Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2648: Nine Reasons Getting Stronger is the Best Physical Pursuit & More (Listener Coaching)

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin answer four Pump Head questions drawn from last Sunday’s Quah post on the @mindpumpmedia Instagram page.  Mind Pump Fit Tip: 9 Reasons Getting Stronger is the Best Physical Pursuit. (1:58) The different stages of raising a child. (24:07) The ultimate nootropic, methylene blue. (42:27) Peeing outside. (48:16) Sauna/hot tub and sodium. (50:01) When your hormones are feeling REALLY good. (52:06) Kids say the darndest things. (56:00) #Quah question #1 – What are your thoughts on day-long workouts? I work from home most days, and I like to spread my workout throughout the day. (57:45) #Quah question #2 – How to break through plateaus? I've been stuck on preacher curls, among other exercises, for two months. (1:02:39) #Quah question #3 – I’m about as beginner as a beginner can get when it comes to lifting, to the point that I don’t know how to get started, and I have no clue what my baseline is. Do I just go to the weight bench and throw on some plates? What is the very first step for someone who has never lifted? (1:04:40) #Quah question #4 – You always mention going for a walk after a meal. Does going before eating have the same benefits or not? (1:09:09) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Troscriptions for the exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP for 10% off your first order. ** Get your free Sample Pack with any “drink mix” purchase! Find your favorite LMNT flavor, or share it with a friend. Try LMNT risk-free. If you don’t like it, give it away to a salty friend and we’ll give you your money back, no questions asked! Visit DrinkLMNT.com/MindPump July Special: MAPS Split or Anabolic Metabolism Bundle 50% off! ** Code JULY50 at checkout ** Association of Grip Strength With Risk of All-Cause Mortality, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Cancer in Community-Dwelling Populations: A Meta-analysis of Prospective Cohort Studies Muscular Strength as a Predictor of All-Cause Mortality in an Apparently Healthy Population: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Data From Approximately 2 Million Men and Women Exercise interventions for older adults: A systematic review of meta-analyses Association of Efficacy of Resistance Exercise Training With Depressive Symptoms: Meta-analysis and Meta-regression Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials Adherence to Strength Training and Lower Rates of Sports Injury in Contact Sports: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Parenting: Getting It Right Visit Paleovalley for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Discount is now automatically applied at checkout: 15% off your first order! ** Mind Pump # 2552: From Plateau to PR… How to Break Through Strength Barriers Mind Pump # 2385: Five Reasons Why You Should Hire a Trainer 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 in history. This is Mind Pump. In today's episode, we answered listeners' questions, but this was after an intro. Today's intro, 55 minutes long. In the in the intro talk about fitness studies science fat loss Family life. It's a good time By the way, if you want to write in some questions that we can potentially pick for an episode go to Instagram at mind pump media

That's where you do it. Now. This episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is true scriptions today We talked about they're just blue Supplement this is methyl and blue. You we talked about their Just Blue supplement. This is Methylene Blue. You've heard about Methylene Blue. Mitochondrial enhancement, nootropic. It boosts creative thinking, gives you energy. You feel amazing. You will feel this, take it.

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thousand milligrams per dose. It makes a difference. Try it out. Go to drinklmnt.com. That's D-R-I-N-K-L-M-N-T dot com forward slash mind pump. On that link you'll get a free sample pack of their most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase. We also have a sale this month, maps split and the anabolic metabolism bundle of workout programs. All those workout programs half off, head over to maps fitness products.com and then use the code July 50 for the discount back to the show. When you work out, you can chase endurance.

You can chase flexibility, power and strength. Which one's the best? Well, today we're gonna make the case, the strong case, data-driven case, why strength is the best physical pursuit. If you're gonna work out, that's the one you should probably chase the most. Listen in and figure out why.

Not to ruin your nine answers or reasons, but the short answer is it's the only one that carries over to all pursuits. Correct. It translates to everything else. It is the base physical pursuit. So here's what happens when you get stronger. You improve functional flexibility.

You improve stamina or endurance. And you get more powerful. You get more explosive. You even relieve pain. And you can't say that about the other physical pursuits. In other words, if I took a ultra marathon runner and I made him 10% stronger, he's gonna have more endurance.

If I take somebody who is a flexibility expert and I make them stronger, they have more functional flexibility or stability. You want more power, you take somebody who wants to jump higher, you make them stronger they'll jump higher. Now that doesn't mean those other physical pursuits aren't important, but the basis strength. Another way to say that also is I take five people that are all starting at zero

and you focus on strength, strength guy is gonna get a little bit of everything. Yes. Where if you take someone and just focus on endurance, they're not gonna necessarily get more strength. In fact, they could lose some strength. So that's another way to look at it, instead of like saying, oh, this person who already does this thing, this is gonna add a little more to it.

It's like, well, if you are at zero, where a lot of clients are when they first hire you, and you have one pursuit, say they like all pursuits or one in particular, that one pursuit has carryover for all of them, where the other ones don't necessarily do that. 100%. So now that doesn't mean you don't pursue the other physical pursuits but there is a base physical pursuit and this is I think you said it great Adam especially in the beginning

especially in the beginning this is the one that you go after because you're gonna get a good deal of all the others. Now as you become more advanced, especially if you're an athlete, then you can start to focus more in other directions. But if you lose this base, you will lose the other physical pursuits. That's another way to say it, right? If you want more endurance and you lose a lot of strength,

your endurance is gonna go down. You're limited. Yeah, if you wanna have great functional flexibility so that you don't hurt yourself, but you lose a lot of strength, you endurance is going to go down. You're limited. Yeah, if you want to have great functional flexibility so that you don't hurt yourself but you lose a lot of strength, you're totally screwed. It's the base physical pursuit that contributes to all the others, whereas the other ones don't necessarily do this. The next one is it improves overall health and longevity. Now, all physical pursuits, if you get better at them, will improve, generally will improve

health and longevity. But strength, the data is now showing clearly, is the best. Now this doesn't mean you can't get carried away, so people right now are thinking, what about power lifters or body? If you go extreme in any direction, you start to sacrifice health and longevity. We're talking about the average person. But one of the best predictors of all-cause mortality is not a endurance test. That does predict it to a good degree. It is not flexibility. It is not

power. It's a simple grip strength test, which is a proxy for overall body strength. So when they do the data on this in the tests, if somebody's grip strength is not good, they can relatively accurately predict all cause mortality better with that metric than almost any other metric that you can test, which is remarkable. What do you think the major contributor to that is that makes it such a good thing for health and longevity? Would it be how protective muscle is

and muscle is so closely related to strength? It's both mobility I mean we get to more all of this right metabolic health mitochondria health. It's all of those things Now what they'll show in data, they'll also show muscle Is a good predictor but but strength is a better predictor than just muscle because really strength shows You've got functional healthy muscle really you, you're immune compromised, like, you know, for the most part you're strong then you're resilient even towards like disease and all kinds of other factors. That's right, here's a study, a 2018 study in the Lancelet found that higher

muscle strength is associated with a 20 to 35 percent lower risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality independent, here's the best part, independent of aerobic fitness. So regardless of stamina, 20, 35% reduction, there's almost nothing you can do with fitness pursuits or should I say objective measurements of physical pursuits that'll cause that drastic of a reduction. We're not even talking cancer risk, by the way.

Strength is a, muscle is a phenomenal anti-cancer protection. Number three, it enhances daily performance. Think about your everyday life, all the things that you do, all the ways that you move, or all the ways, more importantly in modern societies, in the ways that you don't move. Strength is protective when you're sedentary. When you're strong and you sit at a desk all day long,

by the way, sitting all day long always has a negative effect on you, but the best buffer, the best protection against that is strength. All the other ones don't protect you nearly as well. I think in all the ways that you don't move is probably the most powerful thing you said. Because you have to understand too,

as we age, the body prunes off these things that we don't use. So really some basic human movements, if you don't use them for a long enough period of time, your body goes, oh yeah, we don't need that anymore. And simply just doing that, the benefits of that for health, longevity, protective, like all the above is incredible.

Well, a good part of this that I think makes it so, one of the reasons why it's so protective is when you build strength, it sticks around longer when you're inactive than versus other physical pursuits. Or to put it differently, to maintain a certain level of endurance, you need to practice it pretty frequently. If you miss your four runs, let's say you go from-

You get it and lose it fast. Fast. Let's say you run four days a week and then for a month you run one day a week. Dramatic loss. By the way, this is also the flip is the positive side that I always talk about people that want endurance training. A lot of times I get clients that I'm trying to convince that we should focus on strength first, even though they say they want endurance.

And I'm like, man, in a week, we can build a ton of endurance. Like in a week, in a week, which is where the hell weeks and all the first week of basketball season, where that is all built off of is that we know that if you do a ton of that in a week's time, the amount of, now it doesn't mean your peak

and that you can't improve, but you get a bulk of that in like a week's, yeah, initially in a week's, that's not like strength and building muscle. Strength and building muscle is a long, gradual pursuit. It's not just long and gradual. If you went from lifting, let me put it differently. Let's say you always strength train four days a week and you have a certain level of strength. And then for two months, you go down to one

day a week, you're probably not going to lose any strength. You'll maybe lose a little bit because you're not practicing the techniques as often, but it's not going to be this perceptive loss of strength in your daily life, that's for sure. No, most studies point to one time every two weeks hitting that muscle. That's right. But now with endurance or other physical pursuits you go from four days a week to one you see it you feel it within two weeks like oh my god my stamina is way down so it's just it's this incredible way to protect your body and then of course like I said enhances daily performance here's a study there's

a meta analysis in sports medicine that show that strength training improved functional outcomes in older adults as measured by basic things like walking speed and chair rising ability by close to 30%. So just getting a little stronger made their daily whatever. Now I experienced this as a trainer, the back half of my career had a lot of clients that were over 60. A significant minority, but a significant percentage of them were over 70. This is just the amount of people I started to attract after a certain point.

The change in the quality of their life from one day a week of strength training was profound. I'd have their kids come in and would tell me, oh my God, you've completely changed my mom's life. Literally, they come in and do three or four exercises one day a week with me and nothing else. Pretty workable. Yeah, and it's really, it's a psychological benefit as well because as you strength train, you tend to be able to pursue the harder things versus like your body's not, everybody's human

nature is to take the easier path for the most part. And you start getting in this condition as you don't strength train to keep and maintain this easier ease of access type of a path. Totally. The next one is it boosts mental performance. So check this out. This was a 2018 review in Frontiers in Psychology. Here's what it found. Resistance training significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety compare now compared to aerobic fitness I was just gonna ask you better is that independent of movement because we've known that forever this is like

the old artists are in a block or writers in a block so they get up and they walk and they move and they know that it like unlock something or they just get they get better cognitive abilities. So this is comparing that head-head. So not even just movement in general. It's if strength training in particular outperforms somebody who's... Long-term. Yeah, in the short term, all movement has this great acute effect on depression. Like just moving, right? As long as you don't hurt yourself and overdo it, you're gonna get you're gonna feel better. You're gonna feel better when it comes to depression anxiety. Strength training seems to have this kind of compounding effect over time.

There's some speculation around this. It might be the insulin sensitizing fact, with Alzheimer's, there was a study done in Australia, I believe, that showed that it was the only form of exercise to reduce one of the, I don't know, effects of Alzheimer's, one of the ways we can see it through the beta amyloid plaques. We don't necessarily think it causes Alzheimer's, but we know Alzheimer's, we see that more

in people with Alzheimer's. Strength training was the only form of exercise that halted it and it peered towards the end of the study to reverse it, which is pretty remarkable. So interesting to me that we know this and this isn't like new research and the way we've structured our schools for so long. You would think there would be such a better way

to teach our children knowing this, right? Like, and I know that there are some unique programs. There's outliers. Yeah, there are some outliers that have hacked into this. And I don't know what the exact breakdown is, but I've heard of some of these curriculums where the kids will like, they never work longer than like 20 minutes.

You get up. And then they get up, they do squats, they do some sort of play. Get into full extension. Yeah, and they go back and then they do it again. Well, we forget that the brain is an extension of the body. And your brain works better when you can involve the body. We actually learn better this way.

Like there's ways of teaching where you do like a hand motion while you're learning a particular word, for example. You can do this with music as well. But movement is a very important part of getting the brain to operate more. It's a lot more neural activity. Well, it's another form of language. That's right. 100%.

That's right, 100%. Next up is bone density. There is no form of exercise that'll impact bone density in a positive way, like strength training. This one is like, this is like. This is like obvious. Oh yeah, this is like shut case, like done. If you look at the data on walking and running

for bone density, you'll see some minor improvements in the lower body, and sometimes you don't see either any or sometimes a reduction as people get older in the upper body. Swimming has some positive effects, but minor. Strength training's direct. So think about it this way. Strength training directly builds muscle,

everybody knows that, but it also directly builds bone. Bone anchor, excuse me, muscle anchors bone. If the muscle contracts harder, produces more force, and is stronger, the bone gets stronger. The most extreme version of this is astronauts and not having gravity and gravitational forces, and that kind of load and resistance, like it really affects the bones in a negative way.

Now why is like low level walking, jogging, or running, that small impact of that not also stimulated in the same way? It does, but it's mostly, if not all of it, localized to the lower extremities. Because of the impact on the lower body, whereas the upper body's not really getting that. You know, strength training, one of its unique attributes is you can train the lower body, whereas the upper body's not really getting that. You know, strength training, one of its unique

attributes is you can train the whole body. You have like a million and one different exercises. I mean, I'm exaggerating the other. You have a lot more variables you can throw in there. I can strengthen all my bones. I can strengthen every single bone in my body through strength training. I always tell the story, but I'll never forget

I had a client who hired me. She had osteopenia, and she was on Fosamax, which is a not so great medication that's supposed to help with osteopenia. And she also had some other stuff going on, but there was this kind of gradual decline over time. She was a petite older woman and just couldn't figure it out. And at this point, the doctor was like,

we're just trying to mitigate or slow down the decline. She hired me, I trained her six months, but this was one or two days a week of strength training. That's it, it was one to two days a week, and the strength training looked like you would apply to a mid-60s woman with no strength training experience. It was like four exercises, moderate intensity. She got a bone density scan done.

I remember this because I was with her when she got the email. And she goes, this is weird. I said, what? She goes, doctor's asking me to do another bone scan. He thinks this is wrong. I said, why? He goes, it's reversing.

And he literally is saying, this doesn't, let's do this again because this might be a glitch. She took it again, sure enough. It was accurate to the point where the doctor sent me an email and asked me, what are you doing with this woman? And they created a case study around her for bone density Next this is the one we tend to talk about the most and I think it's because I know why we talk about this most

This sells strength training the best. Yeah, it boosts metabolism, right? So if you want the ability to burn more calories at rest, well you strength train increased lean tissue. The ultimate flexibility. Yeah, so like, you know, an asset in a modern society is a faster metabolism. It might not have been an asset 10,000 years ago. You don't wanna be the guy with a super fast metabolism when you can't find food,

but when you're surrounded by food all the time, fast metabolism is protective. When you look at the damage that food does to our body, even unhealthy food, it's largely mitigated when you burn those calories off. Now here's a fact, and I don't like this, but you have these scientists that'll do this, they'll improve their blood lipids

by eating like McDonald's every day. And what they're doing is they're on a low calorie diet. So they're burning more calories than they're taking in, and they're trying to prove a point. I don't think that's great. But it does show that when you burn the calories off, it makes a huge difference. Well, I think everybody, whether they understand

what it is or means, is in pursuit of metabolic flexibility. Who doesn't want the ability to be able to eat out of bounds or enjoy the occasional dessert or the nice glass of wine. And not suddenly gain like immediately impacting it. And not feel like it, which is I think what most clients that ever came to one of us, even though they might have other goals, would always say things like that. Oh man, I just, I remember in my 20s, I could do this and I could do that. And now I have one glass of wine and I put on this or I eat out one time and I feel like this.

And so I think no matter What your overall goal is I think most people? Desire metabolic flexibility. It's so funny. I would have I had clients that were Marathon runners competitive like they would you know compete in the Boston Marathon and they would strength train with me Mainly as a way to prevent injury so we didn't do a ton, right? We couldn't they just they were running so many miles 30 40 miles40 miles a week. And they were eating, these were men. So one guy in particular, 170 pound male, running 30 plus miles a week. In fact at some point he was doing triathlons. He was eating around 3,000 calories a day

to fuel those workouts. I had female clients, 130 pound female clients who lifted weights three to four days a week and walked, who were eating more than that. Their metabolism was faster. They weren't moving nearly as much as he was, but they were eating as much as he was, if not more, because their metabolism was, and I'm using two extreme examples, but this is what happens.

Well, and another point to be made is that I think a lot of people think that the metabolism that they have inherited genetically, they're stuck with. Yeah. Oh, you can influence it. Yeah, oh, you can greatly influence it. I think that's the point is that,

I don't know how many clients that I've seen that have hired me and we were eating X amount of calories and a year later, we're eating a thousand more calories a day. I mean, that's a significant portion of them. We were able to do that by simply putting 10, 15 pounds of muscle on their body, and now they have all this incredible metabolic force, plus all the other things

you're continuing to talk about. Next, insulin sensitivity. This one, although I try to talk about this one because I try to sell it, but people don't get it, but I'm going to be honest with you, of all the stuff for timeout in the modern society, this is the most important. The most important modern society, this is the most important. This is the most important.

Nothing improves insulin sensitivity like strength training. It's in another universe versus other forms of exercise. In fact, there's studies on obese individuals who lose zero weight. They just do some strength training. You see an improvement in insulin sensitivity. Well, that's why we're always trying our best to steer people towards pursuing building muscle, just because of that fact alone.

It's so protective against this environment we live in. Insulin resistance causes dysfunction through the entire body, raises your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, Alzheimer's, your cells just aren't operating very well. Muscle is a, it's one of the places you store glycogen. Glycogen comes from sugars and carbohydrates. When you have more muscle, you have a greater capacity to store it. Muscle is very insulin sensitive when it's healthy.

So you don't have to release as much insulin to get your body to utilize that sugar or suck it out of the blood. Strength training is an incredibly powerful way to do this. Again, probably why strength training's so good for dementia, I can make, there's other reasons for it. But that's one of the reasons is you get that insulin sensitivity.

Which is funny too, by the way, like you look at bodybuilders, pro bodybuilders who are not a healthy demographic. Like pro bodybuilders do, like almost everything they do is unhealthy because they're so extreme. The amount of drugs they take, all the crazy stuff they do. Their rates of diabetes are super low

because they have so much muscle. And their cancer risk is actually quite low. They have high risk of other things. But because they have- It's the one thing holding them together. I think the thing that's most interesting about that, you bringing them up is The way they eat post-contest. Oh, it's terrible. Oh, it's crazy terrible I mean I I have a thousand grams of sugar when I think of some of the worst eating behaviors and like

Like chronic junk food eating clients. It was my bodybuilders They but they could and probably why they were the worst was because they could get away with it. Was because they built these reserves or big gas tanks on them that they could get away with eating a whole box of Oreos and maybe not even gain a percent of body fat because they were so lean, they were so muscular, they could handle that many calories. Now it's not something you would advise someone to do, but that's just an extreme example of what building that much muscle can do That's right. We're not telling you go be help be a pro body able to be healthy We're just using as an example of right as an example. That's right. Next up reduces risk of injury

If you hurt yourself in a random way So I'm not talking about you get hit by a car or something crazy, right? You hurt yourself in a random way. You throw something, you step off a curb, you twist the wrong way. You got hurt because you lacked the strength or you lacked the stability, which comes from strength to be able to perform that movement. That's it, period, end of story. It's the greatest risk of injury prevention you could do is get stronger.

This is so true for older individuals. When older individuals, they lose balance and they fall, you get them stronger. That's how you prevent all that from happening. There was a study in 2020, a study done in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, strength training reduces sports-related injury risk by 33% in athletes and non-athletes,

just from adding a little bit of strength training. Again, we're talking about in athletes, these are, when you're performing at a high level, risk of injury's gonna go up no matter what. 33% reduction from some strength training, like you can't, there's nothing that'll do that. And then lastly, athletic performance. As you get more advanced, as you become,

you get closer, high school, high level, college and so on, then the pursuits become more specific. But overall athletic performance, general athletic performance, you get stronger. You get two equally skilled individual, the stronger one is gonna perform better than the weaker one. So, and by the way, I like to say that

because sometimes people are like, well, you could be, lift weights, you're not gonna be able to run as than their weaker one. And by the way, I like to say that because sometimes we were like, well, you could be lift weights, you're not going to be able to run as fast as a runner. Yeah, there's skill involved. No, but it's also the- You can generate more force. It's the foundation of all athletic pursuits, which is why you hear us talk about young athletes. We get parents a lot of times that ask, what exercises should my son be doing?

He wants to get into weightlifting. It's like, well, he's just now getting into weightlifting, then the foundational movements are what are going to benefit him the most. Even though he may play basketball, soccer, all these sports where there are specific movements in it, laying that foundation through just basic strength is going to carry over more than teaching that kid who's never squatted, never done a basic movement. All of a sudden you're teaching him plyometric exercises. He'll get more out of actually building strength through fundamental movements.

100%. All right, I'm going to bring up a book that I shared with Justin because my wife and I are reading it and it's so good. Do you know the name of it? Yeah, it's on parenting. It's called Getting It Right by Andy and Sandra Stanley and it's about raising your kids and it's really, really good because at least for me, you know, I have a four-year-old, a two-and-a-half-year-old, and I have a kid, you know, I have a 15-year-old and an almost 20-year-old now, and it's so different. And this book outlines the different stages that a parent go into with these kids. And as I read it, because we're listening to it together, I was like my god this is so true and I was talking to you Justin yesterday because you got

two teenage boys one's almost teens one's a teenager and you were talking about how different it is. The strategy is completely changed now yeah yeah it's yeah it almost seems like it happens overnight obviously it's it's been you know going in that direction and you could tell that they respond differently now. They have different pursuits, different ideas. Independence is a big thing now. And the kind of removal from sort of the family dynamic group.

And so now trying to kind of peer into what's the most effective way to gain insight in the way that they think. And so that's why I wanted to read because like any help in terms of like strategy coaching, especially for my oldest and my youngest was really kind of going through that like puberty kind of stage where it's everything is is kind of attacking them at once. Well, the struggles you were mentioning, do you find sorry, but I'm just curious, do you stage where everything is kind of attacking him at once. Well, the struggles you were mentioning.

Do you find, sorry, Sal, but I'm just curious, do you find that it is more or less difficult for you or Courtney in this situation? Like, is one of you more natural at allowing whatever this is and then the other one is having a harder time? Like, and can you guys see the difference? I think I have an advantage because obviously I was, you know, just like my kids, like I

grew up, you know, going through those changes and, you know, specifically to the male brain and the experience. But yeah, I think the removal of, I think it's really hard for moms to reconcile with the fact that it's not their like baby anymore yeah, and that they have to kind of release it and it's like the the control of the like letting them out into the unknown is very scary and hard and and for me it's like I Know from experience like what I wanted when I was their age and so I can kind

of relate relate a lot easier and so I have a lot of conversations with them I feel like I have a better grasp on it but then trying to sort of bring her into that mindset has been really difficult so did you guys ever you guys I sent a video to all of us in the group thread It was a mother writing a letter about oh, yeah her son and yeah nailed it Yeah, okay. Yeah, it's what you're describing to me is what she's going through. I was gonna say it cuz it was emotional I'm not even for me to listen to it being read like oh man That's gotta be hard going through those phases as a mom well one of the things that the book says is that

They will go they are they go on these stages whether you are or not. Right. So you as a parent, you're like, you're not a little kid anymore, this isn't working anymore, it's like no, it's not, and you need to switch up, otherwise you're not nearly as effective. So here are the different stages.

The number one is age zero to five. These are the discipline years. So this is when you're establishing boundaries, teaching basic behavior through consistent discipline. So this stage involves hand on guidance, you're instilling foundational values and behaviors, you set clear rules, consequences, essentially helping young kids learn from right and wrong. So that's zero to five. Five to 12 is called the training years.

This is where you're building skills and habits through instruction and practice. So you're shifting from strict discipline to teaching practical life skills, values, and decision making. So it's about training children to take on more responsibility and helping them develop autonomy. By the way, what's interesting about these two is I probably did too much of the training years at the younger age thinking I can explain things, where I was like, that's more appropriate as they get older. And then 12 to 18, these are the coaching years. This is when you're coaching teens through decision-making while allowing greater independence. That's a tough one. So it says, during the teenage years,

parents act more like coaches, offering advice and support rather than direct control. So the goal is to help teens navigate challenges, make informed choices, and prepare for adulthood while maintaining a strong relational bond. This stage emphasizes open communication and trust. And you're avoiding overly disciplinary tactics that may alienate teens.

And I know a lot of people mess up on that. It's the opposite of what most people do. Yeah. They clamp down even more. Most parents with kids get into that kind of rebellious, wanting freedom and autonomy type of, the parents freak out and over clamp. It's like, you were looser on me two, three years ago,

but now that you see that I'm pulling away, then you get even more of an equal opposite reaction. Yeah, or suddenly it's like, Mom, Dad, that's enough. Let me try to figure this out a little. Because what happens when you overbear on them, like they were when they were younger, is they'll just do things behind your back. Now, Justin, because you have two, well, you technically have two in that age too. You have two in that age. Do you recognize a difference in each of them, how they communicate

it to like you and your mom? Like is one of them like more vocal about it and willing to be like, Hey dad, like let me be, let me just do my thing. And the other one is more to hold it in and not say anything. Or do you notice that? Yeah, I think, yeah, Everett's probably more isolated. Wants to kind of figure it out himself. And he'll kind of remove himself and be frustrated and take off. Not say anything, though. Not say anything. I mean, Ethan will express himself pretty well

and communicate a lot of it. Although this is where a lot of the conflicts happening between, you know, and Courtney is just like, you know, she has a lot of intuition and knows, like, has had certain experiences that, you know, she's trying to express. Like, this happened to me. It's a real thing. And like, he's a little too naive in terms of like, he's very confident in that like certain bad things aren't gonna happen to him or this or that.

And so just having a hard time kind of allowing him to go through that himself and stumble or like trust that he's gonna like make the right decision out of that. It's like that tendency still to kind of go pull him out of environments, to take him away from friends, to drive and go, not allow him to like take the bus and, you know, things like that where it's like, I'm like, yeah, let him walk home. Like, like, he needs to have that kind of independence. We he's, he's established that he's, he's made

right decisions and made a lot of really good decisions through his teens and getting to the point where he is now. So for me, I'm like, I'm cool. I'm like, hey, I trust you. But this is what I'm concerned about in this environment with these friends. We know about this friend of yours. So I know how his parents deal with it and that's not what we do

Yeah, so I catch this happening, you know, this is the last time this happened, you know, but I trust you Yeah kind of a thing giving them that kind of so that's so the right move that's so the right move in that situation, you know and in Courtney's defense one of the It's we're so wired the opposite. so this is such a challenge, right? Like we are wired to recognize patterns that have happened in our own life and store that as, oh, watch out, you do these things, this could happen,

because I lived that experience. And then you see your child that you're very protective of going through that, and there's that part of you that wants to go, hey, I've already done this. I have the answer. I know how this goes. I have the answer, but the reality is,

and it's a very dangerous thing to bring in your experiences into this new experience that you're currently having, and allowing that to dictate how it happens, versus giving them that freedom, like you said, to choose and fall on their own face. Yeah, well, I mean, there's, of course, situations where you need to stop, you know, if there's safety, right? If there's something you're gonna do. Yeah, but that's mean, there's, of course, situations where you need to stop.

If there's safety, right? If there's something you're missing. Yeah, but that's just it. That's the hard thing to distinguish between is, is this a situation where he could get hurt or not? We have done that in the earlier stage, right? And we did that, did that, did that. Now it's like, he knows right wrong.

He knows those things and he knows the dangers. And I have to allow him to pursue it on his own and remove himself on his own. Yeah, I think what it is is you have to be very judicious with the hard boundaries. Like there's hard boundaries, like don't get in a car with someone who's drinking. Like that's a hard boundary, you know, type of deal.

Yeah, exactly. But then the other stuff, at best, here's what happens. You have the answer, they do it your way, you rob them of them making it theirs. This is my dad's, this is my mom's. This isn't what I learned. You also potentially eliminate coaching opportunities. Opportunities where they do the thing

and they're like, dad, this, this, and then they're open, right? Because that's the coaching. Like they come to you and they talk to you, hey dad, I did this thing, it didn't work out. Well, that's the other thing is allow it like so I know there's gonna be mistakes I know that He's not always gonna choose the right thing but like having the grace to

Communicate it when he comes back and like still be able to like feel like he can approach me with it as opposed to Yeah, like hiding it and and sneaking it and getting in more trouble because it doesn't feel like he can talk to you about it. I think all of us, the three of us in here, just from knowing you guys, we all probably experienced where our parents didn't go into the coaching phase and they continued to try to control us. Yeah, had the opposite.

We all did that. What did we all do? Did things behind their back. Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, I'm gonna act this way in front of you, then when you're not around, I'm gonna go and do this. And what happened is they don't have that communication. They don't know, because I'm not gonna tell you,

because I know what's gonna happen if I tell you. You don't even trust me to make these decisions. You know, it's interesting that this is a very similar challenge that a lot of marriages have, because of their own past trauma and relationships coming into the new one. Is so and so did this to me and they hurt me. I'm in a new relationship now.

And I've seen, yeah, and I see this, I've been here before, oh my God, I'm gonna clamp down on my partner because I don't wanna get hurt because I've been hurt in the past. And that's so unfair to that partner because I didn't do that to you. That's your past shit.

That's somebody else that dated you, not me. But yet we tend to do that a lot. So it's a very similar psychological thing that's happening that you recognize these patterns and behaviors. You're in a new experience, but you can't help but get out of your own way because you've had these alarm bells going off of, oh God, this leads to him cheating on me or, oh, this leads to him doing this

to me. And so then all of a sudden you get overbearing or protective or defensive. Which pushes them away. Which pushes them away even more. And so it's not just in kids that you see this, this is also in marriage relationships where you bring past traumas and situations. I mean, I love the way that you handle it because it's the same advice I'd give to somebody

in a marriage that was going through the same thing too, is just to communicate that. It's like, hey, your dad has gone through something similar before. These are the things that tend to happen at events like this, and I know that kid, I know this that could go down. So I trust you though.

I trust you know right from wrong, you know where we stand on stuff like that, and I think you'll, I know this that could go down. So I trust you though. I trust you know right from wrong, you know where we stand on stuff like that and I think you'll make the right decision but just want you to know where my concern comes from as a dad and then letting it be. So they're- And they're free if you need to. Right, right, so they're aware that I'm aware

of what I'm sending you into. I'm also aware of my own shit that I've seen this before but at the same time too, I'm gonna let you have your experience and I think if you did like you guys did I think such a good job raising those boys I think 95% of the time they're probably gonna make the right one there always be that 5% that they're gonna want to test and think that they're gonna feel everything yeah yeah so and I think different kids

are different right some kids are the ones that always want more some right right that are gonna actually have to fall on their face a couple times the hard way for them to learn and then the other ones that are a little bit easier they're like okay my dad's pretty wise I'm gonna listen to what he said but that comes from a good relationship to totally yeah you know and then the last phase you know what's interesting about the last phase so they call this the friendship phase this is past 18 18 plus yeah so something I want to say about this is of all the phases, this one's the longest, right?

Because you're going to know your kids for far longer. They're going to be an adult. In stage four than you did in all the other ones. All the other ones are seasons. The last one is the rest of their entire life. It's the friendship years and this is the focus is transitioning to a peer-like relationship with adult children. Once children reach adulthood the parenting role evolves into a friendship based on mutual respect and connection. The focus on maintaining a relationship

where adult children want to spend time with their parents and siblings. Not because they have to, but because they have a strong positive bond. So I recognize that this is not obviously broken up perfect and everything's gonna line up exactly the years, but I love that it does give some sort of framework for parents because I think another thing that really good parents with good intentions do sometimes too is they're the wrong one at the wrong time. That's right.

Right? Like how many kids have you known that like they're really young, they need some structure, but they're trying, their parent wants to be their best friend. Yeah. It's like, they're eight, dude. Like, you're not their best friend right now. This is a phase where you're supposed to teach them some shit.

And they just want to be their best buddy. And so they make that and it's like, you're going to have plenty of time to do that. You're going to have time to do all of them. Right. And so it's learning what stage they're at and then meeting them there and learning to do that. I mean, it's a, it's, and it's also like an ever moving target. Right. So like, where is your kid currently at and what are they're at and then meeting them there and learning to do that. I mean, it's also like an ever moving target, right?

So where is your kid currently at and what are they doing? Well, what I find fascinating about this is as we're reading it, it's like I can see what happened with my family, my parents. I can see some of the ways that I've messed up in the past and it's so clear. It's so, so clear. So I think it's a really good book

and I think moms and dads generally are better or worse at some of those different stages. Oh, what a good point, because that's the other level of great parenting is recognizing that each of you have your strengths at different phases. That's right. And that maybe, you know, maybe Katrina,

you lead this phase because you're naturally more gifted at this structural teaching phase. And so now that we've moved in the kind of the coaching phase, maybe that's a little more my strength and you take a back seat and allow me to do more of the coaching and leading. So that would be a sign of a really good marriage and partnership too, is the ability to recognize that the kids are not only going to go through different phases, that each of us have our strengths. Where again, another mistake that a lot of marriages make is one parent tends to lead it all and then the other one handles other stuff and it's like well there's going to be times probably in this child's life where you know one of us should probably lead from the front a little more than the other one

and then other times we switch. Totally that's totally yeah that's what I love about Courtney it's been the beginning stages was definitely very much led through her you She was very on top of all that. And then, yeah, and is willing to kind of allow now to, uh, for me to lead and to, to, to coach. And half the time now it's funny cause I'm like, I'm, I'm counseling all three of them together and I'm just like, okay, you need to communicate better. You need to communicate better. I was like, otherwise this doesn't get to happen, you know?

And it's just like this constant sort of, uh, you need to communicate better. I was like otherwise this doesn't get to happen, you know, and it's just like this constant sort of uh you know pow wow like we need to have like a team meeting kind of a thing but it's cool it's like but that's the stage where everybody's at it's like they just need they need clarity they need uh you know some kind of confidence that everybody's on the same page. Now Do you find yourself going through anything emotionally? Like are you more or less excited about this phase and because obviously you could tell she's probably struggling Courtney's probably struggling with this phase Yeah, but I would think from a dad in your personality. This is kind of a cool phase It is because only because I understand it more

Like I and I'm good good about creating boundaries and all that with those earlier stages. But in terms of really getting involved in their education and making sure all these things line up, and she's just so organized and helpful. And I leaned on her a lot for that. And so this is really trying to help kind of paint this vision for everybody. Like it's everything's gonna be okay.

And I know it because we've already laid really good groundwork. I mean, I would think that would be the way like I'm trying to think of like, obviously we're not here yet. And let's let's say Katrina and I were struggling with the same thing, like how I would try and frame this for her and I like, you know, this is a this is a great opportunity for you guys now to watch all your great work unfold. It's like, hey, honey, let's just, let's see what he does. You know, we know it's probably a party there and we know so-and-so's there

and you know there's gonna be temptation, but hey, you know, let's see how well we did with our boy and see how he reacts. And there should be a lot of excitement and fun to that. And hey, listen, there's a chance he might fuck up and we'll be there to pick him up and then make sure we help him. But at the same time too, there's some sort of excitement.

I mean, one of my favorite things to see in even the short period of time, the six years that we've been doing this, is when I watch things unfold that we put a lot of work in to make happen. Isn't that cool? It's the coolest thing ever. Because nobody knows better than her and I because we're the ones doing all of work in to make happen. Isn't that cool? It's the coolest thing ever because nobody knows better

than her and I because we're the ones doing all the work behind the closed doors and then when you see it manifest in public or in certain behaviors or the way he reacts with his emotions, we're like, oh. There's that hard work. Yes, you go, oh man, that's why we did all that stuff. That's why we had all those long nights. That's why we did those things was to see that.

So there's that, you know, also that reward side, I feel like from that and when you guys have done a good job and you guys have, so. All right, I'm gonna take a left and talk about a compound that is just exploding all over the place, methylene blue, I brought this up on a previous part. We've all tried it, yeah. We've all tried it, we finally found a partner

that provides it. The company's name is Troscriptions, is that correct, Doug? Am I pronouncing that right? Yeah, correct. And so methylene blue is an interesting compound, and it's blowing up now, although it's been around forever, I don't know if you guys knew this, but methylene blue's been used for a very long time. Wasn't this, correct me if I'm wrong,

because I thought I remember hearing about this a long time ago. Fighter jets? Guys that fly jets, aren't they using stuff like this? Well, yes, but it was originally created in the 19th century as a As a as a textile dye So actually invented it to die. It's only a horrible clothes We used to use it for dying clothes now we're sucking on it all day well they well they found jeans

I just start eating well they found some pretty profound effect So it's it's interesting. It's an antidote for a condition called Methamaglobememia, I'm not saying that right where hemoglobin cannot effectively carry oxygen. I know I said that wrong. It's anti-malarial It's antiseptic and antimicrobial and now we see it's very neuroprotective It's antiseptic and antimicrobial, and now we see it's very neuroprotective, and it seems to have some vasodilation effects. People like Methylene Blue because it improves mitochondrial function,

gives you more energy. It's a MAOI inhibitor, natural one, so you get more serotonin, more dopamine. It's like the ultimate, a nootropic. And it's got like these brain protecting effects. It recently got kind of some press because RFK was seeing it. He was using it, he was on a plane,

he was like squirting some blue stuff in his water. And he was using it, and everyone was like, what's going on? I mean, this is like, look, this is something you feel for sure. Like you take it, and you're like, oh yeah, I can totally tell. What are the side effects?

Are there any bad things about it? You don't want to take it in combination with MAOI inhibitor because they're going to work with each other and you'll get too much of it. But if you take the right dose, most people notice no negative. Now we've, I know over the years we've been doing this podcast, we have tried all different types of nootropics. Yeah. Would you compare it to anything?

Is it, where does it line up with the, where does it line up with nicotine? Where does it line up with like, what's the nasal one that we like? C-max. C-max, like where does it line up with all these other nootropics? This one is, so nicotine, classic nootropic,

C-max, classic nootropic c-max classic nootropic methylene blue is actually really healthy for the mitochondria of the body so you get the nootropic effects but it's got this kind of like healthy benefit yeah oh yeah so you think Motzi kind of yeah and it's not addictive like nicotine so nicotine

unless you smoke it right it's got some health benefits but nicotine is addictive about as, unless you smoke it, right, it's got some health benefits, but nicotine's addictive. About as addictive as caffeine, they would say. Methylene blue isn't, so you take it, go off of it. It's not gonna, you know, not gonna get these crazy withdrawals. That's interesting. But it legit works for sure.

I've used it, no, you guys have used it. It's in my mouth blue. Well, okay, so here's this company has it in a, it's called a Buckle Troke? Troke? Buckle Trokey. Pro-trokey, that's how you pronounce it. So you can dissolve in your mouth so that it gets absorbed very quickly by past the liver,

or, but that'll make your mouth blue for a little bit, or you could just swallow it on an empty stomach. It just takes longer to work. But this stuff, I mean, it's legit. It's legit. Like if you've never, if you want to feel it that just makes you feel more awake more alive more creative It's healthy You know, like I said mitochondrial health you give it a shot

I mean that the we've all tried it the reason why I asked you in comparison to those C-max and nicotine because it reminds me of that kind of feeling I got from them similar type But you're saying that it's all of that plus it has health benefits. Yeah, memory, focus, verbal fluency, all that stuff. So if you, like when I feel sharper. And I'm, because I felt it right away, so I'm assuming it's one of those things too

where you don't have to like, is it C-mec? One of those is like you have to use it in compounds as you use it more frequently, where the Methylene Blue is like the first time you take it, use it, you feel it, right? Is it dihexyl? Maybe it's dihexyl. Yeah, that's the one that compounds.

Yeah, compounds. No, no, that's a totally worse, completely different. Different, yeah. Completely different pathway. No, no, you take it, you feel it. You can test it out. Take it in probably 15 to 30 minutes, you're like, oh yeah, I can totally tell.

And I imagine you would, I know we tend to promote it for stuff like this, right? Getting on a podcast or speaking, things like that. It's not made like, I'm sure. Or like, you already had caffeine. You don't want to have more caffeine. You want something that's going to kind of give you that like a weakness, then you know.

That's how I like even using things like C-Max and nicotine. Any of those ones that have cognitive benefits after I've already had like caffeine. It's like, I don't want to pile more, or I'm in one of those stages where I'm trying to reduce it. had caffeine. It's like I don't wanna pile more, or I'm in one of those stages where I'm trying to reduce it. Yeah, I love caffeine, but man, you go too high on that. It just does the opposite. Yeah, yeah, no.

And there's times where I'm trying to reduce it, but then I miss some of the effects from it, so I feel like that's also a cool way to mitigate some of that. So when I'm coming down on caffeine, you might see me use things like the nicotine, or now I'll use Methylenol Blue as a thing to try while I'm coming down

so I still get some of those benefits. That's right. One of the side effects, it'll make your pee blue. Just everybody. It does that too. Yeah, yeah, you'll go pee. Yeah, just saying that so you don't freak out. That's fine.

So you don't think you're an avatar or whatever. You got snow. Oh shit. Some weird STD. I never heard about this. What's going on here? Why am I peeing? Is this an Icy?

Yeah, no I took it. It was funny, I told you guys a story. I took it. It was funny. I told you guys a story. I took it and I got up in the middle of the night to go pee. I didn't flush the toilet because I didn't want to make noise. The next morning my wife goes in there and freaks out.

What the hell's in the toilet? What are you taking now, Sal? Don't worry. Things are happening inside me. The peeing outside thing is the newest thing. There's a battle between Katrina and I on that. I like it. I don't know what it is.

You mean you do it or your son? Both of us do it. You're a grown man, bro. I know. that. I like it. I don't know what it is. You do it or your son? Both of us. You're a grown man, bro. I know. I just think I like it. Maybe it's because it's been a long time or since I was probably young, but I had a house where I had the privacy I have. And so there's something about walking out on your property with no underwear or pants on. I do all the time, dude. Peeing with no hands and just standing out in the dirt. Oh, you just let it flush. Oh, yeah. And so to see. And it's like, I've, it happens. Oh bro. It happens so much now that we'll be in the pool, like swimming around. And he'll just, he'll just hop out of the pool, pull himself,

pull his shorts off the way he's naked, walk over into the, over in the dirt and just stand there and be, and Katrina's like looking at me like, Oh, look what you did. I'm like, I don't mind though. And he hasn't done it. He hasn't done it where there's like public. So I'm like, I don't mind though. And he hasn't done it, but he hasn't done it where there's like public. So I'm like, Oh, it's all right. Remember who was it? Was it Everett that did that in public? He did. Yes. We were walking downtown and there was a tree cause I had trained him to just like, you know, pee on trees in our backyard. And he just decided to throw his pants down. That's how little boys pee. They go full, oh, there's three. My son, when he pees, he doesn't just pull his pants down. He takes them off.

Yeah, so he takes everything off and goes pee. Which is normal, but not for adults. Yeah. I've actually seen that in a public bathroom. I have seen old guys standing up in a urinal with his ankles. Yeah Like he told his buddy they watched this

About swimming in the pool and stuff like that one of the things I have noticed and one of our partners that has been, I've moved all my ready to drink element drinks out to my outside refrigerator because I've had multiple people, we've had a lot of people swimming and in the hot tub and things like that. And I have figured out the hot tub and sauna are this way. If I spend 20 minutes or more, which is funny because you've always seen the limits that they always put at public places. This makes sense to me what happens. That's for wimps. Well, I don't know about you guys, but once I hit 20 minutes inside the hot tub or the sauna, I will get a headache if I don't hydrate. And I've met other people that we've had

family and some of that. They're like, oh man, because we've been in there and also drinking alcohol or doing anything so that just exacerbates it. Yeah you don't even think about water. So the move I've been doing and we had Katrina everybody over in the hot tub is I and I keep the the element out there in the in the refrigerators I pour everybody like a half glass of it and just between their champagne and their drinks give it all to them like you'll be fine if you do this and everybody's been tripping out. If you sweat a lot you go a thousand milligrams of sodium that's what's in a dose of element before and during and your performance

you feel way better so I have cousins that do jiu-jitsu and obviously in jiu-jitsu especially if you're doing round robin or whatever you're sweating your ass off and they'll do element before and during yeah and he's like bro it's like a performance enhancer like well your sodium you sweat a lot you start to lose your electrolyte balance, your performance is crap. You gotta balance that out. Do you think, because it's such a big deal for me,

do you think it's connected to the frequency that I pee all the time too? Do you think that I'm peeing out at a faster rate, and so I'm losing electrolytes faster than the average person? You know what's funny, maybe, but you know what's funny about that, is that they'll test people's sweat, and not everybody releases the same amount of sodium in the sweat Some people release more sodium than others. Well, that's what some my fear

I don't know if it's connected to me up my peeing frequency Sure but I know I I lose it pretty fast like that because it is like clockwork if I'm in this if I'm in the sauna or In the hot tub for 20 minutes or more. I'm guaranteed a headache if I'm not hydrating while I'm in there. Yeah, yeah. Dude, I gotta tell you guys, my wife's gonna hate that I share this, but it's hilarious. So she started hormone replacement therapy.

She's working with Dr. Lauren Fitz, who's amazing. She's great. And two nights in a row, two nights in a row, I'm tired right now, I'm a little bit tired, not getting good sleep because my wife decides either right before we go to bed or after we start to fall asleep that we're gonna have sex. And I'm like, this is working, but what cost? Yeah, poor you.

Attacks me, like two times now. She's just, attack, and I'm like ready to go to sleep and I'm like, I've taken my sleep supplements and I'm all cozy, ready to go to sleep and then she just jumps on me and starts, yeah, doing things. So I sent a message to Dr. Fitz, I'm like. Thank you? No, I'm like, I'm getting terrible sleep.

She's like, what do you mean? It's working too well. I just say, I imagine that if you asked Jessica, would she attribute it to that? Oh yeah. She feels the difference. She never had a terrible libido, but this is like, it definitely changed

After having kids and also she's you know, not mid mid to late 30s I think starts to change a little bit. This is like turbo Oh, you guys haven't been together nearly as long as Justin or Katrina and I but curious if you've already even noticed us too. Have you noticed in our relationship? We have we have pivoted three times total now in the 15 years, where we go through phases of who's attacking who in the relationship. I think that's normal.

Is it to bounce back and forth? You tend to hear this, I tend to hear the men are, most greatly, then the wife has the kid, and then it goes, then it's the other way. Like, did it happen that way for you, Justin, or has it been consistent across the board? It was very much her in the beginning. Yeah.

Like a lot. And then it was the kids, but it was still there, and then after the second kid, then it was just like a total reversal. And then it was a reversal. And then it's been that way ever since. It is interesting to get pursued and attacked by your wife and not be ready again

It's like a moment of performance anxiety. Oh, it's not normal for us guys. We're used to being the pursuer Yeah, so when I go when the tables are turned, it's yeah. Yeah, dude. I just I wasn't expecting it Any other guy would love that right and that's that's gonna work. What do you mean talk shit? Yeah, we just talk shit. Like any other guy would love that, right? And that's the shit talking that you get is just like, and I'm like, I'm tired, you know? I'm tired, I have a headache, I do all the chick excuses, you know what I'm saying? She gives you element.

It's totally bloated. This is how you know, before you go to bed, she just brings you element. Well, we talked about this before, you're okay with this. I'm not a fan I like the surprise and the the whole like you're not sure it's gonna happen. Yes spontaneous thing Katrina's like does like we'll talk about it like oh you're gonna get it tonight or oh, there's something like that That's great. You don't see I don't like that. I like too much pressure. No, I think it's because I know I'm gonna get it

I think the idea that I might have to hunt that night makes it more interesting to me. And so, like she's- So she has to act like she's uninterested? Yeah, yeah. I feel like she sharpens my sales skills. That tends to work more in her favor than it does the other way.

She should listen to the podcast. She'll start sending you texts, my back hurts, so I'm going after you. I kinda don't feel good. No, this was, yeah, last I texted her this morning, I'm like, you know what, I'm exhausted, so tired, but so grateful. So worth it.

Yeah. So worth it. I literally have turned into like a second job of being a masseuse. That's every husband, that's a husband and a half, dude. Yeah, you start. Does she know this? She probably knows.

Of course. Oh, you massage me? Yeah, I mean, I've done that. I wear the tool belt, you know? I go fix things, you know? I'll do all the things. Like I said, it works on my sales skills. Every day, I'm just like, what angle am I going to go with?

Oh my god. We have recently taught Max how to massage massage and so it's really cute now watching him like, and he's all, every time Katrina will teach him like a new technique. So last night he was, and this is also another thing, when he showers, he showers now, we don't do baths, right? So we're showering all the time. But when he showers, I think he was, he's so used to having company when he baths. So he's like, who's going to come in with me or who's going to come talk to me while

I shower? So he's always wanting one of us to be in the bathroom talking to him And so last night's conversation was just daddy. I know this technique. I know this technique He's going over all his massage technique because he heard Katrina say to me like hey, honey I'm gonna massage you tonight and he started asking like daddy you want me to massage you I'm better than mommy, right? And he's trying to get me to say that I'm like, hold on bro Don't say that in front of her like that. Like, anyway, you say that to me when we're behind closed doors,

tell mom she's not a better massage than you, that's gonna offend her. So he was telling me all the techniques that he has while he was in the shower is really cute. Yeah, my kids tell Jessica, they're like, you're really good at being loving. And she's like, okay, something's gonna come after this. But, Papa's way more fun.

I mean, yeah, I know, I know. I got something, right? Paleo Valley has a 100% grass-fed bone broth protein that is, by far, the most tasty protein I've ever had in my entire life. Their chocolate tastes like chocolate, donuts, no sugar. I don't know how they do it. It's all natural, minimally processed, it's delicious, they also have a salted caramel flavor,

my wife adds it to her coffee, tastes so good, super easy to digest, it's the best protein powder for gut health, go try it out, go to paleovalley.com, that's p-a-l-e-o-valley.com forward slash mind pump, on that link you'll get 15% off. Back to the show. First question is from Ernie Meyer. What are your thoughts on day long workouts? I work from home most days

and I like to spread my workout throughout the day. Oh man, Sal's a big fan of these. Love them. Remember when you first started talking about these? Yeah, have you experienced them? I have, I have. I mean, the reason why we don't talk a lot about this is because very few people can do this.

Yeah, so it's not like, last thing we about this is because very few people can do this. So it's not like last thing we want to do is rub it in people's eye that we get these workouts that we get to do all day long. But I have done these several times and I love it. And if you are a work from home mom or dad, I think it's so good that you could take, let's say the hour workout, you do the exact same everything, but think it's it's so good that you could take let's say the person the the hour workout The you do the exact same everything but you just spread it out in these micro workouts all day and it will be better It's better and so and not more effective. It is more better. You recover better. You have more strength

It's crazy. You get more system. You get more energy throughout the day You don't get fatigued at all because they're so short Man, if you have the luxury to do this, even if you can't do all time, and you just wanna experiment with it, great idea. Oh, great. We have this, and I was guilty of this, even as a trainer, that we had to really train hard

in this hour, and I was pursuing sweat and soreness, and I had to had this massive pump. Yeah, like that hour matters. Yeah. You have to stay confined to that. And like the intensity and the soreness and the pump and the sweat had some sort of contribution towards my results. And it's like not true. You could take, like I said, that workout and break it up in these, say, 10 really short workouts and you will get as good, if not potentially, better results.

You get better results. The Soviets would experiment on stuff like this because they could, right? Their athletes just did what they told them. But one way to do this, if you have the time, is you do maybe like five of these workouts or something and you do every other hour, you'll do two or three sets of let's say two exercises.

And if you wanna really make it interesting, do the same exercises. And what you wanna do is you wanna pick a weight that is not so heavy that you feel like you're not gonna be able to continue to perform this. You want something moderately heavy. So let's say you could do 10 reps with 315 on the squat. Well, here's what it would look like.

9 a.m., you do five reps, two sets. So half as many as you normally would with squats. 10 a.m. comes, you don't do a workout. 11 a.m., you do it again. Five reps, two sets. Noon, you skip it. One, you do it again. And you do this throughout the whole day.

And you could do like two or three exercises. I've done this. And it's remarkable. You actually find that by the halfway point you actually start to get stronger as you get central nervous system adaptation. You're able to complete all the workouts by the end but then when you look at the math at the total volume we've done for these exercise way more than you'd ever accomplish in a workout and I swear when I do something like this I'm stronger

the next time by the next week. It reminds, that advice you're giving right now reminds me of like the macro version of cluster sets. I think that's how I, if I'm saying that correctly, like you know cluster sets take the same kind of philosophy is like pick a weight that you could probably do 10 to 15 reps, but then stop it at six, but then only put it down for 10 seconds

and pick it back up and do it again and do it again. and then what you'll notice is at the end of the cluster set you'll have you will have done more volume than you would have done if you done five traditional straight sets of that same weight or more and so it's fascinating how that works. So there's two ways that I would apply this. This is for fitness fanatics who love to have fun with this. One is I want to get a particular lift to improve in a short period of time. Well then what you do is you pick that lift and that's the one that you practice every other hour, probably for four or five workouts throughout the day. By the way, being a calorie surplus, so every other hour when you're not doing this workout, you're feeding yourself. And you're not training at full intensity. That's a great way to wreck this. It's a kind of moderate to moderate high at most intensity.

And what you'll see is after you're done with this, by the fifth day of recovery, you go attempt this again, you're stronger. That's how fast it works. The other way to apply this is if you want a lagging body part to come up, I mean you can add, I mean, and I've seen this, I've actually had people go through this,

a quarter inch to your arms in a day. And it literally looks like three, let's say you want your biceps and triceps to grow. You do two or three sets for biceps and triceps every other hour throughout the entire day. Again, maybe five or six of these. So you don't want to go until midnight, but you know five or six of them. And you feed yourself accordingly. Measure your arms before you do it, measure your arms three days later. You'll probably have bigger arms This will work on your glutes or work on your pecs or work on your delts Yeah, but it's a crazy commitment

It requires you to be next to your gym all day long have food prepared and doing nothing else But fitness fanatics probably getting excited. I'm Jim to pull home Jim is the best Next question is from Zemecha 72 how to break through plateaus I've been stuck on preacher curls, among others, for two months. You know, with something like a preacher curl, change the exercise is what I would say. I mean, it's as simple as that.

Like, stop doing preacher curls, maybe do something like an incline curl with your biceps in a stretch. Do that for a month, go back to your preacher curls, and watch what happens. Sometimes it's just as easy as that. It is, it is this easy. It's as easy as, and It is this easy. It's as easy as,

and I know you gave an example, but I would say something that's less specific but more directed like pick an exercise you don't hardly ever do for curls and go get strong at it. So that could be straight bar curls, that could be cable curls, that could be hammer curls, it could be alternating bicep. I mean whatever one you don't. Find the one you suck at, in other words, and go get good at it. And just stick to that. And the beauty of this skill is, psychologically, it's challenging, because it's asking you to walk away from something you've watched yourself get really strong at

and now you're plateaued, to go do something that you suck at again. But the benefits of that, of leaving that, going to something else, getting really good and strong at that, when you return back to preacher girls, you'll break through that plateau. That's really the art of that. But psychologically, especially for my dudes, it's always difficult to do that because it means that they have to go embrace the suck and what they're not good at to go pursue

that for a while. And then they'll come back to that thing and they'll be good at it. Yeah, and this is better for these kind of exercises, but a mistake is to just add volume, that would be a mistake. Sometimes that works, but oftentimes it doesn't. Another thing you could do is take that same exercise and pause the reps and make it in isometric fashion. So instead of doing your traditional preacher curl,

you're taking maybe a lighter weight and you're stopping for 10 seconds at the bottom, 10 seconds a little higher, 10 seconds a little higher, that's one rep. So you're changing the exercise essentially, which is not that different from what we said, but those pause reps... The challenge of that though is it goes back to the ego thing. You're gonna have to reduce the weight significantly. That's right. You gotta change it. Yep. Next question is from Dragon Pauls. I'm about as beginner as a beginner can get

when it comes to lifting to the point that I don't even know how to get started and I have no clue what my baseline is. Do I just go to the weight bench and throw on some plates? What is the very first step for someone who has never lifted? Okay I'm gonna give you the best answer. Okay that's it's not always available to people but it's the best answer. Find a good trainer. I said good trainer because there's some that are not great but find a good trainer. Nothing is going to be as effective as hiring a good trainer. You literally have your own personal coach there who understands

exercise programming, understands that a trained individual, because everybody's different, and they're going to progress you from beginner to intermediate faster than any other possible thing you do. Now a good second option that's more available to people would be to get one of our beginner programs like Map Starter. It's a great second option because it's not nearly as expensive. Trainers can cost quite a bit. You've got the videos in there that you could watch with the demonstrations and try to copy them.

But again, the best answer is higher training. Nothing better. Yeah, well it just reminds me of some of the dysfunction that I experienced just trying to learn guitar on my own. And I obviously bought a book that had chords in it, and I can hear how certain songs and the progression goes, but I built a lot of bad habits along the way. And that was just something that I, if I were to actually pursue it seriously and be consider

myself really good at it and proficient at it, I would need to go learn from somebody, a teacher to then break me of these bad habits, which I could have started off learning the proper mechanics, the way to hold my hand position, to really be effective and build on that so much easier. Your brain went the same place, my own. I thought of golf right away and I made the same mistake with golf. Everybody told me, you should go get a coach. You should get a coach to start you off. Now I have all these bad patterns and habits

and it's gonna make me feel like I gotta take all these steps backwards to build it. And so this is the beauty of being at the beginning, right? Saying that you are a beginner of all beginners right now. That's awesome, you have a clean slate. Like you have an opportunity to have a professional lay a solid foundation for you. And the return on investment that you will get from that

is exponentially higher than it will be at any other time in your career. So if you go do what Justin's saying, go try and figure it out for yourself forever, and then you realize, man, I should've got a coach. Then you get a coach, then that coach, as valuable as they will be even then, they'll be less valuable than what they are right now.

Right now, the ROI you will get on learning good behaviors and patterns, to Sal's point it's going to compound so much faster. You'll get so much further ahead by laying that solid foundation. So I'm with you. I would sell you know if you don't have the funds to do that then following a program like MapStarter and then going into Maps Anabolic would be a great segue to that. I mean MapStarter is called that for a reason. It's what we consider the ultimate beginner program.

Someone who's never touched a weight before, just trying to get started. This is how we would progress. Most of our clients is with a program like that. And then when they're ready, we would move them over to Maps Anabolic. And that would depend on how you feel after starter. If you feel pretty proficient at it,

the movements seem like you got them down pretty good, then I'm gonna move you to Anabolic. If you feel pretty proficient at it, the movements seem like you got them down pretty good, then I'm gonna move you anabolic. If you felt like even that was challenging and your form was all over the place, I might have you run it a second time and then move over to maps anabolic. But without a coach and trainer, that's the direction I would put you

if you don't go higher. And I gotta say this too, in regards to the cost of hiring a trainer. Time is money. So yes, it's more expensive on its face to hire a trainer. You work with a trainer twice a week for two months, it's gonna cost you a thousand, $2,000. That's a big ticket price.

But when you add, when you factor in the results, the getting your body to a particular place, what you'll learn, the carryover for the rest of your life from what you'll learn from them. The time that you haven't wasted, it's so worth it. And I'm saying that because people will often spend a thousand dollars on a piece of technology like a new phone.

But you say hire a trainer. Yeah, but you say hire a trainer. Oh my God, that's too much money. I can't think of, there's almost nothing that will give you a better return on investment Than hiring a good personal trainer. It's almost invaluable Next question is from it's all about habits. You always mentioned going for a walk after a meal Does going before eating have the same benefits or not? Not the same similar. It is beneficial, but it's not the same Yeah, so what happens happens when you move a muscle, there's something called the Glut4,

something called Glut4 on the cell. This is a receptor that sits inside the cell. When you exercise a muscle, it moves to the outside of the cell. What it does is it draws in glucose. Okay, so draws in glucose, so it improves insulin sensitivity. So if you walk before, you will move that Glut4 receptor to the outside of the cell,

but it only stays there for so long. Now, it does have some time, so you still get some of the effects, right? And the more intense the workout is, by the way, the longer it stays there. After you eat, this is when you want to move it there the most. This is why postprandial has the greatest effects on insulin sensitivity. There's also another factor here which is digestion. Walking after you eat improves digestion.

Walking before you eat has minimal benefits. Some benefit, but minimal benefits on digestion. Why does it help digestion when I walk after eight? Well, when you walk, first of all, gravity's working. Food needs to move down the digestive tract, down through the intestines. The muscles can contract and everything kind of compresses and moves everything along. If you look at the muscles that go through the body that attach to the hips and the legs, they move around the digestive system.

Moving those around literally moves food through the body. Walking before is way better than nothing. Walking after is the best way to approach it. Look if you like the show come find us on Instagram. You can find all of us and the show at Mind Pump Media. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. If your goal is to build and shape your body, dramatically improve your health and energy, and maximize your overall performance, check out our discounted RGB Super Bundle at mindpumpmedia.com. The RGB Super Bundle includes maths anabolic, maths performance, and maths aesthetic.

Nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal, Adam, and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs. With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Super Bundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Super Bundle has a full 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can get it now plus other valuable free resources at mindpumpmedia.com. If you enjoy this show, please share the love by leaving us a 5-star rating and review on iTunes and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family.

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