Mind Pump: Raw Fitness Truth - 2803: The Lifestyle Factors That Make or Break Results

Episode Date: February 27, 2026

Mind Pump Fit Tip: How much of an impact do these 5 things really have on your health & fitness goals? (2:15) Cardio life for Sal. (26:30) Why you need a sleep routine, not a morning routine. (30:34) The importance of daily movement. (34:33) Pre and post Vuori style. (39:08) The coolest machines ever! (40:15) Sports performance. (43:58) Admiring LMNT's rise. (48:12) Steve Austin's important training advice for the youth, and the value of practicing the skill. (51:09) #Quah question #1 – When it comes to deadlifts, when should I use a traditional barbell and when should I use a trap bar? (57:51) #Quah question #2 – What are good non-meat protein options during Lent, as a Catholic, we abstain from meat on Fridays? Not a big fan of fish. (59:55) #Quah question #3 – If I don't get enough protein daily, how does that affect my gains? (1:02:36) #Quah question #4 – Why do I love MAPS 15 programs so much?! (1:03:52) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Vuori Clothing for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** No code to receive 20% off your first order. ** Get a free Sample Pack of LMNT's most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase! Find your favorite LMNT flavor, or share with a friend. As always, LMNT offers no-questions-asked refunds on all orders. Visit: DrinkLMNT.com/MindPump MAPS Great 8 Launch - (Retail $127, Code: LAUNCH for 50% off!) ** Launch bonus include: MAPS GREAT 8 Nutrition Guide. ** Visit: http://mapsgreat8.com/  Mind Pump Store Mind Pump #2763: Eat as Much as You Want, but Don't Get Fat (JUST follow these 2 rules) Sleep loss limits fat loss, study finds Mind Pump #2497: The Amazing & Weird Side Effects of Creatine Trajekt Sports Stop Working Out And Start Practicing - Mind Pump Media Visit Paleovalley for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! ** Discount is now automatically applied at checkout 15% off your first order! ** Mind Pump #2450: The Smartest Way to Use Protein to Burn Fat & Build Muscle Mind Pump #2572: Only 15 Minutes a Day to Build Muscle & Burn Fat Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Paul J. Fabritz (@pjfperformance) Instagram Joe DeFranco (@defrancosgym) Instagram  

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Enjoy the rest of the show. All right, look, here's what we did. We took the five most impactful things that we preach all the time for health and fitness, and we broke them down with the science. how much of an impact does eating only whole natural foods actually have? What about high protein? How much of an impact does that actually have? What about consistent good sleep or creatine, the best supplement ever invented or a good coach?

We're going to break them all down. How much of a difference do they all actually make? Are they worth it or are we splitting hairs? Let's get to it. Well, this is hard because I wish you would have picked some that people think are really impactful. and that are not. Oh, that aren't. Well, I want to.

You picked the five most impactful things. They are impactful. You're correct. Exactly. But I want to give. And we're done. Very obvious. I want to give like actual numbers so that people say, okay, well, that actually is a big

difference. Or it's kind of a small. Priority wise, you just want to stack these up. Totally. Like which, like how big of an impact do all of these have when it comes to. Massive. Yeah. Health, fat loss, muscle gain.

I mean, so, I mean, ranking them would be. a bit of a challenge. Can we just go to the first one? Well, yeah, let's do that. Let's start with Whole Natural Foods. And so what I want to do is I'll talk about the data. And then let's talk about our experience, training people, managing gyms,

and managing trainers who train people. Okay. Yeah. So Whole Natural Foods. Let's just say you go from eating the traditional Western diet, which typically has anywhere between 60 to 80% of the food or calories coming in, coming in from processed foods. So these are foods that are in wrappers.

boxes, multiple ingredients, long shelf lives, so processed foods. How big of a difference does going from that to only eating whole natural foods have? So I'll talk about the data first. The data shows that your calories will naturally drop naturally if all you did was that. And you didn't try to do anything else. You didn't try to eat less. You didn't try to change anything else. I'm not trying to eat more of this, more of that.

You just about 500 calories in that. That's what the data shows. The data shows that your calories will drop by around 500, in some cases more, in some cases a little less. I don't even think that's a really good study or a really good even... It's that complete. Yeah, it's so much more impactful than that. That's right.

That's an average of all these people that eat from an all different calorie range. I agree. So let's talk about our experiences. What have you guys seen in terms of fat loss, muscle gain, body comp change? I've seen mood changes. I've seen people that have done nothing but that. Nothing but that. And it radically change blood panels, radically change libido, radically change body composition.

I mean, just that. Cognitive ability. I'm not talking all the things that we talk about with building strength and with... Or manipulating anything else. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Just I'm going to make this commitment. By the way, this is the reason why, I don't know what year it was, 2015 or so.

Maybe Doug can fact check me. When did Whole 30 come out? Oh. This is why this exploded. That might have been 2015. Yeah. That was my guess. Right?

So this is why this exploded and had so much success. What was it? 2009. Oh, even further. 2009. I guess we were really aware of how popular it was probably about 10 years ago. Yeah. It's been around for a while.

So it. Lots of success. Huge. Massive success because it was just simple. And it was Whole 30 for 30 days. That's like the challenge. It's not even like, eat this way for the rest of your life.

It's that, and what was so brilliant about it was that they had, she had distilled it down to eat this way just for 30 days and watch. Yeah. It's like, that's how impactful it is was that if you could just get people to commit for 30 days of doing that, that they would see so much of an improvement on so many things. But they'll make some changes.

They'll make changes. And if they just go the rest of their life attempting to be close to that, that is important. And I'll back you up. I think because 100% what a great observation. Because the benefits that you notice from switching and eating this way get better 60 days, 90 days, six months a year, two years. So whatever difference you notice in the first 30 days, it only gets better. And yet people did it for 30 days and were blown away.

Yeah. So here's, okay, I'll give some hard numbers. And I used to communicate to this to my clients. I'll give a range. So all the clients that I trained that were, This is what I communicated because I didn't communicate this early on. This wasn't even on my radar as a trainer early on. As a trainer early on, it was all about calories and macros.

It was meal prepping and planning and diet. You know, I'll give them diets and here's your meal plan. That's what I should say, meal plans. It wasn't until later where I think this was like such a game changer. It was like, oh, that's simple. Let's see what happens. And from then on, on average, if a client just did this, nothing else. They didn't try to eat more protein.

They didn't try to avoid any of their foods. They didn't try to diet. They didn't try to bulk. They just did this. On average, my clients would lose 10 to 20 pounds of body fat just from this. With no parameters. With no parameters. Like you're hungry, go eat.

That's it. Just eat this. That's it. Yeah. Just eat 10 to 20 pounds. Now someone might be wondering, what's the difference? Why would some people lose 10? Some people lose 20.

The more weight they had to lose, the closer it was a 20. The less weight they had to lose, the closer it was to 10. Now, to add to that, here's what I also saw, a dramatic reduction in inflammation. So people would come back. And this was quick. This was within the first 30 days. Oh, my God, my joints don't hurt as much. I have less headaches.

I wake up with more energy. I feel less inflamed. I feel less puffy. I see here a lot of my clients say I don't feel as puffy, especially my female clients. Sleep would improve. And it was always shocking to people because there were no more parameters. included and everybody was eating until they were full, which blew everyone's mind. Yeah, you can, you can seek out food and eat. And what I noticed was a lot of the blood

markers in terms of like sugar, like when I had clients that were pre-diabetic, it completely reversed it. And it's like, it just goes to show like the difference you get from natural foods. Well, I had, I remember getting clients that were obese or really overweigh, weight, doing all the calculations of, oh, this person weighs this much. And so based off of that, they should be eating this many calories and then putting them on a whole food diet. And they would come back and they'd be like, I can't eat this amount of food. Yeah. So you have people who are way overweight. Chronically overeat. Yeah. Chronically overeat. I do as a trainer sit down, do the formulation or calculation of like, okay, this person is, you know, 280 pounds. You know, this is about

how much protein, carbs, fats. What are they? Here's your activity. Right, right. Activity. And then I'd give it to them and I'd be like, okay, and here's all the foods, right? And then lay it out. And it would always, they come back three, four days later, be like, I can't eat this.

Too much food. Too much food. And so wrap your brain around that. A person that obviously got to this place eating too much food. Now was coming back and reporting to me, I can't do it. I can't hit the calories. Like, how crazy is that? I'll say this right here.

It's not impossible. I'm sure there's people out there that can do this. But it's actually pretty damn hard to be obese and eat only whole natural foods. It's actually pretty difficult, you guys. So this one thing right here has a profound impact. So if your goal is to lose 10 to 20 pounds of body fat and improve the way you feel and inflammation all that stuff, just this step right here. We'll do that for you. Just this one simple step.

Yeah. So it's number one. All right, protein. How much of a difference does high protein make? I actually looked it up. I actually had AI do a giant analysis of all of the studies and all of the meta analysis. And the question I asked it was, and I went back and I asked it a few other ways just to make sure the numbers are correct. How much of a difference does high protein actually make in strength and muscle?

Like how much of a difference does actually make? Now, keep in mind in the studies, they're not. taking people who are way under eating protein. They're taking people who are eating, you know, a normal about a protein, which is not enough, but a normal amount of protein. And these studies will take that and double it typically. So it's typically 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight versus 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight.

Now, we recommend higher. I'll recommend 2 grams per kilogram of body weight or to make it more simple, closer to a gram of protein per pound of target body weight. Anyway, okay. So, but I'm going to use all the studies. More studies will use those parameters. 0.8 to 1.6 per per kilogram. What is the data show?

What's the difference? How much more strength? And by the way, keep in mind, studies are typically 16 weeks long, maybe 24 weeks long, maybe 12 weeks long. So I would argue through my experience, which we'll get as he goes longer. It gets better. But in those periods of time, what is the data show? You're going to gain 10% more strength on average.

That's not nothing to sneeze at. And about 27% more muscle. 27%. That's crazy. Okay. That's crazy. That's it. Just from doing this right here.

Yeah. By the way, these are meta-analysis, meaning... You can't deny that impact. They're controlling for calories. So it's not like they just eat more calories or less. That's it. 27%. That's massive.

Yeah. So that's like the difference between gaining 10 pounds of muscle and gaining almost 13 pounds of muscle. Another three pounds of lean body mass. So you pair of this. with the Whole Foods. Oh, God. And you've fixed you made the, you've figured out the diet.

You made the point to say that, uh, of course there's exceptions to the rule, but I would say I have never seen personally. I know. I have never seen personally somebody who eats all foods, high protein, overeat.

Yeah. Like, whole food diet plus high protein on that. Yeah. Yeah. Why don't they do that? Yeah. It's just,

it's, it's difficult to do. It's difficult. If you eat a high protein, you have to, you have to, So stationing, you'd really have to work at it. And if you're pairing that with strength training, oh, God.

All that will happen is you just build muscle. Yeah. You just build muscle. And get leaner. Yeah. So, magic. These are for sure one and two. One and two.

Now, here's what I experienced with my clients. With my clients, when we would go high protein, the recovery ability dramatically improved, dramatically. Yeah. Like very different. I remember I'll use one example because I have so many. But I had a guy that I was training. And him and I would strength train between one to two days a week.

And he would do Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu between two to three days a week. Okay. And he was in his late 30s at the time. So I was probably my early 30s. He was his late 30s. Cool guy. Real nice dude. He was always athletic, always fit.

And he's like, man, I can't do any more. Because of Jiu-Jitsu, Brazilian Jitsu is pretty intense. Like a traditional Brazilian jih Tzu class typically is about two hours long. And the first hour is like workout, warm up, but it's more like a workout. Then you're doing drills. And then the last hour is live sparring, which is essentially you're wrestling hard with other people, which is exhausting. If you've never done this before, you know, it's like you're tired. After three minutes, it's super intense.

It's super hard. And so it's pretty intense. So he's doing that two to three days a week plus strength training one or two days a week, depending on how much jihitsu. And he's like, man, Sally goes, and this guy was. It's a brown belt. And he's like, I can't do any more jiu-jitsu. It just breaks me down.

And I can't do more than the basic strain. It just breaks me down. Like, what's wrong with me? Like, what's the deal? And so I'm like, let's do this, dude. Because we never really talked diet. He really just hired me for strength training. I said, I want you to hit one gram of protein per pound of your body weight, which was a lot

for him. He wasn't doing that before. So he actually made an effort to do it. The guy comes back to me. And he's like, bro. He goes. not only can I add another day of Jiu-Jitsu, but I'm not sore or stiff anymore.

He's like, I can go do a full another class of Jiu-Jitsu, and I feel better than when I was doing less. Just from doing that, we did nothing else. We did no other, we didn't do anything sleep. We weren't adding massage. There was no red light therapy. There was no sauna. There was no special supplement.

It was just, let's go from your current protein intake, which was probably half of what I recommend. It's like, double your protein intake. Watch what happens. And he came back to me. he's like, I can't believe what a difference this made. Well, this is also where the saying in the, in the bodybuilding community came from, which I don't agree with.

No. But this is the saying comes from. Yeah, this is the truth in it. And where this comes from is that you can't overtrain, you can just under-eat. And that is like if you continue to increase that protein and increase that, like, you will recover, you'll keep you able to do it. And I don't agree with that, but it's the reason why that statement seems to be true for so many people is because that's just it. If they just kept increasing protein and continue lifting

harder and progressive overloading, their body contends you recover and build muscle for a really long time. It does aid in recovery. Now, here's what the data also shows with fat loss. In calorie controlled diets, a higher protein diet tends to cause a 10% increase in fat loss in comparison. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it's, it is. 10%'s a big percentage to see. changes in. And over time, here's my argument, that percentage gets better because of the muscle building aspect. Sure. So not only you're going to burn more body fat through it, you're going to build more muscle, which will also help with the fat loss. So big impact, big impact. All right, sleep. Let's talk about sleep. How much of an impact does consistent good sleep have in comparison to what

most people experience with sleep, which is subpar? It's not terrible. We're not talking about you just had a baby bad sleep. But we're talking about the typical person. I mean, it's really the determinant if you're going to fully progress. Otherwise, you know, you're looking at grinding your gears and hitting a massive plateau. You really can't bypass this. It's obviously this is top three. It is sometimes when you have the other two perfectly aligned, it's the only reason why you're not seeing the results you should.

Oh, this will be a wall. So, and this, it's important always, but becomes exponentially important as you, as we get older. It's like, as my clients that were to counter the stress, 40, 50, like, could have been eating whole foods and could be high protein, could be strain training. But because this was so messed up, they're not seeing the results that they should be seeing. When we're younger, we tend to have a bit more resiliency around it where you can still, you can nail the first, to kind of have trashy sleep, still get some sort of results. But I have found, in my experience, you get above 35. And even if you're chipping away at the first two, which should show you huge results,

you're not. And it's almost always because of this part. Now, in my experience with the young people, when you take a young person, teenager or 20s, who's fine, you know, I'm getting some crappy sleep, but I can go because you're resilient. They do this for a month. It's like, overnight. PRs, crush everything.

It's like what the heck just happened to me? I can't even believe. The body's been starving for it. Oh, it's incredible. All right. So I'll show, I'll explain some of the studies. So, now the studies compare bad sleep to good sleep. So it's typically five hours versus seven or eight hours of sleep.

So, so this is a bit extreme, but this kind of illustrates just how powerful sleep can be. In the same, any calorie controlled calorie deficit or fat loss diet, bad sleep versus decent sleep. The difference is you lose twice as much body fat and half as much muscle in a deficit. In other words, when you go in a deficit, you're going to lose some muscle and you're going to lose some body fat. Okay. If your sleep is bad, you'll lose half the body fat and twice the muscle. If your sleep is good, you lose twice the body fat and half the muscle. That's a huge, huge difference.

Yeah. And then when it comes to injury, this is the greatest predictor of hurting yourself. one bad night of sleep increases your risk of injury by 50%. It's so crazy. One bad night. Not a week, not a month. You just had a bad night last night and then you would go work out. You just increased your risk of injury by 50%, which is wild, which is crazy.

All right, crating, the greatest supplement ever, the one that has the most data, the one that consistently shows it has a benefit. Here's what you're going to get from crating. About five pounds to your compound lifts and about two reps. That's it. that's it. So, and I know everybody's like, what? That's it. In the land of supplements, that's like king, because supplements typically don't do that.

It actually does something. But it's not, it doesn't come close to all the other stuff at all. In fact, I had a talk with a friend of mine. My wife is coaching somebody right now, a friend of ours, and we're on the call, and we're talking about all this stuff. And she brought up creatine. And she's like, but I don't know if I should take it. And it's a supplement and this and that.

And I'm like, listen, who cares? Don't take it. What do you mean? I heard it was so great. I was like, I was like, it's like, I was like, Okay, you'll probably go up two reps on your lifts, which is cool, but it's not a game changer. Whole natural foods, high protein sleep, game changers. Cratein, in the land of the context of supplements, awesome, but in the context of what moves the needle huge, not a big deal.

Okay, that's right. So this was the only one I had a bone to pick with. Yes. Because I was like, I don't know how you came up with these five and not have resistance training in there. Oh. That's got to be a, I feel like that's a must. Well, I mean, again, it's like, how much of an impact does this really have? Creighton doesn't even make this list for top.

I think I'm assuming people are strength training if they're in this, you know, with all of this. Yeah, if you're not a strain training, Liz. How much of an impact did that have? Yeah, I mean, because the first two, first three, I could even make the argument no strength training or anything. Sure. But you know what I'm saying? Like, those three things are so impactful. I've seen that change people's lives that don't even resist the strength.

I've seen my own mother go on the whole 30 and it like changed like no nothing else you know nothing else maybe take some walks and that changed their life radically. So the first three bar without anything are that impactful. So if we're talking about what are the most impactful things somebody could do for their health, creatine doesn't make this list. No, no. Resistance training, walking would be right here. Yeah, no, strength training is what causes, what sends a signal for your body to adapt in the ways you want. So without that signal, there is no reason for your body to adapt. And the reason why I bring that up and why this is important argument to me, because when I make it or was Mark making the points that we were just making on the other three,

I'm making those points without resistance training. Because if you put whole natural foods into this person and that they switch over and their strength training, oh, God. Forget the 500 calorie thing you talked about. Oh, yeah. That person, that's huge. Oh, yeah. Huge.

Like that may be the only thing they ever have. It's compounding interest is what you're dealing with. Yeah, they may, that whole foods and just lift weights may be all they have to focus on for the rest of their lives and be in phenomenal shape. And so I'm not assuming they're doing that. You know, and same thing goes with the high protein thing. Like high protein just will control the calories, make that person healthier. You know, yeah, add strength training.

All the arguments we made is exponentially stronger now. So, yeah, creatine doesn't make this list for me because it's, you could not use creatine for the rest of your life. And you'll be totally fine. I like bringing it up, though, because in the land of supplements, it's king. But again, we're talking about a category of things that don't make that much of an impact anyway. You know what I mean? But in that category, creatine has a big impact.

All right. Last, a good coach. So here's a deal. Like, we just gave you like really simple basic steps that make a profound impact. That doesn't mean they're easy. it's still hard. It is hard to go from a traditional diet of 70% of your calories come from processed foods to getting rid of it all, to a traditional diet of I'm eating 60 grams of protein a day to now I need to eat 150 grams approaching a day,

to a lifestyle where I stay up late at night on my phone or watching Netflix. I stay up late Friday night to sleep in Saturday. Monday comes around I'm jet lag to getting consistent good sleep. Like simple but yet difficult. What does a good coach provide in terms of impact? Well, I'll break it down for you. Your odds of long-term success, even if you follow the steps that we talked about, are dismal. I hate to say it.

On your own, if you look at the data, 90% of people are going to fail. So you've got a 10% chance of success. What is a good coach do? A good coach dramatically increases your odds, guys, dramatically. You work with a good coach. you've multiplied your odds of success times five or ten in terms of is this going to be something I'm going to be able to do for the rest of my life.

And the good coach knows how to use all those tools and implement them and coach you and guide you through the process. This is my favorite one on your list that I think would be kind of a surprise of the five because somebody else to make the argument walking, strength training, this and not. I like this and I want to,

and maybe it's top of mind for me because we just got off a bunch of live callers and we help a lot of people that call in and say things like, I've been listening to your show for five years. I know what you're going to say to me. You know what I'm saying? I know what I'm supposed to do. You know what I'm saying?

So they don't lack the knowledge of the four that we've said before because we've said this a hundred times. But the psychological discipline of following through when we get in our own way is so common. I know. So common that we even have trainers and coaches that hire other trainers and coaches that need that because they recognize, like, I've got past trauma or I have insecurities or I have insert whatever thing

that's blocking me from doing what I need to do to serve my body and take care of myself. And so a really good coach is paramount to helping somebody break through that. Totally. Everybody has blind spots. Everybody does. Everybody. Yeah. We all have some sort of insecurity.

or some sort of trauma or some sort of, you know, effed-up relationship. Or maybe you've just been living like this for your whole life and I've got to live this totally different way. How do I do that? I'm going to stumble. What does that look like? How do I get back on? Like, what steps do I take?

What's the way? I mean, having a good coat, a good coach is worth their weight in gold, period. Look, if you want to do this and you want to succeed at it and you're looking at all the possible things you can implement and do and invest in, a good coach is worth more than all that stuff combine. That's it. Period. End of story. It's the most impactful thing that you could possibly do is work with, and I say good coach, because there's a lot of coaches. There's not a lot of good coaches, unfortunately. But when you find a good coach, oh my God, you guys, it's just life-changing. And we know this. We were coaches. We know how hard

this is. We know how hard it is, and we were good coaches. We know how hard it is for people to get to this point. But if you want to get results, you want to keep those results, you want to be able to do this for the rest of your life and enjoy it and want to do it, then invest in a good coach. Nothing beats that. Period. End of story. So speaking of challenging goals and figuring it out and stuff like that,

how's your journey to the dark side going over there? Today was day two of just cardio. Yeah. Is it really cardio? That's it. I mean, I mean, is it real. Well, it's cardio life. Wait.

What are you doing, though? What are you doing for cardio? What speed, too? No, no, no. What speed you? Come on. Not great. What speed you at?

So the incline is eight. Oh, you're actually inclining already. Yeah. Okay, that's impressive. I like, I don't know what it is about incline. I like actually prefer walking on it. I like incline versus. I do too, except for I know what happens the first couple of weeks when you haven't done that.

Oh, bro. I was like, I had like, that was like a big eye opener for me was how sore my calves and shins were from just walking for an hour. I haven't gotten sore, but I'll feel my shins burn a little bit, which is kind of disheartening. It's like, what the hell, man? But it's an eight incline. I'm doing about 45 minutes. The speed is 2.7 to 3.

Is that good? It's not that fast. I don't go slower than 3. Yeah, three is where I start and I work up to 4. Oh, damn. Yeah, yeah. So I'm at 3.8 right now. Okay.

Yeah, yeah. And I do the same thing. And I'll, so I don't do, so I only incline enough for me to feel my heart rate elevate and then I drop it back down. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. So I decline like a 10 or 12 and I'll do that for like. So you're doing a little like like a mild interval.

Yep. Basically. Yeah, about that. So I'm so here's what I'm trying to do right now. I'm not necessarily trying to get like some cardio work out. No, of course not. I could push it much harder. No, no, no.

So could I. I'm not so out of shape that walking makes, puts me out of breath. Really what it is is I know myself and I know that if I don't figure out a way to enjoy this, this is going to last for maybe a week. And I'm going to go right back to just. lifting weights all the time. I know that. So what I've done,

and my wife really helped me with this, as she said, because I had all these plans, right? Oh, I'm going to swim. I'm going to do this. I told you. I told you know that too. And I really had intentions of doing all that.

And I may at some point do that. But she's like, Sal, she goes, why don't you make this cardio week or this non-lifting weights week that you're going to do every the week? Why don't you make it,

like, do something you enjoy while you're doing it so that you like that part of it. I agree. just listening to a book. Of course. I'm listening to a really good book called The Faithful Stranger. And so I just get into the book. And so as I'm walking, really, it's not about the walking.

It's about the book. And so I like it. I show up and I'm like, oh, I can't wait to listen to this cool book. And I just so happen to do, you know, be on a treadmill for, you know, for 45. I 100% agree with her. I mean, I was trying to push back on you. I know weeks ago when you were first saying that. I'm like, yeah, I think that's a terrible idea to try.

Well, what it is is that you're just, It's already something you... Too foreign. Yeah, and there's too many of things. You're too many variables. Yeah. It's just like the advice we give people. It's just like, you know, maybe you like the swimming, but then you hate the other thing.

It's like, it's too many... It's like, stick to one, try and pair it with something that you do like and enjoy. You know, I... Out of all of us, I think I'm probably the biggest audiobook guy. Yeah. And I, for some reason, that's the time I can't do it. Is it too distracting? Yeah, I...

For being on either elliptical, whatever the thing is that I'm on... Just music then for you? Yeah. It's the beat. Yeah. I actually am, uh, so what I tend to do, I have no problem staring at a wall or looking straight. And just with the rhythm and my gates.

You're also probably deep thinking. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah, yeah. And I get deep, like the music kind of, like, the beat goes to my cadence and my gate. You get lost in your thoughts. Yeah, very much so. Yeah.

And the book is almost distracting. Yeah. Yeah, I have to, book for me needs to be driving more relaxing. Got it. And I've tried. I've like, oh, this would be a great. Are you, are you taking notes after? afterwards because that process of thinking,

I know your mind. I'll do it while. Oh, bro. That's got to be so great. I'm walking, so I make notes. Oh, is that one coming up all these ideas lately? So that's there or nighttime. Those are always where...

Is it helping you at night? Because sometimes you don't sleep because your mind raises. Well, I just, while you were, we were just talking, I looked down because I hadn't updated my aura. I scored in 81 last night. Oh. Yeah, yeah. So this is like life changing for me.

I've never scored in the 80s. Wow. So I'm on a, I want to say on a, which is so fun. So funny that I had to fuck myself up so bad. To like force that I had to create this like, not funny. No, it's a little funny. Listen, I'm going to say. I'm going to say this right now, dude, is that guys like us and, you know, Justin doesn't fall as prey to this, but he's also, also can be prayed of this.

When you are rewarded by the world because of your effort and your talent and your whatever, you just, without realizing it, you just develop this pride. which is like, I can do it. I'm the main actor in this movie. I can make it happen. If I put my mind to it, nobody can outwork me, whatever. And for us, it requires us to get crushed. Like, okay, maybe I don't got it all.

Maybe I got to figure this out. So, you know, now you're at this place where you're like, oh, yeah, yeah. And I really, and it's not, I'm not perfect at all. I'll go, you know, a couple nights back. I think I scored as low as a 67, which is one of the lower scores I get now. When I mess with it.

Like I, I have to, TV's got to be off well before 10 o'clock. I have to have my, my CamelT. I do the Legion Lunar. I've done all my supplements for the day that I'm supposed to. A whole bath. Unfortunately, I don't have a bath anymore, but I would have done that yet. But I have to really, I have to prepare. And I can't take it lightly.

It's not like, and then obvious things like tech. I've always been pretty good about that. Like, I've put good parameters around the phone and family talk. You know what, dude, because I've had people, I've heard this conversation or I've heard people talk about sleep before. I'm like, what do I got to do all this planning and prepping and whatever? Because our modern world is so counter to what would produce good sleep. Yeah, yeah.

That you have to plan. It's like, why do I have to plan eating healthy? Because if you just go out and eat, whatever's around you, it's going to be unhealthy. I mean, speaking for my personal experience, it's actually, it's. it's actually hard. It's not easy. I think it gets, I think it's talked about as like,

yeah, you just need to make a little sleep routine or, oh, just before a bet. Like, it's actually like, I got to think about it. Like, I get like, when I get home at like five or six, I even have to like vocalize it.

Like to Katrina, like, hey, tonight, we got to really make sure. Yeah, I want to get a good night. So like, that's how, that's how much effort

I have to put towards it to get that kind of a score. To get an 80 or a 90, I have to think about it long before bedtime and I have to be already like okay good I'm getting a good dinner at like six or seven so that's plenty of hours of digest imagine if all of us for 30 days lived in the woods with no electricity yeah yeah yeah sleep good sleep would be the default yeah like oh it's dark we're watching or do especially if we're out out the other thing is too is I also have connected

very closely uh a good a good good move like uh there's a big difference here's a huge thing too that I've unlocked because I track so much of this stuff. This is why, part, another reason that's motivated me to do the, you know, I shouldn't even call cardio. It's just walking.

Just moving. Just moving for eight to 10,000 steps. Yeah. If I, if I'm under 6,000 steps, it disrupts sleep. Yeah, dude. It's just not enough,

it's not enough my body didn't get physically exhausted enough to get a really good deep night sleep. So I've hacked into that also. So it's like, I got to be up eight, 10,000 steps. I've got to, really say to myself at five or six o'clock,

this is a night, I'm going to do these things. I do all the things. And then I score great sleep. If I don't, then it's roll the dice. You know, it's crazy because we have, so we worked in fitness forever, and our jobs were very active in the sense that we were always on our feet moving.

Now we're, basically, we have sedentary lives because we come in here, we sit, and we don't move, which is most people's jobs. But I was just think about this, because I was talking with Justin, yesterday. I hate it. Yeah, because both of us, because it's raining, so we don't do our daily, midday walk or whatever. Yeah. And him and I are looking at you. I'm like, man, I always feel so

terrible when we're stuck in here all day long. But do you know how much worse it must be for people working in tech? Do you know why? Oh, yeah. You're staring at blue screen. At least we get to talk to each other. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're just isolated and you're just looking at a stupid screen all day. Oh, God. That's got to feel terrible. They don't even know it. They've lived in it for so long. have no idea. And that's, it lulls you to sleep in a sense, right? As far as like thinking that it's just okay,

it's normal. You don't realize it. Just do like crap and you don't even know it. And, you know, this is the part, I mean, I'm always,

I know of us, I'm the more, you know, wearable track stuff, but this is stuff I actually geek out and I like. Like, this is where these tools are really neat for me,

is that I have worn them and paid attention to them consistently. And I've, I've manipulated stuff in my diet and exercise I've had transitions in my life where I'm very sedentary for a job to very active. And I've been weights from, you know, 180, weighing 180 pounds and lean to all the way to 230 and jacked and lean and overweight, like all in between.

And I've been able to watch all these things. And there's, there, it's easy for me to start to like tweak and twist these little things that that, that change that. And I've definitely connected these dots that I can't, I can't sit and, and do under 4,000 steps in a day and also not make an effort at a good sleep routine and think I'm going to get a good night's rest. It's just, it ain't happening. I got to move. What are we hitting? Is it about four, is it under $4,000? If you just show up. Under four. It's like two to three dogs. I sit at all at home. Even our, our, our bullshit walk gets us to four to five. Yeah.

Our bullshit walk is four to five. Okay. If you don't, if we don't do that, you're two to three. And that's including your little workout. That's terrible. That's you going in the gym and lifting weights and moving around your steps. Like that ain't nothing. That ain't nothing. So you were saying Justin on your days, I'm like that. So what do you, on your days off, you're not sitting. Oh, I don't sit on a hike.

I'm out like, you know, taking the dogs like for walks. Dude, I don't. It's like, yeah, it's a big catch up, you know, on the days that we have off. But even still like the discipline of like after. Because I drive too, like, and I'm commuting. That's right. It's like 45 minutes. And it's like 45 minutes here.

And, you know, I'm just sitting on my ass. And it just, it kills me inside. And then I get home and then I just, I've turned into this sort of like looking scope for any kind of thing that I need to clean or fix or I'm just like going around the house or I'm like taking dogs outside. Like you got to like keep up. Like I've just, I turn all that energy into like this crazy storm. What's crazy and I have so much respect for you that you can do that because what I've also connected. Yeah, you go home. You don't want to move.

I don't want to move. I know. Oh yeah. That would be me if I sat out. It's like, when we do this, and if I don't lift or get moving, which is, this is what's so interesting. I mean, I know this has to be common for a lot of people that get stuck in this. It's ironic that when I only move two to three thousand steps here and I didn't exercise, I didn't do any car, I didn't do any step, I didn't do anything. And then I drive home and I get home and say four or five, I'm, I think I'm tired.

You know, I feel, I like, and I'm lazy and I don't want to go do all this stuff. Now, flip that, get my steps in, get a workout in. I get home, I go right to clean the kitchen, run some air, you know, straighten up, help my wife out with the lawn. Like, I do shit. Like, it's so crazy. By the way, I got to add this, too. It's like, like, how domestic have we become because we like to move? Because we know we need to move.

Like, I'm not home sweeping. I'm like cleaning stuff. Totally. And sometimes my wife is like, no, no, I, you know, you work, you sit down, let me do it. And I'm like, no, actually, I want to help. And I also want to move. Yeah. I was sitting down a long.

Well, it's all ramped up, too. because I'm kind of preparing to move personally into the other house. And it's just been like there's so many things as a box. And, you know, you just living in a certain place. Like you realize how many things you collect. And, dude, it's just been nonstop the last few weeks. So I'm like, I'm like burn out. But I'm still like, I'm going.

Go, go, go, go, go. There's no time to sleep. Speaking of wearing things, I know we're supposed to do this big photo shoot today for one of our partners, which we always, you know, him and haul over it, which is funny. but we were supposed to wear all black. So are you guys put, do you guys wear your Viori? Yeah,

I'm in Viori. Okay. Hey, how lucky is Viori because the, the shoot isn't even for Viori, but we're always wearing Viori. Yeah, it's the,

it's the only reason why, so I look at old pictures, and my wife will pull up old pictures of this stuff. And you guys always do you guys, the best clothes, you guys always made fun of my style back then. And, I mean, you're right. I look at the old stuff.

I'm like, whoa, dude. How did I score my wife, dude? She stopped through all that, dude. She's like, your style. changed totally. I was like to because I'm sponsored by you. You know what? Because Viori does white listing with this and so that I would love

to see Viori do like a montage of like all your all your outfits pre-Viori and then post-curry. 95% of my whole wardrobe is them. Definitely that. They hook me up and I'm like this cleaned. Even like you wear a lot of their like button up stuff and they're nice stuff when you go do speeches. No it's all everything. It's everything because I just don't have a sense.

You already changed your life, dog. Dude, change everything. Speaking of life changing, Justin, you will appreciate this. Doug, I'm going to send this to you. I might have sent it to you yesterday, so I don't know if it's in your notes. I saw the coolest machines ever.

Now, typically machines are terrible. I'll send it to the group. I think I'll as well. Wait, is this, okay, like before you, I'm just going to guess. So it has like this track and there's one that you press that's like on a track. No, no, no.

Okay. No, that's interesting. Yeah, yeah. I just sent it to the group. I've never, have you guys ever, have you guys ever. seen a machine that is so sports specific that you would say that might be better than free weights.

Okay. That's never happened. Check these machines out for baseball. They were designed. I think it's a Japanese company that designed these machines specifically for baseball players and pitchers.

Look at the rotation. Oh, what? Look at the rotation in the arm and handle as they go through these movements. Have you ever seen anything like that? No. To get that kind of resistance with that rotation. Yeah, dude.

Look at the leg machine even. But the arm and shoulder one is what really trips me out. Yeah. When you see the twisting and rotating of the arm. Interesting. With rotation. Like, I just, I can see the rotator. His hand goes into like a...

He can go full rotation with it. So this is, Ichiro Suzuki has these machines. Okay. But, like, first of all, I would never use these machines on the average person because I don't see the... But if you're a baseball player, I'm looking at their shoulder health. it's producing. Oh, yeah.

It's wild. Yeah. Do you see how the, the first one that he was showing where it was like twisting and rotating? Yeah, yeah, it was weird. It would hurt my arm.

It's a really weird looking movement, but I understand, like, you know, how to add resistance to that. Look how it's, look how it's, it's challenging. Well, so if you ever watch, so I'm not a, you guys know this, you guys make fun of me,

I'm not a sports guy, but I love by watching the biomechanics and the physics. The sports science of it. Of sports? One of my favorite things to look at is a slow motion video of a professional pitcher.

Oh, yeah. It doesn't look. It's magical. It looks, look at that one. Look at a twist. Yeah, the physics of it to get to that last bit of whip to really accelerate the ball is insane. I couldn't slow motion get my arm in that position.

They're whipping something 90 miles an hour. How do you not destroy your arm? Oh, they do. So technical. Yeah, exactly. They do. The game really is to elongate that process. I mean, that's the thing to highlight, too.

we talk about this a lot of people I think when I say that statement that sports are unhealthy for us it always gets a lot of confidence it's extreme yeah it is extreme and it's like and that picture that pitcher's arm he'll have shoulder will have issues 100% it's really the game is

how long can he maintain yeah how long can you that type of power yeah how can you torque and throw at that rate for that many repetitions which by the way is why you they count pitches yeah they count pitches Yeah, why they count, why they count pitches, why they only play so many games. They had the games off before they play a game.

Everybody has a number, which is kind of a trip if you think about it. Oh, yeah. It's like, I hit my whatever couple thousand. It's why people like Nolan Ryan were so special. The guy could pitch for so long. Yeah. Use an anomaly. Yeah.

Yeah, the physics of it is remarkable because like a bull whip, the sound that the that the tip of the whip is breaking the sound barrier. Yep. And what they're doing with their arm is they're literally creating this whip-like physics that's happening where the end of their arm is generating so much speed and force. Well, first, it would rip anybody's arm off. Yeah. It's crazy. Were you in the room when I was talking about Steph Curry?

Were you out of the room? No. No, I was out. Oh, so you were out of the room. It was before we got on the podcast. I was telling these guys watching clips of him. This was NBA All-Star Week. And so he wasn't playing, but he was there.

and he was with the announcers. And the announcers, their booth is like, I don't know, it's 15, 20 rows up in the stands behind the basketball hoop or with that. And he's miced up and he's talking to the guys and they throw him a basketball and he turns around and he shoots it. Like, I mean, you're talking about like a, I don't even know how far, probably a three-quarter court shot or whatever like that or at least a half-court plus from behind the backward and swishes the ball, right?

Wow. And I was telling the guys that he just did that, but that obviously went viral. which brought up a bunch of other clips of him. And he's the only person where I've seen this happen before in warm-ups. When he's warming up a lot of times and he's shooting the basketball hoop or shooting at the hoop, I've seen this happen. It's wild. And he misses two shots in a row.

And all of a sudden, like, you see him kind of look at the hoop or like that and they'll call somebody over. And then all of a sudden they'll get the officials over, get the ladder out and they'll check the level. Because he doesn't miss. He's like, it's the hoop. Yeah. And then they'll like, oh, sure, shit, it's off by it. And they have to adjust it. That's so great.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, he's that honed in to the... It's so funny, you brought a basketball because when I was on the treadmill listening to the book, on the big screen above me were a bunch of slam dunk competition. That's all this week. It's in Bay All-Star. Oh, is that what it is? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, and I'm watching old competitions and new ones. But, again, I'm not a basketball fan, but I do like human movement. in the physics. So I'm looking at the angle that this guy's ankle is hitting the ground and how their feet, their foot plants

and then how they twist out of it and jump. I'm like, dang, bro. Well, it's right to your, what you were just bringing up about the baseball player. Same thing. Like, their shin angles

instead of the day. Shin angles are huge. Is wild and the ability to get that torque and that explosiveness and that short range. A wider step and stride and how you can create

the, you know, Torque and force. I mean, this is what made me, when we first started it, we haven't shouted him out in a really long time. Let's give him his love, because I used to talk about him all time as Paul Fabrets.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He breaks that down really well. Really well. And, you know, I've always been fascinated in sports performance and things like that. And just for a long time, the coaches and trainers have just been whack in that field for a long time.

And so it was really cool. I remember when I first found him, I don't know how many years ago it was now. It's been probably eight years ago when I first came across him and talked about and we had him on the show a long time ago. His knowledge of biomechanics is next level. So good, dude.

I still talk to him and follow him and watch his stuff, but he really only had like Joe DeFranco. He was the guy, Joe, and Joe was football, right? So Joe was really the football guy. And then, you know, Paul, I think, is one of the greats when it comes to basketball. Just the understanding, like the understanding how to develop that.

We were so off back in the days. I mean, when we were kids, we were wearing strength shoes. used these stupid shit like that. Walker out. I remember being in the weight room when I was in high school doing calf rings. Yeah, I did those.

Trying to get my vertical up. I did you guys. Did you guys both buy the strange shit? Yes. I don't know. Now, what did you do play basketball in them? You were supposed to, they had drills. They had drills and a lot of like, yeah, like spring jumping, like plymetrics.

I mean, it's a reverse ideal. Yeah, torch my cats to like no end. You went to San Jose State for a while, right? Yeah. Do you know that the the the the the the the the the kinesiology uh one of the best in the nation he did uh his thesis was on the string shoes he completely debunked them yeah that was his whole thesis it was it's up in the that's why I was wondering if you ever saw it's up in his in the room with a one of the one of the classrooms there and it's his whole thing his whole breakdown are they still known for having a really good kinesiology I believe so oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah they're still known for but you can look on like if you google online like strength shoes for sale they people still sell them they're still they're still they're still they're they Yeah, people still sell them. You can still find it for sale. Probably more in nostalgia than anything else.

Speaking of performance, I got to give so much credit to Element. And I'm going to give them credit for a couple things. One, for not being fearful and putting a full thousand milligrams of sodium per serving, where everybody was scared of salt, scared of sodium. They threw it in there. Here's the other side of it that was so brilliant. One of the components, and I'll tell you why I'm saying this, one of the components to palatibility, right?

something that makes the things that make something enjoyable to consume. There's three major components. There's a lot of components. And food scientists have figured this out. Fat, salt, and sugar. And so with Element, you have a sugar-free drink. So it's sugar-free, but no artificial sweeteners. And usually, if you've ever tried a non-artificial sweetened zero-calorie drink,

I mean, you could tell. It's like, eh, you know, it's all right, but it's not as good as the other stuff, right? but because there's so high sodium, which is what you need if you want the electrolytes, it's really palatable. So I have friends that they could care less about the fact that it's electrolytes. They just...

Light the trace. They just love the taste of it. Yeah. Some friends have, like, really adopted it because it, yeah, like, it's... It definitely still gives you a really good flavor. That's why. In comparison.

It's it. And, by the way, they're everywhere now. They're in Target now. It's so cool. I actually took a picture of it the other day because it was in my local Target. and I hadn't seen them there yet and they have their own official

big old thing. It's been so cool to watch you know, we're 11 years. We've been doing this now and I love when we find partners like that early, you know,

before it's like, I mean, I feel like everybody knows what L&S now. But I remember when we first started working with them, you know, they weren't huge,

they weren't popular now and just to see them as big as they are and see them in Target and stuff like that's so cool. I mean, Viori, you brought up Viori today.

Viori's another one. Yeah. Like it trips me out, like how many, like how many people I see in Viori now. There was a time. I mean, I don't know if I've ever said this on air. I know I've told you guys before. There was a time when we, I used to see somebody in Viori. And there was like a good shot that if I walked up to them and said like, hey, you've heard a mind pump.

You know what I'm saying? Like that was how small Viori was. Viori is so big now. I see people, everybody wearing Viori. Well, I see people drinking. It's less, chances that are you as a mite, but very slim. Well, like, so I have friends. So I have friends that are invited to.

like our Christmas party. And, you know, they're friends of mine. And they love me. And some of them listen to the podcast, but they're there to be supportive. And we give gift bags. So if you attend one of our parties, if you're invited,

we'll give you a gift bag. And in our gift bag, we've always included packets of element. So these are friends of mine. And they're not like fitness fanatics. They're in and out of fitness and stuff like that. But they're always drinking element all the time. Like, why do you drink it?

Do you like the electrolyte benefits? Does it help you to work out? Like, no, it tastes really good. Yeah, they don't care about. I don't drink soda anymore. This is what I drink all the time now. That's so good. Anyway, there was a clip.

You guys know Steve Austin, right? Yeah. Pro Wrestling. Stone cold, dude. Come on. They were, he was being interviewed, and he was giving, and they were asking about, like, training advice, exercise advice, things he wish he knew back in the day. And he, he says what almost every experienced, uh, fitness enthusiast or, you know, trainer or anybody who understands fitness. when they're experienced and wise and older,

they always say this. And when I was a kid, I dismissed it because I said, oh, you're just saying that because you're old now. He says what they all say, which is I did way too much. I did way too much. I went way too hard.

I wish I understood that if I did less, I would have got better results. Now, as a kid, I used to dismiss that so much because I'd be like, well, that's because you're in your 50s now, bro. them. They've been doing this for decades. Maybe I should listen to them. And so I just want to encourage, if you're a young person listening, like, the reason why we give this advice is not because we're old. We're giving this advice because I wish I knew this. I want you to know this. Try it out and see what happens. And you'll totally, you'll get way better results. The argument I always say, and I'm making to this is that it's because everything else serves us to do that. There's nothing else. Everything else in our law. Put more effort. Yeah. Everything else. But like, like, that you.

you're working with physiology and nutrition and recovery. Human limits. Yes. And so it's not like everything else. It's not like the more I do or the more I study or the harder I work, the more money. It's like it's not the same. It's that there is a sweet spot. There is a there and there's a there's a sweet spot for you as an individual at different periods of your life.

And at different times, even the week. So it's like understanding how. nuance that is that, hey, when I'm getting good rest and I'm young and well fed, I can train this way. And then that same person, two weeks later, when you're not as well rested, as well fed, that changes again. You know, and so it's like this, this idea that just you've got to push through and that harder. And that mantra resonates with the young teenage boy who's trying to climb the ladder. And so it's like, yeah, I think every, every wise. lifter who's been doing it for a really long time realizes at one point of their life they go like

oh shit I could have probably done half or even less than half of what I did and got better results if I just did this way and the other one or the or just this is why I love the great eight right now like this is a fun program for us to release people are going to be if they trust it and try it just that you're going to get blown away yes you'll hit PR like just get the we've distilled it down to what we think of the eight focus most important. Important exercises that somebody could get good at it. We've talked for a long time on the podcast that we communicate like, hey, try going to the gym and just practice movements. Like practice these eight movements.

Go through that. One lift a day. Get good at them. And then watch what happens. Just watch what happens just from that alone. But you know what? So many people won't because they'll go, they'll dismiss it. Just like they used to dismiss it.

It's not enough. Just like they used to dismiss anabolic. Yeah. You know, the same thing. Like, this isn't enough. People will trip out like how much stronger they'll get. get to just like, and this is when I was going for PR, it's like you get rid of a lot of the junk volume and a lot of the distractions and you're lifting and your workouts and you hyper-focused on

these lifts, you know, magical things happen. Your body responds to it. It actually really is, is receptive and hyper-focused on like the movement aspect. It can generate you a lot more force if you really allow it to. And I think that's, again, to like the Steve Austin thing. It's, for me is like an athlete, I do have a lot of regrets. Like with that, with over-training, but then also too, you know, like not understanding, like, movement quality. Like, to the degree that I do now, I'm, like, adding mobility and really articulating my joints and, you know, strengthening and supporting the infrastructure. So that way, I'm freer. I'm more able and capable to really produce speed and full.

and it's like it's liberating and it sets these athletes off, you know, to a degree that they've never even knew they had. Well, if we all agree that these exercises are a skill, which we do, like a sport is a skill, would anybody in their right mind who wants to get good at basketball, come to the gym, play basketball, play golf, play soccer, play volleyball, all in the same workout? Or would you just focus on playing basketball every time you worked out? And then break down basketball into like four basic components. Yeah.

Yeah. But it's like we treat. We treat exercise like it's not a skill. And so that's where. And honestly, that is the difference between somebody who exercises and who works out is that. Working out is with. You're just trying to get sweaty.

Yeah. No, exercise with that. Just exercising is just getting sweaty and moving. Working out, I have a goal in mind. I'm working out to get better. I'm working out to get stronger. I'm working out to lose body fat. And if you're working out with a goal in mind,

then approaching it with this as a skill in mind will serve you so much better. If your desired outcome is just to move and sweat and you don't care about the results, then by all means, throw a bunch of shit into a routine, do whatever. Jump in place, spinning circles. To take Zumba.

I don't care. You know what I'm saying? Do those things because, yeah, yeah, that's movement, and movement's good for you. It's not a bad thing. But if you are going... There's a way more effective way to do it. To join the gym with an desired outcome of results.

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Go to paleovalley.com forward slash mind pump. Back to the show. First question is from Jay Lehman, 23. When it comes to deadlifts, when should I use a traditional and when should I use a trap bar? Yeah, this is a good question. trap bar requires less skill to perform, which gives it some advantages. A straight bar, because it's a higher skill exercise, the risk of injury is higher, whereas a trap bar is a, you know, quote unquote, safer exercise because of the, it just doesn't

require as much practice and skill to do. That being said, although they're similar, they're different. I think, I strongly think you need to get good at both. And so you need to practice both. and I don't necessarily think they're interchangeable, but I would definitely practice both because they're both very, very valuable. The traditional is just, it requires much more.

I would argue that differently. One of them has carryover to the other one, one of them doesn't. You get really good at deadlift, you can trap bar deadlift just fine. True. You get really good at Trave bar deadlift, you won't necessarily.

There's not as much of it. Yeah, good point. But, by the way, that doesn't mean I'm dismissing trap bar dead at all. In fact, I did more dead list because it was, It's entry level. So like young athlete, advanced age client who's never strained trained before, probably doing a trap bar deadlift with that person first to get them comfortable with hinging and it's a safer way to teach them how to hinge.

Risk reward. Yeah. So, yeah. So it makes a lot of sense for certain applications. So it's not, this isn't me shitting on the trap bar at all. But if this is a person who can does, can deadlift good or knows how to deadlift properly, you could deadlift and never trap bar deadlift and be completely. One of the most difficult things to do in training is to really hit that posterior chain.

There's nothing more effective than the deadlift. So you have to just keep that in mind. If you don't have enough time to really build the skill, and you need a long period of time to really build that skill, then I would look at risk reward. Trap bar would be my focus, and I would build strength, and I would work my way into that skill. Next question is from Fit for Running. what are good non-meat protein options during Lent since as a Catholic we abstain from meat on Fridays?

I'm not a big fan of fish. We get this question every year, at least a couple times, and I think we're all in agreeance on how I've heard you answer this a ton of times, is that when you're doing things like Lent or fasting for spiritual reasons, then I think that's the way you should approach it. It's not the idea of, like, I think that is the whole... You're trying to hit your macros. Yeah, this isn't...

who cares about your muscle? Who cares about your physique goals when you're doing something like that? I think that's the idea is to let go of worldly things. Yep. And idols being like our bodies and the way we look and stuff like that.

And so I think you're... Don't do lint then. Either do lint or do fasting for... Or don't do it. Don't try... I'm going to be doing this, right? So we're going to be doing... We're going to be practicing this.

And I'm going to eat fish. And I'm not a big fan of fish either. But that's kind of the point. is it's got to be hard, right? Yeah. Now, okay, I can give you lists of options, right? Eggs, dairy, fish, way protein, you know, that's not meat. But the whole point is it's supposed to be hard.

And the whole point is to focus in a different direction. So, I mean, I'd say, okay, you're not a big fan of fish. All right, then whatever. It's going to be hard. It's supposed to be hard. It's once a week. It's only for the next 40 days and you're doing it for your faith. Then go for it.

And there are other options that I listed, but when you try to, like, circumvent and make it so that it's no longer hard, I mean, what are you doing for? Is it just tradition? It's almost better you don't like it. That's right. Because not you're going to learn something.

I don't like fish. I'm going to be... I mean, why also even eat fish? Oh, why just go with nothing? Yeah. I mean, I guess you, I mean, you could. That's my point. My point is like,

the person is, the person that's thinking that I need to eat fish or I need to do this is chasing these protein goals. One day of doing this a week is not going to hurt you. It's not going to hurt you. Not from a health perspective whatsoever. So you know that this person who's chasing protein through these routes are doing it for aesthetic muscle reasons.

And if you're really doing this for spiritual reasons, it defeats the purpose. So in my opinion, either do it or don't do it. That's right. And I feel strongly about that. Like that's the whole point. Otherwise, it becomes tradition. and it's not faith. It's really just about the, I'm doing the thing I'm supposed to do.

Exactly. That's what I mean. Like, don't do, don't do that. That's the it. Next question is from Peter Peter unofficial. If I don't get enough protein daily, how does that affect my gains? Well, we talked about this earlier. It makes a big difference. Huge.

Big difference. You could feel the difference. You could see the difference. There will be no question with the difference. Especially you end this. gains. Oh, yeah. Because if you just said, like, how much of a difference is making me living, longevity, staying lean, you know, not that, but you want gains? You want to build muscle? It's the difference of you doing it or not. I just, almost every client I ever had that was like,

man, I'm, I train, I do all this. But I don't, like, the first thing I go to is like, let me see your protein and take consistently. It's like, oh, there it is right there. You do not consistently hit optimal protein. At the beginning of the episode, I said, based on the studies, 27% increase in muscle gain from hitting high protein. I would say that... That's not even high protein the studies you're talking about. You're referring to going from 0.8 to 1.6? Per kilogram.

Yeah. I would even extend it. If you extend this over years of either eating high protein or not, I would say you're going to make 50% more gains. And I would argue that if you actually go to a one-to-one, what we always recommend, you'd see even more. Yes. So it's like, yeah.

It makes a big difference. Huge difference. It makes a big difference. Next question is from Mick D. Maria. why do I love MAPS 15 programs so much? You know what? Here's why I picked that question. Here's one.

Because the people that are writing in that love this program so much are people who've already been working out for a long time. And they're shocked, not just that it's easy, and then I'm not losing gains because I'm only doing a couple lifts a day, but they're coming back and they're like, I can't believe that I'm getting better results

that I had before. I know. Like, and so the, our Maps 15 program versions, so we have many of these, right? And essentially, Maps 15 means 15 minutes a day. But if you do the, the barbell, dumbbell versions, it's probably closer to 25 minutes. Yeah. But you're doing two lifts a day. That's it.

It's a short amount of time. People are blown away that they're getting the best results for their life and they're doing way less than they ever did before. That's why everybody loves it. It's not just that saves time. It's not just that's easy. Yeah. I'm actually getting better results.

stronger and making gain. Listen, it's so great that you chose this question before we had our organic, authentic conversation that we don't even know where we're going in the conversation. And we had this in the way we just ended was talking about how we all, everybody that has been thinking about or that's older and wise always goes, man, I wish I would have done way of us. And the reason why so many people love it so much is they have that same realization. Blows their mind. They blows our mind when they reduce the volume and intensity and all the stuff they were doing

before to something as simple as just two movements a day in their workouts, and they are seeing phenomenal results. And who doesn't want to see more results doing less work? And it's unbelievable. It's also just a paradigm. It's a paradigm shattering experience for people. It's against all the marketing we grew up with. Yeah. Completely. And I think that's why it's so shocking. 100%. It's like, why wasn't this here? That's right. Look, if you like the show, come find us on Instagram. It's Mind Pump media. We'll see you there. 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 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 Mind Pumpmedia.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.