Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2718: Should You Train Like an Athlete?

Episode Date: October 31, 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: Does everyone need to train like an athlete? (1:51) How a father's fitness habits impact their sperm. (24:32) We live in such a broken world. (26:45) A barrier to 'doom-scrolling'. (35:28) Will smoking cigarettes become cool again? (37:12) It's sweater weather with Vuori. (44:35) Neck size correlation to hidden heart risks. (47:22) Making meal prep easier with Butcher Box. (48:55) Processed foods' effect on the brain. (51:03) Stay authentic and swear. (53:46) #Quah question #1 – What are the 3 most important things you've learned about the world/or people by working in this industry? (58:50) #Quah question #2 – If you are still progressing in the program, should you still go to the next phase or stay in the same phase until you hit a plateau? (1:04:46) #Quah question #3 – What is a good workout routine for a 36-year-old female to help with osteopenia? (1:07:23) #Quah question #4 – What are the best stretches for sciatic issues? (1:08:56) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Vuori Clothing for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** No code to receive 20% off your first order. ** Visit Butcher Box for this month's exclusive Mind Pump offer!  ** New users receive their choice of a whole turkey in their first box, a ham in their first box, or ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription. ** October Special: MAPS GLP-1 50% off! ** Code GLP50 at checkout. ** Mind Pump Store Mind Pump #2280: Why Everyone Should Train Like an Athlete Paternal exercise confers endurance capacity to offspring through sperm microRNAs This 6-pound phone case wants to cure your screen addiction — with pain The Hidden Healing Power of Nicotine - Psychology Today Breakthrough from REMspace: First Ever Communication Between People in Dreams DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences  This simple neck measurement might reveal hidden heart risks Eating ultra-processed foods may rewire the brain and drive overeating Mind Pump #2437: What Happens to Your Body When You Quit Ultra-Processed Foods for 30 Days Why NOT to mind your language: People who swear more often are more honest than those who don't  Visit Seed for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code 25MINDPUMP at checkout for 25% off your first month's supply of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic** Mind Pump #1897: Why Phasing Your Workouts Is So Important & How to Properly Switch It Up Mind Pump #2712: The 5 Biggest Fitness Mistakes Middle-Aged Women Make that Destroy Progress UNLOCK Tight Hips With This Hip Flexor Stretch! Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Joe DeFranco (@defrancosgym) Instagram  

If you want to pump your body and expand your mind, there's only one place to go. Mind Pump, Mind Pump with your hosts. Sal DeStefano, Adam Schaefer, and Justin Andrews. You just found the most downloaded fitness health and entertainment podcast. This is Mind Pump. Today's episode. We answered listeners questions. People went to Instagram.

Mind Pump Media posts some questions and we picked four of them, but this was after the intro. The intro today was 58 minutes long. That's where we talk about fat loss and muscle gain. We talk about current events, family life. It's a good time. By the way, this episode is brought to you by some sponsors. The first one is Viori. They make the best at leisure wear you'll find anywhere.

Go check them out and get a discount. Go to vioriclothing.com forward slash mind pump. That link will get you at 20% off. This episode is also brought to you by Butcher Box. They deliver high quality meats to your door, grass-fed meat, crate-free pork and chicken, wildcaught fish to your door at great prices. Go check them out. Go to butcherbox.com, forward slash.

mind pump, new users will get their choice of a whole turkey in their first box or a ham in their first box or ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription. It gets putyourbox.com forward slash mind pump. Also, two days left for the 50% off sale on Maps, GLP1. This is a workout program with diet advice, supplement advice, and lifestyle advice for people who are using Ozempic, Wagovi, some agglutide, terseptide. If you're using a GLP1, you want to get the most fat loss, but you want to keep. your muscle, go to Maps, glp1.com, use the code GOP50 to get it for half off. All right, real quick, if you love us like we love you, why not show up by rocking one of our shirts, hats, mugs, or training gear over at mindpumpstore.com. I'm talking right now, hit pause, head on over to mindpumpstor.com. That's it. Enjoy the rest of the show.

All right, exercise. It's good for you. Builds muscle, burns body fat. It definitely contributes to longevity and better health. but what about athletic training? What about workouts that help you develop athletic skill? Does everybody need to include this or only people who want to play sports on the weekend? We're going to talk about that today.

Athletic training. Does everybody need to do it? Let's do it. Only if you're cool. I know what Justice is going to say. I feel like you caught me running yesterday or something. Well, this was actually. Or should I say, attempting to run?

A, this was inspired by the story you told me because I went through, first tell everybody. what you were saying because I had similar experience. So, okay, admittedly, right? And we go through this all the time where we have good conversation and dialogue about something. And we go, I go, you know what? Like, I've neglected that long enough. Or that's something I need to include in my routine. And there's been a whole host of things since we've been doing this show for 10 years, you know, from windmills to specific mobility drills to better assessments to deeper.

I mean, you name it. We all go through this, right? And lately a lot of the talk around just endurance, stamina, and just athleticism. And it's really been an afterthought in my training for quite some time, for sure, the longest period of my life. And I'm like, you know, I need to incorporate. Now, through my last experience of so many injuries, I'm like, okay, I need to like ease my way in. So I'm not like, I'm going to go out and go run some miles. I'm like, you know what, I'm going to go for a walk on the treadmill tomorrow.

or yesterday, right? Turned into a trot. And then I'm going to jog a few times just to get reacclimated and start the adaptation process, right? Yep. And so basically I did a 30-minute walk in it every, I don't know, seven-minute mark or so. I did a nice little 30-second to a minute long, you know,

jog that turned into a little bit faster jog. I wouldn't call it a sprint, but somewhere in between. And just, I mean, I never in my life have I ever found myself concentrating. so much I'm running to the point where I had you know David Weck and he does the

I'm gonna get you some of those I kid you not I was doing it in my head and watching my feet just concentrating and every step felt like I had concrete shoes on and I was like

oh my God how wild is that and how quickly you can Feel like you're a healthy fit person because I still would consider myself that Maybe not peak shape me, but definitely I still strength train I'm still so stronger than the average guy. I still keep my body fat percentage in check and eat a good diet exercise regularly and you know you you you consider fit in my head

Because I come from an athletic background as a kid and even in my young adulthood I still think of myself that way. Yeah, but then the reality is I I go to do something like that. I'm like, oh, no, I completely have lost my happiness. Years in between. It's just like, it's really wild. Atrophies, like crazy. You don't have that skill right now.

You hit the nail on the head, Justin. I fall into this trap all the time. What we've done or what a lot of us do, a lot of us, and I say us, is like people who work out. So, and what does that look like for a lot of people? You go to the gym. You work out a few days a week. You take your steps.

So you've got good, you've got good health and fitness in the sense of you've got some stamina, you've got some strength, and you feel good. And there's nothing wrong with it. That's good. But what we've done is we've divorced that from skill. So there's, I have decent stamina and I have decent strength. But because I stopped practicing this particular movement pattern, I lost the skill. And this is what I fall into all the time.

So, you know, you may have the stamina to run a mile. Yeah. But if you don't practice running, you lose the ability to run. And what it feels like, you explain it very well. Awkward. Yeah. Feels like, what am I doing? You got the leg strength.

You know, you got the power. You can actually, like, recruit the muscle in terms of, like, being able to generate that type of movement. But actually, you know, having that all sequenced correctly and fire at the right timing and all that, that requires practice dedication. Well, it's so funny to think that, you know, in my. mid-40s, I can, you know, very easily, even deconditioned me, can get underneath a barbell back squat and put 225 on my back and organize my muscles to move that weight. Yeah. With no problem, no fear, no awkwardness whatsoever.

But doing something as fundamentally is running, just my own body weight and for a short period of time, now feels awkward, like wild to feel that transition in my life and realize, like, wow, like, and I know we talked about this with Joe DeFranco, I remember we had a conversation with him about things like, you know, jump boxes and things and why we should do that even as we age. And, you know, it was a great comment, another one of those times where I went on a kick of doing stuff like that afterwards. But to feel awkward running, I'm not sure I can recall a moment in my life, another moment in my life where I took off to run and generally felt awkward. I mean, I feel like that was such an ingrained skill for so many decades in my life. Yeah. That you, you, you, go to do it and you go, wow. This is, and this is, I think, the key why everybody should train, you know, quote unquote, just oversimplified like an athlete. I think there are fundamental skills. You just don't want your body to forget. Right. Because what happens, just like, because we look at muscle. We think, okay, muscle is the machinery that causes movement,

which is true. But muscle, the way that it functions is controlled by your central nervous system and your brain. And when you stop practicing a movement pattern or a skill, your brain atrophies or eliminates that skill. Just like if you stop moving a muscle, it would atrophy. If I stopped using my legs, my legs would get weak. If I stopped practicing walking, I could strength train all the time. I could have strong legs. If I stopped walking for 10 years but worked out my legs,

when I went to go walk 10 years from now, it would feel strange and awkward. So the question is, what skills do you want to maintain for the rest of your life? I think that's the question you need to ask yourself. and then implement some of that training in your workout routine. And I can think of a few. I can think of a few that I personally now feel awkward doing because I don't practice them. Running is one of them.

I think jumping is definitely another one. Throwing is another one. And I go to throw things with my kid. And I used to have a great arm when I was a teenager in my 20s. I could whip a ball. I got a terrible arm now. Dude, I just went through that and a hack, which, again, if we're going to talk about this is like maintaining his skill.

Probably not, you know, a great solution. But because my son got into lacrosse, you have a stick. And like, I always used to throw the ball for my dogs. And then my arm after a while, like, oh, my God, my shoulder would kill me. And so I started throwing it with this netted stick. And it's just like goes way for way less effort. I'm like, oh, my God, this is so much better. Put me out of my misery, though.

You see me throw something like this, you know? Oh, yeah. Shoe arm it. Push a ball forward. Oh, God. Put me out of my misery. misery like that. Yeah, I think it's so true. I think it's important though, like maybe, you know, right, they say you never forget how to ride a bike. That's actually not true. Yeah, you might not fall off,

but if you haven't ridden a bite in a long time, you know how it feels when you get back on one. I think it's important to practice all these different things because your body forgets how to do them. And forgetting how to jump, and losing the skill of jumping is strange. Yeah. Like you go to jump and you suddenly hit the ground. And it's almost like your legs are stiff before you hit the ground. It's like, it's like, oh, what is going on? Having kids. By the way, having little kids at my age, because I, you know, I had my second set of children in older age, it really reveals things to me. Like, you know, and I do the dad hack thing all the time, which a lot of dads do because that's, you know, we like to make things easier. But, you know, if I'm chasing them on the playground, it's like, well, I'm going to be a zombie because I know if I run, I'm going to pretend to be a zombie because they walk and they're slow.

Because if I run, it starts to feel quite strange. So implementing these things, I mean, I literally had this thought at him. I'm like, I'm going to start practicing some of these skills. Not for fitness. It's not necessarily because I need more endurance and stamina. Well, over the years, I've been a lot more methodical about if it's been a long period of time, like how I start implementing and reintroducing a lot of the movements. And again, I had mentioned when I was at practice and I was just like in the bleachers kind of watching my son do his thing.

Like, I just started to work on my extension. And I'm like doing, you know, heel raises. And I'm, you know, moving laterally. and I'm rotating and twisting all these mobility type movements, like very slow, methodical, just getting myself, like, organized in these poses and everything. Because it's like, I don't recognize those, like, as quickly as I used to. It's not something that's like familiar anymore.

When it's not familiar, it's like the reintroduction, and it's like owning that position. But then now we can start adding acceleration, because if you just jump to acceleration, oh, my God. Oh, that's the greatest realization that I've had is that, for the longest time, because it's not like there hasn't been periods of time in my past, in my, say, 20s and 30s where maybe I didn't run for a little bit or I didn't play basketball for a little bit or I didn't do wake one of these things. But then I could literally just reintroduce it

and just, you know, maybe not go 100% intensity, but reintroduce it. And then I'm like right back where I have to be very methodical about it, to your point. It's like, like even the thought yesterday was like, I'm not going to just get on the treadmill and just see how far I can run. I was like, I'm going to walk. And then I'm going to have these little 30 second. I started with 30 second, then they turn into like one minute bouts of a, you know, pretty easy jog, slight run. And, you know, and definitely felt like I could do more, but I'm like, I haven't done any of this. I'm going to just, let me see what my body feels like tomorrow, because I could feel just the impact even. You know, the best evidence of what we're talking about

is when you look at, the medical community knows this, when they're dealing with older populations, they know that when they take somebody who's, let's say starting to lose their balance, that when they move them to a cane, that they start to, who progressively get worse with their balance. They know, like, once we go here, your ability to walk without, it's going to get much more. There's a new appendage that they're leaning on. And then when we go from there, we're going to go to a walker.

And then we know once we go to a walker, it's going to get even worse. And so what the thought process used to be was, let's use this as soon as possible. Now when you talk to health care professionals, they're like, let's see if we can figure out a way to keep you from using this. Because I know once you use this, you're going to decline quite quickly.

One of my favorite populations to look at for this is in Okinawa. In Okinawa, they have an aging population, and they have really, really good health over there. It's one of those areas that we call blue zones. I know that's contested, but people do very well there in old age. And in many of the traditional homes in Okinawa, there is no chairs. You just sit on the ground, right? There's no chairs. And so people in their 90s are still, you know, traditional Japanese Okinawan home,

the dining table is on the floor, and you sit on. the floor. And so these people into their 90s are still every meal sitting on the floor and standing up. As a result, they stay much more mobile and they maintain that ability. By the way, if you're in your 40s and you haven't sat on the floor in a long time, you know how uncomfortable it is to suddenly have to sit on the floor. You've lost that ability. This is why one of my favorite things to introduce to clients that were even in their 40s was just simply like Turkish get-ups or teaching them how to get up with no hands from the floor. And I'd have that conversation with my clients.

Like, listen, of all the things, I'm going to teach you all kinds of stuff that's going to be good for you. But don't lose this skill. Like, just challenge yourself occasionally to do this. Because once it's gone and you can't do it so hard to put the work in to get that back. It's not that's impossible, but like the analogy with the cane, it's like once you cross over and you become dependent on not the ability to do those things like that, This is my worry about the last quaw we did when I brought up the AI legs.

You know, the... Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Because, I mean, a tool like that for somebody who struggles needs a cane and then you could just bolt on this... Immediate dependency. I mean, and then the atrophy of that will be even faster. I mean, it's literally taking all the strength out of an effort out of moving the legs

and just, okay, I'll just defer to this thing. And so as crazy as it may sound, the future, I bet we see a ton of people that lose the ability to walk. That will just be, just have these exoskeletons walking around. And what we'll see is it'll at first be very advanced age. And then before you know it, it'll be people younger and younger and younger. Well, it's just important to understand that. There's, there's fitness, so strength, mobility, stamina, and then there's skill.

And they're not necessarily the same. They definitely, they definitely communicate with each other. Yeah, you got to have fit. You know, being strong and mobile and having stamina contributes greatly to your ability to do different skills. So I'm not saying that that's not important. But practicing those skills is just as important. In other words, if you go to the gym to maintain your fitness and health and you do, let's say you pick from 20 exercises and it rotate.

That's a lot. That's a lot of strength training. Most people don't even go through 20 strength training exercises. Let's say you did that and you always did that. Over time, your abilities would shrink, shrink, shrink, shrink to where those abilities that you practice, those 20 exercises and things similar to that. are all you can really do well. Anything that's outside of that,

you start to lose that ability. This is where the muscle bound myth came from, where you get bodybuilders who are very muscular, who don't have good movement because they train... They're just sagittal, plain beings. Very specific. So now to the person who's just interested, because we may be, you know,

someone may be listening who's fit, wants to look good and they're 30. This is not really a concern of theirs right now. One thing to keep in mind you're losing these skills will eventually impede your ability to develop your body. Because your body's only ever going to be as good as it needs to be. And it'll actually challenge it. In fact, it'll start to bump up against what you practice because you lose these other abilities.

In other words, not being able to run, does it impact your ability to squat? Even if you practice squats, eventually it will. Eventually it will because there is some crossover there. So, yeah, this is like this for me is a topic I've been thinking about because I'm like, I want to improve my stamina. And so I immediately went to fitness mind, which is what's the easiest thing I can do to build stamina? Like more reps or either more reps or I could get on like a bike, right? I could use like an assault bike. Right.

Easy. Some little more low impact. Yeah, easy. Get on the drive. I'm going to get lots of stamina. But then I'm like, you know what? It's not going to help me. Run better.

Yeah. You'll lose that skill. Yeah. I need to practice. I need to be able to practice running. And now, so somebody who's working out a lot, they're like, how do I add this to my routine? I'm already training really hard.

I don't want to competing signals. I don't want this and that. You don't do them to work out. You do them just to practice the skills. So the running isn't like I'm going for a run to work out. Yeah. It's like I'm going to practice running a little bit every day just to practice the skill. I'll tell you my goal.

My goal and the method behind the madness of like how I started that yesterday was like 100% I could have done more. But again, it's like I haven't, so why? So I'll start with just those little, you know, it's a 30 minute walk with these little intermittent, you know, one minute jogs. And then it'll get to a place where those one minute jogs get pretty easy. And then I'll start pairing them into two minute jogs. And then eventually what it'll be is I'll start to work on my mile time. You know, the first time I run the mile, it'll be, you know, a slow mile probably let it be nine, ten minutes to finish a mile.

And then I'll try and increase that. And then over the course of, I don't know, a couple months, I'll have got my mile time now. And then as long as I, you know, maybe biweekly interrupt or start one of my workouts with a one mile run, then and maintain that, I should be able to maintain a decent mild time by doing that. And then I should be able to keep that skill. Like that's the thought. And so you're basically training it. Like, I'm not doing this to fatigue. I'm just trying to be comfortable.

That's right. I don't even, I'm not even coming close to fatigue. Like, even that, I mean, I was making fun of myself, like, going like how awkward it was and this and that. But, I mean, I know, like, my discipline, my ability to. to push through something. And like I totally could have kept going. In fact, what I'm most proud about is I actually feel really good today. I mean, I trained legs and then I went for a walk slash jog run, whatever, and I feel good.

It was appropriate. Yeah, it was appropriate. And so to me, and that's where I've gotten with my, you know, gauging my intensity and how much I push is like, I want to feel that I did it and I want to start to send the signal and adapt to getting better at it. but I also don't want to like pay for it the next day where I'm like, oh, God, then I'm just, why? If I'm trying to improve the skill, then I want to take it before fatigue. I want to go, I want to always stay below that.

And I'd rather edge on the side of caution first than go like, I could definitely do more, you know, and push that. And as crazy as that sounds, it's actually difficult to do, especially from a bunch of guys that work out or say they come from an athletic background is the competitor in me is like, let's see what I can do mild time right now. You know what I'm saying? It's like, okay, that's not necessary. So yesterday was actually for me a really big accomplishment,

not in what I did, but what I didn't do. You know, because it's past me, would have got inspired to do something like that, and then I would have gotten after it right away, which is just ridiculous. Yeah, yeah. It's not how you approach it. You know, this makes me think of, too,

is, you know, when I would train a lot of clients towards the back half of my career, I started training people that, like 60s and above. I had a decent amount of clients, many of them referred by doctors that I trained. And when you see, and people have elderly people in the family, know what I'm talking about. If you ever see someone in the age group who's deconditioned average,

say the average 67 year old or 7 year old, if you've ever seen them fall, you see their body stiffen up, they can't catch themselves, and they tip over. Locks up. Yes, they tip over like if you hit, like if you cut a tree and it just goes over.

What's happened is they've lost the skill of being able to react. Yeah. And so it's literally, their body doesn't know what to do. And so they just lock up and boom, hit the ground. And so this is an important thing to practice. And it's easier. I'll say this to someone young listening to right now.

It's easier to practice it a little bit now and not have to go back and regain it. So you're better off just practicing a little bit. Then you are waiting until you're like, uh-oh, do you to get... Have you guys had moments? I just, part of this motivation for me, too, is not just the conversation we had,

but not that long ago. I had a situation where I had just got the cars detailed and I'm parking in my garage and my garage floor is epoxy. So it's very sleek and just from the wet tires going on there it left just this light residue and when I stepped out of the car, I slipped and I caught myself but the way I caught myself was like it felt like I was

Whiplash like oh yeah and it was like this close that that could have went bad and because of my reaction time where I, you know, when I was 20 I would have been like, no big deal. where it was like it startled me enough. That could have went really bad. Just getting out of my car. Like, that's embarrassing.

And so there's this part of me that's like, you know, and I don't practice that. I'm not challenging stability and things like that enough. And I will lose that skill if I don't, if I'm not intentional about programming. I told you that happened to me this day. I was coming downstairs. I had my socks on and, you know, we have a wood floor.

And I slipped and I went into the other room. So my wife was down the hall. All she saw me was slipping, going to the other room. She thought I... Is this like risky business? Yeah, dude. She said...

No, it didn't look cool. She thought I... She thought I hit the deck. Oh my God, because the way I felt. Now, I caught myself. Yeah. In fact, I was proud that I caught myself. Because the way it felt is like what you're saying was like, that was miraculous.

Yeah. Yeah, it was like a little bit more to the left or whatever. Oh, bro. It would have been bad. But you know, it makes you go like, oh, this is how these happen. That's right. This is, this is like... And I think it's very eye-opening when I consider myself

a health or fitness person. This is what it looks like. Fitness is the foundation. And strength is the foundation of that. So when you're somebody who needs to build your balance, if you really do have balance issues, like if I had somebody who's seven years old with balance issues,

I would start with strength. Getting stronger improves balance. So that's the base. So the base is fitness. Above that is skill. So you can have lots of fitness and poor skill and actually cause yourself problems. That's what we're talking about.

Oh, yeah. You don't want to divorce the two, in other words. No, I just, we, we went to a concert, not a concert, but a comedy show two nights ago, and, you know, picked my buddy up, who's young, fit, strong like us, squats, heavy, dead lifts, heavy, does all things. And, uh, threw his back out doing some little bullshit things. What was he doing? Nothing. He was doing something so, like, he picked, like, yeah, he picked, like one of his toys up from his kids or something, and he locked up and seized up. Oh, that sucks.

You know, and he's, like, you know, frustrated because, again. Because he's fit. Yeah, he's fit and he's strong. Like, I mean, he's not an. out of shape guy. But again, we're at an, and I was explaining this, we're at an age now where there are very specific skills that you got to incorporate into your training that you just don't think about. And this is an example of like windmills and stability training. It's like, it seems so whatever. It's like, oh, I can barbell back squat three 15. That's not going to make my

biceps look better. Yeah. And I mean, I'm already strong. Why do I need to work? But it's like, if you don't do that, then sometimes the same. And I remember that training clients. It was always like that. I remember like this was the next, I don't know, level of me being a better trainer was recognizing how important it was that I programmed stuff like this into their training programs because I would get these people really fit looking, you know, and strong. And they'd pick up a shampoo bottle and then they would get injured. And then I'm like, man, that's, that's on me, you know what I'm saying? Like my client, and they would look at you like baffled like, like, I can't believe I hurt my back. Picking up a shampoo bottle or reach you back. You feel like an idiot. Yeah. It's like, yeah, shame on me for.

not training those skills. All right, speaking to dads and working out and stuff, did you see the study that talks up, that, that studied how a father's fitness level or exercise habits impacts his sperm, which then impacts his children, is future children? Really? Did you guys see this? Okay, so this is a huge study. And what they did, they, they, they, off sperm.

Yes. So researchers from Nanjing University found that the offspring of exercised fathers had superior endurance and metabolic profiles. This was published in cell metabolism. It showed that these benefits persisted even when the offspring themselves didn't exercise. So, okay, this, you, I brought this up to you when you first had a kid with Jessica.

Yeah. And I know you attributed, like, all the great genetics over to Jessica because of our genetics are similar. But you have done so much for so long. I think this is just another study that supports what I think is that I can't remember what I shared with you when I had read something that basically said the same thing that our training actually starts to impact

like our genes that we... Yeah, it reprograms it. And so 20-year-old me having a kid is the outcome is going to be different than 40-year-old, you know, trained at him for 20 years having a kid. And I think that makes, I think it made a difference. It does. So it makes sense...

It's true to think about that. It makes sense if your sperm and the egg is preparing the baby for what environment they may encounter. So you're breast milk, how that changes based on chemistry of like what's necessary or whatever the environments. Yeah. You know that they're in.

The body's just adaptive and smart. Right. So in other words, your sperm is like, hey, you're going to acquire a certain level of strength and endurance because of this environment that you're being brought into is essentially the theory.

Yeah. But that's what the, it was a big study too. And it showed these epigenetic changes. That's cool. And a father's sperm. I mean, I think that's so cool. I think that's even more inspiring for moms and dads, you know, or.

It's motivational. The couples that aren't, haven't had their kid yet. Like, hey, let's work out. Yeah, put the work in because it matters. It's going to pay. Yeah, it matters. It makes a difference. And so that just that much more motivation.

I have something I read that, like blew my mind. I told Dylan to pull up the top 10 most expensive movies. And I use movies because I don't know what else we spend. that kind of money on creating. Movies are up there with some of the most sure. I'll say already that GTA3 is going to supersede all these. This is, that's what I'm going to bring.

Grand theft auto. Okay, so the top, give me the top three movies. I just know that from reading like it crushed Avatar and all these other ones you mentioned. Bro, it's, okay, that you could combine. Okay, you saw the number one. Yeah, they're like half a billion dollars. Half a billion dollars.

You're like, oh my God. For a movie. How sad is that that we spend that much money? Yeah. we spent the, add up all three of the top three movies, more on a video game. So it's in the billions. One point, like one point four or two billion dollars,

somewhere in that range? Insane. For a game. For a game. You know what's crazy about that? I didn't even know you could spend that much money on a video game. You know what's crazy of that?

Just for people who, it's like, this is the world, this is a, we live in such a broken world, right? Like, where human ingenuity and resources get pulled into creating the most creative form of entertainment. So we spent $1.2 or $3 billion and used some incredibly bright minds for this, not to solve issues that could actually, you know, really help people.

I know some people, it helps me, but it's interesting, isn't it? Well, especially when, I mean, obviously we've had some video game talks on here that have been controversial where we piss people off and we talk about the downstream effects of being addicted to video game playing, pornography and stuff like that. And I don't know if I categorize video games in the, same category as pornography and the detriments of it. But it definitely, I mean, I, from personal experience, know how much of my life that it took up in my 20s. And I tell you, I mean, and I've admitted this on the show, I proudly used to say in my 20s, like, I'm going

to be somebody who makes good money and has a family and I game with my buddies. Like that was, like I proudly said that. So Adam. And I did. Like very, very staunch about that. And I was, like, like very, very staunch about that. And matter of fact, I remember carrying this chip because in my 20s, I was already making really good money, had my house. So you could prove it. Yes, right? And I was already gaming.

My buddies and I, we game all weekend. You know what I'm saying? Every night when I came over and work, I game for two hours. Like it was like, it's like, it ain't going. And I made this excuse that it was such a fun part of my life that why would I ever pull something like that out? And I remember I had an older friend of mine that we were really close. He was about six, seven years older me.

And he used to always kind of razzed me like, you know, hey, when are you going to give up the video games, bro? And I'm like, oh, I'm never, I'm never going to give that. He's like, come on, dude, at one point, you need to do that. And really what connected it for me was just like, you know, whatever goals and aspirations, other goals and aspirations you have in your life, you know that it's taking from that. Yeah. So whatever, whether it's 30 minutes, one hour or two hours, you're applying to that. Replace whatever said goal you claim, whether that is building a big company or, building a family or this or that. It's like you are taking, that time can be applied to those things.

And so your video game playing better be more important than all those if that's what you're going to do for your life. I think like a big part of it is when we're occupying ourselves either with entertainment or, you know, like especially entertainment, right? We're occupying ourselves with entertainment at some form, whether it's video games or social media or movies. Not saying that there isn't any value in there, but it's so uncomfortable to not be occupied. because then you start to ask yourself the hard questions. What am I doing? What am I doing my life?

Who am I? You start to think about things that are uncomfortable. And so we actually prevent ourselves from having those thoughts. Yeah. Like he brought to you. Yeah. Which is like how much time are you spending on this? And what could you be spending on that time on?

Yeah, yeah. What books could I be reading about being a better father? What books are you reading about being a better business owner? I mean, there's so many. Or working or I like to hang out my buddies. Could you do that in a way that's... Fostering more time of your relationship? like doing things in your community.

There's so many things you get accomplished. And I think that's the thing. It's just like it ends up a distraction that's something you got to compete with. And also admitting the addictive properties that come with it too. I mean, I still, I'll have moments where I've watched a certain amount of TV

for the week, I feel gross. And there'll be nights where I, like, Oh, you want to watch something? No, I just leave the TV off tonight. Like, I already feel. like we've watched a lot of TV. And when it really hits me is because of how good the addictive properties are and how many choices we have and how much they loop you in,

when I'm watching things that I know just like, it's not even that good. Yeah. It's like when I, if I catch myself watching it, I'm like, what am I? Like,

it's one thing. If you got, like, I am not, I love movies. I think that can be a great time for a couple to do that. And I'm not, so this is not me shitting on all movies or like that or the fact that we

watch any TV. So I think there's, I think there is. some value to that in the relationship. I love to cuddle up with my son and watch a good Lego movie. Like, so I'm not, I'm not, but I also know what it's like for it to start with that. And then it's another show and it's another thing and something. And then before long, it's become a habit that I just do that thing after this other thing. And then it's good, it gets extended longer. And then before you know it, like, I've already watched all the things that are of any value and good.

And now I'm going down the rabbit hole of stuff that's just like mind-numbing. I got to, I got to say that's the biggest change. Well, not the biggest. That's a, it's a big change in my life is I watch almost none, which is wild. I used to watch stuff all the time. I watch almost nothing. Oh, wow. Yeah. Was it a rip off the bandaid or was it a scale down for you? You know, it was just, there were things that I wanted to do instead. So I wanted to play with the kids. I didn't want to watch something while the kids are sitting here because it's not appropriate for them. So then I'm not going to watch it then. And then, you know what, I'd rather go to bed at a good time so I could wake up in the morning and be ready for work and work out. I'm with my wife at night.

Sometimes I'll watch something, but sometimes we just sit there and talk. And it takes away from other things that I found. So I just little by little have lost the... Now, if I was home alone, I could definitely get caught in it. Oh, yeah. I could definitely get caught in it. Because sitting alone with your thoughts, like nobody wants to do that.

Yeah. You know? Oh, it'd be really hard because it's pretty easy for me to make that decision. I mean, it's very clear. There's been times where I make that call or I'm... No, we're not going to watch anything. And even if Katrina and I have nothing that we have... have pressing to talk about. If we just are sitting in bed awake next to each other within five

minutes, all of a sudden, great, great conversation happens. Some of the best dialogue, best conversations that will happen. And that's so fruitful and so fulfilling and so good for the relationship. And so it's very easy for me to connect that dot for that reason. If I didn't have that, that would be difficult. It would be difficult for me to sit there as a young man without my partner or a kid to do that and go like, well, I'm not really doing anything. It's better to fill it was something else that you find more valuable. Yeah, yeah. Growth, something that grows you.

I mean, that would be the case. That would be if I was still a single 40-year-old in pursuit of being better and growth, that would be the thing I would wrestle with. I'd say, just like I did with the video games, I'd be like, okay, I could go play video games for two hours, but I also could go read an audio book that's going to make me smarter. You know, it's a new thing that I think would be a value that used to be a default, that now is no longer a default. I think for younger people who don't have kids and other responsibilities,

which then it's easier to see, like this is more important, I think is hanging out with each other more often without saying we're going to do this. We're not going to play this video game. We're just going to hang out with each other. I don't think people do that as much. At least based on the data where you see how less often people go out and how much more lonely people feel. That might be a good replacement. So if you're listening to this and all right, what do I do? Organize it with your friends.

Hey, guys, we're going to get together and we're going to read this book or we're going to discuss these topics every week. Yeah, I just saw a thing that Gen Z calls, they, they, board games are bad. They called meditation like raw dawing, raw dawding boredom. It's like, it's so hard. Have you heard people talk about rod dogging, flying airplanes?

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. No, no music, no nothing. There's pictures and videos of them staring at the back of the seat. It's comical, but I have to say it is, it is cool that it's caused enough of the pendulum to swing one way that there's this effort being put forth by the younger generation to be like, okay, I'm going to tough this board them out.

Speaking of funny, I was meaning to bring this up, but there's this guy he's got a Kickstarter, and he's just, you know, he's trying to address doom scrolling. And so the thing is, you know, the phone's so accessible, you end up like just looking at things, and then you're in this, like, total doom scroll. And so he was, like, trying to make some kind of barrier to this. And so he started with, like, some case.

And it was like, maybe I could make it with some weight or it's like uncomfortable feeling and he put like textures on it and then he got to the point where he actually built out like it almost looks like one of those 80s like big enough to where it was like a brick phone yeah it was like a brick phone but it had like those you know it was like you know your wolf of wall street size but it was actually eight pounds so in order to get on your phone you got to lift eight pounds you get lift eight pounds and it's like iron you know that might be something it's uncomfortable it's so ridiculous but but it's but it's This landscape, it, like, makes sense.

Yeah. You know, it's like, people have to take, like, drastic measures just to stop you from, you know, getting into your addictive behavioral patterns. I mean, it's so funny because that's so ridiculous and so inconvenient to make, because the whole point of making phones. You can't carry your pocket. Yeah, he's like, I just end up leaving it somewhere. I'll go look at it and then I just leave it.

He's like, it was so, like, and so he loves it because it's, like, affected, but it's just so, like, absurd. It is absurd. You can just make your phone grayscale. That'll make you use it less. That's actual studies on that. I've done that. Yeah, you switch the colors and it just makes it less.

It was. It totally works. Turn off your, you know, you could also lock yourself out of your own apps. You can see how much you're using Instagram. There's that. And then, hey, you get 30 minutes. And then afterwards, it shuts you off. I want mine to shock the shit out of me.

Speaking of retro stuff, so we were talking earlier about how the use of nicotine has gone up. But it's now it's, it's not in the class. Yeah, it's in the form of like zin patches or patches. And there's data to show nicotine's, it's an interesting stimulant, right? It's one of the few, I can't actually think of another stimulate that does this. It's a stimulant that also has relaxing property. So it's very interesting. Yeah.

Seems to have some health benefits for promoting brain health. It is addictive. So there's that negative of it. A little bit. It's about as addictive as caffeine is. But now you're seeing a lot of people are using, like Zinn, for example, or these pouches because they like the effects. And like any addictive property, you need a higher dose, higher dose, higher dose.

So removed from like any, obviously with cigarettes had all these other excess amount of like chemicals and things attached to that, which lead to the cancers, just on its own, like there's no long to study. No, no, yeah, there is. And it's not really bad for you. Yeah. It's just addictive. And it's got these, you know, that's the one bad thing. But here's my question to you guys.

How long do you think or do you think it's ever going to get? get retro to where everybody's using that and they start going back to cigarettes. Do you guys think that, do you guys think that that might be some, something that's cool again? I think there's a rebellious nature to us all. Yeah. And I think that I could already see some people. I actually saw it was funny.

Like there was a video of these people. They were like podcasting. They just started smoking cigarettes. It's just kind of like an FU to, you know, because nobody does it anymore. Oh, I made the code. I told you guys that'd be hell of funny. That'd be funny. If we did that, you know what I'm saying?

No one said anything. We would just light up. Can you imagine, like, the reaction we'd get? Oh, yeah, how appalled everybody would be. Or what about chewing tobacco? Because maybe if you think people will go from the zen back to chewing tobacco? That's an interesting. Like, what do we have, what do we have an example of that, that is an addictive thing that we know maybe wasn't the healthiest thing for us that's fallen out of favor and then come back?

Is there an example of that with like any other drugs or any other addictive substances that were popular, say in the 60s or 70s? a lot of fame and then came back. Typically what happens is quailudes. Just kidding. They don't make those in a wish. Quailude fall in the category of opiates. Are they similar? I have no idea.

I know that they stopped making them. I knew that because after Wolfel Wall Street, I was like, what do you get quailudes from? I mean, were they prescribed by like therapists? I don't know. Google. Look up quailin. We watched the mushroom train do that.

So mushrooms are hot and heavy in the 60s and 70s. kind of fell out of favor for a while. Psychedelics. I mean, that's a huge thing. Research came back. You know what's weird about, while he looks up Kualudes, you know what's interesting about that?

I'm listening to these, so spiritual talk and spirituality now seems to be like a very common thing people are talking about again. And to be more specific, the demonic world versus the angelic world, that kind of stuff. And there was these, I've listened now to a couple people talk about,

and I've heard other people say this, by the way. And I knew this before. when you have people who take high doses of psychedelics, the theory is it's a hallucination created by your own mind. But then the question was always, why are people seeing- Why are they seeing the same things? Like, have you guys heard of the elves working on machinery

from people taking Iosca? Have you heard these stories before? Why are they seeing the same? Even Salvia, there's been a lot of reports of like a passenger or like somebody, you know, in the same room with you. Yeah, so this one guy comes on and he's saying that, you know, he's calling himself a whistleblower, but I don't know if he's real or not. But he's saying that government agencies have been studying these things because they do believe that you are speaking to another dimension and that you are talking to other potential beings because of these. Okay.

So trip off this, there's been a recent study, I guess, that was here, like in our backyard somewhere in the Silicon Valley where it's a startup company where they're testing people's dreams and like getting them in a lucid dream state and they're actually able to connect them through their dream. Whoa. What? So they could dream together? So they could dream together somehow connected through like. No way.

And they wouldn't reveal the technology completely, but it was definitely they were they hooked up to some kind of device. So qualoids were a brand name for a methich qualone, metachylone, essential nervous system depressive. They don't make them anymore. So, sorry guys. So it's not quite an opiate, but it's, no, it's its own, it's its own thing. Interesting. Yeah, I think it's, uh, I think all of that is fascinating. Because I have, look, uh, you know, I've used psychedelics before, not a lot. Um, never to the point where I saw things like that, but I did, I did, I did, I did, not to where I saw beings and stuff. I've definitely seen distorted reality. Oh, yeah, yeah, but I've never

went like, because I was always afraid. What do they call that when you start, seen like faces in like clouds and like you know i i saw some of that but that's really just like distorting the cloud itself yeah but i've done that and done that with katrina and seen the same thing yes so that's happened yes but there but there's but there's but people will talk about taking like super high doses of things and that you're gone they say called loss of ego right they try to paint it as this like spiritual experience or whatever and it's really interesting when you hear these people there was a book called god what was it called uh something about DMT. It was a... It wasn't the Windows one? No.

Was his name Rick Strauss? Something like that. He, he actually studied DMT and gave it to people intravenously because he believed that there were something more to it, that it wasn't just the spirit molecule. That's it. The spirit molecule. Yeah, good. That's great. Have you read that? And just, you have parts of it. I haven't read the whole thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's really DMT, the spirit molecule. That's it. What's the author's name? Would I get Rick? Oh, Strassman. How did I remember that? that. Did you get that right? I did. Oh my God. I did. Random. Yeah. And so I don't know. You just have a sure experience. Could it be, now, here's the deal. Could it be that,

that your, you know, our consciousness is such a difficult thing to explain anyway. Could it be that that's the portal to the other dimensions? Well, I think, yeah. Or, I mean, one of the other theories is that are, we're just received, we're all receiving. Like, we're all, like, like the brain is a big receiver. Yeah, they're just a big receiver. And so you're, you're tapping into, think of it as another radio station or something. I mean, there's definitely something to the whole spirit realm of it. Because, I mean, any culture back in the day, that was how they were able to receive a lot of information as they went to these, like, you know, use like these types of, you know, peyote or whatever kind of substance was available. And it's like, you know.

It's talked about it. It opens something up. It's talked about on the Bible. It actually tells it, it warns you against, I think they refer to as pharmacopoeia. I think, if I'm not mistaken, it warns you against these things. Using it. Well, I mean, I've seen firsthand a lot of. First hand, a lot of people that it starts off as this really cool thing that, you know,

they have a breakthrough or helps and then it tends to spiral. It turns into chasing something and then it's more and more and more. And then it kind of spirals out of control. And it's like you lose that person in it. So get lost in it. So I'm going to change directions, Adam. I want to, because we were going to talk about Viori today. Oh, I wanted to breathe up.

Yeah. So what's the sweatpants? Yeah. So when we went to, you and I did commercials there, our ads with them. Which, by the way, it's so awkward, bro. I'm getting... I feel me walking in. I feel like I've gotten better at it.

You know what I started doing? I started just being, like, just talking about it. So when they, so they typically send us like a script. I hate acting. It's just... Yeah, they typically send us like a script of things that they want us to look at and talk about. And I was with, you know, Eli last time. And I'm like...

Yeah. And I go, I'm just, I'm going to shop for Katrina. That's real. Like, I shop for her all the time. She loves Viori. I love Viori. can you just let me do my thing? And then you can just, he's like, perfect.

I'll just follow you and you do your thing. And so this last time was probably my favorite because that's, I just, it was, and it was authentic. I hadn't been in the shop in a long time, saw stuff that I hadn't seen, bought her stuff. And so I personally, I think that's the way to go. And that didn't bother me. I'm like you, tell me I need to act a certain way.

It was just not my jam, right? But one of the things I saw, you know, I'm shopping for her, but I found stuff for myself. So they. So Adam. They can, they get. I'm not saying. Yeah, two for her, three for me.

You know, so. No, they have these new sweatpants. I think they're called Seaside sweatpants. I want to see them. That are now my favorite. Before that, I had a pair of Nike did a collaboration with Stozy. And they were like, you've, you guys have seen me wear them. I wore them on my series or baggy sweats that I really like, just super thick and comfortable.

And they have a new line out called Seaside Sweats. Oh. And they are thick and comfortable. Oh, yeah. Oh, they're so good. Now the weather's changing them. Oh, I know, I'm so pumped. And they're gray.

Yeah, they're what they say about gray. Yeah. Those ones are like a, I think that's, I think they call them seaside because they're like this kind of sand color. So those are, they have like a sand, a gray. Well, there's all the ones. There's all the colors right there. Yeah.

What are the colors? Oh, those are nice. I love them. Oh, I'm going to get them. I love them. I'm like, I wear them all the time now. What is it was? My wife says, I wore up.

Because you can see. Yeah, I know that. But it's white gray. I don't know. Maybe some shadowing effect. I wore gray in the series I'm doing. One of the episodes I wore gray, and right away she noticed, you're like, oh, you wore gray for that.

I'm like, I don't understand what the these. I told you, I didn't know about it until Katrina and I got together. Yeah, it's definitely a girl. But I mean, there's truth to it, though. If you look at, no. Yeah, when you're in gray. When you look at, you're looking at?

Adam's like, I can tell. Yeah, when you pay attention the next time you wear gray sweats versus when you wear any other color, and it just, the way it outlines everything is, It's just different. The shadowing effect or the way gray lays material-wise, it just hits different, you know what I'm saying? It hits different. Hey, speaking of hitting different, Justin, I got a study, dude, on neck size.

So neck size. Great transition. Why me? I got thick neck. Because we talk about this. This simple neck measurement might. reveal hidden heart risks. Oh, God. Correlation to heart risk. Yeah, dude. Next size, so this was, so next size is proving to be a powerful indicator of hidden

health risk. Larger neck circumferences are associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and sleep apnea. There you go, buddy. Even among those with normal weight. Listen, even among those with normal weight. Now, yes. Listen, here's the deal. Everybody knows this. Not everybody. Having blessed calves, is it everything it's meant to be, buddy, you know, because with big calves come big necks. You ever met a guy who got big calves and big neck? Whoa. They're connected, dog.

Is it really? Yes. Show me a guy with big calves that has a small neck. Whoa. They're connected. We should all measure our necks to see what the difference is. I have a decent size for my head. I always thought I was just carrying a helmet around forever.

This has grown like four inches. It didn't look like that before. And it changed. You just changed. It changed. Probably was not like that before. Yeah, your voice gets lower too as a result. I think, all that.

Well, I mean, people who strength train heavily as their neck gets bigger or athletes, sleep apnea goes up because all the muscles and all the thick, yeah, all around the neck. Thick, thick tongue. Yeah. Yeah. That's another byproduct. That's the other thing too. Some benefits to that, though.

Yeah. Also, I went on butcher box today. I took some pictures because some pictures. I did. I did. Some of the products. Here's something. You show them people your meat?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I went on there because. Meat to meat to meat. You know, butcher box, you know, they deliver really high quality meats to your door, right? So if you want good red meat, you want good, you know, chicken, fish, fish, like high quality, good prices. Like, that's great.

But a lot of this you prepare. And so they have, they have options that are like kind of pre-made easy. For example, they have pasture-raised smash burgers that are already made that are brisket and Chuck. Yeah, so Brisket and Chuck blend. And they're ready to go. throw them in the grill. They also have crate-free bacon and cheese egg bites. You know those egg bites you always get from

from Starbucks? Yeah. I've tried those. We've tried those. My kids love them. I didn't know they had smash burgers already. Yeah. I didn't know that. Let's go. We're always adding things, man. They also have, and this is great for like people who meal prep, they have skinless chicken breasts that are

individually wrapped. So you can take them out individually wrapped, defrost one, whatever, and it's just ready to go and prepare it and just makes meal prep so much easier. Yeah. So there's a lot of things that they have to offer, not just your... They've really evolved. They've continued to just grow and evolve.

I would imagine, are they the largest? That's a good question. Do you know anybody who competes at their level? With meat delivery? Yes. With grass fed meat delivery. I'm sure there's bigger companies that do meat in general, but not grass fed. That was what was so different about that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because there's companies that have been around for like a long time. I can't see that brand. There's a brand. Well, they've grown tremendously since we've been with them. Yeah. Tremendously. Yeah.

Way better than the old school. It was like Omaha Steaks. Yeah, that's how I was thinking about. I was thinking like that. That still exists, right? Some kid was from your door. Yeah. Or you remember like the Swanson guy, the Swanson truck that comes around?

That's still a thing too. That doesn't still exist. You guys remember that? I do. Yeah, yeah. All the frozen food. No, but I think it's great. I think it's great for people who are looking for like faster, easier meal prep or whatever.

Oh, yeah. And they also have stuff that's already prepared. You just have to warm up so you can get stuff like that as well. So anyway, I have another study. I want to bring up on processed food and the, brain. So this is crazy. This is out of the University of Helsinki. A massive brain imaging study of 30,000 people has uncovered striking connections between eating ultra-processed foods and measurable changes in brain structure. Oh, man. So they can actually look at brain imaging and see differences

in brain structure, physical brain structure, that they have connected to the consumption of ultra-processed foods. Wow. Now the theory behind this, which I would agree, is that these ultra-processed foods are so engineered to be hyper-palatable. They actually have, I know I'm going to say this to sound crazy, but I don't have a better way of explaining it, kind of drug-like effects on the brain. And so the brain actually models itself from these kinds of foods like it would to other substances, which is why if you eat ultra-processed foods and then whole foods taste so like an fMRI or something will show these highlighted areas of your brain. So if you eat these all the time,

it becomes harder to go off of them. And then when you go off of them, there's a withdrawal period. And the brain has to kind of change itself. I mean, my experience with clients and my own personal experience, it seems to be about 30 days. It's about a month,

isn't it? Yeah. That's where whole 30 came from. I think that's part of what they did. I mean, I don't remember, we don't know if we asked her that when we talked to her way back when, if there was like some science

to support the 30 day mark. I don't know if it was just catchy for marketing reasons. But I do recall most clients that I had to help through that process and also going through it myself. It's about 30 days. I mean, I think I noticed, like, I noticed it got easier after about two weeks, but about 30 days hit.

And then what's really cool. That's where you got to hold on and just. Oh, yeah, yeah. But by the time you hit day 30, it actually, in my opinion, becomes significantly easier. And you should actually crave the healthy food. Yeah. Which is such a cool place to be in coming from somebody who ate a lot of process, junk food and stuff like that for most of his life.

so to make that switch and then go there. And then once you've done that for such a long period of time, even when you have the occasional processed food and you eat out because you're traveling or those things, like, man, I'm, I mean, I think you guys are the same way. Like, I crave a home-cooked meal. Like, we just, we had a Disneyland trip a couple weeks ago eating in hotels, eating on the road, doing the things like that. A lot of just stuff that obviously processed it on the go.

And man, I just can't wait to get home and eat. Have a steak and rice. Yeah, yeah. Have a whole cook meal. I mean, and that. wasn't like that in my 20s like how i wanted all you craved was the more of the fast food where now it's been the other way for so long you actually tend to crave that really good stuff who had the swearing study i want to hear the study on swearing was that you justin was that you

justin yeah okay so it was like over 70 000 conversations or something online where people were interacting and they just kind of evaluated it and again this is like a correlation states it's not a substantial, like, hard evidence. But, you know, they were, they're associating it with people that were more truthful and authentic swore more. And I used it as a nice little counter to, you're earlier trying to justify justify our justification for saying fuck. You guys want to know what's weird about that?

Thanks for throwing that in. Yeah, no problem. So I told you guys I want to stop swearing. And I'm sure you guys have noticed I swear way less. Yep. And what's weird is the less I do it, the more vulgar it feels if I do. And the less weird I feel replaced. Because at first it felt weird.

So instead of saying like, instead of saying like an F-bomb, I'd be like, oh, fudge. And at first it felt like so hokey. I'm like, oh, my gosh, this sounds so stupid. But now it's feeling much more natural through my language. So far it's been somewhat successful. My wife totally failing. Harder for her. So hard.

Interesting. So hard. I never realized that Jessica had such a truck driver mouth. Oh, yeah. Really? Oh, yeah, dude. Oh, that's funny. She drops, oh, yeah, dude, all the time.

She's going to be so mad when she hears this. But she's trying, but oh, yeah, dude, she just, and you know what she does? She'll replace the, like, instead of saying, so with the kids, she'll say, hey, get the effing thing. I'm like, that's almost the same thing. Yeah. If you hear the kids repeat that. That's funny. That's how she would use it.

That's like a real truck driver mouth. Oh, yeah. That's a real truck driver. Like, I'm definitely guilty of punk. She's got some gangster. Yeah, that's definitely some gangster. There's some hood right there. Oh, yeah.

Grab me the fucking remote over there, please. She's like, whoa, dude. And I'm like, if you hear the kids repeat that, does that sound that much better? Yeah, no, no. It's funny. For me, it's like, this is the outlet. I have no problem not swearing anywhere else,

but, like, for some reason, if I'm around my friends, especially. Do you cuss around your kids? Not all. I don't cuss around maximum. Not at all. Yeah, I don't find it hard either. It is this.

If I'm in a conversation with my, In fact, I'm actually very sensitive to other people cussing around my son. I don't like it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like, even if you're one of my buddies and we're all talking and you start getting that way, like, oh, yeah, relax. My son's like an ear shot away.

Calm down, you know? And they're all my friends. They're always, oh, sorry, bro. You know, like it's always my buddy who doesn't have a kid or someone who hasn't had a kid in a long time. And so everyone's always respectful, but I'm super mindful of it around children. Like it doesn't, it's not hard for me to shift out when I'm around kids. But when I'm in this environment,

And we're having dialogue. Yeah, I'm with my buddies. I feel like it punctuates stories sometimes. I don't mind when it is. It just, and I think there has been times. I definitely admit when we first started the podcast. Oh my gosh.

And I was nervous. Everything we said was like, yeah, that's nervous injury. You know, energy. Like, and I think that that's not tasteful. That seems,

it makes you look dumb. You can't find a proper words you insert it. I got to tell you guys. I was, who were we with somebody and we were talking about the show. and I was bragging on my wife and saying like how she's like my number one fan. She's listened to every single episode. Is that still today?

And every episode. Still? Only interview she doesn't listen to an interview she likes who we're interviewing. Otherwise, it's every single qua, every single episode we've done. Except so she corrected me. She's like, I haven't listened to every episode. I said, what do you mean? She goes, when I first met you and I started listening to a podcast, she goes, I started going back to listen to all of them.

And she goes, right around 100, I stopped listening. Going back, I said, why? She goes, because if you start from one and go up, you just hear yourselves getting better. I started hearing you guys getting worse. Oh, hey, that's great point, dude. That's great. That's totally fair, I think. So Katrina listens to everything, but she doesn't listen to us and answer questions.

Oh. Yeah, her take, which I think, man, that's the gold in my opinion. I mean, to me, that's our expertise or craft. It becomes a bit predicted. I'm most proud of that. Like, when we get live call. Live caller. We don't prep for that.

Like, if the audience doesn't know. Like, we don't go study the quite, like literally, when that person gets on, I'm looking up. Now, I see their email the moment they get on, but it's like, that's the first time we ever looked at it. And we have to roll with it in live air. I think if you're a trainer, that's, you listen to that. You'll learn. That's where you'll learn as a trainer.

Well, it's also, I mean, but even for people who, you know, we're probably going to talk to a person that's like you. And you'll get some advice. Yeah. So I'm always surprised that. I always tell her that. She's, I feel like I know how you're going to answer everything. And I'm like, okay. whatever. Never mind. That's my craft. You know what I'm saying? I work decades to get good at that.

That's great. Probiotics are awesome for you, but which one's the best? I have the answer. Seed. It's the world's best probiotic. Go to cede.com forward slash mind pump. Use the code 25 mind pump. Get 25% off. Back to the show. Our first question is from good juju gains. What are three most important things you've learned about the world or people by working in this industry? Great question, Justin. Yeah, right?

Good job, dude. Did you pick that? He did. He picked all of them today. I wasn't ready for something that heavy. I know. I could right away, I could tell you the first thing. Oh, okay.

Yeah, first thing to me is that people are very interesting and very different. And what I mean by that is as a trainer, there are certain things that you think you know for sure when it comes to diet and exercise. And then you'll meet somebody. It doesn't work with. It just doesn't work with. And now, what does that mean at large? At large, I think that's true for a lot of things. Now, there's, I think there are some truths, some hard truths out there.

But there is such an individual variance with experience and reactions in history to where, like, when you train and work with people, you really learn how to work with people. And there was a lot of carryover into the rest of my life with that, for sure. I mean, this is a cool question because I've thought about this a lot. And I gained a tremendous amount of patience and empathy for people's beliefs. Totally. So much of who we are and how strongly we feel about certain social, political views, religious view, all the things is predicated on our childhood and our own trauma and all the things we went to.

And it's so unique to that individual. And we're so quick as humans to hear somebody. say something sharp or a stance on something and then immediately judge that person for how they believe or how they think versus finding out about that person's history and their story and what led them to get to that conclusion. And there's so much gold to learn unpacking that asking questions about like, what makes you believe that or what makes you think that way? And I learned so much that way. And I'm always really, I always try and take pause to even when I have a knee-jerk reaction

of something that's like totally appalling or so different than how I would think or opinion, it's like, oh, wow, something is, that person felt so strongly about that and I totally disagree. I'm so curious to why versus that is not, the normal human reaction is defensive,

argue, you're stupid, you're wrong, and like that versus flipping that on its head and being curious about humans. And I think it really tells you a lot about our belief systems, our history. Totally. I think there's a lot of gold in there.

And so I can't nail down like an exact specific lesson because there's so many that I think I've learned about myself through the lens. You learn to appreciate a lot of different people. That's so much because you're stepping literally in somebody else's shoes and you're seeing through their perspective. And to add on kind of to that is for me, you know, peering into a little bit more or two of like women's lives. And for me, like, understanding, you know, my, my partner and, you know, getting into greater depths conversational with my wife because it's like I have a different perspective now because I've asked so many questions and have been able to interact, you know, with somebody else that was a different sex than me and that has like different concerns and different way of looking at things. And it's like, and you could play that from, again, somebody with a different perspective, like politically or like, you know, with their industry or their job, you just absorb so much. That's a great one. Another one for me is that vulnerability encourages vulnerability.

Yeah. And so as a coach or a trainer, if you really care about helping people, which we did, right, we really loved it. We really loved helping people. And so you generally want to help someone. So you're always trying to figure out how you can help someone the best. And at some point I figured out that the key to being effective was to have them really trust me. That was the key. If they didn't trust me, then I don't care how smart I am or all the methods.

It's not going to work. And the best way to do that was for them to be vulnerable. And the best way to do that was for me to be vulnerable. And so when I was open and vulnerable to this person, rather than presenting this perfect fitness trainer who knows everything, rather presenting myself as somebody who doesn't know everything. And yes, I understand fitness and health. but here are these issues that I'm challenged with that are kind of similar to what you're saying.

It opened them up to that vulnerability and then I became so much more effective as a trainer. Now, how does that apply to the world? Oh, my God. You want to have friendships. Your friendships only as deep as the vulnerability that you guys exposed to each other. If you present yourself to a – if you build a friendship with a layer of front and you have that friendship for five years, it only goes that deep. It'll never go any deeper. And I learned that through training people.

That's such a good one. And just to piggyback of that, it's, it is hard. It's such a, because we all have, again, back to our childhood traumas and what we grew up with, we all have our own layer or complexity to this, the shield or front that we put on to protect our inner child. And in order to be really, and so does your client who's sitting across from you. And so in order to break through their wall to truly change their life and help them, you have to first do that with yourself.

And if you can't do that, you'll only be so good of a trainer too. I don't care how much studies you know, how long you've been doing this for, how good your exercise sciences. They're not going to receive the information. If you can't be fully vulnerable and open up to that person across from you and put yourself out there, they never will, which will mean they'll only get such good results too. So such a good one. I think that's such a powerful feeling. Great question. So deep thoughts on that.

I know we could go on and on. Question two is from Jamie Voska. If you are still progressing in the program, should you still go to the next phase or stay in the same phase until you hit a plateau? Yes. So I can make arguments for both sides. I get it.

You're still progressing. Why, you know, try to fix something that's not broken? But there is value to switching out before you hit a plateau. Because once you hit a plateau, it's almost like you have to take a couple steps back to start moving forward again. switching phases before you plateau keeps progress moving along more continuously.

And it avoids, more importantly, injury potential. So phases tend to change exercises, change directions. And if you stay in the same thing for too long, you can start develop movement pattern issues. So I could see the argument for both. I would say for somebody who's not super experienced, change the phase as the programs are laid out. For someone who's very experienced and knows their body, go ahead and push it a little bit.

I like this question because I remember I challenged this when we all first met and Sal wanted to do primarily three week phases. And I was actually more used to doing like four to six weeks. Most of the studies talk about four to six weeks of that process. But you made, I think, a good way explaining it an argument of like we want to transition them before they hit that plateau. So yeah, somebody else, you might be able to stay in a phase and continue to see great progress, weeks four or five, maybe even into six. But we know you're going to get good adaptation. We're going to get good progress through three. And if we switch it, we're going to keep that momentum that versus letting the momentum

slow down and then having to restart it up again. And so you're keeping that momentum going. So, you know, and I've told clients before that are like really loving a phase, like, yeah, we can extend it another week. Yeah, extending another week or two, it's probably not going to, it's not going to hurt you or be bad. But the philosophy behind the maps programming of transitioning people every three weeks is that was the argument. It's also psychological training.

Yeah, that's true. That's another good point, right? It's keeping it moving and changing for them. It's like, oh, it's different. My focus is different now. It's like at that three week mark, you're just getting good, getting excited about it. It's like, hey, let's transition to a new one. Well, I think it fits with our overall philosophy anyway of trying to introduce people to the depth of, you know,

what they can experience with fitness instead of it just being like this initial goal that they had coming into it. Like, you know, experiencing the full breadth of it. And to do that, like transitioning, it's always going to be a, you know, ripping the band. It's always going to be, if I'm really enjoying something, like, why do I have to, like, move on to the next thing? Yeah. And so to just train your mind to kind of get into that rhythm of it and stay ahead of it, I think there's values that. Next question is from Brian St. Louis 28. What is a good workout routine for a 36-year-old female to help with osteopenia?

So there's two things happening here if you're 36 with osteopenia. Now, the form of exercise is going to help best with this is strength training, traditional strength training. among our programs, MAPS anabolic would be great, especially phase one and two for helping the best. But typically when you see a 36-year-old with osteopenia,

it's both a combination of inactivity and under-eating. Low, yeah. And years and years and years of chronic... And or overtraining with that too, right? And you'll see this with women who struggle with things like anorexia or bulimia. So you have to strength train,

but you have to feed your body because you can strength train. This woman could strength train perfectly and go the other way. But she doesn't feed herself properly. She's going to continue to experience bone loss. So you have to eat enough calories, enough protein. And I mean, like, you've got to eat in a calorie surplus, hit your protein targets, get stronger.

If you're getting stronger, then you can bet your bones are getting stronger. Well, even, I'm going to give even more specifically I've advised to our master of. You don't need a crazy big volume program. Maps 15. Would have been fine. Yeah, Maps 15 is plenty of volume for you as far as a workout team. That's great. The focus is on the nutrition.

Hit that protein intake. eating a calorie surplus while doing a math 15, that's going to reverse it. A mistake someone could make is not increasing calories, doing a maps anabolic or a maps aesthetic that has a lot of volume, a lot of intensity, and still under-eating, you're not going to see the results. No, they'll still see bones. Yeah, yeah. So, math 15, calorie surplus.

Last question is from fit for running. What are the best stretches for sciatic issues? Oh, pigeon pose is great. Or seated, cross-legged, where you put your ankle on your, on your leg here. Sit up real tall, come full. Yeah. I mean, you essentially want to stretch your glute, periformis muscle, and that'll help. Because what happens with sciatic issues is oftentimes, not always, but you'll have tightness

in the, in the periformis muscle, which is a small muscle underneath the glute, and it presses on the sciatica nerve. And so you'll feel this nerve pain. Another thing you could do is sit, this cross-legged thing and use a foam roller and lean on that side. Get real nasty, get a little crossball in there. I believe we have at least two or three great videos on Mind Pump TV that's specific to this that you've done and I think I've done.

So I think, and I don't even know if you might have done one too. By the way, I'm going to say this right now. This was a problem that nine out of ten times I could solve it. Oh, yeah. Nine out of ten times. If a client came to me with chronic sciatic issues within weeks, we would solve it just from doing the things we talked about. Go to Mind Pump TV and look up literally sciatic issues, Mind Pump TV. That's it.

Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. We'll see you at Mind Pump media. Thank you for listening to Mind Pump. 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 Superbundle at Mind Pumpmedia.com. The RGB Superbundle includes MAPS Anabolic, Maps Performance, and Maps Aesthetic, nine months of phased expert exercise programming designed by Sal Adam and Justin to systematically transform the way your body looks, feels, and performs.

With detailed workout blueprints and over 200 videos, the RGB Superbundle is like having Sal, Adam, and Justin, as your own personal trainers, but at a fraction of the price. The RGB Superbundle 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 five-star rating and review on iTunes, and by introducing Mind Pump to your friends and family. We thank you for your support, and until next time, this is Mind Pump.