I just if they do that I just end up eating off their plate too. So it's kind of back and forth now. What's funny is it's reflected now back,

because if they have something that I want, they'll give it to me. But mom, sometimes they'll fight me. So I'm like, that's because I always share with them. That's why. That's funny. Yeah, but I love it. It brings me so much joy.

I don't know what it is. I do, I do, again. I have distinct memories of my- Yeah, it's your culture. That's what you guys grew up with. My grandfather used to do that, like he would, hey, come sit on my lap, and then he would eat with. Yeah, that'd be like Katrina, Katrina's very,

everyone grabbing each other's food off their plate, and everyone's sharing, let me try, oh you try. I'm like, I'm not like that, I'm like, this is mine. So, I connect with Jessica on that, although I haven't had that, it'd be interesting. I'm curious to how I will respond in the moment. I see myself not caring with my son. I do. I am way more flexible with him about stuff like that because I'm mindful of the

things that you're saying that you love and sharing and I don't want to kill that moment for him. And like, I also want him to try different things, especially if it's a food he hasn't. So, because that's something that I'm trying to get better about right now is we can be a bit So because that's something that I'm trying to get better about right now is we can be a bit like Same food like we're we we rotate through the same things about every seven to fourteen days You know and and so it's like so then when I try and give it to somebody's like no I don't want that I want you know the stick or I want that's a great point I bet you fitness households do that really where we have the same rotation for sure I would think so because you know the macros in it it, you know it's all that you've trained yourself.

Like these are the three meats we eat, these are the forms of starch we eat, because we're like that too. Which I don't mind, I love it. Yeah, me too. I could care less. Me too, but I know the- My wife's always like, you want to try tip again?

I'm like yeah, make it every day, okay. I love trying tip, you know. Yeah, yeah. So. Yeah, but I know it's important for the kids to have diversity and try different stuff. Different textures and flavors. So that they're willing to do that

and they don't grow up to be like, I only want these three things, that's all I was fed. And it's like, shit, I did only feed you that. That's my bad. So I went and looked up studies. Did you guys know that there's studies with BrainFM, actual studies that are done with BrainFM? In regards to what?

I'll tell you. So first off... They have a focus study or if I... There's one, yeah, there's that and more. So to break it down, so for people to know, BrainFM uses AI driven algorithms and creates what they call as functional music. This is different than binaural beats. They employ, they use patented techniques like neural phase locking, 3D spatial audio.

The goal is to influence brain wave activity, which is aimed at improving the type of performance you're looking for, whether it's sleep or focus or meditation or whatever, right? So they have some studies. They did a study where they compared BrainFM to music, noise, or silence. The results showed mind-wandering, improved focus, with participants performing better on sustained attention tasks when they used BrainFM. And then there's EEG evidence. They test EEG activity in the brain,

showing synchronized brain wave activity in regions associated with attention. So they can actually see it on an EEG. When someone's listening to focus, the EEGs look like a brain that's focused. They also did FMRI studies that showed increased blood flow to brain regions linked to attention and focus. There's another study that was done in 2024,

a 23% reduction in writing errors and the ability to work for three hours without breaks when using their high neural effect level focus. And there's more. There's one with sleep. Another study showed a 24 to 29% increase in slow wave sleep with people using their sleep music compared to controls. Remarkable. an increase in slow wave sleep with people using their sleep music compared

to controls. Remarkable. Yeah. It's really... It works. It's effective. It's like crazy. What's cool to me, because I like them. I've been using them forever. And by the way, for people listening, you go through our link, you get 30 days. You can try it out for 30 days. You'll see. You'll feel it. What's cool to me though is you can do FMRI. So this is an MRI, but it's in real time Or EEG tests and you can literally test someone have them listen to something and say here's the brain Yeah, and now it's different and it's acting in a way. They watch it change. Yes It's acting in a way that we've associated with focus or sleep or meditation

And we know this because we'll have other participants, there's lots of studies on this, when people get really focused without using anything, we will measure their brain waves and we know what a focused brain looks like. In fact, somebody could take you right now, put your brain in fMRI or EEG, and they can predict, they can't predict what you're doing,

but they can predict if you're sleeping or you're focused or you're meditating. We know what that looks like. Pretty wild, pretty wild that you can induce it like that and that we have studies that show it. Do you think this is the same type of science that supports why we've always used song to pass down history?

I think that's fascinating. Obviously we have the science now to do all this cool stuff and see, but it's like how wild is it that way long ago before we had any effective delivery system that we, that we were, we already knew to do that. I think that's so crazy. Like here it's cool because now we can prove like, yes, we can tell this is what's happening. But it's like, dude, before we could even prove that we figured out by creating these songs would be

a way to pass down history to the next generation. That's crazy. Well, you know, like, for before the printing press, books were recited to each other over and over and over again, and some of them with incredible accuracy and a lot of it was song. Yep. And it's really how music affects cognition is really interesting. I don't even think we fully have a full grasp on it.

It lights up the whole brain. It does things, like right now, my two and a half year old, you ask her to, actually I ask you guys, tell me your ABCs, I guarantee you'll sing it. Nobody in here's gonna say their ABCs without singing it. That's how we remember all our ABCs. I know, I got my two and a half year old now, she's on her own, she'll be playing and she'll start singing the ABCs, I know I got my two and a half year old now she's on her own. She'll

like be playing and she'll start singing the ABCs and it's the cutest thing. Well it's just tripped too because you've seen like that they even found with Neanderthals that they have like a bone harp or like a bone flute I should say. Yeah. Yeah and it's like so they had music pretty much since humans existed. You know what's funny about Neanderthals is there's that like stereotype of Neanderthals that they're dumb. Oh no, yeah. But it turns out they were probably smart, we just killed them. Outbred them and killed them.

That's how we justified it. We're just better hunters, we're faster and taller. Oh they were dumb. We made better weapons. Yeah, you and your dumb forehead. They're probably peaceful, you know what I mean? They're cool and chill. weapons in your dumb forehead they're probably peaceful the first time I ever really see saw that like really that fascinated was I think I told you guys

this about my my cousin who homeschools our kids and she's and I I was she showed this to Jessica by the dude way. Dude, it is so, and they, so she's homeschooled in their whole life, right? So she's got kids that are all, that are beyond high school and into college now. And they all learn this song, like, and every year they build on the song. So by the time they're teenagers, they can sing this song. I forgot how many minutes it's long.

I think it's like 20 minutes long or something long. Wow. It's like super long that they can sing this song. I forgot how many minutes it's long. I think it's like 20 minutes long or something long. It's like super long that they can recite and it's cause they, every year, they build on it, build on it, build on it. And all it is, it's a song of history. It just basically tells you all this important thing, all these important years and times and the people that were connected in the wars

and all this stuff all through a song. And so, and she even says, she's like, it's so crazy, we'll be watching the History Channel or something like that and one of the kids will be in the room and they'll just like, oh, that's so and so and that was in, you know, 1772 and like those spout off these dates and people that are important in history

and it's all from that song. I was like, dude, that's so, so cool. Hey, I gotta give you an update on my new, well, not new, cause I've used it before, but my, it's so far, real quick, just a little disclaimer, I'm not giving anybody investment advice, I'm not a financial advisor, this is just my own personal strategy,

it's 100% success. My investment strategy, you know the one where Adam tells me what to buy but he doesn't buy it? Oh my god, dude. It's working out. It's magic, bro. This is how it works, everybody. Adam says, Adam says, buy this, but he doesn't buy it.

If he buys it, don't get it. If he says buy it and doesn't buy it. You can have Katrina buy it for you or something. It's like 10 for 10, it's like 10 for 10. I hope my wife actually hears this and does listen to that, right? So she'll still go buy it. She'll be like, honey, don't worry, I got it back.

We were talking about Bitcoin, and Bitcoin was already high. It was like 110. I think it was. No, it was even that. It was just over 100. Or 100. Just over 100, yeah. It's at 120 or something like that right now.

And I'm like, oh, you know what? I'm buying some. He's like, yeah, you should. I'm like, are you going to buy some? He's like, nah. I'm like, OK. I bought a bunch of them. Double down.

And I'm like, crazy, dude. I'm so, I'm just, I'm super bitter about the whole coin thing because I've lost all mine, you know, so and I because you never you So and I just asked who was I talking to somebody else who's got coins now go California's gonna own it Yeah, I had I had XR somebody alone. I had XRP Cardone Ethereum and something else I like four or five coins and You know, it wasn't crazy amount of money, but It was money. Yeah, it was money and it'd be a decent it would be decent amount right now And so I have not been able to get into it I've tried so many things that my brother who's a hacker try to get him to do it like

No, and now that new law that passed in California. It's like it's good How funny is that that they can get it, but they can't give it to you The guy that owns it. Yeah Bit weird, huh? Yeah, that's why I don't try that's why that's my that's my reluctancy Yeah to get have given them a hundred K for everything right now is this like I mean obviously I'm kicking myself for not doing It when I thought about it back at 25 to so there's two times so far that I've like felt really passionate about it 25 K and then at a hundred K those times I've actually actually really passionate about it 25k and then at 100k the times I've actually actually really felt passionate about doing something and I'm like we should do it we should do it and then I don't do it But I what keeps me from doing that is knowing that I got screwed on my other coins

And so I'm just so nervous of that So I know there's a bunch of how much do you think you'd have right now in the ones you owned? Am I gonna feel like pain right now? No, no I don't well, so I had about $5,000 in that, and to give you an example, XRP, I bought it at 93 cents or something, I think it's like 270 right now. So. So that would have more than doubled?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, so it's not great. So it's like 15 grand. Probably, that'd probably be a good guess, total. That still sucks. Yeah, yeah, no, of course it sucks, it was mine. It's a vacation. Yeah, it's mine. There's some wheels.

People in this city right now are so mad too. 50-year-olds. Yeah, so whatever. But now I'm all sour about it, so I'm all reluctant to do it. But I mean, watching you have success with it is at least someone's winning. Yeah, oh, that's nice.

That's nice, you get to live like curiously. I do that with you all the time. I know, you do it too. Every time you get a nice car. Yeah, I tell you to. I show everybody else. Look at this car my friend got. I tell everybody about your stock portfolio, not my own.

Look how good we're doing. Look how Sal's doing over here. What about you? Don't, nevermind me, don't worry about me. Anyway, I found a study on CBG, one of the cannabinoids in the hemp plant, reduced fat in the heart. Interesting.

Yeah, reduced fat in the heart. Specifically. Yeah, reduce fat in the heart. Specifically the heart? The heart, yeah. This has to be more reasons why they connected the dots with, remember like the, you would assume because weed gives you the munchies that you have all these obese people that do it.

And that just doesn't pan out. No, people that use, we're not gonna advocate using cannabis for this reason, but it's really weird that people who use cannabis regularly have lower rates of diabetes and tend to be less obese. This has to be what's connected to it though, right? It's gotta be something to do with that. Something, and there's some insulin sensitivity effects

that some studies show with cannabinoids improving. I know I have family members that use NED religiously. Like, I'll get a message from them. I know I have family members that use NED religiously. I'll get a message from them. In fact, I have Jerry mail it to them for more NED. And they use it for pain, but they also tell me when I use it, my blood sugar numbers come back better. So it probably has something to do with that.

I would imagine. Because it's true, like cannabis, and cannabis has all these cannabinoids in it, but it also has THC. NED doesn't have THC, so. But it has all the other cannabinoids in it, but it also has THC. Ned doesn't have THC, so. But it has all the other cannabinoids. Cannabis makes you wanna eat. So it's always weird when they do all these studies

and say, well, they have lower rates of diabetes and they're less obese. Like, they're supposed to move less and eat more. Which, you know, because it makes you more lazy and it makes you wanna eat more, and yet, what's going on here? I've always thought that was interesting. Well, to the tune of this, look,

for people who are like, this sounds crazy, it's not. Look at the pharmaceutical research on cannabinoids and diabetes. There's actual studies going on. I don't know if they're going on now. I know there were about six years ago, last time I checked, that they're studying cannabinoids as a potential treatment, maybe in addition

to other treatments for things like diabetes. Because there's effects on blood sugar. That's cool. We used to, remember early on, we were interested, mainly because I know I just came out of it and you were still researching and paying attention a lot. Do you pay attention to that market or anything anymore?

I don't really pay attention to it like I used to. No, I don't. Where the laws are at and where, I mean, there seemed a time, like man, any minute now we're gonna start seeing this in grocery stores everywhere. Yeah, there was talk that they were gonna try to reschedule it, I don't know if that's still on the table or not, but I had heard that. And you had some states that were already

starting to pass it to where you can just have it. Some states are going back now, too. Oh, really? Yeah, some states are starting to think that maybe we shouldn't have this legalized. You know it's so here's the truth, cannabis if it's legalized more people will use it. So this is a fact more people are gonna use it if it's legalized. What are the plus signs of it? It doesn't go black market as much, you have tax revenue, adults should have the freedom to

blah blah blah but more people will use it, that's true. I think the belief what was promoted was if it's legalized, more people aren't gonna use it. A lot of people already use it. I thought that, that's not true now. We see the data. Soon as it gets legalized, way more people end up using it. And that comes with its own problems.

THC in particular, it's psychoactive. Where do you personally stand on it, then? I think it should be, I think they should keep it legalized, but I think it should be regulated. Of course. It has to. And I think it should be. It has to when you compare it, Sal,

if you're gonna be pro caffeine, pro alcohol, pro pornography, if you can get all those things, access to those things, are all, in my opinion, far more dangerous. I think all of those should be regulated, I think including pornography, I think should be regulated for adults only. But I do see, I do, cannabis use is associated,

THC in particular, or specifically is associated with psychiatric issues. So you're seeing a high rise in schizophrenia and anxiety and stuff like that. It is a bit of a lot. It's not benign. I got, you know, before that I was like very, you know, I guess less like regulations, but then I start to see the usage of it in schools and with kids is,

is so prevalent. It's everywhere. And then they're all vaping. And it's a real problem that they need to really like think about that and, and how that's trickled down. But I mean for the 21, you know, keeping it at 21 just like anything else, like that's kind of where I'm at with it. Making sure like that's a rigid standard. Yeah. And you do see there may be lower uses of alcohol, but some studies show that people just use both, which is not good. So it's like, it's like people are like, cool, I'll do both. I'll smoke and I'll drink alcohol.

That's not really coming. You had to wonder too that I wonder if it peaks and then it kind of levels out, like when it's kind of novel right now and new to be able to do it. Then I already feel like that's already kind of came down. Like it felt like for a minute there, it was like everybody was talking,

whether it was talking to me about getting involved with it on the business side or interested, is it something I could use, is it good for me, like, that's really calmed down. Did you see that Carnival Cruises, they used to let people smoke weed and vape on deck because they're out in the sea or whatever, now they're like, no more.

They will not allow it anymore. Really? Yeah, they passed a bunch of new rules because they- Because of all the diarrhea? No, it was because of all the fighting and shit, they got bad publicity. But people, so they passed all these rules. One of them was like no more weed on deck, which is.

That's weird. I don't know, weed's probably not causing the fighting though. I'm sure it's the alcohol, but. Have you ever been around a group of dudes that let's get high and then go fight? Like that's never happened. They're drinking that, oh yes. Besides the Diaz brothers, I don't know anybody

that smokes weed and fights. It's not common. Like most people chill out after they have weed. I don't know anybody that smokes weed in fights. It's not common like most people chill out after they have weed. No that's that's weird. Yeah I think they're trying to get a certain demographic sure not to show up as well as make it less attractive. That makes sense. Zebiotics is a pre-alcohol probiotic drink that is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. You take it before you drink alcohol and those friendly bacteria have been designed to break down acetaldehyde in your gut.

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Our first caller is Porter from Colorado. What's up Porter? Good doing Porter. Hello. Hi, how's it going? Good man, how can we help you? Well, first of all, I just wanted to say thank you. I've been a long time listener, first time caller,

and you guys have really changed, I think fitness as a whole. So I think it's really wonderful the way you guys have really changed, I think, fitness as a whole. So I think it's really wonderful the way you guys presented it. Thank you. To get into my question, I'm just kind of curious on how I can heal my relationship with food. I struggle with high stress situations, some emotional eating, eating and I have a fear that the answer is to work out a little bit less but I currently I work out like seven to ten hours a week following Maps performance getting about three three workouts a week on the mobility side and three of

the lifts and then cardio is typically like three to four times a week and two of those are like outdoor mountain biking or like going for a trail run or something. Okay. And so what's the issue with your, with food? Let's get more specific. Um, I would just say like historically, like some disordered, like binging or like, uh, I've been working with a coach, like a eating recovery coach for the last year, and was able to break free from some of like,

I can enjoy more foods often, but like when things are stressful, I definitely can turn to food to handle that stress. What kind of things have you guys done together over the last year that's helped? Really the whole process has just been working through intuitive eating. Eating when I'm hungry, stopping when I'm full, and then going through that process. We've used some techniques like RAINN and other

things to kind of handle that to cope a little bit more appropriately. So Has it hasn't made a difference for you? Um, I would say in terms of being able to enjoy more foods But still really struggling to kind of find like like when I use the tracker I'm able to say like okay, this is where I need to stop or where I need to be versus Listening a little bit more intuitively is more challenging. Yeah, I hear you. By the way, it's a very difficult thing to work on.

You mentioned binge eating, for example. It's a very disconnected to your body way of eating, because you're eating beyond what the body signals are telling you. So some of the techniques that you're talking about that you've done with the coach that you have is to bring more awareness to how you actually feel. I'd like you to go back though and talk a little bit about your history and what may have led to this kind of dysfunctional, for lack of a better term, relationship with food. So tell me a little bit about your past. to this kind of dysfunctional, for lack of a better term, relationship with food.

So tell me a little bit about your past. Yeah, so I would say like, I was a collegiate wrestler and wrestled all the way through high school and college and exercised a lot. In the beginning, I had to eat a lot to make weight, to gain weight, because I was wrestling up. And then as I moved into college, I was eating less and manipulating my weight more for sport

and then as a child I think food was just always a comfort as something to turn to when things were difficult. Yeah, no I hear you, how old are you? I'm 25. So you're not that long out of the college days. When did you graduate, how old were you? I was 23 when I took early retirement from wrestling due to injury and then I graduated last year

and I'm in my career now. So Porter, you've only been out of this lifestyle for two years and this was something that you did for most of the time you were growing up. High school you're a teenager, you're adolescent and you're becoming a young man up and through all the way up through 23 years old. Wrestling, making weight encourages disconnection. In fact it served you well. You were able to make weight, right?

There was a purpose behind disconnecting from your body's signals, because if you didn't, you're not gonna be able to eat enough to gain weight. And then later, if you didn't, you're not gonna be able to restrict enough to make weight. That's just the sport that you were in. So you actually had to learn

through years and years and years of practice to disconnect from very strong signals that your body sends out. Hunger signals, satiety signals, those are all very natural signals. But what you did is you trained yourself to the point where that is now your default. Okay, now the reason why I'm saying this, Porter,

is because I want you to cut yourself some slack. You're only actually a year into this, what you're working on. You've only been working with somebody intently on this for one year. But the previous, you know, 10, 12 years, 13 years, you were intently working on the opposite. I think you're moving in the right direction.

It's just gonna take time. And it's gonna feel like a struggle. It's not gonna happen in a few months. It's just gonna take time and it's gonna feel like a struggle It's not gonna happen in in a few months It's gonna take you years and now the good news is you're gonna you're gonna move forward that entire time There's gonna be some backsliding But and it's gonna feel more challenging the backsliding is gonna feel worse than it should because now you're aware, right? Whereas before You might binge and it's like, you don't even think about it.

Whereas now when you do, you're like, oh man, there it is. There's that thing I'm doing, uh oh, there it is. There's that thing I'm doing. Every time you disconnect from your body's signals, that's the beginning of awareness. The beginning of awareness is being aware of the dysfunction and you're only a year into it.

Keep moving in the direction you're moving. Keep working with somebody who's going to help coach you through this process. You're going to come out better at the other end, but you've got to cut yourself some slack. I'm telling you this because I know that you're probably down on yourself when you take a couple steps back. Like, oh, why is this still happening but this is like I mean it's not you're not gonna erase it in a short period of time at all does the coach or the counselor have you doing exercises like say journaling before you eat or after you eat do you do stuff like that at all

have you tried yeah I would say like after a binge, like I definitely will try and dive into it. What caused it? What, what brought this on? Um, and then beforehand, probably not so much. I think it's more like that, that racy behavior. Yeah. So it's kind of, you know, it would be beneficial to stop, but is the most challenging, like, you know, in the middle of the workday or whatnot. Yeah. I mean, I feel like even if you just had like a little journal and it could be as short as three words, you know, just before and or after I ate, just trying to bring awareness to that moment. Like, of course, you know when you binge and you overdo it, then it's like, okay, now I'm trying to unpack versus every time I go to eat, like, what am I feeling?

Am I hungry right now? Am I just tired right now? Did I just get in a fight with somebody? And so I'm here like really trying to connect the dots to those moments when you decide to eat, what you're going through or what you're feeling. And it's just all that exercise is really doing is bringing awareness to all those moments and maybe give you more insight on some of your like pre-triggers.

Like what are some of the things that like are in common with these moments where you have this urge to want to overeat or vice versa, right, under-eat? What happened in your day? Just say right before that. Maybe you can start to connect the dots of like, oh wow, that's interesting. Somebody made this comment to me

and now I'm also wanting to do this on this next meal. I wonder if there's something there. Now let me add to this, Porter. Here's what happens when you bring awareness to something, it feels worse. So that's what makes it so hard, is it feels worse. I also wanna add a little disclaimer. Too much self focus leads to depression. Okay, so if you're always thinking about this,

if you're always studying yourself, if you're always thinking about your feelings, that's called depression, especially for men, especially for men. So here's the remedy for that. You want to try to be other focused more often. What do I mean by that? I don't mean look at other people and judge them, that's not what I mean. I mean do things and sacrifice for other people. That's the remedy for the challenges that come with self-awareness. Otherwise this is going to lead you to depression and then what that's going to do is make you go in the other direction. You're like, screw this, I'm done and I'm just going to go back to what I was doing before. So

what does that look like? It could look like coaching someone else in fitness. It could look like you're a in fitness. It could look like you're a part of a group where you help other people with a similar issue. It could look like volunteer work. It could look like anything that is self-sacrificing and other focused is profoundly beneficial for mental state. Because again, if you become too... if it's all about me, how do I feel right now? How am I feeling while I'm eating? How am I, what's happening?

Why did I do that? Depressed. You're going to be depressed. That's like the hallmark of depression. So you got to balance it out. So come up with things that you could do that are other focused for other people that have nothing to do with, let me think think about myself to bring yourself some joy. And then in the meantime, take your counselor's coaching. And I wouldn't do any more than that

because they know what they're doing. Yeah, hopefully, I mean, we're over here throwing shots at the dartboard right now, but hopefully this counselor is having this type of a conversation. They're an expert on this, right? Yeah, they are, yeah. Yeah, 100%, 100%. This is who we learn from.

So this is, I mean, they're, and they know you better. We've been talking for five minutes and we're trying to give good advice. Hopefully the best advice is probably to stick to whatever your counselor is telling you. Yeah, so you're really into fitness, yeah? Do you work in the fitness space

or do you do something else? I had a in-person training business in college and then I transitioned a couple of those clients online with me that I've been able to work with, but I'm currently in like a sales role distribution. You know what might be good? I'm just a suggestion. There's a lot of ways to do this, but would be to find people that struggle with some

of the stuff and just volunteer your time to help them and genuinely try to help them. That'll be the other focus. That would be like an example of the other focus thing time to help them. And genuinely try to help them. That'll be the other focus. That would be like an example of the other focus thing that could help you. So it's not so, what you're probably experiencing, especially if you're a smart guy, is there's so much focus on me that, oh my God, I feel like crap.

Oh, this keeps happening. Why am I doing this? Let me just think about myself and how I feel all the time. And then that's just dark. It just gets real dark real fast. So I would take the counselors advice Don't do more than that Try to enjoy your workouts try not to be too obsessed about them But also try not to obsess about doing you know that I'm doing too much type of deal That is something cut yourself some slack that is something we didn't really address that much.

I think you even alluded to kind of like already knowing that that is. It'd be interesting to see if a lot that, as much as your training and moving is also ramping up the cravings and the appetite and making it even more difficult for yourself too. So maybe like lowering the intensity. I don't know what your intensity looks like.

Just maybe not necessarily cutting you back. I guarantee his intensity is high if he wrestled. Right. Most of his life. So like if you're already struggling with this like bench desire, and I want, because I know when I really push my body physically, then I get the cravings.

Like my body's going, I need more fuel faster. And that just makes the resisting the binging part even more difficult. And so maybe pulling back potentially for a while the intensity on the training, like not saying I'm not going to tell you the stop going or stop doing things. Just like pull back on the like don't be trying to crush yourself in your workouts. If you do that. Yeah, I mean, and you're doing performance and you're kind of like back in that kind of athlete mind It might serve you a bit to kind of shift that and try a different focus

Training wise, you know and like get a different type of stimulus So it doesn't put you back in that wrestling mode where you know, your brains just constantly there like I'm getting ready for something It's more just benefiting your body somehow. So overall I tell you what this is the most important part Porter I think you're moving I actually I know you're moving in the right direction working with a professional you're doing the right you're moving in the right direction bro you're probably being a little too hard on yourself and I think you're doing great dude and look at take a step back look at everything from a thousand feet, and look at how you trained yourself for so long versus the last year.

Like, yeah dude, yeah, it's gonna be hard, for sure. But don't focus too much on what you're not doing right now, because that's, I don't think is the right direction. I think you should look at everything and say, oh man, I was, okay, I'm moving in the right direction. That was a long time where I just disconnected and it served me well in college. Got me to wrestle at a college level,

but now it's not serving me anymore, so I just gotta move in a different direction. It's a new journey, that's all. You know, it's like, imagine if a young wrestler came to you and they're like, man, I've been wrestling for a year and I keep getting my butt kicked. What are you gonna tell them? Well, yeah, it's your first year, bro.

Everybody gets their ass kicked for the first year. Just keep going, you know what I mean? Sure, yeah. Now this is, you provide a lot of great insights. I appreciate your time and yeah, it's been very helpful. Thank you. You're gonna do good, dude. You're only 25, bro.

Yeah, you're doing good, Porg. You're gonna do really good, bro. Just don't be so hard on yourself. All right, sounds good, I appreciate it. You got it, brother. All right. People don't understand. Wrestling is. No.

That was like my top one for men. It's insane. Oh, yeah. Men that's top and then probably what pageants or model type stuff for women, I'd say would be the top. So those are the top two clients. The reason why wrestlers tend to dominate

in mixed martial arts is because for decades, you learn how to take a beating. You can just handle it. You become a robot. The workouts are ridiculous. Wrestling itself is insane. And then you starve yourself to make weight and you know how to shut it off.

Then what happens, it's like a soldier in war who then comes to live, I mean I know that's more extreme. You can compartmentalize everything. Now I'm a civilian, you know? I'm not wrestling anymore, I'm a civilian. How do I live this way? It's a new life, it's very difficult. It takes time. The fact that he has the awareness

to get a counselor and a coach to help him through this is a great sign. Perfect, he's on top of that, which is awesome. Which, I mean, I found myself after relaxing, I'm like, okay, what are we doing here? We've known the guy for five minutes and trying to give him advice. He's a counselor. And he's working with an expert.

Yeah, he's working with an expert. He made the biggest move. And the other thing I want to add too, and this is especially true for men, is too much self-focus, too much focus on my feelings, too much, that is not helpful. That turns into depression. Well, which might be why, again, that's what I meant,

that might be why the counselor's not telling him to do that yet. It's just like, you're not there yet. Our next caller is Steve from the UK. Steve what's happening? What's up? Hi, nice to meet you. Same. How can we help you? So I've just started the MAPS powerlifts program. Not for competing, just merely putting on a bit of size and getting stronger. I've always had an issue with the straight bar when squatting, so I was just wondering

if I swap that out for a safety squat bar, would I see any different type of results or any benefits maybe? I got two, I'll give you two answers. It is slightly different. It's closer to a front squat than a back squat. Not quite a front squat. Loads the front a little bit more.

You're gonna get more quad than posterior chain. More core. And more core than you will from a back squat. It's not a bad exercise. If you wanna do that instead of a great exercise. It's a perfect. Super sound exercise. Now the other answer I have is to figure out why you can't hold the bar behind your back

and why do you get, and usually that has to do with thoracic. Extruralacic rotation shoulder and scapular mobility And and so what I would do is work on those things because you should be able to guy like you Strong dude working out, you know young You should be able to hold on to the bar and squat and the fact that you can't tells me There's an issue and if we ignore it, it's gonna get worse So yes, so yeah, it's gonna get worse. So. Yeah, so, yeah, it's always been my shoulder mobility.

I always have upper back issues as well, like any overhead press. So, obviously, like most guys, mobility is something that I've never really focused on. It's just going in and lifting weights, you know, but. Yeah, no, I hear you. Okay, so this is what we're gonna do do you have prime pro no let me send that to you this is an a simple fix I want you to pick two or three shoulder and

scapular mobility movements and I want you to practice them a few times a day every day every day and that should make a difference. Gonna take time, but it'll make a difference. Because here's the deal, if you lose the ability to overhead press, it's gone. You don't wanna lose that. And you can develop round looking delts by and still not have good overhead press ability.

Trust me, I've seen bodybuilders and physique competitors can't even do a total overhead press. But it is not gonna serve you moving forward. That's a fundamental movement you don't wanna lose. Yeah, for the time being, the safety squat bar is awesome. Great way still for you to build strength. It's got benefits to it, very similar, even though it's different.

But if you're a client of mine, we have to start working on this now because this is just gonna get worse and worse as you get bigger, stronger, and older. And so this is definitely something that we would want to address for sure. By the way, I had this issue. I know Adam has communicated the same issue.

And it took me a year of working on it. And it became profoundly better to the point where I could do behind the neck presses and pull downs. But it was a year of practice. So it's just like I said, we'll send you Prime Pro, you'll have the movements, you practice them a couple times a day every day and you'll see some some improvements. Okay, lovely. Thank you very much. I will do that. You got it my friend. Cool. Thanks guys.

It reminds me, I don't want to say too much, I don't want to call anybody out, but we had somebody come here once to do some work for us. And they were, again, I don't want to say too much, but they were professionals in terms of how they built their bodies, so very shredded, the whole deal. And all they had to do was a overhead press with dumbbells. Couldn't do it.

They couldn't fully extend their arms above their head. And if you looked at them, you'd see muscle, you'd see definition, but they couldn't fully extend their arms above their head. And if you looked at them, you'd see muscle, you'd see definition. But they couldn't do this like basic thing. I mean it wasn't like an overhead squat, we weren't asking them to do like a deep ass squat or a, it was just pushing something overhead with full extension, they couldn't do.

So you don't wanna lose that. Our next caller is Eric from Texas. Eric, what's up man? How you doing Eric? What's happening? Hey guys, how are you? Good. How can we help you? I am a 60 year old man, Rofi 510, 211 pounds, body fat from my digital scale says about 18.5 percent.

I've been working off or working out off and on for years and years and years. Probably the last year I've gotten a little more serious. So currently I've strength train 45 to 50 minutes a day 45 times a week. Also average about 11,000 steps a day. That said, I signed up with an online trainer told him I wanted to be in about 12 to 15% body fat look a little more muscular. So I wanted to be in about 12 to 15 percent body fat, look a little more muscular so I want to keep my my muscle like to lose some of my belly fat. He put me on a 2000 calorie diet which is 210 protein, 120 carbs, 76 fat. My weight is down from

roughly 216 to 217 so this morning was 211 in about five weeks. I signed up with him like June 1st. He's online in California, don't know him. But lately, like the first three or four weeks were going great. I work out Monday through Friday and then take Saturday and Sunday off. It's a push pull legs workout. But lately, I've been you know, pretty tired dragging like the first three or four weeks seem like all five days I could hit it hit it hard felt

great. The last two weeks by Thursday, Friday, I'm starting to kind of drag a little bit. And really, last Friday, I kind of took literally the workout was about 1015 minutes and then I took off of course Saturday and Sunday just to recover and rest. So my question is after listening to your podcast for months and months and months, I'm thinking after listening to you guys, my calories are way too low, but I wanted your thoughts.

Yeah, good intuition. What were your calories at before you, do you know where they were at before you cut them down to 2,000? I didn't really track them that close, but I look back and I mean I do put them into my fitness pal I don't do it every day, but it seemed like they were around 25, 2600. Okay. And he put me at 2000 and like I said the first three four weeks it didn't hurt me, didn't affect me

I was losing weight now. She seems like I'm just, ugh. Did you when you started the cut? Did you also just kind of have a little bit more intention, intensity, consistency with your workout? Sometimes people do that, like, oh, I'm trying to get leaner, I'm gonna get more consistent, more serious. In other words, did you ramp that up a little bit?

Yes, big time. Mistake. Yeah, so that's a very common mistake. Especially in conjunction with a 2000 calorie. When you do a cut, you don't also increase your activity. Because now that you're burning the candle at both ends type of deal. So there's two things I would do with you if you were my client.

And it's all based on how you feel. Three, four weeks I feel good. Now I'm dragging ass. This is what we're going to do. We're going to do a week at 2,500 calories. And we're going to cut down your workouts this week and only gonna do three and then next week we'll go back up to four workouts a week we're not gonna go to five and we'll start the cut again and see how you feel

that's gonna it's gonna be this give-and-take based on how we feel because here's what's gonna happen you could push through this but you might you might get sick injured you just feel like crap it's like okay I okay, I'm doing this to improve my quality of life. I feel like garbage, why am I doing this type of deal? So, and you have a lot of muscle, Eric. At 60 years old, at your weight, body fat percentage, like you carry a lot of muscle, you're doing great. I think you should just listen to your body.

So right now, you probably should bump your calories, 500, and reduce the workouts. I think five days a week at it with a cut is too much with strength training. Do you um when you say increase calories is that because I'm doing roughly on the protein side right one gram per pound of body fat I'm hitting 210 is it the carbs or the fat or does it matter? Both. I bump them both. Both yeah I think you and you go how you feel. Like sometimes bump a little bit more in carbs.

Other days bump a little bit more fat and pay attention to what makes you feel better, both satiety and energy-wise. And sweet because both of them can go up a little bit from where you're at. You know, I would have, from day one, I actually wouldn't have cut you. This is a typical kind of like trainer move.

You just hire me, you say you wanna lose belly fat, so I just cut calories to show you some results and you did exactly, you got some results. Problem is it's short and you hit a plateau and then now feel the way you do. A much better strategy would have been right out the gates, reverse dieting you. Because a guy with as much muscle and size as you have

and also gonna be training five days a week, 2,500 calories is low. You want to be up over 3,000 calories. And then when we cut, we cut down to 25, 2700 calories and you lose body fat. It feels like a longer process, but it sets you up to be in a better place at the end. You'll feel better. You'll feel like you're eating more. You'll have more energy. It'll be easier in the long run. It'll, you know, it, it seems like it's the longer path cause you're like, Hey, I want to lose my belly fat. And I'm like, Hey, I want you to eat more

calories. And you're going to what that seems backwards. It seems okay. Yeah. And it really kind of rings true. Also, I think what one of you three were talking about on the recent podcast, I was listening to is, you know, one of those signs, I guess, is sleep. And my sleep used to be about seven hours a day in the last three or four weeks. I average it because I track with my oar ring and garment. I'm sleeping like six hours and 10 minutes. You know, sleep has gone down, restfulness has gone up.

Yeah, it's over training. And your workouts, because you've been working out for so long, the amount of muscle you have, they're probably pretty intense. I mean, you're probably kind of getting after it and getting a good workout. And you've cut your calories, plus you've probably ramped them up, and they were already

probably pretty good before. So now you ramped them up a little bit because you have this intention of getting leaner. It's just too much now. And the science now we're telling you, so if you, literally if you took. I mean, I'd love to put them on Maps Anabolic. Can we just send them over to Maps Anabolic?

I mean, I don't know how, you know, trainers you took, I mean, I'd love to put them on maps and Ebola. Can we just send them over to maps and Ebola? I mean, well, you're, I don't know how, you know, as trainers sometimes they get super. Is he giving you a workout too or just diet? I know he gave me the workout, which was another deal. Sal, you were talking about the intensity because my workouts I've done for the last three years on my own was just one body part. I do chest one day, arms one day,

and he has me doing, you know, like today I did back and bice. Yesterday was just one body part. I do chest one day, arms one day, and he has me doing, you know, like today I did back and bice. Yesterday was chest and triceps. Tomorrow's shoulders and abs. So I think the, you know, two body parts every day is really starting to kick my butt. Five days a week. Yeah, so what happened is your volume went up a lot then.

Versus, and your calories went down. Volume up, intensity up, and calories down is a recipe for getting, feeling the way. You're gonna get over trained. Everything that's happened is exactly what probably should have happened. You lost a little bit of weight initially because you've ramped up all the extra activity

with the calorie cut, then eventually your body starts talking to you and says, okay, this is low. I got it, Eric, let's speed up this process. So I'm gonna send you maps and a ball, follow that workout. It's three days a week. Three full body workouts a day. Okay, excuse me, a week, let's speed up this process. So I'm gonna send you maps and a ball, follow that workout. It's three days a week. Three full body workouts a day. Okay, excuse me, a week, that's it.

I'm also gonna send you our, I think it's called our recovery guide, is that it? It's the one for help, like you do a week and you get your body. Okay, I'm gonna send you a- Rescue guide. Rescue recovery guide. The next week, follow the rescue recovery guide.

So you're not gonna work out, but you're gonna do something every day to speed up this process because you're in the overtrain state. And don guide. So you're not going to work out, but you're going to do something every day to speed up this process, because you're in the overtrain state. And don't worry, you're not going to lose muscle or anything like that. You'll just start getting good sleep, you'll start feeling good again.

And then after that week, start MAPS Anabolic, and I would have you bump your calories for the next couple weeks before attempting a cut again. If you want to do this longer term, I would slowly increase the calories over time till to get to a point where you're like, wow, I mean a lot of food and then cut. That's the other option. I mean, I bet you could go right back up to 2,500 with a good balance. So long as you make good choices as far as hitting your protein intake, eating whole foods,

you can go right back up to 2,500 and be fine. Yeah, so this next week you're gonna do the recovery guide. After that, map's anabolic. And I think you'll see your body will really start to respond well. That's awesome. Yeah. Great. Awesome. Can I ask you one more quick, quick question? Of course. Yeah. What are your thoughts on visceral fat? I had a dexabotis scan and it did say I had really good muscle and good bone strength and also some of this visceral fat, which I think, you know, I always thought, oh, I've and my visceral fat, which I think, you know, I always thought, oh, I've got some really strong abs,

but I think it's visceral fat because it feels a little kind of hard to push in. So I was like, look at these abs, and I was like, I don't think those are abs. And so what's the, is there, what's your advice on visceral fat? Like is it, is there any easy way or certain way to get rid of it?

You're doing all the right stuff. So strength training, staying active, eating healthy, maintaining insulin sensitivity is important for that. Are you on hormone replacement therapy? Yeah, I'm on TRT. But I do think Sal would hurt it, but I've quit drinking for the most part six months ago, but for the prior 10, 15 years I was married

and I drank red wine four or five nights a week. And I think that probably contributed to it, I assume it did. For sure, for sure. Yep, yep, that makes a big difference. And there's peptides you can look at that help with visceral body fat, but at the end of the day,

what gets you leaner and more healthy? How long have you been on the replacement therapy for how long? Year and a half. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, by the way knowing that too most certainly would have bumped calories Wait, one of the one of the one of the beautiful benefits of hormone therapy is You're not at the normal whims of ups and downs of testosterone Like most men are or like flatlining for some men that are older, you are at peak muscle building signal all the time. That's so in other words when you eat a little bit extra calories, more likely to go to muscle, it's more likely to go right to muscle especially if you're

strength training. If you're strength training in conjunction with this. So a person like you has a much greater advantage of the accidental extra calories going to good than being stored as body fat than the average person who's at the whims of peaks and valleys of testosterone levels. So even more, I mean, I would have done it regardless, even if you were not taking hormone replacement therapy, but having that is like a no-brainer.

Like we need it, let's go build some muscle. You know, and something else that's not often discussed, because it's a little bit more nuanced, but you get two people, identical situations, they're both twins. One of them has more muscle than him has strength training for a while, the other one hasn't.

The same workout being done is more volume and more stress with the bigger, stronger person. You know, squatting 300 pounds for 10 reps is 300 pounds for 10 reps versus 150. Even if the intensity feels similar, when you have more muscle, it's just more volume. In five days a week of bodybuilding, for most people, you could do maybe a couple,

a short sprint to doing that in a calorie surplus, but definitely not long term and that, in a calorie surplus, but definitely not long term, and definitely not in a calorie deficit. Yeah. Okay, okay, that's great, that's great. I mean, y'all's advice is great, and I love your show, I love your, every day I go walk, I listen to your podcast,

and then when I'm home in the evenings, I watch your YouTube, so you guys are doing it right. Appreciate it. Appreciate the support, Eric. We'll send you maps and a ball, and then we'll cover you, God. Thank you so much. Appreciate the support, Eric. We'll send you maps and a bulk in that recovery guide. Thank you so much. You got it, brother.

Amen. Yeah, that's the thing I think a lot of people don't realize is if they've been strength training for a long time, one hard workout for me is equivalent in terms of stress on my body than four workouts when I was 16 years old. I just wasn't strong. I just wasn't, it wasn't as intense. I wasn't hitting my body with the same volume and weight and all that stuff. Yeah, you weren't as efficient too as you're doing with those movements. So yeah.

This is also another opportunity for the listeners to understand too, like how, how did, how did know if you have like a really good trainer, like a good trainer Would would have him have tracked and given him Calories that he'd been doing I would have looked at the volume of workout He'd been doing before I would have considered that he's on hormone replacement therapy and all those things would be like, okay If I'm good, if I am gonna cut calories, I'm certainly not going to ramp up his volume at the same time I am going to cut calories. I'm certainly not going to ramp up his volume at the same time.

Where he's already at, body fat percentage, he's not like super overweight. He has a little bit of belly fat he wants to get rid of. I can easily build, this guy's on hormone therapy, I can easily build some muscle on him and that's going to lean him out. So there's just some things that you. Here's a red flag for, unfortunately,

the majority of online coaches are like this. This is why we're getting in that space and trying to educate coaches. But this is, they have two buttons in front of them. I wanna lose fat. Cut calories, increase activity. Boom, done. That's my solution for everything.

That's not the solution for everything. And we try and communicate this that it's not even the better, faster way. It looks like in one week or two weeks, it looks like it. Yeah, very short term. But then you hit a plateau and then you get all the cascading things of sleep and hunger

and all that stuff coming down. And then if you're not listening to someone else who knows what they're talking about, you're just like, oh, I just gotta tough through it. Keep going. By the way, the overtraining rescue guide is actually a free guide that we have. It's at mindpumpfree.com so anybody can get get it and it's a week of recovery structured to get you

back on track our next caller is Charles from New Jersey hey what's up man how can we help you doing Charles how you guys doing today good man yeah doing great yeah so my question is I can just read through what I wrote, but I just want to say first and foremost, that you guys have helped me so much in my journey. I came from a bad place and I'm now in a much better one. And it's thanks to a lot of it's thanks to listening to mind pump. So I really appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. So, so what I wrote to Doug is that I've run anabolic performance and aesthetic and I went from

265 down to 175 which is my current weight. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. And I've done a lot of like what you've talked about, you know, the protein, the whole foods, you know, all the things that you guys talk about on here and it's worked for me. And so with that being said, my question is, now that I've done those programs

and a blog performance in aesthetic, where should I go from here really? Yeah, that's good. So you just finished aesthetic? Yeah. Yes. Yeah, by the way, congratulations on your success, man. That's incredible. Yeah, dude. So, I mean,, congratulations on your success, man. That's incredible.

Yeah, dude. So, I mean, we have a few programs that I think would be appropriate for you. I think some more questions, though, like what are you into, like what's, what do you enjoy doing? What were your favorite things you got from those three programs?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, just the structure of it all, you know, that was really beneficial to me, because I was like, I just knew the bro workout, you know, like buys and tries and back and buys and you know that's all I knew since I've been working out so this really gave me some structure to it and and just the guidance from the show you know I listen to the show while I'm working out so that really helps me a lot too just to stay focused.

Do you like so do you like learning kind of different movements that are not your traditional kind of bodybuilding to challenge yourself differently? I think really what I'm looking to do is just continue to better myself in the sense of like where I can go in like strength-wise and condition-wise, and then the last piece of it would be the aesthetic piece,

like how I look. I got a good mix for you. I think Map Strong is an amazing program for that. And symmetry. You're gonna get, yeah, oh and symmetry is another great one, Jason. That's a good call. God, I'd be torn.

Strong is fun. You're doing some different movements. You're gonna build some great muscles, especially in the posterior chain, your back. You're just gonna feel very strong and conditioned. Symmetry, very good for balancing out the body. So I could send you either one. Which one sounds more fun to you?

They both sound great. The first one sounds awesome. Let's go map strong then. We'll send you map strong and we'll take you. You know what I'd like to do Charles? I'd like to hear from you when you're done. I'd like to have you back on the show and I'd like to hear all the things that you felt

and what worked for you, what didn't work for you with MAP Strong and just kind of take it from there. That'd be awesome. Yeah, good job by the way, man. Yeah, keep it up, bro. You're doing great, dude. Yeah, dude. Keep it going, man.

Thanks so much, guys, I really appreciate it. You got it, God bless, man. Thank you. Yeah, good, God bless man. Thank you. Yeah, good, wow. Yeah. Great progress. He definitely listens to his show. Well, you know, the red, black, you know.

Reading his question, cause he didn't say some of the stuff that he, you know, he didn't say on the call, but his question, I mean, he had some struggles. And he came out of those struggles in a big way. So it wasn't just a physical transformation, he experienced a mental and spiritual transition, or transformation as well.

So that's why I wanna have him back on the show, because I hope he opens up more and talks about it as he goes through Strong. Yeah, I was hoping, obviously he's talked about the structure of all of them, but I was curious I wanted him to shed a little more light on what he liked Like I mean, those are very three very different programs Yeah

And one of the reasons why I love people doing exactly that is going through all three is like I did not from a client Like this I would be like, okay, which one do you like the most which one do you like least or tell me? Do you remember phases that you... You can prioritize things a little more effectively. Yeah, so then if I have an idea, because where someone is at with like, at this point in their life, it's like, my goal is just to keep them working out. Like, he's not super body focused,

he's not like trying to be super athlete or anything like that. Like, it's obvious that exercise and the advice we've given has changed his life. And it's like, I just want to keep this guy going. And so finding out what he's enjoying, what gets him to the gym and he's enjoying is, that's where I'm pushing him, keep going that way. Yeah, I'm hoping he likes strong.

I think that was a good problem. I think both your advice is great. The only one that, the symmetry is like one of the best things that someone could do for them. It's the isometric at the beginning is always what I'm always a little nervous. Yeah Do you have the discipline to do that too weak? Yeah to do that too different though, and it's so yeah, it's so good Yeah, it's so good But it's it's the one that's like if I have somebody who I'm worried that might not follow something through it's like that's why because

Of that but most people need it so bad. So when they do it they they're blown away Yeah, look if you like the, come find us on Instagram. Justin is at Mind Pump. Justin, I'm at Mind Pump to Stefano. Adam's at Mind Pump. 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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